"Here, also, is a small spring gold bracelet which I must ask you to wear on your right arm above the elbow," he went on. "It serves various purposes--for one, to remind you that you are a Bruno-ite, and of your ceaseless duty of high and dignified patriotism. Its catch, also, is, as you may observe, key shape, and can be used as a key to penetrate the most secret archives of the Order, should you ever feel suspicious, or fancy that you have any ground for discontent, or that you are not being as fairly treated as your fellow-members, for in this Order we are all equal, and only take personal favours from the Council of Three. Any day or hour you are free to overhaul our records and to call the brethren together should you find any ground of complaint. Should you be away some time from the house and want to know whether the stranger you meet is a Bruno-ite or not, take the bracelet off your forearm and put it on your wrist. Then call the man's attention to the inscription engraved on it: `For God and England.' If he be a Bruno-ite he will answer immediately: `May we be worthy of both.' If he does not, pass it off with some jest, and at the right moment return the bracelet to its original place. Other tests you will find in the institutes. They consist of phrases to learn and answers to give to them, but all these must be disclosed with discretion. We in the Order have no fear of you, your courage, or your zeal. On the contrary, we believe you will be a shining light of patriotism, and so we receive you with open arms and say:--" "Welcome! Ten thousand welcomes!" cried the brethren in one united voice. "And now," said the Prior, beckoning to two assistants, who came forward with the habit, "it only remains for me to garb you as becometh a good and loyal follower of Bruno Delganni." And in a few moments I found myself arrayed like my companions in the uniform of a black friar, and monstrously comfortable, I own, I found it. Then a bell rang, and we all trooped into the refectory to a banquet. The place was certainly liberty hall, for, although I was placed in the seat of honour to the right of the Prior, everybody insisted on talking to me, and to my intense amazement I found gathered in this Order many of the most distinguished men I knew in the literary, the artistic, and the legal life of London. Over all reigned a spirit of the uttermost joyousness, and not until the meal was quite over did Jose, the Prior, and I make our way to a study in a far part of the building and spread out before us those three fateful manuscripts relating to the sacred treasures and the conflicting claims of England and the Jesuits. CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. THE JESUITS' CIPHER.