Then he was convinced that he beheld living men and no phantoms, and that he saw before him those who survived of his former preceptors and teachers, the monks of Glastonbury. Whom then were they burying? for whom did they chant the requiem Mass? And now the epistle was read, and afterwards the solemn sounds of the sequence arose:-- “Dies iræ Dies illa Solvet sæclum in favilla Teste David cum Sibylla.”[27] He hesitated no longer, he glided down the stairs, and soon his boyish voice was heard in the sweet verse:-- “Recordare Jesu pie Quod sum causa tuæ viæ Ne me perdas illa die.”[27] As he sang Cuthbert saw he stood by the good parochus. The gospel followed, telling of Him Who is the Resurrection and the Life; after which one of the brethren, a man with the aspect of one in authority, stood forth, and began a short address:-- “We are met to-night, brethren, like the faithful of old, to render the last rites of the Church to the mutilated remains of our beloved brethren; gathered, at what risk ye know, from the places wherein the tyrant had exposed the sacred relics, which were once the home of the Holy Spirit, wherein Christ lived and dwelt; yea, and which shall rise again from the dust of death, when body shall unite with the redeemed regenerate soul, and soar from death’s cold house to life and light.” He was interrupted by a sob (it was from Cuthbert), but he went on. “And now we bury them in peace, we place the bones of the last Abbot,--and one more worthy has never presided over Glastonbury,--with those of his sainted predecessors: together they sleep after life’s fitful penance, together they shall arise, when the last trump shall echo over the vale of Avalon. Nor do we forget his faithful brethren, once the Prior and Sub-Prior of this holy house; they were with him in his hour of trial, they rest with him now, their mortal bodies, all that was mortal, here, but their souls, purified by suffering have, we doubt not, entered Paradise, where they hear those rapturous strains, that endless Alleluia which no mortal ear could hear and live. In peace; but secure as we feel for them, we have yet to implore God’s mercy for ourselves, and His suffering Church, upon which blows so cruel have fallen. In these holy mysteries, while we commend our dear brethren to His mercy, our supplications are turned (as saith Augustine) to thanksgivings; but for ourselves, oh, what need of prayer that we may breast the waves, as they did, and when the Eternal Shore is gained, who will count the billows which roar behind?” The service proceeded, and when all was over, the stone was replaced over the grave, which was made to appear as though nought had disturbed its rest in its bed, the tapers were extinguished, and but one solitary torch left alight. He who appeared the leader of the party, now approached Cuthbert. “My son,” he said, “dost thou know this ring?” “I do,” and Cuthbert bent the head.