The White Ladies of Worcester. Florence Louisa Barclay

XXXII A GREAT RECOVERY AND RESTORATION 218 XXXIII MARY ANTONY HOLDS THE PORT 221 XXXIV MORA DE NORELLE 230 XXXV IN THE ARBOUR OF GOLDEN ROSES 237

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER

XXXVI	STRONG TO ACT; ABLE TO ENDURE	247
XXXVII	WHAT MOTHER SUB-PRIORESS KNEW	253
XXXVIII	THE BISHOP KEEPS VIGIL	259
XXXIX	THE "SPLENDID KNIGHT"	268
XL	THE HEART OF A NUN	275
XLI	WHAT THE BISHOP REMEMBERED	289
XLII	THE WARNING	298
XLIII	MORA MOUNTS TO THE BATTLEMENTS	305
XLIV	"I LOVE THEE"	313
XLV	THE SONG OF THE THRUSH	319
XLVI	"HOW SHALL I LET THEE GO?"	322
XLVII	THE BISHOP is TAKEN UNAWARES	327
XLVIII	A STRANGE CHANCE	331
XLIX	TWICE DECEIVED	338
L	THE SILVER SHIELD	341
LI	TWO NOBLE HEARTS GO DIFFERENT WAYS	367
LII	THE ANGEL-CHILD	372
LIII	ON THE HOLY MOUNT	378
LIV	THE UNSEEN PRESENCE	384
LV	THE HEART OF A WOMAN	386
LVI	THE TRUE VISION	395
LVII	"I CHOOSE TO RIDE ALONE"	402
LVIII	THE WARRIOR HEART	405
LIX	THE MADONNA IN THE HOME	410
LX	THE CONVENT BELL	417

      The

      White Ladies

      of

      Worcester

      CHAPTER I

      THE SUBTERRANEAN WAY

      The slanting rays of afternoon sunshine, pouring through stone arches, lay in broad, golden bands, upon the flags of the Convent cloister.

      The old lay-sister, Mary Antony, stepped from the cool shade of the cell passage and, blinking at the sunshine, shuffled slowly to her appointed post at the top of the crypt steps, up which would shortly pass the silent procession of nuns returning from Vespers.

      Daily they went, and daily they returned, by the underground way, a

      passage over a mile in length, leading from the Nunnery of the White

      Ladies at Whytstone in Claines, to the Church of St. Mary and St.

      Peter, the noble Cathedral within the walls of the city of Worcester.

      Entering this passage from the crypt in their own cloisters, they walked in darkness below the sunny meadows, passed beneath the Fore-gate, moving in silent procession under the busy streets, until they reached the crypt of the Cathedral.

      From the crypt,