More Bywords

A free download from http://www.dertz.in


More Bywords

The Project Gutenberg eBook, More Bywords, by Charlotte M. Yonge
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: More Bywords
Author: Charlotte M. Yonge
Release Date: April 20, 2004 [eBook #12095]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE
BYWORDS***
Transcribed by David Price, email [email protected]

MORE BYWORDS

Contents:
The Price of Blood The Cat of Cat Copse De Facto and De Jure
Sigbert's Guerdon The Beggar's Legacy A Review of the Nieces Come
to Her Kingdom Mrs. Batseyes Chops

THE PRICE OF BLOOD

Ab ira et odio, et omni mala voluntate, Libera nos, Domine. A fulgure
et tempestate, Libera nos, Domine. A morte perpetua, Libera nos,
Domine.
So rang forth the supplication, echoing from rock and fell, as the people
of Claudiodunum streamed forth in the May sunshine to invoke a
blessing on the cornlands, olives, and vineyards that won vantage-
ground on the terraces carefully kept up on the slopes of the wonderful
needle-shaped hills of Auvergne.
Very recently had the Church of Gaul commenced the custom of going
forth, on the days preceding the Ascension feast, to chant Litanies,
calling down the Divine protection on field and fold, corn and wine,
basket and store. It had been begun in a time of deadly peril from
famine and earthquake, wild beast and wilder foes, and it had been
adopted in the neighbouring dioceses as a regular habit, as indeed it
continued throughout the Western Church during the fourteen
subsequent centuries.
One great procession was formed by different bands. The children were
in two troops, a motley collection of all shades; the deep olive and the
rolling black eye betraying Ethiopian or Moorish slave ancestry, the
soft dark complexion and deep brown eye showing the Roman, and the
rufous hair and freckled skin the lower grade of Cymric Kelt, while a
few had the more stately pose, violet eye, and black hair of the Gael.
The boys were marshalled with extreme difficulty by two or three
young monks; their sisters walked far more orderly, under the care of

some consecrated virgin of mature age. The men formed another troop,
the hardy mountaineers still wearing the Gallic trousers and plaid,
though the artisans and mechanics from the town were clad in the tunic
and cloak that were the later Roman dress, and such as could claim the
right folded over them the white, purple-edged scarf to which the toga
had dwindled.
Among the women there was the same scale of decreasing nationality
of costume according to rank, though the culmination was in
resemblance to the graceful classic robe of Rome instead of the last
Parisian mode. The poorer women wore bright, dark crimson, or blue in
gown or wrapping veil; the ladies were mostly in white or black, as
were also the clergy, excepting such as had officiated at the previous
Eucharist, and who wore their brilliant priestly vestments, heavy with
gold and embroidery.
Beautiful alike to eye and ear was the procession, above all from a
distance, now filing round a delicate young green wheatfield, now lost
behind a rising hill, now glancing through a vineyard, or contrasting
with the gray tints of the olive, all that was incongruous or disorderly
unseen, and all that was discordant unheard, as only the harmonious
cadence of the united response was wafted fitfully on the breeze to the
two elderly men who, unable to scale the wild mountain paths in the
procession, had, after the previous service in the basilica and the
blessing of the nearer lands, returned to the villa, where they sat
watching its progress.
It was as entirely a Roman villa as the form of the ground and the need
of security would permit. Lying on the slope of a steep hill, which ran
up above into a fantastic column or needle piercing the sky, the courts
of the villa were necessarily a succession of terraces, levelled and
paved with steps of stone or marble leading from one to the other. A
strong stone wall enclosed the whole, cloistered, as a protection from
sun and storm. The lowest court had a gateway strongly protected, and
thence a broad walk with box- trees on either side, trimmed into
fantastic shapes, led through a lawn laid out in regular flower-beds to
the second court, which was paved with polished marble, and had a

fountain in the midst, with vases of flowers, and seats around. Above
was another broad flight of stone steps,