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 191*169 
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 Gabriel and the hour book 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00022229367 
 
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 This BOOK may be kept out TWO WEEKS 
 ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE 
 CENTS a day thereafter. It was taken out on 
 the day indicated below: 
 
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gabriel and 
 the: hour book 
 
STORIES BY 
 
 EVALEEN STEIN 
 
 Children's Stories $1.65 
 
 Pepin: A Tale of Twelfth Night 1.65 
 
 When Fairies Were Friendly . . 1.65 
 
 Gabriel and the Hour Book . „ 1.65 
 
 The Christmas Porringer .... 1.65 
 
 A Little Shepherd of Provence . 1.65 
 
 The Little Count of Normandy . 1.65 
 Our Little Celtic Cousin of Long 
 
 Ago 1.00 
 
 Our Little Crusader Cousin of 
 
 Long Ago 1.00 
 
 Our Little Frankish Cousin of 
 
 Long Ago 1.00 
 
 Our Little Norman Cousin of 
 
 Long Ago 1.00 
 
 L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (Inc.) 
 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://archive.org/details/gabrielhourbookOOstei 
 

 
 
 
 
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 ,;-:;-f, M 
 
 ■"*^B- 
 
 
 Gabriel 
 
3 s v 
 
 Copyright, 1906, by 
 
 L. C Page & Company 
 
 (incorporated) 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 Made in U.S.A. 
 
 Thirteenth Impression, October, 1925 
 Fourteenth Impression, August, 1926 
 Fifteenth Impression, August, 1927 
 
 PRINTED BY C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY 
 BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A. 
 
J 
 
 TO 
 
 ffly jFrtetrt 
 Caroline H. Griffiths 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. 
 
 The Little Colour Grinder . , 
 
 I 
 
 II. 
 
 Brother Stephen's Inspiration 
 
 *9 
 
 III. 
 
 Gabriel Interviews the Abbot 
 
 35 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Hour Book 
 
 49 
 
 V. 
 
 The Count's Tax 
 
 65 
 
 VI. 
 
 Gabriel's Prayer 
 
 74 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Book Goes to Lady Anne 
 
 . 89 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Lady Anne Writes to the King 
 
 . 99 
 
 IX. 
 
 The King's Messenger 
 
 . 116 
 
 X. 
 
 Gabriel's Christmas 
 
 . 136 
 
 XI. 
 
 The King's Illuminator 
 
 162 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Gabriel Frontispiece 
 
 " He saw the Abbot walking up and down " . 38 
 
 '* Dreaming of all the beautiful things he meant to paint " 59 
 "Taking down the book ... he unwrapped and un- 
 clasped it " . . . . . 95 
 " Began slowly to turn over the pages " . . .105 
 " He passed a little peasant boy " • . « .142 
 
Gabriel and the Hour Book 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE LITTLE COLOUR GRINDER 
 
 •T was a bright morning 
 of early April, many 
 hundred years ago; and 
 through all the fields and 
 meadows of Normandy the vio- 
 lets and cuckoo-buds were just 
 beginning to peep through the 
 tender green of the young grass. 
 The rows of tall poplar-trees that 
 everywhere, instead of fences, 
 served to mark off the farms of 
 the country folk, waved in the 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 spring wind like great, pale green 
 plumes ; and among their branches 
 the earliest robins and field-fares 
 were gaily singing as a little boy 
 stepped out from a small thatched 
 cottage standing among the fields, 
 and took his way along the high- 
 road. 
 
 That Gabriel Viaud was a 
 peasant lad, any one could have 
 told from the blouse of blue 
 homespun, and the wooden shoes 
 which he wore; and that he felt 
 the gladness of the April time 
 could easily be known by the 
 happy little song he began to sing 
 to himself, and by the eager de- 
 light with which he now and then 
 stooped to pluck a blue violet or 
 to gather a handful of golden 
 cuckoo-buds. 
 
Jl GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 A mile or two behind him, and 
 hidden by a bend in the road, lay 
 the little village of St. Martin- 
 de-Bouchage; while in the soft 
 blue distance ahead of him rose 
 the gray walls of St. Martin's 
 Abbey, whither he was going. 
 
 Indeed, for almost a year now 
 the little boy had been trudging 
 every day to the Abbey, where 
 he earned a small sum by waiting 
 upon the good brothers who 
 dwelt there, and who made the 
 beautiful painted books for which 
 the Abbey had become famous. 
 Gabriel could grind and mix their 
 colours for them, and prepare the 
 parchment on which they did 
 their writing, and could do many 
 other little things that helped 
 them in their work. 
 
 3 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 The lad enjoyed his tasks at 
 the Abbey, and, above all, de- 
 lighted in seeing the beautiful 
 things at which the brothers were 
 always busy ; yet, as he now drew 
 near the gateway, he could not 
 help but give a little sigh, for it 
 was so bright and sunny out-of- 
 doors. He smiled, though, as he 
 looked at the gay bunches of 
 blossoms with which he had quite 
 filled his hands, and felt that at 
 least he was taking a bit of the 
 April in with him, as he crossed 
 the threshold and entered a large 
 room. 
 
 " Good morrow, Gabriel," called 
 out several voices as he came in, 
 for the lad was a general favour- 
 ite with the brothers ; and Ga- 
 briel, respectfully taking off his 
 
Jl GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK jj 
 
 blue peasant cap, gave a pleas- 
 ant " good morrow " to each. 
 
 The room in which he stood 
 had plain stone walls and a floor 
 of paved stone, and little furni- 
 ture, except a number of solidly 
 made benches and tables. These 
 were placed beneath a row of high 
 windows, and the tables were cov- 
 ered with writing and painting 
 materials and pieces of parch- 
 ment; for the brotherhood of St. 
 Martin's was very industrious. 
 
 In those days, — it was four 
 hundred years ago, — printed 
 books were very few, and almost 
 unknown to most people ; for 
 printing-presses had been invented 
 only a few years, and so by far 
 the greater number of books in 
 the world were still made by the 
 
 s 
 
Jl GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 patient labour of skilful hands ; 
 the work usually being done by 
 the monks, of whom there were 
 very many at that time. 
 
 These monks, or brothers, as 
 they were often called, lived in 
 monasteries and abbeys, and were 
 men who banded themselves to- 
 gether in brotherhoods, taking 
 solemn vows never to have homes 
 of their own or to mingle in the 
 daily life of others, but to devote 
 their lives to religion; for they 
 believed that they could serve 
 God better by thus shutting them- 
 selves off from the world. 
 
 And so it came about that 
 the brothers, having more time 
 and more learning than most 
 other people of those days, made 
 it their chief work to preserve 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 and multiply all the books that 
 were worth keeping. These they 
 wrote out on parchment (for paper 
 was very scarce so long ago), and 
 then ornamented the pages with 
 such beautiful painted borders of 
 flowers and birds and saints and 
 angels, and such lovely initial 
 letters, all in bright colours and 
 gold, that to this day large num- 
 bers of the beautiful books made 
 by the monks are still kept among 
 the choicest treasures of the mu- 
 seums and great libraries of the 
 world. 
 
 And few of all those wonder- 
 ful old illuminations (for so the 
 painted ornaments were called) 
 were lovelier than the work of the 
 brotherhood of St. Martin's. Ga- 
 briel felt very proud even to grind 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 the colours for them But as he 
 passed over to one of the tables 
 and began to make ready his 
 paint mortar, the monk who had 
 charge of the writing-room called 
 to him, saying : 
 
 " Gabriel, do not get out thy 
 work here, for the Abbot hath 
 just ordered that some one must 
 help Brother Stephen, who is 
 alone in the old chapter-house. 
 He hath a special book to make, 
 and his colour-grinder is fallen 
 ill ; so go thou at once and take 
 Jacques's place." 
 
 So Gabriel left the writing- 
 room and passed down the long 
 corridor that led to the chapter- 
 house. This was a room the 
 brothers had kept for years as a 
 
 meeting-place, when they and the 
 
 8 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK E 
 
 Abbot, who governed them all, 
 wished to talk over the affairs of 
 the Abbey ; but as it had at last 
 grown too small for them, they 
 had built a new and larger one; 
 and so the old chapter-house was 
 seldom used any more. 
 
 Gabriel knew this, and he won- 
 dered much why Brother Ste- 
 phen chose to work there rather 
 than in the regular writing-room 
 with the others. He supposed, 
 however, that, for some reason of 
 his own, Brother Stephen pre- 
 ferred to be alone. 
 
 He did not know that the 
 monk, at that moment, w T as sitting 
 moodily by his work-table, his 
 eyes staring aimlessly ahead of 
 him, and his hands dropped idly 
 in his lap. For Brother Stephen 
 
a i j.' 
 
 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 was feeling very cross and un- 
 happy and out of sorts with all 
 the world. And this was the rea- 
 son : poor Brother Stephen had 
 entered the Abbey when a lad 
 scarcely older than Gabriel. He 
 had come of good family, but had 
 been left an orphan with no one 
 to care for him, and for want of 
 other home had been sent to 
 the Abbey, to be trained for 
 the brotherhood ; for in those 
 days there were few places 
 where fatherless and motherless 
 children could be taken care 
 of. 
 
 As little Jean (for this was his 
 name before he joined the monks, 
 when one's own name was always 
 changed) grew up, he took the 
 solemn vows which bound him to 
 
 xo 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 the rules of the brotherhood with- 
 out realizing what it all would 
 mean to him ; for Brother Ste- 
 phen was a born artist ; and, by 
 and by, he began to feel that 
 while life in the Abbey was well 
 for most of the brothers, for him 
 it was not well. He wanted to 
 be free to wander about the world ; 
 to paint pictures of many things ; 
 and to go from city to city, and 
 see and study the work of the 
 world s great artists. 
 
 It is true he spent the greater 
 part of his time in the Abbey 
 working on the illuminated books, 
 and this he loved ; yet it did not 
 wholly satisfy him. He longed 
 to paint other things, and, above 
 all, his artist nature longed for 
 
 freedom from all the little rules 
 
 ii 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 of daily life that governed the 
 days of the brotherhood. 
 
 Brother Stephen had brooded 
 much over this desire for free- 
 dom, and only the day before had 
 sought out the Abbot of St. 
 Martin's and asked to be released 
 from the vows of obedience which 
 he had taken years before, but 
 which now he found so hard to 
 live up to. But, to his great dis- 
 appointment, the Abbot had re- 
 fused to grant his request. 
 
 The Abbot had several reasons 
 for this refusal ; one of them was 
 that he himself dearly loved all 
 the little daily ceremonies of the 
 Abbey, and he could not under- 
 stand why any one who had once 
 lived there could prefer a life in 
 the world. He really thought it 
 
 12 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 was for Brother Stephen's own 
 good that he should stay in the 
 brotherhood. 
 
 And then, too, perhaps there 
 was another reason less to the 
 Abbot's credit ; and this reason 
 was that of all the beautiful illu- 
 minated books for which the 
 Abbey of St. Martin's had be- 
 come so famous, none were quite 
 so exquisitely done as those made 
 by Brother Stephen. So per- 
 haps the Abbot did not wish to 
 lose so skilful an artist from 
 the work-room of the Abbey, 
 and especially at this particular 
 time. For just before Brother 
 Stephen had had his talk with 
 the Abbot, a messenger from the 
 city of Paris had come to the 
 Abbey, bearing an order from 
 
 13 
 
3| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 the king, Louis XII., who 
 reigned over France, and Nor- 
 mandy also, which was a part 
 of France. 
 
 Now the following winter, the 
 king was to wed the Lady Anne 
 of Bretagne ; and as Lady Anne 
 was a great admirer and col- 
 lector of beautiful painted books, 
 the king thought no gift would 
 please his bride quite so much as 
 a piece of fine illumination; and 
 he decided that it should be an 
 hour book. These books were 
 so called because in them were 
 written different parts of the 
 Bible, intended to be read at cer- 
 tain hours of the day ; for most 
 people at that time were very 
 devout, and the great ladies espe- 
 cially were very fond of having 
 
 14 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK ft 
 
 their hour books made as beauti- 
 ful as possible. 
 
 As King Louis thought over 
 the best places where he might 
 have his bride's gift painted, at 
 last he made up his mind to send 
 to the monks of St. Martin's. He 
 commanded that the hour book be 
 done in the most beautiful style, 
 and that it must be finished by 
 the following December. 
 
 The Abbot was delighted with 
 the honour the king had shown 
 the Abbey in sending this order; 
 and he determined that Brother 
 Stephen should stay and make 
 the entire book, as no one else 
 wrote so evenly, or made quite 
 such lovely initials and borders as 
 did he. 
 
 When the Abbot told this to 
 15 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 Brother Stephen, however, it was 
 a pity that he did so in such a 
 cold and haughty way that alto- 
 gether Brother Stephen's anger 
 was aroused, for he had a rather 
 unruly temper; and so, smarting 
 under the disappointment of not 
 receiving his liberty, and feeling 
 that the book for Lady Anne 
 was one cause of this, he had 
 spoken angrily and disrespectfully 
 to the Abbot, and refused point- 
 blank to touch the kings order. 
 
 At this the Abbot in his turn 
 became angry, and declared that 
 Brother Stephen should be com- 
 pelled to paint the hour book 
 whether he wished to or not ; that 
 he must do it as punishment for 
 his unruly conduct ; and the 
 Abbot threatened, moreover, that 
 
 16 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK gj 
 
 if he did not obey, he would be 
 placed under the ban of the 
 Church, which was considered by 
 all the brotherhood as a dreadful 
 misfortune. 
 
 And so with this threat hang- 
 ing over him, that very morning, 
 just before Gabriel reached the 
 Abbey, Brother Stephen had been 
 sent to the old chapter-house, 
 where he was ordered to work by 
 himself, and to begin the book at 
 once. And to complete his hu- 
 miliation, and for fear he might 
 try to run away, the Abbot caused 
 him to be chained to one of the 
 legs of the heavy work-table ; and 
 this chain he was to wear every 
 day during working hours. 
 
 Now all this made Brother 
 Stephen very angry and unhappy, 
 
|] GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 and his heart was full of bitter- 
 ness toward the Abbot and all of 
 the brotherhood and the world in 
 general, when all at once he heard 
 Gabriel's knock at the door; and 
 then, in another moment, the door 
 was softly pushed open, and there, 
 on the threshold, stood the little 
 boy. 
 
m"."v'i L .iv i ."nW,wtww','i"-* 1 ' 1 -!-:, ., aaaaaai ggsasas ...' -" ,■ ",",' ■, i , c m aeas 
 
 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BROTHER STEPHEN'S INSPIRATION 
 
 SABRIEL knew nothing 
 
 of Brother Stephen's 
 
 troubles, and so was 
 
 smiling happily as he 
 
 stepped into the room, holding 
 
 his cap in one hand, while with 
 
 his other arm he hugged to him 
 
 his large bunch of violets and 
 
 cuckoo-buds. Indeed he looked 
 
 so bright and full of life that even 
 
 Brother Stephen felt the effect of 
 
 it, and his frown began to smooth 
 
 out a little as he said : 
 
 " Well, my lad, who art thou ? " 
 19 
 
Jl GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 " I am Gabriel Viaud, Brother 
 Stephen," answered the boy, 
 " and I have come to help you ; 
 for they told me Jacques is fallen 
 ill. What would you like me to 
 do first ? " 
 
 To this Brother Stephen 
 scarcely knew what to reply. 
 He was certainly in no mood for 
 work. He was still very, very 
 angry, and thought himself terri- 
 bly misused by the Abbot; and 
 though he greatly dreaded the 
 latter's threats, he had almost 
 reached the point of defying him 
 and the king and everybody else, 
 no matter what dreadful thing 
 happened to him afterward. 
 
 But then as he looked again at 
 the bright-faced little boy stand- 
 ing there, and seeming so eager 
 
 20 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 to help, he began to relent more 
 and more ; and besides, he found 
 it decidedly embarrassing to try 
 to explain things to Gabriel. 
 
 So after a little pause, he said 
 to him : " Gabriel, I am not ready 
 for thee at this moment ; go sit 
 on yonder bench. I wish to 
 think out a matter which is per- 
 plexing me." Then as Gabriel 
 obediently went over to the bench 
 and seated himself, he added : 
 " Thou canst pass the time look- 
 ing at the books on the shelf 
 above thee." 
 
 So while Brother Stephen was 
 trying to make up his mind as to 
 what he would do, Gabriel took 
 down one of the books, and was 
 soon absorbed in its pages. Pres- 
 ently, as he turned a new one, he 
 
 21 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK jj 
 
 gave a little involuntary exclama- 
 tion of delight. At this Brother 
 Stephen noticed him, and — 
 
 " Ah ! " he said, " what hast thou 
 found that seems to please thee?" 
 
 " Oh, sir," answered Gabriel, 
 "this is the most beautiful initial 
 letter I have ever seen ! " 
 
 Now Gabriel did not know that 
 the book had been made a few 
 years before by Brother Stephen 
 himself, and so he had no idea 
 how much it pleased the brother 
 to have his work admired. 
 
 Indeed, most people who do 
 good work of any kind oftentimes 
 feel the need of praise; not flat- 
 tery, but the real approval of some 
 one who understands what they 
 are trying to do. It makes the 
 workman or artist feel that if his 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 work is liked by somebody, it is 
 worth while to try to do more and 
 better. 
 
 Poor Brother Stephen did not 
 get much of this needed praise, 
 for many of the other monks at 
 the Abbey were envious of him, 
 and so were unwilling really to 
 admire his work; while the Ab- 
 bot was so cold and haughty and so 
 taken up with his own affairs, that 
 he seldom took the trouble to say 
 what he liked or disliked. 
 
 So when Brother Stephen saw 
 Gabriel's eager admiration, he felt 
 pleased indeed ; for Gabriel had 
 a nice taste in artistic things, and 
 seemed instinctively to pick out 
 the best points of anything he 
 looked at. And when, in his en- 
 thusiasm, he carried the book over 
 
 23 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 and began to tell Brother Stephen 
 why he so much admired the paint- 
 ing, without knowing it, he really 
 made the latter feel happier than 
 he had felt for many a day. He 
 began to have a decided notion 
 that he would paint King Louis's 
 book after all. And just then, as 
 if to settle the matter, he happened 
 to glance at the corner of the table 
 where Gabriel had laid down his 
 bunch of flowers as he came 
 in. 
 
 It chanced that some of the 
 violets had fallen from the cluster 
 and dropped upon a broad ruler of 
 brass that lay beside the painting 
 materials. And even as Brother 
 Stephen looked, it chanced also 
 that a little white butterfly drifted 
 
 into the room through the bars of 
 
 24 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 the high, open window ; after 
 vaguely fluttering about for a 
 while, at last, attracted by the 
 blossoms, it came, and, poising 
 lightly over the violets on the 
 ruler, began to sip the honey from 
 the heart of one of them. 
 
 As Brother Stephen's artistic 
 eye took in the beauty of effect 
 made by the few flowers on the 
 brass ruler with the butterfly hov- 
 ering over them, he, too, gave a 
 little exclamation, and his eyes 
 brightened and he smiled ; for he 
 had just got a new idea for an 
 illuminated border. 
 
 " Yes," he said to himself, " this 
 
 would be different from any I 
 
 have yet seen ! I will decorate 
 
 King Louis's book with borders 
 
 of gold ; and on the gold I will 
 
 25 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK JJ 
 
 paint the meadow wildflowers, and 
 the bees and butterflies, and all 
 the little flying creatures." 
 
 Now before this, all the bor- 
 ders of the Abbey books had 
 been painted, in the usual manner 
 of the time, with scrolls and birds 
 and flowers more or less conven- 
 tionalized; that is, the artists did 
 not try to make them look exactly 
 like the real ones, but twisted 
 them about in all sorts of fan- 
 tastic ways. Sometimes the stem 
 of a flower would end in the 
 curled-up folds of a winged 
 dragon, or a bird would have 
 strange blossoms growing out of 
 his beak, or perhaps the tips of 
 his wings. 
 
 These borders were indeed ex- 
 quisitely beautiful, but Brother 
 
 26 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 Stephen was just tired of it all, 
 and wanted to do something quite 
 different ; so he was delighted 
 with his new idea of painting the 
 field-flowers exactly like nature, 
 only placing them on a back- 
 ground of gold. 
 
 As he pictured in his mind one 
 page after another thus adorned, 
 he became more and more inter- 
 ested and impatient to begin at 
 once. He forgot all about his 
 anger at the Abbot ; he forgot 
 everything else, except that he 
 wanted to begin King Louis's 
 book as quickly as possible ! 
 
 And so he called briskly to 
 Gabriel, who meantime had re- 
 seated himself on his bench : 
 
 " Gabriel, come hither ! Canst 
 
 thou rule lines without blotting ? 
 
 27 
 
Jj GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 Canst thou make ink and grind 
 colours and prepare gold size ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Gabriel, sur- 
 prised at the monk's eager manner, 
 " I have worked at all these 
 things." 
 
 " Good ! " replied Brother Ste- 
 phen. " Here is a piece of parch- 
 ment thou canst cut and prepare, 
 and then rule it, thus" (and here 
 he showed him how he wished it 
 done), " with scarlet ink. But do 
 not take yonder brass ruler ! Here 
 is one of ivory thou canst use 
 instead." 
 
 And then as Gabriel went to 
 
 work, Brother Stephen, taking a 
 
 goose-quill pen and some black 
 
 ink, began skilfully and carefully 
 
 to make drawings of the violets 
 
 as they lay on the ruler, not for- 
 
 28 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK jj 
 
 getting the white butterfly which 
 still hovered about. The harder 
 he worked the happier he grew; 
 hour after hour passed, till at last 
 the dinner time came, and Gabriel, 
 who was growing very hungry, 
 could hear the footsteps of the 
 brothers, as they marched into 
 the large dining-room where they 
 all ate together. 
 
 Brother Stephen, however, was 
 so absorbed that he did not notice 
 anything ; till, by and by, the door 
 opened, and in came two monks, 
 one carrying some soup and bread 
 and a flagon of wine. As they 
 entered, Brother Stephen turned 
 quickly, and was about to rise, 
 when all at once he felt the tug 
 of the chain still fastened about 
 the leg of the table; at this his 
 
 29 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 face grew scarlet with shame, and 
 he sank back in his chair. 
 
 Gabriel started with surprise, 
 for he had not before seen the 
 chain, partly hidden as it was by 
 the folds of the brother's robe. 
 As he looked, one of the two 
 monks went to the table, and, with 
 a key which he carried, unlocked 
 the chain so Brother Stephen 
 might have a half-hour's liberty 
 while he ate. The monks, how- 
 ever, stayed with him to keep an 
 eye on his movements ; and mean- 
 time they told Gabriel to go out 
 to the Abbey kitchen and find 
 something for his own dinner. 
 
 As Gabriel went out along the 
 corridor to the kitchen, his heart 
 swelled with pity ! Why was 
 Brother Stephen chained ? He 
 
 30 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 tried to think, and remembered 
 that once before he had seen one 
 of the brothers chained to a table 
 in the writing-room because he was 
 not diligent enough with his work, 
 — but Brother Stephen ! Was he 
 not working so hard ? And how 
 beautiful, too, were his drawings! 
 The more Gabriel thought of it 
 the more indignant he grew. In- 
 deed, he did not half-enjoy the 
 bread and savoury soup made of 
 black beans, that the cook dished 
 out for him; he took his wooden 
 bowl, and sitting on a bench, ate 
 absently, thinking all the while of 
 Brother Stephen. 
 
 When he had finished he went 
 back to the chapter-house and 
 found the other monks gone and 
 
 Brother Stephen again chained. 
 
 11 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR, BOOK g 
 
 Gabriel felt much embarrassed to 
 have been obliged to see it ; and 
 when Brother Stephen, pointing 
 to the chain, said bitterly, "Thou 
 seest they were afraid I would run 
 away from my work," the lad was 
 so much at a loss to know what 
 to say, that he very wisely said 
 nothing. 
 
 Now Brother Stephen, though 
 he had begun the book as the 
 Abbot wished, yet he had by no 
 means the meek and penitent spirit 
 which also the Abbot desired of 
 him, and which it was proper for 
 a monk to have. 
 
 And so if the truth must be 
 told, each time the other monks 
 came in to chain him, he felt more 
 than anything else like seizing 
 both of them, and thrusting them 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 bodily out of the door, or at least 
 trying to do so. But then he could 
 not forget the Abbot's threat if he 
 showed disobedience ; and he had 
 been brought up to dread the ban 
 of the Church more than anything 
 else that could possibly happen 
 to him, because he believed that 
 this would make him unhappy, not 
 only in this life, but in the life to 
 come. And so he smothered his 
 feelings and tried to bear the hu- 
 miliation as patiently as he could. 
 Gabriel could not help but see, 
 however, that it took him some 
 time to regain the interest he had 
 felt in his work, and it was not un- 
 til the afternoon was half-gone that 
 he seemed to forget his troubles 
 enough really to have heart in the 
 pages he was making. 
 
 33 
 
3| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 When dusk fell, Gabriel picked 
 up and arranged his things in 
 order, and bidding Brother Ste- 
 phen good night, trudged off 
 home. 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GABRIEL INTERVIEWS THE ABBOT 
 
 H E next day of Gabriel's 
 service passed off much 
 the same as the first, and 
 so it went for almost a 
 but the boy saw day by 
 day that Brother Stephen's chain 
 became more and more unbeara- 
 ble to him, and that he had long 
 fits of brooding, when he looked 
 so miserable and unhappy that 
 Gabriel's heart fairly ached for 
 him. 
 
 At last the lad, who was a sym- 
 pathetic little fellow, felt that he 
 
 35 
 
JP GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 could stand it no longer, but must 
 try and help him in some way. 
 
 "If I could only speak to the 
 Abbot himself," thought Gabriel, 
 " surely he would see that Brother 
 Stephen is set free ! " 
 
 The Abbot, however, was a 
 very stately and dignified person ; 
 and Gabriel did not quite see how 
 a little peasant boy like himself 
 could find an opportunity to speak 
 to him, or how he would dare to 
 say anything even if he had a 
 chance. 
 
 Now it happened the very 
 morning that Gabriel was think- 
 ing about all this, he was out in 
 the Abbey kitchen beating up the 
 white of a nice fresh egg which 
 he had brought with him from 
 
 home that day. He had the egg 
 
 36 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK j| 
 
 in an earthen bowl, and was work- 
 ing away with a curious wooden 
 beater, for few people had forks 
 in those days. And as he beat 
 up the white froth, the Abbey 
 cooks also were very busy making 
 pasties, and roasting huge pieces 
 of meat before the great open fire- 
 place, and baking loaves of sweet 
 Normandy bread for the monks' 
 dinner. 
 
 But Gabriel was not helping 
 them ; no, he was beating the egg 
 for Brother Stephen to use in put- 
 ting on the gold in the border he 
 was painting. For the brothers 
 did not have the imitation gold 
 powders of which we see so much 
 to-day ; but instead, they used real 
 gold, which they ground up very 
 fine in earthen mortars, and took 
 
 37 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 much trouble to properly prepare. 
 And when they wanted to lay it 
 on, they commonly used the white 
 of a fresh egg to fasten it to the 
 parchment. 
 
 So Gabriel was working as fast 
 as he could, for Brother Stephen 
 was waiting; when all at once he 
 happened to look out the kitchen 
 door, which opened on a courtyard 
 where there was a pretty garden, 
 and he saw the Abbot walking up 
 and down the gravel paths, and 
 now and then stopping to see how 
 the tulips and daffodils were com- 
 ing on. 
 
 As Gabriel looked, the Abbot 
 
 seated himself on a stone bench ; 
 
 and then the little boy, forgetting 
 
 his awe of him, and thinking only 
 
 of Brother Stephen and his chain 
 
 38 
 
"He saw the Abbot walking up and down 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 ran out as fast as he could, still 
 holding his bowl in one hand and 
 the wooden beater in the other. 
 
 As he came up to where the 
 Abbot was sitting, he courtesied 
 in such haste that he spilled out 
 half his tgg as he eagerly burst 
 out: 
 
 "O reverend Father! will you 
 not command Brother Stephen to 
 be set free from his chain ? " 
 
 The Abbot at first had smiled 
 at the droll figure made by the 
 little boy, whom he supposed to 
 be one of the kitchen scullions, 
 but at this speech he stiffened up 
 and looked very stern as Gabriel 
 went on breathlessly : 
 
 " He is making such a beautiful 
 book, and he works so hard ; but 
 the chain is so dreadful to him* 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 and I was sure that if you knew 
 they had put it on him, you would 
 not allow it!" 
 
 Here the Abbot began to feel 
 a trifle uncomfortable, for he saw 
 that Gabriel did not know that he 
 himself had ordered Brother Ste- 
 phen to wear the chain. But he 
 mentioned nothing of this as he 
 spoke to Gabriel. 
 
 " Boy," he said, severely, " what 
 
 affair of thine is this matter about 
 
 Brother Stephen ? Doubtless if 
 
 he is chained, it is a punishment 
 
 he hath merited. 'Tis scarcely 
 
 becoming in a lad like thee to 
 
 question these things." And then, 
 
 as he looked sharply at Gabriel, 
 
 he added, " Did Brother Stephen 
 
 send thee hither ? Who art 
 
 thou ? " 
 
 40 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 At this Gabriel hung his head, 
 and, " Nay, sir," he answered, 
 simply, " he does not know, and 
 perhaps he will be angry with me ! 
 I am his colour-grinder, and I was 
 in the kitchen getting the egg for 
 his gold," — here suddenly Gabriel 
 remembered his bowl, and looking 
 down in dismay, " Oh, sir," he 
 exclaimed, " I have spilled the egg y 
 and it was fresh-laid this morning 
 by my white hen!' 5 Here the 
 boy looked so honestly distressed 
 that the Abbot could not but be- 
 lieve that he spoke the truth, and 
 so he smiled a little as he said, 
 not unkindly: 
 
 " Well, never mind about thy 
 
 hen, — go on ; thou wast in the 
 
 kitchen, and then what ? " 
 
 " I saw you in the garden," 
 41 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK jj 
 
 answered Gabriel, " and — and — 
 I thought that if you knew about 
 the chain, you would not like it;" 
 (here the Abbot began to look 
 very stern again) ; " and," Ga- 
 briel added, " I could not bear to 
 see Brother Stephen so unhappy. 
 I know he is unhappy, for when- 
 ever he notices the chain, he 
 frowns and his hand trembles so 
 he can hardly paint ! " 
 
 " Ah," said the Abbot to him- 
 self, " if his hand trembles, that is 
 another matter." For the Abbot 
 knew perfectly well that in order 
 to do successfully anything so del- 
 icate as a piece of illumination, 
 one must have a steady hand and 
 untroubled nerves ; and he began 
 to think that perhaps he had gone a 
 little too far in punishing Brother 
 
 42 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 Stephen. So he thought a min- 
 ute, and then to Gabriel, who was 
 still standing before him, not quite 
 knowing what to do, he merely 
 said: 
 
 " Go back to thy work, lad, and 
 mind thy colours ; and," he added 
 with haughty dignity, " I will do 
 as I think best about Brother Ste- 
 phen's chain." 
 
 So Gabriel went back to the 
 kitchen feeling very uncomforta- 
 ble, for he was afraid he had dis- 
 pleased the Abbot, and so, per- 
 haps, done more harm than good 
 to Brother Stephen. While he 
 was quite sure he had displeased 
 Brother Stephen, for he had kept 
 him waiting a long while, and 
 worse still, had spilled the best 
 egg there was in the kitchen! 
 
 43 - 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 However, the lad begged one of 
 the cooks to let him have another 
 egg y and, whisking it up as quickly 
 as he could, made haste to carry it 
 to the chapter-house. 
 
 As he pushed open the door, 
 Brother Stephen said, sharply, 
 " How now ! I thought they had 
 chained thee to one of the tables 
 of the kitchen ! " 
 
 " I am so sorry," said Gabriel, 
 his face very red, — " but — I — 
 I spilled the first egg and had to 
 make ready another." 
 
 He hoped Brother Stephen 
 would not ask him how he hap- 
 pened to spill it ; for by this time 
 he began to realize that the high- 
 spirited monk probably had rea- 
 sons of his own for submitting to 
 the punishment of the chain, and 
 
 44 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 that very likely he would be dis- 
 pleased if he knew that his little 
 colour -grinder had asked the 
 Abbot to free him. So Gabriel 
 felt much relieved when, without 
 further questions, Brother Stephen 
 went on with his work, in which 
 for the moment he was greatly 
 absorbed. 
 
 And thus the day went quietly 
 on, till early in the afternoon; 
 when, to the great surprise of 
 both of them, the door slowly 
 opened, and in walked the Abbot 
 himself. 
 
 The Abbot was haughty, as 
 usual, and, as Brother Stephen 
 saw him come in, he raised his 
 head with an involuntary look of 
 pride and resentment ; but neither 
 spoke as the Abbot stepped over 
 
 45 
 
JB GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK £ 
 
 to the table, and examined the 
 page on which the monk was 
 working. 
 
 This particular page happened 
 to be ornamented with a wide 
 border of purple flag -flowers, 
 copied from some Gabriel had 
 gathered the day before in a 
 swampy corner of one of the way- 
 side meadows. Their fresh green 
 leaves and rich purple petals shone 
 with royal effect against the back- 
 ground of gold ; while hovering 
 over them, and clinging to their 
 stems, were painted honey-bees, 
 with gauzy wings, and soft, furry- 
 looking bodies of black and gold. 
 
 As the Abbot saw how beauti- 
 ful it all was, and how different 
 from any other of the Abbey illu- 
 minations, he smiled to himself 
 
 46 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 with pleasure. For the Abbot, 
 though he never said a great deal, 
 yet very well knew a good piece 
 of artistic work when he saw it 
 Instead of merely smiling to him- 
 self, however, it would have made 
 Brother Stephen much happier if 
 he had taken the trouble to say 
 aloud some of the nice things he 
 was thinking about the work 
 
 For Brother Stephen felt very 
 bitter as he thought over all he 
 had been made to bear ; and even 
 as the Abbot looked, he saw, sure 
 enough, that his hand trembled 
 as Gabriel had said ; for the poor 
 monk had hard work to control 
 his feelings. 
 
 Now the Abbot really did not 
 mean to be unkind. It was only 
 that he did not quite know how 
 
g| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK JJ 
 
 to unbend ; and perhaps feeling 
 this, he soon went out. 
 
 Gabriel, who had been very 
 much afraid he might say some- 
 thing to him about their conver- 
 sation of the morning, felt greatly 
 relieved when the door closed be- 
 hind him ; and the rest of the 
 afternoon he and Brother Stephen 
 worked on in silence. 
 
 4M 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 UT the next morning 
 when Gabriel reached the 
 Abbey, to his great joy 
 he found the chain gone 
 (for the Abbot had so ordered 
 after his visit to the chapter-house), 
 and Brother Stephen already hard 
 at work, and happy as a bird. 
 For like many other artist souls, 
 when things went wrong, Brother 
 Stephen suffered dreadful unhap- 
 piness; while, on the other hand, 
 when pleased, he was full of 
 boundless delight; and so, being 
 
 49 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 relieved from the chain, he was in 
 one of his most joyous moods. 
 
 He smiled brightly as Gabriel 
 entered ; and the April sunlight 
 streaming in through the high 
 narrow windows sparkled so ra- 
 diantly, and so filled them with 
 the life and energy and gladness 
 of the spring-time, that each of 
 them felt as though he could do 
 no end of work, and that King 
 Louis's book should be one of 
 the most beautiful things in all 
 the world ! 
 
 And that morning was but the 
 beginning of a long series of 
 happy days that Brother Stephen 
 and Gabriel were to spend to- 
 gether. At first the monk knew 
 nothing of how it happened that 
 he was freed from the humilia- 
 
 50 
 
S GABRBEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK jj 
 
 tion of the chain ; but one day he 
 heard about Gabriels talk with 
 the Abbot from one of the brother- 
 hood who had chanced to be in 
 the garden that morning, and 
 had overheard them. 
 
 At first Brother Stephen was 
 rather displeased ; for he did not 
 like it that the little boy had 
 begged of the Abbot something 
 which he himself was too proud 
 to ask. But when he thought it 
 over, and reflected that it was out 
 of sheer kindness that Gabriel 
 had made the request, his heart 
 strangely warmed toward the lad. 
 Indeed, through all his life in the 
 Abbey, no one had ever really 
 cared whether he was happy or 
 unhappy ; and so poor Brother 
 Stephen had had no idea how 
 
 51 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 very pleasant it would be to have 
 even a little peasant boy take an 
 interest in him. And as day 
 after day went by, he began to 
 love Gabriel, as he had never 
 before loved any one. 
 
 Yes, those were very happy 
 days for both of them, and very 
 busy ones, too. Every morning 
 Gabriel would come to the Abbey 
 with his hands filled with the 
 prettiest wild flowers he could 
 find on the way ; and from these 
 Brother Stephen would select the 
 ones that pleased him best to 
 paint. Sometimes it would be 
 the sweet wild hyacinths of pale 
 blue, sometimes the yellow marsh- 
 marigolds, and again the little 
 deep pink field-roses, or some 
 other of the innumerable lovely 
 
 $2 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 blossoms that every season 
 brought. And with them all, as 
 he had said, he put in the small 
 flying creatures; butterflies and 
 bees, scarlet ladybugs and pale 
 green beetles, whose wings looked 
 like scraps of rainbows ; and 
 sometimes, in his zeal, he even 
 painted the little snails with their 
 curled-up shells, and the fuzzy 
 caterpillars that happened to come 
 in on Gabriel's bouquets, and you 
 really would never believe how 
 very handsome even these looked 
 in the gold borders, when Brother 
 Stephen got through with them. 
 
 And so, day by day, the book 
 grew in perfect beauty. And as 
 Brother Stephen worked, there 
 was much for Gabriel to do also.. 
 For in those days artists could 
 
 53 
 
9 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK * 
 
 not buy their ink and paints all 
 ready for use as they do to-day, 
 but were obliged to prepare by 
 hand almost all their materials; 
 and a little assistant such as Ga- 
 briel had to keep his hands busy, 
 and his eyes open, too. 
 
 For instance, the matter of the 
 ink alone, Gabriel had to have on 
 his mind for weeks ; for one could 
 not then buy it ready made, in a 
 bottle, as we do now without the 
 least trouble, but the monks or 
 their colour-grinders had to make 
 it themselves. 
 
 And this is the way Gabriel 
 had been taught to do it : morn- 
 ing after morning of those early 
 spring days, as he trudged along 
 on his way to the Abbey, he kept 
 sharp watch on the young haw- 
 
 54 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 thorn-trees by the roadside; and 
 when their first buds showed, and 
 while they were still tiny, he gath- 
 ered armfuls of the boughs, and 
 carried them to the Abbey, where 
 he spread them out in a sunny 
 corner of the courtyard to stay 
 until quite dry. Then he had to 
 put them in a stone mortar and 
 pound off all the bark; and this 
 he put to steep in great earthen 
 jars of water, until the water 
 might draw all the sap from out 
 the bark. All this took several 
 weeks to do. 
 
 And then Gabriel spent 2 
 number of busy days in the great 
 kitchen. There he had a large 
 saucepan, and in it he placed, a 
 little at a time, the water in which 
 the bark was steeping; and then 
 
 55 
 
9 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK R 
 
 raking out some coals from the 
 blazing fire of logs, he set his 
 saucepan over them, and watched 
 the barky water until it had boiled 
 down very thick, much as one 
 boils down syrup for preserves. 
 
 Then he dipped out the thick 
 liquid into little bags of parch- 
 ment, which he had spent days 
 stitching up very tightly, so that 
 nothing could leak out. After 
 the little bags were filled, he hung 
 them out-of-doors in the bright 
 sunlight; and as the days grew 
 warmer and warmer, the sun soon 
 dried their contents, so that if 
 one of the little bags were opened 
 it would be found filled with a 
 dark powder. 
 
 And then, last of all, when 
 
 Brother Stephen wished some 
 
 56 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 * 
 
 fresh ink for his writing, or for 
 the delicate lines about his initial 
 letters or borders, Gabriel would 
 take a little of the dry powder 
 from one of the bags, and, putting 
 it in a small saucepan over the 
 fire, would melt it with a little 
 wine. And so at last it would 
 be ready for use ; a fine, beauti- 
 ful black ink that hundreds of 
 years have found hard work to 
 fade. 
 
 Then there was the gold to 
 grind and prepare ; that was the 
 hardest of all, and fairly made 
 his arms ache. Many of the 
 paints, too, had to be worked over 
 very carefully ; and the blue espe- 
 cially, and other brilliant colours 
 made from vegetable dyes, must 
 be kept in a very curious way. 
 
 57 ' 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 Brother Stephen would prepare 
 the dyes, as he preferred to do 
 this himself; and then Gabriel 
 would take little pieces of linen 
 cloth and dip a few in each of 
 the colours until the linen would 
 be soaked ; and afterward, when 
 they had dried in the sun, he 
 would arrange these bits in a little 
 booklet of cotton paper, which 
 every night Brother Stephen, as 
 was the custom with many of the 
 monks, put under his pillow so 
 that it might keep very dry and 
 warm ; for this preserved the 
 colours in all their brightness. 
 And then when he wanted to 
 use some of them, he would tell 
 Gabriel to cut off a bit of the 
 linen of whatever colour he 
 
 wished, and soak it in water, and 
 
 58 
 
" Dreaming of all the beautiful things he meant to paint " 
 
j| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 in this way he would get a fine 
 liquid paint. 
 
 For holding this paint, as 
 dishes were none too plenty in 
 those days, mussel shells were 
 generally used; and one of Ga- 
 briel's tasks was to gather num- 
 bers of these from the banks of 
 the little river that ran through 
 one of the Abbey meadows. That 
 was very pleasant work, though, 
 and sometimes, late in the after- 
 noons of those lovely summer 
 days, Brother Stephen and Ga- 
 briel would walk out together to 
 the edge of this little river; the 
 monk to sit on the grassy bank 
 dreaming of all the beautiful 
 things he meant to paint, while 
 Gabriel hunted for the pretty 
 purple shells. 
 
 59 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 And oftentimes the lad would 
 bring along a fishing-pole and 
 try his luck at catching an eel ; for 
 even this, too, had to do with the 
 making of the book. For Brother 
 Stephen in putting on the gold 
 of his borders, while he generally 
 used white of egg, yet for certain 
 parts preferred a glue made from 
 the skin of an eel ; and this Ga- 
 briel could make very finely. 
 
 So you see there were a great 
 many things for a little colour- 
 grinder to do ; yet Gabriel was 
 very industrious, and it often hap- 
 pened that he would finish his 
 tasks for the day, and still have 
 several hours to himself. And 
 this was the best of all ; for at 
 such times Brother Stephen, who 
 
 was getting along finely, would 
 
 60 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 take great pleasure in teaching 
 him to illuminate. He would let 
 the boy take a piece of parchment, 
 and then giving him beautiful 
 letters and bits of borders, would 
 show him how to copy them. 
 Indeed, he took so much pains in 
 his teaching, that very soon Ga- 
 briel, who loved the work, and 
 who had a real talent for it, be- 
 gan to be quite skilful, and to 
 make very good designs of his 
 own. 
 
 Whenever he did anything 
 especially nice, Brother Stephen 
 would seem almost as much 
 pleased as if Gabriel were his 
 own boy ; and hugging him affec- 
 tionately, he would exclaim : 
 
 "Ah, little one, thou hast in- 
 deed the artist soul ! And, please 
 
 61 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 God, I will train thy hand so that 
 when thou art a man it shall 
 never know the hard toil of the 
 peasant. Thy pen and brush 
 shall earn a livelihood for thee ! " 
 And then he would take more 
 pains than ever to teach Gabriel 
 all the best knowledge of his art. 
 Nor did Brother Stephen con- 
 tent himself with teaching the boy 
 only to paint ; but in his love for 
 him, he desired to do still more. 
 He had no wealth some day to 
 bestow upon him, but he had 
 something that was a very great 
 deal better; for Brother Stephen, 
 like many of the monks of the 
 time, had a good education ; and 
 this he determined to share with 
 Gabriel. 
 
 He arranged to have him stay 
 62 
 
9 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 at the Abbey for his supper as 
 often as he could be spared from 
 home; and hour after hour of the 
 long summer evenings he spent 
 teaching the lad to read and write, 
 which was really quite a distinc- 
 tion; for it was an accomplish- 
 ment that none of the peasants, 
 and very few of the lords and 
 ladies of that time possessed. Ga- 
 briel was quick and eager to learn, 
 and Brother Stephen gradually 
 added other things to his list of 
 studies, and both of them took 
 the greatest pleasure in the hours 
 thus passed together. 
 
 Sometimes they would go out 
 into the garden, and, sitting on 
 one of the quaint stone benches, 
 Brother Stephen would point out 
 to Gabriel the different stars, or 
 
 63 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 tell him about the fragrant grow- 
 ing plants around them ; or, per- 
 haps, repeat to him some dreamy- 
 legend of old, old Normandy. 
 
 And then, by and by, Gabriel 
 would go home through the per- 
 fumed dark, feeling vaguely happy ; 
 for all the while, through those 
 pleasant evenings with Brother 
 Stephen, his mind and heart were 
 opening brightly as the yellow 
 primroses, that blossomed by moon- 
 light over all the Abbey meadows. 
 
 &4 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE COUNT'S TAX 
 
 ND in this happy manner 
 the spring and summer 
 wore away and the au- 
 tumn came. Brother 
 Stephen felt very cheerful, for the 
 beautiful book grew more beauti- 
 ful week by week; and he was 
 very proud and happy, because he 
 knew it was the loveliest thing 
 he had ever made. 
 
 Indeed, he himself was so cheer- 
 ful, that as the autumn days, one 
 after another, melted away, it was 
 some little time before he noticed 
 
 65 
 
JS GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK jj 
 
 that Gabriel was losing his mer- 
 riness, and that he had begun to 
 look sad and distressed. And 
 finally, one morning, he came look- 
 ing so very unhappy, that Brother 
 Stephen asked, with much con- 
 cern : 
 
 " Why, lad, whither have all 
 thy gay spirits taken flight ? Art 
 thou ill ? " 
 
 " Nay, sir," answered Gabriel, 
 sadly ; " but oh, Brother Stephen, 
 we are in so much trouble at 
 home ! " 
 
 At this the monk at once began 
 to question him, and learned that 
 Gabriel's family were indeed in 
 great misfortune. 
 
 And this is how it came about : 
 in those days the peasant folk 
 had a very hard time indeed. 
 
 66 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 All of the land through the coun- 
 try was owned by the great nobles ; 
 and the poor peasants, who lived 
 on the little farms into which the 
 land was divided, had few rights. 
 They could not even move to 
 another place if they so wished, 
 but were obliged to spend all 
 their lives under the control of 
 whatever nobleman happened to 
 own the estate on which they 
 were born. 
 
 They lived in little thatched 
 cottages, and cultivated their bits 
 of land ; and as rent for this, each 
 peasant was obliged to help sup- 
 port the great lord who owned 
 everything, and who always lived 
 in a strong castle, with armed 
 men under his command. 
 
 The peasants had to raise 
 
 67 
 
JJ GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 wheat and vegetables and sheep 
 and cows, so that the people of 
 the castles might eat nice, white 
 bread, and nut cookies and roast 
 meat ; though the poor peasants 
 themselves had to be content, day 
 after day, with little more than 
 hard, black bread, and perhaps a 
 single bowl of cabbage or potato 
 soup, from which the whole family 
 would dip with their wooden 
 spoons. 
 
 Then, too, the peasants often- 
 times had to pay taxes when their 
 noble lord wished to raise money, 
 and even to follow him to war if 
 he so commanded, though this 
 did not often happen. 
 
 And now we come to the rea- 
 son for Gabriel's troubles. It 
 seems that the Count Pierre de 
 
 68 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 Bouchage, to whose estate Ga- 
 briel's family belonged, had got 
 into a quarrel with a certain baron 
 who lived near the town of Ev- 
 reux, and Count Pierre was de- 
 termined to take his followers 
 and attack the barons castle ; for 
 these private wars were very com- 
 mon in those days. 
 
 But Count Pierre needed money 
 to carry on his little war, and so 
 had laid a very heavy tax on the 
 peasants of his estate ; and Ga- 
 briel's father had been unable to 
 raise the sum of money demanded. 
 For besides Gabriel, there were 
 several little brothers and sisters 
 in the family, Jean and M argot 
 and little Guillaume, who must be 
 clothed and fed ; and though the 
 
 father was honest and hard-work- 
 
 69 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 ing, yet the land of their little 
 farm was poor, and it was all the 
 family could do to find themselves 
 enough on which to live. 
 
 When peasant Viaud had 
 begged Count Pierre to release 
 him from the tax, the count, who 
 was hard and unsympathetic, had 
 become angry, and given orders 
 that the greater part of their little 
 farm should be taken from them, 
 and he had seized also their little 
 flock of sheep. This was a griev- 
 ous loss, for out of the wool that 
 grew on the sheeps' backs, Ga- 
 briel's mother every winter made 
 the warm, homespun clothes for 
 all the family. 
 
 Indeed, Count Pierre had no 
 
 real right to do all this ; but in 
 
 those times, when a noble lord 
 
 70 
 
"I GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 chose to be cruel and unjust, the 
 poor peasants had no way to help 
 matters. 
 
 And this was not all of Ga- 
 briel's woes ; for only a few days 
 after he had told these things to 
 Brother Stephen, when he went 
 home at night, he found his 
 mother crying bitterly, and learned 
 that Count Pierre, who was hav- 
 ing some trouble in raising his 
 money, and so had become more 
 merciless than ever, had that day 
 imprisoned his father at the castle, 
 and refused to release him unless 
 some of the tax were paid. 
 
 This was the hardest blow of 
 all ; and though the other children 
 were too young to understand all 
 that had befallen them, poor Ga- 
 briel and his mother were so dis- 
 
 71 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 tressed that neither slept that 
 night ; and the next morning when 
 the little boy arose, tired out in- 
 stead of rested by the long night, 
 he had scarcely the heart to go 
 away to the Abbey, and leave 
 things so miserable at home. 
 But his mother thought it best for 
 him to keep on with his work 
 with Brother Stephen, because of 
 the little sum he earned ; and then, 
 too, he felt that he must do his 
 part to help until King Louis's 
 book was finished. After that, 
 he did not know what he could 
 do! He did not know how he 
 could best try to take his father's 
 place and help the family ; for, 
 after all, he knew he was only a 
 little boy, and so things seemed 
 
 very hopeless ! 
 
 72 
 
Jj GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK fj 
 
 Indeed the grief and poverty 
 that had come upon them at home 
 made Gabriel so sad that Brother 
 Stephen was quite heart-broken, 
 too, for he deeply loved the lad. 
 As he worked, he kept trying all 
 the while to think of some way 
 to help them ; but as the monk 
 had passed all his life within 
 the walls of the Abbey, he knew 
 but little of the ways of the out- 
 side world ; and he had no money 
 of his own, or he would gladly 
 have paid the tax himself. 
 
 n 
 
-n'„tn 'fr^.lMW- iV 
 
 GASRJEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GABRIEL'S PRAYER 
 
 EANTIME, though they 
 worked quietly, they were 
 both very industrious ; 
 and at last one day, late 
 in October, when the first snow 
 was beginning to fall, Brother 
 Stephen finished the last page of 
 the beautiful book. He gave a 
 sigh as he laid down his paint- 
 brush ; not because he was tired, 
 but because in his heart he was 
 really sorry to finish his work, for 
 he knew that then it would soon 
 be taken away, and he hated to 
 part with it. 
 
 74 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. 
 
 As he and Gabriel laid all the 
 pages together in the order in 
 which they were to go, brother 
 Stephen's heart swelled with pride, 
 and Gabriel thought he had never 
 seen anything half so lovely ! 
 
 The text was written in beauti- 
 ful letters of the lustrous black ink 
 which Gabriel had made ; and at 
 the beginnings of new chapters, 
 wonderful initial letters glittered 
 in gold and colours till they 
 looked like little mosaics of pre- 
 cious stones. 
 
 Here and there through the 
 text were scattered exquisite min- 
 iature pictures of saints and 
 angels ; while as for the borders 
 that enclosed every page, they 
 wreathed around the written 
 words such lovely garlands of 
 
 75 ' 
 
Jl GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK R 
 
 painted blossoms, that to Gabriel 
 the whole book seemed a marvel- 
 lous bouquet of all the sweet 
 flowers he had daily gathered 
 from the Norman fields, and that 
 Brother Stephen, by the magic of 
 his art, had made immortal. 
 
 Indeed the little boy fairly 
 blinked as he looked at the spark- 
 ling beauty of those pages where 
 the blossoms were to live on, 
 through the centuries, bright and 
 beautiful and unharmed by wind 
 or rain or the driving snow, that 
 even then was covering up all the 
 bare frost-smitten meadows with- 
 out. 
 
 And so Gabriel turned over 
 page after page shining with gold 
 and purple and rose-colour, till 
 he came to the very last of the 
 
 76 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 text ; and then he saw that there 
 was yet one page more, and on 
 turning over this he read these 
 words : 
 
 " I, Brother Stephen, of the 
 Abbey of St. Martin-de-Bou- 
 chage, made this book ; and for 
 every initial letter and picture and 
 border of flowers that I have 
 herein wrought, I pray the Lord 
 God to have compassion upon 
 some one of my grievous sins ! " 
 
 This was written in beautifully, 
 and all around it was painted a 
 graceful border like braided rib- 
 bons of blue. 
 
 Now in Brother Stephen's time, 
 when any one finished an espe- 
 cially beautiful illumination of 
 any part of the Bible, it was 
 quite customary for the artist to 
 
 77 
 
add, at the end, a little prayer. 
 Indeed, no one can make a really 
 beautiful thing without loving the 
 work; and those old-time artist- 
 monks took such delight in the 
 flowery pages they painted, that 
 they felt sure the dear Lord him- 
 self could not help but be pleased 
 to have his words made so beau- 
 tiful, and that he would so grant 
 the little prayer at the end of the 
 book, because of the loving labour 
 that had gone before. 
 
 As Gabriel again read over 
 Brother Stephen's last page, it 
 set him to thinking ; and a little 
 later, as he walked home in the 
 frosty dusk, he thought of it again. 
 
 It was true, he said to himself, 
 that all the beautiful written and 
 painted work on King Louis's 
 
 78 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 book had been done by Brother 
 Stephen's hands, — and yet, — 
 and yet, — had not he, too, helped ? 
 Had he not gathered the thorny 
 hawthorn, and pricked his fin- 
 gers, and spent days and days 
 making the ink? Had he not, 
 week after week, ground the col- 
 ours and the gold till his arms 
 ached, and his hands were blis- 
 tered ? Had he not made the 
 glue, and prepared the parchment, 
 and ruled the lines (and one had 
 to be so careful not to blot them !), 
 and brought all the flowers for 
 the borders ? 
 
 Surely, he thought, though he 
 had not painted any of its lovely 
 pages, yet he had done his little 
 part to help make the book, and 
 so, perhaps — perhaps — might 
 
 79 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 not the Lord God feel kindly 
 toward him, too, and be willing to 
 grant a little prayer to him also ? 
 
 Now of course Gabriel could 
 have prayed any time and any- 
 where, and simply asked for what 
 he wanted. But he had a strong 
 feeling that God would be much 
 more apt to notice it, if the 
 prayer were beautifully written 
 out, like Brother Stephen's, and 
 placed in the book itself, on the 
 making of which he had worked 
 so long and so hard. 
 
 Gabriel was very pleased with 
 
 his idea, and by the time he 
 
 reached home, he had planned 
 
 out just what he wanted to say. 
 
 He ate his supper of hard black 
 
 bread very happily, and when, 
 
 soon after, he crept into bed and 
 
 80 
 
% GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 pulled up his cover of ragged 
 sheepskin, he went to sleep with 
 his head so full of the work of 
 the past few months, that he 
 dreamed that the whole world was 
 full of painted books and angels 
 with rose-coloured wings ; that all 
 the meadows of Normandy were 
 covered with gold, and the flow- 
 ers fastened on with white of egg 
 and eel-skins; and then, just as 
 he was getting out his ruler to 
 rule lines over the blue sky, he 
 rubbed his eyes and woke up; 
 and, finding it was morning, he 
 jumped out of bed, and hastened 
 to make himself ready for his 
 day's work 
 
 When he reached the Abbey, 
 Brother Stephen was busy bind- 
 ing together the finished leaves 
 
 81 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK E 
 
 of the book; for the monks had 
 to do not only the painting, but 
 also the putting together of their 
 books themselves. 
 
 After Gabriel had waited on 
 Brother Stephen for awhile, the 
 latter told him he could have 
 some time to himself, and so he 
 hurried to get out the little jars 
 of scarlet and blue and black ink, 
 and the bits of parchment that 
 Brother Stephen had given him. 
 He looked over the parchment 
 carefully, and at last found one 
 piece from which he could cut a 
 page that was almost as large as 
 the pages of the book. It was an 
 old piece, and had some writing 
 on one side, but he knew how to 
 scrape it off clean ; and then tak- 
 ing some of the scarlet ink, he 
 
 82 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 ruled some lines in the centre of 
 the page, and between these, in 
 the nicest black letters he knew 
 how to make, he wrote his little 
 prayer. And this is the way it 
 read : 
 
 " I, Gabriel Viaud, am Brother 
 Stephen's colour-grinder ; and I 
 have made the ink for this book, 
 and the glue, and caught the eels, 
 and ground the gold and colours, 
 and ruled the lines and gathered 
 the flowers for the borders, and 
 so I pray the Lord God will be 
 kind and let my father out of 
 prison in Count Pierre's castle, 
 and tell Count Pierre to give 
 us back our meadow and sheep, 
 for we cannot pay the tax, and 
 mother says we will starve." 
 
 Now in the little prayers that 
 83 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 the monks added at the end of a 
 book, it was the custom to ask 
 only that their sins might be for- 
 given. But Gabriel, though he 
 knew he had plenty of sins, — for 
 so the parish priest of St. Martin's 
 village told all the peasant folk 
 every Sunday, — yet somehow 
 could not feel nearly so anxious 
 to have them forgiven, as he was 
 to have his father freed from 
 prison in the castle, and their 
 little farm and flock restored to 
 them ; and so he had decided to 
 word his prayer the way he did. 
 
 It took him some time to write 
 it out, for he took great pains to 
 shape every letter as perfectly as 
 possible. Nor did he forget that 
 Brother Stephen had taught him 
 
 always to make the word God 
 
 8 4 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 more beautiful than the others ; 
 so he wrote that in scarlet ink, 
 and edged it with scallops and 
 loops and little dots of blue ; and 
 then all around the whole prayer 
 he made graceful flourishes of 
 the coloured inks. He very- 
 much wished for a bit of gold 
 with which to enrich his work, 
 but gold was too precious for 
 little boys to practise with, and 
 so Brother Stephen had not given 
 him any for his own. Neverthe- 
 less, when the page was finished, 
 the artistic effect was very pleas- 
 ing, and it really was a remarka- 
 bly clever piece of work for a 
 little boy to have made. 
 
 He did not tell Brother Ste- 
 phen what he was doing, for he 
 was afraid that perhaps he might 
 
 85 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 not quite approve of his plan. 
 Not that Gabriel wished for a 
 moment to do anything that 
 Brother Stephen would not like 
 him to do, but only that he thought 
 their affairs at home so desperate 
 that he could not afford to risk 
 losing this means of help; — and 
 then, too, he felt that the prayer 
 was his own little secret, and he 
 did not want to tell any one about 
 it anyway. 
 
 And so he was greatly relieved 
 that Brother Stephen, who was 
 very much absorbed in his own 
 work, did not ask him any ques- 
 tions. The monk was always 
 very kind about helping him in 
 every way possible, but never in- 
 sisted on Gabriel's showing him 
 everything, wisely thinking that 
 
 86 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 many times it was best to let the 
 boy work out his own ideas. So 
 Gabriel said nothing about his 
 page, but put it carefully away, 
 until he could find some oppor- 
 tunity to place it in the book 
 itself. 
 
 Meantime Brother Stephen 
 worked industriously, and in a 
 few days more he had quite fin- 
 ished the book. He had strongly 
 bound all his painted pages to- 
 gether, and put on a cover of 
 violet velvet, which the nuns of a 
 near-by convent had exquisitely 
 embroidered in pearls and gold. 
 And, last of all, the cover was 
 fastened with clasps of wrought 
 gold, set with amethysts. Alto- 
 gether it was a royal gift, and one 
 worthy of any queen. Even the 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 Abbot, cold and stately though 
 he usually was, exclaimed with 
 pleasure when he saw it, and 
 warmly praised Brother Stephen 
 upon the loveliness of his work 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BOOK GOES TO LADY ANNE 
 
 ND it was well that the 
 beautiful book was fin- 
 ished, for the very next 
 afternoon a nobleman, 
 with several attendants, arrived 
 at the Abbey to see if the work 
 were done. The nobleman was 
 Count Henri of Lisieux, who had 
 been sent by King Louis to bear 
 to Lady Anne a precious casket 
 of jewels as part of his bridal 
 gifts to her; and the count had 
 also received orders from the 
 
 king to go to St. Martin's Abbey 
 
 8 9 
 
Jj GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 on his way, and if the book of 
 hours were finished, to take it 
 along to the Lady Anne. 
 
 Count Henri was greatly 
 pleased when they showed the 
 work to him, and he said that he 
 knew both King Louis and his 
 bride could not help but be de- 
 lighted with it. And then, after 
 it had been duly looked at and 
 admired, the book was wrapped up 
 in a piece of soft, rich silk and laid 
 on a shelf in the chapter-house to 
 wait until the next morning, when 
 Count Henri would take it away. 
 For he had come far, and the 
 Abbot had invited him to stay 
 overnight in the Abbey before 
 going on with his journey. 
 
 While all this was taking place, 
 
 and the book was being examined, 
 
 90 
 
J GABRIEL ANB THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 Gabriel had been quietly at work 
 in one corner of the chapter-house, 
 grinding some gold ; and when he 
 heard that Count Henri was go- 
 ing away the next morning, he 
 knew that if he expected to put 
 his own little page in the book, 
 he must do so some time before 
 he went home that evening; and 
 he did not quite see how he could 
 manage it. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, however, 
 a little before dusk, all the others 
 left the chapter -house, Brother 
 Stephen to go to his own cell, 
 while the Abbot took Count 
 Henri out to show him over the 
 Abbey. And just as soon as 
 they were gone, Gabriel hastily 
 put down the stone mortar in 
 
 which he was grinding the gold, 
 
 91 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 and, going over to the work-table, 
 opened the drawer in which he 
 kept his own things, and took out 
 the page on which he had written 
 his little prayer. 
 
 He then went to the shelf and 
 took down the book. He felt 
 guilty as he unfolded the silk 
 wrappings, and his hands trem- 
 bled as he loosened the golden 
 clasps, and hurriedly slipped in 
 his piece of parchment. He put 
 it in at the very back of the book, 
 after Brother Stephen's last page. 
 Then carefully refastening the 
 clasps, and again folding it up in 
 its silken cover, he replaced the 
 book on the shelf. 
 
 Poor Gabriel did not know 
 
 whether he had done very wrong 
 
 or not in taking this liberty with 
 
 92 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 the painted book. He only knew 
 that he could not bear to have it 
 go away without his little prayer 
 between its covers ; and he thought 
 that now God would surely notice 
 it, as he had written it as nicely as 
 he knew how, and had placed it 
 next to Brother Stephen's. 
 
 By this time it was growing 
 dark, and so Gabriel left the 
 Abbey and took his way home. 
 When he reached their forlorn 
 little cottage, he found only a 
 scanty supper awaiting him, and 
 very early he went to bed ; for 
 they had but little fire and were 
 too poor to afford even a single 
 candle to burn through the long 
 winter evening. 
 
 As Gabriel lay shivering in his 
 cold little bed, he wondered how 
 
 93 
 
3g GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 long it would be before God 
 would grant his prayer for help. 
 And then he wondered if God 
 would be displeased because he 
 had dared to put it in the beauti- 
 ful book without asking permis- 
 sion from Brother Stephen or the 
 Abbot. And the more he thought 
 of the possibility of this, and of 
 all their other troubles, the more 
 miserable he felt, till at last he 
 sobbed himself to sleep. 
 
 The poor little boy did not 
 know that after he himself had 
 been sleeping for several hours, 
 Brother Stephen, who had not 
 slept, came out of his cell in the 
 Abbey, and, carrying in his hand 
 a small lamp, passed softly down 
 the corridor and into the chapter- 
 house. For Brother Stephen, 
 
 94 
 
'Taking down the book 
 
 he unwrapped and unclastoed it " 
 
g GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK fg 
 
 like many another true artist who 
 has worked long and lovingly 
 upon some exquisite thing, found 
 it very hard to part with that 
 which he had made. He did not 
 expect ever again to see the beau- 
 tiful book after it left the Abbey, 
 and so he felt that he must take 
 a farewell look at it all by him- 
 self. 
 
 As he entered the chapter- 
 house, he set the lamp on the 
 table ; and then taking down the 
 book and placing it also on 
 the table, he unwrapped and un- 
 clasped it, and seating himself in 
 front of it, looked long and ear- 
 nestly at each page as he slowly 
 turned them over, one by one. 
 
 When at last he came to the 
 end, and found a loose leaf, he 
 
 95 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 picked it up in dismay, wondering 
 
 if his binding could have been so 
 
 badly done that one of the pages 
 
 had already become unfastened. 
 
 But his look of dismay changed 
 
 to bewilderment as he examined 
 
 the page .more closely, and saw 
 
 Gabriel's little prayer. He read 
 
 this over twice, very slowly ; and 
 
 then, still holding the page in his 
 
 hand, he sat for a long time with 
 
 his head bowed ; and once or 
 
 twice something that looked very 
 
 like a tear fell on the stone floor 
 
 at his feet. 
 
 After awhile the lamp began 
 
 to burn low; and Brother Stephen 
 
 rising, gave a tender look to the 
 
 loose page he had been holding, 
 
 and then carefully put it back in 
 
 the book, taking pains to place 
 
 96 
 
Jj GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 it, as nearly as he could, exactly 
 as Gabriel had done. Then, with 
 a sigh, he shut the velvet covers, 
 once more fastened the golden 
 clasps, and, replacing the silken 
 wrappings, laid the book on the 
 shelf, and went back to his cell. 
 
 The next morning Count Henri 
 and his escort made ready for 
 their journey to Bretagne. Count 
 Henri himself placed the precious 
 book in the same velvet bag which 
 held the casket of jewels for the 
 Lady Anne, and this bag he hung 
 over his saddle-bow directly in 
 front of him, so that he could 
 keep close watch and see that 
 no harm befell King Louis's 
 gifts. 
 
 And then he and his soldiers 
 mounted their horses, and, taking 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 a courteous leave of the Abbot 
 and the brotherhood of St. Mar- 
 tin's, they trotted off along the 
 frosty road. 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LADY ANNE WRITES TO THE KING 
 
 FTER several days' jour- 
 ney they entered Bre- 
 tagne, and before long 
 drew near to the city of 
 Nantes and the castle of Lady 
 Anne. This castle was very 
 large, and had many towers and 
 gables and little turrets with sharp- 
 pointed, conical roofs. There 
 was a high wall and a moat all 
 around it, and as Count Henri 
 approached, he displayed a little 
 banner given him by King Louis, 
 
 99 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK C 
 
 and made of blue silk embroid- 
 ered with three golden lilies. 
 
 At the sight of this, the keep- 
 ers of the drawbridge (who in 
 those days always had to be very 
 watchful not to admit enemies to 
 their lord's castle) instantly low- 
 ered the bridge, and Count Henri 
 and his guard rode over and were 
 respectfully received within the 
 gate. 
 
 They dismounted in the court- 
 yard, and then, after resting awhile 
 in one of the rooms of the castle, 
 Count Henri was escorted into 
 the great hall of state, where 
 Lady Anne was ready to receive 
 him. 
 
 This hall was very large and 
 handsome, with a high, arched 
 ceiling, and walls hung with won- 
 
 IOO 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 derful old tapestries. Standing 
 about in groups were numbers of 
 picturesquely dressed pages, ladies- 
 in-waiting, richly clad, and Breton 
 gentlemen gorgeous in velvets and 
 lace ruffles, for a hundred of these 
 always attended Lady Anne wher- 
 ever she went. At one end of 
 the hall was a dais spread with 
 cloth of gold, and there, in a 
 carved chair, sat the Lady Anne 
 herself. She wore a beautiful 
 robe of brocaded crimson velvet, 
 and over her dark hair was a 
 curious, pointed head-dress of 
 white silk embroidered with pearls 
 and gold thread. 
 
 As Count Henri approached, 
 she greeted him very cordially; 
 and then, kneeling before her, 
 he said : 
 
 IOI 
 
J| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK R 
 
 "My Lady, I have the happi- 
 ness to deliver to your hands these 
 bridal gifts which our gracious 
 sovereign, King Louis, did me 
 the honour to entrust to my 
 care." 
 
 And then, as he handed to her 
 the casket of jewels and the silken 
 package containing the hour book, 
 she replied : 
 
 " Sir Count, I thank you for 
 your courtesy in bearing these 
 gifts to me, and I am well pleased 
 to receive them." 
 
 Then summoning a little page, 
 she told him to carry the presents 
 up to her own chamber, where she 
 might examine them at her leisure. 
 
 By and by, Count Henri with- 
 drew, after asking permission to 
 start the next morning on his re- 
 
 I02 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK jj 
 
 turn to Paris; for he wished to 
 report to the king that he had 
 safely accomplished his errand. 
 
 And then Lady Anne, having 
 given orders that he and his fol- 
 lowers be hospitably entertained 
 during their stay in the castle, 
 mounted the great stone staircase, 
 and went to her own room, for 
 she very much wanted to look at 
 the gifts from King Louis. 
 
 These she found on a table 
 where the little page had placed 
 them. The casket was uncov- 
 ered, while the book was still 
 wrapped up in the piece of silk, 
 so that one could not tell just 
 what it was. 
 
 Lady Anne opened the casket 
 first, as it happened to be nearest 
 
 to her; and she drew in her breath, 
 
 103 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 and her eyes sparkled with pleas- 
 ure, as she lifted out a magnifi- 
 cent necklace, and other rich 
 jewels that gleamed and glittered 
 in the light like blue and crimson 
 fires. She tried on all the orna- 
 ments, and then, after awhile, 
 when she had admired them to 
 her heart's content, she took up 
 the silk-covered package, and 
 curiously unwrapped it. When 
 she saw what it contained, how- 
 ever, her face grew radiant with 
 delight, and — 
 
 "Ah!" she exclaimed to her- 
 self, " King Louis's gifts are in- 
 deed princely, and this one is the 
 most royal of all ! " 
 
 For King Louis had been en- 
 tirely right in thinking nothing 
 
 would please the Lady Anne 
 
 104. 
 
"ST., ' < 
 
 
 Began slowly to turn over the pages " 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 quite so much as a piece of fine 
 illumination. 
 
 Still holding the book care- 
 fully in her hands, she at once 
 seated herself in a deep, cush- 
 ioned chair, and began slowly to 
 turn over the pages, taking the 
 keenest pleasure, as she did so, in 
 every fresh beauty on which her 
 eyes fell. When she had gone 
 about half through the book, she 
 lifted it up to look more closely 
 at an especially beautiful initial 
 letter, and then, all at once, out 
 fluttered the loose leaf which Ga- 
 briel had put in. 
 
 As it fell to the floor, a little 
 page near by hastened to pick it 
 up, and, bending on one knee, pre- 
 sented it to Lady Anne. At first 
 
 she frowned a little, for she thought, 
 
 105 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 as had Brother Stephen, that the 
 book must have been badly bound. 
 But when she took the leaf in 
 her hand, to her surprise, she saw- 
 that it was different from the 
 others, and that it had not been 
 bound in with them; and then 
 she read over the writing very 
 carefully. When she had fin- 
 ished, she sat for some time, just 
 as Brother Stephen had done, 
 holding the page in her hand, 
 while her face wore a very tender 
 expression. 
 
 Lady Anne was really deeply 
 touched by Gabriels little prayer, 
 and she wished greatly that she 
 herself might find a way to help 
 him and his family out of their 
 trouble. 
 
 But the more she thought about 
 
 106 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 it, she realized that she had no 
 authority over a Norman noble- 
 man, and that no one in France, 
 except the king, was powerful 
 enough to compel Count Pierre 
 to release the peasant Viaud from 
 imprisonment. 
 
 So going over to a little writ- 
 ing-table, she took out a thin 
 sheet of parchment, a quaint goose- 
 quill pen, and a small horn full 
 of ink, and wrote a letter which 
 she addressed to King Louis. 
 Then she took the loose leaf on 
 which Gabriel's prayer was written, 
 and, folding it in with her letter, 
 tied the little packet with a thread 
 of scarlet silk (for no one used 
 envelopes then), and sealed it with 
 some red wax. And on the wax 
 
 she pressed a carved ring which 
 
 107 
 
Jl GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK (g 
 
 she wore, and which left a print 
 that looked like a tiny tuft of 
 ermine fur encircled by a bit of 
 knotted cord ; for this was Lady 
 Anne's emblem, as it was called, 
 and King Louis, seeing it, would 
 know at once that the packet came 
 from her. 
 
 Then she went down into the 
 great hall of the castle, and sent 
 one of her Breton gentlemen to 
 bring Count Henri. When the 
 latter entered, she said to him : 
 
 "Sir Count, it would give me 
 great pleasure to keep you longer 
 as my guest, but if you must re- 
 turn to Paris to-morrow, I will 
 ask you to be my bearer for a 
 little packet which I am anxious 
 to send to King Louis." 
 
 Then, as she handed it to him, 
 
 108 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 she added with a smile, " I give it 
 to you now, for if you ride early 
 in the morning, I must leave my 
 Breton gentlemen to do the hon- 
 ours of your stirrup-cup." 
 
 (This last was the cup of wine 
 which it was considered polite to 
 offer a departing guest as he 
 mounted his horse, and was a 
 little ceremony over which Lady 
 Anne liked to preside herself; 
 that is, when her guests went away 
 at agreeable hours.) 
 
 As Count Henri received the 
 packet from her, he made a very 
 deep bow, and replied that he 
 would be most happy to serve the 
 Lady Anne in any way he could, 
 and that he only awaited her com- 
 mand to start at once on his 
 
 journey. 
 
 109 
 
Jjj GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 " Nay," said Lady Anne, with 
 another little smile, " 'tis no affair 
 of state importance ! Only a 
 matter of my own on which 
 I have set my heart. But I 
 will not hear to your setting 
 forth, until you have sat at my 
 table and rested overnight in the 
 castle." 
 
 To this Count Henri again 
 gallantly bowed his obedience ; 
 and then, before long, Lady Anne 
 led all the company into the great 
 banquet-hall, where a number of 
 long tables were set out with 
 roasted game, and bread and wine 
 and the many different cakes and 
 sweetmeats of Bretagne. 
 
 The Lady Anne took her place 
 
 at the head of the longest table 
 
 of all, and she placed Count 
 
 no 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 Henri at her right hand. Near 
 them sat many of the ladies-in- 
 waiting, and Breton gentlemen of 
 the highest rank ; while at the 
 farther end, beyond a great silver 
 saltcellar standing in the middle 
 of the table, were seated those of 
 less degree. 
 
 The dishes were of gold and 
 silver, and Lady Anne her- 
 self was waited upon by two 
 noblemen of Bretagne, for she 
 lived very magnificently, as was 
 fitting for the bride of King 
 Louis. 
 
 When the supper was over, 
 
 they all went back into the great 
 
 castle hall, where bright fires of 
 
 logs were blazing in the huge 
 
 fireplaces; and as they sat in the 
 
 firelight, they listened to the 
 
 in 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 beautiful songs and music of two 
 troubadours who had that day 
 chanced to come to the castle, and 
 who sang so sweetly that it was 
 very late before the company 
 broke up for the night. 
 
 All through the evening, how- 
 ever, in spite of the pleasant enter- 
 tainment, Lady Anne, who was 
 very sympathetic, could not help 
 but think many times of poor little 
 Gabriel, and how cold and hungry 
 and miserable he must be ! She 
 had been much struck, too, with 
 the beautiful way in which he had 
 written out and ornamented his 
 little prayer, for she was a good 
 judge of such things; and, as she 
 thought about it, she determined 
 some day to see the lad herself. 
 Meantime she was very anxious 
 
 112 
 
1 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK £ 
 
 to help him as soon as possible. 
 Indeed, she felt much happier 
 when the next morning came, and 
 Count Henri set out for Paris; 
 for then she knew that her letter 
 and Gabriel's little written page 
 were on their way to King 
 Louis. 
 
 In due time, Count Henri ar- 
 rived safely at the king's palace, 
 and delivered the packet from 
 Lady Anne. And when King 
 Louis broke the wax seal, and 
 read the letter and Gabriel's little 
 prayer, he, too, was deeply touched. 
 Lady Anne's letter explained to 
 him about finding the loose page 
 in the beautiful book he had 
 sent her, and asked that he would 
 see to it that Count Pierre set the 
 boy's father free. 
 
 "3 
 
J| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 This King Louis at once de- 
 termined to do, for he was a just 
 and kind-hearted monarch, and 
 during his reign did much to 
 lighten the taxes and oppression 
 of the peasant-folk ; and, more- 
 over, in this trouble of Gabriel's 
 father, he now took an especial 
 interest, as it gave him great 
 pleasure to grant any wish of 
 the Lady Anne, whom he loved 
 deeply. 
 
 So that very day he sent for a 
 trusty messenger, and after ex- 
 plaining things to him, directed 
 him to set out as soon as possi- 
 ble for St. Martin's Abbey, and 
 there to seek out Brother Stephen 
 and inquire about the little peas- 
 ant boy, Gabriel Viaud. And 
 then, if he found everything to be 
 
 114 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 true that Gabriel had said in his 
 prayer, he was to act according to 
 further orders which King Louis 
 gave him. 
 
 IIS 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE KING'S MESSENGER 
 
 ,OW while all these things 
 had been going on, poor 
 Gabriel had been grow- 
 ing more wretchedly un- 
 happy day by day. His people 
 had become poorer and poorer, 
 and the long, cold winter was 
 upon them. They had almost 
 given up hope of the release of 
 peasant Viaud from prison, and 
 did not know where they could 
 get bread or fire to keep them 
 alive through the bitter cold. 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 Sometimes Gabriel thought with 
 despair of how much he had 
 hoped from his little prayer ! For 
 he was sure, by this time, that 
 God was angry with him for dar- 
 ing to put it in the beautiful book. 
 
 And to add the last touch to 
 his distress, he had been obliged 
 to give up his work and lessons 
 at the Abbey; for Brother Stephen 
 had been ill for a time, and unable 
 to paint, and all the other monks 
 had colour-grinders of their own. 
 So Gabriel, who could not afford 
 to be idle even for a few days, 
 had been forced to seek employ- 
 ment elsewhere. 
 
 The only work he could find 
 was with a leather dresser in the 
 village of St. Martin's, and 
 though it was very hard and dis* 
 
 H7 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 tasteful to him, he felt that he 
 must keep at it, as he could thus 
 earn a few pennies more each day 
 than he could as colour-grinder 
 at the Abbey. And yet, with all 
 his hard toil, the little sum he 
 brought home at night was far 
 from enough to keep them all 
 from want, to say nothing of pay- 
 ing the tax which still hung over 
 them; and so every day they be- 
 came more hopeless and discour- 
 aged. 
 
 Indeed, in those times, when a 
 peasant family fell under the dis- 
 pleasure of their noble lord, it 
 was a bitter misfortune, for there 
 were few places to which they 
 might turn for help. 
 
 And it seemed to Gabriel espe- 
 cially hard to bear all their troubles 
 
1 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 in the gracious Christmas season ; 
 for it was now past the middle of 
 December. Always before they 
 had had enough for their happy 
 little Christmas feast, and some 
 to spare. They had always had 
 their sheaf of wheat put by for 
 the birds ; and for two seasons 
 past Gabriel's father had let him 
 climb up the tall ladder and fasten 
 the holiday sheaf, bound with its 
 garland of greens, to the roof of 
 the little peaked and gabled dove- 
 cote that stood on top of a carved 
 pole in the centre of the farm- 
 yard. For every Norman peas- 
 ant always wishes the birds, too, 
 to be happy at the joyous Christ- 
 mas-tide. 
 
 And always, every Christmas 
 
 eve, when Gabriel and his little 
 
 219 
 
J| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 brothers and sister had gone to 
 bed, they had set their wooden 
 shoes in a row on the hearthstone; 
 and then in the morning when 
 they wakened up, they always 
 found that the blessed Christ- 
 child had been there in the night, 
 and filled all the little shoes with 
 red apples and nuts. 
 
 But this Christmas-time every- 
 thing was so sad and changed, 
 they were sure even the Christ- 
 child would forget them. And, 
 day by day, the little supply of 
 coarse meal for their black bread 
 grew smaller and smaller, and the 
 snow became deeper, and the win- 
 try winds blew more cold and 
 cruelly. 
 
 Meantime, King Louis's mes- 
 senger was travelling as fast as 
 
 1 20 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK ffi 
 
 he could, and three days before 
 Christmas he arrived at St. Mar- 
 tin's Abbey. The Abbot was 
 greatly surprised to see him, and 
 still more so when he asked if he 
 might speak privately with Brother 
 Stephen. This the Abbot granted, 
 though he was very anxious to 
 know the messenger's errand ; for 
 he could think of no reason for it, 
 unless there had been something 
 wrong with King Louis's book. 
 So he was quite uneasy as he saw 
 the messenger enter Brother Ste- 
 phen's cell and close the door. 
 
 Brother Stephen, too, was at 
 first much surprised when his vis- 
 itor told him he had come from 
 King Louis to inquire about a 
 peasant boy by the name of Ga- 
 briel Viaud; though in a moment 
 
 121 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 it flashed through his mind that 
 Gabriels prayer had found its 
 way to the palace, and that the 
 answer was coming. 
 
 He said nothing of this, how- 
 ever, but when the messenger 
 asked if he had had such a boy 
 for colour-grinder, he eagerly an- 
 swered : 
 
 " Yes, and there lives no man- 
 lier and sweeter-spirited lad in all 
 France ! " 
 
 "Is it true," continued the mes- 
 senger, " that Count Pierre de 
 Bouchage hath imprisoned his 
 father for failure to pay a tax, 
 and that the family are now in 
 sore distress ? " 
 
 " Yes, that also is true," replied 
 
 the monk very sadly. And then 
 
 he said beseechingly : " But surely 
 
 12a 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 King Louis will help them ? 
 
 Surely our gracious sovereign 
 
 will not allow such injustice and 
 
 cruelty ? " 
 
 Here the messenger answered : 
 
 "Nay, our sovereign is indeed 
 
 a generous monarch ! Else had 
 
 he not been touched by the little 
 
 prayer which the peasant lad 
 
 placed in the book thou madest 
 
 for the Lady Anne. Though I 
 
 dare say thou knewest naught of 
 
 it " (here Brother Stephen smiled 
 
 gently, but said nothing), "yet so 
 
 the lad did. And 'twas because 
 
 of that scrap of parchment falling 
 
 under the eyes of King Louis, 
 
 that I have journeyed all the way 
 
 from Paris. And," he added, as 
 
 he remembered the heavy snow 
 
 through" which he had ridden, " it 
 
 123 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 takes a stout heart and a stouter 
 horse to brave thy Norman roads 
 in December ! " 
 
 Then he asked Brother Ste- 
 phen a great many more questions, 
 and inquired what road to take in 
 order to find Count Pierre's castle, 
 and also the Viaud cottage. And 
 then when he had satisfied him- 
 self about all these matters, he 
 went back to the great hall of the 
 Abbey, where the Abbot was 
 slowly pacing the floor, telling 
 his beads as he walked. 
 
 The Abbot, though very cu- 
 rious as to the reason of the 
 messenger's visit, asked him no 
 questions other than if the book 
 for Lady Anne had been entirely 
 satisfactory; and he felt relieved 
 
 when the messenger assured him 
 
 124 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK JE 
 
 that so far as he knew both the 
 king and Lady Anne had been 
 greatly delighted with it. Then, 
 after talking a little while about 
 Brother Stephen's artistic work, 
 the messenger briefly explained 
 to the Abbot his errand, and told 
 him that King Louis had ordered 
 him to make his inquiries about 
 Gabriel as quietly as possible. 
 
 As he heard, the Abbot raised 
 his eyebrows and looked some- 
 what disapproving, when he real- 
 ized that the peasant lad who had 
 dared to put his page into the 
 beautiful book was the same 
 little colour-grinder who had had 
 the boldness to speak to him, one 
 day in the garden, and ask him 
 to take off Brother Stephen's 
 chain. However, whatever he 
 
 125 
 
J GABRIEL AND T HE HOVJK BOOK E 
 
 may have thought, he kept it to 
 himself; he treated the messen- 
 ger with much courtesy, and, on 
 bidding him good night, invited 
 him to stay as a guest of the 
 Abbey so long as he chose. 
 
 The next morning the messen- 
 ger rode to the Viaud farm, and, 
 though he did not go into the 
 cottage, he looked it over care- 
 fully and the land about it; and 
 then he took the highway that led 
 to the castle of Count Pierre de 
 Bouchage. 
 
 When he reached the castle, 
 he asked to see Count Pierre, and 
 so was taken into the great hall, 
 where the count received him in 
 a very haughty manner. He be- 
 came somewhat more polite, how- 
 ever, when he learned that King 
 
 126 
 
I) GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 Louis had sent the messenger to 
 him ; though he looked decidedly 
 blank when the latter presented 
 to him a letter written on parch- 
 ment and fastened with a wax 
 seal stamped with the kings 
 emblem, which was the print 
 of a little porcupine with the 
 quills on his back standing up 
 straight, and a crown on top of 
 them. 
 
 On seeing this letter, Count 
 Pierre looked blank because the 
 truth was, that, like many other 
 noble lords at that time, he could 
 read only with great difficulty. 
 But then the messenger rather 
 expected this, and so he asked 
 permission to read the parchment 
 to him, and Count Pierre frown- 
 
 ingly assented. 
 
 127 
 
J9 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 Indeed, though the messenger 
 pretended not to notice his angry 
 looks, he frowned blacker and 
 blacker as the reading went on. 
 For King Louis requested in the 
 letter that Count Pierre at once 
 release from prison in his castle 
 one Jacques Viaud, peasant on 
 his estate. And the king fur- 
 ther said that he himself wished 
 to buy the Viaud cottage and 
 farm, together with a good-sized 
 piece of ground that adjoined it 
 (the messenger, in looking it over 
 that morning, had selected a piece 
 of land which was much better soil 
 than the most of the Viaud farm), 
 and he stated that for this pur- 
 pose he had sent by his messenger 
 a certain sum in gold pieces. 
 
 The king mentioned also that 
 128 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 he would like to have the flock of 
 sheep, with the addition of fifty 
 more than had been taken from 
 them, restored to the Viaud family. 
 And, finally, he said that he de- 
 sired Count Pierre to do these 
 things in honour of his king's ap- 
 proaching marriage with the Lady 
 Anne. For when kings and 
 queens marry, it is generally cus- 
 tomary for them, and for many 
 of the loyal noblemen who are 
 their subjects, to bestow gifts and 
 benefits upon the poor people, so 
 that every one may be as happy 
 as possible on the royal wedding- 
 day. 
 
 Now Count Pierre really did 
 not care a fig to do honour to 
 King Louis's marriage, and he 
 was very angry to be asked to 
 
 129 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 release a peasant whom he had 
 imprisoned, and to restore flocks 
 which he had seized ; and espe- 
 cially was he furious at the re- 
 quest to buy the land, for he did 
 not wish to sell it, and so to lose 
 control over the peasant-folk who 
 lived there. 
 
 But, nevertheless, in spite of 
 his wrath, the count knew well 
 enough that he had no real right 
 to do as he had done, and that 
 King Louis knew it also ; and 
 that therefore the very best thing 
 he could do was to obey the 
 king's wishes at once. 
 
 King Louis had made his 
 
 letter a polite request rather than 
 
 a command, because some of his 
 
 unruly subjects, like Count Pierre, 
 
 were proud and difficult to man- 
 
 130 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK K 
 
 age, and he wished to settle mat- 
 ters pleasantly and peaceably, if 
 possible. And so, in asking him 
 to honour the royal wedding, 
 he gave the count an excuse to 
 yield to his kings wishes, without 
 hurting his pride so much as 
 if he were obliged to obey a 
 command. 
 
 Count Pierre began to see this, 
 too; and, moreover, he knew that, 
 notwithstanding the politeness of 
 his letter, the king had plenty 
 of soldiers, and that he would not 
 hesitate to send them to the Castle 
 de Bouchage, if necessary, to bring 
 its lord to terms. And he very 
 wisely reflected that to fight King 
 Louis would be a much more 
 dangerous and expensive under- 
 taking than the private war with 
 
 131 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 the Baron of Evreux, which he 
 already had on his hands. 
 
 Before yielding to the requests 
 in the letter, however, Count 
 Pierre wished to satisfy himself 
 that the messenger had correctly 
 read it to him. And so, haughtily 
 demanding it for a few minutes, 
 he hurried out of the hall, and 
 sent a page scampering off to 
 bring to him a troubadour; for 
 one or more of these wandering 
 singers were always to be found 
 in every nobleman's castle, and 
 the count knew that most of them 
 could read. 
 
 When in a few minutes the 
 
 page came back, followed, close 
 
 at his heels, by a man in motley 
 
 dress, with a viol hung over his 
 
 shoulders, Count Pierre, without 
 
 132 
 
9 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK gg 
 
 waiting to greet the latter, thrust 
 the parchment into his hands with 
 the gruff command : 
 
 " There, fellow! read this letter 
 for me instantly ! and if thou 
 makest a single mistake, I will 
 have thee strangled with the 
 strings of thine own viol, and 
 tumbled off the highest tur- 
 ret of this castle before set of 
 sun ! 
 
 At this fierce threat, the trou- 
 badour began at once to read, 
 taking care to make no mistakes. 
 Count Pierre listened attentively 
 to every word, and when the trou- 
 badour came to the end, having 
 read it exactly as the messen- 
 ger had done, the count angrily 
 snatched it from his hands, and, 
 swallowing his rage as best he 
 
 133 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 could, went slowly back to the 
 castle hall. 
 
 Then, after a few moments' 
 silence, he very ungraciously and 
 ill-naturedly gave orders that peas- 
 ant Viaud be released from prison, 
 and the sheep sent back. He 
 made a very wry face over the 
 fifty extra ones, and did not look 
 at all anxious to celebrate King 
 Louis's approaching wedding. 
 
 And then he took the gold 
 pieces which the messenger offered 
 him, and reluctantly scrawled his 
 name (it was all he could write, 
 and that very badly) to a piece of 
 parchment which the messenger 
 had ready, and which, when 
 Count Pierre had signed it, 
 proved that he had sold to King 
 Louis the land and cottage, and 
 
 *34 
 
1 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 no longer held control over peas- 
 ant Viaud or any of his family. 
 
 When this was done, the mes- 
 senger, bidding the nobleman a 
 courteous farewell, left the latter 
 still very angry and scowling, and, 
 above all, lost in amazement that 
 King Louis should take all this 
 trouble on account of a poor, un- 
 known peasant, who had lived all 
 his life on a tiny farm in Nor- 
 mandy ! And as no one ever 
 explained things to him, Count 
 Pierre never did know how it had 
 all come about, and that, however 
 much against his will, he was do- 
 ing his part toward helping an- 
 swer Gabriel's little prayer. 
 
 *35 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GABRIEL'S CHRISTMAS 
 
 HEN the messenger 
 reached the courtyard of 
 the castle, he found peas- 
 ant Viaud awaiting him 
 there. The poor man looked very- 
 pale and wan from his imprison- 
 ment, and his face pitifully showed 
 what anxiety he had suffered in 
 thinking about his family left with 
 no one to help them. His clothes, 
 too, were thin and worn, and he 
 shivered in the cold December 
 
 wind. Noticing this, the messen- 
 
 136 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 ger at once sent word to Count 
 Pierre that he was sure King 
 Louis would be highly gratified, 
 if, in further honour of his coming 
 marriage, the count would supply 
 peasant Viaud with a warm suit 
 of clothes before leaving the 
 castle. 
 
 This message was almost too 
 much for Count Pierre to bear, 
 but he did not dare to refuse. 
 And the messenger smiled to 
 himself when, by and by, a page 
 came and called Gabriel's father 
 into the castle, from which, in a 
 little while, he came out, warmly 
 clad, and quite bewildered at all 
 that was happening to him. 
 
 As they set out together for 
 the Viaud cottage, peasant Viaud 
 walking, and the messenger riding 
 
 137 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 very slowly, the latter explained 
 to him all about Gabriel's little 
 prayer in the beautiful book, and 
 how Lady Anne had sent it to 
 King Louis, to whom he owed his 
 release from prison. But the mes- 
 senger added that, aside from the 
 lad's father and mother, the king 
 did not wish any one, not even 
 Gabriel himself, to know how it 
 had all come about. 
 
 For King Louis declared that 
 he himself did not deserve any 
 thanks, but that the good God 
 had only chosen the Lady Anne 
 and himself and Count Pierre 
 (though the latter did not know 
 it) as the means of answering 
 Gabriel's prayer, and of helping 
 the Christ-child bring happiness 
 at the blessed Christmas -time. 
 
 138 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK jj 
 
 For King Louis had not for- 
 gotten that the great day was 
 near at hand. 
 
 Of the promised return of the 
 sheep, and the buying of the farm 
 by the king, the messenger said 
 nothing then; and when they had 
 nearly reached the cottage, he took 
 leave of peasant Viaud and rode 
 back to the Abbey. For, having 
 finished the king's errand, before 
 going away, he wanted to say 
 good-bye to the Abbot and 
 brothers of St. Martin's, and also 
 to get some of his belongings 
 which he had left at the Abbey. 
 
 A few minutes after the mes- 
 senger had left him, peasant Viaud 
 reached the cottage and raised the 
 latch, — but then it is no use try- 
 ing to tell how surprised and happy 
 
 139 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK E 
 
 they all were! how they hugged 
 and kissed each other, and laughed 
 and cried ! 
 
 And then, when the first excite- 
 ment was over, they began soberly 
 to wonder what they would do 
 next ; for they still feared the dis- 
 pleasure of Count Pierre, and still 
 did not know where to turn to 
 raise the tax, or to help their 
 poverty. 
 
 "If only he had not taken the 
 sheep," said Gabriel's mother, 
 sadly, "at least I could have spun 
 warm clothes for all of us ! " 
 
 But even as she spoke, a loud 
 
 " Baa ! Baa ! " sounded from up 
 
 the road, and presently along came 
 
 a large flock of sheep followed by 
 
 one of Count Pierre's shepherds, 
 
 who, without saying a word to any 
 
 140 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 one, skilfully guided them into the 
 Viaud sheepfold, and there safely 
 penned them in ; then, still with- 
 out a word, he turned about and 
 went off in the direction of the 
 castle. 
 
 Gabriel's father and mother, 
 who from the cottage window had 
 watched all this in silent amaze- 
 ment, looked at each other, too 
 bewildered to speak. Then they 
 went out together to the sheep- 
 fold, and peasant Viaud, who 
 began to realize that this, too, 
 must be part of King Louis's 
 orders, explained to his wife that 
 which the messenger had told him. 
 When he had finished, they went 
 back, hand in hand, to the house, 
 their eyes filled with happy tears, 
 
 and in their hearts a great tender- 
 
 141 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 ness for the little son who had 
 brought help to them. 
 
 Just before dark, that same 
 afternoon, the king's messenger, 
 having taken leave of the Abbey 
 folk, once more passed along the 
 highroad. On his way, he was 
 particular to stop at the Viaud 
 cottage, where he contrived to 
 have a few minutes' talk alone 
 with Gabriel's mother, and then 
 wishing her a merry Christmas, 
 he spurred his horse, and rode 
 along on his journey back to 
 Paris. 
 
 As he neared St. Martin's vil- 
 lage, he passed a little peasant 
 boy, in a worn blouse, walking 
 toward the country; and had he 
 known that this same lad was the 
 
 Gabriel because of whom, at King 
 
 142 
 
He passed a little peasant boy " 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 Louis's order, he had ridden all 
 the way from Paris, he would cer- 
 tainly have looked at the boy with 
 keen interest. 
 
 While for his part, had Ga- 
 briel known that the strange horse- 
 man was a messenger from the 
 king, and that he had that day 
 played a very important part in 
 the affairs of the Viaud family, — 
 had he known this, — he surely 
 would have stood stock-still and 
 opened his eyes wide with amaze- 
 ment ! 
 
 But the messenger was ab- 
 sorbed in his own thoughts, and 
 so rode swiftly on; while poor 
 Gabriel was too sad and wretched 
 to pay much attention to any one. 
 
 As the lad drew near home, 
 however, all at once he fancied he 
 
 143 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 heard the bleating of sheep. At 
 this he pricked up his ears and 
 began to run, his heart suddenly- 
 beating very fast with excitement ! 
 
 When he reached the sheep- 
 fold, sure enough, there was no 
 mistaking the sounds within. He 
 opened the door and hurried 
 through the thatched shed, noting 
 with delight the rows of woolly 
 backs glistening in the twilight, 
 and then, bursting into the cot- 
 tage, rushed up to his father and 
 kissed and hugged him with all 
 his might ! 
 
 Indeed, Gabriel was so happy 
 and excited that he did not real- 
 ize that he was not at all sur- 
 prised with their good fortune. 
 For miserable as he had been for 
 weeks, and though he had thought 
 
 144 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 that he had quite despaired of his 
 prayer being answered, yet deep 
 down in his heart, without knowing 
 it, all the while he had cherished a 
 strong hope that it would be. 
 
 Nor was Brother Stephen sur- 
 prised either, when, at barely day- 
 break the next morning, before 
 going to his work, Gabriel hur- 
 ried up to the Abbey and told 
 him all about it. His face beamed 
 with delight, however, and he 
 seemed almost as happy over it 
 all as Gabriel himself. He smiled, 
 too, but said nothing, as the lad 
 wondered over and over what 
 God had done to Count Pierre, 
 to make him willing to free his 
 father and restore the sheep ! He 
 only said, as he gently patted Ga- 
 briel's hair : 
 
 145 
 
|I GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK E 
 
 "There, there, little one! the 
 good God hath many ways of 
 softening men's hearts, and never 
 thou mind in what manner he 
 hath chosen to manage the Count 
 Pierre ! " 
 
 Just then one of the monks 
 went past the open door, his arms 
 full of evergreens, and carrying in 
 his hand a pot of the pretty white 
 flowers that the Norman peasant 
 folk call Christmas roses. Seeing 
 him, Brother Stephen told Gabriel 
 that he must go and help the 
 brothers trim the Abbey church 
 for the joyous service of the mor- 
 row; and so with another affec- 
 tionate little pat, he went out to 
 do his part in arranging the holi- 
 day greens and garlands and tall 
 
 wax candles, while Gabriel hur- 
 
 146 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK jj 
 
 ried off to his work in the vil- 
 lage. 
 
 The little boy was so happy, 
 though, over the things that had 
 happened at home, that he went 
 about all day in a sort of wonder- 
 ing dream. And that evening as 
 he went home from his work, very 
 tired, but still dreaming, the early 
 Christmas-eve stars shone and 
 twinkled so radiantly over his 
 head and the snow sparkled so 
 brightly under his feet, that he 
 fairly tingled through and through 
 with the nameless, magic happi- 
 ness of the blessed season ! 
 
 And when he reached home, 
 and sat down next to his father 
 while they ate their scanty supper, 
 they all felt so glad to be together 
 
 again that nobody minded that 
 
 147 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK £ 
 
 the pieces of black bread were 
 smaller than ever, and that when 
 the cold wind blew through the 
 crevices of the cottage walls, there 
 was not enough fire oh the hearth 
 to keep them from shivering. 
 
 Indeed, they were all so much 
 happier than they had been for 
 many weeks, that when Gabriel 
 and the younger children went to 
 bed, the latter, with many little 
 gurgles of laughter, arranged their 
 little wooden shoes on the hearth, 
 just as they had always done on 
 Christmas eve. 
 
 For they said to each other, 
 
 Jean, and Margot, and little Guil- 
 
 laume, that surely the good God 
 
 had not forgotten them after all! 
 
 Had he not brought back their 
 
 father and the sheep ? And surely 
 
 148 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 he would tell the little Christ- 
 child to bring them a few Christ- 
 mas apples and nuts! 
 
 Gabriel, however, took no part 
 in their talk, and he did not set 
 his shoes on the hearth with the 
 others; not that he feared they 
 would be forgotten, but rather 
 because he thought that he had 
 already asked for so much and 
 been so generously answered, that 
 he had had his share of Christ- 
 mas happiness. 
 
 His father was freed from 
 prison, and the flock of sheep, 
 with fifty more than they had had 
 before, were back in the fold ; 
 and though they were not yet re- 
 lieved from the tax, nor was their 
 land restored to them, as he had 
 prayed, yet he felt sure that these, 
 
 *49 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 too, would come about in some 
 way. 
 
 And so, considering all these 
 things, he did not quite like to set 
 out his wooden shoes, and thus 
 invite the Christ-child to give him 
 more; for he knew the Christ- 
 child had a great many shoes to 
 attend to that night. So Gabriel, 
 as he made himself ready for bed, 
 pretended not to hear the chatter of 
 his little brothers and sister, nor 
 to notice what they were doing. 
 
 When peasant Viaud, however, 
 saw them standing their little 
 empty shoes in front of the 
 meagre fire, he bowed his head on 
 his hands, and the tears trickled 
 through his fingers. But the 
 mother smiled softly to herself, as 
 she kissed each of the children 
 
 i. So 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK ffij 
 
 and tucked them into their worn 
 sheepskin covers. 
 
 Next morning, at the first peep 
 of day, every one in the cottage 
 was wide awake; and as soon as 
 they opened their eyes, the chil- 
 dren all jumped out of bed and 
 ran to the hearth with little 
 screams of delight. For there 
 stood the little wooden shoes, — 
 Gabriel's, too, though he had not 
 put them there, — and even a 
 larger one apiece for the father 
 and mother, and the blessed 
 Christ-child had not forgotten one ! 
 
 Only instead of apples and 
 nuts, they were filled with the 
 most wonderful bonbons; strange 
 sugar birds, and animals, and can- 
 died fruits such as no peasant 
 child in Normandy had ever be- 
 
 *5* 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 fore seen ; for they were sweet- 
 meats that no one but the cooks of 
 old Paris knew just how to make. 
 
 And then, as with eager fingers 
 the children drew out these mar- 
 vels, down in the toe of each shoe 
 they found a little porcupine of 
 white sugar with pink quills tipped 
 with a tiny, gilded, candy crown ; 
 and last of all, after each little 
 porcupine, out tumbled a shining 
 yellow gold piece stamped with 
 the likeness of King Louis. 
 
 Even the larger shoes were filled 
 
 with bonbons, too, and from the 
 
 toe of the mother's out dropped a 
 
 gold piece, like the others, only 
 
 larger. But when the father, with 
 
 clumsy hands, emptied his shoe, 
 
 instead of a gold piece, there fell 
 
 out a small parchment roil fastened 
 
 152 
 
1] GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 with a silken cord, and showing 
 at one corner a wax seal bearing 
 the print of the little royal por- 
 cupine and crown. 
 
 Peasant Viaud gazed at it for 
 a few minutes, in utter bewilder- 
 ment, and then handing it to Ga- 
 briel, who was standing by, he said : 
 
 " Here, child, 'tis a bit of writ- 
 ing, and thou art the only one of 
 us who can read. See if Brother 
 Stephen's lessons have taken thee 
 far enough to make out the mean- 
 ing of this ! " 
 
 Gabriel took the roll and eagerly 
 untied the cord, and then he care- 
 fully spelled out every word of 
 the writing, which was signed by 
 Count Pierre de Bouchage. 
 
 For it was the very same parch- 
 ment which King Louis's mes- 
 
 153 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 senger had made Count Pierre 
 sign to prove that he had sold 
 to the king, for a certain sum of 
 gold, the old Viaud farm, together 
 with a piece of good land adjoin- 
 ing it ; and then, at the end of the 
 deed, as the writing was called, 
 there were a few lines from King 
 Louis himself, which said that in 
 honour of the blessed Christmas- 
 time the king took pleasure in 
 presenting to peasant Viaud, and 
 his heirs for ever, everything that 
 he had bought from Count Pierre. 
 When Gabriel had finished 
 reading, no one spoke for a little 
 while ; it was so hard to realize 
 the crowning good fortune that 
 had befallen them. Peasant Viaud 
 looked fairly dazed, and the mother 
 laughed and cried as she snatched 
 
 154 
 
1) GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 Gabriel to her and kissed him 
 again and again. The younger 
 children did not understand what 
 it all meant, and so went on 
 munching their sweetmeats with- 
 out paying much attention to the 
 little piece of parchment which 
 Gabriel still held in his hand. 
 
 As for Gabriel, he really had 
 had no idea that any one could 
 possibly be so happy as he himself 
 was at that moment ! He had 
 not the least notion of how it had 
 all come about ; he only knew 
 that his heart was fairly bursting 
 with gratitude to the dear God 
 who had answered his little prayer 
 so much more joyously and won- 
 derfully than he had ever dared 
 to dream of ! 
 
 In his excitement he ran out of 
 *55 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK £ 
 
 the house and hurried into the 
 sheepfold, where he patted the soft 
 woolly backs of each of the sheep, 
 and then he raced around the 
 snowy meadows trying to realize 
 that all these belonged to his 
 family for ever! And that Count 
 Pierre could never again imprison 
 his father or worry him with 
 heavy taxes ! 
 
 But the wonders of this won- 
 derful day were not yet over ; for 
 presently, as Gabriel raised his 
 eyes, he saw a strange horseman 
 coming down the road and looking 
 inquiringly in the direction of the 
 Viaud cottage. Then seeing the boy 
 standing in the meadow, the horse- 
 man called out: 
 
 " Ho, lad ! Is this the farm of 
 
 the peasant Viaud ? " 
 
 156 
 
H GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK jj 
 
 "Yes, sir," answered Gabriel, 
 coming up to the road ; and then, 
 
 "Art thou Gabriel?" asked the 
 rider, stopping and looking curi- 
 ously at the little boy. 
 
 When again Gabriel wonder- 
 ingly answered, " Yes, sir," the 
 stranger dismounted, and, after 
 tying his horse, began deliberately 
 unfastening the two fat saddle- 
 bags hanging over the back of the 
 latter; and loading himself with 
 as much as he could carry, he 
 gave Gabriel an armful, too, and 
 walked toward the cottage. 
 
 To the surprised looks and 
 questions of Gabriel's father and 
 mother, he only said that the 
 Christ-child had been in the castle 
 of the Lady Anne of Bretagne, 
 and had ordered him to bring 
 
 157 
 
C J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 certain things to the family of a 
 Norman peasant boy named Ga- 
 briel Viaud. 
 
 And such delightful things as 
 they were ! There was a great 
 roll of thick, soft blue cloth, so 
 that they could all be warmly clad 
 without waiting for the mother to 
 spin the wool from the sheeps' 
 backs. There were nice little 
 squirrel-fur caps for all the chil- 
 dren ; there were more yellow 
 gold pieces ; and then there was 
 a large package of the most en- 
 chanting sweetmeats, such as the 
 Bretons make at Christmas-time; 
 little " magi-cakes," as they were 
 called, each cut in the shape of 
 a star and covered with spices and 
 sugar; curious old-fashioned can- 
 dies and sugared chestnuts ; and a 
 
 158 
 
a GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 pretty basket filled with small 
 round loaves of the fine, white 
 bread of Bretagne ; only instead of 
 the ordinary baking, these loaves 
 were of a special holiday kind, 
 with raisins, and nuts, and dried 
 sweet- locust blossoms sprinkled 
 over the top. 
 
 Indeed, perhaps never before 
 had so marvellous a feast been 
 spread under a peasant roof in 
 Normandy ! All were beside 
 themselves with delight; and while 
 the younger children were dancing 
 round and round in happy bewil- 
 derment, Gabriel snatched up a 
 basket, and hurriedly filling it 
 with some of the choicest of 
 the sweetmeats, started off at a 
 brisk run for the Abbey; for he 
 wanted to share some of his 
 
 159 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 Christmas happiness with Brother 
 Stephen. 
 
 When he reached the Abbey, 
 his eyes bright with excitement, 
 and his cheeks rosy from the crisp 
 cold air, and poured out to Brother 
 Stephen the story of their fresh 
 good fortune, the monk laughed 
 with delight, and felt that he, too, 
 was having the happiest Christ- 
 mas he had ever known. 
 
 And then, by and by, when he 
 took Gabriel by the hand and led 
 him into the Abbey church for the 
 beautiful Christmas service, as the 
 little boy knelt on the stone floor 
 and gazed around at the lovely gar- 
 lands of green, and the twinkling 
 candles and white Christmas roses 
 on the altar, half- hidden by the 
 
 clouds of fragrant incense that 
 
 1 60 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 floated up from the censers the 
 little acolytes were swinging to 
 and fro, — as he listened to the 
 glorious music from the choir, and 
 above all, as he thought of how 
 the dear God had answered his 
 prayer, the tears sprang to his 
 eyes from very joy and grati- 
 tude! And perhaps that Christ- 
 mas morning no one in all France, 
 not even King Louis himself, was 
 quite so happy as the little peas- 
 ant boy, Gabriel Viaud. 
 
 mi 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE KING'S ILLUMINATOR 
 
 ND to say that he was 
 happier than even King 
 Louis, is saying a very 
 great deal ; for King 
 Louis spent the day most delight- 
 fully in Bretagne, in the castle of 
 his bride to be, the Lady Anne. 
 And then, just after the holiday 
 season had passed, early in Janu- 
 ary, he and Lady Anne were 
 married with great ceremony and 
 splendour. 
 
3g GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK IJ 
 
 After the wedding, for three 
 months, the king and queen lin- 
 gered in Bretagne; enjoying them- 
 selves by night with magnificent 
 entertainments in the castle, and 
 by day in riding over the frosty 
 fields and in hunting, of which 
 both of them were very fond. 
 And then in April, when the first 
 hawthorn buds were beginning 
 to break, they journeyed down 
 to Paris to live in the king's 
 palace. 
 
 Before long, King Louis and 
 Queen Anne decided to make a 
 number of improvements in this 
 palace ; and as they both were 
 great lovers of beautiful books, 
 they determined, among other 
 things, to build a large writing- 
 room where they could have skit 
 
 163 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 ful illuminators always at work 
 making lovely books for them. 
 
 When this room was finished, 
 and they began to think of whom 
 they would employ, the first one 
 they spoke of was Brother Stephen, 
 whose exquisite work on the book 
 of hours had so delighted them. 
 But then, much as they wished to 
 have him in the palace, they did 
 not think it possible to do so, as 
 they knew he belonged to the 
 brotherhood of St. Martin's Ab- 
 bey, and so of course had taken 
 vows to spend his whole life there. 
 
 It chanced, however, soon after 
 this, that King Louis happened 
 to have a little talk with the mes- 
 senger he had sent to the Abbey 
 at Christmas time to see about Ga- 
 briel And this messenger told the 
 
J) GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 king that while there the Abbot, 
 in speaking to him of Brother 
 Stephen's work, had said that the 
 latter really wished to leave the 
 brotherhood and go into the world 
 to paint; and that, though he had 
 refused his request to be freed 
 from his vows, yet the monk had 
 worked so faithfully at King 
 Louis's book that he thought he 
 had earned his freedom, and that 
 perhaps he, the Abbot, had done 
 wrong in forcing him to stay at 
 the Abbey if he wished to study 
 his art elsewhere. 
 
 In short, he had as much as 
 said that if Brother Stephen ever 
 again asked for his freedom, he 
 would grant it; and this showed 
 that the Abbot had relented and 
 
 unbent a great deal more than any 
 
 165 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK E 
 
 one could ever have believed pos- 
 sible. 
 
 When King Louis heard what 
 the messenger told him, he was 
 greatly pleased ; and after talking 
 it over with the queen, he de- 
 cided to send the same messenger 
 post-haste back to the Abbey to 
 ask for the services of Brother 
 Stephen before the Abbot might 
 again change his mind. 
 
 Now King Louis was a very 
 liberal monarch, and both he and 
 Queen Anne liked nothing better 
 than to encourage and help along 
 real artists. And so they thought 
 that they would supply Brother 
 Stephen with money so that he 
 could travel about and study and 
 paint as he chose, even if he pre- 
 ferred always to paint larger pic* 
 
 166 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 tures rather than to illuminate 
 books; though they hoped that 
 once in awhile he might spend a 
 little time in their fine new writ- 
 ing-room. 
 
 When the messenger started, 
 they told him to explain all this 
 to Brother Stephen, and let the 
 latter plan his work in whatever 
 way best pleased him. 
 
 But the queen gave particular 
 orders that, if possible, the mes- 
 senger was to bring the peasant 
 boy, Gabriel Viaud, back to the 
 palace with him ; for she thought 
 the lad's work on the page where 
 he had written his little prayer 
 showed such promise that she 
 wished to see him, and to have 
 him continue his training in the 
 
 beautiful art of illumination. 
 
 167 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK 
 
 The messenger, having thus 
 received his orders, at once set 
 out again for Normandy; and he 
 found this second journey much 
 more pleasant than the one he had 
 made before, through the winter 
 snows. For this time he rode 
 under tall poplar-trees and be- 
 tween green hedgerows, where the 
 cuckoos and fieldfares sang all 
 day long. And when, after sev- 
 eral days' travelling, he drew near 
 St. Martin's Abbey, the country 
 on either side of the road was 
 pink with wild roses and meadow- 
 sweet, just as it had been a year 
 before, when Gabriel used to 
 gather the clusters of field-flowers 
 for Brother Stephen to paint in 
 the beautiful book. 
 
 Indeed, Gabriel still gathered 
 
 168 
 
J GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK fj 
 
 the wild flowers every day, but 
 only because he loved them; for 
 though, since their better fortunes, 
 he was again studying and work- 
 ing with Brother Stephen, the 
 latter was then busy on a long 
 book of monastery rules, with only 
 here and there a coloured initial 
 letter, and which altogether was 
 not nearly so interesting as had 
 been the book of hours with its 
 lovely painted borders. 
 
 And so when the messenger 
 reached the Abbey, and made 
 known his errand, they were both 
 overjoyed at the prospect King 
 Louis offered them. 
 
 After talking with the mes- 
 senger, the Abbot, true to his 
 word, in a solemn ceremony, freed 
 
 Brother Stephen from his vows 
 
 169 
 
GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 t 
 
 of obedience to the rules of St. 
 Martin's brotherhood ; and then 
 he gave both him and Gabriel 
 his blessing. 
 
 Brother Stephen, who had been 
 too proud to ask a second time 
 for his freedom, was now delighted 
 that it had all come about in the 
 way it did, and that he could 
 devote his time to painting any- 
 thing he chose. 
 
 Gabriel, too, was enchanted at 
 the thought of all that he could 
 do and learn in the king's palace ; 
 and though he felt it hard to leave 
 his home, Queen Anne had kindly 
 made it easier for him by promis- 
 ing that sometimes he might come 
 back for a little visit. 
 
 So in a few days he and Brother 
 
 Stephen had made all their prep- 
 
 170 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 arations to leave; and they set 
 out, Gabriel going with the mes- 
 senger directly to King Louis's 
 palace in Paris ; while Brother 
 Stephen, taking the bag of gold 
 pieces which the king and queen 
 had sent for him, travelled to 
 many of the great cities of Europe, 
 where he studied the wonderful 
 paintings of the world's most 
 famous masters, and where he 
 himself made many beautiful pic- 
 tures. In this way he spent a 
 number of happy months. 
 
 And then, just as a great many 
 other people do, who find out that 
 as soon as they are not compelled 
 to do a certain kind of work, they 
 really like it very much better than 
 they thought, so, Brother Stephen, 
 
 being no longer obliged to illu- 
 
 171 
 
J| GABRIEL AND THE HOUR. BOOK g 
 
 minate books, all at once discov- 
 ered that he really enjoyed paint- 
 ing them more than anything else 
 in the world. 
 
 And so it was that, by and by, 
 to the gratification of the king and 
 queen, and above all to the great 
 delight of Gabriel, he made his 
 way to the great writing-room of 
 the palace in Paris. And there, 
 in the doing of his exquisite artis- 
 tic work, he passed the rest of his 
 long and happy life. 
 
 And through all the years the 
 
 warm love and friendship between 
 
 himself and Gabriel was as sweet 
 
 and beautiful and as unchanging 
 
 as any of the white and golden 
 
 lilies that they painted in their 
 
 rarest books. For Gabriel, too, 
 
 became one of the finest illumi- 
 
 172 
 
3 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK g 
 
 nators of the time, and his work 
 was much sought for by the great 
 nobles of the land. 
 
 Indeed, to this day, many of 
 the wonderful illuminations that 
 were made in that writing-room 
 are still carefully kept in the great 
 libraries and museums of France 
 and of Europe. And some time, 
 if ever you have the happiness 
 to visit one of these, and are there 
 shown some of the painted books 
 from the palace of King Louis 
 XII. and Queen Anne, if the 
 work is especially lovely, you may 
 be quite certain that either Brother 
 Stephen, or Gabriel, or perhaps 
 both of them together, had a hand 
 in its making. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 173 
 
Selections from 
 
 The Page Company's 
 
 Books for Young People 
 
 THE BLUE BONNET SERIES 
 
 Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
 
 per volume ....... $1.74 
 
 A TEXAS BLUE BONNET 
 
 By Caroline E. Jacobs. 
 
 " The book's heroine, Blue Bonnet, has the very fines!) 
 kind of wholesome, honest, lively girlishness." — Chicago 
 Inter-Ocean. 
 
 BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY 
 
 By Caroline E. Jacobs and Edtth Ellebbeck Bead. 
 "A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every 
 chapter." — Boston Transcript. 
 
 BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON 
 
 By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards. 
 " It is bound to become popular because of its whoLe- 
 someness and its many human touches." — Boston Globe. 
 
 BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE 
 
 By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards. 
 "It cannot fail to prove fascinating to girls in their 
 teens." — New York Sun. 
 
 BLUE BONNET — DEBUTANTE 
 
 By Lela Horn Richards. 
 
 An interesting picture of the unfolding of life for 
 Blue Bonnet. 
 
 SLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS 
 
 By Lela Horn Richards. 
 
 "Hie author's intimate detail and charm of nnrratiflft 
 'gives the reader an interesting story of the heroine's way 
 activities." — Pittsburgh Leader. 
 A— 1 
 
THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 ONLY HENRIETTA 
 
 By Lela Horn Richards. 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $1.90 
 
 " It is an inspiring story of the unfolding of life for a 
 young girl — a story in which there is plenty of action 
 /to hold interest and wealth of delicate sympathy and 
 /understanding that appeals to the hearts of young and 
 \old." — Pittsburgh Leader. 
 
 JHENRIETTA'S INHERITANCE: A Sequel to 
 
 "Only Henrietta" 
 
 By Lela Horn Richards. 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $1.90 
 
 " One of the most noteworthy stories for girls issued 
 this season. The life of Henrietta is made very real, 
 and there is enough incident in the narrative to balance 
 the delightful characterization." — Providence Journal. 
 
 THE YOUNG KNIGHT 
 By I. M. B. of K. 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $1.75 
 
 The clash of broad-sword on buckler, the twanging 
 ©f bow-strings and the cracking of spears splintered by 
 whirling maces resound through this stirring tale of 
 knightly daring-do . 
 
 THE YOUNG CAVALIERS 
 
 By I. M. B. of K. 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $1.75 
 
 "There have been many scores of books written about the 
 Charles Stuarts of England, but never a merrier and more 
 pathetic one than 'The Young Cavaliers.' " — Family Herald. 
 
 "The story moves quickly, and every page flashes a new 
 thrill before the reader, with plenty of suspense and excite- 
 ment. There is valor, affection, romance, chivalry and humor 
 in this fascinating tale." — Kansas City Kansan. 
 A— 2 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 THE MARJORY-JOE SERIES 
 
 By Alice E. Alien 
 Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illus- 
 trated, per volume . ... $1.50 
 
 JOE, THE CIRCUS BOY AND ROSEMARY 
 
 These are two of Miss Allen's earliest and most suc- 
 cessful stories, combined in a single volume to meet the 
 insistent demands from young people for these two 
 particular tales. 
 
 THE MARTIE TWINS: Continuing the Ad- 
 ventures of Joe, the Circus Boy 
 
 " The chief charm of the story is that it contains so 
 much of human nature. It is so real that it touches 
 the heart strings." — New York Standard. 
 
 MARJORY, THE CIRCUS GIRL 
 
 A sequel to "Joe, the Circus Boy," and "The Martie 
 Twins." 
 
 MARJORY AT THE WILLOWS 
 
 Continuing the story of Marjory, the Circus Girl. 
 
 " Miss Allen does not write impossible stories, but 
 delightfully pins her little folk right down to this life 
 of ours, in which she ranges vigorously and delight- 
 fully." — Boston Ideas. 
 
 MARJORY'S HOUSE PARTY: Or, What Hap- 
 pened at Clover Patch 
 
 " Miss Allen certainly knows how to please the chil- 
 dren and tells them stories that never fail to charm." 
 — Madison Courier. 
 
 MARJORY'S DISCOVERY 
 
 This new addition to the popular MARJORY-JOE 
 SERIES is as lovable and original as any of the other 
 creations of this writer of charming stories. We get 
 little peeps at the precious twins, at the healthy minded 
 Joe and sweet Marjory. There is a bungalow party, 
 which lasts the entire summer, in which all of the 
 characters of the previous MARJORY-JOE stories 
 participate, and their happy times are delightfully dc 
 picted, 
 A~3 
 
TUB PAWS COMPANT8 
 
 WE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES 
 
 By Habbison Adams 
 
 Bach ISmc, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
 volume $1.6$ 
 
 THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO; Ob, 
 
 CliEAEINQ THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 " Such books as this are an admirable means of stimu< 
 lating among the young Americans of to-day interest in 
 the story of their pioneer ancestors and the early days 07 
 the Republic.'! — Boston Globe. 
 
 THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES: 
 
 Ob, On the Trail op the Iroquois. 
 
 " The recital of the daring deeds of the frontier is not 
 only interesting but instructive as well and shows ihe 
 Sterling type of character which these days of self-reliance 
 and trial produced.'! — American Tourist, Chicago. 
 
 THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI! 
 
 Or, The Homestead in the Wilderness. 
 "The story is told with spirit, and is full of adven* 
 tare."-— New York Sun. 
 
 THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI; 
 
 Ob, In the Country of the Sioux. 
 
 a Vivid in style, vigorous in movement, full of dramatic 
 Situations, true to historic perspective, this story is a 
 capital one for boys." — Watchman Examiner, New York 
 City. 
 
 THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE YELLOW* 
 
 STONE l Or, Lost in the Land of Wonders. 
 i "There is plenty of lively adventure and action and 
 <the story is well told." — Duluth Herald, Duluth, Minn. 
 
 THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLUMBIA? 
 
 Or, In the Whjjerness of the Great Northwest. 
 * The story is full of spirited action and contains muc| 
 rateable historical information." — Boston Herald, 
 
BOOKS FOB YOUNkJ PEOPLE 
 
 THE FRIENDLY TERRACE SERIES 
 
 By Harriet Lixmmis Smith 
 Each one volume, cloth, decorative, 12mo, illus- 
 trated, per volume fl.TS 
 
 THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE 
 
 "It is a book that cheers, that inspires to higher 
 thinking; it knits hearts; it unfolds neighborhood plans 
 in a way that makes one tingle to try carrying them 
 out, and most of all it proves that in daily life, threads 
 of wonderful issues are being woven in with what 
 appears the most ordinary of material, but which in 
 the end brings results stranger than the most thrilling 
 fiction." — Belle Kellogg Towne in The Young People'* 
 Weekly, Chicago. 
 
 PEGGY RAYMOND'S VACATION 
 
 "It is a clean, wholesome, hearty story, well told 
 and full of incident. It carries one through experiences 
 that hearten and brighten the day." — Utica, N. Y., 
 Observer. 
 
 PEGGY RAYMOND'S SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 " It is a bright, entertaining story, with happy girls, 
 good times, natural development, and a gentle earnest- 
 ness of general tone." — The Christian Register, Boston. 
 
 THE FRIENDLY TERRACE QUARTETTE 
 
 "The story is told in easy and entertaining style 
 and is a most delightful narrative, especially for young 
 people. It will also make the older readers feel younger, 
 for while reading it they will surely live again in the 
 days of their youth." — Troy Budget. 
 
 PEGGY RAYMOND'S WAY 
 
 " The author has again produced a story that is 
 replete with) wholesome incidents and makes Peggy 
 more lovable than ever as a companion and leader?' 
 — World of Books. 
 
 "It possesses a plot of much merit and through its 
 324 pages it weaves a tale of Jove and of adventure, 
 which ranks it among the best K^ks for girls." — Cohofcz 
 American. 
 A— 5 
 
THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES 
 
 By Chables H. L. Johnston 
 Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
 per volume 
 
 FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS 
 
 " More of such books should be written, books thafl 
 acquaint young readers with historical personages in a 
 pleasant, informal way." — New York Sun. 
 
 FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS 
 
 " Mr. Johnston has done faithful work in this volume, 
 and his relation of battles, sieges and struggles of these 
 famous Indians with the whites for the possession of 
 America is a worthy addition to United States History." 
 — New York Marine Journal. 
 
 FAMOUS SCOUTS 
 
 " It is the kind of a book that will have a great fascina* 
 tion for boys and young men." — New London Day. 
 
 FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVEN- 
 TURERS OF THE SEA 
 
 "The tales are more than merely interesting; they are 
 entrancing, stirring the blood with thrilling force." — 
 Pittsburgh Post. 
 
 FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN AND HEROES OF 
 THE BORDER 
 
 "The accounts are not only authentic, but distinctly 
 readable, making a book of wide appeal to all who love 
 the history of actual adventure." — Cleveland Leader. 
 
 FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS 
 
 OF AMERICA 
 
 "The book is an epitome of some of the wildest and 
 bravest adventures of which the world has known." — 
 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 
 
 FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Who Led the United States and Her Allies to a Glo- 
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 "The pages of this book have the charm of romance 
 without its unreality. The book illuminates, with life- 
 like portraits, the history of the World War." — Roche* 
 ter Post Express. 
 A— 6 
 
BOOKS FOR YOUNO PEOPLE 
 
 FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES (Con.) 
 
 By Edwin Wildman 
 
 FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.— First 
 Series 
 
 "Are these stories interesting? Let a boy read them; and" 
 tell you." — Boston Transcript. 
 
 FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.— Second 
 Series 
 
 "As fascinating as fiction are these biographies, which em- 
 phasize their humble beginning and drive home the truth that 
 just as every soldier of Napoleon carried a marshal's baton in 
 his knapsack, so every American youngster carries potential 
 success under his hat." — New York World. 
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF AMERICA (Lives of Great 
 Americans from the Revolution to the Monroe 
 Doctrine) 
 
 "How can one become acquainted with the histories of some 
 of the famous men of the United States? A very good way is to 
 read 'The Founders of America,' by Edwin Wildman, wherein 
 the fife stories of fifteen men who founded our country are 
 told." — New York Post. 
 
 FAMOUS LEADERS OF CHARACTER (Lives of 
 Great Americans from the Civil War to Today) 
 
 "An informing, interesting and inspiring book for boys." — 
 Presbyterian Banner. 
 
 ". . . Is a book that should be read by every boy in the 
 whole country. . . ." — Atlanta Constitution. 
 
 FAMOUS AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS 
 With a complete index. 
 
 By Charles Lee Lewis 
 Professor, United States Naval Academy, Annapolit 
 "Professor Lewis does not make the mistake of bringing to- 
 gether simply a collection of biographical sketches. In con- 
 nection with the life of John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, 
 and other famous naval officers, he groups the events of the 
 period in which the officer distinguished himself, and combines 
 the whole into a colorful and stirring narrative." — Boston 
 Herald. 
 A— 7 
 
TUN fAUK UUMfAISra 
 
 STORIES BY EVALEEN STEIN 
 
 Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, 
 with a jacket in color $1.65 
 
 THE CHRISTMAS PORRINGER 
 
 This story happened many hundreds of years ago in the 
 quaint Flemish city of Bruges and concerns a little girl named 
 Karen, who worked at lace-making with her aged grand- 
 mother. 
 
 GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 
 
 "No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the ele- 
 ments that stir the hearts of children and grown-ups as well as 
 do the stories so admirably told by this author." — Louisville 
 Daily Courier. 
 
 A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE 
 
 "The story should be one of the influences in the life of every 
 child to whom good stories can be made to appeal." — Public 
 Ledger. 
 
 THE LITTLE COUNT OF NORMANDY 
 
 "This touching and pleasing story is told with a wealth of 
 interest coupled with enlivening descriptions of the country 
 where its scenes are laid and of the people thereof ." — Wilming- 
 ton Every Evening. 
 
 WHEN FAIRIES WERE FRIENDLY 
 
 "The stories are music in prose — they are like pearls on a 
 chain of gold — each word seems exactly the right word in the 
 right place; the stories sing themselves out, they are so beauti- 
 fully expressed." — The Lafayette Leader. 
 
 PEPIN: A Tale of Twelfth Night 
 
 1 "This retelling of an old Twelfth Night romance is a creation 
 almost as perfect as her 'Christmas Porringer.' " — Ltxingtom 
 Herald. 
 A— 8 
 

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