The History of Richard Raynal, Solitary by Robert Hugh Benson
page 24 of 130 (18%)
page 24 of 130 (18%)
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"These are for you, my father," he said; "the book of hours and the
_Regula Heremitarum_ I shall take with me, and all the rest of the mobills and the two other books I shall leave at our Lord's disposal, except the bottle of Quintessence." I took the two books and looked at them. There was Master Hoveden's _Philomela_, and a little book he had made on Quinte Essence. "But you will need them!" I cried. "I carry _Philomela_ in my heart," he said, "and as for the Quinte Essence I shall have enough if I need it, and here is the bottle that holds that that has been made of blood.--The fifth--being of gold and silver I have not. _Argentum et aurum non est mihi_." ["Silver and gold I have none." (Acts iii. 6.)] (That was the little bottle that I have told you of before. It was distilled of his own blood, according to the method of Hermes Trismegistus.) "If I do not return," he said, "I bequeath all to you; and I wish six masses to be said; the first to be sung, of _Requiem_; the second of the five wounds; the third of the assumption; the fourth of all martyrs with a special memory of saint Christopher; the fifth of all confessors with a special memory of saint Anthony, hermit, and saint Giles, abbot; the sixth of all virgins with a special memory of saint Agnes." You understand, my children, that he knew what would come to him, and |
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