priests, sure you would have found it nothing amiss."

"Silence, boy!" thundered the old man, his fury suddenly changing
to a white heat of passion, which was more terrible than the
bluster that had gone before. "Silence, lest I strike thee to the
ground where thou standest, and plunge this dagger in thine heart
sooner than hear thee blaspheme the Holy Church in which thou wast
reared! How darest thou talk thus to me? as though yon accursed
heretic of a Protestant was a member of the Church of Christ. Thou
knowest that there is but one fold under one shepherd, and he the
Pope of Rome. A plague upon those accursed ones who have perverted
the true faith and led a whole nation astray! But they shall not
lead my son after them; Nicholas Trevlyn will look well to that!"

Father and son stood with the table between them, gazing fixedly at
one another like combatants who, having tested somewhat the
strength each of the other, feel a certain doubt as to the
termination of the contest, but are both ready and almost eager for
the final struggle which shall leave the victory unequivocally on
one side or the other.

"I had thought that the Shepherd was Christ," said Cuthbert, in a
low, firm tone, "and that the fold was wide enough to embrace all
those baptized into His name."

"Then thou only thinkest what is one more of those damnable
heresies which are ruining this land and corrupting the whole
world," cried Nicholas between his shut teeth. "Thou hast learned
none such vile doctrine from me."