When the car came for him on the third day he went out to it very slowly and he mounted it very heavily. Then he drove away to the monastery.

In four days Finn's grand-aunt had a letter from him. He told her that he suffered a good deal from a feeling of loneliness and he thought that if Finn were with him for a while he would be happier. His grand-aunt told Finn that she would take him to the monastery on Sunday and that he might stay there a week. Finn at first was frightened at the idea of staying in a monastery, but then he became used to it and he thought how glad he would be to be with his grandfather again.

On Sunday the car came round for his grand-aunt and himself and they drove far away from the town and came at last to the gates of the monastery. A man in a brown garment opened the gate for the car. They drove up to a big building, and another man in a brown garment came down to them. Finn's grand-aunt explained that Finn was going to stay with his grandfather who was a guest at the monastery. The man in the brown garment, who was a lay brother, lifted Finn off the car and told him to bring his parcel with him. The part of the building they were at was not the real monastery. The lay brother told Finn that women were never admitted to the real monastery; so he told Finn to bid good-bye to his grand-aunt and follow him. His grand-aunt did not get off the car; she bent down and kissed Finn.

The lay-brother holding him by the hand and carrying his parcel under his arm took Finn through a gate which he opened with a key. He took him into the hall of another building. Then a monk who was robed in white with a white hood over his head came to them and asked whom the boy wanted to see. Finn spoke up and gave his grandfather's name. The lay-brother left his parcel on the hall-table and the monk took his hand and brought him through the garden. Groups of men were walking about or sitting on seats.

"They are our guests," said the monk, "and your grandfather may be with them."

They did not find him in this garden and they went into another garden where there were fruit trees. At the very end Finn saw his grandfather sitting alone. He was holding a stick in his hands and his head was bent above it. He did not see them until the monk and Finn were before him; then he did not rise, but stretched out his hands to Finn.

The monk in the white robe, who was the guest-master, went away, and Finn and his grandfather sat together on the seat at the end of the garden. In a while a bell rang and they went in to dinner with the other guests.

There were two long tables in the refectory and guests of all descriptions sat among them. The guest-master walked here and there, helping one person or another. Then another monk robed in white came in and sat near the window. Immediately he began to read out of a book. It was a story about a saint, but although the monk read very slowly and very carefully Finn could not follow it, for the guests made a great din in eating. His grandfather helped him to some vegetables and mutton, but Finn was too timid to eat and besides he wanted to hear the story. There was a priest at one of the tables and Finn recognized him as Father Gildea.

They had only two gardens to walk in—the garden before the house and the fruit garden just beyond it. Finn and his grandfather did not go with the other guests but sat and talked together. His grandfather talked to Finn about his father a good deal. Next year, he said, he would be released from prison and he hoped to see him.

While they were sitting on the end seat in the fruit garden a priest came towards them. It was Father Gildea. He saluted the grandfather and putting his hand on Finn's head said, "What are you doing here, little man?" He sat down and talked to Finn's grandfather for a long time in a clear and pleasant voice. They remained together until it was evening and time to go to the rosary in the chapel of the monastery. After the rosary they went into the refectory for tea. No monk read to them during that meal. They went out to the grounds again and walked about for a little while.

Then it was time to attend another service that was called Compline. The guests knelt down in a little corner to themselves. Then the monks and the lay-brothers who had been working in the fields beyond the monastery entered the chapel. The monks were in their white robes and the lay-brothers in their brown habits. The white-robed fathers and the brown-robed brothers bowed before an altar and went to their places that were along the three sides of a square. Before each of them a great book was placed. They opened their books and chanted words in Latin. Then a white-robed monk went before the altar and lit candle after candle—scores of candles, hundreds of candles—Finn was glad of that grand blaze of light. The service went on and the monks chanted again. But when darkness was growing outside the high windows the monk came before the altar again and put out one candle after another until the whole blaze of light was gone. Finn thought that the monks all became sad then. There were more prayers and then service was over. As the guests went along the corridor a monk who was standing there sprinkled each with holy water. All the guests went up the stairs in silence—a card hung in the corridor and on it was written, "The guests are expected to respect the silence of the night."

His grandfather showed Finn the place where he was to sleep. It was a little room with a bed, a table, and a chair. The room in which his grandfather slept was just opposite. His grandfather undressed the boy and put him to bed. Then he sat for a long time beside the bed talking to him. He put down his cheek beside Finn's and then went out. Early next morning he was in the room again. Finn wakened up and his grandfather told him that if anyone called him for early mass not to mind but to stay on in bed for a while. Finn did this. When he came down he found his grandfather in the hall. He had been to mass at six o'clock. He took Finn out to the garden for a while and afterwards they went with the rest of the guests to eight o'clock mass. Afterwards they had breakfast in the refectory and another white-robed monk read to them.

At twelve o'clock his grandfather went to prayers again. Then the lay-brother who had met Finn when he came to the monastery, brought him with him to feed the pigeons. They were fan-tails and beautifully white. They flew down on the lay-brother's shoulders and picked out of Finn's hands. Then they went down to the stream. In a minute swans sailed up—two large white ones and a young swan that was fluffy and slate-coloured. The male swan had a wicked eye and although he took bread he would not make friends with either Finn or the lay-brother. The lay-brother then gave Finn apples out of his pockets and he let him stay with him while he watered the rose-bushes.

While they were at dinner that day Finn heard more of the story that the monk read. It was about a saint who lived in Poland. Father Gildea was with his grandfather and himself a good deal of the day. They went to the rosary and then to tea. When they walked in the garden before Compline Finn told his grandfather about the beautiful pigeons he had fed and his grandfather promised he would go with Finn and the lay-brother the next day.

But Finn did not go to feed the pigeons again. At twelve o'clock his grandfather went into the chapel. Finn waited for the lay-brother but he did not come. His grandfather was a long time in the chapel. He sat waiting for him, and one guest after another walked down to him and talked to him for a while. Still his grandfather did not come. He thought he would go into the chapel and find him. As he was going into the hall he met Father Gildea who took him back along the garden. He told him he would see his grandfather in a while. He sat beside the boy and talked to him kindly. His grandfather was not well, he said; something had happened to him in the chapel. Then the guest-master in his white robe came down to them. He took Finn, not up the stairs to the room where his grandfather slept, but through the gate and into the building he had seen when he came to the monastery first. The guest-master told him his grandfather had fallen down in the chapel; he was in the infirmary now, but he would be well in a few days. Finn was frightened. Then they entered a big room and he saw his grandfather in bed. He took Finn's hand but he did not speak to him.

The guest-master thought Finn would be less lonely if he stayed with the boys of their school until his grandfather was well again. He did not bring him back to the guest-house but into a building that was behind the infirmary. He spoke to a lay-brother there who was called Brother Kevin—an old man in a brown habit who took snuff. There were benches in the hall where he was and a raised platform was at one end. Brother Kevin was instructing some boys who were upon this platform. They were making speeches and he was correcting them. The guest-master left and Finn sat down at a bench and tried to follow what was going on. Now and again a boy would leave the benches and go on the platform and repeat some lines. Brother Kevin was never satisfied with the way they spoke. But at last the lesson was over and he took Finn into the school refectory where he had tea with the other boys. Those who were at the table with him told Finn they were rehearsing a play.

Finn stayed in the school of the monastery and attended classes with other boys. In a few days he was taken to see his grandfather. He was still lying in bed but this time he was able to talk and Finn told him about the plays that were to be performed in the school. One was in Irish and another was in English. A lot of boys in the school knew Irish, Finn said. He did not know what the play in Irish was like, for none of the boys in his class were in it and he had never seen them rehearsing it in the hall. But the play in English was about the death of a King of Ireland whose name was Connery. The King had three foster-brothers, Lomna Dru, Ferrogain and Fergobar. They behaved badly and the King banished them out of the country. The brothers met on the sea a pirate whose name was Ingkel, and they joined him and did harm in Britain. The pirate claimed then that the brothers should go with him into their own country of Ireland and do harm there, too. They came to a great house and destroyed it while the King was in it. He was killed and only his little son was left alive. That was the play.

And if his grandfather saw the little boy who was going to play the King's son! He was very small and he was carried in the arms of a big boy. Finn hoped they would be in the monastery when the play was performed and he hoped that his grandfather would be well enough to watch it with him. His grandfather smiled when he was leaving and told him to come back soon and tell him more about the play. He saw his grandfather many times and it seemed he was getting better.