"
The Bishop sank back exhausted, and his visitors went quietly out of the
room.
CHAPTER XIX
THE ALTAR FOR THE DEAD
All went as well with the new St. Agnes' as the Bishop had hoped.
Columns of red brick were covered in marble and alabaster by the votive
offerings of individuals or the subscriptions of different Silchester
Houses; the baldacchino was given by one rich old lady, the pavement of
the church by another; the Duke of Birmingham contributed a thurible;
Oxford Old Siltonians decorated the Lady Chapel; Cambridge Old
Siltonians found the gold mosaic for the dome of the apse. Father Rowley
begged money for the fabric far and wide, and the architect, the
contractors, and the workmen, all Chatsea men, gave of their best and
asked as little as possible in return. The new church was to be opened
on Easter morning. But early in Lent the Bishop of Silchester died in
the bed from which he had never risen since the day Father Rowley and
Mark received his blessing. The diocese mourned him, for he was a gentle
scholar, wise in his knowledge of men, simple and pious in his own life.
Dr. Harvard Cheesman, the new Bishop, was translated from the see of
Ipswich to which he had been preferred from the Chapel Royal in the
Savoy.
Pages:
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328