They
used an arrangement called "The Day Hours of the English Church,"
but beyond a few extra antiphons there was very little difference
from ordinary Evening Prayer. After Vespers I had a simple and
solemn meal by myself, and I was wondering how I should get hold of
a book to pass away the evening, when Brother Dunstan came in and
asked me if I'd like to sit with the brethren in the library until
the bell rang for simple silence a quarter of an hour before
Compline at 9.15, after which everybody--guests and monks--are
expected to go to bed in solemn silence. The difference between
simple silence and solemn silence is that you may ask necessary
questions and get necessary replies during simple silence; but as
far as I can make out, during solemn silence you wouldn't be
allowed to tell anybody that you were dying, or if you did tell
anybody, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it until solemn
silence was over.
The other monks are Brother Jerome, the senior novice after Brother
Dunstan, a pious but rather dull young man with fair hair and a
squashed face, and Brother Raymond, attractive and bird-like, and
considered a great Romanizer by the others.
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