"
"I've never been used to horses," said Brother Jerome.
"And you have been used to saints?" the Prior laughed, raising his
eyebrows.
Brother Jerome was silent.
"Well, Brother Lawrence, what do you say?"
Brother Lawrence stuck out his lower jaw and assumed the expression of
the good boy in a Sunday School class.
"St. Joseph was the foster-father of Our Blessed Lord, Reverend
Brother," he said primly. "I think it would be most disrespectful both
to Our Blessed Lord and to Our Blessed Lady if we didn't keep his
feast-day, though I am sure St. Joseph would have no objection to
daffodils. No objections at all. His whole life and character show him
to have been a man of the greatest humility and forbearance."
The Prior rocked with laughter. This was the kind of speech that
sometimes rewarded his teasing.
"We always kept St. Joseph's day at the Visitation, Hornsey," Brother
Nicholas volunteered. "In fact we always made it a great feature. We
found it came as such a relief in Lent."
The Prior nodded his head mockingly.
"These young folk can teach us a lot about the way to worship God,
Brother Birinus," he commented.
Brother Birinus scowled.
"I broke three shares ploughing that bad bit of ground by the fir
trees," he announced gloomily.
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