Produced by Emmy, Juliet Sutherland and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
   [Transcriber's Note: two diacritical marks cannot be represented inplain text these are o with a breve shown as [)o] and the letters"oe" with a long macron above shown as [=oe] in the text.]
   THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH
   _The International Classics_
       ADAM BEDE. George Eliot    A TALE OF TWO CITIES. Charles Dickens    THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH. Charles Reade    DAVID COPPERFIELD. Charles Dickens    IVANHOE. Sir Walter Scott    JANE EYRE. Charlotte Bronte    LORNA DOONE. R. D. Blackmore    QUENTIN DURWARD. Sir Walter Scott    THE THREE MUSKETEERS. Alexandre Dumas    TWENTY YEARS AFTER. Alexandre Dumas    VANITY FAIR. William Makepeace Thackeray    WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Emily Bronte    WESTWARD HO! Charles Kingsley    ARABIAN NIGHTS.    THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Victor Hugo    THE WRECK OF THE GROSVENOR. W. Clark Russell    BLACK BEAUTY. Anna Sewell    THE TALISMAN. Sir Walter Scott    THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP. Charles Dickens
    ALL IN A MOMENT SHE WAS LOOKING AT HIM, FULL
   _Fr._ [_P. 593_]]
   The Cloister and the Hearth
   A TALE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
   BY CHARLES READE
       WITH SIXTEEN COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS    BY    EVELYN PAUL
       NEW YORK    DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY    1931
       PUBLISHED IN U. S. A., 1922    By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.
       PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    BY THE CORNWALL PRESS, INC.
   PREFACE
   A SMALL portion of this tale appeared in _Once a Week_, July--September,1859, under the title of "A Good Fight."
   After writing it, I took wider views of the subject, and also feltuneasy at having deviated _unnecessarily_ from the historical outline ofa true story. These two sentiments have cost me more than a year's veryhard labour, which I venture to think has not been wasted. After thisplain statement I trust all who comment on this work will see that, todescribe it as a reprint, would be unfair to the public and to me. TheEnglish language is copious and, in any true man's hands, quite able toconvey the truth; namely, that one fifth of the present work is areprint, and four fifths of it a new composition.
   ILLUSTRATIONS
     All in a moment she was looking at him, full          _Frontispiece_
                                                                 PAGE
     They had taught him penmanship                                4
     She turned her head away, and her long eyelashes      drooped sweetly                                          22
     Not more than thirty feet below him were Margaret      and Martin                                               70
     Suddenly a huge dog burst out of the coppice                102
     In that strange and mixed attitude of tender offices      and deadly suspicion the trio did walk                  150
     Denys saw a steel point come out of the Abbot               216
     They unbonneted and louted low, and she curtsied            258
     The constant lover lay silent on the snow                   272
     The black boat driving bottom upward                        430
     The slighted beauty started to her feet                     474
     "Aha! ladies," said she, "here is a rival an' ye will"      490
     Soon Gerard was at Father Anselm's knees                    506
     Margaret had moments of bliss                               548
     He scanned, with great tearful eyes, this strange      figure that looked so wild                              652
     The death of Gerard                                         704
   THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH
   THE CLOISTER & THE HEARTH