The Curse Upon Mitre Square — page 21: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE NEOPHYTER. 13 an old grudge against the Priory of Holy Trinity, and had bargained with the king that should an opportunity occur and the monastery be suppressed, the proceeds should go to paying off this old debt. The enmity of Audley was well known to the monks, who recognised in him their secret foe; but they felt no alarm so long as their reputation stood high with the people of the city. Such was the condition of affairs when the strangest rumour reached the ears of the Prior. The monks were not told the nature of this rumour at first; all they knew was that, if true, 1t boded ill to them, and Prior Handcock, like all unsuspicious and weak men, stuck obstinately to his insane deter- mination of keeping the information secret from the monks, and after awhile dismissed the rumour as unfounded. ‘In such fashion was laid the foundation for the shastly tragedies and inhuman wickedness which have stamped one small portion of the site of Holy Trinity Church with the curse of Cain, EONMICEL NCO KS (E(0) m