The Abbot

est-moon shone

rn was heard at

e portals-wi

hoofs the rocky

YD

seated on a stone chair at one end of the battlements, she saw the boy attempt, with a long st

o her questions with readiness and alacrity,-"a soldier will I be

l, was in attendance; "such a gentleman as I

for, beshrew me, but I think he comes of gentle blood-se

, "a good birchen wand should make his

received harm from the poor boy-or is he so far on the frosty

o long with gentles, I praise my stars for it, to fight with eithe

very wildness in which he occasionally indulged, his contempt of danger, and impatience of restraint, had in them something noble;-assuredly the child was born of high rank. Such was her conclusion, and she acted upon it accordingly. The domestics around her, less jealous, or less scrupulous than Lilias, acted as servants usually do, following the bias, and flattering, for their own purposes, the humour of the Lady; and the boy soon took on him those airs of superiority, which the sight of habitual deference seldom fail

ing. A band of about thirty spearmen, with a pennon displayed before them, winded along the indented shores of the lake, and approached the causeway. A single horseman rode at the head of the party, his bright arms catching a glance of the October sun as he moved steadily along. Even at that distan

the peculiar distinction with which she had treated her orphan ward. In this fear there was implied a consciousness, that the favour she had shown him was excessive; for Halbert Glendinn

t's censure; and hastily resolving that she would not mention, the anecdote of the

perseverance, and who, like his betters, delighted in the exercise of such authority,-"I will not go to Lili

he Lady, more positively than she u

had already felt his consequence,

e Lady, "what manner of word is

boy, "is a word for a man, an

said the Lady-"Lilias, ta

he seized the reluctant boy by the arm, "that

said the Lady; "hath the moon changed, t

ance, darted at his benefactress a glance, which intimated plainly, how willingly he

as not yet entirely composed, when her husband, unhelmeted, but still wearing the rest of his arms, entered the apartment. His appearance banished the thoughts of every thing else; she rushed to him, clasped his iron-sheathed frame in her arms, and kissed his martial and manly face with an affection which was at once evident and sincere. The warri

ed fondly on her husband's face as she remarked, "You are altered,

thing of constant custom. Those who are born noble may slumber out their lives within the walls of their castles and manor-ho

if endeavouring to read his inmost soul; for the ton

ing. The forehead was higher and more bare than in early youth, and the locks which still clustered thick and dark on the warrior's head, were worn away at the temples, not by age, but by the constant pressure of the steel cap, or helmet. His beard, according to the fashion of the time, grew short and thick, and was turned into mustaches on the upper lip, and peaked at the extremity. The cheek, weather-beaten and embrowned, had lost the glow of youth, but showed the vigorous c

y of Avenel; "this sadness sits not on your brow without caus

g; "but there is little of evil which can befall a kingdom, t

al work on foot. My Lord of Murray has not so long detained you at

ary," answered the Knight; "I h

t me no word?" r

love?" replied the Knight; "your thoughts would have converted the slightest

ent which she had never seen conveyed notions of terror and of wonder,-"really left your ow

one this marvellous deed-have rolled on the ocean for three days and three nights, with the d

rom your side, or lay the lance from your hand-I never bade you sit still when your honour called you to rise and rid

is fitting we should unite in alliance. To some of these I was despatched on business as important as it was secret. I went in safety, and I re

" said the Lady, "are they like our kindly Sc

hich renders all other nations weak, and weak in th

erstand you,"

d it. They erect dikes on the sea-shore to protect the land which they have won, and they levy regiments of the stubborn Switzers and hardy Germans to protect the treasu

Scotswoman of the period; "have they hands, and fight not for th

eir scanty browse. The hand of the industrious Fleming would cover these mountains with wood, and raise corn where we now see a starved and scanty sward of heath and ling. It grieves me, Mary, when I look on that land, and think what benefit

ceased to be shrubs, and the grain that you raised would be gathered in by the first neighbour that possessed more riders than follow your train. Why s

the wisest rebuked me. The crafty Lethington, the deep and dark Morton, have held secret council with me, and Grange and Lindsay have owned, that in the field I did

erior and obscure birth, who had risen to his present eminence solely by his personal merit. The natural firmness of his mind did not enable him to despise the ideal advantages of a higher pedigree, which were held in such universal esteem by all with whom he conversed; and so open are the noblest minds to jealous inconsistencies, that there were moments in which he felt mortified that his lady should p

oined my advantages of descent with my husband's personal worth, these painful and irksome reflections had not disturbed our union even for

husband verging towards this topic of mutual discontent. On the present, as on other sim

ng in battle, have you not to support the reputation your own deeds have won, a reputation more honourable than mere ancestry can supply? Good men love and honour you, the wicked fea

t than I have. For thou knowest, Mary, that my name derives itself from a line of ancient warriors, although my immediate forefathers preferred the humble station in which thou didst first find them; and war and counsel are not less proper to the house of Glendonwyne, even, in its most remote descendants, than to the proudest of their baronage." [Footnote: This was a house of ancient descent and superior consequence, including persons who fought at Bannockburn and Otterburn, and closely connected by alliance and friendship with the great Earls of Douglas. The Knight in this story argues as most Scotsmen would do in his situation, for all of the same clan are popularly considered as descended from the sam

is claims, however remote, to a share in them, at the very moment when he affected to hold them in contempt. It will easily be guessed, however, that she permitted no

tle of the house of Glendonwyne in its most remote branches to the full privileges of aristocracy, "Where," h

erhaps, she would have found it difficult to assign any reason even to he

dinning; "Wolf never was surly to any one; and the chain will either bre

distaffs, with which the maidens of the household were employed when the arrival of their lord was a signal to them to withdraw, and extracting

ation of the waiting-woman,-"Who is this page, whom every one seems to weigh in the balance with my ol

a blush, "you will not think your wife entitled to

well suit the proud English dames to have a slender youth to bear their trains from bower to hall, fan them when they slumber, and touch the lute for them wh

e; he is in sooth a little orphan whom we saved from perishing in the lake, and whom

upon the stately form of the Knight.-"Roland," said the Lady, "go kiss the hand of the noble Knight, and ask him to be thy protector."-But Roland obeyed not, and, keeping hi

d save yours, Lady,

Lady.-"He is dashed by your presence," she said, apol

rite, "a handsome dog; but he has this double advantage over your new favou

ing wrong in relieving the distressed orphan, or in loving that which is in itself lovely and deservi

neither blame your relieving this boy, nor your kindness for him. But, I think, considering his birth and prospects, you ought not to tr

the air of being intended by Heaven for something nobler than a mere peasant. May he not be

es in such occasions, whether in conversation or in an actual bog, namely, that of stopping suddenly short in the illustration which she had commenced. Her brow crimsoned, and that of Sir

uth what you will, and you have my full authority for doing so. But remember he is your charge, not mine-remember he hath limbs to do man's service, a soul and a tong

om thence-forward was little noticed by the master of the m

exempted from the strict discipline to which, as the retainer of a Scottish man of rank, he would otherwise have been subjected, according to all the rigour of the age. But the steward, or master of the household-such was the proud title assumed by the head domestic of each petty baron-deemed it not advisabl

curing the favour of her husband. With these prudential considerations, and doubtless not without an eye to his own ease and convenience, he taught the boy as much, and only as much, as he chose to learn, readily admitting whatever apology it pleased his pupil to allege in excuse for idleness or negligence. As the other persons in the castle, to whom such tasks were delegated, readily imitat

nd constant instruction did for others. In truth, the youthful Roland displayed that early flexibility both of body and mind, which renders exercise, either mental or bodily, rather matter of sport than of study; and it seemed as if he acquired accidentally, and by starts, those accomplishments, which earnest and constant instruction, enforced by frequent reproof and occasional chastisement, had taught to others. Such military exercises, such lessons of the period, as he found it agreeable or convenient to apply to, he learned so perfectly, as to confound those

ttached to no one, and responsible to no one, except his mistress, and even over her mind he had gradually acquired that species of ascendancy which indulgence is so apt to occasion. And although the immediate followers and dependents of Sir Halbert Glendinning saw his ascendancy with jealousy, and often

ects of the Lady of Avenel than of her husband. It is true, her wisdom and affection on all occasions discountenanced the distinction which was here implied; but the villagers persisted in thinking it must be agreeable to her to enjoy their peculiar and undivided homage, or at least in acting as if they thought so; and one chief mode by which they evinced their sentiments, was by the respect they paid to young R

d from the inhabitants of the castle more deference than the haughty young page, proud of his mistress's favour, and petulant from youth and situation, was at all times willing to pay. His bold and free demeanour, his attachment to rich dress and decoration, his inaptitude to receive instruction, and his hardening himself against rebuke, were circumstances which induced the good old man, with more haste than charity, to set the forward page down as a vessel of wrath, and

retorted upon the other domestics the distant, cold, and sarcastic manner in which they treated him, assumed an air of superio

ency of Murray, been still permitted to linger in the cloisters at Kennaquhair. Respect to Sir Halbert had prevented their being altogether driven out of the Abbey, though their order was now in a great measure suppressed, and they were interdicted the public exercise of their ritual, and only allowed for their support

part in the convulsions of his distracted country; while young Graeme anticipated, both in wishes and pers