The Monastery

ith time, the wi

e lavish on't-t

while we wa

PL

ssed note, as if bewailing the departure of autumn. Among the scattered copses which here and there fringed its banks, the oak-trees only retained that pallid green that precedes their russet hue. The leaves of the willows were most of the

though it acknowledges their inanity! None lasts-none endures, save the foliage of the hardy oak, which only begins to show itself when that of the rest of the forest has enjoyed half its existence. A pale and decayed hue is all it possesses, but still it retains that symptom of vitality to the last.-So be it with Father Eustace! The fairy hopes of my youth I have trodden under foot like those neglected rustlers-to the prouder dreams of my manhood I look back as to lofty chimeras, of which the pith and essence have long since faded; but my religi

ared in the attitude of lamentation. But the impression was only momentary, and whenever he looked steadily to the point where he conceived the figure appeared, i

ve been made on his mind by the legend of the Sacristan. "It is strange," he said to himself, "that this story, which doubtless was the invention of Brother Philip to cover his own impropriety of con

prescribed rule of his order, and was not again disturbed by any wanderings of t

where be a' the folk?-help the right reverend Sub-Prior to dismount, and take his mule from him.-O father! God has sent you in our n

Father Eustace; "in what can I pleasure you

boldness to think of summoning you, for the good lady will never be

hriven by Father Phi

ays-but-I wish it may have been a clean shrift-Methought Father Philip looked but moody upon it

said the Father; "with us it is

I should prejudice the lady in your opinion; for she is an excellent lady-months and years has she dwelt in this t

Glendinning," said the monk; "and I again

Philip removed from Glendearg, was this morning retu

id the monk; "

which Father Philip carried with him but yesterday. Old Martin, that is my tasker and the lady's servant, was driving out the co

Halbert and my Edward, that your reverence has seen at church on holidays, and especially Halbert,-for you patted him on the head and gave him a brooch of Saint Cuthbert, which he wears in his bonnet,-and little Mary Avenel, that is the lady's daughter, they ran all after the cattle, and began to play up and down the pasture as young folk will, your reverence. And at length they lost sight of Martin and the cows; and

woman of your sense to listen to a tale so idle!-

me a lie in their lives, I must warn you that on the very ground where the White Woman

aid the monk. "Know you no other cop

Elspeth; "why should there?-no on

ry same volume which you gave t

I now speak wit

he monk; and he walked across

angels, or ghosts, or fairies, or the like, waiting upon a leddy when she is in another woman's house, in respect it is no ways creditable. Ony thing she had to do was always done to her hand, without costing her either pains or pence, as a country body says; and besides the discredit, I cannot but think that there is no safety in having such unchancy creatures about ane. But I have t

uptly, when the good woman had finished her narrati

as the beggar knows his dish-a canty quean was Kate, a

ce; "she after whom I inquire is scarce fifteen, a

at you are pleased to speak of: but I thank God I have always been too duteous in

avoid smiling, when the dame boasted her absolute resistance to a tempta

d, "you know her usual

irtle the wench wears, to hide the dust of the mill, no doubt-

who has brought back this book, and stepped o

o conceive why the lass of the mill should come so far from home into so wild a corner merely

the Dame Glendinning had always paid her multure and knaveship duly, the said lass of the mill

ou must be cautious in what you say. This is an instance-I would it were the sole one-of the

the miller's folk at the Monastery-mill were far over careless in sifting our melder, and in bolting it too-

to see that the good old woman went off on a false scent; "and now, by you

t her unauthorized intrusion into the priestly function, by study of the Sacred Scriptures, he imagined to himself the answers which one of the modern school of heresy might return to him-the victorious refutation which should lay the disputant prostrate at the Confessor's mercy-and the healing, yet awful exhortation, which, under pain of refusing the last consolations of religion, he designed to make to the penitent, conjuring her, as she loved her own soul's welfare, to disclose to him what she knew of the dark mystery of

r hastened to the little apartment, where, on the wretched bed which she had occupied since her misfortunes had driven her to the Tower of Glendearg, the widow of Walter Avenel had rendered up her spirit to her Creator. "My God!" said the Sub-Prior, "and has my unfortunate dallying suffered her to depart without the Church's consolation! Look to he

ess also-Oh, the kind companion I have had these many years, whom I shall never see again

to carry a choice one from the flock, while he busied himself with trimming his sling and his staff to give the monster battle! O

dly as to leave a smile upon the thin blue lips, which had been so long wasted by decay that they had parted with the last breath of animation without the slightest convulsive tremor-"Ay," said Father Eustace, "there lies the faded tree, an

iently while alive, notwithstanding some trifling points of jealousy, now idolized her after

stianity to the volume on which Christianity itself is founded, had nevertheless been regular in her attendance on the worship of the Church, not, perhaps, extending her scruples so far as to break

ssing the dead body, "thou art yet free from the utmost penalty due to the followers of false doctrine-if thou dost but suffer for a time, to expiate faults done in the body, but partaking of mortal frailty more than of deadly sin, fear not that thy abode shall be long in the penal regions to which thou mayest be doomed-if vigils-if masses-if penance-if macerat

ers, for the weal of the departed spirit. For an hour he remained in the apartment of dea

y absorbed by the tribute of sorrow which she paid frankly and plentifully to her deceased friend, as to be incapable of attending to the rights of hospitality due t

as not till she had arranged her little repast neatly on the board, that she sat down in the chimney corner, threw her checked apron over her head, and gave way to the current of tears and sobs. In this there was no grimace or affectation. The good dame held t

used to say were so good"-not the ale, nor any other cates which poor Elspeth's stores afforded, could prevail on the Sub-Prior to break his fast. "This day," he said, "I must not taste food until the sun go down, happy if, in so doing, I can expiate my own negligence-happier still, if my sufferings of this trifling nature, undertaken in pure faith and singlene

while it from the bairns; and indeed, poor things, as the case stands with them even now, you might take the h

ocket one which was curiously illuminated with paintings, "and I will come myse

oor Lady of Avenel's; and blessed might we have been this day, if your reverence had found the way up the glen, instead of Father Philip, though the Sacristan is a pow

was still delaying him with questions about the funeral, when a horseman, ar