Page:Walter Scott - The Monastery (Henry Frowde, 1912).djvu/164

RV 96 (Rh) time. 'Our dear brother restored to us when his life was unhoped for!—nay, kneel not to a sinner like me—stand up—thou hast my blessing. When this villain came to the gate, accused by his own evil conscience, and crying out he had murdered thee, I thought that the pillar of our main aisle had fallen; no more shall a life so precious be exposed to such risks as occur in this border country; no longer shall one beloved and rescued of Heaven hold so low a station in the church as that of a poor sub-prior; I will write by express to the Primate for thy speedy removal and advancement.'

'Nay, but let me understand,' said the sub-prior; 'did this soldier say he had slain me?'

'That he had transfixed you,' answered the abbot, 'in full career with his lance; but it seems he had taken an indifferent aim. But no sooner didst thou fall to the ground mortally gored, as he deemed, with his weapon, than our blessed patroness appeared to him, as he averred'—

'I averred no such thing,' said the prisoner; 'I said a woman in white interrupted me, as I was about to examine the priest's cassock, for they are usually well lined; she had a bulrush in her hand, with one touch of which she struck me from my horse, as I might strike down a child of four years old with an iron mace—and then, like a singing fiend as she was, she sang to me,

I gathered myself up with fear and difficulty, threw myself on my horse, and came hither like a fool to get myself hanged for a rogue.'

'Thou seest, honoured brother,' said the abbot to the sub-prior, 'in what favour thou art with our blessed patroness, that she herself becomes the guardian of thy paths. Not since the days of our blessed founder hath she shown such grace to any one. All unworthy were we to hold spiritual superiority over thee, and we pray thee to prepare for thy speedy removal to Aberbrothwick.'

'Alas! my lord and father,' said the sub-prior, 'your words pierce my very soul. Under the seal of confession