Page:Walter Scott - The Monastery (Henry Frowde, 1912).djvu/224

RV 156 (Rh) breeding will not so far prevail over the more ordinary rules of civil behaviour.'

'Fair tenant of an indifferent copyhold,' replied the knight, with the same coolness and civility of mien, but in a tone somewhat more lofty than he used to the young lady, 'we do not, in the southern parts, much intermingle discourse, save with those with whom we may stand on some footing of equality; and I must, in all discretion, remind you, that the necessity which makes us inhabitants of the same cabin doth not place us otherwise on a level with each other.'

'By Saint Mary,' replied young Glendinning, 'it is my thought that it does; for plain men hold, that he who asks the shelter is indebted to him who gives it; and so far, therefore, is oùr rank equalized while this roof covers us both.'

'Thou art altogether deceived,' answered Sir Piercie; 'and that thou mayst fully adapt thyself to our relative condition, know that I account not myself thy guest, but that of thy master, the lord abbot of Saint Mary's, who, for reasons best known to himself and me, chooseth to administer his hospitality to me through the means of thee, his servant and vassal, who art, therefore, in good truth, as passive an instrument of my accommodation as this ill-made and rugged joint-stool on which I sit, or as the wooden trencher from which I eat my coarse commons. Wherefore,' he added, turning to Mary, 'fairest mistress, or rather, as I said before, most lovely Protection'$n$

Mary Avenel was about to reply to him, when the stern, fierce, and resentful expression of voice and countenance with which Halbert exclaimed, 'Not from the King of Scotland, did he live, would I brook such terms!' induced her to throw herself between him and the stranger, exclaiming, 'For God's sake, Halbert, beware what you do!'

'Fear not, fairest Protection,' replied Sir Piercie, with the utmost serenity, 'that I can be provoked by this rustical and mistaught juvenal to do aught misbecoming your presence or mine own dignity; for as soon shall the gunner's linstock give fire unto the icicle, as the spark of passion inflame my blood, tempered as it is to serenity by the respect due to the presence of my gracious Protection.'