Page:Walter Scott - The Monastery (Henry Frowde, 1912).djvu/46

 to more severe and cruel misconstructions, to be offended at a popular jest, though directed at my profession.'

'Am I to understand, then,' I answered, 'that I am speaking with a Catholic clergyman?'

'An unworthy monk of the order of Saint Benedict,' said the stranger, 'belonging to a community of your own countrymen, long established in France, and scattered unhappily by the events of the Revolution.'

'Then,' said I, 'you are a native Scotchman, and from this neighbourhood?'

'Not so,' answered the monk; 'I am a Scotchman by extraction only, and never was in this neighbourhood during my whole life.'

'Never in this neighbourhood, and yet so minutely acquainted with its history, its traditions, and even its external scenery! You surprise me, sir.' I replied.

'It is not surprising,' he said, 'that I should have that sort of local information, when it is considered, that my uncle, an excellent man as well as a good Scotchman, the head also of our religious community, employed much of his leisure in making me acquainted with these particulars; and that I myself, disgusted with what has been passing around me, have for many years amused myself by digesting and arranging the various scraps of information which I derived from my worthy relative and other aged brethren of our order.'

'I presume, sir,' said I, 'though I would by no means intrude Hie question, that you are now returned to Scotland with a view to settle amongst your countrymen, since the great political catastrophe of our time has reduced your corps?'

'No, sir,' replied the Benedictine, 'such is not my intention. A European potentate, who still cherishes the Catholic faith, has offered us a retreat within his dominions, where a few of my scattered brethren are already assembled, to pray to God for blessings on their protector and pardon to their enemies. No one, I believe, will be able to object to us under our new establishment, that the extent of our revenues will be inconsistent with our vows of poverty and abstinence; but let us strive to be thankful to God, that the snare of temporal abundance is removed from us.'