Page:Walter Scott - The Monastery (Henry Frowde, 1912).djvu/51

 not be envied by princes or nobles: it is simply the heart of an upright man.'

'Ah! I understand you,' I answered; 'some relic, forgotten in the confusion of the Reformation. I know the value which men of your persuasion put upon the bodies and limbs of saints. I have seen the Three Kings of Cologne.'

'The relics which I seek, however,' said the Benedictine, 'are not precisely of that nature. The excellent relative whom I have already mentioned, amused his leisure hours with putting into form the traditions of his family, particularly some remarkable circumstances which took place about the first breaking out of the schism of the church in Scotland. He became so much interested in his own labours, that at length he resolved that the heart of one individual, the hero of his tale, should rest no longer jn a land of heresy, now deserted by all his kindred. As he knew where it was deposited, he formed the resolution to visit his native country for the purpose of recovering this valued relic. But age, and at length disease, interfered with his resolution, and it was on his deathbed that he charged me to undertake the task in his stead. The various important events which have crowded upon each other, our ruin and our exile, have for many years obliged me to postpone this delegated duty. Why, indeed, transfer the relics of a holy and worthy man to a country w-here religion and virtue are become the mockery of the scorner? I have now a home, which I trust may be permanent, if anything in this earth can be termed so. Thither will I transport the heart of the good father, and beside the shrine which it shall occupy, I will construct my own grave.'

'He must, indeed, have been an excellent man,' replied I, 'whose memory, at so distant a period, calls forth such strong marks of regard.'

'He was, as you justly term him,' said the ecclesiastic, 'indeed excellent—excellent in his life and doctrine; excellent, above all, in his self-denied and disinterested sacrifice of all that life holds dear to principle and to friendship. But you shall read his history. I shall be happy at once to gratify your curiosity, and to show my sense of your kindness, if you will have the goodness to procure me the means of accomplishing my object.'