The monastery; The abbot.

THE- ABBOT. 821
yonder profaned altar, and when the raging heretics return, they shall dye
it with the blood of a martyr."
"But, my dearest mother," said Roland Grmme, whose early recollections
of her violence were formidably renewed by these wild expressions of reckless passion, "I will not forsake you-I will abide with you-worlds shall
not force me from your side-I will protect-I will defend you —I will live
with you, and die for you!"
"One word, my son, were worth all these-say only,' I will obey you.' "
"Doubt it not, mother," replied the youth, "I will, and that with all my
heart; only- "
"Nay, I receive no qualifications of thy promise," said Magdalen Grneme,
catching at the word, " the obedience which I require is absolute; and a
blessing on thee, thou darling memory of my beloved child, that thou hast
power to make a promise so hard to human pride! Trust me well, that in
the design in which thou dost embark, thou hast for thy partners the mighty
and the valiant, the power of the church, and the pride of the noble. Succeed or fail, live or die, thy name shall be among those with whom success
or failure is alike glorious, death or life alike desirable. Forward, then,
forward! life is short, and our plan is laborious - Angels, saints, and the
whole blessed host of heaven, have their eyes even now on this barren and
blighted land of Scotland-What say I? on Scotland? —their eye is on us,
Roland on the frail woman, on the inexperienced youth, who, amidst the
ruins which sacrilege hath made in the holy place, devote themselves to
God's cause, and that of their lawful Sovereign. Amen, so be it! The
blessed eyes of saints and martyrs, which see our resolve, shall witness the
execution; or their ears, which hear our vow, shall hear our death-groan
drawn in the sacred cause!"
While thus speaking, she held Roland Grgeme firmly with one hand, while
she pointed upward with the other, to leave him, as it were, no m(eans of
protest against the obtestation to which he was thus made a party. When
she had finished her appeal to Heaven, she left him no leisure for farther
hesitation, or for asking any explanation of her purpose; but passing with
the same ready transition as formerly, to the solicitous attentions of an
anxious parent, overwhelmed him with questions concerning his residence in
the Castle of Avenel, and the qualities and accomplishments he had acquired.
" It is well," she said, when she had exhausted her inquiries, "my gay
goss-hawk* hath been well trained, and will soar high; but those who bred
him will have cause to fear as well as to wonder at his flight.-Let us now,"
she said, "to our morning meal, and care not though it be a scanty one. A
few hours' walk will bring us to more friendly quarters."
They broke their fast accordingly, on such fragments as remained of their
yesterday's provision, and immediately set out on their farther journey.
MIagdalen Grgeme led the.way, with a firm and active step much beyond
her years, and Roland Greme followed, pensive and anxious, and far from
satisfied with the state of dependence to which he seemed again to be
reduced.
" Am I for ever," he said to himself, "to be devoured with the desire of
independence and free agency, and yet to be for ever led on, by circumstances, to follow the will of others?"
*'he comparison is taken from some beautiful verses in an old ballad, entitled Fause Foodrage, published
in the " Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border." A deposed queen, to preserve her infant son from the traitois
who have slain his father, exchanges him with the female offspring of a faithful friend, and goes on to direct
he education of the children, and the private signals by which the parents are to hear news each of her onsa
offspring.
"And you shall learn my gay goss-hawk And ye shall learn my gay goss-hawk
Right well to breast a steed; To wield both bow and brand;
And so will I your turtle dow, And so will I your turtle dow,
As well to write and read. To lay gowd with her hand.
At kirk or market when we meet,
We'll dare make no avow,
But,'Dame, how does my gay goss-hawk''Madame, how does my dowl'"
VOL.. — 21