The monastery; The abbot.

THE AB BOT. 323
"You see buit with the eyes of the body," said the old woman; "God
will defend his own, though it be forsaken and despised of men. Better to
dwell on the sand, under his law, than fly to the rock of human trust."
As she thus spoke, they entered the court before the old mansion, and
Roland could observe that the front of it had formerly been considerably
ornamented with carved work, in the same dark-coloured freestone of which
it was built. But all these ornaments had been broken down and- destroyed,
and only the shattered vestiges of niches and entablatures now strewed the
place which they had once occupied. The larger entrance in front was
walled up, but a little footpath, which, from its appearance, seemed to be
rarely trodden, led to a small wicket, defended by adoor well clenched
with iron-headed nails, at which Magdalen Graeme knocked three times,
pausing betwixt each knock, until she heard an answering tap from within.
At the last knock, the wicket was opened by a pale thin female, who said,
" Benedicti qui venient in nomine Domini." They entered, and the portress
hastily shut behind them the wicket, and made fast the massive fastenings
by which it was secured.
The female led the way through a narrow entrance, into a vestibule of
some extent, paved with stone, and having benches of the same solid material ranged around. At the upper end was an oriel window, but some of
the intervals formed by the stone shafts and mullions were blocked up, so
that the apartment was very gloomy.
Here they stopped, and the mistress of the mansion, for such she was,
embraced Magdalen Groeme, and greeting her by the title of sister, kissed
her with much solemnity, on either side of the face.
"The blessing of Our Lady be upon you, my sister," were her next
words; and they left no doubt upon Roland's mind respecting the religion
of their hostess, even if. he could have suspected his venerable and zealous
guide of resting elsewhere than in the habitation of an orthodox Catholic.
They spoke together a few words in private, during which he had leisure to
remark more particularly the appearance of his grandmother's friend.
Her age might be betwixt fifty and sixty; her looks had a mixture of
melancholy and unhappiness that bordered on discontent, and obscured the
remains of beauty which age had still left on her features. Her dress was
of the plainest and most ordinary description, of a dark colour, and, like
Magdalen Graeme's, something approaching to a religious habit. Strict
neatness and cleanliness of person, seemed to intimate, that if poor, she
was not reduced to squalid or heart-broken distress, and that she was still
sufficiently attached to life to retain a taste for its decencies, if not its elegancies. Her manner, as well as her features and appearance, argued an
original condition and education far above the meanness of her present appearance. In short, the whole figure was such as to excite the idea, "That
female must have had a history worth knowing." While'Roland Gnreme
was making this very reflection, the whispers of the two females ceased, and
the mistress of the mansion, approaching him, looked on his face and person
with much attention, and, as it seemed, some interest.
"This, then," she said, addressing his relative, "is the child of thine
unhappy daughter, sister Magdalen; and him, the only shoot from your
ancient tree, you are willing to devote to the Good Cause?"
" Yes, by the rood," answered Magdalen Grgeme, in her usual tone 6f
resolved determination, "to the good cause I devote him, flesh and fell,
sinew and limb, body and soul."
" Thou art a happy woman, sister Magdalen," answered her companion,
"that, lifted so high above human affection and human feeling, thou canst
bind such a victim to the horns of the altar. Had I been called to make
such a sacrifice-to plunge a youth so young and fair into the plots and
bloodthirsty dealings of the time, not the patriarch Abraham, when he led
Isaac up the mountain, would have rendered more melancholy obedience."