The monastery; The abbot.

THE ABBOT. 437
to aid tlat unhappy lady's escape from this place of penitence and security,
it is over with the peace of Scotland's cottages, and with the prosperity of
her palaces -and the babe unborn shall curse the name of the man who
gave inlet to the disorder which will follow the war betwixt the mother and
the son."
"I know of no such plan, reverend sir," answered the page, "and therefore can aid none such. -My duty towards the Queen has been simply that
of an attendant; it is a task, of which, at times, I would willingly have been
freed; nevertheless."
"It is to prepare thee for the enjoyment of something more of liberty,"
said the preacher, "that I have endeavoured to impress upon you the deep
responsibility under which your office must be discharged. George Douglas
hath told the Lady Lochleven that you are weary of this service, and my
intercession hath partly determined her good ladyship, that, as your discharge cannot be granted, you shall, instead, be employed in certain commissions on the mainland, which have hitherto been discharged by other
persons of confidence. Wherefore, come with me to the lady, for even
to-day such duty will be imposed on you."
"I trust you will hold me excused, reverend sir," said the page, who felt
that an increase of confidence on the part of the Lady of the Castle and her
family would render his situation in a moral view doubly embarrassing,
"one cannot serve two masters-and I much fear that my mistress will not
hold me excused for taking employment under another."
"Fear not that," said the preacher; "her consent shall be asked and
obtained. I fear she will yield it but too easily, as hoping to avail herself
of your agency to maintain correspondence with her friends, as those falsely
call themselves, who would make her name the watchword for civil war."
" And thus," said the page, " I shall be exposed to suspicion on all sides;
for my mistress will consider me as a spy placed on her by her enemies,
seeing me so far trusted by them; and the Lady Lochleven will never cease
to suspect the possibility of my betraying her, because circumstances put it
into my power to do so-I would rather remain as I am."
There followed a pause of one or two minutes, during which Henderson
looked steadily in Roland's countenance, as if desirous to ascertain whether
there was not more in the answer than the precise words seemed to imply.
He failed in this point, however; for Roland, bred a page from childhood,
knew how to assume a sullen pettish cast of countenance, well enough calculated to hide all internal emotions.
"'I understand thee not, Roland," said the preacher, "or rather thou
thinkest on this matter more deeply than I apprehended to be in thy nature,
Methought, the delight of going on shore with thy bow, or thy gun, or thy
angling-rod, would have borne away all other feelings."
" And so it would," replied Roland, who perceived the danger of suffering
Henderson's half-raised suspicions to become fully awake,-" I would have
thought of nothing but the gun and the oar, and the wild water-fowl that
tempt me by sailing among the sedges yonder so far out of flight-shot, had
you not spoken of my going on shore as what was to occasion burning
of town and tower, the downfall of the evangele, and the upsetting of the
mass."
" Follow me, then," said Henderson, " and we will seek the Lady Lochleven."
They found her at breakfast with her grandson George Douglas.-" Peace
be with your ladyship i" said the preacher, bowing to his patroness; "Roland
Grmeme awaits your order."
"Young man," said the lady, "our chaplain hath warranted for thy
fidelity, and we are determined to give you certain errands to do for us
in our town of Kinross."
* Not by my advice," said Douglas, coldly.
2M2