Here they deemed it better to separate. The monk went to
a convent, and gave out there that he was on the way to Edinburgh,
being on a journey thither to see his aged father, who was in his last
sickness. Oswald went to a shop, and bought clothes suited for the son
of a trader in a fair position; and, changing his things at the inn
where he had put up, made his way to the castle.
"I would have speech with the earl," he said, to the warder at the
gate. "I have his orders to wait upon him."
"What is your name and condition?"
"That matters not. I am here by the earl's orders. He sent me a ring,
by which it might be known that I am authorized to have access to him."
On seeing the ring, the warder at once called to one of the servitors,
and bade him conduct Oswald to the earl's apartment.
"Whom shall I say?" he asked, when he reached the door.
"Give this ring to him, and say that the bearer awaits admittance to
him."
The man entered the room and then, opening the door again, motioned to
Oswald to enter. The earl, a tall and powerfully-built man, looked with
a keen scrutiny at him.
"From whom come you, young sir?"
"From the holder of that ring, my Lord Earl," Oswald said, presenting
the ring that Percy had given him.
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