"Methinks that it was a happy
day for the abbot, as well as for myself, when I laid aside my gown;
for I fear that I gave him more trouble than all the rest of his
convent. Besides, it was as if a wolf's cub had been brought up among a
litter of ladies' lapdogs--it was sure to be an ill time for both."
"And for how long are you at home with us, brother Alwyn?" John Forster
asked, presently.
"I am here for a week only, John; but Oswald has leave for a month,
seeing that, at present, there is no great chance of Hotspur needing
his services. The Scotch are quiet since the king returned, I hear."
"Ay, they are as quiet as is their nature to be, but 'tis not likely to
last long. I went not with the army, but I hear that Henry behaved so
gently that the Scotch feel that it would be almost an act of
ingratitude to meddle with us, for a time. However, that will not last
long. Next spring they will doubtless be storming down over the hills
again."
The holiday passed delightfully to Oswald. Roger enjoyed it even more.
It was so long since the latter had been permitted the freedom of
riding at will, over mountain and moor, that he was like a schoolboy
enjoying an altogether unwonted holiday.
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