They are
near neighbours, and among my very best customers."
As he spoke, four armed men came in at the door.
"Good day, Wilson! Whom have you here? An ill-assorted couple, surely.
A monk, though a somewhat rough one, and a man-at-arms."
"Fellow travellers of a day," Roger said calmly. "We met on the road,
and as I love not solitude, having enough and to spare of it, I
accosted him. He turned out a good companion."
"You are a man of sinew yourself, monk, and methinks that you would
have made a better soldier than a shaveling."
"I thought so sometime, myself," the monk said; "but my parents thought
otherwise, and it is too late to take up another vocation, now."
"Is that staff yours?" the soldier asked, taking it up, and handling
it.
"Yes, my son. In these days even a quiet religious man, like myself,
may meet with rough fellows by the way; and while that staff gives
support to my feet, it is an aid to command decent behaviour from those
I fall in with. I have not much to lose, having with me but sufficient
to buy me victuals for my journey to Carlisle; where, as I have just
told our host, I am journeying to see a brother, who is prior at a
convent there."
"This fellow--where did you fall in with him?"
"He overtook me some twenty miles north, on the road to Glasgow.
Pages:
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301