with, as it seemed, the certainty of being publicly
unfrocked, and turned out like a mangy dog from a pack. It was not,
mind you, that the thought of being unfrocked was altogether
disagreeable; for I own that I am grievously ill fitted for my
vocation, and that fasts and vigils are altogether hateful to me; but
it would not be a pleasant thing to go out into the world as one who
had been kicked out, and though I might get employment as a
man-at-arms, I could never hope for any promotion, however well I might
behave. However, half an hour ago the cell door was opened, and I was
taken before the abbot, whom I found closeted with Hotspur.

"The latter rated me soundly, but said that, for the sake of Otterburn,
he had spoken for me to the abbot; and that as he would, for the
present, be able to make use of me in work that would be more to my
liking, the abbot had consented to reconsider his decision, and would
lend me to him for a time, in hopes that my good conduct would, in the
end, induce him to overlook my offences; and that, in that case, he
might even be induced to take steps, of a less painful description than
public disgrace, for freeing me of my gown.

"I naturally replied that I was grateful for his lordship's
intercession; and that, outside monkish offices, there was nothing I
would not do to merit his kindness. He told me that I was to report
myself to your nephew, who would inform me of the nature of the service
upon which I was, at first, to be employed."

"It is to undertake a journey with me," Oswald said. "I am going on a
mission for our lord, to Dunbar. The object of my mission is one that
concerns me only, but it is one of some importance; and as the roads
are lonely, since March and Douglas quarrelled, and order is but badly
kept on the other side of the border, he thought that I should be all
the better for a companion. Assuredly, I could wish for none better
than yourself, for in the first place you have proved a true friend to
me; in the second, you have so much knowledge, that we shall not lack
subjects for conversation upon the journey; and lastly, should I get
into any trouble, I could reckon upon you as a match for two or three
border robbers."

"Nothing could be more to my taste," the monk said joyfully. "I did not
feel quite sure, before, whether I was glad or sorry that my expulsion
was put off, for I always thought that it would come to that some day;
but now that I learn for what servic