ng in that," Roger admitted, "and I have so often
to sleep on a stone bench, for the punishment of my offences, that I
own to a weakness for a soft bed, when I can get one."

However, Oswald was pleased to see that his follower behaved, at their
resting place, with more discretion than he could have hoped for;
although he somewhat surprised his host, by the heartiness of his
appetite; but, on the other hand, he was moderate in his potations, and
talked but little, retiring to a bed of thick rushes, at curfew.

"In truth, I was afraid to trust myself," he said to Oswald, as they
lay down side by side. "Never have I felt so free, since
Otterburn--never, indeed, since that unfortunate day when I was
wounded, and conceived the fatal idea of becoming a monk. Two or three
times, the impulse to troll out a trooper's song was so strong in me,
that I had to clap my hand over my mouth, to keep it in."

"'Tis well you did, Roger, for assuredly if you had so committed
yourself, on the first day of starting, I must have sent you back to
Alnwick, feeling that it would not be safe for you to proceed with me
farther. When we get upon the Cheviots, tomorrow, you may lift your
voice as you choose; but it were best that you confined yourself to a
Latin canticle, even there, for the habit of breaking into songs of the
other kind might grow upon you."

"I will do so," Roger said, seriously. "Some of the canticles have
plenty of ring and go, and the words matter not, seeing that I do not
understand them."

The next morning they resumed their journey, crossed the Cheviots,
which were here comparatively low hills; and, after four hours' riding,
arrived at Roxburgh.

"Why do we come here?" Roger asked. "It would surely have been much
shorter had we travelled through Berwick, and along the coast road."

"Much shorter, Roger; but Sir Henry thought it better that we should go
inland to Haddington, and thence east to Dunbar; as, thus entering the
town, it would seem that we came from Edinburgh, or from some western
monastery; whereas, did we journey by the coast road, it might be
guessed that we had come from England."

As before, they put up at a hostelry; and Oswald then proceeded, on
foot, to the governor's house. Some soldiers were loitering at the
door.

"What do you want, lad?" one of them asked, as he came up.

"I have a letter, which I am charged to deliver into the governor's own
hands."

"A complaint, I suppose, from some wo