haize, that, after this day, the toilsome and
perilous errands on which, to the weal of Scotland and the true church,
you have been so meritoriously missioned ever since you were retained in
my service, will soon be brought to an end, and that you will enjoy in
peace the reward you have earned so well, that I am better pleased in
bestowing it than you can be in the receiving. But there is yet one task
which I must put upon you. Hard by to this castle, less than a mile
eastward, stands a small convent of nuns, who have been for time out of
mind under the protection of the Lord Eglinton's family, and he, having
got a grant of the lands belonging to their house, is desirous that they
should be flitted in an amiable manner to a certain street in Irvine
called the Kirkgate, where a lodging is provided for them. To do this
kindly I have bethought myself of you, for I know not in all my force
any one so well qualified. Have you provided yourself with the twenty
douce men that I ordered you to bring hither?"

My grandfather told his Lordship that he had done as he was ordered.
"Then," resumed the Earl, "take them with you, and this mandate to the
superior, and one of Eglinton's men to show you the way; and when you
have conveyed them to their lodging, come again to me."

So my grandfather did as he was directed by the Earl, and marched
eastward with his men till he came to the convent, which was a humble
and orderly house, with a small chapel and a tower, that in after times,
when all the other buildings were erased, was called the Stane Castle,
and is known by that name even unto this day. It stood within a high
wall, and a little gate, with a stone cross over the same, led to the
porch.

Compassionating the simple and silly sisterhood within, who, by their
sequestration from the world, were become as innocent as birds in a
cage, my grandfather halted his men at some distance from the yett, and
going forward, rung the bell; to the sound of which an aged woman
answered, who, on being told he had brought a letter to the superior,
gave him admittance, and conducted him to a little chamber, on the one
side of which was a grating, where the superior, a short, corpulent
matron, that seemed to bowl rather than to walk as she moved along, soon
made her appearance within.

He told her in a meek manner, and with some gentle prefacing, the
purpose of his visit, and showed her the Earl's mandate; to all which,
for some time, she made