As they separated he heard the Abbess distinctly express
herself thus: "In a word, my sister, I venerate your character and the
authority with which my Superiors have invested you; yet it seems to
me, that, ere entering on this perilous course, we should consult some
of the Fathers of the Church."
"And how and where are we to find a faithful Bishop or Abbot at whom
to ask counsel? The faithful Eustatius is no more--he is withdrawn
from a world of evil, and from the tyranny of heretics. May Heaven and
our Lady assoilzie him of his sins, and abridge the penance of his
mortal infirmities!--Where shall we find another, with whom to take
counsel?"
"Heaven will provide for the Church," said the Abbess; "and the
faithful fathers who yet are suffered to remain in the house of
Kennaquhair, will proceed to elect an Abbot. They will not suffer the
staff to fall down, or the mitre to be unfilled, for the threats of
heresy."
"That will I learn to-morrow," said Magdalen Graeme; "yet who now
takes the office of an hour, save to partake with the spoilers in
their work of plunder?--to-morrow will tell us if one of the thousand
saints who are sprung from the House of Saint Mary's continues to look
down on it in its misery.--Farewell, my sister--we meet at Edinburgh."
"Benedicito!" answered the Abbess, and they parted.
"To Kennaquhair and to Edinburgh we bend our way." thought Roland
Graeme. "That information have I purchased by a sleepless hour--it
suits well with my purpose.
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