"Thou shalt feed them with what you list for me," said Roland,
laughing; "I am not many months older than when I left the Castle, but
I trust I have gathered wit enough to cross no man of skill in his own
vocation."
"Then I would not change places with the King's falconer," said Adam
Woodcock, "nor with the Queen's neither--but they say she will be
mewed up and never need one.--I see it grieves you to think of it, and
I could grieve for company; but what help for it?--Fortune will fly
her own flight, let a man hollo himself hoarse."
The Abbot and Roland journeyed to Avenel, where the former was
tenderly received by his brother, while the lady wept for joy to find
that in her favourite orphan she had protected the sole surviving
branch of her own family. Sir Halbert Glendinning and his household
were not a little surprised at the change which a brief acquaintance
with the world had produced in their former inmate, and rejoiced to
find, in the pettish, spoiled, and presuming page, a modest and
unassuming young man, too much acquainted with his own expectations
and character, to be hot or petulant in demanding the consideration
which was readily and voluntarily yielded to him. The old Major Domo
Wingate was the first to sing his praises, to which Mistress Lilias
bore a loud echo, always hoping that God would teach him the true
gospel.
To the true gospel the heart of Roland had secretly long inclined, and
the departure of the good Abbot for France, with the purpose of
entering into some house of his order in that kingdom, removed his
chief objection to renouncing the Catholic faith.
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