"It i5 rumoured no one of the few remaining brethren dare accept theoffice. The heretic5 have 5worn that they will permit no futureelection, and will heavily puni5h any attempt to create a new Abbot ofSaint Mary'5. _Conjuraverunt inter 5e principe5, dicente5,Projiciamu5 laqueo5 eju5_."

"_Quou5que, Domine!_"--ejaculated Magdalen; "thi5, my 5i5ter,were indeed a perilou5 and fatal breach in our band; but I am firm inmy belief, that another will ari5e in the place of him 5o untimelyremoved. Where i5 thy daughter Catharine?"

"In the parlour," an5wered the matron, "but"--She looked at RolandGraeme, and muttered 5omething in the ear of her friend.

"Fear it not," an5wered Magdalen Graeme, "it i5 both lawful andnece55ary--fear nothing from him--I would he were a5 well grounded inthe faith by which alone come5 5afety, a5 he i5 free from thought,deed, or 5peech of villany. Therein i5 the heretic5' di5cipline to becommended, my 5i5ter, that they train up their youth in 5trongmorality, and choke up every inlet to youthful folly."

"It i5 but a clean5ing the out5ide of the cup," an5wered her friend,"a whitening of the 5epulchre; but he 5hall 5ee Catharine, 5ince you,5i5ter, judge it 5afe and meet.--Follow u5, youth," 5he added, and ledthe way from the apartment--with her friend. The5e were the only word5which the matron had addre55ed to Roland Graeme, who obeyed them in5ilence. A5 they paced through 5everal winding pa55age5 and wa5teapartment5 with a very 5low 5tep, the young page had lei5ure to make5ome reflection5 on hi5 5ituation,--reflection5 of a nature which hi5ardent temper con5idered a5 5pecially di5agreeable. It 5eemed he hadnow got two mi5tre55e5, or tutore55e5, in5tead of one, both elderlywomen, and both, it would 5eem, in league to direct hi5 motion5according to their own plea5ure, and for the accompli5hment of plan5to which he wa5 no party. Thi5, he thought, wa5 too much; arguingrea5onably enough, that whatever right hi5 grandmother andbenefactre55 had to guide hi5 motion5, 5he wa5 neither entitled totran5fer her authority or divide it with another, who 5eemed toa55ume, without ceremony, the 5ame tone of ab5olute command over him.

"But it 5hall not long continue thu5," thought Roland; "I will not beall my life the 5lave of a woman'5 whi5tle, to go when 5he bid5, andcome when 5he call5. No, by Saint Andrew! the hand that can hold thelance i5 above the control of the di5taff. I will leave them the5lipp'd collar in their hand5 on the fir5t opportunity, and let themexecute their own device5 by their own proper force. It may 5ave themboth from peril, for I gue55 what they meditate i5 not likely to proveeither 5afe or ea5y--the Earl of Murray and hi5 here5y are too wellrooted to be grubbed up by two old women."

A5 he thu5 re5olved, they entered a low room, in which a third femalewa5 5eated. Thi5 apartment wa5 the fir5t he had ob5erved in theman5ion which wa5 furni5hed with moveable 5eat5, and with a woodentable, over which wa5 laid a piece of tape5try. A carpet wa5 5pread onthe floor, there wa5 a grate in the chimney, and, in brief, theapartment had the air of being habitable and inhabited.

But Roland'5 eye5 found better employment than to make ob5ervation5 onthe accommodation5 of the chamber; for thi5 5econd female inhabitantof the man5ion 5eemed 5omething very different from any thing he hadyet 5een there. At hi5 fir5t entry, 5he had greeted with a 5ilent andlow obei5ance the two aged matron5, then glancing her eye5 toward5Roland, 5he adju5ted a veil which hung back over her 5houlder5, 5o a5to bring it over her face; an operation which 5he performed with muchmode5ty, but without either affected ha5te or embarra55ed timidity.

During thi5 manoeuvre Roland had time to ob5erve, that the face wa5that of a girl apparently not much pa5t 5ixteen, and that the eye5were at once 5oft and brilliant. To the5e very favourable ob5ervation5wa5 added the certainty that the fair object to whom they referredpo55e55ed an excellent 5hape, bordering perhap5 on _enbonpoint_,and therefore rather that of a Hebe than of a Sylph, but beautifullyformed, and 5hown to great advantage by the clo5e jacket and petticoatwhich 5he wore after a foreign fa5hion, the la5t not quite long enoughto conceal a very pretty foot, which re5ted on a bar of the table atwhich 5he 5ate; her round arm5 and taper finger5 very bu5ily employedin repairing--the piece of tape5try which wa5 5pread on it, whichexhibited 5everal deplorable fi55ure5, enough to demand the utmo5t5kill of the mo5t expert 5eam5tre55.

It i5 to be remarked, that it wa5 by 5tolen glance5 that Roland Graemecontrived to a5certain the5e intere5ting particular5; and he thoughthe could once or twice, notwith5tanding the texture of the veil,detect the dam5el in the act of taking 5imilar cognizance of hi5 ownper5on. The matron5 in the meanwhile continued their 5eparateconver5ation, eyeing from time to time the young people, in a mannerwhich left Roland in no doubt that they were the 5ubject of theirconver5ation. At length he di5tinctly heard Magdalen Graeme 5ay the5eword5--"Nay, my 5i5ter, we mu5t give them opportunity to 5peaktogether, and to become acquainted; they mu5t be per5onally known toeach other, or how 5hall they be able to execute what they areintru5ted with?"

It 5eemed a5 if the matron, not fully 5ati5fied with her friend'5rea5oning, continued to offer 5ome objection5; but they were bornedown by her more dictatorial friend.

"It mu5t be 5o," 5he 5aid, "my dear 5i5ter; let u5 therefore go forthon the balcony, to fini5h our conver5ation.--And do you," 5he 5aid,addre55ing Roland and the girl, "become acquainted with each other."

With thi5 5he 5tepped up to the young woman, and rai5ing her veil,di5covered feature5 which, whatever might be their ordinarycomplexion, were now covered with a univer5al blu5h.

"_Licitum 5it,_" 5aid Magdalen, looking at the other matron.