Chapter 23 - Page 2

entreat you to labour, is not the dead but the living. It
is not for the soul of thine enemy I would exhort thee to pray--that
has already had its final doom from a Judge as merciful as he is just;
nor, wert thou to coin that rock into ducats, and obtain a mass for
each one, would it avail the departed spirit. Where the tree hath
fallen, it must lie. But the sapling, which hath in it yet the vigour
and juice of life, may be bended to the point to which it ought to
incline."

"Art thou a priest, father?" said the young man, "or by what commission
dost thou talk of such high matters?"

"By that of my Almighty Master," said the traveller, "under whose
banner I am an enlisted soldier."

Halbert's acquaintance with religious matters was no deeper than could
be derived from the Archbishop of Saint Andrew's Catechism, and the
pamphlet called the Twapennie Faith, both which were industriously
circulated and recommended by the monks of Saint Mary's. Yet, however
indifferent and superficial a theologian, he began to suspect that he
was now in company with one of the gospellers, or heretics, before
whose influence the ancient system of religion now tottered to the
very foundation. Bred up, as may well be presumed, in a holy horror
against these formidable sectaries, the youth's first feelings were
those of a loyal and devoted church vassal. "Old man," he said, "wert
thou able to make good with thy hand the words that thy tongue hath
spoken against our Holy Mother Church, we should have tried upon this
moor which of our creeds hath the better champion."

"Nay," said the stranger, "if thou art a true soldier of Rome, thou
wilt not pause from thy purpose because thou hast the odds of years
and of strength on thy side. Hearken to me, my son. I have showed thee
how to make thy peace with Heaven, and thou hast rejected my proffer.
I will now show thee how thou shalt make thy reconciliation with the
powers of this world. Take this gray head from the frail body which
supports it, and carry it to the chair of proud Abbot Boniface; and
when thou tellest him thou hast slain Piercie Shafton, and his ire
rises at the deed, lay the head of Henry Warden at his foot, and thou
shalt have praise instead of censure."

Halbert Glendinning stepped back in surprise. "What! are you that
Henry Warden so famous among the heretics, that even Knox's name is
scarce more frequently in their mouths? Art thou he, and darest thou to
approach the Halidome of Saint Mary's?"

"I am Henry Warden, of a surety," said the old man, "far unworthy to
be named in the same breath with Knox, but yet willing to venture on
whatever