swald said with a smile, "that if
it had not been that you read and wrote, better than most of the other
monks, the abbot would not have picked you out as my instructor, I
should not have asked for you to come with me to Scotland, and Sir
Henry Percy would never have begged the abbot to allow you to go forth
into the world."

"Say no more, Master Oswald--never again will I say a word against
reading and writing--I see that they are excellent things, and it never
entered my thick head how greatly I have benefited by acquiring
them--but will maintain, against all who say the contrary, that they
are of great value; and that they in no way tend to soften a man, as I
can prove in my own person, and also in yours."

At this moment, Mary Forster appeared at the top of the steps.

"Supper is ready," she said. "I have broken the news to the girls. They
are quite broken hearted, poor things, and I have sent them to bed.

"I suppose you are not leaving us, tomorrow morning, Oswald?"

"No, I shall be off at daybreak, the next day. I must not stay longer,
for I ought to have been back three days ago, and Sir Henry will be
wondering what has befallen me."

Talking the matter over, that evening, as to what had best be done with
the girls, Mary Forster said that they had expressed great anxiety to
get back, as soon as they could, in order that they might try and
comfort their father, and nurse Allan; and John Forster said that he
would ride with them, with four of his men, to Hiniltie, in a day or
two. The next evening, however, there was a knock at the outside gate;
and on its being opened, Adam Armstrong himself entered.

"I could not rest, for thinking of the girls," he said, as he entered
the house. "The man arrived safely, yesterday morning, after having,
with great difficulty, made his way unobserved through the Bairds, who
had some fifty or sixty men scattered, all over the hills."

"Do you go to them, Wife, and tell them that their father has arrived.

"They have been terribly upset," John went on, as his wife left the
room. "They were only told of the loss of their mother after they
arrived, yesterday. Oswald thought that they would need all their
strength for the journey, and that it were better that Mary should
break the news to them, when they got here. We have all felt for you
sorely, Adam, since your messenger brought the news."

Armstrong pressed his hand, silently.

"She was a good wife to me, John, a right