n as the Circle of Penance, standing midway
between these two stations, were two hundred other men under Kenric
himself. Thus the abbey and its grange with some forty cottages were
entirely surrounded.

The abbey with its chapel was a small building in the Norman style,
inclosed by a high wall, and standing in a grove of birch and ash trees.
In the crypt of the chapel and within the cottages the women of Bute,
some hundreds in number, had made their retreat, and the Lady Adela of
Rothesay had a most anxious four days attending to her numerous charges.
Food there was in plenty, of a simple sort, and the wells within the
abbey buildings provided abundance of pure water.

In the underground passage connecting the crypt with the walled
inclosure of the Circle of Penance the children had been collected.
Ailsa Redmain was with them, attending to their many wants, helped by
some of the women.

All this had been Kenric's doing, and to him would be due the praise and
the thanks of the people of Bute if his plan of defence should succeed.
But Kenric was not at his ease, for he knew that should the Norsemen set
aside thoughts of the sanctity of the place and make a successful
descent upon the abbey, then surely the women and children would be
discovered and an appalling massacre might follow. Little cared he for
the loss of his castle and lands; little thought he of the value of his
own young life. His one purpose was to make a strong defence and to save
his people, for whose sakes there was nothing he would not dare to do.

And now his most earnest wish was to know whether the enemy would make
their attack by sea or by land. He was equally prepared for either course.

It was wearing towards sundown, and yet there were no signs. The castle
of Rothesay had been taken before noon. Where now were the enemy?

At last Elspeth Blackfell came to Kenric, who stood with the abbot
within the thick walls of the inclosure.

"My lord," said she, "I hear the tread of many feet. It is by land they
come. Oh, that I knew where my sweet Aasta hath gone, and if she be
still in life!"

"Father," said Kenric to the abbot, "will you now do as I propose?"

"What would you, my son?" asked the abbot.

"It is that you would now go without these walls and boldly face our
enemies, holding before you the crucifix. If Roderic be their leader, it
may be that the sight of you will move him to a sense of the holiness of
this place, and haply you may by