"Prior Anselm," he said, "if you have discovered anything in my
conduct, whether as a king or a private individual, which may call
down such censures as your words intimate, it is your duty to speak
plainly, and I command you to do so."

"My liege, you shall be obeyed," answered the prior, with an inclination
of the body. Then raising himself up, and assuming the dignity of
his rank in the church, he said, "Hear from me the words of our Holy
Father the Pope, the successor of St. Peter, to whom have descended
the keys, both to bind and to unloose. 'Wherefore, O Robert of
Scotland, hast thou not received into the see of St. Andrews Henry
of Wardlaw, whom the Pontiff hath recommended to fill that see?
Why dost thou make profession with thy lips of dutiful service to
the Church, when thy actions proclaim the depravity and disobedience
of thy inward soul? Obedience is better than sacrifice."

"Sir prior," said the monarch, bearing himself in a manner not
unbecoming his lofty rank, "we may well dispense with answering
you upon this subject, being a matter which concerns us and the
estates of our kingdom, but does not affect our private conscience."

"Alas," said the prior, "and whose conscience will it concern at
the last day? Which of your belted lords or wealthy burgesses will
then step between their king and the penalty which he has incurred
by following of their secular policy in matters ecclesiastical?
Know, mighty king, that, were all the chivalry of thy realm drawn
up to shield thee from the red levin bolt, they would be consumed
like scorched parchment before the blaze of a furnace."

"Good father prior," said the King, on whose timorous conscience this