it is still called, of the Standard. Well was it for him that, like
his namesake, the son of Jesse, his sin was punished upon earth,
and not entered against him at the long and dire day of accounting."

"Well, good prior--well--enough of this for the present. The
Holy See shall, God willing, have no reason to complain of me.
I take Our Lady to witness, I would not for the crown I wear take
the burden of wronging our Mother Church. We have ever feared that
the Earl of Douglas kept his eyes too much fixed on the fame and
the temporalities of this frail and passing life to feel altogether
as he ought the claims that refer to a future world."

"It is but lately," said the prior, "that he hath taken up forcible
quarters in the monastery of Aberbrothock, with his retinue of a
thousand followers; and the abbot is compelled to furnish him with
all he needs for horse and man, which the Earl calls exercising the
hospitality which he hath a right to expect from the foundation to
which his ancestors were contributors. Certain, it were better to
return to the Douglas his lands than to submit to such exaction,
which more resembles the masterful license of Highland thiggers and
sorners [sturdy beggars], than the demeanour of a Christian baron."

"The Black Douglasses," said the King, with a sigh, "are a race
which will not be said nay. But, father prior, I am myself, it
may be, an intruder of this kind; for my sojourning hath been long
among you, and my retinue, though far fewer than the Douglas's,
are nevertheless enough to cumber you for their daily maintenance;
and though our order is to send out purveyors to lessen your charge
as much as may be, yet if there be inconvenience, it were fitting
we should remove in time."