her scornfully: "A proper queen of beggars to walk the streets of
Perth with, and I a decent burgher! This tawdry minion must have as
ragged a reputation as the rest of her sisterhood, and I am finely
sped if my chivalry in her behalf comes to Catharine's ears. I had
better have slain a man, were he the best in Perth; and, by hammer
and nails, I would have done it on provocation, rather than convoy
this baggage through the city."

Perhaps Louise suspected the cause of her conductor's anxiety, for
she said, timidly and with hesitation: "Worthy sir, were it not
better I should stop one instant in that chapel and don my mantle?"

"Umph, sweetheart, well proposed," said the armourer; but the monk
interfered, raising at the same time the finger of interdiction.

"The chapel of holy St. Madox is no tiring room for jugglers and
strollers to shift their trappings in. I will presently show thee
a vestiary more suited to thy condition."

The poor young woman hung down her humbled head, and turned from
the chapel door which she had approached with the deep sense of self
abasement. Her little spaniel seemed to gather from his mistress's
looks and manner that they were unauthorised intruders on the holy
ground which they trode, and hung his ears, and swept the pavement
with his tail, as he trotted slowly and close to Louise's heels.

The monk moved on without a pause. They descended a broad flight of
steps, and proceeded through a labyrinth of subterranean passages,
dimly lighted. As they passed a low arched door, the monk turned
and said to Louise, with the same stern voice as before: "There,