At his right hand sat a stout, muscular figure,
whom Paslew immediately recognised, with unequivocal demonstrations of
surprise, to be his umquhile prisoner Ralph Newcome, now habited in a
plain suit of velvet, and looking like a country gentleman of some rank
and importance. His manner was, however, coarse and abrupt; and he still
seemed nothing loth to sustain his full complement of liquor. On the
left of the archbishop sat his nameless visitor at the abbey, whose
personal accomplishments he had good cause to remember. Below them sat
several chiefs of the confederacy, apparently of an inferior rank.
"Abbot Paslew," said his grace, "thou art a tardy, and it may be
undutiful son. Thine homage to the Church has not been either freely or
faithfully rendered; yet does she now welcome thee to her embrace, with
the promise of a free and unconditional forgiveness."
"Ay," said he of his grace's right hand, "Abbot Paslew was of too great
weight in the scale of events to be left to choose his own side of the
balance. I am right fain of his company, and in troth he can use the
persuasions well,--the thumbscrews and tight boots upon occasion.
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