“After what has happened,” the monk said, “you will need have caution when you leave here.  The place where you have taken refuge is known to them, and should this wild noble persist in his desire for vengeance against you, he will doubtless leave some of his ruffians to watch the monastery.  We will keep a look-out, and note if any strangers are to be seen near the gates; if we find that it is so, we shall consider what is best to be done.  We could of course appeal to the mayor for protection against them, and could even have the strangers ejected from the town or cast into prison; but it is not likely that we should succeed in capturing more than the fellow who may be placed on the look-out, and the danger would be in no wise lessened to yourself.  But there is time to talk over this matter before you leave.  It will be another fortnight at least before you will be able to pursue your journey.”

Cuthbert gained strength more rapidly than the monk had expected.  He was generously fed, and this and his good constitution soon enabled him to recover from the loss of blood; and at the end of five days he expressed his hope that he could on the following day pursue his journey.  The monk who attended him shook his head.

“Thou mightst, under ordinary circumstances, quit us to-morrow, for thou art well enough to take part in the ordinary pursuits of a page; but to journey is a different thing.  You may have all sorts of hardships to endure; you may have even to trust for your life to your speed and endurance; and it would be madness for you to go until your strength is fully established.  I regret to tell you that we have ascertained beyond a doubt that the monastery is closely watched.  We have sent some of the acolytes out, dressed in the garbs of monks, and attended by one of our elder brethren; and in each case, a monk who followed at a distance of fifty yards was able to perceive that they were watched.  The town is full of rough men, the hangers-on of the army; some, indeed, are followers of laggard knights, but the greater portion are men who merely pursue the army with a view to gain by its necessities, to buy plunder from the soldiers, and to rob, and, if necessary, to murder should there be a hope of obtaining gold.  Among these men your enemies would have little difficulty in recruiting any number, and no appeal that we could make to the mayor would protect you from them when you have left the walls.  We must trust to our ingenuity in smuggling you out.  After that, it is upon your own strength and shrewdness that you must rely for an escape from any snares that may be laid for you.  You will see, then, that at least another three or four days are needed before you can set forth.  Your countrymen are so far away that a matter of a few days will make but little difference.  They will in any case be delayed for a long time at Marseilles before they embark; and whether you leave now or a month hence, you would be equally in time to join them before their embarkation—­that is, supposing that you make your way through the snares which beset you.”