concealing while in the discharge of their vows. The pretence of
weariness was usually employed by the Countesses of Croye as an excuse for
instantly retiring to rest, and Quentin, as their Major Domo, arranged all that
was necessary betwixt them and their entertainers, with a shrewdness which saved
them all trouble, and an alacrity that failed not to excite a corresponding
degree of good will on the part of those who were thus sedulously attended to.
    One circumstance gave Quentin peculiar trouble, which was the character and
nation of his guide; who, as a heathen and an infidel vagabond, addicted,
besides, to occult arts (the badge of all his tribe), was often looked upon as a
very improper guest for the holy resting-places at which the company usually
halted, and was not in consequence admitted within even the outer circuit of
their walls save with extreme reluctance. This was very embarrassing; for, on
the one hand, it was necessary to keep in good humour a man who was possessed of
the secret of their expedition; and, on the other, Quentin deemed it
indispensable to maintain a vigilant though secret watch on Hayraddin's conduct,
in order that, as far as might be, he should hold no communication with any one
without being observed. This, of course, was impossible if the Bohemian was
lodged without the precincts of the convent at which they stopped, and Durward
could not help thinking that Hayraddin was desirous of bringing about this
latter arrangement; for, instead of keeping himself still and quiet in the
quarters allotted to him, his conversation, tricks, and songs, were, at the same
time, so entertaining to the novices and younger brethren, and so unedifying in
the opinion of the seniors of the fraternity, that, in more cases than one, it
required all the authority, supported by threats, which Quentin could exert over
him, to restrain his irreverent and untimeous jocularity, and all the interest
he could make with the Superiors, to prevent the heathen hound from being thrust
out of doors. He succeeded, however, by the adroit manner in which he apologised
for the acts of indecorum committed by their attendant, and the skill with which
he hinted the hope of his being brought to a better sense of principles and
behaviour, by the neighbourhood of holy relics, consecrated buildings, and,
above all, of men dedicated to religion.
    But upon the tenth or twelfth day of their journey, after they had entered
Flanders, and were approaching the town of Namur, all the efforts of Quentin
became inadequate to suppress the consequences of the scandal given