"
"But there must surely be some reason," said Sir Ralph,
"for father Peter's apprehension."
"None," said brother Michael, "but the apprehension itself; fear being
its own father, and most prolific in self-propagation. The lady did,
it is true, once signalize her displeasure against our little brother,
for reprimanding her in that she would go hunting a-mornings instead
of attending matins. She cut short the thread of his eloquence by
sportively drawing her bow-string and loosing an arrow over his head;
he waddled off with singular speed, and was in much awe of her for
many months. I thought he had forgotten it: but let that pass.
In truth, she would have had little of her lover's company, if she had
liked the chaunt of the choristers better than the cry of the hounds:
yet I know not; for they were companions from the cradle, and reciprocally
fashioned each other to the love of the fern and the foxglove.
Had either been less sylvan, the other might have been more saintly;
but they will now never hear matins but those of the lark,
nor reverence vaulted aisle but that of the greenwood canopy.
They are twin plants of the forest, and are identified with its growth.
For the slender beech and the sapling oak,
That grow by the shadowy rill,
You may cut down both at a single stroke,
You may cut down which you will.
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