Of the holy dress, the cross alone she was permitted
to wear,--a golden cross set with rubies; but in her hand she always
bore the loved breviary.
Pacing back and forth at evening, sick with sorrow, she came suddenly
upon a full suit of armor. It lay directly in her path--the targe, the
corselet, the helm, the pierced breastplate. She raised her eyes in
alarm, and before her stood De Wilton, but so changed it might have been
his ghost. The Palmer's dress was thrown aside, the dress of the knight
not resumed. He was neither king's noble, nor priest. Not until he had
been proven innocent of treason, and redubbed knight, could he honorably
wear his spurs.
Long was the interview held between the astonished, delighted Clare, and
the undisguised De Wilton. He began the story of his exile and travels,
taking up the tale from the moment when he lay senseless in the lists at
Cottiswold. The kind care of Austin, the beadsman, had restored him to
health and strength. He described the long journeys in Palmer's dress,
his return to Scotland, meeting Marmion at Norham Castle, the tilt on
Gifford moor, and the interview with the Abbess, when he received from
her the letters proving his innocence.
Already, at Tantallon, he had told his story to Douglas, who had known
De Wilton's family of old.
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