"I shall be only a few minutes with the abbot; who, as Friar Roger says, will, I doubt not, be glad enough to grant him leave to abstain from attendance at the services." In a short time, indeed, he rejoined Oswald at the gate.
"That matter was managed, easily enough," he said.

"The abbot has, himself, a somewhat warlike disposition, which is not to be wondered at, seeing that he comes from a family ever ready to draw the sword; and he has, therefore, a liking for Friar Roger, in spite of his contumacies, breaches of regulations, and quarrels with the other monks.

He is obliged to continually punish him, with sentences of seclusion, penance, and fasting; but methinks it goes against the grain.

He said, at once, that he was delighted to hear that he had voluntarily undertaken some work that would keep him out of trouble, and that he willingly, and indeed gladly, absolved him from attendance in chapel, during the hours that he was occupied with you.
"'He is not without his uses,' he said.

'He is in special charge of the garden, and looks after the lay brothers employed in it.