The Abbot consented, but when they besought him to go with them and to lead them, he shook his head smiling, and answered: "Nay, children, I am an aged man, little fitted for such a labour.  Wiser is it for me to lean my staff against my fig-tree, and have in mind the eternal years. Moreover, as you know, many are the sons in this house who look to me for fatherly care.  But if it be your wish, one shall go with you to be the twelfth of your company.  In hours of peril and perplexity and need, if such should befall you, you shall bid him pray earnestly, and after he has prayed, heed what he shall say, even as you would heed the words of your Abbot.  No better Abbot and counsellor could you have, for he hath still preserved his baptismal innocence.  It is Ambrose, the little chorister."