abbot michael was talking of neutral things : the weather ( unusually good and a blessing for the lambs ) , the state of the chapel roof ( holes so big it looked as though a pig had walked across the roof , and a full-grown pig , too ) , the day ( so fortunate that it was thursday and not friday , as there would be meat for dinner , and of course jamie would be joining them ; he would enjoy brother bertram 's version of a sauce ; it had no particular name and was of an indistinct color-purple , the abbot would have called it , but it was well known he had no sense of color and had to ask the sacristan which cope to wear in ordinary time , as he could not tell red from green and took it only on faith that there were such colors in the world , but brother daniel-he 'd have met brother daniel , the clerk outside ? -assured him it was so , and surely a man with a face like that would never lie , you had only to look at the size of his nose to know that ) , and other things to which jamie could nod or smile or make a noise .