was not in the fencing.

"Sir," says he, suddenly lowering his point, "will ye tell me a thing if
I was to ask it?"

"Ask away," says the father.

"Well, it's this," said Francie: "Why do you and me comply if it's so
wicked?"

"Ay, ye have the cant of it too!" cried Montroymont. "But I'll tell ye
for all that. It's to try and see if we can keep the rigging on this
house, Francie. If she had her way, we would be beggar-folk, and hold
our hands out by the wayside. When ye hear her--when ye hear folk," he
corrected himself briskly, "call me a coward, and one that betrayed the
Lord, and I kenna what else, just mind it was to keep a bed to ye to
sleep in and a bite for ye to eat.--On guard!" he cried, and the lesson
proceeded again till they were called to supper.

"There's another thing yet," said Francie, stopping his father. "There's
another thing that I am not sure that I am very caring for. She--she
sends me errands."

"Obey her, then, as is your bounden duty," said Traquair.

"Ay, but wait till I tell ye," says the boy. "If I was to see you I was
to hide."

Montroymont sighed. "Well, and that's good of her too," said he. "The
less that I ken of thir doings the better for me; and the best thing you
can do is just to obey her, and see and be a good son to her, the same
as ye are to me, Francie."

At the tenderness of this expression the heart of Francie swelled within
his bosom, and his remorse was poured out. "Faither!" he cried, "I said
'deil' to-day; many's the time I said it, and _damnable_ too, and
_hellish_. I ken they're all right; they're beeblical. But I didna say
them beeblically; I said them for sweir words--that's the truth of it."

"Hout, ye silly bairn!" said the father, "dinna do it nae mair, and come
in by to your supper." And he took the boy, and drew him close to him a
moment, as they went through the door, with something very fond and
secret, like a caress between a pair of lovers.

The next day M'Brair was abroad in the afternoon, and had a long
advising with Janet on the braes where she herded cattle. What passed
was never wholly known; but the lass wept bitterly, and fell on her
knees to him among the whins. The same night, as soon as it was dark, he
took the road again for Balweary. In the Kirkton, where the dragoons
quartered, he saw many lights, and heard the noise of a ranting song and
people laughing grossly, which was highly offensive to his mind. He gave
it the wider berth, keep