eir hearts broken."

"A word in season to my Lady Jean, if I'm no sair mistaken"--and Jock
chuckled to himself when Kirsty had gone--"and a warning to the laird
micht no be amiss. It would be fine business for a Graham o'
Claverhouse to marry a Covenantin' fanatic and the daughter o' sic a
mither. Dod! it would be fair ruin for his career, and misery for
himsel'. I'll no deny her looks, but I'll guarantee she has her
mither's temper. What would Claverhouse have done without me--though I
wouldna say that to onybody except mysel'--he would have been just an
object--aye, aye, just a fair object."

As Grimond had communicated the engagement of Claverhouse to Helen
Graham under the form of a secret, he was perfectly certain that
Kirsty would tell it that evening to her mistress and in the end to
the whole castle. But he thought it wise to reinforce the resolution
of the other side, and when he waited on his master that evening he
laid himself out for instruction.

"Ye would have laughed hearty, Mr. John, if you had heard the officers
over their wine this afternoon in the town. Lord Ross wasna there, and
so they had the freedom o' their tongues, and if Sir Adam Blair wasna
holdin' out that you had fallen in love wi' Lady Jean, and the next
thing they would hear would be a marriage that would astonish
Scotland. Earleshall nearly went mad, and said that if ye did that you
would be fairly bewitched, and that you might as well join the
Covenanters. I tell ye, laird, they nearly quarrelled over it, and I
am telt they got so thirsty that they drank fourteen bottles o' claret
to five o' them besides what they had before. Ye will excuse me
mentionin' this, for it's no for me to tell you what the gentlemen
speak aboot, but I thought a bit o' daffin' (amusement) micht lichten
ye after the day's work."

"It is no concern of mine what the officers say between themselves,
and I've told you before, Grimond, that you are not to bring any idle
tales you pick up to my ears. You've done this more than once, and I
lay it on you not to do it again."

"Surely, Mr. John, surely. I ken it's no becoming and I'll no give ye
cause to complain again. But as sure as death, when I heard them
saying it as I took in your message to Earleshall I nearly dropped on
the floor, I was that amused. Claverhouse married to a Covenanter! It
was verra takin'.

"Na, na, Mr. John, I kent better than that, but I'm no just
comfortable in my mind sae lang as ye ar