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peasants--caught some suspicious words as two unmistakable Covenanters
passed him in the high street. If mischief was brewing for his master,
it was his business to find it out and take a hand in the affair. He
followed the pair as if he were a countryman gaping at the sights of
the town and the stir of those days, when armed men passed on every
side and the air was thick with rumors. When the Covenanters, after
glancing round, plunged down a dark entry and into an obscure tavern,
Grimond, after a pause, followed cautiously, assuming as best he
could--and not unsuccessfully--the manner of a man from the west. The
outer room was empty when he entered, and he was careful when he got
his measure of ale to bend his head over it for at least five minutes
by way of grace. The woman, who had glanced sharply at him on entry,
was satisfied by this sign of godliness, and left him in a dark
corner, from which he saw one after another of the saints pass into an
inner chamber. Between the two rooms there was a wooden partition, and
through a crack in the boarding Grimond was able to see and hear what
was going on. It was characteristic of the men that they opened their
conference of assassination with prayer, in which the sorrows of the
past were mentioned with a certain pathos, and thanks given for the
great deliverance which had been wrought. Then they asked wisdom and
strength to finish the Lord's work, and to rid the land of the chief
of the Amalekites, after which they made their plan. Although Grimond
could not catch everything that was said, he gathered clearly that
when Claverhouse left his lodging to attend the Convention on the
morning of the fifteenth of March, they would be waiting in the narrow
way, as if talking with friends, and would slay the persecutor before
he could summon help. When it was agreed who should be present, and
what each one should do, they closed their meeting, as they had opened
it, with prayer. One of them glanced suspiciously round the kitchen as
he passed through, but saw no man, for Grimond had quietly departed.
He knew his master's obstinate temper and reckless courage, and was
afraid if he told him of the plot that he would give no heed, or trust
to his own sword. "We'll run no risks," said Grimond to himself, and
next morning a dozen troopers of Claverhouse's regiment guarded the
entry to his lodging, and a dozen more were scattered handily about
the street. They followed him to the C