was confined. On
arriving before the grated windows of his prison, she raised her eyes
towards them, and began to sing "_Leader Haughs_." The wild, sweet
melody of his native land, drew Lauderdale to the windows of his
prison-house, and in the countenance of the minstrel he remembered the
lovely features of Midside Maggy. He requested permission of the keeper
that she should be admitted to his presence; and his request was
complied with.

"Bless thee, sweet face!" said the earl, as she was admitted into his
prison; "and you have not forgotten the snowball in June?" And he took
her hand to raise it to his lips.

"Hooly, hooly, my guid lord," said she, withdrawing her hand; "my
fingers were made for nae sic purpose--Thomas Hardie is here"--and she
laid her hand upon her fair bosom--"though now standing withoot the yett
o' the Tower." Lauderdale again wondered, and, with a look of mingled
curiosity and confusion, inquired--"Wherefore do ye come--and why do ye
seek me?" "I brocht ye a snaw-ba' before," said she, "for yer rent--I
bring ye a bannock noo." And she took the bannock from the basket and
placed it before him.

"Woman," added he, "are ye really as demented as I thocht ye but feigned
to be, when ye sang before the window."

"The proof o' the bannock," replied Margaret, "will be in the breakin'
o't."

"Then, goodwife, it will not be easily proved," said he--and he took the
bannock, and, with some difficulty, broke it over his knee; but, when he
beheld the golden coins that were kneaded through it, for the first,
perhaps the last and only time in his existence, the Earl of Lauderdale
burst into tears and exclaimed--"Well, every bannock has its maik, but
the bannock o' Tollishill! Yet, kind as ye hae been, the gold is useless
to ane that groans in hopeless captivity."

"Yours has been a long captivity," said Margaret; "but it is not
hopeless; and, if honest General Monk is to be trusted, from what he
tauld me not three days by-gane, before a week gae roond, ye will be at
liberty to go abroad, and there the bannock o' Tollishill may be o'
use."

The wonder of Lauderdale increased, and he replied--"Monk will keep his
word--but what mean ye of him?"

And she related to him the interview they had had with the general by
the way. Lauderdale took her hand, a ray of hope and joy spread over his
face, and he added--

"Never shall ye rue the bakin' o' the bannock, if auld times come back
again."

Margaret left th