Bob Blake said of him once, which sums it all up very well.

Upon being asked by his father as to the suddenness of his appearance
among us, he said with a laugh:

"I came with some men to Leith, and the Leith fly set me down at the
door of The Star and Garter by the Tron church about an hour ago. I
asked mine host of the inn if I could get a horse from him to ride to
Arran House; upon which he told me that there would be no use in my
going to Arran as Mr. Carmichael was from home, being bid to dinner at
Lord Stair's; that it was the eighteenth birthday of Mistress Nancy
Stair, and that Jamie Henderlin had come from Germany with his violin
the week before and was to play at Stair House after the dinner; that
the Lord Stair, who was a fond father, had but this afternoon given the
family jewels to Mistress Nancy, and that one ruby alone would buy the
inn; that Mr. Carmichael had brought a present for her of a pearl
necklace with diamonds in it of great value; that Mistress Nancy Stair,
who was the handsomest girl in three kingdoms, had a yellow gown, a
great deal of which lay on the floor, the stuff of which he understood
had come from France; that Dame Dickenson had made a birthday cake, and
there was a salmon for the dinner with egg sauce, and that eggs were
uncommon high and the tax on whisky a thing not to be borne. There were
some other trifling details he mentioned," he said with a wave of his
hand and a laugh, "which have unfortunately escaped my memory."

There was much real humor in his relation of the inn gossip, and the
brightness of his presence caused a gayer air to our small festivity.
Our talk brought Nancy to the door, where she stood in a shaft of light
looking down at us.

"What are you laughing about?" she cried.

At the sound of her voice Danvers sprang to his feet and went toward
her with outstretched hand, but at the sight of her beauty or her
jewels, I know not which, he changed his mind and made a sweeping bow
instead.

"And this," he said, "is the Miss Nancy of whom I have heard so
much----"

"Sandy's apt to mention me," she answered demurely.

"He never did you justice," he responded, with a smile toward his
father. "In all but this he's the best parent in the world, but he's
fallen short in the matter of letting me know about you."

"If ye'd stayed in ye're own country ye'd have known," retorted Sandy,
from behind his pipe.

"I have been away too long," Dand answered him, but the loo