t, if I like him not, I can leave him on the instant. If I
had him come to my own house, if I met him anywhere save on the common
ground of a public place, and liked him not, or saw that he liked me
not at all--why, there would be certain courtesies due from a lady to
a gentleman, and I choose not to be held by those. And--and I may have
had another reason for choosing The Jolly Grig, and then--I may not.
But I think, sir, that the innkeeper solicits your attention."

Marmaduke Bass had, for several moments, been hovering officiously in
the wake of Master James Ogilvie.

"It's many a day since I've seen your honor at The Jolly Grig,"
murmured Marmaduke, with a certain obsequious familiarity that he
reserved for old and well-known patrons.

"Ay, I've had little time for jollity this many a year," agreed Master
Ogilvie, with a ponderous wink behind his daughter's back. "My hands
and my head have been full."

Judith's small nose was still sniffing the air while she moved lightly
about the long, dark room.

"I--I like not the smell of your place, Master--Master----"

"'Tis Marmaduke Bass, my love," interrupted her father.

"Ah, yes," she assented. "I'd forgotten for the moment. This hearth
has an air of comfort, though, and as for this chair----" She had
seated herself in the chair that fronted Marmaduke's settle. "Ah,
Master Bass, I should say that your chair would induce sleep." She
yawned luxuriously, and her feet, in their dainty riding boots, were
stretched over far in front of her for a well-brought-up damsel. But
it must not be forgotten that Mistress Judith Ogilvie had been brought
up quite apart from other girls, quite without a woman's care. "If I
were only a man, now," she continued, "I'd call for a glass of--what
would I ask for, Master Bass? Would it be Geldino's sherris or Canary
Malmsey, or would I have to content myself with a royal port lately
brought from France?" She sprang to her feet, laughing gayly, while
old Marmaduke scratched his head, wondering of what her words reminded
him. She touched his shoulder lightly and added: "If my father calls
for wine, later--later, mind you, we'll have the sherris, Geldino's
own."

Her words and Marmaduke's efforts to collect his thoughts were
interrupted here by the clatter of horse's hoofs in the court. The
next instant Lindley was entering the room.

"I'm not late?" he cried. "Surely, I'm not late?"

"No, my boy, 'tis not yet two," Master Ogilvie answer