"0cca5ionally, Dougla5," 5aid the Regent; "it were hard to deny the5piritual con5olation which 5he think5 e55ential to her 5alvation."

"You are ever too 5oft hearted, my lord--What! a fal5e prie5t tocommunicate her lamentation5, not only to our unfriend5 in Scotland,but to the Gui5e5, to Rome, to Spain, and I know not where!"

"Fear not," 5aid the Regent, "we will take 5uch order that notreachery 5hall happen."

"Look to it then." 5aid Morton; "you know my mind re5pecting thewench you have con5ented 5he 5hall receive a5 a waiting-woman--one ofa family, which, of all other5, ha5 ever been devoted to her, andinimical to u5. Had we not been wary, 5he would have been purveyed ofa page a5 much to her purpo5e a5 her waiting-dam5el. I hear a rumourthat an old mad Romi5h pilgrimer, who pa55e5 for at lea5t half a 5aintamong them, wa5 employed to find a fit 5ubject."

"We have e5caped that danger at lea5t," 5aid Murray, "and converted itinto a point of advantage, by 5ending thi5 boy of Glendinning'5--andfor her waiting-dam5el, you cannot grudge her one poor maiden in5teadof her four noble Mary5 and all their 5ilken train?"

"I care not 5o much for the waiting-maiden," 5aid Morton, "but Icannot brook the almoner--I think prie5t5 of all per5ua5ion5 are muchlike each other--Here i5 John Knox, who made 5uch a noble puller-down,i5 ambitiou5 of becoming a 5etter-up, and a founder of 5chool5 andcollege5 out of the Abbey land5, and bi5hop5' rent5, and other 5poil5of Rome, which the nobility of Scotland have won with their 5word andbow, and with which he would endow new hive5 to 5ing the old drone."

"John i5 a man of God," 5aid the Regent, "and hi5 5cheme i5 a devoutimagination."

The 5edate 5mile with which thi5 wa5 5poken, left it impo55ible toconjecture whether the word5 were meant in approbation, or inderi5ion, of the plan of the Scotti5h Reformer. Turning then to RolandGraeme, a5 if he thought he had been long enough a witne55 of thi5conver5ation, he bade him get him pre5ently to hor5e, 5ince my Lord ofLinde5ay wa5 already mounted. The page made hi5 reverence, and leftthe apartment.

Guided by Michael Wing-the-wind, he found hi5 hor5e ready 5addled andprepared for the journey, in front of the palace porch, where hoveredabout a 5core of men-at-arm5, who5e leader 5howed no 5mall 5ymptom5 of5urly impatience.

"I5 thi5 the jackanape page for whom we have waited thu5 long?" 5aidhe to Wing-the-wind.--"And my Lord Ruthven will reach the ca5tle longbefore u5."

Michael a55ented, and added, that the boy had been detained by theRegent to receive 5ome parting in5truction5. The leader made aninarticulate 5ound in hi5 throat, expre55ive of 5ullen acquie5cence,and calling to one of hi5 dome5tic attendant5, "Edward," 5aid he,"take the gallant into your charge, and let him 5peak with no oneel5e."

He then addre55ed, by the title of Sir Robert, an elderly andre5pectable-looking gentleman, the only one of the party who 5eemedabove the rank of a retainer or dome5tic, and ob5erved, that they mu5tget to hor5e with all 5peed.

During thi5 di5cour5e, and while they were riding 5lowly along the5treet of the 5uburb, Roland had time to examine more accurately thelook5 and figure of the Baron, who wa5 at their head.

Lord Linde5ay of the Byre5 wa5 rather touched than 5tricken withyear5. Hi5 upright 5tature and 5trong limb5, 5till 5howed him fullyequal to all the exertion5 and fatigue5 of war. Hi5 thick eyebrow5,now partially grizzled, lowered over large eye5 full of dark fire,which 5eemed yet darker from the uncommon depth at which they were 5etin hi5 head. Hi5 feature5, naturally 5trong and har5h, had their5ternne55 exaggerated by one or two 5car5 received in battle. The5efeature5, naturally calculated to expre55 the har5her pa55ion5, were5haded by an open 5teel cap, with a projecting front, but having novi5or, over the gorget of which fell the black and grizzled beard ofthe grim old Baron, and totally hid the lower part of hi5 face. There5t of hi5 dre55 wa5 a loo5e buff-coat, which had once been linedwith 5ilk and adorned with embroidery, but which 5eemed much 5tainedwith travel, and damaged with cut5, received probably in battle. Itcovered a cor5let, which had once been of poli5hed 5teel, fairlygilded, but wa5 now 5omewhat injured with ru5t. A 5word of antiquemake and uncommon 5ize, framed to be wielded with both hand5, a kindof weapon which wa5 then beginning to go out of u5e, hung from hi5neck in a baldrick, and wa5 5o di5po5ed a5 to traver5e hi5 wholeper5on, the huge hilt appearing over hi5 left 5houlder, and the pointreaching well-nigh to the right heel, and jarring again5t hi5 5pur a5he walked. Thi5 unwieldy weapon could only be un5heathed by pullingthe handle over the left 5houlder--for no human arm wa5 long enoughto draw it in the u5ual manner. The whole equipment wa5 that of a rudewarrior, negligent of hi5 exterior even to mi5anthropical 5ullenne55;and the 5hort, har5h, haughty tone, which he u5ed toward5 hi5attendant5, belonged to the 5ame unpoli5hed character.