“I beg yer pardon, my lord: ye hae nae proof agen me o’ that aither.” “Daur ye tell _me_,” cried Bykes, recovering himself, “’at I didna see ye wi’ my twa een, loup the dyke aneth the temple--ay, an something flutterin’ unco like bird-wings i’ yer han’?” “Oot or in, Johnny Bykes?” “Ow! oot.” “I _did_ loup the dyke my lord; but it was _oot_, no _in_.” “How did you get in then?” asked the marquis. “I gat in, my lord,” began Malcolm, and ceased. “How did you get in?” repeated the marquis. “Ow! there’s mony w’ys o’ winnin’ in, my lord. The last time I cam in but ane, it was ’maist ower the carcass o’ Johnny there, wha wad fain hae hauden me oot, only he hadna my blin’ daddy ahint him to ile ’s jints.” “An’ dinna ye ca’ _that_ brakin’ in?” said Bykes. “Na; there was naething to brak, ’cep it had been your banes, Johnny; an’ that wad hae been a peety--they’re sae guid for rinnin wi’.” “You had no right to enter against the will of my gatekeeper,” said his lordship. “What is a gatekeeper for?” “I had a richt, my lord, sae lang ’s I was upo’ my leddy’s business.” “And what was my lady’s business, pray?” questioned the marquis. “I faun’ a buik upo’ the links, my lord, which was like to be hers, wi’ the twa beasts ’at stans at yer lordship’s door inside the brod (_board_) o’ ’t. An’ sae it turned oot to be whan I took it up to the Hoose. There’s the half-croon she gae me.” Little did Malcolm think where the daintiest of pearly ears were listening, and the brightest of blue eyes looking down, half in merriment, a quarter in anxiety, and the remaining quarter in interest! On a landing half way up the stair, stood Lady Florimel, peeping over the balusters, afraid to fix her eyes upon him lest she should make him look up. “Yes, yes, I daresay!” acquiesced the marquis; “but,” he persisted, “what I want to know is, how you got in that time. You seem to have some reluctance to answer the question.” “Weel, I hey, my lord.” “Then I must insist on your doing so.” “Weel, I jist winna, my lord. It was a’ straucht foret an’ fair; an’ gien yer lordship war i’ my place, ye wadna say mair yersel’.” “He’s been after one of the girls about the place,” whispered the marquis to the gamekeeper. “Speir at him, my lord, gien ’t please yer lordship, what it was he hed in ’s han’ whan he lap the park-wa’,” said Bykes. “Gien ’t be a’ ane till ’s lordship,” said Malcolm, without looking at Bykes, “it wad be better no to speir, for it gangs sair agen me to refeese him.” “I should like to know,” said the marquis. “Ye maun trust me, my lord, that I was efter no ill. I gie ye my word for that, my lord.” “But how am I to know what your word is worth?” returned Lord Lossie, well pleased with the dignity of the youth’s behaviour.