"O sir! sir!" groaned Andrew, "mercy!--mercy!--O sir!" and he wrung his hands together and shook exceedingly. "Ye fause knave!" continued the laird, grasping him by the neck--and dashing him from him, Andrew fell flat upon the floor, and his terror had almost shook him from his feet before--"Speak, ye fause knave!" resumed the laird; "what means your carousin' w' sic a gang? Ye robber, speak!" And he kicked him with his foot as he lay upon the ground. "O sir!--mercy, sir!" vociferated Andrew, in the stupor and wildness of terror; "I canna speak!--ye hae killed me outright! I am dead--stone dead! But it wasna my blame--they'll a' say that, if they speak the truth." "Out! out, ye thieves!--ye gang o' plunderers, born to the gallows!--out o' my house!" added the laird, addressing Willie Faa and his followers. "Thieves! ye acred loon!" exclaimed the Faa king, starting to his feet, and drawing himself up to his full height--"wha does the worm that burrows in the lands o' Clennel ca' thieves? Thieves, say ye!--speak such words to your equals, but no to me. Your forebears came ower wi' the Norman, invaded the nation, and seized upon land--mine invaded it also, and only laid a tax upon the flocks, the cattle, and the poultry--and wha ca' ye thieves?--or wi' what grace do ye speak the word?" "Away, ye audacious vagrant!" continued the laird; "ken ye not that the king's authority is in my hands?--and for your former plunderings, if I again find you setting foot upon ground o' mine, on the nearest tree ye shall find a gibbet." "Boast awa--boast awa, man," said Willie; "ye are safe here for me, and mine winna harm ye; and it is a fougie cock indeed that darena craw in its ain barn-yard. But wait until the day when we may meet upon the wide moor, wi' only twa bits o' steel between us, and see wha shall brag then." "Away!--instantly away!" exclaimed Clennel, drawing his sword, and waving it threateningly over the head of the gipsy. "Proud, cauld-hearted, and unfeeling mortal," said Elspeth, "will ye turn fellow-beings from beneath your roof in a night like this, when the fox darena creep frae its hole, and the raven trembles on the tree?" "Out! out! ye witch!" rejoined the laird. "Farewell, Clennel," said the Faa king; "we will leave your roof, and seek the shelter o' the hill-side. But ye shall rue! As I speak, man, ye shall rue it!" "Rue it!" screamed Elspeth, rising--and her small dark eyes flashed with indignation--"he shall rue it--the bairn unborn shall rue it--and the bann o' Elspeth Faa shall be on Clennel and his kin, until his hearth be desolate and his spirit howl within him like the tempest which this night rages in the heavens!" The servants shrank together into a corner of the hall to avoid the rage of their master; and they shook the more at the threatening words of the weird woman, lest she should involve them in his doom; but he laughed with scorn at her words.