"Oh! do tell me all about it," she urged instantly. "Weird legends always fascinate me. Of course I know just the outlines of its history. It's the tales told by the country-folk in which I'm so deeply interested." "You mean the apparition of the Lady in Green, and all that?" "Yes; and the Whispers." He started quickly at her words, and asked, "What do you know about them, dear? I hope you haven't heard them?" She smiled, with a frantic effort at unconcern, saying, "And what harm, pray, would they have done me, even if I had?" "Well," he said, "they are only heard by those whose days are numbered; at least, so say the folk about here." "Of course, it's only a fable," she laughed. "The people of the Ochils are so very superstitious." "I believe the fatal result of listening to those mysterious Whispers has been proved in more than one instance," remarked the young man quite seriously. "For myself, I do not believe in any supernatural agency. I merely tell you what the people hereabouts believe. Nobody from this neighbourhood could ever be induced to visit your ruins on a moonlit night." "That's just why I want to know the origin of the unexplained phenomenon." "How can I tell you?" "But you know--I mean you've heard the legend, haven't you?" "Yes," was his reply. "The story of the Whispers of Glencardine is well known all through Perthshire. Hasn't your father ever told you?" "He refuses." "Because, no doubt, he fears that you might perhaps take it into your head to go there one night and try to listen for them," her lover said. "Do not court misfortune, dearest. Take my advice, and give the place a very wide berth. There is, without a doubt, some uncanny agency there." The girl laughed outright. "I do declare, Walter, that you believe in these foolish traditions," she said. "Well, I'm a Scot, you see, darling, and a little superstition is perhaps permissible, especially in connection with such a mystery as the strange disappearance of Cardinal Setoun." "Then, tell me the real story as you know it," she urged. "I'm much interested. I only heard about the Whispers quite recently."