"Eh, what's yon?" inquired Gowrie. "Wha wull come back, young leddy?"
"Captain----," she began unthinkingly, then, warned by an ostentatious cough from the watchful Mrs. Mountford, she stopped short. "I was talking to myself," she said haughtily.
"Hoots, I ken that, but we tell tae oorsel's muckle that we wudna tell tae ithers, ye ken."
"Language," groaned Mrs. Mountford, who looked more like an undertaker's lady than ever, "was given us to conceal our thoughts."
"Aye, aye, me'em. Ye'll have been takin' a wee bit look at the end o' the Dictionary. Jameson's for me," cried the enthusiastic Scotchman, "and nane o' yer Johnson's an' Webster's."
Maud shook her head impatiently and came to sit by the old man for the purpose of gaining information.
"You have merely told us that you have found Mr. Herries," she said, looking at him with her pale blue eyes, and in an inquisitive manner. "Where is he?"
"Aye, yen's a lang story," replied Gowrie folding his hands and settling himself comfortably, "an' maybe a glass of sherry wine wud help me to tell it mair lifelike."
Anxious only to hear the truth, Maud crossed to the bell, and touched the ivory button, but Mrs. Mountford groaned.
"What did Lemuel's mother say to him concerning strong drink?" she inquired.