"None, save of a horrible apparition that last night haunted the Lord Athol's lodging, near the Kirk-of-Field."
"And what about our Norwegian?"
"He hath been bound to the Papists' pillar, and left to drown."
"Now, God's malison be on these rascally burghers!"
"By this time he must be dead, for the rain hath fallen heavily, and thou knowest how fast the loch fills; besides, the host of the Red Lion shut the sluice at the Trinity House, so long ere this all must be over."
"One other life!" said the Earl, gloomily.
Hepburn gave a bitter laugh, and there was a momentary pause.
"By Heaven, Bolton! I will not permit this stranger to perish if I can save him. Come—'tis not yet midnight! The deed may in some sort atone"——
"True—true! but there will be some danger, and much suspicion"——
"Danger—so much the better! Suspicion—I hope we are above it! In a brawl about a rascally courtesan, how readily did I draw my sword with that blockhead d'Elboeuff; while to-day I stood by yonder Tron, and saw, on one hand, a consecrated priest of God insulted, pilloried, and beaten down senseless in his blood—a priest who yesternight celebrated the most holy of all Christian sacraments; on the other, I saw an innocent man dragged away to a merciless and dreadful death; and, like a child or a woman, I stood paralysed, without giving a word or a blow to save either. Coward that I was! Oh, how deeply would old Earl Adam, who fell by James's side on Flodden Field, blush for his degenerate grandson!"