"Ah! and wherefore?"
"Because it seems that the captain of the king's guard and that gay buckie, Leslie of Balquhan, are to sup with him to-night."
"Thou art sure of this?" said Redhall, whose heart glowed, and whose eyes sparkled.
"Sure as I am a born man."
"Watch well, then, and learn more, if you can. Oh, Nichol Birrel, thou art worth thy weight in gold to me—yea, gold trebly refined! Continue to watch them strictly while I go to his eminence the cardinal concerning a raid against the Douglases; for, mark me, both the Lady Seton and yonder valet of her squire must be safe within our bolts and bars to-night. I have suspected that long beard concealed something for these some days past."
"And so have I, your lordship."
"Indeed—remarkable! and you think——"
"As your lordship doth."
"That he is no other than the Earl of Ashkirk?"
The brodder—who, in fact, had never bestowed a thought upon the matter—now opened his eyes wide with astonishment.