"A lady, sir!" he stammered, while his eyes opened wider.
"She in the black dress brocaded with white stars."
"Gude hae mercy on us!—and a dwarf holding up her tail?"
"The same."
"The Lord take us a' into his holy keeping! Ye have seen her?"
"Seen who? What the devil do you mean?"
"The wife of the Red Comyn!"
"Come, that is good; but I am too old a soldier, bailie, to believe all this."
"Keep us frae harm!" continued the old man, as his rubicund visage grew pale, and he glanced stealthily over his shoulder while lowering his voice; "she hasna' been seen for these ten years past; heaven send it portends nae evil to our family!"
"Our family," meant the house; so completely were the old Scottish domestics identified with those they served.