"Fie upon ye!" exclaimed Ichabod, "ye abjurers of the Lord, and persecutors of his covenanted kirk."
"Away with him!" said Fenton to the soldiers.
"Truly ye are properly clad in scarlet, for it is the garb——"
"Silence, Sir; you make bad worse."
"Of your Babylonian mother."
"Peace!" cried Douglas.
"I liken ye even unto broken reeds——"
"On with the gyves, and away wi' him!" said the serjeant, and the poor crack-brained enthusiast was unceremoniously handcuffed and dragged away, pouring a torrent of hard scriptural epithets and invectives on his captors, and chanting suitable verses from Andro Hart's book of the Psalmes.
Lady Bruntisfield started as he was taken away, and was about to bestow on him some address of comfort and farewell; but the young volunteer interposed, saying with great gentleness,
"Pardon me, Lady Grizel—by addressing him you will only compromise your own safety and honour. O madam, I deeply regret your involvement in this matter! The Privy Council is not to be trifled with."