"And quite alone, sir?'
"The deuce! Sirrah, I am as you see," responded Walter impatiently. "Mistress Lilian is here, and her noble kinswoman too, I doubt not."
Hab winked knowingly, and knocked on the panels of the vast girnel, the front of which he opened, and the two fugitives forth stepped, pale and agitated. The first sight of Walter's military garb startled them; but bowing profoundly, he said, in the formal fashion of the time,
"Lady Bruntisfield, your most obedient humble servant—Mistress Lilian, yours."
"Your servant, sir," muttered the ladies, and they all bowed to each other three several times. Lilian blushed deeply.
"Ah," said Walter, "I have then the happiness to be remembered."
Lady Grisel, on adjusting her spectacles, immediately recognized him, and held out her hand with a smile, in which hauteur, kindness, and timidity were curiously blended.
"Welcome, young gentleman; though our fortunes are somewhat clouded now, I rejoice their shadow has not long blighted yours, and I congratulate you on your restoration to liberty."
"And I, in turn, wish you every joy at a sudden change of fortune. The decrees of Council are reversed; your lands, your liberty, your coat armorial, are restored, and you are free to return to the ancestral dwelling of your family whenever it pleases you; to cast aside for ever that humble attire, though, believe me, fair Lilian, it never appeared to me so graceful or charming as at this moment."
Again Lilian blushed deeply; her bright eyes were full of inquiry and expression; her cherry mouth, half open, displayed the whiteness of her firm little teeth, and she never appeared so fascinating to Walter as, when laying her hand gently on his arm, she said,