“The constable cares nothing for this stronghold so long as it furnishes money which he may spend gaily in Stirling.”
“I see. So you and your sister found refuge among your underlings? and where so safe from search as within the king’s mother’s own fortress, almost under the shadow of Stirling? An admirable device. Why then do you jeopardise your safety by letting me into the secret?”
The girl sighed deeply with downcast eyes, then she flashed a glance at him which had something in it of the old Douglas hauteur.
“I fear,” she said, “that it is not our safety which is jeopardised.”
“You mean that I am in danger?”
“The same stronghold which gives immunity to a family of the Red Douglases can hardly be expected to confer security upon James the Fifth, their persecutor.”
“No. Certainly that would be too much to expect. Are you then in this plot against me, my lady?”
“I have not heard of any plot. If there is one I know nothing of it. I merely acquaint you with some hint of my fears.”
“Then I charge you as a loyal subject of the lawful king, to guide me from this stronghold, into which I have been cozened by treachery and falsehood.”