“Yea, I did indeed much wish for some of these noble birds, the which our rocks are famed for rearing, good Rory,” replied the Earl. “The King hath heard of the excellence of our falcons, and I have promised to send him a cast of them.” [[291]]
“Aweel, aweel, the King’s honour shanna want them an’ I can get a grup o’ them,” replied Spears; “and sae your Lordship may tell him frae me.”
“Thanks, good Rory, for thy zeal,” replied the Earl; “get thee then to the kitchen, and have thy morning’s draught.”
“But that was not just a’ that I had to say to thine honourable Lordship,” said Rory, still lingering.
“I do opine that thou lackest advice and assistance in some little matter of thine own, friend Rory?” said the Earl smiling.
“Troth, my noble Lord Yearl, thou art not far from the mark there; and yet it’s not just mine own matter neither, though some few years mought peraunter ha’ made it mine; but it’s nobody’s now but his who hath got it.”
“Nay, now thou art somewhat mystical, Rory,” said the Earl; “come to the point at once, I pr’ythee, and effunde thy whole tale distinctly to me, for my time is rather precious this morning.”
“The short and the long, then, of this matter, my Lord Yearl, is, that my wife’s mother hath been robbed of fifty broad pieces,” replied Rory.
“What! old Elspeth of the Burgh? who can have done so foul a larcen?” demanded the Earl.
“Ay, good my Lord, just our old mother Elspeth,” replied Spears. “The money was the hard earnings of her goodman, the smith, who, rest his soul, was a hard-working Christian, as thou mayest remember.”