“I had not expected to see the lady here. Not that I know aught about her views. We have a bare acquaintance, and she is like yourself, Lord Balnillo—just arrived in Edinburgh when our young hero has left Holyrood.”
“She has been a fine woman,” said Lord Grange, his eye kindling.
“You may use the present tense, my lord,” said Mrs. Cockburn.
“Aha!” sniggered Grange, who adhered to the time-honoured beliefs of his sex, “you dare to show yourself generous!”
“I dare to show myself what I am, and that is more than all the world can do,” said she, looking at him very hard.
He shifted from foot to foot. At this moment the gallows, to which he had condemned a few people in his time, struck him as a personal inconvenience.
“Ma’am,” said he, swallowing his rage, “you must present Davie, or he will lose what senses he has.”
“Come, then, my lord, I will befriend you,” said she, glad of the chance to be rid of Grange.
Balnillo followed her, unable to escape had he wished to do so.