or the first time unwillingly, to pay
his service, as his tenure bound him.

"It is hard," he said, "to be put forward in all the town feuds, when
the fighting work is so detestable to Catharine. I am sure there are
enough of wenches in Perth that say to their gallants, 'Go out, do your
devoir bravely, and win your lady's grace'; and yet they send not for
their lovers, but for me, who cannot do the duties of a man to protect
a minstrel woman, or of a burgess who fights for the honour of his
town, but this peevish Catharine uses me as if I were a brawler and
bordeller!"

Such were the thoughts which occupied his mind, when, as he opened his
door to issue forth, the person dearest to his thoughts, but whom he
certainly least expected to see, was present to his eyes, and dropped
into his arms.

His mixture of surprise, joy, and anxiety did not deprive him of the
presence of mind which the occasion demanded. To place Catharine
Glover in safety, and recall her to herself was to be thought of
before rendering obedience to the summons of the magistrates, however
pressingly that had been delivered. He carried his lovely burden, as
light as a feather, yet more precious than the same quantity of purest
gold, into a small bedchamber which had been his mother's. It was the
most fit for an invalid, as it looked into the garden, and was separated
from the noise of the tumult.

"Here, Nurse--Nurse Shoolbred--come quick--come for death and life--here
is one wants thy help!"

Up trotted the old dame. "If it should but prove any one that will keep
thee out of the scuffle," for she also had been aroused by the noise;
but what was her astonishment when, placed in love and reverence on
the bed of her late mistress, and supported by the athletic arms of her
foster son, she saw the apparently lifeless form of the Fair Maid of
Perth.

"Catharine Glover!" she said; "and, Holy Mother, a dying woman, as it
would seem!"

"Not so, old woman," said her foster son: "the dear heart throbs--the
sweet breath comes and returns! Come thou, that may aid her more meetly
than I--bring water--essences--whatever thy old skill can devise. Heaven
did not place her in my arms to die, but to live for herself and me!"

With an activity which her age little promised, Nurse Shoolbred
collected the means of restoring animation; for, like many women of the
period, she understood what was to be done in such cases, nay, possessed
a knowledge of treating wounds