e in Paisley Castle and in the
company o' Lady Jean. Her mither is an able besom, and her young
ladyship is verra deep. What I'm hearin' on the ither side o' the
hedge is that she's trying to get round ye so as to get a pardon for
Sir John, and to let him come home from Holland. No, Claverhouse, ye
maunna be angry wi' me, for I've waited on ye longer than ye mind, and
I canna help bein' anxious. Ye are a grand soldier, and ye've been a
fine adviser to the government. There's no mony things ye're no fit
for, Mr. John, but the women are cunning, and have aye made a fule o'
the men since Eve led Adam aff the straicht and made sic a mishanter
o' the hale race. They say doon stairs that Lady Jean is getting roond
ye fine, and that if it wasna that her family wanted something from
you, you would never have had a blink o' her, ony mair than her auld
jade o' a mither. For a hypocrite give me a Covenanter, and, of
course, the higher they are the cleverer.

"Just ae word more, Claverhouse, and I pray ye no to be angry, for
there's naebody luves ye better than Jock Grimond. I hear things ye
canna hear, and I see things ye canna see. Naebody would tell you that
Lady Jean and Pollock, the Covenantin' minister, are as gude as man
and wife. They may no be married yet, but they will be as sune as it's
safe, and that's how he comes here so often. She has a good reason to
speak ye fair, laird, and she has a souple tongue and a beguilin' way,
juist a Delilah. Laird, as sure as I'm a livin' man this is a hoose o'
deceit, and we are encompassed wi' fausehood as wi' a garment." And
although Claverhouse's rebuke was hot, Grimond felt that he had not
suffered in vain.

CHAPTER IV

"THY PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE, THY GOD MY GOD"

A month had passed before Claverhouse returned to Paisley, and this
time he made his headquarters in the town, and did not accept the
hospitality of the castle, excusing himself on the ground of his many
and sudden journeys. His real reason was that he thought it better to
keep away, both for his own sake and that of Jean Cochrane. During his
lonely rides he had time to examine the state of his feelings, and
he found himself more deeply affected than he thought; indeed he
confessed to himself that if he were to marry he should prefer Jean
to any other woman he had ever met. But he remembered her ancestry,
especially her mother, and her creed, which was the opposite of
his, and he knew that either she would