"but turn up thy face--art
thou the man?"

"So say my companions, fair leddy," replied he. "I brocht doon wi' this
arm five o' Otterstone's men."

"With that arm!" replied she, "and what spirit nerved the dead lumber,
thinkest thou?"

"Dootless yours, fair leddy," answered he, smiling knowingly; "but,
though the spirit was borrowed, I'm no the less entitled to my reward."

"A good stickler for the rights of your sex," answered she, keeping up
the humour; "but what guerdon demandest thou?"

"That whilk knights hae sued in vain for at your fair feet," answered
the man, smiling, as he uttered nearly the words she had used at the
battle.

"Caught in my own snare," replied she, laughing loudly.

"Ah, Kate, Kate!" said the baron, joining in the humour, "hoo mony
gallant barons, and knights, and gentlemen hae ye tormented by thae fair
lips o' yours, which carry in their cunnin' words a defence o' themsels
sae weel contrived that nane daur approach them! Ye're caught at last.
Stand to yer richts, man. A kiss was promised ye, and by the honour o'
Innerkepple, a kiss ye'll hae, if I should haud her head by a grip o'
her bonny auburn locks."

"Hold! hold!" cried Katherine; "this matter dependeth on the answer to a
question. Art thou married, sirrah?"

The man hesitated, fearful of being caught by his clever adversary.

"Have a care o' yoursel, Gregory," said Innerkepple, "ye're on dangerous
ground."

"What if I am or am not?" said the man, cautiously, turning up his eye
into the face of the wicked querist.

"If thou art not," said she, "then would a kiss of so fair a damsel be
to thee beyond the value of a croft of the best land o' the barony o'
Innerkepple; but if thou art, then would the guerdon be as nothing to
the kiss of thy wife, and as the weight of a feather in the scale
against an oxengate of good land."

"I'm no married," replied the man; "but, an't please yer leddyship, I'll
take the oxengate."

"Audacious varlet!" cried Kate, rejoicing in the adroitness she
exhibited; "wouldst thou prefer a piece of earth to a kiss of Kate
Kennedy--a boon which the gayest knights of the Borders have sued for in
vain! But 'tis well--thou hast refused the guerdon. Ha! ha! Men of
Innerkepple, ye are witnesses to the fact. This man hath spurned my
guerdon, and sought dull earth for my rosy lips."

"We are witnesses," cried the retainers; and the court-yard rang with the
laugh which the cleverness of their fair mistress