le, and his horse
wass covered with foam. 'Is this Tochty Lodge?' he asked, softening
his voice as one trying to speak humbly. 'I am passing this way, and
have a message for Mistress Carnegie; think you that I can have speech
of her quietly?'

"So Mary will go up and tell the lady that one wass waiting to see her,
and that he seemed a noble gentleman. When they came down to the
courtyard he had drawn water for his horse from the well, and wass
giving him to drink, thinking more of the beast that had borne him than
of his own need, as became a man of birth.

"At the sight of the lady he took off his bonnet and bowed low, and
asked if he might hef a private audience, to which Mistress Carnegie
replied, 'We are private here,' and asked, 'Have you been with my son?'

"'We fought together for the Prince three days since--my name is Perth.
I am escaping for my life, and desire a brief rest, if it please you,
and bring no danger to your house.'

"'Ye had been welcome, my Lord Duke,' and Mary used to show how her
mistress straightened herself, though you were the poorest soldier that
had drawn his sword for the good cause, and ye will stay here till it
be safe for you to escape to France.'

"He wass four weeks hidden in the room, and although the soldiers
searched all the house, they could never find the place, and Mrs.
Carnegie put scorn upon them, asking why they did her so much honour
and whom they sought. Oh yes, it wass a cunning place for the bad
times, and you will be pleased to see it."

"And the secret, Janet," cried Kate, her hand upon the door; "you know
it quite well."

"So does the General, Catherine of my heart," said Janet, "and he will
be liking to show it himself."

So Kate departed in a rage, and gave orders that there be no more
delay, for she would not spend an afternoon seeking for rat-holes.

"No rat-hole, Kit, but a very fair chamber for a hunted man; it is
twenty years and more since this door opened last, for none knows the
trick of it save Janet and myself. There it goes."

A panel in the back of the cabinet slid aside behind its neighbour and
left a passage through which one could squeeze himself with an effort.

"We go up a stair now, and must have light; a candle will do; the air
is perfectly pure, for there 's plenty of ventilation;" and then they
crept up by steps in the thickness of the walls, till they stood in a
chamber under six feet high, but otherwise as large as the bedroo