halting-place, when
Redgauntlet said aloud, 'Look out, Cristal Nixon. If we hear nothing
from Fairladies, we must continue our journey.'

Cristal went to the door, and presently returned and said to his master,
in a voice as harsh as his features, 'Gilbert Gregson is coming, his
horse as white with foam as if a fiend had ridden him.'

Redgauntlet threw from him the plate on which he had been eating, and
hastened towards the door of the barn, which the courier at that moment
entered; a smart jockey with a black velvet hunting-cap, and a broad
belt drawn tight round his waist, to which was secured his express-bag.
The variety of mud with which he was splashed from cap to spur showed
he had had a rough and rapid ride. He delivered a letter to Mr.
Redgauntlet, with an obeisance, and then retired to the end of the barn,
where the other attendants were sitting or lying upon the straw, in
order to get some refreshment.

Redgauntlet broke the letter open with haste, and read it with anxious
and discomposed looks. On a second perusal, his displeasure seemed to
increase, his brow darkened, and was distinctly marked with the fatal
sign peculiar to his family and house. Darsie had never before observed
his frown bear such a close resemblance to the shape which tradition
assigned it.

Redgauntlet held out the open letter with one hand, and struck it with
the forefinger of the other, as, in a suppressed and displeased tone,
he said to Cristal Nixon, 'Countermanded--ordered northward once
more! 'Northward, when all our hopes lie to the south--a second Derby
direction, when we turned our back on glory, and marched in quest of
ruin!'

Cristal Nixon took the letter and ran it over, then returned it to his
master with the cold observation, 'A female influence predominates.'

'But it shall predominate no longer,' said Redgauntlet; 'it shall wane
as ours rises in the horizon. Meanwhile, I will on before--and you,
Cristal, will bring the party to the place assigned in the letter.
You may now permit the young persons to have unreserved communication
together; only mark that you watch the young man closely enough to
prevent his escape, if he should be idiot enough to attempt it, but not
approaching so close as to watch their free conversation.'

'I care naught about their conversation,' said Nixon, surlily.

'You hear my commands, Lilias,' said the laird, turning to the young
lady. 'You may use my permission and authority to explain