t delay. But thou art young, William, and young blood must aye be
roving, that I would fain remember, and so I offer thee another chance."

Here the Lord of Elibank paused and glanced at his wife, to see if he
had said the right thing, for it was she who had arranged the scene
beforehand, and had schooled her husband in the part he was to play.

Meanwhile young Harden, happening to meet Meg Murray's eyes, and puzzled
by the look, half wistful, half imploring, which he saw there, glanced
hastily out of the little casement beside which he was standing, and
received a rude shock, in spite of all his courage, when he saw a strong
rope, with a noose at the end of it, dangling from a stout branch of the
dule-tree on the green, while a man-at-arms stood kicking the ground
idly beside it, apparently waiting till he should be called on to act as
executioner.

"So the old rascal is going to hang me after all," he said to himself;
"then what, in Our Lady's name, means this strange mummery, and how
comes that ill-favoured maiden to look at me as if her life depended on
mine?"

At that moment, old Sir Juden, reassured by a nod from Dame Margaret,
went on with his speech.

"I will therefore offer thee another chance, I say, and, moreover, I
will throw a herd of the cattle which thou wert so anxious to steal into
the bargain, if thou wilt promise, on thy part, to wed my daughter Meg
within the space of four days."

Here the wily old man stopped, and the Lady of Elibank nodded her head
again, while, as for young Harden, for the moment he was too astonished
to speak.

So this was the meaning of it all. He was to be forced to marry the
ugliest maiden in the south of Scotland in order to save his life. The
vision of his mother's beauty rose before him, and the contrast between
the Flower of Yarrow and Muckle-Mou'ed Meg o' Elibank struck him so
sharply that he cried out in anger, "By my troth, but this thing shall
never be. So do thy worst, Sir Juden."

"Think well before ye choose," said that knight, more disappointed than
he would have cared to own at his prisoner's words, "for there are
better things in this world than beauty, young man. Many a beautiful
woman hath been but a thorn in her husband's side, and forbye[10] that,
hast thou not learned in the Good Book--if ever ye find time to read it,
which I fear me will be but seldom--that a prudent wife is more to be
sought after than a bonnie one? And though my Meg here is mayha