th a fold of her cloak, asked Sir John if he would
remain in the guard-room with the soldiers until she called for him
again, as the King wanted to question the prisoner alone in his chamber.

At the sound of her voice Hugh Logie started, although Sir John did not
seem to recognise it, else his suspicions might have been aroused. He
only waited until his prisoner followed the girl into the little room,
then he locked the door behind them as a precaution, and withdrew with
the soldiers into the guard-room, where he knew a bright fire and a
tankard of ale were always to be found.

Once in the ante-room, the young man spoke. "What means this,
Sweetheart?" he said. "What can the King want with me at this hour of
night?"

"Hush!" answered the girl, laying a trembling finger on her lips, while
her eyes danced in spite of the danger. "'Tis I who would speak with
thee, but on board Karl Sevgen's boat at Leith, and not here. See," and
she drew the rope from its hiding-place, "tie this round thy waist, and
I will let thee down from the window; by God's mercy it looks out on a
deserted part of the garden, where the guards but rarely come, and thou
canst steal over the ditch, and down the garden, and round the Calton
Hill, and so down to the sea at Leith. Karl's boat is there; he will be
watching for thee. Thou wilt know her by her long black hull, and by a
red light he will burn in the stern. Nay, Hugh," for he would have taken
her in his arms. "The danger is not over yet, and we will have time to
talk when we are at sea, for I am coming too; I dare not stay here to
face the King alone. Only I can steal out by that little door in the
tapestry"--luckily Sir John did not know that there was another way
out--"and meet thee in the garden."

The window was not very high, and the night was dark, and no one chanced
to pass that way as a figure slung itself down, and dropped lightly into
the ditch; and, when a guard did come round, Hugh lay flat among the mud
and nettles until he had passed, and by that time Margaret had stolen
out by the little postern, and was waiting for him at the foot of the
garden, and hand in hand they made their way over the rough uneven
fields which lay between them and Leith.

Meanwhile, Sir John Carmichael drank ale, and talked with the guards,
and waited;--and waited, and talked with the guards, and drank ale,
until his patience was well-nigh gone. At last, just when the day was
breaking, he went to the d