he linns of Creehope,
or in any of the fastnesses on his estate of Closeburn. All this grieved
Helen's heart; but her father had taught her that it was _her_ duty, as
well as his own, to be silent on such subjects, and not to give offence to
one whose bread he was eating, and whose patronage he had enjoyed to so
great an extent.

There were frequent visiters, in those days, at Closeburn Castle. In fact,
with all the chivalric hospitality of ancient times and of an ancient
family, Sir Roger kept, in a manner, open house. During dinner, the
drawbridge was regularly elevated, and, for a couple of hours at least,
none might enter. This state ceremony had cost the family of Kirkpatrick
many broad acres; for, when the old and heirless proprietor of the fine
estate of Carlaverock called at the castle of Closeburn, with the view of
bequeathing his whole property to the then laird, the drawbridge was up--he
was refused immediate entrance, because Sir Thomas was at dinner. "Tell Sir
Thomas," said the enraged visitor, "tell your master to take his dinner,
and with zest; but tell him, at the same time, that I will put a better
dinner _by_ his table this day than ever was on it." So he went on to
Drumlanrig, and left the whole property to Douglas of Queensberry. Such,
however, was not the reception of some young gentlemen who arrived about
this time at the castle of Closeburn, on a sporting expedition, with dogs
and guns, and a suitable accompaniment of gamekeepers and other servants.
These strangers were manifestly Englishmen, but from what quarter of
England nobody knew, and, indeed, nobody inquired. They were only birds of
passage, and would, in a month or so, give place to another arrival, about
to disappear, in its turn, from a similar cause. As Helen Palmer was one
day walking, according to her wont, amongst the Barmoor-woods, in her
immediate neighbourhood, a hare crossed her path, followed closely by a
greyhound, by which it was immediately killed. Poor Helen started,
screamed, and dropped her book in an agony of pity. She had not been
accustomed to such barbarities; and the poor dying animal cried like a
child, too, as it expired! At this instant, a horseman brought up his steed
in her presence, and, immediately alighting, proceeded, in the most polite
and delicate manner imaginable, to administer such relief as was in his
power. He begged her to be composed, for the animal was now dead, and its
suffering over; and her feeli