Honourable and open, said I? I should have added,
free, generous, noble. But he is still a Ravenswood, and may bide his
time. Remember the fate of Sir George Lockhart."
The Lord Keeper started as she called to his recollection a tragedy
so deep and so recent. The old woman proceeded: "Chiesley, who did the
deed, was a relative of Lord Ravenswood. In the hall of Ravenswood, in
my presence and in that of others, he avowed publicly his determination
to do the cruelty which he afterwards committed. I could not keep
silence, though to speak it ill became my station. 'You are devising a
dreadful crime,' I said, 'for which you must reckon before the judgment
seat.' Never shall I forget his look, as he replied, 'I must reckon then
for many things, and will reckon for this also.' Therefore I may well
say, beware of pressing a desperate man with the hand of authority.
There is blood of Chiesley in the veins of Ravenswood, and one drop of
it were enough to fire him in the circumstances in which he is placed. I
say, beware of him."
The old dame had, either intentionally or by accident, harped aright
the fear of the Lord Keeper.
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