"Why, just that ye suld speer ony gentleman hame to dinner; for I canna
mak anither fast on a feast day, as when I cam ower Bucklaw wi' Queen
Margaret; and, to speak truth, if your lordship wad but please to cast
yoursell in the way of dining wi' Lord Bittlebrains, I'se warrand I wad
cast about brawly for the morn; or if, stead o' that, ye wad but dine
wi' them at the change-house, ye might mak your shift for the awing: ye
might say ye had forgot your purse, or that the carline awed ye rent,
and that ye wad allow it in the settlement."
"Or any other lie that cam uppermost, I suppose?" said his master.
"Good-bye, Caleb; I commend your care for the honour of the family."
And, throwing himself on his horse, he followed Bucklaw, who, at the
manifest risk of his neck, had begun to gallop down the steep path which
led from the Tower as soon as he saw Ravenswood have his foot in the
stirrup.
Caleb Balderstone looked anxiously after them, and shook his thin grey
locks: "And I trust they will come to no evil; but they have reached
the plain, and folk cannot say but that the horse are hearty and in
spirits.
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