"Whom have you here, sons and kinsmen," said he, "around whom you
crowd thus roughly?--Know you not that the shelter of this roof should
secure every one fair treatment, who shall come hither either in fair
peace, or in open and manly hostility?"
"But here, my lord," answered one of the youths, "is a knave who comes
on treacherous espial!"
"I deny the charge!" said Roland Graeme, boldly, "I came to inquire
after my Lord Seyton."
"A likely tale," answered his accusers, "in the mouth of a follower of
Glendinning."
"Stay, young men," said the Lord Seyton, for it was that nobleman
himself, "let me look at this youth--By heaven, it is the very same
who came so boldly to my side not very many minutes since, when some
of my own knaves bore themselves with more respect to their own
worshipful safety than to mine! Stand back from him, for he well
deserves honour and a friendly welcome at your hands, instead of this
rough treatment."
They fell back on all sides, obedient to Lord Seyton's commands, who,
taking Roland Graeme by the hand, thanked him for his prompt and
gallant assistance, adding, that he nothing doubted, "the same
interest which he had taken in his cause in the affray, brought him
hither to inquire after his hurt."
Roland bowed low in acquiescence.
"Or is there any thing in which I can serve you, to show my sense of
your ready gallantry?"
But the page, thinking it best to abide by the apology for his visit
which the Lord Seyton had so aptly himself suggested, replied, "that
to be assured of his lordship's safety, had been the only cause of his
intrusion.
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