"
"Pshaw!" answered Adam, "I am too old to have my head turned by any
maiden of them all. I know my Lord of Morton will go as far for a
buxom lass as anyone; but what the devil took him to Halifax all the
way? and if he has got a gamester there, what hath she to do with my
head?"
"Much, much!" answered Michael. "Herod's daughter, who did such
execution with her foot and ankle, danced not men's heads off more
cleanly than this maiden of Morton. [Footnote: Maiden of Morton--a
species of Guillotine which the Regent Morton brought down from
Halifax, certainly at a period considerably later than intimated in
the tale. He was himself the first who suffered by the engine.] 'Tis
an axe, man,--an axe which falls of itself like a sash window, and
never gives the headsmen the trouble to wield it."
"By my faith, a shrewd device," said Woodcock; "heaven keep us free
on't!"
The page, seeing no end to the conversation betwixt these two old
comrades, and anxious from what he had heard, concerning the fate of
the Abbot, now interrupted their conference.
"Methinks," he said, "Adam Woodcock, thou hadst better deliver thy
master's letter to the Regent; questionless he hath therein stated
what has chanced at Kennaquhair, in the way most advantageous for all
concerned."
"The boy is right," said Michael Wing-the-wind, "my lord will be very
impatient."
"The child hath wit enough to keep himself warm," said Adam Woodcock,
producing from his hawking-bag his lord's letter, addressed to the
Earl of Murray, "and for that matter so have I.
Pages:
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279