he’ll maybe hae some say wi’ our head men – Dan – I say, Dan’ – and with that he pulled Dan’s sleeve, and said in a whisper loud enough to be heard over all the house – ‘I say, Dan, man, gin he wad but speak to the warden to let us hae a’ the land west the length o’ the Frosty lair. O it wad lie weel into ours.’ ‘It wad, father, and I daresay we may get it; but hush just now.’ ‘Eh? do you think we may get it?’ enquired the old man eagerly in the same whispering tremulous voice, ‘O man, it wad lie weel in; an’ sae wad Couter’s-cleuch. It’s no perfect wanting that too. An’ we wad be a great deal the better o’ twa or three rigs aff Skelfhill for a bit downfa’ to the south – See if ye can speak to the lad.’
Dan shook his father’s hand, and nodded to him by way of acquiescence. The old man brightened up: ‘Whar is your titty Bessy, Dan? Whar are a’ the idle hizzies? Gar them get something set down to the princely lad: I’se warrant he’s e’en hungry. Ye’ll no be used til siccan roads as thir, Sir? Na, na. They’re unco roads for a prince––. Dan, I say, come this way; I want to speak to you – I say,’ (whispering very low aside) ‘I wadna let them ken o’ the beef, or they’ll just gang wi’t. Gie them milk an’ bread, an’ cheese, an’ a drap o’ the broo; it will do weel aneuch. Hunger’s good sauce. But, Dan – I say, could ye no contrive to get quat o’ thae English? I doubt there will be little made o’ them––. They’re but a wheen gillie-gaupies at the best, an nae freends to us––. Fouk sude ay bow to the bush they get bield frae.’
‘It’s a’ true that ye say, father; but we surely needna grudge an Englishman a piece o’ an English cow’s hip––. The beef didna cost you dear, an’ there’s mair where it cam frae.’
The old man would not give up his point, but persisted in saying it was a dangerous experiment, and an unprofitable waste. However, in spite of his remonstrances, the board was loaded with six wooden bickers filled with beef broth, plenty of bear-meal bannocks, and a full quarter of English ox beef, to which the travellers did all manner of justice. The prince, as he called himself, was placed at the head of the table, and the young English nobleman by his side. Their eyes were scarcely ever turned from one another’s faces, unless in a casual hasty glance to see how others were regarding the same face. The prince had dark raven hair that parted on a brow of snow, a black liquid eye, and round lips, purer than the cherry about to fall from the tree with ripeness. He was also a degree taller than the English lord; but both of them, as well as their two pages, were lovelier than it became men to be. The troopers who attended them seemed disposed to contradict every thing that came from the adverse party, and, if possible, to broach a quarrel, had it not been for the two knights, who were all suavity, good breeding, and kindness to each other, and seemed to have formed an attachment at first sight. At length Prince Alexander inquired of his new associate his name, and business at the Scottish court, provided, he said, that it did not require strict secrecy. The other said, he would tell him every thing truly, on condition that he would do the same: which being agreed to, the young English nobleman proceeded as follows:
‘My name is Lord Jasper Tudor, second son to the Earl of Pembroke. I am nearly related to the throne of England, and in high favour with the king. The wars on the Borders have greatly harassed the English dalesmen for these many years, and matters being still getting worse between the nations, the king, my cousin, has proposed to me to marry the Princess Margaret of Scotland, and obtain as her dowry a confirmation of these border lands and castles, so that a permanent peace may be established between the nations, and this bloody and desperate work cease. I am on my way to the Scottish court to see the princess, your sister; and if I find her to be as lovely and accomplished as fame speaks her, I intend to comply with the king’s request, and marry her forthwith.’
This speech affected the prince so much that all the guests wondered. He started to his feet, and smiling in astonishment said, ‘What, you? you marry m – m – my sister Margaret? She is very much beholden to you, and on my word she will see a becoming youth. But are you sure that she will accept of you for a husband?’ ‘I have little to fear on that head,’ said the Lord Jasper Tudor jeeringly; ‘Maids are in general not much averse to marriage; and, if I am well informed, your lovely sister is as little averse to it as any of her contemporaries.’
The prince blushed deep at this character of his sister, but had not a word to say.
‘Pray,’ continued Tudor, ‘is she like you? If she is, I think I shall love her – I would not have her just like you neither.’
‘I believe,’ said the prince, ‘there is a strong family likeness; but tell me in what features you would wish her to differ from me, and I will describe her minutely to you.’
‘In the first place,’ said the amorous and blue-ey’d Tudor, ‘I should like her to be a little stouter, and more manly of frame than you, and, at least, to have some appearance of a beard.’
All the circle stared. ‘The devil you would, my lord,’ said Dan; ‘Wad ye like your wife to hae a beard, in earnest? Gude faith, an your ain war like mine, ye wad think ye had eneuch o’t foreby your wife’s.’ The prince held up his hands in astonishment, and the young English lord blushed deeper than it behoved a knight to do; but at length he tried to laugh it by, pretending that he had unwittingly said one thing when he meant the very contrary, for he wished her to be more feminine, and have less beard––. ‘I think that will hardly be possible,’ said Dan; ‘but perhaps there may be a hair here an’ there on my lord the prince’s chin, when ane comes near it. I wadna disparage ony man, far less my king’s son.’
‘Well, my noble lord,’ said the prince, ‘your tale has not a little surprised me, as well it may. Our meeting here in like circumstances is the most curious rencounter I ever knew; for, to tell you the plain truth, I am likewise on an errand of the same import, being thus far on my way to see and court the lady Jane Howard, in order that all her wide domains may be attached to my father’s kingdom, and peace and amity thereby established on the border.’
‘Gracious heaven!’ said young Lord Tudor, ‘can this that I hear be true? You? Are you on your way to my cousin, the lady Jane Howard? Why, do you not know that she is already affianced to Lord Musgrave?’
‘Yes, it is certain I do; but that is one of my principal inducements to gain her from him; that is quite in the true spirit of gallantry; but, save her great riches, I am told she has little else to recommend her,’ said the prince.
‘And, pray, how does fame report of my cousin Jane?’ said Tudor.
‘As of a shrew and a coquette,’ answered the prince; ‘a wicked minx, that is intemperate in all her passions.’
‘It is a manifest falsehood,’ said Tudor, his face glowing with resentment, ‘I never knew a young lady so moderate and chastened in every passion of the female heart. Her most private thoughts are pure as purity itself, and her––.’
‘But, begging your pardon, my lord, how can you possibly know all this?’ said the prince.
‘I do know it,’ said the other, ‘it is no matter how: I cannot hear my fair cousin wronged; and I know that she will remain true to Musgrave, and have nothing to do with you.’
‘I will bet an earldom on that head,’ said the prince, ‘if I chuse to lay siege to her.’
‘Done!’ said the other, and they joined hands on the bargain; but they had no sooner laid their hands into one another’s than they hastily withdrew them, with a sort of trepidation, that none of the lookers on, save the two pages, who kept close by their masters, appeared to comprehend. They, too, were both mistaken in the real cause; but of that it does not behove to speak at present.
‘I will let you see,’ said the prince, recovering himself, ‘that this celebrated cousin of yours shall not be so ill to win as the castle of Roxburgh; and I’ll let Musgrave see for how much truth and virgin fidelity he has put his life in his hand; and when I have her I’ll cage her, for I don’t like her. I would give that same earldom to have her in my power to-night.’
The young Lord Tudor looked about as if he meditated an escape