closet till morning. But do you keep a special lookout on the floor
above, that the repose of my sister and her friend be not again
disturbed."

Sholto bowed without speech, and hastening down to the guardroom he
commanded two of his best bowmen to follow him with their apparatus,
while he himself snatched up the low truckle couch which custom
assigned to the captain of the guard should he desire to rest himself
during the night, and on which Landless Jock had always passed the
majority of his hours of duty. This he carried to the Earl, and
placing it in the angle he saw his youthful master stretch himself
upon it, wrapped in his cloak and with a naked sword ready to his
hand.

"A good and undisturbed slumber to you, my lord," said Sholto, curtly,
as he went out.

He saw that his two men were duly posted upon the lower landing of the
stair, and then betook himself to the upper floor where slept the
little Maid of Galloway.

He walked slowly to the end of the passage scrutinising every recess
and closet door, every garde-robe and wall press from which it was
possible that the beast he had seen might have emerged. He was wholly
unsuccessful in discovering anything suspicious, and had almost
resolved to station himself at the turn of the staircase which led
down from the roof, when, looking back, at the sharp click of a latch,
he saw Maud Lindesay coming out of the chamber of the little Maid of
Galloway.