_"See the robbers passing by, passing by, passing by,
See the robbers passing by,
My fair lady!"_

The ancient words came up clearly and distinctly to him, and softened
his heart with the indefinable and exquisite pathos of the refrain
whenever it is sung by the sweet voices of children.

"These are surely but cottars' bairns," he said, smiling a little at
his own intensity of feeling, "but they sing like little angels. I
daresay my sweetheart Magdalen is amongst them."

And he sat still listening, patting Black Darnaway meanwhile on the
neck.

_"What did the robbers do to you, do to you, do to you,
What did the robbers do to you,
My fair lady?"_

The first two lines rang out bold and clear. Then again the
wistfulness of the refrain played upon his heart as if it had been an
instrument of strings, till the tears came into his eyes at the
wondrous sorrow and yearning with which one voice, the sweetest and
purest of all, replied, singing quite alone:

_"They broke my lock and stole my gold, stole my gold, stole my gold,
Broke my lock and stole my gold,
My fair lady!"_

The tears brimmed over in the eyes of William Douglas, and a deep