'No, no. Nothing of the sort, Miss Lizzie. Only I heard that she
was bonnie, and I wanted to see her. You know I like to look at a
pretty girl.'

'That's ower weel kent, my lord.'

'Well, there's no harm in that, Miss Lizzie.'

'There's no harm in that, my lord, though yer lordship says 't.'

The facts were that his lordship had been to the county-town, some
forty miles off, and Black Geordie had been sent to Hillknow to meet
him; for in any weather that would let him sit, he preferred
horseback to every other mode of travelling, though he seldom would
be followed by a groom. He had posted to Hillknow, and had dined
with a friend at the inn. The coach stopping to change horses, he
had caught a glimpse of a pretty face, as he thought, from its
window, and had hoped to overtake the coach before it reached
Rothieden. But stopping to drink another bottle, he had failed; and
it was on the merest chance of seeing that pretty face that he
stopped at The Boar's Head. In all probability, had the Marquis seen
the lady, he would not have thought her at all such a beauty as she
appeared in the eyes of Dooble Sanny; nor, I venture to think, had
he thought as the shoemaker did, would he yet have dared to address
her in other than the words of such respect as he could still feel
in the presence of that which was more noble than himself.

Whether or not on his visit to the stable he found anything amiss
with Black Geordie, I cannot tell, but he now begged Miss Lizzie to