kail brose; but there were few other places in Scotland where it would
have been served with so much of the refinement that Sir David Drummond
and his late wife had learnt in France. A tablecloth and napkins,
separate trenchers, and water for hand cleansing, were not always to be
found in the houses of the nobles; and in fact, there were those who
charged Malcolm's delicacy and timidity on the _nisete_ or folly of his
effeminate education; the having the rushes on the floor frequently
changed, the preference of lamps for pine torches, and the not keeping
falcons, dogs, swine, and all, pell mell in the great hall.

Lilias sat between her uncle and his guest, looking so fair and bright
that Patrick felt fresh accesses of angry jealousy, while the visitor
talked as one able to report to the natives from another world, and that
world the hateful England, which as a Scotsman he was bound to abhor. Had
it been France, it had been endurable, but praise of English habits was
mere disloyalty; and yet, whenever Patrick tried to throw in a
disparaging word, he found himself met with a quiet superiority such as
he had believed no knight in Scotland could assume with him, and still it
was neither brow-beating nor insolence, nothing that could give offence.

Malcolm begged to know whether there had not been a rare good poet in
England, called Chaucer. Verily there had been, said the knight; and on
a little solicitation, so soon as supper was over, he recited to the
eager and delighted auditors the tale of patient Grisel, as rendered by
Chaucer, calling forth eager comments from both Patrick and Lily, on the
unknightliness of the Marquis. Malcolm, however, added, 'Yet, after all,
she was but a mere peasant wench.'

'What makes that, young Sir?' replied Sir James gravely. 'I would have
you to know that the husband's rank is the wife's, and the more unequal