As Grimond had communicated the engagement of Claverhouse to Helen Graham under the form of a secret, he was perfectly certain that Kirsty would tell it that evening to her mistress and in the end to the whole castle. But he thought it wise to reinforce the resolution of the other side, and when he waited on his master that evening he laid himself out for instruction.
"Ye would have laughed hearty, Mr. John, if you had heard the officers over their wine this afternoon in the town. Lord Ross wasna there, and so they had the freedom o' their tongues, and if Sir Adam Blair wasna holdin' out that you had fallen in love wi' Lady Jean, and the next thing they would hear would be a marriage that would astonish Scotland. Earleshall nearly went mad, and said that if ye did that you would be fairly bewitched, and that you might as well join the Covenanters. I tell ye, laird, they nearly quarrelled over it, and I am telt they got so thirsty that they drank fourteen bottles o' claret to five o' them besides what they had before. Ye will excuse me mentionin' this, for it's no for me to tell you what the gentlemen speak aboot, but I thought a bit o' daffin' (amusement) micht lichten ye after the day's work."
"It is no concern of mine what the officers say between themselves, and I've told you before, Grimond, that you are not to bring any idle tales you pick up to my ears. You've done this more than once, and I lay it on you not to do it again."
"Surely, Mr. John, surely. I ken it's no becoming and I'll no give ye cause to complain again. But as sure as death, when I heard them saying it as I took in your message to Earleshall I nearly dropped on the floor, I was that amused. Claverhouse married to a Covenanter! It was verra takin'.
"Na, na, Mr. John, I kent better than that, but I'm no just comfortable in my mind sae lang as ye are in Paisley Castle and in the company o' Lady Jean. Her mither is an able besom, and her young ladyship is verra deep. What I'm hearin' on the ither side o' the hedge is that she's trying to get round ye so as to get a pardon for Sir John, and to let him come home from Holland. No, Claverhouse, ye maunna be angry wi' me, for I've waited on ye longer than ye mind, and I canna help bein' anxious. Ye are a grand soldier, and ye've been a fine adviser to the government. There's no mony things ye're no fit for, Mr. John, but the women are cunning, and have aye made a fule o' the men since Eve led Adam aff the straicht and made sic a mishanter o' the hale race. They say doon stairs that Lady Jean is getting roond ye fine, and that if it wasna that her family wanted something from you, you would never have had a blink o' her, ony mair than her auld jade o' a mither. For a hypocrite give me a Covenanter, and, of course, the higher they are the cleverer.