There was trouble wi' the lad-wi' him and Maister Robert at the Court; but I never knowed nowt o' the truth.

And it's seven-and-twenty years since Maister Robert went." Gaston leaned over his horse's neck, and thrust a piece of silver into the woman's hands.
"Take that, Becky Lawson, and mop your eyes no more." She gaped.
"How dost know my name is Becky Lawson?
I havena been ca'd so these three-and-twenty years--not since a' married good man here, and put Jock's faither in 's grave yander." "The devil told me," he answered, with a strange laugh, and, spurring, they were quickly out of sight.

They rode for a couple of miles without speaking.

Jacques knew his master, and did not break the silence.
Presently they came over a hill, and down upon a little bridge.

Belward drew rein, and looked up the valley.