"I ken," he said humbly."But payin' is my job, and I simply
havena the siller. It's no the first time it has happened, and
it's a sair trial for them both to be flung out o' doors by a
foreign hostler because they canna meet his charges. But, sir,
if ye can lend to me, ye may be certain that her leddyship will
never, hear a word o't. Puir thing, she takes nae thocht o'
where the siller comes frae, ony mair than the lilies o' the
field."

I became a conspirator. "You swear, Oliphant, by all you hold
sacred, to breathe nothing of this to your mistress, and if she
should suspect, to lie like a Privy Councillor?"

A flicker of a smile crossed his face. "I'll lee like a Scotch
packman, and the Father o' lees could do nae mair. You need have
no fear for your siller, sir. I've aye repaid when I borrowed,
though you may have to wait a bittock." And the strange fellow
strolled off.

At dinner no Duchess appeared till long after the appointed hour,
nor was there any sign of Oliphant. When she came at last with
Cristine, her eyes looked as if she had been crying, and she
greeted me with remote courtesy. My first thought was that
Oliphant had revealed the matter of the loan, but presently I
found that the lady's trouble was far different. Her father, it
seemed, was ill again with his old complaint. What that was I
did not ask, nor did the Duchess reveal it.

We spoke in French, for I had discovered that this was her
favourite speech. There was no Oliphant to wait on us, and the