Page:Tales of my landlord (Volume 3).djvu/268

 on Lady Margaret, or Miss Edith, or the auld Major, or ony body but the sodgers—cut and quarter amang them, I carena."

"Ay, ay," said the other, "let us once in, and we'll make our own terms with them all."

Gingerly, and as if treading upon eggs, Cuddie began to ascend the well-known pass, not very willingly; for, besides that he was something apprehensive of the reception he might meet with in the inside, his conscience insisted that he was making but a shabby requital for Lady Margaret's former favours and protection. He got up, however, into the yew-tree, followed by his companions, one after another. The window was small, and had been secured by stauncheons of iron; but these had been long worn away by time, or forced out by the domestics to possess a free passage for their own occasional convenience. Entrance was therefore easy, providing there was no one in the pantry, a point which Cuddie endeavoured to discover before he