The Lord Justice-General cut across the hubbub. "If we grantyour enmity toward Wharton-and I see you are prepared to cite witnesses for this-I still think you have to answer the charge of serving the English on the West March-whether Wharton, Lennox or another-for your own ends," he said. "There are witnesses, it says here, to your activities during the invasion of six months ago, when you opened the way of escape for Lord Lennox while appropriating for yourself some of the cattle used as decoys..

The face turned toward him was quite composed. "Most of the English who could still move had escaped by that time. The cattle were not for my own use: I returned them to their original owners, an English family to whom a number of Scots besides myself owe a great deal. For my part in the raid, Baron Herries can speak better than I can..

This time the noise took much longer to die down. When it did, John Maxwell leaned back in his carved chair and astonishingly raised his deep voice, the impersonal yellow eyes fixed on the panel.

"The plan for the cattle raid was Mr. Crawford's, made in a chance encounter when I was ignorant of his ident.i.ty. I could take little active part. But he and his band drove all the livestock from the south side of the Border and succeeded in taking them to the right place at the appointed time in spite of very bad conditions: a quite remarkable feat of leadership. The Whartons detest him. The young one did his best to slit his throat a month or two later at Durisdeer..

He stopped speaking as suddenly as he had begun and restored the front legs of his chair to the ground, ignoring the commotion on either side. First blood, miraculously, to the panel.

Licensed by the moment's suspended excitement, Lymond stirred, and moving back a little, sat down in the chair provided for him. Lord Culter, watching, leaned back suddenly in his own seat and the Lord Advocate, who missed nothing, ran his eye quickly over the remaining charges and caught Argyll's attention.

The Chief Justice thumped on the table. "Quiet, gentlemen! We have a great deal to get through. . . Mr. Crawford, your explanations so far have been plausible if not entirely, as you will admit, supported by tangible proof. We now wish to examine your relationship with Lord Grey de Wilton, the Lord Lieutenant of the English army in the north. On the occasion of Lord Grey's invasion of Scotland on the twenty-first of April last, you were the author of a message, purporting to come from a member of yourIiband, which had the result of bringing the Laird of Buccleuch and Lord Culter, with their respective forces, in dangerous proximity to the English army?.

"It brought them, as I thought, within easy reach of Lord Grey himself," said Lymond briefly. "The approach of Lord Grey's troops at the same time was unfortunate and unforeseen..

"You claim," said the Lord Advocate, "that this was done purely to enable your brother, with whom you were not on good terms, and Sir Walter Scott, whose son you had corrupted-.

"Hud your tongue, ye sacco, socco, ferrum, dwellum, legalizing cricket-.

"-whose son you had enticed from the family hearth, purely to enable these two men to make an advantageous capture?.

"Not at all. I had a transaction of my own to complete. I was hoping to do so under cover of the ensuing melAe..

"A transaction with Lord Grey?.

"So far as his abhorrence of me would admit. I wished to meet a member of the English force, for private reasons. I had induced Lord Grey to arrange the meeting by promising him Will Scott..

"Thus Sir Walter, Lord Culter and Mr. Scott were all invited into this commodious trap by you at the instance of Lord Grey?" asked Lauder. "In that case you certainly hoped to bring them within easy reach of the Lord Lieutenant." Out of the corner of his eye he saw their lordships shuffling. He paid no attention, but kept his voice as unvarying as the panel's. The man was an actor all right. But so was Henry Lauder.

Crawford of Lymond said, "Mr. Scott was invited in such a fashion that he could not possibly arrive in time to be in danger. The message to Sir Walter and my brother was sent without Lord Grey's knowledge." Someone at the table shifted, and Lauder turned instantly. "Yes, Sir Wat?.

Buccleuch hesitated, looking across the hall at his son. "That's likely to be right," he said at length. "At least, they ran like the hammers when they saw us coming..

"And you followed, I gather, into the jaws of half the English army?.

Buccleuch said shrewdly, "What's your argument? D'you think that after the showing-up he got at Hume Castle, Grey would stand by and allow the man to invite half the Scottish army to Heriot? I'm d.a.m.ned sure Grey didn't know Culter and I were coming..

The Lord Advocate stretched his legs. "Are you, Sir Wat? To my mind, all the signs point to an astonishing trust by Lord Grey in the Master of Culter. He made an appoint?nent with him, we are told, without the support of more than a few armed men in a particularly deserted spot in the middle of enemy country. I fail to understand your reference to Hume Castle..

The Earl Marischal stirred. "Wat means the attack on Hume led by a Spaniard last October," he said. "They captured most of a supply train and wrecked half the fortifications. Mr. Crawford claims to have organized it..

"Oh? Dear me, I see this is another point on which Mr. Scott is anxious to speak," said Lauder. The redheaded boy, angrily on his feet, began, "I can vouch . . ." and was smiled down by the Queen's Advocate.

"Later, Mr. Scott. It makes very little difference to the argument, you know. Lord Grey's animosity, on Mr. Crawford's own showing, was mainly directed against yourself and not against the Master of Culter. We have already proved that the Lord Lieutenant trusted him sufficiently-or was certain enough of his loyalty-to allow him prior information of Lord Grey's own movements..

Scott was still on his feet. He said angrily, drowning Tom Erskine's voice, "Grey didn't even keep his part of the bargain. He didn't even bring up the man the Master expected to meet..

"Then there was a bargain," said Lauder placidly. "Mr. Erskine?" Tom said quietly, "I can vouch for Lord Grey's feelings toward the Master of Culter as demonstrated at Hexham. There was no question of his being on any but the worst terms with both Wharton and Grey..

Lauder looked unimpressed. "We have already proved, surely, that this is a man who sells himself to the highest bidder. If Lord Grey indeed failed to pay him in whatever coin had been agreed for his betrayal at Heriot, it was inevitable, surely, that such a man should bite the hand which failed to feed him. It does not alter the fact that the message inviting Sir Wat and Lord Culter to Heriot was sent off before his encounter with Lord Grey, and therefore before he could have known that Lord Grey was not keeping his side of the bargain.

"And remember," the Lord Advocate added agreeably, "that at that time both Lord Culter and Sir Walter were publicly committed to seize Mr. Crawford. You are being asked to believe that Crawfordwould first antagonize Lord Grey by failing to produce the person ofWill Scott, and then risk immediate capture by his brother andBuccleuch. It does not seem very reasonable to me; and I note thatMr. Crawford himself has very little to say..

"I'm sorry," said Lymond. Pa.s.sionless devil, thought Lauder. He isn't sorry. But then, neither am I. I'm trying to hang him, and he's trying to save his strength so that there won't have to be an adjournment before he's ready for it.

Lymond said, "I was carried away by the strange charm of your reasoning. The unhappy Lord Lieutenant seems to be credited with a fearful grudge against the Bucclcuch family. I thought perhaps you had found a dark plot to seize his wife and junior attachments as well..

The Queen's Advocate replied without looking up. "But we have been a.s.sured that Mr. Scott could not possibly have arrived in time to come to any harm. If he will forgive me, he was presumably merely the bait for his father..

"Non minime ex parte, Mr. Lauder. The boy would have been ten times simpler and ten times safer to capture as well as being a much more telling weapon. If we may separate the facts from the faculae we seem to have this.

"One, both before (at Hume) as I think I can prove, and after (at Hexham) as Mr. Erskine has proved, Lord Grey and I were enemies. Two, by failing to keep his part of the bargain at Heriot, Lord Grey had clearly no plans for collaborating with me in the future. Three, some of your prisoners, whose names I shall give you, will tell you that the English army had no orders to support Lord Grey in his supposed ambush, and that the dispatch of a troop was an afterthought due to their suspicions of me.

"Four, as Sir Wat has already stated, the men left by Lord Grey made no effort to capture him or my brother, but fled before them. Five, far from being caught between two fires, I had hoped my promised interview would enable me to reinstate myself with my brother and his friends, in which case I had nothing to fear from them. And lastly, Sir George Douglas, who was detained by Lord Grey during one of his emba.s.sies to England at that time, was present at Heriot, and if he will do so, can vouch for the fact that the only bait in the trap was myself..

Henry Lauder pushed a hand through his spa.r.s.e hair. Open your mouth too far and someone will fill it with rubbish. He wonderedbriefly what hold the man had on Sir George to risk citing him as a witness, and cynically applauded the tactics. Everyone knew Douglas played on both sides. By preserving his fict.i.tious character Lymond had made it easy for him to co-operate.

He did. After the briefest silence Sir George leaned back in his chair, ruby flashing, and said, "That is quite true. Mr. Crawford was actually tied up as a prisoner all the time he was with Lord Grey. Bowes, who led the ambush, appeared to be genuinely startled by Buccleuch's appearance and might well have been captured but for the arrival of other troops." He paused and added mildly, "I can also confirm the attack on Hume. Mr. Crawford is a fluent Spanish speaker and was identified by Lord Grey in my presence as the leader of the raid..

It was too risky to take him up on it. The Advocate to the Crown swallowed defeat gracefully. He bore no grudges: the exercise of his wits against a quick and able man was the finest excitement he knew. He said, "Well, Mr. Crawford: we must concede that you seem to have an answer for everything. It will be a pleasure to see what you make of the more serious charges on the list which of course we have still to deal with. In the meantime, I should like to hear about the matter of the Earl of Lennox..

This time the accusation was simple. In 1544, prior to the Eari's defection to England, the Master of Culter had been on the friendliest terms with him, had stayed with him at Dumbarton and thus shared, it was alleged, in his treason. What had Mr. Crawford to say.

Time, precious and proffigate, was wasting before their eyes.

The heat, girdered with tension, crept like wadding into the interstices of the brain and m.u.f.fled the starving air. Lymond was sitting up and forward a little, elbows on the arms of his chair, with his hands clasped and his head bent. Richard, familiar with the small signs of fatigue, wondered how he managed to keep it out of his voice. He saw that Lauder was watching his brother narrowly.

In the clear, unemphatic voice he had used throughout, the Master said, "In 1542 I became a prisoner in France, and from then until 1544 was employed on travaux forces in the French galleys. In March, 1543, I rowed in the ship which took the Earl of Lennox from France to Scotland, and was seen there by him. In September of that year I was also on the galley which conveyed gold and arms from France for the Queen Dowager. I escaped and applied for protection to Lennox, who I had reason to believe was preparing to defect fromhis Scottish friends and would therefore receive me. As you know, he sold his loyalty to Henry of England in return for marriage with Margaret Douglas, and left Scotland for England in May of the following year, having appropriated for himself the gold delivered to his keeping from France.

"Between those dates I stayed with him as secretary and general amanuensis, leaving rather suddenly with a good deal of information and a good part of the gold. I returned some of it by devious ways to Edinburgh; the rest I used as best I could in the Queen's interests. I also established and armed my own force until by our services elsewhere in Europe we became more than self-supporting.

I am conscious, of course, that there is no proof of these events, except that I can in some cases give you the dates on which part of the French money was returned..

It was audacious, all right. The eyes of the room, like sucking fish, were flatly attached to him, building up eager pressures which slopped over as soon as he halted.

Buccleuch gave a yelp. "Lennox's money! Dod, he's never been known by man to pook a penny before now. I'd like to have seen the colour of him when he found out..

The Lord Advocate said, projecting his voice, "This troop you mention is of cours~ the subject of a civil crime action also raised against you on the grounds of robbery and extortion-.

"Protection," corrected the Master. "In these lawless times we private forces must help the State to ward its citizens where we can..

Lauder said dryly, "The forces in question seem to have mixed opinions on the subject; but that is by the way. Your motives throughout in your dealings with Lord Lennox were again, we are to take it, completely altruistic throughout?.

There was a faint smile in the experienced eyes. "Only to a human and limited extent. If I hadn't cultivated Lord Lennox's company I should be rowing up and down the Irish Sea yet, instead of being presently charmed by your society..

"I see," said Henry Lauder. "And by the same token: when you presented Lord Grey with a secret of some national importance about our shipping, you were merely ingratiating yourself with his lordship?.

Because all his attention was on Lymond, he missed George Douglas's faint movement. He had brought out, underhand, one of the vital issues, and his opponent was fully aware of it. Come along, my boy! said Mr. Lauder happily to himself. Fight rAe!He did. This was not a matter of doubtful history, four years old; but a question of treason freshly committed and subject to minute examination. The Hexham episode was eviscerated.

The dispatch was being taken to Lord Grey by a courier called Acheson. I knew nothing of it until it was shown me on the way to Hexham..

"Mr. Erskine? You can corroborate that?-Come along. Did Mr. Crawford know nothing of the dispatch?.

''He .

"Will you speak up?.

"He denied it at first, but when we showed it to him-.

"Showed it to him? Where had you found it?.

"In his packroll..

"And did he continue to protest his ignorance even then? Well?.

"He admitted it?.

"I think it's unlikely he knew about it. He prevented the message from being delivered at great personal risk..

"Ah, yes," said Henry Lauder. "Ah, yes," and stretched himself like a long, disjointed cat. "We've all heard a great deal about the dramatic scenes at Hexham. How our friend escaped from his brother's thrashing; how he rejoined his ally Mr. Acheson and had the misfortune to be spurned by the English friends he was trying hard to conciliate. So, using a woman as his shield-it has a familiar ring, hasn't it?-he chose the discreeter part; a positive act which would bring him at last under the cloak of the Scottish side at least. He shot the courier in full view of Mr. Erskine and relied on Mr. Erskine's notoriously kind heart to extract him from the muddle. Unfortunately, he himself was attacked in the process-undoubtedly not part of the plan..

Erskine said forcibly, "He knew when he made the shot that he hadn't a chance..

"He knew that if he didn't shoot, he hadn't got a chance either," said the Queen's Advocate placidly.

There was a brief silence. Bishop Reid said, "Well, Mr. Crawford?.

Good. He was going to attempt it. Lymond said briefly, "If I hadn't used the protection of an English lady, as Mr. Lauder so kindly mentions, the secret of the ships' departure would be a secretno longer. I haven't any evidence that Acheson's message was unknown to me. I can only refer you to some probabilities..

Argyll said sharply, "Go on!.

Lymond raised his eyes.

"Am I not an unlikely messenger? To anyone in English pay in Scotland I should be known as an enemy of Lord Grey and Lord Wharton and of the Earl of Lennox; and also the object of awell-publicized pursuit by my brother. And even if I were approached, would I risk it for a moment, my relationship with these three men being what it was.

"But the man Acheson was a carrier of dispatches by trade, and an unscrupulous one. We know from what Mr. Erskine has said that Mr. Acheson knew the contents of this message; knew that it was a matter of delivering more than two perfectly legitimate messages from Sir George.

"How did he know? There was no provision originally for Acheson to have a companion. The safe-conduct was widened by Sir George himself to admit me, in order to promote an exchange of prisoners. There is no question, naturally, of accusing Sir George of complicity in treason, therefore you have to believe either that, being provided with this innocent means of getting myself safely to England, I confided my dreadful secret to this perfect stranger; or that when I joined him Acheson was already carrying the dispatch, in which case he was unlikely, surely, to talk about it to me..

Plausible again. The Lord Advocate saw the eyebrows raised around the table and heard the muttered exchanges.

Reid leaned forward. "What then was the object of going to England? Oh: I recall. The Stewart girl..

It was what Lauder was waiting for. He hurled his pen from him so far that it cracked on the oak, and flung up an arm like a semaph.o.r.e to flatten his hair.

"So-o, Mr. Crawford. Your sole reason for going to England, your lonely and chivalrous reason for giving yourself up, for flinging yourself on the mercy of these gentlemen who, as you have so laboriously proved, wished nothing better than to see you dead, was to arrange that the Lady Christian Stewart might go free?.

"Yes..

At last. Now, by G.o.d, you're hating it, thought Lauder. And I'm going to thrash you until you hate me as well. And then, my lad, you're going to lose that cool temper and the Bishop had betterlook out. "Yes," he repeated aloud. "This is the girl, young, blind, wealthy, in close touch with the Court, whom you encouraged to obtain secret information for you-.

"That is untrue..

"-while posing as a mysterious and illicit lover?.

"Both these accusations are untrue. Confine your attacks to me, Mr. Lauder." The controlled voice clashed with Buccleuch's:"Dammit, we can't have that, Lauder. The girl was no light o' love." The Lord Advocate said sombrely, "If you will listen, Sir Wat,you will hear that I am implying the reverse. I am saying that this was an honest, gentle and virtuous girl, a young girl of open and innocent years, betrothed to a fine man, who fell into the power of a practiced and powerful seducer, appearing to her in a guise both insinuating and irresistibly romantic..

Buccleuch growled. "She knew who he was. I don't see what bearing this has on the thing..

"She claimed to know, finally, when she thought it would save him. Did you reveal your ident.i.ty to her when you met, Mr. Crawford?.

"No," said Lymond, and his hands closed.

"Why not?.

There was a pause. "It relieved her of what I felt to be . . . too cruel a quandary. I didn't expect to see her again..

"No quandary for a girl as upright as we know this one was, surely. Or do you mean she was already in love with you?.

"I mean nothing of the sort. We had been childhood neighbours, and she was a-kindly person..

"I see. And having all these scruples, no doubt you went out of your way to avoid further meetings. Or did you see her again?" added Lauder suddenly.

There was another pause. Then the Master said evenly, "Several times. Shall we save some tedious questions and answers?-After the first and second, the meetings were not unavoidable. I allowed her to help me with my private affairs although I knew that by doing so I should make her virtue suspect, at least, if it became known. It was through pursuing my affairs that she was captured at Dalkeith. It was directly because of that that she came into the power of the Countess of Lennox. These were unprincipled and unpardonable acts, and you can't possibly blame me as much as I blame myself.

"But in all of them, Lady Christian was the innocent and deceived party. She did nothing dishonest, even in her efforts to help me; and, 22 unpleasing as it may seem to Mr. Lauder's active imagination, there was nothing but friendship between us. Under the circ.u.mstances no doubt you will find it ludicrous that I should cast myself into Lord Grey's lap simply to free her; but that was what I did..

The Lord Advocate might have been annoyed at having his effects spoiled, but he gave not the slightest sign. "It certainly has its ~ suspicious side. Particularly when linked with the fact that Lady Christian died suddenly and violently immediately after you traced I her to England..

Erskine's voice said harshly, "Wait a moment. Lady Christian died from a fail from her horse..

Lauder said simply, "How do you know?.

There was real anger in Erskine's brusque voice. "I knew Chris better than any of you-I was to have married her-and if we weren't in a court of law I would shove down your d.a.m.ned throat the implication you've just been making. I saw Crawford of Lymond immediately after her death and heard what he said and saw how he acted. If I'd thought for a moment that he'd killed her, I wouldn't have let Culter have the pleasure of fighting him..

The Lord Advocate let this poignantly confident reb.u.t.tal wreak its own doom; and then said gently, "What then are you suggesting? That Mr. Crawford went to her rescue after all in a fit of erratic gallantry?" and was much surprised to hear Sir George Douglas's smooth voice.

"Suppose, since they worry you, we dismiss the romantic gestures in favour of another fact? Mr. Crawford had been disappointed in his efforts to exculpate himself, as he thought, from the older crimes we have not yet discussed: he had just heard from me that the man who might do so was dead. He had already disbanded his force in expectation of a satisfactory meeting with this man and had suffered the considerable shock of being handed over to us by his own prot~g& He might well, under the circ.u.mstances, have decided on a course of despair such as this..

The Lord Advocate bowed without the least shade of irony. "A point well made. Particularly as it puts before us another fact. Mr. Crawford, it appears, had just been cheated of his hopes of reinstating himself in our midst-by whatever means-as an honest, loyal and worthy servant of the Crown.

"What then remained, one might ask, but to fly to England; to get rid of this awkward girl, who was in England and who knew so much of his activities, and at the same time to present information which he might hope at least would buy him a little leniency from Lord Grey? If not, how was he worse off?" Lauder let his gaze rove over the twelve diverse faces, shining with warmth and concentration; shrewd; pa.s.sive; perceptive; wary.

"You are not dealing with a simple man. The accusations against him are astonishing in their variety. We have dealt with all but the most serious, and it would take a bold man to say 'This is true' and 'This is untrue.' His past connections with Lord Wharton were deliberate and innocent, he claims. There is no proof either way. His actions at Annan may have sprung from well-intentioned, if obscure motives. That again we shall never know.

"Whether for his own benefit or not, he appears to have given a certain amount of aid to the Crown during the famous cattle raid on the western march. In the same way he rendered us all a service at Hume-this time entirely for his own benefit. At Heriot he played a dangerous game-again for his own ends-in which his own brother and the Buccleuch family were p.a.w.ns though it appears, generous ones, in the way they have spoken for him. His connection with the Earl of Lennox again is a matter unproven either way-guilty or innocent-but again material reward enters the picture, and it seems likely that what was done was done for this reason.

"We are left with Hexham, and what happened immediately before. So complex is the picture this time, so various the possibilities, that we can isolate the truth, it seems to me, in one way only.