“He refuses.”

“Because, no doubt, he fears that you might perhaps take it into your head to go there one night and try to listen for them,” her lover said.  “Do not court misfortune, dearest.  Take my advice, and give the place a very wide berth.  There is, without a doubt, some uncanny agency there.”

The girl laughed outright.  “I do declare, Walter, that you believe in these foolish traditions,” she said.

“Well, I’m a Scot, you see, darling, and a little superstition is perhaps permissible, especially in connection with such a mystery as the strange disappearance of Cardinal Setoun.”

“Then, tell me the real story as you know it,” she urged.  “I’m much interested.  I only heard about the Whispers quite recently.”

“The historical facts, so far as I can recollect reading them in the book in question,” he said, “are to the effect that the Most Reverend James Cardinal Setoun, Archbishop of St. Andrews, Chancellor of the Kingdom, was in the middle of the sixteenth century directing all his energies towards consolidating the Romish power in Scotland, and not hesitating to resort to any crime which seemed likely to accomplish his purpose.  Many were the foul assassinations and terrible tortures upon innocent persons performed at his orders.  One person who fell into the hands of this infamous cleric was Margaret, the second daughter of Charles, Lord Glencardine, a beautiful girl of nineteen.  Because she would not betray her lover, she was so cruelly tortured in the Cardinal’s palace that she expired, after suffering fearful agony, and her body was sent back to Glencardine with an insulting message to her father, who at once swore to be avenged.  The king had so far resigned the conduct of the kingdom into the hands of his Eminence that nothing save armed force could oppose him.  Setoun knew that a union between Henry VIII. and James V. would be followed by the downfall of the papal power in Scotland, and therefore he laid a skilful plot.  Whilst advising James to resist the dictation of his uncle, he privately accused those of the Scottish nobles who had joined the Reformers of meditated treason against His Majesty.  This placed the king in a serious dilemma, for he could not proceed against Henry without the assistance of those very nobles accused as traitors.  The wily Cardinal had hoped that James would, in self-defence, seek an alliance with France and Spain; but he was mistaken.  You know, of course, how the forces of the kingdom were assembled and sent against the Duke of Norfolk.  The invader was thus repelled, and the Cardinal then endeavoured to organise a new expedition under Romish leaders.  This also failing, his Eminence endeavoured to dictate to the country through the Earl of Arran, the Governor of Scotland.  By a clever ruse he pretended friendship with Erskine of Dun, and endeavoured to use him for his own ends.  Curiously enough, over yonder”—­and he pointed to a yellow parchment in a black ebony frame hanging upon the panelled wall of the hall—­“over there is one of the Cardinal’s letters to Erskine, which shows the infamous cleric’s smooth, insinuating style when it suited his purpose.  I’ll go and get it for you to read.”