I will confess that, as I limped after this barbaric woman and her torch, I felt some reasonable apprehensions of the bedchamber towards which they were escorting me.  But here came another surprise.  The room was of moderate size, poorly furnished, indeed, but comfortable and something more.  It bore traces of many petty attentions, even—­in its white dimity curtains and valances—­of an attempt at daintiness.  The sight of it brought quite a pleasant shock after the dirt and disarray of the corridor.  Nor was the room assigned to my brother one whit less habitable.  But if surprised by all this, I was fairly astounded to find in each room a pair of candles lit—­and quite recently lit—­beside the looking-glass, and an ewer of hot water standing, with a clean towel upon it, in each wash-hand basin.  No sooner had the woman departed than I visited my brother and begged him (while he unstrapped his valise) to explain this apparent miracle.  He could only guess with me that the woman had been warned of our arrival by the noise of footsteps in the court-yard, and had dispatched a servant by some back stairs to make ready for us.

Our valises were, fortunately, waterproof.  We quickly exchanged our damp clothes for dry ones, and groped our way together along the corridors, helped by the moon, which shone through their uncurtained windows, to the main staircase.  Here we came on a scent of roasting meat—­appetising to us after our day in the open air—­and at the foot found our host waiting for us.  He had donned his Highland dress of ceremony—­velvet jacket, phillabeg and kilt, with the tartan of his clan—­and looked (I must own) extremely well in it, though the garments had long since lost their original gloss.  An apology for our rough touring suits led to some few questions and replies about the regimental tartan of the Morays, in the history of which he was passably well informed.

Thus chatting, we entered the great hall of Ardlaugh Castle—­a tall, but narrow and ill-proportioned apartment, having an open timber roof, a stone-paved floor, and walls sparsely decorated with antlers and round targes—­where a very small man stood warming his back at an immense fireplace.  This was the Reverend Samuel Saul, whose acquaintance we had scarce time to make before a cracked gong summoned us to dinner in the adjoining room.

The young Laird of Ardlaugh took his seat in a roughly carved chair of state at the head of the table; but before doing so treated me to another surprise by muttering a Latin grace and crossing himself.  Up to now I had taken it for granted he was a member of the Scottish Kirk.  I glanced at the minister in some mystification; but he, good man, appeared to have fallen into a brown study, with his eyes fastened upon a dish of apples which adorned the centre of our promiscuously furnished board.