“Right so,” said Roderic; “at midnight on the Garroch Head.”

“And now I beg you, Earl Roderic, go hence from this cave.  Go hence to your boat and remain there in hiding; for if it be that the maid, who knows you not as her father, should learn of your presence in Bute, your plans will most surely be frustrated.”

“I will obey you, Elspeth,” said the outlaw, rising.

And forthwith he left the cave.

Elspeth followed him to the heights and watched him journeying southward through the trees.  Then when he was out of sight, she went back to the cave and sat down, meditating how she might prevent the meeting she had planned and turn the appointment to a very different account.

She waited for Aasta to return, intending to send the maid at once to Rothesay to warn Earl Kenric that his outlawed uncle was in the island.  But as Aasta did not appear before midday, Elspeth took her cloak and staff and prepared to go herself to the castle.

She was putting some new fuel upon the fire, when the curtain at the cave’s entrance was drawn aside, and there she saw Kenric himself.  He wore an otter skin cap that covered his ears, and a great cloak of sheepskins.

“Give you good day, my lord,” said the old woman, her eyes brightening as she offered him a seat beside the fire.

“Knew you ever so cold a day as this, Elspeth?  By the rood, but the frost bites keenly!  And you, how can you live in this cold cell?  It grieves me to see you here.  Better it were that you came to bide in our castle —­ you and Aasta.  This is no place for a dog to live in in frosty weather.  Where is Aasta?  ’Twas her I came to see, for I hear that she has news from Gigha.”

“News indeed, Earl Kenric.  But not alone from Gigha.  Roderic is even in Bute.”

“In Bute!  When came he?”

“Even this morning he was here in this cave.  And he has come hither to do you injury, my lord.”

“Doubtless; for when came he to Bute with other intent?  Where can I find him?”

“That will I soon tell,” said Elspeth, “and glad I am that so little time has been lost.  You will find him, my lord, at midnight on the Garroch Head.  Take with you your sword of Somerled, and meeting him, send him speedily to his deserved death.  You will not fail.  If what I hear of your increased prowess with your weapon be true, assuredly you are now a match even for Roderic MacAlpin.”

“What takes him to Garroch at that dread hour?”

“It is that he expects to meet Aasta.”

“Aasta?”

“Even so, my lord.”

“And wherefore should Roderic have aught to do with the maid?”

“You well may ask,” said Elspeth, “and it is not willingly that I would have them meet.  But ’twas the only plan I could devise for getting him from my presence and bringing him to a place where you, my lord, may encounter him.  As to Aasta, of her and of Roderic I have something strange to tell.”