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Hayraddin then turned round to the Countess Hameline, who had sunk down on the ground, between shame, fear, and disappointment. "Here has been a mistake," he said, "up, lady, and come with me I will provide you, ere morning comes, a gallanter husband than this smock faced boy, and if one will not serve, you shall have twenty."
Know she is a daughter of our tribe, and only dwelt among you to serve our purpose as occasion should fall." "Marthon!" exclaimed the Countess, looking at the veiled female with a shriek of surprise, "is not this my kinswoman?" "Only Marthon," said Hayraddin. "Excuse me that little piece of deceit. I dared not carry off both the Ladies of Croye from the Wild Boar of Ardennes."
Their road led them along the side of the same brook where Quentin had overheard the mysterious conference the preceding evening, and Hayraddin had not long rejoined them, ere they passed under the very willow tree which had afforded Durward the means of concealment, when he became an unsuspected hearer of what then passed betwixt that false guide and the lanzknecht.
Tormented with this thought, Durward became doubly determined to seek an explanation with them, for the purpose at once of laying bare the treachery of Hayraddin, and announcing to them the perilous state in which their protector, the Bishop, was placed, by the mutinous state of his town of Liege.
"Why, I loved you," said Hayraddin, "for the matter that chanced on the banks of the Cher; and I would have helped you to a wealthy dame.
But what chance of so handsome a youth wedding this old fool?" "Rizpah," said Hayraddin, "you have borne the name of a Christian, and dwelt in the tents of those besotted people, till thou hast become a partaker in their follies. How could I dream that he would have made scruples about a few years' youth or age, when the advantages of the match were so evident?
At length, however, Quentin's general acquaintance with the habits of the animal, and perhaps some particular knowledge of those of Klepper, which he had often admired while Hayraddin and he travelled together, enabled him to take possession of the Bohemian's dying bequest.
These powers, which seem to you so wonderful, are instinctive in our race. From the lines on the face and on the hand, we can tell the future fate of those who consult us, even as surely as you know from the blossom of the tree in spring what fruit it will bear in the harvest." "I doubt of your knowledge, and defy you to the proof." "Defy me not, Sir Squire," said Hayraddin Maugrabin.
"We pretend to it," said Hayraddin, "and it is with justice." "How can it be that so high a gift is bestowed on so abject a race?" said Quentin. "Can I tell you?" answered Hayraddin. "Yes, I may indeed, but it is when you shall explain to me why the dog can trace the footsteps of a man, while man, the nobler animal, hath not power to trace those of the dog.
If he was often by the side of the Countesses, labouring to describe to the natives of a level country the Grampian mountains, and, above all, the beauties of Glen Houlakin, he was as often riding with Hayraddin in the front of the cavalcade, questioning him about the road and the resting places, and recording his answers in his mind, to ascertain whether upon cross examination he could discover anything like meditated treachery.
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