"
"A body wad tak' you for a granny grown!" said Malcolm to himself.
But to Florimel he replied--"If your ladyship should wish to keep
Kelpie, you will have to keep me too, for not a creature else will
she let near her."
"And pray tell me what use then can I make of such an animal," said
Florimel.
"Your ladyship, I should imagine, will want a groom to attend you
when you are out on horseback, and the groom will want a horse--
and here am I and Kelpie!" answered Malcolm.
Florimel laughed.
"I see," she said. "You contrive I shall have a horse nobody can
manage but yourself."
She rather liked the idea of a groom so mounted, and had too much
well justified faith in Malcolm to anticipate dangerous results.
"My lady," said Malcolm, appealing to her knowledge of his
character to secure credit, for he was about to use his last means
of persuasion, and as he spoke, in his eagerness he relapsed into
his mother tongue,--"My lady, did I ever tell ye a lee?"
"Certainly not, Malcolm, so far as I know. Indeed I am sure you
never did," answered Florimel, looking up at him in a dominant yet
kindly way.
"Then," continued Malcolm, "I'll tell your ladyship something you
may find hard to believe, and yet is as true as that I loved your
ladyship's father.--Your ladyship knows he had a kindness for
me.
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