--But
wherefore comes not the young lord to Court, Heriot--is he comely--is
he presentable in the presence?"
"No one can be more so," said George Heriot; "but----"
"Ay, I understand ye," said his Majesty--"I understand ye--_Res
angusta domi_--puir lad-puir lad!--and his father a right true leal
Scots heart, though stiff in some opinions. Hark ye, Heriot, let the
lad have twa hundred pounds to fit him out. And, here--here"--(taking
the carcanet of rubies from his old hat)--"ye have had these in pledge
before for a larger sum, ye auld Levite that ye are. Keep them in
gage, till I gie ye back the siller out of the next subsidy."
"If it please your Majesty to give me such directions in writing,"
said the cautious citizen.
"The deil is in your nicety, George," said the king; "ye are as
preceese as a Puritan in form, and a mere Nullifidian in the marrow of
the matter. May not a king's word serve ye for advancing your pitiful
twa hundred pounds?"
"But not for detaining the crown jewels," said George Heriot.
And the king, who from long experience was inured to dealing with
suspicious creditors, wrote an order upon George Heriot, his well-
beloved goldsmith and jeweller, for the sum of two hundred pounds, to
be paid presently to Nigel Olifaunt, Lord of Glenvarloch, to be
imputed as so much debts due to him by the crown; and authorizing the
retention of a carcanet of balas rubies, with a great diamond, as
described in a Catalogue of his Majesty's Jewels, to remain in
possession of the said George Heriot, advancer of the said sum, and so
forth, until he was lawfully contented and paid thereof.
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