Fiction > Book editions > London, 1889 - Master of Ballantrae

318 THE MASTEK OF BALLANTRAE.
" Shall I seize and bind him ? " asked Sir William.
" I will upon your authority. If these are all ravings,
that should certainly be done.^'
I looked down upon the ground, back at the camp,
with its bright fires and the folk watching us, and about
me on the woods and mountains ; there was just the
one way that I could not look, and that was in Sir
William's face.
" Sir William," said I at last, " I think my lord not
sane, and have long thought him so. But there are
degrees in madness ; and v.diether he should be brought
under restraint — Sir W^illiam, I am no fit judge,'' I
concluded.
" I will be the judge," said he. " I ask for facts.
Was there, in all that jargon, any word of truth or
sanity ? Do you hesitate ? " he asked. " Am I to
understand you have buried this gentleman before ? "
"Not buried," said I; and then, taking up courage
at last, " Sir William," said T, " unless I were to tell
you a long story, which much concerns a noble family
(and myself not in the least), it would be impossible to
make this matter clear to you. Say the word, and I will
do it, right or wrong. And, at any rate, I will say so
much, that my lord is not so crazy as he seems. This
is a strange matter, into the tail of which you are
unhappily drifted."
" I desire none of your secrets," replied Sir William ;
" but I will be plain, at the risk of incivility, and