Ninian (then laird) was an anxious husband of himself and the property, as the times required, and it may be said of him, that he lost both.

He was heavily suspected of the Pentland Hills rebellion.

When it came the length of Bothwell Brig, he stood his trial before the Secret Council, and was convicted of talking with some insurgents by the wayside, the subject of the conversation not very clearly appearing, and of the reset and maintenance of one Gale, a gardener man, who was seen before Bothwell with a musket, and afterwards, for a continuance of months, delved the garden at Montroymont.

Matters went very ill with Ninian at the Council; some of the lords were clear for treason; and even the boot was talked of.

But he was spared that torture; and at last, having pretty good friendship among great men, he came off with a fine of seven thousand marks, that caused the estate to groan.