I COME INTO MY KINGDOM For some time Alan volleyed upon the door, and his knocking only roused the echoes of the house and neighbourhood.

At last, however, I could hear the noise of a window gently thrust up, and knew that my uncle had come to his observatory.

By what light there was, he would see Alan standing, like a dark shadow, on the steps; the three witnesses were hidden quite out of his view; so that there was nothing to alarm an honest man in his own house.

For all that, he studied his visitor awhile in silence, and when he spoke his voice had a quaver of misgiving.
"What's this ?" says he.

"This is nae kind of time of night for decent folk; and I hae nae trokings* wi' night-hawks.