There can be naebody come here after this time o' night; and if they hae made ony search, thae blackguard shirra'-officers and constables, it will hae been ower lang syne.

Od, they are as great cowards as ither folk, wi' a' their warrants and king's keys*--I hae gien some o' them a gliff in my day, when they were coming rather ower near me--But, lauded be grace for it! they canna stir me now for ony waur than an auld man and a beggar, and my badge is a gude protection; and then Miss Isabella Wardour is a tower o' strength, ye ken"-- (Lovel sighed)--"Aweel, dinna be cast down--bowls may a' row right yet--gie the lassie time to ken her mind.

She's the wale o' the country for beauty, and a gude friend o' mine--I gang by the bridewell as safe as by the kirk on a Sabbath--deil ony o' them daur hurt a hair o' auld Edie's head now; I keep the crown o' the causey when I gae to the borough, and rub shouthers wi' a bailie wi' as little concern as an he were a brock." * The king's keys are, in law phrase, the crow-bars and hammers used to force doors and locks, in execution of the king's warrant.
While the mendicant spoke thus, he was busied in removing a few loose stones in one angle of the eave, which obscured the entrance of the staircase of which he had spoken, and led the way into it, followed by Lovel in passive silence.
"The air's free eneugh," said the old man; "the monks took care o' that, for they werena a lang-breathed generation, I reckon; they hae contrived queer tirlie-wirlie holes, that gang out to the open air, and keep the stair as caller as a kail-blade." Lovel accordingly found the staircase well aired, and, though narrow, it was neither ruinous nor long, but speedily admitted them into a narrow gallery contrived to run within the side wall of the chancel, from which it received air and light through apertures ingeniously hidden amid the florid ornaments of the Gothic architecture.
"This secret passage ance gaed round great part o' the biggin," said the beggar, "and through the wa' o' the place I've heard Monkbarns ca' the Refractory" [meaning probably Refectory], "and so awa to the Prior's ain house.

It's like he could use it to listen what the monks were saying at meal-time,--and then he might come ben here and see that they were busy skreighing awa wi' the psalms doun below there; and then, when he saw a' was right and tight, he might step awa and fetch in a bonnie lass at the cove yonder--for they were queer hands the monks, unless mony lees is made on them.

But our folk were at great pains lang syne to big up the passage in some parts, and pu' it down in others, for fear o' some uncanny body getting into it, and finding their way down to the cove: it wad hae been a fashious job that--by my certie, some o' our necks wad hae been ewking." They now came to a place where the gallery was enlarged into a small circle, sufficient to contain a stone seat.