Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 4 - 1819.djvu/117

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A LEGEND OF MONTROSE.
105

"I never heard so much good of him before," said Dalgetty; "you must know the Marquis well, or rather you must be the Marquis himself. Lord of Argyle," he added, throwing himself suddenly on the disguised nobleman, "I arrest you in the name of King Charles as a traitor. If you venture to call for assistance, I will wrench round your neck."

The attack which Dalgetty made upon Argyle's person was so sudden and unexpected, that he easily prostrated him on the floor of the dungeon, and held him down with one hand, while his right, grasping the Marquis's throat, was ready to strangle him on the slightest attempt to call for assistance.

"Lord of Argyle," he said, "it is now my turn to lay down the terms of capitulation. If you list to shew me the private way by which you entered the dungeon, you shall escape, on condition of being my locum tenens, as we said at the Mareschal