The Sub-Prior of Saint Mary's, in taking his departure from the spence
which Sir Piercie Shafton was confined, and in which some preparations
were made for his passing the night as the room which might be most
conveniently guarded, left more than one perplexed person behind him.
There was connected with this chamber, and opening into it, a small
_outshot_, or projecting part of the building, occupied by a
sleeping apartment, which upon ordinary occasions, was that of Mary
Avenel, and which, in the unusual number of guests who had come to the
tower on the former evening, had also accommodated Mysie Happer, the
Miller's daughter; for anciently, as well as in the present day, a
Scottish house was always rather too narrow and limited for the extent
of the owner's hospitality, and so
