The head of the Hall clan lived
at Girsonfield, a little to the north of Otterburn, a farmhouse which
had belonged to the proprietors of Otterburn Castle since the time of
Queen Elizabeth. Only a few stones of it now remain, and the new house
stands on a much more exposed situation; but when Hall was its occupant,
Girsonfield stood on a plot of rich green sward on the east side of the
Otter.
Now it must have seemed to Hall of Girsonfield, the head of the chief of
the northern clans, a very clear error in judgment for any of the powers
that existed to pass him over and appoint as keeper of Redesdale his
friend and neighbour, Percival Reed. To have to bow to Reed's authority,
to obey his summons when called on to help to intercept a party of
reiving Scots or to pursue them, hot trod, into Scotland, to hear the
praises of Percival Reed in all mouths--these were bitter things to be
swallowed by him who has come down to us as "the false-hearted Ha'." And
so, having opened the door of his heart for the messengers of Satan to
come in, Hall of Girsonfield had not long to wait for his tenants.
Clearly Percival Reed had no right to be keeper, but as he did his
duties bravely and well, there was no chance of his being deposed, save
by death.
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