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descent, and which had once supplied the castle with water, was engaged in bleaching linen. She immediately took up the song:

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« Are these the links of Forth, she said,

Or are they the crooks of Dee,

Or the bonnie woods of Warroch-head
That I so fain would see?»

By heaven," said Bertram, «it is the very ballad! I must learn these words from the girl.,

« Cohfusion!» thought Glossin, «if I cannot put a stop to this, all will be out. O the devil take all ballads and ballad-makers, and balladsingers; and that d-d jade too, to set up her pipe!-You will have time enough for this upon some other occasion," he said aloud; «< at present (for now he saw his emissary with two or three men coming up the bank,) at present we must have some more serious conversation together."

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« How do

you mean, sir?» said Bertram, turning short upon him, and not liking the tone which he made use of.

«Why, sir, as to that I believe your name is Brown?"

«And what of that, sir?»

Glossin looked over his shoulder to see how near his party had approached; they were coming fast on. « Vanbeest Brown? if I mistake

not. >>

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And what of that, sir?" said Bertram with increasing astonishment and displeasure.

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Why, in that case," said Glossin, observing his friends had now got upon the level space close beside them—« in that case you are my prisoner in the king's name»-At the same time he stretched his hand towards Bertram's collar, while two of the men who had come up seized upon his arms; he shook himself, however, free of their grasp by a violent effort, in which he pitched the most pertinacious down the bank, and, drawing his cutlass, stood on the defensive,` while those who had felt his strength recoiled from his presence, and gazed at a safe distance. « Observe,» he called out at the same time, « that I have no purpose to resist legal authority; satisfy me that you have a magistrate's warrant, and are authorised to make this arrest, and I will obey it quietly; but let no man who loves his life venture to approach me till I am satisfied for what crime and by whose authority I am apprehended."

Glossin then caused one of the officers shew a warrant for the apprehension of Vanbeest Brown, accused of the crime of wilfully and maliciously shooting at Charles Hazlewood, younger of Hazlewood, with an intent to kill, and also of other crimes and misdemeanours, and which appointed him, having been so apprehended, to be brought before the next magistrate for examination. The warrant being formal, and the fact such as he could not deny, Bertram threw down his weapon, and submitted himself to the officers, who, flying on him with eagerness corresponding to

their former pusillanimity, were about to load him with irons, alleging the strength and activity which he had displayed, as a justification of this severity. But Glossin was ashamed or afraid to permit this unnecessary insult, and directed the prisoner to be treated with all the decency, and even respect, that was consistent with safety. Afraid, however, to introduce him into his own house, where still further subjects of recollection might have been suggested, and anxious at the same time to cover his own proceedings by the sanction of another's authority, he ordered his carriage (for he had lately set up a carriage) to be got ready, and in the meantime directed refreshments to be given to the prisoner and the officers, who occupied one of the rooms in the old castle, until the means of conveyance should be provided. .

CHAPTER III.

Bring in the evidence

Thou robed man of justice, take thy place,
And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,

Bench by his side-you are of the commission,
Sit you too.

King Lear.

WHILE the carriage was getting ready, Glossin had a letter to compose, about which he wasted no small time. It was to his neighbour, as he was fond of calling him, Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, the head of an ancient and powerful interest in the country, which had in the decadence of the Ellangowan family gradually succeeded to much of their authority and influence. The present representative of the family was an elderly man, doatingly fond of his own family, which was limited to an only son and daughter, and stoically indifferent to the fate of all mankind besides. For the rest, he was honourable in his general dealings, because he was afraid to suffer the censure of the world, and just from a better motive. He was presumptuously overconceited on the score of family pride and im

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portance, a feeling considerably enhanced by his late succession to the title of a Nova Scotia Baronet; and he hated the memory of the Ellangowan family, though now a memory only, because a certain baron of that house was traditionally reported to have caused the founder of the Hazlewood family hold his stirrup until he mounted into his saddle. In his general deportment he was pompous and important, affecting a species of florid elocution, which often became ridiculous from his misarranging the triads and quaternions with which he loaded his sentences.

To this personage Glossin was now to write in such a conciliatory style as might be most acceptable to his vanity and family pride, and the following was the form of his card.

« Mr Gilbert Glossin» (he longed to add of Ellangowan, but prudence prevailed, and he suppressed that territorial designation) « Mr Gilbert Glossin has the honour to offer his most respectful compliments to Sir Robert Hazlewood, and to inform him, that he has this morning been fortunate enough to secure the person who wounded Mr C. Hazlewood. As Sir Robert Hazlewood may probably chuse to conduct the examination of this criminal himself, Mr G. Glossin will cause the man to be carried to the inn at Kippletringan, or to Hazlewood-house, as Sir Robert Hazlewood may be pleased to direct: And, with Sir Robert Hazlewood's permission, Mr G. Glossin will attend him at either of these places with the proofs and declarations which he has been so

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