Plainte de Tournelle: I know how to manage a refractory witness." While Mr Pleydell was thus vaunting his knowledge of his profession, the waiter re-entered with Mr Driver, his mouth still greasy with mutton pies, and the froth of the last draught of twopenny yet unsubsided on his upper lip, with such speed had he obeyed the commands of his principal.- "Driver, you must go instantly and find out the woman who was old Mrs Margaret Bertram's maid. Inquire for her everywhere; but if you find it necessary to have recourse to Protocol, Quid the tobacconist, or any other of these folks, you will take care not to appear yourself, but send some woman of your acquaintance-I dare say you know enough that may be so condescending as to oblige you. When you have found her out, engage her to come to my chambers to-morrow at eight o'clock precisely." "What shall I say to make her forthcoming?" asked the aide-de-camp. "Anything you choose," replied the lawyer. "Is it my business to make lies for you, do you think? But let her be in præsentia by eight o'clock, as I have said before." The clerk grinned, made his reverence, and exit. "That's a useful fellow," said the counsellor;"I don't believe his match ever carried a process. He'll write to my dictating three nights in the week without sleep, or, what's the same thing, he writes as well and correctly when he's asleep as when he's awake. Then he's such a steady fellow-some of them are always changing their alehouses, so that they have twenty cadies sweating after them, like the bare-headed captains traversing the taverns of East-Cheap in search of Sir John Falstaff. But this is a complete fixture;-he has his winter seat by the fire, and his summer seat by the window, in Luckie Wood's, betwixt which seats are his only migrations-there he's to be found at all times when he is off duty. It is my opinion he never puts off his clothes or goes to sleep ;-sheer ale supports him under everything; it is meat, drink, and clothing, bed, board, and washing." "And is he always fit for duty upon a sudden turn-out? I should distrust it, considering his quarters." I Why, your hour is rather early." "Can't make it later. If I were not on the boards of the Outer-house precisely as the ninehours bell rings, there would be a report that I had got an apoplexy, and I should feel the effects of it all the rest of the session." "Well, I will make an exertion to wait upon you." Here the company broke up for the evening. In the morning, Colonel Mannering appeared at the counsellor's chambers, although cursing the raw air of a Scottish morning in December. Mr Pleydell had got Mrs Rebecca installed on one side of his fire, accommodated her with a cup of chocolate, and was already deeply engaged in conversation with her. "O no, I assure you, Mrs Rebecca, there is no intention to challenge your mistress's will; and I give you my word of honour that your legacy is quite safe. You have deserved it by your conduct to your mistress, and I wish it had been twice as much." Why, to be sure, sir, it's no right to mention what is said before ane- -ye heard how that dirty body Quid cast up to me the bits o' compliments he gied me, and tell'd ower again ony loose cracks I might hae had wi' him;-now if ane was talking loosely to your honour, there's nae saying what might come o't." "I assure you, my good Rebecca, my character and your own age and appearance are your security, if you should talk as loosely as an amatory poet." "Aweel, if your honour thinks I am safe-the story is just this.-Ye see, about a year ago, or no just sae lang, my leddy was advised to go to Gilsland for a while, for her spirits were distressing her sair. Ellangowan's troubles began to be spoken o' publicly, and sair vexed she was; for she was proud o' her family. For Ellangowan himsell and her, they sometimes 'greed, and sometimes no; but at last they didna 'gree at a' for twa or three yearfor he was aye wanting to borrow siller, and that was what she couldna bide at no hand, and she was aye wanting it paid back again, and that the Laird he liked as little. So, at last, they were clean aff thegither. And then some of the company at Gilsland tells her that the estate was to be sell'd; and ye wad hae thought she had taen an ill will at Miss Lucy Bertram frae that moment, for mony a time she cried to me, 'O Becky, O Becky, if that useless peenging thing o' a lassie there at Ellangowan, that canna keep her ne'er-do-weel father within bounds “O, drink never disturbs him, Colonel; he can write for hours after he cannot speak. I remember being called suddenly to draw an appeal case. had been dining, and it was Saturday night, and 1 had ill will to begin to it; however, they got me down to Clerihugh's, and there we sat birling till I had a fair tappit hen1 under my belt, and then they persuaded me to draw the paper. Then we had to seek Driver, and it was all that two men could if she had been but a lad-bairn, they couldna do to bear him in, for, when found, he was, as it hae sell'd the auld inheritance for that fool-body's happened, both motionless and speechless. But no debts;'-and she would rin on that way till I was sooner was his pen put between his fingers, his just wearied and sick to hear her ban the puir paper stretched before him, and he heard my voice, lassie, as if she wadna hae been a lad-bairn, and than he began to write like a scrivener-and, ex- keepit the land, if it had been in her will to change cepting that we were obliged to have somebody to her sect. And ae day at the spaw-well, below the dip his pen in the ink, for he could not see the craig at Gilsland, she was seeing a very bonny fastandish, I never saw a thing scrolled inore hand-mily o' bairns-they belanged to ane Mac-Crosky somely." and she broke out- Is not it an oddlike thing that ilka waf carle3 in the country has a son and heir, and that the house of Ellangowan is without male succession?' There was a gipsy wife stood 2 See Note I.-Convivial Habits of the Scottish Bar, a Every insignificant churl. T ahint and heard her-a muckle sture fearsome- Mr Pleydell listened with great attention, and looking wife she was as ever I se een on. Wha❘ then replied, "I congratulated myself upon having is it,' says she, that dare say the house of Ellan-made the acquaintance of a profound theologian in gowan will perish without male succession?' My your chaplain; but I really did not expect to find mistress just turned on her; she was a high-spi- a pupil of Albumazar or Messahala in his patron. rited woman, and aye ready wi' an answer to a' I have a notion, however, this gipsy could tell us body. It's me that says it,' says she, that may say some more of the matter than she derives from it with a sad heart.' Wi' that the gipsy wife gripped astrology or second-sight I had her through till her hand: I ken you weel eneugh,' says she, hands once, and could then make little of her; 6 though ye kenna me-But as sure as that sun's but I must write to Mac-Morlan to stir heaven in heaven, and as sure as that water's rinning to and earth to find her out. I will gladly come to the sea, and as sure as there's an ee that sees, and shire myself to assist at her examinationan ear that hears us baith,-Harry Bertram, that I am still in the commission of the peace there, was thought to perish at Warroch Point, never did though I have ceased to be sheriff. I never had die there. He was to have a weary weird o't till anything more at heart in my life than tracing his ane-and-twentieth year, that was aye said o' that murder, and the fate of the child. I must him but if ye live and I live, ye'll hear mair o' write to the sheriff of Roxburghshire too, and to him this winter before the snaw lies twa days on an active justice of peace in Cumberland.” the Dun of Singleside. I want nane o' your siller,' she said, to make ye think I am blearing your ee. Fare ye weel till after Martinmas.' And there she left us standing." "Was she a very tall woman?" interrupted Mannering. "Had she black hair, black eyes, and a cut above the brow?" added the lawyer. "She was the tallest woman I ever saw, and her hair was as black as midnight, unless where it was grey, and she had a scar abune the brow, that ye might hae laid the lith of your finger in. Naebody that's seen her will ever forget her; and I am morally sure that it was on the ground o' what that gipsy-woman said that my mistress made her will, having taen a dislike at the young leddy o' Ellangowan; and she liked her far waur after she was obliged to send her £20,-for she said Miss Bertram, no content wi' letting the Ellangowan property pass into strange hands, owing to her being a lass and no a lad, was coming, by her poverty, to be a burden and a disgrace to Singleside too. But I hope my mistress's is a good will for a' that, for it would be hard on me to lose the wee bit legacy — I served for little fee and bountith, weal I wot." The counsellor relieved her fears on this head, then inquired after Jenny Gibson, and understood she had accepted Mr Dinmont's offer; and " I have done sae mysell too, since he was sae discreet as to ask me," said Mrs Rebecca; "they are very decent folk the Dinmonts, though my lady didna dow to hear muckle about the friends on that side the house. But she liked the Charlies-hope hams, and the cheeses, and the muir-fowl, that they were aye sending, and the lamb's-wool hose and mittens she liked them weel eneuch." Mr Pleydell now dismissed Mrs Rebecca. When she was gone, “I think I know the gipsy-woman," said the lawyer. "I was just going to say the same,” replied Mannering. "And her name," said Pleydell "Is Meg Merrilees," answered the Colonel. "Are you avised of that?" said the counsellor, looking at his military friend with a comic expression of surprise. Mannering answered, "that he had known such a woman when he was at Ellangowan upwards of twenty years before;" and then made his learned friend acquainted with all the remarkable particulars of his first visit there. "I hope when you come to the country you will make Woodbourne your head-quarters?" "Certainly; I was afraid you were going to forbid me- But we must go to breakfast now, or I shall be too late." On the following day the new friends parted, and the Colonel rejoined his family without any adventure worthy of being detailed in these chap ters. CHAPTER XL. Can no rest find me, no private place secure me. OUR narrative now recalls us for a moment to the period when young Hazlewood received his wound. That accident had no sooner happened, than the consequences to Miss Mannering and to himself rushed upon Brown's mind. From the manner in which the muzzle of the piece was pointed when it went off, he had no great fear that the consequences would be fatal. But an arrest in a strange country, and while he was unprovided with any means of establishing his rank and character, was at least to be avoided. He therefore resolved to escape for the present to the neighbouring coast of England, and to remain concealed there, if possible, until he should receive letters from his regimental friends, and remittances from his agent; and then to resume his own character, and offer to young Hazlewood and his friends any explanation or satisfaction they might desire. With this purpose he walked stoutly forward, after leaving the spot where the accident had happened, and reached without adventure the village which we have called Portanferry (but which the reader will in vain seek for under that name in the county map.) A large open boat was just about to leave the quay, bound for the little seaport of Allonby, in Cumber land. In this vessel Brown embarked, and resolved to make that place his temporary abode, until he should receive letters and money from England. In the course of their short voyage he entered into some conversation with the steersman, who was also owner of the boat,-a jolly old man, who had occasionally been engaged in the smuggling trade, like most fishers on the coast. After talking about objects of less interest, Brown endeavoured to turn the discourse toward the Mannering family. The sailor had heard of the attack upon the house at Woodbourne, but disapproved of the smugglers' proceedings. "Hands off is fair play. Zounds! they'll bring the whole country down upon them. Na, na! when I was in that way, I played at giff-gaff with the officers: here a cargo taen-vera weel, that was their luck ;-there another carried clean through, that was mine. Na, na! hawks shouldna pike out hawks' een." mised farther to take charge of any answer with which the young lady might intrust him. And now our persecuted traveller landed at Allonby, and sought for such accommodations as might at once suit his temporary poverty, and his desire of remaining as much unobserved as possible. With this view he assumed the name and profession of his friend Dudley, having command enough of the pencil to verify his pretended character to his host of Allonby. His baggage he pretended to expect from Wigton; and keeping himself as much within doors as possible, awaited the return of the letters which he had sent to his agent, to Delaserre, and to his Lieutenant-Colonel. From the first he re "And this Colonel Mannering?" said Brown. "Troth, he's nae wise man neither, to interfere. No that I blame him for saving the gaugers' lives - that was very right; but it wasna like a gentle-quested a supply of money; he conjured Delaserre, man to be fighting about the poor folk's pocks o' tea and brandy kegs; however, he's a grand man and an officer man, and they do what they like wi' the like o' us." "And his daughter," said Brown, with a throbbing heart, "is going to be married into a great family too, as I have heard?” What, into the Hazlewood's?" said the pilot. Na, na, that's but idle clashes-every Sabbath day, as regularly as it came round, did the young man ride hame wi' the daughter of the late Ellangowan;-and my daughter Peggy's in the service up at Woodbourne, and she says she's sure young Hazlewood thinks nae mair of Miss Mannering than you do." Bitterly censuring his own precipitate adoption of a contrary belief, Brown yet heard with delight that the suspicions of Julia's fidelity, upon which he had so rashly acted, were probably void of foundation. How must he in the meantime be suffering in her opinion? or what could she suppose of conduct, which must have made him appear to her regardless alike of her peace of mind, and of the interests of their affection? The old man's connexion with the family at Woodbourne seemed to offer a safe mode of communication, of which he determined to avail himself. "Your daughter is a maid-servant at Woodbourne-I knew Miss Mannering in India, and though I am at present in an inferior rank of life, I have great reason to hope she would interest herself in my favour. I had a quarrel unfortunately with her father, who was my commanding-officer, and I am sure the young lady would endeavour to reconcile him to me. Perhaps your daughter could deliver a letter to her upon the subject, without making mischief between her father and her?" The old man, a friend to smuggling of every kind, readily answered for the letter's being faithfully and secretly delivered; and, accordingly, as soon as they arrived at Allonby, Brown wrote to Miss Mannering, stating the utmost contrition for what had happened through his rashness, and conjuring her to let him have an opportunity of pleading his own cause, and obtaining forgiveness for his indiscretion. He did not judge it safe to go into any detail concerning the circumstances by which he had been misled, and upon the whole endeavoured to express himself with such ambiguity, that if the letter should fall into wrong hands, it would be difficult either to understand its real purport, or to trace the writer. This letter the old man undertook faithfully to deliver to his daughter at Woodbourne; and, as his trade would speedily again bring him or his boat to Allonby, he pro if possible, to join him in Scotland; and from the Lieutenant-Colonel he required such testimony of his rank and conduct in the regiment, as should place his character as a gentleman and officer beyond the power of question. The inconvenience of being run short in his finances struck him so strongly, that he wrote to Dinmont on that subject, requesting a small temporary loan, having no doubt that, being within sixty or seventy miles of his residence, he should receive a speedy as well as favourable answer to his request of pecuniary accommodation, which was owing, as he stated, to his having been robbed after their parting. And then, with impatience enough, though without any serious apprehension, he waited the answers of these various letters. It must be observed, in excuse of his correspondents, that the post was then much more tardy than since Mr Palmer's ingenious invention has taken place; and with respect to honest Dinmont in particular, as he rarely received above one letter a quarter (unless during the time of his being engaged in a law-suit, when he regularly sent to the post-town), his correspondence usually remained for a month or two sticking in the postmaster's window, among pamphlets, gingerbread, rolls, or ballads, according to the trade which the said postmaster exercised. Besides, there was then a custom, not yet wholly obsolete, of causing a letter, from one town to another, perhaps within the distance of thirty miles, perform a circuit of two hundred miles before delivery; which had the combined advantage of airing the epistle thoroughly, of adding some pence to the revenue of the post-office, and of exercising the patience of the correspondents. Owing to these circumstances, Brown remained several days in Allonby without any answers whatever; and his stock of money, though husbanded with the utmost economy, began to wear very low, when he received, by the hands of a young fisherman, the following letter:- "You have acted with the most cruel indiscretion; you have shown how little I can trust to your declarations that my peace and happiness are dear to you; and your rashness has nearly occasioned the death of a young man of the highest worth and honour. Must I say more?-must I add, that I have been myself very ill in consequence of your violence and its effects? And, alas! need I say still farther, that I have thought anxiously upon them as they are likely to affect you, although you have given me such slight cause to do so? The C. is gone from home for several days; Mr H. is almost quite recovered; and I have reason to think that the blame is laid in a quarter different from so well to pursue. And it was no less relieved and varied in elevation than in outline, by the different forms of the shore; the beach in some places being edged by steep rocks, and in others rising smooth that where it is deserved. Yet do not think of venturing here. Our fate has been crossed by accidents of a nature too violent and terrible to permit me to think of renewing a correspondence which has so often threatened the most dreadful catas-ly from the sands in easy and swelling slopes.— trophe. Farewell, therefore, and believe that no one can wish your happiness more sincerely than "J. M." This letter contained that species of advice, which is frequently given for the precise purpose that it may lead to a directly opposite conduct from that which it recommends. At least so thought Brown, who immediately asked the young fisherman if he came from Portanferry. "Ay," said the lad; "I am auld Willie Johnstone's son, and I got that letter frae my sister Peggy, that's laundry-maid at Woodbourne." "My good friend, when do you sail?" "With the tide this evening." "I'll return with you;-but as I do not desire to go to Portanferry, I wish you could put me on shore somewhere on the coast." "We can easily do that," said the lad. Although the price of provisions, &c. was then very moderate, the discharging his lodgings, and the expense of his living, together with that of a change of dress, which safety, as well as a proper regard to his external appearance, rendered necessary, brought Brown's purse to a very low ebb. He left directions at the post-office that his letters should be forwarded to Kippletringan, whither he resolved to proceed, and reclaim the treasure which he had deposited in the hands of Mrs Mac-Candlish. He also felt it would be his duty to assume his proper character as soon as he should receive the necessary evidence for supporting it, and, as an officer in the king's service, give and receive every explanation which might be necessary with young Hazlewood." If he is not very wrong-headed indeed," he thought," he must allow the manner in which I acted to have been the necessary consequence of his own overbearing conduct." And now we must suppose him once more embarked on the Solway frith. The wind was adverse, attended by some rain, and they struggled against it without much assistance from the tide. The boat was heavily laden with goods (part of which were probably contraband), and laboured deep in the sea. Brown, who had been bred a sailor, and was indeed skilled in most athletic exercises, gave his powerful and effectual assistance in rowing, or occasionally in steering the boat, and his advice in the management, which became the more delicate as the wind increased, and, being opposed to the very rapid tides of that coast, made the voyage perilous. At length, after spending the whole night upon the frith, they were at morning within sight of a beautiful bay upon the Scottish coast. The weather was now more mild. The snow, which had been for some time waning, had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night. The more distant hills, indeed, retained their snowy mantle, but all the open country was cleared, unless where a few white patches indicated that it had been drifted to an uncommon depth. Even under its wintry appearance, the shore was highly interesting. The line of sea-coast, with all its varied curves, indentures, and embayments, swept away from the sight on either hand, in that varied, intricate, yet graceful and easy line, which the eye loves Buildings of different kinds caught and reflected the wintry sunbeams of a December morning, and the woods, though now leafless, gave relief and variety to the landscape. Brown felt that lively and awakening interest which taste and sensibility always derive from the beauties of nature, when opening suddenly to the eye, after the dulness and gloom of a night voyage. Perhaps-for who can presume to analyze that inexplicable feeling which binds the person born in a mountainous country to his native hills-perhaps some early associations, retaining their effect long after the cause was forgotten, mingled in the feelings of pleasure with which he regarded the scene before him. "And what," said Brown to the boatman, "is the name of that fine cape, that stretches into the sea with its sloping banks and hillocks of wood, and forms the right side of the bay?" "Warroch Point," answered the lad. "And that old castle, my friend, with the modern house situated just beneath it? It seems at this distance a very large building." "That's the Auld Place, sir; and that's the New Place below it. We'll land you there, if you like.” "I should like it of all things. I must visit that ruin before I continue my journey." "Ay, it's a queer auld bit," said the fisherman; " and that highest tower is a gude land-mark as far as Ramsay in Man, and the Point of Ayr;- there was muckle fighting about the place langsyne." Brown would have inquired into farther particulars, but a fisherman is seldom an antiquary. His boatman's local knowledge was summed up in the information already given, "that it was a grand land-mark, and that there had been muckle fighting about the bit langsyne." "I shall learn more of it," said Brown to himself," when I get ashore." The boat continued its course close under the point upon which the castle was situated, which frowned from the summit of its rocky site upon the still agitated waves of the bay beneath. “I believe," said the steersman, "ye'll get ashore here as dry as ony gate. There's a place where their berlins and galleys, as they ca'd them, used to lie in lang syne, but it's no used now, because it's ill carrying gudes up the narrow stairs, or ower the rocks. Whiles of a moonlight night I have landed articles there, though." While he thus spoke, they pulled round a point of rock, and found a very small harbour, partly formed by nature, partly by the indefatigable labour of the ancient inhabitants of the castle, who, as the fisherman observed, had found it essential for the protection of their boats and small craft, though it could not receive vessels of any burden. The two points of rock which formed the access approached each other so nearly, that only one boat could enter at a time. On each side were still remaining two immense iron rings, deeply morticed into the solid rock. Through these, according to tradition, there was nightly drawn a huge chain, secured by an immense padlock, for the protection of the haven, and the armada which it contained. A ledge of rock had, by the assistance of the chisel and pick axe, been formed into a sort of quay. The rock was of extremely hard consistence, and the task so difficult, that, according to the fisherman, a labourer who wrought at the work might in the evening have carried home in his bonnet all the shivers which he had struck from the mass in the course of the day. This little quay communicated with a rude staircase, already repeatedly mentioned, which descended from the old castle. There was also a communication between the beach and the quay, by scrambling over the rocks. "Ye had better land here," said the lad, " for the surf's running high at the Shellicoat-stane, and there will no be a dry thread amang us or we get the cargo out.-Na! na!" (in answer to an offer of money)" ye have wrought for your passage, and wrought far better than ony o' us. Gude-day to ye: I wuss ye weel." So saying, he pushed off in order to land his cargo on the opposite side of the bay; and Brown, with a small bundle in his hand, containing the trifling stock of necessaries which he had been obliged to purchase at Allonby, was left on the rocks beneath the ruin. And thus, unconscious as the most absolute stranger, and in circumstances which, if not destitute, were for the present highly embarrassing; without the countenance of a friend within the circle of several hundred miles; accused of a heavy crime, and, what was as bad as all the rest, being nearly penniless, did the harassed wanderer, for the first time after the interval of so many years, approach the remains of the castle where his ancestors had exercised all but regal dominion. CHAPTER XLI. Yes, ye moss-green walls, Ye towers defenceless, I revisit ye Shame-stricken! Where are all your trophies now? Your thronged courts, the revelry, the tumult, That spoke the grandeur of my houze, the homage Of neighbouring Barons? Mysterious Mother. ENTERING the castle of Ellangowan by a postern door-way, which showed symptoms of having been once secured with the most jealous care, Brown (whom, since he has set foot upon the property of his fathers, we shall hereafter call by his father's name of Bertram) wandered from one ruined apartment to another, surprised at the massive strength of some parts of the building, the rude and impressive magnificence of others, and the great extent of the whole. In two of these rooms, close beside each other, he saw signs of recent habitation. In one small apartment were empty bottles, halfgnawed bones, and dried fragments of bread. In the vault which adjoined, and which was defended by a strong door, then left open, he observed a considerable quantity of straw; and in both were the relics of recent fires. How little was it possible for Bertram to conceive, that such trivial circumstances were closely connected with incidents affecting his prosperity, his honour, perhaps his life! After satisfying his curiosity by a hasty glance through the interior of the castle, Bertram now advanced through the great gateway which opened to the land, and paused to look upon the noble landscape which it commanded. Having in vain endeavoured to guess the position of Woodbourne, and having nearly ascertained that of Kippletringan, he turned to take a parting look at the stately ruins which he had just traversed. He admired the massive and picturesque effect of the huge round towers, which, flanking the gateway, gave a double portion of depth and majesty to the high yet gloomy arch under which it opened. The carved stone escutcheon of the ancient family, bearing for their arms three wolves' heads, was hung diagonally beneath the helmet and crest, the latter being a wolf couchant pierced with an arrow. On either side stood as supporters, in full human size, or larger, a salvage man proper, to use the language of heraldry, wreathed and cinctured, and holding in his hand an oak tree eradicated, that is, torn up by the roots. "And the powerful barons who owned this blazonry," thought Bertram, pursuing the usual train of ideas which flows upon the mind at such scenes, "do their posterity continue to possess the lands which they had laboured to fortify so strongly or are they wanderers, ignorant perhaps even of the fame or power of their forefathers, while their hereditary possessions are held by a race of strangers? Why is it," he thought, continuing to follow out the succession of ideas which the scene prompted -"why is it that some scenes awaken thoughts which belong as it were to dreams of early and shadowy recollection, such as my old Bramin Moonshie would have ascribed to a state of previous existence? Is it the visions of our sleep that float confusedly in our memory, and are recalled by the appearance of such real objects as in any respect correspond to the phantoms they presented to our imagination? How often do we find ourselves in society which we have never before met, and yet feel impressed with a mysterious and ill-defined consciousness, that neither the scene, the speakers, nor the subject, are entirely new; nay, feel as if we could anticipate that part of the conversation which has not yet taken place! It is even so with me while I gaze upon that ruin ;-nor can I divest myself of the idea, that these massive towers, and that dark gateway, retiring through its deepvaulted and ribbed arches, and dimly lighted by the court-yard beyond, are not entirely strange to me. Can it be, that they have been familiar to me in infancy, and that I am to seek in their vicinity those friends of whom my childhood has still a tender though faint remembrance, and whom I early exchanged for such severe taskmasters? Yet Brown, who I think would not have deceived me, always told me I was brought off from the eastern coast, after a skirmish in which my father was killed ;and I do remember enough of a horrid scene of violence to strengthen his account.” It happened that the spot upon which young Bertram chanced to station himself for the better viewing the castle, was nearly the same on which his father had died. It was marked by a large old oak-tree, the only one on the esplanade, and which, having been used for executions by the barons of Ellangowan, was called the Justice-Tree. It chanced, and the coincidence was remarkable, that Glossin was this morning engaged with a person, whom he was in the habit of consulting in such matters, concerning some projected repairs, and a large addition to the house of Ellangowan,—and that, having no great pleasure in remains so intimately com.ccted with the grandeur of the former |