Robin's uneasiness arose from the conviction, which flashed suddenly on his mind, as soon as he heard he was sought after on account of the missing money, that by retaining it for several days secretly in his possession, he had exposed himself to the suspicion of dishonesty; for it appeared plainly that it had been traced into his custody by means of the empty pocket-book. He had the entire sum on his person, and saw the propriety of immediately restoring it to its rightful owner. For this purpose, as soon as he could shake himself clear of Saunders Drouthythrapple, he ran with the speed of desperation to Pitt Street. When he got into Mr Duncanson's room, out of breadth and perspiring profusely, he abruptly crammed the notes into his hand before he could say a word to explain his errand. Mr Duncanson looked at him in astonishment, and exclaimed-"What is the meaning of this, Robert ? What notes are these ?"

'They're yours, Jimes. Mind, I've gied you them o' my ain accord-ye maun bear witness to that-and coont them to see ye ha'e them a' there."

"But if the notes are mine, where and how have you got them ?"

"Ay, ye may speer that, and I'll tell you when I get time to come to mysel' awee. But mind, ye've gotten them frae me freely and fairly. Man, Jimes, ye ha'e putten yersel' and me intil a pretty scrape wi' your confoonded close-mindedness."

"How? what are you driving at? What scrape? what close-mindedness? But first of all, how did you find the money ?"

"That's the bit, man, that's just the bit; and if I hadna been in danger of getting mysel' ta'en for a thief, by letting you steep awee in brime o' yer ain sautin', I wadna been in a hurry telling you, to learn you for your closeness."

"I wish you would drop your figurative style of speech, and tell me plainly what you mean.”

thocht proper.

"I jist mean, then, that whan ye got a slump o' sille' frae Stiffriggs and your auntie, it was nae business or mine, and ye had a richt to keep your thoom on't if ye But when ye got it pickit out o' your pouch, ye neither played fair to yoursel' nor your freends, to mak' a secret o' the matter." Here Robin detailed minutely the manner in which the money came into his possession, and went on to say " Ye see, Mr Jimes, it was mair by chance than gude guiding that your siller wasna clean lost; and if never hilt or hair o't had been seen or heard tell o', wha wad ha'e been to blame but yoursel', I wonder?"

"But why did you keep me in torture about it from Saturday night till this time ?"

"Just as I said afore, to gi'e ye a bite o' your ain bridle. I thocht ye wad be the better o' a fricht, to make ye franker for the time to come. But fegs, sir, I ha'e maist got my neck intil a kinch for my pains."

"You see, Robert, the evil of following a bad example." "Ay, Jimes, ye may weel say that. It's a black busiIt has made you a suspeckit character, and me be thocht as bad as Deacon Brodie."

ness.

Who says

I am a suspected character ?"

"I say't. That's plain eneuch, I'm shure. Hoo can ye be onything else after ye've been kent to lose a hunder pound in some secret manner, and after ye've been seen herding in a hiddling way wi' thief-catchers ? Fegs, Jimes, ye may be thankfu' that ye're only suspeckit, and no ust set plump down for a black sheep and huntit like me."

66

Ay! how do you come to be treated in that manner ?"

Ou, partly for the tup business, and partly for this ill-faur'd affair o' yours. Ye see Dr Snapperdudgeon has gotten M'Cheatrie the lawyer and some o' the beagle tribe hounded after me. Hoo they fund oot my lodgings, it's unpossible to say; but there they cam' this forenoon when I was awa' at Habbie's Howe wi' Jean Brown, and

rummaged through the hoose for a hair to mak' a tether o'; and fegs, sir, they got their haunds on your pocket-book, lying toom among my claes."

"That was surely no great matter. They could make nothing against you out of that circumstance surely?"

"Could they no! I'll tell you what they made ot'. They made me baith a thief and a murderer. It's thocht it seems (at least Saunders Drouthythrapple says sae) that I've rubbit ye, and ta'en yer life to the bargain, or try't to tak' it. What think ye o' that ?"

"Why I just think you need give yourself no concern about so ridiculous a suspicion. But how did you happen to empty the pocket-book and leave it behind you ?"

"Just for the same gude reason that made Mother Meredith (honest body!) fear'd to lay a finger on't. I riskit to carry the notes wi' me, but I wasna sic a sumph as to keep a book in my pouch that it seems a' the beagles in Embro had the marks o', and were hunting after. And wha was to ken that the Deil had eggit on Dr Snapperdudgeon again, or that they wad smoke me out in Mrs Jamphrey's? But mind ye, Mr Jimes, I've gi'en you the siller-every penny o't-and cam wi't on my ain free wull. That'll shurely clear me frae the charge o' thieving, at ony rate."

Yes, yes, Robert, you're perfectly safe; so you may keep your mind easy and go home to bed when you please." "To Mrs Jamphrey's, div ye mean ?"

"Surely."

Na, fegs! then, Jimes, I'll do naething o' the kind. I can ne'er bide there again withoot some kind o' subterranean passage up the garret whaur I can jink the beagles; for they'll be after me as lang as Dr Snapperdudgeon stays in the toun. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll awa to Mr Bacon's, and dern mysel' intil some safe hole in yon droll hoose o' his."

CHAPTER XXIX.

"Man delights not me, nor woman neither.
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!"

HAMLET.

Mr Bacon was sunk deep into an old leathern settle, smoking unconsciously and musing, as if dreaming of death and desolation, before the embers of an exhausted fire with his heels on the mantel-piece, when Robin Afleck roused him by beating a panic tune on the outer door. The boy Neddie lay stretched at full length asleep on the kitchen hearth, and slumbered far too soundly to be disturbed by any alarm short of fire, so Mr Bacon had to act as porter himself. The ambitious philosopher was in a most lugubrious mood; for the scurvy treatment he considered he had received from the Queen's Ministers, and the consequent disappointment of his high-blown hopes of distinction, had sunk deep into his mind. He took no notice of Robin's extreme excitement, but beckoned him in, and strode back to his study with the abstracted air of a somnambulist. Robin, as soon as he got in, without asking leave or offering any explanation, chained and locked the door, and barricaded it with all the heavy articles he could lay his hands on. Still this drew no remark from Mr

Bacon; and it was only when Robin asked if there was any means of fastening the windows, that his attention was arrested. "Fastening the windows?" he inquired; "what need is there for doing that ?"

“Ou, no muckle need, aiblins, but it might be as weel, in case the beagles should find their way here, and try till come in by main force."

"Am I hunted then as an offender, after being treated as a fool ?"

"No, as far as I ken. I doot ye're no understaundin'

me."

You mean to say

open the eyes of

"I understand you perfectly well. that the patriotic attempt I made to Government to the stupidity of their policy, and the alarming state of the country, is treated as an act of sedition, don't you?"

"No, sir, I mean naething o' the kind. I ha'ena heard o' the Government fashin' its head aboot what ye said to Sir Robert Peel and the rest o' the big folk at the Palace, and it's no vera likely they'll ever ca' ye in question."

"So much the worse; so much the greater insult. If my advice had been taken up with an earnestness proportioned to its importance, I would not have felt so keenly even had it brought down a storm on my head. I could bear prosecution, persecution-ay, even martyrdom-better than contumelious neglect. But that is what I can't, and won't stand."

"And what div ye think ye'll do then ?"

"Do! I'll, I'll do something that will make the boldest of the men in power shake in their shoes. The fact is, I'll, I'll go home to Auchterbardie, and let public affairs go to ruin without ever giving myself the least concern." Fegs, that's the best trick ye could play the scoonerals." "Yes, but I won't fly from them.

their

If they have out not flinch. Never!