"to

"You seem," said the stranger, live in a rich and peaceful country." "It's no to complain o', sir, an' we get the crap weel in," quoth Cuddie; “but if ye had seen the blude rinnin' as fast on the tap o' that brigg yonder as ever the water ran below it, ye wadna hae thought it sae bonnie a spectacle."

"You mean the battle some years since ? -I was waiting upon Monmouth that morning, my good friend, and did see some part of the action," said the stranger.

"Then ye saw a bonny stour," said Cud die," that sall serve me for fighting a' the days o' my life.-I judged ye wad be a trooper by your red scarlet lace-coat and your looped hat."

"And which side were you upon, my friend?" continued the inquisitive stran ger.

"Aha, lad!" retorted Cuddie, with a knowing look, or what he designed for such "there's nae use in telling that, unless I kenn'd wha was asking me."

"I commend your prudence, but it is unnecessary; I know you acted upon that occasion as servant to Henry Morton."

Ay!" said Cuddie, in surprise," how came ye by that secret?-No that I need care a bodle about it, for the sun's on our side o' the hedge now. I wish my master were living to get a blink o't."

"And what became of him?" said the rider.

"He was lost in the vessel gaun to that weary Holland-clean lost-and a' body perished, and my poor master amang them. Neither man nor mouse was ever heard o' mair." Then Cuddie uttered a groan.'

"You had some regard for him, then ?" continued the stranger.

"How could I help it ?-His face was inade of a fiddle, as they say, for a' body that looked on him liked him. And a braw sodger he was. O, an' ye had but seen him down at the brigg there, fleeing about like a fleeing dragon to gar folk

fight that had unco little will till't! There was he and that sour whigamore they ca'd Burley-if twa men could hae won a field, we wadna hae gotten our skins paid that day."

"You mention Burley-Do you know if he yet lives?"

"I kenna muckle about him. Folk say he was abroad, and our sufferers wad hold no communion wi' him, because o' his ha ving murdered the archbishop. Sae he cam hame ten times dourer than ever, and broke aff wi' mony o' the Presbyterians; ánd, at this last incoming of the Prince of Orange, he could get nae countenance nor command for fear of his devilish temper, and he hasna been heard of since; only some folks say, that pride and anger hae driven him clean wud."

"And-and," said the traveller, after considerable hesitation," do you know any thing of Lord Evandale ?”

"Div I ken ony thing o' Lord Evan

dale ?-Div I no? Is not my young leddy up by yonder at the house, that's as good as married to him ?".

"And are they not married, then ?" said the rider, hastily.

"No; only what they ca' betrothedmy wife and I were witnesses-it's no mony months by past-it was a lang courtship-few folk kenn'd the reason by Jenny and mysel. But will ye no light down? I douna bide to see ye sitting up there, and the clouds are casting up thick in the west ower Glasgow-ward, and maist skeily folk think that bodes rain."

In fact, a deep black cloud had already surmounted the setting sun; a few large drops of rain fell, and the murmurs of distant thunder were heard.

"The de'il's in this man," said Cuddie to himself; "I wish he would either light aff or ride on, that he may quarter himsel in Hamilton or the shower begin."

But the rider sate motionless on his horse for two or three moments after his last

question, like one exhausted by some uncommon effort. At length, recovering himself, as if with a sudden and painful effort, he asked Cuddie, "if Lady Margaret Bellenden still lived."

"She does," replied Cuddie, "but in a very sma' way. They hae been a sad changed family since thae rough times be gan; they hae suffered aneugh first and last-and to lose the auld Tower, and a' the bonny barony and the holms that I hae pleughed sae often, and the mains and my kale-yard that I suld hae gotten back again, and a' for naething, as a body may say, but just the want o' some bits o' sheep-skin that were lost in the confusion of the taking of Tillietudlem."

"I have heard something of this," said the stranger, deepening his voice and averting his head. "I have some interest in the family, and would willingly help them if I could. Can you give me a bed in your house to-night, my friend ?”

"It's but a corner of a place, sir," said