"There was never a prettier bit o' horse-flesh in the stable o' the Gordon Arms," said the man; which information increased the landlady's respect for the rider. Upon the stranger declining to go into another apartment, (which indeed, she allowed, would be but cold and smoky till the fire burned up,) she installed her guest hospitably by the fireside, and offered what refreshment her house afforded.

"A cup of your tea, ma'am, if you will favour me." Mrs. Mac-Candlish bustled about, reinforced her teapot with hyson, and proceeded in her duties with her best grace.

"We have a very nice parlour,

sir, and every thing very agreeable for gentlefolks ; but it's bespoke the-night for a gentleman and his daughter that are going to leave this part of the country-ane of my chaises is gone for them, and will be back forthwith-they're not sae weel in the world as they have been; but we're a' subject to ups and downs in this life, as your honour must needs ken-but is not the tobacco-reek disagreeable to your honour ?” ́

"By no means, ma'am ; I am an old campaigner, and perfectly used to it.-Will you permit me to make some enquiries about a family in this neighbourhood?"

The sound of wheels was now heard, and the landlady hurried to the door to receive her expended guests; but returned in an instant, followed by the postillion-" No, they canna come at no rate, the Laird's sae ill."

"But God help them," said the landlady, "the

morn's the term-the very last day they can bide in the house-a' thing's to be roupit."

"Weel, but they can come at no rate I tell Mr. Bertram canna be moved."

ye

"What Mr. Bertram ?" said the stranger; "not Mr Bertram of Ellangowan, I hope ?"

"Just e'en that same, sir; and if ye be a friend o' his, you have come at a time when he's sair bested."

"I have been abroad for many years-is his health so much deranged ?"

"Aye, and his affairs an' a'," said the Deacon; "the creditors have entered into possession o' the estate, and it's for sale; and some that made the maist by him-I name nae names, but Mrs. MacCandlish kens wha I mean-(the landlady shook her head significantly) they're sairest on him e'en now-I have a sma' matter due mysell, but I would rather have lost it than gane to turn the auld man out of his house, and him just dying "

"Aye but," said the parish-clerk, "Mr. Glossin wants to get rid of the auld Laird, and drive on the sale for fear the heir-male should cast up upon them

-for I have heard say, if there was an heir-male, they could not sell the estate for auld Ellangowan's debt."

"He had a son born a good many years ago," said the stranger; "he is dead, I suppose ?"

"Nae man can say for that," said the clerk misteriously.

"Dead!" said the Deacon, "I'se warrant him dead lang syne; he has not been heard of these twenty years or therebye."

"I wot weel it's no twenty years," said the landlady; it's no abune seventeen at the outside in this very month; it made an unco noise ower a' this country-the bairn disappeared the very day that Supervisor Kennedy cam by his end—If ye kend this country lang syne, your honour wad maybe ken Frank Kennedy the Supervisor. He was a heartsome pleasant man, and company for the best gentlemen in the county, and muckle mirth he's made in this house. I was young then, sir, and newly married to Baillie Mac-Candlish, that's dead and gone-(a sigh)-and muckle fun I've had with the Supervisor. He was a daft dog-O an' he could have hadden aff the smugglers a bit! but he was aye venturesome-And so ye see, sir, there was a king's sloop down in Wigton bay, and Frank Kennedy, he behoved to have her up to chace Dirk Hatteraick's lugger-ye'll mind Dirk Hatteraick, Deacon? I dare say ye may have dealt wi' him-(the Deacon gave a sort of acquiescent nod and humph). He was a daring chield, and hẹ fought his ship till she blew up like the peelings of onions; and Frank Kennedy he had been the first man to board, and he was flung like a quarter of a mile off, and fell into the water below the rock at Warroch Point, that they ca' the Gauger's Loup to this day."

"And Mr. Bertram's child," said the stranger, "what is all this to him?”

"Ou, sir,—the bairn aye held an unca wark wi' the Supervisor; and it was generally thought he [went on board the vessel alang wi' him, as bairns forward to be in mischief."

are aye

"No, no," said the Deacon, "ye're clean out there, Luckie-for the young Laird was stown away by a randy gypsy woman they ca'd Meg Merrilies, -I mind her looks weel, in revenge for Ellangowan having gar'd her be drum'd through Kippletringan for stealing a silver spoon."

"If ye'll forgie me, Deacon,” said the precentor, "ye'er e'en as far wrang as the gudewife."

"And what is your edition of the story, sir?" said the stranger, turning to him with interest

"That's may-be no sae canny to tell," said the precentor, with solemnity.

Upon being urged, however, to speak out, he preluded with two or three large puffs of tobaccosmoke, and out of the cloudy sanctuary which these whiffs formed around him, delivered the following legend, having cleared his voice with one or two hems, and imitating as near as he could, the eloquence which weekly thundered over his head from the pulpit.

"What we are now to deliver, my brethren,hem, I mean, my good friends,-was not done in a corner, and may serve as an answer to witch-advocates, atheists, and misbelievers of all kinds.Ye must know that the worshipful Laird of Ellangowan was not so preceese as he might have been in clearing his land of witches, (concerning whom it is said, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,') nor of those who had familiar spirits, and consulted with divination and sorcery, and lots, which is the fashion with the Egyptians, as they call themselves, and other unhappy bodies, in this our country. And the

Laird was three years married without having a family and he was so left to himsell, that it was thought he held ower muckle trocking and communing wi' that Meg Merrilies, wha was the most notorious witch in all galioway and Dumfriesshire baith."

"Aweel I wot there's something in that," said Mrs. Mac-Candlish; "I've kend him order her twa glasses o' brandy in this very house."

"Aweel, gude wife, the less I lee-See the lady was wi' bairn at last, and in the night when she should have been delivered, there comes to the door of the ha' house-the Place of Ellangowan as they ca'd-an ancient man, strangely habited, and asked for quarters. His head, and his legs, and his arms, were bare, although it was winter time o' the year, and he had a grey beard three quarters lang. Weel, he was admitted; and when the lady was delivered, he craved to know the very moment of the hour of the birth, and he went out and consulted the stars. And when he came back, he tell'd the Laird, that the Evil One wad have power over the knave-bairn that was that night born, and he charged him that the babe should be bred up in the ways of piety, and that he should aye hae a godly minister at his elbow, to pray wi the bairn and for him. And the aged man vanished away, and no man of this country ever. saw

mair o' him."

"Now, that will not pass," said the postillion, who, at a respectful distance, was listening to the conversation, "begging Mr. Skreigh's and the