determined to conduct mysel like an honest man and a good Christian, come o't what will.'

He advanced accordingly to the cottage door, and having knocked repeatedly without receiving any answer, he at length elevated his voice and addressed the inmate of the hut. Elshie! Father Elshie! I ken ye're within doors, and wauking, for I saw ye at the door-cheek as I cam ower the bent; will ye come out and speak just a gliff to ane that has mony thanks to gi'e ye?—It was a' true ye tell'd me about Westburnflat; but he's sent back Grace safe and skaithless, sae there's nae ill happened yet but what may be suffered or sustained.-Wad ye but come out a gliff, man, or but say ye're listening?-Aweel, since ye winna answer, I'se e'en proceed wi' my tale. Ye see I hae been thinking it wad be a sair thing on twa young folk, like Grace and me, to put aff our marriage for mony years till I was abroad and came back again wi' some gear; and they say manna take booty in the wars as they did lang syne, and the pay's a sma' matter; there's nae gathering gear on that-and then my gude-dame's auld-and my sisters wad sit pinging at the ingleside for want o' me to ding them about-and Earnscliff, or the neighbourhood, or maybe your ain sell, Elshie, might want some gude turn that Hob Elliot could do ye-and it's a pity that the auld house o' the Heughfoot should be wrecked a'thegither-Sae I was thinking--But de'il hae me, that I should say sae,' continued he, checking himself, if I can bring mysel to ask a favour of ane that winna sae muckle as ware a word on me, to tell me if he hears me speaking till him.'

folk

'Say what thou wilt-do what thou wilt,' answered the Dwarf from his cabin, but begone, and leave me at peace.'

'Weel, weel,' replied Elliot, since ye are content to hear me, I'se make my tale short. Since ye are sae kind as to say ye are content to lend me as muckle siller as will stock and plenish the Heughfoot, I am content, on my part, to accept the courtesy wi' mony kind thanks; and troth, I think it will be as safe in my hands as yours, if ye leave it flung about in that gate for the first loon body to lift, forbye the risk o' bad neighbours that can win through steekit doors and lock-fast places, as I can tell to my cost. I say, since ye hae sae muckle consideration for me, I'se be blythe to accept your kindness; and my mother and me (she's a life-renter, and I am fiar o' the lands o' Wideopen) would grant you a wadset, or an heritable bond, for the siller, and to pay the annual rent half-yearly; and Saunders Wyliecoat to draw the bond, and you to be at nae charge wi' the writings.'

'Cut short thy jargon, and begone,' said the Dwarf; thy loquacious bullheaded honesty makes thee a more intolerable plague than the light-fingered courtier who would take a man's all without troubling him with either thanks, explanation, or apology. Hence, I say! thou art one of those tame slaves whose word is as good as their bond. Keep the money, principal and interest, until I demand it of thee.'

'But,' continued the pertinacious Borderer, we are a' life-like and death-like, Elshie, and there really should be some black and white on

this transaction. Sae just make me a minute, or missive, in ony form ye like, and I'se write it fair ower, and subscribe it before famous witnesses. Only, Elshie, I wad wuss ye to put naething in't that may be prejudicial to my salvation; for I'll hae the minister to read it ower, and it wad only be exposing yoursel to nae purpose. And now I'm ganging awa', for ye'll be wearied o' my cracks, and I am wearied wi' cracking without an answer-and I'se bring ye a bit o' bride's-cake ane o' thae days, and maybe bring Grace to see you. Ye wad like to see Grace, man, for as dour as ye are--Eh, Lord! I wish he may be weel, that was a sair grane! or, maybe, he thought I was speaking of heavenly grace, and no of Grace Armstrong. Poor man, I am very doubtfu' o' his condition; but I am sure he is as kind to me as if I were his son, and a queer-looking father I wad hae had, if that had been e'en sae.'

Hobbie now relieved his benefactor of his presence, and røde blythely home to display his treasure, and consult upon the means of repairing the damage which his fortune had sustained through the aggression of the Red Reiver of Westburnflat.

F 2

CHAPTER XI.

Three ruffians seized me yester morn,

Alas! a maiden most forlorn;

They choked my cries with wicked might,

And bound me on a palfrey white:

As sure as Heaven shall pity me,
I cannot tell what men they be.

Christabelle.

THE Course of our story must here revert a little, to detail the circumstances which had placed Miss Vere in the unpleasant situation from which she was unexpectedly, and indeed unintentionally, liberated, by the appearance of Earnscliff, and Elliot, with their friends and followers, before the Tower of Westburnflat.

1

On the morning preceding the night in which Hobbie's house was plundered and burnt, Miss Vere was requested by her father to accompany him in a walk through a distant part of the romantic grounds which lay around his Castle of Ellieslaw. 'To hear was to obey,' in the true style of oriental despotism; but Isabella trembled in silence while shè followed her father through rough paths, now winding by the side of the river, now ascending the cliffs which serve for its banks. A single servant, selected perhaps for his stupidity, was the only person who attended them. From her father's silence, Isabella little doubted that he had chosen this distant and-sequestered scene to resume the argument which they had so frequently maintained upon the subject of Sir Frederick's addresses, and that he was meditating

in what manner he should most effectually impress upon her the necessity of receiving him as her suitor. But her fears seemed for some time to be unfounded. The only sentences which her father from time to time addressed to her, respected the beauties of the romantic landscape through which they strolled, and which varied its features at every step. To these observations, although they seemed to come from a heart occupied by more gloomy as well as more important cares, Isabella endeavoured to answer in a manner as free and unconstrained as it was possible for her to assume, amid the involuntary apprehensions which crowded upon her imagination.

Sustaining, with mutual difficulty, a desultory conversation, they at length gained the centre of a small wood, composed of large old oaks, intermingled with birches, mountain-ashes, hazel, holly, and a variety of underwood. The boughs of the tall trees met closely above, and the underwood filled up each interval between their trunks below. The spot on which they stood was rather more open: still, however, embowered under the natural arcade of tall trees, and darkened on the sides for a space around by a great and lively growth of copse-wood and bushes.

'And here, Isabella,' said Mr. Vere, as he pursued the conversation, so often resumed, so often dropped, here I would erect an altar to Friendship.'

'To Friendship, sir!' said Miss Vere, and why on this gloomy and sequestered spot, rather than elsewhere.