Catriona

be done with the next stage, and have myself fully committed; to a person circumstanced as I was, the appearance of closing a door on hesitation

th my declaration out of hand and be able to lay me down to sleep with a free conscience. At first I read, for the little cabinet where I was left contained a variety of books. But I fear I read with little profit; and the weather falling cloudy, the dusk coming up earlier than usual, and my cabinet being lighted wit

door of the cabinet opened, and I was aware, by the light behind

ere?" he asked

rom the laird of Pilrig to

en here long

azard an estimate of h

chuckle. "The lads must have forgotten you. But y

ng room, of a good proportion, wholly lined with books. That small spark of light in a corner struck out the man's handsome person and strong face. He was flushed, his eye

n," said he, "and let

t words I thought I observed his attention to redouble, and I made sure he read them twice. All this while you a

, Mr. Balfour," he said, when he had do

have come here, as the letter will have mentioned, on a business of some gravity

But if you will permit, I believe I

otman came, as at a signal,

the Advocate. "Well, here is to our better

g you, my lord, that I am here at y

e," said he, "for I profess I think I

"And yet you have been for some time extremely wishful to m

ord me a clue," says

n a jesting humour-which is far from the case-I believe I

sense?" h

ewards offered for

t straight up in the chair where he had been prev

ghteen," I quoted, "speaks lik

ome here with any ill-judged intention of amusing yoursel

s as life and death, and you have understood me perfectly. I

g you here) that you claim

to King George, but if I had anything to reproach myself with

rously shed. It has been shed in direct opposition to his Majesty and our whole frame of laws, by those who are their known and p

little drily, "directly personal to ano

business to take note of them," said he. "You do not appear to me to recognise the gravity of your situation, or you would be more careful not to

I. "I did but repeat the common talk of the country, which I hav

th bound to do by our judicial functions and the service of his Majesty; and I could wish that all hands, in this ill age, were equally clean of family rancour. But from the accident that this is a Campbell who has fallen martyr to his duty-as who else but the Campbells have ever put themselves foremost on that path?-I may say it, who am no Campbell-and that the chief of that great house happens (for all our advantages) to be t

I that should learn the sam

alfour-there is always the possibility of some arrangement, I tell you, and I tell you beforehand that you may be the more upon your guard, your fate lies with me singly. In such a matter (be it said with

g how?"

satisfaction, no soul need know so much as that you visited m

d be informed upon my visit," said I, "though the precise nature of m

encouragingly. "Nor yet (if you ar

under your correction, I am n

warn you to volunteer nothing beyond the questions I shall ask you. It may consist very imme

llow your lordship

appears you were present, by the way, in the wood of Lettermore a

ident,"

peech with Colin C

y way of him to Au

id not write th

if I were you, as little as might be on your relations with these Stewarts. It might be fo

ll points of fact were equally

ying you, it will be very different; and I shall press these very questions that I am now willing to glide upon. But

d, and the cause was my

aw him

your lordship, thou

know

d know h

re not so fortunate, th

as n

he al

as al

ne else in that

was not far off, i

aying at cross purposes," said he, "which you will

your lordship's advice, and ans

ith the most anxious tenderness, which you scarce seem to apprecia

of a falter, for I saw we were come to grips at last. "I am here to lay before you certain in

and blinking his eyes upon me like an angry cat. "Mr. Balfour," he said

dship. As God judges me, I have but the one design, and that is to see justice executed and the innocent

ed upon me steadily. I was surprised to see a great change of gravity fa

e when I think what issues may depend from it. To a political case, I need scarce tell a young man of your education, we approach with very different thoughts from one which is criminal only. Salus populi suprema lex is a maxim su

uld have you to believe nothing b

u would have me to believe Breck innocent. I would think this of little account, the more so as we cannot catch our man. But the matter of Breck's innocence shoots beyond itself. Once admitted, it would destroy the whole presumptions of our case against another and a very di

s is what I am here to declare in private to your lordship, and wh

ur," said he, "that (in that case) your testimony will not b

e in this country," I cried, "

protection; the facts are heavy against you; and if I am still trying to except you from a very dangerous place, it is in part of course because I am not insensible to your honesty in coming here; in part because of Pilrig's

ain sense of our position," said I. "But if your lordship has no need of m

vil institutions? The late Lord President Culloden, for one; he played a man's part, and small thanks he got for it-even as I, whom you see before you, straining every nerve in the same service, look for no reward beyond the conscience of my duties done. After the President, who else? You know the answer as well as I do; 'tis partly a scandal, and you glanced at it yourself, and I reproved you for it, when you first came in. It was the Duke and the great clan of Campbell. Now here is a Campbell foully murdered, and that in the King's service. The Duke and I are

you out in t

ct the life of this man Stewart-which is forfeit already on half-a-dozen different counts if not on this-do you propose to plunge your country in war, to jeopardise the faith of your fathers, and to expose the lives and for

when you took the oath of the high office which you hold. But for me, who am just a plain man-or scarce a man yet-the plain duties must suffice. I can think but of two things, of a poor soul in the immediate and unjust danger of a shameful death, and of

tionless, and stoo

d obstacle," says he,

lordship to dispo

e, "you know that you

I, "I have slept

I may rely on your pledged word. Give me your honour that you will be wholly secret, not on

e to set," said I. "I would not be thought too wily; but if I gave the

ght to entrap

e of that

Sabbath. Come to me on Monday by eight in the

o what has fallen from yourself, I will give it for

d next, "that I have made

Yet I am not altogether so dull but what I can pe

u. May you sleep well, for I think

candle, and gave me his conve