in your person, being the next heir and representative of the Hazlewood family, filling me—I should have thought and believed, I say that this would have justified me sufficiently in the eyes of the most respectable and greatest part of the people, for taking such precautions as are calculated to prevent and impede a repetition of outrage.'

Really, sir, I must remind you of what I have often said before, that I am positive the discharge of the piece was accidental.'

'Sir, it was not accidental; but you will be wiser than your elders.'

self".

6

Really, sir, in what so intimately concerns my

Sir, it does not concern you but in a very secondary degree-that is, it does not concern you, as a giddy young fellow, who takes pleasure in contradicting his father; but it concerns the country, sir, and the county, sir; and the public, sir; and the kingdom of Scotland, in so far as the interest of the Hazlewood family, sir, is committed, and interested, and put in peril, in, by, and through you, sir. And the fellow is in safe custody, and Mr. Glossin thinks'.

'Mr. Glossin, sir?'

'Yes, sir, the gentleman who has purchased Ellangowan-you know who I mean, I suppose?'

Yes, sir: but I should hardly have expected to hear you quote such authority. Why, this fellow -all the world knows him to be sordid, mean, tricking, and I suspect him to be worse. yourself, my dear sir, when did you call such a

person a gentleman in your life before?'

And you

"Why Charles, I did not mean gentle man in the precise sense and meaning, and restricted and proper use, to which, no doubt, it ought legitimately to be confined; but I meant to use it relatively, as marking something of that state to which he has elevated and raised himself-as designing, in short, a decent and wealthy and estimable sort of person.' 'Allow me to ask, sir, if it was by this man's orders that the guard was drawn from Portanferry?'

'Sir, I do apprehend that Mr. Glossin would not presume to give orders, or even an opinion, unless asked, and in a matter in which Hazlewoodhouse and the house of Hazlewood-meaning by the one this mansion-house of my family, and by the other typically, metaphorically, and parabolically, the family itself-I say then where the house of Hazlewood, or Hazlewood-house, were so immediately concerned'

'I presume, however, sir, he approved of the proposal?'

'Sir, I thought it decent and right and proper to consult him as the nearest magistrate, as soon as report of the intended outrage reached my ears; and although he declined, out of deference and respect, as became our relative situations, to concur in the order, yet he did entirely approve of my arrangement.'

'At this moment a horse's feet was heard com

ing very fast up the avenue. In a few minutes the door opened, and Mr. Mac-Morlan presented him'I am under great concern to intrude, Sir

self.

Robert, but'

'Give me leave, Mr. Mac-Morlan-this is no intrusion, sir; for your situation as sheriff-substi

tute calling upon you to attend to the peace of the county, (and, doubtless, feeling yourself particularly called upon to protect Hazlewood house,) you have an acknowledged, and admitted, and undeniable right, sir, to enter the house of the first gentleman in Scotland, uninvited-always presuming you to be called there by the duty of your office.'

'It is indeed the duty of my office,' said MacMorlan, who waited with impatience an opportunity to speak,' that makes me an intruder.'

No intrusion!' reiterated the Baronet, gracefully waving his hand.

'But permit me to say, Sir Robert, I do not come with the purpose of remaining here, but to recall these soldiers to Portanferry, and to assure you that I will answer for the safety of your

house.'

'To withdraw the guard from Hazlewood-house? -and you will be answerable for it! And, pray, who are you, sir, that I should take your security, and caution, and pledge, official or personal, for the safety of Hazlewood-house?-I think, sir, and believe, sir, and am of opinion, sir, that if any one of these family pictures were deranged, or destroyed, or injured, it would be difficult for me to make up the loss upon the guarantee which you so obligingly offer me.'

'In that case I shall be sorry for it, Sir Robert; but I presume I may escape the pain of feeling my conduct the cause of such irreparable loss, as I can assure you there will be no attempt upon Hazlewood-house whatever, and I have received information which induces me to suspect that the rumour was put afloat merely in order to occasion

the removal of the soldiers from Portanferry. And under this strong belief and conviction I must exert my authority to order the whole, or greater part of them, back again. I regret much, that by my accidental absence a good deal of delay has already taken place, and we shall not now reach Portanferry until it is late.'

As Mr. Mac-Morlan was the superior magistrate, and expressed himself peremptory in the purpose of acting as such, the Baronet, though highly offended, could only say, 'Very well, sir, it is very well. Nay, sir, take them all with you-I am far from desiring any to be left here, sir. We, sir, can protect ourselves, sir. But you will have the goodness to observe, sir, that you are acting on your own proper risk, sir, and peril, sir, and responsibility, sir, if any thing shall happen or befall to Hazlewood-House, sir, or the inhabitants, sir, or to the furniture and paintings, sir.'

"I am acting to the best of my judgment and information, Sir Robert, and I must pray of you to believe so, and to pardon me accordingly. I beg you to observe it is no time for ceremony-it is already very late.'

But Sir Robert, without deigning to listen to his apologies, immediately employed himself in arming and arraying his domestics. Charles Hazlewood longed to accompany the military, which was about to depart for Portanferry, and which was now drawn up and mounted by direction and under guidance of Mr. Mac-Morlan, as the civil ma, gistrate. But it would have given pain and offence to his father to have left him at a moment when he conceived himself beset with enemies.

Young Hazlewood therefore gazed from a window with suppressed regret and displeasure, until he heard the officer give the word of command'From the right to the front, by files, ma-a-arch. Leading file, to the right wheel-Trot.'-The whole party then getting into a sharp and uniform pace, were soon lost among the trees, and the noise of their hoofs died speedily away in the distance.

CHAPTER XVI.

Wi' coulters and wi' forehammers
We garr'd the bars bang merrily,
Until we came to the inner prison,

Where Willie o' Kinmont he did lie.

Old Border Ballad.

WE return to Portanferry, and to Bertram and his honest-hearted friend, most innocent inhabitants of a place built for the guilty. The slumbers of the farmer were as sound as it was possible. But Bertram's first heavy sleep passed away long before midnight, nor could he again recover that state of oblivion. Added to the uncertain and uncomfortable state of his mind, his body felt feverish and oppressed. This was chiefly owing to the close and confined air of the small apartment in which they slept. After enduring for some time the broiling and suffocating feeling attendant upon such an atmosphere, he rose to endeavour to open the window of the apartment, and thus to procure a