some business which should be transacted during his absence; and thus it chanced that I found them watchers.

It was late ere we separated to rest, and, too impatient long to endure repose, I was stirring early the next morning. Andrew gave his attendance at my levee, as in duty bound, and, instead of the scarecrow figure to which he had been reduced at Aberfoil, now appeared in the attire of an undertaker, a goodly suit, namely, of the deepest mourning. It was not till after one or two queries, which the rascal affected as long as he could to misunderstand, that I found out he “had thought it but decent to put on mourning, on account of my inexpressible loss; and as the broker at whose shop he had equipped himself, declined to receive the goods again, and as his own garments had been destroyed or carried off in my honour’s service, doubtless I and my honourable father, whom Providence had blessed wi’ the means, wadna suffer a puir lad to sit down wi’ the loss; a stand o’ claes was nae great matter to an Osbaldistone (be praised for’t!), especially to an auld and attached servant o’ the house.”

As there was something of justice in Andrew’s plea of loss in my service, his finesse succeeded; and he came by a good suit of mourning, with a beaver and all things conforming, as the exterior signs of woe for a master who was alive and merry.

My father’s first care, when he arose, was to visit Mr. Jarvie, for whose kindness he entertained the most grateful sentiments, which he expressed in very few but manly and nervous terms. He explained the altered state of his affairs, and offered the Bailie, on such terms as could not but be both advantageous and acceptable, that part in his concerns which had been hitherto managed by MacVittie and Company. The Bailie heartily congratulated my father and Owen on the changed posture of their affairs, and, without affecting to disclaim that he had done his best to serve them, when matters looked otherwise, he said, “He had only just acted as he wad be done by—that, as to the extension of their correspondence, he frankly accepted it with thanks. Had MacVittie’s folk behaved like honest men,” he said, “he wad hae liked ill to hae come in ahint them, and out afore them, this gate. But it’s otherwise, and they maun e’en stand the loss.”

The Bailie then pulled me by the sleeve into a corner, and, after again cordially wishing me joy, proceeded in rather an embarrassed tone.

“I wad heartily wish, Maister Francis, there suld be as little said as possible about the queer things we saw up yonder awa—There’s nae gude, unless ane were judicially examinate, to say onything about that awfu’ job o’ Morris—and the members o’ the council wadna think it creditable in ane of their body to be fighting wi’ a wheen Hielandmen, and singeing their plaidens—And abune a’, though I am a decent sponsible man, when I am on my right end, I canna but think I maun hae made a queer figure without my hat and my periwig, hinging by the middle like bawdrons, or a cloak flung ower a cloak-pin. Bailie Grahame wad hae an unco hair in my neck an he got that tale by the end.”

I could not suppress a smile when I recollected the Bailie’s situation, although I certainly thought it no laughing matter at the time. The good-natured merchant was a little confused, but smiled also when he shook his head. “I see how it is—I see how it is. But say naething about it—there’s a gude callant; and charge that lang-tongued, conceited, upsetting serving-man o’ yours, to say naething neither. I wadna for ever sae muckle that even the lassock Mattie kend onything about it. I wad never hear an end o’t.”

He was obviously relieved from his impending fears of ridicule, when I told him it was my father’s intention to leave Glasgow almost immediately. Indeed he had now no motive for remaining, since the most valuable part of the papers carried off by Rashleigh had been recovered. For that portion which he had converted into cash and expended in his own or on political intrigues, there was no mode of recovering it but by a suit at law, which was forthwith commenced, and proceeded, as our law-agents assured us, with all deliberate speed.

We spent, accordingly, one hospitable day with the Bailie, and took leave of him, as this narrative now does. He continued to grow in wealth, honour, and credit, and actually rose to the highest civic honours