siduously to the wine, to which his habitual temperance and agitated state of feeling gave double potency, and was soon involved in violent altercation with his cousins, and exasperated with the irritating in erference of Rashleigh, whom he struck with his fist, and at length was torn away from a contest with Thorncliff, who took his insulted brother's part, by others of the young men, who locked him up in his room, where, meditating revenge, he soon fell asleep. With morning cool reflection comes; he feels that an apology must be made; it is accepted by Rashleigh with apparent cordiality; and Miss Vernon-she relieved him from the pain of waiting an opportunity by inviting him to the Library to expiain a difficult passage of Dante, which had that morning posed her in the diving comedian.

Pressed in this interview, he vainly tries to conceal from her the informa tion which had led to his altered conduct: and the vile insinuations Rashleigh had made lead her, in the highest tone of indignant and insulted innocence, to relate the basest purpose for which he for years without any remorse continued his instruction, and at first insinuated himsel' into her unsuspecting confidence. Yet she enjoins the necessity of re re sing re. sentment, and asserts the existence of secrets between her and Rashleigh, which make the outward civility of her conduct towards him necessary. And Frank knew that, much as she despised this perfidious villain, she had occasional long interviews with the object of her hatred.

A few days after this, Rashleigh sets off for London; and Frank, who was fully aware that this retreat was the most unsuitable situation in which he could be placed, and that if he but mentioned the habitual intemperance which disgraced its walls, his father would speedily oruer his depar ture--for one reason, obvious enough we suppose to the reader, maintains perfect silence on this head in the letter which he writes to his father.

In one of his usual strolls about the grounds, the gardener, after his characteristic tediousness of detail, informs him that a pedlar, travelling from London, had brought intelligence that the report of the robbery had reached the Parliament, and that an attempt was made through it to fix the stigma of disaffection upon several families in the North: while waiting for this pedlar, whom the gardener is sent to fetch, Frank is surprised and mortified by clearly discerning two persons walking together in the Library, when he had taken pains delicately to shew Miss Vernon, that his being there in the evening without a third person, was indecorous, as the habits of the family made it at that time her sole retirement.

This circumstance, and the accidental notice of a private door being open which led up to the Library, which the gardener observed, and supposed it must have been done by father Vaughan the priest, with whom Rashleigh had appeared to be intimate, and in whose presence Miss Vernon had generally shown some agitation, caused the intercourse of these friends to be clouded with distrust, some degree of peev shuess, and occasional efforts, which failed, at what is most difficult to manage in such circumstances→→ a candid explanation. In one of their interviews, Miss Vernon uforms him that his father is gone to Holland, that Rashleigh is left in the almost

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uncontrolled management of his affairs, and advises him to set out for London to counteract his artful schemes, which otherwise will certainly ruin their house. Alarmed by such unexpected intelligence, and carried away by feelings he could not control, he asked her if she advised his departure for London, and in reply to her remonstrance he seized her hand, and exclaimed, "The world can afford me nothing to repay what I must leave behind me. She reminds him of her destiny to marry either one of the brutal family she is in, or to go to the convent, and suddenly orders him instantly to leave her. His eye catches the cause of this sudden injunc tion, by pursuing the direction of hers, and perceiving the tapestry shake before the private door leading from Rashleigh's room. But he yields to her assurance, that it is nothing, and leaves the apartment. In his own room, under the influence of jealousy, he resolves to discover whom this favoured and mysterious rival is. He lurked about in the garden till he perceived a light in the Library, and then rushed in, and found Miss Vernon-alone. Making pretence that he came for a book, he sought it on the table, and there saw a man's glove. Miss Vernon, embarrassed, threw another glove on the table; which she called a relick of her grandfather; but it proved to be of the same hand. This momentary attempt to dissemble she found fail, and then avowed that the glove belonged to one whom she revered and-Frank filled up the pause "Loved Miss Vernon would say." But she refused further explanation, and yet desired that they might be to each other disinterested friends. She then gave him a letter which she had mysteriously received, which he opened; but before he had finished reading it, it fell from his hand. It was from his father's partner, informing him that Rashleigh had disappeared with large remittances and effects, which he had with him, to take up bills at Glasgow; and thither Owen, his father's confidential clerk, had gone; and thither without delay Frank resolves to repair, which he does, accompanied by Fairservice the gardener, who is glad of this opportunity of returning to Scotland again. Me. Vittie was one of his father's creditors; and upon the assurances of his servant and the landlady, "that he would be at the kirk, he resolves to go there. Andrew took him not to the body of the cathedral, but to the subterranean vaults, where a congregation was assembled, and where, once in, he was obliged to stay, the doors being locked, though he appeared to be unable to make progress in the great object of his pursuit. During the service an unknown person whispered him that he was in danger in this city: the voice again shortly after added, "Meet me at the Brig at twelve precisely, keep at home till then, and avoid observation." He went to the appointed place, and was punctually met by a stranger, who represented himself as one whom the very stones of the street would shake to hear named, and whom it would, as much as a victory, rejoice the citizens to seize; but his assurances of useful service to Frank induce him to follow. His guide conducted him to the town-prison, the gates of which were opened by the keeper as soon as he heard the stranger's voice, and he conducts Frank up a narrow stone stair-case, to a room in which an elderly man is in bed. This proves to be Owen; who had been arrested and confined as one who

meditated escape from his creditors by the partners in the house which had been most obsequious to the London firm before the knowledge of these embarrassments. During the painful greeting which took place, a loud knocking was heard at the door. Poor Dougal, dreading the fate of the unknown, whom he seemed ardently to love, lingered as long as possible in unbolting the doors: the stranger put himself into a posture of resistance, as if meditating to force his escape, but instead of many persons, which Dougal's fears conjured up, it proved to be the Baillie, Nicholas Jarvis, and his maid-servant carrying a lantern. Having heard of the trouble of Owen, he waited till midnight, the entire close of sabbathday, and then sallies out to visit, in commiseration, the respectable clerk of a firm with which he had long transacted business. He recognizes in the stranger his kinsman the outlawed Rob Roy, and is, partly from pity, partly from fear, unwilling to detain him: Rob had threatened that he would dash his brains against the wall if he offered to put any restraint upon him. Finding that the time was drawing rapidly on in which the heavy bills against his father's house must be honoured; and having no other resource to discover Rashleigh, Frank broke open a sealed paper which Miss Vernon had given, to be opened only when every other resource failed; from this a letter dropped, which the Baillie picked up and gave to the stranger, who was no other than Robert Campbell, who had, by Miss Vernon's interference with Rashleigh, appeared in Frank's behalf at Justice Inglewood's. After this they left the prison. Campbell soon disappeared, after having assured Frank that he would comply with the request of the letter. The next morning, walking in the college-gardens, Frank discovered Rashleigh in company with M'Vittie and Morris; he watched them till they separated, and then immediately presented himself to Rashleigh, and demanded the immediate resignation of his father's effects. This produced an altercation which led them to draw their swords. Rashleigh fought with fierce vengeance, wounded his antagonist, who, in recovering, was just about to plunge his sword into his heart, when he was stopped, and they were parted by Campbell, who sent Rashleigh away, and told Frank, the old charge was revived against him by Morris ; that he must take care of himself, and come agreeably to an appointment to see him at the Clachan of Aberfoil, with the Baillie, and that he would not allow him to be wronged. When conversing over their affairs with the Baillie and Owen, after dinner the Baillie tells them that oppression drove Campbell to the line of life he had adopted-that of a levier of Black Mail, a certain tax, upon the payment of which the party who received it engaged to protect the farm or district from all depredations. But that amid this apparently lawless and desperate way of life, he had amicable feelings, and some strong sentiments of justice and honour. He then informs Frank, that Rashleigh has injured his father's house in this manner, to distress the Highland lairds who had accepted his father's bills, and who would thus be excited to a more speedy insurrection which they were meditating in favour of the Stewarts; that Rashleigh could not get the assets, which were the principal part of the property he had taken away; and that they were doubtless disposed of some-where, where, did he wish it,

Robert Campbell could get at them, and make the restoration, which would save the credit of his father's house. Early the next day, they began their journey towards the Highlands, and rode all day along a most dreary way, gradually rising into barren hills, and presenting in distance the immense summits of the snow-clad mountains.

In the evening they arrived at the Forth, and about half a mile beyond found a public-house, a miserable hovel, in which they were to pass the night. This was pre-occupied by some wild Highlanders, who would not let the strangers share its miserable accommodation without a skirmish, but no blood was shed, and they were allowed then to remain in peace. The landlady delivered a note to Frank from Campbell, which requested him to abide by the directions of the person who delivered it, to meet him elsewhere; but that a vigilant pursuit which he must avoid prevented him meeting them according to engagement, at the Clachan. In fact the Highlanders who were at the inn, were in search for Campbell; and during the night, an English officer, with a company of soldiers, arrived with the same object, and with directions to seize and detain two persons supposed to be disloyal, an elderly and younger man. A smaller party soon after brought in a prisoner, who was Dougal, and who by the threats of the officer was compelled to undertake to lead him and his men to the place where Rob Roy might be found. Dougal led them along the road which was on the border of the lake, and enclosed by abrupt and precipitous mountains; and though cautioned by his prisoner, the officer persisted to proceed, till his advanced men informed him they had seen Highland bonnets and long firelocks on the tops of the hills, and at the same time the Highland bagpipes were heard behind. The officer directed an immediate attack; but the enemy, safely protected by the nature of the place, had little trouble in destroying almost the whole of this determined band, and the affair ended in making prisoners the officer and those who remained. It was here that Helen M Gregor, Campbell's wife, rose like an apparition on the mountain, loudly complaining of the wrongs she and her clan had sustained; and her spirit, infused into her attendants, made them irresistible, if greater exertion had on their part been required. While the Baillie was exciting her scorn by familiarly endeavouring to remind her of his relationship, the band, whose bag-pipes had been heard arrived; they consisted of stout well-armed young men, and two sons of Rob Roy. They approached with down-cast looks, and upon uttering a few words in Gaeic, Helen uttered a dreadful shriek, which was joined by the other women present. She then reproached her sons with bitter taunts for surviving the capture of their father. They informed her that they had come to muster a greater force to render the attempt inore probably successful; that their ather had received a message, with an appointment, from a Southern, which he accepted, leaving the messenger as a hostage, and had been sized by a party concealed for that purpose. The miserable hostage was roduced, who was no other than the mean Morris; he implored most arnestly her mercy, at one time stated how he loved her husband, and. hen inconsistently said that he was the agent, of Rashleigh Osbaldistone: out with infinite scorn she ordered him to be thrown into the lake, and his

mortal yell was heard over the savage and vindictive halloo which accompanied the murderous deed. She then selected Frank to carry a message to the Duke, that if the least injury was done to her husband, her prisoners should all be instantly slaughtered, and there should be no lady in. the land who should not have to lament the loss of some one she loved, and every estate around should be ravaged and destroyed. The Duke, to show the necessity of executing his prisoner, had him brought before him, when he manifested the same determined resolution which he had always felt, and complained of those acts which had driven him to habits which he had adopted. There was indeed a general feeling in favour of sparing his life, but the Duke finally determined that they should remove to a place of greater security, and that on the morrow Campbell should be hanged. The troops were ordered to advance. Frank was furnished with a horse, and rode near the prisoner, who, to prevent his escape, was fastened by a bandage behind a stout man, and two soldiers with loaded pistols rode on each side. Frank heard Rob begin au insinuating kind of expostulation with his keeper, addressing by turns his benevolent feelings and his interest. The man sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and evidently felt remorse at the task he had to perform. The river to which they now ar

rived could only be passed by one at a time, at a narrow and dangerous ford. This occasioned some confusion. The Duke loudly called out to bring over the prisoner: but no sooner had the horse entered the river than a splash in the water told Frank and others that the prisoner had been disengaged from his bonds. He sunk in the water, dived under a horse which was near, and swam along beneath, rising only to take breath: his plaid he contrived to disengage, and thus misled many who were eager in pursuit, while others, apparently as busy, were really as eager to favour the escape, which he completely effected. As Frank heard exclamations against himself, and feared the lawless attacks of the soldiery, he thought proper to hide himself, and for the night to take up his abode at the inn at Aberfoil. Walking towards this place, he was overtaken by two persons on horseback. After exchanging some enquiries and general answers, a voice which thrilled through every vein said, "Mr. Francis Osbaldistone should not whistle his favourite airs if he wishes to be unknown." The other person, with an air of authority and kindness, directed Miss Vernon to give him the papers which he was seeking, and which they had found means of getting from Rashleigh; and in doing this she suffered her face to touch his, and tenderly bade him farewell for ever.

This was a mo

ment of agitation, surprise, and overwhelming sorrow. They rode off, and left Frank under the impression of feelings which it is much more easy to imagine than describe. Though walking at a brisk pace, he was overtaken and accosted by name in a voice he could not mistake. Campbell bad contrived to arm himself, and was now rapidly retreating to his native glens. He related, to Campbell's amusement, much of what had befallen himself and the Baillie, who laughed at the soldiers mistaking him for Miss Vernon; and when Frank indirectly enquired about the person who accompanied her, he informed him that she was under his authority, though it might have been more pleasant to her if he had been younger. This was