was fire on the hearth, a kettle, and some preparation for food. As he eagerly gazed around for something that might confirm his hope that his child yet lived, although in the power of those strange people, a man entered the hut.

It was his old gardener. «O sir!» said the old man, «< such a night as this I trusted never to live to see!-ye maun come to the Place directly!»

"

<< Is my boy found? is he alive? have ye found Harry Bertram? Andrew, have ye found Harry Bertram?»

No, sir; but»

<< Then he is kidnapped! I am sure of it, Andrew! as sure as that I tread upon earth! She has stolen him--and I will never stir from this place till I have tidings of my bairn!»

"

ye

maun

O, but ye maun come hame, sir! come hame!We have sent for the sheriff, and we'll set a watch here a' night, in case the gypseys return; but you-ye maun come hame, sir,– for my lady's in the dead-thraw.»

Bertram turned a stupified and unmeaning eye on the messenger who uttered this calamitous news; and, repeating the words «< in the deadthraw!» as if he could not comprehend their meaning, suffered the old man to drag him towards his horse. During the ride home, he only said, «Wife and bairn, baith-mother and son, baith-Sair, sair to abide!>>

It is needless to dwell upon the new scene of which awaited him. The news of Ken

agony

nedy's fate had been eagerly and incautiously communicated at Ellangowan with the gratuitous addition, that, doubtless, « he had drawn the young Laird over the craig with him, though the tide had swept away the child's body-he was light, puir thing, and would flee farther into the

surf.»

Mrs Bertram heard the tidings; she was far advanced in her pregnancy; she fell into the pains of premature labour, and, ere Ellangowan had recovered his agitated faculties, so as to comprehend the full distress of his situation, he was the father of a female infant, and a widower.

CHAPTER X.

But see, his face is black, and full of blood;
His eye-balls farther out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man;

His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretch'd with struggling,
His hands abroad display'd, as one that gasp'd

And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdued.

Henry IV. Part I.

THE Sheriff-depute of the county arrived at Ellangowan next morning by day-break. To this provincial magistrate the law of Scotland assigns judicial powers of considerable extent, and the task of enquiring into all crimes committed within his jurisdiction, the apprehension and commitment of suspected persons, and so forth.

-

The gentleman who held the office in the shire of at the time of this catastrophe, was well born and well educated; and, though somewhat pedantic and professional in his habits, he enjoyed general respect as an active and intelligent magistrate. His first employment was to examine all witnesses whose evidence could throw light upon this mysterious event, and

make up the written report, procès verbal, or precognition, as it is technically called, which the practice of Scotland has substituted for a coroner's inquest. Under the sheriff's minute and skilful enquiry, many circumstances appeared, which were incompatible with the ori ginal opinion, that Kennedy had accidentally fallen from the cliffs. We shall briefly detail some of these.

The body had been deposited in a neighbouring fisher-hut, but without altering the condition in which it was found. This was the first object of the Sheriff's examination. Though fearfully crushed and mangled by the fall from such a height, the corpse was found to exhibit a deep cut in the head, which, in the opinion of a skilful surgeon, must have been inflicted by a broadsword, or cutlass. The experience of this gentleman discovered other suspicious indications. The face was much blackened, the eyes distorted, and the veins of the neck swelled. A coloured handkerchief, which the unfortunate man had worn around his neck, did not present the usual appearance, but was much loosened, and the knot displaced and dragged extremely tight: the folds were also compressed, as if it had been used as a means of grappling the deceased, and dragging him perhaps to the precipice.

On the other hand, poor Kennedy's purse was found untouched; and, what seemed yet more extraordinary, the pistols which he usually carried when about to encounter any hazardous

adventure, were found in his pockets loaded: This appeared particularly strange, for he was. known and dreaded by the contraband traders as a man equally fearless and dexterous in the use of his weapons, of which he had given many signal proofs. The Sheriff enquired, whether Kennedy was not in the practice of carrying any other arms. Most of Mr Bertram's servants recollected that he generally had a couteau de chasse, or short hanger, but no such was found upon the dead body; nor could those who had seen him on the morning of the fatal day, take it upon them to assert whether he then carried that weapon or not.

The corpse afforded no other indicia respect-. ing the fate of Kennedy; for, though the clothes were much displaced, and the limbs dreadfully fractured, the one seemed the probable, the other the certain, consequences of such a fall. The hands of the deceased were clenched fast, and full of turf and earth; but this also seemed equivocal.

The magistrates then proceeded to the place where the corpse was first discovered, and made those who had found it, give, upon the spot, a particular and detailed account of the manner in which it was lying. A large fragment of the rock appeared to have accompanied, or followed, the fall of the victim from the cliff above. It was of so solid and compact a substance, that it had fallen without any great diminution by splintering, so that the Sheriff was enabled, first,