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least comprehend the drift of this, but convinced in her heart that it could only mean something holy, and good and kind, she tried not further to reflect, on it, for she could not; but she blessed him in her heart and was content to remein in her ignorance of human life.
But in a short time his purposes were divulged in such a manner as to be no more equivocal. That morning immediately preceding the developement of his long cherished atrocity, Jane Hervey was awaked at an early hour by the following unintelligible dialogue in her elder sister's bed.
"Have ye seen the news o' the day kerlin?
"Ooh?”
"Have ye seen the news o' the day?”
"Ay that I hae, on a braid open book, without clasp or seal. Whether will you or the deil win?"
“That depends on the citadel. If it stand out, a' the powers o' hell winna shake the fortress, nor sap a stane o' its foundation."
"Ah, the fortress is a good ane, and a sound ane'; bue the poor head captain!— ye ken what a sweet-lipped, turnip-headit brosey he is!"
"Ay, and the weapons o'sin are grown strang and powerfu' now-a-days kerlin.”
“Sae they say, sae they say. They hae getten a new forge i' the fire o' hell, made
