Now, O what heart can stand sic a thought as that!"

All the three females being thus lost without the least trace of any of them having been discovered, shortly thereafter an heir appeared, with a patent from King James for the estates, but not the titles; and he took forthwith uninterrupted possession. He was a sullen and gloomy person; and though at first he tried to ingratiate himself with his people, by giving to the poor, and employing many daylabourers, yet every one who could shunned his presence, which seemed to shed a damp and a chilliness over the human heart. At his approach the schoolboys left the play-green, retiring in detached and listless groups, till the awe-inspiring look scowled no more upon them. The laugh along the hay-field ceased at his approach, and the song of the reaper was hushed. He was styled Sir Herbert; but Sir Herbert soon found that his reign was likely to become an uneasy one. For word coming to Acremoor that he had been expressly sent for by Queen Elizabeth, and having waited on her, left her on some private commission for Scotland shortly before the disappearance of the young heiress and her mother; then it was that an indefinable sensation of horror began to inspire all ranks in that district. Their young lady's claim to both crowns was well known, and often boasted of among her vassals, and they dreaded that some dark and infamous deed had been committed, yet they wist not by what means to implicate their new and detested master, whom they thenceforward regarded as either a murderer, or an accomplice of murderers, and disclaimed allegiance to him.

The government of Scotland was at that time very inefficient, the aristocracy having quite the ascendant; and between the chief and his vassals there was no interference, his will being the supreme law among them, from which there was rarely any appeal. But with regard to who was their rightful chief, to whom they were bound to yield this obedience, that power the vassals kept in their own hands, and it was a right that was well looked into. Of course, at this very time, there was a meeting among the retainers and chief tacks

men on these extensive domains, to consult whether or not it was consistent with honour and propriety to pay their rents to this upstart chief, while their late lord and master's only daughter was probably still in life, and might require double payment from every one of them; and it was decided unanimously, that unless a full explanation of his rights was laid before them, they would neither pay him rent nor obedience in future; so that at this time Sir Herbert found his vassals in open and avowed rebellion. It was in vain that he showed them his titles of recognition by the king; the men answered, that their young lady's rights and titles never had been forfeited; and, without a charter from her, they denied his rights of inheritance. They said farther, that they would take no single man's word or oath that their lady was dead, and they were determined to preserve her rights till they had sufficient proof where she died, how she died, and where she was buried.

While the chief vassals were thus interesting themselves more and more about the fate of their young lady, Lowry and Graham were no less perplexed about that of their beloved Lucy. The former had again and again waited on the sibyl, with whose wandering and visionary aspirations he was mightily taken; and having attended her by appointment early one morning, the following dialogue concluded their conversation:

"But I hae been thinkin', dear lucky, what's to come o' you, gin ye tak your death here,-for ye ken that maun come some time; an' there's naebody to tak care o' ye, to gie ye a drink, or haud your head, or to close your een, whan ye gang away."

"Fear not for me, honest lad, for Iam resolved to die beneath the open eye of heaven, with my eyes open upon it, that I may feel the odours of paradise descending from it, and breathing their sweet influence over my soul; for there is a living animating spirit breathes over the open face of nature, of which mine forms an item; and when I breathe it away at the last, it shall be into the pure elastic element."

Lowry was so struck with this, that he stepped aside, and exclaimed

to himself, "Now, wha could suspect sic a woman as that for a witch? The thing's impossible! There's something heavenly about her! Breathe her soul into an element! I wonder what an element is! Aha, there's the dirdum!-Dear lucky, gin it be your will, what is an element?"

"Now, what do you think it is, honest Lumpy?"

"I'm rather in a dirdum; but I think it is a great muckle beast without joints." Then aside, " Hout, that canna be it neither, for how could she breathe her soul into a great unfarrant beast ?"

"What is that you are muttering to yourself, fool? It is an elephant you are wrestling with. The elements are the constituent parts of nature. Fire is the primeval and governing one."

"Aih gudeness preserve us!

that's ten times waur than a muckle beast! Then she is a witch after a'; an' when she dies, she's gaun to breathe her soul into fire. That gars a' the hairs o' my head creep; I wish I were away. But dear, dear lucky, ye haena tauld me ought about Lucy as yet, or whether she be dead or living ?"

"I have never seen her spirit. But death's safest to hide the crimes of a villain.

There's villainy at the heart, young man ;
There's blood upon the head;
But the worms that he would tread upon,
Shall lay him with the dead!"

Lowry was little or nothing the wiser of this wild rhapsody, and went away to his work with a heavy heart. But that day one of the most singular incidents befel to him that ever happened to mortal man. Lowry was draining a meadow on the side of Acremoor Loch, and often wishing in his heart that Lucy's fate might be revealed to him one way or another, when, all at once, he felt a strange overpowering heat come over him, and on looking about to see from whence it proceeded, there was his mother standing close by his side. "Gudeness preserve us, mother!" cried Lowry; "whereaway are ye gaun? or what has brought you

here ?"

"Ofie, Lowry, whaten questions are these to ask at your mother? Where can a mother gang, or where

"Na, na, Lowry lad, ye're no sae easily skomfished; ye'll hae to stand a hantle mair heat than this yet. But tell me now, son, are you just gaun to delve and howk away a' your days there, an' never think o' revenging the death o' your dear sister?"

Why, the truth is, mother, that that's rather a dirdum; for we canna discover, neither by witchery nor warlockry, what has come ower her, or wha to revenge her death on; or, my certy! but they wad get their dickens!"

"Dear Lowry, didna I tell ye lang syne that she was murdered an' sunk in the Acremoor Loch in a sackfu' o' stanes, an' that exactly opposite to the place where we stand."

"Weel, mother, in the first place, I think I do mind o' you telling me this afore; but in the next place, as to where I am to find her, that's rather a dirdum, for ye ken twa things or twa places are always right opposite ane anither. Sae unless ye can gie me a third mark, I may fish in that great braid loch for my sister an' her sackfu' o' stanes for a towmont."

Then, Lowry, do you see yon willow-tree on the ither side o' the loch? yon lang sma' tree that stands by itsell, bent i' the tap, and wantin' branches?"

Aye, weel aneugh, mither."

Then, exactly in a line between this spot, and yon willow-tree, will you find the corpse o' your sister an' her lady, my other dear bairn, sunk in that loch wi' sackfu's o' stanes tied to their necks. Didna I tell you a' this afore, Lowry?"

"Aha, lucky, but I didna believe ye, for, d'ye ken, I never had muckle to lippen to your word a' my life,for as for telling ane the even down truth, that never aince cam into your head. I winna say that ye didna sometimes tell the truth, but then it was merely by chance; an' for that very reason, I'm a wee doubtfu' o' the story still, it is sae unnatural for

a man to murder twa bonny young creatures, an' sink them into a loch, wi' a sackfu' o' stanes tied to their necks. Now, be sure o' what ye say, mother, for life and death depend on it. Did ye see them murdered an' sunk in that loch wi' your ain bodily een ?"

"Baith, baith, by your new laird's ain hands! He is the villain and the murderer!"

"Then, mother, off goes his head, an' on the clay dumpling-that's settled. Or how wad it do to rack his neck to him? But for mercy's sake, stand a wee bit farrer off, an it be your will-for I declare there's a heat about you like a fiery furnace. Odsake, stand back, or I'll be baith suffocat an' roasted in five minutes."

"O Lowry, Lowry! my dear son Lowry!" exclaimed the old wife, clasping him round the neck, and smothering him with kisses of the most devouring heat. Lowry bellowed out most lustily, laying on both with feet and hands, and then added, " Od, I declare she has downed me, the auld roodess, and smothered me, an' roasted me into the bargain! I'll never do mair good! Mither, where are you? Mither, what's become o' you? Hilloa, mither! where awa are ye gane? Gude forgie me, gin this disna ding a' things that ever happened in this world! This is beyond the comprehension o' man!"

Gentle reader, honest Lowry had all this time been sound asleep, with a burning sun beating on him. He had sat down on the edge of his drain to rest himself, and ponder on the loss of his sister, and, laying his broad shoulders back upon the flowery meadow, had fallen asleep, while in the meantime, the heat of the day had increased to such a pitch, that when he awoke from the struggle with his mother, his face and breast were all blistered, and the perspiration pouring from his ample sides like water. But the identity of his mother, and the reality of her personal presence, were so strongly impressed on his mind, and every thing having been so particularly related to him, he believed all as a real vision. He could work no more that day, but there he sat panting and conversing with himself in something like the following style :

"Was there ever aught like my stupidity, no to remember a' the time that my mother was dead? an' yet that never ance cam into my head, although she gae me a hint about it. I saw her dee wi' my ain ee, saw her nailed in the coffin-aye, an' laid her head mysell in a deep grave, an' saw the mools heapit on her, an' the green sods aboon a'; an' yet never to remember that the grave separated her an' me-that the great valley o' the shadow o' death lay between us! Wow me, but there be mony strange things in nature! things that a body's comprehension canna fathom, if it should rax out its arms till they crack. It was my mother's spirit that spak to me, there can be nae doubts about that, an' it maun hae been my spirit, when I was in a dead sleep, that spak to her again; for spirits hae nae comprehension o' death. Let me now consider what's to be done, for I can work nae mair at my handiwark. She has tauld me that our new laird is a villain and a murderer. May I take this for gospel? Can I seriously believe this to be true? It is rather a dirdum that. Not that I think my mither's spirit wad come frae the ither warld to tell me an e'endown lee; but then it may hae been mista'en. It strikes me that the spirit o' nae mortal erring creature can be infallible. They may see wrang wi' their mental een as easily as I may do wi' my mortal anes. They may hear wrang, an' they may judge wrang, for they canna be present everywhere, an' maun aften see an' hear at a distance. An' whether ane is warrantit in taking justice into his ain hands on sic information, is mair than I can compass.-I have it! I'll drag for the bodies, an' if I find them, I'll take the rest for grantit."

Lowry now began to settle his land-marks, by setting up a coil of sods on the place where he slept, but the willow-tree on the other side he could not discover. He then went and communicated the whole to Graham, who agreed at once that they ought to drag for the bodies, but not let any one know what they were about, or on what grounds they had proceeded.

The next morning they were out early with a boat and grappling irons; but the loch being bread and deep,

they found, that without discovering the willow-tree, it was a hopeless and endless task. But as soon as Sir Herbert rose and discovered, he sent express orders for them to come instantly ashore, which, when they did, he was exceedingly wroth with them, ordering all the boats to be chained up and secured with padlocks, and even threatened to fire on the first vagabonds he saw out on the lake disturbing his fisheries.

But this injunction proved only a new incentive to the young men to persevere; for they were now assured that all was not right, for the loch had hitherto been free to all the parish, and over it they had been accustomed to ferry their fuel, and all other necessaries. The two friends spent the remainder of that day searching for the willow-tree among all the hedges and ditches on the south side of the lake; but willowtree they could find none. Towards the evening they came to a single willow stem on the verge of the loch, a mere twig, not exceeding four feet in length, and as they passed it, Graham chanced to say carelessly, "There is a willow, but oh! it will be lang afore it be a tree!" Lowry turned round and looked eagerly at it. "That's it, that's it! That's the verra tree!" cried he. "How that should be the tree is rather a dirdum; but things are a' gane ayont my comprehension now. Wow me, but a spirit's ee does magnify a thing terribly, for that willow was ten times as big when I saw it in my vision. Nae the less, it is the same, the very same, I ken it by its lang stalk without branches, an' its bend at the tap." There the two set up their landmark, and, the night being a summer night, and moonlight, they soon procured a boat, and began adragging in a line between the marks. They had not dragged ten minutes ere the grapple fixed in some movable body, which they began a-heaing upward, with strange looks in each other's faces. Lowry at last stopped the windlass, and addressing his friend in a tremulous voice, said, "Wad it no be better to stop till we hae daylight, an' mae een to see this sight? I'm feared my heart canna stand it i' the moonlight. The thoughts o' seeing my dear sister's

corpse a' riddled wi' the eels, an’ disfigured, an' a sackfu' o' stanes tied to her neck, are like to put me beside mysell."

"I hae something o' the same sort o" feeling," said Graham." But I wadna like to bring out a' the folks in the morning merely on suspicion that this is a corpse, whereas it is maybe only a log o' wood."

"Weel, weel, if ye will bring it aboon I shall reel the windlass," said Lowry; "only ye're to allow me to turn my face the tither gate." On this arrangement they proceeded, until Graham was assured, by sensible demonstration, that it was a human carcass tied in a sack, and sunk with a weight! They then let it go, and tying the boat-bunker to the end of the rope for a buoy, went ashore, to consult what was next best to be done.

Early in the morning they had a number of their friends assembled at the side of the lake. But the late offence taken by the lord of the manor at the two friends, and his threat of firing upon any who should venture out on his fishing-ground, induced all the friends present to counsel the asking of his liberty. A deputation accordingly waited on Sir Herbert, who requested permission to drag the lake for some bodies which were suspected to have been sunk there. But without deigning any answer to the men, he, to their astonishment, that moment ordered out a body of his people, and at their head, hasted down to the side of the loch, driving the assembled friends off with blows and threats, and then left a guard of seven men with fire-arms, to guard the boats and the loch in general.

The two young men were now assured of the truth of the vision, but said nothing of it to their friends, who were all astonished at their laird's unreasonable conduct. Lowry and his friend were convinced of his heinous guilt, and determined not to give it up; but they knew not how to proceed, for there was no sheriff in the county, that office having been hereditary in their chief's family; so that if Sir Herbert was the real heir, he was likewise sheriff.

But it so happened that John Earl of Montrose, the king's viceroy for

Scotland, was at that time in the vicinity, taking infeftment of some new grants of land, and he had likewise some of the principal official people of the country along with him. To him, therefore, the young men went, and told him all the story from the beginning, including Lucy's tale of the murder of their young lady. The Lord Viceroy was a good as well as great man. He had been a Lord of Session, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and was now raised as high as a subject could be raised, being his sovereign's Viceroy, and acting by his authority. He was greatly taken with the young men's candour and simplicity, perceived that they were serious, and had too much discernment not to see that there was something wrong with this upstart; knowing, as he well did, the powerful and relentless enemy the late heiress had in Queen Elizabeth, and that the present possessor was her tool. It was probably on some previous knowledge of these events, that, at the very first, he entered strenuously into the enquiry; but when he asked the two friends who it was that told them where the bodies were deposited, they refused to tell, saying they were not at liberty to mention that.

Without pressing them farther, he accompanied the young men to Acremoor Castle, taking his official friends along with him. It may well be supposed that Sir Herbert was a little surprised by this unceremonious visit from the Lord Viceroy; he, however, put on a bold and hardy look, welcoming the party to his castle, and inviting them to alight and enter it, which they declined, till they saw the issue of the affair on which they had come. Mon

trose then asked him sternly his reasons for preventing the young man from searching for the body of his only sister, and the vassals for that of their lady? He answered, that it was all a pretence, in order to get opportunities to destroy the salmon; that he heard the scoundrels had been out by night, and he determined to check them in time. The Viceroy answered, that, by virtue of his authority, he not only granted warrant for the search, but had come with his friends to witness the issue, and examine the evidences. Sir

Herbert bowed assent, and said, as long as his Highness was present, no depredation on his preserved fishingground could take place, only he requested him not to leave any such warrant behind him. He then furnished them with boats, but refused to accompany them himself on what he called such a frivolous expedi

tion.

The Viceroy and his friends, however, went all out in several bargesfor he had been too long a judge not to perceive the truth, though told to him in simple guise. Of course they at once brought up the one body, to which the buoy was attached, and found it to be that of a female, wrapped in a fine winding-sheet, and then put into a sack, with her head towards the bottom, and sunk with a large stone, and an iron ring in it. The stone was at once recognised by all the old vassals as one that had belonged to the castle dairy, but the identity of the body was uncertain. It was not greatly decayed, having been sunk among mud in the bottom of the lake; and all the stranger gentlemen thought it might have been recognised by intimate acquaintances. But it was manifest that a great uncertainty prevailed, as some thought it the body of their young lady, some that of Lucy, and more thought it neither. Even Lowry and Graham both hesitated, notwithstanding of the extraordinary information they had received, and its no less extraordinary accuracy,

The party continued to drag on, and at length actually fished up another female corpse, similarly disposed of in every respect, save that it was sunk by a leaden weight, which was likewise known to have been appended to the castle gate. The bodies were conveyed to a barn in the village, and all the inhabitants of the castle and its vicinity were summoned to attend on the instant, before the bodies were corroded by the action of the atmosphere, and the suspected murderer was obliged to attend, like a culprit, among the rest.

Strange as it may appear, though all the people suspected that the two bodies were those of their young lady and Lucy, not one of them would swear to the special identity of either. The Viceroy was fully convinced in his own mind that they