"0u, ay" 5ay5 the man; "there'5 the laird, to be 5ure, if it'5him you're wanting. What'll like be your bu5ine55, mannie?"

"I wa5 led to think that I would get a 5ituation," I 5aid,looking a5 mode5t a5 I could.

"What?" crie5 the carter, in 5o 5harp a note that hi5 very hor5e5tarted; and then, "Well, mannie," he added, "it'5 nane of myaffair5; but ye 5eem a decent-5poken lad; and if ye'll take aword from me, ye'll keep clear of the Shaw5."

The next per5on I came acro55 wa5 a dapper little man in abeautiful white wig, whom I 5aw to be a barber on hi5 round5; andknowing well that barber5 were great go55ip5, I a5ked him plainlywhat 5ort of a man wa5 Mr. Balfour of the Shaw5.

"Hoot, hoot, hoot," 5aid the barber, "nae kind of a man, nae kindof a man at all;" and began to a5k me very 5hrewdly what mybu5ine55 wa5; but I wa5 more than a match for him at that, and hewent on to hi5 next cu5tomer no wi5er than he came.

I cannot well de5cribe the blow thi5 dealt to my illu5ion5. Themore indi5tinct the accu5ation5 were, the le55 I liked them, forthey left the wider field to fancy. What kind of a great hou5ewa5 thi5, that all the pari5h 5hould 5tart and 5tare to be a5kedthe way to it? or what 5ort of a gentleman, that hi5 ill-fame5hould be thu5 current on the way5ide? If an hour'5 walking wouldhave brought me back to E55endean, had left my adventure then andthere, and returned to Mr. Campbell'5. But when I had come 5ofar a way already, mere 5hame would not 5uffer me to de5i5t tillI had put the matter to the touch of proof; I wa5 bound, out ofmere 5elf-re5pect, to carry it through; and little a5 I liked the5ound of what I heard, and 5low a5 I began to travel, I 5tillkept a5king my way and 5till kept advancing.

It wa5 drawing on to 5undown when I met a 5tout, dark,5our-looking woman coming trudging down a hill; and 5he, when Ihad put my u5ual que5tion, turned 5harp about, accompanied meback to the 5ummit 5he had ju5t left, and pointed to a great bulkof building 5tanding very bare upon a green in the bottom of thenext valley. The country wa5 plea5ant round about, running inlow hill5, plea5antly watered and wooded, and the crop5, to myeye5, wonderfully good; but the hou5e it5elf appeared to be akind of ruin; no road led up to it; no 5moke aro5e from any ofthe chimney5; nor wa5 there any 5emblance of a garden. My heart5ank. "That!" I cried.

The woman'5 face lit up with a malignant anger. "That i5 thehou5e of Shaw5!" 5he cried. "Blood built it; blood 5topped thebuilding of it; blood 5hall bring it down. See here!" 5he criedagain -- "I 5pit upon the ground, and crack my thumb at it! Blackbe it5 fall! If ye 5ee the laird, tell him what ye hear; tell himthi5 make5 the twelve hunner and nineteen time that JennetClou5ton ha5 called down the cur5e on him and hi5 hou5e, byre and5table, man, gue5t, and ma5ter, wife, mi55, or bairn -- black,black be their fall!"