,« says he.
    »Speaking of which, my lord, I return your letter.« And I gave him the
enclosure in the counterfeit hand.
    »There was the cover also with the seal,« said he.
    »I have it not,« said I. »It bore not even an address, and could not
compromise a cat. The second enclosure I have, and with your permission, I
desire to keep it.«
    I thought he winced a little, but he said nothing to the point. »To-morrow,«
he resumed, »our business here is to be finished, and I proceed by Glasgow. I
would be very glad to have you of my party, Mr. David.«
    »My lord ...« I began.
    »I do not deny it will be of service to me,« he interrupted. »I desire even
that, when we shall come to Edinburgh, you should alight at my house. You have
very warm friends in the Miss Grants, who will be overjoyed to have you to
themselves. If you think I have been of use to you, you can thus easily repay
me, and so far from losing, may reap some advantage by the way. It is not every
strange young man who is presented in society by the King's Advocate.«
    Often enough already (in our brier relations) this gentleman had caused my
head to spin; no doubt but what for a moment he did so again now. Here was the
old fiction still maintained of my particular favour with his daughters, one of
whom had been so good as laugh at me, while the other two had scarce deigned to
remark the fact of my existence. And now I was to ride with my lord to Glasgow;
I was to dwell with him in Edinburgh; I was to be brought into society under his
protection! That he should have so much good-nature as to forgive me was
surprising enough; that he could wish to take me up and serve me seemed
impossible; and I began to seek for some ulterior meaning. One was plain. If I
became his guest, repentance was excluded; I could never think better of my
present design and bring any action. And besides, would not my presence in his
house draw out the whole pungency of the memorial? For that complaint could not
be very seriously regarded, if the person chiefly injured was the guest of the
official most incriminated. As I thought upon this, I could not quite refrain
from smiling.
    »This is in the nature of
