hasna ony immediate commands.«
    »But, Cuddie,« said Morton, »I really cannot take these things from you
without some recompense.«
    »Hout fie, stir,« answered Cuddie, »ye suld aye be taking, - for recompense,
ye may think about that some other time - I hae seen gey weel to mysell wi' some
things that fit me better. What could I do wi' Lord Evandale's braw claes?
Sergeant Bothwell's will serve me weel eneugh.«
    Not being able to prevail on the self-constituted and disinterested follower
to accept of anything for himself out of these warlike spoils, Morton resolved
to take the first opportunity of returning Lord Evandale's property, supposing
him yet to be alive; and, in the meanwhile, did not hesitate to avail himself of
Cuddie's prize, so far as to appropriate some changes of linen, and other
trifling articles amongst those of more value which the portmanteau contained.
    He then hastily looked over the papers which were found in Bothwell's
pocket-book. These were of a miscellaneous description. The roll of his troop,
with the names of those absent on furlough, memorandums of tavern bills, and
lists of delinquents who might be made subjects of fine and persecution, first
presented themselves, along with a copy of a warrant from the Privy Council to
arrest certain persons of distinction therein named. In another pocket of the
book were one or two commissions which Bothwell had held at different times, and
certificates of his services abroad, in which his courage and military talents
were highly praised. But the most remarkable paper was an accurate account of
his genealogy, with reference to many documents for establishment of its
authenticity; - subjoined was a list of the ample possessions of the forfeited
Earls of Bothwell, and a particular account of the proportions in which King
James VI. had bestowed them on the courtiers and nobility, by whose descendants
they were at present actually possessed; beneath this list was written, in red
letters, in the hand of the deceased, Haud Immemor, F. S. E. B., the initials
probably intimating Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell. To these documents, which
strongly painted the character and feelings of their deceased proprietor, were
added some which showed him in a light greatly different from that in which we
have hitherto presented him to the reader.
    In a secret pocket of the book, which Morton did not discover without some
trouble, were one or two letters, written in a beautiful female hand. They were
dated about twenty years back, bore no