something like the trepidation of guilt in your conduct, and declare that you
were the first to command them to open the gate, in a tone of authority, as if
still presiding over the guards and out-posts of the rabble, who had besieged
them the whole night.«
    »God forgive them!« said Butler; »I only asked free passage for myself; they
must have much misunderstood, if they did not wilfully misrepresent me.«
    »Well, Mr. Butler,« resumed the magistrate, »I am inclined to judge the best
and hope the best, as I am sure I wish the best; but you must be frank with me,
if you wish to secure my good opinion, and lessen the risk of inconvenience to
yourself. You have allowed you saw another individual in your passage through
the King's Park to Saint Leonard's Crags - I must know every word which passed
betwixt you.«
    Thus closely pressed, Butler, who had no reason for concealing what passed
at that meeting, unless because Jeanie Deans was concerned in it, thought it
best to tell the whole truth from beginning to end.
    »Do you suppose,« said the magistrate, pausing, »that the young woman will
accept an invitation so mysterious?«
    »I fear she will,« replied Butler.
    »Why do you use the word fear it?« said the magistrate.
    »Because I am apprehensive for her safety, in meeting at such a time and
place, one who had something of the manner of a desperado, and whose message was
of a character so inexplicable.«
    »Her safety shall be cared for,« said the magistrate. »Mr. Butler, I am
concerned I cannot immediately discharge you from confinement, but I hope you
will not be long detained. - Remove Mr. Butler, and let him be provided with
decent accommodation in all respects.«
    He was conducted back to the prison accordingly; but, in the food offered to
him, as well as in the apartment in which he was lodged, the recommendation of
the magistrate was strictly attended to.
 

                               Chapter Thirteenth

 Dark and eerie was the night,
 And lonely was the way,
 As Janet, wi' her green mantell,
 To Miles' Cross she did gae.
                                                                     Old Ballad.
 
Leaving Butler to all the uncomfortable thoughts attached to his new situation,
among which the most predominant was his feeling that he was, by his
confinement, deprived of all possibility of assisting the family at St.
Leonard's in their greatest need, we return to Jeanie Deans, who