to a lover from a young person in a higher rank of life than Jeanie's,
would have had something forward and improper in its character. But the
simplicity of her rural habits was unacquainted with these punctilious ideas of
decorum, and no notion, therefore, of impropriety crossed her imagination, as,
setting out upon a long journey, she went to bid adieu to an early friend.
    There was still another motive that pressed upon her mind with additional
force as she approached the village. She had looked anxiously for Butler in the
courthouse, and had expected that, certainly, in some part of that eventful day,
he would have appeared to bring such countenance and support as he could give to
his old friend, and the protector of his youth, even if her own claims were laid
aside.
    She knew, indeed, that he was under a certain degree of restraint; but she
still had hoped that he would have found means to emancipate himself from it, at
least for one day. In short, the wild and wayward thoughts which Wordsworth has
described as rising in an absent lover's imagination, suggested, as the only
explanation of his absence, that Butler must be very ill. And so much had this
wrought on her imagination, that when she approached the cottage where her lover
occupied a small apartment, and which had been pointed out to her by a maiden
with a milk-pail on her head, she trembled at anticipating the answer she might
receive on inquiring for him.
    Her fears in this case had, indeed, only hit upon the truth. Butler, whose
constitution was naturally feeble, did not soon recover the fatigue of body and
distress of mind which he had suffered, in consequence of the tragical events
with which our narrative commenced. The painful idea that his character was
breathed on by suspicion, was an aggravation to his distress.
    But the most cruel addition was the absolute prohibition laid by the
magistrates on his holding any communication with Deans or his family. It had
unfortunately appeared likely to them, that some intercourse might be again
attempted with that family by Robertson, through the medium of Butler, and this
they were anxious to intercept, or prevent if possible. The measure was not
meant as a harsh or injurious severity on the part of the magistrates; but, in
Butler's circumstances, it pressed cruelly hard. He felt he must be suffering
under the bad opinion of the person who was dearest to him, from an imputation
of unkind desertion, the most alien to his nature.
    This painful thought, pressing on a frame already injured,