to permit - and I - in a word, I wronged her cruelly - It was
not so bad as your sister's business, but it was sufficiently villanous - her
folly should have been her protection. Soon after this I was sent abroad - To do
my father justice, if I have turned out a fiend it is not his fault - he used
the best means. When I returned, I found the wretched mother and daughter had
fallen into disgrace, and were chased from this country. - My deep share in
their shame and misery was discovered - my father used very harsh language - we
quarrelled. I left his house, and led a life of strange adventure, resolving
never again to see my father or my father's home.
    And now comes the story! - Jeanie, I put my life into your hands, and not
only my own life, which, God knows, is not worth saving, but the happiness of a
respectable old man, and the honour of a family of consideration. My love of low
society, as such propensities as I was cursed with are usually termed, was, I
think of an uncommon kind, and indicated a nature, which, if not depraved by
early debauchery, would have been fit for better things. I did not so much
delight in the wild revel, the low humour, the unconfined liberty of those with
whom I associated, as in the spirit of adventure, presence of mind in peril, and
sharpness of intellect which they displayed in prosecuting their maraudings upon
the revenue, or similar adventures. - Have you looked round this rectory? - is
it not a sweet and pleasant retreat?«
    Jeanie, alarmed at this sudden change of subject, replied in the
affirmative.
    »Well! I wish it had been ten thousand fathoms under ground, with its
church-lands, and tithes, and all that belongs to it. Had it not been for this
cursed rectory, I should have been permitted to follow the bent of my own
inclinations and the profession of arms, and half the courage and address that I
have displayed among smugglers and deer-stealers would have secured me an
honourable rank among my contemporaries. Why did I not go abroad when I left
this house! - Why did I leave it at all! - why - But it came to that point with
me that it is madness to look back, and misery to look forward!«
    He paused, and then proceeded with more composure.
    »The chances of a wandering life brought me unhappily to Scotland, to
embroil myself in worse and more