tantly taking place between Shanty and
Dymock, and it was in the very midst of one these arguments, that the
rare appearance of a hired chaise,--a job and pair, as Shanty called it,
appeared coming over the moor, directly to the shed, and so quick was
the approach, that the Laird and the blacksmith had by no means finished
their conjectures respecting this phenomenon, before the equipage came
to a stand, in the front of the hut.

As the carriage stopped, a spare, sallow, severe looking old gentlemen,
put his head out of the window, and calling to the post boy, in a sharp,
querulous tone, asked if he were quite sure that he was right?

"Not sure that this is old Shanty's hut; Shanty of Dymock's Moor,"
replied the post-boy, in a broad Northern accent; "ask me if I don't
know my own mother's son, though she never had but one bairn."

Dymock and Shanty no sooner heard the voice of the boy, than they both
recognized him, and stepping forward, they went up to the carriage and
offered to assist the old gentleman to alight; he received their
civilities with very little courtesy. However, he got out of the
carriage, and giving himself a shake, and a sort of twist, which caused
the lappets of his coat to expand, like the fan-tail of a pigeon, he
asked, if the place was Dymock's Moor, and if the old man he saw before
him, was one called Shanty of the Moor? The blacksmith declared himself
to be that same person, "and this gentlemen," he added, pointing to
Dymock, whose every day dress, by the bye, did not savor much of the
Laird, "This gentleman is Dymock himself."

"Ah, is it so," said the stranger, "my business then is with him, show
me where I can converse with him."

"I have no parlour to offer you," said Shanty; "to my shed, however,
such as it is, I make you welcome."

No gracious notice was taken by the stranger of the offer, but without
preamble or ceremony, he told his errand to Mr. Dymock. "I hear," he
said, "that you wish to sell your Tower, and the lands which surround
it; if after looking at it, and finding that it suits me, you will agree
to let me have it, I will pay you down in moneys, to the just and due
amount of the value thereof, but first I must see it."

"It stands there, Sir," said Shanty, seeing that Mr. Dymock's heart was
too full to permit him to speak; "it stands there, Sir, and is as noble
an object as my eye ever fell upon. The Tower," continued the old man,
"at this minute, lies directly under t