I
knew so well, has been found this morning dead in the streets."

"Only dead drunk, I trust?" said the smith; "nay, a candle and a dose of
matrimonial advice will bring him to life again."

"No, Henry--no. He is slain--slain with a battle axe or some such
weapon."

"Impossible!" replied the smith; "he was light footed enough, and would
not for all Perth have trusted to his hands, when he could extricate
himself by his heels."

"No choice was allowed him. The blow was dealt in the very back of his
head; he who struck must have been a shorter man than himself, and used
a horseman's battle axe, or some such weapon, for a Lochaber axe must
have struck the upper part of his head. But there he lies dead, brained,
I may say, by a most frightful wound."

"This is inconceivable," said Henry Wynd. "He was in my house at
midnight, in a morricer's habit; seemed to have been drinking, though
not to excess. He told me a tale of having been beset by revellers,
and being in danger; but, alas! you know the man--I deemed it was a
swaggering fit, as he sometimes took when he was in liquor; and, may the
Merciful Virgin forgive me! I let him go without company, in which I did
him inhuman wrong. Holy St. John be my witness! I would have gone with
any helpless creature; and far more with him, with whom I have so often
sat at the same board and drunken of the same cup. Who, of the race
of man, could have thought of harming a creature so simple and so
unoffending, excepting by his idle vaunts?"

"Henry, he wore thy head piece, thy buff coat; thy target. How came he
by these?"

"Why, he demanded the use of them for the night, and I was ill at ease,
and well pleased to be rid of his company, having kept no holiday, and
being determined to keep none, in respect of our misunderstanding."

"It is the opinion of Bailie Craigdallie and all our sagest counsellors
that the blow was intended for yourself, and that it becomes you to
prosecute the due vengeance of our fellow citizen, who received the
death which was meant for you."

The smith was for some time silent. They had now left the garden, and
were walking in a lonely lane, by which they meant to approach the
council house of the burgh without being exposed to observation or idle
inquiry.

"You are silent, my son, yet we two have much to speak of," said Simon
Glover. "Bethink thee that this widowed woman, Maudlin, if she should
see cause to bring a charge against any one for the wron