couldna lie quiet until their bodies were
properly buried: where then could be our offence?' 'You may say what
you will,' answered Mr. Heywood, 'and I cannot answer you, or preten'
to explain the thing; I only know that when that head is buried, these
same disagreeables always begin.' 'Then is the head in the way of being
buried and dug up again?' asked the master. 'I will tell you the whole
story, if you like,' answered his landlord. 'I would gladly hear it,'
says he, 'for I would fain see daylight on the affair!' 'That I cannot
promise you,' he said; 'but the story, as it is handed down in the
family, you shall hear.'

"You may be sure, my leddy, Harper was wide awake to hearken, an' the
more that he might tell it again in the hall!

"'Somewhere about a hundred and fifty years ago,' Mr. Heywood began,
'on a cold, stormy night, there came to the hall-door a poor
pedlar,'--a travelling merchant, you know, my leddy--'with his pack on
his back, and would fain have parted with some of his goods to the folk
of the hall. The butler, who must have been a rough sort of man--they
were rough times those--told him they wanted nothing he could give
them, and to go about his business. But the man, who was something
obstinate, I dare say, and, it may weel be, anxious to get shelter, as
much for the nicht bein' gurly as to sell his goods, keepit on beggin'
an' implorin' to lat the women-folk at the least luik at what he had
broucht. At last the butler, oot o' a' patience wi' the man, ga'e him a
great shove awa' frae the door, sae that the poor man fell doon the
steps, an' bangt the door to, nor ever lookit to see whether the man
gat up again or no.

"'I' the mornin' the pedlar they faund him lyin' deid in a little wud
or shaw, no far frae the hoose. An' wi' that up got the cry, an' what
said they but that the butler had murdert him! Sae up he was ta'en an'
put upo' 's trial for't. An' whether the man was not likit i' the
country-side, I cannot tell,' said the gentleman, 'but the cry was
against him, and things went the wrong way for him--and that though no
one aboot the hoose believed he had done the deed, more than he micht
hae caused his death by pushin' him doon the steps. An' even that he
could hardly have intendit, but only to get quit o' him; an' likely
enough the man was weak, perhaps ill, an' the weicht o' his pack on his
back pulled him as he pushed.' Still, efter an' a'--an' its mysel'
'at's sayin' this, no the gentleman