nued,
addressing the Quaker.

'Nay, friend,' answered Joshua, 'it went down thy throat, not mine; and
I have nothing to say about what concerns me not; but if thou art a
man of humanity, thou wilt not give this poor creature the means of
debauchery. Bethink thee that they will spurn him from the door, as
they would do a houseless and masterless dog, and that he may die on the
sands or on the common. And if he has through thy means been rendered
incapable of helping himself, thou shalt not be innocent of his blood.'

'Faith, Broadbrim, I believe thou art right, and the old gentleman in
the flaxen jazy shall have no more of the comforter. Besides, we have
business in hand to-day, and this fellow, for as mad as he looks, may
have a nose on his face after all. Hark ye, father,--what is your name,
and what brings you into such an out-of-the-way corner?'

'I am not just free to condescend on my name,' said Peter; 'and as for
my business--there is a wee dribble of brandy in the stoup--it would be
wrang to leave it to the lass--it is learning her bad usages.'

'Well, thou shalt have the brandy, and be d--d to thee, if thou wilt
tell me what you are making here.'

'Seeking a young advocate chap that they ca' Alan Fairford, that has
played me a slippery trick, and ye maun ken a' about the cause,' said
Peter.

'An advocate, man!' answered the captain of the JUMPING JENNY--for it
was he, and no other, who had taken compassion on Peter's drought;
'why, Lord help thee, thou art on the wrong side of the Firth to seek
advocates, whom I take to be Scottish lawyers, not English.'

'English lawyers, man!' exclaimed Peter, 'the deil a lawyer's in a'
England.'

'I wish from my soul it were true,' said Ewart; 'but what the devil put
that in your head?'

'Lord, man, I got a grip of ane of their attorneys in Carlisle, and he
tauld me that there wasna a lawyer in England ony mair than himsell that
kend the nature of a multiple-poinding! And when I told him how this
loopy lad, Alan Fairford, had served me, he said I might bring an action
on the case--just as if the case hadna as mony actions already as one
case can weel carry. By my word, it is a gude case, and muckle has it
borne, in its day, of various procedure--but it's the barley-pickle
breaks the naig's back, and wi' my consent it shall not hae ony mair
burden laid upon it.'

'But this Alan Fairford?' said Nanty--'come--sip up the drop of brandy,
man, and tell me some more abo