nded upon the orb
of Sir Arthur, to whom, moreover, as the most important person of the
society, they were naturally induced to attach themselves.

It frequently happens that the most beautiful points of Scottish scenery
lie hidden in some sequestered dell, and that you may travel through the
country in every direction without being aware of your vicinity to what
is well worth seeing, unless intention or accident carry you to the
very spot. This is particularly the case in the country around Fairport,
which is, generally speaking, open, unenclosed, and bare. But here and
there the progress of rills, or small rivers, has formed dells, glens,
or as they are provincially termed, dens, on whose high and rocky banks
trees and shrubs of all kinds find a shelter, and grow with a luxuriant
profusion, which is the more gratifying, as it forms an unexpected
contrast with the general face of the country. This was eminently the
case with the approach to the ruins of Saint Ruth, which was for some
time merely a sheep-track, along the side of a steep and bare hill. By
degrees, however, as this path descended, and winded round the hillside,
trees began to appear, at first singly, stunted, and blighted, with
locks of wool upon their trunks, and their roots hollowed out into
recesses, in which the sheep love to repose themselves--a sight much more
gratifying to the eye of an admirer of the picturesque than to that of
a planter or forester. By and by the trees formed groups, fringed on the
edges, and filled up in the middle, by thorns and hazel bushes; and at
length these groups closed so much together, that although a broad glade
opened here and there under their boughs, or a small patch of bog or
heath occurred which had refused nourishment to the seed which they
sprinkled round, and consequently remained open and waste, the scene
might on the whole be termed decidedly woodland. The sides of the valley
began to approach each other more closely; the rush of a brook was heard
below, and between the intervals afforded by openings in the natural
wood, its waters were seen hurling clear and rapid under their silvan
canopy.

Oldbuck now took upon himself the full authority of cicerone, and
anxiously directed the company not to go a foot-breadth off the track
which he pointed out to them, if they wished to enjoy in full perfection
what they came to see. "You are happy in me for a guide, Miss Wardour,"
exclaimed the veteran, waving his hand a