you
no harm. In short, Dousterswivel persuaded me to witness an experiment
which he had made in the ruins of St. Ruth--and what do you think we
found?"

"Another spring of water, I suppose, of which the rogue had beforehand
taken care to ascertain the situation and source."

"No, indeed--a casket of gold and silver coins--here they are."

With that, Sir Arthur drew from his pocket a large ram's horn, with
a copper cover, containing a considerable quantity of coins, chiefly
silver, but with a few gold pieces intermixed. The Antiquary's eyes
glistened as he eagerly spread them out on the table.

"Upon my word--Scotch, English, and foreign coins, of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, and some of them rari--et rariores--etiam rarissimi!
Here is the bonnet-piece of James V., the unicorn of James II.,--ay, and
the gold festoon of Queen Mary, with her head and the Dauphin's. And
these were really found in the ruins of St. Ruth?"

"Most assuredly--my own eyes witnessed it."

"Well," replied Oldbuck; "but you must tell me the when--the where-the
how."

"The when," answered Sir Arthur, "was at midnight the last full moon--the
where, as I have told you, in the ruins of St. Ruth's priory--the how,
was by a nocturnal experiment of Dousterswivel, accompanied only by
myself."

"Indeed!" said Oldbuck; "and what means of discovery did you employ?"

"Only a simple suffumigation," said the Baronet, "accompanied by
availing ourselves of the suitable planetary hour."

"Simple suffumigation? simple nonsensification--planetary hour? planetary
fiddlestick! Sapiens dominabitur astris. My dear Sir Arthur, that fellow
has made a gull of you above ground and under ground, and he would have
made a gull of you in the air too, if he had been by when you was
craned up the devil's turnpike yonder at Halket-head--to be sure the
transformation would have been then peculiarly apropos."

"Well, Mr. Oldbuck, I am obliged to you for your indifferent opinion of
my discernment; but I think you will give me credit for having seen what
I say I saw."

"Certainly, Sir Arthur," said the Antiquary,--"to this extent at least,
that I know Sir Arthur Wardour will not say he saw anything but what he
thought he saw."

"Well, then," replied the Baronet, "as there is a heaven above us, Mr.
Oldbuck, I saw, with my own eyes, these coins dug out of the chancel of
St. Ruth at midnight. And as to Dousterswivel, although the discovery
be owing to his scienc