ath. A man was killed and his body hid, and a man lived with his blood
upon him. Fate is fate, and Justice is near. For years he will keep
the murther to himself, till a man's to come that will bring him to
judgment. Then will judgment be passed, and the Book of Death will be
opened. Read, says the Prophet; it is done at last; Judgment is passed,
and Death follows; the innocent is set free, and the murdherer that
consaled the murdher so long swings at last; and all these things is to
be found by the Wise in the Books of Marriage, Death, and Judgment. He
then added, as he had done at the conclusion of his former prophecy:

"Be kind and indulgent to your daughter, for she'll soon make all your
fortunes; an' take care of her and yourselves till I see yez again."

As before, he gave them no further opportunity of asking for
explanations, but immediately departed; and as if he had been moved by
some new impulse or afterthought, he directed his steps once more to the
Grange, where he saw young Henderson, with whom he had another private
interview, of the purport of which our readers may probably form a
tolerably accurate conjecture.

CHAPTER XVI. -- Mysterious Disappearance of the Tobacco-box.

M'Gowan's mind, at this period of our narrative, was busily engaged in
arranging his plans--for we need scarcely add here, that whether founded
on justice or not, he had more than one ripening. Still there preyed
upon him a certain secret anxiety, from which, by no effort, could he
succeed in ridding himself. The disappearance of the Tobacco-box kept
him so ill at ease and unhappy, that he resolved, on his way home, to
make a last effort at finding it out, if it could be done; and many a
time did he heartily curse his own stupidity for ever having suffered
it to remain in his house or about it, especially when it was so easy
to destroy it. His suspicions respecting it most certainly rested upon.
Nelly, whom he now began to regard with a feeling of both hatred and
alarm. Sarah, he knew, had little sympathy with him; but then he
also knew that there existed less in common between her and Nelly. He
thought, therefore, that his wisest plan would be to widen the breach of
ill-feeling between them more and more, and thus to secure himself, if
possible, of Sarah's co-operation and confidence, if not from affection
or good feeling towards himself, at least from ill-will towards her
step-mother. For this reason, therefore, as well as