Alexander was at his lesson-book, of
which I was not certain of the disposition. It should be borne in mind,
in the defence of that which I now did, that I was always in some fear
my lord was not quite justly in his reason; and with our enemy sitting
so still in the same town with us, I did well to be upon my guard.
Accordingly I made a pretext, had the hour changed at which I taught Mr.
Alexander the foundation of ciphering and the mathematic, and set myself
instead to dog my master's footsteps.

Every morning, fair or foul, he took his gold-headed cane, set his hat
on the back of his head--a recent habitude, which I thought to indicate
a burning brow--and betook himself to make a certain circuit. At the
first his way was among pleasant trees and beside a graveyard, where he
would sit a while, if the day were fine, in meditation. Presently the
path turned down to the water-side, and came back along the
harbour-front and past the Master's booth. As he approached this second
part of his circuit, my Lord Durrisdeer began to pace more leisurely,
like a man delighted with the air and scene; and before the booth,
half-way between that and the water's edge, would pause a little,
leaning on his staff. It was the hour when the Master sate within upon
his board and plied his needle. So these two brothers would gaze upon
each other with hard faces; and then my lord move on again, smiling to
himself.

It was but twice that I must stoop to that ungrateful necessity of
playing spy. I was then certain of my lord's purpose in his rambles and
of the secret source of his delight. Here was his mistress: it was
hatred and not love that gave him healthful colours. Some moralists
might have been relieved by the discovery; I confess that I was
dismayed. I found this situation of two brethren not only odious in
itself, but big with possibilities of further evil; and I made it my
practice, in so far as many occupations would allow, to go by a shorter
path and be secretly present at their meeting. Coming down one day a
little late, after I had been near a week prevented, I was struck with
surprise to find a new development. I should say there was a bench
against the Master's house, where customers might sit to parley with the
shopman; and here I found my lord seated, nursing his cane and looking
pleasantly forth upon the bay. Not three feet from him sate the Master,
stitching. Neither spoke; nor (in this new situation) did my lord so
much as