determined regarding
their guest. But what should have brought him the way of West Mains, such
an out-of-the-way place, seeing that he had neither gun, dog, nor
fishing-rod, and could not therefore have been in pursuit of sport? It was
odd, unaccountable. Where could he be from? Where could he be going to?
These were questions more easily put than answered; and by all were they
put, but by none were they replied to. At length, Mr Adair took speech in
hand himself on the subject.

"I kenna, nor, indeed, neither do I muckle care, wha the lad is; but he
seems to me to be a ceevil, discreet, young man; and I rather like him
a'thegither, although he's a dooms bad haun at baith cap and trencher. A',
however, that we hae to do wi' him, is to treat him ceevily while he's
under our roof. He's gotten a guid bed to lie in, and in the mornin we'll
gie him a guid breakfast to tak the road wi', and there'll be an end o't.
It's no likely we'll ever hear or see mair o' him." Having said this,
Robert broke up the conclave; gave the long-drawn sonorous yawn that his
family knew to be the signal of preparation for bed. In the next moment,
Adair's left hand was busily employed in undoing the knee buttons of his
small clothes. Another powerful yawn, and he proceeded to perform the same
operation on his right leg. In two minutes after, he was snugly buried
beneath the blankets; his "honest, sonsy, bawsint face," and red Kilmarnock
night-cap, being all that was left visible of him; and, in five minutes
more, a magnificent snore intimated to all whom it might concern, that
worthy Robin Adair was fairly in the land of Nod, and oblivious of all
earthly concerns.

On the following morning, Mr Adair and his guest met at breakfast, when
that liking for each other which had begun to manifest itself on the
preceding night--although neither, perhaps, could say precisely whence it
arose--gradually waxed into a somewhat stronger feeling. Adair was pleased
with the gentle and unaffected manners of his guest, while the latter was
equally pleased with the sincerity of character and generosity of heart of
his entertainer. It appeared, however, as if their acquaintance was to be
but of short duration, and as if they were now soon to part, in all
probability for ever. Circumstances seemed to point to this result; yet it
was by no means the one that followed--an odd incident at once threw out
all such calculation.

When breakfast was concluded, and the party