ith a feeling of relief
and the intention of getting something to drink. Going down,
unattended, I pulled the house-door hard after me to close it for the
night, when Pitcairn called me from the window above to ask that I stop
by the chemist's and hurry along a draught for which he was waiting.

A light and tricksey snow had begun to fall while I was in the house;
snow which blew in gusts, now from one side, now from another; snow
which came crosswise, to be caught by the high wind and carried up to
the tops of the houses; and over all and around all the fog of the sea
and beaten bells sounding far away, as of ships in trouble or as
warnings from the shore.

I pulled my hat over my eyes, turned the collar of my great-coat around
my ears, and took to the middle of the road, looking round warily from
side to side to make sure that I was followed by none, for the town had
been greatly excited during this winter by statements in the public
prints of mysterious disappearances. Folks had been suddenly missed
from their own doorways, of whom no subsequent traces could be found;
visitors entering the city were lost sight of; Irish haymakers on their
road to the agricultural districts of the lowlands had disappeared from
their companions as if by magic, and suspicions of a dreadful nature
were abroad.[9]

[9] Benson's Noted Trials.

It was a uncanny night, black as chaos; and with my mind excited by
these horrid tales, I hurried along to the chemist's, whose man was
outside putting up the shutters. I stated my errand to the doctor, who
said he would carry the medicine himself, as Mr. Pitcairn's house lay
on the road to another patient with whom he had promised to pass the
night. This occurrence seems of small moment, and I but set it down to
show how slight a thing may turn many lives, for it was this very dose
of rhubarb and jalap which brought about much of the trouble toward
which we were drawing.

Starting again toward Stair I came directly upon some of the
town-guard, who, with flaming torches held aloft, were carrying a
couple of drunken wretches to the gaol. Turning to look after them I
became aware that a man had stepped from the shadow and was walking
beside me, going in the same direction, but at a much quicker gait than
my own. By the uncertain flare of the torches I saw that he was tall,
carried himself with distinction, and, what seemed markedly strange on
such a night, wore no covering whatever upon his