doubtless—they kenn'd best. I wad hae made nae great charge. I wadna hae excised Johnnie, dead or alive. Stay, see—the strange gentleman is coming.'
'Hold the lantern to assist him, Mattocks,' said I. 'This is rough walking, sir.'
'Yes,' replied the Benedictine; 'I may say with a poet, who is doubtless familiar to you'
I should be surprised if he were, thought I internally.
The stranger continued:
'Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night
Have my old feet stumbled at graves!'
'We are now clear of the churchyard,' said I, 'and have but a short walk to David's, where I hope we shall find a cheerful fire to enliven us after our night's work.'
We entered, accordingly, the little parlour, into which Mattocks was also about to push himself with sufficient effrontery, when David, with a most astounding oath, expelled him by head and shoulders, d—ning his curiosity, that would not let gentlemen be private in their own inn. Apparently mine host considered his own presence as no intrusion, for he crowded up to the table on which I had laid down the leaden box. It was frail and wasted, as might be guessed, from having lain so many years in the ground. On opening it, we found deposited within, a case made of porphyry, as the stranger had announced to us.
'I fancy,' he said, 'gentlemen, your curiosity will not be satisfied—perhaps I should say that your suspicions will not be removed—unless I undo this casket; yet it only contains the mouldering remains of a heart, once the seat of the noblest thoughts.'
He undid the box with great caution; but the shrivelled substance which it contained bore now no resemblance to what it might once have been, the means used having been apparently unequal to preserve its shape and colour, although they were adequate to prevent its total decay. We were quite satisfied, notwithstanding, that it was, what the stranger asserted, the remains of a human heart; and David readily promised bis influence in the village, which was almost co-ordinate with that of the bailie himself, to silence all idle rumours. He was, moreover, pleased to
