two
o’clock
repeated Alan ; ` a very singular name . ' ` Aye , and it was in as queer a way he got it ; but I 'll say naething about that , ' said the provost , ` for fear of forestalling his market ; for ye are sure to hear it once at least , however oftener , before the punch-bowl gives place to the teapot . -- And now , fare ye weel ; for there is the council-bell clinking in earnest ; and if I am not there before it jows in , Bailie Laurie will be trying some of his manoeuvres . ' The provost , repeating his expectation of seeing Mr. Fairford at two o'clock , at length effected his escape from the young counsellor , and left him at a considerable loss how to proceed . The sheriff , it seems , had returned to Edinburgh , and he feared to find the visible repugnance of the provost to interfere with this Laird of Birrenswork , or Redgauntlet , much stronger amongst the country gentlemen , many of whom were Catholics as well as Jacobites , and most others unwilling to quarrel with kinsmen and friends , by prosecuting with severity political offences which had almost run a prescription . To collect all the information in his power , and not to have recourse to the higher authorities until he could give all the light of which the case was capable , seemed the wiser proceeding in a choice of difficulties . He had some conversation with the procurator-fiscal , who , as well as the provost , was an old correspondent of his father .