"  Hets ! "  said  the  woman,  "dey  ye  think  I  canna  hand
my  whisht,  when  the  maister  bids  me  ?  I'm  nae  great
dasher  at  ony  time  for  my  pairt."

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  sent  a  note  to  Sir
Charles  Bassett,  to  say  that  his  house  had  been  attacked
last  night  by  two  armed  burglars ;  he  and  his  people  had
captured  one,  and  wished  to  take  him  before  a  magistrate
at  once,  since  his  house  was  not  a  fit  place  to  hold  him
secure.  He  concluded  Sir  Charles  would  not  refuse  him
the  benefit  of  the  law,  however  obnoxious  he  might  be.
462  A  TBEEIBLE  TEMPTATION.
Sir  Charles's  lip  curled  with  contempt  at  the  man  who
was  not  ashamed  to  put  such  a  doubt  on  paper.
However,  he  wrote  back  a  civil  line,  to  say  that  of
course  he  was  at  Mr.  Bassett's  service,  and  would  be  in
his  justice-room  at  nine  o'clock.
Meantime  Mr.  Richard  Bassett  went  for  the  constable
and  an  assistant ;  but,  even  to  them,  he  would  not  say
precisely  what  he  wanted  them  for.
His  plan  was  to  march  an  unknown  burglar,  with  his
crape  on  his  face,  into  Sir  Charles's  study,  give  his  evi-
dence, and  then  reveal  the  son  to  the  father.
Jessie  managed  to  hold  her  tongue  for  an  hour  or  two,
and  nothing  occurred  at  Highmore,  or  in  Huntercombe,
to  interfere  with  Eichard  Bassett's  barbarous  revenge.
Meantime,  however,  something  remarkable  had  oc-
curred, at  the  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  quarter.
Mrs.  Meyrick  breakfasted  habitually  at  eight  o'clock.
Reginald  did  not  appear.
Mrs.  Meyrick  went  to  his  room  and  satisfied  herself
he  had  not  passed  the  night  there.
Then  she  went  to  the  foreign  gent's  shed.
He  was  not  there.
