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27 - Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson · Adventure Books Library

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Chapter twenty seven. I come to mister Rankeiler the next day. It was
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agreed that Allan should fend for himself till sunset, but as soon as it
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began to grow dark, he should lie in the fields by the roadside near
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to New Halls, and stir for naught until he heard me whistling. At
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first I proposed I should give him for a signal the bonny house of Airly,
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which was a favorite of mine. But he objected that, as the
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piece was very commonly known, any plowman might whistle it by accident, and
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taught me instead a little fragment of a Highland air, which is run in
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my head from that day to this, and will likely run in my head
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when I lie dying. Every time it comes to me, it takes me
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off to that last day of my uncertainty, with Alan sitting up in the
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bottom of the den, whistling and beating the measure with a finger, and
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the gray of the dawn coming on his face. I was in the long
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street of Queen's Ferry before the sun was up. It was a fairly built
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berg. The houses of good Stone many slated, the town hall not so
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fine, I thought, as that of peebles, nor yet the streets so
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noble. But take it altogether. It put me to shame for my foul
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tatters. As the morning went on, and the fires began to be kindled,
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and the windows to open, and the people to appear out of the
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houses, my concern and despondency grew. Ever the blacker. I saw now
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that I had no grounds to stand upon, and no clear proof of my
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rights, nor so much as of my own identity. If it was all
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a bubble, I was indeed sorely cheated and left in a sore pass.
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Even if things were as I conceived, it would in all likelihood take time
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to establish my contentions. And what time had I to spare with less than
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three shillings in my pocket and a condemned, hunted man upon my hands to
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ship out of the country. Truly, if my hope broke with me,
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it might come to the gallows yet for both of us. And as I
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continued to walk up and down and saw people looking askance at me upon the
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street or out of windows, and nudging or speaking one to another with smiles,
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I began to take a fresh apprehension that it might be no easy matter,
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even to come to speech of the lawyer, far less to convince him
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of my story. For the life of me, I could not muster up
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the courage to address any of these reputable burghers. I thought shame even to
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speak with them in such a pickle of rags and dirt. And if I
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had asked for the house of such a man as mister Rankeiler, I supposed
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they would have burst out laughing in my face. So I went up and
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down and through the street and down to the harbor side, like a dog
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that has lost its master, with a strange gnawing in my inwards, and
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every now and then a movement of despair. It grew to be high day
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at last, perhaps nine in the forenoon, and I was worn with these
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wanderings, and chance to have stopped in front of a very good house on
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the landward side, a house with beautiful clear glass windows, flowering knots upon
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the sills, the walls new harled, and a chased dog sitting yawning on
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the step, like one that was at home. Well, I was even
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envying this dumb brute when the door fell open, and there issued forth the
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shrewd, ruddy, kindly consequential man in a well powdered wig and spectacles.
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I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on me once.
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But he looked at me again. And this gentleman, as it proved,
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was so much struck with my poor appearance, that he came straight up to
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me and asked me what I did. I told him I was come to
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the Queen's Ferry on business, and taking heart of grace, asked him to
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direct me to the house of mister Wrenkeuyler. Why, said he. That
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is his house that I have just come out of, And for a rather
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singular chance, I am that very man. Then, Sir said I,
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I have to beg the favor of an interview. I do not know your
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name, said he, nor yet your face. My name is David Balfour,
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said I, David Balfour, he repeated, in rather a high tone,
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like one surprised. And where have you come from, mister David Balfour,
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he asked, looking pretty dryly in the face. I have come from
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a great many strange places, Sir said I, but I think it would
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be as well to tell you where and how. In a more private manner,
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he seemed to muse awhile, holding his lip in his hand, and
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looking now at me, and now upon the cause we of the street.
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Yes, says he, that will be the best, no doubt. And
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he led me back with him into his house, cried out to some one
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whom I could not see, that he would be engaged all morning, and
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brought me into a little dusty chamber full of books and documents. Here he
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sat down and bade me be seated, though I thought he looked a little
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ruefully from his clean chair to my muddy rags. And now says he,
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if you have any business, pray be brief and come swiftly to the point.
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Nick jemino bellum trojanum orditur ab vovou. Do you understand that? Says
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he, with a keen look. I will even do as Horace, says
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sir, I answered, smiling, and carry you in medias rests. He
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nodded as if he was well pleased, And indeed his scrap of Latin had
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been set to test me for all that, And though I was somewhat encouraged,
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the blood came in my face when I added, I have reason to
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believe myself some rights on the estate of Shaws. He got a paper book
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out of a drawer and set it before him open well, said he.
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But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless. Come come, mister Balfour,
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said he. You must continue. Where were you born in Essendean,
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Sir, said I the year seventeen thirty three, the twelfth of March.
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He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book. But what that meant
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I knew? Not your father and mother, said he. My father was
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Alexander Balfour, schoolmaster of that place, said I, and my mother Grace
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Pitterow. I think her people were from Angus. Have you any papers proving
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your identity, asked mister Raincyler. No, Sir, said I, but
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they are in the hands of mister Campbell, the Minister, and could be
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readily produced. Mister Campbell, too would give me his word, and for
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that manner, I do not think my uncle would deny me. Meaning mister
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Ebenezer Balfour says he the same, said I whom have you seen? He
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asked by whom I was received into his own house? I answered? Did
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you ever meet a man of the name of host Season, asked mister Rangkeyler,
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I did so, sir, for my sins said I. For it
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was by his means and the procurement of my uncle, that I was kidnapped
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within sight of this town, carried to sea, suffered shipwreck, and a
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hundred other hardships, and stand before you to day in this poor accouterment.
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You say you were shipwrecked, said Rancyler. Where was that off the south
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end of the Isle of Mull? Said I? The name of the isle
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on which I was cast up is the island eh red Ah, says he,
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smiling. You are deeper than me in the geography. But so far
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I may tell you this agrees pretty exactly with other informations that I old.
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But you say you were kidnapped in what sense? In the plain meaning of
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the words, Sir? Said I. I was on my way to your
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house when I was trepanned on board the brig cruelly struck down, thrown below,
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and knew no more of anything till we were far at sea. I
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was destined for the plantations, a fate that, in God's providence, I
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have escaped. The brig was lost on June the twenty seventh, says he,
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looking in his book. And we are now at August the twenty fourth.
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Here is a considerable hiatus, mister Balfour, of near upon two months.
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It has already caused a vast amount of trouble to your friends, and
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I own I shall not be very well contented until it is set right.
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Indeed, sir said I, these months are very easily filled up. But
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yet, before I told my story, I would be glad to know that
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I was talking to a friend. This is to argue in a circle,
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said the lawyer. I cannot be convinced till I have heard you. I
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cannot be your friend till I am properly informed. If you were more trustful,
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it would better befit your time of life. And you know, mister
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Balfour, we have a proverb in the country that evil doers are I evil
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dreaders. You are not to forget, sir, said I, that I
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have already suffered by my trustfulness, and was shipped off to be a slave
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by the very man that, if I rightly understand, is your employer.
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All this while I have been gaining ground with mister Rankeuyler, and in proportion
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as I gained ground, gaining confidence. But at this sally, which I
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made with something of a smile myself, he fairly laughed aloud. No,
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no, said he. It is not so bad as that fuied nonsoom.
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I was indeed your uncle's men of business. But while you Emerbius, Juvenis
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Costode Ramoto were gallivanting in the west, a good deal of water as run
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under the bridges. And if your ears did not sing, it was not
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for lack of being talked about. On the very day of your sea disaster,
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mister Campbell stalked into my office, demanding you from all the winds.
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I had never heard of your existence, but I had known your father,
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and from matters in my competence to be touched upon hereafter, I was disposed
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to fear the worse. Mister Ebenezer admitted, having seen you, declared what
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seemed improbable, that he had given you considerable sums, and that you had
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started for the continent of Europe, intending to fulfill your education, which was
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probable and praiseworthy. Interrogated how you had come to send no word to mister
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Campbell. He deponed that you had expressed a great desire to break with your
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past life. Further interrogated where you now were, protested ignorance, but believed
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you were in Leyden. That is a close sum of his replies. I
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am not exactly sure that any one believed him, continued mister Raankeyler with a
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smile. And in particular he so much disrelished me expressions of mine, that
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in a word he showed me to the door. We were then at a
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full stand. For whatever shrewd suspicions we might entertain, we had no shadow
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of probation. In the very article comes Captain hose Season with the story of
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your drowning. Whereupon all fell through with no consequences, but concerned to mister
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Campbell, injury to my pocket, and another blot upon your uncle's character,
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which could very ill afford it. And now mister Balfour said he you understand
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the whole process of these matters, and can judge for yourself to what extent
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I may be trusted. Indeed, he was more pedantic than I can represent
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him, and place more scraps of Latin in a speech. But it was
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all uttered with a fine geniality of eye and manner, which went far to
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conquer my distrust. Moreover, I could see he now treated me as if
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I was myself beyond a doubt, So that first part of my identity seemed
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fully granted. Sir said I, if I tell you my story, I
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must commit a friend's life to your discretion. Pass me your word. It
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shall be sacred, and for what touches myself, I will ask no better
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guarantee than just your face. He passed me his word very seriously, but
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said he these are rather alarming prolocutions. And if there are in your story
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any little jostles to the law, I would beg you to bear in mind
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that I am a lawyer, and pass lightly. Thereupon I told him my
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story from the first. He listening with his spectacles thrust up and his eyes
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closed, so that I sometimes feared he was asleep, But no such matter.
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He heard every word, as I found afterward, with such quickness of
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hearing and precision of memory as often surprised me. Even strange outlandish Gaelic names
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heard for that time, only he remembered and would remind me of years after.
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Yet when I called Alan brecken Full, we had an odd scene.
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The name of Alan had of course rung through Scotland with the news of the
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Appen murder and the offer of the reward, and it had no sooner escaped
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me than the lawyer moved in his seat and opened his eyes. I would
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name no unnecessary names, mister Balfour, said, he above all of highlanders,
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many of whom are obnoxious to the law. Well, it might have
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been better not said I. But since I have let it slip, I
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may as well continue. Not at all, said mister rankeyler. I am
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somewhat dull of hearing, as you may have remarked, and I am far
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from sure I caught the name exactly. We will call your friend, if
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you please, mister Thomas, that there may be no reflections, And in
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future I would take some such way with any highlander that you may have to
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mention dead or alive. By this, I saw he must have heard the
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name all too clearly, and had already guessed I might be coming to the
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murder. If he chose to play this part of ignorance. It was no
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matter of mine, so I smiled, said it was no very highland sounding
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name, and consented. Through all the rest of my story, allan was
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mister Thompson, which amused me the more as it was a piece of policy
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after his own heart. James Stewart, in like manner was mentioned under the
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style of mister Thompson's kinsman Colin Campbell passed as mister Glenn and to Clooney.
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When I came to that part of my tale, I gave the name of
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mister jamieson a Highland chief. It was truly the most open farce, and
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I wondered that the lawyer should care to keep it up. But after all,
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it was quite in the taste of that age, when there were two
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parties in the state, and quiet persons with no very high opinions of their
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own sought out every cranny to avoid offense to either. Well, well,
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said the lawyer when I had quite done, this is a great epic,
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a great odyssey of yours. You must tell it, sir, in a
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sound latinity, when your scholarship is riper, or in English, if you
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please, though for my part I prefer the stronger tongue. You have rolled
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much quie reggio in Terrace. What perish in Scotland to make a homely translation
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has not been filled with your wanderings. You have shown, besides a singular
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aptitude for getting into false positions, and yes upon the whole, for behaving
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well in them. This, mister Thompson seems to me a gentleman of some
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choice qualities, though perhaps a trifle bloody minded. It would please me none
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the worse if with all his merits he were soust in the North Sea.
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For the man, mister David, is a sore embarrassment. But you are
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doubtless quite right to adhere to him. Indubitably he adhered to you. It
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comes we may say he was your true companion, nor less paribus curis vestigia
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figit. For I dare say you would both take an o'er a thought upon
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the gallows. Well, well, these days are fortunately by, and I
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think, speaking humanly, that you are near the end of your troubles.
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As he thus moralized on my adventures, he looked upon me with so much
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humor and benignity that I could scarce contain my satisfaction. I had been so
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long wandering with lawless people, and making my bed upon the hills and under
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the bare sky, that to sit once more in a clean, covered house,
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and to talk amicably with a gentleman in broadcloth seemed mighty elevations. Even
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as I thought so, my eye fell on my unseemly tatters, and I
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was once more plunged in confusion, but the lawyer saw and understood me.
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He rose, called over the stair to lay another plate for mister Balfour would
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stayed to dinner, and led me into a bedroom in the upper part of
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the house. Here he set before me water and soap and a comb,
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and laid out some clothes that belonged to his son. And here with another
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apposite tag, he left me to my toilet. End of chapter