 Section 7. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Center Written by himself by James Hogg. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. One of them found out another engagement, however. The instant after this last was determined on. Young Ringham went off the hill that morning and home to his upright guardian again without washing the blood from his face and neck. And there he told a most woeful story indeed. How he had gone out to take a morning's walk on the hill where he had encountered with his reprobate brother among the mist who had knocked him down and very near murdered him, threatening dreadfully and with horrid oaths to throw him from the top of the cliff. The wrath of the great divine was kindled beyond measure. He cursed the aggressor in the name of the Most High and bound himself by an oath to cause that wicked one's transgressions return upon his own head sevenfold. But before he engaged further in the business of vengeance he kneeled with his adopted son and committed the whole cause unto the Lord whom he addressed as one coming breathing burning coals of Juniper and casting his lightnings before him to destroy and root out all who had moved hand or tongue against the children of the promise. Thus did he arise confirmed and go forth to certain conquest. We cannot enter into the detail of the events that now occurred without forestalling a part of the narrative of one who knew all the circumstances, was deeply interested in them and whose relation is of a higher value than anything that can be retailed out of the stores of tradition and old registers. But his narrative, being different from these, it was judged expedient to give the account as thus publicly handed down to us. Suffice it that, before evening George was apprehended and lodged in jail on a criminal charge of an assault and battery to the shedding of blood with the intent of committing fratricide. Then was the old layered in great consternation and blamed himself for treating the thing so lightly which seemed to have been gone about from the beginning so systematically and with an intent which the villains were now going to realize namely to get the young layered disposed of and then his brother in spite of the old gentleman's teeth would be layered himself. Old Dahl now set his whole interest to work among the noblemen and lawyers of his party. His son's case looked exceedingly ill owing to the former assault before witnesses and the unbecoming expressions made use of by him on that occasion as well as from the present assault which George did not deny and for which no moving cause or motive could be made to appear. On his first declaration before the sheriff matters looked no better but then the sheriff was a wig. It is well known how differently the people of the present day in Scotland view the cases of their own party men and those of opposite political principles but this day is nothing to that in such matters although God knows there are still sometimes bare faced enough. It appeared from all the witnesses in the first case that the complainant was the first aggressor that he refused to stand out of the way though apprised of his danger and when his brother came against him inadvertently he had aimed a blow at him with his foot which if it had taken effect would have killed him but as to the story of the apparition in fair daylight the flying from the face of it the running foul of his brother pursuing him and knocking him down why the judge smiled at the relation and saying it was a very extraordinary story he remanded George to prison leaving the matter to the High Court of Justiciary when the case came before the court matters took a different turn the constant and sullen attendance of the one brother upon the other excited suspicions and these were in some manner confirmed when the guards at Queensbury House deported that the prisoner went by them on his way to the hill that morning about twenty minutes before the complainant and when the latter passed he asked if such a young man had passed before him describing the prisoner's appearance to them and that on being answered in the affirmative he mended his pace and fell a running the Lord Justice on hearing this asked the prisoner if he had any suspicions that his brother had a design on his life he answered that all along from the time of their first unfortunate meeting his brother had dogged his steps so constantly and so unaccountably that he was convinced it was with some intent out of the ordinary course of events and that if, as his lordships opposed it was indeed his shadow that he had seen approaching him through the mist then from the cowering and cautious manner that it advanced there was no little doubt that his brother's design had been to push him had long from the cliff that morning a conversation then took place between the judge and the Lord Advocate and in the meantime a bustle was seen in the hall on which the doors were ordered to be guarded and behold the precious Mr. R. Ringham was taken into custody trying to make his escape out of court finally it turned out that George was honorably acquitted and young Ringham bound over to keep the peace with heavy penalties and securities that was a day of high exultation to George and his youthful associates all of whom aboard Ringham and the evening being spent in great glee it was a grieve between Mr. Adam Gordon and George that their visit to the Highlands though thus long delayed was not to be abandoned and though they had through the machinations of an incendiary lost the season of delight they would still find plenty of sport in deer shooting accordingly the day was set a second time for their departure and on the day proceeding that all the party were invited by George to dine with him once more at the sign of the Black Bowl of Norway everyone promised to attend anticipating nothing but festivity and joy alas what short-sighted and provident creatures we are all of us and how often does the evening cup of joy lead to sorrow in the morning the day arrived the party of young noblemen and gentlemen met and were as happy and jovial as men could be George was never seen so brilliant or so full of spirits and exalting to see so many gallant young chiefs and gentlemen about him who all gloried in the same principles of loyalty perhaps this word should have been written disloyalty he made speeches gave toasts and sung songs all leaning slyly to the same side until a very late hour by that time he had pushed the bottle so long and so freely that its fumes had taken possession of every brain to such a degree that they held dame reason rather at the staff's end overbearing all her councils and ex-postulations and it was imprudently proposed by a wild and nebriated spark and carried by a majority of voices that the whole party should adjoin to a bagno for the remainder of the night they did so and it appears from what follows that the house to which they retired must have been somewhere on the opposite side of the street to the black bull inn a little farther to the eastward they had not been an hour in that house till some altercation chanced to arise between George Calwayne and a Mr. Drummond the younger son of a nobleman of distinction it was perfectly casual and no one that's forward to this day could ever tell what it was about if it was not about the misunderstanding of some word or term that the one had uttered however it was some high words passed between them these were followed by threats and in less than two minutes from the commencement of the quarrel Drummond left the house in apparent displeasure hinting to the other that they too should settle that in a more convenient place the company looked at one another for all was over before any of them knew such a thing was begun what the devil is the matter? cried one when else Drummond? cried another who is he quarreled with? asked the third don't know can't tell on my life he is quarreled with his wine I suppose and is going to send it a challenge such were the questions and such the answers that passed in the jovial party and the matter was no more thought of but in the course of a very short space about the length which the ideas of the company were the next day at great variance a sharp rap came to the door it was open by a female but there being a chain inside she only saw one side of the person at the door he appeared to be a young gentleman in appearance like him who had lately left the house and asked in a low whispering voice if young doll castle was still in the house the woman did not know if he is added he pray tell him to speak with me for a few minutes the woman delivered the message before all the party among whom there were then sundry courteous ladies of noble distinction and George on receiving it instantly rose from the side of one of them and said in the hearing of them all I will bet a hundred mercs that it is Drummond don't go to quarrel with him George said one bring him in with you said another George stepped out the door was again bolted the chain drawn across and the inadvertent party left within thought no more of the circumstance till the morning that the report had spread over the city that a young gentleman had been slain on a little washing green at the side of the north lock and at the very bottom of the close where this thoughtless party had been assembled several of them on first hearing the report bastard to the dead room in the guardhouse where the corpse had been deposited and soon discovered the body to be that of their friend and late entertainer George Calwayne great were the consternation and grief of all concerned and in particular of his old father and Miss Logan for George had always been the sole hope and darling of both and the news of the event paralyze them so as to render them incapable of all thought or exertion the spirit of the old layered was broken by the blow and he descended at once from a jolly good-natured and active man to a mere driveler weeping over the body of his son kissing his wound his lips and his cold brow alternately denouncing vengeance on his murderers and lamenting that he himself had not met the cruel doom so that the hope of his race might have been preserved in short finding that all further motive of action and object of concern or of love here below were forever removed from him he abandoned himself to despair and threatened to go down to the grave with his son but although he made no attempt to discover the murderers the arm of justice was not idle and it being evident to all that the crime must infallibly be brought home to young Drummond some of his friends sought him out and compelled him sorely against his will to retire into concealment till the issue of the proof that should be led was made known at the same time he denied all knowledge of the incident with a resolution that astonished his intimate friends and relations who to a man suspected him guilty his father was not in Scotland for I think it was said to me that this young man was second son to a John Duke of Malfort who lived abroad with the royal family of the Stewards but this young gentleman lived with the relations of his mother one of whom an uncle was a lord of session these having thoroughly affected his concealment went away and listened to the evidence and the examination of every new witness convinced them that their noble young relative was the slayer of his friend all the young gentlemen of the party were examined saved Drummond who when sent for could not be found which circumstance sorely confirmed the suspicions against him in the minds of judges and jurors, friends and enemies and there is little doubt that the care of his relations and concealing him injured his character and his cause the young gentleman of whom the party was composed varied considerably with respect to the quarrel between him and the deceased some of them had neither heard nor noted it others had but not one of them could tell how it began some of them had heard the threat uttered by Drummond on leaving the house and only one had noted him lay his hand on his sword not one of them could swear that it was Drummond who came to the door in desire to speak with the deceased but the general impression on the minds of them all was to that effect and one of the women swore that she heard the voice distinctly at the door and every word that voice pronounced and at the same time heard the deceased say that it was Drummond's on the other hand there were some evidences on Drummond's part which Lord Craigie his uncle had taken care to collect he produced the sword which his nephew had worn that night on which there was neither blood nor blemish and above all he insisted on the evidence of a number of surgeons who declared that both the wounds which the deceased had received had been given behind one of these was below the left arm and a slight one the other was quite through the body and both evidently inflicted with the same weapon a two-edged sword of the same dimensions as that worn by Drummond upon the whole there was a division in the court but a majority decided it Drummond was pronounced guilty of the murder outlawed for not appearing and a high reward offered for his apprehension it was with the greatest difficulty that he escaped on board of a small trading vessel which landed him in Holland and from thence flying into Germany he entered into the service of the Emperor Charles VI many regretted that he was not taken and made to suffer the penalty due for such a crime and the melancholy incident became a pulpit theme over a great part of Scotland being held up as a proper warning to youth to beware of such haunts of vice and depravity the nurses of all that is precipitate and moral and base among mankind after the funeral of this promising and excellent young man his father never more held up his head Miss Logan with all her art could not get him to attend to any worldly thing or to make any settlement whatsoever of his affairs save making her over a present of what disposable funds he had about him as to his estates when they were mentioned to him he wished them all in the bottom of the sea and himself along with them but whenever she mentioned the circumstance of Thomas Drummond having been the murderer of his son he shook his head and once made the remark that it was all a mistake, a gross and fatal error but that God who had permitted such a flagrant deed would bring it to light in his own time and way in a few weeks he followed his son to the grave and the notorious Robert Ringham took possession of his estates as the lawful son of the late Laird born in Wedlock and under his father's roof the investiture was celebrated by prayer, singing and Psalms and religious disputation the late guardian and adopted father and the mother of the new Laird presided on the grand occasion making a conspicuous figure in all the work of the day and though the youth himself indulged rather more freely in the bottle than he had ever been seen to do before it was agreed by all present that there had never been a festivity so sanctified within the great hall of Doll Castle then after due thanks returned they parted rejoicing in spirit which thanks by the by consisted wholly in telling the Almighty what he was and informing with very particular precision what they were who addressed him for Ringham's whole system of popular declamation consisted it seems in this to denounce all men and women to destruction and then hold out hopes to his adherents that they were the chosen few included in the promises and who could never fall away it would appear that this farisacal doctrine is a very delicious one and the most grateful of all others to the worst characters but the ways of heaven are altogether inscrutable and soar as far above and beyond the works and the comprehensions of man as the sun flaming in majesty is above the tiny boy's evening rocket it is the controller of nature alone that can bring light out of darkness and order out of confusion who is he that causes the mole from his secret path of darkness to throw up the gem the gold and the precious ore the same that from the mouths of babes and sucklings can extract the perfection of praise and who can make the most abject of his creatures instrumental in bringing the most hidden truths to light End of Section 7 Section 8 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner Written by himself by James Hogg This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Miss Logan had never lost the thought of her late master's prediction that heaven would bring to light the truth concerning the untimely death of his son She perceived that some strange conviction too horrible for expression preyed on his mind from the moment that the fatal news reached him to the last of his existence and in his last ravings he uttered some incoherent words about justification by faith alone an absolute and eternal predestination having been the ruin of his house These, to be sure, were the words of superannuation and of the last and severest kind of it But for all that they sunk deep into Miss Logan's soul and at last she began to think with herself Is it possible the ringhams and the sophisticating wretch who is in conjunction with them the mother of my late beautiful and amiable young master can have affected his destruction? If so, I will spend my days and my little patrimony in endeavors to rake up and expose the unnatural deed In all her outgoings and incomings as she was now styled never lost sight of this one object Every new disappointment only wedded her desire to fish up some particulars concerning it For she thought so long and so ardently upon it that by degrees it became settled in her mind as a sealed truth And as a woman is always most jealous of her own sex in such matters her suspicions were fixed on her greatest enemy Mrs. Colwayne Now, the Lady Doll Wager of Doll Castle All was wrapped in a chaos of confusion and darkness But at last, by dint of a thousand sly and secret inquiries Mrs. Logan found out where Lady Doll Castle had been on the night that the murder happened and likewise what company she had kept as well as some of the comers and goers And she had hopes of having discovered a clue which, if she could keep hold of the thread would lead her through darkness to the light of truth Returning very late one evening from a convocation of family servants which she had drawn together in order to fish something out of them Her maid having been in attendance on her all the evening they found on going home that the house had been broken and a number of valuable articles stolen there from Mrs. Logan had grown quite heartless before this stroke having been altogether unsuccessful in her inquiries and now she began to entertain some resolutions of giving up the fruitless search In a few days thereafter she received intelligence that her clothes and plate were mostly recovered and that she for one was bound over to prosecute the depredator provided the articles turned out to be hers as liable in the indictment and as a king's evidence had given out She was likewise summoned or requested I know not which being ignorant of these matters to go as far as the town of Peebles in Tweedside in order to survey these articles on such a day and make affidavit to their identity before the sheriff She went accordingly but on entering the town by the north gate she was accosted by a poor girl in tattered apparel who with great earnestness inquired if her name was not Mrs. Logan On being answered in the affirmative she said that the unfortunate prisoner in the toll booth requested her as she valued all that was dear to her in life to go and see her before she appeared in court at the hour of cause as she, the prisoner, had something of the greatest moment to impart to her Mrs. Logan's curiosity was excited and she followed the girl straight to the toll booth who by the way said to her that she would find in the prisoner a woman of superior mind who had gone through all the vicissitudes of life she has been very unfortunate and I fear very wicked added the poor thing but she is my mother and God knows with all her faults and failings she has never been unkind to me you madam have it in your power to save her but she has wronged you and therefore if you will not do it for her sake do it for mine and the God of the fatherless will reward you Mrs. Logan answered her with a cast of the head and a hem and only remarked that the guilty must not always be suffered to escape or what a world must we be doomed to live in she was admitted to the prison and found a tall emaciated figure who appeared to have once possessed a sort of masculine beauty and no ordinary degree but was now considerably advanced in years she viewed Mrs. Logan with a stern steady gaze as if reading her features as a margin to her intellect and when she addressed her it was not with that humility and agonized fervor which are natural for one in such circumstances to address to another who has the power of her life and death in her hands I am deeply indebted to you for this timely visit Mrs. Logan said she it is not that I value life or because I fear death that I have sent for you so expressly but the manner of the death that awaits me has something peculiarly revolting in it to a female mind good God when I think of being hung up a spectacle to a gazing gaping multitude with numbers of which I have had intimacies and connections that would render the moment of parting so hideous that believe me it rends to flinders a soul born for another sphere than that in which it has moved had not the vile selfishness of a lordy fiend ruined all my prospects and all my hopes hear me then for I do not ask your pity I only ask of you to look to yourself and behave with womanly prudence if you deny this day that these goods are yours there is no other evidence whatever against my life and it is safe for the present for as for the word of the wretch who has betrayed me it is of no avail he has pre-avaricated so notoriously to save himself if you deny them you shall have them all again to the value of a might and more to the bargain if you swear to the identity of them the process will one way and another cost you the half of what they are worth and what security have I for that said Mrs. Logan you have none but my word said the other proudly and that never yet was violated if you cannot take that I know the worst you can do but I had forgot I have a poor helpless child without waiting and starving about the prison door surely it was of her that I wish to speak the shameful death of mine will leave her in a deplorable state the girl seems to have candor and strong affections said Mrs. Logan I grievously mistake if such a child would not be a thousand times better without such a guardian and director then will you be so kind as to come to the grass market and see me put down said the prisoner I thought a woman would estimate a woman's and a mother's feelings when such a dreadful throw was at stake at least in part but you are callous and have never known any feelings but those of subordination to your old unnatural master alas I have no cause of offense I have wronged you and justice must take its course will you forgive me before we part Mrs. Logan hesitated for her mind ran on something else on which the other subjoined no you will not forgive me I see but you will pray to God to forgive me I know you will do that Mrs. Logan heard not this jeer but looking at the prisoner with an absent and stupid stare she said did you know my lake master I that I did and never for any good said she I knew the old and the young spark both and was by when the latter was slain this careless sentence affected Mrs. Logan in a most peculiar manner a shower of tears burst from her eyes or it was done and when it was she appeared like one bereaved of her mind she first turned one way and then another as if looking for something she had dropped she seemed to think she had lost her eyes instead of her tears and at length as by instinct she tottered close up to the prisoners face and looking wistfully and joyfully in it said with breathless earnestness pray mistress what is your name my name is Arabella Calvert said the other miss mistress or widow as you choose for I have been all the three and that not once nor twice only a and something beyond all these but as for you you have never been anything I I and so you are bell Calvert well I thought so I thought so said Mrs. Logan and helping herself to a seat she came and sat down close by the prisoners knee so you are indeed bell Calvert so called once well of all the world you are the woman whom I have longed and travailed the most to see but you are invisible a being to be heard of not seen there have been days madam return she what I was to be seen and when there were few to be seen like me but since that time there have indeed been days on which I was not to be seen my crimes have been great but my sufferings have been greater so great that neither you nor the world can ever either know or conceive them I hope they will be taken into account by the most high mine have been crimes of utter desperation but whom am I speaking to you had better leave me to myself mistress leave you to yourself that I will be loath to do till you tell me where you were that night my young master was murdered where the devil would I was will that suffice you ah it was a vile action a night to be remembered that was won't you be going I want to trust my daughter with a commission no mrs. Calvert you and I part not till you have divulged that mystery to me you must accompany me to the other world then for you shall not have it in this if you refuse to answer me I can have you before a tribunal where you shall be sifted to the soul such miserable inanity what care I for your threatenings of a tribunal I whom I soon stand before my last earthly one what could the word of such a culprit avail or if it could where is the judge that could enforce it did you not say that there was some mode of accommodating matters on that score yes I prayed you to grant me my life which is in your power the saving of it would not have cost you a plaque yet you refuse to do it the taking of it will cost you a great deal and yet to that purpose you would hear I can have no parlay with such a spirit I would not have my life in a present from its motions nor would I exchange courtesies with its possessor indeed Mrs. Calvert since ever we met I have been so busy thinking about who you might be that I know not what you have been proposing I believe I meant to do what I could to save you but once for all tell me everything that you know concerning that amiable young gentleman's death and here is my hand there shall be nothing wanting that I can affect for you no I despise all barter with such mean and selfish curiosity and as I believe that passion is stronger with you than fear with me we part on equal terms do your worst and my secret shall go to the gallows and aggrave with me Mrs. Logan was now greatly confounded and after proffering in vain to concede everything she could ask in exchange for the particulars relating to the murder she became the suppliant in her turn but the unaccountable culprit exalting in her advantage laughed her to scorn and finally in a paroxysm of pride and impatience called in the jailer and had her expelled ordering him in her hearing not to grant her admittance a second time on any pretense Mrs. Logan was now hard put to it and again driven almost to despair she might have succeeded in the attainment of that she thirsted for most in life so easily had she known the character with which she had to deal had she known to have sooth her high and afflicted spirit but that opportunity was passed and the hour of examination at hand she once thought of going and claiming her articles as she at first intended but then when she thought again of the ring swang it at doll castle where she had been want to hear them held in such contempt if not abhorrence and perhaps of holding it by the most diabolical means she was withheld from marring the only chance that remained of having a glimpse into that mysterious affair finally she resolved not to answer to her name in the court rather than to appear in a cert of falsehood which she might be called on to certify by oath she did so and heard the sheriff give orders to the officers to make inquiry for Mrs. Logan from Edinburgh at the various places of entertainment in town and to expedite her arrival in court as things of great value were independence she also heard the man who had turned King's evidence against the prisoner examined for the second time and sifted most cunningly his answers gave anything but satisfaction to the sheriff though Mrs. Logan believed them to be mainly truth but there were a few questions and answers that struck her above all others how long is it since Mrs. Calvert and you became acquainted? about a year and a half state the precise time if you please the day or night according to your remembrance it was on the morning of the 28th of February 1705 what time of the morning perhaps about one? so early is that at what place did you meet then? it was at the foot of one of the north winds of Edinburgh was it by appointment that you met? no it was not for what purpose was it then? for no purpose how is it that you chance to remember the day and hour so minutely if you met that woman whom you have accused merely by chance and for no manner of purpose as you must have met others that night perhaps to the amount of hundreds in the same way I have good cause to remember it my lord what was that cause? no answer? you don't choose to say what that cause was? I am not at liberty to tell the sheriff then descended to other particulars all of which tended to prove that the fellow was an accomplished villain and that the principal share of the atrocities had been committed by him indeed the sheriff hinted that he suspected the only share Mrs. Calvert had in them was in being too much in his company and too true to him the case was remitted to the court of justiciary but Mrs. Logan had heard enough to convince her that the culprits first met at the very spot and the very hour on which George Calwayne was slain and she had no doubt that they were incendiary set on by his mother to forward her own and her darling son's way to opulence Mrs. Logan was wrong as will appear in the sequel but her antipathy to Mrs. Calwayne made her watch the event with all care she never quitted people's as long as Belle Calvert remained there and when she was removed to Edinburgh the other followed when the trial came on Mrs. Logan and her maid were again summoned as witnesses before the jury and compelled by the prosecutor for the crown to appear the maid was first called and when she came into the witness box the anxious and hopeless looks of the prisoner were manifest to all but the girl whose name she said was Bessie Giles answered in so flippant and fearless a way that the auditors were much amused after a number of routine questions the depute advocate asked her if she was at home on the morning of the 5th of September last where Mistress's house was robbed was I at Hame's A.E. now faith you lad and I had been at Hame there had been Mayor D.D. I would have, hey Ray, sick of Helik where were you that morning where was I say you I was in the house where my mistress was sitting dozen and half sleeping in the kitchen I thought hey she would be setting out every minute for 12 hours and when you went home what did you find what found we be my suit we found a broken lock and tuned kits relate some of the particulars if you please sir the thieves did not stand upon particulars they were hail sale dealers in our best wares I mean what passed between your mistress and you on the occasion what passed say ye oh there was not a muckle I was in a great passion but she was dung deutrified a wee when she gave to put the key I the door up it flew to the fair wa bless ye Jod what's the meaning of this quo she the near oh that I did quo I or may my shackle bane never turn another key when we got the candle lit it the house was in a hood road best see my woman quo she we are bathed ruined in undone creatures the deal a bit quo I that I deny positively hmm to speak oh less so my age being ruined and undone I never had muckle except what was within a good jerkin and let the thief ruin me there let we can do you remember ought else that your mistress said on the occasion did you hear her blame any person she made a great deal of gruffin in a groan about the misfortune as she cat it and I think she said it was a part of the ruin wrought by the Riggins or some sick name they'll hit ya they'll hit ya cried she ringing her hands hey they'll hate me in a hell bit and they'll get them bath a wheel that's I some satisfaction quo I whom did she mean by the Riggins do you know I fancy they are some creatures that she has dreamt about for I think there cannot be a old folks living as she cows them did you never hear say that the prisoner at the bar there Mrs. Calvert or bell Calvert was the robber of her house or that she was one of the Riggins never somebody told her lately that bell Calvert robbed her house but she did not believe it neither do I what reasons have you for doubting it because it was they women's fingers that broke up the bolts in the locks that were torn open that night very pertinent Bessie come then within the bar and look at these articles on the table did you ever see these silver spoons before I have seen some very like them and we ever have seen silver spoons has done the same can you swear you never saw them before nah nah I wouldn't swear to only silver spoons that ever were made unless I had put a private mark on them we my own hand and that's what I never did to aim see they are marked with a C say are all the spoons in Argyle and the half of them in Edinburgh I think a C is a very common letter and so are the names that begin with lay them by lay them by and Angie the poor woman her spoons again they are marked with her a name and I little doubt that they are hers and that she has seen better days oh god bless her heart side the prisoner and that blessing was echoed in the breathing of many a feeling breast did you ever see this gown before thank you I had seen and very like it could you not swear that gown was your mistresses one no unless I saw her on it and Angie had paid for it I am very scrupulous about an oath like is an ill mark well indeed that I would hardly swear to anything but you say that gown is very like one your mistresses used to wear I never said sick of thing it is like one I had seen her hey Aaron out on the hay rape I the back green it is very like and I had seen Mrs. Butler in the grass market wearing two I rather think it is the same to sir I want to swear to my aim forefinger if it had been as I laid out my sight and brought in and laid out on that table perhaps you are not aware girl that this scrupulousness of yours is likely to thwart the purposes of justice and bereave your mistress of property to the amount of a thousand from the judge I cannot help that my lord that's her lookout in my part I am resolved to keep a clear conscience till I be married at any rate look over these things and see if there is any one article among them which you can fix on as the property of your mistress no a no them sir no a them an oath is an awful thing especially when it is for life or death gee the poor woman her things again and let my mistress pick up the next she finds that's my advice when Mrs. Logan came into the box the prisoner groaned and laid down her head but how she was astonished when she heard her deliver herself something to the following purport that whatever penalty she was doomed to abide she was determined she would not bear witness against a woman's life from a certain conviction that it could be a woman who broke her house I have no doubt that I may find some of my own things there added she but if they were found in her possession she has been made a tool or the dupe of an infernal set who shall be nameless here I believe she did not rob me and for that reason I will have no hand in her condemnation the judge this is the most singular perversion I have ever witnessed Mrs. Logan I entertain strong suspicions that the prisoner or her agents have made some agreement with you on this matter to prevent the course of justice so far from that my lord I went into the jail at Peebles to this woman whom I had never seen before and proffered to withdraw my part in the prosecution as well as evidence provided she would tell me a few simple facts but she spurned at my offer and had me turned insolently out of the prison with orders to the jailer never to admit me again on any pretense the prisoners council taking hold of this evidence addressed the jury with great fluency and finally the prosecution was withdrawn and the prisoner dismissed from the bar with a severe reprimand for her past conduct and an exhortation to keep better company end of section 8 section 9 the private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner written by himself by James Hogg this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org it was not many days till a caddy came with a large parcel to Mrs. Logan's house which parcel he delivered into her hands accompanied with a sealed note containing an inventory of the articles and a request to know if the unfortunate Arabella Calvert would be admitted to converse with Mrs. Logan never was there a woman so much overjoyed as Mrs. Logan was at this message she returned compliments would be most happy to see her and no article of the parcel should be looked at or touched till her arrival it was not long till she made her appearance dressed in somewhat better style than she had yet seen her delivered her over the greater part of the stolen property besides many things that either had belonged to Mrs. Logan or that she thought proper to deny in order that the other might retain them the tale that she told of her misfortunes was of the most distressing nature and was enough to stir up all the tender as well as abhorrent feelings in the bosom of humanity she had suffered every depredation in fame fortune and person she had been imprisoned she had been scourged and branded as an imposter and all on account of her resolute and unmoving fidelity and truth to several of the very worst of men every one of whom had abandoned her to utter destitution and shame but this story we cannot enter on at present as it would perhaps mar the thread of our story as much as it did the anxious anticipations of Mrs. Logan who sat pining and longing for the relation that follows now I know Mrs. Logan that you are expecting a detail of the circumstances relating to the death of Mr. George Calwayne and in gratitude for your unbounded generosity and disinterestedness I will tell you all that I know although for causes that will appear obvious to you I had determined in life to divulge one circumstance of it I can tell you however that you will be disappointed for it was not the gentleman who was accused found guilty and would have suffered the utmost penalty of the law had he not made his escape it was not he I say who slew your young master nor had he any hand in it I never thought he had but pray how do you come to know this you shall hear I had been abandoned in York by an artful and consummate fiend and found guilty of being art and part concerned in the most heinous atrocities and in his place suffered what I yet shudder to think of I was banished the county begged my way with my poor child up to Edinburgh and was there obliged for the second time in my life to be take myself to the most degrading of all means to support two wretched lives I hired a dress and put took me shivering to the high street too well aware that my form and appearance would soon draw me suitors and now at that throng it was a desperate time of the parliament on my very first stepping out to the street a party of young gentlemen was passing I heard by the noise they made and the tenor of their speech that they were more than mellow and so I resolved to keep near them in order if possible to make some of them my pray but just as one of them began to eye me I was rudely thrust into a narrow house by one of the guardsmen I had heard to what house the party was bound for the men were talking exceedingly loud and making no secret of it so I hasted down the close and round below to the one where their rendezvous was to be but I was too late they were all housed and the door bolted I resolved to wait thinking they could not all stay long I was perishing with famine and was like to fall down the moon shone as bright as day and I perceived by a sign at the bottom of the close that there was a small tavern of a certain description up two stairs there I went up and called telling the mistress of the house my plan she approved of it mainly and offered me her best apartment provided I could get one of these noble mates to accompany me she abused Lucky Suds as she called her at the inn where the party was envying her huge profits no doubt and giving me afterwards something to drink for which I really felt exceedingly grateful in my need I stepped downstairs in order to be on the alert the moment that I reached the ground the door of Lucky Suds house opened and shut and down came the honorable Thomas Drummond with hasty and impassioned strides his sword rattling at his heel I accosted him in a soft and soothing tone he was taken with my address for he instantly stood still and gazed intently at me then at the place and then at me again I beckoned him to follow me which he did without further ceremony and we soon found ourselves together in the best room of the house where everything was wretched he still looked about him and at me but all this while he had never spoken a word at length I asked if he would take any refreshments if you please said he I asked what he would have but he only answered him if he was taken with my address I was much more taken with his for he was a complete gentleman and a gentleman will ever act as one at length he began as follows I am utterly at a loss to account for this adventure madam it seems to me like enchantment and I can hardly believe my senses an English lady I judge and one manner and address should belong to the first class of society in such a place as this is indeed a matter of wonder to me at the foot of a close in Edinburgh and at this time of the night surely it must have been no common reverse of fortune that reduced you to this I wept or pretended to do so on which he added pray madam take heart tell me what has befallen you and if I can do anything for you and restoring you to your country or your friends you shall command my interest I had great need of a friend then and I thought now was the time to secure one so I began and told him the moving tale I have told you but I soon perceived that I had kept by the naked truth too unvarnestly I quite overshot my mark when he learned that he was sitting in a wretched corner of an irregular house with the felon who had so lately been scourged and banished as a swindler and imposter his modest nature took the alarm and he was shocked instead of being moved with pity his eye fixed on some of the casual stripes on my arm and from that moment he became restless and impatient to be gone I tried some gentle arts to retain him but in vain so after paying both the landlady and me for pleasures he had neither tasted nor asked he took his leave I showed him downstairs and just as he turned the corner of the next land a man came rushing violently by him exchanged looks with him running up to me he appeared in great agitation and was quite out of breath and taking my hand in his we ran upstairs together without speaking and were instantly in the apartment I had left where a stope of wine still stood untasted ah this is fortunate said my new spark and helped himself in the meanwhile as our apartment was a corner one and looked both east and north I ran to the eastern casement to look after Drummond now note me well I saw him going eastward in his tartans and bonnet and the gilded hilt of his claymore glittering in the moon and at the very same time I saw two men the one in black and the other likewise in tartans coming the steps from the opposite bank by the foot of the lock and I saw Drummond and they eyeing each other as they pass I kept view of him till he vanished towards leaf wind and by that time the two strangers had come close up under our window this is what I wish you to pay particular attention to I had only lost sight of Drummond who had given me his name and address for the short space of time that we took in running up one pair of short stairs and during that space he had halted a moment for when I got my eye on him again he had not crossed the mouth of the next entry nor proceeded above 10 or 12 paces and at the same time I saw the two men coming down the bank on the opposite side of the lock about 300 paces distance both he and they were distinctly in my view and never within speech of each other until he vanished into one of the winds leading towards the bottom of the high street at which precise time the two strangers came below my window so that it was quite clear he neither could be one of them nor have any communication with them yet mark me again four of all things I have ever seen this was the most singular when I looked down at the two strangers one of them was extremely like Drummond so like was he that there was not one item in dress, form feature nor voice by which I could distinguish the one from the other I was certain it was not me because I had seen the one going and the other approaching at the same time and my impression at the moment was that I looked upon some spirit or demon in his likeness I felt a chillness creep all around my heart my knees tottered and withdrawing my head from the open casement that lay in the dark shade I said to the man who was with me God what is this what is it my dear said he as much alarmed as I was as I live there stands an apparition said I he was not so much afraid when he heard me say so and peeping cautiously out he looked and listened a while and then drawing back he said in a whisper they are both living men one of them is he I passed at the corner that he is not said I emphatically to that I will make oath he smiled and shook his head and then added I never then saw a man before whom I could not know again particularly if he was the very last I had seen but what matters it whether it be or not as it is no concern of ours let us sit down and enjoy ourselves but it does matter a very great deal with me sir said I bless me my head is giddy my breath quite gone and I feel as if I were surrounded with fiends who are you sir you shall know that er we too part my love said he I cannot conceive why the return of this young gentleman to the spot who lately left should decompose you I suppose he got a glance of you as he passed and has returned to look after you and that is the whole secret of the matter if you will be so civil as to walk out and join him then it will oblige me hugely said I for I never in my life experienced such boating apprehensions of evil company I cannot conceive how you should come up here asking my permission will it please you to be gone sir I was within an ace of prevailing he took out his purse I need not say more I was bribed to let him remain ah had I kept my frail resolution of dismissing him at that moment what a world of shame and misery had been invited but that though uppermost still in my mind has nothing ado here when I peeped over again the two men were disputing in a whisper the one of them in violent agitation and terror and the other up braiding him and urging him on to some desperate act at length I heard the young man in the Highland garb say indignantly hush recreate it is God's work which you are commissioned to execute and it must be done but if you positively decline it I will do it myself and do you beware of the consequences oh I will I will cry the other in black clothes in a wretched beseeching tone you shall instruct me in this as in all things else I thought all this while I was closely concealed from them I wondered not a little when he in tartans gave me a sly nod as much as to say what do you think of this or take note of what you see or something to that effect from which I perceive that whatever he was about he did not wish it to be kept a secret for all that I was impressed with a terror and anxiety that I could not overcome but it only made me mark the event with the more intense curiosity the Highlander whom I still could not help regarding as the evil genius of Thomas Drummond performed every action as with the quickness of thought he concealed the youth in black in a narrow entry a little to the westward of my windows and as he was leading him across the moon lit green by the shoulder I perceived for the first time that both of them were armed with rapiers he pushed him without resistance into the dark shaded close made another signal to me and hasted up the close to Lucky Sutter's door the city and the morning were so still that I heard every word that was uttered on putting my head out a little he knocked at the door sharply and after waiting a considerable space the bolt was drawn and the door as I conceived edged up as far as the massive chain would let it his young doll castle still in the house said he sharply I did not hear the answer but I heard him say shortly after if he is pray tell him to speak with me for a few minutes he then withdrew from the door and came slowly down the close in a lingering manner looking off to behind him doll castle came out advanced a few steps after him and then stood still as if hesitating whether or not he should call out a friend to accompany him and that instant the door behind him was closed chained and the iron bolt drawn on hearing of which he followed his adversary without further hesitation as he passed below my window I heard him say let us do nothing in this matter rashly but I could not hear the answer of the other who had turned the corner I roused up my drowsy companion who was leaning on the bed and we both looked together from the north window we were in the shade but the moon shone full on the two young gentlemen young doll castle was visibly the worst of liquor and his back being turned towards us he said something to the other which I could not make out although he spoke a considerable time and from his tones and gestures appeared to be reasoning when he had done the tall young man in the tartans drew his sword and his face being straight to us we heard him say distinctly no more words about it George if you please but if you be a man as I take you to be I want to settle it here doll castle drew his sword without changing his attitude but he spoke with more warmth for we heard his words thank you that I fear you Tom be assured sir I would not fear ten of the best of your name at each other's backs all that I want is to have friends with us to see fair play for if you close with me or a dead man the other stormed at these words you are a braggat sir cried he a wretch a blot on the cheek of nature a blight on the Christian world a reprobate I'll have your soul sir you must play at tennis and put down elect brethren in another world tomorrow as he said this he brandished his rapier exciting doll castle to a fence he gained his point the latter who had previously drawn advanced upon his vaporing and licentious antagonist and a fierce combat ensued my companion was delighted beyond measure and I could not keep him from exclaiming loud enough to have been heard that's grand that's excellent for me my heart quake like an aspen young doll castle either had a decided advantage over his adversary or else the other thought proper to let him have it for he shifted and swore and flitted from doll castle stress like a shadow uttering often times our sarcastic laugh that seemed to provoke the other beyond all bearing at one time he would spring away to a great distance then advance again on young doll castle the swiftness of lightning but that young hero always stood his ground and repelled the attack he never gave way although they fought nearly twice round the bleaching green which you know is not a very small one at length they fought close up to the mouth of the dark entry where the fellow in black stood all this while concealed and then the combatant closed with his antagonist or pretended to do so but the moment they began to grapple he wheeled about turning colway's back towards the entry and then cried out hell has it my friend my friend that moment the fellow in black rushed from his cover with his drawn rapier and gave the brave young doll castle two deadly wounds in the back his arm could thrust both of which I thought pierced through his body he fell and rolling himself on his back he perceived who it was that had slain him thus foully and said with a dying emphasis which I never heard equalled oh dog of hell it is you who has done this he articulated some more not here from other sounds for the moment that the man in black inflicted the deadly wound my companion called out that's unfair you rip that's damnable to strike a brave fellow behind what at a time you cowards et cetera to all which the unnatural fiend in the tartance answered with a loud exalting laugh and then taking the poor paralyzed murderer by the bow of the arm he hurried him in the dark entry once more where I lost sight of them forever end of section 9 section 10 the private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner written by himself by James Hogg this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org before this time Mrs. Logan had risen up and when the narrator had finished she was standing with her arms stretched upwards at their full length and her visage turned down on which were portrayed the lines of the most absolute horror the dark suspicions of my late benefactor have been just and his last prediction is fulfilled cried she the murderer of the accomplished George Calwayne has been his own brother said on there is little doubt by her who bear them both and her directing angel the self justified bigot I and yonder they sit enjoying the luxury so dearly purchased with perfect impunity if the almighty do not hurl them down blasted with shame and confusion there is no hope of retribution in this life and by his might I will be the agent to accomplish it why did the man not pursue the foul murderers why did he not raise the alarm and call the watch he the wretch he durst not move from the shelter he had obtained no not for the soul of him he was pursued for his life at the moment when he first flew into my arms but I did not know it no I did not then know him may the curse of heaven and the blight of hell settle on the detestable wretch he pursued for the sake of justice no his efforts have all been for evil but never for good but I raised the alarm miserable and degraded as I was I pursued and raised the watch myself have you not heard the name of bell calvert coupled with that hideous and mysterious affair yes I have in secret often I have heard it but how came it that you could never be found how came it that you never appeared in defense of the honorable Thomas Drummond you the only person who could have justified him I could not for I then fell under the power and guidance of a wretch who durst not for the soul of him be brought forward in the affair and what was worse his evidence would have overborn mine for he would have sworn that the man who called out and fought Calwayne was the same he met leaving my apartment and there was an end of it and moreover it is well known that this same man this wretch of whom I speak never mistook one man for another in his life which makes the mystery of the likeness between this incendiary drummond the more extraordinary if it was drummond after all that you have asserted then are my surmises still wrong there is nothing of which I could be more certain than that it was not drummond we have nothing on earth but our senses to depend upon if these deceive us what are we to do I own I cannot account for it nor ever shall be able to account for it as long as I live could you know the man in black if you saw him again I think I could if I saw him walk or run his gate was very particular he walked as if he had been flat sold and his legs made of steel without any joints in his feet or ankles the very same the very same pray will you take a few days journey into the country with me to look at such a man you have preserved my life and for you I will do anything I will accompany you with pleasure and I think I can say that I will know him for his form left an impression on my heart not soon to be effaced but of this I am sure the companion will recognize him and that he will be able to swear to his identity every day as long as he lives where is he where is he oh Mrs. Calvert where is he where is he he is the wretch whom you heard giving me up to the death who after experiencing every mark of affection that a poor ruined being could confer and after committing a thousand atrocities of which she was ignorant became an informer to save his diabolical life and attempted to offer up mine as a sacrifice for all we will go by ourselves first and I will tell you if it is necessary to send any farther the two dames the very next morning dress themselves like country good wives and hiring two stout ponies furnished with pillions they took their journey westward and the second evening after leaving Ennenberg they arrived at the village about two miles below Dahl Castle where they alighted but Mrs. Logan being anxious to have Mrs. Calvert's judgment without either hint or preparation took care not to mention that they were so near to the end of their journey in conformity with this plan she said after they had sat a while hey ho but I am weary what suppose we should rest a day here before we proceed farther on our journey Mrs. Calvert was leaning on the casement and looking out when her companion addressed these words to her and by far too much engaged to return any answer for her eyes were riveted on two young men who approached from the farther end of the village and at length turning round her head she said with the most intense interest proceed farther on our journey did you say that we need not do for as I live here comes the very man Mrs. Logan ran to the window and behold there was indeed Robert Ringham Calwayne now the lair of Dull Castle coming forward almost below their window walking arm in arm with another young man and as the two passed the latter looked up and made a sly signal to the two dames biting his lip winking with his left eye and nodding his head Mrs. Calvert was astonished at the recognizance the young man's former companion having made exactly such another signal on the night of the Dull by the light of the moon and it struck her moreover that she had somewhere seen this young man's face before she looked after him and he winked over his shoulder to her but she was prevented from returning his salute by her companion who uttered a loud cry between a groan and shriek and fell down on the floor with a rumble like a wall that had suddenly been undermined she had fainted quite away and required all her companion's attention during the remainder of the evening for she had scarcely ever well recovered out of one fit into another and in the short intervals she raved like one distracted or in a dream after falling into a sound sleep by night she recovered her equanimity and the two began to converse seriously on what they had seen Mrs. Calvert avert that the young man who passed next to the window was the very man who stabbed George Calwayne in the back to take her oath on it at any time when required and was certain if the wretch ridgely saw him that he would make oath to the same purport for that his walk was so peculiar no one of common discernment could mistake it Mrs. Logan was in great agitation and said it is what I have suspected all along and what I am sure my late master was persuaded of and the horror of such an idea cut short his days that wretch Mrs. Calvert is the born brother of him he murdered sons of the same mother they were whether or not of the same father the lord only knows but oh Mrs. Calvert that is not the main thing that has discomposed me and shaken my nerves to pieces at this time who do you think the young man was who walked in his company tonight I cannot for my life recollect but I am convinced I have seen the same fine form in face before and did not he seemed to know us Mrs. Calvert you who are able to recollect things as they happened did he not seem to recollect us and make signs to that effect he did indeed and apparently with great good humor oh Mrs. Calvert hold me else I shall fall into hysterics again who is he who is he tell me who you suppose he is for I cannot say my own thought on my life I cannot remember did you note the appearance of the young gentleman you saw slain that night do you recollect ought of the appearance of my young master George Calwayne Mrs. Calvert sat silent and stare the other mildly in the face their looks encountered and there was an unearthly amazement that gleamed from each which meeting together caught real fire and returned the flame to their heated imaginations till the two associates became like two statues with their hands spread their eyes fixed and their chops fallen down upon their bosoms an old woman who kept the lodging house having been called in before when Mrs. Logan was faintish chance to enter at this crisis with some cordial and seeing the state of her lodgers she caught the infection and fell into the same rigid and statue like appearance no scene more striking was ever exhibited and if Mrs. Calvert had not resumed strength of mind to speak and break the spell it is impossible to say how long it might have continued it is he I believe said she uttering the words as it were inwardly it can be none other but he but no it is impossible I saw him stabbed through and through the heart I saw him roll backward on the green in his own blood utter his last words and grown away his soul yet if it is not he who can it be it is he cried Mrs. Logan hysterically yes yes it is he cried the landlady in unison it is who said Mrs. Calvert whom do you mean mistress oh I don't know I don't know I was a frighted hold your peace till you recover your senses and tell me if you can who that young gentleman is who keeps company with the new lair of doll castle oh it is he it is he screamed Mrs. Logan ringing her hands oh it is he it is he cried the landlady ringing hers Mrs. Calvert turned the ladder gently and civilly out of the apartment observing that there seemed to be some infection in the air of the room and she would be wise for herself to keep out of it the two dames had a restless and hideous night sleep came not to their relief for their conversation was wholly about the dead who seemed to be alive and their minds were wandering and groping in a chaos of mystery did you attend to his corpse and know that he positively died and was buried said Mrs. Calvert oh yes from the moment that his fair but mangled corpse was brought home I attended it till that when it was screwed in the coffin I washed the long strips on both sides of the body I bathed the livid wound that passed through his generous and gentle heart there was one through the flesh of his left side too which had blood mostly outward of them all I bathed them and bandaged them up with wax and perfumed ointment but still the blood oozed through all so that when he was laid in the coffin there was one newly murdered my brave my generous young master he was always as a son to me and no son was ever more kind or more respectful to a mother but he was butchered he was cut off from the earth or he had well reached to manhood most barbarously and unfairly slain and how is it how can it be that we again see him here walking arm and arm with his murderer the thing cannot be Mrs. Logan it is a fantasy of our disturbed imaginations therefore let us compose ourselves to we investigate this matter farther it cannot be in nature that is quite clear said Mrs. Logan yet how it should be that I should think so I who knew and nursed him from his infancy there lies the paradox as you said once before we have nothing but our senses to depend on and if you and I believe that we see a person why we do see him whose word or whose reasoning can convince us against our own senses we will disguise ourselves as poor women selling a few country wares and we will go up to the hall and see what is to see and hear what we can hear for this is a weighty business in which we are engaged namely to turn the vengeance of the law upon an unnatural monster and we will further learn if we can who this is that accompanies him Mrs. Calvert acquiesced and the two dames took their way to doll castle with baskets well furnished with trifles they did not take the common path from the village but went about and approached the mansion by a different way but it seemed as if some overruling power ordered it that they should miss no chance of attaining the information they wanted for her ever they came within a half mile of doll castle they perceived the two yous coming as to meet them on the same path the road leading from doll castle towards the northeast as all the country knows goes along a dark bank of brushwood called the boggle hooch it was by this track that the two women were going and when they perceived the two gentlemen meeting them they turned back and the moment they were out of their sight they concealed themselves in a thicket close by the road they did this because Mrs. Logan was terrified for being discovered and because they wished to recon order without being seen Mrs. Calvert now charged her whatever she saw or whatever she heard to put on a resolution and support it for if she fainted there and was discovered what was to become of her the two young men came on in earnest and vehement conversation but the subject they were on was a terrible one and hardly fit to be repeated in the face of a Christian community Ringham was disputing the boundlessness of the true Christian's freedom and expressing doubts that chosen as he knew he was from all eternity still it might be possible for him to commit acts that would exclude him from the limits of the covenant the other argued with mighty fluency that the thing was utterly impossible and all together inconsistent with eternal predestination the arguments of the latter prevailed and the layered was driven to sullen silence but to the women's utter surprise as the conquering dispute and past he made a signal of recognizance through the brambles to them as formally and that he might expose his associate fully and in his true colors he led him backwards by the women more than 20 times making him to confess both the crimes that he had done and those he had in contemplation at length he said to him assuredly I saw some strolling vagrant women on this walk my dear friend I wish we could find them for there is little doubt that they are concealed here in your woods I wish we could find them answer to ring them we would have fine sport maltreating and abusing them that we should that we should now tell me Robert if you found a malevolent woman the latent enemy of your prosperity lurking in these woods to betray you what would you inflict on her I would tear her to pieces with my dogs and feed them with her flesh dear friend there is an old strumpet who lived with my unnatural father whom I hold in such utter detestation that I stand constantly in dread of her and would sacrifice the half of my estate to shed her blood what would you give me if I will put her in your power and give you a fair and genuine excuse for making away with her one for which you shall answer at the bar here or hereafter I should like to see the vile hag put down she is in possession of the family plate that is mind by right as well as a thousand valuable relics and great riches besides all of which the old profligate gifted shamefully away and it is said besides all these that she has sworn my destruction she has she has but I see not how she can accomplish that seeing the deed was done so suddenly and in the silence of the night it was said there were some onlookers but where shall we find that disgraceful Miss Logan I will show you her by and by but will you then consent to the other meritorious deed come be a man and throw away scruples if you can convince me that the promise is binding I will then step this way till I give you a piece of information they walked a little way out of hearing but went not out of sight therefore though the women were in a terrible quandary they durst not stir for they had some hopes that this extraordinary person was on a mission of the same sort with themselves knew of them and was going to make use of their testimony Mrs. Logan was several times on the point of falling into a swoon so much did the appearance of the young man impress her until her associate covered her face that she might listen without embarrassment but this latter dialogue reveals a different feelings within them namely those arising from eminent personal danger they saw his waggish associate point out the place of their concealment to ring him who came towards them out of curiosity to see what his friend meant by what he believed to be a joke manifestly without crediting it in the least degree when he came running away the other called after him if she is too hard for you call to me as he said this he hasted out of sight in the contrary direction apparently much delighted with the joke ring him came rushing through the thicket impetuously to the very spot where Mrs. Logan lay squatted she held the wrapping close about her head but he tore it off and discovered her the curse of God beyond thee said he what fiend has brought thee here and for what purpose art thou come but whatever has brought thee I have thee and with that he seized her by the throat the two women when they heard what jeopardy they were in from such a wretch had squatted among the underwood a small distance from each other so that he had never observed Mrs. Galvert but no sooner had he seized her benefactor than like a wild cat she sprung out of the thicket and had both hands fixed at his throat one of them twisted in his stock in a twinkling she brought him back over among the brushwood on him like two harpies mastered him with ease then indeed was he woefully beset he deemed for a while that his friend was at his back and turning his bloodshot eyes towards the path he attempted to call but there was no friend there and the women cut short his cries by another twist of his stock now a silent and rightful layered of doll castle said Mrs. Logan what hast thou to say for thyself lay thy account to dreary the weird thou hast so well earned now shout thou suffer due to penance for murdering thy brave and only brother thou liest thou hag of the pit I touch not my brother's life I saw thee do it with these eyes that now look thee in the face ay when his back was to thee too and while he was hotly engaged with thy friend said Mrs. Galvert I heard thee confess it again and again this same hour said Mrs. Logan ay and so did I said her companion murder well out though the almighty should lend hearing to the ears of the willow and speech to the seven tongues of the wooddrift you are liars and witches said he foaming with rage and creatures fitted from the beginning for eternal destruction I'll have your bones and your blood sacrificed on your cursed altars oh Gilmartin, Gilmartin where art thou now here here is the proper food for blessed vengeance there was no friend no Gilmartin there to hear or assist him he was in the two women's mercy but they used it with moderation they mocked they tormented and they threatened him but finally after putting him in great terror they bound his hands behind his back and his feet passed with long straps of garters which they chanced to have in their baskets to prevent him from pursuing them till they were out of his reach as they left him which they did in the middle of the path Mrs. Calvert said we could easily put an end to thy sinful life but our hands shall be free of thy blood nevertheless thou art still in our power and the vengeance of thy country shall overtake thee thou mean and cowardly murderer ay and that more suddenly than thou art aware end of section 10 section 11 the private memoirs in confessions of a justified sinner written by himself by James Hogg this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the women posted to Attenberg and as they put themselves under the protection of an English merchant who was journeying tither with 20 horses laden and armed servants so they had scarcely any conversation on the road when they arrived at Mrs. Logan's house then they spoke of what they had seen and heard and agreed that they had sufficient proof to condemn young Ringham who they thought richly deserved the severest doom of the law I never in my life saw any human being said Mrs. Calvert whom I thought sowed like a fiend if a demon could inherit flesh and blood that youth is precisely such a being as I could conceive that demon to be the depth and the malignity of his eyes is hideous his breath is like the airs from a charnel house and his flesh seems fading from his bones as if the worm that never dies were gnawing it away already he was always repulsive every way repulsive said the other but he is now indeed altered greatly to the worse while we were hand fasting him I felt his body to be feeble and emaciated but yet I know him to be so puffed up with spiritual pride that I believe he weans every one of his actions justified before God and instead of having stings of conscience for these he takes great merit to himself in having affected them still my thoughts are less about him than the extraordinary being who accompanies him he does everything with so much ease and indifference so much velocity and effect that all bespeak him and adept in wickedness the likeness to my late hapless young master is so striking that I can hardly believe it to be a chance model and I think he imitates him in everything for some purpose or some effect on his sinful associate do you know that he is so like in every liniment look and gesture that against the clearest light of reason I cannot in my mind separate the one from the other and have a certain indefinable expression on my mind that they are one in the same being or that the one was a prototype of the other if there is an earthly crime said Mrs. Galvert for the due punishment of which the almighty may be supposed to subvert the order of nature it is fratricide but tell me dear friend did you remark to what the subtle and hellish villain was endeavoring to prompt the assassin no I could not comprehend it my senses were all together so bewildered that I thought they had combined to deceive me and I gave them no credit then hear me I am almost certain he was using every persuasion to induce him to make a way with his mother and I likewise conceive that I heard the incendiary give his consent this is dreadful let us speak and think no more about it till we see the issue in the meantime let us do that which is our bound in duty go and divulge all that we know relating to this foul murder accordingly the two women went to Sir Thomas Wallace of Craigie the Lord Justice Clerk who was I think either uncle or grandfather to young Drummond who was outlawed and obliged to fly his country on account of Colwayne's death and to that gentleman they related every circumstance of what they had seen and heard he examined Calvert very minutely and seemed deeply interested in her evidence said he knew she was relating the truth and in testimony of it brought a letter of young Drummond from his desk wherein that young gentleman after protesting his innocence in the most forcible terms confessed having been with such a woman in such a house after leaving the company of his friends and that on going home Sir Thomas's servant had let him in in the dark and from these circumstances he found it impossible to prove an alibi he begged of his relative if ever an opportunity offered to do his endeavor to clear up that mystery and remove the horrid stigma from his name in his country and among his kin having stabbed a friend behind his back Lord Craigie therefore directed the two women to the proper authorities and after hearing their evidence there it was judged proper to apprehend the present lair of Doll Castle and bring him to his trial but before that they sent the prisoner in the toll booth he who had seen the whole action along with Mrs. Calvert to take a view of Ringham privately and his discrimination being so well known as to be proverbial all over the land they determined secretly to be ruled by his report they accordingly sent him on a pretended mission of legality to Doll Castle with orders to see and speak with the proprietor without giving him a hint what was wanted on his return they examined him and he told him that he found all things at the place in utter confusion and dismay that the lady of the place was missing and could not be found dead or alive on being asked if he had ever seen the proprietor before he looked astounded and unwilling to answer but it came out that he had and that he had once seen him kill a man on such a spot at such an hour officers were then dispatched without delay to apprehend the monster and bring him to justice on these going to the mansion and inquiring for him they were told he was at home on which day station guards and searched all the premises but he was not to be found it was in vain that they overturned beds raised floors and broke open closets Robert Ringham Colwayne was lost once and forever his mother was also lost and strong suspicions attached to some of the farmers and house servants to whom she was obnoxious relating to her disappearance the honorable Thomas Drummond became a distinguished officer in the Austrian service and died in the memorable year for Scotland 1715 and this is all with which history justiciary records and tradition furnished me relating to these matters I have now the pleasure of presenting my readers with an original document of a most singular nature and preserved for their perusal in a still more singular manner I offer no remarks on it and make as few additions to it leaving everyone to judge for himself we have heard much of the rage of fanaticism in former days but nothing to this end of part one the private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner audiobook recording by Claude Stewart