like to be baith the ruin an'
the death o' me. But what can I do? I canna get quit o't, an' maun just
fecht oot wi't the best way I can."

I wasna at first a'thegither in such a laughin humour as my visitor, yet
I couldna help joinin him in the lang run, whan we took twa or three
guid roun's o't, an' then proceeded to business. Mr. Drysdale said he
wad bail me to ony amount, if that were necessary to my immediate
liberation; but proposed that he should, in the first place, call on
Hodgson, Brothers, whom he knew intimately, an' state the case to them.
This he accordingly did; an', in aboot a quarter o' an hour, returned to
me in the jail, wi' ane o' thae gentlemen alang wi' him. Mr. Hodgson
expressed the utmost concern for what had happened, an' offered me ony
reasonable recompense I might name for the injury an' detention to which
I had been subjected. This, however, I declined, but expressed a wish
that the messengers wha had apprehended me micht be keel-hauled a bit
for the rashness o' their proceedins.

"As to that, Mr. Smith," said Mr. Hodgson, smilin, "I think you had as
well 'let a-be for let a-be' there. They have been sadly mauled by you,
I understand, and it strikes me to be a drawn battle between you."

"Weel, weel," said I, laughin, "e'en let it be sae, then; but the
scoonrils ocht to be mair carefu' wha they lay their hands on."

"They ought, no doubt," said Mr. Hodgson; "but, in this case there was
really some excuse for them. Our debtor, whom I dare say you know very
well, is a young man of the name of William Smith--a grocer in your own
town, who began business there some months ago. Now, he has failed, as I
dare say you know, also--has shut shop--swindled his creditors--and fled
the country. This was the fellow we wanted to catch; and, you being from
the same place, of the same name, and of, as I take it, about the same
age, it is really no great wonder that the men were deceived."

I allowed that it was not; but said it was rather hard that the sins o'
a' the Willie Smiths in the country should be visited on my shouthers.
"There's no a piece o' villany done by, nor a misfortune happens to a
Willie Smith," said I, "but it's fastened on me. It's really hard."

My twa visitors laughingly admitted the hardship o' the case, but
advised me to be as patient under't as I could--a wishy-washy aneuch
sort o' advice; but it was a', I dare say, they had to offer.

I need hardly say that the jail doors were