ny o' them yet, but
there seems to be a big lot o' them."

"Do you know where the family went, who lived in twenty-three previous
to this new tenant?"

"I heard they went abroad--left in a great hurry, as it were."

Then Neil went back to the house, and rang the door bell with polite
consideration. "The new-comers will certainly know more than the
policeman," he thought, "and I can get no letter till Monday morning.
It will be very annoying to be in this doubt until then."

He had plenty of time for these reflections, for the bell was not
noticed, and he rang again with a little more impetuosity. This time
it was answered by a huge Highlander, with a dog by a leash, and a
dogwhip in his hand; and Neil trembled with fear. He knew the man. He
had once been his lawyer, and lost his case, and the man had accused
him of selling his case. There was no proof of the wrong, none at all,
and it was not believed by anyone except Reginald Rath, and even
Roberta allowed he was too prejudiced to be fair. These circumstances
passed like a flash through Neil's heart, as Bruce Kinlock glared at
him.

"How dare you show your face at my door?" he asked. "Be off, you
whippersnapper, or I'll set the dog on you."

"I have always believed, until the present moment, that this was my
house. Can you tell me where my family has removed to?"

"You never had any right in this house but the right of sufferance.
Honest Reginald Rath has taken your wife away--he's done right. Ye
know well you are not fit company for the lady Roberta. As for your
family, they have the pity of everyone. What kind of a brute is it
that has not a shilling for a dying mother, though he's owing his
family ninety pounds, and far more love than he deserves. Go, or it
will be worse for you! You sneaking ne'er-do-well."

Kinlock had spoken with inconceivable passion, and the very sight of
the red-headed, gigantic Highlander, sputtering out words that cannot
be written, and of the growling brute, that only required a relaxed
hand to fly at his throat, made him faint with terror.

"I am sure, Mr. Kinlock----"

"How daur you 'mister' me? I am Kinlock, of Kinlock! You had better
take yourself off. I'm at the end of my patience, and I cannot hold
this kind of a brute much longer. And if he grabs any kind of a human
being, he never lets go while there's life in him. I can't say how he
would treat you--one dog does not eat another dog, as a rule." Then he
clashed-to the d