a whisper on her
lips--"Never, O never!" In a moment after, he was gone; and the widow
was left to ascertain from Alice what he had said, to bring again, even
for a moment, the blood to her cheek.

On the day after, there was a crowd of people in the Town-Hall of
Peebles, and the auctioneer was reading aloud the articles of roup of
the lands of Whitecraigs. Mr. Colville was there in high hopes; but
there were others too, who seemed inclined to disappoint them. The
property was set up at the price of fifteen thousand pounds, and that
sum was soon offered by the holder of the mortgage. Other bodes quickly
followed, and a competition commenced, which soon raised the price to
eighteen thousand, at which it seemed to be destined to be given to
Haughton. The other competitors appeared timid; and several declared
themselves done, one by one, until no one was expected to advance a
pound higher. All was silence, save for the voice of the auctioneer; and
he had already begun his ominous once, twice, when a voice which had not
yet been heard, cried--"Eighteen thousand two hundred." The hammer was
suspended, and all eyes turned to view the doughty assailant, who would,
at the end of the day, vanquish the champion who had as yet retained the
field. Those eyes recognised in the bidder a man poorly clothed, and
more like an alms-seeker than the purchaser of an estate--no other was
that man than Mr. Wallace. The auctioneer looked at him; others looked
and wondered; and Haughton gloomed, as he advanced another hundred; and
that was soon followed by a hundred more, which led to a competition
that seemed to be embittered on the one part by pride and contempt, and
on the other by determination. Hundred upon hundred followed in rapid
succession, till Haughton gave up in despair, and a shout rung through
the hall as the hammer fell, and the estate was declared the property of
the humble stranger, whom no one knew, and whom no one would have
considered worth more than the clothes he carried on his back. A
certificate of a banker at Peebles--that he held in his hands funds,
belonging to the purchaser, of greater amount than the price--satisfied
the judge of the roup; and the party were divided in circles, conversing
on the strange turn which had been given to the sale of Whitecraigs.

On the same night, Wallace returned to Homestead, and sat down
composedly to the humble meal that had been prepared for him by the
widow. Alice was in her usua