to attempt to deliver their benefactor from
captivity, as he had delivered them from the iron grasp of ruin, when
misfortune lay heavily on them. Now, as duly as the rent-day came, from
the Martinmas to which the snowball had been his discharge, Thomas
Hardie faithfully and punctually locked away his rent to the last
farthing, that he might deliver it into the hands of his laird, should
he again be permitted to claim his own; but he saw not in what way they
could attempt his deliverance, as his wife proposed.

"Thomas," said she, "there are ten lang years o' rent due, and we hae
the siller locked away. It is o' nae use to us, for it isna oors; but it
may be o' use to him. It would enable him to fare better in his prison,
and maybe to put a handfu' o' gowd into the hands o' his keepers, and
thereby to escape abroad, and it wad furnish him wi' the means o' living
when he was abroad. Remember his kindness to us, and think that there is
nae sin equal to the sin o' ingratitude."

"But," added Thomas, "in what way could we get the money to him? for, if
we were to send it, it would never reach him, and, as a prisoner, he
wouldna be allooed to receive it."

"Let us tak it to him oorsels, then," said Margaret.

"Tak it oorsels!" exclaimed Thomas, in amazement, "a' the way to London!
It is oot o' the question a'thegither, Margaret. We wad be robbed o'
every plack before we got half-way; or, if we were even there, hoo, in
a' the world, do ye think we could get it to him, or that we would be
allooed to see him?"

"Leave that to me," was her reply; "only say ye will gang, and a' that
shall be accomplished. There is nae obstacle in the way but the want o'
yer consent. But the debt, and the ingratitude o' it thegither, hang
heavy upon my heart."

Thomas at length yielded to the importunities of his wife, and agreed
that they should make a pilgrimage to London, to pay his rent to his
captive laird; though how they were to carry the gold in safety, through
an unsettled country, a distance of more than three hundred miles, was a
difficulty he could not overcome. But Margaret removed his fears; she
desired him to count out the gold, and place it before her; and when he
had done so, she went to the meal-tub and took out a quantity of pease
and of barley meal mixed, sufficient to knead a goodly fadge or bannock;
and, when she had kneaded it, and rolled it out, she took the golden
pieces and pressed them into the paste of the embryo ba