m in it than I
care to occupy. It's strongly built of stone, and could stand a siege
if necessary, as very likely it has done in days long past, for it's a
stout old mansion. It's near enough to Stirling for me to come in and
see my friend the cobbler in the evening, and sleep in my own bed that
night, if I care to do so."

"Is it in a lonely place?"

"I can hardly say that. It is at the top of a bit hill, yet there's
room enough to give you rest and retirement if you should think of
keeping retreat from the busy world of the town. What's on your mind,
Flemming? Are you swithering whether you'll turn farmer or no? Let me
inform you that it's a poor occupation."

"I'll tell you what's on my mind, Ballengeich, if you'll swear piously
to keep it a secret."

"Indeed, I'll do nothing of the sort," replied the young man
decisively. "An honest man's bare word is as good as his bond, and the
strongest oath ever sworn never yet kept a rascal from divulging a
secret intrusted to him."

"You're right in that; you're right in that," the cobbler hastened to
add, "but this involves others as well as myself, and all are bound to
each other by oaths."

"Then I venture to say you are engaged in some nefarious business.
What is it? I'll tell nobody, and mayhap, young as I am, I can
give you some plain, useful advice from the green fields that will
counteract the pernicious notions that rise in the stifling wynds
of the crowded town."

"Well, I'm not at all sure that we don't need it, for to tell the
truth I have met with a wild set of lads, and I find myself wondering
how long my head will be in partnership with my body."

"Is the case so serious as that?"

"Aye, it is."

"Then why not withdraw?"

"Ah, that's easier said than done. When you once shut a spring door
on yourself, it isn't by saying 'I will' that you get out. You'll not
have forgotten the first night we met, when you jumped down on my back
from the wall of the Grey Friars' Church?"

"I remember it very distinctly, but which was the more surprised, you
or I, I have never yet been able to settle. I know I was very much
taken aback."

"Not so much as I," interrupted the cobbler dryly, "when you came
plump on my shoulders."

"I was going to say," went on Ballengeich, "that I'm afraid my
explanation about taking a short cut was rather incoherent."

"Oh, no more than mine, that I was there to catch a thief. It was none
of my business to learn why you were in