time of his
confinement. He never saw the face of man, his food being handed into
him by an unseen hand, through a small hole at the foot of the door. The
small grating was not situated so as to yield him any prospect; and the
only sounds that greeted his ears were the calls of the shepherds who
tended their sheep in the neighbouring moor. Sometimes he heard men's
voices calling out "Batty!" and anon a female crying "Maudge!" The
former was the name of a shepherd's dog, and the latter was the name
of the cat belonging to an old woman who occupied a small cottage
adjoining to the tower. Both the names sounded strangely and ominously
in the ears of the President, and sorely did he tax his wits as to what
they implied. Every day he heard them, and every time he heard them he
meditated more and more as to the species of beings they denominated.
Still remaining in the belief that he was in the hands of evil powers,
he imagined that these strange names, Batty and Maudge, were the earthly
titles of the two demons that held the important authority of watching
and tormenting the President of the Court of Session. He had heard these
often, and suffered so much from their cruel tyranny, that he became
nervous when the ominous sounds struck on his ear, and often (as he
himself subsequently admitted) he adjured heaven, in his prayers, to
take away Maudge and Batty, and torment him no longer by their infernal
agency. "Relieve me, relieve me, from these conjunct and confident
spirits, cruel Maudge and inexorable Batty," (he prayed,) "and any
other punishment due to my crimes I will willingly bear." Exorcisms
in abundance he applied to them, and used many fanciful tricks of
demon-expelling agency to free him from their tyranny; but all to no
purpose. The names still struck his ear in the silence of his cell,
and kept alive the superstitious terror with which he was enslaved.

Traquair, meanwhile, pushed hard for a decision, and, at last, after a
period of about three months, the famous cause was brought before the
court, and the successor of the dead-alive President having given his
vote for the defender, the wily Warden carried his point, and secured to
him and his heirs, in time coming, the fine barony in dispute, which,
for aught we know to the contrary, is in the family to this day.

It now remained for the actors in this strange drama to let free the
unhappy Durie, and relieve him from the power of his enemies. The
Warden accord