itness?"

"His name was McGuirk."

"A Hieland body?" Nancy inquired.

"In the service of the duke himself."

"What did he swear to?"

"He swore to Tod's having threated the duke's life, and that Tod had
said to him there was a way to even the matter of the raised rent."

"Ah," said Nancy, and there was a bit of admiration in her tone, "the
duke's a clever man. In all his law-suiting he finds out just what bit
of testimony is needed and gets it."

"If you'll excuse me," she said, rising, "I'll go down and see Meenie,
who probably thinks everything in life is over."

As she went over the grass with Jamie, Danvers Carmichael turned an
astonished face toward us.

"What is it all about?" he asked.

"It's a long tale," I answered, "which, stripped of its trappings, runs
like this: Meenie is Jamie's adopted sister, and the Lapraik man is a
sweetheart of hers who owns a bit farm in the Highlands next to
Borthwicke Castle----"

"For Heaven's sake," Sandy exclaimed, blowing a cloud of smoke toward
the sky, "don't tell that tale again, Jock Stair."

"--And the Duke of Borthwicke wants the farm to add to his land," I
went on, unperturbed, "and Lapraik will not sell. So one fine day he is
accused of theft by the duke's factor, some of the Montrose silver is
found under his roof, and he is arrested and convicted, as you have
just heard. Common rumor has it that the duke wants him out of the
country--the fact that he was brought to Edinburgh to be tried shows
that there is a powerful influence pushing the thing along. Pitcairn is
the duke's man of business, which makes the handling of it easier here
where he is counsel for the crown."

"It will make it an odd affair if Nancy takes the matter in hand,
considering she's Pitcairn's own pupil," Sandy suggested.

"Is it true she's studied the law under Pitcairn?" Danvers inquired.

"Scots and English," I answered.

"In the name of smitten Caesar," he cried, for that was a word of the
time, "what for?"

"We've never come to any settlement of it between us, but your father
holds that she studied it to circumvent it," I answered, with a laugh.
"She told us once that the more law one knew the safer one could break
it."

"I think," Danvers returned, rising and looking away from us to the
burn--"I think she needs some one to look after her."

"It has dawned upon us that that was your opinion," Sandy rejoined
drolly.

"Lawing with Pitcairn, managing an army of poor folk