The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1892-12-09

IT'S tOdded," said q UOtce.
The next person l came across was q
dapper little man in a beautiful white
wig, whom saw to be barber on his
rounds, and knowing well that BARRIERS
were great gossips l asked him plainly
what sort of man was Mr.. Balfour, Of
the Shaws.
"Hoot, boot, hoot," said the barber,
'nae kind Of a man, nae kind of man
at ALL" and began to ask me very
shrewdly what my business was; but I
was more than O match for him at that,
and he went on to his next customer no
wiser than he came.
cannot we'll describe the blow this
dealt to my illusions. If an hours walk
ing would have brought me back to
Essendean l had left my adventure then
and there and returned to Mr.. Camp
bells. But I was out of mere self re-
spect to carry it through, and little as |
liked the sound Of what / heard, and
slow as l began to travel, l still kept
asking my way and still kept advanc-
ing.
1t was drawing on to shutdown when
met stout, dark, sour looking woman
coming trudging down a hill, and she,
when L had put my usual question,
turned sharp about, accompanied me
back to the summit she had just left and
pointed to a great bulk of building
standing very bare upon green in the
bottom Of the next valley. The country
was pleasant round about, running in
low hills, pleasantly watered and
wooded, and the crops, to my eyes, Won
derfully good, but the house itself ap-
peared to be kind of ruin; no road led
up to it; no smoke arose from any of the
chimneys, nor was there any semblance
Of garden. My heart sank. "Thatw
cried.
The woman's face lit up with ma
lignant anger. "That is the house OF
Shaws!" she cried. blood built it,;
blood stopped the building of it; blood
shall bring it down. See herey' she
cried again, 81 spit upon the ground
and crack my thumb at it! Black be its
fall! If we see the laird tell him what
we hear; tell him this makes the twelve
hummer and nineteen time that Jennet
Clouston has called down the curse on
him and his house, byre and stable, man,
guest and master, wife, miss or BARN
black, black be their fallr'
And the woman, whose voice had
risen to q kind of eldritch singsong,
turned with skip and was gone.
sat me down and stared at the house
of Shaws. The more looked the
pleasanter that countryside appeared,
being all set with hawthorn bushes full
of flowers, the fields dotted with sheep,
fine fight of rocks in the sky and
every sign of kind soil and climate,
and yet the barrack in the midst of it
went sore against my fancy.
The nearer got to that the drearier
it appeared. 1t seemed like the one
wing of house that had never been
finished. What should have been the
inner end stood open on the upper floors
and showed against the sky with steps
and stairs of uncompleted masonry.
Many of the windows were unglazed,
and bats few in and out like doves out
of dovecote.
The night had begun to fall as got
close, and in three of the lower win
dows, which were very high up and mar
row and well barred, the changing light
of little fire began to glimmer.
Was this the palace had been COM
ing to? Was it within these walls that
l was to seek new friends and begin
great fortunes? Why, in my fathers
house on Essen-Waterside the fire and
the bright lights would show mile
away, and the door open to beggar's
knock.
! came forward cautiously, and Civ