CHAPTER XX.
The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter, And aye the ale was growing better Tam o'Shanter.
We must now return to Woodbourne, which, it may be remembered, we left just after the Colonel had given some directions to his confidential servant.

When he returned, his absence of mind, and an unusual expression of thought and anxiety upon his features, struck the ladies, whom he joined in the drawing-room.

Mannering was not, however, a man to be questioned, even by those whom he most loved, upon the cause of the mental agitation which these signs expressed.

The hour of tea arrived, and the party were partaking of that refreshment in silence when a carriage drove up to the door, and the bell announced the arrival of a visitor.

'Surely,' said Mannering, 'it is too soon by some hours.' There was a short pause, when Barnes, opening the door of the saloon, announced Mr.Pleydell.In marched the lawyer, whose well-brushed black coat and well-powdered wig, together with his point ruffles, brown silk stockings, highly-varnished shoes, and gold buckles, exhibited the pains which the old gentleman had taken to prepare his person for the ladies' society.