Trusting myself to you, Mr.Maxwell, I conceive that I rely, as I before said, on the word of a gentleman.' 'I will warrant you,' said Maxwell, 'from all serious consequences--some inconveniences you must look to suffer.' 'To these I shall be resigned,' said Fairford, 'and stand prepared to run my risk.' 'Well then,' said Summertrees, 'you must go'-- 'I will leave you to yourselves, gentlemen,' said the provost, rising; 'when you have done with your crack, you will find me at my wife's tea-table.' 'And a more accomplished old woman never drank catlap,' said Maxwell, as he shut the door; 'the last word has him, speak it who will--and yet because he is a whillywhaw body, and has a plausible tongue of his own, and is well enough connected, and especially because nobody could ever find out whether he is Whig or Tory, this is the third time they have made him provost!--But to the matter in hand.

This letter, Mr.
Fairford,' putting a sealed one into his hand, 'is addressed, you observe, to Mr.H--of B--, and contains your credentials for that gentlemen, who is also known by his family name of Redgauntlet, but less frequently addressed by it, because it is mentioned something invidiously in a certain Act of Parliament.

I have little doubt he will assure you of your friend's safety, and in a short time place him at freedom--that is, supposing him under present restraint.

But the point is, to discover where he is--and, before you are made acquainted with this necessary part of the business, you must give me your assurance of honour that you will acquaint no one, either by word or letter, with the expedition which you now propose to yourself.' 'How, sir ?' answered Alan; 'can you expect that I will not take the precaution of informing some person of the route I am about to take, that in case of accident it may be known where I am, and with what purpose I have gone thither ?' 'And can you expect,' answered Maxwell, in the same tone, 'that I am to place my friend's safety, not merely in your hands, but in those of any person you may choose to confide in, and who may use the knowledge to his destruction?
Na--na--I have pledged my word for your safety, and you must give me yours to be private in the matter--giff-gaff, you know.' Alan Fairford could not help thinking that this obligation to secrecy gave a new and suspicious colouring to the whole transaction; but, considering that his friend's release might depend upon his accepting the condition, he gave it in the terms proposed, and with the purpose of abiding by it.
'And now, sir,' he said, 'whither am I to proceed with this letter?
Is Mr.Herries at Brokenburn ?' 'He is not; I do not think he will come thither again until the business of the stake-nets be hushed up, nor would I advise him to do so--the Quakers, with all their demureness, can bear malice as long as other folk; and though I have not the prudence of Mr.Provost, who refuses to ken where his friends are concealed during adversity, lest, perchance, he should be asked to contribute to their relief, yet I do not think it necessary or prudent to inquire into Redgauntlet's wanderings, poor man, but wish to remain at perfect freedom to answer, if asked at, that I ken nothing of the matter.

You must, then, go to old Tom Trumbull's at Annan,--Tam Turnpenny, as they call him,--and he is sure either to know where Redgauntlet is himself, or to find some one who can give a shrewd guess.