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 to gang and worry his creature, bye a' other folks'?"

By this time Annaple, with a brow like a tragic volume, had hobbled towards him, and caught his horse by the bridle. The despair in her look was so evident as to deprive him even of the power of asking the cause. "O my bairn!" she cried, "gang na forward—gang na forward—it's a sight to kill ony body, let alane thee."

"In God's name, what's the matter?" said the astonished horseman, endeavouring to extricate his bridle from the grasp of the old woman; "for Heaven's sake, let me go and see what's the matter."

"Ohon! that I should have lived to see the day!—The steading's a' in a low, and the bonny stack-yard lying in the red ashes, and the gear a' driven away. But gang na forward; it wad break your young heart, hinny, to see what my auld e'en has seen this morning."

"And who has dared to do this? let go my bridle, Annaple—where is my grand-