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 wad hae the folks here look to themsels. If he makes an outbreak, he'll be doun or I could drink this glass—and whar are they then? A' thae hell-rakers o' dragoons wad be at his whistle in a moment. Nae doubt they're Willie's men e'en now, as they ware James's a while syne—and reason good—they fight for their pay; what else hae they to fight for? They hae neither lands nor houses, I trow. There's ae gude thing the change, or the Revolution, as they ca' it, folks may speak out afore thae birkies now, and nae fear o' being haul'd awa' to the guard-house, or having the thumikins screwed on your finger-ends, just as I wad drive the screw through a cork."

There was a little pause, when Morton, feeling confident in the progress he had made in mine host's familiarity, asked, though with the hesitation proper to one who puts a question on the answer to which rests something of importance,—Whether Blane knew a woman in that neighbourhood called Elizabeth Maclure?"