him for double wages. Such was the man, of whose fate you are pleased to enquire, and of whose singular destinies I am now to give you an account. When the good Sir John died, Mr. Tibbers was chosen by the relatives as acting trustee or factor, on the estate of which he got his will, for the young baronet was abroad in the army; and the rest of the trustees, knowing the late Sir John's embarrassments, cared not to trouble their heads much about it. And, in short, after an altercation of six or seven years, between the young laird and the old factor, the estate was declared bankrupt, and sold, and William Tibbers became the purchaser of the best part of it. The common people of our district made a terrible outcry about this; but the thing was not so extraordinary after all. It is rather a common occurrence for the factor to become the laird, and I know six or seven very prominent instances of it as having oc curred in my own remembrance. But the young baronet was neither to be holden nor bound. He came home in a great rage to expose the factor and get him hanged, and reverse all the sales of his father's property. As a prelude to this bold undertaking, he summoned a meeting of the friends and trustees of the family, before whom compeared the calm and specious William Tibbers. But the fury, the extravagance, and the utter defiance contained in the young soldier's accusations, had no weight when laid in the balance against the calm and strong reasoning of Tibbers, who concluded every statement by regretting, with tears, that the case was so, but he made it plain to them that it could not be otherwise. The friends only smiled at the indignation of the young baronet; but acquitted, on every charge, their respected friend, Mr. Tibbers. This decision drove the young soldier beyond all bounds. He threat ened his ruinator with the High Court of Justiciary, of which Tibbers highly approved. He threatened him with every sort of vengeance which it is possible for one to inflict on another; and, finally, with a flogging every day when they met, until he should render him up his just rights. This last threat the soldier was not long in putting in execution, for no sooner had they left the court, than he began and gave him a good lashing with his hunting-whip, cursing him most potently all the while. Tibbers replied to all with a grin of despite, and these words, " O, how sweetly you shall re pent of this!" He flogged him afterwards at the market of our county town, and another time at church, or at least on the way from it; on both of which times Tibbers resisted unto blood, which was fine diversion for the soldier, and made him double his stripes. The country gentlemen deprecated these outrages in unmeasured terms, and said it was a shame to see an old man maltreated in that manner, and that this young bully ought to be legally restrained, for it did not behove that he should be suffered to come among them and take the law into his own hand. Some of them ventured to expostulate with him, but he only sneered at them, and answered, that no body knew how he had been used but himself, and that the old villain had not got one third of what he intended for him as yet; but he hoped he would live to see him hanged, that would be some comfort. He The common people viewed the matter quite in a different light. They were grieved at the violence of the young baronet, who, for his father's sake, was their darling; but it was for his own safety alone that they feared, for they were sure that Tibbers ws studying some secret and consummate vengeance upon him. never in his life, they said, bore a grudge at any one whom he did not ruin; and yet the deed never appeared to proceed from him, and never had he got such cause of offence as from the young baronet. Their predictions were too soon fulfilled, though, in all probability, not in the way Tibbers premeditated. At this time an event happened, which seems to have changed the vantage ground of the parties in a very particular manner. Here there is a great hole in the ballad, as the old singers were wont to say. My narrative must grow confused, because the real events are not known to me, nor, as far as I can gather, to mortal man. All that was certainly known, is as follows: The soldier, who had been watching his opportunity, nay, straining every nerve to discover something that would show the man in his true colours, now gained his purpose. He discovered him in some deadly crime, with full proof of its commission; of this there is no doubt. But what that crime was, or whether committed at that time or on a former day, I declare I know not.Reports were various and contradictory. It was said, and believed, that the young baronet got his cue from a man who had once been a servant with Tibbers, and that he followed it out with such persistency, as to watch his enemy night and day till he made the discovery he wanted. I have examined this man oftener than once, and though he admits that "he has a sayan guid guess" what the offence was with which the captain charged Tibbers, he will not so much as give a hint concerning it; but, on the contrary, always try to mislead from one thing to another. This then is the first great blank in the narrative, for I dare not even mention some of the reports that were current among the common people. But one day, as Tibbers was standing among his harvest workers, the young baronet and Mr. Alexander M'Gill, a friend of his, and a relation of my own, came briskly up to him on foot. He, suspecting some new outrage, drew close to his work-people, and thus addressed his determined persecutor, "You had better refrain from any of your mad pranks to-day, spark; else, depend on it, I have those about me will chastise you." "I don't regard these a pin," returned he; "but I am come to-day with a different intention-namely, to make you a full and final recompense for all the favours you have so liberally bestowed upon my late father and me." "I have never done ought either to you or your father which the laws of my country will not support me in," said he;" and while I have the law on my side, I defy you, and will yet revisit all your outrages upon your head sevenfold." "O, it is a noble thing the law of our country," exclaimed the soldier; "it is that which protects the innocent against the fangs of the oppressor, and bestows the due awards of justice on the villain and the wretch. And now to that blessed and infallible establishment I cheerfully resign you, old fellow. I have you on the hip now, and may honour blast my name if I do not follow up my advantage till I see you strapped like a worrying colley ?" The young baronet then, with a face of the most inveterate exultation, stepped forward, and in an under voice informed Mr. Tibbers of something, appealing to M'Gill as a witness. The old fellow drew himself up with a shiver that shook his whole frame; his countenance changed into the blue and pallid hue of death, his jaws fell down, and his whole frame became rigid, and there he stood gazing on his accusers as if in the phrenzy of despair, until the malignant turned on his heel, and desired his humbled enemy to go to dinner with what stomach he had. This scene was witnessed by twenty people, although none of them heard the accusation. Tibbers spoke not a word; his spirit shrunk within him like that of a man going to execution. He drew his cloak closer about him, and hasted home to his house, in which were none but his two daughters. When there, he threw himself upon the bed, and exclaimed, “O, girls, I am ruined! I am ruined! I am gone! gone! gone! I am ruined and undone for ever, and you are ruined and undone for ever! We must fly from our country this night, this very night, or hide our faces where they can never be seen again! O death, death! I dare not cross your dark threshold of my own accord! And yet I would hide me in the depths of the grave." In this way he continued raving on till towards the evening, and, as the girls declared afterwards, would tell them nothing, save that they were all three undone. At night he sent express for his attorney, who had con ducted all his legal business, knew his parents, and was suspected to be even a greater villain than himself. The two consulted together the whole night, counted over a great deal of money, and early the next morning set off for the county town. young baronet and Mr. M'Gill followed some hours after, as Tibbers well knew they would, to deliver him up into the hands of justice. But he was before hand with them for that day, for when they arrived none of the functionaries were to be found, and nothing could be done. The Tibbers must now have been put to his last shift; for it was perceived, that when the two gentlemen went up to the sheriff's house, that Tibbers was watching them; and as they returned disappointed, he immediately made up to them and desired to speak with them. At first they looked at him with disdain, mixed with abhorrence, as men look upon a reptile; but on hearing what he said, they retired with him into an angle of the church which stands in the middle of the main street, where all the three stood debating for nearly an hour. There were hundreds of eyes saw this; for it was market-day, and all their motions were well remem bered afterwards. They were manifestly entering into some agreement, for it was noted that the fiery and impatient soldier, after turning several times on his heel, as if to go away, at length held out his hand to Tibbers, which the latter, after a good deal of hesitation, struck, as people do on concluding a bargain. They went through the same motion a second and a third time, and then it appeared that the agreement was settled, for all the three went away together towards the river, which runs not above two bow-shots from the spot where they were standing. They were seen to go all three into a boat by some people who were at that instant crossing the ferry to the market. The boat had a sail, and was managed by two seamen whom none of the party knew, and she immediately bore down the river before the wind. I have been the more minute in those particulars, because they are the only ones known on which positive conjectures could be grounded. It was judged probable by those who witnessed the transaction, that, in order to get quit of the young man's insolence and upbraidings, Tibbers might have proffered him a good part of his father's estate again, in order to enjoy the rest in tranquillity. But then these people knew nothing of the hideous discovery made, and which it is quite manifest could not then, nor ever after, have been revealed. But what 'strengthened the people's conjecture most, was this. The sheriff was known to be that day down at the village on the quay, five miles below the town, taking evidence on some disputed goods, and the greyhounds and terriers of the law along with him; and it was thought that, in order to strike the iron while it was hot, the parties had gone down forthwith to have their agreement ratified. They did not, however, call either on the sheriff or any of the writers, nor has the young baronet or his friend ever been more heard of, either alive or dead, unto this day. Their horses remained at the hotel, which created some alarm; but no person could perceive any danger to which the young gentlemen could have been exposed. At what time Tibbers returned to his own house, was not known; but it was nearly a week before he was discovered there, and then so frightfully altered was he in appearance, that scarcely any person could have recognized him for the same man. He had moreover, a number of wounds upon him. Strong suspicions were raised against him. The common people were clamorous beyond measure; and the consequence was, that he was seized and examined, but nothing could be made out against him to warrant his commitment. In his declaration, he stated, that he had bribed the young man with almost every farthing he himself was worth, to go once more abroad, and not to return to Scotland again during his (Mr. Tibbers's) life, and that he had gone accordingly. He stated farther, that he had gone and seen him aboard before paying him the money, and that Alexander M'Gill was with him when he left him; whether he went abroad with him he could not tell; but they had plenty of money to carry them both to any part of the known world. There was a plausibility in this statement, as there was in every statement that Tibbers made. Still it was far from being satisfactory to the friends of the young gentlemen. He could neither tell the name of the ship nor the name of the captain with whom they sailed, but pretended that they made choice of the vessel themselves; and he took no heed to either the ship or the master. A reward was offered for the discovery of the two boatmen. They were never discovered; and with this vague statement and suspicious detail of circumstances, people were obliged to rest satisfied for the present, presuming, that, in the common course of events, the darkest shades in which they were involved would be brought to light. They never have as yet been disclosed by any of those common concatenations of circumstances which so often add infallibly to the truth. But the hand of the Almighty, whose eye neither either slumbers or sleeps, was manifestly extended to punish Wm. Tibbers, though for what crime or crimes I dare not infer. The man became a terror to himselfand to all who beheld him; and certainly, if he was not haunted, as the people said, by a ghost, or some vengeful spirit, he was haunted by an evil conscience, whose persecutions were even horrible to endure. There were two men hired to watch with him every night, and his cries during that season were often dreadful to hear. These men did sometimes speak of sayings that tended to criminate him, more ways than one; but the words of a person in that state of excitement, or rather derangement, no man can lay hold of. By day he was composed, and walked about by himself, and sometimes made a point of But attending to his secular concerns. wherever he showed his face, all were more struck with dumb amazement, an indefinable feeling of terror which words cannot describe. It was as if a cold tremor had seized on the vitals, and frozen up the genial currents of their souls. He was a Magur-missabub; an alien in the walks of humanity from whom the spirits of the living revolted, and the spirits of the dead attached themselves. But one day it so happened that this man of horrors was missing, and could no where be found; nor could any one be found who had seen him, save a crazy old woman, named Bessy Rieves, and of her account the keepers could make nothing. "Did you see aught of our master going this way, Bessy?" "Ay, ay! the dead tells nae tales, or there wad be plenty o' news o' Willie Tibbers the day. There wad be a sister an' a daughter, a baronet and a young gentleman, an' a poor harmless gardener lad into the bargain; a' huddled out o' sight to hide the crimes o' ane! Ay, ay, the grave's a good silencer for tell-tales, an' a deposite for secrets that winna keep; but a voice may come frae the grave, an' a lesson frae the depths of the sea to teach the sinner his errors. I saw Willie Tibbers; an' I saw a' thae waitin' on him. He's in braw company the day! But he had better be in the lion's den, or on the mountains of the leopards. Ay, he had better hae been in the claws o' the teegar than in yon bonny company. The pains o' the body are naething, but it's an awfu' thing to hae the soul sawn asunder! Ye may gang up the hill, an' down the hill, ower the hill, an' roun' the hill, but ye'll never find the poor castaway that gate. Gang ye to M'Arrow's grave the night, and note the exact spot that the moon rises at; and when ye gang there ye will either find Willie Tibbers, or ane unco like him." The men took no notice of this raving, but continued the search; and all the domestics and retainers of the family were soon scattered over the country, and sought till the next night, but found nothing. That night the words of daft Betty came to be discussed, and some of those present judged it worth while to take a note of the place, which they did. But M'Arrow's grave being on the top of the little hill behind the manse that bears his name, the rising of the moon was so distant, that they said Mr. Tibbers could not, without wings, have travelled to that spot. Yet, incredible as it may appear to you, nearly about that spot was Tibbers's body found, but so distorted and bloated that but for the clothes no one could have recognized it.. I request you to pay particular attention to this. About forty-six miles from his own house, in the county adjoining ours to the southward, and on the lands of Easter Tulloch, there was a body found, which was clothed in Mr. Tibbers's apparel from crown to toe; but farther than this, no man could depose, or even say that there was a likeness between the body found and the one lost. However, the body was taken home, and interred as the body of William Tibbers, and his two handsome daughters were declared joint heiresses of his property and great wealth. The astonishment that now reigned among the country people was extreme, and the saying of old crazy Betty Rieves caused the most amazement of all; and it was averred, without a dissentient voice, that spirits had carried off Willie Tibbers through the air, and tortured him to death, and strange lights were reported to have been seen that day he was lost; but you may conceive how this amazement was magnified, when, immediately subsequent to these alarms, it was as confidently reported that the ghost of Tibbers, walked, and had been seen and spoke with about his late habitation! I never remember of any sensation like the one that prevailed in our district at that period. I had lived to see the war come to our doors, the chapel burnt, and our cattle driven off with impunity; but the consternation then was not half so great as at the period of which I am writing. I preached against it, I prayed publicly that the Almighty would moderate it; yet I thought that all this only made matters the worse. People actually left off their necessary labour, and gathered in crowds to gape, stare, talk, and listen about ghosts; and of murdered people returning from the grave and the bottom of the sea, to which they had been sunk with a hundred pounds weight of lead at every foot, to wreak the vengeance of God on a monster of humanity. Matters now went all topsy-turvy at Castle-Gower together. The heir was lost-totally lost; for he had never joined his regiment, nor been heard of at any part; and the next heir of entail arrived from Lower Canada to take possession of the titles and emoluments of the estate. The latter of those was much reduced, for all the land had been of late sold, except the entailed part, and that was considerably burdened. But now that Tibbers was out of the way, he had great hopes of reducing the late estate, and recovering the whole of the family property. Accordingly, an action was raised against the heirs of the late Mr. Tibbers, who defended, and the cause was tried in the High Court of Justiciary, among the records of which you will find it; for I do not know the particulars, and can only define the feelings that prevailed here. Mr. Tibbers's two daughters had retired to Edinburgh, to escape the confusion and terror that prevailed at home. They were amiable girls, and as much beloved by the common people as their father was hated. On the other hand, the upstart, Sir Thomas, as he now called himself, was a lowbred, vulgar, and disagreeable person, and was as much hated by the gentry as the commoners; so that the feeling with us was wholly in favour of the two young ladies, and it is amazing what anxiety was manifested on their account. The people said they could not tell whether the defenders' late father had played false in his trusteeship or not. His employers had judged otherwise, and, at all events, the lovely and innocent young girls had no hand in his guilt, but had been tyrannized over all their lives. All parties, however, agreed in this, that if Johnie Gaskirk, who had acted as attorney for Mr. Tibbers all his lifetime, and knew of every transaction, stood as true to the cause of the daughters as he had always done to that of the father, they were invincible; but if he was bribed to take the other side, all was lost, and of this every one saw the danger; for the other party had been dangling with him and consult ing him. What side Johnie Gaskirk had resolved to take, will never be known. Probably the one that paid him best, had not an incident happened that turned the scale in favour of his old employer. I know nothing about law, or law terms, and the less, perhaps, the better. But the success of the plea turned eventually on the want of a duplicate of a disposition. The pursuers denied the possession of it, arguing, that the one produced by the counsel of the defenders was a forgery, and the latter could find no proof of its delivery. Three times there were sunning men dispatched all the way from Edinburgh to our county town, 145 miles, to consult Johnie Gaskirk, but neither of the parties were much the wiser. One night, however, as Johnie was sitting alone in his office, with all the late Mr. Tibbers's papers before him, comparing dates, and taking notes, who should enter but Mr. Tibbers himself, and that in a guise which would have struck any man dead, save Johnie Gaskirk, who seems to have had nerves of steel. But be it considered that this frightful apparition opened the door of the office and came in like another man. It was dressed in the deceased's every day suit, the same in which the corpse had been found, but its features were what Johnie called, "unco gast!" "Lord preserve us, Mr. Tibbers!" said Johnie. "Amen! if you be honest," said the apparition, standing straight up with its back to the door, and its eyes turned on the floor. "Honest, sir?" said Johnie Gaskirk, hesitating. "Ye ken the folks said that neither you nor I were very singular for honesty. But God be wi' us, Mr. Tibbers, we thought you had been dead, but it seems you have been only in hiding." "Only in hiding," responded the figure. Ay, ay! Ye war aye a queer man a' your days, an' had queer gates," said Johnie. But this is the strangest manoover of a'. This alters the case very materially." "Yes, in so far as that, if you dare to pursue your present plans, I'll hang you;" said the apparition. "That duplicate-Dare you for your neck, for you never set your soul at a farthing's value, deny the subscribing and delivery of that paper in this office?" "A man may be allowed to forget a thing, ye ken, sir," said Johnie. "And truly, though I think it natural that there should have been a duplicate, else the transaction wasna worth a doit; yet I canna say that I remember ought about it." "You do, you dog. It was signed by you and James Anderson, now in Montrose, and given to Mr. Baillie, who now thinks proper to deny it, and who has likely put it out of the way. But your three oaths will prove its existence. If you shuffle and decline doing this, I will first hang you, and then produce the paper in court to the proper authorities.' Having said this, the stern and hag |