and Miss Vernon rode with me to Osbaldistone Hall, giving me, on the
way, a description of its inmates, of whom, she said, the only
conversible beings beside herself were the old priest and Rashleigh--Sir
Hildebrand's youngest son.


_II.--Rashleigh's Villainy_


Rashleigh Osbaldistone was a striking contrast to his young brothers,
all tall, stout, and comely, without pretence to accomplishment except
their dexterity in field sports. He welcomed me with the air of a man of
the world, and though his appearance was far from prepossessing, he was
possessed of a voice the most soft, mellow, and rich I ever heard. He
had been intended for a priest, but when my father's desire to have one
of Sir Hildebrand's sons in his counting-house was known, he had been
selected, as, indeed, the only one who could be considered at all
suitable.

The day after my arrival, Miss Vernon, as we were following the hounds,
showed me in the distance the hills of Scotland, and told me I could be
there in safety in two hours. To my dismay, she explained that my
timorous fellow-traveller had been robbed of money and dispatches, and
accused me. The magistrate had let my uncle know, and both he and Miss
Vernon, considering it a merit to distress a Hanoverian government in
every way, never doubted my guilt, and only showed the way of escape. On
my indignant denial, Miss Vernon rode with me to the magistrate's, where
we met Rashleigh, and after a hasty private talk with him, in which from
earnest she became angry and flung away from him, saying, "I will have
it so." Immediately after we heard his horse's hoofs in rapid motion;