black-foot traffic is this that I find ye out in, Mr. Whig? Here
is a forfeited rebel and an accused murderer, with two hundred
pounds on his life, and ye ask me to meddle in his business, and
then tell me ye're a Whig! I have no mind of any such Whigs
before, though I've kent plenty of them."

"He's a forfeited rebel, the more's the pity," said I, "for the
man's my friend. I can only wish he had been better guided. And
an accused murderer, that he is too, for his misfortune; but
wrongfully accused."

"I hear you say so," said Stewart.

"More than you are to hear me say so, before long," said I. "Alan
Breck is innocent, and so is James."

"Oh!" says he, "the two cases hang together. If Alan is out, James
can never be in."

Hereupon I told him briefly of my acquaintance with Alan, of the
accident that brought me present at the Appin murder, and the
various passages of our escape among the heather, and my recovery
of my estate. "So, sir, you have now the whole train of these
events," I went on, "and can see for yourself how I come to be so
much mingled up with the affairs of your family and friends, which
(for all of our sakes) I wish had been plainer and less bloody.
You can see for yourself, too, that I have certain pieces of
business depending, which were scarcely fit to lay before a lawyer
chosen at random. No more remains, but to ask if you will
undertake my service?"