`` David , it is a very fine lass . '' And a matter of an hour later , as we were lying in a den on the sea-shore and I had been already dozing , he broke out again in commendations of her character . For my part , I could say nothing , she was so simple a creature that my heart smote me both with remorse and fear : remorse because we had traded upon her ignorance ; and fear lest we should have anyway involved her in the dangers of our situation . CHAPTER XXVII I COME TO MR. RANKEILLOR The next day it was agreed that Alan should fend for himself till sunset ; but as soon as it began to grow dark , he should lie in the fields by the roadside near to Newhalls , and stir for naught until he heard me whistling . At first I proposed I should give him for a signal the `` Bonnie House of Airlie , '' which was a favourite of mine ; but he objected that as the piece was very commonly known , any ploughman might whistle it by accident ; and taught me instead a little fragment of a Highland air , which has run in my head from that day to this , and will likely run in my head when I lie dying . Every time it comes to me , it takes me off to that last day of my uncertainty , with Alan sitting up in the bottom of the den , whistling and beating the measure with a finger , and the grey of the dawn coming on his face . I was in the long street of Queensferry before the sun was up . It was a fairly built burgh , the houses of good stone , many slated ; the town-hall not so fine , I thought , as that of Peebles , nor yet the street so noble ; but take it altogether , it put me to shame for my foul tatters . As the morning went on , and the fires began to be kindled , and the windows to open , and the people to appear out of the houses , my concern and despondency grew ever the blacker . I saw now that I had no grounds to stand upon ; and no clear proof of my rights , nor so much as of my own identity . If it was all a bubble , I was indeed sorely cheated and left in a sore pass . Even if things were as I conceived , it would in all likelihood take time to establish my contentions ; and what time had I to spare with less than three shillings in my pocket , and a condemned , hunted man upon my hands to ship out of the country ? Truly , if my hope broke with me , it might come to the gallows yet for both of us . And as I continued to walk up and down , and saw people looking askance at me upon the street or out of windows , and nudging or speaking one to another with smiles , I began to take a fresh apprehension : that it might be no easy matter even to come to speech of the lawyer , far less to convince him of my story . For the life of me I could not muster up the courage to address any of these reputable burghers ; I thought shame even to speak with them in such a pickle of rags and dirt ; and if I had asked for the house of such a man as Mr. Rankeillor , I suppose they would have burst out laughing in my face . So I went up and down , and through the street , and down to the harbour-side , like a dog that has lost its master , with a strange gnawing in my inwards , and every now and then a movement of despair . It grew to be high day at last , perhaps nine in the forenoon ; and I was worn with these wanderings , and chanced to have stopped in front of a very good house on the landward side , a house with beautiful , clear glass windows , flowering knots upon the sills , the walls new-harled * and a chase-dog sitting yawning on the step like one that was at home . Well , I was even envying this dumb brute , when the door fell open and there issued forth a shrewd , ruddy , kindly , consequential man in a well-powdered wig and spectacles . I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on me once , but he looked at me again ; and this gentleman , as it proved , was so much struck with my poor appearance that he came straight up to me and asked me what I did . * Newly rough-cast .
I told him I was come to the Queensferry on business , and taking heart of grace , asked him to direct me to the house of Mr. XXXXX .
Peebles Rankeillor accident day first inwards left ploughman sills town-hall