When Malcolm and Joseph set out from Duff Harbor to find the laird, they could hardly be said to have gone in search of him:  all in their power was to seek the parts where he was occasionally seen, in the hope of chancing upon him; and they wandered in vain about the woods of Fife House all that week, returning disconsolate every evening to the little inn on the banks of the Wan Water.  Sunday came and went without yielding a trace of him; and, almost in despair, they resolved, if unsuccessful the next day, to get assistance and organize a search for him.  Monday passed like the days that had preceded it, and they were returning dejectedly down the left bank of the Wan Water in the gloaming, and nearing a part where it is hemmed in by precipitous rocks and is very narrow and deep, crawling slow and black under the lofty arch of an ancient bridge that spans it at one leap, when suddenly they caught sight of a head peering at them over the parapet.  They dared not run for fear of terrifying him if it should be the laird, and hurried quietly to the spot.  But when they reached the end of the bridge its round back was bare from end to end.  On the other side of the river the trees came close up, and pursuit was hopeless in the gathering darkness.

“Laird, laird! they’ve ta’en awa’ Phemy, an’ we dinna ken whaur to luik for her,” cried the poor father aloud.

Almost the same instant, and as if he had issued from the ground, the laird stood before them.  The men started back with astonishment—­soon changed into pity, for there was light enough to see how miserable the poor fellow looked.  Neither exposure nor privation had thus weighed upon him:  he was simply dying of fear.  Having greeted Joseph with embarrassment, he kept glancing doubtfully at Malcolm, as if ready to run on his least movement.  In few words Joseph explained their quest—­with trembling voice and tears that would not be denied enforcing the tale.  Ere he had done the laird’s jaw had fallen and further speech was impossible to him.  But by gestures sad and plain enough he indicated that he knew nothing of her, and had supposed her safe at home with her parents.  In vain they tried to persuade him to go back with them, promising every protection:  for sole answer he shook his head mournfully.

There came a sudden gust of wind among the branches.  Joseph, little used to trees and their ways with the wind, turned toward the sound, and Malcolm unconsciously followed his movement.  When they turned again the laird had vanished, and they took their way homeward in sadness.

What passed next with the laird can be but conjectured.  It came to be well enough known afterward where he had been hiding; and had it not been dusk as they came down the river-bank the two men might, looking up to the bridge from below, have had it suggested to them.  For in the half-spandrel wall between the first arch and the bank they might have spied a small window looking down on the sullen, silent gloom,