‘Away, away, then!’ said she, waving her hand.  ’Think not about the goud, it’s a’ your ain; but remember your promise, and do not dare to follow me or look after me.’  So saying, she plunged again into the dell, and descended it with great agility, the icicles and snow-wreaths showering down after her as she disappeared.

Notwithstanding her prohibition, Brown endeavoured to gain some point of the bank from which he might, unseen, gaze down into the glen; and with some difficulty (for it must be conceived that the utmost caution was necessary) he succeeded.  The spot which he attained for this purpose was the point of a projecting rock, which rose precipitously from among the trees.  By kneeling down among the snow and stretching his head cautiously forward, he could observe what was going on in the bottom of the dell.  He saw, as he expected, his companions of the last night, now joined by two or three others.  They had cleared away the snow from the foot of the rock and dug a deep pit, which was designed to serve the purpose of a grave.  Around this they now stood, and lowered into it something wrapped in a naval cloak, which Brown instantly concluded to be the dead body of the man he had seen expire.  They then stood silent for half a minute, as if under some touch of feeling for the loss of their companion.  But if they experienced such, they did not long remain under its influence, for all hands went presently to work to fill up the grave; and Brown, perceiving that the task would be soon ended, thought it best to take the gipsy woman’s hint and walk as fast as possible until he should gain the shelter of the plantation.

Having arrived under cover of the trees, his first thought was of the gipsy’s purse.  He had accepted it without hesitation, though with something like a feeling of degradation, arising from the character of the person by whom he was thus accommodated.  But it relieved him from a serious though temporary embarrassment.  His money, excepting a very few shillings, was in his portmanteau, and that was in possession of Meg’s friends.  Some time was necessary to write to his agent, or even to apply to his good host at Charlie’s Hope, who would gladly have supplied him.  In the meantime he resolved to avail himself of Meg’s subsidy, confident he should have a speedy opportunity of replacing it with a handsome gratuity.  ‘It can be but a trifling sum,’ he said to himself, ’and I daresay the good lady may have a share of my banknotes to make amends.’

With these reflections he opened the leathern purse, expecting to find at most three or four guineas.  But how much was he surprised to discover that it contained, besides a considerable quantity of gold pieces, of different coinages and various countries, the joint amount of which could not be short of a hundred pounds, several valuable rings and ornaments set with jewels, and, as appeared from the slight inspection he had time to give them, of very considerable value.