As to Craigie, indeed, it does not very much signify: he
had gallows written on his brow in the hour of his birth; but I should
not like to discredit my parentage by coming to such an end in another
man's cause."
"Gentlemen," said the Master of Ravenswood, "I am sorry if I have
occasioned you any inconvenience, but I must claim the right of judging
what is best for my own affairs, without rendering explanations to any
one. I have altered my mind, and do not design to leave the country this
season."
"Not to leave the country, Master!" exclaimed Craigengelt. "Not to go
over, after all the trouble and expense I have incurred--after all the
risk of discovery, and the expense of freight and demurrage!"
"Sir," replied the Master of Ravenswood, "when I designed to leave this
country in this haste, I made use of your obliging offer to procure me
means of conveyance; but I do not recollect that I pledged myself to
go off, if I found occasion to alter my mind. For your trouble on my
account, I am sorry, and I thank you; your expense," he added, putting
his hand into his pocket, "admits a more solid compensation: freight and
demurrage are matters with which I am unacquainted, Captain Craigengelt,
but take my purse and pay yourself according to your own conscience.
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