"But I'll wun out a gliff the night for a' that, to dance in the moonlight, when her and the gudeman will be whirrying through the blue lift on a broom-shank, to see Jean Jap, that they hae putten intill the Kirkcaldy Tolbooth--ay, they will hae a merry sail ower Inchkeith, and ower a' the bits o' bonny waves that are poppling and plashing against the rocks in the gowden glimmer o' the moon, ye ken .-- I'm coming, mother--I'm coming," she concluded, on hearing a scuffle at the door betwixt the beldam and the officers, who were endeavouring to prevent her re-entrance.

Madge then waved her hand wildly towards the ceiling, and sung, at the topmost pitch of her voice, "Up in the air, On my bonny grey mare, And I see, and I see, and I see her yet;" and with a hop, skip, and jump, sprung out of the room, as the witches of Macbeth used, in less refined days, to seem to fly upwards from the stage.
Some weeks intervened before Mr.Middleburgh, agreeably to his benevolent resolution, found an opportunity of taking a walk towards St.Leonard's, in order to discover whether it might be possible to obtain the evidence hinted at in the anonymous letter respecting Effie Deans.
In fact, the anxious perquisitions made to discover the murderers of Porteous occupied the attention of all concerned with the administration of justice.
In the course of these inquiries, two circumstances happened material to our story.

Butler, after a close investigation of his conduct, was declared innocent of accession to the death of Porteous; but, as having been present during the whole transaction, was obliged to find bail not to quit his usual residence at Liberton, that he might appear as a witness when called upon.

The other incident regarded the disappearance of Madge Wildfire and her mother from Edinburgh.

When they were sought, with the purpose of subjecting them to some farther interrogatories, it was discovered by Mr.Sharpitlaw that they had eluded the observation of the police, and left the city so soon as dismissed from the council-chamber.