There was yet a twinkling light occasionally seen to glide along by the stream, which conducted home one or two of the small parties, who, after the abstinence and religious duties of the day, had partaken of a social supper--the only meal at which the rigid Presbyterians made some advance to sociality on the Sabbath.

Occasionally, also, the hoofs of a horse were heard, whose rider, after spending the Sunday in Glasgow, was directing his steps towards his residence in the country.

These sounds and sights became gradually of more rare occurrence; at length they altogether ceased, and I was left to enjoy my solitary walk on the shores of the Clyde in solemn silence, broken only by the tolling of the successive hours from the steeples of the churches.
But as the night advanced my impatience at the uncertainty of the situation in which I was placed increased every moment, and became nearly ungovernable.

I began to question whether I had been imposed upon by the trick of a fool, the raving of a madman, or the studied machinations of a villain, and paced the little quay or pier adjoining the entrance to the bridge, in a state of incredible anxiety and vexation.

At length the hour of twelve o'clock swung its summons over the city from the belfry of the metropolitan church of St.Mungo, and was answered and vouched by all the others like dutiful diocesans.