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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
176
With
great
hardihood,
they
came
to
Sir
Robert's
house
next
morning
to
inquire,
as
innocent
men,
why
they
were
searched
for;
when
Sir
Robert,
after
a
short
examination
in
presence
of
the
postboy,
saw
fit
to
have
them
disarmed
and
sent
off
to
Haddington.
It
was
Sunday,
and
Bailie
Lauder,
to
whose
house
they
came
with
their
escort,
was
about
to
go
to
church.
If
the
worthy
bailie
is
to
be
believed,
he
thought
their
going
to
the
sheriff's
a
great
presumption
of
their
innocence.
He
admitted,
too,
that
Lord
Kingston
had
come
and
spoken
to
him
that
morning.
Anyhow,
he
concluded
that
it
might
be
enough
in
the
meantime
if
he
afforded
them
a
room
in
his
house,
secured
their
horses
in
his
stable,
and
left
them
under
charge
of
two
of
the
town-officers.
Unluckily,
however,
he
required
the
town-officers,
as
usual,
to
walk
before
him
and
his
brother
magistrates
to
church--which,
it
is
obvious,
interfered
very
considerably
with
their
efficiency
as
a
guard
over
the
two
gentlemen.
While
things
were
in
this
posture,
Messrs
Seton
took
the
prudent
course
of
making
their
escape.
As
soon
as
the
bailie
heard
of
it
he
left
church,
and
took
after
them
with
some
neighbours,
but
he
did
not
succeed
in
overtaking
them.
The
Privy
Council
had
an
extraordinary
meeting
to
take
measures
regarding
this
affair,
and
their
first
step
was
to
order
Bailie
Lauder
and
the
two
town-officers
into
the
Tolbooth
of
Edinburgh
as
close
prisoners.
A
few
days
afterwards
the
magistrate
was
condemned
by
the
Council
as
guilty
of
plain
fraud
and
connivance,
and
declared
incapable
of
any
public
employment.
William
Kaim,
the
smith
at
Lord
Kingston's
house
of
Whittinghame,
was
also
in
custody
on
some
suspicion
of
a
concern
in
this
business;
but
he
and
the
town-officers
were
quickly
liberated.
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