Young Allanson recovered from his raging fever scarcely in the manner of other men, for he recovered all at once, after a few days raving and madness. Mary Burnet, it appeared, was by him no more remembered. He grew ten times more wicked than before, and hesitated at no means of accomplishing his unhallowed purposes. The devout shepherds and cottagers around detested him; and, both in their families and in the wild, when there was no ear to hear but that of Heaven, they prayed protection from his devices, as if he had been the Wicked One; and they all prophesied that he would make a bad end. One fine day about the middle of October, when the days begin to get very short, and the nights long and dark, on a Friday morning, the next year but one after Mary Burnet was lost, a memorable day in the fairy annals, John Allanson, younger of Inverlawn, went to a great hiring fair at a village called Moffat in Annandale, in order to hire a house-maid. His character was so notorious, that not one young woman in the district would serve in his father's house; so away he went to the fair at Moffat, to hire the prettiest and loveliest girl he could there find, with the intention of ruining her as soon as she came home. This is no supposititious accusation, for he acknowledged his plan to Mr David Welch of Cariferan, who rode down to the market with him, and seemed to boast of it, and dwell on it with delight. But the maidens of Annandale had a guardian angel in the fair that day, of which neither he nor they were aware. Allanson looked through the hiring market, and through the hiring market, and at length fixed on one young woman, which indeed was not difficult to do, for there was no such form there for elegance and beauty. Mr Welch stood still and eyed him. He took the beauty aside. She was clothed in green, and as lovely as a new-blown rose. "Are you to hire, pretty maiden?" "Yes, sir." "Will you hire with me?" "I care not though I do. But if I hire with you, it must be for the long term." "Certainly. The longer the better. What are your wages to be?" "You know, if I hire, I must be paid in kind. I must have the first living creature that I see about Inverlawn to myself." "I wish it may be me, then. But what do you know about Inverlawn?" "I think I _should_ know about it." "Bless me! I know the face as well as I know my own, and better. But the name has somehow escaped me. Pray, may I ask your name?" "Hush! hush!" said she solemnly, and holding up her hand at the same time; "Hush, hush, you had better say nothing about that here." "I am in utter amazement!" he exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this? I conjure you to tell me your name?" "It is Mary Burnet," said she, in a soft whisper; and at the same time she let down a green veil over her face.