"Good heaven, doctor, how came you to be in this situation? What is the meaning of all this?" he added, turning to his men.
"The maining's as plain as a pike-staff, your honour," replied the Irish watchman, to whom we have already introduced the reader. "We found this little gentleman, since he turns out to be a gentleman, where he shouldn't have been."
"And where was that, pray?" inquired the sub.
"Why, in Mr. Thomson's house, your honour. And not only that, but in bed too, as snug as a fox in a chimbley."
"In ta fery peds, ta roke!" here chimed in our friend M'Kay.
"What! you don't mean to say that you found the doctor here in Mr. Thomson's house?" said the astonished official, laying a marked emphasis on the name.
"To pe surely we do, sir," replied Duncan.
"I'll tak my Bible oath till't," added another personage, whom the reader will readily recognise.
"In my house! The doctor in my house!" exclaimed Mr. Thomson, in the utmost amazement.
"Mr. Thomson's house! Me in Mr. Thomson's house!" said the doctor, with a look of blank dismay; for a tolerably distinct view of the truth had now begun to present itself to his mind's eye. It was, therefore, rather in the desperate hope of there being yet some chance in his favour, than from any conviction that the testimony against him was founded in error, that he added—