Fiction > Book editions > London, 1886 - Kidnapped

KIDNAPPED:
BEING
MEMOIRS  OF THE ADVENTURES   OF DAVID
BALFOUR IN THE  YEAR  1751.
CHAPTER I.
I   SET   OFF UPON   MY JOURNEY TO   THE   HOUSE OF SHAWS.
I WILL begin the story of my adventures with a certain
morning early in the month of June, the year of grace
1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the
door of my father's house. The sun began to shine
upon the summit of the hills as I went down the road;
and by the time I had come as far as the manse, the
blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs, and the
mist that hung around the valley in the time of the
dawn was beginning to arise and die away.
Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was wait-
ing for me by the garden gate, good man ! He asked
me if I had breakfasted; and hearing that I lacked for
nothing, he took my hand in both of his and clapped it
kindly under his arm.
"Well, Davie, lad," said he, "I will go with you as
far as the ford, to set you on the way."
B