In which the young narrator, burdened with anxious reflection and urgent business, resolves to set out in secrecy from Osbaldistone Hall to meet his old friend Owen in Glasgow, entrusting Andrew Fairservice, a keen-witted yet obstinate gardener, to guide him through the night and narrow passes of the borderlands. Along the way, glimpses of the unsettled times and furtive dealings among hardy characters hint at the undercurrents of disruption lurking beneath the tranquil Scottish moors.