n served, with the
skippers o' Dutch luggers and French vessels, for gin and brandy, and is
served the house mony a year--a gude swap too, between what cheereth the
soul of man and that which hingeth it clean out of his body; forbye,
I keepit a wheen pounds of it for yoursell when ye wanted to take the
pleasure o' shooting: whiles, in these latter days, I wad hardly hae
kenn'd else whar to get pouther for your pleasure. And now that your
anger is ower, sir, wasna that weel managed o' me, and arena ye far
better sorted doun yonder than ye could hae been in your ain auld ruins
up-bye yonder, as the case stands wi' us now? the mair's the pity!"

"I believe you may be right, Caleb; but, before burning down my castle,
either in jest or in earnest," said Ravenswood, "I think I had a right
to be in the secret."

"Fie for shame, your honour!" replied Caleb; "it fits an auld carle like
me weel eneugh to tell lees for the credit of the family, but it wadna
beseem the like o' your honour's sell; besides, young folk are no
judicious: they cannot make the maist of a bit figment. Now this
fire--for a fire it sall be, if I suld burn the auld stable to make it
mair feasible--this fire, besides that it will be an excuse for asking
ony thing we want through the country, or doun at the haven--this
fire will settle mony things on an honourable footing for the family's
credit, that cost me telling twenty daily lees to a wheen idle chaps
and queans, and, what's waur, without gaining credence." "That was hard
indeed, Caleb; but I do not see how this fire should help your veracity
or your credit."

"There it is now?" said Caleb; "wasna I saying that young folk had a
green judgment? How suld it help me, quotha? It will be a creditable
apology for the honour of the family for this score of years to come, if
it is weel guided. 'Where's the family pictures?' says ae meddling body.
'The great fire at Wolf's Crag,' answers I. 'Where's the family plate?'
says another. 'The great fire,' says I; 'wha was to think of plate,
when life and limb were in danger?' 'Where's the wardrobe and the
linens?--where's the tapestries and the decorements?--beds of state,
twilts, pands and testors, napery and broidered wark?' 'The fire--the
fire--the fire.' Guide the fire weel, and it will serve ye for a' that
ye suld have and have not; and, in some sort, a gude excuse is better
than the things themselves; for they maun crack and wear out, and be
consumed by time, w