the contract. "Do you know, sister," he said, "I am glad you are to
have Bucklaw after all, instead of Ravenswood, who looked like a Spanish
grandee come to cute our throats and trample our bodies under foot.
And I am glad the broad seas are between us this day, for I shall never
forget how frightened I was when I took him for the picture of old Sir
Malise walked out of the canvas. Tell me true, are you not glad to be
fairly shot of him?"

"Ask me no questions, dear Henry," said his unfortunate sister; "there
is little more can happen to make me either glad or sorry in this
world."

"And that's what all young brides say," said Henry; "and so do not be
cast down, Lucy, for you'll tell another tale a twelvemonth hence; and I
am to be bride's-man, and ride before you to the kirk; and all our kith,
kin, and allies, and all Bucklaw's, are to be mounted and in order; and
I am to have a scarlet laced coat, and a feathered hat, and a sword-belt,
double bordered with gold, and point d'Espagne, and a dagger instead of
a sword; and I should like a sword much better, but my father won't
hear of it. All my things, and a hundred besides, are to come out from
Edinburgh to-night with old Gilbert and the sumpter mules; and I will
bring them and show them to you the instant they come."

The boy's chatter was here interrupted by the arrival of Lady Ashton,
somewhat alarmed at her daughter's stay. With one of her sweetest
smiles, she took Lucy's arm under her own.

There were only present, Sir William Ashton and Colonel Douglas Ashton,
the last in full regimentals; Bucklaw, in bridegroom trim; Craigengelt,
freshly equipt from top to toe by the bounty of his patron, and
bedizened with as much lace as might have become the dress of the Copper
Captain; together with the Rev. Mr. Bide-the-Bent; the presence of
a minister being, in strict Presbyterian families, an indispensable
requisite upon all occasions of unusual solemnity.

Wines and refreshments were placed on a table, on which the writings
were displayed, ready for signature.

But before proceeding either to business or refreshment, Mr.
Bide-the-Bent, at a signal from Sir William Ashton, invited the company
to join him in a short extemporary prayer, in which he implored a
blessing upon the contract now to be solemnised between the honourable
parties then present. With the simplicity of his times and profession,
which permitted strong personal allusions, he petitioned that the
woun