ae hair mair than ye do yersel', Mr. Lumley;
and that's nae sayin' muckle, surely,' returned Robert, irritated at his
tone more than at his words.

The bystanders laughed, and Lumley flew into a rage.

'Haud yer ill tongue, ye brat,' he said. 'Wha' are ye to mak' sic
remarks upo' yer betters? A'body kens yer gran'father was naething but
the blin' piper o' Portcloddie.'

This was news to Robert--probably false, considering the quarter whence
it came. But his mother-wit did not forsake him.

'Weel, Mr. Lumley,' he answered, 'didna he pipe weel? Daur ye tell me
'at he didna pipe weel?--as weel's ye cud hae dune 't yersel', noo, Mr.
Lumley?'

The laugh again rose at Lumley's expense, who was well known to have
tried his hand at most things, and succeeded in nothing. Dooble Sanny
was especially delighted.

'De'il hae ye for a de'il's brat! 'At I suld sweer!' was all Lumley's
reply, as he sought to conceal his mortification by attempting to join
in the laugh against himself. Robert seized the opportunity of turning
away and entering the house.

'That ane's no to be droont or brunt aither,' said Lumley, as he
disappeared.

'He'll no be hang't for closin' your mou', Mr. Lumley,' said the
shoemaker.

Thereupon Lumley turned and followed Robert into the inn.

Robert had delivered his message to Miss Napier, who sat in an arm-chair
by the fire, in a little comfortable parlour, held sacred by all about
the house. She was paralytic, and unable to attend to her guests
further than by giving orders when anything especial was referred to her
decision. She was an old lady--nearly as old as Mrs. Falconer--and wore
glasses, but they could not conceal the kindness of her kindly eyes.
Probably from giving less heed to a systematic theology, she had nothing
of that sternness which first struck a stranger on seeing Robert's
grandmother. But then she did not know what it was to be contradicted;
and if she had been married, and had had sons, perhaps a sternness not
dissimilar might have shown itself in her nature.

'Noo ye maunna gang awa' till ye get something,' she said, after taking
the receipt in request from a drawer within her reach, and laying it
upon the table. But ere she could ring the bell which stood by her side,
one of her servants came in.

'Please, mem,' she said, 'Miss Letty and Miss Lizzy's seein' efter the
bonny leddy; and sae I maun come to you.'

'Is she a' that bonny, Meg?' asked her mistress.

'Na, na,