g of water and the lighted candle in his hands and the
hidden terrier under one arm, the old man mounted the eighteen-inch
wide, walled-in attic stairs and unlocked the first of a number of
narrow doors on the passage at the top.

"Weel aboon the fou' smell," indeed; "weel worth the lang climb!" Around
the loose frames of two wee southward-looking dormer windows, that
jutted from the slope of the gable, came a gush of rain-washed air. Auld
Jock tumbled Bobby, warm and happy and "nane the wiser," out into the
cold cell of a room that was oh, so very, very different from the high,
warm, richly colored library of Sir Walter! This garret closet in the
slums of Edinburgh was all of cut stone, except for the worn, oaken
floor, a flimsy, modern door, and a thin, board partition on one side
through which a "neebor" could be heard snoring. Filling all of the
outer wall between the peephole, leaded windows and running-up to the
slope of the ceiling, was a great fireplace of native white freestone,
carved into fluted columns, foliated capitals, and a flat pediment of
purest classic lines. The ballroom of a noble of Queen Mary's day
had been cut up into numerous small sleeping closets, many of them
windowless, and were let to the chance lodger at threepence the night.
Here, where generations of dancing toes had been warmed, the chimney
vent was bricked up, and a boxed-in shelf fitted, to serve for a bed,
a seat and a table, for such as had neither time nor heart for dancing.
For the romantic history and the beauty of it, Auld Jock had no mind at
all. But, ah! he had other joy often missed by the more fortunate.

"Be canny, Bobby," he cautioned again.

The sagacious little dog understood, and pattered about the place
silently. Exhausting it in a moment, and very plainly puzzled and bored,
he sat on his haunches, yawned wide, and looked up inquiringly to his
master. Auld Jock set the jug and the candle on the floor and slipped
off his boots. He had no wish to "wauken 'is neebors." With nervous
haste he threw back one of the windows on its hinges, reached across
the wide stone ledge and brought in-wonder of wonders, in such a place a
tiny earthen pot of heather!

"Is it no' a bonny posie?" he whispered to Bobby. With this cherished
bit of the country that he had left behind him the April before in his
hands, he sat down in the fireplace bed and lifted Bobby beside him.
He sniffed at the red tuft of purple bloom fondly, and his old