at once taking the tray on which
it was placed into the sitting-room, he conveyed it privately into his
own pantry, and shut the door.

"Lie ye there, my freend, till the spare moment comes--and I'll look
at ye again," he said, putting the letter away carefully in the
dresser-drawer. "Noo aboot the dinner o' they twa turtle-doves in the
parlor?" he continued, directing his attention to the dinner tray. "I
maun joost see that the cook's 's dune her duty--the creatures are no'
capable o' decidin' that knotty point for their ain selves." He took off
one of the covers, and picked bits, here and there, out of the dish with
the fork, "Eh! eh! the collops are no' that bad!" He took off another
cover, and shook his head in solemn doubt. "Here's the green meat. I
doot green meat's windy diet for a man at my time o' life!" He put the
cover on again, and tried the next dish. "The fesh? What the de'il does
the woman fry the trout for? Boil it next time, ye betch, wi' a pinch
o' saut and a spunefu' o' vinegar." He drew the cork from a bottle of
sherry, and decanted the wine. "The sherry wine?" he said, in tones of
deep feeling, holding the decanter up to the light. "Hoo do I know but
what it may be corkit? I maun taste and try. It's on my conscience,
as an honest man, to taste and try." He forthwith relieved his
conscience--copiously. There was a vacant space, of no inconsiderable
dimensions, left in the decanter. Mr. Bishopriggs gravely filled it up
from the water-bottle. "Eh! it's joost addin' ten years to the age
o' the wine. The turtle-doves will be nane the waur--and I mysel' am
a glass o' sherry the better. Praise Providence for a' its maircies!"
Having relieved himself of that devout aspiration, he took up the tray
again, and decided on letting the turtle-doves have their dinner.

The conversation in the parlor (dropped for the moment) had been
renewed, in the absence of Mr. Bishopriggs. Too restless to remain
long in one place, Anne had risen again from the sofa, and had rejoined
Arnold at the window.

"Where do your friends at Lady Lundie's believe you to be now?" she
asked, abruptly.

"I am believed," replied Arnold, "to be meeting my tenants, and taking
possession of my estate."

"How are you to get to your estate to-night?"

"By railway, I suppose. By-the-by, what excuse am I to make for going
away after dinner? We are sure to have the landlady in here before long.
What will she say to my going off by myself to th