ucted into that room, on condition that I would
give it up the moment the Judge came from Court. After I had put off my
wet clothes I went up into a bedroom, and sate shivering there, till the
people of the inn had procured lodgings for us in a private house.

We were received with hearty welcome by a good woman, who, though above
seventy years old, moved about as briskly as if she was only seventeen.
Those parts of the house which we were to occupy were neat and clean; she
showed me every corner, and, before I had been ten minutes in the house,
opened her very drawers that I might see what a stock of linen she had;
then asked me how long we should stay, and said she wished we were come
for three months. She was a most remarkable person; the alacrity with
which she ran up-stairs when we rung the bell, and guessed at, and strove
to prevent, our wants was surprising; she had a quick eye, and keen
strong features, and a joyousness in her motions, like what used to be in
old Molly when she was particularly elated. I found afterwards that she
had been subject to fits of dejection and ill-health: we then conjectured
that her overflowing gaiety and strength might in part be attributed to
the same cause as her former dejection. Her husband was deaf and infirm,
and sate in a chair with scarcely the power to move a limb--an affecting
contrast! The old woman said they had been a very hard-working pair;
they had wrought like slaves at their trade--her husband had been a
currier; and she told me how they had portioned off their daughters with
money, and each a feather-bed, and that in their old age they had laid
out the little they could spare in building and furnishing that house,
and she added with pride that she had lived in her youth in the family of
Lady Egerton, who was no high lady, and now was in the habit of coming to
her house whenever she was at Jedburgh, and a hundred other things; for
when she once began with Lady Egerton, she did not know how to stop, nor
did I wish it, for she was very entertaining. Mr. Scott sate with us an
hour or two, and repeated a part of the Lay of the Last Minstrel. When
he was gone our hostess came to see if we wanted anything, and to wish us
good-night. On all occasions her manners were governed by the same
spirit: there was no withdrawing one's attention from her. We were so
much interested that William, long afterwards, thought it worth while to
express in verse the sensations which