d, and was in every other
respect such an eligible match, that she put her prejudice aside, and
consoled herself with the recollection that marriage went by destiny, as
was observed to her, she said, by his most sacred Majesty, Charles the
Second of happy memory, when she showed him the portrait of her
grand-father Fergus, third Earl of Torwood, the handsomest man of his
time, and that of Countess Jane, his second lady, who had a hump-back
and only one eye. This was his Majesty's observation, she said, on one
remarkable morning when he deigned to take his _disjune_--"

"Nay," said Miss Buskbody, again interrupting me, "if she brought such
authority to countenance her acquiescing in a misalliance, there was no
more to be said.--And what became of old Mrs. What's her name, the
housekeeper?"

"Mrs. Wilson, madam?" answered I. "She was perhaps the happiest of the
party; for once a year, and not oftener, Mr. and Mrs. Melville Morton
dined in the great wainscotted chamber in solemn state, the hangings
being all displayed, the carpet laid down, and the huge brass candlestick
set on the table, stuck round with leaves of laurel. The preparing the
room for this yearly festival employed her mind for six months before it
came about, and the putting matters to rights occupied old Alison the
other six, so that a single day of rejoicing found her business for all
the year round."

"And Niel Blane?" said Miss Buskbody.

"Lived to a good old age, drank ale and brandy with guests of all
persuasions, played Whig or Jacobite tunes as best pleased his customers,
and died worth as much money as married Jenny to a cock laird. I hope,
ma'am, you have no other inquiries to make, for really--"

"Goose-Gibbie, sir?" said my persevering friend,--"Goose-Gibbie, whose
ministry was fraught with such consequences to the personages of the
narrative?"

"Consider, my dear Miss Buskbody, (I beg pardon for the
familiarity),--but pray consider, even the memory of the renowned
Scheherazade, that Empress of Tale-tellers, could not preserve every
circumstance. I am not quite positive as to the fate of Goose-Gibbie,
but am inclined to think him the same with one Gilbert Dudden, alias
Calf-Gibbie, who was whipped through Hamilton for stealing poultry."

Miss Buskbody now placed her left foot on the fender, crossed her right
leg over her knee, lay back on the chair, and looked towards the ceiling.
When I observed her assume this contemplative mood, I conc