that was aye said o' him; but if ye live and I live, ye'll hear mair o'
him this winter before the snaw lies twa days on the Dun of Singleside. I
want nane o' your siller," she said, "to make ye think I am blearing your
ee; fare ye weel till after Martinmas." And there she left us standing.'

'Was she a very tall woman?' interrupted Mannering.

'Had she black hair, black eyes, and a cut above the brow?' added the
lawyer.

'She was the tallest woman I ever saw, and her hair was as black as
midnight, unless where it was grey, and she had a scar abune the brow
that ye might hae laid the lith of your finger in. Naebody that's seen
her will ever forget her; and I am morally sure that it was on the ground
o' what that gipsy-woman said that my mistress made her will, having taen
a dislike at the young leddy o' Ellangowan. And she liked her far waur
after she was obliged to send her L20; for she said Miss Bertram, no
content wi' letting the Ellangowan property pass into strange hands,
owing to her being a lass and no a lad, was coming, by her poverty, to be
a burden and a disgrace to Singleside too. But I hope my mistress's is a
good will for a' that, for it would be hard on me to lose the wee bit
legacy; I served for little fee and bountith, weel I wot.'

The Counsellor relieved her fears on this head, then inquired after Jenny
Gibson, and understood she had accepted Mr. Dinmont's offer. 'And I have
done sae mysell too, since he was sae discreet as to ask me,' said Mrs.
Rebecca; 'they are very decent folk the Dinmonts, though my lady didna
dow to hear muckle about the friends on that side the house. But she
liked the Charlie's Hope hams and the cheeses and the muir-fowl that they
were aye sending, and the lamb's-wool hose and mittens--she liked them
weel eneugh.'

Mr. Pleydell now dismissed Mrs. Rebecca. When she was gone, 'I think I
know the gipsy-woman,' said the lawyer.

'I was just going to say the same,' replied Mannering.

'And her name,' said Pleydell--

'Is Meg Merrilies,' answered the Colonel.

'Are you avised of that?' said the Counsellor, looking at his military
friend with a comic expression of surprise.

Mannering answered that he had known such a woman when he was at
Ellangowan upwards of twenty years before; and then made his learned
friend acquainted with all the remarkable particulars of his first visit
there.

Mr. Pleydell listened with great attention, and then replied, 'I
congratulated myself