uld rather wait till they
are ready before eating anything solid.'

'And we will anticipate our usual hour of supper,' said the Colonel.

'With all my heart,' said Pleydell, 'providing I do not lose the ladies'
company a moment the sooner. I am of counsel with my old friend Burnet;
[Footnote: See Note 5] I love the coena, the supper of the ancients, the
pleasant meal and social glass that wash out of one's mind the cobwebs
that business or gloom have been spinning in our brains all day.'

The vivacity of Mr. Pleydell's look and manner, and the quietness with
which he made himself at home on the subject of his little epicurean
comforts, amused the ladies, but particularly Miss Mannering, who
immediately gave the Counsellor a great deal of flattering attention; and
more pretty things were said on both sides during the service of the
tea-table than we have leisure to repeat.

As soon as this was over, Mannering led the Counsellor by the arm into a
small study which opened from the saloon, and where, according to the
custom of the family, there were always lights and a good fire in the
evening.

'I see,'said Mr. Pleydell, 'you have got something to tell me about the
Ellangowan business. Is it terrestrial or celestial? What says my
military Albumazar? Have you calculated the course of futurity? have you
consulted your ephemerides, your almochoden, your almuten?'

'No, truly, Counsellor,' replied Mannering, 'you are the only Ptolemy I
intend to resort to upon the present occasion. A second Prospero, I have
broken my staff and drowned my book far beyond plummet depth. But I have
great news notwithstanding. Meg Merrilies, our Egyptian sibyl, has
appeared to the Dominie this very day, and, as I conjecture, has
frightened the honest man not a little.'

'Indeed?'

'Ay, and she has done me the honour to open a correspondence with me,
supposing me to be as deep in astrological mysteries as when we first
met. Here is her scroll, delivered to me by the Dominie.'

Pleydell put on his spectacles. 'A vile greasy scrawl, indeed; and the
letters are uncial or semi-uncial, as somebody calls your large text
hand, and in size and perpendicularity resemble the ribs of a roasted
pig; I can hardly make it out.'

'Read aloud,' said Mannering.

'I will try,' answered the Lawyer. '"YOU ARE A GOOD SEEKER, BUT A BAD
FINDER; YOU SET YOURSELF TO PROP A FALLING HOUSE, BUT HAD A GEY GUESS IT
WOULD RISE AGAIN. LEND YOUR HAND TO THE WORK THAT'