, an' fix the dreid 'afore the sense. But I s' tell ye
the noo, gien ye care to hear. It's a some awsome story, but there's
something unco fulish-like intil't as weel. I canna say I think muckle
'o craturs 'at trible their heids aboot their heids!--But that's
tellin' 'aforehan'!"

Here the good woman paused thoughtful.

"I am longing to hear your story, mistress Brookes," said Donal,
supposing she needed encouragement.

"I'm but thinkin' hoo to begin," she returned, "sae as to gie ye a
richt haud o' the thing.--I'm thinkin' I canna do better nor jist tell
't as it cam to mysel'!--Weel, ye see, I was but a yoong lass,
aboot--weel, I micht be twenty, mair or less, whan I gaed til the place
I speak o'. It was awa' upo' the borders o' Wales, like as gien folk
ower there i' Perth war doobtfu' whether sic or sic a place was i' the
hielan's or the lowlan's. The maister o' the hoose was a yoong man awa'
upo' 's traivels, I kenna whaur--somewhaur upo' the continent, but
that's a mickle word; an' as he had the intention o' bein' awa' for
some time to come, no carin' to settle doon aff han' an' luik efter his
ain, there was but ane gey auld wuman to hoosekeep, an' me to help her,
an' a man or twa aboot the place to luik efter the gairden--an' that
was a'. Hoose an' gairden was to let, an' was intil the han's o' ane o'
thae agents, as they ca' them, for that same purpose--to let, that is,
for a term o' years. Weel, ae day there cam a gentleman to luik at the
place, an' he was sae weel pleased wi' 't--as weel he micht, for eh, it
was a bonny place!--aye lauchin' like, whaur this place is aye i' the
sulks!--na, no aye! I dinna mean that, my lady, forgettin' at it's
yours!--but ye maun own it taks a heap o' sun to gar this auld hoose
here luik onything but some dour--an' I beg yer pardon, my lady!"

"You are quite right, mistress Brookes!" said Arctura with a smile. "If
it were not for you it would be dour dour.--You do not know, Mr.
Grant--mistress Brookes herself does not know how much I owe her! I
should have gone out of my mind for very dreariness a hundred times but
for her."

"The short an' the lang o' 't was," resumed mistress Brookes, "that the
place was let an' the place was ta'en, mickle to the satisfaction o' a'
pairties concernt. The auld hoosekeeper, she bein' a fixtur like, was
to bide, an' I was to bide as weel, under the hoosekeeper, an' haein'
nothing to do wi' the stranger servan's.

"They cam. There was a gen