tleman o' a middle age, an' his leddy some
yoonger nor himsel', han'some but no bonnie--but that has naething to
do wi' my tale 'at I should tak up yer time wi' 't, an' it growin' some
late."

"Never mind the time, mistress Brookes," said Arctura; we can do just
as we please about that! One time is as good as another--isn't it, Mr.
Grant?"

"I sometimes sit up half the night myself," said Donal. "I like to know
God's night. Only it won't do often, lest we make the brain, which is
God's too, like a watch that won't go."

"It's sair upsettin' to the wark!" said the housekeeper. "What would
the house be like if I was to do that!"

"Do go on, please, mistress Brookes," said Arctura.

"Please do," echoed Donal.

"Sir, an' my lady, I'm ready to sit till the cock's be dune crawin',
an' the day dune dawin', to pleasur the ane or the twa o' ye!--an' sae
for my true tale!--They war varra dacent, weel-behavet fowk, wi' a fine
faimly, some grown an' some growin'. It was jist a fawvour to see sic a
halesome clan--frae auchteen or thereawa' doon tu the wee toddlin'
lassie was the varra aipple o' the e'e to a' the e'en aboot the place!
But that's naither here nor yet there! A' gaed on as a' should gang on
whaur the servan's are no ower gran' for their ain wark, nor ower
meddlesome wi' the wark o' their neebours; naething was negleckit, nor
onything girned aboot; but a' was peace an' hermony, as quo' the auld
sang about out bonny Kilmeny--that is, till ae nicht.--You see I'm
tellin' ye as it cam' to mysel' an' no til anither!

"As I lay i' my bed that nicht--an' ye may be sure at my age I lay nae
langer nor jist to turn me ower ance, an' in general no that ance--jist
as I was fa'in' asleep, up gat sic a romage i' the servan' ha',
straucht 'aneth whaur I was lyin', that I thoucht to mysel', what upo'
earth's come to the place!--'Gien it bena the day o' judgment, troth
it's no the day o' sma' things!' I said. It was as gien a' the cheirs
an' tables thegither war bein' routit oot o' their places, an' syne set
back again, an' the tables turnt heels ower heid, an' a' the glaiss an'
a' the plate for the denner knockit aboot as gien they had been sae
mony hailstanes that warna wantit ony mair, but micht jist lie whaur
they fell. I couldna for the life o' me think what it micht betoken,
save an' excep' a general frenzy had seized upo' man an' wuman i' the
hoose! I got up in a hurry: whatever was gaein' on, I wudna wullin'ly
gang wanti