possibly have anticipated. But the howling of the wind, and the
pattering of the rain against the windows, with his knowledge of the
preceding fatigues of the evening, must have prohibited Oldbuck, even
had he entertained less regard for his young friend than he really felt,
from permitting him to depart. Besides, he was piqued in honour to show
that he himself was not governed by womankind--"Sit ye down, sit ye down,
sit ye down, man," he reiterated;--"an ye part so, I would I might never
draw a cork again, and here comes out one from a prime bottle of--strong
ale--right anno domini--none of your Wassia Quassia decoctions, but brewed
of Monkbarns barley--John of the Girnel never drew a better flagon to
entertain a wandering minstrel, or palmer, with the freshest news from
Palestine.--And to remove from your mind the slightest wish to depart,
know, that if you do so, your character as a gallant knight is gone
for ever. Why, 'tis an adventure, man, to sleep in the Green Room
at Monkbarns.--Sister, pray see it got ready--And, although the bold
adventurer, Heavysterne, dree'd pain and dolour in that charmed
apartment, it is no reason why a gallant knight like you, nearly twice
as tall, and not half so heavy, should not encounter and break the
spell."

"What! a haunted apartment, I suppose?"

"To be sure, to be sure--every mansion in this country of the slightest
antiquity has its ghosts and its haunted chamber, and you must not
suppose us worse off than our neighbours. They are going, indeed,
somewhat out of fashion. I have seen the day, when if you had doubted
the reality of a ghost in an old manor-house you ran the risk of being
made a ghost yourself, as Hamlet says.--Yes, if you had challenged
the existence of Redcowl in the Castle of Glenstirym, old Sir Peter
Pepperbrand would have had ye out to his court-yard, made you betake
yourself to your weapon, and if your trick of fence were not the better,
would have sticked you like a paddock, on his own baronial midden-stead.
I once narrowly escaped such an affray--but I humbled myself, and
apologised to Redcowl; for, even in my younger days, I was no friend to
the monomachia, or duel, and would rather walk with Sir Priest than with
Sir Knight--I care not who knows so much of my valour. Thank God, I am
old now, and can indulge my irritabilities without the necessity of
supporting them by cold steel."

Here Miss Oldbuck re-entered, with a singularly sage expression of
cou