oose his tongue about the Major's
leddy and Captain Bandilier."

Francis was therefore foiled in his assaults upon the fidelity of the
mendicant, and, like an indifferent chess-player, became, at every
unsuccessful movement, more liable to the counter-checks of his
opponent.

"Sae ye uphauld ye had nae particulars to say to my lord but about yer
ain matters?"

"Ay, and about the wee bits o' things I had brought frae abroad," said
Edie. "I ken'd you popist folk are unco set on the relics that are
fetched frae far-kirks and sae forth."

"Troth, my Lord maun be turned feel outright," said the domestic, "an
he puts himsell into sic a carfuffle, for onything ye could bring him,
Edie."

"I doubtna ye may say true in the main, neighbour," replied the beggar;
"but maybe he's had some hard play in his younger days, Francis, and
that whiles unsettles folk sair."

"Troth, Edie, and ye may say that--and since it's like yell neer come
back to the estate, or, if ye dee, that ye'll no find me there, I'se
e'en tell you he had a heart in his young time sae wrecked and rent,
that it's a wonder it hasna broken outright lang afore this day."

"Ay, say ye sae?" said Ochiltree; "that maun hae been about a woman, I
reckon?"

"Troth, and ye hae guessed it," said Francie--"jeest a cusin o' his
nain--Miss Eveline Neville, as they suld hae ca'd her;--there was a sough
in the country about it, but it was hushed up, as the grandees
were concerned;--it's mair than twenty years syne--ay, it will be
three-and-twenty."

"Ay, I was in America then," said the mendicant, "and no in the way to
hear the country clashes."

"There was little clash about it, man," replied Macraw; "he liked this
young leddy, ana suld hae married her, but his mother fand it out, and
then the deil gaed o'er Jock Webster. At last, the peer lass clodded
hersell o'er the scaur at the Craigburnfoot into the sea, and there was
an end o't."

"An end o't wi' the puir leddy," said the mendicant, "but, as I reckon,
nae end o't wi' the yerl."

"Nae end o't till his life makes an end," answered the Aberdonian.

"But what for did the auld Countess forbid the marriage?" continued the
persevering querist.

"Fat for!--she maybe didna weel ken for fat hersell, for she gar'd a'
bow to her bidding, right or wrang--But it was ken'd the young leddy was
inclined to some o' the heresies of the country--mair by token, she was
sib to him nearer than our Church's rule admits of. Sae t