k, the tiresome apologetic harangues of
his sister, the pedantry of the divine, and the vivacity of the young
soldier, which savoured much more of the camp than of the court, were
all new to a nobleman who had lived in a retired and melancholy state
for so many years, that the manners of the world seemed to him equally
strange and unpleasing. Miss M'Intyre alone, from the natural politeness
and unpretending simplicity of her manners, appeared to belong to that
class of society to which he had been accustomed in his earlier and
better days.

Nor did Lord Glenallan's deportment less surprise the company. Though a
plain but excellent family-dinner was provided (for, as Mr. Blattergowl
had justly said, it was impossible to surprise Miss Griselda when her
larder was empty), and though the Antiquary boasted his best port, and
assimilated it to the Falernian of Horace, Lord Glenallan was proof to
the allurements of both. His servant placed before him a small mess
of vegetables, that very dish, the cooking of which had alarmed Miss
Griselda, arranged with the most minute and scrupulous neatness. He ate
sparingly of these provisions; and a glass of pure water, sparkling from
the fountain-head, completed his repast. Such, his servant said, had
been his lordship's diet for very many years, unless upon the high
festivals of the Church, or when company of the first rank were
entertained at Glenallan House, when he relaxed a little in the
austerity of his diet, and permitted himself a glass or two of wine. But
at Monkbarns, no anchoret could have made a more simple and scanty meal.

The Antiquary was a gentleman, as we have seen, in feeling, but blunt
and careless in expression, from the habit of living with those before
whom he had nothing to suppress. He attacked his noble guest without
scruple on the severity of his regimen.

"A few half-cold greens and potatoes--a glass of ice-cold water to wash
them down--antiquity gives no warrant for it, my lord. This house used
to be accounted a hospitium, a place of retreat for Christians; but your
lordship's diet is that of a heathen Pythagorean, or Indian Bramin--nay,
more severe than either, if you refuse these fine apples."

"I am a Catholic, you are aware," said Lord Glenallan, wishing to escape
from the discussion, "and you know that our church"----

"Lays down many rules of mortification," proceeded the dauntless
Antiquary; "but I never heard that they were quite so rigorously
pr