in this verra room,
in the which we are no' sittin'. She had a daughter nearly a woman
grown, an' I was in my sma' back parlour washin' an' dressin' the bairn.
In runs my Leddy Grace, an' she stood an' lookit an' lookit a lang time
at the naked bairn in my lap: at last she clappit her hands an' she
called oot to her mither--'Mamma! Mamma! for gudeness sake, come here,
an' look at this ugly, blear-eyed, bandy-legget child!--I never saw sic
an object in a' my life!'

"It made my heart sair to hear her despise a creture made in God's image
in that way, an' I bursted into tears, an' said--'My leddy, yer a bad
Christian to spier in that way o' my puir bairn, an' that in the hearin'
of its ain mither. May God forgive you! but you ha' a hard heart.' She
was verra angry at my reproof, but my Leddy W. just then came in, an'
she said, with one of her ain gracious smiles--'For shame! Grace; the
bairn's weel enough. Let us hope she maun prove a' blessin' to her
parents. The straightest tree does na always bear the finest fruit.'

"I ha' met wi' mony crosses and sair trials in my day; but few o' them
made me shed bitterer tears than that proud, handsom' young leddy's
speech on the deformity o' my puir bairn."

Flora stood reproved in her own eyes, for she knew she had regarded the
poor ugly girls with feelings of repugnance, on account of their
personal defects. Even Jim, careless and reckless though he was,
possessed an excellent heart, and he looked grave, and turned to the
window, and tried to hum a tune, to get rid of an unpleasant sensation
about his throat, which Mrs. Waddel's artless words had suddenly
produced.

"Hang me!" he muttered half aloud, "if I ever laugh at the poor girls
again!"

Mrs. Waddel had in common with most of her sex, a great predilection for
going to auctions; and scarcely a day passed without her making some
wonderful bargains. For a mere trifle she had bought a 'gude pot, only
upon inspection it turned out to be miserably leaky. A nice palliasse,
which on more intimate acquaintance proved alive with gentry with whom
the most republican body would not wish to be on intimate terms. Jim was
always joking the old lady upon her bargains, greatly to the edification
of Betty Fraser, a black-eyed Highland girl, who was Mistress Waddel's
prime minister in the culinary department.

"Weel, Mister Jeames, jist ha' yer laugh oot, but when ye get a glint o'
the bonnie table I bought this mornin' for three an'