r."

"She pays you your wages?" said Lord Fawn shortly.

"Eh;--wages! Yes, my laird; she does a' that."

"Then she's your mistress." Andy again nodded his head, and Lord
Fawn again struggled to find some way in which he might approach his
subject. "Her cousin, Mr. Greystock, has been staying at Portray
lately?"

"More coothie than coosinly," said Andy, winking his eye.

It was dreadful to Lord Fawn that the man should wink his eye at
him. He did not quite understand what Andy had last said, but he did
understand that some accusation as to indecent familiarity with her
cousin was intended to be brought by this Scotch steward against the
woman to whom he had engaged himself. Every feeling of his nature
revolted against the task before him, and he found that on trial
it became absolutely impracticable. He could not bring himself to
inquire minutely as to poor Lizzie's flirting down among the rocks.
He was weak, and foolish, and in many respects ignorant,--but he was
a gentleman. As he got nearer to the point which it had been intended
that he should reach, the more he hated Andy Gowran,--and the more
he hated himself for having submitted to such contact. He paused a
moment, and then he declared that the conversation was at an end.
"I think that will do, Mr. Gowran," he said. "I don't know that you
can tell me anything I want to hear. I think you had better go back
to Scotland." So saying, he left Andy alone and stalked up to the
drawing-room. When he entered it, both Mr. Hittaway and his sister
were there. "Clara," he said very sternly, "you had better send some
one to dismiss that man. I shall not speak to him again."

Lord Fawn did not speak to Andy Gowran again, but Mrs. Hittaway did.
After a faint and futile endeavour made by her to ascertain what had
taken place in the parlour down-stairs, she descended and found Andy
seated in his chair, still holding his hat in his hand, as stiff as a
wax figure. He had been afraid of the lord, but as soon as the lord
had left him he was very angry with the lord. He had been brought up
all that way to tell his story to the lord, and the lord had gone
away without hearing a word of it,--had gone away and had absolutely
insulted him, had asked him who paid him his wages, and had then told
him that Lady Eustace was his mistress. Andy Gowran felt strongly
that this was not that kind of confidential usage which he had had
a right to expect. And after his experience of the last hou