Such is a brief outline of the lives and fortunes of those two persons, in whose society Mannering now found himself comfortably seated. > CHAPTER III. Do not the hist❜ries of all ages Of strange turns in the world's affairs, And some that have writ almanacks? HUDIBRAS. THE circumstances of the landlady were pleaded to Mannering, first, as an apology for her not appearing to welcome her guest, and for those deficiencies in his entertainment which her attention might have supplied, and then as an excuse for pressing an extra bottle of good wine. "I cannot well sleep," said the Laird, with the anxious feelings of a father in such a predicament, "till I hear she's gotten ower with it-and if you, sir, are not very sleepry, and would do me and the Dominie the honour to sit up wi' us, I am sure we will not detain you very late. Luckie Howatson is very expeditious ;there was ance a lass that was in that way -she did not live far from hereaboutsye need na shake your head and groan, Dominie-I am sure the kirk dues were all well paid, and what can a man do more?—it was laid till her ere she had on a sark ower her head; and the man that she since wadded does not think her a pin the worse for the misfortune. They live, Mr Mannering, by the shore-side, at Annan, and a more decent orderly couple, with six as fine bairns as you would wish to see plash in a salt-water dub; and little curlie Godfrey-that's the eldest, the come o' will, as I may say he's on board an excise yacht -I hae a cousin at the board of excise, that's Commissioner Bertram; he got his commissionership in the great contest for the county, that ye must have heard of, for it was appealed to the House of Commonsnow I should have voted there for the Laird of Balruddery; but ye see my father was a jacobite, and out with Kenmore, so he never took the oaths; and I ken not well how it was, but all that I could do and say they keepit me off the roll, though my agent, that had a vote upon my estate, ranked as a good vote for auld Sir Thomas Kittlecourt. But, to return to what I was saying, Luckie Howatson is very expeditious, for this lass" Here the desultory and long narrative of the Laird of Ellangowan was interrupted by the voice of some one ascending the stairs from the kitchen story, and singing at full pitch of voice. The high notes were too shrill for a man, the low seemed too deep for a woman. The words, as far as Mannering could distinguish them, seemed to run thus: Canny moment, lucky fit; Be it lad, or be it lass, Sign wi' cross, and sain, wi' mass.. "It's Meg Merrilies, the gypsie, as sure as I am a sinner," said Mr Bertram. The Dominie groaned deeply, uncrossed his legs, drew in the huge splay foot which his former posture had extended, placed it perpendicular, and stretched the other limb over it instead, puffing out between whiles huge volumes of tobacco smoke. "What needs ye groan, Dominie? I am sure Meg's sangs do nae harm." "Nor good neither," answered Dominie Sampson, in a voice whose untuneable harshness corresponded with the awkwardness of his figure. They were the first words which Mannering had heard him speak; and as he had been watching, with some curiosity, when this eating, drinking, moving, and smoking automaton would perform the part of speaking, he was a good deal diverted with the harsh timber tones which issued from him. But at this moment the door opened, and Meg Merrilies entered. Her appearance made Mannering start. She was full six feet high, wore a man's great-coat over the rest of her dress, had |