"
"The short an' the lang o' 't was," resumed mistress Brookes, "that
the place was let an' the place was ta'en, mickle to the
satisfaction o' a' pairties concernt. The auld hoosekeeper, she
bein' a fixtur like, was to bide, an' I was to bide as weel, under
the hoosekeeper, an' haein' nothing to do wi' the stranger servan's.
"They cam. There was a gentleman o' a middle age, an' his leddy some
yoonger nor himsel', han'some but no bonnie--but that has naething
to do wi' my tale 'at I should tak up yer time wi' 't, an' it
growin' some late."
"Never mind the time, mistress Brookes," said Arctura; we can do
just as we please about that! One time is as good as another--isn't
it, Mr. Grant?"
"I sometimes sit up half the night myself," said Donal. "I like to
know God's night. Only it won't do often, lest we make the brain,
which is God's too, like a watch that won't go."
"It's sair upsettin' to the wark!" said the housekeeper. "What would
the house be like if I was to do that!"
"Do go on, please, mistress Brookes," said Arctura.
"Please do," echoed Donal.
"Sir, an' my lady, I'm ready to sit till the cock's be dune crawin',
an' the day dune dawin', to pleasur the ane or the twa o' ye!--an'
sae for my true tale!--They war varra dacent, weel-behavet fowk, wi'
a fine faimly, some grown an' some growin'. It was jist a fawvour to
see sic a halesome clan--frae auchteen or thereawa' doon tu the wee
toddlin' lassie was the varra aipple o' the e'e to a' the e'en aboot
the place! But that's naither here nor yet there! A' gaed on as a'
should gang on whaur the servan's are no ower gran' for their ain
wark, nor ower meddlesome wi' the wark o' their neebours; naething
was negleckit, nor onything girned aboot; but a' was peace an'
hermony, as quo' the auld sang about out bonny Kilmeny--that is,
till ae nicht.
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