letter, that it pits ye in sic a humstrumpery? Every ane for her ain hand, and Cherry Elliot for hers." He went on with the letter.

"But, dear uncle, as I said, you never heard such news! Is not this M'Ion, who is my betrothed brige⚫groom and husband”–

"I say, give me the letter, Mr. Bell, that I may nip it to pieces and burn it.”

"Pray do, dear father, burn it before you read farther."

on.

Daniel turned his shoulder to them and went

"M'Ion who is my betrothed bridegroom and husband, Mrs. Johnson's son-her own jeetimate son? And he is turning out to be a lord, and a baron, and á knight, and a double chief, and has all the land in the place they call the Highlands. And I am to be his lady, the right honourable Lady M. Cherry Elliot, the poor widow's daughter at Gattonside, is to be the right honourable Lady M'; and is not that very extraordinary, uncle?"

"Upon my word it is, niece," said Daniel, interrupting himself." And I cannot say but I rejoice in it as much as if the fortune had fallen to our own family."

"Now, uncle, you must send in my aunt and cousin to me directly, for I cannot enjoy my fortune without mixing my joy with theirs. And you must come yourself, good uncle Dan, and give me in marriage; and Joseph must come and wear the ribbons, and they shall be knotted with pease of silver and gold. Think not of the expenses by the way, for I will pay all the expenses; I have whole banks at my command. My lover has given me an order on the king's bank here for a thousand pounds, and I have lifted thirty shillings of it already. The king's great banker smiled as he gave me it, and said, 'Was I not feared I would soon get through my fortune if I drew such sums at a time?" I suppose these men are like all others, they do not like to part with money; but I'll astonish him some day, for I'll draw double the sum, though I should make

him borrow it. Indeed, you know better about these things, but I wish my lover's money may be safe enough, for I think the man had to go into another room and borrow the money that he gave me.

"Now, I again charge you, uncle, that you must not neglect me. And if you cannot get from your tups,. my aunt and cousins must not neglect me; for they must think what honour I am bringing into the family, which, I assure you, I enjoy as much on your accounts, who were always high-looking people, as my own; and I know my dear aunt will enjoy the honour very much. You may tell her, that when I am married I am to ride with my husband in one coach, and our servants are to ride behind us in another coach, so that my very servants will be above her. So I hope she will think well of her affectionate niece, for bringing so much respect and riches to her house. I am very, very happy, uncle, but I cannot enjoy it without the company of yourself and the whole dear family.

"Your affectionate niece,

"CHERUBINA ELLIOT."

Daniel took off his spectacles and looked his spouse full in the face. There was nothing to be seen there but gloom, and rage, and despair. The equanimity of her cold still temper seemed to be ruffled, as Daniel had never seen it before, and the first thing to which that irritation impelled her was to snatch the letter from him, and to tear and thrimble it to pieces, for fire there was none in the room. "Och! what's the matter?" said Daniel, rubbing his beard with the one hand, and giving his corduroy breeches a hitch up with the other. "I canna understand this! Come, inistress, you and Gat, ye see, maun make ready for your journey directly."

"Must I, indeed, Mr. Bell! And if I do go, it shall be to whip the urchin with a pair of leathern taws, and send her home to her daft mother yammering and blubbering like a truant school-girl as she is. She a bride! a right honourable! and ride in her coach, and her servants above me! The maggot! The mite of

a Gattonside cheese! How I'll yerk her and yether her! for the house she lives in is my own!" "Hout!" said Daniel, "that will never do. A bride, ye ken, she is. If none of If none of you will go and countenance my little. Cherry, I'll gang mysel." "Mr. Bell, are you not a dunderpate? Did you ever see farther in your life than the tail of a tup ???

Ay, by my certy, have I, mistress! Show me the man that will measure ane better wi' his ee frae the bob o' the tail to the tib of the nose, an' a' at ae look too!"

"But, for all that, Mr. Bell, you do not see that this minx, Cherry, has undermined you and me, and all of us; and filched the fortune and the titles that of right should have been our daughter's."

"I dinna see that at a', mistress; that depends entire ly on the man's fancy that the fortune an' titles belang to. I say again, as Tammy Laidlaw said o' the toop, 'Tammy,' said I, 'ye hae gotten fairly the better in that cut, ye maun gie me up that good toop again.' Na, na, friend,' says he, 'I want to tak the advantage o' nae man alive; but when I get the advantage fairly an' honestly, d-n me but I'll keep it! So say I of my poor friendless niece; since the gentleman has thought proper to slight our saucy miss, an' bestow a' that greatness on her cousin, I canna see how she is to blame in accepting o't. It's never lost that a friend gets."

"That has been your mode all your life, Mr. Bell, else you might have been the richest commoner on the Border-to slubber every thing over that related to your own interest, above a tup, and a dose of whisky toddy."

Daniel set up his hat behind, put both his hands into his waistcoat pockets, and, seizing the waist-band of his breeches through them, he went out of the room whistling, "When the sheep were in the fauld," very loud. But his spouse had not done with him. She seized him by the angle of the arm, and in a soothing manner besought him to stay, and she would let

him see the matter in a new light. He complied, and she read him Mrs. Johnson's last letter, making many sapient remarks on every sentence. Daniel listened with great attention; and when he found that his daughter really was the best beloved, and that the breaking off of this grand match had originated in some misconception, he gave a great grumph; made his eyes reel round all the ceiling of the little chamber; took a quid of tobacco, and spit furiously on the carpet." Mr. Bell, that is perfectly intolerable," said his spouse.

"Weel, gang on, mistress. Never mind," said Daniel, and thrust his hands into his waistcoat-pockets. When she had concluded, he gave another grunt, and added, "It's rather a hard case this, mistress; but I think I could manage it an it warna ae thing. What is to become o' poor Cherry, wi' a' her wedding braws, an' her order on the Royal Bank? Confound it, it will never do. Things maun just take their course." "Cherry!" exclaimed the dame; "let her be whipped for her presumption, say I."

"Na, na, mistress," cried Daniel, nane of your sklatching in a case of this kind. The waur you guide her, the mair is he bound in honour to protect her. I hae another scheme than that, which, I think, canna miss. I wonder gin this M'Ion kens aught at a' about the value of a breed of toops? Na, na, mistress, ye needna gape an' glowr an' haud up your hands. The doubling or tripling of a Highland gentleman's yearly income is nae flea to be casten to the wa'! I'll take in hand to do it, or my name is not Daniel Bell ;" and with that he pulled his right-hand from his vest pocket, heaved it above his head as he spoke, spit out his quid of tobacco altogether, and came a knock on the little dressing-table that frightened all the crows from about the mansion, for they thought it was the shot of a gun.

An' mair than that, mistress, I'll settle a bit handsome portion on my niece, that she may not miss a venture awthegither; an' wha is it that says that's no a mair feasible application to a disappointed bride

than a pair o' taws burnt hard at the ends?" Then in the pride and plenitude of his wisdom, Daniel gave the table another blow; made his eyes goggle once more round the ceiling, and put his hand again into his waistcoat-pocket. His wife reasoned long and clearly on the subject, but Daniel heard nothing of what she said, so full was his head of his own grand projects, and victory; for after she had spoken a very reasonable time, all the answer he made was,—“ D—d nonsense thae taws! The toops an' tocher for me." With that he departed out of the room, crooning, as he went, "Ca' the ewes to the knowes ;" for all Daniel's songs and tunes were those of a pastoral description, but of those he had a goodly share, such as they were.

"Now, rise and take your walk, daughter, and let us digest what next is to be done," said Mrs. Bell. "For as to your father, he will scheme and contrive; and then go whistling his tune, and admiring his tups, without moving a jot farther in the business."

66

"I cannot enter into any farther scheme," said Gatty, nor can I rise to-day. I hope I shall never rise from this bed again."

"There is little fear of that," said her mother. "I am happy you take it so resignedly, without these violent fainting-fits."

“These are all over now,' "said Gatty. "I am resigned to my fate. I will do nothing against my poor cousin; for it is I who deserve to suffer, and not she. My hope is lost, utterly lost; and with this plain assurance before my eyes, my heart is broken. I give up all the maddening vanities of this world;-a first love, with all its pains and jealousies. And now, dearest mother, if you would give me heart's-ease, speak to me of the world that is yet to come."

Mrs. Bell was not very good at that. She commended religion, but she had not much to say anent being better at vending long abstract rules of prudence and economy. She, therefore, tried first to jest off her daughter's hopeless despair, and afterward to