wifie I lodge wi' canna last lang, an' I would like to settle doon in some place.".

"So you are on your way to Mag's now?"

Ay, we'll get her in atween twal' and ane."

Oh, yes; but why do you want me to go with you?"

"I want ye for a witness. If she winna let me aff, weel and guid; and if she will, it's better to hae a witness in case she should go back on her word.”

Gavin gave his proposal briskly, and as coołly as if he were only asking me to go fishing; but I did not accompany him to Mags. He left the house to look for another witness, and about an hour afterward Jess saw him pass with Tammas Haggart. Tammas cried in during the evening to tell us how the mission prospered.

"Mind ye," said Tammas, a drop of water hanging to the point of his nose, “I disclaim all responsibility in the business. I ken Mag weel for a thrifty, respectable woman, as her mither was afore her, and so I said to Gavin when he came to speir me."

Ay, mony a pirn has 'Lisbeth filled to me," said Hendry, settling down to a reminiscence.

"No to be ower hard on Gavin," continued Tammas, forestalling Hendry, "he took what I said in guid part; but aye when I stopped speakin' to draw breath, he says, "The queistion is, will ye come wi' me?' He was michty made up in 's mind.”

"Weel, ye went wi' him," suggested Jess, who wanted to bring Tammas to the point.

'Ay," said the stone breaker, "but no in sic a hurry as that."

He worked his mouth round and round, to clear the course, as it were, for a sarcasm.

'Fowk often say," he continued, "'at 'am quick beyond the ordinar' in seein' the humorous side o' things."

Here Tammas paused, and looked at us.

"So ye are, Tammas,' said Hendry. "Losh, ye mind hoo ye saw the humorous side o' me wearin' a pair o' boots 'at wisna marrows! No, the ane had a toe piece on, an' the other hadna."

"Ye juist wore them sometimes when ye was delvin'," broke in Jess; “ye have as guid a pair o' boots as ony in Thrums."

66

Ay, but I had worn them," said Hendry, “at odd times for mair than a year, an' I had never seen the humorous side o' them. Weel, as fac as death" (here he addressed me), "Tammas had just seen them twa or three times when he saw the humorous side o' them. Syne I saw their humorous side, too, but no till Tammas pointed it oot."

"That was naething," said Tammas, "naething ava to some things I've done."

"But what aboot Mag?" said Leeby.

66

'We wasna' that length, was we?" said Tammas. Na, we was speakin' aboot the humorous side. Ay, wait a wee."

Na, I didna mention the humorous side for naething."

He paused to reflect. "Oh, yes," he said at last, brightening up, "I was sayin' to ye hoo quick I was to see the humorous side o' onything. Ay, then, what made me say that was, 'at in a clink (flash) I saw the humorous side o' Gavin's position.”

"Man, man," said Hendry, admiringly, "and what is 't?"

"Oh, it's this, there's something humorous in speirin' a woman to let ye aff so as ye can be married to another woman."

"I daur say there is," said Hendry, doubtfully. "Did she let him aff?" asked Jess, taking the words out of Leeby's mouth.

་་

'I'm comin' to that," said Tammas. poses to me after I had haen my laugh

"Gavin pro

"Yes," cried Hendry, banging the table with his fist, "it has a humorous side. Ye 're richt again,

Tammas."

"I wish ye wadna blatter (beat) the table," said Jess, and then Tammas proceeded

66

'Gavin wanted me to tak' paper an' ink an' a pen wi' me, to write the proceedin's doon, but I said, 'Na, na, I'll tak' paper, but nae ink nor nae pen, for ther 'll be ink an' a pen there.' That was what I said."

66

An' did she let him aff?" asked Leeby.

"Weel," said Tammas, "aff we goes to Mag's hoose, an' sure enough Mag was in. She was alane, too: so Gavin, no to waste time, juist sat doon for politeness' sake, an' sune rises up again; an' says he, 'Marget Lownie, I hae a solemn question to speir at ye, namely this, Will you, Marget Lownie, let me, Gavin Birse, aff?""

66

66

Mag would start at that?"

Sal, she was braw an' cool. I thocnt she maun hae got wind o' his intentions aforehand, for she juist replies, quiet-like, "Hoo do ye want aff,

Gavin?"

"Because,' says he, like a book, 'my affections has undergone a change.'

"Ye mean Jean Luke,' says Mag.

"That is wha I mean,' says Gavin, very strait forrard.

66 But she didna let him aff, did she?"

66

Na, she wasna the kind. Says she, 'I wonder to hear ye, Gavin, but 'am no goin' to agree to naething o' that sort.""

"Think it ower,' says Gavin.

666

'Nae, my mind's made up,' said she.

"Ye would sune get anither man,' he says earnestly.

"Hoo do I ken that?' she spiers, rale sensibly, I thocht, for men's no sae easy to get.

66 6

Am sure o' 't,' Gavin says, wi' michty conviction in his voice, for ye 're bonny to look at, an' weelkent for bein' a guid body.'

66 6

Ay,' says Mag, 'I'm glad ye like me, Gavin, for ye have to tak' me.'

"That put a clincher on him," interrupted Hendry.

"He was loth to gie in,” replied Tammas, “so he says, 'Ye think 'am a fine character, Marget Lownie, but ye 're very far mista'en. I wouldna wonder but what I was lossin' my place some o' thae days, an' syne whaur would ye be?—Marget Lownie,' he goes on, ''am nat'rally lazy an' fond o' the drink. As sure as ye stand there, 'am a reg'lar deevil!'"'

66

That was strong language," said Hendry, "but he would be wantin' to fleg (frighten) her?"

66

Juist so, but he didna manage 't; for Mag says, 'We a' hae oor faults, Gavin, an' deevil or no deevil, ye 're the man for me!"

6

"Gavin thocht a bit," continued Tammas, "an' syne he tries her on a new tack. Marget Lownie,' he says, 'yer father's an aul man noo, an' he has naebody but yersel' to look after him. I'm thinkin' it would be kind o' cruel o' me to tak' ye awa frae him.'"

"Mag wouldna be ta'en in wi' that; she wasna born on a Sawbath," said Jess, using one of her favorite sayings.

"She wasna," answered Tammas. "Says she, 'Hae nae fear on that score, Gavin; my father's fine willin' to spare me!""

"An' that ended it?"

66

Ay, that ended it.”

"Did ye tak' it doon in writin'?' asked Hendry. "There was nae need," said Tammas. "No, I never touched paper. When I saw the thing was settled, I left them to their coortin'. They're to tak a look at Snecky Hobarts' auld hoose. It's to let."

LORD BEACONSFIELD

BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Earl of Beaconsfield, statesman and novelist, born in London, in 1804; died there 1881. His father, Israel Disraeli, was a lover of literature and a writer of note. Young Disraeli at the age of twenty-two wrote "Vivian Grey." It caused a great sensation, as it caricatured broadly many leading men of the day. "The Young Duke" and 66 Contarini Fleming" added to the author's fame. The latter was highly praised by Goethe.

ΟΝ

LADY CORISANDE

NE'S life changes in a moment. Half a month ago Lothair, without an acquainance, was meditating his return to Oxford. Now he seemed to know everybody who was anybody. His table was overflowing with invitations to all the fine houses in town. First came the routs and the balls; then, when he had been presented to the husbands, came the dinners. His kind friends the Duchess and Lady St. Jerome were the fairies who had worked this sudden scene of enchantment. A single word from them, and London was at Lothair's feet.

He liked it amazingly. He quite forgot the conclusion at which he had arrived respecting society a year ago, drawn from his vast experience of the single party which he had then attended. Feelings are different when you know a great many persons, and every person is trying to please you; above all, when there are individuals whom you want to meet, and whom, if you do not meet, you become restless.

Town was beginning to blaze. Broughams whirled and bright barouches glanced, troops of social cav