use of Mr. Girder; "and what am I to
say to the gudeman? He'll brain me, if there wasna anither woman in a'
Wolf''s Hope."

"Hout tout, silly quean," said the mother; "na, na, it's come to muckle,
but it's no come to that neither; for an he brain you he maun brain me,
and I have garr'd his betters stand back. Hands aff is fair play; we
maunna heed a bit flyting."

The tramp of horses now announced the arrival of the cooper, with the
minister. They had no sooner dismounted than they made for the kitchen
fire, for the evening was cool after the thunderstorm, and the woods wet
and dirty. The young gudewife, strong in the charms of her Sunday gown
and biggonets, threw herself in the way of receiving the first attack,
while her mother, like the veteran division of the Roman legion,
remained in the rear, ready to support her in case of necessity. Both
hoped to protract the discovery of what had happened--the mother, by
interposing her bustling person betwixt Mr. Girder and the fire, and the
daughter, by the extreme cordiality with which she received the minister
and her husband, and the anxious fears which she expressed lest they
should have "gotten cauld." "Cauld!" quoted the husband, surlily, for he
was not of that class of lords and masters whose wives are viceroys
over them, "we'll be cauld eneugh, I think, if ye dinna let us in to the
fire."

And so saying, he burst his way through both lines of defence; and, as
he had a careful eye over his property of every kind, he perceived at
one glance the absence of the spit with its savoury burden. "What the
deil, woman----"

"Fie for shame!" exclaimed both the women; "and before Mr.
Bide-the-Bent!"

"I stand reproved," said the cooper; "but--"

"The taking in our mouths the name of the great enemy of our souls,"
said Mr. Bide-the-Bent--

"I stand reproved," said the cooper.

"--Is an exposing ourselves to his temptations," continued the reverend
monitor, "and in inviting, or, in some sort, a compelling, of him to lay
aside his other trafficking with unhappy persons, and wait upon those in
whose speech his name is frequent."

"Weel, weel, Mr. Bide-the-Bent, can a man do mair than stand reproved?"
said the cooper; "but jest let me ask the women what for they hae dished
the wild-fowl before we came."

"They arena dished, Gilbert," said his wife; "but--but an accident----"

"What accident?" said Girder, with flashing eyes. "Nae ill come ower
them, I trust? Uh?"

His