f; and after
the guests had been regaled at breakfast with wines of all sorts for the
upper classes, and whisky, which flowed in profusion, for the lower,
they mounted their horses, and entered their conveyances, to follow the
hearse decorated with the usual trappings of mourning. Behind the
hearse, in a mourning carriage, sat Nora and her cousin, closely veiled.
Poor girls, how differently they felt to the mixed multitude who
followed them. Their guests gave way to their usual habit of talking
and laughing as they rode along. The events of the day were discussed.
The good qualities of the late Earl; the prospects of his obtaining a
son-in-law who might take his place and do the honours of the castle;
the beauty of his fair daughter; and especially, the state of his
finances. Few would have supposed that the lively and animated
collection of men, who rode along in every variety of costume, were
assembled there to pay the last honours to a deceased noble. They were
silent, however, as they assembled round the grave. Some perhaps for
the first time had then heard the burial service of the Protestant
Church, as a large proportion of the guests were themselves Romanists;
some perhaps were struck with what they heard; others probably attended
to little that was said. Nora and her cousin stood close to the grave,
closely veiled as before; and as Nora gazed for the last time upon the
coffin of her beloved father, her heart sank within her, and she felt a
longing to follow him to his quiet resting-place.

Again they made for the castle, and all restraint now being removed,
laughing and joking was the order of the day. Some even, as the wine
flowed faster, gave way to snatches of songs, while the last meets were
fully discussed, and the prospects of the next year's harvest. It is
scarcely necessary to describe the events which took place at the
castle. A considerable number of the guests had no little difficulty in
mounting their horses on their return home, from the generous liquor
which they had imbibed out of the late Earl's cellars. Their great
grief seemed to be, that there was no heir to succeed him, and to assist
in keeping up the neighbouring hunt. At length the castle was once more
at rest.

Mr Finlayson set earnestly to work to arrange the affairs of the young
heiress. The steward, and those who were employed by him, had generally
acted honestly; but as he made inquiries about the tenants, many were in
a