more loudly than ever, an' flung
herself on the sofa, in a violent fit o' hysterics.

Here, then, was a pretty reception. I was confounded, but stepped
leisurely into the hoose, after Lucy, whom I found extended on the sofa,
an' her mother an' a strange gentleman beside her--a stranger to me at
least--endeavouring to soothe her, and calm her violence. On the mother,
my presence seemed to hae nearly as extraordinary an effect as on the
dochter. Whan I entered the room, she, too, set up a skirl, and fled as
far back frae me as the apartment wad admit, exclaimin--

"Lord be aboot us, Mr. Smith! is that you? Can it be possible? Are ye in
the body, or are ye but a wanderin spirit? Lord hae a care o' us, are ye
really an' truly leevin, Mr. Smith?"

"Guid folks," said I, as calmly as I could, in reply to this strange
rhapsody, "will ye be sae kind as tell me what a' this means?" An' first
I looked at the dochter, wha was still lyin on the sofa, wi' her face
buried wi' fricht in the cushions, and then at the mother, wha was
sittin in a chair, starin at me, an' gaspin for breath, but noo
evidently satisfied that I was at least nae ghaist.

"Means, Mr. Smith!" said she, at intervals, as she could get breath to
speak; "oh, man, didna we hear that ye were dead! Haena we thocht that
ye were in yer grave for this month past! Dear me, but this is
extraordinar! But will ye just step this way wi' me a minnit." An' she
led the way into another room, whither I followed her, in the hope o'
getting an explanation o' the singular scene which had just taken place;
an' this explanation I did get. On our entering the apartment, my
conductress shut the door, an', desirin me to tak a seat, thus
began--"Dear me, Mr. Smith, but this is a most extraordinar, an' I maun
say, a most unlucky affair. Werena we tell't, a month ago, that ye were
dead an' buried, an' that by mair than ane--ay an' by the carrier frae
yer ain place, too, at whom Lucy made inquiry the moment we heard it?
An', mair than a' that," continued Mrs. Craig, "here's yer death
mentioned in ane o' the newspapers o' yer ain place." Saying this, she
took an auld newspaper frae a shelf, an', after lookin for the place to
which she wanted to direct my attention, put it into my hands, wi' her
thoom on the following piece o' intelligence:--"Died, on the 16th
current, at his father's house, ----, Mr. William Smith, in the 23d year
of his age."

"Noo, Mr. Smith," said Mrs. Craig, triumphan