her a curious sort
o' way that I got her. Ae nicht, pretty late, in the summer o' the year
1796, a rather smart rap comes to our door. We were a' in bed--mother,
servant lass, and a'; but, on hearin't, I bangs up, on wi' my claes,
lichts a cannle, and opens the door. On doing this, then, I sees a
porter loaded wi' trunks and bandboxes, and behint him a very pretty,
genteel-lookin young woman.

"Here's a frien o' yours come to see you, frae Edinburgh," says the
porter, whom I kent weel aneuch; and wi' this the young leddy comes
forward, wi' a licht step, and ane o' the prettiest smiles I ever saw;
and, says she, haudin oot her haun to me--

"Ye'll no ken me, Mr. Smith, I dare say?"

"No, indeed, mem," says I--"I do not."

"I'm a cousin o' yours," said she--"Margaret Smith, and a dochter o'
your uncle William's."

"Frae Edinburgh," said I, takin her cordially by the haun, and leadin
her into the parlour.

"The same," said she smilin again; "and I'm just come doun to spend a
day or twa wi' ye, if ye hae room for me, and winna think me owre
troublesome."

"Room!" said I--"plenty o' room; and, as for trouble, dinna mention
that." And I assisted my fair cousin to remove her shawl and other haps.
This cousin, I may mention by the way, I had never seen before; and
neither had she ever seen ony o' us, although we knew perfectly weel o'
each other's existence. But this within parentheses.

Havin seen my pretty cousin--for she was really a bonny-lookin and
modest creature--made so far comfortable, I ran joyfully to my mother,
to inform her o' oor acquisition. My mother, who had never seen her
either, was delighted wi' the intelligence, and instantly rose to
welcome her. The servant was roused oot o' her bed, a little supper
prepared, and some delightful hours we spent together. I was charmed wi'
my fair cousin; so intelligent, so lively, so sensible, so
accomplished--so much o' everything, in short, that was captivatin in a
young and beautifu' woman. Nor was my mother less delighted wi' her than
I was. There were, indeed, some things spoken o' in the course o'
conversation between my mother, and oor guest, and I, relatin to family
affairs, in which we couldna somehow or other come to a distinct
understandin. There was something like cross-purposes between us; and I
observed that my fair cousin was extraordinary ignorant o' a' matters
concerning us, and o' the circumstances o' a number o' oor mutual
relations. But this n