dna the saving gift, and he got twa terms' rent in
arrear. He got the first brash at Whitsunday put ower wi' fair word
and piping; but when Martinmas came there was a summons from the grund
officer to come wi' the rent on a day preceese, or else Steenie behooved
to flit. Sair wark he had to get the siller; but he was weel freended,
and at last he got the haill scraped thegether--a thousand merks. The
maist of it was from a neighbour they caa'd Laurie Lapraik--a sly tod.
Laurie had wealth o' gear, could hunt wi' the hound and rin wi' the
hare, and be Whig or Tory, saunt or sinner, as the wind stood. He was
a professor in the Revolution warld, but he liked an orra sough of the
warld, and a tune on the pipes weel aneugh at a by-time; and, bune a',
he thought he had gude security for the siller he len my gudesire ower
the stocking at Primrose Knowe.

Away trots my gudesire to Redgauntlet Castle wi' a heavy purse and a
light heart, glad to be out of the laird's danger. Weel, the first thing
he learned at the castle was that Sir Robert had fretted himsell into a
fit of the gout because he did no appear before twelve o'clock. It wasna
a'thegether for sake of the money, Dougal thought, but because he didna
like to part wi' my gudesire aff the grund. Dougal was glad to see
Steenie, and brought him into the great oak parlour; and there sat
the laird his leesome lane, excepting that he had beside him a great,
ill-favoured jackanape that was a special pet of his. A cankered beast
it was, and mony an ill-natured trick it played; ill to please it was,
and easily angered--ran about the haill castle, chattering and
rowling, and pinching and biting folk, specially before ill weather,
or disturbance in the state. Sir Robert caa'd it Major Weir, after
the warlock that was burnt; and few folk liked either the name or the
conditions of the creature--they thought there was something in it by
ordinar--and my gudesire was not just easy in mind when the door shut
on him, and he saw himsell in the room wi' naebody but the laird, Dougal
MacCallum, and the major--a thing that hadna chanced to him before.

Sir Robert sat, or, I should say, lay, in a great arm-chair, wi' his
grand velvet gown, and his feet on a cradle, for he had baith gout and
gravel, and his face looked as gash and ghastly as Satan's. Major Weir
sat opposite to him, in a red-laced coat, and the laird's wig on his
head; and aye as Sir Robert girned wi' pain, the jackanape girned to