ins, aprons, stockings, and footless hose. The dogs, after
various and somewhat noisy differences had been adjusted, fell into
order and position around the hearth, enjoying the warmth, and licking,
peacefully and carefully, the wet from their sides. The cat, by this
time, had made a returning motion from the cupboard head, from which she
had been watching the arrangements and movements beneath. As this
appeared to "Help" to be an infringement of the terms of armistice and
of the frontier laws, he sprang with eagerness over the hearth. Pussy,
finding it dangerous, under this sudden and somewhat unexpected
movement, "_dare terga_," instantly drew up her whole body into an
attitude not only of defence, but defiance; curving herself into a
bristling crescent, with the head of a dragon attached to it, and, with
one horrid hiss and sputter, compelled Help first to hesitate and then
to retreat.

"Three paces back the youth retired,
And saved himself from harm."

The guidwife, however,--who seemed not unaccustomed to such
demonstrations, and who manifestly acted on the humane principle of
assisting the weaker by assailing the stronger combatant--gave Help such
demonstrations of her intentions, as at once reduced matters to the
_status quo ante bellum_. (I have as good a right to scholarship as my
brother packman, Plato, who carried oil to Egypt.) Thus peace and good
order being restored, the treasures of my burden became an immediate and
a universal subject of inquiry. I was compelled, nothing loath, to
unstrap my various packages, and disclose to view all the varied
treasures of the spindle and loom. Shawls were spread out into enormous
display, with central, and corner, and border ornaments, the most
amazing and the most fashionable; waistcoat pieces of every stripe and
figure, from the straight line to the circle, of every hue and colouring
which the rainbow exhibits, were unfolded in the presence and under the
scrutinizing thumb of many purchasers. The guidwife herself half coaxed
and half scolded a fine remnant of Flanders lace, of most tempting
aspect, out of the guidman's reluctant pocket. The very dogs seemed
anxious to be accommodated, and applied their noses to some unopened
bales, with a knowing look of inquiry. Things were proceeding in this
manner, when the door opened, and there entered a young man of the most
prepossessing appearance; in fact, what Burns terms a "strapping youth."
I could observe that