he tak Morton."

"That wad sort ill wi' the auld leddy, to be sure," said Cuddie; "she wad
hardly win ower a lang day in the baggage-wain."

"Then sic a flyting as there wad be between them, a' about Whig and
Tory," continued Jenny.

"To be sure," said Cuddie, "the auld leddy 's unto kittle in thae
points."

"And then, Cuddie," continued his helpmate, who had reserved her
strongest argument to the last, "if this marriage wi' Lord Evandale is
broken off, what comes o' our ain bit free house, and the kale-yard, and
the cow's grass? I trow that baith us and thae bonny bairns will be
turned on the wide warld!"

Here Jenny began to whimper; Cuddie writhed himself this way and that
way, the very picture of indecision. At length he broke out, "Weel,
woman, canna ye tell us what we suld do, without a' this din about it?"

"Just do naething at a'," said Jenny. "Never seem to ken onything about
this gentleman, and for your life say a word that he suld hae been here,
or up at the house! An I had kend, I wad hae gien him my ain bed, and
sleepit in the byre or he had gane up by; but it canna be helpit now. The
neist thing's to get him cannily awa the morn, and I judge he'll be in
nae hurry to come back again."

"My puir maister!" said Cuddie; "and maun I no speak to him, then?"

"For your life, no," said Jenny. "Ye're no obliged to ken him; and I
wadna hae tauld ye, only I feared ye wad ken him in the morning."

"Aweel," said Cuddie, sighing heavily, "I 'se awa to pleugh the outfield
then; for if I am no to speak to him, I wad rather be out o' the gate."

"Very right, my dear hinny," replied Jenny. "Naebody has better sense than
you when ye crack a bit wi' me ower your affairs; but ye suld ne'er do
onything aff hand out o' your ain head."

"Ane wad think it's true," quoth Cuddie; "for I hae aye had some carline
or quean or another to gar me gang their gate instead o' my ain. There
was first my mither," he continued, as he undressed and tumbled himself
into bed; "then there was Leddy Margaret didna let me ca' my soul my ain;
then my mither and her quarrelled, and pu'ed me twa ways at anes, as if
ilk ane had an end o' me, like Punch and the Deevil rugging about the
Baker at the fair; and now I hae gotten a wife," he murmured in
continuation, as he stowed the blankets around his person, "and she's
like to tak the guiding o' me a' thegither."

"And amna I the best guide ye ever had in a' your life?" said Jenny, as
she clos