hich I
am as innocent as yourself. They dare not bring me to my trial, and in
the meanwhile I am held naked in my prison. I could have wished it was
your cousin I had met, or his brother Baith himself. Either would, I
know, have been rejoiced to help me; while a comparative stranger like
yourself--"

I would be ashamed to set down all he poured out to me in this beggarly
vein, or the very short and grudging answers that I made to him. There
were times when I was tempted to stop his mouth with some small change;
but whether it was from shame or pride--whether it was for my own sake
or Catriona's--whether it was because I thought him no fit father for
his daughter, or because I resented that grossness of immediate falsity
that clung about the man himself--the thing was clean beyond me. And I
was still being wheedled and preached to, and still being marched to and
fro, three steps and a turn, in that small chamber, and had already, by
some very short replies, highly incensed, although not finally
discouraged, my beggar, when Prestongrange appeared in the doorway and
bade me eagerly into his big chamber.

"I have a moment's engagement," said he; "and that you may not sit
empty-handed I am going to present you to my three braw daughters, of
whom perhaps you may have heard, for I think they are more famous than
papa. This way."

He led me into another long room above, where a dry old lady sat at a
frame of embroidery, and the three handsomest young women (I suppose) in
Scotland stood together by a window.

"This is my new friend, Mr. Balfour," said he, presenting me by the arm.
"David, here is my sister, Miss Grant, who is so good as keep my house
for me, and will be very pleased if she can help you. And here," says
he, turning to the three younger ladies, "here are my _three braw
dauchters_. A fair question to ye, Mr. Davie: which of the three is the
best favoured? And I wager he will never have the impudence to propound
honest Alan Ramsay's answer!"

Hereupon all three, and the old Miss Grant as well, cried out against
this sally, which (as I was acquainted with the verses he referred to)
brought shame into my own cheek. It seemed to me a citation unpardonable
in a father, and I was amazed that these ladies could laugh even while
they reproved, or made believe to.

Under cover of this mirth, Prestongrange got forth of the chamber, and I
was left, like a fish upon dry land, in that very unsuitable society. I
could ne