nor."

"Here comes the drag, pa. Oh, how beautiful it looks! There they go, all
together; and Smasher, how neatly he carries himself! I say, Charley,
he has no fancy for that splinter-bar so near him,--it touches his
near hock every instant; would n't it be better to let his trace a hole
looser?"

"So it would," said Frobisher; "but get up and hold the ribbons till I
have got my gloves on. I say, Linton, keep Downie in chat one moment,
until we 're off."

This kindly office was, however, anticipated by Lady Janet MacFarline,
who, in her brief transit from the door to the carriage, always
contrived to drop each of the twenty things she loaded herself with at
starting, and thus to press into the service as many of the
bystanders as possible, who followed, one with a muff, another with a
smelling-bottle, a third with a book, a fourth with her knitting, and so
on; while Flint brought up the rear with more air-cushions and hot-water
apparatus than ever were seen before for the accommodation of two
persons. In fact, if the atmosphere of our dear island, instead of being
the mere innocent thing of fog it is, had been surcharged with all the
pestilential vapors of the mistral and the typhoon together, she could
not have armed herself with stronger precautions against it; while even
Sir Andrew, with the constitution of a Russian bear, was compelled
to wear blue spectacles in sunshine, and a respirator when it
lowered,--leaving him, as he said, to the "domnable alternative o' being
blind or dumb."

"I maun say," muttered he, behind his barrier of mouth plate, "that
Mesther Cashel has his ain notions aboot amusin' his company when he
leaves ane o' his guests to drive aboot wi' his ain wife. Ech, sir, it
is a pleasure I need na hae come so far to enjoy."

"Where's Sir Harvey Upton, Sir Andrew?" said my Lady, tartly; "he has
never been near me to-day. I hope he 's not making a fool of himself
with those Kennyfeck minxes."

"I dinna ken, and I dinna care," growled Sir Andrew; and then to
himself, he added, "An' if he be, it's aye better fooling wi' young
lassies than doited auld women!"

"A place for you, Mr. Linton!" said Mrs. White, as she seated herself in
a low drosky, where her companion, Mr. Howie, sat, surrounded with all
the details for a sketching-excursion.

"Thanks, but I have nothing so agreeable in prospect."

"Why, what are you about to do?"

"Alas! I must set out on a canvassing expedition, to court the sw