e
the right o' givin' ye twenty-four hoors' notice at any time. How will
that suit ye?"

"It's vera different frae my last place," says I, discontented-like.

And the words were true enough, for auld Fairmer Scott only gave me a
pund a month and parritch twice a day.

"Weel, weel," says he, "maybe we'll gie ye a rise if ye suit. Meanwhile
here's the han'sel shillin' that Maister McNeil tells me it's the custom
tae give, and I shall expec' tae see ye at Cloomber on Monday."

When the Monday cam roond I walked oot tae Cloomber, and a great muckle
hoose it is, wi' a hunderd windows or mair, and space enough tae hide
awa' half the parish.

As tae gairdening, there was no gairden for me tae work at, and the
horse was never taken oot o' the stables frae week's end tae week's end.
I was busy enough for a' that, for there was a deal o' fencing tae
be put up, and one thing or anither, forbye cleanin' the knives and
brushin' the boots and such-like jobs as is mair fit for an auld wife
than for a grown man.

There was twa besides mysel' in the kitchen, the cook Eliza, and Mary
the hoosemaid, puir, benighted beings baith o' them, wha had wasted a'
their lives in London, and kenned leetle aboot the warld or the ways o'
the flesh.

I hadna muckle tae say to them, for they were simple folk who could
scarce understand English, and had hardly mair regard for their ain
souls than the tods on the moor. When the cook said she didna think
muckle o' John Knox, and the ither that she wouldna give saxpence tae
hear the discourse o' Maister Donald McSnaw o' the true kirk, I kenned
it was time for me tae leave them tae a higher Judge.

There was four in family, the general, my leddy, Maister Mordaunt,
and Miss Gabriel, and it wasna long before I found that a' wasna just
exactly as it should be. My leddy was as thin and as white as a ghaist,
and many's the time as I've come on her and found her yammerin' and
greetin' all by hersel'. I've watched her walkin' up and doon in the
wood where she thought nane could see her and wringin' her honds like
one demented.

There was the young gentleman, tae, and his sister--they baith seemed
to hae some trouble on their minds, and the general maist of a', for the
ithers were up ane day and down anither; but he was aye the same, wi' a
face as dour and sad as a felon when he feels the tow roond his neck.

I speered o' the hussies in the kitchen whether they kenned what was
amiss wi' the family, but