takes an interest in the fate o' my Willie?"

"A despised lassie," was the reply; "but ane that would risk her ain
life to save either yours or his."

"Bless you for the words!" replied Lady Scott, as she broke the seal of
her son's letter, and read:--

"My mother, my honoured mother,--Fate has delivered me into the power of
Murray of Elibank, the enemy of our house. He has doomed me to death,
and I die to-morrow; but sit not down to mourn for me, and uselessly
to wring the hands and tear the hair; but rouse every Scott upon the
Borders to rise up and be my avenger. If ye bewail the loss o' a son,
let them spare o' the Murrays neither son nor daughter. Rouse ye, and
let a mother's vengeance nerve your arm! Poor Simon o' Yarrow-foot is
to be my companion in death, and he whines to meet his fate with the
weakness of a woman, and yearns a perpetual yearning for his wife and
bairns. On that account I forgie him the want o' heart and determination
which he manifests; but see ye to them, and take care that they be
provided for. As for me, I shall meet my doom wi' disdain for my enemy
in my eyes and on my tongue. Even in death he shall feel that I despise
him; and a proof o' this I have given him already; for he has offered to
save my life, providing I would marry his daughter, Meikle-mouthed Meg.
But I have scorned his proposal."----

"Ye were right, Willie! ye were right, lad!" exclaimed his mother, while
the letter shook in her hand; but, suddenly bursting into tears, she
continued--"No, no! my bairn was wrong--very wrong. Life is precious,
and at all times desirable; and, for his poor mother's sake, he ought to
have married the lassie, whate'er she may be like." And, turning to the
bearer of the letter, she inquired--"And what like may the leddy be, the
marrying o' whom would save my Willie's life?"

"Ye have nae doubt heard, my leddy," replied the stranger, "that she
isna what the world considers to be a likely lass--though, take her as
she is, and ye might find a hantle worse wives than poor Meg would make;
and, as to her features, I may say that she looks much the same as I do;
and if she doesna appear better, she at least doesna look ony waur."

"Then, if she be as ye say, and look as ye say," continued the lady, "my
poor headstrong Willie ought to marry her. But, oh! weel do I ken that
in everything he is just his father ower again, and ye might as weel
think o' moving the Eildon hills as force him to onything."