"Sandy, ye manna gang yoursel to the auld birkie's wi' this letter the day," said Mactaggart to his boy; " gif ony neebour frae the neist town come belive, ye can gi' him it, for I canna mysel nae mair gar ye gang , as I hae mony a time gar'd ye gang dancing like a cotter's wean , wha maun rin half breathless wharever the gentry o'er the muir wad send them, an' nae their ain servants; as the auld St. Clyde the ither day sent wee Davie Grahame: his egg has ay twa youks , Sandy my man; an ye ken ill workers are ay gude to-putters. "

"Bess,--Bess," he could not think what Bess was meant; but wandering solitary, some two days after this lesson had been tendered Willie, Levingstone espied the minister's servant-girl coming from a neighbouring house, and sure enough she was the Bess; for like a greyhound Willie sprang from behind a high turf dyke that formed one flank of the fauld, and Levingstone espied Bess in the arms of Willie in a trice; and the words of this modest girl's mouth were, "O Willie! let me gang ; I thought ye war mair blate ; I manna stay." -- "Dear Bess! let me speak to ye ." -- "Na , na, Willie, that winna do; I'm nae obliged to saunter here wi' you! I ne'er had ony thoughts to tint my heart. "-- "Ah! Bess, wha kens but ye may rue an' pity me; ye ne'er can wall a man that looes ye mair wi' true downright love." -- "And if I ne'er should, nae man my heart can move; ilk lad's alike to me; I am happy and leal frae e'en to morn, and gif ye ken'd it, sae are ye ; an' baith had best take tent , and frae the either keep a' daffin an' sugar'd words, an' ne'er mint a breath about what nane but fools rant, clish-maclaver --poor fools, wha tent their power within four wa's, an' gather mirky clouds abun their heads, an' at their feet a skirling bairn to gar them drudge frae morning to the gloamin , an frae the gloamin till the sin rise over the lawn."
Willie said little, but he plied her hard with kisses, and the torrent of pleasure he felt in being allowed to snatch them with a delicate resistance, fired his blood: and Bess, with all her stoicism, seemed by the attitude she threw herself in,--her fine breasts resting on Willie's bosom, and her longing eyes now and then stealing a glance of his, whilst there seemed to be no more words to ease her heart, and as if tied by the arms of Willie entwined around her waist, and her kisses warm in the place of vows,--Bess, we say, seemed as if her heart, now softer grown, half-yielded consent to the love-sick, faithful Willie.
But she contrived to get out of his innocent embrace, and scolded him as " nae blate to tak sic a liberty wi' her on the open lawn, whar mair e'en than what looked frae the lifts might see them: ne'er do't again, Willie; ye ne'er sall hae your will; ye ne'er sall mak me lead a puir feightan life o' Willie's wife:-- na , na ; ye'll ne'er mak muckle o' me wi' unco fraise , an' daut me afore fouk ; an' as soon as your new-fangleness is gane , instead o' sweet delyte , 'cause ye tint your freedom for my sake, gang to wastefu ' barliehoods , and sine be driven frae house an' hald ; na , na, Willie."
Bess at length got out of Willie's clutches; and Levingstone hardly knew which to admire most, the assiduities of Willie, or the stifled attachment of Bess, who blushed through vanity rather than shame.

When it came to Suter Willie's turn to dance, he could not dance; he had always been worse than rickety; but Willie had been in Fife, and he would tell them a story he was sure "nobody had ever heard in his ain native place." It was this-- "Allan Mann had a muckle dog, and that dog used to go to the niest town, and carry the siller in his teeth and buy the beef, and bring it hame by ae nook; but ae day the butchers' dogs set upon auld Cowley, for Allan ca'd the beast Cowley; an' so ye see, twa dogs brought sax mair , a' butchers' collies and bull dogs; and so ye see , puir auld Cowley gat the warst o't , and lost the beef, and was sair bitet about the lugs and een : and so ye see , Cowley was sae shamed o' the thing, that he wad na come into the house, but gade and graened i' the barn a' that day; and whan Allan ken'd whare puir Cowley was hidet , he brought him his meat, and did sae for nine days; but Cowley did not eat but ae unco wee pickle o't a' that time: and so you see, on the tenth day, Cowley gaed awa', an' brought five ither guid stout collies, and awa' to the hole whare Cowley hid the meat; and Cowley gie the collies a' the meat, and tauld them in his ain language how he had been worried, and cowpit , and dadet by the butchers' dogs in yon town; and how, gif the collies wad gang wi' him and set up a colly shangy , a' the butchers' dogs wad come out, and then they shud a' set on them and worrie them waur than they worried Cowley: and so ye see, Cowley and his comrades gaed awa' to the neist town, and leathered them weel i' the caputs and spaulds , sae that the butchers thought the warison their brutes ware gating was nathing but a' the dogs and collies i' the country gaen wud ; till they saw Cowley and thought about the beef; and how their ain dogs teuk it frae him; and the butchers then let their ain dogs tak what Cowley's collies and himsel could gie them: and so ye see, whan Cowley and his collies beat them a' , Cowley neist day cam to his maister for the siller for the beef; and frae that day to this, he has gane to the butcher's for Allan's beef; and the butchers' dogs growl, but neer ane o' them will meddle wi' him."

The dominie gave alms, not because he was richer than his brethren, and more independent than those who received his alms, but it was following the example of a great personage to give alms, and pray; and though a "goupen-fow of meal would never be missed, there was nae kenning wha might be a hallan-shaker , things might a' gang to the dog-driving; the bit and the brat was nae denied the raven o' the sky: his duds might na be as braw's the breeks o' his forebearis; but it was better to live on a little, than to hear bodies as ane passed them by, saying, 'Look, man, di' ye see that, chiel ; there's nae breard like midding breard .'" And with all his faults, the dominie was a sober man, a good man, a great scholar, and the best companion at a merry-making that ever lived.

Sandy was bidden to sit down, and thus he began; "The young lady Ellen, Heaven keep her frae the death her father dee'd, gae me some o' the auld laird's clais . Poor Sauney Glass is just as wise as the Lord made him; but he kens main than folks thinks o'; and the death o' the guid laird, his guid friend, gae him unco muckle trouble, and he hoppit the reekless murderer wad be found out; he thought the finger o' God wad yet be pointed at whaever whippet a string round the neck o' the poor laird; and so he did a' he could to find out the murderer as weel as ither bodies , and he thought he had maist done it; but gif the minister did na' tak tent , they micht nae get him mony a day yet."

"Ohon! I'm a peur man; this is ware then the worst battle we e'er fought; dinna , dinna , dinna baith make yoursells like weans ; ye're baith begruttin eneugh already," said the sergeant.
"And Norah's dead! and she died of grief! O, cruel fates! O God! why am I alive till this hour!" uttered Colin in the most bitter anguish.
"Aha! Sauney, my man," said Macbean, "an' it's you, an' ye're aye living, an' up with lavrock ; ye've risen this morning to put your foot on the worm."
"The laird! the laird!" cried Glass, as he advanced bowing, "the young laird living and greeting! What ails ye , Colin dear? Jesu drive his grief awa ; he's dead, an' she's dead, an' Norah's dead; an' we thought ye ware first dead; they a' teld me ye were hagget in collops by naked savages; an' Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! be thanket ye're here now--

Levingstone in the frequent rambles he took among the hills and glens, the woods and muirs, discovered on the summit of one glen the watch-house of a shepherd; and observing that this was the constant rendezvous of two young shepherds, he deemed it no uninteresting sport to conceal himself with a book in his hand, in a large but curiously-grown furze brake that sheltered the watch-house, and there as an eaves'-dropper to observe their manoeuvres, and listen to their chit-chat. The conversation of these youths turned on Willie's attachment to Bess; and Wattie having rallied him on his "daft dreams and heavy heart," Willie frankly confessed, that as "Bess ne'er looked upon him wi' a blithesome smile, but gart him look blate wi' her jeers, though he could na' but looe her, he wad na' tint his bluid , the disdain o' Bess he tholed , wad fetch him to his cauld grave soon eneugh ."
Wattie advised Willie to "leave aff that silly whining way: wha can help misluck ? ne'er fash your thumb wi' sic a thrawin , gabbett chuck : dinna tint your hope, man; but whan ye're glowring about, gif ye see her linkan oure the muir wi' her coats kiltet , and her straught bare legs far whiter than the snaw , and her haffet locks waving oure her ruddy cheeks, loup oure the dyke, and seem as gif ye had forgathered wi' her by mischance; an' gif she misca ' ye at the first, do ye but laugh, and clasp your arms about her neck and waist, and haud her fast in your grips, and sine tak a fouth o' sweetest kisses frae her glowing mow ; an' I'se warrant ye , Willie, gif she hae ony saul at a' 'twill come lowping to her lips; and though she flite wi' ye atween the smacks , dinna ye think she means as she'll speak; and gif she lower her bonny face wi' gloom, do you say her mow's like ony hinney , and gif she winna change her mood, ye'll gang clean wod , an' oure the craig ye'll tak the lowp ; but tent the language o' her een ."
Willie promised to obey; and as the youths left the hut "to fauld their sheep," Levingstone was content to go home to the manse, filled with many reflections on the gallantry of Wattie.

"Oh, madam! what, you have not heard then that these two dear babies have lost both father and mother since yesternoon ; poor babies, worse luck for 'em!"
Mrs. Elwyn's eyes filled with tears-- "Poor infants!" cried she, as she hung over them.
"Aye, poor things," returned the old woman; "I little thought when Kitty Ellis sent for me yesterday, to take care of 'em, that I should never she more; and here I tossed up a bit of supper for James and she , and I put it all in order, and I waited, and waited, and between every clap of thunder I listened for James's whistle, for he was a main man for singing and whistling on shore; but law bless us all , I could hear nothing for the roaring of the waves. 'Twas past twelve o'clock before I lighted the candle; I saw a winding-sheet in it within two minutes, and that I know'd to be a baddish sort of a sign; I could have lain a good wager that I should never see 'em more, after my eyes lighted on that ugly sight-- oh, 'twas a sure token!"
"Are you a relation of these poor babes?" asked Mrs. Elwyn, still looking with compassion into the cradle.
"Oh dear , no, madam," said the old woman, "in all the varsal world, these babies have now no kin or kindred but God. The parish must see to 'em now, and I be only waiting for one of the overseers to come along, to know what 'tis best to do; for 'tisn't to be supposed, or expected, as I can leave my own business to attend to they for nothing, you know, madam, though I love 'em ever so."
"Was the poor fisherman born in this place?"
"Law, to be sure, madam, he was, in this very house too, for aught I know to the contrary; his father followed the same calling as this James; he came from Worthing, I have heard tell, and so he married, and got this boy; and when father and mother died, why James he must be marrying too belike , and so he took up with Kitty; Kitty was a love-child, as was laid at somebody's door here in Brighton. Folks did say that the saddle was put on the right horse's back; howsomdever this child was sent to the parish--the great lord or squire, or what he was, set off; and Kitty was a decent sort of girl enough , considering her breeding up , with nobody to care for her, or after her, as it were; and so the long and the short of the matter was, that she was glad enough to marry with James Ellis. Poor girl, she had not been put to bed of these two babies more than six weeks, and such a young thing 'twas , and looking so delicate, for she was but about of seventeen years old ; and I said to her yesterday--'Kitty,' says I, ' 'tis early times, child, for you to venture into the water and the wet.' 'Molly,' says she, 'James has been all alone with nobody but his own self a longful time, and I am very hearty now,' says she; 'you mind the dear babies, and I'll take care of myself;' and then; she suckled 'em, she did, and she kissed 'em both three times--yes, I have minded since as 'twas three times; and she flinged a net over her shoulder, and a basket upon her arm, and away she went."

'Yes, yes, I remembers it well,' said he; 'twas the year as I was overseer, sir; very true; oh yes, yes. I remembers all about it; two cursed fools of women were taken with the romantics , you see ( plague take, this cursed gout, it is tearing me to pieces), and so our parish got rid of two squalling brats that would have been chargeable, you see; well, well, 'tis a bad wind that blows nobody good, as the old saying has it; I remembers it as though 'twere but yesterday; yes, yes , we got clear of 'em both, as I was saying afore ; one of the fine ladies played me a rum trick , and was off, you see , with her booty before one could say Jack Robinson; however, nothing was ever heard of she nor the child to trouble the parish arter , you see; I take it as how she went by an alias , and didn't very well know which name to give in; howsomdever, alls well that ends well, as the saying is--they wern't chargeable to the parish; but the other lady was quite genteel behaved, and very ready to tell where she lived, and all about it; I see'd her times after and before too; she was one madam Elwyn, out of Gloucestershire; but the other madam never came here no more , as ever I heard of.' -- 'What kind of a lady was she?' asked I, my curiosity excited.-- 'Lord, sir, I'll tell you where you may have a story about it, as long as my arm; old Moll Stevens, who nursed the children, and who staid by the cradle till they were taken to by the ladies, is alive now; I do verily think as she must be upwards of fourscore , but she is mighty recollectful and long winded; Moll has got a little maintenance, I believe, and what with a little trifle of begging, and a little trifle from parish, she contrives to make it out, snuff and all.'