sure I am, it's doing him an honour him or his never deserved at our hand, the ungracious sumph; and if he loses by us a'thegither, he is e'en cheap o't: he can spare it brawly.' Shaking off irresolution, therefore, and turning at once upon his heel, Caleb walked hastily back to the cooper's house, lifted the latch withotu ceremony, and, in a moment, found himself behind the 'hallan,' or partition, from which position he could, himself unseen, reconnoitre the interior of the 'but,' or kitchen apartment, of the mansion.
Reverse of the sad menage at the Castle of Wolf's Crag, a bickering fire roared up the cooper's chimney. His wife, on the one side, in her pearlings and pudding-sleeves, put the last finishing touch to her holiday's apparel, while she contemplated a very handsome and good-humoured face in a broken mirror, raised upon the 'bink' (the shelves on which the plates are disposed) for her special accommodation. Her mother, old Luckie Loup-the-Dyke, 'a canty carline' as was within twenty miles of her, according to the unanimous report of the 'cummers,' or gossips, sat by the fire in the full glory of a grogram gown, lammer beads, and a clean cockernony, whiffing a snug pipe of tobacco, and superintending the affairs of the kitchen; for—sight more interesting to the anxious heart and craving entrails of the desponding seneschal than either buxom dame or canty cummer—there bubbled on the aforesaid bickering fire a huge pot, or rather cauldron, steaming with beef and brewis; while before it revolved two spits, turned each by one of the cooper's apprentices, seated in the opposite corners of the chimney, the one loaded with a quarter of mutton, while the other was graced with a fat goose and a brace of wild ducks. The sight and scent of such a land of plenty almost wholly overcame the drooping spirits of Caleb. He turned, for a moment's space to reconnoitre the 'ben,' or parlour end of the house, and there saw a sight scarce less affecting to his feelings—a large round table, covered for ten or twelve persons, decored (according to his own favourite terms) with napery as white as snow, grand flagons of pewter, intermixed with one or two silver cups, containing, as was probable, something worthy the brilliancy of their outward appearance, clean trenchers, cutty spoons, knives and forks, sharp, burnished, and prompt for action, which lay all displayed as for an especial festival.
'The devil's in the peddling tub-coopering carl!' muttered Caleb, in all the envy of astonishment; 'it's a shame to see the like o' them gusting their gabs at sic a rate. But if some o' that gude cheer does not find its way to Wolf's Crag this night, my name is not Caleb Balderstone.'
So resolving, he entered the apartment, and, in all courteous greeting, saluted both the mother and the daughter. Wolf's Crag was the court of the barony, Caleb prime minister at Wolf's Crag; and it has ever been remarked that, though the masculine subject who pays the taxes sometimes growls at the courtiers by whom they are imposed, the said courtiers continue, nevertheless, welcome to the fair sex, to whom they furnish the newest small-talk and the earliest fashions. Both the dames were, therefore, at once about old Caleb's neck, setting up their throats together by way of welcome.
'Ay, sirs, Mr. Balderstone, and is this you? A sight of you is gude for sair een. Sit down—sit down; the gudeman will be blythe to see you—ye nar saw him sae cadgy in your life; but we are to christen our bit wean the night, as ye will hae heard, and doubtless ye will stay and see the ordinance. We hae killed a wether, and ane o' our lads has been out wi' his gun at the moss; ye used to like wild-fowl.'
'Na, na, gudewife,' said Caleb; 'I just keekit in to wish ye joy, and I wad be glad to hae spoken wi' the gudeman, but——' moving, as if to go away.
'The ne'er a fit ye's gang,' said the elder dame, laughing and holding him fast, with a freedom which belonged to their old acquaintance; 'wha kens what ill it may bring to the bairn, if ye owerlook it in that gate?'
'But I'm in a preceese hurry, gudewife,' said the butler, suffering himself to be dragged to a seat without much resistance; 'and as to eating,' for he observed the mistress of the dwelling bustling about to place a trencher for him—'as for eating—lack-a-day, we are just killed up yonder wi' eating frae morning to night! It's shamefu' epicurism; but that's what we hae gotten frae the English pock-puddings.' 'Hout, never mind the English pock- puddings,' said Luckie Lightbody; 'try our puddings, Mr. Balderstone; there is black pudding and white-hass; try whilk ye like best.'
'Baith gude—baith excellent—canna be better; but the very smell is eneugh for me that hae dined sae lately (the faithful wretch had fasted since daybreak). But I wadna affront your housewifeskep, gudewife; and, with your permission, I'se e'en pit them in my napkin, and eat them to my supper at e'en, for I am wearied of Mysie's pastry and nonsense; ye ken landward dainties aye pleased me best, Marion, and landward lasses too (looking at the cooper's wife). Ne'er a bit but she looks far better than when she married Gilbert, and then she was the bonniest lass in our parochine and the neist till't. But gawsie cow, goodly calf.'
The women smiled at the compliment each to herself, and they smiled again to each other as Caleb wrapt up the puddings in a towel which he had brought with him, as a dragoon carries his foraging bag to receive what my fall in his way.
'And what news at the castle?' quo' the gudewife.
'News! The bravest news ye ever heard—the Lord Keeper's up yonder wi' his fair daughter, just ready to fling her at my lord's head, if he winna tak her out o' his arms; and I'se warrant he'll stitch our auld lands of Ravenswood to her petticoat tail.'
'Eh! sirs—ay!—and will hae her? and is she weel-favoured? and what's the colour o' her hair? and does she wear a habit or a railly?' were the questions which the females showered upon the butler.
'Hout tout! it wad tak a man a day to answer a' your questions, and I hae hardly a minute. Where's the gudeman?'
'Awa' to fetch the minister,' said Mrs. Girder, 'precious Mr. Peter Bide-the-Bent, frae the Mosshead; the honest man has the rheumatism wi' lying in the hills in the persecution.'
'Ay! Whig and a mountain-man, nae less!' said Caleb, with a peevishness he could not suppress. 'I hae seen the day, Luckie, when worthy Mr. Cuffcushion and the service-book would hae served your turn (to the elder dame), or ony honest woman in like circumstances.'
'And that's true too,' said Mrs. Lightbody, 'but what can a body do? Jean maun baith sing her psalms and busk her cockernony the gate the gudeman likes, and nae ither gate; for he's maister and mair at hame, I can tell ye, Mr. Balderstone.'
'Ay, ay, and does he guide the gear too?' said Caleb, to whose projects masculine rule boded little good. 'Ilka penny on't; but he'll dress her as dink as a daisy, as ye see; sae she has little reason to complain: where there's ane better aff there's ten waur.'
'Aweel, gudewife,' said Caleb, crestfallen, but not beaten off, 'that wasna the way ye guided your gudeman; bt ilka land has its ain lauch. I maun be ganging. I just wanted to round in the gudeman's lug, that I heard them say up-bye yonder that Peter Puncheon, that was cooper to the Queen's stores at the Timmer Burse at Leith, is dead; sae I though that maybe a word frae my lord to the Lord Keeper might hae served Gilbert; but since he's frae hame——'
'O, but ye maun stay his hame-coming,' said the dame. 'I aye telled the gudeman ye meant weel to him; but he taks the tout at every bit lippening word.'
'Aweel, I'll stay the last minute I can.'
'And so,' said the handsome young spouse of Mr. Girder, 'ye think this Miss Ashton is weel-favoured? Troth, and sae should she, to set up for our young lord, with a face and a hand, and a seat on his horse, that might become a king's son. D'ye ken that he aye glowers up at my window, Mr. Balderstone, when he chaunces to ride thro' the town? Sae I hae a right to ken what like he is, as weel as ony body.'
'I ken that brawly,' said Caleb, 'for I hae heard his lordship say the cooper's wife had the blackest ee in the barony; and I said, 'Weel may that be, my lord, for it was her mither's afore her, as I ken to my cost.' Eh, Marion? Ha, ha, ha! Ah! these were merry days!'
'Hout awa', auld carle,' said the old dame, 'to speak sic daffing to young folk. But, Jean—fie, woman, dinna ye hear the bairn greet? I'se warrant it's that dreary weid has come ower't again.'
Up got mother and grandmother, and scoured away, jostling each other as they ran, into some remote corner of the tenement, where the young hero of the evening was deposited. When Caleb saw the coast fairly clear, he took an invigorating pinch of snuff, to sharpen and confirm his resolution.
'Cauld be my cast,' thought he, 'if either Bide-the-Bent or Girder taste that broach of wild-fowl this evening'; and then addressing the eldest turnspit, a boy of about eleven years old, and putting a penny into his hand, he said, 'Here is twal pennies, my man; carry that ower to Mrs. Sma'trash, and bid her fill my mill wi' snishing, and I'll turn the broche for ye in the mean time; and she will gie ye a ginge-bread snap for your pains.'
No sooner was the elder boy departed on this mission than Caleb, looking the remaining turnspit gravely and steadily in the face, removed from the fire the spit bearing the wild-fowl of which he had undertaken the charge,
