,« said Isabella; »we shall give you all
reasonable scope: So you had better be ruled, and remember your age.«
    »But I am no that sair failed yet,« replied the mendicant. »Od, ance I gat a
wee soupled yestreen, I was as yauld as an eel. And then what wad a' the country
about do for want o' auld Edie Ochiltree, that brings news and country cracks
frae ae farm-steading to anither, and gingerbread to the lasses, and helps the
lads to mend their fiddles, and the gudewives to clout their pans, and plaits
rush-swords and grenadier caps for the weans, and busks the laird's flees, and
has skill o' cow-ills and horse-ills, and kens mair auld sangs and tales than a'
the barony besides, and gars ilka body laugh wherever he comes? Troth, my leddy,
I canna lay down my vocation; it would be a public loss.«
    »Well, Edie, if your idea of your importance is so strong as not to be
shaken by the prospect of independence« -
    »Na, na, Miss - it's because I am mair independent as I am,« answered the
old man; »I beg nae mair at ony single house than a meal o' meat, or maybe but a
mouthfou o't - if it's refused at ae place, I get it at anither - sae I canna be
said to depend on onybody in particular, but just on the country at large.«
    »Well, then, only promise me that you will let me know should you ever wish
to settle as you turn old, and more incapable of making your usual rounds; and,
in the meantime, take this.«
    »Na, na, my leddy: I downa take muckle siller at ance - it's against our
rule; and - though it's maybe no civil to be repeating the like o' that - they
say that siller's like to be scarce wi' Sir Arthur himsell, and that he's run
himsell out o' thought wi' his houkings and minings for lead and copper yonder.«
    Isabella had some anxious anticipations to the same effect, but was shocked
to hear that her father's embarrassments were such public talk; as if scandal
ever failed to stoop upon so acceptable a quarry as the failings of the good
man, the decline of the powerful, or the decay of the prosperous. - Miss Wardour
sighed deeply - »Well, Edie, we
