 but, in
reality, upon the special charge transmitted to Duncan from the Duke and his
agent, to behave with the utmost attention to Deans and his family.
    »And now, sirs,« said Duncan, in a commanding tone, »I am to pray ye a' to
come in to your supper, for yonder is Mr. Archibald half famished, and a Saxon
woman, that looks as if her een were fleeing out o' her head wi' fear and
wonder, as if she had never seen a shentleman in a philabeg pefore.«
    »And Reuben Butler.« said David, »will doubtless desire instantly to retire,
that he may prepare his mind for the exercise of to-morrow, that his work may
suit the day, and be an offering of a sweet savour in the nostrils of the
reverend Presbytery.«
    »Hout tout, man, it's but little ye ken about them,« interrupted the
Captain. »Teil a ane o' them wad gie the savour of the hot venison pasty which I
smell« (turning his squab nose up in the air) »a' the way frae the Lodge, for a'
that Mr. Putler, or you either, can say to them.«
    David groaned; but judging he had to do with a Gallio, as he said, did not
think it worth his while to give battle. They followed the Captain to the house,
and arranged themselves with great ceremony round a well-loaded supper-table.
The only other circumstance of the evening worthy to be recorded is, that Butler
pronounced the blessing; that Knockdunder found it too long, and David Deans
censured it as too short, from which the charitable reader may conclude it was
exactly the proper length.
 

                              Chapter Forty-Fourth

 Now turn the Psalms of David ower,
 And lilt wi' holy clangor;
 Of double verse come gie us four,
 And skirl up the Bangor.
                                                                          Burns.
 
The next was the important day, when, according to the forms and ritual of the
Scottish Kirk, Reuben Butler was to be ordained minister of Knocktarlitie, by
the Presbytery of -. And so eager were the whole party, that all, excepting Mrs.
Dutton, the destined Cowslip of Inverary, were stirring at an early hour.
    Their host, whose appetite was as quick and keen as his temper, was not long
in summoning them to a substantial breakfast, where there were at least a dozen
of different preparations of milk, plenty of cold meat, scores boiled and
roasted eggs, a huge cag of butter, half-a
