'll loup doun your hat, and lay by the band and ribband,« said the officious
dame; »and ye maun never, at no hand, speak o' leaving the land, or of selling
the gowd chain, for your uncle has an unco pleasure in looking on you, and in
counting the links of the chainzie; and ye ken auld folk canna last for ever;
sae the chain, and the lands, and a' will be your ain ae day; and ye may marry
ony leddy in the country-side ye like, and keep a braw house at Milnwood, for
there's enow o' means; and is not that worth waiting for, my dow?«
    There was something in the latter part of the prognostic which sounded so
agreeably in the ears of Morton, that he shook the old dame cordially by the
hand, and assured her he was much obliged for her good advice, and would weigh
it carefully before he proceeded to act upon his former resolution.
 

                                 Chapter Sixth

 From seventeen years till now, almost fourscore,
 Here lived I, but now live here no more;
 At seventeen years many their fortunes seek,
 But at fourscore it is too late a week.
                                                                 As You Like It.
 
We must conduct our readers to the Tower of Tillietudlem, to which Lady Margaret
Bellenden had returned, in romantic phrase, malcontent and full of heaviness, at
the unexpected, and, as she deemed it, indelible affront, which had been brought
upon her dignity by the public miscarriage of Goose Gibbie. That unfortunate
man-at-arms was forthwith commanded to drive his feathered charge to the most
remote parts of the common moor, and on no account to awaken the grief or
resentment of his lady, by appearing in her presence while the sense of the
affront was yet recent.
    The next proceeding of Lady Margaret was to hold a solemn court of justice,
to which Harrison and the butler were admitted, partly on the footing of
witnesses, partly as assessors, to inquire into the recusancy of Cuddie Headrigg
the ploughman, and the abetment which he had received from his mother - these
being regarded as the original causes of the disaster which had befallen the
chivalry of Tillietudlem. The charge being fully made out and substantiated,
Lady Margaret resolved to reprimand the culprits in person, and, if she found
them impenitent, to extend the censure into a sentence of expulsion from the
barony. Miss Bellenden alone ventured to say anything in behalf of the accused.
But her countenance did not profit them as it might have done on any other
occasion; for as soon