»It was probable,«
she said, »that he would return to St. Leonard's to-morrow! certain that he
would return very soon - all must be in order for him. He had eneugh to distress
him, without being fashed about warldly matters.«
    In the meanwhile she toiled busily, along with May Hettly, to leave nothing
unarranged.
    It was deep in the night when all these matters were settled; and when they
had partaken of some food, the first which Jeanie had tasted on that eventful
day, May Hettly, whose usual residence was a cottage at a little distance from
Deans's house, asked her young mistress, whether she would not permit her to
remain in the house all night? »Ye hae had an awfu' day,« she said, »and sorrow
and fear are but bad companions in the watches of the night, as I hae heard the
gudeman say himsell.«
    »They are ill companions indeed,« said Jeanie; »but I maun learn to abide
their presence, and better begin in the house than in the field.«
    She dismissed her aged assistant accordingly, - for so slight was the
gradation in their rank of life, that we can hardly term May a servant, - and
proceeded to make a few preparations for her journey.
    The simplicity of her education and country made these preparations very
brief and easy. Her tartan screen served all the purposes of a riding-habit and
of an umbrella; a small bundle contained such changes of linen as were
absolutely necessary. Barefooted, as Sancho says, she had come into the world,
and barefooted she proposed to perform her pilgrimage; and her clean shoes and
change of snow-white thread stockings were to be reserved for special occasions
of ceremony. She was not aware, that the English habits of comfort attach an
idea of abject misery to the idea of a barefooted traveller; and if the
objection of cleanliness had been made to the practice, she would have been apt
to vindicate herself upon the very frequent ablutions to which, with Mahometan
scrupulosity, a Scottish damsel of some condition usually subjects herself. Thus
far, therefore, all was well.
    From an oaken press, or cabinet, in which her father kept a few old books,
and two or three bundles of papers, besides his ordinary accounts and receipts,
she sought out and extracted from a parcel of notes of sermons, calculations of
interest, records of dying speeches of the martyrs, and the like, one or two
documents which she thought might be of some use to her upon her