There was nothing, it may be supposed, very appalling in the form or manners of
this rustic heroine; yet, whether from sheepish bashfulness, or from want of
decision and imperfect knowledge of his own mind on the subject, the Laird of
Dumbiedikes, with his old laced hat and empty tobacco-pipe, came and enjoyed the
beatific vision of Jeanie Deans day after day, week after week, year after year,
without proposing to accomplish any of the prophecies of the step-mother.
    This good lady began to grow doubly impatient on the subject, when after
having been some years married, she herself presented Douce Davie with another
daughter, who was named Euphemia, by corruption, Effie. It was then that Rebecca
began to turn impatient with the slow pace at which the Laird's wooing
proceeded, judiciously arguing, that, as Lady Dumbiedikes would have but little
occasion for tocher, the principal part of her gudeman's substance would
naturally descend to the child by the second marriage. Other step-dames have
tried less laudable means for clearing the way to the succession of their own
children; but Rebecca, to do her justice, only sought little Effie's advantage
through the promotion, or which must have generally been accounted such, of her
elder sister. She therefore tried every female art within the compass of her
simple skill, to bring the Laird to a point; but had the mortification to
perceive that her efforts, like those of an unskilful angler, only scared the
trout she meant to catch. Upon one occasion, in particular, when she joked with
the Laird on the propriety of giving a mistress to the house of Dumbiedikes, he
was so effectually startled, that neither laced hat, tobacco-pipe, nor the
intelligent proprietor of these movables, visited Woodend for a fortnight.
Rebecca was therefore compelled to leave the Laird to proceed at his own snail's
pace, convinced, by experience, of the grave-digger's aphorism, that your dull
ass will not mend his pace for beating.
    Reuben, in the meantime, pursued his studies at the university, supplying
his wants by teaching the younger lads the knowledge he himself acquired, and
thus at once gaining the means of maintaining himself at the seat of learning,
and fixing in his mind the elements of what he had already obtained. In this
manner, as is usual among the poorer students of divinity at Scottish
universities, he contrived not only to maintain himself according to his simple
wants, but even to send considerable assistance to his sole remaining parent, a
sacred duty, of which the Scotch