whatever other respects she might conform to her name) was a woman strong of person, and expert in the use of her hands, as some say her deceased husband had known to his cost.
"What gar'd ye let the roast burn, ye ill-cleckit gude-for-nought?"
"I dinna ken," sasid the boy.
"And where's that ill-deedy gett, Giles?"
"I dinna ken," blubbered the astonished declarant.
"And where's Mr Balderstone?—and abune a', and in the name of council and kirk-session, that I suld say sae, where is the broche wi' the wild-fowl?"
As Mrs Girder here entered, and joined her mother's exclamations, screaming into one ear while the old lady deafened the other, they succeeded in so utterly confounding the unhappy urchin, that he could not for some time tell his story at all, and it was only when the elder boy returned that the truth began to dawn on their minds.
