"And ye'll rig out the auld tower a bit," said Hobbie," and live hearty and neighbour-like wi' the auld family friends, as the Laird o' Earnscliff should? I can tell ye, my mother—my grandmother I mean—but, since we lost our ain mother, we ca' her sometimes the tane, and sometimes the tother-but, ony gate, she thinks hersel no that distant connected wi' you."
"Very true, Hobbie, and I will come to the Heugh-foot to dinner to-morrow with all my heart."
"Weel, that's kindly said! We are auld neighbours, an' we were na kin—and my gude dame's fain to see you—she clavers about your father that was killed lang syne."
"Hush, hush, Hobbie—not a word about that it's a story better forgotten."
"I dinna ken—if it had chanced amang our folk, we wad hae keepit it in mind mony a day till we got some mends for it—but ye ken your ain ways best, you lairds—I have heard say that Ellieslaw's friend
