The monastery; The abbot.

THE MONASTERY. 99
she haa no tocher, but the like of her for beauty and sense ne'er crossed my
cen; and I have kend every wench in the Halidome of St. Mary's - ay, and
their mothers that bore them - ay, she is a sweet and a lovely creature as
ever tied snood over brown hair -ay, and then, though her uncle keeps her
out of her ain for the present time, yet it is to be thought the gray-goose
shaft will find a hole in his coat of proof, as, God help us! it has done in
many a better man's - And, moreover, if they should stand on their pedigree and gentle race, Edward might say to them, that is, to her gentle kith
and kin,'whilk o' ye was her best friend, when she came down the glen to
Glendearg in a misty evening, on a beast mair like a cuddie than aught
else?'-And if they tax him with churl's blood, Edward might say, that,
forby the old proverb, how
Gentle deed
Makes gentle bleid;
yet, moreover, there comes no churl's blood from Glendinning or Brydone;
for, says Edward "
The hoarse voice of the Miller at this moment recalled the dame from her
reverie,, and compelled her to remember that if she meant to realize her
airy castle, she must begin by laying the foundation in civility to her guest
and his daughter, whom she was at that moment most strangely neglecting,
though her whole plan turned on conciliating their favour and good opinion,
and that, in fact, while arranging matters for so intimate a union with her
company, she was suffering them to sit unnoticed, and in their riding gear,
as if about to resume their journey. "And so I say, dame," concluded the
Miller, (for she had not marked the beginning of his speech,) " an ye be so
busied with your housekep, or ought else, why, Mysie and I will trot our
way down the glen again to Johnnie Broxmouth's, who pressed us right
kindly to bide with him."
Starting at once from her dream of marriages and intermarriages, mills,
mill-lands, and baronies, Dame Elspeth felt for a moment like the milk-maid
in the fable, when she overset the pitcher, on the contents of which so many
golden dreams were founded. But the foundation of Dame Glendinning's
hopes was only tottering, not overthrown, and she hastened to restore its
equilibrium. Instead of attempting to account for her absence of mind and
want of attention to her guests,. which she might have found something
difficult, she assumed the offensive, like an able general when he finds it
necessary, by a bold attack, to disguise his weakness.
A loud exclamation she made, and a passionate complaint she set up
against the unkindness of her old friend, who could for an instant doubt
the heartiness of her welcome to him and to his hopeful daughter; and then to
think of his going back to Johnny Broxmouth's, when the auld tower stood
where it did, and had room in it for a friend or two in the worst of timesand he too a neighbour that his umquhile gossip Simon, blessed be his cast,
used to think the best friend he had in the Halidome! And on she went,
urging her complaint with so much seriousness, that she had well-nigh
imposed on herself as well as upon Hob Miller, who had no mind to take
any thing in dudgeon; and as it suited his plans to pass the night at Glendearg, would have been equally contented to do so even had his reception
been less vehemently hospitable.
To all Elspeth's expostulations on the unkindness of his proposal to leave
her dwelling, he answered composedly, " Nay, dame, what could I tell? ye
might have had other grist to grind, for ye looked as if ye scarce saw usor what know I? ye might bear in mind the words Martin and I had about
the last barley ye sawed-for I ken dry multures* will sometimes stick in
the throat. A man seeks but his awn, and yet folk shall hold him for both
miller and miller's man, that is millar and knave,t all the country over."
* Dry multures were a fine, or compensation in money, for not grinding at the mill of the thirl. It was,
and is. accounted a vexatious exaction.
i The under miller is, in the language of thirlage, called the knave, which, indeed, signified originally his