I have said that she was dim-sighted. The candle they had was
little better than a penny dip. The bed was darker than the rest of
the room. Shargar's face had none of the more distinctive
characteristics of manhood upon it.

'Gude preserve 's!' exclaimed Mrs. Falconer in her turn: 'it's a
wumman.'

Poor deluded Shargar, thinking himself safer under any form than
that which he actually bore, attempted no protest against the
mistake. But, indeed, he was incapable of speech. The two women
flew upon him to drag him out of bed. Then first recovering his
powers of motion, he sprung up in an agony of terror, and darted out
between them, overturning Betty in his course.

'Ye rouch limmer!' cried Betty, from the floor. 'Ye lang-leggit
jaud!' she added, as she rose--and at the same moment Shargar banged
the street-door behind him in his terror--'I wat ye dinna carry yer
coats ower syde (too long)!'

For Shargar, having discovered that the way to get the most warmth
from Robert's great-grandfather's kilt was to wear it in the manner
for which it had been fabricated, was in the habit of fastening it
round his waist before he got into bed; and the eye of Betty, as she
fell, had caught the swing of this portion of his attire.

But poor Mrs. Falconer, with sunken head, walked out of the garret
in the silence of despair. She went slowly down the steep stair,
supporting herself against the wall, her round-toed shoes creaking
solemnly as she went, took refuge in the ga'le-room, and burst into