convenient sizzon, atween oor ain twa lanes."

"An' a mair convanient spokesman, I houp, my leddy," said Grizzie,
deeply offended.

"An' wha sud that be?" rejoined her mistress.

"Ow, wha but the laird himsel'?" answered Grizzie, "Wha's to come
atween father an' son wi' licht upo' family-affairs? No even the
mistress hersel' wad hae prezhunt upo' that?"

"Keep your own place, Grizzie," said the old lady with dignity.

And Grizzie, who, had gone farther in the cause of propriety, than
propriety itself could justify, held her peace. Only the potatoes
splashed yet louder in the bowl. Her mistress sat grimly silent,
for though she had had the last word and had been obeyed, she was
rebuked in herself. Cosmo, judging the specialty of the interview
over, turned and went back to his father's chair; but just as he
was seating himself in it, his father appeared in the doorway.

The form was that of a tall, thin man, a little bent at the knees
and bowed in the back, who yet carried himself with no small
dignity, cloaked in an air of general apology--as if he would have
said, "I am sorry my way is not yours, for I see very well how
wrong you must think it." He wore large strong shoes--I think a
description should begin with the feet rather than the head--fit
for boggy land; blue, ribbed, woollen stockings; knee-breeches of
some home-made stuff: all the coarser cloth they wore, and they
wore little else, was shorn from their own sheep, and spun, woven,