"Weel, then, you arena to be fretted wi' any other mother, and it will take an extraordinar' woman--like mysel'--to be all you want, and to fend off all you don't want. I am gey fond o' newborn babies--poor wee things, shipwrecked on a cold, bad world--and if there isna some sensible kind-hearted body wi' your bairn, they will be trying their auld world tricks wi' it. I shall stay here and see the bonnie wee thing isna left to their mercy." "What do you mean? You frighten me, McNab." "I mean, that if the bairn is left to any auld-farrant nurse, she will wash it in whiskey as soon as it comes into the world, and there is nae doubt in my mind, that the spirit isna pleasant to the tender skin o' the poor wean." "Oh, McNab! what a dreadful custom!" "Weel, it is an auld, auld custom, and though some are giving it up, there are mair that stick to it. If Mrs. Traquair Campbell should be here, I'm feared the whiskey bottle would be gey close to the washbowl. And you wouldna like it." "I would not permit it." "How would you help it? Tell me that. The only time you managed that woman you had to nearly die to do it, and I'm not clear that you got the better o' her then." "She will not be here, McNab. She will not be asked." McNab snapped her fingers. "'Asked,' is it? She will walk into this house as if it was her ain. 'It is my son's house,' she will say, and then she'll proceed to use her son's house as if the de'il had sent her to destroy everything that belongs to other folk; and day and night she'll make quarrelling and misery. That's Mrs. Traquair Campbell's way, and the hale o' her brood is like her." "Now, McNab, you know Mr. Robert Campbell is very different. You must not speak ill of my husband." "No, ma'am. There's two Robert Campbells. Ane o' them is weel worth the love you're giving him; the other is like the auld man that tormented the Saints themsel's. He'll get kicked out some day, nae doubt o' it." "Mr. Campbell told me he had given you a holiday until the first of September. He spoke very well of you." "I have had mair holiday than I want now." "Where were you?" "I was in Edinburgh, seeing the world and the ways o' it." "What did you think of the world and its ways?" "I dinna think them fit to talk about. I'll go now, and give things a bit sort up. I'll warrant them requiring the same." So McNab got--or rather took--her way, and soon after appeared in the kitchen in her large white mutch and apron. "Now, lasses," she said in her most commanding manner, "I am come here on a special invite to keep you and the house in order during the tribulation o' the mistress. But you'll find me a pleasant body to live wi', if you behave yoursel's and let the lads alane. If you don't, you will find you have got to do wi' the Mischief." "The lads, ma'am?" said a smart young lassie; "the lads! We have not a particle o' use for them--auld or young." "What's your name?" "Maggie."