‘I can weel tak yer word,’ replied Kirsty, ‘’at ye hae an engagement; but ye said a minute ago ’at ye was engaged til him: tell me in ae word--has Francie Gordon promised to merry ye?’ ‘He has as good as asked me,’ answered Phemy, who had fits of apprehensive recoil from a downright lie. ‘Noo there I cud ’maist believe ye! Ay, that wud be ill eneuch for Francie! He never was a doonricht leear, sae lang’s I kenned him--ony mair nor yersel! But, for God’s sake, Phemy, dinna imagine he’ll ever merry ye, for that he wull not.’ ‘This is really insufferable!’ cried Phemy, in a voice that began to tremble from the approach of angry tears. ‘Pray, have _you_ a claim upon him?’ ‘Nane, no a shedow o’ ane,’ returned Kirsty. ‘But my father and his father war like brithers, and we hae a’ to du what we can for his father’s son. I wud fain haud him ohn gotten into trouble wi’ you or ony lass.’ ‘_I_ get him into trouble! Really, Miss Barclay, I do not know how to understand you!’ ‘I see I maun be plain wi’ ye: I wudna hae ye get him into trouble by lattin him get you into trouble!--and that’s plain speykin!’ ‘You insult me!’ said Phemy. ‘Ye drive me to speyk plain!’ answered Kirsty. ‘That lad, Francie Gordon,----’ ‘Speak with respect of your superiors,’ interrupted Phemy. ‘I’ll speyk wi’ respec o’ ony body I hae respec for!’ answered Kirsty. ‘Let me pass, you rude young woman!’ cried Phemy, who had of late been cultivating in her imagination such speech as she thought would befit Mrs. Gordon of castle Weelset. ‘I winna lat ye pass,’ answered Kirsty; ‘--that is, no til ye hear what I hae to say to ye.’ ‘Then you must take the consequences!’ rejoined Phemy, and, in the hope that her lover would prove within earshot, began a piercing scream. It roused something in Kirsty which she could not afterward identify: she was sure it had nothing to do with anger. She felt, she said, as if she had to deal with a child who insisted on playing with fire beside a barrel of gunpowder. At the same time she did nothing but what she had beforehand, in case of the repulse she expected, resolved upon. She caught up the little would-be lady, as if she had been that same naughty child, and the suddenness of the action so astonished her that for a moment or two she neither moved nor uttered a sound. The next, however, she began to shriek and struggle wildly, as if in the hug of a bear or the coils of an anaconda, whereupon Kirsty closed her mouth with one hand while she held her fast with the other. It was a violent proceeding, doubtless, but Kirsty chose to be thus far an offender, and yet farther.