“Ye stack yer durk intill my lord’s mahogany table,” said Malcolm. “It nott (_needed_) a guid rug (_pull_) to haul ’t oot.” “Then her arm has not lost aal its strength, Malcolm! I pray ta taple had peen ta rips of Clenlyon!” “Ye maunna pray nae sic prayers, daddy. Min’ upo’ what Glenlyon said to ye last nicht. Gien I was you I wadna hae a pot howkit express for mysel’--doon yonner--i’ yon place ’at ye dreamed aboot.” “Well, I’ll forgife him a little, Malcolm--not ta one tat’s tead, but ta one tat tidn’t do it, you know.--Put how will she pe forgifing him for ripping her poor pag? Och hone! och hone! No more musics for her tying tays, Malcolm! Och hone! och hone! I shall co creeping to ta crafe with no loud noises to defy ta enemy. Her pipes is tumb for efer and efer. Och hone! och hone!” The lengthening of his days had restored bitterness to his loss. “I’ll sune set the bag richt, daddy. Or, gien I canna du that, we’ll get a new ane. Mony a pibroch ’ll come skirlin’ oot o’ that chanter yet er’ a’ be dune.” They were interrupted by the unceremonious entrance of the same footman who had brought the invitation. He carried a magnificent set of ebony pipes, with silver mountings. “A present from my lord, the marquis,” he said bumptiously, almost rudely, and laid them on the table. “Dinna lay them there; tak them frae that, or I’ll fling them at yer poothered wig,” said Malcolm. “--It’s a stan’ o’ pipes,” he added, “an’ that a gran’ ane, daddy.” “Take tem away!” cried the old man, in a voice too feeble to support the load of indignation it bore. “She’ll pe taking no presents from marquis or tuke tat would pe teceifing old Tuncan, and making him trink with ta cursed Clenlyon. Tell ta marquis he’ll pe sending her cray hairs with sorrow to ta crafe; for she’ll pe tishonoured for efer and henceforth.” Probably pleased to be the bearer of a message fraught with so much amusement, the man departed in silence with the pipes. The marquis, although the joke had threatened, and indeed so far taken a serious turn, had yet been thoroughly satisfied with its success. The rage of the old man had been to his eyes ludicrous in the extreme, and the anger of the young one so manly as to be even picturesque. He had even made a resolve, half-dreamy and of altogether improbable execution, to do something for the fisher-fellow. The pipes which he had sent as a solatium to Duncan, were a set that belonged to the house--ancient, and in the eyes of either connoisseur or antiquarian, exceedingly valuable; but the marquis was neither the one nor the other, and did not in the least mind parting with them. As little did he doubt a propitiation through their means, was utterly unprepared for a refusal of his gift, and was nearly as much perplexed as annoyed thereat.