ZEKLE crep' up quite unbeknown, Agin' the chimbly crooknecks hung, The ole queen's arm that gran❜ther Young The wannut logs shot sparkles out An' leetle fires danced all about The very room, 'cos she was in, Like sparks in burnt-up paper. And with a sweeping blow, he threw down from a shelf some articles of pewter and earthenware. He exalted his voice amid the clatter, shouting and roaring in a manner which changed Mysie's hysterical terrors of the thunder into fears that her old fellow-servant was gone distracted. "He has dung down a' the bits o' pigs, too-the only thing we had left to haud a soup milk-and he has spilt the hatted kitt that was for the master's dinner. Mercy save us, the auld man's gaen clean and clear wud wi' the thunner!" THE thunderbolt, which had stunned all who were | louder, woman-gar the gentles hear ye in the ha'. within hearing of it, had only served to awaken the I have heard ye as far off as the Bass for a less bold and inventive genius of the flower of Majors- matter. And stay-down wi' that crockery” Domo. Almost before the clatter had ceased, and while there was yet scarce an assurance whether the castle was standing or falling, Caleb exclaimed, "Heavens be praised!-this comes to hand like the boul of a pint stoup." He then barred the kitchen door in the face of the Lord Keeper's servant, whom he perceived returning from the party at the gate, and muttering, "How the deil cam he in?-but deil may care. Mysie, what are ye sitting shaking and greeting in the chimney-neuk for? Come here-or stay where ye are, and skirl as loud as ye can-it's a' ye're gude for. I say, ye auld deil, skirl-skirl-louder50-VOL. I. "Haud your tongue!" said Caleb, in the im. petuous and overbearing triumph of successful invention; "a's provided now-dinner and a' thing. | it. But first, observing that the Lord Keeper's The thunner's done a' in a clap of a hand!" "Puir man, he's muckle astray," said Mysie, looking at him with a mixture of pity and alarm; "I wish he may ever come hame to himsell again." "Here, ye auld doited deil," said Caleb, still exulting in his extrication from a dilemma which had seemed insurmountable; "keep the strange man out of the kitchen. Swear the thunner came down the chimney, and spoiled the best dinner ye ever dressed-beef-bacon-kid-lark-leveretwild fowl-venison, and what not. Lay it on thick, and never mind expenses. I'll awa up to the ha'. Make a' the confusion ye can, but be sure ye keep out the strange servant." With these charges to his ally, Caleb posted up to the hall, but stopping to reconnoitre through an aperture which time, for the convenience of many a domestic in succession, had made in the door; and perceiving the situation of Miss Ashton, he had prudence enough to make a pause, both to avoid adding to her alarm, and in order to secure attention to his account of the disastrous effects of the thunder. But when he perceived that the lady was recovered, and heard the conversation turn upon the accommodation and refreshment which the castle afforded, he thought it time to burst into the room. "Wull a wins!-wull a wins. Such a misfortune to befa' the House of Ravenswood, and I to live to see it!" "What is the matter, Caleb?" said his master, somewhat alarmed in his turn; "has any part of the castle fallen ?" "Castle fa'an?-na, but the sute's fa'an, and the thunner's come right down the kitchen-lumm, and the things are a' lying here awa, there awa, like the Laird o' Hotchpotch's lands; and wi' brave guests of honour and quality to entertain"-a low bow here to Sir William Ashton and his daughter -"and naething left in the house fit to present for dinner-or for supper either, for aught that I can see!" servant entered the apartment, and spoke apart with his master, he took the same opportunity to whisper a few words into Ravenswood's ear:— "Haud your tongue, for heaven's sake, sir. If it's my pleasure to hazard my soul in telling lees for the honour of the family, it's nae business o' yours; and if ye let me gang on quietly, I'se be moderate in my banquet; but if ye contradict me, deil but I dress ye a dinner fit for a duke!" Ravenswood, in fact, thought it would be best to let his officious butler run on, who proceeded to enumerate upon his fingers-"No muckle provision-might hae served four persons of honour, -first course, capons in white broth-roast kid -bacon with reverence; second course, roasted leveret-butter crabs-a veal florentine; third course, black-cock-it's black eneugh now wi' the sute-plumdamas-a tart-a flam-and some nonsense sweet things, and comfits-and that's a'," he said, seeing the impatience of his master; "that's just a' was o't-forby the apples and pears." Miss Ashton had by degrees gathered her spirits, so far as to pay some attention to what was going on; and observing the restrained impatience of Ravenswood, contrasted with the peculiar determination of manner with which Caleb detailed his imaginary banquet, the whole struck her as so ridiculous, that, despite every effort to the contrary, she burst into a fit of incontrollable laughter, in which she was joined by her father, though with more moderation, and finally by the Master of Ravenswood himself, though conscious that the jest was at his own expense. Their mirth-for a scene which we read with little emotion often appears extremely ludicrous to the spectators-made the old vault ring again. They ceased-they renewed-they ceased-they renewed again their shouts of laughter. Caleb, in the meantime, stood his ground with a grave, angry, and scornful dignity, which greatly enhanced the ridicule of the scene and the mirth of the spectators. At length, when the voices, and nearly the "I verily believe you, Caleb," said Ravenswood, strength of the laughers, were exhausted, he drily. Balderstone here turned to his master a half-upbraiding, half-imploring countenance, and edged towards him as he repeated, "It was nae great matter of preparation; but just something added to your honour's ordinary course of fare-petty cover, as they say at the Louvre-three courses and the fruit." "Keep your intolerable nonsense to yourself, you old fool!" said Ravenswood, mortified at his officiousness, yet not knowing how to contradict him, without the risk of giving rise to scenes yet more ridiculous. Caleb saw his advantage, and resolved to improve exclaimed, with very little ceremony, "The deil's in the gentles! They breakfast sae lordly, that the loss of the best dinner ever cook pat fingers to makes them as merry as if it were the best jeest in a' George Buchanan. If there was as little in your honours' wames as there is in Caleb Balderstone's, less caickling wad serve ye on sic a gravaminous subject." Caleb's blunt expression of resentment again awakened the mirth of the company, which, by the way, he regarded as not only an aggression upon the dignity of the family, but a special contempt of the eloquence with which he himself had summed up the extent of their supposed |