The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

398 7 he Highland Monthly
of wearing the latter a little more jauntily ;
jacket at the neck and unbuttoned it ; and
resolved himself into his ordinary character.
buttoned
his
ultimately
" No," he concluded, with a snap of the lips, " unless
Kirsty is a wuman o' plain tastes I'll no fash her to tak me
me ava'. I wudna be flash and topsieteerie for the best
leddy the sun blinked on, an' Kirsty, faith, is no the worst."
" There yet," he exclaimed, peering ronnd the trunk of
the oak, " what are ye daein' dancin' about there like a
butterflee ? I canna gie ye the letter there, ye gowk ; gang
awa' tae the hoose wi yer floors ; an besides, if I deleevered
the letter outside I wudna get inside, which is what I want
this morning, if ye only kent."
A few minutes later, John was standing at the foot of
the great staircase of the Hall asking for a personal inter-
view with Miss Somerton. "If she gets red i' the face
when I gie her the letter," he assured himself, " there's some
joukerripawkery goin' on." The lady tripped out of the
dining-room with such a merry little laugh that John found
himself, to his own consternation, smiling in return, and
making a more profound obeisance than he had ever
given Miss Flora or the laird.
" A letter, mem, frae Maister Richard, tae be deleevered
until yer very ain hands."
" Thank you, John ;
it's so very kind of you to bring it,"
said Miss Somerton, carelessly glancing at the address, and
throwing the missive down on the lobby table.
Here there was an awkward pause, filled silently in by
John's reflection :
" She hasna blushed ava'— I'm wrang."
John expected that Miss Somerton would retire with
her letter, and thus give him an opportunity of making his
way, as he was desirous of doing, to Chirsty's domain ; but
she stood regarding him with a look of amused interest
John was too excellent a type of the conventional Scotchman
to escape the scrutiny of strangers—and the result
was that he lingered, awkwardly twirling his broad, red-
tasseled bonnet, furtively glancing at the door and the
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