she will be greeted as Coburn-Sinkler; the Hepburn-Sciennes will be
leaving to-morrow, just as we have learned to pronounce their names;
and the sound of the scrubbing-brush is heard in the land. In
corners where all was clean and spotless before, Mrs. M'Collop is
digging with the broom, and the maiden Boots is following her with a
damp cloth. The stair carpets are hanging on lines in the back
garden, and Susanna, with her cap rakishly on one side, is always to
be seen polishing the stair-rods. Whenever we traverse the halls we
are obliged to leap over pails of suds, and Miss Diggity-Dalgety has
given us two dinners which bore a curious resemblance to washing-day
repasts in suburban America.

"Is it spring house-cleaning?" I ask Mistress M'Collop.

"Na, na," she replies hurriedly; "it's the meenisters."

On the 19th of May we are a maiden castle no longer. Black coats
and hats ring at the bell, and pass in and out of the different
apartments. The hall table is sprinkled with letters, visiting-
cards, and programmes which seem to have had the alphabet shaken out
upon them, for they bear the names of professors, doctors,
reverends, and very reverends, and fairly bristle with A.M.'s,
M.A.'s, A.B.'s, D.D.'s, and LL.D.'s. The voice of family prayer is
lifted up from the dining-room floor, and paraphrases and hymns
float down the stairs from above. Their Graces the Lord High
Commissioner and the Marchioness of Heatherdale will arrive to-day
at Holyrood Palace, there to reside during the sittings of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and to-morrow the Royal
Standard will be hoisted at Edinburgh Castle from reveille to
retreat. His Grace will hold a levee at eleven. Directly His Grace