upon us. And it couldna be said that this was any groundless fear;
for Miss Lizy, living a lonely maiden life by herself, with only a
bit lassie to run her errands, and no being naturally of an active
or eydent turn, aften wearied, and to keep up her spirits gaed may
be, now and then, oftener to the gardevin than was just necessar, by
which, as we thought, she had a tavert look. Howsever, as Mr Pittle
had taken a notion of her, and she pleased his fancy, it was far
from our hand to misliken one that was sib to us; on the contrary,
it was a duty laid on me by the ties of blood and relationship, to
do all in my power to further their mutual affection into
matrimonial fruition; and what I did towards that end, is the burden
of this current chapter.

Dr Swapkirk, in whom the spark of life was long fading, closed his
eyes, and it went utterly out, as to this world, on a Saturday
night, between the hours of eleven and twelve. We had that
afternoon got an inkling that he was drawing near to his end. At
the latest, Mrs Pawkie herself went over to the manse, and stayed
till she saw him die. "It was a pleasant end," she said, for he was
a godly, patient man; and we were both sorely grieved, though it was
a thing for which we had been long prepared; and indeed, to his
family and connexions, except for the loss of the stipend, it was a
very gentle dispensation, for he had been long a heavy handful,
having been for years but, as it were, a breathing lump of
mortality, groosy, and oozy, and doozy, his faculties being shut up
and locked in by a dumb palsy.

Having had this early intimation of the doctor's removal to a better
world, on the Sabbath morning when I went to join the magistrates in
the council-chamber, as the usage is to go to the laft, with the