I never saw ony mysell, and we're just at the door o' the New
Place.'

Accordingly, leaving the ruins on the right, a few steps brought
the traveller in front of a modern house of moderate size, at
which his guide rapped with great importance. Mannering told his
circumstances to the servant; and the gentleman of the house, who
heard his tale from the parlour, stepped forward and welcomed the
stranger hospitably to Ellangowan. The boy, made happy with half-
a-crown, was dismissed to his cottage, the weary horse was
conducted to a stall, and Mannering found himself in a few minutes
seated by a comfortable supper, for which his cold ride gave him a
hearty appetite.




CHAPTER II

Comes me cranking in,
And cuts me from the best of all my land
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle, out

Henry IV, Part 1.


The company in the parlour at Ellangowan consisted of the Laird
and a sort of person who might be the village schoolmaster, or
perhaps the minister's assistant; his appearance was too shabby to
indicate the minister, considering he was on a visit to the Laird.