clean aff thegither. And then some of the company at Gilsland
tells her that the estate was to be sell'd; and ye wad hae thought
she had taen an ill will at Miss Lucy Bertram frae that moment,
for mony a time she cried to me, "O Becky, O Becky, if that
useless peenging thing o' a lassie there at Ellangowan, that canna
keep her ne'er-do-weel father within bounds--if she had been but a
lad-bairn they couldna hae sell'd the auld inheritance for that
fool-body's debts"; and she would rin on that way till I was just
wearied and sick to hear her ban the puir lassie, as if she wadna
hae been a lad-bairn and keepit the land if it had been in her
will to change her sect. And ae day at the spaw-well below the
craig at Gilsland she was seeing a very bonny family o' bairns--
they belanged to ane Mac-Crosky--and she broke out--"Is not it an
odd like thing that ilka waf carle in the country has a son and
heir, and that the house of Ellangowan is without male
succession?" There was a gipsy wife stood ahint and heard her, a
muckle sture fearsome-looking wife she was as ever I set een on.
"Wha is it," says she, "that dare say the house of Ellangowan will
perish without male succession?" My mistress just turned on her;
she was a high-spirited woman, and aye ready wi' an answer to a'
body. "It's me that says it," says she, "that may say it with a
sad heart." Wi' that the gipsy wife gripped till her hand--"I ken
you weel eneugh," says she, "though ye kenna me. But as sure as
that sun's in heaven, and as sure as that water's rinning to the
sea, and as sure as there's an ee that sees and an ear that hears
us baith, Harry Bertram, that was thought to perish at Warroch
Point, never did die there. He was to have a weary weird o't till
his ane-and-twentieth year, that was aye said o' him; but if ye
live and I live, ye'll hear mair o' him this winter before the
snaw lies twa days on the Dun of Singleside. I want nane o' your