cup, my patron accompanied him home, and accommodated him in the
Prophet's Chamber, as it is his pleasure to call the closet which holds a
spare bed, and which is frequently a place of retreat for the poor
traveller. [Note: He might have added, and for the rich also; since, I
laud my stars, the great of the earth have also taken harbourage in my
poor domicile. And, during the service of my hand-maiden, Dorothy, who
was buxom and comely of aspect, his Honour the Laird of Smackawa, in his
peregrinations to and from the metropolis, was wont to prefer my
Prophet's Chamber even to the sanded chamber of dais in the Wallace Inn,
and to bestow a mutchkin, as he would jocosely say, to obtain the freedom
of the house, but, in reality, to assure himself of my company during the
evening.--J. C.]

"The next day I took leave of Old Mortality, who seemed affected by the
unusual attention with which I had cultivated his acquaintance and
listened to his conversation. After he had mounted, not without
difficulty, the old white pony, he took me by the hand and said, 'The
blessing of our Master be with you, young man! My hours are like the ears
of the latter harvest, and your days are yet in the spring; and yet you
may be gathered into the garner of mortality before me, for the sickle of
death cuts down the green as oft as the ripe, and there is a colour in
your cheek, that, like the bud of the rose, serveth oft to hide the worm
of corruption. Wherefore labour as one who knoweth not when his master
calleth. And if it be my lot to return to this village after ye are gane
hame to your ain place, these auld withered hands will frame a stane of
memorial, that your name may not perish from among the people.'

"I thanked Old Mortality for his kind intentions in my behalf, and heaved
a sigh, not, I think, of regret so much as of resignation, to think of
the chance that I might soon require his good offices. But though, in all