John Scott of Galla, a man of family, who inhabited his paternal
mansion of Torwoodlee. Some distinction of rank, however, was still
kept up. The laird sat on the inside of the window and the beggar on
the outside, and they played cards on the sill.

Andrew now and then told the laird a piece of his mind very freely;
especially on one occasion, when he had sold some of his paternal lands
to build himself a larger house with the proceeds. The speech of honest
Andrew smacks of the shrewdness of Edie Ochiltree.

"It's a' varra weel--it's a' varra weel, Torwoodlee," said he; "but who
would ha' thought that your father's son would ha' sold two gude
estates to build a shaw's (cuckoo's) nest on the side of a hill?"

* * * * *

That day there was an arrival at Abbotsford of two English tourists;
one a gentleman of fortune and landed estate, the other a young
clergyman whom he appeared to have under his patronage, and to have
brought with him as a travelling companion.

The patron was one of those well-bred, commonplace gentlemen with which
England is overrun. He had great deference for Scott, and endeavored to
acquit himself learnedly in his company, aiming continually at abstract
disquisitions, for which Scott had little relish. The conversation of
the latter, as usual, was studded with anecdotes and stories, some of
them of great pith and humor; the well-bred gentleman was either too
dull to feel their point, or too decorous to indulge in hearty
merriment; the honest parson, on the contrary, who was not too refined
to be happy, laughed loud and long at every joke, and enjoyed them with