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AT ST. COLUMBA.
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lord has ta'en a stingy fit!" said a demure, upright, skinny-lipped spinster, foster-sister to the Baron. "But I cannot take it well that he seemed to fear we might not take due care of his daughter, unless he deprives us of the drop of liquor allowed to all the servants in braid Scotland.

"I would not wonder though the lady Dulsibella should, poor dear! try to get out of this dismal prison," said the housekeeper. "For my share, I believe no natural spirits can hold out against the foggy sky and chilly sea air, if a cordial from the cellar did not help to throw off the vapours."

"Bless my two eyes, and grant they don't deceive me!" interrupted the master cook. "Sure as flame flies upward, there comes a hearty fellow, leading a shelty along the narrow path that goes across the moat, and his beast carries panniers, like those we get with pitchers of brandy."

All bustled down stairs to meet the messenger, who presented several pitchers of brandy, in the name of the Abbot of Unreason, craving leave to cut oak branches to adorn the bonnets of his train. The steward readily accorded the boon, but insisted that the messenger should try whether the venison, moor-game, and hill beef, of the lower hall in the castle, were not fit companions for his brandy. The shelty was led

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