I therefore assured her
my intention, if I could get a suitable habitation,
was to remain in the quarter where she at present
dwelt. Janet gave three skips on the floor, and
uttered as many short shrill yells of joy; yet doubt
almost instantly returned, and she insisted on
knowing what possible reason I could have for
making my residence where few lived, save those
whose misfortunes drove them thither. It occurred
to me to answer her by recounting the legend
of the rise of my family, and of our deriving our
name from a particular place near Holyrood Palace.
This, which would have appeared to most
people a very absurd reason for choosing a residence,
was entirely satisfactory to Janet MacEvoy.
``Och, nae doubt I if it was the land of her fathers,
there was nae mair to be said. Put it was
queer that her family estate should just lie at the
town tail, and covered with houses, where the
King's cows, Cot bless them hide and horn, used
to craze upon. It was strange changes.'' She
mused a little, and then added, ``Put it is something
better wi' Croftangry when the changes is
frae the field to the habited place, and not from
the place of habitation to the desert; for Shanet,
her nainsell, kent a glen where there were men as
weel as there maybe in Croftangry, and if there
werena altogether sae mony of them, they were as
good men in their tartan as the others in their broadcloth.
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