His
mistress used to say of him,
He's sad and civil,
And suits well for a servant with my fortunes.
As no one can escape scandal, some said that
Beauffet made a rather better thing of the place
than the modesty of his old-fashioned wages would,
unassisted, have amounted to. But the man was
always very civil to me. He had been long in the
family; had enjoyed legacies, and laid by a something
of his own, upon which he now enjoys ease
with dignity, in as far as his newly-married wife,
Tibbie Shortacres, will permit him.
The Lodging---Dearest reader, if you are tired,
pray pass over the next four or five pages---was
not by any means so large as its external appearance
led people to conjecture. The interior accommodation
was much cut up by cross walls and
long passages, and that neglect of economizing
space which characterises old Scottish architecture.
But there was far more room than my old friend
required, even when she had, as was often the
case, four or five young cousins under her protection;
and I believe much of the house was unoccupied.
Mrs Bethune Baliol never, in my presence,
showed herself so much offended, as once with a
meddling person who advised her to have the windows
of these supernumerary apartments built up,
to save the tax.
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