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CHAPTER XV.

'Tis the common error of your sex.-
Foolish wench,

I could have lov'd her twenty years to come,
And still have kept my liking.

C. LAMB.-John Woodvil.

"LADY LENNOX," said Sir Thomas, when the party were seated at the dinner table," do you mean to let us have any of that soup which is before you?" But Lady Lennox was too much astonished at the figure her table equipage cut, to hear one word of the speech which her lord and master addressed to her, nor will the matronly part of our readers be surprised at her ladyship's amazement and horror, when informed of the cause. On the demolition of the soup-tureen, Martha had been driven to her wits' end to find a proper substitute, and upon mature reflection had decided on

transplanting one of the side dishes into that more elevated situation, and accordingly the rich turtle-soup was sent to table in this most incongruous receptacle. To add to the absurdity of the affair, she crowned the Lilliputian dish with a Brobdignag cover; nor was this the sum total of the mischief. As a side dish had been taken to act the part of a tureen, it became necessary to find for the side dish a proper representative, and as bathing-quarters are not very profusely furnished with table china, Martha found this a task of no small difficulty. In this dilemma she happened to cast her eyes upon an odd-looking pudding-dish reposing quietly on a shelf, which she soon drew from its retirement, and having placed thereon a boiled fowl, she delivered it to William, accompanied with strict injunctions to place it as far as possible from the sight of Lady Lennox.

On sitting down her ladyship did think there was something unusual in the appearance of the table; but when William with

a flourish removed the soup cover, and gave to her view the little shrivelled dish which contained the smoking viands, her amazement almost bereaved her of the power of utterance.

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Pray, mamma," said Ellinor, "is this to be a second edition of the feast of the Barmecides ?"

To this question her ladyship gave no reply.

"Where is the tureen?" she whispered William, who was standing behind her. "It is broken, my lady."

"Broken! pray who-" but here she was interrupted by Sir Thomas, who in a tone of high displeasure requested she would dispense the soup.

Thus admonished her ladyship proceeded to fulfil the duties of hospitality, and she was gradually becoming more composed, when, on casting her eyes towards the foot of the table, she received a new shock on observing a large portly fowl exhibiting its well-filled sides on a dish of the dwarf spe

cies, over which were stretched its handsome legs, seemingly quite ready to run away.

Impatient to learn the cause of this inexplicable business, every moment seemed an age until she could sift it to the bottom; so that remaining a very short time after the appearance of the dessert, she, to the great displeasure of Ellinor, withdrew, and her spoiled daughter was obliged to follow her.

As soon as she reached the drawing-room, Martha was summoned into the presence of

her indignant lady.

"Did you ring for me, my lady ?" said Martha, opening the door with a half conscious air.

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"Did I ring, indeed!" exclaimed her ladyship; "yes, I rung-pray, why had the audacity to affront me by sending soup to table in a cockle-shell? what have you done with the tureen ?"

"It's broken, my lady."

"Broken! and pray, how came it to be broken ?"

"It was a' Sir Thomas's doing, my lady, I couldna help it."

"Sir Thomas break the tureen !-do you

know, woman, what you are saying?” "It's a' Sir Thomas's faut, my lady, for he wouldna let me row up the jack, so the stane fell down and smashed the tureen a' to flinders."

"Sir Thomas prevent you from winding up the jack!-I fear, Martha, that you have been making free with your bottle to-day; go down stairs, I shall speak to you to-morrow, when you will perhaps be able to give me an intelligible account of the matter."

"No a single drap o' whisky has wet my lips this day. But if your ladyship will let me speak, I'll tell you a' about it. First and foremost, your ladyship maun ken that that doited body John Purdie clean forgot to bring coals, tho' I tellt him a hundred times we hadna a bit in the coal-hole as big's my nieve; and ye see, my lady-"

"Woman," exclaimed Lady Lennox, more enraged than ever," what has John

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