"
"That is nothing to you, Ursula--it is your assistance," said Mistress
Margaret, "and not your advice, that I am desirous to have, and you
know I can make it worth your while."
"O, it is not for the sake of lucre, Mistress Margaret," answered the
obliging dame; "but truly I would have you listen to some advice--
bethink you of your own condition."
"My father's calling is mechanical," said Margaret, "but our blood is
not so. I have heard my father say that we are descended, at a
distance indeed, from the great Earls of Dalwolsey." [Footnote: The
head of the ancient and distinguished house of Ramsay, and to whom, as
their chief, the individuals of that name look as their origin and
source of gentry. Allan Ramsay, the pastoral poet, in the same manner,
makes
"Dalhousie of an auld descent,
My chief, my stoup, my ornament."]
"Ay, ay," said Dame Ursula; "even so--I never knew a Scot of you but
was descended, as ye call it, from some great house or other; and a
piteous descent it often is--and as for the distance you speak of, it
is so great as to put you out of sight of each other. Yet do not toss
your pretty head so scornfully, but tell me the name of this lordly
northern gallant, and we will try what can be done in the matter."
"It is Lord Glenvarloch, whom they call Lord Nigel Olifaunt," said
Margaret in a low voice, and turning away to hide her blushes.
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