‘They then talked of the merits of the actors, and she took occasion to tell him that she patronised the Edinburgh Review.
“We read your buke, sir!”
“I am certainly very much obliged to you.”
‘Still no carriage was heard. Another silence ensued, until it bethought her Ladyship to amuse him with the politics of the country.
‘Here the coach was announced, and by the help of her daughter’s arm and her gold-headed cane, she began to move, complaining loudly of a corny tae. She was with difficulty got into the coach. The Rosebud stepped lightly after her.
‘The door was closed, and the order given to drive to Gibb’s Hotel, whence they hastened with all speed to Lord Gillies’s, where the party waited dinner for them, and hailed the fulfilment of the “Prophecie of Pitlyal.”
‘Mr Jeffrey, in the meantime, impatient for his dinner, joined the ladies in the drawing-room.
“What in the world has detained you?” said Mrs Jeffrey.
“One of the most tiresome and oddest old women I ever met with. I thought never to have got rid of her;” and beginning to relate some of the conversation that had taken place, it flashed upon him at once that he had been taken in.
‘He ran down-stairs for the letter, hoping it would throw some light upon the subject, but it was only a blank sheet of paper, containing a fee of three guineas.