It would have been utterly impossible for Sir Arthur Wardour or his daughter to have found their way along these shelves without the guidance and encouragement of the beggar, who had been there before in high tides, though never, he acknowledged, "in sae awsome a night as this.

"Loth was I, and my heart in my mouth, and fast I held by my aunt's hand as I stept into that awsome room, and showed them both how she came and passed me by, and the spot where she stood, and where the door seemed to open.

She lingered and laughed o'er the waters clear, When sudden she starts, and shrieks in fear: "Oh, what is this face, sae laidly old, That looks at my side in the waters cold?" She turns around to view the bank, And the osier willows dark and dank; And from the fern she sees arise An aged crone wi' awsome eyes, "Ha! ha!"

"Laidly and awsome ye shall wane Wi' toil, and care, and travail-pain.

"His words are awsome," he muttered, "and gar the flesh creep on our banes.

"Whaw, whew," cried Rab, in a half howl, half whining tone, "I dinna want onything the day, Maister Auld; I wanted to tell you an awsome dream I hae had.