How long she could have repressed her feelings it is difficult to say.

An unexpected accident relieved her from the necessity.
The Laird of Milnwood kept up all old fashions which were connected with economy.

It was, therefore, still the custom in his house, as it had been universal in Scotland about fifty years before, that the domestics, after having placed the dinner on the table, sate down at the lower end of the board, and partook of the share which was assigned to them, in company with their masters.

On the day, therefore, after Cuddie's arrival, being the third from the opening of this narrative, old Robin, who was butler, valet-de-chambre, footman, gardener, and what not, in the house of Milnwood, placed on the table an immense charger of broth, thickened with oatmeal and colewort, in which ocean of liquid was indistinctly discovered, by close observers, two or three short ribs of lean mutton sailing to and fro.

Two huge baskets, one of bread made of barley and pease, and one of oat-cakes, flanked this standing dish.