He spoke of another bottle of wine, but recommended in preference a glass of brandy which was really excellent.
As no entreaties could prevail on Lovel to indue the velvet night-cap and branched morning-gown of his host, Oldbuck, who pretended to a little knowledge of the medical art, insisted on his going to bed as soon as possible, and proposed to despatch a messenger (the indefatigable Caxon) to Fairport early in the morning, to procure him a change of clothes.
This was the first intimation Miss Oldbuck had received that the young stranger was to be their guest for the night; and such was the surprise with which she was struck by a proposal so uncommon, that, had the superincumbent weight of her head-dress, such as we before described, been less preponderant, her grey locks must have started up on end, and hurled it from its position.
"Lord haud a care o' us!" exclaimed the astounded maiden.
"What's the matter now, Grizel ?" "Wad ye but just speak a moment, Monkbarns ?" "Speak!--what should I speak about?
I want to get to my bed--and this poor young fellow--let a bed be made ready for him instantly." "A bed ?--The Lord preserve us!" again ejaculated Grizel.
"Why, what's the matter now ?--are there not beds and rooms enough in the house ?--was it not an ancient hospitium, in which, I am warranted to say, beds were nightly made down for a score of pilgrims ?" "O dear, Monkbarns! wha kens what they might do lang syne ?--but in our time--beds--ay, troth, there's beds enow sic as they are--and rooms enow too--but ye ken yoursell the beds haena been sleepit in, Lord kens the time, nor the rooms aired .-- If I had kenn'd, Mary and me might hae gaen down to the manse--Miss Beckie is aye fond to see us--( and sae is the minister, brother)--But now, gude save us!"-- "Is there not the Green Room, Grizel ?" "Troth is there, and it is in decent order too, though naebody has sleepit there since Dr.Heavysterne, and"-- "And what ?" "And what! I am sure ye ken yoursell what a night he had--ye wadna expose the young gentleman to the like o' that, wad ye ?" Lovel interfered upon hearing this altercation, and protested he would far rather walk home than put them to the least inconvenience--that the exercise would be of service to him--that he knew the road perfectly, by night or day, to Fairport--that the storm was abating, and so forth--adding all that civility could suggest as an excuse for escaping from a hospitality which seemed more inconvenient to his host than he could possibly have anticipated.

But the howling of the wind, and the pattering of the rain against the windows, with his knowledge of the preceding fatigues of the evening, must have prohibited Oldbuck, even had he entertained less regard for his young friend than he really felt, from permitting him to depart.

Besides, he was piqued in honour to show that he himself was not governed by womankind--"Sit ye down, sit ye down, sit ye down, man," he reiterated;--"an ye part so, I would I might never draw a cork again, and here comes out one from a prime bottle of--strong ale--right anno domini--none of your Wassia Quassia decoctions, but brewed of Monkbarns barley--John of the Girnel never drew a better flagon to entertain a wandering minstrel, or palmer, with the freshest news from Palestine .-- And to remove from your mind the slightest wish to depart, know, that if you do so, your character as a gallant knight is gone for ever.

Why, 'tis an adventure, man, to sleep in the Green Room at Monkbarns .-- Sister, pray see it got ready--And, although the bold adventurer, Heavysterne, dree'd pain and dolour in that charmed apartment, it is no reason why a gallant knight like you, nearly twice as tall, and not half so heavy, should not encounter and break the spell." "What! a haunted apartment, I suppose ?" "To be sure, to be sure--every mansion in this country of the slightest antiquity has its ghosts and its haunted chamber, and you must not suppose us worse off than our neighbours.

They are going, indeed, somewhat out of fashion.