He was my--what was he ?" "He was at least your great-great-great-great-grandfather; that is a safe distance.

Then there's that famous Jenny Geddes, who flung her fauld-stule at the Dean in St.Giles',--she was a Hamilton too, if you fancy her!" "Yes, I'll take her with pleasure," I responded thankfully.

"Of course I don't know why she flung the stool,--it may have been very reprehensible; but there is always good stuff in stool-flingers; it's the sort of spirit one likes to inherit in diluted form.

Now, whom will you take ?" "I haven't even a peg on which to hang a Scottish ancestor," said Salemina disconsolately.
"Oh, nonsense! think harder.

Anybody will do as a starting-point; only you must be honourable and really show relationship, as I did with Jenny and Tam." "My aunt Mary-Emma married a Lindsay," ventured Salemina hesitatingly.
"That will do," I answered delightedly.
"'The Gordons gay in English blude They wat their hose and shoon; The Lindsays flew like fire aboot Till a' the fray was dune.' "You can play that you are one of the famous 'licht Lindsays,' and you can look up the particular ancestor in your big book.