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Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics 129

Anibal Ollero
Bruno Siciliano Editors

Aerial Robotic
Manipulation
Research, Development and
Applications
Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics

Volume 129

Series Editors
Bruno Siciliano, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica e Tecnologie
dell’Informazione, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
Oussama Khatib, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Department of Computer
Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Advisory Editors
Nancy Amato, Computer Science & Engineering, Texas A&M University, College
Station, TX, USA
Oliver Brock, Fakultät IV, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Herman Bruyninckx, KU Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium
Wolfram Burgard, Institute of Computer Science, University of Freiburg, Freiburg,
Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Raja Chatila, ISIR, Paris cedex 05, France
Francois Chaumette, IRISA/INRIA, Rennes, Ardennes, France
Wan Kyun Chung, Robotics Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH,
Pohang, Korea (Republic of)
Peter Corke, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of
Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Paolo Dario, LEM, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
Alessandro De Luca, DIAGAR, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
Rüdiger Dillmann, Humanoids and Intelligence Systems Lab, KIT - Karlsruher
Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany
Ken Goldberg, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
John Hollerbach, School of Computing, University of Utah, Salt Lake, UT, USA
Lydia E. Kavraki, Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX,
USA
Vijay Kumar, School of Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Bradley J. Nelson, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich,
Zürich, Switzerland
Frank Chongwoo Park, Mechanical Engineering Department, Seoul National
University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)
S. E. Salcudean, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Roland Siegwart, LEE J205, ETH Zürich, Institute of Robotics & Autonomous
Systems Lab, Zürich, Switzerland
Gaurav S. Sukhatme, Department of Computer Science, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) publish new developments and
advances in the fields of robotics research, rapidly and informally but with a high
quality. The intent is to cover all the technical contents, applications, and
multidisciplinary aspects of robotics, embedded in the fields of Mechanical
Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Control, and
Life Sciences, as well as the methodologies behind them. Within the scope of the
series are monographs, lecture notes, selected contributions from specialized
conferences and workshops, as well as selected PhD theses.
Special offer: For all clients with a print standing order we offer free access to the
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Indexed by DBLP, Compendex, EI-Compendex, SCOPUS, Zentralblatt Math,
Ulrich’s, MathSciNet, Current Mathematical Publications, Mathematical Reviews,
MetaPress and Springerlink.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5208

Anibal Ollero Bruno Siciliano
•

Editors

Aerial Robotic Manipulation

Research, Development and Applications

123
Editors
Anibal Ollero Bruno Siciliano
GRVC Robotics Lab Seville Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica e delle
Universidad de Sevilla Tecnologie dell’Informazione
Seville, Spain Università di Napoli Federico II
Napoli, Italy

ISSN 1610-7438 ISSN 1610-742X (electronic)

Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics
ISBN 978-3-030-12944-6 ISBN 978-3-030-12945-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12945-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932695

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

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Foreword

Robotics is undergoing a major transformation in scope and dimension. From a

largely dominant industrial focus, robotics is rapidly expanding into human envi-
ronments and vigorously engaged in its new challenges. Interacting with, assisting,
serving and exploring with humans, the emerging robots will increasingly touch
people and their lives.
Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has
produced is revealing a much wider range of applications reaching across diverse
research areas and scientific disciplines, such as biomechanics, haptics, neuro-
sciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery and sensor networks, among others.
In return, the challenges of the new emerging areas are proving an abundant source
of stimulation and insights for the field of robotics. It is indeed at the intersection of
disciplines that the most striking advances happen.
The Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) is devoted to bringing to the
research community the latest advances in the robotics field on the basis of their
significance and quality. Through a wide and timely dissemination of critical
research developments in robotics, our objective with this series is to promote more
exchanges and collaborations among the researchers in the community and con-
tribute to further advancements in this rapidly growing field.
This book by Anibal Ollero and Bruno Siciliano offers unique insights into the
challenges of manipulation in aerial robotics. Based on developments pursued in
the framework of the European Commission’s funded projects, ARCAS and
AEROARMS, this volume covers a wide range of fundamental concepts and
advanced methodologies and technologies in this growing area in robotics. The
impressive work on experimental validation for major real-world applications
reveals the field’s increased maturity and expanded scope.
Rich by topics and authoritative contributors, these European projects culminate
with this unique reference on the current developments and new directions in aerial
robotics manipulation. A fine addition to the STAR series!

Stanford, California Oussama Khatib

January 2019 STAR Editor

v
Preface

Aerial robotics has experienced an exponential growth in the last years fuelled by
the technology development and the many application possibilities. Drones are
today very popular. Applications such as filming, monitoring, surveillance or
transportation, between others, are being performed almost every day, in addition to
the defence applications that were well known from many years ago.
Aerial robotics is the subject of particular scientific and technological events, but
currently, it is also one of the main areas in general robotics conferences, with many
sessions devoted to the aerial robotics topics.
Flight regulations, which have been published in the last years, are clarifying the
application possibilities by keeping the safety standards. New regulations will
appear based on risk analysis. Navigation at very low levels and the integration in
unmanned air traffic management systems will also favour the implementation of
new applications.
Aerial robotic manipulation is one of the topics that have attracted the attention
of researchers and that already have relevant applications. It can be considered as
manipulation with a flying base. It includes design and mechatronics aspects, which
are essential to achieve the required manipulation performance. Modelling and
control of aerial robots with one or more arms also pose relevant problems dealing
with kinematics, dynamics and aerodynamics of the flying robots physically
interacting with the environment. This book summarizes methods and technologies
in these topics.
The fundamental topics mentioned in the above paragraph are not the only ones
needed for aerial robotic manipulation. In fact, as in other robotics areas, perception
and planning are also very important ingredients. Then, this book also includes
research and technology development in perception and planning topics by using
new on-board computational capabilities.
Furthermore, this book includes applications in two different areas: (1) structure
assembly and (2) inspection and maintenance. These two applications have cur-
rently different technology readiness levels (TRL). Thus, inspection and mainte-
nance has higher TRL and has been already implemented in industrial scenarios for

vii
viii Preface

contact inspection with ultrasonic sensors to measure the wall thickness of pipes
and tanks.
The research and developments presented in this book were mainly conducted in
the framework of the ARCAS and AEROARMS projects funded by the European
Commission.
ARCAS (Aerial Robotics Cooperative Assembly system) was funded under the
Framework Programme 7. It started by the end of November 2011. The final review
was in January 2016. The ARCAS partners were Fundación Andaluza para el
Desarrollo Aeroespacial (FADA-CATEC), Universidad de Sevilla (US), Deutsches
Zentrum fr Luft-and Raumfahart (DLR), Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
(UNINA), Università degli Studi della Basilicata (UNIBAS), Università degli Studi
di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale (UNICAS), Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Alstom (currently
General Electric) Inspection Robotics (AIR) and SpaceTech GmbH.
In ARCAS, the first worldwide aerial robotic manipulators including multirotors
and helicopters, operating indoors and outdoors with robotic arms with six and
seven degrees of freedom were demonstrated. The fundamental methods in control,
perception and planning in aerial robotics were developed in the context of the
ARCAS project. The controllers implemented both decentralized and centralized
techniques to cancel the effect of the motion of the arms on the hovering of the
aerial platform. The perception methods were based mainly on visual markers
combined with range-only radio technologies. Planning was mainly offline, but
reactivity approaches to avoid in real-time obstacles and other aerial robots were
also developed.
The main aerial robotic platforms and techniques developed in ARCAS are
included in Parts II, III, IV and V of this book.
The final demonstrations of ARCAS were performed indoors and outdoors.
Thus, a system integrated by FADA-CATEC performed indoor structure assembly
with several aerial manipulators, which is included in Part VI of this book. The
system integrated multirotors with very light six degrees of freedom arms enabled
with control techniques for single and cooperative aerial manipulators transporting
the same load. The control systems were developed by UNINA, UNIBAS,
UNICAS and FADA-CATEC. The perception techniques were developed by UPC
(visual) and US (range-only). The planning methods were developed by CNRS with
the collaboration of US for the obstacle detection and avoidance. It also included
the deployment of a crawler mock-up developed by the AIR.
The outdoor demonstrations included both the DLR Flettner helicopter equipped
with a seven degrees of freedom LWR (DLR-KUKA) robotic manipulator with
visual servoing and the multirotor of US with another robotic manipulator with
seven degrees of freedom.
ARCAS also included the demonstration of a space system for on-orbit flying
manipulation in satellite servicing. The demonstration was performed by DLR by
simulating the satellite space dynamics by using additional manipulators.
SpaceTech also participated in these demonstrations.
Preface ix

AEROARMS (AErial RObotic system integrating multiple ARMS and

advanced manipulation capabilities for inspection and maintenance) was funded
under the H2020 programme of the European Commission. The project started in
June 2015 and will conclude by the end of May of 2019. The partners are
Universidad de Sevilla (US), FADA-CATEC, CNRS, UNINA, UNIBAS,
UNICAS, TV NORD (TV), UPC, Elektra UAS GmbH (ELEK), General Electric
Inspection Robotics (GEIR) and SENSIMA.
AEROARMS has developed the first aerial robotic manipulators with multiple
arms and advanced manipulation capabilities to be applied in inspection and
maintenance in industrial plants, particularly in works at height that involve sig-
nificant risks for human operators and high costs. Special attention is paid to the
inspection and maintenance of oil and gas industries. The objectives of
AEROARMS are: (1) research and development in aerial robotic manipulation
including dual-arm manipulation systems for complex inspection and maintenance
tasks requiring dexterity and multidirectional thrust platforms, and (2) validation in
the industrial environment, including contact sensing while flying and deployment
of mobile robotic systems.
Particularly, AEROARMS has developed the first worldwide autonomous
dual-arm manipulator systems with four and five degrees of freedom arms,
including compliant arms, and also the first aerial manipulators with multidirec-
tional thrust platforms. Kinematics, dynamics and aerodynamic models, taking into
account the effects generated by nearby surfaces, are also included in Part II of this
book. The decentralized and centralized control techniques of these aerial manip-
ulators are also included in Part III, together with the kinematic behaviour-based
control and the visual servoing. These techniques were developed mainly by US,
CNRS, UNIBAS, UNICAS and UNINA.
The perception techniques were evolved and applied outdoors. Thus, new both
absolute localization and mapping and relative localization were developed by
using cameras, 3D lidar and radio-based radio. Moreover, outdoor robust perception
for detection, localization and grasping without visual markers were developed by
UPC and US. The results are shown in Section IV of the book.
New control-aware planning methods were developed by CNRS, UNIBAS and
UNICAS, and completed with on-line dynamics-aware local planning and reactivity
developed by US and included in Part V of this book.
The methods are being applied in industrial inspection and maintenance in oil
and gas plants by FADA-CATEC with the collaboration of the industrial partners
TV, GEIR and SENSIMA. The first results are included in Part VI. AEROARMS
has received the Overall ICT Innovation Radar Award 2017 of the European
Commission, between 25 finalists, for the contact inspection application of the
AEROX system developed by FADA-CATEC and included in Part VI.
It would not have been possible to produce this book without the help of many
people. We are grateful to all the persons involved in the ARCAS and
AEROARMS projects, which are not authors of the book chapters.
x Preface

We would like to thank Anne Bajart, Project Officer of ARCAS and

AEROARMS until October 2018. She had a very important role in the guidance of
both projects. Furthermore, we would like here to thank the excellent work of the
project reviewers. Paul Oh, José Neira, Uwe Nortman and Jeremy Gancet were
reviewers of ARCAS. Moreover, José Neira, Uwe Nortman and Tarek Hamel are
reviewers of AEROARMS. They all provided very useful comments that guided the
development of both projects.
In addition of ARCAS and AEROARMS, the work in this book has been
supported by the funding of other National projects such as the Spanish Ministry of
Economy and Competitiveness projects ARM-EXTEND (DPI2017-89790-R),
AEROCROS (DPI2015-71524-R), HuMoUR (TIN2017-90086-R) and
COLROBTRANSP (DPI2016-78957-R).

Seville, Spain Anibal Ollero

Napoli, Italy Bruno Siciliano
November 2018
Abstract

Aerial robotic manipulation integrates concepts and technologies coming from

unmanned aerial systems and robotics manipulation. It includes not only kinematic,
dynamics, aerodynamics and control but also perception, planning, design aspects,
mechatronics and cooperation between several aerial robotics manipulators. All
these topics are considered in this book in which the main research and develop-
ment approaches in aerial robotic manipulation are presented, including the
description of relevant systems. In addition of the research aspects, the book also
includes the deployment of real systems both indoors and outdoors, which is a
relevant characteristic of the book because most results of aerial robotic manipu-
lation have been validated only indoor using motion tracking systems. Moreover,
the book presents two relevant applications: structure assembly and inspection and
maintenance, which has started to be applied in the industry. The chapters of the
book will present the results of two main European Robotics Projects in aerial
robotics manipulation: FP7 ARCAS and H2020 AEROARMS. FP7 ARCAS
defined the basic concepts on aerial robotic manipulation, including cooperative
manipulation. The H2020 AEROARMS on aerial robot with multiple arms and
advanced manipulation capabilities for inspection and maintenance has two general
objectives: (1) development of advanced aerial robotic manipulation methods and
technologies, including manipulation with dual arms and multidirectional thrusters
aerial platforms; and (2) application to the inspection and maintenance.

xi
Contents

Part I Introduction
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Anibal Ollero and Bruno Siciliano

Part II Aerial Robots with Arms: Design, Modelling

and Mechatronics Aspects
Modeling and Design of Multirotors with Multi-joint Arms . . . . . . . . . . 15
Guillermo Heredia, Raul Cano, Antonio Jimenez-Cano and Anibal Ollero
Helicopter Based Aerial Manipulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Manuel Bejar, Anibal Ollero and Konstantin Kondak
Platforms with Multi-directional Total Thrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Antonio Franchi
Multirotor Aerodynamic Effects in Aerial Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Pedro Sanchez-Cuevas, Guillermo Heredia and Anibal Ollero
Compliant Aerial Manipulators with Dual Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Alejandro Suarez, Guillermo Heredia and Anibal Ollero

Part III Control of Aerial Manipulators

Behavioral Coordinated Kinematic Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Gianluca Antonelli
Centralized Control of Multirotors with Manipulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Antonio Jimenez-Cano, Guillermo Heredia and Anibal Ollero
Centralized Control of Helicopters with Manipulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Manuel Bejar, Anibal Ollero and Konstantin Kondak

xiii
xiv Contents

Decoupled Impedance and Passivity Control Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Francesco Pierri
Decentralized Control of Aerial Manipulators Through
a Momentum-Based Estimator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Fabio Ruggiero
Interaction Control of Platforms with Multi-directional
Total Thrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Antonio Franchi
Visual Servoing of Aerial Manipulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Angel Santamaria-Navarro, Juan Andrade-Cetto and Vincenzo Lippiello
Coordinated Control of Multiple Aerial Manipulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Fabrizio Caccavale

Part IV Perception for Aerial Robotic Manipulation

Odometry Estimation for Aerial Manipulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
A. Santamaria-Navarro, J. Solà and J. Andrade-Cetto
Absolute Localization and Mapping of Aerial Manipulators . . . . . . . . . 229
M. Polvillo, J. L. Paneque and J. R. Martinez-de Dios
Relative Localization for Aerial Manipulation with PL-SLAM . . . . . . . 239
A. Pumarola, Alexander Vakhitov, Antonio Agudo, F. Moreno-Noguer
and A. Sanfeliu
Precise Localization for Aerial Inspection Using Augmented
Reality Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
A. Amor-Martinez, A. Ruiz, F. Moreno-Noguer and A. Sanfeliu
Robust Perception for Aerial Inspection: Adaptive
and On-Line Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
M. Villamizar and A. Sanfeliu
Perception for Detection and Grasping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
E. Guerra, A. Pumarola, A. Grau and A. Sanfeliu
Object Detection and Probabilistic Object Representation
for Grasping with Two Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
P. Ramon Soria and B. C. Arrue

Part V Planning for Aerial Robotic Manipulation

Combining Assembly Planning and Geometric Task Planning . . . . . . . . 299
Raphaël Lallement, Juan Cortés, Mamoun Gharbi, Alexandre Boeuf,
Rachid Alami, Carmelo J. Fernandez-Agüera and Iván Maza
Contents xv

Motion Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Alexandre Boeuf, Juan Cortés and Thierry Siméon
Reactivity and Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Alvaro Caballero, Manuel Bejar, Angel Rodriguez-Castaño
and Anibal Ollero

Part VI Applications
Structure Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Miguel Angel Trujillo, Vincenzo Lippiello, Angel Santamaria
and Antidio Viguria
Inspection and Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Anibal Ollero, Antidio Viguria, Miguel Angel Trujillo, Moritz Oetiker
and Bernard Revaz

Part VII Conclusions and Future Directions

Conclusions and Future Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Anibal Ollero and Bruno Siciliano
Acronyms

AR Auxiliary Robot in a Team of AROMAs

AROMA Aerial Robotic Manipulator
ARS-LRM Aerial Robotic System for Long-Reach Manipulation
ASP Assembly Sequence Planning
CAD Computer-Aided Design
CFD Computer Fluid Dynamics
CFRP Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic
COFP Collinearly Oriented Fixed propellers
COM Centre of Mass
CPU Central Processing Unit
CUDA Compute Unified Device Architecture
DGPS Differential Global Positioning System
DH Denavit-Hartenberg
DOF Degree of Freedom
DWA Dynamic Window Approach
ESC Electronic Speed Controller
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
GOFP Generically Oriented Fixed Propellers
GP Gaussian Process
GPIS Gaussian Process Implicit Surface
GPS Global Positioning System
GPU Graphics Processing Unit
GTP Geometric Task Planner
GWS Grasp Wrench Space
HATP Hierarchical Agent-based Task Planner
HR-LR High-Resolution Local Replanning
HR-LR-DA High-Resolution Local Replanning with Dynamics Awareness
HTN Hierarchical Task Network
MCVI Monte Carlo Value Iteration
ND Nearness Diagram

xvii
xviii Acronyms

OMPL Open Motion Planning Library

ORCA Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance
PD Proportional-Derivative
PID Proportional-Integral-Derivative
POMDP Partially Observable Markov Decision Process
PRM Probabilistic Roadmap
PWM Pulse-Width Modulation
RPM Revolutions per Minute
RRT Rapidly Exploring Random Tree
RTK Real-Time Kinematic
SGP Symbolic-Geometric Planner
SITL Software-in-the-Loop
TCP Tool Centre Point
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TR Transporting Robot in a Team of AROMAs
UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
VFH Vector Field Histogram
VPIB Variable Parameter Integral Backstepping
VTOL Vertical Take-Off and Landing
WGS84 World Geodetic System 1984
Symbols

N Number of aerial robotic manipulators (AROMAs)

NT Number of TRs in a team of AROMAs
NA Number of ARs in a team of AROMAs
D Number of DoFs of the AROMA; Di if more than one
AROMA
L Number of arms; Li if more than one AROMA
M Number of DoFs (joints) of the arm; Mj if more than one
arm in the AROMA; Mi;j if more than one AROMA
q ¼ ½q1 ; . . .; qM T Link-side angular position of the arm DoFs (joints). qi;j for
the jth joint of the ith arm if more than one arm in the
AROMA
q_ ¼ ½q_ 1 ; . . .; q_ M T q_ i Angular position of the arm DoFs (joint velocities). q_ i;j if
more than one arm in the AROMA
c ¼ ½c1 ; . . .; cM T Motor-side angular position of the compliant joints of an
arm
FW Inertial world-fixed coordinate frame
FB Coordinate frame attached to the centre of mass of the
vehicle’s body
FP i Coordinate frame attached to the base of the arm i; FP if
only one arm
FE i Coordinate frame attached to the end effector of the arm i;
FE if only one arm
Fa Absolute frame attached to an object grasped by the TRs or
located in a relevant point of the system (e.g. the centroid
of the TRs’ end effectors)
FC Coordinate frame attached to a camera mounted on the
AROMA
pb ¼ ½ x y z T Position of the aerial vehicle in the world reference frame,
i.e. FB with respect to FW
gb ¼ ½ u h w T Attitude of the aerial vehicle, roll, pitch, yaw Euler angles

xix
xx Symbols

Rb Rotation matrix expressing the rotation of FB with respect

to FW
p_ b Absolute linear velocity of the aerial vehicle
xb Rotational velocity of the aerial vehicle with respect to FW ,
expressed in FW
xbb ¼ ½xx ; xy ; xz  Rotational velocity of the aerial vehicle with respect to FW ,
expressed in FB
vc Velocity vector expressed in camera coordinate frame FC
Tb Transformation matrix between the time derivative of the
Euler angles gb and the angular velocity xb
Q Matrix that maps the time derivative of gb into xbb
m Mass of the aerial vehicle
mt Total mass of the AROMA, including the mass of the aerial
vehicle and the arms
Ib Constant inertia matrix of the UAV expressed with respect
to FB
f ¼ fu þ fe Total force input vector expressed in FW ; f b if expressed in
FB
fu Input rotor force vector expressed in FW
f bu ¼ ½ fx fy fz T Input rotor force vector expressed in FB
fe External force vector expressed in FW ; f be if expressed in
FB
s ¼ su þ se Total torque input vector expressed in FW ; sb if expressed
in FB
su Input rotor torque vector expressed in FW
sbu ¼ ½ s/ sh sw  T Input rotor torque vector expressed in FB
se External torque vector expressed in FB ; sbe if expressed in
FB
sA ¼ ½s1 ; . . .; sM T Input torque vector exerted on the arm DoFs (joints); si;j if
more than one arm in the AROMA
Ti Thrust force generated by rotor i in free air
xi Rotational velocity of rotor i
cT Rotor thrust constant
Qi Drag reaction torque for rotor i
cQ Drag factor parameter
G 2 R6n Matrix that relates control input forces and torques to the
squared rotational rotor velocities for a multidirectional
thrust aerial vehicle
Gq 2 R44 Matrix that relates control input forces and torques to the
squared rotational rotor velocities for a quadrotor
Gh 2 R46 Matrix that relates control input forces and torques to the
squared rotational rotor velocities for a hexarotor
Go 2 R48 Matrix that relates control input forces and torques to the
squared rotational rotor velocities for an octorotor
Symbols xxi

Gm 2 R66 Matrix that relates control input forces and torques to the
squared rotational rotor velocities for a multidirectional
thrust hexarotor
nv ¼ ½pb ; gb  Generalized configuration vector of an aerial vehicle
n ¼ ½pb ; gb ; qT Generalized configuration vector of an aerial manipulator
with an arm
ne ¼ ½pe ; ge  End effector pose in the inertial frame FW ; npe ¼ ½pbe ; gbe  if
expressed in FB
k Homogeneous transformation matrix for the k-th joint of the
k1 Ti
i-th arm
Tpeii Homogeneous transformation matrix between the arm base
FPi and end effector FEi frames for arm i
Je;p Jacobian matrix of the arm with respect to its base attached
to the vehicle; Jei ;pi if more than one arm
In 2 Rnn Identity matrix
On 2 Rnn Null matrix
 Part I
Introduction
Introduction

Anibal Ollero and Bruno Siciliano

Abstract This chapter is a general introduction of the book. First the motivation of
aerial robotic manipulation is presented. Next a very short introduction of unmanned
aerial vehicles and aerial robotics is included. The next section is devoted to intro-
duce unmanned aerial vehicles physically interacting with the environment with the
environment. Finally, aerial robotic manipulation while flying is introduced.

1 Why Aerial Robotic Manipulation?

Work at height is needed for many activities including construction, installation of

equipment, search and rescue, and others. These works are also needed for inspec-
tion and maintenance of a large number of assets including infrastructures, energy
generation and distribution systems, and industrial process plants.
Today the above works are performed by personnel by using scaffolding, ladders,
forklifts, ropes and climbing harnesses. These works involve significant risks and
there are many accidents due to falls. Also the costs are high and the works require
significant time.
In some cases manned aircrafts, and particularly helicopters, are used with human
operators performing activities from the aircraft. However, these activities are also
dangerous and costly.
The alternative is the application of aerial robotic manipulation technologies to
access high locations and perform the work. However, the application of these tech-
nologies is not easy. As will be pointed out in this book, it is not enough with the

A. Ollero (B)
GRVC Robotics Lab Seville, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
e-mail: [email protected]
B. Siciliano
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology,
University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 3

A. Ollero and B. Siciliano (eds.), Aerial Robotic Manipulation,
Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics 129,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12945-3_1
4 A. Ollero and B. Siciliano

simple installation of devices and robotic arms in conventional aerial platforms as if

they were ground robotic platforms.
In this chapter we first introduce some concepts and terminology related to
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Aerial Robotics. Then, we consider aerial robots
physically interacting with the environment. Finally we introduce the main prob-
lems in aerial robotic manipulation.

2 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Aerial Robotics

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are today not only well known in the scientific
and professional communities but also very popular. They are in the media, with
the name of “drones”, almost every day. They are a suitable alternative for many
applications [1] including filming, surveillance, environment monitoring, search and
rescue, agriculture, transportation, or even inspection and manufacturing, in addition
to the military that have dominated the UAV practical applications until recently.
Fixed wing UAVs (Fig. 1) have long flight endurance and long range of flight but
lower maneuverability. They cannot hover and are not able of vertical take-off and
landing, which are required for many applications. On the other hand, helicopters
and multi-rotor systems have these properties. Both type of aircrafts are considered
in this book.

Fig. 1 Fixed wing UAVs: a GRVC-Univ. Sevilla fixed wing with deployable ground robot under
the belly and 1 h flight endurance; b GRVC-Univ. Sevilla glider with 1 h flight endurance; c CATEC
X-vision with combustion engine, more than 4 h flight endurance, between 5 and 10 kg payload;
d CATEC Viewer with electrical brushless motor, more than 90 min flight endurance, up to 2 kg
payload
Introduction 5

Fig. 2 Helicopters: a INDRA Pelicano with combustion engine, 6 h flight endurance, 20 kg payload;
b Flying-Cam Sarah with electrical motor, 30 min flight endurance, 5 kg payload; c DLR Flettner
helicopter with 35 kg payload

Fig. 3 Multi-rotors: a GRVC-Univ. Sevilla multi-rotors with parallel axis in load transportation;
b CATEC multi-directional thrusters

Helicopters (Fig. 2) have usually better endurance and range than multi-rotors,
and also higher payload, which is also an important characteristic for many applica-
tions. Thus, there are many commercial unmanned helicopters that can carry tens of
kilograms.
However, the mechanical simplicity of multi-rotor systems (Fig. 3) has been a
key aspect for the popularity that currently have these aircrafts, which are usually
smaller and safer than conventional helicopters in which the size and energy of the
main rotor are relevant problems for many applications. The payload of commercial
multi-rotor systems is significantly lower, reaching only hundreds of grams or few
kilograms. Some configuration of multi-rotor systems, such as the multi-directional
thrusters (see Fig. 3b), increases the maneuverability but the aerodynamic efficiency
is lower decreasing the time of flight and payload.
A UAV consists of the airframe, the propulsion system and the autopilot, which
includes the guidance, navigation and low level control to generate the actuation with
the control surfaces and the propulsion system. The Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)
includes the UAV, the ground station and the payload to perform the applications.
The decisional autonomy of the UAS is a key aspect in many applications. There
are many possible levels of intervention of a human operator. The lowest level is the
6 A. Ollero and B. Siciliano

pilot of the conventional remotely piloted vehicles, who, by using conventional hand
controllers, provides control signals to the servo-controllers of the control surfaces or
of the propellers. The next level is the manual guidance. In this case the pilot provides
the direction of motion or linear velocities relying on the automatic stabilization of
the aircraft which greatly simplifies the control for the human operator. The next
abstraction level in the intervention hierarchy is the operator definition of trajectories
or sequences of way points in the ground station that are executed autonomously.
Finally, there are systems in which the operator only has to define missions. In this
case the plans are generated automatically by means of task and trajectory planning
software.
Aerial robots have some of the above mentioned autonomy levels. Thus, they have
environment perception, reactivity and planning capabilities to detect and avoid unex-
pected obstacles, and also to plan trajectories, tasks or even missions in complex envi-
ronments. This includes autonomous navigation and guidance in Global Navigation
Satellite Systems (GNSS) denied environments. Thus, Simultaneous Localization
And Mapping (SLAM) methods have been successfully applied with aerial robots.
Also autonomous target tracking, by using perception and trajectory generation,
eventually including obstacle detection and avoidance, has been implemented.
Multi-robot systems require the implementation of autonomous coordination to
share common resources, such as the aerial space, and cooperation to achieve a
common objective [2]. This includes intentional cooperation of multiple aerial robots
for applications such as surveillance, swarm intelligence based on the interaction with
the environment, formation control and even multiple robots with physical interaction
as required to transport jointly a single load.
The implementation of autonomous functionalities can be performed in different
ways involving, or not, the approval of an human operator.
The intervention of human pilots or operators could be very difficult without
helping aids. Thus, piloted flights near obstacles could be very hard if the pilot is not
very close the aircraft and there are not functionalities to help them.
The coordination or cooperation of multiple pilots in multi-robot systems is
another example of the difficulties involved in manual piloted or purely tele-operated
systems.

3 Physical Interaction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The physical interaction of unmanned aerial vehicles while flying is relevant for
many applications [3]. The following kinds of interactions can be distinguished:
• Interaction with other flying objects such as needed for refueling (see Fig. 4a), joint
slung load transportation of a single object by using several aircrafts with small
payload capabilities [4] (Fig. 4b), capture of drones for security reasons, docking
of aircrafts and spacecraft, and on-orbit satellite maintenance and repairing.
• Interaction with ground objects including:
Introduction 7

Fig. 4 Physical interaction: a Air-to-Air refueling at GRVC-Univ. Sevilla; b Slung load joint load
transportation in the FP6 AWARE project; c GRVC-Univ. Sevilla picking mobile targets; d Landing
on a mobile platform with a tether in the FP7 EC-SAFEMOBIL project

– Interaction with ground mobile objects such as picking mobile targets (see
Fig. 4c), or landing on mobile platforms (Fig. 4d).
– Interaction with ground fixed objects involved in applications such as taking
samples, cleaning, contact inspection and manipulation in general.

The physical interaction of unmanned aerial vehicles while flying poses several
problems such as:

• Stability of the aircraft subject to forces and torques generated in the interactions.
• Accuracy in trajectory tracking, positioning with respect to the targets, grasping
and even to move in physical contact with objects.
• Consideration of aerodynamic perturbations due to the proximity of surfaces.
• Payload required to carry devices for physical interaction.
• Required flight time for moving in large areas, positioning and accurate
interventions.
• Reactivity to cancel the effect of wind perturbations flying close to objects.
• Planning taking into account the constraints involved in the physical interactions.

The above problems are not independent but there are relations between them.
Thus, for example, the aerodynamic perturbations also affect the stability of the
8 A. Ollero and B. Siciliano

aircraft and the accuracy; the payload also affect the time of flight and the agility
needed to provide reactivity in cluttered environment; also the planning can be related
to the dynamic properties, accuracy and aerodynamic effects.
In this book we are mainly concerned with aerial robots physically interacting
with ground fixed objects.

4 Robotic Manipulation While Flying

Robotic manipulation while flying can be considered as a particular case of flying

robots physically interacting with the environment.
The first research and development works were published by the beginning of
this decade and included the grasping and transportation of objects by using heli-
copters [5] and quadrotors [6, 7]. Most aerial robotic manipulations were performed
indoor. This was also the case of the AIROBOTS FP7 project that developed aerial
manipulator prototypes with few Degrees of Freedom (DoFs) [8] capable of exerting
forces on the environment.
In the ARCAS FP7 project (http://www.arcas-project.eu), devoted to Aerial
Robotics Cooperative Assembly Systems, the first aerial robots with 6 and 7 Degrees
of Freedom (DoF) robotic arms were developed and experimented both indoors and
outdoors [9].
Figure 5 shows the evolution of indoor aerial manipulators in ARCAS, from simple
platforms with 2 DoF arm to complex configurations with 6 DoF arms for assembly
tasks, which have been designed at CATEC to decrease the weight. Notice that multi-
rotor systems have 4 pairs of rotors. This configuration has lower efficiency than the
one with 8 rotors with parallel axis, but it is more compact.
Figure 6 shows the evolution of outdoor aerial robotic manipulators starting with
an electric helicopter with a simple grasping device continued by two lines of multi-
rotor systems at the University of Seville and helicopters at DLR. The arms in the
last multi-rotor configurations have 7 DoF and weight 2 kg. The first helicopter has a
conventional configuration while the second and third have the Flettner configuration
(see Fig. 2c). The helicopters have the Light Weight Robot (LWR) DLR-KUKA 7
DoF robotic arm.
The above mentioned DoFs provide accommodation and dexterity, needed to can-
cel unavoidable perturbations, present in aerial manipulation, particularly outdoors
due to wind perturbations.
The number of research and development works increased exponentially in the
last years with a large number of publications in main robotics and unmanned aerial
system conferences. Also the applications have started recently with very promising
results.
In this book we consider robotic manipulation in a broad sense. Thus, it integrates
concepts and technologies coming from unmanned aerial systems and robotic manip-
ulation including dexterous manipulation. It includes not only kinematic, dynamics
Introduction 9

Fig. 5 Evolution of indoor aerial robotic manipulators in FP7 ARCAS

Fig. 6 Evolution of outdoor aerial robotic manipulators, based on helicopters and multi-rotors, in
FP7 ARCAS

and control but also perception, planning, design aspects, mechatronics and cooper-
ation between several aerial robotics manipulators.
The book includes relevant research and development approaches in aerial robotic
manipulation coming from the H2020 European project on AErial RObots with
10 A. Ollero and B. Siciliano

multiple ARMS and advanced inspection capabilities for inspection and maintenance
(AEROARMS) (https://www.arcas-project.eu) and the above-mentioned ARCAS
project.
The objectives of AEROARMS are [10]: (1) the development of advanced aerial
manipulator systems with multiple arms, particularly dual arms for dexterous manip-
ulation, and multi-directional thrusters; (2) the application to inspection and main-
tenance, particularly the application to contact inspection of oil and gas plants.
In addition to the research aspects, the book also includes the deployment of
real systems. It presents applications where aerial robotic manipulation will have
an important impact in the short term: inspection and maintenance and structure
assembly. Thus, for example, an innovation on aerial manipulation for industrial
contact inspection obtained the Overall Innovation Radar Prize 2017 of the Euro-
pean Commission in the 2017 Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
Congress.
The book integrates: novel designs of aerial robots (multi-rotors and helicopters)
with arms, including modeling (Part 2); control of aerial robotic manipulators includ-
ing centralized and decentralized control approaches of the aerial platform and the
arms, force control, visual servoing and coordinated control of several aerial manip-
ulators (Part 3); perception, including localization, simultaneous localization and
mapping, detection and grasping of objects, and cooperative perception with several
aerial robots (Part 4); planning including mission planning, task planning, off-line
and on-line motion planning, and reactivity (Part 5); and finally experimentation and
validation in structure assembly and inspection and maintenance (Part 6).

5 Conclusions

This chapter has introduced Aerial Robotic Manipulation. The chapter firstly intro-
duced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Systems. Aerial robotics has
also been discussed by mentioning the main problems and advances. Then, aerial
robots physically interacting with the environment have been focused pointing out
several modalities of these interactions. Finally, aerial robotic manipulation has been
considered as a particular case of physical interaction.
After few years of accelerated evolution of aerial robotic manipulation, two ten-
dencies can be identified. The first consists of aerial robots with relatively simple
devices for grasping and other physical interactions with the environment. The lim-
itation in these simple devices to cancel perturbations while manipulating could be
compensated by using the flying base. Thus, for example, these perturbations can
be canceled by using the agility of omni-directional platforms provided by multi-
directional thrusters.
On the other hand, more complex arms with 6 or 7 DoFs can be used to cancel
the perturbations providing the required accommodation even with more conven-
tional aerial platforms. Additionally, these arms could also be used for dexterous
manipulation.
Introduction 11

The next chapters will detail particular solutions to implement aerial robotics
manipulation. Also the perception and planning functionalities for aerial manipula-
tion will be presented. These chapters will combine indoor and outdoor experiments
to show the validity of the proposed methods. Finally, the last part of the book,
analyses two relevant applications: structure assembly and contact inspections.

References

1. Valavanis, K.P., Vachtsevanos, G.J.: Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Springer Publish-
ing Company, Berlin (2014). Incorporated
2. Maza, I., Ollero, A., Casado, E., Scarlatti, D.: Classification of Multi-UAV Architectures. Hand-
book of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Springer, Netherlands (2015)
3. Kondak, K., Ollero, A., Maza, I., Krieger, K., Albu-Schaeffer, A., Schwarzbach, M., Laiacker,
M.: Unmanned aerial systems physically interacting with the environment: load transportation,
deployment, and aerial manipulation. Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, pp. 2755–2785.
Springer, Netherlands (2015)
4. Bernard, M., Kondak, K., Maza, I., Ollero, A.: Autonomous transportation and deployment with
aerial robots for search and rescue missions. J. Field Robot. 28(6), 914–931 (2011)
5. Pounds, P.E.I., Bersak, D.R., Dollar, A.M.: Grasping from the air: hovering capture and load
stability. In: 2011 ICRA, May 2011, pp. 2491–2498 (2011)
6. Mellinger, D., Kumar, V.: Minimum snap trajectory generation and control for quadrotors. In:
Proceedings of the IEEE ICRA (2011)
7. Korpela, C., Orsag, M., Danko, T., Kobe, B., McNeil, C., Pisch, R., Oh, P.: Flight stability in
aerial redundant manipulators. In: 2012 ICRA, May 2012, pp. 3529–3530 (2012)
8. Fumagalli, M., Naldi, R., Macchelli, A., Forte, F., Keemink, A.Q.L., Stramigioli, S., Carloni,
R., Marconi, L.: Developing an aerial manipulator prototype: physical interaction with the envi-
ronment. IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag. 21(3), 41–50 (2014)
9. Jimenez-Cano, A.E., Martin, J., Heredia, G., Ollero, A., Cano, R.: Control of an aerial robot
with multi-link arm for assembly tasks. In: 2013 ICRA, May 2013, pp. 4916–4921 (2013)
10. Ollero, A., Heredia, G., Franchi, A., Antonelli, G., Kondak, K., Sanfeliu, A., Viguria, A.,
Martinez-de Dios, J.R., Pierri, F., Cortes, J., Santamaria-Navarro A., Trujillo Soto, M-A., Bal-
achandran, R., Andrade-Cetto, J., Rodriguez A.: The AEROARMS project: Aerial robots with
advanced manipulation capabilities for inspection and maintenance. IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag.
25(4), 12–23 (2018)
Discovering Diverse Content Through
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were out looking at his horse tethered to a post hard by.

Kenneth's entrance brought composure alike to Roderick and the

Laird, both from necessitating more self-control, and also from the
satisfaction of seeing that not quite all the world had turned their
backs on him. Roderick could not speak above a whisper, but the
Laird gave a very full account of the late visitation.

'There is one point, Captain Drysdale,' he added after a lengthy

narrative, 'on which you may be able to throw light. One of the
points they made against him was that this story of his exploits had
originally come from Inchbracken.'

'I cannot imagine how that could be. Ah!' he added after a pause,
'it must be one of my uncle's heavy jokes! I do remember, now I
think of it, his telling us how he had met Roderick carrying home a
baby, and the clumsy joke he made over it. You know my uncle is a
very good fellow, but he can scarcely be called a wit, though he
would vastly like to be thought one, and when by any chance he has
struck out some little smartness he will repeat it till every one for ten
miles round has heard it. I remember it perfectly now, and Tibbie
Tirpie's name got into the conversation about that same time
somehow, and so the servants combined the two. Oh, Rod! He will
be so awfully sorry. But this poor little baby who has been the
innocent cause of all the annoyance. Such a pretty little thing it is
too! How did you come by it?'

Roderick was lying on the bed, calmer now, and soothed by the
friendly sympathy of his two friends, but his voice was weak and the
pain in his side made speaking irksome. He looked to Mary, and she
repeated to Kenneth the story of the shipwreck and the finding of
the baby.

'And what was the name of the ship?' asked Kenneth; 'was that
ever discovered? To know it would be the first step towards finding
out who the child belongs to, and after all the annoyance it has
brought, you would no doubt be glad to restore it to its lawful
guardians.'

'Indeed, then, we shall be very sorry to part with it. It is the

dearest little thing in the world. I should cry my eyes out if it were
taken from us, I do believe. The sweet little pet! And it is so
wonderfully pretty. No doubt of its gentle birth, poor little waif! To
think it has not a relation in the world!'

'And the name of the ship was?'

'We saw the ship's name in the Witness the following week. 'The
Maid of Cashmere,' was it not, Roddie?'

Roderick nodded.

'That,' said Kenneth, 'was the name of the ship in which my poor
friend Jack Steele lost his wife. He is Major in the Dourgapore Light
Cavalry, and they are not two years married yet. They were both to
have come home in her, but a week before sailing his leave was
cancelled, owing to a threatened rising in the Mahratta country. His
wife was ordered home by the doctors, who said her only chance of
life was the sea voyage, so she sailed alone with a child only a week
or two old, I believe, and the nurse. Poor things! both were lost.
After making the voyage round the Cape in safety, to be lost upon
the Scotch coast, within a few hours of home! Was it not sad? The
Mahratta alarm died out as fast as it arose; and six weeks after Mrs.
Steele had sailed, Jack was able to set out himself. He knew nothing
of the disaster till he reached his father's house in Edinburgh, and
you may suppose what a shock it was to him. He arrived at home
just three weeks after his wife's funeral. His, you see, had been a
quick passage, while the ship his wife sailed in was considerably
overdue before the wreck occurred. Poor fellow! when he asked for
his wife and child, and why they had not come to meet him, you
may suppose how terrible it was; they had nothing to show him but
his wife's grave, and the shock nearly killed him. He was in bed for
three weeks after it, and is only able to creep about now. The old
judge took to his bed after his daughter-in-law's funeral, so you may
suppose the dismal house it was. Jack is an only child, and the old
man had set his heart on having a grandchild, and he was cut up in
a way you would not think possible, if you had ever seen the hard
grim way he has of dealing out justice to offenders. It appears that
the child was not born till a fortnight before Mrs. Steele sailed, and
that the letter announcing that Jack and his wife were going home
was posted before its birth; and so the old people did not know they
had a grandchild till Jack's letters, written after his wife had sailed,
reached them. They did not know of its existence, in fact, till after
they were assured of its death, but the poor old lady cries and
laments, I am told, over this--I must call it an imaginary
bereavement (for she had never seen or even heard of the little
thing till after its death) as bitterly as if it were a child of her own
she had lost. The body of this child, too, has never been found; and
they say it has been a great aggravation of poor Jack's grief, to think
what may have become of it. How old would you suppose your baby
to be, Mary? Would it not be strange if it turned out to be Jack's little
daughter?'

'We saw in the Witness that Lord Briarhill and Mrs. Steele had
gone to Inverlyon and claimed their daughter-in-law and took the
body back with them to Edinburgh; and we advertised in the
Witness that we had picked up an infant apparently washed ashore
from the wreck, but no one took any notice, and we have not had a
single enquiry.'

'It might still be quite possible, nevertheless, that your little

foundling is the Steeles' lost baby. The old judge was bearing the
loss of his daughter-in-law, I understand, with very proper
resignation. He had never seen her, so that there was no room for
personal grief or deep feeling, beyond what the melancholy manner
of her death must necessarily call forth, and sympathy for his son.
But the next mail brought letters which mentioned the birth of the
child, and its having accompanied its mother on the homeward
voyage, and then they say the poor old man was completely
overcome--took to his bed--and the old lady sat beside him and cried
by the hour. As for Jack, he was like one out of his mind when they
told him, and he has been very ill since. His oldest friends dare
scarcely intrude on him yet; he is so badly cut up. By and bye he will
want a change, and I have asked him to come to Inchbracken for a
few weeks.'

'And do you think then that he ought to be told about our little
waif! I quite dread to tell any one about it now lest he should claim
it, and I cannot bear to think of losing our pretty plaything.'

'Surely he ought to be told, if there is the smallest possibility of its

being his own child; and if you like, Roderick, I will relieve you of
that duty. In your present health you will probably not be sorry to
avoid unnecessary letter-writing.'

Roderick nodded.

'I fear, Captain Drysdale,' interrupted the Laird, 'that is to say if a

stranger can judge correctly in the matter, you will find it rather a
difficult piece of news to break to this Major Steele. Do you think the
probability of the child being his is sufficiently strong to justify you in
subjecting him to the dreadful disappointment that would follow, if it
proves not to be his after all? It appears to me scarcely warrantable
to raise hopes which, if unfounded, will cause a disappointment
more cruel than was the original loss. If I might suggest, I would
urge very great caution.'

'I see what you mean, Mr. Sangster, but how are we to avoid it?
Nobody in this country has ever seen the child or could identify it but
himself, and surely it is due both to him and the child that he should
be informed of its history, if there be even the slightest possibility of
his being its father.'

'Undoubtedly, but did you not say just now that you expected him
to visit you at Inchbracken very shortly? Might it not be well to wait
till then before saying anything to him whatever? It could then be
mentioned to him carefully and gradually. Any clothing of the child
that he might perhaps recognize, or even the child itself might be
shown him, and then its story could be told. That would spare him
the misery of suspense, and the possibility of disappointment;
whereas if you write, the man will order post horses at once, and set
out to investigate your story. Think of his impatience and suspense
as he sits in the post chaise, thinking and thinking about it till he
grows giddy. It will be twenty-four or perhaps thirty-six hours from
the time he gets your letter till he can reach Glen Effick. He may fret
himself into a fever in that time. You say he has been ill already, and
he will be sure of a relapse if the child turns out not to be his.'

'I believe you are right, Mr. Sangster. I will merely write and urge
him to come as early as possible. The season for shooting and
visitors is about over, and he may be as quiet as he likes.'

'And are you really going to leave us, Mr. Roderick? asked the
Laird. 'I remarked your saying so to Mr. Geddie, and was really
tickled at his unwillingness to let you go away, even while he would
not let you stay in the Church. That man would have made a fine
grand inquisitor if he had been born in a Catholic country.'

Roderick smiled, and answered in a low voice--'He is a good man,

and very zealous. But it is quite true. If he had lived two centuries
ago he would have wanted to burn every one who saw things
differently from himself, and he would have thought he did God
service in burning them. He thinks if he is right every body who
differs from him must be wrong. He does not comprehend toleration,
and he has no common sense. As my father would have said--"he
wants a wife!" if only to teach him that there is a world of daily
providence and common things, as well as the world of doctrines
and theologies he lives in. But he is a worthy creature!' 'Yes!' he
continued, still almost in a whisper. 'We shall go south--Ventnor or
Torquay--for the winter. I shall write to enquire at once; but I am not
fleeing from discipline, Mr. Sangster! I shall appoint an agent to
protect my interests before the Presbytery.'

'Then,' said Mary, 'might we not stop over in Edinburgh, and show
Major Steele the baby?'

'I did not propose to take it with us. Supposing Major Steele is
unable to recognise it, it would have to come back here and raise
more talk; and I fear we should not know what to do with it during
our travels if we carried it south, so I think we shall have to leave it
here with Eppie for the winter.'

The tears stood in Mary's eyes. 'Oh, Roderick,' she said, 'I shall be
so sorry to part with it.'

'Could you not remain too, Mary?' whispered Kenneth.

Mary coloured and shook her head, but a smile peeped from her
eyes in a passing glance, which effectually dissipated the threatening
shower. 'I shall look out poor baby's chain, and the things she was
picked up in, and give them to you to show Major Steele. So mind
you come for them before we go.'
 CHAPTER XXX.
TIBBIE'S TROUBLES.

Elspeth Macaulay sat in her doorway and basked in the autumn

sun repining, and browning herself like the hazel nuts in the
adjoining thicket, which, like herself, were hard of shell, though
sweet and sound of heart when you could reach it,--and wrapped in
thin wrinkled leathery husks, not far different from the withered
parchment which served her aged bones for a fleshly covering. She
was very old, but her eye had not grown dim, and her bodily force
had not abated. She lived all alone in her shieling perched high on a
steep brae looking down the glen, but she felt quite able to do for
herself, and carried her eggs and butter to market as blythely as the
youngest. The hearth within was clean swept, and the turf on it
burned brightly; while the oaten cakes toasting before it diffused a
nutty fragrance through the house. As Elspeth sat knitting her
stocking and looking down the glen extended beneath her, she spied
a white mutch on the highroad wending towards her. Presently it
reached the 'slap' in the stone and divot dyke, where the footpath
leading to her own residence debouched on the road. The wearer of
the mutch passed through the slap and proceeded to thread the
upward path.

'Preserve us a'!' she muttered to herself, 'wha's this? It's no mony

comes in as they gae by to see Elspeth noo a days! I'se fesh out the
kebbock, it looks hearty. An' there's few comes to pree't noo. Na! na!
They're a' yardet maist, my cronies, by noo. An' them 'at's t'ey fore
yet's ower dottle to travel that far! I'm no wantin' the young
gomerals either, 'at stuffs their head i' bannets, an' thinks to be
mista'en for their betters! But here's a decent auld wife 'at's no
abune wearin' a mutch like her mither 'at gaed afore her.'

The huge cheese was produced from the awmry, the toasting
cakes turned before the fire, and Elspeth was back in her place
before the guest had mounted the brae.

'An' is that yersel', Tibbie Tirpie?' she presently exclaimed as the

wearer of the mutch, slowly mounting, began to raise her head over
the edge where the hill slid down out of sight. 'Hoo's wi' ye, woman?
I'm blythe to get a sicht o' ye.'

'An hoo's yoursel', Elspeth! Hech sirs! But that's a stey brae for
auld folk! It's braw when ye're up, but it's a sair job to clim't.'

The two old women partook of the cheer provided; after that they
took snuff together, and then they settled themselves in the
sunshine for their 'crack.' Elspeth's walking powers were not what
they had been, and she had not been present at the ceremonies of
the day before, so there was much for Tibbie to tell. Both of them
would have been classed, I fear, as 'of the world,' by the more
devout. Kirks and preachings were not by any means to them the
most important matters in life, still they were the news of the day,
and, as such, interesting.

'An' what said our ain young minister himsel', Tibbie?' inquired
Elspeth at last, after all the fine things said by the others had been
duly discussed.

'Hoot, woman! He wasna there ava. Did ye no ken he was lyin'?

an' rael ill. I winder Jean didna tell ye that! For it was Mistress
Sangster, the folk's tellin', 'at cam near giein' him his death. Ye see
they gaed stravaigin' ower the hills, an' what suld come ower my
leddy but she maun coup in a burn! Up comes the minister to pu'
her out, and a sair job he'd hae fand it at the best, for she's a
muckle hefty wife; but the daft auld rinketer, whan ance she'd gotten
a grip o' him, she gied a screech an' a fling, an' pu'ed him in ower
aside her, an' baith gat a sair drookin', an' a wamefu' o' cauld water.
Aweel! Stephen Boague's wife, she dried the claes o' my leddy, an'
she's nae waur; but the puir minister beut to gang hame as he was--
a' drouket--an' he's gotten a sair host 'at's like to be the death o'
him.'

'Puir chield! The cauld water he drank was ower strong for him. I
ne'er thocht muckle o' that for a drink mysel'. It wants whusky
peuten til't, to gar't lie licht on the staumick. But if a' folk says be
true, it's het water he's gotten amang noo! honest man. Think ye
he'll thole that better nor the cauld?' with a sidelong glance which
was not observed.

'I ken there's daft-like clashes rinnin' round, but I ne'er mind
them. There's folk 'at maun aye be blatherin' some gate. But he's a
gude man, I'll say! an' a worthy son o' the gude auld minister 'at
gaed afore him.'

'An' ye think it's lees the folk's tellin' about him?' with a quizzical
smile. Elspeth had heard all the rumours, and after a lengthened
experience of her fellow-creatures, she was disposed to credit all she
heard against any of them, without thinking much the worse of them
for merely being found out, which she supposed to be the only
difference between them and their accusers; but it was a tempting
amusement to prod Tibbie on the subject of these reports, and to
hover about the edge of what must not be said to a friend or a
guest.

'I'll believe naething on Mester Brown till there's pruif for't! He's a
gude lad, an' a free-handet as I hae cause to ken.'

'Ay! What is't ye ken, Tibbie?'

'Aweel! he has gien me siller like the fine gentleman he is! An' me
no seekin't frae him either.'

'An' hoo was that, Tibbie?'

 'He heard tell I was a lanesome widdie an' no weel aff, an' he cam
to speer after me. An' he out wi' his siller an' gied it til me, an' me
no seekin't, mind! An' no the gate ye wad fling a bawbee til a
beggar, or a bane til a dug; but just like's he was a man, an' me a
woman made o' flesh an' bluid like himsel'.'

'Ay? But wha's yon wi' Jean, coming danderin' alang at this time o'
day. I maun gie that lassie a bit o' my mind about a' this galavantin'.
We'll be haein' the folk's tongues waggin' after her next,' with a
mischievous glance at Tibbie; but the latter's eyes were fixed on
Jean's companion.

'She's a gude bairn, Jean,' Elspeth went on, 'an' rael mindfu' o'
her granny. There's ane o' my kye like to gang frae her milk, an' I
can do naething wi' her, but Jean's a grand milker, an' she comes
ower ilka day an' milks the puir beast hersel'. I'm thinkin', yon
chield's comin' up here wi' her, an' if it's no that auld sneckdrawer
Joseph Smiley! I'm thinkin' we'll be for haein' a waddin' here afore
lang; but gin I was Jean, it's no a shilpet auld tike like yon wad be
the lad, an' mair to wale amang. But it's Jean's waddin' ye see an' no
mine, sae she beut to wale her ain ground; an' gin she brews gude
yale, she'll drink the better. But sit ye still!'

Tibbie was rising to go. 'It's time I was hame,' she said. 'But I'll
gie a look till yer coo afore I gang. Ye ken I'm skilly on kye! or sae
the Inchbracken folk thinks. Bide still an' hae yer crack wi' Jean. I'se
find my road t'ey byre mysel'!'

Tibbie's wrath was aflame against Joseph. She dared not trust
herself in his presence, with Elspeth and Jean for audience or chorus
in the scene that might follow, so she stole off to the byre before the
young people could reach the brow of the hill. Their eyes having
been engrossed with each other, they had not observed her while
they were still at a distance, and Joseph was not aware how near
she was, or his heart would have failed him.
 Tibbie placed herself conveniently to overhear the conversation,
and as usual with eavesdroppers, heard little that could gratify her
feelings.

'Behave yersel', Joseph Smiley,' were the first words that reached
her ear, spoken with energy, 'or I'se gar yer lugs dirl! Ye muckle calf!
I'se hae nane o' yer slaverin' an' kissin', sae stand aff! Wha gae ye
the last ane til, I winder?'

'I gae the last til yer ain bonny sel' last nicht, Jean. Think ye I'd
let ony body--'

'Ye leein' rascal! Tak ye that!' followed by a resounding crack, as

though a palm and a cheek had come in violent contact.

'Od, woman! That's sair!'

'I'se gie ye a harder skelp nor that next time, sae mind yer
tongue!'

There were sounds of scuffling after this, but eventually they

were calmed by Elspeth's.

'Whisht, bairns! Behave yersels! Ye kenna wha micht be

hearkenin'. An' what's yer news, Joseph? Hae ye nae cracks to divert
a lane auld body, forby daffin' wi' Jean? Is there naething steerin' e'y
glen ava?'

'There's plenty steerin', granny! Muckle din, but aiblins little 'oo,
as the dei'l said whan he scrapit the soo.'

'Mind what ye're sayin', Joseph Smiley! She's no' your granny,
she's mines; an' what's mair, gin ye dinna talc yersel' up, she'll ne'er
be yours ava! Sae dinna let yer tongue wag ower soople!'

'Be quiet, Jean, ye fechtin' hempie, an' let the man speak! I'm
juist wearyin' to hear the news. An' what's a' the din for, Joseph?'
 'It's just about the minister an' his bairn, an' his carryin's on
amang the lasses.'

'Ay? An' is't a' true, think ye?'

'Wha kens? The lad's but young yet, an' the lass is no that ill
faured. The Kirk Session's taen't up, an' the Presbytery, an' there'll
be sair wark afore a''s dune.'

'An' what'll be dune wi' them, think ye, Joseph?'

'Oo! The minister '11 be peuten oot, nae doubt o' that, gin a' 'at's
said be true. An' the puir quine, she beut to be sotten e'y cuttie
stule, an' be rebuket afore the hale congregation. Hech! but it's weel
for Angus Tirpie he's no t'ey fore this day to see his dochter come to
sic shame. An' I'm wae for the lass hersel'. There's naebody wud hae
thocht it o' her; but she's a randie auld tinkler yon mither o' her's,
an' it's sma' winder 'at them she had the guidin' o' suld come to
harm.'

Tibbie clenched her teeth, and seized a heather besom leaning

near her. She could scarcely contain herself, and would gladly have
broken the slanderer's head; but the women, his companions, would
be sure to side with him either by words or blows, seeing it was but
another woman's character that was in question! And then the after-
talk in the glen! Naturally she heard less than other people, but still
she had a candid friend or two, as who has not? and the averted
looks of the neighbours when she appeared gave full confirmation of
all the candid friends had to say. She dared not furnish new food for
talk. Turning round, she hurried away, choosing a path which
sheltered her from the view of Elspeth and the rest, and vowing
bitter vengeance on Joseph Smiley's treacherous head.

Home she hurried with panting speed. Her perturbed mind

deprived of other utterance, vented itself in tumultuous motion, and
by the time she reached her cottage she was comparatively calm.
She unlocked her door, entered, revived her fire, and sat down to
meditate on revenge: but not for long. As Mr. Geddie and his
companions were coming out from their interview with Roderick,
Tibbie was passing homewards. Ebenezer, discontented with the
result of their mission, and foreboding diminished honour at his own
fireside from her who acted Little Conscience there, and had kept
him to his duty through years of wedded life, with the whipcracks of
her stinging tongue,--Ebenezer saw her, and proposed that they
should follow her home, and 'deal' with her as they had meant to do
when they visited her earlier in the day. Mr. Geddie consented, 'and I
take it as a token for good,' he added, 'that we have seen her
returning home at the very time we had given up hope of being able
to find her.'

It was not long, therefore, before Tibbie's meditations were

interrupted by the entrance of the inquisitors. They saluted her but
briefly, and seated themselves on such chairs and stools as
appeared, without waiting for much invitation, and disregarding
Tibbie's enquiry of 'What's yer wull?' Mr. Geddie opened his book,
lifted up his voice and held forth. It was a discourse on the vanity of
concealment in the matter of sin, and an exhortation to confession
as some measure of atonement, and the first step to repentance.
Having concluded, he fixed his eyes on her and sat waiting to see
what effect his words would have on her moral nature. Apparently
they had none.

'Do you know, my woman, what brings us here today?'

'The very thing I hae been wantin' ye to tell me.'

'Where is your daughter?'

'What's yer wyll wi' my dochter?'

'Behave yersel', Tibbie Tirpie!' said Peter. 'Ye're no blate to speak

that gate til a gentleman far less a minister.'
 'I see little signs o' the gentleman! Stappin' richt in ower o' my
house, an' never wi' yer leave, gude wife,' an' just settin' himsel'
down, an' syne t'ey preaching'! Wad ye daar noo, my birkie, to stap
that gate intil my Leddy Drysdale's parlour? I'm no thinkin' 't! Do ye
think a puir body maun aye be like a cadger's tike, 'at ilka gowk can
gie the ither kick til? An' then ne'er venture to bite? Gin I had mair
siller, ye wad tak mair tent! An' as for my dochter, just mind what
ye're after! gin ye daar say an ill word o' her I'se hae ye up afore the
Shirra, an' I'se hae there twa freends o' yours for witnesses against
ye. I hae some notion o' the ill tales they hae been tellin' through
the glen, an' I'se gar them swear afore the Shirra against ye for the
very tales they hae telled ye themsel's, sae tak ye tent! Them 'at lie
doon wi' dugs, rise up wi' fleas! An' it's little worth company ye hae
been keepin', for a' their holy sough an' their lang faces. They'll rin
round spyin' an' keekin' intil ilka kale-pat but their ain. (It's no in Mig
Prittie's kale-pat 'at Ebenezer there daar stick his neb, I'm thinkin').
An' syne they rin round wi' a curran clashes, swallin' ilka gowk's
head wi' their clavers. But gin they dinna gie ower prankin' wi' my
gude name an', my dochter's, I'se gie them something they're no
lookin' for, an' they'll wuss they had steiket their jaws afore they
meddled wi' Tibbie Tirpie!'

Wull ye no' whisht, an' hear til the man o' God? ye rantin' auld
tinkler!' cried Peter. 'Ye hae a tongue 'at wad clip clouts!'

An' ye hae a conscience like a mill-door, for a' yer whingin','

retorted Tibbie, grown louder at the interruption. It wad set yer man
o' God better nor bautherin' a puir auld wife, gin he wad dale wi'
you. Wi' yer saul, I mean, for he'll better leave the shop alane.
Echtpence the pund for saand frae the burn-side, is ower dear to
pay, an' I hae coosten the last sugar at echtpence I gat frae ye t'ey
hens! It's no fit meat for christian folk!'

'Ye jad! But whaur gat ye the siller to be buyin' sugar? That's just
what we're comin' til!'
 'I cam by't honest, an' that's mair nor ye can say for yer pose e'y
savin's bank.'

'It was the waages o' sin, Tibbie, yon siller! an' that ye ken.'

'I tak you twa men to witness, what Peter Malloch has said! an'
I'se hae the law o' him! An' there's plenty witness e'y glen forby,
whan the time comes!'

'Alas! alas! poor woman!' cried Mr. Geddie, 'you are sinning with
the high hand and brazening out your iniquity. Confession would
better become you, and repentance, and public penitence before the
church, for the public scandal you have brought on it.'

'Ay! an' the cuttie stule for them baith,' ejaculated Peter as he
made for the door, for Tibbie was reaching up for her porridge-stick
on the shelf, and an onslaught seemed imminent. The other two
followed without the ceremony of leave-taking, further 'dealing' with
the enraged old woman, being manifestly out of the question. Slowly
and disappointedly they wended back to the village, while Tibbie
stood out in the road before her cottage shaking her fist and
scolding at the top of her voice. Doubtless she had reason; but the
wind caught up her words as they flew, and they never reached the
ears of her retreating enemies.
 CHAPTER XXXI.
A CATECHIST.

Mr. Geddie parted from his companions in the village, and finding
he had missed the Laird, set forth on a solitary walk back to
Auchlippie. It had been but a sorry day's work, with much that was
painful in its course, and no good done to show for it. He sighed as
he passed in the waning light the remembered landmarks of the
morning, and recalled the very different state of feeling in which he
had then remarked them. The light had faded in himself as well as in
the sky overhead. Then, was he not going forth in his might? a
Gideon in armour to vanquish the armies of the aliens? or Ithuriel,
perhaps, his bright pinions flashing in the sun, the long sharp spear
of truth in his hand, gleaming like a star, and ready to pierce through
sin and falsehood? Now it was different. The spear was blunted or
had lost its point, the wings hung limp and useless from his
shoulders, and the feathers were all in disarray, like some poor
game-bird worsted in the fight, or caught in heavy rain; the gay
plumage draggled pitifully and dim, the neck and tail, that erst stood
so erect, now drooping and forlorn in wisps of humiliation. The day
had faded and the sun had gone down. It was a new chapter added
to his ministerial experience. Alas, for the persistency of the
besotted human heart in sin, and its callous insensibility to words in
season, spoken in love and faithfulness. Mankind must be wickeder
even than he had thought, and he had been taught to believe in
their total depravity. It never occurred to him that there might be
some mistake. The accusers comprised nearly the whole body of
office-bearers in the church--the excellent of the earth, men with the
same 'views' and shibboleths as himself; and more than that, most
attentive hearers and great admirers of his preaching--the strongest
possible proof in favour of their credibility and soundness of
judgment. He felt fully justified in adopting their suspicions and
accepting them as certainties--facts either already established or
about to be proved, and then with the characteristic tenacity of the
clerical mind, he held them fast. It was true that this accused
brother had hitherto led an exemplary life, that, refusing
opportunities of greater ease and emolument, he had declined to be
a candidate for more than one city charge, and that his life in the
parish had hitherto been an almost apostolic example of all the
charities and virtues; still, to err was human; and had not the most
conspicuous saints been permitted at times, (doubtless for wise
purposes and the good of their souls, in saving them from spiritual
pride), to fall into grievous sin? 'Humanly speaking,' and 'to the eye
of sense,' the man's whole walk and conversation' stamped the
charge with improbability. But what was that to the theologian
equipped at all points to contend with error? The doctrine of total
depravity removed all difficulty on that point, and the more
improbable from a mere worldly point of view, the more likely it
became when attributed to a wile of the enemy. He felt that his
erring brother must have been over confident, hence his fall. Still it
was a new view of total depravity, and an appalling one, that it
should have been able to withstand his preaching. He went over in
his mind all the telling things he had said, and considered how they
might have been intensified, but he found that he could have added
little to their force. And yet all had been in vain. His words had fallen
like drops of rain on the flinty hardness of that obdurate heart, and
failed of any effect. It was a bitter experience, but he resolved to
profit by it, and as he went along he thought over the heads for a
discourse to backsliders, in which this sad incident should be
introduced, and might perhaps even turn to good in the end, if it
warned some wayward sheep to retrace his steps.

Thus meditating, Mr. Geddie beguiled the time away. He had

come within sight of Auchlippie gate, whence Joseph Smiley was
issuing at that moment, and coming towards him. Joseph descried
his reverence simultaneously, and prepared for an interview by
passing his sleeve across his lips. 'I wuss he mayna be findin' out the
dram on me,' he muttered to himself; but added reassuringly--'Hoot,
no! They're glaiket bodies thae ministers! They wadna ken their ain
parritch gin ye didna haud the spune fornent their nebs.'

'Well, my friend!' said Mr. Geddie, with outstretched hand and a

condescending smile. 'I am glad to have another opportunity of
speaking to you. That was a very sad meeting at which I saw you
give your evidence yesterday--a sad and a humbling investigation!'

'Hech, sir, an' it was a' that. Terrible backslidings were na they,
sir? But ye see, sir, it's just the flesh 'at's sae weak. We canna a'
houpe to be strong in the word, an' able to resist, sir, as ye can, an'
sae there's aye some o' 's gettin' a tum'le.'

'I fear, my friend, I must not venture to rejoice in my strength,'

replied the minister, much gratified, and smiling with pensive
radiance, as one who, after long neglect, is appreciated at last. 'It is
humility alone that can hope to pass scatheless along the seductive
paths of life.'

'Deed ay, sir. Let him 'at thinks he's stan'in' tak tent he dizna fa',
says Scripter. We're but puir craeters! That's me an' my likes, I
mean, sir. As for a godly minister an' a powerfu' preacher, wha's
praise is in a' the churches, I wadna venture to say the like o' him.'

'I fear we are all alike, Joseph! (is not that your name?) said Mr.
Geddie, slowly shaking his head, and blushing with pleasure so far
as his drab and yellow complexion would allow. 'I fear we are all
alike,' he repeated, still toying with the sweet morsel before he
swallowed it.

'Ou ay, sir! Dawvit was a man, an' sae was Sant Paul! A man of
like paussions, an' sae aiblins a body micht ventur to say o' yersel';
but it's terrible odds atween the likes o' ye, an' hiz 'at's creepin' on
wur bellies, as I may say, just worms o' the dust!'
 'Alas! alas! Joseph, there are no exceptions! Just look at the
unhappy man who has created so sad a scandal in this very parish!'

'Nae doubt, sir, an' I'm wae to think o't. But after a' he's but
young--an' he's no ordeened--an' ye ken, sir, his faither was a
moderate! That maks a terrible odds! What says Scripter? "The
faithers hae aeten soor grapes," (gye an' like the grosets, I'm
thinkin', afore they're just ripe), an the bairns' teeth is set on edge.
(I see na sae weel what that means, but I'm thinkin' it's just 'at it
gars their rotten teeth dirl). An' again the sins o' the faithers on the
children til the third an' fourth generation. Hech, sirse! It's weel for
me my granny wasna a moderate! an' as for my faither, I ne'er heard
tell o' him.'

'Yes, Joseph! (I believe I am right in calling you Joseph?) But you

have a fine lively knowledge of Scripture, and I think--I hope--I may
almost say I am sure, from what I have seen, that the root of the
matter is in you. Now, my friend, would you not like to come forward
openly, to take a plainer, bolder, stronger, nobler stand for the truth?
Does not your heart burn within you? when you see this glen and
other glens too, my brother, there are so many other glens, given
over to sin and worldliness, or it may be to moderatism--as soul-
destroying an error as any of them. Does not your heart burn within
you? And do you not feel constrained to cry aloud--"Here am I, send
me?" To put it to you in plainer, if less moving words, how would you
like to be a catechist?'

Joseph's heart did indeed burn at the suggestion, though not

perhaps exactly in the sense intended by Mr. Geddie. It had been
promotion for him when he was made beadle and appointed to carry
the great Bible up and down the pulpit stairs,--a ministrant, and in
his own opinion an essential one, in all the public functions of
religion; and he loved to skip about among the hushed and reverent
worshippers, showing one where he might sit, and admonishing
another to behave. But what was all that to being a catechist? which
was 'the next door,' as he told himself, 'to a minister a' thegither;'
not merely to go up the pulpit stairs, but to go into the pulpit and sit
down, while future beadles would meekly follow, and close the pulpit
door behind his reverence. It was too delightful! An utterly beatific
vision! He had just parted from Jean Macaulay, and his mind had
been full of schemings how to secure her for a wife. But would Jean
make a help-meet for a catechist? Even with Elspeth's croft and her
savings, he feared Jean would scarcely be equal to that higher
sphere; and before even he had replied to Mr. Geddie, he had almost
made up his mind that she would not suit.

'Aweel, sir! there's nae misdoubtin' but it wad be a preevilege to

be layin' out the truith afore the neglecket puir. But whaur was't ye
was wantin't for?'

'There is a neglected district along the coast, where the people

are too poor to support a minister; but yet they should not be left a
prey to Erastianism, and it has been proposed to send some pious
man to labour among them who would read to them and talk to
them, enlighten them on Free Church principles, and address them
occasionally. How would the work suit you? And would you like to
give it a trial?'

'Aweel sir! I wad like weel to be direckin' the puir bodies the gate
they suld gang. An' what's the waages, sir? Or I'm thinkin' I hae
heard tell it's saalary ye ca' a catechist's pay, being mair honorable.'

'About thirty pounds a-year we think we could raise. You would

live among them, of course, and you would find it a most interesting
and constant employment. I should think for an earnest and active
man like you it would be the very thing.'

'But thirty pound the year's no twal shilling e'y week, an' the folk
ye say's puir, an' gin a man gaed out an' in amang them, he beut to
help them whiles wi' siller. I see na hoo yer catechist cud do't at the
price.'
 'Think on the privilege, Joseph! And if you do well no doubt we
will be able to find higher work for you.'

'Ay! But a man canna just eat an' drink his preevileges, an' he
canna sell them for siller to buy shune! I'm but a bederal, sir, but
week out an' week in, it 's liker twunty shillin's, what I can mak
atween that an' my tred.'

'Well! we must think it over, Joseph, and you can write to me

what you think you could undertake the work for, and we'll consider
how much we can give. Mr. Sangster! I am so sorry to have missed
you, but I understood you had gone home.'

'I have been waiting for you at the inn for an hour past. Never
mind! get in now.'

The Laird in his gig had driven up during the negotiation with the
proposed catechist. He now caught up Mr. Geddie, and left Joseph in
the middle of the road to pursue his reflections.
 CHAPTER XXXII.
CHANGES.

Three weeks passed after the sitting of the Congregational

Council which had agreed that there was a 'fama clamosa' in the
parish. The Presbytery had sat with closed doors to consider the
case. It had adjourned, and met again to further consider, decide,
and order under the circumstances. Enquiry into the facts, and such
like trifles, would come later, when the evidence for the prosecution
was matured. Clearly there could be no defence until there was an
indictment, a defence in its very nature being a reply; and until the
thesis of accusation could be formulated, there was nothing to reply
to. Wherefore Mr. Brown could not be heard either in person or
through his friends at this early stage of the proceedings. Still he
was suspected, though not formally accused; and, although he
possessed the common right of all men to be deemed innocent till
found guilty, he was by no means in the position of an innocent
man. The immortal interests of the Free Church adherents in the
Parish of Kilrundle were at stake, and could by no means be left for
a single day exposed to the influence of a perhaps improper person.
He had been notified to discontinue his duties till further notice, and
another young man had been sent to fill his place, as well as (but
these were his private instructions from the leaders and wire-pullers
who guided the Presbytery's movements) to act as amateur
detective in ferreting out evidence for the prosecution, which,
singularly enough, was yet too defective to warrant bringing the
case into court.
 There is no power like a democracy for precipitate and arbitrary
action. The units composing it so fully realize their authority, and so
like to exercise it; while, being many, and co-ordinate, they have
little or no sense of individual responsibility. They propose, vote, and
order, each in obedience to his individual whim or impulse, and
imagine that they are doing great things; but it is the body
corporate, the official abstraction, which is left to bear the blame
when justice or policy miscarry. In this respect, if in no other, the
one-man power has the advantage, the king or bishop is personally
identified with each transaction of his reign, and when a failure
occurs he feels himself personally discredited; he has therefore the
strongest incentive to walk circumspectly, that he may not have
hereafter to retrace his steps, while with popular assemblies, a
reversal of policy or a change of front is immaterial, so long as the
majority has its way.

Roderick, therefore, being suspected, was now placed under a

vigorous taboo--boycotted we would have called it thirty-five years
later, but boycotted under a wisely modified form. Ebenezer Prittie or
Peter Malloch would still have been happy to sell him all they had in
their shops,--at a proper advance on cost--seeing that the coin of an
excommunicate is no worse than other people's, and money,
however come by, is 'all right,' as Vespasian found out long ago.
There was no fear, therefore, of his being starved out so long as he
continued able to buy. But intercourse with his parishioners had
come to an end. Some few were veritably unwilling to have dealings
with iniquity, but the majority dared not offend public opinion by
appearing to hold communication with him; and these secretly
knowing the shakiness of their own principles were the loudest in
denouncing any one who should venture to approach the Browns,
thereby contributing much of the strength of that public opinion
which tyrannized over themselves. The only exceptions were
Roderick's pensioners. These, defying the censorious, presented
themselves in shy and deprecatory fashion (deprecatory alike to the
offended righteous without, and to the indignant and maligned
within), each as his pay-day came round. The money had become
an established item in their income, which those who disapproved
would assuredly not make good; wherefore, they felt constrained to
revisit the flesh pots. After all, even if the worst were true, what was
it but a spoiling of the Egyptians? A perfectly allowable, perhaps a
praiseworthy act, which Moses himself had suggested, and even
recommended to the chosen people of old. They took the money,
therefore, in defiance of such as shook their heads, and, finding it
retained its old purchasing power, were none the worse.

The days dragged wearily along for Roderick and his sister.
October, which began in summer sunshine, relieved but not chilled
by bracing airs, was waning in cloud and gloom; dull foggy days of
rain, or windy tempests ending in early frosts. The sick room was
close and damp. The ruddier the blaze upon the hearth, the stronger
the flavour of mould and damp drawn out from the oozy walls and
cold clay floor. The chamber would grow close but never warm, and
the capacious chimney seemed powerless for ventilation, and served
only as an escape for the heat. After undergoing the visitation of Mr.
Geddie and his companions, Roderick had had a return of his more
serious symptoms. Indignation and outraged feelings sent the blood
boiling in stormy tumult through his veins, and he was not weak
enough to obtain the relief of tears. Self-respect required him to
preserve calmness before the friends who were with him; and his
irritation, deprived of vent in speech or action, settled in the morbid
part of his system, and rekindled the expiring inflammation in his
chest. He was therefore a prisoner once more to his bed, when he
would gladly have been removing himself from the scene of his
mortifications, and had no alleviation save the visits of Kenneth and
the Laird; but these were frequent.

Whenever other matters brought the former to the village he

made a point of calling to enquire; and it was remarkable how
frequently business demanded his presence there at this time.
During the first week the gossips observed him ride three alternate
days down their street, and the traders began seriously to consider
whether they could not so improve their stocks as to tempt some
share of the Inchbracken petty custom from Inverlyon. After that,
however, his visits became daily, there was no longer even a
pretence of other business, and Ebenezer Prittie abandoned the
hope of supplying the Drysdale property with nails and ironmongery.
Kenneth was sincerely interested in his friend's health, and sat
sympathizingly by his bedside, but the patient was not able to talk
much, and even if he had been, was forbidden to try. He was often
drowsy, too, and sometimes slept, owing to the restless wakefulness
of his nights. It fell, therefore, on Mary to make the conversation, a
duty which she fulfilled apparently to their mutual satisfaction,
seeing that the visits grew more frequent and of longer and longer
duration. What they found to talk about no one can say, for their
voices were pitched in the lowest tones--of course that the patient
might not be disturbed; and apparently he was not, if we may judge
from the ease with which he soon fell into an established routine. He
would welcome his visitor with a cordial handshake, answer the
regulation questions about his health, hear any little item of news
that might be stirring, and then calmly close his eyes, and turn
round for another nap.

When two people find pleasure in each other's conversation,

surrounding circumstances are of little account. The most
momentous questions have ere now been asked and answered
during the gyrations of a waltz, or the intervals of a square dance.
Pyramus and Thisbe were happy in whispering to each other through
the chink in a paling, and my neighbour next door used to save
shoeleather by chatting to a young lady at the other end of the town
down the pipe of a telephone. That turned out badly, however, in the
end, as one night his soft engaging whisper was replied to in the
gruff and stormy tones of papa! who bade him have done with his
nonsense, or he would put the d--d wire out of the house! He had
done something of the same kind to my poor friend already. It was
nothing new, therefore, if these two young people forgot for the
time the stuffy little room in which they sat, and the gruesome army
of medicine bottles, getting more and more numerous every day.
They were as utterly content as though they had been sitting under
one of the great shady trees of Eden, with only birds, flowers, and
tame lions to listen to their discourse. The flowers, at least, they had
in ever increasing profusion, as poor Colewort knew to his cost, in
the sad devastation that fell on his most sacred preserves in the
greenhouses of Inchbracken. Their sweetness brought something
like the freshness of spring, (or was it only of hope?) into that close
and frowsy place; even the fumes of damp and mouldiness fled
before the breath of these children of dew and sunshine.

At length there came a day, after many others that had been
made bright with flowers, and fragrant with sweeter words, when
Kenneth brought nothing in his hand but a bunch of violets, which
he told her his mother had sent. A slip of paper was tied to them on
which was written, 'For dearest Mary.' 'And so you may know, Mary,'
he said, 'that everything between us is known at home, and you will
be made welcome. My mother will come and see you, or if that
cannot be managed she will write to you, after you have left Glen
Effick; and I think you will overlook her not coming here. After the
decided stand our family has taken against this church secession,
she would rather not do that; and as you are going to be one of the
family yourself, you will not wish us to stultify ourselves. That is
what the old gentleman calls it at least, though I daresay it is
nonsense. Still, he is an old man, and he is going to be very fond of
you, so we must humour him.' There came a tear in Mary's eye, a
smile to her lip, a blush, and words presently. She said exactly what
was prettiest and nicest, or so thought Kenneth. Every nice girl
knows what the words would be, they were just what she would say
herself on a like occasion. As for the men, they will hear them, each
for himself let us hope, when the time comes; therefore let us not
rub the bloom from the plum by unwise anticipation.

The visits of the Laird were somewhat less frequent; but he was
fortunate in always finding Roderick awake, and, after the first few
days following the relapse, eager to converse; and as the visits were
repeated two or three times a week, an intimacy sprung up between
the two men which had not existed before. The Laird was pleased to
find what he had not hitherto looked for, a sound and mature
judgment and abundant common sense where he had been wont to
expect only pious good intentions and a youthful enthusiasm,
beautiful and interesting enough but somewhat raw, and needing
much of the pressure of time and circumstance to squeeze out the
green and vapid whey of youth and inexperience. Roderick was
equally surprised to find that the husk of hard dry business
shrewdness, which he had hitherto looked upon as the man himself,
was but the dried or hardened scars or cicatrices of rubs and bruises
long since endured by a true and gentle nature, now healed and
wholesome, and that beneath the somewhat repulsive exterior, there
were rich stores of experience, charity and christian wisdom.
Heretofore their intercourse had consisted in visits from Roderick to
Auchlippie on parochial business; and on these occasions Mrs.
Sangster in her character of Mother in Israel, high patroness and
Lady Bountiful to the congregation, was always present. It might be
Roderick who proposed the subject to be considered or it might be
the Laird, but at the first opening Mrs. Sangster would take up her
parable, and after that there was little opportunity for any one else
to slip in a word even edgewise. She loved the sound of her own
sweet voice better than any other music, and with a silent, perforce
an attentive audience, her periods would swell and round
themselves with evangelical commonplaces, and a general
overflowing of conventional piety. When his lady opened her mouth
on any subject, it was the Laird's practice to close his for good and
all; that was his mode of fulfilling the apostolic precept to honour
the weaker vessel. Had he spoken, he would have been compelled
to distinguish and except, to rip up sophisms and show that the
conclusion arrived at was not deducible from the premises stated,
and endless altercation would have ensued. Wherefore, like a
sensible man, he held his peace, and left his fair partner to discourse
at her own sweet will. When, also, it became necessary for him to
express his own views, he would do it in the dryest, clearest, and
most concise form, leaving no room for question or debate from his
better and more loquacious half. It was therefore as if for the first
time that these two met and became acquainted in that sickroom;
and the discovery each made of the other was an unexpected
happiness to both. Timidly and doubtfully Roderick would sometimes
bring the conversation round to Sophia, but it was in a diffident and
uncertain way. He hungered to hear or talk of her, but as regarded
his hopes and aspirations he felt bound to keep silence. His instinct
of what was fitting withheld him from attempting to entangle his
friend in his more genial moments, in any kind of promise or
consent, so long as a breath, however groundless, hung over his
reputation. It was true that the Laird did not believe a syllable to his
disadvantage, but on that very account he felt so deeply indebted to
him, when all the world beside had turned its back, that he could not
take advantage of the old man's goodwill.

Whether the Laird saw more than Roderick put in words, it would
not be easy to say; but it is certain that at that time an
understanding sprung up between himself and his daughter which
had not existed before. He had hitherto regarded her simply as a
child, female child, belonging to his wife, and rather a dull one as
that. It now first seemed to dawn on him that she was a woman, a
distinct person, and his own daughter, and that it was in her to
become the dearest companion of his life. What he may have known
of her relations with her mother, incident to Roderick's letter, cannot
be known, for he never told; but from the evening after the
congregational council, when she plucked up courage to enter into
conversation with him, and glean such news about the proceedings
as she could ask or he communicate, they found they had entered
upon new relations with each other. It may have been the Sangster
element in her, of which her mother so loudly complained that
engaged his sympathy so directly, or it may have been the incense
of her feminine hero worship, seeing that he appeared to her so
great, and strong, and good, in opposing himself singly to the
universal prejudice, and manfully espousing the cause of worth and
innocence maligned, but certainly from that day forth, father and
daughter became fast friends and constant companions. Often she
would accompany him in his walks to the village, and though she
would not defy her mother by accompanying him to the Browns', still
her father would carry messages to and fro between her and Mary,
which brought assurance both to Roderick and herself that they
were not parted. The old lady was the only party dissatisfied with
these new combinations. She felt her authority slipping from her
fingers. Her daughter had, she could not tell how, developed an
independent personality of her own, and was evidently now held in
allegiance to herself only by a sense of duty. The daughter was also
establishing a hold on her father's regard, which her mother herself
had long since allowed to pass from her, as costing too much trouble
to retain; and Mrs. Sangster beheld already in prophetic vision,
herself as a meek old lady seated by her work-table near the fire,
while Sophia, the mistress of Auchlippie, ruled the roast! The
meekness of her future rôle had not as yet, however, come to Mrs.
Sangster. She fumed and fretted like a spirit in chains, and the
mornings which mother and daughter spent together were by no
means smooth or enjoyable for poor Sophia. Her mother's grievance
being incapable of statement, the ebullitions thence arising could
neither be foreseen nor assigned to any specific cause. The
scandalous rumours relating to the Browns were retailed and
enlarged on in a way that, but a few short weeks before, Mrs.
Sangster would have been shocked to think she could indulge in
before her carefully nurtured child; and Sophia, as her only defence,
had to fall back on the paternal gift of silence. But that invariably
drove her mother vanquished from the field, seeing that it takes two
to fight, and with a parting shot at the dull dour blood of the
Sangsters, she would seek relief in the privacy of her chamber from
that sovereign remedy, 'a good cry.'

At the end of three weeks Roderick was found well enough to

travel, and it was time that they should start, if, in those ante-
railway days, they would avoid the delays, discomforts, and extra
fatigue of bad roads. They took the stage coach as far as Dundee,
where they would embark in the steamer for London. Thence there
was railway westward, and with more staging, they would reach
their destination.
 It need scarcely be said that Eppie and the baby stood on the inn
steps to watch the travellers drive away, and wish them 'God-speed.'
Mary kissed them both, hoping a father might shortly be found for
the little one, but grudgingly, for she deeply loved it herself. Kenneth
was there, likewise, with regretful adieux and repetition of the
already-made promises to write soon and often. So too was the
Laird, and this time Sophy was on his arm, and Roderick thenceforth
had at least one smile and handshake to treasure in his memory,
unspoken answers to his letter of a month back, and tokens from
which to bode hopefully of the future.

There were other onlookers, but they peered from windows, over
averted shoulders, or from behind corners. The parishioners had
begun to find out many differences between their new pastor and
his predecessor. There were no alms now, for the new man had no
money to give; and there was less sympathy, for he was a stranger
in the parish, and likewise new to ministerial work. Shame kept them
from coming forward; but when the guard blew his horn, the
coachman tipped up his leaders with the whip, and the lumbering
vehicle rolled up the eastern brae, every one felt that he had a
friend the less left in Glen Effick.
 CHAPTER XXXIII.
DISCOMFITED.

Within the Post Office as well as in other places, there stood a

group watching Roderick's departure, and among them, as might be
supposed, was Joseph Smiley. It would have been a very unexpected
event indeed that could have transpired in the village without his
being there to see.

'I wuss we may na hae dune the laad some wrang,' sighed Angus
Kilgour. 'He gangs like's he thocht nae shame, an' gin there cam few
to bid him "Gude bi wi' ye," thae few war the first e'y land. See to
the young Captain, hoo he's crackin' til Eppie an' the bairn 'at a'
body said was merry-begotten. That looks like 's he didna think sae.'

'Hoot awa!' said Ebenezer, who had become a man of

consequence through the prominent part he had taken in the
minister hunt, and would tolerate no gainsaying. 'Hae na we scripter
for't, Angus, 'at evil men an' seducers wax warse an' warse? An'
think ye, 'at gin a chield was sae far left til himsel as yon puir laad
maun hae been, he wad turn round that easy an' own til his fau't?
Na, na! The De'il's a hard master 'at's aye wantin' mair service. An'
as for puir Mester Brown, I'm sure I wuss him nae ill, but juist 'at he
may be brocht til own til his transgressions. He's gangin' the gate o'
thae wanderin' staars for whum is reserved the blackness o'
darkness! I think naething o' yer young Captain comin' to see him
awa. He's been danderin' round him ilka day sin' he fell out wi' his
flock, or sin' they fand him out I suld say. He's juist a laad o' Belial
'at cares naething for the sauls o' hiz puir folk, (dizna he get a' the
nails an' the pleughs an' the iron wark for the property doon by at
Inverlyon?) an' he wants to pu' down the wa's o' Zion. He's juist like
Tobiah the Ammonite 'at fashed Nehemiah langsyne, but it's no a
tod like him rinnin' on the wa's o' our Jerusalem, 'at's gaun to kick
them ower. An' as for the Laird comin' wi' his dochter, he's been sair
left til himsel', but we a' ken he's pridefu' an' winna be direcket by
puirer folk, an' that's what's made him sae camstairy. But I'm juist
winnerin' 'at Mistress Sangster (an' sic a graand christian as she is!)
lets him gang sic daftlike gates!'

Joseph listened to the harangue with respectful attention, looking

approval but saying nothing. Instinctively he had the wisdom in
conduct by which men have become Roman Popes or American
Presidents. If he had few friends, he gave no offence, and made no
enemies. The friends are but broken reeds to lean upon in getting
one in, but the unfriends are omnipotent in keeping him out. It was
popedom in a small way that Joseph contemplated, catechist being
as great a rise in life for the Glen Effick beadle as Pope for the
Archbishops and Princes of the Church. The emoluments, as stated
by Mr. Geddie, were, of course, altogether inadequate, but then Free
Trade principles were just about that time being established as the
economic faith of the nation, and he understood perfectly that even
Mr. Geddie, a merchantman in search of goodly pearls, felt disposed
to dabble in the law of supply and demand, and if he could pick up a
catechist at half price, would not 'feel justified' in paying him more.
Economic piety is apt to be economical as well, and alas, alas, for
the Church and the world! it is the spurious article for sale that is
best able to haggle with the greedy religiousness that would buy.
Saintly holiness is sent at half price to labour in the slums, while
sensational pretence gets the velvet-mounted pulpit, the snug
parsonage, and the comfortable living.

Joseph was not much of a letter writer. He never had had

opportunity to practise the craft, or doubtless his pen would have
grown as glib as his tongue. If he wrote to Mr. Geddie himself, his
letter might stamp him illiterate, and consequently a half price
article; and even if not, being but an obscure person, he could not
hope to influence conveners, committees, contributors, and the rest
of the sacred machinery in Mr. Geddie's church, whence the money
was to come. He thought therefore to procure intercession. He
would petition Mrs. Sangster to write on his behalf, and by and by he
would ask Ebenezer to say a word in his favour, after he knew the
lady's letter had been sent.

With this view he set out for Auchlippie, whither he had gone less
frequently of late, fearing to compromise himself with Jean
Macaulay.

As already said, Jean's expectations made her unquestionably 'a

catch' for the beadle, but Joseph found she might prove a millstone
about the neck of a catechist. For Joseph was far-seeing. Such
imaginative faculty as had been vouchsafed him was circumscribed
within the hopes or possible achievements of Joseph Smiley, but
within these bounds at times they soared! Once a catechist he might
find favour in zealous and wealthy eyes, and he might be enabled to
attend the Divinity Hall, whence he would issue a full-fledged
minister. Favouring circumstances might work out so much for a
bachelor, but who would undertake a man already weighted with a
wife and family? Vulgar too! and unfit to associate with the upper
classes as minister's wife! If, however, he should fail to secure any
such enthusiastic person, and he knew they were rare, Jean would
not be so far amiss as spouse to a catechist for life. The placens
uxor he could appreciate when more substantial considerations did
not stand in the way, and her tocher would be 'a help,' and enable
him, if still subordinate to the Established clergy and those of the
Free Church, to hold his own with 'Seceder bodies' (there were no
U.P.'s in those days), 'Baptists, Methodists, and sic like.' At that time
there was no word of voluntary principles in the Free Church, and it
required a good many years 'in opposition,' as politicians would say,
before it even was suggested to drop the twenty-third chapter of the
Confession of Faith, and along with it the old feeling of superiority to
the dissenting communions.
 When Joseph reached Auchlippie, he was considerably taken
aback by Jean's extreme coolness. He had been considering as he
fared along, the exact degree of friendliness it would be prudent to
show to Jean. He must be kind but not quite fond, friendly but not
intimate, with just a suggestion of the superiority which he hoped
was hovering over him and he trusted might alight. Distinctly then,
he felt taken aback by Jean's reception.

'Ye want to see the mistress? Gang intil the laundry than, an' set
ye doon, an' whan I'm through here I'll gang ben an' speer gin ye
can see her.'

'But I cud help ye to shell the peas, Jean.'

'Wha's seekin' yer help? Tak yer guttery shune out ower the clean
kitchen, an' gang intil the laundry or I'se prin the dish-clout til yer
tail! Think ye I haena gowks eneugh e'y stable-yard to shell my peas
gin I wanted their help? Awa' wi' ye!'

Nothing like a little cool repulsion to draw on the young men

when they begin to hang back. The cherries a little out of reach are
always redder than those which hang ready to the hand. Looking at
the buxom lass and the saucy twinkle in her merry black eye,
Joseph's foreseeing circumspection began insensibly to abate, or
rather he forgot all about it.

'What ails ye, Jean, woman?' he poured out in his most

insinuating tones, and his queer little eyes looked plaintive or nearly
so. 'An' me juist hungerin' for a glint o' yer bonny eyen!'

'Get out my gate, ye blatherin' skate!' with a jaunty toss of her

head. It is pleasant to be appreciated, is it not? No matter by whom.
But she had no thought of relenting yet awhile. 'It's like's ye cudna
bide awa frae me, ye leein' twa-faced body! It'll be four weeks come
Thursday sin' I hae seen a sicht o' ye, an' I hae dune brawly wantin'
ye. Gae back to them ye saw last an' bide there. It's no Jean
Macaulay 'at's wantin' ye. An' gang out ower the clean kitchen! See
til the jaups o' glaar, about yer guttery trotters! Gang out ower, I'm
sayin'! or I'se lay the taings about yer cantle.'

'Whisht, woman! an' I'se tell ye a' about it,' said Joseph, sideling
nearer. Then throwing the right arm round her waist, he drew up the
left to protect his face from nails or accidents, and attempted to
steal a salute.

Jean screamed and sprang aside, catching hold of a broomstick,

and her face aflame with crimson wrath, ordered him out of the
kitchen. At that moment an inner door opened and Mrs. Sangster
stood on the threshold surveying the scene.

'Jean Macaulay! what is the meaning of this? Do you take my

kitchen for a country tavern, to go touzelling with strange men in it
in that unseemly way? When I engaged you I said distinctly that no
followers were allowed.'

'There's nae touzellin' here, mem; an' what's mair, I winna hae 't
said o' me by ony body, sae ye can suit yersel' wi' anither lass 'at
taks less tent o' her gude name nor I do! The man's nae follower o'
mine; it was yersel' he came speerin' for, sae I cudna tak on mysel'
to pet him out, an' syne the impident rascal he grippet me about the
waist, an' I skirled, an' ye see the lave o't.'

'It's Joseph Smiley, the minister's man! I declare. What do you

want? You may well be ashamed, and hang your head! What will the
session say? You, that ought to be an example of sober and godly
deportment, to be raising a riot in a gentleman's kitchen!'

Joseph was abashed. All his bright schemes seemed to dissipate

themselves before his eyes, like a morning mist, and he could only
wish himself away. He coughed behind his hand, and stood
balancing himself first on one foot, then on the other.

'I'm sair dumfoondered, mem!' he said at last. 'An' I'm thinkin' I

juist canna be very weel. My head gaed clean soomin' ey noo, an' I
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