Part 8 (1/2)
”I think Prestongrange is gane gyte,” says the second ”He'll have James More in bed with him next”
”Weel, it's neither your affair nor mine's,” said the first
And they parted, the one upon his errand, and the other back into the house
This looked as ill as possible I was scarce gone and they were sending already for Jaht Mr Simon must have pointed when he spoke of men in prison and ready to redee my hair, and the next moment the blood leaped in me to reed for pretty indefensible misconduct What was yet more unpalatable, it now seemed he was prepared to save his four quarters by the worst of shame and the most foul of cowardly murders-murder by the false oath; and to complete our misfortunes, it seean to walk swiftly and at random, conscious only of a desire for movement, air, and the open country
CHAPTER VII-I MAKE A FAULT IN HONOUR
I ca dykes [12] This is a rural road which runs on the north side over against the city Thence I could see the whole black length of it tail down, fros above the loch in a long line of spires and gable ends, and sht my heart swelled in ers; but such danger as I had seen the face of but that , in the midst of what they call the safety of a town, shook me beyond experience Peril of slavery, peril of shi+pwreck, peril of sword and shot, I had stood all of these without discredit; but the peril there was in the sharp voice and the fat face of Simon, properly Lord Lovat, daunted me wholly
I sat by the lake side in a place where the rushes went down into the water, and there steeped my wrists and laved my temples If I could have done so with any remains of self-esteem, I would now have fled froe or cowardice, and I believe it was both the one and the other) I decided I was ventured out beyond the possibility of a retreat I had out-faced these ht, I would stand by the word spoken
The sense of my own constancy somewhat uplifted my spirits, but not much At the best of it there was an icy place about ed in For two souls in particular my pity flowed The one was ers The other was the girl, the daughter of James More I had seen but little of her; yet ht her a lass of a clean honour, like a race; and now I believed her father to be at thathis vile life for irl and h one that pleased ely; I saw her now in a sudden nearness of relation, as the daughter of ht say, ued and persecuted all my days for other folks' affairs, and have no ot meals and a bed to sleep in when my concerns would suffer it; beyond that ,but to escape out of this trouble, theyto me ere I was done with them Of a sudden her face appeared in my memory, the way I had first seen it, with the parted lips; at that, weakness cas; and I set resolutely forward on the way to Dean If I was to hang to-ht very likely sleep that night in a dungeon, I determined I should hear and speak onceand the thought of an to pluck up a kind of spirit In the village of Dean, where it sits in the bottolen beside the river, I inquired my way of a miller's man, who sent me up the hill upon the farther side by a plain path, and so to a decent-like sarden of lawns and apple-trees My heart beat high as I stepped inside the garden hedge, but it fell low indeed when I ca there in a white mutch with a man's hat strapped upon the top of it
”What do ye co here?” she asked
I told her I was after Miss Drummond
”And what may be your business with Miss Drummond?” says she
I told her I had met her on Saturday last, had been so fortunate as to render her a trifling service, and was co lady's invitation
”O, so you're Saxpence!” she cried, with a very sneering entlenation, or were ye bapteesed Saxpence?” she asked
I told otten a son?”
”No, ma'am,” said I ”I am a son of Alexander's It's I that am the Laird of Shaws”
”Ye'll find your work cut out for ye to establish that,” quoth she
”I perceive you know my uncle,” said I; ”and I daresay you ed”
”And what brings ye here after Miss Drummond?” she pursued
”I'ht, being my uncle's nepheould be found a careful lad”
”So ye have a spark of sleeness in ye?” observed the old lady, with soht ye had just been a cuif-you and your saxpence, and your lucky day and your sake of Balwhidder”-frootten some of our talk ”But all this is by the purpose,” she resu company?”
”This is surely rather an early question,” said I ”The , so am I, worse fortune I have but seen her the once I'll not deny,” I added,up my mind to try her with soood deal since I ; but it would be quite another, and I think I would look very like a fool, to commit myself”
”You can speak out of your mouth, I see,” said the old lady ”Praise God, and so can I! I was fool enough to take charge of this rogue's daughter: a fine charge I have gotten; but it's mine, and I'll carry it the way I want to Do ye mean to tell me, Mr Balfour of Shaws, that you would ed! Well, then, where there's no possible s on, and take that for said Lasses are bruckle things,” she added, with a nod; ”and though ye would never think it by my wrunkled chafts, I was a lassie mysel', and a bonny one”