Mac-Morlan, in the transports of his wrath, flung the power of
attorney at the head of the innocent maid-servant, and was only
forcibly withheld from horsewhipping the rascally messenger, by
whose sloth and drunkenness the disappointment had taken place.
CHAPTER XV.
My gold is gone, my money is spent, My land now take it
unto thee. Give me thy gold, good John o' Scales, And
thine for aye my land shall be. Then John he did him to
record draw, And John he caste him a gods-pennie; But for
every pounde that John agreed, The land, I wis, was well
worth three.
Heir of Linne.
The Galwegian John o' the Scales was a more clever fellow than his
prototype. He contrived to make himself heir of Lione without the
disagreeable ceremony of "telling down the good red gold." Miss
Bertram no sooner heard this painful, and of late unexpected
intelligence, than she proceeded in the preparations she had
already made for leaving the mansion-house immediately. Mr.
Mac-Morlan assisted her in these arrangements, and pressed upon her
so kindly the hospitality and protection of his roof, until she
should receive an answer from her cousin' or be enabled to adopt
some settled plan of life, that she felt there would be unkindness
in refusing an invitation urged with such earnestness. Mrs.
Mac-Morlan was a lady-like person, and well qualified by birth and
manners to receive the visit, and to make her house agreeable to
Miss Bertram. A home, therefore, and an hospitable reception, were
secured to her, and she went on, with better heart, to pay the
wages and receive the adieus of the few domestics of her father's
family.
Where there are estimable qualities or, either side, this task is
always affecting--the present circumstances rendered it doubly so.
All received their due, and even a trifle more, and with thanks and
good wishes, to which some added tears, took farewell of their
young mistress. There remained in the parlour only Mr. Mac-Morlan,
who came to attend his guest to his house, Dominie Sampson, and
Miss Bertram. "And now," said the poor girl, "I must bid farewell
to one of my oldest and kindest friends.--God bless you, Mr.
Sampson, and requite to you all the kindness of your instructions
to your poor pupil, and your friendship to him that is gone--I hope
I shall often hear from you." She slid into his hand a paper
containing some pieces of gold, and rose, as if to leave the room.
Dominie Sampson also rose; but it was to stand aghast with utter
astonishment. The idea of parting from Miss Lucy, go where she
might, had never once occurred to the simplicity of his
understanding.--He laid the money on the table. "It is certainly
inadequate," said Mac-Morlan, mistaking his meaning, "but the
circumstances--"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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