Mac-Morlan, in the transports of his wrath, flung the power of attorney
at the head of the innocent maidservant, and was only forcibly withheld
from horse-whipping 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' the 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 Linne 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 ladylike 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 on 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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