"No, no, not quite all," said Pleydell, winking sagaciously; "there are
some interrogatories which I shall delay till to-morrow, for it is
time, I believe, to close the sederunt for this night, or rather
morning."
"Well, then, sir," said the young man, "to vary the phrase, since I
have answered all the questions which you have chosen to ask to-night,
will you be so good as to tell me who you are that take such interest
in my affairs, and whom you take me to be, since my arrival has
occasioned such commotion?"
"Why, sir, for myself," replied the Counsellor, "I am Paulus Pleydell,
an advocate at the Scottish bar; and for you, it is not easy to say
distinctly who you are at present, but I trust in a short time to hail
you by the title of Henry Bertram, Esq., representative of one of the
oldest families in Scotland, and heir of Tailzie and provision to the
estate of Ellangowan. Ay," continued he, shutting his eyes and speaking
to himself, "we must pass over his father, and serve him heir to his
grandfather Lewis, the entailer; the only wise man of his family, that
I ever heard of."
They had now risen to retire to their apartments for the night, when
Colonel Mannering walked up to Bertram, as he stood astonished at the
Counsellor's words. "I give you joy," he said, "of the prospects which
fate has opened before you. I was an early friend of your father, and
chanced to be in the house of Ellangowan, as unexpectedly as you are
now in mine, upon the very night in which you were born. I little knew
this circumstance when--but I trust unkindness will be forgotten
between us. Believe me, your appearance here as Mr. Brown, alive and
well, has relieved me from most painful sensations; and your right to
the name of an old friend renders your presence as Mr. Bertram doubly
welcome."
"And my parents?" said Bertram.
"Are both no more; and the family property has been sold, but I trust
may be recovered. Whatever is wanted to make your right effectual I
shall be most happy to supply."
"Nay, you may leave all that to me," said the Counsellor; "'t is my
vocation, Hal; I shall make money of it."
"I'm sure it's no for the like o' me," observed Dinmont, "to speak to
you gentlefolks; but if siller would help on the Captain's plea, and
they say nae plea gangs ain weel without it--"
"Except on Saturday night," said Pleydell.
"Ay, but when your honour wadna take your fee ye wadna hae the cause
neither, sae I'll ne'er fash you on a Saturday at e'en again. But I was
saying, there's some siller in the spleuchan that's like the Captain's
ain, for we've aye counted it such, baith Ailie and me."
'No, no, Liddesdale; no occasion, no occasion whatever. Keep thy cash
to stock thy farm.'
'To stock my farm? Mr. Pleydell, your honour kens mony things, but ye
dinna ken the farm o' Charlie's Hope; it's sae weel stockit already
that we sell maybe sax hundred pounds off it ilka year, flesh and fell
the gither; na, na.'
'Can't you take another then?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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