'Well, sir,' replied Bertram, 'if I have a title to have that property
delivered up to me, I shall apply for it; and there is a good deal more
than enough to pay any demand you can set up.'
'I dinna ken a bit about that,' said Mac-Guffog; 'ye may be here lang
eneugh. And then the gieing credit maun be considered in the fees. But,
however, as ye DO seem to be a chap by common, though my wife says I
lose by my good-nature, if ye gie me an order for my fees upon that
money I daresay Glossin will make it forthcoming; I ken something about
an escape from Ellangowan. Ay, ay, he'll be glad to carry me through,
and be neighbour-like.'
'Well, sir,' replied Bertram, 'if I am not furnished in a day or two
otherwise, you shall have such an order.'
'Weel, weel, then ye shall be put up like a prince,' said Mac-Guffog.
'But mark ye me, friend, that we may have nae colly-shangie afterhend,
these are the fees that I always charge a swell that must have his
lib-ken to himsell:--Thirty shillings a week for lodgings, and a guinea
for garnish; half a guinea a week for a single bed; and I dinna get the
whole of it, for I must gie half a crown out of it to Donald Laider
that's in for sheep-stealing, that should sleep with you by rule, and
he'll expect clean strae, and maybe some whisky beside. So I make
little upon that.'
'Well, sir, go on.'
'Then for meat and liquor, ye may have the best, and I never charge
abune twenty per cent ower tavern price for pleasing a gentleman that
way; and that's little eneugh for sending in and sending out, and
wearing the lassie's shoon out. And then if ye're dowie I will sit wi'
you a gliff in the evening mysell, man, and help ye out wi' your
bottle. I have drank mony a glass wi' Glossin, man, that did you up,
though he's a justice now. And then I'se warrant ye'll be for fire thir
cauld nights, or if ye want candle, that's an expensive article, for
it's against the rules. And now I've tell'd ye the head articles of the
charge, and I dinna think there's muckle mair, though there will aye be
some odd expenses ower and abune.'
'Well, sir, I must trust to your conscience, if ever you happened to
hear of such a thing; I cannot help myself.'
'Na, na, sir,' answered the cautious jailor, 'I'll no permit you to be
saying that. I'm forcing naething upon ye; an ye dinna like the price,
ye needna take the article. I force no man; I was only explaining what
civility was. But if ye like to take the common run of the house, it's
a' ane to me; I'll be saved trouble, that's a'.'
'Nay, my friend, I have, as I suppose you may easily guess, no
inclination to dispute your terms upon such a penalty,' answered
Bertram. 'Come, show me where I am to be, for I would fain be alone for
a little while.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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