Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 21
General
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 21
Scottish Borders (Scotland) -- Fiction
A trick, this last line, of some of the old legend-mongers of the Bell's
Tower minstrels, no doubt to conceal the shame of the family; for Devil
Isobel had flown to the tower, where, having concealed herself till the
bell-ringers went away to join in the feast of the ox, which they never
tasted even after so much pulling and hauling, she mounted to the
belfry. Somehow she had contrived to cast the bell-rope round one of the
beams by which the bell was suspended, so as to produce no noise, and
then, having made a noose of a different kind from that she had that day
been busily twining, she suspended herself by the neck. It was some days
before she was discovered. The long white figure, still arrayed in the
marriage dress with the flowing veil, had been observed by some of the
searchers; and then, strange enough, it was remembered that one solitary
clang of the bell had been heard after the cessation of the ringing.
That was the death-peal of Isobel Bower. But, a year after, that same
bell had another peal to sound--no other than the celebration of the
marriage of Hector Ogilvy and Sweet Marjory. Some say that Bell's Tower
got its name from the contraction of Isobel. Names stick after the
things have passed away. They did well at least to change the
rope--_finis funis_.
DOCTOR DOBBIE.
The particular day in the life of the worthy disciple of Esculapius to
which we desire to direct the attention of the reader, was raw, coldish,
and drizzly in the morning, but cleared up towards noon; and although it
never became what could be called warm (it was the latter end of
September), it turned out a very passable sort of day on the whole--such
a day as no man could reasonably object to, unless he had some
particular purpose of his own to serve. In such case he might perhaps
have wished more rain, or probably more sunshine, as the one or the
other suited his interest; but where no such selfish motives interfered,
the day must have been generally allowed to have been a good one. The
thermometer stood at--we forget what; and the barometer indicated
"Fair."
PERSONAL APPEARANCE, CHARACTER, AND PECULIARITIES OF THE DOCTOR.
The doctor was a little stout man, not what could be called corpulent,
but presenting that sort of plump appearance which gives the idea of a
person's being hard-packed, squeezed, crammed into his skin.
Such was the doctor, then--not positively fat, but thick, firm, and
stumpy; the latter characteristic being considerably heightened by his
always wearing a pair of glossy Hessian boots, which, firmly encasing
his little thick legs up nearly to the knees, gave a peculiar air of
stamina and solidity to his nether person. The doctor stood like a rock
in his Hessians, and stumped along in them--for he was excessively vain
of them--as proudly as a field-marshal, planting his little iron heels
on the flag-stones with a sharpness and decision that told of a firm and
vigorous step.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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