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44,573
The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy
'As for cheating the law,' said the lawyer, 'ye need gie yoursel no uneasiness about it, provided ye do honestly by your ain bairns, and the rest o' the community.'
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And it was in consequence agreed, that, in the course of a day or two, Claud should take Walter to Glasgow, to execute a deed, by which, in the event of surviving his father, he would undertake to pay a certain annuity for the behoof of Charles's family, and that of his sister, Mrs. Milrookit.
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CHAPTER XXXIX
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In furtherance of the arrangement agreed upon, as we have described in the foregoing chapter, as soon as Mr. Keelevin had retired, Claud summoned Walter into the parlour.
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It happened, that the Leddy, during the period of the lawyer's visit, had been so engaged in another part of the house, that she was not aware of the conference, till, by chance, she saw him riding down the avenue.
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We need not, therefore, say that she experienced some degree of alarm, at the idea of a lawyer having been with her husband, unknown to her; and particularly, when, so immediately after his departure, her darling was requested to attend his father.
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The mother and son entered the room together.
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Walter came from the nursery, where he had been dandling his child, and his appearance was not of the most prepossessing kind.
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From the death of his wife, in whose time, under her dictation, he was brushed up into something of a gentlemanly exterior, he had become gradually more and more slovenly.
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He only shaved on Saturday night, and buttoned his breeches knees on Sunday morning.
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Nor was the dress of Leddy Grippy at all out of keeping with that of her hopeful favourite.
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Her time-out-of-mind red quilted silk petticoat was broken into many holes;--her thrice dyed double tabinet gown, of bottle-green, with large ruffle cuffs, was in need of another dip; for, in her various culinary inspections, it had received many stains, and the superstructure of lawn and catgut, ornamented with ribbons, dyed blae in ink, surmounting her ill-toiletted toupee, had every appearance of having been smoked into yellow, beyond all power of blanching in the bleacher's art.
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'And so, gudeman,' said she, on entering the room, 'ye hae had that auld sneck-drawer, Keelevin, wi' you?
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I won'er what you and him can hae to say in sic a clandestine manner, that the door maun be ay steekit when ye're thegither at your confabbles.
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Surely there's nae honesty that a man can hae, whilk his wife ought na to come in for a share of.'
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'Sit down, Girzy Hypel, and haud thy tongue,' was the peevish command which this speech provoked.
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'What for will I haud my tongue?
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a fool posture that would be, and no very commodious at this time; for ye see my fingers are coomy.'
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'Woman, t'ou's past bearing!' exclaimed her disconcerted husband.
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'An it's nae shame to me, gudeman; for every body kens I'm a grannie.'
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The Laird smote his right thigh, and shook his left hand, with vexation; presently, however, he said,-- 'Weel, weel; but sit ye down, and Watty, tak t'ou a chair beside her; for I want to consult you anent a paper that I'm mindit to hae drawn out for a satisfaction to you a'; for nane can tell when their time may come.'
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'Ye ne'er made a mair sensible observe, gudeman, in a' your days,' replied the Leddy, sitting down; 'and it's vera right to make your will and testament; for
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ye ken what a straemash happened in the Glengowlmahallaghan family, by reason o' the Laird holographing his codicil; whilk, to be sure, was a dreadfu' omission, as my cousin, his wife, fand in her widowhood; for a' the moveables thereby gaed wi' the heritage to his auld son by the first wife--even the vera silver pourie that I gied her mysel wi' my own hands, in a gift at her marriage--a' gaed to the heir.'
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'T'ou kens,' said Claud, interrupting her oration, 'that I hae provided thee wi' the liferent o' a house o' fifteen pounds a-year, furniture, and a jointure of a hundred and twenty over and aboon the outcoming o' thy father's gathering.
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So t'ou canna expek, Girzy, that I would wrang our bairns wi' ony mair overlay on thy account.'
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'Ye're grown richer, gudeman, than when we came thegither,' replied the Leddy; 'and ne'er a man made siller without his wife's leave.
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So it would be a most hard thing, after a' my toiling and moiling, to make me nae better o't than the stricts o' the law in my marriage articles and my father's will; whilk was a gratus amous, that made me nane behauden to you.--No, an ye mean to do justice, gudeman, I'll get my thirds o' the conquest ye hae gotten sin the time o' our marriage; and I'll be content wi' nae less.'
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'Weel, weel, Girzy, we'll no cast out about a settlement for thee.'
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'It would be a fearful thing to hear tell o' an we did,' replied the Leddy: 'Living as we hae lived, a comfort to ane anither for thirty years, and bringing up sic a braw family, wi' so meikle credit.
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No, gudeman, I hae mair confidence in you than to misdoot your love and kindness, noo that ye're drawing so near your latter end as to be seriously thinking o' making a will.
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But, for a' that, I would like to ken what I'm to hae.'
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'Very right, Girzy; very right,' said Claud; 'but, before we can come to a clear understanding, me and Watty maun conform in a bit paper by oursels, just that there may be nae debate hereafter about his right to the excambio we made for the Plealands.'
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'I'll no put hand to ony drumhead paper again,' said Watty, 'for fear it wrang my wee Betty Bodle.'
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Although this was said in a vacant heedless manner, it yet disturbed the mind of his father exceedingly, for the strange obstinacy with which the natural had persisted in his refusal to attend the funeral of his wife, had shown that there was something deeper and more intractable in his character than any one had previously imagined.
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But opposition had only the effect of making Claud more pertinacious, while it induced him to change his mode of operation.
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Perceiving, or at least being afraid that he might again call his obduracy into action, he accordingly shifted his ground, and, instead of his wonted method of treating Walter with commands and menaces, he dexterously availed himself of the Leddy's auxiliary assistance.
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'Far be it, Watty, frae me, thy father,' said he, 'to think or wis wrang to thee or thine; but t'ou kens that in family settlements, where there's a patch't property like ours, we maun hae conjunk proceedings.
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Noo, as I'm fain to do something satisfactory to thy mother, t'ou'll surely never objek to join me in the needfu' instruments to gie effek to my intentions.'
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'I'll do every thing to serve my mother,' replied Walter, 'but I'll no sign ony papers.'
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'Surely, Watty Walkinshaw,' exclaimed the old Leddy, surprised at this repetition of his refusal, 'ye would na see me in want, and driven to a needcessity to gang frae door to door, wi' a meal-pock round my neck, and an oaken rung in my hand?'
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'I would rather gie you my twa dollars, and the auld French half-a-crown, that I got long syne, on my birthday, frae grannie,' said Watty.
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'Then what for will ye no let your father make a rightfu' settlement?' cried his mother.
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'I'm sure I dinna hinder him.
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He may mak fifty settlements for me; I'll ne'er fin' fau't wi' him.'
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'Then,' said the Leddy, 'ye canna objek to his reasonable request.'
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'I objek to no reasonable request; I only say, mother, that I'll no sign ony paper whatsomever, wheresomever, howsomever, nor ever and ever--so ye need na try to fleetch me.'
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'Ye're an outstrapolous ne'er-do-well,' cried the Leddy, in a rage, knocking her neives smartly together, 'to speak to thy mother in that way; t'ou sall sign the paper, an te life be in thy body.'
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'I'll no wrang my ain bairn for father nor mother; I'll gang to Jock Harrigals, the flesher, and pay him to hag aff my right hand, afore I put pen to law-paper again.'
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'This is a' I get for my love and affection,' exclaimed the Leddy, bursting into tears; while her husband, scarcely less agitated by the firmness with which his purpose was resisted, sat in a state of gloomy abstraction, seemingly unconscious of the altercation.
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'
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But,' added Mrs. Walkinshaw, 'I'm no in thy reverence, t'ou unnatural Absalom, to rebel sae against thy parents.
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I hae maybe a hoggar, and I ken whan
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I die, wha s'all get the gouden guts o't--Wilt t'ou sign the paper?'
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'I'll burn aff my right hand in the lowing fire, that I may ne'er be able to write the scrape o' a pen;' and with these emphatic words, said in a soft and simple manner, he rose from his seat, and was actually proceeding towards the fire-place, when a loud knocking at the door disturbed, and put an end to, the conversation.
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It was a messenger sent from old Lady Plealands, to inform her daughter of Charles's malady, and to say that the doctor, who had been called in, was greatly alarmed at the rapid progress of the disease.
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CHAPTER XL Leddy Grippy was one of those worthy gentlewomen who, without the slightest interest or feeling in any object or purpose with which they happen to be engaged, conceive themselves bound to perform all the customary indications of the profoundest sympathy and the deepest sensibility.
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Accordingly, no sooner did she receive the message of her son's melancholy condition, than she proceeded forthwith to prepare herself for going immediately to Glasgow.
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'I canna expek, gudeman,' said she, 'that wi' your host ye'll come wi' me to Glasgow on this very sorrowful occasion; therefore I hope ye'll tak gude care o' yoursel, and see that the servan' lasses get your water-gruel, wi' a tamarind in't, at night, if it should please Charlie's Maker, by reason o' the dangerous distemper, no to alloo me to come hame.'
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The intelligence, however, had so troubled the old man, that he scarcely heard her observation.
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The indisposition of his son seemed to be somehow connected with the visit of Mr. Keelevin, which it certainly was; and while his wife busily prepared for her visit, his mind wandered in devious conjectures, without being able to reach any thing calculated either to satisfy his wonder or to appease his apprehension.
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'It's very right, Girzy, my dear,' said he, 'that ye sou'd gang in and see Charlie, poor lad; I'm extraordinar sorry to hear o' this income, and ye'll be sure to tak care he wants for nothing.
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Hear'st t'ou; look into the auld pocket-book in the scrutoire neuk, t'ou'l aiblins fin' there a five-pound note,--tak it wi' thee--there's no sic an extravagant commodity in ony man's house as a delirious fever.'
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'Ah!' replied the Leddy, looking at her darling and ungrateful Walter, 'ye see what it is to hae a kind father; but ill ye deserve ony attention either frae father or mother, for your condumacity is ordained to break our hearts.'
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'Mother,' said Walter, 'dinna be in sic a hurry--I hae something that 'ill do Charlie good.'
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In saying which, he rose and went to the nursery, whence he immediately returned with a pill-box.
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'There, mother!
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tak that wi' you; it's a box o' excellent medicaments, either for the cough, or the cauld, or shortness o' breath; to say naething amang frien's o' a constipation.
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Gie Charlie twa at bedtime and ane in the morning, and ye'll see an effek sufficient to cure every impediment in man or woman.'
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Leddy Grippy, with the utmost contempt for the pills, snatched the box out of his hand, and flung it behind the fire.
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She then seated herself in the chair opposite her husband, and while she at the same time tied her cloak and placed on her bonnet, she said,-- 'I'll alloo at last, gudeman, that I hae been a' my days in an error, for I could na hae believed that Watty was sic an idiot o' a naturalist, had I no lived to see this day.
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But the will o' Providence be done on earth as it is in heaven, and let us pray that he may be forgiven the sair heart he has gi'en to us his aged parents, as we forgive our debtors.
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I won'er, howsever, that my mother did na send word o' the nature o' this delirietness o' Charlie, for to be surely it's a very sudden come-to-pass, but the things o' time are no to be lippent to, and life fleeth away like a weaver's shuttle, and no man knoweth
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wheresoever it findeth rest for the sole of its foot.
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But, before I go, ye'll no neglek to tell Jenny in the morning to tak the three spyniels o' yarn to Josey Thrums, the weaver, for my Dornick towelling; and ye'll be sure to put Tam Modiwart in mind that he's no to harl the plough out o'er the green brae till I get my big washing out o' hand.
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As for t'ee, Watty, stay till this calamity's past, and I'll let ee ken what it is to treat baith father and mother wi' sae little reverence.
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Really, gudeman, I begin to hae a notion, that he's, as auld Elspeth Freet, the midwife, ance said to me, a ta'enawa, and I would be nane surprised, that whoever lives to see him dee will find in the bed a benweed or a windlestrae, instead o' a Christian corpse.
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But sufficient for the day is the evil thereof; and this sore news o' our auld son should mak us walk humbly, and no repine at the mercies set before us in this our sinfu' estate.'
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The worthy Leddy might have continued her edifying exhortation for some time longer, but her husband grew impatient, and harshly interrupted her eloquence, by reminding her that the day was far advanced, and that the road to Glasgow was both deep and dreigh.
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'I would counsel you, Girzy Hypel,' said he, 'no to put off your time wi' sic havers here, but gang intil the town, and send us out word in the morning, if ye dinna come hame, how Charlie may happen to be; for I canna but say that thir news are no just what I could hae wiss'd to hear at this time.
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As for what we hae been saying to Watty, we baith ken
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he's a kind-hearted chiel, and he'll think better or the morn o' what we were speaking about--will na ye, Watty?'
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'I'll think as muckle's ye like,' said the faithful natural; 'but I'll sign nae papers; that's a fact afore divines.
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What for do ye ay fash me wi' your deeds and your instruments?
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I'm sure baith Charlie and Geordie could write better than me, and ye ne'er troublet them.
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But I jealouse the cause--an my grandfather had na left me his lawful heir to the Plealands, I might hae sat at the chumley-lug whistling on my thumb.
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We a' hae frien's anew when we hae ony thing, and so I see in a' this flyting and fleetching; but ye'll flyte and ye'll fleetch till puddocks grow chucky-stanes before ye'll get me to wrang my ain bairn, my bonny wee Betty Bodle, that has na ane that cares for her, but only my leafu' lane.'
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The Leddy would have renewed her remonstratory animadversions on his obstinacy, but the Laird again reminded her of the length of the journey in such an evening before her, and after a few half advices and half reproaches, she left the house.
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Indisposed as Claud had previously felt himself, or seemed to be, she had not been long away, when he rose from his easy-chair, and walked slowly across the room, with his hands behind, swinging his body heavily as he paced the floor.
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Walter, who still remained on his seat, appeared for some time not to notice his father's gestures; but the old man unconsciously began to quicken his steps, and at last walked so rapidly that his son's attention was roused.
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'Father,' said he, 'hae ye been taking epicacco, for that was just the way that I was telt to gang, when I was last no weel?'
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'No, no,' exclaimed the wretched old man; 'but I hae drank the bitterest dose o' life.
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There's nae vomit for a sick soul--nae purge for a foul conscience.'
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These were, however, confessions that escaped from him unawares, like the sparks that are elicited in violent percussions,--for he soon drew himself firmly and bravely up, as if he prepared himself to defy the worst that was in store for him; but this resolution also as quickly passed away, and he returned to his easy-chair, and sat down, as if he had been abandoned of all hope, and had resigned himself into a dull and sleepy lethargy.
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For about half an hour he continued in this slumbering and inaccessible state, at the end of which he called one of the servants, and bade him be ready to go to Glasgow by break of day, and bring Mr. Keelevin before breakfast.
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'Something maun be done,' said he as the servant, accompanied by Walter, left the room; 'the curse of God has fallen upon me, my hands are tied, a dreadfu' chain is fastened about me; I hae cheated mysel, and there's nae bail--no, not in the Heavens--for the man that has wilfully raffled away his own soul in the guilty game o' pride.'
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CHAPTER XLI
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Meanwhile, the disease which had laid Charles prostrate was proceeding with a terrific and devastating fury.
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Before his mother reached the house, he had lost all sense of himself and situation, and his mind was a chaos of the wildest and most extravagant fantasies.
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Occasionally, however, he would sink into a momentary calm, when a feeble gleam of reason would appear amidst his ravings, like the transient glimmer of a passing light from the shore on the black waves of the stormy ocean, when the cry has arisen at midnight of a vessel on the rocks, and her crew in jeopardy.
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But these breathing-pauses of the fever's rage were, perhaps, more dreadful than its violence, for they were accompanied with a return of the moral anguish which had brought on his malady; and as often as his eye caught the meek, but desponding countenance of Isabella, as she sat by his bedside, he would make a convulsive effort to raise himself, and instantly relapse into the tempestuous raptures of the delirium.