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44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But it never occurred to me that Robina was attached to him; on the contrary, I have always thought that the distaste was stronger on her part than on his. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But it is of no use to vex myself on the subject. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Let me rest satisfied to-night with having ascertained that at least on Robina's part there is no objection to the match. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | My endeavours hereafter must be directed to detach James from the girl Frazer. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | It will, however, be no easy task, for he is ardent and enthusiastic, and she has undoubtedly many of those graces which readiest find favour in a young man's eye.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | He then hastily rose, and hurriedly paced the room. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Why am I cursed,' he exclaimed, 'with this joyless and barren fate? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Were Robina a son, all my anxieties would be hushed; but with her my interest in the estate of my ancestors terminates. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Her mother, however, may yet'--and he paused. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'It is very weak,' he added in a moment after, 'to indulge in these reflections. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | I have a plain task before me, and instead of speculating on hopes and chances, I ought to set earnestly about it, and leave no stone unturned till I have performed it thoroughly.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | With this he composed his mind for the remainder of the evening, and when he again joined Robina and her mother, the conversation by all parties was studiously directed to indifferent topics. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | CHAPTER LXX There are few things more ludicrous, and at the same time more interesting, than the state of a young man in love, unless, perhaps, it be that of an old man in the same unfortunate situation. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The warmth of the admiration, the blindness of the passion, and the fond sincerity of the enthusiasm, which gives grace and sentiment to the instinct, all awaken sympathy, and even inspire a degree of compassionate regard; but the extravagance of feeling beyond what any neutral person can sympathize with, the ostrich-like simplicity of the expedients resorted to in assignations, and that self-approved sagacity and prudence in concealing what everybody with half an eye can see, afford the most harmless and diverting spectacles of human absurdity. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | However, as we are desirous of conciliating the reverence of the young and fair, perhaps it may be as well to say nothing more on this head, but allow them to enjoy, in undisturbed faith, the amiable anticipation of that state of beatitude which Heaven, and all married personages, know is but a very very transient enchantment. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But we cannot, with any regard to the fidelity of circumstantial history, omit to relate what passed in young Walkinshaw's bosom, after he parted from his cousin.--To render it in some degree picturesque, we might describe his appearance; but when we spoke of him as a handsome manly youth for his inches and his eild, we said perhaps as much as we could well say upon that head, unless we were to paint the colour and fashion of his clothes,--a task in which we have no particular relish;--and, therefore, we may just briefly mention that they were in the style of the sprucest clerks of Glasgow; and everybody knows, that if the bucks of the Trongate would only button their coats, they might pass for gentlemen of as good blood and breeding as the best in Bond Street. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But, even though Walkinshaw had been in the practice of buttoning his, he was that night in no condition to think of it. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | His whole bosom was as a flaming furnace--raging as fiercely as those of the Muirkirk Iron Works that served to illuminate his path. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | He felt as if he had been held in a state of degradation; and had been regarded as so destitute of all the honourable qualities of a young man, that he would not scruple to barter himself in the most sordid manner. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | His spirit then mounting on the exulting wings of youthful hope, bore him aloft into the cloudy and meteoric region of romance, and visions of fortune and glory almost too splendid for the aching sight of his fancy, presented themselves in a thousand smiling forms, beckoning him away from the smoky confines and foetid airs of Glasgow, and pointing to some of the brightest and beaming bubbles that allure fantastic youth. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But, in the midst of these glittering visions of triumphant adventure, 'a change came o'er the spirit of his dream,' and he beheld Ellen Frazer in the simple and tasteful attire in which she appeared so beautiful at Camrachle church. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | In the background of the sunny scene was a pretty poetical cottage, with a lamb tethered by the foot on the green, surrounded by a flock of snowy geese, enjoying their noontide siesta, and on the ground troops of cocks and hens, with several gabbling bandy-legged ducks; at the sight of which another change soon came o'er the spirit of his dream; and the elegant mansion that his uncle had made of the old house of Grippy, with all its lawns and plantations, and stately gate and porter's lodge, together with an elegant carriage in the avenue, presented a most alluring picture.--But it, too, soon vanished; and in the next change, he beheld Robina converted into his wife, carping at all his little pranks and humours, and studious only of her own enjoyments, without having any consideration for those that might be his. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Then all was instantly darkened; and after a terrible burst of whirlwinds, and thunder and lightning, the cloud again opened, and he saw in its phantasmagorial mirror a calm and summer sunset, with his beautiful Ellen Frazer in the shape of a venerable matron, partaking of the temperate pleasures of an aged man, seated on a rustic seat, under a tree, on the brow of Camrachlebank, enjoying the beauties of the view, and talking of their children's children; and in the visage of that aged man, he discovered a most respectable resemblance of himself.--So fine a close of a life, untroubled by any mischance, malady, or injustice, could not fail to produce the most satisfactory result. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Accordingly, he decidedly resolved, that it should be his; and that, as he had previously determined, the connexion with his uncle should thenceforth be cut for ever. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | By the time that imagination rather than reason had worked him into this decision, he arrived at Glasgow; and being resolved to carry his intention into immediate effect, instead of going to the house where he was boarded, at his uncle's expense, he went to the Leddy's, partly with the intention of remaining there, but chiefly to remonstrate with her for having spoken of his attachment to Ellen Frazer; having concluded, naturally enough, that it was from her his uncle had received the information. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | On entering the parlour he found the old lady seated alone, in her elbow chair, at the fireside. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | A single slender candle stood at her elbow, on a small claw-foot table; and she was winding the yarn from a pirn, with a hand-reel, carefully counting the turns. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Hearing the door open, she looked round, and seeing who it was, said,-- 'Is that thee, Jamie Walkinshaw?--six and thirty--where came ye frae--seven and thirty--at this time o' night?--eight and thirty--sit ye down--nine and thirty--snuff the candle--forty.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'I'll wait till ye're done,' said he, 'as I wish to tell you something--for I have been out at Kittlestonheugh, where I had some words with my uncle.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'No possible!--nine and forty,'--replied the Leddy;--'what hast been about?--fifty'---- |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'He seems to regard me as if I had neither a will nor feelings, neither a head nor a heart.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'I hope ye hae baith--five and fifty--but hae ye been condumacious?--seven and--plague tak the laddie, I'm out in my count, and I'll hae to begin the cut again; so I may set by the reel. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | What were you saying, Jamie, anent an outcast wi' your uncle?' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'He has used me exceedingly ill--ripping up the obligations he has laid me under, and taunting me with my poverty.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'And is't no true that ye're obligated to him, and that, but for the uncly duty he has fulfilled towards you, ye would this night hae been a bare lad?--gude kens an ye would na hae been as scant o' cleeding as a salmon in the river.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'It may be so, but when it is considered that he got the family estate by a quirk of law, he could scarcely have done less than he did for my unfortunate father's family. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But I could have forgiven all that, had he not, in a way insulting to my feelings, intimated that he expected I would break with Ellen Frazer, and offer myself to Robina.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'And sure am I, Jamie,' replied the Leddy, 'that it will be lang before you can do better.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'My mind, however, is made up,' said he; 'and to-morrow morning I shall go to Camrachle, and tell my mother that I have resolved to leave Glasgow.--I will never again set my foot in the counting-house.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Got ye ony drink, Jamie, in the gait hame, that ye're in sic a wud humour for dancing "Auld Sir Simon the King", on the road to Camrachle?--Man, an I had as brisk a bee in the bonnet, I would set aff at ance, cracking my fingers at the moon and seven stars as I gaed louping alang.--But, to speak the words of soberness, I'm glad ye hae discretion enough to tak a night's rest first.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Do not think so lightly of my determination--It is fixed--and, from the moment I quitted Kittlestonheugh, I resolved to be no longer under any obligation to my uncle--He considers me as a mere passive instrument for his own ends.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Hech, sirs! |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | man, but ye hae a great share o' sagacity,' exclaimed the Leddy; 'and because your uncle is fain that ye should marry his only dochter, and would, if ye did sae, leave you for dowry and tocher a braw estate and a bank o' siller, ye think he has pookit you by the nose.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'No--not for that; but because he thinks so meanly of me, as to expect that, for mercenary considerations, I would bargain away both my feelings and my principles.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Sure am I he would ne'er mint ony sic matter,' replied the Leddy; 'and if he wantit you to break wi' yon galloping nymph o' the Highland heather, and draw up wi' that sweet primrose-creature, your cousin Beenie, wha is a lassie o' sense and composity, and might be a match to majesty, it was a' for your honour and exaltation.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Don't distress me any further with the subject,' said he. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Will you have the goodness to let me stay here to-night? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | for, as I told you, there shall never now be any addition made to the obligations which have sunk me so low.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | ''Deed, my lad, an ye gang on in that deleerit manner, I'll no only gie you a bed, but send baith for a doctor and a gradawa, that your head may be shaved, and a' proper remedies--outwardly and inwardly--gotten to bring you back to a right way o' thinking. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But to end a' debates, ye'll just pack up your ends and your awls and gang hame to Mrs. Spruil's, for the tow's to spin and the woo's to card that 'ill be the sheets and blankets o' your bed in this house the night--tak my word for't.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'In that case, I will at once go to Camrachle. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The night is fine, and the moon's up.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'Awa wi' you, |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | and show how weel ye hae come to years o' discretion, by singing as ye gang,-- Scotsman ho! |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Scotsman lo! |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Where shall this poor Scotsman go? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Send him east, send him west, Send him to the craw's nest.' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Notwithstanding the stern mood that Walkinshaw was in, this latter sally of his grandmother's eccentric humour compelled him to laugh, and he said gaily, 'But I shall be none the worse of a little supper before I set out. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | I hope you will not refuse me that?' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The old Lady, supposing that she had effectually brought him, as she said, round to himself, cheerfully acquiesced; but she was not a little disappointed, when, after some light and ludicrous conversation on general topics, he still so persisted either to remain in the house or to proceed to his mother's, that she found herself obliged to order a bed to be prepared for him--at the same time she continued to express her confidence that he would be in a more docile humour next morning. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'I hope,' said she, 'nevertheless, that the spirit of obedience will soople that stiff neck o' thine, in the slumbers and watches of the night, or I ne'er would be consenting to countenance such outstrapulous rebellion.' CHAPTER LXXI |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Walkinshaw passed a night of 'restless ecstasy'. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Sometimes he reflected on the proposition with all the coolness that the Laird himself could have desired; but still and anon the centripetal movement of the thoughts and feelings which generated this prudence was suddenly arrested before they had gravitated into anything like resolution, and then he was thrown as wild and as wide from the object of his uncle's solicitude as ever. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | In the calmer, perhaps it may therefore be said, in the wiser course of his reflections, Robina appeared to him a shrewd and sensible girl, with a competent share of personal beauty, and many other excellent household qualities, to make her a commendable wife. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | With her he would at once enter on the enjoyment of opulence, and with it independence; and, moreover, and above all, have it in his power to restore his mother and sister to that state in society, to which, by birth and original expectations, they considered themselves as having some claim. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | This was a pleasing and a proud thought; and not to indulge it at the expense of a little sacrifice of personal feeling, seemed to him selfish and unmanly. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But then he would remember with what high-toned bravery of determination he had boasted to his uncle of his pure and unalterable affections; how contemptuously he had spoken of pecuniary inducements, and in what terms, too, he had told Robina herself, that she had nothing to hope from him. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | It was, therefore, impossible that he could present himself to either with any expression of regret for what had passed, without appearing, in the eyes of both, as equally weak and unworthy. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But the very thought of finding that he could think of entertaining the proposition at all, was more acute and mortifying than even this; and he despised himself when he considered how Ellen Frazer would look upon him, if she knew he had been so base as, for a moment, to calculate the sordid advantages of preferring his cousin. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But what was to be done? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | To return to the counting-house, after his resolute declaration; to embark again in that indoor and tame drudgery which he ever hated, and which was rendered as vile as slavery, by the disclosures which had taken place, could not be. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | He would be baser than were he to sell himself to his uncle's purposes, could he yield to such a suggestion. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | To leave Glasgow was his only alternative; but how? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | and where to go? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | and where to obtain the means? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | were stinging questions that he could not answer; and then what was he to gain? |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | To marry Robina was to sacrifice Ellen Frazer; to quit the country entailed the same consequence. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Besides all that, in so doing he would add to the sorrows and the disappointments of his gentle-hearted and affectionate mother, who had built renewed hopes on his success under the auspices of his uncle, and who looked eagerly forward to the time when he should be so established in business as to bring his sister before the world in circumstances befitting his father's child; for the hereditary pride of family was mingled with his sensibility; and even the beautiful and sprightly Ellen Frazer herself, perhaps, owed something of her superiority over Robina to the Highland pedigrees and heroic traditions which Mrs. Eadie delighted to relate of her ancestors. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | While tossing on these troubled and conflicting tides of the mind, he happened to recollect, that a merchant, a schoolfellow of his father, and who, when he occasionally met him, always inquired, with more than common interest, for his mother and sister, had at that time a vessel bound for New York, where he intended to establish a store, and was in want of a clerk; and it occurred to him, that, perhaps, through that means, he might accomplish his wishes. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | This notion was as oil to his agitation, and hope restored soon brought sleep and soothing dreams to his pillow; but his slumbers were not of long duration, for before sunrise he awoke; and, in order to avoid the garrulous remonstrances of the Leddy, he rose and went to Camrachle for the purpose, as he persuaded himself, to consult his mother; but, for all that we have been able to understand, it was in reality only to communicate his determination. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But these sort of self-delusions are very common to youths under age. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The morning air, as he issued from Glasgow, was cold and raw. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Heavy blobs of water, the uncongenial distillations of the midnight fogs, hung so dully on the hoary hedges, that even Poesy would be guilty of downright extravagance, were she, on any occasion, to call such gross uncrystalline knobs of physic glass by any epithet implying dew. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The road was not miry, but gluey, and reluctant, and wearisome to the tread. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The smoke from the farm-houses rolled listlessly down the thatch, and lazily spread itself into a dingy azure haze, that lingered and lowered among the stacks of the farm-yards. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The cows, instead of proceeding, with their ordinary sedate common sense, to the pastures, stood on the loans, looking east and west, and lowing to one another--no doubt concerning the state of the weather. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The birds chirped peevishly, as they hopped from bough to bough. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The ducks walked in silence to their accustomed pools. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | The hens, creatures at all times of a sober temperament, condoled in actual sadness together under sheds and bushes; and chanticleer himself wore a paler crest than usual, and was so low in spirits, that he only once had heart enough to wind his bugle-horn. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Nature was sullen--and the herd-boy drew his blanket-mantle closer round him, and snarlingly struck the calf as he grudgingly drove the herd afield. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | On the ground, at the door of the toll-bar house, lay a gill-stoup on its side, and near it, on a plate, an empty glass and a bit of bread, which showed that some earlier traveller had, in despite of the statute, but in consideration of the damp and unwholesome morning, obtained a dram from the gudewife's ain bottle. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | In consequence of these sympathetic circumstances, before Walkinshaw reached Camrachle, his heart was almost as heavy as his limbs were tired. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | His mother, when she saw him pass the parlour window, as he approached the door, was surprised at his appearance, and suffered something like a shock of fear when she perceived the dulness of his eye and the dejection of his features. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'What has brought you here?' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | was her first exclamation; 'and what has happened?' |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But, instead of replying, he walked in, and seated himself at the fireside, complaining of his cold and uncomfortable walk, and the heaviness of the road. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | His sister was preparing breakfast, and happening not to be in the room, his mother repeated her anxious inquiries with an accent of more earnest solicitude. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | 'I fear,' said Walkinshaw, 'that I am only come to distress you;' and he then briefly recapitulated what had passed between himself and his uncle respecting Robina. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | But a sentiment of tenderness for his mother's anxieties, blended with a wish to save her from the disagreeable sensation with which he knew his determination to quit Glasgow would affect her, made him suppress the communication that he had come expressly to make. |
44,573 | The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy | Mrs. Walkinshaw had been too long accustomed to the occasional anticipations in which her brother-in-law had indulged on the subject, to be surprised at what had taken place on his part; and both from her own observations, and from the repugnance her son expressed, she had no doubt that his attachment to Ellen Frazer was the chief obstacle to the marriage. |
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