Redgauntlet [148]
(not without some points of advice from his lady touching the precise mixture of the ingredients) had accomplished the compounding of a noble bowl of punch, at which the old Jacobite's eyes seemed to glisten, the glasses were pushed round it, filled, and withdrawn each by its owner, when the provost emphatically named the toast, 'The King,' with an important look to Fairford, which seemed to say, You can have no doubt whom I mean, and therefore there is no occasion to particularize the individual.
Summertrees repeated the toast, with a sly wink to the lady, while Fairford drank his glass in silence.
'Well, young advocate,' said the landed proprietor, 'I am glad to see there is some shame, if there is little honesty, left in the Faculty. Some of your black gowns, nowadays, have as little of the one as of the other.'
'At least, sir,' replied Mr. Fairford, 'I am so much of a lawyer as not willingly to enter into disputes which I am not retained to support--it would be but throwing away both time and argument.'
'Come, come,' said the lady, 'we will have no argument in this house about Whig or Tory--the provost kens what he maun SAY, and I ken what he should THINK; and for a' that has come and gane yet, there may be a time coming when honest men may say what they think, whether they be provosts or not.'
'D'ye hear that, provost?' said Summertrees; 'your wife's a witch, man; you should nail a horseshoe on your chamber door--Ha, ha, ha!'
This sally did not take quite so well as former efforts of the laird's wit. The lady drew up, and the provost said, half aside, 'The sooth bourd is nae bourd. [The true joke is no joke.] You will find the horseshoe hissing hot, Summertrees.'
'You can speak from experience, doubtless, provost,' answered the laird; 'but I crave pardon--I need not tell Mrs. Crosbie that I have all respect for the auld and honourable House of Redgauntlet.'
'And good reason ye have, that are sae sib to them,' quoth the lady, 'and kend weel baith them that are here, and them that are gane.'
'In troth, and ye may say sae, madam,' answered the laird; 'for poor Harry Redgauntlet, that suffered at Carlisle, was hand and glove with me; and yet we parted on short leave-taking.'
'Aye, Summertrees,' said the provost; 'that was when you played Cheat-the-woodie, and gat the by-name of Pate-in-Peril. I wish you would tell the story to my young friend here. He likes weel to hear of a sharp trick, as most lawyers do.'
'I wonder at your want of circumspection, provost,' said the laird,--much after the manner of a singer when declining to sing the song that is quivering upon his tongue's very end. 'Ye should mind there are some auld stories that cannot be ripped up again with entire safety to all concerned. TACE is Latin for a candle,'
'I hope,' said the lady, 'you are not afraid of anything being said out of this house to your prejudice, Summertrees? I have heard the story before; but the oftener I hear it, the more wonderful I think it.'
'Yes, madam; but it has been now a wonder of more than nine days, and it is time it should be ended,' answered Maxwell.
Fairford now thought it civil to say, 'that he had often heard of Mr. Maxwell's wonderful escape, and that nothing could be more agreeable to him than to hear the right version of it.'
But Summertrees was obdurate, and refused to take up the time of the company with such 'auld-warld nonsense.'
'Weel, weel,' said the provost, 'a wilful man maun hae his way. What do your folk in the country think about the disturbances that are beginning to spunk out in the colonies?'
'Excellent, sir, excellent. When things come to the worst; they will mend; and to the worst they are coming. But as to that nonsense ploy of mine, if ye insist on hearing the particulars,' --said the laird, who began to be sensible that the period of telling his story gracefully was gliding fast away.
'Nay,' said the provost, 'it was not for myself, but this young gentlemen.'
'Aweel, what for should I not pleasure the young gentlemen? I'll just drink
Summertrees repeated the toast, with a sly wink to the lady, while Fairford drank his glass in silence.
'Well, young advocate,' said the landed proprietor, 'I am glad to see there is some shame, if there is little honesty, left in the Faculty. Some of your black gowns, nowadays, have as little of the one as of the other.'
'At least, sir,' replied Mr. Fairford, 'I am so much of a lawyer as not willingly to enter into disputes which I am not retained to support--it would be but throwing away both time and argument.'
'Come, come,' said the lady, 'we will have no argument in this house about Whig or Tory--the provost kens what he maun SAY, and I ken what he should THINK; and for a' that has come and gane yet, there may be a time coming when honest men may say what they think, whether they be provosts or not.'
'D'ye hear that, provost?' said Summertrees; 'your wife's a witch, man; you should nail a horseshoe on your chamber door--Ha, ha, ha!'
This sally did not take quite so well as former efforts of the laird's wit. The lady drew up, and the provost said, half aside, 'The sooth bourd is nae bourd. [The true joke is no joke.] You will find the horseshoe hissing hot, Summertrees.'
'You can speak from experience, doubtless, provost,' answered the laird; 'but I crave pardon--I need not tell Mrs. Crosbie that I have all respect for the auld and honourable House of Redgauntlet.'
'And good reason ye have, that are sae sib to them,' quoth the lady, 'and kend weel baith them that are here, and them that are gane.'
'In troth, and ye may say sae, madam,' answered the laird; 'for poor Harry Redgauntlet, that suffered at Carlisle, was hand and glove with me; and yet we parted on short leave-taking.'
'Aye, Summertrees,' said the provost; 'that was when you played Cheat-the-woodie, and gat the by-name of Pate-in-Peril. I wish you would tell the story to my young friend here. He likes weel to hear of a sharp trick, as most lawyers do.'
'I wonder at your want of circumspection, provost,' said the laird,--much after the manner of a singer when declining to sing the song that is quivering upon his tongue's very end. 'Ye should mind there are some auld stories that cannot be ripped up again with entire safety to all concerned. TACE is Latin for a candle,'
'I hope,' said the lady, 'you are not afraid of anything being said out of this house to your prejudice, Summertrees? I have heard the story before; but the oftener I hear it, the more wonderful I think it.'
'Yes, madam; but it has been now a wonder of more than nine days, and it is time it should be ended,' answered Maxwell.
Fairford now thought it civil to say, 'that he had often heard of Mr. Maxwell's wonderful escape, and that nothing could be more agreeable to him than to hear the right version of it.'
But Summertrees was obdurate, and refused to take up the time of the company with such 'auld-warld nonsense.'
'Weel, weel,' said the provost, 'a wilful man maun hae his way. What do your folk in the country think about the disturbances that are beginning to spunk out in the colonies?'
'Excellent, sir, excellent. When things come to the worst; they will mend; and to the worst they are coming. But as to that nonsense ploy of mine, if ye insist on hearing the particulars,' --said the laird, who began to be sensible that the period of telling his story gracefully was gliding fast away.
'Nay,' said the provost, 'it was not for myself, but this young gentlemen.'
'Aweel, what for should I not pleasure the young gentlemen? I'll just drink