David Elginbrod | Page 4

were not few, seeing the salary was of the
smallest--was Hugh Sutherland, the young man concerning whom
David Elginbrod has already given his opinion. But notwithstanding the
freedom he always granted his daughter, and his good opinion of Hugh
as well, David could not help feeling a little anxious, in his walk along
the road towards the house, as to what the apparent acquaintance
between her and the new tutor might evolve; but he got rid of all the
difficulty, as far as he was concerned, by saying at last:
"What richt hae I to interfere? even supposin' I wanted to interfere. But
I can lippen weel to my bonny doo; an' for the rest, she maun tak' her
chance like the lave o's. An' wha' kens but it micht jist be stan'in' afore
Him, i' the very get that He meant to gang. The Lord forgie me for
speakin' o' chance, as gin I believed in ony sic havers. There's no fear o'
the lassie. Gude mornin' t'ye, Maister Sutherlan'. That's a braw beuk o'
ballants ye gae the len' o' to my Maggy, this mornin', sir."
Sutherland was just entering a side-door of the house when David
accosted him. He was not old enough to keep from blushing at David's
words; but, having a good conscience, he was ready with a good
answer.
"It's a good book, Mr. Elginbrod. It will do her no harm, though it be
ballads."
"I'm in no dreed o' that, sir. Bairns maun hae ballants. An', to tell the
truth, sir, I'm no muckle mair nor a bairn in that respeck mysel'. In fac,
this verra mornin', at the beuk, I jist thocht I was readin' a gran' godly
ballant, an' it soundet nane the waur for the notion o't."
"You should have been a poet yourself, Mr. Elginbrod."
"Na, na; I ken naething aboot yer poetry. I hae read auld John Milton

ower an' ower, though I dinna believe the half o't; but, oh! weel I like
some o' the bonny bitties at the en' o't."
"Il Penseroso, for instance?"
"Is that hoo ye ca't? I ken't weel by the sicht, but hardly by the soun'. I
aye missed the name o't, an' took to the thing itsel'. Eh, man!--I beg yer
pardon, sir--but its wonnerfu' bonny!"
"I'll come in some evening, and we'll have a chat about it," replied
Sutherland. "I must go to my work now."
"We'll a' be verra happy to see you, sir. Good mornin', sir."
"Good morning."
David went to the garden, where there was not much to be done in the
way of education at this season of the year; and Sutherland to the
school-room, where he was busy, all the rest of the morning and part of
the afternoon, with Caesar and Virgil, Algebra and Euclid; food upon
which intellectual babes are reared to the stature of college youths.
Sutherland was himself only a youth; for he had gone early to college,
and had not yet quite completed the curriculum. He was now filling up
with teaching, the recess between his third and his fourth winter at one
of the Aberdeen Universities. He was the son of an officer, belonging
to the younger branch of a family of some historic distinction and
considerable wealth. This officer, though not far removed from the
estate and title as well, had nothing to live upon but his half-pay; for, to
the disgust of his family, he had married a Welsh girl of ancient descent,
in whose line the poverty must have been at least coeval with the
history, to judge from the perfection of its development in the case of
her father; and his relations made this the excuse for quarrelling with
him; so relieving themselves from any obligations they might have
been supposed to lie under, of rendering him assistance of some sort or
other. This, however, rather suited the temperament of Major Robert
Sutherland, who was prouder in his poverty than they in their riches. So
he disowned them for ever, and accommodated himself, with the best
grace in the world, to his yet more straitened circumstances. He
resolved, however, cost what it might in pinching and squeezing, to
send his son to college before turning him out to shift for himself. In
this Mrs. Sutherland was ready to support him to the utmost; and so
they had managed to keep their boy at college for three sessions; after
the last of which, instead of returning home, as he had done on

previous occasions, he had looked about him for a temporary
engagement as tutor, and soon found the situation he now occupied in
the family of William Glasford, Esq., of Turriepuffit, where he
intended to remain no longer than the commencement of the session,
which would be