Robert Falconer | Page 9

pipe weel? Daur ye tell me
'at he didna pipe weel?--as weel's ye cud hae dune 't yersel', noo, Mr.
Lumley?'
The laugh again rose at Lumley's expense, who was well known to
have tried his hand at most things, and succeeded in nothing. Dooble
Sanny was especially delighted.
'De'il hae ye for a de'il's brat! 'At I suld sweer!' was all Lumley's reply,
as he sought to conceal his mortification by attempting to join in the
laugh against himself. Robert seized the opportunity of turning away
and entering the house.
'That ane's no to be droont or brunt aither,' said Lumley, as he
disappeared.
'He'll no be hang't for closin' your mou', Mr. Lumley,' said the
shoemaker.
Thereupon Lumley turned and followed Robert into the inn.
Robert had delivered his message to Miss Napier, who sat in an

arm-chair by the fire, in a little comfortable parlour, held sacred by all
about the house. She was paralytic, and unable to attend to her guests
further than by giving orders when anything especial was referred to
her decision. She was an old lady--nearly as old as Mrs. Falconer--and
wore glasses, but they could not conceal the kindness of her kindly
eyes. Probably from giving less heed to a systematic theology, she had
nothing of that sternness which first struck a stranger on seeing
Robert's grandmother. But then she did not know what it was to be
contradicted; and if she had been married, and had had sons, perhaps a
sternness not dissimilar might have shown itself in her nature.
'Noo ye maunna gang awa' till ye get something,' she said, after taking
the receipt in request from a drawer within her reach, and laying it upon
the table. But ere she could ring the bell which stood by her side, one of
her servants came in.
'Please, mem,' she said, 'Miss Letty and Miss Lizzy's seein' efter the
bonny leddy; and sae I maun come to you.'
'Is she a' that bonny, Meg?' asked her mistress.
'Na, na, she's nae sae fearsome bonny; but Miss Letty's unco ta'en wi'
her, ye ken. An' we a' say as Miss Letty says i' this hoose. But that's no
the pint. Mr. Lumley's here, seekin' a gill: is he to hae't?'
'Has he had eneuch already, do ye think, Meg?'
'I dinna ken aboot eneuch, mem; that's ill to mizzer; but I dinna think
he's had ower muckle.'
'Weel, lat him tak' it. But dinna lat him sit doon.'
'Verra weel, mem,' said Meg, and departed.
'What gars Mr. Lumley say 'at my gran'father was the blin' piper o'
Portcloddie? Can ye tell me, Miss Naper?' asked Robert.
'Whan said he that, Robert?'

'Jist as I cam in.'
Miss Napier rang the bell. Another maid appeared.
'Sen' Meg here direckly.'
Meg came, her eyes full of interrogation.
'Dinna gie Lumley a drap. Set him up to insult a young gentleman at
my door-cheek! He s' no hae a drap here the nicht. He 's had ower
muckle, Meg, already, an' ye oucht to hae seen that.'
''Deed, mem, he 's had mair than ower muckle, than; for there's anither
gill ower the thrapple o' 'm. I div my best, mem, but, never tastin'
mysel', I canna aye tell hoo muckle 's i' the wame o' a' body 'at comes
in.'
'Ye're no fit for the place, Meg; that's a fac'.'
At this charge Meg took no offence, for she had been in the place for
twenty years. And both mistress and maid laughed the moment they
parted company.
'Wha's this 'at's come the nicht, Miss Naper, 'at they're sae ta'en wi'?'
asked Robert.
'Atweel, I dinna ken yet. She's ower bonnie by a' accoonts to be gaein'
about her lane (alone). It's a mercy the baron's no at hame. I wad hae to
lock her up wi' the forks and spunes.'
'What for that?' asked Robert.
But Miss Napier vouchsafed no further explanation. She stuffed his
pockets with sweet biscuits instead, dismissed him in haste, and rang
the bell.
'Meg, whaur hae they putten the stranger-leddy?'
'She's no gaein' to bide at our hoose, mem.'

'What say ye, lass? She's never gaein' ower to Lucky Happit's, is she?'
'Ow na, mem. She's a leddy, ilka inch o' her. But she's some sib
(relation) to the auld captain, and she's gaein' doon the street as sune's
Caumill's ready to tak her bit boxes i' the barrow. But I doobt there'll be
maist three barrowfu's o' them.'
'Atweel. Ye can gang.'
CHAPTER IV.
SHARGAR.
Robert went out into the thin drift, and again crossing the wide
desolate-looking square, turned down an entry leading to a kind of
court, which had once been inhabited by a well-to-do class of the
townspeople, but had now fallen in estimation. Upon a