After Kilmarkeckle had welcomed Grippy and Walter, he began to talk of
the hippopotamus, by showing them the outlines of a figure which he
intended to fill up with the snuff on the wall. Claud, however, cut him
short, by proposing, in a whisper, that Miss Betty should be called in,
and that she and Walter should be left together, while they took a walk
to discuss the merits of the hippopotamus. This was done quickly, and,
accordingly, the young lady made her appearance, entering the room with
a blushing giggle, perusing her Titan of a suitor from head to heel
with the beam of her eye.
‘We’ll leave you to yoursels,’ said her father jocularly, ‘and, Watty,
be brisk wi’ her, lad; she can thole a touzle, I’se warrant.’
This exhortation had, however, no immediate effect, for Walter, from
the moment she made her appearance, looked awkward and shamefaced,
swinging his hat between his legs, with his eyes fixed on the brazen
head of the tongs, which were placed upright astraddle in front of
the grate; but every now and then he peeped at her from the corner
of his eye with a queer and luscious glance, which, while it amused,
deterred her for some time from addressing him. Diffidence, however,
had nothing to do with the character of Miss Betty Bodle, and a feeling
of conscious superiority soon overcame the slight embarrassment which
arose from the novelty of her situation.
Observing the perplexity of her lover, she suddenly started from her
seat, and advancing briskly towards him, touched him on the shoulder,
saying,--
‘Watty,--I say, Watty, what’s your will wi’ me?’
‘Nothing,’ was the reply, while he looked up knowingly in her face.
‘What are ye fear’t for? I ken what ye’re come about,’ said she; ‘my
father has telt me.’
At these encouraging words, he leaped from his chair with an alacrity
unusual to his character, and attempted to take her in his arms; but
she nimbly escaped from his clasp, giving him, at the same time, a
smart slap on the cheek.
‘That’s no fair, Betty Bodle,’ cried the lover, rubbing his cheek, and
looking somewhat offended and afraid.
‘Then what gart you meddle wi’ me?’ replied the bouncing girl, with a
laughing bravery that soon reinvigorated his love.
‘I’m sure I was na gaun to do you ony harm,’ was the reply;--‘no, as
sure’s death, Betty, I would rather cut my finger than do you ony
scaith, for I like you so weel--I canna tell you how weel; but, if
ye’ll tak me, I’ll mak you the Leddy o’ the Plealands in a jiffy, and
my mother says that my father will gie me a hundred pound to buy you
parapharnauls and new plenishing.’
The young lady was probably conciliated by the manner in which this
was said; for she approached towards him, and while still affecting
to laugh, it was manifest even to Walter himself that she was not
displeased by the alacrity with which he had come to the point.
Emboldened by her freedom, he took her by the hand, looking, however,
away from her, as if he was not aware of what he had done; and in this
situation they stood for the space of two or three minutes without
speaking. Miss Betty was the first to break silence:--
‘Weel, Watty,’ said she, ‘what are ye going to say to me?’
‘Na,’ replied he, becoming almost gallant; ‘it’s your turn to speak
noo. I hae spoken my mind, Betty Bodle--Eh! this is a bonny hand; and
what a sonsy arm ye hae--I could amaist bite your cheek, Betty Bodle--I
could.’
‘Gude preserve me, Watty! ye’re like a wud dog.’
‘An I were sae, I would worry you,’ was his animated answer, while
he turned round, and devoured her with kisses; a liberty which she
instantaneously resented, by vigorously pushing him from her, and
driving him down into her father’s easy chair; his arm in the fall
rubbing off half a score of the old gentleman’s snuffy representatives.
But, notwithstanding this masculine effort of maiden modesty, Miss
Betty really rejoiced in the ardent intrepidity of her lover, and said,
merrily,
‘I redde you, Watty, keep your distance; man and wife’s man and wife;
but I’m only Betty Bodle, and ye’re but Watty Walkinshaw.’
‘Od, Betty,’ replied Watty, not more than half-pleased, as he rubbed
his right elbow, which was hurt in the fall, ‘ye’re desperate strong,
woman; and what were ye the waur o’ a bit slaik o’ a kiss? Howsever, my
bonny dawty, we’ll no cast out for a’ that; for if ye’ll just marry me,
and I’m sure ye’ll no get any body that can like you half so weel, I’ll
do anything ye bid me, as sure’s death I will--there’s my hand, Betty
Bodle, I will; and I’ll buy you the bravest satin gown in a’ Glasgow,
wi’ far bigger flowers on’t than on any ane in a’ Mrs. Bailie Nicol
Jarvie’s aught. And we’ll live in the Plealands House, and do nothing
frae dawn to dark but shoo ane another on a swing between the twa trees
on the green; and I’ll be as kind to you, Betty Bodle, as I can be,
and buy you likewise a side-saddle, and a pony to ride on; and when the
winter comes, sowing the land wi’ hailstones to grow frost and snaw,
we’ll sit cosily at the chumley-lug, and I’ll read you a chapter o’ the
Bible, or aiblins ‘Patie and Rodger’,--as sure’s death I will, Betty
Bodle.’
It would seem, indeed, that there is something exalting and inspiring
in the tender passion; for the earnest and emphatic manner in which
this was said gave a degree of energy to the countenance of Watty, that
made him appear in the eyes of his sweetheart, to whom moral vigour
was not an object of primary admiration, really a clever and effectual
fellow.
‘I’ll be free wi’ you, Watty,’ was her answer; ‘I dinna objek to tak
you, but,’--and she hesitated.
‘But what?’ said Watty, still exalted above his wont.
‘Ye maunna hurry the wedding oure soon.’
‘Ye’ll get your ain time, Betty Bodle, I’ll promise you that,’ was
his soft answer; ‘but when a bargain’s struck, the sooner payment’s
made the better; for, as the copy-line at the school says, “Delays are
dangerous.”--So, if ye like, Betty, we can be bookit on Saturday, and
cried, for the first time, on Sabbath, and syne, a second time next
Lord’s day, and the third time on the Sunday after, and marriet on the
Tuesday following.’
‘I dinna think, Watty,’ said she, laying her hand on his shoulder,
‘that we need sic a fasherie o’ crying.’
‘Then, if ye dinna like it, Betty Bodle, I’m sure neither do I, so we
can be cried a’ out on ae day, and married on Monday, like my brother
and Bell Fatherlans.’
What more might have passed, as the lovers had now come to a perfect
understanding with each other, it is needless to conjecture, as the
return of the old gentlemen interrupted their conversation; so that,
not to consume the precious time of our readers with any unnecessary
disquisition, we shall only say, that some objection being stated
by Grippy to the first Monday as a day too early for the requisite
settlements to be prepared, it was agreed that the booking should take
place, as Walter had proposed, on the approaching Saturday, and that
the banns should be published, once on the first Sunday, and twice on
the next, and that the wedding should be held on the Tuesday following.