Leddy Grippy was one of those worthy gentlewomen who, without the
slightest interest or feeling in any object or purpose with which
they happen to be engaged, conceive themselves bound to perform all
the customary indications of the profoundest sympathy and the deepest
sensibility. Accordingly, no sooner did she receive the message of her
son’s melancholy condition, than she proceeded forthwith to prepare
herself for going immediately to Glasgow.
‘I canna expek, gudeman,’ said she, ‘that wi’ your host ye’ll come
wi’ me to Glasgow on this very sorrowful occasion; therefore I hope
ye’ll tak gude care o’ yoursel, and see that the servan’ lasses get
your water-gruel, wi’ a tamarind in’t, at night, if it should please
Charlie’s Maker, by reason o’ the dangerous distemper, no to alloo me
to come hame.’
The intelligence, however, had so troubled the old man, that he
scarcely heard her observation. The indisposition of his son seemed to
be somehow connected with the visit of Mr. Keelevin, which it certainly
was; and while his wife busily prepared for her visit, his mind
wandered in devious conjectures, without being able to reach any thing
calculated either to satisfy his wonder or to appease his apprehension.
‘It’s very right, Girzy, my dear,’ said he, ‘that ye sou’d gang in and
see Charlie, poor lad; I’m extraordinar sorry to hear o’ this income,
and ye’ll be sure to tak care he wants for nothing. Hear’st t’ou;
look into the auld pocket-book in the scrutoire neuk, t’ou’l aiblins
fin’ there a five-pound note,--tak it wi’ thee--there’s no sic an
extravagant commodity in ony man’s house as a delirious fever.’
‘Ah!’ replied the Leddy, looking at her darling and ungrateful
Walter, ‘ye see what it is to hae a kind father; but ill ye deserve
ony attention either frae father or mother, for your condumacity is
ordained to break our hearts.’
‘Mother,’ said Walter, ‘dinna be in sic a hurry--I hae something
that ’ill do Charlie good.’ In saying which, he rose and went to the
nursery, whence he immediately returned with a pill-box.
‘There, mother! tak that wi’ you; it’s a box o’ excellent medicaments,
either for the cough, or the cauld, or shortness o’ breath; to say
naething amang frien’s o’ a constipation. Gie Charlie twa at bedtime
and ane in the morning, and ye’ll see an effek sufficient to cure every
impediment in man or woman.’
Leddy Grippy, with the utmost contempt for the pills, snatched the box
out of his hand, and flung it behind the fire. She then seated herself
in the chair opposite her husband, and while she at the same time tied
her cloak and placed on her bonnet, she said,--
‘I’ll alloo at last, gudeman, that I hae been a’ my days in an
error, for I could na hae believed that Watty was sic an idiot o’ a
naturalist, had I no lived to see this day. But the will o’ Providence
be done on earth as it is in heaven, and let us pray that he may be
forgiven the sair heart he has gi’en to us his aged parents, as we
forgive our debtors. I won’er, howsever, that my mother did na send
word o’ the nature o’ this delirietness o’ Charlie, for to be surely
it’s a very sudden come-to-pass, but the things o’ time are no to be
lippent to, and life fleeth away like a weaver’s shuttle, and no man
knoweth wheresoever it findeth rest for the sole of its foot. But,
before I go, ye’ll no neglek to tell Jenny in the morning to tak the
three spyniels o’ yarn to Josey Thrums, the weaver, for my Dornick
towelling; and ye’ll be sure to put Tam Modiwart in mind that he’s no
to harl the plough out o’er the green brae till I get my big washing
out o’ hand. As for t’ee, Watty, stay till this calamity’s past, and
I’ll let ee ken what it is to treat baith father and mother wi’ sae
little reverence. Really, gudeman, I begin to hae a notion, that he’s,
as auld Elspeth Freet, the midwife, ance said to me, a ta’enawa, and I
would be nane surprised, that whoever lives to see him dee will find in
the bed a benweed or a windlestrae, instead o’ a Christian corpse. But
sufficient for the day is the evil thereof; and this sore news o’ our
auld son should mak us walk humbly, and no repine at the mercies set
before us in this our sinfu’ estate.’
The worthy Leddy might have continued her edifying exhortation for some
time longer, but her husband grew impatient, and harshly interrupted
her eloquence, by reminding her that the day was far advanced, and that
the road to Glasgow was both deep and dreigh.
‘I would counsel you, Girzy Hypel,’ said he, ‘no to put off your time
wi’ sic havers here, but gang intil the town, and send us out word in
the morning, if ye dinna come hame, how Charlie may happen to be; for
I canna but say that thir news are no just what I could hae wiss’d to
hear at this time. As for what we hae been saying to Watty, we baith
ken he’s a kind-hearted chiel, and he’ll think better or the morn o’
what we were speaking about--will na ye, Watty?’
‘I’ll think as muckle’s ye like,’ said the faithful natural; ‘but I’ll
sign nae papers; that’s a fact afore divines. What for do ye ay fash me
wi’ your deeds and your instruments? I’m sure baith Charlie and Geordie
could write better than me, and ye ne’er troublet them. But I jealouse
the cause--an my grandfather had na left me his lawful heir to the
Plealands, I might hae sat at the chumley-lug whistling on my thumb.
We a’ hae frien’s anew when we hae ony thing, and so I see in a’ this
flyting and fleetching; but ye’ll flyte and ye’ll fleetch till puddocks
grow chucky-stanes before ye’ll get me to wrang my ain bairn, my bonny
wee Betty Bodle, that has na ane that cares for her, but only my leafu’
lane.’
The Leddy would have renewed her remonstratory animadversions on his
obstinacy, but the Laird again reminded her of the length of the
journey in such an evening before her, and after a few half advices and
half reproaches, she left the house.
Indisposed as Claud had previously felt himself, or seemed to be, she
had not been long away, when he rose from his easy-chair, and walked
slowly across the room, with his hands behind, swinging his body
heavily as he paced the floor. Walter, who still remained on his seat,
appeared for some time not to notice his father’s gestures; but the old
man unconsciously began to quicken his steps, and at last walked so
rapidly that his son’s attention was roused.
‘Father,’ said he, ‘hae ye been taking epicacco, for that was just the
way that I was telt to gang, when I was last no weel?’
‘No, no,’ exclaimed the wretched old man; ‘but I hae drank the
bitterest dose o’ life. There’s nae vomit for a sick soul--nae purge
for a foul conscience.’
These were, however, confessions that escaped from him unawares, like
the sparks that are elicited in violent percussions,--for he soon drew
himself firmly and bravely up, as if he prepared himself to defy the
worst that was in store for him; but this resolution also as quickly
passed away, and he returned to his easy-chair, and sat down, as if he
had been abandoned of all hope, and had resigned himself into a dull
and sleepy lethargy.
For about half an hour he continued in this slumbering and inaccessible
state, at the end of which he called one of the servants, and bade
him be ready to go to Glasgow by break of day, and bring Mr. Keelevin
before breakfast. ‘Something maun be done,’ said he as the servant,
accompanied by Walter, left the room; ‘the curse of God has fallen upon
me, my hands are tied, a dreadfu’ chain is fastened about me; I hae
cheated mysel, and there’s nae bail--no, not in the Heavens--for the
man that has wilfully raffled away his own soul in the guilty game o’
pride.’