The same gale which proved so fatal on the coast of Caithness, carried
the Glasgow party briskly home.
Before their arrival the news of the loss of Mr. Walkinshaw had reached
the city, and Dirdumwhamle and his son were as busy, as heirs and
executors could well be, in taking possession of his fortune, which,
besides the estate of Kittlestonheugh, greatly exceeded their most
sanguine expectations. They were, however, smitten with no little
concern when, on applying to Mr. Pitwinnoch, the lawyer, to receive
infeftment of the lands, they heard from him, after he had perused the
deed of entail, that Robina had no right to the inheritance; but that
our friend Walkinshaw was the lawful heir.
It was, however, agreed, as the world, as well as themselves, had
uniformly understood and believed that old Grippy had disinherited his
eldest son, to say nothing about this important discovery. Walky and
Robina accordingly took possession in due form of her father’s mansion.
Their succession was unquestioned, and they mourned in all the most
fashionable pomp of woe for the loss they had sustained, receiving the
congratulatory condolence of their friends with the most befitting
decorum. To do the lady, however, justice, the tears which she shed
were immediate from the heart; for, with all his hereditary propensity
to gather and hold, her father had many respectable domestic virtues,
and was accounted by the world a fair and honourable man. It is also
due to her likewise to mention, that she was not informed, either by
her husband or father-in-law, of the mistake they had been all in with
regard to the entail; so that, whatever blame did attach to them for
the part they played, she was innocent of the fraud.
To Walkinshaw’s mother the loss of her brother-in-law was a severe
misfortune, for with him perished her annuity of fifty pounds a year.
She entertained, however, a hope that Robina would still continue it;
but the feelings arising from the consciousness of an unjust possession
of the estate, operated on the mind of Milrookit in such a way, as to
make him suddenly become wholly under the influence of avarice. Every
necessary expense was grudged; his wife, notwithstanding the wealth she
had brought him, was not allowed to enjoy a guinea; in a word, from
the day in which Pitwinnoch informed him that she had no right to the
property, he was devoured, in the most singular manner, with the most
miserly passions and fears.
The old Leddy, for some time after the shock she had met with in the
sudden death of her son, mourned with more unaffected sorrow than might
have been expected from her character; and having, during that period,
invited Mrs. Charles to spend a few weeks with her, the loss of the
annuity, and conjectures respecting the continuance of it, frequently
formed the subject of their conversation.
‘It’s my notion,’ the Leddy would say, ‘that Beenie will see to a
continuality o’ the ’nuity--but Walky’s sic a Nabal, that nae doot it
maun be a task o’ dexterity on her side to get him to agree. Howsever,
when they’re a’ settled, I’ll no be mealy-mouthed wi’ them. My word! a
bein bargain he has gotten wi’ her, and I’m wae to think it did nae fa’
to your Jamie’s luck, who is a laddie o’ a winsome temper--just as like
his grandfather, my friend that was, as a kittling’s like a cat--the
only difference being a wee thought mair o’ daffing and playrifety.’
Nor was it long after these observations that the Leddy had an
opportunity of speaking to her grandchildren on the subject. One day
soon after, when they happened to call, she took occasion to remind
them how kind she had been at the time of their marriage, and also
that, but for her agency, it might never have taken place.
‘Noo,’ said she, ‘there is ae thing I would speak to you anent, though
I was in the hope ye would hae spar’t me the obligation, by making
me a reasonable gratis gift for the cost and outlay I was at, forbye
trouble on your account. But the compliment is like the chariot-wheels
o’ Pharaoh, sae dreigh o’ drawing, that I canna afford to be blate wi’
you ony langer. Howsever, Walky and Beenie, I hae a projection in my
head, the whilk is a thought o’ wisdom for you to consider, and it’s o’
the nature o’ a solemn league and covenant. If ye’ll consent to alloo
Bell Fatherlans her ’nuity of fifty pounds per annus, as it is called
according to law, I’ll score you out o’ my books for the bed, board,
and washing due to me, and a heavy soom it is.’
‘Where do you think we are to get fifty pounds a year?’ exclaimed
Milrookit. ‘Fifty pounds a year!’
‘Just in the same neuk, Walky, where ye found the Kittlestonheugh
estate and the three and twenty thousand pounds o’ lying siller,
Beenie’s braw tocher,’ replied the Leddy; ‘and I think ye’re a very
crunkly character, though your name’s no Habakkuk, to gi’e me sic a
constipation o’ an answer.’
‘I can assure you, Leddy,’ said he, ‘if it was a thing within the
compass of my power, I would na need to be told to be liberal to
Mrs. Charles; but the burden o’ a family’s coming upon us, and it’s
necessary, nay, it’s a duty, to consider that charity begins at hame.’
‘And what’s to become o’ her and her dochter? Gude guide us! would the
hard nigger let her gang on the session? for I canna help her.’
‘All I can say at present,’ was his reply, ‘is that we are in no
circumstances to spare any thing like fifty pounds a year.’
‘Then I can tell thee, Walky, I will this very day mak out my count,
and every farthing I can extortionate frae thee, meeserable penure pig
that thou art, shall be pay’t o’er to her to the last fraction, just to
wring thy heart o’ niggerality.’
‘If you have any lawful claim against me, of course I am obliged to pay
you.’
‘If I hae ony lawful claim?--ye Goliah o’ cheatrie--if I hae ony lawful
claim?--But I’ll say nothing--I’ll mak out an account--and there’s
nae law in Christendom to stop me for charging what I like--my goose
shall lay gouden eggs, if the life bide in my bodie.--Ye unicorn of
oppression, to speak to me o’ law, that was so kind to you--but law ye
shall get, and law ye shall hae--and be made as lawful as it’s possible
for caption and horning, wi’ clerk and signet to implement.’
‘If you will make your little favours a debt, nobody can prevent you;
but I will pay no more than is justly due.’
The Leddy made no reply, but her eyes looked unutterable things; and
after sitting for some time in that energetic posture of displeasure,
she turned round to Robina, and said, with an accent of the most
touching sympathy,--
‘Hegh, Beenie! poor lassie! but thou hast ta’en thy sheep to a silly
market. A skelp-the-dub creature to upbraid me wi’ his justly dues!
But crocodile or croakin-deil, as I should ca’ him, he’ll get his ain
justly dues.--Mr. Milrookit o’ Kittlestonheugh, as it’s no the fashion
when folk hae recourse to the civil war o’ a law-plea, to stand on a
ceremony, maybe ye’ll find some mair pleasant place than this room, an
ye were to tak the pains to gang to the outside o’ my door; and I’ll
send, through the instrumentality o’ a man o’ business, twa lines anent
that bit sma’ matter for bed, board, and washing due to me for and
frae that time, when, ye ken, Mr. Milrookit, ye had na ae stiver to
keep yourself and your wife frae starvation.--So out o’ my house, and
daur no longer to pollute my presence, ye partan-handit, grip-and-haud
smiddy-vice Mammon o’ unrighteousness.’
After this gentle hint, as the Leddy afterwards called it, Milrookit
and Robina hastily obeyed her commands, and returned to their carriage;
but before driving home, he thought it necessary, under the menace he
had received, to take the advice of his lawyer, Mr. Pitwinnoch. Some
trifling affairs, however, prevented him from driving immediately to
his office, and the consequence was, that the Leddy, who never allowed
the grass to grow in her path, was there before him.