第118章

``I'm jeedging that's the very reason that the almoner will be for seeing it the first and foremost.''

``But I hae come a' this way on purpose to deliver it, Francis, and ye really maun help me at a pinch.''

``Neer speed then if I dinna,'' answered the Aberdeenshire man: ``let them be as cankered as they like, they can but turn me awa, and I was just thinking to ask my discharge, and gang down to end my days at Inverurie.''

With this doughty resolution of serving his friend at all ventures, since none was to be encountered which could much inconvenience himself, Francie Macraw left the apartment.It was long before he returned, and when he did, his manner indicated wonder and agitation.

``I am nae seer gin ye be Edie Ochiltree o' Carrick's company in the Forty-twa, or gin ye be the deil in his likeness!''

``And what makes ye speak in that gait?'' demanded the astonished mendicant.

``Because my lord has been in sic a distress and surpreese as I neer saw a man in my life.But he'll see you--I got that job cookit.He was like a man awa frae himsell for mony minutes, and I thought he wad hae swarv't a'thegither,--and fan he cam to himsell, he asked fae brought the packet--and fat trow ye I said?''

``An auld soger,'' says Edie--``that does likeliest at a gentle's door; at a farmer's it's best to say ye're an auld tinkler, if ye need ony quarters, for maybe the gudewife will hae something to souther.''

``But I said neer ane o' the twa,'' answered Francis; ``my lord cares as little about the tane as the tother--for he's best to them that can souther up our sins.Sae I e'en said the bit paper was brought by an auld man wi' a long fite beard--he might be a capeechin freer for fat I ken'd, for he was dressed like an auld palmer.Sae ye'll be sent up for fanever he can find mettle to face ye.''

``I wish I was weel through this business,'' thought Edie to himself; ``mony folk surmise that the Earl's no very right in the judgment, and wha can say how far he may be offended wi'

me for taking upon me sae muckle?''

But there was now no room for retreat--a bell sounded from a distant part of the mansion, and Macraw said, with a smothered accent, as if already in his master's presence, ``That's my lord's bell!--follow me, and step lightly and cannily, Edie.''

Edie followed his guide, who seemed to tread as if afraid of being overheard, through a long passage, and up a back stair, which admitted them into the family apartments.They were ample and extensive, furnished at such cost as showed the ancient importance and splendour of the family.But all the ornaments were in the taste of a former and distant period, and one would have almost supposed himself traversing the halls of a Scottish nobleman before the union of the crowns.The late Countess, partly from a haughty contempt of the times in which she lived, partly from her sense of family pride, had not permitted the furniture to be altered or modernized during her residence at Glenallan House.The most magnificent part of the decorations was a valuable collection of pictures by the best masters, whose massive frames were somewhat tarnished by time.In this particular also the gloomy taste of the family seemed to predominate.There were some fine family portraits by Vandyke and other masters of eminence; but the collection was richest in the Saints and Martyrdoms of Domenichino, Velasquez, and Murillo, and other subjects of the same kind, which had been selected in preference to landscapes or historical pieces.The manner in which these awful, and sometimes disgusting, subjects were represented, harmonized with the gloomy state of the apartments,--a circumstance which was not altogether lost on the old man, as he traversed them under the guidance of his quondam fellow-soldier.He was about to express some sentiment of this kind, but Francie imposed silence on him by signs, and opening a door at the end of the long picture-gallery, ushered him into a small antechamber hung with black.

Here they found the almoner, with his ear turned to a door opposite that by which they entered, in the attitude of one who listens with attention, but is at the same time afraid of being detected in the act.

The old domestic and churchman started when they perceived each other.But the almoner first recovered his recollection, and advancing towards Macraw, said, under his breath, but with an authoritative tone, ``How dare you approach the Earl's apartment without knocking? and who is this stranger, or what has he to do here?--Retire to the gallery, and wait for me there.''

``It's impossible just now to attend your reverence,'' answered Macraw, raising his voice so as to be heard in the next room, being conscious that the priest would not maintain the altercation within hearing of his patron,--``the Earl's bell has rung.''

He had scarce uttered the words, when it was rung again with greater violence than before; and the ecclesiastic, perceiving further expostulation impossible, lifted his finger at Macraw, with a menacing attitude, as he left the apartment.

``I tell'd ye sae,'' said the Aberdeen man in a whisper to Edie, and then proceeded to open the door near which they had observed the chaplain stationed.