United States or Malawi ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"What cud gar her say 't gien she didna believe 't?" "Fowk says she expecs that w'y to get a grip o' things oot o' the han's o' the puir laird's trustees: ye wad be a son o' her ain, cawpable o' mainagin' them. But ye dinna tell me she's never been at yersel' aboot it?" "Never a blink o' the ee has passed atween's sin' that day I gaed till Gersefell, as I tellt ye, wi' a letter frae the markis.
His father was the laird o' Gersefell an' for that maitter he's laird himsel' noo. "It seems clearing," said Florimel. "I doobt it's only haudin' up for a wee," returned Malcolm, after surveying as much of the sky as was visible through the bars; "but I do think ye had better run for the hoose, my leddy. I s' jist follow ye, a feow yairds ahin', till I see ye safe.
The mair 's the peety he sud hae hed the milk o' an honest wuman upo' the tap o' that!" "But what cud the auld runt be efter? What was her business wi' 't? She never did onything for the bairn." "Na, no she! She never had the chance, guid or ill Ow! doobtless it wad be anent what they ca' the eedentryfeein' o' im to the leddy o' Gersefell. She had sent her. But she made little o' me."
He was shown into the little parlour, which, for all the grander things he had been amongst of late, had lost nothing of its first charm. There sat Miss Horn. "Sit doon, Ma'colm," she said gruffly. "Hae ye h'ard onything, mem?" asked Malcolm, standing. "Ower muckle," answered Miss Horn, with all but a scowl. "Ye been ower to Gersefell, I reckon." "Forbid it!" answered Malcolm.
When he came to himself, he found his hands pressed hard on his ears, and for a moment felt a sickening certainty that he too was a son of the lady of Gersefell. When he returned at length to the House, Mrs Courthope informed him that Mrs Stewart had called, and seen both the marquis and Lady Florimel.
"What her?" asked Florimel. "Her 'at The leddy o' Gersefell." "And why? What of her? Why, Malcolm! what can have possessed you? You seem actually to dislike her!"
The fifth and final form it took was, that Malcolm was the son of Mrs Stewart of Gersefell, who had been led to believe that he died within a few days of his birth, whereas he had in fact been carried off and committed to the care of Duncan MacPhail, who drew a secret annual stipend of no small amount in consequence whence indeed his well known riches!
Whan she cam' in, she pat tu the door ahint her, an' turnt to me, an' said says she: 'An wha 's deid forbye, think ye? 'I hae hard o' naebody, I answered. 'Wha but the laird o' Gersefell! says she. 'I'm sorry to hear that, honest ma! says I; for a'body likit Mr Stewart.
Malcolm had never in his life been so far from the coast before: his road led southwards into the heart of the country. The father of the late proprietor of Kirkbyres had married the heiress of Gersefell, an estate which marched with his own, and was double its size, whence the lairdship was sometimes spoken of by the one name, sometimes by the other.
Word Of The Day