have wished it was your cousin I had met, or his brother Baith

himself. Either would, I know, have been rejoiced to help me;

while a comparative stranger like yourself--"

I would be ashamed to set down all he poured out to me in this

beggarly vein, or the very short and grudging answers that I made

to him. There were times when I was tempted to stop his mouth with

some small change; but whether it was from shame or pride--whether

it was for my own sake or Catriona's--whether it was because I

thought him no fit father for his daughter, or because I resented

that grossness of immediate falsity that clung about the man

himself--the thing was clean beyond me. And I was still being

wheedled and preached to, and still being marched to and fro, three

steps and a turn, in that small chamber, and had already, by some

very short replies, highly incensed, although not finally

discouraged, my beggar, when Prestongrange appeared in the doorway

and bade me eagerly into his big chamber.

"I have a moment's engagements," said he; "and that you may not sit

empty-handed I am going to present you to my three braw daughters,

of whom perhaps you may have heard, for I think they are more

famous than papa. This way."

He led me into another long room above, where a dry old lady sat at

a frame of embroidery, and the three handsomest young women (I

suppose) in Scotland stood together by a window.

"This is my new friend, Mr Balfour," said he, presenting me by the

arm, "David, here is my sister, Miss Grant, who is so good as keep

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