The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2

Оглавление

Вальтер Скотт. The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2

CHAPTER FIRST

CHAPTER SECOND

CHAPTER THIRD

CHAPTER FOURTH

CHAPTER FIFTH

CHAPTER SIXTH

CHAPTER SEVENTH

CHAPTER EIGHTH

CHAPTER NINTH

CHAPTER TENTH

CHAPTER ELEVENTH

CHAPTER TWELFTH

CHAPTER THIRTEETH

CHAPTER FOURTEENTH

CHAPTER FIFTEENTH

CHAPTER SIXTEENTH

CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH

CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH

CHAPTER NINETEENTH

CHAPTER TWENTIETH

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST

CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND

CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH

NOTE B. – TOMBSTONE TO HELEN WALKER

NOTE C. – THE OLD TOLBOOTH

NOTE D – THE PORTEOUS MOB

NOTE E. – CARSPHARN JOHN

NOTE F. – PETER WALKER

NOTE G. – MUSCHAT'S CAIRN

NOTE H. – HANGMAN, OR LOCKMAN

NOTE I. – THE FAIRY BOY OF LEITH,

NOTE J. – INTERCOURSE OF THE COVENANTERS WITH THE INVISIBLE WORLD

NOTE K. – CHILD-MURDER

NOTE L. – CALUMNIATOR OF THE FAIR SEX

NOTE M. – Sir William Dick of Braid

NOTE N. – Doomster, or Dempster, of Court

NOTE O. – John Duke of Argyle and Greenwich

NOTE P. – Expulsion of the Bishops from the Scottish Convention

NOTE Q. – Half-hanged Maggie Dickson

NOTE R. – Madge Wildfire

NOTE S. – Death of Francis Gordon

NOTE T. – Tolling to Service in Scotland

Отрывок из книги

Dumbiedikes was what is called in Scotland a single house; that is, having only one room occupying its whole depth from back to front, each of which single apartments was illuminated by six or eight cross lights, whose diminutive panes and heavy frames permitted scarce so much light to enter as shines through one well-constructed modern window. This inartificial edifice, exactly such as a child would build with cards, had a steep roof flagged with coarse grey stones instead of slates; a half-circular turret, battlemented, or, to use the appropriate phrase, bartizan'd on the top, served as a case for a narrow turnpike stair, by which an ascent was gained from storey to storey; and at the bottom of the said turret was a door studded with large-headed nails. There was no lobby at the bottom of the tower, and scarce a landing-place opposite to the doors which gave access to the apartments. One or two low and dilapidated outhouses, connected by a courtyard wall equally ruinous, surrounded the mansion. The court had been paved, but the flags being partly displaced and partly renewed, a gallant crop of docks and thistles sprung up between them, and the small garden, which opened by a postern through the wall, seemed not to be in a much more orderly condition. Over the low-arched gateway which led into the yard there was a carved stone, exhibiting some attempt at armorial bearings; and above the inner entrance hung, and had hung, for many years, the mouldering hatchment, which announced that umquhile Laurence Dumbie of Dumbiedikes had been gathered to his fathers in Newbattle kirkyard. The approach to this palace of pleasure was by a road formed by the rude fragments of stone gathered from the fields, and it was surrounded by ploughed, but unenclosed land. Upon a baulk, that is, an unploughed ridge of land interposed among the corn, the Laird's trusty palfrey was tethered by the head, and picking a meal of grass. The whole argued neglect and discomfort; the consequence, however, of idleness and indifference, not of poverty.

In this inner court, not without a sense of bashfulness and timidity, stood Jeanie Deans, at an early hour in a fine spring morning. She was no heroine of romance, and therefore looked with some curiosity and interest on the mansion-house and domains, of which, it might at that moment occur to her, a little encouragement, such as women of all ranks know by instinct how to apply, might have made her mistress. Moreover, she was no person of taste beyond her time, rank, and country, and certainly thought the house of Dumbiedikes, though inferior to Holyrood House, or the palace at Dalkeith, was still a stately structure in its way, and the land a "very bonny bit, if it were better seen to and done to." But Jeanie Deans was a plain, true-hearted, honest girl, who, while she acknowledged all the splendour of her old admirer's habitation, and the value of his property, never for a moment harboured a thought of doing the Laird, Butler, or herself, the injustice, which many ladies of higher rank would not have hesitated to do to all three on much less temptation.

.....

"Na, Laird," said Jeanie, "that can never be – my father's grief – my sister's situation – the discredit to you"

"That's my business," said Dumbiedikes; "ye wad say naething about that if ye werena a fule – and yet I like ye the better for't – ae wise body's eneugh in the married state. But if your heart's ower fu', take what siller will serve ye, and let it be when ye come back again – as gude syne as sune."

.....