The
Master saw no hardship in passing the night by the hall fire, wrapt in
his campaign-cloak; and to Scottish domestics of the day, even of the
highest rank, nay, to young men of family or fashion, on any pinch,
clean straw, or a dry hayloft, was always held good night-quarters.
For the rest, Lockhard had his master's orders to bring some venison
from the inn, and Caleb was to trust to his wits for the honour of his
family. The Master, indeed, a second time held out his purse; but, as it
was in sight of the strange servant, the butler thought himself obliged
to decline what his fingers itched to clutch. "Couldna he hae slippit it
gently into my hand?" said Caleb; "but his honour will never learn how
to bear himsell in siccan cases."
Mysie, in the mean time, according to a uniform custom in remote places
in Scotland, offered the strangers the produce of her little dairy,
"while better meat was getting ready." And according to another custom,
not yet wholly in desuetude, as the storm was now drifting off to
leeward, the Master carried the Keeper to the top of his highest
tower to admire a wide and waste extent of view, and to "weary for his
dinner.
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