Old Lord Turntippet professed to be one of the most anxious for the
success of these measures; for "it grieved him to the very saul," he
said, "to see so brave a young gentleman, of sic auld and undoubted
nobility, and, what was mair than a' that, a bluid relation of the
Marquis of A----, the man whom," he swore, "he honoured most upon
the face of the earth, brougth to so severe a pass. For his ain
puir peculiar," as he said, "and to contribute something to the
rehabilitation of sae auld ane house," the said Turntippet sent in three
family pictures lacking the frames, and six high-backed chairs, with
worked Turkey cushions, having the crest of Ravenswood broidered
thereon, without charging a penny either of the principal or interest
they had cost him, when he bought them, sixteen years before, at a roup
of the furniture of Lord Ravenswood's lodgings in the Canongate.
Much more to Lord Turntippet's dismay than to his surprise, although
he affected to feel more of the latter than the former, the Marquis
received his gift very drily, and observed, that his lordship's
restitution, if he expected it to be received by the Master of
Ravenswood and his friends, must comprehend a pretty large farm, which,
having been mortgaged to Turntippet for a very inadequate sum, he had
contrived, during the confusion of the family affairs, and by means
well understood by the lawyers of that period, to acquire to himself in
absolute property.
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