"
The boy's chatter was here interrupted by the arrival of Lady Ashton,
somewhat alarmed at her daughter's stay. With one of her sweetest
smiles, she took Lucy's arm under her own.
There were only present, Sir William Ashton and Colonel Douglas Ashton,
the last in full regimentals; Bucklaw, in bridegroom trim; Craigengelt,
freshly equipt from top to toe by the bounty of his patron, and
bedizened with as much lace as might have become the dress of the Copper
Captain; together with the Rev. Mr. Bide-the-Bent; the presence of
a minister being, in strict Presbyterian families, an indispensable
requisite upon all occasions of unusual solemnity.
Wines and refreshments were placed on a table, on which the writings
were displayed, ready for signature.
But before proceeding either to business or refreshment, Mr.
Bide-the-Bent, at a signal from Sir William Ashton, invited the company
to join him in a short extemporary prayer, in which he implored a
blessing upon the contract now to be solemnised between the honourable
parties then present. With the simplicity of his times and profession,
which permitted strong personal allusions, he petitioned that the
wounded mind of one of these noble parties might be healed, in reward
of her compliance with the advice of her right honourable parents; and
that, as she had proved herself a child after God's commandment, by
honouring her father and mother, she and hers might enjoy the promised
blessing--length of days in the land here, and a happy portion hereafter
in a better country.
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