The same gale which proved so fatal on the coast of Caithness, carried the Glasgow party briskly home.

Before their arrival the news of the loss of Mr. Walkinshaw had reached the city, and Dirdumwhamle and his son were as busy, as heirs and executors could well be, in taking possession of his fortune, which, besides the estate of Kittlestonheugh, greatly exceeded their most sanguine expectations. They were, however, smitten with no little concern when, on applying to Mr. Pitwinnoch, the lawyer, to receive infeftment of the lands, they heard from him, after he had perused the deed of entail, that Robina had no right to the inheritance; but that our friend Walkinshaw was the lawful heir.

It was, however, agreed, as the world, as well as themselves, had uniformly understood and believed that old Grippy had disinherited his eldest son, to say nothing about this important discovery. Walky and Robina accordingly took possession in due form of her father’s mansion. Their succession was unquestioned, and they mourned in all the most fashionable pomp of woe for the loss they had sustained, receiving the congratulatory condolence of their friends with the most befitting decorum. To do the lady, however, justice, the tears which she shed were immediate from the heart; for, with all his hereditary propensity to gather and hold, her father had many respectable domestic virtues, and was accounted by the world a fair and honourable man. It is also due to her likewise to mention, that she was not informed, either by her husband or father-in-law, of the mistake they had been all in with regard to the entail; so that, whatever blame did attach to them for the part they played, she was innocent of the fraud.

To Walkinshaw’s mother the loss of her brother-in-law was a severe misfortune, for with him perished her annuity of fifty pounds a year. She entertained, however, a hope that Robina would still continue it; but the feelings arising from the consciousness of an unjust possession of the estate, operated on the mind of Milrookit in such a way, as to make him suddenly become wholly under the influence of avarice. Every necessary expense was grudged; his wife, notwithstanding the wealth she had brought him, was not allowed to enjoy a guinea; in a word, from the day in which Pitwinnoch informed him that she had no right to the property, he was devoured, in the most singular manner, with the most miserly passions and fears.

The old Leddy, for some time after the shock she had met with in the sudden death of her son, mourned with more unaffected sorrow than might have been expected from her character; and having, during that period, invited Mrs. Charles to spend a few weeks with her, the loss of the annuity, and conjectures respecting the continuance of it, frequently formed the subject of their conversation.

‘It’s my notion,’ the Leddy would say, ‘that Beenie will see to a continuality o’ the ’nuity—but Walky’s sic a Nabal, that nae doot it maun be a task o’ dexterity on her side to get him to agree. Howsever, when they’re a’ settled, I’ll no be mealy-mouthed wi’ them. My word! a bein bargain he has gotten wi’ her, and I’m wae to think it did nae fa’ to your Jamie’s luck, who is a laddie o’ a winsome temper—just as like his grandfather, my friend that was, as a kittling’s like a cat—the only difference being a wee thought mair o’ daffing and playrifety.’

Nor was it long after these observations that the Leddy had an opportunity of speaking to her grandchildren on the subject. One day soon after, when they happened to call, she took occasion to remind them how kind she had been at the time of their marriage, and also that, but for her agency, it might never have taken place.

‘Noo,’ said she, ‘there is ae thing I would speak to you anent, though I was in the hope ye would hae spar’t me the obligation, by making me a reasonable gratis gift for the cost and outlay I was at, forbye trouble on your account. But the compliment is like the chariot-wheels o’ Pharaoh, sae dreigh o’ drawing, that I canna afford to be blate wi’ you ony langer. Howsever, Walky and Beenie, I hae a projection in my head, the whilk is a thought o’ wisdom for you to consider, and it’s o’ the nature o’ a solemn league and covenant. If ye’ll consent to alloo Bell Fatherlans her ’nuity of fifty pounds per annus, as it is called according to law, I’ll score you out o’ my books for the bed, board, and washing due to me, and a heavy soom it is.’

‘Where do you think we are to get fifty pounds a year?’ exclaimed Milrookit. ‘Fifty pounds a year!’

‘Just in the same neuk, Walky, where ye found the Kittlestonheugh estate and the three and twenty thousand pounds o’ lying siller, Beenie’s braw tocher,’ replied the Leddy; ‘and I think ye’re a very crunkly character, though your name’s no Habakkuk, to gi’e me sic a constipation o’ an answer.’

‘I can assure you, Leddy,’ said he, ‘if it was a thing within the compass of my power, I would na need to be told to be liberal to Mrs. Charles; but the burden o’ a family’s coming upon us, and it’s necessary, nay, it’s a duty, to consider that charity begins at hame.’

‘And what’s to become o’ her and her dochter? Gude guide us! would the hard nigger let her gang on the session? for I canna help her.’

‘All I can say at present,’ was his reply, ‘is that we are in no circumstances to spare any thing like fifty pounds a year.’

‘Then I can tell thee, Walky, I will this very day mak out my count, and every farthing I can extortionate frae thee, meeserable penure pig that thou art, shall be pay’t o’er to her to the last fraction, just to wring thy heart o’ niggerality.’

‘If you have any lawful claim against me, of course I am obliged to pay you.’

‘If I hae ony lawful claim?—ye Goliah o’ cheatrie—if I hae ony lawful claim?—But I’ll say nothing—I’ll mak out an account—and there’s nae law in Christendom to stop me for charging what I like—my goose shall lay gouden eggs, if the life bide in my bodie.—Ye unicorn of oppression, to speak to me o’ law, that was so kind to you—but law ye shall get, and law ye shall hae—and be made as lawful as it’s possible for caption and horning, wi’ clerk and signet to implement.’

‘If you will make your little favours a debt, nobody can prevent you; but I will pay no more than is justly due.’

The Leddy made no reply, but her eyes looked unutterable things; and after sitting for some time in that energetic posture of displeasure, she turned round to Robina, and said, with an accent of the most touching sympathy,—

‘Hegh, Beenie! poor lassie! but thou hast ta’en thy sheep to a silly market. A skelp-the-dub creature to upbraid me wi’ his justly dues! But crocodile or croakin-deil, as I should ca’ him, he’ll get his ain justly dues.—Mr. Milrookit o’ Kittlestonheugh, as it’s no the fashion when folk hae recourse to the civil war o’ a law-plea, to stand on a ceremony, maybe ye’ll find some mair pleasant place than this room, an ye were to tak the pains to gang to the outside o’ my door; and I’ll send, through the instrumentality o’ a man o’ business, twa lines anent that bit sma’ matter for bed, board, and washing due to me for and frae that time, when, ye ken, Mr. Milrookit, ye had na ae stiver to keep yourself and your wife frae starvation.—So out o’ my house, and daur no longer to pollute my presence, ye partan-handit, grip-and-haud smiddy-vice Mammon o’ unrighteousness.’

After this gentle hint, as the Leddy afterwards called it, Milrookit and Robina hastily obeyed her commands, and returned to their carriage; but before driving home, he thought it necessary, under the menace he had received, to take the advice of his lawyer, Mr. Pitwinnoch. Some trifling affairs, however, prevented him from driving immediately to his office, and the consequence was, that the Leddy, who never allowed the grass to grow in her path, was there before him.