"Let me keep them," she pleaded, "--for my humiliation!"
"Do with them what you like, my lady," said Donal. "They are of no
value to me--except that you care for them."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
COBBLER AND CASTLE.
In the bosom of the family in which the elements seem most kindly
mixed, there may yet lie some root of discord and disruption, upon
which the foreign influence necessary to its appearance above
ground, has not yet come to operate. That things are quiet is no
proof, only a hopeful sign of harmony. In a family of such poor
accord as that at the castle, the peace might well at any moment be
broken.
Lord Forgue had been for some time on a visit to Edinburgh, had
doubtless there been made much of, and had returned with a
considerable development of haughtiness, and of that freedom which
means subjugation to self, and freedom from the law of liberty. It
is often when a man is least satisfied--not with himself but with
his immediate doings--that he is most ready to assert his
superiority to the restraints he might formerly have grumbled
against, but had not dared to dispute--and to claim from others such
consideration as accords with a false idea of his personal standing.
But for a while Donal and he barely saw each other; Donal had no
occasion to regard him; and lord Forgue kept so much to himself that
Davie made lamentation: Percy was not half so jolly as he used to
be!
For a fortnight Eppy had not been to see her grand-parents; and as
the last week something had prevented Donal also from paying them
his customary visit, the old people had naturally become uneasy; and
one frosty twilight, when the last of the sunlight had turned to
cold green in the west, Andrew Comin appeared in the castle kitchen,
asking to see mistress Brookes.
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