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Malcolm

Chapter 9 IX THE SALMON TROUT

Word Count: 3582    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

fore entering the grounds of Lossie House. But he had met with little success, and was now approaching the town gate, as they called it

fish hae ye?" she sai

me, Mistress Catan

feet at ance in ony street o' Portlossie, I'll tell ye

Mistress Catanach!"

ye nae mair nor the trowth. But what garred ye whup's a' oot o' oor nakit beds

e had been feart o' sleepin' ower lang, ye see, an' sae

'gen the chap (befor

The puir man wod hae bur

l'-the auld heelan' sholt!" exc

my gran'father, Mrs Catanach

ed a stra

a's your gran'father, that I sud tak tent (he

f would be friendliness-"But what'll ye be seek

and would have taken the fish in her han

Hoose to my lord's

'll be seekin' a saxpence for 't, I reckon,"

back now in the fear that if she once had it she wou

there seen 't yet. It'

as doon last nicht, an' w

ntin' auld body! Gie me the trootie, Ma'colm. Ye'

obleege ye. It's bespoken, ye see. But there's a fine hadd

s, an' yer goukmeys! Ye

tu, an' maybe the lave o' them as weel. Hers is a muckle faimily to haud eatin

t wi' me," said Mrs

at. Ye maun see ye

k with anger. "It s' be t

ll, though ye div ken a body's fit upo' the flags! My blin' luckie deddy can du m

ks now red as fire, and her wicked eyes fla

ing his head back over his shoulder, fo

funlin'!" shrieked the woman, an

elf. "She micht ha' seen 'at I bude t

a lake of the loveliest green, spangled with starry daisies. The air was full of sweet odours uplifted with the ascending dew, and trembled with a hundred songs at once, for here was a very paradise for birds. At length he came in sight of a

ateau, only it looked stronger and far grimmer. Carved around some of the windows, in ancient characters, were Scripture texts and antique proverbs. Two time worn specimens of heraldic zoology, in a state of fearful and everlasting excitement, stood rampant and gaping, one on each side of the hall door, contrasting strangely with the repose of the ancient house, which looked very like what the oldest part of it was said to have been-a mon

ansparent hue, almost red, gathered from the peat bogs of the great moorland hill behind. Only a very narrow terrace walk, with battlemented parapet, lay between the back of the house, and a precipitous descent of a hundred feet to this rivulet. Up its banks, lovely wit

o be handled by a housemaid. This portion of the building was so narrow that the hall occupied its ent

when she turned and saw whose shadow fell on

me 'cause I wadna gie't to her! You wad hae thocht, mem, she was something no canny-the

se are nice whitings. I don't care about the

it, mem. She's an awfu' ve

. He is not in a Christian frame of mind at all-and he is an old man too. If we don't forg

of Mr Graham. "But ye'll be meanin' Cawmill o' Glenlyon," he went on with a smile. "It canna maitt

xious about," said Mrs Courthope. "Nor is it only Campbell of

ic a bein' o' the face o' the yearth

no bad logician. "The question isn't whether or not there's anyb

hough he wad be as sair astonish

hat you mean by

himsel' richt, seein' he canna ken ither fowk richt. It's by

people. He hears them, and he feels them, and indeed has ge

tle kin'ness my gran'father has expair

jury, I should suppose

ather. Whan I hard it, I thocht I cud jist rive the hert o' 'im, an' set my teeth in't, as the Dutch sodger did to the Spainiard. But whan I got a grip o' 'im, an' the rascal turned up a frichtit kin' o' a dog-like face to me, I jist could not drive my steikit neive (clenched fist) intil't. Mem, a face is

echoed Mrs Courthope, in ho

but he wad neither durk him nor fling him in. no that sure he wadna even ran (reach) him a han'. Ae thing I am

tory to be startled at the taken for granted way in which Malcolm spoke. "Is it

God's forgien

r any other man; but, as you ask me,

lin' grandfather for no forgiein'

d Mrs Courthope feebly, finding herse

hear a' aboot it the meenit he wins there; an' I m

et there?" persisted Mrs Co

jist yallow faced Willie ower again!*-Na, na; things gang anither gait up there. My gran'father's a

rime mover in the M

s much of a heathen as his grandfather, for in silence she chose her fish, in si

hope having waived her right to the fish in favour of Mrs Catanach, he f

door, which generally stood a little ajar. "Ye s' hae't for

ed from his hand, and flung so violently in his face, that he staggered back into the road: the factor had to pull sharply up to avoid driving over him. His rout rather than retreat was followed by a burst of insulting laug

ach to the brute as he ran: "tak it to Mrs

slammed her door, and from a window

vered from the fit of merriment into which the sudden explosion of events had cast h

r fish too ch

at last by a sense of the ludicrousness of the whole aff

wa' in sic a hurry: he bed (rema

his bonnet. It was Miss Horn,

e yon, mem

ecrets mair nor guid, I s' wad (wager). Come awa' wi' me; I want a bit fish. I can ill eat an' her lyin' deid I' the hoose-it winna gang ower; but I maun get some strength pitten intil me afore the berial. It's a God

be there's no sic a thing, but yon's unco like ane. As bonny a sawmon troot 's e

die! haud

en. But sic a fine troot 's that-t

ere's mair whaur that cam fr

to gie Mistress Courthope the f

better luik till, for she's no canny. Dinna ye anger her again gien ye can help it. She

Miss Horn ferreted the needful pence from a pocket under her gown. She now entered, b

id frien' she was to you, sae lang's she

uth he

mem, an' jist some feared," he s

n creation,-an' that quaiet!-Eh! sic a heap o' them as there has been sin' Awbel," she went on-"an ilk ane them luikin, as gien there never had

ll, mem," said M

followed her in silence up the

en thing she had called "the bit boxie:" and with a

once resigned and unyielding, that strangely drew the heart of Malcolm. He saw a low white forehead, large eyeballs upheaving closed lids, finely modelled features of which the tightened ski

m," she said. "Ye ma' aye touch the de

be ower bonny a dream to miss.-Are they a' li

dear," she added with sudden divergence, bending towards the still face, and speaking in a tenderly apologetic tone; "I ken weel ye canna bide the verra na

his breath; "my han's are no clean. I wad

irresistibleness was veiled in his unconsciousne

d back erect with dis

n an agonised whisper

rted Miss Horn. "Wad ye

he sense of a faint sting on his lips. She led h

po' Setterday?" she asked, h

swered. "I promised Maister Graham to ta

ye, nae doobt, an' we canna help it.

he's unco gratefu' for ony sic attention," sa

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1 Chapter 1 I: MISS HORN2 Chapter 2 II BARBARA CATANACH3 Chapter 3 III THE MAD LAIRD4 Chapter 4 IV PHEMY MAIR5 Chapter 5 V LADY FLORIMEL6 Chapter 6 VI DUNCAN MACPHAIL7 Chapter 7 VII ALEXANDER GRAHAM8 Chapter 8 VIII THE SWIVEL9 Chapter 9 IX THE SALMON TROUT10 Chapter 10 X THE FUNERAL11 Chapter 11 XI THE OLD CHURCH12 Chapter 12 XII THE CHURCHYARD13 Chapter 13 XIII THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE14 Chapter 14 XIV MEG PARTAN'S LAMP15 Chapter 15 XV THE SLOPE OF THE DUNE16 Chapter 16 XVI THE STORM17 Chapter 17 XVII THE ACCUSATION18 Chapter 18 XVIII THE QUARREL19 Chapter 19 XIX DUNCAN'S PIPES20 Chapter 20 XX ADVANCES21 Chapter 21 XXI MEDIATION22 Chapter 22 XXII WHENCE AND WHITHER 23 Chapter 23 XXIII ARMAGEDDON24 Chapter 24 XXIV THE FEAST25 Chapter 25 XXV THE NIGHT WATCH26 Chapter 26 XXVI NOT AT CHURCH27 Chapter 27 XXVII LORD GERNON28 Chapter 28 XXIX FLORIMEL AND DUNCAN29 Chapter 29 XXX THE REVIVAL30 Chapter 30 XXXI WANDERING STARS31 Chapter 31 XXXII THE SKIPPER'S CHAMBER32 Chapter 32 XXXIII THE LIBRARY33 Chapter 33 XXXIV MILTON, AND THE BAY MARE34 Chapter 34 XXXV KIRKBYRES35 Chapter 35 XXXVI THE BLOW36 Chapter 36 XXXVII THE CUTTER37 Chapter 37 XXXVIII THE TWO DOGS38 Chapter 38 XXXIX COLONSAY CASTLE39 Chapter 39 XL THE DEIL'S WINNOCK40 Chapter 40 XLI THE CLOUDED SAPPHIRES41 Chapter 41 XLII DUNCAN'S DISCLOSURE42 Chapter 42 XLIII THE WIZARD'S CHAMBER43 Chapter 43 XLIV THE HERMIT44 Chapter 44 XLV MR CAIRNS AND THE MARQUIS45 Chapter 45 XLVI THE BAILLIES' BARN46 Chapter 46 XLVII MRS STEWART'S CLAIM47 Chapter 47 XLVIII THE BAILLIES' BARN AGAIN48 Chapter 48 XLIX MOUNT PISGAH49 Chapter 49 L LIZZY FINDLAY50 Chapter 50 LI THE LAIRD'S BURROW51 Chapter 51 LII CREAM OR SCUM 52 Chapter 52 LIII THE SCHOOLMASTER'S COTTAGE53 Chapter 53 LIV ONE DAY54 Chapter 54 LV THE SAME NIGHT55 Chapter 55 LVI SOMETHING FORGOTTEN56 Chapter 56 LVII THE LAIRD'S QUEST57 Chapter 57 LVIII MALCOLM AND MRS STEWART58 Chapter 58 LIX AN HONEST PLOT59 Chapter 59 LX THE SACRAMENT60 Chapter 60 LXI MISS HORN AND THE PIPER61 Chapter 61 LXII THE CUTTLE FISH AND THE CRAB62 Chapter 62 LXIII MISS HORN AND LORD LOSSIE63 Chapter 63 LXIV THE LAIRD AND HIS MOTHER64 Chapter 64 LXV THE LAIRD'S VISION65 Chapter 65 LXVI THE CRY FROM THE CHAMBER66 Chapter 66 LXVII FEET OF WOOL67 Chapter 67 LXVIII HANDS OF IRON68 Chapter 68 LXIX THE MARQUIS AND THE SCHOOLMASTER69 Chapter 69 LXX END OR BEGINNING