Pilledge was petrified; he saw that he was in the hands of the Leddy, and that she had completely overreached him. But still he was resolved that his journey should not be barren if he could possibly prevent it. He accordingly wished her good afternoon, and, returning to the inn, ordered a chaise, and proceeded to Kittlestonheugh.
The moment that he left the Leddy, her cloak and bonnet were put in requisition, and attended by her maid, on whose arm she leaned, being still lame with the rheumatism, she sallied forth to Pitwinnoch’s office, resolved on action.
He had not, however, acted on what she called her great Bed and Board plea entirely to her satisfaction; for she thought, had he seen the rights of her case as well as she did herself, and had counselled her better, she might have got much more than a thousand pounds. She was, therefore, determined, if he showed the least hesitation in obeying her ‘peremptors,’ that she would immediately proceed to Mr. Whitteret’s office, and appoint him her agent. How she happened to imagine that she had any right to institute proceedings against Milrookit, for the restoration of the estate to Walkinshaw, will be best understood by our narrative of what passed at the consultation.
CHAPTER XCV
‘It was a happy thing for me, Mr. Pitwinnoch,’ said the Leddy, after being seated in his inner chamber—‘a happy thing, indeed, that I had a father, and sic a father as he was. Weel kent he the rights o’ the law; so that I may say I was brought up at the feet o’ Gamaliel. But the bed and board plea, Mr. Pitwinnoch, that ye thought sae lightly o’, and wanted me to mak a sacrifice o’ wi’ an arbitration, was bairn’s play to the case I hae noo in hand. Ye maun ken, then, that I hae ta’en a suspektion in my head, that Milrookit—the de’il rook him for what he did to me—has nae right because to keep, in a wrongous manner, my gudeman’s estate and property o’ the Kittlestonheugh. ’Deed, Mr. Pitwinnoch, ye may glower; but it’s my intent and purpose to gar him surrender at discretion, in due course of law. So he’ll see what it is to deal wi’ a woman o’ my legality. In short, Mr. Pitwinnoch, I’ll mak him fin’ that I’m a statute at large; for, as I said before, the thousand pounds was but erles, and a foretaste, that I hae been oure lang, Mr. Pitwinnoch, of going to law.’
‘You surprise me, Madam,—I cannot understand what you mean,’ replied the astonished lawyer.
‘Your surprise, and having no understanding, Mr. Pitwinnoch, is a symptom to me that ye’re no qualified to conduct my case; but, before going to Thomas Whitteret, who, as I am creditably informed, is a man o’ a most great capacity, I thought it was but right to sound the depth o’ your judgement and learning o’ the law; and if I found you o’ a proper sufficiency, to gie you a preferment, ’cause ye were my agent in the last plea.’
‘But, Madam,’ said the astonished lawyer, ‘how can you possibly have fancied that Mr. Milrookit has not, in right of his wife, properly succeeded to the estate?’
‘Because she’s no a male-heir—being in terms of the act—but a woman. What say ye to that? Is na that baith a nice point and a ground of action? Na, ye need na look sae constipated, Mr. Pitwinnoch, for the heirs-general o’ Margaret, the dochter, hae a better right than the heir-at-law o’ George, the third and last son, the same being an heir-female.’
‘In the name of goodness, where have you, Madam, collected all this stuff?’