Sir Walter Scott, as his son-in-law informed me, despite the vast amount of intellectual labor he otherwise imposed upon himself, with as little flinching, apparently, as though his mind were a powerful self-regulating steam-engine, had the habit of always answering letters on the day of their reception! Mr. Lockhart told me that, during the researches he made among the private papers of his immortal friend, while preparing materials for his biography, he almost invariably remarked, from the careful notations upon them, that when any delay had occurred in replying to a letter, it arose from the necessity of some previous investigation, or the like. My astonishment upon perusing the long, elaborately-written epistles that Mr. Lockhart subsequently gave to the world, was augmented by my knowledge of this fact, and by my remembrance of the innumerable demands made upon his time by social and public duties. But "we ne'er shall look on his like again!" Well might his pen be styled the wand of the mighty Wizard of the North.
A gentle tap at the library-door interrupted the after-dinner chat of my old friend and myself. A fair young face presented itself in answer to the bidding of my host, and, upon seeing me was quickly withdrawn.
"Come in, my daughter, come—what will you have?"
I rose immediately to withdraw, as the young lady, thus encouraged, somewhat timidly advanced towards her father.
"Pray, do not disturb yourself, Colonel Lunettes," said she; "I only want to speak to pa one moment; don't think of going away, I beg"——
My host, too, interposed to prevent my leaving the room, and I, therefore, took up a book and re-seated myself.
"Excuse me for interrupting you, pa, but may I"—here a whisper, and then so audibly that I could not help overhearing—"do please, dear pa!"
"Well, we'll see about it—when is the concert?" rang out the clear voice of the father.
"But, pa, I ought to answer the note to-night or very early to-morrow morning—it would not be polite to keep Mr. Blakeman"——