“Aye, thirteen years,” rejoined Mrs. Smyth, “and some three or four weeks, it is noo sin that awfu’ neght, (and here she turned to Lady Arandale’s woman, who sat beside her,) when the hale country roond was shining wi’ bonfires and illuminations; for every ane at had a pane o’ glass, woman, pit a candle in’t, till the bonny smooth lake yonder fairly glittered! I mind it as weel, as it had been but yestereen—bit, affoor the lights o’ joy were put oot, him, for the birth o’ whom they were lighted, and her, wha gave him birth, baith lay dead! Aye, cauld corses they were, afoor ever the embers o’ the bonfires had ceased to reek!” Here a few tears fell from the eyes of poor Mrs. Smyth; for the present bustle had brought that which preceded the melancholy event to which she alluded, fresh to her mind.
“It was a sair blow, in truth!” said the butler; “and sairly did the mistress take it to heart; and wha could blame her?”
“It’s time, however,” replied Mrs. Smyth, “that the peur lasses, wha were o’er young to ken ony thing about the loss o’ their mither, peur things, should see a little o’ the warl, and ha’e some youthfu’ divartions. They are baith i’ their eighteenth year noo,” she added, again addressing the stranger; “and if they dina ha’e their sport, peur things, a wee while, afoor they git a gliff o’ the ills o’ this mortal life, they’l set little count by dancing, and the like, by and bye! Bit here comes Nell wi’ the jelly! That’s right—my mind’s easy noo! Come awa, will ye, Maister Donald, and look o’er the things wi’ me: I’s feard for my life, at I shall forgit someot at’s maist material.”
[CHAPTER XXXII.]
“Like sounds that are no more, past is Erin’s
Strife; and Ingall is returned with his fame.”
Lord Arandale, the eldest brother of Mrs. Montgomery; his lady; their daughter, Lady Susan Morven; their son, Lord Morven; and a nephew, Colonel Morven, had all come from Scotland, on a visit to their relative, and a tour to the lakes.
Mrs. Montgomery, in compliment to these friends, and also for the purpose of affording some little society to her hitherto secluded grand-daughters, had determined, though she never would herself go out again, to see company at home, as before the death of Lady L. In pursuance of this plan, a large and gay party was now assembled in the drawing-room of Lodore House, awaiting the important summons to that very dinner which we have just seen Mrs. Smyth so anxiously preparing. There was also to be a dance in the evening, to which all the neighbouring families for many miles round were invited.
Julia, now about eighteen, according to the account given us in the last chapter by Mrs. Smyth, was endeavouring, for the whim of the thing, to learn from Lady Susan Morven, the Scotch pronunciation of the words of “Auld Lang Syne,” of which she was playing the accompaniment on the harp; Mrs. Montgomery and Lady Arandale were seated on a sofa, engaged in conversation; Lord Arandale was talking politics in a window with Mr. Jackson; Frances, Lord Morven, and Colonel Morven, were standing near the harp, laughing at Julia’s attempts at Scotch; and the rest, in various groupes, were exerting their patience, or their wit, to pass away the time till dinner.