“Ou ay, the cratur has been trying to amuse me,” said Nashon; “for she couldna bear, she said, to see me sittin i’ the middle o’ this big ha’, lookin frae me, an’ thinkin o’ the huntin o’ the conies o’ Conybarns; but when the mills are set agaun, we’ll hae something to keep us out o’ langer. I may, peradventure, think too o’ some tanneries. It’s a pity to lose sae muckle oak bark; and Jamie Skinner, the leather merchant o’ Peebles, says he could sell as mony skins as I could gie him.”
“But you forget, Mr. Heatherton,” said Græme, beginning to lose temper, “that you have only a servitude to a limited extent over the Well Burn, and will not be entitled to destroy the purity of the water.”
“But water doesna rin up the brae, sir,” replied Nashon. “I’m below Eyrymount, an’ my neebours below me winna object. But, after a’, I think o’ mony things I never execute.”
“I hope you will think twice about these things,” said Græme. “I merely called in, as a neighbour, to wish you joy. Good morning!”
“Guid mornin, sir!” replied Nashon, without rising from his chair. “That’s Eyrymount himsel,” he continued, after Græme had departed, “if Esther’s account o’ him be correct. Isna that the laird o’ Eyrymount, Esther?” said he to Esther Maclean, as she entered.
“The very man,” replied Esther. “Was he wantin to buy Outfieldhaugh frae ye?”
“Ou, ay,” replied Nashon; “but I tauld him I intended to build spinnin mills an’ tannaries on the Well Burn.”
“An’ do ye intend to spoil yer estate in that way?” said Esther.
“It’s no very likely,” replied Nashon. “The value o Outfieldhaugh lies in its woods an’ waterfa’s; an’, though I pretended to like the whin muirs o’ Conybarns better, it was only to bring the laird oot, an’ see if ye were richt in what ye tauld me. I think ye’re nearly as wise as mysel.”
While Nashon and Esther Maclean were thus comparing notes, Hugo Græme returned to Eyrymount, and had a conference with his lady on the character of the new proprietor of Outfieldhaugh.