‘Why, Bertram replied, that he considered the original settlement of Mrs. Margaret Bertram as the arrangement most proper in the circumstances of the family, and that therefore the estate of Singleside was the property of his sister.’
‘The rascal!’ said Pleydell, wiping his spectacles. ‘He’ll steal my heart as well as my mistress. Et puis?’
‘And then Sir Robert retired, after many gracious speeches; but last week he again took the field in force, with his coach and six horses, his laced scarlet waistcoat, and best bob-wig--all very grand, as the good-boy books say.’
‘Ay! and what was his overture?’
‘Why, he talked with great form of an attachment on the part of Charles Hazlewood to Miss Bertram.’
‘Ay, ay; he respected the little god Cupid when he saw him perched on the Dun of Singleside. And is poor Lucy to keep house with that old fool and his wife, who is just the knight himself in petticoats?’
‘No; we parried that. Singleside House is to be repaired for the young people, and to be called hereafter Mount Hazlewood.’
‘And do you yourself, Colonel, propose to continue at Woodbourne?’
‘Only till we carry these plans into effect. See, here’s the plan of my bungalow, with all convenience for being separate and sulky when I please.’
‘And, being situated, as I see, next door to the old castle, you may repair Donagild’s tower for the nocturnal contemplation of the celestial bodies? Bravo, Colonel!’