"
"The deil be in my feet if I do," said Moniplies,--"I am not the lad
to leave your lordship in foul weather, when I followed you and fed
upon you through the whole summer day, And besides, there may be brave
days behind, for a' that has come and gane yet; for
"It's hame, and it's hame, and it's hame we fain would be, Though the
cloud is in the lift, and the wind is on the lea; For the sun through
the mirk blinks blithe on mine ee, Says,--'I'll shine on ye yet in our
ain country!"
Having sung this stanza in the manner of a ballad-singer, whose voice
has been cracked by matching his windpipe against the bugle of the
north blast, Richie Moniplies aided Lord Glenvarloch to rise, attended
his toilet with every possible mark of the most solemn and deferential
respect, then waited upon him at breakfast, and finally withdrew,
pleading that he had business of importance, which would detain him
for some hours.
Although Lord Glenvarloch necessarily expected to be occasionally
annoyed by the self-conceit and dogmatism of Richie Moniplies's
character, yet he could not but feel the greatest pleasure from the
firm and devoted attachment which this faithful follower had displayed
in the present instance, and indeed promised himself an alleviation of
the ennui of his imprisonment, in having the advantage of his
services. It was, therefore, with pleasure that he learned from the
warder, that his servant's attendance would be allowed at all times
when the general rules of the fortress permitted the entrance of
strangers.
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