The Silver Glen

” XII. Tells of the only occasion upon which I met the Earl of Mar, also of how my Lady Erskine stole down the turret-stairs in answer to a knock 99

’Twas in the early hours of a dark December morning in the year 1714 that I was awakened suddenly by the cautious opening of the chamber door, and saw with blinking eyes the bar...

Rosyth House stood (for alas! it stands no longer, having been burned to the ground in the year 1727, on the very day that his present Gracious Majesty came to the throne), on t...

The snow was very deep and still falling on the day of my grandfather’s funeral, and many of his friends and neighbours who would willingly have honoured Colonel Stewart by foll...

It hath often been a matter of surprise to me, as well as of great thankfulness, that a beneficent Providence should have cast my lot with friends so large-hearted and generous...

I can bring to mind one morning when my lady, having recovered from her indisposition, called me to her and proposed that we should walk through the grounds and see what had bee...

“Aunt Betty returns home to-day!” cried Charles one morning, as I came into their room to give my good Phemie greeting, “and I am to ride with the coach to fetch her, my mama sa...

The days of spring fled swiftly and easily for me in my pleasant abode although nothing happened to mark their passage with any particularity. Less than a week after the arrival...

Far as I have travelled and beautiful as are the countries I have seen, the fairest pictures that hang in the galleries of my memory are pictures of bonnie Scotland. To me it se...

It pleased me to meet again at Dysart, Mistress Betty’s grave admirer, Mr. David Pitcairn, for that such he was I never hesitated in my mind to believe. I found that he was the...

My Lady Erskine was by this time mighty anxious to be back at Alva, not only for the sake of her children, from whom she could never bear to be long parted, but also because she...

I cannot omitt writting every post tho’ I have but little to say, except tell you thatt I begin now to be mighty impatient to have you home. All the members of Parlyment that I...

I did not writ last post in hope I wold gett one from you forbidding mee to writ, but I got one of a different nature telling me ye was just goeing to my Lord Mar’s country hous...

Whatever tears bedewed the pillow of my dear Lady Erskine that night there was no sign of them in the morning. The household was early astir as usual, and at once the bustle of...

Now I think it will be agreed that an idea which had sprung full-formed into my mind during my silent listening, with regard to the Master’s conduct, was not without weight. It...

The very next day, being the tenth of September, came Mr. Malcome to visit us, with news both good and bad. The Master had not yet returned home, so that we were ignorant of wha...

It seemed to us all in those days that Fortune was playing a game of _see-saw_ with us and our hopes. No sooner were we elated by some piece of good luck, than something happene...

And now I am going to relate an adventure so foolish and freakish that, looking back upon it from the standpoint of discreet years, I cannot but wonder how my friend Betty ever...

I have often thought that our mad escapade would not have been passed over so lightly had the news we brought been less satisfactory. My lord was never, I believe, made aware of...

Not content with doing her best to guard her own property, my Lady Erskine was diligent to lend what help she could to our party in various ways. Having heard from her brother a...

Tidings we had upon the morrow in plenty, but no great certainty, for Rumour, many-mouthed, roamed the country-side, and each mouth had a different tale to tell. One thing was s...

My dear Lady Erskine was so wrapt in the perusal of her brother’s letter that she neither noticed my delay in quitting the bedroom, nor my agitation when I joined her. For a mom...

I received yours of the 20th and another of the 29th of Nov., which were both most acceptable, but they had both been long by the way, for it was the 5 of Dec. before I received...

On the evening of the day upon which we had visited Captain Anthony, Mr. Peck, with an anxious face, sought my Lady Erskine (but this unknown to me), and told her that he was tr...

It will be well for me now to give you shortly some account of the proceedings at Perth, which I learned from Mr. Fleming’s own lips some time after, though it would, I know, be...

The short afternoon was closing in. The snow was falling steadily and soft, for there was no wind and the frost still held. We sat at work in the hall, being gathered there for...

It was no small satisfaction to me in the present state of affairs to hear you was gone. It is what I shall bless God for while I live. Your servant’s return was the first accou...

The relief of pouring out her heart to her husband was, as my dear lady once told me, very great, and I think it a real mercy that she could not foresee how long her letters wer...

I have good reason to hop you arriv’d safe, since I hear all the three ships that went off at that time landed safely; but I am surprised you do not fall upon some way to let me...

I have given you so much of woe and weeping that I begin to fear you must be weary of so dismal a tale, and I am quite glad to tell you now of a little lull in the tempest, and...

Yours of the date 20 of Fe. was most acceptable to me. I delayed answering my Dearest Life some days, expecting Charls here, that I might learn a little from him what were peopl...

We found the household at the Hermitage very dull and dumpish; they seemed like people who had received a shock from which they had not yet recovered. My lord spoke little, and...

The day after this we returned to Alva, bearing with us a request from my Lord Sinclair to his daughter Catherine, that she would come and make her abode with him in the meantim...

I begin to be impatient to hear from my Dear Life. This is the fourth letter I have writ, and I have got but one. If you are well I am very happy, but I have many melancholy dre...

I received two of your letters this week which were most acceptable, one without a date, and the last of the 16th of March. By both I see all my letters have miscarry’d, which d...

I am uneasy you have never got any of my letters and I am much afraid you are in want of money. I have writ six letters since you left Britain, and in every one of them beg’d (y...

You will notice, I have no doubt, a great sameness in these interesting letters, and frequent repetitions of the sentiments and facts they contain. The reason of this, as you wi...

I think it very hard I can never hear my Dearest Life has got any of my letters, tho’ this is the seventh I have writ, and in every one desired you to draw a bill for 100 pounds...

It is but three day since I wrote to my Dearest Life, but haveing had the pleasure of one from you last night of 15 of Ap., new stile, by another hand, I am resolved to lett no...

I received one from my Dearest Life of the 17 Ap. which was most acceptable. I am sorry you should be in such pain and uneasyness by your not hearing from me, and I should never...

I received yours of the 26th of Ap., which my Dearest Life may imagine was most acceptable to know you had once got some of my letters, and that you was easy in your mind upon t...

It is three weeks now since I heard from my Dearest Life and I begin to be very impatient. I expect to hear from you every fortnight, and when I doe not I am apt to fancy you ar...

Towards the end of May my lady, becoming alarmed at the weakness of her youngest son, determined, though somewhat against her inclination, to send him and his brother to their g...

I had the pleasure of hearing from my Dearest Life some days agoe, but it had been long by the way, which gave me some pain about you; and tho’ it was but three days writ after...

Yours of the 29 of May was forwarded by our friend att London, which you may be sure was most welcome to me since there can be nothing so agreeable as to hear you are well, and...

The sweet June days went slowly past, and we, occupied in various ways, rejoiced in the hot bright weather and the growing beauty of the country. The garden was fair with flower...

I delay’d writing in hops to have heard from you, butt it is more than a month since I had that pleasure, and it was just when you was 41, so you may judge what a pain it is to...

I have now to tell you of a period of great heaviness and anxiety to all those concerned in Sir John’s affairs. Many a time in after days have I heard my dear lady say, that the...

It’s impossible to express the trouble and uneasyness Mrs. Amond has been in since the last misfortune, which you know of long ere now both from Duncan and her; and to add to he...

“How often did I say to you in the old days, Barbara, that I had dark misgivings about the Silver Mine?” said my lady one day, resting her head upon her hand and looking weary a...

Amond bids me tell you she had yours of the 25th of August, but she regretes Ashton has not yet met with Sr. Harry S--g. He is yet in quest of him, and she hops you will both ac...

In the meantime Sir John himself had been passing through various anxieties of his own, though I can only give you a very brief account of his doings from the notes in my little...

I will leave you to imagine the joy and thankfulness at Alva when the news of Sir John’s arrival at London reached us, for no words of mine can express it; and when it was known...