Fiction > Book editions > London, 1889 - Master of Ballantrae

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a lined gowu^ with few words foi* any man, and wry
words for nune : the model of an old retired housekeeper ;
and yet his mind very well nourished with study, and
reputed in the country to be more cunning than he
seemed. The master of Ballantrae, James in baptism,
took from his father the love of serious reading ; some
of his tact perhaps as well, but that which was only
policy in the father became black dissimulation in the
son. The face of his behaviour was merely popular and
wild : he sat late at wine, later at the cards ; had the
name in the country of " an unco man for the lasses ; "
and was ever in the front of broils. But for all he was
the first to go in, yet it was observed he was invariably
the best to come off ; and his partners in mischief were
usually alone to pay the piper. This luck or dexterity got
him several ill-wishers, but with the rest of the country,
enhanced his reputation ; so that great things were
looked for in his future, when he should have gained
more gravity. One very black mark he had to his name ;
but the matter was hushed up at the time, and so de-
faced by legends before I came into those parts, that I
scruple to set it down. If it was true, it was a horrid fact
in one so young ; and if false, it was a horrid calumny.
I think it notable that he had always vaunted him-
self quite implacable, and was taken at his word ; so that
he had the addition among his neighbours of " an ill man
to cross. ■'^ Here was altogether a young nobleman (not
yet twenty-four in the year ^4o) who had made a figure
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