Skip to main content

‹‹‹ prev (19)

(21) next ›››

(20)
20
so long tlie butt of bis rhetoric, ntabe back
your three shillings , and niak me quit o’ ye.”
..Not so fast, not so fast, woman — will
three shillings transport me to Queensferry
agreeably to thy treacherous program ? — or will
it requite the damage 1 may sustain by leaving
my business undone, or repay the expences
which I must disburse if 1 am obliged to tarry
a day at the South Ferry for lack of tide ? —
Will it hire, 1 say, a pinnace, for which alone
the regular price is five shillings ?”
Here his argument was cut short by a lum*
bering noise, which proved to be the advance
of the expected vehicle, pressing forward with
all the dispatch to which the broken - winded
jades that drew it could possibly be urged.
With ineffable pleasure, Mrs Macleuchar saw
her tormentor deposited in the leathern con¬
venience ; but still, as it was driving off, his
head thrust out of the window reminded her ,
in words drowned amid the rumbling of the
wheels, that, if the diligence did not attain the
Ferry in time to save the flood-tide, she, Mrs
Macleuchar , should be held responsible for all
the consequences that might ensue.
The coach had continued in motion for a
mile or two before the stranger had completely
repossessed himself of his equanimity, as was
manifested by the doleful ejaculations which