human
Are the family at the house?
gpt
No, stir, they're awa wi' a' the servants,--they keep only twa nowadays, and my gudewife there has the keys and the charge, though she's no a fee'd servant. She has been born and bred in the family, and has a' trust and management. If they were there, we behovedna to take sic freedom without their order; but when they are awa, they will be weel pleased we serve a stranger gentleman. Miss Bellenden wad help a' the haill warld, an her power were as gude as her will; and her grandmother, Leddy Margaret, has an unto respect for the gentry, and she's no ill to the poor bodies neither.--And now, wife, what for are ye no getting forrit wi' the sowens?
human
Never mind, lad, rejoined Jenny,
gpt
Can you tell me when Lord Evandale's marriage takes place?
human
Very soon, we expect, answered Jenny, before it was possible for her husband to reply;
gpt
The excellent old man! said the stranger;
human
I heard at Edinburgh he was no more. Was he long ill?
gpt
He couldna be said to haud up his head after his brother's wife and his niece were turned out o' their ain house; and he had himsell sair borrowing siller to stand the law,--but it was in the latter end o' King James's days; and Basil Olifant, who claimed the estate, turned a papist to please the managers, and then naething was to be refused him. Sae the law gaed again the leddies at last, after they had fought a weary sort o' years about it; and, as I said before, the major ne'er held up his head again. And then cam the pitting awa o' the Stewart line; and, though he had but little reason to like them, he couldna brook that, and it clean broke the heart o' him; and creditors cam to Charnwood and cleaned out a' that was there,--he was never rich, the gude auld man, for he dow'd na see onybody want.
human
He was indeed, said the stranger, with a faltering voice,
gpt
They will neither want the tane nor the tother while Lord Evandale lives, said Jenny;
human
And why, said the stranger, with a voice that quivered with emotion,
gpt
There was the lawsuit to be ended, said Jenny readily,
human
Na, but, said Cuddie,
gpt
Whisht, hand your tongue, and sup your sowens, said his wife;
human
I see the gentleman's far frae weel, and downa eat our coarse supper. I wad kill him a chicken in an instant.
gpt
There is no occasion, said the stranger;
human
I shall want only a glass of water, and to be left alone.
gpt
You'll gie yoursell the trouble then to follow me, said Jenny, lighting a small lantern,
human
That the bairns would be left to fight thegither, and coup ane anither into the fire,