Page:Cuthbert Bede - The White Wife.djvu/186

There was a problem when proofreading this page.
an Old Soldier.
163

if he could get any earning (employment) towards his own support? The old man told him that he could not do so, and that he had no pension; but that his son was a good son, and did not grudge him what he gave him.

The Duke ordered the old man to hold out his hand; and he put a shilling in it, saying, "From this day to the day of your death you will have a shilling for each day settled on you by me, until you have no need of meat or clothing." The Duke then took the old man with him as a familiar companion, and showed him all the fine things about the castle, and entertained him for several days before he sent him back to Oban. And he regularly paid him his pension till the day of his death.