Page:Dramas 3.pdf/19

reckoning, tho' we ca' it only twa days. Folks said when she gaed awa', that she wou'd na be lang awa'. It wou'd be as easy to keep a moth frae the can'le, or a cat frae the milk-house, as keep her awa' frae the tower o' Dungarren (lowering his voice) when the laird is at hame.

DUNGARREN.

What say'st thou, varlet?

BAWLDY.

Only what I hear folks say, your honour.

DUNGARREN.

Go thy ways to thy loft and thy byre. Folks are saucy, and teach lads to forget themselves, [Exit Bawldy.] ( Pointing to the bag.) Take it in, Anderson. [Exit Anderson.

DUNGARREN (alone, turning impatiently from the gate).

I thought to have crossed the threshold of my own house in peace.—To be pestered with the passion of an indelicate vixen!—She fastens her affection upon me like a doctor's blister-sheet, strewed with all the stinging powders of the torrid zone, for daring and desperate medication. (After pacing to and fro in a disturbed manner.) And my gentle Violet, too: must she be still subjected to her scornful looks and insulting insinuations? A noble spirit like hers, under