Come hither, Mrs. Colwan, you
shall pay for this."
So saying, the baillie began to inflict corporal punishment on the
runaway wife. His strokes were not indeed very deadly, but he
made a mighty flourish in the infliction, pretending to be in a
great rage only at the Laird of Dalcastle. "Villain that he is!"
exclaimed he, 'I shall teach him to behave in such a manner to a
child of mine, be she as she may; since I cannot get at himself, I
shall lounder her that is nearest to him in life. Take you that, and
that, Mrs. Colwan, for your husband's impertinence!"
The poor afflicted woman wept and prayed, but the baillie would
not abate aught of his severity. After fuming and beating her with
many stripes, far drawn, and lightly laid down, he took her up. to
her chamber, five stories high, locked her in, and there he fed her
on bread and water, all to be revenged on the presumptuous Laird
of Dalcastle; but ever and anon, as the baillie came down the stair
from carrying his daughter's meal, he said to himself: "I shall
make the sight of the laird the blithest she ever saw in her life."
Lady Dalcastle got plenty of time to read, and pray, and meditate;
but she was at a great loss for one to dispute with about religious
tenets; for she found that, without this advantage, about which
there was a perfect rage at that time, the reading and learning of
Scripture texts, and sentences of intricate doctrine, availed her
naught; so she was often driven to sit at her casement and look
out for the approach of the heathenish Laird of Dalcastle.
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