For he is the only son of his mother, and
she is a widow. But aboon a', O Lord, elec' him to thy grace and lat
him ken the glory o' God, even the licht o' thy coontenance. For me,
I'm a' thine, to live or dee, and I care not which. For I hae gotten
the gueed o' this warl'; and gin I binna ready for the neist, it's
because o' my sins, and no o' my savours. For I wad glaidle depairt and
be with the Lord. But this young man has never seen thy face; and, O
Lord, I'm jist feared that my coontenance micht fa' even in thy
kingdom, gin I kent that Alec Forbes was doon i' the ill place. Spare
him, O Lord, and gie him time for repentance gin he has a chance; but
gin he has nane, tak' him at ance, that his doom may be the lichter."
Alec rose with a very serious face, and went home to his mother in a
mood more concordant with her feelings than the light-heartedness with
which he generally tried to laugh away her apprehensions.
He even called on Robert Bruce, at his mother's request. It went
terribly against the grain with him though. He expected to find him
rude as of old, but he was, on the contrary, as pleasant as a man could
be whose only notion of politeness lay in _licking_.
Pages:
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789