Page:Ghost of my uncle (NLS104185164).pdf/10

10 rummaged o'er his auld kist, till we foun it.' 'Mind your ain concerns, gudeman and we'll mind ours, rejoined a third, rathe gruffly; so that my well meant admonition had no better effect than to cause me to b more disliked by the party; for I could perceive before this that they looked on me in the light of an unwelcome intruder.

The will was now read, to which all paid the greatest attention. A mute anxiety and deep interest sat on every countenance: their aspects was, however, instantly changed into those of intense disappointment and vexation, on hearing that my uncle had made a stranger, whom none of us knew, the heir of all his property, real and personal. For my part, this circumstance did not affect me in the least. I had not had any expectation of inheriting the smallest portion; therefore could not feel disappointed. But with the others it was different; they had clung to him like so many leeches, or like the ivy to the old ruin, and with about as much affection as the two before-mentioned things have for the objects to which they so closely adhere. A most appalling and disgusting scene now took place among the disappointed legacy hunters. They abused the old man in the most shocking terms: they taxed him with injustice and villany, and even proceeded to call down imprecations upon his