Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 2 - 1819.djvu/28

18 wood-fire. He threw open and shut the latticed windows with violence, as if alike impatient of the admission and exclusion of free air. At length, however, the torrent of passion foamed off its madness, and he threw himself into the chair, which he proposed as his place of repose for the night.

"If, in reality,"—such were the calmer thoughts that followed the first tempest of his passion—"If, in reality, this man desires no more than the law allows him—if he is willing to adjust even his acknowledged rights upon an equitable footing, what could be my father's cause of complaint?—what is mine?—Those from whom we won our ancient possessions fell under the sword of my ancestors, and left lands and livings to the conquerors; we sink under the force of the law, now too powerful for the Scottish chivalry. Let us parley with the victors of the day, as if we had been besieged in our fortress and without hope of relief. This man may be other