Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 4 - 1819.djvu/76

 passed betwixt their ranks. Another was occupied by Highland gentlemen and chiefs of small branches, who were amusing themselves with chess, backgammon, and other games, which they scarce intermitted to gaze with curiosity upon the stranger. A third was filled with Lowland gentlemen and officers, who seemed also in attendance; and after all, the presence-chamber of the Marquis himself, shewed him attended by a levee which marked his high importance.

This apartment, the folding-doors of which were opened for the reception of Captain Dalgetty, was a long gallery, decorated with tapestry and family portraits, and having a vaulted ceiling of open wood-work, the extreme projections of the beams being richly carved and gilded. The gallery was lighted by long lanceolated Gothic casements, divided by heavy stone shafts, and filled with painted glass, where the sunbeams glimmered dimly through boars-heads, and galleys, and batons, and swords, armorial bearings of the powerful house of