Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/284

 to lay bis father's head i' the grave, as becam the duty o' a first-born son?"

"Alace!" returned the damsel, "ye little ken how sair the struggle was ere he could be brought to part frae the lifeless corpse! Had ye seen how he graspet the clay-cauld hand! Had ye heard how he sobbet over it, and how he begget and prayed but for another moment to gaze on the altered face, it wad hae gane near to break your heart. I'm sure mine was sair for the poor lad. And than to see him dragged away as a prisoner by the sogers! O it was mair pitifu' than your heart can think!"

"The sogers!" repeated Mrs MacClarty, "What had the vile loons to do wi' my bairn! the cruel miscreants! was there nane to rescue him out of their bluidy hands?"

"Na, na," returned Grizzy; "the minester geed his word that he shou'd na be rescued. And, to say the truth, the sogers behaved wi' great discretion. They