Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/416

 recommendation to a servant, and implied a security for truth, diligence, and honesty. And fortunate was the lad pronounced, whose bride could boast of the tokens of Mrs Mason's favour and approbation; for never did these fail to be followed by a conduct, that insured happiness, and prosperity.

The events that took place among her friends while Mrs Mason remained at Glenburnie shall now be briefly noticed. The first of these was Rob MacClarty's taking to wife the daughter of a smuggler; a man of notoriously bad character, who, it was said, tricked him into the marriage. Mrs MacClarty's opposition was violent, but abortive, and ended in an irreconcileable quarrel between her and her son. On being turned out of his house, she went with her daughters to reside at a country town in the neighbourhood, where the latter were employed by a manufacturer in flowering muslin. Their gains were considerable; but as all they earned