17. CHAPTER XVII.
TEA TABLE CONVERSATION.
“Well, Edward,” said the good Rector, as he
slowly sipped his favourite beverage, “this is an
unexpected pleasure. I had supposed that the wishes
of your father and the rhetoric of the minister had
prevailed over your philosophical resolutions and
that you were already half way to Saint Petersburg.
Perhaps you are only come to pay us a farewell visit,
and are soon to set off for the North.”
“Indeed, sir,” replied Ainslie, “I am soon to
set off for the North, but shall hardly reach the
court of the Czars this winter.”
“To Berlin, perhaps.”
“Too far, sir.”
“Peradventure to Copenhagen.”
“Hardly so far, sir, as the `Land o' cakes an
brither Scots.' I am to sojourn for the next few
weeks among the lakes and hills of Cumberland.”
“Cumberland!” exclaimed three or four voices
at once.
“For what purpose can you be going to Cumberland,”
said Lucy Blakeney, “I never heard of any
court in that quarter except that of queen Mab.”
“I am going to look after a little property there.”
“I never heard your father say that he owned
any estates in Cumberland,” said the Rector.
“But my great uncle Barsteck did. You remember
the old gentleman who used to visit my father and
take me with him, in all his strolls about the pleasant
hills and meadows here. He has long been declining
in health and the letter which brought us the melancholy
intelligence of his decease brought also the
information that he has remembered his old favourite.
I could have wished to be enriched by almost any
other event than the loss of so good a friend.”
The remembrance of his relative's early kindness
came over him with such force at this moment that
he rose and turned away to the window and it was
some minutes before he was sufficiently composed to
resume the conversation, in whsch he informed his
friends that he had given up all thoughts of public
life and was resolved to devote himself to more
congenial pursuits amidst the romantick scenery of
the lake country.
It may readily be supposed that this determination
was highly approved by the worthy pastor and that
in the private interview, which he had with Edward,
the next day, it had no small influence in procuring
his approbation of the suit which he then preferred
for the hand of his fair ward.
After a few delightful days spent in the society of
his friends at the Rectory, Edward set forward on
his journey to the North.
