 and your own fully acquit him. And now, my dear sir,
let me have the pleasure of introducing a son to a father.«
    We will not attempt to describe such a meeting. The proofs on all sides were
found to be complete, for Mr. Neville had left a distinct account of the whole
transaction with his confidential steward in a sealed packet, which was not to
be opened until the death of the old Countess; his motive for preserving secrecy
so long appearing to have been an apprehension of the effect which the
discovery, fraught with so much disgrace, must necessarily produce upon her
haughty and violent temper.
    In the evening of that day, the yeomanry and volunteers of Glenallan drank
prosperity to their young master. In a month afterwards Lord Geraldin was
married to Miss Wardour, the Antiquary making the lady a present of the wedding
ring - a massy circle of antique chasing, bearing the motto of Aldobrand
Oldenbuck, Kunst macht gunst.
    Old Edie, the most important man that ever wore a blue gown, bowls away
easily from one friend's house to another, and boasts that he never travels
unless on a sunny day. Latterly, indeed, he has given some symptoms of becoming
stationary, being frequently found in the corner of a snug cottage between
Monkbarns and Knockwinnock, to which Caxon retreated upon his daughter's
marriage, in order to be in the neighbourhood of the three parochial wigs, which
he continues to keep in repair, though only for amusement. Edie has been heard
to say, »This is a gey bein place, and it's a comfort to hae sic a corner to sit
in in a bad day.« It is thought, as he grows stiffer in the joints, he will
finally settle there.
    The bounty of such wealthy patrons as Lord and Lady Geraldin flowed
copiously upon Mrs. Hadoway and upon the Mucklebackits. By the former it was
well employed, by the latter wasted. They continue, however, to receive it, but
under the administration of Edie Ochiltree; and they do not accept it without
grumbling at the channel through which it is conveyed.
    Hector is rising rapidly in the army, and has been more than once mentioned
in the Gazette, and rises proportionally high in his uncle's favour; and what
scarcely pleases the young soldier less, he has also shot two seals, and thus
put an end to the Antiquary's perpetual harping upon the story of the phoca.
People talk of a marriage between Miss M'Intyre and Captain Wardour; but this
wants confirmation.
    The Antiquary is a frequent visitor at Knockwinnock
