It was indeed a heart-breaking
sight. The habitation which he had left in its seclusion, beside the
mountain-stream, surrounded with every evidence of rustic plenty, was
now a wasted and blackened ruin. From amongst the shattered and sable
walls the smoke continued to rise. The turf-stack, the barn-yard, the
offices stocked with cattle, all the wealth of an upland cultivator of
the period, of which poor Elliot possessed no common share, had
been laid waste or carried off in a single night. He stood a moment
motionless, and then exclaimed, "I am ruined--ruined to the ground!--But
curse on the warld's gear--Had it not been the week before the
bridal--But I am nae babe, to sit down and greet about it. If I can but
find Grace, and my grandmother, and my sisters weel, I can go to the
wars in Flanders, as my gude-sire did, under the Bellenden banner, wi'
auld Buccleuch. At ony rate, I will keep up a heart, or they will lose
theirs a'thegither."
Manfully strode Hobbie down the hill, resolved to suppress his
own despair, and administer consolation which he did not feel.
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