king the old
woman's arm--as if to rouse her (like a child) into some attention to
his words--he said to her earnestly:

"Mother Gillie, now boil the sea-man's drink of thyme, ground-ivy,
pepper, ginger, honey, brandy, and all that belongs to it--you know
how: make it, as you make it for ship-wrecked folk; and give it every
hour to the poor soul there: and remember this--mother Gillie's life
answers for his."

Like a child that has been told to do something under pain of
punishment, the old woman answered--"Aye, aye; thyme, ground-ivy,
pepper, ginger"--and went about her work. The young man then came up to
the bed; and, laying his hands on Bertram, said--

"Ah, poor soul! he'll never be warm again: the sea has broke over him
too roughly: but no matter: mother Gillie must brew the drink, if the
man were a corpse; for Nicholas has said it.--Well, mother, God bless
you! and another time when a Christian and one of us knocks at the door
on a winter's night, sing out--_Come in!_ and, if he should chance to
be cold and thirsty, give him a glass of brandy; and think now and then
that a living man is made of flesh as well as bones."

"Whither away then, Tom? To Grace, I'll warrant--the wench that has
snared thee, and carries thee away from all thy kinsfolk."

"No: I must be gone to the castle; for Sir Morgan hunts in the
morning."

"Ah! _that_ Sir Morgan! _that_ Sir Morgan! He wheedles thee, Tom; and
to serve him thou leavest thy old mother. He and the young lady, and
that lass Grace build houses for thee; but a mother's curse will pull
them down."

"Mother, the baronet is my good friend: his father gave mine the
oat-field by the shore: his grandfather saved mine from death in
Canada: and the Walladmors have still been good masters; and we have
still been faithful servants: and, let the white hats say what they
will,--them that the quality calls radicals,--my notion is that people
should stick to their old masters, and be true to them; and that's best
for both sides."

"Go, get thee gone to thy boat,--falsehearted lad; snakes will rear
their heads out of the water, and seize on him that honoureth not his
parents and that forgetteth his brother!"

Without shewing the least displeasure at these angry words, Tom took
his leave; and the old woman now addressed herself in good earnest to
the task of preparing the cordial for the young stranger. He meantime
had gradually recovered his entire self-possession; and from the