The last Squire had
lost his only son at school. He himself had been originally second
in the family, and in the generation before him there had been some
child-deaths, after which we came back to a young man, apparently
the eldest, who, according to Miss Selby's story, had been killed in
a duel by one of the Fordyces. It was not comfortable, till I
remembered that our family Bible recorded the birth, baptism, and
death of a son who had preceded Griffith, and only borne for a day
the name afterwards bestowed on me.
And Henderson, who was so little our elder as to discuss things on
fairly equal grounds, had some very interesting talks with us two
over ancestral sin and its possible effects, dwelling on the 18th of
Ezekiel as a comment on the Second Commandment. Indeed, we agreed
that the uncomfortable state of disaffection which, in 1830, was
becoming only too manifest in the populace, was the result of
neglect in former ages, and that, even in our own parish, the
bitterness, distrust, and ingratitude were due to the careless,
riotous, and oppressive family whom we represented.
CHAPTER XVII--THE SIEGE OF HILLSIDE
'Ferments arise, imprisoned factions roar,
Represt ambition struggles round the shore;
Till, overwrought, the general system feels
Its motion stop, or frenzy fire the wheels.'
GOLDSMITH.
Griffith had come straight home this year.
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