Riddell

“ Mr Parrett opened his eyes wide.
“You are astonished,” said the doctor. “So was I when I first thought of it. But Riddell is a safe man, if slow, and his influence is just what is wanted in Welch’s. Besides, Fairbairn would make an excellent head for the schoolhouse. What do you think?”
“Without doubt Riddell, as far as character goes, is the best boy you could choose. I’m not quite sure, though, whether he has sufficient force.”
“But, as you say, his force answers to his difficulties. At any rate I am disposed to try him. A few weeks will show how he gets on. I have not much fear myself.” ”

“ It was not enough for him to make occasional inquiries as to his young protégé, or even to try to shield him when he fell into scrapes. Riddell’s idea of looking after a rickety youngster included a good deal more than this, and from the moment the old captain had left, amid all his own tribulations and adversities, the thought of young Wyndham had saddled itself on Riddell’s conscience with an uncomfortable weight. ”

“ Gifted with much inventive genius, Mr. Riddell was also possessed of considerable general knowledge, and was deeply versed in literature, medicine, science, and mathematics. To him his wife turned for all the information she needed in her novels ”

“ RIDDELL, JAMES (d. 1674) , Scottish merchant and manufacturer, was the son of James Riddell. The latter's father, also James Riddell, who claimed descent from the Norman baron Galfridus Riddell of Blaye in Guienne, was the first of the English Riddells to settle in Scotland; for some time he carried on business as a merchant at Kasimierz in Cracow, Poland. Of this town he was made a free citizen about 1595, and the privileges of citizenship were confirmed by the king of Poland in 1602. Subsequently he returned to Edinburgh, of which he became a burgess and guild brother ”

“ Despite his trouble, Riddell could hardly conceal a smile of pleasure at this honour, which, though not exactly unexpected, he had hardly realised till now.
“Oh, I say,” said he, “I’m certain there are lots of better fellows.”
“You may be quite sure if there had been Bloomfield would have picked them up,” said Fairbairn. “As it happens, we want a slip, and I heard Bloomfield say himself that you are awfully good there. You seem to have hidden your light under a bushel, old man, while in the schoolhouse.” ”

“ Henry Scott Riddell, one of the most powerful and pleasing of the living national song-writers, was born on the 23d September 1798, at Sorbie, in the Vale of Ewes—a valley remarkable for its pastoral beauty, lying in the south-east of Dumfriesshire. His father was a shepherd, well acquainted with the duties of his profession, and a man of strong though uneducated mind. ”

“ His mother was Anne, eldest daughter of John Glassford of Dougalston, by Anne, daughter of Sir John Nisbet of Dean. Educated for the law, Riddell was called to the Scottish bar in 1807. He made genealogy and Scottish peerage law his special study, and rose to pre-eminence in that branch of the profession. ”

“ I will ask my husband to send you away. I will tell him it is not pleasant to have a stranger in the house. I came out with you to-day solely to be able to say this to you. I am not double-faced, if you are. I cannot do one thing and pretend another.”
“I know that,” said Basil, sneeringly. “You never professed to dislike me before people; you never answered me as though you hated me while your uncle was present; you never hang about Captain Stondon as though you liked him better than all the world; you never pretended anything, did you, Phemie?” ”

“ And when at the end of that period he did revisit his old haunts, armed with a captain’s permit, it was only to discover that whatever small chance he ever had of coxing his house’s boat at the coming regatta, had vanished under the new arrangement which had brought Riddell into the boat.
It is only fair to say that this disappointment, keen as it was, had no effect on his loyalty. He was as ready as ever to fight any one who spoke ill of the schoolhouse. But it certainly had given him a jar, which resulted in rather strained relations with some of his old allies in Parrett’s. ”

“ We should have said that, before this, old David Riddell, moved by his son's entreaties, had given up his duties among the hills, and had come to live with him at Mosskirk Manse. A weekly delight was it to the old man to behold his son arrayed in his black gown, and with the smooth white bands drooping decently [Pg 84] upon his bosom, delivering from the pulpit of his native parish the words of eternal truth ”

“ And, but that we thought the relation we are about to deliver may be of service to some who, already standing on the brink, are not fully aware of their danger—but that we conceived the tale of talent, generosity, and worth, miserably destroyed by the unregulated social feelings, may arrest some kindred spirit in its path to unanticipated misery—we should yield to the impulse which urges us to fling down our pen, and give ourselves up to sorrow for the departed.
William Riddell was the only son of a shepherd, who dwelt upon the moorlands that overhang one of the tributaries of the Tweed. ”

“ Will you take my advice, Phemie, and go? The memories he will recall, the excitement of seeing a man risen from the grave, as one may say, will certainly prove too much for you. Will you go?”
“I have a fancy to stay, uncle,” she answered; “just as I said before, to wish him health and happiness before I leave Marshlands for ever. Most likely I shall never enter its doors again—let my last thought of the old home be a gracious one.”
And there came such a sad, wistful look into the sweet face that Mr. Aggland could press the point no further. ”

“ Then, with a catching sob, she stopped, her eyes flashing, her cheeks aflame, while John Riley, preventing his father answering, and passing over the sting her words held, said,—
“No one will be better pleased than we to hear you and your husband are happy and prosperous, Nettie. It would be useless to deny that we did, and do, regret the step you have taken, but that step has been taken, and it behoves us, as your nearest male friends, to see that its consequences prove as little disastrous to you as may be.” ”

“ Let monarchs rule, while we shall sing,
And journey on together.
[Pg 201] WILLIAM B. C. RIDDELL.
A youth of remarkable promise, William Brown Clark Riddell, was the youngest son of Mr Henry Scott Riddell. [12] He was born at Flexhouse, near Hawick, Roxburghshire, on the 16th December 1835. In his seventh year he was admitted a pupil in John Watson's Institution, Edinburgh, where he remained till 1850, when, procuring a bursary from the governors of Heriot's Hospital, he entered the University of Edinburgh. During three sessions he prosecuted his studies with extraordinary ardour and success. ”

“ Riddell thought that after the full of the moon we should have moderate winds, and then we calculated to start for the Friendly Islands in our boats, which we intended to put an extra streak on, to better fit them for a sea voyage.
But the morning we had intended to commence operations, we were much alarmed by seeing a fleet of about twenty canoes approaching the island, with warlike demonstrations. Capt. Riddell went down to the beach and met the party, who were a frightful looking set, being hideously painted with red and black, and all armed with spears and clubs. The chief and Capt. ”

“ Black walked beside, enjoying her astonishment, and kindly acting as cicerone to her inexperienced country understanding.
“Now, is not this better than grubbing on?” he triumphantly inquired, when, seated in his carriage, they were driving back to Lincoln’s Inn. “This is what a man can do who is not afraid, who feels his own strength, and is sure of being able to keep his feet under him. Ay, and by Jove, Dudley shall do as well yet as I have done! He deserves to do well, and so do you, Mrs. Dudley; for a more sensible woman, and one less under the dominion of prejudice, I never met. ”

“ Riddell smiled.
“Our fellows certainly consider themselves free to abuse or cheer all round, without the least partiality. Listen to them now.”
And certainly the hubbub that was going on was a trifle outrageous, even for Welchers. ”

“ It is human to err, and your humanity has erred, perhaps, on the safest side. On a safer side than mine, certainly,” he muttered, as Alick, jumping up beside Ned, took the reins, and, with a cold farewell to Mr. Croft, drove off at a rattling trot along Berrie Down Lane, and thence through Fifield to Palinsbridge.
As they passed Fifield church, the moonlight fell clear and cold on the mound of freshly-turned mould, which was heaped over the spot where Heather’s darling lay all alone, and the tears came welling up into Alick’s eyes when he thought of the dead child. ”

“ Do we purchase our indulgences in this way? Do we square our accounts with our own consciences by remembering that, if we have been as stone to Dick, Tom, and Harry, we have melted at the first appeal of Jack?
My principal, Mr. Craven—than whom a better man never breathed—had an unprofitable client, for whom he entertained feelings of the profoundest pity, whom he treated with a rare courtesy. That lady was Miss Blake; and when the old house on the Thames stood tenantless, Mr. Craven's bed did not prove one of roses. ”

“ You were fond of her, were you not, boy? it vexes you to hear that there is no one belonging to her, no one on whom she has a claim—not even myself who can say where she is, whether living or dead; but what is your trouble to mine? When I looked in your face a moment since, my last hope vanished. I thought perhaps she might have gone to Heather—to Mrs. Dudley, I mean.”
“Would you have me understand that she never went off with you?” Alick interrupted. He stood still in the very middle of Berrie Down Lane as he spoke, and the shifting light gave a wild, curious expression to his face. ”

“ Aggland, angrily. “I won’t have the girl made a slave of by anybody. Go on with your bonnet, Phemie.”
But the beauty had been taken off the ribbons for the girl. She could not see them for tears; and so, putting all her little finery aside, she assured her uncle that she did not care, that her work could wait, that she had forgotten Helen’s frock, and would rather do it. ”

“ All the morning Maryville was besieged with callers, notes, cards, and inquiries.
“They can come now,” said Nettie bitterly, as she watched car and carriage and messenger depart unsatisfied. “They think I can go back and take the old up where I left off that morning. They do not know; how should they?”
Dinner-time arrived. With a bang, Susan set down on one side of the table at the other side of which Grace sat writing, a dish of potatoes piled high and another of herrings floating in a fresh sea of grease. ”

“ I am very fond of you, Heather Dudley.”
“You are very kind, Miss Hope.”
“You are not in a mood to think so at this moment,” said Arthur’s aunt; “but wait a little. I have known your husband longer than you have; I am slightly better acquainted with the world, and the men and women in it, than you are; and I want to tell you, that if Arthur and Mr. Black are much together, my nephew will make ducks and drakes of Berrie Down, and you and he and the children won’t have sixpence a year.” ”

“ Black? No; you must meet influence with influence; you must checkmate stratagem by stratagem. For Arthur’s sake and for the sake of your children, you must avert this great evil which is coming upon you. This man must go, and Mrs. Ormson also, and Arthur must not follow them to London. Berrie Down is not gone yet; but Berrie Down will go, if you do not exert yourself to save it.”
For a moment Heather bent her head on her hands before she replied; then, “Berrie Down is not mine, to keep or to lose?” ”

“ It did not seem to her that it was really she, Phemie Stondon, who was walking all by herself through Yorkshire; who had been travelling by night till she was frozen and stupefied; the whole performance appeared so like part of a dream, that she had to stop occasionally to realise she was hundreds of miles from her own home, and half way across Quarry Moor, on her way to tell Basil of his son’s death.
On her arrival at the farm, Phemie found Mr. Urkirs out, but Mrs. Urkirs received the stranger very graciously, and at once promised to send one of the men over to Goresby. ”

“ Aggland. “Ay, and for that matter,” she continued, “drat all them poets, say I. Here, take the broth, and I’ll send one of the boys over to Grassenfel in the morning to see if we can get any beef. Won’t I go up to him? Not I, indeed. Am I fit, Daniel, am I fit—I put it to you—to be looked at by any gentleman? There’s Phemie,—if you want anybody to go and see him, ask her. She’s always dressed; she always seems just to have come out of a bandbox; she has not to go mucking about like your wife; she is a lady, and can sit in her parlour. ”

“ Elmsdale's suicide, the unsatisfactory state of his affairs, the prejudice against River Hall, the defection of Colonel Morris—all these things she laid at my door, and insisted on making me responsible for them.
"And now," she finished, pushing back her bonnet and pulling off her gloves, "I'll just write my opinion of you to Mr. Craven, and I'll wait till you direct the envelope, and I'll go with you to the post, and I'll see you put the letter in the box. If you and your fine Colonel Morris think you can frighten or flatter me, you are both much mistaken, I can tell you that!" ”