Chapter 13

The Miller was of manly make,
To meet him was na mows;
There durst na ten come him to take,
Sae noited he their pows.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.

It was after sunset, as we have already stated, when Halbert
Glendinning returned to the abode of his father. The hour of dinner
was at noon, and that of supper about an hour after sunset at this
period of the year. The former had passed without Halbert's
appearing; but this was no uncommon circumstance, for the chase, or
any other pastime which occurred, made Halbert a frequent neglecter of
hours; and his mother, though angry and disappointed when she saw him
not at table, was so much accustomed to his occasional absence, and
knew so little how to teach him more regularity, that a testy
observation was almost all the censure with which such omissions were
visited.

On the present occasion, however, the wrath of good Dame Elspeth
soared higher than usual. It was not merely on account of the special
tup's head and trotters, the haggis and the side of mutton, with which
her table was set forth, but also because of the arrival of no less a
person than Hob Miller, as he was universally termed, though the man's
name was Happer.

The object of the Miller's visit to the Tower of Glendearg was like
the purpose of those embassies which potentates send to each other's
courts, partly ostensible, partly politic. In outward show, Hob came
to visit his friends of the Halidome, and share the festivity common
among country folk, after the barn-yard has been filled, and to renew
old intimacies by new conviviality. But in very truth he also came to
have an eye upon the contents of each stack, and to obtain such
information respecting the extent of the crop reaped and gathered in
by each feuar, as might prevent the possibility of _abstracted
multures_.

All the world knows that the cultivators of each barony or regality,
temporal or spiritual, in Scotland, are obliged to bring their corn to
be grinded at the mill of the territory, for which they pay a heavy
charge, called the _intown multures_. I could speak to the
thirlage of _invecta et illata_ too, but let that pass. I have
said enough to intimate that I talk not without book. Those of the
_Sucken_, or enthralled ground, were liable in penalties, if,
deviating from this thirlage, (or thraldom,) they carried their grain
to another mill. Now such another mill, erected on the lands of a
lay-baron, lay within a tempting and convenient distance of Glendearg;
and the Miller was so obliging, and his charges so moderate, that it
required Hob Miller's utmost vigilance to prevent evasions of his
right of monopoly.

The most effectual means he could devise was this show of good