erthrown, and that the living
machine could no longer be altogether held responsible for its acts.
Such, in appearance, was Lawrence Brindister: had he been of sane mind,
he would have been the lord of Lunnasting and the broad acres of several
estates, both on the mainland of Shetland and in the north of Scotland;
but as he had, long before coming of age, given undoubted signs of being
totally incapable of managing his affairs, his claims had been set aside
in favour of his cousin, Margaret Brindister, the next heir, married to
Sir Marcus Wardhill. There had been, when Sir Marcus married, three
other heirs besides Lawrence, before Margaret Brindister could succeed
to the property: the same fever within a few days carried off two of
them; and then, and perhaps not till then, a longing desire seized Sir
Marcus to obtain the estates. The possessor was an old man--a bachelor.
Sir Marcus was not a man--that was well known--who allowed obstacles to
stand in his way; in the most unaccountable manner, the next heir, a
boy, disappeared: he was supposed, with his nurse, to have fallen over a
cliff, or to have been on the beach when a sea came in and swept them
both away--either occurrences too likely to happen to allow suspicion
justly to rest on any one. A handkerchief of the nurse's, and a
plaything of the child's, were found dropped on the road they had taken.
Their bodies were searched for in every direction in vain; the old man
mourned for the child, of whom he was very fond, and died shortly after.
Sir Marcus, too, mourned for the loss of his young kinsman, but
instantly commenced a suit which terminated by making poor Lawrence
Brindister his ward. There were certain conditions attached, that
Lunnasting should be his abode, and that he should be kindly treated and
well looked after, and supplied with anything he might in reason require
for his amusement: Lawrence himself, so far from opposing, seemed
perfectly contented with the arrangement; and while Lady Wardhill, to
whom he was much attached, lived, he was always cheerful and
good-tempered, though he afterwards exhibited so much extravagance of
behaviour that he required to be carefully watched, and his actions more
curbed than he liked. He had at first much resented this mode of
proceeding with him, but of late years he had become apparently so
perfectly harmless, that he was allowed to do exactly as he pleased.
Such was the eccentric being who now stood before Miss