Lord Fareborough was beside himself with unrest; he
drummed his fingers on the table-cloth; he crossed one leg, and then the
other; while more than once he made a noise between his tongue and his
teeth, which fortunately could not be heard far amid the rolling periods
of the sermon. Captain Waveney, who was master of the ceremonies in all
that concerned the shooting--even as he was Sir Hugh's right-hand man
in the matter of cattle-breeding at the Braes--on several occasions,
when a momentary pause occurred, jumped to his feet as if on the
assumption that the discourse was finished; but this ruse was quite
ineffectual, for the preacher took no notice of him. And meanwhile the
huge figure of Roderick Munro could be seen marching up and down outside
the windows, while a pair of wrathful eyes glared in from time to time;
and Lady Adela, noticing these baleful glances, began to hope that the
irate head keeper would not secretly instruct a gillie to go and throw
the minister into the river as he was crossing the ford on his way home.
"May God forgive the scoundrel!" cried Lord Fareborough, when, the long
sermon at length being over and the small crowd allowed to disperse, he
was free to hasten along to the gun-room to get his boots.
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