I therefore thought that we might, in
old Scottish phrase, ``let byganes be byganes,'' and
upon a new account. Yet I resolved, like a
skilful general, to reconnoitre a little before laying
down any precise scheme of proceeding, and in the
interim I determined to preserve my incognito.
CHAPTER IV.
Mr Croftangry bids adieu to Clydesdale.
Alas, how changed from what it once had been!
'Twas now degraded to a common inn.
Gay.
An hour's brisk walking, or thereabouts, placed
me in front of Duntarkin, which had also, I found,
undergone considerable alterations, though it had not
been altogether demolished like the principal mansion.
An inn-yard extended before the door of the
decent little jointure-house, even amidst the remnants
of the holly hedges which had screened the
lady's garden. Then a broad, raw-looking, new-made
road intruded itself up the little glen, instead of
the old horseway, so seldom used that it was almost
entirely covered with grass. It is a great
enormity of which gentlemen trustees on the highways
are sometimes guilty, in adopting the breadth
necessary for an avenue to the metropolis, where
all that is required is an access to some sequestered
and unpopulous district.
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