Explore "Flemington" by Violet Jacob on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
LORD BALNILLO looked out of his sedan chair as it emerged from the darkness of a close on the northern slope of the Old Town of Edinburgh. Far down in front of him, where the long alley stopped, a light or two was seen reflected in the black water of the Nor' Loch that lay between the ancient city and the ground on which the new one was so soon to rise. The shuffling footfalls of his chairmen, echoing off the sides of the covered entry, were drowned in the noise that was going on a little way farther forward, where the close widened out into a square courtyard. One side of this place was taken up by the house of Lady Anne Maxwell, for which the judge was bound.
It had been raining, and Edinburgh was most noisomely dirty under foot, so Balnillo's regard for his silk-clad legs and the buckled shoes on his slim feet, had made him decide to be carried to his kinswoman's party. He wore his favourite mouse colour, but the waistcoat under his velvet coat was of primrose satin, and the lace under his chin had cost him more than he liked to remember.