The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy
'For,' as she said to his mother, after consulting with Mr. Whitteret, and stating her grounds of action, 'it is not so clear a case as my great bed and board plea--and Mr. Whitteret is in some doubt, whether Pitwinnoch should be sent to trial by my instrumentality, or that of Jamie--very sensibly observing--for he's really a man o' the heighth o' discretion yon--that it would be hard for an aged gentlewoman like me, with a straitened jointure, to take up a cause that would, to a moral certainty, be defendit, especially when her grandson is so much better able to afford the expense.