`` Why , sir , '' said I , `` if I knew where I was going , or what was likely to become of me , I would tell you candidly . Essendean is a good place indeed , and I have been very happy there ; but then I have never been anywhere else . My father and mother , since they are both dead , I shall be no nearer to in Essendean than in the Kingdom of Hungary , and , to speak truth , if I thought I had a chance to better myself where I was going I would go with a good will . '' `` Ay ? '' said Mr. Campbell . `` Very well , Davie . Then it behoves me to tell your fortune ; or so far as I may . When your mother was gone , and your father -LRB- the worthy , Christian man -RRB- began to sicken for his end , he gave me in charge a certain letter , which he said was your inheritance . ` So soon , ' says he , ` as I am gone , and the house is redd up and the gear disposed of ' -LRB- all which , Davie , hath been done -RRB- , ` give my boy this letter into his hand , and start him off to the house of Shaws , not far from Cramond . That is the place I came from , ' he said , ` and it 's where it befits that my boy should return . He is a steady lad , ' your father said , ` and a canny goer ; and I doubt not he will come safe , and be well lived where he goes . ' '' `` The house of Shaws ! '' I cried . `` What had my poor father to do with the house of Shaws ? '' `` Nay , '' said Mr. Campbell , `` who can tell that for a surety ? But the name of that family , Davie , boy , is the name you bear -- Balfours of Shaws : an ancient , honest , reputable house , peradventure in these latter days decayed . Your father , too , was a man of learning as befitted his position ; no man more plausibly conducted school ; nor had he the manner or the speech of a common dominie ; but -LRB- as ye will yourself remember -RRB- I took aye a pleasure to have him to the manse to meet the gentry ; and those of my own house , Campbell of Kilrennet , Campbell of Dunswire , Campbell of Minch , and others , all well-kenned gentlemen , had pleasure in his society . Lastly , to put all the elements of this affair before you , here is the testamentary letter itself , superscrived by the own hand of our departed brother . '' He gave me the letter , which was addressed in these words : `` To the hands of Ebenezer Balfour , Esquire , of Shaws , in his house of Shaws , these will be delivered by my son , David Balfour . '' My heart was beating hard at this great prospect now suddenly opening before a lad of seventeen years of age , the son of a poor country dominie in the Forest of Ettrick .
`` Mr. XXXXX , '' I stammered , `` and if you were in my shoes , would you go ? ''
Campbell Christian Cramond Davie Dunswire Ettrick Kilrennet days dominie years