How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
As we got near the clachan, he made me take his arm and hang upon it like one almost helpless with weariness; and by the time he pushed open the change-house door, he seemed to be half carrying me. The maid appeared surprised (as well she might be) at our speedy return; but Alan had no words to spare for her in explanation, helped me to a chair, called for a tass of brandy with which he fed me in little sips, and then breaking up the bread and cheese helped me to eat it like a nursery-lass; the whole with that grave, concerned, affectionate countenance, that might have imposed upon a judge. It was small wonder if the maid were taken with the picture we presented, of a poor, sick, overwrought lad and his most tender comrade. She drew quite near, and stood leaning with her back on the next table. (26.46)
We've come full circle: Ebenezer starts out the novel tricking Davie onto the Covenant by pretending to be more pathetic than he really is. Now Davie and Alan are fooling a nice young woman into helping them get across the bay by emphasizing Davie's poor condition.
Quote #8
By this, I saw [Rankeillor] must have heard [Alan's] name all too clearly, and had already guessed I might be coming to the murder. If he chose to play this part of ignorance, it was no matter of mine; so I smiled, said it was no very Highland-sounding name, and consented. Through all the rest of my story Alan was Mr. Thomson; which amused me the more, as it was a piece of policy after his own heart. James Stewart, in like manner, was mentioned under the style of Mr. Thomson's kinsman; Colin Campbell passed as a Mr. Glen; and to Cluny, when I came to that part of my tale, I gave the name of "Mr. Jameson, a Highland chief." It was truly the most open farce, and I wondered that the lawyer should care to keep it up; but, after all, it was quite in the taste of that age, when there were two parties in the state, and quiet persons, with no very high opinions of their own, sought out every cranny to avoid offence to either. (27.46)
We may be stretching the definition of defeat a bit with this one, but bear with us for a second. Rankeillor is walking this difficult line where he wants to help Davie, but he also doesn't want to betray his work as a man of the law. So he starts these elaborate schemes to emphasize that he has no idea who "Mr. Thomson" is, going so far as to pretend to lose his glasses so that he's struck by sudden blindness in a later scene. Rankeillor is twisting the rules to maintain the appearance that he is not hanging around with outlaws. He's fooling no one with his charades, so why bother to do it at all?
Quote #9
Never a word said my uncle, neither black nor white; but just sat where he was on the top door-step and stared upon us like a man turned to stone. Alan filched away his blunderbuss; and the lawyer, taking him by the arm, plucked him up from the doorstep, led him into the kitchen, whither we all followed, and set him down in a chair beside the hearth, where the fire was out and only a rush-light burning.
There we all looked upon him for a while, exulting greatly in our success, but yet with a sort of pity for the man's shame. (29.58-59)
Perhaps the perfect revenge against Ebenezer for his poor treatment of Davie is not a trial or public condemnation, but this sudden deprivation of his wealth. After all, Ebenezer bargained away his love life for money, and money is all he's had for the last twenty years. By the end of the novel, he is completely defeated.