St. Ronan's Well

St. Ronan's Well is a work by Sir Walter Scott, whose illustrations are titled Meg Dods, The Meeting in the Wood, Preparing for the Duel, Reappearance of Tyrrel and Clara entering Tyrrel's Room. The temper and manners of the landlady, Meg Dods, scared away all customers of that numerous class, and Meg's stern refusal to treat them with liquor was thought to have had no small influence on the opinion of those respectable gentlemen. At a door, a greatly agitated man tells Clara that if she will not open it he must force it, since he cannot tell whether she is sick and unable to answer.

The text says that Mowbray's anxiety was so great that it prevented his taking any notice of his guest. Lady Binks, whose discontent seemed proof against every effort that could be proposed to soothe it, acquiesced in the project with perfect indifference, but with something less of sullenness than usual. The text says it only remained to rummage the circulating library for some piece of sufficient celebrity to command attention.