The Campbells of Meriton

During these ten years, one desire had dominated all others in John
Campbell's heart--the marriage of his son Allan to the heiress of Drumloch.
It seemed to him the most natural of events, and also the most desirable.
It would keep the old family and name, in the old home. It had been his
brother's dying wish. He might buy his son a much larger and finer estate,
but with gold he could not buy the family associations, and the long,
honorable lineage of Drumloch. The old keep could be enlarged and
beautified; the lands lying far and near could be bought and added to its
domain; and yet Allan could lawfully call himself, "Campbell of Drumloch."

Thus to establish on a broader and richer basis the old home of his
Fathers was the grand object of John Campbell's life. He thought of it
until it became almost a sacred duty in his eyes. For the Scotsman's
acquisitiveness is very rarely destitute of some nobler underlying motive.
In fact, his granite nature is finely marbled throughout with veins of
poetry and romance. His native land is never forgotten. His father's
hearth is as sacred as an altar in his memory. A bluebell or a bit of
heather can bring tears to his eyes; and the lilt of a Jacobite song make
his heart thrill with an impossible loyalty. Those who saw John Campbell
on the Broomilaw would have judged him to be a man indifferent to all
things but money and bills of lading. Those who saw him softly stepping
through the old halls of Drumloch, or standing almost reverently before
the hard grim faces of his ancestors, would have called him an aristocrat
who held all things cheap but an ancient home and a noble family. His son
Allan, as the future Campbell of Drumloch, was an important person in his
eyes; he took care that he was well educated, and early made familiar with
the leisure and means of a fine gentleman. And as Allan was intelligent
and handsome, with a stately carriage and courtly manners, there seemed no
reason why the old root should not produce a new and far more splendid
line.