They flew away, each as his time came, with the early confidence of young birds, and as seldom returned to disturb the family nest.
They were a cannie, comely, sensible brood.

Their father and mother, if they gave them nothing else, gave them strong bodies and sharp brains.

They were very like each other, though always with a difference.

Red hair, bright as burnished gold; high, but not very high, cheek bones; and small, sharp, twinkling eyes, were the Gaberlunzie personal characteristics.

There were three in the army, two in the navy, and one at a foreign embassy; one was at the diggings, another was chairman of a railway company, and our own more particular friend, Undecimus, was picking up crumbs about the world in a manner that satisfied the paternal mind that he was quite able to fly alone.
There is a privilege common to the sons of all noble lords, the full value of which the young Scotts learnt very early in life--that of making any woman with a tocher an honourable lady.