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diff --git a/old/11334.txt b/old/11334.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5786a5e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11334.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8280 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of +Scotland, XXII, by various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, XXII + +Author: various + +Release Date: February 27, 2004 [EBook #11334] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILSON'S TALES, SCOTLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, John Hagerson, Garrett Alley, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland. + + + +HISTORICAL, TRADITIONARY, & IMAGINATIVE. + +WITH A GLOSSARY. + + + +REVISED BY ALEXANDER LEIGHTON, + +_One of the Original Editors and Contributors_. + + +VOL. XXII. + + + +1884. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +UPS AND DOWNS; OR, DAVID STUART'S ACCOUNT OF HIS PILGRIMAGE, (_John +Mackay Wilson_), + +THE BURGHER'S TALES. THE ANCIENT BUREAU. (_Alexander Leighton_), + +LADY RAE, (_Alexander Campbell_), + +THE DIAMOND EYES, (_Alexander Leighton_), + +DAVID LORIMER, (_Anon_.) + +THE CONVICT, (_Anon_.) + +THE AMATEUR ROBBERY, (_Alexander Leighton_), + +THE PROCRASTINATOR, (_John Mackay Wilson_), + +THE TEN OF DIAMONDS, (_Alexander Leighton_), + + + + +WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS, AND OF SCOTLAND. + + * * * * * + + + + +UPS AND DOWNS; OR, DAVID STUART'S ACCOUNT OF HIS PILGRIMAGE. + + +Old David Stuart was the picture of health--a personification of +contentment. When I knew him, his years must have considerably exceeded +threescore; but his good-natured face was as ruddy as health could make +it; his hair, though mingled with grey, was as thick and strong as if he +had been but twenty; his person was still muscular and active; and, +moreover, he yet retained, in all their freshness, the feelings of his +youth, and no small portion of the simplicity of his childhood. I loved +David, not only because he was a good man, but because there was a great +deal of _character_ or _originality_ about him; and though his brow was +cheerful, the clouds of sorrow had frequently rested upon it. More than +once when seated by his parlour fire, and when he had finished his pipe, +and his afternoon tumbler stood on the table beside him, I have heard +him give the following account of the ups and downs--the trials, the +joys, and sorrows--which he had encountered in his worldly pilgrimage; +and, to preserve the interest of the history, I shall give it in David's +own idiom, and in his own words. + +"I ne'er was a great traveller," David was wont to begin: "through the +length o' Edinburgh, and as far south as Newcastle, is a' that my legs +ken about geography. But I've had a good deal o' crooks and thraws, and +ups and downs, in the world for a' that. My faither was in the droving +line, and lived in the parish o' Coldstream. He did a good deal o' +business, baith about the fairs on the Borders, at Edinburgh market +every week, and sometimes at Morpeth. He was a bachelor till he was +five-and-forty, and he had a very decent lass keep'd his house, they +ca'd Kirsty Simson. Kirsty was a remarkably weel-faur'd woman, and a +number o' the farm lads round about used to come and see her, as weel as +trades' chields frae about Coldstream and Birgham--no that she gied them +ony encouragement, but that it was her misfortune to hae a gude-looking +face. So, there was ae night that my faither cam' hame frae Edinburgh, +and, according to his custom, he had a drap in his e'e--yet no sae +meikle but that he could see a lad or twa hingin' about the house. He +was very angry; and, 'Kirsty,' said he, 'I dinna like thae youngsters to +come about the house.' + +"'I'm sure, sir,' said she, 'I dinna encourage them.' + +"'Weel, Kirsty,' said he, 'if that's the way, if ye hae nae objections, +I'll marry ye mysel'.' + +"'I dinna see what objections I should hae,' said she, and, without ony +mair courtship, in a week or twa they were married; and, in course o' +time, I was born. I was sent to school when I was about eight years +auld, but my education ne'er got far'er than the rule o' three. Before I +was fifteen, I assisted my faither at the markets, and in a short time +he could trust me to buy and sell. There was one very dark night in the +month o' January, when I was little mair than seventeen, my faither and +me were gaun to Morpeth, and we were wishing to get forward wi' the +beasts as far as Whittingham; but just as we were about half a mile doun +the loanin' frae Glanton, it cam' awa ane o' the dreadfu'est storms that +e'er mortal was out in. The snaw literally fell in a solid mass, and +every now and then the wind cam' roarin' and howlin' frae the hills, and +the fury o' the drift was terrible. I was driven stupid and half +suffocated. My faither was on a strong mare, and I was on a bit powney; +and amang the cattle there was a camstairy three-year-auld bull, that +wad neither hup nor drive. We had it tied by the foreleg and the horns; +but the moment the drift broke ower us, the creature grew perfectly +unmanageable; forward it wadna gang. My faither had strucken at it, when +the mad animal plunged its horns into the side o' the mare, and he fell +to the ground. I could just see what had happened, and that was a'. I +jumped aff the powney, and ran forward. 'O faither!' says I, 'ye're no +hurt, are ye?' He was trying to rise, but before I could reach +him--indeed, before I had the words weel out o' my mouth--the animal +made a drive at him! 'O Davy!' he cried, and he ne'er spak mair! We +generally carried pistols, and I had presence o' mind to draw ane out o' +the breast-pocket o' my big coat, and shoot the animal dead on the spot. +I tried to raise my faither in my arms, and, dark as it was, I could see +his blood upon the snaw--and a dreadfu' sight it was for a son to see! I +couldna see where he had been hurt; and still, though he groaned but +once, I didna think he was dead, and I strove and strove again to lift +him upon the back o' the powney, and take him back to Glanton; but +though I fought wi' my heart like to burst a' the time, I couldna +accomplish it. 'Oh, what shall I do?' said I, and cried and shouted for +help--for the snaw fell sae fast, and the drift was sae terrible, that I +was feared that, even if he werena dead, he wad be smothered and buried +up before I could ride to Glanton and back. And, as I cried, our poor +dog Rover came couring to my faither's body and licked his hand, and its +pitiful howls mingled wi' the shrieks o' the wind. No kennin' what to +do, I lifted my faither to the side o' the road, and tried to place him, +half sitting like, wi' his back to the drift, by the foot o' the hedge. +'Oh, watch there, Rover,' said I; and the poor dog ran yowlin' to his +feet, and did as I desired it. I sprang upon the back o' the powney, and +flew up to the town. Within five minutes I was back, and in a short time +a number o' folk wi' lichts cam' to our assistance. My faither was +covered wi' blood, but without the least sign o' life. I thought my +heart wad break, and for a time my screams were heard aboon the ragin' +o' the storm. My faither was conveyed up to the inn, and, on being +stripped, it was found that the horn o' the animal had entered his back +below the left shouther; and when a doctor frae Alnwick saw the body +next day, he said he must have died instantly--and, as I have told ye, +he never spoke, but just cried, 'O Davy!' + +"My feelings were in such a state that I couldna write mysel', and I got +a minister to send a letter to my mother, puir woman, stating what had +happened. An acquaintance o' my faither's looked after the cattle, and +disposed o' them at Morpeth; and I, having hired a hearse at Alnwick, +got the body o' my faither taen hame. A sorrowfu' hame-gaun it was, ye +may weel think. Before ever we reached the house, I heard the shrieks o' +my puir mither. 'O my faitherless bairn!' she cried, as I entered the +door; but before she could rise to meet me, she got a glent o' the +coffin which they were takin' out o' the hearse, and utterin' a sudden +scream, her head fell back, and she gaed clean awa. + +"After my faither's funeral, we found that he had died worth only about +four hundred pounds when his debts were paid; and as I had been bred in +the droving line, though I was rather young, I just continued it, and my +mother and me kept house thegither. + +"This was the only thing particular that happened to me for the next +thirteen years, or till I was thirty. My mother still kept the house, +and I had nae thoughts o' marrying: no but that I had gallanted a wee +bit wi' the lasses now and then, but it was naething serious, and was +only to be neighbour-like. I had ne'er seen ane that I could think o' +takin' for better for warse; and, anither thing, if I had seen ane to +please me, I didna think my mother would be comfortable wi' a young wife +in the house. Weel, ye see, as I was telling ye, things passed on in +this way till I was thirty, when a respectable flesher in Edinburgh that +I did a good deal o' business wi', and that had just got married, says +to me in the Grassmarket ae day: 'Davy,' says he, 'ye're no gaun out o' +the toun the night--will ye come and tak' tea and supper wi' the wife +and me, and a freend or twa?' + +"'I dinna care though I do,' says I; 'but I'm no just in a tea-drinkin' +dress.' + +"'Ne'er mind the dress,' says he. So, at the hour appointed, I stepped +awa ower to Hanover Street, in the New Town, where he lived, and was +shown into a fine carpeted room, wi' a great looking-glass, in a gilt +frame, ower the chimley-piece--ye could see yoursel' at full length in't +the moment you entered the door. I was confounded at the carpets and the +glass, and a sofa, nae less; and, thinks I, 'This shows what kind o' +bargains ye get frae me.' There were three or four leddies sitting in +the room; and 'Mr. Stuart, leddies,' said the flesher; 'Mr. Stuart, Mrs. +So-and-so,' said he again--'Miss Murray, Mr. Stuart.' I was like to drap +at the impudence o' the creatur--he handed me about as if I had been a +bairn at a dancin' school. 'Your servant, leddies,' said I; and didna +ken where to look, when I got a glimpse o' my face in the glass, and saw +it was as red as crimson. But I was mair than ever put about when the +tea was brought in, and the creatur says to me, 'Mr. Stuart, will you +assist the leddies?' 'Confound him,' thought I, 'has he brought me here +to mak' a fule o'me!' I did attempt to hand round the tea and toast, +when, wi' downright confusion, I let a cup fall on Miss Murray's gown. I +could have died wi' shame. 'Never mind--never mind, sir!' said she; +'there is no harm done;' and she spoke sae proper and sae kindly, I was +in love wi' her very voice. But when I got time to observe her face, it +was a perfect picture; and through the hale night after, I could do +naething but look at and think o' Miss Murray. + +"'Man,' says I to the flesher the next time I saw him, 'wha was yon Miss +Murray?' 'No match for a Grassmarket dealer, Davy,' says he. 'I was +thinkin' that,' says I; 'but I wad like to be acquainted wi' her.' 'Ye +shall be that,' says he; and, after that, there was seldom a month +passed that I was in Edinburgh but I saw Miss Murray. But as to +courtin', that was out o' the question. + +"A short time after this, a relation o' my mither's, wha had been a +merchant in London, dee'd, and it was said we were his nearest heirs; +and that as he had left nae will, if we applied, we would get the +property, which was worth about five thousand pounds. Weel, three or +four years passed awa, and we heard something about the lawsuit, but +naething about the money. I was vexed for having onything to say to it. +I thought it was only wasting a candle to chase a will-o'-the-wisp. +About the time I speak o', my mither had turned very frail. I saw there +was a wastin' awa o' nature, and she wadna be lang beside me. The day +before her death, she took my hand, and 'Davy,' says she to me--'Davy,' +poor body, she repeated (I think I hear her yet)--'it wad been a great +comfort to me if I had seen ye settled wi' a decent partner before I +dee'd; but it's no to be.' + +"Weel, as I was saying, my mither dee'd, and I found the house very +dowie without her. It wad be about three months after her death--I had +been at Whitsunbank; and when I cam' hame, the servant lassie put a +letter into my hands; and 'Maister,' says she, 'there's a letter--can it +be for you, think ye?' It was directed, 'David Stuart, _Esquire_ (nae +less), for----, by Coldstream.' So I opened the seal, and, to my +surprise and astonishment, I found it was frae the man o' business I had +employed in London, stating that I had won the law-plea, and that I +might get the money whene'er I wanted it. I sent for the siller the very +next post. Now, ye see, I was sick and tired o' being a bachelor. I had +lang wished to be settled in a comfortable matrimonial way--that is, +frae e'er I had seen Miss Murray. But, ye see, while I was a drover, I +was very little at hame--indeed I was waur than an Arawbian--and had +very little peace or comfort either, and I thought it was nae use takin' +a wife until something better might cast up. But this wasna the only +reason. There wasna a woman on earth that I thought I could live happy +wi' but Miss Murray, and she belanged to a genteel family: whether she +had ony siller or no, I declare, as I'm to be judged hereafter, I never +did inquire. But I saw plainly it wadna do for a rough country drover, +jauped up to the very elbows, and sportin' a handfu' o' pound-notes the +day, and no' worth a penny the morn--I say, I saw plainly it wadna do +for the like o' me to draw up by her elbow, and say 'Here's a fine day, +ma'am,' or, 'Hae ye ony objections to a walk?' or something o' that +sort. But it was weel on for five years since I had singled her out; and +though I never said a word anent the subject o' matrimony, yet I had +reason to think she had a shrewd guess that my heart louped quicker when +she opened her lips than if a regiment o' infantry had stealed behint me +unobserved, and fired their muskets ower my shouther; and I sometimes +thought that her een looked as if she wished to say, 'Are ye no gaun to +ask me, David?' + +"But still, when I thought she had been brought up a leddy in a kind o' +manner, I durstna venture to mint the matter; but I was fully resolved +and determined, should I succeed in getting the money I was trying for, +to break the business clean aff hand. So, ye see, as soon as I got the +siller, what does I do but sits down and writes her a letter--and sic a +letter! I tauld her a' my mind as freely as though I had been speakin' +to you. Weel, ye see, I gaed bang through to Edinburgh at ance, no three +days after my letter; and up I goes to the Lawnmarket, where she was +living wi' her mother, and raps at the door without ony ceremony. But +when I had rapped, I was in a swither whether to staun till they came +out or no, for my heart began to imitate the knocker, or rather to tell +me how I ought to have knocked; for it wasna a loud, solid drover's +knock like mine, but it kept rit-tit-tat-ting on my breast like the +knock of a hairdresser's 'prentice bringing a bandbox fu' o' curls and +ither knick-knackeries, for a leddy to pick and choose on for a fancy +ball; and my face lowed as though ye were haudin' a candle to it; when +out comes the servant, and I stammers out, 'Is your mistress in?' says +I. 'Yes, sir,' says she; 'walk in.' And in I walked; but I declare I +didna ken whether the floor carried me, or I carried the floor; and wha +should I see but an auld leddy wi' spectacles--the maiden's mistress, +sure enough, though no mine, but my mother-in-law that was to be. So she +looked at me, and I looked at her. She made a low curtsey, and I tried +to mak' a bow; while all the time ye might hae heard my heart beatin' at +the opposite side o' the room. 'Sir,' says she. 'Ma'am,' says I. I wad +hae jumped out o' the window had it no been four stories high; but since +I've gane this far, I maun say something, thinks I. 'I've ta'en the +liberty o' callin', ma'am,' says I. 'Very happy to see ye, sir,' says +she. Weel, thinks I, I'm glad to hear that, however; but had it been to +save my life, I didna ken what to say next. So I sat down; and at length +I ventured to ask, 'Is your daughter, Miss Jean, at hame, ma'am?' says +I. 'I wate she is,' quo' she. 'Jean!' she cried wi' a voice that made +the house a' dirl again. 'Comin', mother,' cried my flower o' the +forest; and in she cam', skippin' like a perfect fairy. But when she saw +me, she started as if she had seen an apparition, and coloured up to the +very e'ebrows. As for me, I trembled like an ash leaf, and stepped +forward to meet her. I dinna think she was sensible o' me takin' her by +the hand; and I was just beginning to say again, 'I've taken the +liberty,' when the auld wife had the sense and discretion to leave us by +our-sel's. I'm sure and certain I never experienced such a relief since +I was born. My head was absolutely ringing wi' dizziness and love. I +made twa or three attempts to say something grand, but I never got +half-a-dozen words out; and finding it a' nonsense, I threw my arms +around her waist, and pressed her beatin' breast to mine, and stealing a +hearty kiss, the whole story that I had made such a wark about was ower +in a moment. She made a wee bit fuss, and cried 'Oh fie!' and 'Sir!' or +something o' that kind; but I held her to my breast, declaring my +intentions manfully--that I had been dying for her for five years, and +now that I was a gentleman, I thought I might venture to speak. In fact, +I held her in my arms until she next door to said 'Yes!' + +"Within a week we had a'thing settled. I found out she had nae fortune. +Her mother belanged to a kind o' auld family, that, like mony ithers, +cam' down the brae wi' Prince Charles, poor fallow; and they were baith +rank Episcopawlians. I found the mither had just sae muckle a year frae +some o' her far-awa relations; and had it no been that they happened to +ca' me Stuart, and I tauld her a rigmarole about my grandfaither and +Culloden, so that she soon made me out a pedigree, about which I kenned +nae mair than the man o' the moon, but keept saying 'yes' and +'certainly' to a' she said--I say, but for that, and confound me, if she +wadna hae curled up her nose at me and my five thousand pounds into the +bargain, though her lassie should hae starved. But Jeannie was a perfect +angel. She was about two or three and thirty, wi' light brown hair, +hazel e'en, and a waist as jimp and sma' as ye ever saw upon a human +creature. She dressed maist as plain as a Quakeress, but was a pattern +o' neatness. Indeed, a blind man might seen she was a leddy born and +bred; and then for sense, haud at ye there, I wad matched her against +the minister and the kirk elders put thegither. But she took that o' her +mither; o' whom mair by-and-by. + +"As I was saying, she was an Episcopawlian,--a downright, open-day +defender o' Archbishop Laud and the bloody Claverhouse; and she wished +to prove down through me the priority and supremacy o' bishops ower +presbyteries,--just downright nonsense, ye ken; but there's nae +accounting for sooperstition. A great deal depends on how a body's +brought up. But what vexed me maist was to think that she wad be gaun to +ae place o' public worship on the Sabbath, and me to anither, just like +twa strangers; and maybe if her minister preached half an hour langer +than mine, or mine half an hour langer than hers, or when we had nae +intermission, then there was the denner spoiled, and the servant no +kenned what time to hae it ready; for the mistress said ane o'clock, and +the maister said twa o'clock. Now, I wadna gie tippence for a cauld +denner. + +"But, as I was telling ye about the auld wife, she thocht fit to read +baith us a bit o' a lecture. + +"'Now, bairns,' said she, 'I beseech ye, think weel what ye are about; +for it were better to rue at the very foot o' the altar, than to rue it +but ance afterwards, and that ance be for ever. I dinna say this to cast +a damp upon your joy, nor that I doubt your affection for are another; +but I say it as ane who has been a wife, and seen a good deal o' the +world; an,' oh bairns! I say it as a _mother_! Marriage without love is +like the sun in January--often clouded, often trembling through storms, +but aye without heat; and its pillow is comfortless as a snow-wreath. +But although love be the principal thing, remember it is not the only +thing necessary. Are ye sure that ye are perfectly acquainted wi' each +other's characters and tempers? Aboon a', are ye sure that ye esteem and +respect ane anither? Without this, and ye may think that ye like each +other, but it's no real love. It's no that kind o' liking that's to +last through married years, and be like a singing bird in your breasts +to the end o' your days. No, Jeannie, unless your very souls be, as it +were, cemented thegither, unless ye see something in him that ye see in +naebody else, and unless he sees something in you that he sees in +naebody else, dinna marry still. Passionate lovers dinna aye mak' +affectionate husbands. Powder will bleeze fiercely awa in a moment; but +the smotherin' peat retains fire and heat among its very ashes. Remember +that, in baith man and woman, what is passion to-day may be disgust the +morn. Therefore, think now; for it will be ower late to think o' my +advice hereafter.' + +"'Troth, ma'am,' said I, 'and I'm sure I'll be very proud to ca' sic a +sensible auld body _mither_!' + +"'Rather may ye be proud to call my bairn your _wife_,' said she; 'for, +where a man ceases to be proud o' his wife, upon all occasions, and at +all times, or where a wife has to blush for her husband, ye may say +fareweel to their happiness. However, David,' continued she, 'I dinna +doubt but ye will mak' a gude husband; for ye're a sensible, and I +really think a deservin' lad; and were it nae mair than your name, the +name o' Stuart wad be a passport to my heart. There's but ae thing that +I'm feared on--just ae fault that I see in ye; indeed I may say it's the +beginning o' a' ithers, and I wad fain hae ye promise to mend it; for it +has brought mair misery upon the marriage state than a' the sufferings +o' poverty and the afflictions o' death put thegither.' + +"'Mercy me, ma'am!' exclaimed I, 'what de ye mean? Ye've surely been +misinformed.' + +"'I've observed it mysel', David,' said she seriously. + +"'Goodness, ma'am! ye confound me!' says I; 'if it's onything that's +bad, I'll deny it point blank.' + +"'Ye mayna think it bad,' says she again, 'but I fear ye like a _dram_, +and my bairn's happiness demands that I should speak o' it.' + +"'A dram!' says I; 'preserve us! is there ony ill in a _dram?_--that's +the last thing that I wad hae thought about.' + +"'Ask the broken-hearted wife,' says she, 'if there be ony ill in a +dram--ask the starving family--ask the jailer and the gravedigger--ask +the doctor and the minister o' religion--ask where ye see roups o' +furniture at the cross, or the auctioneer's flag wavin' frae the +window--ask a deathbed--ask eternity, David Stuart, and they will tell +ye if there be ony ill in a dram.' + +"'I hope, ma'am,' says I,--and I was a guid deal nettled,--'I hope, +ma'am, ye dinna tak' me to be a drunkard. I can declare freely, that +unless maybe at a time by chance (and the best o' us will mak' a slip +now and then), I never tak' aboon twa or three glasses at a time. +Indeed, three's just my set. I aye say to my cronies, there is nae luck +till the second tumbler, and nae peace after the fourth. So ye perceive, +there's not the smallest danger o' me.' + +"'Ah, but, David,' replied she, 'there _is_ danger. Habits grow +stronger, nature weaker, and resolution offers less and less resistance; +and ye may come to make four, five, or six glasses your set; and frae +that to a bottle--your grave--and my bairn a broken-hearted widow.' + +"'Really, ma'am,' says I, ye talked very sensibly before, but ye are awa +wi' the harrows now--quite unreasonable a'thegither. However, to satisfy +ye upon that score, I'll mak' a vow this very moment, that, except'---- + +"'Mak' nae rash vows,' says she; 'for a breath mak's them, and less than +a breath unmak's them. But mind that, while ye wad be comfortable wi' +your cronies, my bairn wad be frettin' her lane; and though she might +say naething when ye cam hame, that wadna be the way to wear her love +round your neck like a chain of gold; but, night after night, it wad +break away link by link, till the whole was lost; and if ye didna hate, +ye wad soon find ye were disagreeable to each other. Nae true woman will +condescend to love ony man lang, wha can find society he prefers to hers +in an alehouse. I dinna mean to say that ye should never enter a +company; but dinna mak' a practice o't.' + +"Weel, the wedding morning cam, and I really thocht it was a great +blessin' folk hadna to be married every day. My neckcloth wadna tie as +it used to tie, and but that I wadna swear at onybody on the day o' my +marriage, I'm sure I wad hae wished some ill wish on the fingers o' the +laundress. She had starched the muslins!--a circumstance, I am perfectly +certain, unheard of in the memory o' man, and a thing which my mother +ne'er did. It was stiff, crumpled, and clumsy. I vowed it was +insupportable. It was within half an hour o' the time o' gaun to the +chapel. I had tried a 'rose-knot,' a 'witch-knot,' a 'chaise-driver's +knot,' and a 'running-knot,' wi' every kind o' knot that fingers could +twist the neckcloth into, but the confounded starch made every ane look +waur than anither. Three neckcloths I had rendered unwearable, and the +fourth I tied in a 'beau-knot' in despair. The frill o' my sark-breast +wadna lie in the position in which I wanted it! For the first time my +very hair rose in rebellion--it wadna lie right; and I cried, 'The +mischief tak' the barber!' The only part o' my dress wi' which I was +satisfied, was a spotless pair o' nankeen pantaloons. I had a dog they +ca'ed Mettle--it was a son o' poor Rover, that I mentioned to ye +before, Weel, it had been raining through the night, and Mettle had been +out in the street. The instinct o' the poor dumb brute was puzzled to +comprehend the change that had recently taken place in my appearance and +habits, and its curiosity was excited. I was sitting before the +looking-glass, and had just finished tying my cravat, when Mettle cam +bouncing into the room; he looked up in my face inquisitively, and, to +unriddle mair o' the matter, placed his unwashed paws upon my unsoiled +nankeens. Every particular claw left its ugly impression. It was +provoking beyond endurance. I raised my hand to strike him, but the poor +brute wagged his tail, and I only pushed him down, saying, 'Sorrow tak' +ye, Mettle, do ye see what ye've dune?' So I had to gang to the kitchen +fire and stand before it to dry the damp, dirty footprints o' the +offender. I then found that the waistcoat wadna sit without wrinkles, +such as I had ne'er seen before upon a waistcoat o' mine. The coat, too, +was insupportably tight below the arms; and, as I turned half round +before the glass, I saw that it hung loose between the shouthers! 'As +sure as a gun,' says I, 'the stupid soul o' a tailor has sent me hame +the coat o' a humph-back in a mistak'!' My hat was fitted on in every +possible manner, ower the brow and aff the brow, now straight, now +cocked to the right side and again to the left, but to no purpose; I +couldna place it to look like mysel', or as I wished. But half-past +eight chimed frae St. Giles'. I had ne'er before spent ten minutes to +dress, shaving included, and that morning I had begun at seven! There +was not another moment to spare; I let my hat fit as it would, seized my +gloves, and rushed down stairs, and up to the Lawnmarket, where I +knocked joyfully at the door o' my bonny bride. + +"When we were about to depart for the chapel, the auld leddy rose to +gie us her blessing, and placed Jeannie's hand within mine. She shed a +few quiet tears (a common circumstance wi' mithers on similar +occasions); and 'Now, Jeannie,' said she, 'before ye go, I have just +anither word or twa to say to ye'-- + +"'Dearsake, ma'am!' said I, for I was out o' a' patience, 'we'll do very +weel wi' what we've heard just now, and ye can say onything ye like when +we come back.' + +"There was only an elderly gentleman and a young leddy accompanied us to +the chapel; for Jeannie and her mother said that that was mair genteel +than to have a gilravish o' folk at our heels. For my part, I thought, +as we were to be married, we micht as weel mak' a wedding o't. I, +however, thought it prudent to agree to their wish, which I did the mair +readily, as I had nae particular acquaintance in Edinburgh. The only +point that I wad not concede was being conveyed to the chapel in a +coach. That my plebeian blood, notwithstanding my royal name o' Stuart, +could not overcome. 'Save us a'!' said I, 'if I wadna _walk_ to be +married, what in the three kingdoms wad tempt me to walk?' + +"'Weel,' said the auld leddy, 'my daughter will be the first o' our +family that ever gaed on foot to the altar.' + +"'An' I assure ye, ma'am,' said I, 'that I would be the first o' my +family that ever gaed in ony ither way; and, in my opinion, to gang on +foot shows a demonstration o' affection and free-will, whereas gaun in a +carriage looks as if there were unwillingness or compulsion in the +matter.' So she gied up the controversy. Weel, the four o' us walked awa +doun the Lawnmarket and High Street, and turned into a close by the tap +o' the Canon gate, where the Episcopawlian chapel was situated. For +several days I had read ower the marriage service in the prayer-book, in +order to master the time to say 'I will,' and other matters. +Nevertheless, no sooner did I see the white gown of the clergyman, and +feel Jeannie's hand trembling in mine, than he micht as weel hae spoken +in Gaelic. I mind something about the ring, and, when the minister was +done, I whispered to the best man, 'It's a' ower now?' 'Yes,' said he. +'Heeven be thankit!' thought I. + +"Weel, ye see, after being married, and as I had been used to an active +life a' my days, I had nae skill in gaun about like a gentleman wi' my +hands in my pockets, and I was anxious to tak' a farm. But Jeannie did +not like the proposal, and my mother-in-law wadna hear tell o't; so, by +her advice, I put out the money, and we lived upon the interest. For six +years everything gaed straight, and we were just as happy and as +comfortable as a family could be. We had three bairns: the eldest was a +daughter, and we ca'ed her Margaret, after her grandmother, who lived +wi' us; the second was a son, and I named him Andrew, after my faither; +and our third, and youngest, we ca'ed Jeannie, after her mother. They +were as clever, bonnie, and obedient bairns as ye could see, and +everybody admired them. There was ane Luckie Macnaughton kept a tavern +in Edinburgh at the time. A' sort o' respectable folk used to frequent +the house, and I was in the habit o' gaun at night to smoke my pipe and +hear the news about Bonaparte and the rest o' them; but it was very +seldom that I exceeded three tumblers. Weel, among the customers there +was ane that I had got very intimate wi'--as genteel and decent a +looking man as ye could see; indeed I took him to be a particular +serious and honest man. So there was ae night that I was rather mair +than ordinary hearty, and says he to me: 'Mr Stuart,' says he, 'will +you lend your name to a bit paper for me?' 'No, I thank ye, sir,' says +I; 'I never wish to be caution for onybody.' 'It's of no consequence,' +said he, and there was no more passed. But as I was rising to gang hame, +'Come, tak' anither, Mr. Stuart,' said he; 'I'm next the wa' wi' +ye--I'll stand treat.' Wi' sair pressing I was prevailed upon to sit +doun again, and we had anither and anither, till I was perfectly +insensible. What took place, or how I got hame, I couldna tell, and the +only thing I remember was a head fit to split the next day, and Jeannie +very ill pleased and powty-ways. However, I thought nae mair about it, +and I was extremely glad I had refused to be bond for the person who +asked me; for within three months I learned that he had broken and +absconded wi' a vast o' siller. It was just a day or twa after I had +heard the intelligence, I was telling Jeannie and her mother o' the +circumstance, and what an escape I had had, when the servant lassie +showed a bank clerk into the room. 'Tak' a seat, sir,' said I, for I had +dealings wi' the bank. 'This is a bad business, Mr. Stuart,' said he. +'What business?' said I, quite astonished. 'Your being security for Mr. +So-and-so,' said he. 'Me!' cried I, starting up in the middle o' the +floor--'Me!--the scoundrel--I denied him point blank!' 'There is your +own signature for a thousand pounds,' said the clerk. 'A thousand +furies!' exclaimed I, stamping my foot; 'it's a forgery--an infernal +forgery!' 'Mr. Such-a-one is witness to your handwriting,' said the +clerk. I was petrified; I could hae drawn down the roof o' the house +upon my head to bury me! In a moment a confused recollection o' the +proceedings at Luckie Macnaughton's flashed across my memory, like a +flame from the bottomless pit! There was a look o' witherin' reproach in +my mother-in-law's een, and I heard her mutterin' between her teeth, 'I +aye said what his three tumblers wad come to.' But my dear Jeannie bore +it like a Christian, as she is. She cam forward to me, an', poor thing, +she kissed my cheek, and says she, 'Dinna distress yoursel', David, +dear--it cannot be helped now--let us pray that this may be a lesson for +the future.' I flung my arm round her neck--I couldna speak; but at last +I said, 'Oh Jeannie, it will be a lesson, and your affection will be a +lesson!' Some o' your book-learned folk wad ca' this conduct philosophy +in Jeannie; but I, wha kenned every thought in her heart, was aware that +it proceeded from her resignation as a true Christian, and her affection +as a dutiful wife. Weel, the upshot was, I had robbed mysel' out o' a +thousand pounds as simply as ye wad snuff out a candle. You have heard +the saying, that sorrow ne'er comes singly; and I am sure, in a' my +experience, I have found its truth. At that period I had two thousand +pounds, bearing six per cent., lying in the hands o' a gentleman o' +immense property. Everybody believed him to be as sure as the bank. +Scores o' folk had money in his hands. The interest was paid punctually, +and I hadna the least suspicion. Weel, I was looking ower the papers one +morning at breakfast, and I happened to glance at the list o' bankrupts +(a thing I'm no in the habit o' doing), when, mercy me! whose name +should I see but the very gentleman's that had my twa thousand pounds! I +had the paper in one hand and a saucer in the other. The saucer and the +coffee gaed smash upon the hearth! I trembled frae head to foot. 'Oh +David! what's the matter?' cried Jeannie. 'Matter!' cried I; 'matter! +I'm ruined!--we're a' ruined!' But it's o' nae use dwelling on this. The +fallow didna pay eighteenpence to the pound; and there was three +thousand gaen out o' my five! It was nae use, wi' a young family, to +talk o' living on the interest o' our money now. 'We maun tak' a farm,' +says I; and baith Jeannie and her mother saw there was naething else for +it. So I took a farm which lay partly in the Lammermoors and partly in +the Merse. It took the thick end o' eight hundred pounds to stock it. +However, we were very comfortable in it; I found mysel' far mair at hame +than I had been in Edinburgh; for I had employment for baith mind and +hands, and Jeannie very soon made an excellent farmer's wife. Auld +grannie, too, said she never had been sae happy; and the bairns were as +healthy as the day was lang. We couldna exactly say that we were making +what ye may ca' siller, yet we were losing nothing, and every year +laying by a little. There was a deepish burn ran near the onstead. We +had been about three years in the farm, and our youngest lassie was +about nine years auld. It was the summer time, and she had been paidling +in the burn, and sooming feathers and bits o' sticks; I was looking +after something that had gaen wrang about the threshin' machine, when I +heard an unco noise get up, and bairns screamin'. I looked out, and I +saw them runnin' and shoutin'--'Miss Jeannie! Miss Jeannie!' I rushed +out to the barnyard. 'What is't, bairns?' cried I. 'Miss Jeannie! Miss +Jeannie!' said they, pointing to the burn. I flew as fast as my feet +could carry me. The burn, after a spate on the hills, often cam awa in a +moment wi' a fury that naething could resist. The flood had come awa +upon my bairn; and there, as I ran, did I see her bonnie yellow hair +whirled round and round, sinking out o' my sight, and carried awa doun +wi' the stream. There was a linn about thirty yards frae where I saw +her, and oh! how I rushed to snatch a grip o' her before she was carried +ower the rocks! But it was in vain--a moment sooner, and I might hae +saved her; but she was hurled ower the precipice when I was within an +arm's length, and making a grasp at her bit frock! My poor little +Jeannie was baith felled and drowned. I plunged into the wheel below the +linn, and got her out in my arms. I ran wi' her to the house, and I laid +my drowned bairn on her mother's knee. Everything that could be done was +done, and a doctor was brought frae Dunse; but the spark o' life was out +o' my bit Jeannie. I felt the bereavement very bitterly; and for many a +day, when Margaret and Andrew sat down at the table by our sides, my +heart filled; for as I was helpin' their plates, I wad put out my hand +again to help anither, but there was nae ither left to help. But Jeannie +took our bairn's death far sairer to heart than even I did. For several +years she never was hersel' again, and just seemed dwinin' awa. +Sea-bathing was strongly recommended; and as she had a friend in +Portobello, I got her to gang there for a week or twa during summer. Our +daughter Margaret was now about eighteen, and her brother Andrew about +fifteen; and as I thought it would do them good, I allowed them to gang +wi' their mither to the bathing. They were awa for about a month, and I +firmly believe that Jeannie was a great deal the better o't. But it was +a dear bathing to me on mony accounts for a' that. Margaret was an +altered lassie a'thegither. She used to be as blithe as a lark in May, +and now there was nae gettin' her to do onything; but she sat couring +and unhappy, and seighin' every handel-a-while, as though she were +miserable. It was past my comprehension, and her mother could assign nae +particular reason for it. As for Andrew, he did naething but yammer, +yammer, frae morn till night, about the sea; or sail boats, rigged wi' +thread and paper sails, in the burn. When he was at the bathing he had +been doun aboot Leith, and had seen the ships, and naething wad serve +him but he would be a sailor. Night and day did he torment my life out +to set him to sea. But I wadna hear tell o't--his mother was perfectly +wild against it, and poor auld grannie was neither to hand nor to bind. +We had suffered enough frae the burn at our door, without trusting our +only son upon the wide ocean. However, all we could say had nae +effect--the craik was never out o' his head; and it was still, 'I will +be a sailor.' Ae night he didna come in as usual for his four-hours, and +supper time cam, and we sent a' round about to seek him, but naebody had +heard o' him. We were in unco distress, and it struck me at ance that he +had run to sea. I saddled my horse that very night and set out for +Leith, but could get nae trace o' him. This was a terrible trial to us, +and ye may think what it was when I tell ye it was mair than a +twelvemonth before we heard tell o' him; and the first accounts we had +was a letter by his ain hand, written frae Bengal. We had had a cart +down at Dunse for some bits o' things, and the lad brought the letter in +his pocket; and weel do I mind how Jeannie cam' fleein' wi' it open in +her hand across the fields to where I was looking after some workers +thinnin' turnips, crying, 'David! David! here's a letter frae Andrew!' +'Read it! read it!' cried I, for my een were blind wi' joy. But Andrew's +rinnin' awa wasna the only trial that we had to bear up against at this +time. As I was tellin' ye, there was an unco change ower Margaret since +she had come frae the bathin'; and a while after, a young lad that her +mother said they had met wi' at Portobello began to come about the +house. He was the son o' a merchant in Edinburgh, and pretended that he +had come to learn to be a farmer wi' a neighbour o' ours. He was a wild, +thoughtless, foppish-looking lad, and I didna like him; but Margaret, +silly thing, was clean daft about him. Late and early I found him about +the house, and I tauld him I couldna allow him nor ony person to be +within my doors at any such hours. Weel, this kind o' wark was carried +on for mair than a year; and a' that I could say or do, Margaret and him +were never separate; till at last he drapped off comin' to the house, +and our daughter did naething but seigh and greet. I found that, after +bringing her to the point o' marriage, he either wadna or durstna fulfil +his promise unless I wad pay into his loof a thousand pounds as her +portion. I could afford my daughter nae sic sum, and especially no to be +thrown awa on the like o' him. But Jeannie cam to me wi' the tears on +her cheeks, and 'O David!' says she, 'there's naething for it but +partin' wi' a thousand pounds on the ae hand or our bairn's death--and +her--shame on the ither!' Oh! if a knife had been driven through my +heart, it couldna pierced it like the word _shame_! As a faither, what +could I do? I paid him the money, and they were married. + +"It's o' nae use tellin' ye how I gaed back in the farm. In the year +sixteen my crops warna worth takin' aff the ground, and I had twa score +o' sheep smothered the same winter. I fell behint wi' my rent; and +household furniture, farm-stock, and everything I had, were to be sold +off. The day before the sale, wi' naething but a bit bundle carrying in +my hand, I took Jeannie on my ae arm and her puir auld mither on the +other, and wi' a sad and sorrowfu' heart we gaed out o' the door o' the +hame where our bairns had been brought up, and a sheriff's officer +steeked it behint us. Weel, we gaed to Coldstream, and we took a bit +room there, and furnished it wi' a few things that a friend bought back +for us at our sale. We were very sair pinched. Margaret's gudeman ne'er +looked near us, nor rendered us the least assistance, and she hadna it +in her power. There was nae ither alternative that I could see; and I +was just gaun to apply for labouring wark when we got a letter frae +Andrew, enclosing a fifty-pound bank-note. Mony a tear did Jeannie and +me shed ower that letter. He informed us that he had been appointed mate +o' an East Indiaman, and begged that we would keep ourselves easy; for +while he had a sixpence, his faither and mither should hae the half o't. +Margaret's husband very soon squandered away the money he had got frae +me, as weel as the property he had got frae his faither; and, to escape +the jail, he ran off, and left his wife and family. They cam to stop wi' +me; and for five years we heard naething o' him. We had begun a shop in +the spirit and grocery line, and really we were remarkably fortunate. It +was about six years after I had begun business, ae night just after the +shop was shut, Jeannie and her mother, wha was then about ninety, and +Margaret and her bairns, and mysel', were a' sittin' round the fire, +when a rap cam to the door; ane o' the bairns ran and opened it, and twa +gentlemen cam in. Margaret gied a shriek, and ane o' them flung himsel' +at her feet. 'Mother! faither!' said the other, 'do ye no ken me?' It +was our son Andrew, and Margaret's gudeman! I jamp up, and Jeannie jamp +up; auld grannie raise totterin' to her feet, and the bairns screamed, +puir things. I got haud o' Andrew, and his mother got haud o' him, and +we a' grat wi' joy. It was such a night o' happiness as I had never +kenned before. Andrew had been made a ship captain. Margaret's husband +had repented o' a' his follies, and was in a good way o' doing in India; +and everything has gane right and prospered wi' our whole family frae +that day to this." + + + + +THE BURGHER'S TALES. + + +THE ANCIENT BUREAU. + +The sources of legends are not often found in old sermons; and yet it +will be admitted that there are few remarkable events in man's history, +which, if inquired into, will not be found to embrace the elements of +very impressive pulpit discourses. Even in cases which seem to disprove +a special, if not a general Providence, there will always be found in +the account between earth and heaven some "desperate debt," mayhap an +"accommodation bill," which justifies the ways of God to man. It may +even be said that the fact of our being generally able to find that item +is a proof of the wonderful adaptability of Christianity to the fortunes +and hopes of our race. That ministers avoid the special topics of +peculiar destinies, may easily be accounted for otherwise than by +supposing that they cannot explain them so as to vindicate God's +justice; but if ever there was a case where that difficulty would seem +to the eye of mere reason to culminate in impossibility, it is that +which I have gleaned from a veritable pulpit lecture. I have the sermon +in my possession, but from the want of the title-page, I am unable to +ascertain the author. The date at the end is 1793, and the text is, +"Inscrutable are _his_ judgments." + +Inscrutable indeed in the case to which the words were applied--no other +than an instance of death by starvation, which occurred in Edinburgh in +the year we have just mentioned. In that retreat of poverty called +Middleton's Entry, which joins the dark street called the Potterrow, and +Bristo Street, the inhabitants were roused into surprise, if not a +feeling approaching to horror, by the discovery that a woman, who had +lived for a period of fifteen years in a solitary room at the top of one +of the tenements, had been found in bed dead. A doctor was called, but +before he came it was concluded by those who had assembled in the small +room that she had died from want of food; and such was the fact. The +body--that of one not yet much past the middle of life, and with fair +complexion and comely features--was so emaciated, that you might have +counted the ribs merely by the eye; and all those parts where the bones +are naturally near the surface exhibited a sharpness which suggested the +fancy, that as you may see a phosphorescent skeleton through the glow, +you beheld in the candle-light the figure of death under the thin +covering of the bones. She realized, in short, the description which +doctors give of the appearance of those unfortunate beings who die of +what is technically called _atrophia familicorum_--that Nemesis of +civilisation which points scornfully to the victim of want, and then +looks round on God's bountiful table, set for the meanest of his +creatures. So we may indite; but rhetoric, which is useless where the +images cannot rise to the dignity or descend to the humiliation of the +visible fact, must always come short of the effect of the plain words +that a human creature--perhaps good and amiable and delicate to that +shyness which cannot complain--has died in the very midst of a +proclaimed philanthropy, and within the limits of a space comprehending +smoking tables covered with luxuries, and surrounded by Christian men +and women filled with meat and drink to repletion and satiety. + +Some such thoughts might have been passing through the minds of the +assembled neighbours; and they could not be said to be the less true +that a shrunk and partially-withered right arm showed that the doom of +the woman had been so far precipitated by the still remaining effects of +an old stroke of palsy. And the gossip confirmed this, going also into +particulars of observation,--how she had kept herself so to herself as +if she wished to avoid the neighbours,--a fact which to an extent +justified their imputed want of attention; how almost the only +individual who had visited her was a peculiar being, in the shape of a +very little man, with a slight limp and thin pleasant features, +illuminated by a pair of dark, penetrating eyes. For years and years had +he been seen, always about the same hour of the day, ascending her +stair, and carrying a flagon, supposed to contain articles of food. Then +the gossiping embraced the furniture and other articles in the room, +which, however they might have been unnoticed before, had now assumed +the usual interest when seen in the blue light of the acted tragedy: the +small mahogany table and the two chairs--how strange that they should be +of mahogany!--and some of the few marrowless plates in the rack over the +fireplace, why, they were absolute china! but above all, the exquisite +little bureau of French manufacture, with its drawers, its desk, and +pigeon-holes, and cunning slides--what on earth was it doing in that +room, when its value even to a broker would have kept the woman alive +for months? Questions these put by a roused curiosity, and perhaps not +worth answer. Was not she a woman, and was not that enough? + +Not enough; for legendary details cluster round startling events, and +often carry a moral which may prevent a repetition of these; and so, had +it not been for this apparently inexplicable death by starvation, our +wonderful story might never have gathered listeners round the evening +fire. We must go back some twenty years before the date of the said +sermon to find a certain merchant-burgess of the city of Edinburgh, +David Grierson, occupying a portion of a front land situated in the +Canongate, a little to the east of Leith Wynd. It would be sheer +affectation in us to pretend that this merchant-burgess had any mental +or physical characteristic about him to justify his appearance in a +romance, if we except the power he had shown of amassing wealth, of +which he had so much that he could boast the possession of more than +twenty goodly tenements, some of wood and some of stone, besides shares +of ships and bank stock. And no doubt this exception might stand for the +thing excepted from, for money, though commonly said to be extraneous, +is often so far in its influences intraneous, that it changes the +feelings and motives, and enables them to work. And then don't we know +that it is by extraneous things we are mostly led? But however all that +may be, certain it is that our merchant-burgess was a great man in his +own house in the Canongate, where his family consisted of Rachel +Grierson, his natural daughter, by a woman who had been long dead, and +Walter Grierson, his legitimate nephew, who had been left an orphan in +his early years, and who was his nearest lawful heir. Two servants +completed the household; and surely in this rather curious combination +there might be, if only circumstances were favourable to their +development, elements which might impart interest to a story. + +So long as the shadow of the dark angel was, as Time counted, far away +from him, Burgess David was comparatively happy; but as he got old and +older, he began to realize the condition of the poet-- + + "Now pleasure will no longer please, + And all the joys of life are gone; + I ask no more on earth but ease, + To be at peace, and be alone: + I ask in vain the winged powers + That weave man's destiny on high; + In vain I ask the golden hours + That o'er my head for ever fly." + +Then he waxed more and more anxious as to what he was to do with his +money. He tried to put away the thought; but the terrible _magistra +necessitas_ went round and round him with ever-diminishing circles, +clearly indicating a conflict in which he must succumb. He must make a +will; an act which it is said no man is ever in a hearty condition to +perform, unless mayhap he is angry, and wishes to cut off an ungrateful +dog with a shilling; and besides the general disinclination to sign the +disposal of so much wealth, of which he was more than ordinarily fond, +and to give away, as it were, _omnia praeter animam_, in the very view +of giving away the soul too, he was in a great perplexity as to how to +divide his means. Nor could he reconcile himself to a division at all, +preferring, as the greatly lesser evil, the alternative of destinating +his fortune all of a lump, with some hope of its being kept together. As +for Walter, though he had some affection for him, he had not much +confidence in him, for he had seen that he was hare-brained as regarded +things which suited his fancy, and pig-brained as respected those which +solicited and required sound judgment; while Rachel, again, was +everything which, among the lower angels, could be comprehended under +the delightful title of "dear soul," an amiable and devoted creature, as +stedfast in her affections as she was wise in the selection of their +objects. So by revolving in his mind all the beauties of the character +of her who, however disqualified by law, was still of his flesh and +blood, yea, of his very nature, as he complacently thought in compliment +to himself, he became more and more reconciled to his intention, if the +very thought of making a will, which had been horrible to him, did not +become even a pleasing kind of meditation. So is it--when Nature imposes +an inevitable duty, she gives man the power of inventing a pleasing +reason for his obedience; nay, so much of a self-dissembler is he, that +he even cheats himself into the belief that his obedience is an act of +his own will. In all which he at least proved the value of one of the +arguments in favour of marriage; for trite it is to say, a bachelor +bears to no one a love which reconciles him to will-making, while a +father, in leaving his means to his children, feels as if he were giving +to himself. But this plan of our merchant-burgess had in addition a +spice of ingenuity in it which still more pleased him--he would so +contrive matters that the daughter and the nephew would become, after +his death, man and wife. He had only some doubts how far their tastes +agreed,--probably an absurd condition, in so much as we all know that +love is often struck out by opposition, and that there is a pleasant +suitability in a husband preferring the head of a herring, and the wife +the tail. + +Having thus arrived at a sense of his duty by the pleasant path of his +affection, Mr. David Grierson seized the first opportunity which +presented itself of sounding the heart of Rachel, in order to know in +what direction her affections ran. Sitting in his big chair, all so +comfortably cushioned by the hands of the said Rachel herself, and with +a good fire alongside, due also to her unremitting care, he called her +to him, and placing his arm round her waist, as he was often in the +habit of doing, said to her-- + +"Rachel, dear, I feel day by day my strength leaving me, and it may be, +nay, will be, that I will not be very much longer with you." + +Rachel looked at him for a little, but said nothing, for, as the saying +goes, her heart came to her mouth, and she could not have spoken even if +she would; but the father understood all this, and preferred the mute +expression of a real grief to a hysterical burst--of which, indeed, her +calm genial nature was incapable. + +"Forgive me, dear," continued he, "for I would not willingly cause you +sorrow, but I have a reason for speaking in this grave way. Who is to +fill the old arm-chair when I cannot occupy it?" + +And he smiled somewhat grimly as he sought her eye, in which he could +observe the most real of all nature's evidences of emotion. + +"What mean you, father?" she replied, with something like an effort to +respond to his humour. + +"Why, then, Rachel," he said, "to be out with it, I want to know whether +you have fixed your heart on any one." + +"Only upon you, dear father," she replied, with a smile which struggled +against her seriousness. + +"Nay, Rachel," continued he. "It is no light matter, and I must have an +answer. I intend to leave you my whole fortune, but upon one condition, +which is, that if Walter Grierson shall sue for your hand, you will +consent to marry him." + +To this there was a reply given with an alacrity which showed how her +heart pointed--"Yes;" then, adding that wonderful little word "but," +which makes such havoc among our resolutions, she paused, while her eyes +sought the ground. + +"What 'but' can be here?" interjected the old man. "Surely you do not +mean to doubt whether _he_ would consent?" + +"And yet that is just my doubt," she replied, as if she felt humiliated +by the admission. + +"Doubt!" cried the father, in rising wrath; "doubt, doubt if a beggar +would consent to be made rich by marrying _you_! Why, Rachel, dear, if +the fellow were to breathe a sigh of hesitation, he would deserve to be +a beggar with more holes than wholes in his gabardine, and too poor even +to possess a wallet to carry his bones and crumbs. Have you any reason +for your strange statement?" + +"No," replied the girl, with a sigh. "It is only my heart that speaks." + +"And the heart never lies," said he sharply. "But I shall see," he +muttered to himself, "whether a certain tongue in a certain head shall +speak in the same way." + +"But would it not bring me down," said she, "were he to think that he +was forced by a promise?" + +"A promise!" rejoined he; "why, so it would, my dear. I see you are +right." But then he thought he could sound him without putting any +obligation upon him. "And a pretty obligation it would be," he +continued, "for a young fellow cut off with a shilling to bind himself +to consent to be the acceptor of two such gifts as a fine girl and a +fortune." + +And Burgess David tried to laugh; but the effort was still that of a +heavy heart, and, reclining his head upon the back of the chair, he +relapsed into those thoughts which, as Age advances to the term where +Hope throws down her lamp, press in and in upon the spirit. Rachel +glided away quietly, perhaps to think; and certainly she had something +to think about. + +So, too, doubtless had Mr. David Grierson, who, after indulging in his +reverie, wherein the subject of will-making suggested a match between +himself and a certain bridegroom who never says nay, awoke to the +interest of his scheme of match-making in this world. So far he had +accomplished his object, for he could rely upon his faithful Rachel's +performance of her promise; and if the two should be married, he knew +how to take care to give her the power of the money, and keep a youth, +in whose prudence he had no great faith, in proper check. Next he had to +sound the nephew. Nor was it long before he had an opportunity--even +that same afternoon. + +"Walter," he began with an abruptness for which probably the young man +was scarcely prepared, "I am getting old, and must now think of +arranging my affairs so as to endeavour to make my fortune serve the +purpose of rendering those happy in whom I have a natural interest. So I +have some interest also as well as, I suspect, some right to put the +question to you, whether you ever thought of Rachel Grierson for your +wife?" + +"Upon my word," replied the nephew, with just as little _mauvais honte_ +as suited his nature, "I never thought of aspiring to the _honour_." + +A word this last which grated on the ear of the rich merchant-burgess, +inasmuch as it suggested a suspicion of the figure of speech called +irony, seeing that Rachel Grierson was a bastard, and the youth carried +the legitimate blood of the Griersons in his veins. + +"Honour or no honour," replied he sharply, and perhaps contrary to his +original intention, "Rachel Grierson is to inherit my fortune, ay, every +penny thereof." + +"Every penny thereof," echoed the youth, as if his mind had flown away +with the words, and dropt them in despair as it flew. + +"Yes," rejoined the angry uncle, "lands, tenements, hereditaments, +shares, dividends, stock, furniture, bed and table linen." + +"And table linen," echoed the entranced nephew. + +"Yes; everything," continued the uncle; and calming down as he saw the +white lips and blank despair of the youth, he added--"And to you I will +leave and bequeath my natural-born daughter, Rachel Grierson." + +And as he uttered these significant words, he watched carefully the face +of the youth, where, however, all indications defied his perspicacity, +inasmuch as blank astonishment was still the prevailing expression. But +after some minutes the young man stuttered out-- + +"A legacy worthy of a nobleman!" + +Words that sounded beautifully, because they were true as regarded +Rachel, whatever they might be as respected his secret intention; yet as +the children vaticinate from the examination of each other's tongues, if +the uncle had examined the organ, he might have discovered some of those +blue lines which produce an exclamation from the young augurs. + +"_Words_ worthy, too, of a nobleman," cried the old man in a trembling +voice; and holding out his hand, which shook under his emotion of +delight at hearing his beloved Rachel so praised, he seized that of his +nephew-- + +"Yes, Walter," he added, "you have by these words redeemed yourself, and +I will take them as an offering of your willingness to accept my legacy; +but, remember, I extort no promise, which might reduce the value of a +young woman's affection,--a gift to be accepted for its own sake." + +"I am content," said Walter. + +"And I am satisfied," added the uncle. "But here is wine on the table," +he continued, as he turned his eye in the direction of a decanter of +good claret, just as if Rachel had, by her art of love, anticipated +what he wished at this moment. "Ah, Walter, if she shall watch your +wants as she has done mine, you will live to feel that you cannot want +_her_, and live; so fill up a glass for me, and one for yourself, that +we may drink to the happiness of the dear girl when, after I am dead, +she shall become your wedded wife." + +"With all and sundry lands, tenements, hereditaments, and so forth," +cried Walter, with a laugh which might pass as genuine, and which was +responded to by a chuckle from the dry throat of the uncle, which +certainly was so. + +So the pledge was taken; and Walter Grierson went away, leaving the old +merchant-burgess as happy as any poor mortal creature can be when so +near the term of his departure. Such is our way of speaking; and yet we +are forced to admit, that at no period of life, however near the +ultimate, abating the advent of the great illumination which breaks like +a new dawn upon the internal sense of a favoured few, can you say that +the hold of this world upon the spirit is ever renounced. Whether the +young man was as happy, we may not venture to say; but this we might +surmise, even at this stage of our story, and in reference to the +classical proverb, that the bastard might be the beautiful Nisa, and the +lawful heir the ill-favoured Mopsus. + +These things we may leave to development; and with a caution to the +reader not to be over-suspicious, we will follow our Nisa, Rachel +Grierson, as she proceeds from the house of the merchant-burgess up the +High Street, at a period of the evening of the same day when the shadows +of the tall lands wrapped the crowds of loiterers and passengers almost +in utter darkness; not that she chose this time for any purpose of +secrecy,--for she had no secret, except that solitary one which every +young woman has, and holds, up to the minute of conviction, that she is +engaged, after which it becomes a flame blown by her own breath,--but +simply because it suited the routine of her duties. Her night-cloak kept +her from the cold, and the panoply of her virtue secured her from +insult; so, threading her way amidst the throng, she arrived at the head +of the old winding street called the West Bow, where, at a projection a +little to the north of Major Weir's Entry, she mounted a narrow stair. +On arriving at a door on the third landing-place, she tapped gently, and +in obedience to a shrill voice, which cried "Come in," she lifted the +latch, and entered a small room, where, at a bench, sat a very peculiar +personage. This was no other than the famous Paul Bennett, an artist in +jewellery, who at that time excelled all his compeers for beauty of +design and exquisite refinement of minute elaboration. And this, +perhaps, a good judge of mankind might have augured of him; for while +his body was far below the middle size, his long thin fingers, tapering +to a point, seemed to be suitable instruments intended to serve a pair +of dark eyes so lustrous and sharp, that nothing within the point of the +beginning of infinitesimals might seem to escape them. Nor was his pale +face less suggestive of his peculiar faculties; for it was made up of +fine delicate features, harmonized into regularity, and so expressive, +that it seemed to change with every feeling of the moment, even as the +flitting moonbeams play on the face of a statue. In addition to these +peculiarities, his appearance was rendered the more striking, that, +working as he did under a strong reflected light, cast down immediately +before his face by a dark shade, the upper part of his person and a +circle on the bench were in bright relief, while the other parts of the +room were comparatively dark. + +"Still at work, Paul," said Rachel, as she entered; "how long do you +intend to work to-night?" + +"Till the idea becomes dim, and the sense waxes thick," replied he, as +he turned his eyes upon her. + +"I have something to tell you," she continued, as she sat down on a +chair between him and the fire, if that could be called such which +consisted of some red cinders. + +"Some other wonder," replied he; "another cropping out of the workings +of fate." + +Words these, as coming from our little artist, which require some +explanation, to the effect that Paul was a philosopher, too, in his own +way. Early misfortunes, which mocked the resolutions of a will never +very strong, had played into a habit of thinking, and brought him to the +conviction that every movement or change in the moral world, not less +than in the physical, is the result of a cause which runs back through +endless generations to the first man, and even beyond him. Paul was, in +short, a fatalist; not of that kind which romance writers feign in order +to make the character work through a gloomy presentiment of his own +destiny, but merely a believer in a universal original decree, the +workings of which we never know until the effects are seen. A fatalist +of this kind almost every man is, less or more, in some mood or another; +only, to save himself from being a puppet, moved by springs or drawn by +strings, he generally contrives to except his _will_ from the scheme of +the iron-bound necessity. But Paul would permit of no such exception. +The will, with him, was merely the _motive in action_; and as he +compelled you to admit that no thought is, in man's experience, ever +called into being, only developed from prior conditions, and that, even +as to an idea, the doctrine _Nihil nisi ex ovo_ is true, and therefore +that no man can manufacture a motive, so he took a short way with the +maintainers of a moral liberty. This doctrine, so gloomy, so grand, yet +so terrible, was, to Paul, a conviction, which he almost made practical; +nay, he seemed to realize a kind of poetic pleasure from reveries, which +represented to him the universe, with the sun and the stars, and all +living creatures--walking, flying, swimming, or crawling--going through +their parts in the great melodrama of destiny, no one knowing how, or +why, or wherefore, yet every human being believing that he is master of +his actions, at the very moment that he might be conscious that his +belief is only a part of the great law of necessity. Then it seemed as +if this delusion in which men indulge, and are forced to indulge, was an +element of the farce introduced into the play, so as to relieve the mind +from the heavy burden of contemplating so terrible a theory. + +"Something to tell me, Rachel!" continued he; "and what may that be?" + +"My father has told me to-day," replied she, "that he is to leave me all +his fortune; and however grieved I may be at the thought of losing him, +I am glad to think that it may be in my power to be of service to you, +Paul, as my only relative on my mother's side." + +"Service," muttered Paul to himself, while he looked into her face as +wistfully as a lover, which indeed he was, though in secret. "And what +is to become of Walter Grierson?" he asked. + +"When he finds that the entire fortune is mine," replied she, "he will +propose to marry me; and this is what my father wishes to bring about by +putting the fortune in my power." + +"So the events crop out from the long chain of causes," thought Paul; +"but who shall tell the final issue? Look here, Rachel," he continued, +as he laid his hand on a golden locket which lay before him in the shape +of a heart, "I have made this to order;" and as he spoke he touched a +spring, whereupon a lid opened, and up flew a pair of tiny doves, which, +with fluttering wings of gold and azure, immediately saluted each other +with their long bills, and piped a few notes in imitation of the cushat. +The touch of another spring immediately consigned them again to the +cavity of the heart,--a conceit altogether of such refined manufacture +and ingenuity of design, as to remind us of the saying of Cicero, that +there is an exquisiteness in art which never can be known till it is +seen fresh from the hand of genius. + +"And who ordered that beautiful thing?" inquired Rachel. + +"Walter Grierson," replied Paul, fixing his eyes upon her sorrowfully, +as if he felt oppressed by that gloomy theory of his. + +Nor did he fail to perceive the effect his few words had produced upon +the heart of his cousin, where there was a fluttering very different +from that of cooing turtles; for the fate of her happiness seemed to her +to be suspended on the answer to a question, and that question she was +afraid to put. + +"Be patient, and learn to hear," continued the little philosopher. "Ere +yet Cheops built the Pyramids, or Joshua commanded the sun to stand +still, yea, before the first sensation tingled in the first nerve made +out of the dust, the beginnings were laid of these events of this day +and hour, and, in particular, of that one which may well astonish you +and grieve you--viz., that the locket is intended for and inscribed to +Agnes Ainslie." + +"Agnes Ainslie!" repeated Rachel, with parched lips and trembling +voice, "the daughter of Mr. John Ainslie, my father's agent, to whom I +am even now going, by Mr. Grierson's command, to request him to call to +morrow for the purpose of preparing the settlement!" + +"A strange perplexity of events," said Paul. "But what is this mingling +of threads to the great web of the universe, which is eternally being +woven and unwoven, unaffected by the will of man? And then these small +issues, the loss of a fortune by a man, and that of a lover by a woman, +how mighty they are to the individual hearts and affections!" + +"Mighty indeed," sobbed Rachel, who had loved Walter so long, and +rejoiced to have it in her power to bestow a fortune upon him, and now +found all her hopes dissolved into the ashes of grief and +disappointment. "Mighty indeed; and these thoughts of yours are so +dreary, how can one believe in them and live!" + +"We are compelled to live," replied he, "even by that same decree which +binds us to the infinite chain. Were it not so, man would imitate the +day-flies, and die at sundown, that he might escape the dark night which +reveals to him the mystery of his being, whereat he trembles and sobs; +and all this is also in the decree." + +"But if all these things are so," said Rachel, "what do you say of +happiness? Is there no joy in the world? Are not the birds happy, when +in the morning the woods resound with their song, and so, too, every +animal after its kind? Are not children joyful when the house rings with +their mirth? and have not men and women their pleasures of a thousand +kinds? nay, might not I myself have been one of the happiest of beings, +if, with the fortune which is to be left to me, that locket had been +engraved with the name of Rachel Grierson in place of Agnes Ainslie?" + +"Yes," replied he, "happiness is in the decree as well; and," he added +with a smile, "it is always cropping out around us, but no one can +manufacture the article. If you wait for it, you may feel it; if you run +after it, you will probably not find it, because it is not ready by +those eternal laws which, at their beginning, involved its coming up at +a certain moment of long after-years. Then, at the best, pleasure and +pain are mere oscillations; but the first movement is downwards, for we +cry when we come into the world; and the last is also downwards, for we +groan when we go out of it. It is the old rhyme-- + + 'We scream when we're born, + We groan when we're dying; + And all that's between + Is but laughing and crying.'" + +A parade of philosophy all this which at another time might have had but +a small effect upon a youthful mind, but Rachel was in the meantime +occupied by looking at the inscription on the fatal toy; and we all know +that the feeling of the dominant idea of the moment assimilates to its +own hue the light or shade of all other ideas of a cognate kind; and +there is in this process also a selection and rejection whereby all +melancholy ideas cluster in the gloomy atmosphere, if we may so term it, +of the prevailing depression, and all joyful ones come together by the +attraction of a joyful thought; and so Rachel was impressed by views +which, if they had been modified by the comforting doctrines of +Christianity, might have enabled her at once to bear and to hope. Even +when Paul had finished, she was still gazing on the locket. A moment or +two more, and she laid it down with a deep sigh, saying, almost +involuntarily, "If my name had been there, I would not have repined at +the loss of all my expected fortune." Then, shaking hands with this +peculiar being, whom she could not but respect for his ingenuity, as +well as for a kindliness and sympathy which lay at the bottom of all his +abstract theories, she left him to his work, at which he would continue +till drowsiness made, as he said, the idea dim and the nerve thick. + +Retracing her steps down the long dark stair, not a very efficient +medium for the removal of impressions so unlike the results of our +natural consciousness, Rachel Grierson found herself again among the +bustling crowds of the High Street. Nor could she view these busy people +in the light by which she saw them before entering the little dark room +of the philosopher. Though she did not know the classical word, she +looked upon them as so many _automata_; and the long chain of causes +came into her mind so vividly, that she found herself repeating the very +words of Paul. Then there was the reference to her own individual fate; +and was it not through the self-medium she saw all these people in so +strange a light?--with Hope's lamp dashed down at her feet, and +extinguished at the very moment when, by the communication of her +father, she thought she had the means of recruiting it with a store of +oil never to be exhausted till possession was accomplished. Still under +these impressions, she came to the door of Mr. Ainslie's house. There +were sounds of mirth and music coming from within; and so plastic is the +mind when under a deep and engrossing feeling, that she found no +difficulty in concentrating and modifying these sounds into joyful +articulations from the very mouths of Walter Grierson and Agnes Ainslie +themselves. Such are the moral echoes which respond to, because they are +formed by the suspicions of, disappointed love. No longer for the moment +were Paul's thoughts true. These happy beings inside were happy because +they had the hearts and the wills to enjoy; but she could draw no +conclusion that she herself could dispose her mind for the acceptance of +the world's pleasures also when her gloom should be away among the +shadows, and nature's innumerable enjoyments placed within her power. +Yet, withal, she could execute her commission, and upon the door being +opened, she could enter in the very face of that mirth of which she +fancied herself the victim. + +On being shown into a parlour, she was presently waited upon by Mr. +Ainslie, who seemed to her to have come from the scene of enjoyment in +the drawing-room. She could even fancy that he eyed her as in some way +standing in the path of his daughter's expectations through Walter--a +fancy which of course would gain strength from the somewhat excited +manner in which he received the words of her commission, to the effect +that he would repair the next forenoon to the house of the +merchant-burgess, for the purpose of preparing his last will and +testament. The notary agreed to attend, and thus, still construing +appearances according to the assimilating bent of her mind, she departed +for home. After going through the routine of her domestic duties, and +caring for her invalid father, she retired to bed--that place of +so-called rest, where mortals chew the cud of the thoughts of the day or +of years. And how unlike the two processes, the physical and the +mental!--in the one is brought up for a second enjoyment the green grass +of nature, still fresh and palatable and nutritious; in the other, the +seared leaves of memory, feeding unavailing regrets, and filling the +microcosm with phantoms and dire shapes of evil, the types whereof never +had an existence in the outer world. Walter Grierson was lost to her for +ever, and the dire energies of fate, as described by the +artist-philosopher, seemed to hang over her, claiming, in harsh tones, +her will as a mere instrument in the working out of her own destiny. + +Next day Mr. Ainslie called, and was for a long time closeted with Mr. +Grierson; but so careless was she now of the fortune about being left to +her, and which she was satisfied would not now be a means of showing her +affection for Walter, that she felt little interest in an affair which +otherwise might have appeared of so much importance to her. Her +attention was, notwithstanding, claimed by an incident. After the +interview, the notary visited Walter Grierson in his room, where the +young man seemed to have been waiting for him. In ordinary circumstances +it might have appeared strange that a man of business, bound to secrecy, +would divulge the terms of a will to any one, but far more that he +should take means for apprising a nephew that he was deprived of any +share of his uncle's means. Nor could she account for this interview on +any other supposition than that Mr. Ainslie knew of the intentions of +Walter towards his daughter, and that he took this early opportunity of +intimating that a disinherited young man, of the grade of a merchant's +clerk, would not, as a son-in-law, suit the expectations of an ambitious +writer. Yet out of this interview there came to, if not drawn by, her +fancy a glimmer of hope, inasmuch as, if the young man were rejected by +the notary in consequence of the ban of disinheritance, he would be left +to the attractions of her wealth; but this supposition involved the +assumption that her triumph would be over a mind that was mercenary, and +not over a heart predisposed to love; nay, her generosity revolted at +the thought of gratifying her long-concealed passion at the expense of +the sacrificed love of another. That other, too, had a better right to +the object than she herself, in so far that Agnes Ainslie's love had +been returned, while hers had not. But these speculations were to be +brought to the test by words and actions. + +No sooner had Mr. Ainslie left than Rachel was visited in her private +parlour by Walter Grierson himself. He had seldom taken that liberty +before, for her secret passion had been ruled by a stern virtue. A +natural shyness, remote from coyness, demanded the conciliation of +respect, though ready at a moment to pass into the generosity of +confidence where she was certain of a return; but his presence before +her might have been accounted for by his appearance, which was that of +one whose excitement was only attempted to be overborne by an effort--a +result more mechanical than spiritual. His manner, not less than his +countenance, composed to gravity, was belied by the tremulous light of +his eye; and as he seized her hand and pressed it fervently, she could +feel that his trembled more than her own. Her manner was also +embarrassed, as it well might be, where so many conflicting feelings, +some revived from old memories, and some produced by the singular events +of the day and hour, agitated her frame. + +"I am going to surprise you, cousin," he said, while he fixed his eye +upon her, as if to watch the effect of his words. + +Rachel forgot for a moment the philosophy of Paul--why should one be +surprised when the thing that is to be is a result of a change in +something else as old as Aldebaran, let alone "the sun and the seven +stars?" She was indeed prepared for a surprise. + +"It is just the old story of the heart," he resumed. "Our intercourse +began so early, and partook so much of that of mere relations, that I +never could tell when the mere social feeling gave place to another +which I need not mention. You know, Rachel, what I mean." + +She was silent because she was distrustful, yet her heart beat bravely +in spite of her efforts; for was not this man the object of her love, +and is not love moved with an eloquence which makes reason ashamed of +her poor figures and modes? + +"Yes," he went on, "I take it for granted that you know I am only +labouring towards a confession. Yes, dear heart, for years I have +considered you as the one sole object in all this world of fair visions +formed to make me happy. You see I cannot get out of the ordinary mode +of speech. The lover is fated to adjure, to praise, and to petition +always in the same set form of words; yet is not the confession enough?" + +"So far," said she; "but I have never seen any evidence of all this;" as +if she wanted more in the same strain--sweet to the ear, though +distrusted by the reason. + +"No more you have," he continued, "yet you know that love is often +suspicious of itself. I have watched with my eye your movements and +attitudes when you thought I was not observing you. My ear has followed +your voice through adjoining rooms when you thought I was listening to +other sounds. I have admired your words, without venturing the response +of admiration. Often I have wished to fold you in my arms when you +dreamt nothing of my inward thoughts. In short, Rachel, I have loved you +for years! Yes, I have enjoyed, or suffered, this gloating, yea, +delightful misery of the heart when it feeds upon its own secret +treasures, and trembles at the test which might dissolve the dream." + +"And why this suppression and secrecy, Walter?" she asked. "How could +you know," she continued, as she held down her head, "that I would be +adverse to your wishes; nay, that I was not even in the same condition +as yourself?" + +"Surely you do not mean to say that?" he cried, with something like the +rapture of one relieved by pleasure from pain. "I am not worthy even of +the suspicion that you speak according to the bidding of your heart. +Have I not watched your looks, and penetrated into your eyes, to +ascertain whether I might venture to know my fate, and yet never could +discover even the symptom of a return; and then was I not under a +conviction that your affections were engaged elsewhere?" + +"Where?" asked Rachel, with a look of surprise. + +"We are apparently drifting into confessions," responded he. "I may say +that I never could construe your visits to Paul, the ingenious artist, +merely as dictated by admiration of his wonderful genius." + +"You do not know that Paul is the son of my mother's sister," replied +she. "Your uncle knows; but there may be reasons why you don't." + +"Then I am relieved," was the lover's ejaculation, in a tone as if he +had got quit of a great burden. + +"Yes, that is the truth," continued she; "but I also confess that I have +been attracted to his small dark workshop by the exquisite curiosities +of art on which he is so often engaged, and which, by occupying so much +of his time, keep him poor. It was only yesterday I saw on his bench a +locket which seems to transcend all his prior efforts." + +The young man smiled and nodded. What could he mean? Why was he not +dumbfoundered? + +"It is in the shape of a heart," she continued; "and upon touching a +spring there fly up two tiny figures, which, with fluttering wings, seem +to devour each other with kisses." + +Words which forced themselves out of her in spite of her shyness, but +which she could not follow up by more than a side-look at her admirer. + +"And upon which," said he, still smiling, "there is engraven the +inscription, 'From Walter Grierson to Agnes Ainslie.'" + +"Yes," sighed Rachel, "the very words. I read them again and again, and +could scarcely believe my eyes." + +"And well you might not," said he; "but your simple heart has never yet +informed you that love finds out strange inventions. I have been guilty +of a _ruse d'amour_, for which I beg your pardon. Knowing that you were +in the habit of visiting Paul's workroom, and seeing all the work of his +cunning fingers, I got him to make the locket out of a piece of gold I +got from my uncle, and the inscription was,"--and here he paused as if +to watch her expression,--"yes, designed, to quicken your affection for +me by awakening jealousy. I confess it. Agnes Ainslie was and is nothing +to me; and I used her name merely because I thought that you would view +her as a likely rival." + +"Can all this be true?" muttered Rachel to herself, as the wish to +believe was pursued by the doubt which revolted against a departure from +all natural and rational actions. + +Perhaps she was not versed in the ways of the world; but whether so or +not, the difference in effect would have been small; for what man, +beloved by a woman, ever yet pled his cause before his mistress without +other than a wise man for his client? + +"And if it is your wish, my dear Rachel," he continued, "the inscription +shall be erased, and replaced by the name of Rachel Grierson. What say +you?" + +His hand was held out for that acceptance which betokened consent. It +was accepted; yes, and more, His arms were next moment around her waist; +the heart of the yielding girl beat rarely, the wistful face was turned +up as even courting his eyes, the kiss was impressed;--why, more, Rachel +Grierson was surely Walter Grierson's, and he was hers, and surely to be +for ever in this world. + +Rachel was now in that state of mind when the pleasantness of a +contemplated object excludes any inquiry whether it is true or false, +good or evil; and, in spite of Paul's fatalism, she was satisfied that +it was with Walter's own free will that he had done what he had done, +and said what he had said. The changed inscription on the locket, and +the delivery of that pledge to her, would complete the vowing of the +troth whereby she was to become his wife. Entirely ignorant of what had +taken place between the nephew and the uncle, by means of which she +might have been able to analyze his conduct, she had only the closeting +of Mr. Ainslie and Walter to suggest to her that the young man's sudden +declaration was the result of his knowledge that she was to be sole +heiress. The heart that is under the influence of love, as we have +hinted, is too credulous to the tongue of the lover to doubt the +sincerity of his professions. So all appeared well. The motives in +action were adequate to the will of the parties who used them; and as +she felt that her love was in the power of herself, so she could not +doubt that Walter's affection was the result of his approval of her good +qualities. Paul was now no longer an oracle. She would be pleased to +have an opportunity of showing him that his genius lay more in his +fingers than in his head. She had now, however, something else to do. +She went to her father's room. He was in one of those reveries to which, +as we have said, all the thinking of the extremely aged is reduced, when +the world and its figures of men and women, its strange oscillations and +changes, its passions, pleasures, and pains, seem as made remote by the +intervention of a long space--dim, shadowy, and ghost-like. It is one of +the stages through which the long-living must pass, and, like all the +other experiences of life, it is true only to one's self--it cannot be +communicated by words. "Old memories are spectres that do seem to chase +the soul out of the world,"--an old quotation which may be admitted +without embracing the metaphysical paradox, that "subjective thought is +the poison of life," or conceding the sharp sneer of the cynic-- + + "Know, ye who for your pleasures gape, + Man's life at best is but a scrape." + +But the entry of his daughter brought the old man back to the margin of +real living existences. He held out his hand to her, and smiled in the +face that was dear to him, as if for a moment he rejoiced in the +experience of a feeling which connected him with breathing flesh and +blood. The object of her visit was soon explained. Whispering in his +ear, as if she were afraid of the sound of her own words, she told him +that Walter had promised her a love-token, and that she wished to give +him one in return, for which purpose she desired that she might be +permitted to use one or two old "Spanish ounces" that lay in the old +bureau. + +"Yes, yes, dear child," said he. "Get a golden heart made of them. It +will be an emblem of the true heart you have to give him, and a pledge +to boot." Then, falling into one of his reveries, in which his mind +seemed occupied by some strong feeling--"I am thus reminded," he +continued, "of the old song you used to sing. There is a verse which I +hope will never be applicable to you as it was to me. I wish to hear it +for the last time," he added, with a languid smile, "in consideration of +the ounces." + +Rachel knew the verse, because she had formerly noticed that it moved +some chord in his memory connected with an old love affair in which his +heart had been scathed; but she hesitated, for the meaning it conveyed +was dowie and ominous. + +"Come, come," said he, "the fate will never be yours." + +She complied, yet it was with a trembling voice. The tune is at best but +a sweet wail, and there was a misgiving of the heart which imparted the +thrilling effect of a gipsy's farewell-- + + "If I had wist ere I had kisst, + That true love was so ill to win, + I'd have lock'd my heart in some secret part, + And bound it with a silver pin." + +"Now you may take the ounces," said he with a sigh. "The verse has more +meaning to me than you wot off, and surely, I hope, less to you." + +And having thus gratified his whim--if that could be called a whim which +was a desire to have repeated to him a sentiment once to him, as he +hinted, a reality connected with the young heart when it was lusty, and +his pulse strong and thick with the blood of young life--- she went to +the bureau, and, taking three of the ounces, she left the room. In the +gloaming, she was again on her way to Paul's workshop, where she found +the artist, as usual, with his head bent over the bright desk on the +bench, engaged in some of his fanciful creations. Having seated herself +in the chair where she had so often sat, she commenced her story of the +circumstances of the day,--how Walter Grierson had acted and spoken to +her; how he had accounted for the locket and inscription; how he +intended to change the latter, and substitute her name for that of Agnes +Ainslie; how he had sought her love, and succeeded in his seeking; how +she was satisfied that he was sincere in his professions; and how she +had got the ounces from her father to make a love-token, to give in +exchange for Walter's. All which Paul listened to with deep attention, +now and then a faint smile passing over his delicate face, and followed +by the old pensive expression which was peculiar to one so deeply imbued +with the conviction that he was an organism in nature's plan, acted upon +to fulfil a fate of which he could know nothing. + +"And so the powers work," said he, as he looked in the hopeful face of +his friend. "You are now happy, Rachel, because you believe what Walter +has said to you, and you have no power over your belief. But," he +continued, after a moment or two's silence, "I _may_ have power over +you, but not over myself. Walter Grierson has told you a falsehood, and +his motive for it is adequate to his nature. Since he gave me the order +for the locket, he has learnt that you are to inherit the whole fortune +of your father, on the condition that you are to marry him; and his love +for Agnes has been overborne by another feeling--the desire to possess +your wealth. Neither the one nor the other of these feelings could he +manufacture, or even modify, any more than he could charm the winds into +silence, or send Jove's bolt back to its thunder-cloud; and now, look +you, his game is this: if you succeed to the money, he will marry +without loving you; if not, he will marry the woman he loves--Agnes +Ainslie." + +"You alarm me, Paul," said she, involuntarily holding forth her arms, as +if she would have stopped his speech. + +"And you cannot help your alarm," said he calmly; "neither can I help +_not_ being alarmed by your alarm." + +"Oh, you trifle with my feelings," she cried, with a kind of wail. +"What have all these strange thoughts to do with this situation in which +I am placed? Even though all things are pre-ordained, neither of us can +be absolved from doing our duty to God and ourselves." + +"Absolved!" echoed Paul. "Why, Rachel, look you, we are forced to do it, +or not to do it, precisely as the motive culminates into action, but we +are not sensible of the compulsion; and so am I under the necessity to +tell you that Walter Grierson is playing false with you, according to +the inexorable law of his nature. It is not an hour yet since Agnes +Ainslie called here with some old trinkets, and requested me to make a +ring out of them; nor was I left without the means of understanding that +it was to be given in exchange for the locket." + +"Is it possible?" cried she. "And can it be that I am deceived, and that +secret powers are working my ruin?" + +"Not necessarily your ruin," said he; "no mortal knows the birth of the +next moment. The womb of fate is never empty; but no man shall dare to +say what is in it till the issue of every moment proves itself. Nor does +all this take away hope, for hope is in the ancient decree, like all the +other evolutions of time, including that hope's being deferred till the +heart grows sick; and," he added, as he looked sorrowfully into her +face, "that is the fate of mine, for, know you, Rachel Grierson, I have +long loved you, and have now seen that the riches you are to inherit put +you beyond the sphere of my ambition. I have often wished--pardon me +Rachel--yes, I have often wished you might be left a beggar, that I +might have the privilege of using the invention with which I am gifted +to astonish the world by my handiwork, and bring wealth to her I loved." + +"I am surrounded on all sides by difficulties," sighed the young woman, +as she seemed to find herself in the mazes of an unseen destiny. As she +looked at her cousin, she thought that one of her evils was that the +capture of her affections so early by Walter had prevented her from +viewing Paul in any other light than that of an ingenious artist, and a +man of kindly sympathies, however much he was separated from mankind by +a theory of the world too esoteric for ordinary thought, and which yet, +at some time of man's life, forces its way amidst palpitations of fear +to every heart. + +On reaching home she met there the notary, Mr. Ainslie, who informed +her, probably at the request of her father (for information of that kind +is seldom given gratuitously), that the will had been signed, and left +in the possession of the old man. Even this communication, so calculated +to shake from the heart so many of the sorrows of life, had no greater +effect upon her generous nature than to increase the responsibility of +fulfilling the condition upon which the inheritance was to be received +and held. If she had not been under the effect of an early prepossession +in favour of Walter, she might have doubted the sincerity of his +statement, as it came from his own mouth. Suspicion attached to every +word of it; but after the communication made by Paul, it was scarcely +possible for her to resist the conclusion that he had told her a +falsehood, and that he was aiming at the fortune, without the power or +the inclination to give her in return his love; nay, that he was +heartlessly sacrificing to his passion for gold two parties--the object +of his real love, and that of his feigned. Yet she did not resist that +conclusion; and so good an analyst was she of her own mind, that even +when in the very act of throwing away these suspicions of his honesty, +she knew in her soul that her love was in successful conflict with an +array of evidence establishing the fact which she disregarded. Then the +consciousness of this inability to cease loving the man whom she could +hardly doubt to be a liar, as well as heartless and mercenary, brought +up to her the strange theory of Paul. The motive which no man or woman +could make or even modify, was the prime spring as well as ruler of the +will, cropping out, to use his own words, from moral, if not also +physical causes, laid when God said, "Let there be light, and there was +light." A deeper thinker than most of her sex, she felt "the sublimity +in terror" of this view of God's ways with man. If she could not resist +the resolution to love Walter, how could he resist the love he bore to +another? The thought shook her to the heart; nor was she less pained +when she reflected on the hapless Paul, with his long-concealed +affection, so pure from the sordidness of a desire for money, that he +would have toiled for her under the flame of the midnight lamp, +continued into the light of the rising sun. + +During the night the persistency of her resolution to remain by her past +affection was maintained; yet as it was still merely a persistency +implying the continuance of a foe ready to assert the old rights, she +was so far unhappy that she wanted that composure of mind which consists +in the absence of conflict among one's own thoughts. + +In the morning she found the locket lying on her parlour table, with the +inscription changed from Agnes Ainslie to Rachel Grierson. She took it +up and fixed her eyes upon it. At one time she would have given the +world for it; now it attracted her and repelled her. It came from the +only man she loved; but another name had been on it, which ought, for +aught she could be sure of, to have been on it still. It might be the +pledge of affection, but it might also be the evidence of falsehood to +her and unfaithfulness to another. And then, as she traced the lines of +her name, she thought she could discover the signs of a tremulousness in +the hand that traced them. Amidst all these thoughts and conflicting +feelings, she could not help recurring to the circumstance that he had +not presented the locket with his own hands. She was unwilling to +indulge in an unfavourable construction; and perhaps the more so that it +so far pleased her as relieving her from the dilemma of accepting it +with more coldness than her love warranted, or more warmth than her +reason allowed. Nay, though she gloated over his image when she was +alone, she felt an undefined fear of meeting him. Might he not be +precipitated into some further defence or confession, which might +fortify suspicions still battling against her prepossessions, and +diminish her love? Nor was this disinclination towards personal +interviews confined to this day--it continued; and it seemed as if he +also wished his connection with her to stand in the meantime upon the +pledges and confessions already made. This she could also notice; but as +for rendering a true reason for it, she couldn't, even with the great +ability she possessed in construing conduct and character. + +But meanwhile time was accumulating antagonistic forces which would +explode in a consummation. Her thoughts were to be occupied by another, +who claimed her affections and care by an appeal as powerful as it was +without guile. Her father was seized with paralysis. He was laid +speechless on the bed where she sat, a watchful and affectionate nurse, +ready to sacrifice sleep and peace and rest to the wants of him who, all +through her life, had been her friend and benefactor, and who had +provided for her future days at the expense of hopes entertained by his +legitimate heirs. For three days he had lain without speaking a word, +and Rachel could only guess his wants by mute signs. During all this +time her thoughts had scarcely glanced at Walter. He seemed anxious +about the condition of his uncle, calling repeatedly at the bedroom +door, and going away without entering. But his manner indicated no +affection, if it did not rather seem that he considered the old man had +done his worst against him, and that sorrow was not due from one he had +disinherited. Her affections were too much engrossed by her patient to +permit her thinking of what was being transacted in the outside world. +Yet, when she looked upon the face of the invalid, so pale and +motionless, where so long the shades of grief and the lights of joy had +chased each other, by the old decree of human destiny, the words of Paul +would occur to her. Was the death that was there impending the result of +a more necessary law than that which had ruled every other condition of +body or mind which had ever been experienced by the patient sufferer? +Then there came the question, Could Walter Grierson so regulate his +heart as to force it to love her in preference to Agnes Ainslie? Could +she, Rachel herself, so rule her feelings as to cease loving the man she +still suspected of falsehood and treachery? It was even while she was +thus ruminating over thoughts that made her tremble, that she observed, +on the third night, a change in her patient. He seemed to start by the +advent of some recollection. His body became restless, and he waved his +hand wildly, as if he wanted her to bend over him, to hear what he might +struggle to say. She immediately obeyed the sign. He fixed his eyes upon +her, made efforts to articulate, which resulted only in a thick, broken +gibberish. She could only catch one or two indistinct words, from which +it seemed that he wished to tell her _where she would find the will_; +but the precise phrase whereby he wished to indicate the deposit was +pronounced in such an imperfect manner that she could not make it out. +Strangely enough, yet still consistently with the generosity of her +character, she did not like to pain him by indicating that she did not +understand him. Nay, she nodded pleasantly, as if she wanted him to be +easy, under the satisfaction that he had succeeded in his efforts to +articulate. Yet so far was she from thinking of the importance of the +communication to herself, that she flattered him into the belief that, +as he could now speak so as to be understood, he was in the way of +improving. Alas for the goodness which is evil to the heart that +produces it! + + "There are of plants + That die of too much generosity-- + Exhaling their sweet life in essences." + +Paul would have said that this too was a cropping out of the old causal +strata. In two hours more, David Grierson was dead, and Rachel was left +to mourn for her parent and benefactor. + +Now the issues were accumulating. A very short time only was allowed to +elapse before Mr. Ainslie, accompanied by Walter, came to seal up the +repositories; an operation which was gone through in a manner which +indicated that both of them thought they were locking up and making +secure that which would destroy their hopes. They seemed under the +conviction that the will was in the bureau; and if they had been men +otherwise than merely what, as the world goes, are called honest, they +might have abstracted the document; for the generous Rachel never even +looked at their proceedings, grieved as she was at the death of her +father. They were, at least, above that. + +In a few days David Grierson was consigned to the earth, and, after the +funeral, Mr. Ainslie, accompanied by Walter, again attended to open the +repositories and read the testament. Rachel agreed to be present. When +the seals were removed, she was asked by the notary if she knew where +the document was deposited. She now felt the consequence of the easy +manner in which she had let slip the opportunity so dearly offered by +her father, of knowing the _locale_ of a writ in all respects so +important; for it cannot be doubted that, if she had persevered, she +might have succeeded in drawing out of him the word, articulated so as +that she might have comprehended it. She accordingly, yet without any +anticipation of danger, answered in the negative, whereupon the notary +and nephew, who seemed to be on the most friendly terms, set about a +search. Rachel remained. A whole hour was passed in the search; the will +was not yet found. Every drawer of the bureau was examined,--the +presses, the cabinets, the table-drawers, the trunks. And so another +hour passed--no will. Rachel began to get alarmed, and perhaps the more +that she saw upon the faces of the searchers an expression which she +could not comprehend. Their spirits seemed to have become elated as hers +became depressed; yet why should that have been, if Walter Grierson was +to be "true to his troth?" + +"We need search no more," said Mr. Ainslie. "The will is not in the +house. I should say it is not in existence, and that Mr. Grierson, +having changed his mind, had destroyed it." + +"Not so," replied Rachel, "for a few minutes before his death he tried +to tell me where it was, but the name of the place died away upon his +tongue, and I could not catch it." + +"Neither can we catch the deed," said Walter, with a laugh which had a +spice of irony in it. + +And so the search was given up. The two searchers left the house, +apparently in close conversation. Rachel sought her room and threw +herself on a sofa, oppressed by doubts and fears which she could not +very well explain. The manner of Walter appeared to her not to be that +of one who was pledged to marry her. Her mind ran rapidly back over +doubtful reminiscences which yielded no comfort to the heart; nay, she +felt that he had never been as a lover to her; and far less that day +when, as it appeared, he was to be master of his uncle's wealth. Yet +again comes the thought, Was he pledged to her? Ay, that was certain +enough; and then she was so little versed in the subtle ways of the +world, that she could not doubt of his being "true to his troth." + +As soon as she recovered from her meditation, she sought again the +workroom of the artist, to whom she told the issue of the search for the +will. Paul looked at first greatly struck, but under his strange +philosophy he recovered that calmness which belongs to those of his way +of thinking. + +"Have I not often preached to you, Rachel," said he, as he lay back on +his chair, "that all these things were fixed ere Sirius was born? Yea," +he added, as a smile played amid the seriousness of his face, "ere yet +there was a space for the dog-star to wag his tail. The croppings out +will now come thick, and you will know whether you are to be a lady or a +beggar." + +Rachel might have known that the consolation offered by fatalists is +only the recommendation of a resignation which, as fated itself, is +gloomy, if not awful, for it amounts to an annihilation of self, with +all hopes, energies, and resolutions. She heard his words, and forgave +him, if she did not believe him; for she knew that he was true in his +friendship, and benevolent in his feelings--parts these, too, as he +would have said, of the decree. She left him in a condition of sadness +for which she could not yet account, and the hues of her mind seemed to +be projected on all objects around her. She retired to rest; but she +could not banish from her mind that the realities of her condition +required to be read by the blue light of Paul's philosophy. It was far +in the morning before she fell asleep; and when nine came she felt +unrested. The servant came in to her and told her the hour. The +breakfast was ready; but Walter, who had not returned on the prior +night, was not as usual waiting for her. The announcement was ominously +in harmony with the thoughts she had tried to banish. She scarcely +touched the breakfast, and the day passed in expectation of Walter. +Night came, but it did not bring him. The next day passed in the same +way. People called to condole without knowing how much she stood in need +of condolence; but still no Walter came to redeem the pledge of his +love. Yet still she hoped; nor till an entire month had gone over her +head did she renounce her confidence that he would be "true to his +troth." + +At the end of this period Paul advised her to take counsel. He told her +that the law had remedies for losses of deeds; and she accordingly +consulted a legal gentleman of the name of Cleghorn. The result was not +favourable. It appeared that Mr. Ainslie denied that there was any copy +or scroll of the will, through the means of which it might have been +"set up," by what is called a proving of the tenor. There was no hope +here, and by-and-by she saw advertised in the _Caledonian Mercury_ that +the furniture of the house was to be sold within a week. She was there +on mere tolerance; and now she had got a clear intimation to flit. As +for money or effects, she had none, except her wardrobe, for she never +thought of providing for an exigency which she was satisfied never would +occur. Again she applied to Paul, who, with her consent, went and took +for her a solitary room in the close we have already mentioned. It was +her intention to acquire a livelihood by means of her needle, at that +time almost the only resource for genteel poverty. Some articles of +furniture were got, principally by Paul; and there, two days before the +sale, she took up her residence. Nor did the kindness of Paul stop here. +He attended the sale, and, considerately judging that some articles +belonging to her father would be acceptable to her, he purchased, for a +small sum, the old bureau of which we have already spoken. The article +was removed to Rachel's room. + +For a period of fifteen years did Rachel Grierson live in that room +plying her needle to obtain for her a subsistence. Her story, which came +to be known, procured her plenty of work; and the ten fingers, which +were sufficiently employed, sufficed for the wants of the +stomach,--small these wants, probably, in her who had heard of the +marriage of Walter with Agnes Ainslie; yea, she who could bear to hear +that intelligence might claim a right to be a pupil of Paul's school of +philosophy. Paul she indeed loved as a friend, but she never could bring +herself to the resolution of marrying the little artist. There was a +train of evils: the "croppings out" of her fate, as Paul called it, were +thick enough and to spare; for she fell into bad health, which was the +precursor of a fit of palsy, depriving her for ever of the power of +working for herself. Then it was that Paul's affection was shown more +clearly than ever. Day by day he brought her all the food she required; +but at length he himself was taken ill, and his absence was fatal. Pride +prevented her from making her necessity known to the neighbours, with +whom she had but little intercourse. We have told how she was found +dead; and when we say that Paul recovered to be present at her funeral, +we have only one fact more to state. It is this: Paul took the old +bureau home to his own little room, to keep as a memorial of the only +woman he ever loved. One day, when repairing the internal drawers, he +found in a hollow perpendicular slip, which looked like a broad beading, +a document which was thus entitled on the back: + +LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT + +BY + +DAVID GRIERSON, + +IN FAVOUR OF + +RACHEL GRIERSON, + +1776 + + + + +LADY RAE. + + +During the time that Oliver Cromwell was in Edinburgh, a lady called one +day at his lodgings and solicited an interview. She was closely wrapped +up in a large and loose mantle, and deeply veiled. The former, however, +did not conceal a shape of singular elegance, nor mar the light and +graceful carriage of the wearer. Both were exceedingly striking; and if +the veil performed its duty more effectually than the mantle, by +completely hiding the countenance of the future Protector's fair +visitor, it was only to incite the imagination to invest that +countenance with the utmost beauty of which the "human face divine" is +susceptible. Nor would such creation of the fancy have surpassed the +truth, for the veiled one was indeed "fair to look upon." + +On its being announced to Cromwell that a lady desired an interview with +him, he, in some surprise, demanded who and what she was. The servant +could not tell. She had declined to give her name, or to say what was +the purpose of her visit. + +The Protector thought for a moment, and as he did so, kept gazing, with +a look of abstraction, in the face of his valet. At length-- + +"Admit her, Porson, admit her," he said. "The Lord sends his own +messengers in his own way; and if we deny them, He will deny us." + +Porson, who was one of Cromwell's most pious soldiers--for he served in +the double capacity of warrior and valet--stroked his sleek hair down +over his solemn brow, and uttered a sonorous "amen" to the unconnected +and unintelligible observation of his master, who, it is well known, +dealt much in this extraordinary sort of jargon. + +Having uttered his lugubrious amen, Porson withdrew, and in a few +minutes returned, conducting the lady, of whom we have spoken, into the +presence of Cromwell. + +On entering the apartment, the former threw aside her veil, and +discovered a countenance of such cunning charms as moved the future +Protector to throw into his manner an air of unwonted gallantry. + +At the lady's first entrance he was busy writing, and had merely thrown +down his pen when she appeared, without intending to carry his courtesy +any further; but he had no sooner caught a sight of the fair face of his +visitor, than, excited by an involuntary impulse, he rose from his chair +and advanced towards her, smiling and bowing most graciously; the +latter, however, being by no means remarkable either for its ease or its +elegance. + +"Pray, madam," now said Cromwell, still looking the agreeable--so far as +his saturnine features would admit of such expression--"to what happy +circumstance am I indebted for the honour of this visit?" + +"The circumstance, sir, that brings me here is by no means a happy one," +replied the lady, in tones that thrilled even the iron nerves of Oliver +Cromwell. "I am Lady Rae, General; the wife of John Lord Rae, at present +a prisoner in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh for his adherence to the cause +of the late king." + +"Ah, my Lady Rae, I am sorry for you--sorry for you indeed; but +doubtless you have found consolation in the same source whence your +afflictions have sprung. Truly may I reckon--indeed may I, +doubtless--that the Lord, who has seen fit to chastise you, has also +comforted you under this dispensation." + +"None, Sir General, who seek the aid of the Almighty in a true spirit +ever seek that aid in vain," replied Lady Rae; "and I have been a +seeker, and have found; nor have I, I trust, been wanting on this +occasion in a due submission to his will." + +"Truly, I hope not; indeed do I," replied Cromwell. "Then, what would ye +with me, fair lady? What would ye with one so feeble and humble as I am, +who am but as a tool, a mean instrument in the hand of the artificer?" +And the speaker assumed a look of the deepest humility. + +"I dare not utter it! I dare not utter it, General!" exclaimed Lady Rae, +now giving way, for the first time, to that emotion which was agitating +her whole frame, although she had hitherto endeavoured, and not +unsuccessfully, to conceal it. "I dare not utter it," she said, "lest it +should bring death to my hopes; yet came I hither for no other purpose." + +"Speak, lady, speak," said Cromwell. "What would'st thou with me?" + +Lady Kae flung herself on her knees, and exclaimed, with upraised +countenance and streaming eyes-- + +"Save my husband, General! Restore him to liberty and to me; and thus, +on my knees, shall I daily offer up prayers to heaven for thy safety and +prosperity. Oh refuse me not!--refuse me not, General, as thou thyself +hopest for mercy from thy God in the hour of retribution!" And she +wildly grasped the knees of the republican commander. + +Without saying a word, Cromwell gently disengaged himself from the fair +suppliant, and, turning his back upon her, stalked to the further end of +the apartment, seemingly much agitated. + +On gaining the extremity of the room, Cromwell stood for two or three +minutes, still keeping his back to Lady Rae, with arms folded, and +drooping his head, as if musing deeply. At the expiry of this period, he +suddenly turned round, and advancing towards his fair visitor with quick +and hurried step, said-- + +"My Lady Rae, may the Lord direct me in this matter and in all others. I +have been communing with myself anent your petition; truly have I, but +see not that I can serve thee; I cannot indeed. If we would all walk in +the straight path, we had need to walk warily; for in this matter I +cannot help thee, seeing my Lord Rae is a State prisoner, and I have no +power over him; none, truly, none whatever. The law is strong, and may +not be trifled with. But I will consider, fair lady, indeed will I; I +will seek direction and counsel in the matter from on high. I will do so +this night; I will have this night to think of the matter, and thou wilt +call upon me at this hour to-morrow, and I will then see if the Lord +will vouchsafe me any light as to how I may assist thee and thy poor +husband; for on thy account I would do so if I could." + +Confused, and all but wholly unintelligible, as was this address of +Cromwell's, Lady Rae perceived that it contained a gleam of comfort, +that a ray of hope-inspiring light, however feeble, played through its +obscurity; and, satisfied with this, she urged her suit no further, but, +with a thankful acceptance of the Parliamentary general's invitation to +her to wait upon him on the following day, she withdrew. + +On Lady Rae issuing from Cromwell's lodgings, she stood in the street, +gazing around her for an instant, as if looking for some one whom she +had expected to find waiting her, but who was not at the moment in +sight. This was the case; but it was only for a moment that she was so +detained. She had glanced but two or three times around her, when she +was joined by a personage of very striking appearance. This was a huge +Highlander, considerably above six feet in stature, proportionably stout +and well made, and apparently of enormous strength. He was dressed in +the full costume of his country, and armed to the teeth. By his side +depended a tremendous claymore; in his belt were stuck a dagger and a +brace of pistols; and on his shoulder rested that formidable weapon +called a Lochaber axe. + +The countenance of this tremendous personage was in keeping with his +other charms: it was manly, and decidedly handsome, but withal was +marked with an expression of fierceness that was appalling to look upon; +and was thus calculated, when associated with his gigantic figure, to +inspire at once admiration and fear. + +As this formidable personage approached Lady Rae, he touched his bonnet +with an air of the most profound respect, and assumed a look and +attitude of devoted attention to her commands. + +"I have seen him, John," said Lady Rae, addressing her Goliath of an +attendant, who was neither more nor less than a retainer of Lord Rae's, +but one who stood high in the estimation of both the former and the +latter for his fidelity, and, fierce as he looked, for the gentleness of +his nature. John M'Kay--for such was his name--was, in short, an +especial favourite of both Lord and Lady Rae, and was admitted to a +degree of confidence and familiarity that elevated him much above his +real condition. They were proud, too, of his superb figure, and +delighted to exhibit him in the full dress of his country, as a specimen +of the men which it produced. "I have seen him, John," said Lady Rae, +whose protector and attendant John always was when she went forth on +occasions of business of importance like the present. + +"And what he'll say, my letty?" inquired John in a low and gentle tone, +and stopping to catch Lady Rae's communication. + +"Not much that is quite satisfactory, John. He speaks in a strange +style, but I think there is ground of hope. He did not altogether refuse +the prayer of my petition, but bade me call upon him again to-morrow." + +John looked grave, but made no reply. His lady walked on, and he +followed at a respectful distance. + +The former now directed her steps to a locality in the city with which +she was but too familiar, and which she had had occasion of late but too +often to frequent. This was the Tolbooth--the place of her husband's +confinement. + +On reaching the outer entrance to the jail, the low half-door, thickly +studded with huge-headed nails, by which it was temporarily secured +during the day, was immediately thrown open for her admission by the +turnkey--a little crusty-looking personage in a fur cap--who had been +leaning over it, listlessly looking around him, on her ladyship's +approach. As the latter entered the prison door, the former stood to one +side, doffed his little fur cap, and respectfully wished her ladyship a +good morning. + +"How are you to-day, James?" said Lady Rae in kindly tones; "and how is +my lord?" + +"Quite well, my lady, quite well," replied the little turnkey, extremely +proud, seemingly, of the condescension of her ladyship. The latter +passed on, and commenced threading her way through the tortuous but +well-known passages which led to her husband's prison-room. John M'Kay +followed his mistress into the jail, previously leaving his arms at the +door--a condition to which he had always to submit before gaining +admission. Having denuded himself of his weapons, John also passed on, +but not before he had shaken his fist ominously in the face of the +little jailer. This was John's constant practice every time he entered +the prison; and, simple as the act was, it had a good deal of meaning. +It meant, in the first place, that John associated the misfortune of his +master's confinement with the little turnkey's employment; that he +considered him as aiding and abetting in the same. It further meant, +that if it were not for one thing more than another, or, as John himself +would have expressed it, "for todder things more nor ones," he would +have brought his Lochaber axe and the turnkey's head into more intimate +contact. + +In the meantime, Lady Rae having ascended several flights of dark and +narrow stairs, and traversed several passages of a similar description, +had arrived at a particular door, on either side of which stood a +grenadier, with shouldered musket and bayonet fixed. They were the +guards placed upon her husband, who occupied the apartment which they +sentinelled. + +The soldiers, who had orders to admit her ladyship and attendant to the +prisoner at any time between the hours of nine in the morning and seven +at night, offered no hindrance to her approaching the door and rapping +for admittance. This she now did; and the "Who's there?" of the captive +was replied to in a powerfully Celtic accent by John M'Kay, with--"My +Letty Rae, my lort." The door instantly flew open, and its inmate came +forth, with a smiling and delighted countenance, to receive his +beautiful and faithful wife. + +In the meantime, John M'Kay took his station on the outside of the +door--a more friendly guard over the inmates of the apartment to which +it conducted than those who stood on either side of him. Here the same +feeling which had dictated John's significant hint to the turnkey below, +suggested his general bearing and particular manner to the two soldiers +now beside him. + +Maintaining a profound and contemptuous silence, he strutted up and down +the passage--without going, however, more than two or three yards either +way--in front of the door of his lordship's apartment, keeping his huge +form proudly erect, as he thus paced the short walk to which he had +limited himself, and casting, every now and then, a look of fierce +defiance on the appalled soldiers, who looked with fear and dread on the +chafed lion with whom they found themselves thus unpleasantly caged, and +who seemed every moment as if he would spring upon and tear them to +pieces; and, in truth, little provocation would it have taken to have +brought John M'Kay's huge fists into play about their heads. There can +be no doubt that there was nothing at that moment which would have given +John more satisfaction than their affording him an excuse for attacking +them. This, however, the soldiers carefully avoided; and, not content +with refraining from giving the slightest offence, either in word, look, +or deed, endeavoured to conciliate John by an attempt to lead him into +friendly conversation. But the attempt was in vain. Their advances were +all repelled, either with silent contempt or with a gruff uncourteous +response. A specimen of the conversation which did take place between +M'Kay and the guards may be given:-- + +"Delightful day, friend!" said one of the soldiers. + +"S'pose it is!" replied John sternly, and continuing his walk. + +A pause. + +"Anything new in the town to-day?" at length said the other soldier. + +"S'pose something new every tay!" replied John gruffly. + +"Ay, ay, I dare say; but have _you_ anything new to tell us?" + +"Maype I have," said John, with a grim smile. + +"What is it?" + +"Tat I'll knock your tam thick head against tat wall if you'll pe botter +me wi' any more o' your tam nonsense. Tat's news for you!" and John gave +one of those peculiar Celtic grunts which no combination of letters can +express. "And you, you scarecrow-looking rascal," he continued, +addressing the other sentinel, "if you'll spoke anoder word, I'll cram +my sporran doon your dam troat." + +Having delivered himself of these friendly addresses, John resumed his +march, with additional pride of step and bearing. In a minute after, he +was summoned into Lord Rae's apartment, where he remained until Lady Rae +left the prison, which she did in a short time afterwards. + +It was with a beating heart and anxious mind that Lady Rae wended her +way, on the following day--attended, as usual, by her gigantic +serving-man--to the lodgings of Oliver Cromwell. On reaching the house, +M'Kay took his station, as on a former occasion, on the outside, while +her ladyship advanced towards the door, within which she speedily +disappeared, her admittance having been more prompt on the present visit +than the former. + +In an instant after, Lady Rae was again in the presence of Oliver +Cromwell. As on the former occasion, he was employed in writing when she +entered, and as on that occasion, so also he threw down his pen, and +rose to receive her. + +"Anent this matter of yours, my lady," began Cromwell abruptly, and +without any previous salutation, although he looked all civility and +kindness, "I really hardly know what to say; truly do I not; but the +Lord directs all, and He will guide us in this thing also." + +"I trust so!" interrupted Lady Rae, meekly. + +"Yes," resumed the future Protector of England; "for we are but weak +creatures, short-sighted and erring. But indeed, as I told you before, +my lady, your husband is a State prisoner; truly is he, and therefore +may I not interfere with him. I cannot; I have not the power. Yet would +I serve thee if I could; truly would I with great pleasure. But these, +you see, are strange times, in which all men must walk warily; for we +are beset with enemies, with traitors--deceivers on all sides, men who +fear not the Lord. Yet, for this matter of yours, my Lady Rae, I will +tell you: I cannot take your husband from prison; it would be unseemly +in the sight of all God-fearing men; but truly, if you could in any ways +manage to get his lordship once without the prison walls, I would take +upon me to prevent his being further troubled. He should have a +protection under my hand; truly he should, although it might bring me to +some odium with my friends. But he should have it, nevertheless, out of +my respect for you, my lady. Now go, go, my lady; I may say no more on +the subject. Go, try and fall on some means of getting thy husband +without the walls of his prison; this done, come instantly to me, and +thou shalt have a protection for him under my hand; indeed thou shalt." + +To Lady Rae, this proposal was a grievous disappointment. It contained +an arrangement which she had never contemplated, and which seemed as +impracticable as it was strange; yet she saw it was all she had to +expect, and that whatever might be the result, she must be content with +the extent of interference on her husband's behalf, which was included +in the singular measures suggested by Cromwell. + +Impressed with this conviction, Lady Rae thanked him for his kindness, +said she would endeavour to get her husband without the prison gates by +some means or other, and would then again wait upon him for the +protection he was so generous as to offer. + +"Do so, my lady, do so," said Cromwell, escorting her ladyship to the +door with an air of great gallantry; "and may the Lord have thee in his +holy keeping." + +Lady Rae turned round, again thanked the general, curtseyed, and +withdrew. + +On reaching the street, her ladyship was instantly joined by her +faithful attendant M'Kay, who had been waiting with the greatest anxiety +and impatience for her return; for to him his master's life and liberty +were dearer far than his own, and he well knew that both were much in +the power of the extraordinary man on whom his lady was now waiting. + +On the first glance which he obtained of his mistress's countenance, +John saw, with a feeling of disappointment that lengthened his own +several inches, that the interview had not been a satisfactory one. His +native sense of politeness, however, and of the deference due to his +mistress, prevented him making any inquiries as to what had passed until +she should herself choose to communicate with him on the subject. For +such communication, however, he had longer to wait than usual; for, lost +in thought and depressed with disappointment, Lady Rae walked on a good +way without taking any notice whatever of her attendant, who was +following at a distance of several yards. At length she suddenly +stopped, but without turning round. This John knew to be the signal for +him to advance. He accordingly did so, and, touching his bonnet, waited +for the communication which it promised. + +"I am afraid, John," now said Lady Rae--"I am afraid we shall be +disappointed, after all. The general has made the strangest proposal you +ever heard. He says that he cannot, without compromising himself, or to +that effect, liberate his lordship from jail; but that if he were once +out--that is, if he could be got out by any means--he would save him +from being further troubled, and would grant him a protection under his +own hand. But how on earth are we to get him out? It is impossible. +These two guards at the door, besides other difficulties, render it +altogether impracticable. I know not what is to be done." + +It was some seconds before M'Kay made any reply. At length-- + +"I'll no think ta difficulty fery crate, after all, my letty," replied +John. "There's shust ta bodachan at ta dore, I could put in my sporran, +and ta twa soger." + +"Yes, John; the first you might perhaps manage," said Lady Rae, smiling, +and glancing unconsciously at the huge figure of her attendant, which +presented so striking a contrast to that of the little, slim, crusty +turnkey; "but the two soldiers--" + +"Whoich," exclaimed John contemptuously; "if's no far prettier men than +was there yesterday, it'll no trouble me much to manage them too, my +letty. A wee bit clamsheuchar wi' my Lochaper axe, or a brog wi' my +skean-dhu, will make them quate aneuch, my letty. Tat's but a small +shob." + +"John, John, no violence, no violence!" exclaimed Lady Rae, in great +alarm at the sanguinary view of the process for her husband's liberation +which John had taken. "No violence. If his lordship's liberation be +attempted at all, there must be no violence; at least none to the +shedding of blood, or to the inflicting the smallest injury on any one. +The idea is horrible; and, if acted on, would only make matters worse. +Your own life, John, would be the forfeit of such an atrocious +proceeding." + +"Foich, a figs for tat, my letty, beggin' your lettyship's pardon," +replied John, a good deal disappointed at the peaceful tone of his +mistress, and at the loss of an opportunity, such as he had long +desired, of taking vengeance on his master's guards and jailers. "Foich, +a figs for tat, my letty, beggin' your lettyship's pardon," he said. "I +could teuk to the hills in a moment's notice, and see who'll catch John +M'Kay then." + +"Well, well, perhaps, John, you might, but you must speak no more of +violence; I charge you, speak no more of it. We will, in the meantime, +go to his lordship and submit the matter to him, and be guided +thereafter by his advice." + +Having said this, Lady Rae directed her steps to the jail, and, closely +followed by M'Kay, was soon after in the apartment of the prisoner. + +Lord Rae having been apprised by his lady of the result of her interview +with Cromwell, a secret consultation between the two, which lasted +nearly an hour, ensued. + +During this consultation, many different plans for effecting the +liberation of the prisoner were suggested, and, after being duly +weighed, abandoned as impracticable. One at length, however, was +adopted, and this one was proposed by M'Kay; it was characteristic of +the man, and came as close in its nature to his original one as he +durst presume upon. + +This plan, which was a simple enough one, was to seize the two guards at +the outside of the door, and to hold them fast until Lord Rae should +have rushed past them and got out of the prison. The turnkey at the +outer door, who, as has been already said, was a little slender man, his +lordship was to seize and throw down, and then get over the little +half-door, which was under his guardianship, the best way he could. A +row of short, sharp pikes, however, with which it was fenced on its +upper edge, rendered this a formidable difficulty; but it was thought +that it might, to speak literally, be got over by the aid of a long form +which stood on one side of the passage of the jail, for the +accommodation of visitors. + +All this trouble a touch of the key would have saved; but this the +little man always carried in his pocket, never allowing it to remain in +the lock an instant, however frequent or numerous his visitors might be. + +The securing of the two guards at the prisoner's door, by far the most +serious part of the business, M'Kay took upon himself, and with a degree +of confidence that sufficiently showed how well he was aware of his own +surpassing strength. + +This plan of proceedings arranged, it was resolved that it should be put +in execution that very afternoon. On that afternoon, accordingly, John +M'Kay again appeared at the jail door, demanding admittance to his +master. The door was immediately thrown open to him by the little +turnkey, whom he now for the first time addressed in a friendly tone. + +The same change of manner marked his salutation to the guards at the +door of his master's apartment. To these he spoke in the most civil and +obliging terms possible. The men, who had often winced under his savage +growls and fierce looks, wondered at the change, but were glad enough to +meet with it in place of his former ferocity. + +John, after talking for a few minutes with the sentinels, went into his +lordship's room. The latter was dressed, and ready for the bold +proceeding about to be adopted. "Think you you can manage them, John?" +said his lordship in a whisper, after the door had been secured in the +inside. + +"Pooch, a dizzen o' them, my lort!" replied M'Kay in the same +under-tone. "It's twa bits o' shachlin' podies no wors speakin' aboot." + +"But they are armed, John--they have guns and bayonets; and the former +are loaded." + +"Pooch, their guns! what'll sicknify their guns, my lort, when I'll have +cot a hold o' the craturs themsels in my hants?" and he held out his +enormous brown paws as if to certify their power. "I'll crush the podies +like a mussel shells." + +"No violence, John, remember," said Lord Rae energetically, but smiling +as he spoke,--"that is, to the extent of doing the men any, the smallest +personal injury. Remember now, John; do otherwise," continued his +lordship in a more severe tone, "and you forfeit my favour and esteem +for ever. Mark, John, besides," added his lordship, who seemed most +anxious on the point which he was now pressing on M'Kay's consideration, +"your doing any injury to these men would be destruction to me; for, +under such circumstances, the general would not grant me a protection +after I was out, and my case would otherwise be rendered infinitely +worse and more hopeless than it is. Now, remember all this, John, and do +the men no personal injury, I charge you." + +John's face reddened a little at the earnestness with which these +injunctions were delivered, and probably he thought they indicated +something like degeneracy in his chief; but he promised compliance with +his commands; and, to render his obedience more certain, by lessening +the temptation to infringe them, he denuded himself of a concealed dirk, +which he always carried about him, over and above the arms he openly +wore. Of this proceeding, which was voluntary on M'Kay's part, his +master highly approved, but, smiling, said-- + +"You have still your fists, John, nearly as dangerous weapons as that +you have just laid aside; but I hope you will use them sparingly." + +John smiled, and promised he would. + +In a few minutes afterwards M'Kay came forth from Lord Rae's apartment +to perform the daring feat of securing two armed men by the mere force +of physical strength; for he was now without weapon of any kind. When he +came out, however, it was with an appearance of the most friendly +feeling towards the soldiers. He came out smiling graciously, and +entered into familiar chat with the men, alleging that he came to put +off the time till his master had written a letter which he was to +deliver to a person in town. + +Thrown off their guard by M'Kay's jocular and cordial manner, the +soldiers grounded their muskets, and began to enter in earnest into the +conversation which he was promoting. M'Kay, in the meantime, was +watching his opportunity to seize them; but this, as it was necessary he +should be placed, with regard to them, so as to have one on either side +of him, that he might grasp both at the same instant, he did not obtain +for some time. + +By dint, however, of some exceedingly cautious and wary manoeuvring, +M'Kay at length found himself in a position favourable to his meditated +proceedings. On doing so, he, with the speed and force of lightning, +darted an arm out on either side of him, seized a soldier by the breast +with each hand, and with as much ease as a powerful dog could turn over +a kitten, laid them both gently on their backs on the floor of the +passage, where he held them extended at full length, and immovable in +his tremendous grasp, till he felt assured that Lord Rae had cleared the +prison. This the latter effected with the most perfect success. The +moment M'Kay seized the soldiers--an act of which Lord Rae was apprised +by the former's calling out, "Noo, noo, my lort"--he rushed out, ran +along the passage, descended the stair in three or four leaps, came upon +the little turnkey unawares, as he was looking over the half-door of the +prison entrance--his sole occupation during three-fourths of the +day--seized him by the neck of the coat behind, laid him down, as M'Kay +had done by the soldiers, at his full length--no great length after +all--on the floor; drew the form to the door, placed it over the little +turnkey in such a way as to prevent his rising, jumped on it, leapt into +the street at one bound, and instantly disappeared. All this was done in +the tenth part of the time that has been taken to relate it. It was, in +truth, the work of but a moment. + +On being satisfied that Lord Rae had made his escape-- + +"Noo, lads, ye may got up," said M'Kay, loosening his hold of the men, +and starting himself to his feet. "Ta burd's flown; but ye may look +after ta cage, and see tat no more o' your canaries got away." + +Freed from the powerful grasp which had hitherto pinned them to the +floor, the soldiers sprang to their feet, and endeavoured to get hold of +their muskets. Seeing this, M'Kay again seized them, and again threw +them to the floor; but on this occasion it was merely to show the power +he had over them, if they should still have any doubt of it. + +"Noo, lads, I'll tell you what it is," said M'Kay, addressing the +prostrate soldiers--"if you'll behave yoursels desenly, and no be +botherin' me wi' ony more o' your tarn nonsense, I'll aloo you to make +me your prisoner; for I'm no intending to run away; I'll kive myself up +to save your hides, and take my shance of ta law for what I'll do. Tat's +my mind of it, lads. If you like to acree to it, goot and well; if not, +I will knock your two heads togidder, till your prains go into smash." + +But too happy to accept of such terms, the soldiers at once assented to +them; and on their doing so, were permitted once more to resume their +legs, when M'Kay peaceably yielded himself their prisoner. The gigantic +Highlander could easily have effected his own escape; but he could not +have done so without having recourse to that violence which had been so +anxiously deprecated by both his master and mistress. Without inflicting +some mortal injury on the soldiers, he could not have prevented them +from pursuing him when he had fled, and probably firing on him as he did +so. All this, therefore, had been provided for by the arrangements +previously agreed upon by Lord Rae and his retainer. By these it was +settled, that he should, on the former's making his escape, peaceably +yield himself up to "underlie the law," in a reliance on the friendly +disposition of Cromwell towards the fugitive, which, it was not doubted, +would be exerted in behalf of his servant. Such proceeding, it was +thought too, would bring Lord Rae's case sooner to issue; and be, with +regard to the law, as it were, throwing a bone in the dog's way to +arrest his attention, and interrupt his pursuit of the original and more +important object of his vengeance. + +On delivering himself up, M'Kay was immediately placed in confinement, +and shortly after brought to trial, for aiding and abetting in the +escape of a State prisoner. The trial was a very brief one; for the +facts were easily established, and sentence was about to be passed on +the prisoner, when a stir suddenly arose at the court door. The +presiding judge paused; the stir increased. In the next instant it was +hushed; and in that instant Cromwell entered the court. On advancing a +pace or two within the apartment, he took off his hat, bowed +respectfully to the judges, and proceeding onwards, finally ascended the +bench and took his seat beside them. + +When a man feels himself master, he need be under no great ceremony; +neither need he trouble himself much about forms or rules which regulate +the conduct of inferiors. Cromwell, on this occasion, got up in a few +minutes after he had taken his place, and delivered to the court a long, +and, after his usual fashion, obscure and unconnected oration in favour +of the prisoner at the bar. The chief ground, however, on which he +rested his defence and exculpation of M'Kay, was the fidelity to his +master, which the crime with which he was charge implied, and the worse +effect to the cause of morality than good to the political interests of +the State, which the infliction of any punishment in such case would +produce. "If," concluded Cromwell, "fidelity to a master is to be +punished as a crime, where shall we look for honest servants?" + +The reasoning of Cromwell, even had it been less cogent than it was, +could not be but convincin to those who knew of and dreaded his power. +He was listened to with the most profound attention, and the justness +of his arguments and force of his eloquence acknowledged by the +acquittal of the prisoner. + +As M'Kay rose from his seat at the bar to leave the court, Cromwell eyed +him attentively for some seconds, and, struck with his prodigious size +and fierce aspect, whispered to one of the judges near him, "May the +Lord keep me from the devil's and _that_ man's grasp." + +We have now only to add, that the protection promised by Cromwell to +Lady Rae for her husband was duly made out, and delivered to her. We +need not say that it was found to be a perfectly efficient document. + + + + +THE DIAMOND EYES. + + +When I entered Edinburgh College the students were tolerably free from +any of those clubs or parties into which some factitious subject--often +a whim--divides them. In the prior year the spirit of wager had seized a +great number of them with the harpy talons of the demon of gambling, +giving rise to consequences prejudicial to their morals, as well as to +their studies. A great deal of money among the richer of them changed +hands upon the result of bets, often the most frivolous, if not +altogether ridiculous. Now, we are not to say that, abstracted from the +love of money, the act of betting is unqualifiedly bad, if rather we may +not be able to say something for it, insomuch as it sometimes brings +out, and stamps ingenuity or sagacity, while it represses and chastises +arrogance. But the practice at the College at that time was actually +wild. They sought out subjects; the aye and the no of ordinary converse +was followed by the gauntlet, which was taken up on the instant; and +they even had an umpire in the club, a respectable young man of the name +of Hawley, who was too wise to bet himself, but who was pleased with the +honour of being privileged to decide the bets of the others. + +In the heat of this wild enthusiasm, it happened that two of these +youths, one called Henry Dewhurst, and the other Frank Hamilton, were +walking on the jetty which runs out from the harbour of Leith a full +mile into the Forth. Dewhurst was the son of a West India planter, who +allowed him L300 a year, every penny of which was spent in paying only a +part of his bills long before the year was done; one of which bills I +had an opportunity of seeing, to my wonder--how any one could eat L15 +worth of tarts and sweetmeats in the course of not many months! Hamilton +was the son of a west country proprietor, and enjoyed the privilege of +using, to his ruin, a yearly allowance of L250. In the midst of their +sauntering they hailed two of their friends,--one Campbell, a sworn +companion of the young West Indian; and the other Cameron, as closely +allied to Hamilton;--all the four being, as the saying goes, "birds of a +feather," tossing their wings in the gale of sprees, and not always +sleeping in their own nests at night. + +As they approached the end of the jetty, they met a lad who had wounded +one of these large gulls called Tom Norries,--a beautiful creature, with +its fine lead-coloured wings and charming snow-white breast, and eye +like a diamond. + +"I will give you a shilling for the bird," said Dewhurst. + +"But what are you to do with it?" replied the lad. "I would not like it +to be killed. It is only hurt in the wing; and I will get half-a-crown +for it from one who has a garden to keep it in." + +"No, no," said Dewhurst, "I'll not kill it. Here's your half-crown." + +And the bargain was struck. Dewhurst, with the struggling bird in his +hand, went down, followed by his friends, one of the side stairs to the +stone rampart, by which the jetty is defended on the east. There they +sat down. The sun was throwing a blaze of glory over a sea which repaid +the gift with a liquid splendour scarcely inferior to his of fire; and +the companions of the bird, swirling in the clear air, seemed to be +attracted by the sharp cries of the prisoner; but all its efforts were +vain to gratify its love of liberty and their yearning. It was in the +hands of those who had neither pity for its sufferings, consideration +for the lessons it carried in its structure, nor taste for estimating +its beauties. One of another kind of students might have detected +adaptations in the structure of that creature sufficient to have raised +his thoughts to the great Author of design and the source of all +beauty,--that small and light body, capable of being suspended for a +great length of time in the air by those broad wings, so that, as a bird +of prey, it should watch for its food without the aid of a perch; the +feathers, supplied by an unctuous substance, to enable them to throw off +the water and keep the body dry; the web-feet for swimming; and the long +legs, which it uses as a kind of stay, by turning them towards the head +when it bends the neck, to apply the beak--that beak, too, so admirably +formed--for taking up entire, or perforating the backs of the silly +fishes that gambol too near the surface. Ay, even in these fishes, +which, venturing too far from their natural depths, and becoming amorous +of the sun, and playful in their escapades, he might see the symbol of +man himself, who, when he leaves the paths of prudence, and gets +top-light with pleasure, is ready, in every culmination of his delirium, +to be caught by a waiting retribution. Ah! but our student, who held the +bird, was not incurious--only cold and cruel in his curiosity. + +"Hamilton," said he, "that bird could still swim on the surface of that +sea, though deprived of every feather on its body." + +"I deny it," replied Hamilton. "It will not swim five minutes," + +"What do you bet?"--- The old watchword. + +"Five pounds." + +"Done." + +And getting Campbell to hold the beak, which the bird was using with all +its vigour, he grasped its legs and wings together by his left hand, and +began to tear from the tender living skin the feathers. Every handful +showed the quivering flesh, and was followed by spouts of blood; nor did +he seem to care--although the more carefully the flaying operation was +performed, the better chance he had of carrying his wager--whether he +brought away with the torn tips portions of the skin. The writhing of +the tortured creature was rather an appeal to his deliberate cruelty, +and the shrill scream only quickened the process. The back finished and +bloody, the belly, snow-white and beautiful, was turned up, the feathers +torn away, the breast laid bare, and one wing after the other stript of +every pinion. Nothing in the shape of feathers, in short, was left, +except the covering of the head, which resisted his fingers. + +"There now is Plato's definition of a man personified," said he as he +laughed. + +During all this time a lady looked over the parapet. Dewhurst caught her +eye red with anger, but he only laughed the louder. + +"Now, Hamilton," said he, "you take the bird, and we mount to the +platform. When I give the sign, fling him in, and we shall see how the +bet goes." + +They accordingly mounted, and the lady turning her back, as if she had +been unable to bear longer the sight of so much cold cruelty, directed +her vision towards the west; but a little boy, who was along with her, +seemed to watch the operation. + +"Now," cried Dewhurst. + +And Hamilton thiew the bird into the sea. The creature, still +vivacious, true to its old instinct, spread out its bare wings in an +attempt to fly, but it was in vain; down it came sinking below the +surface, but rising quickly again to lash, with the bleeding wings, the +water on which it used to swim so lightly and elegantly. The struggle +between the effort to fly and the tendency to sink was continued for +several minutes, its screams bringing closer around it many of its +compeers, who looked as if with pity and amazement on the suffering +victim, known to them now only by the well-known cry of distress. + +Meanwhile these curious students of natural history stood looking over +the rail, watch in hand; and the little boy, an important personage in +our story, also intent upon the experiment, cried out two solitary +words, very simple ones too, and yet fraught with a strange import, as +regards consequences, that could not be gathered from them. + +"See, ma'." + +But the lady to whom they were addressed had still her head turned away. + +"Six minutes," cried Dewhurst. "The time is up, and the bird is only +this instant down. I win." + +"I admit it," responded Hamilton, evidently disconcerted. "I shall pay +you to-night at Stewart's, at seven o'clock. I got my remittance +yesterday." + +"Content," said Dewhurst, "That's the third bet I have gained off you +within a fortnight," + +Hamilton bit his lip and scowled--- an act which only roused against him +the raillery of his comrades, who were now collected in a circle, and +symptoms of anger of a more expressive kind showed themselves. + +"You have been at this trade of flaying before," said he, looking +sternly at Dewhurst. "Your father, like the other West Indians, is well +acquainted with the flaying of negroes, and you have been following his +example with the Jamaica lungies. But, by G--d," he added, getting +enraged, "next time we cross the rapiers of a bet, it shall be for ten +times five." + +"This instant," answered Dewhurst, on whom the imputations about his +father acted as a fiery stimulant. + +"Seek your subject," responded Hamilton. + +"You see that lady there?" continued the West Indian. "She has a boy +with her." + +"I do." + +"The mother of the boy, or not?" continued Dewhurst. "I say she is; and, +in place of fifty, I'll make it a hundred." + +"Have you ever seen them before?" asked Hamilton, trying to be calm. + +"Never. I know no more of them than you do; and, besides, I give you +your choice of mother, or not mother." + +"Ha! ha!" laughed Campbell, as he looked intently at Dewhurst. "Are you +mad, Dewhurst? Has your last triumph blinded you? The woman is too old +by ten years." + +Hamilton turned round without saying a word, and drew cautiously near +the lady, whose eyes, as she stood looking at a foreign ship coming in, +were still scornful, and it seemed as if she waited until some gentleman +came up to inform him of the cruel act she had so recently witnessed. +Resisting her fiery glances, he surveyed her calmly, looking by turns at +her and the boy. A slight smile played on his lip in the midst of the +indications of his wrath. One might have read in that expression-- + +"Not a feature in these two faces in the least similar, and the age is +beyond all mortal doubt. I have the gull-flayer on the hip at last." + +And returning to the companions with the same simulated coolness-- + +"Done for a hundred," he said. "That lady is not the mother of that +boy." + +"Agreed," answered Dewhurst, with a look of inward triumph. "How to be +decided?" + +"By the lips of the lady herself." + +"Agreed." + +"Yes," joined Campbell, "if you can get these lips to move. She looks +angry, and now she is moving along probably for home, bequeathing to us +the last look of her scorn. We shall give her time to cool down, and +Cameron and I will then pay our respects to her. We shall get it out of +the boy if she refuse to answer." + +It was as Campbell said. The lady with the boy, who held her by the +hand, had begun her return along the jetty. The companions kept walking +behind; and of these, Campbell and Dewhurst fell back a little from the +other two. + +"Hark, Campbell," said Dewhurst. "Back me against Cameron for any sum +you can get out of him. I'm sure of my quarry; and," laughing within the +teeth, he added, "I'll gull him again." + +"You're ruined, man," whispered his companion. "The woman is evidently +too old, and I am satisfied you will catch some of her wrinkles." + +A deeper whisper from Dewhurst conveyed to the ear of his friend-- + +"I heard the boy call her mother." + +"The devil!" exclaimed Campbell in surprise; but, catching himself, "it +might have been grandmother he meant." + +"No, no. Children in Scotland use grandma', never ma', to grandmother. +I'm satisfied; and if you are not a fool, take advantage of my "-- + +"Dishonesty," added Campbell. + +"No; all fair with that fellow Hamilton. Besides, all bets assume a +retention of reasons, otherwise there could be no bets. In addition, I +did not assert that I did not hear them address each other." + +"That's something," said Campbell. "I do not say it is impossible, or +even very improbable, that she may be the mother; and if you will assure +me, on your honour, of what you heard, I will have a little speculative +peculation on Cameron." + +"I can swear; and if I couldn't, do you think I would have bet so high, +as in the event of losing I should be ruined?" + +"I'm content," said Campbell. "Ho, there, Cameron! I will back Dewhurst +on the maternity for ten." + +"That will just pay Nightingale," replied Cameron. "I accept. Now for +the grand _denouement_. Let us accost the arbitress of our fortunes." + +"Not yet," said Hamilton. "Wait till she gets to the lighthouse, where +there are people. It is clear she has not a good opinion of us, and in +this solitary place she might get alarmed." + +Hanging back to wait their opportunity, now upon the verge of a decision +which might be attended with disastrous results to some of them, the +whole four appeared absorbed in anxiety. Not a word was spoken; and it +seemed possible that, during these trying minutes, a hint would have +broken up the imprudent and dangerous compact. The terror of the club +was before them, and the false honour which ruled them, in place of +obedience to their fathers, and humanity to dumb creatures, retained the +ascendency. So has it ever been with the worship of false gods: their +exactions have always been in proportion to the folly and credulity of +their votaries. The moment was approaching. The die was to carry +formidable issues. Dark shadows broke in through the resolution to be +brave, as might have been observed in the features of both the +principals. At length Campbell took the lead. They approached the lady, +who at first seemed to shrink from them as monsters. + +"We beg pardon," he said. "Be assured, madam, we have not the most +distant intention to offend you. The truth is, that we have a bet among +us as to whether you are the mother of this fine boy. We assure you, +moreover, that it was the sport of betting that sought out the subject, +and the nature of that subject cannot, we presume, be prejudicial either +to your honour or your feelings. While I ask your pardon, allow me to +add that the wager, foolish or not, is to be decided by your answer--yes +or no." + +"No." + +After pronouncing, with a severe sternness, this monosyllable, she +paused a little; and looking round upon the youths with a seriousness +and dignity that sat upon her so well that they shrunk from her glance, +she added, with a corresponding solemnity-- + +"Would to God, who sees all things--ay, and punishes all those who are +cruel to the creatures He has formed with feelings suitable to their +natures, and dear to them as ours are to us--that he who bet upon my +being the mother of this boy may be he who tortured the unoffending +bird!" + +And, with these words, she departed, leaving the bewildered students +looking at each other, with various emotions. It was, perhaps, fortunate +for Dewhurst that the little sermon, contrary to the practice of the +courts, came after, in place of preceding the condemnation, for he had +been rendered all but insensible by the formidable monosyllable. He saw +there was some mystery overhanging his present position. He doubted, +and he did not doubt the lady; but he heard the boy use the word, and +he took up the impression that he was, by some mistake on his part, to +be punished for the flaying of the bird. The lady's eye, red and angry, +had been fixed upon him, and now, when she was gone, he still saw it. +But there were more lurid lights, playing round certain stern facts +connected with his fortunes. He must pay this L100 on the decision of +her who had burned him with her scorn. There was no relief for him. The +club at the College had no mercy, and he had enraged Hamilton, whose +spirit was relentless. He had been under rebuke from his father, who had +threatened to cut him off; and, worse still, the remnant of the last +yearly remittance was L110 in the Royal Bank, while debts stood against +him in the books of tailors, confectioners, tavern-keepers, +shoemakers--some already in the form of decrees, and one at least in the +advanced stage of a warrant. To sum up all, he was betrothed to Miss +M------- sh, the sister of a writer to the signet, who had already +hinted doubts as the propriety of the marriage. He saw himself, in +short, wrecked on the razor-backed shelving rocks of misery. In his +extremity, he clutched at a floating weed: the woman, the lady, did not +speak the truth. He had ears, and could hear, and he would trust to +them. The boy could not be wrong. + +"Campbell," he cried, "dog her home--she lies!" Hamilton and Campbell +burst out into a laugh, but Campbell had been taken aback by the lady's +answer: he had not L10 to pay Cameron, and the fear of the club was +before him, with its stern decree of the brand of caste and rejection by +his associates. Since the moment of the lady's answer, he had been +conscious of obscure doubts as to her truthfulness, clustering round the +suspicion that she might have known, by hearing something, that +Dewhurst, the gull-flayer, was on the side of the maternity, and that +she wanted to punish him--a notion which seemed to be favoured by the +somewhat affected manner of her expressing her little sermon. These +doubts, fluid and wavering, became, as it were, crystallized by +Dewhurst's cry that she was a liar; and, the moment he felt the sharp +angles of the idea, he set off after the lady. + +This hope, which was nothing more than despair in hysterics, enabled +Dewhurst to withstand, for a little, the looks of triumph in Hamilton +and Cameron, in spite of their laugh, which still rung in his ears. The +sermon had touched him but little, and if he could have got quit of this +wildly contracted debt, he would likely be the same man again. He did +not, as yet, feel even the dishonour of having taken advantage of the +boy's statement--an act which he had subtlety enough to defend. Give him +only relief from this debt, the fire of the club, the stabbing glances +of Hamilton's eye. At least he was not bound to suffer the personal +expression of his companions' triumph any longer than he could away. + +"We will wait the issue of Campbell's inquiry," he said with affected +calmness. "I have a call to make in the Links." + +And he was retreating, even as he uttered these words. + +"I owe you L5," cried Hamilton, "which, _as a man of honour_, I pay you +to-night at seven o'clock, upon the instant, at Stewart's. I have no +wish to be dragged before the club." + +With this barb, touched with wararra poison, or ten times distilled +kakodyle, and a layer of honey over all, Dewhurst hurried away, to make +no call. He was hard to subdue, and a puppy, whose passion it was to +strut, in the perfection of a refined toilette, among fashionable +street-walkers. While he was abroad, his cares rankling within were +overborne by the consciousness of being "in position." The dog's nose is +cold even when his tongue is reeking; and as he walked slowly along, his +exterior showed the proper thermo-metric nonchalance--it was not the +time for a pyrometric measurement within the heart. On his way, he +talked to a Leith merchant, who hailed him; yet he exhibited the +required _retenu_, so expressive of confidence and ease within, and +withal so fashionable. You might have said that he had the heart to wing +a partridge,--to "wing it," a pretty phrase in the mouth of a polite +sportsman, who, if a poacher were to break the bones of his leg, would, +in his own case, think it a little different. Yes, Dewhurst might have +been supposed to be able to "wing a partridge,"--not to "flay a gull." + +It was while thus "in position"--not its master, but its slave--that +curvation of the spine of society, which produces so much paralysis and +death--that, when he came to Princes Street, he felt himself constrained +and able to walk up South St. Andrew Street, direct to the door of the +Royal Bank. He even entered; he even drew a draft; he even made that +draft L110, all the money he had there in keeping for so many coming +wants and exigencies; he even presented it to the teller, who knew his +circumstances and his dangers--ay, and his father's anxieties while he +sent the yearly remittance. + +"All, Mr. Dewhurst?" said the teller, looking blank at the draft. + +"All, sir; I require it all," answered the student, with such a mouthful +of the vowel, that we might write the word _requoire_, and not be far +from the pronunciation. + +The teller gave his head a significant shake. If he had had a tail to +shake, and had shaken that tail, it would have been much the same. + +Having got the money, he was more than ever under the law of that +proclivity, on the broad line to ruin, on which so many young men take +stations; and still retaining his, he went at the hour of the hot +joints, to dine at the Rainbow, where he met many others, in that +refreshment house, of the same class, who, like himself, +considered--that is, while the money was there--that guineas in the +purse supersede the necessity of having ideas in the head. He took to +such liquid accompaniments of the dinner, as would confirm the +resolution he had formed, of paying at once his debt of honour. And why +not? Was not he of that world whose code of laws draws the legitimate +line of distinction between debts contracted to industrious tradesmen +for the necessaries of life, and those which are the result of whim, +pride, or vindictiveness? All recollections of the flaying of the bird, +and of the lady's adjuration to heaven, had given way to the enthusiasm +of the noble feeling to obey the dictates of that eternal and immutable +code of honour. And by seven o'clock he was at Stewart's, where he found +Hamilton and Cameron waiting for their respective "pounds of flesh." + +"Here is the L5," cried Hamilton, as he entered; and, throwing the note +upon the table, "it is for the gull trick." + +"And here," responded the West Indian, "is your L100 for the woman +trick." + +And he cast from him the bundle of notes, with a grandeur of both honour +and defiance. "But I have a reservation to make. Campbell has not +reported to me the issue of his commission; and if it shall turn out +that the woman retracts, I will reclaim the money." + +"And get it too," said the other, laughing sneeringly, as he counted +the notes. "But here comes Campbell." + +"Campbell," cried Cameron, as his debtor entered, "I want my L10 to pay +Nightingale." + +"Ask Dewhurst," said Campbell. "I have been cheated by him. He told me a +lie. The woman speaks true, and I shall be revenged." + +"I have nothing to do with Dewhurst," answered Cameron. "You are my +debtor; and if I don't get the money to-night--you know my lodgings--the +club will decide upon it to-morrow." + +And, throwing a withering look upon his old friend--a word now changed +for, and lost in that expressive vocable, debtor--he hurried out, +followed by Hamilton, who had both his money and his revenge, and wished +to be beyond the reach of a recall. + +Left to themselves, the two remaining friends of the hour before, but +now no longer friends, looked sternly at each other. The one considered +himself duped; the other was burning under the imputation of being a +cheat and a liar. + +"Oh I don't retract," said Campbell, with increased fierceness. "It was +upon the faith of your word that I ventured the bet against my own +convictions. I have traced the lady to Great King Street, where she +resides, as the aunt of the boy; and I am satisfied that, in a case +where the boy's mother is alive, and now in her own house, he, of the +age he is, never could have used the word mother or mamma, or any word +of that import, to his father's sister. All power and energies are +comparative. This L10 cracks the spine of my fortune as effectually as +ten times the amount. I have not the money, and know no more where to +find it than I do to get hold of the philosopher's stone. I repeat I +have been cheated, and I demand of you the money." + +"Which you shall never get," replied Dewhurst. "I can swear that I +heard the words. They thrill on my ears now; and the best proof of my +conviction is, that I am myself ruined. Yes," and he began to roll his +eyes about, as the terrors of his situation came rushing upon him, on +the wake of the now departing effects of the Rainbow wine--"Yes, the +swell, the fop, the leader of the college _ton_, whose coat came from +the artistic study of Willis, whose necktie could raise a _furore_, +whose glove, without a wrinkle, would condescend only to be touched by +friendship on the tip of the finger, is now at the mercy of any one of +twenty sleasy dogs, who can tell the sheriff I owe them money. Money! +why, I have only fifteen pounds in the wide world, and I must pay that +to my landlady." + +As he uttered these last words, the door opened, and there stood before +him a man with a blue coat, surmounted by a red collar. He held a paper +in his hand; his demeanour was deferential and exuberantly polite. + +"That sum you have mentioned, sir," he said, looking to the student, +"with L10 added, will save you and me much trouble. The debt to Mr. Reid +is L25; and here is a certain paper which gives me the power to do an +unpolite thing. You comprehend? I am an advocate for painless +operations." + +"Will you accept the L15?" said Dewhurst, now scarcely able to +articulate. + +"Yes, if this gentleman here, who is, I presume, your friend, will +kindly add the L10. The expenses may stand." + +Campbell could only grin at this strange conversation. + +"Unwilling?" continued the messenger. "Ah, I see. It is strange that +when I devote myself to a gentleman, his friends fly away. This is my +misfortune. Well, there is no help for it. We must take a walk to the +prison," addressing himself to his debtor. "You are a gentleman, and I +shall be your servant in livery." + +Dewhurst braced himself with a violent effort, like a spasm, and took +his hat. + +"Give me the L10," said Campbell. "It will make no difference now. There +are no degrees in despair." + +"I must take care of my master's money," said the officer, with an +attempt at a smile; and without going the full length of imitating that +most philanthropic of all executors of the law, Simpson, who patted his +victims on the back while he adjusted the rope, he added, "And now, sir, +I am at your humble service." + +In a very short time after, the strange events of that day were +terminated by the young man being placed in the debtor's prison of the +Calton. Like other jail birds, he at first shunned his brethren in +misfortune, fleeing to his room, and shrouding himself in solitude and +partial darkness. The change from a life of gaiety, if not dissipation, +to the experiences of prison squalor, had come upon him without +preparation, if indeed preparation for evil ever diminishes or much +ameliorates the inevitable effects of the visitation. Unfortunates +exhibit wonderful diversities in their manifestations. Dewhurst became +dejected, broken in spirits, sad, and remorseful. He scarcely stirred +from the bed on which he had thrown himself when he entered; and his +mind became a theatre where strange plays were acted, and strange +personages performed strange parts, under the direction of stage +managers over whom he had no control. Though some unhappy predecessor in +the same cell had scribbled on the wall, + + "A prison is a cannie place, + Though viewed with reprobation, + Where cheats and thieves, and scants o' grace, + Find time for cogitation," + +he did not find that he could properly cogitate or meditate, even if he +had been, which he never was, a thinker. All his thoughts were reduced +to a continued wild succession of burning images,--the mild face of his +mother, so far away, as it smiled upon him when he ran about among the +cane groves of the west; the negroes, with their "young massa" on their +tongues, jabbering their affection; his father scowling upon him as +undutiful; another, not so far away, in whose eyes--beautiful to +him--love dwelt as his worshipper, looking all endearment, only the next +moment to cast upon him the withering glance of her contempt, if not +hatred; admirers, toadies, satellites, and sycophants, all there in +groups and in succession, beslabbering him with praises, then exploding +in peals of laughter. Nor was another awanting in these saturnalia--the +form and face of her whose one word of sentence had been to him as a +doom, and who fixed that doom in his soul by her red glance of reproof. +Seemingly very indifferent objects assumed in the new lights of his +spirit gigantic and affraying features,--the sea-gull, with its torn +back, bleeding and quivering, and those diamond eyes so bright even in +its looks of agony--an object low indeed in the scale of nature, but +here elevated by some overruling power into the very heart of man's +actions and destinies, as if to show out of what humble things the +lightnings of retribution may come. Nay, these diamond eyes haunted him; +they were everywhere in these saturnalian reveries, following every +recurring image as an inevitable concomitant which he had no power to +drive away, entering into the orbits of the personages, gleaming out of +the heads of negroes, that of his father, that of his mother, even that +of his mistress, imparting to the looks and glances of the latter a +brilliancy which enhanced beauty, while it sharpened them into +poignancy. But most of all were they in some way associated with the +form of the unknown lady. She never appeared to him as the being on whom +his destiny was suspended; but, sooner or later, her own comparatively +lustreless orbs changed into those diamonds, which could fulminate scorn +not less than they could beam out supplication. + +For several days and nights he had scarcely any intervals of peace from +these soul-penetrating fancies, and these moments were due to visits. +But who came to visit? Not the writer to the signet, the brother of his +affianced, whom he had expected to see first of all as a friend, if not +as a relation, ready to extend the hand that would save him; not any of +those with whom he had shared the folly of extravagance, if not +dissipation, on whom he had lavished favours in the wildness of his +generosity. The first was felicitating himself on his sister's escape; +the latter received the lesson that teaches prudence _a la distance_. +His only visitors were one or two heads of families where he had been +received as a fashionable friend, and these came only to look and +inquire. Their curiosity was satisfied when they got out of him the +amount of his debt, and pleased when they considered that their +daughters were at home, and under no chance of becoming allied to a +prisoner. One or two old associates, too, paid their respects to him, +but they were of those who had resisted his fascinations and found their +pleasures in their studies. We seek for the virtues, but we do not +always find them in the high places, where masks, copied from them and +bearing their beautiful lineaments and their effulgence, are worn in +their stead only to cover the vices which are their very antipodes. No: +more often in lowlier regions, lying _perdu_ behind vices, not +voluntary, but often, as it were, inflicted and peering out, ashamed to +be seen, because arrayed in the rags of poverty. A solitary female +stole in to him. Who was she? One with whom he had formed a connection +of not an honourable kind, only now interrupted by the walls of the +prison? No. One whom he had long before cast off, only because the vice +he had inoculated her with had cast off the beauty that had inflamed +him. Nor did he know the meaning of that stealthy visit, which lasted +only for a few minutes--so unexpected, for he had not seen her during +many months, so singular, so unnatural, so unlike the world, returning +gratitude for injury, benediction for infamy, until, after she had +suddenly slipped away, he found by the side of the wall a small bottle +of wine. That form and face, once more beautiful in his estimation than +were those even now of his honourable affianced, entered among the +imagery of his reveries; but the diamond eyes never displaced those of +her gentle nature. He had wronged her, but they never filled with the +fire of denunciation. She had looked her grief at him only through the +tears he had raised in them, and had never attempted to dry. Yes, the +diamond eyes entered everywhere, and into every form but that one where +the red heat of revenge might have been expected to shrivel up and +harden the issues of tears. + +Further on in the same evening, the jailer, a good-natured sort of +fellow, came in to him while he was absorbed in these thoughts. He was +at the time sitting on his bed. + +"A lady called in the dusk," he said, "and inquired if it was true you +were here. I told her it was." + +"And what more?" asked the youth, as he started out of his day-dream. +"But, stay--what like was she?" + +"I could scarcely see her," replied the man; "middling tail, rather +young, as I thought--with a veil, through which I could see a pair of +pretty, bright eyes." + +"Were they like diamonds?" cried the student, absolutely forgetting that +he was speaking to an ordinary mortal about very ordinary things. + +"Ha, ha! I never saw diamond eyes," answered the jailer; "but I've seen +glass ones in a doll's head looking very bright. Why, you 'aven't got +mad, like some of the chicken-hearted birds in our cage?" + +"Yes," cried the youth, "I'm frantic-mad; but stay, have patience. Did +she want to see me?" + +"Yes, she asked if she could; but when I told her she might, she seemed +to get afeared to come into a jail, and said she would call again +to-morrow night at the same hour." + +"Can you tell me nothing more of what she was like?--not she who was +here this evening?" + +"Why, no; don't you think I know her kind? Oh, we see many o' them. They +stick closest to the unfortunate, but 'tis because they are unfortunate +themselves. Common thing, sir. Never feel for others till we have +something to feel for ourselves. The visitor is a lady, sir." + +"Can you tell me nothing more?" said the student eagerly. "How was she +dressed?" + +"A large, elegant cloak, sir; can scarcely say more." + +"Was it trimmed with fur?" + +"Not sure; but now, when I think, there was some lightish trimming--I +mean lighter than the cloak." + +"And the bonnet?" + +"Why, I think velvet; but you'll maybe see her yourself to-morrow. The +like o' her may do you good. The unfortunates who stick so close to the +unfortunate do no good--they're a plaster that don't cure." + +"It is Maria!" ejaculated Dewhurst, as the jailer shut the door. "She +feels for me, and has come in spite of her hard-hearted brother. Her +diamond eyes are of another kind. They speak wealth, and love to bestow +it. Her fortune is her own, and with that I may yet turn that wayward +destiny, and laugh at my persecutors." + +That ray of hope, illuminating his soul, changed almost in an instant +the whole tenor of his mind. It might be compared to a stream of nervous +energy, emanating from the brain, and shooting down through the network +of chords, confirming convulsed muscles, and; imparting to trembling +members consistency of action and graces of motion. His reveries were +scared by it, as owls under the influence of a sunbeam, and retreated +into the dark recesses from which they had been charmed by the +enchantment of despair. The personages of these visions were no longer +avengers, casting upon him the burning beams of the diamond eyes. They +were hopeful, pitiful; the flatterers and fawners were at their old work +again, and Pleasure, with her siren face, smiled blandishments on him. +Then he would justify the favours of the heaven he made for himself. He +would be a logician, for once, in that kind of dialectics called the +"wish-born." + +"What was I afraid of?" he said to himself. "There is no turpitude, no +shame in a fair bet. I was worsted in an honourable contest. What crazy +power mocked me into the belief that all this that has befallen me was +connected with the flaying of a bird? Don't we break the necks of +innocent, yea, gentle fowls, not depredators like gulls, every day for +our dinners? And don't ladies, as delicate as the unknown censor who +dared to chastise me with her eyes, eat of the same, with a relish +delightful to the tongues that pronounce the fine words of pity and +philanthropy? But, even admitting there was cruelty in the act, where is +the link that binds it with the consequences which have brought me +here? The bet upon the maternity was not an effect of the flaying of the +bird. If it followed the prior bet, it would have followed another, in +which I was gainer, equally the same. The mad energy which weaves in my +head these day-dreams, and pursues me with these diamond eyes of wrath, +is a lying power, and I shall master it by the strength of my reason, +which at least is God's gift. Come, my Maria, as my good angel, and +enable me to free my mind from illusions. I will sit and look into your +eyes, as I have done so often. Yes, I will satisfy myself that they +shine still with the lustre of love, hope, and happiness; and oh, let +these, and these only, enter into my dreams." + +And thus he satisfied himself, as all do, whose hope weaves the +syllogisms of their wishes, and sits to see pleasure caught on the wing. +The day passed apace to usher in the evening with its messenger of +peace. Where, in that squalid place, would he seat her, whose peculiar +province was the drawing-room? How would he receive her first look of +sympathy? how repay it? with what words express his emotions? with what +fervour kiss those lips redolent of forgiveness? with what ecstasy look +into those eyes refulgent with love? He would control himself, and be +calm. He would rehearse, that he might not fail in the forms of an +interview on which hung his destiny, almost his life. The hour of seven +arrived. He heard the heavy foot of the jailer come tramp, tramp along +the lobby. There was a softer step behind, as if the echo of the heavier +tread. A stern voice and a softer one mingled their notes. The door +opened. + +"My Mar--! O God! these scornful eyes again." + +"Not scornful now," replied the soft voice of a woman, as she came +forward, and stood before him in the dusk. + +"Were there light enough," she continued, "I would lift my veil and +show you that they are capable of a kindlier light than even that they +now carry, for the offering I made to heaven has been more than +answered." + +"Ah, you come to retract," he said, "to speak the truth at last. It is +not too late to say you _are_ the mother--the mother of the boy. Nor +need you be ashamed: there may be reasons; but many a woman lives to +repent--" + +"Hold, sir," she cried with indignation, as she fixed upon him a look +even more penetrating than that he so well remembered. "I have nothing +to retract--nothing to be ashamed of. I came here out of pure sympathy, +to make amends to one who has fallen for a prayer which burst from me in +my anger. Your friend, who called for me, told me that you were a +prisoner, and that your imprisonment was the consequence of the wager +which it fell to me to decide. I did not come to repeat to you what I +said before, that I am not the mother of the boy, but to make an +explanation." + +"And I have one to ask," said he. + +"I am ready to answer." + +"How could I be deceived?" said he. "I heard the boy address you as his +mother." + +"And that is what I came to explain. I have taxed my memory since Mr. +Campbell insisted, in my presence, that Frederick did address me in the +manner you have stated. Shall I tell you the precise words he used?" + +"I wait for them." + +"Well, they were, 'See ma.'" + +"The very words; and were they not enough for proof and belief?" + +"Yes, sir; but there are words which have two significations. Ma' is +the contraction, as you know, for mamma, but it is pronounced the same +as _maw_, which is a word which we use to designate those birds +otherwise called gulls. I recollect that while I was unable to bear the +sight of the tortured bird, and had turned my head in another direction, +my nephew kept looking over the rails, and that, as he saw the +struggling creature, he cried out to me the words you misconstrued. And +thus the mystery is cleared up." + +"Miserable and fatal error," he gasped out, as he staggered back. "And +the connection!--the connection! There _was_ retribution in those +diamond eyes." + +"What mean you, sir?" + +"The bird's eyes that haunt me in my reveries, and enter into the +sockets of my dream-beings!" + +"Are you mad?" + +"No; or the heavens are mad, with their swirling orbs and blazing +comets, that rush sighing through space before some terrible power that +will give them no respite, except with the condition that when they rest +they die." + +"Poor youth! so early doomed; I pity you." + +"Ay, pity those who have no pity--those are the truly wretched; for +pity, in the world's life, is the soul of reason's action. Ah, madam, it +is those who have pity who do not need the pity of others, for they are +generally free from the faults that produce the unhappiness that needs +pity." + +"But you have been punished, I admit, in a very strange and mysterious +way; for the word used by the boy was the joining link of the two +transactions, and you were led to misconstrue it--ay, and to take +advantage of your misconstruction to get the better of your friend." + +"I see it all." + +"But I say you have been punished," continued she, consolingly; "and I +perceive you are penitent--perhaps justice is satisfied; and when you +are liberated, you may be the better for the lesson. I shall now reverse +my prayer, and say to one I shall perhaps never see again, May God deal +mercifully by you." + +And with these words, she retreated. But her prayer was never answered, +so far as man can judge of heaven's mysterious ways. The conviction +settled down and down into his heart, that that apparently simple affair +of killing a bird--which, even with the aggravation of all the cruelty +exhibited by the thoughtless, yet certainly pitiless youth, is so apt to +be viewed carelessly, or only with an avowal of disapprobation--which, +if too much insisted on as an act to be taken up by superior +retribution, is more apt still to be laughed at--was the cause of all +the ills that had befallen him. The diamond eyes proved to him no fancy. +But for all this, we are afforded, by what subsequently occurred, some +means of explanation, which will be greedily laid hold of by minute +philosophers. Even then it was to have been feared that the seeds of +consumption had been deposited in favourable soil. In our difficulties +about explanations of mental phenomena, we readily flee to diseases of +the body, which, after all, only removes the mystery a step or two back +in the dark. + +It remains for me to add some words of personal experience. A +considerable period after these occurrences, I had occasion--by a +connection with a medium through which Dewhurst received from his +father, whose fortunes had in the meantime failed, a petty allowance--to +be the bearer to him, now liberated, of a quarter's payment. I forget +the part of the town where I found him, but I have a distinct +remembrance of the room. It was a garret, almost entirely empty. He was +lying on a kind of bed spread upon the floor. There was a small grate, +with a handful of red cinders in it; only one chair, and a pot or pan or +two. There was a woman moving between him and the fireplace, as if she +had been preparing some warm drink or medicine of some kind for him. I +did not know then, but I knew afterwards, that that woman was she who +called upon him in prison, and deposited the small bottle of wine. Her +love for him had always overcome any of those feelings of enmity, or +something stronger, generally deemed so natural in one who has been +robbed of her dearest treasure, and ruined. She alone had indeed not +assumed the diamond eyes. The diamonds were elsewhere,--yea, in her +heart, where she nourished pity for him who had so cruelly deserted her, +and left her to a fate so common, and requiring only a hint to be +understood by those who know the nature of women. After he had got out +of prison, she sought him out, got the room for him, collected the +paltry articles, procured food for him, and continued to nurse him till +his death, with all the tenderness of a lover who had not only not been +cast off, but cherished. He betrayed the ordinary symptoms of +consumption, and the few words he muttered were those of thanks. I think +he was buried in the Canongate Churchyard. + + + + +DAVID LORIMER. + + + "There is a history in all men's lives."--SHAKSPEARE. + +It has been often said, and, I believe, with truth, that there are few +persons, however humble in station, whose life, if it has been of any +duration, does not present some incidents of an interesting, if not +instructive, nature. + +Induced by a belief in this assertion as a general truth, and yet +further by an opinion that, in my own particular case, there are +occurrences which will be considered somewhat extraordinary, I venture +to lay the following sketch of my life before the reader, in the hope +that it will not be found altogether devoid of interest. + +With the earlier part of my history, which had nothing whatever +remarkable in it, I need not detain the reader further than to say that +my father was, though not a wealthy, a respectable farmer in +Lanarkshire; that he lived at----, within fourteen miles of Glasgow; +that I was well educated; and that, at the period when I take up my own +history, I was in the eighteenth year of my age. + +Having given these two or three particulars, I proceed: + +It was in the year 18--, and during the week of the Glasgow Fair, which +occurs in July, that my father, who had a very favourable opinion of my +intelligence and sagacity, resolved to entrust me with a certain +important mission. This was to send me to the fair of Glasgow to +purchase a good draught horse for him. + +I am not sure, however, that, with all the good opinion my father +entertained of my shrewdness, he would have deputed me on the present +occasion had he been able to go himself; but he was not able, being +confined to bed by a severe attack of rheumatism. Be this as it may, +however, the important business was put into my hands; and great was the +joy it occasioned me, for it secured me in an opportunity of seeing +Glasgow Fair--a scene which I had long desired to witness, and which I +had seen only once when but a very young boy. + +From the moment I was informed by my father of his intention of sending +me to the fair, and which was only on the day preceding that on which +the horse-market is held, my imagination became so excited that I could +attend to nothing. I indeed maintained some appearance of working--for +though the son of a farmer, I wrought hard--but accomplished little of +the reality. + +The joys and the splendours of Glasgow Fair, of which I had a dim but +captivating recollection, rose before my mind's eye in brilliant +confusion, putting to rout all other thoughts, and utterly paralyzing +all my physical energies. Nor was the succeeding night less blessed with +happy imaginings. My dreams were filled with visions of shows, Punch's +opera, rope-dancers, tumblers, etc. etc., and my ears rang with the +music of fiddles, bugles, tambourines, and bass drums. It was a +delicious night with me; but the morning which brought an approach to +the reality was still more so. + +Getting up betimes, I arrayed myself in my best attire; which attire, as +I well recollect, consisted of a white corduroy jacket, knee-breeches of +the same colour and material, and a bright-red waistcoat. A "neat +Barcelona," tied carelessly round my neck, and a pair of flaming-red +garters, at least two inches broad, wound round my legs just below the +knee, and ending in a knot with two dependent ends hanging down, that +waved jauntily as I walked, completed my equipment. + +Thus arrayed, and with thirty pounds in my pocket to purchase a horse +for my father, I took the road, stick in hand, for Glasgow. + +It was a fine summer morning. I was in high spirits; and, in my red +waistcoat and red garters, looked, I believe, as tight and comely a lad +as might be seen. + +Pushing on with a light heart and light step, I quickly reached the +suburbs of the city, and in a few minutes more was within view and +earshot of the sights and sounds of the fair. I saw the crowd; I got a +glimpse of the canvas roofs of the shows at the end of the old +bridge--the locality on which the fair was then held; and heard the +screaming and braying of the cracked trumpets, the clanging of the +cymbals, and the thunders of the bass drums. + +My heart beat high on hearing these joyous sounds. I quickened my pace, +and in a few seconds was in the thick of the throng that crowded the +space in front of the long line of shows extending from the bridge to +the Bridgegate. As it was yet several hours to the height of the +horse-market, I resolved on devoting that interval to seeing some of the +interesting sights which stood in such tempting array before me. + +The first that fixed my regard was "The Great Lancashire Giant," whose +portrait at full length--that is, at the length of some fifteen or +twenty feet--flapped on a sheet of canvas nearly as large as the +mainsail of a Leith smack. + +This extraordinary personage was represented, in the picture, as a youth +of sixteen, dressed in a ruffled shirt, a red jacket, and white +trousers; and his exhibitor assured the spectators that, though but a +boy, he already measured nine feet in height and seven feet round the +body; that each of his shoes would make a coffin for a child of five +years old, and every stocking hold a sack of flour. Six full-grown +persons, he added, could be easily buttoned within his waistcoat; and +his tailor, he asserted, was obliged to mount a ladder when he measured +him for a jacket. + +Deeply interested by the astounding picture of this extraordinary youth, +and the still more astounding description given of him by his exhibitor, +I ascended the little ladder that conducted to the platform in front of +the show, paid my twopence--the price of admission--and in the next +minute was in the presence of "The Great Lancashire Giant;" a position +which enabled me to make discoveries regarding that personage that were +not a little mortifying. + +In the first place, I found that, instead of being a youth of sixteen, +he was a man of at least six-and-thirty; in the next, that if it had not +been for the raised dais on which he stood, the enormous thickness of +the soles of his shoes, and the other palpably fictitious contrivances +and expedients by which his dimensions were enlarged, he would not +greatly have exceeded the size of my own father. I found, in short, that +the tremendous "Lancashire Giant" was merely a pretty tall man, and +nothing more. + +Quitting this exhibition, and not a little displeased at being so +egregiously bitten, I passed on to the next, which was "Mr. +Higgenbotham's Royal Menagerie. The Noblest Collection of Wild Beasts +ever seen in the Civilised World." + +This was a splendid affair. On a narrow stage in front were seated four +fat red-faced musicians, in beef-eater coats, puffing and blowing on +bugles and trombones. Close by these, stood a thin, sharp-eyed, +sallow-complexioned man in plain clothes, beating a huge drum, and +adding the music of a set of Pandean pipes, which were stuck into his +bosom, to the general harmony. This was Mr. Higgenbotham himself. + +But it was the paintings on the immense field of canvas above that +particularly attracted my attention. On this field were exhibited an +appalling collection of the most terrific monsters: lions, as large as +cows, gambolling amongst rocks; ourang-outangs, of eight feet in height, +walking with sticks in their hands, as grave and stately as drum-majors; +and a serpent, as thick as a hogshead, and of interminable length--in +truth, without any beginning, middle, or end--twining round an +unfortunate black, and crushing him to death in its enormous folds. + +All this was irresistible. So up the stair I sprang, paid my sixpence, +and in a moment after found myself in the centre of the well-saw dusted +area in the interior, gazing on the various birds and beasts in the +cages around me. It was by no means a perplexing task; for, as in the +case of "The Great Lancashire Giant," the fulfilment of the inside but +little corresponded with the promise of the out. The principal part of +the collection I found to consist of half-a-dozen starved monkeys, as +many parrots--grey and green, an indescribable monster, in a dark +corner, strongly suspected by some of the spectators of being a boy in a +polar bear's skin, a bird of paradise, and a hedgehog, which they +dignified with the name of a porcupine. + +"Whaur's the lions, and the teegers, and the elephants, and the boy +instructor, and the black man?" said a disappointed countryman, +addressing a fellow in a short canvas frock or overall, who was crossing +the area with a bucket of water. + +"Ah! them's all in the other caravan," replied the man, "vich should +'ave been here on Monday night, but hasn't coom yet, and we suppose has +broken down by the way; but there's a hanimal worth 'em all," he added, +pointing to the indescribable monster in the dark corner. "The most +curiousest ever was seen. Take a look on him; and if you don't own he +is, I'll heat him, skin and all. They calls him the great Guampa from +South America." + +Having said this, the fellow, desirous, for reasons best known to +himself, to avoid further questioning, hurried away, and disappeared at +a side door. + +It was just as this man left us, and as the small crowd of spectators, +of whom I was one, who had surrounded him, were dispersing, that a +gentleman--or a person, at least, who had the air and manner of one, +although somewhat broken down in his apparel--came close up to me, and +whispered in my ear, in a perfectly calm and composed tone-- + +"My lad, you are robbed." + +With a start of horror, and a face as pale as death, I clapped my hand +on the outside of my buttoned jacket, to feel for my pocket-book, which +I carefully deposited in an inside pocket. It was gone. + +"Be calm--be composed, my lad," said the gentleman, marking my excessive +agitation, and seeing that I was about to make some outcry. "The fellows +will bolt on the least alarm; and as there are three or four of them, +may force their way out, if driven to extremity. Leave the matter to me, +and I'll manage it for you." + +During all this time, the stranger, who had spoken in a very low tone, +carefully abstained from looking towards those of whom he was speaking, +and wore such an air of composure and indifference, that no one could +possibly have suspected for a moment what was the subject of his +communication to me. + +Having made this communication, and desired me to remain where I was, +and to exhibit no symptom of anything particular having happened, my +friend, as I could not but reckon him, went out for an instant. + +When he returned, he kept hovering about the entrance into the show, as +if to prevent the egress of any one, but without making any sign to me, +or even looking at me. My agitation during this interval was excessive; +and although I strictly obeyed my friend's injunctions, notwithstanding +that I knew not to what they were to lead, I could not suppress the +dreadful feelings by which I was distracted. I, however, did all I could +to refrain from exhibiting any outward sign of consciousness of my loss. + +To return to my friend. He had not stood, I think, more than a minute at +the entrance to the menagerie, when I observed three fellows, after +having winked to each other, edging towards it. My friend, on seeing +them approach, planted himself in the doorway, and, addressing the +first, at the same time extending his arms to keep him back, said-- + +"Stop a moment, my lad, I have something to say to you." + +The fellow seemed taken aback for a moment by this salutation; but, +quickly regaining his natural effrontery, he, with a tremendous oath, +made an attempt to push past, when four policemen suddenly presented +themselves at the entrance. + +"Come away, my lads," said my friend, addressing them. "Just in time; a +minute later, and the birds would have been flown. Guard the door there +a moment." Then, turning to the astonished spectators who were assembled +in the area--"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "there has been a robbery +committed here within these fifteen minutes. I saw it done, and know the +person who did it; but as he has several colleagues here, all of whom I +may not have discovered, I have no doubt that the pocket-book--the +article stolen--has been long since transferred to other hands than +those that first took it. It is therefore necessary that we should all, +without any exception, submit to a search of our persons by the officers +here." + +No objection to this proceeding having been offered by any of the +persons present, the search began; my friend submitting himself the +first. + +The operation was a tedious one; for it was unsuccessful. One after +another, including the three suspicious characters already alluded to, +was searched, but no pocket-book was found. At length, the last person +was taken in hand; and he, too, proved innocent--at least of the +possession of my lost treasure. + +I was in despair at this result, thinking that my friend must have been +mistaken as to the robbery--that is, as to his having witnessed it--and +that my money was irretrievably gone. No such despair of the issue, +however, came over my friend--he did not appear in the least +disconcerted; but, on the completion of the fruitless search, merely +nodded his head, uttering an expressive humph. + +"It's gone," said I to him in bitter anguish. + +"Patience a bit, my lad," he replied, with a smile. "The pocket-book is +within these four walls, and we'll find it too." + +Turning now to one of the men belonging to the establishment, he desired +him to bring one of the rakes with which they levelled the sawdust in +the area. + +It was brought; when he set the man to work with it--to rake up, slowly +and deliberately, the surface of the sawdust, himself vigilantly +superintending the operation, and directing the man to proceed +regularly, and to leave no spot untouched. I need not say with what +intense interest I watched this proceeding. I felt as if life or death +were in the issue; for the loss of such a sum as L30, although it could +not, perhaps, be considered a very great one, was sufficiently large to +distress my father seriously; and already some idea of never facing him +again, should the money not be recovered, began to cross my mind. + +All thoughts, however, of this or any other kind were absorbed, for the +moment, by the deep interest which I took in the operations of the man +with the rake; an interest this in which all present, less or more, +participated. + +For a long while this search also was fruitless. More than half the area +had been gone over, and there was yet no appearance of my lost treasure. + +At length, however--oh! how shall I describe the joy I felt?--a sweep of +the rake threw the well-known pocket-book on the surface of the sawdust. +I darted on it, clutched it, tore it open, and saw the bank-notes +apparently untouched. I counted them. They were all there. + +"I thought so; I thought we should find it," said, with a calm smile, +the gentleman who had been so instrumental in its recovery. + +The whole proceedings of the thief or thieves, so promptly and correctly +conjectured by my friend, were now obvious. Finding that passing it from +hand to hand would not avail them, he who was last in possession of it +had, on the search commencing, dropt it on the ground, and shuffled it +under the sawdust with his foot. + +The police now requested my friend to point out the person who had +committed the robbery, that they might apprehend him; but this he +declined, saying that he was not quite sure of the man, and that he +would not like to run the risk of blaming an innocent person; adding, +with the quiet smile that seemed to be natural to him, that as the money +was recovered, it might be as well to let the matter drop. The police +for some time insisted on my friend pointing out the man; but as he +continued firmly to decline interfering further in the matter, they gave +it up and left the place. + +Every one saw that it was benevolence, however impoperly exerted, that +induced my friend to refuse giving up the culprit; and as I had now +recovered my money, I felt pretty much in the same disposition--that +was, to allow him to fall into other hands. + +I now presented the man who had been employed to rake the area with five +shillings, for his trouble. But how or in what way was I to reward the +friendly person to whom I was wholly indebted for the recovery of my +pocket-book? This puzzled me sadly. Money, at least any such sum as I +could spare, I could not offer one who, notwithstanding the little +deficiencies in his apparel formerly noticed, had so much the appearance +and manner of a gentleman. I was greatly at a loss. In the meantime, my +friend and I left the exhibition together; he lecturing me the while, +although in the most kindly manner, on the danger of going into crowded +places with large sums of money about one's person. + +He said he had seen a good deal of the world, had resided long in +London, and knew all the tricks of the swell mob. + +"It was my knowledge and experience of these gentry," he added, "that +enabled me to manage your little matter so successfully." We were at +this time passing along Stockwell Street, when, observing a +respectable-looking tavern, it struck me that I might, without offence, +ask my friend to take a little refreshment,--a glass of wine or so. + +With some hesitation, I proposed it. + +He smiled; and as if rather complying with my humour, or as if unwilling +to offend me by a refusal, said, "Well, my young friend, I have no +objection, although I am not greatly in the habit of going to taverns. +Not there, however," he added, seeing me moving towards the house on +which I had fixed my eye. "There is a house in the Saltmarket, which, on +the rare occasions I do go to a tavern, and that is chiefly for a sight +of the papers, I always frequent. They are decent, respectable people. +So we'll go there, if you please; that is, if it be quite the same to +you." + +I said it was, and that I would cheerfully accompany him wherever he +chose. + +This point settled, we proceeded to the Saltmarket; when my friend, who, +by the way, had now told me that his name was Lancaster, conducted me up +a dark, dirty-looking close, and finally into a house of anything but +respectable appearance. The furniture was scanty, and what was of it +much dilapidated: half the backs of half the chairs were broken off, the +tables were dirty and covered with stains and the circular marks of +drinking measures. A tattered sofa stood at one end of the apartment, +the walls were hung with paltry prints, and the small, old-fashioned, +dirty windows hung with dirtier curtains. + +To crown all, we met, as we entered, a huge, blowzy, tawdrily dressed +woman, of most forbidding appearance, who, I was led to understand, was +the mistress of the house. Between this person and Mr. Lancaster I +thought I perceived a rapid secret signal pass as we came in, but was +not sure. + +All this--namely, the appearance of the house and its mistress, the +shabbiness of the entrance to the former, the secret signal, etc. +etc.--surprised me a little; but I suspected nothing wrong--never dreamt +of it. + +On our taking our seats in the apartment into which we had been shown, I +asked my good genius, Mr. Lancaster, what he would choose to drink. + +He at once replied that he drank nothing but wine; spirits and malt +liquors, he said, always did him great injury. + +But too happy to be able to contribute in any way to the gratification +of one who had rendered me so essential a service, I immediately ordered +a bottle of the best port, he having expressed a preference for that +description of wine. + +It was brought; when Mr. Lancaster, kindly assuming the character of +host, quickly filled our glasses, when we pledged each other and drank. + +Wine, at that time, was no favourite liquor of mine, so that I soon +began to show some reluctance to swallowing it. + +Mr. Lancaster, perceiving this, began to banter me on my abstemiousness, +and to urge me to do more justice to the wine, which he said was +excellent. + +Prevailed on partly by his urgency, and partly by a fear of displeasing +him by further resistance, I now took out my glass as often as he filled +it. + +The consequence was, that I soon felt greatly excited; and eventually so +much so, that I not only readily swallowed bumper after bumper, but, +when our bottle was done, insisted on another being brought in; +forgetting everything but my debt of gratitude to Mr. Lancaster, and +losing sight, for the moment at any rate, of all my obligations, in the +delight with which I listened to his entertaining conversation. For +another half hour we went on merrily, and the second bottle of wine was +nearly finished, when I suddenly felt a strange sinking sensation come +over me. The countenance of Mr. Lancaster, who sat opposite me, seemed +to disappear, as did also all the objects with which I was surrounded. + +From that moment I became unconscious of all that passed. I sank down on +the floor in the heavy sleep, or rather in the utter insensibility, of +excessive intoxication. + +On awaking, which was not until a late hour of the night, I found the +scene changed. The room was dark, the bottles and glasses removed, and +my friend Mr. Lancaster gone. + +It was some seconds before I felt myself struck by this contrast; that +is, before I fully recollected the circumstances which had preceded my +unconsciousness. These, however, gradually unfolded themselves, until +the whole stood distinctly before me. After having sat up for a second +or two--for I found myself still on the floor when I awoke, having been +left to lie where I fell--and having recalled all the circumstances of +the day's occurrences, I instinctively clapped my hand to the breast of +my jacket to feel for my pocket-book. It was again gone. Thinking at +first that it might have dropt out while I slept, I began groping about +the floor; but there was no pocket-book there. In great alarm I now +started to my feet, and began calling on the house. My calls were +answered by the landlady herself, who, with a candle in her hand, and a +fierce expression of face, flushed apparently with drink, entered the +apartment, and sternly demanded what I wanted, and what I meant by +making such a noise in her house. + +Taking no notice of the uncourteous manner in which she had addressed +me, I civilly asked her what had become of Mr. Lancaster. + +"Who's Mr. Lancaster?" she said fiercely. "I know no Mr. Lancaster." + +"The gentleman," I replied, "who came in here with me, and who drank +wine with me." + +"I know nothing about him," said the virago; "I never saw him before." + +"That's strange," said I; "he told me that he was in the habit of +frequenting this house." + +"If he did so, he told you a lie," replied the lady; "and I tell you +again, that I know nothing about him, and that I never saw him before, +nor ever expect to see him again." + +I now informed her that I missed a pocket-book containing a considerable +sum of money, and, simply enough, asked her if she had it, or knew +anything about it. + +At this, her rage, which before she seemed to have great difficulty in +controlling, burst out in the wildest fury. + +"I know nothing about your pocket-book," she exclaimed, stamping +passionately on the floor; "nor do I believe you had one. It's all a +fetch to bilk me out of my reckoning; but I'll take care of you, you +swindler! I'm not to be done that way. Come, down with the price of the +two bottles of wine you and your pal drank--fifteen shillings--or I'll +have the worth of them out of your skin." And she flourished the +candlestick in such a way as led me to expect every instant that it +would descend on my skull. + +Terrified by the ferocious manner and threatening attitude of the +termagant, and beginning to feel that the getting safe out of the house +ought to be considered as a most desirable object, I told her, in the +most conciliatory manner I could assume, that I had not a farthing +beyond two or three shillings, which she was welcome to; all my money +having been in the pocket-book which I had lost--I dared not say of +which I had been robbed. + +"Let's see what you have, then," she said, extending her hand to receive +the loose silver I had spoken of. I gave it to her. + +"Now," she said, "troop, troop with you; walk off, walk off," motioning +me towards the outer door, "and be thankful you have got off so cheaply, +after swindling me out of my reckoning, and trying to injure the +character of my house." + +But too happy at the escape permitted me, I hurried out of the house, +next down the stair--a pretty long one--at a couple of steps, and rushed +into the street. + +I will not here detain the reader with any attempt at describing my +feelings on this occasion: he will readily conceive them, on taking into +account all the circumstances connected with my unhappy position. My +money gone now, there was no doubt, irretrievably; the market over, no +horse bought, the hour late, and I an entire stranger in the city, +without a penny in my pocket; my senses confused, and a mortal sickness +oppressing me, from the quantity of wine I had drunk, and which, I began +to suspect, had been drugged. + +Little as I was then conversant with the ways of the town, I knew there +was but one quarter where I could apply or hope for any assistance in +the recovery of my property. This was the police office. + +Thither I accordingly ran, inquiring my way as I went--for I knew not +where it was--with wild distraction in my every look and movement. + +On reaching the office, I rushed breathlessly into it, and began +telling my story as promptly and connectedly as my exhaustion and +agitation would permit. My tale was patiently listened to by the two or +three men whom I found on duty in the office. When I had done, they +smiled and shook their heads; expressions which I considered as no good +augury of the recovery of my pocket-book. + +One of the men--a sergeant apparently--now put some minute queries to me +regarding the personal appearance of my friend Mr. Lancaster. I gave him +the best description of that gentleman I could; but neither the sergeant +nor any of the others seemed to recognise him. They had no doubt, +however, they said, that he was a professed swindler, and in all +probability one of late importation into the city; that there was little +question that he was the person who had robbed me; adding, what was +indeed obvious enough, that he had assisted in the recovery of my +pocket-book from the first set of thieves who assailed me, that he might +secure it for himself. + +The house in the Saltmarket, which I also described as well as I could, +they knew at once, saying it was one of the most infamous dens in the +city. The men now promised that they would use every exertion in their +power to recover my money, but gave me to understand that there was +little or no hope of success. The event justified their anticipations. +They could discover no trace of Lancaster; and as to the house in the +Saltmarket, there was not the slightest evidence of any connection +whatever between its mistress, or any other of its inmates, and either +the robber or the robbery. The police indeed searched the house; but of +course to no purpose. + +Being, as I have already said, penniless, and thus without the means of +going anywhere else, I remained in the police office all night; and, in +the hope every hour of hearing something of my pocket-book, hung about +it all next day till towards the evening, when the sergeant, of whom I +have before spoken, came up to me as I was sauntering about the gate, +and told me that it was useless my hanging on any longer about the +office; that all would be done in my case that could be done; but that, +in the meantime, I had better go home, leaving my address; and that if +anything occurred, I would instantly be informed of it. "But I think it +but right to tell you, young man," he added, "that there is scarcely any +chance whatever of your ever recovering a sixpence of your money. I +mention this to prevent you indulging in any false hopes. It is best you +should know the worst at once." + +Satisfied that the man spoke truly, and that it was indeed useless my +hanging on any longer, I gave him my name and address, and went away, +although it was with a heavy heart, and without knowing whither I should +go; for to my father's house I could not think of returning, after what +had happened. I would not have faced him for the world. In this matter, +indeed, I did my father a great injustice; for although a little severe +in temper, he was a just and reasonable man, and would most certainly +have made all allowances for what had occurred to me. + +The determination--for it now amounted to that--to which I had come, not +to return home, was one, therefore, not warranted by any good reason; it +was wholly the result of one of those mad impulses which so frequently +lead youthful inexperience into error. + +On leaving the vicinity of the police office, I sauntered towards the +High Street without knowing or caring whither I went. Having reached the +street just named, I proceeded downwards, still heedless of my way, +until I found myself in the Saltmarket, the scene of my late disaster. + +Curiosity, or perhaps some vague, absurd idea of seeing something or +other, I could not tell what, that might lead to the recovery of my +pocket-book, induced me to look about me to see if I could discover the +tavern in which I had been robbed. I was thus employed--that is, gaping +and staring at the windows of the lower flats of the houses on either +side of the street, for I did not recollect on which was the house I +wanted--when a smart little man, dressed in a blue surtout, with a black +stock about his neck, and carrying a cane in his hand, made up to me +with a-- + +"Looking for any particular place, my lad?" + +Taken unawares, and not choosing to enter into any explanations with a +stranger, I simply answered, "No, no." + +"Because if you were," continued my new acquaintance, "I should have +been glad to have helped you. But I say, my lad--excuse me," he went on, +now looking earnestly in my face, and perceiving by my eyes that I had +been weeping, which was indeed the case--"you seem to be distressed. +What has happened you? I don't ask from any impertinent curiosity, but +from sympathy, seeing you are a stranger." + +Words of kindness in the hour of distress, by whomsoever offered, at +once find their way to the heart, and open up the sluices of its pent-up +feelings. The friendly address of the stranger had this effect on me in +the present instance. I told him at once what had occurred to me. + +"Bad business, my lad; bad business indeed," he said. "But don't be cast +down. Fair weather comes after foul. You'll soon make all up again." + +This was commonplace enough comfort; but without minding the words, the +intention was good, and with that I was gratified. + +My new friend, who had learnt from what I told him that I was penniless, +now proposed that I should take share of a bottle of ale with him. +Certain recollections of another friend, namely, Mr. Lancaster, made me +hesitate, indeed positively decline, this invitation at first; but on my +new acquaintance pressing his kindness, and the melancholy truth +occurring to me that I had now no pocket-book to lose, I yielded, and +accompanied him to a tavern at the foot of the High Street. I may add +that I was the more easily induced to this, that I was in a dreadful +state of exhaustion, having tasted nothing in the shape of either food +or drink for nearly thirty hours. + +Having entered the tavern, a bottle of ale and a plate of biscuit +quickly stood before us. My entertainer filled up the glasses; when, +having presented me with one, he raised his own to his lips, wished me +"better luck," and tossed it off. I quickly followed his example, and +never before or since drank anything with so keen a relish. After we had +drunk a second glass each-- + +"Well, my lad," said my new acquaintance, "what do you propose doing? Do +you intend returning to the plough-tail, eh? I should hardly think +you'll venture home again after such a cursed mishap." + +I at once acknowledged that I did not intend returning home again; but +as to what I should do, I did not know. + +"Why, now," replied my entertainer, "I think a stout, good-looking, +likely young fellow as you are need be at no loss. There's the army. Did +you ever think of that, eh? The only thing for a lad of spirit. Smart +clothes, good living, and free quarters, with a chance of promotion. +The chance, said I? Why, I might say the certainty. Bounty too, you +young dog! A handful of golden guineas, and pretty girls to court in +every town. List, man, list," he shouted, clapping me on the shoulder, +"and your fortune's made!" + +List! It had never occurred to me before. I had never thought, never +dreamt of it. But now that the idea was presented to me, I by no means +disliked it. It was not, however, the flummery of my new acquaintance, +who, I need hardly say, was neither more nor less than a sergeant in +coloured clothes, assumed, I suppose, for the purpose of taking young +fellows like myself unawares,--I say it was not his balderdash, which, +young and raw as I was, I fully perceived, that reconciled me to the +notion of listing. It was because I saw in it a prompt and ready means +of escaping the immediate destitution with which I was threatened, my +foolish determination not to return home having rather gained strength +than weakened, notwithstanding a painful sense of the misery which my +protracted absence must have been occasioning at home. To the sergeant's +proposal of listing, therefore, I at once assented; when the former +calling in the landlord, tendered me in his presence the expressive +shilling. + +The corps into which I had listed was the----, then lying in the Tower, +London, there being only the sergeant and two or three men of the +regiment in Glasgow recruiting. The matter of listing settled, the +sergeant bespoke me a bed for the night in the tavern in which we were, +that being his own quarters. + +On the following day I was informed, much to my surprise, although by no +means to my regret, that a detachment of recruits for the---- were to be +sent off that evening at nine o'clock by the track boat for Edinburgh, +and from thence by sea to the headquarters of the regiment at London, +and that I was to be of the number. At nine o'clock of the evening, +accordingly, we were shipped at Port-Dundas. + +Before leaving Glasgow, however, I made one last call at the police +office to inquire whether any discoveries had been made regarding my +pocket-book, but found that nothing whatever had been heard of it. + +On the following day we reached Edinburgh; on the next we were embarked +on board a Leith smack for London, where we arrived in safety on the +fourth day thereafter, and were marched to the Tower, which was at the +time the headquarters of the regiment. Amongst the young men who were of +the party who came up with me from Scotland, there was one with whom I +became particularly intimate, and who was subsequently my comrade. His +name was John Lindsay, a native of Glasgow. He was about my own age, or +perhaps a year older--a lively, active, warm-hearted lad, but of a +restless, roving disposition. + +It was, I think, about a fortnight after our arrival in London, that +Lindsay one day, while rummaging a small trunk in the barrack-room, +which had formed the entire of his travelling equipage from Scotland, +stumbled on a letter, with whose delivery he had been entrusted by some +one in Glasgow, but which he had entirely forgotten. It was addressed in +a scrawling hand--"To Susan Blaikie, servant with Henry Wallscourt, +Esq., 19, Grosvenor Square, London." + +"Here's a job, Davy," said Lindsay, holding up the letter. "I promised +faithfully to deliver this within an hour after my arrival in London, +and here it is still. But better late than never. Will you go with me +and see the fair maiden to whom this is addressed? It contains, I +believe, a kind of introduction to her, and may perhaps lead to some +sport." + +I readily closed with Lindsay's proposal, and in ten minutes after we +set out for Grosvenor Square, which we had no difficulty in finding. +Neither were we long in discovering No. 19, the residence of Henry +Wallscourt, Esq. It was a magnificent house, everything about it +bespeaking a wealthy occupant. + +Leaving me on the flagstones, Lindsay now descended into the area; but +in two or three minutes returned, and motioned me with his finger to +come to him. + +I did so, when he told me that he had seen Susan Blaikie, and that she +had invited us to come in. Into the house we accordingly went, and were +conducted by Susan, a lively, pretty girl, who welcomed us with great +cordiality, into what appeared to be a housekeeper's room. + +My comrade, Lindsay, having given Susan all the Scotch, particularly +Glasgow, news in his budget, the latter left the room for a few minutes, +when she returned with a tray of cold provisions--ham, fowl, and roast +beef. + +Placing these before us, and adding a bottle of excellent porter, she +invited us to fall-to. We did so, and executed summary justice on the +good things placed before us. + +After this we sat for about half an hour, when we rose to depart. This, +however, she would not permit till we had promised that we would come, +on the following night, and take tea with her and one or two of her +fellow-servants. This promise we readily gave, and as willingly kept. +One of the party, on the night of the tea-drinking, was the footman of +the establishment, Richard Digby--a rakish, dissipated-looking fellow, +with an affected air, and an excessively refined and genteel manner, +that is, as he himself thought it. To others, at least to me, he +appeared an egregious puppy; the obvious spuriousness of his assumed +gentility inspiring a disgust which I found it difficult to suppress. +Neither could I suppress it so effectually as to prevent the fellow +discovering it. He did so; and the consequence was the rise of a hearty +and mutual dislike, which, however, neither of us evinced by any overt +act. + +Having found the society of our fair countrywoman and her friends very +agreeable, we--that is, Lindsay and myself--became frequent visitors; +drinking tea with her and her fellow-servants at least two or three +times a week. While this was going on, a detachment of the new recruits, +of whom Lindsay was one, was suddenly ordered to Chatham. I missed my +comrade much after his departure; but as I had by this time established +an intimacy with Susan and her fellow-servants on my own account, I +still continued visiting there, and drinking tea occasionally as +formerly. + +It was on one of these occasions, and about ten days after Lindsay had +left London, that as I was leaving Mr. Wallscourt's house at a pretty +late hour--I think about eleven at night--I was suddenly collared by two +men, just as I had ascended the area stair, and was about to step out on +the pavement. + +"What's this for?" said I, turning first to the one and then to the +other of my captors. + +"We'll tell you that presently," replied one of the men, who had by this +time begun to grope about my person, as if searching for something. In a +moment after--"Ah! let's see what's this," he said, plunging his hand +into one of my coat-pockets, and pulling out a silver table-spoon. "All +right," he added. "Come away, my lad;" and the two forthwith began +dragging me along. + +The whole affair was such a mystery to me, and of such sudden +occurrence, that it was some seconds before I could collect myself +sufficiently to put any such calm and rational queries to my captors as +might elicit an explanation of it. All that I could say was merely to +repeat my inquiry as to the meaning of the treatment I was +undergoing--resisting instinctively, the while, the efforts of the men +to urge me forward. This last, however, was vain; for they were two +powerful fellows, and seemed scarcely to feel the resistance I made. To +my reiterated demand of explanation they merely replied that I should +have it presently, but that they rather thought I did not stand greatly +in need of it. + +Obliged to rest satisfied, in the meantime, with such evasive answers, +and finding resistance useless, indeed uncalled for, as I was +unconscious of any crime, I now went peaceably along with the men. +Whither they were conducting me the reader will readily guess; it was to +Bow Street. + +On being brought into the office, the men conducted me up to a person +who, seated at a desk, was busily employed making entries in a large +book. One of my captors having whispered something into this person's +ear, he turned sharply round and demanded my name. I gave it him. + +"The others?" he said. + +"What others?" I replied. "I have only one name, and I have given it." + +"Pho, pho!" exclaimed he. "Gentlemen of your profession have always a +dozen. However, we'll take what you have given in the meantime." And he +proceeded to make some entries in his book. They related to me, but I +was not permitted to see what they were. The table-spoon which had been +found in my pocket, and which had been placed on the desk before the +official already spoken of, was now labelled and put past, and I was +ordered to be removed. + +During all this time I had been loudly protesting my innocence of any +crime; but no attention whatever was paid to me. So little effect, +indeed, had my protestations, that one would have thought, judging by +the unmoved countenances around me, that they did not hear me at all, +for they went on speaking to each other, quite in the same way as if I +had not been present. The only indication I could perceive of a +consciousness of my being there, and of their hearing what I said, was +an occasional faint smile of incredulity. At one time, provoked by my +importunity and my obstinate iteration of my innocence, the official who +was seated at the desk turned fiercely round, exclaiming-- + +"The spoon, the spoon, friend; what do you say to that--found in your +pocket, eh?" + +I solemnly protested that I knew not how it came there; that I had never +put it there, nor had the least idea of its being in my possession till +it was produced by those that searched me. + +"A very likely story," said the official, turning quietly round to his +book; "but we'll see all about that by-and-by. Remove him, men." + +And I was hurried away, and locked up in a cell for the night. + +I cannot say that, when left to myself, I felt much uneasiness regarding +the result of the extraordinary matter that had occurred. I felt +perfectly satisfied that, however awkward and unpleasant my situation +was in the meantime, the following day would clear all up, and set me at +liberty with an unblemished character. From all that had taken place, I +collected that I was apprehended on a charge of robbery; that is, of +abstracting property from Mr. Wallscourt's house, of which the silver +spoon found in my possession was considered a proof. There was much, +however, in the matter of painful and inexplicable mystery. How came +the constables to be so opportunely in the way when I left the house? +and, more extraordinary still, how came the silver spoon into my +possession? Regarding neither of these circumstances could I form the +slightest plausible conjecture; but had no doubt that, whether they +should ever be explained or not, my entire innocence of all such guilt +as the latter of them pointed at, would clearly appear. But, as the +saying has it, "I reckoned without my host." On the following morning I +was brought before the sitting magistrate, and, to my inexpressible +surprise, on turning round a little, saw Richard Digby in the +witness-box. Thinking at first that he was there to give some such +evidence as would relieve me from the imputation under which I lay, I +nodded to him; but he took no further notice of the recognition than by +looking more stern than before. + +Presently my case was entered on. Digby was called on to state what he +had to say to the matter. Judge of my consternation, gentle reader, when +I heard him commence the following statement:-- + +Having premised that he was servant with Mr. Wallscourt, of No. 19, +Grosvenor Square, he proceeded to say that during the space of the three +previous weeks he had from time to time missed several valuable pieces +of plate belonging to his master; that this had happened repeatedly +before he could form the slightest conjecture as to who the thief could +possibly be. At last it occurred to him that the abstraction of the +plate corresponded, in point of time, with the prisoner's (my) +introduction to the house--in other words, that it was from that date +the robberies commenced, nothing of the kind having ever happened +before; that this circumstance led him to suspect me; that in +consequence he had on the previous night placed a silver table-spoon in +such a situation in the servants' hall as should render it likely to be +seen by the prisoner when he came to tea, Susan Blaikie having +previously informed him that he was coming; that, shortly after the +prisoner's arrival, he contrived, by getting Susan and some of the other +servants out of the room, on various pretexts, to have the prisoner left +alone for several minutes; that, on his return, finding the spoon gone, +he had no longer any doubt of the prisoner's guilt; that, on feeling +satisfied of this, he immediately proceeded to the nearest +station-house, and procuring two constables, or policemen, stationed +them at the area gate, with instructions to seize the prisoner the +moment he came out; and that if the spoon was found on him--of which he +had no doubt--to carry him away to Bow Street. + +Such, then, was Mr. Digby's statement of the affair; and a very +plausible and connected one, it must be allowed, it was. It carried +conviction to all present, and elicited from the presiding magistrate a +high encomium on that person's fidelity, ability, and promptitude. + +The silver spoon, labelled as I had seen it, was now produced, when Mr. +Wallscourt, who was also present, was called on to identify it. This he +at once did, after glancing at the crest and initials which were +engraven on the handle. The charge against me thus laid and +substantiated, I was asked if I had anything to say in my own defence. + +Defence! what defence could I make against an accusation so strongly +put, and so amply supported by circumstances? None. I could meet it only +by denial, and by assertions of innocence. This, however, I did, and +with such energy and earnestness--for horror and despair inspired me +with both courage and eloquence--that a favourable impression was +perceptible in the court. The circumstantial statement of Digby, +however, with all its strong probabilities, was not to be overturned by +my bare assertions; and the result was, that I was remanded to prison to +stand trial at the ensuing assizes, Mr. Wallscourt being bound over to +prosecute. + +Wretched, however, as my situation was, I had not been many hours in +prison when I regained my composure; soothed by the reflection that, +however disgraceful or unhappy my position might be, it was one in which +I had not deserved being placed. I was further supported by the +conviction, which even the result of my late examination before the +magistrate had not in the least weakened, that my innocence would yet +appear, and that in sufficient time to save me from further legal +prosecution. Buoyed up by these reflections, I became, if not cheerful, +at least comparatively easy in my mind. I thought several times during +my imprisonment of writing to my father,--to whom, by the way, as I +should have mentioned before, I wrote from Edinburgh, when on my way to +London, in order to relieve the minds of my mother and himself from any +apprehensions of anything more serious having happened me, telling them +of my loss, and the way it had occurred, but without telling them that I +had listed, or where I was going,--I say I thought several times during +my confinement of writing to my father, and informing him of the unhappy +circumstances in which I was placed; but, on reflection, it occurred to +me that such a proceeding would only give him and the rest of the family +needless pain, seeing that he could be of no service to me whatever. I +therefore dropped the idea, thinking it better that they should know +nothing about the matter--nothing, at least, until my trial was over, +and my innocence established; concomitant events, as I had no doubt they +would prove. In the meantime the day of trial approached. It came, and +I stood naked and defenceless; for I had no money to employ counsel, no +friends to assist me with advice. I stood at the bar of the Old Bailey +shielded only by my innocence; a poor protection against evidence so +strong and circumstantial as that which pointed to my guilt. + +My trial came on. It was of short duration. Its result, what every one +who knew anything of the matter foresaw but myself. I was found guilty, +and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. + +As on a former occasion, I will leave it to the reader himself to form a +conception of what my feelings were when this dreadful sentence rung in +my ears--so horrible, so unexpected. A sudden deafness struck me that, +commingling all sounds, rendered them unintelligible; a film came over +my eyes; my heart fluttered strangely, and my limbs trembled so that I +thought I should have sunk on the floor; but, making a violent effort, I +supported myself; and in a few seconds these agitating sensations so far +subsided as to allow of my retiring from the bar with tolerable +steadiness and composure. + +It was several days, however, before I regained entire possession of +myself, and before I could contemplate my position in all its bearings +with anything like fortitude or resignation. On attaining this state, a +thousand wild schemes for obtaining such a reconsideration of my case as +might lead to the discovery of my innocence presented themselves to my +mind. I thought of addressing a letter to the judge who had tried me; to +the foreman of the jury who had found me guilty; to the prosecutor, Mr. +Wallscourt; to the Secretary of State; to the King. A little subsequent +reflection, however, showed me the utter hopelessness of any such +proceeding, as I had still only my simple, unsupported assertions to +oppose to the strong array of positive and circumstantial evidence +against me; that, therefore, no such applications as I contemplated +could be listened to for a moment. Eventually satisfied of this, I came +to the resolution of submitting quietly to my fate in the meantime, +trusting that some circumstance or other would, sooner or later, occur +that would lead to a discovery of the injustice that had been done me. + +Writing to my father I considered now out of the question. The same +reasons that induced me to abstain from writing him before my trial, +presented themselves in additional force to prevent me writing him +after. I resolved that he should never know of the misfortune, however +undeserved, that had befallen me. I had all along--that is, since my +confinement--looked for some letter or other communication from Lindsay. +Sometimes I even hoped for a visit from him. But I was disappointed. I +neither saw nor heard anything of him; and from this circumstance +concluded that he, too, thought me guilty, and that this was the cause +of his desertion of me. Friendless and despised, I at once abandoned +myself to fate. + +Of poor Susan Blaikie, however, I did hear something; and that was, that +she was discharged from her situation. This intelligence distressed me +much, although I had foreseen that it must necessarily happen. + +In the apartment or cell into which I was placed after having received +sentence, there were five or six young men in similar circumstances with +myself--not as regarded innocence of crime, but punishment. They were +all under sentence of banishment for various terms. + +From these persons I kept as much aloof as possible. My soul sickened at +the contamination to which I was exposed by the society of such +ruffians, for they were all of the very worst description of London +characters, and I did all I could to maintain the distinction between +myself and them, which my innocence of all crime gave me a right to +observe. + +Under this feeling, it was my habit to sit in a remote part of the cell, +and to take no share whatever either in the conversation or in the +coarse practical jokes with which they were in the habit of beguiling +the tedium of their confinement. + +There was one occasion, however, on which I felt myself suddenly caught +by an interest in their proceedings. + +Seeing them one day all huddled together, listening with great delight +to one of their number who was reading a letter aloud, I gradually +approached nearer, curious to know what could be in this letter to +afford them so much amusement. + +Conceive my astonishment and surprise when, after listening for a few +minutes, I discovered that the subject which tickled my fellow-prisoners +so highly was a description of my own robbery; that is, of the robbery +in Glasgow of which I had been the victim. + +It was written with considerable humour, and contained such a minute and +faithful account of the affair, that I had no doubt it had been written +by Lancaster. Indeed it could have been written by no one else. + +The letter in question, then, was evidently one from that person to a +companion in crime who was amongst those with whom I was associated--no +doubt he who was reading it. The writer, however, seemed also well known +to all the other parties. + +In the letter itself, as well as in the remarks of the audience on it, +there was a great deal of slang, and a great many cant phrases which I +could not make out. But, on the whole, I obtained a pretty correct +knowledge of the import of both. + +The writer's description of me and of my worldly wisdom was not very +flattering. He spoke of me as a regular flat, and the fleecing me as one +of the easiest and pleasantest operations he had ever performed. He +concluded by saying that as he found there was nothing worth while to be +done in Scotland, he intended returning to London in a few days. + +"More fool he," said one of the party, on this passage being read. "That +affair at Blackwall, in which Bob was concerned, has not yet blown over, +and he'll be lagged, as sure as he lives, before he's a week in London." + +"Well, so much the better," said another. "In that case we'll have him +across the water with us, and be all the merrier for his company." + +It was, I think, somewhat less than a month after this--for we were +detained in prison altogether about two-months after sentence till a +sufficient number had accumulated for transportation--that we, meaning +myself and those in the ward in which I was confined, were favoured with +a new companion. + +Throwing open the door of our ward one afternoon, the turnkey ushered in +amongst us a person dressed out in the first style of fashion, and +immediately again secured the door. At first I could not believe that so +fine a gentleman could possibly be a convict; I thought rather that he +must be a friend of some one of my fellow-prisoners. But I was quickly +undeceived in this particular, and found that he was indeed one of _us_. + +On the entrance of this convict dandy, the whole of my fellow-prisoners +rushed towards him, and gave him a cordial greeting. + +"Glad to see you, Nick," said the fellow who had foretold the speedy +apprehension of the letter-writer, as already related. "Cursed fool to +come to London so soon. Knew you would be nabbed. What have you got?" + +"Fourteen," replied the new-comer, with a shrug of his shoulders. + +During all this time I had kept my eyes fixed on the stranger, whom I +thought I should know. For a while, however, I was greatly puzzled to +fix on any individual as identical with him; but at length it struck me +that he bore a wonderful resemblance to my Glasgow friend Lancaster. + +His appearance was now, indeed, greatly changed. He was, for one thing, +splendidly attired, as I have already said, while at the time I had the +pleasure of knowing him first he was very indifferently dressed. His +face, too, had undergone some alterations. He had removed a bushy pair +of whiskers which he sported in Glasgow, and had added to his +adventitious characteristics a pair of green spectacles. It was these +last that perplexed me most, in endeavouring to make out his identity. +But he soon laid them aside, as being now of no further use--an +operation which he accompanied by sundry jokes on their utility, and the +service they had done him in the way of preventing inconvenient +recognitions. Notwithstanding all these changes, however, in the +new-comer's appearance, I soon became quite convinced that he was no +other than Lancaster; and, under this impression, I took an opportunity +of edging towards him, and putting the question plumply to him, although +under breath, for I did not care that the rest should hear it. + +"Your name, sir, is Lancaster, I think?" said I. + +He stared in my face for a second or two without making any reply, or +seeming to recognise me. At length-- + +"No, youngster, it isn't," he said with the most perfect assurance. + +"But you have taken that name on an occasion?" said I. + +"Oh, perhaps I may," he replied coolly. "I have taken a great many names +in my day. I'll give you a hundred of them at a penny a dozen. But, +Lancaster, let me see," and he kept looking hard at me as he spoke. +"Why, it can't be," he added, with a sudden start. "Impossible! eh?" and +he looked still more earnestly at me. "Are you from Glasgow, young un?" + +I said I was. + +"Did you ever see me there?" + +I shook my head, and said, to my cost I had. + +How my friend Mr. Lancaster received this intimation of our former +acquaintance I must reserve for another number, as I must also do the +sequel of my adventures; for I have yet brought the reader but half +through the history of my chequered life. + + + + +THE CONVICT; + + +BEING THE SEQUEL TO "DAVID LORIMER." + +The reader will recollect that when he and I parted, at the conclusion +of the last number, I had just intimated to Mr. Lancaster my conviction +of our having had a previous acquaintance. Does the reader imagine that +that gentleman was in any way discomposed at this recognition on my +part, or at the way in which it was signified? that he felt ashamed or +abashed? The sequel will show whether he did or not. + +On my replying to his inquiry whether I had ever seen him in Glasgow, by +shaking my head, and saying that I had to my cost, he burst into a loud +laugh, and, striking his thigh with as much exultation as if he had just +made one of the most amusing discoveries imaginable, exclaimed-- + +"All right. Here, my pals," turning to the other prisoners. "Here's a +queer concern. Isn't this the very flat, Dick," addressing one of their +number, "that I did so clean in Glasgow, and about whom I wrote you! The +fellow whom I met in the show." + +"No! Possible!" exclaimed several voices, whose owners now crowded about +me with a delighted curiosity, and began bantering me in those slang +terms in which they could best express their witticisms. + +I made no reply to either their insolences or their jokes; but, +maintaining an obstinate silence, took an early opportunity of +withdrawing to a remote part of the apartment. Nor did I--seeing how +idle it would be to say a word more on the subject of the robbery which +had been committed on me in Glasgow, as it would only subject me to +ridicule and abuse--ever afterwards open my lips to Lancaster on the +matter: neither did he to me, and there the affair ended; for, in a few +days after, he was removed, for what reason I know not, to another cell, +and I never saw him again. + +Let me here retrograde for a moment. In alluding, in the preceding +number, to the various wild ideas that occurred to me after my +condemnation, on the subject of obtaining a reconsideration of my case, +I forgot to mention that of applying to the colonel of my regiment; but, +on reflection, this seemed as absurd as the others, seeing that I had +been little more than three weeks in the corps, and could therefore lay +claim to no character at the hands of any one belonging to it. I was +still a stranger amongst them. Besides, I found, from no interference +whatever having been made in my behalf, that I had been left entirely in +the hands of the civil law. Inquiries had no doubt been made into my +case by the commanding officer of my regiment, but with myself no direct +communication had taken place. My connection with the corps, therefore, +I took it for granted, was understood to be completely severed, and that +I was left to undergo the punishment the sentence of the civil law had +awarded. + +To resume. In about a week after the occurrence of the incident with +Lancaster above described, I was removed to the hulks, where I remained +for somewhat more than a month, when I was put on board a convict ship, +about to sail for New South Wales, along with a number of other +convicts, male and female; none of them, I hope, so undeserving their +fate as I was. + +All this time I had submitted patiently to my destiny, seeing it was +now inevitable, and said nothing to any one of my innocence; for, in the +first place, I found that every one of my companions in misfortune were, +according to their own accounts, equally innocent, and, in the next, +that nobody believed them. + +It was in the evening we were embarked on board the convict ship; with +the next tide we dropped down the river; and, ere the sun of the +following day had many hours risen, found ourselves fairly at sea. + +For upwards of three weeks we pursued our course prosperously, nothing +in that time occurring of the smallest consequence; and as the wind had +been all along favourable, our progress was so great, that many of us +began thinking of the termination of our voyage. These, however, were +rather premature reflections, as we had yet as many months to be at sea +as we had been weeks. + +It was about the end of the period just alluded to, that as I was one +night restlessly tossing on my hard straw mattress, unable to sleep, +from having fallen into one of those painful and exciting trains of +thought that so frequently visit and so greatly add to the miseries of +the unfortunate, my ear suddenly caught the sounds of whispering. +Diverted from my reflections by the circumstance, I drew towards the +edge of my sleeping berth, and thrusting my head a little way out--the +place being quite dark--endeavoured, by listening attentively, to make +out who the speakers were, and what was the subject of their +conversation. The former, after a little time, I discovered to be three +of my fellow-convicts--one of them a desperate fellow, of the name of +Norcot, a native of Middlesex, who had been transported for a highway +robbery, and who had been eminently distinguished for superior dexterity +and daring in his infamous profession. The latter, however--namely, the +subject of their conversation--I could not make out; not so much from a +difficulty of overhearing what they said, as from the number of slang +words they employed. Their language was to me all but wholly +unintelligible; for although my undesired association with them had +enabled me to pick up a few of their words, I could make nothing of +their jargon when spoken colloquially. + +Unable, therefore--although suspecting something wrong--to arrive at any +conclusion regarding the purpose or object of this midnight +conversation, I took no notice of it to any one, but determined on +watching narrowly the future proceedings of Norcot and his council. + +On the following night the whispering was again repeated. I again +listened, but with nearly as little success as before. From what I did +make out, however, I was led to imagine that some attempt on the ship +was contemplated; and in this idea I was confirmed, when Norcot, on the +following day, taking advantage of a time when none of the seamen or +soldiers, who formed our guard, were near, slapped me on the shoulder +with a-- + +"Well, my pal, how goes it?" + +Surprised at this sudden familiarity on the part of a man from whom I +had always most especially kept aloof, and who, I was aware, had marked +my shyness, as he had never before sought to exchange words with me, it +was some seconds before I could make him any answer. At length-- + +"If you mean as to my health," said I, "I am very well." + +"Ay, ay; but I don't mean that," replied Norcot. "How do you like your +quarters, my man? How do you like this sort of life, eh?" + +"Considering all circumstances, it's well enough; as well as ought +reasonably to be expected," said I, in a tone meant to discourage +farther conversation on the subject. But he was not to be so put off. + +"Ay, in the meantime," said he; "but wait you till we get to New South +Wales; you'll see a difference then, my man, I'm thinking. You'll be +kept working, from sunrise till sunset, up to the middle in mud and +water, with a chain about your neck. You'll be locked up in a dungeon at +night, fed upon mouldy biscuit, and, on the slightest fault, or without +any fault at all, be flogged within an inch of your life with a +cat-o'-nine-tails. How will ye like that, eh?" + +"_That_ I certainly should not like," I replied. "But I hope you're +exaggerating a little." I knew he was. + +"Not a bit of it," said Norcot. "Come here, Knuckler;" and he motioned +to a fellow-convict to come towards him. "I've been telling this young +cove here what he may expect when we reach our journey's end, but he +won't believe me." Having repeated the description of convict life which +he had just given me-- + +"Now, Knuckler, isn't that the truth?" he said. + +"True as gospel," exclaimed Knuckler, with a hideous oath; adding--"Ay, +and in some places they are still worse used." + +"You hear that?" said Norcot. "I wasn't going to bamboozle you with any +nonsense, my lad. We're all in the same lag, you know, and must stick by +one another." + +My soul revolted at this horrible association, but I took care to +conceal my feelings. + +Norcot went on:--"Now, seeing what we have to expect when we get to +t'other side of the water, wouldn't he be a fool who wouldn't try to +escape it if he could, eh? Ay, although at the risk of his life?" + +At this moment we were interrupted by a summons to the deck, it being +my turn, with that of several others, to enjoy the luxury of inhaling +the fresh sea breeze above. Norcot had thus only time to add, as I left +him-- + +"I'll speak to you another time, my cove." + +Having now no doubt that some mischief was hatching amongst the +convicts, and that the conversation that had just passed was intended at +once to sound my disposition and to incline me towards their projects, I +felt greatly at a loss what to do. That I should not join in their +enterprise, of whatsoever nature it might be, I at once determined. But +I felt that this was not enough, and that I was bound to give notice of +what I had seen and heard to those in command of the vessel, and that +without loss of time, as there was no saying how wild or atrocious might +be the scheme of these desperadoes, or how soon they might put it in +execution. + +Becoming every moment more impressed with the conviction that this was +my duty, I separated myself as far as I could from my companions, and, +watching an opportunity, said, in a low tone, to the mate of the vessel, +whom a chance movement brought close to where I stood-- + +"Mischief going on. Could I have a moment's private speech of the +captain?" + +The man stared at me for an instant with a look of non-comprehension, as +I thought; and, without saying a word, he then resumed the little piece +of duty he had been engaged in when I interrupted him, and immediately +after went away, still without speaking, and indeed without taking any +further notice of me. + +I now thought he had either not understood me, or was not disposed to +pay any attention to what I said. I was mistaken in my conjectures, and +in one of them did injustice to his intelligence. + +A moment after he left me I saw the captain come out of the cabin, and +look hard at me for a second or two. I observed him then despatch the +steward towards me. On that person's approach-- + +"I say, my lad," he exclaimed, so as to be heard by the rest of the +convicts on deck, "can you wipe glasses and clean knives, eh? or brush +shoes, or anything of that kind?" + +Not knowing his real purpose in thus addressing me, I said I had no +experience in that sort of employment, but would do the best I could. + +"Oh, if you be willing," he said, "we'll soon make you able. I want a +hand just now; so come aft with me, and I'll find you work, and show you +how to do it too." + +I followed him to the cabin; but I had not been there a minute when the +captain came down, and, taking me into a state room, said-- + +"Well, my lad, what's all this? You wanted a private word of me, and +hinted to the mate that you knew of some mischief going on amongst the +convicts. What is it?" + +I told him of the secret whisperings at night I had overheard, and of +the discourse Norcot had held with me; mentioning, besides, several +expressions which I thought pointed to a secret conspiracy of some kind +or other. + +The captain was of the same opinion, and after thanking me for my +information, and telling me that he would take care that the part I had +acted should operate to my advantage on our arrival in the colony, he +desired me to take no notice of what had passed, but to mingle with my +associates as formerly, and to leave the whole matter to him. + +To cover appearances, I was subsequently detained in the steward's room +for about a couple of hours, when I was sent back to my former quarters; +not, however, without having been well entertained by the steward, by +the captain's orders. + +What intermediate steps the captain took I do not know, but on that +night Norcot and other ten of the most desperate of the convicts were +thrown into irons. + +Subsequent inquiry discovered a deep-laid plot to surprise the guard, +seize their arms, murder the captain and crew and all who resisted, and +take possession of the ship. + +Whether such a desperate attempt would have been successful or not, is +doubtful; but there is no question that a frightful scene of bloodshed +would have taken place; nor that, if the ruffians had managed well, and +judiciously timed their attack, they had some chance, and probably not a +small one, of prevailing. + +As it was, however, the matter was knocked on the head; for not only +were the leaders of the conspiracy heavily ironed, but they were placed +in different parts of the ship, wholly apart, and thus could neither act +nor hold the slightest communication with each other. + +Although the part I had acted in this affair did not operate in my +favour with the greater part of my fellow-convicts,--for, +notwithstanding all our caution, a strong suspicion prevailed amongst +them that I was the informer,--it secured me the marked favour of all +others on board the ship, and procured me many little indulgences which +would not otherwise have been permitted, and, generally, much milder +treatment than was extended to the others; and I confess I was not +without an idea that I deserved it. + +On our arrival at Sydney, whither I now hurry the reader, nothing +subsequent to the incident just recorded having occurred in the +interval with which I need detain him, I was immediately assigned, with +several others, to a farmer, a recently arrived emigrant, who occupied a +grant of land of about a thousand acres in the neighbourhood of the town +of Maitland. + +Before leaving the ship, the captain added to his other kindnesses an +assurance that he would not fail to represent my case--meaning with +reference to the service I had done him in giving information of the +conspiracy amongst the convicts--to the governor, and that he had no +doubt of its having a favourable effect on my future fortunes, provided +I seconded it by my own good conduct. + +The person to whom we had been assigned, an Englishman, being on the +spot waiting us, we were forthwith clapped into a covered waggon, and +driven off to our destination, our new master following us on horseback. + +The work to which we were put on the farm was very laborious, +consisting, for several weeks, in clearing the land of trees; felling, +burning, and grubbing up the roots. But we were well fed, and, on the +whole, kindly treated in other respects; so that, although our toil was +severe, we had not much to complain of. + +In this situation I remained for a year and a half, and had the +gratification of enjoying, during the greater part of that time, the +fullest confidence of my employer, whose good opinion I early won by my +orderly conduct, and--an unusual thing amongst convicts--by my attention +to his interests. + +On leaving him, he gave me, unasked, a testimonial of character, written +in the strongest terms. + +I was now again returned on the hands of Government, to await the demand +of some other settler for my services. + +In the meantime I had heard nothing of the result of the captain's +representation in my behalf to the governor, but had no doubt I would +reap the benefit of it on the first occasion that I should have a favour +to ask. The first thing in this way that I had to look for was what is +called a ticket of leave; that is, a document conferring exemption for a +certain period from Government labour, and allowing the party possessing +it to employ himself in any lawful way he pleases, and for his own +advantage, during the time specified by the ticket. My sentence, +however, having been for fourteen years, I could not, in the ordinary +case, look for this indulgence till the expiration of six years, such +being the colonial regulations. + +But imagining the good service I had done in the convict ship would +count for something, and probably induce the governor to shorten my term +of probation, I began now to think of applying for the indulgence. This +idea I shortly after acted upon, and drew up a memorial to the personage +just alluded to; saying nothing, however, of my innocence of the crime +for which I had been transported, knowing that, as such an assertion +would not be believed, it would do much more harm than good. In this +memorial, however, I enclosed the letter of recommendation given me by +my last master. + +It was eight or ten days before I heard anything of my application. At +the end of that time, however, I received a very gracious answer. It +said that my "praiseworthy conduct" on board the ship in which I came to +the colony had been duly reported by the captain, and that it would be +remembered to my advantage; that, at the, expiry of my second year in +the colony, of which there were six months yet to run, a ticket of leave +would be granted me--thus abridging the period by four years; and that, +if I continued to behave as well as I had done, I might expect the +utmost indulgence that Government could extend to one in my situation. + +With this communication, although it did not immediately grant the +prayer of my petition, I was much gratified, and prepared to submit +cheerfully to the six months' compulsory labour which were yet before +me. + +Shortly after this I was assigned to another settler, in the +neighbourhood of Paramatta. This was a different sort of person from the +last I had served, and, I am sorry to say, a countryman. His name I need +not give; for although the doing so could no longer affect him, he being +long dead, it might give pain to his relatives, several of whom are +alive both here and in New South Wales. This man was a tyrant, if ever +there was one, and possessed of all the passion and caprice of the worst +description of those who delight in lording it over their +fellow-creatures. There was not a week that he had not some of my +unhappy fellow-servants before a magistrate, often for the most trivial +faults--a word, a look--and had them flogged by sentence of the court, +by the scourger of the district, till the blood streamed from their +backs. Knowing how little consideration there is for the unhappy convict +in all cases of difference with his taskmaster, and that however unjust +or unreasonable the latter's complaints may be, they are always readily +entertained by the subordinate authorities, and carefully recorded +against the former to his prejudice, I took care to give him no offence. +To say nothing of his positive orders, I obeyed his every slightest wish +with a promptitude and alacrity that left him no shadow of ground to +complain of me. It was a difficult task; but it being for my interest +that no complaint of me, just or unjust, should be put on record +against me, I bore all with what I must call exemplary patience and +fortitude. + +I have already said that my new master was a man of the most tyrannical +disposition--cruel, passionate, and vindictive. He was all this; and his +miserable fate--a fate which overtook him while I was in his +employment--was, in a great measure, the result of his ungovernable and +merciless temper. + +Some of the wretched natives of the country--perhaps the most miserable +beings on the face of the earth, as they are certainly the lowest in the +scale of intellect of all the savage tribes that wander on its +surface--used to come occasionally about our farm, in quest of a morsel +of food. Amongst these were frequently women with infants on their +backs. If my master was out of the way when any of these poor creatures +came about the house, his wife, who was a good sort of woman, used to +relieve them; and so did we, also, when we had anything in our power. +Their treatment, however, was very different when our master happened to +be at home. The moment he saw any of these poor blacks approaching, he +used to run into the house for his rifle, and on several occasions fired +at and wounded the unoffending wretches. At other times he hounded his +dogs after them, himself pursuing and hallooing with as much excitement +as if he had been engaged in the chase of some wild beasts instead of +human beings--beings as distinctly impressed as himself with the image +of his God. + +It is true that these poor creatures were mischievous sometimes, and +that they would readily steal any article to which they took a fancy. +But in beings so utterly ignorant, and so destitute of all moral +perceptions, such offences could hardly be considered as criminal; not +one, at any rate, deserving of wounds and death at the caprice of a +fellow-creature acting on his own impulses, unchecked by any legal or +judicial control. Besides, it were easy to prevent the depredations of +these poor creatures--easy to drive them off without having recourse to +violence. + +The humanity and forbearance, however, which such a mode of proceeding +with the aborigines would require was not to be found in my master. +Fierce repulsion and retaliation were the only means he would have +recourse to in his mode of treating them; and the consequence was, his +inspiring the natives with a hatred of him, and a desire of vengeance +for his manifold cruelties towards them, which was sure, sooner or +later, to end in his destruction. It did so. One deed of surpassing +cruelty which he perpetrated accomplished his fate. + +One day, seeing two or three natives, amongst whom was a woman with a +young infant on her back, passing within a short distance of the house, +not approaching it--for he was now so much dreaded by these poor +creatures that few came to the door--my master, as usual, ran in for his +rifle, and calling his dogs around him, gave chase to the party. + +The men being unencumbered, fled on seeing him, and being remarkably +swift of foot, were soon out of his reach. Not so the poor woman with +the child on her back: she could not escape; and at her the savage +ruffian fired, killing both her and the infant with the same murderous +shot. + +This double murder was of so unprovoked, so cold-blooded, and atrocious +a nature, that it is probable, little as the life of a native was +accounted in those days, that my master would have been called upon to +answer for his crime before the tribunals of the colony; but retribution +overtook him by another and a speedier course. + +On the following day my master came out of the house, about ten o'clock +in the forenoon, with an axe in one hand, and the fatal rifle, his +constant companion, with which he had perpetrated the atrocious deed on +the preceding day, in the other, and coming up to me, told me that he +was going to a certain spot in an adjoining wood to cut some timber for +paling, and that he desired I should come to him two hours after with +one of the cars or sledges in use on the farm, to carry home the cut +wood. Having said this, he went off, little dreaming of the fate that +awaited him. + +At the time appointed I went with a horse and sledge to the wood, but +was much surprised to find that my master was not at the spot where he +said he would be;--a surprise which was not a little increased by +perceiving, from two or three felled sticks that lay around, that he had +been there, but had done little--so little, that he could not have been +occupied, as I calculated, for more than a quarter of an hour. Thinking, +however, that wherever he had gone he would speedily return, I sat down +to await him; but he came not. An entire hour elapsed, and still he did +not make his appearance. Beginning now to suspect that some accident had +happened him, I hurried home to inquire if they had seen or heard +anything of him there. They had not. His family became much alarmed for +his safety--a feeling in which my conscience forbids me to say that I +participated. + +Two of my fellow-servants now accompanied me back to the wood, which it +was proposed we should search. This, so soon as we had reached the spot +where my master had appointed to meet me, and where, as already +mentioned, he had evidently been, we began to do, whooping and hallooing +at the same time to attract his attention should he be anywhere within +hearing. + +For a long while our searching and shouting were vain. At length one of +my companions, who had entered a tangled patch of underwood which we had +not before thought of looking, suddenly uttered a cry of horror. We ran +up to him, and found him gazing on the dead body of our master, who lay +on his face, transfixed by a native spear, which still stood upright in +his back. It was one of those spears which the aborigines of New South +Wales use, on occasion, as missiles, and which they throw with an +astonishing force and precision. + +Such, then, was the end of this cruel man; and that it exceeded his +deserts can hardly be maintained. + +Luckily for me, my period of service with my late master was at this +time about out. A few days more, and I became entitled to my ticket of +leave. For this indulgence I applied when the time came, and it was +immediately granted me for one year. On obtaining my ticket I proceeded +to Sydney, as the most likely place to fall in with some employment. On +this subject, however, I felt much at a loss; for not having been bred +to any mechanical trade, I could do nothing in that way. Farming was the +only business of which I knew anything; and in this, my father having +been an excellent farmer, I was pretty well skilled. My hope, therefore, +was, that I would find some situation as a farm overseer, and thought +Sydney, although a town, the likeliest place to fall in with or hear of +an employer. On arriving in Sydney, I proceeded to the house of a +countryman of the name of Lawson, who kept a tavern, and to whom I +brought a letter of introduction from a relative of his own who had been +banished for sedition, and who was one of my fellow-labourers in the +last place where I had served. On reading the letter, Lawson, who was a +kind-hearted man, exclaimed-- + +"Puir Jamie, puir fallow; and hoo is he standin't oot?" + +I assured him that he was bearing his fate manfully, but that he had +been in the service of a remorseless master. + +"Ay, I ken him," said Lawson. "A man that's no gude to his ain canna be +gude to ithers." + +"You must speak of him now, however, in the past tense," said I. +"Mr.----- is dead." + +"Dead!" exclaimed Lawson, with much surprise. "When did he die?" + +I told him, and also of the manner of his death. + +"Weel, that is shockin'," he remarked; "but, upon my word, better +couldna hae happened him, for he was a cruel-hearted man." Then, +reverting to his relative, "Puir Jamie," he said; "but I think we'll +manage to get Jamie oot o' his scrape by-and-by. I hae gude interest wi' +the governor, through a certain acquaintance, and houpe to be able to +get him a free pardon in a whily. But he maun just submit a wee in the +meantime." + +"But anent yoursel, my man," continued Lawson, "what can I do for ye? +Jamie, here, speaks in the highest terms o' ye, and begs me to do what I +can for ye; and that I'll willingly do on his account. What war' ye bred +to?" + +I told him that I had been bred to the farming business, and that I +should like to get employment as a farm overseer or upper servant, to +engage for a year. + +"Ay, just noo, just noo," said honest Lawson. "Weel, I'll tell you what +it is, and it's sae far lucky: there was a decent, respectable-looking +man here the day, a countryman o' our ain--and I believe he'll sleep +here the nicht--wha was inquirin' if I kent o' ony decent, steady lad +who had been brocht up in the farmin' line. I kenna hoo they ca' the +man, but he has been in my house, noo, twa or three times. He's only twa +or three months arrived in the colony, and is settled somewhere in the +neighbourhood o' Liverpool--our Liverpool, ye ken, no the English +Liverpool. He seems to be in respectable circumstances. Noo, if he comes +to sleep here the nicht, as I hae nae doot he will, seein' there's nae +coach for Liverpool till the morn's mornin'--I'll mention you till him, +and maybe ye may mak a bargain." + +I thanked Lawson for his kindness, and was about leaving the house, with +a promise to call back in the evening, when he stopped me, and insisted +on my taking some refreshment. This, which consisted of some cold roast +fowl and a glass of brandy and water, I readily accepted. When I had +partaken of his hospitality I left the house, repeating my promise to +call again in the evening. The interval, knowing nobody in Sydney, I +spent in sauntering about the town. + +On the approach of evening, I again returned to Lawson's. He was +standing in the doorway when I came forward. + +"Come awa, lad," he said, with a glad face, on seeing me. "Your frien's +here, and I hae been speakin' to him aboot ye, and he seems inclined to +treat wi' you. But he's takin' a bit chack o' dinner 'enoo, sae we'll +let him alane for twa or three minutes. Stap ye awa in there to the bar, +in the meanwhile, and I'll let him ken in a wee that ye're here." + +I did so. In about ten minutes after, Lawson came to me, and said the +gentleman up stairs would be glad to see me. I rose and followed him. +We entered the room, the worthy landlord leading the way. The stranger, +with his elbow resting on the table, was leaning his head thoughtfully +on his hand when we entered. He gazed at me for an instant wildly; he +sprang from his chair; he clasped me in his arms. I returned the +embrace. Reader, it was my own father! + +"Davie, my son," he exclaimed, so soon as his surprise and emotion would +permit him to speak, "how, in the name of all that's wonderful, has this +come about? Where are you from? how came you here? and where on earth +have you been all this weary time, since you left us?" + +It was several minutes before I could make any reply. At length-- + +"I have much to tell you, father," I said, glancing at the same time +towards Lawson, who stood with open mouth and staring eyes, lost in +wonder at the extraordinary scene, which he yet could not fully +comprehend. + +Understanding, however, the hint conveyed in that look, the worthy man +instantly quitted the apartment, leaving us to ourselves. On his doing +so, I sat down at table with my father, and related to him the whole +history of my misfortunes, without reserve or extenuation. + +The narrative grieved and distressed him beyond measure; for, until I +told him, he had no idea I stood before him a convicted felon; his first +impression naturally being that I had come to the colony of my own free +will. + +Unlike all others, however, he, my poor father, believed implicitly my +assertions of entire innocence of the crime for which I had been +transported. But he felt bitterly for the degrading situation in which I +stood, and from which neither my own conscious innocence nor his +convictions, he was but too sensible, could rescue me in so far as +regarded the opinion of the world. + +Having told my father my story, he told me his. It was simply this--the +story of hundreds, thousands. Tempted by the favourable accounts he had +heard and read of Australia, he had come to the resolution of +emigrating; had, with this view, sold off at home; and here he was. He +added that he had obtained a grant of land, of about 500 acres, in the +neighbourhood of Liverpool, on very favourable terms; that although he +had not found everything quite so suitable or so well-ordered as he had +expected, he had no doubt of being able to do very well when once he +should have got matters put in proper train. He said he had already got +a very good house erected on the farm, and that although their situation +for the first two or three months was bad enough, they were now pretty +comfortable; and he hoped that, with my assistance--seeing, as he +interpolated with a faint smile, I had just cast up in the nick of +time--they would soon make things still better. + +"Your poor mother, Davie," continued my father, recurring to a subject +which we had already discussed--for my first inquiries had been after +that dear parent, who, I was delighted to learn, was in perfect good +health, although sunk in spirits in consequence of long mental suffering +on my account,--"Your poor mother, Davie," he said, "will go distracted +with joy at the sight of you. Her thoughts by day, her dreams by night, +have been of you, Davie. But," he added, seeing the tears streaming down +my cheeks, "I will not distress you by dwelling on the misery you have +occasioned her. It's all over now, I trust, and you will compensate for +the past. Neither will I say a word as to the folly of your conduct in +flying your father's house as you did. You have paid dearly for that +false step; and God forbid, my son, that I, your father, should add to +the punishment. You are, I perceive, too sensible of the folly to render +it necessary. So, of that no more." + +Of that folly I was indeed sensible--bitterly sensible; and could not +listen to the calm, rational, and kind language of my father, without +looking back with amazement at the stupidity of my conduct. It now +seemed to me to have been the result of utter insanity--madness. I could +neither recall nor comprehend the motives and impulses under which I had +acted; and could only see the act itself standing forth in naked, +inexplicable absurdity. Recurring again to the circumstances which had +led to my present unhappy position, and which were always floating +uppermost in my father's mind-- + +"That scoundrel, Digby," he said, "must have been at the bottom of the +mischief, Davie. It must have been he who put the spoon into your +pocket. What a fiendish contrivance!" + +"I have always thought so, father," I replied; "and on my trial ventured +to hint it, as I also did to the turnkeys and jailers; but although none +said so directly, I saw very clearly that all considered it as a +ridiculous invention--a clumsy way of accounting for a very plain fact." + +My father now proposed that I should start with him on the following +morning, per coach, for Liverpool, from which his farm was distant an +easy walk of some six or seven miles. On the following morning, +accordingly, after having duly acknowledged our worthy host's kindness, +we took our seats on the outside of the coach, and were soon whirling it +away merrily toward our destination. + +During our journey, it gave both my father and I much painful thought +how we should break the matter of my unhappy position to my mother. It +would be death to her to learn it. At first we thought of concealing the +circumstances altogether; but the chances of her hearing it from others, +or making the discovery herself when she was unprepared for it, through +a hundred different means, finally determined us on communicating the +unpleasant intelligence ourselves; that is, my father undertook the +disagreeable task, meaning, however, to choose time and circumstance, +and to allow a day or two to elapse before he alluded to it. + +Having arrived at Liverpool, we started on foot for my father's farm. +Should I attempt it, I would not find it easy to describe what were my +feelings at this moment, arising from the prospect of so soon beholding +that dear parent, whose image had ever been present to my mind, whose +kind tones were ever sounding in my ears like some heart-stirring and +well-remembered melody. They were overpowering. But when my father, +after we had walked for about an hour, raised his stick, and, pointing +to a neat farm-steading on the slope of a hill, and on the skirt of a +dense mountain forest that rose high behind it, said, "There's the +house, Davie," I thought I should have sunk on the ground. I had never +felt so agitated, excepting in that unhappy hour when I stood at the bar +of the Old Bailey, and heard sentence of transportation awarded against +me. But I compare the feelings on these two occasions only as regards +their intensity: in nature they were very different indeed. On the +former, they were those of excruciating agony; on the latter, those of +excessive joy. As we approached the house, I descried one at the door. +It was a female figure. It was my mother. I gasped for breath. I flew +over the ground. I felt it not beneath my feet. I would not be +restrained by my father, who kept calling to me. My mother fixed her +gaze on me, wondering at my excited manner--wondering who I could be; +all unconscious, as I could perceive by her vacant though earnest look, +that I was her son--- the darling of her heart. But a mother's eye is +quick. Another moment, and a shriek of wild joy and surprise announced +that I was recognised; in the next, we were in each other's arms, wrapt +in a speechless agony of bliss! + +My father, whom I had left a long way behind, came up to us while we +were locked together in this silent embrace, and stood by us for a few +seconds without speaking a word, then passed quietly into the house, +leaving us to ourselves. + +"My son, my son!" exclaimed my mother, so soon as the fulness of her +feelings would allow of utterance, "you have been cruel, cruel to your +mother. But I will not upbraid you. In seeing you again--in clasping you +once more to my bosom--I am repaid a thousandfold for all you have made +me suffer." + +With what further passed between us, I need not detain the reader. + +The tender expressions of a mother and son meeting under such +circumstances as we met, being the language of nature, the embodiment of +feelings which all ran conceive, there is no occasion for dilating on +them in my particular case. I pass on to other things of more general, +or at least more uncommon interest. + +The first day of my arrival at my father's farm was passed entirely +within doors in social communion, and in bringing up that arrear of +interchange in thought and feeling which our separation for so long a +period had created. + +On the following day I commenced work with my father; and although I +had done my duty faithfully by both the masters I had served since I +came to New South Wales, I soon found the difference between compulsory +and voluntary labour. + +In the former case I certainly wrought diligently, but as certainly not +cheerfully. There was an absence of spirit that quickly gave rise to +listlessness and fatigue, and that left the physical energies weak and +languid, in the latter case, it was far otherwise. Toil as I might, I +felt no diminution of strength. I went from task to task, some of them +far harder than any I had yet encountered, with unabated vigour, and +accomplished with ease double the work I ever could get through with +when in bondage. + +The joint labours of my father and myself, assisted occasionally by +hired service--for he could not endure the idea of having convicts about +him--soon put a new and promising face on the farm. + +We cleared, we drained, we enclosed, and we sowed and planted, until we +left ourselves comparatively little to do--I mean in the way of hard +labour--but to await the returns of our industry. + +It was some time after we had got things into this state--that is, I +think about three months after I had joined my father--that the latter +received intelligence of a band of bushmen or bushrangers having been +seen in the neighbourhood. He was assured that they were skulking in the +adjoining forest, and that we might every night expect our house to be +attacked, robbed, and ourselves, in all probability, murdered. + +This information threw us into a most dreadful state of alarm; these +bushrangers, as the reader probably knows, being runaway convicts, men +of the most desperate characters, who take to the woods, and subsist by +plundering the settlers--a crime to which they do not hesitate to add +murder--many instances of fearful atrocities of this kind having +occurred. + +For some time we were quite at a loss what to do; for although we had +firearms and ammunition in the house, there were only four men of us--my +father, myself, and two servant lads--while the bushrangers, as we had +been told, were at least ten or twelve in number. To have thought then +of repelling them by force, was out of the question; it could only have +ended in the murder of us all. + +Under these circumstances, my father determined on applying to the +authorities for constabulary or military protection; and with this view +went to Liverpool, where the district magistrate resided. + +On stating the case to the latter, he at once gave my father a note to +the commanding officer of the garrison, enjoining him to send a small +party of military along with him,--these to remain with us for our +protection as long as circumstances should render it necessary, and, in +the meanwhile, to employ themselves in scouring the adjoining woods, +with a view to the apprehension of the bushrangers, and to fire on them +without hesitation in all cases where they could not be captured. + +The result was, that a party of twelve men, commanded by a sergeant, +were immediately turned out, and marched off with my father. + +I was sitting on an eminence close by the house, and which commanded a +view of the road leading to and from Liverpool, looking out for my +father's return, when the party came in sight. + +As they neared, I recognised the men, from certain particulars in their +uniform, a party of the--th, the regiment into which I had enlisted. + +The circumstance excited some curious feelings, and awakened a train of +not very pleasing reflections. + +I had never dreamt of meeting any of the corps in so distant a part of +the world; yet there was nothing more likely or more natural, a large +military force being always kept in New South Wales, and frequently +changed. + +I felt, however, no uneasiness on the subject, thinking that it was not +at all probable, seeing the very short time I had been in the regiment, +and the constant accession of new men it was receiving, I should be +recognised by any of the party. + +In the meantime, the party were rapidly approaching me, and were now so +near, that I could perceive the sergeant to be a tall and handsome young +man of about two or three and twenty. Little did I yet dream who this +sergeant was. I descended to meet them. We came up to each other. The +sergeant started on seeing me, and looked at me with a grave surprise +and fixed gaze. I did precisely the same by him. We advanced towards +each other with smiling faces and extended arms. "Lorimer!" exclaimed +the sergeant. "Lindsay!" I replied. It was indeed Lindsay, my old +comrade, promoted to a sergeantcy. + +Our mutual astonishment and satisfaction at this extraordinary and +unexpected meeting was, I need not say, very great, although I certainly +thought I perceived a certain dryness and want of cordiality in +Lindsay's manner towards me. But for this I made every allowance, +believing it to proceed from a doubt of my innocence, if not a +conviction of my guilt, in the matter for which I had been transported. +He in short, it seemed to me, could not forget that, in speaking to me, +although an old comrade, he was speaking to a convicted felon. However, +notwithstanding this feeling on his part, we talked freely of old +stories; and as we were apart from the men, I did not hesitate, amongst +other things, to allude to my misfortune, nor to charge the blame of it +on Digby. + +"Well," said the sergeant, in reply to my remarks on this subject, +"since you have mentioned the matter yourself, Lorimer, I am glad to +hear you say so--that is, to hear you say that you are innocent of that +rascally business; for, putting your assertions, so solemnly made, to +what my wife says--for she has some queer stories of that fellow +Digby--I have no doubt now of your innocence." + +"Your wife!" exclaimed I in some amazement. "In the first place, then, +you are married; in the next, how on earth, if I may ask, should she +know anything of Digby?" + +"Why, man, Susan Blaikie is my wife," replied the sergeant, laughing; +"and she's not, I take it, half a dozen miles from us at this moment. I +left her safe and sound in my quarters in Liverpool not two hours ago; +and right glad will she be to see you, when you can make it convenient +to give us a call. But of that we will speak more hereafter." + +Like two or three other things recorded in this little history, this +information gave me much surprise, but, like few of them, much +gratification also; as I had feared the worst for poor Susan, seeing +that she had been discharged from her situation, as I had no doubt +without a character, probably under a suspicion of being concerned with +me in the alleged robbery. + +By the time I had expressed the surprise and satisfaction which Sergeant +Lindsay's communication had given me, we had reached the house, when all +conversation between us of a private nature ceased for the time. + +The first business now was to set some refreshment before the men. This +was quickly done; the sergeant, my father, and I taking care of +ourselves in a similar way in another apartment. The next was to take +the immediate matter in hand into consideration. Accordingly, we three +formed ourselves into a council of war, and, after some deliberation, +came to the following resolutions:--That we should, soldiers and all, +keep closely within doors during the remainder of the afternoon; and +that as it was more than probable the bushmen would make their attack +that very night, and as it was likely they would know nothing of the +military being in the house, seeing that they always kept at a distance +during the day, or lay concealed in hidden places, we should take them +by surprise; that, for this purpose, we should remain up all night, and +place ourselves, with loaded arms, by the windows, and in such other +situations as would enable us to see them approaching, without being +seen by them. + +Having determined on this plan of operations, we resumed our +conversation on indifferent matters, and thus spent the time till it was +pretty far on in the night, when Lindsay suggested that it was full time +the men were distributed in the positions we intended them to occupy. +Two were accordingly placed at each window of both the back and front of +the house, the sergeant and I occupying one,--he with one of our +muskets, and I with a rifle. It was a bright moonlight night; so that, +as the vicinity of the house was completely cleared around, to the +distance of at least 200 yards on every side, no one could approach it +without being seen; although they could remain long enough invisible, +and in safety, in the dense wood beyond, and by which the house was +surrounded on all sides but one. + +The sergeant and I had thus sat for, I think, about an hour and a half, +looking intently towards the dark forest beyond the cleared ground, +when we thought we saw several small, dark objects flitting about the +skirts of the wood; but whether they were kangaroos or men, we could not +tell. + +Keeping our eyes fixed steadily on them, however, we by-and-by saw them +unite, and could distinctly make out that they were approaching the +house in a body. Soon they came sufficiently near to enable us to +discern that it was a party of men, to the number of about eight or ten. +There might be more, but certainly no fewer. We could now also see that +they were armed--at least a part of them--with muskets. + +Satisfied that they were the much dreaded bushrangers, of whose vicinity +we had been apprised, the sergeant hastily left the window at which he +and I had been seated, and, stealing with soft and cautious steps +through the house, visited each of his posts to see that the men were on +the alert. To each he whispered instructions to put their pieces on +cock, to go down on their knees at the window, and to rest the muzzles +of their muskets on the sill, but not project them out more than two or +three inches. He concluded by telling them not to fire a shot until they +heard the report of his musket; that then they were to pepper away as +hard as they could pelt, taking, however, a sure and steady aim at every +shot. + +In the meantime the bushmen, whose advance had been, and still was, very +slow and cautious, as if they dreaded an ambuscade, had approached to +within seventy yards of the house. Thinking them yet too distant to make +sure of them, we allowed them to come nearer. They did so; but they had +now assumed a stealthy step, walking lightly, as if they feared that +their footfalls should be heard. They were led on by one of their +number; at least there was one man considerably in advance of his +fellows. He was armed with a sword, as we saw it flashing in the +moonlight. + +The party, handling their guns in readiness to fire, on the slightest +alarm, at any living object that might present itself, were now within +thirty or forty yards of the house, and had halted to reconnoitre; when +the sergeant, who had been on his knees for several minutes before, with +his piece at his eye, said softly, "Now," and fired. Whether he had +aimed at the foremost man of the gang, I do not know; but if so, he had +missed him, for he still stood firm. At this person, however, I now +levelled, fired, and down he came. In the next instant the shots were +rapping thick and fast from the different windows of the house. + +The bushrangers, taken by surprise, paused for an instant, returned two +or three straggling shots, and then fled in the utmost consternation and +disorder. We kept pelting after them for a few minutes, and then, +quitting the house, gave them chase, with a whooping and hallooing that +must have added in no small degree to their terror. In this chase we +overtook two that had been severely wounded, and came upon a third near +the skirt of the wood, who, after running so far, had dropped down dead. +The others, who had fled, some of whom, we had no doubt, were also +wounded, escaped by getting into the forest, where it was no use looking +for them. The two wounded men we made prisoners, and carried back to the +house. As we were returning, we came upon the man whom I had brought +down. Being extended motionless on the ground at full length, we thought +him dead, and were about to pass on, intending to leave him where he lay +till the morning, when I thought I heard him breathing. I knelt down +beside him, looked narrowly into his face, and found that he was still +living. On discovering this, we had the unfortunate man carried to the +house; and having placed him on a mattress, staunched the bleeding of +his wound, which was on the right breast, and administered a little +brandy and water, which almost immediately revived him. He opened his +eyes, began to breathe more freely, and in a short time was so far +recovered as to be able to speak, although with difficulty. + +The excitement of the fray over, if the late affair could be so called, +my heart bled within me for the unhappy wretch who had been reduced by +my hand to the deplorable condition in which he now lay before me. My +conscience rose up against me, and would not be laid by any suggestions +of the necessity that prompted the deed. In my anxiety to make what +reparation I could for what now seemed to me my cruelty, I sat by the +miserable sufferer, ready and eager to supply any want he might express, +and to administer what comfort I could do him in his dying moments; for +that he was dying, notwithstanding the temporary revival alluded to, was +but too evident from his ghastly look and rapidly glazing eye. + +It was while I thus sat by the unhappy man, and while silently +contemplating his pallid countenance, by the faint light of a lamp that +hung against the wall of the apartment, that I suddenly thought I +perceived in that countenance some traces of features that I had seen +before. Whose they were, or where I had seen them, I did not at first +recollect. But the idea having once presented itself, I kept hunting it +through all the recesses of my memory. At length Digby occurred to me. +But no, Digby it could not be. Impossible. + +I looked on the countenance of the sufferer again. It was slightly +distorted with pain, and all trace of the resemblance I had fancied was +gone. An interval of ease succeeded. The real or imagined resemblance +returned. Again I lost sight of it, and again I caught it; for it was +only in some points of view I could detect it at all. At length, after +marking for some time longer, with intense interest, the features of the +sufferer, my conviction becoming every moment stronger and stronger, and +my agitation in consequence extreme, I bent my head close to the dying +man, and, taking his cold and clammy hand in mine, asked him, in a +whisper, if his name was not Digby. His eyes were closed at the moment, +but I saw he was not sleeping. On my putting the question, he opened +them wide, and stared wildly upon me, but without saying a word. He +seemed to be endeavouring to recognise me, but apparently in vain. I +repeated the question. This time he answered. Still gazing earnestly at +me, he said, and it was all he did say, "It is." + +"Don't you know me?" I inquired. + +He shook his head. + +"My name is Lorimer," said I. + +"Thank God," he exclaimed solemnly. "For one, at least, of my crimes it +is permitted me to make some reparation. Haste, haste, get witnesses and +hear my dying declaration. There's no time to lose, for I feel I am fast +going!" + +Without a moment's delay--- for I felt the importance of obtaining the +declaration, which I had no doubt would establish my innocence--I ran +for my father and Sergeant Lindsay, and, to make assurance doubly sure, +brought two of the privates also along with me. It was a striking scene +of retributive justice, + +On our entering the apartment where Digby lay, the wretched man raised +himself upon his elbow. I ran and placed two pillows beneath him to +support him. He thanked me. Then raising his hand impressively, and +directing it towards me-- + +"That young man there," he said, "David Lorimer, is, as I declare on +the word of a dying man, innocent of the crime for which he was banished +to this country. I, and no other, am the guilty person. It was I who +robbed my master, Mr. Wallscourt, of the silver plate for which this +young man was blamed; and it was I who put the silver spoon in his +pocket, in order to substantiate the charge I subsequently brought +against him, and in which I was but too successful." + +He then added, that in case his declaration should not be deemed +sufficient to clear me of the guilt imputed to me, we should endeavour +to find out a person of the name of Nareby--Thomas Nareby--who, he said, +was in the colony under sentence of transportation for life for +housebreaking; and that this person, who had been, at the time of the +robbery for which I suffered, a receiver of stolen goods, and with whom +he, Digby, had deposited Mr. Wallscourt's plate, would acknowledge--at +least he hoped so--this transaction, and thus add to the weight of his +dying testimony to my innocence. + +Digby having concluded, I immediately committed what he had just said to +writing, and having read it over to him, obtained his approval of it. He +then, of his own accord, offered to subscribe the declaration, and with +some difficulty accomplished the task. The signature was hardly legible, +but it was quite sufficient when attested, as it was, by the signatures +of all present excepting myself. Exhausted with the effort he had made, +Digby now sank back on his pillow, and in less than three minutes after +expired. + +We now learned from the unhappy man's two wounded companions, who, the +reader will recollect, were our prisoners, that, soon after my trial and +condemnation, he, Digby, had left Mr. Wallscourt's service, not under +any suspicion of the robbery of the plate, but with no very good +general character; that he had the betaken himself entirely to live with +the abandoned characters whose acquaintance he had formed, and to +subsist by swindling and robbery; that he had proceeded from crime to +crime, until he at length fell into the hands of justice; and his +banishment to the colony where he had arrived about six months before, +was the result; that he had not been more than a month in the country +when he and several other convicts ran away from the master to whom they +had been assigned, and took to the bush. Such was the brief but dismal +history of this wretched man. + +On the following day we buried his remains in a lonely spot in the +forest, at the distance of about half a mile from the house, and +thereafter proceeded with our prisoners to Liverpool. On arriving there, +I accompanied my father to the magistrate on whom he had waited on a +former occasion, and having stated to this gentleman the extraordinary +circumstance which had taken place--meaning Digby's declaration--he +advised an immediate application to the governor, setting forth the +circumstances of the case. This I lost no time in doing, enclosing +within my memorial Digby's attested declaration, and pointing out Nareby +as a person likely to confirm its tenor. The singularity and apparent +hardship of the case, combined with the favourable knowledge of me +previously existing, attracted the attention of the governor in a +special manner, and excited in him so lively an interest, that he +instantly had Nareby subjected to a judicial examination, the result of +which was a full admission on the part of that person of the transaction +to which Digby alluded. + +Satisfied now of my innocence, and of the injustice which had been +unwittingly done me, the governor not only immediately transmitted me a +full and free pardon but offered me, by way of compensation, a +lucrative government appointment. This appointment I accepted, and held +for thirty years, I trust with credit to myself, and satisfaction to my +superiors. At the end of this period, feeling my health giving way, my +father and mother having both, in the meantime, died, and having all +that time scraped together a competency, I returned to my native land, +and have written these little memoirs in one of the pleasantest little +retirements on the banks of the Tweed. + +I have only now to add, that I had frequent opportunities of seeing both +Lindsay and his wife after the establishment of my innocence, and that +no persons would more sincerely rejoice in that event than they did. My +poor mother, whom my father had made aware of my situation soon after my +arrival, and who had borne the intelligence much better than we +expected, it put nearly distracted with joy. + +"My puir laddie," she exclaimed, "I aye kent to be innocent. But noo the +world 'll ken it too, and I can die happy." + + + + +THE AMATEUR ROBBERY. + + +If there is anything more than another of which civilisation has reason +to be proud, it is the amelioration that has been effected in punishment +for crimes. Nor is it yet very long since we began to get quit of the +shame of our folly and inhumanity, if we have not traces of these yet, +coming out like sympathetic ink dried by the choler of self-perfection +and a false philosophy, as in such writings as the latter-day pamphlets. +How a man who loves his species, and has a heart, will hang his head +abashed as he turns his vision back no further than the sixteenth +century, and sees the writhing creatures--often aged unhappy +women--under the pilniewinkies, caschielaws, turkases, thumbikens, and +other instruments of torture, frantically bursting out with the demanded +confession that was to fit them for the stake or the rope! And even +after these things in the curiosity shop of Nemesis were got rid of, the +abettors of the law rushed with full swing into the operation of +hanging, scarcely allowing a crime to escape, from cold-blooded murder +down to the act of the famished wretch who snatched a roll from a +baker's basket. However insensible these strange lawgivers may have been +to so much cruelty, however blind to the perversity, prejudices, and +weaknesses incident to human testimony, however ignorant of the total +inefficacy of their remedy to deter from crime, one might have imagined +that they could not but have known, if they ever looked inwardly into +their own hearts, how obscure are human motives, and especially those +that instigate to breaches of the law; and yet their consistent rule +was, to make the _corpus delicti_ prove the intention. These +considerations have been suggested to me by the recollection of a wild +adventure of some young men in Edinburgh, the circumstances of which, +not belonging to fiction, will show better than a learned dissertation +how easy it was for these Dracos to catch the fact and miss the motive. + +The skeleton names--now, alas! the only representatives of skeleton +bodies--Andrew W----pe, Henry S----k, and Charles S----th, may recall to +the memory of some people in Edinburgh still, three young men, who, with +good education, fair talents, and graces from nature, might have played +a respectable _role_ in the drama of life, had it not been for a +tendency to "fastness," a disease which seems to increase with +civilisation. In their instance the old adage of Aristotle, _simile +gaudet simili_, was exemplified to the letter; and the union confirmed +in each a mind which, originally impatient of authority, fretted itself +against the frame of society, simply because that frame was the result +of order. They were never happy except when they went up to the +palisades, struck upon them with their lath-blades, and when some +orderly indweller looked over atop, ran away laughing. No doubt they had +strong passions to gratify too; but, as is usual with this peculiar race +of beings, the gratification was the keener the more it owed to a +rebellion against decorum. If they ever differed, it was only in their +rivalry of success; or when they did not go a spree-hunting together, +they recounted their exploits at their nightly meetings, and then the +result was an increase of moral inflammation. + +Sometimes, for a change, they would take strolls into the country, where +they could extract as tribute the admiration or wrath of clodhoppers +without being troubled with any fears of the police; not that on any of +these occasions they perpetrated any great infringements on the law, +for, like the rest of their kind, if they could make themselves objects +of observation, they were regardless whether their bizarreries were paid +with admiration or only anger or fear, though, if they could produce by +any means a causeless panic, the very height of their ambition was +attained. In regard to this last effect of their escapades, they were, +in the instance I am about to record, more than satisfied. They had +gone, on a fine, clear, winter day, along the coast of the Firth of +Forth towards Cramond; and, to diversify their amusements, they took +with them a gun, which was carried by S----th, with the intention of +having a shot at any wild bird or barn-door fowl that might come +conveniently within his range. Of this kind of game they had fewer +chances, and the stroll would doubtless have appeared a very monotonous +affair to a person fond of rational conversation. Nor was there much +even to themselves of diversification till they got into a small +change-house at Davidson's Mains, where, with a rampant authority, they +contrived to get served up to them a kind of dinner, intending to make +up for the want of better edibles by potations of whisky toddy. + +If facts, as Quinctilian says, are the bones of conversation, opinions +are certainly its sinews; and we might add, that whisky toddy is its +nervous fluid. These youths, though unwilling to acquire solid +information, could wrangle even to quarrelling; but such were their +affinities, that they adhered again in a short time, and were as firm +friends as ever. They had raised a subject--no other than the question +whether highwaymen are necessarily or generally possessed of true +courage. Very absurd, no doubt, but as good for a wrangle as any other +that can be divided into affirmative and negative by the refracting +medium of feeling or prejudice. S----th declared them all to be cowards. + +"What say you to Cartouche?" said S----k; "was he a coward?" + +"Not sure but he was," said S----th; "he kept a band of blackguards and +received their pay, but he was seldom seen in the wild _melee_ himself. +He was fond of the name of terror he bore; but then, as he listened to +the wonderful things the Parisian _blanchisseuses_ and _chiffonniers_ +and _gamins_ said of him, he knew he was not recognisable, for the very +reason that he kept out of sight." + +"Oh yes," said W----pe, who joined S----k; "and so he was like Wallace, +who kept out of the sight of the English, and yet delighted in Dundee to +hear himself spoken of by the crowds who collected in these troublesome +times to discuss public affairs. S----th, you know Wallace was a coward, +don't you?" + +"A thorough poltroon," cried S----th, laughing; "ay, and all the people +in Scotland are wrong about him. Didn't he run off, after stabbing the +governor's son? and he was always skulking about the Cartland Crags. +Then, didn't he flee at the battle of Falkirk; and was he not a robber +when Scotland belonged to Longshanks? No doubt the fellow had a big +body, strong bones, and good thews; but that he had the real pluck that +nerved the little bodies of such men as Nelson, or Suwarrow, ay, or of +Napoleon, I deny." Then he began a ludicrous singing, see-saw recitation +of the English doggrel-- + + "The noble wight, + The Wallace dight, + Who slew the knight + On Beltane night, + And ran for fright + Of English might, + And English fight, + And English right;" + +and so on in drunken ribaldry. + +"All very well for you who are a Shamite, Shmite, Shmith, Smith," said +W----pe. "We happen to be Japhetites. Then what say you to Rob Roy?" + +"That, in the first place," replied S----th, "he was a Shemite; for +Gathelus, the first Scottish monarch, was a grandson of Nimrod, and, +what is worse, he married Scota, the daughter of an Egyptian queen, so +there was a spice of Ham in Rob; and as all the Hamites were robbers, +Rob was a robber too;--as to whose cowardice there is no doubt whatever; +for a man who steals another man's cattle in the dark must be a coward. +Did you ever hear one single example of Rob attacking when in good +daylight, and fighting for them in the sun?" + +"Ingenious, S----th, at any rate," roared S----k; "but I don't agree +with you. A robber on the highway, must, in the general case, have +courage. He braves public opinion, he laughs at the gallows, and he +throws himself right against a man in bold competition, without knowing +often whether he is a giant or a dwarf." + +"All the elements of a batter pudding," cried S----th, "without the +battering principle. Ay, you forget the head-battering bludgeon, the +instantaneous pistol, or the cunning knife; none of all which would a +man with a spark of courage in him use against an unarmed, defenceless +traveller. Another thing you forget, the robber acts upon surprises. He +produces confusion by his very presentation, fear by his demand of life +or money; and when the poor devil's head is running round, he runs away +with his watch or his purse, perhaps both. 'Tis all selfishness, pure +unadulterated selfishness; and will you tell me that a man without a +particle of honesty or generosity can have courage?" + +"Not moral courage, perhaps; but he may have physical." + +"All the same, no difference," continued the doughty S----th. "Who ever +heard of a bodily feeling except as something coming through the body? +There are only two physical feelings: pain in being wounded or starved, +and pleasure in being relieved from pain, or fed when hungry or thirsty. +I know none other; all the others are moral feelings." + +"You may be bold through drink acting on the stomach and head." + +"Ay, but the boldness, though the effect of a physical cause, is itself +a moral entity." + +"Whoever thought that S----th was such a metaphysician!" said W----pe, a +little agoggled in his drunken eyes. + +"But the same may be said of every feeling," rejoined S----k, somewhat +roused to ambition by W----pe's remark. + +"And so it may, my little Aristotle," continued the clever asserter of +his original proposition. "Why, man, look ye, what takes you into Miss +F----'s shop in Princes Street for snuff, when you never produce a +physical titillation in your nose by a single pinch? Why, it's something +you call love, a terribly moral thing, though personified by a little +fellow with pinions. Yes, wondrously moral; and sometimes, as in your +case, immoral. Well, what is it produced by? The face of the said Miss +F---- painted as a sun picture in the camera at the back of your eye, +where there is a membrane without a particle of nitrate of silver in its +composition, and which yet receives the image. Well, what is love but +just the titillation produced by this image imprinted on your flesh, +just as the pleasure of a pinch is the effect of a titillation of the +nerves in the nose? Yet we don't say that snuff pleasure is a moral +thing, but merely nasal or bodily. What makes the difference?" + +"How S----th is coming it!" said W----pe, still more amazed. "Where the +devil has he got all this?" + +"Why, the difference lies here. You know, by manipulation and blowing +it, that you have a nose; but you don't wipe the retina at the back of +your eye when you are weeping for love--only the outside, where the +puling tears are. In short, you know you have a nose, but you don't know +you have a retina. D'ye catch me, my small Stagyrite, my petit +Peripatetic, my comical Academician, eh? Take your toddy, and let's have +a touch of moral drunkenness." + +"You ray-ther have me on the hip, S----th." + +"Ay, just so; and if I should kick you there, you would not say the pain +was a moral thing. All through the same. It's just where and when we +don't know the medium we say things are moral and spiritual, and +poetical and rational, and all the rest of the humbug." + +"But though you say all highwaymen are cowards, you won't try that trick +with your foot," said S----k, boiling up a little under the fire of the +toddy. + +"Don't intend; though, if you were to produce moral courage in me by +pinching my nose, I think I could, after making up my mind and putting +you upon your guard with a stick in your hand if you chose. Eh! my +Peripatetic." And S----th was clearly getting drunk too. + +"D----n the fellow, his metaphysics are making him [Transcriber's Note: +missing part of this word] dent," cried W----pe. + +"Why, you don't see where they hit," said S----th drawlingly. +"Somewhere about the pineal; and therefore we say impudence is moral, +sometimes immoral, as just now when you damned me. No more of your old +junk, I say, sitting here in my cathedra, which by the way is +spring-bottomed, which may account for my moral elasticity that a +highwayman is a coward." + +"Well," cried S----k, starting up. "I'll deposit a pound with W----pe, +on a bet that you'll not take sixpence from the first bumpkin we meet on +the road, by the old watchword, 'Stand and deliver;' and you'll have the +gun to boot." + +"Ay, that's a physical bribe," cried W----pe; and, after pausing a +little, "The fellow flinches." + +"And surely the reverse must hold," added S----k, "that, being a coward, +he must be a highwayman." + +"Why, you see, gents," said S----th coolly, "I don't mind a very great +deal, you know, though I do take said sixpence from said bumpkin; but I +won't do it, you know, on compulsion." + +"If there's no compulsion, there's no robbery," said S----k. + +"Oh, I mean _your_ compulsion. As for mine, exercised on said bumpkin, +let me alone for that part of the small affair; but none of your +compulsion, if you love me. I can do anything, but not upon compulsion, +you know." + +"Done then!" + +"Why, ye-e-s," drawled S----th, "done; I may say, gents, done; but I say +with Sir John, don't misunderstand me, not upon compulsion, you know." + +"Your own free will," shouted both the others, now pretty well to do in +the world of dithyrambics. "Here's your instrument for extorting the +sixpence by force or fear." + +And this young man, half inebriated--with, we may here say +parenthetically, a mother living in a garret in James' Square, with one +son and an only daughter of a respectable though poor man, and who +trusted to her son for being the means of her support--qualified, as we +have seen, by high parts to extort from society respect, and we may add, +though that has not appeared, to conciliate love and admiration--took +willingly into his hand the old rusty "Innes," to perpetrate upon the +highway a robbery. And would he do it? You had only to look upon his +face for an instant to be certain that he would; for he had all the +lineaments of a young man of indomitable courage and resolution--the +steady eye, the firm lip, all under the high brows of intellect, nor +unmixed with the beauty that belongs to these moral expressions which in +the playfulness of the social hour he had been reducing to materialism, +well knowing all the while that he was arguing for effect and applause +from those who only gave him the return of stultified petulance. What if +that mother and sister, who loved him, and wept day and night over the +wild follies that consumed his energies and demoralized his heart, had +seen him now! + +The bill was paid by S----k, who happened to have money, and who gave it +on the implied condition of a similar one for all on another occasion. +They went, or, as the phrase is often, sallied forth. The night had now +come down with her black shadows. There was no moon. She was dispensing +her favours among savages in another hemisphere, who, savages though +they were, might have their devotions to their strange gods, resident +with her up yonder, where no robbery is, save that of light from the +pure fountain of heat and life. Yes, the darkness was auspicious to +folly, as it often is to vice; and there was quietness too--no winds +abroad to speak voices through rustling leaves, to terrify the criminal +from his wild rebellion against the peace of nature. No night could have +suited them better. Yes, all was favourable but God; and Him these wild +youths had offended, as disobedient sons of poor parents, who had +educated them well--as rebellious citizens among a society which would +have hailed them as ornaments--as despisers of God's temple, where grace +was held out to them and spurned. + +They were now upon the low road leading parallel to the beach, and +towards the end of Inverleith Row. Nor had the devil left them with the +deserted toddy-bowl. There was still pride for S----th, and for the +others the rankling sense of inferiority in talent and of injury from +scorching irony. Nor had they proceeded two miles, till the fatal +opportunity loomed in the dark, in the form of a figure coming up from +Leith or Edinburgh. + + Now, S----th; + Now, the cowardly Cartouche; + Now, the poltroon Rob Roy; + Now, the braggart Wallace! + +But S----th did not need the taunts, nor, though many a patriotic cause +wanted such a youth, was he left for other work, that night of +devil-worship. The figure approached. Alas! the work so easy. S----th +was right; how easy and cowardly, where the stranger was, in the +confidence of his own heart, unprepared, unweaponed! Yet those who urged +him on leapt a dyke. + +"Stand and deliver!" said S----th, with a handkerchief over his face. + +"God help me!" cried the man, in a fit of newborn fear. "I'm a father, +have wife and bairns; but I canna spare my life to a highwayman. Here, +here, here." + +And fumbling nervously in his pocket, and shaking all over, not at all +like the old object of similitude, but rather like a branch of a tree +driven by the wind, he thrust something into S----th's hand, and rushing +past him, was off on the road homewards. Nor was it a quick walk under +fear, but a run, as if he thought he was or would be pursued for his +life, or brought down by the long range of the gun he had seen in the +hands of the robber. + +Yes, it was easily done, and it was done; but how to be undone at a time +when the craving maw of the noose dangled from the post, in obedience to +the Procrustes of the time! + +And S----th felt it was done. His hand still held what the man had +pushed into it, but by-and-by it was as fire. His brain reeled; he +staggered, and would have fallen, but for S----k, who, leaping the dyke, +came behind him. + +"What luck?" + +"This," said S----th,--"the price of my life," throwing on the ground +the paper roll. + +"Pound-notes," cried S----k, taking them up. "One, two, three, four, +five; more than sixpence." + +"Where is the man?" cried S----th, as, seizing the notes from the hands +of S----k, he turned round. Then, throwing down the gun, he set off +after his victim; but the latter was now ahead, though his pursuer heard +the clatter of his heavy shoes on the metal road. + +"Ho, there! stop! 'twas a joke--a bet." + +No answer, and couldn't be. The man naturally thought the halloo was for +further compulsion, under the idea that he had more to give, and on he +sped with increased celerity and terror; nor is it supposed that he +stopt till he got to his own house, a mile beyond Davidson's Mains. + +Smith gave up the pursuit, and with the notes in his hand, ready to be +cast away at every exacerbation of his fear, returned to his cowardly +companions with hanging head and, if they had seen, with eyes rolling, +as if he did not know where to look or what to do. + +"What is to be done?" he cried; and his fears shook the others. + +"Yes, what is to be done? You urged me on. Try to help me out. Let us go +back and seek out this man. To-morrow it may be too late, when the +police have had this robbery in their hands as a thing intended." + +"We could not find the man though we went back," said S----k. And his +companions agreed. + +But W----pe, who had some acquaintanceship with the police Captain +Stewart, proposed that they should proceed homewards, go to him, give +him the money, and tell the story out. + +"That, I fear, would be putting one's hand in the mouth of the hyaena at +the moment he is laughing with hunger, as they say he does." + +An opinion which S----th feared was too well founded. Nearly at their +wits' end, they stood all three for a little quite silent, till the +sound of a horse's clattering feet sounded as if coming from Davidson's +Mains. All under the conviction of crime, they became alarmed; and as +the rider approached, they concealed themselves behind the dyke, which +ran by the side of the road. At that moment a man came as if from +Edinburgh, and they could hear the rider, who did not, from his voice, +appear to be the man who had been robbed, inquiring if he had met a +young man with a gun in his hand. The man answered no, and off set the +rider towards town at the rate of a hard trot. The few hopeful moments +when anything could have been done effectually as a palinode and +expiation were past; and S----th, releaping the dyke, was again upon +the road in the depth of despair, and his companions scarcely less so. +All his and their escapades had hitherto been at least within the bounds +of the law; and though his heart had often misgiven him, when called +upon for the nourishment of his wild humours, as he thought of his +widowed mother at home, without the comfort of the son she loved in +spite of his errors, he had not ever yet felt the pangs of deep regret +as they came preluding amendment. A terrible influx of feelings, which +had been accumulating almost unknown to him during months and +months--for his father had been dead only for a year and a half--pushed +up against all the strainings of a wild natural temperament, and seemed +ready to choke him, depriving him of utterance, and making him appear +the very coward he had been depicting so sharply an hour before. A deep +gloom fell over him; nor was this rendered less inspissated by the +recollection that came quick as lightning, that he was the only one +known to the mistress of the inn. And now, worse and worse--for the same +power that sent him that conviction threw a suspicion over his mind +which made him strike his forehead with an energy alarming to his +companions--no other--"O, merciful God!" he muttered--than that the man +he had robbed was his maternal uncle; the only man among the friends of +either his father or his mother who had shown any sympathy to the +bereaved family, who had fed them and kept them from starvation, and by +whom he had been himself nourished. He had no power to speak this: it +was one of those thoughts that scathe the nerves that serve the tongue, +and which flit and burn, and will not ameliorate their fierceness by the +common means given to man in mercy. It now appeared to him as something +miraculous why he did not recognise him; but the occasion was one of +hurry and confusion, and so completely oblivious had he been in the +agony which came on him in an instant, that he even thought that at the +very moment he knew him, looking darkly, as he did, through the +handkerchief over his eyes. In his despair, he meditated hurrying to +Leith, and with the five pounds getting a passage over the sea +somewhere, it signified nothing where, if away from the scene of his +crime and ingratitude; and this resolution was confirmed by the +additional thought that Mr. Henderson, however good and generous, was a +stern man--so stern, that he had ten years before given up a beloved son +into the hands of justice for stealing; yea, stern _ex corde_ as Cato, +if generous _ex crumena_ as Codrus. + +This resolution for a time brought back his love of freedom and +adventure. He would go to Hudson's Bay, and shoot bears or set traps for +wild silver-foxes, that would bring him gold; or to Buenos Ayres, and +catch the wild horse with the lasso; or to Lima, and become a soldier of +fortune, and slay men with the sword. The gleam of wild hope was +shortlived--his triumph over his present ill a temporary hallucination. +The laurel is the only tree which burns and crackles when green. The +intention fled, as once more the thought of his mother came, with that +vigour which was only of half an hour's birth, and begotten by young +conscience on old neglect. They had been trailing their legs along till +they came to Inverleith Row, where he behoved to have left his +companions, if his resolution lasted; for the road there goes straight +on to Leith Harbour. He hesitated, and made an effort; but S----k, who +knew him, and fancied from the wild look of his eye that he meditated +throwing himself into the deep harbour of Leith, took him by an arm, +motioning to W----pe to take the other, and thus by a very small +effort--for really his resolution had departed, and his mind, so far as +his intention went, was gone--they half forced him up the long row. When +they arrived at Canonmills, here is the rider again, hurrying on: he had +executed his commission, whatever it was, and was galloping home. But +the moment he came forward, he pulled up. He had, by a glance under the +light of a lamp, caught a sight of the gun in the hands of S----k, who +had carried it when he took S----th's arm. The man shouted to a +policeman, + +"Seize that robber!" + +"Which of them?" + +"Him with the gun." + +And in an instant the cowardly dog who had done the whole business was +laid hold of. + +"The gun is mine," cried S----th. "It is I who am answerable for +whatever was done by him who carried that weapon. Take me, and let the +innocent off. I say this young man is innocent." + +"Very gallant and noble," said the man; "but when we go to the hills, we +like the deer that bears the horns." + +"We are up to them tricks," said the policeman. And S----k is borne +along, with courage, if he ever had any, gone, and his eye looking +terror. + +S----th wanted to go along with him; but W----pe seized him by the arm +again and dragged him up by the east side of Huntly Street, whereby they +could get easily to James' Square. + +In a few minutes more S----th was at his mother's door with the burning +five pounds in his pocket. He had meditated throwing it away, but the +hurrying concourse of thoughts had prevented the insufficient remedy +from being carried into effect. When he opened the door he found his +mother alone. The sister had not yet come from the warehouse where she +earned five shillings a week, almost the only source of her and the +mother's living; for the money which S----th earned as a mere copying +clerk in a writer's office, went mostly in some other direction. The +mother soon observed, as she cast her eye over him, that there was +something more than ordinary out of even his irregular way. He was pale, +woe-worn, haggard; nor did he seem able to stand, but hurried to a chair +and flung himself down, uttering confusedly, "Something to drink, +mother----whisky." + +"I hae nane, Charlie, lad," said she. "Never hae I passed a day like +this since your father died. I have na e'en got the bit meat that a' get +that are under God's protection. But what ails ye, dear Charlie?" + +"Never mind me," replied the youth in choking accents. "I am better. +Starving, starving! O God! and my doing. Yes, I am better--a bitter +cure--starving," he again muttered; and searching his pockets, and +throwing the five pounds on the table--"There, there, there," he added. + +The mother took up the notes, and counted them slowly; for she had been +inured to grief, and was always calm, even when her heart beat fast with +the throbs of anguish. + +"And whaur fae, laddie?" she said, as she turned her grey eye and +scanned deeply the pale face of her son. + +Silent, even dogged! Where now his metaphysics, his gibes on the +physicalities, the moralities, the spiritualities?--all bundled up in a +vibrating chord. + +"Whaur fae, Charlie," had she repeated, still looking at him. + +"The devil!" cried he, stung by her searching look, which brought back a +gleam of the old rebellion. + +"A gude paymaster to his servants," she said; "but I'm no ane o' them +yet; and may the Lord, wham I serve, even while his chastening hand is +heavy upon me, preserve me frae his bribes!" And laying down the notes, +she added, not lightly, as it might seem, but seriously, yet quietly, + +"Nae wonder they're warm." + +The notes had carried the heat of his burning hand. + +"The auld story--billiards," said she again; "for they are the devil's +cue and balls." + +No answer; and the mother seating herself again, looked stedfastly and +suspiciously at him; but she could not catch the eye of her son, who sat +doggedly determined not to reveal his secret, and as determined also to +elude her looks, searching as they were, and sufficient to enter his +very soul. Yet she loved him too well to objurgate where she was only as +yet suspicious; and in the quietness of the hour, she fell for a moment +into her widowed habit of speaking as if none were present but herself. + +"Wharfor bore I him--wharfor toiled and wrought for him for sae mony +years, since the time he sat on my knee smiling in my face, as if he +said, I will comfort you when you are old, and will be your stay and +support? Was that smile then a lee, put there by the devil, wha has +gi'en him the money to deceive me again?" + +Then she paused. + +"And how could that be? Love is not a cheat; and did ever bairn love a +mither as he loved me? or did ever mither love her bairn as I hae loved +him? Lord, deliver him frae his enemies, and mak him what he was in thae +bygone days--sae innocent, sae cheerful, sae obedient; and I will meekly +suffer a' Thou canst lay upon me." + +The words reached the ears of the son, and the audible sobs seemed to +startle the solemn spirit of the hour and the place. "What would she +say," he thought, "if she heard me declare I had robbed my uncle?" + +At that moment the door opened, and in rushed little Jeanie +S----th,--her face pale, and her blue eyes lighted with fear, and the +thin delicate nostril distended, and hissing with her quick +breathings,-- + +"Oh mither, there's twa officers on the stair seeking Charlie!" + +And the quick creature, darting her eye on the table where the notes +lay, snatched them up, and secreted them in her bosom; and, what was +more extraordinary, just as if she had divined something more from her +brother's looks, which told her that that money would be sought for by +these officers, she darted off like a bird with a crumb in its bill, +which it has picked up from beneath your eyes; but not before +depositing, as she passed, a paper on a chair near the door. + +"That creature is a spirit," said the mother. "She sees the evil in the +dark before it comes, and wards it off like a guardian angel; but oh! +she has little in her power to be an angel." + +And rising, she took up the paper. It was only some bread and cheese, +which the girl, knowing the privations of her mother, had bought with a +part of her five shillings a week. + +Thereafter, just as little Jeannie had intimated, came in two officers, +with the usual looks of duty appearing through their professional +sorrow. + +"We want your son, good woman." + +"He is there," said she; "but what want ye him for?" + +"Not for going to church," said the man, forgetting said professional +sorrow in his love of a joke, "but for robbery on the highway; and we +must search the house for five pounds in British Linen Company notes." + +And the men proceeded to search, even putting their hands in the +mother's pockets, besides rifling those of the son. They of course found +nothing except the powder and shot, which had still remained there, and +a handkerchief. + +"That is something, anyhow," said one of the men, "and a great deal too. +The one who is up in the office says true; he was not the man." + +"No more he was," said Charles. "I am the man you ought to take; and +take me." + +"Sae, sae; just as I suspected," muttered the mother. "Lord, Lord! the +cup runs over. It was e'en lipping when John died; but I will bear yet." +And she seemed to grasp firmly the back of a chair, and compressed her +lips--an attitude she maintained like a statue all the time occupied by +the departure of her son. The door closed--he was gone; and she still +stood, the _vivum cadaver_--the image of a petrified creature of misery. + +Yet, overcome as her very calmness was, and enchanted for the moment +into voicelessness and utter inaction, she was not that kind of women +who sit and bear the stripes without an effort to ward them off. If +Jeannie was as quick as lightning, she was sure as that which follows +the flash. She thought for a moment, "God does not absolutely and for +ever leave his servants." Some thought had struck her. She put on her +bonnet and cloak deliberately, even looking into the glass to see if she +was tidy enough for where she intended going, and for whom she intended +to see. + +And now this quiet woman is on her way down Broughton Street at twelve +o'clock of a cold winter night, which, like her own mind, had only that +calmness which results from the exhaustion of sudden biting gusts from +the north, and therefore right in her face. She drew her cloak round +her. She had a long way to go, but her son was in danger of the gallows; +and thoughtless, and as it now seemed, wicked as he was, he was yet her +_son_. The very word is a volume of heart language--not the fitful +expression of passion, but that quiet eloquence which bedews the eye and +brings deep sighs with holy recollections of the child-time, and +germinating hopes of future happiness up to the period when he would +hang over her departing spirit. Much of all that had gone, and been +replaced by dark forebodings of the future; and now there was before her +the vision of an ignominious death as the termination of all these holy +inspirations. But her faithful saying was always, "Wait, hope, and +persevere;" and the saying was muttered a hundred times as she trudged +weariedly, oh! how weariedly, for one who had scarcely tasted food for +that day, and who had left untouched the gift brought by her loving +daughter that night--for which, plain as it was, her heart yearned even +amidst its grief, yea, though grief is said, untruly no doubt, to have +no appetite. Perhaps not to those who are well fed; but nature is +stronger than even grief, and she now felt the consequence of her +disobedience to her behests in her shaking limbs and fainting heart. Yet +she trudged and trudged on, shutting her mouth against her empty stomach +to keep out the cold north wind. She is at the foot of Inverleith Row, +and her face is to the west; she will now escape the desultory blasts by +keeping close by the long running dyke. She passes the scene of the +robbery without knowing it; else, doubtless, she would have stood and +examined it by those instincts that force the spirit to such modes of +satisfaction, as if the inanimate thing could calm the spiritual. She +was now drawing to Davidson's Mains: a little longer, and much past +midnight, she was rapping, still in her quiet way, at the door of her +brother. + +The family had had something else to do than to sleep. There were the +sounds of tongues and high words. Mrs. S----th was surprised, as well +she might; for though sometimes Mr. Henderson partook freely of the +bottle when he met old friends in town, he and the whole household were +peaceable, orderly, and early goers to bed. The door was opened almost +upon the instant; and Mrs. S----th was presently before Mr. Henderson +and two others, one of whom held in his hand a whip. + +"What has brought you here, Margaret, at this hour?" + +"I want to speak privately to you." + +"Just here; out with it," said he. "These are my friends; and if it is +more money you want, you have come at an unlucky time, for I have been +robbed by a villain of five pounds, which I could ill spare." + +Mrs. S----th's heart died away within her. She clenched her hands to +keep her from shaking; for she recollected the old story about his own +son--a story which had got him the character of being harsh and +unnatural. She could not mention her errand, which was nothing else than +to induce her brother to use his influence in some way to get Charles +out of the hands of the law. She could not utter even the word Charles, +and all she could say was-- + +"Robbed!" + +"Ay, robbed by a villain, whom I shall hang three cubits higher than +Haman." + +And the stern man even laughed at the thought of retribution. Yet, +withal, no man could deny his generosity and general kindliness, if, +even immediately after, he did not show it by slipping a pound into the +hands of his needy sister. + +"There," said he; "no more at present. I will call up and see you +to-morrow morning, as I go to the police office to identify the villain. +Meantime, take a dram, dear Peggy, and get home to bed. The night is +cold, and see that you wrap yourself well up to keep _out_ the wind and +_in_ the spirit; it's good whisky." + +Shortly afterwards she was on her way home, with more than blasted hopes +of what she had travelled for. + +His uncle the man he had robbed! Even with all her forced composedness, +this seemed too much--ay, so much too much, that she was totally +overpowered. She paused to recover strength; and, looking forward, saw a +thin flying shadow coming up to her, with a shriek of delight; and +immediately she was hugged rapturously and kissed all over by little +Jeannie, whose movements, as they ever were--so agile, so quick, so +Protean--appeared to her, now that she was stolid with despair, as the +postures and gestures of a creature appearing in a dream. + +"Oh, I know all," she cried; "don't speak--nay, wait now till I return." + +And the creature was off like a September meteor disappearing in the +west, as if to make up again to the sun, far down away behind the hills +from whence it had been struck off in the height of the day. + +What can the strange creature mean? But she had had experience of her, +and knew the instinctive divination that got at objects and results +where reason in full-grown man would syllogize into the darkness of +despair. + +Nor was it long before she is running back, leaping with all the +_abandon_ of a romp, crying-- + +"I will save dear Charlie yet; for I love him as much as I hate that old +curmudgeon." + +"What does the girl mean? Whaur was you, bairn?" said her mother. + +"Oh mother, how cold it is for you! Wrap the cloak about you." + +"But what _is_ it that you mean, Jeannie?" + +"We shall be home by-and-by; come." + +And, putting an arm round her mother's waist, she impelled her forward +with the strength of her wythe of an arm. + +"Come, come, there are ghosts about these woods;" and then she cowered, +but still impelled. + +Nor did the mother press the question she had already put twice; for, as +we have said, she knew the nature of the girl, who ever took her own +way, and had the art to make that way either filial obedience or loving +conciliation. + +"Oh, I'm so frightened for these ghosts!" she continued. "You know there +was a murder here once upon a time. They're so like myself--wicked, and +won't answer when they're spoken to, as I would not answer you, dear +mother, just now; but wait till to-morrow, and you shall see that I am +your own loving Jeannie." + +"Weel, weel, bairn, we _will_ see. But, oh, I'm muckle afraid; d'ye +know, Jeannie, Charlie has been robbing! And wha, think ye, was the +man--wha but--" + +"Hush, hush, mother, I know it all already; but let me beneath your +cloak, I'm so frightened." + +And the little sprite got in, keeping her head and the little cup of a +bonnet protruding every moment to look round; yet if it could have been +seen in the dark, with such a sly, half-humorous eye, as betokened one +of those curiously-made creatures who seem to be formed for studies to +the thoroughgoing decent pacers of the world's stage. + +"Ah! now we're all safe, as poor Charlie will be to-morrow," she cried, +as they got to the foot of the long row, and she emerged in the light of +one of the lamps, so like a flash from a cloud, running before her +mother to get her to walk faster and faster, as if some scheme she had +in her head was loitering under the impediment of her mother's wearied, +oh, wearied step. + +Having at length reached home, Jeannie ran and got the fire as bright as +her own eye, crying out occasionally, as she glanced about, + +"Poor Charlie in a dungeon!" and again, a few minutes after, when +puffing at the fire with the bellows, + +"No fire for dear Charlie; all dark and dismal!" + +And then, running for the little paper packet with the cheese and bread, +and setting it down, + +"But he'll see the sun to-morrow, and will sleep in his own bed +to-morrow night too; that he shall. Now eat, mother, for you will be +hungry; and see you this!" as she took from her pocket a very tiny +bottle, which would hold somewhere about a glass. + +"Take that," filling out a little whisky. + +"Oh dear, dear bairn, where learnt ye a' that witchery?" said the +mother, looking at her. + +But the sly look, sometimes without a trace of laughter in her face, was +the only answer. + +And now they are stretched in bed in each other's arms; but it was a +restless night for both. And how different the manifestations of the +restlessness! The groans of the elder for the fate of her only boy, now +suspended on the scales of justice--one branch of the balance to be lopt +off by Nemesis, and the other left with a noose in the string whereon to +hang that erring, yet still beloved son; hysterical laughs from Jeannie +in her dreams, as she saw herself undo the kench, and Charlie let out, +clapping his hands, and praying too, and kissing Jeannie, and other +fantastic tricks of fancy in her own domain, unburdened with heavy clay +which soils and presses upon her wings and binds her to earth, and to +these monstrous likenesses of things, which she says are all a lying +nature under the bonds of a blind fate, from where she cannot get free, +even though she screams of murder and oppression and cruelty, and all +the ills that earth-born flesh inherits from the first man. + +Yet, for all these deductions from the sleep they needed, Jeannie was up +in the morning early, infusing tea for herself and mother, muttering, as +she whisked about, + +"No breakfast for him made by me, who love him so dearly; but in this +very house, ay, this night, he will have supper; and such a supper!" + +In the midst of these scenes in the little room, a knock came to the +door. It was a policeman, to say that she and her mother must be up to +the office by ten. + +"And shall we not?" said Jeannie, laughing; "wouldn't I have been there +at any rate?" + +Then, a little after, came the stern Henderson, still ignorant of who +robbed him. Mrs. S--th got up trembling, and looking at him with terror, +so dark he appeared. + +"Where is Charles?" he said. + +"We don't know," said Jeannie, turning a side-glance at her mother. It +was true she hated her uncle mortally, for the reason that, though he +was to an extent generous to them, he was harsh too, and left them often +poorly off, when from his wealth, which he concealed, he might have made +them happy; and then how could they help the conduct of the son whose +earnings ought to have relieved the uncle of even his small advances? + +But though Jeannie hated the curmudgeon, who was, if he could, to hang +her brother--worth to her all the world and a bit of heaven--the mother +saw some change in the girl's conduct towards her uncle. Though pure as +snow, she flew to him and hugged him with the art of one of the denizens +of rougedom, and kissed him, and all the time was acting some by-play +with her nimble fingers. + +"Where is your box, you naughty uncle? Doesn't my mother like her eyes +opened in the morning? Ah, here it is." + +And getting the box, she carried it to her mother, who was still more +surprised; for she never had got a pinch from Mr. Henderson nor any one, +though she sometimes, for her breathing, took a draught of a pipe at +night. + +"It is empty, you witch," cried Henderson. + +"Ah! then, my mother will not get her eyes opened." And she returned it +into his pocket with these said subtle fingers. + +The mother got dressed, and took a cup of Jeannie's tea, and in a few +minutes they were all on their way to the police office. They found +Captain Stewart in his room, and along with him the procurator-fiscal. + +"Come away, Mr. Henderson; this is a bad business," said Stewart. + +"The villain!" cried Henderson; "I hope he will hang for it." + +"Ay, if guilty though, only," replied the captain. + +"Would you know the man?" said the fiscal. + +"No, he had a napkin over his face; but I could guess something from his +size and voice." + +"He admits the robbery," said Stewart; "but he has an absurd +qualification about a frolic, which yet, I am bound to say, is supported +by his accomplices." + +"Then the money, five pounds, has not been got," said the fiscal. "This +is a great want; for without it, I don't see what we can make of the +case." + +"Money here or money there, I've lost it anyhow; and if he isn't hanged, +I'll not be pleased." + +"Was there any but one man engaged in the affair?" + +"Just one, and plenty." + +"He had a gun?" + +"Yes." + +"Would you know it?" + +"No. I was, to say the truth, too frightened to examine the instrument +that was to shoot me." + +"Then we have nothing but the admission and the testimony of the +accomplices, who say it was a frolic," said Stewart. + +"No frolic to me," cried Henderson. "Why then didn't they return the +money?" + +"They say they called and ran after you, and that you would not wait to +get it back." + +"Then why didn't they produce it to you?" said Henderson. "The money is +appropriated." + +"A circumstance," said the fiscal, "in itself sufficient to rebut the +frolic. Yes, the strength of the case is there." + +"So I thought," growled the man. + +"You wasn't in liquor?" + +"No." + +"Are you ever?" + +"I don't deny that in town I take a glass, but seldom so much as to +affect my walking; never so much as make me dream I was robbed of money, +and that too money gone from my pocket." + +"Where do you carry your money?" + +"In my waistcoat pocket. Sometimes I have carried a valuable bill home +in my snuff-mull, when it was empty by chance." + +"Where had you the five pounds?" + +"I am not sure, but I think in my left waistcoat pocket." + +"And you gave it on demand? It was not rifled from you?" + +"I thrust it into the villain's hand, and ran." + +"Well, we must confront you with the supposed robber," said the captain. +"But you seem to be in choler, and I caution you against a precipitate +judgment. You may naturally think the admission of the young men enough, +and that may make you see what perhaps may not be to be seen. I confess +the admission of _three_ to be more than the law wants or wishes; yet +there are peculiarities in this case that take it out of the general +rules." Stewart then nodded to an officer, who went out and returned. + +"There stands the prisoner." + +"Charles S----th!" ejaculated the uncle: "my own nephew! execrable +villain!" + +And he looked at the youth with bated breath and fiery eyes. + +There was silence for a few minutes. The officials looked pitiful. The +mother hung down her head; and little Jeannie leered significantly, +while she took the strings of her bonnet, tied them, undid them again, +and flung away the ends till they went round her neck; nay, the playful +minx was utterly dead to the condition of her brother who stood there, +ashamed to look any one in the face, if he was not rather like an +exhumed corpse; and we would not be far out if we said that she even +laughed as she saw the curmudgeon staring like an angry mastiff at the +brother she loved so well. But then, was she not an eccentric thing, +driven hither and thither by vagrant impulses, and with thoughts in her +head which nobody could understand? + +"Was this the man who robbed you, Mr. Henderson?" + +"Yes, the very man; now when I recollect. Stay, was there any +handkerchief found on him?" + +"Yes; that," said an officer, producing a red silk handkerchief. + +"Why, I gave him that," said Mr. Henderson. "It cost me 4s. 6d.; and it +was that he had over his face when he robbed me of my hard-earned +money!" + +"It is true," said Charles; "and sorry am I for the frolic, which my +companions forced me into." + +"A frolic with five pounds at its credit," said Mr. Henderson. "Where is +the money, sir?" + +"Ah! I know, dear uncle," cried the watchful Jeannie, in a piercing +treble of the clearest silver. + +All eyes were turned on Jeannie. + +"Then where is it, girl?" + +"I saw him put it in his snuff-mull last night when he was at mother's." + +"Examine your box, Mr. Henderson." + +The man growled, took out the box, and there was the five pounds. He +looked at Jeannie as if he would have devoured her with his nose at a +single pinch. + +"Was Mr. Henderson sober, Miss S----th?" + +"No." + +"Was he drunk?" + +"No. Only he couldn't stand scarcely, though he could walk; and he +called mother Jeannie, and me Peggy, and he said 'twas a shame in us to +burn two candles at his expense, when one was enough." + +"_Saved by a pinch_," cried Captain Stewart. + +"Mr. Henderson," said the fiscal, "the case is done, and would never +have come here if your nose had happened last night to be as itchy as +your hand. The prisoner is discharged." + +And no sooner had the words been uttered than Jeannie flew to her +brother, hung round his neck, kissed him, blubbered and played such +antics that the fiscal could not refrain searching for his handkerchief. +He found it too; but just as if this article were no part of his +official property, he returned it to his pocket; and then, as he saw +Charles leaning on his mother's breast, and making more noise with his +heart and lungs than he could have done if he had been hanged, he +resolved, after due deliberation, to let the "hanging drop" have its own +way in sticking on the top of his cheek, and determined not to fall for +all his jerking. + +"BARBADOES, _15th July_ 18--. + +"MY DEAREST LITTLE JEANNIE,--I am at length settled the manager of a +great sugar factory, with L400 a year. Tell your mother I will write her +by next post; and all I can say meantime is, that Messrs. Coutts and Co. +will pay her L100 a year, half-yearly, till I return to keep you, for +saving me from the gallows. Accept the offer of the old man. He is worth +L500 a year; and you're just the little winged spirit that will keep up +a fire of life in a good heart only a little out of use. + +"_P.S._--Tell uncle that I will send him five pounds of snuff, by next +ship, in return for the five pounds I took out of his box on that +eventful night, which was the beginning of my reformation. + +"Tell Mrs. S----k and Mrs. W----pe that their sons arrived at Jamaica; +but, poor fellows, they are both dead. + +"The same vessel that carries the snuff will convey to mother a hogshead +of sugar and a puncheon of rum. So that at night, in place of the tiny +phial which held a glass, and which you used to draw out of your pocket +so slily when mother was weakly, you may now mix for her a tumbler of +rum-punch; and if you don't take some too, I'll send you no more. But, +hark ye, Jeannie, don't give uncle a _drop_, though he tried to give me +one that, I fear, would have made my head, like yours, a little giddy. +Adieu, dear little Ariel." + + + + +THE PROCRASTINATOR. + + +Being overtaken by a shower in Kensington Gardens, I sought shelter in +one of the alcoves near the palace. I was scarce seated, when the storm +burst with all its fury; and I observed an old fellow, who had stood +loitering till the hurricane whistled round his ears, making towards me, +as rapidly as his apparently palsied limbs would permit. Upon his nearer +approach, he appeared rather to have suffered from infirmity than years. +He wore a brownish-black coat, or rather shell, which, from its +dimensions, had never been intended for the wearer; and his +inexpressibles were truly inexpressible. "So," said I, as he seated +himself on the bench, and shook the rain from his old broad-brimmed hat, +"you see, old boy, '_Procrastination is the thief of time_;' the clouds +gave you a hint of what was coming, but you seemed not to take it." "It +is," replied he, eagerly. "Doctor Young is in the right. Procrastination +has been my curse since I was in leading-strings. It has grown with my +growth, and strengthened with my strength. It has ever been my besetting +sin--my companion in prosperity and adversity; and I have slept upon it, +like Samson on the lap of Delilah, till it has shorn my locks and +deprived me of my strength. It has been to me a witch, a manslayer, and +a murderer; and when I would have shaken it off in wrath and in disgust, +I found I was no longer master of my own actions and my own house. It +had brought around me a host of its blood relations--its sisters and its +cousins-german--to fatten on my weakness, and haunt me to the grave; so +that when I tore myself from the embrace of one, it was only to be +intercepted by another. You are young, sir, and a stranger to me; but +its effects upon me and my history--the history of a poor paralytic +shoemaker--if you have patience to hear, may serve as a beacon to you in +your voyage through life." + +Upon expressing my assent to his proposal--for the fluency and fervency +of his manner had at once riveted my attention and excited curiosity--he +continued:-- + +"I was born without a fortune, as many people are. When about five years +of age, I was sent to a parish school in Roxburghshire, and +procrastination went with me. Being possessed of a tolerable memory, I +was not more deficient than my schoolfellows; but the task which they +had studied the previous evening was by me seldom looked at till the +following morning, and my seat was the last to be occupied of any other +on the form. My lessons were committed to memory by a few hurried +glances, and repeated with a faltering rapidity, which not unfrequently +puzzled the ear of the teacher to follow me. But what was thus hastily +learned, was as suddenly forgotten. They were mere surface impressions, +each obliterated by the succeeding. And though I had run over a +tolerable general education, I left school but little wiser than when I +entered it. + +"My parents--peace to their memory!"--here the old fellow looked most +feelingly, and a tear of filial recollection glistened in his eyes: it +added a dignity to the recital of his weakness, and I almost reverenced +him--"My parents," continued he, "had no ambition to see me rise higher +in society than an honest tradesman; and at thirteen I was bound +apprentice to a shoemaker. Yes, sir, I was--I am a shoemaker; and but +for my curse--my malady--had been an ornament to my profession. I have +measured the foot of a princess, sir; I have made slippers to his +Majesty!" Here his tongue acquired new vigour from the idea of his own +importance. "Yes, sir, I have made slippers to his Majesty; yet I am an +unlucky--I am a bewitched--I am a ruined man. But to proceed with my +history. During the first year of my apprenticeship, I acted in the +capacity of errand boy; and, as such, had to run upon many an unpleasant +message--sometimes to ask money, frequently to borrow it. Now, sir, I am +also a _bashful_ man, and, as I was saying, _bashfulness_ is one of the +blood relations which procrastination has fastened upon me. While acting +in my last-mentioned capacity, I have gone to the house, gazed at every +window, passed it and repassed it, placed my hand upon the rapper, +withdrawn it, passed it and repassed it again, stood hesitating and +consulting with myself, then resolved to defer it till the next day, and +finally returned to my master, not with a direct lie, but a broad +_equivocation_; and this was another of the cousins-german which +procrastination introduced to my acquaintance. + +"In the third year of my servitude, I became fond of reading; was +esteemed a quick workman; and, having no desire for money beyond what +was necessary to supply my wants, I gave unrestricted indulgence to my +new passion. We had each an allotted quantity of work to perform weekly. +Conscious of being able to complete it in half the time, and having +yielded myself solely to my ruinous propensity to delay, I seldom did +anything before the Thursday; and the remaining days were spent in +hurry, bustle, and confusion. Occasionally I overrated my abilities--my +task was unfinished, and I was compelled to count a _dead horse_. Week +after week this grew upon me, till I was so firmly saddled, that, until +the expiration of my apprenticeship, I was never completely freed from +it. This was another of my curse's handmaidens." + +Here he turned to me with a look of seriousness, and said, "Beware, +young man, how you trust to your own strength and your own talents; for +however noble it may be to do so, let it be in the open field, before +you are driven into a corner, where your arms may come in contact with +the thorns and the angles of the hedges. + +"About this time, too, I fell in love--yes, _fell_ in love; for I just +beheld the fair object, and I was a dead man, or a new man, or anything +you will. Frequently as I have looked and acted like a fool, I believe I +never did so so strikingly as at that moment. She was a beautiful +girl--a very angel of light--about five feet three inches high, and my +own age. Heaven knows how I ever had courage to declare my passion; for +I put it off day after day, and week after week, always preparing a new +speech against the next time of meeting her, until three or four rivals +stepped forward before me. At length I did speak, and never was love +more clumsily declared. I told her in three words; then looked to the +ground, and again in her face most pitifully. She received my addresses +just as saucily as a pretty girl could do. But it were useless to go +over our courtship; it was the only happy period of my existence, and +every succeeding day has been misery. Matters were eventually brought to +a bearing, and the fatal day of final felicity appointed. I was yet +young, and my love possessed all the madness of a first passion. She not +only occupied my heart, but my whole thoughts; I could think of nothing +else, speak of nothing else, and, what was worse, do nothing else: it +burned up the very capabilities of action, and rendered my native +indolence yet more indolent. However, the day came (and a bitter stormy +day it was), the ceremony was concluded, and the honeymoon seemed to +pass away in a fortnight. + +"About twelve months after our marriage, Heaven (as authors say) blest +our loves with a son and, I had almost said, heir. Deplorable +patrimony!--heir of his mother's features--the sacrifice of his father's +weakness." Kean could not have touched this last burst. The father, the +miserable man, parental affection, agony, remorse, repentance, were +expressed in a moment. + +A tear was hurrying down his withered cheek as he dashed it away with +his dripping sleeve. "I am a weak old fool," said he, endeavouring to +smile; for there was a volatile gaiety in his disposition, which his +sorrows had subdued, but not extinguished. "Yet, my boy! my poor dear +Willie!--I shall never--no, I shall never see him again!" Here he again +wept; and had nature not denied me that luxury, I should have wept too, +for the sake of company. After a pause, he again proceeded:-- + +"After the birth of my child, came the baptism. I had no conscientious +objection to the tenets of the Established Church of my country; but I +belonged to no religious community. I had never thought of it as an +obligation beyond that of custom, and deferred it from year to year, +till I felt ashamed to 'go forward' on account of my age. My wife was a +Cameronian; and to them, though I knew nothing of their principles, I +had an aversion. But for her to hold up the child while I was in the +place, was worse than heathenism--was unheard-of in the parish. The +nearest Episcopal chapel was at Kelso, a distance of ten miles. The +child still remained unbaptized. 'It hasna a name yet,' said the +ignorant meddlers, who had no higher idea of the ordinance. It was a +source of much uneasiness to my wife, and gave rise to some family +quarrelling. Months succeeded weeks, and eventually the child was +carried to the Episcopal church. This choked up all the slander of the +town, and directed it into one channel upon my devoted head. Some said I +'wasna sound,' and all agreed I 'was nae better than I should be,' while +the zealous clergyman came to my father, expressing his fears that 'his +son was in a bad way.' For this, too, am I indebted to procrastination. +I thus became a martyr to supposed opinions, of which I was ignorant; +and such was the unchristian bigotry of my neighbours, that, deeming it +sinful to employ one whom they considered little other than a pagan, +about five years after my marriage I was compelled to remove with my +family to London. + +"We were at this period what tradesmen term _miserably hard up_. Having +sold off our little stock of furniture, after discharging a few debts +which were unavoidably contracted, a balance of rather less than two +pounds remained; and upon this, my wife, my child, and myself were to +travel a distance of three hundred and fifty miles. I will not go over +the journey: we performed it on foot in twenty days; and, including +lodging, our daily expense amounted to one shilling and eightpence; so +that, on entering the metropolis, all we possessed was five shillings +and a few pence. It was the dead of winter, and nearly dark, when we +were passing down St. John Street, Clerkenwell. I was benumbed, my wife +was fainting, and our poor child was blue and speechless. We entered a +public-house near Smithfield, where two pints of warm porter and ginger, +with a crust of bread and cheese, operated as partial restoratives. The +noisy scene of butchers, drovers, and coal-heavers was new to me. My +child was afraid, my wife uncomfortable, and I, a gaping observer, +forgetful of my own situation. My boy pulled my coat, and said, 'Come, +father;' my wife jogged my elbow, and reminded me of a lodging; but my +old reply, '_Stop a little_,' was my ninety and nine times repeated +answer. Frequently the landlord made a long neck over the table, gauging +the contents of our tardily emptied pint; and, as the watchman was +calling 'Past eleven,' finally took it away, and bade us 'bundle off.' +Now I arose, feeling at once the pride of my spirit and the poorness of +my purse, vowing never to darken his door again, should I remain in +London a hundred years. + +"On reaching the street, I inquired at a half-grown boy where we might +obtain a lodging; and after causing me to inquire twice or thrice--'I no +ken, Sawney--haud awa' north,' said the brat, sarcastically imitating my +accent. I next inquired of a watchman, who said there was no place upon +his beat; but _beat_ was Gaelic to me; and I repeated my inquiry to +another, who directed me towards the hells of Saffron Hill. At a third, +I requested to be informed the way, who, after abusing me for seeking +lodgings at such an hour, said he had seen me in the town six hours +before, and bade us go to the devil. A fourth inquired if we had any +money, took us to the bar of a public-house, called for a quartern of +gin, drank our healths, asked if we could obtain a bed, which being +answered in the negative, he hurried to the door, bawling 'Half-past +eleven,' and left me to pay for the liquor. On reaching Saffron Hill, it +was in an Irish uproar: policemen, thieves, prostitutes, and Israelites +were brawling in a satanic mass of iniquity; blood and murder was the +order of the night. My child screamed, my wife clung to my arm; she +would not, she durst not, sleep in such a place. To be brief: we had to +wander in the streets till the morning; and I believe that night, aided +by a broken heart, was the forerunner of her death. It was the first +time I had been compelled to walk trembling for a night without shelter, +or to sit frozen on a threshold; and this, too, I owe to +procrastination. + +"For a time we rented a miserable garret, without furniture or fixture, +at a shilling weekly, which was paid in advance. I had delayed making +application for employment till our last sixpence was spent. We had +passed a day without food; my child appeared dying; my wife said +nothing, but she gazed upon her dear boy, and shook her head with an +expression that wrung me to the soul. I rushed out almost in madness, +and, in a state of unconsciousness, hurried from shop to shop in +agitation and in misery. It was vain; appearances were against me. I was +broken down and dejected, and my state of mind and manner appeared a +compound of the maniac and the blackguard. At night I was compelled to +return to the suffering victims of my propensity, penniless and +unsuccessful. It was a dreadful and a sleepless night with us all; or if +I did slumber upon the hard floor for a moment (for we had neither seat +nor covering), it was to startle at the cries of my child wailing for +hunger, or the smothered sighs of my unhappy partner. Again and again I +almost thought them the voice of the Judge, saying, 'Depart from me, ye +cursed.' + +"I again hurried out with daybreak, for I was wretched, and resumed my +inquiries; but night came, and I again returned equally successful. The +yearnings of my child were now terrible, and the streaming eyes of his +fond mother, as she pressed his head with her cold hand upon her lap, +alone distinguished her from death. The pains of hunger in myself were +becoming insupportable; my teeth gnashed against each other, and worms +seemed gnawing my heartstrings. At this moment, my dear wife looked me +in the face, and, stretching her hand to me, said, 'Farewell, my love, +in a few hours I and our dear child shall be at rest! Oh! hunger, +hunger!' I could stand no more. Reason forsook me. I could have died for +them; but I could not beg. We had nothing to pledge. Our united wearing +apparel would not have brought a shilling. My wife had a pair of pocket +Bibles (I had once given them in a present): my eyes fell upon them--I +snatched them up unobserved--rushed from the house, and--Oh heaven! let +the cause forgive the act--pawned them for eighteenpence. It saved our +lives, it obtained employment, and for a few weeks appeared to overcome +my curse. + +"I am afraid I grow tedious with particulars, sir; it is an old man's +fault--though I am not old either; I am scarce fifty-five. After being +three years in London, I was appointed foreman of an extensive +establishment in the Strand. I remained in this situation about four +years. It was one of respectability and trust, demanding, hourly, a +vigilant and undivided attention. To another, it might have been +attended with honour and profit; but to me it terminated in disgrace. +Amongst other duties, I had the payment of the journeymen, and the +giving out of the work. They being numerous, and their demands frequent, +it would have required a clerk for the proper discharge of that duty +alone. I delayed entering at the moment in my books the materials and +cash given to each, until they, multiplying upon my hands, and begetting +a consequent confusion, it became impossible for me to make their entry +with certainty or correctness. The workmen were not slow in discovering +this, and not a few of the more profligate improved upon it to their +advantage. Thus I frequently found it impossible to make both ends of my +account meet; and in repeated instances, where the week's expenditure +exceeded the general average, though satisfied in my own mind of its +accuracy, from my inability to state the particulars, in order to +conceal my infirmity, I have accounted for the overplus from my own +pocket. Matters went on in this way for a considerable time. You will +admit I was rendered feelingly sensible of my error, and I resolved to +correct it. But my resolutions were always made of paper; they were like +a complaisant debtor--full of promises, praying for grace, and +dexterously evading performance. Thus, day after day, I deferred the +adoption of my new system to a future period. For, sir, you must be +aware there is a pleasure in procrastination, of a nature the most +alluring and destructive; but it is a pleasure purchased by the +sacrifice of judgment: in its nature and results it resembles the +happiness of the drunkard; for, in exact ratio as our spirits are raised +above their proper level, in the same proportion, when the ardent +effects have evaporated, they sink beneath that level. + +"I was now too proud to work as a mere journeyman, and I commenced +business for myself; but I began without capital, and a gourd of sorrow +hung over me, while I stood upon sand. I had some credit; but, as my +bills became payable, I ever found I had put off, till the very day they +became due, the means of liquidating them; then had I to run and borrow +five pounds from one, and five shillings from another, urged by despair, +from a hundred quarters. My creditors grew clamorous; my wife upbraided +me; I flew to the bottle--to the bottle!" he repeated; "and my ruin was +complete--my family, business, everything, was neglected. Bills of +Middlesex were served on me, declarations filed; I surrendered myself, +and was locked up in Whitecross Street. It is a horrid place; the Fleet +is a palace to it; the Bench, paradise! But, sir, I will draw my painful +story to a close. During my imprisonment my wife died--died, not by my +hands, but from the work of them! She was laid in a strange grave, and +strangers laid her head in the dust, while I lay a prisoner in the city +where she was buried. My boy--my poor Willie--who had been always +neglected, was left without father and without mother! Sir! sir! my boy +was left without food! He forsook visiting me in the prison; I heard he +had turned the associate of thieves; and from that period five years +have passed, and I have obtained no trace of him. But it is my doing--my +poor Willie!" + +Here the victim of procrastination finished his narrative. The storm had +passed away, and the sun again shone out. The man had interested me, and +we left the gardens together. I mentioned that I had to go into the +city; he said he had business there also, and asked to accompany me. I +could not refuse him. From the door by which we left the gardens, our +route lay by way of Oxford Street. As we proceeded down Holborn, the +church bell of St. Sepulchre's began to toll; and the crowd, collected +round the top of Newgate Street, indicated an execution. As we +approached the place, the criminal was brought forth. He was a young man +about nineteen years of age, and had been found guilty of an aggravated +case of housebreaking. As the unhappy being turned round to look upon +the spectators, my companion gave a convulsive shriek, and, springing +from my side, exclaimed, "Righteous Heaven! my Willie! my murdered +Willie!" He had proceeded but a few paces, when he fell with his face +upon the ground. In the wretched criminal he discovered his lost, his +only son. The miserable old man was conveyed, in a state of +insensibility, to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where I visited him the +next day: he seemed to suffer much, and in a few hours he died with a +shudder, and the word _procrastination_ on his tongue. + + + + +THE TEN OF DIAMONDS. + + +At length I reached the Moated Grange, on a visit to my friend Graeme. +But since I am to speak a good deal of this place, I may as well explain +that it was misnamed. There was no moat, nor had there been for a +hundred years; but round the old pile--hoary, and shrivelled, and +palsied enough, in all conscience, for delighting the mole-eye of any +antiquarian hunks--- there was a visible trace of the old ditch in a +hollow covered with green sward going all round the house, which hollow +was the only place clear of trees. And these trees! They stood for a +mile round, like an army of giants seventy feet high, all intent, it +would seem, upon choking the poor old pile, throwing their big arms over +the hollow, swinging them to and fro, and dashing their points against +the panes as the wind listed. It would come by-and-by to be a hard task +for the stone and lime victim to hold its place, with its sinews of run +mortar, against these tyrants of the wood. And then they were as full of +noises as Babel itself--noises a thousand times more +heterogeneous--croaking, chirping, screeching, cawing, whistling, +billing, cooing, cuckooing. "What a place to live in!" I thought, fresh +as I was from town, "where, if there are noises, one knows something of +their meaning--maledictory, yea, devilish as it often is, expressive of +the passions of men which will never sleep. But these! what could one +make of such a _tintamarre_? Nothing but the reflection--that is, if you +happen to be a philosopher, which, thank God, I am not--that not one +note of all this rural oratorio is without its intention; and thus we +always satisfy ourselves. But when we run the matter up a little +further, we find it a very small affair: two responses, one to each of +two chords vibrating for ever and ever throughout all nature--pleasure +and pain, pain and pleasure, turn by turn--the last pain being death!" + +"How can you live here, Graeme?" I said, as we stood under the old +porch, looking out, or rather having our look blocked up by the +thickness, and our ears deaved by the eternal screeching and cawing of +five thousand crows overhead. + +"There's gloom everywhere where man is," he replied, "and screeching +owls in every brain. You can't get quit." Then, lowering his voice, "I +am haunted, and yet live here in this Moated Grange! The difference is +this: in the town the gaslight and eternal clatter distract a man like +me who is plagued from within; here I find some concord between the +inside and the out, only the owls in the inside are more grotesque and +horrible." + +"Well, Graeme," said I, "it is needless to disguise what brought me +here. The secret is out. The choke-damp has got wind. If the idiot had +not blown his brains out, it would have been nothing. You could have +paid him back, and he might now have had both his money and his brains." + +"Got wind!" cried he, clutching me by the breast of the coat with the +fury of a highwayman or a spasmodic actor. "Did the villain Ruggieri +tell you?" + +"No." + +"So far well," he added, taking a long pull with his lungs, as if he had +got quit of an attack of asthma; "but though I may satisfy the widow, +how am I to appease Heaven? Come," he added, again seizing me with a +force in which there was a tremble, "I want to ease my mind. You are my +oldest friend, and a load divided is more easily carried." + +And leading the way into the parlour, where the fire had got into a fine +red heat, and was sending a glare through the ruby and golden contents +of several strangely-shaped bottles on the table, he threw himself on a +chair on the one side, I taking one on the other. A few minutes of +silence intervened. + +"If it be as painful for you," he continued, "to hear a confession as it +is for me to make it, you may help yourself to bear the infliction by +pouring into your stomach some of that Burgundy. I will take none. I +have fire enough in my brain already;" and he pushed the bottle to me. + +"You were a bit of a blackleg yourself," he continued, as he threw +himself back in the arm-chair, and compressed his chest with his folded +arms till the blood seemed to mount to his face. "You were present at +that game where I took the five thousand by a trick from Gourlay. You +know, as a gambler yourself, that all the tribe are by constitution +cheats. It is folly to speak of an honest gambler. The passion is a ten +thousand times distilled selfishness, with no qualm of obligation to God +or religion to keep it in check--only a little fear of that bugbear, +society. Our club at the 'Red Lion' all knew this in our souls; but +every one of us knew also that the moment he would be discovered +cheating, he would be scorched with our hatred and contempt. He must +leave our pure society on the instant--not of course that he was any +worse than the rest of us, but only that he was unfortunate in being +discovered. That night Gourlay and I were demons. We had baffled each +other, and drank till our brains seethed, though our countenances and +speech betrayed nothing but the extreme of coolness. He had won a +thousand of me, and hounded me from post to pillar, offering to be +cleared out by my _skill_, as he called it sneeringly. The fellow, in +short, hated me, because the year before, at Baden-Baden, I had taken +two thousand out of him, and would not give him his revenge." + +"He must have thought you honest," said I; "otherwise he would not have +thus badgered you to play." + +"No; he had not the generosity to think me honest. I repeat, no gambler +ever thinks another gambler honest, and he lies when he says so. He knew +himself to be a rogue, and thought it diamond in the teeth of diamond;" +and, pausing and meditating, he repeated the word, +"diamond--diamond--diamond." + +I looked at him in surprise. He continued to keep up the cuckoo sound, +trying to laugh, and yet totally unable to accomplish even a cackle, as +if some internal force clutched the diaphragm and mocked him, so that +his efforts were reduced to a gurgling as in cynanche--like a dog +choking with a rope round his craig, the sounds coming jerking out in +barks, and dying away again in yelps and whines. + +"You will know presently why that word produces these strange effects +upon me," he at length contrived to be able to say. "Nor less the form +of the figure as painted in these hell-books. It is blazoned everywhere. +The devil wears it in fiery lines on his face as he hounds me a-nights +through these thick woods. Yet I am not afraid of it--rather court it, +as if I yearned for the burning pain of its red signature in, and in, +and in to my brain, as far as thought goes." + +"Have you got mad, Graeme?" I ejaculated. "What has the figure of a +diamond, or of ten diamonds----" + +"_Ten_, you would say?" he immediately cried, as he started up, and +immediately threw himself down; "_the_ ten, if you dared. You are +commissioned by the powers yonder--you, you, too, along with the others, +including the devil." + +"I have no wish to be in the same commission with that great personage," +said I, with a very poor attempt to laugh, for I felt anxious about my +friend. "I gave him up when I threw his books into the fire, and swore +never more to touch the unhallowed thing." + +I perceived that my attempt at humour increased his excitement. "Repeat +the words," he cried. "Say 'the ten of diamonds' right out with open +mouth, and repeat them a thousand times, so as to give me ear-proof that +the powers yonder," pointing to the roof, "are against me." + +At this moment the door of the parlour was opened by some timid hand. + +"Come hither, my pretty Edith," he said, in a calmer voice, as a little +cherub-looking child, with a head so like as if, after the fashion of +Danaee's, it had been powdered by Jupiter with gold dust, and a pair of +blue eyes, as if the said god, in making them, had tried to emulate the +wing of the Halcyon in a human orb, and intended, moreover, the light +thereof to calm the storm in those of her father. + +And so it did, to a certain extent; for Edith got upon his knee, and, +putting her arms round his neck, kept peering with those eyes into the +very pupils of her father's, till the light of innocence, softening the +rigid nerve, enabled them to regain somewhat of their natural lustre. + +"What did Trott, the crazy girl who spaes fortunes, give you, Edith?" +and coruscations began again to mix with the softer light. + +"A card," replied the girl, as she undid her embrace, and, casting her +head to a side, viewed him timidly. + +"She has been frightened," thought I, "by some consequences resulting +from the same question put at some former time." + +"And what was the name of the card?" he continued. + +But the girl was now on her guard. She hesitated, and struggled to get +away. + +"Tell this gentleman, then." + +"The ten of diamonds," cried she; and no sooner were the words out than +she fled, like a beam of light chased by the shadow of a tombstone. + +"You see how it is," continued Graeme, getting into his former +expression: "through this channel, this innocent medium, this creature +the fruit of my loins, the idol of my heart, is the lightning of reproof +hurled. A wandering idiot is prompted by the very inspiration of her +imbecility to put into the hands of my child the emblem of my +wickedness, that she in her love might place it before my eyes, there to +develop the sin-print in the dark camera of my mind. No wonder she is +alarmed at the mention of the words, for she read the horror produced in +me when she held up what she called the pretty picture in my face. But, +thank God! thank God!"---- + +And he fell for a moment into meditation. + +"For what?" said I, as my wonder increased. + +"That her mother, who is within a week of her confinement, knows nothing +of this mystery." + +I was silent. I might have said, "What mystery?" but I would only have +irritated him. + +"Rymer!" + +I started. I was looking into the fire, with my ear altogether his, yet +the strange mention of my name startled me. + +"What could infamy--infamy, with just a beam of consciousness to tell +it was infamy, and no more but that beam--think and feel to be +worshipped by purity and love? I have shrunk from the embrace of that +woman with a recoil equal to that produced by the enfolding of a snake." + +"Though she knows not, and may never know, anything of this affair which +has taken such a hold of you?" said I, rather as a speaking automaton, +forced to vocabulate. + +"The very reason why I recoil and shudder." + +I had made a mistake--I would not risk another. "The man has got into +the enfolding arms of mania," I thought, "and I must be chary." + +"Will you keep in your remembrance," he continued, "the words uttered by +Edith, and how she came by them? Will you?" + +"Yes." + +"Then take another glass; you will need it, and another too." + +I obeyed not quite so mechanically. The Burgundy was better than the +conversation, and I made the pleasure of the palate compensate for the +pain of the ear. + +He now drew out his watch, and, going to the window, withdrew the +curtains. The shades of night had fallen. It looked black as Tartarus, +contrasted with the light within. + +"Come here!" he cried; and when I had somewhat reluctantly obeyed what I +considered the request of one whose internal sense had got a jerk from +some mad molecule out of its orbit in the brain--"Do you see anything?" + +"Yes," said I--"a big black negative; but as for anything positive, you +might as well look into a coal-pit and find what philosophers do in the +wells of truth. There's nothing to be seen." + +"No? Look there--there! See," pointing with his finger, and clutching me +tremulously, "once more--the traces as vivid as ever! See!" + +I verily did think I saw something luminous, but it quickly disappeared. +"Oh, probably the reflection of a lantern," I said. + +"Yes, a magic one," he replied sneeringly. + +"I know of no more magical lantern than a man's head," I replied, a +little disconcerted by his sneer. "Chemists say there's more phosphorus +in the brain than anywhere else; and so I sometimes think." + +He made no reply, but, seizing me by the coat, dragged me after him as +he hurried out of the room, and making for a back door, led me out, +bareheaded as I was, into the wood. The darkness had waxed to +pitchiness, and the noises were hushed. The crows had gone to roost; and +had it not been for some too-hoos of the jolly owl, sounding his horn as +he rejoiced that the hated sun had gone to annoy other owls in the west, +the silence would have been complete. But, in truth, I hate silence as +well as darkness, and have no more sympathy with the followers of +Pythagoras than I have with the triumph of the blind Roman who silenced +the covey of pretty women, in the heat of their condolences for his +blindness, by reminding them that they forgot he could feel in the dark. +I thought more of the fire inside, and the bottle of Burgundy, on which +I had made as yet only a small impression. + +"If I want darkness, I can as well shut my eyes," said I peevishly, "and +I would even have the advantage of some phosphorescent touches of the +fancy." + +"Will you see that with your eyes shut?" he exclaimed triumphantly, as +he bent his body forward to an angle of forty-five, and pointed with +his finger to an object clearly illumined, and exhibiting distinctly a +large card, with ten red diamonds sharply traced upon it. The advantage +he had got over me was lost in the rapture of his gaze; and he seemed to +be charmed by the apparition, for he began to move slowly forward, still +pointing his finger, and without apparently drawing a breath. Though a +little taken by surprise for the instant, it was not easy for me to give +up my practical wisdom, which, as a matter of course, pointed to a +trick. + +"You do see it, then?" said he. + +"Surely," said I. "There is no mistake it is the figure of the ten of +diamonds, probably stuck upon a turnip lantern." + +"I did not ask you for a banter," he replied angrily. "I can draw my own +conclusions. All I wanted was to satisfy myself that I was free from a +monomaniacal illusion. We cannot both be mad; besides, you're a sceptic, +and the testimony of a sceptic's eyes is better than the sneer of his +tongue." + +Still he proceeded, I following, and the apparition retreating. "I told +you to remember what Edith said," he continued, as he still pointed his +finger; "and I fancy you can never forget that before you. The two +things are wide apart." + +"And so are the two ends of a rope with which a man hangs himself," said +I. + +"It is gone!" cried my friend, without noticing my remark. "It has +receded into that infinite from whence it was commissioned to earth to +strike its lightning upon the eye of a falling, erring, miserable +mortal." + +"It is gone," said I; "and I am gone also--to finish my bottle of +Burgundy, which I have as little doubt was commissioned from finitude +to strike a little fire into the heart of another erring mortal, not at +this moment perfectly happy." + +And I made my way as quick as possible into the parlour, glad to get +quit of the chill of the night air. Meanwhile, there appeared signs of +some extraordinary movement in the other parts of the house, the nature +of which Graeme probably ascertained as he came along the lobby, for I +heard bustling and earnest conversation; and presently little Edith came +stepping in beside me, with something very mysterious in her blue eyes, +far too mysterious for being confided to loud words, and so a whisper +told me that her mother was taken ill, and that Dr. Rogers had been sent +for. This little bit of information carried more to my mind than it +brought away from Edith's. I knew before that Mrs. Graeme was on the eve +of confinement, and it now appeared she had been taken in labour. I saw, +too, that my visit had not been very well timed, and the worse that +Graeme himself was in the extraordinary frame of mind in which I found +him--unfit for facing the dangers, repaying the affections, performing +the duties, and receiving the honours or enjoying the hopes of his +situation. A rap at the door was the signal for Edith's departure, with +the words on her tongue that she knew the doctor's knock. I was now, I +thought, to be left to myself; nor was I displeased, for I wanted a +lounge and a meditation; though of the latter I could not see that I +could make much, if any, more than confirming myself against all +preternaturals as agents on earth, however certain their existence may +be beyond the mystic veil that divides the two worlds. I had known +Graeme's crime and Gourlay's self-murder; but the crime was a trick +among blacklegs, and the suicide was the madness of a gambler, who had +risked his money and was ruined at the moment he wanted to ruin another. +Surely Heaven had something else to do with its retributive lightnings +than employ them, in subversion of all natural laws, in a cause so +inferior in turpitude to others that every hour pass into oblivion, with +more of a mark of natural, and less or none of supernatural +chastisement. I thought I might be contented with such a view of these +prodigies as might quickly consign them to the limbo of men's +machinations; yet somehow or other--perhaps the Burgundy bottle, if it +could have spoken, like that of Asmodeus, might have helped the +solution--I got dreamy, and of course foolish, raising objections +against my own conclusions, and instituting an _alter ego_ to argue +against myself for Graeme's theory. It has always seemed strange to me, +that though mankind hate metaphysics, they are all natural +metaphysicians, especially when a little _wined_. Perhaps the true +reason may be, that as wine came from the gods, it is endued with the +power of raising us to its source. At least, our aspirations, from being +_devine_, become wonderfully _divine_, so that supernatural agencies wax +less difficult to our imaginations; and while we are ten times more +ready to meet a ghost, we are as many times more ready to admit their +possibility. But the end of these grand and elevated conditions is +generally sleep and an ugly nightmare; and though my case was an +exception as regards the latter, I awoke in not a very happy mood, just +as Graeme entered the room and told me it was twelve o'clock. As I +rubbed my eyes, he sat down in his chair, and seemed inclined to court +silence; but it was clear he could not achieve repose. + +I felt no inclination to add to his apparent disturbance by any remarks +on what I had seen; but it struck me as remarkable, that, while he got +into contortions and general restlessness, putting his hand to his brow, +throwing one leg over another, closing his hands, and heaving long +sighs, he never so much as thought it worth his pains to ask my opinion +of the scene in the wood. It seemed as if he was so thoroughly convinced +of a divine manifestation against him, that he despised any exceptional +scepticism as utterly beneath his notice or attention--thoroughly +engrossed, as he appeared to be, with the terrible sanction of a portent +of some coming retribution. His silence in some degree distressed me, as +I thought he resented my levity in commenting upon his convictions; so +it was with some relief that Dr. Rogers came in and sat down at the +table, apparently to wait for a call to the bedroom. A man this of +ostentatious gloom,--too grave to deign to be witty, too sanctified to +stoop to be cheerful, and therefore not the man I could have wished to +see as the medical adviser, and perhaps the religious confidant, of my +friend and his wife. A temperate man, too, by his own confession, +pronounced over the top of a bottle; and he drank as if for health, +while his manner of beslabbering the glass with his thick lips indicated +a contempt for its confined capacity; a tumbler would have suited him +better; and he waxed apparently graver when the delightful aroma of the +Bordeaux grape fondled his nostrils. We got into supernaturals +immediately, though how the subject was introduced I cannot remember; +but Dr. Rogers was a grave and heavy advocate for divine manifestation, +and Graeme's ear, circumcised to delicacy, hung upon his thick lips. I +asked for instances beyond the domain of the addled brains of old women, +or the excited fancies of young; and Graeme looked at me intently, +without saying a word. + +"I have seen hundreds die," said the doctor, "ay, strong men, the +tissues of whose brain were, in comparison of those of your old women +and young enthusiasts, as iron wires to pellicles of flesh. And how do +they die if they are Christians, as all men ought to be? What is there +in death, think you, to subvert the known laws of physiology? We might +suppose, that as the spirit is about to leave the mortal frame, it will +be fitful, and flit from tissue to tissue, and gleam and die away, to +flare up again in some worldly image, perhaps, of the past; as where I +have known it show the face of an early beloved one, long since gone, in +all its first glory, to the eyes of a lover. Such are mere exceptions, +from which no rule can be drawn; but they occur, and we admit them as +consonant enough to natural causes. So far we all agree; but where is +that consonance in all those numerous cases which have come under my own +observation, where the man--a strong man even in death--is rapt into a +vision set in a halo of light, and showing forth, as an assurance of +divine favour, the very form and features of Him who died on the cross +of Calvary? Is there anything in physiology to account for this? And +then it occurs so often as almost to amount to a rule." + +"I have too much respect for religion," replied I, "to throw a doubt on +certain workings of the spirit in that mysterious condition when it +hovers between the two worlds, and when it can hardly be said to belong +to earth; but the case is entirely different where the common agencies +are all working through their fitted and natural means. We can never say +that any of those means are superseded--only others are substituted; and +we do not understand the substitution." + +"You are unfortunate," said the doctor, with a triumphant gravity. "If +you admit that supernatural agencies ever have--in any stage of the +world, in any place, way, or manner, or by any means--had to do with +earthly things, or have to do in those days, or will have to do in any +future time or place on the earth's surface, your admission closes up +your mouth for ever." + +"To do, in those days, on this night, not many hours agone!" cried +Graeme, with rolling eyes. "Who cares for admissions of those who see, +when one's own eyes are nearer the brain than are the eyes or lips of +him who admits, or of him who denies?" + +"Not hours ago!" said the doctor, fixing his big eyes on the face of +Graeme; "and so near a birth?" + +"Oh, she knows nothing," said Graeme. + +"And I am supremely ignorant," said I. + +"Of what?" inquired Rogers, turning his face again to Graeme, as if he +would take him into his mouth. + +But just as he expected an answer, a slight rap sounded from the door. +Rogers himself opened it, and found that the call was for him. Graeme +and I were left again together, but not to resume the former silence. + +"I did not ask you," said he, "what you thought of the figure in the +wood, for I expected nothing but a sceptical sneer. You have heard +Rogers. He is a shrewd fellow, belonging to a profession not remarkable +for credulity." + +"Answer me this," said I: "Did no one know the duplicate card you used +in the cheat?" + +"You were present and Ruggieri, no others; did you know it?" + +"No." + +"Then do you know that Ruggieri is dead in Italy? and even if he had +more penetration than you, the secret died with him. But, I tell you, he +could not have known. Nothing transpired at the play to show that a +duplicate card was used at all, far less to show that it was a +particular card." + +"You may stagger me," said I, "but never can convince me that you are +not having a nice game played off upon you, something similar to your +own; only in place of duplicates, I fear there are triplicates. Why +might not Gourlay have been aware of the fact you think only known to +yourself?" + +"And yet have shot himself as a ruined gambler?" + +"Certainly it is more probable," said I, somewhat caught, "that he would +have insisted upon your repaying him, under the threat of exposure. Yet +one does not know what a man may do or not do, even if we knew the +circumstances. Two doves will not pick up for their nests a straw each +of the same shape. But I believe it is now settled, that no case of +mystery has ever happened, or can be supposed by the most ingenious +imagination, where the chances are more for supernatural agency than for +human ingenuity or chance. The latter I put away out of your case, +though the marvels of coincidence are stranger than fiction. Every one +of us has a little record within his heart of such experiences. I have +been startled by a coincidence into a five minutes' belief in +supernatural agency. One opens a book of six hundred pages, and catches, +on the instant, the passage for which he looked the whole day before. An +actor dies in ranting 'there is another and a better world.' A soldier +is saved from the punishment of death for sleeping on his post, by the +fact of having been able to say that St. Paul's on a certain night +struck thirteen, which it never did before. Andrew Gordon, the miser, +drew a prize of twenty thousand pounds for the number 2001, which he +dreamed of the night previous he bought the ticket. A shepherd was the +discoverer of the Australian diggings, by having taken up a piece of +what he considered quartz to throw at his dog called Goldy. Human +history is full of such things; but, marvellous as they are, they are +not more so than the ways by which man manufactures mysteries, and gets +them believed as the work of Heaven. As to that illuminated figure I saw +in the wood"---- + +My speech was interrupted by a strange sound from the other end of the +house. Graeme started to his feet. It was not one of pain coming from a +sick-room, but rather one of surprise, and there seemed a bustle among +the servants. The door opened, and a woman's face, with two wild staring +eyes, looked in. "Come here, sir," she cried, and disappeared upon the +instant. + +"Something more," ejaculated Graeme, as he hurried away. I was allowed +no time for an absurd monologue. Graeme was not absent many minutes, +when he hurried in as he had hurried out, but his face was not that +which he took with him, braced up into surprise and fear, as that was. +He was now as pale as death's pale horse, and nearly as furious. His eye +beamed an unnatural light--his breathing was quick and snatchy, as if +every inspiration and expiration pained the lungs. He seemed to wish +some one to bind him with ropes, that he might escape the vibrations of +his muscles, and be steadied to be able to speak. + +"Be calm," said I, taking him by the shoulders; "what new discovery is +this? Nothing wrong with Mrs. Graeme, I hope?" + +"The child," he cried; but he could get no further. + +"The child is"-- + +"Is what?" said I. + +"Is marked on the back with the figure of the ten of diamonds." + +"Pity it was not marked where it will wear its pockets," said I; "but +it will assuredly be a very fortunate child, nevertheless, and shall +bear a load of diamonds on his back like the Arabian Alcansar." + +"Are you mad?" he cried. + +"Yes, with reason," I replied. "You know, nothing appears so +outrageously insane to a madman, as that same God's gift called reason. +They say, those who are bitten by the tarantula, and get dancing mad, +think the wondering crowd about them raving maniacs. And there was the +weeping philanthropist in the asylum of Montrose, in Scotland, who wept +all day, and could not be consoled, because of all the people outside +the asylum being mad." + +"But," he gasped, "the thing is there." + +"No doubt on't," said I, "and you ought to be grateful. I have read +somewhere of one John Zopyrus, who went mad when he heard of a son being +born to him; and here you are not mad, though you have a son (I hope) +born to you, with ten diamonds besides." + +"But the thing is there," he again cried. + +"Ay, there's the rub, my dear fellow; the rub is there--let the rub _be_ +there; that is, go and rub, and the thing rubbed will not be there after +the rubbing." + +"Madness, man! It is a true mother's mark." + +"Verily, a real _noevus maternus_" said I, "impressed by an avenging +angel on the mother's brain, and transferred by nature's daguerreotype +to the back of the child." + +"You have said it." + +"Nay, it is you who have said it," I continued; "and I will even suppose +it is a mother's mark, to please you for a little, though it has no more +that character than this sword-prick in my left cheek. But taking it in +your own way, I have a theory I could propound to you about these marks. +We say that the soul is in the body. It is just as true that the body +is in the soul. Every member of the entire physical person is +represented in the brain, though we cannot discern the form in these +white viscera. Now, see you, if a man loses his finger, his son will not +be awanting in that member. But there are cases where the want of a +member is hereditary. Why? Because the member was not represented in the +cerebral microcosm of the first deficient person. From this small +epitome in the brain, the child is an extended copy--_extended_ from a +mathematical point, where all the members and lineaments are _intended_. +So, when the fancy of the mother is working in the brain--say, in +realizing some external image--it will impress it in the cerebral person +(woman) there epitomized; and if she is in a certain way, the image will +go to a corresponding part of the foetal point, which is the epitome of +the child. A most ingenious, and satisfactory, and simple theory, which +will explain the ten-of-diamond naevus, for"---- + +"Dreadful imbecility!" he exclaimed, as he threw himself on his chair; +"most unaccountable and cruel trifling with a notable visitation of +retributive justice, indicated by visible signs of terrible import to +him who must bear the cross, and be reconciled to an angry Deity." + +"Against all that may tend to penitence for a past crime," said I, +getting grave, where gravity might avail for good, "I have nothing to +say. But Heaven does not work through the mean of man's deceit and +stratagem, and the good that comes of fear goes with returning courage." + +Conscious of getting into a puling humour, I had no objection to an +interruption by the entrance of Rogers, who, having finished his work, +was probably intent upon the gratification which generally follows. + +"I wish you joy of the boy and the diamonds," he said, as he seized +Graeme by the half-palsied hand. "The nurse is reconciled to the omen of +a fortune; and surely never was omen more auspicious, for no sooner had +the strange indication shown its mute vaticination than it disappeared, +that there might be no deduction of beauty from the favourite of the +gods." And drawing, with his lumbering hand, the tumbler near him, he +filled it two-thirds up of pure wine, and presently his lips grappled +with it like a camel at the bucket in the desert, with such effect that +the contents changed vessels in a twinkling. + +"Disappeared!" said I musingly. + +"Yea, temperance hath her demands on occasions," said he, thinking I +alluded to the exit of the wine, and not the ominous mark; "for there be +two kinds of this noble virtue, the jejune and the hearty, whereof the +former observes no plethoric gratifications, and the other is not averse +to an extreme of cordial indulgence." + +"Disappeared!" said I in a harping way, once again, "and left the skin +discoloured." + +"But it was there, and I saw it with these eyes," cried Graeme, "and the +doctor saw it, and Betha, but, thank God, not the mother." + +"The vouchsafing of the eyes is an easy task," drawled Rogers. "The +truth of present fact is of the moment of experience as regards the +seer; but, as a moral entity, it never dies. The great Author of nature +has his intention in these mysterious signs. We know only that there are +two kinds of these God's finger-touches--the enduring and the +evanescent. That we have now witnessed was of the latter kind, which we +also call superficial in opposition to the other, which is painted on +the _rete mucosum_, and never goes off. The difference of indications +we know not, further than that a mysterious purpose is served by both. +But might I ask if ever there was any occasion on which the figure of +this card might, as connected with some thrilling incident, have been +impressed upon the imagination of the mother?" + +"Never," cried Graeme, as he shook violently. + +"Then it betokens fortune to the heir of the Moated Grange," said +Rogers. + +"It betokens vengeance!" roared Graeme, no longer able to contain +himself; and he began to pace rapidly the room. Then stopping before +me-- + +"How long will you torment me with your scepticism? Here, Betha," he +cried to the woman, who at the instant again called Rogers, "what did +you see on the back of the boy?" + +"The ten of diamonds, sir," replied she, evidently frightened by the +wild eyes of her master. "But you are not to be feared. Do I not know +God's signs when I see them fresh from his very finger? I have seen them +aforetime; and no man or woman on earth, no, even our minister, will +convince me they are meant for nothing. This bairn will be a rich man, +but it will not be by the devil's books; for he who made the mark does +not tempt to evil by promises printed on the bodies of them he loves." + +"I want not this drivelling," said her master, on whom her reading of +the sign had an effect the very opposite of that intended. "You're a +fool, but you have eyes. Say, once for all, you saw it, and will swear. +Take her words, Rymer." + +"As clear as I see the mark on your cheek, sir," she said, addressing +me. "It was not from one who loved you so well as your mother did when +she bore you, you got that mark." + +"I got it from a villain called Ruggieri," I replied, caring nothing +for the start I produced in Graeme, but keeping my eye on the face of +Rogers. + +I will say nothing of what I observed on that long, sombre, saturnine +index. It was an experiment on my part, and I might have found +something, merely because I expected it; nor do I think Graeme knew my +object, though he felt the words as a surprise. + +"And who is Ruggieri?" said the doctor, by way of putting a simple +question. + +"_Perhaps_ an Italian," said I. "Rogers is, they say, the Scotch +representative of that name." + +"It is a lie, sir!" cried the grave son of Aesculapius; but finding he +had committed a mistake, he beat up an apology close upon the heels of +his insult. "I beg your pardon; I simply meant that the two names are +different, and that you were out in your etymology." + +"I am satisfied," I replied. + +"And so am I," growled the doctor, as he shuffled out, followed by +Betha. + +"What the devil do you mean?" said the colonel, coming up, and looking +me sternly in the face. "Is not this business serious enough for me and +this house already, without the mention to that man, who knows nothing +of me or of my history, of a name hateful to both you and me?" + +"At present I have no intention of telling you what I meant by +introducing that name in the presence of Rogers." + +"More mystery!" said he. + +"No mystery--all as plain as little Edith's card she got from Trott, or +the blazon in the wood, or the mark on the child's back. But I do not +wish to dwell longer on a subject which gives you so much pain. I am to +be off in the morning, and I should wish, before I go, to know what is +to be the issue of all this wonderful working." + +Graeme had now seated himself; and I resumed my chair also, to wait an +answer, which his manner seemed to indicate might be slow and delicate. +We looked, in the dim light of the room, at two in the morning, like two +wizards trying our skill in working out some scheme of _diablerie_; yet, +in reality, how unlike! For though we had both been gamblers, and +consequently bad men, we had for years renounced the wild ways of an +ill-regulated youth, and settled down to tread, with pleasure to +ourselves and profit to others, the decent paths of virtue. + +"I am resolved," said Graeme at length---- + +"On what?" I inquired. + +"On making amends. That money, which by means of the substituted card I +took from Gourlay, sticks like a bone-splint in the red throat of my +penitence. I cannot pray myself, nor join Annabel, nor listen to Edith, +when they send up their supplications to that place where mercy is, and +where, too, vengeance is--vengeance which, in the very form of my +pictured crime, dogs me everywhere, as you have seen, though a +philosophical pride prevents you from giving faith to what you have +seen--vengeance which, though using no earthly instruments, is yet the +stronger, and more terrible to me, for that very circumstance that it +brings up my conscience, and parades its pictured whisperings before my +vision, scorching my brain, and making me mad--vengeance, breaking no +bones, nor lacerating flesh, nor spilling blood, yet going to the heart +of the human organism, among the fine tissues where begin the rudiments +of being, and whence issue the springs of feeling, sympathy, hope, love, +and justice, all of which it poisons, and turns into agonies. Yes, sir, +vengeance which, claiming the assistance of the fairest virtues, +conjugal love and angelic purity, makes them smite with shame, so that +it were even a relief to me that the wife of my bosom were wicked, and +the child of my affections a creature of sin. What are these signs that +haunt me but instigators to redemption? and can I hesitate when Heaven +asks obedience?" + +"A useless harangue," said I, "when you have the means of saving +yourself. Pay the money, read your Bible, and the signs will cease." + +"You have said it. I will pay the money; but I do not know where the +woman Gourlay lives." + +"That is not a difficult matter. Where money is to be paid, the +recipient will start out of the bosom of the earth. I am about sick of +this chamber of mysteries--though no mysteries to me; and I go to bed. I +doubt if you may expect to see me at the breakfast table in the +morning." + +"Will you leave me in this condition?" he said, with an imploring eye. + +"You will hear from me. Good night." + +In the midst of all these supernaturals, I remained myself pretty +natural--got naturally among the comfortable bed-clothes, fell naturally +asleep, and, in consequence of late hours, slept naturally longer than I +intended. I started at seven, got my bag, and, without seeing Graeme, +set out for C---- town, got breakfast, and then took the stage for a +seaport not very far distant. Having arrived at my destination, I sought +out the Eastergate, a dirty street inhabited by poor people, mounted +three pair of stairs till I saw through a slate-pane, knocked at a door, +and was met by a woman, with an umbrageously bearded face peering out +from the side of her head-gear--that is, there was a head there in +addition to her own. + +"The devil!" said the man. "How did you find me out?" + +"By the trail of evil," I said, as I walked in, and shut the door +behind me. + +"Did you not know I was dead?" he continued, by way of desperate +raillery. + +"Yes, the devil was once reported to be dead and buried in a certain +long town, but it was only a feint, whereby to catch the unwary Whigs. +Let us have seats. I want a little quiet conversation with you both." + +We seemed rather a comfortable party round the fire. + +"Ruggieri," said I, "do you know that scar?" + +"I have certainly seen it before," replied he, with the utmost +composure. + +"Well, you know the attack you made upon me at Brussels, for the +convenient purpose of getting buried along with your victim a certain +little piece of dirty paper I have in my pocket, whereby you became +bound to pay to me a thousand florins which I lent you, on the faith of +one I took for a gentleman." + +"The scar I deny," he replied, unblushingly; "and as for the bit of +paper, if you can find any one in these parts who can prove that the +signature thereto was written by this hand belonging to this person now +sitting before you, you will accomplish something more wonderful than +finding me out here." And he laughed in his old boisterous way. + +"The more difficult, I daresay," replied I, as I fixed a pretty +inquisitive gaze on him, "that you have a duplicate to your real name of +Charles Rogers." + +"'Tis a lie!" he exclaimed. "My father was--was--yes--an artist in +Bologna--the cleverest magician in Italy." + +"And that is the reason," said I calmly, "that your brother the doctor +works his tricks so cleverly at the Moated Grange." + +Subtle officers accomplish much by attacks of surprise--going home with +a fact known to the criminal to be true, but supposed by him to be +unknown to all the world besides. I had acted on this principle, and the +effect was singular. His tongue, which had laid in a stock of nervous +fluid for roaring like a steam-boiler a little opened, was palsied. He +turned on me a blank look; then, directing his eye to the woman, "You +infernal hag," he exclaimed, "all this comes from you!" + +"I deny it," said the woman, as she left his side and came round to +mine. "But I now know, what I always suspected, that you are a villain. +Sir," she continued, "this man, and his brother Dr. Rogers, prevailed +upon me to give them a paper, to enable them to get out of Colonel +Graeme the money he won from my husband. I believe they have got it, and +that they are keeping it from me." + +"They have not got it," said I, "and never will. The money is yours, and +will be paid to you, if to any." + +"Thank God!" she exclaimed. "No good could come out of the designs of +this man and his brother. They made it up to terrify the colonel"---- + +A look from the man stopped her; but the broken sentence was to me a +volume. They sat and looked lightnings at each other; and I contented +myself with thinking, that when a rotten tree splits, bears catch honey. + +"Oh, I'm not to be frightened," she continued, as she gathered up +courage to dare the villain. "I will tell all about the ten of diamonds +which I heard made up between them." + +"You most haggard of all haggard hags!" cried the man, as his fury rose, +"do you know, that while I could have got you this money, I can cut you +out of it? Was it the loss of the money, think ye, that made the +wretched coward, your husband, shoot himself? No, it was conscience. +They were a pair of villains. I know that Gourlay had a secreted card, +whereby he was to blackleg Graeme, and that it was disappointment, +shame, and conscience, working all together, that made him draw the +trigger to end a villanous life. But the game is up," he continued, as +he rose and got hold of his hat; then standing erect and fearless, he +held out his finger, pointing to me--"Rymer!" he said impressively, but +with devilish calmness, "let your ears tingle as you think of me; it +will keep you in remembrance of a friend, who, when next he meets you, +will embrace you _cordially_--about the heart, you know. Good night!" + +"And well gone," said the woman, as she heard the door slammed with a +noise that shook the crazy tenement. "Oh! I am so happy you have come to +relieve me of an engagement which I was ashamed of, and which would have +yielded me nothing; for their object was to force money out of your +friend, and then divide it between them." + +"How did Rogers or Ruggieri find you out?" inquired I. + +"I cannot tell; the nose of a bloodhound has a finer sense than a +sheep-dog's." + +"And how did you come to know of the compact between the brothers?" + +"They got unwary under wine drunk at that fir table. The doctor was the +medical attendant of Colonel Graeme, and this gave him means of working +upon his conscience; and I know they have been at this work for a time." + +"But how did Ruggieri come to know about the ten of diamonds?" + +"Oh, the card was found crumpled up under the table by Ruggieri +himself, who, with you, was present at the play. He has the card at this +moment. I have seen it. But this is the first time I ever heard of +Gourlay's intention to cheat. I will never believe that; but then I am +his widow, and may be too favourable to him, while Ruggieri was his +enemy, and may be too vindictive." + +"And how was the colonel to be applied to, after his conscience was +wrought up to pay?" + +"The doctor was to open the subject, and undertake to negotiate with me, +to whom he was to hand over the money--one penny of which I never would +have received." + +"The matter is now in better hands," said I. "Will you be staunch and +firm in detailing all you know of the scheme?" + +"Yes, though I should not receive a farthing." + +"And you will be willing to go to the Moated Grange, and, if necessary, +swear to those things?" + +"I will; and, sir, serious though the whole affair has been to me--for I +am poor, and have children--I sometimes wondered, if I did not laugh, at +the queer, far-brought, devilish designs of the doctor. Oh, he is a very +dragon that for cunning! I heard him say he would impress a painted +piece of paper on the child's back, so as to leave a mark, and swear it +was a mother's mark, graven by the hands of the Almighty. Oh the +blasphemy and wickedness of man!" + +"Go, dress yourself," said I, "and come with me to the Grange." + +"I will, if you can give me some minutes to get a neighbour to take +charge of George and Anne." And away she went to get this family +arrangement completed, while I sat panting with desire to free my friend +from the agony of his condition. + +It was about seven o'clock of that same evening that Mrs. Gourlay and I +reached the Moated Grange. I got her shown into an ante-room, to wait +the issue of my interview with Graeme. It happened that the doctor and +he were together, and it even seemed as if they were converging towards +a medium state of confidence. I could observe from the looks of the +victim that he had been so far at least drawn into a recital of facts +(the nature of which it was not difficult for me to conjecture), for I +heard the word Gourlay fall from his lips, as the last of a sentence +which my entry had cut short. Indeed, I may as well state here that +Graeme afterwards admitted to me that when I entered he was in the midst +of a confession of the whole secret of the false play, to which +confession he had been first driven by his internal monitor; and +secondly, led or rather pulled on by the arch-ambidexter, whose game it +was to cheat the cheater, and get the money from him upon some pretence +of seeking out Mrs. Gourlay and paying the money to her. I was, in +short, in the very nick of time, and could hardly help smiling at the +strange part I was playing in what was, as I thought, one of those +serious melodramatic farces of which (in the Frenchman's sense) this +strange world of laughter and groans is made up. + +"Dr. Rogers," said I, after the customary greetings, "it is well I have +found you. I picked up a poor woman by the way who lay under the seizure +of premature labour, and knowing the generosity of my friend, I brought +her here for succour and relief. She is in the green parlour, and, I +fear, in exigency. Come." + +"May I see her?" said Graeme. + +"Certainly, for a moment," said Rogers. "Ah! I rejoice at these +opportunities of employing the beneficence of our profession. Who knows +but I may bring into the world one who will change the aspect of a +hemisphere, and work out some great blessings to the human race!" + +And following me, they arrived at the door of the green parlour. I +opened it. Rogers walked forward, Graeme followed, and I stood in the +midst of the three. + +"Dr. Rogers--Mrs. Gourlay, an intimate friend of your brother, Signor +Ruggieri." + +"Colonel Graeme--Mrs. Gourlay, the widow of that unfortunate man, +Ebenezer Gourlay." + +To which Mrs. Gourlay responded by a curtsey, deep and respectful. + +"I am master for the nonce. The door is locked, and Mrs. Gourlay must be +delivered of her child with the naevus of the ten of diamonds on its +back." + +And she was delivered, but not with the assistance of the doctor. She +performed her part well. By a little drawing out, on my part, I got her +to tell her story; how she had got acquainted with the two brothers; how +they had laid their plans; how she came to know of the crumpled card, +and the use they were to make of it; the trick of the impression on the +child's back; the forcing of the money from the colonel on the pretence +of paying it to her, with her conviction that she would never handle a +penny of it. + +During the period of this extraordinary recital, it was my part to watch +the countenances of the two listeners. Graeme sat as if bound to his +chair; every word of the woman seemed to work as a charm upon him, +relieving him of the conviction he had been impressed with, that he was +specially under the judgment of Heaven, without depriving him of the +consolation of a late penitence. Sometimes I caught his eye, and, I +fairly admit, I was wicked enough to indulge in a little mute +risibility to give him confidence in the conclusions he was fast drawing +from the somewhat garrulous narrative of the poor widow. + +As for the doctor, he held out like a Milo. From the first moment he saw +the woman he knew that the game was up with him, but he knew also, what +all hardened sinners know, that they owe it to the cacodaimon they obey, +to deny everything to the last, as if they were afraid to show any +indication of what they consider the weakness of being good. We allowed +him to get quit upon the condition of silence on his part, for a prudent +forbearance on ours. + +Mrs. Gourlay remained at the Grange for some time, whereby we had an +opportunity of further ascertaining all the details of the machination. +A sum of money was given to her, and Graeme's conscience was relieved, +as well by this retribution as by a conviction to which we both came, +that the game between him and Gourlay was rendered at least equal by the +fact which we had both reason to believe, as stated by Ruggieri, that +Gourlay himself intended to cheat, and that his death could be more +easily accounted for on that theory than on any other. + +So far as peace could be brought to one truly penitent, that peace was +brought; and many a time since I have admired, in the happiness of the +family at the Grange, that exemplification of the promise of our blessed +faith, that there is no degree of guilt which may not be atoned for by +the heart that is contrite, and trusts to the mercy of Heaven through +the eternally-ordained source. + +I may gratify a whim by informing the readers of the Border Tales that +the secret of the mark on the child's back was never communicated to +Mrs. Graeme. The nurse had told her of the fact of the strange +phenomenon, and she always clung to the belief that it was an omen of +good fortune to the boy. But under what mysterious conditions is the +chain of cause and effect kept up! The frequent allusion made by the +mother to the fact of the mark, drew her son's attention to the cards. +He early became fond of playing with them, as boys do. The early feeling +germinated, and became a kind of passion, and I have reason to believe +he became a gambler like his father, squandering away a great part of +his patrimony. + + +END OF VOL. XXII. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of +Scotland, XXII, by various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILSON'S TALES, SCOTLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 11334.txt or 11334.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/3/11334/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, John Hagerson, Garrett Alley, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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