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He +looked about for a name and a subject; and the manner in which the +novels were composed cannot be better illustrated than by reciting +the simple narrative on which Guy Mannering was originally founded; +but to which, in the progress of the work, the production ceased to +bear any, even the most distant resemblance. The tale was +originally told me by an old servant of my father's, an excellent +old Highlander, without a fault, unless a preference to +mountain-dew over less potent liquors be accounted one. He +believed as firmly in the story, as in any part of his creed. + +A grave and elderly person, according to old John MacKinlay's +account, while travelling in the wilder parts of Galloway, was +benighted. With difficulty he found his way to a country-seat, +where, with the hospitality of the time and country, he was readily +admitted. The owner of the house, a gentleman of good fortune, was +much struck by the reverend appearance of his guest, and apologised +to him for a certain degree of confusion which must unavoidably +,attend his reception, and could not escape his eye. she lady of +the house was, he said, confined to her apartment, and on the point +of making her husband a father for the first time, though they had +been ten years married. At such an emergency, the Laird said, he +feared his guest might meet with some apparent neglect. + +"Not so, sir," said the stranger, "my wants are few, and easily +supplied, and I trust the present circumstances may even afford an +opportunity of showing my gratitude for your hospitality. Let me +only request that I may be informed of the exact minute of the +birth; and I hope to be able to put you in possession of some +particulars, which may influence, in an important manner, the +future prospects of the child now about to come into this busy and +changeful world. I will not conceal from you that I am skilful in +understanding and interpreting the movements of those planetary +bodies which exert their influences on the destiny of mortals. It +is a science which I do not practise, like others who call +themselves astrologers, for hire or reward; for I have a competent +estate, and only use the knowledge I possess for the benefit of +those in whom I feel an interest." The Laird bowed in respect and +gratitude, and the stranger was accommodated with an apartment +which commanded an ample view of the astral regions. + +The guest spent a part of the night in ascertaining the position of +the heavenly bodies, and calculating their probable influence; +until at length the result of his observations induced him to send +for the father, and conjure him, in the most solemn manner, to +cause the assistants to retard the birth, if practicable, were it +but for five minutes. The answer declared this to be impossible; +and almost in the instant that the message was returned, the father +and his guest were made acquainted with the birth of a boy. + +The Astrologer on the morrow met the party who gathered around the +breakfast-table, with looks so grave and ominous, as to alarm the +fears of the father, who had hitherto exulted in the prospects held +out by the birth of an heir to his ancient property, failing which +event it must have passed to a distant branch of the family. He +hastened to draw the stranger into a private room. + +"I fear from your looks," said the father, "that you have bad +tidings to tell me of my young stranger; perhaps God will resume +the blessing He has bestowed ere he attains the age of manhood, or +perhaps he is destined to be unworthy of the affection which we are +naturally disposed to devote to our offspring." + +"Neither the one nor the other," answered the stranger;" unless my +judgment greatly err, the infant will survive the years of +minority, and in temper and disposition will prove all that his +parents can wish. But with much in his horoscope which promises +many blessings, there is one evil influence strongly predominant, +which threatens to subject him to an unhallowed and unhappy +temptation about the time when he shall attain the age of +twenty-one, which period, the constellations intimate, will he the +crisis of his fate. In what shape, or with what peculiar urgency, +this temptation may beset him, my art cannot discover." + +"Your knowledge, then, can afford us no defence," said the anxious +father, "against the threatened evil?" + +"Pardon me," answered the stranger, "it can. The influence of the +constellations is powerful, but He, who made the heavens, is more +powerful than all, if His aid be invoked in sincerity and truth. +You ought to dedicate this boy to the immediate service of his +Maker, with as much sincerity as Samuel was devoted to the worship +in the Temple by his parents. You must regard him as a being +separated from the rest of the world. In childhood, in boyhood, +you must surround him with the pious and virtuous, and protect him, +to the utmost of your power, from the sight or hearing of any +crime, in word or action. He must be educated in religious and +moral principles of the strictest description. Let him not enter +the world, lest he learn to partake of its follies, or perhaps of +its vices. In short, preserve him as far as possible from all sin, +save that of which too great a portion belongs to all the fallen +race of Adam. With the approach of his twenty-first birthday comes +the crisis of his fate. If he survive it, he will be happy and +prosperous on earth, and a chosen vessel among those elected for +heaven. But if it be otherwise--"The Astrologer stopped, and +sighed deeply. + +"Sir," replied the parent, still more alarmed than before, "your +words are so kind, your advice so serious, that I will pay the +deepest attention to your behests; but can you not aid me further +in this most important concern? Believe me, I will not be +ungrateful." + +"I require and deserve no gratitude for doing a good action," said +the stranger, "in especial for contributing all that lies in my +power to save from an abhorred fate the harmless infant to whom, +under a singular conjunction of planets, last night gave life. +There is my address; you may write to me from time to time +concerning the progress of the boy in religious knowledge. If he +be bred up as I advise, I think it will be best that he come to my +house at the time when the fatal and decisive period approaches, +that is, before he has attained his twenty-first year complete. If +you send him such as I desire, I humbly trust that God will protect +His own, through whatever strong temptation his fate may subject +him to." He then gave his host his address, which was a +country-seat near a post-town in the south of England, and bid him +an affectionate farewell. + +The mysterious stranger departed, but his words remained impressed +upon the mind of the anxious parent. He lost his lady while his +boy was still in infancy. This calamity, I think, had been +predicted by the Astrologer; and thus his confidence, which, like +most people of the period, he had freely given to the science, was +riveted and confirmed. The utmost care, therefore, was taken to +carry into effect the severe and almost ascetic plan of education +which the sage had enjoined. A tutor of the strictest principles +was employed to superintend the youth's education; he was +surrounded by domestics of the most established character, and +closely watched and looked after by the anxious father himself. + +The years of infancy, childhood, and boyhood, passed as the father +could have wished. A young Nazarene could not have been bred up +with more rigour. All that was evil was withheld from his +observation--he only heard what was pure in precept--he only +witnessed what was worthy in practice. + +But when the boy began to be lost in the youth, the attentive +father saw cause for alarm. Shades of sadness, which gradually +assumed a darker character, began to overcloud the young man's +temper. Tears, which seemed involuntary, broken sleep, moonlight +wanderings, and a melancholy for which he could assign no reason, +seemed to threaten at once his bodily health, and the stability of +his mind. The Astrologer was consulted by letter, and returned for +answer, that this fitful state of mind was but the commencement of +his trial, and that the poor youth must undergo more and more +desperate struggles with the evil that assailed him. There was no +hope of remedy, save that he showed steadiness of mind in the study +of the Scriptures. "He suffers," continued the letter of the sage," +from the awakening of those harpies, the passions, which have slept +with him as with others, till the period of life which he has now +attained. Better, far better, that they torment him by ungrateful +cravings, than that he should have to repent having satiated them +by criminal indulgence." + +The dispositions of the young man were so excellent, that he +combated, by reason and religion, the fits of gloom which at times +overcast his mind, and it was not till he attained the commencement +of his twenty-first year, that they assumed a character which made +his father tremble for the consequences. It seemed as if the +gloomiest and most hideous of mental maladies was taking the form +of religious despair. Still the youth was gentle, courteous, +affectionate, and submissive to his father's will, and resisted +with all his power the dark suggestions which were breathed into +his mind, as it seemed, by some emanation of the Evil Principle, +exhorting him, like the wicked wife of job, to curse God and die. + +The time at length arrived when be was to perform what was then +thought a long and somewhat perilous journey, to the mansion of the +early friend who had calculated his nativity. His road lay through +several places of interest, and he enjoyed the amusement of +travelling, more than he himself thought would have been possible. +Thus he did not reach the place of his destination till noon, on +the day preceding his birthday. It seemed as if he bad been +carried away with an unwonted tide of pleasurable sensation, so as +to forget, in some degree, what his father had communicated +concerning the purpose of his journey. He halted at length before +a respectable but solitary old mansion, to which he was directed as +the abode of his father's friend. + +The servants who came to take his horse told him he had been +expected for two days. He was led into a study, where the stranger, +now a venerable old man, who had been his father's guest, met him +with a shade of displeasure, as well as gravity, on his brow. +"Young man," he said, "wherefore so slow on a journey of such +importance?"--"I thought," replied the guest, blushing and looking +downward, "that there was no harm in travelling slowly, and +satisfying my curiosity, providing I could reach your residence by +this day; for such was my father's charge."--"You were to blame," +replied the sage, "in lingering, considering that the avenger of +blood was pressing on your footsteps. But you are come at last, +and we will hope for the best, though the conflict in which you are +to be engaged will be found more dreadful, the longer it is +postponed. But first, accept of such refreshments as nature +requires, to satisfy, but not to pamper, the appetite." + +The old man led the way into a summer parlour, where a frugal meal +was placed on the table. As they sat down to the board, they were +joined by a young lady about eighteen years of age, and so lovely, +that the sight of her carried off the feelings of the young +stranger from the peculiarity and mystery of his own lot, and +riveted his attention to everything she did or said. She spoke +little, and it was on the most serious subjects. She played on the +harpsichord at her father's command, but it was hymns with which +she accompanied the instrument. At length, on a sign from the +sage, she left the room, turning on the young stranger, as she +departed, a look of inexpressible anxiety and interest. + +The old man then conducted the youth to his study, and conversed +with him upon the most important points of religion, to satisfy +himself that he could render a reason for the faith that was in +him. During the examination, the youth, in spite of himself, felt +his mind occasionally wander, and his recollections go in quest of +the beautiful vision who had shared their meal at noon. On such +occasions, the Astrologer looked grave, and shook his head at this +relaxation of attention; yet, upon the whole, he was pleased with +the youth's replies. + +At sunset the young man was made to take the bath; and, having done +so, he was directed to attire himself in a robe, somewhat like that +worn by Armenians, having his long hair combed down on his +shoulders, and his neck, hands, and feet bare. In this guise, he +was conducted into a remote chamber totally devoid of furniture, +excepting a lamp, a chair, and a table, on which lay a Bible. +"Here," said the Astrologer, "I must leave you alone, to pass the +most critical period of your life. If you can, by recollection of +the great truths of which we have spoken, repel the attacks which +will be made on your courage and your principles, you have nothing +to apprehend. But the trial will be severe and arduous." His +features then assumed a pathetic solemnity, the tears stood in his +eyes and his voice falterer with emotion as he said, "Dear child, +at whose coming into the world I foresaw this fatal trial, may God +give thee grace to support it with firmness!" + +The young man was left alone; and hardly did he find himself so, +when, like a swarm of demons, the recollection of all his sins of +omission and commission, rendered even more terrible by the +scrupulousness with which he had been educated, rushed on his mind, +and, like furies armed with fiery scourges, seemed determined to +drive him to despair. As he combated these horrible recollections +with distracted feelings, but with a resolved mind, he became aware +that his arguments were answered by the sophistry of another, and +that the dispute was no longer confined to his own thoughts. The +Author of Evil was present in the room with him in bodily shape, +and, potent with spirits of a melancholy cast, was impressing upon +him the desperation of his state, and urging suicide as the +readiest mode to put an end to his sinful career. Amid his errors, +the pleasure he had taken in prolonging his journey unnecessarily, +and the attention which he had bestowed an the beauty of the fair +female, when his thoughts ought to have been dedicated to the +religious discourse of her father, were set before him in the +darkest colours; and he was treated as one who, having sinned +against light, was, therefore, deservedly left a prey to the Prince +of Darkness. + +As the fated and influential hour rolled on, the terrors of the +hateful Presence grew more confounding to the mortal senses of the +victim, and the knot of the accursed sophistry became more +inextricable in appearance, at least to the prey whom its meshes +surrounded. He had not power to explain the assurance of pardon +which he continued to assert, or to name the victorious name in +which he, trusted. But his faith did not abandon him, though he +lacked for a time the power of expressing it. "Say what you will," +was his answer to the Tempter; "I know there is as much betwixt the +two boards of this Book as can insure me forgiveness for my +transgressions, and safety for my soul." As he spoke, the clock, +which announced the lapse of the fatal hour, was heard to strike. +The speech and intellectual powers of the youth were instantly and +fully restored; he burst forth into prayer, and expressed, in the +most glowing terms, his reliance on the truth, and on the Author, +of the gospel. The demon retired, yelling and discomfited, and the +old man, entering the apartment, with tears congratulated his guest +on his victory in the fated struggle. + +The young man was afterwards married to the beautiful maiden, the +first sight of whom had made such an impression on him, and they +were consigned over at the close of the story to domestic +happiness.--So ended John MacKinlay's legend. + +The author of Waverley had imagined a possibility of framing an +interesting, and perhaps not an unedifying, tale, out of the +incidents of the life of a doomed individual, whose efforts at good +and virtuous conduct were to be for ever disappointed by the +intervention, as it were, of some malevolent being, and who was at +last to come off victorious from the fearful struggle. In short, +something was meditated upon a plan resembling the imaginative tale +of Sintram and his Companions, by Mons. Le Baron de la Motte +Fouque, although, if it then existed, the author had not seen it. + +The scheme projected may be traced in the three or four first +chapters of the work, but further consideration induced the author +to lay his purpose aside. It appeared, on mature consideration, +that Astrology, though its influence was once received and admitted +by Bacon himself, does not now retain influence over the general +mind sufficient even to constitute the mainspring of a romance. +Besides, it occurred, that to do justice to such a subject would +have required not only more talent than the author could be +conscious of possessing, but also involved doctrines and +discussions of a nature too serious for his purpose, and for the +character of the narrative. In changing his plan, however, which +wets done in the course of printing, the early sheets retained the +vestiges of the original tenor of the story, although they now hang +upon it as an unnecessary and unnatural encumbrance. The cause of +such vestiges is now explained, and apologised for. + +It is here worthy of observation, that while the astrological +doctrines have fallen into general contempt, and been supplanted by +superstitions of a more gross and far less beautiful character, +they have, even in modern days, retained some votaries. + +One of the most remarkable believers in that forgotten and despised +science, was a late eminent professor of the art of legerdemain. +One would have thought that a person of this description ought, +from his knowledge of the thousand ways in which human eyes could +be deceived, to have been less than others subject to the fantasies +of superstition. Perhaps the habitual use of those abstruse +calculations, by which, in a manner surprising to the artist +himself, many tricks upon cards, etc., are performed, induced this +gentleman to study the combination of the stars and planets, with +the expectation of obtaining prophetic communications. + +He constructed a scheme of his own nativity, calculated according +to such rules of art as he could collect from the best astrological +authors. The result of the past he found agreeable to what had +hitherto befallen him, but in the important prospect of the future +a singular difficulty occurred. There were two years, during the +course of which he could by no means obtain any exact knowledge, +whether the subject of the scheme would be dead or alive. Anxious +concerning so remarkable a circumstance, he gave the scheme to a +brother Astrologer, who was also baffled in the same manner. At +one period he found the native, or subject, was certainly alive; at +another, that he was unquestionably dead; but a space of two years +extended between these two terms, during which he could find no +certainty as to his death or existence. + +The Astrologer marked the remarkable circumstance in his Diary, and +continued his exhibitions in various parts of the empire until the +period was about to expire, during which his existence had been +warranted as actually ascertained. At last, while he was exhibiting +to a numerous audience his usual tricks of legerdemain, the hands, +whose activity had so often baffled the closest observer, suddenly +lost their power, the cards dropped from them, and he sunk down a +disabled paralytic. In this state the artist languished for two +years, when he was at length removed by death. It is said that the +Diary of this modern Astrologer will soon be given to the public. + +The fact, if truly reported, is one of those singular coincidences +which occasionally appear, differing so widely from ordinary +calculation, yet without which irregularities, human life would not +present to mortals, looking into futurity, the abyss of +impenetrable darkness, which it is the pleasure of the Creator it +should offer to them. Were everything to happen in the ordinary +train of events, the future would be subject to the rules of +arithmetic, like the chances of gaming. But extraordinary events, +and wonderful runs of luck, defy the calculations ox mankind, and +throw impenetrable darkness on future contingencies. + +To the above anecdote, another, still more recent, may be here +added. The author was lately honoured with a letter from a +gentleman deeply skilled in these mysteries, who kindly undertook +to calculate the nativity of the writer of Guy Mannering, who might +be supposed to be friendly to the divine art which he professed. +But it was impossible to supply data for the construction of a +horoscope, had the native been otherwise desirous of it, since all +those who could supply the minutiae of day, hour, and minute have +been long removed from the mortal sphere. + +Having thus given some account of the first idea, or rude sketch, +of the story, which was soon departed from, the author, in +following out the plan of the present edition, has to mention the +prototypes of the principal characters in Guy Mannering. + +Some circumstances of local situation gave the author, in his +youth, an opportunity of seeing a little, and hearing a great deal, +about that degraded class who are called gipsies; who are in most +cases a mixed race, between the ancient Egyptians who arrived in +Europe about the beginning of the fifteenth century, and vagrants +of European descent. + +The individual gipsy, upon whom the character of Meg Merrilies +was. founded, was well known about the middle of the last century, +by the name of Jean Gordon, an inhabitant of the village of Kirk +Yetholm, in the Cheviot hills, adjoining to the English Border. The +author gave the public some account of this remarkable person, in +one of the early numbers of. Blackwood's Magazine, to the +following purpose :- + +"My father remembered old Jean Gordon of Yetholm, who had great +sway among her tribe. She was quite a Meg Merrilies, and possessed +the savage virtue of fidelity in the same perfection. Having been +often hospitably received at the farm-house of Lochside, near +Yetholm, she had carefully abstained from committing any +depredations an the farmer's property. But her sons (nine in +number) had not, it seems, the same delicacy, and stole a brood-sow +from their kind entertainer. Jean was mortified at this ungrateful +conduct, and so much ashamed of it, that she absented herself from +Lochside for several years. + +"It happened, in course of time, that in consequence Of some +temporary pecuniary necessity, the Goodman of Lochside was obliged +to go to Newcastle to raise some money to pay his rent. He +succeeded in his purpose, but returning through the mountains of +Cheviot, he was benighted and lost his way. + +"A light, glimmering through the window of a large waste barn, +which had survived the farm-house to which it had once belonged, +guided him to a place of shelter; and when he knocked at the door, +it was opened by Jean Gordon. Her very remarkable figure, for she +was nearly six feet high, and her equally remarkable features and +dress, rendered it impossible to mistake her for a moment, though +he had not seen her for years; and to meet with such a character in +so solitary a place, and probably at no great distance from her +clan, was a grievous surprise to the poor man, whose rent (to lose +which would have been ruin) was about his person. + +"Jean set up a loud shout of joyful recognition--'Eh, sirs! the +winsome Gudeman of Lochside! Light down, light down; for ye maunna +gang farther the night, and a friend's house sae near.' The farmer +was obliged to dismount, and accept of the gipsy's offer of supper +and a bed. There was plenty of meat in the barn, however it might +be come by, and preparations were going on for a plentiful repast, +which the farmer, to the great increase of his anxiety, observed, +was calculated for ten or twelve guests, of the same description, +probably, with his landlady. + +"Jean left him in no doubt on the subject. She brought to his +recollection the story of the stolen sow, and mentioned how much +pain and vexation it had given her. Like other philosophers, she +remarked that the world grew worse daily; and, like other parents, +that the bairns got out of her guiding, and neglected the old gipsy +regulations, which commanded them to respect, in their +depredations, the property of their benefactors. The end of all +this was, an inquiry what money the farmer had about him; and an +urgent request, or command, that he would make her his +purse-keeper, since the bairns, as she called her sons, would be +soon home. The poor farmer made a virtue of necessity, told his +story, and surrendered his gold to Jean's custody. She made him +put a few shillings in his pocket, observing it would excite-- +suspicion should he be found travelling altogether penniless. + +"This arrangement being made, the farmer lay down on a sort of +shake-down, as the Scotch call it, or bed-clothes disposed upon +some straw, but, as will easily be believed, slept not. + +"About midnight the gang returned, with various articles of +plunder, and talked over their exploits in language which made the +farmer tremble. They were not long in discovering they had a +guest, and demanded of Jean whom she had got there. + +"'E'en the winsome Gudeman of Lochside, poor body,' replied Jean; +'he's been at Newcastle seeking siller to pay his rent, honest man, +but deil-be-lickit he's been able to gather in, and sae he's gaun +e'en hame wi' a toom purse and a sair heart.' + +"'That may be, Jean,' replied one of the banditti, 'but we maun +ripe his pouches a bit, and see if the tale be true or no.' Jean +set up her throat in exclamations against this breach of +hospitality, but without producing any change in their +determination. The farmer soon heard their stifled whispers and +light steps by his bedside, and understood they were rummaging his +clothes. When they found the money which the providence of Jean +Gordon had made him retain, they held a consultation if they should +take it or no; but the smallness of. the booty, and the vehemence +of Jean's remonstrances, determined them in the negative. They +caroused and went to rest. As soon as day dawned, Jean roused her +guest, produced his horse, which she had accommodated behind the +hallan, and guided him for some miles, till he was on the high-road +to Lochside. She then restored his whole property; nor could his +earnest entreaties prevail on her to accept so much as a single +guinea. + +"I have heard the old people at Jedburgh say, that all Jean's sons +were condemned to die there on the same day. It is said the jury +were equally divided, but that a friend to justice, who had slept +during the whole discussion, waked suddenly, and gave his vote for +condemnation, in the emphatic words, 'Hang them a'!' Unanimity is +not required in a Scottish jury, so the verdict of guilty was +returned. Jean was present, and only said, 'The Lord help the +innocent in a day like this!' Her own death was accompanied with +circumstances of brutal outrage, of which poor Jean was in many +respects wholly undeserving. She had, among other demerits, or +merits, as the reader may choose to rank it, that of being a +staunch Jacobite. She chanced to be at Carlisle upon a fair or +market-day, soon after the year 1746, where she gave vent to her +political partiality, to the great offence of the rabble of that +city. Being zealous in their loyalty, when there was no danger, in +proportion to the tameness with which they had surrendered to the +Highlanders in 1745, the mob inflicted upon poor Jean Gordon no +slighter penalty than that of ducking her to death in the Eden. It +was an operation of some time, for Jean was a stout woman, and, +struggling with her murderers, often got her head above water; and, +while she had voice left, continued to exclaim at such intervals, +'Charlie yet! Charlie yet!' When a child, and among the scenes +which she frequented, I have often heard these stories, and cried +piteously for poor Jean Gordon. + +"Before quitting the Border gipsies, I may mention, that my +grandfather, while riding over Charterhouse moor, then a very +extensive common, fell suddenly among a large band of them, who +were carousing in a hollow of the moor, surrounded by bushes. They +instantly seized on his horse's bridle with many shouts of welcome, +exclaiming--(for he was well known to most of them) that they had +often dined at his expense, and he must now stay and share their +good cheer. My ancestor was a little alarmed, for, like the +Goodman of Lochside, he had more money about his person than he +cared to risk in such society. However, being naturally a bold +lively-spirited man, he entered into the humour of the thing, and +sat down to the feast, which consisted of all the varieties of +game, poultry, pigs, and so forth, that--could be collected by a +wide and indiscriminate system of plunder. The dinner was a very +merry one; but my relative got a hint from some of the older +gipsies to retire just when-- + + The mirth and fun grew fast and furious, + +and, mounting his horse accordingly, he took a French leave of his +entertainers, but without experiencing the least breach of +hospitality. I believe Jean Gordon was at this festival"-- +(Blackwood's Magazine, vol. i. p. 54.) + +Notwithstanding the failure of Jean's issue, for which, + + Weary fa' the waefu' wuddie, + +a granddaughter survived her whom I remember to have seen. That is, +as Dr. Johnson had a shadowy recollection of Queen Anne, as a +stately lady in black, adorned with diamonds, so my memory is +haunted by a solemn remembrance of a woman of more than female +height, dressed in a long red cloak, who commenced acquaintance by +giving me an apple, but whom, nevertheless, I looked on with as +much awe as the future Doctor, High Church and Tory as he was +doomed to be, could look upon the Queen. I conceive this woman to +have been Madge Gordon, of whom an impressive account is given in +the same article in which her mother Jean is mentioned, but not by +the present writer.-- + +"The late Madge Gordon was at this time accounted the Queen of the +Yetholm clans. She was, we believe, a granddaughter of the +celebrated Jean Gordon, and was said to have much resembled her in +appearance. The following account of her is extracted from the +letter of a friend, who for many years enjoyed frequent and +favourable opportunities of observing the characteristic +peculiarities of the Yetholm tribes.--'Madge Gordon was descended +from the Faas by the mother's side, and was married to a Young. She +was a remarkable personage of a very commanding presence, and high +stature, being nearly six feet high. She had a large aquiline +nose-penetrating eyes, even in her old age-bushy hair, that hung +around her shoulders from beneath a gipsy bonnet of straw-a short +cloak of a peculiar fashion, and a long staff nearly as tall as +herself. I remember her well;--every week she paid my father a +visit for her awmous, when I was a little boy, and I looked upon +Madge with no common degree of awe, and terror. When she spoke +vehemently (for she made loud complaints), she used to strike her +staff upon the floor, and throw herself into an attitude which it +was impossible to regard with indifference. She used to say that +she could bring from the remotest parts of the island, friends to +revenge her quarrel, while she sat motionless in her cottage; and +she frequently boasted that there was a time when she was of still +more considerable importance, for there were at her wedding fifty +saddled asses, and unsaddled asses with. out number. If Jean +Gordon was the prototype of the character of Meg Merrilies, I +imagine Madge must have sat to the unknown author as the +representative of her person.' "--(Blackwood's Magazine, vol. i. +p. 56.) + +How far Blackwood's ingenious correspondent was right, how far +mistaken in his conjecture, the reader has been informed. + +To pass to a character of a very different description, Dominie +Sampson, the reader may easily suppose that a poor, modest, humble +scholar, who has won his way through the classics, yet has fallen +to leeward in the voyage of life, is no uncommon personage in a +country, where a certain portion of learning is easily attained by +those who are willing to suffer hunger and thirst in exchange for +acquiring Greek and Latin. But there is a far more exact prototype +of the worthy Dominie, upon which is founded the part which he +performs in the romance, and which, for certain particular +reasons, must be expressed very generally. + +Such a preceptor as Mr. Sampson is supposed to have been, was +actually tutor in the family of a gentleman of considerable +property. The young lads, his pupils, grew up and went out in the +world, but the tutor continued to reside in the family, no uncommon +circumstance in Scotland (in former days), where food and shelter +were readily afforded to humble friends and dependants. The +Laird's predecessors had been imprudent, he himself was passive and +unfortunate. Death swept away his sons, whose success in life might +have balanced his own bad luck and incapacity. Debts increased and +funds diminished, until ruin came. The estate was sold; and the +old man was about to remove from the house of his fathers, to go he +knew not whither, when, like an old piece of furniture, which, left +alone in its wonted corner, may hold together for a long while, but +breaks to pieces on an attempt to move it, he fell down on his own +threshold under a paralytic affection. + +The tutor awakened as from a dream. He saw his patron dead, and +that his patron's only remaining child, an elderly woman, now +neither graceful nor beautiful, if she had ever been either the one +or the other, had by this calamity become a homeless and penniless +orphan. He addressed her nearly in the words which Dominie Sampson +uses to Miss Bertram, and professed his determination not to leave +her. Accordingly, roused to the exercise of talents which had long +slumbered, he opened a little school, and supported his patron's +child for the rest of her life, treating her with the same humble +observance and devoted attention which he had used towards her in +the days of her prosperity. + +Such is the outline of Dominie Sampson's real story, in which there +is neither romantic incident nor sentimental passion; but which, +perhaps, from the rectitude and simplicity of character which it +displays, may interest the heart and fill the eye of the reader as +irresistibly as if it respected distresses of a more dignified or +refined character. + +These preliminary notices concerning the tale of Guy Mannering, and +some of the characters introduced, may save the author and reader, +in the present instance, the trouble of writing and perusing a long +string of detached notes. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + He could not deny, that looking round upon the dreary + region, and seeing nothing but bleak fields, and naked + trees, hills obscured by fogs, and flats covered with + inundations, he did for some time suffer melancholy to + prevail on him, and wished himself again safe at + home--Travels of Will Marvel, Idler, No. 49. + +It was in the beginning of the month of November, 17--, when a +young English gentleman, who had just left the university of +Oxford, made use of the liberty afforded him, to visit some parts +of the north of England; and curiosity extended his tour into the +adjacent frontier of the sister country. He had visited, on the day +that opens our history, some monastic ruins in the county of +Dumfries, and spent much of the day in making drawings of them from +different points; so that, on mounting his horse to resume his +journey, the brief and gloomy twilight of the season had already +commenced. His way lay through a wide tract of black moss, +extending for miles on each side and before him. Little eminences +arose like islands on its surface, bearing here and there patches +of corn, which even at this season was green, and sometimes a but, +or farm-house, shaded by a willow or two, and surrounded by large +elder bushes. These insulated dwellings communicated with each +other by winding passages through the moss, impassable by any but +the natives themselves. The public road, however, was tolerably +well made and safe, so that the prospect of being benighted brought +with it no real danger. Still it is uncomfortable to travel, alone +and in the dark, through an unknown country; and there are few +ordinary occasions upon which Fancy frets herself so much as in a +situation like that of Mannering. + +As the light grew faint and more faint, and the morass appeared +blacker and blacker, our traveller questioned more closely each +chance passenger on his distance from the village of Kippletringan, +where he proposed to quarter for the night. His queries were +usually answered by a counter-challenge respecting the place from +whence he came. While sufficient daylight remained to show the +dress and appearance of a gentleman, these cross interrogatories +were usually put in the form of a case supposed, as, "Ye'll hae +been at the auld abbey o' Halycross, sir? there's mony English +gentlemen, gang to see that."--Or, "Your honour will be come frae +the house o' Pouderloupat?" But when the voice of the querist alone +was distinguishable, the response usually was, "Where are ye coming +frae at sic a time o' night as the like o' this?"--or, "Ye'll no be +o' this country, freend?" The answers, when obtained, were neither +very reconcilable to each other, nor accurate in the information +which they afforded. Kippletringan was distant at first "a gey +bit"; [* Considerable distance] then the "gey bit" was more +accurately described as "ablins [* Perhaps] three mile"; then the +"three mile" diminished into "like a mile and a bittock "; then +extended themselves into "four mile or thereawa"; and, lastly, a +female voice, having hushed a waiting infant which the spokeswoman +carried in her arms, assured Guy Mannering, "It was a weary lang +gate yet to Kippletringan, and unco heavy road for foot +passengers." The poor hack upon which Mannering was mounted was +probably of opinion that it suited him as ill as the female +respondent; for he began to flag very much, answered each +application of the spur with a groan, and stumbled at every stone +(and they were not few) which lay in his road. + +Mannering now grew impatient. He was occasionally betrayed into a +deceitful hope that the end of his journey was near, by the +apparition of a twinkling light or two; but, as he came up, he was +disappointed to find that the gleams proceeded from some of those +farm-houses which occasionally ornamented the surface of the +extensive bog. At length, to complete his perplexity, he arrived +at a place where the road divided into two. If there had been +light to consult the relics of a finger-post which stood there, it +would have been of little avail, as, according to the good custom +of North Britain, the inscription had been defaced shortly after +its erection. Our adventurer was therefore compelled, like a +knight-errant of old, to trust to the sagacity of his horse, which, +without any demur, chose the left-hand path, and seemed to proceed +at a somewhat livelier pace than before, affording thereby a hope +that he knew he was drawing near to his quarters for the evening. +This hope, however, was not speedily accomplished, and Mannering, +whose impatience made every furlong seem three, began to think that +Kippletringan was actually retreating before him in proportion to +his advance. + +It was now very cloudy, although the stars, from time to time, shed +a twinkling and uncertain light. Hitherto nothing had broken the +silence around him, but the deep cry of the bog-blitter, or +bull-of-the-bog, a large species of bittern; and the sighs of the +wind as it passed along the dreary morass. To these was now joined +the distant roar of the ocean, towards which the traveller seemed +to be fast approaching. This was no circumstance to make his mind +easy. Many of the roads in that country lay along the sea-beach, +and were liable to be flooded by the tides, which rise with great +height,--and advance with extreme rapidity. Others were +intersected with creeks and small inlets, which it was only safe to +pass at particular times of the tide. Neither circumstance would +have suited a dark night, a fatigued horse, and a traveller +ignorant of his road. Mannering resolved, therefore, definitely to +halt for the night at the first inhabited place, however poor, he +might chance to reach, unless he could procure a guide to this +unlucky village of Kippletringan.-- + +A miserable hut gave him an opportunity to execute his purpose. He +found out the door with no small difficulty, and for some time +knocked without producing any other answer than a duet between a +female and a cur-dog, the latter yelping as if he would have barked +his heart out, the other screaming in chorus. By degrees the human +tones predominated; but the angry bark of the cur being at the +instant changed into a howl, it is probable something more than +fair strength of lungs had contributed to the ascendency. + +"Sorrow be in your thrapple [*Throat] then these were the first +articulate words,--"will ye no let me hear what the man wants, wi' +your yaffing?" [* Barking] + +"Am I far from Kippletringan, good dame?" + +"Frae Kippletringan!!!" in an exalted tone of wonder, which we can +but faintly express by three points of admiration; "Ow, man! ye +should hae hadden eassel to Kippletringan--ye maun gae back as far +as the Whaap, and haud the Whaap [*The Hope, often pronounced +Whaap, is the sheltered part or hollow of the hill Hoff, howff, +haaf, and haven, are all modifications of the same word.] till ye +come to Ballenloan, and then--" + +"This will never do, good dame! my horse is almost quite knocked up +--can you not give me a night's lodgings?" + +"Troth can I no--I am a lone woman, for James he's awa to +Drumshourloch fair with the year-aulds, and I daurna for my life +open the door to ony o' your gang-there-out sort o' bodies." + +"But what must I do then, good dame? for I can't sleep here upon +the road all night." + +"Troth, I kenna, unless ye like to gae down and speer [*Ask] for +quarters at the Place. I'se warrant they'll tak ye in, whether ye +be gentle or semple." + +"Simple enough, to be wandering here at such a time of night," +thought Mannering, who was ignorant of the meaning of the phrase; +"but how shall I get to the place, as you call it?" + +"Ye maun haud wessel by the end o' the loan, and take tent o' the +jaw-hole." + +"Oh, if ye get to eassel and wessel [*Eastward and Westward] +again, I am undone!--Is there nobody that could guide me to this +place? I will pay him handsomely." + +The ward pay operated like magic. "Jock, ye villain," exclaimed +the voice from the interior, "are ye lying routing there, and a. +young gentleman seeking the way to the Place? Get up, ye fause +loon, [*Young fellow] and show him the way down the muckle loaning. +--He'll show you the way, sir, and I'se warrant ye'll be weel put +up; for they never turn awa naebody frae the door; and ye'll be +come in the canny moment, I'm thinking, for the Laird's servant-- +that's no to say his body-servant, but the helper like--rade +express by this e'en to fetch the houdie, [*Midwife] and he just +staid the drinking o' twa pints o' tippenny, to tell us how my +leddy was ta'en wi' her pains." + +"Perhaps," said Mannering, "at such a time a stranger's arrival +might be inconvenient?" + +"Hout, na, ye needna be blate about that; their house is muckle +eneugh, and clecking [*Hatching time] time's aye canty time." + +By this time Jock had found his way into all the intricacies of a +tattered doublet, and more tattered pair of breeches, and sallied +forth, a great white-headed, bare-legged, lubberly boy of twelve +years old, so exhibited by the glimpse of a rush-light, which his +half-naked mother held in such a manner as to get a peep at the +stranger, without greatly exposing herself to view in return. Jock +moved on westward, by the end of the house, leading Mannering's +horse by the bridle, and piloting, with some dexterity, along the +little path which bordered the formidable jaw-hole, whose vicinity +the stranger was made sensible of by means of more organs than +one. His guide then dragged the weary hack along a broken and +stony cart-track, next over a ploughed field, then broke down a +slap, [*A gap] as he called it, in a dry-stone fence, and lugged +the unresisting animal through the breach, about a rood of the +simple masonry giving way in the splutter with which he passed. +Finally, he led the way, through a wicket, into something which had +still the air of an avenue, though many of the trees were felled. +The roar of the ocean was now near and full, and the moon, which +began to make her appearance, gleamed on a turreted and apparently +a ruined mansion, of considerable extent. Mannering fixed his eyes +upon it with a disconsolate sensation. + +"Why, my little fellow," he said, "this is a ruin, not a house?" + +"Ah, but the lairds lived there langsyne--that's Ellangowan Auld +Place; there's a hantle bogles [*Ghosts] about it--but ye needna be +feared--I never saw ony mysell, and we're just at the door o' the +New Place." + +Accordingly, leaving the ruins on the right, a few steps brought +the traveller in front of a modern house of moderate size, at which +his guide rapped with great importance. Mannering told his +circumstances to the servant; and the gentleman of the house, who +heard his tale from the parlour, stepped forward, and welcomed the +stranger hospitably to Ellangowan. The boy, made happy with half a +crown, was dismissed to his cottage, the weary horse was conducted +to a stall, and Mannering found himself in a few minutes seated by +a comfortable supper, for which his cold ride gave him a hearty +appetite. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + --Comes me cranking in, And cuts me from the best of all my land, + A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out. + Henry IV. Part I + +The company in the parlour at Ellangowan consisted of the Laird, +and a sort of person who might be the village schoolmaster, or +perhaps the minister's assistant; his appearance was too shabby to +indicate the minister, considering he was on a visit to the Laird. + +The Laird himself was one of those second-rate sort of persons, +that are to be found frequently in rural situations. Fielding has +described one class as feras consumere nati; but the love of +field-sports indicates a certain activity of mind, which had +forsaken Mr. Bertram, if ever he possessed it. A good-humoured +listlessness of countenance formed the only remarkable expression +of his features, although they were rather handsome than otherwise. +In fact, his physiognomy indicated the inanity of character which +pervaded his life. I will give the reader some insight into his +state and conversation, before he has finished a long lecture to +Mannering, upon the propriety and comfort of wrapping his +stirrup-irons round with a wisp of straw when he had occasion to +ride in a chill evening. + +Godfrey Bertram, of Ellangowan, succeeded to a long pedigree, and a +short rent-roll, like many lairds of that period. His list of +forefathers ascended so high, that they were lost in the barbarous +ages of Galwegian independence; so that his genealogical tree, +besides the Christian and crusading names of Godfreys, and +Gilberts, and Dennises, and Rolands, without end, bore heathen +fruit of yet darker ages,--Arths, and Knarths, and Donagilds, and +Hanlons. In truth, they had been formerly the stormy chiefs of a +desert, but extensive domain, and the heads of a numerous tribe, +called Mac-Dingawaie, though they afterwards adopted the Norman +surname of Bertram. They had made war, raised rebellions, been +defeated, beheaded, and hanged, as became a family of importance, +for many centuries. But they had gradually lost ground in the +world, and, from being themselves the heads of treason and +traitorous conspiracies, the Bertrams, or Mac-Dingawaies, of +Ellangowan, had sunk into subordinate accomplices. Their most +fatal exhibitions in this capacity took place in the seventeenth +century, when the foul fiend possessed them with a spirit of +contradiction, which uniformly involved them in controversy with +the ruling powers. They reversed the conduct of the celebrated +Vicar of Bray, and adhered as tenaciously to the weaker side, as +that worthy divine to the stronger. And truly, like him, they had +their reward. + +Allan Bertram of Ellangowan, who flourished tempore Caroli primi +was, says my authority, Sir Robert Douglas, in his Scottish +Baronage (see the title Ellangowan), "a steady loyalist, and full +of zeal for the cause of his sacred majesty, in which he united +with the great Marquis of Montrose, and other truly zealous and +honourable patriots, and sustained great losses in that behalf. He +had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him by his most sacred +majesty, and was sequestrated as a malignant by the parliament, +1642, and afterwards as a resolutioner, in the year 1648."--These +two cross-grained epithets of malignant and resolutioner cost poor +Sir Allan one half of the family estate. His son Dennis Bertram +married a daughter of an eminent fanatic, who had a seat in the +council of state, and saved by that union the remainder of the +family property. But, as ill chance would have it, he became +enamoured of the lady's principles as well as of her charms, and my +author gives him this character: "He was a man of eminent parts and +resolution, for which reason he was chosen by the western counties +one of the committee of noblemen and gentlemen, to report their +griefs to the privy council of Charles II, anent the coming in of +the Highland host in 1678." For undertaking this patriotic task he +underwent a fine, to pay which he was obliged to mortgage half of +the remaining moiety of his paternal property. This loss he might +have recovered by dint of severe economy, but on the breaking out +of Argyle's rebellion, Dennis Bertram was again suspected by +government, apprehended, sent to Dunnottar Castle on the coast of +the Mearns, and there broke his neck in an attempt to escape from a +subterranean habitation, called the Whigs' Vault, in which he was +confined with some eighty of the same persuasion. The apprizer, +therefore (as the holder of a mortgage was then called), entered +upon possession, and, in the language of Hotspur, "came me cranking +in," and cut the family out of another monstrous cantle of their +remaining property. + +Donohoe Bertram, with somewhat of an Irish name, and somewhat of an +Irish temper, succeeded to the diminished property of Ellangowan. +He turned out of doors the Rev. Aaron Macbriar, his mother's +chaplain (it is said they quarrelled about the good graces of a +milkmaid), drank himself daily drunk with brimming healths to the +king, council, and bishops; held orgies with the Laird of Lagg, +Theophilus Oglethorpe, and Sir James Turner; and lastly, took his +gray gelding, and joined Clavers at Killiecrankie. At the skirmish +of Dunkeld, 1689, he was shot dead by a Cameronian with a silver +button (being supposed to have proof from the Evil One against lead +and steel), and his grave is still called, the Wicked Laird's +Lair. + +His son, Lewis, had more prudence than seems usually to have +belonged to the family. He nursed what property was yet left to +him; for Donohoe's excesses, as well as fines and forfeitures, had +made another inroad upon the estate. And although even he did not +escape the fatality which induced the Lairds of Ellangowan to +interfere with politics, he had yet the prudence, ere he went out +with Lord Kenmore In 1715, to convey his estate to trustees, in +order to parry pains and penalties, in case the Earl of Mar could +not put down the Protestant succession. But Scylla and Charybdis +--a word to the wise--he only saved his estate at expense of a +lawsuit, which again subdivided the family property. He was, +however, a man of resolution. He sold part of the lands, evacuated +the old castle, where the family lived in their decadence, as a +mouse (said an old farmer) lives under a firlot. Pulling down part +of these venerable ruins, he built with the stones a narrow house +of three stories high, with a front like a grenadier's cap, having +in the very centre a round window, like the single eye of a +Cyclops, two windows on each side, and a door in the middle, +leading to a parlour and withdrawing room, full of all manner of +cross lights. + +This was the New Place of Ellangowan, in which we left our hero, +better amused perhaps than our readers, and to this Lewis Bertram +retreated, full of projects for re-establishing the prosperity of +his family. He took some land into his own hand, rented some from +neighbouring proprietors, bought and sold Highland cattle and +Cheviot sheep, rode to fairs and trysts, fought hard bargains, and +held necessity at the stairs end as well as he might. But what he +gained in purse, he lost in honour, for such agricultural and +commercial negotiations were very ill looked upon by his brother +lairds, who minded nothing but cock-fighting, hunting, coursing, +and horse-racing, with now and then the alternation of a desperate +duel. The occupations which he followed encroached, in their +opinion, upon the article of Ellangowan's gentry, and he found it +necessary gradually to estrange himself from their society, and +sink into what was then a very ambiguous character, a gentleman +farmer. In the midst of his schemes death claimed his tribute, and +the scanty remains of a large property descended upon Godfrey +Bertram, the present possessor, his only son. + +The danger of the father's speculations was soon seen. Deprived of +Laird Lewis's personal and active superintendence, all his +undertakings miscarried, and became either abortive or perilous. +Without a single spark of energy to meet or repel these +misfortunes, Godfrey put his faith in the activity of another. He +kept neither hunters, nor hounds, nor any other southern +preliminaries to ruin; but, as has been observed of his countrymen, +he kept a man of business, who answered the purpose equally well. +Under this gentleman's supervision small debts grew into large, +interests were accumulated upon capitals, movable bonds became +heritable, and law charges were heaped upon all; though Ellangowan +possessed so little the spirit of a litigant, that he was on two +occasions charged to make payment of the expenses of a long +lawsuit, although he had never before heard that he had such cases +in court. Meanwhile his neighbours predicted his final ruin. Those +of the higher rank, with some malignity, accounted him already a +degraded brother. The lower classes, seeing nothing enviable in +his situation, marked his embarrassments with more compassion. He +was even a kind of favourite with them, and upon the division of a +common, or the holding of a black-fishing, or poaching court, or +any similar occasion, when they conceived themselves, oppressed by +the gentry, they were in the habit of saying to each other, "Ah, if +Ellangowan, honest man, had his ain that his forebears had afore +him, he wadna see the puir folk trodden down this gait." Meanwhile, +this general good opinion never prevented their taking the +advantage of him on all possible occasions, turning their cattle +into his parks, stealing his wood, shooting his game, and so forth, +"for the laird, honest man, he'll never find it,--he never minds +what a puir body does."--Pedlars, gipsies, tinkers, vagrants of all +descriptions, roosted about his outhouses, or harboured in his +kitchen; and the laird, who was "nae nice body," but a thorough +gossip, like most weak men, found recompense for his hospitality in +the pleasure of questioning them on the news of the country-side. + +A circumstance arrested Ellangowan's progress on the high-road to +ruin. This was his marriage with a lady who had a portion of about +four thousand pounds. Nobody in the neighbourhood could conceive +why she married him, and endowed him with her wealth, unless +because he had a tall, handsome figure, a good set of features, a +genteel address, and the most perfect good-humour. It might be +some additional consideration, that she was herself at the +reflecting age of twenty-eight, and had no near relations to +control her actions or choice. + +It was in this lady's behalf (confined for the first time after her +marriage) that the speedy and active express, mentioned by the old +dame of the cottage, had been despatched to Kippletringan on the +night of Mannering's arrival. + +Though we have said so much of the Laird himself, it still remains +that we make the reader in some degree acquainted with his +companion. This was Abel Sampson, commonly called, from his +occupation as a pedagogue, Dominie Sampson. He was of low birth, +but having evinced, even from his cradle, an uncommon seriousness +of disposition, the poor parents were encouraged to hope that their +bairn, as they expressed it, "might wag his pow [* Head] in a +pulpit yet." + +With an ambitious view to such consummation, they pinched and +pared, rose early and lay down late, ate dry bread and drank cold +water, to secure to Abel the means of learning. Meantime, his tall, +ungainly, figure, his taciturn and grave manners, and some +grotesque habits of swinging his limbs, and screwing his visage, +while reciting his task, made poor Sampson the ridicule of all his +school-companions. The same qualities secured him at Glasgow +college a plentiful share of the same sort of notice. Half the +youthful mob "of the yards" used to assemble regularly to see +Dominie Sampson (for he had already attained that honourable title) +descend the stairs from the Greek class, with his Lexicon under his +arm, his long misshapen legs sprawling abroad, and keeping awkward +time to the play of his immense shoulder-blades, as they raised and +depressed the loose and threadbare black coat which was his +constant and only wear. When he spoke, the efforts of the +professor (professor of divinity, though he was) were totally +inadequate to restrain the inextinguishable laughter of the +students, and sometimes even to repress his own. The long, sallow +visage, the goggle eyes, the huge under-jaw, which appeared not to +open and shut by an act of volition, but to be dropped and hoisted +up again by some complicated machinery within the inner man,--the +harsh and dissonant voice. and the screech-owl notes to which it +was exalted when he was exhorted to pronounce more distinctly,-- +all added fresh subject for mirth to the torn cloak and shattered +shoe, which have afforded legitimate subjects of raillery against +the poor scholar, from Juvenal's time downward. It was never known +that Sampson either exhibited irritability at this ill usage, or +made the least attempt to retort upon his tormentors. He slunk +from college by the most secret paths he could discover, and +plunged himself into his miserable lodgings, where, for +eighteenpence a week, he was allowed the benefit of a straw +mattress, and, if his landlady was in good humour, permission to +study his task by her fire. Under all these disadvantages, he +obtained a competent knowledge of Greek and Latin, and some +acquaintance with the sciences. + +In progress of time, Abel Sampson, probationer of divinity, was +admitted to the privileges of a preacher. But, alas! partly from +his own bashfulness, partly owing to a strong and obvious +disposition to risibility which pervaded the congregation upon his +first attempt, he became totally incapable of proceeding in his +intended discourse, gasped, grinned, hideously rolled his eyes till +the congregation thought them flying out of his head, shut the +Bible, stumbled down the pulpit-stairs, trampling upon the old +women who generally take their station there, and was ever after +designated as a "stickit minister." And thus he wandered back to +his own country, with blighted hopes and prospects, to share the +poverty of his parents. As he had neither friend nor confidant, +hardly even an acquaintance, no one had the means of observing +closely how Dominie Sampson bore a disappointment which supplied +the whole town with a week's sport. It would be endless even to +mention the numerous jokes to which it gave birth, from a ballad, +called "Sampson's Riddle," written upon the subject by a smart +young student of humanity, to the sly hope of the Principal, that +the fugitive had not, in imitation of his mighty namesake, taken +the college gates along with him in his retreat. + +To all appearance, the equanimity of Sampson was unshaken. He +sought to assist his parents by teaching a school, and soon had +plenty of scholars, but very few fees. In fact, he taught the sons +of farmers for what they chose to give him and the poor for +nothing; and, to the shame of the former be it spoken, the +pedagogue's gains never equalled those of a skilful ploughman. He +wrote, however, a good hand, and added something to his pittance by +copying accounts and writing letters for Ellangowan. By degrees, +the Laird, who was much estranged from general society, became +partial to that of Dominie Sampson. Conversation, it is true, was +out of the question, but the Dominie was a good listener, and +stirred the fire with some address. He attempted even to snuff the +candies, but was unsuccessful, and relinquished that ambitious post +of courtesy after having twice reduced the parlour to total +darkness. So his civilities, thereafter, were confined to taking +off his glass of ale in exactly the same time and measure with the +Laird, and in uttering certain indistinct murmurs of acquiescence +at the conclusion of the long and winding stories of Ellangowan. + +On one of these occasions, he presented for the first tine to +Mannering his tall, gaunt, awkward, bony figure, attired in a +threadbare suit of blacks with a coloured handkerchief, not over +clean, about his sinewy, scraggy neck, and his nether person +arrayed in gray breeches, dark-blue stockings, clouted shoes, and +small copper buckles. + +Such is a brief outline of the lives and fortunes of those two +persons, in whose society Mannering now found himself comfortably +seated. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Do not the hist'ries of all ages Relate miraculous presages, Of + strange turns in the world's affairs, Foreseen by Astrologers, + Sooth-sayers, Chaldeans learned Genethliacs, And some that have + writ almanacks? + Hudibras. + +The circumstances of the landlady were pleaded to Mannering, first, +as an apology for her not appearing to welcome her guest, and for +those deficiencies in his entertainment which her attention might +have supplied, and then as an excuse for pressing an extra bottle +of good wine. + +"I cannot weel sleep," said the Laird, with the anxious feelings of +a father in such a predicament, "till I hear she's gatten ower with +it--and if you, sir, are not very sleepry, and would do me and the +Dominie the honour to sit up wi' us, I am sure we shall not detain +you very late. Luckie Howatson is very expeditious;--there was ance +a lass that was in that way--she did not live far from +hereabouts--ye needna shake your head and groan, Dominie--I am sure +the kirk dues were a' weel paid, and what can man do mair?--it +was laid till her ere she had a sark ower her head; and the man +that she since wadded does not think her a pin the waur for the +misfortune.--They live, Mr. Mannering, by the shore-side, at +Annan, and a mair decent, orderly couple, with six as fine bairns +as ye would wish to see plash in a salt-water dub; and little +curlie Godfrey--that's the eldest, the come o' will, as I may say +--he's on board an excise yacht--I hae a cousin at the board of +excise--that's 'Commissioner Bertram; he got his commissionership +in the great contest for the county, that ye must have heard of, +for it was appealed to the House of Commons--now I should have +voted there for the Laird of Balruddery; but ye see my father was a +Jacobite, and out with Kenmore, so he never took the oaths; and I +ken not weel how it was, but all that I could do and say, they +keepit me off the roll, though my agent, that had a vote upon my +estate, ranked as a good vote for auld Sir Thomas Kittlecourt. But, +to return to what I was saying, Luckie Howatson is very. +expeditious, for this lass--" + +Here the--desultory and long-winded narrative of the Laird was +interrupted by the voice of someone ascending the stairs from the +kitchen story, and singing at full pitch of voice. The high notes +were too shrill for a man, the low seemed too deep for a woman. The +words, as far as Mannering could distinguish them, seemed to run +thus:-- + +Canny moment, lucky fit; Is the lady lighter yet? Be it lad, or be +it lass, Sign wi' cross, and sain wi' mass. + +"It's Meg Merrilies, the gipsy, as sure as I am a sinner," said Mr. +Bertram. The Dominie groaned deeply, uncrossed his legs, drew in +the huge splay foot which his former posture had extended, placed +it perpendicularly, and stretched the other limb over it instead, +puffing out between whiles huge volumes of tobacco smoke. "What +needs ye groan, Dominie? I am sure Meg's sangs do nae ill." + +"Nor good neither," answered Dominie Sampson, in a voice whose +untuneable harshness corresponded with the awkwardness of his +figure. They were the first words which Mannering had heard him +speak; and as he had been watching with some curiosity, when this +eating, drinking, moving, and smoking automaton would perform the +part of speaking, he was a good deal diverted with the harsh timber +tones which issued from him. But at this moment the door opened, +and Meg Merrilies entered. + +Her appearance made Mannering start. She was full six feet high, +wore a man's greatcoat over the rest of her dress, had in her hand +a goodly sloe-thorn cudgel, and in all points of equipment, except +her petticoats, seemed rather masculine than feminine. Her dark +elf-locks shot out like the snakes of the gorgon, between an +old-fashioned bonnet called a bongrace, heightening the singular +effect of her strong and weather-beaten features, which they partly +shadowed, while her eye had a wild roll that indicated something +like real or affected insanity. + +"Aweel, Ellangowan," she said, "wad it no hae been a bonnie thing, +an the leddy had been brought-to-bed, and me at the fair o' +Drumshourloch, no kenning, nor dreaming a word about it? Wha was +to hae keepit awa the worriecows, [* goblins] I trow? Ay, and the +elves and gyre-carlings [* Witches] frae the bonny bairn, grace be +wi' it? Ay, or 'said Saint Colme's charm for its sake, the dear?" +And without waiting an answer she began to sing. + +Trefoil, vervain, John's-wort, dill, Hinders witches of their +will; Weel is them, that weel may Fast upon St. Andrew's day. + +Saint Bride and her brat, Saint Colme and his cat, Saint Michael +and his spear, Keep the house frae reif and wear. + +This charm she sung to a wild tune, in a high and shrill voice, +and, cutting three capers with such strength and agility, as almost +to touch the roof of the room, concluded, "And now, Laird, will ye +no order me a tass o' brandy?" + +"That you shall have, Meg--Sit down yont there at the door, and +tell us what news ye have heard at the fair o' Drumshourloch." + +"Troth, Laird, and there was muckle want o' you, and the like b' +you; for there was a whin bonnie lasses there, forbye mysell, and +deil ane to gie them hansels." + +"Weel, Meg, and how mony gipsies were sent to the tolbooth?" + +"Troth, but three, Laird, for there were nae mair in the fair, bye +mysell, as I said before, and I e'en gae them leg-bail, for there's +nae case in dealing wi' quarrelsome fowk. And there's Dunbog has +warned the Red Rotten and John Young aff his grunds--black be his +cast! [*Fate] he's nae gentleman, nor drap's bluid o' gentleman, +wad grudge twa gangrel [*Vagrant] pair bodies the shelter o' a +waste house, and the thristles by the roadside for a bit cuddy,. +[*Donkey] and the bits o' rotten birk [*Birch] to boil their drap +parritch wi'. Weel, there's ane abune a'--but we'll see if the red +cock craw not in his bonnie barn-yard ae morning before +day-dawing." + +"Hush! Meg, hush! hush that's not safe talk." + +"What does she mean?" said Mannering to Sampson, in an undertone. + +"Fire-raising," answered the laconic Dominie. + +"Who, or what is she, in the name of wonder?" + +"Harlot, thief, witch, and gipsy." Answered Sampson again. + +"Oh, troth, Laird," continued Meg, during this by-talk, "it's but +to the like o' you ane can open their heart; ye see, they say +Dunbog is nae mair a gentleman than the blunker that's biggit +[*Built] the bonnie house down in the howm. But the like o' you, +Laird, that's a real gentleman for sae mony hundred years, and +never hunds puir fowk aff your grund as if they were mad tykes, +[*Dogs] nane o' our fowk wad stir your gear [*Property] if ye had +as mony capons as there's leaves on the trysting-tree.--And now +some o' ye maun lay down your watch, and tell me the very minute o' +the hour the wean's born, and I'll spae its fortune." + +"Ay, but, Meg, we shall not want your assistance, for here's a +student from Oxford that kens much better than you how to spae its +fortune--he does it by the stars." + +"Certainly, sir," said Mannering, entering into the simple humour +of his landlord, "I will calculate his nativity according to the +rule of the Triplicities, as recommended by Pythagoras, +Hippocrates, Diocles, and Avicenna. Or I will begin ab hora +questionis, as Haly, Messahala, Ganwehis, and Guido Bonatus, have +recommended." + +One of Sampson's great recommendations to the favour of Mr. +Bertram was, that he never detected the most gross attempt at +imposition, so that the Laird, whose humble efforts at jocularity +were chiefly confined to what were then called-bites and bams, +since denominated hoaxes and quizzes, had the fairest possible +subject of wit in the unsuspecting Dominie. It is true, he never +laughed, or joined in the laugh which his own simplicity afforded +--nay, it is said, he never laughed but once in his life and on +that memorable occasion his landlady miscarried, partly through +surprise at the event itself, and partly from terror at the-hideous +grimaces which attended this unusual cachinnation. The only effect +which the discovery of such impositions produced upon this +saturnine personage was, to extort an ejaculation of "Prodigious!" +or "Very facetious!" pronounced syllabically, but without moving a +muscle of his own countenance. + +On the present occasion, he turned a gaunt and ghastly stare upon +the youthful astrologer, and seemed to doubt if he had rightly +understood his answer to his patron. + +"I am afraid, sir," said Mannering, turning towards him, "you may +be one of those unhappy persons, who, their dim eyes being unable +to penetrate the starry spheres, and to discern therein the decrees +of heaven at a distance, have their hearts barred against +conviction by prejudice and misprision." + +"Truly," said Sampson, "I opine with Sir Isaac Newton, Knight, and +umwhile [*Late] master of his Majesty's mint, that the +(pretended) science of astrology is altogether vain, frivolous, and +unsatisfactory." And here he reposed his oracular jaws. + +"Really," resumed the traveller, "I am sorry to see a gentleman of +your learning and gravity labouring under such strange blindness +and delusion. Will you place the brief, the modern, and, as I may +say, the vernacular name of Isaac Newton, in opposition to the +grave and sonorous authorities of Dariot, Bonatus, Ptolemy, Haly, +Eztler, Dieterick, Naibob, Harfurt, Zael, Taustettor, Agrippa, +Duretus, Maginus, Origen, and Argol? Do not Christians and +Heathens, and Jews and Gentiles, and poets and philosophers, unite +in allowing the starry influences?" + +"Communis error--it is a general mistake," answered the inflexible +Dominie Sampson. + +"Not so," replied the young Englishman; it is a general and +well-grounded belief." + +"It is the resource of cheaters, knaves, and cozeners," said +Sampson. + +"Abusus non tollit usum. The abuse of anything doth not abrogate +the lawful use thereof." + +During this discussion, Ellangowan was somewhat like a woodcock +caught in his own springe. He turned his face alternately from the +one spokesman to the other, and began, from the gravity with which +Mannering plied his adversary, and the learning which he displayed +in the controversy, to give him credit for. being half serious. As +for Meg, she fixed her bewildered eyes upon the astrologer, +overpowered by a jargon more mysterious than her own. + +Mannering pressed his advantage, and ran over all the hard terms of +art which a tenacious memory supplied, and which, from +circumstances hereafter to be noticed, had been familiar to him in +early youth. + +Signs and planets, in aspects sextuple, quartile, trine, conjoined +or opposite; houses of heaven, with their cusps, hours, and +minutes; Almuten, Alinochoden, Anabibazon, Catahibazon, a thousand +terms of equal sound and significance, poured thick and threefold +upon the unshrinking Dominie, whose stubborn incredulity bore him +out against the pelting of this pitiless storm. + +At length, the joyful annunciation that the lady had presented her +husband with a fine boy, and was (of course) as well as could be +expected, broke off this intercourse. Mr. Bertram hastened to the +lady's apartment, Meg Merrilies descended to the kitchen to secure +her share of the groaning malt, [*The groaning malt mentioned in +the text was the ale brewed for the purpose of being drunk after +the lady or goodwife's safe delivery. The ken-no has a more +ancient source, and perhaps the custom may he derived from the +secret rites of the Bona Dea. A large and rich cheese was made by +the women of the family, with great affectation of secrecy, for the +refreshment of the gossips who were to attend at the canny minute +This was the ken-no, so called because its existence was secret +(that is, presumed to be so) from all the males of the family, but +especially from the husband and master. He was, accordingly, +expected to conduct himself as if he knew of no such preparation, +to act as if desirous to press the female guests to refreshments, +and to seem surprised at their obstinate refusal. But the instant +his back was turned ken-no was produced, and after all had eaten +their fill, with a proper accompaniment of the groaning malt, the +remainder was divided among the gossips, each carrying a large +portion home with the same affectation of great secrecy.] and the +"ken-no," and Mannering, after looking at his watch, and noting, +with great exactness, the hour and minute of the birth, requested, +with becoming gravity, that the Dominie would conduct him to some +place where he might have a view of the heavenly bodies. + +The schoolmaster, without further answer, rose and threw open a +door half sashed with glass, which led to an old-fashioned +terrace-walk, behind the modern house, communicating with the +platform on which the ruins of the ancient castle were situated The +wind had arisen, and swept before it the clouds which had formerly +obscured the sky. The moon was high, and at the full, and all the +lesser satellites of heaven shone forth in cloudless effulgence. +The scene which their light presented to Mannering was in the +highest degree unexpected and striking. + +We have observed, that in the latter part of his journey our +traveller approached the seashore, without being aware how nearly. +He now perceived that the ruins of Ellangowan castle were situated +upon a promontory, or projection of rock, which formed one side of +a small and placid bay on the seashore. The modern mansion was +placed lower, though closely adjoining, and the ground behind it +descended to the sea by a small swelling green bank, divided into +levels by natural terraces, on which grew some old trees, and +terminating upon the white sand. The other side of the bay, +opposite to the old castle, was a sloping and varied promontory, +covered chiefly with copsewood, which on that favoured coast grows +almost within water-mark. A fisherman's cottage peeped from among +the trees. Even at this dead hour of night there were lights +moving upon the shore, probably occasioned by the unloading a +smuggling lugger from the Isle of Man, which was lying in the bay. +On the light from the sashed door of the house being observed, a +halloo from the vessel, of "Ware hawk! Douse the glim!" [*Put out +the light] alarmed those who were on shore, and the lights +instantly disappeared. + +It was one hour after midnight, and the prospect around was +lovely. The gray old towers of the ruin, partly entire, partly +broken, here bearing the, rusty weather-stains of ages, and there +partially mantled with ivy, stretched along the verge of the dark +rock which rose on Mannering's right hand. In his front was the +quiet bay, whose little waves, crisping and sparkling to the +moonbeams, rolled successively along its surface, and dashed with a +soft and murmuring ripple against the silvery beach. To the left +the woods advanced far into the ocean, waving in the moonlight +along ground of an undulating and varied form, and presenting those +varieties of light and shade, and that interesting combination of +glade and thicket, upon which the eye delights to rest, charmed +with what it sees, yet curious to pierce still deeper into the +intricacies of the woodland scenery. Above rolled the planets, +each, by its own liquid orbit of light, distinguished from the +inferior or more distant stars. So strangely can imagination +deceive even those :by whose volition it has been excited, that +Mannering, while gazing upon these brilliant bodies, was half +inclined to believe in the influence ascribed to them by, +superstition over human events. But Mannering was a youthful +lover, and might perhaps be influenced by the feelings so +exquisitely expressed by a modern poet + +For fable is Love's world, his home, his birth-place--Delightedly +dwells he 'mong fays, and talismans, And spirits, and delightedly +believes Divinities, being himself divine. The intelligible forms +of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The power, +the beauty, and the majesty, That had their haunts in dale, or piny +mountains, Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly spring Or chasms of +wat'ry depths--all these have vanish'd; They live no longer in the +faith of reason! But still the heart doth need a language, still +Doth the old instinct bring back the old names. And to yon starry +world they now are gone, Spirits or gods, that used to shave this +earth With man as with their friend, and to the lover Yonder they +move, from yonder visible sky Shoot influence down; and even at +this day 'Tis Jupiter who brings whate'er is great, And Venus who +brings everything that's fair. + +Such musings soon gave way to others. "Alas!" he muttered, "my +good old tutor, who used to enter so deep into the controversy +between Heydon and Chambers on the subject of astrology, he would +have looked upon the scene with other eyes, and would have +seriously endeavoured to discover from the respective positions of +these luminaries their probable effects on the destiny of the +new-born infant, as if the courses or emanations of the stars +superseded, or, at least, were co-ordinate with, Divine +Providence. Well, rest be with him! he instilled into me enough of +knowledge for erecting a scheme of nativity, and therefore will I +presently go about it." So saying, and having noted the position +of the principal planetary bodies, Guy Mannering returned to the +house. The Laird met him in the parlour, and acquainting him, with +great glee, that the boy was a fine healthy little fellow, seemed +rather disposed to press further conviviality. He admitted, +however, Mannering's plea of weariness, and, conducting him to his +sleeping apartment, left him to repose for the evening. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + --Come and see! trust thine own eyes, A fearful sign stands + in the house of life, An enemy; a fiend lurks close behind ... + The radiance of thy planet--O be warned! + Coleridge, from Schiller. + +The belief in astrology was almost universal in the middle of the +seventeenth century; it began to waver and become doubtful towards +the close of that period, and in the beginning of the eighteenth +the art fell into general disrepute, and even under general +ridicule. Yet it still retained many partisans even in the seats +of learning. Grave and studious men were loath to relinquish the +calculations which had early become the principal objects of their +studies, and felt reluctant to descend from the predominating +height to which a supposed insight into futurity, by the power of +consulting abstract influences and conjunctions, had exalted them +over the rest of mankind. + +Among those who cherished this imaginary privilege with undoubting +faith, was an old clergyman, with whom Mannering was placed during +his youth. He wasted his eves in observing the stars, and his +brains in calculations upon their various combinations. His pupil, +in early youth, naturally caught some portion of his enthusiasm, +and laboured for a time to make himself master of the technical +process of astrological research; so that, before he became +convinced of its absurdity, William Lilly himself would have +allowed him "a curious fancy and piercing judgment in resolving a +question of nativity." + +On the present occasion, he arose as early in the morning as the +shortness of the day permitted, and proceeded to calculate the +nativity of the young heir of Ellangowan. He undertook the task +secundum artem, as well to keep up appearances, as from a sort of +curiosity to know whether he yet remembered, and could practise, +the imaginary science. He accordingly erected his scheme, or figure +of heaven, divided into its twelve houses, placed the planets +therein according to the Ephemeris, and rectified their position to +the hour and moment of the nativity. Without troubling our readers +with the general prognostications which judicial astrology would +have inferred from these circumstances, in this diagram there was +one significator, which pressed remarkably upon our astrologers +attention. Mars having dignity in the cusp of the twelfth house, +threatened captivity, or sudden and violent death, to the native; +and Mannering having recourse to those further rules by which +diviners pretend to ascertain the vehemency of this evil direction, +observed from the result, that three periods would be particularly +hazardous--his fifth--his tenth--his twenty-first year. + +It was somewhat remarkable, that Mannering had once before tried a +similar piece of foolery, at the instance of Sophia Wellwood, the +young lady to whom he was attached, and that a similar conjunction +of planetary influence threatened her with death, or imprisonment, +in her thirty-ninth year. She was at this time eighteen; so that, +according to the result of the scheme in both cases, the same year +threatened her with the same misfortune that was presaged to the +native or infant, whom that night had introduced into the world. +Struck with this coincidence, Mannering repeated his calculations; +and the result approximated the events predicted, until, at length, +the same month, and day of the month, seemed assigned as the period +of peril to both. + +It will be readily believed, that, in mentioning this circumstance, +we lay no weight whatever upon the pretended information thus +conveyed. But it often happens, such is our natural love for the +marvellous, that we willingly contribute our own efforts to beguile +our better judgments. Whether the coincidence which I have +mentioned was really one of those singular chances, which sometimes +happen against all ordinary calculations; or whether Mannering, +bewildered amid the arithmetical labyrinth and technical jargon of +astrology, had insensibly twice followed the same clew to guide him +out of the maze; or whether his imagination, seduced by some point +of apparent resemblance, lent its aid to make the similitude +between the two operations more exactly accurate than it might +otherwise have been, it is impossible to guess; but the impression +upon his mind, that the results exactly corresponded, was vividly +and undelibly strong. + +He could not help feeling surprise at a coincidence so singular and +unexpected. "Does the devil mingle in the dance, to avenge himself +for our trifling with an art said to be of magical origin? Or is it +possible, as Bacon and Sir Thomas Browne admit, that there is some +truth in a sober and regulated astrology, and that the influence of +the stars is not to be denied, though the due application of it, by +the knaves--who pretend to practise the art, is greatly to be +suspected?"--A moment's consideration of the subject induced him +to dismiss this opinion as fantastical, and only sanctioned by +those learned men. Either because they durst not at once shock +the universal prejudices of their age, or because they themselves +were not altogether freed from the contagious influence of a +prevailing superstition. Yet the result of his calculations in +these two instances left so unpleasing an impression on his mind, +that, like Prospero, he mentally relinquished his art, and +resolved, neither in jest nor earnest, ever again to practise +judicial astrology. + +He hesitated a good deal what he should say to the Laird of +Ellangowan, concerning the horoscope of his first-born; and, at +length, resolved plainly to tell him the judgment which he had +formed, at the same time acquainting him--with the futility of the +rules of art on which he had proceeded. With this resolution he +walked out upon the terrace. + +If the view of the scene around Ellangowan had been pleasing by +moonlight, it lost none of its beauty by the light of the morning +sun. The land, even in the month of November, smiled under its +influence. A steep, but regular ascent, led from the terrace to +the neighbouring eminence, and conducted Mannering to the front of +the old castle. It consisted of two massive round towers, +projecting, deeply and darkly, at the extreme angles of a curtain, +or flat wall, which united them, and thus protecting the main +entrance, that opened through a lofty arch in the centre of the +curtain into the inner court of the castle. The arms of the +family, carved in freestone, frowned over the gateway, and the +portal showed the spaces arranged by the architect for lowering the +portcullis, and raising the drawbridge. A rude farm-gate, made of +young fir-trees nailed together, now formed the only safeguard of +this once formidable entrance. The esplanade in front of the castle +commanded a noble prospect. + +The dreary scene of desolation, through which Mannering's road had +lain on the preceding evening, was excluded from the view by some +rising ground, and the landscape showed a pleasing alternation of +hill and dale, intersected by a river, which was in some places +visible, and hidden in others, where it rolled betwixt deep and +wooded banks. The spire of a church, and the appearance of some +houses, indicated the situation of a village at the place where the +stream had its junction with the ocean. The vales seemed well +cultivated, the little enclosures into which they were divided +skirting the bottom of the hills, and sometimes carrying their +lines of straggling hedge-rows a little way up the ascent. Above +these were green pastures, tenanted chiefly by herds of black +cattle, then the staple commodity of the country--, whose distant +low gave no unpleasing animation to the landscape. The remoter +hills were of a sterner character, and, at still greater distance, +swelled into mountains of dark heath, bordering the horizon with a +screen which gave a defined and limited boundary to the cultivated +country, and added, at the same time, the pleasing idea, that it +was sequestered and solitary. The sea-coast, which Mannering now +saw in its extent, corresponded in variety and beauty with the +inland view. In some places it rose into tall rocks, frequently +crowned with the ruins of old buildings, towers, or beacons, which, +according to tradition, were placed within sight of each other, +that, in times of invasion or civil war, they might. communicate by +signal for mutual defence and protection. Ellangowan castle was by +far the most extensive and important of these ruins, and asserted, +from size and situation, the superiority which its founders were +said once to have possessed among the chiefs and nobles of the +district. In other places, the shore was of a more gentle +description, indented with small bays, where the land sloped +smoothly down, or sent into the sea promontories covered with wood. + +A scene so different from what last night's journey had presaged, +produced a proportional effect upon Mannering. Beneath his eye lay +the modern house; an awkward mansion, indeed, in point of +architecture, but well situated, and with a warm, pleasant +exposure.--How happily, thought our hero, would life glide on in +such a retirement! On the one hand, the striking remnants of +ancient grandeur, with the secret consciousness of family pride +which they inspire; on the other, enough of modern elegance and +comfort to satisfy every moderate wish. Here then, and with thee +Sophia!-- + +We shall not pursue a lover's day-dream any farther. Mannering +stood a minute with his arms folded, and then turned to the ruined +castle. + +On entering the gateway, he found that the rude magnificence of the +inner court amply corresponded with the grandeur of the exterior. +On the one side ran a range of windows lofty and large, divided by +carved mullions of stone, which had once lighted the great hall of +the castle; on the other, were various buildings of different +heights and dates, yet so united as to present to the eye a certain +general effect of uniformity of front. The doors and windows were +ornamented with projections exhibiting rude specimens of sculpture +and tracery, partly entire and partly broken down, partly covered +by ivy and trailing plants, which grew luxuriantly among the +ruins. That end of the court which faced the entrance had also +been formerly closed by a range of buildings; but owing, it was +said, to its having been battered by the ships of the Parliament +under Deane, during the long civil war, this part of the castle was +much more ruinous than the rest, and exhibited a great chasm, +through which Mannering could observe the sea, and the little +vessel (an armed lugger) which retained her station in the centre +of the bay. [*The outline of the above description, as far as the +supposed ruins are concerned, will be found somewhat to resemble +the noble remains of Carlaverock castle, six or seven miles from +Dumfries, and near to Lochar-moss.] + +While Mannering was gazing round the ruins, he heard from the +interior of an apartment on the left hand the voice of the gipsy he +had seen on the preceding evening. He soon found an aperture, +through which he could observe her without being himself visible; +and could not help feeling, that her figure, her employment, and +her situation, conveyed the exact impression of an ancient sibyl. + +She sat upon a broken corner-stone in the angle of a paved +apartment, part of which she had swept clean to afford a smooth +space for the evolutions of her spindle. A strong sunbeam, through +a lofty and narrow window, fell upon her wild dress and features, +and afforded her light for her occupation; the rest of the +apartment was very gloomy. Equipt in a habit which mingled the +national dress of the Scottish common people with something of an +Eastern costume, she spun a thread, drawn from wool of three +different colours, black, white, and gray, by assistance of those +ancient implements of house-wifely, now almost banished from the +land, the distaff and spindle. As she spun, she sung what seemed +to be a charm. Mannering, after in vain attempting to make himself +master of the exact words of her song, afterwards attempted the +following paraphrase of what, from a few intelligible phrases, he +concluded to be its purport. + +Twist ye, twine ye! even so Mingle shades of joy and woe, Hope, and +fear, and peace, and strife, In the thread of human life. + +While the mystic twist is spinning, And the infant's life +beginning, Dimly seen through twilight bending, Lo, what varied +shapes attending! + +Passions wild, and Follies vain, Pleasures soon exchanged for pain +Doubt, and Jealousy and Fear, In the magic dance appear. + +Now they wax, and now they dwindle, Whirling with the whirling +spindle. Twist ye, twine ye! even so Mingle human bliss and woe. + +Ere our translator, or rather our free imitator, had arranged these +stanzas in his head, and while he was yet hammering out a rhyme for +dwindle, the task of the sibyl was accomplished, or her wool was +expended. She took the spindle, now charged with her labours, and, +undoing the thread gradually, measured it, by casting it over her +elbow, and bringing each loop round between her forefinger and +thumb. When she had measured it out, she muttered to herself--"A +hank, but not a haill ane--the full years o' three scare and ten, +but thrice broken, and thrice to oop (ie. to unite); he'll be a +lucky lad an he win through wi't." + +Our hero was about to speak to the prophetess, when a voice, hoarse +as the waves with which it mingled, halloo'd twice, and with +increasing impatience--"Meg, Meg Merrilies!--Gipsy--hag--tousand +deyvils!" + +"I am coming, I am coming, Captain," answered Meg; and in a moment +or two the impatient commander whom she addressed made his +appearance from the broken part of the ruins. + +He was apparently a seafaring man, rather under the middle size, +and with a countenance bronzed by a thousand conflicts with the +north-east wind. His frame was prodigiously muscular, strong, and +thick-set; so that it seemed as if a man of much greater height +would have been an inadequate match in any close personal +conflict. He was hard-favoured, and, which was worse, his face +bore nothing of the insouciance, the careless frolicsome jollity +and vacant curiosity of a sailor on shore. These qualities, +perhaps, as much as any others, contribute to the high popularity +of our seamen, and the general good inclination which our society +expresses towards them. Their gallantry, courage, and hardihood, +are qualities which excite reverence, and perhaps rather humble +pacific landsmen in their presence; and neither respect, nor a +sense of humiliation, are feelings easily combined with a familiar +fondness towards those who inspire. them. But the boyish frolics, +the exulting high spirits, the unreflecting mirth of a sailor, when +enjoying himself on shore, temper the more formidable points of his +character. There was nothing like these in this man's face; on the +contrary, a surly and even savage scowl appeared to darken features +which would have been harsh and unpleasant under any expression or +modification. "Where are you, Mother Deyvilson?" he said, with +somewhat of a foreign accent, though speaking perfectly good +English. "Donner and blitzen! we have been staying this half-hour. +--Come, bless the good ship and the voyage, and be cursed to ye +for a hag of Satan!" + +At this moment he noticed Mannering, who, from the position which +he had taken to watch Meg Merrilies's incantations, had the +appearance of some one who was concealing himself, being half +hidden by the buttress behind which he stood. The Captain, for such +he styled himself, made a sudden and startled pause, and thrust his +right hand into his bosom, between his jacket and waistcoat, as if +to draw some weapon. "What cheer, brother?--you seem on the +outlook--eh?" + +Ere Mannering, somewhat struck by the man's gesture and insolent +tone of voice, had made any answer, the gipsy emerged from her +vault and joined the stranger. He questioned her in an undertone, +looking at Mannering--"A shark alongside; eh?" + +She answered in the same tone of under-dialogue, using the cant +language of her tribe--"Cut ben Whids, and stow them--a gentry +cove of the ken." [* Meaning a Stop your uncivil tongue--that is a +gentleman from the house below.] + +The fellow's cloudy visage cleared up. "The top of the morning to +you, sir; I find you are a visitor of my friend Mr. Bertram--I beg +pardon, but I took you for another sort of a person." + +Mannering replied, "And you, sir, I presume, are the master of that +vessel in the bay?" + +"Ay, ay, sir; I am Captain Dirk Hatteraick, of the Yungfrauw +Hagenslaapen, well known on this coast; I am not ashamed of my +name, nor of my vessel,--no, nor of my cargo neither, for that +matter." + +"I dare say you have no reason, sir." + +"Tousand donner--no; I'm all in the way of fair trade--just +loaded yonder at Douglas, in the Isle of Man--neat cogniac--real +hyson and souchong--Mechlin lace, if you want any--Right +cogniac--We bumped ashore a hundred kegs last night." + +"Really, sir, I am only a traveller, and have no sort of occasion +for anything of the kind at present." + +"Why, then, good-morning to you, for business must be minded-- +unless ye'll go aboard and take schnaps? [*A dram of liquor.]--you +shall have a pouch-full of tea ashore.--Dirk Hatteraick knows how +to be civil." + +There was a mixture of impudence, hardihood, and suspicious fear +about this man, which was inexpressibly disgusting. His manners +were those of a ruffian, conscious of the suspicion attending his +character, yet aiming to bear it down by the affectation of a +careless and hardy familiarity. Mannering briefly rejected his +proffered civilities; and after a surly good-morning, Hatteraick +retired with the gipsy to that part of the ruins from which he had +first made his appearance. A very narrow staircase here went down +to the beach, intended probably for the convenience of the garrison +during a siege. By this stair, the couple, equally amiable in +appearance, and respectable by profession, descended to the +seaside. The soi-disant captain embarked in a small boat with two +men who appeared to wait for him, and the gipsy remained on the +shore, reciting or singing, and gesticulating with great vehemence. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + --You have fed upon my seignories, Dispark'd my parks, and + fell'd my forest woods, From mine own windows torn my + household coat, Razed out my impress, leaving me no sign, + Save men's opinions and my living blood, To show the world + I am a gentleman. + + Richard II. + +WHEN the boat which carried the worthy captain on board his vessel +had accomplished that task, the sails began to ascend, and the ship +was got under way. She fired three guns as a salute to the house +of Ellangowan, and then shot away rapidly before the wind, which +blew off shore, under all the sail she could crowd. + +"Ay, ay," said the Laird, who had sought Mannering for some time, +and now joined him, "there they go--there go the +free-traders--there go Captain Dirk Hatteraick, and the Yungfrauw +Hagenslaapen, half Manks, half Dutchman, half devil! run out the +bowsprit, up mainsail, top and top-gallant sails, royals, and +sky-scrapers, and away,--follow who can! That fellow, Mr. +Mannering, is the terror of all the excise and custom-house +cruisers; they can make nothing of him; he drubs them, or he +distances them;--and, speaking of excise, I come to bring you to +breakfast; and you shall have some tea, that--" + +Mannering, by this time, was aware that one thought linked +strangely on to another in the concatenation of worthy Mr. +Bertram's ideas, + + Like orient pearls at random strung; + +and, therefore, before the current of his associations had drifted +farther from the point he had left, he brought him back by some +inquiry about Dirk Hatteraick. + +"Oh, he's a--a--gude sort of blackguard fellow eneugh--naebody +cares to trouble him--smuggler, when his guns are in +ballast--privateer, or pirate faith, when he gets them mounted. He +has done more mischief to the revenue folk than ony rogue that ever +came out of Ramsay." + +"But, my good sir, such being his character, I wonder he has any +protection and encouragement on this coast." "Why, Mr. Mannering, +people must have brandy and tea, and there's none in the country +but what comes this way--and then there's short accounts, and maybe +a keg or two, or a dozen pounds left at your stable door, instead +of a d-d lang account at Christmas from Duncan Robb, the grocer at +Kippletringan, who has aye a sum to--make up, and either wants +ready money, or a short-dated bill. Now, Hatteraick will take +wood, or he'll take bark, or he'll take barley, or he'll take just +what's convenient at the time. I'll tell you a gude story about +that. There was ance a laird--that's Macfie of Gudgeonford,--he +had a great number of kain hens--that's hens that the tenant pays +to the landlord--like a sort of rent in kind--they aye feed mine +very ill; Luckie Finniston sent up three that were a shame to be +seen only last week, and yet she has twelve bows [* Bolls (a large +measure of grain)] sowing of victual; indeed her goodman, Duncan +Finniston--that's him that's gone--(we must all die, Mr. Mannering; +that's ower true)--and speaking of that, let us live in the +meanwhile, for here's breakfast on the table, and the Dominie ready +to say the grace." + +The Dominie did accordingly pronounce a benediction, that exceeded +in length any speech which Mannering had yet heard him utter. The +tea, which of course belonged to the noble Captain Hatteraick's +trade, was pronounced excellent. Still Mannering hinted, though +with due delicacy, at the risk of encouraging such desperate +characters: "Were it but in justice to the revenue, I should have +supposed--" + +"Ah, the revenue-lads"--for Mr. Bertram never embraced a general or +abstract idea, and his notion of the revenue was personified in the +commissioners, surveyors, comptrollers, and riding officers, whom +he happened to know--"the revenue-lads can look sharp eneugh out +for themselves--no one needs to help them--and they have a' the +soldiers to assist them besides--and as to justice--you'll be +surprised to hear it, Mr. Mannering--but I am not a justice of +peace." + +Mannering assumed the expected look of surprise, but thought within +himself that the worshipful bench suffered no great deprivation +from wanting the assistance of his good-humoured landlord. Mr. +Bertram had now hit upon one of the few subjects on which he felt +sore, and went on with some energy. "No, sir,--the name of Godfrey +Bertram of Ellangowan is not in the last commission, though there's +scarce a carle in the country that has a plough-gate of land, but +what he must ride to quarter-sessions, and write J.P. after his +name. I ken fu' weel whom I am obliged to--Sir Thomas +Kittlecourt as good as tell'd me he would sit in my skirts, if he +had not my interest at the last election; and because I chose to go +with my own blood and third cousin, the Laird of Balruddery, they +keepit me off the roll of freeholders; and now there comes a new +nomination of justices, and I am left out! And whereas they +pretend it was because I let David Mac-Guffog, the constable, draw +the warrants, and manage the business his ain gate, [*Own way] as +if I had been a nose a' wax, it's a main untruth; for I granted but +seven warrants in my life, and the Dominie wrote every one of +them--and if it had not been that unlucky business of Sandy +Mac-Gruthar's, that the constables should have keepit twa or three +days up yonder at the auld castle, just till they could get +conveniency to send him to the county jail--and that cost me eneugh +o' siller--But I ken what Sir Thomas wants very weel--it was just +sic and siclike about the seat in the kirk o' Kilmagirdle--was I +not entitled to have the front gallery facing the minister, rather +than Mac-Crosskie of Creochstone, the son of Deacon Mac-Crosskie, +the Dumfries weaver?" + +Mannering expressed his acquiescence in the justice of these +various complaints. + +"And then, Mr. Mannering, there was the story about the road, and +the fauld-dike--I ken Sir Thomas was behind there, and I said +plainly to the clerk to the trustees that I saw the cloven foot, +let them take that as they like.--Would any gentleman, or set of +gentlemen, go and drive a road right through the corner of a +fauld-dike, and take away, as my agent observed to them, like twa +roods of gude moorland pasture?--And there was the story about +choosing the collector of the cess--" + +"Certainly, sir, it is hard you should meet with any neglect in a +country, where, to judge from the extent of their residence, your +ancestors must have made a very important figure." + +"Very true, Mr. Mannering--I am a plain man, and do not dwell on +these things; and I must needs say, I have little memory for them; +but I wish ye could have heard my father's stories about the auld +fights of the Mac-Dingawaies--that's the Bertrams that now +is--wi' the Irish, and wi' the Highlanders, that came here in their +berlings from Islay and Cantire--and how they went to the Holy +Land-that is, to Jerusalem and Jericho, wi' a' their clan at their +heels--they had better have gaen to Jamaica, like Sir Thomas +Kittlecourt's uncle--and how they brought hame relics, like those +that Catholics have, and a flag that's up yonder in the garret--if +they had been casks of Muscavado, and puncheons of rum, it would +have been better for the estate at this day--but there's little +comparison between the auld keep at Kittlecourt and the castle o' +Ellangowan--I doubt if the keep's forty feet of front--But ye make +no breakfast, Mr. Mannering; ye're no eating your meat; allow me to +recommend some of the kipper--It was John Hay that catcht it, +Saturday was three weeks, down at the stream below Hempseed ford," +etc., etc., etc. + +The Laird, whose indignation had for some time kept him pretty +steady to one topic, now launched forth into his usual roving style +of conversation, which gave Mannering ample time to reflect upon +the disadvantages attending the situation, which, an hour before, +he had thought worthy of so much envy. Here was a country +gentleman, whose most estimable quality seemed his perfect good +nature, secretly fretting himself and murmuring against others, for +causes which, compared with any real evil in life, must weigh like +dust in the balance. But such is the equal distribution of +Providence. To those who lie out of the road of great afflictions, +are assigned petty vexations, which answer all the purpose of +disturbing their serenity; and every reader must have observed, +that neither natural apathy nor acquired philosophy can render +country gentlemen insensible to the grievances which occur at +elections, quarter-sessions, and meetings of trustees. + +Curious to investigate the manners of the country Mannering took +the advantage of a pause in good Mr. Bertram's string of stories, +to inquire what Captain Hatteraick so earnestly wanted with the +gipsy woman. + +"Oh, to bless his ship, I suppose. You must know, Mr. Mannering, +that these free-traders, whom the law calls smugglers, having no +religion, make it all up in superstition; and they have as many +spells, and charms, and nonsense--" + +"Vanity and waur!" said the Dominie--"it is a trafficking with the +Evil One. Spells, periapts, and charms, are of his device--choice +arrows out of Apollyon's quiver." + +"Hold your peace, Dominie--ye're speaking for ever" (by the way +they were the first words the poor man had uttered that morning, +excepting that he had said grace, and returned thanks)--"Mr. +Mannering cannot get in a word for ye!--and so, Mr. Mannering, +talking of astronomy, and spells, and these matters, have ye been +so kind as to consider what we were speaking about last night?" + +"I begin to think, Mr. Bertram, with your worthy friend here, that +I have been rather jesting with edge-tools; and although neither +you nor I, nor any sensible man, can put faith in the predictions +of astrology, yet as it has sometimes happened that inquiries into +futurity, undertaken in jest, have in their results produced +serious and unpleasant effects both upon actions and characters, I +really wish you would dispense with my replying to your question." + +It was easy to see that this evasive answer only rendered the +Laird's curiosity more uncontrollable. Mannering however, was +determined in his own mind, not to expose the infant to the +inconveniences which might have arisen from his being supposed the +object of evil prediction. He therefore delivered the paper into +Mr. Bertram's hand, and requested him to keep it for five years +with the seal unbroken, until the month of November was expired. +After that date had intervened, he left him at liberty to examine +the writing, trusting that the first fatal period being then safely +overpassed, no credit would be paid to its further contents. This +Mr. Bertram was content to promise, and Mannering, to ensure his +fidelity, hinted at misfortunes which would certainly take place if +his injunctions were neglected. The rest of the day, which +Mannering, by Mr. Bertram's invitation, spent at Ellangowan, +passed over without anything remarkable; and on the morning of that +which followed, the traveller mounted his palfrey, bade a courteous +adieu to his hospitable landlord, and to his clerical attendant, +repeated his good wishes for the prosperity of the family, and +then, turning his horse's head towards England, disappeared from +the sight of the inmates of Ellangowan. He must also disappear +from that of our readers, for it is to another and later period of +his life that the present narrative relates. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + --Next, the justice, In fair round belly, with good capon + lined, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of + wise saws, and modern instances: And so he plays his part. + --As You Like It. + +When Mrs. Bertram of Ellangowan was able to hear the news of what +had passed during her confinement, her apartment rung with all +manner of gossiping respecting the handsome young student from +Oxford, who had told such a fortune by the stars to the young +Laird, "blessings on his dainty face." The form, accent, and +manners, of the stranger, were expatiated upon. His horse, bridle, +saddle, and stirrups, did not remain unnoticed. All this made a +great impression upon the mind of Mrs. Bertram, for the good lady +had no small store of superstition. + +Her first employment, when she became capable of a little work, was +to make a small velvet bag for the scheme of nativity which she had +obtained from her husband. Her fingers itched to break the seal, +but credulity proved stronger than curiosity; and she had the +firmness to enclose it, in all its integrity, within two slips of +parchment, which she sewed round it, to prevent its being chafed. +The whole was then put into the velvet bag aforesaid, and hung as a +charm round the neck of the infant, where his mother resolved it +should remain until the period for the legitimate satisfaction of +her curiosity should arrive. + +The father also resolved to do his part by the child, in securing +him a good education; and with the view that it should commence +with the first dawnings of reason, Dominie Sampson was easily +induced to renounce his public profession of parish schoolmaster, +make his constant residence at the Place, and, in consideration of +a sum not quite equal to the wages of a footman even at that time, +to undertake to communicate to the future Laird of Ellangowan all +the erudition which he had, and all the graces and accomplishments +which--he had not indeed, but which he had never discovered that he +wanted. In this arrangement, the Laird found also his private +advantage; securing the constant benefit of a patient auditor, to +whom he told his stories when they were alone, and at whose expense +he could break a sly jest when he had company. + +About four years after this time, a great commotion took place in +the district where Ellangowan is situated. + +Those who watched the signs of the times, had long been of opinion +that a change of ministry was about to take place; and, at length, +after a due proportion of hopes, fears, and delays, rumours from +good authority, and bad authority, and no authority at all; after +some clubs had drunk Up with this statesman, and others Down with +him; after riding, and running, and posting and addressing, and +counter-addressing, and proffers of lives and fortunes, the blow +was at length struck, the administration of the day was dissolved, +and parliament, as a natural consequence, was dissolved also. + +Sir Thomas Kittlecourt, like other members in the same situation, +posted down to his county, and met but an indifferent reception. He +was a partisan of the old administration and the friends of the new +had already set about an active canvass in behalf of John +Featherhead, Esq., who kept the best hounds and hunters in the +shire. Among others who joined the standard of revolt was Gilbert +Glossin, writer in--, agent for the Laird of Ellangowan. This +honest gentleman had either been refused some favour by the old +member, or, what is as probable, he had got all that he had the +most distant pretension to ask, and could only look to the other +side for fresh advancement. Mr. Glossin had a vote upon +Ellangowan's property; and he was now determined that his patron +should have one also, there being no doubt which side Mr. Bertram +would embrace in the contest. He easily persuaded Ellangowan, that +it would be creditable to him to take the field at the head of as +strong a party as possible; and immediately went to work, making +votes, as every Scotch lawyer knows how, by splitting and +subdividing the superiorities upon this ancient and once powerful +barony. These were so extensive, that by dint of clipping and +paring here, adding and eking there, and creating over-lords upon +all the estate which Bertram held of the crown, they advanced, at +the day of contest, at the head of ten as good men of parchment as +ever took the oath of trust and possession. This strong +reinforcement turned the dubious day of battle. The principal and +his agent divided the honour; the reward fell to the latter +exclusively. Mr. Gilbert Glossin was made clerk of the peace, and +Godfrey Bertram had his name inserted in a new commission of +justices, issued immediately upon the sitting of the parliament. + +This had been the summit of Mr. Bertram's ambition; not that he +liked either the trouble or the responsibility of the office, but +he thought it was a dignity to which he was well entitled, and that +it had been withheld from him by malice prepense. But there is an +old and true Scotch proverb, "Fools should not have chapping +sticks"; that is, weapons of offence. Mr. Bertram was no sooner +possessed of the judicial authority which he had so much longed +for, than he began to exercise it with more severity than mercy, +and totally belied all the opinions which had hitherto been formed +of his inert good nature. We have read somewhere of a justice of +peace, who, on being nominated in the commission, wrote a letter to +a bookseller for the statutes respecting his official duty, in the +following orthography,--"Please send the ax relating to a gustus +pease." No doubt, when this learned gentleman had possessed himself +of the axe, he hewed the laws with it to some purpose. Mr. +Bertram was not quite so ignorant of English grammar as his +worshipful predecessor: but Augustus Pease himself could not have +used more indiscriminately the weapon unwarily put into his hand. + +In good earnest, he considered the commission with which he had +been intrusted as a personal mark of favour from his sovereign; +forgetting that he had formerly thought his being deprived of a +privilege, or honour, common to those of his rank, was the result +of mere party cabal. He commanded his trusty aide-de-camp, Dominie +Sampson, to read aloud the commission; and at the first words, "The +king has been pleased to appoint"--"Pleased!" he exclaimed, in a +transport of gratitude; "honest gentleman! I'm sure he cannot be +better pleased than I am." + +Accordingly, unwilling to confine his gratitude to mere feelings, +or verbal expressions, he gave full current to the new-born zeal of +office, and endeavoured to express his sense of the honour +conferred upon him, by an unmitigated activity in the discharge of +his duty. New brooms, it is said, sweep clean; and I myself can +bear witness, that, on the arrival of a new housemaid, the ancient, +hereditary, and domestic spiders, who have spun their webs over the +lower division of my book-shelves (consisting chiefly of law and +divinity) during the peaceful reign of her predecessor, fly at full +speed before the probationary inroads of the new mercenary. Even +so the Laird of Ellangowan ruthlessly commenced his magisterial +reform, at the expense of various established and superannuated +pickers and stealers, who had been his neighbours for half a +century. He wrought his miracles like a second Duke Humphrey; and +by the influence of the beadle's rod, caused the lame to walk, the +blind to see, and the palsied to labour. He detected poachers, +black-fishers, orchard-breakers, and pigeon-shooters; had the +applause of the bench for his reward, and the public credit of an +active magistrate. + +All this good had its rateable proportion of evil. Even an +admitted nuisance, of ancient standing, should not be abated +without some caution. The zeal of our worthy friend now involved +in great distress sundry personages whose idle and mendicant habits +his own lochesse had contributed to foster, until these habits had +become irreclaimable, or whose real incapacity for exertion +rendered them fit objects, in their own phrase, for the charity of +all well-disposed Christians. The "long-remembered beggar," who for +twenty years had made his regular rounds within the neighbourhood, +received rather as an humble friend than as an object of charity, +was sent to the neighbouring workhouse. The decrepit dame, who +travelled round the parish upon a hand-barrow, circulating from +house to house like a bad shilling, which every one is in haste to +pass to his neighbour; she, who used to call for her bearers as +loud, or louder, than a traveller demands post-horses, even she +shared the same disastrous fate. The "daft Jock," who, half knave, +half idiot, had been the sport of each succeeding race of village +children for a good part of a century, was remitted to the county +bridewell, where, secluded from free air and sunshine, the only +advantages he was capable of enjoying, he pined and died in the +course of six months. The old sailor, who had so long rejoiced the +smoky rafters of every kitchen in the country, by singing Captain +Ward, and Bold Admiral Benbow, was banished from the district for +no better reason, than that he was supposed to speak with a strong +Irish accent. Even the annual rounds of the pedlar were abolished +by the justice, in his hasty zeal for the administration of rural +police. + +These things did not pass without notice and censure. We are not +made of wood or stone, and the things which connect themselves with +our hearts and habits cannot, like bark or lichen, be rent away +without our missing them. The farmer's dame lacked her usual share +of intelligence, perhaps also the self-applause which she had felt +while distributing the awmous (alms), in shape of a gowpen +(handful) of oatmeal, to the mendicant who brought the news. The +cottage felt inconvenience from interruption of the petty trade +carried on by the itinerant dealers. The children lacked their +supply of sugar-plums and toys; the young women wanted pins, +ribbons, combs, and ballads; and the old could no longer barter +their eggs for salt, snuff, and tobacco. All these circumstances +brought the busy Laird of Ellangowan into discredit, which was the +more general on account of his former popularity. Even his lineage +was brought up in judgment against him. They thought "naething of +what the like of Greenside, or Burnville, or Viewforth, might do, +that were strangers in the country; but Ellangowan! that had been a +name amang them since the mirk Monanday, and lang before--him to be +grinding the puir at that rate!--They ca'd his grandfather the +Wicked Laird; but, though he was whiles fractious aneuch, when he +got into roving company" and had ta'en the drap drink, he would +have scorned to gang on at this gate. Na, na, the muckle chumlay +in the Auld Place reeked like a killogie [*Lime-kiln] in his +time, and there were as mony puir folk riving at the banes in the +court, and about the door, as there were gentles in the ha'. And +the leddy, on ilka Christmas night as it came round, gae twelve +siller pennies to ilka puir body about, in honour of the twelve +apostles like. They were fond to ca' it papistrie; but I think our +great folk might take a lesson frae the papists whiles. They gie +another sort o' help to puir folk than just dinging down a saxpence +in the brod [*Collection-plate] on the Sabbath, and kilting, and +scourging, and drumming them a' the sax days o' the week besides." + +Such was the gossip over the good twopenny in every alehouse within +three or four miles of Ellangowan, that being about the diameter of +the orbit in which our friend Godfrey Bertram, Esq., J.P., must be +considered as the principal luminary. Still greater scope was +given to evil tongues by the removal of a colony of gipsies, with +one of whom our reader is somewhat acquainted, and who had for a +great many years enjoyed their chief settlement upon the estate of +Ellangowan. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Come, princes of the ragged regiment, You of the blood! + Prigg, my most upright lord, And these, what name or title + e'er they bear, Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke or + Clapper-dudgeon, Frater or Abram-man--I speak of all.-- + + Beggar's Bush. + +ALTHOUGH the character of those gipsy tribes which formerly +inundated most of the nations of Europe, and which in some degree +still subsist among them as a distinct people, is generally +understood, the reader will pardon my saying a few words respecting +their situation in Scotland. + +It is well known that the gipsies were, at an early period, +acknowledged as a separate and independent race by one of the +Scottish monarchs, and that they were less favourably distinguished +by a subsequent law, which rendered the character of gipsy equal, +in the judicial balance, to that of common and habitual thief, and +prescribed his punishment accordingly. Notwithstanding the +severity of this and other statutes, the fraternity prospered amid +the distresses of the country, and received large accessions from +among those whom famine, oppression, or the sword of war, had +deprived of the ordinary means of subsistence. They lost, in a +great measure, by this intermixture, the national character of +Egyptians, and became a mingled race, having all the idleness and +predatory habits of their Eastern ancestors, with a ferocity which +they probably borrowed from the men of the north who joined their +society. They travelled in different bands, and had rules among +themselves, by which each tribe was confined to its own district. +The slightest invasion of the precincts which had been assigned to +another tribe produced desperate skirmishes, in which there was +often much blood shed. + +The patriotic Fletcher of Saltoun drew a picture of these banditti +about a century ago, which my readers will peruse with +astonishment. + +"There are at this day in Scotland (besides a great many poor +families very meanly provided for by the church boxes, with others, +who, by living on bad food, fall into various diseases) two hundred +thousand people begging from door to door. These are not only no +way advantageous, but a very grievous burden to so poor a country. +And though the number of them be perhaps double to what it was +formerly, by reason of this present great distress, yet in all +times there have been about one hundred thousand of those +vagabonds, who have lived without any regard or subjection either +to the laws of the land, or even those of God and nature; . . . +No magistrate could ever discover or be informed, which way one in +a hundred of these wretches died, or that ever they were baptized. +Many murders have been discovered among them; and they are not only +a most unspeakable oppression to poor tenants (who, if they give +not bread, or some kind of provision to perhaps forty such villains +in one day, are sure to be insulted. by them), but they rob many +poor people who live in houses distant from any neighbourhood. In +years of plenty many thousands of them meet together in the +mountains, where they feast and riot for many days; and at country +weddings, markets, burials, and other the like public occasions, +they are to be seen, both man and woman, perpetually drunk, +cursing, blaspheming, and fighting together." + +Notwithstanding the deplorable picture presented in this extract, +and which Fletcher himself, though the energetic and eloquent +friend of freedom, saw no better mode of correcting than by +introducing a system of domestic slavery, the progress of time, and +increase both of the means of life and of the power of the laws, +gradually reduced this dreadful evil within more narrow bounds. The +tribes of gipsies, jockies, or cairds,--for by all these +denominations such banditti were known,--became few in number, and +many were entirely rooted out. Still, however, a sufficient number +remained to give occasional alarm and constant vexation. Some rude +handicrafts were entirely resigned to these itinerants, +particularly the art of trencher-making, of manufacturing +horn-spoons, and the whole mystery of the tinker. To these they +added a petty trade in the coarse sorts of earthenware. Such were +their ostensible means of livelihood. Each tribe had usually some +fixed place of rendezvous, which they occasionally occupied. and +considered as their standing camp, and in the vicinity of which +they generally abstained from depredation. They had even talents +and accomplishments, which made them occasionally useful and +entertaining. Many cultivated music with success; and the +favourite fiddler or piper of a district was often to be found in a +gipsy town. They understood all out-of-door sports, especially +otter-hunting, fishing, or finding game. They bred the best and +boldest terriers, and sometimes had good pointers for sale. In +winter, the women told fortunes, the men showed tricks of +legerdemain; and these accomplishments often helped to while away a +weary or stormy evening in the circle of the "farmer's ha'." The +wildness of their character, and the indomitable pride with which +they despised all regular labour, commanded a certain awe, which +was not diminished by the consideration, that these strollers were +a vindictive race, and were restrained by no check, either of fear +or conscience, from taking desperate vengeance upon those who had +offended them. These tribes were, in short, the Parias of +Scotland, living like wild Indians among European settlers, and, +like them, judged of rather by their own customs, habits, and +opinions, than as if they had been members of the civilised part of +the community. Some hordes of them yet remain, chiefly in such +situations as afford a ready escape either into a waste country, or +into another jurisdiction. Nor are the features of their character +much softened. Their numbers, however, are so greatly diminished, +that, instead of one hundred thousand, as calculated by Fletcher, +it would now perhaps be impossible to collect above five hundred +throughout all Scotland. + +A tribe of these itinerants, to whom Meg Merrilies appertained, had +long been as stationary as their habits permitted, in a glen upon +the estate of Ellangowan. They had there erected a few huts, which +they denominated their "city of refuge," and where, when not absent +on excursions, they harboured unmolested, as the crows that roosted +in the old ash-trees around them. They had been such long +occupants, that they were considered in some degree as proprietors +of the wretched shealings which they inhabited. This protection +they were said anciently to have repaid, by service to the laird in +war, or, more frequently, by infesting or plundering the lands of +those neighbouring barons with whom he chanced to be at feud. +Latterly, their services were of a more pacific nature. The women +spun mittens for the lady, and knitted boot-hose for the laird, +which were annually presented at Christmas with great form. The +aged sibyls blessed the bridal bed of the laird when he married, +and the cradle of the heir when born. The men repaired her +ladyship's cracked china, and assisted the laird in his sporting +parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies. +The children gathered nuts in the woods, and cranberries in the +moss, and mushrooms on the pastures, for tribute to the Place. +These acts of voluntary service, and acknowledgments of dependence, +were rewarded by protection on some occasions, connivance on +others, and broken victuals, ale, and brandy, when circumstances +called for a display of generosity; and this mutual intercourse of +good offices, which had been carried on for at least two centuries, +rendered the inhabitants of Derncleugh a kind of privileged +retainers upon the estate of Ellangowan. "The knaves" were the +Laird's "exceeding good friends"; and he would have deemed himself +very ill used, if his countenance could not now and then have borne +them out against the law of the country and the local magistrate. +But this friendly union was soon to be dissolved. + +The community of Derncleugh, who cared for no rogues but their own, +were wholly without alarm at the severity of the justice's +proceedings towards other itinerants. They had no doubt that he +determined to suffer no mendicants or strollers in the country, but +what resided on his own property, and practised their trade by his +immediate permission, implied or expressed. Nor was Mr. Bertram in +a hurry to exert his newly-acquired authority at the expense of +these old settlers. But he was driven on by circumstances. + +At the quarter-sessions, our new justice was publicly upbraided by +a gentleman of the opposite party in county politics, that, while +he affected a great zeal for the public police, and seemed +ambitious of the fame of an active magistrate, he fostered a tribe +of the greatest rogues in the country, and permitted them to +harbour within a mile of the house of Ellangowan. To this there +was no reply, for the fact was too evident and well known. The +Laird digested the taunt as he best could, and in his way home +amused himself with speculations on the easiest method of ridding +himself of these vagrants, who brought a stain upon his fair fame +as a magistrate. Just as he had resolved to take the first +opportunity of quarrelling with the Parias of Derncleugh, a cause +of provocation presented itself. + +Since our friend's advancement to be a conservator of the peace, he +had caused the gate at the head of his avenue, which formerly, +having only one hinge remained at all times hospitably open--he had +caused this gate, I say, to be newly hung and handsomely painted. +He had also shut up with paling, curiously twisted with furze, +certain holes in tie fences adjoining, through which the gipsy boys +used to scramble into the plantations to gather birds' nests, the +seniors of the village to make a short cut from one point to +another, and the lads and lasses for evening rendezvous--all +without offence taken, or leave asked. But these halcyon days were +now to have an end, and a minatory inscription on one side of the +gate intimated "prosecution according to law" (the painter had +spelt it persecution--l'un vaut bien l'autre) to all who should +be found trespassing on these enclosures. On the other side, for +uniformity's sake, was a precautionary annunciation of spring-guns +and man-traps of such formidable powers, that, said the rubrick, +with an emphatic nota bene--"if a man goes in, they will break a +horse's leg." + +In defiance of these threats, six well-grown gipsy boys and girls +were riding cock-horse upon the new gate, and plaiting May-flowers, +which it was but too evident had been gathered within the forbidden +precincts. With as much anger as he was capable of feeling, or +perhaps of assuming, the Laird commanded them to descend;--they +paid no attention to his mandate: he then began to pull them down +one after another;--they resisted, passively at least, each +sturdy bronzed varlet making himself as heavy as he could, or +climbing up as fast as he was dismounted. + +The Laird then called in the assistance of his servant, a surly +fellow, who had immediate recourse to his horse-whip. A few lashes +sent the party a-scampering; and thus commenced the first breach of +the peace between the house of Ellangowan and the Gipsies of +Derncleugh. + +The latter could not for some time imagine that the war was real; +until they found that their children were horse-whipped by the +grieve when found trespassing; that their asses were poinded by the +ground-officer when left in the plantations, or even when turned to +graze by the roadside, against the provision of the turnpike acts; +that the constable began to make curious inquiries into their made +of gaining a livelihood, and expressed his surprise that the men +should sleep in the hovels all day, and be abroad the greater part +of the night. + +When matters came to this point, the gipsies, without scruple, +entered upon measures of retaliation. Ellangowan's hen-roosts were +plundered, his linen stolen from the lines or bleaching ground, his +fishings poached, his dogs kidnapped, his growing trees cut or +barked. Much petty mischief was done, and some evidently for the +mischief's sake. On the other hand, warrants went forth, without +mercy, to pursue, search for, take, and apprehend; and, +notwithstanding their dexterity, one or two of the depredators were +unable to avoid conviction. One, a stout young fellow, who +sometimes had gone to sea a-fishing, was handed over to the Captain +of the impress service at D--; two children were soundly flogged, +and one Egyptian matron sent to the house of correction. + +Still, however, the gipsies made no motion to leave the spot which +they had so long inhabited, and Mr. Bertram felt an unwillingness +to deprive them of their ancient "city of refuge"; so that the +petty warfare we have noticed continued for several months, without +increase or abatement of hostilities on either side. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + So the red Indian, by Ontario's side, Nursed hardy on the + brindled panther's hide, As fades his swarthy race, with + anguish sees The white man's cottage rise beneath the trees + He leaves the shelter of his native wood, He leaves the + murmur of Ohio's flood, And forward rushing in indignant + grief, Where never foot has trod the fallen leaf, He bends + his course where twilight reigns sublime, O'er forests + silent since the birth of + time, + Scenes of Infancy. + +In tracing the rise and progress of the Scottish Maroon war, we +must not omit to mention that years had rolled on, and that little +Harry Bertram, one of the hardiest and most lively children that +ever made a sword and grenadier's cap of rushes, now approached his +fifth revolving birthday. A hardihood of disposition, which early +developed itself, made him already a little wanderer; he was well +acquainted with every patch of lea ground and dingle around +Ellangowan, and could tell in his broken language upon what baulks +[* Uncultivated places] grew the bonniest flowers, and what copse +had the ripest nuts. He repeatedly terrified his attendants by +clambering about the ruins of the old castle, and had more than +once made a stolen excursion as far as the gipsy hamlet. + +On these occasions he was generally brought back by Meg Merrilies, +who, though she could not be prevailed upon to enter the Place of +Ellangowan after her nephew had been given up to the pressgang, did +not apparently extend her resentment to the child. On the +contrary, she often contrived to waylay him in his walks, sing him +a gipsy song, give him a ride upon her jackass, and thrust into his +pocket a piece of gingerbread or red-cheeked apple. This woman's +ancient attachment to the family, repelled and checked in every +other direction, seemed to rejoice in having some object on which +it could yet repose and expand itself. She prophesied a hundred +times, "that young Mr. Harry would be the pride o' the family, and +there hadna been sic a sprout frae the auld aik since the death of +Arthur Mac-Dingawaie, that was killed in the battle o' the Bloody +Bay; as for the present stick, it was good for naething but +firewood." On one occasion, when the child was ill, she lay all +night below the window, chanting a rhyme which she believed +sovereign as a febrifuge, and could neither be prevailed upon to +enter the house, nor to leave the station she had chosen, till she +was informed that the crisis was over. + +The affection of this woman became matter of suspicion, not indeed +to the Laird, who was never hasty in suspecting evil, but to his +wife, who had indifferent health and poor spirits. She was now far +advanced in a second pregnancy, and, as she could not walk abroad +herself, and the woman who attended upon Harry was young and +thoughtless, she prayed Dominie Sampson to undertake the task of +watching the boy in his rambles, when he should not be otherwise +accompanied. The Dominie loved his young charge, and was enraptured +with his own success, in having already brought him so far in his +learning as to spell words of three syllables. The idea of this +early prodigy of erudition being carried off by the gipsies, like a +second Adam Smith, [* The father of Economical Philosophy was, when +a child, carried off by gipsies, and remained some hours in their +possession.] was not to be tolerated; and accordingly, though the +charge was contrary to all his habits of life, he readily undertook +it, and might be seen stalling about with a mathematical problem in +his head, and his eye upon a child of five years old, whose rambles +led him into a hundred awkward situations. Twice was the Dominie +chased by a cross-grained cow, once he fell into the brook crossing +at the stepping-stones, and another time was bogged up to the +middle in the slough of Lochend, in attempting to gather a +water-lily for the young Laird. It was the opinion of the village +matrons who relieved Sampson on the latter occasion, "that the +Laird might as weel trust the care o' his bairn to a potato bogle"; +but the good Dominie bore all his disasters with gravity and +serenity equally imperturbable. "Pro-di-gi-ous!" was the only +ejaculation they ever extorted from the much-enduring man. + +The Laird had, by this time, determined to make root-and-branch +work with the Maroons of Derncleugh. The old servants shook their +heads at his proposal, and even Dominie Sampson ventured upon an +indirect remonstrance. As, however, it was couched in the oracular +phrase, "Ne moveas Camerinam," neither the allusion, nor the +language in which it was expressed, were calculated for Mr. +Bertram's edification, and matters proceeded against the gipsies in +form of law. Every door in the hamlet was chalked by the +ground-officer, in token of a formal warning to remove at next +term. Still, however, they showed no symptoms either of submission +or of compliance. At length the term-day, the fatal Martinmas, +arrived, and violent measures of' ejection were resorted to. A +strong posse of peace-officers, sufficient to render all resistance +vain, charged the inhabitants to depart by noon; and, as they did +not obey, the officers, in terms of the warrant, proceeded to +unroof the cottages, and pull down the wretched doors and windows, +--a summary and effectual mode of ejection still practised in some +remote parts of Scotland, when a tenant proves refractory. The +gipsies, for a time, beheld the work of destruction in sullen +silence and inactivity; then set about saddling and loading their +asses, and making preparations for their departure. These were +soon accomplished, where all had the habits of wandering Tartars; +and they set forth on their journey to seek new settlements, where +their patrons should neither be of the quorum, nor custos +rotulorum. + +Certain qualms of feeling had deterred Ellangowan from attending in +person to see his tenants expelled. He left the executive part of +the business to the officers of the law, under the immediate +direction of Frank Kennedy, a supervisor, or riding-officer, +belonging to the excise, who had of late become intimate at the +Place, and of whom we shall have more to say in the next chapter. +Mr. Bertram himself chose that day to make a visit to a friend at +some distance. But it so happened, notwithstanding his +precautions, that he could not avoid meeting his late tenants +during their retreat from his property. + +It was in a hollow way, near the top of a steep ascent, upon the +verge of the Ellangowan estate, that Mr. Bertram met the gipsy +procession. Four or five men formed the advanced guard, wrapped in +long loose greatcoats that hid their tall slender figures, as the +large slouched hats, drawn over their brows, concealed their wild +features, dark eyes, and swarthy faces. Two of them carried long +fowling-pieces, one wore a broadsword without a sheath, and all had +the Highland dirk, though they did not wear that weapon openly or +ostentatiously. Behind them followed the train of laden asses, and +small carts or tumblers, as they were called in that country, on +which were laid the decrepit and the helpless, the aged and infant +part of the exiled community. The women in their red cloaks and +straw hats, the elder children with bare heads and bare feet, and +almost naked bodies, had the immediate care of the little caravan. +The road was narrow, running between two broken banks of sand, and +Mr. Bertram's servant rode forward, smacking his whip with an air +of authority, and motioning to the drivers to allow free passage to +their betters. His signal was unattended to. He then called to +the men who lounged idly on before, "Stand to your beasts' beads, +and make room for the Laird to pass." + +"He shall have his share of the road," answered a male gipsy from +under his slouched and large-brimmed hat, and without raising his +face, "and he shall have nae mair; the highway is as free to our +cuddies as to his gelding." + +The tone of the man being sulky, and even menacing, Mr. Bertram +thought it best to put his dignity in his pocket, and pass by the +procession quietly, on such space as they chose to leave for his +accommodation, which was narrow enough. To cover with an +appearance of indifference his feeling of the want of respect with +which he was treated, he addressed one of the men, as he passed him +without any show of greeting, salute, or recognition,--"Giles +Baillie," he said, "have you heard that your son Gabriel is well?" +(The question respected the young man who had been pressed.) + +"If I had heard otherwise," said the old man, looking up with a +stern and menacing countenance, "you should have heard of it too." +And he plodded on his way, tarrying no further question. [*This +anecdote is a literal fact.] When the Laird had pressed on with +difficulty among a crowd of familiar faces, which had on all former +occasions marked his approach with the reverence due to that of a +superior being, but in which he now only read hatred and contempt, +and had got clear of the throng, he could not help turning his +horse, and looking back to mark the progress of their march. The +group would have been an excellent subject for the pencil of +Calotte. The van had already reached a small and stunted thicket, +which was at the bottom of the hill, and which gradually hid the +line of march until the last stragglers disappeared. + +His sensations were bitter enough. The race, it is true, which he +had thus summarily dismissed from their ancient place of refuge, +was idle and vicious; but had he endeavoured to render them +otherwise? They were not more irregular characters now, than they +had been while they were admitted to consider themselves as a sort +of subordinate dependants of his family; and ought the mere +circumstance of his becoming a magistrate to have made at once such +a change in his conduct towards them? Some means of reformation +ought at least to have been tried, before sending seven families at +once upon the wide world, and depriving them of a degree of +countenance, which withheld them at least from atrocious guilt. +There was also a natural yearning of heart on parting with so many +known and familiar faces; and to this feeling Godfrey Bertram was +peculiarly accessible, from the limited qualities of his mind, +which sought its principal amusements among the petty objects +around him. As he was about to turn his horse's head to pursue his +journey, Meg Merrilies, who lagged behind the troop, unexpectedly +presented herself. + +She was standing upon one of those high precipitous banks, which, +as we before noticed, overhung the road; so that she was placed +considerably higher than Ellangowan, even though he was on +horseback; and her tall figure, relieved against the clear blue +sky, seemed almost of supernatural stature. We have noticed, that +there was in her general attire, or rather in her mode of adjusting +it, somewhat of a foreign costume, artfully, adopted perhaps for +the purpose of adding to the effect of her spells and predictions, +or perhaps from some traditional notions respecting the dress of +her ancestors. On this occasion, she had a large piece of red +cotton cloth rolled about her head in the form of a turban, from +beneath which her dark eyes flashed with uncommon lustre. Her long +and tangled black hair fell in elf-locks from the folds of this +singular head-gear. Her attitude was that of a sibyl in frenzy, +and she stretched out, in her right hand, a sapling bough which +seemed just pulled. + +"I'll be d-d," said the groom, "if she has not been cutting the +young ashes in the Dukit park!"--The Laird made no answer, but +continued to look at the figure which was thus perched above his +path. + +"Ride your ways," said the gipsy, "ride your ways, Laird of +Ellangowan--ride your ways, Godfrey Bertram!--This day have ye +quenched seven smoking hearths--see if the fire in your ain parlour +burn the blyther for that. Ye have riven the back off seven cottar +houses--look if your ain roof-tree stand the faster. Ye may stable +your stirks in the shealings at Derncleugh--see that the hare does +not couch on the hearth-stone at Ellangowan.--Ride your ways, +Godfrey Bertram--what do ye glower after our folk for?--There's +thirty hearts there, that wad hae wanted bread ere ye had wanted +sunkets, [*Delicacies] and spent their lifeblood ere ye had +scratched your finger. Yes--there's thirty yonder, from the auld +wife of a hundred to the babe that was born last week, that ye have +turned out o' their bits o' bields, to sleep with the tod and the +black-cock in the muirs!--Ride your ways, Ellangowan.--Our bairns +are hinging at our weary backs--look that your braw cradle at hame +be the fairer spread up--not that I am wishing ill to little Harry, +or to the babe that's yet to be born--God forbid--and make them +kind to the poor, and better folk than their father! And now, ride +e'en your ways; for these are the last words ye'll ever hear Meg +Merrilies speak, and this is the last reise that I'll ever cut in +the bonnie woods of Ellangowan." + +So saying, she broke the sapling she held in her hand, and flung it +into the road Margaret of Anjou, bestowing on her triumphant foes +her keen-edged malediction, could not have turned from them with a +gesture more proudly contemptuous. The Laird was clearing his voice +to speak, and thrusting his hand in his pocket to find a +half-crown; the gipsy waited neither for his reply nor his +donation, but strode down the hill to overtake the caravan. + +Ellangowan rode pensively home; and it was remarkable that he did +not mention this interview to any of his family. The groom was not +so reserved. He told the story at great length to a full audience +in the kitchen, and concluded by swearing, that if ever the devil +spoke by the mouth of a woman, he had spoken by that of Meg +Merrilies that blessed day. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Paint Scotland greeting ower her thrissle, + Her mutchkin stoup as toom's a whistle, + And d-n'd excisemen in a bustle, + Seizing a stell; + Triumphant crushin't like a mussell, + Or lampit shell. + Burns. + +During the period of Mr. Bertram's active magistracy, he did not +forget the affairs of the revenue. Smuggling, for which the Isle +of Man then afforded peculiar facilities, was general, or rather +universal, all along the south-western coast of Scotland. Almost +all the common people were engaged in these practices; the gentry +connived at them, and the officers of the revenue were frequently +discountenanced in the exercise of their duty, by those who should +have protected them. + +There was, at this period, employed as a riding-officer, or +supervisor, in that part of the country, a certain Francis Kennedy, +already named in our narrative; a stout, resolute, and active man, +who had made seizures to a great amount, and was proportionally +hated by those who had an interest in the fair Trade, as they +called the pursuit of these contraband adventurers. This person +was natural son to a gentleman of good family, owing to which +circumstance, and to his being of a jolly convivial disposition, +and singing a good song, he was admitted to the occasional society +of the gentlemen of the country, and was a member of several of +their clubs for practising athletic games, at which he was +particularly expert. + +At Ellangowan, Kennedy was a frequent and always an acceptable +guest. His vivacity relieved Mr. Bertram of the trouble of +thought, and the labour which it cost him to support a detailed +communication of ideas; while the daring and dangerous exploits +which he had undertaken in the discharge of his office, formed +excellent conversation. To all these revenue adventures did the +Laird of Ellangowan seriously incline, and the amusement which he +derived from Kennedy's society, formed an excellent reason for +countenancing and assisting the narrator in the execution of his +invidious and hazardous duty. + +"Frank Kennedy," he said, "was a gentleman, though on the wrang +side of the blanket--he was connected with the family of Ellangowan +through the house of Glengubble. The last Laird of Glengubble +would have brought the estate into the Ellangowan line; but +happening to go to Harrigate, he there met with Miss Jean +Hadaway--by the bye, the Green Dragon at Harrigate is the best +house of the twa--but for Frank Kennedy, he's in one sense a +gentleman born, and it's a shame not to support him against these +blackguard smugglers." + +After this league hid taken place between judgment and execution, +it chanced that Captain Dirk Hatteraick had landed a cargo of +spirits, and other contraband goods, upon the beach not far from +Ellangowan, and, confiding in the indifference with which the Laird +had formerly regarded similar infractions of the law, he was +neither very anxious to conceal nor to expedite the transaction. +The consequence was, that Mr. Frank Kennedy, armed with a warrant +from Ellangowan, and supported by some of the Laird's people who +knew the country, and by a party of military, poured down upon the +kegs, bates, and bags, and after a desperate affray, in which +severe wounds were given and received, succeeded in clapping the +broad arrow upon the articles, and bearing them off in triumph to +the next custom-house. Dirk Hatteraick vowed, in Dutch, German, +and English, a deep and full revenge, both against the gauger and +his abettors; and all who knew him thought it likely he would keep +his word. + +A few days after the departure of the gipsy tribe, Mr. Bertram +asked his lady one morning at breakfast, whether this was not +little Harry's birthday? + +"Five years auld exactly, this blessed day," answered the lady; "so +we may look into the English gentleman's paper." + +Mr. Bertram liked to show his authority in trifles. "No, my dear, +not till to-morrow. The last time I was at quarter-sessions, the +sheriff told us, that dies--that dies inceptus--in short, you don't +understand Latin, but it means that a term-day is not begun till +it's ended." + +"That sounds like nonsense, my dear." + +"May be so, my dear; but it may be very good law for all that. I +am sure, speaking of term-days, I wish, as Frank Kennedy says, that +Whitsunday would kill Martinmas and be hanged for the murder--for +there I have got a letter about that interest of Jenny Gairns's, +and deil a tenant's been at the Place yet wi' a boddle [*A small +copper coin] of rent,--nor will not till Candlemas--but, +speaking of Frank Kennedy, I dare say he'll be here the day, for he +was away round to Wigton to warn a king's ship that's lying in the +bay about Dirk Hatteraick's lugger being on the coast again, and +he'll be back this day; so we'll have a bottle of claret, and drink +little Harry's health." + +"I wish," replied the lady, "Frank Kennedy would let Dirk +Hatteraick alane. What needs he make himself mair busy than other +folk? Cannot he sing his sang, and take his drink, and draw his +salary, like Collector Snail, honest man, that never fashes +[*Troubles] onybody? And I wonder at you, Laird, for meddling and +making--Did we ever want to send for tea or brandy frae the +Borough-town, when Dirk Hatteraick used to come quietly into the +bay?" + +"Mrs. Bertram, you know nothing of these matters. Do you think it +becomes a magistrate to let his own house be made a receptacle for +smuggled goods? Frank Kennedy will show you the penalties in the +Act, and ye ken yourself they used to put their run goods into the +Auld Place of Ellangowan up by there." + +"Oh, dear, Mr. Bertram, and what the waur were the wa's and the +vault o' the old castle for having a whin kegs o' brandy in them at +an orra time? I am sure ye were not obliged to ken onything about +it; and what the waur was the King that the lairds here got a soup +o' drink, and the ladies their drap o' tea, at a reasonable +rate?--it's a shame to them to pit such taxes on them!--and was na +I much the better of these Flanders head and pinners, [*A +head-dress with lappets] that Dirk Hatteraick sent me a' the way +from Antwerp? It will be lang or the King sends me onything, or +Frank Kennedy either. And then ye would quarrel with these gipsies +too! I expect every day to hear the barn-yard's in a low." [*A +flame] + +"I tell you once more, my dear, you don't understand these +things--and there's Frank Kennedy, coming galloping up the avenue." + +"Aweel! aweel! Ellangowan," said the lady, raising her voice as the +Laird left the room, "I wish ye may understand them yourself, that's +a'!" + +From this nuptial dialogue the Laird joyfully escaped to meet his +faithful friend, Mr. Kennedy who arrived in high spirits. "For the +love of life, Ellangowan," he said, "get up to the castle! you'll +see that old fox Dirk Hatteraick, and his Majesty's hounds in full +cry after him. "So saying, he flung his horse's bridle to a boy, +and ran up the ascent to the old castle, followed by the Laird, and +indeed by several others of the family, alarmed by the sound of +guns from the sea, now distinctly heard. + +On gaining that part of the ruins which commanded the most +extensive outlook, they saw a lugger, with all her canvas crowded, +standing across the bay, closely pursued by a sloop of war, that +kept firing upon the chase from her bows, which the lugger returned +with her stern-chasers. "They're but at long bowls yet," cried +Kennedy, in great exultation, "but they will be closer by and +by.--D-n him, he's starting his cargo! I see the good Nantz +pitching overboard, keg after keg!--that's a d-d ungenteel thing of +Mr. Hatteraick, as I shall let him know by and by.--Now, now! +they've got the wind of him!--that's it, that's it!--Hark to him, +hark to him! Now, my dogs! now, my dogs!--hark to Ranger, hark!" + +"I think," said the old gardener to one of the maids, "the gauger's +fie;" by which word the common people express those violent spirits +which they think a presage of death. + +Meantime the chase continued. The lugger, being piloted with great +ability, and using every nautical shift to make her escape, had now +reached, and was about to double, the headland which formed the +extreme point of land on the left side of the bay, when a ball +having hit the yard in the slings, the main-sail fell upon the +deck. The consequence of this accident appeared inevitable, but +could not be seen by the spectators; for the vessel, which had just +doubled the headland, lost steerage, and fell out of their sight +behind the promontory. The sloop of war crowded all sail to +pursue, but she had stood too close upon the cape, so that they +were obliged to wear the vessel for fear of going ashore, and to +make a large tack back into the bay, in order to recover sea-room +enough to double the headland. + +"They'll lose her, by--, cargo and lugger, one or both," said +Kennedy; "I must gallop away to the Point of Warroch (this was the +headland so often mentioned), and make them a signal where she has +drifted to on the other side. Good-bye for an hour, +Ellangowan--get out the gallon punchbowl and plenty of lemons. I'll +stand for the French article by the time I come back, and we'll +drink the young Laird's health in a bowl that would swim the +Collector's yawl." So saying, he mounted his horse, and galloped +off. + +About a mile from the house, and upon the verge of the woods, +which, as we have said, covered a promontory terminating in the +cape called the Point of Warroch, Kennedy met young Harry Bertram, +attended by his tutor, Dominie Sampson. He had often promised the +child a ride upon his galloway; and, from singing, dancing, and +playing Punch for his amusement, was a particular favourite. He no +sooner came scampering up the path, than the boy loudly claimed his +promise; and Kennedy, who saw no risk in indulging him, and wished +to tease the Dominie, in whose visage he read a remonstrance, +caught up Harry from the ground, placed him before him, and +continued his route; Sampson's "Peradventure, Master Kennedy--" +being lost in the clatter of his horse's feet. The pedagogue +hesitated a moment whether he should go after them; but Kennedy +being a person in full confidence of the family, and with whom he +himself had no delight in associating, "being that he was addicted +unto profane and scurrilous jests," he continued his own walk at +his own pace, till he reached the Place of Ellangowan. + +The spectators from the ruined walls of the castle were still +watching the sloop of war, which at length, but not without the +loss of considerable time, recovered sea-room enough to weather the +Point of Warroch, and was lost to their sight behind that wooded +promontory. Some time afterwards the discharges of several cannon +were heard at a distance, and, after an interval, a still louder +explosion, as of a vessel blown up, and a cloud of smoke rose above +the trees, and mingled with the blue sky. All then separated on +their different occasions, auguring variously upon the fate of the +smuggler, but the majority insisting that her capture was +inevitable, if she had not already gone to the bottom. + +"It is near our dinner-time, my dear," said Mrs. Bertram to her +husband; "will it be lang before Mr. Kennedy comes back?" + +"I expect him every moment, my dear," said the Laird; "perhaps he +is bringing some of the officers of the sloop with him." + +"My stars, Mr. Bertram! why did not ye tell me this before, that we +might have had the large round table?--and then, they're a' tired +o' saut meat, and, to tell you the plain truth, a rump o' beef is +the best part of your dinner--and then I wad have put on another +gown, and ye wadna have been the waur o' a clean neckcloth +yoursell--But ye delight in surprising and hurrying one--I am sure +I am no to haud out for ever against this sort of going on--But +when folk's missed, then they are moaned." + +"Pshaw, pshaw! deuce take the beef, and the gown, and table, and +the neckcloth!--we shall doall very well.--Where's the Dominie, +John?--(to a servant who was busy about the table)--where's the +Dominie and little Harry?" + +"Mr. Sampson's been at hame these twa hours and mair, but I dinna +think Mr. Harry cam hame wi' him." + +"Not come hame wi' him?" said the lady; "desire Mr. Sampson to step +this way directly." + +"Mr. Sampson," said she, upon his entrance, "is it not the most +extraordinary tiring in this world wide, that you, that have free +up-putting--bed, board, and washing--and twelve pounds sterling a +year, just to look after that boy, should let him out of your sight +for twa or three hours?" + +Sampson made a bow of humble acknowledgment at each pause which the +angry lady made in her enumeration of the advantages of his +situation, in order to give more weight to her remonstrance, and +then, in words which we will not do him the injustice to imitate, +told how Mr. Francis Kennedy "had assumed spontaneously the charge +of Master Harry, in despite of his remonstrances in the contrary." + +"I am very little obliged to Mr. Francis Kennedy for his pains," +said the lady peevishly; "suppose he lets the boy drop from his +horse, and lames him? or suppose one of the cannons comes ashore +and kills him?--or suppose--" + +"Or suppose, my dear," said Ellangowan, "what is much more likely +than anything else, that they have gone aboard the sloop or the +prize, and are to come round the Point with the tide?" + +"And then they may be drowned," said the lady. + +"Verily," said Sampson, "I thought M r. Kennedy had returned an +hour since--Of a surety I deemed I heard his horse's feet." + +"That," said John, with a broad grin, "was Grizzel chasing the +humble-cow [A cow without horns] out of the close." + +Sampson coloured up to the eyes--not at the implied taunt, which he +would never have discovered, or resented if he had, but at some +idea which crossed his own mind. "I have been in an error," he +said; "of a surety I should have tarried for the babe." So saying, +he snatched his bone-headed cane and hat, and hurried away towards +Warroch wood, faster than he was ever known to walk before, or +after. + +The Laird lingered some time, debating the point with the lady. At +length, he saw the sloop of war again make her appearance; but, +without approaching the shore, she stood away to the westward with +all her sails set, and was soon out of sight. The lady's state of +timorous and fretful apprehension was so habitual, that her fears +went for nothing with her lord and master; but an appearance of +disturbance and anxiety among the servants now excited his alarm, +especially, when he was called out of the room, and told in private +that Mr. Kennedy's horse had come to the stable door alone, with +the saddle turned round below its belly, and the reins of the +bridle broken; and that a farmer had informed them in passing, that +there was a smuggling lugger burning like a furnace on the other +side of the Point of Warroch, and that, though he had come through +the wood, he had seen or heard nothing of Kennedy or the young +Laird, "only there was Dominie Sampson, gaun rumpaugin about, like +mad, seeking for them." + +All was now bustle at Ellangowan. The Laird and his servants, male +and female, hastened to the wood of Warroch. The tenants and +cottagers in the neighbourhood lent their assistance, partly out of +zeal, partly from curiosity. Boats were manned to search the +seashore, which, on the other side of the Point, rose into high and +indented rocks. A vague suspicion was entertained, though too +horrible to be expressed, that the child might have fallen from one +of these cliffs. + +The evening had begun to close when the parties entered the wood, +and dispersed different ways in quest of the boy and his +companion. The darkening of the atmosphere, and the hoarse sighs +of the November wind through the naked trees, the rustling of the +withered leaves which strewed the glades, the repeated halloos of +the different parties, which often drew them together in +expectation of meeting the objects of their search, gave a cast of +dismal sublimity to the scene. + +At length, after a minute and fruitless investigation through the +wood, the searchers began to draw together into one body, and to +compare notes. The agony of the father grew beyond concealment, +yet it scarcely equalled the anguish of the tutor. "Would to God I +had died for him!" the affectionate creature repeated, in notes of +the deepest distress. Those who were less interested, rushed into +a tumultuary discussion of chances and possibilities. Each gave +his opinion, and each was alternately swayed by that of the +others. Some thought the objects of their search had gone aboard +the sloop; some that they had gone to a village at three miles' +distance; some whispered they might have been on board the lugger, +a few planks and beams of which the tide now drifted ashore. + +At this instant a shout was heard from the beach, so loud, so +shrill, so piercing, so different from every sound which the woods +that day had rung to, that nobody hesitated a moment to believe +that it conveyed tidings, and tidings of dreadful import. All +hurried to the place, and, venturing without scruple upon paths, +which, at another time, they would have shuddered to lock at, +descended towards a cleft of the rock, where one boat's crew was +already landed. "Here, sirs!--here!--this way, for God's +sake!--this way! this way!" was the reiterated cry. Ellangowan +broke through the throng which had already assembled at the fatal +spot, and beheld the object of their terror. It was the dead body +of Kennedy. At first sight he seemed to have perished by a fall +from the rocks, which rose above the spot on which he lay, in a +perpendicular precipice of a hundred feet above the beach. The +corpse was lying half in, half out of the water; the advancing +tide, raising the arm and stirring the clothes, had given it at +some distance the appearance of motion, so that those who first +discovered the body thought that life remained. But every spark +had been long extinguished. + +"My bairn! my bairn!" cried the distracted father, "where can he +be?"--A dozen mouths were opened to communicate hopes which no one +felt. Some one at length mentioned--the gipsies! In a moment +Ellangowan had reascended the cliffs, flung himself upon the first +horse he met, and rode furiously to the huts at Derncleugh. All +was there dark and desolate; and, as he dismounted to make more +minute search, he stumbled over fragments of furniture which had +been thrown out of the cottages, and the broken wood and thatch +which had been pulled down by his orders. At that moment the +prophecy, or anathema, of Meg Merrilies fell heavy on his mind. +"You have stripped the thatch from seven cottages, see that the +roof-tree of your own house stand the surer!" + +"Restore," he cried, "restore my bairn! bring me back my son, and +all shall be forgot and forgiven!" As he uttered these words in a +sort of frenzy, his eye caught a glimmering of light in one of the +dismantled cottages--it was that in which Meg Merrilies formerly +resided. 'The light, which seemed to proceed from fire, glimmered +not only through the window, but also through the rafters of the +hut where the roofing had been torn off. + +He flew to the place; the entrance was bolted despair gave the +miserable father the strength of ten men; he rushed against the +door with such violence, that it gave way before the momentum of +his weight and force. The cottage was empty, but bore marks of +recent habitation He flew to the place; the entrance was bolted +there was fire on the hearth, a kettle, and some preparation for +food. As he eagerly gazed around for something that might confirm +his hope that his child yet lived, although in the power of those +strange people, a man entered the hut. + +It was his old gardener. "O sir!" said the old man, "such a night +as this I trusted never to live to see!--ye maun come to the Place +directly!" + +"Is my boy found? is he alive? have ye found Harry Bertram? Andrew, +have ye found Harry Bertram?" + +"No, sir; but--" + +"Then he is kidnapped!. I am sure of it, Andrew as sure as that I +tread upon earth! She has stolen him--and I will never stir from +this place till I have tidings of my bairn!" + +"Oh, but ye maun come hame, sir! ye maun come hame!-We have sent +for the Sheriff, and we'll set a watch here a' night, in case the +gipsies return; but you--ye maun come hame, sir,--for my lady's in +the dead-thraw." [*Death-agony.] + +Bertram turned a stupefied and unmeaning eye on the messenger who +uttered this calamitous news; and, repeating the words, "in the +dead-thraw!" as if he could not comprehend their meaning, suffered +the old man to drag him towards his horse. During the ride home, +he only said, "Wife and bairn, baith--mother and son, baith--Sair, +sair to abide!" + +It is needless to dwell upon the new scene of agony which awaited +him. The news of Kennedy's fate had been eagerly and incautiously +communicated at Ellangowan, with the gratuitous addition, that, +doubtless, "he had drawn the Young Laird over the craig with him, +though the tide had swept away the child's body--he was light, puir +thing, and would flee farther into the surf." + +Mrs. Bertram heard the tidings; she was far advanced in her +pregnancy; she fell into the pains of premature labour, and, ere +Ellangowan had recovered his agitated faculties, so as to +comprehend the full distress of his situation, he was the father of +a female infant, and a widower. + + + +CHAPTER X. + + But see, his face is black, and full of blood; His + eye-balls farther out than when he lived, Staring full + ghastly like a strangled man; His hair uprear'd, his + nostrils stretch'd with struggling, His hands abroad + display'd, as one that gasp'd And tugg'd for life, and was + by strength subdued. + + Henry IV. Part I + +THE Sheriff-depute of the county arrived at Ellangowan next morning +by daybreak. To this provincial magistrate the law of Scotland +assigns judicial powers of considerable extent, and the task of +inquiring into all crimes committed within his jurisdiction, the +apprehension and commitment of suspected persons, and so forth. [* +The Scottish Sheriff discharges, on such occasions as that now +mentioned, pretty much the same duty as a Coroner.] + +The gentleman who held the office in the shire of--at the time of +this catastrophe, was well born and well educated; and, though +somewhat pedantic and professional in his habits, he enjoyed +general respect as an active and intelligent magistrate. His first +employment was to examine all witnesses whose evidence could throw +light upon this mysterious event, and make up the written report, +proces verbal or precognition, as it is technically called, which +the practice of Scotland has substituted for a coroner's inquest. +Under the Sheriffs minute and skilful inquiry, many circumstances +appeared, which seemed incompatible with the original opinion, that +Kennedy had accidentally fallen from the cliffs. We shall briefly +detail some of these. + +The body had been deposited in a neighbouring fisher-hut, but +without altering the condition in which it was found. This was the +first object of the Sheriff's examination. Though fearfully crushed +and mangled by the fall from such a height, the corpse was found to +exhibit a deep cut in the head, which, in the opinion of a skilful +surgeon, must have been inflicted by a broadsword, or cutlass. The +experience of this gentleman discovered other suspicious +indications. The face was much blackened, the eyes distorted, and +the veins of the neck swelled. A coloured handkerchief, which the +unfortunate man had worn round his neck, did not present the usual +appearance, but was much loosened, and the knot displaced and +dragged extremely tight: the folds were also compressed, as if it +had been used as a means of grappling the deceased, and dragging +him perhaps to the precipice. + +On the other hand, poor Kennedy's purse was found untouched; and, +what seemed yet more extraordinary, the pistols which he usually +carried when about to encounter any hazardous adventure, were found +in his pockets loaded. This appeared particularly strange, for he +was known and dreaded by the contraband traders as a man equally +fearless and dexterous in the use of his weapons, of which he had +given many signal proofs. The Sheriff inquired, whether Kennedy +was not in the practice of carrying any other arms? Most of Mr. +Bertram's servants recollected that he generally had a couteau de +chasse, or short hanger, but none such was found upon the dead +body; nor could those who had seen him on the morning of the fatal +day, take it upon them to assert whether he then carried that +weapon or not. + +The corpse afforded no other indicia respecting the, fate of +Kennedy; for, though the clothes were much displaced, and the limbs +dreadfully fractured, the one seemed the probable, the other the +certain, consequences of such a fall. The hands of the deceased +were clenched fast, and full of turf and earth; but this also +seemed equivocal. + +The magistrate then proceeded to the place where the corpse was +first discovered, and made those who had found it give, upon the +spot, a particular and detailed account of the manner in which it +was lying. A large fragment of the rock appeared to have +accompanied, or followed, the fall of the victim from the cliff +above. It was of so solid and compact a substance, that it had +fallen without any great diminution by splintering, so that the +Sheriff was enabled. first, to estimate the weight by measurement, +and then to calculate, from the appearance of the fragment, what +portion of it had been bedded into the cliff from which it had +descended. This was easily detected, by the raw appearance of the +stone where it had not been exposed to the atmosphere. They then +ascended the cliff, and surveyed the place from whence the stony +fragment had fallen. It seemed plain, from the appearance of the +bed, that the mere weight of one man standing upon the projecting +part of the fragment, supposing it in its original situation, could +not have destroyed its balance, and precipitated it, with himself, +from the cliff. At the same time, it appeared to have lain so +loose, that the use of a lever, or the combined strength of three +or four men, might easily have hurled it from its position. The +short turf about the brink of the precipice was much trampled, as +if stamped by the heels of men in a mortal struggle, or in the act +of some violent exertion. Traces of the same kind, less visibly +marked, guided the sagacious investigator to the verge of the +copsewood, which, in that place, crept high up the bank towards the +top of the precipice. + +With patience and perseverance, they traced these marks into the +thickest part of the copse, a route which no person would have +voluntarily adopted, unless for the purpose of concealment. Here +they found plain vestiges of violence and struggling, from space to +space. Small boughs were torn down, as if grasped by some +resisting wretch who was dragged forcibly along; the ground, where +in the least degree soft or marshy, showed the print of many feet; +there were vestiges also, which might be those of human blood. At +any rate, it was certain that several persons must have forced +their passage among the oaks, hazels, and underwood, with which +they were mingled; and in some places appeared traces, as if a sack +full of grain, a dead body, or something of that heavy and solid +description, had been dragged along the ground. In one part of the +thicket there was a small swamp, the clay of which was whitish, +being probably mixed with marl. The back of Kennedy's coat +appeared besmeared with stains of the same colour. + +At length, about a quarter of a mile from the brink of. the fatal +precipice, the traces conducted them to a small open space of +ground, very much trampled, and plainly stained with blood, +although withered leaves had been strewed upon the spot, and other +means hastily taken to efface the marks, which seemed obviously to +have been derived from a desperate affray. On one side of this +patch of open ground, was found the sufferer's naked hanger, . +which seemed to have been thrown into the thicket; on the other, +the belt and sheath, which appeared to have been hidden with more +leisurely care and precaution. + +The magistrate caused the footprints which marked this spot to be +carefully measured and examined. Some corresponded to the foot of +the unhappy victim; some were larger, some less; indicating, that +at least four or five men had been busy around him. Above all, +here, and here only, were observed the vestiges of a child's foot; +and as it could be seen nowhere else, and the hard horse-track +which traversed the wood at Warroch was contiguous to the spot, it +was natural to think that the boy might have escaped in that +direction during the confusion. But as he was never heard of, the +Sheriff, who made a careful entry of all these memoranda, did not +suppress his opinion, that the deceased had met with foul play, and +that the murderers, whoever they were, had possessed themselves of +the person of the child Harry Bertram. + +Every exertion was now made to discover the criminals. Suspicion +hesitated between the smugglers and the gipsies. The fate of Dirk +Hatteraick's vessel was certain. Two men from the opposite side of +Warroch Bay (so the inlet on the southern side of the Point of +Warroch is called) had seen, though it a great distance, the lugger +drive eastward, after doubling the headland, and, as they judged +from her manoeuvres, in a disabled state. Shortly after, they +perceived that she grounded, smoked, and, finally, took fire. She +was, as one of them expressed himself, in a light low (bright +flame) when they observed a king's ship, with her colours up, heave +in sight from behind the cape. The guns of the burning vessel +discharged themselves as the fire reached them; and they saw her, +at length, blow up with a great explosion. The sloop of war kept +aloof for her own safety; and, after hovering till the other +exploded, stood away southward under a press of sail. The Sheriff +anxiously interrogated these men whether any boats had left the +vessel. They could not say--they had seen none--but they might +have put off in such a direction as placed the burning vessel, and +the thick smoke which floated landward from it, between their +course and the witnesses' observation. + +That the ship destroyed was Dirk Hatteraick's, no one doubted. His +lugger was well known on the coast, and had been expected just at +this time. A letter from the commander of the king's sloop, to +whom the Sheriff made application, put the matter beyond doubt; he +sent also an extract from his log-book of the transactions of the +day, which intimated their being on the outlook for a smuggling +lugger, Dirk Hatteraick master, upon the information and +requisition of Francis Kennedy, of his Majesty's excise service; +and that Kennedy was to be upon the outlook on the shore, in case +Hatteraick, who was known to be a desperate fellow, and had been +repeatedly outlawed, should attempt to run his sloop aground. About +nine o'clock A.M. they discovered a sail, which answered the +description of Hatteraick's vessel, chased her, and after repeated +signals to her to show colours and bring-to, fired upon her. The +chase then showed Hamburgh colours, and returned the fire; and a +running fight was maintained for three hours, when, just as the +lugger was doubling the Point of Warroch, they observed that the +main-yard was shot in the slings, and that the vessel was +disabled. It was not in the power of the man-of-war's men for some +time to profit by this circumstance, owing to their having kept too +much in-shore for doubling the headland. After two tacks, they +accomplished this, and observed the chase on fire, and apparently +deserted. The fire having reached some casks of spirits, which +were placed on the deck, with other combustibles, probably on +purpose, burnt with such fury, that no boats durst approach the +vessel, especially as her shotted guns were discharging, one after +another, by the heat. The captain had no doubt whatever that the +crew had set the vessel on fire, and escaped in their boats. After +watching the conflagration till the ship blew up, his Majesty's +sloop, the Shark, stood towards the Isle of Man, with the purpose +of intercepting the retreat of the smugglers, who, though they +might conceal themselves in the woods for a day or two, would +probably take the first opportunity of endeavouring to make for +this asylum. But they never saw more of them than is above +narrated. + +Such was the account given by William Pritchard, master and +commander of his Majesty's sloop of war, Shark, who concluded by +regretting deeply that he had not had the happiness to fall in with +the scoundrels who had had the impudence to fire on his Majesty's +flag, and with an assurance, that, should he meet Mr. Dirk +Hatteraick in any future cruise, he would not fall to bring him +into port under his stern, to answer whatever might be alleged +against him. + +As, therefore, it seemed tolerably certain that the men on board +the lugger had escaped, the death of Kennedy, if he fell in with +them in the woods, when irritated by the loss of their vessel, and +by the share he had in it, was easily to be accounted for. And it +was not improbable, that to such brutal tempers, rendered desperate +by their own circumstances, even the murder of the child, against +whose father, as having become suddenly active in the prosecution +of smugglers, Hatteraick was known to have uttered deep threats, +would not appear a very heinous crime. + +Against this hypothesis it was urged, that a crew of fifteen or +twenty men could not have lain hidden upon the coast, when so close +a search took place immediately after the destruction of their +vessel; or, at least, that if they had hid themselves in the +woods. their boats must have been seen on the beach;--that in such +precarious circumstances, and when a retreat must have seemed +difficult, if not impossible, it was not to be thought that they +would have all united to commit a useless murder, for the mere sake +of revenge. Those who held this opinion, supposed, either that the +boats of the lugger had stood out to sea without being observed by +those who were intent upon gazing at the burning vessel, and so +gained safe distance before the sloop got round the headland; or +else, that, the boats being stayed or destroyed by the fire of the +Shark during the chase, the crew had obstinately determined to +perish with the vessel. What gave some countenance to this supposed +act of desperation was, that neither Dirk Hatteraick nor any of his +sailors, all well-known men in the fair-trade, were again seen upon +that coast, or heard of in the Isle of Man, where strict inquiry +was made. On the other hand, only one dead body, apparently that +of a seaman killed by a cannon-shot, drifted ashore. So, all that +could be done was to register the names, description, and +appearance of the individuals belonging to the ship's company, and +offer a reward for the apprehension of them, or any one of them; +extending also to any person, not the actual murderer, who should +give evidence tending to convict those who had murdered Francis +Kennedy. + +Another opinion, which was also plausibly supported, went to charge +this horrid crime upon the late tenants of Derncleugh. They were +known to have resented highly the conduct of the Laird of +Ellangowan towards them, and to have used threatening expressions, +which every one supposed them capable of carrying into effect. The +kidnapping the child was a crime much more consistent with their +habits than with those of smugglers, and his temporary guardian +might have fallen in an attempt to protect him. Besides it was +remembered that Kennedy had been an active agent, two or three days +before,--in the forcible expulsion of these people from Derncleugh, +and that harsh and menacing language had been exchanged between him +and some of the Egyptian patriarchs on that memorable occasion. + +The Sheriff received also the depositions of the unfortunate father +and his servant, concerning what had passed at their meeting the +caravan of gipsies as they left the estate of Ellangowan. The +speech of Meg Merrilies seemed particularly suspicious. There was, +as the magistrate observed in his law language, damnum minatum--a +damage, or evil turn, threatened, and malum secutum--an evil of the +very kind predicted shortly afterwards following. A young woman, +who had been gathering nuts in Warroch wood upon the fatal day, was +also strongly of opinion, though she declined to make positive +oath, that she had seen Meg Merrilies, at least a woman of her +remarkable size and appearance, start suddenly out of a +thicket--she said she had called to her by name, but, as the figure +turned from her, and made no answer, she was uncertain if it were +the gipsy, or her wraith, and was afraid to go nearer to one who +was always reckoned, in the vulgar phrase, no canny. This vague +story received some corroboration from the circumstance of a fire +being that evening found in the gipsy's deserted cottage. To this +fact Ellangowan and his gardener bore evidence. Yet it seemed +extravagant to suppose, that, had this woman been accessory to such +a dreadful crime, she would have returned that very evening on +which it was committed, to the place, of all others, where she was +most likely to be sought after. + +Meg Merrilies was, however, apprehended and examined. She denied +strongly having been either at Derncleugh or in the wood of Warroch +upon the day of Kennedy's death; and several of her tribe made oath +in her behalf, that she had never quitted their encampment, which +was in a glen about' ten miles distant from Ellangowan. Their +oaths were indeed little to be trusted to; but what other evidence +could be had in the circumstances? There was one remarkable fact, +and only one, which arose from her examination. Her arm appeared +to be slightly wounded by the cut of a sharp weapon, and was tied +up with a handkerchief of Harry Bertram's. But the chief of the +horde acknowledged he had "corrected her" that day with his +whinger--she herself, and others, gave the same account of her +hurt; and, for the handkerchief, the quantity of linen stolen from +Ellangowan during the last months of their residence on the estate, +easily accounted for it, without charging Meg with a more heinous +crime. + +It was observed upon her examination, that she treated the +questions respecting the death of Kennedy, or "the gauger," as she +called him, with indifference; but expressed great and emphatic +scorn and indignation at being supposed capable of injuring little +Harry Bertram. She was long confined in jail, under the hope that +something might yet be discovered to throw light upon this dark and +bloody transaction. Nothing, however, occurred; and Meg was at +length liberated, but under sentence of banishment from the county, +as a vagrant, common thief, and disorderly person. No traces of +the boy could ever be discovered; and, at length, the story, after +making much noise, was gradually given up as altogether +inexplicable, and only perpetuated by the name of "The Gauger's +Loup," which was generally bestowed on the cliff from which the +unfortunate man had fallen, or been precipitated. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Enter Time, as Chorus. + + I--that please some, try all; both joy and terror Of good + and had; that make and unfold error--Now take upon me, in + the name of Time, To use my wings. Impute it not a crime + To me, or my swift passage, that I slide O'er sixteen + years, and leave the growth untried Of that wide gap. + + Winter's Tale. + +Our narration is now about to make a large stride, and omit a space +of nearly seventeen years; during which nothing occurred of any +particular consequence with respect to the story we have undertaken +to tell. The gap is a wide one; yet if the reader's experience in +life enables him to look back on so many years, the space will +scarce appear longer in his recollection, than the time consumed in +turning these pages. + +It was, then, in the month of November, about seventeen years after +the catastrophe related in the fast chapter, that, during a cold +and stormy night, a social group had closed around the kitchen fire +of the Gordon Arms at Kippletringan, a small but comfortable inn, +kept by Mrs. Mac-Candlish in that village. The conversation which +passed among them will save me the trouble of telling the few +events occurring during this chasm in our history, with which it is +necessary that the reader should be acquainted. + +Mrs. Mac-Candlish, throned in a comfortable easy-chair lined with +black leather, was regaling herself, and a neighbouring gossip or +two, with a cup of genuine tea, and at the same time keeping a +sharp eye upon her domestics, as they went and came in prosecution +of their various duties and commissions. The clerk and precentor +of the parish enjoyed at a little distance his Saturday night's +pipe, and aided its bland fumigation by an occasional sip of +brandy-and-water. Deacon Bearcliff, a man of great importance in +the village, combined the indulgence of both parties--he had his +pipe and his teacup, the latter being laced with a little spirits. +One or two clowns sat at some distance, drinking their twopenny +ale. + +"Are ye sure the parlour's ready for them, and the fire burning +clear, and the chimney no smoking?" said the hostess to a +chambermaid. + +She was answered in the affirmative.--"Ane wadna be uncivil to +them, especially in their distress," said she, turning to the +Deacon. + +"Assuredly not, Mrs. Mac-Candlish; assuredly not. I am sure ony +sma' thing they might want frae my shop, under seven, or eight, or +ten pounds, I would book them as readily for it as the first in the +country.--Do they come in the auld chaise?" + +"I dare say no," said the precentor; "for Miss Bertram comes on the +white powny ilka day to the kirk--and a constant kirk-keeper she +is--and it's a pleasure to hear her singing the psalms, winsome +young thing." + +"Ay, and the young Laird of Hazlewood rides hame half the road wi' +her after sermon," said one of the gossips in company; "I wonder +how auld Hazlewood likes that." + +"I kenna how he may like it now," answered another of the +tea-drinkers; "but the day has been when Ellangowan wad hae liked +as little to see his daughter taking up with their son." + +"Ay, has been," answered the first, with somewhat of emphasis. + +"I am sure, neighbour Ovens," said the hostess, "the Hazlewoods of +Hazlewood, though they are a very gude auld family in the county, +never thought, till within these twa score o' years, of evening +themselves till the Ellangowans--Wow, woman, the Bertrams of +Ellangowan are the auld Dingawaies lang syne--there is a sang about +ane o' them marrying a daughter of the King of Man; it begins-- + + "Blythe Bertram's ta'en him ower the faem, + To wed a wife, and bring her hame-- + +I daur say Mr. Skreigh can sing us the ballant." + +"Gudewife," said Skreigh, gathering up his mouth, and sipping his +tiff of brandy punch with great solemnity, "our talents were gien +us to other use than to sing daft auld sangs sae near the Sabbath +day." + +"Hout fie, Mr. Skreigh; I'se warrant I hae heard you sing a blythe +sang on Saturday at e'en before now.--But as for the chaise, +Deacon, it hasna been out of the coachhouse since Mrs. Bertram +died, that's sixteen or seventeen years sin syne--. Jock Jabos is +away wi' a chaise of mine for them;--I wonder he's no come back. +It's pit mirk [*Pitch dark]--but there's no an ill turn on the +road but twa, and the brigg ower Warroch burn is safe eneugh, if he +baud to the right side. But then there's Heavieside-brae, that's +just a murder for post-cattle--but Jock kens the road brawly." +[*Very well] + +A loud rapping was heard at the door. "That's no them. I dinna +hear the wheels.--Grizzel, ye limmer, gang to the door." + +"It's a single gentleman," whined out Grizzel; "maun I take him +into the parlour?" + +"Foul be in your feet, then; it'll be some English rider. Coming +without a servant at this time o' night!--Has the ostler ta'en the +horse?--Ye may light a spunk o' fire in the red room." + +"I wish, ma'am," said the traveller, entering the kitchen, "you +would give me leave to warm myself here, for the night is very +cold." + +His appearance, voice, and manner, produced an instantaneous effect +in his favour. He was a handsome, tall, thin figure, dressed in +black, as appeared when he laid aside his riding-coat; his age +might be between forty and fifty; his cast of features grave and +interesting, and his air somewhat military. Every point of his +appearance and address bespoke the gentleman. Long habit had given +Mrs. Mac-Candlish an acute tact in ascertaining the quality of her +visitors, and proportioning her reception accordingly To every +guest the appropriate speech was made, And every duty with +distinction paid; Respectful, easy, pleasant, or polite--"Your +honour's servant!--Mister Smith, good-night." + +On the present occasion, she was low in her curtsey, and profuse in +her apologies. The stranger begged his horse might be attended +to--she went out herself to school the hostler. + +"There was never a prettier bit o' horse-flesh in the stable o' the +Gordon Arms," said the man; which information increased the +landlady's respect for the rider. Finding, on her return, that the +stranger declined to go into another apartment (which, indeed, she +allowed, would be but cold and smoky till the fire bleezed up), she +installed her guest hospitably by the fireside, and offered what +refreshment her house afforded. + +"A cup of your tea, ma'am, if you will favour me." Mrs. +Mac-Candlish bustled about, reinforced her teapot with hyson, and +proceeded in her duties with her best grace. "We have a very nice +parlour, sir, and everything very agreeable for gentlefolks; but +it's bespoke the night for a gentleman and his daughter, that are +going to leave this part of the country--ane of my chaises is gane +for them, and will be back forthwith--they're no sae weel in the +warld as they have been; but we're a' subject to ups and downs in +this life, as your honour must needs ken--but is not the +tobacco-reek disagreeable to your honour?" + +"By no means, ma'am; I am an old campaigner, and perfectly used to +it.--Will you permit me to make some inquiries about a family in +this neighbourhood?" + +The sound of wheels was now heard, and the landlady hurried to the +door to receive her expected guests; but returned in an instant, +followed by the postilion-- + +"No, they canna come at no rate, the Laird's sae ill." + +"But God help them," said the landlady, "the morn's the term--the +very last day they can bide in the house--a' thing's to be +roupit." [*Sold by auction] + +"Weel, but they can come at no rate, I tell ye--Mr. Bertram canna +be moved." + +"What Mr. Bertram?" said the stranger; "not Mr. Bertram of +Ellangowan, I hope?" + +"Just e'en that same, sir; and if ye be a friend o' his, ye have +come at a time when he's sair bested." + +"I have been abroad for many years--is his health so much +deranged?" + +"Ay, and his affairs an' a'," said the Deacon "the creditors have +entered into possession o' the estate, and it's for sale; and some +that made the maist by him--I name nae names, but Mrs. Mac-Candlish +kens wha I mean--(the landlady shook her head significantly) +they're sairest on him e'en now. I have a sma' matter due mysell, +but I would rather have lost it than gane to turn the auld man out +of his house, and him just dying." + +"Ay, but," said the parish-clerk, "Factor Glossin wants to get rid +of the auld Laird, and drive on the sale, for fear the heir-male +should cast up upon them; for I have heard say, if there was an +heir-male, they couldna sell the estate for auld Ellangowan's +debt." + +"He had a son born a good many years ago," said the stranger; "he +is dead, I suppose?" + +"Nae man can say for that," answered the clerk mysteriously. + +"Dead!" said the Deacon, "I'se warrant him dead lang syne; he hasna +been heard o' these twenty years or thereby." + +"I wot weel it's no twenty years," said the landlady; "it's no +abune seventeen at the outside in this very month; it made an unco +noise ower a' this country--the bairn disappeared the very day that +Supervisor Kennedy cam by his end.--If ye kenn'd this country lang +syne, your honour wad maybe ken Frank Kennedy the Supervisor. He +was a heartsome pleasant man, and company for the best gentlemen in +the county, and muckle mirth he's made in this house. I was young +then, sir, and newly married to Bailie Mac-Candlish, that's dead +and gone--(a sigh)--and muckle fun I've had wi' the Supervisor. He +was a daft dog--Oh, an he could hae hauden aff the smugglers a bit! +but he was aye venturesome.--And so ye see, sir, there was a king's +sloop down in Wigton Bay, and Frank Kennedy, he behoved to have her +up to chase Dirk Hatteraick's lugger--ye'll mind Dirk Hatteraick, +Deacon? I dare say ye may have dealt wi' him--(the Deacon gave a +sort of acquiescent nod and humph). He was a daring chield, and he +fought his ship till she blew up like peelings of ingans; and Frank +Kennedy he had been the first man to board, and he was flung like a +quarter of a mile off, and fell into the water below the rock at +Warroch Point, that they ca' the Gauger's Loup to this day." + +"And Mr. Bertram's child," said the stranger, "what is all this to +him?" + +"Ou, sir, the bairn aye held an unca wark wi' the Supervisor; and +it was generally thought he went on board the vessel alang wi' him, +as bairns are aye forward to be in mischief." + +"No, no," said the Deacon, "ye're clean out there, Luckie--for +the young Laird was stown away by a randy gipsy woman they ca'd Meg +Merrilies,--I mind her looks weel,--in revenge for Ellangowan +having gar'd her be drumm'd through Kippletringan for stealing a +silver spoon." + +"If ye'll forgie me, Deacon," said the precentor, "ye're e'en as +far wrang as the gudewife." + +"And what is your edition of the story, sir?" said the stranger, +turning to him with interest. + +"That's maybe no sae canny to tell," said the precentor, with +solemnity. + +Upon being urged, however, to speak out, he preluded with, two or +three large puffs of tobacco-smoke, and out of the cloudy sanctuary +which these whiffs formed around him, delivered the following +legend, having cleared his voice with one or two hems, and +imitating, as near as he could, the eloquence which weekly +thundered over his head from the pulpit. + +"What we are now to deliver, my brethren,--hem--hem,--I mean, my +good friends,--was not done in a corner, and may serve as an answer +to witch-advocates, atheists, and misbelievers of all kinds.--Ye +must know that the worshipful Laird of Ellangowan was not so +preceese as he might have been in clearing his land of witches +(concerning whom it is said, 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to +live'), nor of those who had familiar spirits, and consulted with +divination, and sorcery, and lots, which is the fashion with the +Egyptians, as they ca' themsells, and other unhappy bodies, in this +our country. And the Laird was three years married without having +a family-and he was sae left to himself, that it was thought he +held ower muckle troking [*Trafficking] and communing wi' that Meg +Merrilies, wha was the maist notorious, witch in a' Galloway and +Dumfriesshire baith." + +"Aweel I wot there's something in that," said Mrs. Mac-Candlish; +"I've kenn'd him order her twa' glasses o' brandy in this very +house." + +"Aweel, gudewife, then the less I lee.--Sae the lady was wi' bairn +at last, and in the night when she should have been delivered, +there comes to the door of the ha' house--the Place of Ellangowan +as they ca'd--an ancient man, strangely habited, and asked for +quarters. His head, and his legs, and his arms were bare, although +it was winter time o' the year, and he had a gray beard three +quarters lang. Weel, he was admitted; and when the lady was +delivered, he craved to know the very moment of the hour of the +birth, and he went out and consulted the stars. And when he came +back, he tell'd the Laird, that the Evil One wad have power over +the knave-bairn, that was that night born, and he charged him that +the babe should be bred up in the ways of piety, and that he should +aye hae a godly minister at his elbow, to pray wi' the bairn and +for him. And the aged man vanished away, and no man of this country +saw mair o' him." + +"Now, that will not pass," said the postilion, who, at a respectful +distance, was listening to the conversation, "begging Mr. Skreigh's +and the company's pardon,--there was no sae mony hairs on the +warlock's face as there's on Letter-Gae's [*The precentor is +called by Allan Ramsay,--"The Letter-Gae of haly rhyme."] ain at +this moment; and he had as gude a pair o' boots as a man need +streik on his legs, and gloves too;--and I should understand boots +by this time, I think." + +"Whisht, Jock," said the landlady. + +"Ay? and what do ye ken o' the matter, friend Jabos?" said the +precentor contemptuously. + +"No muckle, to be sure, Mr. Skreigh--only that I lived within a +penny-stane cast o' the head o' the avenue at Ellangowan, when a +man cam jingling to our door that night the young Laird was born, +and my mother sent me, that was a hafflin callant, [*Half-grown +lad] to show the stranger the gate to the Place, which, if he had +been sic a warlock, he might hae kenn'd himself, ane wad think--and +he was a young, weel-faured, weel-dressed lad, like an Englishman. +And I tell ye he had as gude a hat, and boots, and gloves, as ony +gentleman need to have. To be sure he did gie an awesome glance up +at the auld castle--and there was some spae-work gaed on--I aye +heard that; but as for his vanishing, I held the stirrup mysell +when he gaed away, and he gied me a round half-crown--he was +riding on a haick they ca'd Souple Sam--it belanged to the George +at Dumfries--it was a blood-bay beast, very ill o' the spavin--I +hae seen the beast baith before and since." + +"Aweel, aweel, Jock," answered Mr. Skreigh, with a tone of mild +solemnity, "our accounts differ in no material particulars; but I +had no knowledge that ye had seen the man.--So ye see, my friends, +that this soothsayer having prognosticated evil to the boy, his +father engaged a godly minister to be with him morn and night." + +"Ay, that was him they ca'd Dominie Sampson," said the postilion. + +"He's but a dumb dog that," observed the Deacon; "I have heard that +he never could preach five words of a sermon endlang, for as lang +as he has been licensed." + +"Weel, but," said the precentor, waving his hand, as if eager to +retrieve the command of the discourse, he waited on the young +Laird by night and day. Now, it chanced, when the bairn was near +five years auld, that the Laird had a sight of his errors, and +determined to put these Egyptians aff his ground; and he caused +them to remove; and that Frank Kennedy, that was a rough swearing +fellow, he was sent to turn them off. And he cursed and damned at +them, and they swure at him; and that Meg Merrilies, that was the +maist powerfu' with the Enemy of Mankind, she as gude as said she +would have him, body and soul, before three days were ower his +head. And I have it from a sure hand, and that's ane wha saw it, +and that's John Wilson, that was the laird's groom, that Meg +appeared to the Laird as he was riding hame from Singleside, over +Gibbie's-know, and threatened him wi' what she wad do to his +family; but whether it was Meg, or something waur in her likeness, +for it seemed bigger than ony mortal creature, John could not say." + +"Aweel," said the postilion, "it might be sae--I canna say against +it, for I was not in the country at the time; but John Wilson was a +blustering kind of chield, without the heart of a sprug." +[*Sparrow] + +"And what was the end of all this?" said the stranger, with some +impatience. + +"Ou, the event and upshot of it was, sir," said the precentor, +"that while they were all looking on, beholding a king's ship chase +a smuggler, this Kennedy suddenly brake away frae them without ony +reason that could be descried--ropes nor tows wad not hae held +him--and made for the wood of Warroch as fast as his beast could +carry him; and by the way he met the young Laird and his governor, +and he snatched up the bairn, and swure, if he was bewitched, the +bairn should have the same luck as him; and the minister followed +as fast as he could, and almaist as fast as them, for he was +wonderfully swift of foot--and he saw Meg the witch, or her master +in her similitude, rise suddenly out of the ground, and claught the +bairn suddenly out of the gauger's arms--and then he rampauged and +drew his sword--for ye ken a fie man and a cusser fearsna the +deil." + +"I believe that's very true," said the postilion. + +"So, sir, she grippit him, and clodded [*Hurled] him like a stane +from the sling ower the craigs of Warroch Head, where he was found +that evening--but what became of the babe, frankly I cannot say. +But he that was minister here then, that's now in a better place, +had an opinion that the bairn was only conveyed to Fairyland for a +season." + +The stranger had smiled slightly at some parts of this recital, but +ere he could answer, the clatter of a horse's hoofs was heard, and +a smart servant, handsomely dressed, with a cockade in his hat, +bustled into the kitchen, with "Make a little room, good people"; +when, observing the stranger, he descended at once into the modest +and civil domestic, his hat sunk down by his side, and he put a +letter into his master's hands. "The family at Ellangowan, sir, +are in great distress, and unable to receive any visits." + +"I know it," replied his master.--"And now, madam, it you will have +the goodness to allow me to occupy the parlour you mentioned, as +you are disappointed of your guests--" + +"Certainly, sir," said Mrs. Mac-Candlish, and hastened to light +the way with all the imperative bustle which an active landlady +loves to display on such occasions. + +"Young man," said the Deacon to the servant, filling a glass, +"ye'll no be the waur o' this, after your ride." + +"Not a feather, sir,--thank ye--your very good health, sir." + +"And wha may your master be, friend?" + +"What, the gentleman that was here?--that's the famous Colonel +Mannering, sir, from the East Indies." + +"What, him we read of in the newspapers?" + +"Ay, ay, just the same. It was he relieved Cuddieburn, and +defended Chingalore, and defeated the great Mahratta chief, Ram +Jolli Bundleman--I was with him in most of his campaigns." + +"Lord safe us," said the landlady, "I must go see what he would +have for supper--that I should set him down here!" + +"Oh, he likes that all the better, mother;--you never saw a plainer +creature in your life than our old Colonel; and yet he has a spice +of the devil in him too." + +The rest of the evening's conversation below stairs tending little +to edification, we shall, with the reader's leave, step up to the +parlour. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + --Reputation?--that's man's idol set up against God, the + Maker of all laws, Who hath commanded us we should not + kill, And yet we say we must, for Reputation! What honest + man can either fear his own, Or else will hurt another's + reputation? Fear to do base unworthy things is valour; If + they be done to us, to suffer them Is valour + too.-- BEN JONSON, + +The Colonel was walking pensively up and down the parlour, when the +officious landlady re-entered to take his commands. Having given +them in the manner he thought would be most acceptable "for the +good of the house," he begged to detain her a moment. + +"I think," he said, "madam, if I understood the good people right, +Mr. Bertram lost his son in his fifth year?" + +"Oh ay, sir, there's nae doubt o' that, though there are mony idle +clashes [* Tittle-tattle], about the way and manner, for it's an +auld story now, and everybody tells it, as we were doing, their ain +way by the ingleside. But lost the bairn was in his fifth year, as +your honour says, Colonel; and the news being rashly tell'd to the +leddy, then great with child, cost her her life that samyn +night--and the Laird never throve after that day, but was just +careless of everything--though, when his daughter Miss Lucy grew +up, she tried to keep order within doors--but what could she do, +poor thing so now they're out of house and hauld." + +"Can you recollect, madam, about what time of the year the child +was lost?" The landlady, after a pause, and some recollection, +answered, "she was positive it was about this season and added +some local recollections that fixed the date in her memory, as +occurring about the beginning of November, 17-." + +The stranger took two or three turns round the room in silence, but +signed to Mrs. Mac-Candlish not to leave it. + +Did I rightly apprehend," he said, "that the estate of Ellangowan +is in the market?" + +"In the market?--it will be sell'd the morn to the highest +bidder--that's no the morn, Lord help me! which is the Sabbath, but +on Monday, the first free day; and the furniture and stocking is to +be roupit [*Auctioned] at the same time on the ground--it's the +opinion of the haill country, that the sale has been shamefully +forced on at this time, when there's sae little money stirring in +Scotland wi' this weary American war, that somebody may get the +land a bargain--Deil be in them, that I should say sae!"--the good +lady's wrath rising at the supposed injustice. + +"And where will the sale take place?" + +"On the, premises, as the advertisement says--that's at the house +of Ellangowan, your honour, as I understand it." + +"And who exhibits the title-deeds, rent-roll, and plan?" + +"A very decent man, sir; the Sheriff-substitute of the county, who +has authority from the Court of Session. He's in the town just +now, if your honour would like to see hint; and he can tell you +mair about the loss of the bairn than onybody, for the +Sheriff-depute (that's his principal, like) took much pains to come +at the truth o' that matter, as I have heard." + +"And this gentleman's name is--" + +"Mac-Morlan, sir,--he's a man o' character, and weel spoken o'." + +"Send my compliments--Colonel Mannering's compliments to him, and I +would be glad he would do me the pleasure of supping with me, and +bring these papers with him--and I beg, good madam, you will say +nothing of this to any one else." + +"Me, sir? ne'er a word shall I say--I wish your honour (a curtsey), +or ony honourable gentleman that's fought for his country (another +curtsey), had the land, since the auld family maun quit (a sigh), +rather than that wily scoundrel, Glossin, that's risen on the ruin +of the best friend he ever had--and now I think on't, I'll slip on +my hood and pattens, and gang to Mr. Mac-Morlan mysell--he's at +hame e'en now-it's hardly a step." + +"Do so, my good landlady, and many thanks--and bid my servant step +here with my portfolio in the meantime." + +In a minute or two, Colonel Mannering was quietly seated with his +writing materials before him. We have the privilege of looking +over his shoulder as he writes, and we willingly communicate its +substance to our readers. The letter was addressed to Arthur +Mervyn, Esq., of Mervyn Hall, Llanbraithwaite, Westmoreland. It +contained some account of the writer's previous journey since +parting with him, and then proceeded as follows:- + +"And now, why will you still upbraid me with my melancholy, +Mervyn?--Do you think, after the lapse of twenty-five years, +battles, wounds, imprisonment, you, who have remained in the bosom +of domestic happiness, experience little change, that your step is +as light, and your fancy as full of sunshine, is a blessed effect +of health and temperament, co-operating with content and a smooth +current down the course of life. But my career has been one of +difficulties, and doubts, and errors. From my infancy I have been +the sport of accident, and though the wind has often borne me into +harbour, it has seldom been into that which the pilot destined. Let +me recall to you--but the task must be brief--the odd and wayward +fates of my youth, and the misfortunes or my manhood. + +"The former, you will say, had nothing very appalling. All was not +for the best; but all was tolerable. My father, the eldest son of +an ancient but reduced family, left me with little, save the name +of the head of the house, to the protection of his more fortunate +brothers. They were so fond of me that they almost quarrelled +about me. My uncle, the bishop, would have had me in orders, and +offered me a living--my uncle, the merchant, would have put me into +a counting-house, and proposed to give me a share in the thriving +concern of Mannering and Marshall, in Lombard' Street--So, between +these two stools, or rather these two soft, easy, well-stuffed +chairs of divinity and commerce, my unfortunate person slipped +down, and pitched upon a dragoon saddle. Again, the bishop wished +me to marry the niece and heiress of the Dean of Lincoln; and my +uncle, the alderman, proposed to me the only daughter of old +Sloethorn, the great wine-merchant, rich enough to play at +span-counters with moidores, and make thread-papers of bank +notes--and somehow I slipped my neck out of both nooses, and +married--poor--poor Sophia Wellwood. + +"You will say, my military career in India, when I followed my +regiment there, should have given me some satisfaction; and so it +assuredly has. You will remind me also, that if I disappointed the +hopes of my guardians, I did not incur their displeaslure--that the +bishop, at his death, bequeathed me his blessing, his manuscript +sermons, and a curious portfolio, containing the heads of eminent +divines of the Church of England; and that my uncle, Sir Paul +Mannering, left me sole heir and executor to his large fortune. + +"Yet this availeth me nothing--I told you I had that upon my mind +which I should carry to my grave with me, a perpetual aloes in the +draught of existence. I will tell you the cause more in detail +than I had the heart to do while under your hospitable roof. You +will often hear it mentioned, and perhaps with different and +unfounded circumstances. I will, therefore, speak it out; and then +let the event itself, and the sentiments of melancholy with which +it has impressed me, never again be subject of discussion between +us. + +"Sophia, as you well know, followed me to India. She was as +innocent as gay; but, unfortunately for us both, as gay as +innocent. My own manners were partly formed by studies I had +forsaken, and habits of seclusion, not quite consistent with my +situation as commandant of a regiment in a country, where universal +hospitality is offered and expected by every settler claiming the +rank of a gentleman. In a moment of peculiar pressure (you know +how hard we were sometimes run to obtain white faces to countenance +our line-of-battle), a young man, named Brown, joined our regiment +as a volunteer, and finding the military duty more to his fancy +than commerce, in which he had been engaged, remained with us as a +cadet. Let me do my unhappy victim justice--he behaved with such +gallantry on every occasion that offered, that the first vacant +commission was considered as his due. I was absent for some weeks +upon a distant expedition; when I returned, I found this young +fellow established quite as the friend of the house, and habitual +attendant of my wife and daughter. It was an arrangement which +displeased me in many particulars, though no objection could be +made to his manners or character--Yet I might have been reconciled +to his familiarity in my family, but for the suggestions of +another. If you read over--what I never dare open--the play of +Othello, you will have some idea of what followed--I mean of my +motives--my actions, thank God! were less reprehensible. There was +another cadet ambitious of the vacant situation. He called my +attention to what he led me to term coquetry between my wife and +this young man. Sophia was virtuous, but proud of her virtue; and, +irritated by my jealousy, she was so imprudent as to press and +encourage an intimacy which she saw I disapproved and regarded with +suspicion. Between Brown and me there existed a sort of internal +dislike. He made an effort or two to overcome my prejudice; but, +prepossessed as I was, I placed them to a wrong motive. Feeling +himself repulsed, and with scorn, he desisted; and as he was +without family and friends, he was naturally more watchful of the +deportment of one who had both. + +"It is odd with what torture I write this letter, I feel inclined, +nevertheless, to protract the operation, just as if my doing so +could put off the catastrophe which has so long embittered my +life. But--it must he told, and it shall be told briefly. + +"My wife, though no longer young, was still eminently handsome, +and--let me say thus far in my own justification--she was fond of +being thought so--I am repeating what I said before--In a word, of +her virtue I never entertained a doubt; but, pushed by the artful +suggestions of Archer, I thought she cared little for my peace of +mind, and that the young fellow, Brown, paid his attentions in my +despite, and in defiance of me. He perhaps considered me, on his +part, as an oppressive aristocratic man, who made my rank in +society, and in the army, the means of galling those whom +circumstances placed beneath me. And if he discovered my silly +jealousy, he probably considered the fretting me in that sore point +of my character, as one means of avenging the petty indignities to +which I had it in my power to subject him. Yet an acute friend of +mine gave a more harmless, or at least a less offensive, +construction to his attentions, which he conceived to be meant for +my daughter Julia, though immediately addressed to propitiate the +influence of her mother. This could have been no very flattering +or pleasing enterprise on the part of an obscure and nameless young +man; but I should not have been offended at this folly, as I was at +the higher degree of presumption I suspected. Offended, however, I +was, and in a mortal degree. + +"A very slight spark will kindle a flame where everything lies open +to catch it. I have absolutely forgot the proximate cause of +quarrel, but it was some trifle which occurred at the card-table, +which occasioned high words and a challenge. We met in the morning +beyond the walls and esplanade of the fortress which I then +commanded, on the frontiers of the settlement. This was arranged +for Brown's safety, had he escaped. I almost wish he had, though +at my own expense but he fell by the first fire. We strove to +assist him but some of these Loolies, a species of native banditti +who were always on the watch for prey, poured in upon us. Archer +and I gained our horses with difficulty, and cut our way through +them after a hard conflict, in the course of which he received some +desperate wounds. To complete the misfortunes of this miserable +day, my wife, who suspected the design with which I left the +fortress, had ordered her palanquin to follow me, and was alarmed +and almost made prisoner by another troop of these plunderers. She +was quickly released by a party of our cavalry; but I cannot +disguise from myself, that the incidents of this fatal morning gave +a severe shock to health already delicate. The confession of +Archer, who thought himself dying, that he had invented some +circumstances, and, for his purposes, put the worst construction +upon others, and the full explanation and exchange of forgiveness +with me which this produced, could not check the progress of her +disorder. She died within about eight months after this incident, +bequeathing me only the girl, of whom Mrs. Mervyn is so good as to +undertake the temporary charge. Julia was also extremely ill; so +much so, that I was induced to throw up my command and return to +Europe, where her native air, time, and the novelty of the scenes +around her, have contributed to dissipate her dejection, and +restore her health. + +"Now that you know my story, you will no longer ask me the reason +of my melancholy, but permit me to brood upon it as I may. There +is, surely, in the above narrative, enough to embitter, though not +to poison, the chalice, which the fortune and fame you so often +mention had prepared to regale my years of retirement. + +"I could add circumstances which our old tutor would have quoted as +instances of day fatality,--you would laugh were I to mention such +particulars, especially as you know I put no faith in them. Yet, +since I have come to the very house from which I now write, I have +learned a singular coincidence, which, if I find it truly +established by tolerable evidence, will serve us hereafter for +subject of curious discussion. But I will spare you at present, as +I expect a person to speak about a purchase of property now open in +this part of the country. It is a place to which I have a foolish +partiality, and I hope my purchasing may be convenient to those +who are parting with it, as there is a plan for buying it under +the value. My respectful compliments to Mrs. Mervyn, and I will +trust you, though you boast to be so lively a young gentleman, to +kiss Julia for me.-- + +"Adieu, dear Mervyn.-- + +Mr. Mac-Morlan now entered the room. The well-known character of +Colonel Mannering at once disposed this gentleman, who was a man of +intelligence and probity, to be open and confidential. He +explained the advantages and disadvantages of the property. "It +was settled," he said, "the greater part of it at least, upon +heirs-male, and the purchaser would have the privilege of retaining +in his hands a large proportion of the price, in case of the +reappearance, within a certain limited term, of the child who had +disappeared." + +"To what purpose, then, force forward a sale?" said Mannering. + +Mac-Morlan smiled. "Ostensibly," he answered, "to substitute the +interest of money, instead of the ill-paid and precarious rents of +an unimproved estate; but chiefly, it was believed, to suit the +wishes and views of a certain intended purchaser, who had become a +principal creditor, and forced himself into the management of the +affairs by means best known to himself, and who, it was thought, +would find it very convenient to purchase the estate without paying +down the price." + +Mannering consulted with Mr. Mac-Morlan upon the steps for +thwarting this unprincipled attempt. They then conversed long on +the singular disappearance of Harry Bertram upon his fifth +birthday, verifying thus the random prediction of Mannering, of +which, however, it will readily be supposed he made no beast. Mr. +Mac-Morlan was not himself in office when that incident took place; +but he was well acquainted with all the circumstances, and promised +that our hero should have them detailed by the Sheriff-depute +himself, if, as he proposed, he should become a settler in that +part of Scotland. With this assurance they parted, well satisfied +with each other, and with the evening's conference. + +On the Sunday following, Colonel Mannering attended the parish +church with great decorum. None of the Ellangowan family were +present; and it was understood that the old Laird was rather worse +than better. Jock Jabos, once more despatched for him, returned +once more without his errand; but, on the following day, Miss +Bertram hoped he might be removed. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + They told me, by the sentence of the law, They had + commission to seize all thy fortune.-- Here stood a ruffian + with a horrid face, Lording it o'er a pile of massy plate, + Tumbled into a heap for public sale;--There was another, + making villainous jests At thy undoing; but had tacit + possession Of all thy ancient most domestic + ornaments. --OTWAY. + +Early next morning, Mannering mounted his horse, and, accompanied +by his servant, took the road to Ellangowan. He had no need to +inquire the way. A sale in the country is a place of public resort +and amusement, and people of various descriptions streamed to it +from all quarters. + +After a pleasant ride of about an hour, the old towers of the ruin +presented themselves in the landscape. The thoughts, with what +different feelings he had lost sight of them so many years before, +thronged upon the mind of the traveller. The landscape was the +same; but how changed the feelings, hopes, and views, of the +spectator! Then, life and love were new, and all the prospect was +gilded by their rays. And now, disappointed in affection, sated +with fame, and what the world calls success, his mind goaded by +bitter and repentant recollection, his best hope was to find a +retirement in which he might nurse the melancholy that was to +accompany him to his grave. "Yet why should an individual mourn +over the instability of his hopes, and the vanity of his +prospects? The ancient chiefs, who erected these enormous and +massive towers 'to be the fortress of their race and the seat of +their power', could they have dreamed the day was to come, when the +last of their descendants should be expelled, a ruined wanderer, +from his possessions! But Nature's bounties are unaltered. The +sun will shine as fair on these ruins, whether the property of a +stranger, or of a sordid and obscure trickster of the abused law, +as when the banners of the founder first waved upon their +battlements." + +These reflections brought Mannering to the door of the house, which +was that day open to all. He entered among others, who traversed +the apartments, some to select articles for purchase, others to +gratify their curiosity. There is something melancholy in such a +scene, even under the most favourable circumstances. The confused +state of the furniture, displaced for the convenience of being +easily viewed and carried off by the purchasers, is disagreeable to +the eye. Those articles which, properly and decently arranged, +look creditable and handsome, have then a paltry and wretched +appearance; and the apartments, stripped of all that render them +commodious and comfortable, have an aspect of ruin and +dilapidation. It is disgusting also, to see the scenes of domestic +society and seclusion thrown open to the gaze of the curious and +the vulgar; to hear their coarse speculations and brutal jests upon +the fashions and furniture to which they are unaccustomed,--a +frolicsome humour much cherished by, the whisky which in Scotland +is always put in circulation on such occasions. All these are +ordinary effects of such a scene as Ellangowan now presented; but +the moral feeling, that, in this case, they indicated the total +ruin of an ancient and honourable family, gave them treble weight +and poignancy. + +It was some time before Colonel Mannering could find any one +disposed to answer his reiterated questions concerning Ellangowan +himself. At length, an old maid-servant, who held her apron to her +eyes as she spoke, told him, "the Laird was something better, and +they hoped he would be able to leave the house that day. Miss Lucy +expected the chaise every moment, and, as the day was fine for the +time o' year, they had carried him in his easy-chair up to the +green before the auld castle, to be out of the way of this unco +spectacle." Hither Colonel Mannering went in quest of him, and +soon came in sight of the little group, which consisted of four +persons. The ascent was steep, so that he had time to reconnoitre +them as he advanced, and to consider in what mode he should make +his address. + +Mr. Bertram, paralytic, and almost incapable of moving, occupied +his easy-chair, attired in his night-cap, and a loose camlet coat, +his feet wrapped in blankets. Behind him, with his hands crossed +on the cane upon which he rested, stood Dominie Sampson, whom +Mannering recognised at once. Time had made no change upon him, +unless that his black coat seemed more brown, and his gaunt cheeks +more lank, than when Mannering last saw him. On one side of the +old man was a sylph-like form--a young woman of about seventeen, +whom the Colonel accounted to be his daughter. She was looking, +from time to time, anxiously towards the avenue, as if expecting +the post-chaise; and between whiles busied herself in adjusting the +blankets, so as to protect her father from the cold, and in +answering inquiries, which he seemed to make with a captious and +querulous manner. She did not trust herself to look towards the +Place, although the hum of the assembled crowd must have drawn her +attention in that direction. The fourth person of the group was a +handsome and genteel young man, who seemed to share Miss Bertram's +anxiety, and her solicitude to soothe and accommodate her parent. + +This young man was the first who observed Colonel Mannering, and +immediately stepped forward to meet him, as if politely to prevent +his drawing nearer to the distressed group. Mannering instantly +paused and explained. "He was," he said, "a stranger, to whom Mr. +Bertram had formerly shown kindness and hospitality; he would not +have intruded himself upon him at a period of distress, did it not +seem to be in some degree a moment also of desertion; he wished +merely to offer such services as might be in his power to Mr. +Bertram and the young lady." + +He then paused at a little distance from the chair. His old +acquaintance gazed at him with lack-lustre eye, that intimated no +tokens of recognition--the Dominie seemed too deeply sunk in +distress even to observe his presence. The young man spoke aside +with Miss Bertram, who advanced timidly, and thanked Colonel +Mannering for his goodness; "but," she said, the tears gushing fast +into her eyes--"her father, she feared, was not so much himself +as to be able to remember him." + +She then retreated towards the chair, accompanied by the +Colonel.--"Father," she said, "this is Mr. Mannering, an old +friend, come to inquire after you." + +"He's very heartily welcome," said the old man, raising himself in +his chair, and attempting a gesture of courtesy, while a gleam of +hospitable satisfaction seemed to pass over his faded features; +"but, Lucy, my dear, let us go down to the house; you should not +keep the gentleman here in the cold.--Dominie, take the key of the +wine-cooler. Mr. a--a--the gentleman will surely take something +after his ride." + +Mannering was unspeakably affected by the contrast which his +recollection made between this reception and that with which he had +been greeted by the same individual when they last met. He could +not restrain his tears, and his evident emotion at once attained +him the confidence of the friendless young lady. + +"Alas!" she said, "this is distressing even to a stranger; but it +may be better for my poor father to be in this way, than if he knew +and could feel all." + +A servant in livery now came up the path, and spoke in an undertone +to the young gentleman--"Mr. Charles, my lady's wanting you yonder +sadly, to bid for her for the black ebony cabinet; and Lady Jean +Devorgoil is wi' her an' a'--ye maun come away directly." + +"Tell them ye could not find me, Tom; or, stay,--say I am looking +at the horses." + +"No, no, no," said Lucy Bertram earnestly; "if you would not add to +the misery of this miserable moment, go to the company +directly.--This gentleman, I am sure, will see us to the carriage." + +"Unquestionably, madam," said Mannering; "your young friend may +rely on my attention." + +"Farewell, then," said young Hazlewood, and whispered a word in her +ear--then ran down the steep hastily, as if not trusting his +resolution at a slower pace. + +"Where's Charles Hazlewood running?" said the invalid, who +apparently was accustomed to his presence and attentions; "where's +Charles Hazlewood running?--what takes him away now?" + +"He'll return in a little while," said Lucy gently. + +The sound of voices was now heard from the ruins. The reader may +remember there was a communication between the castle and the +beach, up which the speakers had ascended. + +"Yes, there's plenty of shells and sea-ware for manure, as you +observe--and if one inclined to build a new house, which might +indeed be necessary, there's a great deal of good hewn stone about +this old dungeon for the devil here--" + +"Good God!" said Miss Bertram hastily to Sampson, "'tis that wretch +Glossin's voice!--if my father sees him, it will kill him +outright!" + +Sampson wheeled perpendicularly round, and moved with long strides +to confront the attorney, as he issued from beneath the portal arch +of the ruin. "Avoid ye!" he said--"I avoid ye! wouldst thou kill +and take possession?" + +"Come, come, Master Dominie Sampson," answered Glossin insolently, +"if ye cannot preach in the pulpit, we'll have no preaching here. +We go by the law, my good friend; we leave the gospel to you." + +The very mention of this man's name had been of late a subject of +the most violent irritation to the unfortunate patient. The sound +of his voice now produced an instantaneous effect. Mr. Bertram +started up without assistance, and turned round towards him; the +ghastliness of his features forming a strange contrast with the +violence of his exclamations.--"Out of my sight, ye viper!--ye +frozen viper, that I warmed till ye stung me!--Art thou not afraid +that the walls of my father's dwelling should fall and crush thee +limb and bone?--Are ye not afraid the very lintels of the door of +Ellangowan castle should break open and swallow you up?--Were ye +not friendless,--houseless,--penniless,--when I took ye by the +hand--and are Ye not expelling me--me, and that innocent girl-- +friendless, houseless, and penniless, from the house that has +sheltered us and ours for a thousand years?" + +Had Glossin been alone, he would probably have slunk off; but the +consciousness that a stranger was present, besides the person who +came with him (a sort of land-surveyor), determined him to resort +to impudence. The task, however, was almost too hard, even for his +effrontery--"Sir--Sir--Mr. Bertram--Sir, you should not blame me, +but your own imprudence, Sir--" + +The indignation of Mannering was mounting very high. "Sir," he +said to Glossin, "without entering into the merits of this +controversy, I must inform you, that you have chosen a very +improper place, time, and presence for it. And you will oblige me +by withdrawing without more words." + +Glossin, being a tall, strong, muscular man, was not unwilling +rather to turn upon a stranger whom he hoped to bully, than +maintain his wretched cause against his injured patron:--"I do not +know who you are, sir," he said, "and I shall permit no man to use +such d-d freedom with me." + +Mannering was naturally hot-tempered--his eyes flashed a dark +light--he compressed his nether lip so closely that the blood +sprung, and approaching Glossin--"Look you, sir," he said, "that +you do not know me is of little consequence. I know you; and, if +you do not instantly descend that bank, without uttering a single +syllable, by the Heaven that is above us, you shall make but one +step from the top to the bottom!" + +The commanding tone of rightful anger silenced at once the ferocity +of the bully. He hesitated, turned on his heel, and, muttering +something between his teeth about unwillingness to alarm the lady, +relieved them of his hateful company. + +Mrs. Mac-Candlish's postilion, who had come up in time to hear +what passed, said aloud, "If he had stuck by the way, I would have +lent him a heezie, [* Kick] the dirty scoundrel, as willingly as +ever I pitched a boddle." [* A small copper coin] + +He then stepped forward to announce that his horses were in +readiness for the invalid and his daughter. + +But they were no longer necessary. The debilitated frame of Mr. +Bertram was exhausted by this last effort of indignant anger, and +when he sunk again upon his chair, he expired almost without a +struggle or groan. So little alteration did the extinction of the +vital spark make upon his external appearance, that the screams of +his daughter, when she saw his eye fix and felt his pulse stop, +first announced his death to the spectators. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + The bell strikes one.--We take no note of time But from its + loss. To give it then a tongue Is wise in man. As if an + angel spoke, I feel the solemn + sound.-- YOUNG. + +The moral which the poet has rather quaintly deduced from +the necessary mode of measuring time, may he well applied to +our feelings respecting that portion of it which constitutes +human life. We observe the aged, the infirm, and those +engaged in occupations of immediate hazard, trembling as it +were upon the very brink of non-existence, but we derive no +lesson from the precariousness of their tenure until it has +altogether failed. Then, for a moment at least, + + Our hopes and fears + Start up alarm'd, and o'er life's narrow verge + Look down--On what? --a fathomless abyss, + A dark eternity,--how surely ours!-- + +The crowd of assembled gazers and idlers at Ellangowan had followed +the views of amusement, or what they called business, which brought +them there, with little regard to the feelings of those who were +suffering--upon that occasion. Few, indeed, knew anything of the +family. The father, betwixt seclusion, misfortune, and imbecility, +had drifted, as it were, for many years out of the notice of his +contemporaries-the daughter had never been known to them. But when +the general murmur announced that the unfortunate Mr. Bertram had +broken his heart in the effort to leave the mansion of his +forefathers, there poured forth a torrent of sympathy, like the +waters from the rock when stricken by the wand of the, prophet. The +ancient descent and unblemished integrity of the family were +respectfully remembered; above all, the sacred veneration due to +misfortune, which in Scotland seldom demands its tribute in vain, +then claimed and received it. + +Mr. Mac-Morlan hastily announced, that he would suspend all further +proceedings in the sale of the estate and other property, and +relinquish the possession of the premises to the young lady, until +she could consult with her friends, and provide for the burial of +her father. + +Glossin had cowered for a few minutes under the general expression +of sympathy, till, hardened by observing that no appearance of +popular indignation was directed his way, he had the audacity to +require that the sale should proceed. + +"I will take it upon my own authority to adjourn it," said the +Sheriff-substitute," and will be responsible for the consequences. +I will also give due notice when it is again to go forward. It is +for the benefit of all concerned that the lands should bring the +highest price the state of the market will admit, and this is +surely no time to expect it--I will take the responsibility upon +myself." + +Glossin left the room, and the house too, with secrecy and +despatch; and it was probably well for him he did so, since our +friend Jock Jabos was already haranguing a numerous tribe of +barelegged boys on the propriety of pelting him off the estate. + +Some of the rooms were hastily put in order for the reception of +the young lady, and of her father's dead body. Mannering now found +his further interference would be unnecessary, and might be +misconstrued. He observed, too, that several families connected +with that of Ellangowan, and who indeed derived their principal +claim of gentility from the alliance, were now disposed to pay to +their trees of genealogy a tribute, which the adversity of their +supposed relatives had been inadequate to call forth; and that the +honour of superintending the funeral rites of the dead Godfrey +Bertram (as in the memorable case of Homer's birthplace) was likely +to be debated by seven gentlemen of rank and fortune, none of whom +had offered him an asylum while living. He therefore resolved, as +his presence was altogether useless, to make a short tour of a +fortnight, at the end of which period the adjourned sale of the +estate of Ellangowan was to proceed. + +But before he departed, he solicited an interview with the +Dominie. The poor man appeared, on being informed a gentleman +wanted to speak to him, with some expression of surprise in his +gaunt features, to which recent sorrow had given an expression yet +more grisly. He made two or three profound reverences to +Mannering, and then, standing erect, patiently waited an +explanation of his commands. + +"You are probably at a loss to guess, Mr. Sampson," said Mannering, +"what a stranger may have to say to you?" + +"Unless it were to request, that I would undertake to train up some +youth in polite letters, and humane learning--but I cannot--I +cannot--I have yet a task to perform." + +"No, Mr. Sampson, my wishes are not so ambitious. I have no son, +and my only daughter, I presume, you would not consider as a fit +pupil." + +"Of a surety, no," replied the simple-minded Sampson. "Nathless, it +was I who did educate Miss Lucy in all useful learning,--albeit it +was the housekeeper who did teach her those unprofitable exercises +of hemming and shaping." + +"Well, sir," replied Mannering, "it is of Miss Lucy I meant to +speak--you have, I presume, no recollection of me?" + +Sampson, always sufficiently absent in mind, neither remembered the +astrologer of past years, nor even the stranger who had taken his +patron's part against Glossin, so much had his friend's sudden +death embroiled his ideas. + +"Well, that does not signify," pursued the Colonel; "I am an old +acquaintance of the late Mr. Bertram, able and willing to assist +his daughter in her present circumstances. Besides, I have thoughts +of making this purchase, and I should wish things kept in order +about the place; will you have the goodness to apply this small sum +in the usual family expenses?"--He put into the Dominie's hand a +purse containing some gold. + +"Pro-di-gi-ous!" exclaimed Dominie Sampson. "But if your honour +would tarry--" + +"Impossible, sir--impossible," said Mannering, making his escape +from him. + +"Pro-di-gi-ous!" again exclaimed Sampson, following to the head of +the, stairs, still holding out the purse. "But as touching this +coined money--" Mannering escaped downstairs as fast as possible. + +"Pro-di-gi-ous!" exclaimed Dominie Sampson, yet the third time, +now standing at the front door. "But as touching this specie--" + +But Mannering was now on horseback, and out of hearing. The +Dominie, who had never, either in his own right, or as trustee for +another, been possessed of a quarter part of this sum, though it +was not above twenty guineas, "took counsel," as he expressed +himself, "how he should demean himself with respect unto the fine +gold thus left in his charge." Fortunately he found a disinterested +adviser in Mac-Morlan, who pointed out the most proper means of +disposing of it for contributing to Miss Bertram's convenience, +being no doubt the purpose to which it was destined by the +bestower. + +Many of the neighbouring gentry were now sincerely eager in +pressing offers of hospitality and kindness upon Miss Bertram. But +she felt a natural reluctance to enter any family, for the first +time, as an object rather of benevolence than hospitality, and +determined to wait the opinion and advice of her father's nearest +female relation, Mrs. Margaret Bertram of Singleside, an old +unmarried lady, to whom she wrote an account of her present +distressful Situation. + +The funeral of the late Mr. Bertram was performed with decent +privacy, and the unfortunate young lady was now to consider herself +as but the temporary tenant of the house in which she had been +born, and where her patience and soothing attentions had so long +"rocked the cradle of declining age." Her communication with Mr. +Mac-Morlan encouraged her to hope that she would not be suddenly or +unkindly deprived of this asylum; but fortune had ordered +otherwise. + +For two days before the appointed day for the sale of the lands and +estate of Ellangowan, Mac-Morlan daily expected the appearance of +Colonel Mannering, or at least a letter containing powers to act +for him. But none such arrived. Mr. Mac-Morlan waked early in the +morning,--walked over to the Post-office,--there were no letters +for him. He endeavoured to persuade himself that he should see +Colonel Mannering to breakfast, and ordered his wife to place her +best china, and prepare herself accordingly. But the preparations +were in vain. "Could I have foreseen this," he said, "I would +have travelled Scotland over, but I would have found some one to +bid against Glossin."--Alas! such reflections were all too late. +The appointed hour arrived; and the parties met in the Masons' +Lodge at Kippletringan, being the place fixed for the adjourned +sale. Mac-Morlan spent as much time in preliminaries as decency +would permit, and read over the articles of sale as slowly as if +he--had been reading his own death-warrant. He turned his eye +every time the door of the room opened, with hopes which grew +fainter and fainter. He listened to every noise in the street of +the village, and endeavoured to distinguish in it the sound of +hoofs or wheels. It was all in vain. A bright idea then occurred, +that Colonel Mannering might have employed some other person in the +transaction--he would not have wasted a moment's thought upon the +want of confidence in himself, which such a manoeuvre would have +evinced. But this hope also was groundless. After a solemn pause, +Mr. Glossin offered the upset price for the lands and barony of +Ellangowan. No reply was made, and no competitor appeared; so, +after a lapse of the usual interval by the running of a sand-glass, +upon the intended purchaser entering the proper sureties, Mr. +Mac-Morlan was obliged, in technical terms, to "find and declare +the sale lawfully completed, and to prefer the said Gilbert Glossin +as the purchaser of the said lands and estate." The honest writer +refused to partake of a splendid entertainment with which Gilbert +Glossin, Esquire, now of Ellangowan, treated the rest of the +company, and returned home in huge bitterness of spirit, which he +vented in complaints against the fickleness and caprice of these +Indian nabobs, who never knew what they would be at for ten days +together. Fortune generously determined to take the blame upon +herself, and cut off even this vent of Mac-Morlan's resentment. + +An express arrived about six o'clock at night, "very particularly +drunk," the maidservant said, with a packet from Colonel Mannering, +dated four days back, at a town about a hundred miles' distance +from Kippletringan, containing full powers to Mr. Mac-Morlan, or +any one whom he might employ, to make the intended purchase, and +stating, that some family business of consequence called the +Colonel himself to Westmoreland, where a letter would find him, +addressed to the care of Arthur Mervyn, Esq., of Mervyn Hall. + +Mac-Morlan, in the transports of his wrath, flung the power of +attorney at the head of the innocent maid-servant, and was only +forcibly withheld from horsewhipping the rascally messenger, by +whose sloth and drunkenness the disappointment had taken place. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + My gold is gone, my money is spent, My land now take it + unto thee. Give me thy gold, good John o' Scales, And + thine for aye my land shall be. Then John he did him to + record draw, And John he caste him a gods-pennie; But for + every pounde that John agreed, The land, I wis, was well + worth three. + Heir of Linne. + +The Galwegian John o' the Scales was a more clever fellow than his +prototype. He contrived to make himself heir of Lione without the +disagreeable ceremony of "telling down the good red gold." Miss +Bertram no sooner heard this painful, and of late unexpected +intelligence, than she proceeded in the preparations she had +already made for leaving the mansion-house immediately. Mr. +Mac-Morlan assisted her in these arrangements, and pressed upon her +so kindly the hospitality and protection of his roof, until she +should receive an answer from her cousin' or be enabled to adopt +some settled plan of life, that she felt there would be unkindness +in refusing an invitation urged with such earnestness. Mrs. +Mac-Morlan was a lady-like person, and well qualified by birth and +manners to receive the visit, and to make her house agreeable to +Miss Bertram. A home, therefore, and an hospitable reception, were +secured to her, and she went on, with better heart, to pay the +wages and receive the adieus of the few domestics of her father's +family. + +Where there are estimable qualities or, either side, this task is +always affecting--the present circumstances rendered it doubly so. +All received their due, and even a trifle more, and with thanks and +good wishes, to which some added tears, took farewell of their +young mistress. There remained in the parlour only Mr. Mac-Morlan, +who came to attend his guest to his house, Dominie Sampson, and +Miss Bertram. "And now," said the poor girl, "I must bid farewell +to one of my oldest and kindest friends.--God bless you, Mr. +Sampson, and requite to you all the kindness of your instructions +to your poor pupil, and your friendship to him that is gone--I hope +I shall often hear from you." She slid into his hand a paper +containing some pieces of gold, and rose, as if to leave the room. + +Dominie Sampson also rose; but it was to stand aghast with utter +astonishment. The idea of parting from Miss Lucy, go where she +might, had never once occurred to the simplicity of his +understanding.--He laid the money on the table. "It is certainly +inadequate," said Mac-Morlan, mistaking his meaning, "but the +circumstances--" + +Mr. Sampson waved his hand impatiently.--"It is not the lucre--it +is not the lucre--but that I, that have ate of her father's loaf, +and drank of his cup, for twenty years and more--to think that I am +going to leave her--and to leave her in distress and dolour--No, +Miss Lucy, you need never think it! You would not consent to put +forth your father's poor dog, and would you use me waur than a +messan? No, Miss Lucy Bertram, while I live I will not separate +from you. I'll be no burden--I have thought how to prevent that. +But, as Ruth said unto Naomi, 'Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to +depart from thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou +dwellest I will dwell; thy people shall be my people, and thy God +shall be my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be +buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death do +part thee and me.' " + +During this speech, the longest ever Dominie Sampson was known to +utter, the affectionate creature's eyes streamed with tears, and +neither Lucy nor Mac-Morlan could refrain from sympathising with +this unexpected burst of feeling and attachment. "Mr. Sampson," +said Mac-Morlan, after having had recourse to his snuff-box and +handkerchief alternately, "my house is large enough, and if you +will accept of a bed there, while Miss Bertram honours us with her +residence, I shall think myself very happy, and my roof much +favoured by receiving a man of your worth and fidelity." And then, +with a delicacy which was meant to remove any objection on Miss +Bertram's part to bringing with her this unexpected satellite, he +added, "My business requires my frequently having occasion for a +better accountant than any of my present clerks, and I should be +glad to have recourse to your assistance in that way now and then." + +"Of a surety, of a surety," said Sampson eagerly; "I understand +book-keeping by double entry and the Italian method." + +Our postilion had thrust himself into the room to announce his +chaise and horses; he tarried, unobserved, during this +extraordinary scene, and assured Mrs. Mac-Candlish it was the most +moving thing he ever saw; "the death of the gray mare, puir hizzie, +was naething till't." This trifling circumstance afterwards had +consequences of greater moment to the Dominie. + +The visitors were hospitably welcomed by Mrs. Mac-Morlan, to whom, +as well as to others, her Husband intimated that he had engaged . +Dominie Sampson's assistance to disentangle some perplexed +accounts; during which occupation he would, for convenience' sake, +reside with the family. Mr. MacMorlan's knowledge of the world +induced him to put this colour upon the matter, aware, that however +honourable the fidelity of the Dominie's attachment might be, both +to his own heart and to the family of Ellangowan, his exterior ill +qualified him to be a "squire of dames," and rendered him, upon the +whole, rather a ridiculous appendage to a beautiful young woman of +seventeen. + +Dominie Sampson achieved with great zeal such tasks as Mr. +Mac-Morlan chose to intrust him with; but it was speedily observed +that at a certain hour after breakfast he regularly disappeared, +and returned again about dinner-time. The evening he occupied in +the labour of the office. On Saturday, he appeared before +Mac-Morlan with a look of great triumph, and laid on the table two +pieces of gold. "What is this for, Dominie?" said Mac-Morlan. + +"First to indemnify you of your charges in my behalf, worthy +sir--and the balance for the use of Miss Lucy Bertram." + +"But, Mr. Sampson, your labour in the office much more than +recompenses me--I am your debtor, my good friend." + +"Then be it all," said the Dominie, waving his hand, "for Miss Lucy +Bertram's behoof." + +"Well, but, Dominie, this money--" + +"It is honestly come by, Mr. Mac-Morlan; it is the bountiful reward +of a young gentleman, to whom I am teaching the tongues; reading +with him three hours daily--" + +A few more questions extracted from the Dominie that this liberal +pupil was young Hazlewood, and that he met his preceptor daily at +the house of Mrs. Mac-Candlish, whose proclamation of Sampson's +disinterested attachment to the young lady had procured him this +indefatigable and bounteous scholar. + +Mac-Morlan was much struck with what he heard. + +Dominie Sampson was doubtless a very good scholar, and an excellent +man, and the classics were unquestionably very well worth reading; +yet that a young man of twenty should ride seven miles and back +again each day in the week, to hold this sort of tete-a-tete of +three hours, was a zeal for literature to which he was not prepared +to give entire credit. Little art was necessary to sift the +Dominie, for the honest man's head never admitted any but the most +direct and simple ideas. "Does Miss Bertram know how your time is +engaged, my good friend?" + +"Surely not as yet--Mr. Charles recommended it should be concealed +from her, lest she should scruple to accept of the small assistance +arising from it; but," he added, "it would not be possible to +conceal it long, since Mr. Charles proposed taking his lessons +occasionally in this house." + +"Oh, he does!" said Mac-Morlan Yes, yes, I can understand that +better.--And pray, Mr. Sampson, are these three hours entirely +spent in construing and translating?" + +"Doubtless, no--we have also colloquial intercourse to sweeten +study--neque semper arcum tendit Apollo." + +The querist proceeded to elicit from this Galloway Phoebus what +their discourse chiefly turned upon. + +"Upon our past meetings at Ellangowan--and, truly, I think very +often we discourse concerning Miss Lucy--for Mr. Charles +Hazlewood, in that particular, resembleth me, Mr. Mac-Morlan. When +I begin to speak of her I never know when to stop--and, as I say +(jocularly), she cheats us out of half our lessons." + +"Oh ho!" thought Mr. Mac-Morlan, "sits the wind in that quarter? +I've heard something like this before." + +He then began to consider what conduct was safest for his protege, +and even for himself; for the senior Mr. Hazlewood was powerful, +wealthy, ambitious, and vindictive, and looked for both fortune and +title in any connection which his son might form. At length, +having the highest opinion of his guest's good sense and +penetration, he determined to take an opportunity, when they should +happen to be alone, to communicate the matter to her as a simple +piece of intelligence. He did so in as natural a manner as he +could;--"I wish you joy of your friend Mr. Sampson's good +fortune, Miss Bertram; he has got a pupil who pays him two guineas +for twelve lessons of Greek and Latin." + +"Indeed!--I am equally happy and surprised--who can be so +liberal?--is Colonel Mannering returned?" + +"No, no, not Colonel Mannering; but what do you think of your +acquaintance, Mr. Charles Hazlewood?--He talks of taking his +lessons here--I wish we may have accommodation for him." + +Lucy blushed deeply. "For Heaven's sake, no, Mr. Mac-Morlan--do +not let that be--Charles Hazlewood has had enough of mischief about +that already." + +"About the classics, my dear young lady?" wilfully seeming to +misunderstand her;--"most young gentlemen have so at one period or +another, sure enough, but his present studies are voluntary." + +Miss Bertram let the conversation drop, and her host made no effort +to renew it, as she seemed to pause upon the intelligence in order +to form some internal resolution. + +The next day Miss Bertram took an opportunity of conversing with +Mr. Sampson. Expressing in the kindest manner her grateful thanks +for his disinterested attachment, and her joy that he had get such +a provision, she hinted to him that his present mode of +superintending Charles Hazlewood's studios must be so inconvenient +to his pupil, that, while that engagement lasted, he had better +consent to a temporary separation, and reside either with his +scholar, or as near him as might be. Sampson refused, as indeed +she had expected, to listen a moment to this proposition--he would +not quit her to be made preceptor to the Prince of Wales. "But I +see," he added, "you are too proud to share my pittance; and, +peradventure, I grow wearisome unto you." + +"No, indeed--you were my father's ancient, almost his only +friend--I am not proud--God knows, I have no reason to be so--you +shall do what you judge best in other matters; but oblige me by +telling Mr. Charles Hazlewood, that you had some conversation with +me concerning his studies, and that I was of opinion that his +carrying them on in this house was altogether impracticable, and +not to be thought of." + +Dominie Sampson left her presence altogether crestfallen, and, as +he shut the door, could not help muttering the "varium et mutabile" +of Virgil. Next day he appeared with a very rueful visage, and +tendered Miss Bertram a letter.--"Mr. Hazlewood," he said, "was +to discontinue his lessons, though he had generously made up the +pecuniary loss.--But how will he make up the loss to himself of the +knowledge he might have acquired under my instruction? Even in +that one article of writing, he was an hour before he could write +that brief note, and destroyed many scrolls, four quills, and some +good white paper--I would have taught him in three weeks a firm, +current, clear, and legible hand--he should have been a +calligrapher--but God's will be done."-- + +The letter contained but a few lines, deeply regretting and +murmuring against Miss Bertram's cruelty, who not only refused to +see him, but to permit him in the most indirect manner to hear of +her health and contribute to her service. But it concluded with +assurances that her severity was vain, and that nothing could shake +the attachment of Charles Hazlewood. + +Under the active patronage of Mrs. Mac-Candlish, Sampson picked up +some other scholars--very different indeed from Charles Hazlewood +in rank--and whose lessons were proportionally unproductive. Still, +however, he gained something, and it was the glory of his heart to +carry it to Mr. Mac-Morlan weekly, a slight peculium only +subtracted, to supply his snuff-box and tobacco-pouch. + +And here we must leave Kippletringan to look after our hero, lest +our readers should fear they are to lose sight of him for another +quarter of a century. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Our Polly is a sad slut, nor heeds what we have taught her; + I wonder any man alive will ever rear a daughter; + For when she's drest with care and cost, all tempting, fine and gay, + As men should serve a cucumber, she flings herself away. + Beggar's Opera. + +After the death of Mr. Bertram, Mannering had set out upon a short +tour, proposing to return to the neighbourhood of Ellangowan before +the sale of that property should take place. He went, +accordingly,' to Edinburgh and elsewhere, and it was ill his return +towards the south-western district of Scotland,--in which our scene +lies, that, at a post-town about a hundred miles from +Kippletringan, to which he had requested his friend, Mr. Mervyn, to +address his letters, he received one from that gentleman, which +contained rather unpleasing intelligence. We have assumed already +the privilege of acting a secretis to this gentleman, and therefore +shall present,--the reader with an extract from this epistle. + +"I beg your pardon, my dearest friend, for the pain I have given +you, in, forcing you to open wounds so festering as those your +letter referred to. I have always heard, though erroneously +perhaps, that the attentions of Mr. Brown were intended for Miss +Mannering. But, however that were, it could not be supposed that +in your situation his boldness should escape notice and +chastisement. Wise men say, that we resign to civil society our +natural rights of self-defence, only on condition that the +ordinances of law should protect us. Where the price cannot be +paid, the resignation becomes void. For instance, no one supposes +that I am not entitled to defend my purse and person against a +highwayman, as much as if I were a wild Indian, who owns neither +law nor magistracy. The question of resistance, or submission, +must be determined by my means and situation. But, if, armed and +equal in force, I submit to injustice and violence from any man, +high or low, I presume it will hardly be attributed to religious or +moral feeling in me, or in any one but a Quaker. An aggression on +my honour seems to me much the same. The insult, however trifling +in itself, is one of much deeper consequence to all views in life +than any wrong which can be inflicted by a depredator or the +highway, and to redress the injured party is much less in the power +of public jurisprudence, or rather it is entirely beyond its +reach. If any man chooses to rob Arthur Mervyn of the contents of +his purse, supposing the said Arthur has not means of defence, or +the skill and courage to use them, the assizes at Lancaster or +Carlisle will do him justice by tucking up the robber:-Yet who will +say I am bound to wait for this justice, and submit to being +plundered in the first instance, if I have myself the means and +spirit to protect my own property? But if an affront is offered to +me, submission under which is to tarnish my character for ever with +men of honour, ant for which the twelve judges of England, with the +Chancellor to boot, can afford me no redress, by what rule of law +or reason am I to be deterred from protecting what ought to be, and +is, so infinitely dearer to every man of honour than his whole +fortune? Of the religious views of the matter I shall say nothing, +until I end a reverend divine who shall condemn self-defence in the +article of life and property. If its propriety in that case be +generally admitted, I suppose little distinction can be drawn +between defence of person and goods, and protection of reputation. +That the latter is liable to be assailed by persons of a different +rank in life, untainted perhaps in morals, and fair in character, +cannot affect my legal right of self-defence. I may be sorry that +circumstances have engaged me in personal strife with such an +individual; but I should feel the same sorrow for a generous enemy +who fell under my sword in a national quarrel. I shall leave the +question with the casuists, however; only observing, that what I +have written will not avail either the professed duellist, or him +who is the aggressor in a dispute of honour. I only presume to +exculpate him who is dragged into the field by such an offence, as, +submitted to in patience, would forfeit for ever his rank and +estimation in society. + +"I am sorry you have thoughts of settling in Scotland, and yet glad +that you will still be at no immeasurable distance, and that the +latitude is all in our favour. To move to Westmoreland from +Devonshire might make an East Indian shudder; but to come to us +from Galloway or Dumfriesshire, is a step, though a short one, +nearer the sun. Besides, if, as I suspect, the estate in view be +connected with the old haunted castle in which you played the +astrologer in your northern tour some twenty years since, I have +heard you too often describe the scene with comic unction, to hope +you will be deterred from making the purchase. I trust, however, +the hospitable gossiping Laird has not run himself upon the +shallows, and that his chaplain, whom you so often made us laugh +at, is still in rerum natura. + +"And here, dear Mannering, I wish I could stop, for I have +incredible pain in felling the rest of my story; although I am sure +I can warn you against any intentional impropriety on the part of +my temporary ward, Julia Mannering. But I must still earn my +college nickname of Downright Dunstable. In one word, then, here is +the matter. + +"Your daughter has much of the romantic turn of your disposition, +with a little of that love of admiration which all pretty women +share less or more. She will besides, apparently, be your heiress; +a trifling circumstance to those who view Julia with my eyes, but a +prevailing bait to the specious, artful, and worthless. You know +how I have jested with her about her soft melancholy, and lonely +walks at morning before any one is up, and in the moonlight when +all should be gone to bed, or set down to cards, which is the same +thing. The incident which follows may not be beyond the bounds of +a joke, but I had rather the jest upon it came from you than me. + +"Two or three times during the last fortnight, I heard, at a late +hour in the night, or very early in the morning, a flageolet play +the little Hindu tune to which your daughter is so partial. I +thought for some time that some tuneful domestic, whose taste for +music was laid under constraint during the day, chose that silent +hour to imitate the strains which he had caught up by the ear +during his attendance in the drawing-room. But last night I sat +late in. my study, which is immediately under Miss Mannering's +apartment, and to my surprise, I not only heard the flageolet +distinctly, but satisfied myself that it came from the lake under +the window. Curious to know who serenaded us at that unusual +hour, I stole softly to the window of my apartment. But there +were other watchers than me. You may remember, Miss Mannering +preferred that apartment on account of a balcony which opened from +her window upon the lake. Well, sir, I heard the sash of her +window thrown up, the shutters opened, and her own voice in +conversation with some person who answered from below. This is not +'Much ado about nothing'; I could not be mistaken in her voice, and +such tones, so soft, so insinuating--and, to say the truth, the +accents from below were in passion's tenderise cadence too--but of +the sense I can say nothing. I raised the sash of my own window +that I might hear something more than the mere murmur of this +Spanish rendezvous, but, though I used every precaution, the noise +alarmed the speakers; down slid the young lady's casement, and the +shutters were barred in an instant. The dash of a pair or oars in +the water announced the retreat of the male person of the +dialogue. Indeed, I saw his boat, which he rowed with great +swiftness and dexterity, fly across the lake like a twelve-oared +barge. Next morning I examined some of my domestics, as if by +accident. and I found the gamekeeper, when making his rounds, had +twice seen that boat beneath the house, with a single person, and +had heard the flageolet. I did not care to press any further +questions, for fear of implicating Julia in the opinions of those +of whom they might be asked. Next morning, at breakfast, I dropped +a casual hint about the serenade of the evening before, and I +promise you Miss Mannering looked red and pale alternately. I +immediately gave the circumstance such a turn as might lead her to +suppose that my observation was merely casual. I have since caused +a watch-light to be burnt in my library, and have left the shutters +open, to deter the approach of our nocturnal guest; and I have +stated the severity of approaching winter, and the rawness of the +fogs, as an objection to solitary walks. Miss Mannering acquiesced +with a passiveness which is no part of her character, and which, to +tell you the plain truth, is a feature about the business which I +like least of all. Julia has too much of her own dear papa's +disposition to be curbed in any of her humours, were there not some +little lurking consciousness that it may be as prudent to avoid +debate. + +"Now my story is told, and you will judge what you ought to do. I +have not mentioned the matter to my good woman, who, a faithful +secretary to her sex's foibles, would certainly remonstrate against +your being made acquainted with these particulars, and might, +instead, take it into her head to exercise her own eloquence on +Miss Mannering; a faculty, which, however powerful when directed +against me, its legitimate object, might, I fear, do more harm than +good in the case supposed. Perhaps even you yourself will find it +most prudent to act without remonstrating, or appearing to be aware +of this little anecdote. Julia is very like a certain friend of +mine; she has a quick and lively imagination, and keen feelings, +which are apt to exaggerate both the good and evil they find in +life. She is a charming girl, however, as generous and spirited as +she is lovely. I paid her the kiss you sent her with all my heart, +and she rapped my fingers for my reward with all hers. Pray return +as soon as you can. Meantime, rely upon the care of, yours +faithfully, + +"Arthur Mervyn. + +"P.S.--You will naturally wish to know if I have the least guess +concerning the person of the serenader. In truth, I have none. +There is no young gentleman of these parts, who might be in rank or +fortune a match for Miss Julia, that I think at all likely to play +such a character. . . But on the other side of the lake, nearly +opposite to Mervyn Hall, is a d-d cake-house, the resort of walking +gentlemen of all descriptions, poets, players, painters, musicians, +who come to rave, and recite, and madden, about this picturesque +land of ours. It is paying some penalty for its beauties, that +they are the means of drawing this swarm of coxcombs together. But +were Julia my daughter, it is one of those sort of fellows that I +should fear on her account. She is generous and romantic, and +writes six sheets a week to a female correspondent; and it's a sad +thing to lack a subject in such a case, either for exercise of the +feelings or of the pen. Adieu, once more. Were I to treat this +matter more seriously than I have done, I should do injustice to +your feelings; were I altogether to overlook it, I should discredit +my own." + +The consequence of this letter was, that, having first despatched +the faithless messenger with the necessary powers to Mr. Mac-Morlan +for purchasing the estate of Ellangowan, Colonel Mannering turned +his horse's head in a more southerly direction, and neither +"stinted nor staid" until he arrived at the mansion of his friend +Mr. Mervyn, upon the banks of one of the lakes of Westmoreland. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Heaven first, in its mercy, taught mortals their letters, + For ladies in limbo, and lovers in fetters, + Or some author, who, placing his persons before ye, + Ungallantly leaves them to write their own story. + Pope, imitated. + +When Mannering returned to England, his first object had been to +place his daughter in a seminary for female education, of +established character. Not, however, finding her progress in the +accomplishments which he wished her to acquire so rapid as his +impatience expected, he had withdrawn Miss Mannering from the +school at the end of the first quarter. So she had only time to +form an eternal friendship with Miss Matilda Marchmont, a young +lady about her own age, which was nearly eighteen. To her faithful +eye were addressed those formidable quires which issued forth from +Mervyn Hall, on the wings of the post, while Miss Mannering was a +guest there. The perusal of a few short extracts from these may be +necessary to render our story intelligible. + + +First Extract + +"Alas! my dearest Matilda, what a tale is mine to tell! Misfortune +from the cradle has set her seal upon your unhappy friend. That we +should be severed for so slight a cause--an ungrammatical phrase in +my Italian exercise, and three false notes in one of Paesiello's +sonatas! But it is a part of my father's character, of whom it is +impossible to say, whether I love, admire, or fear him the most. +His success in life and in war-his habit of making every obstacle +yield before the energy of his exertions, even where they seemed +insurmountable-all these have given a hasty and peremptory cast to +his character, which can neither endure contradiction, nor make +allowance for deficiencies. Then he is himself so very +accomplished. Do you know there was a murmur half confirmed too by +some mysterious words which, dropped from my poor mother, that he +possesses other sciences, now lost to the world, which enable the +possessor to summon up before him the dark and shadowy forms of +future events! Does not the very idea of such a power, or even of +the high talent and commanding intellect which the world may +mistake for it,--does it not, dear Matilda, throw a mysterious +grandeur about its possessor? You will call this romantic: but +consider I was born in the land of talisman and spell, and my +childhood lulled by tales which you can only enjoy through the +gauzy frippery of a French translation. O Matilda, I wish you +could have seen the dusky visages of my Indian attendants, bending +in earnest devotion round the magic narrative, that flowed, half +poetry, half prose, from the lips of the tale-teller! No wonder +that European fiction sounds cold and meagre, after the wonderful +effects which I have seen the romances of the East produce upon +their hearers." + + +Second Extract. + +"You are possessed, my dear Matilda, of my bosom-secret, in those +sentiments with which I regard Brown. I will not say his memory. I +am convinced he lives, and is faithful. His addresses to me were +countenanced by my deceased parent; imprudently countenanced +perhaps, considering the prejudices of my father, in favour of +birth and rank. But I, then almost a girl, could not be expected +surely to be wiser than her, under whose charge nature had placed +me. My father, constantly engaged in military duty, I saw but at +rare intervals, and was taught to look up to him with more awe than +confidence. Would to Heaven it had been otherwise! It might have +been better for us all at this day!" + + +Third Extract. + +"You ask me why I do not make known to my father that Brown yet +lives, at least that he survived the wound he received in that +unhappy duel; and had written to my mother, expressing his entire +convalescence, and his hope of speedily escaping from captivity. A +soldier, that 'in the trade of war has oft slain men,' feels +probably no uneasiness at reflecting upon the supposed catastrophe, +which almost turned me into stone. And should I show him that +letter, does it not follow, that Brown, alive and maintaining with +pertinacity the pretensions to the affections of your poor friend, +for which my father formerly sought his life would be a more +formidable disturber of Colonel Mannering's peace of mind than in +his supposed grave? If he escapes from the hands of these +marauders, I am convinced he will soon be in England, and it will +be then time to consider how his existence is to be disclosed to my +father--But if, alas! my earnest and confident hope should betray +me, what would it avail to tear open a mystery fraught with so many +painful recollections?--My dear mother had such dread of its being +known, that I think she even suffered my father to suspect that +Brown's attentions were directed towards herself, rather than +permit him to discover their real object; and, oh, Matilda, +whatever respect I owe to the memory of a deceased parent, let me +do justice to a living one. I cannot but condemn the dubious +policy which she adopted, as unjust to my father, and highly +perilous to herself and me.--But peace be with her ashes! her +actions were guided by the heart rather than the head; and shall +her daughter, who inherits all her weakness, be the first to +withdraw the veil from her defects?" + + +Fourth Extract + +"Mervyn Hall. + +"If India be the land of magic, this my dearest Matilda, is the +country of romance. The scenery is such as nature brings together +in her sublimest moods;--sounding cataracts-hills which rear their +scathed heads to the sky-lakes, that, winding up the shadowy +valleys, lead at every turn to yet more romantic recesses-rocks +which catch the clouds of heaven. All the wildness of Salvator +here, and there the fairy scenes of Claude. I am happy too, in +finding at least one object upon which my father can share my +enthusiasm. An admirer of nature, both as an artist and a poet, I +have experienced the utmost pleasure from the observations by which +he explains the character and the effect of these brilliant +specimens of her power. I wish he would settle in this enchanting +land' But his views lie still farther north, and he is at present +absent on a tour in Scotland, looking, I believe, for some purchase +of land which may suit him as a residence. He is partial, from +early recollections, to that country. So, my dearest Matilda, I +must be yet farther removed from you before I am established in a +home--And oh how delighted shall I be when I can say, Come, +Matilda, and be the guest of your faithful Julia! + +"I am at present the inmate of Mr. and Mrs. Mervyn, old friends of +my father. The latter is precisely a good sort of woman;--ladylike +and housewifely, but, for accomplishments or fancy--good lack, my +dearest Matilda, your friend might as well seek sympathy from Mrs. +Teach'em,--you see I have not forgot school nicknames. Mervyn is +a different--quite a different being from my father; yet he amuses +and endures me. He is fat and good-natured, gifted with strong +shrewd sense, and some powers of humour; but having been handsome, +I suppose, in his youth, has still some pretension to be a beau +garcon, as well as an enthusiastic agriculturist. I delight to +make him scramble to the tops of eminences and to the foot of +waterfalls, and am obliged in turn to admire his turnips, his +lucerne, and his timothy grass.--He thinks me, I fancy, a simple +romantic Miss, with some--(the word will he out) beauty, and some +good nature; and I hold that the gentleman has good taste for the +female outside, and do not expect he should comprehend my +sentiments further. So he rallies, hands, and hobbles (for the +dear creature has got the gout too), and tells old stories of high +life of which he has seen a great deal; and I listen, and smile, +and look as pretty, as pleasant, and as simple as I can, and we do +very well. But, alas! my dearest Matilda, how would time pass +away, even in this paradise of romance, tenanted as it is by a pair +assorting so ill with the scenes around them, were it not for your +fidelity in replying to my uninteresting details? Pray do not fail +to write three times a week at least--you can be at no loss what to +say." + + +Fifth Extract. + +"How shall I communicate what I have now to tell!--My hand and +Heart still flutter so much, that the task of writing is almost +impossible!--Did I not say that he lived? did I not say I would not +despair? How could you suggest, my dear Matilda, that my feelings, +considering I had parted from him so young, rather arose from the +warmth of my imagination than of my heart?--Oh! I was sure that +they were genuine, deceitful as the dictates of our bosom so +frequently are.--But to my tale--let it be, my friend, the most +sacred, as it is the most sincere, pledge of our friendship. + +"Our hours here are early--earlier than my heart, with its load of +care, can compose itself to rest. I, therefore, usually take a +book for an hour or two after retiring to my own room, which I +think I have told you opens to a small balcony, looking down upon +that beautiful lake, of which I attempted to give you a slight +sketch. Mervyn Hall, being partly an ancient building--, and +constructed with a view to defence, is situated an the verge of the +lake. A stone dropped from the projecting balcony plunges into +water deep enough to float a skiff. I had left my window partly +unbarred, that, before I went to bed, I might, according to my +custom, look out and see the moonlight shining upon the lake. I +was deeply engaged with that beautiful scene in the Merchant of +Venice, where two lovers, describing the stillness of a summer +night, enhance on each other its charms, and was lost in the +associations of story and of feeling which it awakens, when I heard +upon the lake the sound of a flageolet. I have told you it was +Brown's favourite instrument. Who could touch it in a night which, +though still and serene, was too cold, and too late in the year, to +invite forth any wanderer for more pleasure? I drew yet nearer the +window, and hearkened with breathless attention--the sounds paused +a space, were then resumed--paused again--and again reached my +ear, ever coming nearer and nearer. At length, I distinguished +plainly that little Hindu air which you called my favourite--I have +told you by whom it was taught me--the instrument, the tones, were +his own!--was it earthly music, or notes passing on the wind, to +warn me of his death? + +"It was some time ere I could summon courage to step on the +balcony--nothing could have emboldened me to do so but the strong +conviction of my mind, that he was still alive, and that we should +again meet--but that conviction did embolden me, and I ventured, +though with a throbbing heart. There was a small skiff with a +single person--O Matilda, it was himself!--I knew his appearance +after so long an absence, and through the shadow of the night, as +perfectly as if we had parted yesterday, and met again in the broad +sunshine! He guided his boat under the balcony, and spoke to me; I +hardly knew what he said, or what I replied. Indeed, I could +scarcely speak for weeping, but they were joyful tears. We were +disturbed by the barking of a dog at some distance, and parted, but +not before he had conjured me to prepare to. meet him at the same +place and hour this evening. + +"But where and to what is all this tending?--Can I answer this +question? I cannot.--Heaven, that saved him from death, and +delivered him from captivity; that saved my father too, from +shedding the blood of one who would not have blemished a hair of +his head, that Heaven must guide me out of this labyrinth. Enough +for lane the firm resolution, that Matilda shall not blush for her +friend, my father for his daughter, nor my lover for her on whom he +has fixed his affection." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + Talk with a man out of a window!--a proper saying.-- + Much Ado About Nothing. + +WE must proceed with our extracts from Miss Mannering's +letters, which throw light upon natural good sense, +principle, and feelings, blemished by an imperfect +education, and the folly of a misjudging mother, who called +her husband in her heart a tyrant until she feared him as +such, and read romances until she became so enamoured of the +complicated intrigues which they contain, as to assume the +management of a little family novel of her own, and +constitute her daughter, a girl of sixteen, the principal +heroine. She delighted in petty mystery, and intrigue, and +secrets, and yet trembled at the indignation which these +paltry manoeuvres excited in her husband's mind. Thus she +frequently entered upon a scheme merely for pleasure, or +perhaps for the love of contradiction, plunged deeper into +it than she was aware, endeavoured to extricate herself by +new arts, or to cover her error by dissimulation, became +involved in meshes of her own weaving, and was forced to +carry on, for fear of discovery, machinations which she had +at first resorted to in mere wantonness. + +Fortunately the young man whom she so imprudently introduced +into her intimate society, and encouraged to look up to her +daughter, had a fund of principle and honest pride, which +rendered him a safer intimate than Mrs. Mannering ought to +have dared to hope or expect. The obscurity of his birth +could alone he objected to him; in every other respect, + + With prospects bright upon the world he came, + Pure love of virtue, strong desire of fame; + Men watched the way his lofty mind would take, + And all foretold the progress he would make. + +But it could not be expected that he should resist the snare +which Mrs. Mannering's imprudence threw in his way, or +avoid becoming attached to a young lady, whose beauty and +manners might have justified his passion, even in scenes +where these are more generally met with, than in a remote +fortress in our Indian settlements. The scenes which +followed have been partly detailed in Mannering's letter to +Mr. Mervyn; and to expand what is there stated into further +explanation, would be to abuse the patience of our readers. +We shall, therefore, proceed with our promised extracts from +Miss Mannering's letters to her friend. + + +Sixth Extract. + +I have seen him again, Matilda--seen him twice. I have used every +argument to convince him that this secret intercourse is dangerous +to us both--I even pressed him to pursue his views of fortune +without further regard to me, and to consider my peace of mind as +sufficiently secured by the knowledge that he had not fallen under +my father's sword. He answers--but how can I detail all he has to +answer? he claims those hopes as his due which my mother permitted +him to entertain, and would persuade me to the madness of a union +without my father's sanction. But to this, Matilda, I will not be +persuaded. I have resisted, I have subdued, the rebellious +feelings which arose to aid his plea; yet how to extricate myself +from this unhappy labyrinth, in which fate and folly have entangled +us both! + +"I have thought, upon it, Matilda, till my head is almost +giddy--nor can I conceive a better plan than to make a full +confession to my father. He deserves it, for his kindness is +unceasing; and I think I have observed in his character, since I +have studied it more nearly, that his harsher feelings are chiefly +excited where he suspects deceit or imposition; and in that +respect, perhaps, his character was formerly misunderstood by one +who was dear to him. He has, too, a tinge of romance in his +disposition; and I have seen the narrative of a generous action, a +trait of heroism, or virtuous self-denial, extract tears from him, +which refused to flow at a tale of mere distress. But then, Brown +urges, that he is personally hostile to him--And the obscurity +of his birth--that would be indeed a stumbling-block. O Matilda, I +hope none of your ancestors ever fought at Poictiers or Agincourt! +If it were not for the veneration which my father attaches to the +memory of old Sir Miles Mannering, I should make out my explanation +with half the tremor which must now attend it." + + +Seventh Extract. + +"I have this instant received your letter--your most welcome +letter!--Thanks, my dearest friend, for your sympathy and your +counsels--I can only repay them with unbounded confidence. + +"You ask me, what Brown is by origin, that his descent should be so +displeasing to my father. His story is shortly told. He is of +Scottish extraction, but, being left an orphan, his education was +undertaken by a family of relations, settled in Holland. He was +bred to commerce, and sent very early to one of our settlements in +the East, where his guardian had a correspondent. But this +correspondent was dead when he arrived in India, and he had no +other resource than to offer himself as a clerk to a +counting-house. The breaking out of the war, and the straits to +which we were at first reduced, threw the army open to all young +men who were disposed to embrace that mode of life; and Brown, +whose genius had a strong military tendency, was the first to +leave what might have been the road to wealth, and to choose that +of fame. The rest of his history is well known to you; but +conceive the irritation of my father, who despises commerce +(though, by the way, the best part of his property was made in that +honourable profession by my great-uncle), and has a particular +antipathy to the Dutch; think with what ear he would be likely to +receive proposals for his only child from Vanbeest Brown, educated +for charity by the house of Vanbeest and Vanbruggen! O Matilda, it +will never do--nay, so childish am I, I hardly can help +sympathising with his aristocratic feelings. Mrs. Vanbeest Brown! +The name has little to recommend it, to be sure.--What children we +are!" + + +EIGHTH EXTRACT. + +"It is all over now, Matilda!--I shall never have courage to tell +my father--nay, most deeply do I fear he has already learned my +secret from another quarter, which will entirely remove the grace +of my communication, and ruin whatever gleam of hope I had ventured +to connect with it. Yesternight, Brown came as usual, and his +flageolet on the lake announced his approach. We had agreed, that +he should continue to use this signal. These romantic lakes +attract numerous visitors, who indulge their enthusiasm in visiting +the scenery at all hours, and we hoped, that--if Brown were noticed +from the house, he might pass for one of those admirers of nature, +who was giving vent to his feelings through the medium of music. +The sounds might also be my apology, should I be observed on the +balcony. But last night, while I was eagerly enforcing my plan of +a full confession to my father, which he as earnestly deprecated, +we heard the window of Mr. Mervyn's library, which is under my +room, open softly. I signed to Brown to make his retreat, and +immediately re-entered, with some faint hopes that our interview +had not been observed. + +"But, alas! Matilda, these hopes vanished the instant I beheld Mr. +Mervyn's countenance at breakfast the next morning. He looked so +provokingly intelligent and confidential, that, had I dared, I +could have been more angry than ever I was in my life; but I must +be on good behaviour, and my walks are now limited within his farm +precincts, where the good gentleman can amble along by my side +without inconvenience. I have detected him once or twice +attempting to sound my thoughts, and watch the expression of my +countenance. He has talked of the flageolet more than once; and +has, at different times, made eulogiums upon the watchfulness and +ferocity of his dogs, and the regularity with which the keeper +makes his rounds with a loaded fowling-piece. He mentioned even +man-traps and spring-guns. I should be loath to affront my +father's old friend in his own house; but I do long to show him +that I am my father's daughter, a fact of which Mr. Mervyn will +certainly be convinced, if ever I trust my voice and temper with a +reply to these indirect hints. Of one thing I am certain--I am +grateful to him on that account--he has not told Mrs. Mervyn. +Lord help me, I should have had such lectures about the dangers of +love and the night air on the lake, the risk arising from colds and +fortune-hunters, the comfort and convenience of sack-whey and +closed windows!--I cannot help trifling, Matilda, though my heart +is sad enough What Brown will do I cannot guess. I presume +however, the fear of detection prevents his resuming his nocturnal +visits. He lodges at an inn on the opposite shore of the lake, +under the name, he tells me, of Dawson--he has a bad choice in +names, that be allowed. He has not left the army, I believe, but +he says nothing of his present views. + +"To complete my anxiety, my father is returned suddenly, and in +high displeasure. Our good hostess, as I learned from a bustling +conversation between her housekeeper and her, had no expectation of +seeing him for a week; but I rather suspect his arrival was no +surprise to his friend Mr. Mervyn. His manner to me was +singularly cold and constrained--sufficiently so to have damped all +the courage with which I once resolved to throw myself on his +generosity. He lays the blame of his being discomposed and out of +humour to the loss of a purchase in the south-west of Scotland, on +which he had set his heart; but I do not suspect his equanimity of +being so easily thrown off its balance. His first excursion was +with Mr. Mervyn's barge across the lake, to the inn I have +mentioned. You may imagine the agony with which I waited his +return--Had he recognised Brown, who can guess the consequence! He +returned, however, apparently without having made any discovery. I +understand, that in consequence of his late disappointment, he +means now to hire a house in the neighbourhood of this same +Ellangowan, of which I am doomed to hear so much--he seems to think +it probable that the estate for which he wishes may soon be again +in the market. I will not send away this letter until I hear more +distinctly what are his intentions." + +"I have now had an interview with my father, as confidential as, I +presume, he means to allow me. He requested me today, after +breakfast, to walk with him into the library; my knees, Matilda, +shook under me, and it is no exaggeration to say, I could scarce +follow him into the room. I feared I knew not what--From my +childhood I had seen all around him tremble at his frown. He +motioned me to seat myself, and I never obeyed a command so +readily, for, in truth, I could hardly stand. He himself continued +to walk up and down the room. You have seen my father, and +noticed, I recollect, the remarkably expressive cast of his +features. His eyes are naturally rather light in colour, but +agitation or anger gives them a darker and more fiery glance; he +has a custom also of drawing in his lips, when much moved, which +implies a combat between native ardour of temper and the habitual +power of self-command. This was the first time we had been alone +since his return from Scotland, and, as he betrayed these tokens of +agitation, I had little doubt that he was about to enter upon the +subject I most dreaded. + +"To my unutterable relief, I found I was mistaken, and that +whatever he knew of Mr. Mervyn's suspicions or discoveries, he did +not intend to converse with me on the topic. Coward as I was, I +was inexpressibly relieved, though if he had really investigated +the reports which may have come to his ear, the reality could have +been nothing to what his suspicions might have conceived. But, +though my spirits rose high at my unexpected escape, I had hot +courage myself to provoke the discussion, and remained silent to +receive his commands. + +"'Julia,' he said, 'my agent writes me from Scotland, that he has +been able to hire a house for me, decently furnished, and with the +necessary accommodation for my family--it is within three miles of +that I had designed to purchase--' Then he made a pause, and seemed +to expect an answer. + +"'Whatever place of residence suits you, sir, must be perfectly +agreeable to me.' + +"'Umph!--I do not propose, however, Julia, that you shall reside +quite alone in this house during the winter.' + +"Mr. and Mrs. Mervyn, thought I to myself.--'Whatever company is +agreeable to you, sir,' I answered aloud. + +"'Oh, there is a little too much of this universal spirit of +submission; an excellent disposition in action, but your constantly +repeating the jargon of it, puts me in mind of the eternal salaams +of our black dependants in the East. In short, Julia, I know you +have a relish for society, and I intend to invite a young person, +the daughter of a deceased friend, to spend a few months with us. ' + +"'Not a governess, for the love of Heaven, papa!' exclaimed poor +I, my fears at that moment totally getting the better of my +prudence. + +"'No, not a governess, Miss Mannering,' replied the Colonel, +somewhat sternly, 'but a young lady from whose excellent example, +bred as she has been in the school of adversity, I trust you may +learn the art to govern yourself. ' + +"To answer this was trenching upon too dangerous ground, so there +was a pause. + +"'Is the young lady a Scotchwoman, papa?' + +"'Yes'--dryly enough. + +"'Has she much of the accent, sir?' + +"'Much of the devil!' answered my father hastily; 'do you think I +care about a's and aa's, and i's and ee's?--I tell you, Julia, I am +serious in the matter. You have a genius for friendship, that is, +for running up intimacies which you call such'--(was not this very +harshly said, Matilda?)--'Now I wish to give you an opportunity +at least to make one deserving friend, and therefore I have +resolved that this young lady shall be a member of my family for +some months, and I expect you will pay to her that attention which +is due to misfortune and virtue.' + +"'Certainly, sir.--Is my future friend red-haired?' + +"He gave me one of his stern glances; you will say, perhaps, I +deserved it; but I think the deuce prompts me with teasing +questions on some occasions. + +"'She is as superior to you, my love, in personal appearance, as in +prudence and affection for her friends.' + +"'Lord, papa, do you think that superiority a recommendation +?--Well, sir, but I see you are going to take all this too +seriously; whatever the young lady may be, I am sure, being +recommended by you, she shall have no reason to complain of my want +of attention.--(After a pause)--Has she any attendant? because you +know I must provide for her proper accommodation, if she is without +one.' + +"'N-no-no-not properly an attendant--the chaplain who lived with +her father is a very good sort of man, and I believe I shall make +room for him in the house.' + +"'Chaplain, papa? Lord bless us!' + +"'Yes, Miss Mannering, chaplain; is there anything very new in that +word ? Had we not a chaplain at the Residence, when we were in +India?' + +"'Yes, papa, but you were a commandant then.' + +"'So I will be now, Miss Mannering--in my own family at least.' + +"'Certainly, sir--but will he read us the Church of England +service?' + +"The apparent simplicity with which I asked this question got the +better of his gravity. 'Come, Julia,' he said, 'you are a sad girl, +but I gain nothing by scolding you.--Of these two strangers, the +young lady is one whom you cannot fail, I think, to love--the +person whom, for want of a better term, I called chaplain, is a +very worthy, and somewhat ridiculous personage, who will never find +out you laugh at him, if you don't laugh very loud indeed.' + +"'Dear papa, I am delighted with that part of his character. -- +But pray, is the house we are going to as pleasantly situated as +this?' + +"'Not perhaps as much to your taste--there is no lake under the +windows, and you will be under the necessity of having all your +music within doors.' + +"This last coup de main ended the keen encounter of our wits, for +you may believe, Matilda, it quelled all my courage to reply. + +"Yet my spirits, as perhaps will appear too manifest from this +dialogue, have risen insensibly, and, as it were, in spite of +myself. Brown alive, and free, and in England! Embarrassment and +anxiety I can and must endure. We leave this in two days for our +new residence. I shall not fail to let you know what I think of +these Scotch inmates, whom I have but too much reason to believe my +father means to quarter in his house as a brace of honourable +spies; a sort of female Rozencrantz and reverend Guildenstern, one +in tartan petticoats, the other in a cassock. What a contrast to +the society I would willingly have secured to myself! I shall write +instantly on my arriving at our new place of abode, and acquaint my +dearest Matilda with the further fates of--her + +"Julia Mannering." + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + Which sloping hills around enclose, Where many a beech and + brown oak grows, Beneath whose dark and branching bowers, + Its tides a far-fam'd river pours, By nature's beauties + taught to please, Sweet Tusculan of rural ease!-- + Warton. + +Woodbourne, the habitation which Mannering, by Mr. Mac-Morlan's +mediation, had hired for a season, was a large comfortable mansion, +snugly situated beneath a hill covered with wood, which shrouded +the house upon the north and east; the front looked upon a little +lawn bordered by a grove of old trees; beyond were some arable +fields, extending down to the river, which was seen from the +windows of the house. A tolerable, though old-fashioned garden, a +well-stocked dovecot, and the possession of any quantity of ground +which the convenience of the family might require, rendered the +place in every respect suitable, as the advertisements have it, +"for the accommodation of a genteel family." + +Here, then, Mannering resolved, for some time at least, to set up +the staff of his rest. Though an East-Indian, he was not partial +to an ostentatious display of wealth. In fact, he was too proud a +man to be a vain one. He resolved, therefore, to place himself +upon the footing of a country gentleman of easy fortune, without +assuming, or permitting, his household to assume, any of the faste +which then was considered as characteristic of a nabob. + +He had still his eye upon the purchase of Ellangowan, which +Mac-Morlan conceived Mr. Glossin would be compelled to part with, +as some of the creditors disputed his title to retain so large a +part of the purchase-money in his own hands, and his power to pay +it was much questioned. In that case MacMorlan was assured he +would readily give up his bargain, if 'tempted with something above +the price which he had stipulated to pay. It may seem +strange,--that Mannering was so much attached to a spot which he +had only seen once, and that for a short time, in early life. But +the circumstances which passed there had laid a strong hold on his +imagination. There seemed to be a fate which conjoined the +remarkable passages of his own family history with those of the +inhabitants of Ellangowan, and he felt a mysterious desire to call +the terrace his own, from which he had read in the book of heaven a +fortune strangely accomplished in the person of the infant Heir of +that family, and corresponding so closely with one which had been +strikingly fulfilled in his own. Besides, when once this thought +had got possession of his imagination, he could not, without great +reluctance, brook the, idea of his plan being defeated, and by a +fellow like Glossin. So pride came to the aid of fancy, and both +combined to fortify his resolution to buy the estate if possible. + +Let us do Mannering justice. A desire to serve the distressed had +also its share in determining him. He had considered the advantage +which Julia might receive from the company of Lucy Bertram, whose +genuine prudence and good sense could so surely be relied upon. +This idea had become much stronger since Mac-Morlan had confided to +him, under the solemn seal of secrecy, the whole of her conduct +towards young Hazlewood. To propose to her to become an inmate in +his family, if distant from the scenes of her youth and the few +whom she called friends, would have been less delicate; but at +Woodbourne she might without difficulty be induced to become the +visitor of a season, without being depressed into the situation of +an humble companion. Lucy Bertram, with some hesitation, accepted +the invitation to reside a few weeks with Miss Mannering. She felt +too well, that however the Colonel's delicacy might disguise the +truth, his principal motive was a generous desire to afford her his +countenance and protection, which his high connections, and higher +character, were likely to render influential in the neighbourhood. + +About the same time the orphan girl received a letter from Mrs. +Bertram, the relation to whom she had written, as cold and +comfortless as could well be imagined. It enclosed, indeed, a +small sum of money, but strongly recommended economy, and that Miss +Bertram should board herself in some quiet family, either at +Kippletringan or in the neighbourhood, assuring her, that though +her own income was very scanty, she would not see her kinswoman +want. + +Miss Bertram shed some natural tears over this cold-hearted +epistle; for in her mother's time, this good lady. had been a +guest at Ellangowan for nearly three years, and it was only upon +succeeding to a property of about 400L a-year that she had, taken +farewell of that hospitable mansion, which, otherwise, might have +had the honour of sheltering her until the death of its owner. Lucy +was strongly inclined to return the paltry donation, which, after +some struggles with avarice, pride had extorted from the old lady. +But on consideration, she contented herself with writing, that she +accepted it as a loan, which she hoped in a short time to repay, +and consulted her relative upon the invitation she had received +from Colonel and Miss Mannering. This time the answer came in +course of post, so fearful was Mrs. Bertram, that some frivolous +delicacy, or nonsense, as she termed it, might induce her cousin to +reject such a promising offer, and thereby at the same time to +leave herself still a burden upon her relations. Lucy, therefore, +had no alternative, unless she preferred continuing a burden upon +the worthy Mac-Morlans, who were too liberal to be rich. Those +kinsfolk who formerly requested the favour of her company, had of +late either silently, or with expressions of resentment that she +should have preferred Mac-Morlan's invitation to theirs, gradually +withdrawn their notice. + +The fate of Dominie Sampson would have been deplorable had it +depended upon any one except Mannering, who was an admirer of +originality, for a separation from Lucy Bertram would have +certainly broken his heart. Mac-Morlan had given a full account of +his proceedings towards the daughter of his patron. The answer was +a request from Mannering to know, whether the Dominie still +possessed that admirable virtue of taciturnity by which he was so +notably distinguished at Ellangowan. Mac-Morlan replied in the +affirmative. "Let Mr. Sampson know," said the Colonel's next +letter, "that I shall want his assistance to catalogue and put in +order the library of my uncle, the bishop, which I have ordered to +be sent down by sea. I shall also want him to copy and arrange +some papers. Fix his salary at what you think befitting. Let the +poor man be properly dressed, and accompany his young lady to +Woodbourne." + +Honest Mac-Morlan received this mandate with great joy, but +pondered much upon executing that part of it which related to newly +attiring the worthy Dominie. He looked at him with a scrutinising +eye, and it was but too plain that his present garments were daily +waxing more deplorable. To give him money, and bid him go and +furnish himself, would be only giving him the means of making +himself ridiculous; for when such a rare event arrived to Mr. +Sampson as the purchase of new garments, the additions which he +made to his wardrobe, by the guidance of his own taste, usually +brought all the boys of the village after him for many days. On +the other hand, to bring a tailor to measure him, and send home his +clothes, as for a schoolboy, would probably give offence. At length +Mac-Morlan resolved to consult Miss Bertram, and request her +interference. She assured him, that though she could not pretend +to superintend a gentleman's wardrobe, nothing was more easy than +to arrange the Dominie's. + +"At Ellangowan," she said, "whenever my poor father thought any +part of the Dominie's dress wanted renewal, a servant was directed +to enter his room by night, for he sleeps as fast as a dormouse, +carry off the old vestment, and leave the new one; nor could anyone +observe that the Dominie exhibited the least consciousness of the +change put upon him on such occasions." + +Mac-Morlan, in conformity with Miss Bertram's advice, procured a +skilful artist, who, on looking at the Dominie attentively, +undertook to make for him two suits of clothes, one black, and one +raven-gray, and even engaged that they should fit him--as well at +least (so the tailor qualified his enterprise), as a man of such an +out-of-the-way build could be fitted by merely human needles and +shears. When this fashioner had accomplished his task, and the +dresses were brought home, Mac-Morlan, judiciously resolving to +accomplish his purpose by degrees, withdrew that evening an +important part of his dress, and substituted the new article of +raiment in its stead. Perceiving that this passed totally without +notice, he next ventured on the waistcoat, and lastly on the coat. +When fully metamorphosed, and arrayed for the first time in his +life in a decent dress, they did observe, that the Dominie seemed +to have some indistinct and embarrassing consciousness that a +change had taken place on his outward man. Whenever they observed +this dubious expression gather upon his countenance, accompanied +with a glance, that fixed now upon the sleeve of his coat, now upon +the knees of his breeches, where he probably missed some antique +patching and darning, which, being executed with blue thread upon a +black ground, had somewhat the effect of embroidery, they always +took care to turn his attention into some other channel, until his +garments, "by the aid of use, cleaved to their mould." The only +remark he was ever known to make on the subject was, that "the air +of a town like Kippletringan, seemed favourable unto wearing +apparel, for he thought his coat looked almost as new as the first +day he put it on, which was when he went to stand trial for his +licence as a preacher." + +When the Dominie first heard the liberal proposal of Colonel +Mannering, he turned a jealous and doubtful glance towards Miss +Bertram, as if he suspected that the project involved their +separation, but when Mr Mac-Morlan hastened to explain that she +would be a guest at Woodbourne for some time, he rubbed his huge +hands together, and burst into a portentous sort of chuckle, like +that of the Afrite in the tale of the Caliph Vathek. After this +unusual explosion of satisfaction, he remained quite passive in all +the rest of the transaction. + +It had been settled that Mr. and Mrs. Mac-Morlan should take +possession of the house a few days before Mannering's arrival, both +to put everything in perfect order, and to make the transference of +Miss Bertram's residence from their family to his as easy and +delicate as possible. Accordingly, in the beginning of the month of +December, the party were settled at Woodbourne. + + +CHAPTER XX. + + A gigantic genius, fit to grapple with whole libraries. + BOSWELL's Life of Johnson. + +THE appointed day arrived, when the Colonel and Miss Mannering were +expected at Woodbourne. The hour was fast approaching, and the +little circle within doors had each their separate subjects of +anxiety. Mac-Morlan naturally desired to attach to himself the +patronage and countenance of a person of Mannering's wealth and +consequence. He was aware, from his knowledge of mankind, that +Mannering, though generous and benevolent, had the foible of +expecting and exacting a minute compliance with his directions. He +was therefore racking his recollection to discover if everything +had been arranged to meet the Colonel's wishes and instructional +and, under this uncertainty of mind, he traversed the house more +than once from the garret to the stables. Mrs. Mac-Morlan +revolved in a lesser orbit, comprehending the dining-parlour, +housekeeper's room, and kitchen. She was only + +afraid that the dinner might be spoiled, to the . discredit of her +housewifely accomplishments. Even the usual passiveness of the +Dominie was so far disturbed, that he twice went to the window, +which looked out upon the avenue, and twice exclaimed, "Why tarry +the wheels of their chariot?" Lucy, the most quiet of the +expectants, had her own melancholy thoughts. She was now about to +be consigned to the charge, almost to the benevolence, of +strangers, with whose character, though hitherto very amiably +displayed, she was but imperfectly acquainted. The moments, +therefore, of suspense passed anxiously and heavily. + +At length the trampling of horses and the sound of wheels were +heard. The servants, who had already arrived, drew up in the hall +to receive their master and mistress, with an importance and +empressement, which, to Lucy, who had never been accustomed to +society, or witnessed what is called the manners of the great, had +something alarming. Mac-Morlan went to she door to receive the +master and mistress of the family, and in a few moments they were +in the drawing-room. + +Mannering, who had travelled as usual on horseback, entered with +his daughter hanging upon his arm. She was of the middle size, or +rather less, but formed with much elegance; piercing dark eyes, and +jet-black hair of great length, corresponded with the vivacity and +intelligence of features, in which were blended a little +haughtiness, and a little bashfulness, a great deal of shrewdness, +and some power of humorous sarcasm. "I shall not like her," was +the result of Lucy Bertram's first glance; "and yet I rather think +I shall," was the thought excited by the second. + +Miss Mannering was furred and mantled up to the throat against the +severity of the weather; the Colonel in his military greatcoat. He +bowed to Mrs. Mac-Morlan, whom his daughter also acknowledged with +a fashionable curtsey, not dropped so low as at all to incommode +her person. The Colonel then led his daughter up to Miss Bertram, +and, taking the hand of the latter, with an air of great kindness, +and almost paternal affection, he said, "Julia, this is the young +lady whom I hope our good friends have prevailed on to honour our +house with a long visit. I shall be much gratified indeed if you +can render Woodbourne as pleasant to Miss Bertram, as Ellangowan +was to me when I first came as a wanderer into this country." + +The young lady curtsied acquiescence, and took her new friend's +hand. Mannering now turned his eye upon the Dominie, who had made +bows since his entrance into the room, sprawling out his leg, and +bending his back like an automaton, which continues to repeat the +same movement until the motion is stopt by the artist. "My good +friend, Mr. Sampson,"--said Mannering, introducing him to his +daughter, and darting at the same time a reproving glance at the +damsel, notwithstanding he had himself some disposition to join her +too obvious inclination to risibility--"This gentleman, Julia, is +to put my books in order when they arrive, and I expect to derive +great advantage from his extensive learning." + +"I am sure we are obliged to the gentleman, papa; and, to borrow a +ministerial mode of giving thanks, I shall never forget the +extraordinary countenance he has been pleased to show us.--But, +Miss Bertram," continued she hastily, for her father's brows began +to darken, "we have travelled a good way,--will you permit me to +retire before dinner?" + +This intimation dispersed all the company, save the Dominie, who, +having no idea of dressing but when he was to rise, or of +undressing but when he meant to go to bed, remained by himself, +chewing the cud of a mathematical demonstration, until the company +again assembled in the drawing-room, and from thence adjourned to +the dining-parlour. + +When the day was concluded, Mannering took an opportunity, to hold +a minute's conversation with his daughter in private. + +"How do you like your guests, Julia?" + +"Oh, Miss Bertram of all things--but this is a most original +parson--why, dear sir, no human being will be able to look at him +without laughing." + +"While he is under my roof, Julia, every one must learn to do so." + +"Lord, papa, the very footmen could not keep their gravity!" + +"Then let them strip off my livery," said the Colonel,--"and oath +at their leisure. Mr. Sampson is a man whom I esteem for his +simplicity and benevolence of character." + +"Oh, I am convinced of his generosity too," said this lively lady; +"he cannot lift a spoonful of soup to his mouth without bestowing a +share on everything round." + +"Julia, you are incorrigible;--but remember, I expect your mirth on +this subject to be under such restraint, that it shall neither +offend this worthy man's feelings nor those of Miss Bertram, who +may be more apt to feel upon his account than he on his own. And +so good-night, my dear; and recollect, that though Mr. Sampson has +certainly not sacrificed to the graces, there are many things in +this world more truly deserving of ridicule than either awkwardness +of manners or simplicity of character." + +In a day or two Mr. and Mrs. Mac-Morlan left Woodbourne, after +taking an affectionate farewell of their late guest. The household +were now settled in their new quarters. The young ladies followed +their studies and amusements together. Colonel Mannering was +agreeably surprised to find that Miss Bertram was well skilled in +French and Italian, thanks to the assiduity of Dominie Sampson, +whose labour had silently made him acquainted with most modern as +well as ancient languages. Of music she knew little or nothing, +but her new friend undertook to give her lessons; in exchange for +which, she was to learn from Lucy the habit of walking, and the art +of riding, and the courage necessary to defy the season. Mannering +was careful to substitute for their amusement in the evening such. +books as might convey some solid instruction with entertainment, +and as he read aloud with great skill and taste, the winter nights +passed pleasantly away. + +Society was quickly formed where there were so many inducements. +Most of the families of the neighbourhood visited Colonel +Mannering, and he was soon able to select from among them such as +best suited his taste and habits. Charles Hazlewood held a +distinguished place in his favour, and was a frequent visitor, not +without the consent and approbation of his parents; for there was +no knowing, they thought, what assiduous attention might product, +and the beautiful Miss Mannering, of high family, with an Indian +fortune, was a prize worth looking after. Dazzled with such a +prospect, they never considered the risk which had once been some +object of their apprehension, that his boyish and inconsiderate +fancy might form an attachment to the penniless Lucy Bertram, who +had nothing on earth to recommend her, but a pretty face, good +birth, and a most amiable disposition. Mannering was more +prudent. He considered himself acting as Miss Bertram's guardian, +and, while he did not think it incumbent upon him altogether to +check her intercourse with a young gentleman for whom, excepting in +wealth, she was a match in every respect, he laid it under such +insensible restraints as might prevent any engagement or +eclaircissement taking place until the young man should have seen a +little more of life and of the world, and have attained that age +when he might be considered as entitled to judge for himself in the +matter in which his happiness was chiefly interested. + +While these matters engaged the attention of the other members of +the Woodbourne family, Dominie Sampson was occupied, body and soul, +in the arrangement of the late bishop's library, which had been +sent from Liverpool by sea, and conveyed by thirty or forty carts +from the seaport at which it was landed. Sampson's joy at +beholding the ponderous contents of these chests arranged upon the +floor of the large apartment, from whence he was to transfer them +to the shelves, baffles all description. He grinned like an ogre, +swung his arms like the sails of a windmill, shouted "Prodigious" +till the roof rung to his raptures. "He had never," he said, +"seen so many books together, except in the College Library; "and +now his dignity and delight in being superintendent of the +collection, raised him, in his own opinion, almost to the rank of +the academical librarian, whom he had always regarded as the +greatest and happiest man on earth. Neither were his transports +diminished upon a hasty examination of the contents of these +volumes. Some, indeed, of belles lettres, poems, plays, or +memoirs, he tossed indignantly aside, with the implied censure of +"psha," or "frivolous"; but the greater and bulkier part of the +collection bore a very different character. The deceased prelate, +a divine of the old and deeply-learned cast, had loaded his shelves +with volumes which displayed the antique and venerable attributes +so happily described by a modern poet. + +That weight of wood, with leathern coat o'erlaid, Those ample +clasps of solid metal made, The close-press'd leaves unoped for +many an age, The dull red edging of the well-filled page, On the +broad back the stubborn ridges roll'd, Where yet the title stands +in tarnish'd gold. + +Books of theology and controversial divinity, commentaries, and +polyglots, sets of the fathers, and sermons, which might each +furnish forth ten brief discourses of modern date, books of +science, ancient and modern, classical authors in their best and +rarest forms; such formed the late bishop's venerable library, and +over such the eye of Dominie Sampson gloated with rapture. He +entered them in the catalogue in his best running hand, forming +each letter with the accuracy of a lover writing a valentine, and +placed each individually on the destined shelf with all the +reverence which I have seen a lady pay to a jar of old china. With +all this zeal his labours advanced slowly. He often opened a +volume when halfway up the library steps, fell upon some +interesting passage, and, without shifting his inconvenient +posture, continued immersed in the fascinating perusal until the +servant pulled him by the skirts to assure him that dinner waited. + + How happily the days + Of Thalaba went by! + +And, having thus left the principal characters of our ,tale in a +situation which, being sufficiently comfortable to themselves, is, +of course, utterly uninteresting to the reader, we take up the +history of a person who has as yet only been named, and who has all +the interest that uncertainty and misfortune can give. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + What say'st thou, Wise One?--that all-powerful Love + Can fortune's strong impediments remove; + Nor is it strange that worth should wed to worth, + The pride of genius with the pride of birth. + Crabbe. + +V. Brown,--I will not give at full length his thrice unhappy +name--had been from infancy a ball for fortune to spurn at; but +nature had given him that elasticity of mind which rises higher +from the rebound. His form was tall, manly, and active, and his +features corresponded with his person; for, although far from +regular, they had an expression of intelligence and good humour, +and when he spoke, or was particularly animated, might be decidedly +pronounced interesting. His manner indicated the military +profession, which had been his choice, and in which he had now +attained the rank of captain, the person who succeeded Colonel +Mannering in his command having laboured to repair the injustice +which Brown had sustained by that gentleman's prejudice against +him. But this, as well as his liberation from captivity, had taken +place after Mannering left India. Brown followed at no distant +period, his regiment being recalled home. His first inquiry was +after the family of Mannering, and, easily learning their route +northward, he followed it with the purpose of, resuming his +addresses to Julia. With her father he deemed he had no measures +to keep; for, ignorant of the more venomous belief which had been +instilled into the Colonel's mind, he regarded him as an oppressive +aristocrat, who had used his power as a commanding officer to +deprive him of the preferment due to his behaviour, and who had +forced upon him a personal quarrel without any better reason than +his attentions to a pretty young woman, agreeable to herself, and +permitted and countenanced by her mother. He was determined, +therefore, to take no rejection unless from the young lady herself, +believing that the heavy misfortunes of his painful wound and +imprisonment were direct injuries received from the father, which +might dispense with his using much ceremony towards him. How far +his scheme had succeeded when his nocturnal visit was discovered by +Mr. Mervyn, our readers are already informed. + +Upon this unpleasant occurrence, Captain Brown absented himself +from the inn in which he had resided under the name of Dawson, so +that Colonel Mannering's attempts to discover and trace him were +unavailing. He resolved, however, that no difficulties should +prevent his continuing his enterprise, while Julia left him a ray +of hope. The interest he had secured in her bosom was such as she +had been unable to conceal from him, and with all the courage of +romantic gallantry he determined upon perseverance. But we believe +the reader will be as well pleased to learn his mode of thinking +and intentions from his own communication to his special friend and +confidant, Captain Delaserre, a Swiss gentleman, who had a company +in his regiment. + +"Let me bear from you soon, dear Delaserre.--Remember, I can learn +nothing about regimental affairs but through your friendly medium, +and I long to know what has become of Ayre's court-martial, and +whether Elliot gets the majority; also how recruiting comes on, and +how the young officers like the mess. Of our kind friend, the +Lieutenant-Colonel, I need ask nothing; I saw him as I passed +through Nottingham, happy in the bosom of his family. What a +happiness it is, Philip, for us poor devils, that we have a little +resting-place between the camp and the grave, if we can manage to +escape disease, and steel, and lead, and the effects of hard +living. A retires old soldier is always a graceful and respected +character. He grumbles a little now and then, but then his is +licensed murmuring-were a lawyer, or a physician, or a clergyman, +to breathe a complaint of hard luck or want of preferment, a +hundred tongues would blame his own incapacity as the cause. But +the most stupid veteran that ever faltered out the thrice-told tale +of a siege and a battle, and a cock and a bottle, is listened to +with sympathy and reverence, when he shakes his thin locks, and +talks with indignation of the boys that are put over his head. And +you and I, Delaserre, foreigners both,--for what am I the better +that I was originally a Scotchman, since, could I prove my descent, +the English would hardly acknowledge me a countryman?-we may boast +that we have fought out our preferment, and gained that by the +sword which we had not money to compass otherwise. The English are +a wise people. While they praise themselves, and affect to +undervalue all other nations, they leave us, luckily, trap-doors +and back-doors open, by which we strangers, less favoured by +nature, may arrive at a share of their advantages. And thus they +are, in some respects like a boastful landlord, who exalts the +value and flavour of his six-years'-old mutton, while he is +delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company. In short, +you, whose proud family, and I, whose hard fate, made us soldiers +of fortune, have the pleasant recollection, that in the British +service, stop where we may upon our career, it is only for want of +money to pay the turnpike, and not from our being prohibited to +travel the road. If, therefore, we can persuade little Weischel to +come into ours, for God's sake let him buy the ensigncy, live +prudently, mind his duty, and trust to the fates for promotion. + +"And now, I hope you are expiring with curiosity to learn the end +of my romance. I told you I had deemed it convenient to make a few +days' tour on foot among the mountains of Westmoreland, with +Dudley, a young English artist, with whom I have formed some +acquaintance. A fine fellow this, you must know, Delaserre--he +paints tolerably, draws beautifully, converses well, and plays +charmingly on the flute; and, though thus well entitled to be a +coxcomb of talent, is, in fact, a modest unpretending young man. On +our return from our little tour, I learned that the enemy had been +reconnoitring. Mr. Mervyn's barge had crossed the lake, I was +informed by my landlord, with the squire himself and a visitor. + +"'What sort of person, landlord?' + +"'Why, he was a dark officer-looking mon, at they called +Colonel--Squoire Mervyn questioned me as close as I had been at +sizes--I had guess, Mr. Dawson' (I told you that was my feigned +name)--I but I tould him nought of your vagaries, and going out +a-laking in the mere a-noights--not I--an I can make no sport. +I'se spoil none--and Squoire Mervyn's as cross as poy-crust too, +mon--he's aye maundering an my guests but land beneath his house, +though it be marked for the fourth station in the Survey. Noa, +noa, e'en let un smell things out o' themselves for Joe Hodges--' + +"You will allow there was nothing for it after this, but paying +honest Joe Hodges's bill, and departing, unless I had preferred +making him my confidant, for which I felt in no way inclined. +Besides, I learned that our ci-devant Colonel was on full retreat +for Scotland, carrying off poor Julia along with him. I understand +from those who conduct the heavy baggage, that he takes his winter' +quarters at a place called Woodbourne, in--shire in Scotland. He +will be all on the alert just now, so I must let him enter his +entrenchments without any new alarm. And then, my good Colonel, to +whom I owe so many grateful thanks, pray look to your defence. + +"I protest to you, Delaserre, I often think there is a little +contradiction enters into the ardour of my pursuit. I think I would +rather bring this haughty insulting man to the necessity of calling +his daughter Mrs. Brown, than I would wed her with his full +consent, and with the king's permission to change my name for the +style and arms of Mannering, though his whole fortune went with +them. There is only one circumstance that chills me a little-Julia +is young and romantic. I would not willingly hurry her into a step +which her riper years might disapprove--no;--nor would I like to +have her upbraid me, were it but with a glance of her eye, with +having ruined her fortunes--far less give her reason to say, as +some have not been slow to tell their lords, that, had I left her +time for consideration, she would have been wiser and done better. +No, Delaserre--this must not be. The picture presses close upon +me, because I am aware a girl in Julia's situation has no distinct +and precise idea of the value of the sacrifice she makes. She +knows difficulties only by name; and, if she thinks of love and a +farm, it is a ferme ornee, such as is only to be found in poetic +description, or in the park of a gentleman of twelve thousand a +year. She would be ill prepared for the privations of that real +Swiss cottage we have so often talked of, and for the difficulties +which must necessarily surround us even before we attained that +haven. This must be a point clearly ascertained. Although Julia's +beauty and playful tenderness have made an impression on my heart +never to be erased, I must be satisfied that she perfectly +understands the advantages she foregoes, before she sacrifices them +for my sake. + +"Am I too proud, Delaserre, when I trust that even this trial may +terminate favourably to my wishes?-Am I too vain when I suppose, +that the few personal qualities--which I possess, with means of +competence however moderate, and the determination of consecrating +my life to her happiness, may make amends for all I must call upon +her to forego? Or will a difference of dress, of attendance, of +style, as it is called, of the power of shifting at pleasure the +scenes in which she seeks amusement,--will these outweigh, in her +estimation, the prospect of domestic happiness, and the interchange +of unabating affection? I say nothing of her father;--his good and +evil qualities are so strangely mingled, that the former are +neutralised by the latter; and that which she must regret as a +daughter is so much blended with what she would gladly escape from, +that I place the separation of the father and child as a +circumstance which weighs little in her remarkable case. Meantime +I keep up my spirits as I may. I have incurred too many hardships +and difficulties to be presumptuous or confident in success, and I +have been too often and too wonderfully extricated from them to be +despondent. + +"I wish you saw this country. I think the scenery would delight +you. At least it often brings to my recollection your glowing +descriptions of your native country. To me it has in a great +measure the charm of novelty. Of the Scottish hills, though born +among them, as I have always been assured, I have but an indistinct +recollection. Indeed, my memory rather dwells upon the blank which +my youthful mind experienced in gazing on the levels of the isle of +Zealand, than on anything which preceded that feeling; but I am +confident, from that sensation, as well as from the recollections +which preceded it, that hills and rocks have been familiar to me at +an early period, and that though now only remembered by contrast, +And by the blank which I felt while gazing around for them in vain, +they must have made an indelible impression on my infant +imagination. I remember when we first mounted that celebrated pass +in the Mysore country, while most of the others felt only awe and +astonishment at the height and grandeur of the scenery, I rather +shared your feelings and those of Cameron, whose admiration of such +wild rocks was blended with familiar love, derived from early +association. Despite my Dutch education, a blue hill to me is as a +friend, and a roaring torrent like the sound of a domestic song +that hath soothed my infancy. I never felt the impulse so strongly +as in this land of lakes and mountains, and nothing grieves me so +much as that duty prevents your being with me in my numerous +excursions among its recesses. Some drawings I have attempted, but +I succeed vilely-Dudley, on the contrary, draws delightfully, with +that rapid touch which seems like magic, while I labour and blotch, +and make this too heavy, and that too light, and produce at last a +base caricature. I must stick to the flageolet, for music is the +only one of the fine arts which deigns to acknowledge me. + +"Did you know that Colonel Mannering was a draughtsman?--I believe +not, for he scorned to display his accomplishments to the view of a +subaltern. He draws beautifully, however. Since he and Julia left +Mervyn Hall, Dudley was sent for there. The squire, it seems, +wanted a set of drawings made up, of which Mannering had done the +first four, but was interrupted, by his hasty departure, in his +purpose of completing them. Dudley says he has seldom seen +anything so masterly, though slight; and each had attached to it a +short poetical description. Is Saul, you will say, among the +prophets?--Colonel Mannering write poetry!--Why surely this man +must have taken all the pains to conceal his accomplishments that +others do to display theirs. How reserved and unsociable he +appeared among us!--how little disposed to enter into any +conversation which could become generally interesting! And then +his attachment to that unworthy Archer, so much below him in every +respect; and all this, because he was the brother of Viscount +Archerfield, a poor Scottish peer! I think if Archer had longer +survived the wounds in the affair of Cuddyboram, he would have told +something that might have thrown light upon the inconsistencies of +this singular man's character. He repeated to me more than once, +'I have that to say, which will alter your hard opinion of our late +Colonel.' But death pressed him too hard; and if he owed me any +atonement, which some of his expressions seemed to imply, he died +before it could be made. + +"I propose to make a further excursion through this country while +this fine frosty weather serves, and Dudley, almost as good a +walker as myself, goes with me for some part of the way. We part +on the borders of Cumberland, where he must return to his lodgings +in Marybone, up three pair of stairs, and labour at what he calls +the commercial part of his profession. There cannot, he says, be +such a difference betwixt any two portions of existence, as between +that in which the artist, if an enthusiast, collects the subjects +of his drawings, and that which must necessarily he dedicated to +turning over his portfolio, and exhibiting them to the provoking +indifference, or more provoking criticism, of fashionable amateurs. +'During the summer of my year,' says Dudley, 'I am as free as a +wild Indian, enjoying myself at liberty amid the grandest scenes of +nature; while, during my winters and springs, I am not only +cabined, cribbed, and confined in a miserable garret, but condemned +to as intolerable subservience to the humour of others, and to as +indifferent company, as if I were a literal galley-slave. 'I have +promised him your acquaintance, Delaserre; you will be delighted +with his specimens of art, and he with your Swiss fanaticism for +mountains and torrents. + +"When I lose Dudley's company, I am informed--that I can easily +enter Scotland by stretching across a wild country in the upper +part of Cumberland; and that route I shall follow, to give the +Colonel time to pitch his camp ere I reconnoitre his +position.--Adieu! Delaserre--I shall hardly find another +opportunity of writing till I reach Scotland." + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + Jog on, jog on, the footpath way, + And merrily hent the stile-a: + A merry heart goes all the day, + A sad one tires in a mile-a. + Winter's Tale. + +LET the reader conceive to himself a clear frosty November morning, +the scene an open heath,--having for the background that huge chain +of mountains in which Skiddaw and Saddleback are pre-eminent; let +him look along that blind road, by which I mean the track so +slightly marked by the passengers' footsteps that it can but be +traced by a slight shade of verdure from the darker heath around it +and, being only visible to the eye when at some distance, ceases to +be distinguished while the foot is actually treading it--along +this faintly-traced path advances the object of our present +narrative. His firm step, his erect and free carriage, have a +military air, which corresponds well with his well-proportioned +limbs, and stature of six feet high. His dress is so plain and +simple that it indicates nothing as to rank--it may be that of a +gentleman who travels in this manner for his pleasure, or of an +inferior person of whom it is the proper and usual garb. Nothing +can be on a more reduced scale than his travelling equipment. A +volume of Shakespeare in each pocket, a small bundle with a change +of linen slung across his shoulders, an oaken cudgel in his hand, +complete our pedestrian's accommodations, and in this equipage we +present him to our readers. + +Brown had parted that morning from his friend Dudley, and began his +solitary walk towards Scotland. + +The first two or three miles were rather melancholy, from want of +the society to which he had of late been accustomed. But this +unusual mood of mind soon gave way to the influence of his natural +good spirits, excited by the exercise and the bracing effects of +the frosty air. He whistled as he went along, not "from want of +thought," but to give vent to those buoyant feelings which he had +no other mode of expressing. For each peasant whom he chanced to +meet, he had a kind greeting or a good-humoured jest; the hardy +Cumbrians grinned as they passed, and said, "that's a kind heart, +God bless un!" and the market-girl looked more than once over her +shoulder at the athletic form, which corresponded so well with the +frank and blithe address of the stranger. A rough terrier dog, his +constant companion, who rivalled his master in glee, scampered at +large in a thousand wheels round the heath, and came back to jump +up on him, and assure him that he participated in the pleasure of +the journey. Dr. Johnson thought life had few things better than +the excitation produced by being whirled rapidly along in a +post-chaise; but he who has in youth experienced the confident and +independent feeling of a stout pedestrian in an interesting +country, and during fine weather, will hold the taste of the great +moralist cheap in comparison. + +Part of Brown's view in choosing that unusual tract which leads +through the eastern wilds of Cumberland into Scotland, had been a +desire to view the remains of the celebrated Roman Wall, which are +more visible in that direction than in any other part of its +extent. His education had been imperfect and desultory; but +neither the busy scenes in which he had been engaged, nor the +pleasures of youth, nor the precarious state of his own +circumstances, had diverted him from the task of mental +improvement.--"And this then is the Roman Wall," he said, +scrambling up to a height which commanded the course of that +celebrated work of antiquity. "What a people! whose labours, even +at this extremity of their empire, comprehended such space, and +were executed upon a scale of such grandeur! In future ages, when +the science of war shall have changed, how few traces will exist of +the labours of Vauban and Coehorn, while this wonderful people's +remains will even then continue to interest and astonish +posterity! Their fortifications, their aqueducts, their theatres, +their fountains, all their public works, bear the grave, solid, and +majestic character of their language; while our modern labours, +like our modern tongues, seem but constructed out of their +fragments." Having thus moralised, he remembered that he was +hungry, and pursued his walk to a small public-house at which he +proposed to get some refreshment. + +The alehouse, for it was no better, was situated in the bottom of a +little dell, through which trilled a small rivulet. It was shaded +by a large ash tree, against which the clay-built shed, that served +the purpose of a stable, was erected, and upon which it seemed +partly to recline. In this shed stood a saddled horse, employed in +eating his corn. The cottages in this part of Cumberland partake +of the rudeness which characterises those of Scotland. The outside +of the house promised little for the interior, notwithstanding the +vaunt of a sign, where a tankard of ale voluntarily decanted itself +into a tumbler, and a hieroglyphical scrawl below attempted to +express a promise of "good entertainment for man and horse." Brown +was no fastidious traveller--he stopped and entered the cabaret [* +See Note 1. Mumps's Ha'.] + +The first object which caught. his eye in the kitchen was a tall, +stout, country-looking man, in a large jockey great-coat, the owner +of the horse which stood in the shed, who was busy discussing huge +slices of cold boiled beef, and casting from time to time an eye +through the window, to see how his steed sped with his provender. A +large tankard of ale flanked his plate of victuals, to which he +applied himself by intervals. The good woman of the house was +employed in baking. The fire, as is usual in that country, was on +a stone hearth, in the midst of an immensely large chimney, which +had two seats extended beneath the vent. On one of these sat a +remarkably tall woman, in a red cloak and slouched bonnet, having +the appearance of a tinker or beggar. She was busily engaged with +a short black tobacco-pipe. + +At the request of Brown for some food, the landlady wiped with her +mealy apron one corner of the deal table, placed a wooden trencher +and knife and fork before the traveller, pointed to the round of +beef, recommended Mr. Dinmont's good example, and, finally, filled +a brown pitcher with her home-brewed. Brown lost no time in doing +ample credit to both. For a while, his opposite neighbour and he +were too busy to take much notice of each other, except by a +good-humoured nod as each in turn raised the tankard to his head. +At length, when our pedestrian began to supply the wants of little +Wasp, the Scotch storefarmer, for such was Mr. Dinmont, found +himself at leisure to enter into conversation. + +"A bonny terrier that, sir--and a fell [*Fiery] chield at the +vermin, I warrant him--that is, if he's been weel entered, for it +a' lies in that." + +"Really, sir," said Brown, "his education has been somewhat +neglected, and his chief property is being pleasant companion." + +"Ay, sir? that's a pity, begging your pardon--it's great pity +that--beast or body, education should aye be minded. I have six +terriers at hame, forbye twa couple of slow-hunds, five grews, +[*Greyhounds] and a wheen [*Few] other dogs. There's auld Pepper +and auld Mustard, and young Pepper and young Mustard, and little +Pepper and little Mustard--I had them a' regularly entered, first +wi' rottens [*Rats]--then wi' stots or weasels--and then wi' the +tods and brocks [*Badgers]--and now they fear naething that ever +cam wi' a hairy skin on't." + +"I have no doubt, sir, they are thoroughbred--but, to have so many +dogs, you seem to have a very limited variety of names for them?" + +"Oh, that's a fancy o' my ain to mark the breed sir; the Deuke +himself has sent as far as Charlies hope to get ane o' Dandie +Dinmont's Pepper and Mustard terriers--Lord, man, he sent Tam +Hudson [* The real name of this veteran sportsman is now +restored] the keeper, and sicken a day as we had wi' the foumarts +[*Polecats] and the tods, and sicken a blythe gaedown as we had +again e'en! Faith, that was a night! + +"I suppose game is very plenty with you?" + +"Plenty, man!--I believe there's mair hares than sheep on my farm; +and for the moor-fawl, or the gray-fowl, they lie as thick as doos +in a dooket--Did ye ever shoot a black-cock, man?" + +"Really I had never even the pleasure to see one, except in the +museum at Keswick." + +"There now--I could guess that by your Southland tongue--It's +very odd of these English folk that come here, how few of them has +seen a black-cock! I'll tell you what--ye seem to be an honest lad, +and if you'll call on me--on Dandie Dinmont--at Charlies-hope--ye +shall see a black-cock, and shoot a black-cock, and eat a +black-cock too, man." + +"Why, the proof of the matter is the eating, to be sure, sir; and I +shall be happy if I can find time to accept your invitation." + +"Time, man? what ails ye to gae hame wi' me the now? How d'ye +travel?" + +"On foot, sir; and if that handsome pony be yours, I should find it +impossible to keep up with you." + +"No unless ye can walk up to fourteen mile an hour. But ye can +come ower the night as far as Riccarton, where there is a +public--or if ye like to stop at jockey Grieve's at the Heuch, they +would be blythe to see ye, and I am just gaun to stop and drink a +dram at the door wi' him, and I would tell him you're coming up--or +stay--gudewife, could ye lend this gentleman the gudeman's +galloway, and I'll send it ower the Waste in the morning wi' the +callant?" [*Lad] + +The galloway was turned out upon the fell, and was swear to +catch--"Aweel, aweel, there's nae help for't, but come up the morn +at ony rate.--And now, gudewife, I maun ride, to get to the Liddel +or it be dark, for your Waste has but a kittle [*Ticklish] +character, ye ken yourself." + +"Hout fie, Mr. Dinmont, that's no like you, to gie the country an +ill name--I wot, there has been nane stirred in the Waste since +Sawney Culloch, the travelling-merchant, that Rowley Overdees and +Jock Penny suffered for at Carlisle twa years since. There's no +ane in Bewcastle would do the like o' that now--we be a' true folk +now." + +"Ay, Tib, that will be when the deil's blind,--and his een's no +sair yet. But hear ye, gudewife, I have been through maist feck +[*Part] o' Galloway and Dumfriesshire, and I have been round by +Carlisle, and I was at the Staneshiebank fair the day, and I would +like ill to be rubbit sae near hame, so I'll take the gate." + +"Hae ye been in Dumfries and Galloway?" said the old dame, who sat +smoking by the fireside, and who had not yet spoken a word. + +"Troth have I, gudewife, and a weary round I've had o't." + +"Then ye'll maybe ken a place they ca' Ellangowan? + +"Ellangowan, that was Mr. Bertram's--I ken the place weel eneugh. +The Laird died about a fortnight since, as I heard." + +"Died!"--said the old woman, dropping her pipe, and rising and +coming forward upon the floor--died?--are you sure of that?" + +"Troth, am I," said Dinmont, "for it made nae sma' noise in the +countryside. He died just at the roup of the stocking and +furniture; it stoppit the roup, and mony folk were disappointed. +They said he was the last of an auld family too, and mony were +sorry--for gude blude's scarcer in Scotland than it has been." + +"Dead!" replied the old woman, whom our readers have already +recognised as their acquaintance Meg Merrilies--"dead! that quits +a' scores. And did ye say he died without an heir?" + +"Ay did he, gudewife, and the estate's sell'd by the same token; +for they said, they couldna have sell'd it, if there had been an +heir-male." + +"Sell'd!" echoed the gipsy, with something like a scream; "and wha +durst buy Ellangowan that was not of Bertram's blude?--and wha +could tell whether the bonny knave-bairn may not come back to claim +his ain!--wha durst buy the estate and the castle of Ellangowan?" + +"Troth, gudewife, just ane o' thae writer chields that buys a' +thing--they ca' him Glossin, I think." + +"Glossin!--Gibbie Glossin!--that I have carried in my creels a +hundred times, for his mother wasna muckle better than mysell--he +to presume to buy the barony of Ellangowan!--Gude be wi' us--it is +an awfu' warld!--I wished him ill--but no sic a downfa' as a' that +neither--wae's me! wae's me to think o't!"--She remained a moment +silent, but still opposing with her hand the farmer's retreat, who, +betwixt every question, was about to turn his back, but +good-humouredly stopped on observing the deep interest his answers +appeared to excite. + +"It will be seen and heard of--earth and sea will not hold their +peace langer!--Can ye say if the same man be now the Sheriff of the +county that has been sae for some years past?" + +"Na, he's got some other berth in Edinburgh, they say--but gude +day, gudewife, I maun ride." She followed him to his horse, and, +while he drew the births of his saddle, adjusted the walise, and +put on the bridle, still plied him with questions concerning Mr. +Bertram's death, and the fate of his daughter; on which, however, +she could obtain little information from the honest farmer. + +"Did ye ever see a place they ca' Derncleugh, about a mile frae the +Place of Ellangowan?" + +"I wot weel have I, gudewife,--a wild-looking den it is, wi' a +wheen auld wa's o' shealins sonder--I saw it when I gaed ower the +ground wi' ane that wanted to take the farm." + +It was a blythe bit ance said Meg, speaking to herself,--"Did ye +notice if there was an auld saugh [*Willow] tree that's maist +blawn down, but yet its roots are in the earth, and it hangs ower +the bit burn--mony a day hae I wrought my stocking, and sat on my +sunkie [*a Stool.] under that saugh." + +"Hout, deills i' the wife, wi' her saughs, and her sunkies, and +Ellangowans--Godsake, woman, let me away--there's saxpence t'ye to +buy half a mutchkin, instead o' clavering about thae auld-warld +stories." + +"Thanks to ye, gudeman--and now ye hae answered a' my questions, +and never speired wherefore I asked thein, I'll gie you a bit +canny [*Prudent] advice, and ye maunna speir what for neither. +Tib Mumps will be out wi' the stirrup-dram in a gliffing +[*Twinkling]--he'll ask ye whether ye gang ower Willie's brae, or +through Conscowthart moss--tell her ony ane ye like, but be sure +(speaking low and emphatically) to tak the ane ye dinna tell her." +The farmer laughed and promised, and the Gipsy retreated. + +"Will you take her advice?" said Brown, who had been an attentive +listener to this conversation. + +"That will I no--the randy quean!--Na, I had far rather Tib Mumps +kenn'd which way I was gaun than her--though Tib's no muckle to +lippen [*Trust] to neither, and I would advise ye on no account +to stay in the house a' night." + +In a moment after, Tib, the landlady, appeared with her +stirrup-cup, which was taken off. She then, as Meg had predicted, +inquired whether he went the hill or the moss road. He answered, +the latter; and, having bid Brown good-bye, and again told him, "he +depended on seeing him at Charlies-hope, the morn at latest," he +rode off at a round pace. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + Gallows and knock are too powerful on the highway. + Winter's Tale + +The hint of the hospitable farmer was not lost on Brown. But, while +he paid his reckoning, he could not avoid repeatedly fixing Iris +eyes on Meg Merrilies. She was, in all respects, the same +witch-like figure as when we first introduced her at Ellangowan +Place. Time had grizzled her raven locks, and added wrinkles to +her wild features, but her height remained erect, and her activity +was unimpaired. It was remarked of this woman, as of others of the +same description, that a life of action, though not of labour, gave +her the perfect command of her limbs and figure, so that the +attitudes into which she most naturally threw herself, were free, +unconstrained, and picturesque. At present, she stood by the +window of the cottage, her person drawn up so as to show to full +advantage her masculine stature, and her head somewhat thrown back, +that the large bonnet, with which her face was shrouded, might not +interrupt her steady gaze at Brown. At every gesture he made, and +every tone he uttered, she seemed to give an almost imperceptible +start. On his part, he was surprised to find that he could not +look upon this singular figure without some emotion. "Have I +dreamed of such a figure?" he said to himself, "or does this wild +and singular-looking woman recall to my recollection some of the +strange figures I have seen in our Indian pagodas?" + +While he embarrassed himself with these discussions, and the +hostess was engaged in rummaging out silver in change of half a +guinea, the gipsy suddenly made two strides, and seized Brown's +hand. He expected, of course, a display of her skill in palmistry, +but she seemed agitated by other feelings. + +"Tell me," she said, 'I tell me, in the name of God, young man, +what is your name, and whence you came?" + +"My name is Brown, mother, and I come from the East Indies." + +"From the East Indies!" dropping his hand with a sigh; "it cannot +be then--I am such an auld fool, that everything I look on seems +the thing I want maist to see. But the East Indies! that cannot +be--Weel, be what ye will, ye hae a face and a tongue that puts me +in mind of auld times. Good-day--make haste on your road, and if ye +see ony of our folk, meddle not and make not, and they'll do you +nae harm." + +Brown, who had by this time received his change, put a shilling +into her hand, bade his hostess farewell, and, taking the route +which the farmer had gone before, walked briskly on, with the +advantage of being guided by the fresh hoof-prints of his horse. + +Meg Merrilies looked after him for some time, and then muttered to +herself, "I maun see that lad again--and I maun gang back to +Ellangowan too.--The Laird's dead--aweel, death pays a' +scores--he was a kind man ance.--The Sheriffs flitted, and I can +keep canny in the bush--so there's no muckle hazard o' scouring the +cramp-ring. [*To scour the cramp-ring, is said metaphorically for +being thrown into fetters, or, generally, into prison.]--I would +like to see bonny Ellangowan again or I die." + +Brown, meanwhile, proceeded northward at a round pace along the +moorish tract called the Waste of Cumberland. He passed a solitary +house, towards which the horseman who preceded him had apparently +turned up, for his horse's tread was. evident in that direction. A +little farther, he seemed to have returned again into the road. Mr. +Dinmont had probably made a visit there either of business or +pleasure--I wish, thought Brown, the good farmer had staid till I +came up; I should not have been sorry to ask him a few questions +about the road, which seems to grow wilder and wilder. + +In truth, nature, as if she had designed this tract of country to +be the barrier between two hostile nations, has stamped upon it n +character of wildness and desolation. The hills are neither high +nor rocky, but the land is all heath and morass; the huts poor and +mean, and at a great distance front each o,. her. Immediately +around, them there is generally some little attempt at cultivation; +but a half-bred foal or two, straggling about with shackles on +their hind legs, to save the trouble of enclosures, intimate the +farmer's chief resource to be the breeding of horses. The people, +too, are of a ruder and more inhospitable class than are elsewhere +to be found in Cumberland arising partly from their own habits, +partly from their intermixture with vagrants and criminals, who +make this wild country a refuge from justice. + +So much were the men of these districts in early times the objects +of suspicion and dislike to their more polished neighbours, that +there was, and perhaps still exists, a by-law of the corporation of +Newcastle, prohibiting any freeman of that city to take for +apprentice a native of certain of these dales. It is pithily said, +"Give a dog an ill name and hang him;" and it may be added, if you +give a man, or race of men, an ill name, they are. very likely to +do something that deserves hanging. Of this Brown had heard +something, and suspected more, from the discourse between the +landlady, Dinmont, and the gipsy; but he was naturally of a +fearless disposition, had nothing about him that could tempt the +spoiler, and trusted to get through the Waste with daylight. In +this, last particular, however, he was likely to be disappointed. +The way proved longer than he had anticipated, and the horizon +began to grow gloomy, just as he entered upon an extensive morass. + +Choosing his steps with care and deliberation, the young officer +proceeded along a path that sometimes sunk between two broken black +banks of moss earth, sometimes crossed narrow but deep ravines +filled with a consistence between mud and water, and sometimes +along heaps of gravel and stones, which had been swept together +when some torrent or water-spout from the neighbouring hills +overflowed the marshy ground below. He began to ponder how a +horseman could make his way through such broken ground; the traces +of hoofs, however, were still visible; he even thought he heard +their sound at some distance, and, convinced that Mr. Dinmont's +progress through the morass must be still slower than his own, he +resolved to push on, in hopes to overtake him, and have the benefit +of his knowledge of the country. At this moment his little terrier +sprung forward, barking most furiously. + +Brown quickened his pace, and, attaining the summit of a small +rising ground, saw the subject of the dog's alarm. In a hollow +about a gunshot below him, a man, whom he easily recognised to be +Dinmont, was engaged with two others in a desperate struggle. He +was dismounted, and defending himself as he best could with the +butt of his heavy whip. Our traveller hastened on to his +assistance; but, ere he could get up, a stroke had levelled the +farmer with the earth, and one of the robbers, improving his +victory, struck him some merciless blows on the head. The other +villain, hastening to meet Brown, called to his companion to come +along, "for that one's content," meaning, probably, past +resistance or complaint. One ruffian was armed with a cutlass, the +other with a bludgeon; but as the road was pretty narrow, "bar +firearms," thought Brown, "and I may manage them well enough." They +met accordingly, with the most murderous threats on the part of the +ruffians. They soon found, however, that their near opponent was +equally stout and resolute; and, after exchanging two or three +blows, one of them told him to "follow his nose over the heath, in +the devil's name, for they had nothing to say to him." + +Brown rejected this composition, as leaving to their mercy the +unfortunate man whom they were about to pillage, if not to murder +outright; and the skirmish had just recommenced, when Dinmont +unexpectedly recovered his senses, his feet, and his weapon, and +hasted to the scene of action. As he had been no easy antagonist, +even when surprised and alone, the villains did not choose to wait +his joining forces with a man who had singly proved a match for +them both, but fled across the bog as fast as their feet could +earn, them, pursued by Wasp, who had acted gloriously during the +skirmish, annoying the heels of the enemy, and repeatedly effecting +a moment's diversion in his master's favour. + +"Deil, but your dog's weel entered wi' the vermin now, sir!" were +the first words uttered by the jolly farmer, as he came up, his +head streaming with blood, and recognised his deliverer and his +little attendant. + +"I hope, sir, you are not hurt dangerously?" + +"Oh, deil a bit-my head can stand a gey clour--nae thanks to them, +though, and mony to you. But now, hinney, ye maun help me to catch +the beast, and ye maun get on behind me, for we maun off like +whittrets [*Weasels] before the whole clanjamfray [*Rabble] be +doun upon us-the rest o' them will be no far off." The galloway +was, by good fortune, easily caught, and Brown made some apology +for overloading the animal. + +"' Deil a fear, man," answered the proprietor, "Dumple could carry +six folk if his back was lang eneugh--but God's sake, haste ye, get +on, for I see some folk coming through the slack yonder, that it +may be just as weel no to wait for." + +Brown was of opinion that this apparition of five or six men, with +whom the other villains seemed to join company, coming across the +moss towards them, should abridge ceremony; he therefore mounted +Dumple en croupe, and the little spirited nag cantered away with +two men of great size and strength, as if they had been children of +six years old. The rider, to whom the paths of these wilds seemed +intimately known, pushed on at a rapid pace, managing, with much +dexterity, to choose the safest route, in which he was aided by the +sagacity of the galloway, who never failed to take the difficult +passes exactly at the particular spot, and in the special manner, +by which they could be most safely crossed. Yet, even with these +advantages, the road was so broken, and they were so often thrown +out of the direct course by various impediments, that they did not +gain much on their pursuers. "Nevermind," said the undaunted +Scotchman to his companion, "if we were ance by Withershin's Latch, +the road's no near sae saft, and we'll show them fair play for't." + +They soon came to the place he named, a narrow channel, through +which soaked, rather than flowed, a small stagnant stream, mantled +over with bright green mosses. Dinmont directed his steed towards +a pass where the water appeared-to flow with more freedom over a +harder bottom; but Dumple backed from the proposed crossing-place, +put his head down as if to reconnoitre the swamp more nearly, +stretching forward his fore-feet, and stood as fast as if he had +been cut out of stone. + +"Had we not better," said Brown, "dismount, and leave him to his +fate--or can you, not urge him through the swamp?" + +"Na, na," said his pilot, "we maun cross Dumple at no rate--he +has mair sense than mony a Christian." So saying, he relaxed the +reins, and shook them loosely. "Come now, lad, take your ain way +o't--let's see where ye'll take us through." + +Dumple, left to the freedom of his own will, trotted briskly to +another part of the latch, less promising, as Brown thought, in +appearance, but which the animal's sagacity or experience +recommended as the safer of the two, and where, plunging in, he +attained the other side with. little difficulty. + +"I'm glad we're out o' that moss," said Dinmont, "where there's +mair stables for horses than change-houses for men--we have the +Maiden-way to help us now, at ony rate." Accordingly, they speedily +gained a sort of rugged causeway so called, being the remains of an +old Roman road which traverses these wild regions in a due +northerly direction. Here they got on at the rate o nine or ten +miles an hour, Dumple seeking no other respite than what arose from +changing his pace from canter to trot. "I could gar him show mair +action," said his master, "but we are twa lang-legged chields after +a' and it would be a pity to stress Dumple--there wasna the like o' +him at Staneshiebank fair the day." + +Brown readily assented to the propriety of sparing the horse, and +added, that as they were now far out of the reach of the rogues he +thought Mr. Dinmont had better tie a handkerchief round his head, +for fear of the cold frosty air aggravating the wound. + +"What would I do that for?" answered the hardy farmer; "the best +way's to let the blood barken [*Encrust] upon the cut--that +saves plasters, hinney." + +Brown, who in his military profession had seen a great many hard +blows pass, could not help remarking, "he had never known such +severe strokes received with so much apparent indifference." + +"Hout tout, man--I would never be making a humdudgeon [*Fuss] about +a scart on the pow-but we'll be in Scotland in five minutes now, +and ye maun gang up to Charlies-hope wi' me, that's a clear case." + +Brown readily accepted the offered hospitality. Night was now +falling, when they came in sight of a pretty river winding its way +through a pastoral country. The hills were greener and more abrupt +than those which Brown had lately passed, sinking their grassy +sides, at once upon the river. They had no pretensions to +magnificence of height, or to romantic shapes, nor did their smooth +swelling slopes exhibit either rocks or woods. Yet the view was +wild, solitary, and pleasingly rural. No enclosures, no roads, +almost no tillage--it seemed a land which a patriarch would have +chosen to feed his flocks and herds. The remains of here and there +a dismantled and ruined tower, showed that it had once harboured +beings of a very different description from its present +inhabitants; those free-booters, namely, to whose exploits the wars +between England and Scotland bear witness. Descending by. a path +towards a well-known ford, Dumple crossed the small river, and then +quickening his pace, trotted about a mile briskly up its banks, and +approached two or three low thatched, houses, placed with their +angles to each other, with a great contempt of regularity. This +was the farm-steading of Charlies-hope, or, in the language of the +country, "the Town." A most furious barking was set up at their +approach, by the whole three generations of Mustard and Pepper, and +a number of allies, names unknown. The farmer made his well-known +voice lustily heard to restore order--the door opened, and a +half-dressed ewe-milker, who had done that good office, shut it in +their faces, in order that she might run ben the house, to cry, +"Mistress, mistress, it's the master, and another man wi' him." +Dumple, turned loose, walked to his own stable-door, and there +pawed and whinnied for admission, in strains which were answered by +his acquaintances from the interior. Amid this bustle, Brown was +fain to secure Wasp from the other dogs, who, with ardour +corresponding more to their own names than to the hospitable temper +of their owner, were much disposed to use the intruder roughly. + +In about a minute a stout labourer was patting Dumple, and +introducing him into the stable, while Mrs. Dinmont, a +well-favoured buxom dame, welcomed her husband [*See Note II. +Dandie Dinmont] with unfeigned rapture. "Eh, sirs! gudeman, ye +hae been a weary while away!" + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Liddell till now, except in Doric lays, + Tuned to her murmurs by her love-sick swains, + Unknown in song--though not a purer stream + Rolls towards the western main. + Art of Preserving Health. + +The present store-farmers of the south of Scotland are a much more +refined race than their fathers, and the manners I am now to +describe have either altogether disappeared, or are greatly +modified. Without losing the rural simplicity of manners, they now +cultivate arts unknown to the former generation, not only in the +progressive improvement of their possessions, but in all the +comforts of life. Their houses are more commodious, their habits +of life regulated so as better to keep pace with those of the +civilised world, and the best of luxuries, the luxury of knowledge, +has gained much ground among their hills during the last thirty +years. Deep drinking, formerly their greatest failing, is now fast +losing ground; and, while the frankness of their extensive +hospitality continues the same, it is, generally speaking, refined +in its character, and restrained in its excesses. + +"Deil's in the wife," said Dandie Dinmont, shaking off his spouse's +embrace, but gently and with a look of great affection;--"deil's in +ye, Ailie--d'ye no see the stranger gentleman?" + +Ailie turned to make her apology--"Troth, I was sae weel pleased to +see the gudeman, that--But, gude gracious! what's the matter wi' +ye baith?"--for they were now in her little parlour, and the candle +showed the streaks of blood which Dinmont's wounded head had +plentifully imparted to the clothes of his companion as well as to +his own. "Ye've been fighting again, Dandie, wi' some o' the +Bewcastle horse-coupers! Wow, man, a married man, a bonny family +like yours, should ken better what a father's life's worth in the +warld."--The tears stood in the good woman's eyes as she spoke. + +"Whisht! whisht! gudewife," said her husband, with a smack that had +much more affection than ceremony in it; "never mind--never +mind--there's a gentleman that will tell you, that just when I had +ga'en up to Lourie Lowther's, and had bidden the drinking of twa +cheerers, and gotten just in again upon the moss, and was whigging +cannily [*Cautiously] awa hame, twa land-loupers jumpit out of a +peat-bog on me as I was thinking, and got me down, and knevelled +[*Beat] me sair aneuch, or I could gar my whip walk about their +lugs--and troth, gudewife, if this honest gentleman hadna come +up, I would have gotten mair licks than I like, and lost mair +siller than I could weel spare; so ye maun be thankful to him for +it, under God." With that he drew from his side-pocket a large +greasy leather pocket-book, and bade the gudewife lock it up in her +kist. [*Chest] + +"God bless the gentleman, and e'en God bless him wi' a' my +heart--but what can we do for him, but to gie him the meat and +quarters we wadna refuse to the poorest body on earth--unless +(her eye directed to the pocket-book, but with a feeling of natural +propriety which made the inference the most delicate possible), +unless there was ony other way--" Brown saw, and estimated at its +due rate, the mixture of simplicity and grateful generosity which +took the downright way of expressing itself, yet qualified with so +much delicacy; he was aware his own appearance, plain at best, and +now torn and spattered with blood, made him an object of pity at +least, and perhaps of charity. He hastened to say his name was +Brown, a captain in the--regiment of cavalry, travelling for +pleasure, and on foot, both from motives of independence and +economy and he begged his kind landlady would look at her husband's +wounds, the state of which he had refused to permit him to +examine. Mrs. Dinmont was used to her husband's broken beads more +than to the presence of a captain of dragoons. She therefore +glanced at a tablecloth not quite clean, and conned over her +proposed supper a minute or two, before, patting her husband on the +shoulder, she bade him sit down for "a hard-headed loon, that was +aye bringing himself and other folk into collie-shangies." +[*Quarrels] + +When Dandie Dinmont, after executing two or three caprioles, and +cutting the Highland fling, by way of ridicule of his wife's +anxiety, at last deigned to sit down, and commit his round, black, +shaggy bullet of a head to her inspection, Brown thought he had +seen the regimental surgeon look grave upon a more trifling case. +The gudewife, however, showed some knowledge of chirurgery--she cut +away with her scissors the gory locks, whose stiffened and +coagulated clusters interfered with her operations, and clapped on +the wound some lint besmeared with a vulnerary salve, esteemed +sovereign by the whole dale (which afforded upon Fair nights +considerable experience of such cases)--she then fixed her plaster +with a bandage, and, spite of her patient's resistance, pulled over +all a nightcap, to keep everything in its right place. Some +contusions on the brow and shoulders she fomented with brandy, +which the patient did not permit till the medicine had paid a heavy +toll to his mouth. Mrs. Dinmont then simply, but kindly, offered +her assistance to Brown. + +He assured her he had no occasion for anything but the +accommodation of a basin and towel. + +"And that's what I should have thought of sooner," she said; "and I +did think o't, but I durst na open the door, for there's a' the +bairns, poor things, sae keen to see their father." + +This explained a great drumming and whining at the door of the +little parlour, which had somewhat surprised Brown, though his kind +landlady had only noticed it by fastening the bolt as soon as she +heard it begin. But on her opening the door to seek the basin and +towel (for she never thought of showing the guest to a separate +room), a whole tide of white-headed urchins streamed in, some from +the stable, where they had been seeing Dumple, and giving him a +welcome home with part of their four-hours scones; others from the +kitchen, where they had been listening to auld Elspeth's tales and +ballads; and the youngest half naked, out of bed, all roaring to +see daddy, and to inquire what he had brought home for them from +the various fairs he had visited in his peregrinations. Our knight +of the broken head first kissed and hugged them all round, then +distributed whistles, penny-trumpets, and Gingerbread, and, lastly, +when the tumult of their joy and welcome got beyond bearing, +exclaimed to his guest--"This is a' the gudewife's fault, +Captain--she will gie the bairns a' their ain way." + +"Me! Lord help me," said Ailie, who at that instant entered with +the basin and ewer, "how can I help it?--I have naething else to +gie them, poor things!" + +Dinmont then exerted himself, and, between coaxing, threats, and +shoving, cleared the room of all the intruders, excepting a boy and +girl, the two eldest of the family, who could, as he observed, +behave themselves "distinctly." For the same reason, but with less +ceremony, all the dogs were kicked out, excepting the venerable +patriarchs, old Pepper and Mustard, whom frequent castigation and +the advance of years had inspired with such a share of passive +hospitality, that, after mutual explanation and remonstrance in the +shape of some growling, they admitted Wasp, who had hitherto judged +it safe to keep beneath his master's chair, to a share of a dried +wedder's skin, which, with the wool uppermost and unshorn, served +all the purposes of a Bristol hearth-rug. + +The active bustle of the mistress (so she was called in the +kitchen, and the gudewife in the parlour) had already signed the +fate of a couple of fowls, which, for want of time to dress them +otherwise, soon appeared reeking from the gridiron-or brander, as +Mrs. Dinmont denominated it. A huge piece of cold beef-ham, eggs, +butter, cakes, and barley-meal bannocks in plenty, made up the +entertainment, which was to be diluted with home-brewed ale of +excellent quality, and a case-bottle of brandy. Few soldiers would +find fault with such cheer after a day's hard exercise, and a +skirmish to boot; accordingly Brown did. great honour to the +eatables. While the gudewife partly aided, partly instructed, a +great stout servant girl, with cheeks as red as her top-knot, to +remove the supper matters, and supply sugar and hot water (which, +in the damsel's anxiety to gaze upon an actual live captain, she +was in some danger of forgetting), Brown took an opportunity to ask +his host whether he did not repent of having neglected the gipsy's +hint. + +"Wha kens?" answered he;" they're queer deevils;--maybe I might +just have 'scaped ae gang to' meet the other. And yet I'll no say +that neither; for if that randy wife was coming to Charlies-hope, +she should have a pint bottle o' brandy and a pound o' tobacco to +wear her through the winter. They're queer deevils, as my auld +father used to say-they're warst where they're warst guided. After +a', there's baith guid and ill about the gipsies." + +This, and some other desultory conversation, served as a "I +shoeing-horn" to draw on another cup of ale and another cheerer, as +Dinmont termed it in his country phrase, of brandy-and-water. Brown +then resolutely declined all further conviviality for that evening, +pleading his own weariness and the effects of time skirmish--being +well aware that it would have availed nothing to have remonstrated +with his host on the danger that excess might have occasioned to +his own raw wound and bloody coxcomb. A very small bedroom, but a +very clean bed, received the traveller, and the sheets made good +the courteous vaunt of the hostess, "that they would be as pleasant +as he could find ony gate, for they were washed wi' the fairy-well +water, and bleached on the bonny white gowans, and bittled [*Beaten +with wooden pestle.] by Nelly and herself, and what could woman, +if she was a queen, do mair for them?" + +They indeed rivalled snow in whiteness, and had, besides, a +pleasant fragrance from the manner in which they had been +bleached. Little Wasp, after licking his master's hand to ask +leave, couched himself on the coverlet at his feet; and the +traveller's senses were soon lost in grateful oblivion. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + --Give ye, Britons then Your sportive fury, pitiless to + pour Loose on the nightly robber of the fold. Him from + his craggy winding haunts unearth'd, Let all the thunder of + the chase pursue. + THOMSON'S Seasons. + +Brown rose early in the morning, and walked out to look at the +establishment of his new friend. All was rough and neglected in +the neighbourhood of the house;--a paltry garden, no pains taken to +make the vicinity dry or comfortable, and a total absence of all +those little neatnesses which give the eye so much pleasure in +looking at an English farm-house. There were, notwithstanding, +evident signs that this arose only from want of taste, or +ignorance, not from poverty, or the negligence which attends it. On +the contrary, a noble cow-house, well filled with good milk-cows, a +feeding-house, with ten bullocks of the most approved breed, a +stable, with two good teams of horses, the appearance of domestics, +active, industrious, and apparently contented with their lot; in a +word, an air of liberal though sluttish plenty indicated the +wealthy farmer. The situation of the house above the river formed +a gentle declivity, which relieved the inhabitants of the nuisances +that might otherwise have stagnated around it. At a little +distance was the whole band of children, playing and building +houses with peats around a huge doddered oak-tree, which was called +Charlie's Bush, from some tradition respecting an old freebooter +who had once inhabited the spot. Between the farm-house and the +hill-pasture was a deep morass, termed in that country a slack--it +had once been the defence of a fortalice, of which no vestiges now +remained, but which was said to have been inhabited by the same +doughty hero we have now alluded to. Brown endeavoured to make +some acquaintance with the children, but "the rogues fled from him +like quicksilver"--though the two eldest stood peeping when they +had got to some distance. The traveller then turned his course +towards the hill, crossing the foresaid swamp by a range of +stepping-stones, neither the broadest nor steadiest that could be +imagined. He had not climbed far up the hill when he met a man +descending. + +He soon recognised his worthy host, though a maud, as it is called, +or a gray shepherd's-plaid, supplied his travelling jockey-coat, +and a cap, faced with wild-cat's fur, more commodiously covered his +bandaged head than a hat would have done. As he appeared through +the morning mist, Brown, accustomed to judge of men by their thews +and sinews, could not help admiring his height, the breadth of his +shoulders, and the steady firmness of his step. Dinmont internally +paid the same compliment to Brown, whose athletic form he now +perused somewhat more at leisure than he had done formerly. After +the usual greetings of the morning, the guest inquired whether his +host found any inconvenient consequences from the last night's +affray. + +"I had maist forgotten't," said the hardy Borderer but I think this +morning, now that I am fresh and sober, if you and I were at the +Withershin's Latch, wi' ilka ane a gude oak souple in his hand, we +wadna turn back, no for half a dizzen o' yon scaff-raff." +[*Rabble.] + +"But are you prudent, my good sir," said Brown, "not to take an +hour or two's repose after receiving such severe contusions?" + +"Confusions!" replied the farmer, laughing in derision; "Lord, +Captain, naething confuses my head--I ance jumped up and laid the +dogs on the fox after I had tumbled from the tap o' Christenbury +Craig, and that might have confused me to purpose. Na, naething +confuses me, unless it be a screed o' drink at an orra +[*Occasional] time. Besides, I behooved to be round the hirsel +this morning, and see how the herds were coming on--they're apt to +be negligent wi' their footballs, and fairs, and trysts, when ane's +away. And there I met wi' Tam o' Todshaw, and a wheen o' the rest +o' the billies on the water side; they're a' for a fox-hunt this +morning,--ye'll gang? I'll gie ye Dumple, and take the brood mare +mysell." + +"But I fear I must leave you this morning, Mr. Dinmont," replied +Brown. + +"The fient a bit o' that," exclaimed the Borderer--"I'll no part wi' +ye at ony rate for a fortnight mair--Na, na; we dinna meet sic +friends as you on a Bewcastle moss every night." + +Brown had not designed his journey should be a speedy one; he +therefore readily compounded with this hearty invitation, by +agreeing to pass a week at Charlies-hope. + +On their return to the house, where the gudewife presided over an +ample breakfast, she heard news of the proposed fox-hunt, not +indeed with approbation, but without alarm or surprise. "Dand! +ye're the auld man yet--naething will make ye take warning till +ye're brought hame some day wi' your feet foremost." + +"Tut, lass" answered Dandie, "ye ken yourself I am never a prin +the waur [*a pin the worse.] o' my rambles." + +So saying, he exhorted Brown to be hasty in despatching his +breakfast, as, "the frost having given way, the scent would lie +this morning primely." + +Out they sallied accordingly for Otterscopescaurs, the farmer +leading the way. They soon quitted the little valley, and involved +themselves among hills as steep as they could be without being +precipitous. The sides often presented gullies, down which, in the +winter season, or after heavy rain, the torrents descended with +great fury. Some dappled mists still floated along the peaks of the +hills, the remains of the morning clouds, for the frost had broken +up with a smart shower. Through these fleecy screens Were seen a +hundred little temporary streamlets, or rills, descending the sides +of the mountains like silver threads. By small sheep-tracks along +these steeps, over which Dinmont trotted with the most fearless +confidence, they at length drew near the scene of sport, and began +to see other men, both on horse and foot, making toward the place +of rendezvous. Brown was puzzling himself to conceive how a +fox-chase could take place among hills, where it was barely +possible for a pony, accustomed to the ground, to trot along, but +where, quitting the track for half a yard's breadth, the rider +might be either bogged, or precipitated down the bank This wonder +was not diminished when he came to the place of action. + +They had gradually ascended very high, and now found themselves on +a mountain ridge, overhanging a glen of great depth, but extremely +narrow. Here the sportsmen had collected, with an apparatus which +would have shocked a member of the Pychely Hunt; for, the object +being the removal of a noxious and destructive animal, as well as +the pleasures of the chase, poor Reynard was allowed much less fair +play than when pursued in form through an open country. The +strength of his habitation, however, and the nature of the ground +by which it was surrounded on all sides, supplied what was wanting +in the courtesy of his pursuers. The sides of the glen were broken +banks of earth, and rocks of rotten stone, which sunk sheer down to +the little winding stream below, affording here and there a tuft +of scathed brushwood, or a patch of furze. Along the edges of this +ravine, which, as we have said, was very narrow, but of profound +depth, the hunters on horse and foot ranged themselves; almost +every farmer had with him; it least a, brace of large and fierce +greyhounds, of the race of those deer-dogs which were formerly used +in that country, but greatly lessened in size from being crossed +with the common breed. The huntsman, a sort of provincial officer +of the district, who receives a certain supply of meal, and a +reward for every fox he destroys, was already at the bottom of the +dell, whose echoes thundered to the chiding of two or three brace +of fox-hounds. Terriers, including the whole generation of Pepper +and Mustard, were also in attendance, having been sent forward +under the care of a shepherd. Mongrel, whelp, and cur of low +degree, filled up the burden of the chorus. The spectators on the +brink of the ravine, or glen, held their greyhounds in leash in +readiness to slip them at the fox, as soon as the activity of the +party below should force him to abandon his cover. + +The scene, though uncouth to the eye of a professed sportsman, had +something in it wildly captivating. The shifting figures on the +mountain ridge, having the sky for their background, appeared to +move in the air. The dogs, impatient of their restraint, and +maddened with the baying beneath, sprung here and there, and +strained at the slips, which prevented them from joining their +companions. Looking down, the view was equally striking. The thin +mists were not totally dispersed in the glen, so that it was often +through their gauzy medium that the eye strove to discover the +motions of the hunters below. Sometimes a breath of wind made the +scene visible, the blue rill glittering as it twined itself through +its rude and solitary dell. They then could see the shepherds +springing with fearless activity from one dangerous point to +another, and cheering the dogs on the scent, the whole so +diminished by depth and distance that they looked like pigmies. +Again the mists close over them, and the only signs of their +continued exertions are the halloos of the men, and the clamours of +the hounds, ascending as it were out of the bowels of the earth. +When the fox, thus persecuted from one stronghold to another, was +at length obliged to abandon his valley, and to break away for a +more distant retreat, those who watched his motions' from the top +slipped their greyhounds, which, excelling the fox in swiftness, +and equalling him in ferocity and spirit, soon brought the +plunderer to his life's end. + +In this way, without any attention to the ordinary rules and +decorums of sport, but apparently as much to the gratification bath +of bipeds and quadrupeds as if all due ritual had been followed, +four foxes were killed on this active morning; and even Brown +himself, though he had seen the princely reports of India, and +ridden a-tiger-hunting upon an elephant with the Nabob of Arcot, +professed to have received an excellent morning's amusement. When +the sport was given up for the day, most of the sportsmen, +according to the established hospitality of the country, went to +dine at Charlies-hope. + +During their return homeward, Brown rode for a short time beside +the Huntsman, and asked him some questions concerning the mode in +which he exercised his profession. The man showed an unwillingness +to meet his eye, and a disposition to be rid of his company and +conversation, for which Brown could not easily account. He was a +thin, dark, active fellow, well framed for the hardy profession +which he exercised. But his face had not the frankness of the +jolly hunter; he was down-looked, embarrassed, and avoided the eyes +of those who looked hard at him. After some unimportant +observations on the success of the day, Brown gave him a trifling +gratuity, and rode on with his landlord. They found the gudewife +prepared for their reception--the fold and the poultry-yard +furnished the entertainment, and the kind and hearty welcome made +amends for all deficiencies in elegance and fashion. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + The Elliots and Armstrongs did convene, + They were a gallant company. + Ballad of Johnnie Armstrong. + +WITHOUT noticing the occupations of an intervening day or two, +which, as they consisted of the ordinary silvan amusements of +shooting and coursing, have nothing sufficiently interesting to +detain the reader, we pass to one in some degree peculiar to +Scotland, which may be called a sort of salmon-hunting. This +long-shafted trident called a waster, [*Or leister. The long spear +is used for striking; but there is a shorter, which is cast from +the hand, and with which an experienced sportsman hits the fish +with singular dexterity.] is much practised at the mouth of the +Esk, and in the other salmon rivers of Scotland. The sport is +followed by day and night, but most commonly in the latter, when +the fish are discovered by means of torches, or fire-grates, filled +with blazing fragments of tar-barrels, which shed a strong though +partial light upon the water. On the present occasion, the +principal party were embarked in a crazy boat upon a part of the +river which was enlarged and deepened by the restraint of a +mill-wear, while others, like the ancient Bacchanals in their +gambols, ran along the banks, brandishing their torches and spears, +and pursuing the salmon, some of which endeavoured to escape up the +stream, while others, shrouding themselves under roots of trees, +fragments of stones, and large rocks, attempted to conceal +themselves from the researches of the fishermen. These the party in +the boat detected by the slightest indications; the twinkling of a +fin, the rising of an air-bell, was sufficient to point out to +these adroit sportsmen in what direction to use their weapon. + +The scene was inexpressibly animating to those accustomed to it; +but as Brown was not practised to use the spear, he soon tired of +making efforts, which were attended with no other consequences than +jarring his arms against the rocks at the bottom of the river, upon +which, instead of the devoted salmon, he often bestowed his blow. +Nor did he relish, though he concealed feelings which would not +have been understood, being quite so near the agonies of the +expiring salmon, as they lay flapping about in the boat, which they +moistened with their blood. He therefore requested to be put +ashore, and, from the top of a heugh or broken bank, enjoyed the +scene much more to his satisfaction. Often he thought of his +friend Dudley the artist, when he observed the effect produced by +the strong red glare on the romantic banks under which the boat +glided. Now the light diminished to a distant star that seemed to +twinkle on the waters, like those which, according to the legends +of the country, the water-kelpy sends for the purpose of indicating +the watery grave of his victims. Then it advanced nearer, +brightening and enlarging as it again approached, till the broad +flickering flame rendered bank, and rock, and tree, visible as it +passed, tinging them with its own red glare of dusky light, and +resigning them gradually to darkness, or to pale moonlight, as it +receded. By this light also were seen the figures in the boat, now +holding high their weapons, now stooping to strike, now standing +upright, bronzed, by the same red glare, into a colour which might +have befitted the regions of Pandemonium. + +Having amused himself for some time with these effects of light and +shadow, Brown strolled homewards towards the farmhouse, gazing in +his way at the persons engaged in the sport, two or three of whom +are generally kept together, one holding the torch, the others with +their spears, ready to avail themselves of the light it affords to +strike their prey. As he observed one man struggling with a very +weighty salmon which he had speared, but was unable completely to +raise from the water, Brown advanced close to the bank to see the +issue of his exertions. The man who held the torch in this +instance was the huntsman, whose sulky demeanour Brown had already +noticed with surprise.--"Come here, sir! come here, sir! look at +this ane! He turns up a side like a sow."--Such was the cry from +the assistants when some of them observed Brown advancing. + +"Ground the waster weel, man! ground the waster weel!--haud him +down--ye haena the pith o' a cat"--were the cries of advice, +encouragement, and expostulation, from those who were on the bank, +to the sportsman engaged with the salmon, who stood up to his +middle in water, jingling among broken ice, struggling against the +force of the fish and the strength of the current, and dubious in +what manner he should attempt to secure his booty. As Brown came +to the edge of the bank, he called out--"Hold up your torch, friend +huntsman!" for he had already distinguished his dusky features by +the strong light cast upon them by the blaze. But the fellow no +sooner heard his voice, and saw, or rather concluded, it was Brown +who approached him, than, instead of advancing his light, he let it +drop, as if accidentally, into the water. + +"The deil's in Gabriel said the spearman, as the fragments of +glowing wood floated half blazing, half sparkling, but soon +extinguished, down the stream--the deil's in the man! --I'll +never master him without the light--and a braver kipper, could I +but land him, never reisted abune a pair o' cleeks." [*See Note +III. Lum Cleeks.]--Some dashed into the water to lend their +assistance, and the fish, which was afterwards found to weigh +nearly thirty pounds, was landed in safety. + +The behaviour of the huntsman struck Brown, although he had no +recollection of his face, nor could conceive why he should, as it +appeared he evidently did, shun his observation.--Could he be one +of the footpads he had encountered a few days before?--The +supposition was not altogether improbable, although unwarranted by +any observation he was able to make upon the man's figure and +face. To be sure the villains wore their hats much slouched, and +had loose coats, and their size was not in any way so peculiarly +discriminated as to enable him to resort to that criterion. He +resolved to speak to his host Dinmont on the subject, but for +obvious reasons concluded it were best to defer the explanation +until a cool hour in the morning. + +The sportsmen returned loaded with fish, upwards of one hundred +salmon having been killed within the range of their sport. The +best were selected for the use of the principal farmers, the others +divided among their shepherds, cottars, dependants, and others of +inferior rank who attended. These fish, dried in the turf smoke of +their cabins, or shealings, formed a savoury addition to the mess +of potatoes, mixed with onions, which was the principal part of +their winter food. In the meanwhile a liberal distribution of ale +and whisky was made among them, besides what was called a kettle of +fish,--two or three salmon, namely, plunged into a cauldron, and +boiled for their supper. Brown accompanied his jolly landlord and +the rest of his friends into the large and smoky kitchen, where +this savoury mess reeked on an oaken table, massive enough to have +dined Johnnie Armstrong and his merry men. All was hearty cheer +and huzza, and jest and clamorous laughter, and bragging +alternately, and raillery between whiles. Our traveller looked +earnestly around for the dark countenance of the fox-hunter; but it +was nowhere to be seen. + +At length he hazarded a question concerning him. "That was an +awkward accident, my lads, of one of you, who dropped his torch in +the water when his companion was struggling with the large fish." + +"Awkward!" returned a shepherd, looking up (the same stout young +fellow who had speared the salmon), "he deserved his paikes +[*Punishment] for't--to put out the light when the fish was on +ane's witters! [*The barbs of the spear]--I'm well convinced +Gabriel drapped the roughies [*When dry splinters, or branches, are +used as fuel to supply the light for burning the water, as it is +called, they are termed, as in the text, Roughies. When rags, +dipped in tar, are employed, they are called Hards, probably from +the French.] in the water on purpose-he doesna like to see onybody +do a thing better than himself." + +"Ay," said another, "he's sair shamed o' himself, else he would +have been up here the night--Gabriel likes a little o' the gude +thing as weel as ony o' us." + +"Is he of this country?" said Brown. + +"Na, na, he's been but shortly in office, but he's a fell +hunter-he's frae down the country, some gate on the Dumfries side." + +"And what's his name, pray?" + +"Gabriel." + +"But Gabriel what?" + +"Oh, Lord kens that; we dinna mind folk's after-names muckle here, +they run sae muckle into clans." + +"Ye see, sir," said an old shepherd, rising, and speaking very +slow, "the folks hereabout are a' Armstrongs and Elliats, [* See +Note IV. Clan Surnames.] and sic like--twa or three given +names--and so, for distinction's sake, the lairds and farmers have +the names of their places that they live at--as for example, Tam o' +Todshaw, Will o' the Flat, Hobbie o' Sorbietrees, and our good +master here, o' the Charlies-hope.--Aweel, sir, and then the +inferior sort o' people, ye'll observe, are kend by sorts o' +by-names some o' them, as Glaiket Christie, and the Deuke's Davie, +or maybe, like this lad Gabriel, by his employment; as for example, +Tod Gabble, or Hunter Gabble. He's no been lang here, sir, and I +dinna think onybody kens him by ony other name. But it's no right +to rin him doun ahint his back, for he's a fell fox-hunter, though +he's maybe no just sae clever as some o' the folk hereawa wi' the +waster." + +After some further desultory conversation, the superior sportsmen +retired to conclude the evening after their own manner, leaving the +others to enjoy themselves, unawed by their presence. That +evening, like all those which Brown had passed at Charlies-hope, +was spent in much innocent mirth and conviviality. The latter +might have approached to the verge of riot but for the good women; +for several of the neighbouring mistresses (a phrase of a +signification how different from what it bears in more fashionable +life!) had assembled at Charliesl hope to witness the event of this +memorable evening. Finding the punch-bowl was so often +replenished, that there was some danger of their gracious presence +being forgotten, they rushed in valorously upon the recreant +revellers, headed by our good Mistress Ailie, so that Venus +speedily routed Bacchus. The fiddler and piper next made their +appearance, and the best part of the night was gallantly consumed +in dancing to their music. + +An otter-hunt the next day, and a badger-baiting the day after, +consumed the time merrily.--I hope our traveller will not sink in +the reader's estimation, sportsman though he may be, when I inform +him, that on this last occasion, after young Pepper had lost a +fore-foot, and Mustard the second had been nearly throttled, he +begged, as a particular and personal favour of Mr. Dinmont, that +the poor badger, who had made so gallant a defence, should he +permitted to retire to his earth without further molestation. + +The farmer, who would probably have treated this request with +supreme contempt had it come from any other person, was contented, +in Brown's case, to express the utter extremity of his wonder. +"Weel," he said, "that's queer aneugh!--But since ye take his +part, deil a tyke shall meddle wi' him mair in my day--we'll e'en +mark him, and ca' him the Captain's brock-and I'm sure I'm glad I +can do onything to oblige you--but, Lord save us, to care about a +brock!" [*Badger] After a week spent in rural sport, and +distinguished by the most frank attentions on the part of his +honest landlord, Brown bade adieu to the banks of the Liddel, and +the hospitality of Charlies-hope. The children, with all of whom +he had now become an intimate and a favourite, roared manfully in +full chorus at his departure, and he was obliged to promise twenty +times, that he would soon return and play over all their favourite +tunes upon the flageolet till they had got them by heart.--"Come +back again, Captain," said one little sturdy fellow, "and Jenny +will be your wife." Jenny was about eleven years old--she ran and +hid herself behind her mammy. + +"Captain, come back," said a little fat roll-about girl of six, +holding her mouth up to be kissed, "and I'll be your wife my +ainsell." + +"They must be of harder mould than I," thought Brown, "who could +part from so many kind hearts with indifference. "The good dame +too, with matron modesty, and an affectionate simplicity that +marked the olden time, offered her cheek to the departing +guest--"It's little the like of us can do," she said, "little +indeed--but yet--if there were but anything--" + +"Now, my dear Mrs. Dinmont, you embolden me to make a +request--would you but have the kindness to weave me, or work me, +just such a gray plaid as the goodman wears?" He had learned the +language and feelings of the country even during the short time of +his residence, and was aware of the pleasure the request would +confer. + +"A tait o' woo' [*Tuft of wool] would be scarce amang us," said +the gudewife, brightening, "if ye shouldna hae that, and as gude a +tweel as ever cam aff a pirn. I'll speak to Johnnie Goodsire, the +weaver at the Castletown, the morn. Fare ye wee], sir!--and may ye +be just as happy yourself as ye like to see a' body else--and that +would be a sair wish to some folk." I must not omit to mention, +that our traveller left his trusty attendant Wasp to be a guest at +Charlies-hope for a season. He foresaw that he might prove a +troublesome attendant in the event of his being in any situation +where secrecy and concealment might he necessary. He, was therefore +consigned to the care of the eldest boy, who promised, in the words +of the old song, that he should have A bit of his supper, a bit of +his bed, and that he should be engaged in none of those perilous +pastimes in which the race of Mustard and Pepper had suffered +frequent mutilation. Brown now prepared for his journey, having +taken a temporary farewell of his trusty little companion. + +There is an old prejudice in these hills in favour of riding. Every +farmer rides well, and rides the whole day. Probably the extent of +their large pasture farms, and the necessity of surveying them +rapidly, first introduced this custom; or a very zealous antiquary +might derive it from the times of the Lay o the Last Minstrel, when +twenty thousand horsemen assembled at the light of the +beacon-fires. [*It would be affectation to alter this reference. +But the reader will understand it was inserted to keep up the +author's incognito, as he was not likely to be suspected of quoting +his own works. This explanation is also applicable to one or two +similar passages, in this and the other novels, introduced for the +same reason.] But the truth is undeniable; they like to be on +horseback, and can be with difficulty convinced that any one +chooses walking from other motives than those of convenience or +necessity. Accordingly, Dinmont insisted upon mounting his guest, +and accompanying him on horseback as far as the nearest town in +Dumfriesshire, where he had directed his baggage to be sent, and +from which he proposed to pursue his intended journey towards +Woodbourne, the residence of Julia Mannering. + +Upon the way he questioned his companion concerning the character +of the fox-hunter; but gained little information, as he had been +called to that office while Dinmont was making the round of the +Highland fairs. "He was a shake-rag like fellow," he said, "and, +he dared to say, had gipsy blood in his veins--but at ony rate he +was nane o' the smacks [*Rogues] that had been on their quarters +in the moss--he would ken them weel if he saw them again. There +are some no bad folk amang the gipsies too, to be sic a gang," +added Dandie; "if ever I see that auld randle-tree of a wife again, +I'll gie her something to buy tobacco--I have a great notion she +meant me very fair after a'." + +When they were about finally to part, the good farmer held Brown +long by the hand, and at length said, "Captain, the woo's sae weel +up the year that it's paid a' the rent, and we have naething to do +wi' the rest o' the siller when Ailie has had her new gown, and the +bairns their bits o' duds [*Clothes]--now I was thinking of some +safe hand to put it into, for it's ower muckle to ware on brandy +and sugar--now I have heard that you army gentlemen can sometimes +buy yoursells up a step; and if a hundred or twa would help ye on +such an occasion, the bit scrape o' your pen would be as good to me +as the siller, and ye might just take yere ane time o' settling +it--it wad be a great convenience to me." Brown, who felt the full +delicacy that wished to disguise the conferring an obligation under +the show of asking a favour, thanked his grateful friend most +heartily, and assured him he would have recourse to his purse, +without scruple, should circumstances ever render it convenient for +him. And thus they parted with many expressions of mutual regard. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + If thou hast any love of mercy in thee, + Turn me upon my face that I may die. + Joanna Baillie. + +Our traveller hired a post-chaise at the place where he separated +from Dinmont, with the purpose of proceeding to Kippletringan, +there to inquire into the state of the family at Woodbourne, before +he should venture to make his presence in the country known to Miss +Mannering. The stage was a long one of eighteen or twenty miles, +and the road lay across the country. To add to the inconveniences +of the journey, the snow began to fall pretty quickly. The +postilion, however, proceeded on his journey for a good many miles, +without expressing doubt or hesitation. It was not until the night +was completely set in that he intimated his apprehensions whether +he was in the right road. The increasing snow rendered this +intimation rather alarming, for as it drove full in the lad's face, +and lay whitening all around him, it served in two different ways +to confuse his knowledge of the count and to diminish the chance +of his recovering the right track. Brown then himself got out and +looked round, not, it may be well imagined, from any better hope +than that of seeing some house at which he might make inquiry. But +none appeared--he could therefore only tell the lad to drive +steadily on. The road on which they were, ran through plantations +of considerable extent and depth, and the traveller therefore +conjectured that there must be a gentleman's house at no great +distance. At length, after struggling wearily on for about a mile, +the post-boy stopped, and protested his horses would not budge a +foot farther "but he saw," he said, "a light among the trees, which +must proceed from a house; the only way was to inquire the road +there." Accordingly, he dismounted, heavily encumbered with a long +greatcoat, and a pair of boots which might have rivalled in +thickness the sevenfold shield of Ajax. As in this guise he was +plodding forth upon his voyage of discovery, Brown's impatience +prevailed, and, jumping out of the carriage, he desired the lad to +stop where he was, by the horses, and he would himself go to the +house--a command which the driver most joyfully obeyed. + +Our traveller groped along the side of the enclosure from which the +light glimmered, in order to find some mode of approaching in that +direction, and after proceeding for some space, at length found a +stile in the hedge, and a pathway leading into the plantation, +which in that place was of great extent. This promised to lead to +the light which was the object of his search, and accordingly Brown +proceeded in that direction, but soon totally lost sight, of it +among the trees. The path, which at first seemed broad and well +marked by the opening of the wood through which it winded, was now +less easily distinguishable, although the whiteness of the snow +afforded some reflected light to assist his search. Directing +himself as much as possible through the more open parts of the +wood, he proceeded almost a mile without either recovering a view +of the light, or seeing anything resembling a habitation. Still, +however, he thought it best to persevere in that direction. It +must surely have been a light in the hut of a forester, for it +shone too steadily to be the glimmer of an ignis fatuus. The ground +at length became broken, and declined rapidly, and although Brown +conceived he still moved along what had once at least been a +pathway, it was now very unequal, and the snow concealing those +breaches and inequalities, the traveller had one or two falls in +consequence. He began now to think of turning back, especially as +the falling snow, which his impatience had hitherto prevented his +attending to, was coming on thicker and faster. + +Willing, however, to make, a last. effort, he still advanced a +little way, when, to his great delight, he beheld the light +opposite at no great distance, and apparently upon a level with +him. He quickly found that this last appearance was deception, for +the ground continued so rapidly to sink, as made it obvious there +was a deep dell or ravine of some kind, between him and the object +of his search. Taking every precaution to preserve his footing, he +continued to, descend, until he reached the bottom of a very steep +and narrow glen, through which winded a small rivulet, whose course +was then almost choked with snow. He now found himself embarrassed +among the ruins of cottages, whose black gables, rendered more +distinguishable by the contrast with the whitened surface from +which they rose, were still standing; the sidewalls had long since +given way to time, and, piled in shapeless heaps, and covered with +snow offered frequent and embarrassing obstacles to--our +traveller's progress. Still, however, he persevered, crossed the +rivulet, not without some trouble, and at length, by exertions +which became both painful and perilous, ascended its opposite and +very rugged bank, until he came on a level with the building from' +which the gleam proceeded. + +It was difficult, especially by so imperfect a light, to discover +the nature of this edifice; but it seemed a square building of +small size, the upper part of which was totally ruinous. It had, +perhaps, been the abode, in former. times, of some lesser +proprietor, or a place of strength and concealment, in case of +need, for one of greater importance. But only the lower vault +remained, the arch of which formed the roof in the present state of +the building. Brown first approached the place from whence the +light proceeded, which was a long narrow slit or loophole, such as +usually are to be found in old castles. Impelled by curiosity to +reconnoitre the interior of this strange place before he entered, +Brown gazed in at this aperture. A scene of greater desolation +could not well be imagined. There was a fire upon the floor, the +smoke of which, after circling through the apartment, escaped by a +hole broken in the arch above. The walls, seen by this smoky +light, had the rude and waste appearance of a ruin of three +centuries old at least. A cask or two, with some broken boxes and +packages, lay about the place in confusion. But the inmates +chiefly occupied Brown's attention. Upon a lair composed of straw +with a blanket stretched over it, lay a figure, so stilly that, +except that it was not dressed in the ordinary habiliments of the +grave, Brown would have concluded it to be a corpse. On a steadier +view he perceived it was only on the point of becoming so, for he +heard one or two of these low, deep, and hard-drawn sighs, that +precede dissolution when the frame is tenacious of life. A female +figure, dressed in a long cloak, sat on a stone by this miserable +couch; her elbows rested upon her knees, and her face, averted from +the light of an iron lamp beside her, was bent upon that of the +dying person. She moistened his mouth from time to time with some +liquid, and between whiles sung, in a low monotonous cadence, one +of those prayers, or rather spells, which, in some parts of +Scotland and the north of England, are used by the vulgar and +ignorant to speed the passage of a parting spirit, like the +tolling, of the bell in catholic days. She accompanied this dismal +sound with a slow rocking motion of her body to and fro, as if to +keep time with her song. The words ran nearly thus-- + + Wasted, weary, wherefore stay, + Wrestling thus with earth and clay? + From the body pass away;-- + Hark! the mass is singing, + + From thee doff thy mortal weed, + Mary Mother be thy speed, + Saints to help thee at thy need;-- + Hark! the knell is ringing. + + Fear not snow-drift driving fast + Sleet, or hail, or levin blast; + Soon the shroud shall lap thee fast, + And the sleep be on thee cast + + That shall ne'er know waking. + + Haste thee, haste thee, to be gone, + Earth flits fast, and time draws on,-- + Gasp thy gasp, and groan thy groan, + Day is near the breaking. + +The songstress paused, and was answered by one or two deep and +hollow groans, that seemed to proceed from the very agony of the +mortal strife. "It will not be," she muttered to herself--"He +cannot pass away with that on his mind--it tethers him here-- + + "Heaven cannot abide it, + Earth refuses to hide it." + [*See Note V. Gipsy Superstitions.] + +I must open the door;" and, rising, she faced towards the door of +the apartment, observing heedfully not to turn back her head, and, +withdrawing a bolt or two (for, notwithstanding the miserable +appearance of the place, the door was cautiously secured), she +lifted the latch, saying, + +"Open lock end strife, Come death, and pass life." Brown, who had +by this time moved from his post, stood before her as she opened +the door. She stepped back a pace, and he entered, instantly +recognising, but with no comfortable sensation, the same gipsy +woman whom he had met in Bewcastle. She also knew him at once, and +her attitude, figure, and the anxiety of her countenance assumed +the appearance of the well-disposed ogress of a fairy tale, warning +a stranger not to enter the dangerous castle of her husband. The +first words she spoke (holding up her hands in a reproving manner) +were, "Said I not to ye, Make not, meddle not?--Beware of the +redding straik! [*The redding straik, namely, a blow received by a +peacemaker who interfere betwixt two combatants, to red or separate +them, is proverbially said to be the most dangerous blow a man can +receive.] you are come to no house o' fairstrae [*Natural] +death." So saying, she raised the lamp, and turned its light on the +dying man, whose rude and harsh features were now convulsed with +the last agony. A roll of linen about his head was stained with +blood, which had soaked also through the blankets and the straw. It +was, indeed, under no natural disease that the wretch was +suffering. Brown started back from this horrible object, and, +turning to the gipsy, exclaimed, "Wretched woman, who has done +this?" + +"They that were permitted," answered Meg Merrilies, while she +scanned with a close and keen glance the features of the expiring +man.--"He has had a sair struggle--but it's passing--I kenn'd he +would pass when you came in.--That was the death-ruckle--he's +dead." + +Sounds were now heard at a distance, as of voices. "They are +coming," said she to Brown; "you are a dead man if ye had as mony +lives as hairs." Brown eagerly looked round for some weapon of +defence. There was none near. He then rushed to the door, with +the intention of plunging among the trees, and making his escape by +flight, from what he now esteemed a den of murderers, but Merrilies +held him with a masculine grasp. "Here," she said, "here be still +and you are safe--stir not, whatever you see or hear, and nothing +shall befall you." + +Brown, in these desperate circumstances, remembered this woman's +intimation formerly, and thought he had no chance of safety but in +obeying her. She caused him to couch down among a parcel of straw +on the opposite side of the apartment from the corpse, covered him +carefully, and flung over him two or three old sacks which lay +about the place. Anxious to observe what was to happen, Brown +arranged, as softly as he could, the means of peeping from under +the coverings by which he was hidden, and awaited with a throbbing +heart the issue of this strange and most unpleasant adventure. The +old gipsy, in the meantime, set about arranging the dead body, +composing its limbs, and straightening the arms by its side. "Best +to do this," she muttered, "ere he stiffen." She placed on the dead +man's breast a trencher, with salt sprinkled upon it, set one +candle at the head, and another at the feet of the body, and +lighted both. Then she resumed her song, and awaited the approach +of those whose voices had been heard without. + +Brown was a soldier, and a brave one; but he was also a man, and at +this moment his fears mastered his courage so completely that the +cold drops burst out from every pore. The idea of being dragged out +of his miserable concealment by wretches, whose trade was that of +midnight murder, without weapons or the slightest means of defence, +except entreaties, which would be only their sport, and cries for +help, which could never reach other ear than their own--his +safety entrusted to the precarious compassion of a being associated +with these felons, and whose trade of rapine and imposture must +have hardened her against every human feeling--the bitterness of +his emotions almost choked him. He endeavoured to read in her +withered and dark countenance, as the lamp threw its light upon her +features, something that promised those feelings of compassion, +which, females, even in their most degraded state, can seldom +altogether smother. There was no such touch of humanity about this +woman. The interest, whatever it was, that determined her in his +favour, arose not from the impulse of compassion, but from some +internal, and probably capricious, association of feelings, to +which he had no clew. It rested, perhaps, on a fancied likeness, +such as Lady Macbeth found to her father in the sleeping monarch. +Such were the reflections that passed in rapid succession through +Brown's mind, as he gazed from his hiding-place upon this +extraordinary personage. Meantime the gang did not yet approach, +and he was almost prompted to resume his original intention of +attempting an escape from the hut, and cursed internally his own +irresolution, which had consented to his being cooped up where he +had neither room for resistance nor flight. + +Meg Merrilies seemed equally on the watch. She bent her ear to +every sound that whistled round the old walls. Then she turned +again to the dead body, and found something new to arrange or alter +in its position. "He's a bonny corpse, she muttered to herself, +"and weel worth the streaking."--And in this dismal occupation she +appeared to feel a sort of professional pleasure, entering slowly +into all the minutiae, as if with the skill and feelings of a +connoisseur. A long dark-coloured sea-cloak,--Which she dragged +out of a corner, was disposed for a pall. The face she left bare, +after closing the mouth and eyes, and arranged the capes of the +cloak so as to hide the bloody bandages, and give the body, as she +muttered, a mair decent appearance." + +At once three or four men, equally ruffians in appearance and dress +rushed into the hut. "Meg, ye limb of Satan, how dare you leave +the door open?" was the first salutation of the party. + +"And wha ever heard of a door being barred when a man was in the +dead-thraw?--how d'ye think the spirit was to get awa through bolts +and bars like thae? + +"Is he dead, then?" said one who went to the side of the couch to +look at the body. + +"Ay, ay--dead enough," said another--"but here's what shall give +him a rousing lykewake." So saying, he fetched a keg of spirits +from a corner, while Meg hastened to display pipes and tobacco. +From the activity with which she undertook the task, Brown +conceived good hope of her fidelity towards her guest. It was +obvious that she wished to engage the ruffians in their debauch, to +prevent the discovery which might take place if, by accident, any +of their should approach too nearly the place of Brown's +concealment. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Nor board nor garner own we now, + Nor roof nor latched door, + Nor kind mate, bound by holy vows + To bless a good man's store. + Noon lulls us in a gloomy den, + And night is grown our day; + Uprouse ye, then, my merry men! + And use it as ye may. + JOANNA BAILLIE. + +Brown could now reckon his foes--they were five in number; two of +them were very powerful men, who appeared to be either real seamen, +or strollers who assumed that character; the other three, an old +man and two lads, were slighter made, and, from their black hair +and dark complexion, seemed to belong to Meg's tribe. They passed +from one to another the cup out of which they drank their spirits. +"Here's to his good voyage!" said one of the seamen, drinking; "a +squally night he's got, however, to drift through the sky in." + +We omit here various execrations with which these honest gentlemen +garnished their discourse, retaining only such of their expletives +as are least offensive. + +"'A does not mind wind and weather--'A has had many a north-easter +in his day." + +"He had his last yesterday," said another gruffly; "and now old Meg +may pray for his last fair wind, as she's often done before." + +"I'll pray for nane o' him," said Meg, "nor for you neither, you +randy dog. The times are sair altered since I was a kinchin-mort. +[*Girl.] Men were men then, and fought other in the open field, +and there was nae milling in the darkmans. [*Murder by night.] +And the gentry had kind hearts, and would have given baith lap and +pannel [*Liquor and food] to ony puir gipsy; and there was not +one, from Johnnie Faa the upright man, [*The leader (and greatest +rogue) of the gang.] to little Christie that was in the panniers, +would cloyed a dud [*Stolen a rag] from them. But ye are a' +altered from the gude auld rules, and no wonder that you scour the +cramp-ring, and trine to the cheat [*Get imprisoned and hanged.] +sae often. Yes, ye are a' altered-you'll cat the gudeman's meat, +drink his drink, sleep on the strammel [*Straw] in his barn, and +break his house and cut his throat for his pains! There's blood on +your hands, too, ye dogs--mair than ever came there by fair +fighting. See how ye'll die then--lang it was ere he died--he +strove, and strove sair, and could neither die nor live;--but +you--half the country will see how ye'll grace the woodie." + +The party set up a hoarse laugh at Meg's prophecy. "What made you +come back here, ye auld beldame?" said one of the gipsies; "could +ye not have staid where you were, and spaed fortunes to the +Cumberland flats?--Bing out and tour, [*Go out and watch] ye auld +devil, and see that nobody has scented; that's a' you're good for +now." + +"Is that a' I am good for now?" said the indignant matron. "I was +good for mair than that in the great fight between our folk and +Patrico Salmon's; if I had not helped you with these very fambles +(holding up her hands), Jean Baillie would have frummagem'd you, +[*Throttled you] ye feckless do-little!" + +There was here another laugh at the expense of the hero who had +received this amazon's assistance. + +"Here, mother," said one of the sailors, "here's a cup of the right +for you, and never mind that bully-huff." + +Meg drank the spirits, and, withdrawing herself from further +conversation, sat down before the spot where Brown lay bid, in such +a posture that it would have been difficult for any one to have +approached it without her rising. The men, however, showed no +disposition to disturb her. + +They closed around the fire, and held deep consultation together; +but the low tone in which they spoke, and the cant language which +they used, prevented Brown from understanding much of their +conversation. He gathered in general, that they expressed great +indignation against some individual. "He shall have his +gruel,"--said one, and then whispered something very low into the +ear of his comrade. + +"I'll have nothing to do with that," said the other + +"Are you turned hen-hearted, Jack?" + +"No, by G-d, no more than yourself,--but I won't--it was something +like that stopped all the trade fifteen or twenty years ago you +have heard of the 'Loup'?" + +"I have heard him (indicating the corpse by a jerk of his head) +tell about that job. G-d, how he used to laugh when he showed us +how he fetched him off the perch!" + +"Well, but it did up the trade for one while," said Jack. + +"How should that be?" asked the surly villain. + +"Why," replied Jack, "the people got rusty about it, and would not +deal, and they had bought so many brooms [*Got so many warrants +out] that--" + +"Well for all that," said the other. "I think we should be down +upon the fellow one of these darkmans, and let him get it well." + +"But old Meg's asleep now," said another; "she grows a driveller, +and is afraid of her shadow. She'll sing out, [*To sing out or +whistle in the cage, is when a rogue, being apprehended, peaches +against his comrades.] some of these odd-come-shortlies, if you +,don't look sharp." + +"Never fear," said the old gipsy man Meg's true-bred; she's the +last in the gang that will start--but she has some queer ways, and +often cuts queer words." + +With more of this gibberish, they continued the conversation, +rendering it thus, even to each other, a dark obscure dialect, eked +out by significant nods and signs, but never expressing distinctly, +or in plain language, the subject on which it turned. At length +one of them, observing Meg was still fast asleep, or appeared to be +so, desired one of the lads "to hand in the black Peter, that they +might flick it open." The boy stepped to the door, and brought in +a portmanteau, which Brown instantly recognised for his own. His +thoughts immediately turned to the unfortunate lad he had left with +the carriage. Had the ruffians murdered him? was the horrible +doubt that crossed his mind. The agony of his attention grew yet +keener, and while the villains pulled out and admired the different +articles of his clothes and linen, he eagerly listened for some +indication that might intimate the fate of the postilion. But the +ruffians were too much delighted with their prize, and too much +busied in examining its contents, to enter into any detail +concerning the manner in which they had acquired it. The +portmanteau contained various articles of apparel, a pair of +pistols, a leathern cast with a few papers, and some money, etc. +etc. At any other time it would have provoked Brown excessively to +see the unceremonious manner in which the thieves shared his +property, and made themselves merry at the expense or the owner. +But the moment was too perilous to admit any thoughts but what had +immediate reference to self-preservation. + +After a sufficient scrutiny into the portmanteau, and an equitable +division of its contents, the ruffians applied themselves more +closely to the serious occupation of drinking, in which they spent +the greater part of the night. Brown was for some time in great +hopes that they would drink so deep as to render themselves +insensible, when his escape would have been an easy matter. But +their dangerous trade required precautions inconsistent with such +unlimited indulgence, and they stopped short on this side of +absolute intoxication. Three of them at length composed themselves +to rest, while the fourth watched. He was relieved in--this +duty by one of the others, after a vigil of two hours. When the +second watch had elapsed, the sentinel awakened the whole, who, to +Brown's inexpressible relief, began to make some preparations as if +for departure, bundling up the various articles which each had +appropriated. Still, however, there remained something to be +done. Two of them, after some rummaging, which not a little +alarmed Brown, produced a mattock and shovel, another took a +pickaxe from behind the straw on which the dead body was extended. +With these implements two of them left the hut, and the remaining +three, two of whom were the seamen, very strong men, still remained +in garrison. + +After the space of about half an hour, one of those who had +departed again returned, and whispered the others. They wrapped up +the dead body in the sea-cloak which had served as a pall, and went +out, bearing it along with them. The aged sibyl then arose from +her real or feigned slumbers. She first went to the door, as if for +the purpose of watching the departure of her late inmates, then +returned, and commanded Brown, in a low and stifled voice, to +follow her instantly. He obeyed; but, on leaving the hut, he would +willingly have repossessed himself of his money, or papers at +least, but this she prohibited in the most peremptory manner. It +immediately occurred to him that the suspicion of having removed +anything, of which he might repossess himself, would fall upon this +woman, by whom, in all probability, his life had been saved. He +therefore immediately desisted from his attempt, contenting himself +with seizing a cutlass, which one of the ruffians had flung aside +among the straw. On his feet, and possessed of this weapon, he +already found himself half delivered from the dangers which beset +him. Still, however, he felt stiffened and cramped, both with the +cold, and by the constrained and unaltered position which he had +occupied all night. But as he followed the gipsy from the door of +the hut, the fresh air of the morning, and the action of walking, +restored circulation and activity to his benumbed limbs. + +The pale light of a winter's morning was rendered more clear by the +snow, which was lying all around, crisped by the influence of a +severe frost. Brown cast a hasty glance at the landscape around +him, that he might be able again to know the spot. The little +tower, of which only a single vault remained, forming the dismal +apartment in which he had spent this remarkable night, was perched +on the very point of a projecting rock overhanging the rivulet. It +was accessible only on one side, and that from the ravine or glen +below. On the other three sides the bank was precipitous, so that +Brown had on the preceding evening escaped more dangers than one; +for, if he had attempted to go round the building, which was once +his purpose, he must have been dashed to pieces. The dell was so +narrow that the trees met in some places from the opposite sides. +They were now loaded with snow instead of leaves, and thus formed a +sort of frozen canopy over the rivulet beneath, which was marked by +its darker colour, as it soaked its way obscurely through wreaths +of snow. In one place, where the glen was a little wider, leaving +a small piece of flat ground between the rivulet and the bank, were +situated the ruins of the hamlet in which Brown had been involved +on the preceding evening. The ruined gables, the insides of which +were japanned with turf-smoke, looked yet blacker, contrasted with +the patches of snow which had been driven against them by the wind, +and with the drifts which lay around them. + +Upon this wintry and dismal scene, Brown could only at present cast +a very hasty glance; for his guide, after pausing an instant, as if +to permit him to indulge his curiosity, strode hastily before him +down the path which led into the glen. He observed, with some +feelings of suspicion, that she chose a track already marked by +several feet, which he could only suppose were those of the +depredators who had spent the night in the vault. A moment's +recollection, however, put his suspicions to rest. --It was not +to be thought that the woman, who might have delivered him up to +her gang when in a state totally defenceless, would have suspended +her supposed treachery until he was armed, and in the open air, and +had so many better chances of defence or escape. He therefore +followed his guide in confidence and silence. They crossed the +small brook at the same place where it previously had been passed +by those who had gone before. The footmarks then proceeded through +the ruined village, and from thence down the glen, which again +narrowed to a ravine, after the small opening in which they were +situated. But the gipsy no longer followed the same track: she +turned aside, and led the way by a very rugged and uneven path up +the bank which overhung the village. Although the snow in many +places bid the pathway, and Rendered the footing uncertain and +unsafe, Meg proceeded with a firm and determined step, which +indicated an intimate knowledge of the ground she traversed. At +length they gained the top of the bank, though by a passage so +steep and intricate, that Brown, though convinced it was the same +by which he had descended on the night before, was not a little +surprised how he had accomplished the task without breaking his +neck. Above, the country opened wide and unenclosed for about a +mile or two on the one hand, and on the other were thick +plantations of considerable extent. + +Meg, however, still led the way along the bank of the ravine out of +which they had ascended, until she heard beneath the murmur of +voices. She then pointed to a deep plantation of trees at some +distance. + +"The road to Kippletringan," she said, is on the other side of +these enclosures--Make the speed ye can; there's mair rests on your +life than other folk's. But you have lost all--stay." She +fumbled in an immense pocket, from which she produced a greasy +purse--"Many's the awmous your house has gi'en Meg and hers--and +she has lived to pay it back in a small degree;"--and she placed +the purse in his hand. + +"The woman is insane," thought Brown; but it was no time to debate +the point, for the sounds he heard in the ravine below probably +proceeded from the banditti. "How shall I repay this money," he +said "or how acknowledge the kindness you have done me?" + +"I hae twa boons to crave," answered the sibyl, speaking low and +hastily; one, that you will never speak of what you have seen this +night; the other, that you will not leave this country till you see +me again, and that you leave word at the Gordon Arms where you are +to be heard of; and when I next call for you, be it in church or +market, at wedding or at burial, Sunday or Saturday, meal-time or +fasting, that ye leave everything else and come with me." + +"Why, that will do you little good, mother." + +"But 'twill do yourself muckle, and that's what I'm thinking +o'.--I am not mad, although I have had eneugh to make me sae--I am +not mad, nor doating, nor drunken--I know what I am asking, and I +know it has been the will of God to preserve you in strange +dangers, and that I shall be the instrument to set you in your +father's seat again.--Sae give me your promise, and mind that you +owe your life to me this blessed night." + +"There's wildness in her manner, certainly," thought Brown; "and +yet it is more like the wildness of energy than of madness." + +"Well, mother, since you do ask so useless and trifling a favour, +you have my prornise. It will at least give me an opportunity to +repay your money with additions. You are an uncommon kind of +creditor, no doubt, but--" + +"Away, away, then!" said she, waving her hand. "Think not about +the goud--it's a' your ain; but remember your promise, and do not +dare to follow me or look after me." So saying, she plunged again +into the dell, and descended it with great agility, the icicles and +snow-wreaths showering down after her as she disappeared. + +Notwithstanding her prohibition, Brown endeavoured to gain some +point of the bank from which he might, unseen, gaze down into the +glen and with some difficulty (for it must be conceived that the +utmost caution was necessary), he succeeded. The spot which he +attained for this purpose was the point of a projecting rock, which +rose precipitously from among the trees. By kneeling down among +the snow, and stretching his head cautiously forward, he could +observe what was going on in the bottom of the dell. He saw, as he +expected, his companions of the last night, now joined by two or +three others. They had cleared away the snow from the foot of the +rock, and dug a deep pit, which was designed to serve the purpose +of a grave. Around this they now stood, and lowered into it +something wrapped in a naval cloak, which Brown instantly concluded +to be the dead body of the man he had seen expire. They then stood +silent for half a minute, as if under some touch of feeling for the +loss of their companion. But if they experienced such, they did +not long remain under its influence, for all hands went presently +to work to fill up the grave; and Brown, perceiving that the task +would be soon ended, thought it best to take the gipsy-woman's +hint, and walk as fast as possible until he should gain the shelter +of the plantation. + +Having arrived under cover of the trees, his first thought was of +the gipsy's purse. He had accepted it without hesitation, though +with something like a feeling of degradation, arising from the +character of the person by whom he was thus accommodated. But it +relieved him from a serious though temporary' embarrassment. His +money, excepting a very few shillings, was in his portmanteau, and +that was in possession of Meg's friends. Some time was necessary +to write to his agent, or even to apply to his good host at +Charlies-hope, who would gladly have supplied him. In the +meantime, he resolved to avail himself of Meg's subsidy, confident +he should have a speedy opportunity of replacing it with a handsome +gratuity. "It can be but a trifling sum," he said to himself, "and +I dare say the good lady may have a share of my bank-notes to make +amends." + +With these reflections he opened the leathem purse, expecting to +find at most three or four guineas. But how much was he surprised +to discover that it contained, besides a considerable quantity of +gold pieces, of different coinages and various countries, the joint +amount of which could not be short of a hundred pounds, several +valuable rings and ornaments set with jewels, and, as appeared from +the slight inspection he had time to give them, of very +considerable value. + +Brown was equally astonished and embarrassed by the circumstances +in which he found himself, possesses, as he now appeared to be, of +property to a much greater amount than his own, but which had been +obtained in all probability by the same nefarious means through +which he had himself been plundered. His first thought was to +inquire after the nearest justice of peace, and to place in his +hands the treasure of which he had thus unexpectedly become the +depositary, telling, at the same time, his own remarkable story. +But a moment's consideration brought several objections to this +mode of procedure. In the first place, by observing this course, +he should break his promise of silence, and might probably by that +means involve the safety, perhaps the life, of this woman, who had +risked her own to preserve his, and who had voluntarily endowed him +with this treasure,--a generosity which might thus become the means +of her ruin. This was not to be thought of. Besides, he was a +stranger, and, for a time at least, unprovided with means of +establishing his own character and credit to the satisfaction of a +stupid or obstinate country magistrate.--"I will think over. . +,the matter more maturely," he said; "Perhaps there may be a +regiment quartered at the county town, in which 'case my knowledge +of the service, and acquaintance with many officers of the army, +cannot fail to establish my situation and character by evidence +which a civil judge could not sufficiently estimate.--And then I +shall have the commanding officer's assistance in; managing matters +so as to screen--this unhappy madwoman, whose mistake or prejudice +has been so fortunate for me. A civil magistrate might think +himself obliged to send out warrants for her at once, and the +consequence in case of her being taken is pretty evident. No, she +has been upon honour with me if she were the devil, and I will be +equally upon honour with her--she shall have the privilege of a +court-martial, where the point of honour can qualify strict law. +Besides I may see her at this place, Kipple-Couple--what did she +call it?--and then I can make restitution to her, and e'en let the +law claim its own when it can secure her. In the meanwhile, +however, I cut rather an awkward figure for one who has the honour +to bear his Majesty's commission, being little better than the +receiver of stolen goods." + +With these reflections, Brown took from the gipsy's treasure three +or four guineas, for the purpose of his immediate expenses, and +tying up the rest in the purse which contained them, resolved not +again to open it, until he could either restore it to her by whom +it was given, or put it into the hands of some public functionary. +He next thought of the cutlass, and his first impulse was to leave +it in the plantation. But when he considered the risk of meeting +with these ruffians, he could not resolve on parting with his +arms. His walking-dress, though plain, had so much of a military +character as suited not amiss with his having such a weapon. +Besides, though the custom of wearing swords by persons out of +uniform had been gradually becoming antiquated, it was not yet so +totally forgotten as to occasion any particular remark towards +those who chose to adhere to it. Retaining, therefore, his weapon +of defence, and placing the purse of the gipsy in a private pocket, +our traveller strode gallantly on through the wood in search of the +promised high road. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence, + We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, + Have with our needles created both one flower, + Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, + Both warbling of one song, both in one key, + As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds, + Had been incorporate. + A Midsummer Nights Dream. + +JULIA MANNERING TO MATILDA MARCHMONT. + +How can you upbraid me, my dearest Matilda, with abatement in +friendship, or fluctuation in affection? Is it possible for me to +forget that you are the chosen of my heart, in whose faithful bosom +I have deposited every feeling which your poor Julia dares to +acknowledge to herself? And you do me equal injustice in upbraiding +me with exchanging your friendship for that of Lucy Bertram. I +assure you she has not the materials I must seek for in a bosom +confidante. She is a charming girl, to be sure, and I like her very +much, and I confess our forenoon and evening engagements have left +me less time for the exercise of my pen than our proposed +regularity of correspondence demands. But she is totally devoid of +elegant accomplishments, excepting the knowledge of French and +Italian, which she acquired from the most grotesque monster you +ever beheld, whom my father has engaged as a kind of librarian, and +whom he patronises, I believe, to show his defiance of the world's +opinion. Colonel Mannering seems to have formed a determination, +that nothing shall be considered as ridiculous, so long as it +appertains to or is connected with him. I remember in India he had +picked up somewhere a little mongrel cur, with bandy legs, a long +back, and huge flapping cars. Of this uncouth creature he chose to +make a favourite, in despite of all taste and opinion; and I +remember one instance which he alleged, of what he called Brown's +petulance, was, that he had criticised severely the crooked legs +and drooping ears of Bingo. On my word, Matilda, I believe he +nurses his high opinion of this most awkward of all pedants upon a +similar principle. He seats the creature at table, where he +pronounces a grace that sounds like the scream of the man in the +square that used to cry mackerel, flings his meat down his throat +by shovelfuls, like a dustman loading his cart, and apparently +without the most distant perception of what he is swallowing,--then +bleats forth another unnatural set of tones, by way of returning +thanks, stalks out of the room, and immerses himself among a parcel +of huge worm-eaten folios that are as uncouth as himself! I could +endure the creature well enough, had I anybody to laugh at him +along with me; but Lucy Bertram, if I but verge on the border of a +jest affecting this same Mr. Sampson (such is the horrid man's +horrid name), looks so piteous, that it deprives me of all spirit +to proceed, and my father knits his brow, flashes fire from his +eye, bites his lip, and says something that is extremely rude, and +uncomfortable to my feelings. + +"It was not of this creature, however, that I meant to speak to +you--only that, being a good scholar in the modern, as well as the +ancient languages, he has contrived to make Lucy Bertram mistress +of the former, and she has only, I believe, to thank her own good +sense or obstinacy, that the Greek, Latin (and Hebrew, for aught I +know), were not added to her acquisitions. And thus she really has +a great fund of information, and I assure you I am daily surprised +at the power which she seems to possess of amusing herself by +recalling and arranging the subjects of her former reading. We read +together every morning, and I begin to like Italian much better +than when we were teased by that conceited animal Cicipici,--this +is the way to spell his name, and not Chichipichi--you see I grow a +connoisseur. + +'" But perhaps I like Miss Bertram more for the accomplishments +she wants, than for the knowledge she possesses. She knows nothing +of music whatever, and no more of dancing than is here common to +the meanest peasants, who, by the way, dance with great zeal and +spirit. So that I am instructor in my turn, and she takes with +great gratitude lessons from me upon the harpsichord, and I have +even taught her some of La Pique's steps, and you know he thought +me a promising scholar. + +"In the evening papa often reads, and I assure you he is the best +reader of poetry you ever heard--not like that actor, who made a +kind of jumble between reading and acting, staring, and bending his +brow, and twisting his face, and gesticulating as if he were on the +stage, and dressed out in all his costume. My father's manner is +quite different--it is the reading of a gentleman, who produces +effect by feeling, taste, and inflection of voice, not by action or +mummery. Lucy Bertram rides remarkably well, and I can now +accompany her on horseback, having become emboldened by example. We +walk also a good deal in spite of the cold--So, upon the whole I +have not quite so much time for writing as I used to have. + +"Besides, my love, I must really use the apology of all stupid +correspondents, that I have nothing to say. My hopes, my fears, my +anxieties about Brown are of a less interesting cast, since I know +that he is at liberty, and in health. Besides, I must own, I think +that by this time the gentleman might have given me some intimation +what he was doing. Our intercourse may, be an imprudent one, but +it is not very complimentary to me, that Mr. Vanbeest Brown should +be the first to discover that such is the case, and. to break off +in consequence. I can promise him that we might not differ much in +opinion should that happen to be his, for I have sometimes thought +I have behaved extremely foolishly in that matter. Yet I have so +good an opinion of poor Brown, that I cannot but think there is +something extraordinary in his silence. + +"To return to Lucy Bertram--No, my dearest Matilda, she can never, +never rival you in my regard, so that all your affectionate +jealousy on that account is without foundation. She is, to be sure, +a very pretty, a very sensible, a very affectionate girl, and I +think there are few persons to whose consolatory friendship I could +have recourse more freely in what are called the real evils of +life. But then these so seldom come in one's way, and one wants a +friend who will sympathise with distresses of sentiment, as well as +with actual misfortune. Heaven knows, and you know, my dearest +Matilda, that these diseases of the heart require the balm of +sympathy and affection as much as the evils of a more obvious and +determinate character. Now Lucy Bertram has nothing of this kindly +sympathy--nothing at all, my dearest Matilda. Were I sick of a +fever, she would sit up night after night to nurse me with the most +unrepining patience; but with the fever of the heart, which my +Matilda has soothed so often, she has no more sympathy than her old +tutor. And yet, what provokes me is, that the demure monkey +actually has a lover of her own, and that their mutual affection +(for mutual I take it to be) has a great deal of complicated and +romantic interest. She was once, you must know, a great heiress, +but was ruined by the prodigality of her father, and the villainy +of a horrid man in whom he confided. And one of the handsomest +young gentlemen in the country is attached to her; but as he is +heir to a great estate, she discourages his addresses on account of +the disproportion of their fortune. + +"But with all this moderation, and self-denial, and modesty, and so +forth, Lucy is a sly girl--I am sure she loves young Hazlewood, and +I am sure he has some guess of that, and would probably bring her +to acknowledge it too, if my father or she would allow him an +opportunity. But you must know the Colonel is always himself in +the way to pay Miss Bertram those attentions which afford the best +indirect opportunities for a young gentleman in Hazlewood's +situation. I would have my good papa take care that he does not +himself pay the usual penalty of meddling folks. I assure you, if +I were Hazlewood, I should look on his compliments, his bowings, +his cloakings, his shawlings, and his handings, with some little +suspicion; and truly I think Hazlewood does so too at some odd +times. Then imagine what a silly figure your poor Julia makes on +such occasions! Here is my father making the agreeable to my +friend; there is young Hazlewood watching every word of her lips, +and every motion of her eye; and I have not the poor satisfaction +of interesting a human being--not even the exotic monster of a +parson, for even he sits with his mouth open, and his huge round +goggling eyes fixed like those of a statue, admiring--Mess +Baartram! + +"All this makes me sometimes a little nervous, and sometimes a +little mischievous. I was so provoked at my father and the lovers +the other day for turning me completely out of their thoughts and +society, that I began an attack on Hazlewood, from which it was +impossible for him, in common civility, to escape. He insensibly +became warm in his defence--I assure you, Matilda, he is a very +clever, as well as a very handsome young man, and I don't think I +ever remember having seen him to the same advantage--when, behold, +in the midst of our lively conversation, a very soft sigh from Miss +Lucy reached my not ungratified ears. I was greatly too generous +to prosecute my victory any further, even if I had not been afraid +of papa. Luckily for me, he had at that moment got into a long +description of the peculiar notions and manners of a certain tribe +of Indians, who live far up the country, and was illustrating them +by making drawings on Miss Bertram's work-patterns, three of which +he utterly damaged, by introducing among the intricacies of the +pattern his specimens of Oriental costume. But I believe she +thought as little of her own gown at the moment as of the India +turbans and cummerbands. However, it was quite as well for me that +he did not see all the merit of my little manoeuvre, for he is as +sharp-sighted as a hawk, and a sworn enemy to the slightest shade +of coquetry. + +"Well, Matilda, Hazlewood heard this same half-audible sigh, and +instantly repented his temporary attentions to such an unworthy +object as your Julia, and, with a very comical expression of +consciousness, drew near to Lucy's work-table. He made some +trifling observation, and her reply was one in which nothing but an +ear as acute as that of a lover, or a curious observer like myself, +could have distinguished anything more cold and dry than usual. But +it conveyed reproof to the self-accusing hero, and he stood abashed +accordingly. You will admit that I was called upon in generosity +to act as mediator. So I mingled in the conversation, in the quiet +tone of an unobserving and uninterested third party, led them into +their former habits of easy chat, and, after having served awhile +as the channel of communication through which they chose to address +each other, set them down to a pensive game at chess, and very +dutifully went to tease papa, who was still busied with his +drawings. The chess-players, you must observe, were placed near +the chimney, beside a little work-table, which held the board and +men, the Colonel, at some distance, with lights upon a library +table,--for it is a large old-fashioned room, with several +recesses, and hung with grim tapestry, representing what it might +have puzzled the artist himself to explain. + +'Is chess a very interesting game, papa?' + +'I am told so,' without honouring me with much of his notice. "'I +should think so, from the attention Mr. Hazlewood and Lucy are +bestowing on it.' + +"He raised his head hastily, and held his pencil suspended for an +instant. Apparently he saw nothing that excited his suspicions, +for he was resuming the folds of a Mahratta's turban in +tranquility, when I interrupted him with--'How old is Miss Bertram, +sir?' + +'How should I know, Miss? about your own age, I suppose.' + +"'Older, I should think, sir. You are always telling me how much +more decorously she goes through all the honours of the +tea-table--Lord, papa, what if you should give her a right to +preside once and for ever!' + +'Julia, my, dear,' returned papa 'you are either a fool outright, +or you are more disposed to make mischief than I have yet believed +you.' + +"'Oh, my dear. sir! put your best construction upon it--I would +not be thought. a. fool for all the world. ' + +'Then why do you talk like one?' said my father. + +'Lord, sir, I am sure there is nothing so foolish in what I said +just now--everybody knows you are a very handsome man' (a smile +was just visible), 'that is, for your time of life' (the dawn was +over-cast), 'which is far from being advanced, and I am sure I +don't know why you should not please yourself, if you have a +mind. I am sensible I am but a thoughtless girl, and if a graver +companion could render you more happy--' + +"There was a mixture of displeasure and grave affection in the +manner in which my father took my hand, that was a severe reproof +to me for trifling with his feelings. 'Julia,' he said, 'I bear +with much of your petulance, because I think I have in some degree +deserved it, by neglecting to superintend your education +sufficiently closely. Yet I would not have you give it the rein +upon a subject so delicate. If you do not respect the feelings of +your surviving parent towards the memory of her whom you have lost, +attend at least to the sacred claims of misfortune; and observe, +that the slightest hint of such a jest reaching Miss Bertram's ears +would at once induce her to renounce her present asylum, and go +forth, without a protector, into a world she has already felt so +unfriendly.' + +'What could I say to this, Matilda?--I only cried heartily, begged +pardon, and promised to be a good girl in future. And so here am I +neutralised again, for I cannot, in honour, or common good-nature, +tease poor Lucy by interfering with Hazlewood, although she has so +little confidence in me; and neither can I, after this grave +appeal, venture again upon such delicate ground with papa. So I +burn little rolls of paper, and sketch Turks' heads upon visiting +cards with the blackened end--I assure you I succeeded in making a +superb Hyder-Ally last night--and I jingle on my unfortunate +harpsichord, and begin at the end of a grave book and read it +backward.--After all, I begin to be very much vexed about Brown's +silence. Had he been obliged to leave the country, I am sure he +would at least have written to me--Is it possible that my father +can have intercepted his letters? But no--that is contrary to all +his principles--I don't think he would open a letter addressed to +me to-night, to prevent my jumping out of window to-morrow--What an +expression I have suffered to escape my pen! I should he ashamed +of it, even to you, Matilda, and used in jest. But I need not take +much merit for acting as I ought to do; this same Mr. Vanbeest +Brown is by no means so very ardent a lover as to hurry the object +of his attachment into such inconsiderate steps. He gives one full +time to reflect, that must be admitted. However, I will not blame +him unheard, nor permit myself to doubt the manly firmness of a +character which I have so often extolled to you. Were he capable +of doubt, of fear, of the shadow of change, I should have little to +regret. + +"And why, you will say, when I expect such steady and unalterable +constancy from a lover, why should I be anxious about what +Hazlewood does, or to whom he offers his attentions?--I ask myself +the questions a hundred times a day, and it only receives the very +silly answer, that one does not like to be neglected, though one +would not encourage a serious infidelity. + +"I write all these trifles, because you say that they amuse +you,--and yet I wonder how they should. I remember, in our stolen +voyages to the world of fiction, you always admired the grand and +the romantic--tales of knights, dwarfs, giants, and distressed +damsels, soothsayers, visions, beckoning ghosts, and bloody +hands,--whereas I was partial to the involved intrigues of private +life, or at furthest, to so much only of the supernatural as is +conferred by the agency of an Eastern genie or a beneficent fairy. +You would have loved to shape your course of life over the broad +ocean, with its dead calms and howling tempests, its, tornadoes, +and its billows mountain-high,--whereas I should like to trim my +little pinnace to a brisk breeze in some inland lake or tranquil +bay where there was just difficulty of navigation sufficient to +give interest and to require skill, without any sensible degree of +danger. So that, upon the whole, Matilda, I think you should have +had my father, with his pride of arms and of ancestry, his +chivalrous point of honour, his high talents, and his abstruse and +mystic studies--You should have had Lucy Bertram too for your +friend, whose fathers, with names which alike defy memory and +orthography, ruled over this romantic country, and whose birth took +place, as I have been indistinctly informed, under circumstances of +deep and peculiar interest--You should have had, too, our Scottish +residence, surrounded by mountains, and our lonely walks to haunted +ruins--And I should have had, in exchange, the lawns and shrubs, +and greenhouses, and conservatories, of Pine Park, with your, good, +quiet, indulgent aunt, her chapel in the morning, her nap after +dinner, her hand at whist in the evening, not forgetting her fat +coach-horses and fatter coachman. Take notice, however, that Brown +is not included in this proposed barter of mine--his good-humour, + +lively conversation, and open gallantry, suit my plan of life, as +well as his athletic form, handsome features, and high spirit, +would accord with a character of chivalry. So as we cannot change +altogether out and out, I think we must e'en abide as we are." + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + I renounce your defiance; if you parley so roughly I'll + barricado my gates against you.--Do you see yon bay + window? Storm,--I care not, serving the good Duke of + Norfolk. + Merry Devil of Edmonton. + +JULIA MANNERING TO MATILDA MARCHMC)NT. + +"I rise from a sick-bed, my dearest Matlida, to communicate the +strange and frightful scenes which have just passed. Alas! how +little we ought to jest with futurity! I closed my letter to you +in high spirits, with some flippant remarks on your taste for the +romantic and extraordinary in fictitious narrative. How little I +expected to have had such events to record in the course of a few +days! and to witness scenes of terror, or to contemplate them in +description, is as different, my dearest Matilda, as to bend over +the brink, of a precipice holding by the frail tenure of a +half-rotted shrub, or to admire the same precipice as represented +in the landscape of Salvator. But I will not anticipate my +narrative. + +"The first part of my story is frightful enough, though it had +nothing to interest my feelings. You must know that this country +is particularly favourable to the commerce of a set of desperate +men from the Isle of Man, which is nearly opposite. These +smugglers are numerous, resolute, and formidable, and have at +different times become the dread of the neighbourhood when any one +has interfered with their contraband trade. The local magistrates, +from timidity or worse motives, have become shy of acting against +them, and impunity has rendered them equally daring and desperate. +With all this, my father, a stranger in the land, and invested with +no official authority, had, one would think, nothing to do. But it +must be owned, that, as he himself expresses it, he was born when +Mars was lord of his ascendant, and that strife and bloodshed find +him out in circumstances and situations the most retired and +pacific. + +"About eleven o'clock on last Tuesday morning, while Hazlewood and +my father were proposing to walk to a little lake about three +miles' distance, for the purpose of shooting wild ducks, and while +Lucy and I were busied with arranging our plan of work and study +for the day, we were alarmed by the sound of horses' feet, +advancing very fast up the avenue. The ground was hardened by a +severe frost, which made the clatter of the hoofs sound yet louder +and sharper. In a moment, two or three men, armed, mounted, and +each leading a spare horse loaded with packages, appeared on the +lawn, and, without keeping upon the road, which makes a small +sweep, pushed right across for the door of the house. Their +appearance was in the utmost degree hurried and disordered, and +they frequently looked back like men who apprehended a close and +deadly pursuit. My father and Hazlewood hurried to the front door +to demand who they were, and what was their business. They were +revenue officers, they stated, who had seized these horses, loaded +with contraband articles, at a place about three miles off. But +the smugglers had been reinforced, and were now pursuing them with +the avowed purpose of recovering the goods, and putting to death +the officers who had presumed to do their duty. The men said that +their horses being loaded, and the pursuers gaining ground upon +them, they had fled to Woodboume, conceiving, that as my father had +served the king, he would not refuse to protect the servants of +government, when threatened to be murdered in the discharge of +their duty. + +"My father, to whom, in his enthusiastic feelings of military +loyalty, even a dog would be of importance if he came in the king's +name, gave prompt orders for securing the goods in the hall, arming +the servants, and defending the house in case it should be +necessary. Hazlewood seconded him with great spirit, and even the +strange animal they call Sampson stalked out of his den, and seized +upon a fowling-piece, which my father had laid aside, to take what +they call a rifle-gun, with which they shoot tigers, etc., in the +east. The piece went off in the awkward hands of the poor parson, +and very nearly shot one' of the excisemen. At this unexpected and +involuntary explosion of his weapon, the Dominie (such is his +nickname) exclaimed, 'Prodigious!' which is his usual ejaculation +when astonished. But no power could force the man to part with his +discharged piece, so they were content to let him retain it, with +the precaution of trusting him with no ammunition. This (excepting +the alarm occasioned by the report) escaped my notice at the time, +you may easily believe; but in talking over the scene afterwards, +Hazlewood made us very merry with the Dominie's ignorant but +zealous valour. + +"When my father had got everything into proper order for defence, +and his people stationed at the windows with their firearms, he +wanted to order us out of danger--into the cellar, I believe--but +we could not be prevailed upon to stir. Though terrified to death, +I have so much of his own spirit that I would look upon the peril +which. threatens us rather than hear it rage around me without +knowing its nature or its progress. Lucy, looking as pale as a +marble statue, and keeping her eyes fixed on Hazlewood, seemed not +even to hear the prayers with which he conjured her to leave the +front of the house. But, in truth, unless the hall-door should be +forced, we were in little danger; the windows being almost blocked +up with cushion's and pillows, and, what the Dominie most lamented, +with folio volumes. , brought hastily from the library, leaving +only spaces through which the defenders might fire upon the +assailants. + +"My father had now made his dispositions, and we sat in breathless +expectation in the darkened apartment, the men remaining all silent +upon their posts, in anxious contemplation probably of the +approaching danger. My father, who was quite at home in such a +scene, walked from one to another, and reiterated his orders, that +no one should presume to fire until he gave the word. Hazlewood, +who seemed to catch courage from his eye, acted as his +aide-de-camp, and displayed the utmost alertness in bearing his +directions from one place to another, and seeing them properly +carried into execution. Our force, with the strangers included, +might amount to about twelve men. + +"At length the silence of this awful period of expectation was +broken by a sound, which, at a distance, was like the rushing of a +stream of water, but, as it approached, we distinguished the +thick-beating clang of a number of horses advancing very fast. I +had arranged a loophole for myself, from which I could see the +approach of the enemy. The noise increased and came nearer, and at +length thirty horsemen and more rushed upon the lawn. You never +saw such horrid wretches! Notwithstanding the severity of the +season, they were most of them stripped to their shirts and +trousers, with silk handkerchiefs knotted about their heads, and +all well armed with carbines, pistols, and cutlasses. I, who am a +soldier's daughter, and accustomed to see war from my infancy, was +never so terrified in my life as by the savage appearance of these +ruffians, their horses reeking with the speed at which they had +ridden, and their furious exclamations of rage and disappointment, +when they saw themselves baulked of their prey. They paused, +however, when they saw the preparations made to receive them, and +appeared to hold a moment's consultation among themselves. At +length, one of the party, his face blackened with gunpowder by way +of disguise, came forward with a white handkerchief on the end of +his carbine, and asked to speak with Colonel Mannering. My father, +to my infinite terror, threw open a window near which he was +posted, and demanded what he wanted. 'We want our goods, which we +have been robbed of by these sharks,' said the fellow; 'and our +lieutenant bids me say, that if they are delivered, we'll go off +for this bout without clearing scores with the rascals who took +them; but if not, we'll burn the house, and have the heart's blood +every one in it.'--a threat which he. repeated more than once, +graced by a fresh variety of imprecations, and the most horrid +denunciations that cruelty could suggest. + +"'And which is your lieutenant?' said my father in reply. + +"'That gentleman on the gray horse,' said the miscreant, I with the +red handkerchief bound about his brow.' + +"'Then be pleased to tell that gentleman, that it he, and the +scoundrels who are with him, do not ride off the lawn this instant, +I will fire upon them without ceremony." So saying, my father shut +the window, and broke short the conference. + +"The fellow no sooner regained his troop, than with a loud hurra, +or rather a savage yell, they fired a volley against our garrison. +The glass of the windows was shattered in every direction, but the +precautions already noticed saved the party within from suffering. +Three such volleys were fired without a shot being returned from +within. My father then observed them getting hatchets and crows, +probably to assail the hall-door, and called aloud, 'Let none fire +but Hazlewood and me--Hazlewood, mark the ambassador.' He himself +aimed at the man on the gray horse, who fell on receiving his +shot. Hazlewood was equally successful. He shot the spokesman, +who had dismounted, and was advancing with an axe in his hand. +Their fall discouraged the rest, who began to turn round their +horses; and a few shots fired at them soon sent them off, bearing +along with them their slain or wounded companions. We could not +observe that they suffered any further loss. Shortly after their +retreat a party of soldiers made their appearance, to my infinite +relief. These men were quartered at a village some miles distant, +and had marched on the first rumour of the skirmish. A part of +them escorted the terrified revenue officers and their seizure to a +neighbouring seaport as a place of safety, and at my earnest +request two or three files remained with us for that and the +following day, for the security of the house from the vengeance of +these banditti. + +"Such, dearest Matilda, was my first alarm. I must not forget to +add, that the ruffians left, at a cottage on the roadside, the man +whose face was blackened with powder, apparently because he was +unable to bear transportation. He died in about half an hour +after. On examining the corpse, it proved to be that of a +profligate boor in the neighbourhood, a person notorious as a +poacher and--smuggler. We I received many messages of +congratulation from the neighbouring families, and it was generally +allowed that a few such instances of spirited resistance would +greatly check the presumption of these lawless men. My father +distributed rewards among his servants, and praised Hazlewood's +courage and coolness to the skies. Lucy and I came in for a share +of his applause, because we had stood fire with firmness, and had +not disturbed him with screams or expostulations. As for the +Dominie, my father took an opportunity of begging to exchange +snuff-boxes with him. The honest gentleman was much flattered with +the proposal, and extolled the beauty, of his new snuff-box +excessively. 'It looked,' he said, 'as well as if it were real gold +from Ophir. '--lndeed it would be odd if it should not, being +formed in fact of that very metal: but, to do this honest creature +justice, I believe the knowledge of its real value would not +enhance his sense of my father's kindness supposing it, as he does, +to be pinchbeck gilded. He has had a hard task replacing the +folios which were used in the barricade, smoothing out the creases +And dog-ears, and repairing the other disasters they have sustained +during their service in the Fortification. He brought us some +pieces of lead and bullets which these ponderous tomes had +intercepted during the action, and which he had extracted with +great care; and, were I in spirits, I could give you a comic +account of his astonishment at the apathy with which we heard of +the wounds and mutilation suffered by Thomas Aquinas, or the +venerable Chrysostom. But I am not in spirits, and I have yet +another and a more interesting incident to communicate. I feel, +however, so much fatigued with my present exertion, that I cannot +resume the pen till to-morrow. I will detain this letter +notwithstanding, that you may not feel any anxiety upon account of +your own + +"JULIA MANNERING." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + Here's a good world! -Knew you of this fair work? + King John + +JULIA MANNERING TO MATILDA MARCHMONT. + +"I must take tip the thread of my story, my dearest Matilda, where +I broke off yesterday. + +"For two or three days we talked of nothing but our siege and its +probable consequences, and dinned into my father's unwilling ears +a proposal to go to Edinburgh, or at least to Dumfries, where +there is remarkably good society, until the resentment of these +outlaws should blow over. He answered with great composure, that +he had no mind to have his landlord's house and his own property +at Woodbourne destroyed; that, with our good leave, he had usually +been esteemed competent to taking measures for the safety or +protection of his family; that if he remained quick at home, he +conceived the welcome the villains had received was not of a nature +to invite a second visit, but should he show any signs of alarm, it +would be the sure way to incur the very risk which we were afraid +of. Heartened by his arguments, and by the extreme indifference +with which he treated the supposed danger, we began to grow a +little bolder, and to walk about as usual Only the gentlemen were +sometimes invited to take their guns when they attended us, and I +observed that my father for several nights paid particular +attention to having the house properly secured and required his +domestics to keep their arms in readiness in case of necessity. + +"But three days ago chanced an occurrence, of a nature which +alarmed me more by far than. the attack of the smugglers. + +"I told you there was a small lake at some distance from +Woodbourne, where the gentlemen sometimes go to shoot wild-fowl. I +happened at breakfast to say I should like to see this place in its +present frozen state, occupied by skaters and curlers, as they call +those who play a particular sort of game upon the ice. There is +snow on the ground, but frozen so hard that I thought Lucy and I +might venture to that distance, as the footpath leading there was +well beaten by the repair of those who frequented it for pastime. +Hazlewood instantly offered to attend us, and we stipulated that he +should take his fowling-piece. He laughed a good deal at the idea +of going a-shooting in the snow; but, to relieve our tremors, +desired that a groom, who acts as gamekeeper occasionally, should +follow us with his gun. As for Colonel Mannering, he does not like +crowds or sights of any kind where human figures make up the show, +unless indeed it were a military review--so he declined the party. + +"We set out unusually early, on a fine frosty, exhilarating +morning, and we felt our minds, as well as our nerves, braced by +the elasticity of the pure air. Our walk to the lake was +delightful, or at least the difficulties were only such as diverted +us, a slippery descent for instance, or a frozen ditch to cross, +which made Hazlewood's assistance absolutely necessary. I don't +think Lucy liked her walk the less for these occasional +embarrassments. + +"The scene upon the lake was beautiful. One side of it is bordered +by a steep crag, from which hung a thousand enormous icicles all +glittering in the sun; on the other side was a little wood, now +exhibiting that fantastic appearance which the pine-trees present +when their branches are loaded with snow. On the frozen bosom of +the lake itself were a multitude of moving figures, some flitting +along with the velocity of swallows, some sweeping in the most +graceful circles, and others deeply interested in a less active +pastime, crowding round the spot where the inhabitants of two rival +parishes contended for the prize at curling,--an honour of no small +importance, if we were to judge from the anxiety expressed both by +the players and bystanders. We walked round the little lake, +supported by Hazlewood, who lent us each an arm. He spoke, poor +fellow, with great kindness, to old and. young, and seemed +deservedly popular among the assembled crowd. At length we thought +of retiring. + +"Why do I mention these trivial occurrences?"--not, Heaven knows, +from the interest I can now attach to them--but because, like a +drowning man who catches at a brittle twig, I seize every apology +for delaying the subsequent and dreadful part of my narrative. But, +it must be communicated--I must have the sympathy of at least one +friend under this heart-rending calamity. + +"We were returning home by a footpath, which led through a +plantation of firs. Lucy had quitted Hazlewood's arm--it is only +the plea of absolute necessity which reconciles her to accept his +assistance. I still leaned upon his other arm. Lucy followed us +close, and the servant was two or three paces behind us. Such was +our position, when at once, and as if he had started out of the +earth, Brown stood before us at a short turn of the road! He was +very plainly, I might say coarsely, dressed, and his whole +appearance had in it something wild and agitated. I screamed +between surprise and terror--Hazlewood mistook the nature of my +alarm, and, when Brown advanced towards me as if to speak, +commanded him haughtily to stand back, and not to alarm the lady. +Brown replied, with equal asperity, he had no occasion to take +lessons from him how to behave to that or any other lady. I rather +believe that Hazlewood, impressed with the idea that he belonged to +the band of smugglers, and had some bad purpose in view, heard and +understood him imperfectly. He snatched the gun from the servant, +who had come up on a line with us, and, pointing the muzzle at +Brown, commanded him to stand off at his peril. My screams, for my +terror prevented my finding articulate language, only hastened the +catastrophe. Brown, thus menaced, sprung upon Hazlewood, grappled +with him, and had nearly succeeded in wrenching the fowling-piece +from his grasp, when the gun went off in the struggle, and the +contents were lodged in Hazlewood's shoulder, who instantly fell. I +saw no more, for the whole scene reeled before my eyes, and I +fainted away; but, by Lucy's report, the unhappy perpetrator of +this action gazed a moment on the scene before him, until her +screams began to alarm the people upon the lake, several of whom +now came in sight. He then bounded over a hedge, which divided the +footpath from the plantation, and has not since been heard of. The +servant made no attempt to stop or secure him, and the report he +made of the matter to those who came up to us, induced them rather +to exercise their humanity in recalling me to life, than show their +courage by pursuing a desperado, described by the groom as a man of +tremendous personal strength, and completely armed. + +"Hazlewood was conveyed home, that is, to Woodbourne, in safety--I +trust his wound will prove in no respect dangerous, though he +suffers much. But to Brown the consequences must be most +disastrous. He is already the object of my father's resentment, +and he has now incurred danger from the law of the country, as well +as from the clamorous vengeance of the father of Hazlewood, who +threatens to move heaven and earth against the author of his son's +wound. How will he be able to shroud himself from the vindictive +activity of the pursuit? how to defend himself, if taken, against +the severity of laws which I am told may even affect his life? and +how can I find means to warn him of his danger? Then poor Lucy's +ill-concealed grief, occasioned by her lover's wound, is another +source of distress to me, and everything round me appears to bear +witness against that indiscretion which has occasioned this +calamity. + +"For two days I was very ill indeed. The news that Hazlewood was +recovering, and that the person who bad shot him was nowhere to be +traced, only that for certain he was one of the leaders of the gang +of smugglers, gave me some comfort. The suspicion and pursuit +being directed towards those people, must naturally facilitate +Brown's escape, and, I trust, has, ere this, ensured it. But +patrols of horse and foot traverse the country in all directions, +and I am tortured by a thousand confused and unauthenticated +rumours of arrests and discoveries. + +"Meanwhile, my greatest source of comfort is the generous candour +of Hazlewood, who persists in declaring, that with whatever +intentions the person by whom he was wounded approached our party, +he is convinced the gun went off in the struggle by accident, and +that the injury he received was undesigned. The groom, on the +other hand, maintains that the piece was wrenched out of +Hazlewood's hands, and deliberately pointed at his body, and Lucy +inclines to the same opinion--I do not suspect them of wilful +exaggeration, yet such is the fallacy of human testimony, for the +unhappy shot was most unquestionably discharged unintentionally. +Perhaps it would be the best way to confide the whole secret to +Hazlewood--but he is very young, and I feel the utmost repugnance +to communicate to him my folly. I once thought of disclosing the +mystery to Lucy, and began by asking what she recollected of the +person and features of the man whom we had so unfortunately met-- +but she ran out into such a horrid description of a hedge-ruffian, +that I was deprived of all courage and disposition to own my +attachment to one of such appearance as she attributed to him. I +must say Miss Bertram is strangely biased by her prepossessions, +for there are few handsomer men than poor Brown. I had not seen +him for a long time, and even in his strange and sudden apparition +on this unhappy occasion, and under every disadvantage, his form +seems to me, on reflection, improved in grace, and his features in +expressive dignity.--Shall we ever meet again? Who can answer that +question?--Write to me, kindly, my dearest Matilda--but when did +you otherwise?--yet, again, write to me soon, and write to me, +kindly. I am not in a situation to profit by advice or reproof, +nor have I my usual spirits to parry them by raillery. I feel the +terrors of a child, who has, in heedless sport, put in motion some +powerful piece of machinery; and, while he beholds wheels +revolving, chains clashing, cylinders rolling around him, is +equally astonished at the tremendous powers which his weak agency +has called into action, and terrified for the consequences which he +is compelled to await, without the possibility of averting them. + +"I must not omit to say that my father is very kind and +affectionate. The alarm which I have received forms a sufficient +apology for my nervous complaints. My hopes are, that Brown has +made his escape into the sister kingdom of England, or perhaps to +Ireland, or the Isle of Man. In either case he may wait the issue +of Hazlewood's wound with safety and with patience, for the +communication of these countries with Scotland, for the purpose of +justice, is not (thank Heaven) of an intimate nature. The +consequences of his being apprehended would be terrible at this +moment. I endeavour to strengthen my mind by arguing against the +possibility of such a calamity. Alas! how soon have sorrows and +friars, real as well as severe, followed the uniform and tranquil +state of existence at which so lately I was disposed to repine! But +I will not oppress you any longer with my complaints. Adieu, my +dearest Matilda! + JULIA MANNERING." + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + A man may see how this world goes with no eyes.--Look with + thine ears: See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief. + Hark in thine ear--change places; and, handy-dandy, which + is the justice, which is the thief? King Lear. + +Among those who took the most lively interest in endeavouring to +discover the person by whom young Charles Hazlewood had been +waylaid and wounded, was Gilbert Glossin, Esquire, late writer in +--, now Laird of Ellangowan, and one of the worshipful commission +of justices of the peace for the county of--. His motives for +exertion on this occasion were manifold; but we presume that our +readers, from what they already know of this gentleman, will acquit +him of being actuated by any zealous or intemperate love of +abstract justice. + +The truth was, that this respectable personage felt himself less at +case than he had expected, after his machinations put him in +possession of his benefactor's estate. His reflections within +doors, where so much occurred to remind him of former times, were +not always the self-congratulations of successful stratagem. And +when he looked abroad, he could not but be sensible that he was +excluded from the society of the gentry of the county, to whose +rank he conceived he had raised himself. He was not admitted to +their clubs, and at meetings of a public nature, from which he +could not be altogether excluded, he found himself thwarted and +looked upon with coldness and contempt. Both principle and +prejudice co-operated in creating this dislike; for the gentlemen +of the county despised him for the lowness of his birth, while they +hated him for the means by which he had raised his fortune. With +the common people his reputation stood still worse. They would +neither yield him the territorial appellation of Ellangowan, nor +the usual compliment of Mr. Glossin;--with them he was bare +Glossin, and so incredibly was his vanity interested by this +trifling circumstance, that he was known to give half a crown to a +beggar, because he had thrice called him Ellangowan, in beseeching +him for a penny. He therefore felt acutely the general want of +respect, and particularly when he contrasted his own character and +reception in society with those of Mr. MacMorlan, who, in far +inferior worldly circumstances, was beloved and respected both by +rich and poor, and was slowly but securely laying the foundation of +a moderate fortune, with the general goodwill and esteem of all who +knew him. + +Glossin, while he repined internally at what he would fain have +called the prejudices and prepossessions of the country, was too +wise to make any open complaint, He was sensible his elevation was +too recent to be immediately forgotten, and the means by which he +had attained it too odious to be soon forgiven. But time, thought +he, diminishes wonder and palliates misconduct. With the +dexterity, therefore, of one who made his fortune by studying the +weak points of human nature, he determined to lie by for +opportunities to make himself useful even to those who most +disliked him; trusting that his own abilities, the disposition of +country gentlemen to get into quarrels, when a lawyer's advice +becomes precious, and a thousand other contingencies, of which, +with patience and address, he doubted not to be able to avail +himself, would soon place him in a more important and respectable +light to his neighbours, and perhaps raise him to the eminence +sometimes attained by a shrewd, worldly, bustling man of business, +when, settled among a generation of country gentlemen, he becomes, +in Burns's language, The tongue of the trump to them a'. [*The +tongue of the trump is the wire of the Jew's harp, that which gives +sound to the whole instrument.] The attack on Colonel Mannering's +house, followed by the accident of Hazlewood's wound, appeared to +Glossin a proper opportunity to impress upon the country at large +the service which could he rendered by an active magistrate (for he +had been in the commission for some time), well acquainted with the +law, and no less so with the haunts and habits of the illicit +traders. He had acquired the latter kind of experience by a former +close alliance with some of the most desperate smugglers, in +consequence of which he had occasionally acted, sometimes as +partner, sometimes as legal adviser, with these persons. But the +connection had been dropped many years; nor, considering how short +the race of eminent characters of this description, and the +frequent circumstances which occur to make them retire from +particular scenes of action, had he the least reason to think that +his present researches could possibly compromise any old friend who +might possess means of retaliation. The having been concerned in +these practices abstractedly, was a circumstance which, according +to his opinion, ought in no respect to interfere with his now using +his experience in behalf of the public, or rather to further his +own private views. To acquire the good opinion and countenance of +Colonel Mannering would be no small object to a gentleman who was +much disposed to escape from Coventry; and to gain the favour of +old Hazlewood, who was a leading man in the county, was of more +importance still. Lastly, if he should succeed in discovering, +apprehending, and convicting the culprits, he would have the +satisfaction of mortifying, and in some degree disparaging, +Mac-Morlan, to whom, as Sheriff-substitute of the county, this sort +of investigation properly belonged, and who would certainly suffer +in public opinion should the voluntary exertions of Glossin be more +successful than his own. + +Actuated by motives so stimulating, and well acquainted with the +lower retainers of the law, Glossin set every spring in motion to +detect and apprehend, if possible, some of the gang who had +attacked Woodbourne, and more particularly the individual who had +wounded Charles Hazlewood. He promised high rewards, he suggested +various schemes, and used his personal interest among his old +acquaintances who favoured the trade, urging that they had better +make sacrifice of an understrapper or two than incur the odium of +having favoured such atrocious proceedings. But for some time all +these exertions were in vain. The common people of the country +either favoured or feared the smugglers too much to afford any +evidence against them. At length, this busy magistrate obtained +information, that a man, having the dress and appearance of the +person who had wounded Hazlewood, had lodged on the evening before +the rencontre at the Gordon Arms in Kippletringan. Thither Mr. +Glossin immediately went, for the purpose of interrogating our old +acquaintance, Mrs. Mac-Candlish. + +The reader may remember that Mr. Glossin did not, according to this +good woman's phrase, stand high in her books. She therefore +attended his summons to the parlour slowly and reluctantly, and, on +entering the room, paid her respects in the coldest possible +manner. The dialogue then proceeded as follows:- + +"A fine frosty morning, Mrs. Mac-Candlish." + +"Ay, sir; the morning's weel eneugh," answered the landlady +dryly. + +"Mrs. Mac-Candlish, I wish to know if the justices are to dine +here as usual after the business of the court on Tuesday?" + +"I believe--fancy sae, sir--as usual"--(about to leave the room). + +"Stay a moment, Mrs. Mac-Candlish--why, you are in a prodigious +hurry, my good friend!--I have been thinking a club dining here +once a month would be a very pleasant thing." + +"Certainly, sir; a club of respectable gentlemen." + +"True, true," said Glossin, "I mean landed proprietors and +gentlemen of weight in the county; and I should like to set such a +thing a-going." + +The short dry cough with which Mrs. Mac-Candlish received this +proposal, by no means indicated any dislike to the overture +abstractedly considered, but inferred much doubt how far it would +succeed under the auspices of the gentleman by whom it was +proposed. It was not a cough negative, but a cough dubious, and as +such Glossin felt it; but it was not his cue to take offence. + +"Have there been brisk doings on the road, Mrs. Mac-Candlish? +plenty of company, I suppose?" + +"Pretty weel, sir,--but I believe I am wanted at the bar." + +"No, no,--stop one moment, cannot you, to oblige an old +customer?--Pray, do you remember a remarkably tall young man, who +lodged one night in your House last week?" + +"Troth, sir, I canna weel say--I never take heed whether my company +be lang or short, if they make a lang bill." + +"And if they do not, you can do that for them, eh, Mrs. +Mac-Candlish?--ha, ha, ha!--But this young man that I inquire after +was upwards of six feet high, had a dark frock, with metal buttons, +light-brown hair unpowdered, blue eyes, and a straight nose, +travelled on foot, had no servant or baggage.--you surely can +remember having seen such a traveller?" + +"Indeed, sir," answered Mrs. Mac-Candlish, bent on baffling his +inquiries, "I canna charge my memory about the matter--there's +mair to do in a house like this, I trow, than to look after +passengers' hair, or their een, or noses either." + +"Then, Mrs. Mac-Candlish, I must tell you in plain terms, that +this person suspected of having been guilty of a crime; and it is +in consequence of these suspicions that I, as a magistrate, require +this information from you,--and if you refuse to answer my +questions, I must put you upon your oath." + +"Troth, sir, I am no free to swear [*Some of the strict dissenters +decline taking an oath before a civil magistrate]--we aye gaed to +the Antiburgher meeting--it's very true, in Bailie Mac-Candlish's +time (honest man), we keepit the kirk, whilk was most seemly in his +station, as having office--, but after his being called to a +better place than Kippletringan, I hae gaen back to worthy Maister +MacGrainer. And so ye see, sir, I am no clear to swear without +speaking to the minister--especially against ony sackless puir +young thing that's gaun through the country, stranger and +freendless like." + +"I shall relieve your scruples, perhaps, without troubling Mr. +Mac-Grainer, when I tell you that this fellow whom I Inquire after +is the man who shot your young friend Charles Hazlewood." + +"Gudeness! wha could hae thought the like o' that o' him?-- +na, if it had been for debt, or e'en for a bit tuilzie +[*Scuffle] wi' the gauger, the deil o' Nelly Mac-Candlish's +tongue should ever hae wranged him. But if he really shot +young Hazlewood--But I canna think it, Mr. Glossin; this +will be same o' your skits [*Tricks] now--I canna think +it o' sae douce a lad;--na, na, this is just some a' your +auld s 'kits.--Ye'll he for having a horning or a caption +after him." + +"I see you have no confidence in me, Mrs. Mac-Candlish;-- +but look at these declarations, signed by the persons who +saw the crime committed, and judge yourself if the +description of the ruffian be not that of your guest." + +He put the papers into her hand, which she perused very +carefully, often taking off her spectacles to cast her eyes +up to Heaven, or perhaps to wipe a tear from them, for young +Hazlewood was an especial favourite with the good dame. +"Aweel, aweel," she said, when she had concluded her +examination, "since it's e'en sae, I gie him up, the villain +--But oh, we are erring mortals!--I never saw a face I +liked better, or a lad that was mair douce and canny--I +thought he had been some gentleman under trouble.--But I +gie him up, the villain!--to shoot Charles Hazlewood-- +and before the young ladies, poor innocent things!--I gie +him up. + +"So you admit, then, that such a person lodged here the +night before this vile business?" + +"Troth did he, sir, and a' the house were taen wi' him, he +was sic a frank, pleasant young man, It wasna for his +spending, I'm sure, for he just had a mutton-chop, and a mug +of ale, and maybe a glass or twa o' wine-and I asked him to +drink tea wi' myself, and didna put that into the bill; and +he took nae supper, for he said he was defeat [*Exhausted] +wi' travel a' the night afore--I dare say now it had been +on some hellicat errand or other." + +"Did you by any chance learn his name?" + +"I wot weel did I," said the landlady, now as eager to communicate +her evidence as formerly desirous to suppress it. "He tell'd me +his name was Brown, and he said it was likely that an auld woman +like a gipsy wife might be asking for him--Ay, ay! tell me your +company, and I'll tell you wha ye are! Oh, the villain!--Aweel, +sir, when he gaed away in the morning, he paid his bill very +honestly, and gae something to the chamber-maid, nae doubt, for +Grizy has naething frae me, by twa pair o' new shoon ilka year, and +maybe a bit compliment at Hansel Monanday--"Here Glossin found it +necessary to interfere, and bring the good woman back to the point. + +"Ou than, he just said, if there comes such a person to inquire +after Mr. Brown, you will say I am gone to look at the skaters on +Loch Creeran, as you call it, and I will be back here to +dinner--But he never came back--though I expected him sae +faithfully, that I gae a look to making the friar's chicken mysell, +and to the crappit-heads [*Haddock-heads stuffed] too, and that's +what I dinna do for ordinary, Mr. Glossin--But little did I think +what skating wark he was gaun about--to shoot Mr. Charles, the +innocent lamb!" + +Mr. Glossin, having, like a prudent examinator, suffered. his +witness, to give. vent to all her surprise and indignation, now +began to inquire whether the suspected person had left any property +or papers about the inn. + +"Troth, he put a parcel--a sma' parcel, under my charge, and he +gave me some siller, and desired me to get him half a dozen ruffled +sarks, and Peg Pasley's in bands wi' them e'en now--they may serve +him to gang up the Lawnmarket I in, the scoundrel!" [*The +procession of the criminals to the gallows of old took that +direction, moving, as the schoolboy rhyme had it, Up the +Lawnmarket, Down the West Bow, Up the lang ladder, And down the +little tow.] Mr. Glossin then demanded to see the packet, but here +mine hostess demurred. + +"She didna ken--she wad not say but justice should take its course +but when a thing, was trusted to ane in her way, doubtless they +were responsible--but she suld cry in Deacon Bearcliff, and if Mr. +Glossin liked to tak an inventar o' the property, and gie her a +receipt before the Deacon--or, what she wad like muckle better, an +it could, be scaled up and left in Deacon Bearclift's hands, it wad +mak her mind easy--She was for naething but justice on a' sides." + +Mrs. Mac-Candlish's natural sagacity and acquired suspicion being +inflexible, Glossin sent for Deacon Bearcliff, to speak "anent the +villain that had shot Mr. Charles Hazlewood." The Deacon +accordingly made his appearance, with his wig awry, owing to the +hurry with which, at this summons of the Justice, he had exchanged +it for the Kilmarnock cap with which he usually attended his +customers. Mrs. MacCandlish then produced the parcel deposited with +her by Brown, in which was found the gipsy's purse. On perceiving +the value of the miscellaneous contents, Mrs. Mac-Candlish +internally congratulated herself upon the precautions she had taken +before delivering them up to Glossin, while he, with an appearance +of disinterested candour, was the first to propose they should be +properly inventoried, and deposited with Deacon Bearcliff, until +they should be sent to the Crown Office. "He did not" he observed, +"like to be personally responsible for articles which seemed of +considerable value, and had doubtless been acquired by the most +nefarious practices." + +He then examined the paper in which the purse had been wrapt up. It +was the back of a letter addressed to V. Brown, Esquire, but the +rest of the address was torn away. The landlady,--now as eager to +throw light upon the criminal's escape as she had formerly been +desirous of withholding it, for the miscellaneous contents of the +purse argued strongly to her mind that all was not right,--Mrs. +Mac-Candlish, I say, now gave Glossin to understand, that her +postilion and hostler had both seen the stranger upon the ice that +day when young Hazlewood was wounded. + +Our reader's old acquaintance, Jock Jabos, was first summoned, and +admitted frankly that he had seen and conversed upon the ice that +morning with a stranger, who, he understood, had lodged at the +Gordon Arms the night before. + +"What turn did your conversation take?" said Glossin. + +"Turn?--ou, we turned nae gate at a', but just keepit straight +forward upon the ice like." + +"Well, but what did ye speak about?" + +"Ou, he just asked questions like ony ither stranger," answered. +the postilion, possessed, as it seemed, with the refractory and +uncommunicative spirit which had left his mistress. + +"But about what?" said Glossin. + +"Ou, just about the folk that was playing at the curling, and about +auld Jock Stevenson that was at the cock, and about the leddies, +and sic like." + +"What ladies? and what did he ask about them, Jock?" said the +interrogator. + +"What leddies? ou, it was Miss Jowlia Mannering and Miss Lucy +Bertram, that ye ken fu' weel yourself, Mr. Glossin--they were +walking wi' the young Laird of Hazlewood upon the ice." + +""And what did you tell him about them?" demanded Glossin. + +"Tut, we just said that was Miss Lucy Bertram of Ellangowan, that +should ance have had a great estate in the country--and that was +Miss Jowlia Mannering, that was to be married to young +Hazlewood--See as she was hinging on his arm--we just spoke about +our country clashes like--he was a very frank man." + +"Well, and what did he say in answer?" + +"Ou, he just stared at the young leddies very keen like, and asked +if it was for certain that the marriage was to be between Miss +Mannering and young Hazlewood--and I answered him that it was for +positive and absolute certain, as I had an undoubted right to say +sae--for my third cousin Jean Clavers (she's a relation o' your +ain, Mr. Glossin, ye wad ken Jean lang syne?), she's sib +[*Related] to the housekeeper at Woodbourne, and she's tell'd me +mair than ance that there was naething could be mair likely." + +"And what did the stranger say when you told him all this?" said +Glossin. + +"Say?" echoed the postilion, "he said naething at a'--he just +stared at them as they walked round the loch upon the ice, as if he +could have eaten them, and he never took his ee aff them, or said +another word, or gave another glance at the Bonspiel, [*playing +match] though there was the finest fun amang the curlers ever was +seen--and he turned round and gaed aff the loch by the kirk-stile +through Woodbourne fir-plantings, and we saw nae mair o' him." + +"Only think," said Mrs. Mac-Candlish, "what a hard heart he maun +hae had, to think o' hurting the poor young gentleman in the very +presence of the leddy he was to be married to!" + +"Oh, Mrs. Mac-Candlish,' said Glossin, "there's been many cases +such as that on the record--,doubtless he was seeking revenge where +it would be deepest and sweetest." + +"God pity us!" said Deacon Bearcliff, "we're puir frail creatures +when left to oursells!--ay, he forgot wha said, 'Vengeance is mine, +and I will repay it."' + +"Weel, aweel, sirs," said Jabos, whose hard-headed and uncultivated +shrewdness seemed sometimes to start the game when others beat the +bush--"Weel, weel, ye may be a' mista'en yet--I'll never believe +that a man would lay a plan to shoot another wi' his ain gun. Lord +help me, I was the keeper's assistant down at the Isle mysell, and +I'll uphaud it, the biggest man in Scotland shouldna take a gun +frae me or I had weized the slugs through him, though I'm but sic a +little feckless [*Spiritless] body, fit for naething but the +outside o' a saddle and the fore-end o' a poschay--na, na, nae +living man wad venture on that. I'll wad ma best buckskins, and +they were new coft [*Bought] at Kirkcudbright fair, it's been a +chance job after a'. But if ye hae naething mair to say to me, I +am thinking I maun gang and see my beasts fed." And he departed +accordingly. + +The hostler, who had accompanied him, gave evidence to the same +purpose. He and Mrs. MacCandlish were then re-interrogated, +whether Brown had no arms with him on that unhappy morning. "None," +they said, "but an ordinary bit cutlass or hanger by his side." + +"Now," said the Deacon, taking Glossin by the button (for, in +considering this intricate subject, he had forgot Glossin's new +accession of rank)--"this is but doubtfu' after a', Maister +Gilbert--for it was not Sae dooms [*Absolutely] likely that he +would go down into battle wi' sic sma' means." + +Glossin extricated himself from the Deacon's grasp, and from the +discussion, though not with rudeness; for it was his present +interest to buy golden opinions from all sorts of people. He +inquired the price of tea and sugar, and spoke of providing himself +for the year; he gave Mrs. Mac-Candlish directions to have a +handsome entertainment in readiness for a party of five friends, +whom he intended to invite to dine with him at the Gordon Arms next +Saturday week; and, lastly, he gave a half-crown to Jock Jabos, +whom the hostler had deputed to hold his steed. + +"Weel," said the Deacon to Mrs. Mac-Candlish, as he accepted her +offer of a glass of bitters at the bar, "the deil's no sae ill as +he's ca'd. It's pleasant to see a gentleman pay the regard to the +business o' the county that Mr. Glossin does." + +"Ay, 'deed is't, Deacon," answered the landlady and yet I wonder +our gentry leave their ain wark to the like o' him. --But as lang +as silver's current, Deacon, folk maunna look ower nicely at what +king's head's on't." + +"I doubt Glossin will prove but shand [*Cant expression for base +coin] after a', mistress," said Jabos, as he passed through the +little lobby beside the bar; "but this is a gude half-crown ony +way." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + A man that apprehends death to be no more dreadful but as a + drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearless of what's + past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and + desperately mortal. + Measure for Measure. + +Glossin had made careful minutes of the information derived from +these examinations. They threw little light upon the story, so far +as he understood its purport; but the better informed reader has +received, through means of this investigation, an account of +Brown's proceedings, between the moment when we left him upon his +walk to Kippletringan, the time when, stung, by jealousy, he so +rashly and unhappily presented himself before Julia Mannering, +and well-nigh brought to a fatal termination the quarrel which his +appearance occasioned. + +Glossin rode slowly back to Ellangowan, pondering on what he had +heard, and more and more convinced that the active and successful +prosecution of this mysterious business was an opportunity of +ingratiating himself with Hazlewood and Mannering to be on no +account neglected. Perhaps, also, he felt his professional +acuteness interested in bringing it to a successful close. It was, +therefore, with great pleasure that, on his return to his house +from Kippletringan, he heard his servants announce hastily, "that +Mac-Guffog, the thief-taker, and twa or three concurrents, had a +man in hands in the kitchen waiting for his honour." + +He instantly jumped from horseback, and hastened into the house. +"Send my clerk here directly; ye'll find him copying the survey of +the estate in the little green parlour. Set things to rights in my +study, and wheel the great leathem chair up to the +writing-table--set a stool for Mr. Scrow. --Scrow (to the clerk, +as he entered the presence-chamber), hand down Sir George Mackenzie +on Crimes; open it at the section Vis Publica et Privata, and fold +down a leaf at the passage 'anent the bearing of unlawful weapons.' +Now lend me a hand off with my muckle-coat, and hang it up in the +lobby, and bid them bring up the prisoner--I trow I'll sort him-- +but stay, first send up Mac-Guffog.--Now, Mac-Guffog, where did ye +find this chield?" + +Mac-Guffog, a stout bandy-legged fellow, with a neck like a bull, a +face like a--firebrand, and a most portentous squint of the left +eye, began, after various contortions by way of courtesy to the +justice, to tell his story, eking it out by sundry sly nods and +knowing winks, which appeared to bespeak an intimate correspondence +of ideas between the narrator and his principal auditor. "Your +honour sees I went down to yon place that your honour spoke o', +that's kept by her that your honour kens o', by the sea-side.-- +So, says she, what are you wanting here? Ye'll be come wi' a broom +in your pocket frae Ellangowan?--So, says I, deil a broom will come +frae there awa, for ye ken, says I, his honour Ellangowan himself +in former times--" + +"Well, well," said Glossin, "no occasion to be particular, tell the +essentials." + +"Weel, so we sat niffering [*Bargaining] about some brandy that I +said I wanted, till he came in." + +"Who?" + +"He!" pointing with his thumb inverted to the kitchen, where the +prisoner was in custody. "So he had his griego wrapped close round +him, and I judged he was not dry-handed [*Unarmed]--so I thought it +was best to speak proper, and so he believed I was a Manks man, and +I kept aye between him and her, for fear she had whistled. [*Given +information to the party concerned] And then we began to drink +about, and then I betted he would not drink out a quartern of +Hollands without drawing breath--and then he tried it--and just +then Slounging Jock and Dick Spur'em came in, and we clinked the +darbies [*Handcuffs] on him, took him as quiet as a lamb--and now +he's had his bit sleep out, and is as fresh as a May gowan, to +answer what your honour likes to speer." [*Inquire] This +narrative, delivered with a wonderful quantity of gesture and +grimace, received at the conclusion the thanks and praises which +the narrator expected. + +"Had he no arms?" asked the Justice. + +"Ay, ay, they are never without barkers and slashers." + +"Any papers?" + +"This bundle," delivering a dirty pocket-book. "Go downstairs, +then, Mac-Guffog,. and be in waiting." The officer left the room. + +The clink of irons was immediately afterwards heard upon the stair, +and in two or three minutes a man was introduced, handcuffed and +fettered. He was thick, brawny, and muscular, and although his +shagged and grizzled hair marked an age somewhat advanced, and his +stature was rather low, he appeared, nevertheless, a person whom +few would have chosen to cope with in personal conflict. His +coarse and savage features were still flushed, and his eye still +reeled under the influence of the strong potation which had proved +the immediate cause of his seizure. But the sleep, though short, +which MacGuffog had allowed him, and still more a sense of the +peril of his situation, had restored to him the full use of his +faculties. The worthy judge, and the no less estimable captive, +looked at each other steadily for a long time without speaking. +Glossin apparently recognised his prisoner, but seemed at a loss +how to proceed with his investigation. At length he broke silence. + +"Soh, Captain, this is you?--you have been a stranger on this coast +for some years." + +"Stranger?" replied the other; "strange enough, I think--for hold +me der deyvil, if I been ever here before." + +"That won't pass, Mr. Captain." + +"That must pass, Mr. Justice--sapperment!" + +"And who will you be pleased to call yourself, then, for the +present," said Glossin, "just until I shall bring some other folks +to refresh your memory, concerning who you are, or at least who you +have been?" + +"What bin I?--donner and blitzen! I bin Jans Janson, from +Cuxhaven--what sall lch bin?" + +Glossin took from a case which was in the apartment a pair of small +pocket pistols, which he loaded with ostentatious care. "You may +retire, "said he to his clerk," and carry the people with You, +Scrow--but wait in the lobby within call." + +The clerk would have offered some remonstrances to his patron on +the danger of remaining alone with such a desperate character, +although ironed beyond the possibility of active exertion, but +Glossin waved him off impatiently. When he had left the room, the +justice took two short turns through the apartment, then drew his +chair opposite to the prisoner, so as to confront him fully, placed +the pistols before him in readiness, and said in a steady voice, +"You are Dirk Hatteraick of Flushing, are you not?" + +The prisoner turned his eye instinctively to the door, as if he +apprehended some one was listening. Glossin rose, opened the door, +so that from the chair in which his prisoner sat he might satisfy +himself there was no eavesdropper within hearing, then shut it, +resumed his seat, and repeated his question, "You are Dirk +Hatteraick, formerly of the Yungfrauw Haagenslaapen are you not?" + +"Tousand deyvils!--and if you know that, why ask me?" said the +prisoner. + +"Because I am surprised to see you in the very last place where you +ought to be, if you regard your safety," observed Glossin coolly. + +"Der deyvil!--no man regards his own safety that speaks so to me!" + +"What? unarmed, and in irons!--well said, Captain!" replied +Glossin ironically. "But, Captain, bullying won't do--you'll +hardly get out of this country without accounting for a little +accident that happened at Warroch Point a few years ago." + +Hatteraick's looks grew black as midnight. + +"For my part," continued Glossin, "I have no particular wish to be +hard upon an old acquaintance--but I must do my duty--I shall +send you off to Edinburgh in a post-chaise and four this very day." + +"Poz donner! you would not do that?" said Hatteraick,--in a lower +and more humbled tone; "why, you had the matter of half a cargo in +bills on Vanbeest and Vanbruggen." + +"It is so long since, Captain Hatteraick," answered Glossin +superciliously, "that I really forget how I was recompensed for my +trouble." + +"Your trouble? your silence, you mean." + +"It was an affair in the course of business," said Glossin, "and I +have retired from business for some time." + +"Ay, but I have a notion that I could make you go steady about, and +try the old course again," answered Dirk Hatteraick. "Why, man, +hold me der deyvil, but I meant to visit you, and tell you +something that concerns you." + +"Of the boy?" said Glossin eagerly. + +"Yaw, Mynheer," replied the Captain coolly. + +"He does not live, does he?" + +"As lifelich as you or I," said Hatteraick. + +"Good God!--But in India?" exclaimed Glossin. + +"No, tousand deyvils, here on this dirty coast of yours," rejoined +the prisoner. + +"But, Hatteraick, this,--that is, if it be true, which I do not +believe,--this will ruin us both, for he cannot but remember your +neat job; and for me--it will be productive of the worst +consequences. It will ruin us both, I tell you." + +"I tell you," said the seaman, "it will ruin none but you--for I +am done up already, and if I must strap for it, all shall out." + +"Zounds!" said the justice impatiently, "what brought you back to +this coast like a madman?" + +"Why, all the gelt was gone, and the house was shaking, and I +thought the job was clayed over and forgotten," answered the worthy +skipper. + +"Stay--what can be done?" said Glossin anxiously. I dare not +discharge you--but might you not be rescued in the way--ay +sure--a word to Lieutenant Brown,--and I would send the people with +you by the coast-road." + +"No, no! that won't do--Brown's dead-shot--laid in the locker, +man--the devil has the picking of him." + +"Dead?--shot?--at Woodbourne, I suppose?" replied Glossin. + +"Yaw, Mynheer." + +Glossin paused--the sweat broke upon his brow with the agony of his +feelings, while the hard-featured miscreant who sat opposite, +coolly rolled his tobacco in his cheek, and squirted the juice into +the fire-grate. "It would be ruin," said Glossin to himself, +"absolute ruin, if the heir should reappear--and then what might be +the consequence of conniving with these men?--yet there is so +little time to take measures--Hark you, Hatteraick; I can't set you +at liberty--but I can put you where you may set yourself at +liberty--I always like to assist an old friend. I shall confine +you in the old castle for tonight, and give these people double +allowance of grog. Mac-Guffog will fall in the trap in which he +caught you. The stanchions on the window of the strong room, as +they call it, are wasted to pieces, and it is not above twelve feet +from the level of the ground without, and the snow lies thick." + +"But the darbies," said Hatteraick, looking upon his fetters. + +"Hark ye," said Glossin, going to a tool-chest, and taking out a +small file, "there's a friend for you, and you know the road to the +sea by the stairs." Hatteraick shook his chains in ecstasy, as if +he were already at liberty, and strove to extend his lettered hand +towards his protector. Glossin laid his finger upon his lips with a +cautious glance at the door, and then proceeded in his +instructions. "When you escape, you had better go to the Kaim of +Dernecleugh." + +"Donner! that howff is blown." + +"The devil!--well, then, you may steal my skiff that lies on the +beach there, and away. But you must remain snug at the Point of +Warroch till I come to see you." + +"The Point of Warroch?" said Hatteraick, his countenance again +falling; "what, in the cave, I suppose?--I would rather it were +anywhere else;--es spuckt da!--they say for certain that he +walks--But, donner and blitzen! I never shunned him alive, and I +won't shun him dead--Strafe mich helle! it shall never be said Dirk +Hatteraick feared either dog or devil!--So I am to wait there till +I see you?" + +"Ay, ay," answered Glossin, "and now I must call in the men." He +did so, accordingly. + +"I can make nothing of Captain Janson, as he calls himself, +Mac-Guffog, and it's now too late to bundle him off to the county +jail. Is there not a strong room up yonder in the old castle?" + +"Ay is there, sir; my uncle the constable ance kept a man there for +three days in auld Ellangowan's time. But there was an unco dust +about it--it was tried in the Inner House afore the Feifteen." + +"I know all that, but this person will not stay there very +long--it's only a makeshift for a night, a mere lock-up house till +further examination. There is a small room through which it opens, +you may light a fire for yourselves there, and I'll send you plenty +of stuff to make you comfortable. But be sure you lock the door +upon the prisoner; and, hark ye, let him have a fire in the +strongroom too, the season requires it. Perhaps he'll make a clean +breast to-morrow." + +With these instructions, and with a large allowance of food and +liquor, the justice dismissed his party to keep guard for the night +in the old castle, under the full hope and belief that they would +neither spend the night in watching, nor prayer. + +There was little fear that Glossin himself should that night sleep +over-sound. His situation was perilous in the extreme, for the +schemes of a life of villainy seemed at once to be crumbling around +and above him. He laid himself to rest, and tossed upon his pillow +for a long time in vain. At length he fell asleep, but it was only +to dream of his patron,--now, as he had last seen him, with the +paleness of death upon his features, then again transformed into +all the vigour and comeliness of youth, approaching to expel him +from the mansion-house of his fathers. Then he dreamed, that after +wandering long over a wild heath, he came at length to an inn, from +which sounded the voice of revelry; and that when he entered, the +first person he met was Frank Kennedy, all smashed and gory, as he +had lain on the beach at Warroch Point, but with a reeking +punch-bowl in his hand. Then the scene changed to a dungeon, where +he heard Dirk Hatteraick, whom he imagined to be under sentence of +death, confessing his crimes to a clergyman.--"After the bloody +deed was done," said the penitent, "we retreated into a cave close +beside, the secret of which was known but to one man in the +country; we were debating what to do with the child, and we thought +of--giving it up to the gipsies, when we heard the cries of the +pursuers hallooing to each other. One man alone came straight to +our cave, and it was that man who knew the secret--but we made him +our friend at the expense of half the value of the goods saved. By +his, advice we carried off the child to Holland in our consort, +which came the following night to take us from the coast. That man +was--" + +"No, I deny it!--it was not I!" said Glossin, in half-uttered +accents; and, struggling in his agony to express his denial more +distinctly, he awoke. + +It was, however, conscience chat had, prepared this mental +phantasmagoria. The truth was, that, knowing much better than any +other person the haunts of the smugglers, he had, while the others +were searching in different directions, gone straight to the cave, +even before he had learned the murder of Kennedy, whom he expected +to find their prisoner. He came upon them with some idea of +mediation, but found them in the midst of their guilty terrors, +while the rage, which had hurried them on to murder, began, with +all but Hatteraick, to sink into remorse and fear. Glossin was +then indigent and greatly in debt, but he was already possessed of +Mr. Bertram's ear, and, aware of the facility of his disposition, +he saw no difficulty in enriching himself at his expense, provided +the heir-male were removed, in which case the estate became the +unlimited property of the weak and prodigal father. Stimulated by +present gain and the prospect of contingent advantage, he accepted +the bribe which the smugglers offered in their terror, and connived +at, or rather encouraged, their intention of carrying away the +child of his benefactor, who, if left behind, was old enough to +have described the scene of blood which he had witnessed. The only +palliative which the ingenuity of Glossin could offer to his +conscience was, that the temptation was great, and came suddenly +upon him, embracing as it were the very advantages on which his +mind had so long rested, and promising to relieve him from +distresses which must have otherwise speedily overwhelmed him. +Besides, he endeavoured to think that self-preservation rendered +his conduct necessary. He was, in some degree, in the power of the +robbers, and pleaded hard with his conscience, that, had he +declined their offers, the assistance which he could have called +for, though not distant, might not have arrived in time to save him +from men, who, on less provocation, had just committed murder. + +Galled with the anxious forebodings of a guilty conscience, Glossin +now arose, and looked out upon the night. The scene which we have +already described in the third chapter of this story, was now +covered with snow, and the brilliant, though waste, whiteness of +the land, gave to the sea by contrast a dark and livid tinge. A +landscape covered with snow, though abstractedly it may be called +beautiful, has, both from the association of cold and barrenness, +and from its comparative infrequency, a wild, strange, and desolate +appearance. Objects, well known to us in their common state, have +either disappeared, or are so strangely varied and disguised, that +we seem gazing on an unknown world. But it was not with such +reflections that the mind of this bad man was occupied. His eye was +upon the gigantic and gloomy outlines of the old castle, where, in +a flanking tower of enormous size and thickness, glimmered two +lights, one from the window of the strong room, where Hatteraick +was confined, the other from that of the adjacent apartment +occupied by his keepers. "Has he made his escape, or will he be +able to do so?--Have these men watched, who never watched +before, in order to complete my ruin?--If morning finds him there, +he must be committed to prison; Mac-Morlan or some other person +will take the matter up--he will be detected--convicted--and will +tell all in revenge!--" + +While these racking thoughts glided rapidly through Glossin's mind, +he observed one of the lights obscured, as by an opaque body placed +at the window. What a moment of interest!--"He has got clear of +his irons!--he is working at the stanchions of the window--they are +surely quite decayed, they must give way--O God! they have fallen +outward; I heard them clink among the stones!--the noise cannot +fail to wake them--furies seize his Dutch awkwardness!--The light +burns free again--they have torn him from the window, and are +binding him in the room!--No! he had only retired an instant on +the alarm of the falling bars--he is at the window again--and the +light is quite obscured now--he is getting out!--" + +A heavy sound, as of a body dropped from a height among the snow, +announced that Hatteraick had completed his escape, and shortly +after Glossin beheld a dark figure, like a shadow, steal along the +whitened beach, and reach the spot where the skiff lay. New cause +for fear! "His single strength will be unable to float her," said +Glossin to himself; "I must go to the rascal's assistance. But no! +he has got her off, and now, thank God, her sail is spreading +itself against the moon--ay, he has got the breeze now--would to +Heaven it were a tempest, to sink him to the bottom!" + +After this last cordial wish, he continued watching the progress of +the boat as it stood away towards the Point of Warroch, until he +could no longer distinguish the dusky sail from the gloomy waves +over which it glided. Satisfied then that the immediate danger was +averted, he retired with somewhat more composure to his guilty +pillow. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + Why dost not comfort me, and help me out + From this unhallowed and blood-stained hole? + Titus Andronicus + +On the next morning, great was the alarm and confusion of the +officers, when they discovered the escape of their prisoner. +Mac-Guffog appeared before Glossin with a head perturbed with +brandy and fear, and incurred a most severe reprimand for neglect +of duty--The resentment of the justice appeared only to be +suspended by his anxiety to recover possession of the prisoner, and +the thief-takers, glad to escape from his awful and incensed +presence, were sent off in every direction (except the right one) +to recover their prisoner, if possible. Glossin particularly +recommended a careful search at the Kaim of Dernecleugh, which was +occasionally occupied under night by vagrants of different +descriptions. Having thus dispersed his myrmidons in various +directions, he himself hastened by devious paths through the Wood +of Warroch, to his appointed interview with Hatteraick, from whom +he hoped to learn at more leisure than last night's conference +admitted, the circumstances attending the return of the heir of +Ellangowan to his native country. + +With manoeuvres like those of a fox when he doubles to avoid the +pack, Glossin strove to approach the place of appointment in a +manner which should leave no distinct track of his course. "Would +to Heaven it would snow," he said, looking upward, "and hide these +footprints. Should one of the officers light upon them, he would +run the scent up, like a bloodhound, and surprise us.--I must get +down upon the sea-beach, and contrive to creep along beneath the +rocks." + +And accordingly, he descended from the cliffs with some difficulty, +and scrambled along between the rocks and the advancing tide; now +looking up to see if his motions were watched from the rocks above +him, now casting a jealous glance to mark if any boat appeared upon +the sea, from which his course might be discovered. + +But even the feelings of selfish apprehension were for a time +superseded, as Glossin passed the spot where Kennedy's body had +been found. It was marked by the fragment of rock which had been +precipitated from the cliff above, either with the body or after +it. The mass was now encrusted with small shell-fish, and +tasselled with tangle and seaweed; but still its shape and +substance were different from those of the other rocks which lay +scattered around. His voluntary walks, it will readily be +believed, had never led to this spot; so that finding himself now +there for the first time after the terrible catastrophe, the scene +at once recurred to his mind with all its accompaniments of +horror. He remembered how, like a guilty thing, gliding from the +neighbouring place of concealment, he had mingled with eagerness, +yet with caution, among the terrified group who surrounded the +corpse, dreading lest any one should ask from whence he came. He +remembered, too, with what conscious fear he had avoided gazing +upon that ghastly spectacle. The wild scream of his patron, "My +bairn! my bairn!" again rang in his ears. "Good God!" he +exclaimed, "land is all I have gained worth the agony of that +moment, and the thousand anxious fears and horrors which have since +embittered my life!--Oh how I wish that I lay where that wretched +man lies, and that he stood here in life and health!--But these +regrets are all too late." + +Stifling, therefore, his feelings, he crept forward to the cave, +which was so near the spot where the body was found, that the +smugglers might have heard from their hiding-place the various +conjectures of the bystanders concerning the fate of their victim. +But nothing could be more completely concealed than the entrance to +their asylum. The opening, not larger than that of a fox-earth, +lay in the face of the cliff directly behind a large black rock, or +rather upright stone, which served at once to conceal it from +strangers, and as a mark to point out its situation to those who +used it as a place of retreat. The space between the stone and the +cliff was exceedingly narrow, and being heaped with sand and other +rubbish, the most minute search would not have discovered the mouth +of the cavern, without removing those substances which the tide had +drifted before it. For the purpose of further concealment, it was +usual with the contraband traders who frequented this haunt, after +they had entered, to stuff the mouth with withered seaweed loosely +piled together as if carried there by the waves. Dirk Hatteraick +had not forgotten this precaution. + +Glossin, though a bold and hardy man, felt his heart throb, and his +knees knock together, when he prepared to enter this den of secret +iniquity, in order to hold conference with a felon, whom he justly +accounted one of the most desperate and depraved of men. "But he +has no interest to injure me," was his consolatory reflection. He +examined his pocket-pistols, however, before removing the weeds and +entering the cavern, which he did upon hands and knees. The +passage, which at first was low and narrow, just admitting entrance +to a man in a creeping posture, expanded after a few yards into a +high arched vault of considerable width. The bottom, ascending +gradually, was covered with the purest sand. Ere Glossin had got +upon his feet, the hoarse yet suppressed voice of Hatteraick +growled through the recesses of the cave. + +"Hagel and donner!--be'st du?" + +"Are you in the dark?" + +"Dark? der deyvil! ay," said Dirk Hatteraick; "where should I have +a glim?" + +"I have brought light;" and Glossin accordingly produced a +tinder-box, and lighted a small lantern. + +"You must kindle some fire too, for hold mich der deyvil, lch bin +ganz gefrorne!" + +"It is a cold place to be sure," said Glossin, gathering together +some decayed staves of barrels and pieces of wood, which had +perhaps lain in the cavern since Hatteraick was there last. + +"Cold? Snow-wasser and hagel! it's perdition--I could only keep +myself alive by rambling up and down this d-d vault, and thinking +about the merry rouses we have had in it." + +The flame then began to blaze brightly, and Hatteraick hung his +bronzed visage, and expanded his hard and sinewy hands over it, +with an avidity resembling that of a famished wretch to whom food +is exposed. The light showed his savage and stern features, and +the smoke, which in his agony of cold he seemed to endure almost to +suffocation, after circling round his head, rose to the dim and +rugged roof of the cave, through which it escaped by some secret +rents or clefts in the rock; the same doubtless that afforded air +to the cavern when the tide was in, at which time the aperture to +the sea was filled with water. + +"And now I have brought you some breakfast," said Glossin, +producing some cold meat and a flask of spirits. The latter +Hatteraick eagerly seized upon, and applied to his mouth; and, +after a hearty draught, he exclaimed with great rapture, "Das +schmeckt! That is good--that warms the liver!"--Then broke into the +fragment of a High-Dutch song, + +"Saufen Bier, und Brante-wein, Schmeissens alle die Fenstern +ein; lch ben liederlich, Du bist liederlich; Sind wir nicht +liederlich Leute a!" + +"Well said, my hearty Captain!" cried Glossin, endeavouring +to catch the tone of revelry-- + + "Gin by pailfuls, wine in rivers, + Dash the window-glass to shivers! + For three wild lads were we, brave boys, + And three wild lads were we; + Thou on the land, and I on the sand, + And jack on the gallows-tree!" + +That's it, my bully-boy! Why, you're alive again now!--And now let +us talk about our business." + +"Your business, if you please," said Hatteraick; hagel and +donner!--mine was done when I got out of the bilboes." + +"Have patience, my good friend;--I'll convince you our interests +are just the same." + +Hatteraick gave a short dry cough, and Glossin, after a pause, +proceeded. "How came you to let the boy escape?" + +"Why, fluch and blitzen! he was no charge of mine. Lieutenant Brown +gave him to his cousin that's in the Middleburgh house of Vanbeest +and Vanbruggen, and told him some goose's gazette about his being +taken in a skirmish with the land-sharks--he gave him for a +foot-boy. Me let him escape!--the bastard kinchin should have +walked the plank ere I troubled myself about him." + +"Well, and was he bred a foot-boy then?" + +"Nein, nein; the kinchin got about the old man's heart, and he gave +him his own name, and bred him up in the office, and then sent him +to India--I believe he would have packed him back here, but his +nephew told him it would do up the free trade for many a day, if +the youngster got back to Scotland." + +"Do you think the younker knows much of his own origin now?" + +"Deyvil!" replied Hatteraick, "how should I tell what he knows now? +But he remembered something of it long. When he was but ten years +old, he persuaded another Satan's limb of an English bastard like +himself to steal my lugger's khan--boat--what do you call it--to +return to his country, as he called it--fire him! Before we could +overtake them, they had the skiff out of channel as far as the +Deurloo--the boat might have been lost." + +"I wish to Heaven she had--with him in her" ejaculated Glossin. + +"Why, I was so angry myself, that, sapperment! I did give him a tip +over the side--but split him--the comical little devil swam like a +duck; so I made him swim astern for a mile to teach him manners, +and then took him in when he was sinking.--By the knocking +Nicholas! he'll plague you, now he's come over the herring-pond! +When he was so high, he had the spirit of thunder and lightning." + +"How did he get back from India?" + +"Why, how should I know?--the house there was done up, and that +gave us a shake at Middleburgh, I think--so they sent me again to +see what could be done among my old acquaintances here--for we held +old stories were done away and forgotten. So I had got a pretty +trade on foot within the last two trips; but that stupid houndsfoot +schelm, Brown, has knocked it on the head again, I suppose, with +getting himself shot by the colonel-man. + +"Why were you not with them?" + +"Why, you see--sapperment! I fear nothing--but it was too far +within land, and I might have been scented." + +"True. But to return to this youngster--" + +"Ay, ay, donner and blitzen! he's your affair," said the Captain. + +"--How do you really know that he is in this country?" + +"Why, Gabriel saw him up among the hills." + +"Gabriel! who is he?" + +A fellow from the gipsies, that, about eighteen years since, was +pressed on board that d-d fellow Pritchard's sloop-of-war. It was +he came off and gave us warning that the Shark was coming round +upon us the day Kennedy was done; and he told us how Kennedy had +given the information. The gipsies and Kennedy had some quarrel +besides. This Gab went to the East Indies in the same ship with +your younker, and, sapperment! knew him well, though the other did +not remember him. Gab kept out of his eye though, as he had served +the States against England, and was a deserter to boot; and he sent +us word directly, that we might know of his being here--though it +does not concern us a rope's end." + +"So, then, really, and in sober earnest, he is actually in this +country, Hatteraick, between friend and friend?" asked Glossin +seriously. + +"Wetter and donner, yawl What do you take me for?" + +"For a bloodthirsty, fearless miscreant!" thought Glossin +internally; but said aloud, "And which of your people was it that +shot young Hazlewood?" + +"Sturm-wetter!" said the Captain, "do ye think we were mad?-none of +us, man--Gott! the country was too hot for the trade already with +that d-d frolic of Brown's, attacking what you call Woodbourne +House." + +"Why, I am told," said Glossin, "it was Brown who shot Hazlewood?" + +"Not our lieutenant, I promise you; for he was laid six feet deep +at Derncleugh the day before the thing happened.--Tausend deyvils, +man I do ye think that he could rise out of the earth to shoot +another man?" + +A light here began to break upon Glossin's confusion of ideas. "Did +you not say that the younker, as you call him, goes by the name of +Brown + +"Of Brown? yaw-Vanbeest Brown; old Vanbeest Brown, of our Vanbeest +and Vanbruggen, gave him his own name--he did." + +"Then," said Glossin, rubbing his hands, "it is he, by Heaven, who +has committed this crime!" + +"And what have we to do with that?" demanded Hatteraick. + +Glossin paused, and, fertile in expedients, hastily ran over his +project in his own mind, and then drew near the smuggler with a +confidential air. "You know, my dear Hatteraick, it is our +principal business to get rid of this young man?" + +"Umph!" answered Dirk Hatteraick-. + +"Not," continued Glossin--"not that I would wish any personal harm +to him--if--if--if we can do without. Now, he is liable to be +seized upon by justice, both as bearing the same name with your +lieutenant, who was engaged in that affair at Woodbourne, and for +firing at young Hazlewood with intent to kill or wound." + +"Ay, ay," said Dirk Hatteraick; "but what good will that do you? +He'll be loose again as soon as he shows himself to carry other +colours." + +"True, my dear Dirk; well noticed, my friend Hatteraick! But there +is ground enough for a temporary imprisonment till he fetch his +proofs from England or elsewhere, my good friend. I understand the +law, Captain Hatteraick, and I'll take it upon me, simple Gilbert +Glossin of Ellangowan, justice of peace for the county of--, to +refuse his bail, if he should offer the best in the country, until +he is brought up for a second examination--now where d'ye think +I'll incarcerate him? + +"Hagel and wetter! what do I care?" + +"Stay, my friend--you do care a great deal. Do you know your +goods, that were seized and carried to Woodbourne, are now lying in +the Custom-house at Portanferry?" (a small fishing-town).--"Now I +will commit this younker--" + +"When you have caught him?" + +"Ay, ay, when I have caught him; I shall not be long about that--I +will commit him to the Workhouse, or Bridewell, which you know is +beside the Custom-house." + +"Yaw, the Rasp-house; I know it very well." + +"I will take care that the red-coats are dispersed through the +country; you land at night with the crew of your lugger, receive +your own goods, and carry the younker Brown with you back to +Flushing. Won't that do?" + +"Ay, carry him to Flushing," said the Captain, "or--to America?" + +"Ay, ay, my friend." + +"Or--to Jericho?" + +"Psha! Wherever you have a mind." + +"Ay, or--pitch him overboard?" + +"Nay, I advise no violence." + +"Nein, nein--you leave that to me. Sturm-wetter! I know you of +old. But, hark ye, what am I, Dirk Hatteraick, to be the better of +this?" + +"Why, is it not your interest as well as mine?" said Glossin; +"besides, I set you free this morning." + +"You set me free!--Donner and deyvil! I set myself free. Besides, +it was all in the way of your profession, and happened a long time +ago, ha, ha, ha!" + +"Pshaw! pshaw! don't let us jest; I am not against making a +handsome compliment--but it's your affair as well as mine." + +"What do you talk of my affair? is it not you that keep the +bouncer's whole estate from him? Dirk Hatteraick never touched a +stiver of his rents." + +"Hush-hush--I tell you it shall be a joint business." + +"Why, will ye give me half the kit?" + +"What, half the estate?--d'ye mean . Ye should set up house +together at Ellangowan, and take the barony, ridge about?" + +"Sturm-wetter, no! but you might give me half the value--half the +gelt. Live with you? Nein--I would have a lusthaus of mine own on +the Middleburgh dyke, and a blumengarten like a burgomaster's." + +"Ay, and a wooden lion at the door, and a painted sentinel in the +garden, with a pipe in his mouth!--But, hark ye, Hatteraick; what +will all the tulips, and flower-gardens, and pleasure-houses in the +Netherlands do for you, if you are hanged here in Scotland?" + +Hatteraick's countenance fell. "Der deyvil! hanged?" + +"Ay, hanged, meinheer Captain. The devil can scarce save Dirk +Hatteraick from being hanged for a murderer and kidnapper, if the +younker of Ellangowan should settle in this country, and if the +gallant Captain chances to be caught here re-establishing his fair +trade! And I won't say, but, as peace is now so much talked of, +their High Mightinesses may not hand him over to oblige their new +allies, even if he remained in faderiand." + +"Poz bagel blitzen and donner! I--I doubt you say true." + +"Not," said Glossin, perceiving he had made the desired impression, +"not that I am against being civil;" and he slid into Hatteraick's +passive hand a bank-note of some value. + +"Is this all?" said the smuggler; "you had the price of half a +cargo for winking at our job, and made us do your business too." + +"But, my good friend, you forget--in this case you will recover all +your own goods." + +"Ay, at the risk of all our own necks--we could do that without +you." + +"I doubt that, Captain Hatteraick," said Glossin dryly, "because +you would probably find a dozen red-coats at the Custom-house, whom +it must be my business, if we agree about this matter, to have +removed. Come, come, I will be as liberal as I can, but you should +have a conscience." + +"Now strafe mich der deyfel!--this provokes me more than all the +rest.--You rob and you murder, and you want me to rob and murder, +and play the silver-cooper, or kidnapper, as you call it, a dozen +times over, and then, hagel and wind-sturm! you speak to me of +conscience!--Can you think of no fairer way of getting rid of this +unlucky lad?" + +"No, meinheer; but as I commit him to your charge--" + +"To my charge--to the charge of steel and gunpowder! and--well, +if it must be, it must--but you have a tolerably good guess what's +like to come of it." + +"Oh, my dear friend, I trust no degree of severity will be +necessary," replied Glossin. + +"Severity!" said the fellow, with a kind of groan, I wish you had +had my dreams when I first came to this dog-hole, and tried to +sleep among the dry seaweed.--First, there was that d-d fellow +there, with his broken back, sprawling as he did when I hurled the +rock over atop on him--ha, ha, you would have sworn he was lying on +the floor where you stand, wriggling like a crushed frog--and +then--" + +"Nay, my friend," said Glossin, interrupting him, what signifies +going over this nonsense?--If you are turned chicken-hearted, why, +the game's up, that's all--the game's up with us both." + +"Chicken-hearted?--No. I have not lived so long upon the account +to start at last, neither for Devil nor Dutchman." + +Well then, take another schnaps--the cold's at your heart +still.--And now tell me, are any of your old crew with you?" + +"Nein--all dead, shot, hanged, drowned, and damned. Brown was the +last--all dead, but Gipsy Gab, and he would go off the country for +a spill of money--or he'll be quiet for his own sake--or old Meg, +his aunt, will keep him quiet for hers." + +"Which Meg?" + +"Meg Merrilies, the old devil's limb of a gipsy witch." + +"Is she still alive?' + +"Yaw." + +"And in this country?" + +"And in this country. She was at the Kaim of Derncleugh, at +Vanbeest Brown's last wake, as they call it, the other night, with +two of my people, and some of her own blasted gipsies." + +"That's another breaker ahead, Captain! Will she not squeak, think +ye?" + +"Not she--she won't start--she swore by the salmon, [*The great and +inviolable oath of the strolling tribes] if we did the kinchin no +harm, she would never tell how the gauger got it. Why, man, though +I gave her a wipe with my hanger in the heat of the matter, and cut +her arm, and though she was so long after in trouble about it up at +your borough-town there, der deyvil! old Meg was as true as steel." + +"Why, that's true, as you say," replied Glossin. "And yet if she +could be carried over to Zealand, or Hamburg, or--or--anywhere +else, you know, it were as well." + +Hatteraick jumped upright upon his feet, and looked at Glossin from +head to heel.--"I don't see the goat's foot," he said, "and yet he +must be the very deyvil!--But Meg Merrilies is closer yet with the +Kobold than you are--ay, and I had never such weather as after +having drawn her blood. Nein, nein, I'll meddle with her no +more-she's a witch of the fiend--a real deyvil's kind--but that's +her affair. Donner and wetter! I'll neither make nor meddle-- +that's her work.--But for the rest--why, if I thought the trade +would not suffer, I would soon rid you of the younker, if you send +me word when he's under embargo." + +In brief and undertones the two worthy associates concerted their +enterprise, and agreed at which of his haunts Hatteraick should be +heard of. The stay of his lugger on the coast was not difficult, +as there were no king's vessels there at the time. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + You are one of those that will not serve God if the devil + bids you--Because we come to do you service, you think we + are ruffians. Othello. + +When Glossin returned home, he found, among other letters and +papers sent to him, one of considerable importance. It was signed +by Mr. Protocol, an attorney in Edinburgh, and, addressing him as +the agent for Godfrey Bertram, Esq., late of Ellangowan, and his +representatives, acquainted him with the sudden death of Mrs. +Margaret Bertram of Singleside, requesting him to inform his +clients thereof, in case they should judge it proper to have any +person present for their interest at opening the repositories of +the deceased. Mr. Glossin perceived at once that the +letter-writer was unacquainted with the breach which had taken +place between him and his late patron. The estate of the deceased +lady should by rights as he well knew, descend to Lucy Bertram, but +it was a thousand to one that the caprice of the old lady might +have altered its destination. After running over contingencies and +probabilities in his fertile mind, to ascertain what sort of +personal advantage might accrue to him from this incident, he could +not perceive any mode of availing himself of it, except in so far +as it might go to assist his plan of recovering, or rather +creating, a character, the want of which he had already +experienced, and was likely to feel yet more deeply. "I must place +myself," he thought, "on strong ground, that, if anything goes +wrong with Dirk Hatteraick's project, I may have prepossessions in +my favour at least."--Besides, to do Glossin justice, bad as he +was, he might feel some desire to compensate to Miss Bertram in a +small degree, and in a case in which his own interest did not +interfere with hers, the infinite mischief which he had occasioned +to her family. He therefore resolved early the next morning to +ride over to Woodbourne. + +It was not without hesitation that he took this step, having the +natural reluctance to face Colonel Mannering, which fraud and +villainy have to encounter honour and probity. But he had great +confidence in his own savoir faire. His talents were naturally +acute, and by no means confined to the line of his profession. He +had at different times resided a good deal in England, and his +address was free both from country rusticity and professional +pedantry; so that he had considerable powers both of address and +persuasion, joined to an unshaken effrontery, which he affected to +disguise under plainness of manner. Confident, therefore, in +himself, he appeared at Woodbourne about ten in the morning, and +was admitted as a gentleman come to wait upon Miss Bertram. + +He did not announce himself until he was at the door of the +breakfast-parlour, when the servant, by his desire, said +aloud--"Mr. Glossin, to wait upon Miss Bertram. "Lucy, remembering +the last scene of her father's existence, turned as pale as death, +and had well-nigh fallen from her chair. Julia Mannering flew to +her assistance, and they left the room together. There remained +Colonel Mannering, Charles Hazlewood, with his arm in a sling, and +the Dominie, whose gaunt visage and wall-eyes assumed a most +hostile aspect on recognising Glossin. + +That honest gentleman, though somewhat abashed by the effect of his +first introduction, advanced with confidence, and hoped he did not +intrude upon the ladies. Colonel Mannering, in a very upright and +stately manner, observed, that he did not know to what he was to +impute the honour of a visit from Mr. Glossin. + +"Hem! hem! I took the liberty to wait upon Miss Bertram, Colonel +Mannering, on account of a matter of business." + +"If it can be communicated to Mr. Mac-Morlan, her agent, sir, I +believe it will be more agreeable to Miss Bertram." + +"I beg pardon, Colonel Mannering," said Glossin, making a wretched +attempt at an easy demeanour; "you are a man of the world--there +are some cases in which it is most prudent for all parties to treat +with principals." + +"Then," replied Mannering, with a repulsive air, "if Mr. Glossin +will take the trouble to state his object in a letter, I will +answer that Miss Bertram pays proper attention to it." + +"Certainly," stammered Glossin; "but there are cases in which a +viva voce conference--Hem! I perceive--I know--Colonel Mannering +has adopted some prejudices which may make may visit appear +intrusive, but I submit to his good sense, whether he ought to +exclude me from a hearing without knowing the purpose of my visit, +or of how much consequence it may be to the young lady whom he +honours with his protection." + +"Certainly, sir, I have not the least intention to do so," replied +the Colonel. "I will learn Miss Bertram's pleasure on the subject, +and acquaint Mr. Glossin, if he can spare time to wait for her +answer." So saying, he left the room. + +Glossin had still remained standing in the midst of the apartment. +Colonel Mannering had made not the slightest motion to invite him +to sit, and indeed had remained standing himself during their short +interview. When he left the room, however, Glossin seized upon a +chair, and threw himself into it with an air between embarrassment +and effrontery. He felt the silence of his companions +disconcerting and oppressive, and resolved to interrupt it. + +"A fine day, Mr. Sampson." The Dominie answered with something +between an acquiescent grunt and an indignant groan. + +"You never come down to see your old acquaintance on the Ellangowan +property, Mr. Sampson--You would find most of the old stagers still +stationary there. I have too much respect for--the late family to +disturb old residenters, even under pretence of improvement. +Besides, it's not my way--I don't like it--I believe, Mr. Sampson, +Scripture particularly condemns those who oppress the poor--, and +remove landmarks." + +"Or who devour the substance of orphans." subjoined the Dominie. +"Anathema, Maranatha!" So saying, he rose, shouldered the folio +which he had been perusing, faced to the right about, and marched +out of the room with the strides of a grenadier. + +Mr. Glossin, no way disconcerted, or at least, feeling it necessary +not to appear so, turned to young Hazlewood, who was apparently +busy with the newspaper.--"Any news, sir?" Hazlewood raised his +eyes, looked at him, and pushed the paper towards him, as if to a +stranger in a coffee-house, then rose, and was about to leave the +room. "I beg pardon, Mr. Hazlewood--but I can't help wishing you +joy of getting so easily over that infernal accident." + +This was answered by a sort of inclination of the head as slight +and stiff as could be imagined. Yet it encouraged our man of law +to proceed. "I can promise You, Mr. Hazlewood, few people have +taken the interest in that matter which I have done, both for the +sake of the country, and on account of my particular respect for +your family, which has so high a stake in it; indeed, so very high +a stake, that, as Mr. Featherhead is turning old now, and as +there's a talk, since his last stroke, of his taking the Chiltern +Hundreds', it might be worth your while to look about you. I speak +as a friend, Mr. Hazlewood, and as one who understands the roll; +and if in going over it together--" + +"I beg pardon, sir, but I have no views in which your assistance +could be useful." + +"Oh very well--perhaps you are right--it's quite time enough, and I +love to see a young gentleman cautious. But I was talking of your +wound--I think I have got a clew to that business--I think I +have--and if I don't bring the fellow to condign punishment!--" + +"I beg your pardon, sir, once more; but your zeal outruns my +wishes. I have every reason to think the wound was +accidental--certainly it was not premeditated. Against ingratitude +and premeditated treachery, should you find any one guilty of them, +my resentment will be as warm as your own." This was Hazlewood's +answer. + +"Another rebuff," thought Glossin I must try him upon the other +tack.--"Right, sir; very nobly said! I would have no more mercy on +an ungrateful man than I would on a woodcock--And now we talk of +sport (this was a sort of diverting of the conversation which +Glossin had learned from his former patron), I see you often carry +a gun, and I hope you will be soon able to take the field again. I +observe you confine yourself always to your own side of the +Hazleshaws burn. I hope, my dear sir, you will make no scruple of +following your game to the Ellangowan bank. I believe it is rather +the best exposure of the two for woodcocks, although both are +capital." + +As this offer only excited a cold and constrained bow, Glossin was +obliged to remain silent, and was presently afterwards somewhat +relieved by the entrance of Colonel Mannering. + +"I have detained you some time, I fear, sir," said he, addressing +Glossin; "I wished to prevail upon Miss Bertram to see you, as, in +my opinion, her objections ought to give way to the necessity of +hearing in her own person what is stated to be of importance that +she should know. But I find that circumstances of recent +occurrence, and not easily to be forgotten, have rendered her so +utterly repugnant to a personal interview with Mr. Glossin, that it +would be cruelty to insist upon it: and she has deputed me to +receive his commands, or proposal, or, in short, whatever he may +wish to say to her." + +"Hem, hem! I am sorry, sir--I am very sorry, Colonel Mannering, +that Miss Bertram should suppose--that any prejudice, in short--or +idea that anything on my part--" + +"Sir," said the inflexible Colonel, "where no accusation is made, +excuses or explanations are unnecessary. Have you any objection to +communicate to me, as Miss Bertram's temporary guardian, the +circumstances which you conceive to interest her?" + +"None, Colonel Mannering; she could not choose a more respectable +friend, or one with whom I, in particular, would more anxiously +wish to communicate frankly." + +"Have the goodness to speak to the point, sir, if you please." + +"Why, sir, it is not so easy all at once--but Mr. Hazlewood need +not leave the room,--I mean so well to Miss Bertram, that I could +wish the whole world to hear my part of the conference." + +"My friend Mr. Charles Hazlewood will not probably be anxious, Mr. +Glossin, to listen to what cannot concern him--and now, when he +has left us alone, let me pray you to be short and explicit in what +you have to say. I am a soldier, sir, somewhat impatient of forms +and introductions." So saying he drew himself up in his chair, and +waited for Mr. Glossin's communication. + +"Be pleased to look at that letter," said Glossin, putting +Protocol's epistle into Mannering's hand, as the shortest way of +stating his business. + +The Colonel read it, and returned it, after pencilling the name of +the writer in his memorandum-book. "This, sir, does not seem to +require much discussion--I will see that Miss Bertram's interest is +attended to." + +"But, sir,--but, Colonel Mannering," added Glossin, there is +another matter which no one can explain but myself. This +lady--this Mrs. Margaret Bertram, to my certain knowledge, made a +general settlement of her affairs in Miss Lucy Bertram's favour +while she lived with my old friend, Mr. Bertram, at Ellangowan. +The Dominie--that was the name by which my deceased friend always +called that very respectable man Mr. Sampson--he and I witnessed +the deed. And she had full power at that time to make such a +settlement, for she was in fee of the estate of Singleside even +then, although it was life-rented by an elder sister. It was a +whimsical settlement of old Singleside's, sir; he pitted the two +cats his daughters against each other, ha, ha, ha!" + +"Well, sir," said Mannering, without the slightest smile of +sympathy, "but to the purpose. You say that this lady had power to +settle her estate on Miss Bertram, and that she did so?" + +"Even so, Colonel," replied Glossin. "I think I should understand +the law--I have followed it for many years, and though I have given +it up to retire upon a handsome competence, I did not throw away +that knowledge which is pronounced better than house and land, and +which I take to be the knowledge of the law, since, as our common +rhyme has it, + + "'Tis most excellent, + To win the land that's gone and spent. + +No, no, I love the smack of the whip--I have a little, a very +little law yet, at the service of my friends." + +"Glossin ran on in this manner, thinking he had made a favourable +impression on Mannering. The Colonel indeed reflected that this +might be a most important crisis for Miss Bertram's interest, and +resolved that his strong inclination to throw Glossin out at +window, or at door, should not interfere with it. He put a strong +curb on his temper, and resolved to listen with patience at least, +if without complacency. He therefore let Mr. Glossin get to the +end of his self-congratulations, and then asked him if he knew +where the deed was?" + +"I know--that is, I think--I believe I can recover it--In such +cases custodiers have sometimes made a charge." + +"We won't differ as to that, sir," said the Colonel, taking out his +pocket-book. + +"But, my dear sir, you take me so very short--I said some persons +might make such a claim--I mean for payment of the expenses of the +deed, trouble in the affair, etc. But I, for my own part, only +wish Miss Bertram and her friends to be satisfied that I am acting +towards her with honour. There's the paper, sir! It would have been +a satisfaction to me to have delivered it into Miss Bertram's own +hands, and to have wished her joy of the prospects which it opens. +But since her prejudices on the subject are invincible, it only +remains for me to transmit her my best wishes through you, Colonel +Mannering, and to express that I shall willingly give my testimony +in support of that deed when I shall be called upon. I have the +honour to wish you a good morning, sir." + +This parting speech was so well got up, and had so much the tone of +conscious integrity unjustly suspected, that even Colonel Mannering +was staggered in his bad opinion. He followed him two or three +steps, and took leave of him with more politeness (though still +cold and formal) than he had paid during his visit. Glossin left +the house half pleased with the impression he had made, half +mortified by the stern caution and proud reluctance with which he +had been received. "Colonel Mannering might have had more +politeness," he said to himself--"it is not every man that can +bring a good chance of 400L a year to a penniless girl. Singleside +must be up to 400L a year now--there's Reilageganbed, Gillifidget, +Loverless, Liealone, and the Spinster's Knowe--good 400L a year. +Some people might have made their own of it in my place--and yet, +to own the truth, after much consideration, I don't see how that is +possible." + +Glossin was no sooner mounted and gone, than the Colonel despatched +a groom for Mr. Mac-Morlan, and, putting the deed into his hand, +requested to know if it was likely to be available to his friend +Lucy Bertram. Mac-Morlan perused it with eyes that sparkled with +delight, snapped his fingers repeatedly, and at length exclaimed, +"Available!--it's as tight as a glove--naebody could make better +wark than Glossin, when he didna let down a steek on purpose.--But +(his countenance falling) the auld b--, that I should say so, might +alter at pleasure!" + +"Ah! And how shall we know whether she has done so?" + +"Somebody must attend on Miss Bertram's part, when the repositories +of the deceased are opened." + +"Can you go?" said the Colonel. "I fear I cannot," replied +Mac-Morlan; "I must attend a jury trial before our court." + +"Then I will go myself," said the Colonel; "I'll set out +to-morrow. Sampson shall go with me--he is witness to this +settlement. But I shall want a legal adviser?" + +"The gentleman that was lately Sheriff of this county is high in +reputation as a barrister; I will give you a card of introduction +to him." + +"What I like about you, Mr. Mac-Morlan," said the Colonel, "is, +that you always come straight to the point. Let me have it +instantly--shall we tell Miss Lucy her chance of becoming an +heiress?" + +"Surely, because you must have some powers from her, which I will +instantly draw out. Besides, I will be caution for her prudence, +and that she will consider it only in the light of a chance." + +Mac-Morlan judged well. It could not be discerned from Miss +Bertram's manner that she founded exulting hopes upon the prospect +thus unexpectedly opening before her. She did indeed, in the +course of the evening, ask Mr. Mac-Morlan, as if by accident, what +might be the annual income of the Hazlewood property; but shall we +therefore aver for certain that she was considering whether an +heiress of four hundred a year might be a suitable match for the +young Laird? + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + Give me a cup of sack, to make mine eyes look red--For I + must speak in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses' + vein. Henry IV. Part 1 + +MANNERING, with Sampson for his companion, lost no time in his +journey to Edinburgh. They travelled in the Colonel's +post-chariot, who, knowing his companion's habits of abstraction, +did not choose to lose him out of his own sight, far less to trust +him on horseback, where, in all probability, a knavish stable-boy +might with little address have contrived to mount him with his face +to the tail. Accordingly, with the aid of his valet, who attended +on horseback, he contrived to bring Mr. Sampson safe to an inn in +Edinburgh,--for hotels in those days there were none,--without +any other accident than arose from his straying twice upon the +road. On one occasion he was recovered by Barnes, who understood +his humour, when, after engaging in close colloquy with the +schoolmaster of Moffat, respecting a disputed quantity in Horace's +7th Ode, Book ll., the dispute led on to another controversy, +concerning the exact meaning of the word Malobathro, in that lyric +effusion. His second escapade was made for the purpose of visiting +the field of Rullion-green, which was dear to his Presbyterian +predilections. Having got out of the carriage for an instant, he +saw the sepulchral monument of the slain at the distance of about a +mile, and was arrested by Barnes in his progress up the Pentland +Hills, having on both occasions forgot his friend, patron, and +fellow-traveller, as completely as if he had been in the East +Indies. On being reminded that Colonel Mannering was waiting for +him, he uttered his usual ejaculation of "Prodigious!--I was +oblivious," and then strode back to his post. Barnes was surprised +at his master's patience on both occasions, knowing by experience +how little he brooked neglect or delay; but the Dominie was in +every respect a privileged person. His patron and he were never +for a moment in each other's way, and it seemed obvious that they +were formed to be companions through life. If Mannering wanted a +particular book, the Dominie could bring it; if he wished to have +accounts summed up, or checked, his assistance was equally ready; +if he desired to recall a particular passage in the classics, he +could have recourse to the Dominie as to a dictionary; and all the +while, this walking statue was neither presuming when noticed, nor +sulky when left to himself. To a proud, shy, reserved man, and +such in many respects was Mannering, this sort of living +catalogue, and animated automaton, had all the advantages of a +literary dumb-waiter. + +As soon as they arrived in Edinburgh, and were established at the +George Inn near Bristol Port, then kept by old Cockburn (I love to +be particular), the Colonel desired the waiter to procure him a +guide to Mr. Pleydell's, the advocate, for whom he had a letter of +introduction from Mr. Mac-Morlan. He then commanded Barnes to +have an eye to the Dominie, and walked forth with a chairman, who +was to usher him to the man of law. + +The period was near the end of the American war. The desire of +room, of air, and of decent accommodation, had not as yet made very +much progress in the capital of Scotland. Some efforts had been +made on the south side of the town towards building houses within +themselves, as they are emphatically termed; and the New Town on +the north, since so much extended, was then just commenced. But +the great bulk of the better classes, and particularly those +connected with the law, still lived in flats or dungeons of the Old +Town. The manners also of some of the veterans of the law had not +admitted innovation. One or two eminent lawyers still saw their +clients in taverns, as was the general custom fifty years before; +and although their habits were already considered as old-fashioned +by the younger barristers, yet the custom of mixing wine and +revelry with serious business was still maintained by those serious +counsellors, who loved the old road, either because it was such, or +because they had got too well used to it to travel any other. Among +those praisers of the past time, who with ostentatious obstinacy +affected the manners of a former generation, was this same Paulus +Pleydell, Esq., otherwise a good scholar, an excellent lawyer, and +a worthy man. + +Under the guidance of his trusty attendant, Colonel Mannering, +after threading a dark lane or two, reached the High Street, then +clanging with the voices of oyster-women and the bells of pie-men; +for it had, as his guide assured him, just "chappit [*struck] +eight upon the Tron." It was long since Mannering had been in the +street of a crowded metropolis, which, with its noise and clamour, +its sounds of trade, of revelry and of licence, its variety of +lights, and the eternally changing bustle of its hundred groups, +offers, by night especially, a spectacle, which, though composed of +the most vulgar materials when they are separately considered, has, +when they are combined, a striking and powerful effect on the +imagination. The extraordinary height of the houses was marked by +lights, which, glimmering irregularly along their front, ascended +so high among the attics, that they seemed at length to twinkle in +the middle sky. This coup d'oeil, which still subsists in a +certain degree, was then more imposing, owing to the uninterrupted +range of buildings on each side, which, broken only at the space +where the North Bridge joins the main street, formed a superb and +uniform Place, extending from the front of the Luckenbooths to the +head of the Canongate, and corresponding in breadth and length to +the uncommon height of the buildings on either side. + +Mannering had not much time to look and to admire. His conductor +hurried him across this striking scene, and suddenly dived with him +into a very steep paved lane. Turning to the right, they entered a +scale-staircase, as it is called, the state of which, so far as it +could be judged of by one of his senses, annoyed Mannering's +delicacy not a little. When they had ascended cautiously to a +considerable height, they heard a heavy rap at a door, still two +stories above them. The door opened, and immediately ensued the +sharp and worrying bark of a dog, the squalling of a woman, the +screams of an assaulted cat, and the hoarse voice of a man, who +cried in a most imperative tone, Will ye, Mustard? will ye?--down, +sir! down!" + +"Lord preserve us!" said the female voice, "an he had worried our +cat, Mr. Pleydell would ne'er hae forgi'en me!" + +"Aweel, my doo, [*dove ] the cat's no a prin the waur--so he's no +in, ye say?" + +"Na, Mr. Pleydell's ne'er in the house on Saturday at e'en," +answered the female voice. + +"And the morn's Sabbath too," said the querist "I dinna ken what +will be done." + +By this time Mannering appeared, and found a tall strong +countryman, clad in a coat of pepper-and-salt coloured mixture, +with huge metal buttons, a glazed hat and boots, and a large +horsewhip beneath his arm, in colloquy with a slipshod damsel--I, +who had in one hand the lock of the door, and in the other a pail +of whiting, or camstane, as it is called, mixed with water--a +circumstance which indicates Saturday night in Edinburgh. + +"So Mr. Pleydell is not at home, my good girl?" said Mannering. + +"Ay, sir, he's at hame, but he's no in the house: he's aye out on +Saturday at e'en." + +"But, try good girl, I am a stranger, and my business express--Will +you tell me where I can find him?" + +"His honour," said the chairman, "will be at Clerihugh's about this +time--Hersell could hae tell'd ye that, but she thought ye wanted +to see his house." + +"Well, then, show me to this tavern--I suppose he will see me, as I +come on business of some consequence?" + +"I dinna ken, sir," said the girl; "he disna like to be disturbed +on Saturdays wi' business--but he's aye civil to strangers." + +"I'll gang to the tavern too," said our friend Dinmont, "for I am a +stranger also, and on business e'en sic like." + +"Na," said the handmaiden, "an he see the gentleman, he'll see the +simple body too--but, Lord's sake, dinna say it was me sent ye +there!" + +"Atweel, I am a simple body, that's true, hinny, but I am no come +to steal ony o' his skeel for naething," said the farmer in his +honest pride, and strutted away downstairs, followed by Mannering +and the cadie. Mannering could not help admiring the determined +stride with which the stranger who preceded them divided the press, +shouldering from him, by the mere weight and impetus of his motion, +both drunk and sober passengers. "He'll be a Teviotdale tup tat +ane," said the chairman, "tat's for keeping ta crown o' ta causeway +tat gate--he'll no gang far or he'll get somebody to bell ta cat +wi' him." + +His shrewd augury, however, was not fulfilled. Those who recoiled +from the colossal weight of Dinmont, on looking up at his size and +strength, apparently judged him too heavy metal to be rashly +encountered, and suffered him to pursue his course unchallenged. +Following in the wake of this first-rate, Mannering proceeded till +the farmer made a pause, and, looking back to the chairman, said, +"I'm thinking this will be the close, friend?" + +"Ay, ay," replied Donald, "tat's ta close." + +Dinmont descended confidently, then turned into a dark alley-- +then up a dark stair--and then into an open door. While he was +whistling shrilly for the waiter, as if he had been one of his +collie dogs, Mannering looked round him, and could hardly conceive +how a gentleman of a liberal profession, and good society, should +choose such a scene for social indulgence. Besides the miserable +entrance, the house itself seemed paltry and half ruinous. The +passage in which they stood had a window to the close, which +admitted a little light during the daytime, and a villainous +compound of smells at all times, but more especially towards +evening. Corresponding to this window was a borrowed light on the +other side of the passage, looking into the kitchen, which had no +direct communication with the free air, but received in the +daytime, at second hand, such straggling and obscure light as found +its way from the lane through the window opposite. At present, the +interior of the kitchen was visible by its own huge fires--a sort +of Pandemonium, where men and women, half undressed, were busied in +baking, broiling, roasting oysters, and preparing devils on the +gridiron; the mistress of the place, with her shoes slipshod, and +her hair straggling like that of Megaera from under a round-eared +cap, toiling, scolding, receiving orders, giving them, and obeying +them all at once, seemed the presiding enchantress of that gloomy +and fiery region. + +Loud and repeated bursts of laughter, from different quarters of +the house, proved that her labours were acceptable, and not +unrewarded by a generous public. With some difficulty a waiter was +prevailed upon to show Colonel Mannering and Dinmont the room where +their friend, learned in the law, held his hebdomadal carousals. +The scene which it exhibited, and particularly the attitude of the +counsellor himself, the principal figure therein, struck his two +clients with amazement. + +Mr. Pleydell was a lively, sharp-looking gentleman, with a +professional shrewdness in his eye, and, generally speaking, a +professional formality in his manners. But this, like his +three-tailed wig and black coat, he could slip off on a Saturday +evening, when surrounded by a party of jolly companions, and +disposed for what he called his altitudes. On the present occasion, +the revel had lasted since four o'clock, and, at length, under the +direction of a venerable compotater, who had shared the sports and +festivity of three generations, the frolicsome company had begun to +practise the ancient and now forgotten pastime of High-jinks. This +game was played in several different ways. Most frequently the +dice were thrown by the company, and those upon whom the lot fell +were obliged to assume and maintain, for a time, a certain +fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number of fescennine +verses in a particular order. If they departed from the characters +assigned, or if their memory proved treacherous in the repetition, +they incurred forfeits, which were either compounded for by +swallowing an additional bumper, or by paying a small sum towards +the reckoning. At this sport the jovial company were closely +engaged, when Mannering entered the room. + +Mr. Counsellor Pleydell, such as we have described him, was +enthroned as a monarch, in an elbow-chair, placed, on the +dining-table, his scratch wig on one side, his head crowned with a +bottle-slider, his eye leering with an expression betwixt fun and +the effects of wine, while his court around him resounded with such +crambo scraps of verse as these . + + Where is Gerunto now? and what's become of him? + + Gerunto's drowned because he could not swim, etc. etc. + +Such, O Themis, were anciently the sports of thy Scottish children! +Dinmont was first in the room. He stood aghast a moment,--and then +exclaimed, "It's him, sure enough-Deil o' the like o' that ever +saw!" + +At the sound of "Mr. Dinmont and Colonel Mannering wanted to speak +to you, sir," Pleydell turned his head, and blushed a little when +he saw the very genteel figure of the English stranger. He was, +however, of the opinion of Falstaff, "Out, ye villains, play out +the play!" wisely judging it the better way to appear totally +unconcerned. "Where be our guards?" exclaimed this second +Justinian; "see ye not a stranger knight from foreign parts arrived +at this our court of Holyrood--with our bold yeoman Andrew Dinmont, +who has succeeded to the keeping of our royal flocks within the +forest of Jedwood, where, thanks to our royal care in the +administration of justice, they feed as safe as if they were within +the bounds of Fife? Where be our heralds, our pursuivants, our +Lyon, our Marchmount, our Carrick, and our Snowdown? Let the +strangers be placed at our board, and regaled as beseemeth their +quality, and this our high holiday--to-morrow we will hear their +tidings." + +"So please you, my liege, to-morrow's Sunday," said one of the +company. + +"Sunday, is it? then we will give no offence to the assembly of the +kirk--on Monday shall be. their audience." + +Mannering, who had stood at first uncertain whether to advance or +retreat, now resolved to enter for the moment into the whim of the +scene, though internally fretting at Mac-Morlan for sending him to +consult with a crack-brained humorist. He therefore advanced with +three profound congees, and craved permission to lay his +credentials at the feet of the Scottish monarch, in order to be +perused at his best leisure. The gravity with which he +accommodated himself to the humour of the moment, and the deep and +humble inclination with which he at first declined, and then +accepted, a seat presented by the master of the ceremonies, +procured him three rounds of applause. + +"Deil hae me, if they arena a' mad thegither!" said Dinmont, +occupying with less ceremony a seat at the bottom of the table, "or +else they hae taen Yule before it comes, and are gaun +a-guisarding." + +A large glass of claret was offered to Mannering, who drank it to +the health of the reigning prince. "You are, I presume to guess," +said the monarch, "that celebrated Sir Miles Mannering, so renowned +in the French wars, and may well pronounce to us if the wines of +Gascony lose their flavour in our more northern realm." + +Mannering, agreeably flattered by this allusion to the fame of his +celebrated ancestor, replied, by professing himself only a distant +relation of the preux chevalier, and added, "that in his opinion +the wine was superlatively good." + +"It's owre cauld for my stamach," said Dinmont, setting down the +glass (empty, however). + +"We will correct that quality," answered King Paulus, the first of +the name; "we have not forgotten that the moist and humid air of +our valley of Liddel inclines to stronger potations.--Seneschal, +let our faithful yeoman have a cup of brandy; it will be more +germain to the matter." + +"And now," said Mannering, "since we have unwarily intruded upon +your majesty at a moment of mirthful retirement, be pleased to say +when you will indulge a stranger with an audience on those affairs +of weight which have brought him to your northern capital." + +The monarch opened Mac-Morlan's letter, and, running it hastily +over, exclaimed, with his natural voice and. manner, "Lucy Bertram +of Ellangowan, poor dear lassie!" + +"A forfeit! a forfeit!" exclaimed a dozen voices; his majesty has +forgot his kingly character." + +"Not a whit! not a whit!" replied the king; "I'll be judged by this +courteous knight. May not a monarch love a maid of low degree? Is +not King Cophetua and the Beggar-maid, an adjudged case in point?" + +"Professional! professional!--another forfeit," exclaimed the +tumultuary nobility. + +"Had not our royal predecessors," continued the monarch, exalting +his sovereign voice to drown these disaffected clamours,--"Had they +not their Jean Logies, their Bessie Carmichaels, their Oliphants, +their Sandilands, and their Weirs, and shall it be denied to us +even to name a maiden whom we delight to honour? Nay, then, sink +state and perish sovereignty! for, like a second Charles V., we +will abdicate, and seek in the private shades of life those +pleasures which are denied to a throne." + +So saying, he flung away his crown, and sprung from his exalted +station with more agility than could have been expected from his +age, ordered lights and a wash-hand basin and towel, with a cup of +green tea, into another room, and made a sign to Mannering to +accompany him. In less than two minutes he washed his face and +hands, settled his wig in the glass, and, to Mannering's great +surprise, looked quite a different man from the childish Bacchanal +he bad seen a moment before. + +"There are folks," he said, "Mr. Mannering, before whom one should +take care how they play the fool--because they have either too much +malice, or too little wit, as the poet says. The best compliment I +can pay Colonel Mannering, is to show I am not ashamed to expose +myself before him--and truly I think it is a compliment I have not +spared to-night on your good-nature.--But what's that great strong +fellow wanting?" + +Dinmont, who had pushed after Mannering into the room, began with a +scrape with his foot and a scratch of his head in unison. "I am +Dandie Dinmont, sir, of the Charlies-hope--the Liddesdale +lad--ye'll mind me?--it was for me ye won yon grand plea." + +"What plea, you loggerhead" said the lawyer "d'ye think I can +remember all the fools that come to plague me?" + +"Lord, sir, it was the grand plea about the grazing o' the Langtae +Head!" said the farmer. + +"Well, curse thee, never mind; give me the memorial [*The Scottish +memorial corresponds to the English brief.] and come to me on +Monday at ten," replied the learned counsel. + +"But, sir, I haena got ony distinct memorial." + +"No memorial, man?" said Pleydell. + +"Na, sir, nae memorial," answered Dandie "for your honour said +before, Mr. Pleydell, ye'll mind, that ye liked best to bear us +hill-folk tell our ain tale by word o' mounts" + +"Beshrew my tongue that said so!" answered the counsellor; "it will +cost my ears a dinning.--Well, say in two words what you've got to +say--you see the gentleman waits." + +"Ou, sir, if the gentleman likes he may play his ain spring first; +it's a' ane to Dandie." + +"Now, you looby," said the lawyer, "cannot you conceive that your +business can be nothing to Colonel Mannering, but that he may not +choose to have these great ears of thine regaled with his matters?" + +"Aweel, sir, just as you and he like--so ye see to my business," +said Dandie, not a whit disconcerted by the roughness of this +reception. "We're at the auld wark o' the marches again, Jock o' +Dawston Cleugh and me. Ye see we march on the tap o' Touthop Rigg +after we pass the Pomoragrains; for the Pomoragrains, and +Slackenspool, and Bloodylaws, they come in there, and they belang +to the Peel; but after ye pass Pomoragrains at a muckle great +saucer-headed cutlugged stane, that they ca' Charlie's Chuckie, +there Dawston Cleugh and Charlies-hope they march. Now, I say, the +march rins on the tap o' the hill where the wind and water shears; +but Jock o' Dawston Cleugh again, he contravenes that, and says, +that it hauds down by the auld drove-road that gaes awa by the Knot +o' the Gate ower to Keeldar Ward--and that makes an unco [*Uncommon +] difference." + +"And what difference does it make, friend?" said Pleydell. "How +many sheep will it feed?" + +"Ou, no mony," said Dandie, scratching his head, it's lying high +and exposed--it may feed a hog, or aiblins [*Perhaps ] twa in a +good year." + +"And for this grazing, which may be worth about five shillings a +year, you are willing to throw away a hundred pound or two?" + +"Na, sir, it's no for the value of the grass," replied Dinmont; +"it's for justice." + +"My good friend," said Pleydell, "justice, like charity, should +begin at home. Do you justice to your wife and family, and think +no more about-the matter." + +Dinmont still lingered, twisting his hat in his hand-" It's no for +that, sir--but I would like ill to be bragged wi' him--he threeps +[*Declares ] he'll bring a score o' witnesses and mair--and I'm +sure there's as mony will swear for me as for him, folk that lived +a' their days upon the Charlies-hope, and wadna like to see the +land lose its right." + +"Zounds, man, if it be a point of honour," said the lawyer, "why +don't your landlords take it up?" + +"I dinna ken, sir" (scratching his head again), "there's been nae +election-dusts lately, and the lairds are unco neighbourly, and +Jock and me canna get them to yoke thegither about it a' that we +can say--but if ye thought we might keep up the rent--" + +"No! no! that will never do," said Pleydell,--"confound you, why +don't you take good cudgels and settle it?" + +"Odd, sir," answered the farmer, "we tried that three times +already--that's twice on the land add ance at Lockerby fair.--But I +dinna ken--we're baith gey good at single-stick, and it couldna +weel be judged." + +"Then take broadswords, and be d-d to you, as your fathers did +before you," said the counsel learned in the law. + +"Aweel, sir, if ye think it wadna be again the law, it's a' ane to +Dandie." + +"Hold! Hold!" exclaimed Pleydell, "we shall have another Lord +Soulis' mistake--Pr'ythee, man, comprehend me; I wish you to +consider how very trifling and foolish a lawsuit you wish to engage +in." + +"Ay, sir?" said Dandie, in a disappointed tone. "So ye winna take +on wi' me, I'm doubting?" + +"Me! not I--go home, go home, take a pint and agree." Dandie looked +but half contented, and still remained stationary. "Anything more, +my friend?" + +"Only, sir, about the succession of this leddy that's dead, auld +Miss Margaret Bertram o' Singleside." + +"Ay, what about her?" said the counsellor, rather surprised. + +"Ou, we have nae connection at a' wi' the Bertrams," said +Dandie,--"they were grand folk by the like o' us.--But Jean Liltup, +that was auld Singleside's housekeeper, and the mother of these twa +young ladies that are gane--the last o' them's dead at a ripe age, +I trow--Jean Liltup came out o' Liddel water, and she was as near +our connection as second cousin to my mother's half-sister--She +drew up wi' Singleside, nae doubt, when she was his housekeeper, +and it was a sair vex and grief to a' her kith and kin. But he +acknowledged a marriage, and satisfied the kirk--and now I wad ken +frae you if we hae not some claim by law?" + +"Not the shadow of a claim." + +"Aweel, we're nae puirer," said Dandie,--"but she may hae thought +on us if she was minded to make a testament.--Weel, sir, I've +said my say--I'se e'en wish you good-night, and--"putting his hand +in his pocket. + +"No, no, my friend; I never take fees on Saturday nights, or +without a memorial--away with you, Dandie." And Dandie made his +reverence, and departed accordingly. + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + But this poor farce has neither truth, nor art, + To please the fancy or to touch the heart. + Dark but not awful, dismal but yet mean, + With anxious bustle moves the cumbrous scene, + Presents no objects tender or profound, + But spreads its cold unmeaning gloom around. + Parish Register. + +"Your majesty," said Mannering, laughing, "has solemnised your +abdication by an act of mercy and charity--That fellow will scarce +think of going to law." + +"Oh, you are quite wrong," said the experienced lawyer. "The only +difference is, I have lost my client and my fee. He'll never rest +till he finds somebody to encourage him to commit the folly he has +predetermined--No! no! I have only shown you another weakness of my +character--I always speak truth of a Saturday night." + +"And sometimes through the week, I should think," said Mannering, +continuing the same tone. + +"Why, yes; as far as my vocation will permit. I am, as Hamlet +says, indifferent honest, when my clients and their solicitors do +not make me the medium of conveying their double-distilled lies to +the bench. But oportet vivere! it is a sad thing.--And now to our +business. I am glad my old friend MacMorlan has sent you to me; +he is an active, honest, and intelligent man, long +Sheriff-substitute of the county of--under me, and still holds the +office. He knows I have a regard for that unfortunate family of +Ellangowan, and for poor Lucy. I have not seen her since she was +twelve years old, and she was then a sweet pretty girl under the +management of a very silly father. But my interest in her is of an +early date. I was called upon, Mr. Mannering, being then Sheriff +of that county, to investigate the particulars of a murder which +had been committed near Ellangowan the day on which this poor child +was born; and which, by a strange combination that I was unhappily +not able to trace, involved the death or abstraction of her only +brother, a boy of about five years old. No, Colonel, I shall never +forget the misery of the house of Ellangowan that morning!--the +father half distracted--the mother dead in premature travail--the +helpless infant, with scarce any one to attend it, coming wawling +and crying into this miserable world at such a moment of +unutterable misery. We lawyers are not of iron, sir, or of brass, +any more than you soldiers are of steel. We are conversant with +the crimes and distresses of civil society, as you are with those +that occur in a state of war, and to do our duty in either case a +little apathy is perhaps necessary--But the devil take a soldier +whose heart can be as hard as his sword, and his dam catch the +lawyer who bronzes his bosom instead of his forehead!--But come, I +am losing my Saturday at e'en--will you have the kindness to trust +me with these papers which relate to Miss Bertram's business? -- +and stay--to-morrow you'll take a bachelor's dinner with an old +lawyer,--I insist upon it, at three precisely--and come an hour +sooner.--The old lady is to be buried on Monday; it is the orphan's +cause, and we'll borrow an hour from the Sunday to talk over this +business--although I fear nothing can be done if she has altered +her settlement--unless perhaps it occurs within the sixty days, +and then if Miss Bertram can show that she possesses the character +of heir-at-law, why-- + +"But, hark! my lieges are impatient of their inter-regnum--I do +not invite you to rejoin us, Colonel; it would be a trespass on +your complaisance, unless you had begun the day with us, and +gradually glided on front wisdom to mirth, and from mirth +to--to--to--extravagance.--Good-night-Harry, go home with Mr. +Mannering to his lodging-Colonel, I expect you at a little past two +to-morrow." + +The Colonel returned to his inn, equally surprised at the childish +frolics in which he had found his learned counsellor engaged, at +the candour and sound sense which he had in a moment summoned up to +meet the exigencies of his profession, and at the tone of feeling +which he displayed when he spoke of the friendless orphan. + +In the morning, while the Colonel and his most quiet and silent of +all retainers, Dominie Sampson, were finishing the breakfast which +Barnes had made and poured out, after the Dominie had scalded +himself in the attempt, Mr. Pleydell was suddenly ushered in. A +nicely dressed bob-wig, upon every hair of which a zealous and +careful barber had bestowed its proper allowance of powder; a +well-brushed black suit, with very clean shoes and gold buckles and +stock-buckle; a manner rather reserved and formal than intrusive, +but, withal, showing only the formality of manner, by no means that +of awkwardness; a countenance, the expressive and somewhat comic +features of which were in complete repose,--all showed a being +perfectly different from the choice spirit of the evening before. A +glance of shrewd and piercing fire in his eye was the only marked +expression which recalled the man of "Saturday at e'en." + +"I am come," said he, with a very polite address, "to use my regal +authority in your behalf in spirituals as well as temporals--can I +accompany you to the Presbyterian kirk, or Episcopal +meeting-house?--Tros Tyriusve" a lawyer, you know, is of both +religions, or rather I should say of both forms--or can I assist in +passing the forenoon otherwise? You'll excuse my old-fashioned +importunity--I was born in a time when a Scotchman was thought +inhospitable if he left a guest alone a moment, except when he +slept--but I trust you will tell me at once if I intrude." + +"Not at all, my dear sir," answered Colonel Mannering--"I am +delighted to put myself under your pilotage. I should wish much to +hear some of your Scottish preachers whose talents have done such +honour to your country--your Blair, your Robertson, or your Henry; +and I embrace--your kind offer with all my heart.--Only," drawing +the lawyer a little aside, and turning his eye towards Sampson, "my +worthy friend there in the reverie is a little helpless and +abstracted, and my servant, Barnes, who is his pilot in ordinary, +cannot well assist him here, especially as he has expressed his +determination of going to some of your darker and more remote +places of worship." + +The lawyer's eye glanced at Dominie Sampson. "A curiosity worth +preserving--and I'll find you a fit custodier.--Here you, sir (to +the waiter), go to Luckie Finlayson's in the Cowgate for Miles +Macfin the cadie, he'll be there about this time, and tell him I +wish to speak to him." + +The person wanted soon arrived. "I will commit your friend to this +man's charge," said Pleydell; "he'll attend him, or conduct him, +wherever he chooses to go, with a happy indifference as to kirk or +market, meeting or court of justice, or any other place +whatever--and bring him safe home at whatever hour you appoint; so +that Mr. Barnes there may be left to the freedom of his own will." + +This was easily arranged, and the Colonel committed the Dominie to +the charge of this man while they should remain in Edinburgh. + +"And now, sir, if you please, we shall go to the Greyfriars church, +to hear our historian of Scotland, of the Continent, and of +America." + +They were disappointed--he did not preach that morning.--"Never +mind," said the counsellor, "I have a moment's patience, and we +shall do very well." + +The colleague of Dr. Robertson ascended the pulpit. [*This was the +celebrated Dr. Rescan, a distinguished clergyman. and a most +excellent man. ] His external appearance was not prepossessing. A +remarkably fair complexion, strangely contrasted with a black wig +without a grain of powder; a narrow chest and a stooping posture; +hands which, placed like props on either side of the pulpit, seemed +necessary rather to support the person than to assist the +gesticulation of the preacher,--no gown, not even that of Geneva, a +tumbled band, and a gesture which seemed scarce voluntary, were the +first circumstances which struck a stranger. "The preacher seems a +very ungainly person," whispered Mannering to his new friend. + +"Never fear; he's the son of an excellent Scottish lawyer [*The +father of Dr. Erskine was an eminent lawyer, and his Institutes of +the Law of Scotland are to this day the text-hook of students of +that science.]--he'll show blood, I'll warrant him." + +The learned counsellor predicted truly. A lecture was delivered, +fraught with new, striking, and entertaining views of Scripture +history--a sermon, in which the Calvinism of the Kirk of Scotland +was ably supported, yet made the basis of a sound system of +practical morals, which should neither shelter the sinner under the +cloak of speculative faith or of peculiarity of opinion, nor leave +him loose to the waves of unbelief and schism. Something there was +of an antiquated turn of argument and metaphor, but it only served +to give zest and peculiarity to the style of elocution. The sermon +was not read--a scrap of paper containing the heads of the +discourse was occasionally referred to, and the enunciation, which +at first seemed imperfect and embarrassed, became, as the preacher +warmed in his progress, animated and distinct, and although the +discourse could not be quoted as a correct specimen of pulpit +eloquence, yet Mannering had seldom heard so much learning, +metaphysical acuteness, and energy of argument, brought into the +service of Christianity. + +"Such," he said, going out of the church, "must have been the +preachers, to whose uncaring minds, and acute, though sometimes +rudely exercised talents, we own the Reformation." + +"And yet that reverend gentleman," said Pleydell, "whom I love for +his father's sake and his own, has nothing of the sour or +pharisaical pride which has been imputed to some of the early +fathers of the Calvinistic Kirk of Scotland. His colleague and he +differ, and head different parties in the kirk, about particular +points of church discipline; but without for a moment losing +personal regard or respect for each other, or suffering malignity +to interfere in an opposition, steady, constant, and apparently +conscientious on both sides." + +"And you, Mr. Pleydell, what do you think of their points of +difference?" + +"Why, I hope, Colonel, a plain man may go to heaven without +thinking about them at all--besides, inter nos, I am a member of +the suffering and Episcopal Church of Scotland--the shadow of a +shade now, and fortunately so--but I love to pray where my fathers +prayed before me, without thinking worse of the Presbyterian forms, +because they do not affect me with the same associations." And with +this remark they parted until dinner-time. + +From the awkward access to the lawyer's mansion, Mannering was +induced to form very moderate expectations of the entertainment +which he was to receive. The approach looked even more dismal by +daylight than on the preceding evening. The houses on each side of +the lane were so close, that the neighbours might have shaken hands +with each other from the different sides, and occasionally the +space between was traversed by wooden galleries, and thus entirely +closed up. The stair, the scale-stair, was not well cleaned; and on +entering the house, Mannering was struck with the narrowness and +meanness of the wainscotted passage. But the library, into which +he was shown by an elderly respectable looking man-servant, was a +complete contrast to these unpromising appearances. It was a +well-proportioned room, hung with a portrait or two of Scottish +characters of eminence, by Jamieson, the Caledonian Vandyke, and +surrounded with books, the best editions of the best authors, and, +in particular, an admirable collection of classics. + +"These," said Pleydell, "are my tools of trade. A lawyer without +history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he +possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself +an architect." + +But Mannering was chiefly delighted with the view from the windows, +which commanded that incomparable prospect of the ground between +Edinburgh and the sea; the Firth of Forth, with its islands; the +embayment which is terminated by the Law of North Berwick; and the +varied shores of Fife to the northward, indenting with a hilly +outline the clear blue horizon. + +When Mr. Pleydell had sufficiently enjoyed the surprise of his +guest, he called his attention to Miss Bertram's affairs. "I was +in hopes," he said, "though but faint, to have discovered some +means of ascertaining her indefeasible right to this property of +Singleside; but my researches have been in vain. The old lady was +certainly absolute fiar, and might dispose of it in full right of +property. All that we have to hope is, that the devil may not have +tempted her to alter this very proper settlement. You must attend +the old girl's funeral to-morrow, to which you will receive an +invitation, for I have acquainted her agent with your being here on +Miss Bertram's part; and I will meet you afterwards at the house +she inhabited, and be present to see fair play at the opening of +the settlement. The old cat had a little girl, the orphan of some +relation, who lived with her as a kind of slavish companion. I +hope she has had the conscience to make her independent, in +consideration of the peine forte et dure to which she subjected her +during her lifetime." + +Three gentlemen now appeared, and were introduced to the stranger. +They were men of good sense, gaiety, and general information, so +that the day passed very pleasantly over; and Colonel Mannering +assisted, about eight o'clock at night, in discussing the +landlord's bottle, which was, of course, a magnum. Upon his return +to the inn, he found a card inviting him to the funeral of Miss +Margaret Bertram, late of Singleside, which was to proceed from her +own house to the place of interment in the Greyfriars churchyard, +at one o'clock afternoon. + +At the appointed hour, Mannering went to a small house in the +suburbs to the southward of the city, where he found the place of +mourning, indicated, as usual in Scotland, by two rueful figures +with long black cloaks, white crapes and hatbands, holding in their +hands poles, adorned with melancholy streamers of the same +description. By two other mutes, who, from their visages, seemed +suffering under the pressure of some strange calamity, he was +ushered into the dining-parlour of the defunct, where the company +were assembled for the funeral. + +In Scotland, the custom, now disused in England, of inviting the +relations of the deceased to the interment, is universally +retained. On many occasions this has a singular and striking +effect, but it degenerates into mere empty form and grimace, in +cases where the defunct has had the misfortune to live unbeloved +and die unlamented. The English service for the dead, one of the +most beautiful and impressive parts of the ritual of the church, +would have, in such cases, the effect of fixing the attention, and +uniting the thoughts and feelings of the audience present, in an +exercise of devotion so peculiarly adapted to such an occasion. But +according to the Scottish custom, if there be not real feeling +among the assistants, there is nothing to supply the deficiency, +and exalt or rouse the attention; so that a sense of tedious form, +and almost hypocritical restraint, is too apt to pervade the +company assembled for the mournful solemnity. Mrs. Margaret +Bertram was unluckily one of those whose good qualities had +attached no general friendship. She had no near relations who +might have mourned from natural affection, and therefore her +funeral exhibited merely the exterior trappings of sorrow. + +Mannering, therefore, stood among this lugubrious company of +cousins in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth degree, composing +his countenance to the decent solemnity of all who were around him, +and looking as much concerned on Mrs. Margaret Bertram's account, +as if the deceased lady of Singleside had been his own sister or +mother. After a deep and awful pause, the company began to talk +aside under their breaths, however, and as if in the chamber of a +dying person. + +"Our poor friend," said one grave gentleman, scarcely opening his +mouth, for fear of deranging the necessary solemnity of his +features, and sliding his whisper from between his lips, which were +as little unclosed as possible,--"Our poor friend has died well +to pass in the world." + +"Nae doubt," answered the person addressed, with half-closed eyes; +"poor Mrs. Margaret was aye careful of the gear." + +"Any news to-day, Colonel Mannering?" said one of the gentlemen +whom he had dined with the day before, but in a tone which might, +for its impressive gravity, have communicated the death of his +whole generation. + +"Nothing particular, I believe, sir," said Mannering, in the +cadence which was, he observed, appropriated to the house of +mourning. + +"I understand," continued the first speaker emphatically, and with +the air of one who is well informed--"I understand there is a +settlement." + +"And what does little Jenny Gibson get?" + +"A hundred, and the auld repeater." + +"That's but sma' gear, puir thing; she had a sair time o't with the +auld leddy. But it's ill waiting for deadfolk's shoon." + +"I am afraid," said the politician, who was close by Mannering," we +have not done with your old friend Tippoo Saib yet--I doubt he'll +give the Company more plague; and I am told, but you'll know for +certain that East India Stock is not rising." + +"I trust it will, sir, soon." + +"Mrs. Margaret," said another person, mingling in the conversation, +"had some India bonds. I know that, for I drew the interest for +her--it would be desirable now for the trustees and legatees to +have the Colonel's advice about the time and mode of converting +them into money. For my part I think--But there's Mr. Mortcloke to +tell us they are gaun to lift." + +Mr. Mortcloke the undertaker did accordingly, with a visage of +professional length and most grievous solemnity, distribute among +the pall-bearers little cards, assigning their respective +situations in attendance upon the coffin. As this precedence is +supposed to be regulated by propinquity to the defunct, the +undertaker, however skilful a master of these lugubrious +ceremonies, did not escape giving some offence. To be related to +Mrs. Bertram was to be of kin to the lands of Singleside, and was a +propinquity of which each relative present at that moment was +particularly jealous. Some murmurs there were on the occasion, and +our friend Dinmont gave more open offence, being unable either to +repress his discontent, or to utter it in the key properly +modulated to the solemnity. "I think ye might hae at least gi'en +me a leg o' her to carry," he exclaimed, in a voice considerably +louder than propriety admitted; "God! an it hadna been for the rigs +o' land, I would hae gotten her a' to carry mysell, for as mony +gentles as are here." + +A score of frowning and reproving brows were bent upon the +unappalled yeoman, who, having given vent to his displeasure, +stalked sturdily downstairs with the rest of the company, totally +disregarding the censures of those whom his remarks had +scandalised. + +And then the funeral pomp set forth; saulies with their batons, and +gumphions of tarnished white crape, in honour of the well-preserved +maiden fame of Mrs. Margaret Bertram. Six starved horses, +themselves the very emblems of mortality, well cloaked and plumed, +lugging along the hearse with its dismal emblazonry, crept in slow +state towards the place of interment, preceded by Jamie Duff, an +idiot, who, with weepers and cravat made of white paper, attended +on every funeral, and followed by six mourning coaches, filled with +the company. Many of these now gave more free loose to their +tongues, and discussed with unrestrained earnestness the amount of +the succession, and the probability of its destination. The +principal expectants, however, kept a prudent silence, indeed, +ashamed to express hopes which might prove fallacious; and the +agent, or man of business, who alone knew exactly how matters +stood, maintained a countenance of mysterious importance, as if +determined to preserve the full interest of anxiety and suspense. + +At length they arrived at the churchyard gates, and from thence, +amid the gaping of two or three dozen of idle women with infants in +their arms, and accompanied by some twenty children, who ran +gambolling and screaming alongside of the sable procession, they +finally arrived at the burial-place of the Singleside family. This +was a square enclosure in the Greyfriars churchyard, guarded on one +side by a veteran angel, without a nose, and having only one wing, +who had the merit of having maintained his post for a century, +while his comrade cherub, who had stood sentinel on the +corresponding pedestal, lay a broken trunk among the hemlock, +burdock, and nettles, which grew in gigantic luxuriance around the +walls of the mausoleum. A moss-grown and broken inscription +informed the reader, that in the Year 1650 Captain Andrew Bertram, +first of Singleside, descended of the very ancient and honourable +house of Ellangowan, had caused this monument to be erected for +himself and his descendants. A reasonable number of scythes and +hour-glasses, and death's heads, and cross-bones, garnished the +following sprig of sepulchral poetry, to the memory of the founder +of the mausoleum;-- + +Nathaniel's heart, Bezaleel's hand. If ever any had, These boldly +do I say had he, Who lieth in this bed. + +Here then, amid the deep black fat loam into which her ancestors +were now resolved, they deposited the body of Mrs. Margaret +Bertram; and 'like soldiers returning from a military funeral, the +nearest relations who might be interested in the settlements of the +lady, urged the dog-cattle of the hackney coaches to all the speed +of which they were capable, in order to put an end to further +suspense on that interesting topic. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + Die and endow a college or a cat + Pope + +There is a fable told by Lucian, that while a troop of monkeys, +well drilled by an intelligent manager, were performing a tragedy +with great applause, the decorum of the whole scene was at once +destroyed, and the natural passions of the actors called forth into +very indecent and active emulation, by a wag who threw a handful of +nuts upon the stage. In like manner, the approaching crisis +stirred up among the expectants feelings of a nature very different +from those, of which, under the superintendence of Mr. Mortcloke, +they had but now been endeavouring to imitate the expression. Those +eyes which were lately devoutly cast up to heaven, or with greater +humility bent solemnly upon earth, were now sharply and alertly +darting their glances through shuttles, and trunks, and drawers, +and cabinets, and all the odd corners of an old maiden lady's +repositories. Nor was their search without interest, though they +did not find the will of which they were in quest. + +Here was a promissory note for 20L by the minister of the nonjuring +chapel. interest marked as paid to Martinmas last, carefully +folded up in a new set of words to the old tune of "Over the Water +to Charlie".--there, was a curious love correspondence between the +deceased and a certain Lieutenant O'Kean of a marching regiment of +foot; and tied up with the letters was a document, which at once +explained to the relatives why a connection that boded them little +good had been suddenly broken off, being the Lieutenant's bond for +two hundred pounds upon which no interest whatever appeared to have +been paid. Other bills and bonds to a larger amount, and signed by +better names (I mean commercially) than those of the worthy divine +and gallant soldier, also occurred in the course of their +researches, besides a hoard of coins of every size and +denomination, and scraps of broken gold and silver, old earrings, +hinges of cracked snuff-boxes, mounting of spectacles, etc., etc., +etc. Still no will made its appearance, and Colonel Mannering +began full well to hope that the settlement which he had obtained +from Glossin contained the ultimate arrangement of the old lady's +affairs. But his friend Pleydell, who now came into the room, +cautioned him against entertaining this belief. + +"I am well acquainted with the gentleman," he said, "who is +conducting the search, and I guess from his manner that he knows +something more of the matter than any of us." Meantime, while the +search proceeds, let us take a brief glance at one or two of the +company, who seem most interested. + +Of Dinmont, who, with his large hunting-whip under his arm, stood +poking his great round face over the shoulder of the homme +d'affaires, it is unnecessary to say anything. That thin-looking +oldish person, in a most correct and gentleman-like suit of +mourning is Mac-Casquil, formerly of Drumquag, who was ruined by +having a legacy bequeathed to him of two shares in the Ayr bank. +His hopes on the present occasion are founded on a very distant +relationship, upon his sitting in the same pew with the deceased +every Sunday, and upon his playing at cribbage with her regularly +on the Saturday evenings--taking great care never to come off a +winner. That other coarse-looking man, wearing his own greasy hair +tied in a leathern cue more greasy still, is a tobacconist, a +relation of Mrs. Bertram's mother, who, having a good stock in +trade when the colonial war broke out, trebled the price of his +commodity to all the world, Mrs. Bertram alone excepted, whose +tortoiseshell snuff-box was weekly filled with the best rappee at +the old prices, because the maid brought it to the shop with Mrs. +Bertram's respects to her cousin Mr. Quid. That young fellow, who +has not had the decency to put off his boots and buckskins, might +have stood as forward as most of them in the graces of the old +lady, who loved to look upon a comely young man; but it is thought +he has forfeited the moment of fortune, by sometimes neglecting her +tea-table when solemnly invited; sometimes appearing there, when he +had been dining with blither company; twice treading upon her cat's +tail, and once affronting her parrot. + +To Mannering, the most interesting of the group was the poor girl, +who had been a sort of humble companion of the deceased, as a +subject upon whom she could at all times expectorate her bad +humour. She was for form's sake dragged into the room by the +deceased's favourite female attendant, where, shrinking into a +corner as soon as possible, she saw with wonder and affright the +intrusive researches of the strangers amongst those recesses to +which from childhood she had looked with awful veneration. This +girl was regarded with an unfavourable eye by, all the competitors, +honest Dinmont only excepted; the rest conceived they should find +in her a formidable competitor, whose claims might at least +encumber and diminish their chance of succession. Yet she was the +only person present who seemed really to feel sorrow for the +deceased. Mrs. Bertram had been her protectress, although from +selfish motives, and her capricious tyranny was forgotten at the +moment while the tears followed each other fast down the cheeks of +her frightened and friendless dependant. "There's ower muckle saut +water there, Drumquag," said the tobacconist to the ex-proprietor, +"to bode ither folk muckle gude. Folk seldom greet that gate but +they ken what it's for. Mr. MacCasquil only replied with a nod, +feeling the propriety of asserting his superior gentry in presence +of Mr. Pleydell and Colonel Mannering. + +"Very queer if there suld be nae will after a', friend," said +Dinmont, who began to grow impatient, to the man of business. + +"A moment's patience, it you please--she was a good and prudent +woman, Mrs. Margaret Bertram--a good, and prudent and well-judging +woman, and knew how to choose friends and depositories--she may +have put her last will and testament, or rather her mortis causa +settlement, as it relates to heritage, into the hands of some safe +friend." + +"I'll bet a rump and dozen," said Pleydell, whispering to the +Colonel, "he has got it in his own pocket;"--then addressing the +man of law, "Come, sir, we'll cut this short if you please-here is +a settlement of the estate of Singleside, executed several years +ago, in favour of Miss Lucy Bertram of Ellangowan--"The company +stared fearfully wild. "You, I presume, Mr. Protocol, can inform +us if there is a later deed?" + +"Please to favour me, Mr. Pleydell;"--and so saying, he took the +deed out of the learned counsel's hand, and glanced his eve over +the contents. + +"Too cool," said Pleydell, "too cool by half--he has another deed +in his pocket still." + +"Why does he not show it then, and be d-d to him!" said the +military gentleman, whose patience began to wax threadbare. + +"Why, how should I know?" answered the barrister,--"why does a cat +not kill a mouse when she takes him?--the consciousness of power +and the love of teasing, I suppose. --Well, Mr. Protocol, what +say you to that deed?" + +"Why, Mr. Pleydell, the deed is a well-drawn deed, properly +authenticated and tested in forms of the statute." + +"But recalled or superseded by another of posterior date in your +possession, eh?" said the counsellor. + +"Something of the sort, I confess, Mr. Pleydell," rejoined the man +of business, producing a bundle tied with tape, and sealed at each +fold and ligation with black wax. "That deed, Mr. Pleydell, which +you produce and found upon, is dated 1st June 17--; but +this"--breaking the seals and unfolding the document slowly--"is +dated the 20th--no, I see it is the 21st, of April of this present +year, being ten years posterior." + +"Marry, hang her, brock!" said the counsellor, borrowing an +exclamation from Sir Toby Belch, "just the month in which +Ellangowan's distresses became generally public. But let us hear +what she has done." + +Mr. Protocol accordingly, having required silence, began to read +the settlement aloud in a slow, steady, business--like tone. The +group around, in whose eyes hope alternately awakened and faded, +and who were straining their apprehensions to get at the drift of +the testator's meaning through the mist of technical language in +which the conveyance had involved it, might have made a study for +Hogarth. + +The deed was of an unexpected nature. It set forth with conveying +and disposing all and whole the estate and lands of Singleside and +others, with the lands of Loverless, Liealone, Spinster's Knowe, +and heaven knows what beside, "to and in favours of (here the +reader softened his voice to a gentle and modest piano) Peter +Protocol, clerk to the signet, having the fullest confidence in his +capacity and integrity--(these are the very words which my worthy +deceased friend insisted upon my inserting)--But in TRUST always" +(here the reader recovered his voice and style, and the visages of +several of the bearers, which had attained a longitude that Mr. +Mortcloke might have envied, were perceptibly shortened), "in TRUST +always, and for the uses, ends, and purposes herein +after-mentioned." + +In these "uses, ends, and purposes," lay the cream of the affair. +The first was introduced by a preamble setting forth, that the +testatrix was lineally descended from the ancient house of +Ellangowan, her respected great-grandfather, Andrew Bertram, first +of Singleside, of happy memory, having been second son to Allan +Bertram, fifteenth Baron of Ellangowan. It proceeded to state, +that Henry Bertram, son and heir of Godfrey Bertram, now of +Ellangowan, had been stolen from his parents in infancy, but that +she, the testatrix, was well assured that he was yet alive in +foreign parts, and by the providence of heaven would be restored to +the possessions of his ancestors--in which case the said Peter +Protocol was bound and obliged, like as he bound and obliged +himself, by acceptance of these presents, to denude himself of the +said lands of Singleside and others, and of all the other effects +thereby conveyed (excepting always a proper gratification for his +own trouble) to and in favour of the said Henry Bertram upon his +return to his native country. And during the time of his residing +in foreign parts, or in case of his never again returning to +Scotland, Mr. Peter Protocol, the trustee, was directed to +distribute the rents of the land, and the interest of the other +funds (deducting always a proper gratification for his trouble in +the premises), in equal portions, among four charitable +establishments pointed out in the will. The power of management, +of letting leases, of raising and lending out money, in short, the +full authority of a proprietor, was vested in this confidential +trustee, and, in the event of, his death, went to certain official +persons named in the deed. There were only two legacies; one of a +hundred pounds to a favourite waiting-maid, another of the like sum +to Janet Gibson (whom the deed stated to have been supported by the +charity of the testatrix) for the purpose of binding her an +apprentice to some honest trade. + +A settlement in mortmain is in Scotland termed a mortification, and +in one great borough (Aberdeen, if I remember rightly) there is a +municipal officer who takes care of these public endowments, and is +thence called the Master of Mortifications. One would almost +presume that the term had its origin in the effect which such +settlements usually produce upon the kinsmen of those by whom they +are executed. Heavy at least was the mortification which befell +the audience, who, in the late Mrs. Margaret Bertram's parlour, had +listened to this unexpected destination of the lands of +Singleside. There was a profound silence after the deed had been +read over. + +Mr. Pleydell was the first to speak. He begged to look at the +deed, and having satisfied himself that it was correctly drawn and +executed, he returned it without any observation, only saying aside +to Mannering, "Protocol is not worse than other people, I believe; +but this old lady has determined that, if he do not turn rogue, it +shall not be for want of temptation." + +"I really think," said Mr. Mac-Casquil of Drumquag, who, having +gulped down one half of his vexation, determined to give vent to +the rest, "I really think this is an extraordinary case! I should +like now to know from Mr. Protocol, who, being sole and unlimited +trustee, must have been consulted upon this occasion; I should +like, I say, to know, how Mrs. Bertram could possibly believe in +the existence of a boy, that a' the world kens was murdered many a +year since?" + +"Really, sir," said Mr. Protocol, "I do not conceive it is possible +for me to explain her motives more than she has done herself. Our +excellent deceased friend was a good woman, sir--a pious woman--and +might have grounds for confidence in the boy's safety which are not +accessible to us, sir." + +"Hout," said the tobacconist, "I ken very weel what were her +grounds for confidence. There's Mrs. Rebecca (the maid) sitting +there, has tell'd me a hundred times in my ain shop, there was nae +kenning how her leddy wad settle her affairs, for an auld gipsy +witch wife at Gilsland had possessed her with a notion, that the +callant--Harry Bertram ca's she him?--would come alive again some +day after a'--ye'll no deny that, Mrs. Rebecca?--though I dare to +say ye forgot to put your mistress in mind of what ye promised to +say when I gied ye mony a half-crown--But ye'll no deny what I am +saying now, lass?" + +"I ken naething at a' about it," answered Rebecca doggedly, and +looking straight forward with the firm countenance of one not +disposed to be compelled to remember more than was agreeable to +her. + +"Weel said, Rebecca! ye're satisfied wi' your ain share ony way," +rejoined the tobacconist. + +The buck of the second-head, for a buck of the first-head he was +not, had hitherto been slapping his boots with his switch-whip, and +looking like a spoiled child that has lost its supper. His +murmurs, however, were all vented inwardly, or at most in a +soliloquy such as this--"I am sorry, by G-d, I ever plagued myself +about her--I came here, by G-d, one night to drink tea, and I left +King, and the Duke's rider, Will Hack. They were toasting a round +of running horses; by G-d, I might have got leave to wear the +jacket as well as other folk, if I had carried it on with them-- +and she has not so much as left me that hundred!" + +"We'll make the payment of the note quite agreeable," said Mr. +Protocol, who had no wish to increase at that moment the odium +attached to his office--"and now, gentlemen, I fancy we have no +more to wait for here, and--I shall put the settlement of my +excellent and worthy friend on record to-morrow, that every +gentleman may examine the contents, and have free access to take an +extract; and"--he proceeded to lock up the repositories of the +deceased with more speed than he had opened them--"Mrs. Rebecca, +ye'll be so kind as to keep all right here until we can let the +house--I had an offer from a tenant this morning, if such a thing +should be, and if I was to have any management." + +Our friend Dinmont, having had his hopes as well as another, had +hitherto sat sulky enough in the armchair formerly appropriated to +the deceased, and in which she would have been not a little +scandalised to have seen this colossal specimen of the masculine +gender lolling at length. His employment had been rolling up, into +the form of a coiled snake, the long lash of his horsewhip, and +then by a jerk causing it to unroll itself into the middle of the +floor. The first words he said when he had digested the shock, +contained a magnanimous declaration, which he probably was not +conscious of having uttered aloud--"Weel-blude's thicker than +water--she's welcome to the cheeses and the hams just the same." +But when the trustee had made the above-mentioned motion for the +mourners to depart, and talked of the house being immediately let, +honest Dinmont got upon his feet, and stunned the company with this +blunt question, "And what's to come o' this poor lassie then, Jenny +Gibson? Sae mony o' us as thought oursells sib to the family when +the gear was parting, we may do something for her amang us surely." + +This proposal seemed to dispose most of the assembly instantly to +evacuate the premises, although upon Mr. Protcol's motion they had +lingered as if around the grave of their disappointed hopes. +Drumquag said, or rather muttered, something of having a family of +his own, and took precedence, in virtue of his gentle blood, to +depart as fast as possible. The tobacconist sturdily stood +forward, and scouted the motion--"A little huzzie, like that, was +weel eneugh provided for already; and Mr. Protocol at ony rate was +the proper person to take direction of her, as he had charge of her +legacy;" and after uttering such his opinion in a steady and +decisive tone of voice, he also left the place. The buck made a +stupid and brutal attempt at a jest upon Mrs. Bertram's +recommendation that the poor girl should be taught some honest +trade; but encountered a scowl from Colonel Mannering's darkening +eye (to whom, in his ignorance of the tone of good society, he had +looked for applause) that made him ache to the very backbone. He +shuffled downstairs, therefore, as fast as possible. + +Protocol, who was really a good sort of man, next expressed his +intention to take a temporary charge of the young lady, under +protest always, that his so doing should be considered as merely +eleemosynary; when Dinmont at length got up, and, having shaken his +huge dreadnought greatcoat, as a Newfoundland dog does his shaggy +hide when he comes out of the water, ejaculated, "Weel, deil hae me +then, if ye hae ony fash [*Trouble] wi' her, Mr. Protocol, if she +likes to gang hame wi' me, that is. Ye see, Ailie and me we're +weel to pass, and we would like the lassies to hae a wee bit mair +lair than oursells, and to be neighbour-like--that wad we. --And +ye see Jenny canna miss but to ken manners, and the like o' reading +books, and sewing seams--having lived sae lang wi' a grand lady +like Lady Singleside; or if she disna ken onything about it, I'm +jealous that our bairns will like her a' the better. And I'll take +care o' the bits o' claes, and what spending siller she maun hae, +so the--hundred pound may rin on in your hands, Mr. Protocol, and +I'll be adding something till't, till she'll maybe get a Liddesdale +joe that wants something to help to buy the hirsel. [*The stock +of sheep]--What d'ye say to that, hinny? I'll take out a ticket for +ye in the fly to Jethart--odd, but ye maun take a powny after that +o'er the Limestane-rig--deil a wheeled carriage ever gaed into +Liddesdale. [*The roads of Liddesdale, in Dandie Dinmont's days, +could not he said to exist, and the district was only accessible +through a succession of tremendous morasses. About thirty years +ago, the author himself was the first person who ever drove a +little open carriage into these wilds: the excellent roads by which +they are now traversed being then in some progress. The people +stared with no small wonder at a sight which many of them had never +witnessed in their lives before. ]--And I'll be very glad if Mrs. +Rebecca comes wi' you, hinny, and stays a month or twa while ye're +stranger like." + +While Mrs. Rebecca was curtseying, and endeavouring to make the +poor orphan girl curtsey instead of crying, and while Dandie, in +his rough way, was encouraging them both, old Pleydell had recourse +to his snuff-box. It's meat and drink to me, now, Colonel," he +said, as he recovered himself, "to see a clown like this--I must +gratify him in his own way,--must assist him to ruin +himself--there's no help for it. Here, you +Liddesdale--Dandie--Charlies-hope-what do they call you?" + +The farmer turned, infinitely gratified even by this sort of +notice; for in his heart, next to his own landlord, he honoured a +lawyer in high practice. + +"So you will not be advised against trying that question about your +marches?" + +"No--no, sir--naebody likes to lose their right, and to be laughed +at down the haill water. But since your honour's no agreeable, and +is maybe a friend to the other side like, we maun try some other +advocate." + +"There--I told you so, Colonel Mannering!--Well, sir, if you must +needs be a fool, the business is to give you the luxury of a +lawsuit at the least possible expense, and to bring you off +conqueror if possible. Let Mr. Protocol send me your papers, and I +will advise him how to conduct your cause. I don't see, after all, +why you should not have your lawsuits too, and your feuds in the +Court of Session, as well as your forefathers had their +manslaughters and fire-raisings." + +"Very natural, to be sure, sir. We wad just take the auld gate as +readily, if it werena for the law. And as the law binds us, the +law should loose us. Besides, a, man's aye the better thought o' +in out country for having been afore the Feifteen." + +"Excellently argued, my friend! Away with you, and send your papers +to me.--Come, Colonel, we have no more to do here." + +"God, we'll ding [*Defeat] Jock o' Dawston Cleugh now after a'!" +said Dinmont, slapping his thigh in great exultation. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + --I am going to the parliament; + + You understand this bag: If you have any business + Depending there, be short, and let me hear it, And pay + your fees. Little French Lawyer. + +"SHALL you be able to carry this honest fellow's cause for him?" +said Mannering. + +"Why, I don't know; the battle is not to the strong, but he shall +come off triumphant over Jock of Dawston if we can make it out. I +owe him something. It is the pest of our profession that we seldom +see the best side of human nature. People come to us with every +selfish feeling newly pointed and grinded; they turn down the very +caulkers of their animosities and prejudices, as smiths do with +horses' shoes in a white frost. Many a man has come to my garret +Yonder, that I have at first longed to pitch out at the window, and +yet, at length, have discovered that he was only doing as I might +have done in his case, being very angry, and, of course, very +unreasonable. I have now satisfied myself, that if our profession +sees more of human folly and human roguery than others, it is +because we witness them acting in that channel in which they can +most freely vent themselves. In civilised society, law is the +chimney through which all that smoke discharges itself that used to +circulate through the whole house, and put every one's eyes out--no +wonder, therefore, that the vent itself should sometimes get a +little sooty. But we will take care our Liddesdale-man's cause is +well conducted and well argued, so all unnecessary expense will be +saved--he shall have his pineapple at wholesale price." + +"Will you do me the pleasure," said Mannering, as they parted, "to +dine with me at my lodgings? my landlord says he has a bit of +red-deer venison, and some excellent wine." + +"Venison--eh?" answered the counsellor alertly, but presently +added--"But no! it's impossible--and I can't ask you home neither. +Monday's a sacred day--so's Tuesday--and Wednesday, we are to be +heard in the great teind case in presence--but stay--it's frosty +weather, and if you don't leave town, and that venison would keep +till Thursday--" + +"You will dine with me that day?" + +"Under certification." + +"Well, then, I will indulge a thought I had of spending a week +here; and if the venison will not keep, why, we will see what else +our landlord can do for us." + +"Oh, the venison will keep," said Pleydell; "and now good-bye--look +at these two or three notes, and deliver them if you like the +addresses. I wrote them for you this morning--farewell; my clerk +has been waiting this hour to begin a d-d information."--And away +walked Mr. Pleydell with great activity, diving through closes and +ascending covered stairs, in order to attain the High Street by an +access, which, compared to the common route, was what the Straits +of Magellan are to the more open, but circuitous passage round Cape +Horn. + +On looking at the notes of introduction which Pleydell had thrust +into his hand, Mannering was gratified with seeing that they were +addressed to some of the first literary characters of Scotland. "To +David Hume, Esq." "To John Home, Esq." "To Dr. Ferguson." "To Dr. +Black." "To Lord Kaimes." "To Mr. Hutton." "To John Clerk, Esq., +of Eldin." "To Adam Smith, Esq." "To Dr. Robertson." + +"Upon my word, my legal friend has a good selection of +acquaintances--these are names pretty widely blown indeed--an +East-Indian must rub up his faculties a little, and put his mind in +order, before he enters this sort of society." + +Mannering gladly availed himself of these introductions; and we +regret deeply it is not in our power to give the reader an account +of the pleasure and information which he received, in admission to +a circle never closed against strangers of sense and information, +and which has perhaps at no period been equalled, considering the +depth and variety of talent which it embraced and concentrated. + +Upon the Thursday appointed, Mr. Pleydell made his appearance at +the inn where Colonel Mannering lodged. The venison proved in high +order, the claret excellent, and the learned counsel, a professed +amateur in the affairs of the table, did distinguished honour to +both. I am uncertain, however, if even the good cheer gave him +more satisfaction than the presence of Dominie Sampson, from whom, +in his own juridical style of wit, he contrived to extract great +amusement, both for himself and one or two friends whom the Colonel +regaled on the same occasion. The grave and laconic simplicity of +Sampson's answers to the insidious questions of the barrister, +placed the bonhomie of his character in a more luminous point of +view than Mannering had yet seen it. Upon the same occasion he drew +forth a strange quantity of miscellaneous and abstruse, though, +generally speaking, useless learning. The lawyer afterwards +compared his mind to the magazine of a pawnbroker, stowed with +goods of every description, but so cumbrously piled together, and +in such total disorganisation, that the owner can never lay his +hands upon any one article at the moment he has occasion for it. + +As for the advocate himself, he afforded at least as much exercise +to Sampson as he extracted amusement from him. When the man of law +began to get into his altitudes, and his wit, naturally shrewd and +dry, became more lively and poignant, the Dominie looked upon him +with that sort of surprise with which we can conceive a tame bear +might regard his future associate, the monkey, on their being first +introduced to each other. It was Mr. Pleydell's delight to state +in grave and serious argument some position which he knew the +Dominie would be inclined to dispute. He then beheld with +exquisite pleasure the internal labour with which the honest man +arranged his ideas for reply, and tasked his inert and sluggish +powers to bring up all the heavy artillery of his learning for +demolishing the schismatic or heretical opinion which had been +stated--when, behold, before the ordnance could be discharged, +the foe had quitted the post, and appeared in a new position of +annoyance on the Dominie's flank or rear. Often did he exclaim +"Prodigious!" when, marching up to the enemy in full confidence of +victory, he found the field evacuated, and it may be supposed that +it cost him no little labour to attempt a new formation. "He was +like a native Indian army," the Colonel said, "formidable by +numerical strength and size of ordnance, but liable to be thrown +into irreparable confusion by a movement to take them in +flank."--On the whole, however, the Dominie, though somewhat +fatigued with these mental exertions, made at unusual speed and +upon the pressure of the moment, reckoned this one of the white +days of his life, and always mentioned Mr. Pleydell as a very +erudite and fa-ce-ti-ous person. + +By degrees the rest of the party dropped off, and left these three +gentlemen together. Their conversation turned to Mrs. Bertram's +settlements. "Now what could drive it into the noddle of that old +harridan," said Pleydell, "to disinherit poor Lucy Bertram, under +pretence of settling her property on a boy who has been so long +dead and gone?--I ask your pardon, Mr. Sampson, I forgot what an +affecting case this was for you--I remember taking your examination +upon it--and I never had so much trouble to make any one speak +three words consecutively--You may talk of your Pythagoreans, or +your silent Brahmins, Colonel,--go to, I tell you this learned +gentleman beats them all in taciturnity--but the words of the wise +are precious, and not to be thrown away lightly." + +"Of a surety," said the Dominie, taking his blue-checked +handkerchief from his eyes, "that was a bitter day with me indeed; +ay, and a day of grief hard to be borne--but He giveth strength who +layeth on the load." + +Colonel Mannering took this opportunity to request Mr. Pleydell to +inform him of the particulars attending the loss of the boy; and +the counsellor, who was fond of talking upon subjects of criminal +jurisprudence, especially when connected with his own experience, +went through the circumstances at full length. "And what is your +opinion upon the result of the whole?" + +"Oh, that Kennedy was murdered: it's an old case which has occurred +on that coast before now--the case of Smuggler versus Exciseman." + +"What then is your conjecture concerning the fate of the child? + +"Oh, murdered too, doubtless," answered Pleydell. "He was old +enough to tell what he had seen, and these ruthless scoundrels +would not scruple committing a second Bethlehem massacre if they +thought their interest required it." + +The Dominie groaned deeply, and ejaculated, "Enormous!" + +"'Yet there was mention of gipsies in the business too, +counsellor," said Mannering, "and from what that vulgar-looking +fellow said after the funeral--" + +"Mrs. Margaret Bertram's idea that the child was alive was founded +upon the report of a gipsy," said Pleydell, catching at the +half-spoken hint--"I envy you the concatenation, Colonel--it is a +shame to me not to have drawn the same conclusion. We'll follow +this business tip instantly--Here, hark ye, waiter, go down to +Luckie Wood's in the Cowgate; ye'll find my clerk Driver; he'll be +set down to High-jinks by this time (for we and our retainers, +Colonel, are exceedingly regular in our irregularities); tell him +to come here instantly, and I will pay his forfeits." + +"He won't appear in character, will he?" said Mannering. + +"Ah! no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me," said Pleydell. "But +we must have some news from the land of Egypt, if possible. Oh, if +I had but hold of the slightest thread of this complicated skein, +you should see how I would unravel it!--I would work the truth out +of your Bohemian, as the French call them, better than a Monitoire, +or a Plainte de Tournelle; I know how to manage a refractory +witness." + +While Mr. Pleydell was thus vaunting his knowledge of his +profession, the waiter re-entered with Mr. Driver, his mouth still +greasy with mutton pies, and the froth of the last draught of +twopenny yet unsubsided on his upper lip, with such speed had he +obeyed the commands of his principal.--"Driver, you must go +instantly and find out the woman who was old Mrs. Margaret +Bertram's maid. Inquire for her everywhere, but if you find it +necessary to have recourse to Protocol, Quid the tobacconist, or +any other of these folks, you will take care not to appear +yourself, but send some woman of your acquaintance--I dare say you +know enough that may be so condescending as to oblige you. When +you have found her out, engage her to come to my chambers to-morrow +at eight o'clock precisely." + +"What shall I say to make her forthcoming?" asked the aide-de-camp. + +"Anything you choose," replied the lawyer. "Is it my business to +make lies for you, do you think? But let her be in praesentia by +eight o'clock, as I have said before." The clerk grinned, made his +reverence, and exit. + +"That's a useful fellow," said the counsellor "I don't believe his +match ever carried a process. He'll write to my dictating three +nights in the week without sleep, or, what's the same thing, he +writes as well and correctly when he's asleep as when he's awake. +Then he's such a steady fellow--some of them are always changing +their alehouses, so that they have twenty cadies sweating after +them, like the bare-headed captains traversing the taverns of +East-Cheap in search of Sir John Falstaff. But this is a complete +fixture-he has his winter seat by the fire, and his summer seat by +the window, in Luckie Wood's, betwixt which seats are his only +migrations; there he's to be found at all times when he is off +duty. It is my opinion he never puts off his clothes or goes to +sleep--sheer ale supports him under everything. It is meat, drink, +and clothing, bed, board, and washing." + +"And is he always fit for duty upon a sudden turn-out? I should +distrust it, considering his quarters." + +"Oh, s drink never disturbs him, Colonel; he can write for hours +after he cannot speak. I remember being called suddenly to draw an +appeal case. I had been dining, and it was Saturday night, and I +had ill will to begin to it--however, they got me down to +Clerihugh's, and there we sat birling till I had a fair tappit hen, +[*See Note VI. Tappit Hen. ] under my belt, and then they +persuaded me to draw the paper. Then we had to seek Driver, and it +was all that two men could do to bear him in, for, when found, he +was, as it happened, both motionless and speechless. But no sooner +was his pen put between his fingers, his paper stretched before +him, and he heard my voice, than he began to write like a +scrivener--and, excepting that we were obliged to have somebody to +dip his pen in the ink, for he could not see the standish, I never +saw a thing scrolled more handsomely." + +"But how did your joint production look the next morning?" said the +Colonel. + +"Wheugh! capital--not three words required to be altered; [* See +Note VII. Convivial Habits of the Scottish Bar. ] it was sent off +by that day's post. But you'll come and breakfast with me +to-morrow, and hear this woman's examination?" + +"Why, your hour is rather early." + +"Can't make it later. If I were not on the boards of the Outer +House precisely as the nine-hours bell rings, there would be a +report that I had got an apoplexy, and I should feel the effects of +it all the rest of the session." + +"Well, I will make an exertion to wait upon you." + +Here the company broke up for the evening. + +In the morning Colonel Mannering appeared at the counsellor's +chambers, although cursing the raw air of a Scottish morning in +December. Mr. Pleydell had got Mrs. Rebecca installed on one side +of his fire, accommodated her with a cup of chocolate, and was +already deeply engaged in conversation with her. "Oh no, I assure +you, Mrs. Rebecca, there is no intention to challenge your +mistress's will; and I give you my word of honour that your legacy +is quite safe. You have deserved it by your conduct to your +mistress, and I wish it had been twice as much." + +"Why, to be sure, sir, it's no right to mention what is said before +ane--ye heard how that dirty body Quid cast up to me the bits o' +compliments he gied me, and tell'd owre again ony loose cracks +[*Gossip ] I might hae had wi' him; now if ane was talking loosely +to your honour, there's nae saying what might come o't." + +"I assure you, my good Rebecca, my character and your own age and +appearance are your security, if you should talk as loosely as an +amatory poet." + +"Aweel, if your honour thinks I am safe-the story is just this.--Ye +see, about a year ago, or no just sae lang, my leddy was advised to +go to Gilsland for a while for her spirits were distressing her +sair. Ellangowan's troubles began to be spoken o' publicly, and +sair vexed she was--or she was proud o' her family. For Ellangowan +himsell and her, they sometimes 'greed, and sometimes no--but at +last they didna 'gree at a' for twa or three year--for he was aye +wanting to borrow siller, and that was what she couldna bide at no +hand, and she was aye wanting it paid back again, and that the +Laird he liked as little. So, at last, they were clean aff +thegither. And then some of the company at Gilsland tells her that +the estate was to be sell'd; and ye wad hae thought she had taen an +ill will at Miss Lucy Bertram frae that moment, for mony a time she +cried to me, 'O Becky, O Becky, if that useless peenging thing o' a +lassie there, at Ellangowan, that canna keep her ne'er-do-weel +father within bounds--if she had been but a lad-bairn, they couldna +hae sell'd the auld inheritance for that fool-body's debt;'--and +she would rin on that way till I was just wearied and sick to hear +her ban the puir lassie, as if she wadna hae been a lad-bairn, and +keepit the land, if it had been in her will to change her sect. And +ae day at the spae-well below the craig at Gilsland, she was seeing +a very bonny family o' bairns--they belonged to ane MacCrosky--and +she broke out--'Is not it an odd like thing that ilka waf carlfe +[*Every insignificant churl] in the country has a son and heir, and +that the house of Ellangowan is without male succession?' There was +a gipsy wife stood ahint and heard her--a muckle sture [*Strong] +fearsome-looking wife she was as ever I set een on.--'Wha is it,' +says she, 'that dare say the house of Ellangowan will perish +without male succession?' My mistress just turned on her--she was a +high-spirited woman, and aye ready wi' an answer to a' body. 'It's +me that says it,' says she, 'that may say it with a sad heart.' Wi' +that the gipsy wife gripped till her hand; 'I ken you weel eneugh,' +said she, 'though ye kenna me--But as sure as that sun's in heaven, +and as sure as that water's rinning to the sea, and as sure as +there's an ee that sees, and an ear that hears us baith--Harry +Bertram, that was thought to perish at Warroch Point, never did die +there--he was to have a weary weird [*Cruel fate] o't till his +ane-an-twentieth year, that was aye said o' him--but if ye live and +I live, ye'll hear mair o' him this winter before the snaw lies twa +days on the Dun of Singleside--I want nane o' your siller,' she +said, 'to make ye think I am blearing [*Moistening ] your ee--fare +ye weel till after Martimas;'--and there she left us standing." + +"Was she a very tall woman?" interrupted Mannering. + +"Had she black hair, black eyes, and a cut above the brow?" added +the lawyer. + +"She was the tallest woman I ever saw, and her hair was as black as +midnight, unless where it was gray, and she had a scar abune the +brow, that ye might hae laid the lith [*joint ] of your finger +in. Naebody that's seen her will ever forget her; and I am morally +sure that it was on the ground o' what that gipsy-woman said that +my mistress made her will, having taen a dislike at the young leddy +o' Ellangowan, and she liked her far waur after she was obliged to +send her 20L--for she said, Miss Bertram, no content wi' letting +the Ellangowan property pass into strange hands, owing to her being +a lass and no a lad, was coming, by her poverty, to be a burden and +a disgrace to Singleside too.--But I hope my mistress's is a good +will for a' that, for it would be hard an me to lose the wee bit +legacy--I served for little fee and bountith, weel I wot." + +The counsellor relieved her fears on this head, then inquired after +Jenny Gibson, and understood she had accepted Mr. Dinmont's offer; +"and I have done sae mysell too, since he was sae discreet as to +ask me," said Mrs. Rebecca; they are very decent folk the Dinmonts, +though my lady didna dow to hear muckle about the friends on that +side the house. But she liked the Charlies-hope hams, and the +cheeses, and the muir-fowl, that they were aye sending, and the +lamb's-wool hose and mittens--she liked them weel eneugh." + +Mr. Pleydell now dismissed Mrs. Rebecca. When she was gone, "I +think I know the gipsy woman," said the lawyer. + +"I was just going to say the same," replied Mannering. + +"And her name--" said Pleydell. + +"Is Meg Merrilies," answered the Colonel. + +"Are you avised of that?" said the counsellor, looking at his +military friend with a comic expression of surprise. + +Mannering answered that he had known such a woman when he was at +Ellangowan upwards of twenty years before; and then made his +learned friend acquainted with all the remarkable particulars of +his first visit there. + +Mr. Pleydell listened with great attention, and then replied, "I +congratulated myself upon having made the acquaintance of a +profound theologian in your chaplain; but I really did not expect +to find a pupil of Albumazar or Messabala in his patron. I have a +notion, however, this gipsy could tell us some more of the matter +than she derives from astrology or second-sight--I had her through +hands once, and could then make little of her, but I must write to +Mac-Morlan to stir heaven and earth to find her out. I will gladly +come to--shire myself to assist at her examination--I am still +in the commission of the peace there, though I have ceased to be +Sheriff--I never had anything more at heart in my life than tracing +that murder, and the fate of the child. I must write to the +Sheriff of Roxburghshire too, and to an active justice of peace in +Cumberland." + +"I hope when you come to the country you will make Woodbourne your +headquarters?" + +"Certainly; I was afraid you were going to forbid me--but we must +go to breakfast now, or I shall be too late." + +On the following day the new friends parted, And the Colonel +rejoined his family without any adventure worthy of being detailed +in these chapters. + + + +CHAPTER XL. + + Can no rest find me, no private place secure me, But still + my miseries like bloodhounds haunt me? Unfortunate young + man, which way now guides thee, Guides thee from death? The + country's laid around for thee. + Women Pleased. + +Our narrative now recalls us for a moment to the period when young +Hazlewood received his wound. That accident had no sooner +happened, than the consequences to Miss Mannering and to himself +rushed upon Brown's mind. From the manner in which the muzzle of +the piece was pointed when it went off, he had no great fear that +the consequences would be fatal. But an arrest in a strange +country, and while he was unprovided with any means of establishing +his rank and character, was at least to be avoided. He therefore +resolved to escape for the present to the neighbouring coast of +England, and to remain concealed there, if possible, until he +should receive letters from his regimental, friends, and +remittances from his agent; and then to resume his own character, +and offer to young Hazlewood and his friends any explanation or +satisfaction they might desire. With this purpose he walked stoutly +forward, after leaving the spot where the accident had happened, +and reached without adventure the village which we have called +Portanferry (but which the reader will in vain seek for under that +name in the county map). A large open boat was just about to leave +the quay, bound for the little seaport of Allonby, in Cumberland. +In this vessel Brown embarked, and resolved to make that place his +temporary abode, until he should receive letters and money from +England. + +In the course of their short voyage he entered into some +conversation with the steersman, who was also owner of the boat, a +jolly old man, who had occasionally been engaged in the smuggling +trade, like most fishers on the coast. After talking about objects +of less interest, Brown endeavoured to turn the discourse toward +the Mannering family. The sailor had heard of the attack upon the +house at Woodbourne, but disapproved of the smugglers' proceedings. + +"Hands off is fair play; zounds, they'll bring the whole country +down upon them--na, na! when I was in that way I played at +giff-gaff [*Give and take] with the officers--here a cargo +taen--vera weel, that was their luck;--there another carried +clean through, that was mine,--na, na! hawks shouldna pike out +hawks' een." + +"And this Colonel Mannering?" said Brown. + +"Troth, he's nae wise man neither, to interfere--no that I blame +him for saving the gaugers' lives--that was very right; but it +wasna like a gentleman to be fighting about the poor folk's pocks +o' tea and brandy kegs--however, he's a grand man and an officer +man, and they do what they like wi' the like o' us." + +"And his daughter," said Brown, with a throbbing heart, "is going +to be married into a great family too, as I have heard?" + +"What, into the Hazlewoods'?" said the pilot. "Na, na, that's but +idle clashes-every Sabbath day, as regularly as it came round, did +the young man ride hame wi' the daughter of the late +Ellangowan--and my daughter Peggy's in the service up at +Woodbourne, and she says she's sure young Hazlewood thinks nae mair +of Miss Mannering than you do." + +Bitterly censuring his own precipitate adoption of a contrary +belief, Brown yet heard with delight that the suspicions of Julia's +fidelity, upon which he had so rashly acted, were probably void of +foundation. How must he in the meantime be suffering in her +opinion? or what could she suppose of conduct, which must have made +him appear to her regardless alike of her peace of mind, and of the +interests of their affection? The old man's connection with the +family at Woodbourne seemed to offer a safe mode of communication, +of which he determined to avail himself. + +"Your daughter is a maid-servant at Woodbourne?--I knew Miss +Mannering in India, and though I am at present in an inferior rank +of life, I have great reason to hope she would interest herself in +my favour. I had a quarrel unfortunately with her father, who was +my commanding officer, and I am sure the young lady would +endeavour to reconcile him to me. Perhaps your daughter could +deliver a letter to her upon she subject, without making mischief +between her father and her?" + +The old man, a friend to smuggling of every kind, readily answered +for the letter's being faithfully and secretly delivered; and, +accordingly, as soon as they arrived at Allonby, Brown wrote to +Miss Mannering, stating the utmost contrition for what had +happened through his rashness, and conjuring her to let him have an +opportunity of pleading his own cause, and obtaining forgiveness +for his indiscretion. He did not judge it safe to go into any +detail concerning the circumstances by which he had been misled, +and upon the whole endeavoured to express himself with such +ambiguity, that if the letter should fall into wrong hands, it +would be difficult either to understand its real purport, or to +trace the writer. This letter the old man undertook faithfully to +deliver to his daughter at Woodbourne: and, as his trade would +speedily again bring him or his boat to Allonby, he promised +further to take charge of any answer with which the young lady +might entrust him. + +And now our persecuted traveller landed at Allonby, and sought for +such. accommodations as might at once suit his temporary poverty, +and his desire of remaining as much unobserved as possible. With +this view he assumed the name and profession of his friend Dudley, +having command enough of the pencil to verify his pretended +character to his host of Allonby. His baggage he pretended to +expect front Wigton; and keeping himself as much within doors as +possible, awaited the return of the letters which he had sent to +his agent, to Delaserre, and to his Lieutenant-Colonel. From the +first he requested a supply of money; he conjured Delaserre, if +possible, to join him in Scotland; and from the Lieutenant-Colonel +he required such testimony of his rank and conduct in the regiment +as should place his character as a gentleman and officer beyond the +power of question. The inconvenience of being run short in his +finances struck him so strongly, that he wrote to Dinmont on that +subject, requesting a small temporary loan, having no doubt that, +being within sixty or seventy miles of his residence, he should +receive a speedy as well as favourable answer to his request of +pecuniary accommodation, which was owing, as he stated, to his +having been robbed after their parting. And then, with impatience +enough, though without any serious apprehension, he waited the +answers of these various letters. + +It must be observed, in excuse of his correspondents, that the post +was then much more tardy than since Mr. Palmer's ingenious +invention has taken place; and with respect to honest Dinmont in +particular, as he rarely received above one letter a quarter +(unless during the time of his being engaged in a lawsuit, when he +regularly sent to the post-town), his correspondence usually +remained for a month or two sticking in the postmaster's window, +among pamphlets, gingerbread, rolls, or ballads, according to the +trade which the said postmaster exercised. Besides, there was then +a custom, not yet wholly obsolete, of causing a letter, from one +town to another, perhaps within the distance of thirty miles, +perform a circuit of two hundred miles before delivery; which had +the combined advantage of airing the epistle thoroughly, of adding +some pence to the revenue of the post-office, and of exercising the +patience of the correspondents. Owing to these circumstances, +Brown remained several days in Allonby without any answers +whatever, and his stock of money, though husbanded with the utmost +economy, began to wear very low, when he received, by the hands of +a young fisherman, the following letter-- + +"You have acted with the most cruel indiscretion, you have shown +how little I can trust to your declarations that my peace and +happiness are dear to you; and your rashness has nearly occasioned +the death of a young man of the highest worth and honour. Must I +say more?--must I add, that I have been myself ill in consequence +of your violence and its effects? And, alas! need I say still +further, that I have thought anxiously upon them as they are likely +to affect you, although you have given me such slight cause to do +so? The C. is gone from home for several days; Mr. H. is almost +quite recovered; and I have reason to think that the blame is laid +in a quarter different from that where it is deserved. Yet do not +think of venturing here. Our fate has been crossed by accidents of +a nature too violent and terrible to permit me to think of renewing +a correspondence which has so often threatened the most dreadful +catastrophe. Farewell, therefore, and believe that no one can wish +your happiness more sincerely than J. M." + +This letter contained that species of advice, which is frequently +given for the precise purpose that it may lead to a directly +opposite conduct from that which it recommends. At least so thought +Brown, who immediately asked the young fisherman if he came from +Portanferry. + +"Ay," said the lad; "I am auld Willie Johnstone's son, and I got +that letter frae my sister Peggy, that's laundry-maid at +Woodbourne." + +"My good friend, when do you sail?" + +"With the tide this evening." + +"I'll return with you; but as I do not desire to go to Portanferry, +I wish you could put me on shore somewhere on the coast." + +"We can easily do that," said the lad. + +Although the price of provisions, etc., was then very moderate, the +discharging his lodgings, and the expense of his living, together +with that of a change of dress, which safety as well as a proper +regard to his external appearance rendered necessary, brought +Brown's purse to a very low ebb. He left directions at the +post-office that his letters should be forwarded to Kippletringan, +whither he resolved to proceed, and reclaim the treasure which he +had deposited in the hands of Mrs. Mac-Candlish. He also felt it +would be his duty to assume his proper character as soon as he +should receive the necessary evidence for supporting it, and, as an +officer in the king's service, give and receive every explanation +which might be necessary with young Hazlewood. If he is not very +wrong-headed indeed, he thought, he must allow the manner in which +I acted to have been the necessary consequence of his own +overbearing conduct. + +And now we must suppose him once more embarked on the Solway +frith. The wind was adverse, attended by some rain, and they +struggled against it without much assistance from the tide. The +boat was heavily laden with goods (part of which were probably +contraband), and laboured deep in the sea. Brown, who had been bred +a sailor, and was indeed skilled in most athletic exercises, gave +his powerful and effectual assistance in rowing, or occasionally in +steering the boat, and his advice in the management, which became +the more delicate as the wind increased, and, being opposed to the +very rapid tides of that coast, made the voyage perilous. At +length, after spending the whole night upon the frith, they were at +morning within sight of a beautiful bay upon the Scottish coast. +The weather was now more mild. The snow, which had been for some +time waning, had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the +preceding night. The more distant hills, indeed, retained their +snowy mantle, but all the open country was cleared, unless where a +few white patches indicated that it had been drifted to an uncommon +depth. Even under its wintry appearance, the shore was highly +interesting. The line of sea-coast, with all its varied curves, +indentures, and embayments, swept away from the sight on either +hand, in that varied, intricate, yet graceful and easy line, which +the eye loves so well to pursue. And it was no less relieved and +varied in elevation than in outline by the different forms of the +shore; the beach in some places being edged by steep rocks, and in +others rising smoothly from the sands in easy and swelling slopes. +Buildings of different kinds caught and reflected the wintry +sunbeams of a December morning, and the woods, though now leafless, +gave relief and variety to the landscape. Brown felt that lively +and awakening interest which taste and sensibility always derive +from the beauties of nature, when opening suddenly to the eye, +after the dulness and gloom of a night voyage. Perhaps,--for who +can presume to analyse that inexplicable feeling which binds the +person born in a mountainous country to his native hills,--perhaps +some early associations, retaining their effect long after the +cause was forgotten, mingled in the feelings of pleasure with which +he regarded the scene before him. + +"And what," said Brown to the boatman, "is the name of that fine +cape, that stretches into the sea with its sloping banks and +hillocks of wood, and forms the right side of the bay?" + +"Warroch Point," answered the lad. + +"And that old castle, my friend, with the modern house situated +just beneath it? It seems at this distance a very large building." + +"That's the Auld Place, sir; and that's the New Place below it. +We'll land you there if you like." + +"I should like it of all things. I must visit that ruin before I +continue my journey." + +"Ay, it's a queer auld bit," said the fisherman and that highest +tower is a gude landmark as far as Ramsay in Man, and the Point of +Ayr--there was muckle fighting about the place lang syne." + +Brown would have inquired into further particulars, but a fisherman +is seldom an antiquary. His boatman's local knowledge was summed +up in the information already given, "that it was a grand landmark, +and that there had been muckle fighting about the bit lang syne." + +"I shall learn more of it," said Brown to himself, "when I get +ashore." + +The boat continued its course close under the point upon which the +castle was situated, which frowned from the summit of its rocky +site upon the still agitated waves of the bay beneath. "I +believe," said the steersman, "ye'll get ashore here as dry as ony +gate. [*Any place] There's a place where their berlins and +galleys, as they ca'd them, used to lie in lang syne, but it's no +used now, because it's ill carrying gudes up the narrow stairs, or +ower the rocks. Whiles of a moon-light night I have landed +articles there, though." + +While he thus spoke, they pulled round a point of rock, and found a +very small harbour, partly formed by nature, partly by the +indefatigable labour of the ancient inhabitants of the castle, who, +as the fisherman observed, had found it essential for the +protection of their boats and small craft, thou-h it could not +receive vessels of any burden. The two points of rock which formed +the access approached each other so nearly, that only one boat +could enter at a time-. On each side were still remaining two +immense iron rings, deeply morticed into the solid rock. Through +these, according to tradition, there was nightly drawn a huge +chain, secured by an immense padlock, for the protection of the +haven, and the armada which it contained. A ledge of rock had, by +the assistance of the chisel and pick-axe, been formed into a sort +of quay. The rock was of extremely hard consistence, and the task +so difficult, that, according to the fisherman, a labourer who +wrought at the work might in the evening have carried home in his +bonnet all the shivers which he had struck from the mass in the +course of the day. This little quay communicated with a rude +staircase, already repeatedly mentioned, which descended from the +old castle. There was also a communication between the beach and +the quay, by scrambling over the rocks. + +"Ye had better land here," said the lad, "for the surfs running +high at the Shellicoat-stane, and there will no be a dry thread +amang us or we get the cargo out.--Na! na! (in answer to an offer +of money) ye have wrought for your passage, and wrought far better +than ony o' us. Gude day to ye. . I wuss ye weel." + +So saying, he pushed off in order to land his cargo on the opposite +side of the bay; and Brown, with a small bundle in his hand, +containing the trifling stock of necessaries which he had been +obliged to purchase at Allonby, was left on the rocks beneath the +ruin. + +And thus, unconscious as the most absolute stranger, and in +circumstances which, if not destitute, were for the present highly +embarrassing; without the countenance of a friend within the circle +of several hundred miles; accused of a heavy crime, and, what was +as bad as all the rest, being nearly penniless, did the harassed +wanderer for the first time, after the interval of so many years, +approach the remains of the castle, where his ancestors had +exercised all but regal dominion. + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + + --Yes, ye moss-green walls, Ye towers defenceless, I + revisit ye Shame-stricken! Where are all your trophies + now? Your thronged courts, the revelry, the tumult, That + spoke the grandeur of my house, the homage Of neighbouring + Barons? + Mysterious Mother. + +Entering the castle of Ellangowan by a postern door-way, which +showed symptoms of having been once secured with the most jealous +care, Brown (whom, since he has set font upon the property of his +fathers, we shall hereafter call by his father's name of Bertram) +wandered from one ruined apartment to another, surprised at the +massive strength of some parts of the building, the rude and +impressive magnificence of others, and the great extent of the +whole. In two of these rooms, close beside each other, he saw +signs of recent habitation. In one small apartment were empty +bottles, half-gnawed bones, and dried fragments of bread. In the +vault which adjoined, and which was defended by a strong door, then +left open, he observed a considerable quantity of straw, and in +both were the relies of recent fires. How little was it possible +for Bertram to conceive, that such trivial circumstances were +closely connected with incidents affecting his prosperity, his +honour, perhaps his life! + +After satisfying his curiosity by a hasty glance through the +interior of the castle, Bertram now advanced through the great +gateway which opened to the land, and paused to look upon the noble +landscape which it commanded. Having in vain endeavoured to guess +the position of Woodbourne, and having nearly ascertained that of +Kippletringan, he turned to take a parting look at the stately +ruins which he had just traversed. He admired the massive and +picturesque effect of the huge round towers, which, flanking the +gateway, gave a double portion of depth and majesty to the high yet +gloomy arch under which it opened. The, carved stone escutcheon of +the ancient family, bearing for their arms three wolves' heads, was +hung diagonally beneath the helmet and crest, the latter being a +wolf couchant pierced with an arrow. On either side stood as +supporters, in full human size, or larger, a salvage man proper, to +use the language of heraldry, wreathed and cinctured, and holding +in his hand an oak-tree eradicated, that is, torn up by the roots. + +"And the powerful barons who owned this blazonry," thought Bertram, +pursuing the usual train of ideas which flows upon the mind at such +scenes,--"do their posterity continue to possess the lands which +they had laboured to fortify so strongly? or are they wanderers, +ignorant perhaps even of the fame or power of their forefathers, +while their hereditary possessions are held by a race of strangers? +Why is it?" he thought, continuing to follow out the succession of +ideas which the scene prompted, "why is it that some scenes awaken +thoughts, which belong as it were to dreams of early and shadowy +recollection, such as my old Brahmin Moonshie would have ascribed +to a state of previous existence? Is it the visions of our sleep +that float confusedly in our memory, and are recalled by the +appearance of such real objects as in any respect correspond to the +phantoms they presented to our imagination? How often do we find +ourselves in society which we have never before met, and yet feel +impressed with a mysterious and ill-defined consciousness, that +neither the scene, the speakers, nor the subject are entirely new; +nay, feel as if we could anticipate that part of the conversation +which has not yet taken place! It is even so with me while I gaze +upon that ruin; nor can I divest myself of the idea, that these +massive towers, and that dark gateway, retiring through its +deep-vaulted and ribbed arches, and dimly lighted by the courtyard +beyond, are not entirely strange to me. Can it be that they have +been familiar to me in infancy, and that I am to seek in their +vicinity those friends of whom my childhood has still a tender +though faint remembrance, and whom I early exchanged for such +severe taskmasters? Yet Brown, who I think would not have deceived +me, always told me I was brought off from the eastern coast, after +a skirmish in which my father was killed; and I do remember enough +of a horrid scene of violence to strengthen his account." + +It happened that the spot upon which young Bertram chanced to +station himself for the better viewing the castle, was nearly the +same on which his father had died. It was marked by a large old +oak-tree, the only one on the esplanade, and which, having been +used for executions by the barons of Ellangowan, was called the +justice Tree. It chanced, and the coincidence was remarkable, that +Glossin was this morning engaged with a person, whom he was in the +habit of consulting in such matters, concerning some projected +repairs, and a large addition to the house of Ellangowan, and that, +having no great pleasure in remains so intimately connected with +the grandeur of the former inhabitants, he had resolved to use the +stones of the ruinous castle in his new edifice. Accordingly he +came up the bank, followed by the land-surveyor mentioned on a +former occasion, who was also in the habit of acting as a sort of +architect in case of necessity. In drawing the plans, etc., +Glossin was in the custom of relying upon his own skill. Bertram's +back was towards them as they came up the ascent, and he was quite +shrouded by the branches of the large tree, so that Glossin was not +aware of the presence of the stranger till he was close upon him. + +"Yes, sir, as I have often said before to you, the Old Place is a +perfect quarry of hewn stone, and it would be better for the estate +if it were all down, since it is only a den for smugglers. "At +this instant Bertram turned short round upon Glossin at the +distance of two yards only, and said--"Would you destroy this +fine old castle, sir?" + +His face, person, and voice, were so exactly those of his father in +his best days, that Glossin, hearing his exclamation, and seeing +such a sudden apparition in the shape of his patron, and on nearly +the very spot where he had expired, almost thought the grave had +given up its dead! --He staggered back two or three paces, as if +he had received a sudden and deadly wound. He instantly recovered, +however, his presence of mind, stimulated by the thrilling +reflection that it was no inhabitant of the other world which stood +before him, but an injured man, whom the slightest want of +dexterity on his part might lead to acquaintance with his rights, +and the means of asserting them to his utter destruction. Yet his +ideas were so much confused by the shock he had received, that his +first question partook of the alarm. + +"In the name of God how came you here?" said Glossin. + +"How came I here?" repeated Bertram, surprised at the solemnity of +the address. "I landed a quarter of an hour since in the little +harbour beneath the castle, and was employing a moment's leisure in +viewing these fine ruins. I trust there is no intrusion?" + +"Intrusion, sir?--no, sir," said Glossin, in some degree recovering +his breath, and then whispered a few words into his companion's +ear, who immediately left him, and descended towards the house. +"Intrusion, sir?--no, sir,--you or any gentleman are welcome to +satisfy your curiosity." + +"I thank you, sir," said Bertram. "'They call this the Old Place, +I am informed?" + +"Yes, sir; in distinction to the New Place, my house there below." + +Glossin, it must be remarked, was, during the following dialogue, +an the one hand eager to learn what local recollections young +Bertram had retained of the scenes of his infancy, and, on the +other, compelled to be extremely cautious in his replies, lest he +should awaken or assist, by some name, phrase, or anecdote, the +slumbering train of association. He suffered, indeed, during the +whole scene, the agonies which he so richly, deserved; yet his +pride and interest, like the fortitude of a North American Indian, +manned him to sustain the tortures inflicted at once by the +contending stings of a guilty conscience, of hatred, of fear, and +of suspicion. + +"I wish to ask the name, sir," said Bertram, "of the family to whom +this stately ruin belongs?" + +It is my property, sir; my name is Glossin." + +"Glossin--Glossin?" repeated Bertram, as if the answer were +somewhat different from what he expected : "I beg your pardon, Mr. +Glossin; I am apt to be very absent.--May I ask if the castle has +been long in your family?" + +"It was built, I believe, long ago, by a family called +MacDingawaie," answered Glossin; suppressing for obvious reasons +the more familiar sound of Bertram, which might have awakened the +recollections which he was anxious to lull to rest, and slurring +with an evasive answer the question concerning the endurance of his +own possession. + +"And how do you read the half-defaced motto, sir," said Bertram, +"which is upon that scroll above the entablature with the arms?" + +"I--I--I really do not exactly know," replied Glossin. + +"I should be apt to make it out, 'Our Right makes our Might.' " + +"I believe it is something of that kind," said Glossin. + +"May I ask, sir," said the stranger, "if it is your family motto?" + +"N-n-no--no--not ours. That is, I believe, the motto of the former +people--mine is--mine is--in fact I have had some correspondence +with Mr. Cumming of the Lyon Office in Edinburgh about mine. He +writes me the Glossins anciently bore for a motto, 'He who takes +it, makes it.' " + +"If there be any uncertainty, sir, and the case were mine," said +Bertram, "I would assume the old motto, which seems to me the +better of the two." + +Glossin, whose tongue by this time clove to the roof of his mouth, +only answered by a nod. + +"It is odd enough," said Bertram, fixing his eye upon the +arms and gateway, and partly addressing Glossin, partly as +it were thinking aloud--"it is odd the tricks which our +memory plays us. The remnants of an old prophecy, or song, +or rhyme, of some kind or other, return to my recollection +on hearing that motto--stay--it is a strange jingle of +sounds: + + The dark shall be light, + And the wrong made right, + When Bertram's right and Bertram's might + Shall meet on-- + +I cannot remember the last line--on some particular height-- +height is the rhyme, I am sure; but I cannot hit upon the preceding +word." + +"Confound your memory," muttered Glossin, "you remember by far too +much of it!" + +"There are other rhymes connected with these early recollections," +continued the young man : "Pray, sir, is there any song current in +this part of the world respecting a daughter of the King of the +Isle of Man eloping with a Scottish knight?" + +"I am the worst person in the world to consult upon legendary +antiquities," answered Glossin. + +"I could sing such a ballad," said Bertram, "from one end to +another, when I was a boy. You must know I left Scotland, which is +my native country, very young, and those who brought me up +discouraged all my attempts to preserve recollection of my native +land, on account, I believe, of a boyish wish which I had to escape +from their charge." + +"Very natural," said Glossin, but speaking as if his utmost efforts +were unable to unseal his lips beyond the width of a quarter of an +inch, so that his whole utterance was a kind of compressed +muttering, very different from the round, bold, bullying voice with +which he usually spoke. Indeed his appearance and demeanour during +all this conversation seemed to diminish even his strength and +stature; so that he appeared to wither into the shadow of himself, +now advancing one foot, now the other, now stooping and wriggling +his shoulders, now fumbling with the buttons of his waistcoat, now +clasping his hands together,--in short, he was the picture of a +mean-spirited shuffling rascal in the very agonies of detection. To +these appearances Bertram was totally inattentive,--being dragged +on as it were by the current of his own associations. Indeed, +although he addressed Glossin, he was not so much thinking of him, +as arguing upon the embarrassing state of his own feelings and +recollection. "Yes," he said, "I preserved my language among the +sailors, most of whom spoke English, and when I could get into a +corner by myself, I used to sing all that song over from beginning +to end--I have forgot it all now--but I remember the tune well, +though I cannot guess what should at present so strongly recall it +to my memory." + +He took his flageolet from his pocket, and played a simple melody. +Apparently the tune awoke the corresponding associations of a +damsel, who, close beside a fine spring about half-way down the +descent, and which had once supplied the castle with water, was +engaged in bleaching linen. She immediately took up the song: + +"Are these the Links of Forth, she said, Or are they the crooks of +Dee. Or the hannie woods of Warroch Head That I so fain would +see?" + +"By heaven," said Bertram, "it is the very ballad. I must learn +these words from the girl." + +"Confusion!" thought Glossin; "if I cannot put a stop to this, all +will be out. Oh, the devil take all ballads, and ballad-makers, +and ballad-singers! and that d-d jade too, to set up her +pipe!--You will have time enough for this on some other occasion," +he said aloud; "at present"--(for now he saw his emissary with two +or three men coming up the bank),--"at present we must have some +more serious conversation together." + +"How do you mean, sir?" said Bertram, turning short upon him, and +not liking the tone which he made use of. + +"Why, sir, as to that--I believe your name is Brown?" said Glossin. + +"And what of that, sir?" + +Glossin looked over his shoulder to see how near his party had +approached; they were coming fast on. + +"Vanbeest Brown? if I mistake not." + +"And what of that, sir?" said Bertram, with increasing astonishment +and displeasure. + +"Why, in that case," said Glossin, observing his friends had now +got upon the level space close beside them--"in that case you are +my prisoner in the king's name!"--At the same time he stretched his +hand towards Bertram's collar, while two of the men who had come up +seized upon his arms; he shook himself, however, free of their +grasp by a violent effort, in which he pitched the most +pertinacious down the bank, and, drawing his cutlass, stood on the +defensive, while those who had felt his strength recoiled from his +presence, and gazed at a safe distance. "Observe," he called out +at the same time, "that I have no purpose to resist legal +authority; satisfy me that you have a magistrates warrant, and are +authorised to make this arrest, and I will obey it quietly; but let +no man who loves his life venture to approach me, till I am +satisfied for what crime, and by whose authority, I am +apprehended." + +Glossin then caused one of the officers show a warrant for the +apprehension of Vanbeest Brown, accused of the crime of wilfully +and maliciously shooting at Charles Hazlewood, younger of +Hazlewood, with an intent to kill, and also of other crimes and +misdemeanours, and which appointed him, having been so apprehended, +to be brought before the next magistrate for examination. The +warrant being formal, and the fact such as he could not deny, +Bertram threw down his weapon, and submitted himself to the +officers, who, flying on him with eagerness corresponding to their +former pusillanimity, were about to load him with irons, alleging +the strength and activity which he had displayed, as a +justification of this severity. But Glossin was ashamed or afraid +to permit this unnecessary insult, and directed the prisoner to be +treated with all the decency, and even respect, that was consistent +with safety. Afraid, however, to introduce him into his own house, +where still further subjects of recollection might have been +suggested, and anxious at the same time to cover his own +proceedings by the sanction of another's authority, he ordered his +carriage (for he had lately set up a carriage) to be got ready, and +in the meantime directed refreshments to be given to the prisoner +and the officers, who were consigned to one of the rooms in the old +castle, until the means of conveyance for examination before a +magistrate should be provided. + + +CHAPTER XLII. + + --Bring in the evidence--Thou robed man of justice, + take thy place, And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, Bench + by his side--you are of the commission, Sit you too. + King Lear. + +While the carriage was getting ready, Glossin had a letter to +compose, about which. he wasted no small time. It was to his +neighbour, as he was fond of calling him, Sir Robert Hazlewood of +Hazlewood, the head of an ancient and powerful interest in the +county, which had in the decadence of the Ellangowan family +gradually succeeded to much of their Authority and influence. The +present representative of the family was an elderly man, dotingly +fond of his own family, which was limited to an only son and +daughter, and stoically indifferent to the fate of all mankind +besides. For the rest, he was honourable in his general dealings, +because he was afraid to suffer the censure of the world, and just +from a better motive. He was presumptuously over-conceited on the +score of family pride and importance, a feeling considerably +enhanced by his late succession to the title of a Nova Scotia +Baronet; and he hated the memory of the Ellangowan family, though +now a memory only, because a certain baron of that house was +traditionally, reported to have caused the founder of the Hazlewood +family hold his stirrup until he mounted into his saddle. In his +general department he was pompous and important, affecting a +specious of florid elocution, which often became ridiculous from +his misarranging the triads and quaternions with which he loaded +his sentences. + +To this personage Glossin was now to write in such a conciliatory +style as might be most acceptable to his vanity and family pride, +and the following was the form of his note. + +"Mr. Gilbert Glossin" (he longed to add of Ellangowan, but prudence +prevailed, and he suppressed that territorial designation)--"Mr. +Gilbert Glossin has the honour to offer his most respectful +compliments to Sir Robert Hazlewood, and to inform him, that he has +this morning been fortunate enough to secure the person who wounded +Mr. C. Hazlewood. As Sir Robert Hazlewood may probably choose to +conduct the examination of this criminal himself, Mr. G. Glossin +will cause the mail to be carried to the inn at Kippletringan, or +to Hazlewood House, as Sir Robert Hazlewood may be pleased to +direct : And, with Sir Robert Hazlewood's permission, Mr. G. +Glossin will attend him at either of these places with the proofs +and declarations which he has been so fortunate as to collect +respecting this atrocious business." + +Addressed, + +"Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, Bart. "Hazlewood House, &c. +&c. + +"Elln. Gn, + +Tuesday." + +This note he despatched by a servant on horseback, and having given +the man some time to get ahead, and desired him to ride fast, he +ordered two officers of justice to get into the carriage with +Bertram; and he himself, mounting his horse, accompanied them at a +slow pace to the point where the roads to Kippletringan and +Hazlewood House separated, and there awaited the return of his +messenger, in order that his farther route might be determined by +the answer he should receive from the Baronet. In about half an +hour his servant returned with the following answer, handsomely +folded, and scaled with the Hazlewood arms, having the Nova Scotia +badge depending from the shield. + +"Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood returns Mr. G. Glossin's +compliments, and thanks him for the trouble he has taken in a +matter affecting the safety of Sir Robert's family. Sir R. H. +requests Mr. G. G. will have the goodness to bring the prisoner +to Hazlewood House for examination, with the other proofs or +declarations which he mentions. And after the business is over, in +case Mr. G. G. is not otherwise engaged, Sir R. and Lady +Hazlewood request his company to dinner." + +Addressed, + +"Mr. Gilbert Glossin, &c. + +Hazlewood House, + +Tuesday." + +"Soh!" thought Mr. Glossin, "here is one finger in at least, and +that I will make the means of introducing my whole hand. But I must +first get clear of this wretched young fellow.--I think I can +manage Sir Robert. He is dull and pompous, and will be alike +disposed to listen to my suggestions upon the law of the case, and +to assume the credit of acting upon them as his own proper motion. +So I shall have the advantage of being the real magistrate, without +the odium of responsibility." + +As he cherished these hopes and expectations the carriage +approached Hazlewood House, through a noble avenue of old oaks, +which shrouded the ancient abbey-resembling building so called. It +was a large edifice built at different periods, part having +actually been a priory, upon the suppression of which, in the time +of Queen Mary, the first of the family had obtained a gift of the +house and the surrounding lands from the crown. It was pleasantly +situated in a large deer-park, on the banks of the river we have +before mentioned. The scenery around was of a dark, solemn, and +somewhat melancholy cast, according well with the architecture of +the house. Everything appeared to be kept in the highest possible +order, and announced the opulence and rank of the proprietor. + +As Mr. Glossin's carriage stopped at the door of the hall, Sir +Robert reconnoitred the new vehicle from the windows. According to +his aristocratic feelings, there was a degree of presumption in +this novus homo, this Mr. Gilbert Glossin, late writer in--, +presuming to set up such an accommodation at all; but his wrath was +mitigated when he observed that the mantle upon the panels only +bore a plain cypher of G. G. This apparent modesty was indeed +solely owing to the delay of Mr. Cumming of the Lyon Office, who, +being at that time engaged in discovering and matriculating the +arms of two commissaries from North America, three English-Irish +peers, and two great Jamaica traders, had been more slow than usual +in finding an escutcheon for the new Laird of Ellangowan. But his +delay told to the advantage of Glossin in the opinion of the proud +Baronet. + +While the officers of justice detained their prisoner in a sort of +steward's room, Mr. Glossin was ushered into what was called the +great oak-parlour, a long room, panelled with well-varnished +wainscot, and adorned with the grim portraits of Sir Robert +Hazlewood's ancestry. The visitor, who had no internal +consciousness of worth to balance that of meanness of birth, felt +his inferiority, and by the depth of his bow and the obsequiousness +of his demeanour, showed that the Laird of Ellangowan was sunk for +the time in the old and submissive habits of the quondam retainer +of the law. He would have persuaded himself, indeed, that he was +only humouring the pride of the old Baronet, for the purpose of +turning it to his own advantage; but his feelings were of a mingled +nature, and he felt the influence of those very prejudices which he +pretended to flatter. + +The Baronet received his visitor with that condescending parade +which was meant at once to assert his own vast superiority, and to +show the generosity and courtesy with which he could waive it, and +descend to the level of ordinary conversation with ordinary men. He +thanked Glossin for his attention to a matter in which "young +Hazlewood" was so intimately concerned, and, pointing to his family +pictures, observed, with a gracious smile, "Indeed these venerable +gentlemen, Mr. Glossin, are as much obliged as I am in this case, +for the labour, pains, care, and trouble which you have taken in +their behalf; and I have no doubt, were they capable of expressing +themselves, would join me, sir, in thanking you for the favour you +have conferred upon the house of Hazlewood, by taking care, and +trouble, sir, and interest, in behalf of the young, gentleman who +is to continue their name and family." + +Thrice bowed Glossin, and each time more profoundly than before; +once in honour of the knight who stood upright before him, once in +respect to the quiet personages who patiently hung upon the +wainscot, and a third time in deference to the young gentleman who +was to carry on the name and family. Roturier as he was, Sir +Robert was gratified by the homage which he rendered, and proceeded +in a tone of gracious familiarity: "And now, Mr Glossin, my +exceeding good friend, you must allow me to avail myself of your +knowledge of law in our proceedings in this matter. I am not much +in the habit of acting as a justice of the peace; it suits better +with other gentlemen, whose domestic and family affairs require +less constant superintendence, attention, and management than +mine." + +Of course, whatever small assistance Mr. Glossin could render was +entirely at Sir Robert Hazlewood's service; but, as Sir Robert +Hazlewood's name stood high in the list of the faculty, the said +Mr. Glossin could not presume to hope it could be either necessary +or useful. + +"Why, my good sir, you will understand me only to mean, that I am +something deficient in the practical knowledge of the ordinary +details of justice-business. I was indeed educated to the bar, and +might boast perhaps at one time, that I had made some progress in +the speculative, and abstract, and abstruse doctrines of our +municipal code; but there is in the present day so little +opportunity of a man of family and fortune rising to that eminence +at the bar, which is attained by adventurers who are as willing to +plead for John a Nokes as for the first noble of the land, that I +was really early disgusted with practice. The first case, indeed, +which was laid on my table, quite sickened me; it respected a +bargain, sir, of tallow, between a butcher and. a candle-maker; and +I found it was expected that I should grease my mouth, not only +with their vulgar names, but with all the technical terms and +phrases, and peculiar language, of their dirty arts. Upon my +honour, my good sir, I have never been able to bear the smell of a +tallow-candle since." + +Pitying, as seemed to be expected, the mean use to which the +Baronet's faculties had been degraded on the melancholy occasion, +Mr, Glossin offered to officiate as clerk or assessor, or in any +way in which he could be most useful. "And with a view to +possessing you of the whole business, and in the first place, there +will, I believe, be no difficulty in proving the main fact, that +this was the person who fired the unhappy piece. Should he deny +it, it can be proved by Mr. Hazlewood, I presume." + +"Young Hazlewood is not at home to-day, Mr. Glossin." + +"But we can have the oath of the servant who attended him," said +the ready Mr. Glossin; "indeed I hardly think the fact will be +disputed. I am more apprehensive, that, from the too favourable +and indulgent manner in which I have understood that Mr. Hazlewood +has been pleased to represent the business, the assault may be +considered as accidental, and the injury as unintentional, so that +the fellow may be immediately set at liberty, to do more mischief." + +"I have not the honour to know the gentleman who now holds the +office of king's advocate," replied Sir Robert gravely; "but I +presume, sir--nay, I am confident, that he will consider the mere +fact of having wounded young Hazlewood of Hazlewood, even by +inadvertency, to take the matter in its mildest and gentlest, and +in its most favourable and improbable light, as a crime which will +be too easily atoned by imprisonment, and as more deserving of +deportation." + +"Indeed, Sir Robert," said his assenting brother in justice, "I am +entirely of your opinion; but, I don't know how it is, I have +observed the Edinburgh gentlemen of the bar, and even the officers +of the crown, pique themselves upon an indifferent administration +of justice, without respect to rank and family; and I should +fear--" + +"How, sir, without respect to rank and family? Will you tell me +that doctrine can be held by men of birth and legal education? No, +sir; if a trifle stolen in the street is termed mere pickery, but +is elevated into sacrilege if the crime be committed in a church, +so, according to the just gradations of society, the guilt of an +injury is enhanced by the rank of the person to whom it is offered, +done, or perpetrated, sir." + +Glossin bowed low to this declaration ex cathedra, but observed, +that in case of the very worst, and of such unnatural doctrines +being actually held as he had already hinted, "the law had another +hold on Mr. Vanbeest Brown." + +"Vanbeest Brown! is that the fellow's name? Good God! that young +Hazlewood of Hazlewood should have had his life endangered, the +clavicle of his right shoulder considerably lacerated and +dislodged, several large drops or slugs deposited in the acromion +process, as the account of the family surgeon expressly bears, and +all by an obscure wretch named Vanbeest Brown!" + +"Why, really, Sir Robert, it is a thing which one can hardly bear +to think of; but, begging ten thousand pardons for resuming what I +was about to say, a person of the same name is, as appears from +these papers (producing Dirk Hatteraick's pocket-book), mate to the +smuggling vessel who offered such violence at Woodbourne, and I +have no doubt that this is the same individual; which, however, +your acute discrimination will easily be able to ascertain." + +"The same, my good sir, he must assuredly be--it would be injustice +even to the meanest of the people, to suppose there could be found +among them two persons doomed to bear a name so shocking to one's +ears as this of Vanbeest Brown." + +"True, Sir Robert; most unquestionably; there cannot be a shadow of +doubt of it. But you see further, that this circumstance accounts +for the man's desperate conduct. You, Sir Robert, will discover +the motive for his crime--you, I say, will discover it without +difficulty, on your giving your mind to the examination; for my +part, I cannot help suspecting the moving spring to have been +revenge for the gallantry with which Mr. Hazlewood, with all the +spirit of his renowned forefathers, defended the house at +Woodbourne against this villain and his lawless companions." + +"I will inquire into it, my good sir," said the learned Baronet. +"Yet even now I venture to conjecture that I shall adopt the +solution or explanation of this riddle, enigma, or mystery, which +you have in some degree thus started. Yes! revenge it must +be--and, good Heaven! entertained by and against +whom?--entertained, fostered, cherished, against young Hazlewood of +Hazlewood, and in part carried into effect, executed, and +implemented, by the hand of Vanbeest Brown! These are dreadful days +indeed, my worthy neighbour (this epithet indicated a rapid advance +in the Baronet's good graces)--days when the bulwarks of society +are shaken to their mighty base, and that rank, which forms, as it +were, its highest grace and ornament, is mingled and confused with +the viler parts of the architecture. Oh, my good Mr. Gilbert +Glossin, in my time, sir, the use of swords and pistols, and such +honourable arms, were reserved by the nobility and gentry to +themselves, and the disputes of the vulgar were decided by the +weapons which nature had given them, or by cudgels cut, broken, or +hemmed out of the next wood. But now, sir, the clouted [*Patched ] +shoe of the peasant galls the kibe of the courtier. The lower +ranks have their quarrels, sir, and their points of honour, and +their revenges, which they must bring, forsooth, to fatal +arbitrament. But well, well! it will last my time--let us have in +this fellow, this Vanbeest Brown, and make an end of him at least +for the present." + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + + --'Twas he ye Gave heat unto the injury, which returned, + Like a petard ill lighted, into the bosom Of him gave fire + to't. Yet I hope his hurt Is not so dangerous but he may + recover. Fair Maid of the Inn. + +The prisoner was now presented before the two worshipful +magistrates. Glossin, partly from some compunctious visitings, and +partly out of his cautious resolution to suffer Sir Robert +Hazlewood to be the ostensible manager of the whole examination, +looked down upon the table, and busied himself with reading and, +arranging the papers respecting the business, only now and then +throwing in a skilful catchword as prompter, when he saw the +principal, and apparently most active magistrate, stand in need of +a hint. As for Sir Robert Hazlewood, he assumed on his part a +happy mixture of the austerity of the justice, combined with the +display of personal dignity appertaining to the baronet of ancient +family. + +"There, constables, let him stand there at the bottom of the +table.--Be so good as look me in the face, sir, and raise your +voice as you answer the questions which I am going to put to you." + +"May I beg, in the first place, to know, sir, who it is that takes +the trouble to interrogate me?" said the prisoner; "for the honest +gentlemen who have brought me here have not been pleased to furnish +any information upon that point." + +"And pray, sir," answered Sir Robert, "what has my name and quality +to do with the questions I am about to ask you?" + +"Nothing, perhaps, sir," replied Bertram but it may considerably +influence my disposition to answer them." + +"Why, then, sir, you will please to be informed that you are in +presence of Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, and another justice +of peace for this county--that's all." + +As this intimation produced a less stunning effect upon the +prisoner than he had anticipated, Sir Robert proceeded in his +investigation with an increasing dislike to the object of it. + +"Is your name Vanbeest Brown, sir?" + +"It is," answered the prisoner. + +"So far well;--and how are we to design you further, sir?" +demanded the justice. + +"Captain in his Majesty's regiment of horse," answered Bertram. + +The Baronet's ears received this intimation with astonishment; but +he was refreshed in courage by an incredulous look from Glossin, +and by hearing him gently utter a sort of interjectional whistle, +in a note of surprise and contempt. "I believe, my friend," said +Sir Robert, "we shall find for you, before we part, a more humble +title." + +"If you do, sir," replied his prisoner, "I shall willingly submit +to any punishment which such an imposture shall be thought to +deserve." + +"Well, sir, we shall see," continued Sir Robert. "Do you know +young Hazlewood of Hazlewood?" + +"I never saw the gentleman who I am informed bears that name +excepting once, and I regret that it was under very unpleasant +circumstances." + +"You mean to acknowledge, then," said the Baronet, "that you +inflicted upon young Hazlewood of Hazlewood that wound which +endangered his life, considerably lacerated the clavicle of his +right shoulder, and deposited, as the family surgeon declares, +several large drops. or slugs in the acromion process?" + +"Why, sir," replied Bertram, "I can only say I am equally ignorant +of and sorry for the extent of the damage which the young gentleman +has sustained. I met him in a narrow path, walking with two ladies +and a servant, and before I could either pass them or address them, +this young Hazlewood took his gun from his servant, presented it +against my body, and commanded me in the most haughty tone to stand +back. I was neither inclined to submit to his authority, nor to +leave him in possession of the means to injure me, which he seemed +disposed to use with such rashness. I therefore closed with him +for the purpose of disarming him; and just as I had nearly effected +my purpose, the piece went off accidentally, and, to my regret then +and since, inflicted upon the young gentleman a severer +chastisement than I desired, though I am glad to understand it is +like to prove no more than his unprovoked folly deserved." + +"And so, sir," said the Baronet, every feature swollen with +offended dignity,--"You, sir, admit, sir, that it was your purpose, +sir, and your intention, sir, and the real jet and object of your +assault, sir, to disarm young Hazlewood of Hazlewood of his gun, +sir, or his fowling-piece, or his fuzee, or whatever you please to +call it, sir, upon the king's highway, sir?--I think this will do, +my worthy neighbour! I think he should stand committed?" + +"You are by far the best judge, Sir Robert," said Glossin, in his +most insinuating tone; "but if I might presume to hint, there was +something about these smugglers." + +"Very true, good sir.--And besides, sir, you, Vanbeest Brown, who +call yourself a captain in his Majesty's service, are no better or +worse than a rascally mate of a smuggler!" + +"Really, sir," said Bertram, "you are an old gentleman, and acting +under some strange delusion, otherwise I should be very angry with +you." + +"Old gentleman, sir! strange delusion, sir!" said Sir Robert, +colouring with indignation. "I protest and declare--Why, sir, +have you any papers or letters that can establish your pretended +rank, and estate, and commission?" + +"None at present, sir," answered Bertram; "but in the return of a +post or two--" + +"And how do you, sir," continued the Baronet, "if you are a captain +in his Majesty's service, how do you chance to be travelling in +Scotland without letters of introduction, credentials, baggage, or +anything belonging to your pretended rank, estate, and condition, +as I said before?" + +"Sir," replied the prisoner, "I had the misfortune to be robbed of +my clothes and baggage." + +"Oho! then you are the gentleman who took a post-chaise from--to +Kippletringan, gave the boy the slip on the road, and sent two of +your accomplices to beat the boy and bring away the baggage?" + +"I was, sir, in a carriage as you describe, was obliged to alight +in the snow, and lost my way endeavouring to find the road to +Kippletringan. The landlady of the inn will inform you that on my +arrival there the next day, my first inquiries were after the boy." + +"Then give me leave to ask where you spent the night--not in the +snow, I presume? you do not suppose that will pass, or be taken, +credited, and received?" + +"I beg leave," said Bertram, his recollection turning to the gipsy +female, and to the promise he had given her, "I beg leave to +decline answering that question." + +"I thought as much," said Sir Robert.--"Were you not during that +night in the ruins of Derncleugh?--in the ruins of Derncleugh, +sir?" + +"I have told you that I do not intend answering that question," +replied Bertram. + +"Well, sir, then you will stand committed, sir." said Sir Robert, +"and be sent to prison, sir, that's all, sir.--Have the goodness +to look at these papers; are you the Vanbeest Brown who is there +mentioned?" + +It must be remarked that Glossin had shuffled among the papers some +writings which really did belong to Bertram, and which had been +found by the officers in the old vault where his portmanteau was +ransacked. + +"Some of these papers," said Bertram, looking over them, "are mine, +and were in my portfolio when it was stolen from the post-chaise. +They are memoranda of little value, and, I see, have been carefully +selected as affording no evidence of my rank or character, which +many of the other papers would have established fully. They are +mingled with ship-accounts and other papers, belonging apparently +to a person of the same name." + +"And wilt thou attempt to persuade me, friend," demanded Sir +Robert, "that there are two persons in this country, at the same +time, of thy very uncommon and awkwardly sounding name?" + +"I really do not see, sir, as there is an old Hazlewood and a young +Hazlewood, why there should not be an old and a young Vanbeest +Brown. And, to speak seriously, I was educated in Holland, and I +know that this name, however uncouth it may sound in British +ears--" + +Glossin, conscious that the prisoner was now about to enter upon +dangerous ground, interfered, though the interruption was +unnecessary, for the purpose of diverting the attention of Sir +Robert Hazlewood, who was speechless and motionless with +indignation at the presumptuous comparison implied in Bertram's +last speech. In fact, the veins of his throat and of his temples +swelled almost to bursting, and he sat with the indignant and +disconcerted air of one who has received a mortal insult from a +quarter to which he holds it unmeet and indecorous to make any +reply. While with a bent brow and an angry eye he was drawing in +his breath slowly and majestically, and puffing it forth again with +deep and solemn exertion, Glossin stepped in to his assistance. "I +should think now, Sir Robert, with great submission, that this +matter may be closed. One of the constables, besides the pregnant +proof already produced, offers to make oath, that the sword of +which the prisoner was this morning deprived (while using it, by +the way, in resistance to a legal warrant) was a cutlass taken from +him in a fray between the officers and smugglers, just previous to +their attack upon Woodbourne. And yet," he added, "I would not +have you form any rash construction upon that subject; perhaps the +young man can explain how he came by that weapon." + +"That question, sir," said Bertram, "I shall also leave +unanswered." + +"There is yet another circumstance to be inquired into, always +under Sir Robert's leave," insinuated Glossin. "This prisoner put +into the hands of Mrs. Mac-Candlish of Kippletringan a parcel +containing a variety of gold coins and valuable articles of +different kinds. Perhaps, Sir Robert, you might think it right to +ask, how he came by property of a description which seldom occurs?" + +"You, sir, Mr, Vanbeest Brown, sir, you hear the question, sir, +which the gentleman asks you?" + +"I have particular reasons for declining to answer that question," +answered Bertram. + +"Then I am afraid, sir," said Glossin, who had brought matters to +the point he desired to reach, "our duty must lay us under the +necessity to sign a warrant of committal." + +"As you please, sir," answered Bertram; "take care, however, what +you do. Observe that I inform you that I am a captain in his +Majesty's--regiment, and that I am just returned from India, and +therefore cannot possibly be connected with any of those contraband +traders you talk of; that my Lieutenant-Colonel is now at +Nottingham, the Major, with the officers of my corps, at +Kingston-upon-Thames. I offer before you both to submit to any +degree of ignominy, if, within the return of the Kingston and +Nottingham posts, I am not able to establish these points. Or you +may write to the agent for the regiment, if you please, and--" + +"This is all very well," said Glossin, beginning to fear lest the +firm expostulation of Bertram should make some impression on Sir +Robert, who would almost have died of shame at committing such a +solecism as sending a captain of horse to jail--"This is all very +well, sir; but is there no person nearer whom you could refer to?" + +"There are only two persons in this country who know anything of +me," replied the prisoner. "One is a plain Liddesdale +sheep-farmer, called Dinmont of Charlies-hope; but he knows nothing +more of me than what I told him, and what I now tell you." + +"Why, this is well enough, Sir Robert!" said Glossin, "I suppose he +would bring forward this thick-skulled fellow to give his oath of +credulity, Sir Robert, ha, ha, ha!" + +"And what is your other witness, friend?" said the Baronet. + +"A gentleman whom I have some reluctance to mention, because of +certain private reasons; but under whose command I served some time +in India, and who is too much a man of honour to refuse his +testimony to my character as a soldier and gentleman." + +"And who is this doughty witness, pray, sir?" said Sir +Robert,--"some half-pay quarter-master or sergeant, I suppose?" + +"Colonel Guy Mannering, late of tile--regiment, in which, as I told +you, I have a troop." + +"Colonel Guy Mannering!" thought Glossin,--"who the devil could +have guessed this?" + +"Colonel Guy Mannering!" echoed the Baronet, considerably shaken in +his opinion,--"My good sir,"--apart to Glossin, "the young man with +a dreadfully plebeian name, and a good deal of modest assurance, +has nevertheless something of the tone, and manners, and feeling of +a gentleman, of one at least who has lived in good society--they do +give commissions very loosely, and carelessly, and inaccurately, in +India--I think we had better pause till Colonel Mannering shall +return; he is now, I believe, at Edinburgh." + +"You are in every respect the best judge, Sir Robert," answered +Glossin, "in every possible respect. I would only submit to you, +that we are certainly hardly entitled to dismiss this man upon an +assertion which cannot be satisfied by proof, and that we shall +incur a heavy responsibility by detaining him in private custody, +without committing him to a public jail. Undoubtedly, however, you +are the best judge, Sir Robert;--and I would only say, for my own +part, that I very lately incurred severe censure by detaining a +person in a place which I thought perfectly secure, and under the +custody of the proper officers. The man made his escape, and I +have no doubt my own character for attention and circumspection as +a magistrate has in some degree suffered--I only hint this--I will +join in any step you, Sir Robert, think most advisable." But Mr. +Glossin was well aware that such a hint was of power sufficient to +decide the motions of his self-important, but not self-relying +colleague. So that Sir Robert Hazlewood summed up the business in +the following speech, which proceeded partly upon the supposition +of the prisoner being really a gentleman, and partly upon the +opposite belief that he was a villain and an assassin. + +"Sir, Mr. Vanbeest Brown--I would call you Captain Brown if there +was the least reason, or cause, or grounds to suppose that you are +a captain, or had a troop in the very respectable corps you +mention, or indeed in any other corps in his Majesty's service, as +to which circumstance I beg to be understood to give no positive, +settled, or unalterable judgment, declaration, or opinion. I say +therefore, sir, Mr. Brown, we have determined, considering the +unpleasant predicament in which you now stand, having been robbed, +as you say, an assertion as to which I suspend my opinion, and +being possessed of much and valuable treasure, and of a +brass-handled cutlass besides, as to your obtaining which you will +favour us with no explanation--I say, sir, we have determined and +resolved, and made up our minds, to commit you to jail, or rather +to assign you an apartment therein, in order that you may be +forthcoming upon Colonel Mannering's return from Edinburgh." + +"With humble submission, Sir Robert," said Glossin, "may I inquire +if it is your purpose to send this young gentleman to the county +jail?--for if that were not your settled intention, I would take +the liberty to hint, that there would be less hardship in sending +him to the Bridewell at Portanferry, where he can be secured +without public exposure; a circumstance which, on the mere chance +of his story being really true, is much to be avoided." + +"Why, there is a guard of soldiers at Portanferry, to be sure, for +protection of the goods in the Custom-house; and upon the whole, +considering everything, and that the place is comfortable for such +a place, I say all things considered, we will commit this person, I +would rather say authorise him to be detained, in the workhouse at +Portanferry." + +The warrant was made out accordingly, and Bertram was informed he +was next morning to be removed to his place of confinement, as Sir +Robert had determined he should not be taken there under cloud of +night, for fear of rescue. He was, during the interval, to be +detained at Hazlewood House. + +"It cannot be so hard as my imprisonment by the Looties in India," +he thought; "nor can it last so long. But the deuce take the old +formal dunderhead, and his more sly associate, who speaks always +under his breath,--they cannot understand a plain man's story when +it is told them." + +In the meanwhile Glossin took leave of the Baronet, with a thousand +respectful bows and cringing apologies for not accepting his +invitation to dinner, and venturing to hope he might be pardoned in +paying his respects to him, Lady Hazlewood, and young Mr. +Hazlewood, on some future occasion. + +"Certainly, sir," said the Baronet, very graciously. I hope our +family was never at any time deficient in civility to our +neighbours; and when I ride that way, good Mr. Glossin, I will +convince you of this by calling at your house as familiarly as is +consistent--that is, as can be hoped or expected." + +"And now," said Glossin to himself, "to find Dirk Hatteraick and +his people,--to get the guard sent off from the Custom-house,--and +then for the grand cast of the dice. Everything must depend upon +speed. How lucky that Mannering has betaken himself to Edinburgh! +His knowledge of this young fellow is a most perilous addition to +my dangers,"--here he suffered his horse to slacken his +pace--"What if I should try to compound with the heir?--It's likely +he might be brought to pay a round sum for restitution, and I could +give up Hatteraick--But no, no, no! there were too many eyes on me, +Hatteraick himself, and the gipsy sailor, and that old hag--No, no! +I must stick to my original plan. "And with that he struck his +spurs against his horse's flanks, and rode forward at a hard trot +to put his machines in motion. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + + A prison is a house of care, A place where none can thrive, + A touchstone true to try a friend, A grave for one alive. + Sometimes a place of right, Sometimes a place of wrong, + Sometimes a place of rogues and thieves, And honest men + among. Inscription on Edinburgh Tollbooth. + +Early on the following morning, the carriage which had brought +Bertram to Hazlewood House, was, with his two silent and surly +attendants, appointed to convey him to his place of confinement at +Portanferry. This building adjoined to the Custom-house +established at that little seaport, and both were situated so close +to the sea-beach that it was necessary to defend the back part with +a large and strong rampart or bulwark of huge stones, disposed in a +slope towards the surf, which often reached and broke upon them. +The front was surrounded by a high wall, enclosing a small +courtyard, within which the miserable inmates of the mansion were +occasionally permitted to take exercise and air. The prison was +used as a House of Correction, and sometimes as a chapel of case +to the county jail, which was old, and far from being conveniently +situated with reference to the Kippletringan district of the +county. Mac-Guffog, the officer by whom Bertram had at first been +apprehended, and who was now in attendance upon him, was keeper of +this palace of little-ease. He caused the carriage to be drawn +close up to the outer gate, and got out himself to summon the +warders. The noise of his rap alarmed some twenty or thirty ragged +boys, who left off sailing their mimic sloops and frigates in the +little pools of salt water left by the receding tide, and hastily +crowded round the vehicle to see what luckless being was to be +delivered to the prison-house out of "Glossin's braw new +carriage." The door of the courtyard, after the heavy clanking of +many chains and bars, was opened by Mrs. MacGuffog, an awful +spectacle, being a woman for strength and resolution capable of +maintaining order among her riotous inmates, and of administering +the discipline of the house, as it was called, during the absence +of her husband, or when he chanced to have taken an overdose of the +creature. The growling voice of this Amazon, which rivalled in +harshness the crashing music of her own bolts and bars, soon +dispersed in every direction the little varlets who had thronged +around her threshold, and she next addressed her amiable +helpmate:-- + +"Be sharp, man, and get out the swell, canst thou not?" + +"Hold your tongue and be d-d, you--," answered her loving husband, +with two additional epithets of great energy, but which we beg to +be excused from repeating. Then, addressing Bertram: + +"Come, will you get out, my handy lad, or must we lend you a lift?" + +Bertram came out of the carriage, and, collared by the constable as +he put his foot on the ground, was dragged, though he offered no +resistance, across the threshold, amid the continued shouts of the +little sans-culottes, who looked on at such distance as their fear +of Mrs. Mac-Guffog permitted. The instant his foot had crossed the +fatal porch, the portress again dropped her chains, drew her bolts, +and turning with both hands an immense key, took it from the lock, +and thrust it into a huge side-pocket of red cloth. + +Bertram was now in the small court already mentioned. Two or three +prisoners were sauntering along the pavement, and deriving as it +were a feeling of refreshment from the monetary glimpse with which +the opening door had extended their prospect to the other side of a +dirty street. Nor can this he thought surprising, when it is +considered, that, unless on such occasions, their view was confined +to the grated front of their prison, the high and sable walls of +the courtyard, the heaven above them, and the pavement beneath +their feet; a sameness of landscape, which, to use the poet's +expression, "lay like a load on the wearied eye," and had fostered +in some a callous and dull misanthropy, in others that sickness of +the heart which induces him who is immured already in a living +grave, to wish for a sepulchre yet more calm and sequestered. + +Mac-Guffog, when they entered the courtyard, suffered Bertram to +pause for a minute, and look upon his companions in affliction. +When he had cast his eye around, on faces on which guilt, and +despondence, and low excess, had fixed their stigma; upon the +spendthrift, and the swindler, and the thief, the bankrupt debtor, +the "moping idiot, and the madman gay," whom a paltry spirit of +economy congregated to share this dismal habitation, he felt his +heart recoil with inexpressible loathing from enduring the +contamination of their society even for a moment. + +"I hope, sir," he said to the keeper "you intend to assign me a +place of confinement apart? + +"And what should I be the better of that?" + +"Why, sir I can but be detained here a day or two, and it would be +very disagreeable to me to mix in the sort of company this place +affords." + +"And what do I care for that?" + +"Why, then, sir, to speak to your feelings," said Bertram, "I shall +be willing to make you a handsome compliment for this indulgence." + +"Ay, but when, Captain? when and how? that's the question, or +rather, the twa questions," said the jailor. + +"When I am delivered, and get my remittances from England," +answered the prisoner. + +Mac-Guffog shook his head incredulously. "Why, friend, you do not +pretend to believe that I am really a malefactor?" said Bertram. + +"Why, I no ken," said the fellow; "but if you are on the account, +ye're nae sharp ane, that's the daylight o't." + +"And why do you say I am no sharp one?" + +"Why, wha but a crack-brained greenhorn wad hae let them keep up +the siller that ye left at the Gordon Arms?" said the constable. +"Deil fetch me, but I wad have held it out o' their wames [*Bellies +] Ye had nae right to be strippit o' your money and sent to jail +without a mark to pay your fees--; they might have keepit the rest +o' the articles for evidence. But why, for a blind bottle-head, +did not ye ask the guineas? and I kept winking and nodding a' the +time, and the donnert [*Stupid] deevil wad never ance look my +way!" + +"Well, sir," replied Bertram, "if I have a title to have that +property delivered up to me, I shall apply for it; and there is a +good deal more than enough to pay any demand you can set up." + +"I dinna ken a bit about that," said Mac-Guffog; "ye may be here +lang eneugh. And then the giving credit maun be considered in the +fees. But, however, as ye do seem to be a chap by common, though +my wife says I lose by my good-nature, if ye gie me an order for +my fees upon that money--I dare say Glossin will make it +forthcoming--l ken something about an escape from Ellangowan--ay, +ay, he'll be glad to carry me through, and be neighbour-like." + +"Well, sir," replied Bertram," if I am not furnished in a day or +two otherwise, you shall have such--an order." + +"Weel, weel, then ye shall be put up like a prince," said +Mac-Guffog. "But mark ye me, friend, that we may have nae +colly-shangie [*Quarrel] afterhend, these are the fees I always +charge a swell that must have his libken to himsell--Thirty +shillings a week for lodgings, and a guinea for garnish; +half-a-guinea a week for a single bed,--and I dinna get the whole +of it, for I must gie half-a-crown out of it to Donald Laider +that's in for sheep-stealing, that should sleep with you by rule, +and he'll expect clean strae, and maybe some whisky beside. So I +make little upon that." + +"Well, sir, go on." + +"Then for meat and liquor, ye may have the best, and I never charge +abune twenty per cent. ower tavern price for pleasing a gentleman +that way--and that's little eneugh for sending in and sending out, +and wearing the lassie's shoon out. And then if ye're dowie, I +will sit wi' you a gliff [*Twinkling] in the evening mysell, man, +and help ye out wi' your bottle.--I have drunk mony a glass wi' +Glossin, man, that did you up, though he's a justice now. And then +I'se warrant ye'll be for fire thir cauld nights, or if ye want +candle, that's an expensive article, for it's against the rules. +And now I've tell'd ye the head articles of the charge, and I dinna +think there's muckle mair, though there will aye be some odd +expenses ower and abune." + +"Well, sir, I must trust to your conscience, if ever you happened +to hear of such a thing--I cannot help myself." + +"Na, na, sir," answered the cautious jailor, "I'll no permit you to +be saying that--I'm forcing naething upon ye;--an ye dinna like the +price ye needna take the article--I force no man; I was only +explaining what civility was; but if ye like to take the common run +of the house, it's a' one to me--I'll be saved trouble, that's a'." + +"Nay, my friend, I have, as I suppose you may easily guess, no +inclination to dispute your terms upon such a penalty," answered +Bertram. "Come, show me where I am to be, for I would fain be +alone for a little while." + +"Ay, ay, come along then, Captain," said the fellow, with a +contortion of visage which he intended to be a smile; "and I'll +tell you now,--to show you that I have a conscience, as ye ca't, +d-n me if I charge ye abune sixpence a day for the freedom o' the +court, and ye may walk in't very near three hours a day, and play +at pitch-and-toss and handba', and what not." + +With this gracious promise, he ushered Bertram into the house, and +showed him up a steep and narrow stone staircase, at the top of +which was a strong door, clenched with iron and studded with +nails. Beyond this door was a narrow passage or gallery, having +three cells on each side, wretched ,vaults, with iron bed-frames +and straw mattresses. But at the farther end was a small apartment, +of rather a more decent appearance, that is, having less the air of +a place of confinement, since, unless for the large lock and chain +upon the door, and the crossed and ponderous stanchions upon the +window, it rather resembled the "worst inn's worst room." It was +designed as a sort of infirmary for prisoners whose state of health +required some indulgence; and, in fact, Donald Laider, Bertram's +destined chum, had been just dragged out of one of the two beds +which it contained, to try whether clean straw and whisky might not +have a better chance to cure his intermitting fever. This process +of ejection had been carried into force by Mrs. Mac-Guffog while +her husband parleyed with Bertram in the courtyard, that good lady +having a distinct presentiment of the manner in which the treaty +must necessarily terminate. Apparently the expulsion had not taken +place without some application of the strong hand, for one of the +bed-posts of a sort of tent-bed was broken down, so that the tester +and curtains hung forward into the middle of the narrow chamber, +like the banner of a chieftain, half-sinking amid the confusion of +a combat. + +"Never mind that being out o' sorts, Captain," said Mrs. +Mac-Guffog, who now followed them into the room; then, turning her +back to the prisoner, with as much delicacy as the action admitted, +she whipped from her knee her ferret garter, and applied it to +splicing and fastening the broken bed-post--then used more pins +than her apparel could well spare to fasten up the bed-curtains in +festoons--then shook the bed-clothes into something like form--then +flung over all a tattered patchwork quilt, and pronounced that +things were now "something purpose-like." + +"And there's your bed, Captain," pointing to a massy four-posted +bulk, which, owing to the inequality of the floor that had sunk +considerably (the house, though new, having been built by +contract), stood on three legs, and held the fourth aloft as if +pawing the air, and in the attitude of advancing like an elephant +passant upon the panel of a coach--"There's your bed and the +blankets; but if ye want sheets, or bowster, or pillow, or ony sort +o' nappery for the table, or for your hands, ye'll hae to speak to +me about it, for that's out o' the gudeman's line (Mac-Guffog had +by this time left the room, to avoid, probably, any appeal which +might he made to him upon this new exaction), and he never engages +for onything like that." + +"In God's name," said Bertram, "let me have what is decent, and +make any charge you please." + +"Aweel, aweel, that's sune settled; we'll no excise you neither, +Though we live sae near the Custom-house. And I maun see to get +you some fire and some dinner too, I'se warrant; but your dinner +will be but a puir ane the day, no expecting company that would be +nice and fashious."--So saying, and in all haste, Mrs. Mac-Guffog +fetched a scuttle of live coals, and having replenished "the rusty +grate, unconscious of a fire" for months before, she proceeded with +unwashed hands to arrange the stipulated bed-linen (alas, how +different from Ailie Dinmont's!), and muttering to herself as she +discharged her task, seemed, in inveterate spleen of temper, to +grudge even those accommodations for which she was to receive +payment. At length, however, she departed, grumbling between her +teeth, that "she wad rather lock up a haill ward than be fiking +about thae niff-naffy [*Fastidious] gentles that gae sae muckle +fash [*Trouble] wi' their fancies." + +When she was gone, Bertram found himself reduced to the alternative +of pacing his little apartment for exercise, or gazing out upon the +sea in such proportions as could be seen from the narrow panes of +his window, obscured by dirt and by close iron-bars, or reading +over the records of brutal wit and black-guardism which despair had +scrawled upon the half-whitened walls. The sounds were as +uncomfortable as the objects of sight; the sullen dash of the tide, +which was now retreating, and the occasional opening and shutting +of a door, with all its accompaniments of jarring bolts and +creaking hinges, mingling occasionally with the dull monotony of +the retiring ocean. Sometimes, too, he could hear the hoarse growl +of the keeper, or the shriller strain of his helpmate, almost +always in the tone of discontent, anger, or insolence. At other +times the large mastiff, chained in the court-yard, answered with +furious bark the insults of the idle loiterers who made a sport of +incensing him. + +At length the tedium of this weary space was broken by the entrance +of a dirty-looking serving wench, who made some preparations for +dinner by laying a half-dirty cloth upon a whole-dirty deal table. +A knife and fork, which had not been worn out by over-cleaning, +flanked a cracked delf plate; a nearly empty mustard-pot, placed on +one side of the table, balanced a salt-cellar, containing an +article of a grayish, or rather a blackish mixture, upon the other, +both of stone-ware, and bearing too obvious marks of recent +service. Shortly after, the same Hebe brought up a plate of +beef-collops, done in the frying-pan, with a huge allowance of +grease floating in an ocean of lukewarm water; and having added a +coarse loaf to these savoury viands, she requested to know what +liquors the gentleman chose to order. The appearance of this fare +was not very inviting; but Bertram endeavoured to mend his commons +by ordering wine, which he found tolerably good, and, with the +assistance of some indifferent cheese, made his dinner chiefly off +the brown loaf. When his meal was over, the girl presented her +master's compliments, and, if agreeable to the gentleman, he would +help him to spend the evening. Bertram desired to be excused, and +begged, instead of this gracious society, that he might be +furnished with paper, pen, ink, and candles. The light appeared in +the shape of one long broken tallow-candle, inclining over a tin +candlestick coated with grease; as for the writing materials, the +prisoner was informed that he might have them the next day if he +chose to send out to buy them. Bertram next desired the maid to +procure him a book, and enforced his request with a shilling; in +consequence of which, after long absence, she reappeared with two +odd volumes of the Newgate Calendar, which she had borrowed from +Sam Silverquill, an idle apprentice, who was imprisoned under a +charge of forgery. Having laid the books on the table she retired, +and left Bertram to studies which were not ill adapted to his +present melancholy situation. + + +CHAPTER XLV. + + But if thou shouldst he dragg'd in scorn + To yonder ignominious tree, + Thou shalt not want one faithful friend + To share the cruel fates' decree. + Shenstone. + +Plunged in the gloomy reflections which were naturally excited by +his dismal reading, and disconsolate situation, Bertram, for the +first time in his life, felt himself affected with a disposition to +low spirits. "I have been in worse situations than this too," he +said;--"more dangerous, for here is no danger; more dismal in +prospect, for my present confinement must necessarily be short; +more intolerable for the time, for here, at least, I have fire, +food, and shelter. Yet, with reading these bloody tales of crime +and misery, in a place so corresponding to the ideas which they +excite, and in listening to these sad sounds, I feel a stronger +disposition to melancholy than in my life I ever experienced. But +I will not give way to it.--Begone, thou record of guilt and +infamy!" he said, flinging the book upon the spare bed; "a Scottish +jail shall not break, on the very first day, the spirits which have +resisted climate, and want, and penury, and disease, and +imprisonment, in a foreign land. I have fought many a hard battle +with dame Fortune, and she shall not beat me now if I can help it." + +Then bending his mind to a strong effort, he endeavoured to view +his situation in the most favourable light. Delaserre must soon be +in Scotland; the certificates from his commanding officer must soon +arrive; nay, if Mannering were first applied to, who could say but +the effect might be a reconciliation between them? He had often +observed, and now remembered, that when his former colonel took the +part of any one, it was never by halves, and that he seemed to love +those persons most who had lain under obligation to him. In the +present case, a favour, which could be asked with honour and +granted with readiness, might be the means of reconciling them to +each other. From this his feelings naturally turned towards Julia; +and, without very nicely measuring the distance between a soldier +of fortune, who expected that her father's attestation would +deliver him from confinement, and the heiress of that father's +wealth and expectations, he was building the gayest castle in the +clouds, and varnishing it with all the tints of a summer-evening +sky, when his labour was interrupted by a loud knocking at the +outer gate, answered by the barking of the gaunt half-starved +mastiff, which was quartered in the courtyard as an addition to the +garrison. After much scrupulous precaution the gate was opened, +and some person admitted. The house-door was next unbarred, +unlocked, and unchained, a dog's feet pattered upstairs in great +haste, and the animal was heard scratching and whining at the door +of the room. Next a heavy step was heard lumbering up, and +Mac-Guffog's voice in the character of pilot--"This way, this way; +take care of the step;--that's the room."--Bertram's door was +then unbolted, and, to his great surprise and joy, his terrier, +Wasp, rushed into the apartment, and almost devoured him with +caresses, followed by the massy form of his friend from +Charlies-hope. + +"Eh whow! Eh whow!" ejaculated the honest farmer, as he looked +round upon his friend's miserable apartment and wretched +accommodation--"What's this o't! what's this o't!" + +"Just a trick of fortune, my good friend," said Bertram, rising and +shaking him heartily by the hand, "that's all." + +"But what will be done about it?--or what can be done about it?" +said honest Dandie--"is't for debt, or what is't for?" + +"Why, it is not for debt," answered Bertram; and if you have time +to sit down, I'll tell you all I know of the matter myself." + +"If I hae time?" said Dandie, with an accent on the word that +sounded like a howl of derision--"Ou, what the deevil am I come +here for, man, but just ance errand to see about it? But ye'll no +be the waur o' something to eat, I trow;--it's getting late at +e'en--I tell'd the folk at the Change, where I put up Dumple, to +send ower my supper here, and the chield Mac-Guffog is agreeable to +let it in--I hae settled a' that.--And now let's hear your +story--Whisht, Wasp, man! wow but he's glad to see you, poor +thing!" + +Bertram's story, being confined to the accident of Hazlewood, and +the confusion made between his own ,identity and that of one of the +smugglers, who had been active in the assault of Woodbourne, and +chanced to bear the same name, was soon told. Dinmont listened +very attentively. "Aweel," he said, "this suld be nae sic +dooms-desperate business surely--the lad's doing weel again that +was hurt, and what signifies twa or three lead draps in his +shouther? if ye had putten out his ee it would hae been another +case. But eh, as I wuss auld Sherra Pleydell was to the fore +here!--odd, he was the man for sorting them, and the queerest +rough-spoken deevil too that ever ye heard!" + +"But now tell me, my excellent friend, how did you find out I was +here?" + +"Odd, lad, queerly eneugh," said Dandie; "but I'll tell ye that +after ye are done wi' our supper, for it will maybe no be sae weel +to speak about it while that lang-lugged limmer o' a lass is gaun +flisking in and out o' the room." + +Bertram's curiosity was in some degree put to rest by the +appearance of the supper which his friend had ordered, which, +although homely enough, had the appetising cleanliness in which +Mrs. Mac-Guffog's cookery was so eminently deficient. Dinmont +also, premising he had ridden the whole day since breakfast-time, +without tasting anything "to speak of," which qualifying phrase +related to about three pounds of cold roast mutton which he had +discussed at his midday stage,--Dinmont, I say, fell stoutly upon +the good cheer, and, like one of Homer's heroes, said little, +either good or bad, till the rage of thirst and hunger was +appeased. At length, after a draught of home-brewed ale, he began +by observing, "Aweel, aweel, that hen," looking upon the lamentable +relics of what had been once a large fowl, "wasna a bad ane to be +bred at a town end, though it's no like our barn-door chuckles at +Charlies-hope--and I am glad to see that this vexing job hasna taen +awa your appetite, Captain." + +"Why, really, my dinner was not so excellent, Mr. Dinmont, as to +spoil my supper." + +"I dare say no, I dare say no," said Dandie:--"But now, hinny, that +ye hae brought us the brandy, and the mug wi' the het water, and +the sugar, and a' right, ye may steak [*Fasten] the door, ye see, +for we wad hae some o' our ain cracks." [*Conversation] The +damsel accordingly retired, and shut the door of the apartment, to +which she added the precaution of drawing a large bolt on the +outside. + +As soon as she was gone, Dandie reconnoitred the premises, listened +at the keyhole as if he had been listening for the blowing of an +otter, and having satisfied himself that there were no +eavesdroppers, returned to the table; and making himself what he +called a gey stiff cheerer, poked the fire, and began his story in +an undertone of gravity and importance not very usual with him. + +"Ye see, Captain, I had been in Edinbro' for twa or three days, +looking after the burial of a friend that we hae lost, and maybe I +suld hae had something for my ride; but there's disappointments in +a' things, and wha can help the like o' that? And I had a wee bit +law business besides, but that's neither here nor there. In short, +I had got my matters settled, and hame I cam; and the morn awa to +the muirs to see what the herds had been about, and I thought I +might as weel gie a look to the Tout-hope head, where Jock o' +Dawston and me has the outcast about a march.--Weel, just as I was +coming upon the bit I saw a man afore me that I kenn'd was nane o' +our herds, and it's a wild bit to meet ony other body, so when I +cam up to him, it was Tod Gabriel the fox-hunter. So I says to +him, rather surprised like, 'What are ye doing up amang the craws +here, without your hounds, man? are ye seeking the fox without the +dogs?' So he said, 'Na, gudeman, but I wanted to see yourself.' + +"'Ay,' said I, 'and ye'll be wanting eilding now, or something to +pit ower the winter?' + +"'Na, na,' quo' he, I it's no that I'm seeking; but ye tak an unco +concern in that Captain Brown that was staying wi' you, d'ye no?' + +"Troth do I, Gabriel,' says I; 'and what about him, lad?' + +"Says he, 'There's mair tak an interest in him than you, and some +that I am bound to obey; and it's no just on my ain will that I'm +here to tell you something about him that will no please you.' + +"'Faith, naething will please me,' quo' I, 'that's no pleasing to +him.' + +"'And then,' quo' he, 'ye'll be ill-sorted to hear that he's like +to be in the prison at Portanferrv, if he disna tak a' the better +care o' himself, for there's been warrants out to tak him as soon +as he comes ower the water frae Allonby. And now, gudeman, an ever +ye wish him weel, ye maun ride down to Portanferry, and let nae +grass grow at the nag's heels; and if ye find him in confinement, +ye maun stay beside him night and day, for a day or twa, for he'll +want friends that hae baith heart and hand; and if ye neglect this +ye'll never rue but ance, for it will be for a' your life., + +"'But, safe us, man,' quo' I, 'how did ye learn a' this? it's an +unco way between this and Portanferry.' + +"'Never ye mind that,' quo' he, 'them that brought us the news rade +night and day, and ye maun be aff instantly if ye wad do ony +gude--and sae I have naething mair to tell ye.'--Sae he sat +himself doun and hirselled [*Creeping sideways in a sitting +posture by means of the hands.] doun into the glen, where it wad +hae been ill following him wi' the beast, and I cam back to +Charlies-hope to tell the gudewife, for I was uncertain what to +do. It wad look unco-like, I thought, just to be sent out on a +hunt-the-gowk errand wi' a land-louper [*Vagrant] like that. But, +Lord! as the gudewife set up her throat about it, and said what a +shame it wad be if ye was to come to ony wrang, an I could help ye; +and then in cam your letter that confirmed it. So I took to the +kist, and out wi' the, pickle [*A supply.] notes in case they +should be needed, and a' the bairns ran to saddle Dumple. By great +luck I had taen the other beast to Edinbro', sae Dumple was as +fresh as a rose Sae aff I set, and Wasp wi' me, for ye wad really +hae thought he kenn'd where I was gaun, puir beast; and here I am +after a trot o' sixty mile, or near by. But Wasp rade thirty of +them afore me on the saddle, and the puir doggie balanced itself as +ane o' the weans wad hae dune, whether I trotted or cantered." + +In this strange story Bertram obviously saw, supposing the warning +to be true, some intimation of danger more violent and imminent +than could be likely to arise from a few days' imprisonment. At +the same time it was equally evident that some unknown friend was +working in his behalf. "Did you not say," he asked Dinmont, "that +this man Gabriel was of gipsy blood?" + +"It was e'en judged sae," said Dinmont, "and I think this maks it +likely; for they aye ken where the gangs o' ilk ither I are to be +found, and they can gar news flee like a footba' through the +country an they like. An' I forgat to tell ye, there's been an +unco inquiry after the auld wife that we saw in Bewcastle; the +Sheriffs had folk ower the Limestane Edge after her, and down the +Hermitage and Liddel, and a' gates, and a reward offered for her to +appear, o' fifty pound sterling, nae less; and justice Forster, +he's had out warrants, as I am tell'd, in Cumberland, and an unco +ranging and riping [*A Searching.] they have had a' gates seeking +for her; but she'll no be taen wi' them unless she likes, for a' +that." + +"And how comes that?" said Bertram. + +"Ou, I dinna ken; I daur say it's nonsense, but they say she has +gathered the fern-seed, and can gang ony gate she likes, like +Jock-the-Giant-killer in the ballant, wi' his coat o'darkness and +his shoon o' swiftness. Ony way she's a kind o' queen amang the +gipsies; she is mair than a hundred year auld, folk say, and minds +the coming in o' the moss-troopers in the troublesome times when +the Stuarts were put awa. Sae, if she canna hide herself, she kens +them that can hide her weel eneugh, ye needna doubt that. Odd, an +I had kenn'd it had been Meg Merrilies yon night at Tibb Mumps's, I +wad taen care how I crossed her." + +Bertram listened with great attention to this account, which +tallied so well in many points with what he had himself seen of +this gipsy sibyl. After a moment's consideration, he concluded it +would be no breach of faith to mention what he had seen at +Derncleugh to a person who held Meg in such reverence as Dinmont +obviously did. He told his story accordingly, often interrupted by +ejaculations such as, "Weel, the like o' that now!" or, "Na, deil +an that's no something now!" + +When our Liddesdale friend had heard the whole to an end, he shook +his great black head--"Weel, I'll uphaud there's baith gude and ill +amang the gipsies, and if they deal wi' the Enemy, it's a' their +ain business and no ours.--I ken what the streeking the corpse wad +be, weel eneugh. Thae smuggler deevils, when ony o' them's killed +in a fray, they'll send for a wife like Meg far eneugh to dress the +corpse; odd, it's a' the burial they ever think o'! and then to be +put into the ground without ony decency, just like dogs. But they +stick to it, that they" be streekit, and hae an auld wife when +they're dying to rhyme ower prayers, and ballants, and charms, as +they ca' them, rather than they'll hae a minister to come and pray +wi' them--that's an auld threep o' theirs; and I am thinking the +man that died will hae been ane o' the folk that was shot when they +burnt Woodbourne." + +"But, my good friend, Woodbourne is not burnt," said Bertram. + +"Weel, the better for them that bides in't," answered the +store-farmer. "Odd, we had it up the water wi' us, that there +wasna a stane on the tap o' anither. But there was fighting, ony +way; I daur to say, it would he fine fun! And, as I said, Ye may +take it on trust, that that's been ane o' the men killed there, and +that it's been the gipsies that took your pockmanky when they fand +the chaise stickin' in the snaw--they wadna pass the like a' +that--it wad just come to their hand like the bowl o' a pint +stoup." [*The handle of a stoup of liquor; than which, our proverb +seems to infer, there is nothing comes more readily to the grasp.] + +"But if this woman is a sovereign among them, why was she not able +to afford me open protection, and to get me back my property?" + +"Ou, wha kens? she has muckle to say wi' them, but whiles they'll +tak their ain way for a' that, when they're under temptation. And +then there's the smugglers that they're aye leagued wi', she maybe +couldna manage them sae weel-they're aye banded thegither--l've +heard that the gipsies ken when the smugglers will come aff, and +where they're to land, better than the very merchants that deal wi' +them. And then, to the boot o' that, she's whiles crack-brained, +and has a bee in her head; they say that whether her spaeings and +fortune-tellings be true or no, for certain she believes in them a' +hersell, and is aye guiding herself by some queer prophecy or +anither. So she disna aye gang the straight road to the well.--But +deil o' sic a story as yours, wi' glamour and dead folk and losing +ane's gate, I ever heard out o' the tale-books!--But whisht, I hear +the keeper coming." + +Mac-Guffog accordingly interrupted their discourse by the harsh +harmony of the bolts and bars, and showed his bloated visage at the +opening door. "Come, Mr. Dinmont, we have put off locking up for +an hour to oblige ye; ye must go to your quarters." + +"Quarters, man? I intend to sleep here the night. There's a spare +bed in the Captain's room." + +"It's impossible!" answered the keeper. + +"But I say it is possible, and that I winna stir--and there's a +dram t'ye." + +Mac-Guffog drank off the spirits, and resumed his objection. "But +it's against rule, sir; ye have committed nae malefaction." + +"I'll break your head," said the sturdy Liddesdale man, "if ye say +ony mair about it, and that will be malefaction eneugh to entitle +me to ae night's lodging wi' you ony way." + +"But I tell ye, Mr. Dinmont," reiterated the keeper, it's against +rule, and I behoved to lose my post." + +"Weel, Mac-Guffog," said Dandie, "I hae just twa things to say. Ye +ken wha I am weel eneugh, and that I wadna loose a prisoners" + +"And how do I ken that?" answered the jailor. + +"Weel, if ye dinna ken that," said the resolute farmer, "ye ken +this;--ye ken ye're whiles obliged to be up our water in the way o' +your business; now, if ye let me stay quietly here the night wi' +the Captain, I'se pay ye double fees for the room; and if ye say +no, ye shall hae the best sark-fu' o' sair banes that ever ye had +in your life, the first time ye set a foot by Liddel-moat!" + +"Aweel, aweel, gudeman," said Mac-Guffog, "a wilfu' man maun hae +his way; but if I am challenged for it by the justices, I ken wha +sail bear the wyte;"--and having scaled this observation with a +deep oath or two, he retired to bed, after carefully securing all +the doors of the Bridewell. The bell from the town steeple toiled +nine just as the ceremony was concluded. + +"Although it's but early hours," said the farmer, who had observed +that his friend looked somewhat pale and fatigued, "I think we had +better lie down, Captain, if ye're no agreeable to another +cheerer. But troth, ye're nae glass-breaker; and neither am I, +unless it be a screed wi' the neighbours, or when I'm on a ramble." + +Bertram readily assented to the motion of his faithful friend, but, +on looking at the bed, felt repugnance to trust himself undressed +to Mrs. Mac-Guffog's clean sheets. + +"I'm muckle o' your opinion, Captain," said Dandie. "Odd, this bed +looks as if a' the colliers in Sanquhar had been in't thegither. +But it'll no win through my muckle coat. "So saying, he flung +himself upon the frail bed with a force that made all its timbers +crack, and in a few moments gave audible signal that he was fast +asleep. Bertram slipped off his coat and boots, and, occupied the +other dormitory. The strangeness of his destiny, and the mysteries +which appeared to thicken around him, while he seemed alike to be +persecuted and protected by secret enemies and friends, arising out +of a class of people with whom he had no previous connection, for +some time occupied his thoughts. Fatigue, however, gradually +composed his mind, and in a short time he was as fast asleep as his +companion. And in this comfortable state of oblivion we must leave +them, until we acquaint the reader with some other circumstances +which occurred about the same period. + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + + --Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or + why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such + prophetic greeting?--Speak, I charge you. + Macbeth + +Upon the evening of the day when Bertram's examination had taken +place, Colonel Mannering arrived at Woodbourne from Edinburgh. He +found his family n their usual state, which probably, so far as +Julia vas concerned, would not have been the case had she learned +the news of Bertram's arrest. But as, during the Colonel's +absence, the two young ladies lived much retired, this circumstance +fortunately had not reached Woodbourne. A letter had already made +Miss Bertram acquainted with the downfall of the expectations which +had been formed upon the bequest of her kinswoman. Whatever hopes +that news night have dispelled, the disappointment did not prevent +her from joining her friend in affording a cheerful reception to +the Colonel, to whom she thus endeavoured to express the deep sense +she entertained of his paternal kindness. She touched on her +regret, that at such a season of the year he should have made, upon +her account, a journey so fruitless. + +"That it was fruitless to you, my dear," said the Colonel, "I do +most deeply lament; but for, my own share, I have made some +valuable acquaintances, and have spent the time I have been absent +in Edinburgh with peculiar satisfaction; so that, on that score, +there is nothing to be regretted. Even our friend the Dominie is +returned thrice the man he was, from having sharpened his wits in +controversy with the geniuses of the northern metropolis." + +"Of a surety," said the Dominie, with great complacency, "I did +wrestle, and was not overcome, though my adversary was cunning in +his art." + +"I presume," said Miss Mannering, "the conquest was somewhat +fatiguing, Mr. Sampson?" + +"Very much, young lady--howbeit I girded up my loins and strove +against him." + +"I can bear witness," said the Colonel; "I never saw an affair +better contested. The enemy was like the Mahratta cavalry; he +assailed on all sides, and presented no fair mark for artillery; +but Mr. Sampson stood to his guns, notwithstanding, and fired away, +now upon the enemy, and now upon the dust which he had raised. But +we must not fight our battles over again to-night--to-morrow we +shall have the whole at breakfast." + +The next morning at breakfast, however, the Dominie did not make +his appearance. He had walked out, a servant said, early in the +morning. It was so common for him to forget his meals, that his +absence never deranged the family. The housekeeper, a decent +old-fashioned Presbyterian matron, having, as such, the highest +respect for Sampson's theological acquisitions, had it in charge on +these occasions to take care that he was no sufferer by his absence +of mind, and therefore usually, waylaid him on his return, to +remind him of his sublunary wants, and to minister to their +relief. It seldom, however, happened that he was absent from two +meals together, as was the case in the present instance. We must +explain the cause of this unusual occurrence. + +The conversation which Mr. Pleydell had held with Mr. Mannering on +the subject of the loss of Harry Bertram, had awakened all the +painful sensations which that event had inflicted upon Sampson. The +affectionate heart of the poor Dominie had always reproached him, +that his negligence in leaving the child in the care of Frank +Kennedy had been the proximate cause of the murder of the one, the +loss of the other, the death of Mrs. Bertram, and the ruin of the +family of his patron. It was a subject which he never conversed +upon,--if indeed his mode of speech could be called conversation at +any time,--but it was often present to his imagination. The sort +of hope so strongly affirmed and asserted in Mrs. Bertram's last +settlement, had excited a corresponding feeling in the Dominie's +bosom, which was exasperated into a sort of sickening anxiety, by +the discredit with which Pleydell had treated it.--"Assuredly," +thought Sampson to himself, "he is a man of erudition, and well +skilled in the weighty matters of the law; but he is also a man of +humorous levity and inconsistency of speech; and wherefore should +he pronounce ex cathedra, as it were, on the hope expressed by +worthy Madam Margaret Bertram of Singleside?" + +All this, I say, the Dominie thought to himself for had he uttered +half the sentence, his jaws would have ached for a month under the +unusual fatigue of such a continued exertion. The result of these +cogitations was a resolution to go and visit the scene of the +tragedy at Warroch Point, where he had not been for many +years--not, indeed, since the fatal accident had happened. The +walk was a long one, for the Point of Warroch lay on the farther +side of the Ellangowan property, which was interposed between it +and Woodbourne. Besides, the Dominie went astray more than once, +and met with brooks swollen into torrents by the melting of the +snow, where he, honest man, had only the summer-recollection of +little trickling rills. + +At length, however, he reached the woods which he had made the +object of his excursion, and traversed them with care, muddling +his disturbed brains with vague efforts to recall every +circumstance of the catastrophe. It will readily be supposed that +the influence of local situation and association was inadequate to +produce conclusions different from those which he had formed under +the immediate pressure of the occurrences themselves. "With many a +weary sigh, therefore, and many a groan," the poor Dominie returned +from his hopeless pilgrimage, and weariedly plodded his way towards +Woodbourne, debating at times in his altered mind a question which +was forced upon him by the cravings of an appetite rather of the +keenest, namely, whether he had breakfasted that morning or no?--It +was in this twilight humour, now thinking of the loss of the child, +then involuntarily compelled to meditate upon the somewhat +incongruous subject of hung-beef, rolls, and butter, that his +route, which was different from that which he had taken in the +morning, conducted him past the small ruined--tower, or rather +vestige of a tower, called by the country people the Kaim of +Derncleugh. + +The reader may recollect the description of this ruin in the +twenty-seventh chapter of this narrative, as the vault in which +young Bertram, under the auspices of Meg Merrilies, witnessed the +death of Hatteraick's lieutenant. The tradition of the country +added ghostly terrors to the natural awe inspired by the situation +of this place, which terrors the gipsies, who so long inhabited the +vicinity, had probably invented, or at least propagated, for their +own advantage. It was said that, during the times of the Galwegian +independence, one Hanlon MacDingawaie, brother to the reigning +chief, Knarth MacDingawaie, murdered his brother and sovereign, in +order to usurp the principality from his infant nephew, and that +being pursued for vengeance by the faithful allies and retainers of +the house, who espoused the cause of the lawful heir, he was +compelled to retreat, with a few followers whom he had involved in +his crime, to his impregnable tower called the Kaim of Derncleugh, +where he defended himself until nearly reduced by famine, when, +setting fire to the place, he and the small remaining garrison +desperately perished by their own swords, rather than fall into the +hands of their exasperated enemies. This tragedy, which, +considering the wild times wherein it was placed, might have some +foundation in truth, was larded with many legends of superstition +and diablerie, so that most of the peasants of the neighbourhood, +if benighted, would rather have chosen to make a considerable +circuit, than pass these haunted walls. The lights, often seen +around the tower when used as the rendezvous of the lawless +characters by whom it was occasionally frequented, were accounted +for, under authority of these tales of witchery, in a manner at +once convenient for the private parties concerned, and satisfactory +to the public. + +Now, it must be confessed, that our friend Sampson, although a +profound scholar and mathematician, had not travelled so far in +philosophy as to doubt the reality of witchcraft or apparitions. +Born indeed at a time when a doubt in the existence of witches was +interpreted as equivalent to a justification of their infernal +practices, a belief of such legends had been impressed upon the +Dominie as an article indivisible from his religious faith, and +perhaps it would have been equally difficult to have induced him to +doubt the one as the other. With these feelings, and in a thick +misty day, which was already drawing to its close, Dominie Sampson +did not pass the Kaim of Derncleugh without some feelings of tacit +horror. + +What then was his astonishment, when, on passing the door--that +door which was supposed to have been placed there by one of the +latter Lairds of Ellangowan to prevent presumptuous strangers from +incurring the dangers of the haunted vault--that door, supposed to +be always locked, and the key of which was popularly said to be +deposited with the presbytery--that door, that very door, opened +suddenly, and the figure of Meg Merrilies, well known, though not +seen for many a revolving year, was placed at once before the eyes +of the startled Dominie! She stood immediately before him in the +footpath, confronting him so absolutely, that he could not avoid +her except by fairly turning back, which his manhood prevented him +from thinking of. + +"I kenn'd ye wad be here," she said with her harsh and hollow +voice "I ken wha ye seek; but ye maun do my bidding." + +"Get thee behind me!" said the alarmed Dominie--"Avoid ye!-- +Conjuro te, scelestissima--nequissima--spurcissima--iniquissima-- +atque miserrim--conjuro te!!!"--Meg stood her ground against this +tremendous volley of superlatives, which Sampson hawked up from the +pit of his stomach, and hurled at her in thunder. "Is the carl +daft," she said, "wi' his glamour?" + +"Conjuro," continued the Dominie, "abjuro contestor, atque +viriliter impero tibi!"-- + +"What, in the name of Sathan, are ye feared for, wi' your French +gibberish, that would make a dog sick? Listen, ye stickit stibbler, +[*A broken-down clerical probationer.] to what I tell ye, or ye +sall rue it while there's a limb o' ye hings to anither!--Tell +Colonel Mannering that I ken he's seeking me. He kens, and I ken, +that the blood will be wiped out, and the lost will be found, + +"And Bertram's right and Bertram's mlght Shall meet on Ellangowan +height. + +Hae, there's a letter to him, I was gaun to send it in another +way.--I canna write mysell; but I hae them that will baith write +and read, and ride and rin for me. Tell him the time's coming now, +and the weird's dreed [*The destiny is fulfilled.] and the wheel's +turning. Bid him look at the stars as he has looked at them +before.--Will ye mind a' this?" + +"Assuredly," said the Dominie, "I am dubious--for, woman, I am +perturbed at thy words, and my flesh quakes to hear thee." + +"'They'll do you nae ill though, and maybe muckle gude." + +"Avoid ye! I desire no good that comes by unlawful means." + +"Fule-body that thou art," said Meg, stepping up to him with a +frown of indignation that made her dark eyes flash like lamps from +under her bent brows,--"Fule-body! if I meant ye wrang, couldna I +clod [*Hurl.] ye ower that craig [*Steep rock.], and wad man ken +how ye cam by your end mair than Frank Kennedy? Hear ye that, ye +worricow?" [*Scarecrow.] + +"In the name of all that is good," said the Dominie, recoiling, and +pointing his long pewter-headed walking-cane like a javelin at the +supposed sorceress,--"in the name of all that is good, bide off +hands! I will not be handled woman, stand off, upon thine own +proper peril!--desist, I say--I am strong--lo, I will +resist!"--Here his speech was cut short; for Meg, armed with +supernatural strength, (as the Dominie asserted), broke in upon his +guard, put by a thrust which he made at her with his cane, and +lifted him into the vault, "as easily," said he, "as I could sway a +Kitchen's Atlas." + +"Sit down there," she said, pushing the half-throttled preacher +with some violence against a broken chair,--"sit down there, and +gather your wind and your senses, ye black barrow-tram [*Limb.] o' +the kirk that ye are--Are ye fou or fasting?" + +"Fasting--from all but sin," answered the Dominie, who, recovering +his voice, and finding his exorcisms only served to exasperate the +intractable sorceress, thought it best to affect complaisance and +submission, inwardly conning over, however, the wholesome +conjurations which he durst no longer utter aloud. But as the +Dominie's brain was by no means equal to carry on two trains of +ideas at the same time, a word or two of his mental exercise +sometimes escaped, and mingled with his uttered speech in a manner +ludicrous enough, especially as the poor man shrunk himself +together after every escape of the kind, from terror of the effect +it might produce upon the irritable feelings of the witch. + +Meg, in the meanwhile, went to a great black cauldron that was +boiling on a fire on the floor, and, lifting the lid, an odour was +diffused through the vault, which, if the vapours of a witch's +cauldron could in aught be trusted, promised better things than the +hell-broth which such vessels are usually supposed to contain. It +was in fact the savour of a goodly stew, composed of fowls, hares, +partridges, and moorgame, boiled, in a large mess with potatoes, +onions, and leeks, and from the size of the cauldron, appeared to +be prepared for half a dozen people at least. "So ye hae eat +naething a' day?" said Meg, heaping a large portion of this mess +into a brown dish, and strewing it savourily with salt and pepper. +[*We must again have recourse to the contribution to Blackwood's +Magazine, April 1817 :-- + +"To the admirers of good eating, Gipsy cookery seems to have little +to recommend it. I can assure you, however, that the cook of a +nobleman of high distinction, a person who never reads even a novel +without an eye to the enlargement of the culinary science, has +added to the Almanach des Gourmands, a certain Potage a la Meg +Merrilies de Dernclough, consisting of game and poultry of all +kinds, stewed with vegetables into a soup, which rivals in savour +and richness the gallant messes of Comacho's wedding; and which the +Baron of Bradwardine would certainly have reckoned among the +Epulae, lautiores." + +[The artist alluded to in this passage in Mons. Florence, cook to +Henry and Charles, late Dukes of Buccleuch, and of high distinction +in his profession.] + +"Nothing," answered the Dominie--"scelestissima!--that +is--gudewife." + +"Hae then," said she, placing the dish before him, "there's what +will warm your heart." + +"I do not hunger--malefica--that is to say--Mrs. Merrilies!" for +he said unto himself, ,the savour is sweet, but it bath been cooked +by a Canidia or an Ericthoe." + +"If ye dinna eat instantly, and put some saul in ye, by the bread +and the salt, I'll put it down your throat wi' the cutty [*Short.] +spoon, scaulding as it is, and whether ye will or no. Gape, +sinner, and swallow!" + +Sampson, afraid of eye of newt, and toe of frog, tigers' chaudrons, +and so forth, had determined not to venture; but the smell of the +stew was fast melting his obstinacy, which flowed from his chops as +it were in streams of water, and the witch's threats decided him to +feed. Hunger and fear are excellent casuists. + +"Saul," said Hunger, "feasted with the witch of Endor."--"And," +quoth Fear, "the salt which she sprinkled upon the food showeth +plainly it is not a necromantic banquet, in which that seasoning +never occurs."--"And, besides," says Hunger, after the first +spoonful, "it is savoury and refreshing viands." + +"So ye like the meat?" said the hostess. "Yea," answered the +Dominie, "and I give thee thanks-sceleratissima!--which +means--Mrs. Margaret." + +"Aweel, eat your fill; but an ye kenn'd how it was gotten, ye' +maybe wadna like it sae weel. "Sampson's spoon dropped, in the act +of conveying its load to his mouth. There's been mony a moon-light +watch to bring a' that trade thegither," continued Meg,--"the folk +that are to eat that dinner thought little o' your game-laws." + +"Is that all?" thought Sampson, resuming his spoon, and shovelling +away manfully; "I will not lack my food upon that argument." + +"Now, ye maun tak a dram?" + +"I will," quoth Sampson--"conjuro te--that is, I thank you +heartily," for he thought to himself, in for a penny, in for a +pound; and he fairly drank the witch's health, in a cupful of +brandy. When he had put this cope-stone upon Meg's good cheer, he +felt, as he said, "mightily elevated, and afraid of no evil which +could befall unto him." + +"Will ye remember my errand now?" said Meg Merrilies; "I ken by the +cast o' your ee that ye're anither man than when you cam in." + +"I will, Mrs. Margaret," repeated Sampson stoutly "I will deliver +unto him the sealed yepistle, and will add what you please to send +by word of mouth." + +"Then I'll make it short," says Meg. "Tell him to look at the +stars without fail this night, and to do what I desire him in that +letter, as he would wish + + "That Bertram's right and Bertram's might + Should meet on Ellangowan height. + +I have seen him twice when he saw na me; I ken when he was in this +country first, and I ken what's brought him back again. Up, an' to +the gate! ye're ower lang here-follow me." + +Sampson followed the sibyl accordingly, who guided him about a +quarter of a mile through the woods, by a shorter cut than he could +have found for himself; they then entered upon the common, Meg +still marching before him at a great pace, until she gained the top +of a small hillock which overhung the road. + +"Here," she said, "stand still here. Look how the setting sun +breaks through yon cloud that's been darkening the lift a' day. See +where the first stream o' light fa's--it's upon Donagild's round +tower--the auldest tower in the Castle o' Ellangowan--that's no for +naething!--See as it's glooming to seaward abune yon sloop in the +bay--that's no for naething neither.--Here I stood on this very +spot," said she, drawing herself up so as not to lose one +hair-breadth of her uncommon height, and stretching out her long +sinewy arm and clenched hand, "Here I stood, when I tauld the last +Laird o' Ellangowan what was coming on his house--and did that fa' +to the ground?--na--it bit even ower sair!--And here, where I brake +the wand of peace ower him--here I stand again--to bid God bless +and prosper the just heir of Ellangowan that will sune be brought +to his ain; and the best laird he shall be that Ellangowan has seen +for three hundred years.--I'll no live to see it, maybe; but there +will be mony a blithe ee see it though mine be closed. And now, +Abel Sampson, as ever ye lo'ed the house of Ellangowan, away wi' my +message, to the English Colonel, as if life and death were upon +your haste!" + +So saying, she turned suddenly from the amazed Dominie, and +regained with swift and long strides the shelter of the wood from +which she had issued, at the point where it most encroached upon +the common. Sampson gazed after her for a moment in utter +astonishment, and then obeyed her directions,--hurrying to +Woodbourne at a pace very unusual for him, exclaiming three times, +"Prodigious! prodigious! prodi-gi-ous! " + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + + --It is not madness That I have utter'd; bring me to the + test, And I the matter will re-word; which madness Would + gambol from. + Hamlet + +As Mr. Sampson crossed the hall with a bewildered look, Mrs. +Allan, the good housekeeper, who, with the reverent attention which +is usually rendered to the clergy in Scotland, was on the watch for +his return, sallied forth to meet him--" What's this o't now, Mr. +Sampson, this is waur than ever!--Ye'll really do yourself some +injury wi' these lang fasts--naething's sae hurtful to the stamach, +Mr. Sampson;--if ye would but put some peppermint draps in your +pocket, or let Barnes cut ye a sandwich." + +"Avoid thee!" quoth the Dominie, his mind running still upon his +interview with Meg Merrilies, and making for the dining-parlour. + +"Na, ye needna gang in there, the cloth's been removed an hour +syne, and the Colonel's at his wine; but just step into my room, I +have a nice steak that the cook will do in a moment." + +"Exorciso te!" said Sampson,--"that is, I have dined." + +"Dined! it's impossible--wha can ye hae dined wi', you that gangs +out nae gate?" + +"With Beelzebub, I believe," said the minister. + +"Na, then he's bewitched for certain," said the housekeeper, +letting go her hold; "he's bewitched, or he's daft, and ony way the +Colonel maun just guide him his ain gate--Wae's me! Hech, sirs! +It's a sair thing to see learning bring folk to this!" And with +this compassionate ejaculation, she retreated into her own +premises. + +The object of her commiseration had by this time entered the +dining-parlour, where his appearance gave great surprise. He was +mud up to the' shoulders, and the natural paleness of his hue was +twice as cadaverous as usual, through terror, fatigue, and +perturbation of mind. "What on earth is the meaning of this, Mr. +Sampson?" said Mannering, who observed Miss Bertram looking much +alarmed for her simple but attached friend. + +"Exorciso,"--said the Dominie. + +"How, sir?" replied the astonished Colonel. + +"I crave pardon, honourable sir! but my wits--" + +"Are gone a wool-gathering, I think--pray, Mr. Sampson, collect +yourself, and let me know the meaning of all this." + +Sampson was about to reply, but finding his Latin formula of +exorcism still came most readily to his tongue, he prudently +desisted from the attempt, and put the scrap of paper which he had +received from the gipsy into Mannering's hand, who broke the seal +and read it with surprise. "This seems to be some jest," he said, +"and a very dull one." + +"It came from no jesting person," said Mr. Sampson. + +"From whom then did it come?" demanded Mannering. + +The Dominie, who often displayed some delicacy of recollection in +cases where Miss Bertram had an interest, remembered the painful +circumstances connected with Meg Merrilies, looked at the young +ladies, and remained silent. "We will join you at the tea-table in +an instant, Julia," said the Colonel; "I see that Mr. Sampson +wishes to speak to me alone.--And now they are gone, what, in +heaven's name, Mr. Sampson, is the meaning of all this?" + +"It may be a message from Heaven," said the Dominie, "but it came +by Beelzebub's postmistress. It was that witch, Meg Merrilies, who +should have been burned with a tar-barrel twenty years since, for a +harlot, thief, witch, and gipsy." + +"Are you sure it was she?" said the Colonel with great interest. + +"Sure, honoured sir?--Of a truth she is one not to be +forgotten--the like o' Meg Merrilies is not to be seen in any +land." + +The Colonel paced the room rapidly, cogitating with himself. "To +send out to apprehend her--but it is too distant to send to +Mac-Morlan, and Sir Robert Hazlewood is a pompous coxcomb; besides +the chance of not finding her upon the spot, or that the humour of +silence that seized her, before may again return;--no, I will not, +to save being thought a fool, neglect the course she points out. +Many of her class set out by being impostors, and end by becoming +enthusiasts, or hold a kind of darkling conduct between both lines, +unconscious almost when they are cheating themselves, or when +imposing on others.--Well, my course is a plain one at any rate; +and if my efforts are fruitless, it shall not be owing to +over-jealousy of my own character for wisdom." + +With this he rang the bell, and ordering Barnes into his private +sitting-room, gave him some orders, with the result of which the +reader may be made hereafter acquainted. We must now take up +another adventure, which is also to be woven into the story of this +remarkable day. + +Charles Hazlewood had not ventured to make a visit at Woodbourne +during the absence of the Colonel. Indeed Mannering's whole +behaviour had impressed upon him an opinion that this would be +disagreeable; and such was the ascendency which the successful +soldier and accomplished gentleman had attained over the young +man's conduct, that in no respect would he have ventured to offend +him. He saw, or thought he saw, in Colonel Mannering's general +conduct, an approbation of his attachment to Miss Bertram. But +then he saw still more plainly the impropriety of any attempt at a +private correspondence, of which his parents could not be supposed +to approve, and he respected this barrier interposed betwixt them, +both on Mannering's account, and as he was the liberal and zealous +protector of Miss Bertram. "No," said he to himself, "I will not +endanger the comfort of my Lucy's present retreat, until I can +offer her a home of her own." + +With this valorous resolution, which he maintained, although his +horse, from constant habit, turned his head down the avenue of +Woodbourne, and although he himself passed the lodge twice every +day, Charles Hazlewood withstood a strong inclination to ride down, +just to ask how the young ladies were, and whether he could be of +any service to them during Colonel Mannering's absence. But on the +second occasion he felt the temptation so severe, that he resolved +not to expose himself to it a third time; and, contenting himself +with sending hopes and inquiries, and so forth, to Woodbourne, he +resolved to make a visit long promised to a family at some +distance, and to return in such time as to be one of the earliest +among Mannering's visitors, who should congratulate his safe +arrival from his distant and hazardous expedition to Edinburgh. +Accordingly, he made out his visit, and having arranged matters so +as to be informed within a few hours after Colonel Mannering +reached home, he finally resolved to take leave of the friends with +whom he had spent the intervening time, with the intention of +dining at Woodbourne, where he was in a great measure domesticated; +and this (for he thought much more deeply on the subject than was +necessary) would, he flattered himself, appear a simple, natural, +and easy mode of conducting himself. + +Fate, however, of which lovers make so many complaints, was, in +this case, unfavourable to Charles Hazlewood. His horse's shoes +required an alteration, in consequence of the fresh weather having +decidedly commenced. The lady of the house, where he was a +visitor, chose to indulge in her own room till a very late +breakfast hour. His friend also insisted on showing him a litter +of puppies, which his favourite pointer bitch had produced that +morning. The colours had occasioned some doubts about the +paternity, a weighty question of legitimacy, to the decision of +which Hazlewood's opinion was called in as arbiter between his +friend and his groom, and which inferred in its consequences, which +of the litter should be drowned, which saved. Besides, the Laird +himself delayed our young lover's departure for a considerable +time, endeavouring, with long and superfluous rhetoric, to +insinuate to Sir Robert Hazlewood, through the medium of his son, +his own particular ideas respecting the line of a meditated +turnpike road. It is greatly to the shame of our young lover's +apprehension, that after the tenth reiterated account of the +matter, he could not see the advantage to be obtained by the +proposed road passing over the Lang-hirst, Windyknowe, the +Goodhouse-park, Hailziecroft, and then crossing the river at +Simon's Pool, and so by the road to Kippletringan; and the less +eligible line pointed out by the English surveyor, which would go +clear through the main enclosures at Hazlewood, and cut within a +mile, or nearly so, of the house itself, destroying the privacy and +pleasure, as his informer contended, of the grounds. + +In short, the adviser (whose actual interest was to have the bridge +built as near as possible to a farm of his own) failed in every +effort to attract young Hazlewood's attention, until he mentioned +by chance that the proposed line was favoured by "that fellow +Glossin," who pretended to take a lead in the county. On a sudden +young Hazlewood became attentive and interested; and having +satisfied himself which was the line that Glossin patronised, +assured his friend it should not be his fault if his father did not +countenance any other instead of that. But these various +interruptions consumed the morning. Hazlewood got on horseback at +least three hours later than he intended, and, cursing fine ladies, +pointers, puppies, and turnpike acts of parliament, saw himself +detained beyond the time when he could, with propriety, intrude +upon the family at Woodbourne. + +He had passed, therefore, the turn of the road which led to that +mansion, only edified by the distant appearance of the blue smoke, +curling against the pale sky of the winter evening, when he thought +he beheld the Dominie taking a footpath for the house through the +woods. He called after him, but in vain; for that honest +gentleman, never the most susceptible of extraneous impressions, +had just that moment parted from Meg Merrilies, and was too deeply +wrapt up in pondering upon her vaticinations, to make any answer to +Hazlewood's call. He was, therefore, obliged to let him proceed +without inquiry after the health of the young ladies, or, any other +fishing question, to which he might, by good chance, have had an +answer returned wherein Miss Bertram's name might have been +mentioned. All cause for haste was now over, and, slackening the +reins--upon his horse's neck, he permitted the animal to ascend at +his own leisure the steep sandy track between two high banks, +which, rising to a considerable height, commanded, at length, an +extensive view of the neighbouring country. + +Hazlewood was, however, so far from eagerly looking. forward to +this prospect, though it had the recommendation that great part of +the land was his father's, and must necessarily be his own, that +his head still turned backward towards the chimneys of Woodbourne, +although at every step his horse made the difficulty of employing +his eyes in that direction become greater. From the reverie in +which he was sunk, be was suddenly roused by a voice too harsh to +be called female, yet too shrill for a man :-" What's kept you on +the road sae lang?--maun ither folk do your wark?" + +He looked up; the spokeswoman was very tall, had a voluminous +handkerchief rolled round her head, grizzled hair flowing in +elf-locks from beneath it, a long red cloak, and a staff in her +band, headed with a sort of spear-point--it was, in short, Meg +Merrilies. Hazlewood had never seen this remarkable figure before; +he drew up his reins in astonishment at her appearance, and made a +full stop. "I think," continued she, "they that hae taen interest +in the house of Ellangowan suld sleep nane this night; three men +hae been seeking ye, and you are gaun hame to sleep in your +bed--d'ye think if the lad-bairn fa's, the sister will do weel? +na. na!" + +"I don't understand you, good woman," said Hazlewood . "If you +speak of Miss--I mean of any of the late Ellangowan family, tell me +what I can do for them." + +"Of the late Ellangowan family?" she answered with great vehemence; +"of the late Ellangowan family! and when was there ever, or when +will there ever be, a family of Ellangowan, but bearing the gallant +name of the bauld Bertram?" + +"But what do you mean, good woman?" + +"I am nae good woman--a' the country kens I am bad eneugh, and +baith they and I may be sorry eneugh that I am nae better. But I +can do what good women canna, and daurna do. I can do what would +freeze the blood o' them that is bred in biggit wa's +[*Built-walls] for naething but to bind bairns' heads, and to hap +them in the cradle. Hear me--the guard's drawn off at the +Custom-house at Portanferry, and it's brought up to Hazlewood House +by your father's orders, because he thinks his house is to be +attacked this night by the smugglers;--there's naebody means to +touch his house; he has gude blood and gentle blood--I say little +o' him for himself, but there's naebody thinks him worth meddling +wi'. Send the horsemen back to their post, cannily [*Cautiously] +and quietly--see an they winna hae wark the night--ay will +they--the guns will flash and the swords will glitter in the braw +moon." + +"Good God! what do you mean?" said Hazlewood; "your words and +manner would persuade me you are mad, and yet there is a strange +combination in what you say." + +"I am not mad!" exclaimed the gipsy, "I have been imprisoned for +mad--scourged for mad--banished for mad--but mad I am not. Hear +ye, Charles Hazlewood of Hazlewood : d'ye bear malice against him +that wounded you?" + +"No, dame, God forbid; my arm is quite well, and I have always said +the shot was discharged by accident. I should be glad to tell the +young man so himself." + +"Then do what I bid ye," answered Meg Merrilies, "and ye'll do him +mair gude than ever he did you ill; for if he was left to his +ill-wishers he would be a bloody corpse ere morn, or a banished +man--but there's ane abune [*Above] a'.--Do as I bid you; send +back the soldiers to Portanferry. There's nae mair fear o' +Hazlewood House than there's o' Cruffelfell." And she vanished with +her usual celerity of pace. + +It would seem that the appearance of this female, and the mixture +of frenzy and enthusiasm in her manner, seldom failed to produce +the strongest impression upon those whom she addressed. Her words, +though wild, were too plain and intelligible for actual madness, +and yet too vehement and extravagant for sober-minded +communication. She seemed acting under the influence of an +imagination rather strongly excited than deranged; and it is +wonderful how palpably the difference, in such cases, is impressed +upon the mind of the auditor. This may account for the attention +with which her strange and mysterious hints were heard and acted +upon. It is certain, at least, that young Hazlewood was strongly +impressed by her sudden appearance and imperative tone. He rode to +Hazlewood at a brisk pace. It had been dark fort some time before +he reached the house, and on his arrival there, he saw a +confirmation of what the sibyl had hinted. + +Thirty dragoon horses stood under a shed near the offices, with +their bridles linked together. Three or four soldiers attended as +a guard, while others stamped up and down with their long +broadswords and heavy boots in front of the house. Hazlewood asked +a non-commissioned officer from whence they came? + +"From Portanferry." + +"Had they left any guard there?" + +"No; they had been drawn off by order of Sir Robert Hazlewood for +defence of his house, against an attack--which was threatened by +the smugglers." + +Charles Hazlewood instantly went in quest of his father, and, +having paid his respects to him upon his return, requested to know +upon what account he had thought it necessary to send for a +military escort. Sir Robert assured his son in reply, that from +the information, intelligence, and tidings, which had been +communicated to, and laid before him, he had the deepest reason to +believe, credit, and be convinced, that a riotous assault would +that night be attempted and perpetrated against Hazlewood House, by +a set of smugglers, gipsies, and other desperadoes. + +"And what, my dear sir," said his son, "should direct the fury of +such persons against ours rather than any other house in the +country?" + +"I should rather think, suppose, and be of opinion, sir," answered +Sir Robert, "with deference to your wisdom and experience, that on +these occasions and times, the vengeance of such persons is +directed or levelled against the most important and distinguished +in point of rank, talent, birth, and situation, who have checked, +interfered with, and discountenanced their unlawful and illegal and +criminal actions or deeds." + +Young Hazlewood, who knew his father's foible answered, that the +cause of his surprise did not lie where Sir Robert apprehended, but +that he only wondered they should think of attacking a house where +there were so many servants, and 'where a signal to the +neighbouring tenants could call in such strong assistance; and +added that he doubted much whether the reputation of the family +would not in some degree suffer from calling soldiers from their +duty at the Custom-house, to protect them, as if they were not +sufficiently strong to defend themselves upon any ordinary +occasion. He even hinted, that in case their house's enemies +should observe that this precaution had been taken unnecessarily, +there would be no end of their sarcasms. + +Sir Robert Hazlewood was rather puzzled at this intimation, for, +like most dull men, he heartily hated and feared ridicule. He +gathered himself up, and looked with a sort of pompous +embarrassment, as if he wished to be thought to despise the opinion +of the public, which in reality he dreaded. + +"I really should have thought," he said, "that the injury which had +already been aimed at my house in your person, being the next heir +and representative of the Hazlewood family, failing me--I should +have thought and believed, I say, that this would have justified me +sufficiently in the eyes of the most respectable and the greater +part of the people, for taking such precautions as are calculated +to prevent and impede a repetition of outrage.--" + +"Really, sir," said Charles, "I must remind you of what I have +often said before, that I am positive the discharge of the piece +was accidental." + +"Sir, it was not accidental," said his father angrily but you will +be wiser than your elders." + +"Really, sir," replied Hazlewood, "in what so intimately concerns +myself--" + +"Sir, it does not concern you but in a very secondary degree-- +that is, it does not concern you, as a giddy young fellow, who +takes pleasure in contradicting his father; but it concerns the +country, sir; and the county, sir; and the public, sir; and the +kingdom of Scotland, in so far as the interest of the Hazlewood +family, sir, is committed, and interested, and put in peril, in, +by, and through you, sir. And the fellow is in safe custody, and +Mr. Glossin thinks--" + +"Mr. Glossin, sir?" + +"Yes, sir, the gentleman who has purchased Ellangowan--you know who +I mean, I suppose?" + +"Yes, sir," answered the young man, "but I should hardly have +expected to hear you quote such authority. Why, this fellow--all +the world knows him to be sordid, mean, tricking; and I suspect him +to be worse. And you yourself, my dear sir, when did you call such +a person a gentleman in your life before?" + +"Why, Charles, I did not mean gentleman in the precise sense and +meaning, and restricted and proper use, to which, no doubt, the +phrase ought legitimately to be confined; but I meant to use it +relatively, as marking something of that state to which he has +elevated and raised himself--as designing, in short, a decent and +wealthy and estimable sort of a person." + +"Allow me to ask, sir," said Charles, "if it was by this man's +orders that the guard was drawn from Portanferry?" + +"Sir," replied the Baronet, "I do apprehend that Mr. Glossin would +not presume to give orders, or even an opinion, unless asked, in a +matter in which Hazlewood House and the house of Hazlewood--meaning +by the one this mansion-house of my family, and by the other, +typically, metaphorically, and parabolically, the family itself--I +say then where the house of Hazlewood, or Hazlewood House, was so +immediately concerned." + +"I presume, however, sir," said the son, "this Glossin approved of +the proposal?" + +"Sir," replied his father, "I thought it decent and right and +proper to consult him as the nearest magistrate, as soon as report +of the intended outrage reached my ears; and although he declined, +out of deference and respect, as became our relative situations, to +concur in the order, yet he did entirely approve of my +arrangement." + +At this moment a horse's feet were heard coming very fast up the +avenue. In a few minutes the door opened, and Mr. Mac-Morlan +presented himself. "I am under great concern to intrude, Sir +Robert, but--" + +"Give me leave, Mr. Mac-Morlan," said Sir Robert, with a gracious +flourish of welcome; "this is no intrusion, sir; for your situation +as Sheriff-substitute calling upon you to attend to the peace of +the county (and you, doubtless, feeling yourself particularly +called upon to protect Hazlewood House), you have an acknowledged, +and admitted, and undeniable right, sir, to enter the house of the +first gentleman in Scotland, uninvited--always presuming you to be +called there by the duty of your office." + +"It is indeed the duty of my office," said Mac-Morlan, who waited +with impatience an opportunity to speak, "that makes me an +intruder." + +"No intrusion!" reiterated the Baronet, gracefully waving his +hand. + +"But permit me to say, Sir Robert," said the Sheriff-substitute, "I +do not come with the purpose of remaining here, but to recall these +soldiers to Portanferry, and to assure you that I will answer for +the safety of your house." + +"To withdraw the guard from Hazlewood House!" exclaimed the +proprietor in mingled displeasure and surprise; "and you will be +answerable for it! And, pray, who are you, sir, that I should take +your security, and caution, and pledge, official or personal, for +the safety of Hazlewood House?--I think, sir, and believe, sir, +and am of opinion, sir, that if any one of these family pictures +were deranged, or destroyed, or injured, it would be difficult for +me to make up the loss upon the guarantee which you so obligingly +offer me." + +"In that case I shall be sorry for it, Sir Robert," answered the +downright Mac-Morlan; "but I presume I may escape the pain of +feeling my conduct the cause of such irreparable loss, as I can +assure you there will be no attempt upon Hazlewood House whatever, +and I have received information which induces me to suspect that +the rumour was put afloat merely in order to occasion the removal +of the soldiers from Portanferry. And under this strong belief and +conviction, I must exert my authority as sheriff and chief +magistrate of police, to order the whole, or greater part of them, +back again. I regret much, that by my accidental absence, a good +deal of delay has already taken place, and we shall not now reach +Portanferry until it is late." + +As Mr. Mac-Morlan was the superior magistrate, and expressed +himself peremptory in the purpose of acting as such, the Baronet, +though highly offended, could only say, "Very well, sir, it is very +well. Nay, sir, take them all with you--I am far from desiring any +to be left here, sir. We, sir, can protect ourselves, sir. But +you will have the goodness to observe, sir, that you are acting on +your own proper risk, sir, and peril, sir, and responsibility, sir, +if anything shall happen or befall to Hazlewood House, sir, or the +inhabitants, sir, or to the furniture and paintings, sir." + +"I am acting to the best of my judgment and information, Sir +Robert," said Mac-Morlan, "and I must pray of you to believe so, +and to pardon me accordingly. I beg you to observe it is no time +for ceremony--it is already very late." + +But Sir Robert, without deigning to listen to his apologies, +immediately employed himself with much parade in arming and +arraying his domestics. Charles Hazlewood longed to accompany the +military, which were about to depart for Portanferry, and which +were now drawn up and mounted by direction and under the guidance +of Mr. Mac-Morlan, as the civil magistrate. But it would have +given just pain and offence to his father to have left him at a +moment when he conceived himself and his mansion-house in danger. +Young Hazlewood therefore gazed from a window with suppressed +regret and displeasure, until he heard the officer give the word of +command--"From the right to the front, by files, m-a-rch. Leading +file, to the right wheel--Trot."--The whole party of soldiers then +getting into a sharp and uniform pace, were soon lost among the +trees, and the noise of the hoofs died speedily away in the +distance. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + + W!' coulters [*The fore-iron of a plough.] and wi' + forehammers We garr'd [*Made] the bars bang merrily, Until + we came to the inner prison where Willie O, Kinmont he did + lie. Old Border Ballad. + +We return to Portanferry, and to Bertram and his honest-hearted +friend, whom we left most innocent inhabitants of a place built for +the guilty. The slumbers of the farmer were as sound as it was +possible. + +But Bertram's first heavy sleep passed away long before midnight, +nor could he again recover that state of oblivion. Added to the +uncertain and uncomfortable state of his mind, his body felt +feverish and oppressed. This was chiefly owing to the close and +confined air of the small apartment in which they slept. After +enduring for some time the broiling and suffocating feeling +attendant upon such an atmosphere, he rose to endeavour to open the +window of the apartment, and thus to procure a change of air. Alas! +the first trial reminded him that he was in jail, and that the +building being contrived for security, not comfort, the means of +procuring fresh air were not left at the disposal of the wretched +inhabitants. + +Disappointed in this attempt, he stood by the unmanageable window +for some time. Little Wasp, though oppressed with the fatigue of +his journey on the preceding day, crept out of bed after his +master, and stood by him rubbing his shaggy coat against his legs, +and expressing, by a murmuring sound, the delight which he felt at +being restored to him. Thus accompanied, and waiting until the +feverish feeling which at present agitated his blood should +subside, into a desire for warmth and slumber, Bertram remained for +some time looking out upon the sea. + +The tide was now nearly full, and dashed hoarse and near below the +base of the building. Now and then a large wave reached even the +barrier or bulwark which defended the foundation of the house, and +was flung upon it with greater force and noise than those which +only broke upon the sand. Far in the distance, under the indistinct +light of a hazy and often overclouded moon, the ocean rolled its +multitudinous complication of waves, crossing, bursting, and +mingling with each other. + +"A wild and dim spectacle," said Bertram to himself, "like those +crossing tides of fate which have tossed me about the world from my +infancy upwards. When will this uncertainty cease, and how soon +shall I be permitted to look out for a tranquil home, where I may +cultivate in quiet, and without dread and perplexity, those arts of +peace from which my cares have been hitherto so forcibly diverted? +The ear of Fancy, it is said, can discover the voice of sea-nymphs +and tritons amid the bursting murmurs of the ocean; would that I +could do so, and that some siren or Proteus would arise from these +billows, to unriddle for me the strange maze of fate in which I am +so deeply entangled!--Happy friend!" he said, looking at the bed +where Dinmont had deposited his bulky person, "thy cares are +confined to the narrow round of a healthy and thriving occupation! +Thou canst lay them aside at pleasure, and enjoy the deep repose of +body and mind which wholesome labour has prepared for thee!" + +At this moment his rejections were broken by little Wasp, who, +attempting to spring up against the window,--began to yelp and bark +most furiously. The sound reached Dinmont's ears, but without +dissipating the illusion which had transported him from this +wretched apartment to the free air of his own green hills. "Hoy, +Yarrow, man!--far yaud--far yaud!" he muttered between his teeth, +imagining, doubtless, that he was calling to his sheep-dog, and +hounding him in shepherds' phrase, against some intruders on the +grazing. The continued barking of the terrier within was answered +by the angry challenge of the mastiff in the courtyard, which had +for a long time been silent, excepting only an occasional short and +deep note, uttered when the moon shone suddenly from among the +clouds. Now, his clamour was continued and furious, and seemed to +he excited by some disturbance distinct from the barking of Wasp, +which had first given him the alarm, and which, with much trouble, +his master had contrived to still into an angry note of low +growling. + +At last Bertram, whose attention was now fully awakened, conceived +that he saw a boat upon the sea, and heard in good earnest the +sound of oars and of human voices, mingling with the dash of the +billows. Some benighted fishermen, he thought, or perhaps some of +the desperate traders from the Isle of Man. They are very hardy, +however, to approach so near to the Custom-house, where there must +be sentinels. It is a large boat, like a longboat, and full of +people; perhaps it belongs to the revenue service.--Bertram was +confirmed in this last opinion, by observing that the boat made for +a little quay which ran into the sea behind the Custom-house, and +'jumping ashore one after another, the crew, to the number of +twenty hands, glided secretly up a small lane which divided the +Custom-house from the Bridewell, and disappeared from his sight, +leaving only two persons to take care of the boat. + +The dash of these men's oars at first, and latterly the suppressed +sounds of their voices, had excited the wrath of the wakeful +sentinel in the courtyard, who now exalted his deep voice into such +a horrid and continuous din, that it awakened his brute master, as +savage a ban-dog as himself. His cry from a window, of "How now, +Tearum, what's the matter, sir?--down, d-n ye, down!" produced no +abatement of Tearum's vociferation, which in part prevented his +master from bearing the sounds of alarm which his ferocious +vigilance was in the act of challenging. But the mate of the +two-legged Cerberus was gifted with sharper ears than her husband. +She also was now at the window; "B-t ye, gae down and let loose the +dog," she said, "they're sporting the door of the Custom-house, and +the auld sap at Hazlewood House has ordered off the guard. But ye +hae nae mair heart, than a cat." And down the Amazon sallied to +perform the task herself, while her helpmate, more jealous of +insurrection within doors, than of storm from without, went from +cell to cell to see that the inhabitants of each were carefully +secured. + +These latter sounds, with which we have made the reader acquainted, +had their origin in front of the house, and were consequently +imperfectly heard by Bertram, whose apartment, as we have already +noticed, looked from the back part of the building upon the sea. He +heard, however, a stir and tumult in the house, which did not seem +to accord with the stern seclusion of a prison at the hour of +midnight, and, connecting them with the arrival of an armed boat at +that dead hour, could not but suppose that something extraordinary +was about to take place. In this belief he shook Dinmont by the +shoulder--"Eh!--Ay!--Oh!--Ailie, woman, it's no time to get up +yet," growled the sleeping man of the mountains. More roughly +shaken, however, he gathered himself up, shook his ears, and asked, +"In the name of Providence, what's the matter?" + +"That I can't tell you," replied Bertram; "but either the place is +on fire, or some extraordinary thing is about to happen. Are you +not sensible of a smell of fire? Do you not hear what a noise there +is of clashing doors within the house, and of hoarse voices, +murmurs, and distant shouts on the outside? Upon my word, I believe +something very extraordinary has taken place--Get up, for the love +of Heaven, and let us be on our guard." + +Dinmont rose at the idea of danger, as intrepid and undismayed as +any of his ancestors when the beaconlight was kindled. "Odd, +Captain, this is a queer place! they winna let ye out in the day, +and they winna let ye sleep in the night. Deil, but it wad break +my heart in a fortnight. But, Lordsake, what a racket they're +making now! Odd, I wish we had some light. Wasp-Wasp, whisht, +hinny--whisht, my bonnie man, and let's hear what they're +doing.--Deil's in ye, will ye whisht?" + +They sought in vain among the embers the means of lighting their +candle, and the noise without still continued. Dinmont in his turn +had recourse to the window, "Lordsake, Captain! come here.--Odd, +they hae broken the Custom-house!" + +Bertram hastened to the window, and plainly saw a miscellaneous +crowd of smugglers, and blackguards of different descriptions, some +carrying lighted torches, others bearing packages and barrels down +the lane to the boat that was lying at the quay, to which two or +three other fisher-boats were now brought round. They were loading +each of these in their turn, and one or two had already put off to +seaward. "This speaks for itself," said Bertram; "but I fear +something worse has happened. Do you perceive a strong smell of +smoke, or is it my fancy?" + +"Fancy?" answered Dinmont, "there's a reek like a killogie. [*A +lime-kiln.] Odd, if they burn the Custom-house, it will catch +here, and we'll lunt [*Burn] like a tar-barrel a' thegither.--Eh! +it wad be fearsome to be burnt alive for naething, like as if ane +had been a warlock! [*witch]--Mac-Guffog, hear ye!"--roaring at +the top of his voice; "an ye wad ever hae a haill bane in your +skin, let's out, man! let's out!" + +The fire began now to rise high, and thick clouds of smoke rolled +past the window, at which Bertram and Dinmont were stationed. +Sometimes, as the wind pleased, the dim shroud of vapour hid +everything from their sight; sometimes a red glare illuminated both +land and sea, and shone full on the stern and fierce figures, who, +wild with ferocious activity, were engaged in loading the boats. +The fire was at length triumphant, and spouted in jets of flame out +at each window of the burning building, while huge flakes of +flaming materials came driving on the wind against the adjoining +prison, and rolling a dark canopy of smoke over all the +neighbourhood. The shouts of a furious mob resounded far and wide; +for the smugglers, in their triumph, were joined by all the rabble +of the little town and . neighbourhood, now aroused, and in +complete agitation, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour; some +from interest in the free trade, and most from the general love of +mischief and tumult, natural to a vulgar populace. + +Bertram began to be seriously anxious for their fate. There was no +stir in the house; it seemed as if the jailor had deserted his +charge, and left the prison with its wretched inhabitants to the +mercy of the conflagration which was spreading towards them. In +the meantime a new and fierce attack was heard upon the outer gate +of the Correction-house, which, battered with sledge-hammers and +crows, was soon forced. The keeper, as great a coward as a bully, +with his more ferocious wife, had fled; their servants readily +surrendered the keys. The liberated prisoners, celebrating their +deliverance with the wildest yells of joy, mingled among the mob +which had given them freedom. + +In the midst of the confusion that ensued, three or four of the +principal smugglers hurried to the apartment of Bertram with +lighted torches, and armed with cutlasses and pistols. --"Der +deyvil," said the leader, "here's our mark!" and two of them seized +on Bertram, but one whispered in his ear, "Make no resistance till +you are in the street." The same individual found an instant to +say to Dinmont--"Follow our friend, an help when you see the time +come." + +In the hurry of the moment, Dinmont obeyed and followed close. The +two smugglers dragged Bertram along the passage, downstairs, +through the courtyard, now illuminated by the glare of fire, and +into the narrow street to which the gate opened, where, in the +confusion, the gang were necessarily in some degree separated from +each other. A rapid noise, as of a body of horse advancing, seemed +to add to the disturbance. "Hagel and wetter, what is that?" said +the leader; "keep together, kinder, look to the prisoner."--but +in spite of his charge, the two who held Bertram were the last of +the party. + +The sounds and signs of violence were heard in front. The press +became curiously agitated, while some endeavoured to defend +themselves, others to escape; shots were fired, and the glittering +broadswords of the dragoons began to appear, flashing above the +beads of the rioters. "Now," said the warning whisper of the man +who held Bertram's left arm, the same who had spoken before, "shake +off that fellow, and follow me." + +Bertram, exerting his strength suddenly and effectually, easily +burst from the grasp of the man who held his collar on the right +side. The fellow attempted to draw a pistol, but was prostrated by +a blow of Dinmont's fist, which an ox could hardly have received +without the same humiliation. "Follow me quick," said the friendly +partisan, and dived through a very narrow and dirty lane which led +from the main street. + +No pursuit took place. The attention of the smugglers had been +otherwise and very disagreeably engaged by the sudden appearance of +Mac-Morlan and the party of horse. The loud manly voice of the +provincial magistrate was heard proclaiming the Riot Act, and +charging "all those unlawfully assembled to disperse at their own +proper peril." This interruption would indeed have happened in time +sufficient to have prevented the attempt, had not the magistrate +received upon the road some false information, which led him to +think that the smugglers were to land at the Bay of Ellangowan. +Nearly two hours were lost in consequence of this false +intelligence, which it may be no lack of charity to suppose that +Glossin, so deeply interested in the issue of that night's daring +attempt, had contrived to throw in Mac-Morlan's way, availing +himself of the knowledge that the soldiers had left Hazlewood +House, which would soon reach an ear so anxious as his. + +In the meantime, Bertram followed his guide, and was in his turn +followed by Dinmont. The shouts of the mob, the trampling of the +horses, the dropping pistol-shots, sunk more and more faintly upon +their ears; when at the end of the dark lane they found a +post-chaise with four horses. "Are you here, in God's name?" said +the guide to the postilion who drove the leaders. + +"Ay, troth am I," answered Jack Jabos, "and I wish I were any gate +else." + +"Open the carriage, then--You, gentlemen, get into it--in a short +time you'll be in a place of safety--and (to Bertram) remember your +promise to the gipsy wife!" + +Bertram, resolving to be passive in the hands of a person who had +just rendered him such a distinguished piece of service, got into +the chaise as directed. Dinmont followed; Wasp, who had kept close +by them, sprung in at the same time, and the carriage drove off +very fast. "Have a care a' me," said Dinmont, "but this is the +queerest thing yet!--Odd, I trust they'll no coup [*Upset.] +us--and then what's to come o' Dumple?--I would rather be on his +back than in the Deuke's coach, God bless him." + +Bertram observed, that they could not go at that rapid rate to any +great distance without changing horses, and that they might insist +upon remaining till daylight at the first inn they stopped at, or +at least upon being made acquainted with the purpose and +termination of their journey, and Mr. Dinmont might there give +directions about his faithful horse, which would probably be safe +at the stables where he had left him.--"Aweel, aweel, e'en sae be +it for Dandie. --Odd, if we were ance out o' this trindling kist +[*Rolling chest.] o' a thing, I am thinking they wad find it hard +wark to gar us gang ony gate but where we liked oursells." + +While he thus spoke, the carriage making a sudden turn, showed +them, through the left window, the village at some distance, still +widely beaconed by the fire, which, having reached a storehouse +wherein spirits were deposited, now rose high into the air, a +wavering column of brilliant light. They had not long time to +admire this spectacle, for another turn of the road carried them +into a close lane between plantations, through which the chaise +proceeded in nearly total darkness, but with unabated speed. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + + The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter, + And aye the ale was growing better. + Tam o' Shanter + +We must now return to Woodbourne, which, it may be remembered, we +left just after the Colonel had given some directions to his +confidential servant. When he returned, his absence of mind, and +an unusual expression of thought and anxiety upon his features, +struck the ladies whom he joined in the drawing-room. Mannering +was not, however, a man to be questioned, even by those whom he +most loved, upon the cause of the mental agitation which these +signs expressed. The hour of tea arrived, and the party were +partaking of that refreshment in silence, when a carriage drove up +to the door, and the bell announced the arrival of a visitor. +"Surely," said Mannering, "it is too soon by some hours." + +There was a short pause, when Barnes, opening the door of the +saloon. announced Mr. Pleydell. In marched the lawyer, whose +well-brushed black coat, and well-powdered wig, together with his +point ruffles, brown silk stockings, highly varnished shoes, and +gold buckles, exhibited the pains which the old gentleman had taken +to prepare his person for the ladies' society. He was welcomed by +Mannering with a hearty shake by the hand. "The very man I wished +to see at this moment!" + +"Yes," said the counsellor, "I told you I would take the first +opportunity; so I have ventured to leave the Court for a week in +session time--no common sacrifice--but I had a notion I could be +useful, and I was to attend a proof here about the same time. But +will you not introduce me to the young ladies?--Ah! there is one I +should have known at once, from her family likeness! Miss Lucy +Bertram, my love, I am most happy to see you."--and he folded her +in his arms, and gave her a hearty kiss on each side of the face, +to which Lucy submitted in blushing resignation. + +"On n'arrete pas dans un si beau chemin," continued the gay old +gentleman, and, as the Colonel presented him to Julia, took the +same liberty with that fair lady's cheek. Julia laughed, coloured, +and disengaged herself. "I beg a thousand pardons," said the +lawyer, with a bow which was not at all professionally awkward; +"age and old fashions give privileges, and I can hardly say whether +I am most sorry just now at being too well entitled to claim them +at all, or happy in having such an opportunity to exercise them so +agreeably--" + +"Upon my word, sir," said Miss Mannering, laughing, "If you make +such flattering apologies, we shall begin to doubt whether we can +admit you to shelter yourself under your alleged qualifications." + +"I can assure you, Julia," said the Colonel, "you are perfectly +right; my friend the counsellor is a dangerous person; the last +time I had the pleasure of seeing him, he was closeted with a fair +lady, who, had granted him a tete-a-tete at eight in the morning." + +"Ay, but, Colonel," said the counsellor, "you should add, I was +more indebted to my chocolate than my charms for so distinguished a +favour, from a person of such propriety, of demeanour as Mrs. +Rebecca." + +"And that should remind me, Mr. Pleydell," said Julia, "to offer +you tea--that is, supposing you have dined." + +"Anything, Miss Mannering, from your hands," answered the gallant +jurisconsult; "yes, I have dined-that is to say, as people dine at +a Scotch inn." + +"And that is indifferently enough," said the Colonel, with his hand +upon the bell-handle "give me leave to order something." + +"Why, to say truth," replied Mr. Pleydell, "I had rather not; I +have been inquiring into that matter, for you must know I stopped +an instant below to pull off my boot-hose, "a world too wide for my +shrunk shanks,"' glancing down with some complacency upon limbs +which looked very well for his time of life, "and I had some +conversation with your Barnes, and a very intelligent person whom I +presume to be the housekeeper; and it was settled among us--tota re +perspecta--I beg Miss Mannering's pardon for my Latin--that the +old lady should add to your light family-supper the more +substantial refreshment of a brace of wild-ducks. I told her +(always under deep submission) my poor thoughts about the sauce, +which concurred exactly with her own; and, if you please, I would +rather wait till they are ready before eating anything solid." + +"And we will anticipate our usual hour of supper," said the +Colonel. + +"With all my heart," said Pleydell, "providing I do not lose the +ladies' company a moment the sooner. I am of counsel with my old +friend Burnet; [*See Note VIII. Lord Monboddo.] I love the caena, +the supper of the ancients, the pleasant meal and social glass that +wash out of one's mind the cobwebs that business or gloom have been +spinning in our brains all day.' " + +Mr. Pleydell's look and manner, and the quietness with which he +made himself at home on the subject of his little Epicurean +comforts, amused the ladies, but particularly Miss Mannering, who +immediately gave the counsellor a great deal of flattering +attention; and more pretty things were said on both sides during +the service of the tea-table than we have leisure to repeat. + +As soon as this was over, Mannering led the counsellor by the arm +into a small study which opened from the saloon, and where, +according to the custom of the family, there were always lights and +a good fire in the evening. + +"I see," said Mr. Pleydell, "you have got something to tell me +about the Ellangowan business--Is it terrestrial or celestial? What +says my military Albumazar? Have you calculated the course of +futurity? have you consulted your Ephemerides, your Almochoden, +your Almuten?" + +"No, truly, counsellor," replied Mannering, "you are the only +Ptolemy I intend to resort to upon the present occasion--a second +Prospero, I have broken my staff, and drowned my book far beyond +plummet depth. But I have great news notwithstanding. Meg +Merrilies, our Egyptian sibyl, has appeared to the Dominie this +very day, and, as I conjecture, has frightened the honest man not a +little." + +"Indeed?" + +"Ay, and she has done me the honour to open a correspondence with +me, supposing me to be as deep in astrological mysteries as when we +first met. Here is her scroll, delivered to me by the Dominie." + +Pleydell put on his spectacles. "A vile greasy scrawl, +indeed--and the letters are uncial or semi-uncial, as somebody +calls your large text hand, and in size and perpendicularity +resemble the ribs of a roasted pig--I can hardly make it out." + +"I will try," answered the lawyer. "' You are a good seeker, but a +bad finder; you set yourself to prop a falling house, but had a gey +guess it would rise again. Lend your hand to the wark that's near, +as you lent your ee to the weird [*Destiny] that was far. Have a +carriage This night by ten o'clock, at the end of the Crooked Dykes +at Portanferry, and let it bring the folk to Woodbourne that shall +ask them, if they be there IN GOD'S NAME.'-Stay, here follows some +poetry- Dark shall be light, And wrong done to right, When +Bertram's right and Bertram's might Shall meet on Ellangowan's +height.' A most mystic epistle truly, and closes in a vein of +poetry worthy of the Cumaean sibyl--and what have you done?" + +"Why," said Mannering, rather reluctantly, "I was loth to risk any +opportunity of throwing light on this business. The woman is +perhaps crazed, and these effusions may arise only from visions of +her imagination;--but you were of opinion that she knew more of +that strange story than she ever told. " + +"And so," said Pleydell, "you sent a carriage to the place named?" + +"You will laugh at me if I own I did," replied the Colonel. + +"Who, I?" replied the advocate. "No, truly, I think it was the +wisest thing you could do." + +"Yes," answered Mannering, well pleased to have escaped the +ridicule he apprehended; "you know the worst is paying the +chaise-hire--I sent a post-chaise and four from Kippletringan, with +instructions corresponding to the letter--the horses will have a +long and cold station on the outposts to-night if our intelligence +be false." + +"Ay, but I think it will prove otherwise," said the lawyer. "This +woman has played a part till she believes it; or, if she be a +thorough-paced impostor, without a single grain of self-delusion to +qualify her knavery, still she may think herself bound to act in +character-this I know, that I could get nothing out of her by the +common modes of interrogation, and the wisest thing we can do is to +give her an opportunity of making the discovery her own way. And +now have you more to say, or shall we go to the ladies?" + +"Why, my mind is uncommonly agitated," answered the Colonel, +"and--but I really have no more to say--only I shall count the +minutes till the carriage returns; but you cannot be expected to be +so anxious." + +"Why, no--use is all in all," said the more experienced lawyer,--"I +am much interested certainly, but I think I shall be able to +survive the interval, if the ladies will afford us some music." + +"And with the assistance of the wild-ducks, by and by?" suggested +Mannering. + +"True, Colonel; a lawyer's anxiety about the fate of the most +interesting cause has seldom spoiled either his sleep or +digestion. [*Note IX Lawyers' Sleepless Nights.] And yet I +shall be very eager to hear the rattle of these wheels on their +return, notwithstanding." + +So saying, he rose and led the way into the next room, where Miss +Mannering, at his request, took her seat at the harpsichord. Lucy +Bertram, who sung her native melodies very sweetly, was accompanied +by her friend upon the instrument, and Julia afterwards performed +some of Scarlatti's sonatas with great brilliancy. The old lawyer, +scraping a little upon the violoncello, and being a member of the +gentlemen's concert in Edinburgh, was so greatly delighted with +this mode of spending the evening, that I doubt if he once thought +of the wild-ducks until Barnes informed the company that supper was +ready. + +"Tell Mrs. Allan to have something in readiness," said the +Colonel--"I expect--that is, I hope--perhaps some company may be +here to-night; and let the men sit up, and do not lock the upper +gate on the lawn until I desire you." + +"Lord, sir," said Julia, "whom can you possibly expect +to-night?" + +"Why, some persons, strangers to me, talked of calling in +the evening on business," answered her father, not without +embarrassment, for he would have little brooked a +disappointment which might have thrown ridicule on his +judgment; "it is quite uncertain." + +"Well, we shall not pardon them for disturbing our party," +said Julia, "unless they bring as much good-humour, and as +susceptible hearts, as my friend and admirer, for so he has +dubbed himself, Mr. Pleydell." + +"Ah, Miss Julia," said Pleydell, offering his arm with an +air of gallantry to conduct her into the eating-room, "the +time has been--when I returned from Utrecht in the year +i738--" + +"Pray don't talk of it," answered the young lady,--"we +like you much better as you are--Utrecht, in heaven's +name!--I dare say you have spent all the intervening years +in getting rid so completely of the effects of your Dutch +education." + +"Oh, forgive me, Miss Mannering," said the lawyer; "the +Dutch are a much more accomplished people in point or +gallantry than their volatile neighbours are willing to +admit. They are constant as clock-work in their +attentions." + +"I should tire of that," said Julia. + +"Imperturbable in their good temper," continued Pleydell. + +"Worse and worse," said the young lady. + +"And then," said the old beau garcon, "although for six times three +hundred and sixty-five days, your swain has placed the capuchin +round your neck, and the stove under your feet, and driven your +little sledge upon the ice in winter, and your cabriole through the +dust in summer, you may dismiss him at once, without reason or +apology, upon the two thousand one hundred and ninetieth day, +which, according to my hasty calculation, and without reckoning +leap-years, will complete the cycle of the supposed adoration, and +that without your amiable feelings having the slightest occasion to +be alarmed for the consequences to those of Mynheer." + +"Well," replied Julia, "that last is truly a Dutch recommendation, +Mr. Pleydell--crystal--and hearts would lose all their merit in the +world, if it were not: for their fragility." + +"Why, upon that point of the argument, Miss Mannering, it is as +difficult to find a heart that will break, as a glass that will +not; and for that reason I would press the value of mine own--were +it not that I see Mr. Sampson's eyes have been closed, and his +hands clasped--for some time, attending the end of our conference +to begin the grace.--And, to say the truth, the appearance of the +wild-ducks is very appetising." So saying, the worthy counsellor +sat himself to table, and laid aside his gallantry for awhile, to +do honour to the good things placed before him. Nothing further is +recorded of him for some time, excepting an observation that the +ducks were roasted to a single turn, and that Mrs. Allan's sauce of +claret, lemon, and cayenne, was beyond praise. + +"I see," said Miss Mannering, "I have a formidable rival in Mr. +Pleydell's favour, even on the very first night of his avowed +admiration." + +"Pardon me, my fair lady," answered the counsellor, "your avowed +rigour alone has induced me to commit the solecism of eating a good +supper in your presence; how shall I support your frowns without +reinforcing my strength? Upon the same principle, and no other, I +will ask permission to drink wine with you." + +"This is the fashion of Utrecht also, I suppose, Mr. Pleydell?" + +"Forgive me, madam," answered the counsellor; "the French +themselves, the patterns of all that is gallant, term their +tavern-keepers restaurateurs, alluding, doubtless, to the relief +they afford the disconsolate lover, when bowed down to the earth by +his mistress's severity. My own case requires so much relief, that +I must trouble you for that other wing, Mr. Sampson, without +prejudice to my afterwards applying to Miss Bertram for a tart;--be +pleased to tear the wing, sir, instead of cutting it off--Mr. +Barnes will assist you, Mr. Sampson,--thank you, sir--and, Mr. +Barnes, a glass of ale, if you please." + +While the old gentleman, pleased with Miss Mannering's liveliness +and attention, rattled away for her amusement and his own, the +impatience of Colonel Mannering began to exceed all bounds. He +declined sitting down at table, under pretence that he never ate +supper; and traversed the parlour, in which they were, with hasty +and impatient steps, now throwing tip the window to gaze upon the +dark lawn, now listening for the remote sound of the carriage +advancing up the avenue. At length, in a feeling of uncontrollable +impatience, he left the room, took his hat and cloak, and pursued +his walk up the avenue, as if his so doing would hasten the +approach of those whom he desired to see. "I really wish," said +Miss Bertram, "Colonel Mannering would not venture out after +nightfall. You must have heard, Mr. Pleydell, what a cruel fright +we had." + +"Oh, with the smugglers?" replied the advocate--"they are old +friends of mine. I was the means of bringing some of them to +justice a long time since, when Sheriff of this county." + +"And then the alarm we had immediately afterwards," added Miss +Bertram, from the vengeance of one of these wretches." + +"When young Hazlewood was hurt--I heard of that too." + +"Imagine, my dear Mr. Pleydell," continued Lucy, "how much Miss +Mannering and I were alarmed, when a ruffian, equally dreadful for +his great strength, and the sternness of his features, rushed out +upon us!" + +"You must know, Mr. Pleydell," said Julia, unable to suppress her +resentment at this undesigned aspersion of her admirer, "that young +Hazlewood is so handsome in the eyes of the Young ladies of this +country, that they think every person shocking who comes near him." + +"Oho!" thought Pleydell, who was by profession an observer of tones +and gestures, "there's something wrong here between my young +friends.--Well, Miss Mannering, I have not seen young Hazlewood +since he was a boy, so the ladies may be perfectly right; but I can +assure you, in spite of your scorn, that if you want to see +handsome men you must go to Holland; the prettiest fellow I ever +saw was a Dutchman, in spite of his being called Vanbost, or +Vanbuster, or some such barbarous name. He will not be quite so +handsome now, to be sure." + +It was now Julia's turn to look a little out of countenance at the +chance hit of her learned admirer, but that instant the Colonel +entered the room. "I can hear nothing of them yet," he said +"still, however, we will not separate--Where is Dominie Sampson?" + +"Here, honoured sir." + +"What is that book you hold in your hand, Mr. Sampson?" + +"It's even the learned De Lyra, sir--I would crave his honour Mr. +Pleydell's judgment, always with his best leisure, to expound a +disputed passage." + +"I am not in the vein, Mr. Sampson," answered Pleydell; "here's +metal more attractive--I do not despair to engage these two young +ladies in a glee or a catch, wherein I, even I myself, will +adventure myself for the bass part--Hang De Lyra, man; keep him for +a fitter season." + +The disappointed Dominie shut his ponderous tome, much marvelling +in his mind how a person, possessed of the lawyer's erudition, +could give his mind to these frivolous toys. But the counsellor, +indifferent to the high character for learning which he was +trifling away, filled himself a large glass of Burgundy, and after +preluding a little with a voice somewhat the worse for wear, gave +the ladies a courageous invitation to join in "We be three poor +Mariners," and accomplished his own part therein with great eclat. + +"Are you not withering your roses with sitting up so late, my young +ladies?" said the Colonel. + +"Not a bit, sir," answered Julia; "your friend, Mr. Pleydell, +threatens to become a pupil of Mr. Sampson's to-morrow, so we must +make the most of our conquest to-night." + +This led to another musical trial of skill, and that to lively +conversation. At length, when the solitary sound of one o'clock +had long since resounded on the ebon ear of night, and the next +signal of the advance of time was close approaching, Mannering, +whose impatience had long subsided into disappointment and despair, +looked at his watch, and said, "We must now give them up"--when at +that instant--But what then befell will require a separate +chapter. + + + +CHAPTER L. + + Justice. This does indeed confirm each circumstance The + gipsy told!--No orphan, nor without a friend art thou-- + I am thy father, here's thy mother, there Thy uncle--This + thy first cousin, and these Are all thy near relations! + The Critic. + +As Mannering replaced his watch, he heard a distant and hollow +sound--"It is a carriage for certain--no, it is but the sound of +the wind among the leafless trees. Do come to the window, Mr. +Pleydell. "The counsellor, who, with his large silk handkerchief +in his hand, was expatiating away to Julia upon some subject which +he thought was interesting, obeyed, however, the summons, first, +wrapping the handkerchief round his neck by way of precaution +against the cold air. The sound of wheels became now very +perceptible, and Pleydell, as if he had reserved all his curiosity +till that moment, ran out to the hall. The Colonel rung for Barnes +to desire that the persons who came in the carriage might be shown +into a separate room, being altogether uncertain whom it might +contain. It, stopped, however, at the door, before his purpose +could he fully explained. A moment after, Mr. Pleydell called out, +"Here's our Liddesdale friend, I protest, with a strapping young +fellow of the same calibre. "His voice arrested Dinmont, who +recognised him with equal surprise And pleasure. "Odd, if it's +your honour, we'll a' be as right and tight as thack and rape can +make us." [*When a farmer's crop is got safety into the +barn-yard, it is said to be made fast with thack and rape--Anglic, +straw and rope.] + +But while the farmer stopped to make his bow, Bertram, dizzied with +the sudden glare of light, and bewildered with the circumstances of +his situation, almost unconsciously entered the open door of the +parlour, and confronted the Colonel, who was just advancing towards +it. The strong light of the apartment left no doubt of his +identity, and he himself was as much confounded with the appearance +of those to whom he so unexpectedly presented himself, as they were +by the sight of so utterly unlooked-for an object. It must be +remembered that each individual present had their own peculiar +reasons for looking with terror upon what seemed at first sight a +spectral apparition. Mannering saw before him the man whom he +supposed he had killed in India; Julia beheld her lover in a most +peculiar and hazardous situation; and Lucy Bertram at once knew the +person who had fired upon young Hazlewood. Bertram, who +interpreted the fixed and motionless astonishment of the Colonel +into displeasure at his intrusion, hastened to say that it was +involuntary, since he had been hurried hither without even knowing +whither he was to be transported. + +"Mr. Brown, I believe!" said Colonel Mannering. + +"Yes, sir," replied the young man modestly, but with firmness, "the +same you knew in India; and who ventures to hope, that what you did +then know of him is not such as should prevent his requesting you +would favour him with your attestation to his character, as a +gentleman and man of honour." + +"Mr. Brown--I have been seldom--never--so much +surprised--certainly, sir, in whatever passed between us, you have +a right to command my favourable testimony." + +At this critical moment entered the counsellor and Dinmont. The +former beheld, to his astonishment, the Colonel but just recovering +from his first surprise, Lucy Bertram ready to faint with terror, +and Miss Mannering in an agony of doubt and apprehension, which she +in vain endeavoured to disguise or suppress. "What is the meaning +of all this?" said he; "has this young fellow brought the Gorgon's +head in his hand?-let me look at him.--By Heaven!" he muttered to +himself, "the very image of old Ellangowan!--Yes, the same manly +form and handsome features, but with a world of more intelligence +in the face--Yes!--the witch has kept her word." Then instantly +passing to Lucy, "Look at that man, Miss Bertram, my dear; have you +never seen any one like him?" + +Lucy had only ventured one glance at this object of terror, by +which, however, from his remarkable height and appearance, she at +once recognised the supposed assassin of young Hazlewood; a +conviction which excluded, of course, the more favourable +association of ideas which might have occurred on a closer +view.--"Don't ask me about him, sir," said she, turning away her +eyes; "send him away, for Heaven's sake! we shall all be murdered!" + +"Murdered! where's the poker?" said the advocate in some alarm; +"but nonsense! we are three men besides the servants, and there is +honest Liddesdale worth half a dozen to boot--we have the major vis +upon our side--however, here, my friend Dandie--Davie--what do they +call You?--keep between that fellow and us for the protection of +the ladies." + +"Lord! Mr. Pleydell," said the astonished farmer, "that's Captain +Brown; d'ye no ken the Captain?" + +"Nay, if he's a friend of yours, we may be safe enough," answered +Pleydell; "but keep near him." + +All this passed with such rapidity, that it was over before the +Dominie had recovered himself from a fit of absence, shut the book +which he had been studying in a corner, and advancing to obtain a +sight of the strangers, exclaimed at once, upon beholding Bertram, +"If the grave can give up the dead, that is my dear and honoured +master!" + +"We're right after all, by Heaven! I was sure I was right," said +the lawyer; "he is the very image of his father.--Come, Colonel, +what do you think of, that you do not bid your guest welcome? I +think--I believe--I trust we're right--never saw such a +likeness!--But patience--Dominie, say not a word.--Sit down, +young gentleman." + +"I beg pardon, sir; if I am, as I understand, in Colonel +Mannering's house, I should wish first to know if my accidental +appearance here gives offence, or if I am welcome?" + +Mannering instantly made an effort. "Welcome? most certainly, +especially if you can point out how I can serve you. I believe I +may have some wrongs to repair towards you--I have often +suspected so; but your sudden and unexpected appearance, connected +with painful recollections, prevented my saying at first, as I now +say, that whatever has procured me the honour of this visit, it is +an acceptable one." + +Bertram bowed with an air of distant, yet civil acknowledgment, to +the grave courtesy of Mannering. + +"Julia, my love, you had better retire. Mr. Brown, you will excuse +my daughter; there are circumstances which I perceive rush upon her +recollection." + +Miss Mannering rose and retired accordingly; yet, as--she passed +Bertram, could not suppress the words, "Infatuated! a second time!" +but so pronounced as to be heard by him alone. Miss Bertram +accompanied her friend, much surprised, but without venturing +second glance at the object of her terror. Some mistake she saw +there was, and was unwilling to increase it by denouncing the +stranger as an assassin. He was known, she saw, to the Colonel, +and received as a gentleman; certainly he either was not the person +she suspected, or Hazlewood was right in supposing the shot +accidental. + +The remaining part of the company would have formed no bad group +for a skilful painter. Each was too much embarrassed with his own +sensations to observe those of the others. Bertram most +unexpectedly found himself in the house of one, whom he was +alternately disposed to dislike as his personal enemy, and to +respect as the father of Julia; Mannering was struggling between +his high sense of courtesy and hospitality, his joy at finding +himself relieved from the guilt of having shed life in a private +quarrel, and the former feelings of dislike and prejudice, which +revived in his haughty mind at the sight of the object against whom +he had entertained them; Sampson, supporting his shaking limbs by +leaning on the back of a chair, fixed his eyes upon Bertram, with a +staring expression of nervous anxiety which convulsed his whole +visage; Dinmont, enveloped in his loose shaggy greatcoat, and +resembling a huge bear erect upon his hinder legs, stared on the +whole scene with great round eyes that witnessed his amazement. + +The counsellor alone was in his element, shrewd, prompt, and +active; he already calculated the prospect of brilliant success in +a strange, eventful, and mysterious lawsuit, and no young monarch, +flushed with hopes, and at the head of a gallant army, could +experience more glee when taking the field on his first campaign. +He bustled about with great energy, and took the arrangement of the +whole explanation upon himself. + +"Come, come, gentlemen, sit down; this is all in my province: you +must let me arrange it for you. Sit down, my dear Colonel, and let +me manage; sit down, Mr. Brown, aut quocunque alio nomine +vocaris--Dominie, take your seat--draw in your chair, honest +Liddesdale." + +"I dinna ken, Mr. Pleydell," said Dinmont, looking at his +dreadnought-coat, then at the handsome furniture of the room, "I +had maybe better gang some gate else, [*Somewhere else.] and leave +ye till your cracks--I'm no just that weel put on." + +The Colonel, who by this time recognised Dandie, immediately went +up and bid him heartily welcome; assuring him, that from what he +had seen of him in Edinburgh, he was sure his rough coat and +thick--soled boots would honour a royal drawing-room. + +"Na, na, Colonel, we're just plain up-the-country folk; but nae +doubt I would fain hear o' ony pleasure that was gaun to happen the +Captain, and I'm sure a' will gae right if Mr. Pleydell will take +his bit job in hand." + +"You're right, Dandie--spoke like a Hieland oracle [*It may not he +unnecessary to tell southern readers, that the mountainous country +in the south-western borders of Scotland, is called Hieland, though +totally different from the much more mountainous and more extensive +districts of the north, usually accented Hielands.]--and now be +silent. --Well, you are all seated at last; take a glass of wine +till I begin my catechism methodically. And now," turning to +Bertram, "my dear boy, do you know who or what you are?" + +In spite of his perplexity, the catechumen could not help laughing +at this commencement, and answered, "Indeed, sir, I formerly +thought I did; but I own late circumstances have made me somewhat +uncertain." + +"Then tell us what you formerly thought yourself." + +"Why, I was in the habit of thinking and calling myself Vanbeest +Brown, who served as a cadet or volunteer under Colonel Mannering, +when he commanded the--regiment, in which capacity I was not +unknown to him." + +"There," said the Colonel, "I can assure Mr. Brown of his identity; +and add, what his modesty may have forgotten, that he was +distinguished as a young man of talent and spirit." + +"So much the better, my dear sir," said Mr. Pleydell; "but that is +to general character--Mr. Brown must tell us where he was born." + +"In Scotland, I believe, but the place uncertain." + +"Where educated?" + +"In Holland, certainly." + +"Do you remember nothing of your early life before you left +Scotland?" + +"Very imperfectly; yet I have a strong idea, perhaps more deeply +impressed upon me by subsequent hard usage, that I was during my +childhood the object of much solicitude and affection. I have an +indistinct remembrance of a good-looking man whom I used to call +papa, and of a lady who was infirm in health, and who, I think, +must have been my mother but it is an imperfect and confused +recollection. I remember too a tall thin kind tempered man in +black, who used to teach me my letters and walk out with me;--and I +think the very last time--" + +Here the Dominie could contain no longer. While every succeeding +word served to prove that the child of his benefactor stood before +him, he had struggled with the utmost difficulty to suppress his +emotions; but, when the juvenile recollections of Bertram turned +towards his tutor and his precepts, he was compelled to give way to +his feelings. He rose hastily from his chair, and with clasped +bands, trembling limbs, and streaming eyes, called out aloud, +"Harry Bertram!--look at me--was I not the man?" + +"Yes!" said Bertram, starting from his seat as if a sudden light +had burst in upon his mind,--"Yes--that was my name!--and that is +the voice and the figure of my kind old master!" + +The Dominie threw himself into his arms, pressed him a thousand +times to his bosom in convulsions of transport, which shook his +whole frame, sobbed hysterically, and, at length, in the emphatic +language of Scripture, lifted up his voice and wept aloud. Colonel +Mannering had recourse to his handkerchief; Pleydell made wry +faces, and wiped the glasses of his spectacles; and honest Dinmont, +after two loud blubbering explosions, exclaimed, "Deil's in the +man! he's garr'd me do that I haena done since my auld mither +died." + +"Come, come," said the counsellor at last, "silence in the +court.--We have a clever party to contend with; we must lose no +time in gathering our information--for anything I know, there may +be something to be done before daybreak." + +"I will order a horse to be saddled, if you please," said the +Colonel. + +"No, no, time enough--time enough--but come, Dominie, I have +allowed you a competent space to express your feelings. I must +circumduce the term--you must let me proceed in my examination." + +The Dominie was habitually obedient to any one who chose to impose +commands upon him; he sunk back into his chair, spread his checked +handkerchief over his face, to serve, as I suppose, for the Grecian +painter's veil, and, from the action of his folded hands, appeared +for a time engaged in the act of mental thanksgiving. He then +raised his eyes over the screen, as if to be assured that the +pleasing apparition had not melted into air--then again sunk them +to resume his internal act of devotion, until he felt himself +compelled to give attention to the counsellor, from the interest +which his questions excited. + +"And now," said Mr. Pleydell, after several minute inquiries +concerning his recollection of early events--"And now, Mr. +Bertram, for I think we ought in future to call you by your own +proper name, will you have the goodness to let us know every +particular which you can recollect concerning the mode of your +leaving Scotland?" + +"Indeed, sir, to say the truth, though the terrible outlines of +that day are strongly impressed upon my memory, yet somehow the +very terror which fixed them there has in a great measure +confounded and confused the details. I recollect, however, that I +was walking somewhere or other--in a wood, I think--" + +"Oh yes, it was in Warroch Wood, my dear," said the Dominie. + +"Hush, Mr. Sampson," said the lawyer. + +"Yes, it was in a wood," continued Bertram, as long past and +confused ideas arranged themselves in his reviving recollection +"and some one was with me--this worthy and affectionate gentleman, +I think." + +"Oh, ay, ay, Harry, Lord bless thee--it was even I myself." + +"Be silent, Dominie, and don't interrupt the evidence," said +Pleydell.--"and so, sir?" to Bertram. + +"And so, sir," continued Bertram, "like one of the changes of a +dream, I thought I was on horseback before my guide." + +"No, no," exclaimed Sampson, "never did I put my own limbs, not to +say thine, into such peril. + +"On my word this is intolerable!--Look ye, Dominie, if you speak +another word till I give you leave, I will read three sentences out +of the Black Acts, whisk my cane round my head three times, undo +all the magic of this night's work, and conjure Harry Bertram back +again into Vanbeest Brown." + +"Honoured and worthy sir," groaned out the Dominie, "I humbly crave +pardon--it was verbum volens." + +"Well, nolens volens, you must hold your tongue," said Pleydell. + +"Pray, be silent, Mr. Sampson," said the Colonel; "it is--of +great consequence to your recovered friend, that you permit Mr. +Pleydell to proceed in his inquiries." + +"I am mute," said the rebuked Dominie. + +"On a sudden," continued Bertram, "two or three men sprung out upon +us, and we were pulled from horseback. I have little recollection +of anything else, but that I tried to escape in the midst of a +desperate scuffle, and fell into the arms of a very tall woman who +started from the bushes, and protected me for some time--the rest +is all confusion and dread--a dim recollection of a sea-beach, and +a cave, and of some strong potion which lulled me to sleep for a +length of time. In short, it is all a blank in my memory, until I +recollect myself first an ill-used and half-starved cabin-boy +aboard a sloop, and then a school-boy--in Holland under the +protection of an old merchant, who had taken some fancy for me." + +"And what account," said Mr. Pleydell, "did your guardian give of +your parentage?" + +"A very brief one," answered' Bertram, "and a charge to inquire no +further. I was given to understand, that my father was concerned +in the smuggling trade carried on on the eastern coast of Scotland, +and was killed in a skirmish with the revenue officers; that his +correspondents in Holland had a vessel on the coast at the time, +part of the crew of which were engaged in the affair, and that they +brought me off after it was over, from a motive of compassion, as I +was left destitute by my father's death. As I grew older there was +much of this story seemed inconsistent with my own recollections, +but what could I do? I had no means of ascertaining my doubts, nor +a single friend with whom I could communicate or canvass them. The +rest of my story is known to Colonel Mannering: I went cut to India +to be a clerk in a Dutch house; their affairs fell into +confusion--I betook myself to the military profession, and, I +trust, as yet I have not disgraced it." + +"Thou art a fine young fellow, I'll be bound for thee," said +Pleydell, "and since you have wanted a father so long, I wish from +my heart I could claim the paternity myself. But this affair of +young Hazlewood--" + +"Was merely accidental," said Bertram. "I was travelling in +Scotland for pleasure, and after a week's residence with my friend, +Mr. Dinmont, with whom I had the good fortune to form an accidental +acquaintance--" + +"It was my gude fortune that," said Dinmont "odd, my brains wad +hae been knockit out by twa blackguards, if it hadna been for his +four quarters." + +"Shortly after we parted at the town of--, I lost my baggage by +thieves, and it was while residing at Kippletringan I accidentally +met the young gentleman. As I was approaching to pay my respects +to Miss Mannering, whom I had known in India, Mr. Hazlewood, +conceiving my appearance none of the most respectable, commanded me +rather haughtily to stand back, and so gave occasion to the fray in +which I had the misfortune to be the accidental means of wounding +him.--And now, sir, that I have answered all your questions-" + +"No, no, not quite all," said Pleydell, winking sagaciously; "there +are some interrogatories which I shall delay till to-morrow, for it +is time, I believe, to close the sederunt for this night, or rather +morning." + +"Well, then, sir," said the young man, "to vary the phrase, since I +have answered all the questions which you have chosen to ask +to-night, will you be so good as to tell me who you are that take +such interest in my affairs, and whom you take me to be, since my +arrival has occasioned such commotion?" + +"Why, sir, for myself," replied the counsellor, "I am Paulus +Pleydell, an advocate at the Scottish bar; and for you, it is not +easy to say distinctly who you are at present; but I trust in a +short time to hail you by the title of Henry Bertram, Esq., +representative of one of the oldest families in Scotland, and heir +of tailzie and provision to the estate of Ellangowan--Ay," +continued be, shutting his eyes and speaking to himself, "we must +pass over his father, and serve him heir to his grandfather Lewis, +the entailer--the only wise man of his family that I ever heard +of." + +They had now risen to retire to their apartments for the night, +when Colonel Mannering walked up to Bertram, as he stood astonished +at the counsellor's words. "I give you joy," he said, "of the +prospects which fate has opened before you. I was an early friend +of your father, and chanced to be in the house of Ellangowan as +unexpectedly as you are now in mine, upon the very night in which +you were born. I little knew this circumstance when--but I trust +unkindness will be forgotten between us. Believe me, your +appearance here, as Mr. Brown, alive and well, has relieved me from +most painful sensations; and your right to the name of an old +friend renders your presence, as Mr. Bertram, doubly welcome." + +"And my parents?" said Bertram. + +"Are both no more--and the family property has been sold, but I +trust may be recovered. Whatever is wanted to make your right +effectual, I shall be most happy to supply." + +"Nay, you may leave all that to me," said the counsellor;" 'tis my +vocation. Hal. I shall make money of it." + +"I'm sure it's no for the like o' me," observed Dinmont, "to speak +to you gentlefolks; but if siller would help on the Captain's plea, +and they say nae plea gangs an weel without it--" + +"Except on Saturday night," said Pleydell. + +"Ay, but when your honour wadna take your fee Ye wadna hae the +cause neither, sae I'll ne'er fash you on a Saturday at e'en +again--but I was saying, there's some siller in the spleuchan [*A +spleuchan is a tobacco pouch, occasionally used as a purse.] that's +like the Captain's ain, for we've aye counted it such, baith Ailie +and me." + +"No, no, Liddesdale--no occasion, no occasion whatever--keep thy +cash to stock thy farm." + +"To stack my farm? Mr. Pleydell, your honour kens mony things, but +ye dinna ken the farm o' Charlies-hope--it's sae weel stockit +already, that we sell maybe sax hundred pounds off it ilka year, +flesh and fell thegither--na, na." + +"Can't you take another then?" + +"I dinna ken--the Deuke's no that fond o' led farms, and he canna +bide to put away the auld tenantry; and then I wadna like, mysell, +to gang about whistling and raising the rent on my neighbours." +[*Whistling, among the tenantry of a large estate, is, when an +individual gives such information to the proprietor, or his +managers, as to occasion the rent of his neighbour's farms being +raised, which, for obvious reasons, is held a very unpopular +practice.] + +"What, not upon thy neighbour at Dawston--Devilstone--how d'ye +call the place?" + +"What, on Jock o' Dawston? hout na--he's a camsteary [*Obstinate +and unruly.] chield, and fasheous [*Troublesome] about marches, +and we've had some bits o' splores thegither; but deil o' me if I +wad wrang Jock o' Dawston neither." + +"Thou'rt an honest fellow," said the lawyer; "get thee to bed. Thou +wilt sleep sounder, I warrant thee, than many a man that throws off +an embroidered coat, and puts on a laced nightcap.--Colonel, I see +you are busy with our Enfant trouve. But Barnes must give me a +summons of wakening at seven to-morrow morning, for my servant's a +sleepy-headed fellow; and I dare say my clerk, Driver, has had +Clarence's fate, and is drowned by this time in a butt of your ale; +for Mrs. Allan promised to make him comfortable, and she'll soon +discover what he expects from that engagement. Good-night, +Colonel--good-night, Dominie Sampson--good-night, Dinmont the +downright--good-night, last of all, to the new-found representative +of the Bertrams, and the Mac-Dingawaies, the Knarths, the Arths, +the Godfreys, the Dennises, and the Rolands, and, last and dearest +title, heir of tailzie and provision of the lands and barony of +Ellangowan, under the settlement of Lewis Bertram, Esq., whose +representative you are." + +And so-saying, the old gentleman took his candle and left the room; +and the company dispersed, after the Dominie had once more hugged +and embraced his "little Harry Bertram," as he continued to call +the young soldier of six feet high. + + +CHAPTER LI. + + --My imagination Carries no favour in it but Bertram's; I + am undone; there is no living, none, If Bertram be away.-- + All's well that Ends Well. + +At the hour which he had appointed the preceding evening, the +indefatigable lawyer was seated by a good fire, and a pair of wax +candles, with a velvet cap on his head, and a quilted silk +night-gown on his person, busy arranging his memoranda of proofs +and indications concerning the murder of Frank Kennedy. An express +had also been despatched to Mr. Mac-Morlan, requesting his +attendance at Woodbourne as soon as possible, on business of +importance. Dinmont, fatigued with the events of the evening +before, and finding the accommodations of Woodbourne much +preferable to those of Mac-Guffog, was in no hurry to rise. The +impatience of Bertram might have put him earlier in motion, but +Colonel Mannering had intimated an intention to visit him in his +apartment in the morning, and he did not choose to leave it. Before +this interview he had dressed himself, Barnes having, by his +master's orders, supplied him with every accommodation of linen, +etc., and now anxiously waited the promised visit of his landlord. + +In a short time a gentle tap announced the Colonel, with whom +Bertram held a long and satisfactory conversation. Each, however, +concealed from the other one circumstance. Mannering could not +bring himself to acknowledge the astrological prediction; and +Bertram was, from motives which may be easily conceived, silent +respecting his love for Julia. In other respects, their +intercourse was frank and grateful to both, and had latterly, upon +the Colonel's part, even an approach to cordiality. Bertram +carefully measured his own conduct by that of his host, and seemed +rather to receive his offered kindness with gratitude and pleasure, +than to press for it with solicitation. + +Miss Bertram was in the breakfast-parlour when Sampson shuffled in, +his face all radiant with smiles, a circumstance so uncommon, that +Lucy's first idea was, that somebody had been bantering him with an +imposition, which had thrown him into this ecstasy. Having sat for +some time, rolling his eyes and gaping with his mouth like the +great wooden head at Merlin's exhibition, he at length began-- +"And what do you think of him, Miss Lucy?" + +"Think of whom, Mr. Sampson?" asked the young lady. + +"Of Har--no--of him that you know about?" again demanded the +Dominie. + +"That I know about?" replied Lucy, totally at a loss to comprehend +his meaning. + +"Yes, the stranger, you know, that came last evening in the post +vehicle--he who shot young Hazlewood--ha, ha, ho!" burst forth the +Dominie, with a laugh that sounded like neighing. + +"Indeed, Mr. Sampson," said his pupil, "you have chosen a strange +subject for mirth--I think nothing about the man, only I hope the +outrage was accidental, and that we need not fear a repetition of +it." + +"Accidental! ho, ho, ha!" again whinnied Sampson. + +"Really, Mr. Sampson," said Lucy, somewhat piqued," you are +unusually gay this morning." + +"Yes, of a surety I am I ha, ha, ho! face-ti-ous--ho, ho, ha!" + +"So unusually facetious, my dear sir," pursued the young lady, +"that I would wish rather to know the meaning of your mirth, than +to be amused with its effects only." + +"You shall know it, Miss Lucy," replied poor Abel Do you remember +your brother?" + +"Good God! how can you ask me?--no one knows better than you, he +was lost the very day I was born." + +"Very true, very true," answered the Dominie, saddening at the +recollection; "I was strangely oblivious--ay, ay--too true. But +you remember your worthy father?" + +"How should you doubt it, Mr. Sampson? it is not so many weeks +since--" + +"True, true--ay, too true," replied the Dominie, his Houyhnhnm +laugh sinking into a hysterical giggle,--"I will be facetious no +more under these remembrances--but look at that young man!" + +Bertram at this instant entered the room. "Yes, look at him +well--he is your father's living image; and as God has deprived you +of your dear parents--O my children, love one another!" + +"It is indeed my father's face and form," said Lucy, turning very +pale; Bertram ran to support her--the Dominie to fetch water to +throw upon her face (which in his haste he took from the boiling +tea-urn)--when fortunately her colour returning rapidly, saved her +from the application of this ill-judged remedy. "I conjure you yet +to tell me, Mr. Sampson," she said, in an interrupted, solemn +voice, is this my brother?" + +"It is--it is!--Miss Lucy, it is little Harry Bertram, as sure as +God's sun is in that heaven!" + +"And this is my sister?" said Bertram, giving way to all that +family affection, which had so long slumbered in his bosom for want +of an object to expand itself upon. + +"lt is!--it is Miss Lucy Bertram," ejaculated Sampson, "whom by my +poor aid you will find perfect in the tongues of France, and Italy, +and even of Spain--in reading and writing her vernacular tongue, +and in arithmetic and bookkeeping by double and single entry--I say +nothing of her talents of shaping, and hemming, and governing a +household, which, to give every one their due, she acquired not +from me, but from the housekeeper--nor do I take merit for her +performance upon stringed instruments, whereunto the instructions +of an honourable young lady of virtue and modesty, and very +facetious withal--Miss Julia Mannering--hath not meanly +contributed--Suum cuique tribuilo." + +"You, then," said Bertram to his sister, "are all that remains to +me!--Last night, but more fully this morning, Colonel Mannering +gave me an account of our family misfortunes, though without saying +I should find my sister here." + +"That," said Lucy, "he left to this gentleman to tell you, one of +the kindest and most faithful of friends, who soothed my father's +long sickness, witnessed his dying moments, and amid the heaviest +clouds of fortune would not desert his orphan." + +"God bless him for it!" said Bertram, shaking the Dominie's hand;" +he deserves the love with which I have always regarded even that +dim and imperfect shadow of his memory which my childhood +retained." + +"And God bless you both, my dear children," said Sampson; "if it +had not been for your sake, I would have been contented (had +Heaven's pleasure so been) to lay my head upon the turf beside my +patron." + +"But, I trust," said Bertram, "I am encouraged to hope we shall all +see better days. All our wrongs shall be redressed, since Heaven +has sent me means and friends to assert my right." + +"Friends indeed!" echoed the Dominie, "and sent, as you truly say, +by Him, to whom I early taught you to look up as the source of all +that is good. There is the great Colonel Mannering from the +Eastern Indies, a man of war from his birth up-wards, but who is +not the less a man of great erudition, considering his imperfect +opportunities; and there is, moreover, the great advocate Mr. +Pleydell, who is also a man of great erudition, but who descendeth +to trifles unbeseeming thereof; and there is Mr. Andrew Dinmont, +whom I do not understand to have possession of much erudition, but +who, like the patriarchs of old, is cunning in that which belongeth +to flocks and herds--Lastly, there is even I myself, whose +opportunities of collecting erudition, as they have been greater +than those of the aforesaid valuable persons, have not, if it +becomes me to speak, been pretermitted by me, in so far as my poor +faculties have enabled me to profit by them. Of a surety, little +Harry, we must speedily resume our studies. I will begin from the +foundation--yes, I will reform your education upward from the true +knowledge of English grammar, even to that of the Hebrew or +Chaldaic tongue." + +The reader may observe, that, upon this occasion, Sampson was +infinitely more profuse of words than he had hitherto exhibited +himself. The reason was, that in recovering his pupil his mind +went instantly back to their original connection, and he had in his +confusion of ideas, the strongest desire in the world to resume +spelling lessons and half-text with young Bertram. This was the +more ridiculous, as towards Lucy he assumed no snob powers of +tuition. But she had grown up under his eye, and had been +gradually emancipated from his government by increase in years and +knowledge, and a latent sense of his own inferior tact in manners, +whereas his first ideas went to take up Harry pretty nearly where +he had left him. From the same feelings of reviving authority, he +indulged himself in what was to him a profusion of language; and as +people seldom speak more than usual without exposing themselves, he +gave those whom he addressed plainly to understand, that while he +deferred implicitly to the opinions and commands, if they chose to +impose them, of almost every one whom he met with, it was under an +internal conviction, that in the article of Erudition, as he +usually pronounced the word, he was infinitely superior to them all +put together. At present, however, this intimation fell upon +heedless cars, for the brother and sister were too deeply engaged +in asking and receiving intelligence concerning their former +fortunes to attend much to the worthy Dominie. + +When Colonel Mannering left Bertram, he went to Julia's +dressing-room, and dismissed her attendant. "My dear sir," she +said as he entered, "you have forgot our vigils last night, and +have hardly allowed me time to comb my hair, although you must be +sensible how it stood on end at the various wonders which took +place." + +"It is with the inside of your head that I have some business at +present, Julia; I will return the outside to the care of your Mrs. +Mincing in a few minutes." + +"Lord, papa," replied Miss Mannering, "think how entangled all my +ideas are, and you to propose to comb them out in a few minutes! If +Mrs. Mincing were to do so in her department, she would tear half +the hair out of my head." + +"Well then, tell me," said the Colonel, "where the entanglement +lies, which I will try to extricate with due gentleness!" + +"Oh, everywhere," said the young lady--"the whole is a wild dream." + +"Well then, I will try to unriddle it." He gave a brief sketch of +the fate and prospects of Bertram, to which Julia listened with an +interest which she in vain endeavoured to disguise--"Well," +concluded her father, "are your ideas on the subject more +luminous?" + +"More confused than ever, my dear sir," said Julia. "Here is this +young man come from India, after he had been supposed dead, like +Aboulfouaris the great voyager to his sister Canzade and his +provident brother Hour. I am wrong id the story, I +believe--Canzade was his wife--but Lucy may represent the one, and +the Dominie the other. And then this lively crack-brained Scotch +lawyer appears like a pantomime at the end of a tragedy.--And then +how delightful it will be if Lucy gets back her fortune!" + +"Now I think," said the Colonel, "that the most mysterious part of +the business is, that Miss Julia Mannering, who must have known her +father's anxiety about the fate of this young man Brown, or +Bertram, as we must now call him, should have met him when +Hazlewood's accident took place, and never once mentioned to her +father a word of the matter, but suffered the search to proceed +against this young gentleman as a suspicious character and +assassin." + +Julia, much of whose courage had been hastily assumed to meet the +interview with her father, was now unable to rally herself; she +hung down her head in silence, after in vain attempting to utter a +denial that she recollected Brown when she met him. + +"No answer--well, Julia," continued her father, gravely but kindly, +"allow me to ask you, Is this the only time you have seen Brown +since his return from India?--still no answer. I must then +naturally suppose that it is not the first time--Still no reply. +Julia Mannering, will you have the kindness to answer me? Was it +this young man who came under your window and conversed with you +during your residence at Mervyn Hall? Julia--I command I entreat +you to be candid." + +Miss Mannering raised her head. "I have been, sir--I believe I am +still very foolish--and it is perhaps more hard upon me that I must +meet this gentleman, who has been, though not the cause entirely, +yet the accomplice of my folly, in your presence."--Here she made a +full stop. + +"I am to understand, then," said Mannering, "that this was the +author of the serenade at Mervyn Hall?" + +There was something in this allusive change of epithet, that gave +Julia a little more courage--"He was indeed, sir; and if I am very +wrong, as I have often thought, I have some apology." + +"And what is that?" answered the Colonel, speaking quick, and with +something of harshness. + +"I will not venture to name it, sir--but"--She opened a small +cabinet, and put some letters into his hands; "I will give you +these, that you may see how this intimacy began, and by whom it was +encouraged." + +Mannering took the packet to the window--his pride forbade a more +distant retreat--he glanced at some passages of the letters with an +unsteady eye and an agitated mind--his stoicism, however, came in +time to his aid; that philosophy, which, rooted in pride, yet +frequently bears the fruits of virtue. He returned towards his +daughter with as firm an air as his feelings permitted him to +assume. + +"There is great apology for you, Julia, as far as I can judge from +a glance at these letters--you have obeyed at least one parent. Let +us adopt a Scotch proverb the Dominie quoted the other day--'Let +bygones be bygones, and fair play for the future.'--I will never +upbraid you with your past want of confidence--do you judge of my +future intentions by my actions, of which hitherto you have surely +had no reason to complain. Keep these letters--they were never +intended for my eye, and I would not willingly read more of them +than I have done, at your desire and for your exculpation. And +now, are we friends? Or rather, do you understand me?" + +"O my dear, generous father," said Julia, throwing herself into his +arms, "why have I ever for an instant misunderstood you?" + +"No more of that, Julia," said the Colonel; "we have both been to +blame. He that is too proud to vindicate the affection and +confidence which he conceives should be given without solicitation, +must meet much, and perhaps deserved disappointment. It is enough +that one dearest and most regretted member of my family has gone to +the grave without knowing me; let me not lose the confidence of a +child, who ought to love me if she really loves herself." + +"Oh! no danger--no fear!" answered Julia; "let me but have your +approbation and my own, and there is no role you can prescribe so +severe that I will not follow." + +"Well, my love," kissing her forehead, "Itrust we shall not call +upon you for anything too heroic. With respect to this young +gentleman's addresses, I expect in the first place that all +clandestine correspondence--which no young woman can entertain for +a moment without lessening herself in her own eyes, and in those of +her lover--I request, I say, that clandestine correspondence of +every kind may be given up, and that you will refer Mr. Bertram to +me for the reason. You will naturally wish to know what is to be +the issue of such a reference. In the first place, I desire to +observe this young gentleman's character more closely than +circumstances, and perhaps my own prejudices, have permitted +formerly--I should also be glad to see his birth established. Not +that I am anxious about his getting the estate of Ellangowan, +though such a subject is held in absolute indifference nowhere +except in a novel; but certainly Henry Bertram, Heir of Ellangowan, +whether possessed of the property of his ancestors or not, is a +very different person from Vanbeest Brown, the son of nobody at +all. His fathers, Mr. Pleydell tells me, are distinguished in +history as following the banners of their native princes, while our +own fought at Cressy and Poictiers. In short, I neither give nor +withhold my approbation, but I expect you will redeem past errors; +and as you can now unfortunately only have recourse to one parent, +that you will show the duty of a child, by reposing that confidence +in me, which I will say my inclination to make you happy renders a +filial debt upon your part." + +The first part of this speech affected Julia a good deal; the +comparative merit of the ancestors of the Bertrams and Mannerings +excited a secret smile, but the conclusion was such as to soften a +heart peculiarly open to the feelings of generosity. "No, my dear +sir," she said, extending her hand, "receive my faith, that from +this moment you shall be the first person consulted respecting what +shall pass in future between Brown--I mean Bertram, and me; and +that no engagement shall be undertaken by me, excepting what you +shall immediately know and approve of. May I ask--if Mr. Bertram +is to continue a guest at Woodbourne?" + +"Certainly," said the Colonel, "while his affairs render it +advisable." + +"Then, sir, you must be sensible, considering what is already past, +that he will expect some reason for my withdrawing--I believe I +must say the encouragement, which he may think I have given." + +"I expect, Julia," answered Mannering, "that he will respect my +roof, and entertain some sense perhaps of the services I am +desirous to render him, and so will not insist upon any course of +conduct of which I might have reason to complain; and I expect of +you, that you will make him sensible of what is due to both." + +"Then, sir, I understand you, and you shall be implicitly obeyed." + +"Thank you, my love; my anxiety (kissing her) is on your +account.--Now wipe these witnesses from your eyes, and so to +breakfast." + + + +CHAPTER LII. + + And, Sheriff, I will engage my word to you, That I will by + to-morrow dinner time, Send him to answer thee, or any man, + For anything he shall he charged withal. + Henry IV. Part I + +When the several by-plays, as they may be termed, had taken place +among the individuals of the Woodbourne family, as we have +intimated in the preceding chapter, the breakfast party at length +assembled, Dandie excepted, who had consulted his taste in viands, +and perhaps in society, by partaking of a cup of tea with Mrs. +Allan, just laced with two teaspoonfuls of Cogniac, and reinforced +with various slices from a huge round of beef. He had a kind of +feeling that he could eat twice as much, and speak twice as much, +with this good dame and Barnes, as with the grand folk in the +parlour. Indeed, the meal of this less distinguished party was +much more mirthful than that in the higher circle, where there was +an obvious air of constraint on the greater part of the +assistants. Julia dared not raise her voice in asking Bertram if +he chose another cup of tea. Bertram felt embarrassed while eating +his toast-and-butter under the eye of Mannering. Lucy, while she +indulged to the uttermost her affection for her recovered brother, +began to think of the quarrel betwixt him and Hazlewood. The +Colonel felt the painful anxiety natural to a proud mind, when it +deems its slightest action subject for a moment to the watchful +construction of others. The lawyer, while sedulously buttering his +roll, had an aspect of unwonted gravity, arising, perhaps, from the +severity of his morning studies. As for the Dominie, his state of +mind was ecstatic!--He looked at Bertram--he looked at Lucy--he +whimpered--he sniggled--he grinned--he committed all manner of +solecisms in point of form--poured the whole cream (no unlucky +mistake) upon the plate of porridge, which was his own usual +breakfast--threw the slops of what he called his "crowning dish of +tea" into the sugar-dish instead of the slop-basin, and concluded +with spilling the scalding liquor upon old Plato, the Colonel's +favourite spaniel, who received the libation with a howl that did +little honour to his philosophy. + +The Colonel's equanimity was rather shaken by this last blunder. +"Upon my word, my good friend, Mr. Sampson, you forget the +difference between Plato and Zenocrates." + +"The former was chief of the Academics, the latter of the Stoics," +said the Dominie, with some scorn of the supposition. + +"Yes, my dear sir, but it was Zenocrates, not Plato, who denied +that pain was an evil." + +"I should have thought," said Pleydell, "that very respectable +quadruped, which is just now limping out of the room upon three of +his four legs, was rather of the Cynic school." + +"Very well hit off--But here comes an answer from Mac-Morlan." + +It was unfavourable. Mrs. Mac-Morlan sent her respectful +compliments, and her husband had been, and was, detained, by some +alarming disturbances which had taken place the preceding night at +Portanferry, and the necessary investigation which they had +occasioned. + +"What's to be done now, counsellor?" said the Colonel to Pleydell. + +"Why, I wish we could have seen Mac-Morlan," said the counsellor, +"who is a sensible fellow himself, and would besides have acted +under my advice. But there is little harm. Our friend here must +be made sui juris--he is at present an escaped prisoner; the law +has an awkward claim upon him; he must be placed rectus in curia, +that is the first object. For which purpose, Colonel, I will +accompany you in your carriage down to Hazlewood House. The +distance is not great; we will offer our bail; and I am confident I +can easily show Mr.--I beg his pardon--Sir Robert Hazlewood, the +necessity of receiving it." + +"With all my heart," said the Colonel and, ringing the bell, gave +the necessary orders. "And what is next to be done?" + +"We must get hold of Mac-Morlan, and look out for more proof." + +"Proof!" said the Colonel, "the thing is as clear as daylight; here +are Mr. Sampson and Miss Bertram, and you yourself, at once +recognise the young gentleman as his father's image; and he himself +recollects all the very peculiar circumstances preceding his +leaving this country--What else is necessary to conviction?" + +"To moral conviction nothing more, perhaps," said the experienced +lawyer, "but for legal proof a great deal. Mr. Bertram's +recollections are his own recollections merely, and therefore are +not evidence in his own favour; Miss Bertram, the learned Mr. +Sampson, and I, can only say, what every one who knew the late +Ellangowan will readily agree in, that this gentleman is his very +picture--But that will not make him Ellangowan's son, and give him +the estate." + +"And what will do so?" said the Colonel. + +"Why, we must have a distinct probation. There are these +gipsies,--but then, alas! they are almost infamous in the eye of +law--scarce capable of bearing evidence, and Meg Merrilies utterly +so, by the various accounts which she formerly gave of the matter, +and her impudent denial of all knowledge of the fact when I myself +examined her respecting it." + +"What must be done then?" asked Mannering. + +"We must try," answered the legal sage, "what proof can be got at +in Holland, among the persons by whom our young friend was +educated.--But then the fear of being called in question for the +murder of the gauger may make them silent; or if they speak, they +are either foreigners, or outlawed smugglers. In short, I see +doubts." + +"Under favour, most learned and honoured sir," said the Dominie, +"I trust HE, who hath restored little Harry Bertram to his friends, +will not leave His own work imperfect." + +"I trust so too, Mr. Sampson," said Pleydell; "but we must use the +means; and I am afraid we shall have more difficulty in procuring +them than I at first thought.--But a faint heart never won a fair +lady--and, by the way (apart to Miss Mannering, while Bertram was +engaged with his sister), there's a vindication of Holland for you! +what smart fellows do you think Leyden and Utrecht must send forth, +when such a very genteel and handsome young man comes from the +paltry schools of Middleburgh?" + +"Of a verity," said the Dominie, jealous of the reputation of the +Dutch seminary,--"of a verity, Mr. Pleydell, but I make it known to +you that I myself laid the foundation of his education." + +"True, my dear Dominie," answered the advocate, "that accounts for +his proficiency in the graces, without question--but here comes +your carriage, Colonel. Adieu, young folks: Miss Julia, keep your +heart till I come back again--let there be nothing done to +prejudice my right, whilst I am non volens agere." + +Their reception at Hazlewood House was more cold and formal than +usual; for in general the Baronet expressed great respect for +Colonel Mannering, and Mr. Pleydell, besides being a man of good +family and of high general estimation, was Sir Robert's old +friend. But now he seemed dry and embarrassed in his manner. "He +would willingly," he said, "receive bail, notwithstanding that the +offence had been directly perpetrated, committed, and done, against +young Hazlewood of Hazlewood; but the young man had given himself a +fictitious description, and was altogether that sort of person, who +should not be liberated, discharged, or let loose upon society; and +therefore--" + +"I hope, Sir Robert Hazlewood," said the Colonel, you do not mean +to doubt my word, when I assure you that he served under me as a +cadet in India?" + +"By no means or account whatsoever. But you call him a cadet; now +he says, avers, and upholds, that he was a captain, or held a +troop in your regiment." + +"He was promoted since I gave up the command." + +"But you must have heard of it?" + +"No. I returned on account of family circumstances from India, and +have not since been solicitous to hear particular news from the +regiment; the name of Brown, too, is so common, that I might have +seen his promotion in the Gazette without noticing it. But a day +or two will bring letters from his commanding officer." + +"But I am told and informed, Mr. Pleydell," answered Sir Robert, +still hesitating, "that he does not mean to abide by this name of +Brown, but is to set up a claim to the estate of Ellangowan, under +the name of Bertram." + +"Ay, who says that?" said the counsellor. + +"Or," demanded the soldier, "whoever says so, does that give a +right to keep him in prison?" + +"Hush, Colonel," said the lawyer; "I am sure you would not, any +more than I, countenance him, if he prove an impostor. --And, +among friends, who informed you of this, Sir Robert?" + +"Why, a person, Mr. Pleydell," answered the Baronet, "who is +peculiarly interested in investigating, sifting, and clearing out +this business to the bottom--you will excuse my being more +particular." + +"Oh, certainly," replied Pleydell--"well, and he says--" + +"He says that it is whispered about among tinkers, gipsies, and +other idle persons, that there is such a plan as I mentioned to +you, and that this young man, who is a bastard or natural son of +the late Ellangowan, is pitched upon as the impostor, from his +strong family likeness." + +"And was there such a natural son, Sir Robert?" demanded the +counsellor. + +"Oh, certainly, to my own positive knowledge. Ellangowan had him +placed as cabin-boy or powder-monkey on board an armed sloop or +yacht belonging to the revenue, through the interest of the late +Commissioner Bertram, a kinsman of his own." + +"Well, Sir Robert," said the lawyer, taking the word out of the +mouth of the impatient soldier--"you have told me news, I shall +investigate them, and it I find them true, certainly Colonel +Mannering and I will not countenance this young man. In the +meanwhile, as we are all willing to make him forthcoming, to answer +all complaints against him, I do assure you, you will act most +illegally, and incur heavy responsibility, if you refuse our bail." + +"Why, Mr. Pleydell," said Sir Robert, who knew the high authority +of the counsellor's opinion, "as you must know best, and as you +promise to give up this young man--" + +"If he proves an impostor," replied the lawyer, with some emphasis. + +"Ay, certainly--under that condition I will take your bail; though +I must say, an obliging, well-disposed, and civil neighbour of +mine, who was himself bred to the law, gave me a hint or caution +this morning against doing so. It was from him I learned that this +youth was liberated and had come abroad, or rather had broken +prison.--But where shall we find one to draw the bail-bond?" + +"Here," said the counsellor, applying himself to the bell, "send up +my clerk, Mr. Driver--it will not do my character harm if I dictate +the needful myself." It was written accordingly and signed, and, +the justice having subscribed a regular warrant for Bertram alias +Brown's discharge, the visitors took their leave. + +Each threw himself into his own corner of the post-chariot, and +said nothing for some time. The Colonel first broke silence : "So +you intend to give up this poor young fellow at the first brush?" + +"Who, I?" replied the counsellor "I will not give up one hair of +his head, though I should follow them to the court of last resort +in his behalf--but what signified mooting points and showing one's +hand to that old ass? Much better he should report to his prompter, +Glossin, that we are indifferent or lukewarm in the matter. +Besides, I wished to have a peep at the enemies' game." + +"Indeed!" said the soldier. "Then I see there are stratagems in +law as well as war. Well, and how do you like their line of +battle?" + +"Ingenious!" said Mr. Pleydell, "but I think desperate--they are +finessing too much; a common fault on such occasions." + +During this discourse the carriage rolled rapidly towards +Woodbourne without anything occurring worthy of the reader's +notice, excepting their meeting with young Hazlewood, to whom the +Colonel told the extraordinary history of Bertram's reappearance, +which he heard with high delight, and then rode on before to pay +Miss Bertram his compliments on an event so happy and so +unexpected. + +We return to the party at Woodbourne. After the departure of +Mannering, the conversation related chiefly to the fortunes of the +Ellangowan family, their domains, and their former power. "It was, +then, under the towers of my fathers," said Bertram, "that I landed +some days since, in circumstances much resembling those of a +vagabond? Its mouldering turrets and darksome arches even then +awakened thoughts of the deepest interest, and recollections which +I was unable to decipher. I will now visit them again with other +feelings, and, I trust, other and better hopes." + +"Do not go there now," said his sister. "The house of our +ancestors is at present the habitation of a wretch as insidious as +dangerous, whose arts and villainy accomplished the ruin and broke +the heart of our unhappy father." + +"You increase my anxiety," replied her brother, "to confront this +miscreant, even in the den he has constructed for himself--I think +I have seen him." + +"But you must consider," said Julia, "that you are now left under +Lucy's guard and mine, and are responsible to us for all your +motions--consider I have not been a lawyer's mistress twelve hours +for nothing, and I assure you it would be madness to attempt to go +to Ellangowan just now.--The utmost to which I can consent is, that +we shall walk in a body to the head of the Woodbourne avenue, and +from that perhaps we may indulge you with our company as far as a +rising ground in the common, whence your eyes may be blessed with a +distant prospect of those gloomy towers, which struck so strongly +your sympathetic imagination." + +The party was speedily agreed upon; and the ladies, having taken +their cloaks, followed the route proposed, under the escort of +Captain Bertram. It was a pleasant winter morning, and the cool +breeze served only to freshen, not to chill, the fair walkers. A +secret though unacknowledged bond of kindness combined the two +ladies, and Bertram, now hearing the interesting accounts of his +own family, now communicating his adventures in Europe and in +India, repaid the pleasure which he received. Lucy felt proud of +her brother, as well from the bold and manly turn of his +sentiments, as from the dangers he had encountered, and the spirit +with which he had surmounted them. And Julia, while she pondered +on her father's words, could not help entertaining hopes, that the +independent spirit which had seemed to her father presumption in +the humble and plebeian Brown, would have the grace of courage, +noble bearing, and high blood, in the far-descended heir of +Ellangowan. + +They reached at length the little eminence or knoll upon the +highest part of the common, called Gibbie's-knowe--a spot +repeatedly mentioned in this history, as being on the skirts of the +Ellangowan estate. It commanded a fair variety of hill and dale, +bordered with natural woods, whose naked boughs at this season +relieved the general colour of the landscape with a dark purple +hue; while in other places the prospect was more formally +intersected by lines of plantation, where the Scotch firs displayed +their variety of dusky green. At the distance of two or three +miles lay the bay of Ellangowan, its waves rippling under the +influence of the western breeze. The towers of the ruined castle, +seen high over every object in the neighbourhood, received--a +brighter colouring from the wintry sun. + +"There," said Lucy Bertram, pointing them out in the distance, +"there is the seat of our ancestors. God knows, my dear brother, +I do not covet in your behalf the extensive power which the lords +of these ruins are said to have possessed so long, and sometimes to +have used so ill. But, oh that I might see you in possession of +such relics of their fortune as should give you an honourable +independence, and enable you to stretch your hand for the +protection of the old and destitute dependants of our family, whom +our poor father's death--" + +"True, my dearest Lucy," answered the young heir of Ellangowan; +"and I trust, with the assistance of Heaven, which has so far +guided us, and with that of these good friends, whom their own +generous hearts have interested in my behalf, such a consummation +of my hard adventures is now not unlikely.--But as a soldier, I +must look with some interest upon that worm-eaten hold of ragged +stone; and if this undermining scoundrel, who is now in possession, +dare to displace a pebble of it--" + +He was here interrupted by Dinmont, who came hastily after them up +the road, unseen till he was near the party :--"Captain, Captain! +ye're wanted--Ye're wanted by her ye ken o'." + +And immediately Meg Merrilies, as if emerging out of the earth, +ascended from the hollow way, and stood before them. "I sought ye +at the house," she said, "and found but him (pointing to Dinmont), +but ye are right, and I was wrang. It is here we should meet, on +this very spot, where my eyes last saw your father. Remember your +promise, and follow me." + + +CHAPTER LIII. + + To hail the king in seemly sort The ladie was full fain; + But King Arthur, all sore amazed, No answer made again. + 'What wight art thou," the ladie said "That will not speak to me? + Sir, I may chance to ease thy pain, Though I be foul to see." + The Marriage of Sir Gawaine. + +The fairy bride of Sir Gawaine, while under the influence of the +spell of her wicked stepmother, was more decrepit probably, and +what is commonly called more ugly, than Meg Merrilies; but I doubt +if she possessed that wild sublimity which an excited imagination +communicated to features, marked and expressive in their own +peculiar character, and to the gestures of a form, which, her sex +considered, might be termed gigantic. Accordingly, the Knights of +the Round Table did not recoil with more terror from the apparition +of the loathly lady placed between "an oak and a green holly," than +Lucy Bertram and Julia Mannering did from the appearance of this +Galwegian sibyl upon the common of Ellangowan. + +"For God's sake," said Julia, pulling out her purse, give that +dreadful woman something, and bid her go away." + +"I cannot," said Bertram "I must not offend her." + +"What keeps you here?" said Meg, exalting the harsh and rough tones +of her hollow voice; "why do you not follow?--Must your hour call +you twice?--Do you remember your oath? --were it at kirk or +market, wedding or burial,"--and she held high her skinny +forefinger in a menacing attitude. + +Bertram turned round to his terrified companions. "Excuse me for a +moment; I am engaged by a promise to follow this woman." + +"Good heavens! engaged to a madwoman?" said Julia.-- + +"Or to a gipsy, who has her band in the wood ready to murder you!" +said Lucy. + +"That was not spoken like a bairn of Ellangowan," said Meg, +frowning upon Miss Bertram. "It is the ill-doers are +ill-dreaders." + +"In short, I must go," said Bertram, "it is absolutely necessary. +wait for me five minutes on this spot." + +"Five minutes?" said the gipsy; "five hours may not bring you +here again." + +"Do you hear that? said Julia for Heaven's sake do not go!" + +"I must, I must--Mr. Dinmont will protect you back to the house." + +"No," said Meg, "he must come with you; it is for that he is here. +He maun take part wi' hand and heart; and weel his part it is, for +redding his quarrel might have cost you dear," + +"Troth, Luckie, it's very true," said the steady farmer; "and ere I +turn back frae the Captain's side, I'll show that I haena +forgotten't." + +"Oh yes!" exclaimed both the ladies at once, "let Mr. Dinmont go +with you, if go you must, on this strange summons." + +"Indeed I must," answered Bertram, "but you see I am safely +guarded--Adieu for a short time; go home as fast as you can." + +He pressed his sister's hand, and took a yet more affectionate +farewell of Julia with his eyes. Almost stupefied with surprise +and fear, the young ladies watched with anxious looks the course of +Bertram, his companion, and their extraordinary guide. Her tall +figure moved across the wintry heath with steps so swift, so long, +and so steady, that she appeared rather to glide than to walk. +Bertram and Dinmont, both tall men, apparently scarce equalled her +in height, owing to her longer dress and high head-gear. She +proceeded straight across the common, without turning aside to the +winding path, by which passengers avoided the inequalities and +little rills that traversed it in different directions. Thus the +diminishing figures often disappeared from the eye, as they dived +into such broken ground, and again ascended to sight when they were +past the hollow. There was something frightful and unearthly, as it +were, in the rapid and undeviating course which she pursued, +undeterred by any of the impediments which usually incline a +traveller from the direct path. Her way was as straight, and +nearly as swift, as that of a bird through the air. At length they +reached those thickets of natural wood which extended from the +skirts of the common towards the glades and brook of Derncleugh, +and were there lost to the view. + +"This is very extraordinary," said Lucy after a pause, and turning +round to her companion--"What can he have to do with that old hag?" + +"It is very frightful," answered Julia, "and almost reminds me of +the tales of sorceresses, witches,' and evil genii, which I have +heard in India. They believe there in a fascination of the eye, by +which those who possess it control the will and dictate the motions +of their victims. What can your brother have in common with that +fearful woman, that he should leave us, obviously against his will, +to attend to her commands?" + +"At least," said Lucy, "we may hold him safe from harm; for she +would never have summoned that faithful creature Dinmont, of whose +strength, courage, and steadiness Henry said so much, to attend +upon an expedition where she projected evil to the person of his +friend. And now let us go back to the house till the Colonel +returns--perhaps Bertram may be back first; at any rate, the +Colonel will judge what is to be done." + +Leaning then upon each other's arm, but yet occasionally stumbling, +between fear and the disorder of their nerves, they at length +reached the head of the avenue, when they heard the tread of a +horse behind. They started, for their ears were awake to every +sound, and beheld to their great pleasure young Hazlewood. "The +Colonel will be here immediately," he said; "I galloped on before +to pay my respects to Miss Bertram, with the sincerest +congratulations upon the joyful event which has taken place in her +family. I long to be introduced to Captain Bertram, and to thank +him for the well. deserved lesson he gave to my rashness and +indiscretion." + +"He has left us just now," said Lucy, "and in a manner that has +frightened us very much." + +Just at that moment the Colonel's carriage drove up, and, on +observing the ladies, stopped, while Mannering and his learned +counsel alighted and joined them. They instantly communicated the +new cause of alarm. + +"Meg Merrilies again!" said the Colonel; she certainly is a most +mysterious and unaccountable personage; but I think she must have +something to impart to Bertram, to which she does not mean we +should be privy." + +"The devil take the bedlamite old woman," said the counsellor; +"will she not let things take their course, prout de lege, but must +always be putting in her oar in her own way?--Then, I fear from the +direction they took they are going upon the Ellangowan estate--that +rascal Glossin has shown us what ruffians he has at his disposal. I +wish honest Liddesdale may be guard sufficient." + +"If you please," said Hazlewood, "Ishould be most happy to ride in +the direction which they have taken. I am so well known in the +country, that I scarce think any outrage will be offered in my +presence, and I shall keep at such a cautious distance as not to +appear to watch Meg, or interrupt any communication which she may +make." + +"Upon my word," said Pleydell (aside), "to be a sprig, whom I +remember with a whey face and a satchel not so very many years ago, +I think young Hazlewood grows a fine fellow. I am more afraid of a +new attempt at legal oppression than at open violence, and from +that this young man's presence would deter both Glossin and his +understrappers.--Hie away, then, my boy--peer out--peer out--you'll +find them somewhere about Derncleugh, or very probably in Warroch +Wood." + +Hazlewood turned his horse. "Come back to us to dinner, +Hazlewood," cried the Colonel. He bowed, spurred his horse, and +galloped off. + +We now return to Bertram and Dinmont, who continued to follow their +mysterious guide through the woods and dingles, between the open +common and the ruined hamlet of Derncleugh. As she led the way, she +never looked back upon her followers, unless to chide them for +loitering, though the sweat, in spite of the season, poured from +their brows. At other times she spoke to herself in such broken +expressions as these--"It is to rebuild the auld house--it is to +lay the corner-stone--and did I not warn him?--I tell'd him I was +born to do it, if my father's head had been the stepping-stane, let +alane his. I was doomed--still I kept my purpose in the cage and +in the stocks;--I was banished--I kept it in an unco land;--I was +scourged--I was branded--My resolution lay deeper than scourge or +red iron could reach-and now the hour is come." + +"Captain," said Dinmont, in a half whisper, "I wish she binna +uncanny! [*Mad] her words dinna seem to come in God's name, or +like other folk's. Odd, they threep [*Declare] in our country +that there are sic things." + +"Don't be afraid, my friend," whispered Bertram in return. + +"Fear'd! fient a haet [*Not a whit.] care I," said the dauntless +farmer, "be she witch or deevil; it's a' ane to Dandie Dinmont." + +"Haud your peace, gudeman," said Meg, looking sternly over her +shoulder; "is this a time or place for you to speak, think ye?" + +"But, my good friend," said Bertram, "as I have no doubt in your +good faith, or kindness, which I have experienced; you should in +return have some confidence in me--I wish to know where you are +leading us." + +"There's but ae answer to that, Henry Bertram," said the +sibyl.--"Iswore my tongue should never tell, but I never said my +finger should never show. Go on and meet your fortune, or turn +back and lose it--that's a' I hae to say." + +"Go on then," answered Bertram "I will ask no more questions." + +They descended into the glen about the same place where Meg had +formerly parted from Bertram., She paused an instant beneath the +tall rock where he had witnessed the burial of a dead body, and +stamped upon the ground, which, notwithstanding all the care that +had been taken, showed vestiges of having been recently moved. +"Here rests ane," she said, "he'll maybe hae neibors sune." + +She then moved up the brook until she came to the ruined hamlet, +where, pausing with a look of peculiar and softened interest before +one of the gables which was still standing, she said in a tone less +abrupt, though as solemn as before, "Do you see that blackit and +broken end of a shealing? [*Hut]--there my kettle boiled for forty +years--there I bore twelve buirdly sons and daughters--where are +they now?--where are the leaves that were on that auld ash-tree at +Martinmas!--the west wind has made it bare--and I'm stripped +too.--Do you see that saugh-tree?--it's but a blackened rotten +stump now--I've sat under it mony a bonnie summer afternoon, when +it hung its gay garlands ower the poppling water.--I've sat there, +and," elevating her voice, "I've held you on my knee, Henry +Bertram, and sung ye sangs of the auld barons and their bloody +wars--it will ne'er be green again, and Meg Merrilies will never +sing sangs mair, be they blithe or sad. But ye'll no forget her, +and ye'll gar big up [*Cause to be built up.] the auld wa's for +her sake?--and let somebody live there that's, ower gude to fear +them of another warld--For if ever the dead came back amang the +living. I'll be seen in this glen mony a night after these crazed +banes are in the mould." + +The mixture of insanity and wild pathos with which she spoke these +last words, with her right arm, bare and extended, her left bent +and shrouded beneath the dark red drapery of her mantle, might have +been a study worthy of our Siddons herself. "And now," she said, +resuming at once the short, stern, and hasty tone which was most +ordinary to her--"let us to the wark--let us to the wark." + +She then led the way to the promontory on which the Kaim of +Derncleugh was situated, produced a large key from her pocket, and +unlocked the door. The interior of this place was in better order +than formerly. "Ihave made things decent," she said; "I may be +streekit, [*Stretched out] here or night.--There will be few, few +at Meg's lykewake, [*Watching over a corpse by night.] for mony of +our folk will blame what I hae done, and am to do!" + +She then pointed to a table, upon which was some cold meat, +arranged with more attention to neatness than could have been +expected from Meg's habits. "Eat," she said, "eat; ye'll need it +this night yet." + +Bertram, in complaisance, ate a morsel or two and Dinmont, whose +appetite was unabated either by wonder, apprehension, or the meal +of the morning, made his usual figure as a trencherman. She then +offered each a single glass of spirits, which Bertram drank +diluted, and his companion plain. + +"Will ye taste naething yourself, Luckie?" said Dinmont. + +"I shall not need it," replied their mysterious hostess. "And now," +she said, "ye maun hae arms--ye maunna gang on dry-handed--but use +them not rashly--take captive, but save life--let the law hae its +ain--he maun speak ere he die." + +"Who is to be taken?--who is to speak?" said Bertram in +astonishment, receiving a pair of pistols which she offered him, +and which, upon examining, he found loaded and locked. + +"The flints are gude," she said, "and the powder dry--I ken this +wark weel." + +Then, without answering his questions, she armed Dinmont also with +a large pistol, and desired them to choose sticks for themselves +out of a parcel of very suspicious-looking bludgeons, which she +brought from a corner. Bertram took a stout sapling, and Dandie +selected a club which might have served Hercules himself. They +then left the hut together, and, in doing so, Bertram took an +opportunity to whisper to Dinmont, "There's something inexplicable +in all this--But we need not use these arms unless we see necessity +and lawful occasion--take care to do as you see me do." + +Dinmont gave a sagacious nod; and they continued to follow, over +wet and over dry, through bog and through fallow, the footsteps of +their conductress. She guided them to the wood of Warroch by the +same track which the late Ellangowan had used when riding to +Derncleugh in quest of his child, on the miserable evening of +Kennedy's murder. + +When Meg Merrilies had attained these groves, through which the +wintry sea-wind was now whistling hoarse and shrill, she seemed to +pause a moment as if to recollect the way. "We maun go the precise +track," she said, and continued to go forward, but rather in a +zigzag and involved course than according to her former steady and +direct line of motion. At length she guided them through the mazes +of the wood to a little open glade of about a quarter of an acre, +surrounded by trees and bushes, which made a wild and irregular +boundary. Even in winter it was a sheltered and snugly sequestered +spot; but when arrayed in the verdure of spring, the earth sending +forth all its wild flowers, the shrubs spreading their waste of +blossom around it, and the weeping birches, which towered over the +underwood, drooping their long and leafy fibres to intercept the +sun, it must have seemed a place for a youthful poet to study his +earliest sonnet, or a pair of lovers to exchange their first mutual +avowal of affection. Apparently it now awakened very different +recollections. Bertram's brow, when he had looked round the spot, +became gloomy and embarrassed. Meg, after uttering to herself, +"This is the very spot!" looked at him with a ghastly +side-glance,--"D'ye mind it?" + +"Yes answered Bertram, "imperfectly I do." + +"Ay!" pursued his guide, "on this very spot the man fell from his +horse--I was behind that bourtree-bush at the very moment. Sair, +sair he strove, and sair he cried for mercy--but he was in the +hands of them that never kenn'd the word!--Now will I show you the +further track--the last time ye travelled it was in these arms." + +She led them accordingly by a long and winding passage almost +overgrown with brushwood, until, without any very perceptible +descent, they suddenly found themselves by the seaside. Meg then +walked very fast on between the surf and the rocks, until she came +to a remarkable fragment of rock detached from the rest. "Here," +she said in a low and scarcely audible whisper, "here the corpse +was found." + +"And the cave," said Bertram, in the some tone, is close beside +it--are you guiding us there?" + +"Yes," said the gipsy in a decided tone. "Bend up both your +hearts--follow me as I creep in--I have placed the firewood so as +to screen you. Bide behind it for a gliff [*Little] till I say, +The hour and the man are baith come; then rin in on him, take his +arms, and bind him till the blood burst frae his finger nails." + +"I will, by my soul," said Henry--"if he is the man I +suppose--Jansen?" + +"Ay, Jansen, Hatteraick, and twenty mair names are his." + +"Dinmont, you must stand by me now," said Bertram, "for this fellow +is a devil." + +"Ye needna doubt that," said the stout yeoman--"but I wish I could +mind a bit prayer or I creep after the witch into that hole that +she's opening--It wad be a sair thing to leave the blessed sun, and +the free air, and gang and, be killed, like a tod that's run to +earth, in a dungeon like that. But, my sooth, they will be +hard-bitten terriers will worry Dandie; so, as I said, deil hae me +if I baulk you." This was uttered in the lowest tone of voice +possible. The entrance was now open. Meg crept in upon her hands +and knees, Bertram followed and Dinmont, after giving a rueful +glance toward the daylight, whose blessings he was abandoning, +brought up the rear. + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + + --Die, prophet! in thy speech; For this, among the rest, + was I ordained. + Henry VI. Part III. + +The progress of the Borderer, who, as we have said,--was the last +of the party, was fearfully arrested by a hand, which caught hold +of his leg as he dragged his long limbs after him in silence and +perturbation through the low and narrow entrance of the +subterranean passage. The steel heart of the bold yeoman had +well-nigh given way, and he suppressed with difficulty a shout, +which, in the defenceless posture and situation which they then +occupied, might have cost all their lives. He contented himself, +however, with extricating his foot from the grasp of the +unexpected follower. Be still," said a voice behind him, releasing +him I am a friend--Charles Hazlewood." + +These words were uttered in a very low voice, but they produced +sound enough to startle Meg Merrilies, who led the van, and who, +having already gained the place where the cavern expanded, had +risen upon her feet. She began, as if to confound any listening +ear, to growl, to mutter, and to sing aloud, and at the same time +to make a bustle among some brushwood which was now heaped in the +cave. + +"Here--beldam--Deyvil's kind," growled the harsh voice of Dirk +Hatteraick from the inside of his den, what makest thou there?" + +"Laying the roughies [*Withered boughs.] to keep the cauld wind +frae a--you, ye desperate do-nae-good--Ye're e'en ower weel off, +and wots na; it will be otherwise soon." + +"Have you brought me the brandy, and any news of my people?" said +Dirk Hatteraick. + +"Here's the flask for ye. Your people-dispersed--broken-- +gone--or cut to ribbands by the red-coats." + +"Der Deyvil!--this coast is fatal to me." + +"Ye may hae mair reason to say sae." + +While this dialogue went forward, Bertram and Dinmont had both +gained the interior of the cave, and assumed an erect position. The +only light which illuminated its rugged and sable precincts was a +quantity of wood burnt to charcoal in an iron grate, such as they +use in spearing salmon by night. On these red embers Hatteraick +from time to time threw a handful of twigs or splintered wood; but +these, even when they blazed up, afforded a light much +disproportioned to the extent of the cavern; and, as its principal +inhabitant lay upon the side of the grate most remote from the +entrance, it was not easy for him to discover distinctly objects +which lay in that direction. The intruders, therefore, whose +number was now augmented unexpectedly to three, stood behind the +loosely-piled branches with little risk of discovery. Dinmont had +the sense' to keep back Hazlewood with one hand till he whispered +to Bertram, "A friend--young Hazlewood." + +It was no time for following up the introduction, and they all +stood as still as the rocks around them, obscured behind the pile +of brushwood, which had been probably placed there to break the +cold wind from the sea, without totally intercepting the supply of +air. The branches. were laid so loosely above each otter, that, +looking through them towards the light of the fire-grate, they +could easily discover what passed in its vicinity, although a much +stronger degree of illumination than it afforded, would not have +enabled the persons placed near the bottom of the cave to have +descried them in the position which they occupied. + +The scene, independent of the peculiar moral interest and personal +danger which attended it, had, from the effect of the light and +shade on the uncommon objects which it exhibited, an appearance +emphatically dismal. The light in the fire-grate was the dark-red +glare of charcoal in a state of ignition, relieved from time to +time by a transient flame of a more vivid or duskier light, as the +fuel with which Dirk Hatteraick fed his fire was better or worse +fitted for his purpose. Now a dark cloud of stifling smoke rose up +to the roof of the cavern, and then lighted into a reluctant and +sullen blaze, which flashed wavering up the pillar of smoke, and +was suddenly rendered brighter and more lively by some drier fuel, +or perhaps some splintered fir-timber, which at once converted the +smoke into flame. By such fitful irradiation, they could see, more +or less distinctly, the form of Hatteraick, whose savage and rugged +cast of features, now rendered yet more ferocious by the +circumstances of his situation, and the deep gloom of his mind, +assorted well with the rugged and broken vault, which rose in a +rude arch over and around him. The form of Meg Merrilies, which +stalked about him, sometimes in the light, sometimes partially +obscured in the smoke or darkness, contrasted strongly with the +sitting figure of Hatteraick as he bent over the flame, and from +his stationary posture was constantly visible to the spectator, +while that of the female flitted around, appearing or disappearing +like a spectre. + +Bertram felt his blood boil at the sight of Hatteraick. He +remembered him well under the name of Jansen, which the smuggler +had adopted after the death of Kennedy; and he remembered also, +that this Jansen, and his mate Brown, the same who was shot at +Woodbourne, had been the brutal tyrants of his infancy. Bertram +knew further, from piercing his own imperfect recollections with +the narratives of Mannering and Pleydell, that this man was the +prime agent in the act of violence which tore him from his family +and country, and had exposed him to so many distresses and +dangers. A thousand exasperating reflections rose within his +bosom; and he could hardly refrain from rushing upon Hatteraick and +blowing his brains out. + +At the same time this would have been no safe adventure. The flame, +as it rose and fell, while it displayed the strong, muscular, and +broad-chested frame of the ruffian, glanced also upon two brace of +pistols in his belt, and upon the hilt of his cutlass: it was not +to be doubted that his desperation was commensurate with his +personal strength and means of resistance. Both, indeed, were +inadequate to encounter the combined power of two such men as +Bertram himself and his friend Dinmont, without reckoning their +unexpected assistant Hazlewood, who was unarmed, and of a lighter +make; but Bertram felt, on a moment's reflection, that there would +be neither sense nor valour in anticipating the hangman's office, +and he considered the importance of making Hatteraick prisoner +alive. He therefore repressed his indignation, and awaited that +should pass between the ruffian and his gipsy guide. + +"And how are ye now?" said the harsh and discordant tones of his +female attendant "Said I not it would come upon you--ay, and in +this very cave, where ye harboured after the deed." + +"Wetter and sturm, ye hag!" replied Hatteraick, "keep your deyvil's +matins till they're wanted. Have you seen Glossin?" + +"No," replied Meg Merrilies. "you've missed your blow, ye +blood-spiller! and ye have nothing to expect from the tempter." + +"Hagel!" exclaimed the ruffian, "if I had him but by the +throat!-and what am I to do then?" + +"Do?" answered the gipsy; "die like a man, or be hanged like a +dog!" + +"Hanged, ye hag of Satan!-the hemp's not sown that shall hang me." + +"lt's sown, and it's grown, and it's heckled, and it's twisted. Did +I not tell ye, when ye wad take away the boy Harry Bertram, in +spite of my prayers,--did I not say he would come back when he had +dree'd his weird in foreign land till his twenty-first year?--Did I +not say the auld fire would burn down to a spark, but wad kindle +again?" + +"Well, mother, you did say so," said Hatteraick in a tone that had +something of despair in its accents; "and, donner and blitzen! I +believe you spoke the truth--that younker of Ellangowan has been a +rock ahead to me all my life! and now, with Glossin's cursed +contrivance, my crew have been cut off, my boats destroyed, and I +dare say the lugger's taken--there were not men enough left on +board to work her, far less to fight her--a dredge-boat might have +taken her. And what will the owners say?--Hagel and sturm! I shall +never dare go back again to Flushing." + +"You'll never need," said the gipsy. + +"What are you doing there," said her companion, "and what makes you +say that?" + +During this dialogue, Meg was heaping some flax loosely together. +Before answer to this question, she dropped a firebrand upon the +flax, which had been previously steeped in some spirituous liquor, +for it instantly caught fire, and rose in a vivid pyramid of the +most brilliant light up to the very top of the vault. As it +ascended, Meg answered the ruffian's question in a firm and steady +voice:-"Because the Hour's come, and the Man." + +At the appointed signal, Bertram and Dinmont sprung over the +brushwood, and rushed upon Hatteraick. Hazlewood, unacquainted +with their plan of assault, was a moment later. The ruffian, who +instantly saw he was betrayed, turned his first vengeance on Meg +Merrilies, at whom he discharged a pistol. She fell, with a +piercing and dreadful cry, between the shriek of pain and the sound +of laughter, when at its highest and most suffocating height. + +"I kenn'd it would be this way," she said. + +Bertram, in his haste, slipped his foot upon the uneven rock which +floored the cave; a fortunate stumble, for Hatteraick's second +bullet whistled over him with so true and steady an aim, that had +he been standing upright, it must have lodged in his brain. Ere +the smuggler could draw another pistol, Dinmont closed with him, +and endeavoured by main force to pinion down his arms. Such, +however, was the wretch's personal strength, joined to the efforts +of his despair, that, in spite of the gigantic force with which the +Borderer grappled him, he dragged Dinmont through the blazing flax, +and had almost succeeded in drawing a third pistol, which might +have proved fatal to the honest farmer, had not Bertram, as well as +Hazlewood, come to his assistance, when, by main force, and no +ordinary exertion of it, they threw Hatteraick on the ground, +disarmed him, and bound him. This scuffle, though it takes up some +time in the narrative, passed in less than a single minute. When +he was fairly mastered, after one or two desperate and almost +convulsionary struggles, the ruffian lay perfectly still and +silent. "He's gaun to die game ony how," said Dinmont; "weel, I +like him na the waur for that." + +This observation honest Dandie made while he was shaking the +blazing flax from his rough coat and shaggy black hair, some of +which had been singed in the scuffle. "He is quiet now," said +Bertram; "stay by him, and do not permit him to stir till I see +whether the poor woman be alive or dead." With Hazlewood's +assistance he raised Meg Merrilies. + +"I kenn'd it would be this way," she muttered, and it's e'en this +way that it should be." + +"The ball had penetrated the breast below the throat. It did not +bleed much externally; but Bertrarn, accustomed to see gun-shot. +wounds, thought it the more alarming. "Good God! what shall we do +for this poor woman?" said he to Hazlewood, the circumstances +superseding the necessity of previous explanation or introduction +to each other. + +"My horse stands tied above in the wood," said Hazlewood. "I have +been watching you these two hours--I will ride off for some +assistants that may be trusted. Meanwhile, you had better defend +the mouth of the cavern against every one till I return." He +hastened away. Bertram, after binding Meg Merrilies's wound as +well as he could, took station near the mouth of the cave with a +cocked pistol in his hand; Dinmont continued to watch Hatteraick, +keeping a grasp, like that of Hercules, on his breast. There was a +dead silence in the cavern, only interrupted by the low and +suppressed moaning of the wounded female, and by the hard breathing +of the prisoner. + + + +CHAPTER LV. + + For though, seduced and led astray, Thou'st travell'd far + and wander'd long, Thy God hath seen thee all the way, And + all the turns that led thee wrong. + The Hall of Justice. + +After the space of about three-quarters of an hour, which the +uncertainty and danger of their situation made seem almost thrice +as long, the voice of young Hazlewood was heard without. "Here I +am," he cried, "with a sufficient party." + +"Come in then," answered Bertram, not a little pleased to find his +guard relieved. Hazlewood then entered, followed by two or three +countrymen, one of whom acted as a peace-officer. They lifted +Hatteraick up, and carried him in their arms as far as the entrance +of the vault was high enough to permit them; then laid him on his +back, and dragged him along as well as they could, for no +persuasion would induce him to assist the transportation by any +exertion of his own. He lay as silent and inactive in their hands +as a dead corpse, incapable of opposing, but in no way aiding, +their operations. When he was dragged into daylight, and placed +erect upon his feet among three or four assistants, who had +remained without the cave, he seemed stupefied and dazzled by the +sudden change from the darkness of his cavern. While others were +superintending the removal of Meg Merrilies, those who remained +with Hatteraick attempted to make him sit down upon a fragment of +rock which lay close upon the high-water mark. A strong shuddering +convulsed his iron frame for an instant, as he resisted their +purpose. "Not there--Hagel!--you would not make me sit There?" + +These were the only words he spoke; but their import, and the deep +tone of horror in which they were uttered, served to show what was +passing in his mind. + +When Meg Merrilies had also been removed from the cavern, with all +the care for her safety that circumstances admitted, they +consulted where she should be carried. Hazlewood had sent for a +surgeon, and proposed that she should be lifted in the meantime to +the nearest cottage. But the patient exclaimed with great +earnestness, "Na, na, na! To the Kaim o' Derncleugh--the Kaim o' +Derncleugh--the spirit will not free itself o' the flesh but +there." + +"You must indulge her, I believe," said Bertram "her troubled +imagination will otherwise aggravate the fever of the wound." + +They bore her accordingly to the vault. On the way her mind seemed +to run more upon the scene which had just passed, than on her own +approaching death. "There were three of them set upon him--I +brought the twasome--but wha was the third?--lt would be himself, +returned to work his airs vengeance!" ' + +It was evident that the unexpected appearance of Hazlewood, whose +person the outrage of Hatteraick left her no time to recognise, had +produced a strong effect on her imagination. She often recurred to +it. Hazlewood accounted for his unexpected arrival to Bertram, by +saying, that he had kept them in view for some time by the +direction of Mannering; that, observing them disappear into the +cave, he had crept after them, meaning to announce himself and his +errand, when his hand in the darkness encountering the leg of +Dinmont, had nearly produced a catastrophe, which, indeed, nothing +but the presence of mind and fortitude of the bold yeoman could +have averted. + +When the gipsy arrived at the hut, she produced the key; and when +they entered, and were about to deposit her upon the bed, she said, +in an anxious tone, "Na, na! not that way, the feet to the east;" +and appeared gratified when they reversed her posture accordingly, +and placed her in that appropriate to dead body. + +"Is there no clergyman near," said Bertram, "to assist this unhappy +woman's devotions?" + +A gentleman, the minister of the parish, who had been Charles +Hazlewood's tutor, had, with many others, caught the alarm, that +the murderer of Kennedy was taken on the spot where the deed had +been done so many years before, and that a woman was mortally +wounded. From curiosity, or rather from the feeling that his duty +called him to scenes of distress, this gentleman had come to the +Kaim of Derncleugh, and now presented himself. The surgeon arrived +at the same time, and was about to probe the wound; but Meg +resisted the assistance of either. "It's no what man can do, that +will heal my body, or save my spirit. Let me speak what I have to +say, and then ye may work your will; I'se be nae hinderance.--But +where's Henry Bertram?"--the assistants, to whom this same had been +long a stranger, gazed upon each other.--"Yes!" she said, in a +stronger and harsher tone, "Isaid Henry Bertram of Ellangowan. +Stand from the light and let me see him." + +All eyes--were turned towards Bertram, who approached the wretched +couch. The wounded woman took hold of his hand. "Look at him," she +said, "all that ever saw his father or his grandfather, and bear +witness if he is not their living image?" A murmur went through the +crowd--the resemblance was too striking to be denied. "And now +hear me--and let that man," pointing to Hatteraick, who was seated +with his keepers on a sea-chest at some distance-" let him deny +what I say, if he can. That is Henry Bertram, son to Godfrey +Bertram, umquhile of Ellangowan; that young man is the very +lad-bairn that Dirk Hatteraick carried off from Warroch Wood the +day that he murdered the gauger. I was there like a wandering +spirit--for I longed to see that wood or we left the country. I +saved the bairn's life, and sair, sair I prigged [*Begged] and +prayed they would leave him wi' me--But they bore him away, and +he's been lang ower the sea, and now he's come for his ain, and +what should withstand him?--I swore to keep the secret till he was +ane-an'-twenty--I kenn'd he believed to dree his weird [*Fulfil his +destiny] till that day cam--I keepit that oath which I took to +them--but I made another vow to mysell, that if I lived to see the +day of his return, I would set him in his father's seat, if every +step was on a dead man. I have keepit that oath too, I will be ae +step mysell--He (pointing to Hatteraick) will soon be another, and +there will be ane mair yet." + +The clergyman, now interposing, remarked it was a pity this +deposition was not regularly taken and written down, and the +surgeon urged the necessity of examining the wound, previously to +exhausting her by questions. When she saw them remove Hatteraick, +in order to clear the room and leave the surgeon to his operations, +she called out aloud, raising herself at the same time upon the +couch, "Dirk Hatteraick, You and I will never meet again until we +are before the judgment-seat-Will ye own to what I have said, or +will you dare deny it?" He turned his hardened brow upon her, with +a look of dumb and inflexible defiance. "Dirk Hatteraick, dare ye +deny, with my blood upon your hands, one word of what my dying +breath is uttering?"--He looked at her with the same expression of +hardihood and dogged stubbornness, and moved his lips, but uttered +no sound. "Then fareweel!" she said, "and God forgive you! Your +hand has sealed my evidence.--When I was in life, I was the mad +randy gipsy, that had been scourged, and banished, and +branded--that had begged from door to door, and been hounded like a +stray tike [*Dog.] from parish to parish--wha would hae minded her +tale?--But now I am a dying woman, and my words will not fall to +the ground, any more than the earth will cover my blood!" + +She here paused, and all left the hut except the surgeon and two or +three women. After a very short examination, he shook his head, +and resigned his post by the dying woman's side to the clergyman. + +A chaise returning empty to Kippletringan had been stopped on the +high-road by a constable, who foresaw it would be necessary to +convey Hatteraick to jail. The driver, understanding what was +going on at Derncleugh, left his horses to the care of a +black-guard boy, confiding, it is to be supposed, rather in the +years and discretion of the cattle, than in those of their keeper, +and set off full speed to see, as he expressed himself, "whaten a +sort o' fun was gaun on." He arrived just as the group of tenants +and peasants, whose numbers increased every moment, satiated with +gazing upon the rugged features of Hatteraick, had turned their +attention towards Bertram. Almost all of them, especially the aged +men who had seen Ellangowan in his better days, felt and +acknowledged the justice of Meg Merrilies's appeal. But the Scotch +are a cautious people; they remembered there was another in +possession of the estate, and they as yet only expressed their +feelings in low whispers to each other. Our friend Jock Jabos, the +postilion, forced his way into the middle of the circle; but no +sooner cast his eyes upon Bertram, than he started back in +amazement, with a solemn exclamation, "As sure as there's breath in +man, it's auld Ellangowan arisen from the dead!" + +This public declaration of an unprejudiced witness was just the +spark wanted to give fire to the popular feeling, which burst forth +in three distinct shouts:--"Bertram forever!"--"Long life to the +heir of Ellangowan!"--"God send him his ain, and to live among us +as his forebears did of yore!" + +"I hae been seventy years an the land," said one person. + +"I and mine hae been seventy and seventy to that said another; "I +have a right to ken the glance of a Bertram." + +"I and mine hae been three hundred years here," said another old +man, "and I sall sell my last cow, but I'll see the young laird +placed in his right." + +The women, ever delighted with the marvellous, and not less so when +a handsome young man is the subject of the tale, added their shrill +acclamations to the general all-hail. "Blessings on him--he's the +very picture o' his father!--the Bertrams were aye the wale o' +the country-side!" + +"Eh! that his puir mother, that died in grief and in doubt about +him, had but--lived to see this day!" exclaimed some female +voices. + +"But we'll help him to his ain, kimmers," cried others; "and before +Glossin sall keep the Place of Ellangowan, we'll howk him out o't +wi' our nails!" + +Others crowded around Dinmont, who was nothing loth to tell what he +knew of his friend, and to boast the honour which he had in +contributing to the discovery. As he was known to several of the +principal farmers present, his testimony afforded an additional +motive to the general enthusiasm. In short, it was one of those +moments of intense feeling, when the frost of the Scottish people +melts like a snow-wreath, and the dissolving torrent carries dam +and dyke before it. + +The sudden shouts interrupted the devotions of the +clergyman; and Meg, who was in one of those dozing fits of +stupefaction that precede the close of existence, suddenly +started-" Dinna ye bear?-dinna ye hear?--he's owned!-he's +owned!--I lived but for this. I am a sinful woman; but if +my curse brought it down, my blessing has taen it off! And +now I wad hae liked to hae said mair. But it canna be. +Stay"--she continued, stretching her head towards the +gleam of light that shot through the narrow slit which +served for a window, "Is he not there?--stand out o' the +light, and let me look upon him ance mair. But the darkness +is in my ain een," she said, sinking back, after an earnest +gaze upon vacuity--"it's a' ended now, + + Pass breath, + Come death." + +And, sinking back upon her couch of' straw, she expired without a +groan. The clergyman and the surgeon carefully noted down all that +she had said, now deeply regretting they had not examined her more +minutely, but both remaining morally convinced of the truth of her +disclosure. + +Hazlewood was the first to compliment Bertram upon the near +prospect of his being restored to his name and rank in society. The +people around, who now learned from Jabos that Bertram was the +person who had wounded him, were struck with his generosity, and +added his name to Bertram's in their exulting acclamations. + +Some, however, demanded of the postilion how he had not recognised +Bertram when he saw him some time before at Kippletringan? to which +he gave the very natural answer,--"Hout, what was I thinking +about Ellangowan then?--It was the cry that was rising e'en now +that the young laird was found, that put tire on finding out the +likeness--There was nae missing it ance ane was set to look for't." + +The obduracy of Hatteraick, during the latter part of this scene, +was in some slight degree shaken. He was observed to twinkle with +his eyelids--to attempt to raise his bound hands for the purpose of +pulling his hat over his brow--to look angrily and impatiently to +the road, as if anxious for the vehicle which was to remove him +from the spot. At length Mr. Hazlewood, apprehensive that the +popular ferment might take a direction towards the prisoner, +directed he should be taken to the post-chaise, and so removed to +the town of Kippletringan to be at Mr. MacMorlan's disposal; at the +same time he sent an express to warn that gentleman of what had +happened. "And now," he said to Bertram, "Ishould be happy if you +would accompany me to Hazlewood House; but as that. might not be +so agreeable just now as I trust it will be in a day or two, you +must allow me to return with you to Woodbourne. But you are on +foot."--"Or if the young laird would take my horse!"--"Or +mine"--"Or mine," said half a dozen voices--"Or mine; he can trot +ten mile an hour without whip or spur, and he's the young--. +laird's frae this moment, if he likes to take him for a herezeld, +[*This hard word is placed in the mouth of one of the aged +tenants. In the old feudal tenures, the herezeld constituted the +best horse or other animal in the vassal's lands, became the right +of the superior. The only remnant of this custom is what is called +the sasine, or a fee of certain estimated value, paid to the +sheriff of the county, who gives possession to the vassals Of the +Crown. ] as they ca'd it lang syne."--Bertram readily accepted the +horse as a loan, and poured forth his thanks to the assembled crowd +for their good wishes, which they repaid with shouts and vows of +attachment. + +While the happy owner was directing one lad to "gae doun for the +new saddle"; another, "just to rin the beast ower wi' a dry wisp o' +strae"; a third, "to hie doun and borrow Dan Dunkieson's plated +stirrups," and expressing his regret, "that there was nae time to +gie the nag a feed, that the young laird might ken his mettle," +Bertram, taking the clergyman by the arm, walked into the vault, +and shut the door immediately after them. He gazed in silence for +some minutes upon the body of Meg Merrilies, as it lay before him, +with the features sharpened by death, yet still retaining the stern +and energetic character, which had maintained in life her +superiority as the wild chieftainess of the lawless people amongst +whom she was born. The young soldier dried the tears which +involuntarily rose on viewing this wreck of one, who might be said +to have died a victim to her fidelity to his person and family. He +then took the clergyman's hand, and asked solemnly, if she appeared +able to give that attention to his devotions which befitted a +departing person. + +"My dear sir," said the good minister, "I trust this poor woman had +remaining sense to feel and join in the import of my prayers. But +let us humbly hope we are judged of by our opportunities of +religious and moral instruction. In some degree she might be +considered as an uninstructed heathen, even in the bosom of a +Christian country; and let us remember, that the errors and vices +of an ignorant life were balanced by instances of disinterested +attachment, amounting almost to heroism. To Him, who can alone +weigh our crimes and errors against our efforts towards virtue, we +consign her with awe, but not without hope." + +"May I request," said Bertram, "that you will see every decent +solemnity attended to in behalf of this poor woman? I have some +property belonging to her in my hands-at all events I will be +answerable for the expense--you will hear of me at Woodbourne." + +Dinmont, who had been furnished with a horse by one of his +acquaintance, now loudly called out that all was ready for their +return; and Bertram and Hazlewood, after a strict exhortation to +the crowd, which was now increased to several hundreds, to preserve +good order in their rejoicing, as the least ungoverned zeal might +be turned to the disadvantage of the young Laird, as they termed +him, took their leave amid the shouts of the multitude. + +As they rode past the ruined cottages at Derncleugh, Dinmont said, +"I'm sure when ye come to your ain, Captain, ye'll no forget to +big [*Build] a bit cot-house there? Deil be in me but I wad dot +mysell, an it werena in better hands.--I wadna like to live in't +though, after what she said. Odd, I wad put in auld Elspeth, the +bedral's [*Beadle's] widow--the like o' them's used wi' graves and +ghaists, and thae things." + +A short but brisk ride brought them to Woodbourne. The news of +their exploit had already flown far and wide, and the whole +inhabitants of the vicinity met them on the lawn with shouts of +congratulation. "That you have seen, me alive," said Bertram to +Lucy, who first ran up to him, though Julia's eyes even anticipated +hers, "you must thank these kind friends." + +With a blush expressing at once pleasure, gratitude, and +bashfulness, Lucy curtsied to Hazlewood, but to Dinmont she frankly +extended her hand. The honest farmer, in the extravagance of his +joy, carried his freedom farther than the hint warranted, for he +imprinted his thanks on the lady's lips, and was instantly shocked +at the rudeness of his own conduct. "Lord-sake, madam, I ask your +pardon," he. said; "I forgot but ye had been a bairn o' my ain--the +Captain's sae hamely, he gars ane forget himsell." + +Old Pleydell now advanced. "Nay, if fees like these are going--" he +said. + +"Stop, stop, Mr. Pleydell," said Julia, "you had your fees +beforehand--remember last night." + +"Why, I do confess a retainer," said the barrister; but if I don't +deserve double fees from both Miss Bertram and you when I conclude +my examination of Dirk Hatteraick tomorrow--Gad, I will so supple +him!--You shall see, Colonel, and you, my saucy misses, though you +may not see, shall hear." + +"Ay, that's if we choose to listen, counsellor," replied Julia. + +"And you think," said Pleydell, "it's two to one you won't choose +that?--But you have curiosity that teaches you the use of your ears +now and then." + +"I declare, counsellor," answered the lively damsel, "that such +saucy bachelors, as you would teach us the use of our fingers now +and then." + +"Reserve them for the harpsichord, my love," said the counsellor. +"Better for all parties." + +While this idle chat ran on, Colonel Mannering introduced to +Bertram a plain good-looking man, in a gray coat and waistcoat, +buckskin breeches, and boots. "This, my dear sir, is Mr. +Mac-Morlan." + +"To whom," said Bertram, embracing him cordially, "my sister was +indebted for a home, when deserted by all her natural friends and +relations." + +The Dominie then pressed forward, grinned, chuckled, made a +diabolical sound in attempting to whistle, and finally, unable to +stifle his emotions, ran away to empty the feelings of his heart at +his eyes. + +We shall not attempt to describe the expansion of heart and glee of +this happy evening. + + + + + +--How like a hateful ape, Detected grinning 'midst his +pilfer'd hoard, A cunning man appears, whose secret frauds +Are open'd to the day! Count +Basil. + +There was a great movement at Woodbourne early on the following +morning, to attend the examination at Kippletringan. Mr. Pleydell, +from the investigation which he had formerly bestowed on the dark +affair of Kennedy's death, as well as from the general deference +due to his professional abilities, was requested by Mr. Mac-Morlan +and Sir Robert Hazlewood, and another justice of peace who +attended, to take the situation of chairman, and the lead in the +examination. Colonel Mannering was invited to sit down with them. +The examination, being previous to trial, was private in other +respects. + +The counsellor resumed and re-interrogated former evidence. He then +examined the clergyman and surgeon respecting the dying declaration +of Meg Merrilies. They stated, that she distinctly, positively, +and repeatedly, declared herself an eye-witness of Kennedy's +"death by the hands of Hatteraick" and two or three of his crew; +that her presence was accidental; that she believed their +resentment at meeting him, when they mere in the act of losing +their vessel through 'the means of his information, led to the +commission of the crime; that she said there was one witness of the +murder, but who refused to participate in it, still alive,--her +nephew, Gabrie Faa; and she had hinted at another person, who was +an accessory after not before, the fact; but her strength there +failed her. They did not forget to mention her declaration, that +she had saved the child, and that he was torn from her by the +smugglers, for the purpose of carrying him to Holland.--All these +particulars were carefully reduced to writing. + +Dirk Hatteraick was then brought in, heavily ironed; for he had +been strictly secured and guarded, owing to his former escape. He +was asked his name; he made no answer--His profession; he was +silent :--Several other questions were put, to none of which he +returned any reply. Pleydell wiped the glasses of his spectacles, +and considered the prisoner very attentively. "A very +truculent-looking fellow," he whispered to Mannering; "but, as +Dogberry says, I'll go cunningly to work with him.--Here, call in +Soles--Soles the shoemaker.--Soles, do you remember measuring +some footsteps imprinted on the mud at the wood of Warroch, +on--November 17--, by my orders?" Soles remembered the +circumstance perfectly. "Look at that paper--is that your note of +the measurement?"--Soles verified the memorandum--"Now, there +stands a pair of shoes on that table; measure them, and see if they +correspond with any of the marks you have noted there." The +shoemaker obeyed, and declared, "that they answered exactly to the +largest of the footprints." + +"We shall prove," said the counsellor, aside to Mannering, "that +these shoes, which were found in the ruins of Derncleugh, belonged +to Brown, the fellow whom you shot on the lawn at Woodbourne.--Now, +Soles, measure that prisoner's feet very accurately." + +Mannering observed Hatteraick strictly, and could notice a visible +tremor. "Do these measurements correspond with any of the +foot-prints?" + +The man looked at the note, then at his foot-rule and measure--then +verified his former measurement by a second. "They correspond," he +said, "within a hair-breadth, to a foot-mark broader and shorter +than the former." + +Hatteraick's genius here deserted him--"Der deyvil!" he broke out, +"how could there be a foot-mark on the ground, when it was a frost +as hard as the heart of a Memel log?" + +"In the evening, I grant you, Captain Hatteraick," said Pleydell, +"but not in the forenoon--will you favour me with information where +you were upon the day you remember so exactly?" + +Hatteraick saw his blunder, and again screwed up his hard +features for obstinate silence--"Put down his observation, +however," said Pleydell to the clerk. + +At this moment the door opened, and, much to the surprise of most +present, Mr. Gilbert Glossin made his appearance. That worthy +gentleman had, by dint of watching and eavesdropping, ascertained +that he was not mentioned by name in Meg Merrilies's dying +declaration, a circumstance, certainly not owing to any favourable +disposition towards him, but to the delay of taking her regular +examination, and to the rapid approach of death. He therefore +supposed himself safe from all evidence but such as might arise +from Hatteraick's confession; to prevent which he resolved to push +a bold face, and join his brethren of the bench during his +examination.--"I shall be able," he thought, "to make the rascal +sensible his safety lies in keeping his own counsel and mine; and +my presence, besides, will be a proof of confidence and innocence. +If I must lose the estate, I must--but I trust better things." + +He entered with a profound salutation to Sir Robert Hazlewood. Sir +Robert, who had rather begun to suspect that his plebeian neighbour +had made a cat's-paw of him, inclined his head stiffly, took snuff, +and looked another way. + +"Mr. Corsand," said Glossin to the other yoke-fellow of justice, +"your most humble servant." + +"Your humble servant, Mr. Glossin," answered Mr. Corsand dryly, +composing his countenance regis ad exemplar, that is to say, after +the fashion of the Baronet. + +"Mac-Morlan, my worthy friend," continued Glossin, how d'ye +do--always on your duty--?" + +"Umph," said honest Mac-Morlan, with little respect either to the +compliment or salutation. "Colonel Mannering (a low bow slightly +returned) and Mr. Pleydell (another low bow), I dared not have +hoped for your assistance to poor country gentlemen at this period +of the session." + +Pleydell took snuff, and eyed him with a glance equally shrewd and +sarcastic--"I'll teach him," he said aside to Mannering, "the value +of the old admonition, No accesseris in consilium antequam +voceris." + +"But perhaps I intrude, gentlemen?" said Glossin, who could not +fail to observe the coldness of his reception.--"Is this an open +meeting?" + +"For my part," said Mr. Pleydell, "so far from considering your +attendance as an intrusion, Mr. Glossin, I was never so pleased in +my life to meet with you; especially as I think we should, at any +rate, have had occasion to request the favour of your company in +the course of the day." + +"Well, then, gentlemen," said Glossin, drawing his chair to the +table, and beginning to bustle about among the papers, "where are +we?--how far have we got? where are the declarations?" + +"Clerk, give me all these papers," said Mr. Pleydell;--"I have an +odd way of arranging my documents, Mr. Glossin, another person +touching them puts me out-but I shall have occasion for your +assistance by and by." + +Glossin, thus reduced to inactivity, stole one glance at Dirk +Hatteraick, but could read nothing in his dark scowl save malignity +and hatred to all around. "But, gentlemen," said Glossin, "is it +right to keep his poor man so heavily ironed, when he is taken up +merely for examination?" + +This was hoisting a kind of friendly signal to the prisoner. "He +has escaped once before," said Mac-Morlan dryly, and Glossin was +silenced. + +Bertram was now introduced, and, to Glossin's confusion, was +greeted in the most friendly manner by all present, even by Sir +Robert Hazlewood himself. He told his recollections of, his +infancy with that candour and caution of expression which afforded +the best warrant for his good faith. "This seems to be rather a +civil, than a criminal question", said Glossin rising; "and as you +cannot be ignorant, gentlemen, of the effect which this young +person's pretended parentage may have on my patrimonial interest, I +would rather beg leave to retire." + +"No, my good sir," said Mr. Pleydell. "we can by no means spare +you. But why do you call this young man's claims pretended?--I +don't mean to fish for your defences against them, if you have any, +but--" + +"Mr. Pleydell," replied Glossin, "Iam always disposed to act +aboveboard, and I think I can explain the matter at once.--This +young fellow, whom I take to be a natural son of the late +Ellangowan, has gone about the country for some weeks under +different names, caballing with a wretched old madwoman, who, I +understand, was shot in a late scuffle, and with other tinkers, +gipsies, and persons of that description, and a great brute farmer +from Liddesdale, stirring up the tenants against their landlords, +which, as Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood knows--" + +"Not to interrupt you, Mr. Glossin," said Pleydell, "I ask who you +say this young man is?" + +"Why, I say," replied Glossin, "and I believe that gentleman +(looking at Hatteraick) knows, that the young man is the natural +son of the late Ellangowan, by a girl called Janet Lightoheel, who +was afterwards married to Hewit the shipwright, that lived in the +neighbourhood of Annan. His name is Godfrey Bertram Hewit, by +which name he was entered on board the Royal Caroline excise +yacht." + +"Ay said Pleydell, that is a very likely story--but, not to pause +upon some difference of eyes, complexion, and so forth--be pleased +to step forward, sir."--A young seafaring man came +forward.--"Here," proceeded the counsellor, "is the real Simon +Pure--here's Godfrey Bertram Hewit, arrived last night from Antigua +via Liverpool, mate of a West Indian, and in a fair way of doing +well in the world, although he came somewhat irregularly into it." + +While some conversation passed between the other justices and this +young man, Pleydell lifted from among the papers on the table +Hatteraick's old pocket-book. A peculiar glance of the smuggler's +eye induced the shrewd lawyer to think there was something here of +interest. He therefore continued the examination of the papers, +laying the book on the table, but instantly perceived that the +prisoner's interest in the research had cooled.--"It must be in the +book still, whatever it is," thought Pleydell; and again applied +himself to the packet-book, until he discovered, on a narrow +scrutiny, a slit between the pasteboard and leather, out of which +he drew three small slips of paper. Pleydell now, turning to +Glossin, requested the favour that he would tell them if he had +assisted at the search for the body of Kennedy, and the child of +his patron, on the day when they disappeared. + +"I did not--that is--I did," answered the conscience-struck +Glossin. + +"It is remarkable though," said the advocate, that, connected as +you were with the Ellangowan family, I don't recollect your being +examined, or even appearing before me, while that investigation was +proceeding?" + +"I was called to London," answered Glossin, "on most important +business, the morning after that sad affair." + +"Clerk," said Pleydell, "minute down that reply.--I presume the +business, Mr. Glossin, was to negotiate these three bills, drawn by +you on Messrs. Vanbeest and Vanbruggen, and accepted by one Dirk +Hatteraick in their name on the very day of the murder. I +congratulate you on their being regularly retired, as I perceive +they have been. I think the chances were against it." Glossin's +countenance fell. "This piece of real evidence," continued Mr. +Pleydell, "makes good the account given of your conduct on this +occasion by a man called Gabriel Faa, whom we have now in custody, +and who witnessed the whole transaction between you and that worthy +prisoner--Have you any explanation to give?" + +"Mr. Pleydell," said Glossin, with great composure, presume, if you +were my counsel, you would not advise me to answer upon the spur of +the moment to a charge which the basest of mankind seem ready to +establish by perjury." + +"My advice," said the counsellor, "would be regulated by my opinion +of your innocence or guilt. In your case, I believe you take the +wisest course; but you are aware you must stand committed?" + +"Committed? for what, sir replied Glossin. "Upon a charge of +murder?" + +"No; only as art and part of kidnapping the child." + +"That is a bailable offence." + +"Pardon me," said Pleydell, "it is plagium, and plagium is felony." + +"Forgive me, Mr. Pleydell; there is only one case upon record, +Torrence and Waldie. They were, you remember, resurrection-women, +who had promised to procure a child's body for some young +surgeons. Being upon honour to their employers, rather than +disappoint the evening lecture of the students, they stole a live +child, murdered it, and sold the body for three shillings and +sixpence. They were hanged, but for the murder, not for the +plagium. [*This is, in its circumstances and issue, actually a case +tried and reported] Your civil law has carried you a little too +far." + +"Well, sir; but, in the meantime, Mr. Mac-Morlan must commit you to +the county jail, in case this young man repeats the same +story.--Officers, remove Mr. Glossin and Hatteraick, and guard +them in different apartments." + +Gabriel, the gipsy, was then introduced, and gave a distinct +account of his deserting from Captain Pritchard's vessel and +joining the smugglers in the action, detailed how Dirk Hatteraick +set fire to his ship when he found her disabled, and under cover of +the smoke escaped with his crew, and as much goods as they could +save, into the cavern, where they proposed to lie till nightfall. +Hatteraick himself, his mate Vanbeest Brown, and three others, of +whom the declarant was 'one, went into the adjacent woods to +communicate with some of their friends in the neighbourhood. They +fell in with Kennedy unexpectedly, and Hatteraick and Brown, aware +that he was the occasion of their disasters, resolved to murder +him. He stated, that he had seen them lay violent hands on the +officer, and drag him through the woods, but had not partaken in +the assault, nor witnessed its termination. That he returned to +the cavern, by a different route, where he again met Hatteraick and +his accomplices; and the captain was in the act of giving an +account how he and Brown had pushed a huge crag over, as Kennedy +lay groaning on the beach, when Glossin suddenly appeared among +them. To the whole transaction by which Hatteraick purchased his +secrecy he was witness. Respecting young Bertram. he could give a +distinct account till he went to India, after which he had lost +sight of him until he unexpectedly met with him in Liddesdale. +Gabriel Faa further stated, that he instantly sent notice to his +aunt, Meg Merrilies, as well as to Hatteraick, who he knew was then +upon the coast; but that he had incurred his aunt's displeasure +upon the latter account. He concluded, that his aunt had +immediately declared that she would do all that lay in her power to +help young Ellangowan to his right, even if it should be by +informing against Dirk Hatteraick; and that many of her people +assisted her besides himself, from a belief that she was gifted +with supernatural inspirations. With the same purpose, he +understood, his aunt had given to Bertram the treasure of the +tribe, of which she had the custody. Three or four gipsies, by the +express command of Meg Merrilies, mingled in the crowd when the +Custom-house was attacked, for the purpose of liberating Bertram, +which he had himself effected. He said, that in obeying Meg's +dictates they did not pretend to estimate their propriety or +rationality, the respect in which she was held by her tribe +precluding all such subjects of speculation. Upon further +interrogation, the witness added, that his aunt had always said +that Harry Bertram carried that round his neck which would +ascertain his birth. It was a spell, she said that an Oxford +scholar had made for him, and she possessed the smugglers with an +opinion, that to deprive him of it would occasion the loss of the +vessel. + +Bertram here produced a small velvet bag, which he said he had worn +round his neck from his earliest infancy, and which he had +preserved, first from superstitious reverence, and, latterly, from +the hope that it might serve one day to aid in the discovery of his +birth. The bag, being opened, was found to contain a blue silk +case, front which was drawn a scheme of nativity. Upon inspecting +this paper, Colonel Mannering instantly admitted it was his own +composition; and afforded the strongest and most satisfactory +evidence, that the possessor of it must necessarily be the young +heir of Ellangowan, by avowing his having first appeared in that +country in the character of an astrologer. + +"And now," said Pleydell, "make out warrants of commitment for +Hatteraick and Glossin until liberated in due course of law. Yet," +he said, "I am sorry for Glossin." + +"Now, I think," said Mannering, "he's incomparably the least +deserving of pity of the two. The other's a bold fellow, though as +hard as flint." + +"Very natural, Colonel," said the advocate, "that you should be +interested in the ruffian, and I in the knave--that's all +professional taste--but I can tell you Glossin would have been a +pretty lawyer, had he not had such a turn for the roguish part of +the profession." + +"Scandal would say," observed Mannering, "he might not be the worse +lawyer for that." + +"Scandal would tell a lie, then," replied Pleydell, "'as she +usually does. Law's like laudanum; it's much more easy to use it +as a quack does, than to learn to apply it like a physician." + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + + Unfit to live or die--O marble heart! + After him, fellows, drag him to the block. + Measure for Measure + +The jail at the county town of the shire of--was one of those +old-fashioned dungeons which disgraced Scotland until of late +years. When the prisoners and their guard arrived there, +Hatteraick, whose violence and strength were well known, was +secured in what was called the condemned ward. This was a large +apartment near the top of the prison. A round bar of iron, about +the thickness of a man's arm above the elbow, crossed the apartment +horizontally at the height of about six inches from the floor; and +its extremities were strongly built into the wall at either end. +Hatteraick's ankles were secured within shackles, which were +connected by a chain at the distance of about four feet, with a +large iron ring, which travelled upon the bar we have described. +Thus a prisoner might shuffle along the length of the bar from one +side of the room to another, but could not retreat farther from it +in any other direction than the brief length of the chain +admitted. [*This mode of securing prisoners was universally +practised in Scotland after condemnation. When a man received +sentence of death, he was put upon the Gad, as it was called, that +is, secured to the bar of iron in the manner mentioned in the +text. The practice subsisted in Edinburgh till the old jail was +taken down some years since, and perhaps may be still in use.] When +his feet had been thus secured, the keeper removed his handcuffs, +and left his person at liberty in other respects. A pallet-bed +was placed close to the bar of iron, so that the shackled prisoner +might lie down at pleasure, still fastened to the iron bar in the +manner described. + +Hatteraick had not been long in this place of confinement before +Glossin arrived at the same prison-house. In respect to his +comparative rank and education, he was not ironed, but placed in a +decent apartment, under the inspection of MacGuffog, who, since the +destruction of the Bridewell of Portanferry by the mob, had acted +here as an under-turnkey. When Glossin was enclosed within this +room, and had solitude and leisure to calculate all the chances +against him and in his favour, he could not prevail upon himself to +consider the game as desperate. + +"The estate is lost," he said, "that must go; and, between Pleydell +and Mac-Morlan, they'll cut down my claim on it to a trifle. My +character--but if I get off with life and liberty, I'll win money +yet, and varnish that over again. I knew not the gauger's job +until the rascal had done the deed, and though I had some +advantage by the contraband, that is no felony. But the kidnapping +of the boy-there they touch me closer. Let me see.--This Bertram +was a child at the time-his evidence must be imperfect--the other +fellow is a deserter, a gipsy, and an outlaw--Meg Merrilies, d-n +her, is dead. These infernal bills! Hatteraick brought them with +him, I suppose, to have the means of threatening me, or extorting +money from me. I must endeavour to see the rascal;--must get him +to stand steady; must persuade him to put some other colour upon +the business." + +His mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former +villainy, he spent the time in arranging and combining them until +the hour of supper. Mac-Guffog attended as turnkey on this +occasion. He. was, as we know, the old and special acquaintance +of the prisoner who was now under his charge. After giving the +turnkey a glass of brandy, and sounding him with one or two +cajoling speeches, Glossin made it his request that he would help +him, to an interview with Dirk Hatteraick. "Impossible! utterly +impossible! it's contrary to the express orders of Mr. Mac-Morlan, +and the captain" (as the head jailor of a county jail is called in +Scotland)" would never forgie me." + +"But why should he know of it?" said Glossin, slipping a couple of +guineas into Mac-Guffog's hand. + +The turnkey weighed the gold, and looked sharp at Glossin. "Ay, ay, +Mr. Glossin, ye ken the ways o' this place.--Lookee, at lock-up +hour, I'll return and bring ye upstairs to him--But ye must stay a' +night in his cell, for I am under necessity to carry the keys to +the captain for the night, and I cannot let you out again until +morning--then I'll visit the wards half an hour earlier than usual, +and ye may get out, and be snug in your ain berth when the captain +gangs his rounds." + +When the hour of ten had pealed from the neighbouring steeple, +Mac-Guffog came prepared with a small dark lantern. He said softly +to Glossin, "Slip your shoes off, and follow me." When Glossin was +out of the door, Mac-Guffog, as if in the execution of his ordinary +duty, and speaking to a prisoner within, called aloud, "Good-night +to you, sir," and locked the door, clattering the bolts with much +ostentatious noise. He then guided Glossin up a steep and narrow +stair, at the top of which was the door of the condemned ward; he +unbarred and unlocked it, and, giving Glossin the lantern, made a +sign to him to enter, and locked the door behind him with the same +affected accuracy. + +In the large dark cell into which he was thus introduced, Glossin's +feeble light for some time enabled him to discover nothing. At +length he could dimly distinguish the pallet-bed stretched on the +floor beside the great iron bar which traversed the room, and on +that pallet reposed the figure of a man. Glossin approached him. +"Dirk Hatteraick!" + +"Donner and hagel! it is his voice," said the prisoner, sitting up, +and clashing his fetters as he rose; "then my dream is +true!--Begone, and leave me to myself--it will be your best." + +"What! my good friend," said Glossin, "will you allow the prospect +of a few weeks' confinement to depress your spirit?" + +"Yes," answered the ruffian sullenly--"when I am only to be +released by a halter!--Let me alone--go about your business, and +turn the lamp from my face!" + +"Psha! my dear Dirk, don't be afraid," said Glossin--"I have a +glorious plan to make all right." + +"To the bottomless pit with your plans!" replied his accomplice. +"You have planned me out of ship, cargo, and life; and I dreamt +this moment that Meg Merrilies dragged you here by the hair, and +gave me the long clasped knife she used to wear--you don't know +what she said. Sturm wetter! it will be your wisdom not to tempt +me!" + +"But, Hatteraick, my good friend, do but rise and speak to me," +said Glossin. + +"I will not!" answered the savage doggedly--"you have caused all +the mischief; you would not let Meg keep the boy; she would have +returned him after he had forgot all." + +"Why, Hatteraick, you are turned driveller!" + +"Wetter! will you deny that all that cursed attempt at Portanferry, +which lost both sloop and crew, was your device for your own job?" + +"But the goods, you know--" + +"Curse the goods!" said the smuggler,--"we could have got plenty +more; but, der deyvil! to lose the ship and the fine follows, and +my own life, for a cursed coward villain, that always works his own +mischief with other people's hands! Speak to me no more--I'm +dangerous." + +"But, Dirk--but, Hatteraick, hear me only a few words." + +"Hagel! nein." + +"Only one sentence." + +"Tausand curses--nein!" + +"At least get up for an obstinate Dutch brute!" said Glossin, +losing his temper, and pushing Hatteraick with his foot. + +"Donner and blitzen!" said Hatteraick, springing up and grappling +with him; "you will have it then?" + +Glossin struggled and resisted; but, owing to his surprise at the +fury of the assault, so ineffectually, that he fell: under +Hatteraick, the back part of his neck coming full upon the iron bar +with stunning violence. The death-grapple continued. The room +immediately below the condemned ward, being that of Glossin, was, +of course, empty; but the inmates of the second apartment beneath +felt the shock of Glossin's heavy fall, and heard a noise as of +struggling and of groans. But all sounds of horror were too +congenial to this place to excite much curiosity or interest. + +In the morning, faithful to his promise, Mac-Guffog came--"Mr. +Glossin," said be, in, a whispering voice. + +"Call louder," answered Dirk Hatteraick. + +"Mr. Glossin, for God's sake come away!" + +"He'll hardly do that without help," said Hatteraick. + +"What are you chattering there for, Mac-Guffog?" called out the +captain from below. + +"Come away, for God's sake. Mr. Glossin!" repeated the. turnkey. + +At this moment the jailor made his appearance with a light. Great +was his surprise, and even horror, to observe Glossin's body lying +doubled across the iron bar, in a posture that excluded all idea of +his being alive. Hatteraick was quietly stretched upon his pallet +within a yard of his victim. On lifting Glossin, it was found he +had been dead for some hours. His body bore uncommon marks of +violence. The spine where it joins the skull had received severe +injury by his first fall. There were distinct marks of +strangulation about the throat, which corresponded with the +blackened state of his face. The head was turned backward over the +shoulder, as if the neck had been wrung round with desperate +violence. So that it would seem that his inveterate antagonist had +fixed a fatal gripe upon the wretch's throat, and never quitted it +while life lasted. The lantern, crushed and broken to pieces, lay +beneath the body. + +Mac-Morlan was in the town, and came instantly to examine the +corpse. "What brought Glossin here?" he said to Hatteraick. + +"The devil!" answered the ruffian. + +"And what did you do to him?" + +"Sent him to hell before me!" replied the miscreant. + +"Wretch," said Mac-Morlan, "you have crowned a life spent without a +single virtue, with the murder of your own miserable accomplice!" + +"Virtue?" exclaimed the prisoner; "donner! I was always faithful to +my shipowners--always accounted for cargo to the last stiver. Hark +ye! let me have pen and ink, and I'll write an account of the whole +to our house; and leave me alone a couple of hours, will ye--and +let them take away that piece of carrion, donner wetter!" + +Mac-Morlan deemed it the best way to humour the savage; he was +furnished with writing materials and left alone. When they again +opened the door, it was found that this determined villain had +anticipated justice. He had adjusted a cord taken from the +truckle-bed, and attached it to a bone, the relic of his +yesterday's dinner, which he had contrived to drive into a crevice +between two stones in the wall at a height as great as he could +reach, standing upon the bar. Having fastened the noose, he had +the resolution to drop his body as if to fall on his knees, and to +retain that posture until resolution was no longer necessary. The +letter he had written to his owners, though chiefly upon the +business of their trade, contained many allusions to the younker of +Ellangowan, as he called him, and afforded absolute confirmation of +all Meg Merrilies and her nephew had told. + +To dismiss the catastrophe of these two wretched men, I shall only +add, that Mac-Guffog was turned out of office, notwithstanding his +declaration (which he offered to attest by oath), that he had +locked Glossin safely in his own room upon the night preceding his +being found dead in Dirk Hatteraick's cell. His story, however, +found faith with the worthy Mr. Skreigh, and other lovers of, the +marvellous, who still hold that the Enemy of Mankind brought these +two wretches together upon that night, by supernatural +interference, that they might fill up the cup of their guilt and +receive its meed, by murder and suicide. + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + + To sum the whole-the close of all. + DEAN SWIFT. + +As Glossin died without heirs, and without payment of the price, +the estate of Ellangowan was again thrown upon the hands of Mr. +Godfrey Bertram's creditors, the right of most of whom was however +defensible, in case Henry Bertram should establish his character of +heir of entail. This young gentleman put his affairs into the +hands of Mr. Pleydell and Mr. Mac-Morlan, with one single proviso, +that though he himself should be obliged again to go to India, +every debt, justly and honourably due by his father, should be made +good to the claimant. Mannering, who heard this declaration, +grasped him kindly by the hand, and from that moment might be dated +a thorough understanding between them. + +The hoards of Miss Margaret Bertram, and the liberal assistance of +the Colonel, easily enabled the heir to make provision for payment +of the just creditors of his father, while the ingenuity and +research of his law friends detected, especially in the accounts of +Glossin, so many overcharges as greatly diminished the total +amount. In these circumstances the creditors did not hesitate to +recognise Bertram's right, and to surrender to him the house and +property of his ancestors. All the party repaired from Woodbourne +to take possession, amid the shouts of the tenantry and the +neighbourhood; and so eager was Colonel Mannering to superintend +certain improvements which he had recommended to Bertram, that he +removed with his family from Woodbourne to Ellangowan, although at +present containing much less and much inferior accommodation. + +The poor Dominie's brain was almost turned with joy on returning to +his old habitation. He posted upstairs, taking three steps at +once, to a little shabby attic, his cell and dormitory in former +days, and which the possession of his much superior apartment at +Woodbourne had never banished from his memory. Here one sad +thought suddenly struck the honest man--the books!--no three rooms +in Ellangowan were capable to contain them. While this qualifying +reflection was passing through his mind, he was suddenly summoned +by Mannering to assist in calculating some proportions relating to +a large and splendid house, which was to be built on the site of +the New Place of Ellangowan, in a style corresponding to the +magnificence of the ruins in its vicinity. Among the various rooms +in the plan, the Dominie observed, that one of the largest . vas +entitled THE LIBRARY; and close beside was a snug well-proportioned +chamber, entitled, MR. SAMPSON'S APARTMENT.--"Prodigious, +prodigious, pro-di-gi-ous!" shouted the enraptured Dominie. + +Mr. Pleydell had left the party for some time; but he returned, +according to promise, during the Christmas recess of the courts. +He drove up to Ellangowan when all the family were abroad but the +Colonel, who was busy with plans of buildings and pleasure-grounds, +in which he was well skilled, and took great delight. + +"Ah ha!" said the counsellor, "so here you are! Where are the +ladies? where is the fair Julia?" + +"Walking out with young Haziewood, Bertram, and Captain Delaserre, +a friend of his, who is with us just now. They are gone to plan +out a cottage at Derncleugh. Well, have you carried through your +law business?" + +"With a wet finger," answered the lawyer; "got our youngster's +special service retoured into Chancery. We had him served heir +before the macers." + +"Macers? who are they?" + +"Why, it is a kind of judicial Saturnalia. You must know, that one +of the requisites to be a macer, or officer in attendance upon our +supreme court, is, that they shall be men of no knowledge." + +"Very well!" + +"Now, our Scottish legislature, for the joke's sake I suppose, have +constituted those men of no knowledge into a peculiar court for +trying questions of relationship and descent, such as this business +of Bertram, which often involve the most nice and complicated +questions of evidence." + +"The devil they have? I should think that rather inconvenient," +said Mannering. + +"Oh, we have a practical remedy for the theoretical absurdity. One +or two of the judges act upon such occasions as prompters and +assessors to their own doorkeepers. But you know what Cujacius +says, 'Multa sunt in moribus dissentanea, multa sine ratione.' +[*The singular inconsistency hinted at is now, in a great degree, +removed] However, this Saturnalian court has done our business; and +a glorious batch of claret we had afterwards at Walker's. +Mac-Morlan will stare when he sees the bill." + +"Never fear," said the Colonel, "we'll face the shock, and +entertain the county at my friend Mrs. Mac-Candlish's to boot." + +"And choose Jock Jabos for your master of horse?" replied the +lawyer. + +"Perhaps I may." + +"And where is Dandie, the redoubted Lord of Liddesdale?" demanded +the advocate. + +"Returned to his mountains; but he has promised Julia to make a +descent in summer, with the good wife, as he calls her, and I don't +know how many children." + +"Oh, the curly-headed varlets! I must come to play at Blind Harry +and Hy Spy with them.--But what is all this?" added Pleydell, +taking up the plans;--"tower in the centre to be an imitation of +the Eagle Tower at Caernarvon--corps de logis--the +devil!--wings--wings? why, the house will take the estate of +Ellangowan on its back, and fly away with it!" + +"Why then, we must ballast it with a few bags of Sicca rupees," +replied the Colonel. + +"Aha! sits the wind there? Then I suppose the young dog carries off +my mistress Julia?" + +"Even so, counsellor." + +"These rascals, the post-nati, get the better of us of the old +school at every turn," said Mr. Pleydell. "But she must convey +and make over her interest in me to Lucy." + +"To tell you the truth, I am afraid your flank will be turned there +too," replied the Colonel. + +"Indeed?" + +"Here has been Sir Robert Hazlewood," said Mannering, "upon a visit +to Bertram, thinking, and deeming, and opining--" + +"O Lord I pray spare me the worthy Baronet's triads!" + +"Well, sir," continued Mannering to make short, he conceived that +as the property of Singleside lay like a wedge between two farms of +his, and was four or five miles separated from Ellangowan, +something like a sale, or exchange, or arrangement might take +place. to the mutual convenience of both parties." + +"Well, and Bertram--" + +"Why, Bertram replied, that he considered the original settlement +of Mrs. Margaret Bertram as the arrangement most proper in the +circumstances of the family, and that therefore the estate of +Singleside was the property of his sister." + +"The rascal!" said Pleydell, wiping his spectacles, "he'll steal my +heart as well as my mistress--Et puis?" + +"And then, Sir Robert retired after many gracious speeches; but +last week he again took the field in force, with his coach and six +horses, his laced scarlet waistcoat, and best bob-wig--all very +grand, as the good-boy books say." + +"Ay! and what was his overture?" Why, he talked with great form of +an attachment on the part of Charles Hazlewood to Miss Bertram." + +"Ay, ay; he respected the little god Cupid when he saw him perched +on the Dun of Singleside. And is poor Lucy to keep house with that +old fool and his wife, who is just the knight himself in +petticoats?" + +"No--we parried that. Singieside House is to be repaired for the +young people, and to be called hereafter Mount Hazlewood." + +"And do you yourself, Colonel, propose to continue at Woodbourne?" + +"Only till we carry these plans into effect. See, here's the plan +of my Bungalow, with all convenience for being separate and sulky +when I please." + +"And, being situated, as I see, next door to the old castle, you +may repair Donagild's tower for the nocturnal contemplation of the +celestial bodies? Bravo, Colonel!" + +"No, no, my dear counsellor! here ends THE ASTROLOGER." + + + +NOTES + +Note, 1.--MUMPS'S HA'. + +IT is fitting to explain to the reader the locality described in +this chapter. There is, or rather I should say there was, a little +inn, called Mumps's Hall, that is, being interpreted, Beggar's +Hotel, near to Gilsland, which had not then attained its present +fame as a Spa. It was a hedge alehouse, where the Bolder farmers +of either country often stopped to refresh themselves and their +nags, in their way to and from the fairs and trysts in Cumberland, +and especially those who came from or went to Scotland, through a +barren and lonely district, without either road or pathway, +emphatically called the Waste of Bewcastle. At the period when the +adventures described in the novel are supposed to have taken place, +there were many instances of attacks by freebooters on those who +travelled through this wild, district, and Mumps's Ha' had a bad +reputation for harbouring the banditti who committed such +depredations. + +An old and sturdy yeoman belonging to the Scottish side, by surname +an Armstrong or Elliot, but known by his soubriquet of Fighting +Charlie of Liddesdale, and still remembered for the courage he +displayed in the frequent frays which took place on the Border +fifty or sixty years since, had the following adventure in the +Waste, which suggested the idea of the scene in the text . + +Charlie had been at Stagshaw-bank fair, had sold his sheep or +cattle, or whatever he had brought to market, and was on his return +to Liddesdale. There were then no country banks where cash could +be deposited, and bills received instead, which greatly encouraged +robbery in that wild country, as the objects of plunder were +usually fraught with gold. The robbers had spies in the fair, by +means of whom they generally knew whose purse was best stocked, and +who took a lonely and desolate road homeward,--those, in short, who +were best worth robbing, and likely to be most easily robbed. + +All this Charlie knew full well; but he had a pair of excellent +pistols, and a dauntless heart. He stopped at Mumps's Ha', +notwithstanding the evil character of the place. His horse was +accommodated where it might have the necessary rest and feed of +corn; and Charlie himself, a dashing fellow, grew gracious with the +landlady, a buxom quean, who used all the influence in her power to +induce him to stop all night. The landlord was from home, she +said, and it was ill passing the Waste, as twilight must needs +descend on him before he gained the Scottish side, which was +reckoned the safest. But Fighting Charlie, though he suffered +himself to be detained later than was prudent, did not account +Mumps's Ha' a safe place to quarter in during the night. He tore +himself away, therefore, from Meg's good fare and kind words, and +mounted his nag, having first examined his pistols, and tried by +the ramrod whether the charge remained in them. + +He proceeded a mile or two, at a round trot, When, as the Waste +stretched black before him apprehensions began to awaken in his +mind, partly arising out of Meg's unusual kindness, which he could +not help thinking had rather a suspicious appearance. He, +therefore, resolved to reload his pistols, lest the powder had +become damp; but what was his surprise, when he drew the charge, to +find neither powder nor ball, while each barrel had been carefully +filled with bore, up to the space which the loading had occupied! +and, the priming of the weapons being left untouched, nothing but +actually drawing and examining the charge could have discovered the +inefficiency of his arms till the fatal minute arrived when their +services were required. Charlie bestowed a hearty Liddesdale curse +on his landlady, and reloaded--his pistols with care and accuracy, +having now no doubt that he was to be waylaid and assaulted. He +was not far engaged in the Waste, which was then, and is now, +traversed only by such routes as are described in the text, when +two or three fellows, disguised and variously armed, started from a +moss-hag, while, by a glance behind him for, marching, as the +Spaniard says, with his beard on his shoulder, he reconnoitred in +every direction, Charlie instantly saw retreat was impossible, as +other two stout men appeared behind him at some distance. The +Borderer lost not a moment in taking his resolution, and boldly +trotted against his enemies in front, who called loudly on him to +stand and deliver; Charlie spurred on, and presented his pistol. +"D-n your pistol," cried the foremost robber; whom Charlie to his +dying day protested he believed to have been the landlord of +Mumps's Ha'. "D-n your pistol--care not a curse for it."--"Ay, +lad," said the deep voice of Fighting Charlie, "but the tow's out +now." He had no occasion to utter another word; the rogues, +surprised at finding a man of redoubted courage well armed, instead +of being defenceless, took to the moss in every direction, and he +passed on his way without further molestation. + +The author has heard this story told by persons who received it +from Fighting Charlie himself; he has also heard that Mumps's Ha' +was afterwards the scene of some other atrocious villainy, for +which the people of the house suffered. But these are all tales of +at least half a century old, and the Waste has been for many years +as safe as any place in the kingdom. + +Note II.--DANDIE DINMONT. + +The author may here remark, that the character of Dandie Dinmont +was drawn from no individual. A dozen, at least, of stout +Liddesdale yeomen with whom he has been acquainted, and whose +hospitality he has shared in his rambles through that wild country, +at a time when it was totally inaccessible save in the manner +described in the text, might lay claim to be the prototype of the +rough, but faithful. hospitable, and generous farmer. But one +circumstance occasioned the name to be fixed upon a most +respectable individual of this class, now no more. Mr. James +Davidson of Hindlee, a tenant of Lord Douglas, besides the points +of blunt honesty, personal strength, and hardihood, designed to he +expressed in the character of Dandie Dinmont, had the humour of +naming a celebrated race of terriers which he, possessed, by the +generic names of Mustard and Pepper (according as their colour was +yellow, or grayish-black), without any other individual +distinction, except as according to the nomenclature in the text. +Mr. Davidson resided at Hindlee, a wild farm, on the very edge of +the Teviotdale mountains, and bordering close an Liddesdale, where +the rivers and brooks divide as they take their course to the +Eastern and Western seas. His passion for the chase, in all its +forms, but especially for fox-hunting, as followed in the fashion +described in the next chapter, in conducting which he was skilful +beyond most men in the South Highlands, was the distinguishing +point in his character. + +When the tale on which these comments are written became rather +popular, the name of Dandie Dinmont was generally given to him, +which Mr. Davidson received with great good humour, only saying, +while he distinguished the author by the name applied to him in the +country, where his own is so common--"that the Sheriff had not +written about him mair than about other folk, but only about his +dogs." An English lady of high rank and fashion being desirous to +possess a brace of the celebrated Mustard and Pepper terriers, +expressed her wishes in a letter, which was literally addressed to +Dandie Dinmont, under which very general direction it reached Mr. +Davidson, who was justly proud of the application, and failed not +to comply with a request which did him and his favourite attend +ants so much honour. + +"I trust I shall not he considered as offending the memory of a +kind and worthy man, if I mention a little trait of character which +occurred in Mr. Davidson's last illness. I use the words of the +excellent clergyman who attended him, who gave the account to a +reverend gentleman of the same persuasion :-- + +"I read to Mr. Davidson the very suitable and interesting truths +you addressed to him. He listened to them with great seriousness, +and has uniformly displayed a deep concern about his soul's +salvation. He died on the first Sabbath of the year (1820); an +apoplectic stroke deprived him in an instant of all sensation, but +happily his brother was at his bed-side, for he had detained him +from the meeting-house that day to be near him, although he felt +himself not much worse than usual.--So you have got the last little +Mustard that the hand of Dandie Dinmont bestowed. + +"His ruling passion was strong even on the eve of death. Mr. +Baillie's fox-bounds had started a fox opposite to his window a few +weeks ago, and as soon as he heard the sound of the dogs, his eyes +glistened; he insisted on getting out of bed, and with much +difficulty got to the window, and there enjoyed the fun, as he +called it. When I came down to ask for him, he said, 'he had seen +Reynard, but had not seen his death. If it had been the will of +Providence,' he added, 'I would have liked to have been after him; +but I am glad that I got to the window, and am thankful for what I +saw, for it has done me a great deal of good.' Notwithstanding +these eccentricities (adds the sensible and liberal clergyman), I +sincerely hope and believe he has gone to a better world, and +better company and enjoyments." + +If some part of this little narrative may excite a smile, it is one +which is consistent with the most perfect respect for the +simple-minded invalid, and his kind and judicious religious +instructor, who, we hope, will not he displeased with our giving we +trust, a correct edition of an anecdote which has been pretty +generally circulated. The race of Pepper and Mustard are in the +highest estimation at this day, not only for vermin-killing, but +for intelligence and fidelity. Those who, like the author, possess +a brace of them, consider them as very desirable companions. + +Note III.--Lum Cleeks. + +The cleek here intimated is the iron book, or hooks, depending from +the chimney of a Scottish cottage, on which the pot is suspended +when boiling. The same appendage is often called the crook. The +salmon is usually dried by hanging it up, after being split and +rubbed with salt, in the smoke of the turf fire above the cleeks, +where it is said to reist, that preparation being so termed. The +salmon thus preserved is eaten as a delicacy, under the name of +kipper, a luxury to which Dr. Redgill has given his sanction as an +ingredient of the Scottish breakfast.--See the excellent novel +entitled Marriage. + +Note IV.--CLAN SURNAMES. + +The distinction of individuals by nicknames when they possess no +property, is still common on the Border, and indeed necessary, from +the number of persons having the same name. In the small village +of Lustruther, in Roxhurghshire, there dwelt, in the memory of man, +four inhabitants, called Andrew, or Dandie Oliver. They were +distinguished as Dandie Eassil-gate, Dandie Wassil-gate, Dandie +Thumbie, and Dandie Dumbie. The two first had their names from +living eastward and westward in the street of the village; the +third for something peculiar in the conformation of his thumb; the +fourth from his taciturn habits. + +It is told as a well-known jest, that a beggar woman, repulsed from +door to door as she solicited quarters through a village of +Annandale, asked, in her despair, if there were no Christians in +the place. To which the hearers, concluding that she inquired for +some persons so surnamed, answered, "Na, na, there are nae +Christians here; we are a' Johnston and Jardines." + +Note V.--GIPSY SUPERSTITIONS. + +The mysterious rites in which Meg Merrilies is described as +engaging, belong to her character as a queen of her race. All know +that gipsies in every country claim acquaintance with the gift of +fortune-telling; but, as is often the case, they are liable to the +superstitions of which they avail themselves in others. The +correspondent of Blackwood, quoted in the: Introduction to this +tale, gives us some information on the subject of their credulity. + +"I have ever understood," he says, speaking of the Yetholm gipsies, +"that they are extremely superstitious--carefully noticing the +formation of the clouds, the flight of particular birds, and the +soughing of the winds, before attempting any enterprise. They have +been known for several successive days to turn back with their +loaded carts, asses, and children, on meeting with persons whom +they considered of unlucky aspect; nor do they ever proceed on +their summer peregrinations without some propitious omen of their +fortunate return. + +"They also burn the clothes of their dead, not so much from any +apprehension of infection being communicated by them, as the +conviction that the very circumstance of wearing them would shorten +the days of their living. They likewise carefully watch the corpse +by night and day till the time of interment, and conceive that 'the +deil tinkles at the lykewake' of those who felt in their dead-thraw +the agonies and terrors of remorse." + +These notions are not peculiar to the gipsies; but having been once +generally entertained among the Scottish common people, are now +only found among those who are the most rude in their habits, and +most devoid of instruction. The popular idea, that the protracted +struggle between life and death is painfully prolonged by keeping +the door of the apartment shut, was received as certain by the +superstitious eld of Scotland. But neither was it to be thrown +wide open. To leave the door ajar, was the plan adopted by the old +crones who understood the mysteries of deathbeds and lykewakes. In +that case, there was room for the imprisoned spirit to escape; and +yet an obstacle, we have been assured, was offered to the entrance +of any frightful form which might otherwise intrude itself. The +threshold of a habitation was in some sort a sacred limit, and the +subject of much superstition. A bride, even to this day, is always +lifted over it, a rule derived apparently from the Romans. + + +Note VI.--TAPPIT HEN. + +The Tappit Hen contained three quarts of claret-- + +Weel she loed a Hawick gill, And leugh to see a Tappit Hen. + +I have seen one of these formidable stoups at Provost Haswell's, at +Jedburgh, in the days of yore. It was a pewter measure, the claret +being in ancient days served from the tap, and had the figure of a +hen upon the lid. In later times, the name was given to a glass +bottle of the same dimensions. These are rare apparitions among +the degenerate topers of modern days. + +Note VII.--CONVIVIAL HABITS OF THE SCOTTISH BAR. + +The account given by Mr. Pleydell, of his sitting down in the midst +of a revel to draw an appeal case, was taken from a story told me +by an aged gentleman, of the elder President Dundas of Arniston +(father of the younger President, and of Lord Melville). It had +been thought very desirable, while that distinguished lawyer was +King's counsel, that his assistance should be obtained in drawing +an appeal case, which, as occasion for such writings then rarely +occurred, was held to be matter of great nicety. The solicitor +employed for the appellant, attended by my informant acting as his +clerk, went to the Lord Advocate's chambers in the Fishmarket +Close, as I think. It was Saturday at noon, the Court was just +dismissed, the Lord Advocate had changed his dress and booted +himself, and his servant and horses were at the foot of the close +to carry him to Arniston. It was scarcely possible to get him to +listen to a word respecting business. The wily agent, however, on +pretence of asking one or two questions, which would not detain him +half an hour, drew his Lordship, who was no less an eminent bon +vivant than a lawyer of unequalled talent, to take a whet at a +celebrated tavern, when the learned counsel became gradually +'Involved in a spirited discussion of the law points of the case. +At length it occurred to him, that he might as well ride to +Arniston in the cool of the evening. The horses were directed to he +put in the stable, but not to be unsaddled. Dinner was ordered, +the law was laid aside for a time, and the bottle circulated very +freely. At nine o'clock at night, after he bad been honouring +Bacchus for so many hours, the Lord Advocate ordered his horses to +be unsaddled,--paper, pen, and ink were brought--he began to +dictate the appeal case--and continued at his task till four +o'clock the next morning. By next day's post, the solicitor sent +the case to London, a chef-d'oeuvre of its kind; and in which, my +informant assured me, it was not necessary on revisal to correct +five words. I am not, therefore, conscious of having overstepped +accuracy in describing the manner in which Scottish lawyers of the +old time occasionally united the worship of Bacchus with that of +Themis. My informant was Alexander Keith, Esq., grandfather to my +friend, the present Sir Alexander Keith of Ravelstone, and +apprentice at the time to the writer who conducted the cause. + + +Note VIII.--LORD MONBODDO, + +The Burnet, whose taste for the evening meal of the ancients is +quoted by Mr. Pleydell, was the celebrated metaphysician and +excellent man, Lord Monboddo, whose coenae will not be soon +forgotten by those who have shared his classic hospitality. As a +Scottish judge, he took the designation of his family estate. His +philosophy, as is well known, was of a fanciful and somewhat +fantastic character; but his learning was deep, and he was +possessed of a singular power of eloquence, which reminded the +hearer of the os rotundum of the Grove ,or Academe. +Enthusiastically partial to classical habits, his entertainments +were always given in the evening, when there was a circulation of +excellent Bordeaux, in flasks garlanded with roses, which were also +strewed on the table after the manner of Horace. The, best +society, whether in respect of rank or literary distinction, was +always to be found in St. John's Street, Canongate. The +conversation of the excellent old man, his high, gentleman-like, +chivalrous spirit, the learning and wit with which he defended his +fanciful paradoxes, the kind and liberal spirit of his hospitality, +must render these noctes coenaeque dear to all who, like the author +(though then young), had the honour of sitting at his board. + +Note IX.--LAWYERS' SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. + +It is probably true, as observed by Counsellor Pleydell, that a +lawyer's anxiety about his case, supposing him to have been some +time in practice, will seldom disturb his rest or digestion. +Clients will, however, sometimes fondly entertain a different +opinion. I was told by an excellent judge, now no more, of a +country gentleman, who, addressing his leading counsel, my +informer, then an advocate in great practice, on the morning of the +day on which the case was to be pleaded, said, with singular +bonhomie, "Weel, my lord (the counsel was Lord Advocate), "the +awful day is come at last. I have nae been able to sleep a wink +for thinking of it--nor, I dare say your Lordship either." + + + +ADDITIONAL NOTE + +GALWEGIAN LOCALITIES AND PERSONAGES WHICH HAVE BEEN SUPPOSED TO BE +ALLUDED TO IN THE NOVEL. + +An old English proverb says, that more know Torn Fool than Tom Fool +knows; and the influence of the adage seems to extend to works +composed under the influence of an idle or foolish planet. Many +corresponding circumstances are detected by readers, of which the +author did not suspect the existence. He must, however, regard it +as a great compliment, that in detailing incidents purely +imaginary, he has been so fortunate in approximating reality, as to +remind his readers of actual occurrences. It is therefore with +pleasure he notices some pieces of local history and tradition, +which have been supposed to coincide with the fictitious persons. +incidents, and scenery of Guy Mannering. + +The prototype of Dirk Hatteraick is considered as having been a +Dutch skipper called Yawkins. This man was well known on the coast +of Galloway and Dumfriesshire, as sole proprietor and master of a +Buckkar, or smuggling lugger, called the Black Prince. Being +distinguished by his nautical skill and intrepidity, his vessel was +frequently freighted, and his own services employed, by French, +Dutch, Manx, and Scottish smuggling companies. + +A person well known by the name of Buckkar-tea, from having been a +noted smuggler of that article, and also by that of Bogle-Bush, the +place of his residence, assured my kind informant, Mr. Train, that +he had frequently seen upwards of two hundred Lingtow-men assemble +at one time, and go off into the interior of the country, fully +laden with contraband goods. + +In those halcyon days of the free trade, the fixed price for +carrying a box of tea, or bale of tobacco, from the coast of +Galloway to Edinburgh, was fifteen shillings, and a man with horses +carried four such packages. The trade was entirely destroyed by +Mr. Pitt's celebrated commutation law, which, by reducing the +duties upon excisable articles, enabled lawful dealer to compete +with the smuggler. The statute was called in Galloway and +Dumfriesshire, by those who had thriven upon the contraband trade, +"the burning and starving act." + +Sure of such active assistance on shore, Yawkins demeaned himself +so boldly, that his mere name was a terror to the officers of the +revenue. He availed himself of the fears which presence inspired +on one particular night, when, happening to be ashore with a +considerable quantity of goods in his sole custody, a strong party +of excisemen came down on him. Far from shunning the attack, +Yawkins sprung forward, shouting, "Come on, my lads; Yawkins is +before you." The revenue officers were intimidated, and +relinquished their prize, though defended only by the courage and +address of a single man. On his proper element, Yawkins was +equally successful. one occasion, he was landing his cargo at the +Manxman's lake, near Kirkcudbright, when two revenue cutters (the +Pigmy and the Dwarf) hove in sight at once on different tacks, the +coming round by the Isles of Fleet, the other between the point of +Rueberry and the Muckle Ron. The dauntless free-trader instantly +weighed anchor, and bore down right between the luggers, so close +that he tossed his hat on the deck of the one and his wig on that +of the other, hoisted a cask to his maintop, to show his +occupation, and bore away under an extraordinary pressure of +canvas, without receiving injury. To account for these and other +hair-breadth escapes, popular superstition alleged that Yawkins +insured his celebrated Buckkar by compounding with the devil for +one-tenth of his crew every voyage. How they arranged the +separation of the stock and tithes, is left to our conjecture. The +Buckkar was perhaps called the Black Prince in honour of the +formidable insurer. + +The Black Prince used to discharge her cargo at Luce, Balcarry, and +elsewhere on the coast; but her owner's favourite landing-places +were at the entrance to the Dee and the Cree, near the old Castle +of Rueberry, about six miles below Kirkcudbriglit. There is a cave +of large dimensions in the vicinity of Rueberry, which, from its +being frequently used by Yawkins, and his supposed connection with +the smugglers on the shore, is now called Dirk Hatteraick's cave. +Strangers who visit this place, the scenery of which is highly +romantic, are also shown, under the name of the Gauger's Loup, a +tremendous precipice, being the same, it is asserted, from which +Kennedy was precipitated. + +Meg Merrilies is in Galloway considered as having had her origin in +the traditions concerning the celebrated Flora Marshal, one of the +royal consorts of Willie Marshal, more commonly called the Caird of +Barullion, King of the Gipsies of the Western Lowlands. That +potentate was himself deserving of notice, from the following +peculiarities. He was born in the parish of Kirkmichael, about the +year 1671; and as he died at Kirkcudbright, 23rd November, 1792, +he must then have been in the one hundred and twentieth year of his +age. It cannot he said that this unusually long lease of existence +was noted by any peculiar excellence of conduct or habits of life. +Willie had been pressed or enlisted in the army seven times; and +had deserted as often; besides three times running away from the +naval service. He had been seventeen times lawfully married; and +besides such a reason ably large share of matrimonial comforts, +was, after his hundredth year, the avowed father of four children, +by less legitimate affections. He subsisted in his extreme old age +by a pension from the present Earl of Selkirk's grandfather. Will +Marshal is buried in Kirkcudbright Church, where his monument is +still shown, decorated with a scutcheon, suitably blazoned with two +tups' horns and two cutty spoons. + +In his youth he occasionally took an evening walk on the highway, +with the purpose of assisting travellers by relieving them of the +weight of their purses. On one occasion, the Caird of Barullion +robbed the Laird of Bargally, at a place between Carsphairn and +Dalmellington. His purpose was not achieved without a severe +struggle, in which the Gipsy lost his bonnet, and was obliged to +escape, leaving it on the road. A respectable farmer happened to +be the next passenger, and seeing the bonnet, alighted, took it up, +and rather imprudently put it on his own head. At this instant, +Bargally came up with some assistants, and recognising the bonnet, +charged the farmer of Bantoberick with having robbed him, and took +him into custody. There being some likeness between the parties, +Bargally persisted in his charge, and though the respectability of +the farmer's character was proved or admitted, his trial before the +Circuit Court came on accordingly. The fatal bonnet lay on the +table of the court; Bargally swore that it was the identical +article worn by the man who robbed him; and he and others likewise +deponed that they had found the accused on the spot where the crime +was committed, with the bonnet on his head. The case looked +gloomily for the prisoner, and the opinion of the judge seemed +unfavourable. But there was a person in the court who knew well +both who did, and who did not, commit, the crime. This was the +Caird of Barullion, who, thrusting. himself up to the bar, near the +place where Bargally was standing, suddenly seized on the bonnet, +put it on his head, and looking the Laird full in the face, asked +him, with a voice which attracted the attention of the Court and +crowded audience--"Look at me, sir, and tell me, by the oath you +have sworn--Am not I the man who robbed you between Carsphairn and +Dalmellington?" Bargally replied, in great astonishment, "By +Heaven I you are the very man."--"You, see what sort of memory +this gentleman has," said the volunteer pleader: "he swears to the +bonnet, whatever features are under it. If you yourself, my Lord, +will put it on your head, he will be willing to swear that your +Lordship was the party who robbed him between Carsphairn and +Dalmellington." The tenant of Bantoberick was unanimously +acquitted, and thus Willie Marshal ingeniously contrived to save an +innocent man from danger, without incurring any himself, since +Bargally's evidence must have seemed to every one too fluctuating +to be relied upon. + +While the King of the Gipsies was thus laudably occupied, his royal +consort, Flora, contrived, it is said, to steal the hood front the +Judge's gown; for which offence, combined with her presumptive +guilt as a gipsy, she was banished to New England, whence she never +returned. + +Now, I cannot grant that the idea of Meg Merrilies was, in the +first concoction of the character, derived from Flora Marshal, +seeing I have already said she was identified with Jean Gordon, and +as I have not the Laird of Bargally's apology for charging the same +fact on two several individuals. Yet I am quite content that Meg +should he considered as a representative of her sect and class in +general--Flora, as well as others. + +The other instances in which my Gallovidian readers have +obliged me, by assigning to + + Airy nothing + A local habitation and a name, + +shall also be sanctioned so far as the Author may be entitled to do +so. I think the facetious Joe Miller records a case pretty much in +point; where the keeper of a Museum, while showing, as he said, the +very sword with which Balaam was about to kill his ass, was +interrupted by one of the visitors, who reminded him that Balaam +was not possessed of a sword, but only wished for one. "True, +sir," replied the ready-witted Cicerone; "but this is the very sword +he wished for." The Author, in application of this story, has only +to add, that though ignorant of the coincidence between the +fictions of the tale and some real circumstances, he is contented +to believe he must unconsciously have thought or dreamed of the +last, while engaged in the composition of Guy Mannering. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Guy Mannering, by Sir Walter Scott + diff --git a/2590.zip b/2590.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..82135da --- /dev/null +++ b/2590.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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