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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58931 ***
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+                               LEGENDARY
+                        TALES OF THE HIGHLANDS.
+
+                              A SEQUEL TO
+                           HIGHLAND RAMBLES.
+
+
+                                   BY
+                     Sir THOMAS DICK LAUDER, Bart.
+
+            AUTHOR OF "LOCHANDHU," "THE WOLFE OF BADENOCH,"
+                        "THE MORAY FLOODS," ETC.
+
+
+                           IN THREE VOLUMES.
+
+                               VOLUME II.
+
+
+                                LONDON:
+                       HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
+                       GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
+                              M.DCCC.XLI.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
+
+
+                                                           PAGE
+
+    THE LEGEND OF CHARLEY STEWART TÀILLEAR-CRUBACH,           1
+
+    A TEMPEST,                                               79
+
+    THE LEGEND, &c.--Continued,                              82
+
+    AN UNWELCOME VISITOR,                                   150
+
+    THE LEGEND, &c.--Continued,                             152
+
+    AN OLD FRIEND WITH A NEW FACE,                          207
+
+    THE LEGEND, &c.--Continued,                             217
+
+    THE AUTHOR FLOORED,                                     289
+
+    A DAY BAD FOR ONE THING MAY BE VERY GOOD FOR ANOTHER,   290
+
+    ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF INCHRORY,                         292
+
+    COMFORTS OF A FIRESIDE,                                 293
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+    THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR IS DISCRETION,                 71
+
+    THE HOWLET,                                             114
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HIGHLAND RAMBLES.
+
+THE LEGEND OF CHARLEY STEWART TÀILLEAR-CRUBACH.
+
+
+There is a long, low, flat-topped, and prettily wooded eminence,
+that rises out of the middle of the bonny haughs of Kilmaichly,
+at some distance below the junction of the rivers Aven and Livat. I
+don't remember that it has any particular name, but it looks, for all
+the world, like the fragment of some ancient plain, that must have
+been of much higher level than that from which it now rises, which
+fragment had been left, after the ground on each side of it had been
+worn down to its present level, by the changeful operations of the
+neighbouring streams. But whatever you geology gentlemen might say, as
+to what its origin might have been, every lover of nature must agree,
+that it is a very beautiful little hill, covered as its slopes are
+with graceful weeping birches, and other trees. The bushes that still
+remain, show that, in earlier times, it must have been thickly wooded
+with great oaks, which probably gave shelter to the ould auncient
+Druids, when engaged in their superstitious mysteries. At the period
+to which the greater part of my story belongs--that is, in and about
+that of the reign of King James the III.--the blue smoke that curled
+up from among the trees betrayed the existence of a cottage, that sat
+perched upon the brow of its western extremity, looking towards the
+Castle of Drummin. This little dwelling was much better built, and,
+in every respect, much neater than any of those in the surrounding
+district; and its interior exhibited more comforts as to furniture and
+plenishing of all sorts, and those too of a description, superior to
+any thing of the kind which a mere cottager might have been reasonably
+expected to have possessed.
+
+The inhabitants of this snug little dwelling were, a very beautiful
+woman, of some four or five and twenty years of age, named Alice
+Asher, and her son, a handsome noble looking boy, who, from certain
+circumstances affecting his birth, bore the name of Charles Stewart.
+
+There was a well doing and brave retainer of the house of Clan-Allan,
+called MacDermot, who had lived a little way up in Glen Livat, and who,
+for several years, had done good service to the Sir Walter Stewart,
+who was then chieftain of the Clan, as son and heir of that Sir Patrick
+whom my last Legend left so happily married to the Lady Catherine
+Forbes, and quietly settled at Drummin. This man MacDermot died bravely
+in a skirmish, leaving a widow and an infant daughter. It happened that
+some few months after the death of her husband, the good woman Bessy
+MacDermot went out to shear one of those small patches of wretched
+corn, which were then to be seen, almost as a wonder, scattered here
+and there, in these upland glens, and which belonged in run-rig, or
+in alternate ridges, to different owners, being so disposed, as you
+probably know gentlemen, that all might have an equal interest, and
+consequently an equal inducement, to assemble for its protection in
+the event of the sudden appearance of an enemy. Charley Stewart, then
+a fine, kind-hearted boy of some nine or ten years of age, had taken
+a great affection for the little Rosa, the child of Bessy MacDermot;
+and this circumstance had induced the mother to ask permission of
+Alice Asher, to be allowed to take her son with her on this occasion
+to the harvest-field, that, whilst she went on with her work, he
+might watch the infant. Charley was delighted with his employment;
+and accordingly she laid the babe carefully down by him to leeward
+of one of the stooks of sheaves. Many an anxious glance did the fond
+mother throw behind her, as the onward progress of her work slowly
+but gradually increased her distance from Charley and his precious
+charge. The thoughts of her bereft and widowed state saddened her
+heart, and made it heavy, and rendered her eyes so moist from time
+to time, that ever and anon she was compelled to rest for an instant
+from her labour, in order to wipe away the tears with her sleeve. Her
+little Rosa was now all the world to her. The anxiety regarding the
+child which possessed her maternal bosom was always great; but, at
+the present moment, she had few fears about her safety, for, ever as
+she looked behind her, she beheld Charley Stewart staunchly fixed
+at his post, and busily employed in trying to catch the attention
+of the infant, and to amuse it by plucking from the sheaves those
+gaudy flowered weeds, of various kinds and hues, which Nature brought
+up everywhere so profusely among the grain, and which the rude and
+unlearned farmers of those early times took no pains to extirpate.
+
+Whilst the parties were so occupied, the sun was shining brightly upon
+the new shorn stubble, that stretched away before the eyes of Charley
+Stewart, when its flat unbroken field of light was suddenly interrupted
+by a shadow that came sailing across it. He looked up into the air,
+and beheld a large bird hovering over him. Inexperienced as he was,
+and by no means aware that its apparent size was diminished by the
+height at which it was flying, he took it for a kite, or a buzzard,
+and it immediately ceased to occupy his attention. Round and round
+sailed the shadow upon the stubble, increasing in magnitude at every
+turn it made, but totally unheeded by the boy amid the interesting
+occupation in which he was engaged. At length a loud shriek reached
+him from the very farther end of the ridge. Charley started up from
+his sitting position, and beheld Bessy MacDermot rushing towards him,
+tossing her arms, and screaming as if she were distracted. She was
+yet too far off from him to enable him to gather her words, amidst
+the alarm that now seized him; and, accordingly, believing that she
+had been stung by some viper, or that she had cut herself desperately
+with the reaping-hook, he abandoned his charge, and ran off to meet
+her, that he might the sooner render her assistance; but, by the time
+they had approached near enough to each other to enable him to catch
+up the import of her cries, he halted--for they made his little heart
+faint within him.
+
+"The eagle! the eagle!" wildly screamed Bessy MacDermot. "Oh, my
+child! my child!"
+
+Turning round hastily, Charley Stewart now saw that the very bird
+which he had so recently regarded with so little alarm, had now
+grown six times larger than he had believed it really to be. It was
+in the very act of swooping down upon the infant. Charley ran towards
+the spot, mingling his shrieks with those of the frantic mother; but
+ere their feet had carried them over half the distance towards it,
+they heard the cries of the babe, as the fell eagle was flapping his
+broad wings, in his exertions to lift it from the ground; and, ere
+they could reach it, the bird was already flying, heavily encumbered
+with his burden, over the surface of the standing corn, from which
+he gradually rose, as his pinions gained more air, and greater way,
+till he finally soared upwards, and then held on his slow, but strong
+course, towards his nest in the neighbouring mountains.
+
+"Oh, my babe! my babe!" cried the agonized Bessy MacDermot, her eyes
+starting from their very sockets, in her anxiety to keep sight of
+the object of her affections, and her terrors.
+
+But she did not follow it with her eyes alone. She paused not for
+a moment, but darted off through the standing corn, and over moor
+and moss, hill and heugh, and through woods, and rills, and bogs,
+in the direction which the eagle was taking, without once thinking
+of poor little Charley Stewart, who kept after her as hard as his
+active little legs could carry him; and, great as the distance was
+which they had to run, the eagle, impeded as he was in his flight
+by the precious burden he carried, was still within reach of the
+eyes of the panting and agonized mother, when a thinner part of
+the wood enabled her to see, from a rising ground, the cliff where
+he finally rested, and where he deposited the child in his nest,
+that was well known to hang on a ledge in the face of the rock,
+a little way down from its bare summit. On ran the frantic mother,
+with redoubled energy,--for she remembered that an old man lived by
+himself, in a little cot hard by the place, and she never rested till
+she sank down, faint and exhausted, at his door.
+
+"Oh, Peter, Peter!--my baby, my baby!" was all she could utter,
+as the old man came hobbling out, to learn what was the matter.
+
+"What has mischanced your baby, Mrs. MacDermot?" demanded Peter.
+
+"Oh, the eagle! the eagle!" cried the distracted mother. "Oh, my
+child! my child!"
+
+"Holy saints be about us! has the eagle carried off your child?" cried
+Peter, in horror.
+
+"Och, yes, yes!" replied Bessy. "Oh my baby, my baby!"
+
+"St. Michael be here!" exclaimed Peter. "What can an old man like me
+do to help thee?"
+
+"Ropes! ropes!" cried little Charley Stewart, who at this moment came
+up, so breathless and exhausted that he could hardly speak.
+
+"Ropes!" said Peter; "not a rope have I. There's a bit old hair-line
+up on the baulks there, to be sure, that my son Donald used for
+stretching his hang-net; but it has been so much in the water, that
+I have some doubt if it would stand the weight of a man, even if we
+could get a man to go down over the nose of the craig;--and there is
+not a man but myself, that I know of, within miles of us."
+
+"You have forgotten me," cried Charley Stewart, who had now somewhat
+recovered his wind. "I will go down over the craig. Come, then,
+Peter!--get out your hair-line. It will not break with my weight."
+
+"By the Rood but thou art a gallant little chield!" said Peter.
+
+"Oh, the blessings of the virgin on thee, my dearest Charley!" cried
+Bessy MacDermot, embracing him. "And yet," added she, with hesitation,
+"why should I put Alice Asher's boy to such peril, even to save
+mine own child? Oh, canst thou think of no other means? I cannot put
+Charley Stewart in peril."
+
+"Nay," said Peter, "I know of no means; and, in truth, the poor bairn
+is like enough to have been already half devoured by the young eagles."
+
+"Merciful Mother of God!" cried poor Bessy, half fainting at the
+horrible thought. "Oh, my baby, my baby!"
+
+"Come, old man," cried Charley Stewart, with great determination,
+"we have no time to waste--we have lost too much already. Where is the
+hair-line you spake of?--Tut, I must seek for it myself;" and rushing
+into the cot, he leaped upon a table, made one spring at the rafters,
+and, catching hold of them, he hoisted himself up, gained a footing
+on them, and ran along them like a cat, till he found the great bundle
+of hair-line. "Now," said he, throwing it down, and jumping after it;
+"come away, good Peter, as fast as thy legs can carry thee."
+
+Having reached the summit of the crag by a circuitous path, they could
+now descry the two eagles, to which the nest belonged, soaring aloft
+at a great distance. They looked over the brow of the cliff, as far
+as they could stretch with safety, but although old Peter was so well
+acquainted with the place where the nest was built, as at once to be
+able to fix on the very spot whence the descent ought to be made, the
+verge of the rock there projected itself so far over the ledge where
+the nest rested, as to render it quite invisible from above. They could
+only perceive the thick sea of pine foliage that rose up the slope
+below, and clustered closely against the base of the precipice. A few
+small stunted fir trees grew scattered upon the otherwise bare summit
+where they stood. Old Peter sat himself down behind one of these,
+and placed a leg on each side of it, so as to secure himself from
+all chance of being pulled over the precipice by any sudden jerk,
+whilst Charley's little fingers were actively employed in undoing the
+great bundle of hair-line, and in tying one end of it round his body,
+and under his armpits. The unhappy mother was now busily assisting the
+boy, and now moving restlessly about, in doubtful hesitation whether
+she should yet allow him to go down. Now she was gazing at the distant
+eagles, and wringing her hands in terror lest they should return to
+their nest; and torn as she was between her cruel apprehensions for
+her infant on the one hand, and her doubts and fears about Charley
+Stewart on the other, she ejaculated the wildest and most incoherent
+prayers to all the saints for the protection and safety of both.
+
+"Now," said Charley Stewart at length; "I'm ready. Keep a firm hold,
+Peter, and lower me gently."
+
+"Stay, stay, boy!" cried the old man. "Stick my skian dhu into your
+hoe. If the owners of the nest should come home, by the Rood, but thou
+will't need some weapon to make thee in some sort a match for them,
+in the welcome they will assuredly give thee."
+
+Charley Stewart slipped the skian dhu into his hoe, and went boldly
+but cautiously over the edge of the cliff. He was no sooner fairly
+swung in air than the hair rope stretched to a degree so alarming that
+Bessy MacDermot stood upon the giddy verge, gnawing her very fingers,
+from the horrible dread that possessed her, that she was to see it
+give way and divide. Peter sat astride against the root of the tree,
+carefully eyeing every inch of the line ere he allowed it to pass
+through his hands, and every now and then pausing--hesitating, and
+shaking his head most ominously, as certain portions of it, here and
+there, appeared to him to be of doubtful strength. Meanwhile, Charley
+felt himself gradually descending, and turning round and round at the
+end of the rope, by his own weight, his brave little heart beating,
+and his brain whirling, from the novelty and danger of his daring
+attempt--the screams of the young eagles sounding harshly in his
+ears, and growing louder and louder as he slowly neared them. By
+degrees he began distinctly to hear the faint cries of the child,
+and his courage and self-possession were restored to him, by the
+conviction that she was yet alive. In a few moments more he had the
+satisfaction to touch the ledge of rock with his toes, and he was at
+last enabled to relieve the rope from his weight, by planting himself
+upon its ample, but fearfully inclined surface. He shouted aloud,
+to make Peter aware that the line had so far done its duty, and then
+he cautiously approached the nest, where, to his great joy, he found
+the infant altogether uninjured, except by a cross cut upon her left
+cheek, which she seemed to have received from some accidental movement
+of the beak or talons of one of the two eaglets, between which she had
+been deposited by the old eagle. Had she not been placed between two
+so troublesome mates, and in a position so dangerous, nothing could
+have been more snug or easy than the bed in which the little Rosa was
+laid. The nest was about two yards square. It was built on the widest
+and most level part of the ledge, and it was composed of great sticks,
+covered with a thick layer of heather, over which rushes were laid
+to a considerable depth. Fortunately for the infant, the eaglets had
+been already full gorged ere she had been carried thither, and there
+yet lay beside them the greater part of the carcass of a lamb, and
+also a mountain hare, untouched, together with several moorfowl, and
+an immense quantity of bones and broken fragments of various animals.
+
+Charley Stewart did not consume much time in his examination of the
+nest. Being at once satisfied that it would be worse than hazardous
+to trust the hair-line with the weight of the child, in addition
+to his own, he undid it from his body. Approaching the nest, he
+gently lifted the crying infant from between its two screeching and
+somewhat pugnacious companions. The moment he had done so, the little
+innocent became quiet, and instantly recognising him, she held out her
+hands, and smiled and chuckled to him, at once oblivious of all her
+miseries. Charley kissed his little favourite over and over again,
+and then he proceeded to tie the rope carefully around and across
+her, so as to guard against all possibility of its slipping. Having
+accomplished this, he shouted to Peter to pull away--kissed the little
+Rosa once more, and then committed her to the vacant air. Nothing
+could equal the anxiety he endured whilst he beheld her slowly rising
+upwards. And when he beheld the mother's hands appear over the edge of
+the rock, and snatch her from his sight, nothing could match the shout
+of delight which he gave. The maternal screams of joy which followed,
+and which came faintly down to his ears, were to him a full reward
+for all the terrors of his desperate enterprise. For that instant he
+forgot the perilous situation in which he then stood, and the risk
+that he had yet to run ere he could hope to be extricated from it.
+
+But a few moments only elapsed ere all thoughts of any thing else
+but his own self preservation were banished from his mind. The angry
+screams of the two old eagles came fearfully through the air, and
+he beheld them approaching the rock, cleaving the air with furious
+flight. He cast one look upwards, and saw the rope rapidly descending
+to him--but the eagles were coming still faster, and he had only time
+to wrench out a large stick from the nest, to aid him in defending
+himself, when they were both upon him. He had nothing for it but
+to crouch as close in under the angle of the rock as he could, and
+there he planted himself, with the stick in his right hand, and the
+skian dhu in his left, resolved to make the best fight he could of
+it. They commenced their attack on him whilst still on the wing, by
+flying at him, and striking fiercely at him with their talons, each
+returning alternately to the assault after making a narrow circuit
+in the air. Whilst thus engaged, Charley neither lost courage nor
+presence of mind, but contrived to deal to each of them a severe
+blow now and then with the rugged stick, as they came at him in
+succession. Finding that they could make no impression upon him in
+this way, sheltered as he was by his position under the projecting
+rock, they seemed at once to resolve, as if by mutual consent, to
+adopt a more resolute mode of attack.
+
+Alighting on the ledge of rock at the same moment, one on each side
+of the place where he was crouching, both the eagles now assailed him
+at once with inconceivable ferocity. Half fronting that one which was
+to his right, he laid a severe blow on it, which somewhat staggered
+it in its onset. But whilst he was thus occupied with it, the other,
+which was to his left, tore open his cheek, with a blow of his talons,
+that had nearly stunned him. More from mechanical impulse, than
+from any actual design, he struck a back-handed blow with his skian
+dhu. Fortunately for him it proved most effectual, for it penetrated
+the eagle to the very heart, laid it fluttering on its back, and,
+in the violence of its struggles, it rolled over the inclined ledge,
+and fell dead to the bottom of the crag. But poor Charley had no
+leisure to rejoice over this piece of success. He looked anxiously
+to the hair-line, which hung dangling within reach of his grasp;
+but, ere he could seize it, his other enemy was at him again. As if
+it had profited by the severe lessons it had gotten, the strokes of
+this second eagle were given with so much rapidity and caution, that
+close as Charley Stewart was obliged to keep into the angle of the
+rock, and stupified as he was, in some degree, by the wound he had
+received, he was able to do little more than to defend his own person
+from injury, whilst he was obliged slowly to give ground before his
+feathered assailant. Whilst retreating and fighting in this manner,
+one blow of his stick, better directed than the rest, struck the eagle
+on the side of the skull, close to its juncture with the neck, and
+it went fluttering down over the rock, in the pangs of death, after
+its fellow. But alas! poor Charley Stewart's victory cost him dear.
+
+The two listeners above, who had seen the approach of the eagles,
+were dreadfully alarmed by the noise of the terrific conflict that was
+going on upon the ledge below. In vain did they shout to terrify the
+birds. In vain did old Peter frequently try the hair-line, by pulling
+gently at it, in the hope of finding that the weight of Charley's
+body was attached to it. They were tortured by anxious uncertainty
+regarding him, until a piercing shriek came upwards from him, and
+all was quiet. Winged by terror, Bessy MacDermot rushed, with her
+child in her arms, down the winding path, to a point whence she could
+command a view of the ledge. The boy was no longer there!--She rubbed
+her dimmed eyes, gave one more intent gaze. From the very nature of
+the place, it was impossible that he could be there unseen by her,
+from the point she now occupied, and she was thus too certainly
+assured that he was gone. Uttering a despairing scream, she flew
+franticly down to look for him among the trees at the bottom of
+the cliff. There she sought all along the base of it, dreading every
+moment to have her eyes shocked with the sight of his mangled remains,
+and uttering the most doleful lamentations that she had murdered her
+dear friend's gallant boy. She found both the dead eagles indeed,
+but she could see nothing of Charley Stewart. Old Peter then came
+hobbling after her, to join her in her search, and both of them went
+over the ground again and again in vain. A faint hope began at length
+to arise in the minds of both, that he might, after all, be still on
+the ledge above, though, perhaps, lying wounded, or in a swoon; and,
+although both felt it to be almost against all reason to indulge in
+it, they instantly prepared to return, to endeavour more perfectly
+to ascertain the fact; and, if it could be done no otherwise, Bessy
+MacDermot resolved to run and rouse the country, in order to procure
+strong ropes, and men to go down to examine the ledge itself.
+
+Full of these intentions, they were in the act of quitting the bottom
+of the cliff, when a faint voice arrested their steps. They stopped
+to listen, and, after a little time, they were aware that it came down
+from over their heads. They looked up, but, seeing nothing, they became
+more than ever convinced, that it was Charley's voice calling to them
+from the ledge, and they again turned to hurry away to assure him of
+help. But the voice came again, and so much stronger, as to satisfy
+them that the speaker could be at no very great distance from them.
+
+"Peter!--Bessy!--I am here in the tree," said Charley Stewart,
+"for the love of Saint Michael, stop and take me down!"
+
+Some minutes elapsed before they could catch a glimpse of the poor
+boy. At length they discovered him, half way up a tall pine tree,
+hanging by his little coat to the knag of a broken branch. I may as
+well tell you at once how he came there. Whilst he was in the very
+act of dealing that last well directed blow of the stick, that proved
+so fatal to the second eagle, his foot slipped on the narrower and
+more inclined part of the ledge, to which he had been gradually driven
+back during the combat, and uttering that despairing scream which rang
+like his knell in the affrighted ears of Bessy MacDermot, and Peter,
+he fell through the air, and crashed down among the dense foliage
+of the pine-tops below. One of his legs was broken across a bough,
+which it met with in his descent through the tree, but his head, and
+all his other vital parts, had luckily escaped injury; and the knag,
+which so fortunately caught his clothes, and kept him suspended, had
+been the providential means of saving him from that death, which he
+must have otherwise inevitably met with on coming to the ground.
+
+But how were they to get poor Charley down from the tree? Old Peter
+could not climb it; but, seeing that it was furnished with branches
+nearly to its root, Bessy MacDermot gave her child into the hands of
+the old man, and, taking a double end of the hair-line with her, she
+clambered up the stem to the place where the boy was hanging. Tenderly
+relieving him from his distressing position, she quickly passed two
+or three double folds of the rope around him, and then lowered him
+gently down to Peter. So patient had Charley been under his sufferings,
+excruciating as they were, that it was not until they were about to
+move him from the ground, that they discovered the injury that his
+limb had received.
+
+"Oh, what shall I do?" cried Bessy MacDermot, wringing her hands;
+"Oh, how can I face Alice Asher, after thus causing so sad a mischance
+to her darling, her beautiful boy?"
+
+"Tut, Bessy, never mind me!" said Charley faintly, but with a gentle
+smile, that sorted but ill with his wounded and bloody countenance;
+"I shall soon get the better of all this; but if it had been twice
+as bad with me, Bessy, nay, if I had been killed outright, I should
+have well deserved it, for quitting my poor little Rosa there, as I
+did upon the harvest rig."
+
+"Nay, nay, my dearest boy, Charley," said Mrs. MacDermot, kissing him,
+and weeping fondly over him; "thou did'st thy part faithfully. Had
+it not been for my foolish fright, and my silly screams when I first
+saw the eagle, thou wouldst never have left my child, and nought of
+these sad mischances could have happened."
+
+With some difficulty, and not without Bessy MacDermot's help, old
+Peter managed to carry Charley Stewart down to his hut, whence he was
+afterwards moved home, when proper assistance could be procured. Alice
+Asher was overpowered with grief, when the darling of her heart
+was brought to her in this melancholy and maimed condition. But she
+readily forgave Bessy MacDermot for the innocent share she had had in
+producing it; and after Charley's wounds were dressed, the bones of
+his fractured limb set, and that she was satisfied that his life was
+perfectly safe, she not only felt grateful to God that he had been
+so wonderfully preserved, but she began to regard him with honest
+pride for the gallant action he had performed.
+
+"Well hast thou proved thyself, my boy, to be a true Clan-Allan
+Stewart!" said she to him, with a deep blush on her countenance, as
+she sat fondly watching by the bed where Charley was quietly sleeping,
+from the effects of the drugs that had been given to him, till the
+tears began to follow one another fast from her eyelids. "Well might
+thy father now, methinks, make thee his lawful son, by extending
+to me those holy rites, the false hope of obtaining which betrayed
+mine innocent and simple youth! Thou at least ought not to suffer for
+thine unhappy mother's fault, which now nearly nine years of sorrow,
+of remorse, and of heart-felt penitence, and prayer, and penance,
+have not yet expiated! But God's holy will be done!"
+
+Poor afflicted Alice Asher had occasion to repeat these last words
+of pious resignation to the will of God, more than once after the
+recovery of her son. She was deeply grateful to Heaven indeed, that
+his life had been spared to her, and that his health and strength
+were completely restored to him, but his handsome countenance had been
+greatly and permanently disfigured, by the deep cross-like scar that
+remained upon his left cheek, and the grace of his person had been
+much destroyed by the limping of his left leg, occasioned by the bad
+surgery of the rude practitioner who had set the broken bones. She
+bore this affliction, as she did all others, with meek submission,
+as a divine chastisement which her sin had well merited, though she
+wept to think that she had been visited by it through the suffering
+of her innocent boy. Some eight or nine long years passed away,
+during which Sir Walter Stewart of Drummin was liberal in providing
+richly for the wants of the mother, as well as for the education of
+her son, though he strictly avoided seeing either of them. The story
+of Charley's brave achievement, and severe accident, reached him not,
+for he was at that time abroad upon his travels in foreign lands;
+and, ere he returned home, the talk about it had died away, so that it
+had never been permitted to exercise any influence upon him whatsoever.
+
+Passing over these years, then, we find Alice Asher, paler and thinner
+than before, but still most beautiful, sitting one morning, at the
+window of her cottage, that looked towards the tower of Drummin,
+which was partially seen from it, through between the thick stems
+of the trees. Her elbow rested on the window-sill, and supported
+her head, which was surrounded by a broad fillet of black silk,
+from beneath which her hair clustered in fair ringlets around her
+finely formed features, and fell in long tresses over her neck and
+shoulders. Her close fitting kirtle, and her loose and flowing gown,
+were of sad-coloured silk, and the embroidered bosom of her snow-white
+smock was fastened with a golden brooch, that sparkled with precious
+stones, and more than one of her fingers glittered with rings of
+considerable value. Alice was not always wont to be so adorned; but,
+ornamented as she thus was, beyond the simplicity of that attire which
+she usually wore, her countenance bore no corresponding expression
+of gladness upon it. She sat gazing silently towards the distant
+stronghold of the Clan-Allan Stewarts, sighing deeply from time to
+time, until the thoughts that filled her heart gradually dimmed her
+large blue eyes, and the tears swelled over her eyelids, and ran down
+her cheeks, and she finally began to relieve the heaviness of her soul,
+by thinking aloud in broken and unconscious soliloquy.
+
+"Aye! he is going to-day!" said she, in a melancholy tone. "He is
+going to the court, to mix with the great, the proud, the gay,
+and the beautiful; and I shall not see him ere he goes! Yet the
+vow of separation which we mutually took, had a saving condition
+in it. He might have come--he may at any time approach me--aye, and
+honourably too--when the object of his visit may be to do me and my boy
+justice. But, after so many years have passed away in disappointment,
+why should my fond and foolish heart still cling to deceitful hope? a
+hope, too, that wars with those of a purer and holier nature, which
+may yet ally me, a penitent sinner, to Heaven. Then, what have I to
+do with those glittering gauds that would better become a bride? Yet
+they are his pledges, if not of love, at least of kindness and of
+friendship, sent to me from time to time, to show me that I am not
+altogether forgotten; and surely there can be no harm in my wearing
+them? and then to-day--to-day, methought that he might have come. But
+if he had ever intended to come, would he have sent, as he has done,
+for Charley? Oh, my boy! would that he could but think of doing thee
+justice, and thy poor sinful mother would die contented! But, if he
+is pleased with the youth, may he not yet come hither along with
+him? How my silly heart beats at the very thought! What sound was
+that I heard? Can it be them?--No, no, no, he will never come more
+to me!--Alas, alas! my poor boy's face and person have suffered too
+much to win a father's eye, and he knows not the virtues that lie so
+modestly concealed within them. But what is that I see yonder?--The
+bustle of the horsemen before the gate, with their pampered steeds
+and their gay attire--their pennons fluttering, and the sun glancing
+from the broad blades of their Highland spears?--What!--was that
+a distant bugle blast I heard?--Again!--Then they are moving--aye,
+indeed! They are now galloping off along the terrace!--Alas, alas,
+they are gone! and my vain and foolish hopes have gone with them!"
+
+These last words were uttered in the deepest tone of anguish, and
+Alice drew hastily back into the darkest recess of the apartment,
+where she seated herself, covered her face with the palms of her
+hands, and wept aloud. Having thus given full vent to her feelings,
+she retired to the privacy of her closet, where she endeavoured to
+divert her mind by holy exercise from the sorrows that oppressed
+her. At length, a gentle tap at the door informed her that her son
+had returned from his visit to Drummin, and tremblingly anxious to
+know the result of it, she immediately admitted him.
+
+"Mother! my dearest mother!" said Charley Stewart, tenderly embracing
+her, and with a manifest effort to subdue certain emotions that were
+working within him; "Why hast thou been weeping?"
+
+"Alas! I weep often, my beloved, my darling boy!" replied she, warmly
+responding to his caresses; "I weep, and I deserve to weep! But
+hast thou aught of tidings for me, that may give me a gleam of
+joy?--Say--how wert thou received?"
+
+"Why, well, mother!" replied Charley, endeavouring to assume a lively
+air; "I was well and kindly received, though neither, forsooth,
+with parade of arms, nor with flourish of trumpets, nor of clarions;
+but Sir Walter received me kindly."
+
+"Did he embrace thee, dear Charley?" demanded his mother, with great
+anxiety of expression.
+
+"Um----Aye," replied her son, with some degree of hesitation;
+"he did embrace me, though hardly indeed with the same fervour that
+thou art wont to do, dearest mother. But then thou knowest, mother,
+that Sir Walter is a courtly knight of high degree, and they tell me
+that the fashion of such folks allows them not to yield themselves
+altogether, as we humbler people are wont to do, to the feelings that
+are within us."
+
+"Alas! thou say'st that which is but too true!" replied Alice, in a
+desponding tone; "but go on, boy."
+
+"Sir Walter put his hand on my shoulder, and turned me round,"
+continued Charley. "Then he made me walk a step or two, and eyed me
+narrowly from top to toe, pretty much as if he had been scanning the
+points and paces of a new horse.--'How camest thou so lame and so
+disfigured?' demanded he.--'By a fall I had in climbing to an eagle's
+nest,' replied I.--'A silly cause,' said Sir Walter; 'and yet, perhaps,
+the bold blood that is in thee must bear the blame. But know, boy,
+that fate hath not given to all the power to climb into the eyry of the
+eagle.' And having said this much he changed the subject of his talk."
+
+"Would that thou could'st but have gathered courage enow to have told
+him all the circumstances of that adventure!"
+
+"Nay, mother, I had courage for any thing but to speak aught that
+might have sounded like mine own praise," replied Charley.
+
+"Would that he but knew thee as thou art!" said Alice, with a
+sigh. "Would that he but knew the soul that is within thee! With
+all his faults--and perhaps they are light, save that which concerns
+thee alone--he hath a generous spirit himself, and he could not but
+prize a generous spirit in one so kindred to him. But tell me all
+that passed. Did--did he--did he ask thee for tidings of me?"
+
+"He did question me most particularly about thee," replied Charley. "He
+questioned me as if he would have fain gathered from me the appearance
+and condition of every, the minutest feature of thy face, and of every
+line of thy form. He questioned as if with the intent of limning thy
+very portrait on the tablet of his mind; and, as if he would have
+traced it beside some picture, which he still wore in fresh and lively
+colours there, for the purpose, as it seemed to me, of making close and
+accurate comparison between them. Thus he would pause at times during
+his questioning of me; and, after a few moments of deep abstraction,
+he would say, as if forgetful of my presence, and in converse with
+himself alone, 'Strange! aye, but she was then but fifteen, scarce
+ripened into woman--the change is nothing more than natural--the same
+loveliness, but more womanly;' and so he went on, now to question,
+and now to talk of thee, for a good half hour or so."
+
+"And he!" cried Alice, with unwonted animation; "Say, boy, looked he
+well? I mean in health; for of his manly beauty, his tall and well
+knit form, his graceful air, his noble bearing, and his eagle eye! how
+could I have lived till now, without hearing from those who have seen
+and admired him? Alas!" added she, in a melancholy and subdued tone,
+"of such things I have perhaps inquired too much!"
+
+"Sir Walter had all the ruddy hue, as well as the firmness of vigorous
+health, dear mother," replied the youth.
+
+"Thanks be to all the saints!" exclaimed Alice fervently; "Then,
+come boy--tell me what passed between you?"
+
+"After all his questions touching thee and thy health were done,"
+said Charley, "and that we had talked of other matters of no import,
+he sat him down, and thus gravely addressed me as I stood before him:
+'I have been thinking how best to provide for thee, boy. I can see that
+thou art but ill fitted for hardy service, or the toils of war. And,
+by the Rood, it is well for thee that, in these times, there are
+other ways of winning to high fortune, yea, and to royal favour even,
+besides that which leads to either by doughty deeds of arms, where
+so many perish ere they have half completed the toilsome and perilous
+journey. Thou must content thee, then, with some peaceful trade. Let
+me see--let me see. Ah! I have it. Now-a-days, men have more chance
+to push themselves forward by the point of the needle, than by the
+point of the lance. What thinkest thou of Master Hommil, the king's
+tailor, who, as all men say, hath a fair prospect of shaping such a
+garb for himself, as may yet serve him to wear for a peer's robes,
+if he doth but use his sheers with due discretion? This is the very
+thing for thee, and it is well that I have so luckily hit on it. I'll
+have thee apprenticed to a tailor, and, when thy time is out, I'll
+have thee so taught in all the more curious mysteries of thine art,
+by its very highest professors, that none in the whole land shall be
+found to equal thee. Thou shalt travel to France for learning in the
+nicer parts of thy trade, and then, I will set thee up, close under
+the royal eye, with such a stock of rarest articles in thy shop, as
+shall make it a very Campvere, for the variety and richness of its
+merchandize. But thou must begin thy schooling under Master Jonathan
+Junkins here, who, though but a country cultivator of cabbage, hath
+an eye towards the cut of a cloak or doublet, that might well beget
+the jealousy of the mighty Hommil himself. I once wore a rose-coloured
+suit of Jonathan's make, that did excite the envy, yea, and the anger,
+too, of that great master, by the commendations that royalty himself
+was heard to pass upon it. Though there were some there, who, from
+malice, no doubt, did say, that the merit lay more in the shape of the
+wearer, than in that of the garments. But I am trifling. I have some
+orders to give ere I mount, and this, as to thy matter with Junkins,
+shall be one; and time wears, boy, and thou, too, hast some little way
+before thee to limp home; therefore, God keep thee. Bear my love, or,
+as she would herself have it to be, my friendship, to thy mother. And,
+see here; give her this ring as a fresh remembrance of me. Farewell--I
+shall see that all be well arranged regarding thee ere I go; and I
+trust that thou wilt not idly baulk the prudent plans I have laid down
+for thee, or the good intentions I have towards thee; and so again,
+farewell, my boy!'--And thus, my dearest mother, was I dismissed."
+
+"Well, God's will be done!" said Alice, with a deep sigh, after a
+long pause, and after having betrayed a variety of emotions during
+her son's narrative. "I had hoped better things for thee, my boy, but
+God's will be done! Thou hast no choice but to submit, Charley. Forget
+not that Sir Walter Stewart is thy father, and that thou art bound
+by the law of nature to obey him."
+
+"It is because I do not forget that Sir Walter Stewart is my father,
+that I find it so hard a thing to obey him in this," said Charley, with
+a degree of excitement, which all his earnestly exerted self-command
+was, for the moment, unable entirely to control. "But, as it happens,
+that it is just because he is bound to me by the law of nature,
+and by no other law, that he thus condemns me to be nailed down to
+the shop-board of a tailor, instead of giving me a courser to ride,
+and a lance to wield, so, as thou most truly sayest dear mother, by
+the law of nature, but by that law alone, am I compelled to submit
+to this bitter mortification, and to obey him."
+
+"Nay, nay, dearest Charley, talk not thus!" cried Alice, throwing
+her arms around her son's neck, and fondly kissing him; "talk not
+thus frowardly if thou lovest me!"
+
+"Love thee, my dearest mother!" cried Charley, returning her embraces
+with intense fervour, and weeping from the overpowering strength of
+his feelings; "Nay, nay, thou canst not doubt my love to thee; thou
+canst not doubt that, on thy weal, or thy woe, hangs the happiness
+or the misery of your poor boy. Be not vexed, dearest mother, for
+though I have spoken thus idly, trust me that a father's word shall
+ever be with me as the strictest law, which I, so far as my nature
+can support me, shall never wilfully contravene."
+
+Charley Stewart again tenderly embraced his mother, and, scarcely
+aware that he was leaving her to weep, he hurried away to seek some
+consolation for himself, in a quarter where he never failed to find
+it. This was at the cottage of Bessy MacDermot, whither he was wont
+frequently to wander, for the purpose of listening to the innocent
+prattle of his young plaything Rosa, who, having now seen some eight
+or nine summers, was fast ripening into a very beautiful girl. As
+Charley approached the widow's premises on the present occasion, he
+found Rosa by the side of a clear spring, that bubbled and sparkled
+out from beneath a large mossy stone, that projected from the lower
+part of the slope of a flowery bank, under the pensile drapery of
+a grove of weeping birches. The moment she beheld him, she came
+tripping to meet him, with a rustic wreath of gay marsh marigolds
+and water-lilies in her hand.
+
+"Where have you been all this long, long morning, dearest
+Charley?" cried Rosa; "I have been so dull without you; and see what a
+wreath I have made for your bonnet! But I have a great mind to wear
+it myself, for you don't deserve to have it, for being so long in
+coming to me."
+
+"I have been over at the castle, Rosa," said Charley, stooping
+to embrace her, as she innocently held up her lips to be kissed
+by him. "I have been over at Drummin, looking at the grand array
+of steeds and horsemen. But what are these flowers?--Water-lilies,
+as I hope to be saved! Holy Virgin! Rosa, how didst thou come by them?"
+
+"I got them from the pool," replied Rosa, hesitating, and gently
+tapping his cheek with a few stray flowers which she held in her hand;
+"I got them in the same way that you pulled them for me the other day,
+that is with a long hazle rod, with a crook at the end of it."
+
+"From the pool, Rosa?" cried Charley; "What could tempt thee
+to risk thy life for such trifles? If thou hadst slipt over the
+treacherous brink, where there was no one by to save thee--thou wert
+gone! irrecoverably gone! How couldst thou be so rash? my very flesh
+creeps to think on't!"
+
+"Don't be angry with me, Charley!" said Rosa coaxingly--"what risk
+would I not run to give thee pleasure?"
+
+"But you have given me any thing but pleasure in this matter, Rosa,"
+said Charley; "I tremble too much to think of the hazard thou hast run,
+to look with pleasure on any thing that could have occasioned it."
+
+"So thou wilt not let me put the wreath on thy bonnet, then?" said
+Rosa, with a tear half disclosing itself in her eye-lid; "Come, come,
+Charley! sit down--sit down on this bank, and do let me put it upon
+thy bonnet."
+
+"If it will pleasure thee to make a fool of me, Rosa," said Charley,
+smiling on her, and kissing her; "Thou shalt do with me as thou
+mayest list."
+
+"That is a dear kind Charley," cried Rosa, her moist eyes sparkling
+with delight, and throwing her arms around his neck; "I'll make no
+fool of thee: I'll make thee so handsome!"
+
+"Handsome!" exclaimed Charley, laughing. "Why Rosa, it is making a
+fool of me, indeed, to say that thou can'st make me handsome, with
+this ugly deep cross-mark on my cheek."
+
+"That cross-mark on your cheek, Charley!" cried the little girl, with
+an intensity of feeling much beyond anything which her years might have
+warranted; "To me that cross-mark is beautiful! I love that noble brow
+of thine--those eyes, that whenever they look upon me, tell me that I
+am dear to thee--those lips, that so often kiss me, and instruct me,
+and say kind things to me--but that mark of the cross on thy cheek--oh,
+that hath to me a holy influence in't; it reminds me that, but for
+thy noble courage which earned it for thee, I should have been food
+for the young eagles of the craig. Charley! I could not fail to love
+thee, for thy kindness to me; but I never could have loved thee as I
+do love thee, but for these living marks which you bear of all that
+you suffered for thine own little Rosa. Kiss me my dear, dear Charley!"
+
+"My little wifey!" cried Charley, clasping the innocent girl in his
+arms, and smothering her with kisses.
+
+"Aye," said Rosa, artlessly, "I am thy little wifey. All the gossips
+say that I am fated to be so; for you know I have got my cross mark
+as well as you, aye, and on my left cheek too. The eagles did that
+kind turn for me. They marked us both with the cross alike. See! you
+can see my cross here quite plain."
+
+"I do see it," said Charley, kissing the place. "But thanks be to
+the Virgin thy beauty hath not suffered one whit by it. I can just
+discern that the mark is there, and that is all; and I trust that it
+will altogether disappear as you grow up to be a woman."
+
+"The Virgin forbid!" cried Rosa energetically. "The gossips say that
+we have been so miraculously signed with the cross expressly for
+each other, and I would not lose so happy a mark, no, not to be made
+a queen! But do let me put on thy chaplet, dear Charley. I hope to
+see thee some day with a grand casque on thy head--a tilting spear
+in thy hand--bestriding a noble steed, and riding at the ring with
+the best of them."
+
+"Alas, Rosa!" said Charley, with a deep sigh, "that will never be
+my fate!"
+
+"Why not?" demanded Rosa; "surely Sir Walter Stewart may make thee
+his esquire?"
+
+"Alas, no!" said Charley, despondingly. "The casque he dooms me to is
+a tailor's cowl--the shield a thimble--the lance a needle--and the
+gallant steed I am to mount is a tailor's shop-board, and if ever
+I tilt with silk, velvet, or gold, it will be to convert them into
+cloaks and doublets for my betters!"
+
+"A tailor!" exclaimed Rosa, with astonishment; "surely thou art
+jesting, Charley."
+
+"I'faith, it is too serious a matter to jest about," replied
+Charley. "Truly I am doomed to handle the goosing iron of Master
+Jonathan Junkins."
+
+"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" shouted Rosa--"Ha, ha, ha, ha!--What an odd fancy
+of Sir Walter!"
+
+"Nay, laugh not at my misery, Rosa," said Charley, gravely, and
+somewhat piteously. "I cannot bear the thought of such a life! What
+think you, Rosa, of being a tailor's wife?"
+
+"So that thou wilt always call me thine own dear little wifey, I
+care not what thou art," replied Rosa, tenderly, and throwing her
+arms around his neck. "And why, after all, mayest thou not be quite
+happy as a tailor? Old Johnny Junkins sings at his task from morning
+till night. Besides, he hath no risk of being killed in battle, as
+my poor father was. He always sleeps in a whole skin, save when his
+wife Janet beats him with the ell-wand, and surely thou wouldst have
+no fears that I should do that for thee, dear Charley?"
+
+It was now Charley's turn to laugh, which he did very heartily, and
+having thus gained a temporary victory over his chagrin, he improved
+upon it by immediately taking a small Missal from his sporran,
+and commencing his daily occupation of giving instructions to Rosa,
+who greedily learned from him all that he could impart.
+
+I mean now to give you some little account of Sir Walter Stewart,
+gentlemen. You must know that he was one of the prettiest and most
+accomplished men of his time, and a great favourite at court. His
+perfection in all warlike exercises--his fondness for horses--and
+his fearless riding, were qualifications which fitted him for being
+the companion of the king's brothers, the spirited Alexander Duke
+of Albany, and the tall and graceful John Earl of Mar, whilst his
+skill in fencing--his proficiency in music--and his taste in dress,
+secured for him a high place in the good graces of that elegant,
+but weak monarch, James the Third. With young Ramsay of Balmain,
+afterwards created Earl of Bothwell, he was in the best habits of
+intimacy. But with the lower minions of the king, I mean, with such as
+Cochran the mason--Rogers the musician--Leonard the smith--Hommil the
+tailor--Torfefan the fencing-master, and Andrew the Flemish astrologer,
+he was more polite than familiar. With the ladies of the court Sir
+Walter Stewart was an object of admiration, nay, he was the theme of
+the praise of every one of them, from the beautiful, fascinating,
+and virtuous Queen Margaret herself, down to the humblest of her
+maids of honour. It is no wonder, then, that Sir Walter was induced
+to spend more of his time at court than among the wilds of his native
+mountains. On the occasion of which I am now speaking, he was on his
+way to the castle of Stirling, where James the Third was at that time
+residing, and after a long and tiresome journey, he and his attendants
+entered the city, and rode up to their hostel in the main street,
+at such an hour of the evening, as made it neither very seemly nor
+very convenient for him to report himself to his majesty.
+
+Sir Walter Stewart was too well known not to command immediate
+attention from every one belonging to the inn. The horse-boys, who
+were grooming the numerous steeds, that were hooked up to various
+parts of the walls surrounding the yard, made way respectfully, not
+only for himself, but also for his people and their animals, and the
+cattle of some persons of less note and consideration, were turned
+out of their stalls for the accommodation of his horses. Meanwhile,
+the knight was ushered up stairs into the common room, by mine host
+in person, who, with his portly figure, stripped to his close yellow
+jacket and galligaskins, and with a fair linen towel hanging from
+his girdle, puffed and sweated up the steps before him, his large
+rubicund visage vying in the brightness of its scarlet, with the fiery
+coloured cap of coarse red cloth which he wore. Sir Walter found the
+large apartment surrounded by oaken tables and chairs, which were
+occupied by various guests, some eating, and some drinking, whilst
+the rattling of trenchers, the clinking of cans, the buzz of voices,
+and the hum of tongues, were so loud and continuous, as to render
+it difficult for him to detect a word of the conversation that was
+going on any where, except the clamorous calls for fresh supplies of
+provender, ale, or wine, which the bustling serving men and tapsters
+were hurrying to and fro to satisfy.
+
+As the host showed Sir Walter to an unoccupied table at the upper end
+of the place, most of the guests arose and saluted him as he passed
+by them. To some of these he gave a condescending bow of recognition,
+whilst to others he hardly deigned to bestow more than a dignified
+acknowledgment of their courtesy. But he was no sooner seated,
+than he was left to his own reflections, for each man again turned
+his attention to his own particular comforts, and the knight was
+not sorry to be very soon enabled to do the same thing for himself,
+by paying his own addresses to the smoking pasty that was placed on
+the table before him. He had but just finished his meal, when the
+host entered, ushering in a very elegant young man, the richness of
+whose attire, as well as the perfection of its make, together with
+his noble air, at once showed him to be a gentleman of the court. His
+rose-coloured jacket, and amber trewse, were of the richest silk,
+and made to fit tight, so as to show off, to the greatest advantage,
+his very handsome person. His girdle-belt of black velvet, together
+with the pouch of the same material, sparkled with gems, as did also
+the sheaths and hilts of his sword and dagger. Several rich chains of
+gold were hung about his neck; his shoes had those long thin points,
+which were worn at that period, though they were not, in his instance,
+carried to any very absurd extravagance. His cloak was of blue velvet
+richly bordered with silver, and his broad jewelled hat, of scarlet
+stuff of the same material, was drawn over one side of his head,
+as a necessary precaution of counterpoise to the weight of the
+long feathers of green, blue, red, and yellow, which stretched out
+from it so far as to threaten to overbalance it on the other. From
+beneath this his brown hair hung down, curling over his ample brow,
+and spread itself in wide profusion over his shoulders.
+
+"What, Ramsay!" exclaimed Sir Walter Stewart, rising to meet him
+with a cordial salutation, which again silenced the clatter of the
+trenchers and cans, and brought all eyes for some moments upon the
+two gentlemen. "This is a lucky meeting indeed."
+
+"Lucky!" replied Ramsay, smiling jocularly; "what a boorish phrase!--It
+is indeed well worthy of one, who hath been rusticating so long amidst
+northern moors and mountains."
+
+"Cry your mercy, my lord of the court," said Sir Walter Stewart,
+laughing.
+
+"Nay," continued Ramsay; "I know not whether thy clownish expression
+be most discourteous to me, or to thyself,--to me, as it would deny
+me all credit for this mine expressly purposed visit to thee,--or
+to thyself, for supposing that such a preux-chevalier, as thou art,
+could be, for the smallest fraction of time, within the atmosphere
+of the court, without being run after by those who love thee."
+
+"Thank thee! thank thee, my dear Ramsay," replied Sir Walter, shaking
+him cordially by the hand, and laughing heartily; "Then will I say,
+that it was most kind of thee to find me out so soon, and to come
+thus purposely to take a stoup of French claret with me, and to pour
+thine agreeable talk into mine ear, so as to fill the empty vessel
+of mine ignorance, to a level with that of thine own full knowledge
+of courtly affairs, and of all the interesting occurrents which have
+chanced about the court since I last left it. So, sit thee down,
+I pray thee. We shall be private enow at this table, which is well
+out of ear-shot of all those noisy gormandizers and guzzlers."
+
+"Nay," replied Ramsay, as he seated himself beside his friend; "thine
+emptiness is of too vast a profundity for me to be able to fill it at
+this time. On some other occasion I shall do my best to replenish thee,
+when we can have leisure for a longer talk together, than we can look
+to have to-night. I came hither only to carry thee away with me."
+
+"Whither wouldst have me go?" demanded Sir Walter. "Trust me, I am
+more disposed, at this moment, to enjoy mine ease in mine inn, than
+to move any where else."
+
+"But I must have thee," replied Ramsay; "rustic as thou art, thou must
+submit to be led by me for some little time, like a blind man who hath
+but newly recovered his eyesight, lest thou shouldst stumble amidst
+the blaze of courtly sunshine. I came to bring thee to a small supper,
+at the lodging of Sir William Rogers, that most cunning fingerer of the
+lute and harp, and whose practice thereupon," continued he, sinking his
+voice almost to a whisper, "seems to have taught him a most marvellous
+power, of bringing what music may be most profitable for himself, out
+of that strange and many-stringed instrument called a Royal Sovereign."
+
+"Hush, hush, Ramsay!" replied Sir Walter. "Thy talk is dangerous in
+such a place as this. But say, does the King go to this party?"
+
+"No," replied Ramsay; "He is to be employed to-night in the occult
+science, to which he hath of late so much addicted himself. He is to
+be occupied with that knave Andrew the Astrologer, in regarding and
+reading the stars."
+
+"Then, what boots it for us to go to the party of this empty piece
+of sounding brass?" demanded Sir Walter.
+
+"Much, much, my dear Stewart," replied Ramsay. "In the first place,
+thou shalt be introduced to his niece, who hath lately arrived from
+England. Thou shalt see and hear that fair Philomela, yclept Juliet
+Manvers, who plays and sings to admiration. Though here it behoves
+me, as thy friend, to bid thee take care of thy heart, for the uncle
+seems to have imported her, with the wise intent, of marrying her
+to some one of the court, and mine own heart hath already been very
+sorely assailed."
+
+"A dangerous siren, truly!" said Sir Walter, laughing; "yet methinks
+I may safely enough bid defiance to her enchantment."
+
+"We shall see," replied Ramsay, with a doubtful nod of his head;
+"But be that as it may, my second reason for taking thee thither,
+is that, with exception of our host himself, we may at least spend
+one tolerably pleasant evening undrugged and unencumbered, with the
+base society of those vulgar fellows, whom the King, with so much
+mistaken judgment, hath chosen to associate in his favour, with two
+such well-born gentlemen as you and me. Cochran, that man whom nature
+hath built up of stone and mortar, and who would yet ape the graces
+of a finished lord of the court, as a bear would copy the gambols of
+a well educated Italian greyhound."
+
+"Hommil!" cried Sir Walter, laughing, and following up his friend's
+humour. "Hommil! that thread-paper, whose sword and dagger would
+be better removed, to have their places supplied by his shears and
+his bodkin."
+
+"Leonard!" cried Ramsay, "Leonard! that man of iron, whose very face
+is a perfect forge, his chin being the stithy, his mouth the great
+bellows, his eyes the ignited charcoal, his nose the fore-hammer,
+and his brows the broken and smoke begrimmed pent-house that hangs
+over all."
+
+"Torfefan!" continued Stewart; "Torfefan! that bully of the backsword,
+rapier, and dagger, who, except when he is pot-valiant, is always so
+wise in his steel-devouring courage, as to spread it forth like the
+tail of a turkey-cock, always the wider, the weaker the adversary he
+may have to deal with."
+
+"Bravo! bravo!" cried Ramsay, absolutely shouting in his mirth;
+"Bravo! bravo! and then, last of all, Andrew, that solemn and
+mysterious knave, who seems as if he would pluck the stars from
+the skies, as I would the daisies from a flower border, and who,
+if I mistake not, will yet contrive to weave a good rich garland of
+fate out of them for himself, whatever he may do for others. To be
+compelled to keep such company, Stewart, is to pay a severe penalty for
+the daily converse and favour of a king. But this night, the monarch
+being engaged, as I told thee, each of these precious fellows hath
+gone on his own private amusement, for, as thou knowest, there is no
+such great love among them, as to make any two of them much desire to
+company together, so, to get rid for one single night of the whole of
+them but Rogers, whom we must admit to be by far the least offensive
+and most tolerable individual among them, is certainly a matter upon
+which we may very well congratulate ourselves."
+
+"True," replied Sir Walter; "but I see no reason why we should not rid
+ourselves of Rogers, as well as of the rest, by staying and spending
+the evening together over this excellent wine. I must confess that
+I am somewhat travel-worn, and but little inclined for any such
+entertainment as he may give us."
+
+"Nay, that cannot be," said Ramsay; "I gave my promise to him, ere I
+knew of thy coming, and when I heard of thine arrival, I pledged my
+word to bring thee with me. So, now, thou must not abandon me. Besides,
+as I told thee, the fellow is the best of these minions, and his music,
+not to mention that of his niece, is always some recompense for the
+endurance of his company. So haste thee to doff thy travelling weeds,
+and pink thyself out in such attire, as may make thee pleasing in the
+eyes of the fair and philomela-voiced Juliet. Be quick! for I shall
+wait for thee here."
+
+Sir Walter Stewart, rather unwillingly, summoned his servants--was
+lighted to his chamber, and soon returned, in a dress, which was in no
+wise put to shame by that of his friend, and they proceeded together
+to the lodgings of Sir William Rogers.
+
+The apartments of this favourite minstrel of the king were not
+extensive, but, as the custom was, down to a very late period of our
+history, even the principal bed-room, which purposely contained a
+richly carved aud highly ornamented bed, was thrown open, and all
+were lighted up with a blaze of lamps. The furniture was gorgeous
+and gaudy. The serving-men numerous, but not always expert, and
+the company was small, and chiefly composed of such persons as were
+likely to be willing to scrape their way up into favour at court, by
+grasping the skirt, and scrambling after the footsteps, of any one,
+however worthless, who might be rising there. The entrance of two
+gallants so distinguished as Ramsay and Sir Walter Stewart produced
+just such an effect as one might look for from the sudden arrival of
+two noble peacocks, in full glory of plumage, in the midst of a vulgar
+flock of turkeys. Each small individual present vainly endeavoured to
+hobble-gobble itself into notice, whilst the two greater and grander
+birds permitted their own agreeable admiration of themselves, to be but
+little interrupted by the ruffling and noise of the creatures around
+them. To Sir William Rogers himself, however, court policy induced them
+to yield a full and respectful attention. He was a good looking, and
+rather stoutish man, with more of talent than of gentility in his face,
+for though his brows were heavy, his large eyes were always ready to
+respond, with powerful expression, to the varied feelings which music
+never failed to awaken within him. In music he was an enthusiast,
+but when not under the excitement which it invariably produced in
+him, his whole features betrayed that dull, sordid, self-complacency,
+only to be disturbed when his own immediate interest moved him.
+
+The musical knight came forward to receive the two friends, with
+manifest satisfaction, as persons who raised the tone of his little
+society, and gave him additional consequence in the eyes of his other
+guests. He presented Sir Walter, without delay, to his fair niece, who
+arose gracefully from the harp, over which she had just begun to run
+her fingers in a prelude, and returned his salute with condescending
+smiles. She was very beautiful; but, although she appeared to be young,
+her beauty seemed, somehow, to want the freshness of youth. She looked
+like a gay garment, which, though neither soiled nor worn, had lost
+somewhat of that glossy newness of surface, with which it first came
+forth from the tailor's shop. Whilst her regards were turned towards
+Ramsay, or Sir Walter Stewart, her countenance was covered with the
+most winning smiles she could wear; but when they chanced to wander
+round among the meaner personages of the company, it assumed a degree
+of haughtiness, that was not unmingled with contempt. This proceeded
+from her very expressive eyes, which beamed forth warm rays, when half
+veiled by her long dark eyelashes, and were quite in harmony with the
+mildness of her oval face, her polished forehead, and her dark and
+finely arched eye-brows. But when their orbs were broadly displayed
+by the rise of her full eye-lid, the fires that shot from them were
+too formidable to be altogether agreeable. As was the fashion with
+ladies of any distinction in those days, her hair was but little
+seen--the greater part of it being capped up under a very tall,
+steeple-looking head-dress, which was of a shape much resembling an
+overgrown pottle-basket. This was of crimson velvet, ornamented with
+gold embroidery, and from the taper top of it descended a number of
+streamers of different colours, which hung down behind, and floated
+over three-fourths of her person. She wore a rich robe, of the same
+material and colour as the cap. This was made to fit her tightly, as
+low as the waist, where it was confined by a richly wrought girdle
+of gold, from which it flowed loosely down, and swept the ground
+in a wide train, that covered a large extent of the floor around
+her, but which was so looped up at the sides, as to display a deep
+cherry-coloured silk petticoat flowered with gold.
+
+"Better had it been for thee, Juliet, to have sung when I first asked
+thee," said Sir William Rogers to her; "thy minstrelsy might have
+passed well enough with our good friends here: but now, thou must
+undergo the severe ordeal, of the nicely critical ears, of these
+our honoured and highly accomplished guests of the court. Sir Walter
+Stewart here, especially, is well known to be a master of the divine
+art of music--as, with his gracious favour, you may perchance by and
+bye hear."
+
+"Alas! uncle, I know too well how silly I have been, in allowing myself
+to be thus caught, and I feel too surely I am about to be punished for
+it!" replied the lady, with a sigh, accompanied by a languishing glance
+at Sir Walter; "for who hath not heard of the exquisite science of Sir
+Walter Stewart? The fame of his accomplishments have made the proudest
+gallants of England envious. But his eye hath too much benevolence
+in it, to leave me to doubt, that he will pity and pardon the faults
+that may spring from this trembling weakness of hand, and fluttering
+of heart, which his presence hath so suddenly brought upon me."
+
+The lady, quite accidentally no doubt, then assumed that attitude which
+was best calculated to display her person to advantage, and began
+to run her fingers over the chords, with a boldness and strength of
+touch, that proved her to be a very perfect mistress indeed of the
+instrument she handled, since she could thus make it discourse such
+music, under circumstances which she had herself declared to be so
+unfavourable. Notwithstanding the overawing presence of Sir Walter
+Stewart, whose critical powers she had declared she so much dreaded,
+she commenced a beautiful love-ballad, in a full, firm, and clear
+voice, with which she very speedily whirled away the musical soul of
+the Knight of the Aven, who, in spite of his boast to the contrary,
+was immediately drawn towards her chair, over which he continued to
+hang during all the time of her performance. Song after song was sung
+by this siren, in a style so superior to any thing which he had ever
+heard before, that he was perfectly enraptured. He was called upon
+to play and to sing in his turn, and the praises which he received,
+in terms of no very limited measure, from both uncle and niece, and
+which, if fame does not belie him, were not altogether unmerited,
+were re-echoed by the whole flock of gobbling turkeys who pressed
+around them. The lady then joined her voice to his, in a tender and
+melting lay,--and thus the evening passed away, till Sir Walter was
+called upon to hand her to the table, where an ample feast was spread,
+and where her very agreeable talk was rendered even yet more spirited,
+by the rich wines, which enlivened the imagination of both speaker
+and listener. The hours fled most agreeably; and, before Sir Walter
+took his leave, he readily entered into certain arrangements with
+the lovely Juliet, by which it was settled that next day was to be
+the first of a series of meetings, for mutual practice in the art
+in which both so much delighted, their studies being of course to be
+carried on under the direction of Sir William Rogers himself.
+
+"Well, Julietta," said the uncle to the niece, after they were left
+alone, "how likest thou this new instrument, now that thou hast run
+the fingers of thy fancy over his stops?"
+
+"The instrument is a handsome instrument enough," replied Juliet. "The
+strings sound melodiously too. But much of mine affection must rest
+on the gold with which it may be enriched, and the value of the case
+which may contain it. Is this Stewart wealthy, I pray thee; and are
+his possessions ample enough for my desires?"
+
+"I know that thy desires are ample enough," replied Rogers; "but
+report speaks well of the wealth and possessions of this Sir Walter."
+
+"Some where in the bleak north, are they not?" said Juliet. "By all
+the saints, the cold and barren sod of this northern clime had hardly
+ever been pressed by my foot at all, had I not hoped to have mated
+me with some of its most wealthy nobles!"
+
+"Thou hadst little chance of any such noble match where thou wert,
+Julietta," replied Rogers; "and, let me tell thee, the fates are
+quite as much against any such chance for thee here. These proud and
+dogged Scottish nobles scorn to grace a court, where the King makes
+so little account of them. And truly there is little wonder that they
+should thus take offence, seeing that the places in the royal favour,
+which by inheritance belong to them, should be filled by such beasts
+as Leonard--Torfefan--Hommil--Andrew--aye, and that prince of brutes,
+Cochran, too."
+
+"They are all beasts, as thou sayest, uncle," replied Juliet;
+"though, if I were obliged to choose among them, I should rather
+tie myself to that coarse, clumsy elephant whom thou hast last named
+as king of these brutes, than to any of the others. He is the man,
+depend on't, who hath the true and proper art to raise the edifice
+of his own fortunes; and, by using his broad shoulders as a scaffold,
+a bold woman might thereby mount, methinks, to wealth and honours."
+
+"He is a pestilent, pushing, proud, overbearing, ignorant, vulgar
+beast, I tell thee," replied her uncle, much excited. "The brute
+despises music! Depend upon it, he will never rise to any thing but to
+the garret story of one of his own buildings, from which, if some kind
+devil would but throw him down, to the dislocation of that accursed
+bull neck of his, I should cheerfully compose an especial jubilate. Oh,
+Apollo and Terpsichore! that a man of my musical science and learning,
+should be compelled to associate with so vile a piler of stones,
+and compounder of mortar!"
+
+"I have a shrewd suspicion, that the measure of thy rage against
+Cochran, is but that of thy fears for his outstripping thee in thine
+ascent of the lofty tower of ambition," replied Juliet. "But spurn
+him not, good uncle, if thou art wise; for his ladder is long, and
+strong; and might, with proper management, be useful to thee."
+
+"I should be right glad to see it so, July, could I but kick down
+both the ladder and its owner, after I should have so used them,"
+said Rogers. "But methinks thou wouldst fain carry ladder, hod and
+mortar and all, to the very top of the tower, on thine own shoulders,
+rather than lose the man they belong to."
+
+"Thou art grievously mistaken, uncle," replied Juliet, keenly. "To
+rise into a high and wealthy station, and the higher and wealthier the
+better, would certainly be my desire; but I should much prefer youth,
+and beauty, and accomplishment, in the instrument which I might use
+for the gratification of mine ambition. If fate denies me all these
+indeed, then would I embrace age, and deformity itself, rather than
+fail of mine object. Nay, thou canst hardly as yet guess to what means
+I should resort to secure its completion. As for Cochran, I know he
+loves me; for, in his great condescension, he hath vouchsafed to tell
+me so. Nor have I altogether kept the bear aloof. To wed myself to him
+would be to speculate, and that too with but an ungainly and unloveable
+subject. But if I could read the book of his fate, and find fortune
+and honours therein, it would not be the coarse edifice of his body,
+supported as it is upon such rustic pillars, and crowned by so vulgar
+and heavy a capital, that would deter me from embracing it. Yet 'tis
+but a speculation; and, being so, I must confess that I am disposed,
+rather to grasp at this handsome Corinthian column of the Stewart,
+than to tie myself to that clumsy Cochran, whose clay image might,
+after all, crumble to pieces, and suffocate me in its dirty dust."
+
+"I am right glad that thou hast so determined, Juliet," said Rogers. "I
+have no jealousy of this well-born knight, who hath, moreover,
+a greater feeling for the divine art of music than any of his cold
+countrymen with whom I have yet met, without even excepting Royalty
+itself. But I might as well see thee built up into a stone wall,
+as see thee the wife of Cochran! To see thy great musical genius
+tied to this most unmelodious and croaking chisseler of stones,
+and compounder of lime, sand, and cow's-hair! I quaver at the very
+thought! But get thee to bed, my girl. Now that I know my ground-notes,
+I shall wonder if I work thee not out a piece that shall not only win
+thee this instrument of thy more recent desires, but enable thee to
+play upon it too, according as thou wilt, with thine own variations."
+
+Whilst this precious conversation was going on between the uncle and
+niece, Sir Walter Stewart gave the convoy to Ramsay as far as the
+Royal Castle-gate, after which he returned towards his hostel. As
+he was pursuing his solitary way thither, he heard the clashing of
+swords; and, on moving quickly down the deserted street, he discovered,
+by the faint light that came from a new moon, two men pressing hard
+in fence against one, who was defending himself with great courage,
+with his back to a wall. Though he had no knowledge of the combatants,
+he could not stand by and see such foul play.
+
+"For shame! for shame, gentlemen!" cried he. "What! two upon one!"
+
+"Gentlemen, indeed!" cried he that was assailed, in a contemptuous
+tone, during the moment of breathing afforded him by Sir Walter's
+interference--"Gentlemen indeed!--Tailors and scaramouches, else am
+I not the Earl of Huntly!"
+
+"Again dost thou dare so to miscal the gentlemen of the court of his
+most Royal Majesty of Scotland?" cried one of the individuals, whom
+Sir Walter immediately discovered to be the pot-valiant Torfefan. "By
+all the gods of fire, thunder, and battle, thou shalt eat this good
+bilboa of mine. Have at thee, then, earl, or carl, or devil, if thou
+likest it!"
+
+"Nay, then, my Lord of Huntly, I will myself relieve thee of this
+bold bird," cried the knight; "do thou deal with the other."
+
+"Thanks for thy rescue, Sir Walter Stewart," replied Huntly, now
+recognizing his friend. "But thou hast left naught to me but the very
+shred of the skirt of the garment of this broil--the vile cabbage--the
+very tailor himself."
+
+"Trust me, thy man, though but the ninth-part of one, is as good as
+mine," replied Sir Walter.
+
+The combat was now renewed upon fairer terms, and, in a few moments,
+Torfefan's sword was sent spinning into the air, and, falling from
+its flight, it rang upon the stones of the causeway, and was shivered
+into pieces, whilst its owner was prostrated on his back by his
+over-anxiety to withdraw from the fury of his adversary's onset. Sir
+Walter's sword-point was immediately at his throat; and, at that
+very moment the weapon of his noble ally had pierced a fleshy part of
+his opponent, as he had turned to run away, which act of discretion,
+however, it did not prevent, for it rather pricked him on to a more
+active exertion of speed.
+
+"Spare my life, good Sir Walter Stewart!" cried Torfefan, in an agony
+of fear. "Most noble Knight, spare the life of a fellow-courtier!"
+
+"Get up, sir; I have no intention of taking it," replied Sir
+Walter. "'Tis enow for me that I have thus exorcised the spirit of the
+pottle-pot out of thee. 'Twas that which made thine otherwise peaceful
+sword leap from its scabbard against thy betters. Get thee up, I say,
+and go home."
+
+"Thou art right, Sir Knight," replied Torfefan, rising humbly upon
+his knees, and gradually gaining his legs. "I am at all times mild
+and peaceful, as so brave a man, and so perfect a master of fence
+ought to be, save when the flask hath somewhat inflamed my brain,
+and then, indeed, I am as dangerous as a devil. 'Twas well that thou
+camest, else my Lord of Huntly, whom otherwise I so highly respect,
+had certainly died by my murderous hand."
+
+"'Twas well, indeed, that thy bloody Bacchanalian rage was staid in
+time," said Sir Walter Stewart, ironically. "In this bout, thou hast
+so well proved thy title to bravery, as well as to science in fence,
+that who shall dare henceforth to deny these thy perfections? So take
+the advice of a friend, Signor Torfefan, and get thee straightway to
+bed, lest the dregs of that same pottle-pot, working in thee still,
+should draw down upon thee some more serious fracture than that of
+thy bilboa-blade."
+
+"Ha! true," said Torfefan; "that was a loss indeed! But murderers
+will suffer at last; and if thou didst but know the blood which that
+same lethal weapon hath shed in my hands, and the lives which it hath
+sacrificed, thou would'st say, Sir Knight----"
+
+"I would say that thou should'st forthwith hasten to thy bed,"
+interrupted Sir Walter. "If the King should hear of this brawl----"
+
+"Gad so, that's true, Sir Walter!" cried Torfefan; "thank thee for the
+hint. Were those reptiles, Cochran, Rogers, and the rest, to hear of
+this, they might work mine absolute destruction. Ah, that's the worst
+feature of our King's court, Sir Walter! The worst misfortune that
+has happened, I say, to us gentlemen of the court, is the admission
+to it of such vile scum as these Cochrans, and Rogers, and Leonards,
+and such like base mechanics. My very broil this blessed night, may
+be said to be owing to my permitting that lily-livered hog in armour,
+Hommil, to company with me. But while I am prating, these villains may
+get sight of me, and make their own story out of me. So I'll tarry here
+no longer. Good night, Sir Walter Stewart; you are a brave gentleman,
+well fitted to company with the King."
+
+"What a cowardly boasting knave!" said Sir Walter, after he was gone.
+
+"Yet, to such vermin are all the crumbs of royal favour thrown, to
+the utter starvation of those who are of noble breed!" cried Huntly,
+with bitterness. "I would fain drink one flask of wine with thee,
+Stewart, at thy hostel, ere I go home, to wash down the indignation
+and loathing, which the very sight of these scoundrel caitiffs hath
+brought into my throat. Let me go thither with thee straightway."
+
+"Willingly, my lord," replied Sir Walter, and, arm and arm together,
+they proceeded to the hostel.
+
+"Stewart," said the Earl of Huntly, after they were seated at their
+wine, and leaning across the table to address his friend in a half
+whisper, though they were the only guests in the room at that late
+hour; "thou hast so much of the good will of great and small, that
+no one grudges thee the favour the king shows to thee; and there
+are few who have much jealousy of Ramsay either, seeing that he
+was whipping-boy to James, and, moreover, that he is a gentleman of
+good descent. But neither lords nor commons, knights nor burgesses,
+can long tolerate the undue elevation and preferment of wretches, so
+worthless, as those who block up the royal presence from the approach
+of better men."
+
+"'Tis unfortunate that it should be so," said Sir Walter; "but has
+it never occurred to your Lordship, that the nobles of Scotland may
+have some small share of the blame, by absenting themselves from
+court as they do, so that the King lacks all opportunity of having
+their several merits brought under his eye."
+
+"You would not have the high-blooded war-steed to throw himself down
+in the same stye with obscene swine?" replied the Earl. "I would as
+soon thrust myself into a den of badgers, as sit down to partake of
+a king's feast, with such company as that arrogant mason Cochran,
+and the other dunghill companions whom James so much delights to
+honour. The court must be cleared of all such, aye, and swept, and
+garnished, and perfumed too, before I shall dare to trust my nostrils
+within its precincts."
+
+"No one can say that such feelings are not quite natural, my lord,"
+replied Sir Walter Stewart; "but yet, I fear that the indulgence of
+them, can do nothing else but increase the disease which you would
+so fain cure. 'Tis pity that some few of the nobles do not so far
+overcome them, as to appear now and then at court. As a soft answer
+turneth away wrath, so gentle conduct will often effect that which
+may defy the sternest boldness."
+
+"Nay, but how are we used when we do appear?" demanded the Earl. "Even
+Albany and Mar are treated as aliens; and if the very royal brothers
+of the monarch are scarcely noticed, in comparison with those nauseous
+toads who crawl about the king's footstool, what can we of the humbler
+peerage expect?"
+
+"There is great reason in what you say, my lord," observed Sir Walter;
+"but hush! who comes here?"
+
+A tall thin figure, in black trewse, with a doublet of black, slashed
+with flame-coloured silk, the body strangely covered with silver stars,
+and having the signs of the zodiac on the broad belt that confined it,
+with a black cloak hanging from his shoulders, which had on it the
+sun and moon and seven stars, and his head shaded by a broad hat,
+that bore a large plume of feathers, all of the same gloomy hue,
+stalked into the common room. From the small quantity of illumination
+which the single lamp, that burned on their table, threw around it,
+the person that came was but indistinctly visible, in the obscurity
+that especially prevailed at the lower end of the apartment; but when
+he came slowly forward within the influence of the light, Sir Walter
+Stewart, and his friend the Earl of Huntly, recognised the pale, thin,
+sharp, and prominent features, the cadaverous hue, the dark eyebrows,
+the piercing eyes, and the long black locks and beard of Andrew
+the Flemish Astrologer. He came as if in a walking dream; he stopped
+within a few feet of the table where they sat--started, as if suddenly
+returning to the consciousness of the realities around him--darted an
+inquiring look, first at Lord Huntly, and then at Sir Walter Stewart,
+and then slowly inclining his head in silent and sombre salutation,
+he turned from them, and stalked away, without uttering a syllable.
+
+The Earl, and the Knight, could not for some time shake off the
+superstitious dread, that involuntarily crept over both of them at the
+sight of this man, who had thus so strangely and mysteriously visited
+them. His deep knowledge of the science, to which he pretended, was
+admitted by all, and his powers were supposed to extend over other
+regions besides those of the heavens. Their hearts were so chilled
+by his very aspect, that both felt quite unfitted for renewing their
+conversation; and, without making one single remark on this strange
+intrusion, each drained the full cup that stood before him, and,
+bidding one another good night, the serving men of the hostel were
+called, and they separated, to seek their respective places of repose.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A TEMPEST.
+
+
+Clifford.--What a dreadful tempest out of doors?--Forgive my
+interruption, Serjeant; but ere you go farther with your interesting
+story, I think we had better get in some more wood and peats, lest
+the fire should get hopelessly low, a thing that is very likely to
+happen where people are so engaged as we are.
+
+Grant.--The Serjeant's stories might well make one forget every
+thing else.
+
+Clifford.--Come, Mister Serjeant, whilst the fire is mending, and
+the Earl and the Knight are retiring to their repose, you may have
+leisure to wet your whistle a little.
+
+Serjeant.--I shall not be sorry to do that, sir; my mouth is a little
+dry to be sure. Keep us all, such a night of wind and rain! How the
+blast thuds against the windows!--That is awful indeed! God help the
+poor man that may be out in such a night! 'Tis well for us to be in
+bigged land.
+
+Grant.--As you say, it is well for us to be under a roof, Archy; and
+yet I wish that the roof of this old house may not be blown away. How
+furiously the tempest howls along!
+
+Author.--'Tis fearful to listen to it; yet I suspect that this is
+nothing to the blasts which its walls must sometimes endure.
+
+Serjeant.--Ou! bless you, sir! The wind comes down the trough of
+this glen, at times, enough, one would think, to blow every house
+and living thing out of it, stones and rocks and all, like peas out
+of a pop-gun. But this house has stood many a blast, and I hope it
+will weather out this one yet.
+
+Author.--It came on very suddenly. It is not half an hour ago since
+all was quiet, and hear how the wind rages and the rain rattles now.
+
+Clifford.--Our friend Willox must be abroad with his kelpie's bridle.
+
+Author.--Aye--or Andrew the Flemish Astrologer may have done it.
+
+Clifford.--Andrew the Astrologer! yes, I daresay he was quite equal
+to kicking up such a rumpus among the elements. I would fain know
+more of that fellow.
+
+Serjeant.--Be assured, sir, I shall tell you all I know about him in
+due course of time. Meanwhile I am ready to take up the clue of my
+discourse whenever you please.
+
+Clifford.--You may do so when you like, Serjeant; for, as I suppose
+that this terrible night puts all hope of an early start in the
+morning out of the question, we may e'en sit up as late as we like.
+
+Serjeant.--If the rain holds on at this rate, the rivers will all be
+up, and the mosses swimming, so that our travelling further to-morrow
+will be impossible.
+
+Clifford.--Come away, then, Serjeant, proceed with your legend,
+and let the storm roar and rattle as it will.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LEGEND OF CHARLEY STEWART TÀILLEAR-CRUBACH
+CONTINUED.
+
+
+Sir Walter Stewart was received next day, by King James, with all
+that kindness which he was used to lavish upon his favourites, among
+whom the accomplished knight held by no means the lowest place in his
+estimation. Apartments were immediately allotted to him near the royal
+person, and his time became almost entirely occupied by his duties as
+a courtier. He failed not, however, to take all opportunities that
+occurred, of cultivating his talent for music, under the auspices
+of Sir William Rogers, and his fascinating niece. Notwithstanding
+the knight's bold confidence to the contrary, the lady's designs
+against his heart might have been very rapidly successful, had
+not the baseness of her motives inclined her to waver from time to
+time, between the balance of rival advantages, which were offered
+to her by an encouragement of Cochran, who had declared himself to
+be her lover. Thus it was that she often scared Sir Walter Stewart
+at the very moment when, to all appearance, he seemed most likely
+unconsciously to gorge the bait, and thus it was that several years
+glided imperceptibly away, without the lady finding herself one bit
+nearer to the attainment of either of her objects. Still, however, Sir
+Walter would ever and anon return within the sphere of her attraction,
+and the fair Juliet always the more easily managed to conjure him back
+thither, that they were frequently brought together, to sing and to
+play in presence of the royal pair, in those little private meetings
+which were held almost nightly in the Queen's apartment. As for Sir
+William Rogers, he did all he could to fix his niece's determination
+towards securing an alliance with Sir Walter Stewart, not only from
+his unconquerable abhorrence of the unrefined mason, on the one hand,
+but also from his conviction, that his own ambitious views were fully
+as likely to be helped forward by the lady's union with the gallant
+knight, for whom moreover he had an especial respect, because of his
+genius and accomplishment in that divine art, to which he was himself
+so enthusiastically attached.
+
+The royal party was one night assembled, as usual, in the apartment
+of Queen Margaret, who, seated in a gorgeous chair, richly attired,
+as became her station, and attended by Ramsay, and some of her
+maids of honour, and with her angelic countenance lighted up with
+unfeigned rapture, listened to the mingled voices and minstrelsy
+of Sir William Rogers, Sir Walter Stewart, and the lovely Juliet
+Manvers. The King was engaged with Cochran, at a table at one end
+of the room, in looking over some plans, which had reference to the
+buildings then going on within the castle. Any one who had witnessed
+them, whilst so employed, would have said that neither his Majesty,
+nor his architect, were much occupied in the subject which was the
+ostensible object of their consideration, for whilst the ears of
+the monarch seemed ever and anon to draw off his attention to the
+music, the heavy eyes of Cochran were perpetually wandering towards
+the person of the songstress. Ere the music had been long continued,
+each of them yielded to the irresistible impulse which had moved him,
+and, whilst the King drew a chair, and seated himself opposite to the
+performers, Cochran placed himself behind it, and, with that vulgar
+and unpolished air, which the magnificence of his dress rendered
+only the more apparent, leaned awkwardly over the back of it, and
+rivetted his gloating gaze upon the lady's charms. The piece had come
+to its close, and the royal pair were bestowing their commendations
+liberally upon those who had executed it, when three loud and solemn
+taps were heard at the door of the chamber. King James started, and
+at once assumed an air of intense and serious anxiety, and the Queen,
+and all present, were more or less disturbed at this interruption.
+
+"I had forgotten!" exclaimed the King, as if speaking to himself
+alone.--"Enter! thou art at all times welcome!"
+
+The door slowly opened at his word, and the tall thin figure of Andrew
+the Flemish Astrologer stood in the doorway, habited as he has been
+already described, and with a long white rod in his right hand. With
+his left hand upon his breast, he made a low and solemn reverence
+to the King, and then pointing his rod over his shoulder, he seemed
+silently to indicate his desire that his Majesty should follow him.
+
+"Lead on!" cried the King, with an awe-stricken voice and air, whilst
+he arose from his chair, and hastily put on his hat and cloak. "If
+we are called by the stars, we are at all times ready to give due
+obedience to them," and, with these words, he immediately retired
+with the Astrologer.
+
+Ramsay, Stewart, Rogers, and Juliet Manvers, made their several
+reverences to the Queen, in which they were clumsily joined by
+Cochran, and all took their leave. They were no sooner out of the
+Royal presence, than Cochran, rudely thrusting himself before Ramsay
+and Sir Walter Stewart, bustled busily up to the lady, as she hung on
+her uncle's arm, so as to engage the unoccupied place next her, to the
+exclusion of every one else. Sir Walter was somewhat chafed at this
+rudeness, and might have forgotten himself, had not his rising anger
+been checked by the voice of one of the Queen's ladies, who called
+him by his name. The Knight stopped to ascertain what she wanted.
+
+"Sir Walter Stewart," said the lady, "the Queen commands thee to
+return, for a brief space, to her apartment, that she may again hear
+thee sing that French ballad of thine own composition, which so much
+pleased her Majesty two nights ago. Her Majesty would fain have the
+words, and catch the notes of it."
+
+"I humbly obey her Majesty's command," replied the Knight, returning
+with the lady immediately.
+
+On entering the Queen's apartment, he made his reverence to her
+Majesty; and she, having again signified her wishes to him in a very
+gracious manner, she motioned him to take up a lute, and seat himself
+on a stool near her chair; and after having done as she desired,
+he began to sing the ballad she had named, and to accompany himself
+on the instrument.
+
+In the meanwhile the King followed the solemn, step and apparition-like
+figure of the Astrologer till he brought his Majesty to an angular part
+of the castle-wall that, skirting the giddy precipice of lofty rock on
+which the fortress stands, looked out over the country to the south and
+west. But that which was an extensive and magnificent prospect by day,
+was at this moment shrouded in the shades of night. There he took his
+stand, and pointed upwards with his rod. The moon was in its second
+quarter, and shed a pale and partial light. A strange and portentous
+arch of black and very opaque clouds, rested its extremities on the
+verges of the northern and southern horizon, and spanned the heavens
+through the zenith. Behind this, all to the eastward, was one dark
+vault, impenetrable to the eye, whilst the western edge of the arch
+was tinged with bright rain-bow hues, and the whole sky below it,
+upon that side, was serene and cloudless. As the king gazed upwards in
+wonder, not unmingled with dread, a bright flash of lightning suddenly
+illumined the whole of the black and solid concave of clouds behind
+them, and the walls of the castle were shaken by a tremendous peal
+of thunder. The heart of the royal James quailed within him. The
+peal was reverberated from the bold front of Dumyot, with a harsh
+and crashing sound, and then, after visiting and rousing up every
+echo among the Ochills, it rolled fearfully away up the valley of the
+Forth, until it died amid the distant western mountains. Filled with
+superstitious dread, the King grasped the left arm of the Astrologer,
+who stood unmoved, with his rod extended in his right hand.
+
+"Holy Virgin Mother, Messire Andrew! what do these dread signs
+portend?" cried James, with deep anxiety of voice and manner.
+
+"These!" exclaimed Andrew, in French, and in a wild and enthusiastic
+tone, that would have sounded as contemptuous in the King's ear,
+but for the intensity of his desire to have his fears and doubts put
+to rest; "these are but the mere auxiliaries of Heaven's appalling
+oratory. See!--Know you not yonder stars which now approach each
+other to a conjunction so threatening?"
+
+"Mars and Venus approaching to strange and fearful conjunction indeed,"
+replied the King, shuddering. "What can it bode?"
+
+"And see ye not that they are in the ascendant, whilst Jupiter is
+sinking fast?--Now, they are almost in contact--and now!"
+
+"Heaven in its mercy defend us, what a dreadful peal!" cried the King,
+as the thunder again burst terribly over his head. "And see, the thick
+and inky veil begins to rend asunder into separate clouds, like some
+vast army breaking its general mass into its several legions. And
+behold now, how they divide and subdivide, careering swiftly like
+squadrons of horsemen over the vault of the heavens. And now, look
+how strangely and capriciously the broken-up clouds have here veiled,
+and there revealed, the different portions of the sky!"
+
+"Aye!" said the Astrologer, solemnly, "and now the mystic dance
+is done. Each several fragment of vapour hath taken his place. The
+characters are fixed; and now 'tis man's fault if he read not enough of
+Heaven's will in so wide-spread and so plainly written a book. There
+we can see the Hydra, and there the Greyhounds--there the greater,
+and there the lesser Dog. But where is the Lion? And where the
+Northern Crown?"
+
+"Alas, Messire Andrew! thou lookest as if thou wer't dismayed by
+these fearful prodigies," exclaimed the King again, with an anxiously
+inquiring eye. "What is it that you dread they may portend?"
+
+"It is grievous for me to translate to your Majesty the meaning of
+these direfully ominous portents," replied Andrew, gravely, after a
+long pause, during which he seemed gradually to call down his spirit
+from the heavens, where it had been soaring for sometime amid all
+the wonders they displayed. "Yet is it better for you to know their
+fearful warnings, so far as mortals may interpret them," continued
+he, rising into a wild kind of inspiration. "Danger is threatened
+to the King!--to the King of Scotland! Beware of the princes and
+lords of the land! Those in whom thou takest the most pleasure may
+prove thy greatest bane! Commotions and wars are to be looked for and
+dreaded! Beware! beware! Oh, King! lest the Scottish Lion be devoured
+by its whelps!"
+
+"The Scottish Lion devoured by its whelps!" re-echoed the King, in
+the muttered voice of dismay. "Danger from the princes and nobles
+of the land! Danger from those in whom we take most pleasure! What
+doth all this import? And in especial, what meaneth this last strange
+enigma?--What!--the Queen!--Speak Messire Andrew? Or would it point at
+those who most enjoy my favour?--Why dost thou not answer me?--Wars
+and commotions--the powerful influence of Mars is plain--but that of
+Venus!--say!--speak! Surely, surely that doth not touch the loyalty
+of our Queen?"
+
+"The moment of divination has passed away for this night," said the
+cunning Astrologer, in a low hollow voice, like that produced from
+an over-exhausted spirit. "I am now weak and blind as other men. Yet
+said I nothing of her most gracious Majesty Queen Margaret, whom God
+long preserve! The planet your Majesty speaks of hath two several and
+distinct influences--one, the which may operate as touching things
+more immediately under the dominion of woman's passion, and the other,
+as denoting a mere point of time. This latter interpretation would
+seem to me, at this moment, to be by far the more likely, for, as
+Mars would predict battles, his conjunction with the Star of Evening
+would rather appear to me to mark that they will arise in the evening
+of your Majesty's reign, which may God and St. Andrew render long
+and prosperous!"
+
+"Nay, but cans't thou not yet inquire more closely, Messire
+Andrew?" demanded the King, impatiently. "These doubts are worse
+than ignorance."
+
+"Another time we may find fit opportunity to solve them, good my
+liege," replied the Astrologer, with a low reverence. "The spirit
+of divination hath passed from me, and I am now no more than a
+weak and blind mortal. And see! even the heavens have refused to
+yield up farther knowledge of future events to the sons of earth,
+for they have wrapped themselves up in one dark and impenetrable
+veil of cloud. To-night the book of fate is shut!--Saw ye that! The
+elements themselves forbid all farther question."
+
+As he spoke, a terrible glare of lightning blazed around them,
+momentarily illuminating every feature of the grand scenery by which
+they were surrounded. A fearful clap of thunder again burst over their
+heads with awful magnificence, and rolled terribly away. A furious
+wind began to blow, and large drops of rain descended, a tempest
+was approaching, and the King, sunk, disheartened, and unsatisfied,
+was driven in by the natural results of those threatenings in the sky,
+which he had been so attentively watching, to brood upon those fanciful
+horrors and dangers with which they, in reality, had no connection. He
+returned towards the Queen's apartment in deep thought, and he had
+entered it fully, before the notes of the music that still sounded
+in it had power to rouse him from his abstraction. Sir Walter Stewart
+still sat near the Queen's footstool, singing to the accompaniment of
+his lute, and her Majesty and her maids of honour were still eagerly
+occupied in listening.
+
+"Ha!" cried King James, as he recovered perfect consciousness of the
+scene before him, and speaking with a highly disturbed air and tone;
+"Methought our privacy had been relieved from all further interruption
+for this night?"
+
+"Pardon, my liege!--my love!" cried the Queen, rising from her chair,
+and affectionately taking his arm. "Pardon, if we have done aught to
+displeasure thee! I and my maidens had a mind to hear again that sweet
+ballad of Sir Walter Stewart's making, which he sang so pleasantly
+to us the other night, as you may remember. He was brought back,
+therefore, in obedience to my command, and if there be aught of blame
+in this, it is all mine own. That he hath staid so long after he did
+return, if fault in that there be, it must be charged against his own
+pleasing minstrelsy, which did so enchain the ears of his hearers,
+that time passed by unheeded."
+
+"Permit me, your Majesty, to take my leave," said Sir Walter, making
+his wonted obeisance to the King as he retired.
+
+"Good night," said the King, with more of condescension, but with
+less of warmth than he was accustomed to use towards one whom he so
+much favoured.
+
+All that night the royal mind was vexed by frightful waking visions,
+that haunted it to the exclusion of sleep. In vain did his Majesty try
+to embody them into any thing like a clear and connected picture of
+coming events. But dark though the ground was upon which he worked,
+certain prominent lights continually started from it, and remained
+stationary before him, so as ultimately to fix themselves in some
+degree upon him as probable truths. The most stimulating of these might
+be guessed at, from the royal orders which were issued on the following
+morning. The Court was hastily and unexpectedly removed to Edinburgh
+Castle; and soon afterwards, the two Princes of the blood-royal,
+the Duke of Albany, and the Earl of Mar, were, to the astonishment of
+all men, seized and made prisoners. Mar was confined in Craigmillar
+Castle. But of Albany, the King seemed anxious to take especial care,
+for he was committed to custody in Edinburgh Castle itself, where he
+might be more particularly guarded under the royal eye.
+
+Yet all this did not seem to have relieved James' mind from the terrors
+which had taken possession of it. The approach of the nobles to the
+royal person was less encouraged than it had ever been. The King's
+favourites, though still permitted to have their usual intercourse
+with him, were all in their turns looked upon at times with an eye
+of doubt. Sir Walter Stewart sensibly felt, that he was subjected to
+a greater portion of the effects of this suspicious temper than any
+of the others. An excuse had been found for his being deprived of
+such apartments in the Castle of Edinburgh, as he had had in that
+of Stirling, and he was obliged to hire lodgings within the walls
+of the city. His presence at the private parties in the Queen's
+apartment was rarely, if ever, required. The musical meetings there
+were of themselves less frequent, and when they did take place, he
+was not among the number of the performers. To make amends for this,
+he spent more of his time in the pursuit of his favourite science,
+with the fair Juliet Manvers, in the apartments of Sir William Rogers,
+and as the lady seemed to be making, day after day, greater inroads
+upon his heart, so did Sir Walter Stewart himself rise every day more
+and more in the estimation of the musical knight. With such a source
+of amusement, Sir Walter was less affected by the coldness which he
+experienced at court, than might have been naturally supposed. But
+he felt deeply for the confinement of the Princes, with whom he had
+been admitted into habits of intimacy that bordered upon the warmth
+of friendship. Yet, much as he was personally attached to them, and
+anxiously as he would have wished to have befriended them, he knew
+enough to convince him that he could make no effort in their behalf,
+that would not have a certain tendency to lead to some fatal issue,
+both as regarded them and himself. But the death of the Earl of Mar,
+which happened soon afterwards, and which was most suspiciously given
+out as having taken place suddenly, by apoplexy, in a warm bath, so
+roused his feelings, that he resolved to take the first opportunity
+of making some attempt to save Albany, and to this he was more
+immediately stimulated by something that occurred to him one night,
+as he was walking and ruminating on the Castle-hill.
+
+"Sir Walter Stewart," said a man, who stood muffled up in a cloak, to
+him, as he was striding slowly past, unconscious that there was any one
+near him, "wilt thou not halt for a moment to speak to an old friend?"
+
+"My Lord Huntly!" cried Sir Walter, in astonishment, after approaching
+the figure, and ascertaining who it was that spoke.
+
+"Hush!--Name me not so loudly!" replied Huntly. "The very air hath
+ears, yea, and eyes too. I am here in secret and in disguise. Were
+I discovered, my life might pay for it. Come farther this way into
+the shadow. I would speak with thee about matters which no one else
+must hear, and my time is short. We must save Albany!"
+
+"Most willingly would I aid in doing so," replied Sir Walter. "But
+how is his safety to be secured?"
+
+"Thou canst be eminently useful," replied Huntly.
+
+"I know thy zeal in a friend's behalf, and although thou mightest have
+shown some unwillingness to take part with us, when our grievances
+amounted to nothing more than royal neglect, yet perhaps thou
+mayest now be more sharpened to our purpose, when thou seest that
+the murderous knife hath already been drawn upon us, that the first
+victim hath been already sacrificed, and that victim too a high and
+noble prince of the blood royal, who was, moreover, thy friend."
+
+"Nay, surely thou dost not believe that my Lord Mar died other than
+a natural death?" said Sir Walter.
+
+"A natural death!" exclaimed Huntly.--"Aye, a death naturally occurring
+from a weak and cruel brother's jealousy. That species of natural
+death, to wit, which the sheep may very naturally receive from the
+hand of the butcher!"
+
+"Why, they say he died in a bath;" said Sir Walter.
+
+"And in so saying they say truly," replied Huntly. "Of a truth he
+died in a bath--a hot bath, into which he was kindly put to recover
+him from a deep cut in the main artery of his arm, given him by one
+of the royal executioners."
+
+"'Tis horrible, if true!" said Sir Walter, shuddering.
+
+"'Tis as true as it is horrible," continued Huntly. "And now methinks I
+may trust to your being less scrupulous in listening to the grievances
+of the lords, than thou wert when I last touched the topic with thee
+at Stirling."
+
+"My Lord," replied Sir Walter, "I will honestly tell thee, that
+to save Albany, a man whom I honour as a royal prince and a highly
+accomplished knight, and whom, moreover, I hold in deep affection
+as a friend, I am willing to put mine own life to utmost peril, and
+this the more too, that if I can save him I shall think that my so
+doing will be the preserving of the right arm of Scotland. But in any
+thing that may touch my fealty directly to the person of King James,
+I must be held excused, seeing that I have already received too much
+kindness from his Majesty, to permit me to prove in anywise a rebel
+to him,--but in this matter of the Duke of Albany, my judgment tells
+me that I shall, by saving him, be doing good service to my king as
+well as to my country."
+
+"Then let us leave all else at present, and talk of this matter in
+hand," said Huntly. "Thou art well versed in the customs and affairs
+of France, and canst speak its tongue. Couldst thou not contrive to
+discover, whether some barque may not be soon looked for from thence
+with merchandize?"
+
+"So far, my Lord, I can answer thee here upon the spot," replied
+Sir Walter. "It so chances that I look daily for the arrival of a
+captain, well known to me, who trades in wine. He is the bearer of
+certain casks for me, and I can therefore go to inquire regarding
+him without much suspicion. It shall be done to-morrow."
+
+"This is most lucky," said Huntly. "So now let us consider well as
+to our plans. Knowest thou how the Duke is guarded?"
+
+"I do not lodge within the castle," replied Sir Walter. "Nor am I
+so often within its walls as I wont to be. But this I know, that
+the Duke is guarded most strictly. The captain of the guard himself
+keeps the key of the apartment where he is imprisoned, and where,
+to make all things secure, his chamberlain is locked up with him,
+and no one is allowed to go in or out who is not in the first place
+most narrowly examined. But yet will I scrupulously observe, and make
+myself master of the whole circumstances, and of the exact position
+of things, and it will go hard with me if I cannot find some way of
+baffling their vigilance."
+
+"Then let us part to-night, lest we be observed," said Huntly. "That
+accursed astrologer, Flemish Andrew, may again start up before us,
+like the devil in our path."
+
+"Um," replied Sir Walter, doubtingly; "thou mayest not be very far
+from the truth in thy evil suspicions of him, my Lord. I liked not
+his last visit."
+
+"Well, no matter," said the Earl; "to-morrow night we may meet again."
+
+"Aye, to-morrow night--here, and at the same hour," replied Sir
+Walter. "But if I come not, my Lord, I would have thee believe, that
+if not unwillingly detained by the King, I may perhaps be employing
+myself more usefully elsewhere."
+
+"I shall so believe," replied Huntly; "then farewell till our next
+meeting, be that when it may."
+
+The friends then parted, and took different ways, to avoid all chance
+of being seen together, and Sir Walter Stewart was about to enter the
+head of the close where his lodging was situated, when he was accosted
+by a person who came limping up to him, with all the appearance of
+a jaded foot traveller, and who addressed him in humble, but by no
+means clownish, salutation.
+
+"Sir Knight," said he, "wilt thou vouchsafe to pardon me, a stranger,
+and deign to tell me whether thou canst direct me to the lodging of
+Sir Walter Stewart of Stradawn?"
+
+"Surely I have heard that voice before," said the knight, without
+replying to the question.
+
+"Sir Walter!--My father!" exclaimed the other in great surprise.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Sir Walter, in no less astonishment, and in any
+thing but a gracious tone, "Charley Stewart! In the name of all
+that is wonderful what hath brought thee to Edinburgh?--This is not
+well. Methought I had arranged all things to thy heart's content,
+for thy proper employment in thine own native district. But I forget
+how time flies. Doubtless ere this thou art as learned in thine art,
+and in the use of the goose, needles, shears, and bodkin, as the
+great and accomplished Mr. Jonathan Junkins himself."
+
+"I crave your pardon, Sir Knight," replied Charley. "Ill as the spirit
+of the Stewart that is within me might brook such mean drudgery,
+I struggled hard to break it into the destiny which thou hadst been
+pleased to assign me. But the rude caitiff churls that worked in
+Junkins' shop, and some of the boorish neighbours too, presuming on
+my youth, fastened on me the offensive nickname of Tàillear-crubach,
+or the lame tailor. This I could not bear; and after having well
+pummelled some dozen or so of them, one after the other, I deemed it
+as well to secure peace for the future, by giving up all just claim
+to so ignominious a title."
+
+"By saint Michael, my boy," cried Sir Walter, cordially taking
+Charley's hand; "I cannot say but thou didst well. What a strapping
+burly chield thou hast grown! But what hast thou been doing with
+thyself then, since thou gavest up tailoring?"
+
+"I have learned to ride, and to use a sword and a lance indifferent
+well," said Charley.
+
+"Bravo!" cried Sir Walter. "By the Rood, thou art mine own very flesh
+and blood! Trust me, had I guessed that thou wert made of such metal,
+I should never have thought of tying thee to a tailor's board, I
+promise thee. Would I had known this sooner! But now!--How fares it
+with thy mother, boy?"
+
+"Well, Sir Walter," replied Charley with a deep sigh. "She was well
+when I last saw her."
+
+"Would that I had sooner known thy merits, Charley!" said Sir Walter,
+with a depth of feeling which he had not yet displayed. "I might
+then have----But now I fear I am too far involved with another----The
+fates have been cruelly against thee, boy."
+
+"They have indeed!" said Charley, with an emotion which almost
+choked him.
+
+"Well! well!" said Sir Walter, affectionately squeezing his
+hand. "Come--cheer up, Charley! I may yet have it in my power to do
+something for thee.--And by Saint Andrew," continued the knight, after
+a short pause, "now I think on't, thou hast come to me in the very
+nick of time. Thine aid will be most useful to me. But this is neither
+the time nor the place to talk about such matters. Come, let us to my
+lodging, that I may procure you refreshment and rest; for your pale
+face, hollow eyes, and clinging cheeks, would seem to say that thou
+greatly lackest both; and as thou mayest require to be up betimes,
+I shall delay farther questioning of thee till a fitter opportunity."
+
+But as you will hardly wish to wait, gentlemen, until Charley
+Stewart has had such necessary restoration of exhausted nature,
+as shall enable him to tell his own story, I shall hastily sketch,
+at somewhat greater length than he had time to do, what took place
+with him during those years that have elapsed since we last heard
+of him. A few months had sufficed to sicken him, as we have seen,
+of the shop-board of Mister Jonathan Junkins. For a time he lived
+quietly with his mother, soothing her sorrow with all the tenderness
+of the kindest of hearts, following out his learning under the kind
+instruction of the then priest of Dounan, who had taken an especial
+favour for him; and, lastly, occupying himself in the delightful
+task of communicating to Rosa MacDermot, that knowledge which he
+thus gained. Now and then, to be sure, spite of his lameness, he
+took pleasure in exercising himself in athletic feats; and in this
+practice, he was much aided by an accidental acquaintance, which he
+chanced to make with a certain Sir Piers Gordon, a small landholder in
+a neighbouring glen, who, himself a dependant of the Earl of Huntly,
+was glad to collect a few retainers about him, in any way, to help him
+to uphold his dignity. Under the auspices of this well-trained soldier,
+Charley became an expert handler of the claymore, a fearless horseman,
+and no very contemptible wielder of a lance; and he had more than once
+had the satisfaction, of making one of the party who accompanied his
+patron, in some of those skirmishes or minor movements of warfare
+between clans, which the wild and unsettled state of the country
+rendered much too common in those days to be always particularized,
+far less to be chronicled.
+
+Charley was one day seated, with Rosa MacDermot, on their favourite
+flowery bank, by the side of the same spring I formerly described as
+gushing from below a mossy stone, under the grove of weeping birches,
+where we last heard of them together. But Rosa was now grown almost
+a woman, being tall of her age, and of very handsome person; and the
+scar of the crossmark on her cheek had now become so slight, that so
+far from being a deformity, it rather gave an interesting expression to
+her otherwise blooming and richly beautiful countenance. Her love for
+Charley, and his for her, had grown with every day they had lived. But
+maiden modesty on her part, and delicacy on his, had made both of
+them somewhat more reserved, and more guarded in giving way to the
+expression of it. She no longer talked of being his wifey; and when
+he, hurried on by the feelings of the moment, was led to allude to
+their future union, when future prospects should smile more kindly
+upon them, her words, though tender, were few, whilst her eyes and
+her blushes spoke volumes.
+
+They were intently engaged in converse together, when they were
+interrupted by a most unseemly looking object that appeared before
+them. If they had never beheld it until that moment, they might have
+had doubts as to which of the sexes it belonged to. The face was
+hideous, the nose being very prominent and hooked, so as to project
+over the mouth, which was hardly perceptible. The eyes, when open,
+were great, round, and fiery, and they were covered by eyelids of an
+unnatural largeness, so that the strange and regular alternation of
+the muscular motion, which was exerted in the dropping and raising
+of them, produced the most fearful effect. Enveloped as the head was
+in an old soiled red tartan plaid, which was twisted around it, and
+fell in large folds over half the person, after being knotted behind
+over the back, the whole body had a bunchy bird-like appearance, which
+was rendered still more uncouth, by its being supported on the bare,
+wirey, dirt-begrimmed shanks, and claw-like talons, which sprawled
+out beneath a short grey petticoat. The real name of this strange,
+unearthly looking monster, was lost in her antiquity. She had appeared
+in that district many years before, no one knew from whence; and as
+all her marks were then the same as I have described them now, it is
+not wonderful that she should have acquired, from the rude people,
+the name of the Howlet, from her extreme likeness to that ill-omened
+bird. And tired as she had long been of kicking against the scorn of
+the world, and callous as she had been rendered under all the miseries
+it had heaped upon her, she now answered to that appellation, with the
+same readiness which she might probably have shown in the more sunny
+days of her youth, when she cheerfully replied to her own proper name,
+and to the fond endearments of a father and a mother. Yet, let it
+not be imagined that she, miserably abandoned as she had so long been
+to all that was wretched in human existence, had not her moments of
+reflection on happier days, long since gone by, the recollection of
+which only the more embittered the present. Nor is it to be supposed
+that, much as she had suffered, she herself had been bereft of all
+the better feelings of humanity. Her external appearance was enough to
+endow her, in the estimation of the vulgar, with all the attributes of
+malignity, as well as with the dread powers of sorcery. But although
+her approach never failed to produce a certain sensation of awe in
+the gentle mind of Rosa MacDermot, it was always mingled with a very
+large share of pity for the poor creature's penury and distress;
+and this was fully participated by the good hearted Charley Stewart.
+
+"Poor Howley!" cried Rosa, the moment she beheld her; "it is long
+since I have seen thee. Where hast thou been wandering during this
+many a day?"
+
+"Some food for charity's sake!" said the Howlet, in that half
+shooting, half whistling tone of voice, which strangely carried
+out her otherwise remarkable similarity to the bird she was called
+after. "I am starving! I am famished!--Some food for charity's sake!"
+
+"Poor Howley, thou shalt never want it whilst I can help thee to
+it!" said the compassionate girl.
+
+"Though hard-heartedness and scorn may meet me at every other door
+in this weary and wicked world," said the Howlet, "I still find
+charity here."
+
+"Sit down then on the bank there," said Rosa, "and I will run and
+bring thee food in a moment."
+
+"God's blessing be upon thee, fair maiden!" said the Howlet, with
+deep feeling.
+
+"Thou canst bless, then!" said Charley Stewart gravely, after Rosa
+was gone.
+
+"I can pray to God to bless!" replied the Howlet; "and, unlike the men
+of this world, a God of all goodness will not refuse to listen to such
+a prayer, because it comes from the heart of a poor outcast, the scorn
+of this heartless world, clothed in rags, and starving for food. And
+who should I pray for, if I did not pray for blessings on that angel?"
+
+"She is an angel, Howley!" cried Charley, with ecstacy--"an angel in
+soul as well as in form. See how she comes tripping with her basket
+and pitcher, as if she hardly trod the earth!"
+
+The old woman fastened her long hands greedily on the viands, the
+moment they came within her reach, her eyes glaring wide, and shutting
+alternately, and her ravenous hunger urged her to devour her food so
+fast, that it was fearful to behold her; and then, as she did so, she
+went on muttering in her whistling voice, "The holy Virgin bless thee,
+my fair maiden!--Och! och! what pain it is to swallow. Three days have
+I been denied food by my flinty-hearted fellow creatures! yet may
+God, in his mercy, forgive them!--Three days! three whole days! The
+blessing of Heaven, its best blessings on thee, thou angel!--Och,
+such pain! Thou shalt be a landed lady yet! Och, och! Thou shalt
+marry a man with a knight's spur at his heel! Och! such a pang at my
+heart! Och! oh!"--
+
+Rosa and Charley Stewart, who had both been swallowing her words,
+with as much avidity as she had been devouring the food that had been
+given her, now both started up in dire alarm, and ran towards the old
+woman. Her eyes rolled dreadfully for a moment, and then they became
+fixed; the basket she held dropped from her hands; her arms and limbs
+stretched themselves out in rigid convulsion; her head fell stiffly
+back on the bank, and, when they essayed to raise it up, they found
+that she was dead.
+
+It was many a long day before Rosa MacDermot could shake off the
+horrible impression which this scene had made upon her young mind,
+so far as to be able to recall it with anything approaching to
+tranquillity. Charley, however, had often pondered deeply on the words
+which had fallen from the old woman, and he was impatient till the
+time did come, when he felt that he might venture to allude to them.
+
+"Charley," said Rosa anxiously, and tenderly taking his hand, as they
+were one day sitting together on their favourite spot; "something
+grieves thee in secret. Thou wert not wont to conceal a thought from
+me; why shouldst thou do so now? Why shouldst thou deny me my share
+of that sadness, which, being thine, ought to belong to both of us?"
+
+"Rosa," replied Charley, fervently returning her gentle pressure;
+"I will honestly confess my folly. Those idle words of the poor Howlet
+have clung to my soul with a heaviness which I cannot shake off."
+
+"Idle words they were, indeed," replied Rosa; "words idly uttered
+by the poor crazy creature in the delirium of starvation. But, idle
+or not, they boded no evil to me; and is it by Charley Stewart that
+they are to be grudged to me?"
+
+"Think of their import, Rosa," replied Charley, gravely; "and then you
+will see that I can scarcely be expected calmly to contemplate them."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Rosa, smiling--"that I am to be a landed lady? Is
+that a matter that should give thee pain to think of?"
+
+"Reflect, Rosa, by what means it was said that thou art to become
+so," replied Charley, with a sigh. "By marrying a man with a knight's
+spurs at his heels! Ran not the old woman's words so? And canst thou
+believe that I can coolly contemplate the probable accomplishment of
+any such prophecy?"
+
+"Charley!" cried Rosa, with great feeling, whilst tears swelled from
+under her beautiful eyelids, "canst thou believe it possible that I
+should ever forget all I owe to thee? Canst thou believe that I can
+forget my often repeated vows? Canst thou believe that those infant
+affections which have grown up with me, strengthening as they grew,
+until they have now ripened with me in womanhood, can ever perish
+but with my life? My life is thine, for to thee I owe it. My soul
+is thine, for to thee I am indebted for that culture and expansion
+which may best fit it for heaven. My heart is thine, for it is to
+thee that I have been indebted for stocking it with its best and
+purest sympathies. Canst thou then doubt that I ever could be any
+other's than thine?"
+
+"May the Virgin ever bless thee for thy words, my love!" cried Charley,
+with ecstasy. "I am satisfied of the truth of thine affection. Yet
+had I been better pleased if that old woman had never given utterance
+to those idle dreams of hers. At such a time too!--So awful!--Just
+before her vexed and worn out spirit took its flight from its wretched
+earthly tenement!"
+
+"It was awful, indeed!" said Rosa, solemnly. "But methinks," added
+she, after a pause, and in a more cheerful tone--"Methinks the poor
+Howlet's words might bear a more pleasing interpretation than thou
+wouldst seem inclined to put upon them; yea, and to my fancy, much
+more natural withal."
+
+"As how?" demanded Charley, eagerly.
+
+"Marry, that thou mayest be the man with the knight's spurs at his
+heels," said Rosa, dropping her voice and her eyes, and blushing
+deeply.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Charley, energetically. "By all the saints in the
+calendar, but that were an interpretation indeed! I thank thee, Rosa,
+for thy augury. Trust me, if it lacks accomplishment, in due time, it
+shall not be my fault. Though I have been turned over into the dirt,
+by him to whom I should have looked for countenance and support, to
+encourage me in a nobler career--by him to whom I reasonably looked
+for the education befitting a soldier,--thanks to mine honest patron,
+Sir Piers, I am not now altogether in want of it. Thanks, moreover,
+be to God, that I have never done anything which may, with reason,
+make my father ashamed of me. And, with the blessing of Saint Andrew
+on this arm of mine, I may yet live to earn those honours, which his
+indifference towards me would have denied me."
+
+Rosa did not altogether enjoy perfect ease of mind after Charley
+Stewart had left her. She thought, with some pride to be sure,
+of the nobleness of that spirit which she had thus seen blaze up
+within him. But she felt that she had now the dread responsibility of
+having thus roused it; and all a woman's fears for the consequences
+were awakened in her bosom. Nor was the happiness of the days that
+followed increased by this accidental conversation. For now, she
+rarely or ever saw him, in whose society her whole life had hitherto
+glided on with so much felicity. Alice Asher too, had her complaints
+to make of her son's frequent and long absence from her; and the only
+consolation the maiden had, was in frequently visiting the mother of
+Charley Stewart--to talk over his merits--a theme of which neither
+of them were very likely to tire--and to sigh for his presence.
+
+Meanwhile Charley was almost constant in his attendance upon Sir Piers
+Gordon; and he very soon distinguished himself so much in all the
+accomplishments of a soldier, that he became the most cherished and
+favoured of the old soldier's followers. But this was not all; for,
+unknown to himself, and altogether without any effort on his part,
+he found especial favour in the sight of Marcella Gordon, niece, and
+acknowledged heiress of his patron, Sir Piers. This was a lady, by no
+means uncomely, though of most uncommonly masculine manners and mind,
+who, at any time, would have much preferred to witness a fray, or even
+to take her share in it, than to sit down to a feast, or to mix in a
+dance or a masking party. She became smitten with Charley Stewart for
+his martial acquirements, bold bearing in his saddle, and hardihood
+at all times; and for all these he well merited her admiration.
+
+Sir Piers Gordon and his party were one day returning from an
+expedition, which had been suddenly undertaken in pursuit of some
+Catteranes, whom, as being public marauders, and general enemies to
+all, he had, without scruple, followed across the territories of the
+Stewart of Stradawn. He passed at no great distance from the humble
+dwelling of Mrs. MacDermot.
+
+"So please thee, Sir Knight," said Charley Stewart to Sir Piers,
+"I will turn aside a brief space to yonder cottage, to say a few
+words to an old friend, whom I have not seen for many a day; and I
+will join thee again ere thou hast ridden a long mile."
+
+"I care not if I go with thee, Charley," said Sir Piers; "that is,
+if thy friend's house can furnish me with a draught of any thing
+better than water, for my throat is parched like a mountain corry in
+the dog-days."
+
+"Such as that humble roof may afford, I think I may venture to promise
+thee," replied Charley, somewhat disappointed at being so attended.
+
+"I shall go with thee too," said Marcella Gordon, who, on this
+occasion, had followed her uncle in his expedition.
+
+The men-at-arms having been halted by the road-side, Charley led the
+way to the widow's cottage. As he rode forth from among the trees of
+the birch-grove, that flanked one side of the house, and partly shaded
+half its front, Rosa's quick eyes caught his figure--her heart bounded
+with joy, and in a moment she was at the door, and, from the first
+irresistible impulse of her heart, she almost sprang into his arms;
+but immediately perceiving that her lover was not alone, she blushed,
+and hastily retreated within doors.
+
+"Is that your sister, young man?" demanded the Lady Marcella.
+
+"No, lady," replied Charley, in some confusion; "but she is a very
+old friend of mine."
+
+"A very young friend of thine, methinks!" said Sir Piers. "She is
+very beautiful."
+
+Mrs. MacDermot now appeared, and ushered the strangers into the house
+with well-blended humility and kindness, and proceeded to do the little
+hospitalities of her unpretending roof. Charley was himself abashed
+and baulked; but yet he conversed with Rosa, though in that chastened
+manner that more than any thing else betrays the consciousness of
+lovers, in the eyes of those who may be observing them. No eyes were
+more penetrating than those of Marcella Gordon. They shot basilisks
+at the pair. The visit was necessarily short, and the parting between
+Rosa and Charley was doubly severe to both, since they were thus
+compelled by the presence of others, to conceal their emotions.
+
+"By all the saints, but thou art a happy fellow, Stewart!" said Sir
+Piers Gordon to Charley, as they turned away to join the party. "That
+is the prettiest young creature I have seen for many a long day."
+
+"I see little to admire about her," said the Lady Marcella, with a
+scornful air; "a waxen child! a smock-faced red and white pippin!"
+
+"Nay, Marcella, women are no judges of beauty in their own sex,"
+replied Sir Piers. "I say she is very lovely; and I say again thou
+art a happy fellow, Stewart; for, judging from appearances, thou
+seem'st to be right well established in her affections."
+
+"We have known one another since her childhood," said Charley Stewart
+hurriedly.
+
+"And so now thou wouldst fain convert her from thy playmate into thy
+wife," said Sir Piers, laughing.
+
+"My wife, Sir Piers!" said Charley, in great confusion. "What could I
+do with a wife, who am so poor and unknown? I must e'en follow Fortune
+for some time as my mistress, and court her till she smiles upon me."
+
+"Fear not that she will refuse to smile upon one of thy merit," said
+the Lady Marcella. "One who can ride, and wield his weapons as thou
+canst, may well look to Fortune providing something better for him
+than the obscure and low-bred orphan of a common man-at-arms."
+
+Charley Stewart was silent, but Sir Piers was not altogether so blind
+as not to perceive how matters stood with his niece. He had observed
+the Lady Marcella's manner,--was struck with her words,--and a strong
+conviction entered his mind that she had allowed herself to fall in
+love with Charley Stewart. Now his affection for Charley had waxed
+so strong, that, knowing the good blood that was in him, he would
+have rejoiced to have seen him the husband of Marcella. But feeling
+that it would be prudent, before giving encouragement to any such
+scheme, that he should privately satisfy himself as to the suspicions
+he entertained of an existing attachment between Charley and Rosa
+MacDermot, and, having failed in one attempt to lead Charley to be
+explicit, he privately resolved in his own mind, secretly to visit
+Mrs. MacDermot herself, from whom he looked to receive clearer and
+more ready information.
+
+Having accordingly ridden over to her house alone, the very next
+morning, he soon learned from the worthy woman the whole history
+of the lovers. He was not a little disappointed to find that he
+had made so shrewd a guess, and that, to so honest and honourable a
+mind as his, there thus remained no fair hope of the completion of
+that alliance, which would have been so agreeable to him, as well
+as to his niece. All that he had learned from the widow regarding
+Charley, had only served to increase his admiration of him, and to
+make his regret the greater. But being now in possession of the fact,
+he thought it his duty to deal plainly with the Lady Marcella, and
+he accordingly embraced the very first opportunity he could command
+of speaking with her in private.
+
+"Marcella," said he to her abruptly, "what think ye of Charley
+Stewart?"
+
+"A proper young man, I promise thee," replied the lady, with the same
+want of ceremony.
+
+"His lameness is unfortunate,--it mars his appearance much," said Sir
+Piers. "And that cross scar on his cheek is any thing but ornamental."
+
+"Pshaw!" cried the lady; "a fico for his scar! I hope, ere he dies,
+to see his manly face seamed by many a deeper ornament of the same
+sort, gained in tough fight, man to man. And as to his lameness! shew
+me one that will vault into his saddle with him, or ride with him,
+or hold a lance with him after he is in it! Charley Stewart is a
+prince of a fellow!"
+
+"All that is very true, niece," said Sir Piers; "but methinks thou
+speakest of him with unusual warmth. Pray Heaven thou be'st not in
+love with the young man!"
+
+"Nay, uncle, since I must needs say so, that is already past praying
+for," replied Marcella, with a sigh; which, as it was the first that
+ever in her life escaped her, was a precious deep one.
+
+"I am sorry to hear thee say so, niece," said Sir Piers; "for thy
+case is hopeless, seeing that thou hast already a rival, to whom he
+is not only attached, but affianced."
+
+"What, uncle!" exclaimed the lady, in a supercilious tone; "dost thou
+think so very meanly of thy niece, as to suppose that the whey-faced
+orphan of a miserable man-at-arms, can have any chance with me,
+when I, the heiress of thy lands, choose to enter the lists?"
+
+"I think and hope too well of my niece and heiress," said Sir Piers
+gravely, "to believe, that, for her own gratification, she will try to
+divide two hearts already united by the tenderest vows that affection
+can form."
+
+"Affection!" exclaimed the lady; "tush, nonsense, uncle! the affection
+of children! the brotherly and sisterly affection of babes, for such
+was the sort of affection of which Stewart himself spoke, and his
+words are all we have yet to go upon."
+
+"Pardon me," said her uncle, calmly; "I have yet better information
+than any thing we have gathered from him. Suspecting that Charley
+Stewart's merits were beginning to render him not altogether without
+interest in your eyes, I deemed it to be my duty to know the truth
+regarding this attachment between him and Rosa MacDermot. With this
+view I visited the Widow MacDermot herself, and from her I learned,
+that the bond between the pair, lacks nothing to complete it, but
+the holy sacrament that may fasten the tie for ever."
+
+"And until that tie be fixed, it is nothing," said the lady. "Yet
+what sort of evidence would you bring me, truly, of this same
+attachment?--That of an old woman, who, in her folly, sees every
+thing just according to the way her wishes may lead her fancy. I will
+believe Stewart himself before a dozen such crones, especially where
+self-interest, and the interest of her girl, must so evidently sway
+her. Let me but try my influence on him, and thou shalt see how soon
+he will forget this peasant maid. Thou shalt see"----
+
+"I grieve to find that thou art so resolved to blind thyself,
+niece!" interrupted Sir Piers, very seriously; "but it is alike my
+duty to see that you neither run into hopeless misery, nor try to
+convert that misery into happiness, by unjustly and cruelly ruining
+the peace of another. I shall again visit the Widow's cottage, this
+very afternoon. I shall see and converse with the daughter herself,
+after which I shall hold plainer converse than I have ever yet done
+with Stewart. If I find that you have judged correctly, and that there
+is nothing more in this matter than that the mother hath allowed her
+judgment to be warped by her wishes, my best endeavours shall not
+be wanting to accomplish those desires which thou hast so clearly
+exposed to me. But I tell thee honestly, that if, on the other hand,
+I find that the Widow has judged and reported truly, I shall, for
+your sake, as well as for that of Stewart, do all I can to promote
+his union with Rosa MacDermot."
+
+"Say'st thou so, old man?" muttered the Lady Marcella to herself,
+after her uncle had left her; "then must I act--aye, and act quickly,
+and boldly too."
+
+After a moment's thought, she clapped her hands for her page, and
+sent him directly to entreat that Stewart would favour her with a
+private interview immediately. He came at her summons; and, after
+the usual salutations were over, she, with a face that, spite of her
+determined and dauntless character, absolutely burned, from the very
+nature of the communication she had resolved to make, entered upon
+it in a low yet steady and unbroken tone.
+
+"I take it for granted, Stewart," said she, "that the few words I
+let fall, the other day, when we were returning from our pursuit
+after the caitiff Catteranes, were not thrown away upon one of your
+quick wit. They were not uttered without intention; and they have,
+I trust, proved to thee that thy rare merits have not escaped my
+notice, and that I take no common interest in thee."
+
+The Lady Marcella paused for an answer; and the astonished Charley
+Stewart, having mumbled some confused and ill-connected expressions
+of gratitude for her good opinion, she continued in a yet calmer and
+more collected tone.
+
+"I have thus sent for thee, honestly to confess to thee, that the
+interest I take in thee is of a nature, which could not permit me
+to see unmoved, one, who is so manifestly born for better fortunes,
+ignorantly to mar them from too humble an estimation of his own merits,
+and, without looking higher, blindly to tie himself down from all
+chance of rising, by rashly binding himself to baseness and poverty. If
+ever a desire of turning the issues of fate into their proper course,
+might be an excuse for a woman speaking out more openly and plainly
+than tyrant custom has permitted her sex to do, certain I am it might
+be reasonably held to be in the present case. But, were it otherwise,
+thou hast already seen enough of me to know, that I am no ordinary
+woman; and I, who have dared much, would dare this too--yea, and ten
+times more, to secure mine own peace, and thy happiness. Reflect,
+then, on the words I uttered as we returned from our expedition. Know,
+that Fortune hath not refused to shine on thy deserts, for she now
+offers thee the hand and fortune of her who addresses thee."
+
+"Lady!" exclaimed Charley Stewart, staggering back with absolute
+amazement, and altogether unable to answer coherently, from the
+confusion he was thrown into--"I have been foolishly reserved, lady. I
+have been strangely and grievously misconceived. Yet I thought I had
+spoken plainly enough.--I--I--I am altogether unworthy of any one of
+thy station. I am already pledged to another."
+
+"I was not altogether unprepared for some such confession," said the
+lady, with a self-possession, arising from the circumstance, that she
+spoke truly. "I had heard, and I did see enough to make me aware that
+something had passed between thee and the silly girl MacDermot. But
+these were childish ties, entered into when thou couldst have no
+foreknowledge of thine own fortunes; and they must, of stern necessity,
+yield to that expediency which now demands thine exaltation."
+
+"Lady," replied Stewart, who by this time began to be somewhat
+more master of his faculties, "I have learned enough to know that
+true exaltation can never be purchased by treachery, perfidy, and
+cruelty. Rosa MacDermot and I loved one another whilst she was yet
+a child, it is true, but we have loved one another ever since with a
+growing affection, which has produced vows of the most solemn nature
+between us. I love her more than I do life itself; and not for all
+the wealth or honours that this world could bestow, would I cease to
+love her."
+
+"So great a constancy, and so true a heart, proves but the more
+how much thou wert born for knighthood," said the lady, calmly. "And
+perhaps, entangled as thou seemest to have been, it might have been due
+to such honour as might befit a knight, to have clung to engagements
+so made. But to render such a case of so great self devotion rational,
+it would at least be requisite that it should be mutual. Hast thou
+proof that it is really so? Hast thou never had doubts on that
+score? No suspicions?"
+
+"Proof of the love of Rosa MacDermot, lady?" exclaimed Charley,
+with astonishment. "Doubts of Rosa? I should as soon ask for proof
+that the blessed sun gives light, or have doubts that the glorious
+orb might drop from the firmament."
+
+"Other men before thee have been as honestly confiding, and yet
+have been deceived," said the lady. "The humble soil where thou hast
+rooted thine affections, is not always that which produces the most
+virtuous fruits."
+
+"What wouldst thou hint, lady?" demanded Charley, in a disturbed and
+agitated tone.
+
+"I grieve to tell thee," replied the lady. "It pains me to be compelled
+to undeceive thee, by withdrawing thee from thy pleasing dreams, to
+look boldly on the afflicting truth. Yet I must tell thee, that thy
+heroic constancy hath not been met by a like unshaken return of it."
+
+"Say--what?--Holy saints protect me!" cried Charley Stewart, in a
+greatly agitated and excited manner. "What wouldst thou insinuate
+lady? Rosa unfaithful?--Oh! impossible!--Where is the liar who
+hath thus abused thine ear regarding her who is purity and truth
+itself? Tell me his name, that I may make my sword drink his base
+black heart's blood!"
+
+"Be calm, Stewart," replied the lady, with imperturbable placidity of
+manner. "Thou wilt gain nothing by yielding thyself up to blind rage. I
+trust thou wilt see that it is no ordinary affection in me that can
+prompt me to the disclosure that I am now about to make to thee."
+
+"Speak on, lady. Oh keep me not in suspense!" cried Charley Stewart,
+wildly breaking in on her mysterious pause.
+
+"Stewart," said the lady, solemnly, "thou wert prepared to withstand
+all temptation that might be calculated to break the rash vows of
+youthful ignorance. But she for whom you made them--she for whose
+sake thou wouldst have so honourably maintained them to the sacrifice
+of wealth and advancement--she, I fear, has had less resolution to
+resist their allurements. Be not too much astonished or shocked, for
+I must tell thee, that mine uncle, Sir Piers Gordon, is the favoured
+lover of Rosa MacDermot."
+
+"Thine uncle Sir Piers, Lady?" cried Charley, petrified with
+surprise. "Impossible! it cannot be!"
+
+"Strange as it may seem to thee, and strange as it unquestionably is,"
+replied the Lady Marcella, "it is in reality but too true that she
+favours his visits for her own purposes. He has already found his way
+to the Widow's cottage more than once, and he has even ventured to hint
+to myself that he has not been coldly received--and then, Stewart----"
+
+"Lady," interrupted Charley, impatiently and violently, "I would not
+believe even Sir Piers himself if he were to tell me this!----and
+yet," added he, after a pause, during which he struck his forehead
+with the palm of his hand, and seemed to be immersed in deep thought,
+"and yet, he was strangely struck with her when first they met!--But
+the time is so short--so very short since then--she!--Rosa! Oh, Rosa
+never could have been brought, in so short a time, to forget the days
+of her childhood, and her oft repeated vows to me!"
+
+"Reflect, Stewart," said the lady, "that mine uncle is a landed laird,
+and a belted knight, with spurs at his heels!"
+
+"What!" exclaimed Charley Stewart, in an intense agony of excited
+feeling, and with a half choked voice, "landed laird, saidst thou! a
+belted knight, with spurs at his heels! Can it be? Oh! that accursed
+prophecy of that most accursed hag! But art thou sure of what thou
+sayest, lady? How canst thou satisfy me? By all the holy saints I
+must be satisfied!"
+
+"Nay," replied Marcella, coolly, "I can satisfy thee no otherwise
+than by saying that I have his own word for it, and--"
+
+"His own word!" cried Charley; "Oh, wicked, wicked, and most deceitful
+man, thus wilfully to undermine me! Though I was less open in thy
+presence, lady, yet I said enough to him afterwards, to have enabled
+even a fool and a dotard, to have read my meaning."
+
+"So indeed he hinted," replied Marcella; "but then his apology for
+the interpretation which he hath found it convenient to put upon thy
+words is, that he has been encouraged by the girl herself. And as he
+was with her but yesterday, if he had not spoken truly as to this,
+he would have hardly hurried back again thither so soon as he has
+now done."
+
+"Back, didst thou say, Lady?" exclaimed Stewart, growing black with
+rage and jealousy. "Back!--whither?--when?--how?--Oh, my brain is
+burning! Back, didst thou say?"
+
+"Yea," replied the Lady Marcella, with perfect calmness, "mine uncle,
+Sir Piers, hath gone to visit Rosa MacDermot this very afternoon. He
+parted from me for that purpose but a few minutes before thou camest
+in hither. He is on his way thither now. Go!--convince thyself! But be
+prudent. Act not rashly. Forget not that a knight, such as he is, hath
+a natural belief in him that he is entitled to some little license,
+where the matter concerns those only of such low degree as the girl
+Rosa MacDermot can boast of."
+
+Charley Stewart listened to those words of the Lady Marcella with a
+fixedness of eye, and of aspect, that was almost too fearful for her,
+bold as she was, to look upon. He seemed intent upon devouring every
+syllable she uttered. And yet, his intentness of gaze was more like
+that of a maniac, than of a rational man. She had no sooner finished
+than he ground his teeth, clenched his hands, struck them both with
+violence upon his bosom, and then rushed from the chamber, without
+giving utterance to a word.
+
+"I have stung him to the quick," muttered the Lady Marcella,
+in soliloquy, after he was gone. "And now," added she, bitterly,
+"my prudent uncle has some chance of learning, to his cost, that it
+were better to face the lean and starving lioness, when preying for
+food for her famished whelps, than to step between a woman and her
+love. I never meant to have brought this upon him. He hath brought
+it altogether upon himself; and now let him look to it, that his
+heritage be not mine, some few good years before he would have had
+it descend upon me. Should the plot chance to work so, my triumph
+over this youth will be easy and certain."
+
+The honest old knight, Sir Piers Gordon, had ridden quietly over the
+hill, attended only by two of his people, and having left them to take
+charge of his horse, in the wood, at no great distance from the Widow's
+cottage, he had walked up thither alone. Mrs. MacDermot had been too
+much gratified by his friendly talk, during his former visit to her,
+not to have made her daughter acquainted with all that passed. Though
+his present call was unlooked for, Rosa was already so far prepared to
+expect that his visit was a visit of kindness, that she readily obeyed
+the request, which he conveyed to her through her mother, to favour him
+with her presence. He spoke to her with all the kindness of a father,
+and, in answer to his inquiries, she blushingly unbosomed herself to
+him, as if he had stood to her in that degree of relationship. She
+felt, indeed, that he was the patron and the benefactor of him who
+was all in this world to her, and she was, from this cause, already
+prepared to love and reverence him. He was full of benevolent plans
+for the accomplishment of their union, and the furtherance of their
+happiness, and he sat with her on the turf-seat at the cottage door,
+expounding them to her, with her hand affectionately in his, and
+with his face eagerly turned towards her, in the earnestness of his
+conversation, till the sun, which shed his parting radiance upon them,
+was just about to sink behind the opposite mountain. Even the sound
+of a furiously galloping horse, which came thundering towards them,
+failed to arouse them from their interesting talk. Suddenly it burst
+out from the woodland, foaming and panting upon the green, within a
+few yards of the spot where they were sitting together, and a man,
+more like a maniac than a rational being, threw himself from the
+saddle. His naked sword was gleaming in his hand, ere his feet had
+well touched the ground. It was Charley Stewart.
+
+"Traitor!" cried he in a hoarse choking voice, "up and defend thy
+vile life!"
+
+"Charley! Charley!" cried Rosa, springing towards him, "harm not a
+hair of his head!"
+
+"What! perjured girl!" cried Charley, pushing her from him so rudely,
+as to extend her at some distance from him, nearly senseless on the
+green; "wouldst thou whet the very edge of my sword against him,
+by thy base entreaties for him? Come on, traitor!"
+
+"Stewart, are ye mad?" cried the Knight; "listen to reason."
+
+"Cowardly traitor that thou art, I will listen to nothing from thee,"
+cried Charley Stewart, gnashing his teeth and foaming at the mouth
+with fury. "Draw and defend thyself; or, by Heaven, I will forthwith
+rid thee of thy vile dastard life! draw, I say!"
+
+"Nay, he must be mad!" cried Sir Piers. "Yet I must defend my life,
+though it should be to the peril of his."
+
+But Sir Piers, who sought only to protect himself from Charley's
+furious assault, accidentally failed in his very first guard. The
+weight of his assailant's blow broke through it, and falling upon the
+Knight's head, which had then nothing on it but a bonnet, it stretched
+him motionless on the sward. Charley Stewart stood for a moment to
+look with horror upon his work--the blood was gushing forth from
+the wound, and dying the white hair of him who had been his patron
+and friend. From that he turned and gazed upon the prostrate figure
+of Rosa MacDermot, who still lay in a kind of half-swoon from the
+effects of his violence. He felt as if his bursting heart would have
+forced its way through his side. Roused from his trance by the screams
+of the Widow MacDermot, he heard the galloping of horses approaching,
+and, rushing mechanically into the thickest part of the wood, he made
+his way towards the mountains, where night soon overtook him. Still he
+continued to wander on, however, without fixed intention or direction;
+and it was only on finding, at day-break, that he had already fled far
+towards the south, that, after having given due way to his affliction,
+he resolved to travel towards Edinburgh, to seek his father, where,
+as we have already seen, he ultimately arrived, weary and woe-begone.
+
+The next morning, after Charley Stewart's appearance in Edinburgh,
+his father, Sir Walter Stewart, aroused him from the deep sleep into
+which his fatigue of body had thrown him, and which, as it was nearly
+the first he had had since the sad events which had driven him from the
+north, even their cruel influence upon his mind could not disturb. In
+reply to Sir Walter's inquiries, he gave him a brief statement of
+his history and his misfortunes, and his wounded spirit was soothed
+by the kind sympathy which Sir Walter manifested towards him.
+
+"Charley," said he, "thy fate hath been a cruel one, truly; but thou
+must bestir thee to shake off thy sorrows. Nothing better, as a cure
+for melancholy, than action. I have an emprise on hand, that is for
+thee the very medicine that thou lackest, and as it may speedily end
+with thee in a journey to France, as the esquire of a knight whom
+it will do thee much honour to serve, it is, of all others, the very
+best chance that could befal thee under present circumstances. But the
+morning wears, and we must go to work without farther loss of time."
+
+Sir Walter Stewart having disguised himself, and his son Charley,
+in broad slouched hats and cloaks, they sallied forth together. At
+the head of the close, they found two hacknies in the High Street,
+held by a single groom. They leaped into their saddles, and, without
+any inquiry or explanation as to whither they were bound, they rode
+forth together, at a gentle pace, from the southern part of the city,
+as if they had been bent more upon pleasure than business. They had
+not gone farther in that direction than just beyond the Burgh Loch,
+a piece of water which then occupied that extent of flat low ground
+now known by the name of The Meadows, when Sir Walter turned his
+horse's head to the westward, and, spurring forward, he and Charley
+galloped together through the woodland, the groves, and the thickets,
+which partially covered the Burgh Muir, and gradually sweeping
+round at a point considerably to the westward of the Castle rock,
+they then pushed forward at a furious pace in a northerly direction,
+making straight for that part of the shore of the Firth of Forth,
+lying immediately to the westward of the citadel of Leith. That
+which is now a continuous town, was then almost a wilderness of sandy
+hillocks, which stretched considerably farther into the sea than the
+land now does, its waters having since much encroached on that part
+of the coast during the lapse of ages. Taking up a position on a
+bare elevated spot, Sir Walter looked with anxious eyes towards the
+road-stead. There were but few vessels there; but one seemed to be
+slowly coming up to her anchorage, with a fair breeze from the east,
+but with her sails so curtailed as betokened caution in those on
+board. Sir Walter seemed to eye her with peculiar interest for some
+time, and then he addressed a rough red-faced pilot, who was standing
+below on the beach, beside his boat, watching the vessel stedfastly,
+as if he wished to make out what sort of craft she might be.
+
+"Is not that a foreign barque, friend?" demanded Sir Walter.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir," replied the pilot; "she is a furrenner. If I'm
+not far mista'en it's the Garron of Burdy, Captain Davy Trummel,
+with wine aboard. I think I kenn her rig--and a clever rig it is,
+let me tell ye."
+
+"She seems a goodly sea-boat, well fitted to fly quickly over so long
+a voyage," replied Sir Walter carelessly.
+
+"That she is, I'll be sworn sir," answered the pilot. "Few in the
+trade can match her, I promise ye. But what strange mortals them
+French Munseers are after all: why they should call a vessel a Garron,
+the which is the swiftest bit of a craft my eyes ever came across, I
+can't nowise reasonably comprehend, unless it be out of a mere spirit
+of contradiction. But I must call out the lads, and be off to her,
+for there's the signal flying for me."
+
+"Thou shalt take me aboard with thee, and have something for thy
+guerdon," said Sir Walter. "I would taste this Frenchman's wines,
+ere the palates of the good Burghers become acquainted with them."
+
+"Willingly will I do thy pleasure, sir," replied the man; and,
+running towards a solitary cottage which stood upon a bank hard by,
+he began shouting out, "Jemmy!" and "Harry!" till two lads, who were
+his sons and assistants, appeared.
+
+"Thou must tarry here with the horses, till I return from on board,
+Charles," said Sir Walter. "This is the very vessel I looked for--the
+Garonne of Bordeaux, Captain De Tremouille. He is an old friend of
+mine, and I would fain have some talk with him."
+
+Sir Walter was speedily rowed on board by the pilot and his two
+sons. The barque took up her proper ground, under the directions which
+the helmsman received from the experienced old sailor. The anchor was
+let go, and she swung round to her moorings. Charley Stewart passed
+a considerable time in walking the horses about ere he saw the boat
+leave the barque. At length he beheld it pulling towards the shore,
+and Sir Walter again joined him, bearing two large bundles, which were
+stowed away behind their saddles, in such a manner as to be covered
+by their cloaks as they rode, and following the same circuitous route
+which they had taken in their way out, they returned to the city,
+and regained the Knight's lodgings without observation.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.
+
+
+Clifford.--Stop one moment, Serjeant. See how the rain has made its
+way through the chinks of the window, and deluged the floor.
+
+Serjeant.--Mercy on me, so it has, sir! Well, I'm sure it's no
+wonder. Such a blast as that which is rairding without, would drive
+it through a stone wall.
+
+Grant.--Call the girl from the kitchen, like a good man.
+
+Serjeant.--Here, lassie!--We're like to be all drowned at this end
+of the house. Bring some cloths, will ye, and dish-clouts, and dry
+up this deluge here.
+
+Lassie.--Keep us a', siccana sight! But we're no one hair better in
+the other end o' the house.
+
+Clifford.--Aye, that's a good girl. Now lay some of these cloths
+along the window here. Aye, that will do. I think that ought to make
+us water-tight. Now, heap some more wood and peats on the fire before
+you go. Thank ye--that's glorious. Now, let the storm howl as it likes.
+
+Grant.--Do go on with your story, Serjeant. You were interrupted in
+a most interesting part of it.
+
+Clifford.--"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!"--I beg your pardon,
+Sergeant; pray proceed.
+
+Author.--Aye, pray do proceed. I am anxious to know what Sir Walter
+Stewart's plans are, and how he succeeded in carrying them into
+effect. This part of the history is well known; but the minuter
+details are nowhere told in any book I am acquainted with, and I am
+curious to hear them.
+
+Serjeant--(taking a long draught from his punch-jug.)--You shall be
+satisfied immediately, sir.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LEGEND OF CHARLEY STEWART TÀILLEAR-CRUBACH
+CONTINUED.
+
+
+Soon after his return home, from his visit to the barque Garonne,
+Sir Walter Stewart got rid of his disguise, put on a courtier's
+attire, and hastened to the Castle, to pay his usual attendance
+of ceremony on the King. This he made a point of never neglecting,
+notwithstanding the marked curtailment which his private, and more
+familiar intercourse with his Majesty had received. Whilst within the
+walls of the fortress, he contrived, quietly and without suspicion,
+to make himself master of the state of the roster of the officers of
+the royal guard. To his no small satisfaction, he discovered that the
+captain of the guard, for the next day, was to be a certain individual
+of the name of Strang, whom he knew to be a worthless, reckless,
+hard-drinking, gaming fellow. He then made all the observations that
+circumstances permitted, and, pleased with the information he had
+acquired, he returned to his lodging, in order fully to acquaint
+Charley with it, as well as with the whole of his plans, and with
+the manner in which he proposed to carry them into execution, so as
+to make him perfectly comprehend the part which he intended that he
+should play in them. To lull all after surmise regarding himself,
+as much as possible, he that evening appeared in the apartments of
+Sir William Rogers, and bore his share in the performance of the
+music that was given there. He then kept his appointment with the
+Earl of Huntly, in order to tell him that all was prepared, and,
+after a hasty interview, shortened by their apprehensions of being
+detected together, a circumstance which might have been ruinous to
+their projects, Sir Walter retired to his lodging for the night.
+
+Some little time after guard-mounting, next morning, the bundles which
+they had brought from the French vessel were opened, and the Knight,
+and his son, proceeded to disguise themselves, by putting on the
+attire of French sailors, which they contained; and so perfectly did
+Sir Walter succeed in this operation, that his most intimate friend
+could not have known him. Wrapped up in cloaks, they then took their
+stand within the dark threshold of a deep doorway, that opened from
+the obscure entrance of the close where Sir Walter lodged. This was
+a position from which they could see every one who passed up or down
+the High Street, without a chance of their being themselves seen.
+
+They had not stood long there, until their ears caught the distant, but
+unceasing jabber of the French tongue, coming up the High Street. It
+came from half a-dozen or more voices at once, all being talkers and
+none listeners. The noise grew louder and louder, until Sir Walter,
+by stretching out his neck from his lurking-place, espied the captain
+or skipper of the French barque, approaching with some eight or ten
+of his crew. They came walking along close to the houses on his side
+of the way. They carried two small casks of wine, each of them slung
+on a pole between two men, who were changed from time to time as
+they required relief, whilst another man carried a little runlet on
+his shoulders. Sir Walter gave a particular whistle, and in a moment
+the whole party turned in under the covered entrance of the close,
+and laid down their burdens as if to rest themselves. In an instant,
+Sir Walter and Charley Stewart threw off their cloaks, and transferred
+them to two of the French sailors, who immediately retired into the
+Knight's lodgings, whilst he and his son succeeded to the burdens
+they had carried. Having effected this change, Sir Walter held some
+private talk with Captain De Tremouille, after which the party moved
+on up the street, and so up the Castle-Hill, until they came to the
+castle gate. There the French skipper, in broken English, told the
+sentinel that he would fain speak a word to the captain of the guard,
+for whom he was the bearer of a small present of wine, and he and
+his whole party were speedily admitted.
+
+"I do ave von leetil praisaint of vine for you, sare," said the
+skipper, boldly addressing the scarlet-visaged captain of the
+guard. "Dis leetil cask for your own taste.--De richest vine in
+de varld."
+
+"Thou art an especial good fellow, sir," replied the captain, clumsily
+returning the exquisite bow which the Frenchman had made him, whilst,
+at the same time, he eyed the runlet, and immediately consigned it to
+the particular care of one of his own people. "Nothing could possibly
+come more opportunely, and I am most grateful for thy courtesy. It
+must be confessed that you Frenchmen are the most perfect gentlemen
+in the world, and know how to do a thing genteelly."
+
+"Ah, sare, dat is too mosh compliment for me as van Frainchman,"
+replied the skipper, with a smile and a bow yet lower than his former
+one. "And de compliment is more bettaire dat she come from van so
+grait hero as de Capitaine Strang! Admirasion for de fame of him,
+did make me ave de grait desire to honnaire myself wid praisant him
+vid dis leetil gift, for vitch liberty I do hope he is not offend."
+
+"Offended, my dear fellow!" cried Captain Strang; "thy runlet comes
+to me as welcome as the very flowers in May! But how the pest dost
+thou chance to know my name, Sir Skipper?"
+
+"De name and de fame of de grat hero, is alvaise know by all men all
+over de varld," replied the skipper, with another most obsequious
+reverence.
+
+"By St. Andrew, but this is a curious marvel though," said the
+captain. "Who would have thought that my name could have been known
+in France as a hero! Yet certain it is that I have done some small
+deeds in my time, that these French mooshies may have heard of."
+
+"Deeds, Monsieur le Capitaine!" cried De Tremouille, with feigned
+astonishment; "Vondaires in battaile! meeracailes in de feelde! van
+Achille of Scotlande! But all dat is nossing at all compare to de fame
+of Monsieur le Capitaine for his vonderful taste for de good vine! Ven
+dey do talk of good vine in France, dey do alvaise say--Aha! dis
+is vine fit for de pallait of van Empereur; bot dis 'ere is more
+bettaire, dis is fit for de pallait of de famous Scottish hero, de
+Capitaine Strang, dat do know good vine more bettaire dan any oder
+man in de varld."
+
+"By all the saints, that is wonderful!" said the captain; "and yet
+that I can more easily understand. Yes, yes; few people can match
+me there. And then, to be sure, these wine-dealers in France must
+know some little of those who are judges of the good stuff, and who,
+moreover, like myself, do so much to encourage their trade. But hark
+ye, Mr. Skipper! what do ye with those other two casks which those
+fellows of thine are carrying?"
+
+"Ah hah! dat is von praisant pour de Duc d'Albanie," replied the
+skipper.
+
+"Ha!" cried the captain of the guard, with a certain air of suspicion;
+"the Duke of Albany, saidst thou? How comest thou to have a present
+for the Duke of Albany?"
+
+"Oh yaes, sare!" replied the imperturbable skipper, with great apparent
+innocence, "de vine is von cadeau, vat you do call praisant from de
+marchand at Bordeaux, vid de expectation dat de squisite taste of him
+may make mi Lor Duc to ave mor of him pour de l'argent, and prevail
+on de Royal King, his broder, to ave some too also."
+
+"Um--aye," said the captain of the guard, with hesitation; "likely
+story enough--though there be but little chance of the King drinking
+ought of the Duke's providing, whatever liquor the Duke may by and bye
+drink of his Majesty's brewing. But 'twas natural enow in the merchant
+to think so, Mooshie. As for the Duke, he is no bad customer to his
+own fist, when he is well set with a jolly boon companion, such as
+myself for instance. So thou mayest as well leave thy twin-casks in my
+charge, friend; and I shall see that they are properly delivered.--At
+least," added he, in an under voice, aside, "I shall take care most
+conscientiously to deliver them in due time of their contents."
+
+"Tank you--very mosh tank you, sare," replied the skipper. "Mais I
+not trobil you. De marchand did ordaire me to see dem in de royal
+hand of de Duc heemself. If I not do dat, I most take heem back
+again. Jean! François! il faut----"
+
+"Um!--don't be so hasty, man," interrupted the captain of the guard,
+by no means willing to lose sight of the casks, and hesitating, and
+cogitating within himself, that if the wine was taken back, he would
+lose all chance of tasting it; whereas, if it was once lodged with the
+Duke, he had a fair prospect of being invited to share in it. "You
+Mooshies are as pestilent hasty as a bit of touch paper. Thou shalt
+deliver the wine thyself to the Duke. Here, Laurence--the keys of
+the Duke's apartments! Now, Mooshie, do thou and three of thy fellows
+quickly shoulder the casks and follow me."
+
+The skipper immediately took up one end of the pole that swung one
+of the casks, and addressing Sir Walter Stewart by the name of Jean,
+he called to him roughly, in French, to take up the other end. Charley
+Stewart and a sailor hoisted up the second cask; and so they followed
+the captain of the guard up to the Duke's apartments.
+
+When the doors were opened, which gave access to the royal prisoner,
+they found the Duke of Albany sitting at a table in conversation with
+his chamberlain, his manly and somewhat stern countenance deprived
+of much of its wonted bloom and sunshine, from the confinement to
+which he had been subjected, and the melancholy anticipations which
+possessed his mind, though nothing had as yet been able to overpower
+his indomitable resolution. It was only when he arose from his chair,
+to ascertain what his visitors came about, that his powerful and
+well-proportioned person, and his broad chest, were fully exhibited.
+
+"What is all this?" cried the Duke, somewhat impatiently.
+
+"So please your Highness' Grace, this French Mooshie skipper is the
+bearer of a present of that which he states to be very choice wine
+of his country's growth," said Captain Strang, with a low obeisance.
+
+"Who can have thus remembered me in my misfortunes?" demanded the Duke.
+
+"Nay," replied Strang, "I question if either the giver of the gift,
+or he that hath it in charge, know ought of the position in which
+your Royal Highness is now placed. But stand forth, Sir Mooshie,
+and tell thine own tale."
+
+"Eh bien," cried the skipper, advancing, and bowing three or four
+times to the ground; "Je le----"
+
+"Hold! hold! Mooshie!" interrupted Captain Strang; "none of thine own
+outlandish language, dost thou hear? Thou canst speak our tongue well
+enow for all purposes, so keep to that, if it so please thee."
+
+"Very vell, Monsieur le Capitaine String," replied the skipper,
+with a shrug, and a grimace, that showed his disappointment in being
+thus prevented from speaking to the Duke, in a language which would
+have veiled all he said from the apprehension of the captain of the
+guard--"Very vell, Monsieur le Capitaine; I vill make van attente
+to make onderstand de bad Englis of me to his Royal Highness de Duc
+d'Albanie.--I ave been send vid dis two cask of vin, as van cadeau
+from de marchand Beauvilliers at Bordeaux, to his Highness Royal de
+Duc d'Albanie, vid de ope dat de magnifique flaveur of de vine may
+please heem, and procure for de marchand van large ordaire from his
+Highness Royal, and from his royal broder, his Majesty de King."
+
+"I can promise nothing for his Majesty, friend," replied the Duke;
+"but for myself, I would have ye thank Monsieur Beauvilliers from me,
+and say to him, that if the wine liketh me well, I shall send him an
+order; that is to say, if there be aught of likelihood of my being
+alive to drink of it when it comes to hand.--But what sort of wine
+is it that thou hast brought me?"
+
+"In dat cask dere is shoise vine of Gascony," said the skipper,
+pointing to that which Charley Stewart had helped to bear; "bot,
+goot as it is, I am force to tink dat de oder vine, in dis cask,
+vill give more plaisir to son Altesse Royale."
+
+"Sir," said Sir Walter, bringing forward the cask, and speaking to the
+skipper in French, as if he were merely applying to him for orders,
+but in a tone so loud and distinct as to insure that the Duke should
+catch every word that fell from him--"do not show surprise at what I
+say, or recognise me, if you discover me.--We are all friends. This
+cask contains the means of escape, with instructions how you are
+to effect it. Let not the captain of the guard depart without an
+invitation to supper; the contents of this cask will tell you why."
+
+"Sacre cochon!" cried the skipper, with an angry air, and at the
+same time bestowing a smart blow of a rattan on the shoulders of Sir
+Walter. "Sacre cochon que vous estes!"
+
+"What did the fellow say to thee, friend skipper?" demanded the
+captain of the guard; "and what didst thou say to him?"
+
+"Mine Got! Monsieur le Capitaine String," replied the skipper, "dis
+crew of mine is so great idil vans, dat dey vear out de patience
+of van Job heemself. I not be come to dis place ardly van moment,
+and bifore I decharge my cargo, ven dey must vant to leif me alone,
+and to go to run all over de cite, after de dance, and de Scottis
+preetee lasses. Be Gar, Monsieur Jean, you sall vork more vork pour
+dis, dat I do tell you, mon garçon."
+
+"Fear nothing, sir," said Sir Walter, again in French, and humbly
+bowing to the skipper, as if making an earnest and contrite apology
+to his master; "act boldly; remember the south-western side--there
+thou shalt find friends beyond the walls."
+
+"Aha, Coquin!" cried the skipper; "mais vous avez joué votre role
+à merveille----"
+
+"What said the fellow? and what was thine answer to him?" demanded
+the captain of the guard again.
+
+"Par bleu, Monsieur le Capitaine String, I ave make heem bon garçon
+at last," replied the skipper; "I do ave make heem cry peccavée."
+
+"Was that all?" said the captain, gruffly. "Then come away, Mooshie,
+let us clear out of this. Thou and thy fellows have been long enough
+here."
+
+"Before thou goest, I would speak with thee, Captain Strang," said the
+Duke. "If fame and mine own experience belie thee not, thou art great
+in thy judgment of wines. Wilt thou lend me thy company to-night at
+supper, that we may taste the stuff which this fellow hath brought me,
+of the rare quality of which he makes so great a boast?"
+
+"Your Royal Highness's Grace does me too much honour," replied Strang,
+with a most obsequious bow. "My taste is but a poor and uncultivated
+taste; but I shall be proud to perfect it under your Royal Highness's
+superior judgment and instruction."
+
+"Then let us have supper at four, good captain," said the Duke; "and
+as my chamberlain here would fain invite those three poor knaves who
+guard the door, to watch for once within side of it, and to partake
+of his table, I would have thee see that, at my expense, enough of
+the best viands be provided for all."
+
+"Your Highness is too considerate," replied Strang. "Yet, since your
+royal will runs so, it shall be obeyed to the letter. The supper shall
+be such as shall content you." And then retiring, and shutting and
+locking the door upon his prisoners, he descended the outer steps,
+muttering to himself,--"The supper may well be a good one indeed,
+and thou mayest well eat and drink thy fill; for, if I be not far
+mistaken, it may be the last supper thou mayest eat, and the last
+wine thou mayest swallow."
+
+The skipper and his party now left the Castle, without farther
+question; and as they passed by the mouth of the close where Sir
+Walter Stewart lived, on their way down the High Street, the knight
+and his son were replaced by the two French sailors, in the same
+adroit manner in which the change had been formerly effected; and
+they gained their lodgings, and got rid of their disguise, without
+having subjected themselves to the least suspicion, whilst the skipper
+continued his way out of the city, with the same number of followers
+as he had always had with him.
+
+No sooner was the Duke of Albany free from the chance of interruption,
+than he and his chamberlain proceeded to wrench up the end of that
+cask which Sir Walter Stewart had so ingeniously and so particularly
+indicated, as the important one to the royal captive. They found it
+altogether devoid of wine; but, to their no small joy, they found
+within it a long coil of rope, and a large roll of wax. Their first
+care was to replace the rope, and to shut up the cask again, and then
+to roll it into the corner, where they set it on end immediately
+in rear of that which contained the wine. They then hastily opened
+the roll of wax, and discovered that it contained a letter from Sir
+Walter, explaining the whole plan for their escape. Having studied this
+again and again, so as fully to possess themselves of its contents,
+they committed it to the ample fire-place, where it was immediately
+consumed, and then they sat down together to resolve and arrange
+all the minor parts and details of their plot. Whilst they were so
+employed, Captain Strang was unable to resist the devil that tempted
+him to taste his little runlet. It was excellent wine. He boldly,
+and with great determination, put in the spigot again, and gallantly
+retreated from it. But again and again was he drawn to it by an
+attraction as strong as that which the loadstone exerts over the
+needle. Again and again he drew the spigot, and sipped moderately. He
+would have drank deeply, had not economy whispered him that he had
+better preserve it for a future opportunity, seeing that he had the
+prospect of that night drinking so largely at another's expense. But
+still he sipped and sipped from time to time, so that, although far
+from drunk when he appeared in the Duke of Albany's apartment--nay,
+I may say, far from being even what is usually called half seas
+over--he had so whetted his thirst as to be ready to drink oceans;
+and the foundation he had laid was quite enough for a superstructure
+of perfect intoxication.
+
+As the supper was to be partaken of by him and his people at the Duke's
+expense, the captain of the guard had taken especial care to see that
+it was a good one. His Royal Highness sat at a small table near the
+huge fire-place, with Captain Strang upon his left hand. There they
+were first served by the chamberlain, and the three men of the guard,
+with all the delicacies they chose to call for; and large beakers
+of the new wine being placed before them, the captain gave full way
+to his Bacchanalian inclinations. By and bye they began to play at
+dice and tables, whilst the chamberlain and his three guests were
+supping. Though already not a little affected by the wine he had
+swallowed, the captain preserved enough of his cunning and knavish
+brains, to enable him to cheat most villainously. This did not escape
+the Duke, but he took care not to appear to perceive it--cursed his ill
+luck--and went on to lose, much to the satisfaction of his opponent,
+whilst the knavish Strang was secretly congratulating himself upon his
+own wonderful strength of head, which had so far prevailed over the
+comparative weakness of his royal adversary. Meanwhile the chamberlain
+was busily employed in supplying the captain, as well as his own
+peculiar guests, with wine, in the greatest abundance. By degrees,
+Strang became so much elevated, as to lose much of that obsequious
+respect with which he had at first treated his royal host.
+
+"Delicious wine!" cried he, smacking his lips, after a long draught
+of it, which left his cup empty. "By the holy Virgin, delicious
+wine indeed! But--aw--aw--its goodness inflames me--aw--aw--with a
+furious desire to taste--aw--aw--to taste, I say, that other cask the
+French knave spoke of--aw--aw--that, I mean, which stands yonder,
+behind--aw--aw--behind the barrel from which we have--aw--aw--been
+tasting; that, I mean--aw--aw--of which the French Mooshie spake
+so largely."
+
+The chamberlain darted a look of agony at his master; but the Duke
+preserved a perfect composure.
+
+"Thou shalt taste it forthwith, Sir Captain," said the Duke, giving,
+at the same time, a private signal to the chamberlain. "Go, use thy
+wimble, and bring us a flask of that other wine."
+
+The chamberlain, understanding his master, went to the barrels,
+and concealing them as much as he could by stooping over both of
+them, he fumbled with the wimble at the second cask; and, whilst he
+pretended to fill the can from it, he slyly drew its contents from
+the same which had been running all night, and then he poured out
+two sparkling goblets, and set them down on the table.
+
+"Well, Sir Captain," said the Duke, after Strang had taken a long
+draught of the wine, "what sayest thou to it? Is it as good as that
+which thou hast been all night drinking?"
+
+"That which we have been drinking all night--aw--aw--is but as
+hog's wash compared to it," cried the captain, his eyes beginning
+to goggle in his head, and emphatically dashing his empty cup down
+on the table. "No, no--aw--aw--my palate--aw--aw--is--aw--too true
+to be deceived that way. This, look ye, is a wine of--aw--aw--of
+superior growth, flavour, and body, not to be matched--not to
+be--aw--aw--matched, I tell ye--not to be matched."
+
+"It is, indeed, excellent, as thou sayest," replied the Duke--"absolute
+nectar!--Come, fill our goblets again."
+
+"By the Rood, but this is--aw--aw--wine indeed!" cried the captain of
+the guard again, after emptying his goblet for the second time. "It
+grows--aw--aw--better and better--aw--aw."
+
+"I feel it whizzing in my very brain," said the Duke. "I doubt that
+thou wilt have but an easy conquest of me now, Sir Captain. But come,
+nevertheless, play away, for I will have my revenge."
+
+"What, ho, Sir Chamberlain," cried the captain, getting more and
+more inebriated, and becoming, at the same time, still more and
+more convinced of his own strength of brain and sobriety, and
+his superiority, in these respects, over the Duke, exemplified,
+as it was, by his still farther gains. "What ho!--aw--aw--more
+wine--more wine and--aw--aw--from the same cask, dost thou hear,
+Sir Chamberlain--aw--aw--from the self-same virtuous cask. Why the
+fiend did'st thou not draw from that cask--aw--aw--at first? Come,
+wine, I tell thee!--aw--aw--aw--pour us out more of that nectar; my
+throat--aw--aw--is parched, and--aw--aw--the more I drink--aw--aw--the
+more I would drink. Wine!--aw--aw--wine, I say, Sir Chamberlain!"
+
+The chamberlain spared not to fill and refill his goblet, nor was he
+less assiduous in filling those of the three men of the guard, until
+overcome by the soporific effects of the oceans of wine which they
+poured down, combined with those arising from the overwhelming heat
+of the rousing fire that had been purposely kept up, an irresistible
+drowsiness fell upon the captain and his men, and they, one after
+another, dropped into a deep sleep. The Duke, and his chamberlain,
+now armed themselves with knives from the table, and self-preservation
+having steeled up their minds to this bloody alternative, they sprang
+upon their defenceless victims. The work of death was speedy; all were
+despatched in a few moments. The keys were taken from the captain's
+girdle-belt. The corpses were piled one over the other in the huge
+fire-place, and more fuel was heaped upon them, in order to consume
+them. The coil of rope was secured. The doors were opened with the
+greatest caution, and, having slipped silently down the outer stair,
+they stole away to a lonely corner of the rampart, on the south-western
+side of the fortress, where the height and precipitous nature of
+the rock had been supposed to have rendered sentinels unnecessary;
+and where, though the descent might be more dangerous in itself,
+than at many other points in the vicinity, there was less risk of
+their being surprised and frustrated in their attempt.
+
+At the foot of the Castle rock, under that part of the walls which
+I have now indicated, Sir Walter Stewart, and his son Charles, had
+been waiting impatiently ever since the day-light had disappeared. The
+night was starry, but there was little moon. That they might the better
+observe the walls, they climbed up the steep rock, immediately below
+the point where they knew that the attempt was likely to be made,
+till they came to the perpendicular part of the cliff, under the base
+of which they silently lay down to watch the event. After long and
+tedious expectation, during which they were often deceived by their
+fancy, they at length perceived a dark looking object getting over the
+top of the wall of the rampart, directly above them. They watched it
+with intense anxiety, as it began slowly to descend on them, till, as
+it neared them, they could distinguish it to be a human being, and the
+figure slowly grew upon their sight. The head and shoulders of another
+man thrust over the wall above, seemed anxiously to watch the success
+of him who was lowering himself. For a moment the descending figure
+rested on the narrow ledge of the rock at the foundation of the wall,
+and then it again began to come down gently over the perpendicular
+face of the cliff, until it was within some ten or fifteen feet of
+them. Their hope was now high, when all at once the figure seemed to
+be arrested in its progress downward, and swung to and fro for a time.
+
+"What stops you?" demanded Sir Walter Stewart, in a distinct but
+subdued voice.
+
+"If this be all the rope, it is too short," said the person above
+them, in the same tone; "I have nothing now for it, but to take my
+chance and drop."
+
+"Fear not!" said Sir Walter; "we shall try to catch thee in our
+cloaks. Now! drop boldly!"
+
+"Now then!" said the man in the air.
+
+But although the united strength of Sir Walter Stewart and his son
+enabled them so to receive him, as to save him from utter destruction,
+the shock of his fall was so great, as to crush both of them down,
+and it was with difficulty that they prevented him and themselves
+from rolling down the rocky slope below them.
+
+"How fares it with thee?" demanded Sir Walter.
+
+"But indifferent well," replied the other, unable to rise, and
+manifestly in great pain. "I fear I have broken my thigh-bone."
+
+"Holy Saint Andrew, what a misfortune!" exclaimed Sir Walter Stewart.
+
+"Call it not a misfortune," said the attached and devoted
+chamberlain. "It was good that I tried it before the Duke, else might
+this accident have happened to him, and that indeed would have been
+a misfortune."
+
+"What hath happened?" demanded a faint voice, that came from the Duke,
+whose head and shoulders still appeared over the wall above.
+
+"A small accident, but not a fatal one," replied the chamberlain. "I
+am down; but beware, my gracious master, the rope is too short."
+
+"How much may it want?" demanded the Duke.
+
+"About four or five ells, or so;" replied Sir Walter.
+
+"Tarry till I return then," said the Duke again. "But, hush! I must
+hide. Here come the rounds."
+
+The tramp of feet, and the clink of arms, now came faintly on
+their ears, as they lay, drawn in as much as possible, under the
+rock. Voices, too, were heard, but at such a distance above them, that
+they could not tell whether they uttered sounds of jocularity, or of
+strife and contention. At last they passed away--but whether the royal
+duke had been detected or not, they had no means of knowing. A very
+considerable time elapsed, during which their eyes were fixed intently,
+and most anxiously, on that part of the top of the wall whence the
+head of the royal captive had last been seen to disappear. The pain
+of the chamberlain's fractured limb was excruciating, yet to him it
+was as nothing, compared to the agony of that suspense which was
+suffered by the whole three who waited for the result. At length,
+to their inexpressible relief, they beheld the Duke's figure getting
+over the wall above them,--and down he came, slowly and gradually,
+till his toes touched the rocky ground on which they stood. Warm,
+though not loud, were the congratulations he received, and heartfelt
+were the thanks which he poured out upon his preservers--and deep
+was the grief which he uttered for the painful accident which had
+befallen his faithful servant. They learned from his Highness, that
+ere the rounds had approached near enough to observe him, he had laid
+himself down at length on the ground, within the deep shadow that
+prevailed under the wall; that they had passed within a few yards of
+him, talking and joking with each other, and most fortunately without
+observing him. They were no sooner fairly gone to the other parts of
+the walls, than he had stolen back to his prison, cut his blankets
+into ropes, and by this means supplied what was wanting of the length
+of that which had been furnished to him.
+
+Altogether unmindful of his own safety, the Duke of Albany's first
+desire was to provide for the proper care of his maimed chamberlain. It
+was with no small difficulty that they got him conveyed down the
+craggy slope, and when they reached the valley below, they halted,
+and held a consultation as to what was best to be done with him. The
+chamberlain himself proposed that they should carry him to the house of
+a friend of his own, near at hand, where he knew he would be concealed,
+and well cared for, and where he thought he could remain in safety
+until his broken limb should be so effectually cured as to enable
+him to make his escape.
+
+"I will carry thee thither myself," said the Duke of Albany. "I can by
+no means flee hence, until I am assured of the safety of a servant,
+who hath ever been so devotedly faithful to me, and who is now,
+by the perversity of my fate, to be so painfully separated from me,
+when I most need his friendship."
+
+"Nay, I do entreat your Royal Highness to flee without a moment's
+delay," said Sir Walter Stewart; "every moment is precious to
+you. Leave him to me, and, trust me, I will take every care of him."
+
+"Nay, I cannot consent to that," said the Duke. "Thou must not be
+seen nor suspected to have had aught to do in this matter. Thou hast
+already periled thyself enough. The house he speaks of is but a little
+farther along this hollow way, I will carry him thither myself."
+
+Sir Walter yielded to reason. They assisted the Duke to carry the
+chamberlain to a conveniently short distance from the house in
+question, the sufferer was then hoisted on his royal master's back,
+who speedily bore him safely into his place of concealment.
+
+"Now," said Sir Walter to the Duke, when he had again joined them,
+a little way on beyond the house, "your Royal Highness must fly with
+all haste to the sea-side. This young man, who is a son of mine,
+will guide you to the spot where you will find a boat, which is ready
+waiting to convey you to the vessel that is prepared to carry you to
+France. He must supply the loss of your faithful chamberlain. Take
+him with you, my lord, and let him return to me when it may suit your
+convenience to part with him."
+
+"He shall be mine especial esquire," said the Duke.--"Would I had a
+station to put him into, worthier of son of thine, and of one of his
+own apparent merits."
+
+"Your Royal Highness is too kind," said Sir Walter. "Yet is the lad no
+disgrace to me, as I trust that you may find that he will prove none
+to you. May Saint Andrew give you safety and a prosperous breeze!--And
+here, Charley, take this ring as a pledge of a father's affection,
+and let the sight of it be ever to thee as a monitor to make thee do
+thy duty like a man."
+
+Their parting was now warm, but brief. The Duke and his new attendant
+reached the sea-side in safety. Sir Walter, who had hastened around
+the shores of the North Loch, and climbed the Calton Hill, waited
+impatiently upon its summit till the first dawn of day-break. Then it
+was that he rejoiced to descry the white sail of the French barque,
+swoln by a merry and favourable breeze, pressing gallantly down the
+Firth, and he continued to watch it, until it was lost amidst the
+ruddy haze of the sunrise. He then walked slowly down the eastern slope
+of the hill, towards Holyrood, and, making a wide circuit, he passed
+between Arthur Seat and Salisbury Craigs, through the hollow wooded
+valley, which, though now devoid of trees, is still well known by
+the name of the Hunter's Bog, and then, turning his steps towards the
+southern gates of the city, he muffled himself well up in his cloak,
+and entered it, unnoticed, amid the crowds of market people who were
+passing inwards at the Port of the Kirk of Field; and so he gained
+his lodging without observation. There he soon afterwards heard of
+the astonishment, mortification, and dismay, which had possessed the
+King on learning this strange event, which he could not bring himself
+to believe until he went to see, with his own eyes, the half-consumed
+corpses of the captain of the guard and his men, and the rope which
+still hung dangling over the wall of the castle.
+
+Sir Walter Stewart seemed to remain altogether unsuspected of any share
+in the escape of the Duke of Albany, though every one was agreed in
+believing that his Royal Highness must have been aided from without
+the walls. But whether it was that ideal suspicion that conscience of
+itself begets, or whether there really were some grounds for it, the
+Knight could not help feeling persuaded that the King looked colder
+than ever upon him. He failed not, however, on that account, to pay
+his duties at court most unremittingly, though, frequent as were his
+visits there, they were comparatively small in number to those which
+he paid to the house of Sir William Rogers, where he now worshipped,
+more fervently than ever, at the shrine of that enchantress, the
+fair Juliet Manvers. He now found himself so irretrievably the
+captive of her charms, that he had for some time ceased to struggle
+in her net, and it was not long after the escape of Albany, that he
+sought an audience of King James, that he might humbly communicate
+his contemplated nuptials to him, and crave his royal leave for their
+consummation, as well as for his retirement for a time from court, that
+he might carry his lady to visit his own territories in Stradawn, of
+which he was to make her the mistress. From all that had lately passed,
+he was not much surprised that the King received his communication
+with apparent satisfaction, but he was very much astonished to find,
+that it procured for him the sudden and unexpected restoration of all
+that familiar cordiality of manner, which he had formerly, for so long
+a period, been in the constant habit of receiving from his Majesty.
+
+"What!--marry!" cried the King. "And is this really so?--and a long
+attachment saidst thou?"
+
+"An attachment that has grown since first we met, so please your
+gracious Majesty," replied Sir Walter.
+
+"Strange!" said the King, as if pondering within himself--"strange
+that all this should have escaped me. And yet, now I think on't,
+I might have seen it.--We have done thee but scrimp justice, Sir
+Walter Stewart, but now, be assured, that we wish thee joy with all
+our heart. Thou hast indeed chosen a lovely bride. We--yea, and our
+Queen too--shall honour the wedding with our presence; and thy fair
+and accomplished lady shall not lack such royal gifts, as may befit
+us to bestow, and thy wife to receive.--Trust me, that this wise step
+of thine hath much relieved--nay, we would say that it hath given us
+unfeigned joy."
+
+Thus reassured of the King's favour, though from what cause he could
+not by any means divine, Sir Walter Stewart was happy. His marriage
+took place with great pomp of circumstances, in presence of King James
+and his Queen. Some months passed quickly and pleasantly away over
+the heads of the newly-married couple, who were especially detained
+at court, from one week to another, by the royal mandate,--and I need
+not tell you, that the lady basked with peculiar delight under the
+sunshiny smiles that fell upon her from the royal pair. Cochran was
+the only one about court who had reason to be dissatisfied with the
+match, seeing that he had himself shewn pretensions to Juliet Manvers,
+and had been in no little degree encouraged by her. But whether real
+or feigned, he manifested an especial cordiality towards Sir Walter,
+and he availed himself of every possible opportunity of frequenting
+his society, and that of his lady. To the lady, indeed, he was at
+all times most particularly attentive, so much so, in fact, that
+Sir Walter hardly relished his uncalled for complaisance. Moreover,
+he thought he began to detect a certain relaxation of that earnest
+desire to please him, which, for her own purposes, Juliet had so long
+displayed towards him before their union. She had now less occasion
+for dissimulation, since her object was gained, and so it happened,
+that on more occasions than one, when impelled by the humour of the
+moment beyond the full restraint of her dissimulative powers, she had
+unveiled enough of her real character to make him doubt, whether her
+acceptance of him as her husband had been altogether the result of a
+disinterested affection for him. The seeds of unhappiness were thus
+thickly sown within his breast, and they began to vegetate so fast,
+that he at length came to the sudden resolution of carrying off his
+wife to his castle of Drummin.
+
+"If thou art resolved to quit our court for a season," said King
+James, when Sir Walter made his intentions known to his Majesty,
+"thou hast our royal permission, most unwillingly granted to thee,
+so to do. But say, what sort of habitation hast thou in the north?"
+
+"'Tis but a rude dwelling, so please your Majesty," replied Sir Walter;
+"and somewhat the worse perhaps for the warfare which hath been waged
+against it by time and weather."
+
+"Then shalt thou take Cochran, our architect, thither with thee,
+to plan and to order its amendment," replied the King.--"'Twas but
+the other day we were talking of thy concerns together, when he
+voluntarily offered to yield thee his best services."
+
+"'Twas kind of him," said Sir Walter, biting his lips, "but I can in
+nowise think of so troubling him.--Indeed, for the present, I cannot
+well brook the expense of building, and I must e'en remain as I am
+for a time."
+
+"That shall be no hindrance to thee, Stewart," said the King. "The
+stream of our royal bounty hath been untowardly diverted from thee
+for a time; it behooves us now to refresh thy parched roots, so that
+thou mayest again raise thy drooping head. The means shall be found
+from our royal treasury for thy building, and Cochran shall go with
+thee to Drummin--so let us think no more of this matter, seeing I
+have so settled it."
+
+Willingly would Sir Walter Stewart have dispensed with this most
+prominent mark of royal favour, but it was now impossible to decline
+it. Cochran received his Majesty's command, to hold himself in
+readiness to accompany Sir Walter Stewart and his lady to Stradawn,
+with secret delight, though he appeared to do so with that servile
+submission merely, with which he always bowed to the royal will, and
+for which he made himself ample amends by the arrogance with which
+he domineered over others. To Sir Walter Stewart he took especial
+care to be always smiling, pleasant, and accommodating; and although
+he complained, upon this occasion, that this northern journey was a
+severe obstruction to the prosecution of those architectural plans
+on which he pretended to rest his fame, he went down to Drummin with
+the intention of spinning out his visit to as great a length as he
+could decently make it extend.
+
+Sir Walter Stewart, for his part, had no sooner fairly set his foot
+on his own threshold, than a thousand recollections connected with
+the tower of Drummin, and its neighbouring scenery, crowded upon
+his mind. This return to the abode of his early days, recalled the
+remembrance of his young affections, and the contrast which thus
+arose, in spite of him, between those which he felt persuaded were
+bestowed on a creature who was innocent, natural, and true, and those
+which the sacrament of the holy church now demanded of him, as due to
+her whom he had so much reason to fear might turn out to be artful,
+artificial, and false, awakened certain unpleasant qualms within him,
+that he had failed to make that reparation to Alice Asher, which he
+once had it in his power to have made; and that now, by some strange
+witchery and infatuation, he had been led to shut the door against
+that, and his own peace of mind, by one rash and irrevocable act. A
+direful dread now fell upon him, that he was about to be severely
+punished for his neglect of one, whose only sin might, with more
+justice, have been said to have been his--as it was incurred for him,
+and whose devotion to him, and whose whole conduct since her first and
+only error, had so well merited a different treatment at his hands. He
+could not trust his mind to think how much happier he might have now
+been with her. Nor did the image of his gallant Charley fail to haunt
+his imagination, and to fill him with self-reproaches. Now it was that
+his soul winced under the wholesome, though sharp stings of conscience,
+and the fair visions of ambition, which had so continually flitted
+through his brain, lost their sunshine, and disappeared for a time,
+amid the dull and damp mists of self-dissatisfaction that settled
+down upon it. He felt that though the trial must necessarily be a
+painful one, it might probably be productive of a certain degree
+of after-relief to him, if he could procure an interview with Alice
+Asher. A vow existed between them--a vow that she had extracted from
+him, immediately previous to the birth of Charley Stewart, that they
+should never again meet, except in the event of an approach to her on
+the part of Sir Walter, for the purpose of offering her his hand in
+marriage. That, alas, was a reason which he could not urge now! But,
+on the ground of having to speak to her on the subject of her son,
+he sent for the good priest who was her confessor, and procured
+from him a dispensation from their mutual vow, so far as to admit
+of one short meeting between them. It took place; and, as you may
+easily imagine, their conference was of the tenderest, though purest
+description. It had more in it of tears than of smiles. Reproaches
+were there, it is true; but they came not from the meek, penitent,
+and forgiving Alice Asher; they were numerously and largely heaped by
+Sir Walter Stewart on his own devoted head. The parting was a scene
+which I could not venture to describe; and far less could I convey
+to you the slightest notion of that accumulation of anguish which
+choked up the heart of Sir Walter, after having had this opportunity
+of more truly and perfectly knowing the full value of that gentle
+and devoted spirit, the innocent confidence of whose youth he had
+so abused, and whom he had so recklessly excluded from his bosom,
+in order to take home thither that cold and selfish heart which now
+legally possessed it. Full of such agonizing thoughts as these, he had
+as yet got but a short way on his return from the dwelling of Alice,
+when his musing walk was suddenly broken in upon by Cochran, who came
+unexpectedly out upon him from a side-path that emerged from the wood,
+into that along which he was then going.
+
+"That cottage, so prettily perched up yonder among the wood, on the
+brow of the hill you have this moment descended, belongs doubtless
+to some favourite forester of thine, Sir Walter," said Cochran;
+"marry, the fellow is lodged in a palace, compared to those dens,
+scarcely fit for swine, in which the rude and savage inhabitants
+of this northern wilderness are seen to burrow themselves, like
+urchins, and which are hardly to be distinguished from the sterile
+and heath-covered soil on which they stand."
+
+"It is a neat cottage," replied Sir Walter hastily; and, immediately
+changing the subject, he went on talking rapidly, and at random,
+until he got rid of Cochran, on their arrival at Drummin; and, from
+the very dread of all farther impertinent questioning, he threw himself
+upon a horse, and rode away up the valley, under the pretence of some
+urgent business, and with the vain hope of shaking off his griefs.
+
+"Now," said Cochran, as he freely entered the Lady Stradawn's private
+apartment; "Now, I can tell thee, that my suspicions are this very
+day verified. Now thou mayst have no grudge that thou hast at last
+restored to me some of that love, which was mine of right, and which
+should have always been mine, had not the scrannel pipe of this Sir
+Walter so unfairly whistled it from me."
+
+"What wouldst thou insinuate?" demanded the lady, in some degree
+of surprise.
+
+"I would only delicately hint, that thy husband Sir Walter is more
+in tune with another, than with thee," replied Cochran, with a coarse
+laugh. "I have told thee so before, and now I have proof of the truth
+of what I told thee."
+
+"Proof, saidst thou?" cried the lady keenly. "What proof, I pray thee?"
+
+"Did I not tell thee I had found him out?" said Cochran. "Did I not
+tell thee that he visits the cottage that stands on the brow of
+the wooded hill yonder? I have this day proved that I was right,
+for I dogged his steps thither, saw him enter it, and watched him
+patiently, for two good hours, till he again issued forth. Nay, I know
+more. I know that she who inhabits it is an ancient sweetheart of his;
+but though an ancient lover, she is young,--aye! and moreover she is
+beautiful; for as I hovered about the place some two or three days ago,
+I chanced to get such a glimpse of her, as satisfied me of all that."
+
+"Base villain!" cried the lady, in a rage; "I will be revenged of him,
+and of her too.--But," added she, again assuming the command of her
+feelings, "I shall take mine own time."
+
+"Thou canst not be too speedy with thy vengeance as regards thy
+husband, if thou wouldst have me to help thee," said Cochran,
+with a vulgar leer--"for, hark ye!--a secret in thine ear--I must go
+to-morrow--my time hath been long enough uselessly wasted here,--thanks
+to thine obduracy; and then this building is so far advanced towards
+completion, as hardly longer to require my master eye, so that little
+apology now remains for me for longer stay. Nor do I now will it much,
+seeing that it is of none effect; so I shall e'en hasten back to the
+court, to look after this earldom of Mar, which the King hath been
+talking of bestowing upon me, as a successor, much more worthy of it,
+than his traitorous brother who held it. 'Tis well for me to be on
+the spot; yet couldst thou but think of giving me back that love,
+of which this false Sir Walter so wickedly robbed me, I might still
+contrive to stay awhile to help thee to thy revenge."
+
+"My vengeance must be deeply satiated ere any such passion as love can
+find room in this heart of mine," said the lady, with eyes that darted
+lightnings. "At this moment it is overcharged with hate, which nothing
+can diminish till it is poured out in one vast flood of vengeance on
+those who have produced it. Go then, my good lord, for to that title
+thy fortune doth now most securely lead; go--and push it boldly on
+to the pinnacle of that glory to which it so clearly points. When
+we meet again, we may have better will, as well as better leisure,
+to unfold our mutual thoughts and wishes. Meanwhile, believe that mine
+are ever for thy welfare, and for that honourable advancement to thee,
+to which the elegance of thy person, as well as thy superiority in
+mind and manners, doth so well and amply entitle thee."
+
+"Thanks, lady! thy discernment is great and penetrating!" cried
+Cochran, whose vanity was so blown up by her extravagant praises
+of him, that, ere she wist, he, by way of an act of gallantry, and
+in a manner quite suited to the vulgarity of his character, threw
+his great coarse arms around her delicate neck, and snatched a rude
+embrace. But though it brought the colour indignantly into her face,
+she had too much cunning to resent it.
+
+When Sir Walter Stewart returned home that evening, Cochran told him
+that he could be his guest no longer, seeing that he had received
+certain communications from his Majesty, which demanded his immediate
+departure from Drummin for the court. Sir Walter was by no means much
+afflicted at this intelligence. He exerted himself, however, to do
+Cochran all manner of hospitality, and to shew him every kindness, and
+every mark of respect in his power, ere he went. He arose early next
+morning, therefore, to perform the last duties of a host to a parting
+guest, and, after Cochran and his escort were mounted, he walked by
+the side of the architect's horse, talking with him by way of civil
+convoy, for more than a mile of the road, as in those days it was the
+usual custom of all hosts to do. As they were going up a little hill
+above Drummin, called the Calton, they espied a hawk perched upon the
+very top of a tall tree. Sir Walter had a birding piece in his hand,
+with which he had been for some time wont to practise.
+
+"There is a fine fair shot for thee to try thy new-fangled weapon
+against, Sir Walter," said Cochran, pointing to the hawk; "I wager
+thee five gold pieces that thou canst not bring him down."
+
+"The distance is great," said Sir Walter, pointing his piece at the
+bird; "but I accept your wager."
+
+"He is safe," said Cochran.
+
+"No!" cried Sir Walter exultingly, after discharging his piece, the
+bullet from which brought the bird fluttering to the ground. "He's
+gone, an' he were a king!"
+
+"A good shot, truly!" said Cochran, treasuring up Sir Walter's
+careless expression for his own future use and purpose. "Marry,
+but that is a dangerous piece of thine, Sir Knight. Take good care
+how you handle it, else may it perchance do thee a mischief. But I
+will keep thee no longer trudging thus by my horse's side; so again
+I bid thee commend me to thy lady." And so saying, he rode away more
+abruptly than might have very well beseemed any man of better breeding.
+
+Cochran finished his journey to Stirling, where the King then was,
+and immediately presented himself at court. He was gratified by the
+reception he met with from James, who manifested no little joy at
+the return of his creature. But all mankind are misers, when taking
+account of the favours of the great, on whom they depend. Unmindful
+of the large ones they receive themselves, they look only with envious
+eyes on those, however small, that may be bestowed upon others. Thus it
+was with the unrighteous Haman, and thus it was with Cochran; for, all
+the kindness which the King showed to him, in this his first interview,
+became as nothing, when weighed against the eagerness which his Majesty
+manifested in his inquiries after Sir Walter Stewart. These were as
+gall and verjuice to Cochran. In vain did he try to make trifling and
+oblique insinuations against the Knight of Stradawn, his royal master
+was in no humour to listen to them at the time, and they were each of
+them in succession lost to his ear, in the eagerness with which he
+put his next question. James put question after question as to all
+the particulars of his occupation at Drummin, as well as regarding
+the progress of the work, and it was only when he had come down to
+the day of his departure, that the insidious favourite contrived to
+catch the royal attention, by relating the story of the birding-piece.
+
+"Sir Walter Stewart is undoubtedly a pretty gentleman, and of
+very various accomplishment," said Cochran, "Aye, and few know his
+qualifications better than he does himself."
+
+"He knows not his own accomplishments better than we do," replied
+the King, in rather a dissatisfied tone.
+
+"Pardon me," replied Cochran, obsequiously, "I never ventured to say
+that he was vain of them. But your Majesty's perception and judgment
+are unrivalled. Yet much as you have seen and observed of Sir Walter
+Stewart, I may venture to question, whether you have chanced to
+witness aught of his great skill and marvellous accuracy of eye in
+shooting with a birding-piece?"
+
+"A birding-piece!" exclaimed the King, "we knew not that he ever used
+any such new-fashioned tool."
+
+"He hath not used it till of late," said Cochran; "but it would seem
+that he hath lost no time in perfecting himself in the use of it,
+now that he hath taken it in hand. Your Majesty would be surprised to
+behold how expertly he can employ it. The last shot I saw him make
+with it was just as we were about to part, and it astonished me and
+all those who were in my company."
+
+"We shall ourselves see him use this strange weapon, the very first
+visit he may make to court," said the King. "But what of this famous
+shot of his?"
+
+"So please your Majesty, a sparrow-hawk sat on the very top of a
+straight upright pine tree, of immense height. He was perched there
+so proudly and confidently in his lofty position, and, as he thought,
+so safely too, that he looked down as carelessly on our cavalcade
+below as if he had been the weather-cock on the needle point of some
+lofty church-spire.--'There's a shot for you, Sir Walter,' said I,
+and I straightway offered to gage five gold unicorns that he could
+do nought against it.--'I take thy wager,' said he; and with that
+he raised his piece, and without saying a word more, he presented it
+at the over-confident bird, and, to the astonishment of all present,
+down it came tumbling.--'He's gone!' cried he."
+
+"Aye, and your gold was gone too," interrupted James, laughing
+heartily.
+
+"Nay, your Majesty, I minded not my gold," replied the wily Cochran;
+"and had but these words of his been all the speech he uttered,
+I had been well contented to have lost a larger wager."
+
+"What said he else?" demanded James.
+
+"So please your most gracious Majesty, I had rather leave the rest
+unsaid," replied Cochran, with great affectation of discretion.
+
+"Nay, but we would hear it all from thee," cried the King, impatiently.
+
+"If your most gracious Majesty commands, your faithful servant must
+obey," replied Cochran. "Yet true as mine ears are wont to be to
+their office, I could hardly believe that I heard the words which
+they then conveyed to me."
+
+"We would have thee keep us no longer in suspense," cried the
+King. "What words did Sir Walter Stewart utter?"
+
+"As the bird fell," replied Cochran, with a gravity and a seriousness
+of aspect that would have seemed to imply a heavy charge against the
+Knight of Stradawn, "As the bird fell, Sir Walter, as I have already
+signified to your Majesty, exclaimed, 'He's gone!' and then turning
+aside, he added, in a somewhat lower voice, 'He's gone!--Would he
+were the King!' So, and please your Majesty, did mine ears report
+his words."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed James, with an air of great dissatisfaction, "Ar't sure
+that he so spake? From all that thou hast seen, as well as heard at
+Drummin, it would seem to us that both thine eyes and thine ears have
+been wonderfully sharp to pick up evil against Sir Walter Stewart. Was
+it likely that he should have thus wantonly spouted forth foul treason
+in the ears of so many witnesses, some of whom it would appear were
+sufficiently willing to report to us whatever might be turned to his
+prejudice?--Go to, sir! I like not this! Those accurate ears of thine
+must have failed of their honest duty for once. Or if, for some object
+of thine own, thou hadst wilfully misinterpreted that which they did
+truly hear, we can tell thee that thou hast not hit thy mark with the
+same skill or success that Sir Walter Stewart did his. But we shall
+judge of him in person, and that right speedily, for already hath he
+received our royal command, borne to him by an especial messenger, to
+present himself at court by a certain day, in order to be present at
+the grand tournament which it is our royal will to hold, that we may
+for once essay to bring our sullen and iron-sinewed nobles around us."
+
+"I humbly crave your Majesty's most gracious pardon," said Cochran,
+much abashed, and with a cringing reverence. "Your Majesty's matchless
+wisdom hath put this matter into so clear a light, that I begin to
+believe that my doubts--I mean the strong doubts I entertained of
+it at the time--were correct, and that the words must have some how
+or other come to mine ear awry. I appeal to all the Saints, and to
+the blessed Virgin to boot, that I would rather hide than publish
+aught against any one so much in your Majesty's favour as Sir Walter
+Stewart would seem to be, especially one for whom I have, as I may say,
+so high a respect, and regard, and admiration."
+
+"We are satisfied," replied the King. "'Tis clear, that in this
+instance thine ears have deceived thee. None but one demented
+could have so spoken in such hearing; and Sir Walter Stewart is no
+madman. But we would talk no more of this. We would now confer with
+thee as to those plans at which we last looked ere thou wentest.----"
+
+"I will go seek them straightway, your most gracious Majesty," replied
+Cochran, and making more than ordinarily low and fawning obeisances,
+he gladly retired to breathe more freely, and to recover from the
+alarm of that danger which his very unwonted imprudence had brought
+upon him, and which had so nearly hurled him into the very pit which
+he had digged for another.
+
+But we must now return to Drummin.----Though the----
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD FRIEND WITH A NEW FACE.
+
+
+Grant.--Who, in the name of wonder, can that be, who knocks so loudly
+at the outer door, in this lone place, at such an hour?
+
+Serjeant.--Some belated drover, I'll warrant. What an awful night
+the poor man has had to travel in!
+
+Clifford.--If there be, as philosophers say, no happiness equal
+to that of being relieved from misery, I think that he who knocks,
+whoever he may be, is to be envied for the sudden transition he is
+about to make from all the horrors of night, rain, tempest, and bogs,
+and swollen burns, to the comforts of this room, such as they are,
+and especially to this glorious fire.
+
+Author.--What a time they are losing in letting him in!
+
+Serjeant.--I suspect they will have enough ado to get the door opened,
+without being knocked down by the blast.
+
+Author.--They have let him in at last. Whoever he may be, we must
+make room for the poor fellow at our fireside.
+
+Grant.--Certainly; I'll go and bring him in here: nay, I see I need
+not, for here he comes.
+
+Clifford.--What a figure the poor man is! He looks like a newly landed
+river-god, or like Behemoth himself, come forth from the mighty deeps.
+
+Serjeant.--Whoever he may be, his own father could not know him, were
+he to see him at this moment, with his whole clothes so bedraggled,
+and that face of his so clatched up with moss-dirt, that not a feature
+of it can be seen.
+
+Clifford.--He is like a moving peat-bog, I declare.
+
+Author.--Bless me, how the poor wretch shivers!
+
+Serjeant.--He shakes as if he had an ague-fit.
+
+Clifford.--'Tis absolutely like an earthquake shaking the globe.--Here,
+sir; pray swallow some of this warm punch--it will bring life into you.
+
+Stranger--(in a perfect palsy of cold.)--Och! it's most reveeving
+indeed, though the taste of it is just altogether poisoned with the
+moss that's in my mouth.
+
+Clifford--(with astonishment.)--Mr. Macpherson!
+
+Author.--Is it possible?
+
+Grant.--Where, in the name of all goodness, can you have dropped from,
+my worthy sir?
+
+Clifford.--Though we know not where he has dropped from, we may see
+plainly enough, from the foul streams that drop from him, that he has
+dropped himself, head over heels, into some black peat-hag. Here--get
+towels, that we may rub the dirt out of his eyes.
+
+Dominie.--Ech, sirs! give me another drop of yon comfortable stuff,
+and let me see a bit glisk of the fire.--Aye.--Hech me! I'm much the
+better of that.
+
+Clifford.--Sit down here, sir. Sit down in this chair close to the
+fire; but first take off that streaming coat of thine. It reminds me
+of some of those vast black Highland mosses, the very drainings of
+which give origin to some dozen of rivers. Now, take another pull at
+this hot stuff, and then tell us your adventures if you can.
+
+Dominie.--Oh, dear me, that is good! Why, gentlemen, my story is
+short, though my way has been long and weary enough. The fack is,
+that when I got to my brother Ewan's house, I found that he was away
+to the low country to make some bargain about the buying of a stock
+of iron, and that he was not to be home again for a fortnight. You
+may believe I was much disappointed at this intelligence, after
+the long tramp I had all the way from Caithness, to come and see
+him. But it would appear, that my letter to him must have somehow
+miscarried. Be that as it may, I had no sooner been satisfied that I
+had no chance of seeing Ewan for a time, than my heart began to yearn
+after those with whom I had so lately and so sorrowfully parted. So,
+thinks I to myself, I'll just take my foot in my hand, and after the
+gentlemen. I'll catch them at Inchrory. If the night had been good
+and clear, I should have been here good two hours ago. But on came
+the tempest; and the wind, and the rain, and the darkness together,
+so bamboozled and dumbfounded me, that, as I was fighting along with
+might and main, I fell souse over head and ears into a deep peat-pot,
+
+
+    Instabilis tellus, innabilis unda,
+
+
+out of which it is the mercy of Providence that I was at length able to
+swatter, after dooking and diving in it like a wild-duck for the better
+part of a quarter of an hour, till I was nearly drowned in clean mud.
+
+Clifford.--Clean mud, Mr. Macpherson! The mud you have been in would
+seem to me to have been anything but clean.
+
+Dominie.--True, Mr. Clifford; but I used a phrase of our vernacular,
+meaning that there was nothing else there but mud--a truth I can speak
+to by having gone faithfully throughout every corner of the big hole
+into which I fell without finding any.--Clean, truly!--such a fearsome
+sight I am!--I declare I am worse than Serjeant John Smith must have
+been, when he fell into the moss-hole about the time of the battle
+of Culloden.--Would you like to hear that story, gentlemen?
+
+Clifford.--Much, Mr. Macpherson, but not now, for several
+reasons. First, we must contrive to get you into dry clothes of some
+sort, to prevent your dying of cold or fever; secondly, you must
+have something to eat before you are permitted to talk; and thirdly,
+there is another Serjeant, one Serjeant Archy Stewart, who is at this
+moment on duty, and who was in the middle of a long story when your
+appearance interrupted him. We must have that out first; but, in my
+capacity of secretary, I shall take care to book you for producing
+your Serjeant John Smith, when his time comes in the roster.
+
+Dominie.--Eh, I'm sorry that I should have stopped the flow of my
+friend Serjeant Archy's narration.
+
+Clifford.--How could it have been otherwise, my good man? Why, what
+flow could have possibly stood against such a flow as that which now
+streams from your wet garments, Mr. Macpherson? You have already made
+a lake in the room.
+
+Dominie.--Keep me, so I have!
+
+Serjeant.--Here lassie! Bring cloths and swab up the floor.
+
+Clifford.--You had better not sit longer in that condition,
+Mr. Macpherson; come away with me up to the garret, where we are to
+sleep, and then I shall go and see what I can prevail on Mrs. Shaw
+to do for you, to rig you out.
+
+There was a waggish twinkle in Clifford's eye, as he left the room with
+Mr. Macpherson. They were not long gone, and when they did return, our
+young friend appeared leading in the Dominie, clad in a short-gown, and
+a blue flannel petticoat, both belonging to our hostess. The Scottish
+garment called the short-gown, is a sort of loose jacket, covering
+one half the person only, and when tied tight round the waist, it is
+admirably calculated to show off the mould of a handsome woman to the
+best advantage. On the present occasion, it was with some difficulty
+confined round the bulky Dominie, by a red cotton handkerchief, so
+as fully to display his shape; and as the petticoat reached but a
+little way below his knees, it exhibited the full proportions of his
+Herculean legs, enlarged as they were by a pair of the thickest grey
+worsted hose, and brogues of enormous size, accidentally left there
+by a Highland drover. Over his head was placed one of Mrs. Shaw's
+tartan shawls, which Clifford had recommended to be tied under his
+chin, as a precaution against toothache, to which he declared himself
+to be frequently a martyr. Such a woman, as the Dominie appeared to
+make, is never to be seen on the face of this earth, except in some
+exaggerated specimen of those marine, or rather amphibious animals,
+to be found on the sea-coasts of Britain, and which are called bathing
+women. We were all so much taken by surprise with his appearance,
+that to control our laughter was a matter of utter impossibility.
+
+Clifford.--Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you the great Princess
+Rustifusti.
+
+Dominie--(striding in like a Grenadier.)--Truly, gentlemen, I am
+ashamed to appear among you in this unbecoming disguise. But my worthy
+and kind friend Mr. Clifford is so careful of me--mercy on me, what
+would my boys say if they beheld me?
+
+Grant.--They would be astonished, no doubt, Mr. Macpherson. But come,
+sit down--here is something comfortable for you to eat. I am sure
+you must require food by this time.
+
+Dominie.--I must honestly confess to you that I am downright ravenous.
+
+Clifford.--Nay, now, do not disgrace the delicate feminine character
+which you are at present supporting, by eating like a masculine
+creature.
+
+Dominie.--Masculine, feminine, or neuter, I am so famished, that
+I must eat liker, I fear, unto a male wolf, than a delicate leddy,
+such as fortune has this night forced me to represent.
+
+Clifford.--Nay, then, if that be your way, I must cease to be your
+chaperon. So do you take charge of your own delicate self, and go on,
+if you must do so, to disgrace the lovely sex to which you now belong,
+by your immoderate eating and drinking, whilst I call upon Serjeant
+Archy Stewart to proceed with his narrative.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LEGEND OF CHARLEY STEWART TÀILLEAR-CRUBACH
+CONTINUED.
+
+
+Although the jealous dreamings of King James had led him rather to
+desire the absence of Sir Walter Stewart from his court, whilst the
+Knight was yet a bachelor, he was no sooner fairly married, than all
+such fancies were dissipated from the royal mind. The renewed enjoyment
+in Sir Walter's society, which the monarch had experienced, previous
+to the departure of the newly married pair for Stradawn, only served to
+render the after absence of his favourite the more insufferable, and he
+soon began to weary for the return of so accomplished a companion. Sir
+Walter had sufficient opportunity of being rendered sensible of the
+satisfactory alteration in the King's manner towards him, before
+he left the court; but, notwithstanding all this, he was in no small
+degree surprised, as well as delighted, with the arrival of the special
+messenger, who was the bearer of the royal command for him, to attend
+his Majesty at the tournament, which reached him the very day after
+Cochran had left him. Sir Walter being one of the best equestrians
+of his time, he was naturally extremely fond of horses. His great
+passion was to possess himself of the most beautiful steeds that could
+possibly be procured, and he spared neither pains nor expense in the
+gratification of this knight-like fancy. Some time before the period we
+are now speaking of, he chanced to have acquired some piebald horses,
+which were of a white colour, marked in a very extraordinary manner
+with large patches of a sort of bluish tinge. This circumstance led
+him to indulge the whim of collecting more of the same description,
+and having, from time to time, procured individual animals, from all
+quarters, and a considerable addition to their numbers having recently
+arrived, he now at length found himself enabled to mount a large troop
+of his attendants on creatures of a similar description, and of the
+most exquisite symmetry of form. Prepared as he thus happened to be,
+the news of the tournament gave him particular gratification. His
+heart exulted, and his mind was all agog, at the prospect of such an
+opportunity of making so marvellous a display, before a more numerous,
+as well as more experienced, collection of eyes, than his own glens
+could afford him. Accordingly, he began to busy himself, without loss
+of time, in making those arrangements, which were necessary to enable
+him to appear with that degree of splendour, which he always wished to
+exhibit on such occasions. Mr. Jonathan Junkins, and all the tailors
+for many miles round, were put in requisition to make rich housings,
+and footmantles of scarlet cloth for the saddles, and everything
+else was got up in a proportionable style of splendour. But let us
+not imagine that this, his so minute attention to such fopperies,
+should lower Sir Walter Stewart in our opinion, for we must remember,
+that all such trifles, being integral parts of chivalry, assumed the
+greatest importance in the eyes of every knight. For many reasons,
+Sir Walter Stewart felt no great desire to take his wife with him to
+court, but he could find no good plea for leaving her behind. Amongst
+other preparations, therefore, the lady's horse litter required to
+be new furbished up, seeing that she was now in a condition that
+made riding somewhat dangerous; but so great was the expedition used
+by all hands, that by the day previous to that fixed for departure,
+all the horses were duly trained, and all their equipments, as well
+as those for the men-at-arms, and all other things necessary for his
+expedition, were in the highest order.
+
+Sir Walter Stewart retired to rest that night with the intention
+of being up with the earliest dawn, that he might himself see that
+nothing had been forgotten. Upon reaching his lady's apartment,
+he found no one with her but her page, English Tomkins, as he was
+familiarly called. This was a boy of great beauty of countenance,
+and of an intelligence of eye very superior to that which his years
+might have promised. He had followed the lady from England, and he
+was so strongly attached to his mistress, that, if he was at all deep
+in her confidence, he had prudence enough to keep all that he knew,
+strictly secret from every one with whom his situation brought him
+into contact. To all, except to her, he was reserved and distant,
+to an extent much beyond that, which might have been looked for
+from the natural carelessness and ingenuousness of youth, and even
+the good-humoured freedom which Sir Walter used with him, was never
+successful in breaking through the parchment case in which he seemed
+to wrap himself up. He was a most impenetrable youth, and no long
+time elapsed after the Knight's marriage, before Sir Walter began
+to look upon the boy with a certain jealousy, and dislike, which he
+could neither account for nor overcome.
+
+"Do it thine own way," said the lady to him with so great earnestness
+in her communication with him, that she perceived not Sir Walter's
+entrance. "Do it thine own way, I tell thee, boy; but see that it
+be done, and that surely, and secretly too--for I could have no will
+to leave Drummin, and no heart to enjoy the pleasures of the Court,
+unless I knew that this was done ere I went."
+
+"What may this be, upon which so much of thy happiness
+depends?" demanded Sir Walter Stewart, advancing.
+
+"Holy Virgin, what a start you gave me!" cried the lady; "such puerile
+tricks are hardly worthy of thee."
+
+"What tricks?" asked the Knight, with utter simplicity.
+
+"Such boyish tricks, I tell thee," said the lady, smoothing her
+angry countenance, and throwing over it a playful smile, and at the
+same time gently tapping his cheek, as if in the most perfect good
+humour. "I mean such boyish tricks as that which thou hast now used,
+by stealing thus to my chamber, and secreting thyself, that thou
+mightest startle me for thine idle amusement."
+
+"Credit me, I am no such idle boy as thou wouldst suppose," said Sir
+Walter, gravely; "I have been guilty of no such silly conduct. I came,
+as I am ever wont to do, without either the intent or the thought
+of surprising thee. Nay, I knew not that I had done so, until thou
+didst utter that scream of surprise."
+
+"Well, well, I believe thee," said the lady; "and if thou hadst
+stolen upon my privacy, thou couldst have gained nothing that would
+have amounted to treason, seeing that I was but cautioning Tomkins
+here, as to how he should execute a small deed of charity for me,
+ere we go to-morrow, which I could ill brook the neglect of. Now,
+boy, thou may'st go," continued the lady; "And see that thou doest
+my bidding to the very letter."
+
+"Your commands shall be strictly obeyed, lady," said the boy, bowing
+as he retired.
+
+The apartment in which the Knight and his lady slept had a window
+in it which looked down the vale, formed by the combined waters of
+the Aven and the Livat. A faint but glowing red light shot through
+this window towards morning, and falling upon Sir Walter Stewart's
+eyes, gradually unsealed their lids from the deep sleep in which
+they were closed. He started up at this appearance of approaching
+sunrise--hurried on his clothes, and hastened down stairs to the
+court-yard. There he found the men-at-arms, who had the watch, all
+at their posts; but none of the grooms, or the others whom he had
+expected to have found already busied with their preparations, were as
+yet astir. Having expressed his surprise at their laziness, he learned
+from those on guard, that it yet wanted two good hours of day. Being
+unwilling to retire again to his chamber, he walked forth beyond the
+walls, to the terrace on which the castle stands; and he had no sooner
+got there, than the cause of this his premature disturbance was made
+sufficiently manifest to him, for his eyes were immediately caught,
+and his attention fearfully arrested, by a column of fire that shot
+up from the cottage of Alice Asher, and inflamed the very clouds above.
+
+Giving one loud shout of alarm to the people within the castle walls,
+he staid not for them, but rushed franticly down the green slope,
+and crossing a rustic foot-bridge that spanned the river Livat,
+immediately under the fortalice, he flew towards the wooded hill,
+too accurately guided through the obscurity of the night, by the
+conflagration, the light from which blazed in his eyes. But whilst it
+thus served to direct him towards its object, it had also the effect
+of dazzling his vision; so that, in the furious precipitation of his
+speed, he ran against some living being that was coming hurriedly
+in the opposite direction. Whatever it might be, his force was so
+tremendous, that he drove it aside from the path, like a ball from
+a bat, and then rolling forwards on the ground himself, and over and
+over, he lay for some moments senseless upon the grass. But, having
+soon afterwards recovered himself, he sprang again to his legs, and,
+his whole thoughts being absorbed at the moment by his agonizing
+anxiety for Alice Asher's safety, he stopped not to enquire what had
+become of the individual who had produced his accident, but rushed
+on again towards the burning house, on which he still kept his eyes
+fixed. Long ere he gained the foot of the hill on which it stood,
+a momentary depression of the flame, followed by an equally sudden
+and very great increase of it, told him that the roof had fallen in,
+and that, if the inmates had not already fled for safety, they must
+now be beyond all reach of assistance. Yet still he paused not; but,
+doubling his speed, he rushed breathless up through the wood on the
+side of the hill, and at length arrived at the cottage.
+
+What a sad spectacle did it now present! The walls alone were
+standing, like a huge grate, in which the inflammable materials of the
+heather-thatched roof, and the furniture, and interior wood-work, were
+rapidly consuming. The roses and woodbines that crept over the walls,
+or trailed in rude luxuriance over the porch, were now shrivelled
+up and scorched by the intense heat within, nay, even the shrubs and
+flowers that grew around, were dried up and killed by it.
+
+"Oh, Holy Virgin Mother, she is gone! she is gone!" cried Sir Walter,
+giving way to a paroxysm of grief.
+
+And now people came running together from the nearest cottages. Eagerly
+did he enquire of all he met for some information, regarding Alice
+Asher; but no one could tell him aught of her. The men from the Castle
+came crowding up the hill, bearing buckets of water. These were now
+useless. But still Sir Walter called on those who carried them to
+exert themselves, and, urged by his commands, they ran to and from
+a neighbouring pool, bearing water, and pouring it over the sinking
+flames, till they were finally extinguished, at least so far, that
+they were enabled to rake amid the red-hot embers with long poles,
+without danger to themselves. With what torturing anxiety did Sir
+Walter Stewart stand, in the hope that no human remains would be found,
+by which circumstance he expected to satisfy himself that Alice Asher
+had escaped. But, alas! they had not searched far, when they found
+a body, or rather a half-consumed skeleton, in so fearful a state of
+mutilation, that although its size left no doubt that it was that of
+a woman, it was quite impossible to guess at the person. Sir Walter
+was frantic. But still hope lingered within his bosom. Alice had a
+servant maid in the house. This skeleton was nearer, as he thought,
+to the size of the woman, than to that of the mistress. Besides,
+these remains were found in a part of the house which this attendant
+inhabited. No doubt was left that they were hers; and Sir Walter's
+heart expanded with the temporary relief which it experienced.
+
+But the search went on. And now Sir Walter Stewart's heart again
+fluttered betwixt torturing hope and fear,--till,--oh, wretched
+and bitterly afflicting sight! in that part of the cottage which
+Alice Asher more particularly occupied, another half-consumed body
+was found. This was also that of a woman; and, as it corresponded
+accurately to the size of her about whose fate he was so unhappily
+interested, every spark of hope was at once extinguished within
+him. His brain whirled in strange and bewildering confusion. He
+gasped for breath, and seemed to swallow down liquid fire; all
+consciousness left him for a time; and he sank down on an adjacent
+bank in a temporary fainting fit.
+
+I shall not attempt to describe the flood of strong and resistless
+feeling to which Sir Walter Stewart, resolute as he might be, was
+compelled to give way, when his senses fully returned to him. Those who
+were around him respected them in silence. The sun soon afterwards
+arose upon the melancholy scene; and then it was that the brave
+Knight's countenance was observed by all, to bear powerfully-written
+testimony of the deep grief that had been at work upon it. Making a
+strong and manly effort to subdue his affliction, he gave orders to
+his people to see that the remains, now so revolting to look upon,
+should be properly attended to; and, despatching a confidential person
+to the priest who had acted as father-confessor to Alice Asher, he
+besought him to do all that might be requisite to ensure that the
+last sad duties should be decently and reverentially paid, and every
+religious rite duly performed to her, whose life of contrition, and
+penitence, for a sin which he felt to have been his alone, had so
+fair a prospect of reconciling her to her Maker. And, having made
+these arrangements, he slowly and silently, and with a sorrowful,
+heavy, and lacerated heart, bent his steps back to Drummin.
+
+When Sir Walter Stewart, and those who were with him, had reached
+the place where he had been so unaccountably thrown down, he was
+surprised to see a human figure lying a few yards off the footpath,
+with the head and shoulders crammed into a thicket. On approaching
+it, the dress at once informed him that it was his lady's page,
+English Tomkins. Having ordered some of his people to pull him forth
+from the bushes in which he was half hid, and to raise him up, he
+was discovered to be quite dead;--and his death was at once seen to
+have been occasioned, by his head having come against the thick and
+knotty trunk of an oak, which grew up from amidst the black thorns
+and honeysuckles, so that his skull had been dreadfully fractured,
+and instant extermination of life had ensued.
+
+"Jesus have mercy on me!" cried Sir Walter, with great feeling. "I have
+been the innocent cause of this poor boy's death, by running against
+him in the dark;" and having said so, he proceeded to explain to his
+people the circumstances which had produced and attended the accident.
+
+"Methinks he hardly merits to be much wailed for, Sir Knight, unless
+thou canst say that these strange articles can have been innocently
+carried by him," said one of the attendants, pulling, at the same
+time, from the bosom of the corpse, a small bundle of matches, and a
+tinder-box, with a flint and steel.--"Marry, these would seem to say,
+that he had been better employed had he been in his bed."
+
+"What do I see?" cried Sir Walter Stewart, filled with horror, and
+greatly agitated.--"What! was it murder then?--murder of the most
+horrible description? Oh, holy Mother of God, can there be such
+villainy upon earth?"
+
+"What shall we do with this wretched carcass?" demanded one of
+the people.
+
+"Oh, most unlucky accident!" cried Sir Walter, without heeding
+him.--"Would that I had but caught him in life! But, alas! strong as
+suspicion is against him, his secret has died with him! We cannot now
+wrench forth the truth from him either by spring or by screw. He is
+gone to his account, before that Judge, at whose tribunal all secrets
+must appear. Yet, bear him along with you, and see that you take
+especial care to preserve those dumb instances of his hellish art,
+till I may require thee to produce them."
+
+Sir Walter Stewart now left his people to carry the body at their
+own leisure, and shot away ahead of them, at a pace so furious, as to
+correspond with the violence of those various stormy feelings which
+then agitated him. On reaching Drummin, he hurried directly to his
+lady's chamber, where he found her putting the last finish to her
+travelling dress.
+
+"Madam!" said he to her bower-woman, in a voice which sufficiently
+betrayed the disturbed state of his mind; "my lady will dispense with
+thine attendance for a brief space--we would be private."
+
+"What strange conduct is this, Sir Walter?" demanded the lady after
+her attendant was gone, whilst her voice and manner might have led
+any one to believe, that she too was not altogether well at ease. "Why
+shouldst thou have thus sent Jane so rudely forth, when she hath yet
+so much to pack and to prepare?"
+
+"Because I would fain have some private converse with thee, lady," said
+the Knight solemnly.--"Dost thou usually send forth thy page Tomkins
+on errands of charity so very early as several hours before sunrise?"
+
+"No!--No!" replied the lady in a voice of hesitation. "Such are not
+indeed,--no, they are not his usual hours to be sent on such errands;
+but--but--the boy had some distance to go. And then--and--and--and
+then he hath so much to do ere we depart, that--that--But I wonder
+much that he is not returning by this time!"
+
+"He is returning now!" said Sir Walter, looking hard and somewhat
+sternly at her.--"But canst thou tell me what he did with a tinder-box,
+flint, and steel, and matches, concealed in his bosom?"
+
+"Flint--flint--flint and steel saidst thou?" cried the lady,
+considerably agitated. "How can I say aught about it? Boys are ever
+full of tricks, and so, I doubt not, is Tomkins. But what hath he
+told thee himself? Didst thou not question him?"
+
+"As yet he hath told us nothing," replied the Knight, ambiguously.
+
+"Then all is yet right!" cried the lady, from an energetic impulse
+of satisfaction, which she could not control.
+
+"What is right?" demanded Sir Walter, sternly.
+
+"I would say that--that--that if the boy hath confessed no evil, then
+'tis most likely that no evil hath been done."
+
+"Yea," replied Sir Walter, gravely, and with deep feeling, "but the
+direst evil hath been done--a deed which is hardly to be matched
+in cruelty--the firing of the house, and the burning to death of an
+innocent lady and her woman!"
+
+"An innocent lady!" exclaimed his wife, again forgetting herself for
+a moment. "But thou canst not suspect this boy of having done so foul
+a deed?"
+
+"Most strongly do I suspect him," replied Sir Walter.
+
+"Nay, nay, 'tis impossible," said the lady. "What could prompt him
+to so horrible an act?"
+
+"What could prompt him!" exclaimed Sir Walter, "nothing, methinks, in
+his own bosom; but canst thou not guess who could have prompted him?"
+
+"Nay, nay, how could I guess?" said the lady, in great trepidation.
+
+"Lady!" said Sir Walter, with great solemnity, after having seated
+her in one chair, and drawn one for himself close to her, where he
+sat for some moments looking steadily into her pallid and agitated
+countenance. "Lady! are these the charitable errands on which thou
+art wont to send this boy?"
+
+"What mean ye, Sir Walter?" demanded the lady, in a state of trembling
+and alarm which she could not conceal. "The boy hath not basely
+accused me of aught."
+
+"Sir Walter, your pardon!" said Jane, the lady's bower woman, bursting
+at that moment most inopportunely into the room, "Ronald would fain
+know what you would have done with the corpse of poor Tomkins?"
+
+"The corpse of Tomkins!" cried the lady, starting up, and clapping her
+hands together, in an ecstacy of joy, which she could not hide. "Then
+the boy is no longer alive!"
+
+"He was found dead, it seems, my lady," said the maid, "and his corpse
+hath this moment been brought in by Ronald and the rest. 'Tis fearsome
+to look upon him. He hath got a deadly contusion and gash on his head."
+
+"Alas, poor boy!" cried the lady, wiping her dry eyes with her pocket
+handkerchief, and mustering up all the symptoms of sorrow she could
+command. "Who can have murdered him? I shall never again meet with
+so faithful a page!"
+
+"Faithful, indeed, madam," said Sir Walter, after showing the maid
+again out of the room, "faithful, indeed, readily to execute those
+most wicked and murderous orders with which thou didst charge him."
+
+"Nay, nay, this is too much, Sir Walter," replied the lady, now
+gaining full boldness and command of herself, from having been thus
+unexpectedly certified that her page was dead, and that he could now
+tell no tales; "how canst thou dare to insinuate any thing against me?"
+
+"Madam," said Sir Walter, in a hollow tone, and with considerable
+agitation of manner, "would it were so that thou couldst with truth
+speak thus boldly. But, alas! the words I heard thee utter last night
+to the page--the horrible catastrophe of this morning--the place
+where it pleased Providence that he should meet with his accidental
+death--the direction in which he was running when he received it,
+and the implements of destruction which were found in his bosom,
+can leave no rational doubt in my mind as to the person who conceived
+and directed this most cruel tragedy; and though evidence may be yet
+lacking to bring the crime fully home to thee, yet, convinced and
+satisfied as I am of the justice of this charge against thee, I can
+no longer suffer the head of so foul a murderess to rest upon this
+bosom. I leave thee to the stings of thine own conscience, and to that
+repentance which they may produce, believing that God, in his own good
+time, will make the truth appear, so that thou mayst be made to expiate
+thy guilt," and so saying, Sir Walter Stewart left the apartment.
+
+"Leave me to my conscience!" cried the lady, with a laugh of derision,
+after the door was closed, "my conscience will sit easy enough within
+me, I trow, since my good fortune hath thus got me so innocently rid
+of mine instrument, after he had so well worked my will."
+
+Sir Walter's heart was torn by a thousand afflictions. He felt that he
+would be better any where else than at Drummin. Having now no reliance
+in the fidelity of his wife, he resolved to leave her behind him,
+and having hastily packed up the important charters of his lands,
+and some other valuables, he added them to his other baggage. The time
+now left was just sufficient to enable him to obey the King's command,
+to present himself before him on a certain day. His people were all
+waiting in readiness in the court-yard. Without more thought he flung
+himself into the saddle, with a bleeding heart. He was distracted by
+his feelings, but giving the word "forward!" he dashed through the
+gateway at a furious pace, and his troop of men-at-arms and attendants
+went thundering after him.
+
+Sir Walter Stewart was received in the kindest manner by both the King
+and Queen. He was earnestly asked, especially by James, why he had
+not brought his lady with him. As he could not tell the whole truth,
+without making a deadly accusation against her, which he had no means
+of proving, he was compelled to say that he had left her somewhat
+indisposed, an answer that produced some good humoured raillery
+from James, delivered in his wonted familiar manner, and left him,
+for the time at least, sufficiently well satisfied.
+
+The tournament took place in that beautiful tilting-ground, in the
+rocky valley, close under the south-eastern side of the crag upon
+which Stirling Castle stands, and which is still pointed out by the
+citizens of the ancient town, as the place which was so used in those
+old times. Though few or none of the discontented nobles appeared,
+it was yet a very glorious spectacle. The singularity and grandeur of
+Sir Walter Stewart's retinue, and their whole appearance, mounted as
+they were upon the piebald horses, so richly caparisoned, presented
+by far the finest feature of the royal procession, and swallowed up
+every other theme of conversation. He was now perhaps the only one
+to whom it gave but little pleasure, heavy as his heart then was.
+
+"We would know from our Queen, who, in her mind, was the prettiest
+gentleman that appeared at the show to-day," said the King, after
+all was over, and that he was in private with her.
+
+"How can your Majesty hesitate one moment in coming to a judgment
+upon so plain and palpable a question?" demanded the Queen, with great
+animation. "The ornament of the procession and pageant was undoubtedly
+Sir Walter Stewart. Who was there who came within an hundred degrees of
+him? The number of his attendants--the beauty of the animals on which
+they were mounted--creatures that would seem to have been conjured
+forth out of the land of faery itself--creatures that moved as if
+formed out of the rarer elements of nature--and then the splendour
+of their housings--and, above all, the rich and tasteful dress of
+the handsome and elegant owner of so much bravery, who is so full of
+grace and skill in the management of his steed, that he bore off the
+applause of all eyes and the love of all hearts! But what moves you,
+my sovereign Lord? Methinks that something hath displeased you?"
+
+"Your praises of Sir Walter Stewart would seem to us to be something
+extravagant," said the King, considerably disturbed. "Was there no one
+else there who might have demanded a like portion of your approbation?"
+
+"If your Majesty would have an honest answer from me, I must reply,--no
+one," said the Queen. "Even the gorgeous and glittering retinue
+of Cochran, the budding Earl of Mar, who takes upon him as if your
+Majesty had already dubbed him by that title, was but as gilded clay
+compared to the well conceived arrangements of the accomplished Sir
+Walter Stewart, who outshone all others."
+
+"All others saidst thou, Margaret? Didst thou not think that we
+ourselves were of as fair a presence and appearance as thy minion Sir
+Walter Stewart?" demanded the King, with a pettish and perturbed air
+and manner.
+
+"Nay, my liege Lord," replied the Queen, very much distressed to
+discover that she had thus so innocently offended her husband. "In
+speaking thus of Sir Walter Stewart, I never dreamed of bringing
+your royal person, or your royal retinue, into comparison with those
+of any subject, even with those of Sir Walter Stewart himself,
+whose individual splendour, was but as a part of that glorious
+magnificence which was all thine own. Do me not the injustice to
+judge me so harshly, or so hardly. Could you for one moment suppose
+that I could compare Sir Walter Stewart to thee, my royal liege
+and husband? Believe me, that although Sir Walter Stewart is much
+esteemed by me for his numerous merits, yet he is no minion of mine,
+and it were equally cruel and unjust in any one to call him so."
+
+"'Tis at least well to hear thee say so," replied the King, in a sort
+of half satisfied tone,--and then turning coldly away, he left the
+apartment, with such an air and manner, that Queen Margaret burst
+into tears, which it required some thinking and reasoning within
+herself to enable her to dry up.
+
+Now it was that the facile mind of King James, became prepared to
+imbibe all the villainies which the designing Cochran could pour into
+it. Nay, his Majesty became the voluntary and the willing victim of
+them. He sent for Cochran, made him recapitulate all the particulars
+of the story of the hawk, shot with the birding-piece, together with
+that expression of Sir Walter's which he had formerly so repudiated,
+but which he now listened to and received as most true and convincing;
+and the royal ears being thus so unexpectedly open to him, Cochran
+now scrupled not to tell the King, that, to his certain knowledge,
+Sir Walter was faithless to his wife. To this story James listened with
+anxious attention and interest. He remembered the strange combination
+of Venus with the other planets, and he shuddered at the recollection,
+as he put it beside his Queen's declared approbation of Sir Walter
+Stewart. His Majesty's manner towards the Knight became again estranged
+and cold, and his treatment of him unkind; and this being quickly
+observed by those sordid and selfish wretches, who, with the sagacity
+of the sharks that follow a diseased ship, or the rats that leave
+one that is no longer sea-worthy, are ever ready to watch and catch
+at such signs of a courtier's decaying influence, a regular bond of
+union was formed against him by all but Sir William Rogers, who could
+by no means be brought to see that he could benefit his niece by the
+ruin of her husband. This plot went on, for some considerable time,
+without producing the slightest suspicion on the part of Sir Walter
+Stewart, though he could not fail to be sufficiently sensible of the
+King's alienation from him.
+
+He was sitting one night alone in his lodgings, when one, in the habit
+of a serving-man, was announced to him, as craving for a private
+audience of him, that he might deliver a particular message to him
+from a gentleman of the court. Having ordered him to be admitted, he
+was surprised to see enter a person who appeared to be a stranger to
+him, with a light handsome figure, but having a nose of most unnatural
+length, hugeness, and redness. He examined him narrowly, yet he still
+remained satisfied that he had never seen any such person before;
+but they were no sooner left alone, than the stranger began to speak,
+and Sir Walter recognised him immediately.
+
+"Trust me, Stewart, it is not without some personal risk that I have
+thus adventured to hold communication with thee," said the stranger.
+
+"Ramsay!" exclaimed Sir Walter Stewart, in amazement. "In such
+a disguise as this, I should never have discovered thee, but for
+thy voice."
+
+"Then must I take care to keep that under," said Ramsay, in a half
+whisper. "But time is precious. Thy life is sought for! To-morrow,
+nay, even an hour hence, all attempt to escape may be unavailing,
+and I, even I, may suffer for this my attempt to save a friend."
+
+"I well know the danger that attends such a duty," said Sir Walter,
+"and I would not for worlds that thou shouldst incur it."
+
+"Aye, there thou hast said it," replied Ramsay. "I know well enough
+what thou wouldst hint at,--thy service to Albany! Nay, start not! Thy
+secret will never be the worse for me. But, nevertheless, that is
+one of the suspicions that is harboured against thee."
+
+"Suspicions!" exclaimed Sir Walter, "What suspicions?"
+
+"In the first place, the King hath taken up a jealousy against thee
+regarding the Queen," replied Ramsay. "Then some strange story hath
+reached his ears from Cochran, who, by the way, hath been this day
+created Earl of Mar, regarding some treasonable words thou didst drop
+in his hearing in the shooting of a hawk with a birding-piece. Besides
+this, Torfefan, the master of fence, hath said, that thou didst
+once step in to save the Earl of Huntly from his just vengeance,
+for speaking treasonably of the King and his courtiers; whence it
+is argued, that thou art in secret league with the discontented
+nobles. This is corroborated by that rascal, Hommil, the tailor,
+who says he was with Torfefan at the time. To this accusation,
+touching thy consorting with the nobles, Andrew, the Astrologer,
+bears his support, for he says that he one night found thee and the
+Earl in deep conference, alone in the hostel. And, finally, as I have
+already hinted, thou art, somehow or other, shrewdly suspected of
+having aided in, if not contrived the escape of the Duke of Albany
+from Edinburgh Castle. But besides all this, Sir William Rogers, who
+hath been long thy friend, hath at last gone over to those who are
+malecontent with thee, because he hath had letters from his niece,
+complaining that she had been disgracefully and cruelly treated by
+thee, and that, too, but a few days before she gave birth to thy son
+and heir; and that, in consequence of this thine evil treatment of her,
+she hath applied for divorce from thee. But what is all this, and why
+should I waste time in such a recapitulation of forgeries? Thy life,
+my dear Stewart, is sought for! Ere to-morrow's dawn thou wilt be a
+prisoner, and how soon afterwards thou mayest be numbered with the
+dead, the fate of the last Mar may teach thee. Fly then, my dear
+friend, for thy life! I dare not tarry here longer. Get into thy
+saddle with all manner of haste, and see that thou sparest not thy
+spurs! And so God give thee good speed till we meet in better times."
+
+Ramsay gave him a warm embrace, and then hurried out of the room and
+the house. And Sir Walter Stewart, after packing up his writings
+and other valuables, cautiously and quietly summoned his people,
+and, getting into their saddles, they rode slowly out of the gate
+of the town, and across the ancient bridge over the river Forth,
+the guards readily believing them when they said they were bound on
+the King's business. But they no sooner found themselves on the wide
+and flat carse-lands to the north of the river Forth, than they made
+the hoofs of their steeds thunder across them with the rapid sweep
+of a whirlwind. Nor was this more than necessary either, for the
+distant shouts of people, and the trampling of horses in pursuit,
+were heard behind them. But the darkness of that night enabled them to
+throw them off, and, by forced journies, they in a few days reached
+Huntly Castle, where they were joyfully and hospitably received by
+Sir Walter's friend the Earl. Although the people who pursued them
+very soon returned without success, they were enabled to carry back
+certain information as to Sir Walter Stewart's place of retreat;
+and this was no sooner known, than the newly made Earl of Mar, armed
+with the Royal authority, dispatched an especial messenger, upon a
+fleet horse, to go directly to Drummin, as the bearer of certain royal
+letters to the Lady of Stradawn, together with a private communication
+from himself, which was conceived in these terms:--
+
+
+    "To the Lady Juliet Manvers, once called the Lady Stradawn, these,
+    with speed.
+
+    "Most beauteous Lady, and my soul's idol! Thou wilt herewith
+    receive the dispensation of his Holiness Pope Sixtus the Fourth,
+    annulling thy marriage with that traitor, Sir Walter Stewart of
+    Stradawn, so that thou mayest now look forward to be speedily
+    raised to the high title and dignity of Countess of Mar, as
+    well as to those yet more elevated honours, to which the growing
+    edifice of my fortunes may yet uplift thee. But enough of this
+    for the present. All will depend on thine own brave and steady
+    deportment. Thou hast herewith sent thee, moreover, the King's
+    royal letters, strictly enjoining thee to defend the Castle of
+    Drummin against all comers, and to hold it for his sovereign
+    Majesty; and, above all, on no account to admit the traitor, Sir
+    Walter Stewart, within its walls; the which, seeing that I built
+    and repaired them, I full well know, are stout enough to resist
+    any engine which he or others may be able to bring against them,
+    when defended by so bold a heart as thine. To aid thee in this,
+    and to enable thee to control the rebellious vassals of the Strath,
+    a picked body of men are already on their march, and will be with
+    thee in a very few days after these presents come to thy hand. So
+    use thine authority like one who is destined to the great honours
+    that await thee, and thus show thyself worthy of him who is the
+    architect of thy fortunes,--who is thy devoted adorer and slave,
+    the deeply love-stricken
+
+        "Mar."
+
+
+Of all this the gallant Sir Walter knew nothing, save that the
+proclamation of his being declared traitor, and the public annunciation
+of the dissolution of his marriage had been so generally diffused,
+that they came to him through the thousand mouths of common fame.
+
+It was this last piece of intelligence, that made him gather up
+his strength, from that dejection to which he had for sometime been
+disposed to yield. The very thought that his alliance with this now
+detested woman, was thus severed and annihilated for ever, gave him
+new life. But, alas! the recollection that she to whose wrongs, to
+whose sorrows, and to whose penitence, he would now have wished to
+have held out the right hand of consolation, was now no longer in life
+to receive it, gave him fresh pangs of grief and despondency. He was
+resolved, however, to proceed to dispossess the murderess from the
+hearth of his fathers, and to take possession of his own fortress,
+in defiance of the King's proclamation, being well aware that the same
+stout hands, and sharp claymores, in Stradawn, which had ever proved
+so faithful to him, would still enable him, if once in possession of
+his little place of strength, to laugh at all the King's heralds and
+parchments throughout broad Scotland.
+
+It was after a long and tedious march, that Sir Walter Stewart
+and his followers were seen winding up the valley of the Aven, one
+beautiful afternoon. The shouts of the thinly scattered population,
+rang through the woods from cottage to cottage, as the news spread
+that their own knight and chieftain was returning. All turned out,
+and crowded after him, to welcome himself, to talk with their
+friends in the ranks of his retinue, and to glut their eyes with
+the splendid pageant presented to them by his gallant array, and his
+richly caparisoned piebald horses. The castle arose before them upon
+its level and elevated green terrace, and his troop was moving slowly
+forward to ford the river Livat, where it runs in a broad and shallow
+stream, along the base of the promontory on which the fortress stands,
+when they, and especially their horses, were suddenly startled by
+the loud roar of a falconet, fired from the walls, the echo from
+which ran thundering along the faces of the neighbouring mountains,
+whilst the bullet discharged from it whistled over their heads, and
+went crashing through the boughs of a great tree behind them. A small
+plump of spears appeared immediately afterwards without the walls, and
+ranged themselves along the edge of the terrace above. But although
+somewhat surprised by these warlike and hostile demonstrations,
+Sir Walter moved boldly onwards to the river side.
+
+"Whosoever thou beest, thou hast already had one warning," cried a loud
+and hoarse voice from amid the spearmen on the terrace. "I bid thee
+beware of a second, till we know something of thee and of thy folk."
+
+"We would hold parley," replied the Knight. "Friends, ye know not
+whom ye war against. Is Sir Walter Stewart to be held as an enemy
+before his own Castle of Drummin?"
+
+"We know naught of Sir Walter," shouted the other. "We know not Sir
+Walter Stewart, nay, nor any other Stewart, save our liege lord and
+master, James Stewart, the third of that name, King of Scotland,
+in whose name we bid thee be warned and keep off."
+
+"Who is he who so rudely challenges the Castle of Drummin?" exclaimed
+a shrill woman's voice from the walls. "If any one would have peaceful
+speech of us, let him advance with a moderate escort till he comes
+within earshot."
+
+"By'r Lady, I would have thee beware, Sir Knight," said Ronald,
+the especial esquire of Sir Walter's body. "If thou art bold enough
+to go nearer, thou mayest come within something more than earshot. I
+will advance and hold parley with them, and I shall be safe enow too,
+for they will see that they can make nothing by any deed of traitorie
+done against such an one as me."
+
+"No, no, Ronald; I will take my chance," said Sir Walter in a
+melancholy tone. "My life is now but of little value to me. Let you
+and one more go with me, and let the rest stand fast here till we
+return to them."
+
+Sir Walter Stewart and his two attendants now separated from their
+party--forded the river, and rode their horses up the steep diagonal
+path that led up to the terrace on the promontory, whilst the plump of
+spearmen were called in, and the gates closed. On the outer wall of
+the barbican stood the lady of Stradawn, with her baby in her arms,
+and surrounded by a group of faces which were altogether strange to
+the Knight, or those who were with him.
+
+"How comes it, lady, that I, Sir Walter Stewart, the rightful owner of
+this castle of Drummin, should be thus delayed in entering within mine
+own walls?" demanded the Knight. "Give orders that instant entrance
+may be yielded to me and mine, that there may be no unseemly warring
+and blood between those who, if no longer one flesh, were at least
+once so united by the holy church."
+
+"I no longer know Sir Walter Stewart!" cried the lady, in a lofty and
+imperious tone and manner. "I had indeed once the misfortune to be
+linked to him, of which union behold the sad fruits in this wretched
+babe! But my duty to my Sovereign, as well as my duty to the Earl of
+Mar, who is soon to be my husband, requires that I should now know
+him no longer, save as a traitor to his King, as well as a traitor
+to me--alike disloyal to both. Begone, then! This fortalice is now
+held by me for James Third, King of Scotland, and entrance herein
+thou shalt never have, whilst I live to bar thee out."
+
+"Lady, thou art bold," replied Sir Walter, coolly, "but remember,
+that stoutly garrisoned and well provisioned as thou doubtless art,
+we can soon raise willing hearts and hands enew in Stradawn, to force
+thee to a speedy surrender."
+
+"Thou shalt do so then at the price of the murder of this thy
+child!" exclaimed the lady, lifting up the poor little innocent on
+high. "If but a single arrow be discharged against us, the tender flesh
+of this thy babe shall be the clout that shall receive it--and if but
+one burning brand be thrown, this shall be the very first food given
+to the conflagration. It is thy child. I hate it as being thine. No
+mother's feelings, therefore, shall hinder me from using its little
+body as the bulwark of our safety, and as the rampart of our security!"
+
+"Fiend that thou art!" cried Sir Walter. "Let not harm fall on the
+innocent babe of thy womb! Give me but my child, and I shall retire
+and leave thee scaithless, and to such peace as thy guilty soul may
+command. Oh, harm not the babe, but let me clasp it in these arms!"
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! a pretty nurse thou wouldst have me provide for the
+urchin!" cried the lady, bitterly. "No, no, its body is our most potent
+shield, I tell thee, and thou shalt never win in here, till thou hast
+opened thy bloody way through the portal of its little heart. Shoot,
+if thou wilt, then, for this shall be thy mark."
+
+"Oh, fiend! Oh, demon, in woman's shape!" cried Sir Walter, in
+anguish. "How was I ever inveigled into thy toils! Terribly, indeed,
+am I punished for the sins of my youth! But thou wilt yet meet with
+thy reward! Fiend that thou art, I say thou shalt----"
+
+"Nay, then, thou shalt have thy reward, and that straightway!" cried
+the lady, interrupting him. "Shoot, archers! let him have his reward,
+promptly and powerfully delivered from your well-strung bows!--Shoot,
+I say, archers!"
+
+A flight of arrows instantly came whizzing about them. Several of
+these rang upon their mail-shirts, others slightly wounded their
+horses, but one found its way through a faulty link, to the very
+heart of Sir Walter Stewart's second attendant, who fell lifeless
+from his horse. Again came the arrows thick upon them, their barbed
+points prying about them, as it were, like wasps, as if in search
+of any weaker part or interval, through which they might most easily
+and certainly sting them to death. There was no time to be lost. The
+faithful Ronald seized Sir Walter Stewart's rein, and urging on the
+Knight's horse and his own at full speed, he gallopped straight off
+along the terrace, and so he succeeded in placing his master entirely
+beyond all hazard, ere yet the bewilderment of his keen and poignant
+feelings permitted him very well to know what had befallen him. And
+then, leading his horse in a slanting direction, down the steep
+and grassy slope, and across the river, they joined their party,
+and drew off under several ineffectual discharges of the ill-served
+and ill-directed falconet.
+
+With a heart depressed by grief and mortification, Sir Walter Stewart
+had now nothing left for it, but to return on his way to Huntly
+Castle. As he moved down the valley, the roofless walls of poor
+Alice Asher's cottage arrested his eyes, rising bare and blackened
+from among the wood, on the brow of the isolated hill where they
+stood. The whole of the harrowing scene of that murderous burning
+recurred to his recollection. His soul was filled with affliction,
+and his heart became heavy, and sank within him, from the poignant
+admonitions of that conscience, which plainly and honestly told him,
+that if he had sown more honourable and virtuous conduct in his youth,
+he might now have been reaping pure and unalloyed happiness, instead
+of that misery, which threatened to cling to him, like a poisoned
+garment, to the end of his days. He felt that he had blighted the
+spring of his own life: that all sunshine had departed from him for
+ever; and that all now before him was dark and chilling winter. The
+only hope he could dare to cherish now, was that of obtaining mercy,
+through the merits of a blessed Saviour, and a deep and heartfelt
+repentance. Giving way to the full indulgence of such thoughts as
+these, his heart began to sicken at the world. In sorrow and in
+silence he pursued his way towards Huntly Castle; and, long ere he
+had reached the residence of his friend the Earl, he had taken up
+his firm and unalterable resolution.
+
+Acting upon this, he craved a private interview with the Earl that very
+evening; and, having retired to his apartment with him, he unfolded
+his mind fully to his friendly ear--gave over to him the charge of
+all his papers and charters, and prepared every thing for executing a
+deed, by which his Lordship was made sole trustee over his estates,
+for the behoof of his infant son, with full powers to manage and
+direct all matters belonging to them, and, at the same time, making
+the Earl himself heir of all, in the event of the child's death. Some
+days afterwards, he put the last formal signature and seal to all
+this,--not without great, but vain expostulation on the part of Lord
+Huntly,--and, having done so, he declared his fixed determination to
+depart the very next morning for the Continent, where he had resolved
+to bury himself for ever within the cloisters of a monastery.
+
+That night, previous to Sir Walter Stewart's departure, was a
+melancholy one for the two friends; and their parting next morning
+was still more sad.
+
+The Knight's horses and attendants were already drawn up in the
+court-yard, and the Earl's men were thronging around them to bid
+them farewell, when a horseman rode into it, bearing a woman on a pad
+behind his saddle. The lady was veiled, and muffled up in a mantle;
+but, though the form was sufficiently light and delicate, and that
+of the youth also much more compact and athletic than gross or heavy,
+the good grey steed that bore this double weight, showed unequivocal
+symptoms of the long, rapid, and distressing journey he had undergone.
+
+"Ha! we are yet in time?" cried the young man in a tone of
+enquiry. "Sir Walter Stewart is still here, is he not?"
+
+"He is still here; but he is on the very eve of his departure for
+a foreign land," replied the esquire, in a grave and pensive tone
+and manner.
+
+"I would fain speak a few words to him," said the youth, lighting down,
+and then lifting the lady from her pillion.
+
+"I fear that may hardly be," said the esquire; "these last minutes of
+parting converse between Sir Walter Stewart and the Earl of Huntly,
+are, I warrant me, every one of them worth a purse of gold."
+
+"So are they all the more valuable to me for the doing of mine errand,"
+said the youth, with an air of command, which seemed naturally to
+belong to him. "Here, take this ring, so please thee. Take it to Sir
+Walter Stewart, and say that its owner bides without, and would fain
+have a short audience of him ere he goes."
+
+"I will do your bidding, fair sir," said the squire, courteously;
+"though I know not well how mine embassage may be received; for, if
+I mistake not, the Earl and the Knight are shut up alone together in
+deep and important conference."
+
+The esquire was in the right. The parting moments of these friends were
+precious, and occupied in most interesting talk. The Earl of Huntly
+had been using them in pouring out all his eloquence to induce Sir
+Walter Stewart, even yet, at this the eleventh hour, to abandon his
+resolution of going into a monastery, and to prevail on him to remain
+at home, and to resume the rights and the control of his estates. He
+urged it upon him, that he owed it to his country, as well as to his
+own just vengeance against Cochran, and the King's other favourites,
+to join with him and the rest of the nobles in the plots which they
+were hatching for their destruction.
+
+"It will be a sweet revenge for thee," said the Earl; "a most sweet
+revenge, I say, for thee, to have James suing to thee for mercy,
+for the lives of those very minions who have so conspired together
+for thy ruin."
+
+"Nay, press me not, dear Huntly," replied Sir Walter Stewart;
+"though the King hath been blind and fickle, yet I cannot forget his
+long-exerted kindness to me. And as for vengeance, I trust that the
+exercise to which I have subjected my soul for these last few nights,
+hath conjured all such unholy and unchristian passions forth from my
+bosom. But to extinguish in thee all farther vain hope that I may be
+brought to yield to thy friendly entreaty, I will now tell thee that
+I last night took a solemn vow, on my knees, with mine eyes upon the
+blessed crucifix, and my right hand upon the open Evangile, that I
+would henceforth flee from the world, and dedicate myself to God."
+
+"With such a vow upon thee," replied Huntly--"With a vow so solemnly
+taken, I can urge thee no more."
+
+"Then let my parting words entreat thee not to harm the King," said
+Sir Walter Stewart. "Harm not the King, and hurt not one hair of the
+head of Ramsay of Balmain, for he is a gentleman, and my very dear
+friend, and one indeed to whose friendly warning I have owed my life!"
+
+"There is no intention of hurting James," said Huntly, coldly;
+"and as for Ramsay, thou hast said enough, in these last few words
+of thine, to make me sacrifice my life to save him, if he should be
+brought into peril."
+
+"Thanks, thanks, my noble friend," said Sir Walter, "this promise of
+thine gives me comfort in the certainty of Ramsay's safety."
+
+"Who knocks there?" cried Lord Huntly. "Did I not say that we must
+be private?"
+
+"A messenger with some errand of moment for Sir Walter Stewart,"
+replied the Squire.
+
+"Come in, and tell us who and what he may be," replied Lord Huntly.
+
+"He desired me to deliver this ring into Sir Walter's own hand,"
+said the Squire, entering and presenting it to the Knight.
+
+"Ha!" cried the Knight, the moment he threw his eyes on it, "give him
+entrance without a moment's delay. My Lord, this is my boy Charley
+Stewart, who went abroad in the service of the royal Duke of Albany. I
+thank the saints that he is alive! I rejoice that I shall once more
+behold him, for I feared that something fatal had befallen him. It is
+well that he hath thus come, so opportunely, else, in my bewilderment,
+he might have lost his share of that which he hath so well deserved
+at my hands."
+
+"It is well, indeed, that he hath come, then," replied the Earl, "for,
+if I mistake not, he is a young man worthy of the stock he hath sprung
+from. The Duke of Albany, I remember, spoke well of him from France,
+some little time after his arrival there."
+
+"His Highness vouchsafed to do so," replied Sir Walter. "But it is so
+long since, that now I burn to behold the boy once more, and to see,
+with mine own eyes, what improvement foreign nurture hath done on him."
+
+"And I," said the Earl, "am especially curious to hear how his royal
+master the Duke hath sped, and whether he may yet talk of returning
+to his country, and trusting his person to the protection of the
+Scottish nobles. But here comes the youth."
+
+"Charley, my boy!--my son! thank God that thou art alive! I rejoice
+to behold thee again once more!" cried Sir Walter, hurrying forward to
+embrace him, with deep emotion. "I am glad, most glad, thou art come!"
+
+"Your blessing, father!" cried Charley, who having entered the room
+with the veiled lady on his arm, quitted her at the door, and rushed
+forward to meet and to throw himself on his knees before Sir Walter.
+
+"Thou hast it, boy!" replied the Knight, raising him up, and clasping
+him tenderly to his breast. "Thou hast it most sincerely. Recent
+melancholy events have now made thee doubly dear to me. But say,
+why is it that I have heard nought of thee for so long a time? Why
+is it that thou wert as silent in thy communication as if thou hadst
+been dead? Often did I of late seek tidings of thee of De Tremouille,
+but so much in vain did I seek them, that I more than half believed
+that some fatal calamity had befallen thee. Come, say how hath it
+fared with thee and thy royal master, and where, and wherefore,
+hast thou left him?"
+
+"With your leave, dear father, and that of this noble Earl," replied
+Charley, "I shall hastily run over the outline of our history.--A
+fair wind bore us to France, where we were soon transported to
+Paris. There we were well received, and well lodged, at the sign of
+the Cock, in the street of St. Martin, and all manner of expenses were
+defrayed from the French treasury, for the Duke and his attendants,
+to the number of twelve persons. We lived a merry life, mingling
+in all the shows and pageants of the French court, and proving our
+horsemanship with the French cavaliers, with no manner of disgrace
+on my humble part, and with great honour on the part of my royal
+master. But soon after this, some paltry jealousies and suspicions
+broke out against us, fostered, no doubt, by certain Scots, who
+had the secret ear of the King of France, and the secret authority
+of James of Scotland. Prudence led the royal Duke to travel in the
+provinces for a time, and under the disguise of an errant knight,
+he wandered about, with me as his esquire, doing feats of arms every
+where. Then it was that De Tremouille could report nothing of me,
+for I was altogether in disguise, doing the most agreeable service
+to my high and most kind master."
+
+"How camest thou to leave so good and honourable a service
+then?" demanded the Knight.
+
+"Simply on this ground," replied Charley. "A certain correspondence
+began to arise between my royal master and Edward of England. Whilst
+this was going on, the Duke, who always showed most kindly towards me,
+took me one day into his private apartment, and told me in confidential
+secrecy, that a certain treaty was on foot between him and the English
+king, with the intent of their uniting to make war upon Scotland. I
+was largely promised wealth and honours if I would follow his Highness
+to England. But, albeit that I should have been fain to have followed
+him all over the world, I could in nowise bring myself to fight against
+the country of my birth, or against that country which held my father,
+and whose king I held to be my father's friend--that country which
+held her--a--a--that country, I mean, which was a--dear to me from
+many a tender recollection--and that country, above all, which held
+my much loved and most affectionate and most revered mother."
+
+"Poor, kind, and amiable boy!" murmured Sir Walter Stewart, groaning
+deeply, "little knowest thou what a shock thou hast yet to receive!"
+
+"I could not fight against such a land," continued Charley, without
+observing this scarcely audible interruption. "And on my so declaring
+this, and setting forth my reasons before my royal master, he kindly,
+and, as he was pleased to say, with regret, gave me his princely
+licence to depart; and as he had little to bestow, he honoured me by
+putting this massive gold chain around my neck, and I parted from him,
+after receiving his gracious thanks for the fidelity of my services,
+and with many friendly commendations on the Duke's part to you. I left
+him in the more honourable, yet not more faithful, hands, of Monipeny
+and Concressault, who are now with him. Having taken ship and reached
+the shores of Scotland, I made the best of my way to my native Strath,
+and there, learning that thou hadst but recently left it, I hasted,
+with all speed, to follow thee hither."
+
+"Thou hast well judged, and well acted, my dear boy!" said the Knight,
+embracing him. "By mine honour, but thou dost prove, by thy words,
+that thy head hath gained as much in solid sense as thy person and
+manners have gathered in strength and grace. My Lord of Huntly,
+since Charley hath thus, by God's mercy, turned up alive, thou must
+now see done for him, that which I, in such a case provided, as I
+already told thee. To thee then I leave it to see him duly enfeoffed
+in the place and lands of Kilmaichly, on a part of which he was born,
+and this I have bestowed upon him and his heirs in property for ever."
+
+"Be assured I shall see this desire of thine most strictly executed,"
+said Lord Huntly.
+
+"Thanks, thanks, most gracious father!" cried Charles Stewart, throwing
+himself again upon Sir Walter's neck. "Yet would I consider it a far
+greater boon, to be allowed to follow thee in whatever emprise thou
+mayst now be bound to."
+
+"That which I am boune after, boy, is too solemn for thy years,"
+replied Sir Walter Stewart, gravely. "Thou art as yet too young to
+quit the haunts of men, and sins hast thou but few to drive thee
+thence, unless mine be visited upon thee. But, hold! thou wouldst
+seem to have a fair companion there. Tell me, I pray thee, hast thou
+brought a French wife with thee? Alas, rash youth, thou knowest not
+what perils are to be found within the silken meshes of the toils of
+matrimony! Hath not thine own past experience of the fickle nature
+of woman cured thee of love?"
+
+"Nay, nay, my good and honoured father," replied Charley, "so far
+as I am concerned, I have learned, to my great joy, though to my sad
+remorse and contrition, that woman's love, when pure and virtuous, is
+inextinguishable by all the storms and tides of adverse fate. My Rosa
+was true, and she yet lives for me and me alone, and I was the rash
+insane tool of one who was more an evil spirit than a woman. Thanks
+be to God, too, that I have not the crime of murder on my conscience,
+for I have learned that my benefactor, Sir Piers Gordon, yet lives."
+
+"Sir Piers Gordon!" exclaimed Huntly, in surprise, "Art thou then
+the youth who had so nearly deprived me of so valuable a kinsman and
+dependant? Trust me, young man, had the blow been fatal, I could not
+easily have forgiven thee."
+
+"My Lord, I could never have forgiven myself," said Charley. "But now
+I hope to prove to Sir Piers my gratitude, as well as my penitence,
+if he will vouchsafe to pardon me, and to receive me again into
+his friendship."
+
+"I think thou mayest safely reckon upon him," said Huntly, "especially
+with my intercession for thee."
+
+"Is this thy Rosa, then, boy?" demanded Sir Walter Stewart, pointing
+to the veiled lady. "And is she already thy wedded wife? Why all
+this mystery? Lead her hither, that we may see and become acquainted
+with her."
+
+"It is not Rosa," replied Charley, solemnly, as he retired to the
+farther part of the room, and led forward the lady trembling beneath
+her veil. "It is not Rosa, nor is Rosa as yet my wife. She whom I
+would now introduce to you is no wife, nor hath she ever been bound
+by any such holy ties--yet would she crave thy blessing, and one kind
+word of comfort from thee," and with this he gently removed the veil
+from her head.
+
+"Holy Virgin, and sacred ministers of Almighty Providence, what
+do I behold!" exclaimed Sir Walter Stewart, in amazement, "Alice
+Asher!--and in life! My beloved Alice, can it indeed be thee?" and
+then rushing forward to embrace her, he cried--"It is, it is my Alice!"
+
+"Oh! this more than repays me for a life of wretchedness," said Alice,
+weeping, and warmly responding to his emotions. "A mother's pride,
+which I have in my boy, would not let me remain behind him; and
+the priest gave me licence. I wished to behold him in his father's
+arms, and my fond and foolish heart hath been gratified beyond its
+deserts. May blessings be showered down upon thee for what thou hast
+done!" continued she, sinking on her knees before him, "May blessings
+here, and eternal happiness hereafter, be thy portion!"
+
+"Rise, my fair, my beloved, my much injured Alice!" cried the Knight,
+raising her gently up, and again tenderly embracing her. "This is
+indeed a day of joy! But tell me how it is that mine eyes thus gladly
+behold thee, when they have now so long wept for thy supposed death
+by that murderous and traitorous fire?"
+
+"Providence interfered to save my worthless life," replied Alice. "It
+so happened, that, on the very evening before the burning, I chanced
+to go up into Glen-Livat to visit the good widow MacDermot and her
+daughter Rosa, whose society was always balm to me, and especially
+so because their favourite talk was ever of mine absent Charley. As
+I was thus going away from home, my serving-maiden took in a girl,
+a friend of hers, to be company for her loneliness, and thus, both
+these innocent creatures perished, whilst I escaped. But the ways of
+Heaven are inscrutable. Thus it was that two half-consumed corpses
+were discovered, which led to the belief of my death; and then it
+was that terror for the Lady of Drummin made me dread to contradict
+the rumour, and compelled me to live in concealment."
+
+"Enough it is that thou art yet alive, my beloved Alice!" cried Sir
+Walter Stewart, carried altogether away by the wildest feelings of
+joy. "Dearest, we shall yet be happy!--Thou shalt yet be----"
+
+"Oh, say!--speak!" said Alice, greatly agitated. "What--what wouldst
+thou say?"
+
+"What--what have I said?" continued Sir Walter, sinking in tone and
+manner into those of deep despondency. "What!--said I that we should
+yet be happy?--that thou shouldst yet be my wife. Alas!--no, no,
+no--I forgot. It cannot be. My vow--my vow--my solemn vow, already
+registered in Heaven! Would that I had known all this ere I had made
+it! Would that I had but known that thou wer't still alive! But now,
+even these regrets and repinings become sinful. The hand of Providence
+is in it, and God's holy will be done. The vow--the solemn vow which I
+recorded in Heaven must be fulfilled. Alice, dearest of human beings,
+I cannot now be thine! I have henceforth dedicated myself to the
+service of the Most High. I depart this very day to make good my vow,
+by throwing myself into a foreign monastery."
+
+"The will of the Lord be done!" said Alice Asher, in a hollow voice
+of intense suffering, whilst, pale and trembling, she bowed her
+head and sank into a chair, where a deluge of tears gave vent to
+her emotions. "The will of the Lord be done! And why should it be
+otherwise? I have more than deserved all those sufferings and trials,
+which God, in his justice and wisdom, hath been pleased to bring upon
+me, and why should I wickedly murmur? As thou sayest, the finger of
+God is in it. May he sanctify his chastisement for our salvation,
+and so let me cheerfully kiss the rod of his fatherly correction."
+
+"Angel that thou art!" cried Sir Walter, greatly moved. "Oh, what
+wouldst thou not have been, but for me, villain that I was! Thy sin
+was mine. On my head must fall the whole of thy guilt. Thou wert young
+and pure, as a creature of heaven. On my head must fall all the wrath
+of an offended God; and mine, therefore, must be the penance. Return
+then to resume thine innocent and peaceful life. Thou hast a firm and
+able protector in thy son, whose strong arm, and upright heart, shall
+shield thee from all harm. In due time, he must marry Rosa MacDermot,
+and thou mayst yet live happily to see thy grandchildren growing up,
+like goodly plants, around thee. Pray for me in thy private hours of
+converse with the Almighty, that he may yet extend his mercy to me,
+a repentant sinner. My orisons shall never cease to rise for thee. And
+now, this last holy kiss, may, without guilt, be permitted to us. May
+God for ever bless and preserve thee! And--now--now--farewell for
+ever!"
+
+Alice flew into his arms with a frantic hysterical laugh; and after
+a long, a silent, and a last embrace, Sir Walter Stewart, gently
+unfolding himself from her, rushed with a broken heart from the
+apartment, followed by his son and Lord Huntly, leaving Alice Asher,
+who sank helpless into a chair, pale, motionless, and silent, as if
+death had suddenly fallen upon her. The Knight sprang into his saddle;
+Huntly silently but warmly squeezed his hand; Charley Stewart embraced
+his manly limb, as he put his foot into the stirrup--and his father
+stooped from his seat, and tenderly kissed his brow, and blessed him,
+ere he dashed his spur-rowels into the sides of his steed, and galloped
+out of the court-yard, with his followers behind him.
+
+Let us now return to the Castle of Drummin.--On that very night in
+which the depressed and repentant Sir Walter was solemnly dedicating
+himself, at Huntly Castle, to the service of God, she who had been his
+lady retired to rest in her chamber, with her infant child placed in
+a cradle beside her couch. A lamp, which burned on a table near her,
+enabled her to read over again the letter which she had received
+from Cochran, the new Earl of Mar; and, after she had done so, she
+laid her head back upon the pillow to ruminate upon its contents,
+and to resign herself to the enjoyment of those visions of ambition
+to which it had given birth. By degrees, sleep overpowered her, and
+her waking thoughts began gradually to resolve themselves into wild,
+floating, and ill-connected dreams. After many strange and abrupt
+changes, she imagined that she was led to the altar by the Earl of
+Mar. Both were dressed in all the pomp that befitted the rank of
+such a bridegroom and bride. The King and Queen were present; and all
+things were prepared for the nuptial ceremony. But, when the marriage
+service proceeded, both the Earl and Lady made vain and ineffectual
+efforts to join hands. As she struggled to accomplish this, she
+suddenly perceived, that the gorgeous golden collar which surrounded
+the Earl's neck, was changed into a halter of horse hair. She stared
+with wonder upon him; and, as she did so, his coarse, ruddy features
+became pale, and fixed, and corpse-like, and he was lifted slowly
+from before her, as if some powerful and unseen hand had raised him
+from the ground by the halter, until he disappeared altogether from
+her sight. She struggled fearfully. The priests, the King, and the
+Queen, and the other personages who were present at the bridal, faded
+away before her. Her heart grew cold within her from fear and very
+loneliness. Suddenly the candles on the altar, and the other lights
+in the church, blazed up miraculously, till their pointed flames
+were blunted and flattened on the vaulted roof. She endeavoured to
+shriek aloud, but no utterance could she give to her voice, whilst
+horrid laughter echoed through the surrounding aisles, and demoniac
+faces mocked and gibbered at her from behind the massive pillars. A
+complete and most unaccountable change immediately took place; and she
+beheld a burning cottage before her. Screams were heard from within
+the walls, and she would have fain shut her eyes from the sight,
+and stopped her ears from the sound; but she could do neither. She
+was in an agony which no human tongue can describe. At length, the
+figure of a woman, of angelic beauty and expression of countenance,
+and ethereal airiness of form, shot upwards, as if borne to heaven
+by the rising column of fire. The screams continued from within the
+burning walls. They pierced her ears horribly, and the flames darted
+around her on all sides, scorching her face and hands, and setting
+fire to her garments; and still all her efforts were vain to move
+herself from the spot, so as to withdraw from their influence. Half
+suffocated, she struggled and toiled to escape from them; and being
+at last awakened by her efforts, she was, for one moment, conscious
+that she was in the midst of a real conflagration. In that one moment
+was concentrated the whole remorse of her wicked life--and it was
+terrible! She heard the cries of her perishing babe; and being herself
+so choked as to be unable for exertion, she speedily became an easy
+and helpless prey to the devouring element. The drapery of her bed,
+which she had put aside in order to read the letter, had fallen back
+into its place; and having thus caught fire from the lamp, the flames
+had thence communicated to the cradle and to the bed; and by the time
+the alarm of the conflagration had been given throughout the Castle,
+and traced to its source, the lady and her innocent babe, and every
+thing within the apartment, had been consumed to ashes.
+
+After such an occurrence as this, it may easily be conceived that
+the gates of Drummin were thrown open to the Earl of Huntly, the
+moment he appeared with a strong force before it. He staid but a few
+days there, to arrange such business as his new possessions demanded
+of him. The most prominent and important part of this was, to see
+Charles Stewart regularly infeoffed in his property of Kilmaichly,
+after which he bestowed knighthood upon him; and having accomplished
+all this, the Earl hastened southwards, to lend his powerful aid in
+perfecting those plots which were then ripening among the discontented
+nobles, and which terminated with the summary execution of Cochran,
+and the other minions of King James the Third, over the Bridge of
+Lauder. That the life or person of Ramsay were preserved untouched,
+may have been in a great measure owing to the last parting injunctions
+of his friend Sir Walter Stewart.
+
+The new Knight of Kilmaichly quickly proceeded to build himself a
+suitable dwelling, and that was no sooner in a habitable state, than he
+brought that courtship, which he began with Rosa MacDermot, before she
+was carried off from the harvest-rig by the eagle, to a proper period,
+by a mutual submission of the parties to that holy yoke, which was
+imposed upon them by the priest, who then lived at Dounan. The poor old
+Howlet's prophecy was thus verified, by Rosa MacDermot thus becoming
+a landed lady, and marrying a man with a knight's spurs at his heels,
+and this, too, precisely according to the happy interpretation which
+the Lady Kilmaichly had herself put upon it. Among the few people who
+were bidden to the marriage, and certainly one who was by no means the
+least happy or jovial among the company, was the good old knight Sir
+Piers Gordon. Nor was his niece, the Lady Marcella, absent, though,
+strange to say, she was very much metamorphosed from what she once
+was. Some time after those events, which caused the flight of Charley
+Stewart to Edinburgh, and which deprived her of all farther hope of
+him, she was one day riding with her uncle's retainers, when they
+fell in accidentally with a party of Catteranes. She charged them
+boldly at the head of her people, and, in the midst of the mellée,
+she had one eye scooped out by the point of a lance, and half of her
+nose, and a considerable portion of one cheek, carried off by the
+slash of a claymore, and, had it not been for the intrepidity of an
+honest, stalwart, broad-shouldered, and wide-chested man-at-arms,
+who came to her rescue, beat off the enemy single-handed, and then
+carried her off in his brawny arms, it is probable that she might have
+died gloriously upon the battlefield. Recovering from her wounds,
+the bravery of this hero touched her heart; and, notwithstanding
+the loss of so many of her charms, the bold yeoman, declaring that
+there was quite enough left of her to make a very fine woman still,
+and being altogether undeterred by her Amazonian temper, he had no
+scruple in buckling with the heiress of Sir Piers Gordon. Although a
+good-natured fellow, he was by no means a man to be bullied. A very
+great reformation was therefore speedily worked upon her disposition;
+and by the time she appeared as a guest at the marriage of Sir Charles
+Stewart of Kilmaichly, she exhibited the countenance of a gorgon,
+with a temper and spirit subdued and gentle as those of a lamb.
+
+I have little to add now, gentlemen, to this true history, except to
+recount to you a very curious occurrence, that took place soon after
+Sir Charles Stewart and his lady were married, and comfortably settled
+at Kilmaichly, and which threatened to interrupt the peacefulness of
+their lives for a time. A dispute arose between Sir Charles's people
+and those of the Laird of Ballindalloch, about the march between
+the farm of Ballanluig, belonging to Kilmaichly, and Craigroy,
+which was the property of his powerful neighbour. The House of
+Ballindalloch being likely to prove too strong for him, in a matter
+which he foresaw must probably be determined by the arm of force,
+the prudent Sir Charles took the precaution to send a messenger into
+Athol, to his father's relative, the Laird of Fincastle, craving
+his aid. To his no small comfort, his petition was readily granted,
+and Fincastle sent him sixty well-armed men, and a capital piper,
+to stir up their souls to battle. Sir Charles being now in every
+respect a match for his opponent, turned out bravely to make good
+his plea, whilst Ballindalloch came with an equal force to dispute
+the point. Each of the two parties reached its respective ground at
+night, with the intent of joining battle by the earliest dawn. That
+of Sir Charles Stewart took up its position in and about a kiln,
+whilst Ballindalloch's little army was similarly posted at or near
+a house at no great distance. Both sides were breathing horrid war,
+and anticipating dreadful slaughter, when daylight should enable them
+to see each other, for the night was dark as pitch. Some time before
+daybreak, the lightning flashed, and a fearful peal of thunder crashed
+suddenly over their heads, so that every man present was stricken with
+awe. A water-spout then broke upon the hills, and came down upon them
+so tremendously, as to produce a roaring noise, as if a sea had been
+descending upon them. Both sides were appalled, and sinking in terror
+upon their knees, they remained in that position until the morning
+dawned. By that time the sky had cleared, and the sun rose smiling,
+and then it was, that they beheld by his light, that a large and
+frightful ravine had been cut out between them, by the water-spout,
+where nothing of the sort had existed before. Both parties felt that
+Providence had interfered to settle their dispute, and to save the
+effusion of human blood. Accordingly the two leaders at once agreed,
+that the ravine thus strangely and miraculously opened, by the sudden
+descent of this transient torrent, from the hills, should be the march
+between their properties in all time coming; and thus, they who came
+to the ground as deadly foes, separated as sworn brethren and allies.
+
+Thus it seemed, that Heaven itself had ruled, that peace should be
+secured to those who so well merited it, and who so well knew how
+to enjoy it; and the felicity of Sir Charles Stewart and his lady
+was complete. Years rolled on, and still the sunshine of their
+countenances, aye, and the sunshine of the faces of their merry
+children, would often conjure up an angelic smile of gratitude,
+upon the pale and pensive features of Alice Asher. Nor were the
+grateful feelings of this highly favoured family expended in barren
+expressions, for all around them were loud in praise of their
+hospitality, benevolence, and charity.
+
+In the course of some generations Kilmaichly fell to an heiress,
+and the Laird of Ballindalloch having married her, she carried the
+estate into that family where it now remains.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR FLOORED.
+
+
+It is not very easy to tell how we all bestowed ourselves after
+Serjeant Archy Stewart's story of Tàillear-Crubach, but it was no
+sooner brought to a close, than each of us proceeded to exert his
+own ingenuity, in making up a bed for himself. Some things there were
+indeed resembling beds in an upper room, but those who occupied them
+were perhaps not much more fortunate than those who chose a dry, and
+tolerably even corner of the floor, and there disposed of themselves,
+rolled up in their plaids. My own experience tells me, that sweeter,
+sounder, or more refreshing repose is nowhere to be enjoyed, than on
+such a bed as this, especially after fatigue; and the great proof of
+its excellence, upon the present occasion, was, that five minutes did
+not elapse, ere we had all succeeded in our courtship of that sleep
+which our day's walk, and the lateness of the hour, had conspired
+to make it no very difficult matter for us to woo. Next morning, the
+roaring of the Aven, now turbid and discoloured, and flowing wide over
+the haughs, the rain still drizzling on, and the wet air and gloomy
+sky, and the plashy footing on the meadow where Clifford ventured out
+to experiment and explore, whilst we stood clustered within the door,
+with our heads out, to mark his proceedings, very speedily made us
+draw them back again, with a determined resolution to see a fairer
+promise of weather, before we should venture to thrust them forth to
+tempt our fate in travel.
+
+Clifford (mincing his steps on tiptoe through a flock of ducklings
+rejoicing clamorously in the wet.)--Fine weather for you young
+gentlemen, indeed! Well, if the day will neither fish nor walk, we
+may be thankful that we are well provisioned with food both for the
+body and the mind.
+
+Dominie.--That is a great consolation indeed, Mr. Clifford, and leaves
+us little to be pitied.
+
+Clifford.--Come, then, let us have breakfast; and, after that, let
+us resume our sitting of last night, and, since we cannot budge out,
+let us spend the day rationally, with legends and cigars, at Inchrory.
+
+Author.--Pray, Mr. Serjeant, what is supposed to be the origin of
+the name of Inchrory?
+
+Sergeant.--Why, sir, the place was so called from a certain Rory
+Mackenzie of Turfearabrad, or Fairburn, as it is called in modern
+language, who, about the sixteen hundred or so, was wont to drive
+great herds of cattle from his place in Ross-shire to the south
+country markets, by this way up Glen-Aven. His story is a sad one.
+
+Grant.--Pray let us have it, Archy.
+
+Serjeant.--With your leave, sir, I'll rather tell it to you on our
+way up the glen, when we come near to the place where the cruel deed
+was done. You will be the better able to understand some of its most
+important circumstances.
+
+Author.--You are right, Serjeant.
+
+Clifford (taking out his tablets.)--Well, Mr. Serjeant, I'll book
+you for it, at all events.--Rory Mackenzie of Turfearabrad.
+
+Serjeant.--I'll not forget it, sir. But, in the meanwhile, gentlemen,
+I may tell you, that as this Rory Mackenzie used to bring his beasts
+up this glen, which, as I formerly mentioned, was so full of woods at
+that time as to make an open patch of pasture a thing of great value,
+he was so tempted by the fineness and richness of the grass on the
+meadow that lies hereabouts, all produced, as you will naturally see,
+from the marly matter brought down upon it by the streams from the
+hill, that he used to make a regular practice of lodging himself and
+his animals here for some days, in order to rest and refresh them for
+their journey; and so, at last, the place got its name from him. But
+there was no house here in his day.
+
+Dominie.--We have vurra great reason to be thankful, Serjeant, that
+we have so good a house over our heads now, then.
+
+Clifford.--House! why in such weather, a house like this in the
+wilderness is as good as a palace in a city. Soldier though I be,
+I by no means envy Rory, the laird of Turfearabrad, his sylvan
+bivouacks. What think you, Mr. Serjeant?
+
+Serjeant.--Troth, sir, I can lie out when I am obliged to do it. But
+I am grown old enough now to think, that, in an ill day, the nearer to
+the fire-side the better, and still better is it in an ill night. What
+say you to that, Mr. Macpherson?
+
+Dominie.--If my last night's scramble hither, and the deep mud of that
+filthy peat pot into which I fell, has not convinced me of that truth,
+Serjeant, I must be a stubborn bubo indeed.
+
+Clifford.--Truth is generally found at the bottom of a well, but
+to find it, as you seem to have done, at the bottom of a peat pot,
+is a new discovery, Mr. Macpherson.
+
+Clifford (after all are done with breakfast.)--Come, then, gentlemen,
+shall we adjourn to the fire, and commence our sitting?
+
+Grant.--Allons!
+
+Author.--Now, my good woman, take away these things, and make the
+room a little tidy, and then bring us plenty of peats.
+
+Clifford.--Aye, that will do.
+
+Grant.--Who is to be story-teller?
+
+Clifford.--Mr. Macpherson is the man. Now then, Mr. Macpherson,
+your Serjeant John Smith is the first for duty. He may mount guard
+as speedily as you please.
+
+Dominie.--He shall obey the captain's orders without a moment's delay.
+
+
+
+                         END OF VOLUME SECOND.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Legendary Tales of the Highlands
+(Volume 2 of 3), by Thomas Dick Lauder
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58931 ***