diff options
Diffstat (limited to '58931-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 58931-0.txt | 5572 |
1 files changed, 5572 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/58931-0.txt b/58931-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fdcc7d --- /dev/null +++ b/58931-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5572 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58931 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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 *** |