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diff --git a/6407.txt b/6407.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..09db6fb --- /dev/null +++ b/6407.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19511 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Abbot, by Sir Walter Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Abbot + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + + +Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6407] +This file was first posted on December 8, 2002 +Last Updated: June 16, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ABBOT *** + + + + +Produced by Alan Millar, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + THE ABBOT. + +BEING THE SEQUEL TO THE MONASTERY. + + By Sir Walter Scott + + + +[Illustration: ROLAND GRAEME AND CATHERINE SETON BEFORE QUEEN MARY.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION--(1831.) + +From what is said in the Introduction to the Monastery, it must +necessarily be inferred, that the Author considered that romance as +something very like a failure. It is true, the booksellers did not +complain of the sale, because, unless on very felicitous occasions, +or on those which are equally the reverse, literary popularity is not +gained or lost by a single publication. Leisure must be allowed for the +tide both to flow and ebb. But I was conscious that, in my situation, +not to advance was in some Degree to recede, and being naturally +unwilling to think that the principle of decay lay in myself, I was +at least desirous to know of a certainty, whether the degree of +discountenance which I had incurred, was now owing to an ill-managed +story, or an ill-chosen subject. + +I was never, I confess, one of those who are willing to suppose the +brains of an author to be a kind of milk, which will not stand above +a single creaming, and who are eternally harping to young authors to +husband their efforts, and to be chary of their reputation, lest it grow +hackneyed in the eyes of men. Perhaps I was, and have always been, the +more indifferent to the degree of estimation in which I might be held +as an author, because I did not put so high a value as many others upon +what is termed literary reputation in the abstract, or at least upon the +species of popularity which had fallen to my share; for though it +were worse than affectation to deny that my vanity was satisfied at my +success in the department in which chance had in some measure enlisted +me, I was, nevertheless, far from thinking that the novelist or +romance-writer stands high in the ranks of literature. But I spare the +reader farther egotism on this subject, as I have expressed my opinion +very fully in the Introductory Epistle to the Fortunes of Nigel, first +edition; and, although it be composed in an imaginary character, it is +as sincere and candid as if it had been written "without my gown and +band." + +In a word, when I considered myself as having been unsuccessful in the +Monastery, I was tempted to try whether I could not restore, even at +the risk of totally losing, my so-called reputation, by a new hazard--I +looked round my library, and could not but observe, that, from the time +of Chaucer to that of Byron, the most popular authors had been the +most prolific. Even the aristarch Johnson allowed that the quality +of readiness and profusion had a merit in itself, independent of the +intrinsic value of the composition. Talking of Churchill, I believe, +who had little merit in his prejudiced eyes, he allowed him that of +fertility, with some such qualification as this, "A Crab-apple can bear +but crabs after all; but there is a great difference in favour of that +which bears a large quantity of fruit, however indifferent, and that +which produces only a few." + +Looking more attentively at the patriarchs of literature, whose earner +was as long as it was brilliant, I thought I perceived that in the +busy and prolonged course of exertion, there were no doubt occasional +failures, but that still those who were favourites of their age +triumphed over these miscarriages. By the new efforts which they +made, their errors were obliterated, they became identified with the +literature of their country, and after having long received law from the +critics, came in some degree to impose it. And when such a writer was at +length called from the scene, his death first made the public sensible +what a large share he had occupied in their attention. I recollected a +passage in Grimm's Correspondence, that while the unexhausted Voltaire +sent forth tract after tract to the very close of a long life, the first +impression made by each as it appeared, was, that it was inferior to +its predecessors; an opinion adopted from the general idea that the +Patriarch of Ferney must at last find the point from which he was to +decline. But the opinion of the public finally ranked in succession +the last of Voltaire's Essays on the same footing with those which had +formerly charmed the French nation. The inference from this and similar +facts seemed to me to be, that new works were often judged of by the +public, not so much from their own intrinsic merit, as from extrinsic +ideas which readers had previously formed with regard to them, and over +which a writer might hope to triumph by patience and by exertion. There +is risk in the attempt; + + "If he fall in, good night, or sink or swim." + +But this is a chance incident to every literary attempt, and by which +men of a sanguine temper are little moved. + +I may illustrate what I mean, by the feelings of most men in travelling. +If we have found any stage particularly tedious, or in an especial +degree interesting, particularly short, or much longer than we expected, +our imaginations are so apt to exaggerate the original impression, that, +on repeating the journey, we usually find that we have considerably +over-rated the predominating quality, and the road appears to be duller +or more pleasant, shorter or more tedious, than what we expected, and, +consequently, than what is actually the case. It requires a third or +fourth journey to enable us to form an accurate judgment of its beauty, +its length, or its other attributes. + +In the same manner, the public, judging of a new work, which it receives +perhaps with little expectation, if surprised into applause, becomes +very often ecstatic, gives a great deal more approbation than is due, +and elevates the child of its immediate favour to a rank which, as it +affects the author, it is equally difficult to keep, and painful to +lose. If, on this occasion, the author trembles at the height to which +he is raised, and becomes afraid of the shadow of his own renown, he may +indeed retire from the lottery with the prize which he has drawn, but, +in future ages, his honour will be only in proportion to his labours. +If, on the contrary, he rushes again into the lists, he is sure to be +judged with severity proportioned to the former favour of the public. If +he be daunted by a bad reception on this second occasion, he may again +become a stranger to the arena. If, on the contrary, he can keep his +ground, and stand the shuttlecock's fate, of being struck up and down, +he will probably, at length, hold with some certainty the level in +public opinion which he may be found to deserve; and he may perhaps +boast of arresting the general attention, in the same manner as the +Bachelor Samson Carrasco, of fixing the weathercock La Giralda of +Seville for weeks, months, or years, that is, for as long as the wind +shall uniformly blow from one quarter. To this degree of popularity the +author had the hardihood to aspire, while, in order to attain it, he +assumed the daring resolution to keep himself in the view of the public +by frequent appearances before them. + +It must be added, that the author's incognito gave him greater courage +to renew his attempts to please the public, and an advantage similar to +that which Jack the Giant-killer received from his coat of darkness. +In sending the Abbot forth so soon after the Monastery, he had used the +well-known practice recommended by Bassanio:-- + + "In my school days, when I had lost one shaft, + I shot another of the self-same flight, + The self-same way, with more advised watch, + To find the other forth." + +And, to continue the simile, his shafts, like those of the lesser Ajax, +were discharged more readily that the archer was as inaccessible +to criticism, personally speaking, as the Grecian archer under his +brother's sevenfold shield. + +Should the reader desire to know upon what principles the Abbot was +expected to amend the fortune of the Monastery, I have first to request +his attention to the Introductory Epistle addressed to the imaginary +Captain Clutterbuck; a mode by which, like his predecessors in this walk +of fiction, the real author makes one of his _dramatis personae_ the +means of communicating his own sentiments to the public, somewhat more +artificially than by a direct address to the readers. A pleasing French +writer of fairy tales, Monsieur Pajon, author of the History of Prince +Soly, has set a diverting example of the same machinery, where he +introduces the presiding Genius of the land of Romance conversing with +one of the personages of the tale. + +In this Introductory Epistle, the author communicates, in confidence, to +Captain Clutterbuck, his sense that the White Lady had not met the taste +of the times, and his reason for withdrawing her from the scene. The +author did not deem it equally necessary to be candid respecting another +alteration. The Monastery was designed, at first, to have contained some +supernatural agency, arising out of the fact, that Melrose had been the +place of deposit of the great Robert Bruce's heart. The writer shrunk, +however, from filling up, in this particular, the sketch as it was +originally traced; nor did he venture to resume, in continuation, the +subject which he had left unattempted in the original work. Thus, the +incident of the discovery of the heart, which occupies the greater +part of the Introduction to the Monastery, is a mystery unnecessarily +introduced, and which remains at last very imperfectly explained. In +this particular, I was happy to shroud myself by the example of the +author of "Caleb Williams," who never condescends to inform us of the +actual contents of that Iron Chest which makes such a figure in his +interesting work, and gives the name to Mr. Colman's drama. + +The public had some claim to inquire into this matter, but it seemed +indifferent policy in the author to give the explanation. For, whatever +praise may be due to the ingenuity which brings to a general combination +all the loose threads of a narrative, like the knitter at the finishing +of her stocking, I am greatly deceived if in many cases a superior +advantage is not attained, by the air of reality which the deficiency +of explanation attaches to a work written on a different system. In life +itself, many things befall every mortal, of which the individual never +knows the real cause or origin; and were we to point out the most marked +distinction between a real and a fictitious narrative, we would say, +that the former in reference to the remote causes of the events it +relates, is obscure, doubtful, and mysterious; whereas, in the latter +case, it is a part of the author's duty to afford satisfactory details +upon the causes of the separate events he has recorded, and, in a word, +to account for every thing. The reader, like Mungo in the Padlock, will +not be satisfied with hearing what he is not made fully to comprehend. + +I omitted, therefore, in the Introduction to the Abbot, any attempt to +explain the previous story, or to apologize for unintelligibility. + +Neither would it have been prudent to have endeavoured to proclaim, +in the Introduction to the Abbot, the real spring, by which I hoped +it might attract a greater degree of interest than its immediate +predecessor. A taking title, or the announcement of a popular subject, +is a recipe for success much in favour with booksellers, but which +authors will not always find efficacious. The cause is worth a moment's +examination. + +There occur in every country some peculiar historical characters, which +are, like a spell or charm, sovereign to excite curiosity and attract +attention, since every one in the slightest degree interested in the +land which they belong to, has heard much of them, and longs to hear +more. A tale turning on the fortunes of Alfred or Elizabeth in England, +or of Wallace or Bruce in Scotland, is sure by the very announcement +to excite public curiosity to a considerable degree, and ensure the +publisher's being relieved of the greater part of an impression, +even before the contents of the work are known. This is of the last +importance to the bookseller, who is at once, to use a technical phrase, +"brought home," all his outlay being repaid. But it is a different case +with the author, since it cannot be denied that we are apt to feel least +satisfied with the works of which we have been induced, by titles and +laudatory advertisements, to entertain exaggerated expectations. +The intention of the work has been anticipated, and misconceived or +misrepresented, and although the difficulty of executing the work again +reminds us of Hotspur's task of "o'er-walking a current roaring loud," +yet the adventurer must look for more ridicule if he fails, than +applause if he executes, his undertaking. + +Notwithstanding a risk, which should make authors pause ere they adopt +a theme which, exciting general interest and curiosity, is often +the preparative for disappointment, yet it would be an injudicious +regulation which should deter the poet or painter from attempting to +introduce historical portraits, merely from the difficulty of executing +the task in a satisfactory manner. Something must be trusted to the +generous impulse, which often thrusts an artist upon feats of which he +knows the difficulty, while he trusts courage and exertion may afford +the means of surmounting it. + +It is especially when he is sensible of losing ground with the public, +that an author may be justified in using with address, such selection of +subject or title as is most likely to procure a rehearing. It was with +these feelings of hope and apprehension, that I venture to awaken, in +a work of fiction, the memory of Queen Mary, so interesting by her +wit, her beauty, her misfortunes, and the mystery which still does, and +probably always will, overhang her history. In doing so, I was aware +that failure would be a conclusive disaster, so that my task was +something like that of an enchanter who raises a spirit over whom he +is uncertain of possessing an effectual control; and I naturally paid +attention to such principles of composition, as I conceived were best +suited to the historical novel. + +Enough has been already said to explain the purpose of composing the +Abbot. The historical references are, as usual, explained in the notes. +That which relates to Queen Mary's escape from Lochleven Castle, is a +more minute account of that romantic adventure, than is to be found in +the histories of the period. + +ABBOTSFORD, + +1_st January_, 1831. + + + + + +INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. + +FROM THE AUTHOR OF "WAVERLEY," TO CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK, LATE OF HIS +MAJESTY'S ---- REGIMENT OF INFANTRY. + +DEAR CAPTAIN: + +I am sorry to observe, by your last favour, that you disapprove of +the numerous retrenchments and alterations which I have been under the +necessity of making on the Manuscript of your friend, the Benedictine, +and I willingly make you the medium of apology to many, who have +honoured me more than I deserve. + +I admit that my retrenchments have been numerous, and leave gaps in the +story, which, in your original manuscript, would have run well-nigh to +a fourth volume, as my printer assures me. I am sensible, besides, that, +in consequence of the liberty of curtailment you have allowed me, some +parts of the story have been huddled up without the necessary details. +But, after all, it is better that the travellers should have to step +over a ditch, than to wade through a morass--that the reader should have +to suppose what may easily be inferred, than be obliged to creep through +pages of dull explanation. I have struck out, for example, the whole +machinery of the White Lady, and the poetry by which it is so ably +supported, in the original manuscript. But you must allow that +the public taste gives little encouragement to those legendary +superstitions, which formed alternately the delight and the terror of +our predecessors. In like manner, much is omitted illustrative of +the impulse of enthusiasm in favour of the ancient religion in Mother +Magdalen and the Abbot. But we do not feel deep sympathy at this period +with what was once the most powerful and animating principle in +Europe, with the exception of that of the Reformation, by which it was +successfully opposed. + +You rightly observe, that these retrenchments have rendered the title +no longer applicable to the subject, and that some other would have been +more suitable to the Work, in its present state, than that of THE ABBOT, +who made so much greater figure in the original, and for whom your +friend, the Benedictine, seems to have inspired you with a sympathetic +respect. I must plead guilty to this accusation, observing, at the same +time, in manner of extenuation, that though the objection might have +been easily removed, by giving a new title to the Work, yet, in doing +so, I should have destroyed the necessary cohesion between the present +history, and its predecessor THE MONASTERY, which I was unwilling to do, +as the period, and several of the personages, were the same. + +After all, my good friend, it is of little consequence what the work +is called, or on what interest it turns, provided it catches the public +attention; for the quality of the wine (could we but insure it) may, +according to the old proverb, render the bush unnecessary, or of little +consequence. + +I congratulate you upon your having found it consistent with prudence +to establish your Tilbury, and approve of the colour, and of your +boy's livery, (subdued green and pink.)--As you talk of completing +your descriptive poem on the "Ruins of Kennaquhair, with notes by an +Antiquary," I hope you have procured a steady horse.--I remain, with +compliments to all friends, dear Captain, very much + +Yours, &c. &c. &c. + +THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. + + + + +THE ABBOT. + + + + +Chapter the First. + + + _Domum mansit--lanam fecit._ + Ancient Roman Epitaph. + + She keepit close the hous, and birlit at the quhele. + GAWAIN DOUGLAS. + +The time which passes over our heads so imperceptibly, makes the +same gradual change in habits, manners, and character, as in personal +appearance. At the revolution of every five years we find ourselves +another, and yet the same--there is a change of views, and no less of +the light in which we regard them; a change of motives as well as +of actions. Nearly twice that space had glided away over the head of +Halbert Glendinning and his lady, betwixt the period of our former +narrative, in which they played a distinguished part, and the date at +which our present tale commences. + +Two circumstances only had imbittered their union, which was otherwise +as happy as mutual affection could render it. The first of these was +indeed the common calamity of Scotland, being the distracted state of +that unhappy country, where every man's sword was directed against his +neighbour's bosom. Glendinning had proved what Murray expected of him, +a steady friend, strong in battle, and wise in counsel, adhering to him, +from motives of gratitude, in situations where by his own unbiassed will +he would either have stood neuter, or have joined the opposite party. +Hence, when danger was near--and it was seldom far distant--Sir Halbert +Glendinning, for he now bore the rank of knighthood, was perpetually +summoned to attend his patron on distant expeditions, or on perilous +enterprises, or to assist him with his counsel in the doubtful intrigues +of a half-barbarous court. He was thus frequently, and for a long space, +absent from his castle and from his lady; and to this ground of regret +we must add, that their union had not been blessed with children, to +occupy the attention of the Lady of Avenel, while she was thus deprived +of her husband's domestic society. + +On such occasions she lived almost entirely secluded from the world, +within the walls of her paternal mansion. Visiting amongst neighbors +was a matter entirely out of the question, unless on occasions of solemn +festival, and then it was chiefly confined to near kindred. Of these the +Lady of Avenel had none who survived, and the dames of the neighbouring +barons affected to regard her less as the heiress of the house of Avenel +than as the wife of a peasant, the son of a church-vassal, raised up to +mushroom eminence by the capricious favour of Murray. + +The pride of ancestry, which rankled in the bosom of the ancient gentry, +was more openly expressed by their ladies, and was, moreover, imbittered +not a little by the political feuds of the time, for most of the +Southern chiefs were friends to the authority of the Queen, and very +jealous of the power of Murray. The Castle of Avenel was, therefore, on +all these accounts, as melancholy and solitary a residence for its lady +as could well be imagined. Still it had the essential recommendation of +great security. The reader is already aware that the fortress was built +upon an islet on a small lake, and was only accessible by a causeway, +intersected by a double ditch, defended by two draw-bridges, so that +without artillery, it might in those days be considered as impregnable. +It was only necessary, therefore, to secure against surprise, and +the service of six able men within the castle was sufficient for that +purpose. If more serious danger threatened, an ample garrison was +supplied by the male inhabitants of a little hamlet, which, under the +auspices of Halbert Glendinning, had arisen on a small piece of level +ground, betwixt the lake and the hill, nearly adjoining to the spot +where the causeway joined the mainland. The Lord of Avenel had found +it an easy matter to procure inhabitants, as he was not only a kind and +beneficent overlord, but well qualified, both by his experience in arms, +his high character for wisdom and integrity, and his favour with the +powerful Earl of Murray, to protect and defend those who dwelt under his +banner. In leaving his castle for any length of time, he had, therefore, +the consolation to reflect, that this village afforded, on the slightest +notice, a band of thirty stout men, which was more than sufficient for +its defence; while the families of the villagers, as was usual on such +occasions, fled to the recesses of the mountains, drove their cattle +to the same places of shelter, and left the enemy to work their will on +their miserable cottages. + +One guest only resided generally, if not constantly, at the Castle of +Avenel. This was Henry Warden, who now felt himself less able for the +stormy task imposed on the reforming clergy; and having by his zeal +given personal offence to many of the leading nobles and chiefs, did not +consider himself as perfectly safe, unless when within the walls of the +strong mansion of some assured friend. He ceased not, however, to serve +his cause as eagerly with his pen, as he had formerly done with his +tongue, and had engaged in a furious and acrimonious contest, concerning +the sacrifice of the mass, as it was termed, with the Abbot Eustatius, +formerly the Sub-Prior of Kennaquhair. Answers, replies, duplies, +triplies, quadruplies, followed thick upon each other, and displayed, as +is not unusual in controversy, fully as much zeal as Christian charity. +The disputation very soon became as celebrated as that of John Knox +and the Abbot of Crosraguel, raged nearly as fiercely, and, for aught I +know, the publications to which it gave rise may be as precious in the +eyes of bibliographers. [Footnote: The tracts which appeared in the +Disputation between the Scottish Reformer and Quentin Kennedy, Abbot +of Crosraguel, are among the scarcest in Scottish Bibliography. See +M'Crie's _Life of Knox_, p. 258.] But the engrossing nature of his +occupation rendered the theologian not the most interesting companion +for a solitary female; and his grave, stern, and absorbed deportment, +which seldom showed any interest, except in that which concerned his +religious profession, made his presence rather add to than diminish the +gloom which hung over the Castle of Avenel. To superintend the tasks of +numerous female domestics, was the principal part of the Lady's daily +employment; her spindle and distaff, her Bible, and a solitary walk upon +the battlements of the castle, or upon the causeway, or occasionally, +but more seldom, upon the banks of the little lake, consumed the rest +of the day. But so great was the insecurity of the period, that when +she ventured to extend her walk beyond the hamlet, the warder on the +watch-tower was directed to keep a sharp look-out in every direction, +and four or five men held themselves in readiness to mount and sally +forth from the castle on the slightest appearance of alarm. + +Thus stood affairs at the castle, when, after an absence of several +weeks, the Knight of Avenel, which was now the title most frequently +given to Sir Halbert Glendinning, was daily expected to return home. Day +after day, however, passed away, and he returned not. Letters in +those days were rarely written, and the Knight must have resorted to a +secretary to express his intentions in that manner; besides, intercourse +of all kinds was precarious and unsafe, and no man cared to give any +public intimation of the time and direction of a journey, since, if his +route were publicly known, it was always likely he might in that case +meet with more enemies than friends upon the road. The precise day, +therefore, of Sir Halbert's return, was not fixed, but that which his +lady's fond expectation had calculated upon in her own mind had long +since passed, and hope delayed began to make the heart sick. + +It was upon the evening of a sultry summer's day, when the sun was +half-sunk behind the distant western mountains of Liddesdale, that the +Lady took her solitary walk on the battlements of a range of buildings, +which formed the front of the castle, where a flat roof of flag-stones +presented a broad and convenient promenade. The level surface of the +lake, undisturbed except by the occasional dipping of a teal-duck, or +coot, was gilded with the beams of the setting luminary, and reflected, +as if in a golden mirror, the hills amongst which it lay embossed. The +scene, otherwise so lonely, was occasionally enlivened by the voices of +the children in the village, which, softened by distance, reached the +ear of the Lady, in her solitary walk, or by the distant call of the +herdsman, as he guided his cattle from the glen in which they had +pastured all day, to place them in greater security for the night, +in the immediate vicinity of the village. The deep lowing of the cows +seemed to demand the attendance of the milk-maidens, who, singing +shrilly and merrily, strolled forth, each with her pail on her head, +to attend to the duty of the evening. The Lady of Avenel looked and +listened; the sounds which she heard reminded her of former days, when +her most important employment, as well as her greatest delight, was +to assist Dame Glendinning and Tibb Tackett in milking the cows at +Glendearg. The thought was fraught with melancholy. + +"Why was I not," she said, "the peasant girl which in all men's eyes I +seemed to be? Halbert and I had then spent our life peacefully in his +native glen, undisturbed by the phantoms either of fear or of ambition. +His greatest pride had then been to show the fairest herd in the +Halidome; his greatest danger to repel some pilfering snatcher from the +Border; and the utmost distance which would have divided us, would have +been the chase of some outlying deer. But, alas! what avails the blood +which Halbert has shed, and the dangers which he encounters, to support +a name and rank, dear to him because he has it from me, but which we +shall never transmit to our posterity! with me the name of Avenel must +expire." + +She sighed as the reflections arose, and, looking towards the shore of +the lake, her eye was attracted by a group of children of various ages, +assembled to see a little ship, constructed by some village artist, +perform its first voyage on the water. It was launched amid the shouts +of tiny voices and the clapping of little hands, and shot bravely forth +on its voyage with a favouring wind, which promised to carry it to the +other side of the lake. Some of the bigger boys ran round to receive and +secure it on the farther shore, trying their speed against each other +as they sprang like young fawns along the shingly verge of the lake. The +rest, for whom such a journey seemed too arduous, remained watching the +motions of the fairy vessel from the spot where it had been launched. +The sight of their sports pressed on the mind of the childless Lady of +Avenel. + +"Why are none of these prattlers mine?" she continued, pursuing the +tenor of her melancholy reflections. "Their parents can scarce find them +the coarsest food--and I, who could nurse them in plenty, I am doomed +never to hear a child call me mother!" + +The thought sunk on her heart with a bitterness which resembled envy, +so deeply is the desire of offspring implanted in the female breast. She +pressed her hands together as if she were wringing them in the extremity +of her desolate feeling, as one whom Heaven had written childless. A +large stag-hound of the greyhound species approached at this moment, and +attracted perhaps by the gesture, licked her hands and pressed his large +head against them. He obtained the desired caresses in return, but still +the sad impression remained. + +"Wolf," she said, as if the animal could have understood her complaints, +"thou art a noble and beautiful animal; but, alas! the love and +affection that I long to bestow, is of a quality higher than can fall to +thy share, though I love thee much." + +And, as if she were apologizing to Wolf for withholding from him any +part of her regard, she caressed his proud head and crest, while, +looking in her eyes, he seemed to ask her what she wanted, or what he +could do to show his attachment. At this moment a shriek of distress +was heard on the shore, from the playful group which had been lately so +jovial. The Lady looked, and saw the cause with great agony. + +The little ship, the object of the children's delighted attention, had +stuck among some tufts of the plant which bears the water-lily, that +marked a shoal in the lake about an arrow-flight from the shore. A hardy +little boy, who had taken the lead in the race round the margin of the +lake, did not hesitate a moment to strip off his _wylie-coat_, plunge +into the water, and swim towards the object of their common solicitude. +The first movement of the Lady was to call for help; but she observed +that the boy swam strongly and fearlessly, and as she saw that one or +two villagers, who were distant spectators of the incident, seemed to +give themselves no uneasiness on his account, she supposed that he was +accustomed to the exercise, and that there was no danger. But whether, +in swimming, the boy had struck his breast against a sunken rock, +or whether he was suddenly taken with cramp, or whether he had +over-calculated his own strength, it so happened, that when he had +disembarrassed the little plaything from the flags in which it was +entangled, and sent it forward on its course, he had scarce swam a few +yards in his way to the shore, than he raised himself suddenly from the +water, and screamed aloud, clapping his hands at the same time with an +expression of fear and pain. + +The Lady of Avenel, instantly taking the alarm, called hastily to the +attendants to get the boat ready. But this was an affair of some time. +The only boat permitted to be used on the lake, was moored within the +second cut which intersected the canal, and it was several minutes ere +it could be unmoored and got under way. Meantime, the Lady of Avenel, +with agonizing anxiety, saw that the efforts that the poor boy made to +keep himself afloat, were now exchanged for a faint struggling, which +would soon have been over, but for aid equally prompt and unhoped-for. +Wolf, who, like some of that large species of greyhound, was a practised +water-dog, had marked the object of her anxiety, and, quitting his +mistress's side, had sought the nearest point from which he could with +safety plunge into the lake. With the wonderful instinct which these +noble animals have so often displayed in the like circumstances, he +swam straight to the spot where his assistance was so much wanted, +and seizing the child's under-dress in his mouth, he not only kept him +afloat, but towed him towards the causeway. The boat having put off with +a couple of men, met the dog half-way, and relieved him of his burden. +They landed on the causeway, close by the gates of the castle, with +their yet lifeless charge, and were there met by the Lady of Avenel, +attended by one or two of her maidens, eagerly waiting to administer +assistance to the sufferer. + +He was borne into the castle, deposited upon a bed, and every mode of +recovery resorted to, which the knowledge of the times, and the skill +of Henry Warden, who professed some medical science, could dictate. For +some time it was all in vain, and the Lady watched, with unspeakable +earnestness, the pallid countenance of the beautiful child. He seemed +about ten years old. His dress was of the meanest sort, but his long +curled hair, and the noble cast of his features, partook not of that +poverty of appearance. The proudest noble in Scotland might have been +yet prouder could he have called that child his heir. While, with +breathless anxiety, the Lady of Avenel gazed on his well-formed and +expressive features, a slight shade of colour returned gradually to the +cheek; suspended animation became restored by degrees, the child sighed +deeply, opened his eyes, which to the human countenance produces the +effect of light upon the natural landscape, stretched his arms towards +the Lady, and muttered the word "Mother," that epithet, of all others, +which is dearest to the female ear. + +"God, madam," said the preacher, "has restored the child to your wishes; +it must be yours so to bring him up, that he may not one day wish that +he had perished in his innocence." + +"It shall be my charge," said the Lady; and again throwing her arms +around the boy, she overwhelmed him with kisses and caresses, so much +was she agitated by the terror arising from the danger in which he had +been just placed, and by joy at his unexpected deliverance. + +"But you are not my mother," said the boy, recovering his recollection, +and endeavouring, though faintly, to escape from the caresses of the +Lady of Avenel; "you are not my mother,--alas! I have no mother--only I +have dreamt that I had one." + +"I will read the dream for you, my love," answered the Lady of Avenel; +"and I will be myself your mother. Surely God has heard my wishes, +and, in his own marvellous manner, hath sent me an object on which my +affections may expand themselves." She looked towards Warden as she +spoke. The preacher hesitated what he should reply to a burst of +passionate feeling, which, perhaps, seemed to him more enthusiastic than +the occasion demanded. In the meanwhile, the large stag-hound, Wolf, +which, dripping wet as he was, had followed his mistress into the +apartment, and had sat by the bedside, a patient and quiet spectator of +all the means used for resuscitation of the being whom he had preserved, +now became impatient of remaining any longer unnoticed, and began to +whine and fawn upon the Lady with his great rough paws. + +"Yes," she said, "good Wolf, and you shall be remembered also for your +day's work; and I will think the more of you for having preserved the +life of a creature so beautiful." + +But Wolf was not quite satisfied with the share of attention which he +thus attracted; he persisted in whining and pawing upon his mistress, +his caresses rendered still more troublesome by his long shaggy hair +being so much and thoroughly wetted, till she desired one of the +domestics, with whom he was familiar, to call the animal out of the +apartment. Wolf resisted every invitation to this purpose, until his +mistress positively commanded him to be gone, in an angry tone; when, +turning towards the bed on which the body still lay, half awake to +sensation, half drowned in the meanders of fluctuating delirium, he +uttered a deep and savage growl, curled up his nose and lips, showing +his full range of white and sharpened teeth, which might have matched +those of an actual wolf, and then, turning round, sullenly followed the +domestic out of the apartment. + +"It is singular," said the Lady, addressing Warden; "the animal is not +only so good-natured to all, but so particularly fond of children. What +can ail him at the little fellow whose life he has saved?" + +"Dogs," replied the preacher, "are but too like the human race in their +foibles, though their instinct be less erring than the reason of poor +mortal man when relying upon his own unassisted powers. Jealousy, my +good lady, is a passion not unknown to them, and they often evince it, +not only with respect to the preferences which they see given by their +masters to individuals of their own species, but even when their rivals +are children. You have caressed that child much and eagerly, and the dog +considers himself as a discarded favourite." + +"It is a strange instinct," said the Lady; "and from the gravity with +which you mention it, my reverend friend, I would almost say that you +supposed this singular jealousy of my favourite Wolf, was not only well +founded, but justifiable. But perhaps you speak in jest?" + +"I seldom jest," answered the preacher; "life was not lent to us to +be expended in that idle mirth which resembles the crackling of thorns +under the pot. I would only have you derive, if it so please you, +this lesson from what I have said, that the best of our feelings, when +indulged to excess, may give pain to others. There is but one in which +we may indulge to the utmost limit of vehemence of which our bosom is +capable, secure that excess cannot exist in the greatest intensity to +which it can be excited--I mean the love of our Maker." + +"Surely," said the Lady of Avenel, "we are commanded by the same +authority to love our neighbour?" + +"Ay, madam," said Warden, "but our love to God is to be unbounded--we +are to love him with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole +strength. The love which the precept commands us to bear to our +neighbour, has affixed to it a direct limit and qualification--we are to +love our neighbour as ourself; as it is elsewhere explained by the great +commandment, that we must do unto him as we would that he should do unto +us. Here there is a limit, and a bound, even to the most praiseworthy of +our affections, so far as they are turned upon sublunary and terrestrial +objects. We are to render to our neighbour, whatever be his rank or +degree, that corresponding portion of affection with which we could +rationally expect we should ourselves be regarded by those standing in +the same relation to us. Hence, neither husband nor wife, neither son +nor daughter, neither friend nor relation, are lawfully to be made the +objects of our idolatry. The Lord our God is a jealous God, and will not +endure that we bestow on the creature that extremity of devotion which +He who made us demands as his own share. I say to you, Lady, that even +in the fairest, and purest, and most honourable feelings of our nature, +there is that original taint of sin which ought to make us pause and +hesitate, ere we indulge them to excess." + +"I understand not this, reverend sir," said the Lady; "nor do I guess +what I can have now said or done, to draw down on me an admonition which +has something a taste of reproof." + +"Lady," said Warden, "I crave your pardon, if I have urged aught beyond +the limits of my duty. But consider, whether in the sacred promise to be +not only a protectress, but a mother, to this poor child, your purpose +may meet the wishes of the noble knight your husband. The fondness which +you have lavished on the unfortunate, and, I own, most lovely child, +has met something like a reproof in the bearing of your household +dog.--Displease not your noble husband. Men, as well as animals, are +jealous of the affections of those they love." + +"This is too much, reverend sir," said the Lady of Avenel, greatly +offended. "You have been long our guest, and have received from the +Knight of Avenel and myself that honour and regard which your character +and profession so justly demand. But I am yet to learn that we have at +any time authorized your interference in our family arrangements, or +placed you as a judge of our conduct towards each other. I pray this may +be forborne in future." + +"Lady," replied the preacher, with the boldness peculiar to the clergy +of his persuasion at that time, "when you weary of my admonitions--when +I see that my services are no longer acceptable to you, and the noble +knight your husband, I shall know that my Master wills me no longer to +abide here; and, praying for a continuance of his best blessings on your +family I will then, were the season the depth of winter, and the hour +midnight, walk out on yonder waste, and travel forth through these wild +mountains, as lonely and unaided, though far more helpless, than when +I first met your husband in the valley of Glendearg. But while I +remain here, I will not see you err from the true path, no, not a +hair's-breadth, without making the old man's voice and remonstrance +heard." + +"Nay, but," said the Lady, who both loved and respected the good man, +though sometimes a little offended at what she conceived to be an +exuberant degree of zeal, "we will not part this way, my good friend. +Women are quick and hasty in their feelings; but, believe me, my wishes +and my purposes towards this child are such as both my husband and +you will approve of." The clergyman bowed, and retreated to his own +apartment. + + + + +Chapter the Second. + + + How steadfastly he fix'd his eyes on me-- + His dark eyes shining through forgotten tears-- + Then stretch'd his little arms, and call'd me mother! + What could I do? I took the bantling home-- + I could not tell the imp he had no mother. + COUNT BASIL. + +When Warden had left the apartment, the Lady of Avenel gave way to the +feelings of tenderness which the sight of the boy, his sudden danger, +and his recent escape, had inspired; and no longer awed by the +sternness, as she deemed it, of the preacher, heaped with caresses the +lovely and interesting child. He was now, in some measure, recovered +from the consequences of his accident, and received passively, though +not without wonder, the tokens of kindness with which he was thus +loaded. The face of the lady was strange to him, and her dress different +and far more sumptuous than any he remembered. But the boy was naturally +of an undaunted temper; and indeed children are generally acute +physiognomists, and not only pleased by that which is beautiful in +itself, but peculiarly quick in distinguishing and replying to the +attentions of those who really love them. If they see a person in +company, though a perfect stranger, who is by nature fond of children, +the little imps seem to discover it by a sort of free-masonry, while the +awkward attempts of those who make advances to them for the purpose of +recommending themselves to the parents, usually fail in attracting their +reciprocal attention. The little boy, therefore, appeared in some degree +sensible of the lady's caresses, and it was with difficulty she withdrew +herself from his pillow, to afford him leisure for necessary repose. + +"To whom belongs our little rescued varlet?" was the first question +which the Lady of Avenel put to her handmaiden Lilias, when they had +retired to the hall. + +"To an old woman in the hamlet," said Lilias, "who is even now come so +far as the porter's lodge to inquire concerning his safety. Is it your +pleasure that she be admitted?" + +"Is it my pleasure?" said the Lady of Avenel, echoing the question with +a strong accent of displeasure and surprise; "can you make any doubt +of it? What woman but must pity the agony of the mother, whose heart is +throbbing for the safety of a child so lovely!" + +"Nay, but, madam," said Lilias, "this woman is too old to be the mother +of the child; I rather think she must be his grandmother, or some more +distant relation." + +"Be she who she will, Lilias," replied the Lady, "she must have an +aching heart while the safety of a creature so lovely is uncertain. +Go instantly and bring her hither. Besides, I would willingly learn +something concerning his birth." + +Lilias left the hall, and presently afterwards returned, ushering in a +tall female very poorly dressed, yet with more pretension to decency +and cleanliness than was usually combined with such coarse garments. The +Lady of Avenel knew her figure the instant she presented herself. It was +the fashion of the family, that upon every Sabbath, and on two evenings +in the week besides, Henry Warden preached or lectured in the chapel at +the castle. The extension of the Protestant faith was, upon principle, +as well as in good policy, a primary object with the Knight of Avenel. +The inhabitants of the village were therefore invited to attend upon the +instructions of Henry Warden, and many of them were speedily won to +the doctrine which their master and protector approved. These sermons, +homilies, and lectures, had made a great impression on the mind of the +Abbot Eustace, or Eustatius, and were a sufficient spur to the severity +and sharpness of his controversy with his old fellow-collegiate; +and, ere Queen Mary was dethroned, and while the Catholics still had +considerable authority in the Border provinces, he more than once +threatened to levy his vassals, and assail and level with the earth +that stronghold of heresy the Castle of Avenel. But notwithstanding the +Abbot's impotent resentment, and notwithstanding also the disinclination +of the country to favour the new religion, Henry Warden proceeded +without remission in his labours, and made weekly converts from the +faith of Rome to that of the reformed church. Amongst those who gave +most earnest and constant attendance on his ministry, was the aged +woman, whose form, tall, and otherwise too remarkable to be forgotten, +the Lady had of late observed frequently as being conspicuous among the +little audience. She had indeed more than once desired to know who +that stately-looking woman was, whose appearance was so much above the +poverty of her vestments. But the reply had always been, that she was an +Englishwoman, who was tarrying for a season at the hamlet, and that +no one knew more concerning her. She now asked her after her name and +birth. + +"Magdalen Graeme is my name," said the woman; "I come of the Graemes of +Heathergill, in Nicol Forest, [Footnote: A district of Cumberland, lying +close to the Scottish border.] a people of ancient blood." + +"And what make you," continued the Lady, "so far distant from your +home?" + +"I have no home," said Magdalen Graeme, "it was burnt by your +Border-riders--my husband and my son were slain--there is not a drop's +blood left in the veins of any one which is of kin to mine." + +"That is no uncommon fate in these wild times, and in this unsettled +land," said the Lady; "the English hands have been as deeply dyed in our +blood as ever those of Scotsmen have been in yours." + +"You have right to say it, Lady," answered Magdalen Graeme; "for men +tell of a time when this castle was not strong enough to save your +father's life, or to afford your mother and her infant a place of +refuge. And why ask ye me, then, wherefore I dwell not in mine own home, +and with mine own people?" + +"It was indeed an idle question," answered the Lady, "where misery so +often makes wanderers; but wherefore take refuge in a hostile country?" + +"My neighbours were Popish and mass-mongers," said the old woman; "it +has pleased Heaven to give me a clearer sight of the gospel, and I have +tarried here to enjoy the ministry of that worthy man Henry Warden, who, +to the praise and comfort of many, teacheth the Evangel in truth and in +sincerity." + +"Are you poor?" again demanded the Lady of Avenel. + +"You hear me ask alms of no one," answered the Englishwoman. + +Here there was a pause. The manner of the woman was, if not +disrespectful, at least much less than gracious; and she appeared to +give no encouragement to farther communication. The Lady of Avenel +renewed the conversation on a different topic. + +"You have heard of the danger in which your boy has been placed?" + +"I have, Lady, and how by an especial providence he was rescued from +death. May Heaven make him thankful, and me!" + +"What relation do you bear to him?" + +"I am his grandmother, lady, if it so please you; the only relation he +hath left upon earth to take charge of him." + +"The burden of his maintenance must necessarily be grievous to you in +your deserted situation?" pursued the Lady. + +"I have complained of it to no one," said Magdalen Graeme, with the same +unmoved, dry, and unconcerned tone of voice, in which she had answered +all the former questions. + +"If," said the Lady of Avenel, "your grandchild could be received into a +noble family, would it not advantage both him and you?" + +"Received into a noble family!" said the old woman, drawing herself up, +and bending her brows until her forehead was wrinkled into a frown of +unusual severity; "and for what purpose, I pray you?--to be my lady's +page, or my lord's jackman, to eat broken victuals, and contend with +other menials for the remnants of the master's meal? Would you have +him to fan the flies from my lady's face while she sleeps, to carry +her train while she walks, to hand her trencher when she feeds, to ride +before her on horseback, to walk after her on foot, to sing when she +lists, and to be silent when she bids?--a very weathercock, which, +though furnished in appearance with wings and plumage, cannot soar into +the air--cannot fly from the spot where it is perched, but receives all +its impulse, and performs all its revolutions, obedient to the changeful +breath of a vain woman? When the eagle of Helvellyn perches on the tower +of Lanercost, and turns and changes his place to show how the wind sits, +Roland Graeme shall be what you would make him." + +The woman spoke with a rapidity and vehemence which seemed to have in it +a touch of insanity; and a sudden sense of the danger to which the child +must necessarily be exposed in the charge of such a keeper, increased +the Lady's desire to keep him in the castle if possible. + +"You mistake me, dame," she said, addressing the old woman in a soothing +manner; "I do not wish your boy to be in attendance on myself, but upon +the good knight my husband. Were he himself the son of a belted earl, +he could not better be trained to arms, and all that befits a gentleman, +than by the instructions and discipline of Sir Halbert Glendinning." + +"Ay," answered the old woman, in the same style of bitter irony, "I know +the wages of that service;--a curse when the corslet is not sufficiently +brightened,--a blow when the girth is not tightly drawn,--to be beaten +because the hounds are at fault,--to be reviled because the foray is +unsuccessful,--to stain his hands for the master's bidding in the blood +alike of beast and of man,--to be a butcher of harmless deer, a murderer +and defacer of God's own image, not at his own pleasure, but at that of +his lord,--to live a brawling ruffian, and a common stabber--exposed to +heat, to cold, to want of food, to all the privations of an anchoret, +not for the love of God, but for the service of Satan,--to die by the +gibbet, or in some obscure skirmish,--to sleep out his brief life +in carnal security, and to awake in the eternal fire, which is never +quenched." + +"Nay," said the Lady of Avenel, "but to such unhallowed course of life +your grandson will not be here exposed. My husband is just and kind to +those who live under his banner; and you yourself well know, that youth +have here a strict as well as a good preceptor in the person of our +chaplain." + +The old woman appeared to pause. + +"You have named," she said, "the only circumstance which can move me. I +must soon onward, the vision has said it--I must not tarry in the same +spot--I must on,--I must on, it is my weird.--Swear, then, that you will +protect the boy as if he were your own, until I return hither and claim +him, and I will consent for a space to part with him. But especially +swear, he shall not lack the instruction of the godly man who hath +placed the gospel-truth high above those idolatrous shavelings, the +monks and friars." + +"Be satisfied, dame," said the Lady of Avenel; "the boy shall have as +much care as if he were born of my own blood. Will you see him now?" + +"No," answered the old woman sternly; "to part is enough. I go forth +on my own mission. I will not soften my heart by useless tears and +wailings, as one that is not called to a duty." + +"Will you not accept of something to aid you in your pilgrimage?" said +the Lady of Avenel, putting into her hands two crowns of the sun. The +old woman flung them down on the table. + +"Am I of the race of Cain," she said, "proud Lady, that you offer me +gold in exchange for my own flesh and blood?" + +"I had no such meaning," said the Lady, gently; "nor am I the proud +woman you term me. Alas! my own fortunes might have taught me humility, +even had it not been born with me." + +The old woman seemed somewhat to relax her tone of severity. + +"You are of gentle blood," she said, "else we had not parleyed thus long +together.--You are of gentle blood, and to such," she added, drawing up +her tall form as she spoke, "pride is as graceful as is the plume upon +the bonnet. But for these pieces of gold, lady, you must needs resume +them. I need not money. I am well provided; and I may not care for +myself, nor think how, or by whom, I shall be sustained. Farewell, and +keep your word. Cause your gates to be opened, and your bridges to be +lowered. I will set forward this very night. When I come again, I will +demand from you a strict account, for I have left with you the jewel of +my life! Sleep will visit me but in snatches, food will not refresh me, +rest will not restore my strength, until I see Roland Graeme. Once more, +farewell." + +"Make your obeisance, dame," said Lilias to Magdalen Graeme, as she +retired, "make your obeisance to her ladyship, and thank her for her +goodness, as is but fitting and right." + +The old woman turned short around on the officious waiting-maid. "Let +her make her obeisance to me then, and I will return it. Why should +I bend to her?--is it because her kirtle is of silk, and mine of blue +lockeram?--Go to, my lady's waiting-woman. Know that the rank of the man +rates that of the wife, and that she who marries a churl's son, were she +a king's daughter, is but a peasant's bride." + +Lilias was about to reply in great indignation, but her mistress imposed +silence on her, and commanded that the old woman should be safely +conducted to the mainland. + +"Conduct her safe!" exclaimed the incensed waiting-woman, while Magdalen +Graeme left the apartment; "I say, duck her in the loch, and then we +will see whether she is witch or not, as every body in the village of +Lochside will say and swear. I marvel your ladyship could bear so long +with her insolence." But the commands of the Lady were obeyed, and the +old dame, dismissed from the castle, was committed to her fortune. She +kept her word, and did not long abide in that place, leaving the hamlet +on the very night succeeding the interview, and wandering no one asked +whither. The Lady of Avenel inquired under what circumstances she had +appeared among them, but could only learn that she was believed to +be the widow of some man of consequence among the Graemes who then +inhabited the Debateable Land, a name given to a certain portion of +territory which was the frequent subject of dispute betwixt Scotland +and England--that she had suffered great wrong in some of the frequent +forays by which that unfortunate district was wasted, and had been +driven from her dwelling-place. She had arrived in the hamlet no one +knew for what purpose, and was held by some to be a witch, by others a +zealous Protestant, and by others again a Catholic devotee. Her language +was mysterious, and her manners repulsive; and all that could be +collected from her conversation seemed to imply that she was under the +influence either of a spell or of a vow,--there was no saying which, +since she talked as one who acted under a powerful and external agency. + +Such were the particulars which the Lady's inquiries were able +to collect concerning Magdalen Graeme, being far too meagre and +contradictory to authorize any satisfactory deduction. In truth, the +miseries of the time, and the various turns of fate incidental to a +frontier country, were perpetually chasing from their habitations those +who had not the means of defence or protection. These wanderers in the +land were too often seen, to excite much attention or sympathy. They +received the cold relief which was extorted by general feelings of +humanity; a little excited in some breasts, and perhaps rather chilled +in others, by the recollection that they who gave the charity to-day +might themselves want it to-morrow. Magdalen Graeme, therefore, came and +departed like a shadow from the neighbourhood of Avenel Castle. + +The boy whom Providence, as she thought, had thus strangely placed +under her care, was at once established a favourite with the Lady of +the castle. How could it be otherwise? He became the object of those +affectionate feelings, which, finding formerly no object on which to +expand themselves, had increased the gloom of the castle, and imbittered +the solitude of its mistress. To teach him reading and writing as far as +her skill went, to attend to his childish comforts, to watch his boyish +sports, became the Lady's favourite amusement. In her circumstances, +where the ear only heard the lowing of the cattle from the distant +hills, or the heavy step of the warder as he walked upon his post, +or the half-envied laugh of her maiden as she turned her wheel, the +appearance of the blooming and beautiful boy gave an interest which +can hardly be conceived by those who live amid gayer and busier scenes. +Young Roland was to the Lady of Avenel what the flower, which occupies +the window of some solitary captive, is to the poor wight by whom it is +nursed and cultivated,--something which at once excited and repaid +her care; and in giving the boy her affection, she felt, as it were, +grateful to him for releasing her from the state of dull apathy in +which she had usually found herself during the absence of Sir Halbert +Glendinning. + +But even the charms of this blooming favourite were unable to chase the +recurring apprehensions which arose from her husband's procrastinated +return. Soon after Roland Graeme became a resident at the castle, a +groom, despatched by Sir Halbert, brought tidings that business still +delayed the Knight at the Court of Holyrood. The more distant period +which the messenger had assigned for his master's arrival at length +glided away, summer melted into autumn, and autumn was about to give +place to winter, and yet he came not. + + + + +Chapter the Third. + + + The waning harvest-moon shone broad and bright, + The warder's horn was heard at dead of night, + And while the portals-wide were flung, + With trampling hoofs the rocky pavement rung. + LEYDEN. + +"And you, too, would be a soldier, Roland?" said the Lady of Avenel +to her young charge, while, seated on a stone chair at one end of the +battlements, she saw the boy attempt, with a long stick, to mimic the +motions of the warder, as he alternately shouldered, or ported, or +sloped pike. + +"Yes, Lady," said the boy,--for he was now familiar, and replied to her +questions with readiness and alacrity,-"a soldier will I be; for there +ne'er was gentleman but who belted him with the brand." + +"Thou a gentleman!" said Lilias, who, as usual, was in attendance; "such +a gentleman as I would make of a bean-cod with a rusty knife." + +"Nay, chide him not, Lilias," said the Lady of Avenel, "for, beshrew me, +but I think he comes of gentle blood--see how it musters in his face at +your injurious reproof." + +"Had I my will, madam," answered Lilias, "a good birchen wand should +make his colour muster to better purpose still." + +"On my word, Lilias," said the Lady, "one would think you had received +harm from the poor boy--or is he so far on the frosty side of your +favour because he enjoys the sunny side of mine?" + +"Over heavens forbode, my Lady!" answered Lilias; "I have lived too long +with gentles, I praise my stars for it, to fight with either follies or +fantasies, whether they relate to beast, bird, or boy." + +Lilias was a favourite in her own class, a spoiled domestic, and often +accustomed to take more licence than her mistress was at all times +willing to encourage. But what did not please the Lady of Avenel, she +did not choose to hear, and thus it was on the present occasion. She +resolved to look more close and sharply after the boy, who had hitherto +been committed chiefly to the management of Lilias. He must, she +thought, be born of gentle blood; it were shame to think otherwise of +a form so noble, and features so fair;--the very wildness in which +he occasionally indulged, his contempt of danger, and impatience of +restraint, had in them something noble;--assuredly the child was born of +high rank. Such was her conclusion, and she acted upon it accordingly. +The domestics around her, less jealous, or less scrupulous than Lilias, +acted as servants usually do, following the bias, and flattering, for +their own purposes, the humour of the Lady; and the boy soon took on him +those airs of superiority, which the sight of habitual deference seldom +fails to inspire. It seemed, in truth, as if to command were his natural +sphere, so easily did he use himself to exact and receive compliance +with his humours. The chaplain, indeed, might have interposed to check +the air of assumption which Roland Graeme so readily indulged, and +most probably would have willingly rendered him that favour; but the +necessity of adjusting with his brethren some disputed points of church +discipline had withdrawn him for some time from the castle, and detained +him in a distant part of the kingdom. + +Matters stood thus in the castle of Avenel, when a winded bugle sent its +shrill and prolonged notes from the shore of the lake, and was replied +to cheerily by the signal of the warder. The Lady of Avenel knew the +sounds of her husband, and rushed to the window of the apartment in +which she was sitting. A band of about thirty spearmen, with a pennon +displayed before them, winded along the indented shores of the lake, +and approached the causeway. A single horseman rode at the head of the +party, his bright arms catching a glance of the October sun as he moved +steadily along. Even at that distance, the Lady recognized the lofty +plume, bearing the mingled colours of her own liveries and those of +Glendonwyne, blended with the holly-branch; and the firm seat and +dignified demeanour of the rider, joined to the stately motion of the +dark-brown steed, sufficiently announced Halbert Glendinning. + +The Lady's first thought was that of rapturous joy at her husband's +return--her second was connected with a fear which had sometimes +intruded itself, that he might not altogether approve the peculiar +distinction with which she had treated her orphan ward. In this fear +there was implied a consciousness, that the favour she had shown him was +excessive; for Halbert Glendinning was at least as gentle and indulgent, +as he was firm and rational in the intercourse of his household; and to +her in particular, his conduct had ever been most affectionately tender. + +Yet she did fear, that, on the present occasion, her conduct might incur +Sir Halbert's censure; and hastily resolving that she would not mention, +the anecdote of the boy until the next day, she ordered him to be +withdrawn from the apartment by Lilias. + +"I will not go with Lilias, madam," answered the spoiled child, who +had more than once carried his point by perseverance, and who, like his +betters, delighted in the exercise of such authority,--"I will not go to +Lilias's gousty room--I will stay and see that brave warrior who comes +riding so gallantly along the drawbridge." + +"You must not stay, Roland," said the Lady, more positively than she +usually spoke to her little favourite. + +"I will," reiterated the boy, who had already felt his consequence, and +the probable chance of success. + +"You _will_, Roland!" answered the Lady, "what manner of word is that? I +tell you, you must go." + +"_Will_," answered the forward boy, "is a word for a man, and _must_ is +no word for a lady." + +"You are saucy, sirrah," said the Lady--"Lilias, take him with you +instantly." + +"I always thought," said Lilias, smiling, as she seized the reluctant +boy by the arm, "that my young master must give place to my old one." + +"And you, too, are malapert, mistress!" said the Lady; "hath the moon +changed, that ye all of you thus forget yourselves?" + +Lilias made no reply, but led off the boy, who, too proud to offer +unavailing resistance, darted at his benefactress a glance, which +intimated plainly, how willingly he would have defied her authority, had +he possessed the power to make good his point. + +The Lady of Avenel was vexed to find how much this trifling circumstance +had discomposed her, at the moment when she ought naturally to have +been entirely engrossed by her husband's return. But we do not recover +composure by the mere feeling that agitation is mistimed. The glow of +displeasure had not left the Lady's cheek, her ruffled deportment was +not yet entirely composed, when her husband, unhelmeted, but still +wearing the rest of his arms, entered the apartment. His appearance +banished the thoughts of every thing else; she rushed to him, clasped +his iron-sheathed frame in her arms, and kissed his martial and manly +face with an affection which was at once evident and sincere. The +warrior returned her embrace and her caress with the same fondness; for +the time which had passed since their union had diminished its romantic +ardour, perhaps, but it had rather increased its rational tenderness, +and Sir Halbert Glendinning's long and frequent absences from his castle +had prevented affection from degenerating by habit into indifference. + +When the first eager greetings were paid and received, the Lady +gazed fondly on her husband's face as she remarked, "You are altered, +Halbert--you have ridden hard and far to-day, or you have been ill?" + +"I have been well, Mary," answered the Knight, "passing well have +I been; and a long ride is to me, thou well knowest, but a thing of +constant custom. Those who are born noble may slumber out their lives +within the walls of their castles and manor-houses; but he who hath +achieved nobility by his own deeds must ever be in the saddle, to show +that he merits his advancement." + +While he spoke thus, the Lady gazed fondly on him, as if endeavouring +to read his inmost soul; for the tone in which he spoke was that of +melancholy depression. + +Sir Halbert Glendinning was the same, yet a different person from what +he had appeared in his early years. The fiery freedom of the aspiring +youth had given place to the steady and stern composure of the approved +soldier and skilful politician. There were deep traces of care on those +noble features, over which each emotion used formerly to pass, like +light clouds across a summer sky. That sky was now, not perhaps clouded, +but still and grave, like that of the sober autumn evening. The forehead +was higher and more bare than in early youth, and the locks which still +clustered thick and dark on the warrior's head, were worn away at the +temples, not by age, but by the constant pressure of the steel cap, or +helmet. His beard, according to the fashion of the time, grew short and +thick, and was turned into mustaches on the upper lip, and peaked at the +extremity. The cheek, weather-beaten and embrowned, had lost the glow +of youth, but showed the vigorous complexion of active and confirmed +manhood. Halbert Glendinning was, in a word, a knight to ride at a +king's right hand, to bear his banner in war, and to be his counsellor +in time of peace; for his looks expressed the considerate firmness which +can resolve wisely and dare boldly. Still, over these noble features, +there now spread an air of dejection, of which, perhaps, the owner was +not conscious, but which did not escape the observation of his anxious +and affectionate partner. + +"Something has happened, or is about to happen," said the Lady of +Avenel; "this sadness sits not on your brow without cause--misfortune, +national or particular, must needs be at hand." + +"There is nothing new that I wot of," said Halbert Glendinning; "but +there is little of evil which can befall a kingdom, that may not be +apprehended in this unhappy and divided realm." + +"Nay, then," said the Lady, "I see there hath really been some fatal +work on foot. My Lord of Murray has not so long detained you at +Holyrood, save that he wanted your help in some weighty purpose." + +"I have not been at Holyrood, Mary," answered the Knight; "I have been +several weeks abroad." + +"Abroad! and sent me no word?" replied the Lady. + +"What would the knowledge have availed, but to have rendered you +unhappy, my love?" replied the Knight; "your thoughts would have +converted the slightest breeze that curled your own lake, into a tempest +raging in the German ocean." + +"And have you then really crossed the sea?" said the Lady, to whom the +very idea of an element which she had never seen conveyed notions of +terror and of wonder,--"really left your own native land, and trodden +distant shores, where the Scottish tongue is unheard and unknown?" + +"Really, and really," said the Knight, taking her hand in affectionate +playfulness, "I have done this marvellous deed--have rolled on the ocean +for three days and three nights, with the deep green waves dashing by +the side of my pillow, and but a thin plank to divide me from it." + +"Indeed, my Halbert," said the Lady, "that was a tempting of Divine +Providence. I never bade you unbuckle the sword from your side, or lay +the lance from your hand--I never bade you sit still when your honour +called you to rise and ride; but are not blade and spear dangers enough +for one man's life, and why would you trust rough waves and raging +seas?" + +"We have in Germany, and in the Low Countries, as they are called," +answered Glendinning, "men who are united with us in faith, and with +whom it is fitting we should unite in alliance. To some of these I was +despatched on business as important as it was secret. I went in safety, +and I returned in security; there is more danger to a man's life betwixt +this and Holyrood, than are in all the seas that wash the lowlands of +Holland." + +"And the country, my Halbert, and the people," said the Lady, "are they +like our kindly Scots? or what bearing have they to strangers?" + +"They are a people, Mary, strong in their wealth, which renders all +other nations weak, and weak in those arts of war by which other nations +are strong." + +"I do not understand you," said the Lady. + +"The Hollander and the Fleming, Mary, pour forth their spirit in +trade, and not in war; their wealth purchases them the arms of foreign +soldiers, by whose aid they defend it. They erect dikes on the sea-shore +to protect the land which they have won, and they levy regiments of the +stubborn Switzers and hardy Germans to protect the treasures which they +have amassed. And thus they are strong in their weakness; for the very +wealth which tempts their masters to despoil them, arms strangers in +their behalf." + +"The slothful hinds!" exclaimed Mary, thinking and feeling like a +Scotswoman of the period; "have they hands, and fight not for the land +which bore them? They should be notched off at the elbow!" + +"Nay, that were but hard justice," answered her husband; "for their +hands serve their country, though not in battle, like ours. Look at +these barren hills, Mary, and at that deep winding vale by which the +cattle are even now returning from their scanty browse. The hand of the +industrious Fleming would cover these mountains with wood, and raise +corn where we now see a starved and scanty sward of heath and ling. It +grieves me, Mary, when I look on that land, and think what benefit it +might receive from such men as I have lately seen--men who seek not +the idle fame derived from dead ancestors, or the bloody renown won in +modern broils, but tread along the land, as preservers and improvers, +not as tyrants and destroyers." + +"These amendments would here be but a vain fancy, my Halbert," answered +the Lady of Avenel; "the trees would be burned by the English foemen, +ere they ceased to be shrubs, and the grain that you raised would be +gathered in by the first neighbour that possessed more riders than +follow your train. Why should you repine at this? The fate that made +you Scotsman by birth, gave you head, and heart, and hand, to uphold the +name as it must needs be upheld." + +"It gave _me_ no name to uphold," said Halbert, pacing the floor slowly; +"my arm has been foremost in every strife--my voice has been heard in +every council, nor have the wisest rebuked me. The crafty Lethington, +the deep and dark Morton, have held secret council with me, and Grange +and Lindsay have owned, that in the field I did the devoir of a gallant +knight--but let the emergence be passed when they need my head and hand, +and they only know me as son of the obscure portioner of Glendearg." + +This was a theme which the Lady always dreaded; for the rank conferred +on her husband, the favour in which he was held by the powerful Earl of +Murray, and the high talents by which he vindicated his right to +that rank and that favour, were qualities which rather increased than +diminished the envy which was harboured against Sir Halbert Glendinning +among a proud aristocracy, as a person originally of inferior and +obscure birth, who had risen to his present eminence solely by his +personal merit. The natural firmness of his mind did not enable him to +despise the ideal advantages of a higher pedigree, which were held in +such universal esteem by all with whom he conversed; and so open are +the noblest minds to jealous inconsistencies, that there were moments in +which he felt mortified that his lady should possess those advantages +of birth and high descent which he himself did not enjoy, and regretted +that his importance as the proprietor of Avenel was qualified by his +possessing it only as the husband of the heiress. He was not so unjust +as to permit any unworthy feelings to retain permanent possession of his +mind, but yet they recurred from time to time, and did not escape his +lady's anxious observation. + +"Had we been blessed with children," she was wont on such occasions +to say to herself, "had our blood been united in a son who might have +joined my advantages of descent with my husband's personal worth, these +painful and irksome reflections had not disturbed our union even for a +moment. But the existence of such an heir, in whom our affections, as +well as our pretensions, might have centred, has been denied to us." + +With such mutual feelings, it cannot be wondered that it gave the +Lady pain to hear her husband verging towards this topic of mutual +discontent. On the present, as on other similar occasions, she +endeavoured to divert the knight's thoughts from this painful channel. + +"How can you," she said, "suffer yourself to dwell upon things which +profit nothing? Have you indeed no name to uphold? You, the good and the +brave, the wise in council, and the strong in battle, have you not +to support the reputation your own deeds have won, a reputation more +honourable than mere ancestry can supply? Good men love and honour you, +the wicked fear, and the turbulent obey you; and is it not necessary you +should exert yourself to ensure the endurance of that love, that honour, +and wholesome fear, and that necessary obedience?" + +As she thus spoke, the eye of her husband caught from hers courage and +comfort, and it lightened as he took her hand and replied, "It is +most true, my Mary, and I deserve thy rebuke, who forget what I am, in +repining because I am not what I cannot be. I am now what the most famed +ancestors of those I envy were, the mean man raised into eminence by +his own exertions; and sure it is a boast as honourable to have those +capacities which are necessary to the foundation of a family, as to be +descended from one who possessed them some centuries before. The Hay of +Loncarty, who bequeathed his bloody yoke to his lineage,--the 'dark gray +man,' who first founded the house of Douglas, had yet less of ancestry +to boast than I have. For thou knowest, Mary, that my name derives +itself from a line of ancient warriors, although my immediate +forefathers preferred the humble station in which thou didst first +find them; and war and counsel are not less proper to the house of +Glendonwyne, even, in its most remote descendants, than to the proudest +of their baronage." [Footnote: This was a house of ancient descent and +superior consequence, including persons who fought at Bannockburn and +Otterburn, and closely connected by alliance and friendship with the +great Earls of Douglas. The Knight in this story argues as most Scotsmen +would do in his situation, for all of the same clan are popularly +considered as descended from the same stock, and as having a right to +the ancestral honor of the chief branch. This opinion, though sometimes +ideal, is so strong even at this day of innovation, that it may be +observed as a national difference between my countrymen and the English. +If you ask an Englishman of good birth, whether a person of the same +name be connected with him, he answers (if _in dubio._) "No--he is a +mere namesake." Ask a similar question of a Scot, (I mean a Scotsman,) +he replies--"He is one of our clan; I daresay there is a relationship, +though I do not know how distant." The Englishman thinks of +discountenancing a species of rivalry in society; the Scotsman's answer +is grounded on the ancient idea of strengthening the clan.] + +He strode across the hall as he spoke; and the Lady smiled internally +to observe how much his mind dwelt upon the prerogatives of birth, and +endeavoured to establish his claims, however remote, to a share in them, +at the very moment when he affected to hold them in contempt. It will +easily be guessed, however, that she permitted no symptom to escape +her that could show she was sensible of the weakness of her husband, a +perspicacity which perhaps his proud spirit could not very easily have +brooked. + +As he returned from the extremity of the hall, to which he had stalked +while in the act of vindicating the title of the house of Glendonwyne in +its most remote branches to the full privileges of aristocracy, "Where," +he said, "is Wolf? I have not seen him since my return, and he was +usually the first to welcome my home-coming." + +"Wolf," said the Lady, with a slight degree of embarrassment, for which +perhaps, she would have found it difficult to assign any reason even to +herself, "Wolf is chained up for the present. He hath been surly to my +page." + +"Wolf chained up--and Wolf surly to your page!" answered Sir Halbert +Glendinning; "Wolf never was surly to any one; and the chain will either +break his spirit or render him savage--So ho, there--set Wolf free +directly." + +He was obeyed; and the huge dog rushed into the hall, disturbing, by his +unwieldy and boisterous gambols, the whole economy of reels, rocks, and +distaffs, with which the maidens of the household were employed when the +arrival of their lord was a signal to them to withdraw, and extracting +from Lilias, who was summoned to put them again in order, the natural +observation, "That the Laird's pet was as troublesome as the lady's +page." + +"And who is this page, Mary?" said the Knight, his attention again +called to the subject by the observation of the waiting-woman,--"Who +is this page, whom every one seems to weigh in the balance with my +old friend and favourite, Wolf?--When did you aspire to the dignity of +keeping a page, or who is the boy?" + +"I trust, my Halbert," said the Lady, not without a blush, "you will +not think your wife entitled to less attendance than other ladies of her +quality?" + +"Nay, Dame Mary," answered the Knight, "it is enough you desire such +an attendant.--Yet I have never loved to nurse such useless menials--a +lady's page--it may well suit the proud English dames to have a slender +youth to bear their trains from bower to hall, fan them when they +slumber, and touch the lute for them when they please to listen; but our +Scottish matrons were wont to be above such vanities, and our Scottish +youth ought to be bred to the spear and the stirrup." + +"Nay, but, my husband," said the Lady, "I did but jest when I called +this boy my page; he is in sooth a little orphan whom we saved from +perishing in the lake, and whom I have since kept in the castle out of +charity.--Lilias, bring little Roland hither." + +Roland entered accordingly, and, flying to the Lady's side, took hold +of the plaits of her gown, and then turned round, and gazed with +an attention not unmingled with fear, upon the stately form of the +Knight.--"Roland," said the Lady, "go kiss the hand of the noble Knight, +and ask him to be thy protector."--But Roland obeyed not, and, keeping +his station, continued to gaze fixedly and timidly on Sir Halbert +Glendinning.--"Go to the Knight, boy," said the Lady; "what dost thou +fear, child? Go, kiss Sir Halbert's hand." + +"I will kiss no hand save yours, Lady," answered the boy. + +"Nay, but do as you are commanded, child," replied the Lady.--"He is +dashed by your presence," she said, apologizing to her husband; "but is +he not a handsome boy?" + +"And so is Wolf," said Sir Halbert, as he patted his huge four-footed +favourite, "a handsome dog; but he has this double advantage over your +new favourite, that he does what he is commanded, and hears not when he +is praised." + +"Nay, now you are displeased with me," replied the Lady; "and yet why +should you be so? There is nothing wrong in relieving the distressed +orphan, or in loving that which is in itself lovely and deserving of +affection. But you have seen Mr. Warden at Edinburgh, and he has set you +against the poor boy." + +"My dear Mary," answered her husband, "Mr. Warden better knows his place +than to presume to interfere either in your affairs or mine. I neither +blame your relieving this boy, nor your kindness for him. But, I think, +considering his birth and prospects, you ought not to treat him with +injudicious fondness, which can only end in rendering him unfit for the +humble situation to which Heaven has designed him." + +"Nay, but, my Halbert, do but look at the boy," said the Lady, "and see +whether he has not the air of being intended by Heaven for something +nobler than a mere peasant. May he not be designed, as others have been, +to rise out of a humble situation into honour and eminence?" + +Thus far had she proceeded, when the consciousness that she was treading +upon delicate ground at once occurred to her, and induced her to take +the most natural, but the worst of all courses in such occasions, +whether in conversation or in an actual bog, namely, that of stopping +suddenly short in the illustration which she had commenced. Her brow +crimsoned, and that of Sir Halbert Glendinning was slightly overcast. +But it was only for an instant; for he was incapable of mistaking his +lady's meaning, or supposing that she meant intentional disrespect to +him. + +"Be it as you please, my love," he replied; "I owe you too much to +contradict you in aught which may render your solitary mode of life +more endurable. Make of this youth what you will, and you have my +full authority for doing so. But remember he is your charge, not +mine--remember he hath limbs to do man's service, a soul and a tongue +to worship God; breed him, therefore, to be true to his country and to +Heaven; and for the rest, dispose of him as you list--it is, and shall +rest, your own matter." + +This conversation decided the fate of Roland Graeme, who from +thence-forward was little noticed by the master of the mansion of +Avenel, but indulged and favoured by its mistress. + +This situation led to many important consequences, and, in truth, tended +to bring forth the character of the youth in all its broad lights and +deep shadows. As the Knight himself seemed tacitly to disclaim alike +interest and control over the immediate favourite of his lady, young +Roland was, by circumstances, exempted from the strict discipline to +which, as the retainer of a Scottish man of rank, he would otherwise +have been subjected, according to all the rigour of the age. But the +steward, or master of the household--such was the proud title assumed +by the head domestic of each petty baron--deemed it not advisable to +interfere with the favourite of the Lady, and especially since she had +brought the estate into the present family. Master Jasper Wingate was a +man experienced, as he often boasted, in the ways of great families, and +knew how to keep the steerage even when the wind and tide chanced to be +in contradiction. + +This prudent personage winked at much, and avoided giving opportunity +for farther offence, by requesting little of Roland Graeme beyond +the degree of attention which he was himself disposed to pay; rightly +conjecturing, that however lowly the place which the youth might hold in +the favour of the Knight of Avenel, still to make an evil report of +him would make an enemy of the Lady, without securing the favour of her +husband. With these prudential considerations, and doubtless not without +an eye to his own ease and convenience, he taught the boy as much, and +only as much, as he chose to learn, readily admitting whatever apology +it pleased his pupil to allege in excuse for idleness or negligence. +As the other persons in the castle, to whom such tasks were delegated, +readily imitated the prudential conduct of the major-domo, there was +little control used towards Roland Graeme, who, of course, learned no +more than what a very active mind, and a total impatience of absolute +idleness led him to acquire upon his own account, and by dint of his +own exertions. The latter were especially earnest, when the Lady herself +condescended to be his tutress, or to examine his progress. + +It followed also from his quality as my Lady's favourite, that Roland +was viewed with no peculiar good-will by the followers of the Knight, +many of whom, of the same age, and apparently similar origin, with the +fortunate page, were subjected to severe observance of the ancient and +rigorous discipline of a feudal retainer. To these, Roland Graeme was +of course an object of envy, and, in consequence, of dislike and +detraction; but the youth possessed qualities which it was impossible +to depreciate. Pride, and a sense of early ambition, did for him what +severity and constant instruction did for others. In truth, the youthful +Roland displayed that early flexibility both of body and mind, which +renders exercise, either mental or bodily, rather matter of sport than +of study; and it seemed as if he acquired accidentally, and by starts, +those accomplishments, which earnest and constant instruction, enforced +by frequent reproof and occasional chastisement, had taught to others. +Such military exercises, such lessons of the period, as he found it +agreeable or convenient to apply to, he learned so perfectly, as +to confound those who were ignorant how often the want of constant +application is compensated by vivacity of talent and ardent enthusiasm. +The lads, therefore, who were more regularly trained to arms, to +horsemanship, and to other necessary exercises of the period, while they +envied Roland Graeme the indulgence or negligence with which he +seemed to be treated, had little reason to boast of their own superior +acquirements; a few hours, with the powerful exertion of a most +energetic will, seemed to do for him more than the regular instruction +of weeks could accomplish for others. + +Under these advantages, if, indeed, they were to be termed such, +the character of young Roland began to develope itself. It was bold, +peremptory, decisive, and overbearing; generous, if neither withstood +nor contradicted; vehement and passionate, if censured or opposed. He +seemed to consider himself as attached to no one, and responsible to +no one, except his mistress, and even over her mind he had gradually +acquired that species of ascendancy which indulgence is so apt to +occasion. And although the immediate followers and dependents of Sir +Halbert Glendinning saw his ascendancy with jealousy, and often took +occasion to mortify his vanity, there wanted not those who were willing +to acquire the favour of the Lady of Avenel by humouring and taking part +with the youth whom she protected; for although a favourite, as the poet +assures us, has no friend, he seldom fails to have both followers and +flatterers. + +The partisans of Roland Graeme were chiefly to be found amongst the +inhabitants of the little hamlet on the shore of the lake. These +villagers, who were sometimes tempted to compare their own situation +with that of the immediate and constant followers of the Knight, who +attended him on his frequent journeys to Edinburgh and elsewhere, +delighted in considering and representing themselves as more properly +the subjects of the Lady of Avenel than of her husband. It is true, her +wisdom and affection on all occasions discountenanced the distinction +which was here implied; but the villagers persisted in thinking it must +be agreeable to her to enjoy their peculiar and undivided homage, or at +least in acting as if they thought so; and one chief mode by which they +evinced their sentiments, was by the respect they paid to young Roland +Graeme, the favourite attendant of the descendant of their ancient +lords. This was a mode of flattery too pleasing to encounter rebuke or +censure; and the opportunity which it afforded the youth to form, as +it were, a party of his own within the limits of the ancient barony +of Avenel, added not a little to the audacity and decisive tone of a +character, which was by nature bold, impetuous, and incontrollable. + +Of the two members of the household who had manifested an early jealousy +of Roland Graeme, the prejudices of Wolf were easily overcome; and in +process of time the noble dog slept with Bran, Luath, and the celebrated +hounds of ancient days. But Mr. Warden, the chaplain, lived, and +retained his dislike to the youth. That good man, single-minded and +benevolent as he really was, entertained rather more than a reasonable +idea of the respect due to him as a minister, and exacted from the +inhabitants of the castle more deference than the haughty young page, +proud of his mistress's favour, and petulant from youth and situation, +was at all times willing to pay. His bold and free demeanour, his +attachment to rich dress and decoration, his inaptitude to receive +instruction, and his hardening himself against rebuke, were +circumstances which induced the good old man, with more haste than +charity, to set the forward page down as a vessel of wrath, and to +presage that the youth nursed that pride and haughtiness of spirit which +goes before ruin and destruction. On the other hand, Roland evinced +at times a marked dislike, and even something like contempt, of +the chaplain. Most of the attendants and followers of Sir Halbert +Glendinning entertained the same charitable thoughts as the reverend +Mr. Warden; but while Roland was favoured by their lady, and endured by +their lord, they saw no policy in making their opinions public. + +Roland Graeme was sufficiently sensible of the unpleasant situation in +which he stood; but in the haughtiness of his heart he retorted upon the +other domestics the distant, cold, and sarcastic manner in which they +treated him, assumed an air of superiority which compelled the most +obstinate to obedience, and had the satisfaction at least to be dreaded, +if he was heartily hated. + +The chaplain's marked dislike had the effect of recommending him to +the attention of Sir Halbert's brother, Edward, who now, under the +conventual appellation of Father Ambrose, continued to be one of the +few monks who, with the Abbot Eustatius, had, notwithstanding the nearly +total downfall of their faith under the regency of Murray, been still +permitted to linger in the cloisters at Kennaquhair. Respect to Sir +Halbert had prevented their being altogether driven out of the Abbey, +though their order was now in a great measure suppressed, and they were +interdicted the public exercise of their ritual, and only allowed for +their support a small pension out of their once splendid revenues. +Father Ambrose, thus situated, was an occasional, though very rare +visitant, at the Castle of Avenel, and was at such times observed to pay +particular attention to Roland Graeme, who seemed to return it with more +depth of feeling than consisted with his usual habits. + +Thus situated, years glided on, during which the Knight of Avenel +continued to act a frequent and important part in the convulsions of his +distracted country; while young Graeme anticipated, both in wishes and +personal accomplishments, the age which should enable him to emerge from +the obscurity of his present situation. + + + + +Chapter the Fourth. + + + Amid their cups that freely flow'd, + Their revelry and mirth, + A youthful lord tax'd Valentine + With base and doubtful birth. + VALENTINE AND ORSON. + +When Roland Graeme was a youth about seventeen years of age, he +chanced one summer morning to descend to the mew in which Sir Halbert +Glendinning kept his hawks, in order to superintend the training of an +eyas, or young hawk, which he himself, at the imminent risk of neck and +limbs, had taken from the celebrated eyry in the neighborhood, called +Gledscraig. As he was by no means satisfied with the attention which had +been bestowed on his favourite bird, he was not slack in testifying his +displeasure to the falconer's lad, whose duty it was to have attended +upon it. + +"What, ho! sir knave," exclaimed Roland, "is it thus you feed the +eyas with unwashed meat, as if you were gorging the foul brancher of a +worthless hoodie-crow? by the mass, and thou hast neglected its castings +also for these two days! Think'st thou I ventured my neck to bring the +bird down from the crag, that thou shouldst spoil him by thy neglect?" +And to add force to his remonstrances, he conferred a cuff or two on the +negligent attendant of the hawks, who, shouting rather louder than was +necessary under all the circumstances, brought the master falconer to +his assistance. + +Adam Woodcock, the falconer of Avenel, was an Englishman by birth, but +so long in the service of Glendinning, that he had lost much of his +notional attachment in that which he had formed to his master. He was +a favourite in his department, jealous and conceited of his skill, as +masters of the game usually are; for the rest of his character he was +a jester and a parcel poet, (qualities which by no means abated his +natural conceit,) a jolly fellow, who, though a sound Protestant, loved +a flagon of ale better than a long sermon, a stout man of his hands +when need required, true to his master, and a little presuming on his +interest with him. + +Adam Woodcock, such as we have described him, by no means relished the +freedom used by young Graeme, in chastising his assistant. "Hey, hey, +my Lady's page," said he, stepping between his own boy and Roland, "fair +and softly, an it like your gilt jacket--hands off is fair play--if my +boy has done amiss, I can beat him myself, and then you may keep your +hands soft." + +"I will beat him and thee too," answered Roland, without hesitation, "an +you look not better after your business. See how the bird is cast away +between you. I found the careless lurdane feeding him with unwashed +flesh, and she an eyas." [Footnote: There is a difference amongst +authorities how long the nestling hawk should be fed with flesh which +has previously been washed.] + +"Go to," said the falconer, "thou art but an eyas thyself, child +Roland.--What knowest thou of feeding? I say that the eyas should have +her meat unwashed, until she becomes a brancher--'twere the ready way +to give her the frounce, to wash her meat sooner, and so knows every one +who knows a gled from a falcon." + +"It is thine own laziness, thou false English blood, that dost nothing +but drink and sleep," retorted the page, "and leaves that lither lad to +do the work, which he minds as little as thou." + +"And am I so idle then," said the falconer, "that have three cast of +hawks to look after, at perch and mew, and to fly them in the field +to boot?--and is my Lady's page so busy a man that he must take me +up short?--and am I of false English blood?--I marvel what blood thou +art--neither Englander nor Scot--fish nor flesh--a bastard from the +Debateable Land, without either kith, kin, or ally!--Marry, out upon +thee, foul kite, that would fain be a tercel gentle!" + +The reply to this sarcasm was a box on the ear, so well applied, that it +overthrew the falconer into the cistern in which water was kept for +the benefit of the hawks. Up started Adam Woodcock, his wrath no way +appeased by the cold immersion, and seizing on a truncheon which stood +by, would have soon requited the injury he had received, had not Roland +laid his hand on his poniard, and sworn by all that was sacred, that +if he offered a stroke towards him, he would sheath the blade in his +bowels. The noise was now so great, that more than one of the household +came in, and amongst others the major-domo, a grave personage, already +mentioned, whose gold chain and white wand intimated his authority. +At the appearance of this dignitary, the strife was for the present +appeased. He embraced, however, so favourable an opportunity, to read +Roland Graeme a shrewd lecture on the impropriety of his deportment to +his fellow-menials, and to assure him, that, should he communicate this +fray to his master, (who, though now on one of his frequent expeditions, +was speedily expected to return,) which but for respect to his Lady he +would most certainly do, the residence of the culprit in the Castle of +Avenel would be but of brief duration. "But, however," added the prudent +master of the household, "I will report the matter first to my Lady." + +"Very just, very right, Master Wingate," exclaimed several voices +together; "my Lady will consider if daggers, are to be drawn on us for +every idle word, and whether we are to live in a well-ordered household, +where there is the fear of God, or amidst drawn dirks and sharp knives." + +The object of this general resentment darted an angry glance around him, +and suppressing with difficulty the desire which urged him to reply +in furious or in contemptuous language, returned his dagger into his +scabbard, looked disdainfully around upon the assembled menials, turned +short upon his heel, and pushing aside those who stood betwixt him and +the door, left the apartment. + +"This will be no tree for my nest," said the falconer, "if this +cock-sparrow is to crow over us as he seems to do." + +"He struck me with his switch yesterday," said one of the grooms, +"because the tail of his worship's gelding was not trimmed altogether so +as suited his humour." + +"And I promise you," said the laundress, "my young master will stick +nothing to call an honest woman slut and quean, if there be but a speck +of soot upon his band-collar." + +"If Master Wingate do not his errand to my Lady," was the general +result, "there will be no tarrying in the same house with Roland +Graeme." + +The master of the household heard them all for some time, and then, +motioning for universal silence, he addressed them with all the +dignity of Malvolio himself.--"My masters,--not forgetting you, my +mistresses,--do not think the worse of me that I proceed with as much +care as haste in this matter. Our master is a gallant knight, and will +have his sway at home and abroad, in wood and field, in hall and bower, +as the saying is. Our Lady, my benison upon her, is also a noble person +of long descent, and rightful heir of this place and barony, and she +also loves her will; as for that matter, show me the woman who doth +not. Now, she hath favoured, doth favour, and will favour, this +jack-an-ape,--for what good part about him I know not, save that as one +noble lady will love a messan dog, and another a screaming popinjay, +and a third a Barbary ape, so doth it please our noble dame to set her +affections upon this stray elf of a page, for nought that I can think +of, save that she--was the cause of his being saved (the more's the +pity) from drowning." And here Master Wingate made a pause. + +"I would have been his caution for a gray groat against salt water or +fresh," said Roland's adversary, the falconer; "marry, if he crack not a +rope for stabbing or for snatching, I will be content never to hood hawk +again." + +"Peace, Adam Woodcock," said Wingate, waving his hand; "I prithee, peace +man--Now, my Lady liking this springald, as aforesaid, differs therein +from my Lord, who loves never a bone in his skin. Now, is it for me to +stir up strife betwixt them, and put as'twere my finger betwixt the bark +and the tree, on account of a pragmatical youngster, whom, nevertheless, +I would willingly see whipped forth of the barony? Have patience, and +this boil will break without our meddling. I have been in service since +I wore a beard on my chin, till now that that beard is turned gray, and +I have seldom known any one better themselves, even by taking the lady's +part against the lord's; but never one who did not dirk himself, if he +took the lord's against the lady's." + +"And so," said Lilias, "we are to be crowed over, every one of us, men +and women, cock and hen, by this little upstart?--I will try titles with +him first, I promise you.--I fancy, Master Wingate, for as wise as you +look, you will be pleased to tell what you have seen to-day, if my lady +commands you?" + +"To speak the truth when my lady commands me," answered the prudential +major-domo, "is in some measure my duty, Mistress Lilias; always +providing for and excepting those cases in which it cannot be +spoken without breeding mischief and inconvenience to myself or my +fellow-servants; for the tongue of a tale-bearer breaketh bones as well +as Jeddart-staff." [Footnote: A species of battle-axe, so called as +being in especial use in that ancient burgh, whose armorial bearing +still represent an armed horseman brandishing such a weapon.] + +"But this imp of Satan is none of your friends or fellow-servants," said +Lilias; "and I trust you mean not to stand up for him against the whole +family besides?" + +"Credit me, Mrs. Lilias," replied the senior, "should I see the time +fitting, I would, with right good-will give him a lick with the rough +side of my tongue." + +"Enough said, Master Wingate," answered Lilias; "then trust me his song +shall soon be laid. If my mistress does not ask me what is the matter +below stairs before she be ten minutes of time older, she is no born +woman, and my name is not Lilias Bradbourne." + +In pursuance of her plan, Mistress Lilias failed not to present herself +before her mistress with all the exterior of one who is possessed of +an important secret,--that is, she had the corners of her mouth turned +down, her eyes raised up, her lips pressed as fast together as if they +had been sewed up, to prevent her babbling, and an air of prim mystical +importance diffused over her whole person and demeanour, which seemed to +intimate, "I know something which I am resolved not to tell you!" + +Lilias had rightly read her mistress's temper, who, wise and good as +she was, was yet a daughter of grandame Eve, and could not witness this +mysterious bearing on the part of her waiting-woman without longing to +ascertain the secret cause. For a space, Mrs. Lilias was obdurate to all +inquiries, sighed, turned her eyes up higher yet to heaven, hoped for +the best, but had nothing particular to communicate. All this, as was +most natural and proper, only stimulated the Lady's curiosity; +neither was her importunity to be parried with,--"Thank God, I am no +makebate--no tale-bearer,--thank God, I never envied any one's favour, +or was anxious to propale their misdemeanour-only, thank God, there has +been no bloodshed and murder in the house--that is all." + +"Bloodshed and murder!" exclaimed the Lady, "what does the quean +mean?--if you speak not plain out, you shall have something you will +scarce be thankful for." + +"Nay, my Lady," answered Lilias, eager to disburden her mind, or, in, +Chaucer's phrase, to "unbuckle her mail," "if you bid me speak out +the truth, you must not be moved with what might displease you--Roland +Graeme has dirked Adam Woodstock--that is all." + +"Good Heaven!" said the Lady, turning pale as ashes, "is the man slain?" + +"No, madam," replied Lilias, "but slain he would have been, if there +had not been ready help; but may be, it is your Ladyship's pleasure that +this young esquire shall poniard the servants, as well as switch and +baton them." + +"Go to, minion," said the Lady, "you are saucy-tell the master of the +household to attend me instantly." + +Lilias hastened to seek out Mr. Wingate, and hurry him to his lady's +presence, speaking as a word in season to him on the way, "I have set +the stone a-trowling, look that you do not let it stand still." + +The steward, too prudential a person to commit himself otherwise, +answered by a sly look and a nod of intelligence, and presently after +stood in the presence of the Lady of Avenel, with a look of great +respect for his lady, partly real, partly affected, and an air of great +sagacity, which inferred no ordinary conceit of himself. + +"How is this, Wingate," said the Lady, "and what rule do you keep in the +castle, that the domestics of Sir Halbert Glendinning draw the dagger on +each other, as in a cavern of thieves and murderers?--is the wounded man +much hurt? and what--what hath become of the unhappy boy?" + +"There is no one wounded as yet, madam," replied he of the golden chain; +"it passes my poor skill to say how many may be wounded before Pasche, +[Footnote: Easter.] if some rule be not taken with this youth--not but +the youth is a fair youth," he added, correcting himself, "and able at +his exercise; but somewhat too ready with the ends of his fingers, the +butt of his riding-switch, and the point of his dagger." + +"And whose fault is that," said the Lady, "but yours, who should have +taught him better discipline, than to brawl or to draw his dagger." + +"If it please your Ladyship so to impose the blame on me," answered the +steward, "it is my part, doubtless, to bear it--only I submit to your +consideration, that unless I nailed his weapon to the scabbard, I could +no more keep it still, than I could fix quicksilver, which defied even +the skill of Raymond Lullius." + +"Tell me not of Raymond Lullius," said the Lady, losing patience, "but +send me the chaplain hither. You grow all of you too wise for me, during +your lord's long and repeated absences. I would to God his affairs would +permit him to remain at home and rule his own household, for it passes +my wit and skill!" + +"God forbid, my Lady!" said the old domestic, "that you should sincerely +think what you are now pleased to say: your old servants might well +hope, that after so many years' duty, you would do their service more +justice than to distrust their gray hairs, because they cannot rule the +peevish humour of a green head, which the owner carries, it may be, a +brace of inches higher than becomes him." + +"Leave me," said the Lady; "Sir Halbert's return must now be expected +daily, and he will look into these matters himself--leave me, I say, +Wingate, without saying more of it. I know you are honest, and I believe +the boy is petulant; and yet I think it is my favour which hath set all +of you against him." + +The steward bowed and retired, after having been silenced in a second +attempt to explain the motives on which he acted. + +The chaplain arrived; but neither from him did the Lady receive much +comfort. On the contrary, she found him disposed, in plain terms, to +lay to the door of her indulgence all the disturbances which the fiery +temper of Roland Graeme had already occasioned, or might hereafter +occasion, in the family. "I would," he said, "honoured Lady, that you +had deigned to be ruled by me in the outset of this matter, sith it is +easy to stem evil in the fountain, but hard to struggle against it in +the stream. You, honoured madam, (a word which I do not use according to +the vain forms of this world, but because I have ever loved and honoured +you as an honourable and elect lady,)--you, I say, madam, have been +pleased, contrary to my poor but earnest counsel, to raise this boy from +his station, into one approaching to your own." + +"What mean you, reverend sir?" said the Lady; "I have made this youth +a page--is there aught in my doing so that does not become my character +and quality?" + +"I dispute not, madam," said the pertinacious preacher, "your benevolent +purpose in taking charge of this youth, or your title to give him this +idle character of page, if such was your pleasure; though what the +education of a boy in the train of a female can tend to, save to ingraft +foppery and effeminacy on conceit and arrogance, it passes my knowledge +to discover. But I blame you more directly for having taken little care +to guard him against the perils of his condition, or to tame and humble +a spirit naturally haughty, overbearing, and impatient. You have brought +into your bower a lion's cub; delighted with the beauty of his fur, and +the grace of his gambols, you have bound him with no fetters befitting +the fierceness of his disposition. You have let him grow up as unawed as +if he had been still a tenant of the forest, and now you are surprised, +and call out for assistance, when he begins to ramp, rend, and tear, +according to his proper nature." + +"Mr. Warden," said the Lady, considerably offended, "you are my +husband's ancient friend, and I believe your love sincere to him and +to his household. Yet let me say, that when I asked you for counsel, +I expected not this asperity of rebuke. If I have done wrong in loving +this poor orphan lad more than others of his class, I scarce think +the error merited such severe censure; and if stricter discipline were +required to keep his fiery temper in order, it ought, I think, to be +considered, that I am a woman, and that if I have erred in this matter, +it becomes a friend's part rather to aid than to rebuke me. I would +these evils were taken order with before my lord's return. He loves not +domestic discord or domestic brawls; and I would not willingly that he +thought such could arise from one whom I favoured--What do you counsel +me to do?" + +"Dismiss this youth from your service, madam," replied the preacher. + +"You cannot bid me do so," said the Lady; "you cannot, as a Christian +and a man of humanity, bid me turn away an unprotected creature against +whom my favour, my injudicious favour if you will, has reared up so many +enemies." + +"It is not necessary you should altogether abandon him, though you +dismiss him to another service, or to a calling better suiting his +station and character," said the preacher; "elsewhere he maybe an useful +and profitable member of the commonweal--here he is but a makebate, and +a stumbling-block of offence. The youth has snatches of sense and of +intelligence, though he lacks industry. I will myself give him letters +commendatory to Olearius Schinderhausen, a learned professor at the +famous university of Leyden, where they lack an under-janitor--where, +besides gratis instruction, if God give him the grace to seek it, he +will enjoy five merks by the year, and the professor's cast-off suit, +which he disparts with biennially." + +"This will never do, good Mr. Warden," said the Lady, scarce able to +suppress a smile; "we will think more at large upon this matter. In the +meanwhile, I trust to your remonstrances with this wild boy and with the +family, for restraining these violent and unseemly jealousies and bursts +of passion; and I entreat you to press on him and them their duty in +this respect towards God, and towards their master." + +"You shall be obeyed, madam," said Warden. "On the next Thursday I +exhort the family, and will, with God's blessing, so wrestle with the +demon of wrath and violence, which hath entered into my little flock, +that I trust to hound the wolf out of the fold, as if he were chased +away with bandogs." + +This was the part of the conference from which Mr. Warden derived the +greatest pleasure. The pulpit was at that time the same powerful engine +for affecting popular feeling which the press has since become, and he +had been no unsuccessful preacher, as we have already seen. It followed +as a natural consequence, that he rather over-estimated the powers of +his own oratory, and, like some of his brethren about the period, was +glad of an opportunity to handle any matters of importance, whether +public or private, the discussion of which could be dragged into his +discourse. In that rude age the delicacy was unknown which prescribed +time and place to personal exhortations; and as the court-preacher often +addressed the King individually, and dictated to him the conduct he +ought to observe in matters of state, so the nobleman himself, or any of +his retainers, were, in the chapel of the feudal castle, often incensed +or appalled, as the case might be, by the discussion of their private +faults in the evening exercise, and by spiritual censures directed +against them, specifically, personally, and by name. The sermon, by +means of which Henry Warden purposed to restore concord and good order +to the Castle of Avenel, bore for text the well-known words, "_He who +striketh with the sword shall perish by the sword,_" and was a singular +mixture of good sense and powerful oratory with pedantry and bad taste. +He enlarged a good deal on the word striketh, which he assured his +hearers comprehended blows given with the point as well as with +the edge, and more generally, shooting with hand-gun, cross-bow, or +long-bow, thrusting with a lance, or doing any thing whatever by which +death might be occasioned to the adversary. In the same manner, +he proved satisfactorily, that the word sword comprehended all +descriptions, whether backsword or basket-hilt, cut-and-thrust or +rapier, falchion, or scimitar. "But if," he continued, with still +greater animation, "the text includeth in its anathema those who strike +with any of those weapons which man hath devised for the exercise of his +open hostility, still more doth it comprehend such as from their form +and size are devised rather for the gratification of privy malice by +treachery, than for the destruction of an enemy prepared and standing +upon his defence. Such," he proceeded, looking sternly at the place +where the page was seated on a cushion at the feet of his mistress, and +wearing in his crimson belt a gay dagger with a gilded hilt,--"such, +more especially, I hold to be those implements of death, which, in +our modern and fantastic times, are worn not only by thieves and +cut-throats, to whom they most properly belong, but even by those who +attend upon women, and wait in the chambers of honourable ladies. Yes, +my friends,--every species of this unhappy weapon, framed for all evil +and for no good, is comprehended under this deadly denunciation, whether +it be a stillet, which we have borrowed from the treacherous Italian, or +a dirk, which is borne by the savage Highlandman, or a whinger, which is +carried by our own Border thieves and cut-throats, or a dudgeon-dagger, +all are alike engines invented by the devil himself, for ready +implements of deadly wrath, sudden to execute, and difficult to be +parried. Even the common sword-and-buckler brawler despises the use of +such a treacherous and malignant instrument, which is therefore fit to +be used, not by men or soldiers, but by those who, trained under female +discipline, become themselves effeminate hermaphrodites, having female +spite and female cowardice added to the infirmities and evil passions of +their masculine nature." + +The effect which this oration produced upon the assembled congregation +of Avenel cannot very easily be described. The lady seemed at once +embarrassed and offended; the menials could hardly contain, under +an affectation of deep attention, the joy with which they heard the +chaplain launch his thunders at the head of the unpopular favourite, and +the weapon which they considered as a badge of affectation and finery. +Mrs. Lilias crested and drew up her head with all the deep-felt pride of +gratified resentment; while the steward, observing a strict neutrality +of aspect, fixed his eyes upon an old scutcheon on the opposite side +of the wall, which he seemed to examine with the utmost accuracy, more +willing, perhaps, to incur the censure of being inattentive to the +sermon, than that of seeming to listen with marked approbation to what +appeared so distasteful to his mistress. + +The unfortunate subject of the harangue, whom nature had endowed with +passions which had hitherto found no effectual restraint, could not +disguise the resentment which he felt at being thus directly held up to +the scorn, as well as the censure, of the assembled inhabitants of the +little world in which he lived. His brow grew red, his lip grew pale, he +set his teeth, he clenched his hand, and then with mechanical readiness +grasped the weapon of which the clergyman had given so hideous a +character; and at length, as the preacher heightened the colouring of +his invective, he felt his rage become so ungovernable, that, fearful +of being hurried into some deed of desperate violence, he rose up, +traversed the chapel with hasty steps, and left the congregation. + +The preacher was surprised into a sudden pause, while the fiery youth +shot across him like a flash of lightning, regarding him as he passed, +as if he had wished to dart from his eyes the same power of blighting +and of consuming. But no sooner had he crossed the chapel, and shut +with violence behind him the door of the vaulted entrance by which +it communicated with the castle, than the impropriety of his conduct +supplied Warden with one of those happier subjects for eloquence, of +which he knew how to take advantage for making a suitable impression on +his hearers. He paused for an instant, and then pronounced, in a slow +and solemn voice, the deep anathema: "He hath gone out from us because +he was not of us--the sick man hath been offended at the wholesome +bitter of the medicine--the wounded patient hath flinched from the +friendly knife of the surgeon--the sheep hath fled from the sheepfold +and delivered himself to the wolf, because he could not assume the +quiet and humble conduct demanded of us by the great Shepherd. Ah! my +brethren, beware of wrath--beware of pride--beware of the deadly and +destroying sin which so often shows itself to our frail eyes in +the garments of light! What is our earthly honour? Pride, and pride +only--What our earthly gifts and graces? Pride and vanity. Voyagers +speak of Indian men who deck themselves with shells, and anoint +themselves with pigments, and boast of their attire as we do of our +miserable carnal advantages--Pride could draw down the morning-star from +Heaven even to the verge of the pit--Pride and self-opinion kindled the +flaming sword which waves us off from Paradise--Pride made Adam mortal, +and a weary wanderer on the face of the earth, which he had else been at +this day the immortal lord of--Pride brought amongst us sin, and doubles +every sin it has brought. It is the outpost which the devil and the +flesh most stubbornly maintain against the assaults of grace; and until +it be subdued, and its barriers levelled with the very earth, there is +more hope of a fool than of the sinner. Rend, then, from your bosoms +this accursed shoot of the fatal apple; tear it up by the roots, though +it be twisted with the chords of your life. Profit by the example of the +miserable sinner that has passed from us, and embrace the means of +grace while it is called to-day 'ere your conscience is seared as with +a fire-brand, and your ears deafened like those of the adder, and +your heart hardened like the nether mill-stone. Up, then, and be +doing--wrestle and overcome; resist, and the enemy shall flee from +you--Watch and pray, lest ye fall into temptation, and let the stumbling +of others be your warning and your example. Above all, rely not on +yourselves, for such self-confidence is even the worst symptom of the +disorder itself. The Pharisee, perhaps, deemed himself humble while he +stooped in the Temple, and thanked God that he was not as other men, and +even as the publican. But while his knees touched the marble pavement, +his head was as high as the topmost pinnacle of the Temple. Do not, +therefore, deceive yourselves, and offer false coin, where the purest +you can present is but as dross--think not that such--will pass the +assay of Omnipotent Wisdom. Yet shrink not from the task, because, as +is my bounden duty, I do not disguise from you its difficulties. +Self-searching can do much--Meditation can do much--Grace can do all." + +And he concluded with a touching and animating exhortation to his +hearers to seek divine grace, which is perfected in human wakness. + +The audience did not listen to this address without being considerably +affected; though it might be doubted whether the feelings of triumph, +excited by the disgraceful retreat of the favourite page, did not +greatly qualify in the minds of many the exhortations of the preacher +to charity and to humility. And, in fact, the expression of their +countenances much resembled the satisfied triumphant air of a set of +children, who, having just seen a companion punished for a fault in +which they had no share, con their task with double glee, both because +they themselves are out of the scrape, and because the culprit is in it. + +With very different feelings did the Lady of Avenel seek her own +apartment. She felt angry at Warden having made a domestic matter, +in which she took a personal interest, the subject of such public +discussion. But this she knew the good man claimed as a branch of his +Christian liberty as a preacher, and also that it was vindicated by the +universal custom of his brethren. But the self-willed conduct of her +protege afforded her yet deeper concern. That he had broken through in +so remarkable a degree, not only the respect due to her presence, but +that which was paid to religious admonition in those days with such +peculiar reverence, argued a spirit as untameable as his enemies had +represented him to possess. And yet so far as he had been under her own +eye, she had seen no more of that fiery spirit than appeared to her to +become his years and his vivacity. This opinion might be founded in +some degree on partiality; in some degree, too, it might be owing to the +kindness and indulgence which she had always extended to him; but still +she thought it impossible that she could be totally mistaken in the +estimate she had formed of his character. The extreme of violence is +scarce consistent with a course of continued hypocrisy, (although Lilias +charitably hinted, that in some instances they were happily united,) and +there fore she could not exactly trust the report of others against her +own experience and observation. The thoughts of this orphan boy clung +to her heartstrings with a fondness for which she herself was unable to +account. He seemed to have been sent to her by Heaven, to fill up those +intervals of languor and vacuity which deprived her of much enjoyment. +Perhaps he was not less dear to her, because she well saw that he was +a favourite with no one else, and because she felt, that to give him up +was to afford the judgment of her husband and others a triumph over +her own; a circumstance not quite indifferent to the best of spouses of +either sex. + +In short, the Lady of Avenel formed the internal resolution, that she +would not desert her page while her page could be rationally protected; +and, with a view of ascertaining how far this might be done, she caused +him to be summoned to her presence. + + + + +Chapter the Fifth. + + + --In the wild storm, + The seaman hews his mast down, and the merchant + Heaves to the billows wares he once deem'd precious; + So prince and peer, 'mid popular contentions, + Cast off their favourites. + OLD PLAY. + +It was some time ere Roland Graeme appeared. The messenger (his old +friend Lilias) had at first attempted to open the door of his little +apartment with the charitable purpose, doubtless, of enjoying the +confusion, and marking the demeanour of the culprit. But an oblong bit +of iron, ycleped a bolt, was passed across the door on the inside, and +prevented her benign intentions. Lilias knocked and called at intervals. +"Roland--Roland Graeme--_Master_ Roland Graeme" (an emphasis on the word +Master,) "will you be pleased to undo the door?--What ails you?--are +you at your prayers in private, to complete the devotion which you left +unfinished in public?--Surely we must have a screened seat for you in +the chapel, that your gentility may be free from the eyes of common +folks!" Still no whisper was heard in reply. "Well, master Roland," said +the waiting-maid, "I must tell my mistress, that if she would have an +answer, she must either come herself, or send those on errand to you who +can beat the door down." + +"What says your Lady?" answered the page from within. + +"Marry, open the door, and you shall hear," answered the waiting-maid. +"I trow it becomes my Lady's message to be listened to face to face; and +I will not for your idle pleasure, whistle it through a key-hole." + +"Your mistress's name," said the page, opening the door, "is too fair a +cover for your impertinence--What says my Lady?" + +"That you will be pleased to come to her directly, in the +withdrawing-room," answered Lilias. "I presume she has some directions +for you concerning the forms to be observed in leaving chapel in +future." + +"Say to my Lady, that I will directly wait on her," answered the page; +and returning into his apartment, he once more locked the door in the +face of the waiting-maid. + +"Rare courtesy!" muttered Lilias; and, returning to her mistress, +acquainted her that Roland Graeme would wait on her when it suited his +convenience. + +"What, is that his addition, or your own phrase, Lilias?" said the Lady, +coolly. + +"Nay, madam," replied the attendant, not directly answering the +question, "he looked as if he could have said much more impertinent +things than that, if I had been willing to hear them.--But here he comes +to answer for himself." + +Roland Graeme entered the apartment with a loftier mien, and somewhat a +higher colour than his wont; there was embarrassment in his manner, but +it was neither that of fear nor of penitence. + +"Young man," said the Lady, "what trow you I am to think of your conduct +this day?" + +"If it has offended you, madam, I am deeply grieved," replied the youth. + +"To have offended me alone," replied the Lady, "were but little--You +have been guilty of conduct which will highly offend your master--of +violence to your fellow-servants, and of disrespect to God himself, in +the person of his ambassador." + +"Permit me again to reply," said the page, "that if I have offended +my only mistress, friend, and benefactress, it includes the sum of my +guilt, and deserves the sum of my penitence--Sir Halbert Glendinning +calls me not servant, nor do I call him master--he is not entitled to +blame me for chastising an insolent groom--nor do I fear the wrath +of Heaven for treating with scorn the unauthorized interference of a +meddling preacher." + +The Lady of Avenel had before this seen symptoms in her favourite of +boyish petulance, and of impatience of censure or reproof. But his +present demeanour was of a graver and more determined character, and she +was for a moment at a loss how she should treat the youth, who seemed to +have at once assumed the character not only of a man, but of a bold and +determined one. She paused an instant, and then assuming the dignity +which was natural to her, she said, "Is it to me, Roland, that you hold +this language? Is it for the purpose of making me repent the favour I +have shown you, that you declare yourself independent both of an earthly +and a Heavenly master? Have you forgotten what you were, and to what the +loss of my protection would speedily again reduce you?" + +"Lady," said the page, "I have forgot nothing, I remember but too much. +I know, that but for you, I should have perished in yon blue waves," +pointing, as he spoke, to the lake, which was seen through the +window, agitated by the western wind. "Your goodness has gone farther, +madam--you have protected me against the malice of others, and against +my own folly. You are free, if you are willing, to abandon the orphan +you have reared. You have left nothing undone by him, and he complains +of nothing. And yet, Lady, do not think I have been ungrateful--I have +endured something on my part, which I would have borne for the sake of +no one but my benefactress." + +"For my sake!" said the Lady; "and what is it that I can have subjected +you to endure, which can be remembered with other feelings than those of +thanks and gratitude?" + +"You are too just, madam, to require me to be thankful for the cold +neglect with which your husband has uniformly treated me--neglect not +unmingled with fixed aversion. You are too just, madam, to require me +to be grateful for the constant and unceasing marks of scorn and +malevolence with which I have been treated by others, or for such a +homily as that with which your reverend chaplain has, at my expense, +this very day regaled the assembled household." + +"Heard mortal ears the like of this!" said the waiting-maid, with her +hands expanded and her eyes turned up to heaven; "he speaks as if he +were son of an earl, or of a belted knight the least penny!" + +The page glanced on her a look of supreme contempt, but vouchsafed +no other answer. His mistress, who began to feel herself seriously +offended, and yet sorry for the youth's folly, took up the same tone. + +"Indeed, Roland, you forget yourself so strangely," said she, "that you +will tempt me to take serious measures to lower you in your own opinion +by reducing you to your proper station in society." + +"And that," added Lilias, "would be best done by turning him out the +same beggar's brat that your ladyship took him in." + +"Lilias speaks too rudely," continued the Lady, "but she has spoken the +truth, young man; nor do I think I ought to spare that pride which +hath so completely turned your head. You have been tricked up with fine +garments, and treated like the son of a gentleman, until you have forgot +the fountain of your churlish blood." + +"Craving your pardon, most honourable madam, Lilias hath _not_ spoken +truth, nor does your ladyship know aught of my descent, which should +entitle you to treat it with such decided scorn. I am no beggar's +brat--my grandmother begged from no one, here nor elsewhere--she would +have perished sooner on the bare moor. We were harried out and driven +from our home--a chance which has happed elsewhere, and to others. +Avenel Castle, with its lake and its towers, was not at all times able +to protect its inhabitants from want and desolation." + +"Hear but his assurance!" said Lilias, "he upbraids my Lady with the +distresses of her family!" + +"It had indeed been a theme more gratefully spared," said the Lady, +affected nevertheless with the allusion. + +"It was necessary, madam, for my vindication," said the page, "or I +had not even hinted at a word that might give you pain. But believe, +honoured Lady, I am of no churl's blood. My proper descent I know not; +but my only relation has said, and my heart has echoed it back and +attested the truth, that I am sprung of gentle blood, and deserve gentle +usage." + +"And upon an assurance so vague as this," said the Lady, "do you propose +to expect all the regard, all the privileges, befitting high rank and +distinguished birth, and become a contender for concessions which are +only due to the noble? Go to, sir, know yourself, or the master of +the household shall make you know you are liable to the scourge as a +malapert boy. You have tasted too little the discipline fit for your age +and station." + +"The master of the household shall taste of my dagger, ere I taste of +his discipline," said the page, giving way to his restrained passion. +"Lady, I have been too long the vassal of a pantoufle, and the slave +of a silver whistle. You must henceforth find some other to answer your +call; and let him be of birth and spirit mean enough to brook the scorn +of your menials, and to call a church vassal his master." + +"I have deserved this insult," said the Lady, colouring deeply, "for +so long enduring and fostering your petulance. Begone, sir. Leave this +castle to-night--I will send you the means of subsistence till you find +some honest mode of support, though I fear your imaginary grandeur will +be above all others, save those of rapine and violence. Begone, sir, and +see my face no more." + +The page threw himself at her feet in an agony of sorrow. "My dear +and honoured mistress," he said, but was unable to bring out another +syllable. + +"Arise, sir," said the Lady, "and let go my mantle--hypocrisy is a poor +cloak for ingratitude." + +"I am incapable of either, madam," said the page, springing up with the +hasty start of passion which belonged to his rapid and impetuous temper. +"Think not I meant to implore permission to reside here; it has been +long my determination to leave Avenel, and I will never forgive myself +for having permitted you to say the word begone, ere I said, 'I leave +you.' I did but kneel to ask your forgiveness for an ill-considered word +used in the height of displeasure, but which ill became my mouth, +as addressed to you. Other grace I asked not--you have done much for +me--but I repeat, that you better know what you yourself have done, than +what I have suffered." + +"Roland," said the Lady, somewhat appeased, and relenting towards her +favourite, "you had me to appeal to when you were aggrieved. You were +neither called upon to suffer wrong, nor entitled to resent it, when you +were under my protection." + +"And what," said the youth, "if I sustained wrong from those you loved +and favoured, was I to disturb your peace with idle tale-bearings and +eternal complaints? No, madam; I have borne my own burden in silence, +and without disturbing you with murmurs; and the respect with which +you accuse me of wanting, furnishes the only reason why I have neither +appealed to you, nor taken vengeance at my own hand in a manner far more +effectual. It is well, however, that we part. I was not born to be a +stipendiary, favoured by his mistress, until ruined by the calumnies +of others. May Heaven multiply its choicest blessings on your honoured +head; and, for your sake, upon all that are dear to you!" + +He was about to leave the apartment, when the Lady called upon him to +return. He stood still, while she thus addressed him: "It was not my +intention, nor would it be just, even in the height of my displeasure, +to dismiss you without the means of support; take this purse of gold." + +"Forgive me, Lady," said the boy, "and let me go hence with the +consciousness that I have not been degraded to the point of accepting +alms. If my poor services can be placed against the expense of my +apparel and my maintenance, I only remain debtor to you for my life, and +that alone is a debt which I can never repay; put up then that purse, +and only say, instead, that you do not part from me in anger." + +"No, not in anger," said the Lady, "in sorrow rather for your +wilfulness; but take the gold, you cannot but need it." + +"May God evermore bless you for the kind tone and the kind word! but the +gold I cannot take. I am able of body, and do not lack friends so wholly +as you may think; for the time may come that I may yet show myself more +thankful than by mere words." He threw himself on his knees, kissed the +hand which she did not withdraw, and then, hastily left the apartment. + +Lilias, for a moment or two, kept her eye fixed on her mistress, who +looked so unusually pale, that she seemed about to faint; but the Lady +instantly recovered herself, and declining the assistance which her +attendant offered her, walked to her own apartment. + + + + +Chapter the Sixth. + + + Thou hast each secret of the household, Francis. + I dare be sworn thou hast been in the buttery, + Steeping thy curious humour in fat ale, + And in thy butler's tattle--ay, or chatting + With the glib waiting-woman o'er her comfits-- + These bear the key to each domestic mystery. + OLD PLAY. + +Upon the morrow succeeding the scene we have described, the disgraced +favourite left the castle; and at breakfast-time the cautious old +steward and Mrs. Lilias sat in the apartment of the latter personage, +holding grave converse on the important event of the day, sweetened by a +small treat of comfits, to which the providence of Mr. Wingate had added +a little flask of racy canary. + +"He is gone at last," said the abigail, sipping her glass; "and here is +to his good journey." + +"Amen," answered the steward, gravely; "I wish the poor deserted lad no +ill." + +"And he is gone like a wild-duck, as he came," continued Mrs. Lilias; +"no lowering of drawbridges, or pacing along causeways, for him. My +master has pushed off in the boat which they call the little Herod, +(more shame to them for giving the name of a Christian to wood and +iron,) and has rowed himself by himself to the farther side of the loch, +and off and away with himself, and left all his finery strewed about his +room. I wonder who is to clean his trumpery out after him--though the +things are worth lifting, too." + +"Doubtless, Mistress Lilias," answered the master of the household, +"in the which case, I am free to think, they will not long cumber the +floor." + +"And now tell me, Master Wingate," continued the damsel, "do not the +very cockles of your heart rejoice at the house being rid of this +upstart whelp, that flung us all into shadow?" + +"Why, Mistress Lilias," replied Wingate, "as to rejoicing--those who +have lived as long in great families as has been my lot, will be in no +hurry to rejoice at any thing. And for Roland Graeme, though he may be a +good riddance in the main, yet what says the very sooth proverb, 'Seldom +comes a better.'" + +"Seldom comes a better, indeed!" echoed Mrs. Lilias. "I say, never can +come a worse, or one half so bad. He might have been the ruin of our +poor dear mistress," (here she used her kerchief,) "body and soul, and +estate too; for she spent more coin on his apparel than on any four +servants about the house." + +"Mistress Lilias," said the sage steward, "I do opine that our mistress +requireth not this pity at your hands, being in all respects competent +to take care of her own body, soul, and estate into the bargain." + +"You would not mayhap have said so," answered the waiting-woman, "had +you seen how like Lot's wife she looked when young master took his +leave. My mistress is a good lady, and a virtuous, and a well-doing +lady, and a well-spoken of--but I would not Sir Halbert had seen her +last evening for two and a plack." + +"Oh, foy! foy! foy!" reiterated the steward; "servants should hear and +see, and say nothing. Besides that, my lady is utterly devoted to Sir +Halbert, as well she may, being, as he is, the most renowned knight in +these parts." + +"Well, well," said the abigail, "I mean no more harm; but they that seek +least renown abroad, are most apt to find quiet at home, that's all; and +my Lady's lonesome situation is to be considered, that made her fain to +take up with the first beggar's brat that a dog brought her out of the +loch." + +"And, therefore," said the steward, "I say, rejoice not too much, or too +hastily, Mistress Lilias; for if your Lady wished a favourite to pass +away the time, depend upon it, the time will not pass lighter now that +he is gone. So she will have another favourite to choose for herself; +and be assured, if she wishes such a toy, she will not lack one." + +"And where should she choose one, but among her own tried and faithful +servants," said Mrs. Lilias, "who have broken her bread, and drunk her +drink, for so many years? I have known many a lady as high as she is, +that never thought either of a friend or favourite beyond their own +waiting-woman--always having a proper respect, at the same time, for +their old and faithful master of the household, Master Wingate." + +"Truly, Mistress Lilias," replied the steward, "I do partly see the mark +at which you shoot, but I doubt your bolt will fall short. Matters +being with our Lady as it likes you to suppose, it will neither be your +crimped pinners, Mrs. Lilias, (speaking of them with due respect,) nor +my silver hair, or golden chain, that will fill up the void which Roland +Graeme must needs leave in our Lady's leisure. There will be a learned +young divine with some new doctrine--a learned leech with some new +drug--a bold cavalier, who will not be refused the favour of wearing her +colours at a running at the ring--a cunning harper that could harp the +heart out of woman's breast, as they say Signer David Rizzio did to +our poor Queen;--these are the sort of folk who supply the loss of +a well-favoured favourite, and not an old steward, or a middle-aged +waiting-woman." + +"Well," replied Lilias, "you have experience, Master Wingate, and truly +I would my master would leave off his picking hither and thither, +and look better after the affairs of his household. There will be a +papestrie among us next, for what should I see among master's clothes +but a string of gold beads! I promise you, _aves_ and _credos_ both!--I +seized on them like a falcon." + +"I doubt it not, I doubt it not," said the steward, sagaciously nodding +his head; "I have often noticed that the boy had strange observances +which savoured of popery, and that he was very jealous to conceal them. +But you will find the Catholic under the Presbyterian cloak as often as +the knave under the Friar's hood--what then? we are all mortal--Right +proper beads they are," he added, looking attentively at them, "and may +weigh four ounces of fine gold." + +"And I will have them melted down presently," she said, "before they be +the misguiding of some poor blinded soul." + +"Very cautious, indeed, Mistress Lilias," said the steward, nodding his +head in assent. + +"I will have them made," said Mrs. Lilias, "into a pair of shoe-buckles; +I would not wear the Pope's trinkets, or whatever has once borne the +shape of them, one inch above my instep, were they diamonds instead +of gold.--But this is what has come of Father Ambrose coming about the +castle, as demure as a cat that is about to steal cream." + +"Father Ambrose is our master's brother," said the steward gravely. + +"Very true, Master Wingate," answered the Dame; "but is that a good +reason why he should pervert the king's liege subjects to papistrie?" + +"Heaven forbid, Mistress Lilias," answered the sententious major-domo; +"but yet there are worse folk than the Papists." + +"I wonder where they are to be found," said the waiting-woman, with some +asperity; "but I believe, Master Wingate, if one were to speak to you +about the devil himself, you would say there were worse people than +Satan." + +"Assuredly I might say so," replied the steward, "supposing that I saw +Satan standing at my elbow." + +The waiting-woman started, and having exclaimed, "God bless us!" added, +"I wonder, Master Wingate, you can take pleasure in frightening one +thus." + +"Nay, Mistress Lilias, I had no such purpose," was the reply; "but look +you here--the Papists are but put down for the present, but who knows +how long this word _present_ will last? There are two great Popish earls +in the north of England, that abominate the very word reformation; I +mean the Northumberland and Westmoreland Earls, men of power enough to +shake any throne in Christendom. Then, though our Scottish king be, +God bless him, a true Protestant, yet he is but a boy; and here is his +mother that was our queen--I trust there is no harm to say, God bless +her too--and she is a Catholic; and many begin to think she has had but +hard measure, such as the Hamiltons in the west, and some of our Border +clans here, and the Gordons in the north, who are all wishing to see a +new world; and if such a new world should chance to come up, it is like +that the Queen will take back her own crown, and that the mass and the +cross will come up, and then down go pulpits, Geneva-gowns, and black +silk skull-caps." + +"And have you, Master Jasper Wingate, who have heard the word, and +listened unto pure and precious Mr. Henry Warden, have you, I say, the +patience to speak, or but to think, of popery coming down on us like a +storm, or of the woman Mary again making the royal seat of Scotland a +throne of abomination? No marvel that you are so civil to the cowled +monk, Father Ambrose, when he comes hither with his downcast eyes that +he never raises to my Lady's face, and with his low sweet-toned voice, +and his benedicites, and his benisons; and who so ready to take them +kindly as Master Wingate?" + +"Mistress Lilias," replied the butler, with an air which was intended +to close the debate, "there are reasons for all things. If I received +Father Ambrose debonairly, and suffered him to steal a word now and +then with this same Roland Graeme, it was not that I cared a brass +bodle for his benison or malison either, but only because I respected +my master's blood. And who can answer, if Mary come in again, whether he +may not be as stout a tree to lean to as ever his brother hath proved +to us? For down goes the Earl of Murray when the Queen comes by her +own again; and good is his luck if he can keep the head on his own +shoulders. And down goes our Knight, with the Earl, his patron; and who +so like to mount into his empty saddle as this same Father Ambrose? The +Pope of Rome can so soon dispense with his vows, and then we should have +Sir Edward the soldier, instead of Ambrose the priest." + +Anger and astonishment kept Mrs. Lilias silent,--while her old friend, +in his self-complacent manner, was making known to her his political +speculations. At length her resentment found utterance in words of +great ire and scorn. "What, Master Wingate! have you eaten my mistress's +bread, to say nothing of my master's, so many years, that you could live +to think of her being dispossessed of her own Castle of Avenel, by a +wretched monk, who is not a drop's blood to her in the way of relation? +I, that am but a woman, would try first whether my rock or his cowl was +the better metal. Shame on you, Master Wingate! I If I had not held +you as so old an acquaintance, this should have gone to my Lady's ears +though I had been called pickthank and tale-pyet for my pains, as when I +told of Roland Graeme shooting the wild swan." + +Master Wingate was somewhat dismayed at perceiving, that the details +which he had given of his far-sighted political views had produced on +his hearer rather suspicion of his fidelity, than admiration of his +wisdom, and endeavoured, as hastily as possible, to apologize and to +explain, although internally extremely offended at the unreasonable +view, as he deemed it, which it had pleased Mistress Lilias +Bradbourne to take of his expressions; and mentally convinced that her +disapprobation of his sentiments arose solely out of the consideration, +that though Father Ambrose, supposing him to become the master of the +castle, would certainly require the services of a steward, yet those +of a waiting-woman would, in the supposed circumstances, be altogether +superfluous. + +After his explanation had been received as explanations usually are, the +two friends separated; Lilias to attend the silver whistle which called +her to her mistress's chamber, and the sapient major-domo to the duties +of his own department. They parted with less than their usual degree of +reverence and regard; for the steward felt that his worldly wisdom was +rebuked by the more disinterested attachment of the waiting-woman, and +Mistress Lilias Bradbourne was compelled to consider her old friend as +something little better than a time-server. + + + + +Chapter the Seventh. + + + When I hae a saxpence under my thumb, + Then I get credit in ilka town; + But when I am puir they bid me gae by-- + Oh, poverty parts good company! + OLD SONG. + +While the departure of the page afforded subject for the conversation +which we have detailed in our last chapter, the late favourite was far +advanced on his solitary journey, without well knowing what was its +object, or what was likely to be its end. He had rowed the skiff in +which he left the castle, to the side of the lake most distant from the +village, with the desire of escaping from the notice of the inhabitants. +His pride whispered, that he would be in his discarded state, only the +subject of their wonder and compassion; and his generosity told him, +that any mark of sympathy which his situation should excite, might be +unfavourably reported at the castle. A trifling incident convinced him +he had little to fear for his friends on the latter score. He was met by +a young man some years older than himself, who had on former occasions +been but too happy to be permitted to share in his sports in the +subordinate character of his assistant. Ralph Fisher approached to greet +him, with all the alacrity of an humble friend. + +"What, Master Roland, abroad on this side, and without either hawk or +hound?" + +"Hawk or hound," said Roland, "I will never perhaps hollo to again. I +have been dismissed--that is, I have left the castle." + +Ralph was surprised. "What! you are to pass into the Knight's service, +and take the black jack and the lance?" + +"Indeed," replied Roland Graeme, "I am not--I am now leaving the service +of Avenel for ever." + +"And whither are you going, then?" said the young peasant. + +"Nay, that is a question which it craves time to answer--I have that +matter to determine yet," replied the disgraced favourite. + +"Nay, nay," said Ralph, "I warrant you it is the same to you which way +you go--my Lady would not dismiss you till she had put some lining into +the pouches of your doublet." + +"Sordid slave!" said Roland Graeme, "dost thou think I would have +accepted a boon from one who was giving me over a prey to detraction +and to ruin, at the instigation of a canting priest and a meddling +serving-woman? The bread that I had bought with such an alms would have +choked me at the first mouthful." + +Ralph looked at his quondam friend with an air of wonder not +unmixed with contempt. "Well," he said, at length, "no occasion for +passion--each man knows his own stomach best--but, were I on a black +moor at this time of day, not knowing whither I was going, I should +be glad to have a broad piece or two in my pouch, come by them as I +could.--But perhaps you will go with me to my father's--that is, for a +night, for to-morrow we expect my uncle Menelaus and all his folk; but, +as I said, for one night----" + +The cold-blooded limitation of the offered shelter to one night only, +and that tendered most unwillingly, offended the pride of the discarded +favourite. + +"I would rather sleep on the fresh heather, as I have done many a night +on less occasion," said Roland Graeme, "than in the smoky garret of your +father, that smells of peat smoke and usquebaugh like a Highlander's +plaid." + +"You may choose, my master, if you are so nice," replied Ralph Fisher; +"you may be glad to smell a peat-fire, and usquebaugh too, if you +journey long in the fashion you propose. You might have said God-a-mercy +for your proffer, though--it is not every one that will put themselves +in the way of ill-will by harbouring a discarded serving-man." + +"Ralph," said Roland Graeme, "I would pray you to remember that I have +switched you before now, and this is the same riding-wand which you have +tasted." + +Ralph, who was a thickset clownish figure, arrived at his full strength, +and conscious of the most complete personal superiority, laughed +contemptuously at the threats of the slight-made stripling. + +"It may be the same wand," he said, "but not the same hand; and that is +as good rhyme as if it were in a ballad. Look you, my Lady's page +that was, when your switch was up, it was no fear of you, but of +your betters, that kept mine down--and I wot not what hinders me from +clearing old scores with this hazel rung, and showing you it was your +Lady's livery-coat which I spared, and not your flesh and blood, Master +Roland." + +In the midst of his rage, Roland Graeme was just wise enough to see, +that by continuing this altercation, he would subject himself to very +rude treatment from the boor, who was so much older and stronger than +himself; and while his antagonist, with a sort of jeering laugh of +defiance, seemed to provoke the contest, he felt the full bitterness of +his own degraded condition, and burst into a passion of tears, which he +in vain endeavoured to conceal with both his hands. + +Even the rough churl was moved with the distress of his quondam +companion. + +"Nay, Master Roland," he said, "I did but as 'twere jest with thee--I +would not harm thee, man, were it but for old acquaintance sake. But +ever look to a man's inches ere you talk of switching--why, thine arm, +man, is but like a spindle compared to mine.--But hark, I hear old Adam +Woodcock hollowing to his hawk--Come along, man, we will have a merry +afternoon, and go jollily to my father's in spite of the peat-smoke and +usquebaugh to boot. Maybe we may put you into some honest way of winning +your bread, though it's hard to come by in these broken times." + +The unfortunate page made no answer, nor did he withdraw his hands from +his face, and Fisher continued in what he imagined a suitable tone of +comfort. + +"Why, man, when you were my Lady's minion, men held you proud, and some +thought you a Papist, and I wot not what; and so, now that you have no +one to bear you out, you must be companionable and hearty, and wait on +the minister's examinations, and put these things out of folk's head; +and if he says you are in fault, you must jouk your head to the stream; +and if a gentleman, or a gentleman's gentleman, give you a rough word, +or a light blow, you must only say, thank you for dusting my doublet, or +the like, as I have done by you.--But hark to Woodcock's whistle again. +Come, and I will teach you all the trick on't as we go on." + +"I thank you," said Roland Graeme, endeavouring to assume an air of +indifference and of superiority; "but I have another path before me, and +were it otherwise, I could not tread in yours." + +"Very true, Master Roland," replied the clown; "and every man knows his +own matters best, and so I will not keep you from the path, as you say. +Give us a grip of your hand, man, for auld lang syne.--What! not clap +palms ere we part?--well, so be it--a wilful man will have his way, and +so farewell, and the blessing of the morning to you." + +"Good-morrow--good-morrow," said Roland, hastily; and the clown walked +lightly off, whistling as he went, and glad, apparently, to be rid of an +acquaintance, whose claims might be troublesome, and who had no longer +the means to be serviceable to him. + +Roland Graeme compelled himself to walk on while they were within sight +of each other that his former intimate might not augur any vacillation +of purpose, or uncertainty of object, from his remaining on the same +spot; but the effort was a painful one. He seemed stunned, as it were, +and giddy; the earth on which he stood felt as if unsound, and quaking +under his feet like the surface of a bog; and he had once or twice +nearly fallen, though the path he trode was of firm greensward. He kept +resolutely moving forward, in spite of the internal agitation to which +these symptoms belonged, until the distant form of his acquaintance +disappeared behind the slope of a hill, when his heart failed at once; +and, sitting down on the turf, remote from human ken, he gave way to +the natural expressions of wounded pride, grief, and fear, and wept with +unrestrained profusion and unqualified bitterness. + +When the first violent paroxysm of his feelings had subsided, the +deserted and friendless youth felt that mental relief which usually +follows such discharges of sorrow. The tears continued to chase each +other down his cheeks, but they were no longer accompanied by the same +sense of desolation; an afflicting yet milder sentiment was awakened +in his mind, by the recollection of his benefactress, of the unwearied +kindness which had attached her to him, in spite of many acts of +provoking petulance, now recollected as offences of a deep dye, which +had protected him against the machinations of others, as well as against +the consequences of his own folly, and would have continued to do so, +had not the excess of his presumption compelled her to withdraw her +protection. + +"Whatever indignity I have borne," he said, "has been the just reward of +my own ingratitude. And have I done well to accept the hospitality, the +more than maternal kindness, of my protectress, yet to detain from her +the knowledge of my religion?--but she shall know that a Catholic has +as much gratitude as a Puritan--that I have been thoughtless, but not +wicked--that in my wildest moments I have loved, respected, and honoured +her--and that the orphan boy might indeed be heedless, but was never +ungrateful!" + +He turned, as these thoughts passed through his mind, and began hastily +to retread his footsteps towards the castle. But he checked the first +eagerness of his repentant haste, when he reflected on the scorn and +contempt with which the family were likely to see the return of +the fugitive, humbled, as they must necessarily suppose him, into a +supplicant, who requested pardon for his fault, and permission to return +to his service. He slackened his pace, but he stood not still. + +"I care not," he resolutely determined; "let them wink, point, nod, +sneer, speak of the conceit which is humbled, of the pride which has had +a fall--I care not; it is a penance due to my folly, and I will endure +it with patience. But if she also, my benefactress, if she also should +think me sordid and weak-spirited enough to beg, not for her pardon +alone, but for a renewal of the advantages which I derived from her +favour--_her_ suspicion of my meanness I cannot--I will not brook." + +He stood still, and his pride rallying with constitutional obstinacy +against his more just feeling, urged that he would incur the scorn of +the Lady of Avenel, rather than obtain her favour, by following the +course which the first ardour of his repentant feelings had dictated to +him. + +"If I had but some plausible pretext," he thought, "some ostensible +reason for my return, some excuse to allege which might show I came not +as a degraded supplicant, or a discarded menial, I might go thither--but +as I am, I cannot--my heart would leap from its place and burst." + +As these thoughts swept through his mind, something passed in the air +so near him as to dazzle his eyes, and almost to brush the plume in his +cap. He looked up--it was the favourite falcon of Sir Halbert, which, +flying around his head, seemed to claim his attention, as that of a +well-known friend. Roland extended his arm, and gave the accustomed +whoop, and the falcon instantly settled on his wrist, and began to prune +itself, glancing at the youth from time to time an acute and brilliant +beam of its hazel eye, which seemed to ask why he caressed it not with +his usual fondness. + +"Ah, Diamond!" he said, as if the bird understood him, "thou and I must +be strangers henceforward. Many a gallant stoop have I seen thee make, +and many a brave heron strike down; but that is all gone and over, and +there is no hawking more for me!" + +"And why not, Master Roland," said Adam Woodcock the falconer, who came +at that instant from behind a few alder bushes which had concealed him +from view, "why should there be no more hawking for you? Why, man, what +were our life without our sports?--thou know'st the jolly old song-- + + "And rather would Allan in dungeon lie, + Than live at large where the falcon cannot fly; + And Allan would rather lie in Sexton's pound, + Than live where he followed not the merry hawk and hound." + +The voice of the falconer was hearty and friendly, and the tone in which +he half-sung half-recited his rude ballad, implied honest frankness +and cordiality. But remembrance of their quarrel, and its consequences, +embarrassed Roland, and prevented his reply. The falconer saw his +hesitation, and guessed the cause. + +"What now," said he, "Master Roland? do you, who are half an Englishman, +think that I, who am a whole one, would keep up anger against you, +and you in distress? That were like some of the Scots, (my master's +reverence always excepted,) who can be fair and false, and wait their +time, and keep their mind, as they say, to themselves, and touch pot and +flagon with you, and hunt and hawk with you, and, after all, when +time serves, pay off some old feud with the point of the dagger. Canny +Yorkshire has no memory for such old sores. Why, man, an you had hit me +a rough blow, maybe I would rather have taken it from you, than a rough +word from another; for you have a good notion of falconry, though you +stand up for washing the meat for the eyases. So give us your hand, man, +and bear no malice." + +Roland, though he felt his proud blood rebel at the familiarity of +honest Adam's address, could not resist its downright frankness. +Covering his face with the one hand, he held out the other to the +falconer, and returned with readiness his friendly grasp. + +"Why, this is hearty now," said Woodcock; "I always said you had a kind +heart, though you have a spice of the devil in your disposition, that is +certain. I came this way with the falcon on purpose to find you, and yon +half-bred lubbard told me which way you took flight. You ever thought +too much of that kestril-kite, Master Roland, and he knows nought of +sport after all, but what he caught from you. I saw how it had been +betwixt you, and I sent him out of my company with a wanion--I would +rather have a rifler on my perch than a false knave at my elbow--and +now, Master Roland, tell me what way wing ye?" + +"That is as God pleases," replied the page, with a sigh which he could +not suppress. + +"Nay, man, never droop a feather for being cast off," said the falconer; +"who knows but you may soar the better and fairer flight for all this +yet?--Look at Diamond there, 'tis a noble bird, and shows gallantly +with his hood, and bells, and jesses; but there is many a wild falcon +in Norway that would not change properties with him--And that is what +I would say of you. You are no longer my Lady's page, and you will +not clothe so fair, or feed so well, or sleep so soft, or show so +gallant--What of all that? if you are not her page, you are your own +man, and may go where you will, without minding whoop or whistle. The +worst is the loss of the sport, but who knows what you may come to? They +say that Sir Halbert himself, I speak with reverence, was once glad to +be the Abbot's forester, and now he has hounds and hawks of his own, and +Adam Woodcock for a falconer to the boot." + +"You are right, and say well, Adam," answered the youth, the blood +mantling in his cheeks, "the falcon will soar higher without his bells +than with them, though the bells be made of silver." + +"That is cheerily spoken," replied the falconer; "and whither now?" + +"I thought of going to the Abbey of Kennaquhair," answered Roland +Graeme, "to ask the counsel of Father Ambrose." + +"And joy go with you," said the falconer, "though it is likely you may +find the old monks in some sorrow; they say the commons are threatening +to turn them out of their cells, and make a devil's mass of it in the +old church, thinking they have forborne that sport too long; and troth I +am clear of the same opinion." + +"Then will Father Ambrose be the better of having a friend beside him!" +said the page, manfully. + +"Ay, but, my young fearnought," replied the falconer, "the friend will +scarce be the better of being beside Father Ambrose--he may come by the +redder's lick, and that is ever the worst of the battle." + +"I care not for that," said the page, "the dread of a lick should not +hold me back; but I fear I may bring trouble between the brothers by +visiting Father Ambrose. I will tarry to-night at Saint Cuthbert's cell, +where the old priest will give me a night's shelter; and I will send to +Father Ambrose to ask his advice before I go down to the convent." + +"By Our Lady," said the falconer, "and that is a likely plan--and now," +he continued, exchanging his frankness of manner for a sort of awkward +embarrassment, as if he had somewhat to say that he had no ready means +to bring out--"and now, you wot well that I wear a pouch for my hawk's +meat, [Footnote: This same hag, like every thing belonging to falconry, +was esteemed an honourable distinction, and worn often by the nobility +and gentry. One of the Sommervilles of Camnethan was called _Sir John +with the red bag_, because it was his wont to wear his hawking pouch +covered with satin of that colour.] and so forth; but wot you what it is +lined with, Master Roland?" + +"With leather, to be sure," replied Roland, somewhat surprised at the +hesitation with which Adam Woodcock asked a question apparently so +simple. + +"With leather, lad?" said Woodcock; "ay, and with silver to the boot of +that. See here," he said, showing a secret slit in the lining of his bag +of office--"here they are, thirty good Harry groats as ever were struck +in bluff old Hal's time, and ten of them are right heartily at your +service; and now the murder is out." + +Roland's first idea was to refuse his assistance; but he recollected the +vows of humility which he had just taken upon him, and it occurred that +this was the opportunity to put his new-formed resolution to the test. +Assuming a strong command of himself, he answered Adam Woodcock with as +much frankness as his nature permitted him to wear, in doing what was +so contrary to his inclinations, that he accepted thankfully of his +kind offer, while, to soothe his own reviving pride, he could not help +adding, "he hoped soon to requite the obligation." + +"That as you list--that as you list, young man," said the falconer, with +glee, counting out and delivering to his young friend the supply he had +so generously offered, and then adding, with great cheerfulness,--"Now +you may go through the world; for he that can back a horse, wind a horn, +hollow a greyhound, fly a hawk, and play at sword and buckler, with a +whole pair of shoes, a green jacket, and ten lily-white groats in his +pouch, may bid Father Care hang himself in his own jesses. Farewell, and +God be with you!" + +So saying, and as if desirous to avoid the thanks of his companion, +he turned hastily round, and left Roland Graeme to pursue his journey +alone. + + + + +Chapter the Eight. + + + The sacred tapers lights are gone. + Gray moss has clad the altar stone, + The holy image is o'erthrown, + The bell has ceased to toll, + The long ribb'd aisles are burst and shrunk, + The holy shrines to ruin sunk, + Departed is the pious monk, + God's blessing on his soul! + REDIVIVA. + +The cell of Saint Cuthbert, as it was called, marked, or was supposed +to mark, one of those resting-places, which that venerable saint was +pleased to assign to his monks, when his convent, being driven from +Lindisfern by the Danes, became a peripatetic society of religionists, +and bearing their patron's body on their shoulders, transported him from +place to place through Scotland and the borders of England, until he was +pleased at length to spare them the pain of carrying him farther, and +to choose his ultimate place of rest in the lordly towers of Durham. +The odour of his sanctity remained behind him at each place where he had +granted the monks a transient respite from their labours; and proud were +those who could assign, as his temporary resting-place, any spot within +their vicinity. There were few cells more celebrated and honoured +than that of Saint Cuthbert, to which Roland Graeme now bent his +way, situated considerably to the north-west of the great Abbey of +Kennaquhair, on which it was dependent. In the neighbourhood were some +of those recommendations which weighed with the experienced priesthood +of Rome, in choosing their sites for places of religion. + +There was a well, possessed of some medicinal qualities, which, of +course, claimed the saint for its guardian and patron, and occasionally +produced some advantage to the recluse who inhabited his cell, since +none could reasonably expect to benefit by the fountain who did not +extend their bounty to the saint's chaplain. A few rods of fertile land +afforded the monk his plot of garden ground; an eminence well clothed +with trees rose behind the cell, and sheltered it from, the north and +the east, while the front, opening to the south-west, looked up a wild +but pleasant valley, down which wandered a lively brook, which battled +with every stone that interrupted its passage. + +The cell itself was rather plainly than rudely constructed--a low Gothic +building with two small apartments, one of which served the priest for +his dwelling-place, the other for his chapel. As there were few of +the secular clergy who durst venture to reside so near the Border, the +assistance of this monk in spiritual affairs had not been useless to the +community, while the Catholic religion retained the ascendancy; as he +could marry, christen, and administer the other sacraments of the Roman +church. Of late, however, as the Protestant doctrines gained ground, he +had found it convenient to live in close retirement, and to avoid, as +much as possible, drawing upon himself observation or animadversion. The +appearance of his habitation, however, when Roland Graeme came before +it in the close of the evening, plainly showed that his caution had been +finally ineffectual. + +The page's first movement was to knock at the door, when he observed, +to his surprise, that it was open, not from being left unlatched, but +because, beat off its upper hinge, it was only fastened to the door-post +by the lower, and could therefore no longer perform its functions. +Somewhat alarmed at this, and receiving no answer when he knocked and +called, Roland began to look more at leisure upon the exterior of the +little dwelling before he ventured to enter it. The flowers, which had +been trained with care against the walls, seemed to have been recently +torn down, and trailed their dishonoured garlands on the earth; the +latticed window was broken and dashed in. The garden, which the monk had +maintained by his constant labour in the highest order and beauty, bore +marks of having been lately trod down and destroyed by the hoofs of +animals, and the feet of men. + +The sainted spring had not escaped. It was wont to rise beneath a canopy +of ribbed arches, with which the devotion of elder times had secured +and protected its healing waters. These arches were now almost entirely +demolished, and the stones of which they were built were tumbled +into the well, as if for the purpose of choking up and destroying the +fountain, which, as it had shared in other days the honour of the saint, +was, in the present, doomed to partake his unpopularity. Part of the +roof had been pulled down from the house itself, and an attempt had +been made with crows and levers upon one of the angles, by which several +large corner-stones had been forced out of their place; but the solidity +of ancient mason-work had proved too great for the time or patience of +the assailants, and they had relinquished their task of destruction. +Such dilapidated buildings, after the lapse of years, during which +nature has gradually covered the effects of violence with creeping +plants, and with weather-stains, exhibit, amid their decay, a melancholy +beauty. But when the visible effects of violence appear raw and recent, +there is no feeling to mitigate the sense of devastation with which they +impress the spectators; and such was now the scene on which the youthful +page gazed, with the painful feelings it was qualified to excite. + +When his first momentary surprise was over, Roland Graeme was at no loss +to conjecture the cause of these ravages. The destruction of the +Popish edifices did not take place at once throughout Scotland, but at +different times, and according to the spirit which actuated the +reformed clergy; some of whom instigated their hearers to these acts of +demolition, and others, with better taste and feeling, endeavoured to +protect the ancient shrines, while they desired to see them purified +from the objects which had attracted idolatrous devotion. From time to +time, therefore, the populace of the Scottish towns and villages, +when instigated either by their own feelings of abhorrence for Popish +superstition, or by the doctrines of the more zealous preachers, resumed +the work of destruction, and exercised it upon some sequestered church, +chapel, or cell, which had escaped the first burst of their indignation +against the religion of Rome. In many places, the vices of the Catholic +clergy, arising out of the wealth and the corruption of that tremendous +hierarchy, furnished too good an apology for wreaking vengeance upon +the splendid edifices which they inhabited; and of this an old Scottish +historian gives a remarkable instance. + +"Why mourn ye," said an aged matron, seeing the discontent of some of +the citizens, while a stately convent was burnt by the multitude,--"why +mourn ye for its destruction? If you knew half the flagitious wickedness +which has been perpetrated within that house, you would rather bless +the divine judgment, which permits not even the senseless walls that +screened such profligacy, any longer to cumber Christian ground." + +But although, in many instances, the destruction of the Roman Catholic +buildings might be, in the matron's way of judging, an act of justice, +and in others an act of policy, there is no doubt that the humour of +demolishing monuments of ancient piety and munificence, and that in a +poor country like Scotland, where there was no chance of their being +replaced, was both useless, mischievous, and barbarous. + +In the present instance, the unpretending and quiet seclusion of the +monk of Saint Cuthbert's had hitherto saved him from the general +wreck; but it would seem ruin had now at length reached him. Anxious to +discover if he had at least escaped personal harm, Roland Graeme entered +the half ruined cell. + +The interior of the building was in a state which fully justified the +opinion he had formed from its external injuries. The few rude utensils +of the solitary's hut were broken down, and lay scattered on the floor, +where it seemed as if a fire had been made with some of the fragments +to destroy the rest of his property, and to consume, in particular, the +rude old image of Saint Cuthbert, in its episcopal habit, which lay on +the hearth like Dagon of yore, shattered with the axe and scorched with +the flames, but only partially destroyed. In the little apartment which +served as a chapel, the altar was overthrown, and the four huge stones +of which it had been once composed lay scattered around the floor. The +large stone crucifix which occupied the niche behind the altar, and +fronted the supplicant while he paid his devotion there, had been pulled +down and dashed by its own weight into three fragments. There were marks +of sledge-hammers on each of these; yet the image had been saved from +utter demolition by the size and strength of the remaining fragments, +which, though much injured, retained enough of the original sculpture to +show what it had been intended to represent. + +[Footnote: I may here observe, that this is entirely an ideal scene. +Saint Cuthbert, a person of established sanctity, had, no doubt, several +places of worship on the Borders, where he flourished whilst living; +but Tillmouth Chapel is the only one which bears some resemblance to +the hermitage described in the text. It has, indeed, a well, famous +for gratifying three wishes for every worshipper who shall quaff the +fountain with sufficient belief in its efficacy. At this spot the Saint +is said to have landed in his stone coffin, in which he sailed down the +Tweed from Melrose and here the stone coffin long lay, in evidence of +the fact. The late Sir Francis Blake Delaval is said to have taken the +exact measure of the coffin, and to have ascertained, by hydrostatic +principles, that it might have actually swum. A profane farmer in the +neighborhood announced his intention of converting this last bed of +the Saint into a trough for his swine; but the profanation was rendered +impossible, either by the Saint, or by some pious votary in his behalf, +for on the following morning the stone sarcophargus was found broken in +two fragments. + +Tillmouth Chapel, with these points of resemblance, lies, however, in +exactly the opposite direction as regards Melrose, which the supposed +cell of St. Cuthbert is said to have borne towards Kennaquhair.] + +Roland Graeme, secretly nursed in the tenets of Rome, saw with horror +the profanation of the most sacred emblem, according to his creed, of +our holy religion. + +"It is the badge of our redemption," he said, "which the felons have +dared to violate--would to God my weak strength were able to replace +it--my humble strength, to atone for the sacrilege!" + +He stooped to the task he first meditated, and with a sudden, and to +himself almost an incredible exertion of power, he lifted up the one +extremity of the lower shaft of the cross, and rested it upon the edge +of the large stone which served for its pedestal. Encouraged by this +success, he applied his force to the other extremity, and, to his own +astonishment, succeeded so far as to erect the lower end of the limb +into the socket, out of which it had been forced, and to place this +fragment of the image upright. + +While he was employed in this labour, or rather at the very moment when +he had accomplished the elevation of the fragment, a voice, in thrilling +and well-known accents, spoke behind him these words:--"Well done, +thou good and faithful servant! Thus would I again meet the child of my +love--the hope of my aged eyes." + +Roland turned round in astonishment, and the tall commanding form of +Magdalen Graeme stood beside him. She was arrayed in a sort of loose +habit, in form like that worn by penitents in Catholic countries, but +black in colour, and approaching as near to a pilgrim's cloak as it was +safe to wear in a country where the suspicion of Catholic devotion +in many places endangered the safety of those who were suspected of +attachment to the ancient faith. Roland Graeme threw himself at her +feet. She raised and embraced him, with affection indeed, but not +unmixed with gravity which amounted almost to sternness. + +"Thou hast kept well," she said, "the bird in thy bosom. [Footnote: An +expression used by Sir Ralph Percy, slain in the battle of Hedgly-moor +in 1464, when dying, to express his having preserved unstained his +fidelity to the house of Lancaster.] As a boy, as a youth, thou hast +held fast thy faith amongst heretics--thou hast kept thy secret and mine +own amongst thine enemies. I wept when I parted from you--I who seldom +weep, then shed tears, less for thy death than for thy spiritual +danger--I dared not even see thee to bid thee a last farewell--my grief, +my swelling grief, had betrayed me to these heretics. But thou hast been +faithful--down, down on thy knees before the holy sign, which evil men +injure and blaspheme; down, and praise saints and angels for the grace +they have done thee, in preserving thee from the leprous plague which +cleaves to the house in which thou wert nurtured." + +"If, my mother--so I must ever call you" replied Graeme,--"if I am +returned such as thou wouldst wish me, thou must thank the care of the +pious father Ambrose, whose instructions confirmed your early precepts, +and taught me at once to be faithful and to be silent." + +"Be he blessed for it," said she; "blessed in the cell and in the field, +in the pulpit and at the altar--the saints rain blessings on him!--they +are just, and employ his pious care to counteract the evils which his +detested brother works against the realm and the church,--but he knew +not of thy lineage?" + +"I could not myself tell him that," answered Roland. "I knew but darkly +from your words, that Sir Halbert Glendinning holds mine inheritance, +and that I am of blood as noble as runs in the veins of any Scottish +Baron--these are things not to be forgotten, but for the explanation I +must now look to you." + +"And when time suits, thou shalt not look for it in vain. But men say, +my son, that thou art bold and sudden; and those who bear such tempers +are not lightly to be trusted with what will strongly move them." + +"Say rather, my mother," returned Roland Graeme, "that I am laggard and +cold-blooded--what patience or endurance can you require of which _he_ +is not capable, who for years has heard his religion ridiculed and +insulted, yet failed to plunge his dagger into the blasphemer's bosom!" + +"Be contented, my child," replied Magdalen Graeme; "the time, which then +and even now demands patience, will soon ripen to that of effort and +action--great events are on the wing, and thou,--thou shalt have thy +share in advancing them. Thou hast relinquished the service of the Lady +of Avenel?" + +"I have been dismissed from it, my mother--I have lived to be dismissed, +as if I were the meanest of the train." + +"It is the better, my child," replied she; "thy mind will be the more +hardened to undertake that which must be performed." + +"Let it be nothing, then, against the Lady of Avenel," said the page, +"as thy look and words seem to imply. I have eaten her bread--I have +experienced her favour--I will neither injure nor betray her." + +"Of that hereafter, my son," said she; "but learn this, that it is not +for thee to capitulate in thy duty, and to say this will I do, and that +will I leave undone--No, Roland! God and man will no longer abide the +wickedness of this generation. Seest thou these fragments--knowest +thou what they represent?--and canst thou think it is for thee to make +distinctions amongst a race so accursed by Heaven, that they renounce, +violate, blaspheme, and destroy, whatsoever we are commanded to believe +in, whatsoever we are commanded to reverence?" + +As she spoke, she bent her head towards the broken image, with a +countenance in which strong resentment and zeal were mingled with an +expression of ecstatic devotion; she raised her left hand aloft as +in the act of making a vow, and thus proceeded; "Bear witness for me, +blessed symbol of our salvation, bear witness, holy saint, within whose +violated temple we stand, that as it is not for vengeance of my own +that my hate pursues these people, so neither, for any favour or earthly +affection towards any amongst them, will I withdraw my hand from the +plough, when it shall pass through the devoted furrow! Bear witness, +holy saint, once thyself a wanderer and fugitive as we are now--bear +witness, Mother of Mercy, Queen of Heaven--bear witness, saints and +angels!" + +In this high train of enthusiasm, she stood, raising her eyes through +the fractured roof of the vault, to the stars which now began to twinkle +through the pale twilight, while the long gray tresses which hung +down over her shoulders waved in the night-breeze, which the chasm and +fractured windows admitted freely. + +Roland Graeme was too much awed by early habits, as well as by the +mysterious import of her words, to ask for farther explanation of the +purpose she obscurely hinted at. Nor did she farther press him on the +subject; for, having concluded her prayer or obtestation, by clasping +her hands together with solemnity, and then signing herself with the +cross, she again addressed her grandson, in a tone more adapted to the +ordinary business of life. + +"Thou must hence," she said, "Roland, thou must hence, but not till +morning--And now, how wilt thou shift for thy night's quarters?--thou +hast been more softly bred than when we were companions in the misty +hills of Cumberland and Liddesdale." + +"I have at least preserved, my good mother, the habits which I then +learned--can lie hard, feed sparingly, and think it no hardship. Since I +was a wanderer with thee on the hills, I have been a hunter, and fisher, +and fowler, and each of these is accustomed to sleep freely in a worse +shelter than sacrilege has left us here." + +"Than sacrilege has left us here!" said the matron, repeating his words, +and pausing on them. "Most true, my son; and God's faithful children are +now worst sheltered, when they lodge in God's own house and the demesne +of his blessed saints. We shall sleep cold here, under the nightwind, +which whistles through the breaches which heresy has made. They shall +lie warmer who made them--ay, and through a long hereafter." + +Notwithstanding the wild and singular expression of this female, she +appeared to retain towards Roland Graeme, in a strong degree, that +affectionate and sedulous love which women bear to their nurslings, +and the children dependent on their care. It seemed as if she would not +permit him to do aught for himself which in former days her attention +had been used to do for him, and that she considered the tall stripling +before her as being equally dependent on her careful attention as +when he was the orphan child, who had owed all to her affectionate +solicitude. + +"What hast thou to eat now?" she said, as, leaving the chapel, they went +into the deserted habitation of the priest; "or what means of kindling +a fire, to defend thee from this raw and inclement air? Poor child! thou +hast made slight provision for a long journey; nor hast thou skill to +help thyself by wit, when means are scanty. But Our Lady has placed by +thy side one to whom want, in all its forms, is as familiar as plenty +and splendour have formerly been. And with want, Roland, come the arts +of which she is the inventor." + +With an active and officious diligence, which strangely contrasted with +her late abstracted and high tone of Catholic devotion, she set about +her domestic arrangements for the evening. A pouch, which was hidden +under her garment, produced a flint and steel, and from the scattered +fragments around (those pertaining to the image of Saint Cuthbert +scrupulously excepted) she obtained splinters sufficient to raise a +sparkling and cheerful fire on the hearth of the deserted cell. + +"And now," she said, "for needful food." + +"Think not of it, mother," said Roland, "unless you yourself feel +hunger. It is a little thing for me to endure a night's abstinence, and +a small atonement for the necessary transgression of the rules of the +Church upon which I was compelled during my stay in the castle." + +"Hunger for myself!" answered the matron--"Know, youth, that a mother +knows not hunger till that of her child is satisfied." And with +affectionate inconsistency, totally different from her usual manner, she +added, "Roland, you must not fast; you have dispensation; you are young, +and to youth food and sleep are necessaries not to be dispensed with. +Husband your strength, my child,--your sovereign, your religion, your +country, require it. Let age macerate by fast and vigil a body which can +only suffer; let youth, in these active times, nourish the limbs and the +strength which action requires." + +While she thus spoke, the scrip, which had produced the means of +striking fire, furnished provision for a meal; of which she herself +scarce partook, but anxiously watched her charge, taking a pleasure, +resembling that of an epicure, in each morsel which he swallowed with a +youthful appetite which abstinence had rendered unusually sharp. Roland +readily obeyed her recommendations, and ate the food which she so +affectionately and earnestly placed before him. But she shook her head +when invited by him in return to partake of the refreshment her own +cares had furnished; and when his solicitude became more pressing, she +refused him in a loftier tone of rejection. + +"Young man," she said, "you know not to whom or of what you speak. They +to whom Heaven declares its purpose must merit its communication by +mortifying the senses; they have that within which requires not the +superfluity of earthly nutriment, which is necessary to those who are +without the sphere of the Vision. To them the watch spent in prayer is +a refreshing slumber, and the sense of doing the will of Heaven is a +richer banquet than the tables of monarchs can spread before them!--But +do thou sleep soft, my son," she said, relapsing from the tone of +fanaticism into that of maternal affection and tenderness; "do thou +sleep sound while life is but young with thee, and the cares of the day +can be drowned in the slumbers of the evening. Different is thy duty and +mine, and as different the means by which we must qualify and strengthen +ourselves to perform it. From thee is demanded strength of body--from +me, strength of soul." + +When she thus spoke, she prepared with ready address a pallet-couch, +composed partly of the dried leaves which had once furnished a bed to +the solitary, and the guests who occasionally received his hospitality, +and which, neglected by the destroyers of his humble cell, had remained +little disturbed in the corner allotted for them. To these her care +added some of the vestures which lay torn and scattered on the floor. +With a zealous hand she selected all such as appeared to have made +any part of the sacerdotal vestments, laying them aside as sacred +from ordinary purposes, and with the rest she made, with dexterous +promptness, such a bed as a weary man might willingly stretch himself +on; and during the time she was preparing it, rejected, even with +acrimony, any attempt which the youth made to assist her, or any +entreaty which he urged, that she would accept of the place of rest for +her own use. "Sleep thou," said she, "Roland Graeme, sleep thou--the +persecuted, the disinherited orphan--the son of an ill-fated +mother--sleep thou! I go to pray in the chapel beside thee." + +The manner was too enthusiastically earnest, too obstinately firm, to +permit Roland Graeme to dispute her will any farther. Yet he felt some +shame in giving way to it. It seemed as if she had forgotten the years +that had passed away since their parting; and expected to meet, in the +tall, indulged, and wilful youth, whom she had recovered, the passive +obedience of the child whom she had left in the Castle of Avenel. This +did not fail to hurt her grandson's characteristic and constitutional +pride. He obeyed, indeed, awed into submission by the sudden recurrence +of former subordination, and by feelings of affection and gratitude. +Still, however, he felt the yoke. + +"Have I relinquished the hawk and the hound," he said, "to become the +pupil of her pleasure, as if I were still a child?--I, whom even my +envious mates allowed to be superior in those exercises which they took +most pains to acquire, and which came to me naturally, as if a knowledge +of them had been my birthright? This may not, and must not be. I will be +no reclaimed sparrow-hawk, who is carried hooded on a woman's wrist, +and has his quarry only shown to him when his eyes are uncovered for his +flight. I will know her purpose ere it is proposed to me to aid it." + +These, and other thoughts, streamed through the mind of Roland Graeme; +and although wearied with the fatigues of the day, it was long ere he +could compose himself to rest. + + + + +Chapter the Ninth. + + + Kneel with me--swear it--'tis not in words I trust, + Save when they're fenced with an appeal to Heaven. + OLD PLAY + +After passing the night in that sound sleep for which agitation and +fatigue had prepared him, Roland was awakened by the fresh morning +air, and by the beams of the rising sun. His first feeling was that of +surprise; for, instead of looking forth from a turret window on the +Lake of Avenel, which was the prospect his former apartment afforded, +an unlatticed aperture gave him the view of the demolished garden of the +banished anchorite. He sat up on his couch of leaves, and arranged in +his memory, not without wonder, the singular events of the preceding +day, which appeared the more surprising the more he considered them. +He had lost the protectress of his youth, and, in the same day, he +had recovered the guide and guardian of his childhood. The former +deprivation he felt ought to be matter of unceasing regret, and +it seemed as if the latter could hardly be the subject of unmixed +self-congratulation. He remembered this person, who had stood to him in +the relation of a mother, as equally affectionate in her attention, and +absolute in her authority. A singular mixture of love and fear attended +upon his early remembrances as they were connected with her; and the +fear that she might desire to resume the same absolute control over +his motions--a fear which her conduct of yesterday did not tend much to +dissipate--weighed heavily against the joy of this second meeting. + +"She cannot mean," said his rising pride, "to lead and direct me as +a pupil, when I am at the age of judging of my own actions?--this she +cannot mean, or meaning it, will feel herself strangely deceived." + +A sense of gratitude towards the person against whom his heart thus +rebelled, checked his course of feeling. He resisted the thoughts which +involuntarily arose in his mind, as he would have resisted an actual +instigation of the foul fiend; and, to aid him in his struggle, he felt +for his beads. But, in his hasty departure from the Castle of Avenel, he +had forgotten and left them behind him. + +"This is yet worse," he said; "but two things I learned of her under the +most deadly charge of secrecy--to tell my beads, and to conceal that I +did so; and I have kept my word till now; and when she shall ask me +for the rosary, I must say I have forgotten it! Do I deserve she should +believe me when. I say I have kept the secret of my faith, when I set so +light by its symbol?" + +He paced the floor in anxious agitation. In fact, his attachment to +his faith was of a nature very different from that which animated the +enthusiastic matron, but which, notwithstanding, it would have been his +last thought to relinquish. + +The early charges impressed on him by his grandmother, had been +instilled into a mind and memory of a character peculiarly tenacious. +Child as he was, he was proud of the confidence reposed in his +discretion, and resolved to show that it had not been rashly intrusted +to him. At the same time, his resolution was no more than that of +a child, and must, necessarily, have gradually faded away under the +operation both of precept and example, during his residence at the +Castle of Avenel, but for the exhortations of Father Ambrose, who, in +his lay estate, had been called Edward Glendinning. This zealous +monk had been apprized, by an unsigned letter placed in his hand by +a pilgrim, that a child educated in the Catholic faith was now in the +Castle of Avenel, perilously situated, (so was the scroll expressed,) +as ever the three children who were cast into the fiery furnace of +persecution. The letter threw upon Father Ambrose the fault, should +this solitary lamb, unwillingly left within the demesnes of the prowling +wolf, become his final prey. There needed no farther exhortation to the +monk than the idea that a soul might be endangered, and that a Catholic +might become an apostate; and he made his visits more frequent than +usual to the castle of Avenel, lest, through want of the private +encouragement and instruction which he always found some opportunity of +dispensing, the church should lose a proselyte, and, according to the +Romish creed, the devil acquire a soul. + +Still these interviews were rare; and though they encouraged the +solitary boy to keep his secret and hold fast his religion, they were +neither frequent nor long enough to inspire him with any thing beyond +a blind attachment to the observances which the priest recommended. He +adhered to the forms of his religion rather because he felt it would +be dishonourable to change that of his fathers, than from any rational +conviction or sincere belief of its mysterious doctrines. It was a +principal part of the distinction which, in his own opinion, singled him +out from those with whom he lived, and gave him an additional, though an +internal and concealed reason, for contemning those of the household who +showed an undisguised dislike of him, and for hardening himself against +the instructions of the chaplain, Henry Warden. + +"The fanatic preacher," he thought within himself, during some one +of the chaplain's frequent discourses against the Church of Rome, "he +little knows whose ears are receiving his profane doctrine, and with +what contempt and abhorrence they hear his blasphemies against the holy +religion by which kings have been crowned, and for which martyrs have +died!" + +But in such proud feelings of defiance of heresy, as it was termed, and +of its professors, which associated the Catholic religion with a +sense of generous independence, and that of the Protestants with the +subjugation of his mind and temper to the direction of Mr. Warden, began +and ended the faith of Roland Graeme, who, independently of the pride of +singularity, sought not to understand, and had no one to expound to +him, the peculiarities of the tenets which he professed. His regret, +therefore, at missing the rosary which had been conveyed to him through +the hands of Father Ambrose, was rather the shame of a soldier who has +dropped his cockade, or badge of service, than that of a zealous votary +who had forgotten a visible symbol of his religion. + +His thoughts on the subject, however, were mortifying, and the more +so from apprehension that his negligence must reach the ears of +his relative. He felt it could be no one but her who had secretly +transmitted these beads to Father Ambrose for his use, and that his +carelessness was but an indifferent requital of her kindness. + +"Nor will she omit to ask me about them," said he to himself; "for hers +is a zeal which age cannot quell; and if she has not quitted her wont, +my answer will not fail to incense her." + +While he thus communed with himself, Magdalen Graeme entered the +apartment. "The blessing of the morning on your youthful head, my son," +she said, with a solemnity of expression which thrilled the youth to the +heart, so sad and earnest did the benediction flow from her lips, in a +tone where devotion was blended with affection. "And thou hast started +thus early from thy couch to catch the first breath of the dawn? But it +is not well, my Roland. Enjoy slumber while thou canst; the time is not +far behind when the waking eye must be thy portion, as well as mine." + +She uttered these words with an affectionate and anxious tone, which +showed, that devotional as were the habitual exercises of her mind, the +thoughts of her nursling yet bound her to earth with the cords of human +affection and passion. + +But she abode not long in a mood which she probably regarded as a +momentary dereliction of her imaginary high calling--"Come," she said, +"youth, up and be doing--It is time that we leave this place." + +"And whither do we go?" said the young man; "or what is the object of +our journey?" + +The matron stepped back, and gazed on him with surprise, not unmingled +with displeasure. + +"To what purpose such a question?" she said; "is it not enough that I +lead the way? Hast thou lived with heretics till thou hast learned to +instal the vanity of thine own private judgment in place of due honour +and obedience?" + +"The time," thought Roland Graeme within himself, "is already come, when +I must establish my freedom, or be a willing thrall for ever--I feel +that I must speedily look to it." + +She instantly fulfilled his foreboding, by recurring to the theme by +which her thoughts seemed most constantly engrossed, although, when she +pleased, no one could so perfectly disguise her religion. + +"Thy beads, my son--hast thou told thy beads?" + +Roland Graeme coloured high; he felt the storm was approaching, but +scorned to avert it by a falsehood. + +"I have forgotten my rosary," he said, "at the Castle of Avenel." + +"Forgotten thy rosary!" she exclaimed; "false both to religion and to +natural duty, hast thou lost what was sent so far, and at such risk, a +token of the truest affection, that should have been, every bead of it, +as dear to thee as thine eyeballs?" + +"I am grieved it should have so chanced, mother," replied the youth, +"and much did I value the token, as coming from you. For what remains, +I trust to win gold enough, when I push my way in the world; and till +then, beads of black oak, or a rosary of nuts, must serve the turn." + +"Hear him!" said his grandmother; "young as he is, he hath learned +already the lessons of the devil's school! The rosary, consecrated by +the Holy Father himself, and sanctified by his blessing, is but a few +knobs of gold, whose value may be replaced by the wages of his +profane labour, and whose virtue may be supplied by a string of +hazel-nuts!--This is heresy--So Henry Warden, the wolf who ravages the +flock of the Shepherd, hath taught thee to speak and to think." + +"Mother," said Roland Graeme, "I am no heretic; I believe and I pray +according to the rules of our church--This misfortune I regret, but I +cannot amend it." + +"Thou canst repent it, though," replied his spiritual directress, +"repent it in dust and ashes, atone for it by fasting, prayer, and +penance, instead of looking on me with a countenance as light as if thou +hadst lost but a button from thy cap." + +"Mother," said Roland, "be appeased; I will remember my fault in the +next confession which I have space and opportunity to make, and will +do whatever the priest may require of me in atonement. For the heaviest +fault I can do no more.--But, mother," he added, after a moment's pause, +"let me not incur your farther displeasure, if I ask whither our journey +is bound, and what is its object. I am no longer a child, but a man, and +at my own disposal, with down upon my chin, and a sword by my side--I +will go to the end of the world with you to do your pleasure; but I owe +it to myself to inquire the purpose and direction of our travels." + +"You owe it to yourself, ungrateful boy?" replied his relative, +passion rapidly supplying the colour which age had long chased from her +features,--"to yourself you owe nothing--you can owe nothing--to me +you owe every thing--your life when an infant--your support while a +child--the means of instruction, and the hopes of honour--and, sooner +than thou shouldst abandon the noble cause to which I have devoted thee, +would I see thee lie a corpse at my feet!" + +Roland was alarmed at the vehement agitation with which she spoke, +and which threatened to overpower her aged frame; and he hastened to +reply,--"I forget nothing of what I owe to you, my dearest mother--show +me how my blood can testify my gratitude, and you shall judge if I spare +it. But blindfold obedience has in it as little merit as reason." + +"Saints and angels!" replied Magdalen, "and do I hear these words from +the child of my hopes, the nursling by whose bed I have kneeled, and for +whose weal I have wearied every saint in heaven with prayers? Roland, +by obedience only canst thou show thy affection and thy gratitude. What +avails it that you might perchance adopt the course I propose to thee, +were it to be fully explained? Thou wouldst not then follow my command, +but thine own judgment; thou wouldst not do the will of Heaven, +communicated through thy best friend, to whom thou owest thine all; but +thou wouldst observe the blinded dictates of thine own imperfect reason. +Hear me, Roland! a lot calls thee--solicits thee--demands thee--the +proudest to which man can be destined, and it uses the voice of thine +earliest, thy best, thine only friend--Wilt thou resist it? Then go +thy way--leave me here--my hopes on earth are gone and withered--I will +kneel me down before yonder profaned altar, and when the raging heretics +return, they shall dye it with the blood of a martyr." + +"But, my dearest mother," said Roland Graeme, whose early recollections +of her violence were formidably renewed by these wild expressions of +reckless passion, "I will not forsake you--I will abide with you--worlds +shall not force me from your side--I will protect--I will defend you--I +will live with you, and die for you!" + +"One word, my son, were worth all these--say only, 'I will obey you.'" + +"Doubt it not, mother," replied the youth, "I will, and that with all my +heart; only----" + +"Nay, I receive no qualifications of thy promise," said Magdalen Graeme, +catching at the word, "the obedience which I require is absolute; and +a blessing on thee, thou darling memory of my beloved child, that thou +hast power to make a promise so hard to human pride! Trust me well, that +in the design in which thou dost embark, thou hast for thy partners the +mighty and the valiant, the power of the church, and the pride of the +noble. Succeed or fail, live or die, thy name shall be among those +with whom success or failure is alike glorious, death or life alike +desirable. Forward, then, forward! life is short, and our plan is +laborious--Angels, saints, and the whole blessed host of heaven, have +their eyes even now on this barren and blighted land of Scotland--What +say I? on Scotland? their eye is on _us_, Roland--on the frail woman, on +the inexperienced youth, who, amidst the ruins which sacrilege hath made +in the holy place, devote themselves to God's cause, and that of +their lawful Sovereign. Amen, so be it! The blessed eyes of saints and +martyrs, which see our resolve, shall witness the execution; or their +ears, which hear our vow, shall hear our death-groan, drawn in the +sacred cause!" + +While thus speaking, she held Roland Graeme firmly with one hand, while +she pointed upward with the other, to leave him, as it were, no means of +protest against the obtestation to which he was thus made a party. +When she had finished her appeal to Heaven, she left him no leisure for +farther hesitation, or for asking any explanation of her purpose; but +passing with the same ready transition as formerly, to the solicitous +attentions of an anxious parent, overwhelmed him with questions +concerning his residence in the Castle of Avenel, and the qualities and +accomplishments he had acquired. + +"It is well," she said, when she had exhausted her inquiries, "my gay +goss-hawk + +[Footnote: The comparison is taken from some beautiful verses in an old +ballad, entitled Fause Foodrage, published in the "Minstrelsy of the +Scottish Border." A deposed queen, to preserve her infant son from +the traitors who have slain his father, exchanges him with the female +offspring of a faithful friend, and goes on to direct the education of +the children, and the private signals by which the parents are to hear +news each of her own offspring. + + "And you shall learn my gay goss-hawk + Right well to breast a steed; + And so will I your turtle dow, + As well to write and read. + + And ye shall learn my gay goss-hawk + To wield both bow and brand; + And so will I your turtle dow, + To lay gowd with her hand. + + At kirk or market when we meet, + We'll dare make no avow, + But, 'Dame, how does my gay goss-hawk?' + 'Madame, how does my dow?'" ] + +hath been well trained, and will soar high; but those who bred him will +have cause to fear as well as to wonder at his flight.--Let us now," she +said, "to our morning meal, and care not though it be a scanty one. A +few hours' walk will bring us to more friendly quarters." + +They broke their fast accordingly, on such fragments as remained of +their yesterday's provision, and immediately set out on their farther +journey. Magdalen Graeme led the way, with a firm and active step much +beyond her years, and Roland Graeme followed, pensive and anxious, and +far from satisfied with the state of dependence to which he seemed again +to be reduced. + +"Am I for ever," he said to himself, "to be devoured with the desire +of independence and free agency, and yet to be for ever led on, by +circumstances, to follow the will of others?" + + + + +Chapter the Tenth. + + + She dwelt unnoticed and alone, + Beside the springs of Dove: + A maid whom there was none to praise, + And very few to love. + WORDSWORTH. + +In the course of their journey the travellers spoke little to each +other. Magdalen Graeme chanted, from time to time, in a low voice, a +part of some one of those beautiful old Latin hymns which belong to the +Catholic service, muttered an Ave or a Credo, and so passed on, lost in +devotional contemplation. The meditations of her grandson were more +bent on mundane matters; and many a time, as a moor-fowl arose from the +heath, and shot along the moor, uttering his bold crow of defiance, he +thought of the jolly Adam Woodcock, and his trusty goss-hawk; or, as +they passed a thicket where the low trees and bushes were intermingled +with tall fern, furze, and broom, so as to form a thick and intricate +cover, his dreams were of a roebuck and a brace of gaze-hounds. But +frequently his mind returned to the benevolent and kind mistress whom he +had left behind him, offended justly, and unreconciled by any effort of +his. + +"My step would be lighter," he thought, "and so would my heart, could +I but have returned to see her for one instant, and to say, Lady, the +orphan boy was wild, but not ungrateful!" + +Travelling in these divers moods, about the hour of noon they reached +a small straggling village, in which, as usual, were seen one or two +of those predominating towers, or peel houses, which, for reasons of +defence elsewhere detailed, were at that time to be found in every +Border hamlet. A brook flowed beside the village, and watered the valley +in which it stood. There was also a mansion at the end of the village, +and a little way separated from it, much dilapidated, and in very +bad order, but appearing to have been the abode of persons of some +consideration. The situation was agreeable, being an angle formed by the +stream, bearing three or four large sycamore trees, which were in full +leaf, and served to relieve the dark appearance of the mansion, which +was built of a deep red stone. The house itself was a large one, but was +now obviously too big for the inmates; several windows were built +up, especially those which opened from the lower story; others were +blockaded in a less substantial manner. The court before the door, which +had once been defended with a species of low outer-wall, now ruinous, +was paved, but the stones were completely covered with long gray +nettles, thistles, and other weeds, which, shooting up betwixt the +flags, had displaced many of them from their level. Even matters +demanding more peremptory attention had been left neglected, in a manner +which argued sloth or poverty in the extreme. The stream, undermining a +part of the bank near an angle of the ruinous wall, had brought it down, +with a corner turret, the ruins of which lay in the bed of the river. +The current, interrupted by the ruins which it had overthrown, and +turned yet nearer to the site of the tower, had greatly enlarged the +breach it had made, and was in the process of undermining the ground +on which the house itself stood, unless it were speedily protected by +sufficient bulwarks. + +All this attracted Roland Graeme's observation, as they approached the +dwelling by a winding path, which gave them, at intervals, a view of it +from different points. + +"If we go to yonder house," he said to his mother, "I trust it is but +for a short visit. It looks as if two rainy days from the north-west +would send the whole into the brook." + +"You see but with the eyes of the body," said the old woman; "God will +defend his own, though it be forsaken and despised of men. Better to +dwell on the sand, under his law, than fly to the rock of human trust." + +As she thus spoke, they entered the court before the old mansion, and +Roland could observe that the front of it had formerly been considerably +ornamented with carved work, in the same dark-coloured freestone of +which it was built. But all these ornaments had been broken down and +destroyed, and only the shattered vestiges of niches and entablatures +now strewed the place which they had once occupied. The larger +entrance in front was walled up, but a little footpath, which, from its +appearance, seemed to be rarely trodden, led to a small wicket, defended +by a door well clenched with iron-headed nails, at which Magdalen Graeme +knocked three times, pausing betwixt each knock, until she heard an +answering tap from within. At the last knock, the wicket was opened by a +pale thin female, who said, "_Benedicti qui venient in nomine Domini_." +They entered, and the portress hastily shut behind them the wicket, and +made fast the massive fastenings by which it was secured. + +The female led the way through a narrow entrance, into a vestibule of +some extent, paved with stone, and having benches of the same solid +material ranged around. At the upper end was an oriel window, but some +of the intervals formed by the stone shafts and mullions were blocked +up, so that the apartment was very gloomy. + +Here they stopped, and the mistress of the mansion, for such she was, +embraced Magdalen Graeme, and greeting her by the title of sister, +kissed her with much solemnity, on either side of the face. + +"The blessing of Our Lady be upon you, my sister," were her next words; +and they left no doubt upon Roland's mind respecting the religion of +their hostess, even if he could have suspected his venerable and +zealous guide of resting elsewhere than in the habitation of an orthodox +Catholic. They spoke together a few words in private, during which +he had leisure to remark more particularly the appearance of his +grandmother's friend. + +Her age might be betwixt fifty and sixty; her looks had a mixture of +melancholy and unhappiness that bordered on discontent, and obscured the +remains of beauty which age had still left on her features. Her dress +was of the plainest and most ordinary description, of a dark colour, +and, like Magdalen Graeme's, something approaching to a religious habit. +Strict neatness and cleanliness of person, seemed to intimate, that if +poor, she was not reduced to squalid or heart-broken distress, and that +she was still sufficiently attached to life to retain a taste for its +decencies, if not its elegancies. Her manner, as well as her features +and appearance, argued an original condition and education far above the +meanness of her present appearance. In short, the whole figure was +such as to excite the idea, "That female must have had a history worth +knowing." While Roland Graeme was making this very reflection, the +whispers of the two females ceased, and the mistress of the mansion, +approaching him, looked on his face and person with much attention, and, +as it seemed, some interest. + +"This, then," she said, addressing his relative, "is the child of thine +unhappy daughter, sister Magdalen; and him, the only shoot from your +ancient tree, you are willing to devote to the Good Cause?" + +"Yes, by the rood," answered Magdalen Graeme, in her usual tone of +resolved determination, "to the good cause I devote him, flesh and fell, +sinew and limb, body and soul." + +"Thou art a happy woman, sister Magdalen," answered her companion, +"that, lifted so high above human affection and human feeling, thou +canst bind such a victim to the horns of the altar. Had I been called +to make such a sacrifice--to plunge a youth so young and fair into the +plots and bloodthirsty dealings of the time, not the patriarch Abraham, +when he led Isaac up the mountain, would have rendered more melancholy +obedience." + +She then continued to look at Roland with a mournful aspect of +compassion, until the intentness of her gaze occasioned his colour to +rise, and he was about to move out of its influence, when he was stopped +by his grand-mother with one hand, while with the other she divided the +hair upon his forehead, which was now crimson with bashfulness, while +she added, with a mixture of proud affection and firm resolution,--"Ay, +look at him well, my sister, for on a fairer face thine eye never +rested. I too, when I first saw him, after a long separation, felt as +the worldly feel, and was half shaken in my purpose. But no wind can +tear a leaf from the withered tree which has long been stripped of its +foliage, and no mere human casualty can awaken the mortal feelings which +have long slept in the calm of devotion." + +While the old woman thus spoke, her manner gave the lie to her +assertions, for the tears rose to her eyes while she added, "But the +fairer and the more spotless the victim, is it not, my sister, the more +worthy of acceptance?" + +She seemed glad to escape from the sensations which agitated her, and +instantly added, "He will escape, my sister--there will be a ram caught +in the thicket, and the hand of our revolted brethren shall not be on +the youthfull Joseph. Heaven can defend its own rights, even by means of +babes and sucklings, of women and beardless boys." + +"Heaven hath left us," said the other female; "for our sins and our +fathers' the succours of the blessed Saints have abandoned this accursed +land. We may win the crown of Martyrdom, but not that of earthly +triumph. One, too, whose prudence was at this deep crisis so +indispensable, has been called to a better world. The Abbot Eustatius is +no more." + +"May his soul have mercy!" said Magdalen Graeme, "and may Heaven, too, +have mercy upon us, who linger behind in this bloody land! His loss +is indeed a perilous blow to our enterprise; for who remains behind +possessing his far-fetched experience, his self-devoted zeal, his +consummate wisdom, and his undaunted courage! He hath fallen with the +church's standard in his hand, but God will raise up another to lift the +blessed banner. Whom have the Chapter elected in his room?" + +"It is rumoured no one of the few remaining brethren dare accept +the office. The heretics have sworn that they will permit no future +election, and will heavily punish any attempt to create a new Abbot of +Saint Mary's. _Conjuraverunt inter se principes, dicentes, Projiciamus +laqueos ejus_." + +"_Quousque, Domine!_"--ejaculated Magdalen; "this, my sister, were +indeed a perilous and fatal breach in our band; but I am firm in my +belief, that another will arise in the place of him so untimely removed. +Where is thy daughter Catharine?" + +"In the parlour," answered the matron, "but"--She looked at Roland +Graeme, and muttered something in the ear of her friend. + +"Fear it not," answered Magdalen Graeme, "it is both lawful and +necessary--fear nothing from him--I would he were as well grounded in +the faith by which alone comes safety, as he is free from thought, +deed, or speech of villany. Therein is the heretics' discipline to be +commended, my sister, that they train up their youth in strong morality, +and choke up every inlet to youthful folly." + +"It is but a cleansing the outside of the cup," answered her friend, +"a whitening of the sepulchre; but he shall see Catharine, since you, +sister, judge it safe and meet.--Follow us, youth," she added, and led +the way from the apartment--with her friend. These were the only words +which the matron had addressed to Roland Graeme, who obeyed them in +silence. As they paced through several winding passages and waste +apartments with a very slow step, the young page had leisure to make +some reflections on his situation,--reflections of a nature which his +ardent temper considered as specially disagreeable. It seemed he had now +got two mistresses, or tutoresses, instead of one, both elderly women, +and both, it would seem, in league to direct his motions according to +their own pleasure, and for the accomplishment of plans to which he was +no party. This, he thought, was too much; arguing reasonably enough, +that whatever right his grandmother and benefactress had to guide his +motions, she was neither entitled to transfer her authority or divide it +with another, who seemed to assume, without ceremony, the same tone of +absolute command over him. + +"But it shall not long continue thus," thought Roland; "I will not be +all my life the slave of a woman's whistle, to go when she bids, and +come when she calls. No, by Saint Andrew! the hand that can hold the +lance is above the control of the distaff. I will leave them the slipp'd +collar in their hands on the first opportunity, and let them execute +their own devices by their own proper force. It may save them both from +peril, for I guess what they meditate is not likely to prove either safe +or easy--the Earl of Murray and his heresy are too well rooted to be +grubbed up by two old women." + +As he thus resolved, they entered a low room, in which a third female +was seated. This apartment was the first he had observed in the mansion +which was furnished with moveable seats, and with a wooden table, over +which was laid a piece of tapestry. A carpet was spread on the floor, +there was a grate in the chimney, and, in brief, the apartment had the +air of being habitable and inhabited. + +But Roland's eyes found better employment than to make observations on +the accommodations of the chamber; for this second female inhabitant of +the mansion seemed something very different from any thing he had yet +seen there. At his first entry, she had greeted with a silent and low +obeisance the two aged matrons, then glancing her eyes towards Roland, +she adjusted a veil which hung back over her shoulders, so as to bring +it over her face; an operation which she performed with much modesty, +but without either affected haste or embarrassed timidity. + +During this manoeuvre Roland had time to observe, that the face was that +of a girl apparently not much past sixteen, and that the eyes were at +once soft and brilliant. To these very favourable observations was added +the certainty that the fair object to whom they referred possessed an +excellent shape, bordering perhaps on _enbonpoint_, and therefore rather +that of a Hebe than of a Sylph, but beautifully formed, and shown to +great advantage by the close jacket and petticoat which she wore after a +foreign fashion, the last not quite long enough to conceal a very pretty +foot, which rested on a bar of the table at which she sate; her round +arms and taper fingers very busily employed in repairing--the piece +of tapestry which was spread on it, which exhibited several deplorable +fissures, enough to demand the utmost skill of the most expert +seamstress. + +It is to be remarked, that it was by stolen glances that Roland Graeme +contrived to ascertain these interesting particulars; and he thought he +could once or twice, notwithstanding the texture of the veil, detect the +damsel in the act of taking similar cognizance of his own person. The +matrons in the meanwhile continued their separate conversation, eyeing +from time to time the young people, in a manner which left Roland in +no doubt that they were the subject of their conversation. At length he +distinctly heard Magdalen Graeme say these words--"Nay, my sister, we +must give them opportunity to speak together, and to become acquainted; +they must be personally known to each other, or how shall they be able +to execute what they are intrusted with?" + +It seemed as if the matron, not fully satisfied with her friend's +reasoning, continued to offer some objections; but they were borne down +by her more dictatorial friend. + +"It must be so," she said, "my dear sister; let us therefore go forth +on the balcony, to finish our conversation.--And do you," she said, +addressing Roland and the girl, "become acquainted with each other." + +With this she stepped up to the young woman, and raising her veil, +discovered features which, whatever might be their ordinary complexion, +were now covered with a universal blush. + +"_Licitum sit,_" said Magdalen, looking at the other matron. + +"_Vix licitum,_" replied the other, with reluctant and hesitating +acquiescence; and again adjusting the veil of the blushing girl, she +dropped it so as to shade, though not to conceal her countenance, and +whispered to her, in a tone loud enough for the page to hear, "Remember, +Catharine, who thou art, and for what destined." + +The matron then retreated with Magdalen Graeme through one of the +casements of the apartment, that opened on a large broad balcony, which, +with its ponderous balustrade, had once run along the whole south +front of the building which faced the brook, and formed a pleasant and +commodious walk in the open air. It was now in some places deprived of +the balustrade, in others broken and narrowed; but, ruinous as it was, +could still be used as a pleasant promenade. Here then walked the two +ancient dames, busied in their private conversation; yet not so much so, +but that Roland could observe the matrons, as their thin forms darkened +the casement in passing or repassing before it, dart a glance into the +apartment, to see how matters were going on there. + + + + +Chapter the Eleventh. + + + Life hath its May, and is mirthful then: + The woods are vocal, and the flowers all odour; + Its very blast has mirth in't,--and the maidens, + The while they don their cloaks to screen their kirtles, + Laugh at the rain that wets them. + OLD PLAY. + +Catherine was at the happy age of innocence and buoyancy of spirit, +when, after the first moment of embarrassment was over, a situation +of awkwardness, like that in which she was suddenly left to make +acquaintance with a handsome youth, not even known to her by name, +struck her, in spite of herself, in a ludicrous point of view. She bent +her beautiful eyes upon the work with which she was busied, and with +infinite gravity sate out the two first turns of the matrons upon the +balcony; but then, glancing her deep blue eye a little towards Roland, +and observing the embarrassment under which he laboured, now shifting on +his chair, and now dangling his cap, the whole man evincing that he was +perfectly at a loss how to open the conversation, she could keep her +composure no longer, but after a vain struggle broke out into a sincere, +though a very involuntary fit of laughing, so richly accompanied by the +laughter of her merry eyes, which actually glanced through the tears +which the effort filled them with, and by the waving of her rich +tresses, that the goddess of smiles herself never looked more lovely +than Catherine at that moment. A court page would not have left her long +alone in her mirth; but Roland was country-bred, and, besides, having +some jealousy as well as bashfulness, he took it into his head that he +was himself the object of her inextinguishable laughter. His endeavours +to sympathize with Catherine, therefore, could carry him no farther than +a forced giggle, which had more of displeasure than of mirth in it, and +which so much enhanced that of the girl, that it seemed to render it +impossible for her ever to bring her laughter to an end, with whatever +anxious pains she laboured to do so. For every one has felt, that when a +paroxysm of laughter has seized him at a misbecoming time and place, +the efforts which he made to suppress it, nay, the very sense of the +impropriety of giving way to it, tend only to augment and prolong the +irresistible impulse. + +It was undoubtedly lucky for Catherine, as well as for Roland, that the +latter did not share in the excessive mirth of the former. For, seated +as she was, with her back to the casement, Catherine could easily escape +the observation of the two matrons during the course of their promenade; +whereas Graeme was so placed, with his side to the window, that his +mirth, had he shared that of his companion, would have been instantly +visible, and could not have failed to give offence to the personages in +question. He sate, however, with some impatience, until Catherine had +exhausted either her power or her desire of laughing, and was returning +with good grace to the exercise of her needle, and then he observed with +some dryness, that "there seemed no great occasion to recommend to them +to improve their acquaintance, as it seemed, that they were already +tolerably familiar." + +Catherine had an extreme desire to set off upon a fresh score, but +she repressed it strongly, and fixing her eyes on her work, replied by +asking his pardon, and promising to avoid future offence. + +Roland had sense enough to feel, that an air of offended dignity was +very much misplaced, and that it was with a very different bearing he +ought to meet the deep blue eyes which had borne such a hearty burden in +the laughing scene. He tried, therefore, to extricate himself as well as +he could from his blunder, by assuming a tone of correspondent gaiety, +and requesting to know of the nymph, "how it was her pleasure that they +should proceed in improving the acquaintance which had commenced so +merrily." + +"That," she said, "you must yourself discover; perhaps I have gone a +step too far in opening our interview." + +"Suppose," said Roland Graeme, "we should begin as in a tale-book, by +asking each other's names and histories?" + +"It is right well imagined," said Catherine, "and shows an argute +judgment. Do you begin, and I will listen, and only put in a question +or two at the dark parts of the story. Come, unfold then your name and +history, my new acquaintance." + +"I am called Roland Graeme, and that tall woman is my grandmother." + +"And your tutoress?--good. Who are your parents?" + +"They are both dead," replied Roland. + +"Ay, but who were they? you _had_ parents, I presume?" + +"I suppose so," said Roland, "but I have never been able to learn much +of their history. My father was a Scottish knight, who died gallantly +in his stirrups--my mother was a Graeme of Hathergill, in the Debateable +Land--most of her family were killed when the Debateable country was +burned by Lord Maxwell and Herries of Caerlaverock." + +"Is it long ago?" said the damsel. + +"Before I was born," answered the page. + +"That must be a great while since," said she, shaking her head gravely; +"look you, I cannot weep for them." + +"It needs not," said the youth, "they fell with honour." + +"So much for your lineage, fair sir," replied his companion, "of whom I +like the living specimen (a glance at the casement) far less than those +that are dead. Your much honoured grandmother looks as if she could make +one weep in sad earnest. And now, fair sir, for your own person--if you +tell not the tale faster, it will be cut short in the middle; Mother +Bridget pauses longer and longer every time she passes the window, and +with her there is as little mirth as in the grave of your ancestors." + +"My tale is soon told--I was introduced into the castle of Avenel to be +page to the lady of the mansion." + +"She is a strict Huguenot, is she not?" said the maiden. + +"As strict as Calvin himself. But my grandmother can play the puritan +when it suits her purpose, and she had some plan of her own, for +quartering me in the Castle--it would have failed, however, after we had +remained several weeks at the hamlet, but for an unexpected master of +ceremonies--" + +"And who was that?" said the girl. + +"A large black dog, Wolf by name, who brought me into the castle one day +in his mouth, like a hurt wild-duck, and presented me to the lady." + +"A most respectable introduction, truly," said Catherine; "and what +might you learn at this same castle? I love dearly to know what my +acquaintances can do at need." + +"To fly a hawk, hollow to a hound, back a horse, and wield lance, bow, +and brand." + +"And to boast of all this when you have learned it," said Catherine, +"which, in France at least, is the surest accomplishment of a page. But +proceed, fair sir; how came your Huguenot lord and your no less Huguenot +lady to receive and keep in the family so perilous a person as a +Catholic page?" + +"Because they knew not that part of my history, which from infancy I +have been taught to keep secret--and because my grand-dame's former +zealous attendance on their heretic chaplain, had laid all this +suspicion to sleep, most fair Callipolis," said the page; and in so +saying, he edged his chair towards the seat of the fair querist. + +"Nay, but keep your distance, most gallant sir," answered the blue-eyed +maiden, "for, unless I greatly mistake, these reverend ladies will soon +interrupt our amicable conference, if the acquaintance they recommend +shall seem to proceed beyond a certain point--so, fair sir, be +pleased to abide by your station, and reply to my questions.--By what +achievements did you prove the qualities of a page, which you had thus +happily acquired?" + +Roland, who began to enter into the tone and spirit of the damsel's +conversation, replied to her with becoming spirit. + +"In no feat, fair gentlewoman, was I found inexpert, wherein there was +mischief implied. I shot swans, hunted cats, frightened serving-women, +chased the deer, and robbed the orchard. I say nothing of tormenting the +chaplain in various ways, for that was my duty as a good Catholic." + +"Now, as I am a gentlewoman," said Catherine, "I think these heretics +have done Catholic penance in entertaining so all-accomplished a +serving-man! And what, fair sir, might have been the unhappy event which +deprived them of an inmate altogether so estimable?" + +"Truly, fair gentlewoman," answered the youth, "your real proverb says +that the longest lane will have a turning, and mine was more--it was, in +fine, a turning off." + +"Good!" said the merry young maiden, "it is an apt play on the word--and +what occasion was taken for so important a catastrophe?--Nay, start not +for my learning, I do know the schools--in plain phrase, why were you +sent from service?" + +The page shrugged his shoulders while he replied,--"A short tale is soon +told--and a short horse soon curried. I made the falconer's boy taste of +my switch--the falconer threatened to make me brook his cudgel--he is a +kindly clown as well as a stout, and I would rather have been cudgelled +by him than any man in Christendom to choose--but I knew not his +qualities at that time--so I threatened to make him brook the stab, and +my Lady made me brook the 'Begone;' so adieu to the page's office and +the fair Castle of Avenel--I had not travelled far before I met my +venerable parent--And so tell your tale, fair gentlewoman, for mine is +done." + +"A happy grandmother," said the maiden, "who had the luck to find the +stray page just when his mistress had slipped his leash, and a most +lucky page that has jumped at once from a page to an old lady's +gentleman-usher!" + +"All this is nothing of your history," answered Roland Graeme, began +to be much interested in the congenial vivacity of this facetious young +gentlewoman,--"tale for tale is fellow-traveller's justice." + +"Wait till we are fellow-travellers, then," replied Catherine. + +"Nay, you escape me not so," said the page; "if you deal not justly by +me, I will call out to Dame Bridget, or whatever your dame be called, +and proclaim you for a cheat." + +"You shall not need," answered the maiden--"my history is the +counterpart of your own; the same words might almost serve, change but +dress and name. I am called Catherine Seyton, and I also am an orphan." + +"Have your parents been long dead?" + +"This is the only question," said she, throwing down her fine eyes with +a sudden expression of sorrow, "that is the only question I cannot laugh +at." + +"And Dame Bridget is your grandmother?" + +The sudden cloud passed away like that which crosses for an instant the +summer sun, and she answered with her usual lively expression, "Worse by +twenty degrees--Dame Bridget is my maiden aunt." + +"Over gods forbode!" said Roland--"Alas! that you have such a tale to +tell! and what horror comes next?" + +"Your own history, exactly. I was taken upon trial for service--" + +"And turned off for pinching the duenna, or affronting my lady's +waiting-woman?" + +"Nay, our history varies there," said the damsel--"Our mistress broke +up house, or had her house broke up, which is the same thing, and I am a +free woman of the forest." + +"And I am as glad of it as if any one had lined my doublet with cloth of +gold," said the youth. + +"I thank you for your mirth," said she, "but the matter is not likely to +concern you." + +"Nay, but go on," said the page, "for you will be presently interrupted; +the two good dames have been soaring yonder on the balcony, like two old +hooded crows, and their croak grows hoarser as night comes on; they will +wing to roost presently.--This mistress of yours, fair gentlewoman, who +was she, in God's name?" + +"Oh, she has a fair name in the world," replied Catherine Seyton. "Few +ladies kept a fairer house, or held more gentlewomen in her household; +my aunt Bridget was one of her housekeepers. We never saw our mistress's +blessed face, to be sure, but we heard enough of her; were up early and +down late, and were kept to long prayers and light food." + +"Out upon the penurious old beldam!" said the page. + +"For Heaven's sake, blaspheme not!" said the girl, with an expression +of fear.--"God pardon us both! I meant no harm. I speak of our blessed +Saint Catherine of Sienna!--may God forgive me that I spoke so lightly, +and made you do a great sin and a great blasphemy. This was her nunnery, +in which there were twelve nuns and an abbess. My aunt was the abbess, +till the heretics turned all adrift." + +"And where are your companions?" asked the youth. + +"With the last year's snow," answered the maiden; "east, north, south, +and west--some to France, some to Flanders, some, I fear, into the +world and its pleasures. We have got permission to remain, or rather our +remaining has been connived at, for my aunt has great relations among +the Kerrs, and they have threatened a death-feud if any one touches us; +and bow and spear are the best warrant in these times." + +"Nay, then, you sit under a sure shadow," said the youth; "and I suppose +you wept yourself blind when Saint Catherine broke up housekeeping +before you had taken arles [Footnote: _Anglice_--Earnest-money] in her +service?" + +"Hush! for Heaven's sake," said the damsel, crossing herself; "no more +of that! but I have not quite cried my eyes out," said she, turning them +upon him, and instantly again bending them upon her work. It was one of +those glances which would require the threefold plate of brass around +the heart, more than it is needed by the mariners, to whom Horace +recommends it. Our youthful page had no defence whatever to offer. + +"What say you, Catherine," he said, "if we two, thus strangely turned +out of service at the same time, should give our two most venerable +duennas the torch to hold, while we walk a merry measure with each other +over the floor of this weary world?" + +"A goodly proposal, truly," said Catherine, "and worthy the mad-cap +brain of a discarded page!--And what shifts does your worship propose +we should live by?--by singing ballads, cutting purses, or swaggering +on the highway? for there, I think, you would find your most productive +exchequer." + +"Choose, you proud peat!" said the page, drawing off in huge disdain +at the calm and unembarrassed ridicule with which his wild proposal was +received. And as he spoke the words, the casement was again darkened by +the forms of the matrons--it opened, and admitted Magdalen Graeme and +the Mother Abbess, so we must now style her, into the apartment. + + + + +Chapter the Twelfth. + + + Nay, hear me, brother--I am elder, wiser, + And holier than thou--And age, and wisdom, + And holiness, have peremptory claims, + And will be listen'd to. + OLD PLAY. + +When the matrons re-entered, and put an end to the conversation--which +we have detailed in the last chapter, Dame Magdalen Graeme thus +addressed her grandson and his pretty companion: "Have you spoke +together, my children?--Have you become known to each other as +fellow-travellers on the same dark and dubious road, whom chance hath +brought together, and who study to learn the tempers and dispositions of +those by whom their perils are to be shared?" + +It was seldom the light-hearted Catharine could suppress a jest, so that +she often spoke when she would have acted more wisely in holding her +peace. + +"Your grandson admires the journey which you propose so very greatly, +that he was even now preparing for setting out upon it instantly." + +"This is to be too forward, Roland," said the dame, addressing him, "as +yesterday you were over slack--the just mean lies in obedience, which +both waits for the signal to start, and obeys it when given.--But once +again, my children, have you so perused each other's countenances, that +when you meet, in whatever disguise the times may impose upon you, you +may recognize each in the other the secret agent of the mighty work in +which you are to be leagued?--Look at each other, know each line and +lineament of each other's countenance. Learn to distinguish by the step, +by the sound of the voice, by the motion of the hand, by the glance +of the eye, the partner whom Heaven hath sent to aid in working its +will.--Wilt thou know that maiden, whensoever, or wheresoever you shall +again meet her, my Roland Graeme?" + +As readily as truly did Roland answer in the affirmative. "And thou, my +daughter, wilt thou again remember the features of this youth?" + +"Truly, mother," replied Catherine Seyton, "I have not seen so many men +of late, that I should immediately forget your grandson, though I mark +not much about him that is deserving of especial remembrance." + +"Join hands, then, my children," said Magdalen Graeme; but, in saying +so, was interrupted by her companion, whose conventual prejudices had +been gradually giving her more and more uneasiness, and who could remain +acquiescent no longer. + +"Nay, my good sister, you forget," said she to Magdalen, "Catharine is +the betrothed bride of Heaven--these intimacies cannot be." + +"It is in the cause of Heaven that I command them to embrace," said +Magdalen, with the full force of her powerful voice; "the end, sister, +sanctifies the means we must use." + +"They call me Lady Abbess, or Mother at the least, who address me," +said Dame Bridget, drawing herself up, as if offended at her friend's +authoritative manner--"the Lady of Heathergill forgets that she speaks +to the Abbess of Saint Catherine." + +"When I was what you call me," said Magdalen, "you indeed were the +Abbess of Saint Catherine, but both names are now gone, with all the +rank that the world and that the church gave to them; and we are now, to +the eye of human judgment, two poor, despised, oppressed women, dragging +our dishonoured old age to a humble grave. But what are we in the eye of +Heaven?--Ministers, sent forth to work his will,--in whose weakness the +strength of the church shall be manifested-before whom shall be humbled +the wisdom of Murray, and the dark strength of Morton,--And to such +wouldst thou apply the narrow rules of thy cloistered seclusion?--or, +hast thou forgotten the order which I showed thee from thy Superior, +subjecting thee to me in these matters?" + +"On thy head, then, be the scandal and the sin," said the Abbess, +sullenly. + +"On mine be they both," said Magdalen. "I say, embrace each other, my +children." + +But Catherine, aware, perhaps, how the dispute was likely to terminate, +had escaped from the apartment, and so disappointed the grandson, at +least as much as the old matron. + +"She is gone," said the Abbess, "to provide some little refreshment. But +it will have little savour to those who dwell in the world; for I, at +least, cannot dispense with the rules to which I am vowed, because it is +the will of wicked men to break down the sanctuary in which they wont to +be observed." + +"It is well, my sister," replied Magdalen, "to pay each even the +smallest tithes of mint and cummin which the church demands, and I blame +not thy scrupulous observance of the rules of thine order. But they were +established by the church, and for the church's benefit; and reason it +is that they should give way when the salvation of the church herself is +at stake." + +The Abbess made no reply. + +One more acquainted with human nature than the inexperienced page, might +have found amusement in comparing the different kinds of fanaticisms +which these two females exhibited. The Abbess, timid, narrowminded, and +discontented, clung to ancient usages and pretensions which were ended +by the Reformation; and was in adversity, as she had been in prosperity, +scrupulous, weak-spirited, and bigoted. While the fiery and more lofty +spirit of her companion suggested a wider field of effort, and would +not be limited by ordinary rules in the extraordinary schemes which +were suggested by her bold and irregular imagination. But Roland Graeme, +instead of tracing these peculiarities of character in the two old +damps, only waited with great anxiety for the return of Catherine, +expecting probably that the proposal of the fraternal embrace would be +renewed, as his grandmother seemed disposed to carry matters with a high +hand. + +His expectations, or hopes, if we may call them so, were, however, +disappointed; for, when Catherine re-entered on the summons of the +Abbess, and placed on the table an earthen pitcher of water, and +four wooden platters, with cups of the same materials, the Dame of +Heathergill, satisfied with the arbitrary mode in which she had borne +down the opposition of the Abbess, pursued her victory no farther--a +moderation for which her grandson, in his heart, returned her but +slender thanks. + +In the meanwhile, Catherine continued to place upon the table the +slender preparations for the meal of a recluse, which consisted almost +entirely of colewort, boiled and served up in a wooden platter, having +no better seasoning than a little salt, and no better accompaniment than +some coarse barley-bread, in very moderate quantity. The water-pitcher, +already mentioned, furnished the only beverage. After a Latin +grace, delivered by the Abbess, the guests sat down to their spare +entertainment. The simplicity of the fare appeared to produce no +distaste in the females, who ate of it moderately, but with the usual +appearance of appetite. But Roland Graeme had been used to better +cheer. Sir Halbert Glendinning, who affected even an unusual degree +of nobleness in his housekeeping, maintained it in a style of genial +hospitality, which rivalled that of the Northern Barons of England. He +might think, perhaps, that by doing so, he acted yet more completely +the part for which he was born--that of a great Baron and a leader. Two +bullocks, and six sheep, weekly, were the allowance when the Baron was +at home, and the number was not greatly diminished during his absence. A +boll of malt was weekly brewed into ale, which was used by the household +at discretion. Bread was baked in proportion for the consumption of his +domestics and retainers; and in this scene of plenty had Roland Graeme +now lived for several years. It formed a bad introduction to lukewarm +greens and spring-water; and probably his countenance indicated some +sense of the difference, for the Abbess observed, "It would seem, +my son, that the tables of the heretic Baron, whom you have so long +followed, are more daintily furnished than those of the suffering +daughters of the church; and yet, not upon the most solemn nights of +festival, when the nuns were permitted to eat their portion at mine own +table, did I consider the cates, which were then served up, as half so +delicious as these vegetables and this water, on which I prefer to feed, +rather than do aught which may derogate from the strictness of my vow. +It shall never be said that the mistress of this house made it a house +of feasting, when days of darkness and of affliction were hanging over +the Holy Church, of which I am an unworthy member." + +"Well hast thou said, my sister," replied Magdalen Graeme; "but now +it is not only time to suffer in the good cause, but to act in it. And +since our pilgrim's meal is finished, let us go apart to prepare for our +journey tomorrow, and to advise on the manner in which these children +shall be employed, and what measures we can adopt to supply their +thoughtlessness and lack of discretion." + +Notwithstanding his indifferent cheer, the heart of Roland Graeme +bounded high at this proposal, which he doubted not would lead to +another _tete-a-tete_ betwixt him and the pretty novice. But he was +mistaken. Catherine, it would seem, had no mind so far to indulge him; +for, moved either by delicacy or caprice, or some of those indescribable +shades betwixt the one and the other, with which women love to tease, +and at the same time to captivate, the ruder sex, she reminded the +Abbess that it was necessary she should retire an hour before vespers; +and, receiving the ready and approving nod of her Superior, she arose +to withdraw. But before leaving the apartment, she made obeisance to the +matrons, bending herself till her hands touched her knees, and then made +a lesser reverence to Roland, which consisted in a slight bend of +the body and gentle depression of the head. This she performed very +demurely; but the party on whom the salutation was conferred, thought he +could discern in her manner an arch and mischievous exultation over his +secret disappointment.--"The devil take the saucy girl," he thought in +his heart, though the presence of the Abbess should have repressed all +such profane imaginations,--"she is as hard-hearted as the laughing +hyaena that the story-books tell of--she has a mind that I shall not +forget her this night at least." + +The matrons now retired also, giving the page to understand that he +was on no account to stir from the convent, or to show himself at the +windows, the Abbess assigning as a reason, the readiness with which the +rude heretics caught at every occasion of scandalizing the religious +orders. + +"This is worse than the rigour of Mr. Henry Warden, himself," said the +page, when he was left alone; "for, to do him justice, however strict in +requiring the most rigid attention during the time of his homilies, he +left us to the freedom of our own wills afterwards--ay, and would take +a share in our pastimes, too, if he thought them entirely innocent. +But these old women are utterly wrapt up in gloom, mystery and +self-denial.--Well, then, if I must neither stir out of the gate nor +look out at window, I will at least see what the inside of the house +contains that may help to pass away one's time--peradventure I may light +on that blue-eyed laugher in some corner or other." + +Going, therefore, out of the chamber by the entrance opposite to that +through which the two matrons had departed, (for it may be readily +supposed that he had no desire to intrude on their privacy.) he wandered +from one chamber to another, through the deserted edifice, seeking, with +boyish eagerness, some source of interest and amusement. Here he passed +through a long gallery, opening on either hand into the little cells +of the nuns, all deserted, and deprived of the few trifling articles of +furniture which the rules of the order admitted. + +"The birds are flown," thought the page; "but whether they will find +themselves worse off in the open air than in these damp narrow cages, I +leave my Lady Abbess and my venerable relative to settle betwixt them. +I think the wild young lark whom they have left behind them, would like +best to sing under God's free sky." + +A winding stair, strait and narrow, as if to remind the nuns of their +duties of fast and maceration, led down to a lower suite of apartments, +which occupied the ground story of the house. These rooms were even more +ruinous than those which he had left; for, having encountered the first +fury of the assailants by whom the nunnery had been wasted, the windows +had been dashed in, the doors broken down, and even the partitions +betwixt the apartments, in some places, destroyed. As he thus stalked +from desolation to desolation, and began to think of returning from +so uninteresting a research to the chamber which he had left, he was +surprised to hear the low of a cow very close to him. The sound was so +unexpected at the time and place, that Roland Graeme started as if it +had been the voice of a lion, and laid his hand on his dagger, while at +the same moment the light and lovely form of Catherine Seyton presented +itself at the door of the apartment from which the sound had issued. + +"Good even to you, valiant champion!" said she: "since the days of Guy +of Warwick, never was one more worthy to encounter a dun cow." + +"Cow?" said Roland Graeme, "by my faith, I thought it had been the +devil that roared so near me. Who ever heard of a convent containing a +cow-house?" + +"Cow and calf may come hither now," answered Catherine, "for we have no +means to keep out either. But I advise you, kind sir, to return to the +place from whence you came." + +"Not till I see your charge, fair sister," answered Roland, and made +his way into the apartment, in spite of the half serious half laughing +remonstrances of the girl. + +The poor solitary cow, now the only severe recluse within the nunnery, +was quartered in a spacious chamber, which had once been the refectory +of the convent. The roof was graced with groined arches, and the wall +with niches, from which the images had been pulled down. These remnants +of architectural ornaments were strangely contrasted with the rude crib +constructed for the cow in one corner of the apartment, and the stack of +fodder which was piled beside it for her food. [Footnote: This, like +the cell of Saint Cuthbert, is an imaginary scene, but I took one or +two ideas of the desolation of the interior from a story told me by my +father. In his youth--it may be near eighty years since, as he was born +in 1729--he had occasion to visit an old lady who resided in a Border +castle of considerable renown. Only one very limited portion of the +extensive ruins sufficed for the accommodation of the inmates, and my +father amused himself by wandering through the part that was untenanted. +In a dining-apartment, having a roof richly adorned with arches and +drops, there was deposited a large stack of hay, to which calves were +helping themselves from opposite sides. As my father was scaling a +dark ruinous turnpike staircase, his greyhound ran up before him, and +probably was the means of saving his life, for the animal fell through +a trap-door, or aperture in the stair, thus warning the owner of the +danger of the ascent. As the dog continued howling from a great depth, +my father got the old butler, who alone knew most of the localities +about the castle, to unlock a sort of stable, in which Kill-buck was +found safe and sound, the place being filled with the same commodity +which littered the stalls of Augeas, and which had rendered the dog's +fall an easy one.] + +"By my faith," said the page, "Crombie is more lordly lodged than any +one here!" + +"You had best remain with her," said Catherine, "and supply by your +filial attentions the offspring she has had the ill luck to lose." + +"I will remain, at least, to help you to prepare her night's lair, +pretty Catherine," said Roland, seizing upon a pitch-fork. + +"By no means," said Catherine; "for, besides that you know not in the +least how to do her that service, you will bring a chiding my way, and I +get enough of that in the regular course of things." + +"What! for accepting my assistance?" said the page,--"for accepting _my_ +assistance, who am to be your confederate in some deep matter of import? +That were altogether unreasonable--and, now I think on it, tell me if +you can, what is this mighty emprise to which I am destined?" + +"Robbing a bird's nest, I should suppose," said Catherine, "considering +the champion whom they have selected." + +"By my faith," said the youth, "and he that has taken a falcon's nest +in the Scaurs of Polmoodie, has done something to brag of, my fair +sister.--But that is all over now--a murrain on the nest, and the eyases +and their food, washed or unwashed, for it was all anon of cramming +these worthless kites that I was sent upon my present travels. Save +that I have met with you, pretty sister, I could eat my dagger-hilt for +vexation at my own folly. But, as we are to be fellow-travellers--" + +"Fellow-labourers! not fellow-travellers!" answered the girl; "for to +your comfort be it known, that the Lady Abbess and I set out earlier +than you and your respected relative to-morrow, and that I partly endure +your company at present, because it may be long ere we meet again." + +"By Saint Andrew, but it shall not though," answered Roland; "I will not +hunt at all unless we are to hunt in couples." + +"I suspect, in that and in other points, we must do as we are bid," +replied the young lady.--"But, hark! I hear my aunt's voice." + +The old lady entered in good earnest, and darted a severe glance at her +niece, while Roland had the ready wit to busy himself about the halter +of the cow. + +"The young gentleman," said Catherine, gravely, "is helping me to tie +the cow up faster to her stake, for I find that last night when she put +her head out of window and lowed, she alarmed the whole village; +and--we shall be suspected of sorcery among the heretics, if they do not +discover the cause of the apparition, or lose our cow if they do." + +"Relieve yourself of that fear," said the Abbess, somewhat ironically; +"the person to whom she is now sold, comes for the animal presently." + +"Good night, then, my poor companion," said Catherine, patting the +animal's shoulders; "I hope thou hast fallen into kind hands, for my +happiest hours of late have been spent in tending thee--I would I had +been born to no better task!" + +"Now, out upon thee, mean-spirited wench!" said the Abbess; "is that a +speech worthy of the name of Seyton, or of the mouth of a sister of this +house, treading the path of election--and to be spoken before a stranger +youth, too?--Go to my oratory, minion--there read your Hours till I come +thither, when I will read you such a lecture as shall make you prize the +blessings which you possess." + +Catherine was about to withdraw in silence, casting a half sorrowful +half comic glance at Roland Graeme, which seemed to say--"You see to +what your untimely visit has exposed me," when, suddenly changing her +mind, she came forward to the page, and extended her hand as she bid +him good evening. Their palms had pressed each other ere the astonished +matron could interfere, and Catherine had time to say--"Forgive me, +mother; it is long since we have seen a face that looked with kindness +on us. Since these disorders have broken up our peaceful retreat, all +has been gloom and malignity. I bid this youth kindly farewell, because +he has come hither in kindness, and because the odds are great, that +we may never again meet in this world. I guess better than he, that the +schemes on which you are rushing are too mighty for your management, and +that you are now setting the stone a-rolling, which must surely crush +you in its descent. I bid fare-well," she added, "to my fellow-victim!" + +This was spoken with a tone of deep and serious feeling, altogether +different from the usual levity of Catherine's manner, and plainly +showed, that beneath the giddiness of extreme youth and total +inexperience, there lurked in her bosom a deeper power of sense and +feeling, than her conduct had hitherto expressed. + +The Abbess remained a moment silent after she had left the room. The +proposed rebuke died on her tongue, and she appeared struck with the +deep and foreboding, tone in which her niece had spoken her good-even. +She led the way in silence to the apartment which they had formerly +occupied, and where there was prepared a small refection, as the +Abbess termed it, consisting of milk and barley-bread. Magdalen Graeme, +summoned to take share in this collation, appeared from an adjoining +apartment, but Catherine was seen no more. There was little said during +the hasty meal, and after it was finished, Roland Graeme was dismissed +to the nearest cell, where some preparations had been made for his +repose. + +The strange circumstances in which he found himself, had their usual +effect in preventing slumber from hastily descending on him, and he +could distinctly hear, by a low but earnest murmuring in the apartment +which he had left, that the matrons continued in deep consultation to +a late hour. As they separated he heard the Abbess distinctly express +herself thus: "In a word, my sister, I venerate your character and the +authority with which my Superiors have invested you; yet it seems to me, +that, ere entering on this perilous course, we should consult some of +the Fathers of the Church." + +"And how and where are we to find a faithful Bishop or Abbot at whom to +ask counsel? The faithful Eustatius is no more--he is withdrawn from a +world of evil, and from the tyranny of heretics. May Heaven and our +Lady assoilzie him of his sins, and abridge the penance of his mortal +infirmities!--Where shall we find another, with whom to take counsel?" + +"Heaven will provide for the Church," said the Abbess; "and the faithful +fathers who yet are suffered to remain in the house of Kennaquhair, will +proceed to elect an Abbot. They will not suffer the staff to fall down, +or the mitre to be unfilled, for the threats of heresy." + +"That will I learn to-morrow," said Magdalen Graeme; "yet who now takes +the office of an hour, save to partake with the spoilers in their work +of plunder?--to-morrow will tell us if one of the thousand saints who +are sprung from the House of Saint Mary's continues to look down on it +in its misery.--Farewell, my sister--we meet at Edinburgh." + +"Benedicito!" answered the Abbess, and they parted. + +"To Kennaquhair and to Edinburgh we bend our way." thought Roland +Graeme. "That information have I purchased by a sleepless hour--it suits +well with my purpose. At Kennaquhair I shall see Father Ambrose;--at +Edinburgh I shall find the means of shaping my own course through +this bustling world, without burdening my affectionate relation--at +Edinburgh, too, I shall see again the witching novice, with her blue +eyes and her provoking smile."--He fell asleep, and it was to dream of +Catherine Seyton. + + + + +Chapter the Thirteenth. + + + What, Dagon up again!--I thought we had hurl'd him + Down on the threshold, never more to rise. + Bring wedge and axe; and, neighbours, lend your hands + And rive the idol into winter fagots! + ATHELSTANE, OR THE CONVERTED DANE. + +Roland Graeme slept long and sound, and the sun was high over the +horizon, when the voice of his companion summoned him to resume their +pilgrimage; and when, hastily arranging his dress, he went to attend her +call, the enthusiastic matron stood already at the threshold, prepared +for her journey. There was in all the deportment of this remarkable +woman, a promptitude of execution, and a sternness of perseverance, +founded on the fanaticism which she nursed so deeply, and which seemed +to absorb all the ordinary purposes and feelings of mortality. One only +human affection gleamed through her enthusiastic energies, like the +broken glimpses of the sun through the rising clouds of a storm. It was +her maternal fondness for her grandson--a fondness carried almost to the +verge of dotage, in circumstances where the Catholic religion was not +concerned, but which gave way instantly when it chanced either to thwart +or come in contact with the more settled purpose of her soul, and the +more devoted duty of her life. Her life she would willingly have laid +down to save the earthly object of her affection; but that object itself +she was ready to hazard, and would have been willing to sacrifice, +could the restoration of the Church of Rome have been purchased with his +blood. Her discourse by the way, excepting on the few occasions in which +her extreme love of her grandson found opportunity to display itself in +anxiety for his health and accommodation, turned entirely on the duty +of raising up the fallen honours of the Church, and replacing a Catholic +sovereign on the throne. There were times at which she hinted, though +very obscurely and distantly, that she herself was foredoomed by Heaven +to perform a part in this important task; and that she had more than +mere human warranty for the zeal with which she engaged in it. But on +this subject she expressed herself in such general language, that it was +not easy to decide whether she made any actual pretensions to a direct +and supernatural call, like the celebrated Elizabeth Barton, commonly +called the Nun of Kent; [Footnote: A fanatic nun, called the Holy Maid +of Kent, who pretended to the gift of prophecy and power of miracles. +Having denounced the doom of speedy death against Henry VIII. for his +marriage with Anne Boleyn, the prophetess was attainted in Parliament, +and executed with her accomplices. Her imposture was for a time so +successful, that even Sir Thomas More was disposed to be a believer.] +or whether she dwelt upon the general duty which was incumbent on +all Catholics of the time, and the pressure of which she felt in an +extraordinary degree. + +Yet though Magdalen Graeme gave no direct intimation of her pretensions +to be considered as something beyond the ordinary class of mortals, +the demeanour of one or two persons amongst the travellers whom they +occasionally met, as they entered the more fertile and populous part of +the valley, seemed to indicate their belief in her superior attributes. +It is true, that two clowns, who drove before them a herd of cattle--one +or two village wenches, who seemed bound for some merry-making--a +strolling soldier, in a rusted morion, and a wandering student, as his +threadbare black cloak and his satchel of books proclaimed him--passed +our travellers without observation, or with a look of contempt; and, +moreover, that two or three children, attracted by the appearance of +a dress so nearly resembling that of a pilgrim, joined in hooting and +calling "Out upon the mass-monger!" But one or two, who nourished in +their bosoms respect for the downfallen hierarchy--casting first a +timorous glance around, to see that no one observed them--hastily +crossed themselves--bent their knee to Sister Magdalen, by which +name they saluted her--kissed her hand, or even the hem of her +dalmatique--received with humility the Benedicite with which she repaid +their obeisance; and then starting up, and again looking timidly round +to see that they had been unobserved, hastily resumed their journey. +Even while within sight of persons of the prevailing faith, there were +individuals bold enough, by folding their arms and bending their head, +to give distant and silent intimation that they recognized Sister +Magdalen, and honoured alike her person and her purpose. + +She failed not to notice to her grandson these marks of honour and +respect which from time to time she received. "You see," she said, "my +son, that the enemies have been unable altogether to suppress the good +spirit, or to root out the true seed. Amid heretics and schismatics, +spoilers of the church's lands, and scoffers at saints and sacraments, +there is left a remnant." + +"It is true, my mother," said Roland Graeme; "but methinks they are of +a quality which can help us but little. See you not all those who wear +steel at their side, and bear marks of better quality, ruffle past us as +they would past the meanest beggars? for those who give us any marks of +sympathy, are the poorest of the poor, and most outcast of the needy, +who have neither bread to share with us, nor swords to defend us, nor +skill to use them if they had. That poor wretch that last kneeled to you +with such deep devotion, and who seemed emaciated by the touch of some +wasting disease within, and the grasp of poverty without--that pale, +shivering, miserable caitiff, how can he aid the great schemes you +meditate?" + +"Much, my son," said the Matron, with more mildness than the page +perhaps expected. "When that pious son of the church returns from the +shrine of Saint Ringan, whither he now travels by my counsel, and by the +aid of good Catholics,--when he returns, healed, of his wasting +malady, high in health, and strong in limb, will not the glory of his +faithfulness, and its miraculous reward, speak louder in the ears of +this besotted people of Scotland, than the din which is weekly made in a +thousand heretical pulpits?" + +"Ay, but, mother, I fear the Saint's hand is out. It is long since we +have heard of a miracle performed at St. Ringan's." + +The matron made a dead pause, and, with a voice tremulous with emotion, +asked, "Art thou so unhappy as to doubt the power of the blessed Saint?" + +"Nay, mother," the youth hastened to reply, "I believe as the Holy +Church commands, and doubt not Saint Ringan's power of healing; but, be +it said with reverence, he hath not of late showed the inclination." + +"And has this land deserved it?" said the Catholic matron, advancing +hastily while she spoke, until she attained the summit of a rising +ground, over which the path led, and then standing again still. +"Here," she said, "stood the Cross, the limits of the Halidome of Saint +Mary's--here--on this eminence--from which the eye of the holy pilgrim +might first catch a view of that ancient monastery, the light of the +land, the abode of Saints, and the grave of monarchs--Where is now that +emblem of our faith? It lies on the earth--a shapeless block, from which +the broken fragments have been carried off, for the meanest uses, till +now no semblance of its original form remains. Look towards the east, +my son, where the sun was wont to glitter on stately spires--from which +crosses and bells have now been hurled, as if the land had been invaded +once more by barbarous heathens.--Look at yonder battlements, of which +we can, even at this distance, descry the partial demolition; and ask +if this land can expect from the blessed saints, whose shrines and whose +images have been profaned, any other miracles but those of vengeance? +How long," she exclaimed, looking upward, "How long shall it be +delayed?" She paused, and then resumed with enthusiastic rapidity, "Yes, +my son, all on earth is but for a period--joy and grief, triumph and +desolation, succeed each other like cloud and sunshine;--the vineyard +shall not be forever trodden down, the gaps shall be amended, and the +fruitful branches once more dressed and trimmed. Even this day--ay, +even this hour, I trust to hear news of importance. Dally not--let us +on--time is brief, and judgment is certain." + +She resumed the path which led to the Abbey--a path which, in ancient +times, was carefully marked out by posts and rails, to assist the +pilgrim in his journey--these were now torn up and destroyed. A +half-hour's walk placed them in front of the once splendid Monastery, +which, although the church was as yet entire, had not escaped the fury +of the times. The long range of cells and of apartments for the use of +the brethren, which occupied two sides of the great square, were almost +entirely ruinous, the interior having been consumed by fire, which +only the massive architecture of the outward walls had enabled them to +resist. The Abbot's house, which formed the third side of the square, +was, though injured, still inhabited, and afforded refuge to the few +brethren, who yet, rather by connivance than by actual authority,--were +permitted to remain at Kennaquhair. Their stately offices--their +pleasant gardens--the magnificent cloisters constructed for their +recreation, were all dilapidated and ruinous; and some of the building +materials had apparently been put into requisition by persons in the +village and in the vicinity, who, formerly vassals of the Monastery, had +not hesitated to appropriate to themselves a part of the spoils. Roland +saw fragments of Gothic pillars richly carved, occupying the place of +door-posts to the meanest huts; and here and there a mutilated statue, +inverted or laid on its side, made the door-post, or threshold, of a +wretched cow-house. The church itself was less injured than the other +buildings of the Monastery. But the images which had been placed in the +numerous niches of its columns and buttresses, having all fallen under +the charge of idolatry, to which the superstitious devotion of the +Papists had justly exposed them, had been broken and thrown down, +without much regard to the preservation of the rich and airy canopies +and pedestals on which they were placed; nor, if the devastation had +stopped short at this point, could we have considered the preservation +of these monuments of antiquity as an object to be put in the balance +with the introduction of the reformed worship. + +Our pilgrims saw the demolition of these sacred and venerable +representations of saints and angels--for as sacred and venerable they +had been taught to consider them--with very different feelings. The +antiquary may be permitted to regret the necessity of the action, but +to Magdalen Graeme it seemed a deed of impiety, deserving the instant +vengeance of heaven,--a sentiment in which her relative joined for the +moment as cordially as herself. Neither, however, gave vent to their +feelings in words, and uplifted hands and eyes formed their only mode of +expressing them. The page was about to approach the great eastern gate +of the church, but was prevented by his guide. "That gate," she said, +"has long been blockaded, that the heretical rabble may not know there +still exist among the brethren of Saint Mary's men who dare worship +where their predecessors prayed while alive, and were interred when +dead--follow me this way, my son." + +Roland Graeme followed accordingly; and Magdalen, casting a hasty glance +to see whether they were observed, (for she had learned caution from the +danger of the times,) commanded her grandson to knock at a little wicket +which she pointed out to him. "But knock gently," she added, with a +motion expressive of caution. After a little space, during which no +answer was returned, she signed to Roland to repeat his summons for +admission; and the door at length partially opening, discovered a +glimpse of the thin and timid porter, by whom the duty was performed, +skulking from the observation of those who stood without; but +endeavouring at the same time to gain a sight of them without being +himself seen. How different from the proud consciousness of dignity with +which the porter of ancient days offered his important brow, and his +goodly person, to the pilgrims who repaired to Kennaquhair! His solemn +"_Intrate, mei filii,_" was exchanged for a tremulous "You cannot enter +now--the brethren are in their chambers." But, when Magdalen Graeme +asked, in an under tone of voice, "Hast thou forgotten me, my brother?" +he changed his apologetic refusal to "Enter, my honoured sister, enter +speedily, for evil eyes are upon us." + +They entered accordingly, and having waited until the porter had, with +jealous haste, barred and bolted the wicket, were conducted by him +through several dark and winding passages. As they walked slowly on, +he spoke to the matron in a subdued voice, as if he feared to trust the +very walls with the avowal which he communicated. + +"Our Fathers are assembled in the Chapter-house, worthy sister--yes, in +the Chapter-house--for the election of an Abbott.--Ah, Benedicite! there +must be no ringing of bells--no high mass--no opening of the great gates +now, that the people might see and venerate their spiritual Father! Our +Fathers must hide themselves rather like robbers who choose a leader, +than godly priests who elect a mitred Abbot." + +"Regard not that, my brother," answered Magdalen Graeme; "the first +successors of Saint Peter himself were elected, not in sunshine, but +in tempests--not in the halls of the Vatican, but in the subterranean +vaults and dungeons of heathen Rome--they were not gratulated with +shouts and salvos of cannon-shot and of musketry, and the display of +artificial fire--no, my brother--but by the hoarse summons of Lictors +and Praetors, who came to drag the Fathers of the Church to martyrdom. +From such adversity was the Church once raised, and by such will it +now be purified.--And mark me, brother! not in the proudest days of the +mitred Abbey, was a Superior ever chosen, whom his office shall so much +honour, as _he_ shall be honoured, who now takes it upon him in these +days of tribulation. On whom, my brother, will the choice fall?" + +"On whom can it fall--or, alas! who would dare to reply to the call, +save the worthy pupil of the Sainted Eustatius--the good and valiant +Father Ambrose?" + +"I know it," said Magdalen; "my heart told me long ere your lips had +uttered his name. Stand forth, courageous champion, and man the fatal +breach!--Rise, bold and experienced pilot, and seize the helm while +the tempest rages!--Turn back the battle, brave raiser of the fallen +standard!--Wield crook and slang, noble shepherd of a scattered flock!" + +"I pray you, hush, my sister!" said the porter, opening a door which led +into the great church, "the brethren will be presently here to celebrate +their election with a solemn mass--I must marshal them the way to the +high altar--all the offices of this venerable house have now devolved on +one poor decrepit old man." + +He left the church, and Magdalen and Roland remained alone in that great +vaulted space, whose style of rich, yet chaste architecture, referred +its origin to the early part of the fourteenth century, the best period +of Gothic building. But the niches were stripped of their images in the +inside as well as the outside of the church; and in the pell-mell havoc, +the tombs of warriors and of princes had been included in the demolition +of the idolatrous shrines. Lances and swords of antique size, which had +hung over the tombs of mighty warriors of former days, lay now strewed +among relics, with which the devotion of pilgrims had graced those of +their peculiar saints; and the fragments of the knights and dames, which +had once lain recumbent, or kneeled in an attitude of devotion, where +their mortal relics were reposed, were mingled with those of the saints +and angels of the Gothic chisel, which the hand of violence had sent +headlong from their stations. + +The most fatal symptom of the whole appeared to be, that, though this +violence had now been committed for many months, the Fathers had lost so +totally all heart and resolution, that they had not adventured even upon +clearing away the rubbish, or restoring the church to some decent degree +of order. This might have been done without much labour. But terror had +overpowered the scanty remains of a body once so powerful, and, sensible +they were only suffered to remain in this ancient seat by connivance and +from compassion, they did not venture upon taking any step which might +be construed into an assertion of their ancient rights, contenting +themselves with the secret and obscure exercise of their religious +ceremonial, in as unostentatious a manner as was possible. + +Two or three of the more aged brethren had sunk under the pressure of +the times, and the ruins had been partly cleared away to permit their +interment. One stone had been laid over Father Nicholas, which recorded +of him in special, that he had taken the vows during the incumbency of +Abbot Ingelram, the period to which his memory so frequently recurred. +Another flag-stone, yet more recently deposited, covered the body of +Philip the Sacristan, eminent for his aquatic excursion with the phantom +of Avenel, and a third, the most recent of all, bore the outline of a +mitre, and the words _Hic jacet Eustatius Abbas_; for no one dared to +add a word of commendation in favour of his learning, and strenuous zeal +for the Roman Catholic faith. + +Magdalen Graeme looked at and perused the brief records of these +monuments successively, and paused over that of Father Eustace. "In +a good hour for thyself," she said, "but oh! in an evil hour for the +Church, wert thou called from us. Let thy spirit be with us, holy +man--encourage thy successor to tread in thy footsteps--give him thy +bold and inventive capacity, thy zeal and thy discretion--even _thy_ +piety exceeds not his." As she spoke, a side door, which closed a +passage from the Abbot's house into the church, was thrown open, that +the Fathers might enter the choir, and conduct to the high altar the +Superior whom they had elected. + +In former times, this was one of the most splendid of the many pageants +which the hierarchy of Rome had devised to attract the veneration of +the faithful. The period during which the Abbacy remained vacant, was +a state of mourning, or, as their emblematical phrase expressed it, +of widowhood; a melancholy term, which was changed into rejoicing and +triumph when a new Superior was chosen. When the folding doors were on +such solemn occasions thrown open, and the new Abbot appeared on the +threshold in full-blown dignity, with ring and mitre, and dalmatique +and crosier, his hoary standard-bearers and his juvenile dispensers of +incense preceding him, and the venerable train of monks behind him, with +all besides which could announce the supreme authority to which he was +now raised, his appearance was a signal for the magnificent _jubilate_ +to rise from the organ and music-loft, and to be joined by the +corresponding bursts of Alleluiah from the whole assembled congregation. +Now all was changed. In the midst of rubbish and desolation, seven or +eight old men, bent and shaken as much by grief and fear as by age, +shrouded hastily in the proscribed dress of their order, wandered like +a procession of spectres, from the door which had been thrown open, up +through the encumbered passage, to the high altar, there to instal their +elected Superior a chief of ruins. It was like a band of bewildered +travellers choosing a chief in the wilderness of Arabia; or a +shipwrecked crew electing a captain upon the barren island on which fate +has thrown them. + +They who, in peaceful times, are most ambitious of authority among +others, shrink from the competition at such eventful periods, when +neither ease nor parade attend the possession of it, and when it gives +only a painful pre-eminence both in danger and in labour, and exposes +the ill-fated chieftain to the murmurs of his discontented associates, +as well as to the first assault of the common enemy. But he on whom the +office of the Abbot of Saint Mary's was now conferred, had a mind fitted +for the situation to which he was called. Bold and enthusiastic, yet +generous and forgiving--wise and skilful, yet zealous and prompt--he +wanted but a better cause than the support of a decaying superstition, +to have raised him to the rank of a truly great man. But as the end +crowns the work, it also forms the rule by which it must be ultimately +judged; and those who, with sincerity and generosity, fight and fall in +an evil cause, posterity can only compassionate as victims of a generous +but fatal error. Amongst these, we must rank Ambrosius, the last Abbot +of Kennaqubair, whose designs must be condemned, as their success would +have riveted on Scotland the chains of antiquated superstition and +spiritual tyranny; but whose talents commanded respect, and whose +virtues, even from the enemies of his faith, extorted esteem. + +The bearing of the new Abbot served of itself to dignify a ceremonial +which was deprived of all other attributes of grandeur. Conscious of +the peril in which they stood, and recalling, doubtless, the better days +they had seen, there hung over his brethren an appearance of mingled +terror, and grief, and shame, which induced them to hurry over the +office in which they were engaged, as something at once degrading and +dangerous. + +But not so Father Ambrose. His features, indeed, expressed a deep +melancholy, as he walked up the centre aisle, amid the ruin of things +which he considered as holy, but his brow was undejected, and his step +firm and solemn. He seemed to think that the dominion which he was about +to receive, depended in no sort upon the external circumstances under +which it was conferred; and if a mind so firm was accessible to sorrow +or fear, it was not on his own account, but on that of the Church to +which he had devoted himself. + +At length he stood on the broken steps of the high altar, barefooted, as +was the rule, and holding in his hand his pastoral staff, for the gemmed +ring and jewelled mitre had become secular spoils. No obedient vassals +came, man after man, to make their homage, and to offer the tribute +which should provide their spiritual Superior with palfrey and +trappings. No Bishop assisted at the solemnity, to receive into the +higher ranks of the Church nobility a dignitary, whose voice in the +legislature was as potential as his own. With hasty and maimed rites, +the few remaining brethren stepped forward alternately to give their new +Abbot the kiss of peace, in token of fraternal affection and spiritual +homage. Mass was then hastily performed, but in such precipitation as if +it had been hurried over rather to satisfy the scruples of a few youths, +who were impatient to set out on a hunting party, than as if it made the +most solemn part of a solemn ordination. The officiating priest faltered +as he spoke the service, and often looked around, as if he expected to +be interrupted in the midst of his office; and the brethren listened to +that which, short as it was, they wished yet more abridged.[Footnote: +In Catholic countries, in order to reconcile the pleasures of the great +with the observances of religion, it was common, when a party was bent +for the chase, to celebrate mass, abridged and maimed of its rites, +called a hunting-mass, the brevity of which was designed to correspond +with the impatience of the audience.] + +These symptoms of alarm increased as the ceremony proceeded, and, as it +seemed, were not caused by mere apprehension alone; for, amid the pauses +of the hymn, there were heard without sounds of a very different sort, +beginning faintly and at a distance, but at length approaching close to +the exterior of the church, and stunning with dissonant clamour those +engaged in the service. The winding of horns, blown with no regard to +harmony or concert; the jangling of bells, the thumping of drums, +the squeaking of bagpipes, and the clash of cymbals--the shouts of a +multitude, now as in laughter, now as in anger--the shrill tones of +female voices, and of those of children, mingling with the deeper +clamour of men, formed a Babel of sounds, which first drowned, and then +awed into utter silence, the official hymns of the Convent. The cause +and result of this extraordinary interruption will be explained in the +next chapter. + + + + +Chapter the Fourteenth. + + + Not the wild billow, when it breaks its barrier-- + Not the wild wind, escaping from its cavern-- + Not the wild fiend, that mingles both together, + And pours their rage upon the ripening harvest, + Can match the wild freaks of this mirthful meeting-- + Comic, yet fearful--droll, and yet destructive. + THE CONSPIRACY. + +The monks ceased their song, which, like that of the choristers in the +legend of the Witch of Berkley, died away in a quaver of consternation; +and, like a flock of chickens disturbed by the presence of the +kite, they at first made a movement to disperse and fly in different +directions, and then, with despair, rather than hope, huddled themselves +around their new Abbot; who, retaining the lofty and undismayed look +which had dignified him through the whole ceremony, stood on the higher +step of the altar, as if desirous to be the most conspicuous mark on +which danger might discharge itself, and to save his companions by his +self-devotion, since he could afford them no other protection. + +Involuntarily, as it were, Magdalen Graeme and the page stepped from the +station which hitherto they had occupied unnoticed, and approached to +the altar, as desirous of sharing the fate which approached the monks, +whatever that might be. Both bowed reverently low to the Abbot; and +while Magdalen seemed about to speak, the youth, looking towards the +main entrance, at which the noise now roared most loudly, and which was +at the same time assailed with much knocking, laid his hand upon his +dagger. + +The Abbot motioned to both to forbear: "Peace, my sister," he said, in a +low tone, but which, being in a different key from the tumultuary sounds +without, could be distinctly heard, even amidst the tumult;--"Peace," he +said, "my sister; let the new Superior of Saint Mary's himself receive +and reply to the grateful acclamations of the vassals, who come to +celebrate his installation.--And thou, my son, forbear, I charge thee, +to touch thy earthly weapon;--if it is the pleasure of our protectress, +that her shrine be this day desecrated by deeds of violence, and +polluted by blood-shedding, let it not, I charge thee, happen through +the deed of a Catholic son of the church." + +The noise and knocking at the outer gate became now every moment louder; +and voices were heard impatiently demanding admittance. The Abbot, with +dignity, and with a step which even the emergency of danger rendered +neither faltering nor precipitate, moved towards the portal, and +demanded to know, in a tone of authority, who it was that disturbed +their worship, and what they desired? + +There was a moment's silence, and then a loud laugh from without. At +length a voice replied, "We desire entrance into the church; and when +the door is opened you will soon see who we are." + +"By whose authority do you require entrance?" said the Father. + +"By authority of the right reverend Lord Abbot of Unreason." + +[Footnote: We learn from no less authority than that of Napoleon +Bonaparte, that there is but a single step between the sublime and +ridiculous; and it is a transition from one extreme to another; so very +easy, that the vulgar of every degree are peculiarly captivated with it. +Thus the inclination to laugh becomes uncontrollable, when the solemnity +and gravity of time, place, and circumstances, render it peculiarly +improper. Some species of general license, like that which inspired the +ancient Saturnalia, or the modern Carnival, has been commonly indulged +to the people at all times and in almost all countries. But it was, I +think, peculiar to the Roman Catholic Church, that while they studied +how to render their church rites imposing and magnificent, by all that +pomp, music, architecture, and external display could add to them, they +nevertheless connived, upon special occasions, at the frolics of the +rude vulgar, who, in almost all Catholic countries, enjoyed, or at least +assumed, the privilege of making: some Lord of the revels, who, under +the name of the Abbot of Unreason, the Boy Bishop, or the President +of Fools, occupied the churches, profaned the holy places by a mock +imitation of the sacred rites, and sung indecent parodies on hymns of +the church. The indifference of the clergy, even when their power was +greatest, to the indecent exhibitions which they always tolerated, and +sometimes encouraged, forms a strong contrast to the sensitiveness with +which they regarded any serious attempt, by preaching or writing, to +impeach any of the doctrines of the church. It could only be compared to +the singular apathy with which they endured, and often admired the gross +novels which Chaucer, Dunbar, Boccacio, Bandello, and others, composed +upon the bad morals of the clergy. It seems as if the churchmen in both +instances had endeavoured to compromise with the laity, and allowed them +occasionally to gratify their coarse humour by indecent satire, provided +they would abstain from any grave question concerning the foundation +of the doctrines on which was erected such an immense fabric of +ecclesiastical power. + +But the sports thus licensed assumed a very different appearance, so +soon as the Protestant doctrines began to prevail; and the license which +their forefathers had exercised in mere gaiety of heart, and without +the least intention of dishonouring religion by their frolics, were now +persevered in by the common people as a mode of testifying their utter +disregard for the Roman priesthood and its ceremonies. + +I may observe, for example, the case of an apparitor sent to Borthwick +from the Primate of Saint Andrews, to cite the lord of that castle, who +was opposed by an Abbot of Unreason, at whose command the officer of the +spiritual court was appointed to be ducked in a mill-dam, and obliged to +eat up his parchment citation. + +The reader may be amused with the following whimsical details of this +incident, which took place in the castle of Borthwick, in the year 1517. +It appears, that in consequence of a process betwixt Master George +Hay de Minzeane and the Lord Borthwick, letters of excommunication +had passed against the latter, on account of the contumacy of certain +witnesses. William Langlands, an apparitor or macer (_bacularius_) of +the See of St Andrews, presented these letters to the curate of the +church of Borthwick, requiring him to publish the same at the service of +high mass. It seems that the inhabitants of the castle were at this +time engaged in the favourite sport of enacting the Abbot of Unreason, +a species of high jinks, in which a mimic prelate was elected, who, like +the Lord of Misrule in England, turned all sort of lawful authority, and +particularly the church ritual, into ridicule. This frolicsome person +with his retinue, notwithstanding of the apparitor's character, entered +the church, seized upon the primate's officer without hesitation, and, +dragging him to the mill-dam on the south side of the castle, compelled +him to leap into the water. Not contented with this partial immersion, +the Abbot of Unreason pronounced, that Mr. William Langlands was not yet +sufficiently bathed, and therefore caused his assistants to lay him +on his back in the stream, and duck him in the most satisfactory and +perfect manner. The unfortunate apparitor was then conducted back to +the church, where, for his refreshment after his bath, the letters of +excommunication were torn to pieces, and steeped in a bowl of wine; the +mock abbot being probably of opinion that a tough parchment was but +dry eating, Langlands was compelled to eat the letters, and swallow +the wine, and dismissed by the Abbot of Unreason, with the comfortable +assurance, that if any more such letters should arrive during the +continuance of his office, "they should a' gang the same gate," _i. e._ +go the same road. + +A similar scene occurs betwixt a sumner of the Bishop of Rochester, +and Harpool, the servant of Lord Cobham, in the old play of Sir John +Oldcastle, when the former compels the church-officer to eat his +citation. The dialogue, which may be found in the note, contains most +of the jests which may be supposed, appropriate to such an extraordinary +occasion: + +_Harpool_ Marry, sir, is, this process parchment? + +_Sumner._ Yes, marry is it. + +_Harpool._ And this seal wax? + +_Sumner._ It is so. + +_Harpool._ If this be parchment, and this be wax, eat you this parchment +and wax, or I will make parchment of your skin, and beat your brains +into wax. Sirrah Sumner, despatch--devour, sirrah, devour. + +_Sumner._ I am my Lord of Rochester's sumner; I came to do my office, +and thou shall answer it. + +_Harpool._ Sirrah, no railing, but, betake thyself to thy teeth. Thou +shalt, eat no worse than thou bringest with thee. Thou bringest it for +my lord; and wilt thou bring my lord worse than thou wilt eat thyself? + +_Sumner._ Sir. I brought it not my lord to eat. + +_Harpool._ O, do you Sir me now? All's one for that; I'll make you eat +it for bringing it. + +_Sumner._ I cannot eat it. + +_Harpool._ Can you not? 'Sblood, I'll beat you till you have a stomach! +(_Beats him._) + +_Sumner._ Oh, hold, hold, good Mr. Servingman; I will eat it. + +_Harpool._ Be champing, be chewing, sir, or I will chew you, you rogue. +Tough wax is the purest of the honey. + +_Sumner._ The purest of the honey?--O Lord, sir, oh! oh! + +_Harpool._ Feed, feed; 'tis wholesome, rogue, wholesome. Cannot you, +like an honest sumner, walk with the devil your brother, to fetch in +your bailiff's rents, but you must come to a nobleman's house with +process! If the seal were broad as the lead which covers Rochester +Church, thou shouldst eat it. + +_Sumner._ Oh, I am almost choked--I am almost choked! + +_Harpool._ Who's within there? Will you shame my lord? Is there no beer +in the house? Butler, I say. + + _Enter_ BUTLER. + +_Butler._ Here, here. + +_Harpool._ Give him beer. Tough old sheep skin's but dry meat. + + _First Part of Sir John Oldcastle_, Act II. Scene I.] + + +replied the voice from without; and, from the laugh--which followed, +it seemed as if there was something highly ludicrous couched under this +reply. + +"I know not, and seek not to know, your meaning," replied the Abbot, +"since it is probably a rude one. But begone, in the name of God, and +leave his servants in peace. I speak this, as having lawful authority to +command here." + +"Open the door," said another rude voice, "and we will try titles with +you, Sir Monk, and show you a superior we must all obey." + +"Break open the doors if he dallies any longer," said a third, "and down +with the carrion monks who would bar us of our privilege!" A general +shout followed. "Ay, ay, our privilege! our privilege! down with the +doors, and with the lurdane monks, if they make opposition!" + +The knocking was now exchanged for blows with great, hammers, to which +the doors, strong as they were, must soon have given way. But the Abbot, +who saw resistance would be in vain, and who did not wish to incense the +assailants by an attempt at offering it, besought silence earnestly, and +with difficulty obtained a hearing. "My children," said he, "I will +save you from committing a great sin. The porter will presently undo the +gate--he is gone to fetch the keys--meantime I pray you to consider with +yourselves, if you are in a state of mind to cross the holy threshold." + +"Tillyvally for your papistry!" was answered from without; "we are in +the mood of the monks when they are merriest, and that is when they sup +beef-brewis for lanten-kail. So, if your porter hath not the gout, let +him come speedily, or we heave away readily.--Said I well, comrades?" + +"Bravely said, and it shall be as bravely done," said the multitude; and +had not the keys arrived at that moment, and the porter in hasty terror +performed his office, throwing open the great door, the populace would +have saved him the trouble. The instant he had done so, the affrighted +janitor fled, like one who has drawn the bolts of a flood-gate, and +expects to be overwhelmed by the rushing inundation. The monks, with one +consent, had withdrawn themselves behind the Abbot, who alone kept his +station, about three yards from the entrance, showing no signs of fear +or perturbation. His brethren--partly encouraged by his devotion, partly +ashamed to desert him, and partly animated by a sense of duty.--remained +huddled close together, at the back of their Superior. There was a loud +laugh and huzza when the doors were opened; but, contrary to what might +have been expected, no crowd of enraged assailants rushed into the +church. On the contrary, there was a cry of "A halt!-a halt--to order, +my masters! and let the two reverend fathers greet each other, as +beseems them." + +The appearance of the crowd who were thus called to order, was grotesque +in the extreme. It was composed of men, women, and children, ludicrously +disguised in various habits, and presenting groups equally diversified +and grotesque. Here one fellow with a horse's head painted before him, +and a tail behind, and the whole covered with a long foot-cloth, which +was supposed to hide the body of the animal, ambled, caracoled, pranced, +and plunged, as he performed the celebrated part of the hobby-horse, + +[Footnote: This exhibition, the play-mare of Scotland, stood high among +holyday gambols. It must be carefully separated from the wooden +chargers which furnish out our nurseries. It gives rise to Hamlet's +ejaculation,-- + + But oh, but oh, the hobby-horse is forgot! + +There is a very comic scene in Beaumont and Fletcher's play of "Woman +Pleased," where Hope-on-high Bombye, a puritan cobbler, refuses to dance +with the hobby-horse. There was much difficulty and great variety in the +motions which the hobby-horse was expected to exhibit. + +The learned Mr. Douce, who has contributed so much to the illustration +of our theatrical antiquities, has given us a full account of this +pageant, and the burlesque horsemanship which it practised. + +"The hobby-horse," says Mr. Douce, "was represented by a man equipped +with as much pasteboard as was sufficient to form the head and hinder +parts of a horse, the quadrupedal defects being concealed by a long +mantle or footcloth that nearly touched the ground. The former, on this +occasion, exerted all his skill in burlesque horsemanship. In Sympson's +play of the Law-breakers, 1636, a miller personates the hobby-horse, and +being angry that the Mayor of the city is put in competition with him, +exclaims, 'Let the mayor play the hobby-horse among his brethren, an he +will; I hope our town-lads cannot want a hobby-horse. Have I practised +my reins, my careers, my prankers, my ambles, my false trots, my smooth +ambles, and Canterbury paces, and shall master mayor put me beside +the hobby-horse? Have I borrowed the fore-horse bells, his plumes, his +braveries; nay, had his mane new shorn and frizzled, and shall the mayor +put me beside the hobby-horse?" --_Douce's Illustrations_, vol. II. p. +468] + +so often alluded to in our ancient drama; and which still flourishes +on the stage in the battle that concludes Bayes's tragedy. To rival +the address and agility displayed by this character, another personage +advanced in the more formidable character of a huge dragon, with gilded +wings, open jaws, and a scarlet tongue, cloven at the end, which made +various efforts to overtake and devour a lad, dressed as the lovely +Sabaea, daughter of the King of Egypt, who fled before him; while a +martial Saint George, grotesquely armed with a goblet for a helmet, and +a spit for a lance, ever and anon interfered, and compelled the monster +to relinquish his prey. A bear, a wolf, and one or two other wild +animals, played their parts with the discretion of Snug the joiner; for +the decided preference which they gave to the use of their hind legs, +was sufficient, without any formal annunciation, to assure the most +timorous spectators that they had to do with habitual bipeds. There was +a group of outlaws with Robin Hood and Little John at their head + +[Footnote: The representation of Robin Hood was the darling Maygame both +in England and Scotland, and doubtless the favourite personification was +often revived, when the Abbot of Unreason, or other pretences of frolic, +gave an unusual decree of license. + +The Protestant clergy, who had formerly reaped advantage from the +opportunities which these sports afforded them of directing their own +satire and the ridicule of the lower orders against the Catholic church, +began to find that, when these purposes were served, their favourite +pastimes deprived them of the wish to attend divine worship, and +disturbed the frame of mind in which it can be attended to advantage. +The celebrated Bishop Latimer gives a very _naive_ account of the manner +in which, bishop as he was, he found himself compelled to give place to +Robin Hood and his followers. + +"I came once myselfe riding on a journey homeward from London, and I +sent word over night into the towne that I would preach there in the +morning, because it was holiday, and me thought it was a holidayes +worke. The church stood in my way, and I took my horse and my company, +and went thither, (I thought I should have found a great company in +the church,) and when I came there the church doore was fast locked. I +tarryed there halfe an houre and more. At last the key was found, and +one of the parish comes to me and said,--'Sir, this is a busie day with +us, we cannot hear you; it is Robin Hood's day. The parish are gone +abroad to gather for Robin Hood. I pray you let them not.' I was faine +there to give place to Robin Hood. I thought my rochet should have been +regarded, though I were not: but it would not serve, it was faine to +give place to Robin Hood's men. It is no laughing matter, my friends, +it is a weeping matter, a heavie matter, a heavie matter. Under the +pretence for gathering for Robin Hood, a traytour, and a theif, to put +out a preacher; to have his office lesse esteemed; to preferre Robin +Hood before the ministration of God's word; and all this hath come of +unpreaching prelates. This realme hath been ill provided for, that it +hath had such corrupt judgments in it, to prefer Robin Hood to God's +word."--_Bishop Latimer's sixth Sermon before King Edward_. + +While the English Protestants thus preferred the outlaw's pageant to the +preaching of their excellent Bishop, the Scottish calvinistic clergy, +with the celebrated John Knox at their head, and backed by the authority +of the magistrates of Edinburgh, who had of late been chosen exclusively +from this party, found it impossible to control the rage of the +populace, when they attempted to deprive them of the privilege of +presenting their pageant of Robin Hood. + +[Note on old Scottish spelling: leading y = modern 'th'; leading v = +modern 'u'] + +(561) "Vpon the xxi day of Junij. Archibalde Dowglas of Kilspindie, +Provest of Edr., David Symmer and Adame Fullartoun, baillies of the +samyne, causit ane cordinare servant, callit James Gillion takin of +befoir, for playing in Edr. with Robene Hude, to wnderly the law, and +put him to the knawlege of ane assyize qlk yaij haid electit of yair +favoraris, quha with schort deliberatioun condemnit him to be hangit for +ye said cryme. And the deaconis of ye craftismen fearing vproare, maid +great solistatuis at ye handis of ye said provost and baillies, and als +requirit John Knox, minister, for eschewing of tumult, to superceid ye +execution of him, vnto ye tyme yai suld adverteis my Lord Duke yairof. +And yan, if it wes his mynd and will yat he should be disponit vpoun, ye +said deaconis and craftismen sould convey him yaire; quha answerit, yat +yai culd na way stope ye executioun of justice. Quhan ye time of ye said +pouer mans hanging approchit, and yat ye hangman wes cum to ye jibbat +with ye ledder, vpoune ye qlk ye said cordinare should have bene hangit, +ane certaine and remanent craftischilder, quha wes put to ye horne with +ye said Gillione, ffor ye said Robene Huide's _playes_, and vyris yair +assistaris and favoraris, past to wappinis, and yai brak down ye said +jibbat, and yan chacit ye said provest, baillies, and Alexr. Guthrie, in +ye said Alexander's writing buith, and held yame yairin; and yairefter +past to ye tolbuyt, and becaus the samyne was steiket, and onnawayes +culd get the keyes thairof, thai brak the said tolbuith dore with foure +harberis, per force, (the said provest and baillies luckand thairon.) +and not onlie put thar the said Gillione to fredome and libertie, and +brocht him furth of the said tolbuit, bot alsua the remanent presonaris +being thairintill; and this done, the said craftismen's servands, with +the said condempnit cordonar, past doun to the Netherbow, to have past +furth thairat; bot becaus the samyne on thair coming thairto wes +closet, thai past vp agane the Hie streit of the said bourghe to the +Castellhill, and in this menetymne the saidis provest and baillies, and +thair assistaris being in the writing buith of the said Alexr. Guthrie, +past and enterit in the said tolbuyt, and in the said servandes passage +vp the Hie streit, then schote furth thairof at thame ane dog, and hurt +ane servand of the said childer. This being done, thair wes nathing +vthir but the one partie schuteand out and castand stanes furth of the +said tolbuyt, and the vther pairtie schuteand hagbuttis in the same +agane. Aund sua the craftismen's servandis, aboue written, held and +inclosit the said provest and baillies continewallie in the said +tolbuyth, frae three houris efternone, quhill aught houris at even, +and na man of the said town prensit to relieve their said provest and +baillies. And than thai send to the maisters of the Castell, to caus +tham if thai mycht stay the said servandis, quha maid ane maner to do +the same, bot thai could not bring the same to ane finall end, ffor +the said servands wold on noways stay fra, quhill thai had revengit the +hurting of ane of them; and thairefter the constable of the castell come +down thairfra, and he with the said maisters treatet betwix the said +pties in this maner:--That the said provost and baillies sall remit to +the said craftischilder, all actioun, cryme, and offens that thai had +committit aganes thame in any tyme bygane; and band and oblast thame +never to pursew them thairfor; and als commandit thair maisters to +resaue them agane in thair services, as thai did befoir. And this being +proclainit at the mercat cross, thai scalit, and the said provest and +bailies come furth of the same tolbouyth." &c. &c. &c. + +John Knox, who writes at large upon this tumult, informs us it was +inflamed by the deacons of craftes, who, resenting; the superiority +assumed over them by the magistrates, would yield no assistance to put +down the tumult. "They will be magistrates alone," said the recusant +deacons, "e'en let them rule the populace alone;" and accordingly +they passed quietly to take _their four-hours penny_, and left the +magistrates to help themselves as they could. Many persons were +excommunicated for this outrage, and not admitted to church ordinances +till they had made satisfaction.] --the best representation exhibited +at the time; and no great wonder, since most of the actors were, by +profession, the banished men and thieves whom they presented. Other +masqueraders there were, of a less marked description. Men were +disguised as women, and women as men--children wore the dress of aged +people, and tottered with crutch-sticks in their hands, furred gowns +on their little backs, and caps on their round heads--while grandsires +assumed the infantine tone as well as the dress of children. Besides +these, many had their faces painted, and wore their shirts over the +rest of their dress; while coloured pasteboard and ribbons furnished out +decorations for others. Those who wanted all these properties, +blacked their faces, and turned their jackets inside out; and thus the +transmutation of the whole assembly into a set of mad grotesque mummers, +was at once completed. + +The pause which the masqueraders made, waiting apparently for some +person of the highest authority amongst them, gave those within the +Abbey Church full time to observe all these absurdities. They were at no +loss to comprehend their purpose and meaning. + +Few readers can be ignorant, that at an early period, and during the +plenitude of her power, the Church of Rome not only connived at, +but even encouraged, such Saturnalian licenses as the inhabitants of +Kennaquhair and the neighbourhood had now in hand, and that the vulgar, +on such occasions, were not only permitted but encouraged by a number of +gambols, sometimes puerile and ludicrous, sometimes immoral and profane, +to indemnify themselves for the privations and penances imposed on them +at other seasons. But, of all other topics for burlesque and ridicule, +the rites and ceremonial of the church itself were most frequently +resorted to; and, strange to say, with the approbation of the clergy +themselves. + +While the hierarchy flourished in full glory, they do not appear to +have dreaded the consequences of suffering the people to become so +irreverently familiar with things sacred; they then imagined the laity +to be much in the condition of the labourer's horse, which does not +submit to the bridle and the whip with greater reluctance, because, at +rare intervals, he is allowed to frolic at large in his pasture, and +fling out his heels in clumsy gambols at the master who usually drives +him. But, when times changed--when doubt of the Roman Catholic doctrine, +and hatred of their priesthood, had possessed the reformed party, the +clergy discovered, too late, that no small inconvenience arose from +the established practice of games and merry-makings, in which they +themselves, and all they held most sacred, were made the subject of +ridicule. It then became obvious to duller politicians than the Romish +churchmen, that the same actions have a very different tendency when +done in the spirit of sarcastic insolence and hatred, than when +acted merely in exuberance of rude and uncontrollable spirits. They, +therefore, though of the latest, endeavoured, where they had any +remaining influence, to discourage the renewal of these indecorous +festivities. In this particular, the Catholic clergy were joined by most +of the reformed preachers, who were more shocked at the profanity and +immorality of many of these exhibitions, than disposed to profit by +the ridiculous light in which they placed the Church of Rome and her +observances. But it was long ere these scandalous and immoral sports +could be abrogated;--the rude multitude continued attached to their +favourite pastimes, and, both in England and Scotland, the mitre of the +Catholic--the rochet of the reformed bishop--and the cloak and band of +the Calvinistic divine--were, in turn, compelled to give place to those +jocular personages, the Pope of Fools, the Boy-Bishop, and the Abbot of +Unreason. [Footnote: From the interesting novel entitled Anastasius, it +seems the same burlesque ceremonies were practised in the Greek Church. +] + +It was the latter personage who now, in full costume, made his approach +to the great door of the church of St. Mary's, accoutred in such a +manner as to form a caricature, or practical parody, on the costume and +attendants of the real Superior, whom he came to beard on the very day +of his installation, in the presence of his clergy, and in the chancel +of his church. The mock dignitary was a stout-made under-sized fellow, +whose thick squab form had been rendered grotesque by a supplemental +paunch, well stuffed. He wore a mitre of leather, with the front like a +grenadier's cap, adorned with mock embroidery, and trinkets of tin. This +surmounted a visage, the nose of which was the most prominent feature, +being of unusual size, and at least as richly gemmed as his head-gear. +His robe was of buckram, and his cope of canvass, curiously painted, and +cut into open work. On one shoulder was fixed the painted figure of an +owl; and he bore in the right hand his pastoral staff, and in the left a +small mirror having a handle to it, thus resembling a celebrated +jester, whose adventures, translated into English, were whilom extremely +popular, and which may still be procured in black letter, for about one +sterling pound per leaf. + +The attendants of this mock dignitary had their proper dresses and +equipage, bearing the same burlesque resemblance to the officers of +the Convent which their leader did to the Superior. They followed their +leader in regular procession, and the motley characters, which had +waited his arrival, now crowded into the church in his train, shouting +as they came,--"A hall, a hall! for the venerable Father Howleglas, the +learned Monk of Misrule, and the Right Reverend Abbot of Unreason!" + +The discordant minstrelsy of every kind renewed its din; the boys +shrieked and howled, and the men laughed and hallooed, and the women +giggled and screamed, and the beasts roared, and the dragon wallopped +and hissed, and the hobby-horse neighed, pranced, and capered, and the +rest frisked and frolicked, clashing their hobnailed shoes against the +pavement, till it sparkled with the marks of their energetic caprioles. + +It was, in fine, a scene of ridiculous confusion, that deafened the ear, +made the eyes giddy, and must have altogether stunned any indifferent +spectator; the monks, whom personal apprehension and a consciousness +that much of the popular enjoyment arose from the ridicule being +directed against them, were, moreover, little comforted by the +reflection, that, bold in their disguise, the mummers who whooped and +capered around them, might, on slight provocation, turn their jest into +earnest, or at least proceed to those practical pleasantries, which +at all times arise so naturally out of the frolicsome and mischievous +disposition of the populace. They looked to their Abbot amid the tumult, +with such looks as landsmen cast upon the pilot when the storm is at the +highest--looks which express that they are devoid of all hope arising +from their own exertions, and not very confident in any success likely +to attend those of their Palinurus. + +The Abbot himself seemed at a stand; he felt no fear, but he was +sensible of the danger of expressing his rising indignation, which he +was scarcely able to suppress. He made a gesture with his hand as if +commanding silence, which was at first only replied to by redoubled +shouts, and peals of wild laughter. When, however, the same motion, +and as nearly in the same manner, had been made by Howleglas, it was +immediately obeyed by his riotous companions, who expected fresh food +for mirth in the conversation betwixt the real and mock Abbot, having +no small confidence in the vulgar wit and impudence of their leader. +Accordingly, they began to shout, "To it, fathers--to it I"--"Fight +monk, fight madcap--Abbot against Abbot is fair play, and so is reason +against unreason, and malice against monkery!" + +"Silence, my mates!" said Howleglas; "cannot two learned Fathers of +the Church hold communion together, but you must come here with your +bear-garden whoop and hollo, as if you were hounding forth a mastiff +upon a mad bull? I say silence! and let this learned Father and me +confer, touching matters affecting our mutual state and authority." + +"My children"-said Father Ambrose. + +"_My_ children too,--and happy children they are!" said his burlesque +counterpart; "many a wise child knows not its own father, and it is well +they have two to choose betwixt." + +"If thou hast aught in thee, save scoffing and ribaldry," said the real +Abbot, "permit me, for thine own soul's sake, to speak a few words to +these misguided men." + +"Aught in me but scoffing, sayest thou?" retorted the Abbot of Unreason; +"why, reverend brother, I have all that becomes mine office at this +time a-day--I have beef, ale, and brandy-wine, with other condiments not +worth mentioning; and for speaking, man--why, speak away, and we will +have turn about, like honest fellows." + +During this discussion the wrath of Magdalen Graeme had risen to the +uttermost; she approached the Abbot, and placing herself by his side, +said in a low and yet distinct tone-"Wake and arouse thee, Father--the +sword of Saint Peter is in thy hand--strike and avenge Saint Peter's +patrimony!--Bind them in the chains which, being riveted by the church +on earth, are riveted in Heaven--" + +"Peace, sister!" said the Abbot; "let not their madness destroy our +discretion--I pray thee, peace, and let me do mine office. It is the +first, peradventure it may be the last time, I shall be called on to +discharge it." + +"Nay, my holy brother!" said Howleglas, "I rede you, take the holy +sister's advice--never throve convent without woman's counsel." + +"Peace, vain man!" said the Abbot; "and you, my brethren--" + +"Nay, nay!" said the Abbot of Unreason, "no speaking to the lay people, +until you have conferred with your brother of the cowl. I swear by bell, +book, and candle, that no one of my congregation shall listen to one +word you have to say; so you had as well address yourself to me who +will." + +To escape a conference so ludicrous, the Abbot again attempted an appeal +to what respectful feelings might yet remain amongst the inhabitants of +the Halidome, once so devoted to their spiritual Superiors. Alas! +the Abbot of Unreason had only to nourish his mock crosier, and the +whooping, the hallooing, and the dancing, were renewed with a vehemence +which would have defied the lungs of Stentor. + +"And now, my mates," said the Abbot of Unreason, "once again dight your +gabs and be hushed-let us see if the Cock of Kennaquhair will fight or +flee the pit." + +There was again a dead silence of expectation, of which Father Ambrose +availed himself to address his antagonist, seeing plainly that he could +gain an audience on no other terms. "Wretched man!" said he, "hast thou +no better employment for thy carnal wit, than to employ it in leading +these blind and helpless creatures into the pit of utter darkness?" + +"Truly, my brother," replied Howleglas, "I can see little difference +betwixt your employment and mine, save that you make a sermon of a jest, +and I make a jest of a sermon." + +"Unhappy being," said the Abbot, "who hast no better subject of +pleasantry than that which should make thee tremble--no sounder jest +than thine own sins, and no better objects for laughter than those who +can absolve thee from the guilt of them!" + +"Verily, my reverend brother," said the mock Abbot, "what you say +might be true, if, in laughing at hypocrites, I meant to laugh at +religion.--Oh, it is a precious thing to wear a long dress, with a +girdle and a cowl--we become a holy pillar of Mother Church, and a boy +must not play at ball against the walls for fear of breaking a painted +window!" + +"And will you, my friends," said the Abbot, looking round and speaking +with a vehemence which secured him a tranquil audience for some +time,--"will you suffer a profane buffoon, within the very church of +God, to insult his ministers? Many of you--all of you, perhaps--have +lived under my holy predecessors, who were called upon to rule in this +church where I am called upon to suffer. If you have worldly goods, they +are their gift; and, when you scorned not to accept better gifts--the +mercy and forgiveness of the church--were they not ever at your +command?--did we not pray while you were jovial--wake while you slept?" + +"Some of the good wives of the Halidome were wont to say so," said +the Abbot of Unreason; but his jest met in this instance but slight +applause, and Father Ambrose, having gained a moment's attention, +hastened to improve it. + +"What!" said he; "and is this grateful--is it seemly--is it honest--to +assail with scorn a few old men, from whose predecessors you hold all, +and whose only wish is to die in peace among these fragments of what was +once the light of the land, and whose daily prayer is, that they may be +removed ere that hour comes when the last spark shall be extinguished, +and the land left in the darkness which it has chosen rather than light? +We have not turned against you the edge of the spiritual sword, to +revenge our temporal persecution; the tempest of your wrath hath +despoiled us of land, and deprived us almost of our daily food, but we +have not repaid it with the thunders of excommunication--we only pray +your leave to live and die within the church which is our own, invoking +God, our Lady, and the Holy Saints to pardon your sins, and our own, +undisturbed by scurril buffoonery and blasphemy." + +This speech, so different in tone and termination from that which the +crowd had expected, produced an effect upon their feelings unfavourable +to the prosecution of their frolic. The morris-dancers stood still--the +hobby-horse surceased his capering--pipe and tabor were mute, and +"silence, like a heavy cloud," seemed to descend on the once noisy +rabble. Several of the beasts were obviously moved to compunction; the +bear could not restrain his sobs, and a huge fox was observed to wipe +his eyes with his tail. But in especial the dragon, lately so formidably +rampant, now relaxed the terror of his claws, uncoiled his tremendous +rings, and grumbled out of his fiery throat in a repentant tone, "By +the mass, I thought no harm in exercising our old pastime, but an I had +thought the good Father would have taken it so to heart, I would as soon +have played your devil, as your dragon." + +In this momentary pause, the Abbot stood amongst the miscellaneous and +grotesque forms by which he was surrounded, triumphant as Saint Anthony, +in Callot's Temptations; but Howleglas would not so resign his purpose. + +"And how now, my masters!" said he, "is this fair play or no? Have you +not chosen me Abbot of Unreason, and is it lawful for any of you to +listen to common sense to-day? Was I not formally elected by you in +solemn chapter, held in Luckie Martin's change-house, and will you now +desert me, and give up your old pastime and privilege? Play out the +play--and he that speaks the next word of sense or reason, or bids us +think or consider, or the like of that, which befits not the day, I will +have him solemnly ducked in the mill-dam!" + +The rabble, mutable as usual, huzzaed, the pipe and tabor struck up, the +hobby-horse pranced, the beasts roared, and even the repentant dragon +began again to coil up his spires, and prepare himself for fresh +gambols. But the Abbot might still have overcome, by his eloquence and +his entreaties, the malicious designs of the revellers, had not Dame +Magdalen Graeme given loose to the indignation which she had long +suppressed. + +"Scoffers," she said, "and men of Belial--Blasphemous heretics, and +truculent tyrants----" + +"Your patience, my sister, I entreat and I command you!" said the Abbot; +"let me do my duty--disturb me not in mine office!" + +But Dame Magdalen continued to thunder forth her threats in the name +of Popes and Councils, and in the name of every Saint, from St. Michael +downward. + +"My comrades!" said the Abbot of Unreason, "this good dame hath not +spoken a single word of reason, and therein may esteem herself free from +the law. But what she spoke was meant for reason, and, therefore, unless +she confesses and avouches all which she has said to be nonsense, it +shall pass for such, so far as to incur our statutes. Wherefore, holy +dame, pilgrim, or abbess, or whatever thou art, be mute with thy mummery +or beware the mill-dam. We will have neither spiritual nor temporal +scolds in our Diocese of Unreason!" + +As he spoke thus, he extended his hand towards the old woman, while his +followers shouted, "A doom--a doom!" and prepared to second his purpose, +when lo! it was suddenly frustrated. Roland Graeme had witnessed with +indignation the insults offered to his old spiritual preceptor, but yet +had wit enough to reflect he could render him no assistance, but might +well, by ineffective interference, make matters worse. But when he saw +his aged relative in danger of personal violence, he gave way to the +natural impetuosity of his temper, and, stepping forward, struck his +poniard into the body of the Abbot of Unreason, whom the blow instantly +prostrated on the pavement. + + + + +Chapter the Fifteenth. + + + As when in tumults rise the ignoble crowd, + Mad are their motions, and their tongues are loud, + And stones and brands in rattling furies fly, + And all the rustic arms which fury can supply-- + Then if some grave and pious man appear, + They hush their noise, and lend a listening ear. + DRYDEN'S VIRGIL + +A dreadful shout of vengeance was raised by the revellers, whose sport +was thus so fearfully interrupted; but for an instant, the want of +weapons amongst the multitude, as well as the inflamed features and +brandished poniard of Roland Graeme, kept them at bay, while the Abbot, +horror-struck at the violence, implored, with uplifted hands, pardon +for blood-shed committed within the sanctuary. Magdalen Graeme alone +expressed triumph in the blow her descendant had dealt to the scoffer, +mixed, however, with a wild and anxious expression of terror for her +grandson's safety. "Let him perish," she said, "in his blasphemy--let +him die on the holy pavement which he has insulted!" + +But the rage of the multitude, the grief of the Abbot, the exultation of +the enthusiastic Magdalen, were all mistimed and unnecessary. Howleglas, +mortally wounded as he was supposed to be, sprung alertly up from the +floor, calling aloud, "A miracle, a miracle, my masters! as brave a +miracle as ever was wrought in the kirk of Kennaquhair. And I charge +you, my masters, as your lawfully chosen Abbot, that you touch no one +without my command--You, wolf and bear, will guard this pragmatic youth, +but without hurting him--And you, reverend brother, will, with your +comrades, withdraw to your cells; for our conference has ended like all +conferences, leaving each of his own mind, as before; and if we +fight, both you, and your brethren, and the Kirk, will have the worst +on't--Wherefore, pack up you pipes and begone." + +The hubbub was beginning again to awaken, but still Father Ambrose +hesitated, as uncertain to what path his duty called him, whether to +face out the present storm, or to reserve himself for a better moment. +His brother of Unreason observed his difficulty, and said, in a tone +more natural and less affected than that with which he had hitherto +sustained his character, "We came hither, my good sir, more in mirth +than in mischief--our bark is worse than our bite--and, especially, we +mean you no personal harm--wherefore, draw off while the play is good; +for it is ill whistling for a hawk when she is once on the soar, and +worse to snatch the quarry from the ban-dog--Let these fellows once +begin their brawl, and it will be too much for madness itself, let alone +the Abbot of Unreason, to bring them back to the lure." + +The brethren crowded around Father Ambrosius, and joined in urging +him to give place to the torrent. The present revel was, they said, +an ancient custom which his predecessors had permitted, and old +Father Nicholas himself had played the dragon in the days of the Abbot +Ingelram. + +"And we now reap the fruit of the seed which they have so unadvisedly +sown," said Ambrosius; "they taught men to make a mock of what is +holy, what wonder that the descendants of scoffers become robbers +and plunderers? But be it as you list, my brethren--move towards the +dortour--And you, dame, I command you, by the authority which I have +over you, and by your respect for that youth's safety, that you go with +us without farther speech--Yet, stay--what are your intentions towards +that youth whom you detain prisoner?--Wot ye," he continued, addressing +Howleglas in a stern tone of voice, "that he bears the livery of the +House of Avenel? They who fear not the anger of Heaven, may at least +dread the wrath of man." + +"Cumber not yourself concerning him," answered Howleglas, "we know right +well who and what he is." + +"Let me pray," said the Abbot, in a tone of entreaty, "that you do him +no wrong for the rash deed--which he attempted in his imprudent zeal." + +"I say, cumber not yourself about it, father," answered Howleglas, "but +move off with your train, male and female, or I will not undertake to +save yonder she-saint from the ducking-stool--And as for bearing of +malice, my stomach has no room for it; it is," he added, clapping +his hand on his portly belly, "too well bumbasted out with straw and +buckram--gramercy to them both--they kept out that madcap's dagger as +well as a Milan corslet could have done." + +In fact, the home-driven poniard of Roland Graeme had lighted upon the +stuffing of the fictitious paunch, which the Abbot of Unreason wore as a +part of his characteristic dress, and it was only the force of the blow +which had prostrated that reverend person on the ground for a moment. + +Satisfied in some degree by this man's assurances, and compelled--to +give way to superior force, the Abbot Ambrosius retired from the Church +at the head of the monks, and left the court free for the revellers +to work their will. But, wild and wilful as these rioters were, they +accompanied the retreat of the religionists with none of those shouts +of contempt and derision with which they had at first hailed them. The +Abbot's discourse had affected some of them with remorse, others with +shame, and all with a transient degree of respect. They remained +silent until the last monk had disappeared through the side-door which +communicated with their dwelling-place, and even then it cost +some exhortations on the part of Howleglas, some caprioles of the +hobby-horse, and some wallops of the dragon, to rouse once more the +rebuked spirit of revelry. + +"And how now, my masters?" said the Abbot of Unreason; "and wherefore +look on me with such blank Jack-a-Lent visages? Will you lose your old +pastime for an old wife's tale of saints and purgatory? Why, I thought +you would have made all split long since--Come, strike up, tabor and +harp, strike up, fiddle and rebeck--dance and be merry to-day, and +let care come to-morrow. Bear and wolf, look to your prisoner--prance, +hobby--hiss, dragon, and halloo, boys--we grow older every moment we +stand idle, and life is too short to be spent in playing mumchance." + +This pithy exhortation was attended with the effect desired. They +fumigated the Church with burnt wool and feathers instead of incense, +put foul water into the holy-water basins, and celebrated a parody on +the Church-service, the mock Abbot officiating at the altar; they sung +ludicrous and indecent parodies, to the tunes of church hymns; they +violated whatever vestments or vessels belonging to the Abbey they could +lay their hands upon; and, playing every freak which the whim of the +moment could suggest to their wild caprice, at length they fell to +more lasting deeds of demolition, pulled down and destroyed some carved +wood-work, dashed out the painted windows which had escaped former +violence, and in their rigorous search after sculpture dedicated to +idolatry, began to destroy what ornaments yet remained entire upon the +tombs, and around the cornices of the pillars. + +The spirit of demolition, like other tastes, increases by indulgence; +from these lighter attempts at mischief, the more tumultuous part of the +meeting began to meditate destruction on a more extended scale--"Let +us heave it down altogether, the old crow's nest," became a general cry +among them; "it has served the Pope and his rooks too long;" and up +they struck a ballad which was then popular among the lower classes. +[Footnote: These rude rhymes are taken, with some trifling alterations, +from a ballad called Trim-go-trix. It occurs in a singular collection, +entitled; "A Compendious Book of Godly and Spiritual Songs, collected +out of sundrie parts of the Scripture, with sundry of other ballatis +changed out of prophane sanges for avoyding of sin and harlotrie, with +Augmentation of sundrie Gude and Godly Ballates. Edinburgh, printed by +Andro Hart." This curious collection has been reprinted in Mr. John. +Grahame Dalyell's Scottish Poems of the 16th century Edin. 1801, 2 +vols.] + + "The Paip, that pagan full of pride, + Hath blinded us ower lang. + For where the blind the blind doth lead, + No marvel baith gae wrang. + Like prince and king, + He led the ring + Of all iniquity. + Sing hay trix, trim-go-trix, + Under the greenwood tree. + + "The Bishop rich, he could not preach + For sporting with the lasses; + The silly friar behoved to fleech + For awmous as he passes: + The curate his creed + He could not read,-- + Shame fa' company! + Sing hay trix, trim-go-trix, + Under the greenwood tree." + +Thundering out this chorus of a notable hunting song, which had been +pressed into the service of some polemical poet, the followers of the +Abbot of Unreason were turning every moment more tumultuous, and getting +beyond the management even of that reverend prelate himself, when a +knight in full armour, followed by two or three men-at-arms, entered +the church, and in a stern voice commanded them to forbear their riotous +mummery. + +His visor was up, but if it had been lowered, the cognizance of the +holly-branch sufficiently distinguished Sir Halbert Glendinning, who, on +his homeward road, was passing through the village of Kennaquhair; and +moved, perhaps, by anxiety for his brother's safety, had come directly +to the church on hearing of the uproar. + +"What is the meaning of this," he said, "my masters? are ye Christian +men, and the king's subjects, and yet waste and destroy church and +chancel like so many heathens?" + +All stood silent, though doubtless there were several disappointed +and surprised at receiving chiding instead of thanks from so zealous a +protestant. + +The dragon, indeed, did at length take upon him to be spokesman, and +growled from the depth of his painted maw, that they did but sweep +Popery out of the church with the besom of destruction. + +"What! my friends," replied Sir Halbert Glendinning, "think you this +mumming and masking has not more of Popery in it than have these stone +walls? Take the leprosy out of your flesh, before you speak of purifying +stone walls--abate your insolent license, which leads but to idle vanity +and sinful excess; and know, that what you now practise, is one of +the profane and unseemly sports introduced by the priests of Rome +themselves, to mislead and to brutify the souls which fell into their +net." + +"Marry come up--are you there with your bears?" muttered the dragon, +with a draconic sullenness, which was in good keeping with his +character, "we had as good have been Romans still, if we are to have no +freedom in our pastimes!" + +"Dost thou reply to me so?" said Halbert Glendinning; "or is there +any pastime in grovelling on the ground there like a gigantic +kail-worm?--Get out of thy painted case, or, by my knighthood, I will +treat you like the beast and reptile you have made yourself." + +"Beast and reptile?" retorted the offended dragon, "setting aside your +knighthood, I hold myself as well a born man as thyself." + +The Knight made no answer in words, but bestowed two such blows with the +butt of his lance on the petulant dragon, that had not the hoops which +constituted the ribs of the machine been pretty strong, they would +hardly have saved those of the actor from being broken. In all haste the +masker crept out of his disguise, unwilling to abide a third buffet from +the lance of the enraged Knight. And when the ex-dragon stood on the +floor of the church, he presented to Halbert Glendinning the well-known +countenance of Dan of the Howlet-hirst, an ancient comrade of his own, +ere fate had raised him so high above the rank to which he was born. +The clown looked sulkily upon the Knight, as if to upbraid him for his +violence towards an old acquaintance, and Glendinning's own good-nature +reproached him for the violence he had acted upon him. + +"I did wrong to strike thee," he said, "Dan; but in truth, I knew thee +not--thou wert ever a mad fellow--come to Avenel Castle, and we shall +see how my hawks fly." + +"And if we show him not falcons that will mount as merrily as rockets," +said the Abbot of Unreason, "I would your honour laid as hard on my +bones as you did on his even now." + +"How now, Sir Knave," said the Knight, "and what has brought you +hither?" + +The Abbot, hastily ridding himself of the false nose which mystified +his physiognomy, and the supplementary belly which made up his disguise, +stood before his master in his real character, of Adam Woodcock, the +falconer of Avenel. + +"How, varlet!" said the Knight; "hast thou dared to come here and +disturb the very house my brother was dwelling in?" + +"And it was even for that reason, craving your honour's pardon, that I +came hither--for I heard the country was to be up to choose an Abbot of +Unreason, and sure, thought I, I that can sing, dance, leap backwards +over a broadsword, and am as good a fool as ever sought promotion, have +all chance of carrying the office; and if I gain my election, I may +stand his honour's brother in some stead, supposing things fall roughly +out at the Kirk of Saint Mary's." + +"Thou art but a cogging knave," said Sir Halbert, "and well I wot, that +love of ale and brandy, besides the humour of riot and frolic, would +draw thee a mile, when love of my house would not bring thee a yard. +But, go to--carry thy roisterers elsewhere--to the alehouse if they +list, and there are crowns to pay your charges--make out the day's +madness without doing more mischief, and be wise men to-morrow--and +hereafter learn to serve a good cause better than by acting like +buffoons or ruffians." + +Obedient to his master's mandate, the falconer was collecting +his discouraged followers, and whispering into their ears--"Away, +away--_tace_ is Latin for a candle--never mind the good Knight's +puritanism--we will play the frolic out over a stand of double ale in +Dame Martin the Brewster's barn-yard--draw off, harp and tabor--bagpipe +and drum--mum till you are out of the church-yard, then let the welkin +ring again--move on, wolf and bear--keep the hind legs till you cross +the kirk-stile, and then show yourselves beasts of mettle--what devil +sent him here to spoil our holiday!--but anger him not, my hearts; his +lance is no goose-feather, as Dan's ribs can tell." + +"By my soul," said Dan, "had it been another than my ancient comrade, I +would have made my father's old fox [Footnote: _Fox_, An old-fashioned +broadsword was often so called.] fly about his ears!" + +"Hush! hush! man," replied Adam Woodcock, "not a word that way, as you +value the safety of your bones--what man? we must take a clink as it +passes, so it is not bestowed in downright ill-will." + +"But I will take no such thing," said Dan of the Howlet-hirst, suddenly +resisting the efforts of Woodcock, who was dragging him out of the +church; when the quick military eye of Sir Halbert Glendinning detecting +Roland Graeme betwixt his two guards, the Knight exclaimed, "So ho! +falconer,--Woodcock,--knave, hast thou brought my Lady's page in mine +own livery, to assist at this hopeful revel of thine, with your wolves +and bears? Since you were at such mummings, you might, if you would, +have at least saved the credit of my household, by dressing him up as a +jackanapes--bring him hither, fellows!" + +Adam Woodcock was too honest and downright, to permit blame to light +upon the youth, when it was undeserved. "I swear," he said, "by Saint +Martin of Bullions--" [Footnote: The Saint Swithin, or weeping Saint of +Scotland. If his festival (fourth July) prove wet, forty days of rain +are expected.] + +"And what hast thou to do with Saint Martin?" + +"Nay, little enough, sir, unless when he sends such rainy days that we +cannot fly a hawk--but I say to your worshipful knighthood, that as I +am, a true man----" + +"As you are a false varlet, had been the better obtestation." + +"Nay, if your knighthood allows me not to speak," said Adam, "I can hold +my tongue--but the boy came not hither by my bidding, for all that." + +"But to gratify his own malapert pleasure, I warrant me," said Sir +Halbert Glendinning--"Come hither, young springald, and tell me whether +you have your mistress's license to be so far absent from the castle, or +to dishonour my livery by mingling in such a May-game?" + +"Sir Halbert Glendinning," answered Roland Graeme with steadiness, "I +have obtained the permission, or rather the commands, of your lady, to +dispose of my time hereafter according to my own pleasure. I have been a +most unwilling spectator of this May-game, since it is your pleasure so +to call it; and I only wear your livery until I can obtain clothes which +bear no such badge of servitude." + +"How am I to understand this, young man?" said Sir Halbert Glendinning; +"speak plainly, for I am no reader of riddles.--That my lady favoured +thee, I know. What hast thou done to disoblige her, and occasion thy +dismissal?" + +"Nothing to speak of," said Adam Woodcock, answering for the boy--"a +foolish quarrel with me, which was more foolishly told over again to +my honoured lady, cost the poor boy his place. For my part, I will say +freely, that I was wrong from beginning to end, except about the washing +of the eyas's meat. There I stand to it that I was right." + +With that, the good-natured falconer repeated to his master the whole +history of the squabble which had brought Roland Graeme into disgrace +with his mistress, but in a manner so favourable for the page, that Sir +Halbert could not but suspect his generous motive. + +"Thou art a good-natured fellow," he said, "Adam Woodcock." + +"As ever had falcon upon fist," said Adam; "and, for that matter, so is +Master Roland; but, being half a gentleman by his office, his blood is +soon up, and so is mine." + +"Well," said Sir Halbert, "be it as it will, my lady has acted hastily, +for this was no great matter of offence to discard the lad whom she +had trained up for years; but he, I doubt not, made it worse by his +prating--it jumps well with a purpose, however, which I had in my mind. +Draw off these people, Woodcock,--and you, Roland Graeme, attend me." + +The page followed him in silence into the Abbot's house, where, stepping +into the first apartment which he found open, he commanded one of his +attendants to let his brother, Master Edward Glendinning, know that he +desired to speak with him. The men-at-arms went gladly off to join their +comrade, Adam Woodcock, and the jolly crew whom he had assembled at Dame +Martin's, the hostler's wife, and the Page and Knight were left alone in +the apartment. Sir Halbert Glendinning paced the floor for a moment in +silence and then thus addressed his attendant-- + +"Thou mayest have remarked, stripling, that I have but seldom +distinguished thee by much notice;--I see thy colour rises, but do not +speak till thou nearest me out. I say I have never much distinguished +thee, not because I did not see that in thee which I might well have +praised, but because I saw something blameable, which such praises might +have made worse. Thy mistress, dealing according to her pleasure in her +own household, as no one had better reason or title, had picked thee +from the rest, and treated thee more like a relation than a domestic; +and if thou didst show some vanity and petulance under such distinction, +it were injustice not to say that thou hast profited both in thy +exercises and in thy breeding, and hast shown many sparkles of a gentle +and manly spirit. Moreover, it were ungenerous, having bred thee up +freakish and fiery, to dismiss thee to want or wandering, for showing +that very peevishness and impatience of discipline which arose from thy +too delicate nurture. Therefore, and for the credit of my own household, +I am determined to retain thee in my train, until I can honourably +dispose of thee elsewhere, with a fair prospect of thy going through the +world with credit to the house that brought thee up." + +If there was something in Sir Halbert Glendinning's speech which +flattered Roland's pride, there was also much that, according to his +mode of thinking, was an alloy to the compliment. And yet his conscience +instantly told him that he ought to accept, with grateful deference, the +offer which was made him by the husband of his kind protectress; and his +prudence, however slender, could not but admit he should enter the world +under very different auspices as a retainer of Sir Halbert Glendinning, +so famed for wisdom, courage, and influence, from those under which +he might partake the wanderings, and become an agent in the visionary +schemes, for such they appeared to him, of Magdalen, his relative. +Still, a strong reluctance to re-enter a service from which he had been +dismissed with contempt, almost counterbalanced these considerations. + +Sir Halbert looked on the youth with surprise, and resumed--"You seem to +hesitate, young man. Are your own prospects so inviting, that you should +pause ere you accept those which I should offer to you? or, must I +remind you that, although you have offended your benefactress, even to +the point of her dismissing you, yet I am convinced, the knowledge that +you have gone unguided on your own wild way, into a world so disturbed +as ours of Scotland, cannot, in the upshot, but give her sorrow and +pain; from which it is, in gratitude, your duty to preserve her, no less +than it is in common wisdom your duty to accept my offered protection, +for your own sake, where body and soul are alike endangered, should you +refuse it." + +Roland Graeme replied in a respectful tone, but at the same time with +some spirit, "I am not ungrateful for such countenance as has been +afforded me by the Lord of Avenel, and I am glad to learn, for the +first time, that I have not had the misfortune to be utterly beneath his +observation, as I had thought--And it is only needful to show me how +I can testify my duty and my gratitude towards my early and constant +benefactress with my life's hazard, and I will gladly peril it." He +stopped. + +"These are but words, young man," answered Glendinning, "large +protestations are often used to supply the place of effectual service. +I know nothing in which the peril of your life can serve the Lady of +Avenel; I can only say, she will be pleased to learn you have adopted +some course which may ensure the safety of your person, and the weal +of your soul--What ails you, that you accept not that safety when it is +offered you?" + +"My only relative who is alive," answered Roland, "at least the only +relative whom I have ever seen, has rejoined me since I was dismissed +from the Castle of Avenel, and I must consult with her whether I can +adopt the line to which you now call me, or whether her increasing +infirmities, or the authority which she is entitled to exercise over me, +may not require me to abide with her." + +"Where is this relation?" said Sir Halbert Glendinning. + +"In this house," answered the page. + +"Go then, and seek her out," said the Knight of Avenel; "more than meet +it is that thou shouldst have her approbation, yet worse than foolish +would she show herself in denying it." + +Roland left the apartment to seek for his grandmother; and, as he +retreated, the Abbot entered. + +The two brothers met as brothers who loved each other fondly, yet +meet rarely together. Such indeed was the case. Their mutual affection +attached them to each other; but in every pursuit, habit or sentiment, +connected with the discords of the times, the friend and counsellor of +Murray stood opposed to the Roman Catholic priest; nor, indeed, could +they have held very much society together, without giving cause of +offence and suspicion to their confederates on each side. After a close +embrace on the part of both, and a welcome on that of the Abbot, Sir +Halbert Glendinning expressed his satisfaction that he had come in time +to appease the riot raised by Howleglas and his tumultuous followers. + +"And yet," he said, "when I look on your garments, brother Edward, I +cannot help thinking there still remains an Abbot of Unreason within the +bounds of the Monastery." + +"And wherefore carp at my garments, brother Halbert?" said the Abbot; +"it is the spiritual armour of my calling, and, as such, beseems me as +well as breastplate and baldric becomes your own bosom." + +"Ay, but there were small wisdom, methinks, in putting on armour where +we have no power to fight; it is but a dangerous temerity to defy the +foe whom we cannot resist." + +"For that, my brother, no one can answer," said the Abbot, "until the +battle be fought; and, were it even as you say, methinks a brave man, +though desperate of victory, would rather desire to fight and fall, than +to resign sword and shield on some mean and dishonourable composition +with his insulting antagonist. But, let not you and I make discord of +a theme on which we cannot agree, but rather stay and partake, though a +heretic, of my admission feast. You need not fear, my brother, that your +zeal for restoring the primitive discipline of the church will, on this +occasion, be offended with the rich profusion of a conventual banquet. +The days of our old friend Abbot Boniface are over; and the Superior of +Saint Mary's has neither forests nor fishings, woods nor pastures, nor +corn-fields;--neither flocks nor herds, bucks nor wild-fowl--granaries +of wheat, nor storehouses of oil and wine, of ale and of mead. The +refectioner's office is ended; and such a meal as a hermit in romance +can offer to a wandering knight, is all we have to set before you. But, +if you will share it with us, we shall eat it with a cheerful heart, +and thank you, my brother, for your timely protection against these rude +scoffers." + +"My dearest brother," said the Knight, "it grieves me deeply I cannot +abide with you; but it would sound ill for us both were one of the +reformed congregation to sit down at your admission feast; and, if I +can ever have the satisfaction of affording you effectual protection, +it will be much owing to my remaining unsuspected of countenancing or +approving your religious rites and ceremonies. It will demand whatever +consideration I can acquire among my own friends, to shelter the bold +man, who, contrary to law and the edicts of parliament, has dared to +take up the office of Abbot of Saint Mary's." + +"Trouble not yourself with the task, my brother," replied Father +Ambrosius. "I would lay down my dearest blood to know that you defended +the church for the church's sake; but, while you remain unhappily her +enemy, I would not that you endangered your own safety, or diminished +your own comforts, for the sake of my individual protection.--But who +comes hither to disturb the few minutes of fraternal communication which +our evil fate allows us?" + +The door of the apartment opened as the Abbot spoke, and Dame Magdalen +entered. + +"Who is this woman?" said Sir Halbert Glendinning, somewhat sternly, +"and what does she want?" + +"That you know me not," said the matron, "signifies little; I come +by your own order, to give my free consent that the stripling, Roland +Graeme, return to your service; and, having said so, I cumber you no +longer with my presence. Peace be with you!" She turned to go away, but +was stopped by inquiries of Sir Halbert Glendinning. + +"Who are you?--what are you?--and why do you not await to make me +answer?" + +"I was," she replied, "while yet I belonged to the world, a matron of no +vulgar name; now I am Magdalen, a poor pilgrimer, for the sake of Holy +Kirk." + +"Yea," said Sir Halbert, "art thou a Catholic? I thought my dame said +that Roland Graeme came of reformed kin.' + +"His father," said the matron, "was a heretic, or rather one who +regarded neither orthodoxy or heresy--neither the temple of the church +or of antichrist. I, too, for the sins of the times make sinners, have +seemed to conform to your unhallowed rites--but I had my dispensation +and my absolution." + +"You see, brother," said Sir Halbert, with a smile of meaning towards +his brother, "that we accuse you not altogether without grounds of +mental equivocation." + +"My brother, you do us injustice," replied the Abbot; "this woman, +as her bearing may of itself warrant you, is not in her perfect mind. +Thanks, I must needs say, to the persecution of your marauding barons, +and of your latitudinarian clergy." + +"I will not dispute the point," said Sir Halbert; "the evils of the time +are unhappily so numerous, that both churches may divide them, and have +enow to spare." So saying, he leaned from the window of the apartment, +and winded his bugle. + +"Why do you sound your horn, my brother?" said the Abbot; "we have spent +but few minutes together." + +"Alas!" said the elder brother, "and even these few have been sullied +by disagreement. I sound to horse, my brother--the rather that, to avert +the consequences of this day's rashness on your part, requires hasty +efforts on mine.--Dame, you will oblige me by letting your young +relative know that we mount instantly. I intend not that he shall return +to Avenel with me--it would lead to new quarrels betwixt him and my +household; at least to taunts which his proud heart could ill brook, +and my wish is to do him kindness. He shall, therefore, go forward to +Edinburgh with one of my retinue, whom I shall send back to say what +has chanced here.--You seem rejoiced at this?" he added, fixing his eyes +keenly on Magdalen Graeme, who returned his gaze with calm indifference. + +"I would rather," she said, "that Roland, a poor and friendless orphan, +were the jest of the world at large, than of the menials at Avenel." + +"Fear not, dame--he shall be scorned by neither," answered the Knight. + +"It may be," she replied--"it may well be--but I will trust more to his +own bearing than to your countenance." She left the room as she spoke. + +The Knight looked after her as she departed, but turned instantly to his +brother, and expressing, in the most affectionate terms, his wishes for +his welfare and happiness, craved his leave to depart. "My knaves," he +said, "are too busy at the ale-stand, to leave their revelry for the +empty breath of a bugle-horn." + +"You have freed them from higher restraint, Halbert," answered the +Abbot, "and therein taught them to rebel against your own." + +"Fear not that, Edward," exclaimed Halbert, who never gave his brother +his monastic name of Ambrosius; "none obey the command of real duty so +well as those who are free from the observance of slavish bondage." + +He was turning to depart, when the Abbot said,--"Let us not yet part, my +brother--here comes some light refreshment. Leave not the house which I +must now call mine, till force expel me from it, until you have at least +broken bread with me." + +The poor lay brother, the same who acted as porter, now entered the +apartment, bearing some simple refreshment, and a flask of wine. "He had +found it," he said with officious humility, "by rummaging through every +nook of the cellar." + +The Knight filled a small silver cup, and, quaffing it off, asked his +brother to pledge him, observing, the wine was Bacharac, of the first +vintage, and great age. + +"Ay," said the poor lay brother, "it came out of the nook which old +brother Nicholas, (may his soul be happy!) was wont to call Abbot +Ingelram's corner; and Abbot Ingelram was bred at the Convent of +Wurtzburg, which I understand to be near where that choice wine grows." + +"True, my reverend sir," said Sir Halbert; "and therefore I entreat my +brother and you to pledge me in a cup of this orthodox vintage." + +The thin old porter looked with a wishful glance towards the Abbot. "_Do +veniam_," said his Superior; and the old man seized, with a trembling +hand, a beverage to which he had been long unaccustomed; drained the cup +with protracted delight, as if dwelling on the flavour and perfume, and +set it down with a melancholy smile and shake of the head, as if bidding +adieu in future to such delicious potations. The brothers smiled. But +when Sir Halbert motioned to the Abbot to take up his cup and do him +reason, the Abbot, in turn, shook his head, and replied--"This is no +day for the Abbot of Saint Mary's to eat the fat and drink the sweat. +In water from our Lady's well," he added, filling a cup with the limpid +element, "I wish you, brother, all happiness, and above all, a true +sight of your spiritual errors." + +"And to you, my beloved Edward," replied Glendinning, "I wish the free +exercise of your own free reason, and the discharge of more important +duties than are connected with the idle name which you have so rashly +assumed." + +The brothers parted with deep regret; and yet, each confident in his +opinion, felt somewhat relieved by the absence of one whom he respected +so much, and with whom he could agree so little. + +Soon afterwards the sound of the Knight of Avenel's trumpets was heard, +and the Abbot went to the top of the tower, from whose dismantled +battlements he could soon see the horsemen ascending the rising ground +in the direction of the drawbridge. As he gazed, Magdalen Graeme came to +his side. + +"Thou art come," he said, "to catch the last glimpse of thy grandson, +my sister. Yonder he wends, under the charge of the best knight in +Scotland, his faith ever excepted." + +"Thou canst bear witness, my father, that it was no wish either of +mine or of Roland's," replied the matron, "which induced the Knight +of Avenel, as he is called, again to entertain my grandson in his +household--Heaven, which confounds the wise with their own wisdom, +and the wicked with their own policy, hath placed him where, for the +services of the Church, I would most wish him to be." + +"I know not what you mean, my sister," said the Abbot. + +"Reverend father," replied Magdalen, "hast thou never heard that there +are spirits powerful to rend the walls of a castle asunder when once +admitted, which yet cannot enter the house unless they are invited, nay, +dragged over the threshold? + +[Footnote: There is a popular belief respecting evil spirits, that they +cannot enter an inhabited house unless invited, nay, dragged over the +threshold. There is an instance of the same superstition in the Tales of +the Genii, where an enchanter is supposed to have intruded himself into +the Divan of the Sultan. + +"'Thus,' said the illustrious Misnar, 'let the enemies of Mahomet be +dismayed! but inform me, O ye sages! under the semblance of which of +your brethren did that foul enchanter gain admittance here?'--'May the +lord of my heart,' answered Balihu, the hermit of the faithful from +Queda, 'triumph over all his foes! As I travelled on the mountains from +Queda, and saw neither the footsteps of beasts, nor the flight of birds, +behold, I chanced to pass through a cavern, in whose hollow sides I +found this accursed sage, to whom I unfolded the invitation of the +Sultan of India, and we, joining, journeyed towards the Divan; but ere +we entered, he said unto me. 'Put thy hand forth, and pull me towards +thee into the Divan, calling on the name of Mahomet, for the evil +spirits are on me and vex me.'" + +I have understood that many parts of these fine tales, and in particular +that of the Sultan Misnar, were taken from genuine Oriental sources by +the editor, Mr. James Ridley. + +But the most picturesque use of this popular belief occurs in +Coleridge's beautiful and tantalizing fragment of Christabel. Has not +our own imaginative poet cause to fear that future ages will desire to +summon him from his place of rest, as Milton longed + + "To call him up, who left half told + The story of Cambuscan bold?" + +The verses I refer to are when Christabel conducts into her father's +castle a mysterious and malevolent being, under the guise of a +distressed female stranger. + + + 'They cross'd the moat, and Christabel + Took the key that fitted well; + A little door she open'd straight, + All in the middle of the gate; + The gate that was iron'd within and without, + Where an army in battle array had march'd out. + + "The lady sank, belike through pain, + And Christabel with might and main + Lifted her up, a weary weight, + Over the threshold of the gate: + Then the lady rose again, + And moved as she were not in pain. + + "So free from danger, free from fear, + They cross'd the court;--right glad they were, + And Christabel devoutly cried + To the lady by her side: + 'Praise we the Virgin, all divine, + Who hath rescued thee from this distress.' + 'Alas, alas!' said Geraldine, + 'I cannot speak from weariness.' + So free from danger, free from fear, + They cross'd the court: right glad they were +] + +Twice hath Roland Graeme been thus drawn into the household of Avenel by +those who now hold the title. Let them look to the issue." + +So saying she left the turret; and the Abbot, after pausing a moment on +her words, which he imputed to the unsettled state of her mind, followed +down the winding stair to celebrate his admission to his high office by +fast and prayer instead of revelling and thanksgiving. + + + + +Chapter the Sixteenth. + + + Youth! thou wear'st to manhood now, + Darker lip and darker brow, + Statelier step, more pensive mien, + In thy face and gate are seen: + Thou must now brook midnight watches, + Take thy food and sport by snatches; + For the gambol and the jest, + Thou wert wont to love the best, + Graver follies must thou follow, + But as senseless, false, and hollow. + LIFE, A POEM. + +Young Roland Graeme now trotted gaily forward in the train of +Sir Halbert Glendinning. He was relieved from his most galling +apprehension,--the encounter of the scorn and taunt which might possibly +hail his immediate return to the Castle of Avenel. "There will be a +change ere they see me again," he thought to himself; "I shall wear the +coat of plate, instead of the green jerkin, and the steel morion for the +bonnet and feather. They will be bold that may venture to break a gibe +on the man-at-arms for the follies of the page; and I trust, that ere we +return I shall have done something more worthy of note than hallooing +a hound after a deer, or scrambling a crag for a kite's nest." He +could not, indeed, help marvelling that his grandmother, with all her +religious prejudices, leaning, it would seem, to the other side, had +consented so readily to his re-entering the service of the House of +Avenel; and yet more, at the mysterious joy with which she took leave of +him at the Abbey. + +"Heaven," said the dame, as she kissed her young relation, and bade him +farewell, "works its own work, even by the hands of those of our enemies +who think themselves the strongest and the wisest. Thou, my child, be +ready to act upon the call of thy religion and country; and remember, +each earthly bond which thou canst form is, compared to the ties which +bind thee to them, like the loose flax to the twisted cable. Thou hast +not forgot the face or form of the damsel Catherine Seyton?" + +Roland would have replied in the negative, but the word seemed to stick +in his throat and Magdalen continued her exhortations. + +"Thou must not forget her, my son; and here I intrust thee with a token, +which I trust thou wilt speedily find an opportunity of delivering with +care and secrecy into her own hand." + +She put here into Roland's hand a very small packet, of which she again +enjoined him to take the strictest care, and to suffer it to be seen +by no one save Catherine Seyton, who, she again (very unnecessarily) +reminded him, was the young lady he had met on the preceding day. She +then bestowed on him her solemn benediction, and bade God speed him. + +There was something in her manner and her conduct which implied mystery; +but Roland Graeme was not of an age or temper to waste much time +in endeavoring to decipher her meaning. All that was obvious to his +perception in the present journey, promised pleasure and novelty. He +rejoiced that he was travelling towards Edinburgh, in order to assume +the character of a man, and lay aside that of a boy. He was delighted to +think that he would have an opportunity of rejoining Catherine +Seyton, whose bright eyes and lively manners had made so favourable an +impression on his imagination; and, as an experienced, yet high-spirited +youth, entering for the first time upon active life, his heart bounded +at the thought, that he was about to see all those scenes of courtly +splendour and warlike adventures, of which the followers of Sir Halbert +used to boast on their occasional visits to Avenel, to the wonderment +and envy of those who, like Roland, knew courts and camps only by +hearsay, and were condemned to the solitary sports and almost monastic +seclusion of Avenel, surrounded by its lonely lake, and embossed +among its pathless mountains. "They shall mention my name," he said +to himself, "if the risk of my life can purchase me opportunities of +distinction, and Catherine Seyton's saucy eye shall rest with more +respect on the distinguished soldier, than that with which she laughed +to scorn the raw and inexperienced page."--There was wanting but +one accessary to complete the sense of rapturous excitation, and he +possessed it by being once more mounted on the back of a fiery and +active horse, instead of plodding along on foot, as had been the case +during the preceding days. + +Impelled by the liveliness of his own spirits, which so many +circumstances tended naturally to exalt, Roland Graeme's voice and his +laughter were soon distinguished amid the trampling of the horses of the +retinue, and more than once attracted the attention of the leader, who +remarked with satisfaction, that the youth replied with good-humoured +raillery to such of the train as jested with him on his dismissal and +return to the service of the House of Avenel. + +"I thought the holly-branch in your bonnet had been blighted, Master +Roland?" said one of the men-at-arms. + +"Only pinched with half an hour's frost; you see it flourishes as green +as ever." + +"It is too grave a plant to flourish on so hot a soil as that headpiece +of thine, Master Roland Graeme," retorted the other, who was an old +equerry of Sir Halbert Glendinning. + +"If it will not flourish alone," said Roland, "I will mix it with the +laurel and the myrtle--and I will carry them so near the sky, that it +shall make amends for their stinted growth." + +Thus speaking, he dashed his spurs into his horse's sides, and, checking +him at the same time, compelled him to execute a lofty caracole. Sir +Halbert Glendinning looked at the demeanour of his new attendant with +that sort of melancholy pleasure with which those who have long followed +the pursuits of life, and are sensible of their vanity, regard the gay, +young, and buoyant spirits to whom existence, as yet, is only hope and +promise. + +In the meanwhile, Adam Woodcock, the falconer, stripped of his masquing +habit, and attired, according to his rank and calling, in a green +jerkin, with a hawking-bag on the one side, and a short hanger on the +other, a glove on his left hand which reached half way up his arm, and +a bonnet and feather upon his head, came after the party as fast as +his active little galloway-nag could trot, and immediately entered into +parley with Roland Graeme. + +"So, my youngster, you are once more under shadow of the holly-branch?" + +"And in case to repay you, my good friend," answered Roland, "your ten +groats of silver." + +"Which, but an hour since," said the falconer, "you had nearly paid me +with ten inches of steel. On my faith, it is written in the book of our +destiny, that I must brook your dagger after all." + +"Nay, speak not of that, my good friend," said the youth, "I would +rather have broached my own bosom than yours; but who could have known +you in the mumming dress you wore?" + +"Yes," the falconer resumed,--for both as a poet and actor he had +his own professional share of self-conceit,--"I think I was as good a +Howleglas as ever played part at a Shrovetide revelry, and not a much +worse Abbot of Unreason. I defy the Old Enemy to unmask me when I choose +to keep my vizard on. What the devil brought the Knight on us before we +had the game out? You would have heard me hollo my own new ballad with a +voice should have reached to Berwick. But I pray you, Master Roland, be +less free of cold steel on slight occasions; since, but for the stuffing +of my reverend doublet, I had only left the kirk to take my place in the +kirkyard." + +"Nay, spare me that feud," said Roland Graeme, "we shall have no time to +fight it out; for, by our lord's command, I am bound for Edinburgh." + +"I know it," said Adam Woodcock, "and even therefore we shall have time +to solder up this rent by the way, for Sir Halbert has appointed me your +companion and guide." + +"Ay? and with what purpose?" said the page. + +"That," said the falconer, "is a question I cannot answer; but I know, +that be the food of the eyases washed or unwashed, and, indeed, whatever +becomes of perch and mew, I am to go with you to Edinburgh, and see you +safely delivered to the Regent at Holyrood." + +"How, to the Regent?" said Roland, in surprise. + +"Ay, by my faith, to the Regent," replied Woodcock; "I promise you, that +if you are not to enter his service, at least you are to wait upon him +in the character of a retainer of our Knight of Avenel." + +"I know no right," said the youth, "which the Knight of Avenel hath to +transfer my service, supposing that I owe it to himself." + +"Hush, hush!" said the falconer; "that is a question I advise no one to +stir in until he has the mountain or the lake, or the march of another +kingdom, which is better than either, betwixt him and his feudal +superior." + +"But Sir Halbert Glendinning," said the youth, "is not my feudal +superior; nor has he aught of authority--" + +"I pray you, my son, to rein your tongue," answered Adam Woodcock; "my +lord's displeasure, if you provoke it, will be worse to appease than +my lady's. The touch of his least finger were heavier than her hardest +blow. And, by my faith, he is a man of steel, as true and as pure, but +as hard and as pitiless. You remember the Cock of Capperlaw, whom he +hanged over his gate for a mere mistake--a poor yoke of oxen taken in +Scotland, when he thought he was taking them in English land? I loved +the Cock of Capperlaw; the Kerrs had not an honester man in their clan, +and they have had men that might have been a pattern to the Border--men +that would not have lifted under twenty cows at once, and would have +held themselves dishonoured if they had taken a drift of sheep, or the +like, but always managed their raids in full credit and honour.--But +see, his worship halts, and we are close by the bridge. Ride up--ride +up--we must have his last instructions." + +It was as Adam Woodcock said. In the hollow way descending towards the +bridge, which was still in the guardianship of Peter Bridgeward, as he +was called, though he was now very old, Sir Halbert Glendinning halted +his retinue, and beckoned to Woodcock and Graeme to advance to the head +of the train. + +"Woodcock," said he, "thou knowest to whom thou art to conduct this +youth. And thou, young man, obey discreetly and with diligence the +orders that shall be given thee. Curb thy vain and peevish temper. Be +just, true, and faithful; and there is in thee that which may raise +thee many a degree above thy present station. Neither shalt thou--always +supposing thine efforts to be fair and honest--want the protection and +countenance of Avenel." + +Leaving them in front of the bridge, the centre tower of which now began +to cast a prolonged shade upon the river, the Knight of Avenel turned +to the left, without crossing the river, and pursued his way towards the +chain of hills within whose recesses are situated the Lake and Castle +of Avenel. There remained behind, the falconer, Roland Graeme, and a +domestic of the Knight, of inferior rank, who was left with them to look +after their horses while on the road, to carry their baggage, and to +attend to their convenience. + +So soon as the more numerous body of riders had turned off to pursue +their journey westward, those whose route lay across the river, and was +directed towards the north, summoned the Bridgeward, and demanded a free +passage. + +"I will not lower the bridge," answered Peter, in a voice querulous with +age and ill-humour.--"Come Papist, come Protestant, ye are all the +same. The Papist threatened us with Purgatory, and fleeched us with +pardons--the Protestant mints at us with his sword, and cuttles us with +the liberty of conscience; but never a one of either says, 'Peter, there +is your penny.' I am well tired of all this, and for no man shall the +bridge fall that pays me not ready money; and I would have you know I +care as little for Geneva as for Rome--as little for homilies as for +pardons; and the silver pennies are the only passports I will hear of." + +"Here is a proper old chuff!" said Woodcock to his companion; then +raising his voice, he exclaimed, "Hark thee, dog--Bridgeward, villain, +dost thou think we have refused thy namesake Peter's pence to Rome, to +pay thine at the bridge of Kennaquhair? Let thy bridge down instantly to +the followers of the house of Avenel, or by the hand of my father, and +that handled many a bridle rein, for he was a bluff Yorkshireman--I say, +by my father's hand, our Knight will blow thee out of thy solan-goose's +nest there in the middle of the water, with the light falconet which we +are bringing southward from Edinburgh to-morrow." + +The Bridgeward heard, and muttered, "A plague on falcon and falconet, +on cannon and demicannon, and all the barking bull-dogs whom they halloo +against stone and lime in these our days! It was a merry time when there +was little besides handy blows, and it may be a flight of arrows that +harmed an ashler wall as little as so many hailstones. But we must jouk +and let the jaw gang by." Comforting himself in his state of diminished +consequence with this pithy old proverb, Peter Bridgeward lowered the +drawbridge, and permitted them to pass over. At the sight of his white +hair, albeit it discovered a visage equally peevish through age and +misfortune, Roland was inclined to give him an alms, but Adam Woodcock +prevented him. "E'en let him pay the penalty of his former churlishness +and greed," he said; "the wolf, when he has lost his teeth, should be +treated no better than a cur." + +Leaving the Bridgeward to lament the alteration of times, which sent +domineering soldiers and feudal retainers to his place of passage, +instead of peaceful pilgrims, and reduced him to become the oppressed, +instead of playing the extortioner, the travellers turned them +northward; and Adam Woodcock, well acquainted with that part of the +country, proposed to cut short a considerable portion of the road, by +traversing the little vale of Glendearg, so famous for the adventures +which befell therein during the earlier part of the Benedictine's +manuscript. With these, and with the thousand commentaries, +representations, and misrepresentations, to which they had given rise, +Roland Graeme was, of course, well acquainted; for in the Castle of +Avenel, as well as in other great establishments, the inmates talked of +nothing so often, or with such pleasure, as of the private affairs of +their lord and lady. But while Roland was viewing with interest these +haunted scenes, in which things were said to have passed beyond the +ordinary laws of nature, Adam Woodcock was still regretting in his +secret soul the unfinished revel and the unsung ballad, and kept every +now and then, breaking out with some such verses as these:-- + + "The Friars of Fail drank berry-brown ale, + The best that e'er was tasted; + The Monks of Melrose made gude kale + On Fridays, when they fasted. + Saint Monance' sister. + The gray priest kist her-- + Fiend save the company! + Sing hay trix, trim-go-trix. + Under the greenwood tree." + +"By my hand, friend Woodcock," said the page, "though I know you for a +hardy gospeller, that fear neither saint nor devil, yet, if I were +you, I would not sing your profane songs in this valley of Glendearg, +considering what has happened here before our time." + +"A straw for your wandering spirits!" said Adam Woodcock; "I mind them +no more than an earn cares for a string of wild-geese--they have all +fled since the pulpits were filled with honest men, and the people's +ears with sound doctrine. Nay, I have a touch at them in my ballad, an I +had but had the good luck to have it sung to end;" and again he set off +in the same key: + + From haunted spring and grassy ring, + Troop goblin, elf, and fairy; + And the kelpie must flit from the black bog-pit, + And the brownie must not tarry; + To Limbo-lake, + Their way they take, + With scarce the pith to flee. + Sing hay trix, trim-go-trix, + Under the greenwood tree. + +"I think," he added, "that could Sir Halbert's patience have stretched +till we came that length, he would have had a hearty laugh, and that is +what he seldom enjoys." + +"If it be all true that men tell of his early life," said Roland, "he +has less right to laugh at goblins than most men." + +"Ay, _if_ it be all true," answered Adam Woodcock; "but who can ensure +us of that? Moreover, these were but tales the monks used to gull us +simple laymen withal; they knew that fairies and hobgoblins brought +aves and paternosters into repute; but, now we have given up worship +of images in wood and stone, methinks it were no time to be afraid of +bubbles in the water, or shadows in the air." + +"However," said Roland Graeme, "as the Catholics say they do not worship +wood or stone, but only as emblems of the holy saints, and not as things +holy in themselves----" + +"Pshaw! pshaw!" answered the falconer; "a rush for their prating. +They told us another story when these baptized idols of theirs brought +pike-staves and sandalled shoon from all the four winds, and whillied +the old women out of their corn and their candle ends, and their butter, +bacon, wool, and cheese, and when not so much as a gray groat escaped +tithing." + +Roland Graeme had been long taught, by necessity, to consider his form +of religion as a profound secret, and to say nothing whatever in its +defence when assailed, lest he should draw on himself the suspicion of +belonging to the unpopular and exploded church. He therefore suffered +Adam Woodcock to triumph without farther opposition, marvelling in his +own mind whether any of the goblins, formerly such active agents, would +avenge his rude raillery before they left the valley of Glendearg. +But no such consequences followed. They passed the night quietly in a +cottage in the glen, and the next day resumed their route to Edinburgh. + + + + +Chapter the Seventeenth. + + +Edina! Scotia's darling seat, All hail thy palaces and towers, +Where once, beneath a monarch's feet, Sate legislation's sovereign powers. + BURNS. + +"This, then, is Edinburgh?" said the youth, as the fellow-travellers +arrived at one of the heights to the southward, which commanded a view +of the great northern capital--"This is that Edinburgh of which we have +heard so much!" + +"Even so," said the falconer; "yonder stands Auld Reekie--you may see +the smoke hover over her at twenty miles' distance, as the gosshawk +hangs over a plump of young wild-ducks--ay, yonder is the heart of +Scotland, and each throb that she gives is felt from the edge of Solway +to Duncan's-bay-head. See, yonder is the old Castle; and see to the +right, on yon rising ground, that is the Castle of Craigmillar, which I +have known a merry place in my time." + +"Was it not there," said the page in a low voice, "that the Queen held +her court?" + +"Ay, ay," replied the falconer, "Queen she was then, though you must not +call her so now. Well, they may say what they will--many a true heart +will be sad for Mary Stewart, e'en if all be true men say of her; for +look you, Master Roland--she was the loveliest creature to look upon +that I ever saw with eye, and no lady in the land liked better the fair +flight of a falcon. I was at the great match on Roslin Moor betwixt +Bothwell--he was a black sight to her that Bothwell--and the Baron +of Roslin, who could judge a hawk's flight as well as any man in +Scotland--a butt of Rhenish and a ring of gold was the wager, and it was +flown as fairly for as ever was red gold and bright wine. And to see +her there on her white palfrey, that flew as if it scorned to touch more +than the heather blossom; and to hear her voice, as clear and sweet as +the mavis's whistle, mix among our jolly whooping and whistling; and to +mark all the nobles dashing round her; happiest he who got a word or a +look--tearing through moss and hagg, and venturing neck and limb to +gain the praise of a bold rider, and the blink of a bonny Queen's bright +eye!--she will see little hawking where she lies now--ay, ay, pomp and +pleasure pass away as speedily as the wap of a falcon's wing." + +"And where is this poor Queen now confined?" said Roland Graeme, +interested in the fate of a woman whose beauty and grace had made so +strong an impression even on the blunt and careless character of Adam +Woodcock. + +"Where is she now imprisoned?" said honest Adam; "why, in some castle +in the north, they say--I know not where, for my part, nor is it worth +while to vex one's sell anent what cannot be mended--An she had guided +her power well whilst she had it, she had not come to so evil a pass. +Men say she must resign her crown to this little baby of a prince, for +that they will trust her with it no longer. Our master has been as busy +as his neighbours in all this work. If the Queen should come to her +own again, Avenel Castle is like to smoke for it, unless he makes +his bargain all the better." "In a castle in the north Queen Mary is +confined?" said the page. "Why, ay--they say so, at least--In a castle +beyond that great river which comes down yonder, and looks like a river, +but it is a branch of the sea, and as bitter as brine." + +"And amongst all her subjects," said the page, with some emotion, "is +there none that will adventure anything for her relief?" + +"That is a kittle question," said the falconer; "and if you ask it +often, Master Roland, I am fain to tell you that you will be mewed up +yourself in some of those castles, if they do not prefer twisting your +head off, to save farther trouble with you--Adventure any thing? Lord, +why, Murray has the wind in his poop now, man, and flies so high and +strong, that the devil a wing of them can match him--No, no; there she +is, and there she must lie, till Heaven send her deliverance, or till +her son has the management of all--But Murray will never let her loose +again, he knows her too well.--And hark thee, we are now bound for +Holyrood, where thou wilt find plenty of news, and of courtiers to tell +it--But, take my counsel, and keep a calm sough, as the Scots say--hear +every man's counsel, and keep your own. And if you hap to learn any +news you like, leap not up as if you were to put on armour direct in the +cause--Our old Mr. Wingate says--and he knows court-cattle well--that if +you are told old King Coul is come alive again, you should turn it off +with, 'And is he in truth?--I heard not of it,' and should seem no more +moved, than if one told you, by way of novelty, that old King Coul was +dead and buried. Wherefore, look well to your bearing, Master Roland, +for, I promise you, you come among a generation that are keen as a +hungry hawk--And never be dagger out of sheath at every wry word you +hear spoken; for you will find as hot blades as yourself, and then will +be letting of blood without advice either of leech or almanack." + +"You shall see how staid I will be, and how cautious, my good friend," +said Graeme; "but, blessed Lady, what goodly house is that which is +lying all in ruins so close to the city? Have they been playing at the +Abbot of Unreason here, and ended the gambol by burning the church?" + +"There again now," replied his companion, "you go down the wind like a +wild haggard, that minds neither lure nor beck--that is a question you +should have asked in as low a tone as I shall answer it." + +"If I stay here long," said Roland Graeme, "it is like I shall lose the +natural use of my voice--but what are the ruins then?" + +"The Kirk of Field," said the falconer, in a low and impressive whisper, +laying at the same time his finger on his lip; "ask no more about +it--somebody got foul play, and somebody got the blame of it; and the +game began there which perhaps may not be played out in our time.--Poor +Henry Darnley! to be an ass, he understood somewhat of a hawk; but +they sent him on the wing through the air himself one bright moonlight +night." + +The memory of this catastrophe was so recent, that the page averted his +eyes with horror from the scathed ruins in which it had taken place; and +the accusations against the Queen, to which it had given rise, came over +his mind with such strength as to balance the compassion he had begun to +entertain for her present forlorn situation. + +It was, indeed, with that agitating state of mind which arises partly +from horror, but more from anxious interest and curiosity, that young +Graeme found himself actually traversing the scene of those tremendous +events, the report of which had disturbed the most distant solitudes +in Scotland, like the echoes of distant thunder rolling among the +mountains. + +"Now," he thought, "now or never shall I become a man, and bear my part +in those deeds which the simple inhabitants of our hamlets repeat to +each other, as if they were wrought by beings of a superior order to +their own. I will know now, wherefore the Knight of Avenel carries his +crest so much above those of the neighbouring baronage, and how it is +that men, by valour and wisdom, work their way from the hoddin-gray +coat to the cloak of scarlet and gold. Men say I have not much wisdom to +recommend me; and if that be true, courage must do it; for I will be a +man amongst living men, or a dead corpse amongst the dead." + +From these dreams of ambition he turned his thoughts to those of +pleasure, and began to form many conjectures, when and where he should +see Catherine Seyton, and in what manner their acquaintance was to be +renewed. With such conjectures he was amusing himself, when he found +that they had entered the city, and all other feelings were suspended +in the sensation of giddy astonishment with which an inhabitant of the +country is affected, when, for the first time, he finds himself in the +streets of a large and populous city, a unit in the midst of thousands. + +The principal street of Edinburgh was then, as now, one of the most +spacious in Europe. The extreme height of the houses, and the variety of +Gothic gables and battlements, and balconies, by which the sky-line on +each side was crowned and terminated, together with the width of the +street itself, might have struck with surprise a more practised eye than +that of young Graeme. The population, close packed within the walls of +the city, and at this time increased by the number of the lords of +the King's party who had thronged to Edinburgh to wait upon the Regent +Murray, absolutely swarmed like bees on the wide and stately street. +Instead of the shop-windows, which are now calculated for the display +of goods, the traders had their open booths projecting on the street, +in which, as in the fashion of the modern bazaars, all was exposed which +they had upon sale. And though the commodities were not of the richest +kinds, yet Graeme thought he beheld the wealth of the whole world in the +various bales of Flanders cloths, and the specimens of tapestry; and, +at other places, the display of domestic utensils and pieces of plate +struck him with wonder. The sight of cutlers' booths, furnished with +swords and poniards, which were manufactured in Scotland, and with +pieces of defensive armour, imported from Flanders, added to his +surprise; and, at every step, he found so much to admire and gaze upon, +that Adam Woodcock had no little difficulty in prevailing on him to +advance through such a scene of enchantment. + +The sight of the crowds which filled the streets was equally a subject +of wonder. Here a gay lady, in her muffler, or silken veil, traced her +way delicately, a gentleman-usher making way for her, a page bearing up +her train, and a waiting gentlewoman carrying her Bible, thus intimating +that her purpose was towards the church--There he might see a group of +citizens bending the same way, with their short Flemish cloaks, wide +trowsers, and high-caped doublets, a fashion to which, as well as to +their bonnet and feather, the Scots were long faithful. Then, again, +came the clergyman himself, in his black Geneva cloak and band, lending +a grave and attentive ear to the discourse of several persons who +accompanied him, and who were doubtless holding serious converse on +the religious subject he was about to treat of. Nor did there lack +passengers of a different class and appearance. + +At every turn, Roland Graeme might see a gallant ruffle along in the +newer or French mode, his doublet slashed, and his points of the same +colours with the lining, his long sword on one side, and his poniard on +the other, behind him a body of stout serving men, proportioned to +his estate and quality, all of whom walked with the air of military +retainers, and were armed with sword and buckler, the latter being a +small round shield, not unlike the Highland target, having a steel +spike in the centre. Two of these parties, each headed by a person of +importance, chanced to meet in the very centre of the street, or, as +it was called, "the crown of the cause-way," a post of honour as +tenaciously asserted in Scotland, as that of giving or taking the wall +used to be in the more southern part of the island. The two leaders +being of equal rank, and, most probably, either animated by political +dislike, or by recollection of some feudal enmity, marched close up +to each other, without yielding an inch to the right or the left; and +neither showing the least purpose of giving way, they stopped for an +instant, and then drew their swords. Their followers imitated their +example; about a score of weapons at once flashed in the sun, and there +was an immediate clatter of swords and bucklers, while the followers on +either side cried their master's name; the one shouting "Help, a Leslie! +a Leslie!" while the others answered with shouts of "Seyton! Seyton!" +with the additional punning slogan, "Set on, set on--bear the knaves to +the ground!" + +If the falconer found difficulty in getting the page to go forward +before, it was now perfectly impossible. He reined up his horse, clapped +his hands, and, delighted with the fray, cried and shouted as fast as +any of those who were actually engaged in it. + +The noise and cries thus arising on the Highgate, as it was called, +drew into the quarrel two or three other parties of gentlemen and their +servants, besides some single passengers, who, hearing a fray betwixt +these two distinguished names, took part in it, either for love or +hatred. + +The combat became now very sharp, and although the sword-and-buckler men +made more clatter and noise than they did real damage, yet several +good cuts were dealt among them; and those who wore rapiers, a more +formidable weapon than the ordinary Scottish swords, gave and received +dangerous wounds. Two men were already stretched on the causeway, and +the party of Seyton began to give ground, being much inferior in number +to the other, with which several of the citizens had united themselves, +when young Roland Graeme, beholding their leader, a noble gentleman, +fighting bravely, and hard pressed with numbers, could withhold no +longer. "Adam Woodcock," he said, "an you be a man, draw, and let us +take part with the Seyton." And, without waiting a reply, or listening +to the falconer's earnest entreaty, that he would leave alone a strife +in which he had no concern, the fiery youth sprung from his horse, drew +his short sword, and shouting like the rest, "A Seyton! a Seyton! Set +on! set on!" thrust forward into the throng, and struck down one +of those who was pressing hardest upon the gentleman whose cause he +espoused. This sudden reinforcement gave spirit to the weaker party, +who began to renew the combat with much alacrity, when four of the +magistrates of the city, distinguished by their velvet cloaks and gold +chains, came up with a guard of halberdiers and citizens, armed with +long weapons, and well accustomed to such service, thrust boldly +forward, and compelled the swordsmen to separate, who immediately +retreated in different directions, leaving such of the wounded on both +sides, as had been disabled in the fray, lying on the street. + +The falconer, who had been tearing his beard for anger at his comrade's +rashness, now rode up to him with the horse which he had caught by +the bridle, and accosted him with "Master Roland--master goose--master +mad-cap--will it please you to get on horse, and budge? or will you +remain here to be carried to prison, and made to answer for this pretty +day's work?" + +The page, who had begun his retreat along with the Seytons, just as +if he had been one of their natural allies, was by this unceremonious +application made sensible that he was acting a foolish part; and, +obeying Adam Woodcock with some sense of shame, he sprung actively on +horseback, and upsetting with the shoulder of the animal a city-officer, +who was making towards him, he began to ride smartly down the street, +along with his companion, and was quickly out of the reach of the hue +and cry. In fact, rencounters of the kind were so common in Edinburgh +at that period, that the disturbance seldom excited much attention after +the affray was over, unless some person of consequence chanced to have +fallen, an incident which imposed on his friends the duty of avenging +his death on the first convenient opportunity. So feeble, indeed, was +the arm of the police, that it was not unusual for such skirmishes to +last for hours, where the parties were numerous and well matched. But at +this time the Regent, a man of great strength of character, aware of the +mischief which usually arose from such acts of violence, had prevailed +with the magistrates to keep a constant guard on foot for preventing or +separating such affrays as had happened in the present case. + +The falconer and his young companion were now riding down the Canongate, +and had slackened their pace to avoid attracting attention, the rather +that there seemed to be no appearance of pursuit. Roland hung his head +as one who was conscious his conduct had been none of the wisest, whilst +his companion thus addressed him: + +"Will you be pleased to tell me one thing, Master Roland Graeme, and +that is, whether there be a devil incarnate in you or no?" + +"Truly, Master Adam Woodcock," answered the page, "I would fain hope +there is not." + +"Then," said Adam, "I would fain know by what other influence or +instigation you are perpetually at one end or the other of some bloody +brawl? What, I pray, had you to do with these Seytons and Leslies, that +you never heard the names of in your life before?" + +"You are out there, my friend," said Roland Graeme, "I have my own +reasons for being a friend to the Seytons." + +"They must have been very secret reasons then," answered Adam Woodcock, +"for I think I could have wagered, you had never known one of the name; +and I am apt to believe still, that it was your unhallowed passion +for that clashing of cold iron, which has as much charm for you as the +clatter of a brass pan hath for a hive of bees, rather than any care +either for Seyton or for Leslie, that persuaded you to thrust your +fool's head into a quarrel that no ways concerned you. But take this for +a warning, my young master, that if you are to draw sword with every man +who draws sword on the Highgate here, it will be scarce worth your while +to sheathe bilbo again for the rest of your life, since, if I guess +rightly, it will scarce endure on such terms for many hours--all which I +leave to your serious consideration." + +"By my word, Adam, I honour your advice; and I promise you, that I will +practise by it as faithfully as if I were sworn apprentice to you, +to the trade and mystery of bearing myself with all wisdom and safety +through the new paths of life that I am about to be engaged in." + +"And therein you will do well," said the falconer; "and I do not quarrel +with you, Master Roland, for having a grain over much spirit, because +I know one may bring to the hand a wild hawk which one never can a +dung-hill hen--and so betwixt two faults you have the best on't. But +besides your peculiar genius for quarrelling and lugging out your side +companion, my dear Master Roland, you have also the gift of peering +under every woman's muffler and screen, as if you expected to find +an old acquaintance. Though were you to spy one, I should be as much +surprised at it, well wotting how few you have seen of these same +wild-fowl, as I was at your taking so deep an interest even now in the +Seyton." + +"Tush, man! nonsense and folly," answered Roland Graeme, "I but sought +to see what eyes these gentle hawks have got under their hood." + +"Ay, but it's a dangerous subject of inquiry," said the falconer; "you +had better hold out your bare wrist for an eagle to perch upon.--Look +you, Master Roland, these pretty wild-geese cannot be hawked at without +risk--they have as many divings, boltings, and volleyings, as the most +gamesome quarry that falcon ever flew at--And besides, every woman of +them is manned with her husband, or her kind friend, or her brother, +or her cousin, or her sworn servant at the least--But you heed me not, +Master Roland, though I know the game so well--your eye is all on that +pretty damsel who trips down the gate before us--by my certes, I will +warrant her a blithe dancer either in reel or revel--a pair of silver +morisco bells would become these pretty ankles as well as the jesses +would suit the fairest Norway hawk." + +"Thou art a fool, Adam," said the page, "and I care not a button about +the girl or her ankles--But, what the foul fiend, one must look at +something!" + +"Very true, Master Roland Graeme," said his guide, "but let me pray you +to choose your objects better. Look you, there is scarce a woman walks +this High-gate with a silk screen or a pearlin muffler, but, as I said +before, she has either gentleman-usher before her, or kinsman, or lover, +or husband, at her elbow, or it may be a brace of stout fellows with +sword and buckler, not so far behind but what they can follow close--But +you heed me no more than a goss-hawk minds a yellow yoldring." + +"O yes, I do--I do mind you indeed," said Roland Graeme; "but hold my +nag a bit--I will be with you in the exchange of a whistle." So saying, +and ere Adam Woodcock could finish the sermon which was dying on his +tongue, Roland Graeme, to the falconer's utter astonishment, threw him +the bridle of his jennet, jumped off horseback, and pursued down one of +the closes or narrow lanes, which, opening under a vault, terminate upon +the main-street, the very maiden to whom his friend had accused him of +showing so much attention, and who had turned down the pass in question. + +"Saint Mary, Saint Magdalen, Saint Benedict, Saint Barnabas!" said the +poor falconer, when he found himself thus suddenly brought to a pause +in the midst of the Canongate, and saw his young charge start off like a +madman in quest of a damsel whom he had never, as Adam supposed, seen in +his life before,--"Saint Satan and Saint Beelzebub--for this would +make one swear saint and devil--what can have come over the lad, with +a wanion! And what shall I do the whilst!--he will have his throat cut, +the poor lad, as sure as I was born at the foot of Roseberry-Topping. +Could I find some one to hold the horses! but they are as sharp here +north-away as in canny Yorkshire herself, and quit bridle, quit titt, +as we say. An I could but see one of our folks now, a holly-sprig were +worth a gold tassel; or could I but see one of the Regent's men--but to +leave the horses to a stranger, that I cannot--and to leave the place +while the lad is in jeopardy, that I wonot." + +We must leave the falconer, however, in the midst of his distress, and +follow the hot-headed youth who was the cause of his perplexity. + +The latter part of Adam Woodcock's sage remonstrance had been in a great +measure lost upon Roland, for whose benefit it was intended; because, +in one of the female forms which tripped along the street, muffled in +a veil of striped silk, like the women of Brussels at this day, his eye +had discerned something which closely resembled the exquisite shape and +spirited bearing of Catherine Seyton.--During all the grave advice which +the falconer was dinning in his ears, his eye continued intent upon so +interesting an object of observation; and at length, as the damsel, just +about to dive under one of the arched passages which afforded an outlet +to the Canongate from the houses beneath, (a passage, graced by a +projecting shield of arms, supported by two huge foxes of stone,) had +lifted her veil for the purpose perhaps of descrying who the horseman +was who for some time had eyed her so closely, young Roland saw, under +the shade of the silken plaid, enough of the bright azure eyes, fair +locks, and blithe features, to induce him, like an inexperienced +and rash madcap, whose wilful ways never had been traversed by +contradiction, nor much subjected to consideration, to throw the bridle +of his horse into Adam Woodcock's hand, and leave him to play the +waiting gentleman, while he dashed down the paved court after Catherine +Seyton--all as aforesaid. + +Women's wits are proverbially quick, but apparently those of Catherine +suggested no better expedient than fairly to betake herself to speed of +foot, in hopes of baffling the page's vivacity, by getting safely lodged +before he could discover where. But a youth of eighteen, in pursuit of +a mistress, is not so easily outstripped. Catherine fled across a +paved court, decorated with large formal vases of stone, in which yews, +cypresses, and other evergreens, vegetated in sombre sullenness, and +gave a correspondent degree of solemnity to the high and heavy building +in front of which they were placed as ornaments, aspiring towards a +square portion of the blue hemisphere, corresponding exactly in extent +to the quadrangle in which they were stationed, and all around which +rose huge black walls, exhibiting windows in rows of five stories, with +heavy architraves over each, bearing armorial and religious devices. + +Through this court Catherine Seyton flashed like a hunted doe, making +the best use of those pretty legs which had attracted the commendation +even of the reflective and cautious Adam Woodcock. She hastened towards +a large door in the centre of the lower front of the court, pulled the +bobbin till the latch flew up, and ensconced herself in the ancient +mansion. But, if she fled like a doe, Roland Graeme followed with the +speed and ardour of a youthful stag-hound, loosed for the first time +on his prey. He kept her in view in spite of her efforts; for it is +remarkable what an advantage, in such a race, the gallant who desires to +see, possesses over the maiden who wishes not to be seen--an advantage +which I have known counterbalance a great start in point of distance. +In short, he saw the waving of her screen, or veil, at one corner, heard +the tap of her foot, light as that was, as it crossed the court, and +caught a glimpse of her figure just as she entered the door of the +mansion. + +Roland Graeme, inconsiderate and headlong as we have described him, +having no knowledge of real life but from the romances which he had +read, and not an idea of checking himself in the midst of any eager +impulse; possessed, besides, of much courage and readiness, never +hesitated for a moment to approach the door through which the object of +his search had disappeared. He, too, pulled the bobbin, and the latch, +though heavy and massive, answered to the summons, and arose. The +page entered with the same precipitation which had marked his whole +proceeding, and found himself in a large hall, or vestibule, dimly +enlightened by latticed casements of painted glass, and rendered yet +dimmer through the exclusion of the sunbeams, owing to the height of the +walls of those buildings by which the court-yard was enclosed. The walls +of the hall were surrounded with suits of ancient and rusted armour, +interchanged with huge and massive stone scutcheons, bearing double +tressures, fleured and counter-fleured, wheat-sheaves, coronets, and so +forth, things to which Roland Graeme gave not a moment's attention. + +In fact, he only deigned to observe the figure of Catherine Seyton, who, +deeming herself safe in the hall, had stopped to take breath after her +course, and was reposing herself for a moment on a large oaken settle +which stood at the upper end of the hall. The noise of Roland's entrance +at once disturbed her; she started up with a faint scream of surprise, +and escaped through one of the several folding-doors which opened +into this apartment as a common centre. This door, which Roland Graeme +instantly approached, opened on a large and well-lighted gallery, at the +upper end of which he could hear several voices, and the noise of hasty +steps approaching towards the hall or vestibule. A little recalled to +sober thought by an appearance of serious danger, he was deliberating +whether he should stand fast or retire, when Catherine Seyton re-entered +from a side door, running towards him with as much speed as a few +minutes since she had fled from him. + +"Oh, what mischief brought you hither?" she said; "fly--fly, or you are +a dead man,--or stay--they come--flight is impossible--say you came to +ask for Lord Seyton." + +She sprung from him and disappeared through the door by which she had +made her second appearance; and, at the same instant, a pair of large +folding-doors at the upper end of the gallery flew open with vehemence, +and six or seven young gentlemen, richly dressed, pressed forward into +the apartment, having, for the greater part, their swords drawn. + +"Who is it," said one, "dare intrude on us in our own mansion?" + +"Cut him to pieces," said another; "let him pay for this day's insolence +and violence--he is some follower of the Rothes." + +"No, by Saint Mary," said another; "he is a follower of the arch-fiend +and ennobled clown Halbert Glendinning, who takes the style of +Avenel--once a church-vassal, now a pillager of the church." + +"It is so," said a fourth; "I know him by the holly-sprig, which is +their cognizance. Secure the door, he must answer for this insolence." + +Two of the gallants, hastily drawing their weapons, passed on to the +door by which Roland had entered the hall, and stationed themselves +there as if to prevent his escape. The others advanced on Graeme, who +had just sense enough to perceive that any attempt at resistance would +be alike fruitless and imprudent. At once, and by various voices, none +of which sounded amicably, the page was required to say who he was, +whence he came, his name, his errand, and who sent him hither. The +number of the questions demanded of him at once, afforded a momentary +apology for his remaining silent, and ere that brief truce had elapsed, +a personage entered the hall, at whose appearance those who had gathered +fiercely around Roland, fell back with respect. + +This was a tall man, whose dark hair was already grizzled, though his +high and haughty features retained all the animation of youth. The upper +part of his person was undressed to his Holland shirt, whose ample folds +were stained with blood. But he wore a mantle of crimson, lined with +rich fur, cast around him, which supplied the deficiency of his dress. +On his head he had a crimson velvet bonnet, looped up on one side with +a small golden chain of many links, which, going thrice around the hat, +was fastened by a medal, agreeable to the fashion amongst the grandees +of the time. + +"Whom have you here, sons and kinsmen," said he, "around whom you crowd +thus roughly?--Know you not that the shelter of this roof should secure +every one fair treatment, who shall come hither either in fair peace, or +in open and manly hostility?" + +"But here, my lord," answered one of the youths, "is a knave who comes +on treacherous espial!" + +"I deny the charge!" said Roland Graeme, boldly, "I came to inquire +after my Lord Seyton." + +"A likely tale," answered his accusers, "in the mouth of a follower of +Glendinning." + +"Stay, young men," said the Lord Seyton, for it was that nobleman +himself, "let me look at this youth--By heaven, it is the very same who +came so boldly to my side not very many minutes since, when some of my +own knaves bore themselves with more respect to their own worshipful +safety than to mine! Stand back from him, for he well deserves honour +and a friendly welcome at your hands, instead of this rough treatment." + +They fell back on all sides, obedient to Lord Seyton's commands, who, +taking Roland Graeme by the hand, thanked him for his prompt and gallant +assistance, adding, that he nothing doubted, "the same interest which +he had taken in his cause in the affray, brought him hither to inquire +after his hurt." + +Roland bowed low in acquiescence. + +"Or is there any thing in which I can serve you, to show my sense of +your ready gallantry?" + +But the page, thinking it best to abide by the apology for his visit +which the Lord Seyton had so aptly himself suggested, replied, "that +to be assured of his lordship's safety, had been the only cause of his +intrusion. He judged," he added, "he had seen him receive some hurt in +the affray." + +"A trifle," said Lord Seyton; "I had but stripped my doublet, that the +chirurgeon might put some dressing on the paltry scratch, when these +rash boys interrupted us with their clamour." + +Roland Graeme, making a low obeisance, was now about to depart, for, +relieved from the danger of being treated as a spy, he began next to +fear, that his companion, Adam Woodcock, whom he had so unceremoniously +quitted, would either bring him into some farther dilemma, by venturing +into the hotel in quest of him, or ride off and leave him behind +altogether. But Lord Seyton did not permit him to escape so easily. +"Tarry," he said, "young man, and let me know thy rank and name. The +Seyton has of late been more wont to see friends and followers shrink +from his side, than to receive aid from strangers-but a new world +may come around, in which he may have the chance of rewarding his +well-wishers." + +"My name is Roland Graeme, my lord," answered the youth, "a page, who, +for the present, is in the service of Sir Halbert Glendinning." + +"I said so from the first," said one of the young men; "my life I will +wager, that this is a shaft out of the heretic's quiver-a stratagem from +first to last, to injeer into your confidence some espial of his own. +They know how to teach both boys and women to play the intelligencers." + +"That is false, if it be spoken of me," said Roland; "no man in Scotland +should teach me such a foul part!" + +"I believe thee, boy," said Lord Seyton, "for thy strokes were too fair +to be dealt upon an understanding with those that were to receive them. +Credit me, however, I little expected to have help at need from one of +your master's household; and I would know what moved thee in my quarrel, +to thine own endangering?" + +"So please you, my lord," said Roland, "I think my master himself would +not have stood by, and seen an honourable man borne to earth by odds, +if his single arm could help him. Such, at least, is the lesson we were +taught in chivalry, at the Castle of Avenel." + +"The good seed hath fallen into good ground, young man," said Seyton; +"but, alas! if thou practise such honourable war in these dishonourable +days, when right is every where borne down by mastery, thy life, my poor +boy, will be but a short one." + +"Let it be short, so it be honourable," said Roland Graeme; "and permit +me now, my lord, to commend me to your grace, and to take my leave. A +comrade waits with my horse in the street." + +"Take this, however, young man," said Lord Seyton, + +[Footnote: George, fifth Lord Seton, was immovably faithful to Queen +Mary during all the mutabilities of her fortune. He was grand master of +the household, in which capacity he had a picture painted of himself, +with his official baton, and the following motto: + + In adversitate, patiens; + In prosperitate, benevolus. + Hazard, yet forward. + +On various parts of his castle he inscribed, as expressing his religious +and political creed, the legend: + + Un Dieu, un Foy, un Roy, un Loy. + +He declined to be promoted to an earldom, which Queen Mary offered him +at the same time when she advanced her natural brother to be Earl of +Mar, and afterwards of Murray. + +On his refusing this honour, Mary wrote, or caused to be written, the +following lines in Latin and French: + + Sunt comites, ducesque alii; sunt denique reges; + Sethom dominum sit satis esse mihi. + + Il y a des comptes, des roys, des ducs; ainsi + C'est assez pour moy d'estre Seigneur de Seton. + +Which may be thus rendered:-- + + Earl, duke, or king, be thou that list to be: + Seton, thy lordship is enough for me. + +This distich reminds us of the "pride which aped humility," in the motto +of the house of Couci: + + Je suis ni roy, ni prince aussi; + Je suis le Seigneur de Coucy. + +After the battle of Langside, Lord Seton was obliged to retire abroad +for safety, and was an exile for two years, during which he was reduced +to the necessity of driving a waggon in Flanders for his subsistence. He +rose to favour in James VI's reign, and assuming his paternal property, +had himself painted in his waggoner's dress, and in the act of driving +a wain with four horses, on the north end of a stately gallery at Seton +Castle] + +undoing from his bonnet the golden chain and medal, "and wear it for my +sake." + +With no little pride Roland Graeme accepted the gift, which he hastily +fastened around his bonnet, as he had seen gallants wear such an +ornament, and renewing his obeisance to the Baron, left the hall, +traversed the court, and appeared in the street, just as Adam Woodcock, +vexed and anxious at his delay, had determined to leave the horses to +their fate, and go in quest of his youthful comrade. "Whose barn hast +thou broken next?" he exclaimed, greatly relieved by his appearance, +although his countenance indicated that he had passed through an +agitating scene. + +"Ask me no questions," said Roland, leaping gaily on his horse; "but see +how short time it takes to win a chain of gold," pointing to that which +he now wore. + +"Now, God forbid that thou hast either stolen it, or reft it by +violence," said the falconer; "for, otherwise, I wot not how the devil +thou couldst compass it. I have been often here, ay, for months at an +end, and no one gave me either chain or medal." + +"Thou seest I have got one on shorter acquaintance with the city," +answered the page, "but set thine honest heart at rest; that which is +fairly won and freely given, is neither reft nor stolen." + +"Marry, hang thee, with thy fanfarona [Footnote: A name given to the +gold chains worn by the military men of the period. It is of Spanish +origin: for the fashion of wearing these costly ornaments was much +followed amongst the conquerors of the New World.] about thy neck!" said +the falconer; "I think water will not drown, nor hemp strangle thee. +Thou hast been discarded as my lady's page, to come in again as my +lord's squire; and for following a noble young damsel into some great +household, thou gettest a chain and medal, where another would have +had the baton across his shoulders, if he missed having the dirk in his +body. But here we come in front of the old Abbey. Bear thy good luck +with you when you cross these paved stones, and, by our Lady, you may +brag Scotland." + +As he spoke, they checked their horses, where the huge old vaulted +entrance to the Abbey or Palace of Holyrood crossed the termination of +the street down which they had proceeded. The courtyard of the palace +opened within this gloomy porch, showing the front of an irregular pile +of monastic buildings, one wing of which is still extant, forming a part +of the modern palace, erected in the days of Charles I. + +At the gate of the porch the falconer and page resigned their horses to +the serving-man in attendance; the falconer commanding him with an air +of authority, to carry them safely to the stables. "We follow," he said, +"the Knight of Avenel--We must bear ourselves for what we are here," +said he in a whisper to Roland, "for every one here is looked on as they +demean themselves; and he that is too modest must to the wall, as the +proverb says; therefore cock thy bonnet, man, and let us brook the +causeway bravely." + +Assuming, therefore, an air of consequence, corresponding to what he +supposed to be his master's importance and quality, Adam Woodcock led +the way into the courtyard of the Palace of Holyrood. + +He appears to have been fond of the arts; for there exists a beautiful +family-piece of him in the centre of his family. Mr. Pinkerton, in his +Scottish Iconographia, published an engraving of this curious portrait. +The original is the property of Lord Somerville, nearly connected with +the Seton family, and is at present at his lordship's fishing villa of +the Pavilion, near Melrose. + + + + +Chapter the Eighteenth. + + + --The sky is clouded, Gaspard, + And the vexed ocean sleeps a troubled sleep, + Beneath a lurid gleam of parting sunshine. + Such slumber hangs o'er discontented lands, + While factions doubt, as yet, if they have strength + To front the open battle. + ALBION--A POEM. + +The youthful page paused on the entrance of the court-yard, and implored +his guide to give him a moment's breathing space. "Let me but look +around me, man," said he; "you consider not I have never seen such a +scene as this before.--And this is Holyrood--the resort of the gallant +and gay, and the fair, and the wise, and the powerful!" + +"Ay, marry, is it!" said Woodcock; "but I wish I could hood thee as they +do the hawks, for thou starest as wildly as if you sought another fray +or another fanfarona. I would I had thee safely housed, for thou lookest +wild as a goss-hawk." + +It was indeed no common sight to Roland, the vestibule of a palace +traversed by its various groups,--some radiant with gaiety--some +pensive, and apparently weighed down by affairs concerning the state, or +concerning themselves. Here the hoary statesman, with his cautious +yet commanding look, his furred cloak and sable pantoufles; there the +soldier in buff and steel, his long sword jarring against the pavement, +and his whiskered upper lip and frowning brow, looking an habitual +defiance of danger, which perhaps was not always made good; there again +passed my lord's serving-man, high of heart, and bloody of hand, humble +to his master and his master's equals, insolent to all others. To these +might be added, the poor suitor, with his anxious look and depressed +mien--the officer, full of his brief authority, elbowing his betters, +and possibly his benefactors, out of the road--the proud priest, who +sought a better benefice--the proud baron, who sought a grant of church +lands--the robber chief, who came to solicit a pardon for the injuries +he had inflicted on his neighbors--the plundered franklin, who came to +seek vengeance for that which he had himself received. Besides there was +the mustering and disposition of guards and soldiers--the despatching of +messengers, and the receiving them--the trampling and neighing of horses +without the gate--the flashing of arms, and rustling of plumes, and +jingling of spurs, within it. In short, it was that gay and splendid +confusion, in which the eye of youth sees all that is brave and +brilliant, and that of experience much that is doubtful, deceitful, +false, and hollow--hopes that will never be gratified--promises +which will never be fulfilled--pride in the disguise of humility--and +insolence in that of frank and generous bounty. + +As, tired of the eager and enraptured attention which the page gave to +a scene so new to him, Adam Woodcock endeavoured to get him to move +forward, before his exuberance of astonishment should attract the +observation of the sharp-witted denizens of the court, the falconer +himself became an object of attention to a gay menial in a dark-green +bonnet and feather, with a cloak of a corresponding colour, laid down, +as the phrase then went, by six broad bars of silver lace, and welted +with violet and silver. The words of recognition burst from both +at once. "What! Adam Woodcock at court!" and "What! Michael +Wing-the-wind--and how runs the hackit greyhound bitch now?" + +"The waur for the wear, like ourselves, Adam--eight years this grass--no +four legs will carry a dog forever; but we keep her for the breed, and +so she 'scapes Border doom--But why stand you gazing there? I promise +you my lord has wished for you, and asked for you." + +"My Lord of Murray asked for me, and he Regent of the kingdom too!" said +Adam. "I hunger and thirst to pay my duty to my good lord;--but I fancy +his good lordship remembers the day's sport on Carnwath-moor; and my +Drummelzier falcon, that beat the hawks from the Isle of Man, and won +his lordship a hundred crowns from the Southern baron whom they called +Stanley." + +"Nay, not to flatter thee, Adam," said his court-friend, "he remembers +nought of thee, or of thy falcon either. He hath flown many a higher +flight since that, and struck his quarry too. But come, come hither +away; I trust we are to be good comrades on the old score." + +"What!" said Adam, "you would have me crush a pot with you; but I must +first dispose of my eyas, where he will neither have girl to chase, nor +lad to draw sword upon." + +"Is the youngster such a one?" said Michael. + +"Ay, by my hood, he flies at all game," replied Woodcock. + +"Then had he better come with us," said Michael Wing-the-wind; "for we +cannot have a proper carouse just now, only I would wet my lips, and so +must you. I want to hear the news from Saint Mary's before you see my +lord, and I will let you know how the wind sits up yonder." + +While he thus spoke, he led the way to a side door which opened into the +court; and threading several dark passages with the air of one who knew +the most secret recesses of the palace, conducted them to a small matted +chamber, where he placed bread and cheese and a foaming flagon of ale +before the falconer and his young companion, who immediately did justice +to the latter in a hearty draught, which nearly emptied the measure. +Having drawn his breath, and dashed the froth from his whiskers, he +observed, that his anxiety for the boy had made him deadly dry. + +"Mend your draught," said his hospitable friend, again supplying +the flagon from a pitcher which stood beside. "I know the way to the +butterybar. And now, mind what I say--this morning the Earl of Morton +came to my lord in a mighty chafe." + +"What! they keep the old friendship, then?" said Woodcock. + +"Ay, ay, man, what else?" said Michael; "one hand must scratch the +other. But in a mighty chafe was my Lord of Morton, who, to say truth, +looketh on such occasions altogether uncanny, and, as it were, fiendish; +and he says to my lord,--for I was in the chamber taking orders about +a cast of hawks that are to be fetched from Darnoway--they match your +long-winged falcons, friend Adam." + +"I will believe that when I see them fly as high a pitch," replied +Woodcock, this professional observation forming a sort of parenthesis. + +"However," said Michael, pursuing his tale, "my Lord of Morton, in a +mighty chafe, asked my Lord Regent whether he was well dealt with--'for +my brother,' said he, 'should have had a gift to be Commendator of +Kennaqubair, and to have all the temporalities erected into a lordship +of regality for his benefit; and here,' said he, 'the false monks have +had the insolence to choose a new Abbot to put his claim in my brother's +way; and moreover, the rascality of the neighbourhood have burnt and +plundered all that was left in the Abbey, so that my brother will +not have a house to dwell in, when he hath ousted the lazy hounds of +priests.' And my lord, seeing him chafed, said mildly to him, 'These +are shrewd tidings, Douglas, but I trust they be not true; for Halbert +Glendinning went southward yesterday, with a band of spears, and +assuredly, had either of these chances happened, that the monks had +presumed to choose an Abbot, or that the Abbey had been burnt, as +you say, he had taken order on the spot for the punishment of such +insolence, and had despatched us a messenger.' And the Earl of Morton +replied--now I pray you, Adam, to notice, that I say this out of love +to you and your lord, and also for old comradeship, and also because Sir +Halbert hath done me good, and may again--and also because I love not +the Earl of Morton, as indeed more fear than like him--so then it were +a foul deed in you to betray me.--'But,' said the Earl to the Regent, +'take heed, my lord, you trust not this Glendinning too far--he comes +of churl's blood, which was never true to the nobles'--by Saint Andrew, +these were his very words.--'And besides,' he said, 'he hath a brother, +a monk in Saint Mary's, and walks all by his guidance, and is making +friends on the Border with Buccleuch and with Ferniehirst, [Footnote: +Both these Border Chieftains were great friends of Queen Mary.] and will +join hand with them, were there likelihood of a new world.' And my lord +answered, like a free noble lord as he is; 'Tush! my Lord of Morton, I +will be warrant for Glendinning's faith; and for his brother, he is a +dreamer, that thinks of nought but book and breviary--and if such hap +have chanced as you tell of, I look to receive from Glendinning the cowl +of a hanged monk, and the head of a riotous churl, by way of sharp +and sudden justice.'--And my Lord of Morton left the place, and, as it +seemed to me, somewhat malecontent. But since that time, my lord has +asked me more than once whether there has arrived no messenger from the +Knight of Avenel. And all this I have told you, that you may frame your +discourse to the best purpose, for it seems to me that my lord will not +be well-pleased, if aught has happened like what my Lord of Morton said, +and if your lord hath not ta'en strict orders with it." + +There was something in this communication which fairly blanked the bold +visage of Adam Woodcock, in spite of the reinforcement which his natural +hardihood had received from the berry-brown ale of Holyrood. + +"What was it he said about a churl's head, that grim Lord of Morton?" +said the discontented falconer to his friend. + +"Nay, it was my Lord Regent, who said that he expected, if the Abbey was +injured, your Knight would send him the head of the ringleader among the +rioters." + +"Nay, but is this done like a good Protestant," said Adam Woodcock, +"or a true Lord of the Congregation? We used to be their white-boys and +darlings when we pulled down the convents in Fife and Perthshire." "Ay, +but that," said Michael, "was when old mother Rome held her own, and our +great folks were determined she should have no shelter for her head in +Scotland. But, now that the priests are fled in all quarters, and their +houses and lands are given to our grandees, they cannot see that we are +working the work of reformation in destroying the palaces of zealous +Protestants." + +"But I tell you Saint Mary's is not destroyed!" said Woodcock, in +increasing agitation; "some trash of painted windows there were +broken--things that no nobleman could have brooked in his house--some +stone saints were brought on their marrow-bones, like old Widdrington at +Chevy-Chase; but as for fire-raising, there was not so much as a lighted +lunt amongst us, save the match which the dragon had to light the +burning tow withal, which he was to spit against Saint George; nay, I +had caution of that." + +"How! Adam Woodcock," said his comrade, "I trust thou hadst no hand in +such a fair work? Look you, Adam, I were loth to terrify you, and you +just come from a journey; but I promise you, Earl Morton hath brought +you down a Maiden from Halifax, you never saw the like of her--and +she'll clasp you round the neck, and your head will remain in her arms." + +"Pshaw!" answered Adam, "I am too old to have my head turned by any +maiden of them all. I know my Lord of Morton will go as far for a buxom +lass as anyone; but what the devil took him to Halifax all the way? and +if he has got a gamester there, what hath she to do with my head?" + +"Much, much!" answered Michael. "Herod's daughter, who did such +execution with her foot and ankle, danced not men's heads off more +cleanly than this maiden of Morton. [Footnote: Maiden of Morton--a +species of Guillotine which the Regent Morton brought down from Halifax, +certainly at a period considerably later than intimated in the tale. He +was himself the first who suffered by the engine.] 'Tis an axe, man,--an +axe which falls of itself like a sash window, and never gives the +headsmen the trouble to wield it." + +"By my faith, a shrewd device," said Woodcock; "heaven keep us free +on't!" + +The page, seeing no end to the conversation betwixt these two old +comrades, and anxious from what he had heard, concerning the fate of the +Abbot, now interrupted their conference. + +"Methinks," he said, "Adam Woodcock, thou hadst better deliver thy +master's letter to the Regent; questionless he hath therein stated +what has chanced at Kennaquhair, in the way most advantageous for all +concerned." + +"The boy is right," said Michael Wing-the-wind, "my lord will be very +impatient." + +"The child hath wit enough to keep himself warm," said Adam Woodcock, +producing from his hawking-bag his lord's letter, addressed to the Earl +of Murray, "and for that matter so have I. So, Master Roland, you will +e'en please to present this yourself to the Lord Regent; his presence +will be better graced by a young page than by an old falconer." + +"Well said, canny Yorkshire!" replied his friend; "and but now you were +so earnest to see our good lord!--Why, wouldst thou put the lad into +the noose that thou mayst slip tether thyself?--or dost thou think +the maiden will clasp his fair young neck more willingly than thy old +sunburnt weasand?" + +"Go to," answered the falconer; "thy wit towers high an it could strike +the quarry. I tell thee, the youth has nought to fear--he had nothing +to do with the gambol--a rare gambol it was, Michael, as mad-caps ever +played; and I had made as rare a ballad, if we had had the luck to get +it sung to an end. But mum for that--_tace_, as I said before, is Latin +for a candle. Carry the youth to the presence, and I will remain here, +with bridle in hand, ready to strike the spurs up to the rowel-heads, in +case the hawk flies my way.--I will soon put Soltraedge, I trow, betwixt +the Regent and me, if he means me less than fair play." + +"Come on then, my lad," said Michael, "since thou must needs take +the spring before canny Yorkshire." So saying, he led the way through +winding passages, closely followed by Roland Graeme, until they arrived +at a large winding stone stair, the steps of which were so long and +broad, and at the same time so low, as to render the ascent uncommonly +easy. When they had ascended about the height of one story, the +guide stepped aside, and pushed open the door of a dark and gloomy +antechamber; so dark, indeed, that his youthful companion stumbled, and +nearly fell down upon a low step, which was awkwardly placed on the very +threshold. + +"Take heed," said Michael Wing-the-wind, in a very low tone of voice, +and first glancing cautiously round to see if any one listened--"Take +heed, my young friend, for those who fall on these boards seldom rise +again--Seest thou that," he added, in a still lower voice, pointing to +some dark crimson stains on the floor, on which a ray of light, shot +through a small aperture, and traversing the general gloom of the +apartment, fell with mottled radiance--"Seest thou that, youth?--walk +warily, for men have fallen here before you." + +"What mean you?" said the page, his flesh creeping, though he scarce +knew why; "Is it blood?" + +"Ay, ay," said the domestic, in the same whispering tone, and dragging +the youth on by the arm--"Blood it is,--but this is no time to question, +or even to look at it. Blood it is, foully and fearfully shed, as foully +and fearfully avenged. The blood," he added, in a still more cautious +tone, "of Seignior David." + +Roland Graeme's heart throbbed when he found himself so unexpectedly in +the scene of Rizzio's slaughter, a catastrophe which had chilled with +horror all even in that rude age, which had been the theme of wonder and +pity through every cottage and castle in Scotland, and had not escaped +that of Avenel. But his guide hurried him forward, permitting no farther +question, and with the manner of one who has already tampered too much +with a dangerous subject. A tap which he made at a low door at one end +of the vestibule, was answered by a huissier or usher, who, opening +it cautiously, received Michael's intimation that a page waited the +Regent's leisure, who brought letters from the Knight of Avenel. + +"The Council is breaking up," said the usher; "but give me the packet; +his Grace the Regent will presently see the messenger." + +"The packet," replied the page, "must be delivered into the Regent's own +hands; such were the orders of my master." + +The usher looked at him from head to foot, as if surprised at his +boldness, and then replied, with some asperity, "Say you so, my young +master? Thou crowest loudly to be but a chicken, and from a country +barn-yard too." + +"Were it a time or place," said Roland, "thou shouldst see I can do +more than crow; but do your duty, and let the Regent know I wait his +pleasure." + +"Thou art but a pert knave to tell me of my duty," said the courtier +in office; "but I will find a time to show you you are out of yours; +meanwhile, wait there till you are wanted." So saying, he shut the door +in Roland's face. + +Michael Wing-the-wind, who had shrunk from his youthful companion during +this altercation, according to the established maxim of courtiers of +all ranks, and in all ages, now transgressed their prudential line of +conduct so far as to come up to him once more. "Thou art a hopeful young +springald," said he, "and I see right well old Yorkshire had reason in +his caution. Thou hast been five minutes in the court, and hast employed +thy time so well, as to make a powerful and a mortal enemy out of the +usher of the council-chamber. Why, man, you might almost as well have +offended the deputy butler!" + +"I care not what he is," said Roland Graeme; "I will teach whomever I +speak with to speak civilly to me in return. I did not come from Avenel +to be browbeaten in Holyrood." + +"Bravo, my lad!" said Michael; "it is a fine spirit if you can but hold +it--but see, the door opens." + +The usher appeared, and, in a more civil tone of voice and manner, said, +that his Grace the Regent would receive the Knight of Avenel's message; +and accordingly marshalled Roland Graeme the way into the apartment, +from which the Council had been just dismissed, after finishing their +consultations. There was in the room a long oaken table, surrounded by +stools of the same wood, with a large elbow chair, covered with crimson +velvet, at the head. Writing materials and papers were lying there +in apparent disorder; and one or two of the privy counsellors who had +lingered behind, assuming their cloaks, bonnets, and swords, and bidding +farewell to the Regent, were departing slowly by a large door, on the +opposite side to that through which the page entered. Apparently the +Earl of Murray had made some jest, for the smiling countenances of the +statesmen expressed that sort of cordial reception which is paid by +courtiers to the condescending pleasantries of a prince. + +The Regent himself was laughing heartily as he said, "Farewell, my +lords, and hold me remembered to the Cock of the North." + +He then turned slowly round towards Roland Graeme, and the marks of +gaiety, real or assumed, disappeared from his countenance, as completely +as the passing bubbles leave the dark mirror of a still profound lake +into which a traveller has cast a stone; in the course of a minute his +noble features had assumed their natural expression of deep and even +melancholy gravity. + +This distinguished statesman, for as such his worst enemies acknowledged +him, possessed all the external dignity, as well as almost all the +noble qualities, which could grace the power that he enjoyed; and had he +succeeded to the throne as his legitimate inheritance, it is probable he +would have been recorded as one of Scotland's wisest and greatest kings. +But that he held his authority by the deposition and imprisonment of +his sister and benefactress, was a crime which those only can excuse +who think ambition an apology for ingratitude. He was dressed plainly +in black velvet, after the Flemish fashion, and wore in his high-crowned +hat a jewelled clasp, which looped it up on one side, and formed the +only ornament of his apparel. He had his poniard by his side, and his +sword lay on the council table. + +Such was the personage before whom Roland Graeme now presented himself, +with a feeling of breathless awe, very different from the usual boldness +and vivacity of his temper. In fact, he was, from education and nature, +forward, but not impudent, and was much more easily controlled by the +moral superiority, arising from the elevated talents and renown of those +with whom he conversed, than by pretensions founded only on rank or +external show. He might have braved with indifference the presence of an +earl, merely distinguished by his belt and coronet; but he felt overawed +in that of the eminent soldier and statesman, the wielder of a nation's +power, and the leader of her armies.--The greatest and wisest are +flattered by the deference of youth--so graceful and becoming in itself; +and Murray took, with much courtesy, the letter from the hands of +the abashed and blushing page, and answered with complaisance to the +imperfect and half-muttered greeting, which he endeavoured to deliver to +him on the part of Sir Halbert of Avenel. He even paused a moment ere +he broke the silk with which the letter was secured, to ask the page his +name--so much he was struck with his very handsome features and form. + +"Roland Graeme," he said, repeating the words after the hesitating page. +"What! of the Grahams of the Lennox?" + +"No, my lord," replied Roland; "my parents dwelt in the Debateable +Land." + +Murray made no further inquiry, but proceeded to read his dispatches; +during the perusal of which his brow began to assume a stern expression +of displeasure, as that of one who found something which at once +surprised and disturbed him. He sat down on the nearest seat, frowned +till his eyebrows almost met together, read the letter twice over, and +was then silent for several minutes. At length, raising his head, his +eye encountered that of the usher, who in vain endeavoured to exchange +the look of eager and curious observation with which he had been +perusing the Regent's features, for that open and unnoticing expression +of countenance, which, in looking at all, seems as if it saw and marked +nothing--a cast of look which may be practised with advantage by all +those, of whatever degree, who are admitted to witness the familiar and +unguarded hours of their superiors. Great men are as jealous of their +thoughts as the wife of King Candaules was of her charms, and will as +readily punish those who have, however involuntarily, beheld them in +mental deshabille and exposure. + +"Leave the apartment, Hyndman," said the Regent, sternly, "and carry +your observation elsewhere. You are too knowing, sir, for your post, +which, by special order, is destined for men of blunter capacity. So! +now you look more like a fool than you did,"--(for Hyndman, as may +easily be supposed, was not a little disconcerted by this rebuke)--"keep +that confused stare, and it may keep your office. Begone, sir!" + +The usher departed in dismay, not forgetting to register, amongst his +other causes of dislike to Roland Graeme, that he had been the witness +of this disgraceful chiding. When he had left the apartment, the Regent +again addressed the page. + +"Your name, you say, is Armstrong?" + +"No," replied Roland, "my name is Graeme, so please you--Roland Graeme, +whose forbears were designated of Heathergill, in the Debateable Land." + +"Ay, I knew it was a name from the Debateable Land. Hast thou any +acquaintance in Edinburgh?" + +"My lord," replied Roland, willing rather to evade this question than +to answer it directly, for the prudence of being silent with respect +to Lord Seyton's adventure immediately struck him, "I have been in +Edinburgh scarce an hour, and that for the first time in my life." + +"What! and thou Sir Halbert Glendinning's page?" said the Regent. + +"I was brought up as my Lady's page," said the youth, "and left Avenel +Castle for the first time in my life--at least since my childhood--only +three days since." + +"My Lady's page!" repeated the Earl of Murray, as if speaking to +himself; "it was strange to send his Lady's page on a matter of such +deep concernment--Morton will say it is of a piece with the nomination +of his brother to be Abbot; and yet in some sort an inexperienced youth +will best serve the turn.--What hast thou been taught, young man, in thy +doughty apprenticeship?" + +"To hunt, my lord, and to hawk," said Roland Graeme. + +"To hunt coneys, and to hawk at ouzels!" said the Regent, smiling; "for +such are the sports of ladies and their followers." + +Graeme's cheek reddened deeply as he replied, not without some emphasis, +"To hunt red-deer of the first head, and to strike down herons of the +highest soar, my lord, which, in Lothian speech, may be termed, for +aught I know, coneys and ouzels;-also I can wield a brand and couch a +lance, according to our Border meaning; in inland speech these may be +termed water-flags and bulrushes." + +"Thy speech rings like metal," said the Regent, "and I pardon the +sharpness of it for the truth.--Thou knowest, then, what belongs to the +duty of a man-at-arms?" + +"So far as exercise can teach--it without real service in the field," +answered Roland Graeme; "but our Knight permitted none of his household +to make raids, and I never had the good fortune to see a stricken +field." + +"The good fortune!" repeated the Regent, smiling somewhat sorrowfully, +"take my word, young man, war is the only game from which both parties +rise losers." + +"Not always, my lord!" answered the page, with his characteristic +audacity, "if fame speaks truth." + +"How, sir?" said the Regent, colouring in his turn, and perhaps +suspecting an indiscreet allusion to the height which he himself had +attained by the hap of civil war. + +"Because, my lord," said Roland Graeme, without change of tone, "he who +fights well, must have fame in life, or honour in death; and so war is a +game from which no one can rise a loser." + +The Regent smiled and shook his head, when at that moment the door +opened, and the Earl of Morton presented himself. + +"I come somewhat hastily," he said, "and I enter unannounced because my +news are of weight--It is as I said; Edward Glendinning is named Abbot, +and--" + +"Hush, my lord!" said the Regent, "I know it, but--" + +"And perhaps you knew it before I did, my Lord of Murray," answered +Morton, his dark red brow growing darker and redder as he spoke. + +"Morton," said Murray, "suspect me not--touch not mine honour--I have +to suffer enough from the calumnies of foes, let me not have to contend +with the unjust suspicions of my friends.--We are not alone," said he, +recollecting himself, "or I could tell you more." + +He led Morton into one of the deep embrasures which the windows formed +in the massive wall, and which afforded a retiring place for their +conversing apart. In this recess, Roland observed them speak together +with much earnestness, Murray appearing to be grave and earnest, and +Morton having a jealous and offended air, which seemed gradually to give +way to the assurances of the Regent. + +As their conversation grew more earnest, they became gradually louder +in speech, having perhaps forgotten the presence of the page, the more +readily as his position in the apartment placed him put of sight, so +that he found himself unwillingly privy to more of their discourse than +he cared to hear. For, page though he was, a mean curiosity after the +secrets of others had never been numbered amongst Roland's failings; +and moreover, with all his natural rashness, he could not but doubt the +safety of becoming privy to the secret discourse of these powerful and +dreaded men. Still he could neither stop his ears, nor with propriety +leave the apartment; and while he thought of some means of signifying +his presence, he had already heard so much, that, to have produced +himself suddenly would have been as awkward, and perhaps as dangerous, +as in quiet to abide the end of their conference. What he overheard, +however, was but an imperfect part of their communication; and although +an expert politician, acquainted with the circumstances of the times, +would have had little difficulty in tracing the meaning, yet Roland +Graeme could only form very general and vague conjectures as to the +import of their discourse. + +"All is prepared," said Murray, "and Lindsay is setting forward--She +must hesitate no longer--thou seest I act by thy counsel, and harden +myself against softer considerations." + +"True, my lord," replied Morton, "in what is necessary to gain power, +you do not hesitate, but go boldly to the mark. But are you as careful +to defend and preserve what you have won?--Why this establishment of +domestics around her?--has not your sister men and maidens enough +to tend her, but you must consent to this superfluous and dangerous +retinue?" + +"For shame, Morton!--a Princess, and my sister, could I do less than +allow her due attendance?" + +"Ay," replied Morton, "even thus fly all your shafts--smartly enough +loosened from the bow, and not unskilfully aimed--but a breath of +foolish affection ever crosses in the mid volley, and sways the arrow +from the mark." + +"Say not so, Morton," replied Murray, "I have both dared and done--" + +"Yes, enough to gain, but not enough to keep--reckon not that she will +think and act thus--you have wounded her deeply, both in pride and +in power--it signifies nought, that you would tent now the wound with +unavailing salves--as matters stand with you, you must forfeit the +title of an affectionate brother, to hold that of a bold and determined +statesman." + +"Morton!" said Murray, with some impatience, "I brook not these +taunts--what I have done I have done--what I must farther do, I must +and will--but I am not made of iron like thee, and I cannot but +remember--Enough of this-my purpose holds." + +"And I warrant me," said Morton, "the choice of these domestic +consolations will rest with--" + +Here he whispered names which escaped Roland Graeme's ear. Murray +replied in a similar tone, but so much raised towards the conclusion, of +the sentence, that the page heard these words--"And of him I hold myself +secure, by Glendinning's recommendation." + +"Ay, which may be as much trustworthy as his late conduct at the Abbey +of Saint Mary's--you have heard that his brother's election has taken +place. Your favourite Sir Halbert, my Lord of Murray, has as much +fraternal affection as yourself." + +"By heaven, Morton, that taunt demanded an unfriendly answer, but I +pardon it, for your brother also is concerned; but this election shall +be annulled. I tell you, Earl of Morton, while I hold the sword of state +in my royal nephew's name, neither Lord nor Knight in Scotland shall +dispute my authority; and if I bear--with insults from my friends, it is +only while I know them to be such, and forgive their follies for their +faithfulness." + +Morton muttered what seemed to be some excuse, and the Regent answered +him in a milder tone, and then subjoined, "Besides, I have another +pledge than Glendinning's recommendation, for this youth's fidelity--his +nearest relative has placed herself in my hands as his security, to be +dealt withal as his doings shall deserve." + +"That is something," replied Morton; "but yet in fair love and goodwill, +I must still pray you to keep on your guard. The foes are stirring +again, as horse-flies and hornets become busy so soon as the storm-blast +is over. George of Seyton was crossing the causeway this morning with a +score of men at his back, and had a ruffle with my friends of the +house of Leslie--they met at the Tron, and were fighting hard, when the +provost, with his guard of partisans, came in thirdsman, and staved them +asunder with their halberds, as men part dog and bear." + +"He hath my order for such interference," said the Regent--"Has any one +been hurt?" + +"George of Seyton himself, by black Ralph Leslie--the devil take the +rapier that ran not through from side to side! Ralph has a bloody +coxcomb, by a blow from a messan-page whom nobody knew--Dick Seyton of +Windygowl is run through the arm, and two gallants of the Leslies have +suffered phlebotomy. This is all the gentle blood which has been spilled +in the revel; but a yeoman or two on both sides have had bones broken +and ears chopped. The ostlere-wives, who are like to be the only losers +by their miscarriage, have dragged the knaves off the street, and are +crying a drunken coronach over them." + +"You take it lightly, Douglas," said the Regent; "these broils and feuds +would shame the capital of the great Turk, let alone that of a Christian +and reformed state. But, if I live, this gear shall be amended; and men +shall say, when they read my story, that if it were my cruel hap to rise +to power by the dethronement of a sister, I employed it, when gained, +for the benefit of the commonweal." + +"And of your friends," replied Morton; "wherefore I trust for your +instant order annulling the election of this lurdane Abbot, Edward +Glendinning." + +"You shall be presently satisfied." said the Regent; and stepping +forward, he began to call, "So ho, Hyndman!" when suddenly his eye +lighted on Roland Graeme--"By my faith, Douglas," said he, turning to +his friend, "here have been three at counsel!" + +"Ay, but only two can keep counsel," said Morton; "the galliard must be +disposed of." + +"For shame, Morton--an orphan boy!--Hearken thee, my child--Thou hast +told me some of thy accomplishments--canst thou speak truth?" "Ay, my +lord, when it serves my turn," replied Graeme. + +"It shall serve thy turn now," said the Regent; "and falsehood shall be +thy destruction. How much hast thou heard or understood of what we two +have spoken together?" + +"But little, my lord," replied Roland Graeme boldly, "which met my +apprehension, saving that it seemed to me as if in something you doubted +the faith of the Knight of Avenel, under whose roof I was nurtured." + +"And what hast thou to say on that point, young man?" continued the +Regent, bending his eyes upon him with a keen and strong expression of +observation. + +"That," said the page, "depends on the quality of those who speak +against his honour whose bread I have long eaten. If they be my +inferiors, I say they lie, and will maintain what I say with my baton; +if my equals, still I say they lie, and will do battle in the quarrel, +if they list, with my sword; if my superiors"--he paused. + +"Proceed boldly," said the Regent--"What if thy superiors said aught +that nearly touched your master's honour?" + +"I would say," replied Graeme, "that he did ill to slander the absent, +and that my master was a man who could render an account of his actions +to any one who should manfully demand it of him to his face." + +"And it were manfully said," replied the Regent--"what thinkest thou, my +Lord of Morton?" + +"I think," replied Morton, "that if the young galliard resemble a +certain ancient friend of ours, as much in the craft of his disposition +as he does in eye and in brow, there may be a wide difference betwixt +what he means and what he speaks." + +"And whom meanest thou that he resembles so closely?" said Murray. + +"Even the true and trusty Julian Avenel," replied Morton. + +"But this youth belongs to the Debateable Land," said Murray. + +"It may be so; but Julian was an outlaying striker of venison, and made +many a far cast when he had a fair doe in chase." + +"Pshaw!" said the Regent, "this is but idle talk--Here, +thou Hyndman--thou curiosity," calling to the usher, who now +entered,--"conduct this youth to his companion--You will both," he +said to Graeme, "keep yourselves in readiness to travel on short +notice."--And then motioning to him courteously to withdraw, he broke up +the interview. + + + + +Chapter the Nineteenth. + + + It is and is not--'tis the thing I sought for, + Have kneel'd for, pray'd for, risk'd my fame and life for, + And yet it is not--no more than the shadow + Upon the hard, cold, flat, and polished mirror, + Is the warm, graceful, rounded, living substance + Which it presents in form and lineament. + OLD PLAY. + +The usher, with gravity which ill concealed a jealous scowl, conducted +Roland Graeme to a lower apartment, where he found his comrade the +falconer. The man of office then briefly acquainted them that this would +be their residence till his Grace's farther orders; that they were to go +to the pantry, to the buttery, to the cellar, and to the kitchen, at +the usual hours, to receive the allowances becoming their +station,--instructions which Adam Woodcock's old familiarity with the +court made him perfectly understand--"For your beds," he said, "you must +go to the hostelry of Saint Michael's, in respect the palace is now full +of the domestics of the greater nobles." + +No sooner was the usher's back turned than Adam exclaimed with all +the glee of eager curiosity, "And now, Master Roland, the news--the +news--come unbutton thy pouch, and give us thy tidings--What says the +Regent? asks he for Adam Woodcock?--and is all soldered up, or must the +Abbot of Unreason strap for it?" + +"All is well in that quarter," said the page; "and for the rest--But, +hey-day, what! have you taken the chain and medal off from my bonnet?" + +"And meet time it was, when yon usher, vinegar-faced rogue that he is, +began to inquire what Popish trangam you were wearing.--By the mass, the +metal would have been confiscated for conscience-sake, like your other +rattle-trap yonder at Avenel, which Mistress Lilias bears about on her +shoes in the guise of a pair of shoe-buckles--This comes of carrying +Popish nicknackets about you." + +"The jade!" exclaimed Roland Graeme, "has she melted down my rosary into +buckles for her clumsy hoofs, which will set off such a garnish nearly +as well as a cow's might?--But, hang her, let her keep them--many a +dog's trick have I played old Lilias, for want of having something +better to do, and the buckles will serve for a remembrance. Do you +remember the verjuice I put into the comfits, when old Wingate and she +were to breakfast together on Easter morning?" + +"In troth do I, Master Roland--the major-domo's mouth was as crooked as +a hawk's beak for the whole morning afterwards, and any other page in +your room would have tasted the discipline of the porter's lodge for it. +But my Lady's favour stood between your skin and many a jerking--Lord +send you may be the better for her protection in such matters!" + +"I am least grateful for it, Adam! and I am glad you put me in mind of +it." + +"Well, but the news, my young master," said Woodcock, "spell me the +tidings--what are we to fly at next?--what did the Regent say to you?" + +"Nothing that I am to repeat again," said Roland Graeme, shaking his +head. + +"Why, hey-day," said Adam, "how prudent we are become all of a sudden! +You have advanced rarely in brief space, Master Roland. You have well +nigh had your head broken, and you have gained your gold chain, and you +have made an enemy, Master Usher to wit, with his two legs like hawks' +perches, and you have had audience of the first man in the realm, and +bear as much mystery in your brow, as if you had flown in the court-sky +ever since you were hatched. I believe, in my soul, you would run with a +piece of the egg-shell on your head like the curlews, which (I would we +were after them again) we used to call whaups in the Halidome and its +neighbourhood. But sit thee down, boy; Adam Woodcock was never the lad +to seek to enter into forbidden secrets--sit thee down, and I will go +and fetch the vivers--I know the butler and the pantler of old." + +The good-natured falconer set forth upon his errand, busying himself +about procuring their refreshment; and, during his absence, Roland +Graeme abandoned himself to the strange, complicated, and yet +heart-stirring reflections, to which the events of the morning had given +rise. Yesterday he was of neither mark nor likelihood; a vagrant boy, +the attendant on a relative, of whose sane judgment he himself had +not the highest opinion; but now he had become, he knew not why, or +wherefore, or to what extent, the custodier, as the Scottish phrase +went, of some important state secret, in the safe keeping of which the +Regent himself was concerned. It did not diminish from, but rather added +to the interest of a situation so unexpected, that Roland himself +did not perfectly understand wherein he stood committed by the state +secrets, in which he had unwittingly become participator. On the +contrary, he felt like one who looks on a romantic landscape, of which +he sees the features for the first time, and then obscured with mist and +driving tempest. The imperfect glimpse which the eye catches of rocks, +trees, and other objects around him, adds double dignity to these +shrouded mountains and darkened abysses, of which the height, depth, and +extent, are left to imagination. + +But mortals, especially at the well-appetized age which precedes twenty +years, are seldom so much engaged either by real or conjectural subjects +of speculation, but that their earthly wants claim their hour of +attention. And with many a smile did our hero, so the reader may term +him if he will, hail the re-appearance of his friend Adam Woodcock, +bearing on one platter a tremendous portion of boiled beef, and on +another a plentiful allowance of greens, or rather what the Scotch call +lang-kale. A groom followed with bread, salt, and the other means of +setting forth a meal; and when they had both placed on the oaken table +what they bore in their hands, the falconer observed, that since he knew +the court, it had got harder and harder every day to the poor gentlemen +and yeoman retainers, but that now it was an absolute flaying of a flea +for the hide and tallow. Such thronging to the wicket, and such +churlish answers, and such bare beef-bones, such a shouldering at +the buttery-hatch and cellarage, and nought to be gained beyond small +insufficient single ale, or at best with a single straike of malt to +counterbalance a double allowance of water--"By the mass, though, my +young friend," said he, while he saw the food disappearing fast under +Roland's active exertions, "it is not so to well to lament for former +times as to take the advantage of the present, else we are like to lose +on both sides." + +So saying, Adam Woodcock drew his chair towards the table, unsheathed +his knife, (for every one carried that minister of festive distribution +for himself,) and imitated his young companion's example, who for the +moment had lost his anxiety for the future in the eager satisfaction of +an appetite sharpened by youth and abstinence. + +In truth, they made, though the materials were sufficiently simple, a +very respectable meal, at the expense of the royal allowance; and Adam +Woodcock, notwithstanding the deliberate censure which he had passed on +the household beer of the palace, had taken the fourth deep draught +of the black jack ere he remembered him that he had spoken in its +dispraise. Flinging himself jollily and luxuriously back in an old +danske elbow-chair, and looking with careless glee towards the page, +extending at the same time his right leg, and stretching the other +easily over it, he reminded his companion that he had not yet heard +the ballad which he had made for the Abbot of Unreason's revel. And +accordingly he struck merrily up with + + "The Pope, that pagan full of pride, + Has blinded us full lang."------ + +Roland Graeme, who felt no great delight, as may be supposed, in the +falconer's satire, considering its subject, began to snatch up his +mantle, and fling it around his shoulders, an action which instantly +interrupted the ditty of Adam Woodcock. + +"Where the vengeance are you going now," he said, "thou restless +boy?--Thou hast quicksilver in the veins of thee to a certainty, and +canst no more abide any douce and sensible communing, than a hoodless +hawk would keep perched on my wrist!" + +"Why, Adam," replied the page, "if you must needs know, I am about to +take a walk and look at this fair city. One may as well be still mewed +up in the old castle of the lake, if one is to sit the live-long night +between four walls, and hearken to old ballads." + +"It is a new ballad--the Lord help thee!" replied Adam, "and that one of +the best that ever was matched with a rousing chorus." + +"Be it so," said the page, "I will hear it another day, when the rain +is dashing against the windows, and there is neither steed stamping, nor +spur jingling, nor feather waving in the neighbourhood to mar my marking +it well. But, even now, I want to be in the world, and to look about +me." + +"But the never a stride shall you go without me," said the falconer, +"until the Regent shall take you whole and sound off my hand; and so, if +you will, we may go to the hostelrie of Saint Michael's, and there you +will see company enough, but through the casement, mark you me; for as +to rambling through the street to seek Seytons and Leslies, and having +a dozen holes drilled in your new jacket with rapier and poniard, I will +yield no way to it." + +"To the hostelrie of Saint Michael's, then, with all my heart," said the +page; and they left the palace accordingly, rendered to the sentinels +at the gate, who had now taken their posts for the evening, a strict +account of their names and business, were dismissed through a small +wicket of the close-barred portal, and soon reached the inn or hostelrie +of Saint Michael, which stood in a large court-yard, off the main +street, close under the descent of the Calton-hill. The place, wide, +waste, and uncomfortable, resembled rather an Eastern caravansary, where +men found shelter indeed, but were obliged to supply themselves with +every thing else, than one of our modern inns; + + Where not one comfort shall to those be lost, + Who never ask, or never feel, the cost. + +But still, to the inexperienced eye of Roland Graeme, the bustle and +confusion of this place of public resort, furnished excitement and +amusement. In the large room, into which they had rather found their own +way than been ushered by mine host, travellers and natives of the city +entered and departed, met and greeted, gamed or drank together, forming +the strongest contrast to the stern and monotonous order and silence +with which matters were conducted in the well-ordered household of the +Knight of Avenel. Altercation of every kind, from brawling to jesting, +was going on amongst the groups around them, and yet the noise and +mingled voices seemed to disturb no one and indeed to be noticed by +no others than by those who composed the group to which the speaker +belonged. + +The falconer passed through the apartment to a projecting latticed +window, which formed a sort of recess from the room itself; and +having here ensconced himself and his companion, he called for some +refreshments; and a tapster, after he had shouted for the twentieth +time, accommodated him with the remains of a cold capon and a neat's +tongue, together with a pewter stoup of weak French vin-de-pays. "Fetch +a stoup of brandy-wine, thou knave--We will be jolly to-night, Master +Roland," said he, when he saw himself thus accommodated, "and let care +come to-morrow." + +But Roland had eaten too lately to enjoy the good cheer; and feeling his +curiosity much sharper than his appetite, he made it his choice to +look out of the lattice, which overhung a large yard, surrounded by the +stables of the hostelrie, and fed his eyes on the busy sight beneath, +while Adam Woodcock, after he had compared his companion to the "Laird +of Macfarlane's geese, who liked their play better than their meat," +disposed of his time with the aid of cup and trencher, occasionally +humming the burden of his birth-strangled ballad, and beating time to +it with his fingers on the little round table. In this exercise he was +frequently interrupted by the exclamations of his companion, as he saw +something new in the yard beneath, to attract and interest him. + +It was a busy scene, for the number of gentlemen and nobles who were now +crowded into the city, had filled all spare stables and places of public +reception with their horses and military attendants. There were some +score of yeomen, dressing their own or their masters' horses in the +yard, whistling, singing, laughing, and upbraiding each other, in a +style of wit which the good order of Avenel Castle rendered strange +to Roland Graeme's ears. Others were busy repairing their own arms, or +cleaning those of their masters. One fellow, having just bought a bundle +of twenty spears, was sitting in a corner, employed in painting the +white staves of the weapons with yellow and vermillion. Other lacqueys +led large stag-hounds, or wolf-dogs, of noble race, carefully muzzled to +prevent accidents to passengers. All came and went, mixed together and +separated, under the delighted eye of the page, whose imagination had +not even conceived a scene so gaily diversified with the objects he +had most pleasure in beholding; so that he was perpetually breaking the +quiet reverie of honest Woodcock, and the mental progress which he was +making in his ditty, by exclaiming, "Look here, Adam--look at the bonny +bay horse--Saint Anthony, what, a gallant forehand he hath got!--and see +the goodly gray, which yonder fellow in the frieze-jacket is dressing +as awkwardly as if he had never touched aught but a cow--I would I were +nigh him to teach him his trade!--And lo you, Adam, the gay Milan armour +that the yeoman is scouring, all steel and silver, like our Knight's +prime suit, of which old Wingate makes such account--And see to yonder +pretty wench, Adam, who comes tripping through them all with her +milk-pail--I warrant me she has had a long walk from the loaning; she +has a stammel waistcoat, like your favourite Cicely Sunderland, Master +Adam!" + +"By my hood, lad," answered the falconer, "it is well for thee thou wert +brought up where grace grew. Even in the Castle of Avenel thou wert +a wild-blood enough, but hadst thou been nurtured here, within a +flight-shot of the Court, thou hadst been the veriest crack-hemp of a +page that ever wore feather in thy bonnet or steel by thy side: truly, I +wish it may end well with thee." + +"Nay, but leave thy senseless humming and drumming, old Adam, and come +to the window ere thou hast drenched thy senses in the pint-pot there. +See here comes a merry minstrel with his crowd, and a wench with him, +that dances with bells at her ankles; and see, the yeomen and pages +leave their horses and the armour they were cleaning, and gather round, +as is very natural, to hear the music. Come, old Adam, we will thither +too." + +"You shall call me cutt if I do go down," said Adam; "you are near as +good minstrelsy as the stroller can make, if you had but the grace to +listen to it." + +"But the wench in the stammel waistcoat is stopping too, Adam--by +heaven, they are going to dance! Frieze-jacket wants to dance with +stammel waistcoat, but she is coy and recusant." + +Then suddenly changing his tone of levity into one of deep interest and +surprise, he exclaimed, "Queen of Heaven! what is it that I see!" and +then remained silent. + +The sage Adam Woodcock, who was in a sort of languid degree amused with +the page's exclamations, even while he professed to despise them, became +at length rather desirous to set his tongue once more a-going, that he +might enjoy the superiority afforded by his own intimate familiarity +with all the circumstances which excited in his young companion's mind +so much wonderment. + +"Well, then," he said at last, "what is it you do see, Master Roland, +that you have become mute all of a sudden?" + +Roland returned no answer. + +"I say, Master Roland Graeme," said the falconer, "it is manners in my +country for a man to speak when he is spoken to." + +Roland Graeme remained silent. + +"The murrain is in the boy," said Adam Woodcock, "he has stared out his +eyes, and talked his tongue to pieces, I think." + +The falconer hastily drank off his can of wine, and came to Roland, +who stood like a statue, with his eyes eagerly bent on the court-yard, +though Adam Woodcock was unable to detect amongst the joyous scenes +which it exhibited aught that could deserve such devoted attention. + +"The lad is mazed!" said the falconer to himself. + +But Roland Graeme had good reasons for his surprise, though they were +not such as he could communicate to his companion. + +The touch of the old minstrel's instrument, for he had already begun to +play, had drawn in several auditors from the street when one entered the +gate of the yard, whose appearance exclusively arrested the attention of +Roland Graeme. He was of his own age, or a good deal younger, and from +his dress and bearing might be of the same rank and calling, having all +the air of coxcombry and pretension, which accorded with a handsome, +though slight and low figure, and an elegant dress, in part hid by +a large purple cloak. As he entered, he cast a glance up towards the +windows, and, to his extreme astonishment, under the purple velvet +bonnet and white feather, Roland recognized the features so deeply +impressed on his memory, the bright and clustered tresses, the laughing +full blue eyes, the well-formed eyebrows, the nose, with the slightest +possible inclination to be aquiline, the ruby lip, of which an arch and +half-suppressed smile seemed the habitual expression--in short, the form +and face of Catherine Seyton; in man's attire, however, and mimicking, +as it seemed, not unsuccessfully, the bearing of a youthful but forward +page. + +"Saint George and Saint Andrew!" exclaimed the amazed Roland Graeme to +himself, "was there ever such an audacious quean!--she seems a little +ashamed of her mummery too, for she holds the lap of her cloak to her +face, and her colour is heightened--but Santa Maria, how she threads the +throng, with as firm and bold a step as if she had never tied petticoat +round her waist!--Holy Saints! she holds up her riding-rod as if she +would lay it about some of their ears, that stand most in her way--by +the hand of my father! she bears herself like the very model of +pagehood.--Hey! what! sure she will not strike frieze-jacket in +earnest?" But he was not long left in doubt; for the lout whom he had +before repeatedly noticed, standing in the way of the bustling page, and +maintaining his place with clownish obstinacy or stupidity, the advanced +riding-rod was, without a moment's hesitation, sharply applied to his +shoulders, in a manner which made him spring aside, rubbing the part of +the body which had received so unceremonious a hint that it was in the +way of his betters. The party injured growled forth an oath or two of +indignation, and Roland Graeme began to think of flying down stairs to +the assistance of the translated Catherine; but the laugh of the yard +was against frieze-jacket, which indeed had, in those days, small +chance of fair play in a quarrel with velvet and embroidery; so that +the fellow, who was menial in the inn, slunk back to finish his task of +dressing the bonny gray, laughed at by all, but most by the wench in the +stammel waistcoat, his fellow-servant, who, to crown his disgrace, had +the cruelty to cast an applauding smile upon the author of the injury, +while, with a freedom more like the milk-maid of the town than she of +the plains, she accosted him with--"Is there any one you want here, my +pretty gentleman, that you seem in such haste?" + +"I seek a sprig of a lad," said the seeming gallant, "with a sprig of +holly in his cap, black hair, and black eyes, green jacket, and the air +of a country coxcomb--I have sought him through every close and alley in +the Canongate, the fiend gore him!" + +"Why, God-a-mercy, Nun!" muttered Roland Graeme, much bewildered. + +"I will inquire him presently out for your fair young worship," said the +wench of the inn. + +"Do," said the gallant squire, "and if you bring me to him, you shall +have a groat to-night, and a kiss on Sunday when you have on a cleaner +kirtle." + +"Why, God-a-mercy, Nun!" again muttered Roland, "this is a note above E +La." + +In a moment after, the servant entered the room, and ushered in the +object of his surprise. + +While the disguised vestal looked with unabashed brow, and bold and +rapid glance of her eye, through the various parties in the large old +room, Roland Graeme, who felt an internal awkward sense of bashful +confusion, which he deemed altogether unworthy of the bold and dashing +character to which he aspired, determined not to be browbeaten and +put down by this singular female, but to meet her with a glance of +recognition so sly, so penetrating, so expressively humorous, as should +show her at once he was in possession of her secret and master of her +fate, and should compel her to humble herself towards him, at least into +the look and manner of respectful and deprecating observance. + +This was extremely well planned; but just as Roland had called up the +knowing glance, the suppressed smile, the shrewd intelligent look, which +was to ensure his triumph, he encountered the bold, firm, and steady +gaze of his brother or sister-page, who, casting on him a falcon glance, +and recognizing him at once as the object of his search, walked up with +the most unconcerned look, the most free and undaunted composure, and +hailed him with "You, Sir Holly-top, I would speak with you." + +The steady coolness and assurance with which these words were uttered, +although the voice was the very voice he had heard at the old convent, +and although the features more nearly resembled those of Catharine when +seen close than when viewed from a distance, produced, nevertheless, +such a confusion in Roland's mind, that he became uncertain whether he +was not still under a mistake from the beginning; the knowing shrewdness +which should have animated his visage faded into a sheepish bashfulness, +and the half-suppressed but most intelligible smile, became the +senseless giggle of one who laughs to cover his own disorder of ideas. + +"Do they understand a Scotch tongue in thy country, Holly-top?" said +this marvellous specimen of metamorphosis. "I said I would speak with +thee." + +"What is your business with my comrade, my young chick of the game?" +said Adam Woodcock, willing to step in to his companion's assistance, +though totally at a loss to account for the sudden disappearance of all +Roland's usual smartness and presence of mind. + +"Nothing to you, my old cock of the perch," replied the gallant; "go +mind your hawk's castings. I guess by your bag and your gauntlet that +you are squire of the body to a sort of kites." + +He laughed as he spoke, and the laugh reminded Roland so irresistibly +of the hearty fit of risibility, in which Catherine had indulged at his +expense when they first met in the old nunnery, that he could scarce +help exclaiming, "Catherine Seyton, by Heavens!"--He checked the +exclamation, however, and only said, "I think, sir, we two are not +totally strangers to each other." + +"We must have met in our dreams then" said the youth; "and my days are +too busy to remember what I think on at nights." + +"Or apparently to remember upon one day those whom you may have seen on +the preceding eve" said Roland Graeme. + +The youth in his turn cast on him a look of some surprise, as he +replied, "I know no more of what you mean than does the horse I ride +on--if there be offence in your words, you shall find me ready to take +it as any lad in Lothian." + +"You know well," said Roland, "though it pleases you to use the language +of a stranger, that with you I have no purpose to quarrel." + +"Let me do mine errand, then, and be rid of you," said the page. "Step +hither this way, out of that old leathern fist's hearing." + +They walked into the recess of the window, which Roland had left upon +the youth's entrance into the apartment. The messenger then turned his +back on the company, after casting a hasty and sharp glance around to +see if they were observed. Roland did the same, and the page in the +purple mantle thus addressed him, taking at the same time from under his +cloak a short but beautifully wrought sword, with the hilt and ornaments +upon the sheath of silver, massively chased and over-gilded--"I bring +you this weapon from a friend, who gives it you under the solemn +condition, that you will not unsheath it until you are commanded by +your rightful Sovereign. For your warmth of temper is known, and the +presumption with which you intrude yourself into the quarrels of others; +and, therefore, this is laid upon you as a penance by those who wish you +well, and whose hand will influence your destiny for good or for evil. +This is what I was charged to tell you. So if you will give a fair word +for a fair sword, and pledge your promise, with hand and glove, good and +well; and if not, I will carry back Caliburn to those who sent it." + +"And may I not ask who these are?" said Roland Graeme, admiring at the +same time the beauty of the weapon thus offered him. + +"My commission in no way leads me to answer such a question," said he of +the purple mantle. + +"But if I am offended" said Roland, "may I not draw to defend myself?" + +"Not _this_ weapon," answered the sword-bearer; "but you have your own +at command, and, besides, for what do you wear your poniard?" + +"For no good," said Adam Woodcock, who had now approached close to them, +"and that I can witness as well as any one." + +"Stand back, fellow," said the messenger, "thou hast an intrusive +curious face, that will come by a buffet if it is found where it has no +concern." + +"A buffet, my young Master Malapert?" said Adam, drawing back, however; +"best keep down fist, or, by Our Lady, buffet will beget buffet!" + +"Be patient, Adam Woodcock," said Roland Graeme; "and let me pray +you, fair sir, since by such addition you choose for the present to +be addressed, may I not barely unsheathe this fair weapon, in pure +simplicity of desire to know whether so fair a hilt and scabbard are +matched with a befitting blade?" + +"By no manner of means," said the messenger; "at a word, you must +take it under the promise that you never draw it until you receive the +commands of your lawful Sovereign, or you must leave it alone." + +"Under that condition, and coming from your friendly hand, I accept of +the sword," said Roland, taking it from his hand; "but credit me, if we +are to work together in any weighty emprise, as I am induced to believe, +some confidence and openness on your part will be necessary to give the +right impulse to my zeal--I press for no more at present, it is enough +that you understand me." + +"I understand you!" said the page, exhibiting the appearance of +unfeigned surprise in his turn,--"Renounce me if I do!--here you stand +jiggeting, and sniggling, and looking cunning, as if there were some +mighty matter of intrigue and common understanding betwixt you and me, +whom you never set your eyes on before!" + +"What!" said Roland Graeme, "will you deny that we have met before?" + +"Marry that I will, in any Christian court," said the other page. + +"And will you also deny," said Roland, "that it was recommended to us +to study each other's features well, that in whatever disguise the time +might impose upon us, each should recognize in the other the secret +agent of a mighty work? Do not you remember, that Sister Magdalen and +Dame Bridget----" + +The messenger here interrupted him, shrugging up his shoulders, with +a look of compassion, "Bridget and Magdalen! why, this is madness +and dreaming! Hark ye, Master Holly-top, your wits are gone on +wool-gathering; comfort yourself with a caudle, and thatch your +brain-sick noddle with a woollen night-cap, and so God be with you!" + +As he concluded this polite parting address, Adam Woodcock, who was +again seated by the table on which stood the now empty can, said to him, +"Will you drink a cup, young man, in the way of courtesy, now you have +done your errand, and listen to a good song?" and without waiting for an +answer, he commenced his ditty,-- + + "The Pope, that pagan full of pride, + Hath blinded us full lang--" + +It is probable that the good wine had made some innovation in the +falconer's brain, otherwise he would have recollected the danger of +introducing any thing like political or polemical pleasantry into a +public assemblage at a time when men's minds were in a state of great +irritability. To do him justice, he perceived his error, and stopped +short so soon as he saw that the word Pope had at once interrupted the +separate conversations of the various parties which were assembled in +the apartment; and that many began to draw themselves up, bridle, look +big, and prepare to take part in the impending brawl; while others, +more decent and cautious persons, hastily paid down their lawing, and +prepared to leave the place ere bad should come to worse. + +And to worse it was soon likely to come; for no sooner did Woodcock's +ditty reach the ear of the stranger page, than, uplifting his +riding-rod, he exclaimed, "He who speaks irreverently of the Holy Father +of the church in my presence, is the cub of a heretic wolf-bitch, and I +will switch him as I would a mongrel-cur." + +"And I will break thy young pate," said Adam, "if thou darest to lift a +finger to me." And then, in defiance of the young Drawcansir's threats, +with a stout heart and dauntless accent, he again uplifted the stave. + + "The Pope, that pagan full of pride. + Hath blinded--" + +But Adam was able to proceed no farther, being himself unfortunately +blinded by a stroke of the impatient youth's switch across his eyes. +Enraged at once by the smart and the indignity, the falconer started +up, and darkling as he was, for his eyes watered too fast to permit +his seeing any thing, he would soon have been at close grips with his +insolent adversary, had not Roland Graeme, contrary to his nature, +played for once the prudent man and the peacemaker, and thrown himself +betwixt them, imploring Woodcock's patience. "You know not," he said, +"with whom you have to do.--And thou," addressing the messenger, who +stood scornfully laughing at Adam's rage, "get thee gone, whoever +thou art; if thou be'st what I guess thee, thou well knowest there are +earnest reasons why thou shouldst." + +"Thou hast hit it right for once, Holly-top," said the gallant, "though +I guess you drew your bow at a venture.--Here, host, let this yeoman +have a bottle of wine to wash the smart out of his eyes--and there is +a French crown for him." So saying, he threw the piece of money on the +table, and left the apartment, with a quick yet steady pace, looking +firmly at right and left, as if to defy interruption: and snapping his +fingers at two or three respectable burghers, who, declaring it was a +shame that any one should be suffered to rant and ruffle in defence of +the Pope, were labouring to find the hilts of their swords, which had +got for the present unhappily entangled in the folds of their cloaks. +But, as the adversary was gone ere any of them had reached his weapon, +they did not think it necessary to unsheath cold iron, but merely +observed to each other, "This is more than masterful violence, to see +a poor man stricken in the face just for singing a ballad against the +whore of Babylon! If the Pope's champions are to be bangsters in our +very change-houses, we shall soon have the old shavelings back again." + +"The provost should look to it," said another, "and have some five or +six armed with partisans, to come in upon the first whistle, to teach +these gallants their lesson. For, look you, neighbour Lugleather, it +is not for decent householders like ourselves to be brawling with the +godless grooms and pert pages of the nobles, that are bred up to little +else save bloodshed and blasphemy." + +"For all that, neighbour," said Lugleather, "I would have curried that +youngster as properly as ever I curried a lamb's hide, had not the hilt +of my bilbo been for the instant beyond my grasp; and before I could +turn my girdle, gone was my master!" + +"Ay," said the others, "the devil go with him, and peace abide with +us--I give my rede, neighbours, that we pay the lawing, and be stepping +homeward, like brother and brother; for old Saint Giles's is tolling +curfew, and the street grows dangerous at night." + +With that the good burghers adjusted their cloaks, and prepared for +their departure, while he that seemed the briskest of the three, laying +his hand on his Andrea Ferrara, observed, "that they that spoke in the +praise of the Pope on the High-gate of Edinburgh, had best bring the +sword of Saint Peter to defend them." + +While the ill-humour excited by the insolence of the young aristocrat +was thus evaporating in empty menace, Roland Graeme had to control the +far more serious indignation of Adam Woodcock. "Why, man, it was but a +switch across the mazzard--blow your nose, dry your eyes, and you will +see all the better for it." + +"By this light, which I cannot see," said Adam Woodcock, "thou hast been +a false friend to me, young man--neither taking up my rightful quarrel, +nor letting me fight it out myself." + +"Fy for shame, Adam Woodcock," replied the youth, determined to turn +the tables on him, and become in turn the counsellor of good order and +peaceable demeanour--"I say, fy for shame!--Alas, that you will speak +thus! Here are you sent with me, to prevent my innocent youth getting +into snares----" + +"I wish your innocent youth were cut short with a halter, with all my +heart," said Adam, who began to see which way the admonition tended. +--"And instead of setting before me," continued Roland, "an example of +patience and sobriety becoming the falconer of Sir Halbert Glendinning, +you quaff me off I know not how many flagons of ale, besides a gallon of +wine, and a full measure of strong waters." + +"It was but one small pottle," said poor Adam, whom consciousness of his +own indiscretion now reduced to a merely defensive warfare. + +"It was enough to pottle you handsomely, however," said the page--"And +then, instead of going to bed to sleep off your liquor, must you sit +singing your roistering songs about popes and pagans, till you have got +your eyes almost switched out of your head; and but for my interference, +whom your drunken ingratitude accuses of deserting you, yon galliard +would have cut your throat, for he was whipping out a whinger as broad +as my hand, and as sharp as a razor--And these are lessons for an +inexperienced youth!--Oh, Adam! out upon you! out upon you!" + +"Marry, amen, and with all my heart," said Adam; "out upon my folly for +expecting any thing but impertinent raillery from a page like thee, that +if he saw his father in a scrape, would laugh at him, instead of lending +him aid. + +"Nay, but I will lend you aid," said the page, still laughing, "that is, +I will lend thee aid to thy chamber, good Adam, where thou shalt sleep +off wine and ale, ire and indignation, and awake the next morning with +as much fair wit as nature has blessed thee withal. Only one thing +I will warn thee, good Adam, that henceforth and for ever, when thou +railest at me for being somewhat hot at hand, and rather too prompt to +out with poniard or so, thy admonition shall serve as a prologue to the +memorable adventure of the switching of Saint Michael's." + +With such condoling expressions he got the crest-fallen falconer to his +bed, and then retired to his own pallet, where it was some time ere +he could fall asleep. If the messenger whom he had seen were really +Catherine Seyton, what a masculine virago and termagant must she be! and +stored with what an inimitable command of insolence and assurance!--The +brass on her brow would furbish the front of twenty pages; "and I should +know," thought Roland, "what that amounts to--And yet, her features, her +look, her light gait, her laughing eye, the art with which she disposed +the mantle to show no more of her limbs than needs must be seen--I am +glad she had at least that grace left--the voice, the smile--it must +have been Catherine Seyton, or the devil in her likeness! One thing +is good, I have silenced the eternal predications of that ass, Adam +Woodcock, who has set up for being a preacher and a governor, over me, +so soon as he has left the hawks' mew behind him." + +And with this comfortable reflection, joined to the happy indifference +which youth hath for the events of the morrow, Roland Graeme fell fast +asleep. + + + + +Chapter the Twentieth. + + + Now have you reft me from my staff, my guide, + Who taught my youth, as men teach untamed falcons, + To use my strength discreetly--I am reft + Of comrade and of counsel. + OLD PLAY. + +In the gray of the next morning's dawn, there was a loud knocking at the +gate of the hostelrie; and those without, proclaiming that they came +in the name of the Regent, were instantly admitted. A moment or +two afterwards, Michael Wing-the-wind stood by the bedside of our +travellers. + +"Up! up!" he said, "there is no slumber where Murray hath work ado." + +Both sleepers sprung up, and began to dress themselves. + +"You, old friend," said Wing-the-wind to Adam Woodcock, "must to horse +instantly, with this packet to the Monks of Kennaquhair; and with this," +delivering them as he spoke, "to the Knight of Avenel." + +"As much as commanding the monks to annul their election, I'll warrant +me, of an Abbot," quoth Adam Woodcock, as he put the packets into his +bag, "and charging my master to see it done--To hawk at one brother with +another, is less than fair play, methinks." + +"Fash not thy beard about it, old boy," said Michael, "but betake thee +to the saddle presently; for if these orders are not obeyed, there will +be bare walls at the Kirk of Saint Mary's, and it may be at the Castle +of Avenel to boot; for I heard my Lord of Morton loud with the Regent, +and we are at a pass that we cannot stand with him anent trifles." + +"But," said Adam, "touching the Abbot of Unreason--what say they to +that outbreak--An they be shrewishly disposed, I were better pitch the +packets to Satan, and take the other side of the Border for my bield." + +"Oh, that was passed over as a jest, since there was little harm +done.--But, hark thee, Adam," continued his comrade, "if there was a +dozen vacant abbacies in your road, whether of jest or earnest, reason +or unreason, draw thou never one of their mitres over thy brows.--The +time is not fitting, man!--besides, our Maiden longs to clip the neck of +a fat churchman." + +"She shall never sheer mine in that capacity," said the falconer, while +he knotted the kerchief in two or three double folds around his sunburnt +bull-neck, calling out at the same time, "Master Roland, Master Roland, +make haste! we must back to perch and mew, and, thank Heaven, more than +our own wit, with our bones whole, and without a stab in the stomach." + +"Nay, but," said Wing-the-wind, "the page goes not back with you; the +Regent has other employment for him." + +"Saints and sorrows!" exclaimed the falconer--"Master Roland Graeme to +remain here, and I to return to Avenel!--Why, it cannot be--the child +cannot manage himself in this wide world without me, and I question +if he will stoop to any other whistle than mine own; there are times I +myself can hardly bring him to my lure." + +It was at Roland's tongue's end to say something concerning the occasion +they had for using mutually each other's prudence, but the real anxiety +which Adam evinced at parting with him, took away his disposition +to such ungracious raillery. The falconer did not altogether escape, +however, for, in turning his face towards the lattice, his friend +Michael caught a glimpse of it, and exclaimed, "I prithee, Adam +Woodcock, what hast thou been doing with these eyes of thine? They are +swelled to the starting from the socket!" + +"Nought in the world," said he, after casting a deprecating glance +at Roland Graeme, "but the effect of sleeping in this d--ned truckle +without a pillow." + +"Why, Adam Woodcock, thou must be grown strangely dainty," said his old +companion; "I have known thee sleep all night with no better pillow than +a bush of ling, and start up with the sun, as glegg as a falcon; and now +thine eyes resemble----" + +"Tush, man, what signifies how mine eyes look now?" said Adam--"let +us but roast a crab-apple, pour a pottle of ale on it, and bathe our +throats withal, thou shalt see a change in me." + +"And thou wilt be in heart to sing thy jolly ballad about the Pope," +said his comrade. + +"Ay, that I will," replied the falconer, "that is, when we have left +this quiet town five miles behind us, if you will take your hobby and +ride so far on my way." + +"Nay, that I may not," said Michael--"I can but stop to partake your +morning draught, and see you fairly to horse--I will see that they +saddle them, and toast the crab for thee, without loss of time." + +During his absence the falconer took the page by the hand--"May I never +hood hawk again," said the good-natured fellow, "if I am not as sorry to +part with you as if you were a child of mine own, craving pardon for the +freedom--I cannot tell what makes me love you so much, unless it be for +the reason that I loved the vicious devil of a brown galloway nag whom +my master the Knight called Satan, till Master Warden changed his name +to Seyton; for he said it was over boldness to call a beast after the +King of Darkness----" + +"And," said the page, "it was over boldness in him, I trow, to call a +vicious brute after a noble family." + +"Well," proceeded Adam, "Seyton or Satan, I loved that nag over every +other horse in the stable---There was no sleeping on his back--he was +for ever fidgeting, bolting, rearing, biting, kicking, and giving you +work to do, and maybe the measure of your back on the heather to the +boot of it all. And I think I love you better than any lad in the +castle, for the self-same qualities." + +"Thanks, thanks, kind Adam. I regard myself bound to you for the good +estimation in which you hold me." + +"Nay, interrupt me not," said the falconer--"Satan was a good nag--But +I say I think I shall call the two eyases after you, the one Roland, +and the other Graeme; and while Adam Woodcock lives, be sure you have a +friend--Here is to thee, my dear son." + +Roland most heartily returned the grasp of the hand, and Woodcock, +having taken a deep draught, continued his farewell speech. + +"There are three things I warn you against, Roland, now that you art to +tread this weary world without my experience to assist you. In the first +place, never draw dagger on slight occasion--every man's doublet is not +so well stuffed as a certain abbot's that you wot of. Secondly, fly not +at every pretty girl, like a merlin at a thrush--you will not always win +a gold chain for your labour--and, by the way, here I return to you your +fanfarona--keep it close, it is weighty, and may benefit you at a pinch +more ways than one. Thirdly, and to conclude, as our worthy preacher +says, beware of the pottle-pot--it has drenched the judgment of wiser +men than you. I could bring some instances of it, but I dare say it +needeth not; for if you should forget your own mishaps, you will scarce +fail to remember mine--And so farewell, my dear son." + +Roland returned his good wishes, and failed not to send his humble duty +to his kind Lady, charging the falconer, at the same time, to express +his regret that he should have offended her, and his determination so +to bear him in the world that she would not be ashamed of the generous +protection she had afforded him. + +The falconer embraced his young friend, mounted his stout, round-made, +trotting-nag, which the serving-man, who had attended him, held ready at +the door, and took the road to the southward. A sullen and heavy +sound echoed from the horse's feet, as if indicating the sorrow of the +good-natured rider. Every hoof-tread seemed to tap upon Roland's heart +as he heard his comrade withdraw with so little of his usual alert +activity, and felt that he was once more alone in the world. + +He was roused from his reverie by Michael Wing-the-wind, who reminded +him that it was necessary they should instantly return to the palace, +as my Lord Regent went to the Sessions early in the morning. They went +thither accordingly, and Wing-the-wind, a favourite old domestic, who +was admitted nearer to the Regent's person and privacy, than many whose +posts were more ostensible, soon introduced Graeme into a small matted +chamber, where he had an audience of the present head of the troubled +State of Scotland. The Earl of Murray was clad in a sad-coloured +morning-gown, with a cap and slippers of the same cloth, but, even in +this easy deshabille, held his sheathed rapier in his hand, a precaution +which he adopted when receiving strangers, rather in compliance with +the earnest remonstrances of his friends and partisans, than from any +personal apprehensions of his own. He answered with a silent nod the +respectful obeisance of the page, and took one or two turns through +the small apartment in silence, fixing his keen eye on Roland, as if he +wished to penetrate into his very soul. At length he broke silence. + +"Your name is, I think, Julian Graeme?" + +"Roland Graeme, my lord, not Julian," replied the page. + +"Right--I was misled by some trick of my memory--Roland Graeme, from +the Debateable Land.--Roland, thou knowest the duties which belong to a +lady's service?" + +"I should know them, my lord," replied Roland, "having been bred so +near the person of my Lady of Avenel; but I trust never more to practise +them, as the Knight hath promised----" + +"Be silent, young man," said the Regent, "I am to speak, and you to hear +and obey. It is necessary that, for some space at least, you shall +again enter into the service of a lady, who, in rank, hath no equal in +Scotland; and this service accomplished, I give thee my word as Knight +and Prince, that it shall open to you a course of ambition, such as may +well gratify the aspiring wishes of one whom circumstances entitle +to entertain much higher views than thou. I will take thee into my +household and near to my person, or, at your own choice, I will give you +the command of a foot-company--either is a preferment which the proudest +laird in the land might be glad to ensure for a second son." + +"May I presume to ask, my lord," said Roland, observing the Earl paused +for a reply, "to whom my poor services are in the first place destined?" + +"You will be told hereafter," said the Regent; and then, as if +overcoming some internal reluctance to speak farther himself, he added, +"or why should I not myself tell you, that you are about to enter into +the service of a most illustrious--most unhappy lady--into the service +of Mary of Scotland." + +"Of the Queen, my lord!" said the page, unable to suppress his surprise. + +"Of her who was the Queen!" said Murray, with a singular mixture of +displeasure and embarrassment in his tone of voice. "You must be aware, +young man, that her son reigns in her stead." + +He sighed from an emotion, partly natural, perhaps, and partly assumed. + +"And am I to attend upon her Grace in her place of imprisonment, +my lord?" again demanded the page, with a straightforward and hardy +simplicity, which somewhat disconcerted the sage and powerful statesman. + +"She is not imprisoned," answered Murray, angrily; "God forbid she +should--she is only sequestered from state affairs, and from the +business of the public, until the world be so effectually settled, that +she may enjoy her natural and uncontrolled freedom, without her royal +disposition being exposed to the practices of wicked and designing men. +It is for this purpose," he added, "that while she is to be furnished, +as right is, with such attendance as may befit her present secluded +state, it becomes necessary that those placed around her, are persons on +whose prudence I can have reliance. You see, therefore, you are at once +called on to discharge an office most honourable in itself, and so to +discharge it that you may make a friend of the Regent of Scotland. Thou +art, I have been told, a singularly apprehensive youth; and I perceive +by thy look, that thou dost already understand what I would say on this +matter. In this schedule your particular points of duty are set down +at length--but the sum required of you is fidelity--I mean fidelity +to myself and to the state. You are, therefore, to watch every attempt +which is made, or inclination displayed, to open any communication with +any of the lords who have become banders in the west--with Hamilton, +Seyton, with Fleming, or the like. It is true that my gracious sister, +reflecting upon the ill chances that have happened to the state of this +poor kingdom, from evil counsellors who have abused her royal nature in +time past, hath determined to sequestrate herself from state affairs in +future. But it is our duty, as acting for and in the name of our infant +nephew, to guard against the evils which may arise from any mutation or +vacillation in her royal resolutions. Wherefore, it will be thy duty to +watch, and report to our lady mother, whose guest our sister is for the +present, whatever may infer a disposition to withdraw her person from +the place of security in which she is lodged, or to open communication +with those without. If, however, your observation should detect any +thing of weight, and which may exceed mere suspicion, fail not to send +notice by an especial messenger to me directly, and this ring shall be +thy warrant to order horse and men on such service.--And now begone. +If there be half the wit in thy head that there is apprehension in +thy look, thou fully comprehendest all that I would say--Serve me +faithfully, and sure as I am belted earl, thy reward shall be great." + +Roland Graeme made an obeisance, and was about to depart. + +The Earl signed to him to remain. "I have trusted thee deeply," he said, +"young man, for thou art the only one of her suite who has been sent +to her by my own recommendation. Her gentlewomen are of her own +nomination--it were too hard to have barred her that privilege, though +some there were who reckoned it inconsistent with sure policy. Thou +art young and handsome. Mingle in their follies, and see they cover not +deeper designs under the appearance of female levity--if they do mine, +do thou countermine. For the rest, bear all decorum and respect to the +person of thy mistress--she is a princess, though a most unhappy one, +and hath been a queen! though now, alas! no longer such! Pay, therefore, +to her all honour and respect, consistent with thy fidelity to the King +and me--and now, farewell.--Yet stay--you travel with Lord Lindesay, a +man of the old world, rough and honest, though untaught; see that thou +offend him not, for he is not patient of raillery, and thou, I have +heard, art a crack-halter." This he said with a smile, then added, "I +could have wished the Lord Lindesay's mission had been intrusted to some +other and more gentle noble." + +"And wherefore should you wish that, my lord?" said Morton, who even +then entered the apartment; "the council have decided for the best--we +have had but too many proofs of this lady's stubbornness of mind, and +the oak that resists the sharp steel axe, must be riven with the rugged +iron wedge.--And this is to be her page?--My Lord Regent hath doubtless +instructed you, young man, how you shall guide yourself in these +matters; I will add but a little hint on my part. You are going to the +castle of a Douglas, where treachery never thrives--the first moment of +suspicion will be the last of your life. My kinsman, William Douglas, +understands no raillery, and if he once have cause to think you false, +you will waver in the wind from the castle battlements ere the sun set +upon his anger.--And is the lady to have an almoner withal?" + +"Occasionally, Douglas," said the Regent; "it were hard to deny the +spiritual consolation which she thinks essential to her salvation." + +"You are ever too soft hearted, my lord--What! a false priest to +communicate her lamentations, not only to our unfriends in Scotland, but +to the Guises, to Rome, to Spain, and I know not where!" + +"Fear not," said the Regent, "we will take such order that no treachery +shall happen." + +"Look to it then." said Morton; "you know my mind respecting the wench +you have consented she shall receive as a waiting-woman--one of a +family, which, of all others, has ever been devoted to her, and inimical +to us. Had we not been wary, she would have been purveyed of a page as +much to her purpose as her waiting-damsel. I hear a rumour that an old +mad Romish pilgrimer, who passes for at least half a saint among them, +was employed to find a fit subject." + +"We have escaped that danger at least," said Murray, "and converted it +into a point of advantage, by sending this boy of Glendinning's--and for +her waiting-damsel, you cannot grudge her one poor maiden instead of her +four noble Marys and all their silken train?" + +"I care not so much for the waiting-maiden," said Morton, "but I cannot +brook the almoner--I think priests of all persuasions are much like +each other--Here is John Knox, who made such a noble puller-down, is +ambitious of becoming a setter-up, and a founder of schools and colleges +out of the Abbey lands, and bishops' rents, and other spoils of Rome, +which the nobility of Scotland have won with their sword and bow, and +with which he would endow new hives to sing the old drone." + +"John is a man of God," said the Regent, "and his scheme is a devout +imagination." + +The sedate smile with which this was spoken, left it impossible to +conjecture whether the words were meant in approbation, or in derision, +of the plan of the Scottish Reformer. Turning then to Roland Graeme, as +if he thought he had been long enough a witness of this conversation, +he bade him get him presently to horse, since my Lord of Lindesay was +already mounted. The page made his reverence, and left the apartment. + +Guided by Michael Wing-the-wind, he found his horse ready saddled and +prepared for the journey, in front of the palace porch, where hovered +about a score of men-at-arms, whose leader showed no small symptoms of +surly impatience. + +"Is this the jackanape page for whom we have waited thus long?" said +he to Wing-the-wind.--"And my Lord Ruthven will reach the castle long +before us." + +Michael assented, and added, that the boy had been detained by the +Regent to receive some parting instructions. The leader made an +inarticulate sound in his throat, expressive of sullen acquiescence, and +calling to one of his domestic attendants, "Edward," said he, "take the +gallant into your charge, and let him speak with no one else." + +He then addressed, by the title of Sir Robert, an elderly and +respectable-looking gentleman, the only one of the party who seemed +above the rank of a retainer or domestic, and observed, that they must +get to horse with all speed. + +During this discourse, and while they were riding slowly along the +street of the suburb, Roland had time to examine more accurately the +looks and figure of the Baron, who was at their head. + +Lord Lindesay of the Byres was rather touched than stricken with years. +His upright stature and strong limbs, still showed him fully equal to +all the exertions and fatigues of war. His thick eyebrows, now partially +grizzled, lowered over large eyes full of dark fire, which seemed yet +darker from the uncommon depth at which they were set in his head. His +features, naturally strong and harsh, had their sternness exaggerated +by one or two scars received in battle. These features, naturally +calculated to express the harsher passions, were shaded by an open steel +cap, with a projecting front, but having no visor, over the gorget +of which fell the black and grizzled beard of the grim old Baron, and +totally hid the lower part of his face. The rest of his dress was a +loose buff-coat, which had once been lined with silk and adorned with +embroidery, but which seemed much stained with travel, and damaged with +cuts, received probably in battle. It covered a corslet, which had once +been of polished steel, fairly gilded, but was now somewhat injured with +rust. A sword of antique make and uncommon size, framed to be wielded +with both hands, a kind of weapon which was then beginning to go out +of use, hung from his neck in a baldrick, and was so disposed as +to traverse his whole person, the huge hilt appearing over his left +shoulder, and the point reaching well-nigh to the right heel, and +jarring against his spur as he walked. This unwieldy weapon could only +be unsheathed by pulling the handle over the left shoulder--for no human +arm was long enough to draw it in the usual manner. The whole +equipment was that of a rude warrior, negligent of his exterior even to +misanthropical sullenness; and the short, harsh, haughty tone, which he +used towards his attendants, belonged to the same unpolished character. + +The personage who rode with Lord Lindesay, at the head of the party, was +an absolute contrast to him, in manner, form, and features. His thin and +silky hair was already white, though he seemed not above forty-five or +fifty years old. His tone of voice was soft and insinuating--his +form thin, spare, and bent by an habitual stoop--his pale cheek was +expressive of shrewdness and intelligence--his eye was quick though +placid, and his whole demeanour mild and conciliatory. He rode an +ambling nag, such as were used by ladies, clergymen, or others of +peaceful professions--wore a riding habit of black velvet, with a cap +and feather of the same hue, fastened up by a golden medal--and +for show, and as a mark of rank rather than for use, carried a +walking-sword, (as the short light rapiers were called,) without any +other arms, offensive or defensive. + +The party had now quitted the town, and proceeded, at a steady trot, +towards the west.--As they prosecuted their journey, Roland Graeme +would gladly have learned something of its purpose and tendency, but +the countenance of the personage next to whom he had been placed in the +train, discouraged all approach to familiarity. The Baron himself did +not look more grim and inaccessible than his feudal retainer, whose +grisly beard fell over his mouth like the portcullis before the gate of +a castle, as if for the purpose of preventing the escape of any word, of +which absolute necessity did not demand the utterance. The rest of the +train seemed under the same taciturn influence, and journeyed on without +a word being exchanged amongst them--more like a troop of Carthusian +friars than a party of military retainers. Roland Graeme was surprised +at this extremity of discipline; for even in the household of the Knight +of Avenel, though somewhat distinguished for the accuracy with which +decorum was enforced, a journey was a period of license, during which +jest and song, and every thing within the limits of becoming mirth and +pastime were freely permitted. This unusual silence was, however, so far +acceptable, that it gave him time to bring any shadow of judgment which +he possessed to council on his own situation and prospects, which would +have appeared to any reasonable person in the highest degree dangerous +and perplexing. + +It was quite evident that he had, through various circumstances not +under his own control, formed contradictory connexions with both the +contending factions, by whose strife the kingdom was distracted, without +being properly an adherent of either. It seemed also clear, that the +same situation in the household of the deposed Queen, to which he was +now promoted by the influence of the Regent, had been destined to him by +his enthusiastic grandmother, Magdalen Graeme; for on this subject, the +words which Morton had dropped had been a ray of light; yet it was no +less clear that these two persons, the one the declared enemy, the other +the enthusiastic votary, of the Catholic religion,--the one at the head +of the King's new government, the other, who regarded that government +as a criminal usurpation--must have required and expected very different +services from the individual whom they had thus united in recommending. +It required very little reflection to foresee that these contradictory +claims on his services might speedily place him in a situation where his +honour as well as his life might be endangered. But it was not in Roland +Graeme's nature to anticipate evil before it came, or to prepare to +combat difficulties before they arrived. "I will see this beautiful and +unfortunate Mary Stewart," said he, "of whom we have heard so much, and +then there will be time enough to determine whether I will be kingsman +or queensman. None of them can say I have given word or promise to +either of their factions; for they have led me up and down like a blind +Billy, without giving me any light into what I was to do. But it was +lucky that grim Douglas came into the Regent's closet this morning, +otherwise I had never got free of him without plighting my troth to do +all the Earl would have me, which seemed, after all, but foul play to +the poor imprisoned lady, to place her page as an espial on her." + +Skipping thus lightly over a matter of such consequence, the thoughts of +the hare-brained boy went a wool-gathering after more agreeable +topics. Now he admired the Gothic towers of Barnbougle, rising from the +seabeaten rock, and overlooking one of the most glorious landscapes in +Scotland--and now he began to consider what notable sport for the hounds +and the hawks must be afforded by the variegated ground over which they +travelled--and now he compared the steady and dull trot at which they +were then prosecuting their journey, with the delight of sweeping +over hill and dale in pursuit of his favourite sports. As, under the +influence of these joyous recollections, he gave his horse the spur, +and made him execute a gambade, he instantly incurred the censure of his +grave neighbour, who hinted to him to keep the pace, and move quietly +and in order, unless he wished such notice to be taken of his eccentric +movements as was likely to be very displeasing to him. + +The rebuke and the restraint under which the youth now found +himself, brought back to his recollection his late good-humoured and +accommodating associate and guide, Adam Woodcock; and from that topic +his imagination made a short flight to Avenel Castle, to the quiet +and unconfined life of its inhabitants, the goodness of his early +protectress, not forgetting the denizens of its stables, kennels, and +hawk-mews. In a brief space, all these subjects of meditation gave way +to the resemblance of that riddle of womankind, Catherine Seyton, who +appeared before the eye of his mind--now in her female form, now in +her male attire--now in both at once--like some strange dream, which +presents to us the same individual under two different characters at +the same instant. Her mysterious present also recurred to his +recollection--the sword which he now wore at his side, and which he was +not to draw save by command of his legitimate Sovereign! But the key of +this mystery he judged he was likely to find in the issue of his present +journey. + +With such thoughts passing through his mind, Roland Graeme accompanied +the party of Lord Lindesay to the Queen's-Ferry, which they passed in +vessels that lay in readiness for them. They encountered no adventure +whatever in their passage, excepting one horse being lamed in getting +into the boat, an accident very common on such occasions, until a +few years ago, when the ferry was completely regulated. What was more +peculiarly characteristic of the olden age, was the discharge of a +culverin at the party from the battlements of the old castle of Rosythe, +on the north side of the Ferry, the lord of which happened to have some +public or private quarrel with the Lord Lindesay, and took this mode +of expressing his resentment. The insult, however, as it was harmless, +remained unnoticed and unavenged, nor did any thing else occur worth +notice until the band had come where Lochleven spread its magnificent +sheet of waters to the beams of a bright summer's sun. + +The ancient castle, which occupies an island nearly in the centre of +the lake, recalled to the page that of Avenel, in which he had been +nurtured. But the lake was much larger, and adorned with several islets +besides that on which the fortress was situated; and instead of being +embosomed in hills like that of Avenel, had upon the southern side only +a splendid mountainous screen, being the descent of one of the Lomond +hills, and on the other was surrounded by the extensive and fertile +plain of Kinross. Roland Graeme looked with some degree of dismay on the +water-girdled fortress, which then, as now, consisted only of one +large donjon-keep, surrounded with a court-yard, with two round +flanking-towers at the angles, which contained within its circuit some +other buildings of inferior importance. A few old trees, clustered +together near the castle, gave some relief to the air of desolate +seclusion; but yet the page, while he gazed upon a building so +sequestrated, could not but feel for the situation of a captive Princess +doomed to dwell there, as well as for his own. "I must have been born," +he thought, "under the star that presides over ladies and lakes of +water, for I cannot by any means escape from the service of the one, or +from dwelling in the other. But if they allow me not the fair freedom +of my sport and exercise, they shall find it as hard to confine a +wild-drake, as a youth who can swim like one." + +The band had now reached the edge of the water, and one of the party +advancing displayed Lord Lindesay's pennon, waving it repeatedly to and +fro, while that Baron himself blew a clamorous blast on his bugle. A +banner was presently displayed from the roof of the castle in reply to +these signals, and one or two figures were seen busied as if unmooring a +boat which lay close to the islet. + +"It will be some time ere they can reach us with the boat," said the +companion of Lord Lindesay; "should we not do well to proceed to +the town, and array ourselves in some better order, ere we appear +before----" + +"You may do as you list, Sir Robert," replied Lindesay, "I have neither +time nor temper to waste on such vanities. She has cost me many a hard +ride, and must not now take offence at the threadbare cloak and soiled +doublet that I am arrayed in. It is the livery to which she has brought +all Scotland." + +"Do not speak so harshly," said Sir Robert; "if she hath done wrong, +she hath dearly abied it; and in losing all real power, one would not +deprive her of the little external homage due at once to a lady and a +princess." + +"I say to you once more, Sir Robert Melville," replied Lindesay, "do as +you will--for me, I am now too old to dink myself as a gallant to grace +the bower of dames." + +"The bower of dames, my lord!" said Melville, looking at the rude old +tower--"is it yon dark and grated castle, the prison of a captive Queen, +to which you give so gay a name?" + +"Name it as you list," replied Lindesay; "had the Regent desired to send +an envoy capable to speak to a captive Queen, there are many gallants +in his court who would have courted the occasion to make speeches out of +Amadis of Gaul, or the Mirror of Knighthood. But when he sent blunt old +Lindesay, he knew he would speak to a misguided woman, as her former +misdoings and her present state render necessary. I sought not this +employment--it has been thrust upon me; and I will not cumber myself +with more form in the discharge of it, than needs must be tacked to such +an occupation." + +So saying, Lord Lindesay threw himself from horseback, and wrapping +his riding-cloak around him, lay down at lazy length upon the sward, to +await the arrival of the boat, which was now seen rowing from the castle +towards the shore. Sir Robert Melville, who had also dismounted, walked +at short turns to and fro upon the bank, his arms crossed on his breast, +often looking to the castle, and displaying in his countenance a mixture +of sorrow and of anxiety. The rest of the party sate like statues on +horseback, without moving so much as the points of their lances, which +they held upright in the air. + +As soon as the boat approached a rude quay or landing-place, near to +which they had stationed themselves, Lord Lindesay started up from his +recumbent posture, and asked the person who steered, why he had not +brought a larger boat with him to transport his retinue. + +"So please you," replied the boatman, "because it is the order of our +lady, that we bring not to the castle more than four persons." + +"Thy lady is a wise woman," said Lindesay, "to suspect me of +treachery!--Or, had I intended it, what was to hinder us from throwing +you and your comrades into the lake, and filling the boat with my own +fellows?" + +The steersman, on hearing this, made a hasty signal to his men to back +their oars, and hold off from the shore which they were approaching. + +"Why, thou ass," said Lindesay, "thou didst not think that I meant +thy fool's head serious harm? Hark thee, friend--with fewer than three +servants I will go no whither--Sir Robert Melville will require at least +the attendance of one domestic; and it will be at your peril and your +lady's to refuse us admission, come hither as we are, on matters of +great national concern." + +The steersman answered with firmness, but with great civility of +expression, that his orders were positive to bring no more than four +into the island, but he offered to row back to obtain a revisal of his +orders. + +"Do so, my friend," said Sir Robert Melville, after he had in vain +endeavoured to persuade his stubborn companion to consent to a temporary +abatement of his train, "row back to the castle, sith it will be no +better, and obtain thy lady's orders to transport the Lord Lindesay, +myself, and our retinue hither." + +"And hearken," said Lord Lindesay, "take with you this page, who comes +as an attendant on your lady's guest.--Dismount, sirrah," said he, +addressing Roland, "and embark with them in that boat." + +"And what is to become of my horse?" said Graeme; "I am answerable for +him to my master." + +"I will relieve you of the charge," said Lindesay; "thou wilt have +little enough to do with horse, saddle, or bridle, for ten years to +come--Thou mayst take the halter an thou wilt--it may stand thee in a +turn." + +"If I thought so," said Roland--but he was interrupted by Sir Robert +Melville, who said to him good-humouredly, "Dispute it not, young +friend--resistance can do no good, but may well run thee into danger." + +Roland Graeme felt the justice of what he said, and, though neither +delighted with the matter or manner of Lindesay's address, deemed it +best to submit to necessity, and to embark without farther remonstrance. +The men plied their oars. The quay, with the party of horse stationed +near it, receded from the page's eyes--the castle and the islet seemed +to draw near in the same proportion, and in a brief space he landed +under the shadow of a huge old tree which overhung the landing place. +The steersman and Graeme leaped ashore; the boatmen remained lying on +their oars ready for farther service. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-First. + + + Could valour aught avail or people's love, + France had not wept Navarre's brave Henry slain; + If wit or beauty could compassion move, + The rose of Scotland had not wept in vain. + _Elegy in a Royal Mausoleum._ LEWIS. + +At the gate of the court-yard of Lochleven appeared the stately form of +the Lady Lochleven, a female whose early charms had captivated James V., +by whom she became mother of the celebrated Regent Murray. As she was of +noble birth (being a daughter of the house of Mar) and of great beauty, +her intimacy with James did not prevent her being afterwards sought in +honourable marriage by many gallants of the time, among whom she had +preferred Sir William Douglas of Lochleven. But well has it been said + + ----"Our pleasant vices + Are made the whips to scourge us"--- + +The station which the Lady of Lochleven now held as the wife of a man +of high rank and interest, and the mother of a lawful family, did not +prevent her nourishing a painful sense of degradation, even while she +was proud of the talents, the power, and the station of her son, now +prime ruler of the state, but still a pledge of her illicit intercourse. +"Had James done to her," she said, in her secret heart, "the justice he +owed her, she had seen in her son, as a source of unmixed delight and of +unchastened pride, the lawful monarch of Scotland, and one of the +ablest who ever swayed the sceptre." The House of Mar, not inferior in +antiquity or grandeur to that of Drummond, would then have also boasted +a Queen among its daughters, and escaped the stain attached to female +frailty, even when it has a royal lover for its apology. While such +feelings preyed on a bosom naturally proud and severe, they had a +corresponding effect on her countenance, where, with the remains of +great beauty, were mingled traits of inward discontent and peevish +melancholy. It perhaps contributed to increase this habitual +temperament, that the Lady Lochleven had adopted uncommonly rigid and +severe views of religion, imitating in her ideas of reformed faith +the very worst errors of the Catholics, in limiting the benefit of the +gospel to those who profess their own speculative tenets. + +In every respect, the unfortunate Queen Mary, now the compulsory guest, +or rather prisoner, of this sullen lady, was obnoxious to her hostess. +Lady Lochleven disliked her as the daughter of Mary of Guise, the legal +possessor of those rights over James's heart and hand, of which she +conceived herself to have been injuriously deprived; and yet more so as +the professor of a religion which she detested worse than Paganism. + +Such was the dame, who, with stately mien, and sharp yet handsome +features, shrouded by her black velvet coif, interrogated the domestic +who steered her barge to the shore, what had become of Lindesay and +Sir Robert Melville. The man related what had passed, and she smiled +scornfully as she replied, "Fools must be flattered, not foughten +with.--Row back--make thy excuse as thou canst--say Lord Ruthven +hath already reached this castle, and that he is impatient for Lord +Lindesay's presence. Away with thee, Randal--yet stay--what galopin is +that thou hast brought hither?" + +"So please you, my lady, he is the page who is to wait upon----" + +"Ay, the new male minion," said the Lady Lochleven; "the female +attendant arrived yesterday. I shall have a well-ordered house with this +lady and her retinue; but I trust they will soon find some others to +undertake such a charge. Begone, Randal--and you" (to Roland Graeme) +"follow me to the garden." + +She led the way with a slow and stately step to the small garden, which, +enclosed by a stone wall ornamented with statues, and an artificial +fountain in the centre, extended its dull parterres on the side of +the court-yard, with which it communicated by a low and arched portal. +Within the narrow circuit of its formal and limited walks, Mary Stewart +was now learning to perform the weary part of a prisoner, which, with +little interval, she was doomed to sustain during the remainder of her +life. She was followed in her slow and melancholy exercise by two female +attendants; but in the first glance which Roland Graeme bestowed +upon one so illustrious by birth, so distinguished by her beauty, +accomplishments, and misfortunes, he was sensible of the presence of no +other than the unhappy Queen of Scotland. + +Her face, her form, have been so deeply impressed upon the imagination, +that even at the distance of nearly three centuries, it is unnecessary +to remind the most ignorant and uninformed reader of the striking traits +which characterize that remarkable countenance, which seems at once +to combine our ideas of the majestic, the pleasing, and the brilliant, +leaving us to doubt whether they express most happily the queen, the +beauty, or the accomplished woman. Who is there, that, at the very +mention of Mary Stewart's name, has not her countenance before him, +familiar as that of the mistress of his youth, or the favourite daughter +of his advanced age? Even those who feel themselves compelled to believe +all, or much, of what her enemies laid to her charge, cannot think +without a sigh upon a countenance expressive of anything rather than +the foul crimes with which she was charged when living, and which still +continue to shade, if not to blacken, her memory. That brow, so truly +open and regal--those eyebrows, so regularly graceful, which yet were +saved from the charge of regular insipidity by the beautiful effect of +the hazel eyes which they overarched, and which seem to utter a thousand +histories--the nose, with all its Grecian precision of outline--the +mouth, so well proportioned, so sweetly formed, as if designed to speak +nothing but what was delightful to hear--the dimpled chin--the stately +swan-like neck, form a countenance, the like of which we know not to +have existed in any other character moving in that class of life, +where the actresses as well as the actors command general and undivided +attention. It is in vain to say that the portraits which exist of this +remarkable woman are not like each other; for, amidst their discrepancy, +each possesses general features which the eye at once acknowledges as +peculiar to the vision which our imagination has raised while we read +her history for the first time, and which has been impressed upon it by +the numerous prints and pictures which we have seen. Indeed we cannot +look on the worst of them, however deficient in point of execution, +without saying that it is meant for Queen Mary; and no small instance +it is of the power of beauty, that her charms should have remained the +subject not merely of admiration, but of warm and chivalrous interest, +after the lapse of such a length of time. We know that by far the most +acute of those who, in latter days, have adopted the unfavourable view +of Mary's character, longed, like the executioner before his dreadful +task was performed, to kiss the fair hand of her on whom he was about to +perform so horrible a duty. + +Dressed, then, in a deep mourning robe, and with all those charms of +face, shape, and manner, with which faithful tradition has made each +reader familiar, Mary Stewart advanced to meet the Lady of Lochleven, +who, on her part, endeavoured to conceal dislike and apprehension under +the appearance of respectful indifference. The truth was, that she +had experienced repeatedly the Queen's superiority in that species of +disguised yet cutting sarcasm, with which women can successfully avenge +themselves, for real and substantial injuries. It may be well doubted, +whether this talent was not as fatal to its possessor as the many others +enjoyed by that highly gifted, but most unhappy female; for, while it +often afforded her a momentary triumph over her keepers, it failed not +to exasperate their resentment; and the satire and sarcasm in which she +had indulged were frequently retaliated by the deep and bitter hardships +which they had the power of inflicting. It is well known that her death +was at length hastened by a letter which she wrote to Queen Elizabeth, +in which she treated her jealous rival, and the Countess of Shrewsbury, +with the keenest irony and ridicule. + +As the ladies met together, the Queen said, bending her head at the same +time, in return to the obeisance of the Lady Lochleven, "We are this +day fortunate--we enjoy the company of our amiable hostess at an unusual +hour, and during a period which we have hitherto been permitted to give +to our private exercise. But our good hostess knows well she has at all +times access to our presence, and need not observe the useless ceremony +of requiring our permission." + +"I am sorry my presence is deemed an intrusion by your Grace," said the +Lady of Lochleven. "I came but to announce the arrival of an addition +to your train," motioning with her hand towards Roland Graeme; "a +circumstance to which ladies are seldom indifferent." + +"Oh! I crave your ladyship's pardon; and am bent to the earth with +obligations for the kindness of my nobles--or my sovereigns, shall I +call them?--who have permitted me such a respectable addition to my +personal retinue." + +"They have indeed studied, Madam," said the Lady of Lochleven, "to show +their kindness towards your Grace--something at the risk perhaps of +sound policy, and I trust their doings will not be misconstrued." + +"Impossible!" said the Queen; "the bounty which permits the daughter of +so many kings, and who yet is Queen of the realm, the attendance of +two waiting-women and a boy, is a grace which Mary Stewart can never +sufficiently acknowledge. Why! my train will be equal to that of any +country dame in this your kingdom of Fife, saving but the lack of a +gentleman-usher, and a pair or two of blue-coated serving-men. But I +must not forget, in my selfish joy, the additional trouble and charges +to which this magnificent augmentation of our train will put our kind +hostess, and the whole house of Lochleven. It is this prudent anxiety, I +am aware, which clouds your brows, my worthy lady. But be of good cheer; +the crown of Scotland has many a fair manor, and your affectionate son, +and my no less affectionate brother, will endow the good knight your +husband with the best of them, ere Mary should be dismissed from this +hospitable castle from your ladyship's lack of means to support the +charges." + +"The Douglasses of Lochleven, madam," answered the lady, "have known +for ages how to discharge their duty to the State, without looking for +reward, even when the task was both irksome and dangerous." + +"Nay! but, my dear Lochleven," said the Queen, "you are over +scrupulous--I pray you accept of a goodly manor; what should support +the Queen of Scotland in this her princely court, saving her own +crown-lands--and who should minister to the wants of a mother, save an +affectionate son like the Earl of Murray, who possesses so wonderfully +both the power and inclination?--Or said you it was the danger of the +task which clouded your smooth and hospitable brow?--No doubt, a page is +a formidable addition to my body-guard of females; and I bethink me it +must have been for that reason that my Lord of Lindesay refused even +now to venture within the reach of a force so formidable, without being +attended by a competent retinue." + +The Lady Lochleven started, and looked something surprised; and Mary +suddenly changing her manner from the smooth ironical affectation of +mildness to an accent of austere command, and drawing up at the same +time her fine person, said, with the full majesty of her rank, "Yes! +Lady of Lochleven; I know that Ruthven is already in the castle, and +that Lindesay waits on the bank the return of your barge to bring him +hither along with Sir Robert Melville. For what purpose do these nobles +come--and why am I not in ordinary decency apprised of their arrival?"' + +"Their purpose, madam," replied the Lady of Lochleven, "they must +themselves explain--but a formal annunciation were needless, where your +Grace hath attendants who can play the espial so well." + +"Alas! poor Fleming," said the Queen, turning to the elder of the female +attendants, "thou wilt be tried, condemned, and gibbeted, for a spy in +the garrison, because thou didst chance to cross the great hall while my +good Lady of Lochleven was parleying at the full pitch of her voice with +her pilot Randal. Put black wool in thy ears, girl, as you value the +wearing of them longer. Remember, in the Castle of Lochleven, ears and +tongues are matters not of use, but for show merely. Our good hostess +can hear, as well as speak, for us all. We excuse your farther +attendance, my lady hostess," she said, once more addressing the object +of her resentment, "and retire to prepare for an interview with our +rebel lords. We will use the ante-chamber of our sleeping apartment as +our hall of audience. You, young man," she proceeded, addressing Roland +Graeme, and at once softening the ironical sharpness of her manner into +good-humoured raillery, "you, who are all our male attendance, from our +Lord High Chamberlain down to our least galopin, follow us to prepare +our court." + +She turned, and walked slowly towards the castle. The Lady of Lochleven +folded her arms, and smiled in bitter resentment, as she watched her +retiring steps. + +"The whole male attendance!" she muttered, repeating the Queen's last +words, "and well for thee had it been had thy train never been larger;" +then turning to Roland, in whose way she had stood while making this +pause, she made room for him to pass, saying at the same time, "Art thou +already eaves-dropping? follow thy mistress, minion, and, if thou wilt, +tell her what I have now said." + +Roland Graeme hastened after his royal mistress and her attendants, who +had just entered a postern-gate communicating betwixt the castle and the +small garden. They ascended a winding-stair as high as the second story, +which was in a great measure occupied by a suite of three rooms, opening +into each other, and assigned as the dwelling of the captive Princess. +The outermost was a small hall or ante-room, within which opened a +large parlour, and from that again the Queen's bedroom. Another small +apartment, which opened into the same parlour, contained the beds of the +gentlewomen in waiting. + +Roland Graeme stopped, as became his station, in the outermost of these +apartments, there to await such orders as might be communicated to him. +From the grated window of the room he saw Lindesay, Melville, and their +followers disembark; and observed that they were met at the castle gate +by a third noble, to whom Lindesay exclaimed, in his loud harsh voice, +"My Lord of Ruthven, you have the start of us!" + +At this instant, the page's attention was called to a burst of +hysterical sobs from the inner apartment, and to the hurried +ejaculations of the terrified females, which led him almost instantly to +hasten to their assistance. When he entered, he saw that the Queen had +thrown herself into the large chair which stood nearest the door, and +was sobbing for breath in a strong fit of hysterical affection. The +elder female supported her in her arms, while the younger bathed her +face with water and with tears alternately. + +"Hasten, young man!" said the elder lady, in alarm, "fly--call in +assistance--she is swooning!" + +But the Queen ejaculated in a faint and broken voice, "Stir not, I +charge you!--call no one to witness--I am better--I shall recover +instantly." And, indeed, with an effort which seemed like that of one +struggling for life, she sate up in her chair, and endeavoured to resume +her composure, while her features yet trembled with the violent emotion +of body and mind which she had undergone. "I am ashamed of my weakness, +girls," she said, taking the hands of her attendants; "but it is +over--and I am Mary Stewart once more. The savage tone of that man's +voice--my knowledge of his insolence--the name which he named--the +purpose for which they come--may excuse a moment's weakness, and it +shall be a moment's only." She snatched from her head the curch or cap, +which had been disordered during her hysterical agony, shook down the +thick clustered tresses of dark brown which had been before veiled under +it--and, drawing her slender fingers across the labyrinth which they +formed, she arose from the chair, and stood like the inspired image of a +Grecian prophetess in a mood which partook at once of sorrow and pride, +of smiles and of tears. "We are ill appointed," she said, "to meet +our rebel subjects; but, as far as we may, we will strive to present +ourselves as becomes their Queen. Follow me, my maidens," she said; +"what says thy favourite song, my Fleming? + + 'My maids, come to my dressing-bower, + And deck my nut-brown hair; + Where'er ye laid a plait before, + Look ye lay ten times 'mair.' + +"Alas!" she added, when she had repeated with a smile these lines of an +old ballad, "violence has already robbed me of the ordinary decorations +of my rank; and the few that nature gave me have been destroyed by +sorrow and by fear." Yet while she spoke thus, she again let her slender +fingers stray through the wilderness of the beautiful tresses which +veiled her kingly neck and swelling bosom, as if, in her agony of mind, +she had not altogether lost the consciousness of her unrivalled charms. +Roland Graeme, on whose youth, inexperience, and ardent sense of what +was dignified and lovely, the demeanour of so fair and high-born a lady +wrought like the charm of a magician, stood rooted to the spot with +surprise and interest, longing to hazard his life in a quarrel so +fair as that which Mary Stewart's must needs be. She had been bred in +France--she was possessed of the most distinguished beauty--she had +reigned a Queen and a Scottish Queen, to whom knowledge of character was +as essential as the use of vital air. In all these capacities, Mary +was, of all women on the earth, most alert at perceiving and using the +advantages which her charms gave her over almost all who came within the +sphere of their influence. She cast on Roland a glance which might have +melted a heart of stone. "My poor boy," she said, with a feeling partly +real, partly politic, "thou art a stranger to us--sent to this doleful +captivity from the society of some tender mother, or sister, or maiden, +with whom you had freedom to tread a gay measure round the Maypole. I +grieve for you; but you are the only male in my limited household--wilt +thou obey my orders?" + +"To the death, madam," said Graeme, in a determined tone. + +"Then keep the door of mine apartment," said the Queen; "keep it till +they offer actual violence, or till we shall be fitly arrayed to receive +these intrusive visiters." + +"I will defend it till they pass over my body," said Roland Graeme; any +hesitation which he had felt concerning the line of conduct he ought to +pursue being completely swept away by the impulse of the moment. + +"Not so, my good youth," answered Mary; "not so, I command. If I have +one faithful subject beside me, much need, God wot, I have to care for +his safety. Resist them but till they are put to the shame of using +actual violence, and then give way, I charge you. Remember my commands." +And, with a smile expressive at once of favour and of authority, she +turned from him, and, followed by her attendants, entered the bedroom. + +The youngest paused for half a second ere she followed her companion, +and made a signal to Roland Graeme with her hand. He had been already +long aware that this was Catherine Seyton--a circumstance which could +not much surprise a youth of quick intellects, who recollected the sort +of mysterious discourse which had passed betwixt the two matrons at the +deserted nunnery, and on which his meeting with Catherine in this place +seemed to cast so much light. Yet such was the engrossing effect of +Mary's presence, that it surmounted for the moment even the feelings of +a youthful lover; and it was not until Catherine Seyton had disappeared, +that Roland began to consider in what relation they were to stand to +each other. "She held up her hand to me in a commanding manner," he +thought; "perhaps she wanted to confirm my purpose for the execution of +the Queen's commands; for I think she could scarce purpose to scare me +with the sort of discipline which she administered to the groom in the +frieze-jacket, and to poor Adam Woodcock. But we will see to that anon; +meantime, let us do justice to the trust reposed in us by this unhappy +Queen. I think my Lord of Murray will himself own that it is the duty of +a faithful page to defend his lady against intrusion on her privacy." + +Accordingly, he stepped to the little vestibule, made fast, with lock +and bar, the door which opened from thence to the large staircase, and +then sat himself down to attend the result. He had not long to wait--a +rude and strong hand first essayed to lift the latch, then pushed and +shook the door with violence, and, when it resisted his attempt to open +it, exclaimed, "Undo the door there, you within!" + +"Why, and at whose command," said the page, "am I to undo the door of +the apartments of the Queen of Scotland?" + +Another vain attempt, which made hinge and bolt jingle, showed that +the impatient applicant without would willingly have entered altogether +regardless of his challenge; but at length an answer was returned. + +"Undo the door, on your peril--the Lord Lindesay comes to speak with the +Lady Mary of Scotland." + +"The Lord Lindesay, as a Scottish noble," answered the page, "must await +his Sovereign's leisure." + +An earnest altercation ensued amongst those without, in which Roland +distinguished the remarkable harsh voice of Lindesay in reply to +Sir Robert Melville, who appeared to have been using some soothing +language--"No! no! no! I tell thee, no! I will place a petard against +the door rather than be baulked by a profligate woman, and bearded by an +insolent footboy." + +"Yet, at least," said Melville, "let me try fair means in the first +instance. Violence to a lady would stain your scutcheon for ever. Or +await till my Lord Ruthven comes." + +"I will await no longer," said Lindesay; "it is high time the business +were done, and we on our return to the council. But thou mayest try thy +fair play, as thou callest it, while I cause my train to prepare the +petard. I came hither provided with as good gunpowder as blew up the +Kirk of Field." + +"For God's sake, be patient," said Melville; and, approaching the door, +he said, as speaking to those within, "Let the Queen know, that I, her +faithful servant, Robert Melville, do entreat her, for her own sake, and +to prevent worse consequences, that she will undo the door, and admit +Lord Lindesay, who brings a mission from the Council of State." + +"I will do your errand to the Queen," said the page, "and report to you +her answer." + +He went to the door of the bedchamber, and tapping against it gently, it +was opened by the elderly lady, to whom he communicated his errand, and +returned with directions from the Queen to admit Sir Robert Melville and +Lord Lindesay. Roland Graeme returned to the vestibule, and opened the +door accordingly, into which the Lord Lindesay strode, with the air of +a soldier who has fought his way into a conquered fortress; while +Melville, deeply dejected, followed him more slowly. + +"I draw you to witness, and to record," said the page to this last, +"that, save for the especial commands of the Queen, I would have made +good the entrance, with my best strength, and my best blood, against all +Scotland." + +"Be silent, young man," said Melville, in a tone of grave rebuke; "add +not brands to fire--this is no time to make a flourish of thy boyish +chivalry." + +"She has not appeared even yet," said Lindesay, who had now reached the +midst of the parlour or audience-room; "how call you this trifling?" + +"Patience, my lord," replied Sir Robert, "time presses not--and Lord +Ruthven hath not as yet descended." + +At this moment the door of the inner apartment opened, and Queen Mary +presented herself, advancing with an air of peculiar grace and majesty, +and seeming totally unruffled, either by the visit, or by the rude +manner in which it had been enforced. Her dress was a robe of black +velvet; a small ruff, open in front, gave a full view of her beautifully +formed chin and neck, but veiled the bosom. On her head she wore a small +cap of lace, and a transparent white veil hung from her shoulders over +the long black robe, in large loose folds, so that it could be drawn at +pleasure over the face and person. She wore a cross of gold around her +neck, and had her rosary of gold and ebony hanging from her girdle. She +was closely followed by her two ladies, who remained standing behind her +during the conference. Even Lord Lindesay, though the rudest noble +of that rude age, was surprised into something like respect by the +unconcerned and majestic mien of her, whom he had expected to find +frantic with impotent passion, or dissolved in useless and vain sorrow, +or overwhelmed with the fears likely in such a situation to assail +fallen royalty. + +"We fear we have detained you, my Lord of Lindesay," said the Queen, +while she curtsied with dignity in answer to his reluctant obeisance; +"but a female does not willingly receive her visiters without some +minutes spent at the toilette. Men, my lord, are less dependant on such +ceremonies." + +Lord Lindesay, casting his eye down on his own travel-stained and +disordered dress, muttered something of a hasty journey, and the Queen +paid her greeting to Sir Robert Melville with courtesy, and even, as +it seemed, with kindness. There was then a dead pause, during which +Lindesay looked towards the door, as if expecting with impatience the +colleague of their embassy. The Queen alone was entirely unembarrassed, +and, as if to break the silence, she addressed Lord Lindesay, with +a glance at the large and cumbrous sword which he wore, as already +mentioned, hanging from his neck. + +"You have there a trusty and a weighty travelling companion, my lord. +I trust you expected to meet with no enemy here, against whom such +a formidable weapon could be necessary? it is, methinks, somewhat a +singular ornament for a court, though I am, as I well need to be, too +much of a Stuart to fear a sword." + +"It is not the first time, madam," replied Lindesay, bringing round the +weapon so as to rest its point on the ground, and leaning one hand on +the huge cross-handle, "it is not the first time that this weapon has +intruded itself into the presence of the House of Stewart." + +"Possibly, my lord," replied the Queen, "it may have done service to my +ancestors--Your ancestors were men of loyalty" + +"Ay, madam," replied he, "service it hath done; but such as kings love +neither to acknowledge nor to reward. It was the service which the knife +renders to the tree when trimming it to the quick, and depriving it of +the superfluous growth of rank and unfruitful suckers, which rob it of +nourishment." + +"You talk riddles, my lord," said Mary; "I will hope the explanation +carries nothing insulting with it." + +"You shall judge, madam," answered Lindesay. "With this good sword was +Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, girded on the memorable day when he +acquired the name of Bell-the-Cat, for dragging from the presence of +your great grandfather, the third James of the race, a crew of minions, +flatterers, and favourites whom he hanged over the bridge of Lauder, +as a warning to such reptiles how they approach a Scottish throne. With +this same weapon, the same inflexible champion of Scottish honour +and nobility slew at one blow Spens of Kilspindie, a courtier of your +grandfather, James the fourth, who had dared to speak lightly of him +in the royal presence. They fought near the brook of Fala; and +Bell-the-Cat, with this blade, sheared through the thigh of his +opponent, and lopped the limb as easily as a shepherd's boy slices a +twig from a sapling." + +"My lord," replied the Queen, reddening, "my nerves are too good to +be alarmed even by this terrible history--May I ask how a blade +so illustrious passed from the House of Douglas to that of +Lindesay?--Methinks it should have been preserved as a consecrated +relic, by a family who have held all that they could do against their +king, to be done in favour of their country." + +"Nay, madam," said Melville, anxiously interfering, "ask not +that question of Lord Lindesay--And you, my lord, for shame--for +decency--forbear to reply to it." + +"It is time that this lady should hear the truth," replied Lindesay. + +"And be assured," said the Queen, "that she will be moved to anger by +none that you can tell her, my lord. There are cases in which just scorn +has always the mastery over just anger." + +"Then know," said Lindesay, "that upon the field of Carberry-hill, when +that false and infamous traitor and murderer, James, sometime Earl of +Bothwell, and nicknamed Duke of Orkney, offered to do personal battle +with any of the associated nobles who came to drag him to justice, I +accepted his challenge, and was by the noble Earl of Morton gifted +with his good sword that I might therewith fight it out--Ah! so help me +Heaven, had his presumption been one grain more, or his cowardice one +grain less, I should have done such work with this good steel on his +traitorous corpse, that the hounds and carrion-crows should have found +their morsels daintily carved to their use !" + +The Queen's courage well-nigh gave way at the mention of Bothwell's +name--a name connected with such a train of guilt, shame, and disaster. +But the prolonged boast of Lindesay gave her time to rally herself, and +to answer with an appearance of cold contempt--"It is easy to slay +an enemy who enters not the lists. But had Mary Stewart inherited her +father's sword as well as his sceptre, the boldest of her rebels should +not upon that day have complained that they had no one to cope withal. +Your lordship will forgive me if I abridge this conference. A brief +description of a bloody fight is long enough to satisfy a lady's +curiosity; and unless my Lord of Lindesay has something more important +to tell us than of the deeds which old Bell-the-Cat achieved, and how he +would himself have emulated them, had time and tide permitted, we will +retire to our private apartment, and you, Fleming, shall finish reading +to us yonder little treatise _Des Rodomontades Espagnolles_." + +"Tarry, madam," said Lindesay, his complexion reddening in his turn, "I +know your quick wit too well of old to have sought an interview that +you might sharpen its edge at the expense of my honour. Lord Ruthven and +myself, with Sir Robert Melville as a concurrent, come to your Grace on +the part of the Secret Council, to tender to you what much concerns the +safety of your own life and the welfare of the State." + +"The Secret Council?" said the Queen; "by what powers can it subsist or +act, while I, from whom it holds its character, am here detained under +unjust restraint? But it matters not--what concerns the welfare of +Scotland shall be acceptable to Mary Stewart, come from whatever quarter +it will--and for what concerns her own life, she has lived long enough +to be weary of it, even at the age of twenty-five.--Where is your +colleague, my lord?--why tarries he?" + +"He comes, madam," said Melville, and Lord Ruthven entered at the +instant, holding in his hand a packet. As the Queen returned his +salutation she became deadly pale, but instantly recovered herself +by dint of strong and sudden resolution, just as the noble, whose +appearance seemed to excite such emotions in her bosom, entered the +apartment in company with George Douglas, the youngest son of the Knight +of Lochleven, who, during the absence of his father and brethren, +acted as Seneschal of the Castle, under the direction of the elder Lady +Lochleven, his father's mother. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Second. + + + I give this heavy weight from off my head, + And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand; + With mine own tears I wash away my balm, + With mine own hand I give away my crown, + With mine own tongue deny my sacred state, + With mine own breath release all duteous oaths. + RICHARD II. + +Lord Ruthven had the look and bearing which became a soldier and a +statesman, and the martial cast of his form and features procured him +the popular epithet of Greysteil, by which he was distinguished by his +intimates, after the hero of a metrical romance then generally known. +His dress, which was a buff-coat embroidered, had a half-military +character, but exhibited nothing of the sordid negligence which +distinguished that of Lindesay. But the son of an ill-fated sire, and +the father of a yet more unfortunate family, bore in his look that cast +of inauspicious melancholy, by which the physiognomists of that time +pretended to distinguish those who were predestined to a violent and +unhappy death. + +The terror which the presence of this nobleman impressed on the Queen's +mind, arose from the active share he had borne in the slaughter of +David Rizzio; his father having presided at the perpetration of that +abominable crime, although so weak from long and wasting illness, that +he could not endure the weight of his armour, having arisen from a +sick-bed to commit a murder in the presence of his Sovereign. On that +occasion his son also had attended and taken an active part. It was +little to be wondered at, that the Queen, considering her condition +when such a deed of horror was acted in her presence, should retain an +instinctive terror for the principal actors in the murder. She returned, +however, with grace the salutation of Lord Ruthven, and extended her +hand to George Douglas, who kneeled, and kissed it with respect; the +first mark of a subject's homage which Roland Graeme had seen any of +them render to the captive Sovereign. She returned his greeting in +silence, and there was a brief pause, during which the steward of the +castle, a man of a sad brow and a severe eye, placed, under George +Douglas's directions, a table and writing materials; and the page, +obedient to his mistress's dumb signal, advanced a large chair to the +side on which the Queen stood, the table thus forming a sort of bar +which divided the Queen and her personal followers from her unwelcome +visitors. The steward then withdrew after a low reverence. When he had +closed the door behind him, the Queen broke silence--"With your favour, +my lords, I will sit--my walks are not indeed extensive enough at +present to fatigue me greatly, yet I find repose something more +necessary than usual." + +She sat down accordingly, and, shading her cheek with her beautiful +hand, looked keenly and impressively at each of the nobles in turn. +Mary Fleming applied her kerchief to her eyes, and Catherine Seyton and +Roland Graeme exchanged a glance, which showed that both were too deeply +engrossed with sentiments of interest and commiseration for their royal +mistress, to think of any thing which regarded themselves. + +"I wait the purpose of your mission, my lords," said the Queen, after +she had been seated for about a minute without a word-being spoken,--"I +wait your message from those you call the Secret Council.-I trust it +is a petition of pardon, and a desire that I will resume my rightful +throne, without using with due severity my right of punishing those who +have dispossessed me of it." + +"Madam," replied Ruthven, "it is painful for us to speak harsh truths to +a Princess who has long ruled us. But we come to offer, not to implore, +pardon. In a word, madam, we have to propose to you on the part of the +Secret Council, that you sign these deeds, which will contribute greatly +to the pacification of the State, the advancement of God's word, and the +welfare of your own future life." + +"Am I expected to take these fair words on trust, my lord? or may I hear +the contents of these reconciling papers, ere I am asked to sign them?" + +"Unquestionably, madam; it is our purpose and wish, you should read what +you are required to sign," replied Ruthven. + +"Required?" replied the Queen, with some emphasis; "but the phrase suits +well the matter-read, my lord." + +The Lord Ruthven proceeded to read a formal instrument, running in the +Queen's name, and setting forth that she had been called, at an early +age, to the administration of the crown and realm of Scotland, and had +toiled diligently therein, until she was in body and spirit so wearied +out and disgusted, that she was unable any longer to endure the travail +and pain of State affairs; and that since God had blessed her with a +fair and hopeful son, she was desirous to ensure to him, even while +she yet lived, his succession to the crown, which was his by right of +hereditary descent. "Wherefore," the instrument proceeded, "we, of the +motherly affection we bear to our said son, have renounced and demitted, +and by these our letters of free good-will, renounce and demit, the +Crown, government, and guiding of the realm of Scotland, in favour of +our said son, that he may succeed to us as native Prince thereof, as +much as if we had been removed by disease, and not by our own proper +act. And that this demission of our royal authority may have the more +full and solemn effect, and none pretend ignorance, we give, grant, +and commit, fall and free and plain power to our trusty cousins, Lord +Lindesay of the Byres, and William Lord Ruthven, to appear in our +name before as many of the nobility, clergy, and burgesses, as may be +assembled at Stirling, and there, in our name and behalf, publicly, and +in their presence, to renounce the Crown, guidance, and government of +this our kingdom of Scotland." + +The Queen here broke in with an air of extreme surprise. "How is this, +my lords?" she said: "Are my ears turned rebels, that they deceive me +with sounds so extraordinary?--And yet it is no wonder that, having +conversed so long with rebellion, they should now force its language +upon my understanding. Say I am mistaken, my lords--say, for the honour +of yourselves and the Scottish nobility, that my right trusty cousins of +Lindesay and Ruthven, two barons of warlike fame and ancient line, have +not sought the prison-house of their kind mistress for such a purpose as +these words seem to imply. Say, for the sake of honour and loyalty, that +my ears have deceived me." + +"No, madam," said Ruthven gravely, "your ears do _not_ deceive you--they +deceived you when they were closed against the preachers of the +evangele, and the honest advice of your faithful subjects; and when +they were ever open to flattery of pickthanks and traitors, foreign +cubiculars and domestic minions. The land may no longer brook the rule +of one who cannot rule herself; wherefore, I pray you to comply with the +last remaining wish of your subjects and counsellors, and spare yourself +and us the farther agitation of matter so painful." + +"And is this _all_ my loving subjects require of me, my lord?" said +Mary, in a tone of bitter irony. "Do they really stint themselves to the +easy boon that I should yield up the crown, which is mine by birthright, +to an infant which is scarcely more than a year old--fling down my +sceptre, and take up a distaff--Oh no! it is too little for them to +ask--That other roll of parchment contains something harder to be +complied with, and which may more highly task my readiness to comply +with the petitions of my lieges." + +"This parchment," answered Ruthven, in the same tone of inflexible +gravity, and unfolding the instrument as he spoke, "is one by which your +grace constitutes your nearest in blood, and the most honourable and +trustworthy of your subjects, James, Earl of Murray, Regent of the +kingdom during the minority of the young King. He already holds the +appointment from the Secret Council." + +The Queen gave a sort of shriek, and, clapping her hands together, +exclaimed, "Comes the arrow out of his quiver?--out of my brother's +bow?--Alas! I looked for his return from France as my sole, at least my +readiest, chance of deliverance.--And yet, when I heard he had assumed +the government, I guessed he would shame to wield it in my name." + +"I must pray your answer, madam," said Lord Ruthven, "to the demand of +the Council." + +"The demand of the Council!" said the Queen; "say rather the demand of a +set of robbers, impatient to divide the spoil they have seized. To such +a demand, and sent by the mouth of a traitor, whose scalp, but for my +womanish mercy, should long since have stood on the city gates, Mary of +Scotland has no answer." + +"I trust, madam," said Lord Ruthven, "my being unacceptable to your +presence will not add to your obduracy of resolution. It may become +you to remember that the death of the minion, Rizzio, cost the house +of Ruthven its head and leader. My father, more worthy than a whole +province of such vile sycophants, died in exile, and broken-hearted." + +The Queen clasped her hands on her face, and, resting her arms on the +table, stooped down her head and wept so bitterly, that the tears were +seen to find their way in streams between the white and slender fingers +with which she endeavoured to conceal them. + +"My lords," said Sir Robert Melville, "this is too much rigour. Under +your lordship's favour, we came hither, not to revive old griefs, but to +find the mode of avoiding new ones." + +"Sir Robert Melville," said Ruthven, "we best know for what purpose we +were delegated hither, and wherefore you were somewhat unnecessarily +sent to attend us." + +"Nay, by my hand," said Lord Lindesay, "I know not why we were cumbered +with the good knight, unless he comes in place of the lump of sugar +which pothicars put into their wholesome but bitter medicaments, to +please a froward child--a needless labour, methinks, where men have the +means to make them swallow the physic otherwise." + +"Nay, my lords," said Melville, "ye best know your own secret +instructions. I conceive I shall best obey mine in striving to mediate +between her Grace and you." + +"Be silent, Sir Robert Melville," said the Queen, arising, and her face +still glowing with agitation as she spoke. "My kerchief, Fleming--I +shame that traitors should have power to move me thus.--Tell me, proud +lords," she added, wiping away the tears as she spoke, "by what earthly +warrant can liege subjects pretend to challenge the rights of an +anointed Sovereign--to throw off the allegiance they have vowed, and to +take away the crown from the head on which Divine warrant hath placed +it?" + +"Madam," said Ruthven, "I will deal plainly with you. Your reign, from +the dismal field of Pinkie-cleugh, when you were a babe in the cradle, +till now that ye stand a grown dame before us, hath been such a tragedy +of losses, disasters, civil dissensions, and foreign wars, that the like +is not to be found in our chronicles. The French and English have, with +one consent, made Scotland the battle-field on which to fight out their +own ancient quarrel.--For ourselves every man's hand hath been +against his brother, nor hath a year passed over without rebellion and +slaughter, exile of nobles, and oppressing of the commons. We may endure +it no longer, and therefore, as a prince, to whom God hath refused the +gift of hearkening to wise counsel, and on whose dealings and projects +no blessing hath ever descended, we pray you to give way to other rule +and governance of the land, that a remnant may yet be saved to this +distracted realm." + +"My lord," said Mary, "it seems to me that you fling on my unhappy and +devoted head those evils, which, with far more justice, I may impute +to your own turbulent, wild, and untameable dispositions--the frantic +violence with which you, the Magnates of Scotland, enter into feuds +against each other, sticking at no cruelty to gratify your wrath, taking +deep revenge for the slightest offences, and setting at defiance those +wise laws which your ancestors made for stanching of such cruelty, +rebelling against the lawful authority, and bearing yourselves as if +there were no king in the land; or rather as if each were king in his +own premises. And now you throw the blame on me--on me, whose life has +been embittered--whose sleep has been broken--whose happiness has been +wrecked by your dissensions. Have I not myself been obliged to traverse +wilds and mountains, at the head of a few faithful followers, to +maintain peace and put down oppression? Have I not worn harness on my +person, and carried pistols at my saddle; fain to lay aside the softness +of a woman, and the dignity of a Queen, that I might show an example to +my followers?" + +"We grant, madam," said Lindesay, "that the affrays occasioned by your +misgovernment, may sometimes have startled you in the midst of a masque +or galliard; or it may be that such may have interrupted the idolatry of +the mass, or the jesuitical counsels of some French ambassador. But the +longest and severest journey which your Grace has taken in my memory, +was from Hawick to Hermitage Castle; and whether it was for the weal of +the state, or for your own honour, rests with your Grace's conscience." + +The Queen turned to him with inexpressible sweetness of tone and manner, +and that engaging look which Heaven had assigned her, as if to show +that the choicest arts to win men's affections may be given in vain. +"Lindesay," she said, "you spoke not to me in this stern tone, and with +such scurril taunt, yon fair summer evening, when you and I shot at the +butts against the Earl of Mar and Mary Livingstone, and won of them the +evening's collation, in the privy garden of Saint Andrews. The Master +of Lindesay was then my friend, and vowed to be my soldier. How I have +offended the Lord of Lindesay I know not, unless honours have changed +manners." + +Hardhearted as he was, Lindesay seemed struck with this unexpected +appeal, but almost instantly replied, "Madam, it is well known that +your Grace could in those days make fools of whomever approached you. +I pretend not to have been wiser than others. But gayer men and better +courtiers soon jostled aside my rude homage, and I think your Grace +cannot but remember times, when my awkward attempts to take the manners +that pleased you, were the sport of the court-popinjays, the Marys and +the Frenchwomen." + +"My lord, I grieve if I have offended you through idle gaiety," said +the Queen; "and can but say it was most unwittingly done. You are fully +revenged; for through gaiety," she said with a sigh, "will I never +offend any one more." + +"Our time is wasting, madam," said Lord Ruthven; "I must pray your +decision on this weighty matter which I have submitted to you." + +"What, my lord!" said the Queen, "upon the instant, and without a +moment's time to deliberate?--Can the Council, as they term themselves, +expect this of me?" + +"Madam," replied Ruthven, "the Council hold the opinion, that since the +fatal term which passed betwixt the night of King Henry's murder and the +day of Carberry-hill, your Grace should have held you prepared for the +measure now proposed, as the easiest escape from your numerous dangers +and difficulties." + +"Great God!" exclaimed the Queen; "and is it as a boon that you propose +to me, what every Christian king ought to regard as a loss of honour +equal to the loss of life!--You take from me my crown, my power, my +subjects, my wealth, my state. What, in the name of every saint, can you +offer, or do you offer, in requital of my compliance?" + +"We give you pardon," answered Ruthven, sternly--"we give you space and +means to spend your remaining life in penitence and seclusion--we give +you time to make your peace with Heaven, and to receive the pure Gospel, +which you have ever rejected and persecuted." + +The Queen turned pale at the menace which this speech, as well as +the rough and inflexible tones of the speaker, seemed distinctly to +infer--"And if I do not comply with your request so fiercely urged, my +lord, what then follows?" + +She said this in a voice in which female and natural fear was contending +with the feelings of insulted dignity.--There was a pause, as if no one +cared to return to the question a distinct answer. At length Ruthven +spoke: "There is little need to tell to your Grace, who are well read +both in the laws and in the chronicles of the realm, that murder and +adultery are crimes for which ere now queens themselves have suffered +death." + +"And where, my lord, or how, found you an accusation so horrible, +against her who stands before you?" said Queen Mary. "The foul and +odious calumnies which have poisoned the general mind of Scotland, and +have placed me a helpless prisoner in your hands, are surely no proof of +guilt?" + +"We need look for no farther proof," replied the stern Lord Ruthven, +"than the shameless marriage betwixt the widow of the murdered and the +leader of the band of murderers!--They that joined hands in the fated +month of May, had already united hearts and counsel in the deed which +preceded that marriage but a few brief weeks." + +"My lord, my lord!" said the Queen, eagerly, "remember well there were +more consents than mine to that fatal union, that most unhappy act of +a most unhappy life. The evil steps adopted by sovereigns are often +the suggestion of bad counsellors; but these counsellors are worse than +fiends who tempt and betray, if they themselves are the first to call +their unfortunate princes to answer for the consequences of their own +advice.--Heard ye never of a bond by the nobles, my lords, recommending +that ill-fated union to the ill-fated Mary? Methinks, were it carefully +examined, we should see that the names of Morton and of Lindesay, and +of Ruthven, may be found in that bond, which pressed me to marry that +unhappy man.--Ah! stout and loyal Lord Herries, who never knew guile +or dishonour, you bent your noble knee to me in vain, to warn me of my +danger, and wert yet the first to draw thy good sword in my cause when +I suffered for neglecting thy counsel! Faithful knight and true noble, +what a difference betwixt thee and those counsellors of evil, who now +threaten my life for having fallen into the snares they spread for me!" + +"Madam," said Ruthven, "we know that you are an orator; and perhaps for +that reason the Council has sent hither men, whose converse hath been +more with the wars, than with the language of the schools or the cabals +of state. We but desire to know if, on assurance of life and honour, ye +will demit the rule of this kingdom of Scotland?" + +"And what warrant have I," said the Queen, "that ye will keep treaty +with me, if I should barter my kingly estate for seclusion, and leave to +weep in secret?" + +"Our honour and our word, madam," answered Ruthven. + +"They are too slight and unsolid pledges, my lord," said the Queen; "add +at least a handful of thistle-down to give them weight in the balance." + +"Away, Ruthven," said Lindesay; "she was ever deaf to counsel, save of +slaves and sycophants; let her remain by her refusal, and abide by it!" + +"Stay, my lord," said Sir Robert Melville, "or rather permit me to have +but a few minutes' private audience with her Grace. If my presence with +you could avail aught, it must be as a mediator--do not, I conjure you, +leave the castle, or break off the conference, until I bring you word +how her Grace shall finally stand disposed." + +"We will remain in the hall," said Lindesay, "for half an hour's space; +but in despising our words and our pledge of honour, she has touched the +honour of my name--let her look herself to the course she has to pursue. +If the half hour should pass away without her determining to comply with +the demands of the nation, her career will be brief enough." + +With little ceremony the two nobles left the apartment, traversed the +vestibule, and descended the winding-stairs, the clash of Lindesay's +huge sword being heard as it rang against each step in his descent. +George Douglas followed them, after exchanging with Melville a gesture +of surprise and sympathy. + +As soon as they were gone, the Queen, giving way to grief, fear, and +agitation, threw herself into the seat, wrung her hands, and seemed to +abandon herself to despair. Her female attendants, weeping themselves, +endeavoured yet to pray her to be composed, and Sir Robert Melville, +kneeling at her feet, made the same entreaty. After giving way to a +passionate burst of sorrow, she at length said to Melville, "Kneel not +to me, Melville--mock me not with the homage of the person, when the +heart is far away--Why stay you behind with the deposed, the condemned? +her who has but few hours perchance to live? You have been favoured as +well as the rest; why do you continue the empty show of gratitude and +thankfulness any longer than they?" + +"Madam," said Sir Robert Melville, "so help me Heaven at my need, my +heart is as true to you as when you were in your highest place." + +"True to me! true to me!" repeated the Queen, with some scorn; "tush, +Melville, what signifies the truth which walks hand in hand with my +enemies' falsehood?--thy hand and thy sword have never been so well +acquainted that I can trust thee in aught where manhood is required--Oh, +Seyton, for thy bold father, who is both wise, true, and valiant!" + +Roland Graeme could withstand no longer his earnest desire to offer his +services to a princess so distressed and so beautiful. "If one sword," +he said, "madam, can do any thing to back the wisdom of this grave +counsellor, or to defend your rightful cause, here is my weapon, and +here is my hand ready to draw and use it." And raising his sword with +one hand, he laid the other upon the hilt. + +As he thus held up the weapon, Catherine Seyton exclaimed, "Methinks +I see a token from my father, madam;" and immediately crossing the +apartment, she took Roland Graeme by the skirt of the cloak, and asked +him earnestly whence he had that sword. + +The page answered with surprise, "Methinks this is no presence in +which to jest--Surely, damsel, you yourself best know whence and how I +obtained the weapon." + +"Is this a time for folly?" said Catherine Seyton; "unsheathe the sword +instantly!" + +"If the Queen commands me," said the youth, looking towards his royal +mistress. + +"For shame, maiden!" said the Queen; "wouldst thou instigate the poor +boy to enter into useless strife with the two most approved soldiers in +Scotland?" + +"In your Grace's cause," replied the page, "I will venture my life upon +them!" And as he spoke, he drew his weapon partly from the sheath, and a +piece of parchment, rolled around the blade, fell out and dropped on the +floor. Catherine Seyton caught it up with eager haste. + +"It is my father's hand-writing," she said, "and doubtless conveys his +best duteous advice to your Majesty; I know that it was prepared to be +sent in this weapon, but I expected another messenger." + +"By my faith, fair one," thought Roland, "and if you knew not that I had +such a secret missive about me, I was yet more ignorant." + +The Queen cast her eye upon the scroll, and remained a few minutes +wrapped in deep thought. "Sir Robert Melville," she at length said, +"this scroll advises me to submit myself to necessity, and to subscribe +the deeds these hard men have brought with them, as one who gives way to +the natural fear inspired by the threats of rebels and murderers. You, +Sir Robert, are a wise man, and Seyton is both sagacious and brave. +Neither, I think, would mislead me in this matter." + +"Madam," said Melville, "if I have not the strength of body of the Lord +Herries or Seyton, I will yield to neither in zeal for your Majesty's +service. I cannot fight for you like these lords, but neither of them is +more willing to die for your service." + +"I believe it, my old and faithful counsellor," said the Queen, "and +believe me, Melville, I did thee but a moment's injustice. Read what my +Lord Seyton hath written to us, and give us thy best counsel." + +He glanced over the parchment, and instantly replied,--"Oh! my dear and +royal mistress, only treason itself could give you other advice than +Lord Seyton has here expressed. He, Herries, Huntly, the English +ambassador Throgmorton, and others, your friends, are all alike of +opinion, that whatever deeds or instruments you execute within these +walls, must lose all force and effect, as extorted from your Grace by +duresse, by sufferance of present evil, and fear of men, and harm to +ensue on your refusal. Yield, therefore, to the tide, and be assured, +that in subscribing what parchments they present to you, you bind +yourself to nothing, since your act of signature wants that which alone +can make it valid, the free will of the granter." + +"Ay, so says my Lord Seyton," replied Mary; "yet methinks, for the +daughter of so long a line of sovereigns to resign her birthright, +because rebels press upon her with threats, argues little of royalty, +and will read ill for the fame of Mary in future chronicles. Tush! Sir +Robert Melville, the traitors may use black threats and bold words, but +they will not dare to put their hands forth on our person." + +"Alas! madam, they have already dared so far and incurred such peril by +the lengths which they have gone, that they are but one step from the +worst and uttermost." + +"Surely," said the Queen, her fears again predominating, "Scottish +nobles would not lend themselves to assassinate a helpless woman?" + +"Bethink you, madam," he replied, "what horrid spectacles have been seen +in our day; and what act is so dark, that some Scottish hand has not +been found to dare it? Lord Lindesay, besides his natural sullenness and +hardness of temper, is the near kinsman of Henry Darnley, and Ruthven +has his own deep and dangerous plans. The Council, besides, speak of +proofs by writ and word, of a casket with letters--of I know not what." + +"Ah! good Melville," answered the Queen, "were I as sure of the +even-handed integrity of my judges, as of my own innocence--and yet----" + +"Oh! pause, madam," said Melville; "even innocence must sometimes for a +season stoop to injurious blame. Besides, you are here--" + +He looked round, and paused. + +"Speak out, Melville," said the Queen, "never one approached my person +who wished to work me evil; and even this poor page, whom I have +to-day seen for the first time in my life, I can trust safely with your +communication." + +"Nay, madam," answered Melville, "in such emergence, and he being the +bearer of Lord Seyton's message, I will venture to say, before him and +these fair ladies, whose truth and fidelity I dispute not--I say I will +venture to say, that there are other modes besides that of open trial, +by which deposed sovereigns often die; and that, as Machiavel saith, +there is but one step betwixt a king's prison and his grave." + +"Oh I were it but swift and easy for the body," said the unfortunate +Princess, "were it but a safe and happy change for the soul, the woman +lives not that would take the step so soon as I--But, alas! Melville, +when we think of death, a thousand sins, which we have trod as +worms beneath our feet, rise up against us as flaming serpents. Most +injuriously do they accuse me of aiding Darnley's death; yet, blessed +Lady! I afforded too open occasion for the suspicion--I espoused +Bothwell." + +"Think not of that now, madam," said Melville, "think rather of the +immediate mode of saving yourself and son. Comply with the present +unreasonable demands, and trust that better times will shortly arrive." + +"Madam," said Roland Graeme, "if it pleases you that I should do so, I +will presently swim through the lake, if they refuse me other conveyance +to the shore; I will go to the courts successively of England, France, +and Spain, and will show you have subscribed these vile instruments from +no stronger impulse than the fear of death, and I will do battle against +them that say otherwise." + +The Queen turned her round, and with one of those sweet smiles which, +during the era of life's romance, overpay every risk, held her hand +towards Roland, but without "speaking a word. He kneeled reverently, and +kissed it, and Melville again resumed his plea. + +"Madam," he said, "time presses, and you must not let those boats, +which I see they are even now preparing, put forth on the lake. Here are +enough of witnesses--your ladies--this bold youth--myself, when it can +serve your cause effectually, for I would not hastily stand committed in +this matter--but even without me here is evidence enough to show, that +you have yielded to the demands of the Council through force and fear, +but from no sincere and unconstrained assent. Their boats are already +manned for their return--oh! permit your old servant to recall them." + +"Melville," said the Queen, "thou art an ancient courtier--when didst +thou ever know a Sovereign Prince recall to his presence subjects who +had parted from him on such terms as those on which these envoys of +the Council left us, and who yet were recalled without submission or +apology?--Let it cost me both life and crown, I will not again command +them to my presence." + +"Alas! madam, that empty form should make a barrier! If I rightly +understand, you are not unwilling to listen to real and advantageous +counsel--but your scruple is saved--I hear them returning to ask your +final resolution. Oh! take the advice of the noble Seyton, and you may +once more command those who now usurp a triumph over you. But hush! I +hear them in the vestibule." + +As he concluded speaking, George Douglas opened the door of the +apartment, and marshalled in the two noble envoys. + +"We come, madam," said the Lord Ruthven, "to request your answer to the +proposal of the Council." + +"Your final answer," said Lord Lindesay; "for with a refusal you must +couple the certainty that you have precipitated your fate, and renounced +the last opportunity of making peace with God, and ensuring your longer +abode in the world." + +"My lords," said Mary, with inexpressible grace and dignity, "the evils +we cannot resist we must submit to--I will subscribe these parchments +with such liberty of choice as my condition permits me. Were I on yonder +shore, with a fleet jennet and ten good and loyal knights around me, +I would subscribe my sentence of eternal condemnation as soon as the +resignation of my throne. But here, in the Castle of Lochleven, with +deep water around me--and you, my lords, beside me,--I have no freedom +of choice.--Give me the pen, Melville, and bear witness to what I do, +and why I do it." + +"It is our hope your Grace will not suppose yourself compelled by any +apprehensions from us," said the Lord Ruthven, "to execute what must be +your own voluntary deed." + +The Queen had already stooped towards the table, and placed the +parchment before her, with the pen between her fingers, ready for the +important act of signature. But when Lord Ruthven had done speaking, she +looked up, stopped short, and threw down the pen. "If," she said, "I am +expected to declare I give away my crown of free will, or otherwise than +because I am compelled to renounce it by the threat of worse evils to +myself and my subjects, I will not put my name to such an untruth--not +to gain full possession of England, France, and Scotland!--all once my +own, in possession, or by right." + +"Beware, madam," said Lindesay, and, snatching hold of the Queen's arm +with his own gauntleted hand, he pressed it, in the rudeness of his +passion, more closely, perhaps, than he was himself aware of,--"beware +how you contend with those who are the stronger, and have the mastery of +your fate!" + +He held his grasp on her arm, bending his eyes on her with a stern +and intimidating look, till both Ruthven and Melville cried shame; and +Douglas, who had hitherto remained in a state of apparent apathy, had +made a stride from the door, as if to interfere. The rude Baron then +quitted his hold, disguising the confusion which he really felt +at having indulged his passion to such extent, under a sullen and +contemptuous smile. + +The Queen immediately began, with an expression of pain, to bare the +arm which he had grasped, by drawing up the sleeve of her gown, and it +appeared that his gripe had left the purple marks of his iron fingers +upon her flesh--"My lord," she said, "as a knight and gentleman, you +might have spared my frail arm so severe a proof that you have the +greater strength on your side, and are resolved to use it--But I thank +you for it--it is the most decisive token of the terms on which this +day's business is to rest.--I draw you to witness, both lords and +ladies," she said, showing the marks of the grasp on her arm, "that I +subscribe these instruments in obedience to the sign manual of my Lord +of Lindesay, which you may see imprinted on mine arm." + +[Footnote: The details of this remarkable event are, as given in +the preceding chapter, imaginary; but the outline of the events is +historical. Sir Robert Lindesay, brother to the author of the Memoirs, +was at first intrusted with the delicate commission of persuading the +imprisoned queen to resign her crown. As he flatly refused to interfere, +they determined to send the Lord Lindesay, one of the rudest and most +violent of their own faction, with instructions, first to use fair +persuasions, and if these did not succeed, to enter into harder terms. +Knox associates Lord Ruthven with Lindesay in this alarming commission. +He was the son of that Lord Ruthven who was prime agent in the murder +of Rizzio; and little mercy was to be expected from his conjunction with +Lindesay. + +The employment of such rude tools argued a resolution on the part of +those who had the Queen's person in their power, to proceed to the +utmost extremities, should they find Mary obstinate. To avoid this +pressing danger, Sir Robert Melville was despatched by them to +Lochleven, carrying with him, concealed in the scabbard of his sword, +letters to the Queen from the Earl of Athole, Maitland of Lethington, +and even from Throgmorton, the English Ambassador, who was then +favourable to the unfortunate Mary, conjuring her to yield to the +necessity of the times, and to subscribe such deeds as Lindesay should +lay before her, without being startled by their tenor; and assuring her +that her doing so, in the state of captivity under which she was placed, +would neither, in law, honour, nor conscience, be binding upon her when +she should obtain her liberty. Submitting by the advice of one part of +her subjects to the menace of the others, and learning that Lindesay +was arrived in a boasting, that is, threatening humour, the Queen, +"with some reluctancy, and with tears," saith Knox, subscribed one deed +resigning her crown to her infant son, and another establishing the Earl +of Murray regent. It seems agreed by historians that Lindesay behaved +with great brutality on the occasion. The deeds were signed 24th July, +1567.] + +Lindesay would have spoken, but was restrained by his colleague Ruthven, +who said to him, "Peace, my lord. Let the Lady Mary of Scotland ascribe +her signature to what she will, it is our business to procure it, and +carry it to the Council. Should there be debate hereafter on the manner +in which it was adhibited, there will be time enough for it." + +Lindesay was silent accordingly, only muttering within his beard, +"I meant not to hurt her; but I think women's flesh be as tender as +new-fallen snow." + +The Queen meanwhile subscribed the rolls of parchment with a hasty +indifference, as if they had been matters of slight consequence, or of +mere formality. When she had performed this painful task, she arose, +and, having curtsied to the lords, was about to withdraw to her chamber. +Ruthven and Sir Robert Melville made, the first a formal reverence, the +second an obeisance, in which his desire to acknowledge his sympathy was +obviously checked by the fear of appearing in the eyes of his colleagues +too partial to his former mistress. But Lindesay stood motionless, even +when they were preparing to withdraw. At length, as if moved by a sudden +impulse, he walked round the table which had hitherto been betwixt them +and the Queen, kneeled on one knee, took her hand, kissed it, let it +fall, and arose--"Lady," he said, "thou art a noble creature, even +though thou hast abused God's choicest gifts. I pay that devotion to thy +manliness of spirit, which I would not have paid to the power thou hast +long undeservedly wielded--I kneel to Mary Stewart, not to the Queen." + +"The Queen and Mary Stewart pity thee alike, Lindesay," said +Mary--"alike thee pity, and they forgive thee. An honoured soldier hadst +thou been by a king's side--leagued with rebels, what art thou but a +good blade in the hands of a ruffian?--Farewell, my Lord Ruthven, the +smoother but the deeper traitor.--Farewell, Melville--Mayest thou find +masters that can understand state policy better, and have the means +to reward it more richly, than Mary Stewart.--Farewell, George of +Douglas--make your respected grand-dame comprehend that we would be +alone for the remainder of the day--God wot, we have need to collect our +thoughts." + +All bowed and withdrew; but scarce had they entered the vestibule, ere +Ruthven and Lindesay were at variance. "Chide not with me, Ruthven," +Lindesay was heard to say, in answer to something more indistinctly +urged by his colleague--"Chide not with me, for I will not brook it! You +put the hangman's office on me in this matter, and even the very hangman +hath leave to ask some pardon of those on whom he does his office. I +would I had as deep cause to be this lady's friend as I have to be her +enemy--thou shouldst see if I spared limb and life in her quarrel." + +"Thou art a sweet minion," said Ruthven, "to fight a lady's quarrel, and +all for a brent brow and a tear in the eye! Such toys have been out of +thy thoughts this many a year." + +"Do me right, Ruthven," said Lindesay. "You are like a polished corslet +of steel; it shines more gaudily, but it is not a whit softer--nay, +it is five times harder than a Glasgow breastplate of hammered iron. +Enough. We know each other." + +They descended the stairs, were heard to summon their boats, and the +Queen signed to Roland Graeme to retire to the vestibule, and leave her +with her female attendants. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Third. + + + Give me a morsel on the greensward rather, + Coarse as you will the cooking--Let the fresh spring + Bubble beside my napkin--and the free birds + Twittering and chirping, hop from bough to bough, + To claim the crumbs I leave for perquisites-- + Your prison feasts I like not. + THE WOODSMAN, A DRAMA. + +A recess in the vestibule was enlightened by a small window, at which +Roland Graeme stationed himself to mark the departure of the lords. He +could see their followers mustering on horseback under their respective +banners--the western sun glancing on their corslets and steel-caps +as they moved to and fro, mounted or dismounted, at intervals. On the +narrow space betwixt the castle and the water, the Lords Ruthven and +Lindesay were already moving slowly to their boats, accompanied by the +Lady of Lochleven, her grandson, and their principal attendants. They +took a ceremonious leave of each other, as Roland could discern by their +gestures, and the boats put oft from their landing-place; the boatmen +stretched to their oars, and they speedily diminished upon the eye +of the idle gazer, who had no better employment than to watch their +motions. Such seemed also the occupation of the Lady Lochleven and +George Douglas, who, returning from the landing-place, looked frequently +back to the boats, and at length stopped as if to observe their progress +under the window at which Roland Graeme was stationed.--As they gazed on +the lake, he could hear the lady distinctly say, "And she has bent her +mind to save her life at the expense of her kingdom?" + +"Her life, madam!" replied her son; "I know not who would dare to +attempt it in the castle of my father. Had I dreamt that it was with +such purpose that Lindesay insisted on bringing his followers hither, +neither he nor they should have passed the iron gate of Lochleven +castle." + +"I speak not of private slaughter, my son, but of open trial, +condemnation, and execution; for with such she has been threatened, and +to such threats she has given way. Had she not more of the false Gusian +blood than of the royal race of Scotland in her veins, she had bidden +them defiance to their teeth--But it is all of the same complexion, +and meanness is the natural companion of profligacy.--I am discharged, +forsooth, from intruding on her gracious presence this evening. Go +thou, my son, and render the usual service of the meal to this unqueened +Queen." + +"So please you, lady mother," said Douglas, "I care not greatly to +approach her presence." + +"Thou art right, my son; and therefore I trust thy prudence, even +because I have noted thy caution. She is like an isle on the ocean, +surrounded with shelves and quicksands; its verdure fair and inviting to +the eye, but the wreck of many a goodly vessel which hath approached it +too rashly. But for thee, my son, I fear nought; and we may not, with +our honour, suffer her to eat without the attendance of one of us. She +may die by the judgment of Heaven, or the fiend may have power over her +in her despair; and then we would be touched in honour to show that +in our house, and at our table, she had had all fair play and fitting +usage." + +Here Roland was interrupted by a smart tap on the shoulders, reminding +him sharply of Adam Woodcock's adventure of the preceding evening. +He turned round, almost expecting to see the page of Saint Michael's +hostelry. He saw, indeed, Catherine Seyton; but she was in female +attire, differing, no doubt, a great deal in shape and materials from +that which she had worn when they first met, and becoming her birth +as the daughter of a great baron, and her rank as the attendant on a +princess. "So, fair page," said she, "eaves-dropping is one of your +page-like qualities, I presume." + +"Fair sister," answered Roland, in the same tone, "if some friends of +mine be as well acquainted with the rest of our mystery as they are with +the arts of swearing, swaggering, and switching, they need ask no page +in Christendom for farther insight into his vocation." + +"Unless that pretty speech infer that you have yourself had the +discipline of the switch since we last met, the probability whereof I +nothing doubt, I profess, fair page, I am at a loss to conjecture your +meaning. But there is no time to debate it now--they come with the +evening meal. Be pleased, Sir Page, to do your duty." + +Four servants entered bearing dishes, preceded by the same stern old +steward whom Roland had already seen, and followed by George Douglas, +already mentioned as the grandson of the Lady of Lochleven, and who, +acting as seneschal, represented, upon this occasion, his father, the +Lord of the Castle. He entered with his arms folded on his bosom, and +his looks bent on the ground. With the assistance of Roland Graeme, a +table was suitably covered in the next or middle apartment, on which +the domestics placed their burdens with great reverence, the steward and +Douglas bending low when they had seen the table properly adorned, as if +their royal prisoner had sat at the board in question. The door opened, +and Douglas, raising his eyes hastily, cast them again on the earth, +when he perceived it was only the Lady Mary Fleming who entered. + +"Her Grace," she said, "will not eat to-night." + +"Let us hope she may be otherwise persuaded," said Douglas; "meanwhile, +madam, please to see our duty performed." + +A servant presented bread and salt on a silver plate, and the old +steward carved for Douglas a small morsel in succession from each of the +dishes presented, which he tasted, as was then the custom at the tables +of princes, to which death was often suspected to find its way in the +disguise of food. + +"The Queen will not then come forth to-night?" said Douglas. + +"She has so determined," replied the lady. + +"Our farther attendance then is unnecessary--we leave you to your +supper, fair ladies, and wish you good even." + +He retired slowly as he came, and with the same air of deep dejection, +and was followed by the attendants belonging to the castle. The two +ladies sate down to their meal, and Roland Graeme, with ready alacrity, +prepared to wait upon them. Catherine Seyton whispered to her companion, +who replied with the question spoken in a low tone, but looking at the +page--"Is he of gentle blood and well nurtured?" + +The answer which she received seemed satisfactory, for she said to +Roland, "Sit down, young gentleman, and eat with your sisters in +captivity." + +"Permit me rather to perform my duty in attending them," said Roland, +anxious to show he was possessed of the high tone of deference +prescribed by the rules of chivalry towards the fair sex, and especially +to dames and maidens of quality. + +"You will find, Sir Page," said Catherine, "you will have little time +allowed you for your meal; waste it not in ceremony, or you may rue your +politeness ere to-morrow morning." + +"Your speech is too free, maiden," said the elder lady; "the modesty of +the youth may teach you more fitting fashions towards one whom to-day +you have seen for the first time." + +Catherine Seyton cast down her eyes, but not till she had given a single +glance of inexpressible archness towards Roland, whom her more grave +companion now addressed in a tone of protection. + +"Regard her not, young gentleman--she knows little of the world, save +the forms of a country nunnery--take thy place at the board-end, and +refresh thyself after thy journey." + +Roland Graeme obeyed willingly, as it was the first food he had that day +tasted; for Lindesay and his followers seemed regardless of human wants. +Yet, notwithstanding the sharpness of his appetite, a natural gallantry +of disposition, the desire of showing himself a well-nurtured gentleman, +in all courtesies towards the fair sex, and, for aught I know, the +pleasure of assisting Catherine Seyton, kept his attention awake, during +the meal, to all those nameless acts of duty and service which gallants +of that age were accustomed to render. He carved with neatness and +decorum, and selected duly whatever was most delicate to place before +the ladies. Ere they could form a wish, he sprung from the table, ready +to comply with it--poured wine--tempered it with water--removed the +exchanged trenchers, and performed the whole honours of the table, with +an air at once of cheerful diligence, profound respect, and graceful +promptitude. + +When he observed that they had finished eating, he hastened to offer to +the elder lady the silver ewer, basin, and napkin, with the ceremony and +gravity which he would have used towards Mary herself. He next, with the +same decorum, having supplied the basin with fair water, presented it +to Catherine Seyton. Apparently, she was determined to disturb his +self-possession, if possible; for, while in the act of bathing her +hands, she contrived, as it were by accident, to flirt some drops of +water upon the face of the assiduous assistant. But if such was her +mischievous purpose she was completely disappointed; for Roland Graeme, +internally piquing himself on his self-command, neither laughed nor was +discomposed; and all that the maiden gained by her frolic was a severe +rebuke from her companion, taxing her with mal-address and indecorum. +Catherine replied not, but sat pouting, something in the humour of a +spoilt child, who watches the opportunity of wreaking upon some one or +other its resentment for a deserved reprimand. + +The Lady Mary Fleming, in the mean-while, was naturally well pleased +with the exact and reverent observance of the page, and said to +Catherine, after a favourable glance at Roland Graeme,--"You might well +say, Catherine, our companion in captivity was well born and gentle +nurtured. I would not make him vain by my praise, but his services +enable us to dispense with those which George Douglas condescends not to +afford us, save when the Queen is herself in presence." + +"Umph! I think hardly," answered Catherine. "George Douglas is one of +the most handsome gallants in Scotland, and 'tis pleasure to see +him even still, when the gloom of Lochleven Castle has shed the same +melancholy over him, that it has done over every thing else. When he was +at Holyrood who would have said the young sprightly George Douglas would +have been contented to play the locksman here in Lochleven, with no +gayer amusement than that of turning the key on two or three helpless +women?--a strange office for a Knight of the Bleeding Heart--why does he +not leave it to his father or his brothers?" + +"Perhaps, like us, he has no choice," answered the Lady Fleming. "But, +Catherine, thou hast used thy brief space at court well, to remember +what George Douglas was then." + +"I used mine eyes, which I suppose was what I was designed to do, and +they were worth using there. When I was at the nunnery, they were very +useless appurtenances; and now I am at Lochleven, they are good for +nothing, save to look over that eternal work of embroidery." + +"You speak thus, when you have been but a few brief hours amongst +us--was this the maiden who would live and die in a dungeon, might she +but have permission to wait on her gracious Queen?" + +"Nay, if you chide in earnest, my jest is ended," said Catherine Seyton. +"I would not yield in attachment to my poor god-mother, to the gravest +dame that ever had wise saws upon her tongue, and a double-starched ruff +around her throat--you know I would not, Dame Mary Fleming, and it is +putting shame on me to say otherwise." + +"She will challenge the other court lady," thought Roland Graeme; "she +will to a certainty fling down her glove, and if Dame Mary Fleming hath +but the soul to lift it, we may have a combat in the lists!"--but the +answer of Lady Mary Fleming was such as turns away wrath. + +"Thou art a good child," she said, "my Catherine, and a faithful; +but Heaven pity him who shall have one day a creature so beautiful to +delight him, and a thing so mischievous to torment him--thou art fit to +drive twenty husbands stark mad." + +"Nay," said Catherine, resuming the full career of her careless +good-humour, "he must be half-witted beforehand, that gives me such +an opportunity. But I am glad you are not angry with me in sincerity," +casting herself as she spoke into the arms of her friend, and +continuing, with a tone of apologetic fondness, while she kissed her +on either side of the face; "you know, my dear Fleming, that I have to +contend with both my father's lofty pride, and with my mother's high +spirit--God bless them! they have left me these good qualities, having +small portion to give besides, as times go--and so I am wilful and +saucy; but let me remain only a week in this castle, and oh, my dear +Fleming, my spirit will be as chastised and humble as thine own." + +Dame Mary Fleming's sense of dignity, and love of form, could not +resist this affectionate appeal. She kissed Catherine Seyton in her turn +affectionately; while, answering the last part of her speech, she said, +"Now Our Lady forbid, dear Catherine, that you should lose aught that +is beseeming of what becomes so well your light heart and lively humour. +Keep but your sharp wit on this side of madness, and it cannot but be +a blessing to us. But let me go, mad wench--I hear her Grace touch her +silver call." And, extricating herself from Catherine's grasp, she went +towards the door of Queen Mary's apartment, from which was heard the low +tone of a silver whistle, which, now only used by the boatswains in the +navy, was then, for want of bells, the ordinary mode by which ladies, +even of the very highest rank, summoned their domestics. When she had +made two or three steps towards the door, however, she turned back, and +advancing to the young couple whom she left together, she said, in a +very serious though a low tone, "I trust it is impossible that we can, +any of us, or in any circumstances, forget, that, few as we are, we form +the household of the Queen of Scotland; and that, in her calamity, all +boyish mirth and childish jesting can only serve to give a great triumph +to her enemies, who have already found their account in objecting to her +the lightness of every idle folly, that the young and the gay practised +in her court." So saying, she left the apartment. + +Catherine Seyton seemed much struck with this remonstrance--She suffered +herself to drop into the seat which she had quitted when she went to +embrace Dame Mary Fleming, and for some time rested her brow upon her +hands; while Roland Graeme looked at her earnestly, with a mixture +of emotions which perhaps he himself could neither have analysed nor +explained. As she raised her face slowly from the posture to which a +momentary feeling of self-rebuke had depressed it, her eyes encountered +those of Roland, and became gradually animated with their usual +spirit of malicious drollery, which not unnaturally excited a similar +expression in those of the equally volatile page. They sat for the space +of two minutes, each looking at the other with great seriousness on +their features, and much mirth in their eyes, until at length Catherine +was the first to break silence. + +"May I pray you, fair sir," she began, very demurely, "to tell me what +you see in my face to arouse looks so extremely sagacious and knowing +as those with which it is your worship's pleasure to honour me? It would +seem as if there were some wonderful confidence and intimacy betwixt us, +fair sir, if one is to judge from your extremely cunning looks; and so +help me, Our Lady, as I never saw you but twice in my life before." + +"And where were those happy occasions," said Roland, "if I may be bold +enough to ask the question?" + +"At the nunnery of St. Catherine's," said the damsel, "in the first +instance; and, in the second, during five minutes of a certain raid or +foray which it was your pleasure to make into the lodging of my lord +and father, Lord Seyton, from which, to my surprise, as probably to +your own, you returned with a token of friendship and favour, instead +of broken bones, which were the more probable reward of your intrusion, +considering the prompt ire of the house of Seyton. I am deeply +mortified," she added, ironically, "that your recollection should +require refreshment on a subject so important; and that my memory should +be stronger than yours on such an occasion, is truly humiliating." + +"Your own, memory is not so exactly correct, fair mistress," answered +the page, "seeing you have forgotten meeting the third, in the hostelrie +of St. Michael's, when it pleased you to lay your switch across the +face of my comrade, in order, I warrant, to show that, in the house of +Seyton, neither the prompt ire of its descendants, nor the use of the +doublet and hose, are subject to Salique law, or confined to the use of +the males." + +"Fair sir," answered Catherine, looking at him with great steadiness, +and some surprise, "unless your fair wits have forsaken you, I am at a +loss what to conjecture of your meaning." + +"By my troth, fair mistress," answered Roland, "and were I as wise a +warlock as Michael Scott, I could scarce riddle the dream you read me. +Did I not see you last night in the hostelrie of St. Michael's?--Did you +not bring me this sword, with command not to draw it save at the command +of my native and rightful Sovereign? And have I not done as you required +me? Or is the sword a piece of lath--my word a bulrush--my memory a +dream--and my eyes good for nought--espials which corbies might pick out +of my head?" + +"And if your eyes serve you not more truly on other occasions than +in your vision of St. Michael," said Catherine, "I know not, the +pain apart, that the corbies would do you any great injury in +the deprivation--But hark, the bell--hush, for God's sake, we are +interrupted.--" + +The damsel was right; for no sooner had the dull toll of the castle bell +begun to resound through the vaulted apartment, than the door of the +vestibule flew open, and the steward, with his severe countenance, his +gold chain, and his white rod, entered the apartment, followed by the +same train of domestics who had placed the dinner on the table, and who +now, with the same ceremonious formality, began to remove it. + +The steward remained motionless as some old picture, while the domestics +did their office; and when it was accomplished, every thing removed from +the table, and the board itself taken from its tressels and disposed +against the wall, he said aloud, without addressing any one in +particular, and somewhat in the tone of a herald reading a proclamation, +"My noble lady, Dame Margaret Erskine, by marriage Douglas, lets the +Lady Mary of Scotland and her attendants to wit, that a servant of the +true evangele, her reverend chaplain, will to-night, as usual, expound, +lecture, and catechise, according to the forms of the congregation of +gospellers." + +"Hark you, my friend, Mr. Dryfesdale," said Catherine, "I understand +this announcement is a nightly form of yours. Now, I pray you to remark, +that the Lady Fleming and I--for I trust your insolent invitation +concerns us only--have chosen Saint Peter's pathway to Heaven, so I see +no one whom your godly exhortation, catechise, or lecture, can benefit, +excepting this poor page, who, being in Satan's hand as well as +yourself, had better worship with you than remain to cumber our +better-advised devotions." + +The page was well-nigh giving a round denial to the assertions which +this speech implied, when, remembering what had passed betwixt him and +the Regent, and seeing Catherine's finger raised in a monitory fashion, +he felt himself, as on former occasions at the Castle of Avenel, obliged +to submit to the task of dissimulation, and followed Dryfesdale down to +the castle chapel, where he assisted in the devotions of the evening. + +The chaplain was named Elias Henderson. He was a man in the prime of +life, and possessed of good natural parts, carefully improved by the +best education which those times afforded. To these qualities were added +a faculty of close and terse reasoning; and, at intervals, a flow of +happy illustration and natural eloquence. The religious faith of Roland +Graeme, as we have already had opportunity to observe, rested on +no secure basis, but was entertained rather in obedience to his +grandmother's behests, and his secret desire to contradict the chaplain +of Avenel Castle, than from any fixed or steady reliance which he placed +on the Romish creed. His ideas had been of late considerably enlarged +by the scenes he had passed through; and feeling that there was shame +in not understanding something of those political disputes betwixt the +professors of the ancient and the reformed faith, he listened with +more attention than it had hitherto been in his nature to yield on such +occasions, to an animated discussion of some of the principal points +of difference betwixt the churches. So passed away the first day in the +Castle of Lochleven; and those which followed it were, for some time, of +a very monotonous and uniform tenor. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Fourth. + + + 'Tis a weary life this-- + Vaults overhead, and grates and bars around me, + And my sad hours spent with as sad companions, + Whose thoughts are brooding: o'er their own mischances, + Far, far too deeply to take part in mine. + THE WOODSMAN. + +The course of life to which Mary and her little retinue were doomed, +was in the last degree secluded and lonely, varied only as the weather +permitted or rendered impossible the Queen's usual walk in the garden or +on the battlements. The greater part of the morning she wrought with her +ladies at those pieces of needlework, many of which still remain proofs +of her indefatigable application. At such hours the page was permitted +the freedom of the castle and islet; nay, he was sometimes invited to +attend George Douglas when he went a-sporting upon the lake, or on +its margin; opportunities of diversion which were only clouded by the +remarkable melancholy which always seemed to brood on that gentleman's +brow, and to mark his whole demeanour,--a sadness so profound, that +Roland never observed him to smile, or to speak any word unconnected +with the immediate object of their exercise. + +The most pleasant part of Roland's day, was the occasional space which +he was permitted to pass in personal attendance on the Queen and her +ladies, together with the regular dinner-time, which he always spent +with Dame Mary Fleming and Catharine Seyton. At these periods, he had +frequent occasion to admire the lively spirit and inventive imagination +of the latter damsel, who was unwearied in her contrivances to amuse +her mistress, and to banish, for a time at least, the melancholy which +preyed on her bosom. She danced, she sung, she recited tales of ancient +and modern times, with that heartfelt exertion of talent, of which the +pleasure lies not in the vanity of displaying it to others, but in the +enthusiastic consciousness that we possess it ourselves. And yet these +high accomplishments were mixed with an air of rusticity and harebrained +vivacity, which seemed rather to belong to some village maid, the +coquette of the ring around the Maypole, than to the high-bred +descendant of an ancient baron. A touch of audacity, altogether short +of effrontery, and far less approaching to vulgarity, gave as it were a +wildness to all that she did; and Mary, while defending her from some +of the occasional censures of her grave companion, compared her to a +trained singing-bird escaped from a cage, which practises in all the +luxuriance of freedom, and in full possession of the greenwood bough, +the airs which it had learned during its earlier captivity. + +The moments which the page was permitted to pass in the presence of this +fascinating creature, danced so rapidly away, that, brief as they were, +they compensated the weary dulness of all the rest of the day. The +space of indulgence, however, was always brief, nor were any private +interviews betwixt him and Catharine permitted, or even possible. +Whether it were some special precaution respecting the Queen's +household, or whether it were her general ideas of propriety, Dame +Fleming seemed particularly attentive to prevent the young people +from holding any separate correspondence together, and bestowed, for +Catharine's sole benefit in this matter, the full stock of prudence and +experience which she had acquired, when mother of the Queen's maidens +of honour, and by which she had gained their hearty hatred. Casual +meetings, however, could not be prevented, unless Catherine had been +more desirous of shunning, or Roland Graeme less anxious in watching for +them. A smile, a gibe, a sarcasm, disarmed of its severity by the arch +look with which it was accompanied, was all that time permitted to pass +between them on such occasions. But such passing interviews neither +afforded means nor opportunity to renew the discussion of the +circumstances attending their earlier acquaintance, nor to permit Roland +to investigate more accurately the mysterious apparition of the page in +the purple velvet cloak at the hostelrie of Saint Michael's. + +The winter months slipped heavily away, and spring was already advanced, +when Roland Graeme observed a gradual change in the manners of his +fellow-prisoners. Having no business of his own to attend to, and being, +like those of his age, education, and degree, sufficiently curious +concerning what passed around, he began by degrees to suspect, and +finally to be convinced, that there was something in agitation among his +companions in captivity, to which they did not desire that he should be +privy. Nay, he became almost certain that, by some means unintelligible +to him, Queen Mary held correspondence beyond the walls and waters which +surrounded her prison-house, and that she nourished some secret hope +of deliverance or escape. In the conversations betwixt her and her +attendants, at which he was necessarily present, the Queen could not +always avoid showing that she was acquainted with the events which were +passing abroad in the world, and which he only heard through her report. +He observed that she wrote more and worked less than had been her former +custom, and that, as if desirous to lull suspicion asleep, she changed +her manner towards the Lady Lochleven into one more gracious, and which +seemed to express a resigned submission to her lot. "They think I am +blind," he said to himself, "and that I am unfit to be trusted because +I am so young, or it may be because I was sent hither by the Regent. +Well!--be it so--they may be glad to confide in me in the long run; +and Catherine Seyton, for as saucy as she is, may find me as safe a +confidant as that sullen Douglas, whom she is always running after. It +may be they are angry with me for listening to Master Elias Henderson; +but it was their own fault for sending me there, and if the man speaks +truth and good sense, and preaches only the word of God, he is as likely +to be right as either Pope or Councils." + +It is probable that in this last conjecture, Roland Graeme had hit upon +the real cause why the ladies had not intrusted him with their councils. +He had of late had several conferences with Henderson on the subject of +religion, and had given him to understand that he stood in need of his +instructions, although he had not thought there was either prudence or +necessity for confessing that hitherto he had held the tenets of the +Church of Rome. + +Elias Henderson, a keen propagator of the reformed faith, had sought the +seclusion of Lochleven Castle, with the express purpose and expectation +of making converts from Rome amongst the domestics of the dethroned +Queen, and confirming the faith of those who already held the Protestant +doctrines. Perhaps his hopes soared a little higher, and he might +nourish some expectation of a proselyte more distinguished in the person +of the deposed Queen. But the pertinacity with which she and her female +attendants refused to see or listen to him, rendered such hope, if he +nourished it, altogether abortive. + +The opportunity, therefore, of enlarging the religious information of +Roland Graeme, and bringing him to a more due sense of his duties to +Heaven, was hailed by the good man as a door opened by Providence +for the salvation of a sinner. He dreamed not, indeed, that he was +converting a Papist, but such was the ignorance which Roland displayed +upon some material points of the reformed doctrine, that Master +Henderson, while praising his docility to the Lady Lochleven and her +grandson, seldom failed to add, that his venerable brother, Henry +Warden, must be now decayed in strength and in mind, since he found a +catechumen of his flock so ill-grounded in the principles of his belief. +For this, indeed, Roland Graeme thought it was unnecessary to assign the +true reason, which was his having made it a point of honour to forget +all that Henry Warden taught him, as soon as he was no longer compelled +to read it over as a lesson acquired by rote. The lessons of his new +instructor, if not more impressively delivered, were received by a more +willing ear, and a more awakened understanding, and the solitude of +Lochleven Castle was favourable to graver thoughts than the page had +hitherto entertained. He wavered yet, indeed, as one who was almost +persuaded; but his attention to the chaplain's instructions procured him +favour even with the stern old dame herself; and he was once or twice, +but under great precaution, permitted to go to the neighbouring +village of Kinross, situated on the mainland, to execute some ordinary +commission of his unfortunate mistress. + +For some time Roland Graeme might be considered as standing neuter +betwixt the two parties who inhabited the water-girdled Tower of +Lochleven; but, as he rose in the opinion of the Lady of the Castle and +her chaplain, he perceived, with great grief, that he lost ground in +that of Mary and her female allies. + +He came gradually to be sensible that he was regarded as a spy upon +their discourse, and that, instead of the ease with which they had +formerly conversed in his presence, without suppressing any of the +natural feelings of anger, of sorrow, or mirth, which the chance topic +of the moment happened to call forth, their talk was now guardedly +restricted to the most indifferent subjects, and a studied reserve +observed even in their mode of treating these. This obvious want of +confidence was accompanied with a correspondent change in their personal +demeanor towards the unfortunate page. The Queen, who had at first +treated him with marked courtesy, now scarce spoke to him, save +to convey some necessary command for her service. The Lady Fleming +restricted her notice to the most dry and distant expressions of +civility, and Catherine Seyton became bitter in her pleasantries, and +shy, cross, and pettish, in any intercourse they had together. What was +yet more provoking, he saw, or thought he saw, marks of intelligence +betwixt George Douglas and the beautiful Catherine Seyton; and, +sharpened by jealousy, he wrought himself almost into a certainty, that +the looks which they exchanged, conveyed matters of deep and serious +import. "No wonder," he thought, "if, courted by the son of a proud +and powerful baron, she can no longer spare a word or look to the poor +fortuneless page." + +In a word, Roland Graeme's situation became truly disagreeable, and his +heart naturally enough rebelled against the injustice of this treatment, +which deprived him of the only comfort which he had received for +submitting to a confinement in other respects irksome. He accused Queen +Mary and Catherine Seyton (for concerning the opinion of Dame Fleming +he was indifferent) of inconsistency in being displeased with him on +account of the natural consequences of an order of their own. Why did +they send him to hear this overpowering preacher? The Abbot Ambrosius, +he recollected, understood the weakness of their Popish cause better, +when he enjoined him to repeat within his own mind, _aves_, and +_credos_, and _paters_, all the while old Henry Warden preached or +lectured, that so he might secure himself against lending even a +momentary ear to his heretical doctrine. "But I will endure this life no +longer," said he to himself, manfully; "do they suppose I would betray +my mistress, because I see cause to doubt of her religion?--that would +be a serving, as they say, the devil for God's sake. I will forth into +the world--he that serves fair ladies, may at least expect kind looks +and kind words; and I bear not the mind of a gentleman, to submit to +cold treatment and suspicion, and a life-long captivity besides. I will +speak to George Douglas to-morrow when we go out a-fishing." + +A sleepless night was spent in agitating this magnanimous resolution, +and he arose in the morning not perfectly decided in his own mind +whether he should abide by it or not. It happened that he was summoned +by the Queen at an unusual hour, and just as he was about to go out with +George Douglas. He went to attend her commands in, the garden; but as he +had his angling-rod in his hand, the circumstance announced his previous +intention, and the Queen, turning to the Lady Fleming, said, "Catherine +must devise some other amusement for us, _ma bonnie amie_; our discreet +page has already made his party for the day's pleasure." + +"I said from the beginning," answered the Lady Fleming, "that your Grace +ought not to rely on being favoured with the company of a youth who has +so many Huguenot acquaintances, and has the means of amusing himself far +more agreeably than with us." + +"I wish," said Catherine, her animated features reddening with +mortification, "that his friends would sail away with him for good, and +bring us in return a page (if such a thing can be found) faithful to his +Queen and to his religion." + +"One part of your wishes may be granted, madam," said Roland Graeme, +unable any longer to restrain his sense of the treatment which he +received on all sides; and he was about to add, "I heartily wish you a +companion in my room, if such can be found, who is capable of enduring +women's caprices without going distracted." Luckily, he recollected the +remorse which he had felt at having given way to the vivacity of his +temper upon a similar occasion; and, closing his lips, imprisoned, +until it died on his tongue, a reproach so misbecoming the presence of +majesty. + +"Why do you remain there," said the Queen, "as if you were rooted to the +parterre?" + +"I but attend your Grace's commands," said the page. + +"I have none to give you--Begone, sir." + +As he left the garden to go to the boat, he distinctly heard Mary +upbraid one of her attendants in these words:--"You see to what you have +exposed us!" + +This brief scene at once determined Roland Graeme's resolution to quit +the castle, if it were possible, and to impart his resolution to George +Douglas without loss of time. That gentleman, in his usual mood of +silence, sate in the stern of the little skiff which they used on +such occasions, trimming his fishing-tackle, and, from time to time, +indicating by signs to Graeme, who pulled the oars, which way he should +row. When they were a furlong or two from the castle, Roland rested +on the oars, and addressed his companion somewhat abruptly,--"I have +something of importance to say to you, under your pleasure, fair sir." + +The pensive melancholy of Douglas's countenance at once gave way to the +eager, keen, and startled look of one who expects to hear something of +deep and alarming import. + +"I am wearied to the very death of this Castle of Lochleven," continued +Roland. + +"Is that all?" said Douglas; "I know none of its inhabitants who are +much better pleased with it." + +"Ay, but I am neither a native of the house, nor a prisoner in it, and +so I may reasonably desire to leave it." + +"You might desire to quit it with equal reason," answered Douglas, "if +you were both the one and the other." + +"But," said Roland Graeme, "I am not only tired of living in Lochleven +Castle, but I am determined to quit it." + +"That is a resolution more easily taken than executed," replied Douglas. + +"Not if yourself, sir, and your Lady Mother, choose to consent," +answered the page. + +"You mistake the matter, Roland," said Douglas; "you will find that the +consent of two other persons is equally essential--that of the Lady Mary +your mistress, and that of my uncle the Regent, who placed you about +her person, and who will not think it proper that she should change her +attendants so soon." + +"And must I then remain whether I will or no?" demanded the page, +somewhat appalled at a view of the subject, which would have occurred +sooner to a person of more experience. + +"At least," said George Douglas, "you must will to remain till my uncle +consents to dismiss you." + +"Frankly," said the page, "and speaking to you as a gentleman who is +incapable of betraying me, I will confess, that if I thought myself a +prisoner here, neither walls nor water should confine me long." + +"Frankly," said Douglas, "I could not much blame you for the attempt; +yet, for all that, my father, or uncle, or the earl, or any of my +brothers, or in short any of the king's lords into whose hands you fell, +would in such a case hang you like a dog, or like a sentinel who deserts +his post; and I promise you that you will hardly escape them. But row +towards Saint Serf's island--there is a breeze from the west, and we +shall have sport, keeping to windward of the isle, where the ripple is +strongest. We will speak more of what you have mentioned when we have +had an hour's sport." + +Their fishing was successful, though never did two anglers pursue even +that silent and unsocial pleasure with less of verbal intercourse. + +When their time was expired, Douglas took the oars in his turn, and by +his order Roland Graeme steered the boat, directing her course upon the +landing-place at the castle. But he also stopped in the midst of his +course, and, looking around him, said to Graeme, "There is a thing which +I could mention to thee; but it is so deep a secret, that even here, +surrounded as we are by sea and sky, without the possibility of a +listener, I cannot prevail on myself to speak it out." + +"Better leave it unspoken, sir," answered Roland Graeme, "if you doubt +the honour of him who alone can hear it." + +"I doubt not your honour," replied George Douglas; "but you are young, +imprudent, and changeful." + +"Young," said Roland, "I am, and it may be imprudent--but who hath +informed you that I am changeful?" + +"One that knows you, perhaps, better than you know yourself," replied +Douglas. + +"I suppose you mean Catherine Seyton," said the page, his heart rising +as he spoke; "but she is herself fifty times more variable in her humour +than the very water which we are floating upon." + +"My young acquaintance," said Douglas, "I pray you to remember that +Catherine Seyton is a lady of blood and birth, and must not be lightly +spoken of." + +"Master George of Douglas," said Graeme, "as that speech seemed to +be made under the warrant of something like a threat, I pray you to +observe, that I value not the threat at the estimation of a fin of one +of these dead trouts; and, moreover, I would have you to know that the +champion who undertakes the defence of every lady of blood and birth, +whom men accuse of change of faith and of fashion, is like to have +enough of work on his hands." + +"Go to," said the Seneschal, but in a tone of good-humour, "thou art a +foolish boy, unfit to deal with any matter more serious than the casting +of a net, or the flying of a hawk." + +"If your secret concern Catherine Seyton," said the page, "I care not +for it, and so you may tell her if you will. I wot she can shape you +opportunity to speak with her, as she has ere now." + +The flush which passed over Douglas's face, made the page aware that he +had alighted on a truth, when he was, in fact, speaking at random; and +the feeling that he had done so, was like striking a dagger into his +own heart. His companion, without farther answer, resumed the oars, +and pulled lustily till they arrived at the island and the castle. +The servants received the produce of their spoil, and the two fishers, +turning from each other in silence, went each to his several apartment. + +Roland Graeme had spent about an hour in grumbling against Catherine +Seyton, the Queen, the Regent, and the whole house of Lochleven, with +George Douglas at the head of it, when the time approached that his duty +called him to attend the meal of Queen Mary. As he arranged his dress +for this purpose, he grudged the trouble, which, on similar occasions, +he used, with boyish foppery, to consider as one of the most important +duties of his day; and when he went to take his place behind the chair +of the Queen, it was with an air of offended dignity, which could not +escape her observation, and probably appeared to her ridiculous enough, +for she whispered something in French to her ladies, at which the +lady Fleming laughed, and Catherine appeared half diverted and half +disconcerted. This pleasantry, of which the subject was concealed from +him, the unfortunate page received, of course, as a new offence, and +called an additional degree of sullen dignity into his mien, which might +have exposed him to farther raillery, but that Mary appeared disposed to +make allowance for and compassionate his feelings. + +With the peculiar tact and delicacy which no woman possessed in greater +perfection, she began to soothe by degrees the vexed spirit of her +magnanimous attendant. The excellence of the fish which he had taken in +his expedition, the high flavour and beautiful red colour of the trouts, +which have long given distinction to the lake, led her first to express +her thanks to her attendant for so agreeable an addition to her table, +especially upon a _jour de jeune_; and then brought on inquiries +into the place where the fish had been taken, their size, their +peculiarities, the times when they were in season, and a comparison +between the Lochleven trouts and those which are found in the lakes and +rivers of the south of Scotland. The ill humour of Roland Graeme was +never of an obstinate character. It rolled away like mist before the +sun, and he was easily engaged in a keen and animated dissertation about +Lochleven trout, and sea trout, and river trout, and bull trout, and +char, which never rise to a fly, and par, which some suppose infant +salmon, and _herlings_, which frequent the Nith, and _vendisses_, which +are only found in the Castle-Loch of Lochmaben; and he was hurrying on +with the eager impetuosity and enthusiasm of a young sportsman, when he +observed that the smile with which the Queen at first listened to him +died languidly away, and that, in spite of her efforts to suppress them, +tears rose to her eyes. He stopped suddenly short, and, distressed +in his turn, asked, "If he had the misfortune unwittingly to give +displeasure to her Grace?" + +"No, my poor boy," replied the Queen; "but as you numbered up the lakes +and rivers of my kingdom, imagination cheated me, as it will do, and +snatched me from these dreary walls away to the romantic streams of +Nithsdale, and the royal towers of Lochmaben.--O land, which my fathers +have so long ruled! of the pleasures which you extend so freely, your +Queen is now deprived, and the poorest beggar, who may wander free from +one landward town to another, would scorn to change fates with Mary of +Scotland!" + +"Your highness," said the Lady Fleming, "will do well to withdraw." + +"Come with me, then, Fleming," said the Queen, "I would not burden +hearts so young as these are, with the sight of my sorrows." + +She accompanied these words with a look of melancholy compassion towards +Roland and Catherine, who were now left alone together in the apartment. + +The page found his situation not a little embarrassing; for, as every +reader has experienced who may have chanced to be in such a situation, +it is extremely difficult to maintain the full dignity of an offended +person in the presence of a beautiful girl, whatever reason we may have +for being angry with her. Catherine Seyton, on her part, sate still +like a lingering ghost, which, conscious of the awe which its presence +imposes, is charitably disposed to give the poor confused mortal whom +it visits, time to recover his senses, and comply with the grand rule of +demonology by speaking first. But as Roland seemed in no hurry to avail +himself of her condescension, she carried it a step farther, and herself +opened the conversation. + +"I pray you, fair sir, if it may be permitted me to disturb your august +reverie by a question so simple,--what may have become of your rosary?" + +"It is lost, madam--lost some time since," said Roland, partly +embarrassed and partly indignant. + +"And may I ask farther, sir," said Catherine, "why you have not replaced +it with another?--I have half a mind," she said, taking from her pocket +a string of ebony beads adorned with gold, "to bestow one upon you, to +keep for my sake, just to remind you of former acquaintance." + +There was a little tremulous accent in the tone with which these words +were delivered, which at once put to flight Roland Graeme's resentment, +and brought him to Catherine's side; but she instantly resumed the bold +and firm accent which was more familiar to her. "I did not bid you," she +said, "come and sit so close by me; for the acquaintance that I spoke +of, has been stiff and cold, dead and buried, for this many a day." + +"Now Heaven forbid!" said the page, "it has only slept, and now that you +desire it should awake, fair Catherine, believe me that a pledge of your +returning favour--" + +"Nay, nay," said Catherine, withholding the rosary, towards which, as +he spoke, he extended his hand, "I have changed my mind on better +reflection. What should a heretic do with these holy beads, that have +been blessed by the father of the church himself?" + +Roland winced grievously, for he saw plainly which way the discourse was +now likely to tend, and felt that it must at all events be embarrassing. +"Nay, but," he said, "it was as a token of your own regard that you +offered them." + +"Ay, fair sir, but that regard attended the faithful subject, the loyal +and pious Catholic, the individual who was so solemnly devoted at +the same time with myself to the same grand duty; which, you must now +understand, was to serve the church and Queen. To such a person, if you +ever heard of him, was my regard due, and not to him who associates with +heretics, and is about to become a renegado." + +"I should scarce believe, fair mistress," said Roland, indignantly, +"that the vane of your favour turned only to a Catholic wind, +considering that it points so plainly to George Douglas, who, I think, +is both kingsman and Protestant." + +"Think better of George Douglas," said Catherine, "than to believe--" +and then checking herself, as if she had spoken too much, she went on, +"I assure you, fair Master Roland, that all who wish you well are sorry +for you." + +"Their number is very few, I believe," answered Roland, "and their +sorrow, if they feel any, not deeper than ten minutes' time will cure." + +"They are more numerous, and think more deeply concerning you, than +you seem to be aware," answered Catherine. "But perhaps they think +wrong--You are the best judge in your own affairs; and if you prefer +gold and church-lands to honour and loyalty, and the faith of your +fathers, why should you be hampered in conscience more than others?" + +"May Heaven bear witness for me," said Roland, "that if I entertain +any difference of opinion--that is, if I nourish any doubts in point of +religion, they have been adopted on the conviction of my own mind, and +the suggestion of my own conscience!" + +"Ay, ay, your conscience--your conscience!" repeated she with satiric +emphasis; "your conscience is the scape-goat; I warrant it an able +one--it will bear the burden of one of the best manors of the Abbey of +Saint Mary of Kennaquhair, lately forfeited to our noble Lord the King, +by the Abbot and community thereof, for the high crime of fidelity +to their religious vows, and now to be granted by the High and Mighty +Traitor, and so forth, James Earl of Murray, to the good squire of dames +Roland Graeme, for his loyal and faithful service as under-espial, and +deputy-turnkey, for securing the person of his lawful sovereign, Queen +Mary." + +"You misconstrue me cruelly," said the page; "yes, Catherine, most +cruelly--God knows I would protect this poor lady at the risk of my +life, or with my life; but what can I do--what can any one do for her?" + +"Much may be done--enough may be done--all may be done--if men will be +but true and honourable, as Scottish men were in the days of Bruce and +Wallace. Oh, Roland, from what an enterprise you are now withdrawing +your heart and hand, through mere fickleness and coldness of spirit!" + +"How can I withdraw," said Roland, "from an enterprise which has never +been communicated to me?--Has the Queen, or have you, or has any +one, communicated with me upon any thing for her service which I have +refused? Or have you not, all of you, held me at such distance from +your counsels, as if I were the most faithless spy since the days +of Ganelon?" [Footnote: Gan, Gano, or Ganelon of Mayence, is in +the Romances on the subject of Charlemagne and his Paladins, always +represented as the traitor by whom the Christian champions are +betrayed.] + +"And who," said Catherine Seyton, "would trust the sworn friend, and +pupil, and companion, of the heretic preacher Henderson? ay--a proper +tutor you have chosen, instead of the excellent Ambrosius, who is now +turned out of house and homestead, if indeed he is not languishing in +a dungeon, for withstanding the tyranny of Morton, to whose brother the +temporalities of that noble house of God have been gifted away by the +Regent." + +"Is it possible?" said the page; "and is the excellent Father Ambrose in +such distress?" + +"He would account the news of your falling away from the faith of your +fathers," answered Catherine, "a worse mishap than aught that tyranny +can inflict on himself." + +"But why," said Roland, very much moved, "why should you suppose +that--that--that it is with me as you say?" + +"Do you yourself deny it?" replied Catherine; "do you not admit that you +have drunk the poison which you should have dashed from your lips?--Do +you deny that it now ferments in your veins, if it has not altogether +corrupted the springs of life?--Do you deny that you have your doubts, +as you proudly term them, respecting what popes and councils have +declared it unlawful to doubt of?--Is not your faith wavering, if not +overthrown?--Does not the heretic preacher boast his conquest?--Does +not the heretic woman of this prison-house hold up thy example to +others?--Do not the Queen and the Lady Fleming believe in thy falling +away?--And is there any except one--yes, I will speak it out, and think +as lightly as you please of my good-will--is there one except myself +that holds even a lingering hope that you may yet prove what we once all +believed of you?" + +"I know not," said our poor page, much embarrassed by the view which was +thus presented to him of the conduct he was expected to pursue, and by +a person in whom he was not the less interested that, though long a +resident in Lochleven Castle, with no object so likely to attract his +undivided attention, no lengthened interview had taken place since they +had first met,--"I know not what you expect of me, or fear from me. I +was sent hither to attend Queen Mary, and to her I acknowledge the duty +of a servant through life and death. If any one had expected service +of another kind, I was not the party to render it. I neither avow +nor disclaim the doctrines of the reformed church.--Will you have the +truth?--It seems to me that the profligacy of the Catholic clergy has +brought this judgment on their own heads, and, for aught I know, it may +be for their reformation. But, for betraying this unhappy Queen, God +knows I am guiltless of the thought. Did I even believe worse of her, +than as her servant I wish--as her subject I dare to do--I would not +betray her--far from it--I would aid her in aught which could tend to a +fair trial of her cause." + +"Enough! enough!" answered Catherine, clasping her hands together; "then +thou wilt not desert us if any means are presented, by which, placing +our Royal Mistress at freedom, this case may be honestly tried betwixt +her and her rebellious subjects?" + +"Nay--but, fair Catherine," replied the page, "hear but what the Lord of +Murray said when he sent me hither."-- + +"Hear but what the devil said," replied the maiden, "rather than what +a false subject, a false brother, a false counsellor, a false friend, +said! A man raised from a petty pensioner on the crown's bounty, to be +the counsellor of majesty, and the prime distributor of the bounties of +the state;--one with whom rank, fortune, title, consequence, and power, +all grew up like a mushroom, by the mere warm good-will of the sister, +whom, in requital, he hath mewed up in this place of melancholy +seclusion--whom, in farther requital, he has deposed, and whom, if he +dared, he would murder!" + +"I think not so ill of the Earl of Murray," said Roland Graeme; "and +sooth to speak," he added, with a smile, "it would require some bribe to +make me embrace, with firm and desperate resolution, either one side or +the other." + +"Nay, if that is all," replied Catherine Seyton, in a tone of +enthusiasm, "you shall be guerdoned with prayers from oppressed +subjects--from dispossessed clergy--from insulted nobles--with immortal +praise by future ages--with eager gratitude by the present--with fame +on earth, and with felicity in heaven! Your country will thank you--your +Queen will be debtor to you--you will achieve at once the highest from +the lowest degree in chivalry--all men will honour, all women will +love you--and I, sworn with you so early to the accomplishment of Queen +Mary's freedom, will--yes, I will--love you better than--ever sister +loved brother!" "Say on--say on!" whispered Roland, kneeling on +one knee, and taking her hand, which, in the warmth of exhortation, +Catherine held towards him. + +"Nay," said she, pausing, "I have already said too much--far too much, +if I prevail not with you--far too little if I do. But I prevail," +she continued, seeing that the countenance of the youth she addressed +returned the enthusiasm of her own--"I prevail; or rather the good cause +prevails through its own strength--thus I devote thee to it." And as +she spoke she approached her finger to the brow of the astonished youth, +and, without touching it, signed the cross over his forehead--stooped +her face towards him, and seemed to kiss the empty space in which she +had traced the symbol; then starting up, and extricating herself from +his grasp, darted into the Queen's apartment. + +Roland Graeme remained as the enthusiastic maiden had left him, kneeling +on one knee, with breath withheld, and with eyes fixed upon the space +which the fairy form of Catherine Seyton had so lately occupied. If +his thoughts were not of unmixed delight, they at least partook of that +thrilling and intoxicating, though mingled sense of pain and pleasure, +the most over-powering which life offers in its blended cup. He rose and +retired slowly; and although the chaplain Mr. Henderson preached on that +evening his best sermon against the errors of Popery, I would not engage +that he was followed accurately through the train of his reasoning +by the young proselyte, with a view to whose especial benefit he had +handled the subject. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Fifth. + + + And when love's torch hath set the heart in flame, + Comes Seignor Reason, with his saws and cautions, + Giving such aid as the old gray-beard Sexton, + Who from the church-vault drags the crazy engine, + To ply its dribbling ineffectual streamlet + Against a conflagration. + OLD PLAY. + +In a musing mood, Roland Graeme upon the ensuing morning betook himself +to the battlements of the Castle, as a spot where he might indulge the +course of his thick-coming fancies with least chance of interruption. +But his place of retirement was in the present case ill chosen, for he +was presently joined by Mr. Elias Henderson. + +"I sought you, young man," said the preacher, "having to speak of +something which concerns you nearly." + +The page had no pretence for avoiding the conference which the chaplain +thus offered, though he felt that it might prove an embarrassing one. + +"In teaching thee, as far as my feeble knowledge hath permitted, thy +duty towards God," said the chaplain, "there are particulars of your +duty towards man, upon which I was unwilling long or much to insist. +You are here in the service of a lady, honourable as touching her birth, +deserving of all compassion as respects her misfortunes, and garnished +with even but too many of those outward qualities which win men's regard +and affection. Have you ever considered your regard to this Lady Mary of +Scotland, in its true light and bearing?" + +"I trust, reverend sir," replied Roland Graeme, "that I am well aware +of the duties a servant in my condition owes to his royal mistress, +especially in her lowly and distressed condition." + +"True," answered the preacher; "but it is even that honest feeling +which may, in the Lady Mary's case, carry thee into great crime and +treachery." + +"How so, reverend sir?" replied the page; "I profess I understand you +not." + +"I speak to you not of the crimes of this ill-advised lady," said the +preacher; "they are not subjects for the ears of her sworn servant. But +it is enough to say, that this unhappy person hath rejected more offers +of grace, and more hopes of glory, than ever were held out to +earthly princes; and that she is now, her day of favour being passed, +sequestered in this lonely castle, for the common weal of the people of +Scotland, and it may be for the benefit of her own soul." + +"Reverend sir," said Roland, somewhat impatiently, "I am but too well +aware that my unfortunate mistress is imprisoned, since I have the +misfortune to share in her restraint myself--of which, to speak sooth, I +am heartily weary." + +"It is even of that which I am about to speak," said the chaplain, +mildly; "but, first, my good Roland, look forth on the pleasant prospect +of yonder cultivated plain. You see, where the smoke arises, yonder +village standing half hidden by the trees, and you know it to be the +dwelling-place of peace and industry. From space to space, each by the +side of its own stream, you see the gray towers of barons, with cottages +interspersed; and you know that they also, with their household, are now +living in unity; the lance hung upon the wall, and the sword resting +in its sheath. You see, too, more than one fair church, where the pure +waters of life are offered to the thirsty, and where the hungry are +refreshed with spiritual food.--What would he deserve, who should bring +fire and slaughter into so fair and happy a scene--who should bare the +swords of the gentry and turn them against each other--who should give +tower and cottage to the flames, and slake the embers with the blood +of the indwellers?--What would he deserve who should lift up again that +ancient Dagon of Superstition, whom the worthies of the time have beaten +down, and who should once more make the churches of God the high places +of Baal?" + +"You have limned a frightful picture, reverend sir," said Roland Graeme; +"yet I guess not whom you would charge with the purpose of effecting a +change so horrible." + +"God forbid," replied the preacher, "that I should say to thee, Thou art +the man.--Yet beware, Roland Graeme, that thou, in serving thy mistress, +hold fast the still higher service which thou owest to the peace of thy +country, and the prosperity of her inhabitants; else, Roland Graeme, +thou mayest be the very man upon whose head will fall the curses and +assured punishment due to such work. If thou art won by the song of +these sirens to aid that unhappy lady's escape from this place of +penitence and security, it is over with the peace of Scotland's +cottages, and with the prosperity of her palaces--and the babe unborn +shall curse the name of the man who gave inlet to the disorder which +will follow the war betwixt the mother and the son." + +"I know of no such plan, reverend sir," answered the page, "and +therefore can aid none such.--My duty towards the Queen has been +simply that of an attendant; it is a task, of which, at times, I would +willingly have been freed; nevertheless--" + +"It is to prepare thee for the enjoyment of something more of liberty," +said the preacher, "that I have endeavoured to impress upon you the +deep responsibility under which your office must be discharged. George +Douglas hath told the Lady Lochleven that you are weary of this service, +and my intercession hath partly determined her good ladyship, that, as +your discharge cannot be granted, you shall, instead, be employed in +certain commissions on the mainland, which have hitherto been discharged +by other persons of confidence. Wherefore, come with me to the lady, for +even to-day such duty will be imposed on you." + +"I trust you will hold me excused, reverend sir," said the page, who +felt that an increase of confidence on the part of the Lady of the +Castle and her family would render his situation in a moral view doubly +embarrassing, "one cannot serve two masters--and I much fear that my +mistress will not hold me excused for taking employment under another." + +"Fear not that," said the preacher; "her consent shall be asked and +obtained. I fear she will yield it but too easily, as hoping to avail +herself of your agency to maintain correspondence with her friends, as +those falsely call themselves, who would make her name the watchword for +civil war." + +"And thus," said the page, "I shall be exposed to suspicion on all +sides; for my mistress will consider me as a spy placed on her by her +enemies, seeing me so far trusted by them; and the Lady Lochleven will +never cease to suspect the possibility of my betraying her, because +circumstances put it into my power to do so--I would rather remain as I +am." + +There followed a pause of one or two minutes, during which Henderson +looked steadily in Roland's countenance, as if desirous to ascertain +whether there was not more in the answer than the precise words seemed +to imply. He failed in this point, however; for Roland, bred a page from +childhood, knew how to assume a sullen pettish cast of countenance, well +enough calculated to hide all internal emotions. + +"I understand thee not, Roland," said the preacher, "or rather thou +thinkest on this matter more deeply than I apprehended to be in thy +nature. Methought, the delight of going on shore with thy bow, or thy +gun, or thy angling-rod, would have borne away all other feelings." + +"And so it would," replied Roland, who perceived the danger of suffering +Henderson's half-raised suspicions to become fully awake,--"I would have +thought of nothing but the gun and the oar, and the wild water-fowl that +tempt me by sailing among the sedges yonder so far out of flight-shot, +had you not spoken of my going on shore as what was to occasion burning +of town and tower, the downfall of the evangele, and the upsetting of +the mass." + +"Follow me, then," said Henderson, "and we will seek the Lady +Lochleven." + +They found her at breakfast with her grandson George Douglas.--"Peace be +with your ladyship!" said the preacher, bowing to his patroness; "Roland +Graeme awaits your order." + +"Young man," said the lady, "our chaplain hath warranted for thy +fidelity, and we are determined to give you certain errands to do for us +in our town of Kinross." + +"Not by my advice," said Douglas, coldly. + +"I said not that it was," answered the lady, something sharply. "The +mother of thy father may, I should think, be old enough to judge for +herself in a matter so simple.--Thou wilt take the skiff, Roland, and +two of my people, whom Dryfesdale or Randal will order out, and fetch +off certain stuff of plate and hangings, which should last night be +lodged at Kinross by the wains from Edinburgh." + +"And give this packet," said George Douglas, "to a servant of ours, +whom you will find in waiting there.--It is the report to my father," +he added, looking towards his grandmother, who acquiesced by bending her +head. + +"I have already mentioned to Master Henderson," said Roland Graeme, +"that as my duty requires my attendance on the Queen, her Grace's +permission for my journey ought to be obtained before I can undertake +your commission." + +"Look to it, my son," said the old lady, "the scruple of the youth is +honourable." + +"Craving your pardon, madam, I have no wish to force myself on her +presence thus early," said. Douglas, in an indifferent tone; "it might +displease her, and were no way agreeable to me." + +"And I," said the Lady Lochleven, "although her temper hath been more +gentle of late, have no will to undergo, without necessity, the rancour +of her wit." + +"Under your permission, madam," said the chaplain, "I will myself render +your request to the Queen. During my long residence in this house she +hath not deigned to see me in private, or to hear my doctrine; yet so +may Heaven prosper my labours, as love for her soul, and desire to bring +her into the right path, was my chief desire for coming hither." + +"Take care, Master Henderson," said Douglas, in a tone which seemed +almost sarcastic, "lest you rush hastily on an adventure to which you +have no vocation--you are learned, and know the adage, _Ne accesseris in +consilium nisi vocatus_.--Who hath required this at your hand?" + +"The Master to whose service I am called," answered the preacher, +looking upward,--"He who hath commanded me to be earnest in season and +out of season." + +"Your acquaintance hath not been much, I think, with courts or princes," +continued the young Esquire. + +"No, sir," replied Henderson, "but like my Master Knox, I see nothing +frightful in the fair face of a pretty lady." + +"My son," said the Lady of Lochleven, "quench not the good man's +zeal--let him do the errand to this unhappy Princess." + +"With more willingness than I would do it myself," said George Douglas. +Yet something in his manner appeared to contradict his words. + +The minister went accordingly, followed by Roland Graeme, and, demanding +an audience of the imprisoned Princess, was admitted. He found her with +her ladies engaged in the daily task of embroidery. The Queen received +him with that courtesy, which, in ordinary cases, she used towards all +who approached her, and the clergyman, in opening his commission, was +obviously somewhat more embarrassed than he had expected to be.--"The +good Lady of Lochleven--may it please your Grace--" + +He made a short pause, during which Mary said, with a smile, "My Grace +would, in truth, be well pleased, were the Lady Lochleven our _good_ +lady--But go on--what is the will of the good Lady of Lochleven?" + +"She desires, madam," said the chaplain, "that your Grace will permit +this young gentleman, your page, Roland Graeme, to pass to Kinross, to +look after some household stuff and hangings, sent hither for the better +furnishing your Grace's apartments." + +"The Lady of Lochleven," said the Queen, "uses needless ceremony, in +requesting our permission for that which stands within her own pleasure. +We well know that this young gentleman's attendance on us had not been +so long permitted, were he not thought to be more at the command of that +good lady than at ours.--But we cheerfully yield consent that he shall +go on her errand--with our will we would doom no living creature to the +captivity which we ourselves must suffer." + +"Ay, madam," answered the preacher, "and it is doubtless natural for +humanity to quarrel with its prison-house. Yet there have been those, +who have found, that time spent in the house of temporal captivity may +be so employed as to redeem us from spiritual slavery." + +"I apprehend your meaning, sir," replied the Queen, "but I have heard +your apostle--I have heard Master John Knox; and were I to be perverted, +I would willingly resign to the ablest and most powerful of heresiarchs, +the poor honour he might acquire by overcoming my faith and my hope." + +"Madam," said the preacher, "it is not to the talents or skill of the +husbandman that God gives the increase--the words which were offered +in vain by him whom you justly call our apostle, during the bustle and +gaiety of a court, may yet find better acceptance during the leisure for +reflection which this place affords. God knows, lady, that I speak in +singleness of heart, as one who would as soon compare himself to the +immortal angels, as to the holy man whom you have named. Yet would you +but condescend to apply to their noblest use, those talents and that +learning which all allow you to be possessed of--would you afford us +but the slightest hope that you would hear and regard what can be urged +against the blinded superstition and idolatry in which you are brought +up, sure am I, that the most powerfully-gifted of my brethren, that even +John Knox himself, would hasten hither, and account the rescue of your +single soul from the nets of Romish error--" + +"I am obliged to you and to them for their charity," said Mary; "but as +I have at present but one presence-chamber, I would reluctantly see it +converted into a Huguenot synod." + +"At least, madam, be not thus obstinately blinded in your errors! Hear +one who has hungered and thirsted, watched and prayed, to undertake +the good work of your conversion, and who would be content to die the +instant that a work so advantageous for yourself and so beneficial to +Scotland were accomplished--Yes, lady, could I but shake the remaining +pillar of the heathen temple in this land--and that permit me to +term your faith in the delusions of Rome--I could be content to die +overwhelmed in the ruins!" + +"I will not insult your zeal, sir," replied Mary, "by saying you +are more likely to make sport for the Philistines than to overwhelm +them--your charity claims my thanks, for it is warmly expressed and may +be truly purposed--But believe as well of me as I am willing to do of +you, and think that I may be as anxious to recall you to the ancient and +only road, as you are to teach me your new by-ways to paradise." + +"Then, madam, if such be your generous purpose," said Henderson, +eagerly, "--what hinders that we should dedicate some part of that time, +unhappily now too much at your Grace's disposal, to discuss a question +so weighty? You, by report of all men, are both learned and witty; and +I, though without such advantages, am strong in my cause as in a tower +of defence. Why should we not spend some space in endeavouring to +discover which of us hath the wrong side in this important matter?" + +"Nay," said Queen Mary, "I never alleged my force was strong enough +to accept of a combat _en champ clos_, with a scholar and a polemic. +Besides, the match is not equal. You, sir, might retire when you felt +the battle go against you, while I am tied to the stake, and have no +permission to say the debate wearies me.--I would be alone." + +She curtsied low to him as she uttered these words; and Henderson, whose +zeal was indeed ardent, but did not extend to the neglect of delicacy, +bowed in return, and prepared to withdraw. + +"I would," he said, "that my earnest wish, my most zealous prayer, could +procure to your Grace any blessing or comfort, but especially that +in which alone blessing or comfort is, as easily as the slightest +intimation of your wish will remove me from your presence." + +He was in the act of departing, when Mary said to him with much +courtesy, "Do me no injury in your thoughts, good sir; it may be, that +if my time here be protracted longer--as surely I hope it will not, +trusting that either my rebel subjects will repent of their disloyalty, +or that my faithful lieges will obtain the upper hand--but if my time +be here protracted, it may be I shall have no displeasure in hearing one +who seems so reasonable and compassionate as yourself, and I may hazard +your contempt by endeavouring to recollect and repeat the reasons which +schoolmen and councils give for the faith that is in me,--although +I fear that, God help me! my Latin has deserted me with my other +possessions. This must, however, be for another day. Meanwhile, sir, +let the Lady of Lochleven employ my page as she lists--I will not afford +suspicion by speaking a word to him before he goes.--Roland Graeme, my +friend, lose not an opportunity of amusing thyself--dance, sing, run, +and leap--all may be done merrily on the mainland; but he must have more +than quicksilver in his veins who would frolic here." + +"Alas! madam," said the preacher, "to what is it you exhort the youth, +while time passes, and eternity summons? Can our salvation be insured by +idle mirth, or our good work wrought out without fear and trembling?" + +"I cannot fear or tremble," replied the Queen; "to Mary Stewart such +emotions are unknown. But if weeping and sorrow on my part will atone +for the boy's enjoying an hour of boyish pleasure, be assured the +penance shall be duly paid." + +"Nay, but, gracious lady," said the preacher, "in this you greatly +err;--our tears and our sorrows are all too little for our own faults +and follies, nor can we transfer them, as your church falsely teaches, +to the benefit of others." + +"May I pray you, sir," answered the Queen, "with as little offence as +such a prayer may import, to transfer yourself elsewhere? We are sick at +heart, and may not now be disposed with farther controversy--and thou, +Roland, take this little purse;" (then, turning to the divine, she said, +showing its contents,) "Look, reverend sir,--it contains only these +two or three gold testoons, a coin which, though bearing my own poor +features, I have ever found more active against me than on my side, just +as my subjects take arms against me, with my own name for their +summons and signal.--Take this purse, that thou mayest want no means of +amusement. Fail not--fail not to bring met back news from Kinross; only +let it be such as, without suspicion or offence, may be told in the +presence of this reverend gentleman, or of the good Lady Lochleven +herself." + +The last hint was too irresistible to be withstood; and Henderson +withdrew, half mortified, half pleased, with his reception; for Mary, +from long habit, and the address which was natural to her, had learned, +in an extraordinary degree, the art of evading discourse which was +disagreeable to her feelings or prejudices, without affronting those by +whom it was proffered. + +Roland Graeme retired with the chaplain, at a signal from his lady; but +it did not escape him, that as he left the room, stepping backwards, and +making the deep obeisance due to royalty, Catherine Seyton held up her +slender forefinger, with a gesture which he alone could witness, and +which seemed to say, "Remember what has passed betwixt us." + +The young page had now his last charge from the Lady of Lochleven. +"There are revels," she said, "this day at the village--my son's +authority is, as yet, unable to prevent these continued workings of the +ancient leaven of folly which the Romish priests have kneaded into the +very souls of the Scottish peasantry. I do not command thee to abstain +from them--that would be only to lay a snare for thy folly, or to teach +thee falsehood; but enjoy these vanities with moderation, and mark +them as something thou must soon learn to renounce and contemn. Our +chamberlain at Kinross, Luke Lundin,--Doctor, as he foolishly calleth +himself,--will acquaint thee what is to be done in the matter about +which thou goest. Remember thou art trusted--show thyself, therefore, +worthy of trust." + +When we recollect that Roland Graeme was not yet nineteen, and that he +had spent his whole life in the solitary Castle of Avenel, excepting +the few hours he had passed in Edinburgh, and his late residence at +Lochleven, (the latter period having very little served to enlarge his +acquaintance with the gay world.) we cannot wonder that his heart beat, +high with hope and curiosity, at the prospect of partaking the sport +even of a country wake. He hastened to his little cabin, and turned over +the wardrobe with which (in every respect becoming his station) he had +been supplied from Edinburgh, probably by order of the Earl of Murray. +By the Queen's command he had hitherto waited upon her in mourning, or +at least in sad-coloured raiment. Her condition, she said, admitted +of nothing more gay. But now he selected the gayest dress his wardrobe +afforded; composed of scarlet slashed with black satin, the royal +colours of Scotland--combed his long curled hair--disposed his chain and +medal round a beaver hat of the newest block; and with the gay falchion +which had reached him in so mysterious a manner, hung by his side in +an embroidered belt, his apparel, added to his natural frank mien and +handsome figure, formed a most commendable and pleasing specimen of the +young gallant of the period. He sought to make his parting reverence to +the Queen and her ladies, but old Dryfesdale hurried him to the boat. + +"We will have no private audiences," he said, "my master; since you are +to be trusted with somewhat, we will try at least to save thee from +the temptation of opportunity. God help thee, child," he added, with a +glance of contempt at his gay clothes, "an the bear-ward be yonder from +Saint Andrews, have a care thou go not near him." + +"And wherefore, I pray you?" said Roland. + +"Lest he take thee for one of his runaway jackanapes," answered the +steward, smiling sourly. + +"I wear not my clothes at thy cost," said Roland indignantly. + +"Nor at thine own either, my son" replied the steward, "else would thy +garb more nearly resemble thy merit and thy station." + +Roland Graeme suppressed with difficulty the repartee which arose to his +lips, and, wrapping his scarlet mantle around him, threw himself into +the boat, which two rowers, themselves urged by curiosity to see the +revels, pulled stoutly towards the west end of the lake. As they put +off, Roland thought he could discover the face of Catherine Seyton, +though carefully withdrawn from observation, peeping from a loophole +to view his departure. He pulled off his hat, and held it up as a token +that he saw and wished her adieu. A white kerchief waved for a second +across the window, and for the rest of the little voyage, the thoughts +of Catherine Seyton disputed ground in his breast with the expectations +excited by the approaching revel. As they drew nearer and nearer the +shore, the sounds of mirth and music, the laugh, the halloo, and the +shout, came thicker upon the ear, and in a trice the boat was moored, +and Roland Graeme hastened in quest of the chamberlain, that, being +informed what time he had at his own disposal, he might lay it out to +the best advantage. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Sixth. + + + Room for the master of the ring, ye swains, + Divide your crowded ranks--before him march + The rural minstrelsy, the rattling drum, + The clamorous war-pipe, and far-echoing horn. + _Rural Sports_.--SOMERVILLE. + +No long space intervened ere Roland Graeme was able to discover among +the crowd of revellers, who gambolled upon the open space which extends +betwixt the village and the lake, a person of so great importance as Dr. +Luke Lundin, upon whom devolved officially the charge of representing +the lord of the land, and who was attended for support of his authority +by a piper, a drummer, and four sturdy clowns armed with rusty halberds, +garnished with party-coloured ribbons; myrmidons who, early as the day +was, had already broken more than one head in the awful names of the +Laird of Lochleven and his chamberlain. + +[Footnote: At Scottish fairs, the bailie, or magistrate, deputed by the +lord in whose name the meeting is held, attends the fair with his +guard, decides trifling disputes, and punishes on the spot any petty +delinquencies. His attendants are usually armed with halberds, and +sometimes, at least, escorted by music. Thus, in the "Life and Death of +Habbie Simpson," we are told of that famous minstrel,-- + + "At fairs he play'd before the spear-men, + And gaily graithed in their gear-men;-- + Steel bonnets, jacks, and swords shone clear then, + Like ony bead; + Now wha shall play before sic weir-men, + Since Habbie's dead! ] + +As soon as this dignitary was informed that the castle skiff had +arrived, with a gallant, dressed like a lord's son at the least, who +desired presently to speak to him, he adjusted his ruff and his black +coat, turned round his girdle till the garnished hilt of his long rapier +became visible, and walked with due solemnity towards the beach. Solemn +indeed he was entitled to be, even on less important occasions, for he +had been bred to the venerable study of medicine, as those acquainted +with the science very soon discovered from the aphorisms which +ornamented his discourse. His success had not been equal to his +pretensions; but as he was a native of the neighbouring kingdom of Fife, +and bore distant relation to, or dependence upon, the ancient family of +Lundin of that Ilk, who were bound in close friendship with the house +of Lochleven, he had, through their interest, got planted comfortably +enough in his present station upon the banks of that beautiful lake. +The profits of his chamberlainship being moderate, especially in those +unsettled times, he had eked it out a little with some practice in his +original profession; and it was said that the inhabitants of the village +and barony of Kinross were not more effectually thirled (which may +be translated enthralled) to the baron's mill, than they were to the +medical monopoly of the chamberlain. Wo betide the family of the rich +boor, who presumed to depart this life without a passport from Dr. Luke +Lundin! for if his representatives had aught to settle with the baron, +as it seldom happened otherwise, they were sure to find a cold friend +in the chamberlain. He was considerate enough, however, gratuitously +to help the poor out of their ailments, and sometimes out of all their +other distresses at the same time. + +Formal, in a double proportion, both as a physician and as a person in +office, and proud of the scraps of learning which rendered his language +almost universally unintelligible, Dr. Luke Lundin approached the beach, +and hailed the page as he advanced towards him.--"The freshness of the +morning upon you, fair sir--You are sent, I warrant me, to see if we +observe here the regimen which her good ladyship hath prescribed, for +eschewing all superstitious observances and idle anilities in these +our revels. I am aware that her good ladyship would willingly have +altogether abolished and abrogated them--But as I had the honour to +quote to her from the works of the learned Hercules of Saxony, _omnis +curatio est vel canonica vel coacta_,--that is, fair sir, (for silk and +velvet have seldom their Latin _ad unguem_,) every cure must be wrought +either by art and induction of rule, or by constraint; and the wise +physician chooseth the former. Which argument her ladyship being pleased +to allow well of, I have made it my business so to blend instruction and +caution with delight--_fiat mixtio_, as we say--that I can answer +that the vulgar mind will be defecated and purged of anile and Popish +fooleries by the medicament adhibited, so that the _primae vice_ being +cleansed, Master Henderson, or any other able pastor, may at will throw +in tonics, and effectuate a perfect moral cure, _tuto, cito, jucunde_." + +"I have no charge, Dr. Lundin," replied the page-- + +"Call me not doctor," said the chamberlain, "since I have laid aside +my furred gown and bonnet, and retired me into this temporality of +chamberlainship." + +"Oh, sir," said the page, who was no stranger by report to the character +of this original, "the cowl makes not the monk, neither the cord the +friar--we have all heard of the cures wrought by Dr. Lundin." + +"Toys, young sir--trifles," answered the leech with grave disclamation +of superior skill; "the hit-or-miss practice of a poor retired +gentleman, in a short cloak and doublet--Marry, Heaven sent its +blessing--and this I must say, better fashioned mediciners have +brought fewer patients through--_lunga roba corta scienzia_, saith the +Italian--ha, fair sir, you have the language?" + +Roland Graeme did not think it necessary to expound to this learned +Theban whether he understood him or no; but, leaving that matter +uncertain, he told him he came in quest of certain packages which should +have arrived at Kinross, and been placed under the chamberlain's charge +the evening before. + +"Body o' me!" said Doctor Lundin, "I fear our common carrier, John +Auchtermuchty, hath met with some mischance, that he came not up last +night with his wains--bad land this to journey in, my master; and the +fool will travel by night too, although, (besides all maladies from your +_tussis_ to your _pestis_, which walk abroad in the night-air,) he may +well fall in with half a dozen swash-bucklers, who will ease him at once +of his baggage and his earthly complaints. I must send forth to inquire +after him, since he hath stuff of the honourable household on hand--and, +by our Lady, he hath stuff of mine too--certain drugs sent me from +the city for composition of my alexipharmics--this gear must be looked +to.--Hodge," said he, addressing one of his redoubted body-guard, +"do thou and Toby Telford take the mickle brown aver and the black +cut-tailed mare, and make out towards the Kerry-craigs, and see what +tidings you can have of Auchtermuchty and his wains--I trust it is only +the medicine of the pottle-pot, (being the only _medicamentum_ which +the beast useth,) which hath caused him to tarry on the road. Take +the ribbons from your halberds, ye knaves, and get on your jacks, +plate-sleeves, and knapskulls, that your presence may work some terror +if you meet with opposers." He then added, turning to Roland Graeme, "I +warrant me, we shall have news of the wains in brief season. Meantime +it will please you to look upon the sports; but first to enter my +poor lodging and take your morning's cup. For what saith the school of +Salerno? + + _Poculum, mane haustum, + Restaurat naturam exhaustam."_ + +"Your learning is too profound for me," replied the page; "and so would +your draught be likewise, I fear." + +"Not a whit, fair sir--a cordial cup of sack, impregnated with wormwood, +is the best anti-pestilential draught; and, to speak truth, the +pestilential miasmata are now very rife in the atmosphere. We live in +a happy time, young man," continued he, in a tone of grave irony, "and +have many blessings unknown to our fathers--Here are two sovereigns +in the land, a regnant and a claimant--that is enough of one good +thing--but if any one wants more, he may find a king in every peel-house +in the country; so if we lack government, it is not for want of +governors. Then have we a civil war to phlebotomize us every year, and +to prevent our population from starving for want of food--and for the +same purpose we have the Plague proposing us a visit, the best of all +recipes for thinning a land, and converting younger brothers into elder +ones. Well, each man in his vocation. You young fellows of the sword +desire to wrestle, fence, or so forth, with some expert adversary; and +for my part, I love to match myself for life or death against that same +Plague." + +As they proceeded up the street of the little village towards the +Doctor's lodgings, his attention was successively occupied by the +various personages whom he met, and pointed out to the notice of his +companion. + +"Do you see that fellow with the red bonnet, the blue jerkin, and the +great rough baton in his hand?--I believe that clown hath the strength +of a tower--he has lived fifty years in the world, and never encouraged +the liberal sciences by buying one penny-worth of medicaments.--But see +you that man with the _facies hippocratica_?" said he, pointing out +a thin peasant, with swelled legs, and a most cadaverous countenance; +"that I call one of the worthiest men in the barony--he breakfasts, +luncheons, dines, and sups by my advice, and not without my medicine; +and, for his own single part, will go farther to clear out a moderate +stock of pharmaceutics, than half the country besides.--How do you, +my honest friend?" said he to the party in question, with a tone of +condolence. + +"Very weakly, sir, since I took the electuary," answered the patient; +"it neighboured ill with the two spoonfuls of pease-porridge and the +kirnmilk." + +"Pease-porridge and kirnmilk! Have you been under medicine these ten +years, and keep your diet so ill?--the next morning take the electuary +by itself, and touch nothing for six hours."--The poor object bowed, and +limped off. + +The next whom the Doctor deigned to take notice of, was a lame fellow, +by whom the honour was altogether undeserved, for at sight of the +mediciner, he began to shuffle away in the crowd as fast as his +infirmities would permit. + +"There is an ungrateful hound for you," said Doctor Lundin; "I cured +him of the gout in his feet, and now he talks of the chargeableness of +medicine, and makes the first use of his restored legs to fly from his +physician. His _podagra_ hath become a _chiragra_, as honest Martial +hath it--the gout has got into his fingers, and he cannot draw his +purse. Old saying and true, + + Praemia cum poscit medicus, Sathan est. + +We are angels when we come to cure--devils when we ask payment--but I +will administer a purgation to his purse I warrant him. There is his +brother too, a sordid chuff.--So ho, there! Saunders Darlet! you have +been ill, I hear?" + +"Just got the turn, as I was thinking to send to your honour, and I am +brawly now again--it was nae great thing that ailed me." + +"Hark you, sirrah," said the Doctor, "I trust you remember you are owing +to the laird four stones of barleymeal, and a bow of oats; and I would +have you send no more such kain-fowls as you sent last season, that +looked as wretchedly as patients just dismissed from a plague-hospital; +and there is hard money owing besides." + +"I was thinking, sir," said the man, _more Scotico_, that is, returning +no direct answer on the subject on which he was addressed, "my best way +would be to come down to your honour, and take your advice yet, in case +my trouble should come back." + +"Do so, then, knave," replied Lundin, "and remember what Ecclesiasticus +saith--'Give place to the physician-let him not go from thee, for thou +hast need of him.'" + +His exhortation was interrupted by an apparition, which seemed to strike +the doctor with as much horror and surprise, as his own visage inflicted +upon sundry of those persons whom he had addressed. + +The figure which produced this effect on the Esculapius of the village, +was that of a tall old woman, who wore a high-crowned hat and muffler. +The first of these habiliments added apparently to her stature, and +the other served to conceal the lower part of her face, and as the hat +itself was slouched, little could be seen besides two brown cheek-bones, +and the eyes of swarthy fire, that gleamed from under two shaggy gray +eyebrows. She was dressed in a long dark-coloured robe of unusual +fashion, bordered at the skirts, and on the stomacher, with a sort of +white trimming resembling the Jewish phylacteries, on which were wrought +the characters of some unknown language. She held in her hand a walking +staff of black ebony. + +"By the soul of Celsus," said Doctor Luke Lundin, "it is old Mother +Nicneven herself--she hath come to beard me within mine own bounds, and +in the very execution of mine office! Have at thy coat, Old Woman, as +the song says--Hob Anster, let her presently be seized and committed to +the tolbooth; and if there are any zealous brethren here who would give +the hag her deserts, and duck her, as a witch, in the loch, I pray let +them in no way be hindered." + +But the myrmidons of Dr. Lundin showed in this case no alacrity to do +his bidding. Hob Anster even ventured to remonstrate in the name of +himself and his brethren. "To be sure he was to do his honour's bidding; +and for a' that folks said about the skill and witcheries of Mother +Nicneven, he would put his trust in God, and his hand on her collar, +without dreadour. But she was no common spaewife, this Mother Nicneven, +like Jean Jopp that lived in the Bricrie-baulk. She had lords and lairds +that would ruffle for her. There was Moncrieff of Tippermalloch, that +was Popish, and the laird of Carslogie, a kend Queen's man, were in the +fair, with wha kend how mony swords and bucklers at their back; and they +would be sure to make a break-out if the officers meddled with the auld +Popish witch-wife, who was sae weel friended; mair especially as the +laird's best men, such as were not in the castle, were in Edinburgh with +him, and he doubted his honour the Doctor would find ower few to make a +good backing, if blades were bare." + +The doctor listened unwillingly to this prudential counsel, and was only +comforted by the faithful promise of his satellite, that "the old +woman should," as he expressed it, "be ta'en canny the next time she +trespassed on the bounds." + +"And in that event," said the Doctor to his companion, "fire and fagot +shall be the best of her welcome." + +This he spoke in hearing of the dame herself, who even then, and in +passing the Doctor, shot towards him from under her gray eyebrows a look +of the most insulting and contemptuous superiority. + +"This way," continued the physician, "this way," marshalling his guest +into his lodging,--"take care you stumble not over a retort, for it is +hazardous for the ignorant to walk in the ways of art." + +The page found all reason for the caution; for besides stuffed birds, +and lizards, and snakes bottled up, and bundles of simples made up, and +other parcels spread out to dry, and all the confusion, not to mention +the mingled and sickening smells, incidental to a druggist's stock in +trade, he had also to avoid heaps of charcoal crucibles, bolt-heads, +stoves, and the other furniture of a chemical laboratory. + +Amongst his other philosophical qualities, Doctor Lundin failed not to +be a confused sloven, and his old dame housekeeper, whose life, as she +said, was spent in "redding him up," had trotted off to the mart of +gaiety with other and younger folks. Much chattering and jangling +therefore there was among jars, and bottles, and vials, ere the Doctor +produced the salutiferous potion which he recommended so strongly, and +a search equally long and noisy followed, among broken cans and cracked +pipkins, ere he could bring forth a cup out of which to drink it. Both +matters being at length achieved, the Doctor set the example to his +guest, by quaffing off a cup of the cordial, and smacking his lips with +approbation as it descended his gullet.--Roland, in turn, submitted to +swallow the potion which his host so earnestly recommended, but which +he found so insufferably bitter, that he became eager to escape from the +laboratory in search of a draught of fair water to expel the taste. In +spite of his efforts, he was nevertheless detained by the garrulity of +his host, till he gave him some account of Mother Nicneven. + +"I care not to speak of her," said the Doctor, "in the open air, and +among the throng of people; not for fright, like yon cowardly dog +Anster, but because I would give no occasion for a fray, having no +leisure to look to stabs, slashes, and broken bones. Men call the old +hag a prophetess--I do scarce believe she could foretell when a brood +of chickens will chip the shell--Men say she reads the heavens--my black +bitch knows as much of them when she sits baying the moon--Men pretend +the ancient wretch is a sorceress, a witch, and, what not--_Inter nos_, +I will never contradict a rumour which may bring her to the stake which +she so justly deserves; but neither will I believe that the tales of +witches which they din into our ears are aught but knavery, cozenage, +and old women's fables." + +"In the name of Heaven, what is she then," said the page, "that you make +such a stir about her?" + +"She is one of those cursed old women," replied the Doctor, "who take +currently and impudently upon themselves to act as advisers and curers +of the sick, on the strength of some trash of herbs, some rhyme of +spells, some julap or diet, drink or cordial." + +"Nay, go no farther," said the page; "if they brew cordials, evil be +their lot and all their partakers!" + +"You say well, young man," said Dr. Lundin; "for mine own part, I know +no such pests to the commonwealth as these old incarnate devils, who +haunt the chambers of the brain-sick patients, that are mad enough to +suffer them to interfere with, disturb, and let, the regular process of +a learned and artificial cure, with their sirups, and their julaps, and +diascordium, and mithridate, and my Lady What-shall-call'um's powder, +and worthy Dame Trashem's pill; and thus make widows and orphans, and +cheat the regular and well-studied physician, in order to get the +name of wise women and skeely neighbours, and so forth. But no more +on't--Mother Nicneven [Footnote: This was the name given to the grand +Mother Witch, the very Hecate of Scottish popular superstition. Her name +was bestowed, in one or two instances, upon sorceresses, who were held +to resemble her by their superior skill in "Hell's black grammar."] and +I will meet one day, and she shall know there is danger in dealing with +the Doctor." + +"It is a true word, and many have found it," said the page; "but under +your favour, I would fain walk abroad for a little, and see these +sports." + +"It is well moved," said the Doctor, "and I too should be showing myself +abroad. Moreover the play waits us, young man-to-day, _totus mundus +agit histrionem_."--And they sallied forth accordingly into the mirthful +scene. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Seventh. + + + See on yon verdant lawn, the gathering crowd + Thickens amain; the buxom nymphs advance, + Usher'd by jolly clowns; distinctions cease, + Lost in the common joy, and the bold slave + Leans on his wealthy master unreproved. + _Rural Games_.--SOMERVILLLE. + +The re-appearance of the dignified Chamberlain on the street of the +village was eagerly hailed by the revellers, as a pledge that the +play, or dramatic representation, which had been postponed owing to his +absence, was now full surely to commence. Any thing like an approach +to this most interesting of all amusements, was of recent origin in +Scotland, and engaged public attention in proportion. All other sports +were discontinued. The dance around the Maypole was arrested--the ring +broken up and dispersed, while the dancers, each leading his partner by +the hand, tripped, off to the silvan theatre. A truce was in like +manner achieved betwixt a huge brown bear and certain mastiffs, who +were tugging and pulling at his shaggy coat, under the mediation of the +bear-ward and half a dozen butchers and yeomen, who, by dint of _staving +and tailing_, as it was technically termed, separated the unfortunate +animals, whose fury had for an hour past been their chief amusement. +The itinerant minstrel found himself deserted by the audience he had +collected, even in the most interesting passage of the romance which he +recited, and just as he was sending about his boy, with bonnet in hand, +to collect their oblations. He indignantly stopped short in the midst +of _Rosewal and Lilian_, and, replacing his three-stringed fiddle, or +rebeck, in its leathern case, followed the crowd, with no good-will, to +the exhibition which had superseded his own. The juggler had ceased his +exertions of emitting flame and smoke, and was content to respire in the +manner of ordinary mortals, rather than to play gratuitously the part +of a fiery dragon. In short, all other sports were suspended, so eagerly +did the revellers throng towards the place of representation. + +They would err greatly, who should regulate their ideas of this dramatic +exhibition upon those derived from a modern theatre; for the rude shows +of Thespis were far less different from those exhibited by Euripides on +the stage of Athens, with all its magnificent decorations and pomp of +dresses and of scenery. In the present case, there were no scenes, no +stage, no machinery, no pit, box, and gallery, no box-lobby; and, what +might in poor Scotland be some consolation for other negations, there +was no taking of money at the door. As in the devices of the magnanimous +Bottom, the actors had a greensward plot for a stage, and a hawthorn +bush for a greenroom and tiring-house; the spectators being accommodated +with seats on the artificial bank which had been raised around +three-fourths of the playground, the remainder being left open for the +entrance and exit of the performers. Here sate the uncritical audience, +the Chamberlain in the centre, as the person highest in office, all +alive to enjoyment and admiration, and all therefore dead to criticism. + +The characters which appeared and disappeared before the amused and +interested audience, were those which fill the earlier stage in all +nations--old men, cheated by their wives and daughters, pillaged by +their sons, and imposed on by their domestics, a braggadocia captain, +a knavish pardoner or quaestionary, a country bumpkin and a wanton city +dame. Amid all these, and more acceptable than almost the whole put +together, was the all-licensed fool, the Gracioso of the Spanish drama, +who, with his cap fashioned into the resemblance of a coxcomb, and his +bauble, a truncheon terminated by a carved figure wearing a fool's cap, +in his hand, went, came, and returned, mingling in every scene of the +piece, and interrupting the business, without having any share himself +in the action, and ever and anon transferring his gibes from the actors +on the stage to the audience who sate around, prompt to applaud the +whole. + +The wit of the piece, which was not of the most polished kind, was +chiefly directed against the superstitious practices of the Catholic +religion; and the stage artillery had on this occasion been levelled +by no less a person than Doctor Lundin, who had not only commanded the +manager of the entertainment to select one of the numerous satires which +had been written against the Papists, (several of which were cast in a +dramatic form,) but had even, like the Prince of Denmark, caused them to +insert, or according to his own phrase, to infuse here and there, a +few pleasantries of his own penning, on the same inexhaustible subject, +hoping thereby to mollify the rigour of the Lady of Lochleven towards +pastimes of this description. He failed not to jog Roland's elbow, +who was sitting in state behind him, and recommend to his particular +attention those favourite passages. As for the page, to whom, the very +idea of such an exhibition, simple as it was, was entirely new, he +beheld it with the undiminished and ecstatic delight with which men +of all ranks look for the first time on dramatic representation, and +laughed, shouted, and clapped his hands as the performance proceeded. An +incident at length took place, which effectually broke off his interest +in the business of the scene. + +One of the principal personages in the comic part of the drama was, +as we have already said, a quaestionary or pardoner, one of those +itinerants who hawked about from place to place relics, real or +pretended, with which he excited the devotion at once, and the charity +of the populace, and generally deceived both the one and the other. The +hypocrisy, impudence, and profligacy of these clerical wanderers, had +made them the subject of satire from the time of Chaucer down to that of +Heywood. Their present representative failed not to follow the same line +of humour, exhibiting pig's bones for relics, and boasting the virtues +of small tin crosses, which had been shaken in the holy porringer at +Loretto, and of cockleshells, which had been brought from the shrine +of Saint James of Compostella, all which he disposed of to the devout +Catholics at nearly as high a price as antiquaries are now willing +to pay for baubles of similar intrinsic value. At length the pardoner +pulled from his scrip a small phial of clear water, of which he vaunted +the quality in the following verses:-- + + Listneth, gode people, everiche one + For in the londe of Babylone, + Far eastward I wot it lyeth, + And is the first londe the sonne espieth, + Ther, as he cometh fro out the se; + In this ilk londe, as thinketh me, + Right as holie legendes tell. + Snottreth from a roke a well, + And falleth into ane bath of ston, + Where chaste Susanne, in times long gon, + + Wax wont to wash her bodie and lim + Mickle vertue hath that streme, + As ye shall se er that ye pas, + Ensample by this little glas-- + Through nightes cold and dayes hote + Hiderward I have it brought; + Hath a wife made slip or side, + Or a maiden stepp'd aside, + Putteth this water under her nese, + Wold she nold she, she shall snese. + +The jest, as the reader skilful in the antique language of the drama +must at once perceive, turned on the same pivot as in the old minstrel +tales of the Drinking Horn of King Arthur, and the Mantle made Amiss. +But the audience were neither learned nor critical enough to challenge +its want of originality. The potent relic was, after such grimace and +buffoonery as befitted the subject, presented successively to each +of the female personages of the drama, not one of whom sustained +the supposed test of discretion; but, to the infinite delight of the +audience, sneezed much louder and longer than perhaps they themselves +had counted on. The jest seemed at last worn threadbare, and the +pardoner was passing on to some new pleasantry, when the jester or clown +of the drama, possessing himself secretly of the phial which contained +the wondrous liquor, applied it suddenly to the nose of a young woman, +who, with her black silk muffler, or screen drawn over her face, was +sitting in the foremost rank of the spectators, intent apparently upon +the business of the stage. The contents of the phial, well calculated to +sustain the credit of the pardoner's legend, set the damsel a-sneezing +violently, an admission of frailty which was received with shouts +of rapture by the audience. These were soon, however, renewed at the +expense of the jester himself, when the insulted maiden extricated, ere +the paroxysm was well over, one hand from the folds of her mantle, and +bestowed on the wag a buffet, which made him reel fully his own +length from the pardoner, and then acknowledge the favour by instant +prostration. + +No one pities a jester overcome in his vocation, and the clown met with +little sympathy, when, rising from the ground, and whimpering forth his +complaints of harsh treatment, he invoked the assistance and sympathy +of the audience. But the Chamberlain, feeling his own dignity insulted, +ordered two of his halberdiers to bring the culprit before him. When +these official persons first approached the virago, she threw herself +into an attitude of firm defiance, as if determined to resist their +authority; and from the sample of strength and spirit which she +had already displayed, they showed no alacrity at executing their +commission. But on half a minute's reflection, the damsel changed +totally her attitude and manner, folded her cloak around her arms in +modest and maiden-like fashion, and walked of her own accord to the +presence of the great man, followed and guarded by the two manful +satellites. As she moved across the vacant space, and more especially +as she stood at the footstool of the Doctor's judgment-seat, the maiden +discovered that lightness and elasticity of step, and natural grace of +manner, which connoisseurs in female beauty know to be seldom divided +from it. Moreover, her neat russet-coloured jacket, and short petticoat +of the same colour, displayed a handsome form and a pretty leg. Her +features were concealed by the screen; but the Doctor, whose gravity did +not prevent his pretensions to be a connoisseur of the school we have +hinted at, saw enough to judge favourably of the piece by the sample. + +He began, however, with considerable austerity of manner.--"And how now, +saucy quean!" said the medical man of office; "what have you to say why +I should not order you to be ducked in the loch, for lifting your hand +to the man in my presence?" + +"Marry," replied the culprit, "because I judge that your honour will not +think the cold bath necessary for my complaints." + +"A pestilent jade," said the Doctor, whispering to Roland Graeme; "and +I'll warrant her a good one--her voice is as sweet as sirup.--But, +my pretty maiden," said he, "you show us wonderful little of that +countenance of yours--be pleased to throw aside your muffler." + +"I trust your honour will excuse me till we are more private," answered +the maiden; "for I have acquaintance, and I should like ill to be known +in the country as the poor girl whom that scurvy knave put his jest +upon." + +"Fear nothing for thy good name, my sweet little modicum of candied +manna," replied the Doctor, "for I protest to you, as I am Chamberlain +of Lochleven, Kinross, and so forth, that the chaste Susanna herself +could not have snuffed that elixir without sternutation, being in truth +a curious distillation of rectified _acetum_, or vinegar of the sun, +prepared by mine own hands--Wherefore, as thou sayest thou wilt come to +me in private, and express thy contrition for the offence whereof thou +hast been guilty, I command that all for the present go forward as if no +such interruption of the prescribed course had taken place." + +The damsel curtsied and tripped back to her place. The play proceeded, +but it no longer attracted the attention of Roland Graeme. + +The voice, the figure, and what the veil permitted to be seen of the +neck and tresses of the village damsel, bore so strong a resemblance to +those of Catherine Seyton, that he felt like one bewildered in the +mazes of a changeful and stupifying dream. The memorable scene of +the hostelrie rushed on his recollection, with all its doubtful and +marvellous circumstances. Were the tales of enchantment which he +had read in romances realized in this extraordinary girl? Could she +transport herself from the walled and guarded Castle of Lochleven, +moated with its broad lake, (towards which he cast back a look as if to +ascertain it was still in existence,) and watched with such scrupulous +care as the safety of a nation demanded?--Could she surmount all these +obstacles, and make such careless and dangerous use of her liberty, as +to engage herself publicly in a quarrel in a village fair? Roland was +unable to determine whether the exertions which it must have cost her +to gain her freedom or the use to which she had put it, rendered her the +most unaccountable creature. + +Lost in these meditations, he kept his gaze fixed on the subject of +them; and in every casual motion, discovered, or thought he discovered, +something which reminded him still more strongly of Catherine Seyton. +It occurred to him more than once, indeed, that he might be deceiving +himself by exaggerating some casual likeness into absolute identity. +But then the meeting at the hostelrie of Saint Michael's returned to his +mind, and it seemed in the highest degree improbable, that, under +such various circumstances, mere imagination should twice have found +opportunity to play him the selfsame trick. This time, however, he +determined to have his doubts resolved, and for this purpose he sate +during the rest of the play like a greyhound in the slip, ready to +spring upon the hare the instant that she was started. The damsel, whom +he watched attentively lest she should escape in the crowd when the +spectacle was closed, sate as if perfectly unconscious that she was +observed. But the worthy Doctor marked the direction of his eyes, and +magnanimously suppressed his own inclination to become the Theseus +to this Hippolyta, in deference to the rights of hospitality, which +enjoined him to forbear interference with the pleasurable pursuits +of his young friend. He passed one or two formal gibes upon the fixed +attention which the page paid to the unknown, and upon his own jealousy; +adding, however, that if both were to be presented to the patient at +once, he had little doubt she would think the younger man the sounder +prescription. "I fear me," he added, "we shall have no news of the knave +Auchtermuchty for some time, since the vermin whom I sent after him seem +to have proved corbie-messengers. So you have an hour or two on your +hands, Master Page; and as the minstrels are beginning to strike up, now +the play is ended, why, an you incline for a dance, yonder is the green, +and there sits your partner--I trust you will hold me perfect in my +diagnostics, since I see with half an eye what disease you are sick of, +and have administered a pleasing remedy. + + "_Discernit sapiens res_ (as Chambers hath it) _quas + confundit asellus_." + +The page hardly heard the end of the learned adage, or the charge +which the Chamberlain gave him to be within reach, in case of the wains +arriving suddenly, and sooner than expected--so eager he was at once +to shake himself free of his learned associate, and to satisfy his +curiosity regarding the unknown damsel. Yet in the haste with which he +made towards her he found time to reflect, that, in order to secure an +opportunity of conversing with her in private, he must not alarm her +at first accosting her. He therefore composed his manner and gait, +and advancing with becoming self-confidence before three or four +country-fellows who were intent on the same design, but knew not so well +how to put their request into shape, he acquainted her that he, as the +deputy of the venerable Chamberlain, requested the honour of her hand as +a partner. + +"The venerable Chamberlain," said the damsel frankly, reaching the page +her hand, "does very well to exercise this part of his privilege by +deputy; and I suppose the laws of the revels leave me no choice but to +accept of his faithful delegate." + +"Provided, fair damsel," said the page, "his choice of a delegate is not +altogether distasteful to you." + +"Of that, fair sir," replied the maiden, "I will tell you more when we +have danced the first measure." + +Catherine Seyton had admirable skill in gestic lore, and was sometimes +called on to dance for the amusement of her royal mistress. Roland +Graeme had often been a spectator of her skill, and sometimes, at +the Queen's command, Catherine's partner on such occasions. He was, +therefore, perfectly acquainted with Catherine's mode of dancing; and +observed that his present partner, in grace, in agility, in quickness +of ear, and precision of execution, exactly resembled her, save that the +Scottish jig, which he now danced with her, required a more violent +and rapid motion, and more rustic agility, than the stately pavens, +lavoltas, and courantoes, which he had seen her execute in the chamber +of Queen Mary. The active duties of the dance left him little time for +reflection, and none for conversation; but when their _pas de deux_ +was finished, amidst the acclamations of the villagers, who had seldom +witnessed such an exhibition, he took an opportunity, when they yielded +up the green to another couple, to use the privilege of a partner and +enter into conversation with the mysterious maiden, whom he still held +by the hand. + +"Fair partner, may I not crave the name of her who has graced me thus +far?" + +"You may," said the maiden; "but it is a question whether I shall answer +you." + +"And why?" asked Roland. + +"Because nobody gives anything for nothing--and you can tell me nothing +in return which I care to hear." + +"Could I not tell you my name and lineage, in exchange for yours?" +returned Roland. + +"No!" answered the maiden, "for you know little of either." + +"How?" said the page, somewhat angrily. + +"Wrath you not for the matter," said the damsel; "I will show you in an +instant that I know more of you than you do of yourself." + +"Indeed," answered Graeme; "for whom then do you take me?" + +"For the wild falcon," answered she, "whom a dog brought in his mouth to +a certain castle, when he was but an unfledged eyas--for the hawk +whom men dare not fly, lest he should check at game, and pounce on +carrion--whom folk must keep hooded till he has the proper light of his +eyes, and can discover good from evil." + +"Well--be it so," replied Roland Graeme; "I guess at a part of your +parable, fair mistress mine--and perhaps I know as much of you as you +do of me, and can well dispense with the information which you are so +niggard in giving." + +"Prove that," said the maiden, "and I will give you credit for more +penetration than I judged you to be gifted withal." + +"It shall be proved instantly," said Roland Graeme. "The first letter of +your name is S, and the last N." + +"Admirable," said his partner, "guess on." + +"It pleases you to-day," continued Roland, "to wear the snood and +kirtle, and perhaps you may be seen to-morrow in hat and feather, hose +and doublet." + +"In the clout! in the clout! you have hit the very white," said the +damsel, suppressing a great inclination to laugh. + +"You can switch men's eyes out of their heads, as well as the heart out +of their bosoms." + +These last words were uttered in a low and tender tone, which, to +Roland's great mortification, and somewhat to his displeasure, was so +far from allaying, that it greatly increased, his partner's disposition +to laughter. She could scarce compose herself while she replied, "If you +had thought my hand so formidable," extricating it from his hold, "you +would not have grasped it so hard; but I perceive you know me so fully, +that there is no occasion to show you my face." + +"Fair Catherine," said the page, "he were unworthy ever to have seen +you, far less to have dwelt so long in the same service, and under the +same roof with you, who could mistake your air, your gesture, your step +in walking or in dancing, the turn of your neck, the symmetry of your +form--none could be so dull as not to recognize you by so many proofs; +but for me, I could swear even to that tress of hair that escapes from +under your muffler." + +"And to the face, of course, which that muffler covers," said the +maiden, removing her veil, and in an instant endeavouring to replace it. +She showed the features of Catherine; but an unusual degree of petulant +impatience inflamed them, when, from some awkwardness in her management +of the muffler, she was unable again to adjust it with that dexterity +which was a principal accomplishment of the coquettes of the time. + +"The fiend rive the rag to tatters!" said the damsel, as the veil +fluttered about her shoulders, with an accent so earnest and decided, +that it made the page start. He looked again at the damsel's face, but +the information which his eyes received, was to the same purport as +before. He assisted her to adjust her muffler, and both were for +an instant silent. The damsel spoke first, for Roland Graeme was +overwhelmed with surprise at the contrarieties which Catherine Seyton +seemed to include in her person and character. + +"You are surprised," said the damsel to him, "at what you see and +hear--But the times which make females men, are least of all fitted for +men to become women; yet you yourself are in danger of such a change." + +"I in danger of becoming effeminate!" said the page. + +"Yes, you, for all the boldness of your reply," said the damsel. "When +you should hold fast your religion, because it is assailed on all sides +by rebels, traitors, and heretics, you let it glide out of your breast +like water grasped in the hand. If you are driven from the faith of +your fathers from fear of a traitor, is not that womanish?--If you +are cajoled by the cunning arguments of a trumpeter of heresy, or the +praises of a puritanic old woman, is not that womanish?--If you are +bribed by the hope of spoil and preferment, is not that womanish?--And +when you wonder at my venting a threat or an execration, should you not +wonder at yourself, who, pretending to a gentle name and aspiring +to knighthood, can be at the same time cowardly, silly, and +self-interested!" + +"I would that a man would bring such a charge," said the page; "he +should see, ere his life was a minute older, whether he had cause to +term me coward or no." + +"Beware of such big words," answered the maiden; "you said but anon that +I sometimes wear hose and doublet." + +"But remain still Catharine Seyton, wear what you list," said the page, +endeavouring again to possess himself of her hand. + +"You indeed are pleased to call me so," replied the maiden, evading his +intention, "but I have many other names besides." + +"And will you not reply to that," said the page, "by which you are +distinguished beyond every other maiden in Scotland?" + +The damsel, unallured by his praises, still kept aloof, and sung with +gaiety a verse from an old ballad, + + "Oh, some do call me Jack, sweet love, + And some do call me Gill; + But when I ride to Holyrood, + My name is Wilful Will." + +"Wilful Will" exclaimed the page, impatiently; "say rather Will o' the +Wisp--Jack with the Lantern--for never was such a deceitful or wandering +meteor!" + +"If I be such," replied the maiden, "I ask no fools to follow me--If +they do so, it is at their own pleasure, and must be on their own proper +peril." + +"Nay, but, dearest Catherine," said Roland Graeme, "be for one instant +serious." + +"If you will call me your dearest Catherine, when I have given you so +many names to choose upon," replied the damsel, "I would ask you how, +supposing me for two or three hours of my life escaped from yonder +tower, you have the cruelty to ask me to be serious during the only +merry moments I have seen perhaps for months?" + +"Ay, but, fair Catherine, there are moments of deep and true feeling, +which are worth ten thousand years of the liveliest mirth; and such was +that of yesterday, when you so nearly--" + +"So nearly what?" demanded the damsel, hastily. + +"When you approached your lips so near to the sign you had traced on my +forehead." + +"Mother of Heaven!" exclaimed she, in a yet fiercer tone, and with a +more masculine manner than she had yet exhibited,-"Catherine Seyton +approach her lips to a man's brow, and thou that man!--vassal, thou +liest!" + +The page stood astonished; but, conceiving he had alarmed the damsel's +delicacy by alluding to the enthusiasm of a moment, and the manner in +which she had expressed it, he endeavoured to falter forth an apology. +His excuses, though he was unable to give them any regular shape, were +accepted by his companion, who had indeed suppressed her indignation +after its first explosion--"Speak no more on't," she said. "And now let +us part; our conversation may attract more notice than is convenient for +either of us." + +"Nay, but allow me at least to follow you to some sequestered place." + +"You dare not," replied the maiden. + +"How," said the youth, "dare not? where is it you dare go, where I dare +not follow?" + +"You fear a Will o' the Wisp," said the damsel; "how would you face a +fiery dragon, with an enchantress mounted on its back?" + +"Like Sir Eger, Sir Grime, or Sir Greysteil," said the page; "but be +there such toys to be seen here?" + +"I go to Mother Nicneven's," answered the maid; "and she is witch enough +to rein the horned devil, with a red silk thread for a bridle, and a +rowan-tree switch for a whip." + +"I will follow you," said the page. + +"Let it be at some distance," said the maiden. + +And wrapping her mantle round her with more success than on her former +attempt, she mingled with the throng, and walked towards the village, +heedfully followed by Roland Graeme at some distance, and under +every precaution which he could use to prevent his purpose from being +observed. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Eighth. + + + Yes, it is he whose eyes look'd on thy childhood, + And watch'd with trembling hope thy dawn of youth, + That now, with these same eyeballs dimm'd with age, + And dimmer yet with tears, sees thy dishonour. + OLD PLAY. + +At the entrance of the principal, or indeed, so to speak, the only +street in Kinross, the damsel, whose steps were pursued by Roland +Graeme, cast a glance behind her, as if to be certain he had not lost +trace of her and then plunged down a very narrow lane which ran betwixt +two rows of poor and ruinous cottages. She paused for a second at the +door of one of those miserable tenements, again cast her eye up the lane +towards Roland, then lifted the latch, opened the door, and disappeared +from his view. + +With whatever haste the page followed her example, the difficulty which +he found in discovering the trick of the latch, which did not work quite +in the usual manner, and in pushing open the door, which did not yield +to his first effort, delayed for a minute or two his entrance into the +cottage. A dark and smoky passage led, as usual, betwixt the exterior +wall of the house, and the _hallan_, or clay wall, which served as a +partition betwixt it and the interior. At the end of this passage, +and through the partition, was a door leading into the _ben_, or inner +chamber of the cottage, and when Roland Graeme's hand was upon the latch +of this door, a female voice pronounced, "_Benedictus qui veniat in +nomine Domini, damnandus qui in nomine inimici._" On entering the +apartment, he perceived the figure which the chamberlain had pointed out +to him as Mother Nicneven, seated beside the lowly hearth. But there was +no other person in the room. Roland Graeme gazed around in surprise at +the disappearance of Catherine Seyton, without paying much regard to the +supposed sorceress, until she attracted and riveted his regard by the +tone in which she asked him--"What seekest thou here?" + +"I seek," said the page, with much embarrassment; "I seek--" + +But his answer was cut short, when the old woman, drawing her huge gray +eyebrows sternly together, with a frown which knitted her brow into a +thousand wrinkles, arose, and erecting herself up to her full natural +size, tore the kerchief from her head, and seizing Roland by the arm, +made two strides across the floor of the apartment to a small window +through which the light fell full on her face, and showed the astonished +youth the countenance of Magdalen Graeme.--"Yes, Roland," she said, +"thine eyes deceive thee not; they show thee truly the features of her +whom thou hast thyself deceived, whose wine thou hast turned into gall, +her bread of joyfulness into bitter poison, her hope into the blackest +despair--it is she who now demands of thee, what seekest thou here?--She +whose heaviest sin towards Heaven hath been, that she loved thee +even better than the weal of the whole church, and could not without +reluctance surrender thee even in the cause of God--she now asks you, +what seekest thou here?" + +While she spoke, she kept her broad black eye riveted on the youth's +face, with the expression with which the eagle regards his prey ere he +tears it to pieces. Roland felt himself at the moment incapable either +of reply or evasion. This extraordinary enthusiast had preserved over +him in some measure the ascendency which she had acquired during his +childhood; and, besides, he knew the violence of her passions and her +impatience of contradiction, and was sensible that almost any reply +which he could make, was likely to throw her into an ecstasy of rage. +He was therefore silent; and Magdalen Graeme proceeded with increasing +enthusiasm in her apostrophe--"Once more, what seek'st thou, false +boy?--seek'st thou the honour thou hast renounced, the faith thou hast +abandoned, the hopes thou hast destroyed?--Or didst thou seek me, the +sole protectress of thy youth, the only parent whom thou hast known, +that thou mayest trample on my gray hairs, even as thou hast already +trampled on the best wishes of my heart?" + +"Pardon me, mother," said Roland Graeme; "but, in truth and reason, +I deserve not your blame. I have been treated amongst you--even by +yourself, my revered parent, as well as by others--as one who lacked the +common attributes of free-will and human reason, or was at least deemed +unfit to exercise them. A land of enchantment have I been led into, and +spells have been cast around me--every one has met me in disguise--every +one has spoken to me in parables--I have been like one who walks in a +weary and bewildering dream; and now you blame me that I have not the +sense, and judgment, and steadiness of a waking, and a disenchanted, and +a reasonable man, who knows what he is doing, and wherefore he does it. +If one must walk with masks and spectres, who waft themselves from place +to place as it were in vision rather than reality, it might shake the +soundest faith and turn the wisest head. I sought, since I must needs +avow my folly, the same Catherine Seyton with whom you made me first +acquainted, and whom I most strangely find in this village of Kinross, +gayest among the revellers, when I had but just left her in the +well-guarded castle of Lochleven, the sad attendant of an imprisoned +Queen-I sought her, and in her place I find you, my mother, more +strangely disguised than even she is." + +"And what hadst thou to do with Catherine Seyton?" said the matron, +sternly; "is this a time or a world to follow maidens, or to dance +around a Maypole? When the trumpet summons every true-hearted Scotsman +around the standard of the true sovereign, shalt thou be found loitering +in a lady's bower?" + +"No, by Heaven, nor imprisoned in the rugged walls of an island castle!" +answered Roland Graeme: "I would the blast were to sound even now, for I +fear that nothing less loud will dispel the chimerical visions by which +I am surrounded." + +"Doubt not that it will be winded," said the matron, "and that so +fearfully loud, that Scotland will never hear the like until the last +and loudest blast of all shall announce to mountain and to valley that +time is no more. Meanwhile, be thou but brave and constant--Serve God +and honour thy sovereign--Abide by thy religion--I cannot--I will +not--I dare not ask thee the truth of the terrible surmises I have heard +touching thy falling away--perfect not that accursed sacrifice--and yet, +even at this late hour, thou mayest be what I have hoped for the son +of my dearest hope--what say I? the son of _my_ hope--thou shalt be the +hope of Scotland, her boast and her honour!--Even thy wildest and most +foolish wishes may perchance be fulfilled--I might blush to mingle +meaner motives with the noble guerdon I hold out to thee--It shames me, +being such as I am, to mention the idle passions of youth, save with +contempt and the purpose of censure. But we must bribe children to +wholesome medicine by the offer of cates, and youth to honourable +achievement with the promise of pleasure. Mark me, therefore, Roland. +The love of Catherine Seyton will follow him only who shall achieve the +freedom of her mistress; and believe, it may be one day in thine own +power to be that happy lover. Cast, therefore, away doubt and fear, and +prepare to do what religion calls for, what thy country demands of thee, +what thy duty as a subject and as a servant alike require at your hand; +and be assured, even the idlest or wildest wishes of thy heart will be +most readily attained by following the call of thy duty." + +As she ceased speaking, a double knock was heard against the inner door. +The matron hastily adjusting her muffler, and resuming her chair by the +hearth, demanded who was there. + +"_Salve in nomine sancto_," was answered from without. + +"_Salvete et vos_," answered Magdalen Graeme. + +And a man entered in the ordinary dress of a nobleman's retainer, +wearing at his girdle a sword and buckler--"I sought you," said he, "my +mother, and him whom I see with you." Then addressing himself to Roland +Graeme, he said to him, "Hast thou not a packet from George Douglas?" + +"I have," said the page, suddenly recollecting that which had been +committed to his charge in the morning, "but I may not deliver it to any +one without some token that they have a right to ask it." + +"You say well," replied the serving-man, and whispered into his ear, +"The packet which I ask is the report to his father--will this token +suffice?" + +"It will," replied the page, and taking the packet from his bosom, gave +it to the man. + +"I will return presently," said the serving-man, and left the cottage. + +Roland had now sufficiently recovered his surprise to accost his +relative in turn, and request to know the reason why he found her in +so precarious a disguise, and a place so dangerous--"You cannot be +ignorant," he said, "of the hatred that the Lady of Lochleven bears to +those of your--that is of our religion--your present disguise lays you +open to suspicion of a different kind, but inferring no less hazard; +and whether as a Catholic, or as a sorceress, or as a friend to the +unfortunate Queen, you are in equal danger, if apprehended within the +bounds of the Douglas; and in the chamberlain who administers their +authority, you have, for his own reasons, an enemy, and a bitter one." + +"I know it," said the matron, her eyes kindling with triumph; "I know +that, vain of his school-craft, and carnal wisdom, Luke Lundin views +with jealousy and hatred the blessings which the saints have conferred +on my prayers, and on the holy relics, before the touch, nay, before the +bare presence of which, disease and death have so often been known to +retreat.--I know he would rend and tear me; but there is a chain and +a muzzle on the ban dog that shall restrain his fury, and the Master's +servant shall not be offended by him until the Master's work is wrought. +When that hour comes, let the shadows of the evening descend on me in +thunder and in tempest; the time shall be welcome that relieves my eyes +from seeing guilt, and my ears from listening to blasphemy. Do thou but +be constant--play thy part as I have played and will play mine, and my +release shall be like that of a blessed martyr whose ascent to heaven +angels hail with psalm and song, while earth pursues him with hiss and +with execration." + +As she concluded, the serving-man again entered the cottage, and said, +"All is well! the time holds for to-morrow night." + +"What time? what holds?" exclaimed Roland Graeme; "I trust I have given +the Douglas's packet to no wrong--" + +"Content yourself, young man," answered the serving-man; "thou hast my +word and token." + +"I know not if the token be right," said the page; "and I care not much +for the word of a stranger." + +"What," said the matron, "although thou mayest have given a packet +delivered to thy charge by one of the Queen's rebels into the hand of +a loyal subject--there were no great mistake in that, thou hot-brained +boy!" + +"By Saint Andrew, there were foul mistake, though," answered the page; +"it is the very spirit of my duty, in this first stage of chivalry, +to be faithful to my trust; and had the devil given me a message to +discharge, I would not (so I had plighted my faith to the contrary) +betray his counsel to an angel of light." + +"Now, by the love I once bore thee," said the matron, "I could slay thee +with mine own hand, when I hear thee talk of a dearer faith being due to +rebels and heretics, than thou owest to thy church and thy prince!" + +"Be patient, my good sister," said the serving-man; "I will give him +such reasons as shall counterbalance the scruples which beset +him---the spirit is honourable, though now it may be mistimed and +misplaced.--Follow me, young man." + +"Ere I go to call this stranger to a reckoning," said the page to the +matron, "is there nothing I can do for your comfort and safety?" + +"Nothing," she replied, "nothing, save what will lead more to thine own +honour;--the saints who have protected me thus far, will lend me succour +as I need it. Tread the path of glory that is before thee, and only +think of me as the creature on earth who will be most delighted to hear +of thy fame.--Follow the stranger--he hath tidings for you that you +little expect." + +The stranger remained on the threshold as if waiting for Roland, and as +soon as he saw him put himself in motion, he moved on before at a quick +pace. Diving still deeper down the lane, Roland perceived that it was +now bordered by buildings upon the one side only, and that the other +was fenced by a high old wall, over which some trees extended their +branches. Descending a good way farther, they came to a small door in +the wall. Roland's guide paused, looked around an instant to see if any +one were within sight, then taking a key from his pocket, opened the +door and entered, making a sign to Roland Graeme to follow him. He did +so, and the stranger locked the door carefully on the inside. During +this operation the page had a moment to look around, and perceived that +he was in a small orchard very trimly kept. + +The stranger led him through an alley or two, shaded by trees loaded +with summer-fruit, into a pleached arbour, where, taking the turf-seat +which was on the one side, he motioned to Roland to occupy that +which was opposite to him, and, after a momentary silence, opened the +conversation as follows: "You have asked a better warrant than the word +of a mere stranger, to satisfy you that I have the authority of George +of Douglas for possessing myself of the packet intrusted to your +charge." + +"It is precisely the point on which I demand reckoning of you," said +Roland. "I fear I have acted hastily; if so, I must redeem my error as I +best may." + +"You hold me then as a perfect stranger?" said the man. "Look at my face +more attentively, and see if the features do not resemble those of a man +much known to you formerly." + +Roland gazed attentively; but the ideas recalled to his mind were so +inconsistent with the mean and servile dress of the person before him, +that he did not venture to express the opinion which he was irresistibly +induced to form. + +"Yes, my son," said the stranger, observing his embarrassment, "you +do indeed see before you the unfortunate Father Ambrosius, who once +accounted his ministry crowned in your preservation from the snares of +heresy, but who is now condemned to lament thee as a castaway!" + +Roland Graeme's kindness of heart was at least equal to his vivacity +of temper--he could not bear to see his ancient and honoured master and +spiritual guide in a situation which inferred a change of fortune so +melancholy, but throwing himself at his feet, grasped his knees and wept +aloud. + +"What mean these tears, my son?" said the Abbot; "if they are shed for +your own sins and follies, surely they are gracious showers, and may +avail thee much--but weep not, if they fall on my account. You indeed +see the Superior of the community of Saint Mary's in the dress of a poor +sworder, who gives his master the use of his blade and buckler, and, +if needful, of his life, for a coarse livery coat and four marks by the +year. But such a garb suits the time, and, in the period of the church +militant, as well becomes her prelates, as staff, mitre, and crosier, in +the days of the church's triumph." + +"By what fate," said the page--"and yet why," added he, checking +himself, "need I ask? Catherine Seyton in some sort prepared me for +this. But that the change should be so absolute--the destruction so +complete!"-- + +"Yes, my son," said the Abbot Ambrosius, "thine own eyes beheld, in my +unworthy elevation to the Abbot's stall, the last especial act of holy +solemnity which shall be seen in the church of Saint Mary's, until it +shall please Heaven to turn back the captivity of the church. For the +present, the shepherd is smitten--ay, well-nigh to the earth--the +flock are scattered, and the shrines of saints and martyrs, and pious +benefactors to the church, are given to the owls of night, and the +satyrs of the desert." + +"And your brother, the Knight of Avenel--could he do nothing for your +protection?" + +"He himself hath fallen under the suspicion of the ruling powers," said +the Abbot, "who are as unjust to their friends as they are cruel to +their enemies. I could not grieve at it, did I hope it might estrange +him from his cause; but I know the soul of Halbert, and I rather fear +it will drive him to prove his fidelity to their unhappy cause, by some +deed which may be yet more destructive to the church, and more offensive +to Heaven. Enough of this; and now to the business of our meeting.--I +trust you will hold it sufficient if I pass my word to you that the +packet of which you were lately the bearer, was designed for my hands by +George of Douglas?" + +"Then," said the page, "is George of Douglas----" + +"A true friend to his Queen, Roland; and will soon, I trust, have his +eyes opened to the errors of his (miscalled) church." + +"But what is he to his father, and what to the Lady of Lochleven, who +has been as a mother to him?" said the page impatiently. + +"The best friend to both, in time and through eternity," said the Abbot, +"if he shall prove the happy instrument for redeeming the evil they have +wrought, and are still working." + +"Still," said the page, "I like not that good service which begins in +breach of trust." + +"I blame not thy scruples, my son," said the Abbot; "but the time which +has wrenched asunder the allegiance of Christians to the church, and of +subjects to their king, has dissolved all the lesser bonds of society; +and, in such days, mere human ties must no more restrain our progress, +than the brambles and briers which catch hold of his garments, should +delay the path of a pilgrim who travels to pay his vows." + +"But, my father,"--said the youth, and then stopt short in a hesitating +manner. + +"Speak on, my son," said the Abbot; "speak without fear." + +"Let me not offend you then," said Roland, "when I say, that it is +even this which our adversaries charge against us; when they say that, +shaping the means according to the end, we are willing to commit great +moral evil in order that we may work out eventual good." + +"The heretics have played their usual arts on you, my son," said the +Abbot; "they would willingly deprive us of the power of acting wisely +and secretly, though their possession of superior force forbids our +contending with them on terms of equality. They have reduced us to a +state of exhausted weakness, and now would fain proscribe the means by +which weakness, through all the range of nature, supplies the lack of +strength and defends itself against its potent enemies. As well might +the hound say to the hare, use not these wily turns to escape me, but +contend with me in pitched battle, as the armed and powerful heretic +demand of the down-trodden and oppressed Catholic to lay aside the +wisdom of the serpent, by which alone they may again hope to raise +up the Jerusalem over which they weep, and which it is their duty to +rebuild--But more of this hereafter. And now, my son, I command thee +on thy faith to tell me truly and particularly what has chanced to thee +since we parted, and what is the present state of thy conscience. Thy +relation, our sister Magdalen, is a woman of excellent gifts, blessed +with a zeal which neither doubt nor danger can quench; but yet it is +not a zeal altogether according to knowledge; wherefore, my son, I would +willingly be myself thy interrogator, and thy counsellor, in these days +of darkness and stratagem." + +With the respect which he owed to his first instructor, Roland Graeme +went rapidly through the events which the reader is acquainted with; and +while he disguised not from the prelate the impression which had +been made on his mind by the arguments of the preacher Henderson, he +accidentally and almost involuntarily gave his Father Confessor to +understand the influence which Catherine Seyton had acquired over his +mind. + +"It is with joy I discover, my dearest son," replied the Abbot, "that +I have arrived in time to arrest thee on the verge of the precipice to +which thou wert approaching. These doubts of which you complain, are the +weeds which naturally grow up in a strong soil, and require the careful +hand of the husbandman to eradicate them. Thou must study a little +volume, which I will impart to thee in fitting time, in which, by Our +Lady's grace, I have placed in somewhat a clearer light than heretofore, +the points debated betwixt us and these heretics, who sow among the +wheat the same tares which were formerly privily mingled with the good +seed by the Albigenses and the Lollards. But it is not by reason alone +that you must hope to conquer these insinuations of the enemy: It is +sometimes by timely resistance, but oftener by timely flight. You +must shut your ears against the arguments of the heresiarch, when +circumstances permit you not to withdraw the foot from his company. +Anchor your thoughts upon the service of Our Lady, while he is expending +in vain his heretical sophistry. Are you unable to maintain your +attention on heavenly objects--think rather on thine own earthly +pleasures, than tempt Providence and the Saints by giving an attentive +ear to the erring doctrine--think of thy hawk, thy hound, thine angling +rod, thy sword and buckler--think even of Catherine Seyton, rather than +give thy soul to the lessons of the tempter. Alas! my son, believe not +that, worn out with woes, and bent more by affliction than by years, I +have forgotten the effect of beauty over the heart of youth. Even in +the watches of the night, broken by thoughts of an imprisoned Queen, a +distracted kingdom, a church laid waste and ruinous, come other thoughts +than these suggest, and feelings which belonged to an earlier and +happier course of life. Be it so--we must bear our load as we may: and +not in vain are these passions implanted in our breast, since, as now +in thy case, they may come in aid of resolutions founded upon higher +grounds. Yet beware, my son--this Catherine Seyton is the daughter of +one of Scotland's proudest, as well as most worthy barons; and thy state +may not suffer thee, as yet, to aspire so high. But thus it is--Heaven +works its purposes through human folly; and Douglas's ambitious +affection, as well as thine, shall contribute alike to the desired end." + +"How, my father," said the page, "my suspicions are then true!--Douglas +loves----" + +"He does; and with a love as much misplaced as thine own; but beware of +him--cross him not--thwart him not." + +"Let him not cross or thwart me," said the page; "for I will not yield +him an inch of way, had he in his body the soul of every Douglas +that has lived since the time of the Dark Gray Man." [Footnote: By an +ancient, though improbable tradition, the Douglasses are said to have +derived their name from a champion who had greatly distinguished himself +in an action. When the king demanded by whom the battle had been won, +the attendants are said to have answered, "Sholto Douglas, sir;" which +is said to mean, "Yonder dark gray man." But the name is undoubtedly +territorial, and taken from Douglas river and vale.] + +"Nay, have patience, idle boy, and reflect that your suit can never +interfere with his.--But a truce with these vanities, and let us better +employ the little space which still remains to us to spend together. To +thy knees, my son, and resume the long-interrupted duty of confession, +that, happen what may, the hour may find in thee a faithful Catholic, +relieved from the guilt of his sins by authority of the Holy Church. +Could I but tell thee, Roland, the joy with which I see thee once more +put thy knee to its best and fittest use! _Quid dicis, mi fili?_" + +"_Culpas meas_" answered the youth; and according to the ritual of the +Catholic Church, he confessed and received absolution, to which was +annexed the condition of performing certain enjoined penances. + +When this religious ceremony was ended, an old man, in the dress of +a peasant of the better order, approached the arbour, and greeted the +Abbot.--"I have waited the conclusion of your devotions," he said, "to +tell you the youth is sought after by the chamberlain, and it were well +he should appear without delay. Holy Saint Francis, if the halberdiers +were to seek him here, they might sorely wrong my garden-plot--they are +in office, and reck not where they tread, were each step on jessamine +and clovegilly-flowers." + +"We will speed him forth, my brother," said the Abbot; "but alas! is it +possible that such trifles should live in your mind at a crisis so awful +as that which is now impending?" + +"Reverend father," answered the proprietor of the garden, for such he +was, "how oft shall I pray you to keep your high counsel for high minds +like your own? What have you required of me, that I have not granted +unresistingly, though with an aching heart?" + +"I would require of you to be yourself, my brother," said the Abbot +Ambrosius; "to remember what you were, and to what your early vows have +bound you." + +"I tell thee, Father Ambrosius," replied the gardener, "the patience of +the best saint that ever said pater-noster, would be exhausted by the +trials to which you have put mine--What I have been, it skills not +to speak at present-no one knows better than yourself, father, what I +renounced, in hopes to find ease and quiet during the remainder of +my days--and no one better knows how my retreat has been invaded, my +fruit-trees broken, my flower-beds trodden down, my quiet frightened +away, and my very sleep driven from my bed, since ever this poor Queen, +God bless her, hath been sent to Lochleven.--I blame her not; being a +prisoner, it is natural she should wish to get out from so vile a hold, +where there is scarcely any place even for a tolerable garden, and where +the water-mists, as I am told, blight all the early blossoms--I say, I +cannot blame her for endeavouring for her freedom; but why I should be +drawn into the scheme--why my harmless arbours, that I planted with my +own hands, should become places of privy conspiracy-why my little quay, +which I built for my own fishing boat, should have become a haven for +secret embarkations--in short, why I should be dragged into matters +where both heading and hanging are like to be the issue, I profess to +you, reverend father, I am totally ignorant." + +"My brother," answered the Abbot, "you are wise, and ought to know--" + +"I am not--I am not--I am not wise," replied the horticulturist, +pettishly, and stopping his ears with his fingers--"I was never called +wise but when men wanted to engage me in some action of notorious +folly." + +"But, my good brother," said the Abbot-- + +"I am not good neither," said the peevish gardener; "I am neither good +nor wise--Had I been wise, you would not have been admitted here; and +were I good, methinks I should send you elsewhere to hatch plots for +destroying the quiet of the country. What signifies disputing about +queen or king,--when men may sit at peace--_sub umbra vitis sui?_ and so +would I do, after the precept of Holy Writ, were I, as you term me, wise +or good. But such as I am, my neck is in the yoke, and you make me draw +what weight you list.--Follow me, youngster. This reverend father, who +makes in his jackman's dress nearly as reverend a figure as I myself, +will agree with me in one thing at least, and that is, that you have +been long enough here." + +"Follow the good father, Roland," said the Abbot, "and remember my +words--a day is approaching that will try the temper of all true +Scotsmen--may thy heart prove faithful as the steel of thy blade!" + +The page bowed in silence, and they parted; the gardener, +notwithstanding his advanced age, walking on before him very briskly, +and muttering as he went, partly to himself, partly to his companion, +after the manner of old men of weakened intellects--"When I was great," +thus ran his maundering, "and had my mule and my ambling palfrey at +command, I warrant you I could have as well flown through the air +as have walked at this pace. I had my gout and my rheumatics, and an +hundred things besides, that hung fetters on my heels; and, now, thanks +to Our Lady, and honest labour, I can walk with any good man of my age +in the kingdom of Fife--Fy upon it, that experience should be so long in +coming!" + +As he was thus muttering, his eye fell upon the branch of a pear-tree +which drooped down for want of support, and at once forgetting his +haste, the old man stopped and set seriously about binding it up. +Roland Graeme had both readiness, neatness of hand, and good nature in +abundance; he immediately lent his aid, and in a minute or two the bough +was supported, and tied up in a way perfectly satisfactory to the old +man, who looked at it with great complaisance. "They are bergamots," +he said, "and if you will come ashore in autumn, you shall taste of +them--the like are not in Lochleven Castle--the garden there is a poor +pin-fold, and the gardener, Hugh Houkham, hath little skill of his +craft--so come ashore, Master Page, in autumn, when you would eat pears. +But what am I thinking of--ere that time come, they may have given thee +sour pears for plums. Take an old man's advice, youth, one who hath seen +many days, and sat in higher places than thou canst hope for--bend thy +sword into a pruning-hook, and make a dibble of thy dagger--thy days +shall be the longer, and thy health the better for it,--and come to +aid me in my garden, and I will teach thee the real French fashion of +_imping_, which the Southron call graffing. Do this, and do it without +loss of time, for there is a whirlwind coming over the land, and only +those shall escape who lie too much beneath the storm to have their +boughs broken by it." + +So saying, he dismissed Roland Graeme, through a different door +from that by which he had entered, signed a cross, and pronounced a +benedicite as they parted, and then, still muttering to himself, retired +into the garden, and locked the door on the inside. + + + + +Chapter the Twenty-Ninth. + + + Pray God she prove not masculine ere long! + KING HENRY VI. + +Dismissed from the old man's garden, Roland Graeme found that a grassy +paddock, in which sauntered two cows, the property of the gardener, +still separated him from the village. He paced through it, lost in +meditation upon the words of the Abbot. Father Ambrosius had, with +success enough, exerted over him that powerful influence which the +guardians and instructors of our childhood possess over our more mature +youth. And yet, when Roland looked back upon what the father had said, +he could not but suspect that he had rather sought to evade entering +into the controversy betwixt the churches, than to repel the objections +and satisfy the doubts which the lectures of Henderson had excited. +"For this he had no time," said the page to himself, "neither have I now +calmness and learning sufficient to judge upon points of such magnitude. +Besides, it were base to quit my faith while the wind of fortune sets +against it, unless I were so placed, that my conversion, should it take +place, were free as light from the imputation of self-interest. I was +bred a Catholic--bred in the faith of Bruce and Wallace--I will hold +that faith till time and reason shall convince me that it errs. I +will serve this poor Queen as a subject should serve an imprisoned +and wronged sovereign--they who placed me in her service have to blame +themselves--who sent me hither, a gentleman trained in the paths of +loyalty and honour, when they should have sought out some truckling, +cogging, double-dealing knave, who would have been at once the observant +page of the Queen, and the obsequious spy of her enemies. Since I must +choose betwixt aiding and betraying her, I will decide as becomes her +servant and her subject; but Catherine Seyton--Catherine Seyton, beloved +by Douglas and holding me on or off as the intervals of her leisure or +caprice will permit--how shall I deal with the coquette?--By heaven, +when I next have an opportunity, she shall render me some reason for her +conduct, or I will break with her for ever!" + +As he formed this doughty resolution, he crossed the stile which led out +of the little enclosure, and was almost immediately greeted by Dr. Luke +Lundin. + +"Ha! my most excellent young friend," said the Doctor, "from whence come +you?--but I note the place.--Yes, neighbour Blinkhoolie's garden is a +pleasant rendezvous, and you are of the age when lads look after a bonny +lass with one eye, and a dainty plum with another. But hey! you look +subtriste and melancholic--I fear the maiden has proved cruel, or the +plums unripe; and surely I think neighbour Blinkhoolie's damsons can +scarcely have been well preserved throughout the winter--he spares the +saccharine juice on his confects. But courage, man, there are more Kates +in Kinross; and for the immature fruit, a glass of my double distilled +_aqua mirabilis--probatum est_." + +The page darted an ireful glance at the facetious physician; but +presently recollecting that the name Kate, which had provoked his +displeasure, was probably but introduced for the sake of alliteration, +he suppressed his wrath, and only asked if the wains had been heard of? + +"Why, I have been seeking for you this hour, to tell you that the stuff +is in your boat, and that the boat waits your pleasure. Auchtermuchty +had only fallen into company with an idle knave like himself, and a +stoup of aquavitae between them. Your boatmen lie on their oars, and +there have already been made two wefts from the warder's turret to +intimate that those in the castle are impatient for your return. Yet +there is time for you to take a slight repast; and, as your friend and +physician, I hold it unfit you should face the water-breeze with an +empty stomach." + +Roland Graeme had nothing for it but to return, with such cheer as he +might, to the place where his boat was moored on the beach, and resisted +all offer of refreshment, although the Doctor promised that he should +prelude the collation with a gentle appetizer--a decoction of herbs, +gathered and distilled by himself. Indeed, as Roland had not forgotten +the contents of his morning cup, it is possible that the recollection +induced him to stand firm in his refusal of all food, to which such +an unpalatable preface was the preliminary. As they passed towards the +boat, (for the ceremonious politeness of the worthy Chamberlain would +not permit the page to go thither without attendance,) Roland Graeme, +amidst a group who seemed to be assembled around a party of wandering +musicians, distinguished, as he thought, the dress of Catherine Seyton. +He shook himself clear from his attendant, and at one spring was in +the midst of the crowd, and at the side of the damsel. "Catherine," he +whispered, "is it well for you to be still here?--will you not return to +the castle?" + +"To the devil with your Catherines and your castles!" answered the +maiden, snappishly; "have you not had time enough already to get rid of +your follies? Begone! I desire not your farther company, and there will +be danger in thrusting it upon me." + +"Nay--but if there be danger, fairest Catherine," replied Roland; "why +will you not allow me to stay and share it with you?" + +"Intruding fool," said the maiden, "the danger is all on thine own +side--the risk in, in plain terms, that I strike thee on the mouth with +the hilt of my dagger." So saying, she turned haughtily from him, +and moved through the crowd, who gave way in some astonishment at the +masculine activity with which she forced her way among them. + +As Roland, though much irritated, prepared to follow, he was grappled +on the other side by Doctor Luke Lundin, who reminded him of the loaded +boat, of the two wefts, or signals with the flag, which had been made +from the tower, of the danger of the cold breeze to an empty stomach, +and of the vanity of spending more time upon coy wenches and sour plums. +Roland was thus, in a manner, dragged back to his boat, and obliged to +launch her forth upon his return to Lochleven Castle. + +That little voyage was speedily accomplished, and the page was +greeted at the landing-place by the severe and caustic welcome of old +Dryfesdale. "So, young gallant, you are come at last, after a delay of +six hours, and after two signals from the castle? But, I warrant, some +idle junketing hath occupied you too deeply to think of your service +or your duty. Where is the note of the plate and household stuff?--Pray +Heaven it hath not been diminished under the sleeveless care of so young +a gad-about!" + +"Diminished under my care, Sir Steward!" retorted the page angrily; "say +so in earnest, and by Heaven your gray hair shall hardly protect your +saucy tongue!" + +"A truce with your swaggering, young esquire," returned the steward; "we +have bolts and dungeons for brawlers. Go to my lady, and swagger before +her, if thou darest--she will give thee proper cause of offence, for she +has waited for thee long and impatiently." + +"And where then is the Lady of Lochleven?" said the page; "for I +conceive it is of her thou speakest." + +"Ay--of whom else?" replied Dryfesdale; "or who besides the Lady of +Lochleven hath a right to command in this castle?" + +"The Lady of Lochleven is thy mistress," said Roland Graeme; "but mine +is the Queen of Scotland." + +The steward looked at him fixedly for a moment, with an air in which +suspicion and dislike were ill concealed by an affectation of contempt. +"The bragging cock-chicken," he said, "will betray himself by his rash +crowing. I have marked thy altered manner in the chapel of late--ay, and +your changing of glances at meal-time with a certain idle damsel, who, +like thyself, laughs at all gravity and goodness. There is something +about you, my master, which should be looked to. But, if you would +know whether the Lady of Lochleven, or that other lady, hath a right +to command thy service, thou wilt find them together in the Lady Mary's +ante-room." + +Roland hastened thither, not unwilling to escape from the ill-natured +penetration of the old man, and marvelling at the same time what +peculiarity could have occasioned the Lady of Lochleven's being in the +Queen's apartment at this time of the afternoon, so much contrary to +her usual wont. His acuteness instantly penetrated the meaning. "She +wishes," he concluded, "to see the meeting betwixt the Queen and me +on my return, that she may form a guess whether there is any private +intelligence or understanding betwixt us--I must be guarded." + +With this resolution he entered the parlour, where the Queen, seated +in her chair, with the Lady Fleming leaning upon the back of it, had +already kept the Lady of Lochleven standing in her presence for the +space of nearly an hour, to the manifest increase of her very visible +bad humour. Roland Graeme, on entering the apartment, made a deep +obeisance to the Queen, and another to the Lady, and then stood still as +if to await their farther question. Speaking almost together, the Lady +Lochleven said, "So, young man, you are returned at length?" + +And then stopped indignantly short, while the Queen went on without +regarding her--"Roland, you are welcome home to us--you have proved the +true dove and not the raven--Yet I am sure I could have forgiven you, +if, once dismissed, from this water-circled ark of ours, you had never +again returned to us. I trust you have brought back an olive-branch, for +our kind and worthy hostess has chafed herself much on account of +your long absence, and we never needed more some symbol of peace and +reconciliation." + +"I grieve I should have been detained, madam," answered the page; "but +from the delay of the person intrusted with the matters for which I was +sent, I did not receive them till late in the day." + +"See you there now," said the Queen to the Lady Lochleven; "we could not +persuade you, our dearest hostess, that your household goods were in all +safe keeping and surety. True it is, that we can excuse your anxiety, +considering that these august apartments are so scantily furnished, that +we have not been able to offer you even the relief of a stool during the +long time you have afforded us the pleasure of your society." + +"The will, madam," said the lady, "the will to offer such accommodation +was more wanting than the means." + +"What!" said the Queen, looking round, and affecting surprise, "there +are then stools in this apartment--one, two--no less than four, +including the broken one--a royal garniture!--We observed them not--will +it please your ladyship to sit?" + +"No, madam, I will soon relieve you of my presence," replied the Lady +Lochleven; "and while with you, my aged limbs can still better brook +fatigue, than my mind stoop to accept of constrained courtesy." + +"Nay, Lady of Lochleven, if you take it so deeply," said the Queen, +rising and motioning to her own vacant chair, "I would rather you +assumed my seat--you are not the first of your family who has done so." + +The Lady of Lochleven curtsied a negative, but seemed with much +difficulty to suppress the angry answer which rose to her lips. + +During this sharp conversation, the page's attention had been almost +entirely occupied by the entrance of Catherine Seyton, who came from +the inner apartment, in the usual dress in which she attended upon the +Queen, and with nothing in her manner which marked either the hurry or +confusion incident to a hasty change of disguise, or the conscious fear +of detection in a perilous enterprise. Roland Graeme ventured to make +her an obeisance as she entered, but she returned it with an air of the +utmost indifference, which, in his opinion, was extremely +inconsistent with the circumstances in which they stood towards each +other.--"Surely," he thought, "she cannot in reason expect to bully me +out of the belief due to mine own eyes, as she tried to do concerning +the apparition in the hostelry of Saint Michael's--I will try if +I cannot make her feel that this will be but a vain task, and that +confidence in me is the wiser and safer course to pursue." + +These thoughts had passed rapidly through his mind, when the Queen, +having finished her altercation with the Lady of the castle, again +addressed him--"What of the revels at Kinross, Roland Graeme? Methought +they were gay, if I may judge from some faint sounds of mirth and +distant music, which found their way so far as these grated windows, +and died when they entered them, as all that is mirthful must--But +thou lookest as sad as if thou hadst come from a conventicle of the +Huguenots!" + +"And so perchance he hath, madam," replied the Lady of Lochleven, at +whom this side-shaft was lanched. "I trust, amid yonder idle fooleries, +there wanted not some pouring forth of doctrine to a better purpose than +that vain mirth, which, blazing and vanishing like the crackling of dry +thorns, leaves to the fools who love it nothing but dust and ashes." + +"Mary Fleming," said the Queen, turning round and drawing her mantle +about her, "I would that we had the chimney-grate supplied with a fagot +or two of these same thorns which the Lady of Lochleven describes so +well. Methinks the damp air from the lake, which stagnates in these +vaulted rooms, renders them deadly cold." + +"Your Grace's pleasure shall be obeyed," said the Lady of Lochleven; +"yet may I presume to remind you that we are now in summer?" + +"I thank you for the information, my good lady," said the Queen; "for +prisoners better learn their calender from the mouth of their jailor, +than from any change they themselves feel in the seasons.--Once more, +Roland Graeme, what of the revels?" + +"They were gay, madam," said the page, "but of the usual sort, and +little worth your Highness's ear." + +"Oh, you know not," said the Queen, "how very indulgent my ear has +become to all that speaks of freedom and the pleasures of the free. +Methinks I would rather have seen the gay villagers dance their ring +round the Maypole, than have witnessed the most stately masques within +the precincts of a palace. The absence of stone-wall--the sense that the +green turf is under the foot which may tread it free and unrestrained, +is worth all that art or splendour can add to more courtly revels." + +"I trust," said the Lady Lochleven, addressing the page in her turn, +"there were amongst these follies none of the riots or disturbances to +which they so naturally lead?" + +Roland gave a slight glance to Catherine Seyton, as if to bespeak her +attention, as he replied,--"I witnessed no offence, madam, worthy of +marking--none indeed of any kind, save that a bold damsel made her +hand somewhat too familiar with the cheek of a player-man, and ran some +hazard of being ducked in the lake." + +As he uttered these words he cast a hasty glance at Catherine; but she +sustained, with the utmost serenity of manner and countenance, the hint +which he had deemed could not have been thrown out before her without +exciting some fear and confusion. + +"I will cumber your Grace no longer with my presence," said the Lady +Lochleven, "unless you have aught to command me." + +"Nought, our good hostess," answered the Queen, "unless it be to pray +you, that on another occasion you deem it not needful to postpone your +better employment to wait so long upon us." + +"May it please you," added the Lady Lochleven, "to command this your +gentleman to attend us, that I may receive some account of these matters +which have been sent hither for your Grace's use?" + +"We may not refuse what you are pleased to require, madam," answered the +Queen. "Go with the lady, Roland, if our commands be indeed necessary +to thy doing so. We will hear to-morrow the history of thy Kinross +pleasures. For this night we dismiss thy attendance." + +Roland Graeme went with the Lady of Lochleven, who failed not to ask +him many questions concerning what had passed at the sports, to which he +rendered such answers as were most likely to lull asleep any suspicions +which she might entertain of his disposition to favour Queen Mary, +taking especial care to avoid all allusion to the apparition of Magdalen +Graeme, and of the Abbot Ambrosius. At length, after undergoing a long +and somewhat close examination, he was dismissed with such expressions, +as, coming from the reserved and stern Lady of Lochleven, might seem to +express a degree of favour and countenance. + +His first care was to obtain some refreshment, which was more cheerfully +afforded him by a good-natured pantler than by Dryfesdale, who was, on +this occasion, much disposed to abide by the fashion of Pudding-burn +House, where + + They who came not the first call. + Gat no more meat till the next meal. + +When Roland Graeme had finished his repast, having his dismissal from +the Queen for the evening, and being little inclined for such society +as the castle afforded, he stole into the garden, in which he had +permission to spend his leisure time, when it pleased him. In this +place, the ingenuity of the contriver and disposer of the walks had +exerted itself to make the most of little space, and by screens, both +of stone ornamented with rude sculpture, and hedges of living green, had +endeavoured to give as much intricacy and variety as the confined limits +of the garden would admit. + +Here the young man walked sadly, considering the events of the day, +and comparing what had dropped from the Abbot with what he had himself +noticed of the demeanour of George Douglas. "It must be so," was the +painful but inevitable conclusion at which he arrived. "It must be by +his aid that she is thus enabled, like a phantom, to transport herself +from place to place, and to appear at pleasure on the mainland or on +the islet.--It must be so," he repeated once more; "with him she holds a +close, secret, and intimate correspondence, altogether inconsistent with +the eye of favour which she has sometimes cast upon me, and destructive +to the hopes which she must have known these glances have necessarily +inspired." And yet (for love will hope where reason despairs) the +thought rushed on his mind, that it was possible she only encouraged +Douglas's passion so far as might serve her mistress's interest, and +that she was of too frank, noble, and candid a nature, to hold out +to himself hopes which she meant not to fulfil. Lost in these various +conjectures, he seated himself upon a bank of turf which commanded a +view of the lake on the one side, and on the other of that front of the +castle along which the Queen's apartments were situated. + +The sun had now for some time set, and the twilight of May was rapidly +fading into a serene night. On the lake, the expanded water rose and +fell, with the slightest and softest influence of a southern breeze, +which scarcely dimpled the surface over which it passed. In the distance +was still seen the dim outline of the island of Saint Serf, once visited +by many a sandalled pilgrim, as the blessed spot trodden by a man of +God--now neglected or violated, as the refuge of lazy priests, who had +with justice been compelled to give place to the sheep and the heifers +of a Protestant baron. + +As Roland gazed on the dark speck, amid the lighter blue of the waters +which surrounded it, the mazes of polemical discussion again stretched +themselves before the eye of the mind. Had these men justly suffered +their exile as licentious drones, the robbers, at once, and disgrace, of +the busy hive? or had the hand of avarice and rapine expelled from +the temple, not the ribalds who polluted, but the faithful priests who +served the shrine in honour and fidelity? The arguments of Henderson, +in this contemplative hour, rose with double force before him; and could +scarcely be parried by the appeal which the Abbot Ambrosius had made +from his understanding to his feelings,--an appeal which he had felt +more forcibly amid the bustle of stirring life, than now when his +reflections were more undisturbed. It required an effort to divert his +mind from this embarrassing topic; and he found that he best succeeded +by turning his eyes to the front of the tower, watching where a +twinkling light still streamed from the casement of Catherine Seyton's +apartment, obscured by times for a moment as the shadow of the fair +inhabitant passed betwixt the taper and the window. At length the light +was removed or extinguished, and that object of speculation was also +withdrawn from the eyes of the meditative lover. Dare I confess the +fact, without injuring his character for ever as a hero of romance? +These eyes gradually became heavy; speculative doubts on the subject of +religious controversy, and anxious conjectures concerning the state of +his mistress's affections, became confusedly blended together in +his musings; the fatigues of a busy day prevailed over the harassing +subjects of contemplation which occupied his mind, and he fell fast +asleep. + +Sound were his slumbers, until they were suddenly dispelled by the iron +tongue of the castle-bell, which sent its deep and sullen sounds wide +over the bosom of the lake, and awakened the echoes of Bennarty, the +hill which descends steeply on its southern bank. Roland started up, for +this bell was always tolled at ten o'clock, as the signal for locking +the castle gates, and placing the keys under the charge of the +seneschal. He therefore hastened to the wicket by which the garden +communicated with the building, and had the mortification, just as he +reached it, to hear the bolt leave its sheath with a discordant crash, +and enter the stone groove of the door-lintel. "Hold, hold," cried the +page, "and let me in ere you lock the wicket." The voice of Dryfesdale +replied from within, in his usual tone of embittered sullenness, +"The hour is passed, fair master--you like not the inside of these +walls--even make it a complete holiday, and spend the night as well as +the day out of bounds." + +"Open the door," exclaimed the indignant page, "or by Saint Giles I will +make thy gold chain smoke for it!" + +"Make no alarm here," retorted the impenetrable Dryfesdale, "but keep +thy sinful oaths and silly threats for those that regard them--I do mine +office, and carry the keys to the seneschal.--Adieu, my young master! +the cool night air will advantage your hot blood." + +The steward was right in what he said; for the cooling breeze was very +necessary to appease the feverish fit of anger which Roland experienced, +nor did the remedy succeed for some time. At length, after some hasty +turns made through the garden, exhausting his passion in vain vows of +vengeance, Roland Graeme began to be sensible that his situation ought +rather to be held as matter of laughter than of serious resentment. To +one bred a sportsman, a night spent in the open air had in it little of +hardship, and the poor malice of the steward seemed more worthy of his +contempt than his anger. "I would to God," he said, "that the grim old +man may always have contented himself with such sportive revenge. He +often looks as he were capable of doing us a darker turn." Returning, +therefore, to the turf-seat which he had formerly occupied, and which +was partially sheltered by a trim fence of green holly, he drew his +mantle around him, stretched himself at length on the verdant settle, +and endeavoured to resume that sleep which the castle bell had +interrupted to so little purpose. + +Sleep, like other earthly blessings, is niggard of its favours when most +courted. The more Roland invoked her aid, the farther she fled from his +eyelids. He had been completely awakened, first, by the sounds of the +bell, and then by his own aroused vivacity of temper, and he found +it difficult again to compose himself to slumber. At length, when his +mind--was wearied out with a maze of unpleasing meditation, he succeeded +in coaxing himself into a broken slumber. This was again dispelled by +the voices of two persons who were walking in the garden, the sound of +whose conversation, after mingling for some time in the page's dreams, +at length succeeded in awaking him thoroughly. He raised himself from +his reclining posture in the utmost astonishment, which the circumstance +of hearing two persons at that late hour conversing on the outside of +the watchfully guarded Castle of Lochloven, was so well calculated to +excite. His first thought was of supernatural beings; his next, upon +some attempt on the part of Queen Mary's friends and followers; his last +was, that George of Douglas, possessed of the keys, and having the means +of ingress and egress at pleasure, was availing himself of his office +to hold a rendezvous with Catherine Seyton in the castle garden. He was +confirmed in this opinion by the tone of the voice, which asked in a low +whisper, "whether all was ready?" + + + + +Chapter the Thirtieth. + + + In some breasts passion lies conceal'd and silent, + Like war's swart powder in a castle vault, + Until occasion, like the linstock, lights it: + Then comes at once the lightning--and the thunder, + And distant echoes tell that all is rent asunder. + OLD PLAY. + +Roland Graeme, availing himself of a breach in the holly screen, and +of the assistance of the full moon, which was now arisen, had a perfect +opportunity, himself unobserved, to reconnoitre the persons and the +motions of those by whom his rest had been thus unexpectedly disturbed; +and his observations confirmed his jealous apprehensions. They stood +together in close and earnest conversation within four yards of the +place of his retreat, and he could easily recognize the tall form and +deep voice of Douglas, and the no less remarkable dress and tone of the +page at the hostelry of Saint Michael's. + +"I have been at the door of the page's apartment," said Douglas, "but he +is not there, or he will not answer. It is fast bolted on the inside, as +is the custom, and we cannot pass through it--and what his silence may +bode I know not." + +"You have trusted him too far," said the other; "a feather-headed +cox-comb, upon whose changeable mind and hot brain there is no making an +abiding impression." + +"It was not I who was willing to trust him," said Douglas, "but I was +assured he would prove friendly when called upon--for----" Here he +spoke so low that Roland lost the tenor of his words, which was the +more provoking, as he was fully aware that he was himself the subject of +their conversation. + +"Nay," replied the stranger, more aloud, "I have on my side put him off +with fair words, which make fools vain--but now, if you distrust him at +the push, deal with him with your dagger, and so make open passage." + +"That were too rash," said Douglas; "and besides, as I told you, the +door of his apartment is shut and bolted. I will essay again to waken +him." + +Graeme instantly comprehended, that the ladies, having been somehow made +aware of his being in the garden, had secured the door of the outer room +in which he usually slept, as a sort of sentinel upon that only access +to the Queen's apartments. But then, how came Catherine Seyton to +be abroad, if the Queen and the other lady were still within their +chambers, and the access to them locked and bolted?--"I will be +instantly at the bottom of these mysteries," he said, "and then thank +Mistress Catherine, if this be really she, for the kind use which she +exhorted Douglas to make of his dagger--they seek me, as I comprehend, +and they shall not seek me in vain." + +Douglas had by this time re-entered the castle by the wicket, which was +now open. The stranger stood alone in the garden walk, his arms folded +on his breast, and his eyes cast impatiently up to the moon, as if +accusing her of betraying him by the magnificence of her lustre. In +a moment Roland Graeme stood before him--"A goodly night," he said, +"Mistress Catherine, for a young lady to stray forth in disguise, and to +meet with men in an orchard!" + +"Hush!" said the stranger page, "hush, thou foolish patch, and tell us +in a word if thou art friend or foe." + +"How should I be friend to one who deceives me by fair words, and who +would have Douglas deal with me with his poniard?" replied Roland. + +"The fiend receive George of Douglas and thee too, thou born madcap and +sworn marplot!" said the other; "we shall be discovered, and then death +is the word." + +"Catherine," said the page, "you have dealt falsely and cruelly with +me, and the moment of explanation is now come--neither it nor you shall +escape me." + +"Madman!" said the stranger, "I am neither Kate nor Catherine--the moon +shines bright enough surely to know the hart from the hind." + +"That shift shall not serve you, fair mistress," said the page, laying +hold on the lap of the stranger's cloak; "this time, at least, I will +know with whom I deal." + +"Unhand me," said she, endeavouring to extricate herself from his grasp; +and in a tone where anger seemed to contend with a desire to laugh, "use +you so little discretion towards a daughter of Seyton?" + +But as Roland, encouraged perhaps by her risibility to suppose his +violence was not unpardonably offensive, kept hold on her mantle, +she said, in a sterner tone of unmixed resentment,--"Madman! let me +go!--there is life and death in this moment--I would not willingly hurt +thee, and yet beware!" + +As she spoke she made a sudden effort to escape, and, in doing so, a +pistol, which she carried in her hand or about her person, went off. + +This warlike sound instantly awakened the well-warded castle. The warder +blew his horn, and began to toll the castle bell, crying out at the same +time, "Fie, treason! treason! cry all! cry all!" + +The apparition of Catherine Seyton, which the page had let loose in the +first moment of astonishment, vanished in darkness; but the plash of +oars was heard, and, in a second or two, five or six harquebuses and a +falconet were fired from the battlements of the castle successively, +as if levelled at some object on the water. Confounded with these +incidents, no way for Catherine's protection (supposing her to be in the +boat which he had heard put from the shore) occurred to Roland, save to +have recourse to George of Douglas. He hastened for this purpose +towards the apartment of the Queen, whence he heard loud voices and much +trampling of feet. When he entered, he found himself added to a confused +and astonished group, which, assembled in that apartment, stood gazing +upon each other. At the upper end of the room stood the Queen, equipped +as for a journey, and--attended not only by the Lady Fleming, but by the +omnipresent Catherine Seyton, dressed in the habit of her own sex, and +bearing in her hand the casket in which Mary kept such jewels as she had +been permitted to retain. At the other end of the hall was the Lady of +Lochleven, hastily dressed, as one startled from slumber by the sudden +alarm, and surrounded by domestics, some bearing torches, others holding +naked swords, partisans, pistols, or such other weapons as they had +caught up in the hurry of a night alarm. Betwixt these two parties stood +George of Douglas, his arms folded on his breast, his eyes bent on +the ground, like a criminal who knows not how to deny, yet continues +unwilling to avow, the guilt in which he has been detected. + +"Speak, George of Douglas," said the Lady of Lochleven; "speak, and +clear the horrid suspicion which rests on thy name. Say, 'A Douglas was +never faithless to his trust, and I am a Douglas.' Say this, my dearest +son, and it is all I ask thee to say to clear thy name, even under, such +a foul charge. Say it was but the wile of these unhappy women, and this +false boy, which plotted an escape so fatal to Scotland--so destructive +to thy father's house." + +"Madam," said old Dryfesdale the steward, "this much do I say for this +silly page, that he could not be accessary to unlocking the doors, since +I myself this night bolted him out of the castle. Whoever limned this +night-piece, the lad's share in it seems to have been small." + +"Thou liest, Dryfesdale," said the Lady, "and wouldst throw the blame on +thy master's house, to save the worthless life of a gipsy boy." + +"His death were more desirable to me than his life," answered the +steward, sullenly; "but the truth is the truth." + +At these words Douglas raised his head, drew up his figure to its full +height, and spoke boldly and sedately, as one whose resolution was +taken. "Let no life be endangered for me. I alone----" + +"Douglas," said the Queen, interrupting him, "art thou mad? Speak not, I +charge you." + +"Madam," he replied, bowing with the deepest respect, "gladly would I +obey your commands, but they must have a victim, and let it be the true +one.--Yes, madam," he continued, addressing the Lady of Lochleven, "I +alone am guilty in this matter. If the word of a Douglas has yet any +weight with you, believe me that this boy is innocent; and on your +conscience I charge you, do him no wrong; nor let the Queen suffer +hardship for embracing the opportunity of freedom which sincere +loyalty--which a sentiment yet deeper--offered to her acceptance. Yes! +I had planned the escape of the most beautiful, the most persecuted of +women; and far from regretting that I, for a while, deceived the malice +of her enemies, I glory in it, and am most willing to yield up life +itself in her cause." + +"Now may God have compassion on my age," said the Lady of Lochleven, +"and enable me to bear this load of affliction! O Princess, born in a +luckless hour, when will you cease to be the instrument of seduction and +of ruin to all who approach you? O ancient house of Lochleven, famed so +long for birth and honour, evil was the hour which brought the deceiver +under thy roof!" + +"Say not so, madam," replied her grandson; "the old honours of the +Douglas line will be outshone, when one of its descendants dies for the +most injured of queens--for the most lovely of women." + +"Douglas," said the Queen, "must I at this moment--ay, even at this +moment, when I may lose a faithful subject for ever, chide thee for +forgetting what is due to me as thy Queen?" + +"Wretched boy," said the distracted Lady of Lochleven, "hast thou +fallen even thus far into the snare of this Moabitish woman?--hast thou +bartered thy name, thy allegiance, thy knightly oath, thy duty to thy +parents, thy country, and thy God, for a feigned tear, or a sickly +smile, from lips which flattered the infirm Francis--lured to death the +idiot Darnley--read luscious poetry with the minion Chastelar--mingled +in the lays of love which were sung by the beggar Rizzio--and which were +joined in rapture to those of the foul and licentious Bothwell?" + +"Blaspheme not, madam!" said Douglas;--"nor you, fair Queen, and +virtuous as fair, chide at this moment the presumption of thy +vassal!--Think not that the mere devotion of a subject could have moved +me to the part I have been performing. Well you deserve that each of +your lieges should die for you; but I have done more--have done that to +which love alone could compel a Douglas--I have dissembled. Farewell, +then, Queen of all hearts, and Empress of that of Douglas!--When you are +freed from this vile bondage--as freed you shall be, if justice remains +in Heaven--and when you load with honours and titles the happy man +who shall deliver you, cast one thought on him whose heart would have +despised every reward for a kiss of your hand--cast one thought on his +fidelity, and drop one tear on his grave." And throwing himself at her +feet, he seized her hand, and pressed it to his lips. + +"This before my face!" exclaimed the Lady of Lochleven--"wilt thou court +thy adulterous paramour before the eyes of a parent?--Tear them asunder, +and put him under strict ward! Seize him, upon your lives!" she added, +seeing that her attendants looked at each other with hesitation. + +"They are doubtful," said Mary. "Save thyself, Douglas, I command thee!" + +He started up from the floor, and only exclaiming, "My life or death are +yours, and at your disposal!"--drew his sword, and broke through those +who stood betwixt him and the door. The enthusiasm of his onset was too +sudden and too lively to have been opposed by any thing short of the +most decided opposition; and as he was both loved and feared by his +father's vassals, none of them would offer him actual injury. + +The Lady of Lochleven stood astonished at his sudden escape--"Am I +surrounded," she said, "by traitors? Upon him, villains!--pursue, stab, +cut him down." + +"He cannot leave the island, madam," said Dryfesdale, interfering; "I +have the key of the boat-chain." + +But two or three voices of those who pursued from curiosity, or command +of their mistress, exclaimed from below, that he had cast himself into +the lake. + +"Brave Douglas still!" exclaimed the Queen--"Oh, true and noble heart, +that prefers death to imprisonment!" + +"Fire upon him!" said the Lady of Lochleven; "if there be here a true +servant of his father, let him shoot the runagate dead, and let the lake +cover our shame!" + +The report of a gun or two was heard, but they were probably shot rather +to obey the Lady, than with any purpose of hitting the mark; and Randal +immediately entering, said that Master George had been taken up by a +boat from the castle, which lay at a little distance. + +"Man a barge, and pursue them!" said the Lady. + +"It were quite vain," said Randal; "by this time they are half way to +shore, and a cloud has come over the moon." + +"And has the traitor then escaped?" said the Lady, pressing her hands +against her forehead with a gesture of despair; "the honour of our +house is for ever gone, and all will be deemed accomplices in this base +treachery." + +"Lady of Lochleven," said Mary, advancing towards her, "you have this +night cut off my fairest hopes--You have turned my expected freedom +into bondage, and dashed away the cup of joy in the very instant I was +advancing it to my lips--and yet I feel for your sorrow the pity that +you deny to mine--Gladly would I comfort you if I might; but as I may +not, I would at least part from you in charity." + +"Away, proud woman!" said the Lady; "who ever knew so well as thou +to deal the deepest wounds under the pretence of kindness and +courtesy?--Who, since the great traitor, could ever so betray with a +kiss?" + +"Lady Douglas of Lochleven," said the Queen, "in this moment thou canst +not offend me--no, not even by thy coarse and unwomanly language, held +to me in the presence of menials and armed retainers. I have this night +owed so much to one member of the house of Lochleven, as to cancel +whatever its mistress can do or say in the wildness of her passion." + +"We are bounden to you, Princess," said Lady Lochleven, putting a strong +constraint on herself, and passing from her tone of violence to that +of bitter irony; "our poor house hath been but seldom graced with royal +smiles, and will hardly, with my choice, exchange their rough honesty +for such court-honour as Mary of Scotland has now to bestow." + +"They," replied Mary, "who knew so well how to _take_, may think +themselves excused from the obligation implied in receiving. And that +I have now little to offer, is the fault of the Douglasses and their +allies." + +"Fear nothing, madam," replied the Lady of Lochleven, in the same bitter +tone, "you retain an exchequer which neither your own prodigality can +drain, nor your offended country deprive you of. While you have fair +words and delusive smiles at command, you need no other bribes to lure +youth to folly." + +The Queen cast not an ungratified glance on a large mirror, which, +hanging on one side of the apartment, and illuminated by the +torch-light, reflected her beautiful face and person. "Our hostess grows +complaisant," she said, "my Fleming; we had not thought that grief and +captivity had left us so well stored with that sort of wealth which +ladies prize most dearly." + +"Your Grace will drive this severe woman frantic," said Fleming, in +a low tone. "On my knees I implore you to remember she is already +dreadfully offended, and that we are in her power." + +"I will not spare her, Fleming," answered the Queen; "it is against my +nature. She returned my honest sympathy with insult and abuse, and I +will gall her in return,--if her words are too blunt for answer, let her +use her poniard if she dare!" + +"The Lady Lochleven," said the Lady Fleming aloud, "would surely do well +now to withdraw, and to leave her Grace to repose." + +"Ay," replied the Lady, "or to leave her Grace, and her Grace's minions, +to think what silly fly they may next wrap their meshes about. My eldest +son is a widower--were he not more worthy the flattering hopes with +which you have seduced his brother?--True, the yoke of marriage has been +already thrice fitted on--but the church of Rome calls it a sacrament, +and its votaries may deem it one in which they cannot too often +participate." + +"And the votaries of the church of Geneva," replied Mary, colouring with +indignation, "as they deem marriage _no_ sacrament, are said at times +to dispense with the holy ceremony."--Then, as if afraid of the +consequences of this home allusion to the errors of Lady Lochleven's +early life, the Queen added, "Come, my Fleming, we grace her too much +by this altercation; we will to our sleeping apartment. If she would +disturb us again to-night, she must cause the door to be forced." So +saying, she retired to her bed-room, followed by her two women. + +Lady Lochleven, stunned as it were by this last sarcasm, and not the +less deeply incensed that she had drawn it upon herself, remained like +a statue on the spot which she had occupied when she received an +affront so flagrant. Dryfesdale and Randal endeavoured to rouse her to +recollection by questions. + +"What is your honourable Ladyship's pleasure in the premises?" + +"Shall we not double the sentinels, and place one upon the boats and +another in the garden?" said Randal. + +"Would you that despatches were sent to Sir William at Edinburgh, to +acquaint him with what has happened?" demanded Dryfesdale; "and ought +not the place of Kinross to be alarmed, lest there be force upon the +shores of the lake?" + +"Do all as thou wilt," said the Lady, collecting herself, and about +to depart. "Thou hast the name of a good soldier, Dryfesdale, take all +precautions.--Sacred Heaven! that I should be thus openly insulted!" + +"Would it be your pleasure," said Dryfesdale, hesitating, "that this +person--this Lady--be more severely restrained?" + +"No, vassal!" answered the Lady, indignantly, "my revenge stoops not to +so low a gratification. But I will have more worthy vengeance, or the +tomb of my ancestors shall cover my shame!" + +"And you shall have it, madam," replied Dryfesdale--"ere two suns go +down, you shall term yourself amply revenged." + +The Lady made no answer--perhaps did not hear his words, as she +presently left the apartment. By the command of Dryfesdale, the rest of +the attendants were dismissed, some to do the duty of guard, others to +their repose. The steward himself remained after they had all departed; +and Roland Graeme, who was alone in the apartment, was surprised to see +the old soldier advance towards him with an air of greater cordiality +than he had ever before assumed to him, but which sat ill on his +scowling features. + +"Youth," he said, "I have done thee some wrong--it is thine own fault, +for thy behaviour hath seemed as light to me as the feather thou wearest +in thy hat; and surely thy fantastic apparel, and idle humour of mirth +and folly, have made me construe thee something harshly. But I saw this +night from my casement, (as I looked out to see how thou hadst disposed +of thyself in the garden,) I saw, I say, the true efforts which thou +didst make to detain the companion of the perfidy of him who is no +longer worthy to be called by his father's name, but must be cut off +from his house like a rotten branch. I was just about to come to thy +assistance when the pistol went off; and the warder (a false knave, whom +I suspect to be bribed for the nonce) saw himself forced to give the +alarm, which, perchance, till then he had wilfully withheld. To atone, +therefore, for my injustice towards you, I would willingly render you a +courtesy, if you would accept of it from my hands." + +"May I first crave to know what it is?" replied the page. + +"Simply to carry the news of this discovery to Holyrood, where thou +mayest do thyself much grace, as well with the Earl of Morton and the +Regent himself, as with Sir William Douglas, seeing thou hast seen the +matter from end to end, and borne faithful part therein. The making +thine own fortune will be thus lodged in thine own hand, when I trust +thou wilt estrange thyself from foolish vanities, and learn to walk in +this world as one who thinks upon the next." + +"Sir Steward," said Roland Graeme, "I thank you for your courtesy, but I +may not do your errand. I pass that I am the Queen's sworn servant, and +may not be of counsel against her. But, setting this apart, methinks it +were a bad road to Sir William of Lochleven's favour, to be the first to +tell him of his son's defection--neither would the Regent be over well +pleased to hear the infidelity of his vassal, nor Morton to learn the +falsehood of his kinsman." + +"Um!" said the steward, making that inarticulate sound which expresses +surprise mingled with displeasure. "Nay, then, even fly where ye list; +for, giddy-pated as ye may be, you know how to bear you in the world." + +"I will show you my esteem is less selfish than ye think for," said +the page; "for I hold truth and mirth to be better than gravity and +cunning--ay, and in the end to be a match for them.--You never loved me +less, Sir Steward, than you do at this moment. I know you will give me +no real confidence, and I am resolved to accept no false protestations +as current coin. Resume your old course--suspect me as much and watch +me as closely as you will, I bid you defiance--you have met with your +match." + +"By Heaven, young man," said the steward, with a look of bitter +malignity, "if thou darest to attempt any treachery towards the House of +Lochleven, thy head shall blacken in the sun from the warder's turret!" + +"He cannot commit treachery who refuses trust," said the page; "and for +my head, it stands as securely on my shoulders, as on any turret that +ever mason built." + +"Farewell, thou prating and speckled pie," said Dryfesdale, "that art +so vain of thine idle tongue and variegated coat! Beware trap and +lime-twig." + +"And fare thee well, thou hoarse old raven," answered the page; +"thy solemn flight, sable hue, and deep croak, are no charms against +bird-bolt or hail-shot, and that thou mayst find--it is open war betwixt +us, each for the cause of our mistress, and God show the right!" + +"Amen, and defend his own people!" said the steward. "I will let my +mistress know what addition thou hast made to this mess of traitors. +Good night, Monsieur Featherpate." + +"Good-night, Seignior Sowersby," replied the page; and, when the old man +departed, he betook himself to rest. + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-First. + + + Poison'd--ill fare!--dead, forsook, cast off!-- + KING JOHN. + +However weary Roland Graeme might be of the Castle of Lochleven--however +much he might wish that the plan for Mary's escape had been perfected, +I question if he ever awoke with more pleasing feelings than on the +morning after George Douglas's plan for accomplishing her deliverance +had been frustrated. In the first place, he had the clearest conviction +that he had misunderstood the innuendo of the Abbot, and that the +affections of Douglas were fixed, not on Catherine Seyton, but on the +Queen; and in the second place, from the sort of explanation which had +taken place betwixt the steward and him, he felt himself at liberty, +without any breach of honour towards the family of Lochleven, to +contribute his best aid to any scheme which should in future be formed +for the Queen's escape; and, independently of the good-will which he +himself had to the enterprise, he knew he could find no surer road to +the favour of Catherine Seyton. He now sought but an opportunity to +inform her that he had dedicated himself to this task, and fortune was +propitious in affording him one which was unusually favourable. + +At the ordinary hour of breakfast, it was introduced by the steward with +his usual forms, who, as soon as it was placed on the board in the inner +apartment, said to Roland Graeme, with a glance of sarcastic import, "I +leave you, my young sir, to do the office of sewer--it has been too long +rendered to the Lady Mary by one belonging to the house of Douglas." + +"Were it the prime and principal who ever bore the name," said Roland, +"the office were an honour to him." + +The steward departed without replying to this bravade, otherwise than +by a dark look of scorn. Graeme, thus left alone, busied himself as one +engaged in a labour of love, to imitate, as well as he could, the +grace and courtesy with which George of Douglas was wont to render his +ceremonial service at meals to the Queen of Scotland. There was more +than youthful vanity--there was a generous devotion in the feeling with +which he took up the task, as a brave soldier assumes the place of a +comrade who has fallen in the front of battle. "I am now," he said, +"their only champion: and, come weal, come wo, I will be, to the best +of my skill and power, as faithful, as trustworthy, as brave, as any +Douglas of them all could have been." + +At this moment Catherine Seyton entered alone, contrary to her custom; +and not less contrary to her custom, she entered with her kerchief +at her eyes. Roland Graeme approached her with beating heart and with +down-cast eyes, and asked her, in a low and hesitating voice, whether +the Queen were well? + +"Can you suppose it?" said Catherine. "Think you her heart and body are +framed of steel and iron, to endure the cruel disappointment of yester +even, and the infamous taunts of yonder puritanic hag?--Would to God +that I were a man, to aid her more effectually!" + +"If those who carry pistols, and batons, and poniards," said the page, +"are not men, they are at least Amazons; and that is as formidable." + +"You are welcome to the flash of your wit, sir," replied the damsel; "I +am neither in spirits to enjoy, nor to reply to it." + +"Well, then," said the page, "list to me in all serious truth. And, +first, let me say, that the gear last night had been smoother, had you +taken me into your counsels." + +"And so we meant; but who could have guessed that Master Page should +choose to pass all night in the garden, like some moon-stricken knight +in a Spanish romance--instead of being in his bed-room, when Douglas +came to hold communication with him on our project." + +"And why," said the page, "defer to so late a moment so important a +confidence?" + +"Because your communications with Henderson, and--with pardon--the +natural impetuosity and fickleness of your disposition, made us dread to +entrust you with a secret of such consequence, till the last moment." + +"And why at the last moment?" said the page, offended at this frank +avowal; "why at that, or any other moment, since I had the misfortune to +incur so much suspicion?" + +"Nay--now you are angry again," said Catherine; "and to serve you aright +I should break off this talk; but I will be magnanimous, and answer your +question. Know, then, our reason for trusting you was twofold. In the +first place, we could scarce avoid it, since you slept in the room +through which we had to pass. In the second place----" + +"Nay," said the page, "you may dispense with a second reason, when the +first makes your confidence in me a case of necessity." + +"Good now, hold thy peace," said Catherine. "In the second place, as +I said before, there is one foolish person among us, who believes that +Roland Graeme's heart is warm, though his head is giddy--that his blood +is pure, though it boils too hastily--and that his faith and honour +are true as the load-star, though his tongue sometimes is far less than +discreet." + +This avowal Catherine repeated in a low tone, with her eye fixed on the +floor, as if she shunned the glance of Roland while she suffered it +to escape her lips--"And this single friend," exclaimed the youth in +rapture; "this only one who would do justice to the poor Roland Graeme, +and whose own generous heart taught her to distinguish between follies +of the brain and faults of the heart--Will you not tell me, dearest +Catherine, to whom I owe my most grateful, my most heartfelt thanks?" + +"Nay," said Catherine, with her eyes still fixed on the ground, "if your +own heart tell you not----" + +"Dearest Catherine!" said the page, seizing upon her hand, and kneeling +on one knee. + +"If your own heart, I say, tell you not," said Catherine, gently +disengaging her hand, "it is very ungrateful; for since the maternal +kindness of the Lady Fleming----" + +The page started on his feet. "By Heaven, Catherine, your tongue wears +as many disguises as your person! But you only mock me, cruel girl. +You know the Lady Fleming has no more regard for any one, than hath the +forlorn princess who is wrought into yonder piece of old figured court +tapestry." + +"It may be so," said Catherine Seyton, "but you should not speak so +loud." + +"Pshaw!" answered the page, but at the same time lowering his voice, +"she cares for no one but herself and the Queen. And you know, besides, +there is no one of you whose opinion I value, if I have not your own. +No--not that of Queen Mary herself." + +"The more shame for you, if it be so," said Catherine, with great +composure. + +"Nay, but, fair Catherine," said the page, "why will you thus damp my +ardour, when I am devoting myself, body and soul, to the cause of your +mistress?" + +"It is because in doing so," said Catherine, "you debase a cause so +noble, by naming along with it any lower or more selfish motive. Believe +me," she said, with kindling eyes, and while the blood mantled on her +cheek, "they think vilely and falsely of women--I mean of those who +deserve the name--who deem that they love the gratification of their +vanity, or the mean purpose of engrossing a lover's admiration and +affection, better than they love the virtue and honour of the man they +may be brought to prefer. He that serves his religion, his prince, and +his country, with ardour and devotion, need not plead his cause with the +commonplace rant of romantic passion--the woman whom he honours with his +love becomes his debtor, and her corresponding affection is engaged to +repay his glorious toil." + +"You hold a glorious prize for such toil," said the youth, bending his +eyes on her with enthusiasm. + +"Only a heart which knows how to value it," said Catherine. "He that +should free this injured Princess from these dungeons, and set her at +liberty among her loyal and warlike nobles, whose hearts are burning +to welcome her--where is the maiden in Scotland whom the love of such a +hero would not honour, were she sprung from the blood royal of the land, +and he the offspring of the poorest cottager that ever held a plough?" + +"I am determined," said Roland, "to take the adventure. Tell me first, +however, fair Catherine, and speak it as if you were confessing to the +priest--this poor Queen, I know she is unhappy--but, Catherine, do you +hold her innocent? She is accused of murder." + +"Do I hold the lamb guilty, because it is assailed by the wolf?" +answered Catherine; "do I hold yonder sun polluted, because an +earth-damp sullies his beams?" + +The page sighed and looked down. "Would my conviction were as deep +as thine! But one thing is clear, that in this captivity she hath +wrong--She rendered herself up, on a capitulation, and the terms have +been refused her--I will embrace her quarrel to the death!" + +"Will you--will you, indeed?" said Catherine, taking his hand in her +turn. "Oh, be but firm in mind, as thou art bold in deed and quick in +resolution; keep but thy plighted faith, and after ages shall honour +thee as the saviour of Scotland!" + +"But when I have toiled successfully to win that Leah, Honour, thou wilt +not, my Catherine," said the page, "condemn me to a new term of service +for that Rachel, Love?" + +"Of that," said Catherine, again extricating her hand from his grasp, +"we shall have full time to speak; but Honour is the elder sister, and +must be won the first." + +"I may not win her," answered the page; "but I will venture fairly for +her, and man can do no more. And know, fair Catherine,--for you shall +see the very secret thought of my heart,--that not Honour only--not +only that other and fairer sister, whom you frown on me for so much as +mentioning--but the stern commands of duty also, compel me to aid the +Queen's deliverance." + +"Indeed!" said Catherine; "you were wont to have doubts on that matter." + +"Ay, but her life was not then threatened," replied Roland. + +"And is it now more endangered than heretofore?" asked Catherine Seyton, +in anxious terror. + +"Be not alarmed," said the page; "but you heard the terms on which your +royal mistress parted with the Lady of Lochleven?" + +"Too well--but too well," said Catherine; "alas! that she cannot rule +her princely resentment, and refrain from encounters like these!" + +"That hath passed betwixt them," said Roland, "for which woman never +forgives woman. I saw the Lady's brow turn pale, and then black, when, +before all the menzie, and in her moment of power, the Queen humbled her +to the dust by taxing her with her shame. And I heard the oath of deadly +resentment and revenge which she muttered in the ear of one, who by his +answer will, I judge, be but too ready an executioner of her will." + +"You terrify me," said Catherine. + +"Do not so take it--call up the masculine part of your spirit--we will +counteract and defeat her plans, be they dangerous as they may. Why do +you look upon me thus, and weep?" + +"Alas!" said Catherine, "because you stand there before me a living and +breathing man, in all the adventurous glow and enterprise of youth, yet +still possessing the frolic spirits of childhood--there you stand, full +alike of generous enterprise and childish recklessness; and if to-day, +or to-morrow, or some such brief space, you lie a mangled and lifeless +corpse upon the floor of these hateful dungeons, who but Catherine +Seyton will be the cause of your brave and gay career being broken short +as you start from the goal? Alas! she whom you have chosen to twine your +wreath, may too probably have to work your shroud!" + +"And be it so, Catherine," said the page, in the full glow of youthful +enthusiasm; "and _do_ thou work my shroud! and if thou grace it with +such tears as fall now at the thought, it will honour my remains more +than an earl's mantle would my living body. But shame on this faintness +of heart! the time craves a firmer mood--Be a woman, Catherine, or +rather be a man--thou canst be a man if thou wilt." + +Catherine dried her tears, and endeavoured to smile. + +"You must not ask me," she said, "about that which so much disturbs +your mind; you shall know all in time--nay, you should know all now, but +that--Hush! here comes the Queen." + +Mary entered from her apartment, paler than usual, and apparently +exhausted by a sleepless night, and by the painful thoughts which had +ill supplied the place of repose; yet the languor of her looks was +so far from impairing her beauty, that it only substituted the frail +delicacy of the lovely woman for the majestic grace of the Queen. +Contrary to her wont, her toilette had been very hastily despatched, +and her hair, which was usually dressed by Lady Fleming with great care, +escaping from beneath the headtire, which had been hastily adjusted, +fell in long and luxuriant tresses of Nature's own curling, over a neck +and bosom which were somewhat less carefully veiled than usual. + +As she stepped over the threshold of her apartment, Catherine, hastily +drying her tears, ran to meet her royal mistress, and having first +kneeled at her feet, and kissed her hand, instantly rose, and placing +herself on the other side of the Queen, seemed anxious to divide with +the Lady Fleming the honour of supporting and assisting her. The page, +on his part, advanced and put in order the chair of state, which she +usually occupied, and having placed the cushion and footstool for her +accommodation, stepped back, and stood ready for service in the place +usually occupied by his predecessor, the young Seneschal. Mary's +eye rested an instant on him, and could not but remark the change of +persons. Hers was not the female heart which could refuse compassion, at +least, to a gallant youth who had suffered in her cause, although he +had been guided in his enterprise by a too presumptuous passion; and the +words "Poor Douglas!" escaped from her lips, perhaps unconsciously, as +she leant herself back in her chair, and put the kerchief to her eyes. + +"Yes, gracious madam," said Catherine, assuming a cheerful manner, +in order to cheer her sovereign, "our gallant Knight is indeed +banished--the adventure was not reserved for him; but he has left behind +him a youthful Esquire, as much devoted to your Grace's service, and +who, by me, makes you tender of his hand and sword." + +"If they may in aught avail your Grace," said Roland Graeme, bowing +profoundly. + +"Alas!" said the Queen, "what needs this, Catherine?--why prepare new +victims to be involved in, and overwhelmed by, my cruel fortune?--were +we not better cease to struggle, and ourselves sink in the tide without +farther resistance, than thus drag into destruction with us every +generous heart which makes an effort in our favour?--I have had but too +much of plot and intrigue around me, since I was stretched an orphan +child in my very cradle, while contending nobles strove which should +rule in the name of the unconscious innocent. Surely time it were that +all this busy and most dangerous coil should end. Let me call my prison +a convent, and my seclusion a voluntary sequestration of myself from the +world and its ways." + +"Speak not thus, madam, before your faithful servants," said Catherine, +"to discourage their zeal at once, and to break their hearts. Daughter +of Kings, be not in this hour so unkingly--Come, Roland, and let us, the +youngest of her followers, show ourselves worthy of her cause--let us +kneel before her footstool, and implore her to be her own magnanimous +self." And leading Roland Graeme to the Queen's seat, they both kneeled +down before her. Mary raised herself in her chair, and sat erect, while, +extending one hand to be kissed by the page, she arranged with the +other the clustering locks which shaded the bold yet lovely brow of the +high-spirited Catherine. + +"Alas! _ma mignone_," she said, for so in fondness she often called her +young attendant, "that you should thus desperately mix with my unhappy +fate the fortune of your young lives!--Are they not a lovely couple, +my Fleming? and is it not heart-rending to think that I must be their +ruin?" + +"Not so," said Roland Graeme, "it is we, gracious Sovereign, who will be +your deliverers." + +"_Ex oribus parvulorum!_" said the Queen, looking upward; "if it is by +the mouth of these children that Heaven calls me to resume the stately +thoughts which become my birth and my rights, thou wilt grant them thy +protection, and to me the power of rewarding their zeal!"--Then turning +to Fleming, she instantly added,--"Thou knowest, my friend, whether +to make those who have served me happy, was not ever Mary's favourite +pastime. When I have been rebuked by the stern preachers of the +Calvinistic heresy--when I have seen the fierce countenances of my +nobles averted from me, has it not been because I mixed in the harmless +pleasures of the young and gay, and rather for the sake of their +happiness than my own, have mingled in the masque, the song, or the +dance, with the youth of my household? Well, I repent not of it--though +Knox termed it sin, and Morton degradation--I was happy, because I +saw happiness around me; and woe betide the wretched jealousy that can +extract guilt out of the overflowings of an unguarded gaiety!--Fleming, +if we are restored to our throne, shall we not have one blithesome day +at a blithesome bridal, of which we must now name neither the bride +nor the bridegroom? but that bridegroom shall have the barony of +Blairgowrie, a fair gift even for a Queen to give, and that bride's +chaplet shall be twined with the fairest pearls that ever were found +in the depths of Lochlomond; and thou thyself, Mary Fleming, the best +dresser of tires that ever busked the tresses of a Queen, and who would +scorn to touch those of any woman of lower rank,--thou thyself shalt, +for my love, twine them into the bride's tresses.--Look, my Fleming, +suppose them such clustered locks as those of our Catherine, they would +not put shame upon thy skill." + +So saying, she passed her hand fondly over the head of her youthful +favourite, while her more aged attendant replied despondently, "Alas! +madam, your thoughts stray far from home." + +"They do, my Fleming," said the Queen; "but is it well or kind in you to +call them back?--God knows, they have kept the perch this night but too +closely--Come, I will recall the gay vision, were it but to punish them. +Yes, at that blithesome bridal, Mary herself shall forget the weight +of sorrows, and the toil of state, and herself once more lead a +measure.--At whose wedding was it that we last danced, my Fleming? +I think care has troubled my memory--yet something of it I should +remember--canst thou not aid me?--I know thou canst." + +"Alas! madam," replied the lady---- + +"What!" said Mary, "wilt thou not help us so far? this is a peevish +adherence to thine own graver opinion, which holds our talk as folly. +But thou art court-bred, and wilt well understand me when I say, +the Queen _commands_ Lady Fleming to tell her where she led the last +_branle_." + +With a face deadly pale, and a mien as if she were about to sink into +the earth, the court-bred dame, no longer daring to refuse obedience, +faltered out--"Gracious Lady--if my memory err not--it was at a masque +in Holyrood--at the marriage of Sebastian." + +The unhappy Queen, who had hitherto listened with a melancholy smile, +provoked by the reluctance with which the Lady Fleming brought out her +story, at this ill-fated word interrupted her with a shriek so wild +and loud that the vaulted apartment rang, and both Roland and Catherine +sprang to their feet in the utmost terror and alarm. Meantime, Mary +seemed, by the train of horrible ideas thus suddenly excited, surprised +not only beyond self-command, but for the moment beyond the verge of +reason. + +"Traitress!" she said to the Lady Fleming, "thou wouldst slay thy +sovereign--Call my French guards--_a moi! a moi! mes Francais!_--I +am beset with traitors in mine own palace--they have murdered my +husband--Rescue! rescue for the Queen of Scotland!" She started up from +her chair--her features, late so exquisitely lovely in their paleness, +now inflamed with the fury of frenzy, and resembling those of a Bellona. +"We will take the field ourself," she said; "warn the city--warn Lothian +and Fife--saddle our Spanish barb, and bid French Paris see our petronel +be charged!--Better to die at the head of our brave Scotsmen, like our +grandfather at Flodden, than of a broken heart, like our ill-starred +father!" + +"Be patient--be composed, dearest Sovereign," said Catherine: and then +addressing Lady Fleming angrily, she added, "How could you say aught +that reminded her of her husband?" + +The word reached the ear of the unhappy Princess, who caught it up, +speaking with great rapidity. "Husband!--what husband?--Not his most +Christian Majesty--he is ill at ease--he cannot mount on horseback.--Not +him of the Lennox--but it was the Duke of Orkney thou wouldst say." + +"For God's love, madam, be patient!" said the Lady Fleming. + +But the Queen's excited imagination could by no entreaty be diverted +from its course. "Bid him come hither to our aid," she said, "and +bring with him his lambs, as he calls them--Bowton, Hay of Talla, Black +Ormiston, and his kinsman Hob--Fie! how swart they are, and how they +smell of sulphur! What! closeted with Morton? Nay, if the Douglas and +the Hepburn hatch the complot together, the bird, when it breaks the +shell, will scare Scotland. Will it not, my Fleming?" + +"She grows wilder and wilder," said Fleming; "we have too many hearers +for these strange words." + +"Roland," said Catherine, "in the name of God, begone! You cannot aid us +here--Leave us to deal with her alone--Away--away!" + +She thrust him to the door of the anteroom; yet even when he had entered +that apartment, and shut the door, he could still hear the Queen talk in +a loud and determined tone, as if giving forth orders, until at length +the voice died away in a feeble and continued lamentation. + +At this crisis Catherine entered the anteroom. "Be not too anxious," she +said, "the crisis is now over; but keep the door fast--let no one enter +until she is more composed." + +"In the name of God, what does this mean?" said the page; "or what was +there in the Lady Fleming's words to excite so wild a transport?" + +"Oh, the Lady Fleming, the Lady Fleming," said Catherine, repeating the +words impatiently; "the Lady Fleming is a fool--she loves her mistress, +yet knows so little how to express her love, that were the Queen to ask +her for very poison, she would deem it a point of duty not to resist +her commands. I could have torn her starched head-tire from her formal +head--The Queen should have as soon had the heart out of my body, as the +word Sebastian out of my lips--That that piece of weaved tapestry should +be a woman, and yet not have wit enough to tell a lie!" + +"And what was this story of Sebastian?" said the page. "By Heaven, +Catherine, you are all riddles alike!" + +"You are as great a fool as Fleming," returned the impatient maiden; +"know ye not, that on the night of Henry Darnley's murder, and at the +blowing up of the Kirk of Field, the Queen's absence was owing to her +attending on a masque at Holyrood, given by her to grace the marriage of +this same Sebastian, who, himself a favoured servant, married one of her +female attendants, who was near to her person?" + +"By Saint Giles," said the page, "I wonder not at her passion, but only +marvel by what forgetfulness it was that she could urge the Lady Fleming +with such a question." + +"I cannot account for it," said Catherine; "but it seems as if great +and violent grief and horror sometimes obscure the memory, and spread +a cloud like that of an exploding cannon, over the circumstances with +which they are accompanied. But I may not stay here, where I came not to +moralize with your wisdom, but simply to cool my resentment against that +unwise Lady Fleming, which I think hath now somewhat abated, so that I +shall endure her presence without any desire to damage either her curch +or vasquine. Meanwhile, keep fast that door--I would not for my life +that any of these heretics saw her in the unhappy state, which, brought +on her as it has been by the success of their own diabolical plottings, +they would not stick to call, in their snuffling cant, the judgment of +Providence." + +She left the apartment just as the latch of the outward door was +raised from without. But the bolt which Roland had drawn on the inside, +resisted the efforts of the person desirous to enter. "Who is there?" +said Graeme aloud. + +"It is I," replied the harsh and yet slow voice of the steward +Dryfesdale. + +"You cannot enter now," returned the youth. + +"And wherefore?" demanded Dryfesdale, "seeing I come but to do my duty, +and inquire what mean the shrieks from the apartment of the Moabitish +woman. Wherefore, I say, since such is mine errand, can I not enter?" + +"Simply," replied the youth, "because the bolt is drawn, and I have no +fancy to undo it. I have the right side of the door to-day, as you had +last night." + +"Thou art ill-advised, thou malapert boy," replied the steward, "to +speak to me in such fashion; but I shall inform my Lady of thine +insolence." + +"The insolence," said the page, "is meant for thee only, in fair guerdon +of thy discourtesy to me. For thy Lady's information, I have answer more +courteous--you may say that the Queen is ill at ease, and desires to be +disturbed neither by visits nor messages." + +"I conjure you, in the name of God," said the old man, with more +solemnity in his tone than he had hitherto used, "to let me know if her +malady really gains power on her!" + +"She will have no aid at your hand, or at your Lady's--wherefore, +begone, and trouble us no more--we neither want, nor will accept of, aid +at your hands." + +With this positive reply, the steward, grumbling and dissatisfied, +returned down stairs. + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Second. + + + It is the curse of kings to be attended + By slaves, who take their humours for a warrant + To break into the bloody house of life, + And on the winking of authority + To understand a law. + KING JOHN. + +The Lady of Lochleven sat alone in her chamber, endeavouring with +sincere but imperfect zeal, to fix her eyes and her attention on +the black-lettered Bible which lay before her, bound in velvet and +embroidery, and adorned with massive silver clasps and knosps. But she +found her utmost efforts unable to withdraw her mind from the resentful +recollection of what had last night passed betwixt her and the Queen, +in which the latter had with such bitter taunt reminded her of her early +and long-repented transgression. + +"Why," she said, "should I resent so deeply that another reproaches +me with that which I have never ceased to make matter of blushing +to myself? and yet, why should this woman, who reaps--at least, has +reaped--the fruits of my folly, and has jostled my son aside from the +throne, why should she, in the face of all my domestics, and of her own, +dare to upbraid me with my shame? Is she not in my power? Does she not +fear me? Ha! wily tempter, I will wrestle with thee strongly, and with +better suggestions than my own evil heart can supply!" + +She again took up the sacred volume, and was endeavouring to fix her +attention on its contents, when she was disturbed by a tap at the +door of the room. It opened at her command, and the steward Dryfesdale +entered, and stood before her with a gloomy and perturbed expression on +his brow. + +"What has chanced, Dryfesdale, that thou lookest thus?" said +his mistress--"Have there been evil tidings of my son, or of my +grandchildren?" + +"No, Lady," replied Dryfesdale, "but you were deeply insulted last +night, and I fear me thou art as deeply avenged this morning--Where is +the chaplain?" + +"What mean you by hints so dark, and a question so sudden? The chaplain, +as you well know, is absent at Perth upon an assembly of the brethren." + +"I care not," answered the steward; "he is but a priest of Baal." + +"Dryfesdale," said the Lady, sternly, "what meanest thou? I have ever +heard, that in the Low Countries thou didst herd with the Anabaptist +preachers, those boars which tear up the vintage--But the ministry which +suits me and my house must content my retainers." + +"I would I had good ghostly counsel, though," replied the steward, not +attending to his mistress's rebuke, and seeming to speak to himself. +"This woman of Moab----" + +"Speak of her with reverence," said the Lady; "she is a king's +daughter." + +"Be it so," replied Dryfesdale; "she goes where there is little +difference betwixt her and a beggar's child--Mary of Scotland is dying." + +"Dying, and in my castle!" said the Lady, starting up in alarm; "of what +disease, or by what accident?" + +"Bear patience, Lady. The ministry was mine." + +"Thine, villain and traitor!--how didst thou dare----" + +"I heard you insulted, Lady--I heard you demand vengeance--I promised +you should have it, and I now bring tidings of it." + +"Dryfesdale, I trust thou ravest?" said the Lady. + +"I rave not," replied the steward. "That which was written of me a +million of years ere I saw the light, must be executed by me. She hath +that in her veins that, I fear me, will soon stop the springs of life." +"Cruel villain," exclaimed the Lady, "thou hast not poisoned her?" "And +if I had," said Dryfesdale, "what does it so greatly merit? Men bane +vermin--why not rid them of their enemies so? in Italy they will do it +for a cruizuedor." + +"Cowardly ruffian, begone from my sight!" + +"Think better of my zeal, Lady," said the steward, "and judge not +without looking around you. Lindesay, Ruthven, and your kinsman Morton, +poniarded Rizzio, and yet you now see no blood on their embroidery--the +Lord Semple stabbed the Lord of Sanquhar--does his bonnet sit a jot more +awry on his brow? What noble lives in Scotland who has not had a share, +for policy or revenge, in some such dealing?--and who imputes it to +them? Be not cheated with names--a dagger or a draught work to the +same end, and are little unlike--a glass phial imprisons the one, and a +leathern sheath the other--one deals with the brain, the other sluices +the blood--Yet, I say not I gave aught to this lady." + +"What dost thou mean by thus dallying with me?" said the Lady; "as thou +wouldst save thy neck from the rope it merits, tell me the whole truth +of this story-thou hast long been known a dangerous man." + +"Ay, in my master's service I can be cold and sharp as my sword. Be it +known to you, that when last on shore, I consulted with a woman of skill +and power, called Nicneven, of whom the country has rung for some brief +time past. Fools asked her for charms to make them beloved, misers for +means to increase their store; some demanded to know the future--an idle +wish, since it cannot be altered; others would have an explanation +of the past--idler still, since it cannot be recalled. I heard their +queries with scorn, and demanded the means of avenging myself of a +deadly enemy, for I grow old, and may trust no longer to Bilboa blade. +She gave me a packet--`Mix that,' said she, `with any liquid, and thy +vengeance is complete.'" + +"Villain! and you mixed it with the food of this imprisoned Lady, to the +dishonour of thy master's house?" + +"To redeem the insulted honour of my master's house, I mixed the +contents of the packet with the jar of succory-water: They seldom fail +to drain it, and the woman loves it over all." + +"It was a work of hell," said the Lady Lochleven, "both the asking and +the granting.--Away, wretched man, let us see if aid be yet too late!" + +"They will not admit us, madam, save we enter by force--I have been. +twice at the door, but can obtain no entrance." + +"We will beat it level with the ground, if needful--And, hold--summon +Randal hither instantly.--Randal, here is a foul and evil chance +befallen--send off a boat instantly to Kinross, the Chamberlain Luke +Lundin is said to have skill--Fetch off, too, that foul witch Nicneven; +she shall first counteract her own spell, and then be burned to ashes +in the island of Saint Serf. Away, away--Tell them to hoist sail and ply +oar, as ever they would have good of the Douglas's hand!" + +"Mother Nicneven will not be lightly found, or fetched hither on these +conditions," answered Dryfesdale. + +"Then grant her full assurance of safety--Look to it, for thine own life +must answer for this lady's recovery." + +"I might have guessed that," said Dryfesdale, sullenly; "but it is +my comfort I have avenged mine own cause, as well as yours. She hath +scoffed and scripped at me, and encouraged her saucy minion of a page to +ridicule my stiff gait and slow speech. I felt it borne in upon me that +I was to be avenged on them." + +"Go to the western turret," said the Lady, "and remain there in +ward until we see how this gear will terminate. I know thy resolved +disposition--thou wilt not attempt escape." + +"Not were the walls of the turret of egg-shells, and the lake sheeted +ice," said Dryfesdale. "I am well taught, and strong in belief, that man +does nought of himself; he is but the foam on the billow, which rises, +bubbles, and bursts, not by its own effort, but by the mightier impulse +of fate which urges him. Yet, Lady, if I may advise, amid this zeal for +the life of the Jezebel of Scotland, forget not what is due to thine own +honour, and keep the matter secret as you may." + +So saying, the gloomy fatalist turned from her, and stalked off with +sullen composure to the place of confinement allotted to him. + +His lady caught at his last hint, and only expressed her fear that the +prisoner had partaken of some unwholesome food, and was dangerously ill. +The castle was soon alarmed and in confusion. Randal was dispatched to +the shore to fetch off Lundin, with such remedies as could counteract +poison; and with farther instructions to bring mother Nicneven, if she +could be found, with full power to pledge the Lady of Lochleven's word +for her safety. + +Meanwhile the Lady of Lochleven herself held parley at the door of the +Queen's apartment, and in vain urged the page to undo it. + +"Foolish boy!" she said, "thine own life and thy Lady's are at +stake--Open, I say, or we will cause the door to be broken down." + +"I may not open the door without my royal mistress's orders," answered +Roland; "she has been very ill, and now she slumbers--if you wake her by +using violence, let the consequence be on you and your followers." + +"Was ever woman in a strait so fearful!" exclaimed the Lady of +Lochleven--"At least, thou rash boy, beware that no one tastes the food, +but especially the jar of succory-water." + +She then hastened to the turret, where Dryfesdale had composedly +resigned himself to imprisonment. She found him reading, and demanded of +him, "Was thy fell potion of speedy operation?" + +"Slow," answered the steward. "The hag asked me which I chose--I +told her I loved a slow and sure revenge. 'Revenge,' said I, 'is the +highest-flavoured draught which man tastes upon earth, and he should sip +it by little and little--not drain it up greedily at once." + +"Against whom, unhappy man, couldst thou nourish so fell a revenge?" + +"I had many objects, but the chief was that insolent page." + +"The boy!--thou inhuman man!" exclaimed the lady; "what could he do to +deserve thy malice?" + +"He rose in your favour, and you graced him with your commissions--that +was one thing. He rose in that of George Douglas's also--that was +another. He was the favourite of the Calvinistic Henderson, who hated +me because my spirit disowns a separated priesthood. The Moabitish Queen +held him dear--winds from each opposing point blew in his favour--the +old servitor of your house was held lightly among ye--above all, from +the first time I saw his face, I longed to destroy him." + +"What fiend have I nurtured in my house!" replied the Lady. "May God +forgive me the sin of having given thee food and raiment!" + +"You might not choose, Lady," answered the steward. "Long ere this +castle was builded--ay, long ere the islet which sustains it reared its +head above the blue water, I was destined to be your faithful slave, and +you to be my ungrateful mistress. Remember you not when I plunged amid +the victorious French, in the time of this lady's mother, and brought +off your husband, when those who had hung at the same breasts with him +dared not attempt the rescue?--Remember how I plunged into the lake when +your grandson's skiff was overtaken by the tempest, boarded, and steered +her safe to the land. Lady--the servant of a Scottish baron is he who +regards not his own life, or that of any other, save his master. And, +for the death of the woman, I had tried the potion on her sooner, +had not Master George been her taster. Her death--would it not be the +happiest news that Scotland ever heard? Is she not of the bloody Guisian +stock, whose sword was so often red with the blood of God's saints? Is +she not the daughter of the wretched tyrant James, whom Heaven cast +down from his kingdom, and his pride, even as the king of Babylon was +smitten?" + +"Peace, villain!" said the Lady--a thousand varied recollections +thronging on her mind at the mention of her royal lover's name; "Peace, +and disturb not the ashes of the dead--of the royal, of the unhappy +dead. Read thy Bible; and may God grant thee to avail thyself better of +its contents than thou hast yet done!" She departed hastily, and as she +reached the next apartment, the tears rose in her eyes so hastily, that +she was compelled to stop and use her kerchief to dry them. "I expected +not this," she said, "no more than to have drawn water from the dry +flint, or sap from a withered tree. I saw with a dry eye the apostacy +and shame of George Douglas, the hope of my son's house--the child of my +love; and yet I now weep for him who has so long lain in his grave--for +him to whom I owe it that his daughter can make a scoffing and a jest of +my name! But she is _his_ daughter--my heart, hardened against her +for so many causes, relents when a glance of her eye places her father +unexpectedly before me--and as often her likeness to that true daughter +of the house of Guise, her detested mother, has again confirmed my +resolution. But she must not--must not die in my house, and by so foul +a practice. Thank God, the operation of the potion is slow, and may be +counteracted. I will to her apartment once more. But oh! that hardened +villain, whose fidelity we held in such esteem, and had such high proof +of! What miracle can unite so much wickedness and so much truth in one +bosom!" + +The Lady of Lochleven was not aware how far minds of a certain gloomy +and determined cast by nature, may be warped by a keen sense of petty +injuries and insults, combining with the love of gain, and sense of +self-interest, and amalgamated with the crude, wild, and indigested +fanatical opinions which this man had gathered among the crazy sectaries +of Germany; or how far the doctrines of fatalism, which he had embraced +so decidedly, sear the human conscience, by representing our actions as +the result of inevitable necessity. + +During her visit to the prisoner, Roland had communicated to Catherine +the tenor of the conversation he had had with her at the door of the +apartment. The quick intelligence of that lively maiden instantly +comprehended the outline of what was believed to have happened, but her +prejudices hurried her beyond the truth. + +"They meant to have poisoned us," she exclaimed in horror, "and there +stands the fatal liquor which should have done the deed!--Ay, as soon +as Douglas ceased to be our taster, our food was likely to be fatally +seasoned. Thou, Roland, who shouldst have made the essay, wert readily +doomed to die with us. Oh, dearest Lady Fleming, pardon, pardon, for the +injuries I said to you in my anger--your words were prompted by Heaven +to save our lives, and especially that of the injured Queen. But what +have we now to do? that old crocodile of the lake will be presently back +to shed her hypocritical tears over our dying agonies.--Lady Fleming, +what shall we do?" + +"Our Lady help us in our need!" she replied; "how should I +tell?--unless we were to make our plaint to the Regent." + +"Make our plaint to the devil," said Catherine impatiently, "and accuse +his dam at the foot of his burning throne!--The Queen still sleeps--we +must gain time. The poisoning hag must not know her scheme has +miscarried; the old envenomed spider has but too many ways of mending +her broken web. The jar of succory-water," said she--"Roland, if +thou be'st a man, help me--empty the jar on the chimney or from the +window--make such waste among the viands as if we had made our usual +meal, and leave the fragments on cup and porringer, but taste nothing +as thou lovest thy life. I will sit by the Queen, and tell her at her +waking, in what a fearful pass we stand. Her sharp wit and ready spirit +will teach us what is best to be done. Meanwhile, till farther notice, +observe, Roland, that the Queen is in a state of torpor--that Lady +Fleming is indisposed--that character" (speaking in a lower tone) "will +suit her best, and save her wits some labour in vain. I am not so much +indisposed, thou understandest." + +"And I?" said the page-- + +"You?" replied Catherine, "you are quite well--who thinks it worth while +to poison puppy-dogs or pages?" + +"Does this levity become the time?" asked the page. + +"It does, it does," answered Catherine Seyton; "if the Queen approves, I +see plainly how this disconcerted attempt may do us good service." + +She went to work while she spoke, eagerly assisted by Roland. The +breakfast table soon displayed the appearance as if the meal had been +eaten as usual; and the ladies retired as softly as possible into the +Queen's sleeping apartment. At a new summons of the Lady Lochleven, +the page undid the door, and admitted her into the anteroom, asking her +pardon for having withstood her, alleging in excuse, that the Queen had +fallen into a heavy slumber since she had broken her fast. + +"She has eaten and drunken, then?" said the Lady of Lochleven. + +"Surely," replied the page, "according to her Grace's ordinary custom, +unless upon the fasts of the church." + +"The jar," she said, hastily examining it, "it is empty--drank the Lady +Mary the whole of this water?" + +"A large part, madam; and I heard the Lady Catherine Seyton jestingly +upbraid the Lady Mary Fleming with having taken more than a just share +of what remained, so that but little fell to her own lot." + +"And are they well in health?" said the Lady of Lochleven. + +"Lady Fleming," said the page, "complains of lethargy, and looks duller +than usual; and the Lady Catherine of Seyton feels her head somewhat +more giddy than is her wont." + +He raised his voice a little as he said these words, to apprise the +ladies of the part assigned to each of them, and not, perhaps, without +the wish of conveying to the ears of Catherine the page-like jest which +lurked in the allotment. + +"I will enter the Queen's bedchamber," said the Lady of Lochleven; "my +business is express." + +As she advanced to the door, the voice of Catherine Seyton was heard +from within--"No one can enter here--the Queen sleeps." + +"I will not be controlled, young lady," replied the Lady of Lochleven; +"there is, I wot, no inner bar, and I will enter in your despite." + +"There is, indeed, no inner bar," answered Catherine, firmly, "but there +are the staples where that bar should be; and into those staples have I +thrust mine arm, like an ancestress of your own, when, better employed +than the Douglasses of our days, she thus defended the bedchamber of +her sovereign against murderers. Try your force, then, and see whether a +Seyton cannot rival in courage a maiden of the house of Douglas." + +"I dare not attempt the pass at such risk," said the Lady of Lochleven: +"Strange, that this Princess, with all that justly attaches to her +as blameworthy, should preserve such empire over the minds of her +attendants.--Damsel, I give thee my honour that I come for the Queen's +safety and advantage. Awaken her, if thou lovest her, and pray her leave +that I may enter--I will retire from the door the whilst." + +"Thou wilt not awaken the Queen?" said the Lady Fleming. + +"What choice have we?" said the ready-witted maiden, "unless you deem +it better to wait till the Lady Lochleven herself plays lady of the +bedchamber. Her fit of patience will not last long, and the Queen must +be prepared to meet her." + +"But thou wilt bring back her Grace's fit by thus disturbing her." + +"Heaven forbid!" replied Catherine; "but if so, it must pass for an +effect of the poison. I hope better things, and that the Queen will be +able when she wakes to form her own judgment in this terrible crisis. +Meanwhile, do thou, dear Lady Fleming, practise to look as dull and +heavy as the alertness of thy spirit will permit." + +Catherine kneeled by the side of the Queen's bed, and, kissing her hand +repeatedly, succeeded at last in awakening without alarming her. She +seemed surprised to find that she was ready dressed, but sate up in her +bed, and appeared so perfectly composed, that Catherine Seyton, without +farther preamble, judged it safe to inform her of the predicament in +which they were placed. Mary turned pale, and crossed herself again and +again, when she heard the imminent danger in which she had stood. But, +like the Ulysses of Homer, + + --Hardly waking yet, + Sprung in her mind the momentary wit, + +and she at once understood her situation, with the dangers and +advantages that attended it. + +"We cannot do better," she said, after her hasty conference with +Catherine, pressing her at the same time to her bosom, and kissing her +forehead; "we cannot do better than to follow the scheme so happily +devised by thy quick wit and bold affection. Undo the door to the Lady +Lochleven--She shall meet her match in art, though not in perfidy. +Fleming, draw close the curtain, and get thee behind it--thou art a +better tire-woman than an actress; do but breathe heavily, and, if thou +wilt, groan slightly, and it will top thy part. Hark! they come. Now, +Catherine of Medicis, may thy spirit inspire me, for a cold northern +brain is too blunt for this scene!" + +Ushered by Catherine Seyton, and stepping as light as she could, the +Lady Lochleven was shown into the twilight apartment, and conducted to +the side of the couch, where Mary, pallid and exhausted from a sleepless +night, and the subsequent agitation of the morning, lay extended so +listlessly as might well confirm the worst fears of her hostess. + +"Now, God forgive us our sins!" said the Lady of Lochleven, forgetting +her pride, and throwing herself on her knees by the side of the bed; "It +is too true--she is murdered!" + +"Who is in the chamber?" said Mary, as if awaking from a heavy +sleep. "Seyton, Fleming, where are you? I heard a strange voice. Who +waits?--Call Courcelles." + +"Alas! her memory is at Holyrood, though her body is at +Lochleven.--Forgive, madam," continued the Lady, "if I call your +attention to me--I am Margaret Erskine, of the house of Mar, by marriage +Lady Douglas of Lochleven." + +"Oh, our gentle hostess," answered the Queen, "who hath such care of our +lodgings and of our diet--We cumber you too much and too long, good Lady +of Lochleven; but we now trust your task of hospitality is well-nigh +ended." + +"Her words go like a knife through my heart," said the Lady of +Lochleven--"With a breaking heart, I pray your Grace to tell me what is +your ailment, that aid may be had, if there be yet time." + +"Nay, my ailment," replied the Queen, "is nothing worth telling, or +worth a leech's notice--my limbs feel heavy--my heart feels cold--a +prisoner's limbs and heart are rarely otherwise--fresh air, methinks, +and freedom, would soon revive me; but as the Estates have ordered it, +death alone can break my prison-doors." + +"Were it possible, madam," said the Lady, "that your liberty could +restore your perfect health, I would myself encounter the resentment of +the Regent--of my son, Sir William--of my whole friends, rather than you +should meet your fate in this castle." + +"Alas! madam," said the Lady Fleming, who conceived the time propitious +to show that her own address had been held too lightly of; "it is but +trying what good freedom may work upon us; for myself, I think a free +walk on the greensward would do me much good at heart." + +The Lady of Lochleven rose from the bedside, and darted a penetrating +look at the elder valetudinary. "Are you so evil-disposed, Lady +Fleming?" + +"Evil-disposed indeed, madam," replied the court dame, "and more +especially since breakfast." + +"Help! help!" exclaimed Catherine, anxious to break off a conversation +which boded her schemes no good; "help! I say, help! the Queen is about +to pass away. Aid her, Lady Lochleven, if you be a woman!" + +The Lady hastened to support the Queen's head, who, turning her eyes +towards her with an air of great languor, exclaimed, "Thanks, my dearest +Lady of Lochleven--notwithstanding some passages of late, I have never +misconstrued or misdoubted your affection to our house. It was proved, +as I have heard, before I was born." + +The Lady Lochleven sprung from the floor, on which she had again knelt, +and, having paced the apartment in great disorder, flung open the +lattice, as if to get air. + +"Now, Our Lady forgive me!" said Catherine to herself. "How deep must +the love of sarcasm, be implanted in the breasts of us women, since the +Queen, with all her sense, will risk ruin rather than rein in her wit!" +She then adventured, stooping over the Queen's person, to press her +arm with her hand, saying, at the same time, "For God's sake, madam, +restrain yourself!" + +"Thou art too forward, maiden," said the Queen; but immediately added, +in a low whisper, "Forgive me, Catherine; but when I felt the hag's +murderous hands busy about my head and neck, I felt such disgust and +hatred, that I must have said something, or died. But I will be schooled +to better behaviour--only see that thou let her not touch me." + +"Now, God be praised!" said the Lady Lochleven, withdrawing her head +from the window, "the boat comes as fast as sail and oar can send wood +through water. It brings the leech and a female--certainly, from the +appearance, the very person I was in quest of. Were she but well out of +this castle, with our honour safe, I would that she were on the top of +the wildest mountain in Norway; or I would I had been there myself, ere +I had undertaken this trust." + +While she thus expressed herself, standing apart at one window, Roland +Graeme, from the other, watched the boat bursting through the waters +of the lake, which glided from its side in ripple and in foam. He, too, +became sensible, that at the stern was seated the medical Chamberlain, +clad in his black velvet cloak; and that his own relative, Magdalen +Graeme, in her assumed character of Mother Nieneven, stood in the bow, +her hands clasped together, and pointed towards the castle, and her +attitude, even at that distance, expressing enthusiastic eagerness to +arrive at the landing-place. They arrived there accordingly, and while +the supposed witch was detained in a room beneath, the physician +was ushered to the Queen's apartment, which he entered with all due +professional solemnity. Catherine had, in the meanwhile, fallen back +from the Queen's bed, and taken an opportunity to whisper to Roland, +"Methinks, from the information of the threadbare velvet cloak and the +solemn beard, there would be little trouble in haltering yonder ass. But +thy grandmother, Roland--thy grandmother's zeal will ruin us, if she get +not a hint to dissemble." + +Roland, without reply, glided towards the door of the apartment, crossed +the parlour, and safely entered the antechamber; but when he attempted +to pass farther, the word "Back! Back!" echoed from one to the other, by +two men armed with carabines, convinced him that the Lady of Lochleven's +suspicions had not, even in the midst of her alarms, been so far lulled +to sleep as to omit the precaution of stationing sentinels on her +prisoners. He was compelled, therefore, to return to the parlour, or +audience-chamber, in which he found the Lady of the castle in conference +with her learned leech. + +"A truce with your cant phrase and your solemn foppery, Lundin," in such +terms she accosted the man of art, "and let me know instantly, if thou +canst tell, whether this lady hath swallowed aught that is less than +wholesome?" + +"Nay, but, good lady--honoured patroness--to whom I am alike bonds-man +in my medical and official capacity, deal reasonably with me. If this, +mine illustrious patient, will not answer a question, saving with sighs +and moans--if that other honourable lady will do nought but yawn in +my face when I inquire after the diagnostics--and if that other young +damsel, who I profess is a comely maiden--" + +"Talk not to me of comeliness or of damsels," said the Lady of +Lochleven, "I say, are they evil-disposed?--In one word, man, have they +taken poison, ay or no?" + +"Poisons, madam," said the learned leech, "are of various sorts. There +is your animal poison, as the lepus marinus, as mentioned by Dioscorides +and Galen--there are mineral and semi-mineral poisons, as those +compounded of sublimate regulus of antimony, vitriol, and the arsenical +salts--there are your poisons from herbs and vegetables, as the aqua +cymbalariae, opium, aconitum, cantharides, and the like--there are +also--" + +"Now, out upon thee for a learned fool! and I myself am no better for +expecting an oracle from such a log," said the Lady. + +"Nay, but if your ladyship will have patience--if I knew what food they +have partaken of, or could see but the remnants of what they have last +eaten--for as to the external and internal symptoms, I can discover +nought like; for, as Galen saith in his second book _de Antidotis_--" + +"Away, fool!" said the Lady; "send me that hag hither; she shall +avouch what it was that she hath given to the wretch Dryfesdale, or the +pilniewinks and thumbikins shall wrench it out of her finger joints!" + +"Art hath no enemy unless the ignorant," said the mortified Doctor; +veiling, however, his remark under the Latin version, and stepping apart +into a corner to watch the result. + +In a minute or two Magdalen Graeme entered the apartment, dressed as we +have described her at the revel, but with her muffler thrown back, and +all affectation of disguise. She was attended by two guards, of whose +presence she did not seem even to be conscious, and who followed her +with an air of embarrassment and timidity, which was probably owing to +their belief in her supernatural power, coupled with the effect +produced by her bold and undaunted demeanour. She confronted the Lady of +Lochleven, who seemed to endure with high disdain the confidence of her +air and manner. + +"Wretched woman!" said the Lady, after essaying for a moment to bear +her down, before she addressed her, by the stately severity of her look, +"what was that powder which thou didst give to a servant of this house, +by name Jasper Dryfesdale, that he might work out with it some slow and +secret vengeance?--Confess its nature and properties, or, by the honour +of Douglas, I give thee to fire and stake before the sun is lower!" + +"Alas!" said Magdalen Graeme in reply, "and when became a Douglas or a +Douglas's man so unfurnished in his revenge, that he should seek them +at the hands of a poor and solitary woman? The towers in which your +captives pine away into unpitied graves, yet stand fast on their +foundation--the crimes wrought in them have not yet burst their +vaults asunder--your men have still their cross-bows, pistolets, and +daggers--why need you seek to herbs or charms for the execution of your +revenges?" + +"Hear me, foul hag," said the Lady Lochleven,--"but what avails speaking +to thee?--Bring Dryfesdale hither, and let them be confronted together." + +"You may spare your retainers the labour," replied Magdalen Graeme. +"I came not here to be confronted with a base groom, nor to answer the +interrogatories of James's heretical leman--I came to speak with the +Queen of Scotland--Give place there!" + +And while the Lady Lochleven stood confounded at her boldness, and at +the reproach she had cast upon her, Magdalen Graeme strode past her +into the bedchamber of the Queen, and, kneeling on the floor, made a +salutation as if, in the Oriental fashion, she meant to touch the earth +with her forehead. + +"Hail, Princess!" she said, "hail, daughter of many a King, but +graced above them all in that thou art called to suffer for the true +faith--hail to thee, the pure gold of whose crown has been tried in the +seven-times heated furnace of affliction--hear the comfort which God +and Our Lady send thee by the mouth of thy unworthy servant.--But +first"--and stooping her head she crossed herself repeatedly, and, +still upon her knees, appeared to be rapidly reciting some formula of +devotion. + +"Seize her, and drag her to the massy-more!--to the deepest dungeon with +the sorceress, whose master, the Devil, could alone have inspired her +with boldness enough to insult the mother of Douglas in his own castle!" + +Thus spoke the incensed Lady of Lochleven, but the physician presumed to +interpose. + +"I pray of you, honoured madam, she be permitted to take her course +without interruption. Peradventure we shall learn something concerning +the nostrum she hath ventured, contrary to law and the rules of art, to +adhibit to these ladies, through the medium of the steward Dryfesdale." + +"For a fool," replied the Lady of Lochleven, "thou hast counselled +wisely--I will bridle my resentment till their conference be over." + +"God forbid, honoured Lady," said Doctor Lundin, "that you should +suppress it longer--nothing may more endanger the frame of your honoured +body; and truly, if there be witchcraft in this matter, it is held by +the vulgar, and even by solid authors on Demonology, that three scruples +of the ashes of the witch, when she hath been well and carefully burned +at a stake, is a grand Catholicon in such matter, even as they prescribe +_crinis canis rabidi_, a hair of the dog that bit the patient, in cases +of hydrophobia. I warrant neither treatment, being out of the regular +practice of the schools; but, in the present case, there can be +little harm in trying the conclusion upon this old necromancer and +quacksalver-_fiat experimentum_ (as we say) _in corpore vili_." + +"Peace, fool!" said the Lady, "she is about to speak." + +At that moment Magdalen Graeme arose from her knees, and turned her +countenance on the Queen, at the same time advancing her foot, extending +her arm, and assuming the mien and attitude of a Sibyl in frenzy. As her +gray hair floated back from beneath her coif, and her eye gleamed fire +from under its shaggy eyebrow, the effect of her expressive though +emaciated features, was heightened by an enthusiasm approaching to +insanity, and her appearance struck with awe all who were present. Her +eyes for a time glanced wildly around as if seeking for something to aid +her in collecting her powers of expression, and her lips had a nervous +and quivering motion, as those of one who would fain speak, yet rejects +as inadequate the words which present themselves. Mary herself caught +the infection as if by a sort of magnetic influence, and raising herself +from her bed, without being able to withdraw her eyes from those of +Magdalen, waited as if for the oracle of a Pythoness. She waited not +long, for no sooner had the enthusiast collected herself, than her gaze +became instantly steady, her features assumed a determined energy, +and when she began to speak, the words flowed from her with a profuse +fluency, which might have passed for inspiration, and which, perhaps, +she herself mistook for such. + +"Arise," she said, "Queen of France and of England! Arise, Lioness +of Scotland, and be not dismayed though the nets of the hunters have +encircled thee! Stoop not to feign with the false ones, whom thou shall +soon meet in the field. The issue of battle is with the God of armies, +but by battle thy cause shall be tried. Lay aside, then, the arts of +lower mortals, and assume those which become a Queen! True defender of +the only true faith, the armoury of heaven is open to thee! Faithful +daughter of the Church, take the keys of St. Peter, to bind and to +loose!--Royal Princess of the land, take the sword of St. Paul, to +smite and to shear! There is darkness in thy destiny;--but not in these +towers, not under the rule of their haughty mistress, shall that destiny +be closed--In other lands the lioness may crouch to the power of the +tigress, but not in her own--not in Scotland shall the Queen of Scotland +long remain captive--nor is the fate of the royal Stuart in the hands +of the traitor Douglas. Let the Lady of Lochleven double her bolts and +deepen her dungeons, they shall not retain thee--each element shall give +thee its assistance ere thou shalt continue captive--the land shall lend +its earthquakes, the water its waves, the air its tempests, the fire its +devouring flames, to desolate this house, rather than it shall continue +the place of thy captivity.--Hear this, and tremble, all ye who fight +against the light, for she says it, to whom it hath been assured!" + +She was silent, and the astonished physician said, "If there was ever +an _Energumene,_ or possessed demoniac, in our days, there is a devil +speaking with that woman's tongue!" + +"Practice," said the Lady of Lochleven, recovering her surprise; "here +is all practice and imposture--To the dungeon with her!" + +"Lady of Lochleven," said Mary, arising from her bed, and coming +forward with her wonted dignity, "ere you make arrest on any one in our +presence, hear me but one word. I have done you some wrong--I believed +you privy to the murderous purpose of your vassal, and I deceived you in +suffering you to believe it had taken effect. I did you wrong, Lady of +Lochleven, for I perceive your purpose to aid me was sincere. We tasted +not of the liquid, nor are we now sick, save that we languish for our +freedom." + +"It is avowed like Mary of Scotland," said Magdalen Graeme; "and know, +besides, that had the Queen drained the drought to the dregs, it was +harmless as the water from a sainted spring. Trow ye, proud woman," she +added, addressing herself to the Lady of Lochleven, "that I--I--would +have been the wretch to put poison into the hands of a servant or vassal +of the house of Lochleven, knowing whom that house contained? as soon +would I have furnished drug to slay my own daughter!" + +"Am I thus bearded in mine own castle?" said the Lady; "to the dungeon +with her!--she shall abye what is due to the vender of poisons and +practiser of witchcraft." + +"Yet hear me for an instant, Lady of Lochleven," said Mary; "and do +you," to Magdalen, "be silent at my command.--Your steward, lady, has by +confession attempted my life, and those of my household, and this +woman hath done her best to save them, by furnishing him with what was +harmless, in place of the fatal drugs which he expected. Methinks I +propose to you but a fair exchange when I say I forgive your vassal with +all my heart, and leave vengeance to God, and to his conscience, so that +you also forgive the boldness of this woman in your presence; for we +trust you do not hold it as a crime, that she substituted an innocent +beverage for the mortal poison which was to have drenched our cup." + +"Heaven forfend, madam," said the Lady, "that I should account that a +crime which saved the house of Douglas from a foul breach of honour and +hospitality! We have written to our son touching our vassal's delict, +and he must abide his doom, which will most likely be death. Touching +this woman, her trade is damnable by Scripture, and is mortally punished +by the wise laws of our ancestry--she also must abide her doom." + +"And have I then," said the Queen, "no claim on the house of Lochleven +for the wrong I have so nearly suffered within their walls? I ask but in +requital, the life of a frail and aged woman, whose brain, as yourself +may judge, seems somewhat affected by years and suffering." + +"If the Lady Mary," replied the inflexible Lady of Lochleven, "hath been +menaced with wrong in the house of Douglas, it may be regarded as some +compensation, that her complots have cost that house the exile of a +valued son." + +"Plead no more for me, my gracious Sovereign," said Magdalen Graeme, +"nor abase yourself to ask so much as a gray hair of my head at her +hands. I knew the risk at which I served my Church and my Queen, and was +ever prompt to pay my poor life as the ransom. It is a comfort to think, +that in slaying me, or in restraining my freedom, or even in injuring +that single gray hair, the house, whose honour she boasts so highly, +will have filled up the measure of their shame by the breach of their +solemn written assurance of safety."--And taking from her bosom a paper, +she handed it to the Queen. + +"It is a solemn assurance of safety in life and limb," said Queen Mary, +"with space to come and go, under the hand and seal of the Chamberlain +of Kinross, granted to Magdalen Graeme, commonly called Mother Nicneven, +in consideration of her consenting to put herself, for the space of +twenty-four hours, if required, within the iron gate of the Castle of +Lochleven." + +"Knave!" said the Lady, turning to the Chamberlain, "how dared you grant +her such a protection?" + +"It was by your Ladyship's orders, transmitted by Randal, as he can +bear witness," replied Doctor Lundin; "nay, I am only like the +pharmacopolist, who compounds the drugs after the order of the +mediciner." + +"I remember--I remember," answered the Lady; "but I meant the assurance +only to be used in case, by residing in another jurisdiction, she could +not have been apprehended under our warrant." + +"Nevertheless," said the Queen, "the Lady of Lochleven is bound by the +action of her deputy in granting the assurance." + +"Madam," replied the Lady, "the house of Douglas have never broken +their safe-conduct, and never will--too deeply did they suffer by such +a breach of trust, exercised on themselves, when your Grace's ancestor, +the second James, in defiance of the rights of hospitality, and of his +own written assurance of safety, poniarded the brave Earl of Douglas +with his own hand, and within two yards of the social board, at which he +had just before sat the King of Scotland's honoured guest." + +"Methinks," said the Queen, carelessly, "in consideration of so very +recent and enormous a tragedy, which I think only chanced some six-score +years agone, the Douglasses should have shown themselves less tenacious +of the company of their sovereigns, than you, Lady of Lochleven, seem to +be of mine." + +"Let Randal," said the Lady, "take the hag back to Kinross, and set her +at full liberty, discharging her from our bounds in future, on peril of +her head.--And let your wisdom," to the Chamberlain, "keep her company. +And fear not for your character, though I send you in such company; for, +granting her to be a witch, it would be a waste of fagots to burn you +for a wizard." + +The crest-fallen Chamberlain was preparing to depart; but Magdalen +Graeme, collecting herself, was about to reply, when the Queen +interposed, saying, "Good mother, we heartily thank you for your +unfeigned zeal towards our person, and pray you, as our liege-woman, +that you abstain from whatever may lead you into personal danger; and, +farther, it is our will that you depart without a word of farther parley +with any one in this castle. For thy present guerdon, take this small +reliquary--it was given to us by our uncle the Cardinal, and hath had +the benediction of the Holy Father himself;--and now depart in peace and +in silence.--For you, learned sir," continued the Queen, advancing to +the Doctor, who made his reverence in a manner doubly embarrassed by the +awe of the Queen's presence, which made him fear to do too little, and +by the apprehension of his lady's displeasure, in case he should chance +to do too much--"for you, learned sir, as it was not your fault, though +surely our own good fortune, that we did not need your skill at this +time, it would not become us, however circumstanced, to suffer our leech +to leave us without such guerdon as we can offer." + +With these words, and with the grace which never forsook her, though, +in the present case, there might lurk under it a little gentle ridicule, +she offered a small embroidered purse to the Chamberlain, who, with +extended hand and arched back, his learned face stooping until a +physiognomist might have practised the metoposcopical science upon it, +as seen from behind betwixt his gambadoes, was about to accept of the +professional recompense offered by so fair as well as illustrious a +hand. But the Lady interposed, and, regarding the Chamberlain, said +aloud, "No servant of our house, without instantly relinquishing that +character, and incurring withal our highest displeasure, shall dare +receive any gratuity at the hand of the Lady Mary." + +Sadly and slowly the Chamberlain raised his depressed stature into the +perpendicular attitude, and left the apartment dejectedly, followed by +Magdalen Graeme, after, with mute but expressive gesture, she had kissed +the reliquary with which the Queen had presented her, and, raising her +clasped hands and uplifted eyes towards Heaven, had seemed to entreat +a benediction upon the royal dame. As she left the castle, and +went towards the quay where the boat lay, Roland Graeme, anxious to +communicate with her if possible, threw himself in her way, and might +have succeeded in exchanging a few words with her, as she was guarded +only by the dejected Chamberlain and his halberdiers, but she seemed to +have taken, in its most strict and literal acceptation, the command to +be silent which she had received from the Queen; for, to the repeated +signs of her grandson, she only replied by laying her finger on her lip. +Dr. Lundin was not so reserved. Regret for the handsome gratuity, and +for the compulsory task of self-denial imposed on him, had grieved the +spirit of that worthy officer and learned mediciner--"Even thus, my +friend," said he, squeezing the page's hand as he bade him farewell, "is +merit rewarded. I came to cure this unhappy Lady--and I profess she well +deserves the trouble, for, say what they will of her, she hath a most +winning manner, a sweet voice, a gracious smile, and a most majestic +wave of her hand. If she was not poisoned, say, my dear Master Roland, +was that fault of mine, I being ready to cure her if she had?--and now I +am denied the permission to accept my well-earned honorarium--O Galen! O +Hippocrates! is the graduate's cap and doctor's scarlet brought to this +pass! _Frustra fatigamus remediis aegros!_" + +He wiped his eyes, stepped on the gunwale, and the boat pushed off from +the shore, and went merrily across the lake, which was dimpled by the +summer wind. [Footnote: A romancer, to use a Scottish phrase, wants but +a hair to make a tether of. The whole detail of the steward's supposed +conspiracy against the life of Mary, is grounded upon an expression in +one of her letters, which affirms, that Jasper Dryfesdale, one of the +Laird of Lochleven's servants, had threatened to murder William Douglas, +(for his share in the Queen's escape,) and averred that he would plant a +dagger in Mary's own heart.--CHALMER'S _Life of Queen Mary_, vol. i. p. +278.] + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Third. + + + Death distant?--No, alas! he's ever with us, + And shakes the dart at us in all our actings: + He lurks within our cup, while we're in health; + Sits by our sick-bed, mocks our medicines; + We cannot walk, or sit, or ride, or travel, + But Death is by to seize us when he lists. + THE SPANISH FATHER. + +From the agitating scene in the Queen's presence-chamber, the Lady of +Lochleven retreated to her own apartment, and ordered the steward to be +called before her. + +"Have they not disarmed thee, Dryfesdale?" she said, on seeing him +enter, accoutred, as usual, with sword and dagger. + +"No!" replied the old man; "how should they?--Your ladyship, when you +commanded me to ward, said nought of laying down my arms; and, I think +none of your menials, without your order, or your son's, dare approach +Jasper Dryfesdale for such a purpose.--Shall I now give up my sword to +you?--it is worth little now, for it has fought for your house till it +is worn down to old iron, like the pantler's old chipping knife." + +"You have attempted a deadly crime--poison under trust." + +"Under trust?--hem!--I know not what your ladyship thinks of it, but the +world without thinks the trust was given you even for that very end; and +you would have been well off had it been so ended as I proposed, and you +neither the worse nor the wiser." + +"Wretch!" exclaimed the lady, "and fool as well as villain, who could +not even execute the crime he had planned!" + +"I bid as fair for it as man could," replied Dryfesdale; "I went to a +woman--a witch and a Papist--If I found not poison, it was because it +was otherwise predestined. I tried fair for it; but the half-done job +may be clouted, if you will." + +"Villain! I am even now about to send off an express messenger to my +son, to take order how thou shouldst be disposed of. Prepare thyself for +death, if thou canst." + +"He that looks on death, Lady," answered Dryfesdale, "as that which +he may not shun, and which has its own fixed and certain hour, is ever +prepared for it. He that is hanged in May will eat no flaunes +[footnote: Pancakes] in midsummer--so there is the moan made for the old +serving-man. But whom, pray I, send you on so fair an errand?" + +"There will be no lack of messengers," answered his mistress. + +"By my hand, but there will," replied the old man; "your castle is but +poorly manned, considering the watches that you must keep, having this +charge--There is the warder, and two others, whom you discarded for +tampering with Master George; then for the warder's tower, the bailie, +the donjon--five men mount each guard, and the rest must sleep for the +most part in their clothes. To send away another man, were to harass +the sentinels to death--unthrifty misuse for a household. To take in new +soldiers were dangerous, the charge requiring tried men. I see but one +thing for it--I will do your errand to Sir William Douglas myself." + +"That were indeed a resource!--And on what day within twenty years would +it be done?" said the Lady. + +"Even with the speed of man and horse," said Dryfesdale; "for though I +care not much about the latter days of an old serving-man's life, yet I +would like to know as soon as may be, whether my neck is mine own or the +hangman's." + +"Holdest thou thy own life so lightly?" said the Lady. + +"Else I had reckoned more of that of others," said the +predestinarian--"What is death?--it is but ceasing to live--And what +is living?--a weary return of light and darkness, sleeping and waking, +being hungered and eating. Your dead man needs neither candle nor can, +neither fire nor feather-bed; and the joiner's chest serves him for an +eternal frieze-jerkin." + +"Wretched man! believest thou not that after death comes the judgment?" + +"Lady," answered Dryfesdale, "as my mistress, I may not dispute your +words; but, as spiritually speaking, you are still but a burner of +bricks in Egypt, ignorant of the freedom of the saints; for, as was well +shown to me by that gifted man, Nicolaus Schoefferbach, who was martyred +by the bloody Bishop of Munster, he cannot sin who doth but execute that +which is predestined, since--" + +"Silence!" said the Lady, interrupting him,--"Answer me not with thy +bold and presumptuous blasphemy, but hear me. Thou hast been long the +servant of our house--" + +"The born servant of the Douglas--they have had the best of me--I served +them since I left Lockerbie: I was then ten years old, and you may soon +add the threescore to it." + +"Thy foul attempt has miscarried, so thou art guilty only in intention. +It were a deserved deed to hang thee on the warder's tower; and yet +in thy present mind, it were but giving a soul to Satan. I take thine +offer, then--Go hence--here is my packet--I will add to it but a line, +to desire him to send me a faithful servant or two to complete the +garrison. Let my son deal with you as he will. If thou art wise, thou +wilt make for Lockerbie so soon as thy foot touches dry land, and let +the packet find another bearer; at all rates, look it miscarries not." + +"Nay, madam," replied he--"I was born, as I said, the Douglas's servant, +and I will be no corbie-messenger in mine old age--your message to your +son shall be done as truly by me as if it concerned another man's neck. +I take my leave of your honour." + +The Lady issued her commands, and the old man was ferried over to the +shore, to proceed on his extraordinary pilgrimage. It is necessary +the reader should accompany him on his journey, which Providence had +determined should not be of long duration. + +On arriving at the village, the steward, although his disgrace had +transpired, was readily accommodated with a horse, by the Chamberlain's +authority; and the roads being by no means esteemed safe, he associated +himself with Auchtermuchty, the common carrier, in order to travel in +his company to Edinburgh. + +The worthy waggoner, according to the established customs of all +carriers, stage-coachmen, and other persons in public authority, from +the earliest days to the present, never wanted good reasons for stopping +upon the road, as often as he would; and the place which had most +captivation for him as a resting-place was a change-house, as it was +termed, not very distant from a romantic dell, well known by the name +of Keirie Craigs. Attractions of a kind very different from those +which arrested the progress of John Auchtermuchty and his wains, still +continue to hover round this romantic spot, and none has visited its +vicinity without a desire to remain long and to return soon. + +Arrived near his favourite _howss_, not all the authority of Dryfesdale +(much diminished indeed by the rumours of his disgrace) could prevail on +the carrier, obstinate as the brutes which he drove, to pass on without +his accustomed halt, for which the distance he had travelled furnished +little or no pretence. Old Keltie, the landlord, who had bestowed his +name on a bridge in the neighbourhood of his quondam dwelling, received +the carrier with his usual festive cordiality, and adjourned with him +into the house, under pretence of important business, which, I believe, +consisted in their emptying together a mutchkin stoup of usquebaugh. +While the worthy host and his guest were thus employed, the discarded +steward, with a double portion of moroseness in his gesture and look, +walked discontentedly into the kitchen of the place, which was occupied +but by one guest. The stranger was a slight figure, scarce above the age +of boyhood, and in the dress of a page, but bearing an air of haughty +aristocratic boldness and even insolence in his look and manner, that +might have made Dryfesdale conclude he had pretensions to superior +rank, had not his experience taught him how frequently these airs of +superiority were assumed by the domestics and military retainers of the +Scottish nobility.--"The pilgrim's morning to you, old sir," said the +youth; "you come, as I think, from Lochleven Castle--What news of our +bonny Queen?--a fairer dove was never pent up in so wretched a dovecot." + +"They that speak of Lochleven, and of those whom its walls contain," +answered Dryfesdale, "speak of what concerns the Douglas; and they who +speak of what concerns the Douglas, do it at their peril." + +"Do you speak from fear of them, old man, or would you make a quarrel +for them?--I should have deemed your age might have cooled your blood." + +"Never, while there are empty-pated coxcombs at each corner to keep it +warm." + +"The sight of thy gray hairs keeps mine cold," said the boy, who had +risen up and now sat down again. + +"It is well for thee, or I had cooled it with this holly-rod," replied +the steward. "I think thou be'st one of those swash-bucklers, who brawl +in alehouses and taverns; and who, if words were pikes, and oaths were +Andrew Ferraras, would soon place the religion of Babylon in the land +once more, and the woman of Moab upon the throne." + +"Now, by Saint Bennet of Seyton," said the youth, "I will strike thee on +the face, thou foul-mouthed old railing heretic!" + +"Saint Bennet of Seyton," echoed the steward; "a proper warrant is Saint +Bennet's, and for a proper nest of wolf-birds like the Seytons!--I will +arrest thee as a traitor to King James and the good Regent.--Ho! John +Auchtermuchty, raise aid against the King's traitor!" + +So saying, he laid his hand on the youth's collar, and drew his sword. +John Auchtermuchty looked in, but, seeing the naked weapon, ran faster +out than he entered. Keltie, the landlord, stood by and helped neither +party, only exclaiming, "Gentlemen! gentlemen! for the love of Heaven!" +and so forth. A struggle ensued, in which the young man, chafed at +Dryfesdale's boldness, and unable, with the ease he expected, to +extricate himself from the old man's determined grasp, drew his dagger, +and with the speed of light, dealt him three wounds in the breast and +body, the least of which was mortal. The old man sunk on the ground with +a deep groan, and the host set up a piteous exclamation of surprise. + +"Peace, ye brawling hound!" said the wounded steward; "are dagger-stabs +and dying men such rarities in Scotland, that you should cry as if the +house were falling?--Youth, I do not forgive thee, for there is nought +betwixt us to forgive. Thou hast done what I have done to more than +one--And I suffer what I have seen them suffer--it was all ordained to +be thus and not otherwise. But if thou wouldst do me right, thou wilt +send this packet safely to the hands of Sir William Douglas; and see +that my memory suffer not, as if I would have loitered on mine errand +for fear of my life." + +The youth, whose passion had subsided the instant he had done the deed, +listened with sympathy and attention, when another person, muffled in +his cloak, entered the apartment, and exclaimed--"Good God! Dryfesdale, +and expiring!" + +"Ay, and Dryfesdale would that he had been dead," answered the wounded +man, "rather than that his ears had heard the words of the only Douglas +that ever was false--but yet it is better as it is. Good my murderer, +and the rest of you, stand back a little, and let me speak with this +unhappy apostate.--Kneel down by me, Master George--You have heard that +I failed in my attempt to take away that Moabitish stumbling-block and +her retinue--I gave them that which I thought would have removed the +temptation out of thy path--and this, though I had other reasons to show +to thy mother and others, I did chiefly purpose for love of thee." + +"For the love of me, base poisoner!" answered Douglas, "wouldst thou +have committed so horrible, so unprovoked a murder, and mentioned my +name with it?" + +"And wherefore not, George of Douglas?" answered Dryfesdale. "Breath +is now scarce with me, but I would spend my last gasp on this argument. +Hast thou not, despite the honour thou owest to thy parents, the faith +that is due to thy religion, the truth that is due to thy king, been +so carried away by the charms of this beautiful sorceress, that thou +wouldst have helped her to escape from her prison-house, and lent her +thine arm again to ascend the throne, which she had made a place of +abomination?--Nay, stir not from me--my hand, though fast stiffening, +has yet force enough to hold thee--What dost thou aim at?--to wed this +witch of Scotland?--I warrant thee, thou mayest succeed--her heart and +hand have been oft won at a cheaper rate, than thou, fool that thou art, +would think thyself happy to pay. But, should a servant of thy father's +house have seen thee embrace the fate of the idiot Darnley, or of +the villain Bothwell--the fate of the murdered fool, or of the living +pirate--while an ounce of ratsbane would have saved thee?" + +"Think on God, Dryfesdale," said George Douglas, "and leave the +utterance of those horrors--Repent, if thou canst--if not, at least +be silent.--Seyton, aid me to support this dying wretch, that he may +compose himself to better thoughts, if it be possible." + +"Seyton!" answered the dying man; "Seyton! Is it by a Seyton's hand that +I fall at last?--There is something of retribution in that--since the +house had nigh lost a sister by my deed." Fixing his fading eyes on the +youth, he added, "He hath her very features and presence!--Stoop down, +youth, and let me see thee closer--I would know thee when we meet in +yonder world, for homicides will herd together there, and I have been +one." He pulled Seyton's face, in spite of some resistance, closer to +his own, looked at him fixedly, and added, "Thou hast begun young--thy +career will be the briefer--ay, thou wilt be met with, and that anon--a +young plant never throve that was watered with an old man's blood.--Yet +why blame I thee? Strange turns of fate," he muttered, ceasing to +address Seyton; "I designed what I could not do, and he has done what +he did not perchance design.--Wondrous, that our will should ever oppose +itself to the strong and uncontrollable tide of destiny--that we should +strive with the stream when we might drift with the current! My brain +will serve me to question it no farther--I would Schoefferbach were +here--yet why?--I am on a course which the vessel can hold without a +pilot.--Farewell, George of Douglas--I die true to thy father's house." +He fell into convulsions at these words, and shortly after expired. + +Seyton and Douglas stood looking on the dying man, and when the scene +was closed, the former was the first to speak. "As I live, Douglas, I +meant not this, and am sorry; but he laid hands on me, and compelled me +to defend my freedom, as I best might, with my dagger. If he were ten +times thy friend and follower, I can but say that I am sorry." + +"I blame thee not, Seyton," said Douglas, "though I lament the chance. +There is an overruling destiny above us, though not in the sense in +which it was viewed by that wretched man, who, beguiled by some foreign +mystagogue, used the awful word as the ready apology for whatever he +chose to do--we must examine the packet." + +They withdrew into an inner room, and remained deep in consultation, +until they were disturbed by the entrance of Keltie, who, with an +embarrassed countenance, asked Master George Douglas's pleasure +respecting the disposal of the body. "Your honour knows," he added, +"that I make my bread by living men, not by dead corpses; and old Mr. +Dryfesdale, who was but a sorry customer while he was alive, occupies +my public room now that he is deceased, and can neither call for ale nor +brandy." + +"Tie a stone round his neck," said Seyton, "and when the sun is down, +have him to the Loch of Ore, heave him in, and let him alone for finding +out the bottom." + +"Under your favour, sir," said George Douglas, "it shall not be +so.--Keltie, thou art a true fellow to me, and thy having been so shall +advantage thee. Send or take the body to the chapel at Scotland's wall, +or to the church of Ballanry, and tell what tale thou wilt of his having +fallen in a brawl with some unruly guests of thine. Auchtermuchty knows +nought else, nor are the times so peaceful as to admit close-looking +into such accounts." + +"Nay, let him tell the truth," said Seyton, "so far as it harms not our +scheme.--Say that Henry Seyton met with him, my good fellow;--I care not +a brass bodle for the feud." + +"A feud with the Douglas was ever to be feared, however," said George, +displeasure mingling with his natural deep gravity of manner. + +"Not when the best of the name is on my side," replied Seyton. + +"Alas! Henry, if thou meanest me, I am but half a Douglas in this +emprize--half head, half heart, and half hand.--But I will think on +one who can never be forgotten, and be all, or more, than any of my +ancestors was ever.--Keltie, say it was Henry Seyton did the deed; but +beware, not a word of me!--Let Auchtermuchty carry this packet" (which +he had resealed with his own signet) "to my father at Edinburgh; and +here is to pay for the funeral expenses, and thy loss of custom." + +"And the washing of the floor," said the landlord, "which will be an +extraordinary job; for blood they say, will scarcely ever cleanse out." + +"But as for your plan," said George of Douglas, addressing Seyton, as if +in continuation of what they had been before treating of, "it has a good +face; but, under your favour, you are yourself too hot and too young, +besides other reasons which are much against your playing the part you +propose." + +"We will consult the Father Abbot upon it," said the youth. "Do you ride +to Kinross to-night?" + +"Ay--so I purpose," answered Douglas; "the night will be dark, and suits +a muffled man. [Footnote: Generally, a disguised man; originally one who +wears the cloak or mantle muffled round the lower part of the face +to conceal his countenance. I have on an ancient, piece of iron the +representation of a robber thus accoutred, endeavouring to make his way +into a house, and opposed by a mastiff, to whom he in vain offers food. +The motto is _spernit dona fides_. It is part of a fire-grate said to +have belonged to Archbishop Sharpe.]--Keltie, I forgot, there should +be a stone laid on that man's grave, recording his name, and his only +merit, which was being a faithful servant to the Douglas." + +"What religion was the man of?" said Seyton; "he used words, which make +me fear I have sent Satan a subject before his time." + +"I can tell you little of that," said George Douglas; "he was noted for +disliking both Rome and Geneva, and spoke of lights he had learned among +the fierce sectaries of Lower Germany--an evil doctrine it was, if we +judge by the fruits. God keep us from presumptuously judging of Heaven's +secrets!" + +"Amen!" said the young Seyton, "and from meeting any encounter this +evening." + +"It is not thy wont to pray so," said George Douglas. + +"No! I leave that to you," replied the youth, "when you are seized with +scruples of engaging with your father's vassals. But I would fain have +this old man's blood off these hands of mine ere I shed more--I will +confess to the Abbot to-night, and I trust to have light penance for +ridding the earth of such a miscreant. All I sorrow for is, that he was +not a score of years younger--He drew steel first, however, that is one +comfort." + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Fourth. + + + Ay, Pedro,--Come you here with mask and lantern. + Ladder of ropes and other moonshine tools-- + Why, youngster, thou mayst cheat the old Duenna, + Flatter the waiting-woman, bribe the valet; + But know, that I her father play the Gryphon, + Tameless and sleepless, proof to fraud or bribe, + And guard the hidden, treasure of her beauty. + THE SPANISH FATHER. + +The tenor of our tale carries us back to the Castle of Lochleven, where +we take up the order of events on the same remarkable day on which +Dryfesdale had been dismissed from the castle. It was past noon, the +usual hour of dinner, yet no preparations seemed made for the Queen's +entertainment. Mary herself had retired into her own apartment, where +she was closely engaged in writing. Her attendants were together in the +presence-chamber, and much disposed to speculate on the delay of +the dinner; for it may be recollected that their breakfast had been +interrupted. "I believe in my conscience," said the page, "that having +found the poisoning scheme miscarry, by having gone to the wrong +merchant for their deadly wares, they are now about to try how famine +will work upon us." + +Lady Fleming was somewhat alarmed at this surmise, but comforted herself +by observing that the chimney of the kitchen had reeked that whole +day in a manner which contradicted the supposition.--Catherine Seyton +presently exclaimed, "They were bearing the dishes across the court, +marshalled by the Lady Lochleven herself, dressed out in her highest +and stiffest ruff, with her partlet and sleeves of cyprus, and her huge +old-fashioned farthingale of crimson velvet." + +"I believe on my word," said the page, approaching the window also, "it +was in that very farthingale that she captivated the heart of gentle +King Jamie, which procured our poor Queen her precious bargain of a +brother." + +"That may hardly be, Master Roland," answered the Lady Fleming, who was +a great recorder of the changes of fashion, "since the farthingales came +first in when the Queen Regent went to Saint Andrews, after the battle +of Pinkie, and were then called _Vertugardins_--" + +She would have proceeded farther in this important discussion, but was +interrupted by the entrance of the Lady of Lochleven, who preceded the +servants bearing the dishes, and formally discharged the duty of tasting +each of them. Lady Fleming regretted, in courtly phrase, "that the Lady +of Lochleven should have undertaken so troublesome an office." + +"After the strange incident of this day, madam," said the Lady, "it is +necessary for my honour and that of my son, that I partake whatever is +offered to my involuntary guest. Please to inform the Lady Mary that I +attend her commands." + +"Her Majesty," replied Lady Fleming, with due emphasis on the word, +"shall be informed that the Lady Lochleven waits." + +Mary appeared instantly, and addressed her hostess with courtesy, which +even approached to something more cordial. "This is nobly done, Lady +Lochleven," she said; "for though we ourselves apprehend no danger under +your roof, our ladies have been much alarmed by this morning's chance, +and our meal will be the more cheerful for your presence and assurance. +Please you to sit down." + +The Lady Lochleven obeyed the Queen's commands, and Roland performed the +office of carver and attendant as usual. But, notwithstanding what the +Queen had said, the meal was silent and unsocial; and every effort which +Mary made to excite some conversation, died away under the solemn and +chill replies of the Lady of Lochleven. At length it became plain that +the Queen, who had considered these advances as a condescension on her +part, and who piqued herself justly on her powers of pleasing, became +offended at the repulsive conduct of her hostess. After looking with a +significant glance at Lady Fleming and Catherine, she slightly shrugged +her shoulders, and remained silent. A pause ensued, at the end of which +the Lady Douglas spoke:--"I perceive, madam, I am a check on the mirth +of this fair company. I pray you to excuse me--I am a widow--alone here +in a most perilous charge---deserted by my grandson--betrayed by my +servant--I am little worthy of the grace you do me in offering me a +seat at your table, where I am aware that wit and pastime are usually +expected from the guests." + +"If the Lady Lochleven is serious," said the Queen, "we wonder by what +simplicity she expects our present meals to be seasoned with mirth. If +she is a widow, she lives honoured and uncontrolled, at the head of her +late husband's household. But I know at least of one widowed woman in +the world, before whom the words desertion and betrayal ought never to +be mentioned, since no one has been made so bitterly acquainted with +their import." + +"I meant not, madam, to remind you of your misfortunes, by the mention +of mine," answered the Lady Lochleven, and there was again a deep +silence. + +Mary at length addressed Lady Fleming. "We can commit no deadly sins +here, _ma bonne_, where we are so well warded and looked to; but if we +could, this Carthusian silence might be useful as a kind of penance. +If thou hast adjusted my wimple amiss, my Fleming, or if Catherine hath +made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something +else than her work, or if Roland Graeme hath missed a wild-duck on the +wing, and broke a quarrel-pane [Footnote: Diamond-shaped; literally, +formed like the head of a _quarrel_, or arrow for the crossbow.] of +glass in the turret window, as chanced to him a week since, now is the +time to think on your sins and to repent of them." + +"Madam, I speak with all reverence," said the Lady Lochleven; "but I am +old, and claim the privilege of age. Methinks your followers might find +fitter subjects for repentance than the trifles you mention, and so +mention--once more, I crave your pardon--as if you jested with sin and +repentance both." + +"You have been our taster, Lady Lochleven," said the Queen, "I perceive +you would eke out your duty with that of our Father Confessor--and since +you choose that our conversation should be serious, may I ask you why +the Regent's promise--since your son so styles himself--has not been +kept to me in that respect? From time to time this promise has been +renewed, and as constantly broken. Methinks those who pretend themselves +to so much gravity and sanctity, should not debar from others the +religious succours which their consciences require." + +"Madam, the Earl of Murray was indeed weak enough," said the Lady +Lochleven, "to give so far way to your unhappy prejudices, and a +religioner of the Pope presented himself on his part at our town of +Kinross. But the Douglass is Lord of his own castle, and will not permit +his threshold to be darkened, no not for a single moment, by an emissary +belonging to the Bishop of Rome." + +"Methinks it were well, then," said Mary, "that my Lord Regent would +send me where there is less scruple and more charity." + +"In this, madam," answered the Lady Lochleven, "you mistake the nature +both of charity and of religion. Charity giveth to those who are in +delirium the medicaments which may avail their health, but refuses those +enticing cates and liquors which please the palate, but augment the +disease." + +"This your charity, Lady Lochleven, is pure cruelty, under the +hypocritical disguise of friendly care. I am oppressed amongst you as if +you meant the destruction both of my body and soul; but Heaven will not +endure such iniquity for ever, and they who are the most active agents +in it may speedily expect their reward." + +At this moment Randal entered the apartment, with a look so much +perturbed, that the Lady Fleming uttered a faint scream, the Queen was +obviously startled, and the Lady of Lochleven, though too bold and proud +to evince any marked signs of alarm, asked hastily what was the matter? + +"Dryfesdale has been slain, madam," was the reply; "murdered as soon as +he gained the dry land by young Master Henry Seyton." + +It was now Catherine's turn to start and grow pale--"Has the murderer of +the Douglas's vassal escaped?" was the Lady's hasty question. + +"There was none to challenge him but old Keltie, and the carrier +Auchtermuchty," replied Randal; "unlikely men to stay one of the +frackest [Footnote: Boldest--most forward.] youths in Scotland of +his years, and who was sure to have friends and partakers at no great +distance." + +"Was the deed completed?" said the Lady. + +"Done, and done thoroughly," said Randal; "a Seyton seldom strikes +twice--But the body was not despoiled, and your honour's packet goes +forward to Edinburgh by Auchtermuchty, who leaves Keltie-Bridge early +to-morrow--marry, he has drunk two bottles of aquavitae to put the +fright out of his head, and now sleeps them off beside his cart-avers." +[Footnote: Cart-horses.] + +There was a pause when this fatal tale was told. The Queen and Lady +Douglas looked on each other, as if each thought how she could best +turn the incident to her own advantage in the controversy, which was +continually kept alive betwixt them--Catherine Seyton kept her kerchief +at her eyes and wept. + +"You see, madam, the bloody maxims and practice of the deluded Papists," +said Lady Lochleven. + +"Nay, madam," replied the Queen, "say rather you see the deserved +judgment of Heaven upon a Calvinistical poisoner." + +"Dryfesdale was not of the Church of Geneva, or of Scotland," said the +Lady of Lochleven, hastily. + +"He was a heretic, however," replied Mary; "there is but one true and +unerring guide; the others lead alike into error." + +"Well, madam, I trust it will reconcile you to your retreat, that +this deed shows the temper of those who might wish you at liberty. +Blood-thirsty tyrants, and cruel men-quellers are they all, from +the Clan-Ranald and Clan-Tosach in the north, to the Ferniherst and +Buccleuch in the south--the murdering Seytons in the east, and--" + +"Methinks, madam, you forget that I am a Seyton?" said Catherine, +withdrawing her kerchief from her face, which was now coloured with +indignation. + +"If I had forgot it, fair mistress, your forward bearing would have +reminded me," said Lady Lochleven. + +"If my brother has slain the villain that would have poisoned his +Sovereign, and his sister," said Catherine, "I am only so far sorry that +he should have spared the hangman his proper task. For aught farther, +had it been the best Douglas in the land, he would have been honoured in +falling by the Seyton's sword." + +"Farewell, gay mistress," said the Lady of Lochleven, rising to +withdraw; "it is such maidens as you, who make giddy-fashioned revellers +and deadly brawlers. Boys must needs rise, forsooth, in the grace of +some sprightly damsel, who thinks to dance through life as through a +French galliard." She then made her reverence to the Queen, and added, +"Do you also, madam, fare you well, till curfew time, when I will +make, perchance, more bold than welcome in attending upon your supper +board.--Come with me, Randal, and tell me more of this cruel fact." + +"'Tis an extraordinary chance," said the Queen, when she had departed; +"and, villain as he was, I would this man had been spared time for +repentance. We will cause something to be done for his soul, if we +ever attain our liberty, and the Church will permit such grace to a +heretic.--But, tell me, Catherine, _ma mignone_--this brother of thine, +who is so _frack_, as the fellow called him, bears he the same wonderful +likeness to thee as formerly?" + +"If your Grace means in temper, you know whether I am so _frack_ as the +serving-man spoke him." + +"Nay, thou art prompt enough in all reasonable conscience," replied the +Queen; "but thou art my own darling notwithstanding--But I meant, is +this thy twin-brother as like thee in form and features as formerly? I +remember thy dear mother alleged it as a reason for destining thee to +the veil, that, were ye both to go at large, thou wouldst surely get the +credit of some of thy brother's mad pranks." + +"I believe, madam," said Catherine, "there are some unusually simple +people even yet, who can hardly distinguish betwixt us, especially when, +for diversion's sake, my brother hath taken a female dress,"--and as +she spoke, she gave a quick glance at Roland Graeme, to whom this +conversation conveyed a ray of light, welcome as ever streamed into the +dungeon of a captive through the door which opened to give him freedom. + +"He must be a handsome cavalier this brother of thine, if he be so like +you," replied Mary. "He was in France, I think, for these late years, so +that I saw him not at Holyrood." + +"His looks, madam, have never been much found fault with," answered +Catherine Seyton; "but I would he had less of that angry and heady +spirit which evil times have encouraged amongst our young nobles. God +knows, I grudge not his life in your Grace's quarrel; and love him for +the willingness with which he labours for your rescue. But wherefore +should he brawl with an old ruffianly serving-man, and stain at once +his name with such a broil, and his hands with the blood of an old and +ignoble wretch?" + +"Nay, be patient, Catherine; I will not have thee traduce my gallant +young knight. With Henry for my knight, and Roland Graeme for my trusty +squire, methinks I am like a princess of romance, who may shortly set at +defiance the dungeons and the weapons of all wicked sorcerers.--But +my head aches with the agitation of the day. Take me _La Mer Des +Histoires_, and resume where we left off on Wednesday.--Our Lady help +thy head, girl, or rather may she help thy heart!--I asked thee for the +Sea of Histories, and thou hast brought _La Cronique d'Amour_." + +Once embarked upon the Sea of Histories, the Queen continued her +labours with her needle, while Lady Fleming and Catherine read to her +alternately for two hours. + +As to Roland Graeme, it is probable that he continued in secret intent +upon the Chronicle of Love, notwithstanding the censure which the Queen +seemed to pass upon that branch of study. He now remembered a thousand +circumstances of voice and manner, which, had his own prepossession been +less, must surely have discriminated the brother from the sister; and +he felt ashamed, that, having as it were by heart every particular of +Catherine's gestures, words, and manners, he should have thought her, +notwithstanding her spirits and levity, capable of assuming the bold +step, loud tones, and forward assurance, which accorded well enough with +her brother's hasty and masculine character. He endeavoured repeatedly +to catch a glance of Catherine's eye, that he might judge how she was +disposed to look upon him since he had made the discovery, but he was +unsuccessful; for Catherine, when she was not reading herself, seemed +to take so much interest in the exploits of the Teutonic knights against +the Heathens of Esthonia and Livonia, that he could not surprise her eye +even for a second. But when, closing the book, the Queen commanded their +attendance in the garden, Mary, perhaps of set purpose, (for Roland's +anxiety could not escape so practised an observer,) afforded him a +favourable opportunity of accosting his mistress. The Queen commanded +them to a little distance, while she engaged Lady Fleming in a +particular and private conversation; the subject whereof we learn, from +another authority, to have been the comparative excellence of the high +standing ruff and the falling band. Roland must have been duller, and +more sheepish than ever was youthful lover, if he had not endeavoured to +avail himself of this opportunity. + +"I have been longing this whole evening to ask of you, fair Catherine," +said the page, "how foolish and unapprehensive you must have thought me, +in being capable to mistake betwixt your brother and you?" + +"The circumstance does indeed little honour to my rustic manners," said +Catherine, "since those of a wild young man were so readily mistaken for +mine. But I shall grow wiser in time; and with that view I am determined +not to think of your follies, but to correct my own." + +"It will be the lighter subject of meditation of the two," said Roland. + +"I know not that," said Catherine, very gravely; "I fear we have been +both unpardonably foolish." + +"I have been mad," said Roland, "unpardonably mad. But you, lovely +Catherine--" + +"I," said Catherine, in the same tone of unusual gravity, "have too long +suffered you to use such expressions towards me--I fear I can permit it +no longer, and I blame myself for the pain it may give you." + +"And what can have happened so suddenly to change our relation to each +other, or alter, with such sudden cruelty, your whole deportment to me?" + +"I can hardly tell," replied Catherine, "unless it is that the events +of the day have impressed on my mind the necessity of our observing more +distance to each other. A chance similar to that which betrayed to you +the existence of my brother, may make known to Henry the terms you have +used to me; and, alas! his whole conduct, as well as his deed, this day, +makes me too justly apprehensive of the consequences." + +"Fear nothing for that, fair Catherine," answered the page; "I am well +able to protect myself against risks of that nature." + +"That is to say," replied she, "that you would fight with my +twin-brother to show your regard for his sister? I have heard the +Queen say, in her sad hours, that men are, in love or in hate, the most +selfish animals of creation; and your carelessness in this matter looks +very like it. But be not so much abashed--you are no worse than others." + +"You do me injustice, Catherine," replied the page, "I thought but of +being threatened with a sword, and did not remember in whose hand your +fancy had placed it. If your brother stood before me, with his drawn +weapon in his hand, so like as he is to you in word, person, and favour, +he might shed my life's blood ere I could find in my heart to resist him +to his injury." + +"Alas!" said she, "it is not my brother alone. But you remember only the +singular circumstances in which we have met in equality, and I may say +in intimacy. You think not, that whenever I re-enter my father's house, +there is a gulf between us you may not pass, but with peril of your +life.--Your only known relative is of wild and singular habits, of a +hostile and broken clan [Footnote: A broken clan was one who had no +chief able to find security for their good behaviour--a clan of outlaws; +And the Graemes of the Debateable Land were in that condition.]--the +rest of your lineage unknown--forgive me that I speak what is the +undeniable truth." + +"Love, my beautiful Catherine, despises genealogies," answered Roland +Graeme. + +"Love may, but so will not the Lord Seyton," rejoined the damsel. + +"The Queen, thy mistress and mine, she will intercede. Oh! drive me not +from you at the moment I thought myself most happy!--and if I shall +aid her deliverance, said not yourself that you and she would become my +debtors?" + +"All Scotland will become your debtors," said Catherine; "but for the +active effects you might hope from our gratitude, you must remember I am +wholly subjected to my father; and the poor Queen is, for a long time, +more likely to be dependant on the pleasure of the nobles of her party, +than possessed of power to control them." + +"Be it so," replied Roland; "my deeds shall control prejudice itself--it +is a bustling world, and I will have my share. The Knight of Avenel, +high as he now stands, rose from as obscure an origin as mine." + +"Ay!" said Catherine, "there spoke the doughty knight of romance, that +will cut his way to the imprisoned princess, through fiends and fiery +dragons!" + +"But if I can set the princess at large, and procure her the freedom +of her own choice," said the page, "where, dearest Catherine, will that +choice alight?" + +"Release the princess from duresse, and she will tell you," said the +damsel; and breaking off the conversation abruptly, she joined the Queen +so suddenly, that Mary exclaimed, half aloud-- + +"No more tidings of evil import--no dissension, I trust, in my limited +household?"--Then looking on Catherine's blushing cheek, and Roland's +expanded brow and glancing eye--"No--no," she said, "I see all is +well--_Ma petite mignone_, go to my apartment and fetch me down--let me +see--ay, fetch my pomander box." + +And having thus disposed of her attendant in the manner best qualified +to hide her confusion, the Queen added, speaking apart to Roland, "I +should at least have two grateful subjects of Catherine and you; for +what sovereign but Mary would aid true love so willingly?--Ay, you lay +your hand on your sword--your _petite flamberge a rien_ there--Well, +short time will show if all the good be true that is protested to us--I +hear them toll curfew from Kinross. To our chamber--this old dame hath +promised to be with us again at our evening meal. Were it not for the +hope of speedy deliverance, her presence would drive me distracted. But +I will be patient." + +"I profess," said Catherine, who just then entered, "I would I could be +Henry, with all a man's privileges, for one moment--I long to throw my +plate at that confect of pride and formality, and ill-nature." + +The Lady Fleming reprimanded her young companion for this explosion of +impatience; the Queen laughed, and they went to the presence-chamber, +where almost immediately entered supper, and the Lady of the castle. +The Queen, strong in her prudent resolutions, endured her presence with +great fortitude and equanimity, until her patience was disturbed by +a new form, which had hitherto made no part of the ceremonial of the +castle. When the other attendant had retired, Randal entered, bearing +the keys of the castle fastened upon a chain, and, announcing that +the watch was set, and the gates locked, delivered the keys with all +reverence to the Lady of Lochleven. + +The Queen and her ladies exchanged with each other a look of +disappointment, anger, and vexation; and Mary said aloud, "We cannot +regret the smallness of our court, when we see our hostess discharge in +person so many of its offices. In addition to her charges of principal +steward of our household and grand almoner, she has to-night done duty +as captain of our guard." + +"And will continue to do so in future, madam," answered the Lady +Lochleven, with much gravity; "the history of Scotland may teach me how +ill the duty is performed, which is done by an accredited deputy--We +have heard, madam, of favourites of later date, and as little merit, +as Oliver Sinclair." [Footnote: A favourite, and said to be an unworthy +one, of James V.] + +"Oh, madam," replied the Queen, "my father had his female as well as +his male favourites--there were the Ladies Sandilands and Olifaunt, +[Footnote: The names of these ladies, and a third frail favourite of +James, are preserved in an epigram too _gaillard_ for quotation.] and +some others, methinks; but their names cannot survive in the memory of +so grave a person as you." + +The Lady Lochleven looked as if she could have slain the Queen on the +spot, but commanded her temper and retired from the apartment, bearing +in her hand the ponderous bunch of keys. + +"Now God be praised for that woman's youthful frailty!" said the Queen. +"Had she not that weak point in her character, I might waste my words on +her in vain--But that stain is the very reverse of what is said of +the witch's mark--I can make her feel there, though she is otherwise +insensible all over.--But how say you, girls--here is a new +difficulty--How are these keys to be come by?--there is no deceiving or +bribing this dragon, I trow." + +"May I crave to know," said Roland, "whether, if your Grace were beyond +the walls of the castle, you could find means of conveyance to the firm +land, and protection when you are there?" + +"Trust us for that, Roland," said the Queen; "for to that point our +scheme is indifferent well laid." + +"Then if your Grace will permit me to speak my mind, I think I could be +of some use in this matter." + +"As how, my good youth?--speak on," said the Queen, "and fearlessly." + +"My patron the Knight of Avenel used to compel the youth educated in his +household to learn the use of axe and hammer, and working in wood and +iron--he used to speak of old northern champions, who forged their own +weapons, and of the Highland Captain, Donald nan Ord, or Donald of the +Hammer, whom he himself knew, and who used to work at the anvil with a +sledge-hammer in each hand. Some said he praised this art, because he +was himself of churl's blood. However, I gained some practice in it, +as the Lady Catherine Seyton partly knows; for since we were here, I +wrought her a silver brooch." + +"Ay," replied Catharine, "but you should tell her Grace that your +workmanship was so indifferent that it broke to pieces next day, and I +flung it away." + +"Believe her not, Roland," said the Queen; "she wept when it was broken, +and put the fragments into her bosom. But for your scheme--could your +skill avail to forge a second set of keys?" + +"No, madam, because I know not the wards. But I am convinced I could +make a set so like that hateful bunch which the Lady bore off even now, +that could they be exchanged against them by any means, she would never +dream she was possessed of the wrong." + +"And the good dame, thank Heaven, is somewhat blind," said the Queen; +"but then for a forge, my boy, and the means of labouring unobserved?" + +"The armourer's forge, at which I used sometimes to work with him, is +the round vault at the bottom of the turret--he was dismissed with +the warder for being supposed too much attached to George Douglas. The +people are accustomed to see me work there, and I warrant I shall find +some excuse that will pass current with them for putting bellows and +anvil to work." + +"The scheme has a promising face," said the Queen; "about it, my lad, +with all speed, and beware the nature of your work is not discovered." + +"Nay, I will take the liberty to draw the bolt against chance visitors, +so that I will have time to put away what I am working upon, before I +undo the door." + +"Will not that of itself attract suspicion, in a place where it is so +current already?" said Catherine. + +"Not a whit," replied Roland; "Gregory the armourer, and every good +hammerman, locks himself in when he is about some master piece of craft. +Besides, something must be risked." + +"Part we then to-night," said the Queen, "and God bless you my +children!--If Mary's head ever rises above water, you shall all rise +along with her." + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Fifth. + + + It is a time of danger, not of revel, + When churchmen turn to masquers. + SPANISH FATHER. + +The enterprise of Roland Graeme appeared to prosper. A trinket or two, +of which the work did not surpass the substance, (for the materials were +silver, supplied by the Queen,) were judiciously presented to those most +likely to be inquisitive into the labours of the forge and anvil, which +they thus were induced to reckon profitable to others and harmless +in itself. Openly, the page was seen working about such trifles. In +private, he forged a number of keys resembling so nearly in weight and +in form those which were presented every evening to the Lady Lochleven, +that, on a slight inspection, it would have been difficult to perceive +the difference. He brought them to the dark rusty colour by the use of +salt and water; and, in the triumph of his art, presented them at length +to Queen Mary in her presence-chamber, about an hour before the tolling +of the curfew. She looked at them with pleasure, but at the same time +with doubt.--"I allow," she said, "that the Lady Lochleven's eyes, which +are not of the clearest, may be well deceived, could we pass those keys +on her in place of the real implements of her tyranny. But how is this +to be done, and which of my little court dare attempt this _tour de +jongleur_ with any chance of success? Could we but engage her in some +earnest matter of argument--but those which I hold with her, always have +been of a kind which make her grasp her keys the faster, as if she +said to herself--Here I hold what sets me above your taunts and +reproaches--And even for her liberty, Mary Stuart could not stoop to +speak the proud heretic fair.--What shall we do? Shall Lady Fleming try +her eloquence in describing the last new head-tire from Paris?--alas! +the good dame has not changed the fashion of her head-gear since +Pinkie-field for aught that I know. Shall my _mignone_ Catherine sing to +her one of those touching airs, which draw the very souls out of me and +Roland Graeme?--Alas! Dame Margaret Douglas would rather hear a Huguenot +psalm of Clement Marrot, sung to the tune of _Reveillez vous, belle +endormie._--Cousins and liege counsellors, what is to be done, for our +wits are really astray in this matter?--Must our man-at-arms and the +champion of our body, Roland Graeme, manfully assault the old lady, and +take the keys from her _par voie du fait?_" + +"Nay! with your Grace's permission." said Roland, "I do not doubt being +able to manage the matter with more discretion; for though, in your +Grace's service, I do not fear--" + +"A host of old women," interrupted Catherine, "each armed with rock and +spindle, yet he has no fancy for pikes and partisans, which might rise +at the cry of _Help! a Douglas, a Douglas!_" + +"They that do not fear fair ladies' tongues," continued the page, "need +dread nothing else.--But, gracious Liege, I am well-nigh satisfied that +I could pass the exchange of these keys on the Lady Lochleven; but I +dread the sentinel who is now planted nightly in the garden, which, by +necessity, we must traverse." + +"Our last advices from our friends on the shore have promised us +assistance in that matter," replied the Queen. + +"And is your Grace well assured of the fidelity and watchfulness of +those without?" + +"For their fidelity, I will answer with my life, and for their +vigilance, I will answer with my life--I will give thee instant proof, +my faithful Roland, that they are ingenuous and trusty as thyself. Come +hither--Nay, Catherine, attend us; we carry not so deft a page into our +private chamber alone. Make fast the door of the parlour, Fleming, +and warn us if you hear the least step--or stay, go thou to the +door, Catherine," (in a whisper, "thy ears and thy wits are both +sharper.)--Good Fleming, attend us thyself"--(and again she whispered, +"her reverend presence will be as safe a watch on Roland as thine +can--so be not jealous, _mignone_.") + +Thus speaking, they were lighted by the Lady Fleming into the Queen's +bedroom, a small apartment enlightened by a projecting window. + +"Look from that window, Roland," she said; "see you amongst the several +lights which begin to kindle, and to glimmer palely through the gray of +the evening from the village of Kinross-seest thou, I say, one solitary +spark apart from the others, and nearer it seems to the verge of the +water?--It is no brighter at this distance than the torch of the poor +glowworm, and yet, my good youth, that light is more dear to Mary +Stuart, than every star that twinkles in the blue vault of heaven. +By that signal, I know that more than one true heart is plotting my +deliverance; and without that consciousness, and the hope of freedom +it gives me, I had long since stooped to my fate, and died of a broken +heart. Plan after plan has been formed and abandoned, but still the +light glimmers; and while it glimmers, my hope lives.--Oh! how many +evenings have I sat musing in despair over our ruined schemes, and +scarce hoping that I should again see that blessed signal; when it +has suddenly kindled, and, like the lights of Saint Elmo in a tempest, +brought hope and consolation, where there, was only dejection and +despair!" + +"If I mistake not," answered Roland, "the candle shines from the house +of Blinkhoolie, the mail-gardener." + +"Thou hast a good eye," said the Queen; "it is there where my trusty +lieges--God and the saints pour blessings on them!--hold consultation +for my deliverance. The voice of a wretched captive would die on these +blue waters, long ere it could mingle in their councils; and yet I can +hold communication--I will confide the whole to thee--I am about to +ask those faithful friends if the moment for the great attempt is +nigh.--Place the lamp in the window, Fleming." + +She obeyed, and immediately withdrew it. No sooner had she done so, than +the light in the cottage of the gardener disappeared. + +"Now count," said Queen Mary, "for my heart beats so thick that I cannot +count myself." + +The Lady Fleming began deliberately to count one, two, three, and when +she had arrived at ten, the light on the shore showed its pale twinkle. + +"Now, our Lady be praised!" said the Queen; "it was but two nights +since, that the absence of the light remained while I could tell thirty. +The hour of deliverance approaches. May God bless those who labour in it +with such truth to me!--alas! with such hazard to themselves--and bless +you, too, my children!--Come, we must to the audience-chamber again. Our +absence might excite suspicion, should they serve supper." + +They returned to the presence-chamber, and the evening concluded as +usual. + +The next morning, at dinner-time, an unusual incident occurred. While +Lady Douglas of Lochleven performed her daily duty of assistant and +taster at the Queen's table, she was told a man-at-arms had arrived, +recommended by her son, but without any letter or other token than what +he brought by word of mouth. + +"Hath he given you that token?" demanded the Lady. + +"He reserved it, as I think, for your Ladyship's ear," replied Randal. + +"He doth well," said the Lady; "tell him to wait in the hall--But +no--with your permission, madam," (to the Queen) "let him attend me +here." + +"Since you are pleased to receive your domestics in my presence," said +the Queen, "I cannot choose--" + +"My infirmities must plead my excuse, madam," replied the Lady; "the +life I must lead here ill suits with the years which have passed over my +head, and compels me to waive ceremonial." + +"Oh, my good Lady," replied the Queen, "I would there were nought in +this your castle more strongly compulsive than the cobweb chains of +ceremony; but bolts and bars are harder matters to contend with." + +As she spoke, the person announced by Randal entered the room, and +Roland Graeme at once recognized in him the Abbot Ambrosius. + +"What is your name, good fellow?" said the Lady. + +"Edward Glendinning," answered the Abbot, with a suitable reverence. + +"Art thou of the blood of the Knight of Avenel?" said the Lady of +Lochleven. + +"Ay, madam, and that nearly," replied the pretended soldier. + +"It is likely enough," said the Lady, "for the Knight is the son of his +own good works, and has risen from obscure lineage to his present high +rank in the Estate--But he is of sure truth and approved worth, and his +kinsman is welcome to us. You hold, unquestionably, the true faith?" + +"Do not doubt of it, madam," said the disguised churchman. + +"Hast thou a token to me from Sir William Douglas?" said the Lady. + +"I have, madam," replied he; "but it must be said in private." + +"Thou art right," said the Lady, moving towards the recess of a window; +"say in what does it consist?" + +"In the words of an old bard," replied the Abbot. + +"Repeat them," answered the Lady; and he uttered, in a low tone, the +lines from an old poem, called The Howlet,-- + + "O Douglas! Douglas! + Tender and true." + +"Trusty Sir John Holland!" [Footnote: Sir John Holland's poem of the +Howlet is known to collectors by the beautiful edition presented to +the Bannatyne Club, by Mr. David Laing.] said the Lady Douglas, +apostrophizing the poet, "a kinder heart never inspired a rhyme, and the +Douglas's honour was ever on thy heart-string! We receive you among our +followers, Glendinning--But, Randal, see that he keep the outer ward +only, till we shall hear more touching him from our son.--Thou fearest +not the night air. Glendinning?" + +"In the cause of the Lady before whom I stand, I fear nothing, madam," +answered the disguised Abbot. + +"Our garrison, then, is stronger by one trustworthy soldier," said the +matron--"Go to the buttery, and let them make much of thee." + +When the Lady Lochleven had retired, the Queen said to Roland Graeme, +who was now almost constantly in her company, "I spy comfort in that +stranger's countenance; I know not why it should be so, but I am well +persuaded he is a friend." + +"Your Grace's penetration does not deceive you," answered the page; and +he informed her that the Abbot of St. Mary's himself played the part of +the newly arrived soldier. + +The Queen crossed herself and looked upwards. "Unworthy sinner that I +am," she said, "that for my sake a man so holy, and so high in spiritual +office, should wear the garb of a base sworder, and run the risk of +dying the death of a traitor!" + +"Heaven will protect its own servant, madam," said Catherine Seyton; +"his aid would bring a blessing on our undertaking, were it not already +blest for its own sake." + +"What I admire in my spiritual father," said Roland, "was the steady +front with which he looked on me, without giving the least sign of +former acquaintance. I did not think the like was possible, since I have +ceased to believe that Henry was the same person with Catherine." + +"But marked you not how astuciously the good father," said the Queen, +"eluded the questions of the woman Lochleven, telling her the very +truth, which yet she received not as such?" + +Roland thought in his heart, that when the truth was spoken for the +purpose of deceiving, it was little better than a lie in disguise. But +it was no time to agitate such questions of conscience. + +"And now for the signal from the shore," exclaimed Catherine; "my bosom +tells me we shall see this night two lights instead of one gleam from +that garden of Eden--And then, Roland, do you play your part manfully, +and we will dance on the greensward like midnight fairies!" + +Catherine's conjecture misgave not, nor deceived her. In the evening +two beams twinkled from the cottage, instead of one; and the page heard, +with beating heart, that the new retainer was ordered to stand sentinel +on the outside of the castle. When he intimated this news to the Queen, +she held her hand out to him--he knelt, and when he raised it to his +lips in all dutiful homage, he found it was damp and cold as marble. +"For God's sake, madam, droop not now,--sink not now!" + +"Call upon our Lady, my Liege," said the Lady Fleming--"call upon your +tutelar saint." + +"Call the spirits of the hundred kings you are descended from," +exclaimed the page; "in this hour of need, the resolution of a monarch +were worth the aid of a hundred saints." + +"Oh! Roland Graeme," said Mary, in a tone of deep despondency, "be true +to me--many have been false to me. Alas! I have not always been true to +myself. My mind misgives me that I shall die in bondage, and that this +bold attempt will cost all our lives. It was foretold me by a soothsayer +in France, that I should die in prison, and by a violent death, and here +comes the hour--Oh, would to God it found me prepared!" + +"Madam," said Catherine Seyton, "remember you are a Queen. Better we all +died in bravely attempting to gain our freedom, than remained here to be +poisoned, as men rid them of the noxious vermin that haunt old houses." + +"You are right, Catherine," said the Queen; "and Mary will bear her +like herself. But alas! your young and buoyant spirit can ill spell the +causes which have broken mine. Forgive me, my children, and farewell for +a while--I will prepare both mind and body for this awful venture." + +They separated, till again called together by the tolling of the curfew. +The Queen appeared grave, but firm and resolved; the Lady Fleming, with +the art of an experienced courtier, knew perfectly how to disguise her +inward tremors; Catherine's eye was fired, as if with the boldness of +the project, and the half smile which dwelt upon her beautiful mouth +seemed to contemn all the risk and all the consequences of discovery; +Roland, who felt how much success depended on his own address and +boldness, summoned together his whole presence of mind, and if he found +his spirits flag for a moment, cast his eye upon Catherine, whom he +thought he had never seen look so beautiful.--"I may be foiled," he +thought, "but with this reward in prospect, they must bring the devil to +aid them ere they cross me." Thus resolved, he stood like a greyhound +in the slips, with hand, heart, and eye intent upon making and seizing +opportunity for the execution of their project. + +The keys had, with the wonted ceremonial, been presented to the Lady +Lochleven. She stood with her back to the casement, which, like that +of the Queen's apartment, commanded a view of Kinross, with the church, +which stands at some distance from the town, and nearer to the lake, +then connected with the town by straggling cottages. With her back to +this casement, then, and her face to the table, on which the keys lay +for an instant while she tasted the various dishes which were placed +there, stood the Lady of Lochleven, more provokingly intent than +usual--so at least it seemed to her prisoners--upon the huge and heavy +bunch of iron, the implements of their restraint. Just when, having +finished her ceremony as taster of the Queen's table, she was about to +take up the keys, the page, who stood beside her, and had handed her the +dishes in succession, looked sideways to the churchyard, and exclaimed +he saw corpse-candles in the churchyard. The Lady of Lochleven was not +without a touch, though a slight one, of the superstitions of the time; +the fate of her sons made her alive to omens, and a corpse-light, as it +was called, in the family burial-place boded death. She turned her head +towards the casement--saw a distant glimmering--forgot her charge for +one second, and in that second were lost the whole fruits of her former +vigilance. The page held the forged keys under his cloak, and with great +dexterity exchanged them for the real ones. His utmost address could not +prevent a slight clash as he took up the latter bunch. "Who touches the +keys?" said the Lady; and while the page answered that the sleeve of his +cloak had stirred them, she looked round, possessed herself of the bunch +which now occupied the place of the genuine keys, and again turned to +gaze on the supposed corpse-candles. + +"I hold these gleams," she said, after a moment's consideration, "to +come, not from the churchyard, but from the hut of the old gardener +Blinkhoolie. I wonder what thrift that churl drives, that of late he +hath ever had light in his house till the night grew deep. I thought him +an industrious, peaceful man--If he turns resetter of idle companions +and night-walkers, the place must be rid of him." + +"He may work his baskets perchance," said the page, desirous to stop the +train of her suspicion. + +"Or nets, may he not?" answered the Lady. + +"Ay, madam," said Roland, "for trout and salmon." + +"Or for fools and knaves," replied the Lady: "but this shall be +looked after to-morrow.--I wish your Grace and your company a good +evening.--Randal, attend us." And Randal, who waited in the antechamber +after having surrendered his bunch of keys, gave his escort to his +mistress as usual, while, leaving the Queen's apartments, she retired to +her own [End of paragraph missing in original] + +"To-morrow" said the page, rubbing his hands with glee as he repeated +the Lady's last words, "fools look to-morrow, and wise folk use +to-night.--May I pray you, my gracious Liege, to retire for one half +hour, until all the castle is composed to rest? I must go and rub with +oil these blessed implements of our freedom. Courage and constancy, and +all will go well, provided our friends on the shore fail not to send the +boat you spoke of." + +"Fear them not," said Catherine, "they are true as steel--if our dear +mistress do but maintain her noble and royal courage." + +[Footnote: In the dangerous expedition to Aberdeenshire, Randolph, the +English Ambassador, gives Cecil the following account of Queen Mary's +demeanour:-- + +"In all those garbulles, I assure your honour, I never saw the Queen +merrier, never dismayed; nor never thought I that stomache to be in her +that I find. She repented nothing but, when the Lords and others, at +Inverness, came in the morning from the watches, that she was not a man, +to know what life it was to lye all night in the fields, or to walk +upon the causeway with a jack and a knaps-cap, a Glasgow buckler, and a +broadsword."--RANDOLPH _to_ CECIL, _September_ 18, 1562. + +The writer of the above letter seems to have felt the same impression +which Catherine Seyton, in the text, considered as proper to the Queen's +presence among her armed subjects. + +"Though we neither thought nor looked for other than on that day to have +fought or never-what desperate blows would not have been given, when +every man should have fought in the sight of so noble a Queen, and so +many fair ladies, our enemies to have taken them from us, and we to +save our honours, not to be reft of them, your honour can easily +judge."--_The same to the same, September_ 24, 1562. ] + +"Doubt not me, Catherine," replied the Queen; "a while since I was +overborne, but I have recalled the spirit of my earlier and more +sprightly days, when I used to accompany my armed nobles, and wish to +be myself a man, to know what life it was to be in the fields with sword +and buckler, jack, and knapscap." + +"Oh, the lark lives not a gayer life, nor sings a lighter and gayer song +than the merry soldier," answered Catherine. "Your Grace shall be in +the midst of them soon, and the look of such a liege Sovereign will make +each of your host worth three in the hour of need:--but I must to my +task." + +"We have but brief time," said Queen Mary; "one of the two lights in the +cottage is extinguished--that shows the boat is put off." + +"They will row very slow," said the page, "or kent where depth permits, +to avoid noise.--To our several tasks--I will communicate with the good +Father." + +At the dead hour of midnight, when all was silent in the castle, the +page put the key into the lock of the wicket which opened into the +garden, and which was at the bottom of a staircase which descended from +the Queen's apartment. "Now, turn smooth and softly, thou good bolt," +said he, "if ever oil softened rust!" and his precautions had been so +effectual, that the bolt revolved with little or no sound of resistance. +He ventured not to cross the threshold, but exchanging a word with the +disguised Abbot, asked if the boat were ready? + +"This half hour," said the sentinel. "She lies beneath the wall, too +close under the islet to be seen by the warder, but I fear she will +hardly escape his notice in putting off again." + +"The darkness," said the page, "and our profound silence, may take her +off unobserved, as she came in. Hildebrand has the watch on the tower--a +heavy-headed knave, who holds a can of ale to be the best headpiece upon +a night-watch. He sleeps, for a wager." + +"Then bring the Queen," said the Abbot, "and I will call Henry Seyton to +assist them to the boat." + +On tiptoe, with noiseless step and suppressed breath, trembling at every +rustle of their own apparel, one after another the fair prisoners glided +down the winding stair, under the guidance of Roland Graeme, and were +received at the wicket-gate by Henry Seyton and the churchman. The +former seemed instantly to take upon himself the whole direction of the +enterprise. "My Lord Abbot," he said, "give my sister your arm--I will +conduct the Queen--and that youth will have the honour to guide Lady +Fleming." + +This was no time to dispute the arrangement, although it was not that +which Roland Graeme would have chosen. Catherine Seyton, who well knew +the garden path, tripped on before like a sylph, rather leading the +Abbot than receiving assistance--the Queen, her native spirit prevailing +over female fear, and a thousand painful reflections, moved steadily +forward, by the assistance of Henry Seyton--while the Lady Fleming, +encumbered with her fears and her helplessness Roland Graeme, who +followed in the rear, and who bore under the other arm a packet of +necessaries belonging to the Queen. The door of the garden, which +communicated with the shore of the islet, yielded to one of the keys +of which Roland had possessed himself, although not until he had tried +several,--a moment of anxious terror and expectation. The ladies were +then partly led, partly carried, to the side of the lake, where a boat +with six rowers attended them, the men couched along the bottom to +secure them from observation. Henry Seyton placed the Queen in the +stern; the Abbot offered to assist Catherine, but she was seated by +the Queen's side before he could utter his proffer of help; and Roland +Graeme was just lifting Lady Fleming over the boat-side, when a thought +suddenly occurred to him, and exclaiming, "Forgotten, forgotten! wait +for me but one half-minute," he replaced on the shore the helpless Lady +of the bed-chamber, threw the Queen's packet into the boat, and sped +back through the garden with the noiseless speed of a bird on the wing. + +"By Heaven, he is false at last!" said Seyton; "I ever feared it!" + +"He is as true," said Catherine, "as Heaven itself, and that I will +maintain." + +"Be silent, minion," said her brother, "for shame, if not for +fear--Fellows, put off, and row for your lives!" + +"Help me, help me on board!" said the deserted Lady Fleming, and that +louder than prudence warranted. + +"Put off--put off!" cried Henry Seyton; "leave all behind, so the Queen +is safe." + +"Will you permit this, madam?" said Catherine, imploringly; "you leave +your deliverer to death." + +"I will not," said the Queen.--"Seyton I command you to stay at every +risk." + +"Pardon me, madam, if I disobey," said the intractable young man; and +with one hand lifting in Lady Fleming, he began himself to push off the +boat. + +She was two fathoms' length from the shore, and the rowers were getting +her head round, when Roland Graeme, arriving, bounded from the beach, +and attained the boat, overturning Seyton, on whom he lighted. The youth +swore a deep but suppressed oath, and stopping Graeme as he stepped +towards the stern, said, "Your place is not with high-born dames--keep +at the head and trim the vessel--Now give way--give way--Row, for God +and the Queen!" + +The rowers obeyed, and began to pull vigorously. + +"Why did ye not muffle the oars?" said Roland Graeme; "the dash must +awaken the sentinel--Row, lads, and get out of reach of shot; for +had not old Hildebrand, the warder, supped upon poppy-porridge, this +whispering must have waked him." + +"It was all thine own delay," said Seyton; "thou shalt reckon, with me +hereafter for that and other matters." + +But Roland's apprehension was verified too instantly to permit him to +reply. The sentinel, whose slumbering had withstood the whispering, was +alarmed by the dash of the oars. His challenge was instantly heard. "A +boat---a boat!--bring to, or I shoot!" And, as they continued to ply +their oars, he called aloud, "Treason! treason!" rung the bell of the +castle, and discharged his harquebuss at the boat. The ladies crowded +on each other like startled wild foul, at the flash and report of the +piece, while the men urged the rowers to the utmost speed. They heard +more than one ball whiz along the surface of the lake, at no great +distance from their little bark; and from the lights, which glanced +like meteors from window to window, it was evident the whole castle was +alarmed, and their escape discovered. + +"Pull!" again exclaimed Seyton; "stretch to your oars, or I will spur +you to the task with my dagger--they will launch a boat immediately." + +"That is cared for," said Roland; "I locked gate and wicket on them when +I went back, and no boat will stir from the island this night, if doors +of good oak and bolts of iron can keep men within stone-walls.--And +now I resign my office of porter of Lochleven, and give the keys to the +Kelpie's keeping." + +As the heavy keys plunged in the lake, the Abbot,--who till then had +been repeating his prayers, exclaimed, "Now, bless thee, my son! for thy +ready prudence puts shame on us all." + +[Footnote: It is well known that the escape of Queen Mary from Lochleven +was effected by George Douglas, the youngest brother of Sir William +Douglas, the lord of the castle; but the minute circumstances of the +event have been a good deal confused, owing to two agents having been +concerned in it who bore the same name. It has been always supposed that +George Douglas was induced to abet Mary's escape by the ambitions hope +that, by such service, he might merit her hand. But his purpose was +discovered by his brother Sir William, and he was expelled from the +castle. He continued, notwithstanding, to hover in the neighbourhood, +and maintain a correspondence with the royal prisoner and others in the +fortress. + +If we believe the English ambassador Drury, the Queen was grateful to +George Douglas, and even proposed a marriage with him; a scheme which +could hardly be serious, since she was still the wife of Bothwell, but +which, if suggested at all, might be with a purpose of gratifying the +Regent Murray's ambition, and propitiating his favour; since he was, it +must be remembered, the brother uterine of George Douglas, for whom such +high honour was said to be designed. + +The proposal, if seriously made, was treated as inadmissible, and Mary +again resumed her purpose of escape. Her failure in her first attempt +has some picturesque particulars, which might have been advantageously +introduced in fictitious narrative. Drury sends Cecil the following +account of the matter:-- + +"But after, upon the 25th of the last, (April 1567,) she interprised +an escape, and was the rather near effect, through her accustomed long +lying in bed all the morning. The manner of it was thus: there cometh in +to her the laundress early as other times before she was wanted, and the +Queen according to such a secret practice putteth on her the hood of the +laundress, and so with the fardel of clothes and the muffler upon her +face, passeth, out and entereth the boat to pass the Loch; which, after +some space, one of them that rowed said merrily, 'Let us see what manner +of dame this is,' and therewith offered to pull down her muffler, which +to defend, she put up her hands, which they spied to be very fair and +white; wherewith they entered into suspicion whom she was, beginning to +wonder at her enterprise. Whereat she was little dismayed, but charged +them, upon danger of their lives, to row her over to the shore, which +they nothing regarded, but eftsoons rowed her back again, promising her +it should be secreted, and especially from the lord of the house, under +whose guard she lyeth. It seemeth she knew her refuge, and--where to +have found it if she had once landed; for there did, and yet do linger, +at a little village called Kinross, hard at the Loch side, the same +George Douglas, one Sempel and one Beton, the which two were sometime +her trusty servants, and, as yet appeareth, they mind her no less +affection."--_Bishop Keith's History of the Affairs of Church and State +in Scotland_, p. 490. + +Notwithstanding this disappointment, little spoke of by historians, Mary +renewed her attempts to escape. There was in the Castle of Lochleven +a lad, named William Douglas, some relation probably of the baron, +and about eighteen years old. This youth proved as accessible to Queen +Mary's prayers and promises, as was the brother of his patron, George +Douglas, from whom this William must be carefully kept distinct. It was +young William who played the part commonly assigned to his superior, +George, stealing the keys of the castle from the table on which they +lay, while his lord was at supper. He let the Queen and a waiting woman +out of the apartment where they were secured, and out of the tower +itself, embarked with them in a small skiff, and rowed them to the +shore. To prevent instant pursuit, he, for precaution's sake, locked the +iron grated door of the tower, and threw the keys into the lake. They +found George Douglas and the Queen's servant, Beton, waiting for them, +and Lord Seyton and James Hamilton of Orbeiston in attendance, at the +head of a party of faithful followers, with whom they fled to Niddrie +Castle, and from thence to Hamilton. + +In narrating this romantic story, both history and tradition confuse the +two Douglasses together, and confer on George the successful execution +of the escape from the castle, the merit of which belongs, in reality, +to the boy called William, or, more frequently, the Little Douglas, +either from his youth or his slight stature. The reader will observe, +that in the romance, the part of the Little Douglas has been assigned +to Roland Graeme. In another case, it would be tedious to point out in a +work of amusement such minute points of historical fact; but the +general interest taken in the fate of Queen Mary, renders every thing of +consequence which connects itself with her misfortunes. ] + +"I knew," said Mary, drawing her breath more freely, as they were now +out of reach of the musketry--"I knew my squire's truth, promptitude, +and sagacity.--I must have him my dear friends--with my no less true +knights, Douglas and Seyton--but where, then, is Douglas?" + +"Here, madam," answered the deep and melancholy voice of the boatman who +sat next her, and who acted as steersman. + +"Alas! was it you who stretched your body before me," said the Queen, +"when the balls were raining around us?" + +"Believe you," said he, in a low tone, "that Douglas would have resigned +to any one the chance of protecting his Queen's life with his own?" + +The dialogue was here interrupted by a shot or two from one of those +small pieces of artillery called falconets, then used in defending +castles. The shot was too vague to have any effect, but the broader +flash, the deeper sound, the louder return which was made by the +midnight echoes of Bennarty, terrified and imposed silence on the +liberated prisoners. The boat was alongside of a rude quay or landing +place, running out from a garden of considerable extent, ere any of +them again attempted to speak. They landed, and while the Abbot returned +thanks aloud to Heaven,--which had thus far favoured their enterprise, +Douglas enjoyed the best reward of his desperate undertaking, in +conducting the Queen to the house of the gardener. + +Yet, not unmindful of Roland Graeme even in that moment of terror and +exhaustion, Mary expressly commanded Seyton to give his assistance to +Fleming, while Catherine voluntarily, and without bidding, took the arm +of the page. Seyton presently resigned Lady Fleming to the care of the +Abbot, alleging, he must look after their horses; and his attendants, +disencumbering themselves of their boat-cloaks, hastened to assist him. + +While Mary spent in the gardener's cottage the few minutes which were +necessary to prepare the steeds for their departure, she perceived, in +a corner, the old man to whom the garden belonged, and called him to +approach. He came as it were with reluctance. + +"How, brother," said the Abbot, "so slow to welcome thy royal Queen and +mistress to liberty and to her kingdom!" + +The old man, thus admonished, came forward, and, in good terms of +speech, gave her Grace joy of her deliverance. The Queen returned him +thanks in the most gracious manner, and added, "It will remain to us +to offer some immediate reward for your fidelity, for we wot well your +house has been long the refuge in which our trusty servants have met +to concert measures for our freedom." So saying, she offered gold, and +added, "We will consider your services more fully hereafter." + +"Kneel, brother," said the Abbot, "kneel instantly, and thank her +Grace's kindness." + +"Good brother, that wert once a few steps under me, and art still +many years younger," replied the gardener, pettishly, "let me do mine +acknowledgments in my own way. Queens have knelt to me ere now, and in +truth my knees are too old and stiff to bend even to this lovely-faced +lady. May it please your Grace, if your Grace's servants have occupied +my house, so that I could not call it mine own--if they have trodden +down my flowers in the zeal of their midnight comings and goings, and +destroyed the hope of the fruit season, by bringing their war-horses +into my garden, I do but crave of your Grace in requital, that you will +choose your residence as far from me as possible. I am an old man +who would willingly creep to my grave as easily as I can, in peace, +good-will, and quiet labour." + +"I promise you fairly, good man," said the Queen, "I will not make +yonder castle my residence again, if I can help it. But let me press on +you this money--it will make some amends for the havoc we have made in +your little garden and orchard." + +"I thank your Grace, but it will make me not the least amends," said the +old man. "The ruined labours of a whole year are not so easily replaced +to him who has perchance but that one year to live; and besides, they +tell me I must leave this place and become a wanderer in mine old age--I +that have nothing on earth saving these fruit-trees, and a few old +parchments and family secrets not worth knowing. As for gold, if I had +loved it, I might have remained Lord Abbot of St. Mary's--and yet, I +wot not--for, if Abbot Boniface be but the poor peasant Blinkhoolie, his +successor, the Abbot Ambrosius, is still transmuted for the worse into +the guise of a sword-and-buckler-man." + +"Is this indeed the Abbot Boniface of whom I have heard?" said the +Queen. "It is indeed I who should have bent the knee for your blessing, +good Father." + +"Bend no knee to me, Lady! The blessing of an old man, who is no longer +an Abbot, go with you over dale and down--I hear the trampling of your +horses." + +"Farewell, Father," said the Queen. "When we are once more seated at +Holyrood, we will neither forget thee nor thine injured garden." + +"Forget us both," said the Ex-Abbot Boniface, "and may God be with you!" + +As they hurried out of the house, they heard the old man talking and +muttering to himself, as he hastily drew bolt and bar behind them. + +"The revenge of the Douglasses will reach the poor old man," said the +Queen. "God help me, I ruin every one whom I approach!" + +"His safety is cared for," said Seyton; "he must not remain here, but +will be privately conducted to a place of greater security. But I would +your Grace were in the saddle.--To horse! to horse!" + +The party of Seyton and of Douglas were increased to about ten by those +attendants who had remained with the horses. The Queen and her ladies, +with all the rest who came from the boat, were instantly mounted; and +holding aloof from the village, which was already alarmed by the firing +from the castle, with Douglas acting as their guide, they soon reached +the open ground and began to ride as fast as was consistent with keeping +together in good order. + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Sixth. + + + He mounted himself on a coal-black steed, + And her on a freckled gray, + With a bugelet horn hung down from his side, + And roundly they rode away. + OLD BALLAD. + +The influence of the free air, the rushing of the horses over high and +low, the ringing of the bridles, the excitation at once arising from a +sense of freedom and of rapid motion, gradually dispelled the confused +and dejected sort of stupefaction by which Queen Mary was at first +overwhelmed. She could not at last conceal the change of her feelings to +the person who rode at her rein, and who she doubted not was the Father +Ambrosius; for Seyton, with all the heady impetuosity of a youth, proud, +and justly so, of his first successful adventure, assumed all the bustle +and importance of commander of the little party, which escorted, in the +language of the time, the Fortune of Scotland. He now led the van, +now checked his bounding steed till the rear had come up, exhorted the +leaders to keep a steady, though rapid pace, and commanded those who +were hindmost of the party to use their spurs, and allow no interval to +take place in their line of march; and anon he was beside the Queen, or +her ladies, inquiring how they brooked the hasty journey, and whether +they had any commands for him. But while Seyton thus busied himself in +the general cause with some advantage to the regular order of the march, +and a good deal of personal ostentation, the horseman who rode beside +the Queen gave her his full and undivided attention, as if he had +been waiting upon some superior being. When the road was rugged and +dangerous, he abandoned almost entirely the care of his own horse, and +kept his hand constantly upon the Queen's bridle; if a river or larger +brook traversed their course, his left arm retained her in the saddle, +while his right held her palfrey's rein. + +"I had not thought, reverend Father," said the Queen, when they reached +the other bank, "that the convent bred such good horsemen."--The person +she addressed sighed, but made no other answer.--"I know not how it is," +said Queen Mary, "but either the sense of freedom, or the pleasure of +my favourite exercise, from which I have been so long debarred, or both +combined, seem to have given wings to me--no fish ever shot through the +water, no bird through the air, with the hurried feeling of liberty +and rapture with which I sweep through, this night-wind, and over these +wolds. Nay, such is the magic of feeling myself once more in the +saddle, that I could almost swear I am at this moment mounted on my own +favourite Rosabelle, who was never matched in Scotland for swiftness, +for ease of motion, and for sureness of foot." + +"And if the horse which bears so dear a burden could speak," answered +the deep voice of the melancholy George of Douglas, "would she not +reply, who but Rosabelle ought at such an emergence as this to serve her +beloved mistress, or who but Douglas ought to hold her bridle-rein?" + +Queen Mary started; she foresaw at once all the evils like to arise to +herself and him from the deep enthusiastic passion of this youth; but +her feelings as a woman, grateful at once and compassionate, prevented +her assuming the dignity of a Queen, and she endeavoured to continue the +conversation in an indifferent tone. + +"Methought," she said, "I heard that, at the division of my spoils, +Rosabelle had become the property of Lord Morton's paramour and +ladye-love Alice." + +"The noble palfrey had indeed been destined to so base a lot," answered +Douglas; "she was kept under four keys, and under the charge of a +numerous crew of grooms and domestics--but Queen Mary needed Rosabelle, +and Rosabelle is here." + +"And was it well, Douglas," said Queen Mary, "when such fearful risks of +various kinds must needs be encountered, that you should augment their +perils to yourself for a subject of so little moment as a palfrey?" + +"Do you call that of little moment," answered Douglas, "which has +afforded you a moment's pleasure?--Did you not start with joy when I +first said you were mounted on Rosabelle?--And to purchase you that +pleasure, though it were to last no longer than the flash of lightning +doth, would not Douglas have risked his life a thousand times?" + +"Oh, peace, Douglas, peace," said the Queen, "this is unfitting +language; and, besides, I would speak," said she, recollecting herself, +"with the Abbot of Saint Mary's--Nay, Douglas, I will not let you quit +my rein in displeasure." + +"Displeasure, lady!" answered Douglas: "alas! sorrow is all that I can +feel for your well-warranted contempt--I should be as soon displeased +with Heaven for refusing the wildest wish which mortal can form." + +"Abide by my rein, however," said Mary, "there is room for my Lord Abbot +on the other side; and, besides, I doubt if his assistance would be +so useful to Rosabelle and me as yours has been, should the road again +require it." + +The Abbot came up on the other side, and she immediately opened a +conversation with him on the topic of the state of parties, and the +plan fittest for her to pursue inconsequence of her deliverance. In +this conversation Douglas took little share, and never but when directly +applied to by the Queen, while, as before, his attention seemed entirely +engrossed by the care of Mary's personal safety. She learned, however, +she had a new obligation to him, since, by his contrivance, the Abbot, +whom he had furnished with the family pass-word, was introduced into the +castle as one of the garrison. + +Long before daybreak they ended their hasty and perilous journey before +the gates of Niddrie, a castle in West Lothian, belonging to Lord +Seyton. When the Queen was about to alight, Henry Seyton, preventing +Douglas, received her in his arms, and, kneeling down, prayed her +Majesty to enter the house of his father, her faithful servant. + +"Your Grace," he added, "may repose yourself here in perfect safety--it +is already garrisoned with good men for your protection; and I have sent +a post to my father, whose instant arrival, at the head of five hundred +men, may be looked for. Do not dismay yourself, therefore, should your +sleep be broken by the trampling of horse; but only think that here are +some scores more of the saucy Seytons come to attend you." + +"And by better friends than the Saucy Seytons, a Scottish Queen cannot +be guarded," replied Mary. "Rosabelle went fleet as the summer breeze, +and well-nigh as easy; but it is long since I have been a traveller, and +I feel that repose will be welcome.--Catherine, _ma mignone_, you +must sleep in my apartment to-night, and bid me welcome to your noble +father's castle.--Thanks, thanks to all my kind deliverers--thanks, and +a good night is all I can now offer; but if I climb once more to the +upper side of Fortune's wheel, I will not have her bandage. Mary Stewart +will keep her eyes open, and distinguish her friends.--Seyton, I need +scarcely recommend the venerable Abbot, the Douglas, and my page, to +your honour able care and hospitality." + +Henry Seyton bowed, and Catherine and Lady Fleming attended the Queen to +her apartment; where, acknowledging to them that she should have found +it difficult in that moment to keep her promise of holding her eyes +open, she resigned herself to repose, and awakened not till the morning +was advanced. + +Mary's first feeling when she awoke, was the doubt of her freedom; and +the impulse prompted her to start from bed, and hastily throwing her +mantle over her shoulders, to look out at the casement of her apartment. +Oh, sight of joy! instead of the crystal sheet of Lochleven, unaltered +save by the influence of the wind, a landscape of wood and moorland lay +before her, and the park around the castle was occupied by the troops of +her most faithful and most favourite nobles. + +"Rise, rise, Catherine," cried the enraptured Princess; "arise and come +hither!--here are swords and spears in true hands, and glittering armour +on loyal breasts. Here are banners, my girl, floating in the wind, as +lightly as summer clouds--Great God! what pleasure to my weary eyes +to trace their devices--thine own brave father's--the princely +Hamilton's--the faithful Fleming's--See--see--they have caught a glimpse +of me, and throng towards the window!" + +She flung the casement open, and with her bare head, from which the +tresses flew back loose and dishevelled, her fair arm slenderly veiled +by her mantle, returned by motion and sign the exulting shouts of the +warriors, which echoed for many a furlong around. When the first burst +of ecstatic joy was over, she recollected how lightly she was dressed, +and, putting her hands to her face, which was covered with blushes at +the recollection, withdrew abruptly from the window. The cause of her +retreat was easily conjectured, and increased the general enthusiasm for +a Princess, who had forgotten her rank in her haste to acknowledge the +services of her subjects. The unadorned beauties of the lovely woman, +too, moved the military spectators more than the highest display of her +regal state might; and what might have seemed too free in her mode of +appearing before them, was more than atoned for by the enthusiasm of the +moment and by the delicacy evinced in her hasty retreat. Often as the +shouts died away, as often were they renewed, till wood and hill rung +again; and many a deep path was made that morning on the cross of the +sword, that the hand should not part with the weapon, till Mary Stewart +was restored to her rights. But what are promises, what the hopes of +mortals? In ten days, these gallant and devoted votaries were slain, +were captives, or had fled. + +Mary flung herself into the nearest seat, and still blushing, yet half +smiling, exclaimed, "_Ma mignone_, what will they think of me?--to show +myself to them with my bare feet hastily thrust into the slippers--only +this loose mantle about me--my hair loose on my shoulders--my arms and +neck so bare--Oh, the best they can suppose is, that her abode in yonder +dungeon has turned their Queen's brain! But my rebel subjects saw me +exposed when I was in the depth of affliction, why should I hold colder +ceremony with these faithful and loyal men?--Call Fleming, however--I +trust she has not forgotten the little mail with my apparel--We must be +as brave as we can, _mignone_." + +"Nay, madam, our good Lady Fleming was in no case to remember any +thing." + +"You jest, Catherine," said the Queen, somewhat offended; "it is not in +her nature surely, to forget her duty so far as to leave us without a +change of apparel?" + +"Roland Graeme, madam, took care of that," answered Catherine; "for he +threw the mail, with your highness's clothes and jewels, into the boat, +ere he ran back to lock the gate--I never saw so awkward a page as that +youth--the packet well-nigh fell on my head." + +"He shall make thy heart amends, my girl," said Queen Mary, laughing, +"for that and all other offences given. But call Fleming, and let us put +ourselves into apparel to meet our faithful lords." + +Such had been the preparations, and such was the skill of Lady Fleming, +that the Queen appeared before her assembled nobles in such attire as +became, though it could not enhance, her natural dignity. With the most +winning courtesy, she expressed to each individual her grateful thanks, +and dignified not only every noble, but many of the lesser barons by her +particular attention. + +"And whither now, my lords?" she said; "what way do your counsels +determine for us?" + +"To Draphane Castle," replied Lord Arbroath, "if your Majesty is so +pleased; and thence to Dunbarton, to place your Grace's person in +safety, after which we long to prove if these traitors will abide us in +the field." + +"And when do we journey?" + +"We propose," said Lord Seyton, "if your Grace's fatigue will permit, to +take horse after the morning's meal." + +"Your pleasure, my Lords, is mine," replied the Queen; "we will rule our +journey by your wisdom now, and hope hereafter to have the advantage of +governing by it our kingdom.--You will permit my ladies and me, my +good lords, to break our fasts along with you--We must be half soldiers +ourselves, and set state apart." + +Low bowed many a helmeted head at this gracious proffer, when the Queen, +glancing her eyes through the assembled leaders, missed both Douglas and +Roland Graeme, and inquired for them in a whisper to Catherine Seyton. + +"They are in yonder oratory, madam, sad enough," replied Catherine; and +the Queen observed that her favourite's eyes were red with weeping. + +"This must not be," said the Queen. "Keep the company amused--I will +seek them, and introduce them myself." + +She went into the oratory, where the first she met was George Douglas, +standing, or rather reclining, in the recess of a window, his back +rested against the wall, and his arms folded on his breast. At the sight +of the Queen he started, and his countenance showed, for an instant, +an expression of intense delight, which was instantly exchanged for his +usual deep melancholy. + +"What means this?" she said; "Douglas, why does the first deviser and +bold executor of the happy scheme for our freedom, shun the company of +his fellow-nobles, and of the Sovereign whom he has obliged?" + +"Madam," replied Douglas, "those whom you grace with your presence bring +followers to aid your cause, wealth to support your state,--can offer +you halls in which to feast, and impregnable castles for your defence. +I am a houseless and landless man--disinherited by my mother, and +laid under her malediction--disowned by my name and kindred--who bring +nothing to your standard but a single sword, and the poor life of its +owner." + +"Do you mean to upbraid me, Douglas," replied the Queen, "by showing +what you have lost for my sake?" + +"God forbid, madam!" interrupted the young man, eagerly; "were it to do +again, and had I ten times as much rank and wealth, and twenty times as +many friends to lose, my losses would be overpaid by the first step you +made, as a free princess, upon the soil of your native kingdom." + +"And what then ails you, that you will not rejoice with those who +rejoice upon the same joyful occasion?" said the Queen. + +"Madam," replied the youth," though exheridated and disowned, I am yet +a Douglas: with most of yonder nobles my family have been in feud for +ages--a cold reception amongst them, were an insult, and a kind one yet +more humiliating." + +"For shame, Douglas," replied the Queen, "shake off this unmanly +gloom!--I can make thee match for the best of them in title and fortune, +and, believe me, I will.--Go then amongst them, I command you." + +"That word," said Douglas, "is enough--I go. This only let me say, that +not for wealth or title would I have done that which I have done--Mary +Stewart will not, and the Queen cannot, reward me." + +So saying, he left the oratory, mingled with the nobles, and placed +himself at the bottom of the table. The Queen looked after him, and put +her kerchief to her eyes. + +"Now, Our Lady pity me," she said, "for no sooner are my prison cares +ended, than those which beset me as a woman and a Queen again thicken +around me.--Happy Elizabeth! to whom political interest is every thing, +and whose heart never betrays thy head.--And now must I seek this +other boy, if I would prevent daggers-drawing betwixt him and the young +Seyton." + +Roland Graeme was in the same oratory, but at such a distance from +Douglas, that he could not overhear what passed betwixt the Queen and +him. He also was moody and thoughtful, but cleared his brow at the +Queen's question, "How now, Roland? you are negligent in your attendance +this morning. Are you so much overcome with your night's ride?" + +"Not so, gracious madam," answered Graeme; "but I am told the page of +Lochleven is not the page of Niddrie Castle; and so Master Henry Seyton +hath in a manner been pleased to supersede my attendance." + +"Now, Heaven forgive me," said the Queen, "how soon these cock-chickens +begin to spar!--with children and boys, at least, I may be a queen.--I +will have you friends.--Some one send me Henry Seyton hither." As she +spoke the last words aloud, the youth whom she had named entered the +apartment. "Come hither," she said, "Henry Seyton--I will have you give +your hand to this youth, who so well aided in the plan of my escape." + +"Willingly, madam," answered Seyton, "so that the youth will grant me, +as a boon, that he touch not the hand of another Seyton whom he knows +of. My hand has passed current for hers with him before now--and to win +my friendship, he must give up thoughts of my sister's love." + +"Henry Seyton," said the Queen, "does it become you to add any condition +to my command?" + +"Madam," said Henry, "I am the servant of your Grace's throne, son to +the most loyal man in Scotland. Our goods, our castles, our blood, are +yours: Our honour is in our own keeping. I could say more, but--" + +"Nay, speak on, rude boy," said the Queen; "what avails it that I am +released from Lochleven, if I am thus enthralled under the yoke of my +pretended deliverers, and prevented from doing justice to one who has +deserved as well of me as yourself?" + +"Be not in this distemperature for me, sovereign Lady," said Roland; +"this young gentleman, being the faithful servant of your Grace, and the +brother of Catherine Seyton, bears that about him which will charm down +my passion at the hottest." + +"I warn thee once more," said Henry Seyton, haughtily, "that you make no +speech which may infer that the daughter of Lord Seyton can be aught to +thee beyond what she is to every churl's blood in Scotland." + +The Queen was again about to interfere, for Roland's complexion rose, +and it became somewhat questionable how long his love for Catherine +would suppress the natural fire of his temper. But the interposition of +another person, hitherto unseen, prevented Mary's interference, There +was in the oratory a separate shrine, enclosed with a high screen +of pierced oak, within which was placed an image of Saint Bennet, of +peculiar sanctity. From this recess, in which she had been probably +engaged in her devotions, issued suddenly Magdalen Graeme, and addressed +Henry Seyton, in reply to his last offensive expressions,--"And of +what clay, then, are they moulded these Seytons, that the blood of the +Graemes may not aspire to mingle with theirs? Know, proud boy, that when +I call this youth my daughter's child, I affirm his descent from Malise +Earl of Strathern, called Malise with the Bright Brand; and I trow the +blood of your house springs from no higher source." + +"Good mother," said Seyton, "methinks your sanctity should make you +superior to these worldly vanities; and indeed it seems to have rendered +you somewhat oblivious touching them, since, to be of gentle descent, +the father's name and lineage must be as well qualified as the +mother's." + +"And if I say he comes of the blood of Avenel by the father's side," +replied Magdalen Graeme, "name I not blood as richly coloured as thine +own?" + +"Of Avenel?" said the Queen; "is my page descended of Avenel?" + +"Ay, gracious Princess, and the last male heir of that ancient +house--Julian Avenel was his father, who fell in battle against the +Southron." + +"I have heard the tale of sorrow," said the Queen; "it was thy daughter, +then, who followed that unfortunate baron to the field, and died on his +body? Alas! how many ways does woman's affection find to work out her +own misery! The tale has oft been told and sung in hall and bower--And +thou, Roland, art that child of misfortune, who was left among the dead +and dying? Henry Seyton, he is thine equal in blood and birth." + +"Scarcely so," said Henry Seyton, "even were he legitimate; but if the +tale be told and sung aright, Julian Avenel was a false knight, and his +leman a frail and credulous maiden." + +"Now, by Heaven, thou liest!" said Roland Graeme, and laid his hand on +his sword. The entrance of Lord Seyton, however, prevented violence. + +"Save me, my lord," said the Queen, "and separate these wild and untamed +spirits." + +"How, Henry," said the Baron, "are my castle, and the Queen's presence, +no checks on thine insolence and impetuosity?--And with whom art thou +brawling?--unless my eyes spell that token false, it is with the very +youth who aided me so gallantly in the skirmish with the Leslies--Let me +look, fair youth, at the medal which thou wearest in thy cap. By Saint +Bennet, it is the same!--Henry, I command thee to forbear him, as thou +lovest my blessing----" + +"And as you honour my command," said the Queen; "good service hath he +done me." + +"Ay, madam," replied young Seyton, "as when he carried the billet +enclosed in the sword-sheath to Lochleven--marry, the good youth knew no +more than a pack-horse what he was carrying." + +"But I who dedicated him to this great work," said Magdalen Graeme--"I, +by whose advice and agency this just heir hath been unloosed from her +thraldom--I, who spared not the last remaining hope of a falling house +in this great action--I, at least, knew and counselled; and what merit +may be mine, let the reward, most gracious Queen, descend upon this +youth. My ministry here is ended; you are free--a sovereign Princess, +at the head of a gallant army, surrounded by valiant barons--My service +could avail you no farther, but might well prejudice you; your fortune +now rests upon men's hearts and men's swords. May they prove as trusty +as the faith of women!" + +"You will not leave us, mother," said the Queen--"you whose practices in +our favour were so powerful, who dared so many dangers, and wore so many +disguises, to blind our enemies and to confirm our friends--you will not +leave us in the dawn of our reviving fortunes, ere we have time to know +and to thank you?" + +"You cannot know her," answered Magdalen Graeme, "who knows not +herself--there are times, when, in this woman's frame of mine, there is +the strength of him of Gath--in this overtoiled brain, the wisdom of the +most sage counsellor--and again the mist is on me, and my strength +is weakness, my wisdom folly. I have spoken before princes and +cardinals--ay, noble Princess, even before the princes of thine own +house of Lorraine; and I know not whence the words of persuasion came +which flowed from my lips, and were drunk in by their ears.--And now, +even when I most need words of persuasion, there is something which +chokes my voice, and robs me of utterance." + +"If there be aught in my power to do thee pleasure," said the Queen, +"the barely naming it shall avail as well as all thine eloquence." + +"Sovereign Lady," replied the enthusiast, "it shames me that at this +high moment something of human frailty should cling to one, whose vows +the saints have heard, whose labours in the rightful cause Heaven has +prospered. But it will be thus while the living spirit is shrined in the +clay of mortality--I will yield to the folly," she said, weeping as she +spoke, "and it shall be the last." Then seizing Roland's hand, she led +him to the Queen's feet, kneeling herself upon one knee, and causing him +to kneel on both. "Mighty Princess," she said, "look on this flower--it +was found by a kindly stranger on a bloody field of battle, and long it +was ere my anxious eyes saw, and my arms pressed, all that was left of +my only daughter. For your sake, and for that of the holy faith we +both profess, I could leave this plant, while it was yet tender, to +the nurture of strangers--ay, of enemies, by whom, perchance, his blood +would have been poured forth as wine, had the heretic Glendinning known +that he had in his house the heir of Julian Avenel. Since then I have +seen him only in a few hours of doubt and dread, and now I part with the +child of my love--for ever--for ever!--Oh, for every weary step I +have made in your rightful cause, in this and in foreign lands, give +protection to the child whom I must no more call mine!" + +"I swear to you, mother," said the Queen, deeply affected, "that, for +your sake and his own, his happiness and fortunes shall be our charge!" + +"I thank you, daughter of princes," said Magdalen, and pressed her lips, +first to the Queen's hand, then to the brow of her grandson. "And now," +she said, drying her tears, and rising with dignity, "Earth has had +its own, and Heaven claims the rest.--Lioness of Scotland, go forth and +conquer! and if the prayers of a devoted votaress can avail thee, they +will rise in many a land, and from many a distant shrine. I will glide +like a ghost from land to land, from temple to temple; and where the +very name of my country is unknown, the priests shall ask who is the +Queen of that distant northern land, for whom the aged pilgrim was so +fervent in prayer. Farewell! Honour be thine, and earthly prosperity, if +it be the will of God--if not, may the penance thou shalt do here ensure +thee happiness hereafter!--Let no one speak or follow me--my resolution +is taken--my vow cannot be cancelled." + +She glided from their presence as she spoke, and her last look was upon +her beloved grandchild. He would have risen and followed, but the Queen +and Lord Seyton interfered. + +"Press not on her now," said Lord Seyton, "if you would not lose her for +ever. Many a time have we seen the sainted mother, and often at the most +needful moment; but to press on her privacy, or to thwart her purpose, +is a crime which she cannot pardon. I trust we shall yet see her at her +need--a holy woman she is for certain, and dedicated wholly to prayer +and penance; and hence the heretics hold her as one distracted, while +true Catholics deem her a saint." + +"Let me then hope," said the Queen, "that you, my lord, will aid me in +the execution of her last request." + +"What! in the protection of my young second?--cheerfully--that is, in +all that your majesty can think it fitting to ask of me.--Henry, give +thy hand upon the instant to Roland Avenel, for so I presume he must now +be called." + +"And shall be Lord of the Barony," said the Queen, "if God prosper our +rightful arms." + +"It can only be to restore it to my kind protectress, who now holds it," +said young Avenel. "I would rather be landless, all my life, than she +lost a rood of ground by me." + +"Nay," said the Queen, looking to Lord Seyton, "his mind matches his +birth--Henry, thou hast not yet given thy hand." + +"It is his," said Henry, giving it with some appearance of courtesy, +but whispering Roland at the same time,--"For all this, thou hast not my +sister's." + +"May it please your Grace," said Lord Seyton, "now that these passages +are over, to honour our poor meal. Time it were that our banners were +reflected in the Clyde. We must to horse with as little delay as may +be." + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Seventh. + + + Ay, sir--our ancient crown, in these wild times, + Oft stood upon a cast--the gamester's ducat, + So often staked, and lost, and then regain'd, + Scarce knew so many hazards. + THE SPANISH FATHER. + +It is not our object to enter into the historical part of the reign of +the ill-fated Mary, or to recount how, during the week which succeeded +her flight from Lochleven, her partisans mustered around her with their +followers, forming a gallant army, amounting to six thousand men. So +much light has been lately thrown on the most minute details of the +period, by Mr. Chalmers, in his valuable history of Queen Mary, that the +reader may be safely referred to it for the fullest information +which ancient records afford concerning that interesting time. It is +sufficient for our purpose to say, that while Mary's head-quarters +were at Hamilton, the Regent and his adherents had, in the King's name, +assembled a host at Glasgow, inferior indeed to that of the Queen in +numbers, but formidable from the military talents of Murray, Morton, the +Laird of Grange, and others, who had been trained from their youth in +foreign and domestic wars. + +In these circumstances, it was the obvious policy of Queen Mary to avoid +a conflict, secure that were her person once in safety, the number of +her adherents must daily increase; whereas, the forces of those opposed +to her must, as had frequently happened in the previous history of her +reign, have diminished, and their spirits become broken. And so evident +was this to her counsellors, that they resolved their first step should +be to place the Queen in the strong castle of Dunbarton, there to await +the course of events, the arrival of succours from France, and the +levies which were made by her adherents in every province of Scotland. +Accordingly, orders were given, that all men should be on horseback or +on foot, apparelled in their armour, and ready to follow the Queen's +standard in array of battle, the avowed determination being to escort +her to the Castle of Dunbarton in defiance of her enemies. + +The muster was made upon Hamilton-Moor, and the march commenced in all +the pomp of feudal times. Military music sounded, banners and pennons +waved, armour glittered far and wide, and spears glanced and twinkled +like stars in a frosty sky. The gallant spectacle of warlike parade was +on this occasion dignified by the presence of the Queen herself, who, +with a fair retinue of ladies and household attendants, and a +special guard of gentlemen, amongst whom young Seyton and Roland were +distinguished, gave grace at once and confidence to the army, which +spread its ample files before, around, and behind her. Many churchmen +also joined the cavalcade, most of whom did not scruple to assume arms, +and declare their intention of wielding them in defence of Mary and the +Catholic faith. Not so the Abbot of Saint Mary's. Roland had not seen +this prelate since the night of their escape from Lochleven, and he now +beheld him, robed in the dress of his order, assume his station near the +Queen's person. Roland hastened to pull off his basnet, and beseech the +Abbot's blessing. + +"Thou hast it, my son!" said the priest; "I see thee now under thy true +name, and in thy rightful garb. The helmet with the holly branch befits +your brows well--I have long waited for the hour thou shouldst assume +it." + +"Then you knew of my descent, my good father?" said Roland. + +"I did so, but it was under seal of confession from thy grandmother; +nor was I at liberty to tell the secret, till she herself should make it +known." + +"Her reason for such secrecy, my father?" said Roland Avenel. + +"Fear, perchance of my brother--a mistaken fear, for Halbert would not, +to ensure himself a kingdom, have offered wrong to an orphan; besides +that, your title, in quiet times, even had your father done your mother +that justice which I well hope he did, could not have competed with that +of my brother's wife, the child of Julian's elder brother." + +"They need fear no competition from me," said Avenel. "Scotland is +wide enough, and there are many manors to win, without plundering my +benefactor. But prove to me, my reverend father, that my father was just +to my mother--show me that I may call myself a legitimate Avenel, and +make me your bounden slave for ever." + +"Ay," replied the Abbot, "I hear the Seytons hold thee cheap for that +stain on thy shield. Something, however, I have learnt from the late +Abbot Boniface, which, if it prove sooth, may redeem that reproach." + +"Tell me that blessed news," said Roland, "and the future service of my +life--" + +"Rash boy!" said the Abbot, "I should but madden thine impatient temper, +by exciting hopes that may never be fulfilled--and is this a time for +them? Think on what perilous march we are bound, and if thou hast a sin +unconfessed, neglect not the only leisure which Heaven may perchance +afford thee for confession and absolution." + +"There will be time enough for both, I trust, when we reach Dunbarton," +answered the page. + +"Ay," said the Abbot, "thou crowest as loudly as the rest--but we are +not yet at Dunbarton, and there is a lion in the path." + +"Mean you Murray, Morton, and the other rebels at Glasgow, my reverend +father? Tush! they dare not look on the royal banner." + +"Even so," replied the Abbot, "speak many of those who are older, and +should be wiser, than thou.--I have returned from the southern shires, +where I left many a chief of name arming in the Queen's interest--I +left the lords here wise and considerate men--I find them madmen on my +return--they are willing, for mere pride and vain-glory, to brave the +enemy, and to carry the Queen, as it were in triumph, past the walls of +Glasgow, and under the beards of the adverse army.--Seldom does Heaven +smile on such mistimed confidence. We shall be encountered, and that to +the purpose." + +"And so much the better," replied Roland; "the field of battle was my +cradle." + +"Beware it be not thy dying bed," said the Abbot. "But what avails it +whispering to young wolves the dangers of the chase? You will know, +perchance, ere this day is out, what yonder men are, whom you hold in +rash contempt." + +"Why, what are they?" said Henry Seyton, who now joined them: "have +they sinews of wire, and flesh of iron?--Will lead pierce and steel cut +them?--If so, reverend father, we have little to fear." + +"They are evil men," said the Abbot, "but the trade of war demands +no saints.--Murray and Morton are known to be the best generals in +Scotland. No one ever saw Lindesay's or Ruthven's back--Kirkaldy of +Grange was named by the Constable Montmorency the first soldier in +Europe--My brother, too good a name for such a cause, has been far and +wide known for a soldier." + +"The better, the better!" said Seyton, triumphantly; "we shall have all +these traitors of rank and name in a fair field before us. Our cause +is the best, our numbers are the strongest, our hearts and limbs match +theirs--Saint Bennet, and set on!" + +The Abbot made no reply, but seemed lost in reflection; and his anxiety +in some measure communicated itself to Roland Avenel, who ever, as their +line of march led over a ridge or an eminence, cast an anxious look +towards the towers of Glasgow, as if he expected to see symptoms of the +enemy issuing forth. It was not that he feared the fight, but the issue +was of such deep import to his country, and to himself, that the natural +fire of his spirit burned with a less lively, though with a more intense +glow. Love, honour, fame, fortune, all seemed to depend on the issue of +one field, rashly hazarded perhaps, but now likely to become unavoidable +and decisive. + +When, at length, their march came to be nearly parallel with the city of +Glasgow, Roland became sensible that the high grounds before them were +already in part occupied by a force, showing, like their own, the royal +banner of Scotland, and on the point of being supported by columns of +infantry and squadrons of horse, which the city gates had poured forth, +and which hastily advanced to sustain those troops who already possessed +the ground in front of the Queen's forces. Horseman after horseman +galloped in from the advanced guard, with tidings that Murray had taken +the field with his whole army; that his object was to intercept the +Queen's march, and his purpose unquestionable to hazard a battle. It +was now that the tempers of men were subjected to a sudden and a severe +trial; and that those who had too presumptuously concluded that they +would pass without combat, were something disconcerted, when, at once, +and with little time to deliberate, they found themselves placed in +front of a resolute enemy.--Their chiefs immediately assembled around +the Queen, and held a hasty council of war. Mary's quivering lip +confessed the fear which she endeavoured to conceal under a bold +and dignified demeanour. But her efforts were overcome by painful +recollections of the disastrous issue of her last appearance in arms at +Carberry-hill; and when she meant to have asked them their advice for +ordering the battle, she involuntarily inquired whether there were no +means of escaping without an engagement? + +"Escaping?" answered the Lord Seyton; "when I stand as one to ten of +your Highness's enemies, I may think of escape--but never while I stand +with three to two!" + +"Battle! battle!" exclaimed the assembled lords; "we will drive the +rebels from their vantage ground, as the hound turns the hare on the +hill side." + +"Methinks, my noble lords," said the Abbot, "it were as well to prevent +his gaining that advantage.--Our road lies through yonder hamlet on the +brow, and whichever party hath the luck to possess it, with its little +gardens and enclosures, will attain a post of great defence." + +"The reverend father is right," said the Queen. "Oh, haste thee, Seyton, +haste, and get thither before them--they are marching like the wind." + +Seyton bowed low, and turned his horse's head.--"Your Highness honours +me," he said; "I will instantly press forward, and seize the pass." + +"Not before me, my lord, whose charge is the command of the vanguard," +said the Lord of Arbroath. + +"Before you, or any Hamilton in Scotland," said the Seyton, "having the +Queen's command--Follow me, gentlemen, my vassals and kinsmen--Saint +Bennet, and set on!" + +"And follow me," said Arbroath, "my noble kinsmen, and brave +men-tenants, we will see which will first reach the post of danger. For +God and Queen Mary!" + +"Ill-omened haste, and most unhappy strife," said the Abbot, who saw +them and their followers rush hastily and emulously to ascend the +height without waiting till their men were placed in order.--"And you, +gentlemen," he continued, addressing Roland and Seyton, who were each +about to follow those who hastened thus disorderly to the conflict, +"will you leave the Queen's person unguarded?" + +"Oh, leave me not, gentlemen!" said the Queen--"Roland and Seyton, +do not leave me--there are enough of arms to strike in this fell +combat--withdraw not those to whom I trust for my safety." + +"We may not leave her Grace," said Roland, looking at Seyton, and +turning his horse. + +"I ever looked when thou wouldst find out that," rejoined the fiery +youth. + +Roland made no answer, but bit his lip till the blood came, and spurring +his horse up to the side of Catherine Seyton's palfrey, he whispered +in a low voice, "I never thought to have done aught to deserve you; +but this day I have heard myself upbraided with cowardice, and my sword +remained still sheathed, and all for the love of you." + +"There is madness among us all," said the damsel; "my father, my +brother, and you, are all alike bereft of reason. Ye should think +only of this poor Queen, and you are all inspired by your own absurd +jealousies--The monk is the only soldier and man of sense amongst you +all.--My lord Abbot," she cried aloud, "were it not better we should +draw to the westward, and wait the event that God shall send us, instead +of remaining here in the highway, endangering the Queen's person, and +cumbering the troops in their advance?" + +"You say well, my daughter," replied the Abbot; "had we but one to guide +us where the Queen's person may be in safety--Our nobles hurry to the +conflict, without casting a thought on the very cause of the war." + +"Follow me," said a knight, or man-at-arms, well mounted, and attired +completely in black armour, but having the visor of his helmet closed, +and bearing no crest on his helmet, or device upon his shield. + +"We will follow no stranger," said the Abbot, "without some warrant of +his truth." + +"I am a stranger and in your hands," said the horseman; "if you wish to +know more of me, the Queen herself will be your warrant." + +The Queen had remained fixed to the spot, as if disabled by fear, yet +mechanically smiling, bowing, and waving her hand, as banners were +lowered and spears depressed before her, while, emulating the strife +betwixt Seyton and Arbroath, band on band pressed forward their march +towards the enemy. Scarce, however, had the black rider whispered +something in her ear, than she assented to what he said; and when he +spoke aloud, and with an air of command, "Gentlemen, it is the Queen's +pleasure that you should follow me," Mary uttered, with something like +eagerness, the word "Yes." + +All were in motion in an instant; for the black horseman, throwing off a +sort of apathy of manner, which his first appearance indicated, spurred +his horse to and fro, making him take such active bounds and short +turns, as showed the rider master of the animal; and getting the Queen's +little retinue in some order for marching, he led them to the left, +directing his course towards a castle, which, crowning a gentle yet +commanding eminence, presented an extensive view over the country +beneath, and in particular, commanded a view of those heights which both +armies hastened to occupy, and which it was now apparent must almost +instantly be the scene of struggle and dispute. + +"Yonder towers," said the Abbot, questioning the sable horseman, "to +whom do they belong?--and are they in the hands of friends?" + +"They are untenanted," replied the stranger, "or, at least, they have +no hostile inmates.--But urge these youths. Sir Abbot, to make more +haste--this is but an evil time to satisfy their idle curiosity, by +peering out upon the battle in which they are to take no share." + +"The worse luck mine," said Henry Seyton, who overheard him--"I +would rather be under my father's banner at this moment than be made +Chamberlain of Holyrood, for this my present duty of peaceful ward well +and patiently discharged." + +"Your place under your father's banner will shortly be right dangerous," +said Roland Avenel, who, pressing his horse towards the westward, +had still his look reverted to the armies; "for I see yonder body of +cavalry, which presses from the eastward, will reach the village ere +Lord Seyton can gain it." + +"They are but cavalry," said Seyton, looking attentively; "they cannot +hold the village without shot of harquebuss." + +"Look more closely," said Roland; "you will see that each of these +horseman who advance so rapidly from Glasgow, carries a footman behind +him." + +"Now, by Heaven, he speaks well!" said the black cavalier; "one of you +two must go carry the news to Lord Seyton and Lord Arbroath, that +they hasten not their horsemen on before the foot, but advance more +regularly." + +"Be that my errand," said Roland, "for I first marked the stratagem of +the enemy." + +"But, by your leave," said Seyton, "yonder is my father's banner +engaged, and it best becomes me to go to the rescue." + +"I will stand by the Queen's decision," said Roland Avenel. + +"What new appeal?--what new quarrel?" said Queen Mary--"Are there not +in yonder dark host enemies enough to Mary Stewart, but must her very +friends turn enemies to each other?" + +"Nay, madam," said Roland, "the young master of Seyton and I did but +dispute who should leave your person to do a most needful message to the +host. He thought his rank entitled him, and I deemed that the person of +least consequence, being myself, were better perilled--" + +"Not so," said the Queen; "if one must leave me, be it Seyton." + +Henry Seyton bowed till the white plumes on his helmet mixed with the +flowing mane of his gallant war-horse, then placed himself firm in the +saddle, shook his lance aloft with an air of triumph and determination, +and striking his horse with the spurs, made towards his father's banner, +which was still advancing up the hill, and dashed his steed over every +obstacle that occurred in his headlong path. + +"My brother! my father!" exclaimed Catherine, with an expression +of agonized apprehension--"they are in the midst of peril, and I in +safety!" + +"Would to God," said Roland, "that I were with them, and could ransom +every drop of their blood by two of mine!" + +"Do I not know thou dost wish it?" said Catherine--"Can a woman say to +a man what I have well-nigh said to thee, and yet think that he could +harbour fear or faintness of heart?--There is that in yon distant sound +of approaching battle that pleases me even while it affrights me. I +would I were a man, that I might feel that stern delight, without the +mixture of terror!" + +"Ride up, ride up, Lady Catherine Seyton," cried the Abbot, as they +still swept on at a rapid pace, and were now close beneath the walls +of the castle--"ride up, and aid Lady Fleming to support the Queen--she +gives way more and more." + +They halted and lifted Mary from the saddle, and were about to +support her towards the castle, when she said faintly, "Not there--not +there--these walls will I never enter more!" + +"Be a Queen, madam," said the Abbot, "and forget that you are a woman." + +"Oh, I must forget much, much more," answered the unfortunate Mary, +in an under tone, "ere I can look with steady eyes on these well-known +scenes!--I must forget the days which I spent here as the bride of the +lost--the murdered----" + +"This is the Castle of Crookstone," said the Lady Fleming, "in which the +Queen held her first court after she was married to Darnley." + +"Heaven," said the Abbot, "thy hand is upon us!--Bear yet up, +madam--your foes are the foes of Holy Church, and God will this day +decide whether Scotland shall be Catholic or heretic." + +A heavy and continued fire of cannon and musketry, bore a tremendous +burden to his words, and seemed far more than they to recall the spirits +of the Queen. + +"To yonder tree," she said, pointing to a yew-tree which grew on a small +mount close to the castle; "I know it well--from thence you may see a +prospect wide as from the peaks of Schehallion." + +And freeing herself from her assistants, she walked with a determined, +yet somewhat wild step, up to the stem of the noble yew. The Abbot, +Catherine, and Roland Avenel followed her, while Lady Fleming kept back +the inferior persons of her train. The black horseman also followed the +Queen, waiting on her as closely as the shadow upon the light, but ever +remaining at the distance of two or three yards---he folded his arms on +his bosom, turned his back to the battle, and seemed solely occupied by +gazing on Mary, through the bars of his closed visor. The Queen regarded +him not, but fixed her eyes upon the spreading yew." + +"Ay, fair and stately tree," she said, as if at the sight of it she had +been rapt away from the present scene, and had overcome the horror +which had oppressed her at the first approach to Crookstone, "there thou +standest, gay and goodly as ever, though thou hearest the sounds of war, +instead of the vows of love. All is gone since I last greeted thee--love +and lover--vows and vower--king and kingdom.--How goes the field, my +Lord Abbot?--with us, I trust--yet what but evil can Mary's eyes witness +from this spot?" + +Her attendants eagerly bent their eyes on the field of battle, but could +discover nothing more than that it was obstinately contested. The small +enclosures and cottage gardens in the village, of which they had a full +and commanding view, and which shortly before lay, with their lines of +sycamore and ash-trees, so still and quiet in the mild light of a May +sun, were now each converted into a line of fire, canopied by smoke; and +the sustained and constant report of the musketry and cannon, mingled +with the shouts of meeting combatants, showed that as yet neither party +had given ground. + +"Many a soul finds its final departure to heaven or hell, in these awful +thunders," said the Abbot; "let those that believe in the Holy Church, +join me in orisons for victory in this dreadful combat." + +"Not here--not here," said the unfortunate Queen; "pray not here, +father, or pray in silence--my mind is too much torn between the past +and the present, to dare to approach the heavenly throne--Or, if we +will pray, be it for one whose fondest affections have been her greatest +crimes, and who has ceased to be a queen, only because she was a +deceived and a tender-hearted woman." + +"Were it not well," said Roland, "that I rode somewhat nearer the hosts, +and saw the fate of the day?" + +"Do so, in the name of God," said the Abbot; "for if our friends are +scattered, our flight must be hasty--but beware thou approach not too +nigh the conflict; there is more than thine own life depends on thy safe +return." + +"Oh, go not too nigh," said Catherine; "but fail not to see how the +Seytons fight, and how they bear themselves." + +"Fear nothing, I will be on my guard," said Roland Avenel; and without +waiting farther answer, rode towards the scene of conflict, keeping, as +he rode, the higher and unenclosed ground, and ever looking cautiously +around him, for fear of involving himself in some hostile party. As he +approached, the shots rung sharp and more sharply on his ear, the shouts +came wilder and wilder, and he felt that thick beating of the heart, +that mixture of natural apprehension, intense curiosity, and anxiety for +the dubious event, which even the bravest experience when they approach +alone to a scene of interest and of danger. + +At length he drew so close, that from a bank, screened by bushes and +underwood, he could distinctly see where the struggle was most keenly +maintained. This was in a hollow way, leading to the village, up +which the Queen's vanguard had marched, with more hasty courage than +well-advised conduct, for the purpose of possessing themselves of that +post of advantage. They found their scheme anticipated, and the hedges +and enclosures already occupied by the enemy, led by the celebrated +Kirkaldy of Grange and the Earl of Morton; and not small was the loss +which they sustained while struggling forward to come to close with +the men-at-arms on the other side. But, as the Queen's followers were +chiefly noblemen and barons, with their kinsmen and followers, they had +pressed onward, contemning obstacles and danger, and had, when Roland +arrived on the ground, met hand to hand at the gorge of the pass with +the Regent's vanguard, and endeavoured to bear them out of the village +at the spear-point; while their foes, equally determined to keep the +advantage which they had attained, struggled with the like obstinacy +to drive back the assailants. Both parties were on foot, and armed in +proof; so that, when the long lances of the front ranks were fixed in +each other's shields, corslets, and breastplates, the struggle resembled +that of two bulls, who fixing their frontlets hard against each other, +remain in that posture for hours, until the superior strength or +obstinacy of the one compels the other to take to flight, or bears him +down to the earth. Thus locked together in the deadly struggle, which +swayed slowly to and fro, as one or other party gained the advantage, +those who fell were trampled on alike by friends and foes; those whose +weapons were broken, retired from the front rank, and had their place +supplied by others; while the rearward ranks, unable otherwise to share +in the combat, fired their pistols, and hurled their daggers, and the +points and truncheons of the broken weapons, like javelins against the +enemy. + +"God and the Queen!" resounded from the one party; "God and the King!" +thundered from the other; while, in the name of their sovereign, +fellow-subjects on both sides shed each other's blood, and, in the name +of their Creator, defaced his image. Amid the tumult was often heard the +voices of the captains, shouting their commands; of leaders and chiefs, +crying their gathering words; of groans and shrieks from the falling and +the dying. + +The strife had lasted nearly an hour. The strength of both parties +seemed exhausted; but their rage was unabated, and their obstinacy +unsubdued, when Roland, who turned eye and ear to all around him, saw +a column of infantry, headed by a few horsemen, wheel round the base +of the bank where he had stationed himself, and, levelling their long +lances, attack the Queen's vanguard, closely engaged as they were in +conflict on their front. The very first glance showed him that the +leader who directed this movement was the Knight of Avenel, his ancient +master; and the next convinced him, that its effects would be decisive. +The result of the attack of fresh and unbroken forces upon the flank of +those already wearied with a long and obstinate struggle, was, indeed, +instantaneous. + +The column of the assailants, which had hitherto shown one dark, dense, +and united line of helmets, surmounted with plumage, was at once +broken and hurled in confusion down the hill, which they had so long +endeavoured to gain. In vain were the leaders heard calling upon their +followers to stand to the combat, and seen personally resisting when all +resistance was evidently vain. They were slain, or felled to the earth, +or hurried backwards by the mingled tide of flight and pursuit. What +were Roland's feelings on beholding the rout, and feeling that all that +remained for him was to turn bridle, and endeavour to ensure the safety +of the Queen's person! Yet, keen as his grief and shame might be, +they were both forgotten, when, almost close beneath the bank which +he occupied, he saw Henry Seyton forced away from his own party in the +tumult, covered with dust and blood, and defending himself desperately +against several of the enemy who had gathered around him, attracted by +his gay armour. Roland paused not a moment, but pushing his steed down +the bank, leaped him amongst the hostile party, dealt three or four +blows amongst them, which struck down two, and made the rest stand +aloof; then reaching Seyton his hand, he exhorted him to seize fast on +his horse's mane. + +"We live or die together this day," said he; "keep but fast hold till we +are out of the press, and then my horse is yours." + +Seyton heard and exerted his remaining strength, and, by their joint +efforts, Roland brought him out of danger, and behind the spot from +whence he had witnessed the disastrous conclusion of the fight. But +no sooner were they under shelter of the trees, than Seyton let go his +hold, and, in spite of Roland's efforts to support him, fell at length +on the turf. "Trouble yourself no more with me," he said; "this is my +first and my last battle--and I have already seen too much to wish +to see the close. Hasten to save the Queen--and commend me to +Catherine--she will never more be mistaken for me nor I for her--the +last sword-stroke has made an eternal distinction." + +"Let me aid you to mount my horse," said Roland, eagerly, "and you may +yet be saved--I can find my own way on foot--turn but my horse's head +westward, and he will carry you fleet and easy as the wind." + +"I will never mount steed more," said the youth; "farewell--I love thee +better dying, than ever I thought to have done while in life--I would +that old man's blood were not on my hand!--_Sancte Benedicte, ora pro +me_--Stand not to look on a dying man, but haste to save the Queen!" + +These words were spoken with the last effort of his voice, and scarce +were they uttered ere the speaker was no more. They recalled Roland to +a sense of the duty which he had well-nigh forgotten, but they did not +reach his ears only. + +"The Queen--where is the Queen?" said Halbert Glendinning, who, followed +by two or three horsemen, appeared at this instant. Roland made no +answer, but, turning his horse, and confiding in his speed, gave him at +once rein and spur, and rode over height and hollow towards the Castle +of Crookstone. More heavily armed, and mounted upon a horse of less +speed, Sir Halbert Glendinning followed with couched lance, calling out +as he rode, "Sir, with the holly-branch, halt, and show your right to +bear that badge--fly not thus cowardly, nor dishonour the cognizance +thou deservest not to wear!--Halt, sir coward, or by Heaven, I will +strike thee with my lance on the back, and slay thee like a dastard--I +am the Knight of Avenel--I am Halbert Glendinning." + +But Roland, who had no purpose of encountering his old master, and who, +besides, knew the Queen's safety depended on his making the best speed +he could, answered not a word to the defiances and reproaches which Sir +Halbert continued to throw out against him; but making the best use of +his spurs, rode yet harder than before, and had gained about a hundred +yards upon his pursuer, when, coming near to the yew-tree where he had +left the Queen, he saw them already getting to horse, and cried out +as loud as he could, "Foes! foes!--Ride for it, fair ladies--Brave +gentlemen, do your devoir to protect them!" + +So saying, he wheeled his horse, and avoiding the shock of Sir Halbert +Glendinning, charged one of that Knight's followers, who was nearly on +a line with him, so rudely with his lance, that he overthrew horse and +man. He then drew his sword and attacked the second, while the black +man-at-arms, throwing himself in the way of Glendinning, they rushed on +each other so fiercely, that both horses were overthrown, and the riders +lay rolling on the plain. Neither was able to arise, for the black +horseman was pierced through with Glendinning's lance, and the Knight +of Avenel, oppressed with the weight of his own horse and sorely bruised +besides, seemed in little better plight than he whom he had mortally +wounded. + +"Yield thee, Sir Knight of Avenel, rescue or no rescue," said Roland, +who had put a second antagonist out of condition to combat, and hastened +to prevent Glendinning from renewing the conflict. + +"I may not choose but yield," said Sir Halbert, "since I can no longer +fight; but it shames me to speak such a word to a coward like thee!" + +"Call me not coward," said Roland, lifting his visor, and helping his +prisoner to rise, "since but for old kindness at thy hands, and yet more +at thy lady's, I had met thee as a brave man should." + +"The favourite page of my wife!" said Sir Halbert, astonished; "Ah! +wretched boy, I have heard of thy treason at Lochleven." + +"Reproach him not, my brother," said the Abbot, "he was but an agent in +the hands of Heaven." + +"To horse, to horse!" said Catherine Seyton; "mount and begone, or we +are all lost. I see our gallant army flying for many a league--To horse, +my Lord Abbot--To horse, Roland--my gracious Liege, to horse! Ere this, +we should have ridden many a mile." + +"Look on these features," said Mary, pointing to the dying knight, who +had been unhelmed by some compassionate hand; "look there, and tell me +if she who ruins all who love her, ought to fly a foot farther to save +her wretched life!" + +The reader must have long anticipated the discovery which the Queen's +feelings had made before her eyes confirmed it. It was the features of +the unhappy George Douglas, on which death was stamping his mark. + +"Look--look at him well," said the Queen, "thus has it been with all who +loved Mary Stewart!--The royalty of Francis, the wit of Chastelar, the +power and gallantry of the gay Gordon, the melody of Rizzio, the portly +form and youthful grace of Darnley, the bold address and courtly +manners of Bothwell--and now the deep-devoted passion of the noble +Douglas--nought could save them!--they looked on the wretched Mary, and +to have loved her was crime enough to deserve early death! No sooner had +the victim formed a kind thought of me, than the poisoned cup, the axe +and block, the dagger, the mine, were ready to punish them for casting +away affection on such a wretch as I am!--Importune me not--I will fly +no farther--I can die but once, and I will die here." + +While she spoke, her tears fell fast on the face of the dying man, who +continued to fix his eyes on her with an eagerness of passion, which +death itself could hardly subdue.--"Mourn not for me," he said faintly, +"but care for your own safety--I die in mine armour as a Douglas should, +and I die pitied by Mary Stewart!" + +He expired with these words, and without withdrawing his eyes from her +face; and the Queen, whose heart was of that soft and gentle mould, +which in domestic life, and with a more suitable partner than Darnley, +might have made her happy, remained weeping by the dead man, until +recalled to herself by the Abbot, who found it necessary to use a style +of unusual remonstrance. "We also, madam," he said, "we, your Grace's +devoted followers, have friends and relatives to weep for. I leave +a brother in imminent jeopardy--the husband of the Lady Fleming--the +father and brothers of the Lady Catherine, are all in yonder bloody +field, slain, it is to be feared, or prisoners. We forget the fate +of our nearest and dearest, to wait on our Queen, and she is too much +occupied with her own sorrows to give one thought to ours." + +"I deserve not your reproach, father," said the Queen, checking her +tears; "but I am docile to it--where must we go--what must we do?" + +"We must fly, and that instantly," said the Abbot; "whither is not so +easily answered, but we may dispute it upon the road--Lift her to her +saddle, and set forward." + +[Footnote: I am informed in the most polite manner, by D. MacVean, Esq. +of Glasgow, that I have been incorrect in my locality, in giving an +account of the battle of Langside. Crookstone Castle, he observes, lies +four miles west from the field of battle, and rather in the rear of +Murray's army. The real place from which Mary saw the rout of her last +army, was Cathcart Castle, which, being a mile and a half east from +Langside, was, situated in the rear of the Queen's own army. I was led +astray in the present case, by the authority of my deceased friend, +James Grahame the excellent and amiable author of the Sabbath, in his +drama on the subject of Queen Mary; and by a traditionary report of Mary +having seen the battle from the Castle of Crookstone, which seemed so +much to increase the interest of the scene, that I have been unwilling +to make, in this particular instance, the fiction give way to the fact, +which last is undoubtedly in favour of Mr. MacVean's system. + +It is singular how tradition, which is sometimes a sure guide to truth, +is, in other cases, prone to mislead us. In the celebrated field of +battle at Killiecrankie, the traveller is struck with one of those +rugged pillars of rough stone, which indicate the scenes of ancient +conflict. A friend of the author, well acquainted with the circumstances +of the battle, was standing near this large stone, and looking on the +scene around, when a highland shepherd hurried down from the hill to +offer his services as cicerone, and proceeded to inform him, that Dundee +was slain at that stone, which was raised to his memory. "Fie, Donald." +answered my friend, "how can you tell such a story to a stranger? I +am sure you know well enough that Dundee was killed at a considerable +distance from this place, near the house of Fascally, and that this +stone was here long before the battle, in 1688."--"Oich! oich!" said +Donald, no way abashed, "and your honour's in the right, and I see you +ken a' about it. And he wasna killed on the spot neither, but lived till +the next morning; but a' the Saxon gentlemen like best to hear he was +killed at the great stane." It is on the same principle of pleasing my +readers, that I retain Crookstone Castle instead of Cathcart. + +If, however, the author has taken a liberty in removing the actual field +of battle somewhat to the eastward, he has been tolerably strict in +adhering to the incidents of the engagement, as will appear from it +comparison of events in the novel, with the following account from an +old writer. + +"The Regent was out on foot and all his company, except the Laird of +Grange, Alexander Hume of Manderston, and some borderers to the number +of two hundred. The Laird of Grange had already viewed the ground, and +with all imaginable diligence caused every horseman to take behind him +a footman of the Regent's, to guard behind them, and rode with speed +to the head of Langside-hill, and set down the footmen with their +culverings at the head of a straight lane, where there were some cottage +houses and yards of great advantage. Which soldiers with their continual +shot killed divers of the vaunt guard, led by the Hamiltons, who, +courageously and fiercely ascending up the hill, were already out of +breath, when the Regent's vaunt guard joined with them. Where the +worthy Lord Hume fought on foot with his pike in his hand very manfully, +assisted by the Laird of Cessford, his brother-in-law, who helped him up +again when he was strucken to the ground by many strokes upon his face, +through the throwing pistols at him after they had been discharged. He +was also wounded with staves, and had many strokes of spears through his +legs; for he and Grange, at the joining, cried to let their adversaries +first lay down their spears, to bear up theirs; which spears were so +thick fixed in the others' jacks, that some of the pistols and great +staves that were thrown by them which were behind, might be seen lying +upon the spears. + +"Upon the Queen's side the Earl of Argyle commanded the battle, and the +Lord of Arbroth the vaunt guard. But the Regent committed to the Laird +of Grange the special care, as being an experimented captain, to oversee +every danger, and to ride to every wing, to encourage and make help +where greatest need was. He perceived, at the first joining, the right +wing of the Regent's vaunt guard put back and like to fly, whereof the +greatest part were commons of the barony of Renfrew; whereupon he rode +to them, and told them that their enemy was already turning their backs, +requesting them to stay and debate till he should bring them fresh men +forth of the battle. Whither at full speed he did ride alone, and told +the Regent that the enemy were shaken and flying away behind the little +village, and desired a few number of fresh men to go with him. Where he +found enough willing, as the Lord Lindesay, the Laird of Lochleven, +Sir James Balfour, and all the Regent's servants, who followed him with +diligence, and reinforced that wing which was beginning to fly; which +fresh men with their loose weapons struck the enemies in their flank and +faces, which forced them incontinent to give place and turn back after +long fighting and pushing others to and fro with their spears. There +were not many horsemen to pursue after them, and the Regent cried to +save and not to kill, and Grange was never cruel, so that there were few +slain and taken. And the only slaughter was at the first rencounter +by the shot of the soldiers, which Grange had planted at the lane head +behind some dikes." + +It is remarkable that, while passing through the small town of Renfrew, +some partisans, adherents of the House of Lennox, attempting to arrest +Queen Mary and her attendants, were obliged to make way for her not +without slaughter.] + +They set off accordingly--Roland lingered a moment to command the +attendants of the Knight of Avenel to convey their master to the Castle +of Crookstone, and to say that he demanded from him no other condition +of liberty, than his word, that he and his followers would keep secret +the direction in which the Queen fled. As he turned his rein to +depart, the honest countenance of Adam Woodcock stared upon him with an +expression of surprise, which, at another time, would have excited his +hearty mirth. He had been one of the followers who had experienced the +weight of Roland's arm, and they now knew each other, Roland having put +up his visor, and the good yeoman having thrown away his barret-cap, +with the iron bars in front, that he might the more readily assist his +master. Into this barret-cap, as it lay on the ground, Roland forgot not +to drop a few gold pieces, (fruits of the Queen's liberality,) and with +a signal of kind recollection and enduring friendship, he departed at +full gallop to overtake the Queen, the dust raised by her train being +already far down the hill. + +"It is not fairy-money," said honest Adam, weighing and handling the +gold--"And it was Master Roland himself, that is a certain thing--the +same open hand, and, by our Lady!" (shrugging his shoulders)--"the same +ready fist!--My Lady will hear of this gladly, for she mourns for him as +if he were her son. And to see how gay he is! But these light lads +are as sure to be uppermost as the froth to be on the top of the +quart-pot--Your man of solid parts remains ever a falconer." So saying, +he went to aid his comrades, who had now come up in greater numbers, to +carry his master into the Castle of Crookstone. + + + + +Chapter the Thirty-Eighth. + + + My native land, good night! + BYRON. + +Many a bitter tear was shed, during the hasty flight of Queen Mary, over +fallen hopes, future prospects, and slaughtered friends. The deaths of +the brave Douglas, and of the fiery but gallant young Seyton, seemed to +affect the Queen as much as the fall from the throne, on which she had +so nearly been again seated. Catherine Seyton devoured in secret her own +grief, anxious to support the broken spirits of her mistress; and the +Abbot, bending his troubled thoughts upon futurity, endeavoured in +vain to form some plan which had a shadow of hope. The spirit of young +Roland--for he also mingled in the hasty debates held by the companions +of the Queen's flight--continued unchecked and unbroken. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "has lost a battle--Your ancestor, Bruce, lost +seven successively, ere he sat triumphant on the Scottish throne, and +proclaimed with the voice of a victor, in the field of Bannockburn, the +independence of his country. Are not these heaths, which we may traverse +at will, better than the locked, guarded, and lake-moated Castle of +Lochleven?--We are free--in that one word there is comfort for all our +losses." + +He struck a bold note, but the heart of Mary made no response. + +"Better," she said, "I had still been in Lochleven, than seen the +slaughter made by rebels among the subjects who offered themselves to +death for my sake. Speak not to me of farther efforts--they would only +cost the lives of you, the friends who recommend them! I would not again +undergo what I felt, when I saw from yonder mount the swords of the fell +horsemen of Morton raging among the faithful Seytons and Hamiltons, for +their loyalty to their Queen--I would not again feel what I felt when +Douglas's life-blood stained my mantle for his love to Mary Stewart--not +to be empress of all that Britain's seas enclose. Find for me some place +where I can hide my unhappy head, which brings destruction on all +who love it--it is the last favour that Mary asks of her faithful +followers." + +In this dejected mood, but still pursuing her flight with unabated +rapidity, the unfortunate Mary, after having been joined by Lord Herries +and a few followers, at length halted, for the first time, at the Abbey +of Dundrennan, nearly sixty miles distant from the field of battle. In +this remote quarter of Galloway, the Reformation not having yet been +strictly enforced against the monks, a few still lingered in their +cells unmolested; and the Prior, with tears and reverence, received the +fugitive Queen at the gate of his convent. + +"I bring you ruin, my good father," said the Queen, as she was lifted +from her palfrey. + +"It is welcome," said the Prior, "if it comes in the train of duty." + +Placed on the ground, and supported by her ladies, the Queen looked for +an instant at her palfrey, which, jaded and drooping its head, seemed as +if it mourned the distresses of its mistress. + +"Good Roland," said the Queen, whispering, "let Rosabelle be cared +for--ask thy heart, and it will tell thee why I make this trifling +request even in this awful hour." + +She was conducted to her apartment, and in the hurried consultation +of her attendants, the fatal resolution of the retreat to England was +finally adopted. In the morning it received her approbation, and +a messenger was despatched to the English warden, to pray him for +safe-conduct and hospitality, on the part of the Queen of Scotland. On +the next day the Abbot Ambrose walked in the garden of the Abbey with +Roland, to whom he expressed his disapprobation of the course pursued. +"It is madness and ruin," he said; "better commit herself to the savage +Highlanders or wild Bordermen, than to the faith of Elizabeth. A woman +to a rival woman--a presumptive successor to the keeping of a jealous +and childless Queen!--Roland, Herries is true and loyal, but his counsel +has ruined his mistress." + +"Ay, ruin follows us every where," said an old man, with a spade in +his hand, and dressed like a lay-brother, of whose presence, in the +vehemence of his exclamation, the Abbot had not been aware--"Gaze not on +me with such wonder!--I am he who was the Abbot Boniface at Kennaquhair, +who was the gardener Blinkhoolie at Lochleven, hunted round to the +place in which I served my noviciate, and now ye are come to rouse me +up again!--A weary life I have had for one to whom peace was ever the +dearest blessing!" + +"We will soon rid you of our company, good father," said the Abbot; "and +the Queen will, I fear, trouble your retreat no more." + +"Nay, you said as much before," said the querulous old man, "and yet I +was put forth from Kinross, and pillaged by troopers on the road.--They +took from me the certificate that you wot of--that of the Baron--ay, +he was a moss-trooper like themselves--You asked me of it, and I could +never find it, but they found it--it showed the marriage of--of--my +memory fails me--Now see how men differ! Father Nicholas would have +told you an hundred tales of the Abbot Ingelram, on whose soul God have +mercy!--He was, I warrant you, fourscore and six, and I am not more +than--let me see----" + +"Was not Avenel the name you seek, my good father?" said Roland, +impatiently, yet moderating his tone for fear of alarming or offending +the infirm old man. + +"Ay, right--Avenel, Julian Avenel--You are perfect in the name--I kept +all the special confessions, judging it held with my vow to do so--I +could not find it when my successor, Ambrosius, spoke on't--but the +troopers found it, and the Knight who commanded the party struck his +breast, till the target clattered like an empty watering-can." + +"Saint Mary!" said the Abbot, "in whom could such a paper excite such +interest! What was the appearance of the knight, his arms, his colours?" + +"Ye distract me with your questions--I dared hardly look at him--they +charged me with bearing letters for the Queen, and searched my +mail--This was all along of your doings at Lochleven." + +"I trust in God," said the Abbot to Roland, who stood beside him, +shivering and trembling "with impatience," the paper has fallen into the +hands of my brother--I heard he had been with his followers on the scout +betwixt Stirling and Glasgow.--Bore not the Knight a holly-bough on his +helmet?--Canst thou not remember?" + +"Oh, remember--remember," said the old man pettishly; "count as many +years as I do, if your plots will let you, and see what, and how much, +you remember.--Why, I scarce remember the pear-mains which I graffed +here with my own hands some fifty years since." + +At this moment a bugle sounded loudly from the beach. + +"It is the death-blast to Queen Mary's royalty," said Ambrosius; "the +English warden's answer has been received, favourable doubtless, for +when was the door of the trap closed against the prey which it was set +for?--Droop not, Roland--this matter shall be sifted to the bottom--but +we must not now leave the Queen--follow me--let us do our duty, and +trust the issue with God--Farewell, good Father--I will visit thee again +soon." + +He was about to leave the garden, followed by Roland, with +half-reluctant steps. The Ex-Abbot resumed his spade. + +"I could be sorry for these men," he said, "ay, and for that poor Queen, +but what avail earthly sorrows to a man of fourscore?--and it is a rare +dropping morning for the early colewort." + +"He is stricken with age," said Ambrosius, as he dragged Roland down +to the sea-beach; "we must let him take his time to collect +himself--nothing now can be thought on but the fate of the Queen." + +They soon arrived where she stood, surrounded by her little train, +and by her side the sheriff of Cumberland, a gentleman of the house of +Lowther, richly dressed and accompanied by soldiers. The aspect of the +Queen exhibited a singular mixture of alacrity and reluctance to depart. +Her language and gestures spoke hope and consolation to her attendants, +and she seemed desirous to persuade even herself that the step she +adopted was secure, and that the assurance she had received of kind +reception was altogether satisfactory; but her quivering lip, and +unsettled eye, betrayed at once her anguish at departing from Scotland, +and her fears of confiding herself to the doubtful faith of England. + +"Welcome, my Lord Abbot," she said, speaking to Ambrosius, "and you, +Roland Avenel, we have joyful news for you--our loving sister's officer +proffers us, in her name, a safe asylum from the rebels who have driven +us from our home--only it grieves me we must here part from you for a +short space." + +"Part from us, madam!" said the Abbot. "Is your welcome in England, +then, to commence with the abridgment of your train, and dismissal of +your counsellors?" + +"Take it not thus, good Father," said Mary; "the Warden and the Sheriff, +faithful servants of our Royal Sister, deem it necessary to obey her +instructions in the present case, even to the letter, and can only +take upon them to admit me with my female attendants. An express will +instantly be despatched from London, assigning me a place of residence; +and I will speedily send to all of you whenever my Court shall be +formed." + +"Your Court formed in England! and while Elizabeth lives and reigns?" +said the Abbot--"that will be when we shall see two suns in one heaven!" + +"Do not think so," replied the Queen; "we are well assured of our +sister's good faith. Elizabeth loves fame--and not all that she has won +by her power and her wisdom will equal that which she will acquire by +extending her hospitality to a distressed sister!--not all that she may +hereafter do of good, wise, and great, would blot out the reproach of +abusing our confidence.--Farewell, my page--now my knight--farewell for +a brief season. I will dry the tears of Catherine, or I will weep with +her till neither of us can weep longer."--She held out her hand to +Roland, who flinging himself on his knees, kissed it with much emotion. +He was about to render the same homage to Catherine, when the Queen, +assuming an air of sprightliness, said, "Her lips, thou foolish boy! +and, Catherine, coy it not--these English gentlemen should see, +that, even in our cold clime, Beauty knows how to reward Bravery and +Fidelity!" + +"We are not now to learn the force of Scottish beauty, or the mettle of +Scottish valour," said the Sheriff of Cumberland, courteously--"I would +it were in my power to bid these attendants upon her who is herself +the mistress of Scottish beauty, as welcome to England as my poor cares +would make them. But our Queen's orders are positive in case of such an +emergence, and they must not be disputed by her subject.--May I remind +your Majesty that the tide ebbs fast?" + +The Sheriff took the Queen's hand, and she had already placed her foot +on the gangway, by which she was to enter the skiff, when the Abbot, +starting from a trance of grief and astonishment at the words of the +Sheriff, rushed into the water, and seized upon her mantle. + +"She foresaw it!--She foresaw it!"--he exclaimed--"she foresaw your +flight into her realm; and, foreseeing it, gave orders you should be +thus received. Blinded, deceived, doomed--Princess! your fate is sealed +when you quit this strand.--Queen of Scotland, thou shalt not leave +thine heritage!" he continued, holding a still firmer grasp upon her +mantle; "true men shall turn rebels to thy will, that they may save thee +from captivity or death. Fear not the bills and bows whom that gay man +has at his beck--we will withstand him by force. Oh, for the arm of my +warlike brother!--Roland Avenel, draw thy sword." + +The Queen stood irresolute and frightened; one foot upon the plank, the +other on the sand of her native shore, which she was quitting for ever. + +"What needs this violence, Sir Priest?" said the Sheriff of Cumberland; +"I came hither at your Queen's command, to do her service; and I will +depart at her least order, if she rejects such aid as I can offer. No +marvel is it if our Queen's wisdom foresaw that such chance as this +might happen amidst the turmoils of your unsettled State; and, while +willing to afford fair hospitality to her Royal Sister, deemed it wise +to prohibit the entrance of a broken army of her followers into the +English frontier." + +"You hear," said Queen Mary, gently unloosing her robe from the Abbot's +grasp, "that we exercise full liberty of choice in leaving this shore; +and, questionless, the choice will remain free to us in going to France, +or returning to our own dominions, as we shall determine--Besides, it is +too late--Your blessing, Father, and God speed thee!" + +"May He have mercy on thee, Princess, and speed thee also!" said the +Abbot, retreating. "But my soul tells me I look on thee for the last +time!" The sails were hoisted, the oars were plied, the vessel went +freshly on her way through the firth, which divides the shores of +Cumberland from those of Galloway; but not till the vessel diminished +to the size of a child's frigate, did the doubtful, and dejected, and +dismissed followers of the Queen cease to linger on the sands; and +long, long could they discern the kerchief of Mary, as she waved the +oft-repeated signal of adieu to her faithful adherents, and to the +shores of Scotland. + +If good tidings of a private nature could have consoled Roland for +parting with his mistress, and for the distresses of his sovereign, +he received such comfort some days subsequent to the Queen's leaving +Dundrennan. A breathless post--no other than Adam Woodcock--brought +despatches from Sir Halbert Glendinning to the Abbot, whom he found with +Roland, still residing at Dundrennan, and in vain torturing Boniface +with fresh interrogations. The packet bore an earnest invitation to his +brother to make Avenel Castle for a time his residence. "The clemency of +the Regent," said the writer, "has extended pardon both to Roland and +to you, upon condition of your remaining a time under my wardship. And +I have that to communicate respecting the parentage of Roland, which +not only you will willingly listen to, but which will be also found to +afford me, as the husband of his nearest relative, some interest in the +future course of his life." + +The Abbot read this letter, and paused, as if considering what were best +for him to do. Meanwhile, Woodcock took Roland side, and addressed him +as follows:--"Now, look, Mr. Roland, that you do not let any papestrie +nonsense lure either the priest or you from the right quarry. See you, +you ever bore yourself as a bit of a gentleman. Read that, and thank +God that threw old Abbot Boniface in our way, as two of the Seyton's +men were conveying him towards Dundrennan here.--We searched him for +intelligence concerning that fair exploit of yours at Lochleven, that +has cost many a man his life, and me a set of sore bones--and we found +what is better for your purpose than ours." + +The paper which he gave, was, indeed, an attestation by Father Philip, +subscribing himself unworthy Sacristan, and brother of the House of +Saint Mary's, stating, "that under a vow of secrecy he had united, in +the holy sacrament of marriage, Julian Avenel and Catherine Graeme; but +that Julian having repented of his union, he, Father Philip, had been +sinfully prevailed on by him to conceal and disguise the same, according +to a complot devised betwixt him and the said Julian Avenel, whereby the +poor damsel was induced to believe that the ceremony had been performed +by one not in holy orders, and having no authority to that effect. Which +sinful concealment the undersigned conceived to be the cause why he was +abandoned to the misguiding of a water-fiend, whereby he had been under +a spell, which obliged him to answer every question, even touching the +most solemn matters, with idle snatches of old songs, besides being +sorely afflicted with rheumatic pains ever after. Wherefore he had +deposited this testificate and confession with the day and date of the +said marriage, with his lawful superior Boniface, Abbot of Saint Mary's, +_sub sigillo confessionis_." + +It appeared by a letter from Julian, folded carefully up with the +certificate, that the Abbot Boniface had, in effect, bestirred himself +in the affair, and obtained from the Baron a promise to avow his +marriage; but the death of both Julian and his injured bride, together +with the Abbot's resignation, his ignorance of the fate of their unhappy +offspring, and above all, the good father's listless and inactive +disposition, had suffered the matter to become totally forgotten, until +it was recalled by some accidental conversation with the Abbot Ambrosius +concerning the fortunes of the Avenel family. At the request of his +successor, the quondam Abbot made search for it; but as he would receive +no assistance in looking among the few records of spiritual experiences +and important confessions, which he had conscientiously treasured, +it might have remained for ever hidden amongst them, but for the more +active researches of Sir Halbert Glendinning. + +"So that you are like to be heir of Avenel at last, Master Roland, after +my lord and lady have gone to their place," said Adam; "and as I have +but one boon to ask, I trust you will not nick me with nay." + +"Not if it be in my power to say yes, my trusty friend." + +"Why then, I must needs, if I live to see that day, keep on feeding the +eyases with unwashed flesh," said Woodcock sturdily, as if doubting the +reception that his request might meet with. + +"Thou shalt feed them with what you list for me," said Roland, laughing; +"I am not many months older than when I left the Castle, but I trust I +have gathered wit enough to cross no man of skill in his own vocation." + +"Then I would not change places with the King's falconer," said Adam +Woodcock, "nor with the Queen's neither--but they say she will be mewed +up and never need one.--I see it grieves you to think of it, and I could +grieve for company; but what help for it?--Fortune will fly her own +flight, let a man hollo himself hoarse." + +The Abbot and Roland journeyed to Avenel, where the former was tenderly +received by his brother, while the lady wept for joy to find that in her +favourite orphan she had protected the sole surviving branch of her +own family. Sir Halbert Glendinning and his household were not a little +surprised at the change which a brief acquaintance with the world had +produced in their former inmate, and rejoiced to find, in the pettish, +spoiled, and presuming page, a modest and unassuming young man, too +much acquainted with his own expectations and character, to be hot +or petulant in demanding the consideration which was readily and +voluntarily yielded to him. The old Major Domo Wingate was the first +to sing his praises, to which Mistress Lilias bore a loud echo, always +hoping that God would teach him the true gospel. + +To the true gospel the heart of Roland had secretly long inclined, and +the departure of the good Abbot for France, with the purpose of +entering into some house of his order in that kingdom, removed his chief +objection to renouncing the Catholic faith. Another might have existed +in the duty which he owed to Magdalen Graeme, both by birth and from +gratitude. But he learned, ere he had been long a resident in Avenel, +that his grandmother had died at Cologne, in the performance of a +penance too severe for her age, which she had taken upon herself in +behalf of the Queen and Church of Scotland, as soon as she heard of the +defeat at Langside. The zeal of the Abbot Ambrosius was more regulated; +but he retired into the Scottish convent of------, and so lived there, +that the fraternity were inclined to claim for him the honours of +canonization. But he guessed their purpose, and prayed them, on his +death-bed, to do no honours to the body of one as sinful as themselves; +but to send his body and his heart to be buried in Avenel burial-aisle, +in the monastery of Saint Mary's, that the last Abbot of that celebrated +house of devotion might sleep among its ruins. + +[Footnote: This was not the explanation of the incident of searching for +the heart, mentioned in the introduction to the tale, which the author +originally intended. It was designed to refer to the heart of Robert +Bruce. It is generally known that that great monarch, being on his +death-bed, bequeathed to the good Lord James of Douglas, the task of +carrying his heart to the Holy Land, to fulfil in a certain degree his +own desire to perform a crusade. Upon Douglas's death, fighting against +the Moors in Spain, a sort of military hors d'oeuvre to which he could +have pleaded no regular call of duty, his followers brought back the +Bruce's heart, and deposited it in the Abbey church of Melrose, the +Kennaquhair of the tale. + +This Abbey has been always particularly favoured by the Bruce. We have +already seen his extreme anxiety that each of the reverend brethren +should be daily supplied with a service of boiled almonds, rice and +milk, pease, or the like, to be called the King's mess, and that without +the ordinary service of their table being either disturbed in quantity +or quality. But this was not the only mark of the benignity of good King +Robert towards the monks of Melrose, since, by a charter of the dale +29th May, 1326, he conferred on the Abbot of Melrose the sum of two +thousand pounds sterling, for rebuilding: the church of St. Mary's, +ruined by the English; and there is little or no doubt that the +principal part of the remains which now display such exquisite specimens +of Gothic architecture, at its very purest period, had their origin in +this munificent donation. The money was to be paid out of crown lands, +estates forfeited to the King, and other property or demesnes of the +crown. + +A very curious letter written to his son about three weeks before his +death, has been pointed out to me by my friend Mr. Thomas Thomson, +Deputy-Register for Scotland. It enlarges so much on the love of the +royal writer to the community of Melrose, that it is well worthy of +being inserted in a work connected in some degree with Scottish History. + +LITERA DOMINI REGIS ROBERTI AD FILIUM SUUM DAVID. + +"Robertius dei gratia Rex Scottorum, David precordialissimo filio suo, +ac ceteris successoribus suis; Salutem, et sic ejus precepta tenere, +ut cum sua benedictione possint regnare. Fili carissime, digne censeri +videtur filius, qui, paternos in bonis mores imitans, piam ejus nititur +exequi voluntatem; nec proprie sibi sumit nomen heredis, qui salubribus +predecessoris affectibus non adherit: Cupientes igitur, ut piam +affectionem et scinceram delectionem, quam erga monasterium de Melros, +ubi cor nostrum ex speciali devotione disposuimus tumularidum, et erga +Religiosos ibidem Deo servientes, ipsorum vita sanctissima nos ad hoc +excitante, concepimus; Tu ceterique successores mei pia scinceritate +prosequarimi, ut, ex vestre dilectionis affectu dictis Religiosis nostri +causa post mortem nostrum ostenso, ipsi pro nobis ad orandum ferveucius +et forcius animentur: Vobis precipimus quantum possumus, instanter +supplicamus, et ex toto corde injungimus, Quatinus assignacionibus quas +eisdem yiris Religiosis et fabrica Ecclesie sue de novo fecimus ac eciam +omnibus aliis donacionibus nostris, ipsos libere gaudere permittatis, +Easdem potius si necesse fuerit augmentantes quam diminuentes, ipsorum +peticiones auribus benevolis admittentes, ac ipsos contra suos +invasores et emuios pia defensione protegentes. Hanc autem exhortacionem +supplicacionem et preceptum tu, fili ceterique successores nostri +prestanti animo complere curetis, si nostram benedictionem habere +velitis, una cum benedictione filii summi Regis, qui filios docuit +patrum voluntates in bono perficere, asserens in mundum se venisse non +ut suam voluntatem faceret sed paternam. In testimonium autem nostre +devotionis ergra locum predictum sic a nobis dilectum et electum +concepte, presentem literam Religiosis predictis dimittimus, nostris +successoribus in posterum ostendendam. Data apud Cardros, undecimo die +Maij, Anno Regni nostri vicesimo quarto." + +If this charter be altogether genuine, and there is no appearance of +forgery, it gives rise to a curious doubt in Scottish History. The +letter announces that the King had already destined his heart to be +deposited at Melrose. The resolution to send it to Palestine, under the +charge of Douglas, must have been adopted betwixt 11th May 1329, the +date of the letter, and 7th June of the same year, when the Bruce died; +or else we must suppose that the commission of Douglas extended not only +to taking the Bruce's heart to Palestine, but to bring it safe back to +its final place of deposit in the Abbey of Melrose. + +It would not be worth inquiring: by what caprice the author was induced +to throw the incident of the Bruce's heart entirely out of the story, +save merely to say, that he found himself unable to fill up the canvass +he had sketched, and indisposed to prosecute the management of +the supernatural machinery with which his plan, when it was first +rough-hewn, was connected and combined.] + +Long before that period arrived, Roland Avenel was wedded to Catherine +Seyton, who, after two years' residence with her unhappy mistress, was +dismissed upon her being subjected to closer restraint than had been at +first exercised. She returned to her father's house, and as Roland was +acknowledged for the successor and lawful heir of the ancient house of +Avenel, greatly increased as the estate was by the providence of Sir +Halbert Gleninning, there occurred no objections to the match on the +part of her family. Her mother was recently dead when she first entered +the convent; and her father, in the unsettled times which followed Queen +Mary's flight to England, was not averse to an alliance with a youth, +who, himself loyal to Queen Mary, still held some influence, through +means of Sir Halbert Glendinning, with the party in power. + +Roland and Catherine, therefore, were united, spite of their differing +faiths; and the White Lady, whose apparition had been infrequent when +the house of Avenel seemed verging to extinction, was seen to sport by +her haunted well, with a zone of gold around her bosom as broad as the +baldrick of an Earl. + +END OF THE ABBOT. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Abbot, by Sir Walter Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ABBOT *** + +***** This file should be named 6407.txt or 6407.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/0/6407/ + +Produced by Alan Millar, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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