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diff --git a/old/66120-0.txt b/old/66120-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ec078fc..0000000 --- a/old/66120-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8042 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Scottish Cavalier, Volume 1 (of 3), by -James Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Scottish Cavalier, Volume 1 (of 3) - An Historical Romance - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: August 23, 2021 [eBook #66120] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER, VOLUME 1 -(OF 3) *** - - - - - - - THE - - SCOTTISH CAVALIER. - - - An Historical Romance. - - - - BY JAMES GRANT, ESQ., - - AUTHOR OF - "THE ROMANCE OF WAR, OR THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS," - "MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE," &C. - - - - Dost thou admit his right, - Thus to transfer our ancient Scottish crown? - Ay, Scotland was a kingdom once, - And, by the might of God, a kingdom still shall be! - ROBERT THE BRUCE, ACT II. - - - - IN THREE VOLUMES. - - VOL. I. - - - - LONDON: - HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, - GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. - - 1850. - - - - - Contents - - Preface - I. The Place of Bruntisfield - II. The Preacher - III. The Old Clockcase - IV. A Pair of Blue Eyes - V. A Pair of Rapiers - VI. The Old Tolbooth - VII. The Laigh Council House - VIII. The Privy Council - IX. Dejection - X. Hope - XI. Clermistonlee at Home - XII. The Cottage of Elsie - XIII. A Reverse - XIV. Walter and Lilian - XV. Love and Burnt-sack - XVI. The Ten O'Clock Drum - XVII. Clermistonlee Makes a Bad Mistake - XVIII. The Growth of Love and Hope - XIX. The Old Scottish Service - - - - -PREFACE. - -From the historical and descriptive nature of the following tale, the -Author intended that certain passages should be illustrated with -notes, containing the local traditions and authorities from which it -has been derived; but on second thoughts he has preferred confining -these explanations to the preface. - -History will have rendered familiar to the reader the names of many -who bear a prominent part in the career of _Walter Fenton_; but there -are other characters of minor importance, who, though less known to -fame than Dundee and Dunbarton, were beings who really lived and -breathed, and acted a part in the great drama of those days. Among -these, we may particularise Douglas, of Finland, and Annie Laurie. - -This lady was one of the four daughters of Sir Robert Laurie, the -first Baronet of Maxwelton, and it was to her that Finland inscribed -those well-known verses, and that little air which now bear her name, -and are so wonderfully plaintive and chaste for the time; but it is -painful to record that, notwithstanding all the ardour and devotion -of her lover, the fair Annie was wedded as described in the romance. -Her father, Sir Robert, was created a baronet in 1685. - -The Old Halberdier and Hugh Blair (mentioned so frequently) are also -real characters. The former distinguished himself at the battle of -Sedgemoor, and by a _Royal Order_, dated 26th February, 1686, -received "forty pounds for his good service in firing the great guns -against the rebells" who were opposed to Sir James Halkett's Royal -Scots. The tavern of Hugh Blair was long celebrated in Edinburgh. -His name will be found in _Blackadder's Memoirs_, and frequently -among the _Decisions_ of Lord Fountainhall, in disputes concerning -various runlets of Frontiniac, &c. - -Lord Mersington was exactly the personage he is described in the -following pages--an unprincipled sot. From _Cruickshank's History_ -it appears that his lady was banished the liberties of Edinburgh in -1674, for being engaged in the female assembly which insulted -Archbishop Sharpe. - -Of Thomas Butler, an unfortunate Irish gentleman connected with the -ducal house of Ormond, who bears a prominent part in Volume III., an -account will be found in the London Papers of 1720, in which year he -was executed at Tyburn as a highwayman. - -The song mentioned so frequently, and the burden of which is -_Lillibulero bullen a la!_ was a favorite whig ditty, and the chorus -was formed by the pass-words used during the Irish massacre of 1641. - -The principal locality of the story is the Wrightshouse or Castle of -Bruntisfield, which stood near the Burghmuir of Edinburgh, and was -unwisely removed in 1800, to make way for that hideous erection--the -hospital of Gillespie. As described in the romance, it was a -magnificent chateau in the old Scoto-French style of architecture, -and was completely encrusted with legends, devices, armorial -bearings, and quaint bassi relievi. - -It was of great antiquity, and over the central door were the arms of -Britain, with the initials J. VI. M. B. F. E. H. R. - -Amid a singular profusion of sculptured figures representing Hope, -Faith, Charity, &c., was a bas-relief of Adam and Eve in Eden, -bearing the following legend:-- - - Quhen Adam delvd and Eve span - Quhar war a' the gentiles than? - -Between them was a female representing Taste, and inscribed _Gustus_. -"On the eastern front of the castle was sculptured a head of Julius -Cæsar, and under it _Caius Jul. Cæsar, primus Rom. Imp_. On the -eastern wing were figures of Temperentia, Prudentia, and Justitia, -which it is remarkable were among the first stones thrown down." -(_Scots Mag._, 1800.) On the west wing was a Roman head of Octavius -II., and five representations of the Virtues, beautifully sculptured. -_Sicut oliva fructifera_ 1376, _In Domino Confido_, 1400, _Patriæ et -Posteris_, and many other valuable carvings, which are now preserved -at Woodhouselee, adorned the walls and windows. - -The east wing was said to have been built by Robert III.; _Arnot_ -informs us, that the centre was erected by James IV. for one of his -mistresses, and about the close of the last century, Hamilton of -Barganie made many additions to it. How the edifice obtained the -name of _Wright's_ or_ Wryte's-house_ is now unknown, as no -proprietor of it who bore that name can now be traced; but the -Napiers appear to have possessed the barony from an early period, and -their names frequently occur in local records. - -Alexander Napier de Wrichtyshouse appears as one of an inquest in -1488. His coat-armorial was a bend charged with a crescent, between -two mullets. He married Margaret Napier of Merchiston, whose father -was slain at the battle of Flodden. In 1581, among the commissioners -appointed by James VI., "anent the cuinze," we find William Napier of -the Wrightshouse, (_Acta Parliamentorum_) and in 1590, Barbara -Napier, his sister, was convicted of sorcery, for which on the llth -of May she was sentenced to be burnt at a "stake sett on the -Castellhill, with barrels, coales, heather, and powder;" but when the -torch was about to be applied, pregnancy was alleged, and the -execution delayed. (_Calderwood's Historic._) - -In 1632, William of the Wrightshouse was a commissioner at Holyrood, -anent the valuation of Tiends ; and two years after we find him -retoured heir to his father William in certain lands in Berwickshire; -but in 1626, "_terrarum de Brounisfield, infra parochiam de Sanct. -Cuthbert_" belonged to Sir William Fairlie of Braid. In 1649 he -obtained a crown charter of his lands (_MS. Mag. Sigilli_), and in -1680, the last notice of this old family will be found in the -_Inquisitionum Retornatarum_, where it ends in a female. - -Thus about the close of the 17th century, the Napiers had passed -away, and their barony was possessed by the Laird of Pennicuick. All -that now remains of them is their burial place on the north side of -St. Giles' Cathedral, where may still be seen their mouldering -coat-armorial, with this inscription:-- - - S. E. D. - Fam. de Naperarum interibus, - Hic situm est. - - -EDINBURGH, _March_, 1850. - - - - -WALTER FENTON; - -OR, - -THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE PLACE OF BRUNTISFIELD. - - There is nae Covenant noo, Lassie, - There is nae covenant, noo; - The solemn league and covenant, - Are a' broken through. - OLD SONG. - - -One evening in the month of March, 1688, a party of thirty soldiers -mustered rapidly and silently under the arches of the White Horse -Hostel, an old and well-known inn on the north side of the Canongate -of Edinburgh. The night was dark and cold, and a high wind swept in -gusts down the narrow way between the picturesque houses of that -venerable street and the steep side of the bare and rocky Calton-hill. - -Gathering in cautious silence, the soldiers scarcely permitted the -butts of their heavy matchlocks to touch the pavement: in a loud -whisper the officer gave the order to march, and they moved off with -the same air of quietness and rapidity which characterized their -muster, and showed that a very secret or important duty was about to -be executed. - -In those days the ranks were drawn up three deep, and such was the -mode until a later period; so, by simply facing a body of men to the -right or left, they found themselves three abreast without confusion -or delay. - -"Fenton," said the officer to a young man who carried a pike beside -him, "keep rearward. You are wont to have the eye of a hawk; and if -any impertinent citizen appears to watch us, lay thy truncheon across -his pate." - -This injunction was unnecessary; for those belated citizens who saw -them, hurried past, glad to escape unquestioned. In those days, when -every corporal of horse or foot, was vested with more judicial powers -than the Lord Justice General, the night march of a band of soldiers -was studiously to be avoided. Aware that some "deed of persecution" -was about to be acted, the occasional wayfarers hurried on, or turned -altogether aside, when forewarned that soldiers appeared, by the -measured tread of feet, by the gleam of a gun-barrel, or cone of a -helmet glinting in the rays of light that shot from half-closed -windows into the palpable darkness. - -These soldiers belonged to the regiment of George Earl of Dunbarton, -the oldest in the Scottish army, and a body of such antiquity, that -they were jocularly known in France as Pontius Pilate's Guards. With -red coats, they wore morions of black unpolished iron; breast-plates -of the same metal, crossed by buff belts which sustained their -swords, fixing-daggers and collars of bandoleers, as the twelve -little wooden cases, each containing a charge of powder, were named. -Their breeches and stockings were of bright scarlet, and each had a -long musket sloped on his shoulder, with its lighted match gleaming -like a glowworm in the dark. The officer was distinguished by a -plume that waved from a tube on his gilded helmet, which, like his -gorget, was of polished steel, while to denote his rank he carried a -half-pike, in addition to his rapier and dagger, and wore a black -corslet richly engraved and studded with nails of gold, conform to -the Royal Order of 1686. He was a handsome fellow, tall, and well -set up, with a heavy dark mustache, and a face like each of his -soldiers, well bronzed by the sun of France and Tangiers. - -In that age, the closes and wynds of the Scottish capital were like -those of ancient Paris or modern Lisbon, narrow, smoky, and crowded, -unpaved, unlighted, and encumbered with heaps of rubbish and mud, -which obstructed the gutters and lay in fœtid piles, until heavy -rains swept all the debris of the city down from its lofty ridge into -the Loch on the north, or the ancient _communis ma_, on the south. -At night the careful citizen carried a lantern--the bold one his -sword; for men generally walked abroad well armed, and none ever rode -without a pair of long iron pistols at his saddle-bow. - -The late king had made every kind of dissipation fashionable; and -after night-fall the gallants of the city swaggered about the Craimes -or the Abbey-Close, muffled in their cloaks like conspirators; and -despite the axes of the city guard, and the halberds of the provost, -excesses were committed hourly; and seldom a night passed without the -clash of rapiers and the shouts of cavalier brawlers being heard -ringing in the dark thoroughfares of the city. Thieves were hanged, -coiners were quartered, covenanters beheaded, and witches burned, -until executions failed to excite either interest or horror; but with -the plumed and buff-booted Ruffler of the day, who brawled and fought -from a sheer love of mischief and wine, what plebeian baillie or -pumpkin-headed city-guard would have dared to find fault? Of this -more anon. - -Stumbling through the dark streets, the party of soldiers marched -past the Pleasance Porte, above the arch of which grinned a white row -of five bare skulls, which had been bleaching there since 1681. -Every barrier of Edinburgh was garnished with these terrible trophies -of maladministration. - -Leaving behind them the ancient suburb, they diverged upon the road -near the old ruined convent of St. Mary of Placentia, which, from the -hill of St. Leonard, reared up its ivied walls in shattered outline. -Beyond, and towering up abruptly from the lonely glen below, frowned -the tremendous front of Salisbury craigs. The rising moon showed its -broad and shining disc, red and fiery above their black rocks, and -fitfully between the hurrying clouds, its rays streamed down the -Hauze, a deep and ghastly defile, formed by some mighty convulsion of -nature, when these vast craigs had been rent from that ridgy -mountain, where King Arthur sat of old, and watched his distant -gallies on the waters of the Roman Bodoria. - -For a moment the moonlight streamed down the defile, on the hill of -St. Leonard, with its thatched cottages and ruined convent, on the -glancing armour of the soldiers, and the bare trees bordering the -highway; again the passing clouds enveloped it in opaque masses, and -all was darkness. - -"Sergeant Wemyss," cried the cavalier officer, breaking the silence -which had till then been observed. - -"Here, an't please your honour," responded the halberdier. - -"Where tarries that loitering abbeylubber, who was to have joined us -on the march?" - -"The Macer?" - -"Ay, he with the council's warrant for this dirty work." - -"Yonder he stands, I believe, your honour, by the ruins of the -mass-monging days," replied the sergeant, pointing to a figure which -a passing gleam of the moon revealed emerging from the ruins. - -"Mean you that tall spunger in the red Rocquelaure? To judge by his -rapier and feather, he is a gentleman, but one that seems to watch -us. So, ho, sir! a good even; you are late abroad to-night." - -"At your service, Sir," responded the other gruffly behind the cape -of his cloak, which, in the fashion of an intriguing gallant of the -day, he wore so high up as completely to conceal his face. - -"For King or for Covenant, Sir?" asked the lieutenant, who was -Richard Douglas, of Finland. - -"Tush!" laughed the stranger; "this is an old-fashioned test; you -should have asked," he added, in a lower voice, "For James VII., or -William of Orange! ha, hah!" - -"Hush, my Lord Clermistonlee, by this light." - -"Right, by Jove!" exclaimed the other, who was considerably -intoxicated. - -"Body o' me! it ill beseems one of His Majesty's Privy Councillors to -be roving abroad thus like a night hawk." - -"I am the best judge of my own actions, Mr. Douglas," replied the -lord haughtily; but added in a whisper, "you are bound for the -Wrytes-house?" - -"To the point, my Lord?" rejoined Douglas, drily. - -"You will take particular care that the young lady--tush, I mean the -old one--they must not escape, as you shall answer to the Council. -Dost comprehend me--the young lady of Bruntisfield, eh?" - -"Too well, my Lord," replied the cavalier, drawing himself up, and -shaking his lofty plume with undisguised hauteur. "Curse on the -libertine fool!" he exclaimed to the young pikeman, as he hurried -after his party; "would he make me his pimp? By Heaven! he well -deserves a slash in the doublet for casting his eyes upon noble -ladies, as he would on the bona-robas of Merlin's Wynd." - -The young man's hand gradually sought the hilt of his poniard. - -"What said he, Finland?" he asked, with a kindling eye and a -reddening cheek. "He spoke of the Napiers, did he not?" - -"Only to this purpose, that on peril of our beards the ladies do not -escape, especially the younger one. Hah! they say this ruffling -libertine hath long looked unutterable things at Lilian Napier. He -is a deep intriguer, and the devil only knows what plots he may be -hatching now against her." - -"S'death! Finland, assure me of this, and by Heaven I will brain him -with my partisan!" - -"Hush, lad! these words are dangerous. You are but a young soldier -yet, Walter," continued the officer, laughing; "had you trailed a -pike under Henry de la Tour of Auvergne, and the old Mareschal -Crecqy, like me, you would ere this have learned to value a girl's -tears and a grandam's groans at the same ransom, perhaps. But, egad, -I had rather than my burganet full of broad pieces, that this night's -duty had fallen on any other than myself; and I think, Major, the -Chevalier Drumquhazel (as we call him) might have selected some of -those old fellows whose iron faces and iron hearts will bear them -through anything." - -"Why, Finland," rejoined the pikeman, "you are not wont to be -backward!" - -"Never when bullets or blades are to be encountered; but to worry an -old preacher, and harry the house and barony of an ancient and noble -matron, by all the devils! 'tis not work for men of honour. The -Napiers of Bruntisfield are soothfast friends of the Lauries of -Maxwelton--and my dear little Annie--thou knowest, Walter, that her -wicked waggery will never let me hear the end of it, if we march the -Napiers to the Tolbooth to-night." - -"You see the advantage of being alone in this bad and hollow-hearted -world," said Fenton, in a tone of bitterness, "of being uncaring and -utterly uncared for." - -"Again in one of thy moody humours!" - -"I have trailed this pike----" - -"True--since Sedgemoor-field was fought and lost by Monmouth; but -cheer up, my gallant. If this rascal, William of Orange, unfurls his -banner among us, we will have battles and leaguers enough; ay, faith! -to which the Race of Dunbar, and the Sack of Dundee, will be deemed -but child's-play. And hark! for thy further contentment, I trailed a -partisan for four long years under Turenne ere I obtained a pair of -colours; and _then_ I thought my fortune made; but thou see'st, -Walter, I am only a poor lieutenant still. Uncaring and uncared for! -Bravo! 'tis the frame of mind to make an unscrupulous lad do his -_devoire_ as becomes a soldier. And yet I assure thee, friend -Walter, if aught in Scotland will make a man swerve from his -duty--ay, even old Thomas Dalzel, that heart of steel--'tis the blue -eyes of Lilian Napier, of Bruntisfield. The beauty of her person is -equalled only by the winning grace of her manner; and I swear to -thee, that not even Mary of Charteris, or my own merry Annie, have -brighter charms--a redder lip, or a whiter hand. Hast seen her, lad?" - -"Oh, yes," replied the young man with vivacity, "a thousand times." - -"And spoken to her?" - -"Alas, no!" was the response, "not for these past three years at -least." - -There was a sadness in his voice, which, with the sigh accompanying -his words, conveyed a great deal--but only to the wind--for the gayer -cavalier marked it not. - -"If we start the game--I mean these Dutch renegades on the Napiers' -barony--it will go hard with them in these times, when every day -brings to light some new plot against the Government. Napier of the -Wrytes--'tis an old and honourable line, and loth will I be to see it -humbled." - -"What can prompt ladies of honour to meddle in matters of kirk or -state?" - -"The great father of confusion who usually presides at the head of -our Scottish affairs. True, Walter, the rock, the cod, and the -bobbins become them better; but I shall be sorry to exact -marching-money and free quarters from old Lady Grizel. Clermistonlee -is the source of this accusation, which alleges that her ladyship -knows of an intended invasion from Holland, and that she hath reset -two emissaries of the House of Orange. But a word in thine ear, -Fenton; there are villains at our Council-board who more richly merit -the cord of the Provost Marshal; and Randal Clermont, of -Clermistonlee, is not the least undeserving of such exaltation." - -"If the soldiers overhear, you are a lost man." - -"God save King James and sain King Charles, say I! but to old Mahoud -with the Council, which is driving the realm to ruin at full gallop. -Hah! here comes, at last, this loitering villain, the macer," added -Finland, as the moonlight revealed a man running after them. -"Fellow! why the deuce did you not meet us at the White Horse Cellar?" - -"Troth, Sir, just to tell ye the truth," replied the panting -functionary, drawing his gilt baton from the pocket of his voluminous -skirt, "it is a kittle job this, and likely to get a puir man like me -unco ill will in such uncanny times--but I stayed a wee while owre -late may be, biding the ale cogue, at Lucky Dreep's change-house in -the Kirk-o'-field Wynd. However, Sir, follow me, and we'll catch -these traitors where the reiver fand the tangs--at Madam's fire-side." - -"Follow thee!" reiterated the cavalier officer, contemptuously; -"malediction on the hour when a Douglas of Finland and a band of the -old Scottish Musqueteers are bent on the same errand with a knave -like thee! Step out, my lads, and, Walter Fenton, do thou fall -rearward again, and see that we are neither followed nor watched; -for, egad! these are times to sharpen one's wits." - -Thus ordered, our hero (for such is the handsome pikeman) fell -gradually to the rear, and stopped at times to bend his ear to the -ground and his eyes on the changing shadows of the moonlit scenery; -but he heard nothing save the blustering wind of March, which swept -through the hollow dells, and saw only the shadows of the flying -clouds cast by the bright moon on the fields through which the -soldiers marched. - -They had now passed all the houses of the city, and were moving -westward, by the banks of the Burghloch, a broad and beautiful sheet -of water, upwards of a mile in length, shaded on one side by the -broken woods of Warrender and the old orchards of the convent of -Sienna; on the other, open fields extended from its margin to the -embattled walls of the city. One moment it shone like a sheet of -polished silver; the next it lay like a lake of ink, as the passing -clouds revealed or obscured the full-orbed moon. - -"What lights are those twinkling in the woods yonder?" asked Finland, -pointing northward with his pike, on his party reaching the rhinns, -or flat at the end of the lake. - -"The house of Coates, Sir--the old patrimony of the Byres o' that -Ilk." - -"Harkee, macer, and the dark pile rising on the height, further to -the westward." - -"The Place of Drumsheugh, Sir, pertaining of auld to my Lord -Clermistonlee. He was just the gudeman thereof before these kittle -times. A dark and eerie place it is, where neither light has burned -nor fire bleezed--a joke been cracked nor a runlet broached these -mony lang years. He is a dour cheild that Clermistonlee, and one -that would--" - -"Twist thy hause, fellow," said the pikeman, sternly, "for speaking -of your betters otherwise than with the reverence that becomes your -station." - -"Ye craw brawly for the spawn o' an auld covenanter," muttered the -macer between his teeth, as they entered the dark avenue that led to -the place of their destination; "brawly indeed! but may-be I'll hae -ye under my hands yet, for a' your iron bravery and gay gauds." - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE PREACHER. - - A stranger, and a slave, unknown like him, - Proposing much means little;--talks and vows, - Delighted with the prospect of a change, - He promised to redeem ten Christians more, - And free us all from slavery. - ZARA. - - -On the succession of James VII. to the throne, the persecution of the -covenanters by the civil authorities, and by the troops under Dalzel, -Claverhouse, Lag, and officers of their selection, was waged without -pity or remorse, and the mad rage which had disgraced the government -of the preceding reign, was still poured forth on the poor peasantry, -who were hunted from hill to wood, and from moss to cavern, by the -cavalry employed in riding down the country, until by banishment, -imprisonment, famine, torture, the sword, and the scaffold, -presbyterianism was likely to be crushed altogether; but an odium was -raised, and a hatred fostered, against the Scottish ministry of the -House of Stuart, which is yet felt keenly in the pastoral districts, -where the deeds of those days are still spoken of with bitterness and -reprehension. - -The parliament of Scotland was presided over by the Duke of -Queensbury, a base time-server: it appeared devoted to the new -sovereign, and declared him vested with solid and absolute authority, -in which none could participate, and had promised him the whole array -of the realm, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, whenever he -should require their services. Notwithstanding these and similar -loyal and liberal offers, there existed a strong faction intensely -averse to the rule of a Catholic king; and though only three years -before Archibald, Earl of Argyle, and the equally unfortunate Duke of -Monmouth, had both perished in a futile attempt to preserve the civil -and religious liberties of the land, the unsubdued Presbyterians were -still intriguing with Holland, and concerting measures with William -Prince of Orange, for a descent on the British shores, the expulsion -of James by force of arms, and thus breaking the legitimate -succession of the Crown. Suspicion of these plots, and the intended -invasion, had called forth all the fury and tyranny of the Scottish -ministry against those whom they supposed to be inimical to the then -existing state of things. - -A certain covenanting preacher of some celebrity, the Reverend Mr. -Ichabod Bummel, and a man of a very different stamp, Captain Quentin -Napier, (an officer of the Scottish Brigade in the service of the -States-General,) both supposed to be emissaries of the Prince of -Orange, were known to be concealed in the house of Bruntisfield, the -residence of Lady Grizel Napier, widow of Sir Archibald of the -Wrytes, a brave commander of cavalier troops, who had fallen in the -Battle of Inverkeithing. Unluckily for herself the old lady was a -kinswoman of the intercommuned traitor, Patrick Hume, "umquhile -designate of Polworth," to use the legal and malevolent phraseology -of the day; and consequently, notwithstanding the loyalty of her -husband, the eyes of that stern tribunal, which ruled the Scottish -Lowlands with a rod of iron, had been long upon her. And now, -attended by a macer of Council, bearing a warrant of search and -arrest, a party of soldiers were approaching her mansion. - -An archway, the piers of which were surmounted by two great stone -eagles in full flight, each bearing a lance aloft, gave admittance to -the long avenue that curved round the eminence on which the mansion -stood. As the soldiers entered, the measured tap of a distant drum -was borne from the city on the passing night-wind, and announced the -hour of ten. - -Thick dark beeches and darker oaks waved over them; the gigantic -reliques of the great forest of Drumsheugh, beneath whose shade in -the days of other years, the savage wolf, the stately elk, the -bristly boar, and the magnificent white bull of ancient Caledonia, -had roamed in all the glory of unbounded freedom, on the site now -occupied by the Scottish capital. - -The blustering wind of March swept through their leafless branches, -and whirled the last year's leaves along the lonely and grass-grown -avenue, a turn of which brought the detachment at once in front of -the mansion. - -The Wrytes-house, or Castle of Bruntisfield, was a high and narrow -edifice, built in that striking and peculiar style of architecture -which has again become so common--the old Scottish. It was several -stories in height, and had steep corbie-stoned gables with little -round turrets at every angle, a lofty circular tower terminating in a -slated spire, numerous dormer windows, the acute gablets of which -were surmounted by thistles, rosettes, crescents, and stars. Every -casement was strongly grated, and the tall fantastic outline of the -mansion rose from the old woodlands against the murky sky in a dark -opaque mass, as the soldiers passed the barbican gate, and found -themselves close to the oak-door, which closed the central tower. - -The night was still and dark; at times a red star gleamed tremulously -amid the flying vapour, or a ray of moonlight cast a long and silvery -line of radiance across the beautiful sheet of water to the eastward. -The turret-vanes, and old ancestral oaks creaked mournfully in the -rising wind, and the venerable rooks that occupied their summits -croaked and screamed in concert. - -"A noble old mansion!" said Walter Fenton; "and if tradition says -truly, was built by our gallant James IV. for one of his frail fair -ones." - -"It dates as far back as the days of the first Stuart, and men say, -Walter, that its founder was William de Napier, a stark warrior of -King Robert II.; but fair though the mansion, and broad the lands -around it, the greedy gleds of our council-board will soon rend all -piecemeal. Soldiers, blow your matches, and give all who attempt to -escape a prick of the hog's-bristle." - -The musqueteers cautiously surrounded the lofty edifice, resistance -to the death being an every-day occurrence--but the windows remained -dark, and the vast old manor-house exhibited no sign of life, save -where between the half-parted shutters of a thickly-grated window a -ray of flaky light streamed into the obscurity without. To this -opening the curious macer immediately applied his legal eye, and -cried in a loud whisper, - -"Look ye here, Sirs, and behauld the godly Maister Ichabod himsel' -sitting in the cosiest neuk o' the ingle between the auld lady and -her kinswoman. Hech! a gallows'-looking buckie he is as ever skirled -a psalm in the muirlands, or testified at the Bowfoot, wi' a St. -Johnstoun cravat round his whaislin craig." - -"Silence!" said Fenton in an agitated voice, as, clutching the haft -of his poniard, he applied his face to the barred window; "silence, -wretch, or I will trounce thee!" and the scowling macer could -perceive that his colour came and went, and that his eye sparkled -with vivacity as he took a rapid survey of the apartment. "Fool, -fool!" he muttered, as a cracked voice was heard singing - - "I like ane owle in desart am, - That nichtlie there doth moan; - I like unto ane sparrow am, - On the house-top alone." - - -"The true sough o' the auld conventicle," said the bluff old -sergeant, merrily. "Hark your honours, the game's afoot." - -According to the rank of the house and the fashion of the present -time, the room which Fenton surveyed would be deemed small for a -principal or state apartment; but it was richly decorated with a -stuccoed ceiling, divided into deep compartments, as the walls were -by wainscotting, but in the pannels of the latter were numerous -anomalous paintings of scenery, scripture pieces, armorial bearings, -and the quaint devices of the Scoto-Italian school. An old ebony -buffet laden with glittering crystal and shining plate massively -embossed. The furniture was ancient, richly carved, and dark with -time; stark, high-backed chairs with red leather cushions, and tables -supported by lions legs and wyverns heads. The floor was richly -carpeted around the arched fire-place, where a bright fire of coals -and roots burned cheerily, while the grotesque iron fire-dogs around -which the fuel was piled, were glowing almost red-hot, and the blue -ware of Delft that lined the recess, reflected the kindly warmth on -all sides. The ponderous fire-irons were chained to the stone -jambs--a necessary precaution in such an age; and on a stone shield -appeared the blazon of the Napiers: _argent_, a saltire, engrailed, -between four roses, _gules_, and an eagle in full flight, with the -lance and motto, "_Aye ready_." A tall portrait of Sir Archibald -Napier in the dark armour of Charles the First's age, appeared above -it. - -A young lady sat near the fire-place, and on her the attention of the -handsome eavesdropper became immediately rivetted. Her face was of a -very delicate cast of beauty; her bright blue eyes were expressive of -the utmost vivacity, as her short upper lip and dimpled chin were of -archness and wit. The fairness, the purity of her complexion was -dazzling, and her glittering hair of the brightest auburn, fell in -massive locks on her white neck and stiff collar of starched lace. A -string of Scottish pearls alone confined them, and they rolled over -her shoulders in soft profusion, adding to the grace of her round and -beautiful figure, which the hideous length of her long stomacher, and -the volume of her ample skirt could not destroy. She was Lilian -Napier. - -Opposite sat her grand-aunt, Lady Grizel, a tall, stately, and at -first sight, grim old dame, as stiff as a tremendous boddice, a skirt -of the heaviest brocade, the hauteur of the age, and an inborn sense -of much real and more imaginary dignity, could make her. Frizzled -with the nicest care, her lint-white locks were all drawn upwards, -thus adding to the dignity of her noble features, though withered by -care and blanched by time; and the healthy bloom of the young girl -near her made the contrast between them greater: it was the summer -and the winter of life contrasted. Lady Grizel's forehead was high, -her nose decidedly aquiline, her eyes grey and keen, her brows a -perfect arch. Though less in stature, and softer in feature, her -kinswoman strongly resembled her; and though one was barely eighteen, -and the other bordering on eighty, their dresses were quite the same; -their gorgeously flowered brocades, their vandyked cuffs, high -collars, and red-heeled shoes, were all similar. - -As was natural in so young a man, Walter Fenton remarked only the -younger lady, whose quick, small hands toyed with a flageolet, and a -few leaves of music, while her more industrious grand-aunt was busily -urging a handsome spinning-wheel, the silver and ivory mountings of -which flashed in the light of the fire, as it sped round and round. -Close at her feet lay an aged staghound, that raised its head and -erected its bristles at times, as if aware that foes were nigh. - -There was such an air of happiness and domestic comfort in that noble -old chamber-of-dais, that the young volunteer felt extremely loth to -be one of those who should disturb it; but fairly opposite the -glowing fire, in the most easy chair in the room, (a great cushioned -one, valanced round with silken bobs,) sat he of whom they were in -search, and whom the macer had pronounced so worthy of martyrdom. - -He was a spare but athletic man, above the middle height; his blue -bonnet hung on a knob of his chair, and his straight dark hair hung -in dishevelled masses around his lean, lank visage, and sallow neck. -His face was gaunt, with red and prominent cheek-bones; his eyes -intensely keen, penetrating, and generally unsettled in expression. -He wore clerical bands falling over that part of his heavily skirted -and wide-cuffed coat, where lapelles would have been had such been -the fashion of the day; his breeches and spatterdashes were of rusty -grey cloth; his large eyes seemed fixed on vacancy, and his hands -were clasped on his left knee. When he spoke his whole face seemed -to be convulsed by a spasm. - -"Maiden," said he, reproachfully, "and ye will not accompany me in -the godly words of Andro Hart's Scottish metre?" - -"Think of the danger of being overheard, Mr. Bummel," urged the young -lady. "I will sing you my new song, the _Norlan' Harp_." - -"Name it not, maiden, for thy profane songs sound as abomination in -my ears!" - -Lilian Napier laughed merrily, and all her white teeth glittered like -pearls. - -"Fair as thou art to look upon, maiden, and innocent withal, the fear -grieves me that ye are one of the backsliders of this sinful -generation. Thy 'Norlan' Harp' quotha? Know that there is no harp -save that of Zion, whilk is a lyre of treble refined gold. What -saith the sacred writ,--'Is any among ye afflicted, let him pray. Is -any merrie, let him _sing psalmes_.'" - -"I wot it would be but sad merriment," laughed the young lady. - -"Peace, Lilian," said grand-aunt Grizel, while the solemn divine -fidgetted in his chair, and hemmed gruffly, preparatory to returning -to the charge. - -"Maiden, when thou hast perused my forthcoming discourse, whilk is -entitled, '_A Bombshell aimed at the tail of the Great Beast_,' and -whilk, please God, shall be imprinted when I can procure ink and -irons from Holland (that happy Elysium of the faithful), thou shalt -there see in words of fire the straight and narrow path, contrasted -with the broad but dangerous way that leadeth to the sea of flame: -and therein will I shew thee, and all that are yet in darkness, that -the four animals in the Vision of Daniel hieroglyphically represent -four empires, Rome, Persia, Grecia, and Babylonia, and that the man -of sin, the antichrist, and the scarlet harlot of Babylon----" - -At that moment the stag-hound barked and howled furiously, upon which -the preacher's voice died away in a quaver, and his upraised hand -sank powerless by his side. - -"The dog howls eerily," said the old lady, "Gude sain us! that -foretells death--and far-seen folk say that dumb brutes can see him -enter the house when a departure is about to happen." - -"--And further," continued the preacher incoherently, when his -confusion had somewhat subsided: "I will show thee that the blessing -of Heaven will descend upon the men of the Covenant--" - -"Yea," chimed in Lady Grizel, "and upon their children--" - -"Even unto the third and fourth generation." - -"My honoured husband was as true a cavalier as ever wore buff," said -Lady Grizel, striking her cane emphatically on the floor; "but some -of my dearest kinsmen have shed bluid for the other side, and I can -think kindly o' baith." - -"But if the King," urged Lilian; "if the King should permit--" - -"Maiden!" cried Mr. Bummel, in a shrill and stern voice; "mean ye the -bloody and papistical Duke James, who, contrary to religion and to -law, hath usurped the throne of this unhappy land--that throne from -which (as I show in my _Bombshell_) justice hath debarred him--that -throne from the steps of which the blood of God's children, the -blessed sancts of our oppressed and martyred Kirk, rolls down on -every hand! But the hour cometh, Lilian, when it is written, that he -shall perish, and a new religious and political millenium will dawn -on these persecuted kingdoms. On one hand we have the power of the -horned beast that sitteth upon seven hills, and her best beloved son -James, with his thumbscrews, the iron boots and gory maiden,--the -savage Amorites of the Highland hills--who go bare-legged to -battle--yea, maiden, naked as the heretical Adamites of -Bohemia--those birds of Belial, the soldiers of Dunbarton--those kine -of Bashan, the troopers of Claverse, of Lag and Dalyel, the fierce -Muscovite cannibal--in England the _lambs_ of Kirke, and the gallows -of the Butcher Jeffreys--a sea of blood, of darkness, death, and -horror! But lo! on the other hand, behold ye the dawn of a new morn -of peace, of love, and mercy; when the exile shall be restored to his -hearth, and the doomed shall be snatched from the scaffold--for he -cometh, at whose approach the doors of a thousand dungeons shall fly -open, the torch of rapine be extinguished, the sword of the -persecutor sheathed, and when the flowers shall bloom, and the grass -grow green on the lonely graves of our ten thousand martyrs. -Yea--he, the Saviour--William of Orange!" - -The eyes of Ichabod Bummel filled with fire and enthusiasm as he -spoke; the crimson glowed in his sallow cheek--the intonations of his -voice alternated between a whistle and a growl, and with his hands -clenched above his head, he concluded this outburst, which gave great -uneasiness and even terror to the old lady, though Lilian smiled with -ill-concealed merriment. - -"You have all heard this tirade of treason and folly?" said Douglas -to his soldiers. - -"Hech me!" ejaculated the macer, drawing a long breath; "it is enough -to hang, draw, and quarter a haill parochin, I think." - -"The Dutch rebel!" exclaimed Douglas, whose loyalty was fired. -"Soldiers! look well that none escape by the windows; close up, my -'birds of Belial;' and, harkee, Sergeant Wemyss, tirl at the pin -there." - -The risp rung, and the door resounded beneath the blows of the -halberdier. Lilian shrieked, Lady Grizel grew pale, and all the -blood left the cheeks of the poor preacher, save the two scarlet -spots on his cheek-bones. - -"Woe is me!" he shouted; "for, lo! the Philistines are upon me!" - -"The Guards of Pontius Pilate, he means," said the soldiers, as they -gave a reckless laugh. - -A shutter flew open, and the fair face of Lilian Napier, with all her -bright hair waving around it, appeared for a moment gazing into the -obscurity without. - -"Soldiers! soldiers!" she screamed, as the light fell on corslets and -accoutrements. "O! Aunt Grizel, we are ruined, disgraced, and -undone for ever!" - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE OLD CLOCKCASE. - - In the meanwhile - The King doth ill to throw his royal sceptre - In the accuser's scale, ere he can know - How justice shall incline it. - THE AYRSHIRE TRAGEDY. - - -The entrance to the mansion was by the narrow tower already -described, and which contained what is called in Scotland the -Turnpike, a spiral stair, turning sharply round on its axis. The -small doorway was heavily moulded, and ornamented above by a mossy -coat armorial, the saltire and four roses. The door was of massive -oak, covered with a profusion of iron studs, and furnished with two -eyelet holes, through which visitors could be reconnoitred, or, if -necessary, favoured with a dose of musketry. - -"What graceless runions are you, that knock in this way, and sae near -the deid hour of the nicht, too?" asked the querulous voice of old -John Leekie, the gardener, while two rays of streaming light through -the eylets imparted to the doorway the aspect of some gigantic -visage, of which the immense risp was the nose. - -"Gae wa' in peace," added the venerable butler, in a very blustering -voice, "or bide to face the waur!" - -"Open, rascals!" cried the sergeant, "or we will set the four corners -of the house on fire." - -"Doubtless, my bauld buckie," chuckled the old serving-man; "but the -wa's are thick, and the winnocks weel grated, and we gaed a stronger -band o' the English Puritans their kail through the reek in the year -saxteen-hunderd-and-fifty." The over-night potations of the aged -vassals had endued them with a courage unusual at that time, when a -whole village trembled at the sight of a soldier. - -"Wha are ye, sirs!" queried the butler, Mr. Drouthy; "wha are ye?" - -"Those who are empowered to storm the house if its barriers are not -opened forthwith!" replied the sonorous voice of Douglas; "so, up! -varlets! and be doing, for the soldiers of the King cannot bide your -time." - -The only reply to this was a smothered exclamation of fear from -various female voices within, and the clank of one or two additional -heavy bolts being shot into their places; and then succeeded the -clatter of various slippers and high-heeled shoes, as the household -retreated up the steep turnpike in great dismay. - -"Now, ye dyvour loons!" cried the old butler, from a shot-hole, -"we'll gie ye a taste o' the Cromwell days, if ye dinna mak' toom the -barbican in five minutes. Lads," he continued, as if speaking to men -behind, although, save the old and equally intoxicated gardener, the -whole household were women; "lads, tak' the plugs frae the -loop-holes. John Leekie, burn a light in the north turret, and in a -crack we'll hae our chields frae the grange wi' pitchfork, pike, and -caliver. Awa' to the vaults and bartizan--blaw your coals, and fire -cannily when I tout my old hunting horn." - -These orders caused a muttering among the soldiers, who were quite -unprepared to find the house garrisoned and ready for resistance. An -additional puffing of gun-matches ensued, and all eyes were bent to -the turrets and those parts which were battlemented; but no man -appeared therein or thereon, and the thundering was renewed at the -door with great energy. Suddenly the bolts were withdrawn, the door -revolved slowly on its hinges, and the musqueteers who were about to -rush in, hung back with mingled indecision and respect. - -In the doorway stood Lady Grizel Napier, leaning on her long -walking-cane; her dark-grey eyes lit up with indignation, and her -forehead, though marked by the furrows of eighty years, still -expressive of dignity and determination; nearly six feet in height, -erect and stately as lace and brocade could make her, she was the -belle ideal of an old Scottish matron. She wore on the summit of her -frizzled hair a little coif of widow-hood, which she had never laid -aside since her husband was slain at Inverkeithing; and the -circumstance of his having died by a Puritan's hand alone made her -somewhat cold in the cause of the Covenant. Her retinue of female -servitors crowded fearfully behind her, and by her side appeared the -silver-haired butler, armed with a huge partisan, while a battered -morion covered his head, as it often had done in many a tough day's -work; and behind him staggered the old gardener, armed with a -watering-pan, and a steel cap with the peak behind. - -"Gentlemen," said the old lady, in a tone of great asperity, while -striking her long cane thrice on the doorstep, and all her frills -seemed to ruffle with indignation like the feathers of a swan; -"Gentlemen, what want ye at this untimeous hour? Know ye not that -this is a house whilk we are entitled by Crown charter to fortify and -defend, as well against domestic enemies as foreign! and methinks it -is a daring act, and a graceless to boot, to march with cocked -matches, and bodin in array of war on the bounds of a lone auld woman -like me. By my faith, in the days of my honoured Sir Archibald, ye -had gone off our barony faster than ye came, king's soldiers though -ye be." - -"Excuse us, madam," replied Douglas, lowering his rapier, and bowing -with a peculiar grace which then was only to be acquired by service -in France: "we have a warrant from the Lords of his Majesty's Privy -Council, to arrest the persons of a certain Captain Napier, of a -Scots Dutch regiment, and the Reverend Mr. Ichabod Bummel, who are -accused of being treasonable emissaries of the -States-General--intercommuned traitors, and now concealed in your -mansion. Your Ladyship must be aware that implicit obedience is the -soldier's first duty: surrender unto us these guilty men, otherwise -your house must be ransacked by my soldiers,--a severe humiliation, -which I would willingly spare the baronial mansion of a dame of -honour, more especially when I remember the rank and loyal service of -her husband." - -"Gude keep us, Laird of Finland," replied the old lady, trembling -violently and leaning on her cane. "O what dool is this that hath -come upon us at last? My dream--my dream--it forewarned me of this: -as the rhyme saith-- - - "A Friday nicht's grue - On the Saturday tauld, - Is sure to come true, - Be it never sae auld." - -"On my honour--nae such persons--I protest to you----" - -"Enough, Lady Grizel," replied Douglas, with a little hauteur; -"positively we must spare you the trouble, if not the shame, of -making those unavailing but humiliating assertions, which the laws of -humanity and hospitality require. The sooner this affair is over the -better--we crave your pardon, madam, but the king's service is -paramount. Serjeant Wemyss, guard the door--follow me, -Walter--forward, soldiers, and I will unearth this clerical fox!" - -Rushing past Lady Grizel, while the startled household fled before -them, the musqueteers pressed forward into the chamber-of-dais; but -the Reverend Mr. Bummel had vanished, and no trace remained of him, -save his ample blue bonnet, with its red cherry or tuft, and Walter -Fenton was certainly not the last to perceive that the young lady had -disappeared also. - -"Search the whole house, from roof-tree to foundations," exclaimed -Douglas; "cut down all who make the least resistance; but on your -lives beware of plunder or destruction--away!" - -A violent and unscrupulous search was made forthwith; every curtain, -every bed and pannel were pierced by swords and daggers; every press, -bunker, and girnel--the turrets and all the innumerable nooks and -corners of the old house were searched. Every lockfast place was -blown open by musket-balls, and thirty stentorian voices summoned the -miserable preacher "to come forth;" but he was nowhere to be found. -Pale and trembling between terror and indignation, propped on her -long cane, the old lady stood under her baronial canopy on the dais -of the dining-hall, listening to the uproar that rang through all the -stone-vaults, wainscotted chambers, and long corridors of her -mansion, and regarding Richard Douglas and his friend the young -volunteer, with glances of pride and hostility. - -Walter Fenton coloured deeply, and appeared both agitated and -confused; but Douglas coolly and collectedly leaned against the -buffet, toying with the knot of his rapier, and drinking a cup of -wine to Lady Bruntisfield's health, helping himself from the buffet -uninvited. - -"Lady Grizel," said he, "by surrendering up these foolish and guilty -men, whom, contrary to law, you have harboured and resetted within -your barony, you may considerably avert the wrath of the already -incensed Council." - -"Never, Sir! never will I be guilty of such a breach of hospitality -and honour. Bethink ye, Sirs, the Captain Napier is my sister's son, -and it would ill become a Scottish dame to prove false to her ain -blude. The minister, though but a gomeral body, is his friend--one -of those whom the people deem exiled and persecuted for Christ's -sake--ye may hew me to pieces with your partisans, but never would I -yield a fugitive to the tortures and executioners of that bluidy and -infamous Council." And to give additional force to her words, Lady -Grizel as usual struck the floor thrice with her cane. - -"Lady Bruntisfield," said Walter Fenton, gently, "beware lest our -soldiers, or that dog the macer overhear you." - -"Glorious canary this!" muttered the Lieutenant, apostrophizing the -silver mug--"hum--I believe your ladyship is a Presbyterian." - -"Though unused to be catechised by soldiers," replied the dame, -drawing herself up with great dignity, "I acknowledge what all my -neighbours know. I am Presbyterian, thank God, and so are all my -household, who never miss a sabbath at kirk or meeting; and our -minister is one, who having complied with the government regulations, -hath an indulgence to preach." - -"This applies not to the spy of that rogue William of Orange--this -pious Ichabod, whom we must hale forth by the lugs at every risk." - -"Never before was I suspected of disloyalty to the Scottish Crown," -said Lady Grizel, sobbing, "and now in my auld and donnart days, with -ane foot in the grave, it's hard to thole, Sirs--it's hard to thole. -How often hae these hands, wrinkled now, and withered though they be, -laced steel cap, greave and corslet, on my buirdly husband and his -three fair sons. Ehwhow, Sirs! how often hae my very heart pulses -died away with the clang o' their horses' hoofs in yonder avenue. -Ane fell at Dumbar--another in his stirrups at the sack of Dundee, -and my fair-haired Archy, my youngest and my best beloved, the apple -o' my e'e, was shot deid by the side of his dying father, on the -field of Inverkeithing. Save my sister's grandchild, all I loved -have gone before me to God--but though my heart be seared, and my -bower desolate, O Laird of Finland, this disgrace is harder to thole -than a' I hae tholed in my time." - -Touched with her sorrow, Walter Fenton and Finland approached her; -but ere they could speak, a dismal voice, that seemed to ascend from -the profundity of some vast tun, was heard to sing, "I like an owle -in desert am," &c., and the verse was scarcely concluded when the -officer burst into a violent fit of laughter. - -"O, ye fule man!" exclaimed the old lady, shaking her cane -wrathfully: "ye have ruined yoursel' and the House of Bruntisfield -too!" - -"Where the devil is he?" said Douglas. "Ah, there must be some -pannel here," he added, knocking on the wainscot with the pommel of -his sword. - -"He is not very far off, your honour," said the macer approaching, -pushing his bonnet on one side, and scratching his head with an air -of vulgar drollery and perplexity. "I'll wager ye a score o' broad -pieces, Finland, that I howk out the tod in a moment." - -"Then do so," said Douglas, haughtily, "but first, you irreverend -knave, doff your bonnet in the Lady Bruntisfield's presence." - -"There is something queer about this braw Flanders wag-at-the-wa'," -said the macer, approaching a clock, the case of which formed part of -the wainscotting. It was violently shaken, and emitted a hollow -groan. The macer opened the narrow pannel, and revealed the poor -preacher coiled up within, in great spiritual and bodily tribulation, -and half stifled by want of air. His face was almost black, his eyes -bloodshot, and his features sharpened by an expression of delirious -terror bordering on the ludicrous. - -"Dolt and fool!" exclaimed Walter, "what fiend tempted ye to rant -thus within earshot of us?" - -"Gadso, I think the varlet's mad," said Douglas, laughing. "Dost -think we will eat thee, fellow?" - -"Mad!--I hope so, for the sake of this noble lady." - -"And the marrow in his bones, Fenton." - -"Come awa, my man," said the macer, making him a mock bow; "use your -shanks while the ungodly Philistines will let you. Ye'll no walk -just sae weel after you have tried on the braw buits my Lord -Chancellor keeps for such pious gentlemen as you." - -"From these sons of blood and Belial, good Lord deliver me!" -ejaculated the poor man, turning up his hollow eyes, as he was -dragged forth; "ye devouring wolves, I demand your warrant for what -ye do?" - -"Macer--your warrant?" said Douglas. - -Unfolding the slip of paper, the worthy official now reverentially -took off his bonnet, and in a sing-song voice drawled forth-- - -"I, Michael Maclutchy, macer to the Privy Council of Scotland, by -virtue _of_, and conform _to_, the principal letters raised at ye -instance of Maister Roderick Mackenzie, Advocat-Depute to Sir David -Dalrymple, His Majesty's Advocat, summon, warn, and charge _you_, the -said Reverend Mr. Hugh--otherwise Ichabod Bummel--is that richt, -friend?" - -"Yea--I was so named by my parents Hugh, a heathenish name, whilk in -a better hour I changit to Ichabod, signifying in the Hebrew -tongue--'where is glory?'" - -"Weel--weel, mind na the Hebrew--charge you to surrender -peaceably--and sae forth; it's a' there in black and white: -subscribitur _Perth_." - -"Fie upon ye!" exclaimed Ichabod, "ye abjurers of the Lord, and -persecutors of his covenanted kirk." - -"Away with him!" said Fenton to the soldiers. - -"Truly ye are properly clad in scarlet, for it is the garb----" - -"Silence, Sir; you make bad worse." - -"Of your Babylonian mother." - -"Peace!" cried Douglas. - -"I liken ye even unto broken reeds----" - -"On with the gyves, and away wi' him!" said the serjeant, and the -poor crack-brained enthusiast was unceremoniously handcuffed and -dragged away, pouring a torrent of hard scriptural epithets and -invectives on his captors, and chanting suitable verses from Andro -Hart's book of the _Psalmes_. - -Lady Bruntisfield started as he was taken away, and was about to -bestow on him some address of comfort and farewell; but the young -volunteer interposed, saying with great gentleness, - -"Pardon me, Lady Grizel--by addressing him you will only compromise -your own safety and honour. O madam, I deeply regret your -involvement in this matter! The Privy Council is not to be trifled -with." - -"Madam," observed Douglas, "I believe I have the honour of being not -unknown to you?" - -"You are the young Laird of Finland, who wounded my nephew -Quentin----" - -"In a duel in Flanders--O yes--ha! ha! we quarrelled about little -Babette of the Hans-in-Kelder, or some folly of that kind. I -acquaint you, madam, with regret, that in consequence of this -trumpeter of rebellion being found resetted here--your whole -family----" - -"Alake, Laird, I have only my little grand-niece." - -"Your whole household must be considered prisoners until the pleasure -of the Council is known. In the interim," he added in a low voice, -"I hope your kinsman will escape; though he has been no friend of -mine since that time we fought with sword and dagger on the ramparts -of Tournay, I would wish him another fate than a felon's, for a -braver fellow never marched under baton. Meanwhile, Lady -Bruntisfield, I am your servant--adieu;" and bowing until his plume -touched the floor, he withdrew. - -Leaving his veteran serjeant, and Walter the volunteer, with twenty -men to keep ward, he returned to the city with his prisoner, who was -immediately consigned to the Iron Room of the Tolbooth. - -For a few minutes after his departure Lady Grizel seemed quite -stunned by the dilemma in which she so suddenly found herself. She -had now been joined by Lilian, who hung upon her shoulder weeping; -for the Privy Council of Scotland was a court of religious and -political inquisition, whose name and satellites bore terror -throughout the land. - -Sergeant Wemyss posted seven of his musketeers within the barbican, -with orders "to keep all in who were within, and all out who were -so;" after which he withdrew with the remainder to the spacious and -vaulted kitchen, where, as occupying free quarters, they made -themselves quite at home, and crowded round the great wood-fire that -was roaring in the vast archway which spanned one side of the -apartment, joked and toyed with the half-pleased and half-frightened -maids, and compelled the indignant housekeeper (who, with Lady -Grizel's cast coifs and fardingales assumed many of her airs) to -provide them with a substantial supper, the least items of which were -a huge side of beef, a string of good fat capons, and an unmeasured -quantity of ale and usquebaugh for the soldiers; while his honour the -halberdier insisted on wine dashed with brandy, swearing "by the -devil's horns," and other cavalier oaths, "he would drink nothing but -the best Rhenish." There was an immense consumption of viands, and -as the revellers became merrier, they made the whole house ring to -their famous camp-song, - - "Dunbarton's drums beat bonnie, O," - -to the great envy of those luckless wights in the barbican, who heard -only the bleak March wind sighing among the leafless woods, and -witnessed through the windows all this hilarity and good cheer from -which they were for a time debarred. - -Mr. Drouthy the butler, and other old servitors, who had seen -something of free quarters under the Duke of Hamilton in England, -entered heartily into the spirit of entertaining their noisy -visitors, to whom they detailed the fields of Inverkeithing, Dunbar, -and Kerbeister, with great vociferation, and ever and anon voted the -Reverend Mr. Bummel a most unqualified bore, and declared that "the -house of Bruntisfield was weel rid of his grunting and skirling about -owls and sparrows in the desert." - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -A PAIR OF BLUE EYES. - - Thou tortur'st me. I hate all obligations - Which I can ne'er return--and who art thou, - That I should stoop to take them from your hand? - FATAL CURIOSITY. - - -The post of honour--that in the hall or lobby immediately outside the -room occupied by the ladies--had been appropriated by the serjeant to -Walter Fenton. - -The young man placed his pike across the door of the chamber of dais -(as the dining-hall was named in those Scottish houses, which, though -to all intents baronial, were not castles) and then paced slowly to -and fro. - -A lamp, the chain of which was suspended from the mouth of a -grotesque face carved on the wall, lighted the lobby or ambulatory, -and dimly its flickering rays were reflected by a rusty trophy of -ancient weapons opposite. An old head-piece and chain-jacket formed -the centre, while crossbows, matchlocks, partisans, and two-handed -swords, radiated round them. A deer's skull and antlers, riding -gambadoes, heavy whips and spurs, a row of old knobby chairs, and a -clumsy oaken clock, which (like many persons in the world) had two -faces, one looking to the lobby, the other to the dining-hall, ticked -sullenly in a corner, and made up the furniture of the place. - -Save the monotonous vibrations of the clock, and an occasional murmur -of voices from the chamber of dais, no other sound disturbed the -solitary watch of Fenton, unless when a distant shout of hilarity -burst from the vaulted kitchen, and reverberated through the winding -staircases and stone corridors of the ancient mansion. - -Absorbed in meditation, the young man walked slowly to and fro, -turning with something of military briskness at each end of the -half-darkened passage, by the indifferent light of which we must -present a view of him to the reader. - - "A young man, gentle-voiced and gentle-eyed, - Who looked and spake like one the world had frowned on." - -He seemed to be about twenty years of age; of a rather tall and very -handsome figure, which his scarlet sleeves, and corslet tapering to -the waist, and tightly compressed by a broad buff belt sustaining a -plainly-mounted sword and dagger, tended greatly to improve. The -cheek-plates of his burgonet, or steel cap, were unclasped, and his -dark-brown hair rolled over his polished gorget in the profuse -fashion of the time; his pale forehead was thoughtful and -intellectual in expression; but the gilt peak of his cap partly -concealed it, and cast a shadow over a very prepossessing face of a -dark complexion, and somewhat melancholy contour. His dark eye had a -soft and pleasing expression, though at times it loured and overcast. -The curve of his lips, though gentle, and haughty, and scornful, by -turns, was ever indicative of firmness and decision. They were red -and full as those of a girl; but short black mustaches, pointed -smartly upward, imparted a military aspect to a face such as few -could contemplate without interest--especially women. With the -manner of one who has early learned to think, and hold communion with -himself, his eye sparkled and his cheek flushed as certain ideas -occurred to him: anon his animation died away, he sighed deeply, and -thus immersed in his own thoughts, continued to pace to and fro, -until at the half-opened door of the chamber of dais there appeared -the fair face of Lilian Napier--a face so regular in its contour of -eyebrow, lip, and nostril, that the brightness of her blue eyes, and -the waving of her auburn ringlets, together with a decided piquancy -of expression, alone prevented it from being insipid. She was -looking cautiously out. - -On recognizing her, Fenton bowed, and the girl blushed deeply, as she -said hurriedly, and in a low voice, - -"O joy! Walter Fenton, is it indeed you? how fortunate! but oh, what -a night this has been for us all!" - -"Mistress Lilian," said he (the prefix Miss as a title of honour did -not become common until the beginning of the next century) "need I -say that it has been a night of sorrow and mortification to me? Yet, -God wot, what could I do but obey the orders of my superiors?" - -"Hush!" she whispered; for at that moment Lady Bruntisfield came -forth, pale and agitated, with eyes red from recent weeping. - -Tall in form and majestic in bearing, Lady Grizel Napier, as I have -said before, was one of those stately matrons who appear to have -departed with their hoops and fardingales. In youth, her face had -possessed more than ordinary beauty, and now, in extreme old age, it -still retained its feminine softness and pleasing expression. -Undecided in politics, she was intensely loyal to James; while -condemning his government, she railed at the non-conformists and -reprobated the severities of the council in the same breath. Like -every dame of the olden time, she was a matchless mediciner, and -maker of preserves, conserves, physics, and cordials, and, did a -vassal's finger but ache, Lady Grizel was consulted forthwith. Like -every woman of her time, she was intensely superstitious: she shook -her purse when the pale crescent of the new moon rose above the -Corstorphine woods; if the salt-foot was overturned, she remembered -Judas, trembled, and threw a pinch over her left shoulder; she saw -coffins in the fire, letters in the candles, and quaked at deidspales -when they guttered in the wind. She listened in fear to the -chakymill, or death-watch, which often ticked obstinately for a whole -night in the massive posts of her canopied bed. Witches, of course, -were a constant source of hatred and annoyance, and, notwithstanding -her great faith in the Holy Kirk (and a little in Peden's -Prophecies), she had such a wholesome dread of the Prince of -darkness, that, according to the ancient usage, a piece of her lands -adjoining the Harestane was dedicated to him, under the dubious name -of _the gudeman's croft_, and, in defiance of all the acts against -this old superstition (which still exists in remote parts of -Scotland), it was allowed to remain a weedy waste, unsown and -unemployed. With all this, her manners were high-bred and courtly; -her information extensive; and there was in her air a certain -indescribable loftiness, which then consciousness of noble birth and -long descent inspired, and which failed not to enforce due respect -from equals and inferiors. - -On her approach, Walter Fenton bowed with an air in which politeness -and commiseration were gracefully blended. Her bright-haired -kinswoman leant upon her arm, and from time to time stole furtive and -timid glances at the volunteer beneath her long eyelashes. - -"Young man," said Lady Bruntisfield, "for a soldier, you seem good -and gentle. Have you a mother" (her voice faltered) "who is dear to -you--a sister whom you love?" - -"Nor mother, nor sister, nor kindred have I, madam. Alas! Lady -Grizel, I am alone in the world: the first, and perhaps it may be the -last, of my race," he added bitterly. "But what would your ladyship -with Walter Fenton?" - -"Ha! are you one of the Fentons of that Ilk?" - -"Nay, lady, I am only Walter Fenton of the Scottish Musqueteers, and -nothing more: but in what can I serve you?" - -"How shall I speak it?--That you will sleep on your post, and permit -this poor child--dost comprehend me?--oh! I will nobly reward you; -and the deed will be registered elsewhere." - -"Oh, no!--no! beg no such boon for me," said the blushing and -trembling girl; while the brow of the young man became clouded. - -"You would counsel me to my ruin, Lady Bruntisfield: is it generous, -is it noble, when I am but a poor soldier? Seek not to corrupt me by -gold," he said hurriedly, on the old lady drawing a purse from her -girdle; "for all I possess is my honour, the poor man's best -inheritance. And yet, for the sake of Lilian Napier, I would dare -much." - -The deep blush which suffused the soft cheek and white brow of Lilian -as the pikeman spoke, was not unobserved by the elder lady; and she -said, with undisguised hauteur,-- - -"How is this, sir sentinel?--ye know my kinswoman, and by that glance -it would seem that ye have met before. Lilian, do thou speak." - -Lilian trembled, but was silent and confused. - -"I have often had the honour of seeing Mistress Lilian at my Lord -Dunbarton's," said the young man, hastening to her relief. - -"How! are you little Fenton?" - -"The Countess's page, madam." - -"By my father's bones!" said Lady Grizel, striking the floor angrily -with her cane; "I little thought a time would come when I would sue a -boon in vain, either from a lord's loon or a lady's foot-page!" - -These words seemed to sting the young soldier deeply; fire sparkled -in his eyes. But tears suffused those of Lilian. - -"Madam," said he firmly, "I am the first private gentleman of -Dunbarton's Foot, and am so unused to such hauteur, that had the best -man in broad Scotland uttered words like these, my sword had -assuredly taken the measure of his body." - -"I admire your spirit, sir," said Lady Grizel gently; "but it might -be shewn in a more honourable cause than the persecution of helpless -women-folk." - -"Lady Grizel, a soldier from my childhood, I have been inured to -hardship and trained to face every danger. My conscience is my own; -my soul belongs to God: and my sword to the King and Parliament of -Scotland, whose orders I must obey." - -"Then, gentle sir, be generous as your bearing is noble, and, in the -name of God, permit my little kinswoman to escape. Alas! you know -well what is in store for us, if we are dragged before that odious -Privy Council--fine, imprisonment, torture----" - -"Or banishment to Virginia," said Lilian, bursting into tears. - -"God wot I pity you, Lady Bruntisfield, and would lay down my life to -serve you. Retire--I will keep my post; your chamber has windows by -which----" - -"Alas! they are grated, and there are sentinels without." - -Fenton stamped his foot impatiently. - -"Birds' eggs aye bring ill luck; and oh! Lilian, ye thoughtless -bairn, when ye strung up the pyets yesternight, I forewarned ye that -something would happen. The thumbscrews and extortions of the -Council, yea, and banishment even in my auld age, I might bear, -though the thocht of being laid far frae the graves of my ain kindred -is hard to thole; but thee, my dear doo, Lilian--it is for thee my -heart bleeds." - -"Oh! madam, they cannot be such villains as to harm her--so young--so -fair." - -"You know not what I mean," replied Lady Grizel, pressing her hands -upon her breast, and speaking in an incoherent and bitter manner. -"Lord Clermistonlee rules at the Council-board, and he hath seen -Lilian. Wretch--wretch, too well do I know 'tis for worse than the -thumb-screws he would reserve her!" - -She paused; and Fenton starting, said-- - -"Oh, whence were all my unreasonable scruples? Finland by his hints -warned me of Clermistonlee, that roué and ruffian, whose name brings -scandal on our peerage." - -"Then let my dear aunt Grizel escape to some place of concealment, -and, good Mr. Fenton, you shall have my prayers and gratitude for -life." - -It was the young girl who spoke; her accents were low and imploring; -and her whole appearance was very fascinating, for her timidity and -mortification added the utmost expression to her blue eyes, while her -lips, half parted, shewed the whiteness of her teeth, and lent a -sweetness and simplicity to her face. The tenor of her address made -the heart of Walter flutter, for love was fast subduing his -scrupulous sense of duty. - -"Artless Lilian," said he with a faint smile, "Lord Clermistonlee -aims neither at Lady Grizel's liberty or life. He is a villain of -the deepest dye; and you have many things to fear. It ill beseems a -lady of birth to sue a boon from a poor sworder such as I. Leave me -to my fate, and the fury of the Council. I am, I hope, a gentleman, -though an unfortunate one, and reduced to the necessity of trailing a -pike under the noble Earl of Dunbarton; but in spirit I can be -generous as a king, though my whole inheritance is to follow the -drum." - -"I offered you money----" - -"Lady Grizel," said Fenton, colouring again, "I hope that the poorest -musqueteer who follows the banner of Dunbarton would have rejected it -with scorn. Though soldiers, we are not like those rapacious wolves -the troopers of Lag, of Dalzel, or Kirke the Englishman. By my -faith, madam, for six shillings Scots per day I have often perilled -life and limb in a worse cause than yours; and why should I scruple -now? Escape while there is yet time. Lady Grizel, permit me to lead -you forth." - -And, drawing off his leather glove, he offered his hand to the old -dame, who, struck by the gallantry of his manner, said-- - -"You have quite the air of a cavalier, such as I mind o' in my young -days, when the first Charles was crowned in Holyrood." - -"I pretend not to be a cavalier," said Walter, with a sad smile: "the -camp is the school of gallantry." - -"Fear for my Lilian makes me miserably selfish. I would rather die, -good youth, than that a hair of your head should be injured; but that -this delicate bairn should be dragged before that fierce Council, -like some rude cottar's wife--'tis enough to make the dead bones in -the West-kirk aisle to clatter in their coffins! Ere we go, say what -will be your inevitable punishment for this dereliction of duty?" - -"A few days' close ward in the Abbey-guard, with pease bannocks and -sour beer to regale on, and mounting guard at the Palace porch in -back-breast and headpieces, partisan, sword and dagger; in full -marching harness, for four-and-twenty consecutive hours--that is all, -madam," said he gaily; though the inward forebodings of his heart and -his sad experience told him otherwise. "In serving _you_, fair -Lilian," he added gently, and half attempting, but not daring to -touch her hand, "I shall be more than a thousand times recompensed -for any penance I may perform. Believe me, it will weigh as a -featherweight against what the Council may inflict on Lady -Bruntisfield. Now, then, away in God's name! Ye will surely find a -secure shelter somewhere among your numerous friends and tenantry; -but seek not the city, for Dunbraiken's guards are on the alert at -every gate; and, above all, oh! beware of--of Lord Clermistonlee, who -(if Finland suspects truly) has a deep project to accomplish." - -"Heaven bless thee, good young man!" faltered the venerable Lady -Grizel, laying her small but wrinkled hands upon his shoulders, and -gazing on him with eyes that beamed with heartfelt gratitude. -"Alack! alack! my mind gangs back to the time when three hearts as -brave and as gentle as yours, grew up from heartsome youth to stately -manhood under this auld roof-tree; but, oh, waly! waly! the cauld -blast o' war laid my three fair flowers in the dust." - -A noise in the kitchen, and the loud voice of the halberdier calling -fresh sentinels, now caused them to hurry away. To conceal about -their persons such jewels and money as they could collect from the -cabinets in the chamber of dais, to muffle up in their hoods and -mantles, to give one glance of adieu to the portrait of the dark -cavalier above the fire-place, and another of gratitude to Walter -Fenton, were all the work of a minute,--and they were led forth to -the avenue. Grey morning was breaking in the east, and the black -ridge of Arthur's Seat stood in strong relief against the brightening -sky; the wind had died away, and the waning moon shone cold and dim -in the west, while, far to the northward, the dark opaque clouds were -piled in shadowy masses above the bold and striking outline of the -capital. There the great spire of the Gothic cathedral, the ramparts -of its rockbuilt fortress, the crenelated towers of the Flodden-wall, -and the streets within "piled deep and massy, close and high," were -all glimmering in the first pale rays of the dawn, though the valleys -below, and the woods around, were still sunk in the gloom and -obscurity of night. A sentinel challenged from the dark shadow of -the barbican wall, and his voice made the fugitives tremble with fear. - -"Dunbarton," answered Walter, and on receiving the password, the -soldier stept back. "And now, ladies, whence go ye?" - -"As God shall direct--to some of our faithful tenant bodies, for -safety and concealment," sobbed Lady Bruntisfield. - -"Poor Mr. Fenton!" murmured Lilian; "I tremble more for you than for -ourselves." - -"A long farewell to our gude auld barony of Bruntisfield and the -Wrytes--to main and holm, and wood and water," said Lady Grizel, -mournfully; "we stand under the shadow of its green sauchs and oak -woods for the last time. Once before I fled frae them, but that was -in the year fifty, when our natural enemies, the English, won that -doolfu' day at Dunbar, and again our hail plenishing will be ruined -and harried, as in the days o' the ruffianly and ungracious Puritans." - -"Not by us, Lady Bruntisfield," replied the young man, slightly -piqued; "we are the soldiers of the gallant Dunbarton, the old Royals -of Turenne, les Gardes Ecossais of a thousand battles and a thousand -glorious memories, and your mansion will be sacred as if in the hands -of so many apostles. Farewell, and God speed ye! Would that I could -accompany your desolate steps to some place of safety! but that would -discover all." They parted. - -"I have done," muttered Walter, striking his breast; "and from this -hour I am a lost man!" - -Hastily returning, he resumed his post, with his heart beating high -with the conflicting emotions of pleasure and apprehension. Youth -and beauty in suffering, danger, or humiliation, form naturally an -object of interest and compassion; but Walter, though pleased by the -conviction that he had done a good action, and one so fully involving -the gratitude of Lilian Napier and her haughty relative, felt a dread -of what was to ensue, weighing heavily on his mind; for the Scottish -privy council was then composed of men with whom the proudest noble -dared not to trifle, and before whom the pride and power of the great -Argyle, lord of a vast territory, and chief of the most powerful of -the western clans, bent like a reed beneath the storm. Poor Walter -reflected, that he was but a friendless and nameless volunteer, and -too well he knew that the council would not be cheated of their prey -without a terrible vengeance. - -Scarcely had he resumed his post in the corridor, when the serjeant, -whose brown visage was flushed with carousing, and whose corslet -braces were unclasped to give space for the quantity of viands he had -imbibed, reeled up with a relief of sentinels, all more or less in -the same condition. - -"All right, an't please you, Master Walter. I warrant you will be -tired of this post of honour, and longing for a leg of a devilled -capon, and a horn of the old butler's Rhenish." - -"I thought you had forgotten me, Wemyss. You will have a care, sir," -said Walter, addressing the soldier who relieved him, with a glance -that was not to be misunderstood, "that you do not disturb the ladies -by entering the chamber of dais; dost hear me, thou pumpkin-head?" - -"Rot me, Master Fenton, I have clanked my bandoleers before the tent -of Monsieur of France, and I need nae be learned now, how to keep -guard on king or knave, baron or boor. Dost think that I, who am the -son of an auld vassal of her ladyship's, would dragoon her out of -marching money?" - -"'Tis well," replied the pikeman, briefly, as he retired, not to the -kitchen, but to a solitary apartment prepared for him by the orders -of his old patron, the halberdier. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -A PAIR OF RAPIERS. - - If thou sleep alone in Urrard, - Perchance in midnight gloom, - Thoul't hear behind the wainscot - Of that old and darken'd room - A fleshless hand that knocketh----" - HIGHLAND MINSTRELSY. - - -In a dark old wainscotted apartment, in the small arched chimney of -which a coal fire was glowing cheerily, supper and wine were sullenly -laid for Walter by a sleepy and half-frightened servant; but the -first remained untouched and the last untasted, at least for a time. -Removing his burgonet and gloves, he sat with his elbow on the table -and his forehead on his hand, with his fingers writhed among his -thick dark locks. He was again sunk in one of his gloomy reveries; -but at times a smile of pleasure and animation unbent his haughty lip -and lit up his handsome face like sunlight through a cloud; and it -was evident he thought more of Lilian Napier's bright blue eyes, her -innocence, and her fears, than the dangers and ignominy to which -coming day would assuredly expose him. - -The mildness, modesty, and beauty of the young girl, with the -touching artlessness of her manner, had awakened a nearer and more -vivid interest in his heart, one to which it had hitherto been -utterly a stranger. It was the dawn of passion; never before, he -thought, had one so winning or so attractive crossed his path; he had -found at last the well-known face that his fancy had conjured up in a -thousand happy reveries, and he was predisposed to love it. Her -tears and affliction for the last relative (save one) whom fate and -war had left, had increased her natural attractions, and a keen sense -of her unmerited humiliation, and the risk he ran for her, by -knitting their names together, all tended to raise a glow in young -Walter's solitary heart; for having no living thing in this wide -world to cling to, it was peculiarly susceptible and open to -impressions of kindness and generosity; now it expanded with a flush -of happiness and delight to which since thoughtless childhood it had -been a stranger; and in a burst of soldierlike enthusiasm, he uttered -her name aloud, and drained the pewter flagon of Rhenish to the -bottom. - -As he set it down, a noise behind made him turn sharply round and -listen; nothing was visible but the dark stains of the wainscotting, -and its gilded pannels glistening ruddily in the glow of the fire. -From an antique brass sconce on the wall, the light of three great -candles burned steadily on the old discoloured floor, the massively -jointed arch of the fire-place, which bore a legend in Saxon -characters, on three old pictures by Jamieson, of cavaliers in -barrelled doublets, high ruffs, and peaked beards, and one of the -famous Barbara Napier of Bruntisfield, who so narrowly escaped the -stake for her sorceries, on a spectral suit of mail, and six old -heavily carved chairs, ranged against the wall like grotesque gnomes -with their arms akimbo; but although nothing was visible to create -alarm, the aspect of the chamber was so gloomy, that certain tales of -a spectre cavalier who haunted the old house, began to flit through -Walter's mind, and he could not resist listening intensely; still not -a sound was heard, but the wind rumbling in the hollow vent, and the -creaking of the turret vanes overhead. - -"Tush!" said he, and whether it was the faint echo of his own voice -or a sound again behind the wainscot, he knew not, but he palpably -heard something that made him bring the hilt of his long rapier more -readily to hand. The portraits, like all those of persons whom one -knows to have been long dead, when viewed by the dim candle-light had -a staring, desolate, and ghastly expression, and they really seemed -to "frown" over their high ruffs on the intruder, who would probably -have frowned in return, had he not, even in the harsh lines of the -old Scottish artist traced a family likeness to the soft features of -Lilian Napier. But there was a stern, keen and malignant expression -in the features of the old sorceress, Lady Barbara, that made Walter -often avert his eyes, for her sharp features seemed to start from the -pannel instinct with life and mockery. - -As sleep weighed down the eyelids of Walter, strange fancies pressed -thick and fast, though obscurely, on his mind; and though once or -twice the same faint hollow sound made him start and take another -survey of the apartment by the dim light of the sconce and dying -embers of the fire, his head bowed down on the table, and at last he -slumbered soundly. - -Scarcely had he sunk into this state when there was a sharp click -heard; a jarring sound succeeded, and on the opposite side of the -room, about three feet from the ground, a pannel in the wainscotting -was opened slowly and cautiously, and the bright glare of a large oil -cruise streamed into the darkened apartment. Beyond the aperture, -receded a gloomy alcove or secret passage, into the obscurity of -which the steps of a narrow stair ascended, and therein appeared the -figure of a man, who gazed cautiously upon the unconscious sleeper. -He was about thirty years of age, strongly formed, and possessing a -handsome but very weatherbeaten countenance. He wore a plain buff -coat and steel gorget; his waist was encircled by a broad belt, which -sustained a pair of long iron pistols of the Scottish fashion, and a -sharp narrow-bladed rapier glittered in his hand. - -Young Fenton still slept soundly. - -The stranger regarded him with a stern and louring visage, on which -the lurid light of the upraised cruise fell strongly. It betokened -some fell and deadly intention, and as the hostile ferocity of its -aspect increased as slowly, softly, and ominously he descended into -the apartment. - -"Through which part of the iron shell shall I strike this papistical -interloper?" he muttered; "I will teach thee, wretch, to think of -Lilian Napier in thy cups!" - -His right hand was withdrawn preparatory to making one furious and -deadly thrust, which assuredly would have ended this history (ere it -is well begun) had not the subject thereof started up suddenly, -exclaiming,-- - -"Back, rebel dog! on thy life, stand back!" and striking up the -thrust rapier, drew his own, and throwing a chair between him and his -adversary, he stood at once upon his guard. - -"Malediction!" cried the stranger, furiously, "dolt that I was not to -have pistolled thee from the pannel!" - -"Wemyss, Wemyss!" exclaimed Walter, "The guard--what; ho! without -there!" - -"Spare your breath, for you may need it all," said the other, putting -down his lamp, and barring the door. "This chamber is vaulted and -boxed, and long enough mayest thou bawl ere thy fellow-beagles hear -thee. Defend thyself, foul minion of the bloodiest tyrant that ever -disgraced a throne. Strike! for by the Heaven that is above, ere a -sword is sheathed, this floor must smoke with the blood of one or -both of us! Come on, Mr. Springald, and remember that you have the -honour to cross blades with the best swordsman in the six battalions -of the Scottish Brigade." - -"You are----" - -"Ha, scoundrel! Quentin Napier of Bruntisfield, by God's grace and -King William's, a captain of the Scots-Dutch; so fall on, for I am -determined to slay thee, were it but to keep my hand in practice for -better work." - -The blades crossed and struck fire as they clashed; each cavalier -remained a moment with his head drawn back, the right leg thrown -forward and his eyes glaring on his antagonist. Walter was ten years -younger than his adversary, upon whom he rushed with more ardour than -address, and consequently, in endeavouring to pass his point and -close, received a slight wound on the hand, which kindled him into a -terrible fury. Napier excelled him in temper, if not in skill; he -parried all his thrusts with admirable coolness, until, perceiving -that the youth's impetuosity began to flag, he pressed him in turn, -the ferocity that sparkled in his eyes and blanched his nether lip -revealing the bitterness of his intention; but in making one furious -lunge, he overthrust himself, and was struck down with his sword-hand -under him. Rage had deprived Walter of all government over himself; -in an instant his knee was on Napier's breast, and his sword -shortened in his hand with the intention of running him through the -heart, for his blood was now up, and all "the devil" was stirred -within him. He felt the deep broad chest of his powerful adversary -heaving beneath him with suppressed passion and fury. - -"Captain Napier," said Walter, "for the sake of her whose name and -blood you share--though you disgrace them--I will spare your life if -you will beg it at my hands." - -"Strike!" and he panted rather than breathed as he spoke; "Strike! -life would be less than worthless if given as a boon by Dunbarton's -beggarly brat. O, a thousand devils!--is it come to this with me?" - -"Peace, fool!" exclaimed Walter, "peace, lest your words tempt me to -destroy you. Accept life at my hands; they spared the blood of a -better man upon the field of Sedgemoor." - -"Be it so," replied the discomfitted captain, sullenly receiving his -rapier; "I accept it only that I may, at some future time, avenge in -blood the stain thou hast this night cast upon the best cavalier of -the Scottish Brigade." He ground his teeth. "D--nation! my throat -is burning--any wine here?" He drank some Rhenish from a flask, and -then continued, "Ho, ho, and now, since you know my hiding-place, -doubtless for the sake of the thousand marks this poor brain-pan is -worth, ye will deliver me unto our Scottish Phillistines--those Lords -of Council, who are steeped to the lips in infamy and blood!" - -"Perish the thought!" replied Walter, sheathing his rapier with a -jerk. "You are safe for me--and here is my thumb on't." - -"Gad so, young fellow, I love thy spirit, and at another's expense -could admire your skill in the noble science of defence. You fought -at Sedgemoor--so did I." - -"For the King?" - -"Why--not exactly." - -"For James of Monmouth?" - -"Humph!" - -"Then doubly are you a branded rebel." - -"I had been a glorious patriot, had we won that bloody field. Young -fellow, you must have early cocked your feather to the tuck of the -drum! Art a Papist?" - -"Nay, I am a good Protestant, I hope." - -"And loyal to our Seventh James, the crowned Jesuit? Der tuyvel, as -we say in Holland, 'tis a miracle!" and after drinking from the -wine-flask, he resumed with greater urbanity, "When I remember how -you permitted the Lady Bruntisfield and my kinswoman Lilian to -escape, it shames me that I was not more generous; but the devil -tempted me to blood in that infernal hole to which I must return." - -"Now, sir, since the ladies are gone, you will undoubtedly starve." - -"Nay, the whole household know of my concealment, and old Drouthy -will not let me want for wine and vivres." - -"They may inform." - -"O never! I am their lady's only kinsman--the last of the good old -line, and they are staunch servitors; a few among those, whom the -courtly villany of these times hath left uncorrupted. 'Tis well I -know all the outlets of the mansion, for it will become quite too hot -for me after to-night. No doubt a band of your soldiers will be here -at free quarters until the whole barony, outfield and infield, are as -bare as my hand." - -"In part, you anticipate rightly." - -"Henckers! then I must shift my camp among our whig friends in the -west until----" - -"Until what?" asked Walter, suspiciously. - -"Thou shalt learn anon, and so shall all thy faction with a -vengeance!" replied the captain, while a deep smile spread over his -features. "Meantime adieu, and may God keep us separate, friend! I -trust to thine honour." - -"Adieu!" - -He sprang into the secret passage, closed the pannel, and Walter -heard his footsteps dying away as he ascended into the hollow -recesses of the thick wall, and sought some of those secret -hiding-places with which this ancient mansion abounded more than any -other edifice in or around Edinburgh. - -Morning came, and with it came an order from the king's advocate to -bring the prisoners before the privy council, and to secure the -persons of their entire household for future examination and -thumb-screwing, if necessary. - -The multiplied lamentations and exclamations of fear and sorrow, -which rang through the house of Bruntisfield on the arrival of Macer -Maclutchy, with this terrible fiat (which he announced with all the -jack-in-office insolence peculiar to himself), and the clank of -musquets and din of high words in the corridor or ambulatory, roused -Walter from a second short but sound sleep, and starting, he raised -his head from the table on which he had reclined. - -Redly and merrily the rays of the morning sun rising above the oak -woods streamed through the grated window of the chamber, and threw a -warm glow on its dark-brown wainscotting. It was a sunny March -morning, and the old oaks were tossing their leafless branches on the -balmy wind; the black corbies cawed on their summits, and the lesser -birds twittered and chirped from spray to spray; the clear sky was -flecked with fleecy clouds, and its pure azure was reflected in the -still bosom of the long and beautiful loch, that stretched away -between its wooded banks towards the east, where the old house of -Gilford and the craigs of Salisbury closed the background. - -Walter felt his bruises still smarting from the recent struggle; he -examined the place of his fierce visitor's exit, but failed to -discover the least trace of it; every pannel fitted close, and was -immovable, for he knew not the secret. The whole combat appeared -like a dream; but a scar on his hand, a notch or two on his sword, -and several overturned chairs, still remained to attest the truth of -it. Hastening to unfasten the door which Quentin Napier had secured -with such deadly intentions, a little glove on the floor attracted -his eye. He snatched it up. It was very small, and of richly worked -lace, tied by a blue ribbon. - -"She has worn this. Oh, 'tis quite a prize," said the young man as -he kissed it, and laughing at himself for doing so, placed it within -the top of his corslet. - -"My certie, here is a braw bit o' wark and a bonnie!" exclaimed Macer -Maclutchy, bustling into the room. "Here is an order from the king's -advocat to bring the leddies o' Bruntisfield to the Laigh Council -House instanter, and the chamber o' dais is empty, toom as a -whistle,--the birds clean awa, and the gomeral that stood by the door -kens nae mair about them than an unchristened wean. My word on't, -lads," he continued flourishing his badge of office, "some here maun -kiss the maiden or climb the gallows for last night's wark!" - -After swearing an oath or two, which appeared to give him infinite -relief in his perplexity, - -"Master Walter," said the old halberdier, "here is a devilish piece -of business--an overslagh, as we used to say in Flanders. Rot me! I -have searched every place that would hold a mouse, but the prisoners -are not to be found! I have pricked with my dagger every bed, board, -and bunker, and so sure as the devil--make answer, Halbert -Elshender," he cried, shaking the sentinel roughly by his bandoliers, -"answer me, or I will truncheon thee in such wise, thou shalt never -shoulder musket more. Fause knave! where are the prisoners over whom -I posted ye?" - -"A lang day's march on the road to hell, I hope--the old one, at -least," responded the musqueteer, sullenly; "dost think I have them -under my corslet?" - -"Faith! General Dalyel will let ye ken, friend Hab, that a thrawn -craig or six ounce bullets are the price Scottish of winking on duty. -Ye'll be shot like a cock-patrick. I pity thee, Hab--d--mme if I -don't; you've blawn your matches by my side on many a hot day's work, -and bleezed away your bandoliers in the face o' English, Dutch, and -German; but my heart granes for the punishment ye'll dree." - -"You are all either donnart or drunk!" exclaimed the incensed -soldier; "if the ladies were in the chamber when I first mounted -guard, I swear by my father's soul, they are there yet for me. I -neither slept nor stirred from the door; so they maun either have -flown up the lum or whistled through the keyhole----" - -"Didst ever hear of a noble lady playing cantrips o' witchcraft like -a wife o' the Kailmercat, or that auld whaislin besom, your mother, -down by St. Roque?" - -"What for no?--it rins in the family, this same science o' -witchcraft, gif a' tales be true." - -"See if such a braw story will pass muster with Sir Thomas Dalyel. -Cocknails! I think I see every hair o' his lang beard glistening and -bristling with rage!" - -"And he will mind that my father was a staunch vassal o' the -Napiers!" added the poor musqueteer, in great consternation at the -idea of confronting that ferocious commander. "What can I do or -say?--O help me, Master Walter! Would to God I had been piked or -shot at Sedgemoor!" - -"Wemyss," said Walter, advancing at this juncture, just as the -serjeant was unbuckling the soldier's collar of bandoliers. "The -ladies are gone where I hope none, save friends, will find them. -Elshender is innocent, for I freed them, and must bear the punishment -for doing so; but next time, comarade Hab, you take over such a post, -see that your wards are in it." - -"I had your word, Mr. Fenton," replied the musqueteer in a voice -between sorrow and joy; "your word at least in the sense, and we -alway deemed you a gentleman of honour, though but a puir soldier-lad -like mysel." - -"True, true," replied Walter, colouring; "will not the generosity of -my purpose excuse the deceit?" - -"Why, Mr. Fenton, I wish weel to the auld house, for I was born and -bred under its shadow, and mony o' my kin hae laid down their lives -in its service, and I can excuse it----" - -"D'ye think my Lord Chancellor will, though?" asked the Macer -sharply, as he bustled forward, "or His Majesty's advocat for His -Majesty's interest?" - -"Or Sir Thomas Dalyel o' the Binns?" added the serjeant testily. "O! -what is this o't noo--after I, from a skirling brat, had made a man -and a soldier of thee? O! 'tis an unco scrape--a devilish coil of -trouble, and I wish you weel out o't. Retain your sword, my puir -child, but consider yourself under close ward until orders come anent -ye. D--me! I once marched three hundred prisoners from Zutphen to -French Flanders, among them the noble Count of Bronkhorst himsel, and -never lost but one man whom I pistolled for calling me a hireling -Scot, that sold my king for a groat, whilk I considered as a taunt -appertaining to the Covenanters alone. Gowk and gomeral, boy, what -devil tempted thee to----but why ask? Yon pawkie gipsey's blue -een----" - -"Hush!" - -"Hae thrown a glamour owre ye. Wherever women bide, there will -mischief be. 'Tis a kittle job! What a pumpkin-head I was not to -keep watch and ward mysel. Rot me! a young quean's skirling, or a -carlin's greeting would hae little effect on me, for I have heard -muckle o' baith in my time. Did no thought of our Council prevent ye -running your head in the cannon's mouth?" - -"No; I saw women in distress, Wemyss, and acted as my heart dictated." - -"Had they been two auld carlins with hairy chins, gobber teeth, -wrinkled faces, and hands like corbies' claws, I doubt not your -tender heart would have dictated otherwise. But when next I set a -handsome young lad to watch a young lass, may the great de'il spit -me, and mak my ain halbert his toasting fork!" - -"Ay, ay," muttered Macer Maclutchy, whose jaws were busily devouring -all the good things he could collect in buffet or almrie; "auld -Hornie may do so in the end, whatever comes to pass." - -"O Willie Wemyss, Willie Wemyss!" quoth the veteran halberdier -apostrophizing himself; "dark dool be on the hour that brings this -disgrace upon thee, after five and thirty years o' hard and faithful -service, under La Tour d'Avergne, Crequy, Condé, and Dunbarton! The -deil's in ye, Walter Fenton! You were aye a moody and melancholy -cheild, and I ever thought ye were born under some ill star, as the -spaewives say." - -"Braw spark though he be," said the Macer, "he's come o' the true -auld covenanting spawn, Mr. Wemyss--and birds o' a feather--here's -luck, serjeant, and better times to us a'"; and so saying he buried -his flushed visage in a vast flagon of foaming ale. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE OLD TOLBOOTH. - -Whether I was brought into this world by the usual human helps and -means, or was a special creation, might admit of some controversy, as -I have never known the name of parent or of kindred.--THE -IMPROVISITORE. - - -Many of the citizens of Edinburgh may remember the old Bank close, -and the edifice about to be described. On the west side of that -narrow street, which descended abruptly on the southern side of the -city's central hill, stood in former days a house of massive -construction and sombre aspect. Its walls were enormously thick and -elaborately jointed; its passages narrow, dark, and devious; its -stairs ascended and descended in secret corners, and one led to the -paved bartizan, which formed the roof. Many of its gloomy chambers -were vaulted. Over its small and heavy doorway appeared the date -1569, encrusted by smoke and worn with time. The whole aspect of the -edifice was peculiarly dismal; the walls were black as if coated over -with soot, the windows were thickly grated with rusted iron -stanchells, and sunk in massive frames, the little panes were -obscured by the dust and cobwebs of years. - -It was the ancient prison of the city. In older days it had been -built by a rich citizen named Gourlay, and had held within its walls -the ambassadors of England and France. From its strength it had been -converted into a Tolbooth, and was used as such until the time of the -Solemn League and Covenant, when the spacious and more famous prison -was adopted for that purpose; but the older, darker, more obscure, -and more horrid place of confinement was still used at this time. - -A party of the ancient City Guard, armed with swords and Lochaber -axes, buff coats, and steel bonnets, occupied one of the lower -apartments entering from the turnpike stair, at the foot of which -stood a sentinel with his axe, before the door, which though small, -was a solid mass of iron-studded oak, bolts and long bars. - -In a small but desolate chamber of this striking old edifice--the -same in which the hapless Earl of Argyle passed the night of the 29th -June, 1685, his last in the land of the living--Walter Fenton was -confined a prisoner, while the Reverend Mr. Ichabod Bummel, Mr. -Drouthy the butler, and other servitors of Lady Bruntisfield, were in -close durance in the greater or upper Tolbooth. The roof, the walls, -and the floor of this squalid apartment were all of squared stones, -stained with damp and scrawled over with hideous visages, pious -sentences, and reckless obscenity. Its only window was thickly -grated within and without, and there in the sickly light the busy -spiders spun their webs from bar to bar in undisturbed industry. It -opened to a narrow, dark, and steep Close of dreary aspect; the -opposite houses were only one yard distant, and ten stories high; the -alley was like a chasm or fissure; a single ray of sunlight streamed -down it, and penetrating the cobwebs and dust of the prison window, -radiated through its deep embrasure, and threw the iron gratings in -strong shadow on the paved floor. Though the day was a chill one, in -March, there was no fire under the small archway, where one should -have been, and the only articles of furniture were a coarse and heavy -table like a carpenter's bench, a miserable palliasse on a truckle -bedstead, and a water flagon of Flemish pewter. One or two rusty -chains hung from enormous blocks in the dirty walls, for the more -secure confinement of prisoners who might be more than usually -dangerous or refractory, and the whole tout ensemble of the chamber -when viewed by the dim and fast-fading light of the evening was -cheerless, desolate, and disgusting. - -The day had passed away, and now, divested of his gay accoutrements, -and clad in a plain unlaced frock of grey cloth, the young prisoner -awaited impatiently, perhaps apprehensively, the hour that would -bring him before that terrible council whose lawless will was -nevertheless the law of the land. Sunk in moody reverie, he remained -with his arms folded, and his head sunk forward on his breast. - -The shadow of the grating on the floor grew less and less distinct, -for as the light faded, his vaulted prison became darker, until all -became blackness around him. Anon the pallid moon rose slowly into -its place, and from the blue southern sky poured a cold but steady -flood of silver light into the cheerless room, and again, for a time, -the shadow of the massive grating was thrown on the discoloured -floor. All around it was involved in obscurity, from amid which the -damp spots on the walls seemed like great and hideous visages, -mocking and staring at the captive. - -Bitter were the thoughts, and sad the memories that thronged fast -upon the mind of Walter Fenton; his dark eyes were lit, his lip -compressed, but there were none to behold the changes; his handsome -features were alternately clouded by chagrin, contracted by anger, -and softened by love. Though ever proud in spirit, and fired by an -inborn nobility of soul, never until now did he feel so keenly the -dependence of his situation, or so fierce a longing for an -opportunity when by one brilliant act of heroism and courage, he -might place himself for ever above his fortune, or--die. And Lilian! -O it was the thought of her alone that raised these vivid aspirations -to their utmost pitch; but his heart sank, and even hope--the lover's -last rallying point--faded away when he pictured the difference of -their fortunes and positions in life. Scotland was then a country -where pride of birth was carried to excess; and a remnant of that -feeling still exists among us. He reflected that he was poor and -nameless, compelled from infancy to eat the bread of dependence and -mortification, and now in manhood, having no other estate than his -sword and a ring, which, as he had often told Lilian with a smile -(and he knew not how prophetically he spoke) "contained the secret of -his life:" she the representative of a long line of illustrious -barons, whose shields had shewn their blazons on the fields of -Bannockburn, Sark, and Arkinholme, the inheritrix of their honours, -their pride, and their possessions. Poor Walter! but he was too -thoroughly in love to lose courage altogether. - -As a boy, he had sighed for Lilian, and he felt his enthusiasm -kindled by her gentleness and infantile beauty, for then his heart -knew not the great gulf which a few years would open up between them. -The ardour of his temperament made him now feel alternately despair -and hope--but the latter feeling predominated, for though the clergy -railed at wealth and all the good things of this life, and took -peculiar care to enjoy a good share thereof--the world was not so -intensely selfish then as it is now, for a high spirit and a bold -heart, when united to a gallant bearing, a velvet cloak, a tall -feather, and a long sword, were valued more than an ample purse by -the young ladies of that age, who were quite used to find in their -ponderous folio romances, how beautiful and disinterested queens and -princesses bestowed their hands, hearts, and kingdoms on those -valiant knights-errant and penniless cavaliers, who alone, or by the -aid of a single faithful squire, freed them from enchanted castles, -and slew the wicked enchanters, giants, gnomes, and fire-vomiting -dragons who had persecuted them from childhood. - -To resume: poor Walter was intensely sad, for deeply at that moment -he experienced the desolate feeling, that he was utterly alone in -this wide world, and that within all its ample space there existed -not one being with whom he could claim kindred. He felt that it was -all a blank, a void to him; but his thoughts went back to those days -when the suppression of the rising at Bothwell, struck terror and -despair into the hearts of the Presbyterians, and filled the dungeons -of the Scottish castles, and the Tolbooths of the cities with the -much-enduring adherents of the Covenant, beneath the banner of which -his father was supposed to have died with his sword in his hand--so -with her dying lips had his mother told him, and his heart swelled -and his eye moistened, as he recalled the time, the place, and her -tremulous accents, with a vivid distinctness that wrung his breast -with the tenderest sorrow, even after the lapse of so many years. - -During the summer of 1679 those citizens of Edinburgh, whose mansions -commanded a view of the Grey friars kirkyard, beheld from their -windows a daily scene of suffering such as had never before been seen -in Scotland. - -This ancient burial-place lies to the south of the long ridge -occupied by the ancient city; it is spacious, irregular, and -surrounded by magnificent tombs, many of them being of great -antiquity, and marking the last resting-places of those who were -eminent for their virtues and talents, or distinguished by their -birth. It is a melancholy place withal. For three hundred years -never a day has passed without many persons being interred there; and -the hideous clay, the yellow and many-coloured loam, that had once -lived and breathed, and loved and spoken, has now risen several feet -above the adjacent street, against the walls of the great old church -in the centre, and has buried the basements of the quaint and dark -monuments that surround it. The inscriptions and grotesque carving -of the latter, have long since been encrusted and blackened by the -smoke of the city, or worn and obliterated by the corroding and fetid -atmosphere of the great grave-yard. There is not a spot in all the -Lothians where the broad-leaved docken, the rank dog-grass, the long -black nettle, and other weeds grow so luxuriantly, for terrible is -the mass of human corruption, for ever festering and decaying beneath -the verdant turf. - -In the year before mentioned, this ancient city of the dead was -crowded to excess with those unhappy non-conformists whom the prisons -could not contain, for already were their gloomy dungeons and squalid -chambers filled with the poor, the miserable, and devoted -Covenanters. Strong guards and chains of sentinels watched by day -and night the walls of the burial-ground; and then the buff-coated -dragoon, with his broadsword and carbine, and the smart musqueteer, -with his dagger and matchlock, were ever on the alert to deal instant -death as the penalty of any attempt to escape. The rising at -Bothwell had been quenched in blood; and these unhappy people had -been collected--principally from Bathgate--by the cavalry employed in -riding down the country, and being driven like a herd of cattle to -the capital, were penned up in the old churchyard. And there, for -months, they lay in hundreds, exposed to the scorching glare of the -sun by day, and the chill dew by night--the rain and the wind and the -storm! God's creatures, formed in his own image, reduced to the -level of the hare and the fox, with no other canopy than the changing -sky, and no other bed than the rank grass, reeds, and nettles, that -sprung in such hideous luxuriance from the fetid graves beneath them. - -It was a sorrowful sight; for there was the strong and athletic -peasant, with his true Scottish heart of stubborn pride and -rectitude, his weak and tender wife with her little infants, his aged -and infirm parents. Their miseries increasing as day by day their -numbers diminished, and other burial-mounds, fresh and earthy, rose -amid the hollow-eyed survivors to mark the last homes of other -martyrs in the cause of "the oppressed Kirk and broken Covenant." -And all this terrible amount of mental misery and bodily suffering -was accumulated within the walls of the capital, amid the noisy and -busy streets of a densely peopled city--and for what? -Religion--religion, under whose wide mantle so many thousand -atrocities have been committed by men of every creed and age; and -because these poor peasants had resolved to worship God after the -spirit of their own hearts, and the fashion of their fathers. - -When the Duke of Albany and York (afterwards James VII.) came to -Edinburgh, the persecution was not continued with such rigour; but -the progress of time never overcame the resolution of the -covenanters, though many noble families were reduced to poverty, -exile, and ruin, while their brave and moral tenantry suffered -famine, torture, imprisonment, and every severity that tyrannical -misgovernment could inflict, until the Presbyterians were driven to -the verge of despair; intrigues with the Prince of Orange were set on -foot, and for some years a storm had been gathering, which, in the -shape of a Dutch invasion, was soon to burst over the whole of -Britain. - -Walter's memory went back to those days, when, amid the tombs and -graves of that old kirk-yard, he had nestled, a little and wailing -child, on the bosom of his mother, who, imprisoned there among the -"common herd," had soon sunk under the combined effects of exposure, -starvation, degradation, and sorrow; and he remembered when coiled up -within her mantle and plaid, how he hid his little face in her fair -neck, trembling with cold and fear in dreary nights, when the moon -streamed its light between the flying clouds upon the vast and -desolate church and its thick grave-mounds, with the long reedy grass -waving on their solemn and melancholy ridges. - -A mystery hung over the fortune of Walter Fenton. Of his family he -knew nothing further than that his mother's name was Fenton, and his -own was Walter, for so she had been wont to call him. Of his father -he knew nothing, save that he had never been seen since the cavalry -of Claverhouse swept over the Bridge of Bothwell, scattering its -defenders in death and defeat. He had heard that his father there -held high command, but was supposed to have perished either in the -furious _mêlée_ on the bridge, or in the stream beneath it. -Concealing her rank in the disguise of a peasant, his mother had been -found in the vicinity of the battle-field, was arrested as a -suspected person, sent to Edinburgh, and imprisoned with other -unfortunates in the old church-yard. - -Poor Walter used to remember with pleasure that they had always -remained aloof from the other prisoners, and were treated by them -with marked respect. Their usual shelter was under the great -mausoleum of the Barons of Coates, the quaint devices and antique -sculpture of which had often raised his childish fear and wonder; he -recalled through the struggling and misty perceptions of infancy, how -day by day her fair features became paler and more attenuated, her -eye more sunken and ghastly, her voice more tremulous and weak, and -her strength even less than his own; for (he had heard the soldiers -say) she had been a tenderly nurtured and fragile creature, unable to -endure the hardships to which she was subjected; and so she perished -among the first that died there. - -One morning the little boy raised his head from the coarse plaid -which on the previous night her feeble hands had wrapped around him, -and called as usual for her daily kiss; he twisted his dimpled -fingers in the masses of her silky hair, and laid his smiling face to -hers--it was cold as the marble tomb beside them; he shrank back, and -again called upon her, but her still lips gave no reply; he stirred -her--she did not move. Then, struck by the peculiar, the terrible -aspect of her pale and once beautiful face, the ghastly eyes and -relaxed jaw, the child screamed aloud on the mother that heard him no -more. He dreaded alike to remain or to fly; for, alas! there was no -other in whose arms he could find a refuge. - -A soldier approached. He was a white-haired veteran, who had looked -on many a battle-field, and speaking kindly to the desolate child, he -gently stirred the dead woman with his halberd. - -"Is this thy mother, my puir bairn?" said he. - -The child answered only by his tears, and hid his face in the grass. - -"Come away with me, my little mannikin," continued the soldier, "for -thy mother hath gone to a better and bonnier place than this." - -"Take me there too," sobbed the child, clinging to the soldier's -hand; "oh, take me there too." - -"By my faith, little one, 'tis a march I am not prepared for yet--but -our parson will tell you all about it. Tush! I know the flams of -the drum better than how to expound the text; so come away, my puir -bairn; thy mother, God rest her, is in good hands, I warrant. Come -away; and rot me, if thou shalt want while old Willie Wemyss of the -Scots' Musqueteers, hath a bodle in his pouch, or a bannock in his -havresack." - -By the good-hearted soldier he was carried away in a paroxysm of -childish grief and terror; and he saw his mother no more. - -By the beauty of her person, the exceeding whiteness of her hands, -and a very valuable ring found with her, she was supposed to be of -higher rank than her peasant's attire indicated; and those apparent -proofs of a superior birth, the soldiers never omitted an opportunity -of impressing upon Walter as he grew older; and cited innumerable Low -Country legends and old Scottish traditions, wherein certain heroes -just so circumstanced, had become great personages in the end; and -Walter was taught to consider that there was no reason why he should -be an exception. But _who_ his mother was, had unfortunately -remained locked in her own breast; whether from excessive debility -and broken spirit she lacked strength to communicate with the other -captives, or whether she feared to do so, could not be known now; her -secret was buried with her, and thus a mystery was thrown over the -fortune of the little boy, which through life caused him to be -somewhat of a moody and reflective nature. - -William Wemyss, a veteran serjeant of Dunbarton's musqueteers, became -his patron and protector; and a love and friendship sprang up between -them, for the orphan had none other to cling to. Wemyss often led -him to the old churchyard, and showed him the grave where his mother -lay--where the soldiers had interred her; and there little Walter, -overcome by the mystery that involved his fate, and the loneliness of -his heart, wept bitterly; for the soldier, though meaning well, was -rather like one of Job's comforters, and painted his dependance in -such strong colours, and reminded him how narrowly he had escaped -being hanged or banished as "a covenanter's spawn," that the heart of -the poor boy swelled at times almost to breaking. Then the soldier -would desire him to pray for his mother, and made him repeat a -curious but earnest prayer full of quaint military technicalities, in -which the good old halberdier saw nothing either unusual or outré. -Often little Fenton came alone to seek that well-known grave, to -linger and to sit beside it, for it was the only part of all broad -Scotland that his soul clung to. The weeds were now matted over it, -and the waving nettles half hid the humble stone, which with his own -hands the kind soldier had placed there. Walter always cleared away -those luxuriant weeds, and though they stung his hands, he felt them -not. It was a nameless grave too, for the real name of her who slept -within it was unknown to him; and the desolate child often stretched -himself down on the turf, burying his face in the long grass, and -weeping, as he had done in infancy on the poor bosom that mouldered -beneath, retraced in memory, days of wandering and misfortune, of -danger and sorrow, which he could not comprehend. Time, and that -lightness of heart which is incident to youth, enabled him at last to -view the grave with composure; but he sought it not the less, until -after his return from Sedgemoor; he hastened to the well-known place, -but, alas! the grave had been violated, and the charm of grief was -broken for ever. _Another_ had been buried there; the earth was -freshly heaped up; and he rushed away, to return no more. - -From childhood to youth the old Serjeant was his only protector: -though poor, he was a kind and sincere one; and the little boy became -the pet of the musqueteers. - -A child, a dog, or a monkey is always an object of regard to an old -soldier or sailor; for the human heart must love something. - -Little Walter carried the halberdier's can of egg-flip when he -mounted guard, learned to make up bandoliers of powder, polish a -corslet, to rattle dice on a drumhead, and to beat on the drum -itself; to fight with rapier and dagger; to handle a case of -falchions like any sword-player; and became an adept at every game of -chance, from kingly chess, to homely touch-and-take. He learned to -drink "Confusion to the Covenant," in potent usquebaugh without -winking once, and swear a few cavalier-like oaths. Like all such -pets, he was often boxed severely, and roundly cursed too, at the -caprice of his numerous masters, until the poor boy would have been -altogether lost, his ideas corrupted, and his manners tainted by the -roughness of camp and garrison, had not his humble patron been -ordered away on the Tangier expedition; and being unable to take his -little protégé with him, bethought him of craving the bounty of his -commander's wife, the Countess of Dunbarton, a beautiful young -English woman, who was the belle of the capital and the idol of the -Scottish cavaliers. Struck with the soldier's story, envying his -generosity, pitying the little boy, and pleased with his candour and -beauty, she immediately took him under protection, adopting him as -her page; and never was there seen a handsomer youth than Walter -Fenton, when his coarse attire (a cast doublet of the serjeant) was -exchanged for a coat of white velvet slashed with red and laced with -gold, breeches and stockings of silk, a sash, a velvet cloak, and -silver-hilted poniard; and his dark-brown hair curled and perfumed by -Master Peter Pouncet, the famous frizzeur in the Bow. He parted in a -flood of tears from his old patron, who slipped into his pocket a -purse the Countess had bestowed on himself, drew his leather glove -across his eyes, and hurried away. - -At Lady Dunbarton's he had often seen Lilian Napier; she was then a -little girl, and always accompanied her tall and stately relative in -the vast old rumbling coach, with its two footmen behind and -outriders in front, armed with sword and carbine; for the noble dame -set forth in great state on all visits of ceremony. Lady Grizel's -majestic aspect and frigid stateliness scared and awed the little -footpage; but the prattle of the fair-haired Lilian soothed and -charmed him, and he soon learned to love the little girl, to call her -his sister, to be joyous when she came, and to be sad when she -departed. - -Young Walter, from his well-knit figure, and a determined aspect -which he had acquired by his camp education, was as great a favourite -among the starched little damoiselles of the Countess's -withdrawing-room, as his clenched fist and bent brows made him a -terror at times to the little cavaliers whose jealousy he excited; -and his military preceptors (the old Royals, then battling and -broiling at Tangiers) had inculcated a pugnacity of disposition that -sometimes was very troublesome; and he once proceeded so far as to -d--n the old Dowager of Drumsturdy pretty roundly, and draw his -poniard on the young lord her son, who, with his companions, had -mocked him as "a covenanter's brat." The Countess made him crave -pardon of the little noble, and they shook hands like two -cut-and-thrust gallants of six feet high. - -But when their companions, with childish malevolence, taunted poor -Walter as "my lord's loon," "the soldier's varlet," or "the powder -puggy," epithets which always kindled his rage and drew tears from -his eyes, Lilian, ever gentle and kind, wept with him, espoused his -cause, and told that "Walter's mother was a noble lady, for the -Countess had her ring of gold;" and the influence of the little -nymph, with her cheeks like glowing peaches, and her bright hair -flowing in sunny ringlets around a face ever beaming with -happiness--was never lost, or failed to maintain peace among them. -And thus days passed swiftly into years, and the girl was twelve and -the boy sixteen when they were separated. Walter followed his noble -patron to the field, when the landing of Argyle in the west, and -Monmouth in the south, threw Britain into a flame. Dunbarton, now a -general officer, marched with the Scottish forces against the former; -but Walter, as a volunteer, served under Colonel Halkett, with a -battalion of Scottish musqueteers, at the battle of Sedgemoor, where -he felt what it was to have lead bullets rebounding from his buff -coat and headpiece. Since then he had been serving as a private -gentleman; but in a country like Scotland, swarming with idle young -men of good birth and high spirit, who despised every occupation save -that of arms, preferment came not, and he had too often experienced -the mortification of seeing others obtain what he justly deemed his -due, the commission of King James VII. - -His recent interview with Lilian had recalled in full force all the -friendship of their childhood and the dawning love of older years; -but the manner in which he was now involved with the supreme -authorities seemed to destroy all his hopes for ever--in Scotland at -least; and yet, though that reflection wrung his heart, so little did -he regret the part he had acted, that for Lilian's sake he would -willingly run again, a hundred-fold greater risk. The last three -years of his life had been spent amid the stirring turmoil of -military duty in a discontented country, where each succeeding day -the spirit of insurrection grew riper. In the rough society with -which he mingled, never had he been addressed by a female so fair in -face and so winning in manner as Lilian of Bruntisfield; and thus the -charm of her presence acted more powerfully upon him. Her accents of -entreaty and distress--her affection for Lady Grizel struggling with -anxiety for himself, had in one brief interview recalled all the soft -and happy impressions of his earlier and more innocent days, and love -obtained a sway over his heart, that made him for a time forget his -own dangerous predicament, in pondering with pleasure on the -mortifications from which he had saved the ladies of Bruntisfield, -the risks he had run for their sake, and consequently the debt of -gratitude they owed him. - -From his breast he drew forth her glove a hundred times, to admire -its delicate texture and diminutive form; but he could not repress a -bitter sigh when contemplating how slight were the chances of his -ever again beholding the gentle owner, now when both unhappily were -under the ban of the law,--she a homeless fugitive, and he a close -prisoner, with death, imprisonment, or distant service in the Scots' -Brigade his only prospects. Even were it otherwise,--and, oh! this -idea was more tormenting than the first,--her heart might be -dedicated to another; and she might, with the true pride of a noble -Scottish maiden, deem it an unpardonable presumption in the poor and -unhonoured pikeman to raise his eyes to the heiress of Sir Archibald -Napier of Bruntisfield and the Wrytes. And thus, having introduced -to the reader the grand feature upon which our story must "hinge," we -shall get on with renewed ardour. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE LAIGH COUNCIL HOUSE. - - Ye holy martyrs, who with wond'rous faith, - And constancy unshaken have sustained - The rage of cruel men and fiery persecutions; - Come to my aid and teach me to defy - The malice of this fiend! - TAMERLANE. - - -The moon had passed westward; the close was gloomy as a chasm; and -Walter's prison became dark as a cave in the bowels of a mountain. -The clank of chains and bars as the door was opened roused the -prisoner from his waking dreams; a yellow light flashed along the -heavily jointed stone walls, and the harsh unpleasant voice of Macer -Maclutchy cried authoritatively-- - -"Maister Walter Fenton!--now, then, come forth instanter. Ye are -required by the Lords of the Privy Council." - -A thrill shot through Walter's heart: he endeavoured in vain to -suppress it, and, taking up his plain beaver hat, which was looped -with a ribbon and cockade à la Monmouth in the military fashion, he -descended the narrow spiral stair, preceded by the macer carrying his -symbol of office on his right shoulder, and attired in a long flowing -black gown. Two of the Town-guard, with their pole-axes, and -Dunbraiken their captain,--a portly citizen, whose vast paunch, cased -in corslet and backpiece, made him resemble a mighty tortoise -erect,--kept close behind; and thus escorted, Walter set out from his -prison, to appear before a select committee of the dreaded Privy -Council of Scotland. - -Encumbered by his long official garb, Macer Maclutchy's step was none -of the most steady. He was evidently after his evening potations at -Lucky Dreeps; he wore his bonnet cocked well forward; and such a -provoking smirk of vulgar importance pervaded his features when, from -time to time, he surveyed his prisoner, that the latter was only -restrained by the axes behind from knocking him down. - -In those days the hour of dinner was about one or two o'clock; but as -the Earl of Perth, the Lords Clermistonlee, Mersington, and others -loved their wine too well to leave it soon for dry matters of state, -and the thumbscrewing of witches and non-conformists, the evening was -far advanced before Walter Fenton was summoned for examination in the -Laigh Chamber, where the Council held their meetings under the -Parliament Hall, in a dark and gloomy region, where lights are always -burned even yet during the longest days of summer. - -Passing a narrow pend or archway (where, in the following year, the -Lord President Lockhart was shot by Chiesly of Dairy), Walter and his -conductors issued into the dark and deserted Lawnmarket, passed the -Heart of Midlothian, from the western platform of which, the black -beam of the gibbet stretched its ghastly arm in the moonlight,--and -reached the antique Parliament Square, a quadrangle of quaint -architecture, which had recently been graced by a beautiful statue of -Charles II. On one side rose the square tower and gigantic façade of -St. Giles, with its traceried windows, its rich battlements and -carved pinnacles all glittering in the moonlight, which poured aslant -over several immense piles of building raised on Venetian arcades, -and made all the windows of the Goldsmiths' Hall glitter with the -same pale lustre that tipped the round towers of the Tolbooth, the -square turrets and circular spire of the Parliament House, the whole -front of which was involved in opaque and gloomy shadow, from which -the grand equestrian statue of King Charles, edged by the glorious -moonlight, stood vividly forth like a gigantic horseman of polished -silver. - -The square was silent and still, as it was black and gloomy. A faint -chorus stole on the passing wind, and then died away. It came from -the hostel, or coffee-house, of Hugh Blair, a famous vintner, whose -premises were under the low-browed and massive piazza before -mentioned. The deep ding-dong of the cathedral bell, vibrating -sonorously from the great stone chambers of the tower, made Walter -start. It struck the hour of nine, and, save its echoes dying away -in the hollow aisles and deep vaults of the ancient church, no other -sound broke the silence of the place; and Walter felt a palpable -chill sinking heavily on his spirit, when, guided by the macer, they -penetrated the cold shade of the quadrangle, and by a richly carved -doorway were admitted into the lobby of the house, which was spacious -and lofty enough to be the hall of a lordly castle. From thence -another door gave admittance into that magnificent place of assembly -where once the estates of Scotland met-- - - "Ere her faithless sons betrayed her." - - -Its rich and intricate roof towered far away into dusky obscurity; -its vast space and lofty walls of polished stone echoed hollowly to -their footsteps; and the bright moon, streaming through the mullioned -and painted windows, threw a thousand prismatic hues on the oaken -floor, on the grotesque corbels, and innumerable knosps and gilded -pendants of its beautiful roof,--on the crimson benches of the -peers,--on the throne, with its festooned canopy,--on the dark -banners and darker paintings, bringing a hundred objects into strong -relief, sinking others in sombre shadow, and tipping with silver the -square-bladed axes and conical helmets of the Town-guardsmen as they -passed the great south oriel, with its triple mullions and heraldic -blazonry. - -From thence steep, narrow, and intricate stairs led them to the -regions of the political Inquisition, and the wind that rushed upward -felt cold and dewy as they descended. At the bottom there branched -off a variety of stone passages, where flambeaux flared and cressets -sputtered in the night wind, and cast their lurid light on the dusky -walls. And now a confused murmur of voices announced to the anxious -Fenton that he was close to this terrible conclave, whose presence -few left but on the hurdle of the executioner. - -In an anteroom a crowd of macers, city guardsmen, messengers-at-arms, -and officials in the blue livery of the city, laced with yellow, and -wearing the triple castle on their cuffs and collars, a number of -persons cited as witnesses, &c., lounged about, or lolled on the -wooden benches. The ceiling of the apartment was low, and the deep -recesses of the doors and windows showed the vast solidity of the -massively panelled walls. A huge fire blazed in a grate that -resembled an iron basket on four sturdy legs, and its red light -glinted on the varied costumes, the weather-beaten visages, polished -headpieces and partisans of those who crowded round it. The entrance -of Walter Fenton and his escort excited neither attention nor -curiosity; and feeling acutely his degraded position, he sought a -retired corner, and seated himself on a wooden bench. The groups -around him conversed only in whispers. A murmur of voices came at -intervals from the inner chamber; and Walter often gazed with deep -interest at its antiquely fashioned doorway, the features of which -remained long and vividly impressed on his memory; for he longed to -behold, but dreaded to encounter, the stern conclave its carved -panels concealed from his view. - -Anon a cry--a shrill and fearful cry--announced that some dreadful -work was being enacted within; every man looked gravely in his -neighbour's face, (save Maclutchy, who smiled,) and the blood rushed -back on Walter's heart tumultuously. Deep, hollow, and -heart-harrowing groans succeeded; then were heard the sound of -hammers and the creaking of a block as when a rope runs rapidly -through the sheave; then a low murmur of voices again, and all was -still; so still, that Walter heard the pulsations of his heart, and -in spite of his natural courage, it quailed at the prospect of what -he too might have to undergo. - -Suddenly the door of the dreaded chamber flew open, and the common -Doomster and his two assistants, with their muscular arms bared, and -their leather aprons girt up for exertion, issued forth, bearing the -half lifeless and wholly miserable Ichabod Bummel. His countenance -was pale and ghastly; his teeth were clenched, and his eyes set; his -limbs hanging pendant and powerless, bore terrible evidence of the -agonies caused by the iron boots, as his fingers, covered with blood, -did of the thumb-screws. He groaned heavily. - -"What has the gallows loon confessed, Pate?" asked Maclutchy, eagerly. - -"Sae muckle, that the pyets will be pyking his head on the -Netherbow-porte when the sun rises the morn," replied Mr. Patrick -Pincer, the heartless finisher of the law, whose brawny arms and -blood-stained apron, together with all the disgusting associations of -his frightful occupation rendered him a revolting character. "He -defied the haill council as a generation o' vipers; boasted o' being -a naturalized Hollander, and denied his ain mother-country." - -"Wretch!" muttered Bummel, "well might I deny the land that produces -such as thee. But there is yet a time, and in Heaven is all my -trust." - -"Silence in court!" said the macer, imperiously thrusting the brass -crown of his baton in the sufferer's mouth. "Ay, ay, denying his ain -country, eh?" - -"Till my Lord Clermistonlee recommended a touch o' the caspie-claws, -and wow, Sirs, the loon stood them brawly, but when we gied him a -twinge wi' the airn buits, my certie! they did mak' him skirl! Did -ye no hear him confessing, lads?" - -"What! what?" - -"Ou just onything they asked him. Treason, awfu' to hear; about a -Dutch invasion and a rebellion among the Westland whigs, to whom he -shewed letters from Flume o' Polwarth, Fagel the Pensioner o' -Holland, Dyckvelt the Flemish spy, and a' hidden whar d'ye think?" - -"Deil kens; in his wame, may be." - -"Hoots; sewit up in the lining o' his braid bonnet." - -The poor fainting preacher had now the felicity of being stared at by -a crowd who pitied him no more than the strong-armed torturers whose -grasp sustained his supine and inert frame. - -"Soldier," said he to one near him, "art thou a son of the Roman -antichrist?" - -"Na, I am Habbie, the son o' my faither, auld John Elshender, a -cottar body, at the Burghmuirend." - -"Then, in the name of God," implored the poor man in a weak and -wavering voice, "give me but a drop o' water to quench my thirst, -for, oh youth, I suffer the torments of hell!" - -The soldier who seemed to be a good-natured young fellow, readily -brought a pitcher of water, from which Bummel drank greedily and -convulsively, muttering at intervals, - -"'Tis sweet--sweet as aqua-coelestis, whilk is thrice rectified wine. -Heaven bless thee, soldier, and reward thee, for I cannot." He burst -into tears. - -"Hath he taken the test," asked Maclutchy, "and did he acknowledge -the king's authority?" - -"Ou onything, and so would you, Maclutchy, gif I had ye under my hand -as I'll soon hae that young birkie in the corner." - -"'Tis false!" cried Ichabod Bummel, through his clenched teeth, "and -sooner than acknowledge that bloody and papistical duke, I would -kiss, yea, and believe the book of the accursed Mohamet, whilk as I -shew in my '_Bombshell aimit at the taile of the great Beast_,' was -written on auld spule banes, and kept by the gude wife of the -impostor in a meal girnel. But fie! and out upon ye, fiends, for lo, -the hour of our triumph and deliverance from tyrants and massemongers -is at hand. O, why tarry the chariot wheels of our Deliverer?" - - "I like ane owl in desart am, - That nightly----" - - -"What!" exclaimed Maclutchy, in legal horror, "would ye dare to skirl -a psalm within earshot o' the very Lords o' Council, ye desperate -cheat, the woodie! Awa wi' him by the lug and horn, or he'll bring -the roof about us." He was hurried off. - -Walter was deeply moved. Pity and indignation stirred his heart by -turns, but he had not much time for reflection; at that moment the -drawling voice of the crier was heard, calling with a cadence -peculiar to the Scottish courts, - -"Maister-Walter-Fenton." - -He became more alive to his own immediate danger, and ere he well -knew what passed, found himself in another gloomy and pannelled -apartment, one-half of which was hung with scarlet cloth. On a dais -stood the vacant throne with the royal arms of Scotland glittering -under a canopy of velvet, festooned and fringed with gold. - -Scott has given us a graphic picture of this strange tribunal, when -it was presided over by the odious Duke of Lauderdale. Let us take a -view of it as it appeared six years after, when that scourge of the -Presbyterians had departed to render at a greater bar an account of -his tyranny and enormities. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE PRIVY COUNCIL. - - 'Tis noble pride withholds thee--thou disdain'st - Wrapt in thy sacred innocence--these mad - Outrageous charges to refute. - SCHILLER'S MAID OF ORLEANS. - - -A long table, covered with scarlet cloth, extended from the throne -towards the end of the room where Walter stood. Large, red-edged, -and massively gilded statute books, docquets of papers, inkstands, -and the silver mace (now used by the Lords of Session), lay -glittering on the table, while a large silver candelabrum, with -twelve tall wax lights, shed a lustre on the striking figures of -those personages who composed the select committee of council. - -On a low wooden side-bench lay certain fearful things, which (in his -present predicament) made the heart of Walter quail; though on the -field he would have faced, without flinching, the rush of a thousand -charging horse; they were the instruments of torture then authorised -by law; the _pilnie-winks_, the _caspie-claws_, and the -_iron-boots_--all diabolical engines, such as the most refined -cruelty alone could have invented. With these, both sexes, even -little children were sometimes tortured until the blood spouted from -the bruised and crushed limbs. - -The thumbikins were small steel screws like handvices, which, by -compressing the thumb-joints, produced the most acute agony; and this -amiable and favourite engine (which saved all trouble of -cross-examining witnesses), was first introduced by one of the -council, whose stern eyes were fixed on Walter Fenton, -Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Dalyel of Binns, a cavalier baronet of -great celebrity, whose name is still justly abhorred in Scotland. He -had long borne a command under the Russian standard, where his -humanity had not been improved by service among Tartars and Calmucks. - -The boot was a strong box enclosed with iron hoops, between which and -the victim's leg, the executioner, by gradual and successive blows, -drove a wooden wedge with such violence, that blood, bone, and marrow -were at last bruised into a hideous and pulpy mass. - -Walter could scarcely repress a shudder when he surveyed those -frightful engines, under the application of which, so many -unfortunates had writhed; but he confronted with an undaunted air the -various members of that stern tribunal, which had so long ruled -Scotland by the sword, and many of whose acts and edicts might well -vie with those of the Inquisition, the Star-chamber, or any other -instrument of tyranny and misgovernment. - -Two earls, Perth, the Lord Chancellor, and Balcarris, the High -Treasurer, were present; they were both fine-looking men, in the -prime of life, richly dressed, and wearing those preposterous black -wigs (brought into fashion by Charles II.), the ends of which rolled -in many curls over their broad collars of point lace. The Bishop of -Edinburgh, the Lord Advocate, and his predecessor, the terrible Sir -George Mackenzie, of Rosehaugh, "that persecutor of the saints of -God;"--(he whose tomb was, till of late years, a place so full of -terror to the schoolboy,) occupied one side of the council-board. -Opposite sat John Grahame, of Claverhouse, colonel of the Scottish -life-guards, the horror of the Covenanters, (and to this hour the -accursed of the Cameronians,) but the handsomest man of his time. -His face was singularly beautiful, and his black, magnificent eyes, -were one moment languid and tender as those of a love-sick girl, and -the next sparkling with dusky fire and animation. When excited, they -actually seemed to blaze, and were quite characteristic of his -superhuman daring and unmatched ferocity. - -Cruel as the character of the Laird of Claverhouse has ever been held -up to us, let us not forget the times in which he lived, and how much -room there is for malevolent exaggeration. Even Wodrow allows that -at times he showed compunction, mercy, and compassion. Mutual -injuries, assassinations, and outrages heightened the hostility of -spirit between the Scottish troops and the Scottish people to a -frightful extent; but it is a curious fact, that the local militia -and vassals of the landholders were, by far, the most severe tools of -persecution. The _real_ sentiments of the troops of the line, were -powerfully evinced by their joining _en masse_ the banner of the -Protestant invader. In making these remarks, let it not be thought -we are attempting to gloss over the atrocities of the persecution, -the records of which are enough to make one's blood boil even at this -distant period of time. The darkest days of our history are those of -which the industrious Wodrow wrote; but glorious indeed was the -ardour and constancy with which so many of Scotland's best and -bravest men gave up their souls to God in the cause of the "oppressed -kirk and the broken covenant." - -Claverhouse was splendidly attired; his coat was of white velvet, -pinked with scarlet silk and laced with gold; over his breast spread -a cravat of the richest lace, and on that fell the heavy dark -ringlets of his military wig. Near him sat Sir Thomas Dalyel, -colonel of the Scots grey dragoons. This fierce soldier was in the -eightieth year of his age; he was perfectly bald, and a lofty -forehead towered above his keen grey eyes, that shone brighter than -his polished gorget in the light of the candelabrum. To his stern -features a noble and dignified aspect was imparted by a long white -beard, that flowed over his plain buff coat, reaching to the buckle -of his sword-belt. There was a very striking and antique expression -in the fine face of the aged and detested 'persecutor,' that never -failed to impress beholders with respect and awe. - -There are but two others to describe, and these are of some -importance to our history. - -Swinton, of Mersington, a law lord, who was never known to have been -perfectly sober since the Restoration, and whose meagre body, -nutcracker jaws, bleared eyes, and fantastic visage, contrasted so -strongly with the upright and square form of the venerable cavalier -on his right, and the dignified Randal, Lord Clermistonlee, who sat -on his left. - -A renegade Covenanter, a profligate, and debauched roué, steeped to -the lips in cruelty, tyranny, and vice, the latter, after having -squandered away a noble patrimony and the dowry of his unfortunate -wife, still maintained his career of excess by gifts from the fines, -extortions, and confiscations, made by the Council on every pretence, -or without pretence at all. He was forty years of age, possessing a -noble form, and a face still eminently handsome, though marked by -dissipation; it was slightly disfigured by a sword cut, and, -notwithstanding its beauty of contour, when clouded by chagrin and -ferocity, and flushed by wine, it seemed that of a very ruffian, and -now was no way improved by his ample wig and cravat being quite awry. -His dark vindictive eyes were sternly fixed on Walter, who, from that -moment, knew him to be his enemy. Clermistonlee, who was not a man -to have his purposes crossed by any mortal consideration, had long -marked out fair Lilian Napier as a new victim to be run-down and -captured. Her beauty had inflamed his senses, her ample possessions -his cupidity--it was enough; his wrath, and perhaps his jealousy, -were kindled against the young man by whose agency she had found -concealment, after he thought all was _en train_ by his accusing the -Baroness of Bruntisfield to the Council, and procuring a warrant of -search and arrest for inter-communed persons at her Manor of the -Wrytes-house. His brows were contracted until they formed one dark -arch across his forehead; one hand was clenched upon the table, and -the other on the embossed hilt of his long rapier, which rested -against his left shoulder, and there was no mistaking the glance of -hostility and scrutiny he bent upon the prisoner. The other members -of the Council were all highly excited by the revelations recently -extracted from Mr. Ichabod Bummel (by dint of hammer and screw), -concerning the intrigues of the whigs with the Prince of Orange. The -letters of the exiled Baron of Polwarth, and of Mynheer Fagel, the -Great Pensionary of Holland, were lying before the Lord Chancellor, -who played thoughtfully with the tassels of his rapier, while his -secretaries wrote furiously in certain closely-written folios. -Several clerks, macers, and other underlings who loitered in the -background, were now ordered to withdraw. - -"Approach, Walter Fenton," said the Earl of Perth. - -"Fenton," muttered General Dalyel, "'tis a name that smacks o' the -auld covenant; I hanged a cottar loon that bore it, for skirling a -psalm at the foot o' the Campsie Hills, no twa months ago." - -"And of true valor, if we remember the old Fentons of that ilk, and -the brave Sir John de Fenton of the Bruce's days," continued the -chancellor. "Young man, you of course know for what you this night -compear before us?" - -"My Lord, for permitting the escape of prisoners placed under my -charge." - -"Prisoners charged with treason and leaguing with intercommuned -enemies of the state!" added Clermistonlee, in a voice of thunder. - -"And you plead guilty to this?" - -"I cannot deny it, my Lords." - -"Good--you save the trouble of examining witnesses." - -"A bonnie piece o' wark, young Springald!" said General Dalyel -scornfully; "a braw beginning for a soldier--but ken ye the price -o't?" - -"My life, perhaps, Sir Thomas," replied Walter, gently; "yet may it -please you and their Lordships to pardon this, my first offence, in -consideration of my three years' faithful and, as yet, unrequited -service. Heaven be my witness, noble sirs, I could not help it!" - -"By all the devils! Help what, thou fause loon!" - -"Permitting the escape of Lady Bruntisfield and her kinswoman, the -young lady." - -"Aha! the young lady!" laughed Claverhouse and Balcarris. - -"I was overcome by their terror and entreaties. Oh, my Lords, I seek -not to extenuate my offence." - -"Plague choke thee!" said Dalyel, with a grim look; "a braw birkie ye -are, and a bonnie to wear a steel doublet--a fine chield to march to -battle and leaguer, if ye canna hear a haveral woman greet, but your -heart maun melt like snaw in the sunshine. By the head of the king, -ye shall smart for this! Sic kittle times thole nae trifling." - -"I doubt not the young fellow was well paid for his untimely -gallantry," said Clermistonlee, with a provoking sneer. - -"Any man who would insinuate so much, I deem a liar and coward!" said -Walter, fearlessly: the eyes of the Privy Councillor shot fire; he -started, but restrained himself, and the young man continued. "No, -my Lord Clermistonlee! though poor, I have a soul above bribery, and -would not for the most splendid coronet in Scotland change sides, as -_some_ among us have done, and may do again." - -"Silence!" replied Clermistonlee, in a voice of rage, for he writhed -under this pointed remark, having once been a staunch covenanter; -"silence, rascal, and remember that on yonder bench there lieth a -bodkin of steel, for boring the tongue that wags too freely." - -"Enough of this," said the Chancellor, striking the table impatiently -with his hand; "Mr. Secretary, attend, and note answers. Walter -Fenton, you are doubtless well aware of where the ladies of -Bruntisfield are concealed, and can enlighten us thereon." - -"I swear to you, most noble Earl, that I know not!" - -"Ridiculous!" said his tormenter, Clermistonlee, who was under the -influence of wine. "Say instantly, or by all the devils, if there is -any marrow in your bones, we shall see it shortly:" with his -gold-headed cane he significantly touched the iron boots that lay -near. - -"Hath he been searched according to the act of council, whilk -ordains,--sae forth," said Mersington; "for some of Madam Napier's -perfumed carolusses may be found in his pouch." - -"Nothing was found on him, my Lord," replied Maclutchy, "save a sang -or twa, a wheen gun matches, twa dice, a wine bill o' Hughie -Blair's--the Council's orders to the Forces--and--and--" - -"And what, Sir?" - -"A few white shillings, my Lord." - -"Whilk ye keepit, I suppose." - -The macer scratched his head and bowed. - -"Whence got ye that ring, sirrah?" asked the imperious Clermistonlee, -suddenly feeling a new qualm of jealousy. - -"Ring, my Lord, ring!" stammered Walter, colouring deeply. - -"Yea knave, it flashed even now, and by this light seems a diamond of -the purest water. A common pikeman seldom owns a trinket such as -that." - -"I cry-ye-mercy," said Dalyel; "had your Lordship seen my brigade of -Red Cossacks retreating after the sack of Trebizond and Natolia, ye -would have seen the humblest spearman with his boots and holsters -crammed to the flaps with the richest jewels of Asiatic Turkey. I -mysel borrowed a string of pearls from an auld Khanum, worth deil -kens how mony thousand roubles. Gad! some pretty trinkets fall in a -soldier's way at times." - -"Sir Thomas," said Claverhouse, "I would we had a few troops of your -Cossacks, to send among the wrest-land whigs for six months or so." - -"S'death!" said the General, through his massy beard, "your guardsmen -think themselves fine rufflers, and so they are, Clavers'e, but I -doubt muckle if in a charge they would have come within o' spear's -length of my Red Brigade. Puir chields! lang since hae they stuffed -the craps of the wolves and vultures that hovered oure the bluidy -plains of Smolensk." - -"Well, my Lords, about this ring," observed Clermistonlee, with -ill-disguised impatience, while endeavouring to waken His Majesty's -advocate, who, oblivious of "His Majesty's interest," had fallen fast -asleep. "We all know that the Lady Bruntisfield has a god-daughter, -grand-niece, or something of that kind--a fair damsel, however; and -'tis very unlikely this young cock would run his neck under the -gallows (whereon I doubt not his father dangled) for nothing. -Fenton--harkee, sirrah, surrender the jewel forthwith, and say whence -ye had it, or the thumbscrews may prove an awkward exchange for it." - -"Do with me as you please, my Lords, but ah! spare me the ring. It -is the secret of my life--it is all that I possess in the world--all -that I can deem my own:" pausing with sudden emotion the young man -covered his eyes. "It was found on the hand of my mother--my poor -mother, when she lay dead among the graves of the Grey Friars." - -"When, knave?" - -"In the year of Bothwell." - -A cloud came over the face of Clermistonlee. - -"In the year of Bothwell, my Lords," continued Walter, in a thick -voice; "that year of misery to so many. I have been told my father -died in defence of the bridge; and my mother--she--spare to me, my -Lords, what even the poor soldiers who found me respected! It was -preserved and restored to me by the good and noble Countess of -Dunbarton when, three years ago, I marched against James of Monmouth." - -"The true pup of the crop-eared breed!" said Clermistonlee, -scornfully; "false in blood as in name. Macer, hand up the ring! -His mother (some trooper's trull) never owned a Jewell like that." - -The macer advanced, but hesitated. - -"Approach, wretch, and, by the God that beholds us, I will destroy -thee!" cried Fenton, inflamed with sudden passion; and so resolute -was his aspect, that Maclutchy retreated, and now Mersington and the -king's advocate, who had been snoring melodiously, woke suddenly up. - -"My Lords, you trifle," said the Earl of Perth. - -"Halt, sirs!" added Claverhouse, who admired Walter's indomitable -spirit; "I cannot permit this; let the lad retain his ring, but say, -without parley, where those fugitives are concealed." - -"On the honour of a soldier, I solemnly declare to you, Colonel -Grahame, that I know not." - -"It is enough," responded Claverhouse, whose deep dark eyes had gazed -full upon Walter's with a searching expression which few men could -endure. "Never saw I mortal man who could look me openly in the -face, when affirming a falsehood." - -"This is just havers," said Mersington; "jow the bell for Pate Pincer -to gie him one touch of the boot." - -"My Lords, you may tear me piecemeal, but I cannot tell ye; and, were -it otherwise, I would rather die than betray them!" - -"Hush!" whispered Claverhouse, who admired his spirited bearing; but -Clermistonlee exclaimed in triumph, - -"Heard ye that, my Lords, heard ye that? Gadso! a half -acknowledgment that he can enlighten us anent the retreat of these -traitresses, and I demand that he be put to the question!" - -Now ensued a scene of confusion. - -"Aye, the boot!" said Rosehaugh, Mersington, and one or two others. -"Let him be remanded to the Water Hole--the caspie claws." - -"My Lords, I protest--" said Claverhouse, starting up abruptly. - -"Hoity toity!" said Mersington; "here's the Laird of Claverse' turned -philanthropist! Since when did this miracle take place?" - -"Since the cold-blooded atrocities this chamber has witnessed--" -began Claverhouse, turning his eyes of fire on the law lord; but the -entrance of Pincer and his two subaltern torturers, whom that little -viper, Mersington, had summoned, cut short the observation. Walter's -blood grew cold--his first thought was resistance--his second, scorn -and despair. - -"Had the noble Earl of Dunbarton, or all our blades, the old Royals, -been in Edinburgh instead of being among the westland whigs, ye had -not dared to degrade me thus!" he exclaimed, with fierce indignation. -"I disclaim your authority, and appeal to a council of war--to a -court of commissioned officers!" - -"Uds daggers!" said Dalyel, "I love thee, lad. Thou art a brave -fellow, and the first man that ever bearded this council board." - -"But we will teach thee, braggart," said Sir George of Rosehaugh -sternly, "that from this chamber there is no appeal, either to courts -of peace or councils of war. There can be no appeal----" - -"Save to his majesty," added the Chancellor, who, to please James -VII., had recently embraced the Catholic faith. - -"And of what value is the appeal, noble Earl, after one's bones have -been ground to powder by your accursed irons?' - -"We do not sit here to bandy words in this wise," replied the -Chancellor; "Macer, lead the prisoner to the ante-room, while his -sentence is deliberated on." - -After a delay of some minutes, which to Walter seemed like so many -ages, so great was his anxiety, he was again summoned before the -haughty conclave. The first whose malignant glance he again -encountered was Clermistonlee, whose voice he had often heard in loud -declamation against him, and he felt a storm of wrath and hatred -gathering in his breast against that vindictive peer. The monotonous -voice of the clerk reading his sentence with a careless off-hand air -now fell on his ear. - -"Walter Fenton, private gentleman in the regiment of Dunbarton, -commonly called the Royal Scots Musqueteers of Foot, for default and -negligence of duty----" - -"Anent whilk it is needless to expone," interposed Mersington. - -"--And for your contumacy in presence of the Right Honourable the -Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council, you are to be confined in the -lowest dungeon of the common prison-house of Edinburgh, for the space -of six calendar months from the date hereof, to have your tongue -bored by the Doomster at the Tron-beam, to teach it the respect which -is due to superiors; and thereafter to be sent as a felon, with ane -collar of steel rivetted round your neck, to the coal heughs of the -right worshipful the Laird of Craigha' for such a period as the Lords -of the said Privy Council shall deem fitting--subscribitur Perth." - -"Such mercy may ye all meet in the day of award!" muttered Walter. - -"Withdraw!" said Lord Clermistonlee, with a bitter smile of -undisguised ferocity and malice. "Begone, and remember to thank Sir -Thomas of Binns and the Laird of Claverhouse, that your tongue is not -bored this instant, and thereafter given to feed the crows." - -Walter bowed, and was led out by the macer, while the council -proceeded to "worry" and terrify the remaining prisoners, Lady -Bruntisfield's household, and, after nearly scaring them out of their -senses, dismissed them all, (save two stout ploughmen, who were given -to Sir Thomas Dalyel as troopers,) with warning to take care of -themselves in all time coming, and with a promise of a thousand marks -if they gave intimation of their lady's retreat. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -DEJECTION. - - A mournful one am I, above whose head, - A day of perfect bliss hath never passed; - Whatever joys my soul have ravished, - Soon was the radiance of those joys o'ercast. - LAYS OF THE MINNESINGERS. - - -Walter was conducted back to the prison-house in Gourlay's Close, the -Heart of Mid Lothian being already filled with nonconforming culprits. - -Preceded by Macer Maclutchy and the gudeman or governor of the -establishment, who wore the city livery, blue, laced with yellow, and -carried a bunch of ominous-like keys. Walter found himself before a -little archway, closed by a strong iron door, which opened under the -great turnpike stair of the edifice, and led to the lower regions--to -a superstructure of vaults, which, from their low and massive aspect, -might have been deemed coeval with the days of the Alexanders. The -light of the iron cruise borne by the gudeman failed to penetrate the -deep abyss which yawned before them on the door being opened, and the -cold wind of the subterranean chambers rushed upward in their faces. -Slowly descending the hollowed and time-worn steps of an ancient -stair, accompanied by his guard and conductors, poor Walter moved -mechanically: the lamp, as it flared in the chill atmosphere, shewed -the dark arches and green slimy walls of massive stonework forming -the basement story of the prison. He felt a horror creeping over his -heart. A profound and dismal silence reigned there; for these earthy -passages where the frog croaked, the shining beetle crawled, and the -many-legged spider span in undisturbed security, gave back no echo to -their footsteps. In the heart of a populous city, thought he, can -such a place be? Is it not a dream? - -"Adonai! Adonai!" cried a voice in the distance, so loud, so shrill, -and unearthly, that the gudeman paused, and the macer started back. -"How long, O Lord, wilt thou permit these dragons to devour thy -people? Rejoice, ye bairns of the Covenant! Rejoice, O ye nations, -for He will avenge the blood of his chosen, and render vengeance on -his adversaries." - -"Hoots! It's that fule-body Bummel blawing like a piper through the -key-hole," said the macer, and knocking thrice on the cell door with -his mace, added, "Gif your tongue had been bored with an elshin as it -deserved, my braw buckie, ye wadna hae crawn sae crouse. However, -gudeman, his rebellious yammering will not disturb you muckle." - -"The vaults are gey far doon--we would be deeved wi' him else," -replied the gudeman; "but he gangs to the Bass in the morning, and -there he can sing psalmody to the roaring waves and the cauld east -wind, wi' Trail, Bennet, Blackadder, and other brethren in -tribulation." - -"By my word, keeping thae chields on the auld craig is just feeding -what ought to be hanged," responded the macer, for these underlings -affected to acquire the cavalier sentiments of the day. A door was -now opened, and Walter Fenton heard the voice of the gudeman saying, - -"Kennel up there, my man. You will find the lodgings we gie to -conventiclers and enemies of the king are no just as braw as Gibbie -Runlet's, doon at the White Horse. There is a windlan o' gude straw -in that corner to sleep on, gif the rottons, and speeders, and asps, -will let ye, and a mouthfu' o' caller air can aye be got at the iron -grate, and sae my service t'ye." - -"And keep up your spirits, Mr. Fenton," added the macer with a mock -bow, "for the toun smith, Deacon Macanvil, will be doun in the -morning to rivet round your craig the collar o' thrall wi' -Craighall's name on't, and sae my service t'ye too." - -The sneers of these wretches stung Walter to the soul, and it was -with difficulty he restrained an impulse to rush upon them and dash -their heads together. But the door was instantly closed; he heard -the jarring of the bolts as they were shot into the stonework, the -clank of a chain as it was thrown across, and then the retreating -footsteps of his jailors growing fainter as they ascended the -circular staircase. A door closed in the distance, the echoes died -away, and then all became intensely still. He was now left utterly -to his own sad and mortifying reflections, amid silence, gloom, and -misery. - -The darkness was oppressive; not the faintest ray of light could be -traced on any side, and he wondered how the chill March wind swept -through the vault, until, on groping about, he discovered on a level -with his face, a small barred aperture, which opened to the adjoining -close. In that high and narrow alley there was but little light even -during the day; consequently, by night, it was involved in the -deepest obscurity. - -The cold, damp wind blew freely upon Walter's flushed face and waving -hair, as he moved cautiously round his prison, and feeling the dark -slimy walls on every side, discovered that it was a vault about -twelve feet square, faced with stone, destitute, damp, frightful, and -furnished only by a bundle of straw in a corner. On this he threw -himself, and endeavoured to reflect calmly upon the perils by which -he was surrounded. - -He was naturally of an ardent and impetuous temper, and consequently -his reflections failed either to soothe or to console him. His -sentiments of hostility to Lord Clermistonlee were equalled only by -those of gratitude to the Laird of Claverhouse, by whose influence he -had, for a time, been spared a cruel and degrading maltreatment; but -that, alas! was yet to be endured, and the contemplation of it was -maddening. To be given as a bondsman or serf, girt with a collar of -thrall or slavery, to work in the pits and mines of certain -landholders, was a mode of punishment not uncommon in those -vindictive days. - -When the Scottish troops, under Lieutenant-colonel Strachan, defeated -the brave cavaliers of Montrose in battle at Kerbister, in Ross, on -the 27th of April, 1650, hundreds who were taken captive were -disposed of in that manner. Some were given in thrall to -Lieutenant-general Lesly, many to the Marquis of Argyle, others to -Sir James Hope, to work as slaves in his lead mines, and the residue -were all sent to France, to recruit the Scottish regiments of the -Lord Angus and Sir Robert Murray. - -Had his sentence been banishment to a foreign service, though it -would have wrung his heart to leave his native country, and forego -for ever the bright hopes and visions that had (though afar off) -begun to lighten the horizon of his fortunes, he would have hailed -the doom with joy; but to be gifted as a slave to another, to drudge -amid the filth, obscurity, and disgrace of a coal mine, O! he looked -forward to that with a horror inconceivable...... - -His mind became filled with dismal forebodings for the future. -Though he still remembered with sincere pleasure the services he had -rendered to the Napiers of Bruntisfield, his dreams of Lilian's mild -blue eyes and glossy ringlets were sadly clouded by the perils to -which they had hurried him. - -All these proud and high aspirations, those intense longings for fame -and distinction, for happiness and power, in which the mind of an -ardent and enthusiastic youth is so prone to luxuriate, and which had -been for years the day dream of Walter Fenton, now suffered a chill -and fatal blight. It is a hard and bitter conviction, that one's -dearest prospects are blasted and withered for ever; and to the heart -of the young and proud, there is no agony equal to that of unmerited -disgrace and humiliation. Misery was Walter's companion, and further -miseries and degradations awaited him; but happily, the dark future -was involved in obscurity. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -HOPE. - - Thou art most fair; but could thy lovely face - Make slavery look more comely? could the touch - Of thy soft hand convey delight to mine - With servile fetters on. - BOADICEA, ACT IV. - - -Three days passed away. Three, and still there was no appearance of -the dreaded Deacon Macanvil with his hammer and rivets, and collar of -thrall. - -The monotony of the prison had been unbroken save, each morning, by -the entrance of the gudeman of the Tolbooth and a soldier of the -Townguard, bearing a wooden luggie of fresh water and a slice of -coarse bread, or coarser oaten cake on a tin trencher, and to these -poor viands, the gudewife of the keeper, moved with pity for "such a -winsome young man," added a cutlet or two on the third day. For the -first four-and-twenty hours this mean fare remained untouched, but -anon, the cravings of a youthful appetite compelled him to regale on -it. - -In a retired, or rather, a darker corner of this miserable place, he -reclined on his truss of damp straw, listening to the lively hum of -the city without, and the deep ding-dong of the Cathedral bells as -they marked the passing hours. - -Slowly the interminable day wore on. - -Shadows passed and repassed the wretched aperture which was level -with the pavement, and served for a window. Feet cased in white -funnel boots garnished with scarlet turnovers, gold spurs and red -morocco spur leathers, in clumsy Cromwellian calf-skins, or in -brogues of more humble pretensions, appeared and disappeared as the -passengers strode up and down the close; and many pretty feet and -taper ancles in tight stockings of green or scarlet silk set up on -"cork-heeled shoon," tripped past, the fair owners thereof -displaying, by their uplifted trains, rather more than they might -have done, if aware that a pair of curious eyes were looking upward -from the Cimmerian depth of that ghastly vault. Bare-footed children -gambolled about in the spring sunshine; with ruddy and laughing faces -they peeped fearfully into the dark hole, and on discerning a human -face through the gloom, cried "a bogle, a ghaist!" and fled away with -a shout. - -Propped on his staff, the toiling water-carrier passed hourly, -conveying limpid water from the public wells, even to the lofty -"sixteenth story," for a bodle the measure. Lumbering sedans were -borne past by liveried carriers at a Highland trot; and the voices -that rang perpetually in the narrow alley, though enlivening the -prison of Walter, only served to make his sense of degradation and -captivity more acute. - -Anon, all those sounds ceased one by one; the bells of evening -tolled, the ten o'clock drum was beat around the ancient royalty, and -died away in the depths of Close and Wynd, and night and silence -stole together over the dense and lofty city. The last wayfarer had -gone to his home, and a desolate sense of loneliness fell upon the -heart of Walter Fenton. - -"Alas, alas!" he exclaimed, "had my dear friend Lady Dunbarton been -on this side of the border, I had not been thus persecuted and -forgotten. And Finland, why tarries he? Friendship should bring him -to me, for shame cannot withhold him; I have committed no crime." - -So passed the fourth day. - -Night came on again, and the poor lad felt an oppression of spirit, a -longing for freedom, and abhorrence of his dungeon; so bitter and -intense, that reflection became the most acute torment. He turned -restlessly among the straw, its very rustle fretted him, and he -started up to pace to and fro in the narrow compass of the vault. He -muttered, moaned, and communing with himself, pressed his face -against the rusty grating, while listening intently to catch a -passing sound, and inhale the cool fresh breeze of the spring night. - -Though so many thousand souls were densely packed within the -fortifications of Edinburgh, and every house was like a beehive or a -tower of Babel, at that hour the city was still as the grave. Walter -heard only the throbbing of his heart. The last dweller in the close -had long since traversed the lofty stair that ascended to his home; -the heavy door at the foot of the Prison turnpike stair had long -since been closed, and its sentinel had withdrawn to smoke a pipe or -sip a can of twopenny by the gudeman's well-sanded ingle. From the -hollow recesses of its great rood spire St. Giles's bell tolled -eleven. - -"Another night!--another--another!" exclaimed Walter, as he threw -himself upon the straw, and wrung his hands in rage, in bitterness, -and unavailing agony. "Another night!--Oh, to be taught patience, or -to be free!" - -From a sleepy stupor that had sunk upon him, the very torpidity of -desperation, he was roused by a noise at the grating: a face appeared -dimly without, and a well known voice said, - -"Harkee, Fenton,--art asleep, my boy?" - -"_Me voila_--I am here!" he exclaimed, as he sprang to the grating -and pressed the hand of his friend. - -"You forget, Walter, that I am not calling the roll," laughed the -officer; "but _me voila_ is very old fashioned, my lad, and hath not -been used by us these two hundred years, since the battle of Banje en -Anjou. By all the devils, 'tis a deuced unpleasant malheur this!" - -"I thought you had forgotten me, Finland." - -"You did me great injustice; but, lackaday, with Wemyss and my party -I have been for these three days worrying all the old wives and -bonnetted carles on the Bruntisfield barony, to take certain -obnoxious tests under terror of thumbscrews and gunmatch. By my -honour, I would rather that my lord, the Earl of Perth, would march -with his mace on shoulder, anent such dirty work, for I aver that it -is altogether unbecoming the dignity and profession of a soldier. -And mark me, Walter, all this tyranny will end in a storm such as the -land hath not seen, since our father's days, when the banner of the -covenant was unfurled on the hill of Dunse." - -"And are there no tidings of Dunbarton, our commander?" - -"The deuce, no! there hath been no mail from London these fourteen -days; the rascal who brought the bag had only one letter, and getting -drunk, lost it in the neutral grounds, somewhere on the borders. The -earl was to have taken horse at Whitehall for the north, on the first -of this month; 'tis now the penult day only, and he cannot be here -for a week yet, so patience, Walter." Walter sighed. - -"There are others here who have not forgotten thee, my dear Mr. -Fenton," said a soft voice, as a pretty female face, lighted by two -bright eyes, stooped down to that hideous grating. "But, forsooth, -our good friend the Laird of Finland, seems resolved to talk for us -all, which is not to be borne. I think he has acquired all the -loquacity of the French chevaliers, without an atom of their -gallantry." - -"A thousand moustaches!" stammered the officer; "my fair Annie, I had -almost--" - -"Forgotten me! you dare not say so; but O my poor boy Fenton, how -sorry I am I see thee there." - -"I thank you, Mistress Laurie, but the honour of this visit would -gild the darkest prison in Scotland--even the whig-vault of Dunoter," -said Walter, kissing the hand of the speaker, whom he knew to be the -betrothed of his friend, a gay and lively girl of twenty, whose -beauty was then the theme of a hundred songs, of which, unhappily, -but one has survived to us--the effusion of Finland's love and poesy. -Long had they loved each other; but the father of Annie, the old Whig -Baronet of Maxwelton, had engendered a furious hostility to Douglas, -in consequence of his soldiers having lived at free quarters on his -estates in Dumfriesshire, where they made very free, indeed, burned -down a few farms, shot and houghed the cattle, and extorted a month's -marching money thrice over, with cocked matches and drawn rapiers. - -"This visit is as unexpected as it is welcome," continued Walter; -"and, for the honour it does me, I would not exchange--" - -"Thy prison for a palace," interrupted Annie. "Now, Mr. Walter, I -know to an atom the value of this compliment, which means exactly -nothing. But we must not jest; I have to introduce a dear -friend--one who has come to thank you personally for those favours of -which you are now paying the price. Come, Lilian, love," continued -the lively young lady, "approach and speak. My life on't! how the -lassie trembles! Come, Finland, we understand this, and will keep -guard while little Lilian speaks with her captive paladin." - -"You are a mad wag, Annie," said the cavalier, as he gave her his -ungloved hand; "but lower your voice, dear one, or, soft and sweet as -it is, it may bring down the gudeman and all his rascals about us in -a trice." - -"How can I find words to thank you, Mr. Fenton?" said the tremulous -voice of Lilian Napier, whose small but beautiful face appeared -without the massive grating, peeping through a plaid of dark green -tartan, a mode of disguise then very common in Scotland, and which -continued to be so in the earlier part of the last century. Like a -hooded mantilla, it floated over her graceful shoulders, and a silver -brooch confined it beneath her dimpled chin. - -"Lilian Napier here!" exclaimed Fenton with rapture; "ah, fool that I -was to repine, while my miseries were remembered by thee!" - -"Ah, sir, the Lady Bruntisfield has lamented them bitterly. Never -can we repay you for the unmerited severity and humiliations to which -you have been subjected in our cause. Oh, can I forget that but for -you, Mr. Fenton, we might have become the occupants of that frightful -place, the air of which chills me even here!" - -"Thee--O no, Lilian Napier, they could not have the heart to immure -thee here!" - -"The lack of heart rather, Walter." - -"The idea is too horrible--but now," he continued, in a voice of -delight, "you are speaking like my old companion and playfellow. -'Tis long--O, very, very long, Lilian, since last we conversed -together alone. Do you remember when we gathered flowers, and -rushes, and pebbles by the banks of the Loch, and berries at the -Heronshaw, and gambolled in the parks in the summer sunshine?" - -"How could I forget them?" - -"Never have I been so happy since. O, those were days of innocence -and joy!" - -There was a pause, and both sighed deeply. - -"Poor Walter, how sincerely I pity thee!" - -"Then I bless the chance that brought me here." - -"In that cold dark pit--Oh, 'tis a place of horror. Would to Heaven -I could free you, Mr. Walter!" - -"Ah, Lilian, call me Walter, without the _Mr_. Your voice sounds -then as it did in other days, ere cold conventionalities raised such -a gulf between us." - -"They can do so no longer," said the young lady, weeping; "we are -landless and ruined now, and O! did not fear for my good aunt Grisel -make me selfish, I would surrender myself to the council to-morrow." - -"S'death! do not think of it!" - -"We both accuse ourselves of selfishness--of the very excess of -cowardice, and of blotting our honour for ever, by meanly flying and -transferring all our dangers to you." - -"Do not permit yourself to think so," said Walter, moved to great -tenderness by her tears. "Dear Lilian, (allow me so to call you, in -memory of our happier days,) leave me now--to tarry here is full of -danger. If you are discovered by the rascals who guard this place, -the thought of what would ensue may drive me mad; threats, -imprisonment, discovery, and disgrace--oh, leave me, for God's sake, -Lilian!" - -"Besides, I may be compromising the safety of those good friends who -so kindly have accompanied me hither to-night. Ah! there is a -terrible proclamation against us fixed to the city cross; they style -us those intercommuned traitors, the Napiers, umquhile of -Bruntisfield." - -"Then leave me, Lilian--I can be happy now, knowing that you came----" - -"From Lady Grisel," said Lilian, hastily, "to express her sincere -thanks for your kindness, and her deep sorrow for its sad requital, -which (from what you told us,) we could not have contemplated. -Indeed, Mr. Walter, we have been very unhappy on your account, and -so, impelled by a sense of gratitude, I came to--to--" and, pausing, -she covered her face with her hands and wept, for the new and -humiliating situation in which she found herself had deeply agitated -her. She did not perceive a dark figure that approached her softly, -unseen by her friends, who were gaily chatting under the gloomy -shadow of a projecting house, and quite absorbed in themselves. - -"Lilian, you were ever good and gentle," said Walter, altogether -overcome by her tears, and pressing her hand between his own. -"Deeply, deeply do I feel the mortification you must endure; but do -not weep thus--it wrings my very heart!" - -She permitted him to retain her hand, (there was no harm in that,) -but his thoughts became tumultuous; he kissed it; and as his lips -touched her for the first time, his whole soul seemed to rush to them. - -"Oh, Lilian, were I rich, I feel that I could love you." - -"And if one is poor, can they not love too?" she asked artlessly. - -"Oh, yes, Lilian--dear Lilian," said Walter, quite borne away by his -passion, and greatly agitated; but his arm could not encircle her, -for the envious grating intervened: "deeply do I feel at this moment -how bitter, how hopeless, may be the love of the poor. But if I -dared to tell you that the little page, Walter, who so often carried -your mantle and led your horse's bridle--now, when a man, aspired so -far----" - -The girl trembled violently, and said, in a feeble voice of alarm, -"Oh, hush--hush, some one approaches." - -"Then away to Douglas, for he alone can protect you. One word ere -you go: you have found a secure and secret shelter?" - -"Humble and secret, at least." - -"With the Lauries of Maxwelton?" - -"Oh, no, their house is already suspected. In the poor cottage of my -nurse, old Elsie Elshender, at St. Rocque--there we bide our fate in -poverty and obscurity." - -"And your cousin, Napier, the captain?" - -"Hath fled to the west--but that person--he is certainly -listening--adieu!" - -"Remember me?" - -"How can I forget?" she replied, naïvely, as she arose to withdraw; -but lo! the person started forward, and her hand, which was yet -glowing with Walter's kiss, was rudely seized in the rough grasp of -the intruder. Fear utterly deprived the poor girl of power to cry -out. - -"Aunt Grisel--dear grand-aunt Grisel!" was all she could gasp, and -she would have sunk on the pavement had not the eavesdropper -supported her. He was a tall, stout gallant, and muffled, by having -the skirt of his cloak drawn over his right shoulder, so as to -conceal part of his face, then the fashionable mode of disguise for -roués and intriguantes. - -"Lilian Napier, by all the devils!" cried Lord Clermistonlee, in a -tone of astonishment: he was considerably intoxicated, having just -left the neighbouring house, where he had been drinking for the last -six hours with the Lord President Lockhart. "Now I thought thee only -some poor mud-lark, or errant bona-roba. This is truly glorious. -Thou shalt come with me, my beauty. What, you will scream? Nay, -minx, then you have but a choice between the stone vaults of the -Tolbooth and the tapestried chambers of my poor old houses of -Drumsheugh and Clermistonlee--ha, ha!" and he began to sing the old -ditty:-- - - "There was a young lassie lo'ed by an auld man----" - - -"Help, Finland, help, for the love of God!" cried Lilian, dreadfully -agitated, but the Lord continued:-- - - "With a heylillelu and a how-lo-lan! - Her cheeks were rose red, and her eyne were sky-blue, - With a how-lo-lan and a heylillelu! - And this lassie was lo'ed by this canty old man, - With a heylillelu and a how-lo-lan!" - -"By all the devils! I can sing as well as my Lord the President, -though he hath three crown bowls of punch under his doublet." - -"Douglas, Douglas, your sword--your sword!" cried Walter, grasping -the massive grating, and swinging on the bars like a madman, essaying -in vain to wrench them from their solid wrests; but ere the words had -left his lips, Lord Clermistonlee was staggered by a blow from the -clenched hand of the cavalier, and Lilian was free. - -"Fly, Annie," he exclaimed to his love; "away with Lilian Napier to -the coach at the close head. The devil, girl--art thou doited,--off -and leave me to deal with this tavern brawler. Fore George! I will -truss his points in first rate fashion." The girls retired in -terror, and Douglas unsheathed his rapier. - -"Beware thee, villain," exclaimed the other, drawing his long bilbo -with prompt bravery, and wrapping his mantle round the left arm. "I -am a Lord of the Privy Council--to draw on me is treason." - -"Were you King James himself, I would run you through the heart, for -applying such an epithet to a gentleman of the House of Douglas." - -"You will have it then--come on, plated varlet, and look well to -guard and parry, for I am a first-rate swordsman." - -Finland's cuirass rang with a rapier thrust from his assailant, who -fell furiously to work, lunging like a madman, and exclaiming every -time the fire sparked from their clanging blades, - -"Bravo, bilbo! Excellent--come on again, Mr. Malapert, and I will -teach thee to measure swords with Randal of Clermistonlee. Gads-o, -fellow, thou art no novice in the science of fencing--crush me, what -a thrust! well parried-- - - "With a hey lillelu, and a how----' - -Damnation seize thee, man! how came that about!" - -The sword of Finland, by one lucky parry had broken the Lord's rapier -off by the hilt, and ripped up the skin of his sword-hand with such -force that he staggered against the wall. - -"I hope your Lordship is not hurt!" exclaimed his antagonist, -supporting him by the arm. - -"Zounds, no! a little only," replied Clermistonlee, whom the shock -had perfectly sobered. Full of rage, he tossed his embossed -sword-hilt over the house-tops, exclaiming, "Accursed blade, may the -hands that forged thee grill on the fires of eternity!" - -It whistled through the air, and fell down the chimney of the dowager -Lady Drumsturdy, where it stuck midway, and so terrified that ancient -dame that, notwithstanding her hatred to "massemongers," she laid her -poker and shovel _crosswise_; but the mysterious noise in her -capacious "lum" formed a serious case for the investigation of -ghost-seers and gossips next day. - -"Harkee, Laird of Finland," said Clermistonlee haughtily, "we must -enact this affair over again in daylight; meantime let us part, or -the Town-Guard will be upon us with their partisans, and I have no -wish that you should suffer for ripping up an inch or two of skin in -fair fight--you will hear from me anon." - -"Whenever your Lordship pleases, I am your most obedient," replied -Douglas, bowing coldly as he hurried to join the terrified ladies, -with whom he had barely time to get into the hackney-coach and drive -off, when the door of the prison opened, and a few of the Town Guard, -who had heard the clashing of the rapiers, rushed forth with lanterns -and poleaxes; like modern police, exhibiting great alacrity when the -danger was over, they seized Clermistonlee. - -"Dare ye lay hands on a gentleman," he exclaimed, fiercely shaking -them off. "Unhand me, villains, I am Randal Lord Clermistonlee! I -was assaulted----" - -"By whom, my Lord, by whom?" replied the guardians of the peace, -cringing before this imperious noble. - -"What is it to such rascals as thee?--oh, a knavish cloak snatcher, -or cut-purse, or something of that kind. Retire--I have always hands -to defend myself." - -The guard with hurried and half audible apologies withdrew, and the -brawling lord was left to his own confused reflections. He tied a -handkerchief about his hand, and was about to withdraw, when a -thought struck him: he approached the grating of the low dungeon, and -placing close to it his face, which though unseen was pale with fury, -while his dark eyes gleamed like two red sparks, - -"Art there, thou spawn of the Covenant?" he asked in a husky voice: -"Ah, dog of a Fenton, I will hang thee high as Haman for this night's -misadventure!" - -The prisoner replied by a scornful laugh, and the exasperated roué -strode away. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -CLERMISTONLEE AT HOME. - - "Too long by love a wandering fire misled, - My latter days in vain delusion fled; - Day after day, year after year, withdrew, - And beauty blessed the minutes as they flew, - These hours consumed in joy, but lost to fame----" - HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. - - -The town residence of Lord Clermistonlee was a lofty and narrow -mansion of antique aspect; it stood immediately within the -Craig-end-gate, that low-browed archway in the eastern flank of the -city wall, which, from the foot of Leith Wynd still faces the bluff -rock of the Calton. With high pedimented windows and Flemish gables, -Clermiston-lodging towered above the mossy, grass-tufted, and -time-worn rampart of the city--the aforesaid portal of which gave -entrance to it on one side, while the more immediate path from the -great central street was a steep and narrow close, the mansions of -which were as black as the smoke of four centuries could make them. -Their huge façades, plastered over with rough lime and oyster shells, -completely intercepted the view to the south, while that to the north -was shut in by the black cliffs of the bare Calton and the -Multrees-hill with the ancient suburb of St. Ninian, straggling -through the narrow chasm that yawned between them, and afforded a -glimpse of Leith and the far-off hills of Fife. At the base of the -hill lay the last fragments of the monastery of Greenside, and -opposite a thatched hamlet crept close to the margin of the Loch, the -broad sluice of which the irrascible Baillies of Edinburgh invariably -shut, when they quarrelled with a colony of sturdy and "contumacious" -weavers and tanners who had located there, and whose communication -with Halkerstoune Wynd they could cut off at pleasure by damming up -the waters of the Loch. Immediately under the windows of the mansion -lay the park, hospital, and venerable church of the Holy Trinity, -founded by the Queen of James II. about two hundred years before. - -On the night described in the last chapter, a large fire burned -cheerily in the chamber of dais; and the walls of wainscot, varnished -and gilded, glittered in its glow. Supper was laid; carved crystal, -plate, and snow-white napery gleamed in the light of the ruddy fire, -and of four large wax candles that towered aloft in massive square -holders of French workmanship. Over the mantel-piece, in an oak -frame amid the carving of which, grapes, nymphs, and bacchanals were -all entwined together, hung a portrait painted by Jamieson, -representing a pale young lady in a ruff and fardingale of James VI. -days, and having the pale blue eyes, exquisitely fair complexion and -lint-white locks, which were then so much admired. It was his -Lordship's mother, a lady of the house of Spynie. - -Silver plate, a goodly row of labelled flasks (bottling wine was not -then the custom) and various substantial viands formed a -corps-de-reserve on a grotesquely carved buffet of black oak, for -everything was fashioned after the grotesque in those days. The -knobs of the red leather chairs, and the ponderous fire-irons, were -strange and open-mouthed visages; the brackets supporting the -cornices of the doors and the mantel-piece, were also strange -bacchanalian faces grinning from wreaths of vine-leaves, clusters of -grapes and crowns of acanthus. Three long silver-hilted rapiers with -immense pommels, shells, and guards, pistols, steel caps, masks, -foils, and a buff coat richly laced with silver, lay all huddled in a -corner, while the broad mantel-piece presented quite an epitome of -the proprietor's character. - -The massive stone lintel displayed in bold relief the legend carved -thereon by his pious forefathers, - -Blyssit be God for al his giftis, 1540. - -but above it lay Andro Hart's "Compendious Book of Godly Songs," -beside the "Gaye Lady's Manuall," and the "Banqvet of Jests or change -or cheare imprinted at the shoppe in Ivie Lane 1634," a book of -ribbald ditties, another of farriery, another of falconry, obscene -plays; Rosehaugh's "Disertations" sent by the author, and used by -Clermistonlee to light his Dutch pipe; whistles, whips, hunting -horns, and drinking flasks, cards, dice, hawks' hoods, an odd pistol, -papers of council, warrants of search, arrest, and torture, mingled -with challenges and frivolous billets-doux. A large wolfish dog, and -a very frisky red-eyed Scottish terrier slept together on the warm -hearth-rug. - -Juden Stenton, the stout old butler, had stirred the fire and wiped -the glasses for the tenth time, tasted the wine for the twentieth, -and had made as many rounds of the table to snuff the candles, and -re-examine everything; he was very impatient and sleepy, and listened -intently with his head bent low, a practice which he had acquired in -the great civil wars. The clock in the spire of the Netherbow-porte -struck midnight. - -"Cocksnails!" muttered Juden, "twelve o'clock and nae sign o' him -yet. What's the world coming to? My certie, what would his farther -the douce Laird o' Drumsheugh hae thocht o' this kind of work? He -(honest man!) was aye in his nest at the first tuck o' the ten -o'clock drum." - -Juden was verging on sixty years of age; his figure was short and -paunchy, his face full and florid; his twinkling grey eyes wore -always a cunning expression, and had generally a sotted appearance -about them, which made it extremely difficult to determine whether he -was drunk or sober. His large round head was bald, and his chin -close shaven, according to the fashion for the lower classes, few but -nobles and cavaliers retaining the manly moustaches and imperial. A -clean white cravat fell over his doublet of dark-green cloth, the red -braiding of which was neatly curved to suit his ample paunch; -breeches of dark plush, black cotton stockings and heavy shoes, the -instep of each being covered by a large brass buckle, completed his -attire. A scar still remained on his shining scalp to attest the -dangers he had dared in his younger days. - -The last of a once numerous and splendid but now diminished -household, old Juden Stenton was a faithful follower of Lord -Clermistonlee, for whom he would have laid down his life without a -sigh of regret. He acted by turns butler and baillie, cook and -valet, groom, farrier, trooper, and factotum, being the beau ideal of -the staunch but unscrupulous serving-man of the day, who changed -sides in religion, politics, and everything just as the Laird did, -and who knew no will or law save those of his leader and master. -When Clermistonlee (then Sir Randal Clermont of Drumsheugh), ruined -by the mad excesses into which he had plunged at the dissipated court -of Charles II., in a fit of despair joined the insurgent Covenanters -at Bothwell Bridge, Juden put a blue cockade in his bonnet, "girded -up his loins," as he said, "and went forth to battle for Scotland's -oppressed kirk and broken covenant." But when Sir Randal's name (in -consequence of mistake, or of some friendly influence in the Scottish -cabinet) was omitted in the list of the attainted, and he changed -sides, obtaining--none knew how or why--rank and riches under the -persecutors, Juden changed too, and donning the buff coat and -scarlet, became a bitter foe to "all crop-eared and psalmsinging -rebels," and riding as a royalist trooper, suppressed many a harmless -conventicle, and hunted and hounded, slashed and shot, or dragged to -prison those who had been his former comrades, for in political -matters Juden's mind was as facile and easy as that of a German. - -He had too often less honourably acted the pander to his lord, in -many a vile intrigue and cruel seduction; for of all the wild rakes -of the time (Rochester excepted) none had rushed so furiously on the -career of fashionable vice and dissipation as Clermistonlee; and even -now, when forty years of age, he continued the same kind of life from -mere habit, perhaps, rather than inclination. - -But there was one chapter of his life which memory brought like a -cloud on his gayest hours, and which riot and revel could never -efface,--a sad episode of domestic mystery and unhappiness. -Clermistonlee, in the prime of his youth, had been wedded to a lady -of beauty and rank, of extreme gentleness of manner and softness of -disposition. Like many others, _the fancy_ passed away; repentance -came, as his love cooled or changed to other objects. He took the -lady to Paris, and there she died...... There were not wanting evil -tongues, who said he had destroyed her. A kind of mystery enveloped -her fate; and even in his most joyous moods, sad thoughts would -suddenly cloud the lofty brow of Clermistonlee, a sign which his kind -friends never failed to attribute to remorse. Many were the women -who had trusted to his honour, and found they had believed in a -phantom; until, at the era of our story, his name had become (like -that of the Marquis de Laval) a bye-word in the mouths of the people -for all that was wicked, irregular, and bad. - -"Twelve o'clock," muttered Juden; "braw times--braw times, sirs! I -warrant he'll be roistering in the change-house o' that runagate -vintner, Hugh Blair, at the Pillars. A wanion on his sour Gascon and -fushionless Hock! Waiting is sleepy work, and dry too. Gude claret -this! My service to ye, Maister Juden Stenton," he continued, bowing -to his reflection in an opposite mirror; "you're a gude and worthy -servitor to ane that doesna ken your value. The members o' council -maun a' be fu' as pipers by this time except Claverhouse, wha canna -touch wine, and auld Binns, wham wine canna touch. Hech! here he -comes; and now for a clamjamfray wi' the yett-wards." - -A violent knocking at the city-gate close by announced the return of -his master from a midnight ramble. The sentinel within opened the -wicket of the barrier; and on demanding the usual toll required of -belated citizens, a handful of pence, flung by the impatient lord, -clattered about his steel cap. Clermistonlee entered, and, half -dragging a little crooked man after him, rapidly ascended the flight -of steps that led to the circular tower or staircase of his own -house. In the low-pointed doorway, which was surmounted by an -uncouth coronet, stood Juden with a candle flaring in each hand, -bowing very low, though not in the best of humours. - -"Od, that weary body Mersington is w' him!" he muttered. "The auld -spunge--he'll drink the daylicht in!" - -"Light the way there, Juden," cried his master. "My good Lord -Mersington is generally short-sighted about this hour." - -"Double-sighted, ye mean," chuckled the decrepit senator. "Sorrow -tak' ye, Randal, ye maun aye hae your joke--he! he! A cauld nicht -this, Juden," he added, while hobbling up the narrow stair, with an -enormous wig and broad-brimmed beaver overshadowing his meagre figure. - -"A cauld morning rather, please your lordship," replied Juden -somewhat testily, as he ushered them into the chamber-of-dais, and -stirred the fire as well as the chain which secured the poker to the -jamb permitted him. - -"Be seated, Mersington. This way, my Lord; take care of the -table--devil! the man's blind," said Clermistonlee, as he somewhat -unceremoniously pushed the half-intoxicated senator into one of the -high-backed chairs of red maroquin. - -Mersington was twenty years his senior, and never was there a pair of -more ill-assorted gossips or friends. The one, a polished and -fashionable cavalier roué; the other, a cranky and meagre compound of -vulgarity, shrewdness, and ignorance, who was never sober, but had -obtained a seat on the bench in consequence of his inflexible -devotion to the Government, to please whom he would have sent the -twelve apostles to "testify" at the Bow-foot, had it been required of -him. Clermistonlee unbuckled his belt, and flung his empty scabbard -to the one end of the room, his plumed beaver to the other, and drew -his chair hastily forward to the table. - -"Where is your braw bilbo, my Lord?" asked Juden. - -"What the devil is it to thee?--'Tis broken. I will wear the -steel-hilted backsword to-morrow." - -"The auld blade ye wore at the Brigg?" - -"D--n Bothwell Brigg! How is Meg?" - -"Muckle the same, puir beastie." - -"I hope, knave, thou gavest her the warm mash, and bathed her -nostrils and fetlocks." - -"Without fail. We maun tak' gude care o' her--the last o' a braw -stud of sixty, my faith! But when a mear hath baith the wheezlock -and the yeuk----" - -"How! has she both?" - -"Had ye, a month syne, tar-barrelled that auld carlin, Elshender, -owre the muir at St. Rocque, Meg would hae been sound, wind and limb, -frae that moment." - -"'Sblood! Juden, dost think the cantrips of this old hag have really -bedevilled my favourite nag?" - -"I'm no just free to say, my Lord; but it is unco queer that Meg -(puir beastie!) should fa' ill o' sae mony things just after Lucky -Elshender flyted wi' ye for riding through her kail for a near cut to -the Grange, the day ye dined wi' auld Fountainhall." - -"By all the devils, Juden, if I thought this bearded hag had any hand -in the mare's illness, I would have her under the hands of the -pricker to-morrow," replied Clermistonlee, who was deeply imbued with -the Scottish prejudice against old women. "We had before us to-day -two hags, whom we consigned to the flames; one for confessing -witchcraft, and the other for obstinately refusing to confess it." - -Juden rubbed his hands. - -"Ou aye--ou aye--he! he!" chuckled Mersington. "Hae her up before -the fifteen--a full blawn case o' sorcery--on wi' the thumbikins! I -have kent rack and screw bring mony a queer story to light:--riding -to Banff on a besom-shank--sailing to the Inch in a -milkbowie--bewitching wheels that ane minute flew round as if the -mill was mad, and the next stood like the Bass rock--raising a storm -o' wind in the lift by the damnable agency of a black beetle, 'ane -golach,' as Rosehaugh called it in the indictment. We had a grand -case o' that lately in the northern courts." - -"But the gude auld fashion o' tar-barrelling is clean gaing out in -thae fushionless days," said Juden, whom Mersington treated with -considerable familiarity. "We havena had a respectable bleeze on the -Castle-hill these aucht years and mair." - -"You may chance to have one very shortly," replied his lord -impatiently, "if Meg gets not the better of her ailings soon. But -enough of this.--Let us to supper." - -"Bluid, as I live! Foul fa' the loon that shed it!" exclaimed Juden, -in accents of intense concern, as his master drew off his perfumed -gloves, and revealed the scar on his right hand. "Whatna -collyshangie has this been, noo--and your braw mantle o' drab de -Berrie--oh laddie, when will you learn to tak' care o' yoursel?" -added honest Juden, who from force of habit still styled his lord as -he had done thirty years ago. - -"Pshaw! you have seen my blood ere now, I suppose." - -"Owre often, owre often," groaned the old man. "You'll hae been -keeping the croon o' the causeway, I warrant, majoring rapier in -hand, as your faither was wont in his young days." - -"No, no; I merely measured swords in Gourlay's close with one of the -Scots' musqueteers." - -"Aboot what? They're mad, unchancey chields, Dunbarton's men." - -"A girl--the cursed baggage!" - -"Burn my beard, if ever I saw dochter o' Eve that tempted me to -encounter a slashed hide!" said Juden, with a tone of thankfulness, -while his master tied a handkerchief round the wounded limb, and -applied himself to the viands before him, attending to his friend -with hospitality and politeness, and doing the honours of the table -with peculiar grace. - -A roasted capon, mutton and cutlets, oysters fried and raw, a -gigantic silver mug of brandy and burnt sugar, a tankard of sack, and -several tall silver-mouthed decanters of claret, with manchets of the -whitest flour, oaten cakes, and fruit, composed the supper, on -sitting down to which, Lord Mersington, with an affected air and -half-closed eyes, by way of grace mumbled a distich then common among -the cavaliers-- - - "From Covenanters with uplifted hands, - From Remonstrators with associate bands, - From such Committees as governed these nations, - From Kirk Commissions and their protestations, - Good Lord, deliver us!' - - -"Amen," said Clermistonlee, "d--n all Kirk Commissioners and Sessions -too!" - -"The last keepit a firm hand owre such gallants as you, before King -Charles cam' hame," replied Mersington, who, like all meagre men, was -a great gourmand, and was doing ample justice to all the good things -before him. Clermistonlee, too, notwithstanding the lateness of the -hour, did his part fairly--but all times were alike to him, his -irregular habits and debauched life had by long custom made them so, -and he assailed the capon, the cutlets, the oysters, and sack -tankard, in rapid succession, while Juden stood behind his chair, -napkin in hand, with eyes half-closed, and nodding head. - -"Mersington, some more of the cutlets? My Lord, you must permit -me--do justice to my poor house, a bachelor's though it be. Juden, -hand that dish of Crail capons from the buffet." - -The butler hastily placed before his master an ample dish containing -a pile of small haddocks prepared in a mode now disused and forgotten. - -"Crail capons--allow me to help you; and don't spare the burnt sack, -my Lord." - -"Thank ye:--weel, then, Clermistonlee, anent this business of the -Napiers," said Mersington, referring to a former conversation; "what -mean ye to do now, eh?" - -"Use every means to obtain their lands--and Lilian to boot," replied -his friend, after a brief pause, and while a slight colour crossed -his cheek. "I have taken a particular fancy for that old house of -Bruntisfield--ha, ha! with the parks adjoining. Faith, the lands run -from the Harestarie to my own gate at Drumsbeugh, and from the Links, -where young Bruntisfield was slain long ago, to the house of the -Chieslies, beside the devil only knows how many tofts and tenements -within the walls of the city." - -"A noble barony for a dowry!" - -"It will form a seasonable subsidy to my exchequer, which is drained -to its last plack at present. You know I have long loved this girl." - -"Or _said_ so; but the lands, he, he! are forfeited to the King, man!" - -"So were those of the Mures of Caldwell, yet Sir Thomas of Binns now -holds them as a free gift from the Council--and holds fast, too." - -"Auld Dame Bruntisfield is but a life-rentrix; thou knowest, man, -that Captain Napier, of Buchan's regiment of Scots'-Dutch, is the -next and last heir of entail." - -"Tush! I will have _him_ under the nippers of the Lord Advocate ere -long; when his head is on yonder battlements of the Nether Bow, the -barony of Bruntisfield goes to Lilian Napier, and dost think, -Mersington, that chitti-faced girl will stand in my way? I trow not. -Maclutchy and some of our best-trained beagles are on the captain's -track, and they will run him down somewhere in the west country, -depend upon it. But 'tis neither hall nor holm, wood or water, that -will satisfy me----" - -"Odsfish, man! he, he! what mair would ye hae, Randal? There is the -auld dame denounced a rebel, and in default of compearance, put to -the horn; her moveable gudes and gear escheat to the King, conform to -the acts thereanent, and sae are the heritable, but the Council will -soon snap them up. What mair would ye hae?" - -"The person of little Lilian," said Clermistonlee, with a sinister -smile, as he winked over the top of his great silver tankard. - -"Hee, hee!" chuckled Mersington. - -"I would give a thousand broad pieces----" - -"If ye had them!" - -"Crush me! yes.----to discover where the young damsel is in hiding at -this moment. Accustomed to subdue women from very habit, her piquant -coldness and hauteur have inflamed, surprised, and offended me, and -by all the devils, I will have her, though I should be tumbled down -the precipice of hell for it!" he continued, in the cavalier -phraseology. "And this fellow, Fenton, this silken slave, who -crossed me on the very night I had hoped to have her arrested (he -ground his teeth), and that braggart, Douglas of Finland, who was so -ready with his rapier to-night, let them look to it; my path shall -not be crossed with impunity by man or devil." - -"Nor is that of any Lord of Council, while a warrant of arrest and -ward may be had from Mackenzie for the asking, like the -_lettre-de-cachet_ o' our French friends." - -"True, my Lord--our laws are severe; they are written in blood, like -those of Draco, the Athenian. If this fellow, Finland, has the young -lady concealed about Edinburgh, and if I thought he had a deeper aim -in view, than merely crossing me, I vow to Heaven, I would make him a -terrible example to all such rascally intermeddlers with the purposes -of their betters." - -His half-intoxicated companion looked slyly at him over his inverted -tankard, and replied, - -"Get a warrant of search, and send every macer, messenger-at-arms, -and toun guardsman after your dearie--he, he! and proclaim at the -cross by tuck of drum, that the Right Honourable the Lord -Clermistonlee, Baron of Drumsheugh and Knight of the Thistle, will -pay one thousand marks of our gude Scottish money to the discoverer, -or producer----" - -"Hush, Mersington, you jest too much on this matter. Withered be my -tongue for speaking of this project to thee--but the deed is done, -and I might as well have proclaimed it by sound of trumpet at the -Tron." - -"You have been a wild buckie in your day, Randal," said Lord -Mersington; "and when I think o' all the braw queans, gentle as weel -as simple, that you have loved and abandoned, gude-lackaday! I -marvel that the whinger of some fierce brother or father hath not cut -short your career o' gallantry. How about your fair one in Merlin's -Wynd?" - -"Pshaw! I tired of her long ago." - -"And Lady Mary Charteris?" - -"By all the devils, 'tis very droll to hear you speak of a noble lady -and a poor bona-roba in the same breath. Mary is beautiful, -magnificently so, but wary, proud, and poor--we would hate each other -in a week. Now I really think little Lilian Napier is capable of -fixing all my wandering fancies into one focus for life." - -"He, he," chuckled Mersington, "I have heard you say the same o' -twenty. But a peer of the realm, heir of--" - -"The whole heraldic honours of the house of Clermont, which you see -on yonder window-pane, or, three bars wavy embattled, surmounted by a -lion _sable--argent_, a bend engrailed _gules_, and so forth. Ha, -ha!" - -"The coronet aboon them is a braw die, and ane that glitters weel in -lassies' een." - -"With Lilian Napier it has no more value than a peasant's bonnet. A -thousand times I have endeavoured to gain her notice, by the most -respectful attentions, which the little gipsy ever evaded, or -affected to misunderstand, treating me with the most frigid coldness. -The older lady, perhaps, is not indisposed towards me, but the memory -of--Fury! always _that_ thought!..... I never was crossed in my -purpose, and now I mean to hang Quentin Napier, and marry his cousin -forthwith. Ha, ha!" - -"What, if he should discover and carry her off in the meantime?" - -"Ah--the devil! don't think of that. I would give a hundred French -crowns to have the right scent after her." - -"I could do sae for half the money, my lord," said Juden, suddenly -waking up from his standing doze. - -"The deuce! fellow, art _thou_ there?" exclaimed his master with -stern surprise. - -"Fellow, indeed!" reiterated the ancient servitor, indignantly. -"Troth, I was the best o' gude fallows when I received on my ain -croon here, the cloure that Claverse meant for yours, in that braw -tulzie on Bothwell Brigg." - -"True, Juden--though I like not being overheard in some matters," -replied the lord more kindly; "but as Colonel Grahame and I are now -the best of friends, it would be better to recall the memory of -bygone days as little as possible. Dost hear me?" - -"And Alison Gifford--my lady that is dead and gone now, puir thing," -continued Juden, spitefully and mournfully, knowing well that her -name stung Clermistonlee to the soul. "Often, and often, she used to -say, 'you are a gude and leal servitor, Juden, and the laird (ye were -but a laird then), can never think enough, or mak' enough o' ye, -Juden--for ye are one that, come weal, come woe, peace or war, -victory or defeat, will stick to the house o' Clermont, Juden, like a -burr on a new bannet. But losh me! _he_ doesna ken the worth o' ye -Juden!'" The pawkie butler raised his table napkin to hide "the -tears he did _not_ shed;" but the face of Lord Clermistonlee, which -had gradually grown darker as he continued to speak, now wore a -terrible expression. "Puir young Lady Alison! sae kind and sae -gentle, sae sweet-tempered, blooming and bonnie. You were aye owre -rough and haughty wi' her, my lord----" - -"Ten thousand curses!--wretch and varlet! whence all this insolence, -and why this maudlin grief?" cried Clermistonlee, in a voice of -thunder. "Why speak of Alison? she sleeps in peace in the old aisles -of St. Marcel, in Paris, and are her ashes to be ever thrown upon me -thus? S'death! away, sirrah. Get thee gone, or the sack tankard may -follow _that_!" - -And plucking off his long black wig, he flung it full in Juden's face. - -Without making any immediate reply, the latter picked up the ample -wig, carefully brushed the flowing curls with his hand, and hung it -upon the knob of a chair. He then turned to leave the room, but -pausing, said slyly-- - -"Then, my Lord, ye dinna want to ken where this bonnie bird could be -netted. I could cast your hawk to the perch in a minute." - -"Art sure of that, sirrah?" - -"My thumb on't, Clermistonlee, I will." - -"You are a pawkie auld carle, Juden," said his master, in an altered -voice; "but tell with brevity what ye know of this matter." - -"Lucky Elshender, a cottar body at St. Rocque, owre the Burghmuir -yonder, was nurse to the Lady Lilian--yea, and to her mother before -her. Though as wicked and cankered an auld carlin as ever tirled a -spindle, or steered hell-kail, she was ane leal and faithful servitor -to the house o' Bruntisfield, for her gudeman and his twa sons died -in their stirrups by Sir Archibald's side, on that black day by the -Keithing Burn. Sae, Clermistonlee, as she is a body mickle trusted -by the family, if any woman or witch in a' braid Scotland can -enlighten ye anent this matter, it is Lucky Elshender. And maybe my -Lord Mersington (he's asleep, the gomeral body) will be sae gude as -keep in memory, that there is not an auld wife in the three Lothians -mair deserving o' a fat tar-barrel bleezing under her, in respect o' -puir Meg's mischanter." - -"Right, Juden," replied his master. "She may be brought to the stake -yet, though the taste for such exhibitions is somewhat declining -among our gentles. To-morrow I will have her dragged to the Laigh -Chamber; and if there is any truth in her tongue, or blood in her -fingers, I warrant Pate Pincer's screws will produce both. Take -these, Juden, as earnest of the largess I will give if the scent -holds good." - -But Juden drew back from the proffered gold pieces. - -"If I am to serve ye, my Lord, as a leal vassal and servitor ought, -and as I served your honoured faither before ye, and my forbears did -yours in better and braver times, ye will hold me excused from -touching a bodle o' this reward, or ony other beyond my yearly fee -and livery coat. Keep your gowd, Clermistonlee, for faith ye need it -mair than auld Juden Stenton; and sae, as my een are gathering -straws, I will bid your Lordship a gude morning, and hie cannily away -to my nest, for, by my sooth! there's the Norloch shining through the -window shutters like silver in the braid day light." And so saying, -Juden withdrew with a jaunty step, pleased with his own magnanimous -refusal. - -Though a good-hearted man in the main, and one, who (where his -master's honour, interest, fancy, or aggrandizement were not -concerned) would not have injured a fly, then how much less a human -being, Juden Stenton had thus without the slightest scruple set fire -to a train which might end in the ruin and misery of an already -unfortunate family, and the dishonour and destruction of an amiable -and gentle girl, in whose fortunes and misfortunes we hope to -interest the reader still more anon. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE COTTAGE OF ELSIE. - - "Ha! honest nurse, where were my eyes before? - I know thy faithfulness and need no more." - ALLAN RAMSAY. - - -Several days elapsed without our tyrannical voluptuary being able to -do anything personally in the discovery, or persecution of the -Napiers. His wounded hand from neglect became extremely painful, and -his late debauch with Mersington had thrown him into a state so -feverish, that luckily he was compelled to keep within his own -apartments; but obstacles only inflamed his passion and exasperated -his obstinacy. It would be difficult to analyze the sentiments he -entertained towards Lilian Napier. Love, in the purer, nobler, and -more exalted idea of the passion he assuredly had not. His -overweening pride had been bitterly piqued by her hauteur. The -beauty of her person, and the inexpressible charm of her manner had -first attracted him, and, notwithstanding the studied coldness with -which he was treated, the passion of the roué got the better of -judgment. Lilian's great expectations, too, had farther inflamed his -ardour; but all the attentions which he proffered on every occasion -with inimitable address, were utterly unavailing, and for the first -time the gay Lord Clermistonlee found himself completely baffled by a -girl. Surprised at her opposition, his pride and constitutional -obstinacy became powerfully enlisted in the affair, and he determined -by forcible abduction, or some such coup-de-main, to subdue the -haughty little beauty to his purpose. Although he had been unable to -prosecute his amour in person, Juden and others had narrowly watched -the cottage of old Elshender, and brought from thence such reports as -convinced his Lordship that she alone could enlighten him as to the -retreat of Lilian and Lady Grizel, if they were not actually -concealed within her dwelling. - -Though a munificent reward had been offered for their discovery, -trusting to the well-known faith and long-tried worth of their aged -vassal, the ladies had found a shelter in her humble residence, -correctly deeming that a house so poor and so near the city walls -would escape unsearched, when one at a distance might not. There -they dwelt in the strictest seclusion and disguise on the very marge -of their ample estates, and almost within view of the turrets of -their ancient manor-house. - -Since the torture to which the unhappy Ichabod Bummel had been -subjected, and his subsequent imprisonment on the Bass Rock (where -Peden of Glenluce, Scott of Pitlochie, Bennett of Chesters, Gordon of -Earlston, Campbell of Cesnock, and others endured a strict captivity -as the price of sedition), Lady Grizel and Lilian hoped that their -involvement with the Orange spies, and their flight, would soon be -alike forgotten, especially now, when they were so utterly ruined and -impoverished by proscription, that they were forced to share the -bounty of their humblest vassal. - -Near the old ruined chapel of St. Rocque, and close under the -outspread branches of a clump of lofty beech trees, by the side of -the ancient loan that led to Saint Giles' Grange, nestled the little -thatched cottage of Elsie Elshender. It was low-roofed, and its -thick heavy thatch was covered with grass and moss of emerald green. -The white-washed walls were massive, and perforated by four small -windows, each about a foot square, but crossed by an iron bar; two -faced the loan in front, and two overlooked the kailyard and byre to -the back. The cottage had one great clay-built chimney, at the back -of which was a little eyelet hole, affording from the stone -ingle-seats a view of the arid hills of Braid, and the solitary path -that wound over their acclivities to the peel of Liberton, then the -patrimony of the loyal Winrams. On one side of the door was a turf -seat, on the other a daddingstone, where (in the ancient fashion) the -barley was cleansed every morning, for the use of the family. This -humble residence contained only a _but_ and a _ben_, or inner and -outer apartment, and both were furnished with box-beds opening in -front with doors. The first chamber, though floored with hard beaten -clay, was as clean as whitening and sprinkled sand could make it; a -large fire of wood and peats blazed on the rude hearth; and in its -ruddy light the various rows of Flemish ware, beechwood luggies, -milk-bowies, horn-spoons, and polished pewter arrayed above the -wooden buffet or dresser, were all glittering in that shiny splendour -which a smart housewife loves. Within the wide fireplace on a pivet -hung a glowing Culross girdle, on which a vast cake was baking. - -It was night, but neither lamp nor candle were required; the fire's -warm blaze gave ample light, and a more comfortable little cottage -than old Elsie's when viewed by that hospitable glow, was not to be -found in the three Lothians. Three oak chairs of ancient -construction, a table similar, a great meal girnel in one corner, -flanked by a peat bunker in the other, and an odd variety of stoups, -pitchers, and three-legged stools made up the background. On the -table lay an old quarto bible from which Lilian read aloud certain -passages every night, Andro Hart's "Psalmes in Scot's meter," and the -"Hynd let loose" of the "Godly Mr. Sheils," who was then in the hands -of the Phillistines, and keeping the Reverend Ichabod Bummel company -in the towers of the Bass. Two kirn-babies decorated with blue -ribbons, a quaint woodcut of our first parents' joining hands under -what resembled a great cabbage in the Garden of Eden appeared over -the mantel-piece, together with a long rusty partisan with which the -umquhile John Elshender had laid about him like a Trojan on the -battle-field of Dunbar. - -Close by the ingle sat his widow Elsie enjoying its warmth, and -listening to the birr of her wheel. She was a hale old woman of -seventy years, with a nose and chin somewhat prominent; her grey hair -was neatly disposed under a snowwhite cap of that Flemish fashion -which is still common in Scotland, and over which a simple black -ribbon marks widowhood. Her upper attire consisted of a coarse skirt -of dark blue stuff, over which fell a short linen gown, reaching a -little below her girdle, which bristled with keys, knitting wires, -pincushion, and scissors. Similarly attired in a short Scottish -gown, which showed to the utmost advantage the full outline of her -buxom figure, her niece Meinie, a rosy, hazel-eyed, and dark-haired -girl of twenty, stood by the meal girnel baking (Anglicé _kneading_), -and as the sleeves of her dress came but a little below the shoulder, -her fair round arms and dimpled elbows did not belie the pretty and -merry face, which now and then peeped round at the group near the -fire. Two of these ought perhaps to have been described first. - -Disguised as a peasant, Lady Grisel no longer wore her white hair -puffed out by Monsieur Pouncet's skill, but smoothed under a plain -starched bigonet, coif, or mutch (which you will), and very ill at -ease the stately old dame appeared in her hostess's coarse attire. -By way of pre-eminence she occupied the great leathern chair, in -which no mortal had been seated since the decease of John Elshender, -who for forty consecutive years had hung his bonnet on a knob -thereof, while taking his evening doze therein, after a day's -ploughing or harrowing on the rigs of Drumdryan. - -Clad in one of the short gowns of Meinie, her foster-sister, Lilian -looked more graceful and decidedly more piquant, than when at home -rustling in lace, frizzled and perfumed; her fair hair was gathered -up in a simple snood like that of a peasant girl; but never had -peasant nor peeress more beautiful or more glossy tresses. The poor -girl was very pale; constant watching and anxiety, a feeling of utter -abandonment and helplessness should their retreat be traced, had -quite robbed her of that soft bloom, the glow of perfect health and -happiness, her cheeks had formerly worn. - -The cottage contained a secret hiding place, constructed by that -"pawkie auld carle," John Elshender, as an occasional retreat in time -of peril, and therein the noble fugitives remained during the day, -issuing forth only at night, when, the windows closed by shutters -within and without, and a well-barred door, precluded all chance of a -sudden discovery. These precautions were imperatively necessary: had -the fugitives been seen by any one, the exceeding whiteness of their -hands, the softness of their voices, and, above all, the decided -superiority of their air, would have rendered all disguise -unavailing. In silence and sadness Lady Bruntisfield sat gazing on -the changing features of the glowing embers; but her mind was -absorbed within itself. Lilian was sewing, or endeavouring to do so; -her downcast eyes were suffused with tears, and from time to time she -stole a glance at Aunt Grisel. Every sound startled and caused her -to prick her delicate fingers, or snap the thread, until compelled to -throw aside the work; she then drew near her grand-aunt, bowed her -head on her shoulder, and wept aloud. - -"Lilian, love!" exclaimed Lady Grisel, endeavouring to command her -own feelings, though the quivering of her proud nether lip showed the -depth of her emotion. "For my sake, if not for your own, do not -thus, every night, give way to unavailing sorrow and regret." - -Lilian's thoughts were wandering to poor Walter Fenton in his prison, -and she still wept. - -"Marry come up! it would ill suit this little one to become the wife -of a Scottish baron or gentleman of name!" said the old lady, -pettishly. "Lilian Napier, those tears become not your blood, whilk -you inherit from a warrior, whom the bravest of our kings said had -nae-peer in arms. Bethink ye, Lilian! Ere I was your age, I had -seen my two brothers, Cuthbert and Ninian, cloven down under their -own roof-tree by the Northumbrian Mosstroopers, and brave lads they -were as ever levelled pike or petronel. O! yet in my ears I hear the -clink of their harness as they fell dead on the flagstones of our -hall; and never may ye hear such sounds, Lilian, for they are hard to -thole. But I was a brave lassie then, and could bend a hackbut owre -a rampart, or send a dag-shot through an English burgonet, without -wincing or winking once; for my memory gangs back to the days of -gentle King Jamie, ere the Scotsman had learned to give his -ungauntled hand to the Southron." - -"Fearfu' times, my leddy," said Elsie, "fearfu' times! waly, waly, I -mind o' them weel." - -"They tell us we are one people now," continued the Scottish dame, -with kindling eyes. "Malediction on those who think so! I am a Hume -of the Cowdenknowes, and cannot forget that my brothers, my husband, -and his three fair boys poured their heart's blood forth upon English -steel." - -"Ill would it become your ladyship to do so," said Elsie, urging her -wheel with increased velocity, and resolving not to be outdone in -garrulity by Lady Grisel. "Weel mayest thou greet my bonnie bairn -Lilian, for these are fearfu' times for helpless women bodies, when -the strong hand and sharp sword can hardly make the brave man haud -his ain; but they are as nothing to what I have seen, when the -doolfu' persecution was hot in the land. I mind the time when, -trussed up wi' a tow like a spitted chucky, I was harled away behind -that neer-do-well trooper, Holsterlie, and dookit thrice in -Bonnington-linn by Claverse' orders, and just as the water rose aboon -my mutch, gif I hadna cried 'God save King Charles and curse the -Covenant,' I hadna been spinning here to-night. Weary on't, I've aye -had a doolfu' cramp since that hour." - -"A piece of a coffin keepeth away the cramp, Elsie, but 'tis an unco -charm, and one that I like not." - -"Gude keep us! how many puir folk I have seen in my time hanged, or -shot, or writhing in great bodily anguish in the iron buits, wi' -lighted gun-matches bleezing between their birselled fingers, and -expiring in agonies awfu' to see and fearfu' to remember, and a' -rather than abjure the Holy Covenant and bless the King." - -"And rightly were they served, false rebels!" said Lady Bruntisfield, -striking her cane on the floor. - -"But let the persecutors tak' heed," continued Elsie, heedless of the -dame's Cavalier prejudices, "for their foot shall slide in due time -(as the blessed word sayeth), the day of their calamity is at hand, -and the sore things that are coming upon them make haste." - -"O hush, dear Elsie," said Lilian, "you know not who may hear you." - -"True, Madame Lilian," continued the old woman, "and your words are a -burning reproach against those who make it treason to whisper the -word, unless to the sound o' drums and shawlms, and organs. These -are fearfu' times." - -"Toots, nurse, I have seen waur," said Lady Bruntisfield impatiently. - -"Aye, my Leddy, in the year fifty, when the army o' that accursed -Cromwell came up by Lochend brawly in array o' battle, wi' the sun o' -a summer morning glinting on their pike-heads and steel caps; -marching they were, but neither to tuck of drum nor twang of horn, -but to a fushionless English hymn, whilk they aye skirled on the eve -o' battle. But our braw lads beat the auld Scots' march, and my -heart warmed at the brattle o' their drums and the fanfare o' the -trumpets. O, their thousands were a gallant sight to see, a' lodged -in deep trenches by Leith Loan, and the green Calton braes covered -wi' men-at-arms, and bristling wi' spears and brazen cannon! On the -topmost rock waved the banner o' the godly Argyle, and a' the craigs -were swarming wi' his wild Hielandmen in their chain jackets and -waving tartans. An awfu' time it was for me and mony mair! My puir -gudeman (whom God sain) rode in the Lowden Horse, under Sir -Archibald's banner (Heaven rest him too). That morning I grat like a -bairn when hooking the buff coat on his buirdly breiest, and clasping -the steel helmet on his manly broo, (O, hinnie Lilian, ne'er may ye -hae to do that for the man ye loe!) ere he gaed forth to battle for -this puir cot, his little bairns, and me. But heigh! it was a brave -sight, and a bonnie, to see our Lowden lads sweeping the English -birds o' Belial before them like chaff on the autumn wind, though my -heart was faint, and fluttered like a laverock in the hawk's grasp, -and I trembled and prayed for my puir man Jock. My een were ever on -Sir Archibald's red plume----" - -"Red and blue, gules and argent, were his colours, Elsie," said Lady -Grisel, whose tears fell fast. "O, nursie, my ain hand twined them -in his helmet." - -"True, my leddy," continued the old woman, whose strong feelings -imparted a force to her language, "my een were ever on that waving -plume, for well I kent where the Laird was, John Elshender was sure -to be if in life. Aye, Lilian, hinnie, Sir Archibald's voice was as -a trumpet in the hour of strife. 'Bruntisfield! Bruntisfield! -bridle to bridle, lads!' We heard him shout on every sough o' wind, -'God and the King!' and ever an' anon his uplifted sword flashed -among the English helmets like the levin brand on a winter night, and -mony a gay feather, and mony a gay fellow fell before it." - -"Peace, Elsie, enough!" said Lady Grisel, weeping freely at the -mention of her husband, who had greatly distinguished himself in that -cavalry encounter, where Cromwell's attack on Edinburgh was so -signally repulsed. "If you love me, good nurse, I prythee cease -these reminiscences!" - -"Weel, my lady, but muckle mair could I tell doo Lilian o' these -fearfu' times," continued the garrulous old woman, who loved (as the -Scots all do) to speak of the dead and other days; "muckle indeed, -for an auld carlin sees unco things in a lang lifetime. But, -dearsake, your ladyship, dinna greet sae, for better times _will_ -come, and bethink ye they that thole overcome, for when things are at -the warst, the're sure aye to mend; sae spake the godly Mr. Bummel to -those who outlived that fearfu' night in the Whigs' vault at -Dunottar." - -"Ah!" said Lilian shuddering, for she thought of Walter Fenton. -"That was a dark dungeon, nurse, was it not?" - -"Deep, and dark, and vaulted, howkit in the whinrock, yet therein -were ane hundred three score and seventeen o' God's persecuted -creatures thrust, and there they expired in the agony and thirst, -such as the rich man suffered in hell--where Lauderdale suffers noo. -Ah, hinnie, it was a dowie place; the Water-hole of the town guard is -a king's chamber in comparison; it is black, damp, and slimy as a -tod's den." - -"Oh, madam, it is just in such a place they have confined poor -Walter--I mean this young man whom we have involved in our -misfortunes," said Lilian, in tears and confusion. "It is ever -before me, since the night you sent me to him. Dear Aunt Grisel, you -cannot conceive all he endures at present, and is yet to endure." - -"He is of low birth, Lilian, and therefore better able than we to -endure indignity," said Lady Bruntisfield, somewhat coldly. "Yet I -hope he shall not die--" - -"Die!" reiterated Lilian, piqued at her kinswoman's coolness; "ah, -why such a thought?" - -"I sorrow for him as much as you, Lilian. The young man seemed good -and gentle, with a bearing far above his humble fortune, and a comely -youth withal." - -Lilian made no reply, but a close observer would have perceived that -her blue eyes sparkled and the colour of her cheek heightened with -pleasure as Lady Grisel spoke, - -"And said he of the council threatened him with torture?" she -continued. - -"Clermistonlee--" - -"Ah!" ejaculated Lady Grisel. - -"Eh, sirs?" added Elsie. - -"Clermistonlee," continued Lilian, shuddering, "would have had him -torn limb from limb, but for the intercession of Claverhouse." - -"And for what does he hate the youth?" - -"Permitting me to escape, I presume," replied Lilian, raising her -head with a little hauteur. - -"Claverse'!" said Elsie, in a low voice; "then this is the first gude -I have heard o' him. Folk say he is in league wi' the de'il (Heaven -keep us!) and that when the satanic spirit is in him, his black een -flash like wildfire in a moss-hagg. Certes! I'll no forget that -fearfu' day when he would hae dookit me to death for a word or twa." - -"Colonel Grahame was guilty of most abominable ungallantry, Elsie; -and yet I do not think he would have ducked me." - -"Ungallantry, Lilian!" said Lady Grisel, grasping her cane, "ye -should say a breach of law, ye sillie lassie. Our barony hath power -of pit and gallows by charter from Robert the Auld Farrand, and it -was a daring act and a graceless, to drag a vassal from our bounds, -when I could have hanged her myself on the dule-tree, by a word of my -mouth!" (Elsie winced.) "But he stood the youth's friend, you say?" - -"Yes, and what dost think, nurse Elsie, so did old Beardie Dalyel!" - -"Marvellous! but mind ye the proverb, _Hawks dinna pyke out hawks' -een_. The lad wears buff and steel, and eats his beef and bannock by -tuck of drum; and sae baith Claverse' and Dalyel shewed him that -mercy whilk a sanct o' God's oppressed kirk, would hae sued in vain -wi' clasped hands and bended knees." - -"Ah, nurse, you don't know this young man. He is so mild-eyed and -gentle, that Dalyel--" - -"Meinie, ye hizzie, the cakes are scouthering! Dalyel! folk say his -mother was in love wi' the deil; and my son Hab (a black day it was -too when he first mounted his bandoleers,) ance saw a kail-stock -scorched to the very heart when the auld knicht spat on it--but -fearfu' men are suited to fearfu' times." - -"Hush, Elshender," said Lady Grisel; "they are indeed times when we -must fear the corbies on the roof, and the swallow under the eaves. -One might deem the council to have a familiar fiend at their command, -(like that fell warlock Weir, whose staff went errands,) for nought -passes in cot or castle on this side of the highland frontier, but -straightway they are informed of it. From whence could they have -tidings that our gallant kinsman Quentin, and that fule body Bummel -were at Bruntisfield? Landed at midnight from the Dutch frigate near -the mouth of the lonely Figget Burn, they were secretly admitted to -our house, in presence only of my baillie and most familiar -servitors, who would not betray me. I rejoice the captain hath -escaped their barbarities--but Ichabod, poor man!--I suppose his -earthly troubles are well nigh over." - -"A dreich time he'll have o't on the lonely Bass," said Meinie, -turning the savory cakes, and blowing her pretty fingers. "There is -naething there but gulls flapping and skirling, the soughing wind and -roaring waves; but it will be a braw place to preach in, gif the -red-coats let him. Oh, it would be the death o' me to be among these -red-coats." - -"Unless Hab Elshender were one," said Lilian: and Meinie blushed, for -the linking of two names together has a strange charm to a young -heart. - -"Ou' aye," laughed the light-hearted girl; "but Maister Ichabod may -cool his lugs blawing gospel owre the craigs, to the north wind, or -gieing the waves a screed o' that blessed "_Bombshell_," he aye -havers o'. Better that than skirling a psalm at the Bowfoot, till -the doomster's axe comes down wi' a bang, and sends his head -chittering into a basket. Ugh!'" - -"Meinie, peace wi' this discourse, whilk beseems not!" said Elsie -with great asperity. "I heard the lips o' the godly Renwick pray -audibly, after his head lay in Pate Pincer's basket. Eh, sirs! what -a head it is _now_. Yet the Netherbow guard watch it wi' cocked -matches day and night, for there is mony a bold plot made by the -Cameronians to carry it awa." - -"But our unfortunate friend the preacher--how dearly, by his crushed -limbs, has he paid for his zeal in the cause of the Dutch prince! -Yet, as Heaven knoweth, I knew not that letters of treason to our -Scottish nobles were in his possession, or never would he have -darkened the door of Bruntisfield. He deceived me; let it pass. Sir -Archibald, thou rememberest well my husband, Elsie?--'tis well that -he sleeps in his grave. Oh, judge what _he_ would have thought of -our downfal and degradation!" - -"My mind misgives me, my lady, but Sir Archibald's kirk was the -fushionless ane o' episcopacy, and, indeed, he just gaed wherever the -troops marched, with trumpets blawing and kettle-drums beating waefu' -to hear in the day o' the Lord." - -This last speech somewhat displeased Lady Grisel, who struck her cane -thrice on the clay floor, and there ensued a long pause, broken only -by creaking of the beeches in the adjoining grove, and the birr of -Elsie's wheel as it whirled by the ruddy fire. - -"Come, your Leddyship," said Elsie, "let byegones be byegones, and -we'll be canty while we may. Meinie can sing like a laverock in the -summer morning; sae, lassie, gie forth your best sang to please our -lady, and then we'll hae our luggies o' milk, and bit o' your -bannocks, a screed o' the blessed gospel, and syne awa to our rest, -for its waxing late." - -Meinie of course was about to enter some bashful protest, when the -soft voice of her foster-sister said,-- - -"Do, dearest Meinie, and I will join thee; 'twill raise the spirits -of good aunt Grisel. Ah, if I had only my spinnet, the cittern, or -even my flageolet here!" - -"What is your pleasure, then, Madam Lilian?" asked Meinie, -curtseying, "_Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament_, or _The Broom of the -Cowdenknowes_?" - -"Anything but the last," said Lady Bruntisfield. "The Knowes of -Cowden hath passed away from the house of Hume, and bonnie though the -golden broom may be, it blooms for us no more." - -"Sing '_Dunbarton's drums_,' Meinie," said Lilian, "you hum it from -morning till evening." - -"And so do _you_, Madam," said Meinie slyly and bluntly; "but I loe -the merry measure." - -"Ewhow, that's because o' my wild son Hab!" said Elsie, laughing. -"Mak' speed, lassie--our lady waits." - -Meinie made another low old-fashioned curtsey, and then, while -continuing her task, sang the song and march composed for the Scots -Royals, or Dunbarton's Musqueteers, and which had then been popular -in Scotland for some years. Lilian at times added her softer notes -to Meinie's, and their clear voices made the rough rafters, hollow -box-beds, and deep bunkers of the old cottage ring to that merry old -air:-- - - "Dunbarton's drums beating bonnie, O, - Remind me o' my Johnnie, O, - -added Elsie, beating time with her feet to the mellow voices of the -girls; but Lady Bruntisfield heard them not, for with her glistening -eyes fixed on the glowing embers, she gradually sunk into a deep -reverie. Animated each by her own secret thoughts, the girls sang -with tenderness and enthusiasm, and all were so much engaged that -none of the four perceived a _fifth_ personage, who suddenly made his -appearance among them. - -In a corner of the cottage stood a great oak chest, apparently a meal -girnel, but having a false floor, and being in reality the mouth of -the subterranean place of concealment and escape, communicating with -the grove behind the cottage. Such outlets were numerous in all -large mansions; and the dangerous times of the Solemn League had -caused the umquhile John Elshender to construct such a sallyport from -his humble dwelling; and on several occasions of peril it had saved -him from being hanged over his own door by Malignants, Covenanters, -and English, or whoever had the upperhand for the time. Slowly the -girnel lid was raised, and the glowing firelight shone on the steel -breast-plate and bandoleers of a musqueteer. He was a ruddy-faced -young man, with the prominent cheek-bones and shrewd expression of -the Lowland peasantry: stout and athletic in figure, his keen grey -eyes took a rapid survey of the cottage under the peak of his morion. -His face expressed surprise and curiosity, but as the song proceeded -he stepped slowly and softly out, and when it was concluded stood -close to the rosy and buxom Meinie. - -"Hurrah!" he exclaimed, and gave her a resounding kiss on each cheek. -The wheel fell from the relaxed hand of Elsie, and a shriek burst -from Lilian, who believed they were betrayed, and threw herself -before her aged kinswoman. - -"Hab, Hab, ye graceless loon," screamed Elsie, as her son now kissed -her, "how dare ye gliff folk this gate?" - -"Hoots, Hab, ye've toozled a' my tap-knot," said Meinie, affecting to -pout; "ye came on me noo like a ghaist or a spunkie." - -"Heyday, Meinie, my doo! ye want to be kissed again; do ye think I -have trailed a pike these eight years under my Lord Dunbarton, -without learning to tak' baith castles and kimmers by storm." - -"Aye-aye, you are as bad as the warst o' them, I doubt not. Lasses, -indeed--dinna come near me again." - -"Hoity, toity, does she not want another kiss?" - -"Haud, you wild loon," said his mother, in great glee; "do ye no see -who are present?" - -"An auld neighbour carlin, I think, and as bonnie a young lass as I -ever saw on the longest day's march, d--n me." - -Halbert suddenly paused, and became very much perplexed. The blood -rushed into his swarthy face, as with an awkward but profound salute -he said, in an altered voice,-- - -"I crave your pardon a thousand times, noble madam; and yours, sweet -Mistress Lilian. My humble duty to ye both, though it is not long -since I had the happiness to meet you. It goes to my heart to see -you in attire so unbefitting your station. O, Lady Grisel, I ken -oure well of all that has come to pass, for I was one of the thirty -files of musqueteers, that were with Finland at the auld place on -that sorrowful night last month. They are hard times these, my lady." - -"Fearfu' times, my son," chorussed Elsie. - -"True, Halbert," said the old lady. "Ruin and proscription now level -the most noble with the mean, the most unoffending with the guilty, -and blend all with the common herd. But, Halbert, I bid ye welcome, -my man, and God bless ye!" - -"And I too, Habbie," added Lilian; "for I cannot forget when we -bird-nested in the wood yonder, and gathered gowans and flowers on -the sunny braes in summer. Oh! Hab, in all your soldiering, I will -warrant ye have never been so happy as we were then." - -The eyes of the soldier glistened. - -"True it is, madam," said he, as slightly and bashfully he raised to -his lip the beautiful hand she extended towards him; "true, indeed. -I have spent many a happy hour under the canvass tent, and birled -many a wine horn merrily in the Flanders hostels and French cabarets; -but never have I seen such happy hours as those we spent when we were -bairns, amang the oakwoods of the auld place upbye yonder. Often -hath brave Mr. Fenton, when tramping by my side on the long dusty -march, recalled their memory in such wise that my heart swelled under -its iron case. And truly, honoured madam, though the same heart is -wrung to see you dressed in cousin Meinie's humble duds, never saw I -lassie that looked sae winsome. Od rot it! how came your ladyship to -let that ill-omened corbie to darken your door? when sure ye might -have been that dool and mischief would meet thereafter on your -hearthstane. This goose Bummel----" - -"Oh, Hab, ye gomeral, wheesht!" said Elsie, interrupting this -somewhat laboured address. "Your notions o' ministers are gathered -frae your tearing, swearing, through-ganging, horse-racing, and -hard-drinking Episcopal curates and chaplains, that swagger about wi' -cockades in their bonnets and swords at their thighs, chucking every -bonnie lass under chin, and gieing ilka sabbath a sleepy, -fushionless, feckless, drouthie, cauldrifed discourse, whilk hath -neither the due birr nor substantious, soul-feeding effect o' the -true gospel, but savours rather o' the abomination----" - -"Ahoi, mother, halt!--egad, or mind the iron gags, the fetterlocks, -and thumbikins!" cried her son, with an alarm that was no way -lessened by a violent knocking at the cottage door, where, at that -moment, the iron ring of the risp was drawn sharply and repeatedly up -and down. - -The hearts of the poor fugitives forgot to beat! Insult, -imprisonment, banishment, or worse, rushed upon the mind of Lady -Bruntisfield; the dark, gloating eyes and terrible presence of -Clermistonlee, upon that of Lilian: but Halbert Elshender snatched up -his musquet and blew the match till it glowed on his sun-burned face, -an action which made the women grow paler still. - -"Beard of the devil! Get into the girnel, Lady Grizel; and you, -madam Lilian--quick!" exclaimed the soldier in a vehement whisper. - -"Halbert," faltered Lady Bruntisfield, "your father was a leal and -faithful vassal----" - -"And I, his only son, will stand by you and yours to the death, even -as he would have done. In--in--away to the Beech-grove, ere worse -come of it. Mother, ye donnart jaud, doun wi' the lid, and pouch the -key. And now, may I run the gauntlet from right to left, if you -(whoever you are) that tirl the risp so hard get not a taste of King -Jamie's new sweyne-feather!" He screwed his dagger or bayonet to the -muzzle of his matchlock, and then demanded in a loud voice-- - -"Stand, stranger. Who goes there?" - -"One who must speak with Lady Bruntisfield, whom I know to be -concealed here. Open, and without a moment's delay." - -"Lost--lost! Gude Lord, keep thy hand over _them_ and us!" murmured -Elsie, clinging to Meinie, as another loud and impatient blow shook -the well-barred door, and found a terrible echo in the trembling -hearts of the fugitives and their protectors. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -A REVERSE. - - A fredome is a noble thing! - Fredome makes man to have liking; - Fredome al solace to man gives, - He lives at ease that frely lives. - BARBOUR'S BRUCE. - - -Walter was still where we left him in the eleventh chapter, an inmate -of the city prison. - -The gloom, monotony, and degradation affected his mind, not less than -the confinement and noxious vapours of the place did his health, and -he felt his strength and spirit failing fast. The longing for -freedom became one moment almost too intense to be borne, and the -next he sank into a listless apathy, careless alike of liberty and -life. And as his health suffered, and his ardour died his aspect -became (though he knew it not) more haggard and ghastly on each -succeeding day. - -The recollection of Lilian's midnight visit, alone threw a ray of -light through the gloom of his clouded fortune; over that event he -mused, at times, with unalloyed pleasure. Anxiously he watched every -night, animated by a faint hope that she might come again; but Lilian -came no more. - -"She came merely to thank me for my service, and I shall soon be -forgotten," he would say; and then came vividly on his mind, the -blight and disgrace which had been heaped upon him, and the abyss -into which he had been cast. Keenly and bitterly he now felt his -loneliness in the world. All this he might have escaped, perhaps, -but for the evil offices of the malevolent Clermistonlee; and when he -contemplated how dim and distant was the prospect of ever again -rising even to his former humble station, his heart was wrung; for, -with the fetters of a coward and slave, he felt that he possessed the -soul and the fire of a hero. - -"Though poor and unpretending, I was a gentleman, so far as spirit, -bearing, and manners could make me. I have done nothing that is vile -or dishonourable; but now, after fetters have dishonoured these -hands, and prison-walls enclosed me, can I ever again look my equals -in the face? Yes! and may I perish, if Randal of Clermistonlee shall -not learn that in time!" - -He spoke fiercely; for he had now, from very solitude, acquired a -habit of uttering his thoughts aloud. He could not suppress his -dread that Lilian Napier, in the present proscribed and friendless -state of her family, might too easily fall into the toils of that -famous and powerful roué, whose crimes and excesses, in a country so -rigidly moral, were regarded with a horror and detestation, that made -women generally shun his touch as they passed him in the street, and -his glance by the wayside. Remembering his parting words, the bitter -threat, and the fierce aspect of his visage and polecat eyes when he -last beheld him, Walter was justly under considerable apprehension, -that he might again be summoned before the Council, and either have -his sentence altered to one of greater severity, or have its most -degrading clauses carried into immediate execution. In fact, Lord -Clermistonlee's temporary indisposition alone deferred such a -catastrophe. Consequently day after day passed; the weeks ran on, -but he never saw another face than that of a grim old city-guardsman, -who each morning brought him a coarse cake, a bowl of porridge, and a -pitcher of water; and, acting strictly to the tenor of his orders, -withdrew without a word of greeting or condolence. - -Thus day and night rolled on in weary and intense monotony, and poor -Walter by turns grew more fierce and impatient, or more listless and -apathetic. Sometimes he dosed and dreamed away the day, on his bed -of damp and fetid straw, and by night paced slowly the floor of that -little vault, every stone and joint and feature of which, became -indelibly impressed on his memory. - -But a crisis came sooner than he had anticipated. - -One night he was roused from a deeper and heavier slumber than usual -by the unwonted light of a large lamp flashing on his eyes; he -started, awoke, and the glare blinded him for a moment. Three -persons were close beside him. One was the odious, sinister, and -hard-featured Gudeman of the establishment; the second was the old -soldier who acted as javelleur; and the third was a gentleman whose -lofty bearing and rich attire caused Walter to spring at once to his -feet. He was a dark-complexioned and very handsome man, bordering on -forty years of age; he wore a coat of rose-coloured velvet, slashed -at the breast and shoulders with white satin; his breeches and -stockings were of spotless white silk; his boots of pale buff, and -accoutred with massive gold spurs. His voluminous black wig was -shaded by his plumed Spanish hat, the band of which sparkled with -brilliants; while a long rapier, gold-headed cane and diamond ring -showed he was quite a man of fashion. It was George Douglas, the -gallant Earl of Dunbarton. - -"'Sdeath! Walter, my boy, I little thought to find you here," said -he. "Faugh! this place is like the old souterrains of Alsace or -Brisgau; yet here it was that the great Argyle once sojourned!" - -"My Lord--my Lord!" exclaimed Walter joyfully--"how unexpected is -this honour!" - -"I returned only this forenoon from London." - -"A long journey and a perilous, my Lord. I congratulate you on your -safe return." - -"Thanks, my boy. The Countess suffered much, she is so delicate, and -my private coach, though carrying only six inside and six without, -(beside our baggage) rumbled so heavily--but we were only five weeks -on the way--a very tolerable journey." - -"Very; and still, my Lord, I have heard of it being done in three; -but the roads----" - -"O they are pretty good now, I assure you, till one reaches the -debateable land and the old boundary road at Berwick. There are -bridges over most of the rivers too; but the lonely places swarm with -footpads and highwaymen. Wilt believe it? we had only one break down -by the way, and two encounters with gentlemen of the post. Ah! I -winged one varlet near the Rerecross of Stanmore one night, and to be -a soldier's wife--egad how the Countess wept! Immediately upon my -arrival at Bristo, I was waited on by the Laird of Finland, who told -me your story, and, as Lady Dunbarton would not rest until her young -protégée was at liberty, I had to bestir myself, and so--am here." - -"I am deeply indebted to your dear Countess, my Lord Earl," replied -Walter with glistening eyes; "I owe her a thousand favours, which I -hope circumstances will never require me to repay." - -"Thou art a fine fellow, Walter," replied the Earl, striking him -familiarly on the shoulder; "and thine inborn goodness of heart gains -and deserves the love of all who know thee. The Countess----" - -"O would that I could thank her now for years of kindness and -protection, when I was a poor and forlorn little boy!" exclaimed -Walter with deep feeling. - -"And why not, lad? a coach awaits us at the close-head, and you are a -free man." - -"Free! my Lord, _free_!" - -"Free as the wind, and without a stain on thy scutcheon." - -"_My_ scutcheon," repeated Walter coldly. "Ah, my Lord, why jest -with my nameless obscurity." - -"Think not so ungenerously of me. The day shall come, Walter, when -we may see the argent and bend azure of the old Fentounes of that ilk -(I don't doubt the Lyon Herald will make thee a sprout of that -ancient stock) quartered, collared, and mantled with your own -personal achievements. Tush, lad! the wide world is all before you, -and you have your sword. Think how many Scottish cavaliers of -fortune have led the finest armies, and won the greatest battles, and -the proudest titles in Europe! I have this moment come from the -Council Chamber, where with half a dozen words, I have reversed all -thy doom, and had it expunged from their black books." - -"I would, noble Earl, that the same generosity had been extended to -the Napiers of Bruntisfield." - -"Nor was it withheld. What think you of that beautiful minx Annie -Laurie of Maxwelton (I warrant thou knowest her--all our gay fellows -do) waylaying me in her sedan. We met at the Cowgate Stairs, which -ascend to the Parliament House, and there desiring her linkboys and -liverymen to halt right in that narrow path, she vowed by every bone -in her fan, I should never get to Council to-night--ha! ha! unless I -pledged my word as a belted Earl to have her friends the Napiers -pardoned as well as thee. A brave damsel, faith! and would do well -to follow the drum. Zooks! I wish young Finland had her." - -"And the Napiers----" - -"Are pardoned; but they have fled, egad! nobody knows where. How -exasperated Perth, Balcarris, and other high-flying cavaliers were by -the influence I seemed to possess over the votes at the Board, having -won alike the noble Claverhouse, the ferocious Dalyel, and that -addlepated senator, Swinton of Mersington." - -"Lord Dunbarton, I have no words to express my feelings." - -"Pshaw! in all this affair I see only the meanness of the despicable -world. Deeming thee a poor and friendless lad, whose whole hope was -the fortune of war, and whose only inheritance a poor half-pike, -these blustering Lords of Council did not hesitate to misuse thee -shamefully. Here thou art immured and forgotten, until one comes, on -whom they reckoned not, but who, in addition to a coronet, writes -himself Knight of the Thistle, Commander of the Scottish Forces, and -Colonel of a devoted regiment of fifteen hundred brave hearts as ever -marched to battle, and lo! his wish is law, his breath bears all -before it. Walter Fenton, have a soul above the petty injuries of -lordlings such as these, and cock thy feather not a whit the less for -having endured their jack-in-office frowns." - -Here the Gudeman rattled his keys, and awe alone kept his -constitutional impatience in check. - -"And how did your Lordship overcome the hatred of Clermistonlee, my -most bitter persecutor?" - -"O, he is quite a devil of a fellow that! Ha! ha! He got a rapier -thrust a few nights ago, which has luckily confined him to his -apartments, and deprived the Council of his pleasant company and -amiable advice. Ah, he is a brave fellow, too, Clermistonlee; but -though an expert swordsman and accomplished cavalier, he is, withal, -too much of a roué and fanfaron for my taste. And, harkee, Walter, I -have one request to make ere we leave this abominable souterrain; -that you will have no recourse to arms, for the severity with which -as a Privy Councillor he may have treated you." - -"Your Lordship's wish was ever a law to me; but if I am set upon----" - -"Zounds! then spare not to thrust and slash while hand and hilt will -hold together," said the Earl, as they ascended the spiral stair of -the prison, preceded by the gudeman thereof, who never ceased bowing -until they issued into the dark and narrow alley then named Gourlay's -or Mauchane's Close. Walters heart beat joyously, and his pulse -quickened as the cool night wind blew upon his blanched but flushing -cheek. - -"He must have been a thoroughpaced tyrant, the constructor of this -den of thine, gudeman," said the Earl, surveying the prison as he -handed some silver to the governor; "but I suppose we must pay -largess nevertheless;" and, taking the arm of his companion, they -ascended the steep alley together. "You have followed my drums now, -Walter; for, let me see----" - -"Since Candlemas-tide '85, my Lord." - -"How, boy--for three years?" - -"Ever since you defeated Argyle's troops at the Muirdykes," said -Walter with a sigh. - -"Hah!--is it so? I have been somewhat forgetful of thee in these -bustling times, but shall make immediate amends. I have promoted -many a slashed and feathered ruffler when thy quiet merit was passed -unheeded. You fought under Halkett at Sedgemoor: it was a -well-ordered field that, and had Lord Gray's horse properly flanked -Monmouth's infantry, their Lordships of Feversham and Churchill, -might have had another tale to tell at St. James's. S'death! we are -likely soon to have such scenes again, for there will be a convulsion -in our politics that will make and unmake many a fair name and noble -patrimony." - -"This is a riddle to me, my Lord." - -"So much the better--my suspicions would be called treason to King -James by the Lords of the Laigh Chamber. Our Scottish troops are -concentrating fast round Edinburgh from the West and Borders--even -our frontier garrison at Greenlaw is withdrawn here, so perhaps the -Northumbrian thieves will get out their horns again, as they did in -Cromwell's time after that day of shame at Dunbar. You will come -with me to Bristo, of course?" continued the Earl, as they issued -into that main street which runs the whole length of the old city, -and was long deemed for its bustle, breadth, height, and variety of -architecture the most striking in Europe. - -Then it was silent and empty, for the hour was late; the countless -windows of the lofty mansions which shot up to a giant height on each -side, in every variety of the Scottish and Flemish tastes, with -fantastic fronts, of wood or stone, turreted, corbelled and -corbie-stoned, gable-ended, balconied, and bartizanned, were dark and -closed, or lighted only by the silver moon which bathed one side of -the street in a flood of pale white lustre, while the other was -immersed in obscure and murky shadow. The long vista of the -Lawnmarket was closed by the gloomy and picturesque masses of the -great gothic cathedral, the façade of the Tolbooth, and the high -narrow edifices of the Craimes, a street wedged curiously between St. -Giles and the place now occupied by the Exchange. - -A hackney-coach like a clumsy herse, one of the few introduced into -Edinburgh only fifteen years before, and consequently deemed a -splendid and luxurious mode of locomotion, stood at the mouth of the -Pend or archway. The driver, a tall, gaunt fellow, dressed in a -plain gaberdine of that coarse stuff, with which a recent Act of the -Scottish Parliament compelled the humbler classes to content -themselves, stood bonnet in hand by the heavy flight of steps which -enabled first the Earl and then Walter to ascend into the recesses of -the vehicle. The door was closed with deliberation; the driver -clambered into his place on the roof, and slowly and solemnly his two -horses dragged the lumbering machine up the Lawn-market, over the -rough and steep causeway of which it rumbled like a vast caravan. - -"We make great advances in the art of luxury, we moderns," said the -Earl; "Ah! twenty years ago there was nothing of this sort! And -there is that new invention, the snaphaunce-lock, which is as likely -to supersede the good old match, as the screw-hilted dagger of -Bayonne is to eclipse the glories of the old sweynes-feather. Were -you ever in one of these Dutch conveyances before, Walter?" - -"Once only, my Lord, when I accompanied Lady Dunbarton to Her Grace -of Lauderdale's levee at Holyrood." - -"Though our preachers inveigh bitterly against them, as dark places -wherein to cloak wickedness and knavery, and in opposition uphold the -good old fashions of saddles, pillions, and sedans, I think this is a -pleasant and a useful contrivance withal." - -"But will you be pleased to remember that my present attire is a very -unfitting one for the presence of the Countess?--soiled as it is by -the contaminations of that noxious vault----" - -"Right, Walter--and I had forgotten that my little Lætitia is -somewhat fatigued with her journey. You can pay your devoirs in the -morning, and tell Finland, Gavin of that Ilk, the Chevalier -Drumquhasel, and such other of my cavaliers as have arrived in the -city, that we shall be glad to see them at our morning déjeûné at -Bristo. I have ordered a glorious bombarde of choice canary to be -set abroach; so don't forget to tell them that. But anent the -Napiers," continued the earl, "they are intimate friends of yours, I -presume?" - -"Friends!" stammered Walter; "alas, my lord, do you think that the -proud and stately old Lady of Bruntisfield, would rank a poor and -obscure lad like me among her friends? Save your noble self and the -Countess, I have no friends on earth--none." - -"Ungrateful rogue! thou forgettest thy fifteen hundred comrades, each -of whom is a friend. But by all the devils, there is a mystery in -this! 'Tis quite a romance. What tempted you to run tilt against -the council in this matter? No answer. It will not pass muster with -me, Mr. Fenton. A pretty damoiselle is enough, I know, to tempt any -young gallant to swerve from his strict line of duty. I found it so -in my bachelor days. There is old Mackay of Scoury, who now commands -our Scots in the service of the States'-General, openly deserted from -us in Holland (when we followed the banner of Condé), and joined the -enemy--for what? ha, ha! the love of a rosy little Dutch housewife, -who had gained his weak side, the Lord knows how; for we Scots -musqueteers considered ourselves great connoisseurs in women, wine, -and horse-flesh. Apropos! of Lilian Napier--I doubt not you know -where this little one is concealed." - -"I do, my lord," answered Walter, with vivacity. - -"Heydey! I am right, then," laughed the gay nobleman, "you got a -kiss, I warrant. _Point d'argent point de Suisses!_ as we used to -say of the Swiss gendarmerie, ha, ha!" - -"Thanks, and the consciousness of doing a generous act, were my sole -reward." - -"Very likely; but I'll leave the Countess to worm the secret out of -thee. Ha, ha! 'tis very unlikely that a young spark would peril his -life thus, and look only for a Carthusian's reward from a dazzling -damoiselle of eighteen. Ho! I had served under Turrene, Luxembourg, -and Condé, long ere I was thy age, and know well that a bright eye -and ruddy lip--but here is the gate of the Upper Bow, and two fresh -heads grinning on its battlement since I saw it last. Whose are -they?" - -"Holsterlee and some of his comrades dispersed a conventicle among -the Braid hills lately." - -"Poor rogues! If you do not mean to accompany me; we must part here; -and in the course of to-morrow, if you know where the ladies of -yonder old castle at Bruntisfield are in concealment, you will -doubtless acquaint them with the decree I have obtained in their -favour. But their kinsman, Quentin Napier, can neither be pardoned -nor relaxed from the horn." - -"'Tis well," thought Walter. - -The Bow, a steep winding street that descended the southern side of -the hill on which the old city stands, was then closed by a strong -gate called the Upper Porte, under the shadow of which the coach -stopped. On the right a heavy Flemish house projected over the -street, on beams of carved wood; on the left, the house of Weir the -wizard frowned its terrors across the narrow way. A sentinel opened -the creaking barrier, received the nightly toll, and Walter, after -bidding adieu to the generous Earl, was about to retire, when the -latter called him back. - -"Harkee, Fenton; you have far to go, and in these times, when -soldiers are openly murdered in the streets, my rapier may be of some -service should any quarrelsome ruffler cross your path; take it, for -I have pistols." - -"A thousand thanks, my lord," replied Walter, receiving from the Earl -a long and richly chased rapier sheathed in crimson velvet. - -He threw the embroidered belt over his shoulder, and strode away with -a feeling of pride and elation, to find himself once more a free and -armed man; while the great caravan occupied by the earl, rumbled down -the windings of the narrow street with increased speed, waking all -the echoes of its hollow stone staircases, and scaring those -indwellers who heard them through their dreams; all sounds heard by -night in the Bow being fraught with imaginary terrors, and attributed -to the wandering spirit of that diabolical wizard, who a short time -before had expiated his real and supposed enormities amid a blaze of -tar barrels on the castle hill, and whose uninhabited mansion was -then viewed with horror, as it is still with curiosity. - -With a heart brimming with exultation, and glowing with anticipations -of happiness, which for the time made the revolving world in all its -features shine like a beautiful kaleidoscope, Walter pirouétted and -danced down the Lawnmarket and through the narrow Craimes. Was it -possible that but an hour ago he was so very wretched and degraded? -Was it not all a dream, this new joy, a dream from which he feared to -awake? Ah, thought he, one requires to have tasted the bitterness of -captivity, to know the value and the glory of freedom. - -Again he wore a sword, and the consciousness of bearing arms and -having the spirit to use them, imparted to the cavaliers of other -times a bearing, to which the gentlemen of the present age are -strangers. - -As the clanking wicket of the Netherbow closed behind him, the flap -of a night-bird's wing caused an involuntary thrill of disgust; he -looked up to the central tower of the Porte, and, faugh! a huge gled -was winging away heavily from the iron spike whereon a hideous head -scowled at the passers, and by the tangled locks that waved on the -midnight wind around its sweltering features, Walter thought he -recognised the face of the preacher, Ichabod Bummel, of whose fate he -was still in ignorance. With pity and disgust he hurried on, and, -without molestation or adventure, reached his quarters in the White -Horse Cellar--the place where this eventful narrative commenced a few -weeks before--a spacious and ancient but long-forgotten inn, situated -at the bottom of a small court opening from the Canongate. Rising -from a great arcade, which formed of old the Royal Mews, this edifice -is now remarkable only for its antiquity and picturesque aspect, its -gables of carved wood, perforated with pigeon-holes, its enormous -stacks of chimneys, and curious windows on the roof. At the time of -our tale, there was always a body of troops billetted there, greatly -to the annoyance of Master Gibbie Runlet, the host thereof, who found -them neither the most peaceful nor profitable occupants of his -premises. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -WALTER AND LILIAN. - - She's here! yet O! my tongue is at a loss; - Teach me, some power, that happy art of speech, - To dress my purpose up in gracious words, - Such as may softly steal upon her soul. - - -The whole of the next day passed ere Walter Fenton found time to -visit the fugitives; he was anxious to be the first bearer of the -good tidings confided to him by the Earl, and luckily intelligence -did not travel very fast in those days. In Edinburgh there was but -one occasional broadsheet or newspaper, "The Kingdoms Intelligencer," -and a house situated a mile or two from the city wall, was deemed a -day's journey, distant among wood, rocks, and water. Thus the rural -residences of the Napiers, Lord Clermistonlee, Sir John Toweris of -Inverleith, Sir Patrick Walker, of Coates, and others, were situated -in places over which the busy streets and crowded squares of the -extended city have spread like the work of magic. - -Walter had some difficulty in discovering the exact locality of -Elsie's cottage, which was situated among a labyrinth of haw and -privet hedges, and consequently the evening was far advanced before -he presented himself at her humble abode, and caused the -consternation described in a preceding chapter. - -"I must speak instantly with those who are concealed here," said he; -"I am a friend of the Lady Bruntisfield--the bearer of most happy -tidings." - -"I think I should know your voice," said Hab, still deliberating, and -puffing at his match. - -"And I thine, Halbert Elshender; I am one of Lord Dunbarton's men." - -"Welcome, Mr. Fenton!" exclaimed Hab, undoing the door briskly; "I -wish you much joy of being out of yonder devilish scrape." - -"How are you back so soon, Hab? By my faith, I thought you were -browbeating the westland Whigs, and roystering at free quarters among -the stiffnecked carles of Clydesdale." - -"And so we were, sir, for three blessed weeks. Cocks' nails! ilka -man was lord and master, and mair of the billet he had, loundering -the gudeman, kissing the gudewife, and eating the best in cellar and -ambrie, and then settling the lawing with a flash of a bare blade or -a roll on the drum, as Finland and yourself have dune too. But hech! -things are likely to be otherwise; it's a bad sign when the -nonconformist bodies begin to cock their bonnets in face of the -king's soldiers, as they are doing now." - -"Ay, 'tis thought there will be the devil to pay between King James -and the English, who were ever jealous of the Stuart rule. The -Ladies of Bruntisfield are here, are they not?" - -"Maybe sae, and maybe nae," replied Hab cunningly, still keeping his -match cocked. - -"How!" asked Walter, frowning, upon which Elsie cried in great alarm, - -"Eh, sirs,--Hab, Hab, ye gomeral, speak the gentleman fair." - -"To be plain, Mr. Fenton," asked Halbert bluntly, "came ye here as -friend or foe?" - -"A late question, when I am within arm's length of you. Halbert -Elshender, I pledge my honour I am here in honest friendship." - -"And quite alone, sir?' - -"The deuce! Sirrah, I am as you see," responded Walter impatiently. -"Mistress Lilian is here, and her noble kinswoman too, I doubt not." - -Hab winked knowingly, and knocked on the panels of the vast girnel, -the front of which he opened, and the two fugitives forth stepped, -pale and agitated. The first sight of Walter's military garb -startled them; but bowing profoundly, he said, in the formal fashion -of the time, - -"Lady Bruntisfield, your most obedient humble servant--Mistress -Lilian, yours." - -"Your servant, sir," muttered the ladies, and they all bowed to each -other three several times. Lilian blushed deeply. - -"Ah," said Walter, "I have then the happiness to be remembered." - -Lady Grisel, on adjusting her spectacles, immediately recognized him, -and held out her hand with a smile, in which hauteur, kindness, and -timidity were curiously blended. - -"Welcome, young gentleman; though our fortunes are somewhat clouded -now, I rejoice their shadow has not long blighted yours, and I -congratulate you on your restoration to liberty." - -"And I, in turn, wish you every joy at a sudden change of fortune. -The decrees of Council are reversed; your lands, your liberty, your -coat armorial, are restored, and you are free to return to the -ancestral dwelling of your family whenever it pleases you; to cast -aside for ever that humble attire, though, believe me, fair Lilian, -it never appeared to me so graceful or charming as at this moment." - -Again Lilian blushed deeply; her bright eyes were full of inquiry and -expression; her cherry mouth, half open, displayed the whiteness of -her firm little teeth, and she never appeared so fascinating to -Walter as, when laying her hand gently on his arm, she said, - -"Ah, Mr. Fenton, is this indeed true?" - -Of its truth the old lady appeared to have some doubts. She remained -for a few moments silent and motionless. Her first thought was one -of rapture; her second of surprise and distrust, for might not this -be a wile of Clermistonlee? might not the price of the young man's -liberty be their betrayal to the Council? But no! she suppressed the -ungenerous thought, when, bending her keen eyes on Walter, she read -the openness and candour expressed in his handsome face. - -"This is indeed a reverse! O what joy!" she exclaimed; "and yet 'tis -strange," she added, striking her cane with great energy on the clay -floor; "very strange withal, that no macer, usher, herald, or -deputation of Council hath come to me with intimation hereof. This -is marvellous discourtesy in the Earl of Perth, to a dame of honour, -who hath had the privilege of the tabouret before the Queens of -France and Britain. Young man, were you specially commissioned to -tell me this happy intelligence?" - -"Not exactly," said Walter, colouring in turn; "but it is so pleasant -to be the herald of joy, that I am glad another has not anticipated -me. Indeed, as the reversal of your sentence was publicly proclaimed -at the cross this forenoon, by the Albany Herald and Unicorn -pursuivant, with tabard and trumpet, I am astonished you have not -heard of it. But honest Hab's reluctance to admit me--" - -"O teach me to be thankful," exclaimed Lady Grisel, raising her -bright grey eyes and clasped hands to Heaven; "to be grateful for -this great and singular mercy! Then all our persecution is over?" - -"My dear madam, it is so, and for ever." - -Another burst of acclamation from Hab shook the cottage, and he -kissed Meinie again in the excess of his exultation. - -"O nurse Elsie, my dream is read," said Lady Grisel. "Last night I -thought I saw Sir Archibald's favourite horse--ye mind his auld -trooper, spotless Snawdrift. A white steed, ye know, Elsie, betokens -intelligence; and his being spurgalled shewed it would be speedy. -His saddle was girth uppermost--" - -"Whilk boded luck, and never mair may it leave the house o' -Bruntisfield, thanks to the battling Lord!" said Elsie, piously. - -"I am unused to receive boons," said the stately dame; "but would be -glad to know to what or to whom the house of Napier is indebted for -this signal favour of fortune." - -"To my generous Lord and Colonel, the princely Dunbarton, whom God -long preserve! Here are the pardon and reversed decree of -forfeiture; I received them from his countess, who desired me to bear -them to you with her best regards." - -"O, Mr. Fenton!" exclaimed Lady Grisel, whose artificial pride now -quite gave way before the natural warmth and gratitude of her heart. -And her broad silver barnacles became dim with tears as she received -the documents which bore the well-flourished signature, "Perth, -Cancellarius," and the seal of Council. "God knows, good youth," she -continued, pressing Walter's hand in her's, "that if I repined much -at the sad occurrences of the last few weeks, it was for the sake of -this fair child alone. Alake! at her age to be thrown into poverty -and obscurity were to die a living death--but now--" Lilian, in a -transport of tears and joy, threw her arms around her aged relative -and kissed her. - -"Poverty and obscurity!" thought poor Walter; "How can I dare to love -a being so far above me, when these are all I have to share with her?" - -With her snood unbound and her bright hair flying in beautiful -disorder, the lively girl rushed from Elsie to Meinie alternately -kissing and embracing them, till honest Hab began to rub his mouth -with his cuff in expectation of the favour going round; and in her -girlish delight, she seemed a thousand times more charming than when -clad in her long stomacher, and compelled to imitate Lady Grisel's -starched decorum and old-fashioned stateliness of demeanour. - -"Ah, good Heavens," she suddenly exclaimed, "we are quite forgetting -poor cousin Quentin." - -"The deuce take cousin Quentin!" thought Walter, and he hastened to -inform her that the Council had resolved to cut the Captain into -joints the moment they could lay hands on him. - -Meinie, whose cakes had long since been scorched to a cinder, now -gave Hab a box on the ear, and retreating from him with a pout of -rustic coquetry, placed several three-legged stools near the fire, -around which they seated themselves by desire of Lady Grisel, herself -occupying the great elbow-chair, against which her tall walking-cane -was placed by Elsie with great formality. The venerable cottager was -very lavish in her praises of Walter, for whom, as the bearer of such -good tidings, she felt a cordial admiration; and, heedless of -Lilian's confusion, continued to whisper it in her ear. - -"A handsome cavalier, hinny. Saw ye ever sic een?--they glint like a -gosshawk's. His hair is like the corbie's wing wi' the dew on it; -and his cheeks are like red rowan berries. He is indeed a winsome -young gallant, my doo Lilian!--no ane o' our law-breakers, who spend -the blessed Sabbath in ruffling through the streets in masks and -mantles, or dicing, drinking, or playing at shovel-board in a vile -change-house, or playing at pell-mell like the godless Charles; but a -gospel-fearing and discreet youth, as gude as he's bonnie, I doubtna." - -"Oh, hush, Elsie!--he will hear you," said Lilian in a breathless -voice. - -"What did you say his name is, hinny?" asked Elsie, who was rather -deaf. - -"I never said," whispered Lilian; "but it is Walter Fenton--a pretty -one, is it not, nurse?" - -"Fenton?--he'll be ane o' the auld Fentons owre the water; as gallant -and stalwart a race as ever Fifeshire saw." - -"I hope so," sighed Lilian; "but, oh Elsie! there is some sad mystery -about this poor young man. When a very little child, he was found -nestled in his dead mother's bosom in the kirk-yard of the -Greyfriars, in that terrible time you will remember?" - -"My bonnie bairn, it was indeed a fearfu' time; but, by his winsome -face, I warrant him come o' gentle kin." - -"Dost think so, dear nursie?" - -"Not Claver'se himsel has an eye that glints wi' mair pride, or a lip -that curls mair haughtily. True gentle blood can aye be kent by the -curl o' the lip. I warrant his blude's as gude as ony in braid -Scotland." - -"Oh; 'tis for that I pity and love him so much," said Lilian -artlessly. As she spoke, Walter, who was conversing with Lady -Grisel, unexpectedly looked full towards her; he had removed his -steel cap, and the long black locks beneath it flowed in cavalier -profusion over his scarlet doublet. He never looked so -prepossessing; and, fearing that he had overheard her, the cheek of -the timid girl grew scarlet and then deadly pale; and to hide her -confusion, she bent her face towards the old nurse, requesting her to -bind up her hair. - -"In ringlets and heart-breakers such as never Maister Pouncet -fashioned, shall I twine thy bonnie gowden hair to-morrow, hinny," -said the old woman, kissing with fond respect the white forehead of -Lilian; for those were days when the highest and the lowest classes -in Scotland were bound together by such endearing ties as never will -exist again. "And nae mair shall your dainty arms and jimpy waist be -bound wi' aught but Naples silk and three-pile taffeta." - -"Ah! nurse Elsie, if my heart is always as happy and light as -Meinie's, it will matter little what I wear." - -"Sae said your lady mother, that's dead and gane; yea, and your -great-aunt Grisel too (but silk and damask are grand braws, hinny!): -and, waes me! thae wrinkled auld hands hae braided the bonnie hair o' -baith. And now the head o' ane is turned frae the hue o' the raven's -wing to that o' the new-fa'n snaw; and the head o' the other, oh, -waly! waly! lies low in the kirk vaults o' St. Rocque. I mind a time -when the hair o' my lady there was as glossy as yours; yea, and her -brow as smooth, and her cheek glowing like the red rowan berry. It -is many a lang and weary year ago, and yet it seemeth but as -yesterday, when your kinsman, umquhile Sir Archibald, first cam -riding up the dykeside to Cowdenknowes, wi' my puir gudeman, John -Elshender, astride his cloak-bags on a high trotting mear; and weel I -mind the time when first he drew his chair in by the ingle, and -lookit awfu' things at Lady Grisel. Certes, but she was ill to -please at her toilet after that! Frae morning till e'enin' there was -nought but busking wi' braws, frizzling and puffing and perfuming; -tying and untying, and flaunting wi' breast-knots and fardingales, -and working wi' essence o' daffodils and gilliflower water. That was -mony a year before that vile limmer Cromwell led his ill-faured host -on this side o' the English bounds. He was a braw and a buirdly man -Sir Archibald, though when last he rode forth frae the aikwoods o' -the auld Place owre the muir, his pow was lyart enough. Methink I -see him yet, as I saw him first, our brave auld laird! His green -doublet o' taffeta, stiff wi' buckram, bombast, and gowden lace--his -lang buff boots and clanking spurs--his broadsword and -dudgeon-knife--and a bonnie ger-falcon on his nether wrist, wi' a -plume on its head and siller varvels on its legs. Mony a sair gloom -he gaed that braw chield, the Laird o' Caickmuir; but Lady Grisel -could never thole the Muirs, for they gained baith haugh and holm by -pinglin' wi' base merchandise in Nungate o' Haddintoun, when the -Humes were winning the broomy knowes o' Cowden by the sharp spur and -the long spear----" - -"In fearfu' times, Elsie," said Lilian laughing. - -"Ay, indeed, hinny," continued the garrulous old woman. "Fearfu' -times they were, when the Lord o' Crichton, wi' his fierce knights in -their bright armour, on barbed horses, ravaged a' the West-kirk -parochin to the castle-gate of Corstorphin, ruining lord, laird, and -tenant body alike,--giving the cottar's home, the baron's tower, and -the priest's kirk to torch and sack. Fearfu' times they ever are, -hinny, when Scottish braves and Scottish blades are bent on ilk ither -in the fell stoure o' battle." - -"Elshender," said Lady Grisel--(interrupting these reminiscences, of -which the reader is perhaps as tired as Lilian was)--"you have left -the band on your wheel." - -"Save us and sain us!" exclaimed the old woman, hobbling to her -wheel. "The last time I did sae, the gude neighbours span on't the -haill night, and ravelled a' my gude hawslock woo." - -"Thou shouldst be more careful, Elshender," said Lady Grisel gravely. -"It bodes ill luck; and a red thread should be tied to the rock. - - Red thread and Rowan tree, - Mak' warlock, witch, and fairy flee. - -I marvel, Lilian, that your friend and gossip, Annie Laurie, came not -to visit us the moment she heard the proclamation of our innocence, -and the Council's injustice." - -"Dear Annie was the first to fly hither when our fortune was at the -lowest ebb," said Lilian timidly. "Ah, Heaven, if she should be ill! -She knows how welcome are the bearers of happy tidings." - -"And most welcome is Mr. Fenton!" said the old lady, pressing his -hand so kindly that Walter's heart leaped, and he scarcely dared to -glance at Lilian. "Dear child, I tremble to think of all you have -braved for our sake,--the torture, the bodkin, the dungeon! It was -noble and generous. The hero of the old romance, Sir Roland of -Roncesvalles, could not have done more." - -"Spare me the shame of these thanks, madam. The honour of serving -your ancient house is sufficient requital to one so--so nameless as I -am. But, pray remember it is to my very good lord, the noble -Dunbarton, you alone owe this happy change in fortune." - -"And to-morrow, so early as decorum will permit, and when our -servitors can attend in such state as befits our quality, shall he -and his gentle Countess (English though she be) receive our best -thanks. The Lady Lætitia is the first of her nation," she added, and -down went the cane on the floor; "yea, the first that Grisel Hume -could ever thole. Lilian, we will immediately set forth on our -return to the Place of Bruntisfield." - -"You will permit me to have the honour of escorting you, madam?" - -"Thanks, Mr. Fenton. There is a troop of horse at free quarters on -the barony; and if----" - -"They belonged to Dalyel's Grey dragoons. They were withdrawn by the -decree of Council; and I heard their kettledrums beating through the -city this evening." - -"'Tis well. Then we will return by coach, as it would be unseemly to -do so on foot. We have long incommoded you, my poor Elshender." - -"Gude, your ladyship, think not of it," replied Elsie; "all I hae is -yours, and mair would be if I had it. I and mine ate of your bread -and drank of your cup in prosperity, and may shame and dishonour fall -on our grey hairs if in adversity we fail in our duty to the Napiers -o' Bruntisfield!" Elsie wept: "and you especially, Hab, ye mickle -gomeral, wi' the king's cockade in your bonnet!" - -"Burganet, ye mean, Lucky; we soldiers of the king wear braw -burganets of bright steel." - -"But these are fearfu' times, my lady, when the superior is beholden -to the vassal for a roof to cover them, and a mouthfu' o' meat; but -think o't, madam; the auld house is dark and empty, and the auld -survitors are scattered owre the barony among the tenantry, and the -keys o' the barbican gate are owre the muir wi' the ground baillie, -auld Sym o' the Greenhill." - -"That loitering runnion should have been the first to present himself -before us!" exclaimed Lady Grizel; "but I care not; let Hab and -Meinie accompany us now, for our attire is too unseemly for -appearance in daylight. I am impatient to return; for O, Elsie, thou -knowest well this night is the old returning anniversary of my -marriage and the laird's death, and dost think I will spend it under -another roof than that of Bruntisfield, if I can avoid it?" - -"Of course not, my lady--but ewhow! I'll be alone in this auld cot, -to be scared by spunkies or gyre earlins, for there is no' a place in -a' the Lowdens for deid-lichts, bodochs, and unco' things, like the -auld massemongers' kirk doun the loan there." - -"Peace, Elsie! and remember that there lie the bones of the Napiers -for ten generations. Lay the bible on the table when we go," said -Lady Grizel, with solemnity, "and place a four-leaved clover and -rowan-tree sprig over the fireplace, and, dost hear me, Elshender, -lay the poker and shovel crosswise above the gathering peat--" - -"Crosswise?" muttered Elsie; "doth not that pertain to the auld -papistical leaven o' idolatry?" - -"It doth, I own, but the sign of the cross is a right good charm -against the machinations of the evil one. You must have found that -one made with red chalk on the bed-head, keepeth away both cramp and -nightmare. My honoured mother used these marks, and by advice of -Quentin, the abbot of Crossregal. O, Elshender, that is a long, long -time ago, yet I mind it as yesterday." - -"Cocksnails!" muttered Hab; "a jovial stoup of Barbadoes kill-devil -were a far better charm, and I douot not the abbot would have thought -so too, eh, Master Fenton?" - -"Dear nurse," said Lilian, "surely one so harmless and so pious as -thee need fear nothing." - -"Had ye heard the bummel o' the fairy boy's drum amang the lang grass -in the loan and the stocks o' the hairst fields, brave though your -bluid be, Lilian, it would turn, even as water. But if Lady Grizel -requireth service of Hab and Meinie, it beseems no' the wife o' auld -John Elshender to grudge it. Mony a year I have dwelt here, lang -before the mirk Monanday, and ne'er saw aught that was unco, but I -canna get owre my fears, though there is a horseshoe on the door -where my puir gudeman nailed it forty years ago; there is a sprig o' -rowan-tree owre the lintel, and the heart o' an elfshotten nowte, -birselled wi' wax, and stuck fu' o' pins under the door step." - -"A grand charm, Elsie," said Lady Grizel gravely; "no evil thing can -enter or prevail against it." - -"And so with these notable allies, gudewife, you think you will face -out the terrors of one night alone?" said Walter impatiently, for -soldiering had rubbed off much of that superstition which still -exists in Scotland. - -"I have courage to do whatever my lady requires o' me as her bounden -vassal," replied Elsie sharply; "courage! my certie! young sir, mony -a lang year before you saw the light, I learned to look without -blenching on steel flashing in my ain kailyard, and battle-smoke -rowing owre holm and hollow. A Scottish wife, maun, needs hae -courage in thae fearfu' times, when never a day passes without a son, -a gudeman, or a brother having to buckle on steel cap and corslet -whenever the laird cries, 'Mount and ride!' How mony a time and oft -has the bale fire at Libberton-peel, and the cry o' 'Horse and -spear!' made my douce gudeman crawl out frae his cosy nest in that -bein boxbed, wi' a heavy curse on the English, the nonconformists, or -malignants (or whaever kept the countryside astir for the time), then -donning morion, jack and spear, he rode awa, de'il kens where, at Sir -Archibald's bidding, for they were aye together in drumming and -dirdum, trooping and travelling, hunting and hosting, sic as may we -never see again! But alake! there is a whisper gaing owre the land, -that waur is yet to come than the wildest persecutor could think o'." - -"Beard o' Mahoun!" said Hab impatiently, "you are at your weary -auld-world stories again. Let all bygones be forgotten, mother, and -as for the trooping and tramping of those days, when my faither rode -by laird's bridle, God send we may soon have the same again! But if -our Lady means to return to the old place to-night, the sooner she -sets out the better." - -"True, Halbert," said Lady Grizel, "for the hour waxes late; but," -she added, striking her cane on the floor, "we will require a coach, -for, late or early, we must return in such state as befits us." - -"Hab," said Walter, "hurry to the Portsburgh, and desire the master -of the inn there immediately to send his hackney coach (I know he -keeps one), with horses to drag it, and link-boys conform." - -"He is a dour auld carl, I ken," replied Hab, throwing off his -bandoleers, and preparing to start. "Our inquartering there a month -ago, has neither improved his temper or gudewill. It will be the -dead hour of night when I tirl his pin, and he may refuse to obey me." - -"How, if you say the coach is for a lady of quality." - -"For _me_, Halbert?" added Lady Grizel with dignity. - -"Ay, madam, and ask my authority." - -"Then show him the blade of your sword," said Walter: "'tis the best -badge of authority to an insolent boor." - -"But the auld buckie, though round as a puncheon, of Rhenish, can -handle backsword and dagger, double and single falchions like any -French sword-player; and look ye, Mr. Fenton, though a bare blade -passed well enough in the Low Countries under Condé, or in the west -under Claver'se, it will not do at all within sound of the Iron Kirk -bell." - -"Right, Halbert; we have neither law nor reason for browbeating the -poor vintner; but faith, our living so long at free quarters has -imparted to us a somewhat imperious mode of requiring service at all -hands. Get the coach as you may, Hab, but be speedy." - -"And Hab, my son," cried Elsie with anxiety, "keep the middle o' the -gate till ye come to the place o' the Highrigs; and gif ye hear aught -like the bummel o' a wee drum amang the lang grass or fauld-dykes by -the wayside, neither quicken nor slacken your pace." - -"For remember," added Lady Grizel, "it is equally unlucky either to -meet or to avoid fairies or evil spirits." - -"This cowes the gowan!" exclaimed Hab with a laugh, which awe for the -old dame failed to restrain. "Lady Bruntisfield, a lad that hath -heard Dunbarton's drums beating the point of war in the face of the -Imperialists, need not care a brass bodle for all the fairies and -witches in braid Scotland, and Gude kens, but there is plenty o' -them--young anes, at least--eh, cousin Meinie?" and suddenly kissing -her red cheek, he made a sweeping salute to the others, and sprang -from the cottage. - -Elsie now remembered that in her alternate joy and anxiety, the usual -hospitality had been quite forgotten. Her nappy stone jars of -usquebaugh and brown ale, with their attendant quaighs--crystal being -then a luxury for the great and wealthy alone--cheese and bannocks of -barley-meal were produced, and each person drank the health of all -the rest with an air of solemn formality. The strong waters were -tasted first for form-sake, and then their horns were replenished -with the dun beverage of October, while their stools were all drawn -close to the blazing fire, Lady Grizel, in the leathern chair, -occupying the centre. Every face beamed with the purest happiness, -and none more than that of Walter Fenton, and his handsome dark -features, shaded by his clustering hair, glowing in the light of the -fire and radiant with joy, formed an agreeable contrast to the paler -and more interesting Lilian, whose eyes beamed with vivacity and -drollery. Even old Elsie's face became dimpled with smiles, and she -whispered in Meinie's ear, that "her auld een had never seen a mair -winsome pair" than Walter and Lilian. Low as the whisper was, it -reached the ear of the latter, or she divined its meaning, and it -covered her with the most beautiful confusion, for to a young girl, -there is nothing so indescribably charming, as when first her name is -linked with that of a lover. - -Though very happy, they were very silent. Lady Grizel was sunk in -reverie; Lilian was a little abashed, and Walter, who was turning -over his thoughts for a subject to converse on, was becoming more -perplexed, until relieved by Elsie's loquacity, which found an ample -theme in the terrors of the famous gnome or fairy boy, whose -appearance about that time had caused no small consternation in -Edinburgh. On the summit of the Calton--as all the gossips of the -city were at any time ready to aver on oath--he was heard at midnight -beating the role to the fairies, who came forth from under the long -dewy blades of glittering dog-grass or heavy docken-leaves, from -crannies in the rocks, and mole-tracks in the turf, to dance merrily -on the Martyr's rock, in the blaze of the silvery moon. And, worse -still, this same devilish gnome, by the clatter of his infernal drum, -summoned weekly from the four quarters of heaven, the gyre-carlins -and witches to Satan's periodical _levée_, and often the benighted -citizen as he wended up the long and dreary loan from Leith (to which -the ruins of a monastery, and a gibbet hung with skeletons, lent -additional terrors), paused in dismay, when the din of the enchanted -drum rang from the dark rocks on the gusts of the midnight wind, and -the troop of gathering hags astride broom-sticks and sprigs from a -gallows-tree, swept like a storm through the air, bending strong -trees to the earth, laying flat the ripening corn, and rumbling among -chimney-heads, making the nervous indwellers cower under the -bed-clothes, and tremble in the wooden recesses of their snug -box-beds, while they murmured old charms against sorcery and the -devil. Other witches of more aquatic propensities, were ferried -across Firth and Bay in eggshells, sieves, and milk-bowies, to that -damnable conclave, where plots were laid to blast their neighbours' -kail or cattle, and work all manner of mischief, as the Records of -Justiciary show. On all these appalling facts, Lady Grisel and Elsie -descanted with such earnest seriousness, that Walter felt half -inclined to shiver with the rest, when the wind rumbled in the -chimney as if a flock of gyre-carlins were sweeping past it, to their -_levée_ on the Calton, about the bluff black rocks of which Lady -Grisel averred emphatically, she had repeatedly seen them swarming in -the bright moonlight, like gnats in the summer sunshine; and after -evidence so conclusive, we hope nobody will doubt it. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -LOVE AND BURNT-SACK. - - HORATIO. 'Tis well, sir, you are pleasant. - LOTHARIO. By the joys - Which my fond soul has uncontrolled pursued, - I would not turn aside from my least pleasure, - Though all thy force were armed to bar my way. - N. HOWE. - - -The evening of the night described in the preceding chapter had been -a glorious one. The giant shadows of the rock-built city were -falling from its central hill far to the eastward, and all its myriad -casements were gleaming in the light of the western sky, where amid -clouds of crimson, edged with gold, the sun's bright disc seemed to -rest on the dark and wooded ridge of the Corstorphine hills, from -whence it poured its dazzling flood of farewell radiance on all the -undulations of the wide and varied scenery. On the vast and dusky -mass of the hoary city which presented all the extremes of strong -light, and deep retiring shadow, on the great stone crown of St. -Giles, on the cordon of towers that girt the castled rock, and the -stagnant lake that washed the city's base two hundred feet below, -fell full the blood-red lustre of the setting sun. - -The same warm tints glared along the western slopes of those bluff -craigs and hills that rise to the westward, green, silent, stern, and -pillared with basalt, rent by volcanic throes into chasms and gorges; -where, though darkness was gathering, the slanting sunbeams shot -through, and gilded objects far beyond. The loch, the city's -northern barrier, usually so reedy and so stagnant, now swollen to -its utmost marge by recent rains, was dotted by wild ducks and teals, -that seemed floating in liquid gold, and like a polished mirror the -water reflected its banks with singular distinctness. On one side -appeared the inverted city, where gable, tower, and bartizan shot up -so spectral, close, and dense, that it seemed like one vast fairy -castle; on the other, a lonely and grassy bank dotted with whins, -alder trees, weeping willows, and grazing sheep, while the old square -tower of St. Cuthbert, rising above a clump of firs at one end of the -loch, was balanced by the church of the Holy Trinity and its ancient -orchard at the other. - -On the northern bank of this artificial sheet of water flocks of -crows were wheeling in circles among the furrows, and following the -slow-drawn plough; and from the thatched cottages of St. Ninians, -that nestled close to the ruins of an ancient convent, the smoke -arose in long steady columns, and unbroken by the faintest puff of -wind soared into the evening sky, and melted away into the blue -atmosphere. - -The sun had set. - -The last rays died away on the cathedral spire, and Arthur's round -volcanic cone; the last wayfarer had been ferried across the loch, -and had disappeared over the opposite hill; successively the seven -barriers of the city were closed for the night, and then the evening -bell from the old wooden spire of the Tron rang on the rising wind. -Though this evening had been a beautiful one, and all the gayer -denizens of the city had flocked to the Lawnmarket and Castle Hill -(then the only and usual promenades), the tall feather and laced -mantle of Lord Clermistonlee had not been seen there. - -From the windows of his chamber-of-dais he had long been surveying -the view before described, but in one feature of it alone he seemed -most interested. It was, where to the westward above the open fields -named Halkerstoun's Crofts, he saw the smokeless chimnies of his -empty, dismantled, and deserted mansion of Drumsheugh, which for many -a year had been abandoned to a venerable colony of rooks and owls. -The broad acres of fertile land that spread around it were now no -longer his. Successively haugh, holm, farm, and onsteading, mill, -and field had passed away to the possession of others, and of the -noble estate acquired by his ancestors, and which he had gained as a -dower with his fair cousin Alison, nothing remained but the silent -and dreary mansion, which was fated soon (by his pressing -necessities) to pass into other hands. To Clermistonlee this was the -leading feature of the landscape, and long and fixedly he surveyed -its square stacks of dark old chimnies that rose above the bare and -leafless woods. - -The expression of his face was fierce and unsettled; his cheek was -deeply flushed; but that might be attributed to the briskness with -which he and his gossip Mersington had pushed the tankard between -them since dinner. They were both deep drinkers, and in the old -Edinburgh fashion it was no uncommon thing, for his Lordship (when he -gave a dinner party) to lock the room door, and in presence of his -guests send the key flying through the barred window into the -Norloch, thereby intimating that there could be no egress until the -last of a long array of flasks, which Juden mustered on the buffet, -was drained to the bottom; after which the door was unhinged, and all -the guests were carried home by their servants in chairs or shoulder -high. - -One hand was thrust under the ample skirt of his shag dressing-gown; -the other drummed on the window panes; but a stern expression -gathered on his broad and lofty brow, and sparkled in his deep-set -hazel eyes. - -Mersington sat near the cheerful fire. His weazel-like visage was -radiant at times with a malicious smile, which briefly gave way for -one of sincere pleasure, each time he applied to his thin and ever -thirsty lips the tankard of burnt sack, which his affectionate hand -never quitted for a moment. His mighty senatorial wig--the badge of -his wisdom and power--hung on the chair-knob behind him, and his bald -pate shone like a varnished ball in the evening twilight. His pale -grey eyes wore their usual expression, by which it was impossible to -detect whether he was drunk or sober; but they often wandered to a -panel opposite, where the following was chalked in a bold irregular -hand. - - -_His honor the Laird of Holsterlee bets the Right Honourable Lord -Clermistonlee_ £10,000 _of gude Scots monie payable at -Whitsuntide--his mear Meg against Fleur de Lysy or Royal Charles. To -be run at Easter on the sandis of Leith, God willing._ - - CLERMISTONLEE. - HOLSTERLEE, Scots Guards. - - -"Forsooth! you are a proper man to start from the board, and turn -your back on a guest thus," said Mersington. "Whistle a bar o' that -oure again. - - "There was a clocker, it dabbit at a man, - And he dee'd wi' fear, - And he dee'd wi' fear----" - -"he--he, it seems to gie you as mickle comfort as the burnt sack." - -"Perdition, man!" exclaimed the other, wheeling so briskly round, -that he startled his guest in the act of taking another long deep -draught. "How can you jest with my distress? I tell thee, friend -Mersington, if the lands of Bruntisfield and the Wrytes, on which I -have built my hopes, slip through my fingers thus, I may yet come to -the husks and the swine-trough, like the prodigal of old. Behold my -manor of Drumsheugh on the brae yonder; for these ten years a puff of -smoke hath not curled from its chimneys; the moss is on its hearths, -and cobwebs obscure the gilding of its galleries and chambers: the -long grass waves in the avenue as it doth in the stable-court, where -my good and careful father mustered eighty troopers in jack and plate -the night before Dunbar was fought and won by Cromwell. My ancient -tower of Clermiston is in the same condition, and both are mortgaged -to that prince of scribes and scoundrels, Grasper, the Writer in -Mauchin's Close. This match with Holsterlee, too! S'blood! Juden -says the mare is elfshotten, and our best jockies opine that I can -never win against Holster's racers, which have won the city purse -these five years consecutively." - -"As for the race--he, he! to be off wi' the Laird, swear your mare -hath been bewitched, and burn some auld carlin in proof o't." - -"D--nation! I am a ruined and impoverished man!" - -"He, he! the auld gossips of Blackfriars' Wynd tell another story." - -"What do they say?" - -"That Clermistonlee can never come to want, as his friend the de'il -has given him a braw purse, with moudieworts' feet on't, and sae lang -as he preserves it, he shall never lack siller." - -"I wish to God he had! but where got ye this precious information?" - -"At the tea-board o' my Leddy Drumsturdy, nae further gane than -yesterday." - -"Stuff and nonsense!" - -"I hope sae, for just sic a purse brought the learned Doctor Fian to -stake in 1590. I've read the ditty against him--he, he! but to come -to the swine-trough, that would be an unco pity, you have such a braw -taste for getting up dinners and suppers, that his grace the gourmand -o' Lauderdale was just naething to ye." - -"Say rather Juden Stenton, my ground baillie, major domo, squire of -the body, and everything." - -"Then your burnt sack is just perfection; but alake! you now begin to -see the end o' chambering, dicing, drinking, racing, and wantonness. -And puir Alison Gifford--faith, you made her tocher flee fast enough!' - -"This admonitory tone becomes _thee_ well!" said Clermistonlee, with -scornful emphasis; "and truly, thou art like one of Job's comforters." - -"He, he!" chuckled the senator, who had a strange fancy for -maliciously stinging his companion. "This is the end o' spending -puir Alison's money among horse-coupers, vintners, panders, -de'ils-buckies, and bona-robas----" - -"Hold, Mersington! I beg you will hear me with gravity. My good -cousin and gossip, at times I have found your advice of the first -value. You know how immensely fond I am of Lilian Napier, and having -been pretty fortunate with the sex in my time (crush me! like -What-is-his-name, I might say, _Veni, vidi, vici_,) I made the little -minx an offer of marriage, and, would'st believe it? she really had -the impudence to reject me." - -"A braw buckie like you, Randal? For what?" - -"Forsooth, only because I was a matter of some twenty years older -than herself." - -"Pest upon the gypsy! but then there is that plaguy entail--" - -"Pshaw! I could soon have that broken. Lady Grisel hath the -life-rent, and after her death (which cannot be far off), and failing -the captain, the Lands go entire to Lilian. Now her cousin, this gay -spark in the service of their Mightinesses, the States-General, by -his leaguing and intriguing with that Dutch intromitter, Orange -William and our rascally recusants, hath made the entail null--a dead -letter--ha!" - -"Faith, Randal, if you get your claws laid on the Bruntisfield -barony, the rents thereof will puff your purse out brawly for a time. -But alake! it's like a sieve that aye rins out--ever filling, but -never full. Bethink ye, man, there is the auld mansion having the -right of dungeon, pit and dule-tree, wi' the grange, mains, yards, -orchards, stables, doo-cot, bake and brewhouses pertaining thereunto -(o'd I've the haill inventory by heart). The four merk land o' auld -extent named Nether Durdie bounded by the Burghloch--the fishings o' -that water, the rigs, rowme and holm o' Drumdryan, wi' the farm-toun -to the eastward thereof holden o' the city for ane crown-bowl o' -punch yearly, and ane armed man's service, and whilk payeth 57 bolls -o' wheat, twa firlots o' barley, forty and aught o' aitmeal, 64 gude -fat capons, and sae forth--my certie! by twa women being relaxit frae -the horn you have lost a' that, and deil kens how mickle mair." - -"Fool--fool! this croaking maddens me!" exclaimed Clermistonlee, -starting a second time from the table, and pacing about the room. - -"Come--come, my Lord," said Mersington, putting on his wig; "he--he! -ye may huff and hector at Juden as ye please, but these are hard -words for a Swinton to swallow." - -"I crave your pardon, gossip, but why torture me thus? I must have -some signal and terrible revenge on Dunbarton for his interfering -with me in this matter. Could we not bring him under suspicion of -the Council?" - -"A moral and physical impossibility." - -"Juden would give him the contents of a carbine if I gave him a hint -anent it." - -"It would be wiser to let him alone. You would have his chief, the -Marquis of Douglas, and every one of the name on ye like a nest o' -hornets, for they are a proud and thrawart race, that winna thole -steering. Ye maun train your hawks at other lures. Od's fish, man! -his mad musqueteers would sack and slaughter the haill city." - -"And Fenton!" continued the Lord, grinding his teeth, "I would travel -to Jericho to have him within reach of my rapier--I would, d--n -me--to pull his nose off! What a ravelled hesp is my fortune! My -wounded hand, too----" - -"Hee, hee! how can you expect it to heal, when the haill blude in -your body is turning into burnt sack and sugared brandy?" - -"It has kept me from prosecuting this affair. But I am getting -desperate, Mersington; between love of the girl, lack of her lands, -and fear of poverty, nothing now can save me but a dash." - -"Spoken like yoursel--like the wild Randal Clermont o' 1670. But -what do ye propose?" - -"To carry off Lilian and make a Highland wedding of it--ha, ha!" - -"Hee, hee! abduction, reif, and felony, anent whilk see the acts of -the seventh parliament of James V. and James VI. Parliament -twenty-first, chapter fourth--hee, hee! these would bear hard on your -case, my birkie." - -"Pshaw! am not I, too, a Lord of the Parliament? so, friend -Mersington, reserve this musty jargon for the Hall of the Tolbooth. -How often hath a Scottish baron with his band ridden to its threshold -with jack and spear, and while his trumpets blew defiance at the -Cross, laughed the fulminations of the three estates to scorn!" - -"Ye mean mad Bothwell, with his thousand spears; but Clermistonlee, -wi' his man Juden, would cut a sorry figure riding up the gate on the -same errand." - -"But the mere abduction of a girl?" - -"It canna be sae bad in law, as abducting that dour auld carle, Durie -the Lord President, whom a mosstrooping loon, by orders o' Traquair, -carried off bodily, across his saddlebow, frae the dreary Figget -whins, and warded for sax calendar months in the vault o' a Border -peel. For my part, I have hated the name o' womankind since my Lady -Mersington had me fined a thousand merks Scots, for that damned -conventicle whilk, in my absence, she held on my lands. But Gude be -thanked, I had my vengeance, by having her banished the liberties of -the city, for hearing that Recusant runion Ichabod Bummel preach, -whilk rid me and a' Bess Wynd o' her eternal clack. Faith, -Clermistonlee, ye are welcome to abduct _her_, gif ye please, he, he!" - -"I thank you, gossip, but beg to decline," said Clermistonlee, -draining his tankard of sack; "but to show thee, most learned -senator, the value and veneration I bear those acts you have just -cited, I shall this very night carry off Lilian Napier, whom, my -spies inform me to be concealed somewhere to the south of the town. -O, by all the devils, I'll easily find the place. My blood's up; I -will make my fortune to-night, or mar it for ever." - -His sallow cheek glowed, his dark eye flashed, and taking a very -handsome pair of pistols from the mantelpiece, he began to load them -with great deliberation having previously summoned his faithful -rascal Juden, by furiously ringing a handbell. - -"What's in the wind now, my Lord?" he asked, rubbing his eyes, having -been abruptly summoned from an afternoon nap. - -"You will learn ere long," said his lord with a sternness that made -the bluff butler's eyes to dilate with surprise; "but see that you -are as prompt to act as to ask questions. You must bear a message -from me to the Place." - -"Eh? to Drumsheugh--at this time?" - -"To Beatrix Gilruth." - -"My Lord--I--I--" stammered Juden. - -"Saddle a horse, ride round the loch, and tell her that the young -lass she wots of will be there to-night, and that she must have some -of the old rooms in the north wing, those that overlook the rocks, -prepared for her reception." - -"Where the gipsy was put, that we harled awa frae the west country?" - -"What, the wench whom Holsterlee took off my hands, the same. You -stare oddly--dost hear me fellow--art thou sober?" - -"As a judge, my Lord." - -"Then hear me and obey. Desire this hag, Beatrix, to have all -prepared for my fair one's reception--fires lit and tapestry brushed, -and, on peril of thine own life, be speedy and secret. Tarry neither -there nor by the way, as I will want thee when the town drum beats at -ten o'clock." - -"She's an uncanny body, Lucky Gilruth, though I mind the time when -there was not a bonnier lass in a' the Lowdens," said Juden, -scratching his rough chin with undisguised perplexity; "but now, the -auld wrinkled hizzie, she deserves the tar barrel as weel as lucky -Elshendder." - -"What the devil is all this to me?" - -"It is a lonesome and eerie road across Halkerstoun's crofts by the -lang gate, and on such an errand to such a woman, with the mirk night -coming on----" - -"Blockhead! thou hast been guzzling in the wine cellar. Begone, or I -will beat thee; but first have the mare saddled as well as the horse, -and procure a good link, and fail not when the drum beats. I will -ride the Duke, 'tis a strong old trooper, and used to carrying -double--hah! Away, away, and on peril of thy life, speak of this to -no man." - -"You will find me as of auld, Clermistonlee, a hawk of the right -nest." - -"Look well to Meg's girths." - -"Ay, my Lord, a fidging mear should be weel girded--now then hoe! for -the Place." - -Juden drained a wine cup that his master handed him, and in five -minutes more, the mare's hoofs rang on the causeway of the steep -wynd, and died away as he descended into the deep gorge; under Neil's -Craigs, wheeled through the Beggar's Row, and ascended the opposite -bank. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -THE TEN O'CLOCK DRUM. - - DU CHATEL. The gates stand open; no man shall molest you. - Count Dunois, follow me--you gain no honour in lingering - here. - - RAIMOND. Seize on this moment! the streets are empty,-- - Give me your hand. - SCHILLER'S MAID OF ORLEANS. - - -Clermistonlee was well aware that the forcible abduction of a young -lady of family (or quality, according to the phraseology of the -time), would create no small degree of indignation against him; but -confiding in his rank, and in the influence of the powerful faction -to which he belonged; aware that never could he otherwise obtain -possession of Lilian's person, and ultimately her property, goaded by -dread of poverty rather than avarice, inflamed by his own wild -fancies and irregular passions rather than by love, and spurred on by -the taunts and advices of the half cunning and wholly malicious -Mersington, he sat longing with the utmost eagerness for the time of -action, the tuck of the ten o'clock drum, after the beating of which, -all within the city walls usually became so silent and still. He -knew also that the family of Napier had experienced a severe shock by -their recent forfeiture, and a squadron of Dalyel's dragoons being -quartered on their estate for three weeks past, and being yet under -hiding (as the term was), the abduction of Lilian could be more -easily executed; and if once within the barred doors and grated -windows of his desolate mansion on the rocks at Drumsheugh, or the -massive chambers of his still more lonely tower on Clermiston Lee, -Lilian might bid farewell equally to mercy and to hope. - -Aware of the lonely situation of Elsie's cottage on the verge of the -great Burghmuir, fully two Scottish miles from the city cross, and -knowing that the locality was always deserted after dusk, in -consequence of the unsettled nature of the times, and a horde of -footpads who infested the remnants of its forest and the deep -quarries and moss-haggs through which the roadway wound, and which, -independent of a gibbet, a ruined church and graveyard, deterred all -and sundry, after the city gates were closed, from travelling that -way after dusk--considering all those things, the noble roué had no -doubt of being able to fire the little cottage, and, in the -confusion, to bear away Lilian across his saddle-bow. And to cast -suspicion in another quarter, he had desired Juden to have a bonnet -or two, a grey maud and a bible, to leave on the road close by, that -the odium of the outrage might fall on the houseless Cameronians who -lurked among the hills to the southward. - -Tipsy as he was, when the time approached for Clermistonlee setting -forth, Lord Mersington had still sense remaining to say, - -"Tak' tent, Randal, my man--hee, hee!--bide ye a wee, ere worse come -o't. You may bring king, council and parliament about your lugs for -this, and the Foulis o' Ravelstone, Congaltoun o' that ilk, and -Merchiston himsel will swarm like a hornet's nest, and 'Horse and -spear!' will be the cry through half the country side--he, he!' - -"Curses on thy everlasting chuckle!" muttered the other between his -teeth, as with fierce impatience he thrust his brass-barrelled -pistols into his embroidered girdle. "What the devil are Ravelstone -or Congaltoun to me? If the worst comes, 'tis but flying to the west -highlands till the affair blows over. I can count kindred with some -of the best who bear the name of Campbell." - -"Kindred that will truss ye wi' a tow, and hand ye over for twenty -merks to the first macer or corporal of horse that the Chancellor -sends after you. Remember how Assynt served Montrose thirty-eight -years ago?" - -"Your suspicions wrong my highland kinsmen, who are honourable -men----" - -"But true blue whigamores withal--hee, hee! and brawly you'll look -coming up the Netherbow in a cart like Montrose, puir fellow! wi' the -town halberds bristling round ye, and Pate Pincer wi' his axe maybe, -and our noble friend Perth sitting in the Lower Chamber wi' his -finger on the acts of James the Vth and VIth, anent wilful -fire-raising--hee, hee! and as for the lassie----" - -"My Lord, this is intolerable stuff!" said Clermistonlee, shrugging -his shoulders; "you cannot be so young a politician as not to -perceive that a storm is approaching, which will crush and confound -together all the factions that now distract the land, and keep our -swords for ever by our sides. All men see it--else whence this -muster of troops and din of preparation on both sides of the Border." - -"Storm--a storm said ye?" - -"Yes, amid which, if we can hold our own bonnets on our heads, we -will be clever fellows, Swinton." - -"And whence blows the breeze, think ye?" - -"'The Lowlands of Holland,' as the song says," replied the cavalier -lord, drawing himself up with a scornful smile. - -"Wheesht!--hee, hee, hee!" chuckled the other, waving one hand -warningly, while burying his rat-like visage in the sack tankard to -hide the cunning smile of intelligence that spread over it. "Harkee, -Randal, whare'er the de'il be laird, you'll be tenant--hee, hee!' - -"I value a crash in politics at the worth of a brass tester, and bid -hail to the days of hard blows and buff coats. Ha! ha! I may pick -up a marquisate in the scramble," laughed Clermistonlee, flapping his -hat over his eyes. "You will not accompany me to-night, being -scarcely cavalier enough for this kind of work." - -"Hoots, man, a double-gowned senator of the College of Justice, a -Lord of Council and Session, aiding and abetting in wilful -fire-raising! Doth not the act say, 'Quha cummis and burnis folk in -their housis will be guilty o' treason and lese-majestie?' and as for -running off wi' the lassie Lilian, that is clearly a kidnapping o' -the lieges, whilk, according to Skene and Sir Thomas o' Glendoick----" - -"Gossip Mersington, there are overmuch wine and law in thee to-night -to leave room for common sense. Ha! there goes the ten o'clock drum, -and that loitering villain has not yet returned!" - -He threw open a window that faced the south, where the black mansions -of the Netherbow towered up from the steep hill at the foot of which -his house was situated. The sound of a distant drum, beat in slow, -regular, and monotonous measure, was heard on the wind at intervals, -as a drummer of the Civic Guard (an old corps of Scottish -gensd'armes, which existed from the fatal day at Flodden until 1818,) -ascended St. Mary's Wynd, his usual nightly round, after having -descended the Bow, and beat along the once lordly and fashionable -Cowgate, where kings have feasted royally, and where Scottish nobles -and the ambassadors of foreign powers were wont to dwell--but now the -hideous abode of misery and crime, and long since abandoned to the -dregs of mankind. On strode the drummer, and the gates of the -Netherbow revolved back at his approach: as he passed under its -double towers, its picturesque spire and high embattled arch, the -great street of the city, wide and lofty, but dark and deserted, rang -to the same monotonous chamade and all its echoing closes, broad -paved wynds and old arcades of wood or stone, its circular stairs and -oaken outshots gave back a thousand reverberations as "the ten -o'clock drummer" strode on, until reaching the Town Guard House, -where he finished his perambulation of the ancient Royalty by a long -and loud ruffle, which scared the vultures from the skulls that -mouldered on the parapets of the prison, startled the rooks in the -gothic diadem of St. Giles, and made all its hollow vaults and high -arched aisles, where the dead of ages lie, give back the warlike -sound. - -The drum rang loudly as it passed the archway that led to the lodging -of Clermistonlee, who threw down the window with a crash, exclaiming, - -"Malediction on my messenger--I must mount and ride without him. -Hah! here comes the loitering rascal in time to save his shoulders -from a stout truncheoning." - -A horse's hoofs rang in the courtyard; Juden's heavy boots clattered -on the pavement as he dismounted and ascended to the chamber-of-dais, -puffing, panting, and looking very pale and disconcerted. - -"So-so, fellow," said the irritated lord, "it has pleased you to -return at last." - -"With God's providence, my Lord." - -"How, fool? What means this unwonted piety? Art drunk, fellow?" - -"Fie, Juden!" said Mersington, "a fou-man' and a fasting horse, -should hae come faster home hee, hee!" - -"You saw this woman, Gilruth, and left my message, I presume:" - -"Yes, my Lord, yes," gasped Juden. - -"What the devil is all this? There is something wrong with thee, -Juden." - -"Then to be plain wi' your Lordship, I canna thole the auld Place -after nightfa'? I aye think o'--think o'----" - -"What?" asked Clermistonlee, furiously. - -"O' puir Leddy Alison," whined Juden, half in sorrow, and half in -spite. "Eh, sirs! but the auld Place o' Drumsheugh is fu' o' her -memory, and I seemed to hear her sweet low voice in every sough o' -the auld aik trees, and to see her shadow in every glint their -branches threw on the moonlighted avenue and auld grey house." - -"Fool, fool," said Clermistonlee in a subdued voice, "you speak as if -she had been murdered." - -"Nor did she fare mickle better," muttered Juden, under breath, -however. - -"Poor Alison!--so gentle and unreproaching," said the lord in a low -musing voice, "Alison--once that name was ever on my lips--her -presence was ever with me, and her idea raised a rapture in this -hollow heart, to which it has since been a stranger. Yes, my love -was a very true one." - -"While it lasted," said Mersington. - -"Of course," rejoined the other, recovering himself. "I loved her to -distraction once; or thought so, and by all the devils, 'tis quite -the same thing. She is dead now, and peace be with her; but peril of -thy life, Juden Stenton, trouble me no more with such untimely -elegies. And pray, Master Morality, how have you dared to loiter -away these two hours past?" - -"Ask that elfshotten Mear Meg?" said the butler, testily. "Either -the cantrips o' Beatrix Gilruth, or Lucky Elshender (baith o' whom -are weel deserving o' the branks and tar barrel, Mersington), hae -clean bewitched that puir beast. May I never lay head on a pillow -to-night, if I wasna' spell-bound on Halkerston's Crofts, where I -continued to ride and spur, wi' the black Calton looming in front and -St. Cuthbert's kirk behind! but I never neared the one, or got -further from the other; and yet Meg was fleeing like the wind, or as -fast as ever she did for city purse or king's plate on the sands o' -Leith. The night was dark: a cauld wind swept owre the crofts, and -soughed among the kirkyard yews and lang nettles by the drystane -dykes; red lights gleamed in the runnels that bummel down the brae -side, and redder stars were shooting in the lift. A cauld -perspiration burst owre me, every hair bristled under my bannet----" - -"Rascal--art mocking us?" - -"Patience, my Lord," groaned poor Juden. "I kent there was a spell -on me, and I tried to say some holy word or name; but, as the deil -would hae'd, the sounds aye stuck in my throat; and there I sat, -sweating and trembling, and spurring a galloping nag that never -progressed; and there indubitably I must hae been until cockcrow, if -I hadna----" - -"What?" exclaimed his master, stamping with impatience. - -"Made a grasp at a rowan tree that grew near, and pu'ed a bunch o' -the last year's berries, when lo! the charm was broken, and Meg shot -awa like the wind--and I cleared the lang gate as if the Paip and the -Deil were behind me." - -"And dost think, rascal, that I believe one word of this precious -Tale of a Tub, foisted up to deceive me, for time spent in the -village change-house yonder! Ha, knave! remember the old saw--Good -wine makes a bad head and a long story." - -"My Lord, as I left the place, auld Gilruth cried, 'A safe ride to -ye, Juden,' and her eldritch laugh is yet dingling in my lugs." - -"That makes it a clear case o' withcraft," mumbled Mersington, who -was now very tipsy. "He-he!--we'll hae the carlin before us in the -morning, Juden. Ay, my Lords (macers, silence in court!), this is as -clear a case o' witchcraft as ever came before us--and the Act under -Queen Mary (puir woman) anent sorcery bears just upon it. Your -Lordships will remember," continued the senator, who thought himself -on the bench, "the cases o' Isabel Eliot and Marion Campbell, twa -notorious witches, who, for renouncing their baptism, and dancing a -jig wi' the deil, were burnt at the Cross wi' ten others in the -September o' seventy-eight, for whilk see the Record o' -Justiciary--hee-hee, a braw bleeze!" - -"I will show a blaze on the Burghmuir to-night worth a dozen of -it--ha, ha!" laughed Clermistonlee, as he drew on his voluminous -boot-tops of stamped maroquin with silver bosses. - -"O'd, Clermistonlee, do ye really mean to burn Elshender's cottage?" -asked Juden with delight. - -"Yea, sink me! from rigging-tree to ground-stone." Juden rubbed his -hands. - -"If the auld witch is bed-ridden," said he, "it will save the Provost -a bundle o' tar-barrels, forbye a pock o' peats." - -"And perhaps cure those spells which you think the hag hath cast upon -my best nag? And so, Mersington, you will not ride with us to-night?" - -"No, by my faith!" - -"Then your learned Lordship forgets one notable point of our old -Scottish law, by which a guest becomes the bounden ally of his host." - -"True; but only if loons come against him wi' harness on--boden in -effeir o' weir, as the Acts have it." - -"As the chase after Lilian may be a hot one, omit not to spread most -industriously that I am gone to the west, to England, to the devil, -or any where, to put them off the right scent--ha, ha! while I am -luxuriating in the smiles of Venus in the recesses of my snug old -house over the hill there. Dost hear me? By Jove, he's very drunk. -Fetch me a tass of brandy and burnt sugar, Juden." - -It was brought immediately, in one of those long glasses then made at -the citadel of Leith. It set Clermistonlee's impatient blood on fire. - -"Another for thyself, Juden, and then to horse, and away. Your -servant, gossip Mersington: if unfortunate, you will see me in the -course of to-morrow; if otherwise, the devil knows when. Marriage -and hanging go by destiny--so do all other things--with a hey lilleu -and a how lo lan." - -"Aye-aye, awa ye neer-do-well--ye deil's buckie--I'll stay and keep -the terrier company. The sack is glorious--the English port auld as -the mirk Monanday a' sixteen hunder and fifty-twa--a-clear case o' -sorcery, your Lordship--o' dark dealing wi' the great enemy o' -mankind--hee-hee!--and woman kind baith." - -His head sank forward on his wine-bespattered cravat, and the senior -senator of the College of Justice fell fast asleep. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -CLERMISTONLEE MAKES A SAD MISTAKE. - -But if this young lady will marry you, and relieve us, O my -conscience! I'll turn friend to the sex, and rail no more at -matrimony.--THE LYING VALET. - - -Issuing from a private gate in the northern flank of the city wall, -at the foot of the court attached to his mansion, the Lord and his -staunch follower mounted in a narrow lane, overhung on one side by -gloomy trees, and on the other by the ancient hospital of the Holy -Trinity. The great oriel, or triple window of its church was then -faintly lighted by the beams of the rising moon, the silver disk of -which seemed to rest on the sable ridge of Arthur's Seat. They -passed through the Calton, then a straggling burgh, consisting of -antique houses of Flemish aspect, but occupied by a very inferior -class of citizens, and entered the long and solitary path called -Leith Loan, which was formed by an ancient trench of the Great Civil -Wars; hollowly rang their horses' hoofs between the black rocks of -the Calton on one hand, and the steep bank of St. Ninian on the -other, where the ivied and shattered walls of a convent presented in -the bright moonlight a striking variety of light and shade. - -To avoid every chance of recognition or surprise, Clermistonlee thus -made a complete circuit of the city, leaving it on the side opposite -to the scene of his operations. The night soon became as cloudy and -dark as he could have wished it, for, as the fitful moon became -involved in opaque masses of vapour, every object was rendered -obscure and indistinct. On one side of the way lay the lake, like a -sheet of ink, and beyond it rose up the stupendous cliffs and -ramparts of the castle, and the gigantic outline of the city towering -like a mighty bank of cloud, through which the lights of distant -casements glimmered like far and fitful stars. On the other side -spread open fields and solitary farms; the castles of the Touris of -Inverleith, the Kincaids of Warriston, and two or three small and -lonely hamlets. - -"Clermistonlee," began Juden, closing up to his master as the Long -Gate became darker and more lonely, for the cottages of St. Ninian -were now far behind; "If the auld witch, Elshender, by kecking -through a spule bane should divine our errand, our riding will be to -little purpose I reckon. She is an unco uncanny body, Lucky Elsie, -and though her gudeman was a trooper, and did richt leal service in -King Charles' wars, I would fain see her brought to the tar-barrel, -for, wow, but I hate an auld blench-lippit, long-chaffit, sunk-eyed -carlin, as I do sour ale or the deil." - -The Lord vouchsafed no reply to these sapient remarks, and Juden, -feeling somewhat uneasy at his silence, the darkness, and their -vicinity to the old Cross-kirk of St. Cuthbert, with its great square -central tower and broad burial grounds, studded with mossy tombstones -and slabs half sunk in the long reedy grass, spurred nearer and spoke -again. - -"And then to think o' Meg, puir beastie! to fa' ill o' the wheezlock, -the malanders, and deil kens a' what, the very night ye trampled down -that auld cummer's kailcastocks, and wi' this match wi' Holsterlee to -come off at Easter! Troth, my Lord Mersington has thumbscrewed and -tar-barrelled scores o' auld besoms on the half o' sic evidence o' -malice, and ungodly ill will. And I would beg o' you to gie -Mersington a hint, that she was the gossip of Helen of Peaston, who -was burned ten years byegone. Od's fish! I saw the brodder o' the -High Court run his steel pricker thrice into Belzeebub's mark on her -bare back--a lang black teat whereat she suckled Hornie's imps, and -she neither winced nor skirled. And for what I would like mickle to -ken----" - -"Silence." - -"Doth not this auld deevil, Elshender, deserve the tar-barrel as weel -as her neighbour cummer." - -"I tell thee, silence! Blow the match that must light the link." - -"The link--now?" - -"Thou hast it I hope, pumpkin-head?" - -"Yes--yes, my Lord--but wow I wish this desperate job weel oure." - -"Art getting white-livered? Is this our first affair of the kind?" - -"What, if the coach with the skeleton Lady cam' rumbling up Leith -loan after us! It is about her hour noo. Burn my beard, if I wadna -die o' sheer fright." - -"Would to Heaven she came then, and rid me of a thorough household -pest." - -"Ay, ay, but ye would sune find the want o' puir auld Juden. Wha -would spice the Canary and Rochelle, mull the sack and sugar the -brandy like me? Wha then would doctor your nags, break your hounds, -and train your hawks wi' leash and lure, and do everything ye can -think o', frae birselling a crail capon to backing a troop-horse, and -frae brushing your spurleathers, to being your staunch henchman on -sic a hillicate errand as this? Hech, Sir! I am picking up my -thanks now for standing by ye wi' buff and bilbo on many a stormy -day, fighting now for the kirk and then for the king--a bab o' blue -ribbons in my bonnet to-day, a cavalier's white feather the morn, -just as it suited you to uphold one banner because the other was like -to be beaten down." - -"Rascal! let these be the last of those impertinent reflections which -you permit yourself to make on my conduct. Recollect that as my -bounden vassal, my will is thine, my word thy law--enough--and seek -not as usual, old Mr. pertinacity, to have the last word with me." - -"I am mum, my Lord." Juden checked his horse and fell to the rear in -high dudgeon. - -Making a complete circuit of the suburbs, they crossed the Burghmuir, -where the turrets of Bruntisfield rose above the dark oaks of the -olden time. Clermistonlee took a long survey of the stately old -mansion and its domain, and greatly refreshed with the noble aspect -thereof, pushed on with increased speed. - -When they approached the little cottage it was dark and silent as the -ruined chapel beside it, and the beechen grove which overshadowed -them both. The smoke of the rested night fire curled up pale and -grey among the dark copsewood, from the massive clay-built chimney, -but there was no other sign of life within. Concealing their horses -behind a thick privet hedge, the conspirators approached the cottage, -Clermistonlee unrolling an ample rocquelaure of scarlet cloth to -throw over Lilian as a muffler, the moment she rushed forth to escape -the conflagration. - -"The hut is very still," said the Lord. "Zounds! if she should be -gone away." - -"Impossible," responded Juden. "Jock, my sister's son, watched the -place until mirk night came on. But hear me--one word, my Lord, ere -we come to the onset?" - -"What the deuce is it now, thou most incorrigible prater?" - -"Would it no be better to ding up the door and carry the lady off -before I fire the bit placie, lest the flame bring those who might -strike in to the rescue?" - -"True, Juden, you speak sensibly for once," replied his master, who -staggered a little in consequence of his recent potations, and felt -no ordinary excitement as the moment approached, when he hoped to -clasp Lilian Napier in his arms, and bear her off in triumph. -Clermistonlee had long been the wildest gallant of his time, and in -such a desperate affair as this he felt quite in his element. - -Poising a large stone aloft, he hurled it against the door with all -the impetus he could lend it; but the barrier yielded not. An -exclamation, half smothered in the depths of a box-bed, showed that -the inmates were sufficiently alarmed by the thundering shock, and -poor Elsie lay quaking under the bed-clothes, in full conviction that -the devil and his elvish drummer to boot, were about to force an -entrance. Again and again Lord Clermistonlee hurled it against the -cottage door; but it remained fast as a rock, for several strong bars -of wood inserted in the massive wall, gave it all that security which -was then as necessary to the hut as to the palace. Juden raised -aloft the flaring link, and its light streamed by fits on the -thatched roof and whitewashed walls, on the divot seat in front, with -woodbine and wild rose-tree clambering above it; on the high beech -trees that spread their arms to the night wind, scaring the rooks -from their leafless nests, and the sparrows from the thick warm -thatch which the blazing link menaced every instant. - -"Reif and roist the obstinate yett!" exclaimed Juden, capering as the -stone rolled back upon his shins, and Clermistonlee, exasperated by -the unlooked-for delay, furiously thrust the link into the heavy -thatch. The dense mass smouldered and smoked for an instant, while -the dry straw below struggled with the thick stratum of green moss -above, till the former prevailed, and a broad lurid flame shot -upward, revealing the broad fields and pasture land, the rough dykes -and budding hedgerows, the dreary road that wound over the adjacent -hills, the far recesses of the beechen grove, bringing forward the -knotted branches and gnarled and ivied trunks in strong relief, from -the darkness and obscurity of the wooded vista behind. Full on the -roofless walls and pointed windows of St. Rocque fell the fitful -light, and on the spacious burial ground, where close and thick lay -the headstones of those unfortunates who perished in the deadly -pestilence of 1645. In a few minutes a mass of blazing thatch fell -inwards through the bared and scorched rafters, and a terrific scream -ascended from within. Fire now flashed through the little square -windows of the cottage, and its whole interior became filled with -yellow light; but the door still remained fast, while the shrieks -that rang within made Clermistonlee tremble with apprehension. - -"Fury and confusion!" he exclaimed, "she may be scorched to death by -that flaming mass of thatch! Horror! aid me--fool and villain--to -burst in the door! quick, or the accursed Baillie of the Portsburgh -with his trainband of souters and wabsters will be on us." - -While he was speaking, the cottage door flew open, and, amid a shower -of sparks, which she threw from her attire, a female rushed forth in -a slate of distraction. - -"'Tis she, Juden!" cried Clermistonlee, "'tis she! I could know that -purple hood among a thousand!" and rushing forward with a tipsy shout -of triumph and rapture, he snatched up the the slight figure, over -which his staunch bravo threw the ample and stifling rocquelaure in a -manner that showed he had practised it on former occasions, as it -effectually prevented her cries from being heard. Tall, strong, and -muscular, Clermistonlee with perfect ease placed his fair captive on -the croupe of his horse, and, springing into the saddle, gave it the -spur so suddenly, that it bounded into the air, and he lost a stirrup. - -"Courage, Juden!" he exclaimed, while his heart panted with love and -exultation; "to horse and spur for the Place of Drumsheugh--but first -assist me--confusion! I have lost a stirrup--quick, varlet, the -curb-rein. So, now, look to thy petronel, for, by Jove! I hear a -horn blowing somewhere." - -Trembling with terror, and shaken furiously by the bounding of his -restless horse, the muffled captive lay helpless in his bold embrace. -One hand and arm were firmly clasped round her light and shrinking -figure, the other held the reins of his powerful horse, which dashed -along the road, clearing dyke and hedge at a bound, until gaining the -summit of the Burghmuir, where the road was rendered dangerous by the -ancient quarries, moss-haggs, and heron-shaws that bordered it. - -"My dear Lilian, why will you struggle with me when I tell that your -efforts are vain; but fear not, gentle one, I will slacken my horse's -speed if you wish it." He spoke with the utmost deliberation and -coolness; for he was too much used to such affairs to feel at all -puzzled in making an apology; besides, he was very tipsy. "You have -long rejected me, dear Lilian, and forced me to this act, for which I -crave your pardon with the most abject humility--by all the devils I -do! I am not one to stand on trifles, as thou knowest: no, sink me! -and if it is in the power of man to bend a woman's will to his, thine -shall bend to mine." - -This address was in no way calculated to quiet the terrors of his -prisoner: his lordship was becoming more and more confused and -intoxicated, as every bound of his horse forced into his head the -fumes of the wine of which he had partaken so freely; and so he -continued in the same strain-- - -"What dost say, little one--my beloved Lilian I mean--you will -struggle, you will scream? Permit me to insinuate, my dear Madam, -that it will be worse than useless, for nothing can avail you now but -pleasing me; a course I would advise you to pursue forthwith. I know -some devilish fine women that would be proud to do it--crush me if I -do not! My dearest Lilian, (what was I saying?) I will teach thee to -love as I would wish to be loved. My heart and coronet are at your -feet--will not sincere love beget love? By all the devils, I know it -will! You will pardon all this to-morrow, for I know women forgive -all that has love for an excuse; then how much more so you, that are -ever so gentle and kind, when other dames are so haughty and cold; -d--n them! amen. You think me a wicked ruffian, eh? Zounds! I am -not at all so, but a very fine fellow in every respect, though an -unfortunate victim of love to thee and fear of a few rascally -creditors. My pretty Lilian, in fact I love thee so tremendously, -that even the pen of Scuderi could never describe it; and I swear by -this kiss, dear Lilian, and this--and this--a thousand furies! where -am I?" - -He became sobered in a moment, for, on removing the mantle to salute -the soft cheek of the girl, instead of beholding, as he expected, the -head of a seraph peeping forth from a mass of bright ringlets, lo! a -ray of the sickly moon streamed on the hooked nose, peaked chin, grey -haired, and smoke-begrimed visage of Elsie Elshender. - -"Horror!" exclaimed Clermistonlee, whose rhapsody this terrible -vision had cut short. - -"Avaunt, hag of hell!" and, trembling in every fibre with rage and -disgust, he flung the poor woman from his arms, and goading his horse -with the sharp rowels, dashed up the dark and rough Kirk Brae at a -break-neck pace; while Juden, totally unable to comprehend what had -taken place in front, partly drew up as the female rolled by the -way-side, near the gate of the Place of Bruntisfield. - -"Awa wi' ye! fie and out upon ye, ye sons o' the scarlet woman!" -exclaimed Elsie in great wrath and tribulation, for she soon -recovered the use of her tongue. "May a' the plagues of Egypt fa' -upon your ungodly heads! May the Lord send cursing vexation and -rebuke! Out upon ye! fie, and a murrain upon ye!" - -Juden was astonished; but no sooner did he hear her shrill voice, and -behold by the moonlight her aged and withered visage, with long -tangled hair falling grey around it, than he became seized with a -superstitious terror, which the raising of her long skinny arm and -crooked finger, as if to curse, completed; and he stayed not to hear -the expected anathema. - -"The first fuff o' a haggis is aye the hottest, but I'll not bide a -second. Tak' that, ye accursed witch, until you are tarbarrelled!" -he exclaimed, and fired his long horse pistol full in her face. Poor -Elsie fell forward motionless, while Juden, without daring once to -look behind him, dashed at full gallop after his lord, who had -already crossed Halkerston's Crofts, and was nearing the village of -St. Ninian. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -THE GROWTH OF LOVE AND HOPE. - - The lady of my love resides - Within a garden's bound; - There springs the rose, the lily there - And hollyhock are found. - An instant on her form I gazed, - So delicately white; - Mild as a tender lamb was she, - And as the red rose bright. - LAYS OF THE MINNESINGERS. - - -It is, perhaps, unnecessary to inform the reader that, thanks to the -delay caused by Juden's cunning or superstition, Lord Clermistonlee's -intended seizure of Lilian Napier had been attempted an hour too -late. This was indeed fortunate. Had it been made earlier, blood -and blows and loss of life must have undoubtedly ensued. - -Exactly one hour before the unexpected visit which ended in the -destruction of Elsie's cottage, and nearly terrifying the poor woman -out of her senses, her late guests had all departed in one of those -vast and solemn hackney equipages (before described) which crawled -away over the Burgh muir like the mighty catafalco of a deceased -hero, past the end of the still and waveless Burghloch, and up the -dark and gloomy avenue of Bruntisfield, after being nearly an hour in -traversing, a space which any modern cab will carry one over in three -minutes. Like a true gallant of the day, Walter Fenton stood on the -footboard behind, while Hab with his matchlock slung, shared the -driver's ample hammer-cloth, so that the ladies and their attendant -Meinie (whose delight and wonder at being in such a vehicle must be -duly commemorated) were pretty safe from those bold lads of the post -who prowled about after nightfall with sword and pistol, making every -unarmed citizen who chanced to pass that way, stand and deliver cloak -and purse with so cavalier an air, that it was almost impossible to -refuse. - -With as much formality as if she was entering a conquered city, Lady -Grizel received the keys of the barbican gate from her ground-baillie -Syme, of the Greenhill, who, bareheaded, with three stout sons, -bearing torches, and several of the old servants who had found -shelter in Syme's onsteading, and whose clamorous joy burst forth in -loud pæans of triumph, as she was led by the baillie into the old -baronial chamber of dais, the canopy of which, to the simple "tenant -bodies" of those days, was fraught with more terrors than the chair -of the Lord President Lockhart. - -"A thousand welcomes to your Ladyship," said Symon, bowing profoundly -for the twentieth time. - -"Thanks, Symon," replied Lady Bruntisfield, giving him her hand to -kiss. "I hope your gude wife is well, and that your youngest bairn -got over its hooping cough by the means I prescribed." - -"My lady, wi' the advice o' a barber-chirurgeon----" - -"A barber-guse! did I not tell ye to pass that afflicted bairn three -times through a blackberry bush, whilk is an infallible remedy--but -I'll see after it mysel to-morrow." - -Lilian wept and laughed, and gave her hands to the servants to kiss, -for her heart beat as joyously to find herself under the old -ancestral roof, as if she had doubled Cape Horn since she last saw -it. She kissed grand-aunt Grizel, and rushed from one dark and -silent apartment to another, as if to gladden them by her happy -presence, and looked forth with beaming eyes on the waving woods and -the long expanse of the placid lake, whose dark bosom gave back the -light of a thousand stars, and anon she paused to listen to that old -familiar sound, the cawing of the rooks amid those great hereditary -oaks, the remnants of the vast forest of Drumsheugh, which, in the -days of St. David, surrounded the city and its castle on every side. - -Meantime, standing under the old velvet canopy, and leaning on her -walking-cane, Lady Grizel was listening with a kindling eye and -glowing cheek to her ground-baillie, who poured forth a dismal and -exaggerated report of the extortions and outrages committed on her -tenantry by Capt. Crichton's troop of the Grey Dragoons, who had -carried off all the baillie's own grain, "whilk he had laid up for -seed; they had taken the best cow, and a notable nowte from the -gudeman of Netherdurdie, and nae less than three bonnie servitor -lassies frae the farmtoun of Drumdryan; they had toomed every -corn-ark, meal-girnel, and beer-barrel in the barony, forby and -attour, extorting riding-money three times owre wi' cockit carbines!" -It was a lamentable story, and three energetic taps from the Lady -Grizel's cane closed the tale. - -She, however, found her own mansion scatheless, save where several -drawers and lock-fast places had been forced and damaged during the -search of Macer Maclutchy and other underlings in authority, for -treasonable papers (and more especially loose cash), while in the -cellars an empty runlet or two, and empty flasks in such number that -Drouthy the butler surveyed them in silence for ten minutes before he -began to swear and count them--bore evidence of the strict search -which Sergeant Wemyss and his musqueteers had prosecuted in the lower -regions of the house. The news of their lady's return spread to the -Home-grange and neighbouring cottages like wildfire, and, half -dressed, the good people came crowding to the mansion testifying by -repeated acclamations their joy at her return and restoration to -rank; for, save the honoured, envied (and, from that moment, hated) -Elsie Elshender, none knew where she had been concealed for the past -month. It was generally thought that she had fled to England, to the -"Lowlands of Holland," or some other "far awa place." The affection -which the Scottish tenantry ever manifested for the old families on -whose lands they dwelled, whose banner their ancestors had followed, -with whose name and fame, and hope, and happiness, or misfortune, -their own were so interwoven, and under the wing of whose protection -so many generations of their race had lived and died, was a noble -sentiment of the purest love peculiar to the nation. It knit -together in a manner which we cannot now conceive, the interests of -the highest and the lowest--a remnant of the good old patriarchal -times, which strongly marked the character of the people, and, like -the endearing ties of clanship, was very different from the feudal -tyranny that existed in other lands. - -Late though the hour, the old house was crowded with glad faces; -casks of ale were set abroach by Mr. Drouthy, and every ruddy cheek -became flushed with joy and the brown October beverage; every eye was -bright and moist; a buzz of happiness pervaded the spacious mansion, -and rang in the dark woods around it. But midnight passed; the -morning waxed apace, and now the baillie rang the household bell, as -a warning for all to retire, and, making an obeisance, bonnet in -hand, he set the example by trotting away on his plump Galloway cob. - -Walter Fenton, as he had no excuse, (though every wish,) to stay, -would have retired with the rest; but this Lady Grizel's hospitality -would by no means permit; he remained without much pressing, and -after the parting or sleeping cup had been passed round, they -separated for the night, and Walter, in the same apartment which had -witnessed his combat with Captain Napier, lay down on his couch, not -to sleep, but to brood over bright and joyous visions of the future -that were never to be realised. One moment his heart glowed with -unalloyed rapture and unclouded hope; and the next he was half -despairing when he compared his humble fortune with that of Lilian. -His whole inheritance was military service: of his family he knew -nothing but their name. He was a child of war and misfortune; and -these, more than he could foresee, were to be his companions through -life. He was poor and obscure; while Lilian, with her artless beauty -and girlish sweetness of manner, inherited the name and blood of one -of the oldest and proudest houses in the Lowlands--barons to whom the -Prestons of Gourton, the Kincaids of Warriston, and the Toweris of -that ilk, were but mushroom citizens; and when he pictured the grey -old mansion which sheltered him, so tall, so grim, and aristocratic -in aspect and association, and the many acres of fertile field, of -grassy pasture, and bosky wood that stretched around it, and weighed -in the balance his half-pike...... - -Lovers are the most able of all self-tormentors. His horizon became -fearfully overcast, and his bright visions seemed to end in smoke, -till hope came again to his aid. Poor Walter! he was now fairly in -love, and for the first time; his heart was unhackneyed in the ways -of the world, and he knew not that the time might come when, with an -inward smile, he would wonder that he ever thought so. But between -his own anxious fears, the cawing of the rooks and creaking of the -turret vanes, grey morning began to brighten the far off east before -he slept. - -With the first blush of dawn, old Elspat Elshender arrived with a -confused but lamentable history of the disasters and terrors of the -night--of how she had been carried away by the devil and Major Weir -on a high trotting horse--how claps of thunder had rung around her -cottage, and lightning consumed it--and that it was not until she was -able to repeat the Lord's Prayer that they assumed the forms of Lord -Clermistonlee and his hellicate butler, Juden Stenton, and thereafter -vanished in a flash of fire, leaving Elsie among the nettles and -whins at the avenue gate. - -Lady Bruntisfield, who, seated in her arm-chair, cane in hand, had -listened to this wonderful narrative with great gravity, was at no -loss to attribute the enterprise to the proper personages, and though -the indignation she felt was very great, her alarm and uneasiness -were greater. She now saw to what lengths the passion and daring of -this rash and profligate suitor might carry him. In consequence of -his rank and power, (which the complaints of a hundred old women -could never shake,) it was deemed expedient to commit the affair to -silence, but to be on their guard, and in future never to go abroad -without an armed escort--composed of old Syme the baillie and his -sons, or some such stout fellows, with sword and pistol. Meantime, -the burning of the cottage (a loss which Elsie deeply mourned, for -there she had dwelt a wife and widow for more than forty years,) was -attributed by some to the outcast Cameronians who lurked among the -whins of Braid, and by others to certain malicious spunkies who then -inhabited the morasses to the westward. - -At a late hour next morning Walter awoke. It was now the month of -April. The sun shone warmly from a bright blue sky streaked with -fleecy clouds that gleamed like masses of gilded snow, as his -radiance streamed aslant between them. The grass and the budding -trees were heavy with dew, and the merry birds were chirruping and -hopping from branch to branch, as if their little hearts rejoiced at -the approach of summer. The ravenous gled and the ominous rook were -soaring on their dark wings into the azure sky, and their light -shadows floated over the still bosom of the loch, scaring the lonely -heron that waded in its waters, till piercing up, and farther up they -grew mere specks in the welkin, as they flew towards the rising sun. -The old mansion, with its tall smoky chimneys and projecting turrets, -gleamed cheerily in the red sunlight that streamed down the long -shady avenue, where myriads of gad-flies wheeled and revolved in the -golden beams as they pierced and shot through the thickening -foliage--thickening and expanding under the warm showers and warmer -sun of April, the balmy month of fresh leaves and opening flowers, of -fleecy clouds and bright blue skies. - -The beauty of the spring morning, and the passages of the preceding -night, made Walter feel joyous and gay. At his toilet he took more -than usual care in folding his cravat of point lace, hooking his -coat, of tight and spotless buff, with its bars of silver lace, and -in twisting his smart moustachios. His thick dark locks escaped from -under a bonnet of blue velvet, adorned with the cross of St. Andrew -and a single white feather. His breeches were of red regimental -cloth, and his stockings of scarlet silk. A gorget of bright steel, -and a long basket-hilted rapier, suspended by a buff shoulder-belt, -were his only arms, and he was altogether a handsome and -gallant-looking fellow. With a light step, and a lighter heart, he -followed the servant, who ushered him into the chamber of dais, where -Lilian arose from tinkling on the spinnet, and running towards him -with that delightful frankness which made her so charming, bade him -good morning. - -For the first time since they were children, he found himself alone -with her, and the young man felt seriously embarrassed. Lilian -seemed so fresh, rosy, and beautiful, the touch of her hand was so -gentle and graceful, and the purity of her complexion so dazzling, -(exhibiting just enough of red to shew perfect health,) that she -might have passed for the goddess of the season. The richness and -neatness of her dress did full justice to her round and charming -person; a well busked boddice and stomacher of black taffeta, edged -round the fair and budding bosom with a deep tucker of rich lace, and -short sleeves frilled with deep falls of the same revealed her round -and spotless arm, from the dimpled elbow to the slender waist. Her -bright glossy hair (Meinie had found her very difficult to please in -its arrangement that morning) rolled over her shoulders in massive -tresses, perfumed, and tied with a white ribbon, which drew them back -from her delicate temples and beautiful ears. A carcanet of Scottish -pearls--those found of old on the rocks of Orrock--encircled her -neck, and a long sweeping skirt of black satin gave a stateliness to -her air, which with the admirable contour of her nose and short upper -lip, by their noble yet piquant expression, completed. Her blue eyes -were beaming with delight, and a half blush played about her cheek as -she glided towards Walter Fenton. - -"My dear old friend," said she, after the usual compliments, "I hope -you slept well in this poor house of ours, notwithstanding the ghosts -that make it their special business to plague all visitors; but after -the turmoil of last night, I can hardly doubt it." - -"The redness of your cheek, gentle Lilian, shows me that you must -have slumbered soundly, and have quite recovered the terrors of the -last few weeks." - -"O no, I scarcely slept at all, or did so only to dream I was still -at poor Elsie's, hiding in the meal girnel. My head is buzzing still -with the clamour of the tenantry (are they not all dear folks?) and -old Syme of the Hill, with his doleful catalogue of enormities, -stoutrief and hamesucken committed by the troopers; and then poor old -Elsie with her mishaps! Ah, good Heavens! if it was really the devil -that ran off with her! But were not the poor vassals happy last -night? O I could have kissed every one of them; and I am so happy, -Mr. Fenton, to find myself under this dear old roof again, that I -could dance with glee if you would join me. But you, who were so -kind when greater friends shunned and forgot us, you who have endured -so much contumely for our sake, how can we ever recompense or thank -you?" - -"By ceasing to remember it as an obligation. O rather view it as a -duty!" said Walter, in a low voice. "Madam Lilian, often ere this, I -have by intentional remissness of duty, saved many an unfortunate -from the dungeon and the cord. But they were poor Recusant -Cameronians whose escape was valued as little as their lives. - -"As nurse Elsie says, these are indeed fearful times," replied -Lilian, laughing; "but truly, when I remember the kind and gentle -little Walter I used to play with long ago, I think you must be much -too tender hearted for soldiering." - -"Under favour, Lilian," said Walter, feeling his heart flutter as she -spoke, "a true soldier is ever compassionate; and the hand that -strikes down a foe should be the first to succour and protect him -when fallen. I am too well aware that in these days of religious -persecution and political misrule, the Scottish soldier is often, too -often indeed, the instrument----" - -"Hush, friend Walter! art not afraid I will betray thee? Have you -forgotten that horrid vault, the Tolbooth, and its grim Gudeman?" - -"Ah, the rascally clown, I have a crow to pluck with him yet; but I -was only about to say, that in these days of ours----" - -"Ah, you are about to speak treason again," said she playfully. "I -mean to be very loyal, and must not permit you, although there are -none here who would betray you, unless it be the old corbies that -croak on the chimney head. But come with me, and I will show you -their nests in some strange places, I promise you; and I have flowers -to visit, and my pigeons too, poor pets! I once thought never to -behold them again. Come, Mr. Fenton, your hand; how beautiful the -morning is!" - -Charmed with her vivacity, Walter became every moment more delighted -with Lilian Napier. With a very cavalier-like air which he had -acquired among his Parisian comrades of the Musqueteers, who had -returned from the French to the Scottish service only ten years -before, he hastened to give her his ungloved hand, and they sallied -forth into the garden, where the deep rows of Dutch boxwood that -edged the walks, the leaden statues of satyrs, swains, and -shepherdesses, the gravelled terraces and flights of steps, the old -mossy sun and moon dial, and the fantastic arbours, were all in -admirable keeping with the quaint old manor house that towered above -them. Old John Leekie, the gardener, clad in his coarse sky-blue -coat, and long ribbed galligaskins, reverently doffed his broad -bonnet, and bowed his lyart head, as his young mistress passed, and -patting his shoulder with her hand, bade him a "good morning." The -old man's eye brightened as he surveyed the garb and bearing of -Walter Fenton, and continued his occupation of hoeing up the early -kail, with a sigh; - - "For he thought of the days that were long since by, - When his limbs were strong, and his courage was high:"-- - -and when he rode in the iron squadrons of the loyal Hamilton and -stern Leslie. - -"Gentle Lilian," said Walter, colouring deeply as he gazed on the -fine old mansion, the walls of which were quite encrusted with coats -armorial and quaint legends, "it is when surveying so noble a -dwelling as this that I feel most bitterly how hardly fortune has -dealt with me." - -"Tush, friend! hast never got the better of those old glooms and -fancies yet? Read the motto over yonder window; ah! 'tis my -dressing-room that," said the lively girl, pointing to a distich in -Saxon characters, which was one of the many that adorned the edifice. - - "Quhen Adam delved and Eve spanne, - Quhair war a' the gentlis than?" - - -"It is very true; but I, who am a soldier, cannot think of those -things like a philosopher." - -"Then do not think of them at all." - -"How numerous are the coats and quarterings here! there is the eagle -of the Ramsays, the unicorns of the Prestons, and the saltier of -Napier." - -"But, Mr. Walter, do you know that Aunt Grizel asserts there is an -ancient prophecy which says, that like the Scottish crown, the -fortune of our house came with a lass, and will go with one." - -"Indeed!" rejoined Walter, considerably interested, "its fortune?" - -"That is--you must understand--you know that," and here poor Lilian -became seriously embarrassed, "that it came to the Napiers by -marriage from the Wrytes, and by marriage it will go to others." - -Walter's heart fluttered; he was about to say something, but the -words died on his lips, and there ensued a silence of some minutes; -Lilian, who sometimes became very reserved, being abashed by what she -had said, and Walter stupidly pondering over it. Lilian was the -first to speak. - -"See you that old corbie on the branch of the dale tree, that horrid -branch, all notched by the ropes of old executions?" - -"He with the bald head now watching us?" - -"The same: what think you Aunt Grizel says? He saw my great -grandsire and his train in all their harness, ride down the avenue -when they marched with brave King James to Flodden." - -"By that reckoning he must be--let me see--one hundred and -seventy-five years old." - -"O, there are some older than that hereabouts; but come to the -dovecot, and there we shall see birds of brighter plumes and better -augury than these gloomy corbies." - -As they approached the dovecot, a round edifice vaulted and domed -with stone in the most ancient Scottish fashion, a tame pigeon winged -its way from amid the scores that clustered on the roof, and after -fluttering for a time over Lilian's head, alighted on her shoulder -and nestled in her neck, rubbing its smooth and glossy head against -her soft cheek, and even permitting Walter to stroke its shining -pinions, which in the sunlight varied alternately from green to -purple, and from purple to red and gold. On each leg it had a silver -varvel with Lilian's cypher on it. As Walter caressed the beautiful -bird, his hand often touched the soft cheek and softer tresses of the -happy and thoughtless girl. - -"How properly this gentle emblem of innocence and happiness greets -you as its mistress." - -"And am I not its proper mistress?" asked Lilian artlessly. "It is -the bird of peace, too." - -"And love--so that it well becomes the hand of beauty." - -"Ah! you are beginning to be waggish now. It is just so that your -friend Douglas of Finland--he with the flaunting feathers--addresses -my gay gossip, Annie Laurie. You know Annie? She is considered the -first beauty in the Lothians, and 'tis said (but that is a great -secret, and you must not say I said so) that the young lairds of -Craigdarroch and Finland are going to fight a solemn duel about her. -She is much taller than me." - -"Then she is too tall for my taste." - -"Oh! but I am quite little; you used to call me little Madam Lily -once. But her hair is the most beautiful brown." - -"I prefer," said Walter, taking up one of Lilian's heavy tresses, "I -prefer the colour that approaches to gold." - -"And her eyes are just like mine." - -"They must be beautiful indeed." - -"Ha, ha!" laughed the merry girl: "harkee, Mr. Fenton, did I not know -positively to the contrary, I would think you had been in France." - -"Wherefore, Madam?" - -"Because," said she, roguishly, with half-closed eyes, "you twist all -one's speeches into compliments so readily and bluntly, and so quite -unlike our douce Scots' gallants (who always let slip the opportunity -while they are making up their minds), that you quite remind me of -Monsieur Minuette, who came here with the Duke of York. Ah, you -remember him, with his long sword--how like a grasshopper on a pin he -looked; and he tried stoutly with his frightful rigadoon and the -bretagne, to put our good old Scottish dances into the shade, and so -out of fashion. And yet Aunt Grizel says that, to see the Lady Anne -(she that is now princess of Denmark), so tall and stately, and -Claverhouse, so graceful and courtly, dancing the Italian vault-step, -enraptured every body. O, it it was quite a sight.--But there -jangles the house-bell, and now let us hie to breakfast." - -Once more she placed her hand in Walter's, and they returned to the -chamber of dais, where Lady Bruntisfield, no longer disguised in the -humble attire of a cottar, but in all her pristine splendour of -perfumed brocade, and starched magnificence of point lace and puffed -locks frizzled up like a tower on her stately head, welcomed Walter -with a courtesy of King Charles the First's days, and kissed her -grandniece. - -After a long and solemn grace, the repast began. The most -substantial breakfast of these degenerate days would dwindle into -insignificance when compared with that which loaded the long oaken -table of Bruntisfield House. In the centre smoked a vast urn of -coffee, surrounded by diminutive cups of dark-blue china, flanked on -the right by a side of mutton roasted, on the left by a gigantic -capon; a dish of wild ducks balanced another of trout, both being -furnished by the adjacent loch; broiled haddocks, pickled salmon, -kippered herrings, pyramids of eggs, and piles of oat and -barley-cakes; wheaten loaves and crystal cups of honey were also -there; but chief above all towered a vast tankard of spiced ale; -beside it stood a long-necked bottle of strong waters to whet the -appetite, lest through the eyes it should fairly become satisfied by -the mere sight of so many edibles. - -At the lower end of the board, the servants were accommodated with -bickers and cogues of porridge and milk, which they supped with -cutty-spoons of black horn, while two mighty trenchers of polished -pewter held the magazines from which they drew their supplies. The -custom of domestics sitting at the same table with their superiors -was then almost obsolete; but Lady Grizel, whose memories and -prejudices went back to the days of King James VI., still retained -the ancient fashion, and consequently all her household sat down with -her, save two old serving-men in green livery, with her crest on -their sleeves: these were in attendance each as an _écuyer -tranchant_, or cutting squire. On the party being joined by the -ground bailie, Syme of the Greenhill, who, in consequence of his -being a bonnet-laird, was permitted to sit above the salt, the -important business of making breakfast proceeded with all the gravity -and attention such a noble display deserved. Cheerful and -good-humoured, though punctilious to excess, like every noble matron -of her time, Lady Grizel Napier did the honours of the feast with -that peculiar grace which makes a guest feel so much at home. She -never once recurred to late events, but conversed affably on the -topics of the day, like Lilian, investing little trifles with an air -of interest that made them quite new and charming to Walter; for -though aged and failing fast, she still possessed that art so -agreeable in a well-bred woman, that even when she talked nonsense, -one could scarcely have thought it so; and certainly, when witches, -spells, and ghosts were the theme, the wise and gentle King James -himself was nothing to her in credulity. - -"Symon, I hope ye obeyed my injunctions to the letter, in the affair -o' your bairn's hooping-cough," said the old lady, who took an active -hand in all the family matters of her vassalage. - -"Faith did I, my Lady, but found the wee thing no' a hair the better -of it. It is an unco trouble, the cough, but Lucky Elshender says, -gif I put my forefinger down the bairn's throat for fifteen minutes, -it will never cough mair." - -"I'll warrant it o' that," said the old lady, scornfully; "but how -dare she prescribe for any bairn on the barony without consulting me? -I'll gang o'er in the gloaming and see about it." - -"Mony thanks to your Ladyship." - -An air or two on the virginals, and Lady Anne Bothwell's touching -_Lament_ performed at full length by Lilian in her sweetest manner -concluded the visit, and Walter reluctantly prepared to retire. Lady -Bruntisfield and Lilian departed in their sedans with two armed -servants before and two behind them, to pay a most ceremonious visit -of thanks to Lord Dunbarton and his beautiful Countess, and Fenton, -after accompanying them to the arch of the Bristo Port, left them to -the care of their retinue, and receiving a warm invitation to visit -them soon again, pursued his way in a maze of stirring thoughts -through the steep wynds, narrow closes, and crowded streets of the -city to his sombre quarters in the Canongate. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE OLD SCOTTISH SERVICE. - - The soul which ne'er hath felt a genial ray - Glow to the drum's long roll or trumpet's bray; - Start to the bugle's distant blast, and hail - Its buxom greetings on the morning gale-- - _Such_ the muse courts not. - LORD GRENVILLE. - - -On the return of Walter Fenton to the White Horse Cellar, Douglas, -who was lounging on the broad flight of steps in front of the -edifice, and chatting gaily with a buxom damsel of the establishment, -informed him that Holsterlee of the Life Guards had just been there, -saying that the Earl of Dunbarton and the Lords of the Privy Council -required his attendance at the Lower Chamber--immediate attendance. - -His mind became troubled at this information: though unconscious of -having done anything new to incur displeasure, it was with -considerable anxiety he bent his steps to the precincts of that -dreaded tribunal. - -The Lairds of Craigdarroch and Holsterlee, (or as the latter was -commonly called, Jack Holster,) two of Claverhouse's cavalier -troopers lounged in the antechamber smoking their Dutch pipes, while -the yeomen of the Scottish Guard in their blue bonnets and scarlet -doublets, armed with long daggers and gilt partisans, thronged the -Parliament Close and outer lobby of the house. - -Their presence in some degree lessened his anxiety, as the absence of -the military police of the city, and the viler menials of the law, -announced that matters of state, and not of inquisitorial persecution -were before that powerful and extraordinary conclave. He waited long -in the well-known antechamber, whose features brought back a host of -gloomy thoughts, amid which his mind wandered continually to the -house of Bruntisfield; but he endeavoured to mingle in the gay -conversation of the two guardsmen, who talked nonsense as glibly and -laughed as loudly as if they had been in Hugh Blair's tavern on the -opposite side of the square, instead of being within earshot of those -whose names were a terror to the land. After all that was of -importance to the state had been discussed and dismissed, Walter, on -being summoned by the drawling and hated voice of Maclutchy found -himself before the same bench of haughty councillors he had -confronted a few weeks before; but now its aspect was different; the -rays of the meridian sun streamed cheerfully into their dusky place -of meeting, and hangings which appeared sable before were now seen to -be of crimson velvet, fringed and tasselled with gold, gilded chairs, -and the throne surmounted by the royal arms with the gallant Lion in -_defence_; the rich and varied dresses of the Lords, massively laced -and jewelled with precious stones, embroidered belts, and embossed -sword-hilts, were all sparkling in the several flakes of light that -gushed between the strong stanchells of the ancient windows into the -gloomy and vaulted room. - -The stern basilisk eye of Clermistonlee alone was fixed on Walter as -before. - -The Lord High Treasurer, the Chancellor, and the sleepy Mersington, -withdrew as our hero entered. Near the head of the table stood the -Earl of Dunbarton in his rich military dress of scarlet, with the -cuffs slashed and buttoned up to reveal the lawn sleeves below; his -gallant breast was sheathed in a corslet of polished steel, -beautifully inlaid with gold, and over it fell his lace cravat and -the sable curls of his heavy peruke. His badge as Commander-in-chief -of the Forces, an ivory baton with silver thistles twined round it -was in one hand; the other rested on his plumed head piece. The -magnificence of his attire formed a strong contrast to that of the -stern Dalyel, who wore a plain suit of black armour like that of a -curiassier of Charles I., but rusted by blood and perspiration, and -defaced by sword cuts and musquet balls, it was a panoply with which -his long silvery beard and iron, but dignified face corresponded -well. Making a half military obeisance to these Lords of Council, -Walter, felt not a little reassured by the presence of his patron the -Earl and Sir Thomas Dalyel. - -"Mr. Fenton," said the former, "we have much pleasure in presenting -you with that to which your merits so much entitle you--a pair of -colours in my ancient regiment of Royal Scots, vacant by the death of -young Toweris of that ilk, who has been slain in a late camisadoe in -the north, with some broken rascals of the Clan-Donald. You will -therefore hear the king's commission read over, and thereafter sign -your oath of fealty to us without delay, as the day is wearing -apace." Taking up a small piece of parchment to which appeared the -Great Seal of Scotland, the signatures of the King and Secretary of -State, and his (Dunbarton's) own seal with the four quarters of -Douglas, the Earl read the following, which we give verbatim:-- - -"I George, Earl of Dunbarton, Lord of Douglas, Knight, Baronet, and -Knight of the Thistle, Lieutenant-General, and Commander-in-chief of -the Scottish forces, by virtue of the power and authority given to me -by His Most Sacred Majesty James VII., do hereby constitute you, -Walter Fenton, Gentleman, an Ensign of the Royall Regiment of Ffoote -in that companie wheroff his Honor the Laird of Drumquhazel, -Chevalier of St. Michael, is captain. You are therefore to obey such -orders as you may receive from His Majesty and your superiors, as you -expect to be obeyed by your soldiers according to the Rules and -Discipline of War. - -"Given under my hand and seal at the Bristo Port. - -"DUNBARTON." - - -Though astonished at all this unusual formality, Walter bowed in -pleased and grateful silence, and then he heard the stern voice of -Major-General Dalyel. - -"Maister Fenton, you will please to repeat after me, and sign your -oath of Fealty to this Council and the three estates of the realm." - -"Oath of Fealty, Sir Thomas?" reiterated Walter, equally surprised -and offended at this new proposal, which accompanied the -long-wished-for gift. "My Lords, though deeply grateful for this -mark of your favour, I deplore that you should suspect me----" - -"Sir," interrupted Lord Clermistonlee, hastily and haughtily, "at -_present_ we suspect you of nothing; but the corruption of these -times, when the very air seems infected with treason and disloyalty, -have made an oath of fealty necessary from this time forth." - -"To the King?" - -"No--to the Officers of State and the Parliament of Scotland--and woe -unto those who shall break it! An Act of Council previous to one of -the House, made it law an hour ago. Art satisfied, sirrah?" - -"My Lords, I like it not, for it implies a suspicion a man of spirit -cannot thole," replied Walter, in an under tone, as he advanced to -the table; and Clermistonlee, seized by a sudden fit of passion, was -about to pour forth some of his furious and abusive ebullitions, when -Dunbarton said mildly: - -"Walter, an edict of council hath (as his Lordship said) made this -law, which will be more fully confirmed by the three estates. Mr. -Secretary, read aloud the oath of fealty, and the young gentleman -will sign it." - -"By my beard, he had better, or prepare for his auld quarters again," -added Dalyel, sharply, striking his heavy toledo on the floor. - -Thus urged, Walter heard the oath of allegiance, which the -approaching crisis in the affairs of those factions that then rent -both Scotland and England, rendered necessary for the security of the -Government--promising "faithfully to demean himself to the estates of -Scotland presently met;" and affixed his name thereto, little -foreseeing how dear that oath was yet to cost him, and how -unfortunate in its influence it was, at a future time to prove to his -fortunes. As if he foresaw it, a dark smile lit the sinister eyes of -Clermistonlee; it was a peculiar scowl of deep and hidden meaning; -and though Walter soon forgot it at the time, he remembered it in -after years when the cold hand of misfortune was crushing him to the -dust. - -"I trust, young birkie," said the fierce Dalyel with a keen glance, -"that you will never again waver in the execution of your duty or -military devoir; but be stanch as a red Cossack, and ever ready to do -his Majesty gude and leal service (_whatever be his creed_) against -all false rebels and damned psalm-singers, whilk are the same." - -"I will gage my honour for him," said Dunbarton. - -"How readily my Lord defends his loon," whispered Clermistonlee to -Dalyel, but not so low as to be unheard; and the Earl's cheek -flushed--his brows knit; but he made no reply, save waving his hand -to Walter, who withdrew. - -The warm noonday sun streamed brightly down the High-street; the -musical bells of Saint Giles jangled merrily in the pure breeze that -swept through the stone-arched spire; and Walter Fenton never felt so -happy and light of heart as when he issued from the sombre -Parliament-close into the bustle of that grand thoroughfare; and -giving full reins to his fancy, allowed it to career into regions -fraught with the most brilliant visions of the future: fame, fortune, -happiness, all were there in glowing colours, but were--never to be -realized. - -Poor Walter! That hour laid the foundation of the airy palace of -love, glory, and renown, which every ardent young man builds unto -himself, and which indeed is the only fabric that costs nothing but -the bitter achings of a seared and disappointed heart. To Walter it -was the dawn of joy; his foot, he thought, was now firmly planted on -the first step of the dangerous ladder of honour; and with his -thoughts divided between war, ambition, and Lilian Napier, and with -his heart glowing with exultation, he pulled forth the little scrap -of parchment to re-examine it again and again, as he skipped down the -crowded street, and a severe concussion against a tower of the -Netherbow first roused him from his dreams. He was in excellent -humour with himself, pleased with everybody, and enraptured with the -Lords of Council, whose orders he was ready to obey in everything, -whether they were to storm a tower or fire a clachan, march to -England, or duck an "auld wife" in the North Loch. - -"My stars are propitious to me to-day," said he aloud, as he -half-danced down the street towards the White Horse Cellar. "O, may -Heaven give me but opportunities to win a name; and if the most -unflinching perseverance--the most spotless loyalty--and a headlong -valour, such as not even Claver'se can surpass, will bring me honour -and renown, I feel that I _shall_ win _them_. O Bravo for the roll -of the drum! the rush of the charging horse! and the ranks of pikemen -shoulder to shoulder! I am one of the Guards of St. Louis--King -James's Scottish Musqueteers--the old _Diehards_ of Dunbarton." - - - -END OF VOL. I. - - - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SON, - ST. 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