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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Scottish Cavalier, Volume 3 (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 3 (of 3)
-       An Historical Romance
-
-Author: James Grant
-
-Release Date: August 23, 2021 [eBook #66122]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Al Haines
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER, VOLUME 3
-(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. III.
-
-
-
-  LONDON:
-  HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
-  GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
-
-  1850.
-
-
-
-
-  Contents
-
-  I. Lilian
-  II. How Clermistonlee Pressed His Suit
-  III. Claverhouse to the Rescue
-  IV. The Secret Stair
-  V. The Attempt
-  VI. Edinburgh--The Night of the Revolution
-  VII. Sack of Holyrood
-  VIII. The Veiled Picture
-  IX. Love and Principle
-  X. The Pass of Killycrankie
-  XI. The Last Hour of Dundee
-  XII. St. Germains
-  XIII. The Cavaliers of Dundee
-  XIV. The 20th of September, 1692
-  XV. The Effect of the Postscriptum
-  XVI. The Battle of Steinkirke
-  XVII. A Disclosure
-  XVIII. Walter Fenton and the King
-  XIX. The Returned Exile
-  XX. The Bubble Burst
-  XXI. Love and Marriage are Two
-  XXII. The Ring and the Secret
-  XXIII. The Iron Room--The Death Shot
-
-
-
-
-WALTER FENTON;
-
-OR
-
-THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-LILIAN.
-
-  I love thee, gentle Knight! but 'tis,
-    Such love as sisters bear;
-  O, ask my heart no more than this,
-    For more it may not spare.
-                               KNIGHT TOGGENBURG.
-
-
-The image of Clermistonlee and his threats came painfully upon
-Lilian's memory.  She shrieked for aid, but her cries were lost in
-the vacuity of the old-fashioned coach in which she was being carried
-off.  She strove to open the windows, but they were immoveable as
-those of a castle, and she resigned herself to tears and despair.
-The vehicle was rumbling and jolting over a waste of frozen snow;
-here and there, a farm-house or a congealed rivulet were passed, but
-everything appeared so strange and new, when viewed in their snowy
-guise by the twilight of the mirky winter night, that Lilian had not
-the most remote idea in what direction she was taken; and, shuddering
-with cold and apprehension, the poor girl crouched down in a corner
-of the coach, and abandoned herself to grief and wretchedness.
-
-The excessive chill of the night, and prostration of spirit under
-which she laboured, produced a sort of stupor, and when the coach
-stopped, she was unable to move; but a tall dark man, muffled and
-masked like an intriguing gallant of the day, lifted her out.  As one
-in a dream, who would in vain elude some hideous vision, she
-attempted to shriek; but the unuttered cry died away on her lips, and
-she closed her eyes.  A strong embrace encircled her; a hot
-breath--(was it not a kiss?)--came upon her cold cheek, and she felt
-herself borne along; doors closed behind her, and by the warmth of
-the altered temperature she was aware of being within a house.
-
-She was seated gently in a chair; and now she looked around her.  A
-large fire of roots was blazing on the rough stone-hearth; its ruddy
-glow rendered yet more red the bare walls and strongly arched roof of
-a hall (built of red sandstone) such as may be seen in the old
-fortlets of the lesser barons of Scotland.  The windows on each side
-were deeply embayed by the thickness of the wall, and a deep-browed
-arch spanned each; they had stone seats covered with crimson
-cushions, and foot-mats of plaited rushes.
-
-The hurrying clouds and occasional stars were seen through the strong
-basket-gratings that externally defended these prison-like apertures.
-The hall was paved, and its rude massive furniture consisted only of
-a great oblong table of oak, several forms or settles, a few
-high-backed chairs, and one upon a raised part of the floor, at the
-upper end, had a canopy of crimson cloth over it, announcing that it
-was the state-chair of the Lord of the Manor.  Swords, pikes,
-harquebuses, hunting and hawking appurtenances, with a few veiled
-pictures, were among its ornaments.
-
-A great almery, or cupboard (so called from the old hospitable custom
-of setting aside food as _alms_ for the poor), occupied one end of
-the apartment, and an ancient casque surmounted it.  Various bunkers
-of carved oak, bound with iron, occupied the other.  On the right
-hand of the doorway, a stone lavatory, covered with magnificent
-sculpture projected from the wall.  This old-fashioned bason was
-furnished with a hole to carry off water, and was an indispensable
-convenience to every ancient dining-hall.
-
-With one rapid glance of terror Lilian surveyed the whole place, and
-started from her chair to be confronted by one whose aspect made her
-instinctively shrink back.  The keen and hawk-like eyes of Beatrix
-Gilruth were fixed upon her with an expression at once menacing,
-searching, and scornful.  There was something in the wild visage of
-this inexplicable woman that excited curiosity, while her air
-terrified, and her withered person repelled approach.
-
-"Who are you, woman?" asked Lilian firmly, as, stepping back a pace,
-she surveyed her from head to foot; "and what are you?"
-
-"_What_ am I?" reiterated the other, with a voice that thrilled,
-while her grey eyes gleamed with a blue light, and she ground her
-teeth.  "I am what thou shalt be, my pretty minx, ere ye leave these
-walls, perhaps."
-
-Lilian, terrified by her aspect and her answer, sank into a chair,
-saying, as she clasped her hands, and looked up imploringly from her
-bright dishevelled hair--
-
-"Woman, for the love of God, say where am I?"
-
-"In the tower of Clermistonlee."
-
-"So my soul foreboded; but can _he_ have dared thus far?"
-
-"What will he not dare that man can do?"
-
-"O Heaven, protect me!"
-
-"Neither the Heaven that is above us, nor the Hell that is beneath,
-will protect you, pretty one; but you will be made what many as fair
-have been,--the toy, the plaything of an hour, to be cast aside when
-some new fancy has seized the wayward mind of your lord and betrayer.
-Look at that veiled portrait----"
-
-At that moment three distinct knocks were heard against the almery.
-Lilian started and turned pale.
-
-"Yes, yes," said Beatrix scornfully, addressing the knocker; "you are
-impatient.  There was a time--but it matters not--I bide mine; and my
-long delayed vengeance will wither thee up, false lord, even as if
-the lightning of God had scorched thy perjured soul."
-
-Low as this was uttered, it reached the ears of Lilian; she became
-doubly terrified, and a momentary feeling of utter abandonment made
-her cover her face with her hands and weep bitterly.  But, suddenly
-starting up, she said with energy--
-
-"I will go hence, madam; and whatever be the danger, I will risk it.
-But the snow, the darkness, and the distance--oh, horror!--Aunt
-Grisel--gossip Annie--what will they think of this?--what will become
-of me?"
-
-"Stand," said Beatrix, interposing.  "Are you mad, to think of
-leaving this roof in the middle of a winter night?  Remember the
-dreary lea of Clermiston, the rocks and the frozen marshes of
-Corstorphine, you are fey, maiden, to think it."
-
-"Begone, thou ill woman," replied Lilian contemptuously; "I will go,
-and I dare thee to stay me."
-
-"Then," rejoined Beatrix spitefully, "remember the barred windows,
-the bolted gates, and the good stone walls.  Pooh, maiden, take tent
-and bide where ye are; for I swear ye can never go from hence, but at
-the pleasure of my lord."
-
-"Insolent!  Know ye who I am?" asked Lilian.
-
-"The young lady of Bruntisfield," answered Beatrix coldly; "a wayward
-lass with a braw tocher, it seemeth,--one who prefers a younger cap
-and feather than my lord.  Ha! hath he not sworn--(and mark me,
-maiden, he never swears in vain!)--that he will compel thee yet to
-beg his love at his hand as a boon, even as humbly as he now sues
-thine."
-
-"In sooth!" retorted Lilian, with angry surprise.  "He will surely
-have the aid of some such witch as thee to work so modern a miracle."
-
-"Witch, quotha!" replied Beatrix, whose withered cheek began to
-redden with passion.  "Lilian Napier, there was a time when these
-grey grizzled locks were once as bright and as glossy as thine; when
-this brow was as smooth, this faded form as round, yea, and as
-beautiful; this step as light, and this poor face as fair, as thine
-now are.  So beware thee of taunts, maiden; for the time is coming
-(if thou art spared) when thou mayest be loathsome as I now am, and
-loathing as I now do.  That hour is coming; for Clermistonlee hath an
-evil eye, beneath whose baleful influence all that is good and
-beautiful in woman will wither and die.  Oh!  Lilian Napier, what a
-tale of love and weakness, shame and misery, sin and horror, would
-the history of my life reveal!  But my hour of revenge is coming.
-Yes----"
-
-Again three knocks louder than before rang on the almery; and
-Beatrix, trembling, ceased to talk, and busied herself in laying a
-supper on the hall-table.
-
-"Oh, Walter!  Walter!" murmured Lilian, "if you knew of this--if you
-were here to protect me!"  Her tears flowed freely.
-
-"Walter!" reiterated Beatrix musing; "can it really be the same?  No,
-it is impossible; and yet, why not?--He is your lover, then, this
-Walter?" she asked in a low voice, while laying some cold grilled
-meat, confections, and wine from a buffet.  "I know he is--that blush
-tells me (when did my cheek blush last?)  He is young and handsome, I
-warrant?"
-
-Lilian nodded an affirmative.
-
-"And men say he is brave?"
-
-"Oh, yes! brave as a hero of romance," said Lilian in the same low
-tone; for there is nothing so pleasing to love as to hear the object
-of it praised.  "And so noble--so generous!  If true worth gave a
-title, my dear Walter would be a belted Earl."
-
-"Instead of being a poor standard-bearer in the ranks of Dunbarton."
-
-"You have seen him then?" said Lilian, her blue eyes beaming, as she
-almost forgot her present predicament in the thought of her lover.
-"Is he not handsome, good woman?"
-
-"It is the same!" exclaimed Beatrix, in her shrillest tone.  "Walter,
-the powder-boy--the soldier's brat--hah!"--she ground her teeth, and
-clenched her shrivelled hands like knots of serpents--"I bide my
-time.  Oh, I will be fearfully avenged!"
-
-A third time there was a knocking on the almery, and Beatrix
-muttered--
-
-"I am dumb--I will speak no more."
-
-She pointed to the supper-table, and, throwing herself into a chair,
-fixed her sunken eyes upon the red glowing fire, and, lost in her own
-wild thoughts, continued to jabber with the rapidity and restlessness
-of insanity.  It was evident that she was partly deranged,--a
-discovery which, while it raised the pity of the gentle Lilian,
-increased the dread and the horror of her situation.
-
-Clermistonlee, with his faithful rascal Juden, were both within
-earshot.  The former had sufficient tact and experience to know that
-it would be better to defer any interview with Lilian until next
-morning, by which time he hoped she would be a little more
-familiarised with her situation; and leaving Juden, who was ensconced
-in the recesses of the almery, to be a check upon the troublesome
-garrulity of his only female domestic, he retired to a snug
-apartment, where, enveloped in his shag dressing-gown, and comforted
-by a great tankard of his favourite mulled sack, and several books of
-"ungodly jests," he practised all his philosophy to enable him to
-endure this temporary separation from Lilian, consoled by the idea
-that she was completely in his clutches, within his strong tower,
-which he was entitled to defend against all men living; and well
-aware that, in the political storm which in another week would
-convulse all Scotland from the Cheviots to Cape Wrath, the abduction
-of a girl--more especially the daughter of a "persecuting
-cavalier"--would be less regarded than the wind blowing over the muir.
-
-As the still, quiet night wore on, and the fumes of the wine mounted
-into his head, very strange ideas floated through the brain of the
-roué.  Again and again the thought of Lilian being so utterly in his
-power intruded itself upon his heated imagination; he felt his blood
-begin to glow; his mind became confused; he endeavoured to combat his
-constitutional wickedness, and, by aid of his repeated potations, and
-a highly seasoned grillade, dozed away the night very comfortably in
-a well-cushioned chair; while his leal henchman was in the same happy
-state of oblivion, through the medium of various stoups of ale which
-he imbibed in the spence or buttery.
-
-Not so did poor Lilian pass the slow and heavy hours.
-
-The repast prepared for her was left untouched, she resisted every
-invitation to repose, and resolved on passing the night by the
-hall-fire; until, reflecting that she would be quite as safe in one
-part of the tower as in another, and wishing to be alone, that she
-might weep unseen, she was ushered by Beatrix up a narrow stair into
-a little sleeping apartment, the greater part of which was occupied
-by a great hearse-looking tester, or canopy bed.  The only light in
-the chamber came from the fire-place, where a heap of logs and coals
-were blazing, and diffusing a warm glow on the dark wainscotted
-walls, the oaken floor, and rude ceiling, which was crossed by a
-massive dormant-tree of oak, covered with grotesque and hideous
-carving.
-
-There was something very gloomy and catafalcque-like in the aspect of
-the gigantic bed in which Lilian was to repose; its massive posts of
-dark oak and darker ebony were covered embossage, and the deep
-crimson curtains, with heavy fringes, fell in shadowy festoons, while
-four great plumes of feathers surmounted the corners in sepulchral
-grandeur.  It stood upon a raised dais of three steps, and on the
-back, amid a wilderness of bassi-relievi, flowers, angels, satyrs,
-and ivy, appeared the coronet and gorgeous blazon of Clermistonlee.
-
-"I cannot sleep here, good woman," said Lilian shuddering; but the
-noise of the closing door, and the bolt jarring outside, was her only
-reply.  She found herself alone.  Her first impulse was to fasten her
-door within securely; her second to examine the chamber, by the light
-of the fire.  In the deep little window stood a beautiful cabinet, on
-the upper part of which were a mirror and all the usual appurtenances
-for a lady's toilet, but of the most costly and elegant description,
-with all the perfumes, oils, essences and lotions then most in vogue.
-She turned from them with disgust to survey the walls, for the fear
-of secret entrances was impressed powerfully upon her mind by her
-knowledge of the number that existed in her own home; but, upon
-examination, she found nothing to increase her dread, save the
-cabinet, the doors of which were locked, and returned an unusually
-hollow sound when she touched them.
-
-Alternately a prey to fear and indignation, she walked about the
-little apartment, or sat by the fire weeping and praying, until sleep
-began to oppress her; and, unable longer to resist its effects, with
-an audible supplication to Heaven that the morrow might bring about
-her release, she threw herself (without undressing) on the bed, and
-almost immediately fell fast asleep.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-HOW CLERMISTONLEE PRESSED HIS SUIT.
-
-A strong dose of love is worse than one of ratafia; when once it gets
-into our heads it trips up our heels, and then good night to
-discretion.  THE LYING VALET.
-
-
-From an uneasy slumber that had been disturbed by many a painful
-dream, Lilian started, awoke, and leaped from the bed.  The embers of
-the night fire still smouldered on the hearth stone, and the rays of
-the red sun rising above a gorge in the Corstorphine hills, radiated
-through her grated window as through a focus.  Pressing her hands
-upon her temples, she endeavoured to collect the scattered images
-that had haunted her sleep.  She had dreamt of Walter.  He seemed to
-be present in that very chamber, to stand by her gloomy bed, and
-smiled kindly and fondly as of old.  He bent over to kiss her, but
-lo! his features turned to those of Lord Clermistonlee; the great
-tester bed with its plumage and canopy became a hearse; she screamed
-and awoke to find it was day.
-
-Now all her former fear and indignation revived in full force, and
-she wept passionately.  Reflecting how completely she was at the
-mercy of Clermistonlee, whose character for reckless ferocity, and
-steady obstinacy of purpose, she knew too well; she resolved to
-endure with patience, and await with caution an opportunity for
-release or escape.  How little she knew of what was acting in
-Edinburgh!  And her beloved kinswoman, so revered, so tender, and
-affectionate, but so aged and infirm.
-
-"O horror!" exclaimed Lilian, wringing her hands, "this must have
-destroyed her."
-
-"Open Madam Lilian," said the voice of Beatrix Gilruth, as she
-knocked at the door; "open, my lord awaits you at breakfast in the
-hall."
-
-Lilian hesitated; but aware that resistance would not better her
-fortune, with her usual frankness ran to the door, opened it, and
-despite the repulsive sternness of Gilruth's aspect, impelled by a
-sense of loneliness, and a wish to gain her friendship, she bade her
-good morning, and lightly touched her hand.  Her air of innocence and
-candour impressed the misanthropic heart of Beatrix, and she smiled
-kindly.  While leading her before the mirror to assist in arraying
-her for breakfast, the bosom of the unfortunate castaway could not
-repress a sigh, and a scanty tear trembled in either eye, as she
-writhed her withered fingers in the soft masses of Lilian's hair.
-
-"I will shew thee my bairn what a braw busker I am," said Beatrix,
-"though 'tis long since these poor fingers have had aught to do with
-top-knots and fantanges."
-
-Resigned and careless of what was done with her, Lilian remained with
-a pale face of placid composure and grief, gazing unconsciously upon
-her own beautiful image as reflected in the polished mirror; and
-though she marked it not, there was a vivid and terrible contrast
-between her statue-like features, and those of her tire-woman--keen,
-attenuated, and graven with the lines of sorrow, rage, bitterness,
-and misanthropy; the true index of that storm of evil passions and
-resentful thoughts that smouldered in her heart.
-
-At length the captive was arrayed so far as the skill of Beatrix
-would go; her dress (that in which she had left home) was long,
-flowing, and heavily flounced in the French fashion, derived from
-Albert Durer, who represented an angel in flounced petticoats
-expelling Adam and Eve from Paradise--hence flounces were all the
-rage.  She wore long and heavy ruffles of the richest lace, a string
-of pearls and amber was twisted among the bright braids of her
-beautiful hair; a diamond drop depended from each of her delicate
-ears, and a rich necklace like a collar, with a pendant, encircled
-her neck, the whiteness and purity of which never appeared in greater
-splendour, than when contrasted with the faded skin of poor Beatrix.
-Passive under her hands, Lilian allowed her great natural beauty to
-be thus dangerously enhanced, and when she stood up, her rather
-diminutive stature being increased by her high heeled maroquin shoes,
-and the grace with which she wore her commode and floating flounces,
-caused the poor woman, whom so many fair ones had successively
-supplanted, to utter an exclamation of delight.
-
-"Come," said she, "my lord awaits you; how pleased he will be."
-
-"Oh my God!" exclaimed Lilian, in deep anguish; "and was it to please
-him you have thus arrayed and attired me.  Fie upon thee, ill woman!"
-
-"Here at least his bidding must be obeyed implicitly, as when a
-hundred of his men stabled their horses in the barbican stalls.  He
-is a dangerous man, hinny, and never tholed thwarting, though the
-hour is coming when he shall thole bitter vengeance, and dree the
-deepest remorse.  But I bide my time--I bide my time."
-
-As she led Lilian into the hall, Clermistonlee advanced to receive
-her, with an imperturbable air of assurance, gallantry, and devotion.
-Through one of the deeply recessed windows, the light of the morning
-sun fell full upon his noble face and figure, which the richness of
-his dress displayed to the utmost advantage.  He wore an embroidered
-suit of light blue satin slashed with white; he had round his neck
-the gold collar of the thistle, and had over his left breast the
-green ribbon and oval badge of the order; a diamond hilted rapier
-sparkled in a baldrick that was stiff with gold embroidery; his
-flowing peruke was redolent of perfume; his ruffles were miracles of
-needlework, and his brilliant sleeve buttons flashed whenever his
-hands moved.
-
-Hateful as he was at all times to Lilian, now he was more so than
-ever; surprise, indignation, fear, and contempt, agitated her by
-turns, and she gazed on him in painful suspense, awaiting his
-address.  He had evidently made his toilet with more than usual care,
-and resolving to give Lilian no time for reproaches, he led her at
-once to a seat, saying,
-
-"My dear girl will no doubt be in a prodigious passion with me, but
-ladies are kindly disposed to forgive every little mistake that has
-love for its excuse.  'Tis but a dismal old peelhouse this, dear
-Lilian, but I hope you slept well.  The wind sings in the corridors,
-the corbies scream on the roof, and all that, but with a clear
-conscience you know, oh yes, one may dose like a top, or a lord of
-session.
-
-"A clear sharp morning this; I rode as far as Craigroyston before
-sunrise.  There is nothing so improves one's complexion as a gallop
-in the morning air.  Apropos! what do you think of this embroidered
-suit?  'Tis the last fashion from Paris; that old villain Saunders
-Snip, in the Craimes, brought it direct from thence last month.  On a
-good figure it is quite calculated to make an impression.  Look'ee,
-fair Lilian; these ruffles cost me twenty guineas a pair, not a
-tester less I assure you; and the sleeve buttons are the first of
-their kind, and were made by Monsieur Bütong, the eminent Parisian
-jeweller, for that glorious fop, the Comte d'Artois, who presented
-them to a friend of mine in the Scots Archers.
-
-"But this tie of my overlay, ha! that is a contrivance of my own;
-graceful, is it not?  exactly--I knew you would think so.  Droll, is
-it not, that our tastes should be the same?  You see, my dear girl,
-at what trouble I have been to please you.  Smile again, dear
-Lilian," continued his lordship, whose overnight potations, the
-morning ride had failed quite to dispel; "by Heaven, you look divine:
-where shall I find words to compliment the beauty of your appearance
-this morning!"
-
-"You really seem to require all your verbosity for praising yourself,
-my lord," said Lilian, coldly.
-
-"Now--now, do not be so angry," said Clermistonlee, taking her hand
-in spite of all her efforts to prevent him.
-
-"I am justly so, my lord," replied Lilian making a strong effort to
-restrain her tears under an aspect of firmness and determination.
-"By what right have you dared to bring me here and detain me
-prisoner?"
-
-"Hoity, toity--right dear Lilian? the right of a most devoted lover."
-
-"My lord, you will be severely punished for this.  The law----"
-
-"Ha, ha!  Lilian, there is no law now, no order, morality, nor any
-thing else.  The world is turned upside down, (at least Britain
-is)--revolutionized, bewildered, and the old days of battle and
-broil, reiving and rugging, have come back in all their glory.  In
-this desperate game, my girl," he added, through his clenched teeth,
-"Clermistonlee must repair his fortune or be lost for ever; but
-enough of this; let us to breakfast, and then we will talk over
-matters that lie nearer our hearts.  Nay, nay, no refusal--breakfast
-you must have."
-
-He led her towards the long hall table, where, thanks to Juden's
-catering and ingenuity, a noble repast was laid, in the profuse
-"style of ancient gourmandizing; and the unscrupulous factotum who
-stood near with a napkin under his arm, and a long corkscrew in his
-hand, surveyed Lilian with something between a smirk and a leer,
-which was sufficient to increase the fear that oppressed, and the
-anger that swelled within her breast.  She withdrew, saying, with a
-voice that trembled between indignation and apprehension,
-
-"Spare me this continued humiliation.  Oh my Lord Clermistonlee, if
-there remain within your breast, one spark of that bright spirit
-which ought ever to be the guiding star of the noble and the
-gentleman, you will restore me to my home, to the only relative (save
-one) whom death has left me in this wide world.  Be generous, my
-lord," continued Lilian, touching his hand, with charming frankness;
-"Oh be generous, as I know you are brave and reckless.  Restore me to
-my home, and I pledge my word you will never be questioned concerning
-my abduction.  I will pass it over as a foolish but daring frolic.
-Hear me, my lord, in pity hear me."
-
-Clermistonlee trembled beneath her gentle touch; but answered with
-his usual air of raillery,--
-
-"Hoity, toity, little one! art going to read me curtain lectures
-already?  My dear Lilian, it is too bad really!  The abduction?  Oh
-the ardour of my love will be a sufficient excuse for that; and as to
-being questioned--I don't think any person will permit himself to
-question me, if he remembers that I am the best hand at pistol,
-rapier, and dagger, in broad Scotland.
-
-"Beside, dear Lilian, (why dost always shrink? dost think child I am
-going to eat thee like a rascally ogre) if thou wouldst save thine
-honour," here his voice sank involuntarily into an impressive
-whisper, "become mine.  Thou shouldst be well aware that after living
-in the power of one who is so tremendous a roué by habit and repute,
-no woman could go forth into the world without lying under suspicions
-of a very unpleasant nature.  The roisters at Blair's coffee house
-have got hold of the story, for it hath made a devil of a noise in
-the city, and in the mouths of the Bowhead gossips, and Bess Wynd
-scandal-mongers, our little affair will be quite a romance."
-
-This cruel speech, which was uttered with the utmost coolness and
-deliberation by Clermistonlee, who played the while with his gold
-sword-knot, came like ice upon the heart of the unhappy Lilian, who
-could not but secretly acknowledge that it was too true.  She grew
-pale as death, and, unable to reply, gazed upon her tormentor with a
-look of such intense aversion, that he could not repress a haughty
-smile of astonishment.
-
-"Ha, ha! for what do you take me?"
-
-"For a monster!" murmured Lilian, in a voice almost inarticulate.
-
-"Oh--oh! you regard me as a poor sparrow doth a gerfalcon."
-
-"Alas!" said Lilian, weeping as she sank into a seat, "the simile is
-but too true."
-
-"You are very unpolite, Madam Lilian; a gerfalcon is between the
-vulture and the hawk."
-
-Lilian answered only by her tears, and his lordship began to get a
-little provoked.
-
-"A devil of a breakfast this, my pretty moppet," he continued, with
-an air of composure; "when these vapours have passed away,
-peradventure you will condescend to hear my addresses--meantime
-consider yourself quite at home, and for Heaven's sake (or rather
-your own), do take a share of such humble cheer as this my poor house
-of Clermiston affords."  And without troubling her farther, he threw
-back the curls of his peruke, and attacked the devilled duck, the
-cold sirloin, and wassail-bowl of spiced ale, the smoking coffee and
-hot bannocks forthwith.
-
-Within the recess of a window, reclined upon the cushion of one of
-those stone side-seats so common in old Scottish towers, Lilian sat
-with her face covered with her hands, and shaded by the masses of her
-fine hair which fell forward over her drooping head.  The glory of
-the red morning sun streamed full upon her tresses and turned them to
-wreaths of gold.  She seemed something etherially beautiful, and the
-sensual lord felt his heart beat with increased ardour as he gazed on
-her from time to time; but aware, from old experience, that it was
-useless to press her to partake of his luxurious breakfast, he
-resolved to trouble her no more until the first paroxism of her
-indignation had evaporated.
-
-Juden and Beatrix having finished their luggies of porridge and ale
-at the lower and uncovered part of the table, were now engaged, the
-former in making lures of feathers and raw meat to train two young
-hawks that sat near him on a perch, with their long lunes or leashes
-coiled round it; and the latter, while affecting to occupy herself
-with some household matter, from the bay of an opposite window,
-watched with a keen, restless, and often malicious expression, the
-nonchalant lord and the unhappy Lilian, for whom, at times, she felt
-something akin to pity, and fain would have set her at liberty; but
-the keys of the tower gates were buckled to Juden's girdle, and every
-window was closed by a grating like a strong iron harrow.
-
-In the faint hope of some rescue approaching, Lilian gazed earnestly
-from the window she occupied.  It faced the south, and overlooked the
-then dreary waste of Clermiston Lee, which, with all the undulating
-country extending to the base of the Pentlands, and that gigantic
-range, towering peak above peak, as they diminished in the western
-shire of Linlithgow, were covered with one universal mantle of
-dazzling snow.  Afar off above the hills of Braid the level sun
-poured its red rays through a hazy sky across the desolate landscape;
-the thickets, bare and leafless, stood like cypress groves in the
-waste; the dim winter smoke from many farm-house and cottage lum of
-clay, ascended in murky columns into the frosty air, but around the
-lonely tower on the Lee, there was an aspect of stillness and
-desolation that struck a chill upon Lilian's heart.
-
-Far off, on the Glasgow road, that passed the picturesque old church,
-the thatched hamlet and Foresters' Castle of Corstorphine, a strong
-square fortress flanked by round towers, a solitary traveller,
-muffled in his furred rocquelaure and leathern gambadoes, or grey
-maud and worsted galligaskins (according to his rank), spurred his
-horse towards the city; but such occasional passers were all beyond
-the reach of Lilian.  The bridle-road to the town was hidden, and not
-a foot-print stained the spotless mantle of the level Lee.  At times
-a hare or fox shot across it, from the woods or rocks of
-Corstorphine, but no other living thing approached, and the heart of
-poor Lilian grew more and more sad as the dreary day wore on, and
-night once more approached.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-CLAVERHOUSE TO THE RESCUE.
-
-  The winter cold is past and gone,
-    And now comes on the spring;
-  And I am one of the Scots Life Guards,
-    And I must fight for the King.
-                          My dear!
-  And I must fight for him!
-                              OLD SONG.
-
-
-By orders from William of Orange, who had taken possession of James's
-palace, and issued from thence his sounding declarations and imperial
-mandates, Goderdt de Ginckel, with the utmost expedition, marched the
-captured Scots towards London, where the Statholder (though he had
-not yet been crowned) was intent on revenging, by the lash and
-bullet, this signal instance of resistance to his authority.  In
-consequence of this event; he had the first "Mutiny Act" framed, but
-being an edict of the English Parliament it could in no way apply to
-Scottish troops.
-
-Aware of the esprit du corps and indomitable valour of the old
-musqueteers, and fearful of revolt or rescue, de Ginckel sent
-Lieutenant Gavin twenty other officers and five hundred privates, in
-charge of Sir Marmaduke Langstone, direct to London, towards which
-place he marched the remainder by another route; keeping near his
-person and under sure escort, Lord Dunbarton, Walter Fenton, Finland,
-and other officers, whose hostility of spirit was more undisguised
-than their comrades, de Ginckel advanced some miles in rear of the
-main body of his Black Horsemen.  The Earl was destined for the Tower
-of London; Walter and his brothers in misfortune for the cells of
-Newgate.
-
-In every town and village through which they were marched, dense mobs
-of "the rascal multitude" attended and loaded them with every insult
-and opprobrium, such as the vulgar, the cruel, and the wicked are
-ever ready to hurl upon the fallen or the unfortunate.  Marrowbones
-and cleavers were clattered around them; effigies of King James, and
-a figure meant to represent a Scotchman, were carried or kicked along
-the streets before them, and amid yells and hootings, warming-pans
-were everywhere displayed from the windows at their approach; at that
-time a famous mode of insulting the Jacobites, being a palpable hit
-against the legitimacy of the young Prince of Wales.
-
-"Fie upon the Scots!  Out upon thee, Mon!  No warming-pan King!
-William for ever, and down to hell with all Scots, Papists, and
-Mass-mongers! hurrah!" yelled the rabble on every hand, while vollies
-of mud, stones, dead cats, &c., were showered on them from every
-hand.  Meanwhile their Dutch escort rode on each side with the most
-phlegmatic indifference, every man seeming as if fast asleep in his
-voluminous breeches and wide jack-boots.
-
-"Down with the race of Gog--the soldiers of the priests of Baal!"
-cried an old puritan; "down with Scots Jemmy and his cursed Jesuits!"
-
-Weak and exhausted by constant marching, lack of food and sleep;
-dispirited by misfortune, and disfigured by mud and their torn and
-soiled attire; in the captives no one could have recognized the
-dashing cavaliers who passed northward a day or two before.  They had
-all been deprived of their horses and arms, and been robbed of
-everything of value--their cuirasses, purses, rings, &c.--by their
-guard.  De Ginckel was as brutal and merciless as a Carrib Indian,
-and repeatedly struck the unfortunate cavaliers with his
-speaking-trumpet.
-
-"Ach Gott!" he often cried to his Ruyters; "if von ob de brisoners
-escape, ye shall answer for him, body for body, by cast ob dice on de
-kettle-trum-head!"
-
-"My good comrades, and gallant gentlemen," said the Earl of Dunbarton
-to the little group that marched around him, "were it not that I feel
-in my heart assured that an hour of vengeance and retribution will
-come, I would die of sheer spleen and mortification, for the insults
-we are compelled to put up with."
-
-"I pity these bluff-headed Saxon boors, because they know no better,"
-replied Walter, staggering, as a stone struck him on the temple; "but
-De Ginckel----"
-
-"My dear fellow," said Finland, bitterly, "'tis a sample of the good
-old southern hospitality and kindness of which we hear so much in
-romance, and so little in history."
-
-"But," continued Walter, "I despise these poppy-headed Dutch
-poltroons in their black iron doublets, and would risk my share of
-Heaven to have De Ginckel under my hands on Scottish ground, with
-none to interfere, and no weapons but our rapiers and a case of good
-pistols."
-
-"You speak my thoughts," said the Earl, through his clenched teeth.
-"My malediction on Langstone and his Red Dragoons.  Had they and such
-as they been good men and true, we had not been reduced to this
-misfortune; and our misguided King, instead of being a houseless
-fugitive, had dwelt in Windsor still, where now the usurping
-Stadtholder keeps Court and Council.  Sirs, of a verity we live in
-strange times!"
-
-As they had now crossed the Nen, had left behind old Peterborough
-(with the hoary fane where St. Oswald's bony arm worked miracles of
-old), and were marching through the open country, being free from the
-yells and missiles of the mob, they could converse with tolerable
-freedom, though at times De Ginckel thundered silence through his
-trumpet, or a Swart Ruyter, more waggish or wickedly inclined than
-his soporific comrades, pushed his horse sidelong to tumble one of
-the captives among the half-frozen mud that encumbered the roadways.
-Their mortification and dejection increased at every step of their
-retrograde march, and even the lively sallies of Dr. Joram failed to
-enliven them.
-
-The sombre evening was closing, when De Ginckel, with his Ruyters and
-their captives, after traversing the fenny district between Cambridge
-and Lincoln, came in sight of Huntingdon, where, as Dr. Joram
-remarked, "the devil's god-son, that prime rascal, old Noll, first
-drew breath."  The dying light of the winter sun tipped the spires of
-the ancient town-hall and the church of All Saints, and glimmered on
-the sluggish windings of the Ouse.  The prisoners were pursuing a
-lonely road; on one side lay a thick copsewood, and on the other one
-of those wide and desolate fens then subject to the inundations of
-the Ouse, whose waters in many places formed deep and solitary meres
-or tarns.  Within the recesses of the wood, the quick eye of Walter
-had soon detected the glitter of arms, to which he drew the attention
-of the Earl.
-
-"It matters not," replied the dejected noble, "no arms now glitter
-under James's standard; we are lost men, my dear lad.  It will be
-black tidings for my little Lætitia, when the accursed Tower of
-London holds the last Lord of Dunbarton."
-
-"And what thinkest thou, Walter, our dear lassies will say when they
-hear we are in Newgate?" asked Finland.
-
-"'Twill be rare news for the Lord Clermistonlee," replied Walter, in
-a fierce whisper.  "But look, gentlemen!--behold!  In Heaven's name,
-are these friends or foes?"
-
-As he spoke, a troop of horse, clad in brilliant armour, with their
-white plumes waving in the evening wind, and their long uplifted
-rapiers flashing in the setting sun, and all gallantly mounted on
-matchless black horses, filed forth from the coppice, and drew up
-like magic on the roadway, about a hundred yards in advance of the
-Swart Ruyters, who instantly reined-up.  One cavalier, splendidly
-accoutred, rode to the front, wheeled round his snorting horse that
-pawed the air, and issued his orders with stern rapidity--
-
-"Gentlemen of the Scottish Guard, prepare to charge!  Uncase the
-standards!  Sound trumpets!"
-
-The banneroles were unfurled, the trumpets sounded, the kettle-drums
-ruffled, and each brave cavalier pressed forward in the saddle, as if
-impatient for the order to rush to the charge.
-
-"Ach tuyfel!" shouted De Ginckel through his trumpet; "Scots'
-Horse--der tuyfel!  Sabre de brisoners--cut dem into de towsand
-becies!  Fall on, you Schelms!"  But there was no time.
-
-"'Tis Claverhouse, and the remains of his regiment.  I would know his
-black steed among a thousand horse!" exclaimed the Earl.  "Now God be
-with thee, thou gallant Grahame, for at last our hour of vengeance is
-come!  Oh for a sword!  How gallantly they formed line!  Now, now!
-forward, my Scottish hearts!"
-
-The dark eyes of the proud Douglas gleamed with fire, as the deep and
-distinct order, "Cavaliers of the Life Guard--forward! _charge!_"
-burst from the lips of Dundee; and with the force of a whirlwind, the
-sixty Scottish Guardsmen, bridle to bridle and boot to boot, rushed
-with their uplifted swords to the onset.
-
-"Unsling carbines--blow matches--fire!--tousand tuyfels!--no!--traw
-sworts!" bellowed De Ginckel through his trumpet, as the front rank
-of his Ruyters recoiled in confusion on the rear.
-
-"Gentlemen, prepare to save yourselves!" exclaimed the Earl of
-Dunbarton, as the Dutch troopers cast off the cords that bound the
-prisoners to their waist-belts.
-
-"Heaven save us!" ejaculated Dr. Joram; "'tis a perilous case this,
-truly!"
-
-"To the rescue, Claverhouse!  A Grahame!  A Grahame!  God for
-Scotland and James VII.!  To the devil with the Stadtholder! hurrah!"
-cried the Life Guards.
-
-It was a critical moment for the dismounted prisoners, who were
-hemmed in among the hostile horsemen, and each felt his heart beat
-like lightning, and his breath come thick and fast, for death or
-deliverance were at hand.
-
-Between the close files of the Swart Ruyters, Walter Fenton saw the
-full rush of the advancing troop, in their shining harness, and chief
-of all, the lordly Viscount of Dundee, a lance-length in front, with
-his sword brandished aloft, and his white ostrich-feathers streaming
-behind him, his cheek glowing, and his wild dark eyes flashing with
-that supernatural brightness which was the true index of his fierce
-and heroic spirit.  Though the Dutch were as four to one, the
-Scottish cavaliers were fearless.
-
-There was a tremendous shock--a flashing of swords, as their keen
-edges rang on the tempered helmets and corslets of proof--a furious
-spurring of horses--and Walter felt himself beaten to the earth, as
-if by the force of a thunderbolt; the light left his eyes, and he
-heard the voice of Claverhouse exclaiming enthusiastically--
-
-"Well done, my Scots' Life Guard!  Well done, my berry-brown blades!"
-
-"Come on, De Ginckel!" cried Holsterlee.
-
-"Hand to hand, old gorbelly.  Come on! for here are the hand and
-sword that shall punch a hole in thine Earl's patent!"
-
-A heavy hoof struck the head of Walter, as a horse plunged over him,
-and the Dutch recoiled in utter confusion.
-
-He remembered no more.
-
-Hewn down by the long swords of the Ruyters, poor old Wemyss and
-Halbert Elshender lay dead beside him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE SECRET STAIR.
-
-  Chloris! since first our calm of peace
-    Was frighted hence, this good we find,
-  Your favours with your fears increase,
-    And growing mischiefs make you kind.
-                                EDMUND WALLER.
-
-
-Heavily and slowly passed the cloudy winter day at Clermiston, and
-evening found Lilian seated, full of tears and misery, by the great
-fire that rumbled in the arched chimney, and threw a ruddy glow on
-the rough architecture of the ancient hall.  According to old
-etiquette, there were but two chairs, one for the lord of the manor
-and the other for his lady; the additional seats were mere stools.
-Lilian occupied one of these chairs, and her suitor the other.  On
-one of the stone benches within the ingle sat Juden Stenton still
-trimming hawks' lures; opposite was Beatrix, spinning with all the
-assiduity of Arachnè.  These from time to time regarded her with
-furtive glances, which roused her anger not less than the presence
-and odious attentions of their lord did her apprehension.  She felt a
-load accumulating on her breast, as the night wore on; anxiety was
-impairing her strength and weakening her fortitude, and whenever
-Clermistonlee addressed her, she answered only by tears.  Touched at
-last by her sorrow, a sentiment of generosity at times would prompt
-him to return her to her home; but other thoughts came with greater
-power, and the momentary weakness was immediately dismissed.
-
-"Psha!" thought he; "'tis only a woman."
-
-Sitting close by her, he spoke from time to time in a low voice; and
-the scorn, malice, and jealousy which lighted up the keen grey eyes
-and pinched features of the fallen and forgotten Beatrix on these
-occasions, filled the gentle Lilian with a horror and pity which she
-could not conceal.  The presence of this unfortunate woman, who, with
-the indefatigable Juden, formed now his entire household, was a curb
-for the present on the vivacity of his lordship's passion, and seemed
-to restrain it within the decorous bounds of gentle whispering.  He
-soon tired of that, and ordering supper to be laid, took advantage of
-the domestic's absence to draw his chair still nearer Lilian, and
-take her hands within his own.  She was so humbled, so gentle and
-broken in spirit, that she permitted them to remain, and the
-passiveness of the action made the heart of Clermistonlee glow with
-additional ardour.
-
-"She loves me in secret," thought he; "but how charming is her
-coyness--how enchanting her modesty!  My dear Lilian--"
-
-"My Lord, oh cease to persecute me thus.  What wrong have I done you?
-In what have I offended, that you should make me so utterly
-miserable?"
-
-"What a soft, low, charming voice!  Does it offend you, to hear the
-sighs of the most honourable love that ever warmed a human heart?"
-
-"This is the mere cant of love-making--flirtation--the phrases you
-have addressed to hundreds.  My Lord, I know their full value, and
-despise them.  'Tis enough!  I can have no love for you."
-
-"Indeed!"
-
-"None--so for heaven sake spare me more of this humiliation, and let
-me begone to the house of Bruntisfield."
-
-"Now what strange infatuation is this?  No love for me?" mused the
-egotist.  "Why, damsel, when I was in London with Charles, all the
-women were mad about me--I was quite the rage.  Rochester and I led
-the way in everything.  But that was before Bothwell Brig."  He
-glanced at a veiled picture that often attracted his eye, and
-disturbed the current of his thoughts.  "No love for me," he resumed,
-after a pause.  "My pretty one, does my zeal offend you?"
-
-"Like your flattery, it does; and my captivity here--a captivity
-which, I fear, will ever be a stain upon my honour, makes me abhor
-you."
-
-"Abhor?  Oh! 'tis a word never said to me before.  Provoking Lilian!
-But," he added, maliciously, "you are right--your honour is lost, and
-there is only one way to redeem it."
-
-She gave him a momentary glance of inquiry and disdain.
-Clermistonlee drew a ring from his finger.  Lilian started back.
-
-"Never--never! death were better."
-
-"Hah--then you are still thinking of him--this beggarly boy--this
-nameless soldier--this so-named Fenton.  'Tis a cursed infatuation,
-Madam; for doubtless, soldierlike he will forget you, while the
-flower of your youth is wasted in fruitless reliance on his constancy
-and advancement to honour and fortune."
-
-"Forget me?" reiterated Lilian, raising her bright blue eyes to the
-speaker.  "Oh no, he never will forget me!  Dear, dear Walter," she
-added, weeping bitterly; "I know thy worth and truth too well to lose
-my own."
-
-"He will forget thee," said Clermistonlee, angrily.
-
-"Never!" replied Lilian, energetically clasping her hands.  "In the
-busy city and on the lonely hills, in the hour of battle and storm by
-sea and land, he will ever think of me--ever, ever!"
-
-"But he may be slain?" said the lord maliciously.
-
-"Cruel--cruel!"
-
-"What then--hah?"
-
-"No second choice would ever make me violate the solemn vow I pledged
-to him--that plight which I called on heaven to witness and angels to
-register."
-
-Clermistonlee made no reply, but her fervour and her words stung him
-to the soul; her eyes sparkled and her usually pale cheek glowed; but
-he knew that it was for the love and by the recollection of another;
-his first thoughts were those of wrath; his second spleen and sorrow.
-He arose and stepped aside a little.
-
-"Unfortunate that I am!" said he, with something of sadness and real
-love in his tone and manner.  "By what witchcraft am I so hateful to
-her; but I must quit her presence for a time at least, or lose all
-hope of her favour for ever."
-
-He walked to and fro, while Lilian, resigned again to tears, covered
-her face with her handkerchief.
-
-"Beatrix," said Clermistonlee, in a fierce whisper to the shrinking
-woman, as she laid supper on the long dark oaken board, over which
-six tall waxen candles flared from a great iron candelabrum.
-"Beatrix Gilruth--hear me, old shrivel-skin!  Hast never a love
-philtre about thee?  Ere now I have known thee to my own cost use
-such things."
-
-She gave a keen and fierce glance with her sunken eyes, and drawing
-him into one of the deeply bayed windows, pointed to where the square
-keep and round towers of the castle of Corstorphine threw a long dark
-shadow across the frozen lake that, like a mirror before its gates,
-lay shining in the cold light of the winter moon.
-
-"You see yonder castle?" she said.
-
-"Yes."
-
-"And the aged sycamore beside the dovecot-tower?"
-
-"Yes--yes."
-
-"Then remember how, nine years ago, the lord of that fair mansion
-perished under its shadow; and how his own good rapier, urged by the
-hand of the woman he had wronged, was driven--yea, to the very
-hilt--in his false and fickle heart.  Often at mirk midnight have I
-seen the dead-light glimmering on his tomb in St. John's kirk, and
-illuminating the west window of the Forresters' aisle."
-
-She gave him a glance so expressive of hatred, fear, contempt, and
-reproach that he almost quailed beneath it; and as she pointed to the
-veiled portrait, he turned abruptly away.  Her words and allusion had
-evidently a deep effect on Clermistonlee.  He was about to retire,
-but paused irresolutely, turned, and paused again.  Then kissing
-Lilian's hand, he said in a gentle tone--
-
-"Forgive me if I have offended, but love for you makes me perhaps act
-unwisely.  Adieu, dear Lilian: if my presence is obnoxious, I hasten
-to relieve you of it.  Till to morrow, adieu; and pleasant dreams to
-you."
-
-He bowed profoundly, and retired to his own apartment followed by
-Juden, who kept close to his heels as a spaniel would have done.
-
-"Will you not sup, Madam Lilian?" asked Beatrix in a kinder tone than
-usual.
-
-"Sup--oh, no!"
-
-"Bethink you, lady; the whole day hath passed, and you have tasted
-nothing but a posset of milk with a little sack.  Still weeping!
-'Twas so with me once; but I shall never weep again, until I have
-wrung tears of blood from my betrayer."
-
-"Now you are going to frighten me again.  A light, if it please you,
-good woman; I will retire.  Another night under his roof!  My poor
-aunt Grisel.... how bad, how wicked is this!"
-
-"My lord desired me to ask if you wished to read a little: it may
-compose your mind."
-
-"Oh, yes!--a thousand thanks, kind Beatrix.  Bring me a Bible, if you
-have one."
-
-Beatrix laughed.
-
-"A Bible! when was one last seen in the tower of Clermiston?  Not
-since the days of auld Mess John, I warrant; and his was torn up by
-the troopers for cartridges.  There is nothing here but a rowth of
-evil play and jest books, and some anent hawking, hunting, and
-farriery, and others, my bairn, that suit only--women like me."
-
-"Poor Beatrix!" said Lilian kindly, touching her hand, for the
-exceeding humility of her manner raised all her pity.  Beatrix
-surveyed her for a moment, with a troubled and dubious expression.
-Seldom was it that a word of compassion or commiseration fell upon
-her ear.  Her heart was touched; a moisture suffused her eyes; but,
-fearing to betray her feelings through the outward aspect of
-moroseness and misanthropy she had assumed, she set a light upon the
-cabinet of the bedchamber, and hurried away.
-
-Again, as on the preceding night, Lilian fastened the door; and
-though the number and complication of its ancient iron locks somewhat
-reassured her, her heart sank when she surveyed the great gloomy
-tester-bed, with its dais, its solemn plumage and festooned
-canopy--the sombre wainscotting, and well-barred window, past which
-the changing clouds were hurrying in scudding masses, alternately
-obscuring and revealing stars.  Kneeling at a chair near the fire,
-she prayed long and fervently, and, with innocent confidence, arose
-more assured and courageous, though aware that, by anxiety, want of
-food and rest, her natural strength and spirit were greatly impaired.
-A folio volume lay upon the cabinet; it was covered with purple
-velvet, on which a coat of arms and these words were exquisitely
-embroidered:--"Alison, Lady Clermistonlee, on her marriage day, ye
-penult Maij, 1668."
-
-The hand of her tormentor's unhappy wife had probably worked these
-words; all the dark and mysterious stories concerning her misfortunes
-and her fate came crowding upon the mind of Lilian, and filled her
-with melancholy forebodings.  Perhaps, thought she, this was her
-chamber, and that her bed, where often she had wept away the dreary
-night in unseen and unregarded sorrow.  Full of mournful interest,
-she unclasped and opened the volume.  It was the "Bentivolio and
-Urania" of Nathaniel Ingelo, one of the prosy and metaphorical
-romances of the seventeenth century.  The first words arrested her,
-and she read on.
-
-"He was no sooner entered within the borders of the forlorn kingdom
-of Ate, than the unhealthfulness of the air had almost choked his
-vital spirits; and being removed from the gladsome sun by a chain of
-hills, that lifted up their heads so high that they intercepted the
-least glance of his comfortable beams: it was dark and rueful.  He
-chanced to light upon a path that led to Ate's house, which was
-encompassed with the pitchy shade of cypresse and ebon trees, so that
-it looked like the region of death.  As he walked, he perceived the
-hollow pavement made with the skulls of murdered wretches.  At the
-further end of this dismal walk he espied a court, whose gates stand
-open day and night; in the midst whereof was placed the image of
-cruelty, with a cup of poyson in one hand, and a dagger wet with
-reeking bloode in the other.  Her hairs crawled up and down her neck,
-and sometimes wreathed about her head in knots of snakes; fire all
-the while sparkling from her mouth and eyes......"
-
-This dismal passage in no way tended to alleviate the perturbation of
-her spirits; and, hastily closing the volume, she prepared to retire.
-Aware that proper repose was absolutely necessary to enable her to
-sustain all she might have to encounter or endure from Clermistonlee,
-remembering the apparent security of her apartment, and somewhat
-reassured by the cheerful blaze thrown by the fire upon the dark
-brown panelling and high old-fashioned bed, she slowly and
-reluctantly began to undress, often pausing to re-examine her room;
-but, perceiving nothing more to alarm her, gathering up the bright
-tresses of her hair into a caul, she unrobed and sprang into bed.
-The sleep and the heaviness that preyed upon her now completely
-evaporated; and, more awake than ever, she felt only the keenest
-sensations of fear, and her prevailing horror was Clermistonlee.  By
-the light of the wood fire, that poured its broad blaze up the
-massive stone chimney, she surveyed the room with watchful eyes, that
-ached from the very intensity of their gaze, and the shadows of the
-carved posts seemed like those of giants thrown against the panelled
-wall.
-
-Weariness overcame her, and she was about to drop asleep, when a
-sound was heard, and one of the doors of the cabinet rattled and
-opened; a cold wind blew upon her face; and by her recumbent
-position, she beheld a steep staircase winding away down into
-darkness she knew not where, between the masonry of the massive wall.
-She would have screamed, but terror chained her tongue; and almost
-fainting, and afraid to move or breathe, she continued to regard it
-with the most painful anguish and intense alarm.  But up that dark
-and mysterious outlet, so suddenly disclosed, no sound came but the
-night wind, which moved the oak door of the cabinet mournfully to and
-fro.
-
-Lilian's strength seemed utterly to have left her; and, though
-painfully anxious to learn the secrets of this staircase, which
-communicated so immediately with her bedchamber, she lacked equally
-strength to rise, and presence of mind to examine it.
-
-But the current of air that swayed the door to and fro, closed it;
-the sound rumbled away in the far echoes of the tower, and all became
-still.  Now more alarmed by the reflection that she was sleeping in
-this remote room alone, with a secret entrance, she bitterly
-regretted her imprudence in undressing, but had not the courage to
-rise and repair what a certain prophetic apprehension made her fear
-had been very unwise.
-
-Excessive lassitude at last completely overcame her, and she
-slumbered.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE ATTEMPT.
-
-  Once in a lone and secret hour of night,
-  When every eye was closed, and the pale moon
-  And stars alone shone conscious of the theft,
-  Hot with the Tuscan grape, and high in blood,
-  Haply I stole unheeded to her chamber.
-                                      FAIR PENITENT.
-
-
-When Clermistonlee retired from the hall to the study or parlour,
-which was the only comfortably furnished apartment in the dreary old
-tower, he resigned himself to reflection, and sipping his mulled
-sack, a great tankard of which Juden placed unbidden, and quite as a
-matter of course, at his elbow.  His thoughts at first ran in the
-usual channel,--a determination to possess Lilian, from the double
-incentives of passion and pecuniary necessity.  He was on the brink
-of ruin; and her property, or expectations of it, were ample and
-noble.  She was very unprotected; the land was convulsed and
-trembling on the verge of a great civil war, though as yet no tidings
-had reached Edinburgh of what was passing in England; and so, as the
-sack diminished in the tankard, his lordship's thoughts became in
-proportion more strange, more amorous, and confused.  His brain
-wandered.  He was restless and uneasy; his flowing dressing-gown
-seemed to fit him like a horse-hair shirt; and his disturbed manner
-was not unobserved by his faithful and subservient factotum.
-
-The latter attempted some consolation, after his fashion; but it was
-not palatable.
-
-"Begone to the bartizan!" exclaimed his master, angrily, "and bring
-me instant tidings if anything seems astir in the country about us.
-I expect news from the city hourly.  Leave me."
-
-Juden vanished.
-
-"The deevil tak' lovers and lords!" he muttered, as he drew his broad
-worsted bonnet over his cross visage, and ascended to the bartizan of
-the tower, and setting his teeth hard, as he faced the keen north
-wind, took a survey of the dreary and snow-covered landscape.  On the
-passing wind ten o'clock came sullenly from the spire of St. John of
-Corstorphine; then all was deathly still save the sough of the winter
-breeze as it swept over the dreary Lee, and whistled through the open
-corbells of the projecting tower.
-
-Juden had no particular fancy for enacting the part of warder in so
-cold a night, and after taking a rapid survey of the extensive waste,
-he was about to descend again, when an unusual redness in the sky to
-the eastward arrested him.  It rose in the direction of the city, and
-resembled the lurid and wavering glow of a great conflagration.  The
-red blaze was rapidly spreading and crimsoning the edges of the dusky
-clouds above, and throwing forward in strong relief the southern edge
-of the Corstorphine Kills, and the dark pines that shaded them.
-Astonished, perplexed, and alarmed, Juden continued to gaze in the
-direction of the light, until a loud hollo startled him, and he
-perceived a man on horseback close to the foot of the tower.
-
-"Ho!" cried Juden through his hand, for the wind blew keen and high.
-"What want ye, friend?"
-
-"No a night's lodging, or I wadna come here," answered the other
-testily.  "Closed gates and dark windows betoken cauld cheer and a
-caulder ingle."
-
-"Beware o' your tongue, friend," replied the butler from aloft.
-"Langer lugs than yours hae been nailed to the tower yett.  You have
-come frae Edinburgh I warrant?"
-
-"Troth have I, on the spur, man, so open the yett, Juden Stenton."
-
-"What's a' the steer there this night?"
-
-"Gif you had been there ye wad ken," responded the other with sulky
-importance.  "I bear a letter for my Lord Clermistonlee on the king's
-service, which king Gude kens and the Deil cares."
-
-"Thir are kittle times, friend," replied the butler, warily; "so if
-King James himsel' came to the peel o' Clermiston this mirk night,
-not a bolt would be drawn, or a lock undone.  Tie the letter to this
-twine, gossip, and sae gang your way in peace."
-
-Rendered cautious by the nature of the times, and by being constantly
-on the alert against force and treachery, the wary old servitor
-lowered over the wall a string, to which after sundry curses the
-horseman tied a letter, and Juden towed it up, "hand over hand."
-
-"Ill folk are aye feared," said the stranger; "and I doubt there are
-but few clear consciences in Clermistonlee.  My horse is sair
-forfoughton wi' my ride frae the West Port; he fell at the Foulbrigs,
-and was nigh swept awa' when fording the Leith doon by there; but I
-maun een ride on to his honor the Laird o' Niddry without a stirrup
-cup or a 'God save ye.'  Out upon Clermiston and its ill-mannered
-loons!" and dashing spurs into his horse, the servant galloped at a
-hunting pace away to the westward, and disappeared among the hollows
-at the verge of the Lee.
-
-Anxious to learn the contents of a letter in which he doubted not he
-had as much interest as his Lord, Juden hurried down the corkscrew
-stair from the bartizan, and repairing to the little study where his
-half-muddled master was gazing dreamily into the fire, and imbibing
-his sixth cup of sack, he placed the little square billet before him.
-Clermistonlee tore it open, and read hurriedly,
-
-"Dear Gossip,
-
-"A glorious revolution hath been accomplished, (and I am just
-drinking to its success in sugared brandy,) but Satan seems to have
-broken loose in the city, whilk the rascal sort hath fired in six
-different places.  The acts of Estate and Council are mere nullities.
-Your presence is required by the Council anent ane address to the new
-king.  We are to have a grand onslaught to-morrow against Baal's
-prophets, the Host of Pharaoh, and a' that, ye ken.
-
-  "Yrs. at service,
-      "MERSINGTON."
-
-"_Postscriptum_.--Keep the bonnie bird in the cage close; her kinsman
-Napier hath been slain by young Fenton, and ye know how the entail
-stands.  Vale!  King William the Second of Scotland for ever!"
-
-Clermistonlee's first impulse was to start up and buckle on his
-sword, exclaiming,
-
-"My gambadoes, Juden; the red leather ones--saddle Meg, and, peril of
-thy life, look well to--but no--no!  I will not.  Thou mayest go to
-the devil, Mersington, with thy drunken scrawl, the address, and the
-Council to boot.  I leave not Clermiston to-night.  Napier slain--and
-by Fenton!  By George, how the plot is thickening!  'Tis glorious.
-Juden, don your shabble, and ride to the city; tell my gossip
-Mersington in the _matter_ pending, mark me, knave! in the matter
-pending to use my name as he shall deem fitting."
-
-Juden replied by a leer of deep cunning (for he too was something of
-a politician), and, animated by an intense curiosity to know what was
-acting in the city, hurried away, and in ten minutes had left far
-behind him the dreary tower and frozen muir, above which its dark
-outline reared like that of a spectre.
-
-As the fumes of the wine mounted upward, the heated imagination and
-inflamed passions of Clermistonlee got completely the better of his
-senses.  Thoughts of Lilian's beauty and helplessness came vividly
-before him; but such reflections instead of kindling his pity, roused
-all his passion for her to an ungovernable height.  Draining a cup of
-brandy to make him yet more reckless of consequences, and snatching a
-candle, he staggered from the room, and descended the narrow stone
-stair that led from his apartment.
-
-He knew that he was alone, for Beatrix was under lock and key; yet he
-stepped with singular caution.  Every stone in the rough walls seemed
-a grotesque face, regarding him with mockery and wrath; he saw a
-figure in every shadow, heard a step in every whistle of the midnight
-wind.  He dared not look at portraits as he passed, lest their eyes
-might seem to move; and thus, though the entire consciousness of his
-dark intent came broadly and appallingly home to his heart, such was
-the influence of his ungoverned passions that a spirit of the merest
-obstinacy urged him to finish what he in part commenced, and the high
-pulsations of his heart increased at every step which brought him
-nearer to the chamber of his victim.
-
-He entered the hall.  The feeble rays of his upheld candle seemed
-only to reveal the size and darkness of the place, and the grey
-winter twilight that struggled through its thickly grated and
-deeply-arched windows.  The embers of the fire still smouldered on
-the hearth, and, reddening when the hollow wind rumbled down the wide
-chimney, threw the shadows of the great oaken table, the dark
-grotesque cabinets and highbacked chairs in long and frightful
-figures on the paved floor.
-
-Entering the almonry, he opened a door, within it, which revealed a
-narrow passage in the wall that communicated with the secret outlets
-of the place, and led directly to the cabinet in Lilian's room.
-
-He stood within it, and the warmth of its atmosphere increased the
-ferment of his blood.  Unconscious of the proximity of so dangerous a
-visitor, the innocent girl slept soundly, but lightly.
-
-Shading the light with his hand, he gazed impatiently upon the
-slumbering beauty.
-
-Her hair, which overnight she had put up with the carelessness so
-natural to grief, had now escaped from the caul, and rolled over the
-pillow in masses that glittered like gold in the rays of the
-uncertain light.  She was very pale, but a slight glow began to
-redden her cheek, and it was graced with a smile of inexpressible
-sweetness.
-
-Twice he approached, and twice drew back irresolute.
-
-An unseen hand seemed to restrain him; the air of perfect innocence
-pervading the presence of the sleeping girl protected her for a time;
-and scarcely daring to breathe, the intruder continued to gaze upon
-her.  She slept softly.  At last, tears fell over her cheeks, and she
-tenderly murmured--
-
-"Dear Walter, have I not said that I love you?"
-
-Clermistonlee, on whose bent-down cheek her soft breath came, started
-at these words as if a serpent had stung him.  One of those fierce,
-malicious, and scornful smiles, which so often imparted to his
-handsome features a fiendish expression, contracted them but for a
-moment; another of intense sadness and languor replaced it.  At that
-instant, unable longer to restrain himself, he clasped her in his
-arms.
-
-"Lilian!" he exclaimed, "dear Lilian, be not alarmed--it is I."
-
-A piercing shriek, that startled the furthest recesses of the old and
-desolate tower, burst from the lips of Lilian; it was one of those
-deep and wailing cries of pain and horror which, when once heard, are
-never forgot.
-
-"Villain, unhand me!  Oh! spare me, my Lord--spare me for the love of
-God!"
-
-"Be calm, Lilian--why should you fear me?  Do I not adore you?  Yes;
-I prize your love beyond the possession of life.  Dear girl, look not
-on me thus.  I am the most devoted of lovers, and by this kiss,
-dearest----d--nation!"
-
-He attempted to kiss her; but, endued with new strength by rage and
-fear, her little hands clutched fiercely his thick mustachios, and
-twisted his head aside, as she had done once before so effectually.
-
-"Hear me!" he continued, "hear me, sweet Lilian; I came but to say
-that I loved thee----."
-
-"Love me! oh! horror!--leave me, or I shall expire--leave me!"
-
-At that moment a loud explosion, followed by the fanfare of trumpets
-and the ruffling of kettle-drums beneath the walls of the tower
-arrested all the faculties of Clermistonlee, and by throwing his
-thoughts into another channel, covered him with shame; and he started
-back, the image of astonishment and irresolution.
-
-Not so Lilian; her presence of mind was instantly restored.
-Springing to a window, and fearlessly dashing her hands through the
-panes of glass, she cried in agonized accents--
-
-"Help! help! for the love of the blessed God!  Help me, or I perish!"
-
-"Lilian!  Lilian!" cried a voice that filled her with transport.  It
-was that of Walter Fenton.
-
-A glance sufficed to show her a gallant troop of horse halted beneath
-the tower in the grey morning twilight.  Again she would have spoken,
-but the strong hand of Clermistonlee dragged her furiously back into
-the apartment.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-EDINBURGH--THE NIGHT OF THE REVOLUTION.
-
-  Meanwhile, regardless of the royal cause,
-  His sword for James no brother sov'raign draws.
-  The Pope himself, surrounded with alarms,
-  To France his bulls, to Corfu sends his arms;
-  And though he hears his darling son's complaint,
-  Can hardly spare one tutelary saint.
-                                  TICKELL, Edit. 1749.
-
-
-From the hour in which Lilian had been torn from her, the ased Lady
-Grisel had never raised her head.  Affection and horror, wrath and
-insulted pride, had all aggravated to the utmost the weakness and
-debility consequent to exceeding old age; and by her weeping
-domestics the venerable dame was borne to her great chair in the
-Chamber-of-Dais, where she remained long insensible to all that
-passed around her.
-
-The storm and hurry of political events employed otherwise Sir Thomas
-Dalyel and those friends who might have served her in this dilemma;
-and now she found herself quite deserted.
-
-Syme the baillie, and the whole male population of the barony had
-fruitlessly searched the Burghmuir for the remainder of the night and
-morning; but, for reasons which will shortly be apparent, any
-application to the Privy Council or magistrates of Edinburgh would
-have been utterly futile, as their attention was amply occupied by
-more important matters than the abduction of a girl.
-
-Long fits of stupor, succeeded by querulous bursts of passion, left
-the poor old lady so weak, that, as Elsie related to Sir Thomas of
-Binns, "between the night and morning, she cried on Sir Archibald _to
-save_ her doo Lilian; and then she just soughed awa like a blink o'
-the sunshine, and lay back under her canopy in the Chaumer-o'-Deese,
-a comely corpse to see as ever was streekit."
-
-The old lady did not die, however, but recovered her senses by having
-a pistol fired at her ear by the rough old Muscovite trooper, "a cure
-for the vapours, whilk," he said, "he had often seen practised on
-Samoieda."
-
-As before related, in consequence of the vigilance of Sir James
-Montgomerie, the Privy Council and people of Scotland had been kept
-for several weeks in a state of painful uncertainty as to the fate of
-James's affairs in England: but a letter from Lord Dundee reached the
-Scottish ministry, expressive of apprehensions for the issue of a
-conflict between the troops of the King and those of his invader.
-
-To ascertain the true aspect of affairs, they despatched into England
-a man named Brand, a baillie of Edinburgh, who basely betrayed his
-trust by carrying his despatches straight to the Prince of Orange, to
-whom he was introduced by Dr. Burnet.
-
-On Craigdarroch's arrival at the Scottish capital, and others with
-similar tidings of the desertion and dissolution of the army, the
-flight of James, and success of William, the long-threatening storm
-burst forth in all its fury.  Scotland at that time swarmed with
-brave and hardy soldiers, skilful officers, ruined barons, and
-desperate vassals--the veterans of the Covenant, and the endless wars
-of Sweden, France, and Flanders; thus, ingloriously as the campaign
-had passed over in the south, a cloud was gathering on the Highland
-hills, that threatened to descend, as of yore, in wrath and blood on
-the fertile Lowlands.
-
-Infuriated by the severities of what was called the "twenty-eight
-years' persecution," the Lowland population were ripe for armed
-revolt, and the capital, to which they flocked in overwhelming
-masses, became the grand centre of their operations, and the scene of
-newer atrocities.  The greatest outrages were committed upon the
-persons and property of those unhappy Catholics, Episcopalians, and
-cavaliers, who fell into the hands of this wild mob.
-
-Perth, the Lord Chancellor fled; the Privy Council, which had been
-severe to the nation, in proportion as it was servile to James,
-dispatched an immediate address to William, and none were more
-cordial in their offers of dutiful service than Provost Prince, and
-the worthy council of Edinburgh: those very men who had so lately
-declared to the unfortunate Stuart, that they "would stand by his
-sacred person on all occasions."  Now they were equally prompt in
-offers to his dethroner, to whom they complained bitterly "of the
-hellish attempts of Romish incendiaries, and of the just grievances
-of all men relating to conscience, liberty, and property."
-
-For three days the capital was in the power of a mad and lawless
-rabble, who, rendered furious by bigotry and intoxication, committed
-the most dreadful atrocities.
-
-The houses of all who were obnoxious to them were plundered and given
-to the flames, and all effects of value were scattered in the
-streets.  There were episodes of horror ensued such as Edinburgh had
-never witnessed before.  The streets were filled with the smoke of
-burning houses; the air was sheeted with flame; the shrieks of the
-perishing inmates, the howls of their destroyers, and the crash of
-falling masonry, rang night and day.  The college of the Jesuits was
-levelled to the dust; crosses, and reliques, statues, pictures, and
-vestments were borne aloft through the streets, and consigned to the
-flames amid yells of derision.
-
-The ale and wine found in the cellars of the cavaliers, inflamed the
-inborn savagism of the multitude, who were urged by their ministers
-to commit a thousand nameless atrocities.  For three days they
-continued in a state of perfect intoxication (says Lord Balcarris in
-his _Memoirs_), and in open daylight, in the crowded streets of the
-city, committed upon the persons of many Catholic ladies such
-outrages as cannot be written, and "without any attempt being made by
-the authorities to restrain such brutality."  (pp. 22, 27.)
-
-Of all the members of the old government none was more obnoxious to
-the people than Sir George Mackenzie, of Rosehaugh, the celebrated
-lawyer and essayist, who had rendered himself an object of intense
-hatred, by the severity with which he had stretched the criminal laws
-to answer the views of the Government; and who, in his office of
-Public Prosecutor, had obtained the unenviable soubriquet of "the
-persecutor of God's saints," "the blood-thirsty advocate," "bluidy
-Mackenzie;" and to this hour his vaulted mausoleum at Edinburgh is
-regarded with hatred and loathing by the old Cameronians and "true
-blue" Presbyterians.
-
-His mansion in Rosehaugh Close was soon made the object of attack.
-The night of the third day had closed over the city, and still the
-scene of tumult and frenzy, the din and the flames of destruction,
-loaded the air with sounds of horror and outrage.
-
-In great anxiety for his personal safety, the unhappy statesman heard
-with no ordinary perturbation the increasing roar of sounds, like the
-chafing of a distant sea; the mingling of a myriad human voices, and
-the rush of feet, which betokened the approach of a vast mob.
-
-With drums beating before them, and armed with various weapons, the
-thousand bright points of which gleamed in the lurid blaze of the
-uplifted torches, a dense mass of ragged, squalid, and insane-looking
-men, poured like a human flood into the deep and narrow alley at the
-foot of which still stands the house of Rosehaugh.  Begrimed with
-smoke and filth, maddened by intoxication and excess, their yells as
-they resounded between the solid walls of the narrow street, rang
-like those of fiends from some deep abyss, and the heart of Mackenzie
-died away within him.  To appeal to their pity would be like craving
-mercy from the waves of an angry ocean? there was no escape, no
-remedy, no bribe, no hope; for among that terrible mob were the
-fathers, the sons, the brothers--yea, and the mothers of those who at
-his instance had perished in thousands, by the sword, by the torture,
-and the gibbet, or were lingering out a miserable existence as slaves
-and bondsmen in the distant Indies.
-
-"My God! my God! for what am I reserved?" he exclaimed, as from a
-lofty upper window he surveyed the dense mass of madmen, who, wedged
-in the alley below, impeded each other's motions.  Conspicuous above
-all, raised on the shoulders of two strong men, whose arms and faces
-were smeared with blood and blackness, there was upborne a man, whose
-sad-coloured garments and white bands announced him a preacher; his
-gaunt visage and long hair of raven hue waving around a face ghastly,
-though flashed with passion, his large hazel eyes glowing like those
-of a tiger, his upraised hands clenching one a bible, and the other a
-broadsword, declared him a wild enthusiast (another "Habakuk
-Mucklewrath").
-
-It was Ichabod Bummel, who had escaped from the damp vaults of the
-wave-beaten Bass, and had now come to take vengeance on Mackenzie for
-his exile, his captivity, his crushed bones, and long persecution.
-
-"Come forth, Achan, thou troubler of Israel!" he shrieked; "come
-forth, thou destroyer of the good and just, thou persecutor of the
-saints of God! come forth, thou thing that art accursed, or we will
-burn thee in the ruins of thy dwelling, and salt them with salt.
-Courage, my brethren!  Oh, is not this a brave hour and a glorious
-one?  For lo, the time is come when the host of Pharaoh shall be
-discomfited and stricken as of old.  Achan, thou persecutor of the
-covenanted kirk, behold me towering amid Baal's prophets, four
-hundred and fifty men, as the book saith!"
-
-This rhapsody was responded to with yells of ardour, and the din of
-hammers rang like thunder against the strong oaken door of the
-mansion, while many bullets were discharged at the windows, which
-were securely grated.  A door of massive oak closed the entrance of
-the turnpike stair, and though the whole house resounded under the
-energy of the blows, the barrier refused to yield, though gradually
-it was falling in splinters, a process too slow to suit the fierce
-impatience of the increasing mob.
-
-"Let fire be brought," cried Ichabod, "let the mansion be consumed,
-that its flames may be as a light to the house of Judah.  Know, O
-thou persecutor of God's covenanted saints, that a sword is this
-night upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and her
-mighty men; for it is the load of graven images, and they are mad
-upon their idols."
-
-Urged by this blasphemous application of Scripture, burning brands
-were heaped by the people against the door, and soon the increased
-yells of satisfaction announced to the miserable advocate that the
-barrier was rapidly giving way, and that in another moment the
-reeking hands of the destroyers would be upon him.  He threw round a
-glance of agony, the barred windows denied all hope of escape, and
-now his stern soul sank at the prospect of a cruel and immediate
-death, when lo! one tremendous yell of another import brought him
-once more to the shattered windows.  "It is a dream!" he exclaimed.
-
-A troop of the Royal Life Guards, with their bright arms flashing in
-the light of the waving torches, were hewing and treading down the
-mob like a field of rye; and chief above all shone one cavalier--it
-was Dundee--the gallant, the terrible Claver'se, that man-fiend, whom
-all deemed six hundred miles away.  There was no mistaking the
-splendour of his armour, the nobility of his air, the ferocity of his
-purpose.
-
-"Close up--fall on, gentlemen; no quarter to the knaves!" he
-exclaimed, while, standing erect in his stirrups, he showered his
-blows on every side, his white plumes rising and falling in unison
-with his trenchant rapier.
-
-"Hey for King James!  Ho for the cavaliers!  Down with the
-rebels--down with the whigamores!" cried Holsterlee and others, as
-they pressed forward, and the rabble grovelled in the dust beneath
-the tremendous rush of the heavy horses, and their riders in steel
-and buff.  In a minute the narrow alley was cleared of the living,
-and piled knee-deep with dead and dying.  The shrill voice of
-Ichabod, as he was borne off by his disciples, was heard dying away
-in the distance, like that of an evil spirit carried away by a stormy
-wind.
-
-By something like a miracle, Lord Dundee had traversed the whole of
-hostile England, and though menaced on every hand by great bodies of
-troops, had reached his native capital in safety; bringing with him
-not only the sixty cavalier troopers (who of all his cavalry alone
-remained staunch to him), but with them Walter Fenton, Lord
-Dunbarton, Finland, and other officers retaken from De Ginckel.  They
-now rode under his orders as gentlemen-troopers, mounted on heavy
-black chargers that had whilome belonged to the Swart Ruyters; and
-the whole, with standards displayed, had entered the city about an
-hour before the assault on Rosehaugh's house.
-
-The Rev. Dr. Joram, late chaplain to the Royal Scots, also bestrode a
-horse which he had taken as his spoil in battle; and had donned a
-trooper's corslet, with which his clerical bob-periwig consorted as
-oddly as with the fierce and tipsy expression of his flushed and
-florid face, and with the stern cock of the Monmouth beaver that
-surmounted it.  The gallant divine had recently imbibed so much wine
-that he could scarcely keep his saddle.
-
-Of the fate of their captured comrades they as yet knew nothing; but
-Gavin of that Ilk, with twenty other officers and five hundred men,
-were then at London, close prisoners; the rest had returned to their
-colours; and after a time, the whole, seeing the futility of
-resistance, ultimately embarked peaceably under the orders of their
-new commander, the veteran Duke de Schomberg.  None were punished,
-"as the new government had not yet been fully recognized in Scotland."
-
-Rosehaugh had been saved from a terrible immolation; but the services
-of the night were not yet over.  Claverhouse, with his cavaliers,
-retired to a quiet part of the city, under protection of the castle
-batteries, where a brave garrison of Catholic soldiers, led by the
-Duke of Gordon, remained yet staunch to James.
-
-"My lord Earl," said Dundee to Dunbarton, "we must be somewhat
-economical of our persons and horses, when encountering these mad
-burghers and drunken saints, and not forget that we are the last hope
-of the King in this hotbed of Presbytery and rebellion."
-
-"True," replied the Earl, "and I rejoice that we have but few to
-regret, and few to mourn for us if we perish in the struggle on which
-we are about to plunge."
-
-The eyes of the Viscount filled with dusky fire.
-
-"Dunbarton," said he, "I am alone in the world.  Our grateful King
-has given me honours to which none can succeed, for I have cast the
-die by which they are lost for ever; and nowhere can my coronet be
-more gloriously surrendered than on the battle-field."
-
-"I thank Heaven that the Countess, my dear little Lætitia, is in
-England," said the Earl, pointing to the lurid flames that from the
-blazing houses of the Abbey-hill flashed along the shadowy vista of
-the Canongate, glowing redly under the arch of the Nether Bow, and
-throwing forward in bold relief a thousand fantastic projections of
-the old Flemish mansions that reared up their giant fronts on either
-hand.  "I thank Heaven that she is in a safer place than this poor
-city of wild fanatics."
-
-"Would that I could say the same of Lilian!" thought Walter, with a
-deep sigh.  "Can she be safe amid all this dreadful uproar?"
-
-At that moment a dense rabble approached, with drums beating, torches
-blazing, and weapons glinting.
-
-"To the Palace! to the Abbey!" cried a thousand hoarse voices.  "Let
-us pull doon the temple of the Idolater, and gie his fause gods to
-the flames!" and they swept forward, greeting the troop of Guards
-with yells of hatred and menace.
-
-They were led--by whom?  Lord Mersington, with his wig awry, his
-clothes soiled with dust, and his face flushed with exertion!  The
-Earl of Balcarris relates "that this fanatical judge, with a halbert
-in his hand, and drunk as ale and brandy could make him," led on the
-rabble to the assault of time-hallowed Holyrood; but before reaching
-the eastern extremity of the city, his followers were joined by the
-trained bands in their buff coats and bandoleers, the magistrates,
-and other authorities, who vested this lawless mob with an air of
-order and official importance.
-
-"Will those villains really dare to molest the palace of our kings?"
-said Dundee, his eyes kindling, as he looked after the revolters, and
-reined-up his impatient horse.
-
-"What will they not dare?" rejoined Dunbarton; "but I doubt not they
-will experience a warm reception.  Wallace, who commands the guard,
-is a brave cavalier as ever drew sword, and the traitors will make
-nothing of it."
-
-"Under favour, my Lords," said Fenton, "they are in great numbers,
-and I have misgivings as to the issue."
-
-"Wallace--he is an old friend of mine," said Finland.  "'Sdeath!
-we've seen some sharp work together on the frontiers of Flanders; and
-with your permission, my Lords, I will take a turn of service with
-him to-night."
-
-"As you please," replied the Viscount; "Dunbarton commands here,
-though he rides in my troop.  Go--ha, ha! two heads are better than
-one."
-
-"I go then; and yonder fanatical senator may beware how he comes
-within reach of my hand."
-
-"Thy riding-whip, say rather."
-
-"I volunteer also," said Walter, who was under great anxiety to have
-an opportunity of visiting Lilian.
-
-"And I too," added the Reverend Jonadab Joram.  "I long to encounter
-with bible and bilbo, yonder preacher of sedition, that urges on this
-unhanged rout of traitors.  For know ye, gentlemen, (hiccup) that one
-preacher is better in Scotland than twenty drummers to find recruits
-for the devil's service; so, in his own phraseology, I will gird up
-my loins, and go forth to battle against them.  Come on, gallants!
-Ho, for King James, and down with the whigamores!  Rub-a-dub,
-rub-a-dub----"
-
-"Beware, sirs, for the good cause has not many such spirits to
-spare," said Claver'se, as they dashed spurs into their horses, and
-making a detour down one narrow wynd and up another, reached without
-interruption the deep groined archway of the Palace Porch, an ancient
-gothic edifice, heavily turreted and battlemented.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-SACK OF HOLYROOD.
-
-  'Twas a dream of the ages of darkness and blood,
-  When the ministers' home was the mountain and wood;
-  The musquets were flashing, the blue swords were gleaming,
-  The helmets were cleft, and the red blood was streaming;
-  The heavens grew dark, and the thunder was rolling,
-  When on Welwood's dark muirland the mighty were falling.
-                                                    ANONYMOUS.
-
-
-"Welcome, gentlemen," exclaimed Wallace; "I never stood in such need
-of advice and comradeship."
-
-He was a handsome man, above six feet in height; his gold-coloured
-cuirass and buff coat, laced with silver, announced him a captain;
-the slouch of his broad Spanish hat, with its drooping plumes, and
-the tie of his voluminous white silk scarf, gave him inimitable grace.
-
-"Welcome, Finland, to share the poor cheer and hard fighting of
-Holyrood.  By Mahoun! but times are changed with the King's soldiers.
-I have endured a three days' siege here, and matters are not likely
-to mend."
-
-"No; a rabble, many thousands strong, by all the devils! the very
-riddlings of St. Ninian's and the Beggars' Row, are at this moment
-approaching, and if one of your guard are left alive by daylight it
-will be a miracle."
-
-"Dost think so?" rejoined Wallace, as he led them to a table in the
-outer court of the palace, where a lantern placed on a table revealed
-a few drinking horns, a keg of eau de vie, and some objects of a more
-unpleasant nature, the dead bodies of several soldiers, shot by the
-rioters during the day.  "You hold out a dark future to us, Finland,
-and, nevertheless, like the true soldier I have ever known thee, come
-to take a turn of service with us."
-
-"As you see," replied Finland, laughing, as he filled a horn from the
-keg unbidden.
-
-"Drink with me, gentlemen," said Wallace.
-
-"With all my soul!" hiccupped Dr. Joram.
-
-"This keg of brandy was lately in the cellars of the Jesuits, and
-some friendly rogue trundled it our way.  God bless the good old
-cause! my service to ye, sirs.  Hark, comrades--drums!" he added, as
-he drained and threw down the cup.
-
-"'Tis the march of the trained bands," said Walter.
-
-"Indeed!" rejoined Wallace, sternly.  "Let all the whigamore scum of
-Scotland come, they are welcome.  I am one of the good old race of
-Elderslie, and I thank heaven that in an hour like this, it hath been
-the hap of one of my name to have entrusted to his care the defence
-of the palace of our princes, and yonder holy fane, the sepulchre of
-their bones--one of the fairest piles that ancient piety ever
-founded, or modern fanaticism destroyed."  His swart countenance
-lighted up, and signing the cross (for this noble cavalier was a true
-catholic), he drew his sword.
-
-"Hark, a chamade!" said Walter Fenton; "now let us hear what these
-rascals have the impudence to say;" and the three cavaliers repaired
-to the porch, leaving the divine to continue his devoirs to the
-brandy keg.  They beheld a very extraordinary scene.
-
-Wallace's company was an Independent one.  It was something less than
-a hundred strong, and had the great porch of the palace and the two
-lesser gates of the boundary wall to defend.  In the former there
-were sixty musqueteers drawn up, as it was the point of the greatest
-danger; the remainder were posted at the small gates, which were well
-secured by internal barricades.  The great façade of the magnificent
-palace, with its deep quadrangle and six round towers, loomed through
-the starless gloom of the winter night; lights flickered in the
-gallery of the Kings of Scotland, and through the lofty casements of
-its long corridors and echoing chambers, for there many proscribed
-catholic and cavalier families, terrified women, and helpless
-children, hud fled for refuge.  And from the great western windows of
-the chapel royal shone "the dim religious light" of the distant
-altar, where many a devout worshipper, in the ancient faith of our
-fathers, sent up, with catholic fervour, the most solemn prayers to
-God for conquest and for succour.
-
-How different was the scene without those sacred walls, with their
-shadowy aisles, their glimmering shrines and marble tombs--their
-dark, deep, solemn arches, and mysterious echoes.
-
-Through the strong gate of vertical iron bars that closed the dark
-round archway of the porch, the cavaliers beheld the long vista of
-the Canon-gate, extending to the westward.  Its long perspective of
-ancient and picturesque edifices, turrets, outshots, and gables, was
-vividly lit up by the crimson glare of the blazing houses on the
-Abbey-hill, to the northward of the palace.
-
-A dense mob that had gathered in the Cow-gate, provided with weapons
-and torches, mingled with Trained Bandsmen, and having drums beating,
-and the Earl of Perth's effigy, borne aloft before them, after
-traversing the West Bow and High-street, maltreating all they met,
-were now descending the Canon-gate; and the light of their brandished
-flambeaux streamed through the groined portal of the palace,
-glittering on the helmets and arms of the soldiers drawn up within it
-in close array, and beyond on the tall outline of the tower of James
-V.
-
-As the drums of the Trained Bands continued to beat the point of war,
-the rabble poured forth from all the diverging wynds and alleys,
-until, like a river swollen by a hundred tributary streams, the dense
-mass that debouched upon the open space around the ancient
-Girth-cross of the once holy sanctuary, covered the whole arena.  The
-united roar of ten thousand angry voices swelled along the lofty
-street, and the red torchlight revealed many an uncouth visage,
-distorted by drunkenness, fanaticism, and ferocity.  Several musquets
-and pistols were incessantly discharged, while stones, sticks,
-fragments of furniture, dead cats, and every available and imaginable
-missile were hurled in showers over the battlements of the porch, and
-strewed the pavement of the court within.
-
-In front were Grahame and Macgill, two captains in the trained band,
-armed with their buff coats, steel caps, and half pikes; several
-baillies, in their scarlet gowns and gold chains; Lord Mersington,
-reeling about and brandishing a partisan, his senatorial wig and
-robes in a woeful plight; the Rev. Ichabod Bummel, bare-headed and
-spurring like a madman a short, plump, and active Galloway cob of
-which he had possessed himself, and over the flanks of which, his
-long spindle shanks and scabbard trailed upon the ground.  On each
-side were the Marchmont and Islay heralds, the Unicorn and Ormond
-pursuivants, in their tabards blazing with embroidery, and their tall
-plumed bonnets; behind was a confused forest of uplifted hands, and
-weapons, swords, pikes, staves, and halberts which flashed
-incessantly in the wavering glare of the brandished torches, and
-chief above all were the effigy of the Chancellor, and a great orange
-and blue standard; the first the colour of the Revolutionists, the
-second of the Covenanters.
-
-The houses of the Earl of Perth, the Lairds of Niddry, Blairdrummond,
-and others, were blazing close by, and the sky was sheeted with fire.
-The contents of their cellars were rolled into the streets and
-staved, and the rich and luscious wines of France, the nut-brown ale,
-and crystal usquebaugh streamed along the swollen gutters, where
-hundreds of rioters were wallowing like pigs in the kennel, and were
-trod to death beneath the feet of the mighty host that swept over
-them.  After a flourish of trumpets, the senior herald cried with a
-loud voice,--
-
-"In the name of the Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council, I, the
-Islay Herald-at-Arms, summon, warn, and charge you, Captain William
-Wallace, under pain and penalty of loss of life and escheat of
-goods----"
-
-"Yea, and the loss of salvation," screamed Ichabod, with a voice of a
-Stentor, as he brandished his bible and bloody sword.  "Woe unto ye
-who march against God with banners displayed!  Woe unto ye who would
-build up the walls of Jericho, which the Lord hath casten down!  Take
-heed, ye vipers and soldiers of Jeroboam, lest the curse that fell on
-Kiel, the Bethelite, fall upon ye also!  Woe unto ye, worshippers of
-the Babylonian harlot, the mother of sin, for the hour is come when
-it is written that ye shall perish!"
-
-"----And escheat of goods and gear," continued the herald,
-"forfeiture of name and fame."
-
-"Surrender, ye d--d loons!" cried Mersington, "or hee hee, we'll gie
-ye cauld kail through the reek, conform to the Acts of Estate."
-
-"Sound trumpets for silence!" exclaimed the herald indignantly; but
-now the voice of Mr. Bummel was again heard.
-
-"Oh for one moment of the hand that smote the foes of Zion!" he
-exclaimed, raising to heaven his sunken eyes that in the torchlight
-seemed to fill with a yellow glare.  "Oh for God's malediction on the
-brats of Babel!  Lo!  I see a sign in the lift--they are delivered
-unto us, that we may dash them against the stones.  On, on, and spare
-not! smite and slay! death to the false prophets! death to the
-soldiers of the idolatrous James!"
-
-"I, the Islay Herald-at-Arms----"
-
-"Haud your d--d yammering!" cried Captain Graham, of the trained
-bands, interrupting in turn; "close up, my trained men! come on, my
-buirdly Baxters, and couthie craftsmen--advance pikes--musqueteers,
-blow matches--give fire!"
-
-"Give fire!" re-echoed the deep voice of Wallace within the groined
-portal.  A loud discharge of musquetry took place, and the bullets of
-the mob rattled like a hailstorm against the walls, or whistled
-through the archway of the porch.
-
-Three soldiers fell dead, but nearly forty of the rabble were shot,
-for every bullet fired by the "Brats of Babel" killed at second hand.
-Still they pressed forward with undiminished courage, and assailed
-the three gates of the palace at once, and pressing close to the bars
-of the portal, fired their musquets and pistols through with deadly
-precision on the little band within.  Here Wallace commanded in
-person, with a bravery worthy of his immortal name, and encouraged by
-his animated exhortations, his gallant few, though falling fast on
-every hand, stood firm, with a resolution to die, but never surrender.
-
-Walter Fenton and Finland commanded each about twenty musqueteers at
-the lesser gates, which the insurrectionists assailed pell-mell with
-hammers and pickaxes, and as nothing but a cruel death could be
-expected if this mob of infuriated madmen obtained entrance, the poor
-soldiers fought as much for their lives as for honour and protection
-of the palace and chapel royal.  From a platform of planks and
-furniture, overlooking the south back of the Canon-gate, Walter's
-party poured a fire upon the mob with deadly effect; the palace wall
-was high, the gate strong and well secured, so they hurled ponderous
-stones and swung hammers against its solid front in vain.
-
-So it fared with Finland, who defended the northern doorway of the
-royal gardens near a little turretted edifice called Queen Mary's
-Bath.  This experienced soldier had speedily made four loop-holes
-through the strong wall, and the rioters, as they approached the
-gate, were shot down in such rapid succession that an appalling pile
-of dead and dying lay before it, forming a barrier so hideous, that
-their companions began to recoil in dismay, and poured a storm of
-bullets and abuse from a distance.
-
-The blaze from the Abbey hill illuminated the whole garden, and the
-dark buttresses, the square tower, the deep-ribbed doorway, and tall
-lancet windows of the beautiful church of the Sancta Crucis were all
-bathed in a blood-red hue by the flaring sheets of flame that
-ascended from the burning houses.
-
-"St. Bride speed you, my gallant Douglas!" cried Wallace, who,
-anxious for the maintenance of his post, made a hurried round of the
-walls.  "Art keeping the knaves in check?"
-
-"Let the deed show," replied Finland.  "By my faith! their dead are
-lying chin deep without the barrier.  'Twas a brave stroke in tactics
-this enfilade of the approach; and the flames of yonder great mansion
-enable my bold hearts to aim with notable precision."
-
-"'Tis the noble lodging of the Great Chancellor," rejoined Wallace,
-turning his flushed face towards the ruddy glow; "and I grieve deeply
-that many noble dames of the first quality are likely perishing amid
-yonder flames; however, death is preferable to dishonour at the hands
-of fanatical clowns.  This day they dragged my sister through the
-streets ..... and in open day--my God!"  He ground his teeth and
-smote his breast.
-
-"Malediction!" exclaimed Finland; "can we not succour them?"
-
-"Impossible," replied the other, resuming his military nonchalance.
-"I cannot spare a man.  Bonnie blackeyed Maud, of Madertie, and Merry
-Annie, of Maxwelton, are both yonder; this morning they fled to the
-house of Perth.  God sain them both--now I must see how fares young
-Fenton."  He hurried away, leaving Finland transfixed by what he had
-revealed.
-
-"Follow me, some of ye," he exclaimed; "let six maintain the post.
-Come on, gallants--we will save these noble dames or die."
-
-His party had now been reduced to twelve, but forgetful of everything
-save the probable danger of Annie, he rushed through the garden
-followed by six soldiers armed with pikes, and leaving the precincts
-of the palace by a secret doorway near the old royal vault, hurried
-through the narrow suburb of Croft-an-Righ, and felt his heart leap
-as the hot glow of the burning houses was blown upon his cheek, and
-the sparks fell like red hail around him.  The roar of voices and of
-musquetry still continued around the palace with unabated vigour; but
-here the mob lay generally wallowing in the liquor that flowed along
-the street, or were busy in revelling around piles of wine flasks,
-runlets of wine, and barrels of ale, or hurrying away with whatever
-plunder they had saved from the fast-spreading conflagration.
-
-The house of the chancellor, a lofty edifice, with turrets at the
-angles, steep roofs, and great stacks of chimneys, stood a little way
-back from the street, with a row of tall Dutch poplars before it; but
-these were now blackened and scorched by the forky flames that rolled
-in volumes from the windows, and clambered over the sinking roofs.
-The smoke ascended into the clear air in one vast shadowy pillar, and
-showers of sparks were thrown as from the crater of a volcano.  Not
-one of the inmates was visible, for every window was full of flame,
-and Finland felt distraction in his mind as he gazed upon the blazing
-house; but suddenly several females appeared upon the stone gutters
-and upper bartizan, waving their handkerchiefs and crying in piteous
-accents for mercy and for succour; but they were unheeded by the mob,
-or, if heard, only treated with derision.
-
-"A ladder, a ladder!" exclaimed Finland, whose arms and attire were
-so much disfigured by smoke and dust, that he seemed in no way
-different from the other armed citizens that thronged the streets.
-"Death and confusion! a hundred bonnet pieces for a ladder; my brave
-friends, my good comrades, your pikes--truss them into a ladder.  Ere
-now I've led an escalade of such a turnpike.  Bravo, my bold hearts!"
-and with the silent precision of practised campaigners, the soldiers
-with their scarfs trussed or tied their six pikes into the form of a
-scaling ladder.  In a moment it was placed against the wall.  "Guard
-the passage," cried Finland, as he disappeared through one of the
-upper windows.
-
-The heat and smoke were so great that he could scarcely breathe; for
-the old mansion being all wainscotted, burned like a ship, and
-ancient paintings, costly hangings, carpets, furniture, books, and
-all the magnificent household of the great chancellor was crumbling
-to ashes beneath the relentless flame.
-
-The hot conflagration often drove Finland back, and made his very
-brains whirl; but he found other passages, across the yielding
-floors, and ascending from story to story, at last felt gratefully
-the cooler air upon his flushed and scorched face as he stepped upon
-the flame-lighted bartizan, and Annie, with a wild hysterical laugh,
-threw herself into his arms and immediately swooned.
-
-"Your hand, Lady Madertie--away, away!" cried he; "we have not a
-moment to lose;" and bearing his burden like a child, he attempted to
-descend the staircase; but lo! the forked flames shot up the spiral
-descent and drove him back upon the platform, which was thirty feet
-in height.
-
-All retreat was cut off.
-
-Annie was insensible, and Finland, as he leant against the parapet
-and pressed her to his breast and felt the masses of her soft hair
-blown against his face, became giddy with despair.  At a little
-distance Matilda of Madertie, a beautiful blonde, was kneeling before
-her crucifix, and praying with all the happy fervour of a true
-Catholic; her long dark hair was streaming over her shoulders.  Near
-her were several female servants, crouching against the parapet, and
-who, exhausted by the energy of their shrieks, and the near approach
-of death, lay in a kind of stupor, without motion, and seeming
-scarcely to breathe.  Finland thought only of Annie; but a glance
-sufficed to show that their fate was sealed.
-
-The whole of the lofty house beneath the turret where they stood was
-an abyss of flames, and the glare, as they flashed upward and around
-him, compelled him to close his eyes; and thus a prey to grief and
-horror, he moved to and fro upon the toppling wall until the slate
-roofs sank crashing into the flaming pit with a roar, and now one
-vast sheet of broad red fire ascended into the air, making the
-calcined walls that confined it rend and tremble; a shout came up
-from the street below; the whole city, the hills and the sky seemed
-to be on fire.  The flames came closer to Finland; he felt their
-scorching heat; the next seemed to sweep his cheek, and Annie's
-waving locks and his own, that mingled with them, were burned away
-together.
-
-"Laird of Finland," cried a soldier from below, "the tree---the tree!"
-
-"'Tis death at all events," replied the Cavalier, and quick as light,
-with his long scarf, he bound the slender waist of Annie to his own,
-and stretching from the wall, got into the lofty and strong poplar
-tree, and began to descend slowly and laboriously.  A shout burst
-from the soldiers in the garden below.
-
-"God receive us!" cried Maud of Madertie, holding up her crucifix to
-heaven.  At that moment the wall gave way beneath her, and she
-disappeared for ever.....
-
-Finland's desertion of his post proved ultimately fatal to the
-defence of Holyrood, which by the efforts of Wallace, Walter Fenton,
-and the church-militant, Dr. Joram, was protracted until eleven at
-night.  Then the soldiers of Finland, having been all shot down, a
-party of the Trained Bands, led by Captain Grahame, broke down the
-gate with sledge-hammers, and then the armed mob, roused to an
-indescribable pitch of frenzy and ferocity by the liquors they had
-imbibed, the resistance and slaughter, and the exhortations of the
-religious maniacs who led them, crowded like a hell disgorged into
-the outer court and inner quadrangle of the palace.
-
-Taken thus in flank, the soldiers of Wallace were almost immediately
-destroyed.  That brave cavalier was hewn down, his body was hacked to
-pieces, his entrails torn out and cast into the air.  Many of his
-soldiers who surrendered were shot in cold blood, and all the wounded
-perished.  Walter Fenton, gathering a few of the survivors upon his
-platform, still continued to fire upon the sea of madmen that swarmed
-around them.
-
-Conspicuous among his followers, upon his prancing Galloway cob,
-towered the tall and ghastly figure of Mr. Ichabod Bummel; and,
-urging the work of death, he sent his powerful voice before him
-wherever he went.
-
-"No quarter to the birds of Belial!--smite them both hip and thigh.
-On, ye chosen of Israel, who now, in the good fight of faith, shall
-extirpate the heathen, sent forth even as the Jews were of old."
-
-"Pick me down yonder villain!" cried Fenton to his soldiers; and
-bullet after bullet whistled past the head of the preacher, but he
-seemed to bear a charmed life, and escaped them all.
-
-"On, on to the good work, and prosper!" he cried.  "Smite and slay!
-smite and slay! lest the curses that befel Saul for sparing the
-Amalekites fall upon ye."
-
-Thus urged, the people hewed the soldiers limb from limb, and the
-bodies of the dead shared the same fate.  Seeing all lost, Walter and
-Dr. Joram had torn the cavalier plumes from their hats, and leaped
-upon their horses, hoping to cut their way through the press, or
-escape unknown.  But, alas!  Joram was recognised by the terrible
-Ichabod, who, urging his Galloway towards him, brandished his sword,
-and exclaimed with stentorian lungs--
-
-"'Tis a priest of Baal, and this night will I send him howling to his
-false gods!  Come on, Jonadab Joram, thou wolf in sheep's clothing."
-
-"Approach, thou d--ned, round-headed, prick-eared, covenanting, and
-rebellious rapscallion!" cried the Doctor in great wrath, urging his
-horse towards his clerical antagonist; but the crowd was great
-between them, and they were enabled to glare at and menace and
-bespatter each other with scriptural abuse and very hard names for
-some time before they came within sword's point; for they were both
-intoxicated, the one with brandy, and the other with an enthusiasm
-that bordered on insanity.  "Come on, thou villanous whigamore,"
-cried Joram, flourishing his long rapier; "thy glory and thee shall
-depart to the devil together!"
-
-"Out upon thee, and the bloody papistical Duke whom thou servest, and
-hast blasphemously prayed for; but the curse that fell upon Jeroboam
-hath already fallen upon him--he shall die without a son, and be the
-last of his persecuting race, despite the brat in the warming pan."
-
-"On thy carcase, foul kite, will I avenge this treason against the
-Lord's anointed!" replied Joram, spurring his horse.
-
-"Thou fool!" shrieked Ichabod, with a hollow laugh; "was that
-accursed tyrant who fiddled while Rome blazed beneath him the
-anointed of the Lord?"
-
-"Have at thee, trumpeter of treason!"
-
-"Caitiff and firebrand of hell, at last I have thee!" and their
-swords flashed as they fell upon each other like two mad bulls.  The
-superior strength and skill of the cavalier chaplain quite failed him
-before the ferocious enthusiasm of the Presbyterian, whose long
-broadsword, swayed by both hands, was twice driven through his body
-at the first onset.
-
-"King and High Kirk for ever!" cried poor Joram, as he fell forward
-with the blood gushing from his mouth; but, still unsatisfied,
-Ichabod seized him as he sank down, writhing one hand in his hair,
-and throwing the body across his saddle-bow, he slashed off the head,
-and held it aloft, a grinning and dripping trophy.
-
-"Behold," he exclaimed in an unearthly voice, "behold the head of
-Holofernes!"
-
-All was over now.  Walter gave a hurried glance around him.  The
-palace was being sacked by the rabble, who carried off all they could
-lay their hands upon; but it was upon the beautiful chapel, that
-venerable monument of ancient art and David's pious zeal, that the
-whole tide of popular fury was poured.  In five minutes it was
-completely devastated.  The tall windows, with their rich tracery and
-stained glass, were destroyed; the magnificent tombs of marble and
-brass, the grand organ, the altar with its burning candles and great
-silver crucifix, the rich oak stalls of the Thistle, with the swords,
-helmets, and banners of the twelve knights,--were all torn down, and
-the beautifully variegated pavement was stripped from the floor.
-
-All the wood and ornamental work, the pictures, reliques, furniture,
-vestments, &c., were piled in front of the palace, and committed to
-the flames amid the yells of the populace, whose cries seemed to rend
-the very welkin.  Dashing spurs into his horse, Walter gave him the
-reins, and sweeping his sword around him, right, left, front and
-rear, he broke through the crowd, and, followed by a score of
-bullets, galloped up the Canongate and escaped,--the sole survivor of
-that night's slaughter at Holyrood.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-THE VEILED PICTURE.
-
-  To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claver's that spoke,
-  Ere the King's crown shall fall there are crowns to be broke;
-  So let each Cavalier who loves honour and me,
-  Come follow the bonnet of bonnie Dundee.
-                                              SCOTT.
-
-
-Skirting the city, Walter soon left the roar of the angry multitude
-far behind him; he was galloping among fallow fields, hedge-rows, and
-solitary lanes, and the silence of the country was a relief to his
-excited spirit after the fierce tumult of the last six hours.  The
-snow had melted; Dairy-burn, and other little rills that traversed
-the dark fields, gleamed like silver threads in the starlight.
-
-Walter passed the loch, and reached the old Place of Drumdryan; the
-house was ruined and desolate, roofless and windowless, and the
-roadway was strewn with fragments of furniture.  His anxiety
-increased, and, goring his horse onward, he dashed up the dark dewy
-avenue of Bruntisfield, and reined up at the Barbican-gate.  The
-perfect silence, unbroken even by the barking of a dog, and the
-strong odour of burned wood, had in some sort prepared him for the
-sight he witnessed.  There, too, had been the hand of the destroyer,
-and a great part of the once noble mansion was a bare, blackened, and
-open ruin.  Its corbie-stoned gables and round turrets stood bleakly
-in bold relief against the starry sky; and from the depths of its
-vaulted chambers, the remains of the smouldering conflagration sent
-forth at times a column of smoke into the calm winter atmosphere.
-The court and garden were strewn with broken furniture, torn
-hangings, books, and household utensils.
-
-The sudden snorting of his horse drew Walter's attention to two
-corpses that lay near the outer door.  They were those of John Leekie
-the gardener, and Drouthy the aged butler, who, like true vassals,
-had both "with harness on their backs" perished at their lady's
-threshold.  Both had on corslets and steel caps, and one yet grasped
-a broken partisan.
-
-Full of dire thoughts of vengeance, Walter galloped back to the city,
-every corner of which was now overflown with the tide of confusion
-and uproar that had been so long concentrated around Holyrood.  He
-naturally sought the Castle-hill, where Dundee and Dunbarton, with
-their sixty followers, who of all the Lowlands seemed now alone to
-remain true to their fugitive king, were drawn up under the cannon of
-the Half-moon.
-
-"So the villains have sacked Holyrood," said Dundee, smiling grimly.
-
-"To their contentment," replied Walter.  "Poor Finland, our jolly
-chaplain, Wallace, and a hundred brave soldiers, have gone to render
-a last account of their faithful service; and I alone survive, my
-lords."
-
-"To avenge them, add, sir.  'Tis the hope of repaying with most
-usurious interest this heavy account of blood that alone makes me
-bear up," replied Dundee with enthusiasm; "and God give me
-inspiration, for I feel I am the last hope of the old house of
-Stuart."
-
-At that time certain persons who styled themselves a Convention of
-the Estates were assembled in conclave, and thither went the brave
-Dundee, though conscious that, personally or politically, he was the
-bitterest foe of every man present.
-
-"My lords and gentlemen," said he, observing the chill that fell on
-the assemblage when he appeared---"I have come here as a peer of the
-realm, to serve his Majesty James VII. and the Parliament of
-Scotland; and I demand that, if the latter has no occasion for my
-service, it will at least protect my friends and self from the
-insults of the base-born rabble."
-
-With one voice this hastily collected and illegally constituted
-assembly exclaimed--"We cannot and will not!"
-
-"Then farewell, sirs," replied the Viscount, with a smile of pride
-and scorn.  "When again I appear before you, it will not be to
-entreat, but to command--it will not be to plead, but to punish; and
-now, let my trumpets sound To horse!  In the country of the clans,
-the hills are as steep, the woods are as pathless, the glens as deep,
-and the rivers as rapid, as in the days of the Romans; and again from
-the wild north shall the whole tide of Celtic war roll on the traitor
-Lowlands, as in the days of the great Montrose.  When again you hear
-the voice of Dundee, my Lords of Convention,--_tremble_!"
-
-He clasped on his headpiece and retired.  As the jangle of his sword
-and spurs descending the stone turnpike died away, a deep silence
-pervaded the dusky hall; for the threats of this chivalric soldier,
-when united to their foreknowledge of his dauntless courage, his
-unflinching loyalty, his loftiness of mind, and intense ferocity,
-threw a chill upon the more cold-blooded and calculating
-revolutionists.  But soon the gallant blare of the trumpet, the
-stirring brattle of the brass kettle-drums, the clang of iron hoofs,
-and jingle of steel scabbards and chain bridles, awaking all the
-echoes of the great cathedral, and the hollow arcades of the dark
-Parliament Square, announced the march of the Life Guards--those
-sixty brave gentlemen who, of all his once numerous and fondly
-cherished army, now alone remained staunch to the hapless James.
-
-Dark looks were exchanged, and as the music grew faint, all seemed to
-breathe more freely.  Then the querulous voice of Lord Mersington was
-heard, and in the half-lighted hall, his dwarfish figure, clad in his
-senatorial robes, was dimly seen on the rostrum, and, as he addressed
-the convention, from the effect of his recent potations and over
-exertion, he swayed on his heels like a statue on a pivot.  His
-speech was somewhat to the following purpose.
-
-"That for sae mickle as the vile and bloody papistical James, Duke of
-Albany and York, having assumed the regal sceptre without the oath
-required for due maintenance of religion, and having altered the
-ancient constitution of the kingdom by ane exertion of tyrannous and
-arbitrary power, had forfeited all richt to the crown of Scotland,
-now and for ever; that it be forthwith settled on the Statholder
-William, and Mary his spouse; that there be made a list of grievances
-to be redressed, and a new act framit, anent witchcraft, papacy,
-prelacy, and ither abominations."
-
-The last echoes of the trumpets of Dundee had died away under the
-arch of the Netherbow Port, and the motions of Mersington were
-carried with universal approbation.  "Thus," says the author of
-_Caledonia_ "the revolution in England was conducted constitutionally
-by the parliament; but in Scotland, unconstitutionally by the
-convention.  The English _found_ a vacancy of the throne, the Scots
-_made_ one; the one grave and regarding law, the other vehement and
-disregarding it."
-
-With a heaviness of heart, a deep and morbid sadness against which he
-struggled in vain, Walter rode down the steep Leith Wynd.  He was now
-a private trooper under Dundee, and leaving Lilian far behind him;
-for he was going, he foresaw, to perish under the fallen banner of a
-desperate cause and ruined king; but soon the clash of the cymbals,
-the fanfare of the trumpets, the tramp of the stately horses, the
-high bearing of their gallant riders, and that innate loftiness of
-soul, which made Dunbarton and Dundee rise superior to their fortune,
-and seem to set fate at defiance, communicated a new ardour to his
-heart, and it soon beat responsive to the martial music, as the troop
-of cavaliers traversed the city's northern ridge, and riding by the
-Long Gate saw the morning sun rising afar off above the snow clad
-Lammermuir, gilding Preston Bay, the far hills of Fife, and the
-shining waters of the dark blue Forth.
-
-Dundee rode near Fenton, who, finding more than once, the dark and
-pensive eyes of this singularly handsome soldier fixed upon him with
-something of that foredoomed expression, indicative of his future
-fate and fame, he ventured to ask, "Whither go you, my lord?"
-
-"Wherever the shade of Montrose shall direct me," was the thoughtful
-and poetical reply.  "Believe me, Mr. Fenton," he continued, after a
-pause, "under whatever circumstances, or however oppressed by fate, I
-will acquit myself before God, the world, and my own conscience.
-Yes!" he exclaimed, with flashing eyes, and striking his gloved hand
-upon his corsletted breast, "I will hazard life and limb, estate and
-title, name and fame, yes, I would peril even my salvation, were it
-possible, in the cause of my honour and allegiance; and if I cannot
-save the throne of King James, at least I will not survive its
-fall--so the will of God be done!"
-
-There was something sublime in his aspect as he spoke; his dark and
-lustrous eyes were full of fire; his face, the manly beauty of which
-few have equalled and none surpassed, was suffused with a warm glow,
-and the proud curl of his mustachioed lip, showed the high spirit of
-achievement that burned within him.  The soul of the great Montrose
-seemed indeed to inspire him, and in such a moment all the darker and
-weaker points were forgotten.  His ardour was communicated to Walter,
-whose heart beat fast as he exclaimed,
-
-"Noble Dundee, to victory or the grave, to the field or the scaffold,
-I will follow thee, and in that hour when I fail in my duty or
-allegiance, may woe betide me and dishonour blot my name!"
-
-Dundee pressed his hand and replied,
-
-"In the wilds of the pathless north, ten thousand claymores will
-flash from their scabbards at the call of Dundee.  The loyal and
-gallant clans have not forgotten the glories of Alford, Inverlochy,
-and Auldearn, when the standard of James Grahame, of Montrose, was
-never unfurled but to victory.  Again, like him, will I lead them
-against this Dutch usurper, whom in an evil hour I saved from death
-upon the battle-field of Seneff.  Yes, after he had fallen beneath
-the hoofs of Vaudemont's Reitres, I saved his life at the risk of my
-own, and horsed him on my own good charger, when, could his future
-ingratitude to me, and the usurpation of this hour have been
-foreseen, my petronel had blown his brains to the wind."
-
-"Ha! what wants his grace of Gordon?" said Dunbarton as the flash of
-a cannon broke from the dark castle wall, and a puff of white smoke
-curled away on the clear morning air, while the echoes of the report
-reverberated like thunder among the black basaltic cliffs of the
-great fortress past which they were riding.  A little arched postern
-to the westward opened, and a soldier appeared waving a white flag
-from the brow of the steep rock, which the turretted bastion
-overhung.  The troop halted, and their kettle-drums gave three
-ruffles in honour of the duke.
-
-"Tarry for me, gentlemen comrades," said Claverhouse, "while I confer
-with 'the cock of the north,'" and galloping to the base of the
-castle rock, he dismounted, and notwithstanding his steel harness,
-buff coat, and jack boots, clambered with great agility to the
-postern, where he held a conference with the Duke of Gordon.
-
-What passed was never known; but each is said to have needlessly
-exhorted the other to loyalty and truth.
-
-The multitude, who from a distance had watched the departure of the
-hated Dundee, fled back to the city, and reported to the Lords of the
-Convention, that "there was a coalition and general insurrection of
-the adherents of the bluidy Claver'se," and thereupon a dreadful
-panic ensued.  The city drums beat the point of war; the Duke of
-Hamilton and other revolutionists, who had for weeks past been
-secretly bringing great bands of their vassals into Edinburgh, where
-they were concealed in cellars and garrets, now rushed to arms, and
-the members of Convention, confined in their hall, were terrified and
-put to their wit's end by the uproar.  Lord Mersington, it is
-related, exchanging his senatorial robe and wig, "for ane auld wife's
-mutch and plaid," fled to his lodging, and appeared no more that day;
-but their fears were causeless, for Dundee, and the devoted cavaliers
-who accompanied him in his chivalric but hopeless enterprise, were
-then passing the woods and morasses of Corstorphine, on their route
-to the land of the Gael.
-
-At a hand gallop they soon flanked the grey rocks and pine covered
-summits of those beautiful hills, and the sequestered village lay
-before them, with the morning smoke curling from its moss-roofed
-cottages, its broad lake swollen by the melting snows, but calm as a
-mirror, save where the swan and dusky waterouzel squattered its
-shining surface; the ancient kirk peeped above a grove of venerable
-sycamores, and to the south stood the castle of the old hereditary
-Foresters of Corstorphine.
-
-"What castles are these on the right and left?" asked Dundee.  "I
-warrant Mr. Holster can tell; he knows everything and everybody."
-
-"Yonder hold with the loch flowing almost to its gates, is the house
-of the Lord Forester," replied the cavalier trooper, "a leal man and
-true."
-
-"And that tall peel on the muirland to the north?"
-
-"The tower of Clermiston, my lord."
-
-"What! the house of Randal Clermont--um--a converted covenanter, and
-worshipper of the rising sun, eh?"
-
-"'Tis said his name is at the address sent by the turncoat council to
-the Statholder," said Dunbarton.
-
-"Assure me of that," exclaimed Dundee, sharply reining up his horse,
-"and by all the devils, I will hang him from his own bartizan, lord
-and baron though he be!  Halt, gentlemen, we will pay these lords a
-visit; they, or their stewards, must pay us riding money, for the
-king's service.  My lord, Earl, and thirty of you gentlemen, will
-detour across to Clermiston, while I will ride down to make my devoir
-to the Forester of these hills--forward, trot."
-
-The troop separated, and Walter somewhat unwillingly accompanied Lord
-Dunbarton, whose party galloped in single files along the muddy and
-rough bridle-road that led over the lea to the gate of the solitary
-tower.  They encircled the barbican wall, which was built partly on
-fragments of low rock, without being able to find entrance, the great
-gate being securely fastened, and the stillness of the place seemed
-to imply that it was uninhabited.  A shriek, echoing through the
-vaulted recesses of the tower, rang out upon the clear morning air; a
-window was dashed open, and a female hand, white and bleeding,
-appeared, while a voice calling for aid made the blood of Walter
-Fenton rush back upon his heart.
-
-"On, on, good sirs!" he exclaimed, leaping from his horse; "some work
-of hell is being enacted here!" and he rushed against the tower gate,
-making fruitless efforts to burst it open; but they were as those of
-a child against the solid planks of the barrier.
-
-"By Mahoud's horns, Clermistonlee is at his old tricks again!" cried
-Jack Holster, leaping from his saddle, and unslinging his carbine.
-"He hath a lass in his meshes; alight gallants all, or the fair
-fortress will be won by storm, while we dally in the trenches."
-
-"Would to God I had a petard!" exclaimed Walter; "this gate is like a
-wall."
-
-"Unsling your carbines, gentlemen," said the Earl of Dunbarton.  "A
-volley at the lock--give fire!"
-
-Thirty carbines poured their concentrated volley upon the gate; it
-was torn to fragments, and an aperture formed which admitted the
-troopers; to creep through, and rush on with his drawn rapier, were
-to Walter a moment's work.  By pulling the leathern latch of a long
-oak pin which secured the door of the tower, they procured ingress,
-and rushed up the turnpike stair to the hall, at the very moment that
-Lilian was just sinking backwards, with her hands clasped in despair,
-while Lord Clermistonlee, enraged by her outcries, and the new and
-pressing danger, was endeavouring with ferocious violence to drag her
-into some place of concealment.
-
-"False villain!" exclaimed Walter, springing upon him with his
-rapier.  "I have a thousand insults to avenge; but this, and this,
-and this, repay them all!" and he made three furious lunges at his
-rival, who escaped two by the intervention of Dunbarton, who
-vigorously interposed; but he received one severe wound in the left
-shoulder.  Infuriated by the sight of his own blood, and being a man
-of great strength and agility, he grappled fiercely with Walter,
-breathlessly exclaiming, in accents of rage--
-
-"Woe betide thee, thou unhanged rascal!  A sword! a sword! lend me a
-sword, some one!  Juden!  Traitors, I am a Lord of Parliament, and
-dare ye slaughter me under the rooftree of my own fortified house?
-This is hership and hamesucken with a vengeance!  Death and
-confusion, villains; recollect I am unarmed!"
-
-"Lend him a sword, some of you," said Walter.
-
-"Oh no, no; spare him," moaned Lilian, who was supported by the Earl
-of Dunbarton.
-
-"Base-born runnion, and son of a dunghill!" exclaimed Clermistonlee,
-with that intense ferocity and scorn which he could so easily assume
-at all times; "an hour will come when this insult shall be fearfully
-repaid----" here the clenched hand of Walter struck him down.
-Staggering backward, making a futile attempt to recover himself, his
-clutching hands tore away the veil that concealed the portrait
-already mentioned.  The face it revealed instantly arrested the
-forward stride and menacing sword of Walter Fenton, who stood
-irresolute, trembled, and the sinking sword half fell from his
-relaxed hand, as he muttered--
-
-"What is this coming over my spirit now?  That face seems like a
-vision from the grave to me!"
-
-"'Tis the Lady Alison, my Lord's late wife," said the shrill but
-sullen voice of Beatrix.
-
-"Pshaw!" rejoined Walter; "then my weakness is over.  Give him a
-sword, gentlemen.  In fair stand-up fight, I will meet him here, with
-case of pistols, sword, and dagger, or anything he pleases."
-
-"O part them, for the sake of mercy!" implored Lilian.
-
-Juden came in at that moment, clad in his steel bonnet and buff jack,
-and swaying an enormous partisan, was rushing upon Walter Fenton like
-a wild boar, when Holsterlee laid him flat with his clubbed carbine.
-The swooning of Lord Clermistonlee closed the brawl for the time;
-loss of blood, over-drinking, and over-excitement, had quite
-prostrated all his energies.  Walter immediately sheathed his sword,
-and, kneeling down, was the first to tender assistance; for
-"compassion ever marks the brave."
-
-Clermistonlee was borne away to his own apartment by the growling
-Juden, whose thick pate was little the worse of Holsterlee's stroke;
-and Lilian was now Walter's next and immediate care.
-
-The disorder and scantiness of her attire, the pallor and horror of
-her aspect, and her presence in such a place, had previously informed
-him of all, and no sooner were they in a more retired apartment,
-than, throwing herself into his arms, she wept bitterly.  Meanwhile,
-the unscrupulous cavaliers were ranging over the entire household,
-breaking open every press, cabinet, and girnel, with the butts and
-balls of their carbines, in search of wine, vivres, or anything else
-that suited their fancies.  Juden kept always a full larder, and its
-contents furnished a sumptuous breakfast.  Several whole cheeses, a
-cask of ale, and a thirty-gallon runlet or two of canary, were
-trundled into the hall; and a hearty repast, with the usual military
-accompaniments of mirth and laughter, was enjoyed by the hungry
-troopers, whose appetites a night spent in their saddles, and a ride
-in the keen air of a winter morning, had sufficiently whetted.
-
-In a few minutes, Lilian, with faltering accents, had informed Walter
-of her abduction, of the hours of suffering she had endured, and her
-anxiety to return to Lady Grisel; but, alas! poor Lilian knew not
-that perhaps her only relative had perished in the conflagration of
-her old ancestral home.
-
-Aware that Dundee meant to halt for an hour or so, to await
-despatches from the Earl of Balcarris and the ex-Lord-Advocate,
-Walter resolved without delay to accompany Lilian to Edinburgh, and
-there convey her to some place of safety, ere he cast himself upon
-the world for ever; for from that hour he was like a reed tossed upon
-the waves of misfortune.  By the assistance of Jack Holster, he had
-Clermistonlee's favourite mare prepared for Lilian; and, after
-refreshing her with a milk-posset made by the cynical Beatrix, they
-departed for the city at a quick trot: the plain buff coat, steel
-cap, and accoutrements of Walter, enabling him to pass for a Royalist
-or Revolutionist, as occasion required.
-
-As soon as they began to converse, the pace of their horses was
-checked, and they proceeded slowly: forgetful of Claverhouse and of
-his pledged word, Walter remembered only the presence of Lilian; and
-their minds were so much absorbed in their mutual explanations and
-plans for the future, that they marked not the tardiness of their
-progression towards Edinburgh.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-LOVE AND PRINCIPLE.
-
-  My promised husband and my dearest friend;
-  Since heaven appoints this favoured race to reign,
-  And blood has drenched the Scottish fields in vain,
-  May I be wretched and thy flight partake?
-  Or wilt not thou for thy loved Chloe's sake,
-  Tired out at length submit to fate's decree.
-                                                TICKELL.
-
-
-"And this is the fate to which you have dedicated yourself?" said
-Lilian, weeping; "to become a follower of that fierce Dundee in the
-desperate course on which he is about to fling himself.  Oh, Walter
-Fenton, this is the very folly of enthusiasm.  Too surely can we see
-that the hand of Fate is against the House of Stuart."
-
-"Lilian," replied her lover, with mournful surprise, "the daughter of
-an old Cavalier house should have other thoughts than these.
-Remember, dear Lilian, there is not in Europe a royal race for which
-so many of the good and the gallant, the brave and the loyal, have
-from the foughten field and the reeking scaffold given up their souls
-to God.  Let no man judge harshly of those whose splendour is dimmed
-for a time; for the hour _shall_ come when in the full zenith of
-their pride and power, the old line of our Scottish kings----"
-
-"'Tis all a dream, Walter.  The entire nations are against them.  I
-feel a presentiment that they and their followers are doomed to
-wither and perish like brands in the burning."
-
-"My faith! art turning preacher, lassie?"
-
-"Oh, what a prospect for thee, Walter!"
-
-"The world is all before me; and I can always preserve my honour, my
-heart, and my sword.  But thou, Lilian----"
-
-"Am beside thee, dear Walter," said she, with touching artlessness;
-"and is not happiness better than honour?"
-
-"True, true," replied the young man, while he kissed her hand, and
-his eyes filled with tenderness.  "Ah, Lilian, it is the thought that
-I am leaving you, perhaps for ever, that alone unnerves me for the
-deadly venture in which we are about to engage.  Hopeless though the
-cause of James may be, we have sworn not to survive it; and, come
-weal or woe, we will unfurl his standard on the northern hills, and
-if it waves not over us in victory, it shall never do so in defeat or
-dishonour; for to the last man we will perish on the sod beneath it.
-Your memory alone will make me sad--but am I singular?  How many of
-these my brave companions have gentle ones to leave, mothers who
-bless, and sisters who love them, while I am alone.  Save thee, there
-is nothing that binds me to this world.  What of it is mine?  The six
-feet that shall make my grave!"
-
-"O! most ungrateful Walter," said Lilian, in a low voice of confusion
-and tenderness; "is not all that I have yours, manor and lands? are
-not these possessions ample?  Greedy Gled," she added, smiling; "what
-better tocher would you have?"
-
-"Lilian," sighed Walter, in a thick voice, as he pressed her hand to
-his heart, "it may not be, dearest--yet awhile, at least."
-
-The blushing girl gave him a timid and startled glance of inquiry.
-
-"I am solemnly pledged to Dundee."
-
-"Cruel Claverhouse! has he more charms for you than I have?"
-
-"You know that my heart is full of you, Lilian; but there is also
-room for ambition in it.  I cannot live ignobly and obscure; as such
-I would be unworthy to possess you.  I would feel myself a nameless
-intruder under the rooftree of your crested ancestors, whose armorial
-blazons on every panel and window-pane, would shame my meaner birth,
-and put me to the blush."
-
-"Ungrateful! after all I have urged and said.  'Tis a dream, Walter,
-a mere dream, but one that will make the world dark--oh! very dark to
-me."
-
-"'Tis very true; I am choosing the path of proscription, danger, and
-death; but the fortune of war may better the prospects of my faction."
-
-"After years of separation, perhaps."
-
-"With happiness in prospect, they would soon pass, dear Lilian."
-
-"Oh, this wicked Claverhouse! he hath quite cast a glamour over you.
-How can you talk so calmly of years of separation?  What may not be
-lost in that time?"
-
-"My life on the field, or scaffold, perhaps."
-
-"Your life is mine, Walter; it was pledged to me.  Have you forgot
-the 20th of September, and the hour by the fountain?"
-
-"Dearest girl, how could I ever forget it?  'Tis true, Lilian, that
-we are in the very flower of our days; the bloom of our youth and
-existence is at its full; love, tenderness, beauty, and
-susceptibility, all glow within our hearts."
-
-"And will not the roll of years make them dull, diminish their force,
-and cool their fervour?  Oh, heavens!  I am quite making love to
-you," said Lilian, blushing crimson; "but danger and the risk of
-losing you have endued me with great boldness."
-
-"But time will never diminish the love I bear thee, Lilian; and the
-memory of this hour's bitter struggle--this conflict between a love
-that is irresistible and the strong ties of honour, that bind me to
-the banner of Dundee, will haunt me to my grave!"  Tears started into
-his eyes.
-
-A silence ensued.  Poor Lilian had nothing more to urge; and despite
-of all her gentleness, felt both intensely grieved and mortified, if
-not quite piqued, at Walter, whose heart was wrung by an agony too
-acute for words.  As they rode past the thick woodlands that shelter
-the venerable church of St. Cuthbert, they heard a shrill but cracked
-voice chanting slowly--
-
-  "I like ane owl in désart am, &c."
-
-
-"By Jove! 'tis the villain who slew poor Joram," exclaimed Walter,
-drawing a pistol from his holsters; but the voices of two other
-persons finishing the verse, arrested him.  "Astonishment! 'tis the
-voice of Finland!" said Walter, as he spurred his horse close to a
-fauld dyke, on the other side of which he saw, what?  Annie Laurie,
-and his old friend and brother Cavalier, Finland, on their knees,
-beside Mr. Ichabod Bummel, chanting a psalm in most dolorous accents.
-
-"By all the devils!" said Walter, almost bursting with laughter;
-"'tis the age of miracles this!  What, ho!  Dick Douglas and Mistress
-Anne Laurie, singing hymns among the heather like two true laverocks
-of the persecuted kirk."
-
-"Woe unto thee, thou troubler of the just in spirit!" cried Mr.
-Ichabod, unsheathing his broadsword.  "I have plucked the youth and
-the maiden like brands from the fire which is fated to consume all
-such unrepentant persecutors of Israel as thee."
-
-"I have seen a new light," said Finland, giving Walter a sly wink of
-deep meaning.
-
-"And so have _I_," added Mistress Laurie, demurely; "and command
-thee, Walter Fenton, thou man of sin, to treat this holy expounder of
-the Gospel with becoming reverence."
-
-"Annie--oh, Annie!" cried Lilian, as she boldly leaped the mare over
-the fauld dyke, and threw herself into the arms of her friend.
-
-"My service to you, Mr. Ichabod," said Walter, bowing to the rawboned
-preacher; but quite unable to unriddle the mystery of this
-rencounter, he whispered to Finland (while the slayer of Joram was
-engaged with Lilian), "What the devil does all this mean, Dick?"
-
-"Learn in a few words," replied Finland, who was in as miserable a
-plight as dust, smoke, and a hundred bruises could make him.  "Annie
-and I had a most miraculous escape amid the horrors of last night.  I
-will tell you of it anon--'twas quite a devil of a business.  As for
-me, I am well used to such camisadoes, having been blown up at Namur,
-and twice nearly drowned in the Zuiderzluys; but how my adorable
-Annie escaped, Heaven, who saved her, can only know.  We were in the
-hands of the most villanous mob the world ever saw; they were about
-to hang me from the arm of the Girth-cross; and Annie--oh! my blood
-bubbles like boiling water when I think of what they intended for
-her; when this leathern-jawed apostle, who, with all his
-psalm-singing and whiggery, hath some good points of honesty about
-him, brought us off, sword in hand; we bundled out of the city
-without blast of trumpet; and here we are.  As a gentleman of
-cavalier principles," said Finland, colouring, "you may marvel that I
-would condescend to chant a psalm like a mere clown or canting
-herdsman; but as we are utterly at the mercy of this Ichabod Mummel
-or Bummel, I had no choice.  He needs must----tush! you know the
-musty old saw."
-
-"It is enough, maiden," said the preacher, replying to something
-Lilian had said, and taking, with an air of real kindness, the little
-hand of the shrinking girl within his own great bony paw, "I know
-thee to be the kinswoman of that godly matron, Grisel Napier, who,
-though wedded to as cruel a persecutor as ever bestrode a
-war-horse--yea, and though leavened in their wickedness withal,
-sheltered me in the days of my exceeding tribulation, when there was
-a flaming sword over Israel, and when, as a humble instrument in the
-cause of that great Saviour of the Kirk (whose coming I foretold in
-my _Bombshell_, whilk hath not yet the luck to be printed), I came
-from Holland to this land of anarchy, and had no where to lay my
-head.  She clothed and sheltered me, for the sake of that loved
-kinsman who is now no more, slain by some accursed persecutor, whom I
-would smite--yea, maiden, both hip and thigh, if I had him within
-reach of this good old whinger, that so oft hath avenged the fall of
-our martyrs!"
-
-Walter instinctively grasped his sword, startled by the stern energy
-of the preacher, who continued--
-
-"It is enough maiden,--with me ye are safe, and to a place of peace I
-will conduct you and your friend; but for these two sons of the
-scarlet woman--these slaves of Jezebel, who have been nursled in the
-blood of our saints and martyrs, and in whom it grieves me to think
-ye have garnered up your hearts, I may not, and cannot, with a safe
-conscience, protect them.  Let them depart from me in peace; let them
-follow him who, ere long, will be called to a severe account for all
-his dark misdeeds--John Grahame of Claverhouse."
-
-"'Tis sound advice, Mr. Bummel," said Walter, tightening his reins,
-and drawing off his glove.  "By Heaven!  I had quite forgotten; he
-will have crossed the Forth by this time, and it will require some
-exertion of horseflesh to rescue my honour.  Finland, we must go.
-Mount Lilian's horse.  Lilian," he added, in a low and tremulous
-voice, "farewell now; commend me to Lady Grisel, and bid her bless
-me; farewell, Lilian--we must part at last;" and stooping from his
-horse, he gently pressed her to his steel-cased breast, and kissed
-her.
-
-"Oh!  Walter, remain--remain," murmured Lilian.
-
-"It cannot be--it is impossible now; I am pledged to Grahame of
-Claverhouse."  And afraid to trust himself longer within hearing of
-her soft entreaties, lest love might overcome the stern principles of
-loyalty in which he had schooled himself, he leaped his horse over
-the fauld dyke; and while he felt as if his very heart was torn by
-the agony of that separation, he dashed along the road to the west,
-leaving Finland to follow as he chose.
-
-With a mind overcharged by sad and bitter thoughts, Walter galloped
-madly on, retracing the way he had come with Lilian; his mind seemed
-a very whirlpool, and the events of the last twenty-four hours a
-dream.  A steep old bridge, which the roadway crossed near the
-ancient manor of Sauchtoun was ringing beneath his horse's heels,
-when a distant shout made him rein up.
-
-"Hollo!" cried Finland, as he came after him breathlessly on the
-panting mare; "what the devil--art gone mad, Walter?  Oh this
-tormenting love--ha! ha!"
-
-"I envy this happy flow of spirits, Finland!"
-
-"Then you envy me the possession of all that fate hath left me in
-this bad world.  This devilish commotion hath confiscated my free
-barony of Finland, and torn my arms at the cross; still I am more gay
-than thee who hath nothing to lose."
-
-"And after parting with one you love," continued Walter, almost
-piqued by his friend's lightness of heart; "parting perhaps for
-ever----"
-
-"Tush, man--I am used to such partings.  I have had many a love that
-was true while it lasted; but none like the passion I bear my dear
-Annie.  My first flame was a blue-eyed damoisella of the Low
-Countries (her mother was a fleuriste in Ghent).  I thought I loved
-her very much; but somehow at Bruges, Mons, and Bergen-op-Zoom, 'twas
-ever the same; I always left some one with a heavy heart; and cursed
-the générale, when in the cold foggy mornings it rang through the
-dark muddy streets, waking the storks on the high roofs above, and
-the drowsy boors in their beds below.  I know that the wheels of fate
-and fortune are ever turning; some points may, and others must come
-round, to their first starting place, so I always live in hope.  I
-was very sad in Ghent when our drums beat along the street of St.
-Michael, and I bade adieu to my fair one, coming away I remember by
-the window instead of the door."
-
-"How--why?"
-
-"I don't know, man," laughed Douglas; "but so we often left our
-billets in French Flanders.  But I assure thee, lad, that under all
-this gaiety my heart is as heavy as thine; for I vow to thee, that
-the recollection of Annie with her beseeching blue eyes, her dark
-clustering hair and pallid cheek, the touching cadence of her voice,
-and the words she said to me are imprinted on my heart as if the hand
-of Heaven had written them there.  By the bye I have composed a
-famous song about her."
-
-"A song!"
-
-"Music and all.  I wrote it on the night we were about to sack the
-old house of Bruntisfield in search of yonder spindle-shanked
-apostle.  Ah, if in my absence Craigdarroch should dare--but ho!
-yonder are some of our friends halted under a tree upon that grassy
-knowe."
-
-"There is something odd being acted there.  Does not yonder white
-feather wave in the steel bonnet of Dundee?"
-
-"He is permitting some false Whig to sing his last psalm under _the_
-convenient branch where he is doomed to feed the corbies.  Dundee is
-very kind in that way sometimes."
-
-Recrossing the stream called the Leith, they rode towards a knoll
-that rose amid the marshy ground near the castle loch of
-Corstorphine.  There a dozen of the cavalier troopers were
-dismounted, and leaning on their swords or carbines, were holding
-their bridles in a cluster round Dundee, who was still on horseback,
-and in the act of addressing a disarmed prisoner, in whom with
-surprise and sorrow they recognized the young Laird of Holsterlee.
-
-Cool and collected, with folded arms he firmly encountered the large
-dark eyes of Dundee, which were fixed with stern scrutiny upon him.
-The group of his comrades surveyed him with glances of mingled scorn
-and pity.
-
-"Holsterlee!" said the Viscount, who held in one hand a long Scots
-pistol, in the other a letter; "how little could I once have
-suspected that you, the best cavalier of the king's life guard, and
-one in whose loyalty and high spirit I trusted so much, would stoop
-to this dishonour!  The attempt simply of deserting to take service
-with this vile usurper, though bad enough in itself, is as nothing
-compared to the treachery which this stray letter has revealed.  Fool
-and villain! thou knowest that I am the last hope of the king's cause
-in Scotland, and that if I fall it will be buried in my grave; and
-yet thou art in league with this accursed Convention to destroy me!
-A thousand English guineas for my head, thou villanous
-scape-the-gallows and companion of grooms and horseboys, who hast
-squandered away a fair repute and noble patrimony among rakehelly
-gamesters and women of pleasure, dost thou value the head of a
-Scottish peer at a sum so trifling? hah!"  He uttered a bitter laugh.
-"What," he resumed, "hast thou to urge, that I should not hang thee
-from the branch of this beech tree?"
-
-"That I am a gentleman," replied Holsterlee boldly; "a lesser baron
-of blood and coat-armour by twelve descents, and should not die the
-death of a peasant churl or faulty hound."
-
-"Right!" exclaimed Dundee, whose dark and terrible eyes began to fill
-with their dusky fire.  "A gentleman should die by the hand of
-another, for every punishment is disgraceful.  DEATH is the only
-relief from the consciousness of crime.  Thou shalt have the honour
-of perishing by the hand of the first cavalier in Scotland.  _Thus_
-shalt thou die--now God receive thy soul!" and pointing upward with
-his bridle hand, he levelled the pistol and fired.  The ball passed
-through the brain of Holsterlee, and flattened against the plastered
-wail of a neighbouring cottage.  The body sank prostrate on the turf,
-quivered for a moment, and then lay still and stiffening, with
-upturned eyes and relaxed jaws.
-
-This act, which was the most terrible episode in the life of the
-stern Dundee, threw a chill on the hearts of his comrades; but he did
-not permit them to remain gazing on the lifeless remains of one who
-had ridden so long in their ranks, and who was the gayest fellow that
-ever cracked a jest, shuffled a card, or handed a coquette through
-the stately cotillion or joyous couranto.
-
-"Our nags are somewhat breathed after the hot chase he gave us,
-gentlemen," said Dundee, deliberately reloading his pistol, and
-endeavouring under an aspect of external composure to conceal the
-immediate sorrow, remorse, and anger that too surely preyed upon his
-heart.  "To horse! sling carbines--forward--trot!" and away they rode
-in silence leaving the cold remains of the dead man lying on the
-grassy sward, with his blood-dabbled locks waving in the morning
-wind, while the gleds and ravens wheeled and croaked around him with
-impatience.
-
-But he felt not the one, and heard not the other.
-
-He was stripped by the cottagers, and as his dress was remarkably
-rich, to prevent further inquiry they interred him where he lay
-between the bare beech tree and the old cottage wall*.
-
-
-* On removing the walls of an old cottage near Tynecastle, a mile
-westward of Edinburgh, in 1843, the remains of a skeleton were found
-buried close by; the skull had been pierced by a bullet.  In the
-plastered wall of the edifice a ball was found flattened against the
-stone.--_Edin. Advert._, April 18, 1843.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE PASS OF KILLYCRANKIE.
-
-  Heard ye not! heard ye not! how that whirlwind the Gael,
-  Through Lochaber swept down from Lochness to Locheil--
-  And the Campbells to meet them in battle array,
-  Came on like the billow, and broke like its spray!
-  Long, long shall our war-song exult in that day!
-                                    IAN LOM, OF KEPPOCH.
-
-
-The _Revolution_ might be said to be now fully achieved; save Dundee,
-Balcarris, and a few of their followers, all had submitted to the new
-sovereign whom these two nobles would rather have slain than
-acknowledged.  Dundee had been required by a trumpet to return to the
-Convention; he treated the summons with scorn, and after cutting his
-way through a party sent to intercept him, reached the Highlands a
-proscribed fugitive, branded as an outlaw and traitor, and
-stigmatized with every epithet that Presbyterian rancour, heightened
-by the remembrance of his former military excesses, could heap upon
-him.
-
-Colin, Earl of Balcarris, the High Treasurer, was captured and thrown
-into a dungeon.  The weak and servile Melville, the crafty and
-fanatical Stair (the Scottish Tallyrand), and the not less crafty
-Duke of Hamilton, were now at the head of the Government, and these,
-though all staunch Presbyterians were by the king united in council
-with a few of the high church nobles, an intermixture which inflamed
-the animosities of both parties, and sowed the seeds of hatred,
-discord, and confusion.
-
-With his troop of faithful cavaliers Dundee continued to wander from
-place to place in the Highlands until the beginning of May, 1689,
-when he appeared at the head of about two thousand clansmen led by
-Sir Donald Macdonald, the chiefs of Glengarry, Maclean, Locheil, and
-Clanronald--all names which shall ever be associated with the purest
-ideas of chivalry, generosity, and valour.  He had only about 120
-horse, but they were composed entirely of gentlemen, and were
-commanded by a Sir William Wallace, a brave cavalier; Walter Fenton
-was his cornet, and carried the standard.
-
-Lieutenant-General Hugh Mackay, of Scoury, now commander-in-chief of
-the Scottish forces, Colonel-Commandant of the Scottish Brigade, and
-Privy Councillor of Scotland, marched against him at the head of
-nearly five thousand foot, and with two regiments of cavalry.
-Neither the fall of Edinburgh Castle (which Sir John Lanier
-demolished), nor the disappointment of assistance from Ireland which
-James had promised him, could damp the ardour of the brave Dundee.
-Deficiency of provisions had compelled him to shift his quarters
-frequently, and his devoted followers had endured the most severe
-privations; but under these they disdained to complain, when they
-knew that Dundee shared them all.  Like Montrose, he was eminently
-calculated for a Highland leader.  In his buff coat and headpiece he
-marched on foot, now by the side of one clan, and anon by the ranks
-of another, addressing the soldiers in their native Gaelic,
-flattering their long genealogies, and animating the fierce rivalry
-of clanship by reciting the deeds of their forefathers, and the
-sonorous verses of their ancient bards.
-
-"It has ever been my maxim, Mr. Fenton," said he to our friend on one
-occasion, "that no general should command an irregular army in the
-field without becoming acquainted with every man under his baton."
-
-On the 17th June, 1689, he marched to the Pass of Killycrankie, where
-one of the most decisive battles in Scottish history was bravely
-fought and fruitlessly won.  Dawn was brightening on the hills of
-Athole; and Walter, who, quite exhausted by a long series of
-hardships, cold, starvation, and a pistol-shot wound, was sleeping
-under his horse's legs, was aroused by the sonorous and guttural cry
-of a sentinel, who screamed out in Gaelic--
-
-"Hoigh, Mhic Alastair Mhor!  Hark to the war-drum of the Saxon!"
-
-It was the morning of a battle!  Walter's first thought was of
-Lilian; his second of the prospects of victory.  The dear image of
-Lilian made him rise superior to his fortune.  Since they had so
-abruptly separated, he had never heard from her; and it was now many
-months.  How long the time seemed!  Amid his dreamy musings, the
-gentle expression of her face often came powerfully to his
-recollection, with, all the vigour of a deeply impressed vision; and
-recollection summoned the tones of her sweet voice to his heart like
-the memory of some old familiar air, and all the gushing tenderness
-of his soul was awakened.  But with these remembrances too often came
-bitterness and despair, and he kissed with all a lover's fervour the
-scarf her hands had wrought him.  Gleams of memory, and vivid visions
-of happiness, which he foresaw too surely could never be realized,
-made his heart swell alternately with tender recollections and joyous
-anticipations, that died away to leave him hopeless and despairing.
-Now they were on the brink of a battle which Walter welcomed with
-anxious joy, for it would be not less decisive as to the issue of his
-love, than for the fortune of James and the fate of the British
-people.
-
-It was a glorious morning in June; the purple summer heather, the
-long yellow broom, the wild briar and honeysuckle, that clambered
-among the basaltic cliffs, loaded the air with a rich perfume; while,
-through the savage and stupendous gorge of Killycrankie, the rising
-sun poured a flood of golden lustre, bringing forward in strong light
-the wooded acclivities of those sublime hills, that heave up to
-heaven their scaured and wooded sides, involving in dark shadow the
-deep rocky chasms, through which the foaming Garry rushes to mingle
-its waters with the rapid Tummel--chasms so profound, and hidden by
-the overhanging foliage, that the roar only of the unseen water was
-heard, awakening the echoes of the dewy woods and shining rocks.
-
-Nothing in nature can surpass the wild grandeur and imposing
-sublimity of this mountain gorge, the frowning terrors of which, in
-after years, so impressed a brigade of Hessians in the last of our
-Scottish wars, that they refused to penetrate what appeared to them
-to be the end of the habitable world.  Save the mountain torrent
-foaming down from the lofty hills, appearing one moment to hurl its
-spray against the shining rocks, and urge masses of earth and stones
-along with it, and disappearing the next, as it plunged into the
-bosky woodlands,--all was still as death in that Highland solitude,
-when, in steadiness and order, Dundee drew up his little host at its
-northern verge, admirably posted on well-chosen ground, two miles
-from the mouth of the pass; the only road to his position being the
-ancient pathway that wound along the face of the precipitous cliffs,
-where the least false step threatened instant destruction even to the
-most wary passenger.
-
-Dundee's band--for it was indeed no more, though named an army--was
-only two thousand strong, and composed of various little parties,
-which were the nucleus of the corps he expected yet to form.  On the
-right was the soi-disant regiment of Sir John Macdonald; a small body
-of the clans, under the illustrious chiefs of Locheil, Glengarry, and
-Clanronald, the Atholemen under Ballechin, Wallace's troop of horse,
-and a corps of three hundred half-clad and miserably accoutred
-Irishmen, composed the mainbody.  Dundee's old troop, in which rode
-the Earl of Dunbarton, his officers, and several Highland gentlemen,
-formed the reserve of cavalry.  The Highlanders, arrayed each in the
-picturesque tartan of their native tribes, were formed in close
-ranks, with their filleadhbegs belted about them; their brass-studded
-targets, long claymores, ponderous poleaxes, and long-barrelled
-Spanish rifles, shining in the rays of the meridian sun.
-
-The brandishing of weapons and clan-standards, and the fierce notes
-of war and defiance, as the various pibrochs rang among the echoing
-hills, announced that the troops of Mackay were in sight.  And now
-the brave and anxious Dundee, clad in his rich scarlet uniform, with
-the tall plumes waving on his polished headpiece, his fine features
-full of animation, and his black eyes alternately clouded by anxiety,
-or flashing with valour and energy,--galloped from clan to clan,
-inspiring them by every exertion of graceful gesture and military
-eloquence to add that day to the fame of their forefathers.
-
-The murmuring hum which, from afar off, announced the drums of
-Mackay, grew more and more palpable, and increased until the hoarse
-and sharp reverberations of the martial music rang between the steep
-impending rocks of the long mountain pass through which the foe was
-penetrating.  Anon the Scottish standards, the red lion with the
-silver cross, and one with that of St. George (borne by Hastings'
-regiment), and the yellow banners of the Scots brigade, appeared at
-intervals of time, and weapons were seen flashing through the
-openings of the chasmed rocks and sable woods of drooping pine.
-
-The day had passed slowly in anxious expectation: it was evening now,
-and the sun had verged to the northwest, but from between gathered
-masses of saffron clouds streams of dazzling light were radiating;
-and the setting rays, as they poured aslant on the mountain sides,
-made the deep pass seem darker as it receded beyond them.  The rattle
-of the drums, and the blare of trumpet and bugle, the clank of
-bandoliers and tread of feet, rang with a thousand reverberations
-between the brows of that tremendous gorge, as the army of Mackay
-debouched from its windings, and formed successive battalions on the
-little level plain or hollow, above which the fierce and impatient
-Highlanders, "like greyhounds in the slips straining upon the start,"
-were formed in array of battle.  Undauntedly they surveyed the
-measured steadiness and precision of the Lowland soldiers, whose
-silken standards fluttered gaily above their moving masses of
-polished steel caps, their screwed bayonets, and long pikes, that
-were ever flashing in the setting sun.
-
-Sir James Hastings' English regiment, and those of Leven and Mackay
-belonging to Scotland, were arrayed in that bright scarlet which was
-to become so famous in future wars; but the battalions of Balfour,
-Ramsay, and Kenmore wore the black iron caps, the scarlet hose, and
-yellow coats of the Scotch-Dutch brigade.  The cavalry corps of the
-Marquis of Annandale and the Lord Belhaven wore coats of spotless
-buff and caps of polished steel.  Their numbers, discipline, and
-order would have stricken with dismay any other volunteers than the
-Highlanders, whose hearts had never known fear, and who had long been
-accustomed to rout both horse and foot with equal speed and success.
-As the practised eye of Mackay reconnoitred the position of Dundee,
-he pointed to the clan, and said to young Cameron of Locheil, who
-rode near him--
-
-"Behold your father and his wild savages: how would you like to be
-with him?"
-
-"It matters little," replied the young man haughtily; "but I
-recommend you to be prepared, or my father and his 'wild savages'
-before night may be nearer you than you would wish."
-
-The reports of a slight skirmish between the right wing of the
-Highlanders and Mackay's left, made the hearts of all beat quicker;
-and in the interval, Dundee exchanged his scarlet coat for one of
-buff, richly laced with silver; and over it he tied a scarf of
-_green_, which the Highlanders considered ominous of evil.  Leaping
-on horseback, he galloped to the front, and a shout of impatience
-burst from the Highland ranks.
-
-It was now eight o'clock, and the sun was dipping behind the hills,
-when a simultaneous volley ran from flank to flank along Mackay's
-line; and while the roar of the musketry rang from peak to peak, and
-rebellowed along the sky and among the hills like thunder, with a
-thousand echoes, Dundee gave the order to charge; and in deep
-silence, and like a cloud of battle, the race of old Selma came down!
-
-Reserving their fire until within a pike's length of King William's
-troops, the Highlanders poured upon them a deadly volley; and
-throwing down their muskets, drew their claymores, and, under cover
-of the smoke, charged with the fury of an avalanche, striking up the
-levelled bayonets with their studded targets, and hewing down with
-sword and axe, routed the Lowland soldiery in a moment.
-
-The brave Maclean cut the left wing to pieces; while Hastings'
-Englishmen, on the right, had equal fortune from the Camerons and
-Macdonalds.  Dunbarton, at the head of sixteen mounted cavaliers,
-actually routed the whole artillery, and seized the cannon; while,
-led by Finland, the remainder of the troop broke among the dense and
-recoiling mass of Mackay's regiment, riding through it as easily as
-through a field of rye.  King William's Dutch standard was captured
-by Walter Fenton, who, after a short conflict, drove his sword
-through the corslet of the bearer, and, spurning him with his foot
-and stirrup, bore off the trophy.
-
-Meanwhile Finland encountered a mounted cavalier, and had exchanged
-blows before he recognised Craigdarroch, his rival, in the leader of
-Annandale's Horse, whom his brave little band had now assailed, and
-with whom they were maintaining a desperate and unequal combat of one
-to five.
-
-"Surrender, Finland!" said Fergusson haughtily.
-
-"Have at thee, rebel!" cried his adversary, and by one blow struck
-his rapier to pieces.  His sword was raised to cut down the now
-defenceless trooper, and end their rivalry for ever, but, animated by
-chivalric generosity, he spared him, and pressed further on the
-broken ranks of the enemy.
-
-Carrying aloft the Dutch banner, Walter Fenton rode towards Dundee,
-who was applauding Sir Evan Cameron of Locheil, and urging his clan
-yet further to advance.  Dundee (whose panting horse was in the act
-of stooping to drink of a mountain runnel), with his eyes of fire
-turned to the disordered masses of Mackay, was brandishing his sword
-towards them, when a random bullet pierced his buff coat above the
-corslet, and buried itself in his shoulder under the left arm.
-
-The sword dropped from his hand; a deadly pallor overspread his
-beautiful features; he reeled in his saddle, and would have fallen,
-but Walter supported him, and held before his eyes the yellow
-standard of the Statholder.
-
-"Now God be thanked, they fly!" said he, in a voice which showed how
-intense were the torments he endured; "you are a brave lad,
-Fenton--the dying hour of Claver'se is at hand, but he will not
-forget you.  Meet me at the house of Urrard in an hour, if all goes
-well and I survive till then.  Make my dutiful service to the noble
-Lord Dunbarton, and desire him to assume the command.  Adieu;" and
-placing his hand on the orifice to staunch the blood, he rode over
-the field at a rapid trot.
-
-In a mass of disorder, horse and foot, musqueteers, pikemen, and
-cavalry, the soldiers of Mackay were driven like a flock of
-frightened sheep down the narrow pass, while the fierce clansmen,
-swaying with both hands axe and claymore, "cut down," says an old
-author, many of Mackay's officers and soldiers, "through skull and
-neck to the very breast; others had their skulls cut off above their
-ears like nightcaps; some had their bodies and crossbelts cut through
-at one blow; pikes and swords were cut like willows, and whoever
-doubts this may consult the witnesses of the tragedy."  Thanks to the
-skill of Dundee and the valour of the Highlanders, never was a more
-decisive victory won.  Mackay lost his tents, baggage, artillery,
-provisions, and his standards; he had two thousand men slain and five
-hundred taken prisoners.  Such was the battle of Killycrankie, or
-_Rinn Ruaradh_, as it is still named by the peasantry, who attribute
-the ultimately fatal effects of the victory to the circumstance of
-Dundee wearing _green_, a colour still esteemed ominous to his
-sirname.  A rude obelisk of rough stone still marks the place where
-the death-shot struck him, and is pointed out by the mountaineers
-with respect and regret as the _Tombh Claverse_.
-
-The grief and consternation that spread through the Highland ranks on
-the fall of their beloved leader becoming known, prevented the
-pursuit being followed with sufficient vigour, otherwise few would
-ever have reached the southern mouth of that terrible pass.
-
-"Dundee hath assuredly been slain," said General Mackay, as he
-breathed his sinking charger at the other extremity of Killycrankie,
-two miles from the field.  "I am convinced of it; otherwise we would
-not have been permitted to retreat thus far unmolested."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-THE LAST HOUR OF DUNDEE.
-
-  Oh last and best of Scots! who did'st maintain
-  Thy country's freedom from a foreign reign;
-  New people fill the land, now thou art gone,
-  New gods the temples, and new kings the throne!
-                                      ARCHIBALD PITCAIRN.
-
-
-Now the battle was over, and the fury of the conflict with the fierce
-energies it excited had passed away together.  In that narrow gorge
-lay more than two thousand slain, and the broad round moon, as its
-shining circle rose above the dark ridge of the far-off mountains,
-poured its cold lustre on the distorted visages of the writhing
-wounded, and more ghastly linaments of the pallid dead.  While the
-Highlanders were plundering the baggage and carousing on the
-provisions of Mackay (who was then retreating to Stirling), Walter
-Fenton rode to the house of Urrard, and repaired to the presence of
-his leader.
-
-Within a little wainscotted apartment, lighted by four long candles,
-that flared in a brazen branch, stretched upon a low canopied bed lay
-the great and terrible Dundee.  On his proud heart of fierce impulses
-and high aspirations, the hand of the grim monarch was now laid
-surely and heavily.  His fine features were sharpened, pale and
-ghastly, by agony and approaching death.  He breathed slowly.  His
-Monmouth wig was laid aside, and his own raven hair, which formed a
-strong contrast with the whiteness of his skin, flowed over the
-pillow like the tresses of a woman.
-
-"Can this be Claverhouse?" thought Walter.
-
-His bloodstained buff coat, his sword and helmet, lay near him on a
-chair, and around the couch were Dunbarton, Finland, the great Sir
-Evan of Locheil, Glengarry, Clanronald, Grant of Glenmorriston, and
-other leaders, who leaned on their swords, conversed in low whispers,
-and watched with unfeigned sorrow the ebbing life of the only man who
-could lead them like Montrose.
-
-The whole of his dying energies were now directed to one object, a
-despatch to his exiled king, containing an account of the glories he
-had gained in his cause, and the long career of service he had sealed
-with his own gallant blood.  Though every muscle of his face was
-contracted at times with the agony he endured, when stretching from
-bed to write at the low table beside it, supported by his brother
-David Grahame, who was sheathed in steel, _à la Cuirassier_, he
-finished this memorable and disputed letter with singular coolness,
-appended his name, and instantly falling back, closed his eyes and
-lay motionless, as if in death.
-
-"He is gone," whispered the agitated Earl of Dunbarton to the stern
-Locheil.  "There lies the strongest pillar of the good old cause."
-
-"_Hereditary right will face the rocks!_" replied the chieftain in
-Gaelic, as he grasped his dirk; "cursed be the green scarf that
-wrought this evil work to Scotland and to us!"
-
-Their voices seemed to call back the fleeting spirit; and,
-controlling the painful trembling of his limbs, Dundee opened his
-bloodshot eyes, and looked slowly round him.
-
-"Do not persist," said he to the surgeon, who approached.  "I know
-that all is over--let me die in peace.  Approach, Mr. Fenton--unfurl
-that standard;" and his wild dark eyes flashed with their old energy
-at the sight of the Stadtholder's banner.  "You will, at all risks,
-bear this despatch and that trophy to the hands of King James, and
-say they are the last--the best--the dying bequest of Dundee."
-
-Walter's heart was full; he could only lay his hand upon his breast,
-and bow a grateful assent.
-
-"To Colonel Cannon I bequeath my baton and authority; let him use
-them well in the King's service, if he would wish to die in peace
-when he comes to lie _here_."
-
-"Colonel Cannon!" muttered the Highland chiefs, as they drew
-themselves up, exchanged glances of hauteur, and twisted their
-mustachios.
-
-"Be merciful to our prisoners," continued the sufferer in a voice
-more weak and quavering, and stopping often to take breath; "be
-merciful to them, for they are our countrymen.  Release and bid them
-return to their homes in peace; say that such was the last wish of
-Dundee.  Many have styled me merciless in my time, sirs, and bitterly
-will they speak of my spirit when it is far beyond the reach of
-mortal malevolence.  I have done fierce and stern things, but I have
-been hurried to do them by an irrevocable destiny, and a tide of
-circumstances incident to these our troubled times.  Every iota of
-what I have done was fore-ordained--hah! do not your Presbyterians
-tell us so?  But grateful--deeply grateful is the conviction to my
-passing spirit, that my friends will ever remember my name with
-honour, and my foes with fear.  I feel more bitterness in dying after
-a victory than I could have endured by a defeat; for _it_ would have
-made life worthless, and death welcome.  Oh, may this day's great
-achievement be an omen of future success, and a second Restoration!
-Go, my comrades; continue in that path of earthly glory which I must
-quit for ever; and let ye who survive to behold our beloved King fail
-not to tell him--that--that John Grahame of Claverhouse--with his
-last breath blessed him--and--died."
-
-Falling back, he immediately expired, just as daylight (which at that
-season scarcely passed away) brightened in the east.
-
-All started and bent over him; but the fierce spirit of that
-remorseless cavalier had fled for ever, and his magnificent features,
-as the rigidity and pallor of death overspread them, assumed the
-aspect of a beautiful marble statue.  A groan that burst from the
-lips of his brother, as he knelt down and closed his eyes; the heavy
-sobs of a few aged Highlanders; and the low wail of a lament, as the
-pipers of Glengarry poured it to the mountain-wind and echoing woods
-of Urrard, were the only sounds heard within that gloomy chamber,
-where the terror of the Presbyterians--the idol of the cavaliers, and
-the last hope of James, lay prostrate, to rise no more.  Though by
-one faction styled the _last and best of Scots_--by the other, a
-murderer and outlaw; yet, by the cause for which he died, and the
-manner of his death, he closed in glory a life of singular ferocity
-and turbulence.
-
-His remains were hurriedly interred in the rural kirk of Blair Athol;
-and the cause of King James was buried with him.  His brother assumed
-his title; but died in great obscurity in France in 1700.  The buff
-coat of Dundee, bearing the mark of the fatal ball, and stained with
-his blood, together with his helmet and other relics, are still
-preserved in the ducal castle of Blair.
-
-Remembering the dying desire of their leader on the day after the
-battle, the Highland chiefs liberated all the prisoners on parole of
-honour not to serve against the King, Colonel Fergusson of
-Craigdarroch (notwithstanding all the exertions of his generous rival
-Finland) "being excepted," says Captain Crichton, in his Memoirs, "on
-account of his more than ordinary zeal for the new establishment."
-
-In those days the uncertain means of communication between towns, and
-the great deficiency of certain information of public events, caused
-many strange and varying rumours of the Highland war to be circulated
-in the Lowlands, where the only newspaper was the _Caledonius
-Mercurius_, which had been published occasionally since the
-Restoration.  But the astounding intelligence of the victory at
-Killycrankie, and the fall of Dundee, spread like wildfire through
-the low country, to which he had so long been a terror and scourge.
-The defeat of Cannon at the Haughs of Cromdale, and the utter
-prostration of James's banner in the north, was soon followed by his
-disaster at the Boyne, in Ireland, where the loss of a decisive
-battle compelled him again to seek refuge in France.
-
-Poor Lilian, at home in the then secluded capital of Scotland, heard
-of those stirring events at long intervals; and to her they were a
-source of deep interest, and of many a sigh and hour of tears; but of
-Walter she heard no tidings.  Whether he lay mouldering in the Pass
-of Killycrankie, among the haughs of Cromdale, or was wandering among
-the wildest fastnesses of the north, with the doom of proscription
-and treason hanging over him, she knew not; and time in no way
-soothed or alleviated the agonies of her suspense.  On the return of
-Colonel Fergusson, whose apostacy had opened an easy path to
-preferment under the new order of affairs, she learned some faint
-rumours of his departure to France with the other officers of
-Dundee--for that horizon where the sun of the exiled Jacobites was
-setting--the lonely palace of St. Germain.  Though the tidings fell
-like ice on the heart of the poor girl, any certainty was preferable
-to suspense; and with her good Aunt Grisel, she could only weep for
-the poor youth they loved so well, and pray and hope for happier
-times.  To lighten the solitude his absence caused, she could not
-even hope for a letter; all intercourse with the court of the exiled
-King being proscribed under pain of banishment and death; and thus
-slowly the melancholy summer of 1690 passed on.
-
-With the accession of William, and total subversion of the old high
-church party, all the sourness and severity of Presbyterian
-discipline (which at times compelled the proudest peers to endure a
-rebuke on the ignominious repentance-stool, or at least before a
-congregation) was resumed by the overbearing clergy in full sway.
-From the innate cavalier sentiments of her family, and the wavering
-politics of Aunt Grisel, Lilian had never been a very rigid
-Presbyterian; and now, looking upon the triumph of "the Kirk" as
-having driven her lover into exile, she felt her heart further than
-ever removed from Presbytery.  She had still to endure the
-persecution of Clermistonlee, who, having in a few months spent all
-the Revolution had enabled him to extort by fines from his old
-cavalier friends, was now more reduced and desperate than ever; and,
-as a last shift, was compelled to dispose of his tower of Clermiston
-for a trifling sum to his more cautious gossip Mersington; and though
-the gaming-table replenished his exchequer at times, gaunt starvation
-stared him hourly in the face.
-
-Though the native kindness and exceeding gentleness of Lilian's
-manner had always given this indefatigable suitor some hope of
-ultimate success, he soon found that, besieging her whenever she went
-abroad, and keeping spies upon her when at home--pestering her with
-presents, and letters the most flattering and submissive his
-ingenuity and skill could indite, did not bring him nearer the summit
-of his wishes.  As his funds waxed lower, his perseverance increased;
-and he brought a new ally into the field, in the person of our old
-friend Mr. Ichabod Bummel, whose zeal for the Revolution had procured
-him an incumbency in the city, where, every Sunday, he had the
-felicity of preaching in a pulpit of his own, quoting that immortal
-work the _Bombshell_, railing at the exiled King, and all other
-"bloody-minded massmongers," and "dinging" many successive bibles to
-"blads" in the true Knox-like energy of his discourse.  This meddling
-preacher, after the abduction of Lilian, and the scandalous reports
-the kirk party had so industriously circulated concerning it, had
-long deemed it, in his own phraseology, "a shameful and malapert
-fact, unseemly to men, and abominable in the sight of Heaven, that
-these twain should remain unwedded;" and by his influence,
-Clermistonlee was duly cited before the kirk session.  Resistance was
-in vain, for now the clergy had succeeded to the Council's iron rod;
-and temporal proscription and spiritual excommunication invariably
-followed delay.
-
-Clad in a sack of coarse white canvass, and on his knees before a
-staring congregation of stern Presbyterians, he "confessit his
-manifold sins and enormities," as the records of the kirk show, "and
-was rebukit by the godlie Mr. Bummel for the space of ane hour, being
-comparit to ane owle in ye desart;" and it appears that the minister,
-in his ire, made such direct reference to the abduction of Lilian, in
-language so pointed, so coarse, and unseemly, that, overwhelmed with
-shame and horror, the poor girl, unable to bear the scornful scrutiny
-and malevolent glances of her own sex, sank down in the gloomiest
-recesses of the old family pew, and swooned.
-
-This event, together with the cruel inuendos industriously circulated
-by the gallants and gossips of the city, was her crowning misfortune;
-from that hour her peace was blighted, and her fair fame blotted for
-ever.  Her friends pitied and acquaintance shunned her.  She endured
-the most intense grief and bitterness of soul that a sensitive and
-delicate woman could feel; for even the very children of the Whig
-faction pelted her sedan when it entered the city, and called her "My
-Lord's leman," "Clermistonlee's minion," and the "Deil's dearie."
-
-The united effects of grief, shame, mortification, and insulted
-pride, were soon visible on her health; her cheek grew blanched and
-thin, her eyes dim; and though she did not weep, her sorrows lay
-deeper, and the canker-worm preyed upon her suffering heart.  And not
-the least offensive to her feelings were those offerings of
-friendship which were mingled with condolence, when Lady Drumsturdy
-and others advised her to think seriously of the long and assiduous
-attentions of Clermistonlee; in short, "_after all that had taken
-place_," to receive him as her husband; that being in their opinion
-the only way to restore her forfeited honour.
-
-The inuendo concealed under this odious advice provoked the anger of
-Lilian, whose concern was increased by perceiving that Lady Grisel
-and her own bosom friend and gossip Annie, were beginning to be of
-the same opinion.  Their countenance, and the hope of Walter's
-return, had alone sustained her so long; but now a sense of utter
-desolation sank upon her soul, and her brain reeled with the terrible
-thoughts that oppressed it.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-ST. GERMAINS.
-
-  And it was a' for our richtfu' king,
-    We ere left Scotia's strand, my dear;
-  And it was a' for our richtfu' king,
-    We saw another land, my dear.
-                                    OLD SONG.
-
-
-Agitated by feelings such as few have experienced, on an evening in
-the summer of 1690, Walter Fenton found himself pursuing the dusty
-highway from Paris to St. Germains, the place where the hopes and the
-fears, the loyalty and the sorrows of the Jacobites were centred.  He
-wore a plain suit of unlaced grey cloth, very much worn, a hat
-without a feather, and a plain walking-sword.  He carried under his
-arm a small bundle, with particular care, for it contained a few
-necessaries and all he possessed in the world--his commission, the
-long-treasured letter of Dundee, and the Dutch standard he had taken
-at Killycrankie.  These were now his whole fortune.
-
-That day he had walked from Senlis without tasting food, and was
-quite exhausted.  After spending his last sou on a glass of sour vin
-ordinaire at a small cottage near the Wood of Treason (where Ganelon
-in 780 formed his plot which betrayed the house of Ardennes, the
-peers of Charlemagne, and occasioned the defeat at Roncesvalles), he
-grasped his bundle, and pushed on with renewed energy.  His handsome
-features were impressed by an air of sadness and deep abstraction,
-for the acute achings of present sorrow struggled with the gentler
-whisperings of hope, and though his feet traversed the hard flinty
-roadway from Paris, his thoughts were far away in the land of his
-childhood, and his wandering fancy luxuriated on the memory of many a
-much-loved scene he might be fated to behold no more, and many an
-episode of tenderness and love that would never be re-acted again.
-
-How vividly he recalled every glance and graceful action of Lilian,
-as he had last beheld her.  Nearest and dearest to his heart, she
-rendered the memory of his native land still more beloved, for she
-yet trod its soil and breathed its air, and he knew that daily she
-could gaze on those blue hills which are the first landmarks of the
-child in youth, and the last of the man in age, and to the
-recollection of which the emigrant and the exile cling with the
-tenacity of life.
-
-The current of his thoughts was interrupted, and his cheek flushed.
-The great and striking brick façade of the old castle of St.
-Germains, with its turrets shining in the setting sun, arose before
-him.  There dwelt he on whom the hopes of half a nation rested, and
-Walter drew breath more freely as he progressed; his eye sparkled,
-and his cheek flushed with animation, for now other and less painful
-thoughts were occurring to his fancy.  With the buoyancy natural to
-youth, sorrow gave way as hope spread its rainbow before him: and
-bright visions of the King's triumphant return and restoration by the
-swords of the Cavaliers or Jacobites, mingled with his own dreams of
-love and honour.  Fired with ardour, he often grasped his sword, and
-springing forward, longed to throw himself at the foot of James VII.,
-and pour forth in transport that singularly deep and burning passion
-of loyalty which animated every member of his faction.
-
-"And this is the palace of our King!" he exclaimed, with enthusiasm.
-"Heaven grant I may yet greet him in his old ancestral dome of
-Holyrood!"  But the fever of his naturally excitable spirits subsided
-when approaching the edifice, for the air of silence and gloom that
-pervaded it struck a chill on his anxious heart.
-
-"Ah," thought he, "if James should be dead!"
-
-At the distance of twelve miles from Paris, this ancient brick
-chateau or palace is beautifully situated on the slope of a verdant
-hill, at the base of which flows the Seine, and opposite lies an
-immense forest.  From the earliest ages, St. Germain-en-laye had been
-a hunting-seat of the French kings; but in compliment to his
-mistress, whose name was Diana, Francis I. (a monarch unequalled in
-gallantry, generosity, and magnificence) built the present palace in
-form of the letter D, with five towers, the vanes of which were
-gleaming like gold in the setting sun as Walter approached.  A dry
-fosse crossed by drawbridges surrounded this noble chateau, which had
-on one side a range of beautiful arcades built by Henry IV. and Louis
-XIII., and a magnificent terrace 2,700 yards long and 50 broad,
-extending by the side of the dark-green forest, and from which, as
-our exile traversed it, he had a full view of the Seine winding
-through a beautiful country, bordered on each side by waving meadows,
-vineyards of the deepest green, and cornfields of the brightest
-yellow, villages of white cottages thatched with light-coloured
-straw, that clustered round the turreted chateaux or the ramparted
-châtelets of a noblesse that were then the most aristocratic in
-Europe.
-
-But Walter saw only the home of the exiled Stuarts.  On the ruddy
-brick-walls, the latticed casements, and gothic towers, the setting
-sun was pouring a flood of light as it set at the cloudless horizon.
-From the summit of the edifice, the royal standard of Britain hung
-down listlessly and still, and the same absence of life seemed to
-pervade all beneath it.  The ditch was overgrown with luxuriant
-weeds, and long tufts of pendant grass waved in the joints of the
-masonry; great branches of vine and ivy had clambered up the walls of
-the palace, and flourished in masses on its terraced roofs and
-balconies.  There was no one visible at any of the windows; the
-gateway, which was surmounted by a stone salamandre (the cognizance
-of Francis I.), was shut, and save two sentinels of the French
-guards, who stood motionless as statues on each side, and an old
-Jacobite gentleman or two, in full-bottomed wigs and laced coats,
-promenading slowly and thoughtfully on the terrace, the old chateau
-seemed lifeless and uninhabited.
-
-As Walter crossed the bridge, and approached the gate with a beating
-heart, one of the sentinels, after giving a haughty glance at his
-faded and travel-stained attire, his weary aspect, and bundle, ported
-his musquet across, and said politely, but firmly--
-
-"Pardonnez, monsieur."
-
-Walter's heart swelled: had he travelled thus far, and reached the
-palace of his King, only to be repulsed from its gates?  His colour
-came and went, as, with a painful mixture of pride and humility, he
-replied--
-
-"Mon camarade, I am a poor Scots officer, exiled from his native
-country, and who has come here to take service in France."  The face
-of the Frenchman flushed, and his eye glistened, as he drew himself
-up, and presented arms.
-
-"Behold my commission," continued Walter; "I would speak with my
-noble Lord and Colonel the Earl of Dunbarton."
-
-"Aha," replied the sentinel, "il est bon soldat, Monsieur Dunbartong.
-Passez, Monsieur officier; un gentilhomme est toujours un
-gentilhomme, et les braves officiers Eccossais sonts l'admiration de
-la France!"
-
-Walter bowed at this compliment, the gate was opened by the porters,
-and, with a heart full of thoughts too deep for words, he found
-himself within the gloomy quadrangle of the palace of St.
-Germain-en-laye.
-
-Left for some minutes to himself, he stood, bundle in hand,
-irresolutely surveying, with a dejected and crest-fallen air, the
-great and silent court.  A gentleman in very plain attire, with a
-short wig, a well-worn beaver, and steel-hilted sword, who was slowly
-promenading under the arcade, suddenly turned, and the wanderer was
-greeted by his old friend Finland.
-
-"Welcome to the poor cheer of St. Germain-en-laye!" cried this merry
-soldier (whom no fall of fortune could daunt), grasping Walter's
-hand.  "My bon camarade, welcome to France.  By all the devils, I was
-often grieved for thee, poor lad, and deemed thou wert doing penance
-in some rascally Tolbooth for our brave camisade in the north."
-
-Walter was so much oppressed in spirit, and so weak in mind and body,
-that the tears rushed into his eyes, and he could only press his hand
-in silence.
-
-"What the devil----my poor lad, thou seemest very faint and
-exhausted!"
-
-"I have travelled on foot from Boulogne-sur-mer.  I spent my last
-franc at St. Juste, my last sou an hour ago for a glass of vin
-ordinaire, and for three days no food has passed my lips."
-
-"My God!" exclaimed Finland, striking his flushed forehead, "and my
-last tester went for dinner today! how shall I assist you?
-Travelling for three days without food!  Surely the fortunes of the
-cavaliers are now at the lowest ebb."
-
-"Then the tide must flow again."
-
-"I now begin to fear it will flow no more for us.  What says the
-player?
-
-  'There is a tide in the affairs of men,
-  Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.'
-
-Once at least in life, every man's fortune will be at the flood, and
-if he misses the tide his bark is stranded on the shore for ever.
-But thee, poor lad! how shall I get thee food?--we are all as poor as
-kirk rats here.  There are not less than two hundred officers of
-Dundee's army, and other loyal gentlemen of the Life Guards and
-Scottish Brigade, subsisting here on the small bounty of our gracious
-king, (whom Heaven in its mercy bless!) until some turn of fortune
-again draws forth their swords.  We have each but fourpence a day,
-and are in great misery from lack of the most common necessaries of
-life.  Yet we never forget that we are Scottish gentlemen, and daily
-attend the king's levée, with as gallant an air as if we trod the
-long gallery of Holyrood in our feathers and lace as of old.  His
-grace of Gordon, my Lords of Maitland, Dunbarton, Abercorn, and
-others dine daily at a poor Restaurateur's, on plain stew and cabbage
-broth, while I have to content myself with bread and onions, and a
-keen appetite for sauce; while it affords me no consolation to
-reflect that my old ancestral tower of Finland--the gift of the Black
-Douglas to his favourite son--and all the fertile lands that spread
-around it, are now possessed by some vile, canting, crop-ear.  The
-Earl of Dunbarton----"
-
-"Whilom our gallant colonel--how I long for an interview!"
-
-"He is gone to Versailles to visit le Mareschal Noailles, anent the
-unfortunate gentlemen who are starving here around us.  He will be
-back tomorrow.  Oh, Walter, when I see how might can triumph over
-right, and wickedness over more than Spartan virtue, I am almost
-tempted to believe there is no governing power in this wretched
-world; that all is the effect of chance or fate."
-
-"Chance and fate are the reverse of each other, and this sentiment
-agrees not with your previous idea of 'the tide in the affairs of
-men.'"
-
-"Tush!  I am in a dozen minds in an hour.  Let us leave these topics
-to such men as Mr. Ichabod Bummel.  You remember that apostle of the
-covenant?  ha, ha!  A word in your ear.  You saw our fair ones ere
-you left Scotland, I doubt not?"
-
-"Alas, no."
-
-"The deuce! how came that to pass?  But you must dine, and where? for
-I have not a brass bodle, as we say at home in poor old Scotland,
-(God bless her, with all her errors!) I have it!  the officer of the
-guard will lend me--or give--'tis all one; they are fine fellows,
-these French, and share their poor pay with us, in a spirit of
-charity that the apostles could not have surpassed.  The gentleman
-and the soldier seldom seek a boon from each other in vain."
-
-Finland calculated rightly; the French chevalier commanding the
-guard, on learning the cause of his present necessity, at once
-divided the contents of his purse, and enabled the happy borrower to
-lead his wearied friend to a tavern, where dinner was ordered and
-discussed with wonderful celerity.
-
-"Now, Walter, I shall be glad to hear thy adventures," said Finland,
-when the waiting girl had cleared the dinner board and laid a
-decanter of wine, from which he filled their glasses.  "Frontiniac
-dashed with brandy--you remember how often we have drank a bottle of
-it at Hughie Blair's, and the White Horse Hostel.  How the times are
-changed since then!  I was not at the Haughs o' Cromdale, being en
-route for Ireland to crave succour from James----"
-
-"After the dispersion consequent to that ill-managed affair, I
-wandered from place to place, enduring such miseries as few can
-conceive, and was a thousand times in danger of being captured by
-Mackay's dragoons, who were riding down the country in every
-direction.  Assisted by the kind and beautiful Countess of Dunbarton
-(who is yet intriguing in England), I procured some money, and,
-disguised as a Norlan drover, reached the western borders, for escape
-by sea from Scotland was impossible, the whole coast being watched by
-the English and Dutch fleet.  In England my money was soon spent, and
-I despaired of ever reaching the port of Colchester, where I heard
-there lay a ship that in secret frequently transported our persecuted
-people to France.  My bonnet and grey plaid, though they ensured my
-safety in the Lowlands, caused me to be viewed with hatred, jealousy,
-and mistrust, as soon as the Cheviot hills were left behind me, and I
-had not money wherewith to procure a change of costume.  I travelled
-principally by night, and slept in ditches or thickets by day, for
-the villagers assailed me with stones and abuse whenever they saw me,
-using every bitter epithet that national animosity could inspire,
-while every country boor that had a couple of beagles at hand,
-uncoupled them to track and hunt me."
-
-"Would to heaven I had been with thee, lad!  Well."
-
-"I remember with what bitterness I changed my last penny for a poor
-roll at Rippon, and eat it by the side of a ditch, near the princely
-castle of one who had gained a coronet by his political apostacy.  I
-had still many miles before me, but trusting to Providence, continued
-my journey.  Travelling by night and lying _perdu_ by day, I found
-myself in a waste moorland near Cawood, in the West Riding of
-Yorkshire.  The moon was rising; but I found that hunger, fatigue,
-and humiliation, had done their worst upon me, and that I could
-achieve no more.  Despair entered my heart, and I threw myself down
-in that bleak spot to die, cursing the rebellion of our countrymen,
-the inhospitality of the English, and my own bad fortune.  From a
-stupor that for some time weighed down every sense, I was roused by
-the trampling of a horse, and a deep bass voice crying,
-
-"'Hollo Gaffer, art dead, or dead drunk only!  Get up with a murrain,
-for my nag will neither stand or pass; steady--so-so--gently, zounds!
-gently!"
-
-"I started, and instinctively grasped my staff, on perceiving a tall
-stout fellow muffled in a dark rocquelaure, with his face masked, and
-a hat flapped over his eyes.  He rode a strong, fleet, and active
-horse, and carried long holsters.
-
-"'Crush me, if it isn't a Scotch Jockey--a pedlar, I warrant!' said
-he, drawing a pistol from his saddlebow; 'they never travel without
-the ready; so hand over the bright Jacobuses or William's guilders,
-or else I may pop this bullet through your brain.'
-
-"I was desperate, and replied, 'Fire! and rid me of an existence that
-is worthless.  I have nothing to give but my life, and it is no
-longer of value to me.'
-
-"'A gentleman, by this light!' replied the other, withdrawing his
-pistol, 'some cavalier in disguise, I warrant.'
-
-"'You have guessed rightly; so now lead me to the nearest justice of
-the peace for a reward, if you will.'
-
-"'For what do you take me?' said he, angrily.  'God bless King James,
-and may the great devil choak his son-in-law!  Ah, had the good
-Dundee (a Scot though he was) survived that brave day's work, in your
-infernal pass of what d'ye call it?  'twould have been another case
-with us both today, perhaps.  So thou art a Scottish cavalier?'
-
-"'Once I was so--to-night I am a beggar, perishing by want, and
-without a roof to shelter me.'
-
-"'Hast thou no money, lad?'
-
-"'Not a penny, and have two hundred miles to travel.'
-
-"'Hast thou no friends among the English here?'
-
-"'Have I not said that I am poor?'
-
-"'Right!  I have learned in my time that the poor have no friends.'
-
-"'Save God and their own hands.'
-
-"'Right again, say I; though a highwayman, I love thee lad, for we
-have suffered in common from this accursed usurper, who sits in the
-throne of of our king.  Here are thirty guineas; 'tis the half of all
-I have in the world, but to-morrow night may bring me better luck;
-take them with welcome, and spend them without scruple; but two hours
-ago, they were in the purse of that rascally whig, Marmaduke
-Langstone, of Langstone Hall.  Keep to the right, and an hour's brisk
-walking will bring you to a hedge alehouse.  Whisper my name to the
-wench at the bar (kiss her for me), and she will put thee on the
-right road for Colchester; the girl is true as steel to the good old
-cause.'
-
-"'Whom shall I thank--whom remember?'
-
-"'They call me "Highflying Tom" now, eastward of Temple Bar,' said he
-in a tone of bitterness; 'but when King James sat in his own chair, I
-was Thomas Butler, _Esquire_, of a long pedigree and an empty
-purse--devil else--but a gentleman every inch, sir; one that has shot
-his man, played at Cavagnole with King Charles, and Ombre with the
-Queen; drank many a bout with Rochester, ruffled it with Buckingham,
-and handed the fair Castlemaine and fairer Cleveland through a
-crowded cotillon.  But it's all over now; and, d--n me!  I am plain
-Bully Butler the highwayman.--So, sir, your servant;' and dashing
-spurs into his horse, he galloped away over the heath."
-
-"Thomas Butler, of the princely house of Ormond--and 'twas he!" said
-Finland; "a braver spark old Ireland never sent forth to glory or
-disgrace.  His father was a stout old Royalist, and shed his blood
-for King James on the banks of the Boyne.  And so he hath taken to
-the road, the madcap!  That is riding at the gallows full tilt with a
-vengeance!"
-
-"But for that rencontre, I must have expired.  The meeting gave me
-renewed energy; and (to be brief) I reached--not Colchester, but the
-sea-port of Saltfleet, where, in the disguise of a poor Scottish
-mariner, I embarked on board a smuggling craft, which landed me at
-Boulogne; and so--I am here."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-THE CAVALIERS OF DUNDEE.
-
-  In the cause of right engaged,
-    Wrongs injurious to redress;
-  Honour's war we strongly waged,
-    But the heavens denied success.
-  Ruin's wheel has driven o'er us,
-    Not a hope that dare attend;
-  The world wide is all before us,
-    But a world--without a friend.
-                      STRATHALLAN'S LAMENT.
-
-
-The magnanimity of those unfortunate officers of the Scottish army
-who remained loyal to James VII., and had shared his misfortunes and
-exile, was equally worthy of ancient Caledonia and of the most
-glorious ages of Athens and of Sparta.  They were about one hundred
-and fifty in number, all men of noble spirit, unblemished honour, and
-high birth; for they were the representatives of some of the first
-families in Scotland.  Enthusiastically attached to the King, they
-gloried in the sufferings their principles had brought upon them.
-
-On their first arrival in France, small pensions were assigned them
-by Louis XIV.; but these were shortly afterwards withdrawn, on the
-paltry pretext of public expedience; and the whole of those
-unfortunate gentlemen, who by their incorruptible loyalty and
-indomitable patriotism had forfeited their commissions, when they
-might have purchased new honours in the ranks of the invader, and
-many of whom had lost titles and estates by their expatriation, were
-thus thrown destitute in a foreign land.
-
-It is related that, with a noble spirit of generosity, they shared
-their little funds for the benefit of those who were in greater
-destitution; and those who had raised money by the sale of their gilt
-corslets, jewels, laced uniforms, rings, &c., readily shared it with
-others who were penniless.  But these occasional funds soon became
-exhausted; the King soon found it impossible, from the pittance
-allowed him, to maintain the numerous exiles and ruined dependants
-who made his court of St. Germain their rallying point.  The poor
-Scottish officers finding the horrors of starvation before them,
-petitioned James for leave to form themselves into a company of
-private soldiers for the service of the French king, asking no other
-favour than permission to choose their own leaders: their former
-general, Dunbarton, to be their captain; their Serjeants to be
-lieutenant-colonels; and so forth.  The King reluctantly consented.
-
-Those high-spirited cavaliers were immediately furnished with the
-clothing and arms of French soldiers; and previously to their
-incorporation with the army of Mareschal Noailles, repaired to St.
-Germain, to be reviewed by the King, and to take a long--to many a
-last--adieu of him.
-
-It was the day after Walter's arrival; and the summer morning rose
-beautifully on the Gothic towers of St. Germain, the crystal windings
-of the Seine, and on the dense dark woodlands that, interspersed with
-blooming vineyards and waving fields, imparted such charms to the
-landscape.
-
-James VII. had become passionately fond of the chase since the loss
-of his kingdom; for his brave and restless spirit always sought
-excitement when not absorbed in the austere duties of religion, in
-the course of which he often subjected himself to the most severe
-penances.  Kind, affable, and easy to all around him, religion
-improved the virtues of his heart, subdued the fire of his spirit,
-and by imparting a monk-like gentleness to his demeanour, endeared
-him to his enthusiastic followers.  The butcheries of Kirke and
-Claverhouse, and the tyrannies of Jefferies and Rosehaugh, were
-forgotten.  Though his uncompromising bigotry remained, all his
-arbitrary spirit had vanished; and when he laid aside his visions of
-worldly grandeur and kingly power, nothing could be more blameless
-and amiable than the life he led.
-
-He frequently visited the poor monks of La Trappe, whom he surprised
-by the piety and humility of his deportment; but there were times
-when the sparkling eye, the flushed cheek, the forward stride, and
-the clanked sword, shewed how regal a spirit and bold a heart
-misfortune had crushed and fanaticism clouded.  He was an enthusiast
-in the pleasures of the chase, which he enjoyed after the good old
-English fashion; and on the morning in question, the baying of dogs,
-the neighing of horses, and the merry ringing of the clear
-bugle-horn, awoke the echoes of the woods, the gloomy arcades, and
-quadrangle of St. Germain.
-
-On each side of the archway were drawn up a guard of honour of les
-Gardes Françaises, in their white hoquetons laced with gold, powdered
-wigs, little hats looped on three sides and surmounted with plumes of
-feathers, and having the white banner of Bourbon displayed.  The
-porters unclosed the heavy folding-doors, and a merry troop of
-huntsmen in green galloped forth, with their dogs barking and
-straining in the leashes, as the blasts of the shrill horns were
-poured to the morning wind, and roused their English blood.  The
-heavy drawbridge clanked into its place across the grass-grown
-moat--the planks resounded to iron hoofs--the French guard presented
-arms--the oriflamme of St. Denis was lowered--the drums beat a
-march--and James VII., raising his plumed hat, sallied forth at the
-head of his train, and advanced along the spacious and magnificent
-terrace.  The Earl of Dunbarton rode by his side; and as they
-caracoled along the level terrace, by the margin of the beautiful
-Seine, a body of soldiers in French uniform was seen in front, drawn
-up in steady array, with their fixed bayonets shining in the morning
-sun.  They presented arms as the King approached, upon which he
-immediately reined up, and raised his hat.
-
-"My Lord Dunbarton," said he, "what troops are these?"
-
-"They are your Majesty's most faithful subjects and devoted
-followers," replied Dunbarton in a faltering voice.  "Yesterday they
-were Scottish gentlemen of coat-armour and bearers of your Majesty's
-commission--to-day they are but poor privates in the army of Louis of
-France."
-
-"My God!" said the King; "and, in the levity of the chase, am I so
-oblivious of the misfortunes of those unhappy gentlemen?"
-
-Instantly leaping from his horse with a heart that swelled by its
-emotions, he approached them and raised his hat.
-
-Every heart was full in that silent line before him, and every eye
-glistened.  Walter Fenton, who now for the first time beheld that
-King for whom he had suffered so much, felt his bosom glow with the
-most intense loyalty and ardour,--a gush of sentiment that would have
-enabled him to hail with joy the terrors of a scaffold or the dangers
-of a battle-field.
-
-"Gentlemen," said the King, "bitter though my own misfortunes be,
-yours lie nearer my heart, which is grieved, beyond what language can
-express, to behold so many men of valour and worth, from being the
-officers of my Scottish army, reduced by their loyalty to the station
-of private soldiers.  Nothing but this more than Spartan devotion on
-the part of the few, but gallant and leal, makes my life worth
-preserving.  Deeply, deeply indeed is my heart impressed with the
-sense of all you have undergone for my sake; and if it should ever
-please the blessed God"--(removing his hat)--"to restore me to the
-throne of my fathers, your sufferings, your services, and your
-devotion shall not be forgotten--never, oh, never!  The prince my
-son, he shares your northern blood.  Oh, may he likewise inherit your
-spirit of bravery and truth!
-
-"At your own desire, gentlemen, you are now going on a long and
-perilous march, far distant from me, to encounter privation, danger,
-and death.  To the utmost of my small means, I have provided you with
-money, shoes, and stockings.  Heaven knoweth how great are my own
-necessities.  I can no more.....
-
-"Fear God--love one another, and you will ever find me your parent,
-if I cannot be your King."
-
-The eyes of James VII. were full of tears, and a long pause ensued.
-
-"There is a gentleman here who arrived only yesterday," said Lord
-Dunbarton, who had also dismounted.  "He is the bearer of two relics
-to your Majesty: the first is the despatch of the expiring Dundee;
-the second will bear witness of his own zeal and courage in your
-cause at the victory of Killycrankie."
-
-"Let him approach," said the king, covering his face to hide his
-emotion.
-
-"Mr. Fenton," said the Earl, "His Majesty would speak with you," and
-Walter, whose heart trembled from the depth of his emotions, grounded
-his musquet, and, kneeling before James, placed in his hands the
-long-treasured despatch of Dundee, and the Dutch standard of Mackay's
-regiment.
-
-"My brave Dundee!" exclaimed James, in a low voice, as he kissed and
-perused the brief letter which had been hurriedly penned amid the
-agonies of death; "'tis stained with his loyal and noble blood!  Oh!
-never had a king a subject more devoted, more loyal, or more true!
-Accept my thanks, young gentleman, for the services you have
-performed, the valour you have displayed, and the fidelity you
-evince; accept my thanks, for misfortune has left me nothing else
-wherewith to reward the faithful and the brave, who have followed me
-to exile and obscurity.  This standard I will retain; one day,
-perhaps, in Holyrood or Windsor, I may replace it in your hands with
-such rewards as a king alone can give."
-
-Walter strove to speak, but his voice failed him, on which Lord
-Dunbarton said,--
-
-"Like his brothers in misfortune, my young friend seeks no other
-reward than the honour of serving your Majesty, and the satisfaction
-of doing that which is right."
-
-The King drew his sword.
-
-"What is your name, Sir!" he asked.
-
-"Fenton--Walter Fenton, of Dunbarton's Foot."
-
-"No kinsman, I hope, of Fenton of that ilk, who is so active in his
-treason against us?"
-
-"Alas, no!" replied Walter, colouring in painful humility; "may it
-please your Majesty I am but a poor protegée of the noble Dunbarton.
-I know not my family, my name, or my origin."
-
-"It matters not--I shall render honour to all who deserve it; arise
-_Sir_ Walter Fenton, Knight Banneret--of this power, at least, my son
-William cannot deprive me."
-
-Startled by the suddenness of the action, Walter, whose heart leaped
-within him at the words of the King, could only kiss his hand and
-resume his place in the ranks of his cavalier comrades, who with
-difficulty repressed a shout of applause.  Walter felt giddy and
-confused; the King still seemed to be addressing him.
-
-The temporary excitement which had led James through this painful
-interview, now passed away, and his features became overclouded with
-a sad and bitter expression, as he went slowly along the line asking
-each officer his name, inserting it in his note book, and returning
-him personal thanks.  Meanwhile the troop of huntsmen, equerries, and
-whippers-in, with their packs of panting-hounds, were grouped about
-the terrace, and quite forgotten in the excitement of this sorrowful
-review.
-
-"Your name, Sir--yesterday you were at my levée in a garb more
-suitable to your rank," said James, to a tall and very handsome man,
-whose fashionably curled wig consorted ill with the coarse looped hat
-and plain blue coat of a French musqueteer; "your name, Sir, if you
-please?"
-
-"John Ogilvie, of the house of Airly--late a captain in your
-Majesty's Life Guard."
-
-"Sir, I thank you--the day may come when you shall command that Life
-Guard," replied James, writing down his name; "and yours, Sir?" he
-asked of the next.
-
-"Grant of Dunlugais--a captain of Mar's Fusiliers."
-
-"Then you have lost an estate in my service?"
-
-"I have lost nothing that I can regret in such a cause."
-
-"May I live to requite it!  'Tis an ancient house, and one of
-unblemished honour.  Are you Catholic?"
-
-"No, I am a Presbyterian."
-
-"Then the greater honour is due to you for disinterested loyalty.
-And yours, Sir?"
-
-"Douglas of Finland--a lieutenant under the Lord Dunbarton."
-
-"Another forfeiture!" exclaimed James, striking his breast; "and
-yours, Sir?"
-
-"Drumquhasel--first major to the same noble earl," replied the tali
-cavalier, on whose breast sparkled the cross of St. Louis.
-
-"Another, and another!  Oh, gentlemen, your sufferings and your
-losses, your loyalty and your truth--God may requite them adequately,
-but I never can!" exclaimed James, in a troubled voice, and when he
-had inserted the names of the whole hundred and fifty in his note
-book, he moved again to the front, and taking off his hat, bowed
-profoundly with an air in which thankfulness and respect were
-exquisitely blended with dignity and majesty.  He then retired
-pensively towards the palace; but painfully aware of the misery of
-those who suffered for him, and still unwilling to leave them, with
-sensations too deep for utterance, the unhappy King returned once
-more, and bowing to them again and again, covered his face with his
-handkerchief, and burst into tears.  Animated by one sympathetic
-impulse, the whole line sank at once upon their knees and bowed their
-heads; the spirit of many a brave man was subdued; several wept, and
-there was not an unmoistened eye among them.  The King, in
-particular, was deeply affected; his sobs were audible; and again
-removing his hat, he raised his eyes to heaven, and exclaimed, in the
-words of the last chapter of Lamentations,--
-
-"Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us!  Consider and behold our
-reproach!  _Our inheritance is returned to strangers--our houses to
-aliens!_"
-
-He repeatedly smote himself upon the breast in an energetic fashion
-he had acquired among the Jesuits, who had been too much about him
-for his own fortune; and a long pause succeeded, until Lord Dunbarton
-gave for the last time the word of command.  The Scottish officers
-resumed their aspect of steadiness and order, and marched past the
-King, whom nearly all of them were fated to behold no more; for death
-on the field, disease in the camp, poverty and despair, did their
-work surely and rapidly, and few of that brave but forlorn band ever
-returned from the frontiers of Spain.
-
-From Versailles this company of unfortunate cavaliers received an
-order to join the army of Mareschal Noailles; and, next day, they set
-out from St. Germain, on their long and weary march of nine hundred
-miles, which they performed on foot, heavily accoutred, bearing their
-own camp-kettles and equipages, and accompanied by miseries and
-mortifications that baffle all description; but which, by the
-indomitable spirit and ardour that animated them, they seldom failed
-to surmount.
-
-Louis of France was now plunged in a war, into which his mistaken
-policy had hurried him.  In a long persecution of the unhappy
-Protestants, he had weakened his kingdom by the expatriation of
-thousands of his best and most industrious subjects, who wandered as
-refugees throughout other countries, and justly inflamed all Europe
-against him.  To crush him, there had been formed at Augsburg a
-powerful league, to which the whole empire of Germany, Spain,
-Holland, Savoy, Sweden, and Denmark were parties; but, in no way
-daunted, he anticipated this great confederation by invading the
-empire and laying siege to Philipsburg.  The recent revolution in
-England had given a new turn to this religious war, and Ireland
-became the theatre of a contest which ended on the banks of the
-Boyne, where William triumphed over his unfortunate father-in-law.
-
-It may be that the great expenses of the war in which he was now
-involved prevented Louis XIV. from remunerating adequately to their
-merit the officers of Dundee's army; but when they joined the
-standard of Noailles on the Spanish frontier, they were in a state of
-lamentable destitution and misery.  The coarse uniform in which they
-had marched from St. Germain was worn to rags; they were shoeless,
-shirtless, and emaciated by hardships, privations, and want of the
-most common necessaries of life; for by the selfishness and duplicity
-of individuals to whom their little commissariat was entrusted, they
-were cheated of their poor supplies, the few presents the generous
-had sent them, and even of a small pittance (a few pence daily) which
-James, amid all his own necessities, endeavoured to pay them; yet
-they were never known to utter a complaint, for the misfortunes of
-their sovereign pressed heavier on their hearts than their own.
-
-Wherever they marched they were beheld with pity and remembered with
-sorrow.  The kind ladies of Perpignan presented them with a purse
-containing 200 pistoles, and bought all their rings as relics of _les
-officiers Ecossais_.  "Wherever they passed they were received with
-tears by the women and admiration by the men.  They were the foremost
-in the battle, and the last in retreat, and of all the troops in the
-service of France they were most obedient to orders."
-
-There is nothing in the history of ancient or modern times to equal
-their admirable bearing, heroic ardour, and devoted loyalty.  They
-endured the most severe humiliation and privations without uttering a
-murmur, and performed actions of heroism outdoing the deeds of
-romance; for to their inborn daring was united a spirit of
-desperation, and a longing to be honorably rid of a life that was
-without a charm and without a ray of hope.
-
-The French were touched by their misfortunes and sufferings; a
-universal shout rent the camp of Noailles on their marching into it,
-and with that generosity which is so characteristic of soldiers, the
-chevaliers and officers immediately subscribed for them, each
-furnishing shirts, clothing, and money, and none was more liberal
-with his purse than the noble Mareschal himself; but even of these
-presents the unhappy Scots officers were cheated by the villany of
-one to whom they were entrusted, and thus the kind efforts to
-alleviate their miseries failed.
-
-On the route to Catalonia, near Montpelier, when fording a mountain
-torrent swollen by the recent rains, Walter Fenton and three other
-cavaliers were swept away.  Catching hold of some alders that
-overhung the bank, they kept themselves above the current, and called
-on the peasantry to save them.  It is related, that though hundreds
-were there looking on, they never offered the least assistance, but
-mocked and jibed them in barbarous Catalonian French, while waiting
-coolly until they were drowned, that they might possess their money,
-clothes, and arms.  But after great toil and danger they were rescued
-by their comrades.
-
-They were never seen on the field but with their faces to the enemy.
-On every desperate duty and forlorn hope they led the way, and often
-too where others dared not _follow_.  Death and disease rapidly
-thinned their ranks, but their ardour never failed, and had the
-invisible spirit of the fierce Dundee led them as of old, they could
-not have surpassed the deeds they achieved and the glory they
-acquired.  On Rosas surrendering,
-
-"_Senor Mariscal_," said the Spanish governor, "what soldiers were
-those who assailed the breach so valiantly?"
-
-"_Ces sont mes enfans_," replied Noailles, smiling; "they are my
-children--the King of Britain's Scottish officers, who share his
-obscurity and exile, and do me the honor to serve under my command."
-
-"By St. James! _they alone_ have compelled me to surrender," replied
-the noble Spaniard.
-
-They marched from Rosas to Piscador, and, of an army of 26,000 men,
-16,000 perished by the way-side of privation.  Twice only the
-Scottish officers were known to disobey orders.  The first occasion
-was at the siege of Rosas, an ancient and well fortified city,
-situated upon a gulf about twelve miles from Girona.  The air was
-intensely hot, and the water muddy and unwholesome; the only rations
-of the Scots officers were horse-beans, garlic, and sardinas; they
-were utterly penniless, and could procure no better food,
-consequently deadly fevers and fluxes rapidly thinned their ranks,
-upon which Mareschal Noailles ordered them to leave the camp for the
-purpose of cantoning in a more healthy locality; but they delayed to
-obey, and sent Sir Walter Fenton to acquaint him that they
-"considered his order as an affront put upon them as soldiers of
-fortune and gentlemen of honour."
-
-The second instance was when a strong body of German troops had made
-a lodgement on an island in the Rhine, from which it was necessary to
-force them; the Marquis de Selle ordered a number of boats to be
-prepared, under an impression that the river was too deep and rapid
-to be fordable, and the Scottish officers were to lead the way, but
-were not to move until orders were given to embark.  Finding it
-impossible to restrain their ardour till the arrival of the boats,
-they slung their musquets and prepared to cross.
-
-"Come on, Walter!" exclaimed the brave Douglas as he led the way,
-"and we will shew these gay chevaliers of France that we, who have
-forded the rapid Spey and rocky Forth, need not shrink on the margin
-of the Rhine.  Join hands, gentlemen Scots; forward! and I will lead
-you to the dance.  Hurrah!"
-
-Hand in hand, in the Highland fashion, with their musquets slung,
-they threw themselves into the rapid and impetuous stream, where
-between jagged rocks it urged its foamy way over a slippery and stony
-bed; and thus breaking its force they stemmed the current, and,
-though under a fierce cannonade and storm of musquet balls poured on
-them from the rocks of the islet, they forced the dangerous passage
-in the view of both armies; the Laird of Drumquhasel and Captain
-Ogilvie* were shot dead; but, led on by Finland, the Scottish
-officers scaled the rocks, and assailing ten times their number of
-Germans with screwed bayonets and clubbed musquets, drove them from
-their intrenchments into the Rhine on the other side of the island,
-and reared the French standard on its summit.
-
-
-* Captain Ogilvie was author of a song, which is preserved in Hogg's
-Jacobite reliques,--"_Adieu for evermore._"
-
-
-"By St. Denis!" exclaimed the Marquis de Selle, "His the bravest
-action soldiers ever performed!"
-
-"_Vive les officiers Ecossais!_" cried the French soldiers.  "_Le
-gentilhomme est toujours gentilhomme_;" and to this day, in memory of
-the Scottish valour, the place is named
-
-  L'ISLE D'ECOSSE.
-
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-THE 20TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1692.
-
-  But the far mind was absent in pursuit
-    Of him, her love, in fields where foes contested
-  The bloody harvest, and a crown the fruit,
-    Dread fruit, with cares and dangerous joys invested!
-  Her mind was absent in the distant war.
-                                  PEDRO OF CASTILE.
-
-
-"Whither awa', Clermistonlee, ye mad buckie?" exclaimed Lord
-Mersington, as his friend jostled past him under the great pillars or
-arcade near the cross, one forenoon, when all the city were abroad
-_enjoying_ the sunshine; "whatna way is that to gliff folk? is a dun
-or the deil after ye?"
-
-"I crave pardon, my Lord, but did not observe you; for what is all
-this crowd collected?"
-
-"The heralds have been proclaiming the ratification of the new
-Protestant league against Louis of France."
-
-"A league," added Clermistonlee scornfully, "which our pious and
-glorious William hath tinkered up, that the treasure and blood of his
-two British kingdoms may be wasted in defence of the rascally
-Hollanders and thick-pated Flemings.  By all the devils, my Lord, we
-have brought our political pigs to a pretty market!" and he began to
-whistle a cavalier air.
-
-"Wheesht!" said Mersington, glancing furtively around him; "this is
-clean contrary to the Act of Council; and mind ye, my braw billy, if
-ye aye strut with that long feather and cocked beaver, your pinkit
-mantle, and lace o'erlay, like a ruffling buck o' King Charles' time,
-instead o' wearing the sad-coloured garb and sober demeanour of these
-our present days, when naething but psalm-singing, swearing in low
-Dutch, and mortifying the spirit, are in vogue, you'll sune hae the
-eyes o' the Council upon ye, as a Jacobite in disguise, a hatcher o'
-plots, conspiracies, and the deil kens what mair--he, he!"
-
-"Crush me, if I will lessen one curl of my peruke, or one slash in my
-doublet, to please any Dutch king or clown that ever wore breeches!"
-
-"You seem in a braw mood this morning.  I warrant you'll hae pouched
-a round sum at shovel-board last night in the Covenant Close."
-
-"A messenger from the court of St. Germain has just been arrested by
-Muclutchy, the macer of Council," replied Clermistonlee, watching
-keenly the sharp visage of the senator; "by Jove, you change colour,
-my gossip!--any correspondence in that quarter, hah?"
-
-"I trow not," said the other, resuming his immovable aspect; "d'ye
-tak' me for a gomeral?  What is that we see above the Tolbooth-gable?"
-
-"The arm of the gibbet."
-
-"Weel," rejoined the judge, drily, "and what news brought the
-messenger?"
-
-"Nought but letters from the exiled lords and gentlemen; some of
-them, I tell thee, Mersington, are deeply touching, and would harrow
-up even that impenetrable heart of thine.  They tell of blighted
-loves and blasted hopes, of sorrow and of suffering, humiliation and
-despair; but of a loyalty and unblemished honour that shed a glory
-around the cause for which they suffer--a glory that makes us
-intensely despicable by comparison.  There are passages in some of
-those letters from the brave cavaliers of Dundee that have made many
-of the Council almost weep with compassion.  By the Heaven that is
-above us, I feel that I would be a thousand times more happy as one
-of those illustrious exiles, than struggling here to maintain, by
-gambling, exactions, and roguery, a hollow rank, a gilded title, and
-a career of extravagance on which I have run too far to return!"
-
-"The only sensible clause in your process," said Mersington, testily.
-"But you'll hae yoursel laid by the heels yet, and then you may
-whistle on your thumb for the braw mains and revenues of Bruntisfield
-and the Wrytes, for whilk you've graned and girned these twa years
-and mair."
-
-"Right! 'twas but the feeling of a moment for the misfortunes of our
-former friends, whose hearts, to their honour (unlike ours) were
-better than their heads."
-
-"Puir chields--puir chields--I doubt the Act of eighty-nine presses
-unco hard on some of them."
-
-"Among other letters, is one from that wild spark, Douglas of
-Finland, once a lieutenant in the regiment of Dunbarton, addressed to
-his false leman, Mistress Annie Laurie.  Poor credulous fool, to
-trust in a woman's faith!  He knows not that she hath become Lady
-Craigdarroch, and so hath forgot him in the arms of his friend.  I
-like love-letters, having written some bushels of them in my time;
-but his--by the devil's beard!--it equals anything in the _Banished
-Virgin_, or _Cassandra_.  I have taken the liberty to confiscate it
-to my own use; and here it is."
-
-"Hold! a thought strikes me; the hand is easy of imitation, and for
-what may ye no add a postscriptum, whilk may be of service in your
-love affair, by wedding young Fenton----"
-
-"The devil confound him!"
-
-"To some airy damoiselle; or knocking him on the head during his
-French campaign?"
-
-"'Tis all one.  Excellent!  Juden will deliver it.  Annie will fly to
-her gossip, with every string in her boddice straining with the
-greatness of her intelligence; and as we never knew a damsel prefer a
-dead lover to a living one, we may imagine or hope the issue.  'Tis
-sublime!"
-
-"I wad rather hae a dead gudewife, I ken--he, he!" said Mersington,
-as he adjusted his wig and took his friend's arm, striking his
-gold-headed cane on the pavement with the air of a man who has said
-something smart; "but let us hae nae mair o' your plaguy qualms o'
-conscience, for they dinna dovetail weel wi' the general tenour o'
-your way.  Weel, anent this postscriptum--he, he!--let us adjourn
-to----"
-
-"Hugh Blair's, you would say.  Poor Hugh! his locale hath changed
-with the times, and there is nothing now but gloom and obscurity,
-cobwebs and dust, where all was once courtly merriment and joyous
-revelry.  Who could have imagined that a time would come when this
-famous coffee-house would be voted 'a den of cavalier iniquity'--that
-the buirdly hosteller with whom the noble Perth, the gallant
-Dunbarton, and the courtly Dundee wiled away the hours at picquet and
-tric-trac, and pushed the wine from hand to hand, would be accused of
-those honours as a crime, and thrown into the iron-room of the
-Tolbooth, there to languish in poverty and misery, while the luscious
-contents of his well-stored cellars were confiscated to the public
-use?"
-
-"It ill beseems ye to condemn the last clause in your interlocutor,
-my noble gossip, when the maist of the precious contents of Hughie's
-runlets ran owre your ain craig.  My certie! you had a braw rug at
-the forfeitures, baith gentle and semple!"
-
-"Ha, ha! enough of this--the present business is to procure the use
-of an inkhorn.  I am restricted in wine to drink medicated Hippocras.
-What art grinning at now?"
-
-"Your occasional scruples o' conscience--he, he!  Do ye mind the
-whilly-whaw ye were in anent the spectre of an armed man in the hall
-of Clermiston?"
-
-"Why the devil remind me of it?" exclaimed the other, angrily; "if it
-really was a spirit----"
-
-"_If!_ we have in profane as weel as sacred writing owre mony
-evidences of their reality, and their appearance for various purposes
-whilk we cannot comprehend; and we have also as mony solid proofs
-that the devil can mak' deid bodies move; but anent this, see
-Gabrieile Nandæus in his _Apology_, and Delrio in his _Disquisitiones
-Magica_."
-
-"D--n Delrio!  Ever pestering me with thy musty learning!--but here
-is a change-house, where it may be that we can get this notable
-postscriptum concocted."
-
-* * * * *
-
-The summer had passed away, and now brown autumn was once more
-reddening the heather of the Pentlands, and spreading her dun tints
-over the woods of Bruntisfield; the sombre eve was closing fast, but
-the bright fire burned merrily as ever in the chamber-of-dais at the
-old castellated Place, and ruddily its warm light shone through the
-barred windows into the recesses of the old woodlands, which every
-passing breeze robbed of some of their crisped foliage, and strewed
-it over the muirlands to the south.  The old manor-house had
-recovered from the rages of that terrible night in 1688, and was now
-repaired, and stronger than ever; the windows were more thickly
-grated, and numerous loopholes and two additional turrets defended
-the barbican gate.
-
-Lilian and her friend Annie were seated side by side as of old, and
-opposite sat Lady Grisel--but a change had come over them all.
-Though the hale old lady recovered from the shock of Lilian's
-abduction, it had seriously affected her health, and now she was a
-picture of the helplessness of extreme old age, in her dotage, pale
-and querulous, but ever gentle and childlike.  She occupied the same
-old fringed chair, with its bobs of parti-coloured silk, in which she
-had sat every evening for fifty years; her ivory wheel, though now
-unused, stood on one side of it, and her tall metal-headed cane on
-the other.  Lilian was paler and thinner, and had lost much of her
-girlish beauty; she had many cares gnawing at her heart, but she was
-still as adorable and interesting as ever.  Annie was, if possible,
-more so than formerly; the bloom of her beauty had expanded to the
-utmost; her cheek had a higher colour, and her eye a brighter
-sparkle; her tall and beautiful figure was more inclined to
-_embonpoint_.  But alas for poor Finland, the fickle Laurie was now
-the wife of Craigdarroch, who had risen to the rank of Colonel of
-Horse in the new Scottish army of William III.  Her dress was more
-matronly and magnificent than formerly, and her rich flower tabby
-suit, with its brocade stomacher and silver fringes, contrasted with
-Lilian's plain blue suit of Florence silk with its falls of point
-d'Espagne.
-
-Ashamed that she had broken her own solemn engagements to her exiled
-lover, with the natural fickleness of her sex, Annie was labouring to
-undermine the truth of Lilian, and, Heaven knows why, tormented the
-poor girl hourly, by urging the suit of Lord Clermistonlee, and left
-no arguments untried to carry her point, and remove the scruples of
-her more gentle but less facile friend.
-
-"And poor Walter!" urged Lilian, with a look of great tenderness in
-her mild and moistened eyes, replying to some observation of Annie.
-
-"Marry come up with your Walter!--tush! bethink you, dear Lilian,
-this gallant never loved you truly, or else, dost think he would have
-preferred following King James?"
-
-Lilian's eyes sparkled; a terrible retort trembled on her tongue, but
-her gentleness repressed it, and she could only exclaim with tears--
-
-"Oh, horror! this insinuation is the most unkind of all.  The
-unmerited shame and contumely, the dark and dishonourable suspicions
-that the malice of Clermistonlee has brought upon me I can bear, for
-I despise though I mourn them deeply--but a doubt of Walter's
-faith--oh, Annie, Annie, it sinks like a dagger in my heart.  'Tis
-the hope of his return, animated by the same spirit of love and truth
-in which he left me, that makes me rise superior to them all.  Oh,
-yes!" she exclaimed, with girlish ecstasy, "my dear, dear Walter, the
-hour will yet come, when, with a kiss of affection, I will tell thee
-that this old manor and all these lands around it are thine, for ever
-thine!"
-
-"And your heart?" laughed Annie.
-
-"Dearest, that he has already.  You see you cannot make me angry."
-
-"And Clermistonlee?"
-
-"Oh, name him not."
-
-"He loves thee truly and fondly," said Annie.
-
-"Dost think he loves me as Walter doth? dost think he knows what love
-means?  Oh, no; he never conceived it.  His passion is a turbulent
-phantasy, inflamed by rivalry, difficulty, and opposition, sharpened
-it may be by wounded pride and exasperated revenge.  Oh, how can you
-forget the horrid mystery that involves the fate of his wife--the
-unhappy Alison Gilford?"
-
-"Pho! she died in France."
-
-"Of a broken heart."
-
-"Gossip, quotha!" laughed Annie, "hearts are never broken except in
-the pages of De Scuderi.  But with all his averred evil propensities,
-I think there is something very noble about Lord Clermistonlee."
-
-"Noble?"
-
-"Do not his wit, his elegance, and courage excite our admiration?"
-
-"Yes--but do they make us forget that the villain lurks under that
-prepossessing exterior?" rejoined Lilian, scornfully.
-
-"Dear Lilian, I have but one more argument to urge, and 'tis the old
-one; remember that your fair fame which his addresses have injured,
-requires----"
-
-"What?"
-
-"Marriage," added Annie, quietly.  Lilian turned pale; her spirit of
-dissent was too strong for words; she shook her head with a mournful
-but decided air, and, after a pause, said, "never, oh, never!" but
-Annie only laughed, and a long and unpleasant pause in the
-conversation ensued.  At length Lilian said, shuddering,
-
-"Oh, what a grue came over me just now!  What can it portend?"
-
-"That an evil spirit is near us," replied Annie, turning pale with
-the superstition of the time.
-
-"Nay, felt ye a grue, my bairn?" said Lady Grisel, rousing
-momentarily from her waking dose; "then some one is treading on the
-ground that shall be your grave."  Again Lilian shuddered, and
-throwing her arms around her grand-aunt, kissed her, exclaiming,
-
-"'Tis the first sentence I have heard you utter for a month--and oh,
-what a terrible one it is!"
-
-At that moment there was a loud jingle at the great risp on the
-barbican gate, and Elsie Elshender hobbled in to say that an "auld
-broken soldier, who had limpit up the gate was speiring for my Lady
-Craigdarroch, but wadna enter."
-
-"'Tis a letter from the Laird; his troop are in the north, watching
-the wild gillies of Braemar.  Tush! what can his message be now?"
-said Annie, as she flew to the foot of the staircase, where a man in
-a tattered red coat, a great scratch wig, with a broad hat flapped
-over it, one patch on his right eye, and another on his nose, limped
-forward on a crutch, and presented a letter.  "From whence comes it,
-poor man?" asked Annie.
-
-"From the frontiers of Alsatia; blessings on your sweet face, my
-noble lady," replied the veteran, gruffly.  Annie grew pale as death.
-
-"From whom?" she faltered.
-
-"The brave laird of Finland, Lady Annie; on mony a lang day's march I
-have trailed my pike by his side, owre the fields o' France and the
-howmes o' Holland, deil tak them baith, for there's neither brose nor
-brochon, nor sowans nor sourocks to be gotten there for love, lear,
-or money; but I've far to gang this nicht, and maun een march on, so
-God bless your noble ladyship--mind a puir auld soldier that's faced
-fire and water baith."
-
-Trembling violently, Annie untied the ribbons of her purse and gave
-him a carolus, which he received with abundance of thanks, and he was
-limping away when Elsie hobbled forward and presented him with a
-bicker of ale.
-
-"Drink, puir body," said she, "though the times are sair changit,
-nane pass this threshold without tasting o' the kindness o' langsyne.
-We dinna send awa' the naked and the hungry wi' a scrap o' gospel and
-a screed o' a psalm, like auld Drumdryan or the Laird o' Lickspittal
-owre bye yonder; drink deep, puir body!  I once had a son a
-soldier-lad, (my puir Hab that was killed in the fearfu' times,) and,
-for his sake, my heart warms to your auld red coat."
-
-"Here's to ye, my bonny lady, and to you Cummer Elsie, and never may
-ye be tarbarrelled for a' you're sae runkled and auld; hech, how!"
-and, drinking the ale to the last drop, this rough and uncourteous
-old fellow tossed the bicker to Elsie and limped away with great
-agility.
-
-"Ha, ha!" he laughed, when the barbican gate was angrily banged
-behind him; "how the gay goshawk pounced at the lure; wha would hae
-thought I would ever hae hobbit and nobbit wi' Lucky Elshender after
-puir Meg's mischanter among her kale?  This carolus comes in gude
-time, for my pouch is gey empty now.  Deil tak' the patches and
-scratches, the rags and bags," he continued tearing off his disguise;
-"again I am Juden Stenton,
-
-  "And wha daur meddle wi' me?
-  Wha daur meddle wi' me?
-    My name it's Juden Stenton,
-  And wha daur meddle wi' me?"
-
-And, light hearted by the success of his Lord's scheme, he sang and
-laughed as he trudged back to the city.
-
-On rejoining Lilian, Annie was in a flutter of extreme agitation;
-and, after great reluctance, in which shame and curiosity struggled
-with some remnant of her former love, and after bursting into tears
-and then laughing hysterically, she broke the seal and read in a
-quavering voice as follows:--
-
-"Trenches before Mons, penult June, 1692.
-
-"Mine own sweet Annie,
-
-"God knoweth whether the words I am now inditing will ever be seen by
-your own dear blue eyes.  Nevertheless I write (on a drumhead for a
-desk), and in great haste, for the bearer of this starts for
-Versailles in an hour.  A trench where the dead and dying lie among
-the blood-stained earth, piled, yea, chin-deep, and where the
-cannon-balls are rebounding every instant from the ramparts of Mons,
-is a very unpleasant place to compose love-speeches; but, believe me,
-that the heart of poor Dick Douglas in suffering and danger, poverty
-and exile, is still unchanged, my beloved Annie, and as much thine as
-ever.  Here are we, a company of gallant Scottish gentlemen, in such
-a plight as you never could conceive; and the very appearance of our
-ragged attire, our emaciated forms and our exceeding misery, would
-melt your gentle heart with the softest compassion.  My ancient
-signet ring, the last relic of the house of Finland, I bartered
-yesterday for a loaf of bread, and now I have nothing left save the
-lock of thy hair, which shall go with me to the grave.  But more
-glorious by far are our Jacobite rags than the gay bravery we might
-have worn under that accursed usurper against whom we have sworn to
-fight to the last gasp.
-
-"The mischances of war are fast reducing the faithful cavaliers of
-Dundee.  Starvation or the bullet daily send some brave heart to its
-long repose, and the survivors are in such a plight that not even the
-Westland Whigs could wish them lower.  From the frontiers of Spain we
-have travelled to Alsatia, and from thence to Mons.  It was a march
-of horrors!  We were utterly without the necessaries of life, and in
-the depth of a severe winter, marched nine hundred miles over a
-country covered with snow.  Many of us were barefooted.  For many
-weeks our food was nuts in the woods, roots in the fields, horsebeans
-and garlic, and thus it is that Louis XIV. rewards our loyalty, our
-patience, our fatigues and achievements.
-
-"Our old friend Walter Fenton is well.  Through all the campaigns
-under Monsieur le Mareschal Noailles and the noble Luxembourg, he
-hath shewed himself worthy of the knighthood King James' sword
-bestowed.  Yesterday he volunteered, with sixty of our unhappy
-cavaliers, to plant the banner of King Louis on the Bastion de Sainte
-Wandree, and nobly did he redeem his word.  Commend me to all our
-leal and right honourable friends, and to those who may think kindly
-of the poor cavaliers for the happy days that have passed away for
-ever.  A time may come--adieu, dearest Annie--the call to arms is
-sounding along the lines, and we are about to march for Steinkirke, a
-duty from which few will return.  On my mind there weighs a heavy
-presentiment of what I cannot name to thee.  Farewell, my gentle
-Annie, and may God bless thee!  for I fear we shall see the bonnie
-braes of Maxwelton together no more.
-
-FINLAND,
-
-"Late Lieut, in the Royall Scotts Ffoot."
-
-
-There was a tone of sorrowful resignation to a hard and hopeless fate
-pervading this letter that struck a pang of deep remorse through the
-heart of Annie--but a pang for one moment only; the volatility of her
-sex aided her, and smiling through her tears, she said,
-
-"My poor dear lighthearted Dick, would to Heaven I could lessen the
-miseries you endure!"
-
-"Oh, Annie," said Lilian reproachfully, clasping her hands and
-weeping, "poor Walter and poor Finland!"
-
-"Tush!" said Annie pettishly, her dark-blue eyes sparkling between
-shame and sorrow.  "Gossip, tease me not."
-
-"Stay, there is something more--oh, read it."
-
-"A postscriptum"--
-
-"It will grieve you much to hear that Walter Fenton hath broken his
-plighted troth to your fair friend Napier, and married a French
-woman, a mere camp follower, of evil repute.  Right heavy tidings
-this will be for the heiress of Bruntisfield, but I ever deemed her
-spark a fool; again I kiss your hand--adieu."
-
-The wicked expression of triumph that flashed in Annie's eyes quickly
-gave way to one of compassion and regret, on beholding the aspect of
-Lilian.  Pale as death, with her eyes starting from their sockets,
-her silken curls seeming to twist like knots about her throbbing
-temples; her nether lip turned from crimson to blue, and quivering
-convulsively; her bosom heaving with the terrible and sickening
-sensations that oppressed it.  Her little hands were firmly clenched,
-and her dry hot eyes were full of fire.
-
-"Again, again, read it once more, Annie," she said, in a voice of
-strange but exquisite cadence.
-
-"Not for worlds!" exclaimed Annie; "Oh, thou wicked letter, thus to
-mar our peace and hurl us into sorrow.  Oh, if Craigdarroch should
-hear I have had a billet from my former lover, he will kindle up into
-such a fit of jealousy and rage as the world never saw; to the flames
-with it!" and she tossed into the fire the letter which poor Finland
-had so fondly and sorrowfully indited.  It was consumed in a moment;
-and thus all after examination of the postscript was precluded,
-otherwise the forgery might have been discovered before its effects
-became too fatal.
-
-"A _camp follower of evil repute_!  It is false--impossible--Finland
-hath lied!  Yet--yet--a cup of water, for Heaven's sake--my throat is
-parched and scorching!"  Lilian sank into a chair and covered her
-face with her hands, but neither wept nor swooned, for her sense of
-injury was too acute for tears.
-
-How bitter was the palsying sickness of heart--the agony she endured!
-
-Not a tear fell, for the fire that burned in her breast seemed to
-have absorbed them.
-
-"This is the _third_ 20th of September since he first left me.  Oh,
-Walter, Walter, God may forgive thee this great ingratitude and
-cruelty, but I never can!"
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-THE EFFECT OF THE POSTSCRIPTUM.
-
-"Women have died and the worms have eaten them, but not for love."
-
-
-Long, long did poor Lilian grieve and weep, and mourn in the solitude
-of her gloomy home.
-
-She endured all the complicated agony of endeavouring to rend from
-her heart its dearest and most wonted thoughts--the hopes and
-affection she had fostered and cherished for years.  No woman ever
-died for love but the heroine of a romance; so Lilian of course
-survived it; a month or two beheld her again tranquil and calm,
-though very sorrowful and subdued in spirit, for time cures every
-grief.
-
-The bitter sentiment of insulted pride and mortified self esteem
-which often come so powerfully to the aid of the deserted, and enable
-them to triumph over the more tender and acute reflections, were
-kindled and fanned and fostered by the artful sophistry of Annie,
-who, with her real condolences, threw in such nice little soothing
-and flattering inuendoes, mingled with condemnations of Walter, and
-pretended rumours of his marriage, the beauty and gallantries of his
-French wife, whom some called a countess and others a courtesan, that
-Lilian first learned to hear her patiently and then with indignation.
-
-With these were mingled occasional praises of Clermistonlee, managed
-with great tact, for Annie was cunning as a lynx, and never failed to
-flank all her arguments with the powerful one, how necessary it was
-for the restoration of her own honour, that she should receive the
-roué lord as her husband.
-
-Poor Lilian, though these advices stung her to the soul, learned at
-last to hear and to think of them with calmness, and (shall we
-acknowledge it?) to say at last, "that it might be."
-
-With something of that fierce sentiment of desperation and revenge
-which, like a gage thrown down to fate, makes the ruined gamester
-place his last stake on the turn of a card, she began deliberately to
-school herself into thinking of Clermistonlee as her future husband;
-and though in reality poverty was the real cause of it, Lady
-Craigdarroch failed not to impress upon Lilian how much he was
-reformed, how penitent he was, and for three years past had never
-been engaged in any piece of frolic or wickedness, and wound up by
-asserting that a reformed rake made the best husband.
-
-What love and perseverance could never accomplish, revenge achieved
-at last.
-
-  "Alas! the love of women, it is known,
-    To be a lovely and a fearful thing;
-  For all of theirs upon the die is thrown
-    And if 'tis lost, life hath no more to bring."
-
-
-Long and assiduous were the exertions, the arguments and artifices of
-Annie, and long and fearful was the struggle that tortured the heart
-of Lilian, ere she would consent to receive Clermistonlee as her
-suitor.
-
-At last the fatal words were said.
-
-Annie flew to communicate the joyous tidings, and when next day he
-rode up the avenue to pay his devoirs, the miserable girl nearly
-swooned.  The ring, the little embossed ring of antique gold, the
-last and only gift of Walter, and which he said contained _the
-secret_ of his life, she had now laid aside, carefully locked up in a
-cabinet, because it brought too vividly before her the memories she
-had resolved to banish from her heart for ever.
-
-Gladly will we hurry over this chapter of pain and humiliation.
-
-Clermistonlee had increased his great personal advantages by all the
-aid of dress, and in defiance of the sad coloured fashions of the
-time, wore a voluminous Monmouth whig, the long curls of which were
-puffed with aromatic powder, a suit of rose-coloured velvet, laced so
-thick with gold that the ground of the cloth was scarcely visible, a
-sword and belt sparkling with jewels.  A medal of gold, bearing his
-coat of arms, was suspended by a chain of the same metal round his
-neck; it was his last venture in quest of fortune, and his lordship
-had resolved to spend all he possessed upon the stake.
-
-By the artful Annie he was led forward to the trembling and sinking
-Lilian, to whom he pleaded his cause, his constancy, and
-perseverance, his raptures and agonies, his hopes and despair, with
-an ardour that confused, and perhaps flattered, if it did nothing
-more.  These his lordship brought out all at a breath, as he had got
-the whole by rote, having said the same things to a hundred different
-women before; but now his natural ardour and spirit of gallantry were
-greatly increased by the touching character which sorrow, vexation,
-and disappointment had imparted to the soft beauty of Lilian--and
-also by the aspect of the comfortable old manor house and the acres
-of fine arable land that lay around it; while she (shall we confess
-it?), as bitter thoughts of Walter and his French wife rose up within
-her, stole glances from time to time at her noble and courtly
-suitor--glances which he soon perceived, and fired with new
-animation, threw such an air of devotion into his addresses that
-he--triumphed.
-
-Annie placed the hand of Lilian within that of Clermistonlee; he
-pressed her to his heart, and she did not withdraw it; but burst into
-a passion of tears.  He then threw his splendid chain, with its
-medal, around her bending neck, and pressed her to his breast, and so
-sudden was the revulsion of feeling that Lilian fainted.
-
-An hour afterwards Clermistonlee, with all his embroidery glittering
-in the sun, was seen galloping back to the city like a madman; he
-dashed through the Portsburgh, and reined up near the Bowfoot, where,
-at the summit of a ten-storied edifice, dwelt Mr. Ichabod Bummel,
-minister of the Gospel.
-
-"The father of confusion take your long stair!  Why, Mr. Bummel, 'tis
-like a rascally old steeple," said the lord, breaking breathlessly in
-upon the lank-haired and long-visaged pastor, who was intent upon
-"The Hind let loose" of Alexander Sheills.
-
-"Yea, a tower of Babel--but what hath procured me the honour of your
-lordship's visit?"
-
-"By all the devils, don't think I am come to drub thee for that
-lecture on the cutty stool--ha, ha!  I am about to be married,
-man--and want you to proclaim the banns and so forth--but my Lord
-Mersington will see after them for me."
-
-"As my _Bombshell_ saith, marriage is an honourable and godly
-estate----"
-
-"But a deuced poor one, sometimes, Mr. Ichabod.  I am about to be
-married to Lilian, of Bruntisfield, and thou shalt espouse us,
-because the citizens hold thee to be their first preacher, and it
-will increase my influence among them."
-
-"But, my Lord," began Mr. Ichabod, bowing.
-
-"_But_ me nothing--'tis my non-attendance at kirk and my old tricks
-you aim at--pho!  I am a thorough Reformado--but, Mr. Ichabod, hast
-never a drop of wine about thee?--'tis a hot forenoon."
-
-"My dwelling contains nothing but water, and it is a plack the runlet
-in these dear years; but, my Lord," continued the divine, after
-sundry gasps and contortions of visage, "if I lend all my influence
-to render popular this intended espousal, whilk I perceive to be the
-main object of your visit, may I crave your Lordship's favour in
-another particular?"
-
-"Command me in all things save my purse, for 'tis a mere vacuum, if
-thy philosophy will admit of such a thing.  Say forth, my Apostle!"
-
-"I love the maiden called Meinie Elshender--yea, I love her
-powerfully with the carnal love of this world, and the maiden is not
-altogether indisposed to view me favourably."
-
-"Zounds!" said Clermistonlee, while the minister looked complacently
-down on his long spindle shanks; "in the name of mischief, who is
-Meinie Elshender?"
-
-"Handmaiden to the young Madam Lilian, who views me as an
-abomination----"
-
-"By all the devils, thou shalt have her, _bongré, malgré_, and after
-I am fairly wedded, the best kirk in the Lothians to boot--even
-should I make Juden shoot the present incumbent."
-
-"Heaven reward these generous promises," replied Ichabod, with a
-smile of incredulity.  "Well it is that the maiden hath escaped the
-snares of her first lover, who was a soldier of Antichrist--a
-musqueteer of the bluidy Dunbarton."
-
-"Say rather the most princely earl of the noble house of Douglas!
-Ha, ha--by my faith! we whigs are winning the false lemans of the
-cavaliers in glorious style."
-
-"And now, my lord, I have one other boon to crave," said Ichabod,
-producing a tattered and dog-eared MS. from a bunker.  "This is a
-book of which doubtless your Lordship hath heard; my _Bombshell aimet
-at the taile of the Great Beast_."
-
-"Oh, the devil take thy bombshell--"
-
-"Shame, my lord.  It proveth that Jonah--"
-
-"Swallowed the whale; eh, Master Ichabod?" said the gay lord,
-pirouetting about and laughing boisterously.
-
-"Oh, my Lord, for a centiloquy--"
-
-"Ha, ha! a what?"
-
-"A hundredfold discourse, to convince thee of the crime of this
-irreverence and irreligion."
-
-"I crave pardon, but what do you want, eh?"
-
-"Your Lordship's subscription; 'tis to be published in the imprinting
-press in the Parliament Close, whenever new irons are brought over
-from Holland."
-
-"Oh, by all the devils, certainly; send me a dozen of copies.  Faith!
-I must be quite pious henceforth.  And now, bravo! see the Kirk
-Session about my little affairs, while I ride down the Lawnmarket to
-old Gideon Grasper, the Clerk to the Signet, for there will be a
-mountain of papers to sign and seal, and so forth; but the banns, the
-banns, next Sunday, remember;" and chaunting, "With a hey lillelu and
-a how lo lan," his lordship danced away out, tripping down the long
-stair by three steps at a time, and mounting, galloped into the upper
-part of the city.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-THE BATTLE OF STEINKIRKE.
-
-  As torrents roll increased by numerous rills,
-  With rage impetuous down their echoing hills;
-  Rush to the vales and pour'd along the plain,
-  Roar through a thousand channels to the main;
-  The distant shepherd trembling hears the sound:
-  So mix both hosts, and so their cries rebound.
-                                    ILIAD, BOOK IV.
-
-
-It was the night before the famous battle of Steinkirke, when the
-confederates under William III. encountered the gallant and brilliant
-army of the great François Henri Duc de Luxembourg.
-
-In happy ignorance of what was being acted at home by those whose
-memory lay so near their hearts, Walter Fenton and Douglas of Finland
-were carousing with their brothers in war and misfortune around a
-blazing fire, composed of rafters borrowed for the purpose from the
-roof of a neighbouring Flemish house.
-
-Intent on crushing the alarming confederation of the Protestant
-powers against him, Louis XIV. had taken the field in person at the
-head of 120,000 men.  This sensual, selfish, and weak-minded monarch
-was accompanied by all the effeminate pomp and tinsel splendour of an
-eastern emperor; his women and paramours, numerous enough for a
-seraglio; his dancers, players, musicians; his kitchen, opera,
-household, and all the ministers of his luxury, his pleasures, and
-his tyranny, in themselves a host, crowded and encumbered the great
-camp of his splendid army, which, however, soon captured Namur, a
-strong city on the Meuse, though strengthened by all the skill of the
-great Coehorn, and defended by the valour of the Prince de Brabazon
-and 9,000 chosen soldiers.
-
-King William, whose duty it was to have raised the siege of this
-important fortress, lay with 100,000 men within gunshot of Louis,
-but, embued with all the stolid and phlegmatic stupidity of a
-Hollander, permitted the place to be captured, by which his military
-reputation was as much injured as that of Louis was increased.  The
-victor of Namur immediately returned to Versailles, surrounded by
-triumph and adulation, worshipped undeservedly as a hero, and
-extolled as a conqueror, while William, whose inertness had at last
-given way to necessary activity, excited by shame and exasperation,
-having reviewed on the plain of Genappe a fresh quota of ten
-battalions of Scottish infantry, pushed forward against Mareschal
-Luxembourg, intent on retrieving his honour.
-
-After basely employing a spy named Millevoix, under pain of torture
-and death, to mislead the French commander by false intelligence of
-the confederates' movements, William advanced with his 100,000
-bayonets to prevent him from taking up a position between the then
-obscure villages of Steinkirke and Enghien, a royal barony of the
-house of Bourbon.  With his usual bad generalship William completely
-failed, for Luxembourg outflanked him, gained the position, and
-trusting to the communications of the perfidious (or unfortunate)
-Millevoix, not anticipating any attack, confined himself to his tent,
-as he laboured under severe indisposition.
-
-Not expecting an _alerte_, the whole of his numerous and brilliant
-army lay intrenched among the fertile fields and pastures of the
-Flemings, whose thick hedges, solid walls, and comfortable houses,
-were cut down, torn up and overthrown without ceremony to render the
-position more secure.
-
-The post occupied by the Scottish officers was near the Senne, a slow
-and sluggish river.  The sun had set, and far over the long
-perspective of the level landscape, that in some parts withdrew to
-the extreme horizon, shone the red departing flush of the last
-evening many would behold on earth.  In some places the river was
-reddened by the gleam of the distant fires, whose flickering chain
-marked out the camp of Luxembourg; the higher eminences were covered
-by woods and orchards, from which the evening wind came laden with
-the rich perfume of the summer blossom.  Save the hum of the extended
-camp all was still round Steinkirke, and where the exiled cavaliers
-were bivouacked there was little more heard than the monotonous
-ripple of the Senne, as it flowed past its willow shaded banks on its
-way to the northern sea.
-
-The Scottish exiles were always more merry than usual on the eve of a
-battle, for it freed many from a life of humiliation and hardship, to
-which they deemed an honourable death a thousand times preferable.
-At times an expression of stern joy, of ghastly merriment, at others
-of deep abstraction pervaded the little group, as they clustered
-round the fire that blazed in a little alcove formed by an orchard on
-the river side.  There their arms were piled, and they rolled from
-hand to hand a keg of Hollands, to which they had helped themselves
-at the devastation of the Flandrian château de Senne.  Afar off,
-above the village spire of Steinkirke, the silver moon rose broadly
-and resplendently to light the wide and fertile landscape with its
-glory.  The Senne and Tender brightened like two floods of flowing
-crystal, and the willows that drooped over them seemed the work of
-magic, as their dewy leaves glittered in the rays of the summer moon.
-
-The stern hearts of that melancholy band were soothed by the beauty
-of the scenery, the seclusion of their tentless bivouac, the softness
-of the Flemish moonlight, and a song that Finland sang completed the
-effect of the place and time.  He reclined upon his knapsack, and his
-fine features, which long privation and toil had sharpened and
-attenuated, flushed and reddened as he sang of his love that was far
-away, and felt his brave heart expand with the dear and long
-cherished hopes and memories her image stirred within it.
-
-  "Maxweltoun Braes are bonnie,
-    Where early fa's the dew;
-  And blue-eyed Annie Laurie
-    Gave me her promise true.
-  Gave me her promise true,
-    That never forgot shall be;
-  And for my bonnie Annie Laurie,
-    I would lay me down and dee.
-
-  "Her locks are like the sunshine,
-    Her breast is like the swan;
-  Her hand is like the snawdrift,
-    And mine her waist micht span.
-  But oh! that promise true!
-    Will ne'er be forgot by me,
-  And for my blue-eyed Annie Laurie,
-    I would lay me down and dee!"
-
-
-This famous song, which, with its beautiful air, is so chaste and
-pleasing, and still so much admired in Scotland, poor Finland in his
-chivalric spirit had composed, to lighten the toil of many a long and
-arduous march, and now, inspired by the love and the fond
-recollections that trembled in his heart, he slowly sang the last
-verse with great tenderness and pathos.
-
-  "Like dew on the gowan lying,
-    Is the fa' of her fairy feet;
-  And like wind in summer sighing,
-    Her voice is low and sweet.
-  But O that promise true!
-    Makes her all the world to me;
-  And for my bonnie Annie Laurie,
-    I'd lay me down and dee."
-
-
-Every word seemed to come from his overcharged heart, and as he sang
-the beautiful melody silence and sadness stole over the listening
-group.  Softened by the dialect and the music of their fatherland,
-every heart was melted and every eye grew moist; the red camp fires
-and the shining waters of the Senne, the white tents of Luxembourg,
-the woodlands and orchards of Steinkirke passed away, and Scotland's
-hoary hills and pathless vallies rose before them, for their eyes and
-hearts were in the land from which they were expatriated for ever.
-
-It was the morning of the 24th of July, and in unclouded splendour
-the sun shone from the far horizon upon the tented camp of
-Luxembourg, on the standards waving and arms glittering within the
-rudely and hastily constructed entrenchments of the great and veteran
-engineer the Chevalier Antoine de Ville.  Like bright snowy clouds
-the morning vapour curled upwards from the sedges of the Senne, and
-the dewy foliage of the woods, and rolling lazily along the plain,
-shrouded everything in a thick and gause-like veil of white
-obscurity, which the rays of the sun edged with the hue of gold.
-Under cover of this, although the French knew it not, the entire
-force of the allied nations, led by William of England, were coming
-rapidly on in two dense columns, intent on avenging the disgraces
-they had endured at Namur.  Luxembourg lay within his bannered
-pavilion on a bed of sickness, and neither he nor his soldiers were
-aware of the foe's approach until the Prince of Wirtemburg, at the
-head of ten battalions of English, Dutch, and Danes, drove back his
-outposts on the right, making a furious attack on the camp, which
-instantly became a scene of greater confusion than King Agramont's.
-
-The patter of the musquetry, the roll of the advancing drums, and the
-bullets whistling through his tent, roused the brave Mareschal, who,
-leaping from his camp-bed, forgot his illness in the ardour and
-tumult of the moment.  Hastily his pages attired and armed him, and
-throwing his magnificent surcoat above his gilded corslet, he seized
-his sword and baton, and rushed forth to repair what the artifices of
-William, the treachery of Millevoix, and the bravery of Wirtemburg
-had already achieved.  To muster, to rally his immense force and
-repel the Prince of Wirtemburg, were but the work of a few seconds,
-and the great leader, who five minutes before had lain inert on a
-couch of illness, was now spurring his caparisoned horse from column
-to column, with his plumes waving, his accoutrements glittering, and
-his baton brandished aloft; his features filled with animation, his
-soul with energy.
-
-The Dukes of Bourbon and Vendome, the Princes of Turenne and Conté,
-the Duc de Chartres, a youth of fifteen, whose almost girlish beauty
-made him the sport and the idol of the army, the Marquis de
-Bellefonde, and several thousand chevaliers of noble birth and
-matchless spirit, by their presence, their ardour, and example,
-restored perfect order, and in admirable battle array they stood
-prepared to encounter the host of the Protestant confederation.
-
-As the sun rose higher the mist which shrouded the whole plain around
-the village of Steinkirke was gradually exhaled upwards, and as it
-rolled away the entire army of William III., a hundred thousand
-strong, were seen in order of battle, advancing as rapidly as the
-numerous thorn hedges, ditches, and dykes, which intersected the
-yellow cornfields, would permit.
-
-In defence of a place which it was expected William's brilliant
-cavalry would assail, the Scottish officers were posted in an abbatis
-of apple-trees that had been cut down by the pioneers, and made an
-intricate breastwork all round; and within it, with their arms
-loaded, they stood in close order, watching with lowering brows and
-kindling eyes the scarlet ranks of their countrymen, to whom they
-now--for the first time since their exile--found themselves opposed
-in battle.
-
-The golden bloom of the ripe and waving corn-fields, through which
-the lines were advancing in triple ranks, with their serried arms and
-embroidered standards glittering, threw forward the bright scarlet
-costume in strong relief, and the hearts of the little band of exiles
-beat with increased excitement as the moment of a general encounter
-drew nigh.
-
-"Behold yonder fellows in our uniform!" exclaimed one, as the
-Scottish infantry debouched in heavy column on the French left, with
-their twenty standards displayed, and their drums loading the air
-with the old march of the Covenanters.
-
-"God knoweth the sorrow, the bitterness, the hatred, and the fierce
-exultation that swell my heart by turns in this auspicious hour!"
-said Finland, striking his breast.
-
-"You speak my very thoughts," responded Walter, with a deep sigh;
-"yonder are the old Royals, but now another than Dunbarton wields his
-baton over them; yonder are the standards we have carried--but others
-bear them now.  How hard to forget that these are our countrymen!  Do
-not ourselves seem to be marching against us?"
-
-"Enough of this, gentlemen," said the veteran Laird of Dunlugais.
-"In them I behold only the rebels of our king, and the sycophants of
-an usurper.  This day let us remember only that we are fighting under
-the standard of the first captain of the age, and about to win fresh
-glories for the most magnificent prince that ever occupied the throne
-of France!"
-
-The battle was begun by Hugh Mackay, of Scoury.
-
-Led by that brave and veteran general, a dense column of British
-cavalry, accoutred in voluminous red coats, great Dutch hats, looped
-up, and vast boots of black leather, with slung musquets and
-brandished swords, rushed at full gallop to the charge on one flank,
-while the Prince of Wirtemburg assailed the other.
-
-The abbatis lay full in front of Mackay, who held aloft his long gilt
-baton, as he led on this heavy mass of troopers.  On they came, horse
-to horse, and boot to boot like a moving mountain; but the deadly and
-deliberate volley poured upon them by the Scottish cavaliers threw
-them into immediate confusion; the front squadrons by becoming
-entangled among their falling horses and riders, recoiled suddenly on
-the rear, who were still spurring forward; the furious shock produced
-an immediate and irredeemable confusion, and the whole gave way ere
-another volley of that leaden rain was poured upon their dense array.
-
-The roar of forty thousand musquets now burst like thunder on the
-ear, as the Prince de Conté and the brave De Chartres, the
-boy-soldier, at the head of the superb household infantry, assailed
-the British, and volleying in platoons, continued to press upon them
-with increasing ardour until within pike's length of each other, when
-Conté led the whole to the charge.  The shock was irresistible!
-Count Solmes failed to support the English and Scots, who immediately
-gave way, and a tremendous slaughter was made, especially among the
-latter.
-
-"Les Ecossais, retreat!" exclaimed Conté.  "'Tis a miracle.  Tête
-Dieu! 'tis surely a bad cause, when the hand of Heaven is against
-them!"
-
-The Scottish regiments of Coutts, Mackay, Angus, Grahame, and Leven,
-were cut to pieces, and the English Guards nearly shared the same
-fate.  James Earl of Angus, a brave youth in his twenty-first year,
-was shot dead at the head of his Cameronians, William Stuart Viscount
-of Montjoy, Sir Robert Douglas, Lieutenant-General James Douglas, Sir
-John Lanier, Colonel Lauder, and many other brave Scottish gentlemen
-were slain, while the Prince de Conté bore all before him.
-
-With the gallant Prince of Wirtemburg it fared otherwise.  Pressing
-onward at the head of his English, he carried off some of the French
-artillery, and after immense slaughter, stormed the intrenchment
-which covered their position, but finding himself in danger of being
-overpowered, he twice sent his aide-de-camp to crave succour from the
-phlegmatic William and from Count Solmes, a noble of the House of
-Nassau.  Twice over a field that was strewn with thousands of dead
-and dying, and swept by the fire of so many thousand musquets,
-cannon, and coehorns, the brave aide spurred his horse to beg succour
-for the prince his master; but William neglected, and the Dutch noble
-derided his request.
-
-"Vivat Wirtemburg!" cried Solmes, laughing; "let us see what sport
-his English bulldogs will make."
-
-At length William shook off the inertness that seemed to possess his
-faculties amid the storm of war that raged around him, and in person
-ordered Solmes to sustain the advance of the left wing which
-Wirtemburg had led on so successfully.  Thus urged, the unwilling
-Lord of Brunsveldt, made an unavailing movement with his cavalry, but
-left a few English and Danes to sustain the whole brunt of the battle.
-
-Amid the dense smoke that rolled in white clouds and concealed the
-adverse lines, their carnage and its horrors, again and again the
-brave old Laird of Scoury led his squadrons to the charge, resolved
-to force the passage to turn the flank of Luxembourg or die, and
-again they were repulsed from the abbatis by the courage of the
-desperate Cavaliers.  As yet, not one trooper had penetrated among
-them, though hundreds and their horses lay groaning and rolling in
-the agonies of death, entangled among the apple-laden branches of the
-prostrate trees, grasping and rending them with their teeth in the
-tortures of dissolution.  As yet not one of the Scottish exiles had
-fallen; but now Mackay ordered a body of his dragoons to dismount, to
-unsling their short fusees, and from behind the piles of dead and
-dying men and chargers, to fire upon the abbatis which could afford
-no protection against bullets.
-
-A furious fusilade now ensued, and Fenton soon missed Finland from
-his side; he turned, and his hot blood cooled for a moment to behold
-him lying on the bloody turf in the last agonies of death.  A ball
-had pierced his breast; his eyes were glazing, and he was beating the
-earth with his heels, as he blew from his quivering lips the bells of
-blood and foam.
-
-Unfortunate Douglas!
-
-Something was clenched in his hand and pressed to his lips; but as
-his dying energies relaxed, and his brave spirit fled to heaven, the
-relic fell on the turf;--it was Annie Laurie's braid of bright brown
-hair.
-
-"Farewell, dear Finland," exclaimed Walter, kissing the dead man's
-hand.  "Here end thy love and misfortunes together!"  Sorrow, rage,
-and ardour roused the fury of Fenton to the utmost, and with his
-clubbed weapon he sprang over the trees of the abbatis, exclaiming,
-"to the charge, gentlemen Scots!--to the charge!  Never let it be
-said that the Cavaliers of Dundee played at long bowles with those
-false English churls.  Victory and revenge!"
-
-Fired by his example, and animated by national and political hatred
-against those who had deserted James VII., and wrought so many
-miseries to his few adherents, the little band sprang from the
-abbatis and threw themselves with incredible fury and determination
-on the dismounted troopers.  Onward they pressed over piles of dead
-and wounded, while every instant the balls that flew thick as
-drifting rain, thinned their narrow ranks, and added many another
-item to the vast amount of that day's carnage.
-
-None can be so brave as those for whom life has lost every charm; and
-none so reckless as those who have a thousand real or imaginary
-wrongs to avenge.  Thus, heedless alike of the number of their
-antagonists, who were again pressing up to the attack, the Scottish
-Cavaliers came on pell mell, and a desperate conflict ensued with
-firelocks and fusils clubbed.
-
-As Walter, forgetful of everything else but to glut a fierce spirit
-of revenge, pressed onward, he encountered a tall and powerful
-officer.  The nobility of his aspect and the richness of his attire
-(for his scarlet coat was so richly interlaced with bars of gold as
-to be almost sword-proof) not less than the vigour with which he kept
-his soldiers to their duty, made him a marked man; but Walter struck
-him from his horse and flourished the butt of his musket over him.
-
-"Take these, you tattered villain," said the officer, offering a
-splendid watch and ring; "take these and spare my life."
-
-"Insult me not, Sir," exclaimed Walter Fenton with undisguised scorn.
-"I am one of the officers of Viscount Dundee--of Dundee the brave and
-loyal."
-
-"The vilest minion of hell and tyranny that ever disgraced his
-country--then doubly are you traitor!" said the other starting from
-the ground and flashing a pistol in Walter's face.  Blinded by fury
-and the smoke of the discharge, he drove his bayonet through the
-breast of the officer and fairly pinned him to the turf.
-
-"Curse on the hour that I die by the hand of a base and renegade
-clown like thee!" exclaimed the dying man, half choked in his welling
-blood.
-
-"Traitor!" cried his destroyer furiously; "you die by the hand of Sir
-Walter Fenton, Knight Banneret of Scotland!"
-
-"So falls Hugh Mackay, of Scoury!" moaned the other as he sank
-backward and expired.
-
-"Scoury!" reiterated Walter; "hah! then this hour avenges Dundee the
-slaughter of Killycrankie and of Cromdale."
-
-At that moment he was hurled to the earth by a wounded charger as it
-rushed madly from the conflict.  He fell against a tree and lay
-stunned and insensible to all that passed around him.
-
-The sun was setting, and still the doubtful battle continued to be
-waged with undiminished ardour, until Mareschal Boufflers, at the
-head of a powerful body of cavalry, the French and Scottish
-gendarmerie, and the royal regiment, De Rousillon, swept like a
-torrent over the corpse-strewn plains with the oriflamme, displayed
-and decided the fortune of the war just as the sun's broad disc
-dipped behind the far horizon.  William, instead of restoring his
-tarnished honour, was compelled to retreat in renewed disgrace,
-leaving many officers of valour and distinction and 3,000 soldiers
-slain; while the French, though they had to regret the fall of an
-equal number, with the Prince de Turenne, the Marquis de Bellefonde,
-Tilladete, Fernaçon, and many other chevaliers of noble blood,
-remained masters of the field, over which they suspended from a lofty
-gibbet King William's luckless confidant, the spy and intriguer
-Millevoix.
-
-Paris resounded with joy and acclamation on tidings of this great
-victory arriving; the princes and soldiers who had served there were
-idolized as superior beings by the ladies and women of every rank,
-whose transports amounted to a species of frenzy, and from that hour
-for many a year every ornament and piece of dress was known by the
-name of _Steinkirke_.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-A DISCLOSURE.
-
-  _'Tis night_;--and glittering o'er the trampled heath,
-  Pale gleams the moonlight on the field of death;
-  Lights up each well-known spot, where late in blood,
-  The vanquished yielded, and the victor stood;
-  When red in clouds the sun of battle rode,
-  And poured on Britain's front its favoring flood.
-                                          LORD GRENVILLE.
-
-
-Again the summer moon rose brightly over the secluded village of
-Steinkirke, and poured its cold and steady lustre on cornfields
-drenched in blood, and trod to gory mire by the charge of the spurred
-squadrons, the closer movements of the compact squares of infantry,
-or the artillery's track; on the pale and upturned faces of the
-dying, the distorted and ghastlier lineaments of the dead,--on a wide
-battle-field strewn with all the trophies of war and
-destruction,--misery and agony.
-
-Save where illumined by the gleams of moonlight, by the red flashes
-of a few distant fire-arms, and the redder glare from a convent
-burned by the retreating British, the ruddy conflagration of which
-mingled with the last faint glow of the departed sun, the field
-seemed gloomy and dark.  A narrow lurid streak at the distant horizon
-shewed where the sun had set.  The roar of that great battle had now
-died away, but it had sent forth an echo over France and Britain
-denoting joy to one and sorrow to the other.  Where, then, was
-William of Orange, and where his mighty host?
-
-The contest was now over, and, save the distant popping of a few
-skirmishers or plunderers, every sound of strife had ceased; but the
-cool night wind was laden with a sad and wailing murmur, a sound
-which it is seldom the lot of man to hear--the mingled moans of many
-thousands of men enduring all the complicated torture of sabre and
-gunshot wounds and the most excruciating thirst.  Many a solemn
-prayer and pious ejaculation of deep contrition, uttered in many a
-varied tongue, were then ascending from that moonlit battlefield to
-the throne of God, while others in their ravings called only on Death
-to ease them of their torments; and long ere sunrise the stern king
-of terrors attended the summons of many.
-
-A great cannon royal, drawn by eight horses and escorted by the
-artillerists of the Brigade de Dauphine, passed near the
-corpse-heaped abbatis where Walter Fenton lay, and he implored them
-to remove him from the field.  They were passing him unheeded, when
-one exclaimed,
-
-"_Il est un officier Ecossais!_" upon which the drivers reined up:
-the soldiers sprang from the tumbril, and placing him beside them,
-galloped across the field of battle towards the redoubts on the left
-of Luxembourg's position.  The jolting occasioned Walter exquisite
-agony, and he could not repress a shudder when the cannon wheels
-passed over the crackling body of some dead or wounded soldier who
-lay prostrate in their path.
-
-After riding a mile or two he fell from his seat with violence, and
-once more became insensible.
-
-"_Il est morte_" said the Frenchmen, as they whipped up their horses
-and thought no more about him.
-
-After lying long in a dreamy state, tormented by a burning thirst and
-feeling prickly and shooting pains over his whole body as the blood
-flowed back into its old channels, Walter made an attempt to rise,
-but the motion occasioned him exquisite pain, and the whole landscape
-swam around him.  He thought he was mortally wounded; a cold
-perspiration burst over his temples; a stupor again stole upon his
-senses, and, believing he was dying, he piously recommended himself
-to God, closed his eyes, and lay down resigned to his fate.
-
-But the mind was active though the frame remained inert, and he
-thought of Lilian, of Finland and Annie, and how the hand of Death
-had thrown a cold blight over all their fondest hopes and prospects,
-and so weak had he become that audible sobs burst from him.
-
-The heavy dew was falling fast, and its moisture refreshed him; he
-raised his head, and near him saw the figure of a female in a sombre
-and peculiar garb: she was completely attired in black; a thick veil
-of the same colour with a little hood of white linen were drawn
-closely round her face, which seemed pale and colourless as that of
-death in the uncertain rays of a cruise which she carried; but though
-aged, she was marked by a serenity and air of repose singularly
-winning and prepossessing.  She bent tenderly over him with a face
-expressive of the deepest commiseration.
-
-"'Tis a vision!" was Walter's first thought; "'tis an Ursuline nun,"
-was his second.
-
-"Poor youth--unhappy youth!" said the stranger tenderly, and burst
-into tears.
-
-"Heaven's blessing on you, gentle lady," said Walter, as he
-endeavoured to rise; "no tears can be more precious in the sight of
-Heaven than those shed by compassion.  God save great Luxembourg!  We
-have this day gained a glorious victory; but at what a price to me!"
-he continued in his own language.  "Alake! my brave and noble
-friends, the best blood of Scotland has mingled yonder with the
-waters of the Senne."
-
-"Scotland!" replied the venerable Ursuline, and her mild eyes became
-filled with animation and sadness.  "I acknowledge with sorrow and
-pride that your country is also mine; but, alas! I can only remember
-it with horror and humiliation.  Your voice takes me back to the
-pleasant days of other and happier years, and stirs an echo in the
-deepest recesses of my heart.  Oh, my God! what is this that I feel
-within me?  Intercede for me blessed Ursula, and save me from my own
-thoughts!  Oh, let not the contentment in which I have dwelt these
-many years be disturbed by worldly regrets and old unhappiness!"
-
-There was a deep pathos in her voice, an air of subdued sorrow,
-mildness, and melancholy in her features, and a soft expression in
-her eye that was very winning, and Walter kissed her hand with a
-sentiment of affection and respect, and, strange to say, she did not
-withdraw it.
-
-"I belonged to the convent of Ursulines at Steinkirke.  At
-vesper-time the Count Solmes sacked it with his troopers; (God
-forgive him and them the sacrilege!) they expelled us with savage
-violence, and I found shelter in a cottage close by.  Your groans
-drew me forth.  Permit me to lead you, my poor son, for indeed you
-seem very weak.  There is one poor fugitive there already, a
-countrywoman of our own, to whom I hope you will bring pleasant
-tidings; let us go."
-
-They entered the humble Flemish cottage, the wide kitchen of which
-was brilliantly illuminated by a blazing fire of turf, that lit the
-furthest recesses of the great but rude apartment, that strongly
-resembled those represented by Rembrandt and Teniers, where every
-imaginable implement and article, garden and household utensil, hang
-from the beams of the open roof, load the walls, or encumber every
-available nook and corner; a heavy Flemish boor, in voluminous brown
-breeches, arose and doffed his fur cap, and with his wife made way
-for the sister of St. Ursula, who led Walter to a seat.
-
-Thankfully he drained to the last drop a pewter flaggon of water that
-the housewife gave him, and was about to speak, when his attention
-was arrested by the sudden appearance of a young lady.  She was very
-beautiful, and had an exquisitely fair complexion, the natural
-paleness of which grief and fear had very much increased; her blue
-eyes sparkled with animation, and her half dishevelled hair was of
-the brightest and glossiest but palest flaxen.  Running to Walter
-Fenton she took both his hands in hers, and said, with a touching
-earnestness of manner,
-
-"Ah, Sir! come you from the field of battle?"
-
-"This moment, madam."
-
-"Oh, you are Scottish by your voice, but alas! you wear the garb of
-Louis."
-
-"My dear madam, it is the garb of loyalty and exile; of great
-suffering, and of much endurance."
-
-"Unhappy Sir, you are----"
-
-"One of the cavaliers of Dundee."
-
-"Oh, tell me if you know aught of the fate of General Mackay in this
-day's carnage; Mackay, the Laird of Scoury?" she added a little
-proudly.
-
-"Lady," faltered Walter, quite overcome by the question and the
-aspect of the speaker, "the brave champion of Presbyterianism is no
-more.  I--I saw him slain."
-
-"My father! oh, my father!" cried Margaret Mackay, in a voice that
-pierced the conscience-stricken Fenton to the heart; "I shall never
-see thee more--never behold thy kind old face and silver hair.  Oh,
-my God!  I am quite alone in the world, and what will become of me
-now?  Oh, Lady Clermistonlee!" she exclaimed, and pressing against
-her heart the hand of the nun, sank into a chair and swooned.
-
-"_Clermistonlee!_" reiterated Walter, starting; but the helpless
-condition of his young countrywoman demanded immediate attention, and
-he was compelled to smother his curiosity for a time, until she had
-partially recovered, and then the good Ursuline, after attending her
-with the most motherly care, left her engaged in prayer in another
-apartment, and turned all her attention to the wound on Walter's head.
-
-With an adroit neatness of hand, a soft insinuating manner which drew
-the heart of Walter towards her as to a mother, the compassionate
-nun, assisted by the silent Flemish housewife, bathed the wound, cut
-away the long clotted locks, and bound it up, while the round visaged
-boor, whose mind was wholly absorbed by the loss of a field of corn,
-which had been cut down by Boufflers' foraging dragoons, sat with his
-eyes intently fixed on the smoke that curled from his pipe.
-
-Walter had been so little accustomed to kindness, that all the strong
-feelings of his warm heart now gushed forth.
-
-"A thousand thanks, dear madam!" he exclaimed.  "I know not whether
-it is your kindness, the mere ardour of my heart, or some mysterious
-influence that Heaven alone can see, which calls forth all my fondest
-and most reverential sentiments towards you."
-
-The Ursuline smiled sadly, and retired a pace.
-
-"Oh, what is this new feeling that stirs within me?" continued
-Walter, in a half musing voice.  "It seems as if your face bore the
-long remembered features of some kind friend or dear relative.  Like
-a gleam of sunshine through a mist, they come back to me from the
-obscurity of the past like those of one whom--but, ah! whither is my
-enthusiasm carrying me?  Dear madam, once more a thousand thanks, for
-now I must leave, and shall never see you more, but your kindness
-will ever be remembered by Walter Fenton with gratitude and love."
-
-"Fenton!" said the Ursuline, putting back his hair, and tenderly
-surveying his emaciated features, "I once had a dear though humble
-friend of that name, and my heart yearns to thee for her sake.  But
-wherefore this hurry to depart?  Your wound?--"
-
-"I know not where I am, lady, and should any of the Statholder's
-people come this way I should assuredly be shot."
-
-"Then, in the name of all that is blessed, away!  The fires of the
-French camp are still visible, and you may gain it ere daybreak."
-
-This passed in French, but the boor understood it; his eyes twinkled,
-and knocking the ashes from his pipe he slowly stuck it in his
-leathern cap and stole out unperceived.
-
-"And what will be the fate of this poor daughter of the brave Mackay,
-for everywhere the French are swarming around us?"
-
-"Through a lady of the house of Nassau, who belongs to our now, alas!
-ruined convent, I will see her consigned to the care of her father's
-best friend, William of Orange."
-
-"'Tis fortunate.  It reminds me of what I scarcely dare to ask.  She
-called you by the name of my bitterest enemy--Clermistonlee," said
-Walter, biting his lip; "Clermistonlee, who has been my rival and the
-bane of my existence.  Oh, madam, what terrible mystery is concealed
-under this Ursuline habit!"
-
-As Walter spoke the blood came and went in the faded face of the
-trembling recluse.  One moment, when fired by animation, her features
-seemed almost beautiful, and the next they were withered, rigid, and
-aged.
-
-"Mr. Fenton," faltered the nun--"Mr. Fenton, for so I presume you are
-named?"
-
-"I am Sir Walter Fenton, lady, by the King's grace."
-
-The nun bowed slightly.
-
-"My heart warms, Sir Walter, to that dear native land which I shall
-never behold again, and in a moment of such weakness I revealed
-myself to that poor fugitive girl, whom fate so happily threw under
-my protection, when the confederates were defeated and dispersed----.
-You know him then, this wicked man, to whom fate in an evil hour gave
-me as a wife.  Oh, Randal!  Randal!  --------.  Let me not recall in
-bitterness the burning thoughts of years long passed and
-gone--thoughts which I have long since learned to suppress, or endure
-with calmness and resignation."
-
-"Enough, dear madam, I am animated by no vulgar curiosity, and time
-presses.  Oh, learn rather to forget your earlier griefs than to
-remember them.  Too well do I know the Lord Clermistonlee, and can
-easily conceive a long and painful history of domestic woe and
-suffering.  You are the unfortunate Alison Gilford?"
-
-"Of the house of Gilford of that ilk in Lothian," continued the
-recluse with tearless composure.  "In his earlier days, when young,
-gallant, and winsome, with an honoured name and spotless scutcheon,
-Randal Clermont became my lover and my husband.  Oh, how happy I was
-for a time; how loving and beloved!  But a change came over the
-unstable heart of my husband.  His political intrigues and private
-excesses soon ruined our fortune, deprived me of his love and him of
-my esteem.  We were driven into exile, and retired to Paris.  There
-he plunged madly into a vortex of the lowest dissipation, and spent
-the last of my dowry, my jewels, and everything.  He became a
-drunkard, a bully, and a gamester, if not worse.  Long, long I
-endured without a murmur or reproach his pitiless cruelty and cutting
-contempt, until he eloped with one who in better days had been my
-companion and attendant, an artful wretch named Beatrix Gilruth.  He
-joined the army of Mareschal Crecquy as a volunteer, and I saw him no
-more.  Hearing afterwards that he was in Scotland fighting under the
-standard of the Covenant, and being driven to despair by the miseries
-into which he had plunged me, by leaving me a prey to destitution in
-a foreign land, I resolved to quit the world for ever; I have come of
-an old Catholic family, and a convent was my first thought.
-
-"Our child, for we had one, our child was alternately a source of
-torment and delight," continued the poor nun, weeping bitterly--"my
-torment from the resemblance it bore to its perfidious father, and my
-delight as the only tie that bound me to earth; I resolved to see it
-no more, and sent the poor infant to Scotland in charge of a faithful
-female servitor, to whom I gave a letter for my husband, purporting
-to be written on my deathbed, and a ring he had given me in happier
-days.  In an agony of grief I saw the woman depart, and gave her all
-I possessed, a few louis-d'ors I had acquired at Paris, where I had
-supported myself as a fleuriste, and was patronized by the Scottish
-Archers, who were ever very kind to me.  I considered myself as dead
-to the world from that hour, and immediately commenced my noviciate
-in the licensed convent of St. Ursula in French Flanders.
-
-"Here again all the wounds of my heart were torn open by tidings that
-the ship in which my loved little boy and his nurse embarked had
-perished at sea; whether they perished too God alone knoweth, for I
-heard of them no more.  And now the fierce stings of remorse
-increased the sadness of my sorrow, and I upbraided myself with
-cruelty, with lack of fortitude and such resignation as became a
-Christian.  I accused myself of infanticide, and in my thoughts by
-day and my dreams by night I had ever before me the sunny eyes and
-golden hair of my little child, and its lisping accents in my
-dreaming ear awoke me to tears and unavailing sorrow."
-
-Here the poor nun again paused and wept bitterly.
-
-"Time never fails to soften the memory of the most acute sorrow, and
-in the convent to which I had fled for refuge from my own thoughts,
-the soothing consolations of the sisterhood, the calm, the pious and
-blameless tenor of their way, charmed me as much as their holy
-meekness of spirit subdued my bitter regrets.  After a time I tasted
-the sweets of the most perfect contentment, if not of happiness.  In
-the duties of religion, of industry and charity, I soon learned to
-forget Clermistonlee, or to remember him only in my prayers--to
-forget that I had been a wife, to forget that I had been--oh, no! not
-a mother--never could I forget that."
-
-"Villain that he is! and with the consciousness of your Ladyship's
-existence, he has, since he was ennobled, wooed many another to be
-his bride; but Heaven's hand or his own vices have always foiled him."
-
-The eyes of the recluse sparkled beneath her veil; but folding her
-white hands meekly on her bosom, she said with exceeding gentleness--
-
-"What have I to do with it now?--besides, youth, I am sure he
-believes me dead, for some of the Scottish Archers told him so--and
-dead I am to him and to the world."
-
-"It is a very sad history, madam,"
-
-"But God has comforted me."  Her tears fell fast nevertheless, and a
-long pause ensued.  Walter felt himself moved to tears, and he often
-sighed deeply, yet knew not why.
-
-The sound of a trumpet roused him; it seemed close bye, and came in
-varying cadence on the passing wind.
-
-"'Tis the trumpet of a Dutch patrole.  I must begone, lady, or remain
-only to die.  Farewell; a thousand blessings on you and a thousand
-more--for we shall never meet again;" and half kneeling he kissed her
-hand, and, slipping from the cottage, favoured by the darkened moon,
-hurried away towards the fires of Luxembourg's camp, just as a party
-of Dutch Ruyters led by the boor halted at the cottage door.
-
-* * * * *
-
-With fifty thousand men the Mareschal Duke of Luxembourg was posted
-at Courtray on the Lys; while William, with twice that number, lay at
-Grammont, inactive, phlegmatic, and afraid to attack him; an
-inertness which increased the growing ill-humour of Britain against
-him.  Without a dinner and without a sou, abandoned to solitude and
-dejection, Walter Fenton one evening paced slowly to and fro on the
-ramparts of Courtray, watching the bright sunset as it lingered long
-on the level scenery.  A page approached, who acquainted him that
-Monseigneur le Mareschal required his presence in the citadel,
-whither he immediately repaired, and found the great Henri of
-Luxembourg, the youthful Dukes of Chartres and Vendome, with other
-chevaliers of distinction, carousing after a sumptuous repast.
-
-As he entered, De Chartres was singing the merry old ditty of _Jean
-de Nivelle_, while the rest chorused.
-
-  "Jean de Nivelle has three flails;
-  Three palfrays with long manes and tails;
-  Three blades of a terrible brand,
-  Which he never takes into his hand.
-          _Ah! ouivraiment!
-  Jean de Nivelle est bon enfant!_"
-
-The magnificence of their attire, the happy nonchalance and graceful
-ease of their manner, contrasted with his own tattered and humble
-uniform, fallen fortune, and jaded spirit, made Walter's heart sick
-as he entered; but, assuming somewhat of the old air of a cavalier
-officer, he bowed to the noble company, and awaited in silence the
-commands of the Mareschal.
-
-"Approach, Monsieur," said the handsome young Duc de Chartres.  "Tête
-Dieu! but you look very pale!  You were wounded I believe?"
-
-"It is nearly healed Monseigneur,"
-
-"Ah, it is deuced unpleasant work this fighting and beleaguering."
-
-"De Chartres would rather be at Chantilly," said the Duc de Vendome,
-laughing.
-
-"Or at Versailles," said a Chevalier of St. Louis.  "He is thinking
-of little Mariette Gondalaurier."
-
-"Or St. Denis and adorable Isabeau Lagrange."
-
-"Say Paris at once, Messieurs," said the boyish roué, smiling.  "I
-have beauties everywhere."
-
-"The Scottish officer will drink with us--here, boy, assist our
-friend to wine," said Luxembourg to his page.  "'Tis only Frontiniac,
-Monsieur; but an hour ago it was Dutch William's, and we drink it out
-of pure spite."
-
-Walter drank the fragrant wine from a massively embossed cup, and his
-head swam as he imbibed it, and waited to hear for what desperate
-duty these noble peers designed him.
-
-"Chevalier," said Luxembourg with his most bland smile, "it is
-pleasant to reward the brave.  Aware that the repulse of the
-confederate cavalry on my right flank, and consequently the whole
-success of that glorious day at Steinkirke was mainly owing to the
-valour of the Scottish cavaliers animated by your example, King Louis
-sends you this."  And taking from his own neck the sparkling cross of
-the recently created order of St. Louis, the Duke placed it around
-the neck of Walter Fenton, who bowed his thanks in silence.
-
-"Go, Chevalier--you are a gallant soldier!  The Scots were ever
-brave, and the friends of France.  Wear that cross with honour to the
-Most Christian King, to your native country--"
-
-"And to the most sublime Madame Maintenon," said the young Duke, and
-his gay companions laughed.
-
-"Monseigneur!" said Luxembourg warningly.
-
-"Tête Dieu, Mareschal! dost think I fear her?  Faith Madame, 'tis
-known, never gives a favour without a most usurious per centage.  She
-is quite a Jewess in the intrigues of love and politics, ha! ha!"
-
-"Attached to this cross, Chevalier, is a pension of four hundred
-livres yearly, which I doubt not will be acceptable in your present
-reduced circumstances."
-
-"Oh, believe me, Monseigneur le Mareschal, and you most noble Dukes,
-it is indeed most acceptable; for with it I may in some sort
-alleviate the miseries of those gallant gentlemen, my comrades, who
-share your fortunes in the field."
-
-"By St. Denis, you are a gallant fellow!" cried Luxembourg with
-kindling eyes, "Your generosity equals your courage.  But this must
-not be.  Messieurs your comrades must take the will for the deed.
-This night you must depart for the Court of St. Germain-en-laye,
-where King James requires your immediate attendance.  My Secretary
-will supply you with money, and my Master of the Horse with a
-charger--adieu, Sir, and God be with you!"
-
-Walter retired.
-
-That night he bade a sad adieu to his comrades, and, mounted on one
-of the Mareschal's horses, departed from Courtray.
-
-His brave companions in glory and exile he saw no more.  After all
-their services and their sufferings, their achievements and their
-chivalry, the few survivors of the war, sixteen in number, were, by a
-striking example of French ingratitude, disbanded at the peace of
-Ryswick, on the upper part of the Rhine, far from their native
-land--without money or any provision to save them from starvation and
-death.  Of these sixteen only _four_ survived to return to Scotland
-in extreme old age, when all fears of the Jacobites had passed away
-for ever.
-
-Again the unclouded moon was shining over Steinkirke when Walter
-passed it, and vividly on his mind came back the fierce memories of
-that impetuous hour.  The great plain was deserted, the full eared
-corn was waving heavily, and not a sound disturbed the silence of the
-moonlit scenery save the deep bay of a household dog or the croak of
-a passing stork.
-
-Thickly on every hand lay the graves of the faithful dead.  In some
-instances he saw great burial mounds; in others there was but one
-solitary grave secluded among the long grass and reeds, and his horse
-started instinctively as he passed them.
-
-Fragments of clothing, accoutrements, and other relics, lay among the
-rank weeds by the side of the fields, under the green hedge-rows, in
-the wet ditches; and even fleshless bones, bare scalps, fingers and
-toes, protruded from the soil, imparting an aspect of horror to the
-moonlighted plain where the battle had been fought.
-
-The abbatis still lay there, but the foliage of the trees that formed
-it had long since faded and decayed.  A great tumulus, on which the
-young grass was sprouting, lay within it.
-
-"Poor Finland!" muttered Walter, and with a moistened eye and heavy
-heart he plunged his horse into the Senne and swam to the opposite
-bank.  The cottage where he had found shelter had now disappeared;
-its foundations, scorched and blackened by fire, alone marked the
-place where it stood.  He thought of the poor Ursuline and her story,
-and sighed that he could learn nothing more of her fate; he sighed,
-too, at the memory of the beautiful Margaret Mackay, and felt the
-keenest remorse for having slain her father.
-
-Of the recluse he never heard more; but the daughter of Mackay
-reached the camp of William in safety, and in after years became the
-wife of her kinsman and chief, George, third Lord Reay of Farre.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-WALTER FENTON AND THE KING.
-
-  To daunton me, and me sae young,
-  And guid King James's auldest son!
-  Oh, that's the thing that never can be,
-  For the man is unborn that'll daunton me!
-  O set me once upon Scottish land,
-  With my guid braid-sword into my hand,
-  My bannet blue aboon my bree,
-  Then shew me the man that'll daunton me!
-                                  JACOBITE RELIQUES.
-
-
-His confessor had just withdrawn, and King James was sitting in his
-closet involved in gloomy and distracting reverie--immersed in
-thoughts which even the mild exhortations of the priest had failed to
-soothe, and with his eyes intently fixed on the morning sun as it
-rose red and unclouded in the east, he gave way to the sadness that
-oppressed him.
-
-Alternately he was a prey to a storm of revengeful and bitter
-political reflections, or to a gloomy fanaticism, which impaired the
-courage and lessened the magnanimity for which he had once been
-distinguished.  On discovering that he was constantly conferring with
-the Jesuits upon abstruse theology, the ribald Louis spoke of him in
-terms of pity mingled with contempt.  The French ridiculed, the
-Romans lampooned him, and, while the Sovereign Pontiff supplied him
-liberally with indulgences, the Archbishop of Rheims said
-ironically--"There is a pious man who hath sacrificed three crowns
-for a mass!"
-
-And this was all the unfortunate and mistaken James had gained, by
-his steady and devoted adherence to a falling faith.
-
-Bestowing a glance of undisguised hostility, not unmingled with
-contempt, at the follower of St. Ignatius Loyola as he withdrew, the
-Earl of Dunbarton, clad in his old uniform as a Scottish general,
-entered the apartment of the King.  The green ribbon of St. Andrew
-was worn over his left shoulder, the star with its four silver points
-sparkled on his left breast, and around his neck hung the red ribbon
-of the Bath, and the magnificent collar of the Garter.
-
-"Good morning, my Lord Dunbarton; you look as if you had something to
-communicate.  Any news from Flanders?  Is my dutiful son-in-law still
-playing at long bowles with Luxembourg?  Has Sir Walter Fenton
-arrived?"
-
-"He awaits your Majesty's pleasure in the ante-chamber."
-
-"Let him be introduced at once!  Why all this etiquette?"
-
-"Because, please your Majesty, it is all that is left to remind me of
-other days."
-
-"True," said the King thoughtfully.
-
-"Welcome, my brave and faithful soldier!" he exclaimed, as Walter was
-introduced by the gentlemen in waiting, and kneeled to kiss his hand.
-"Welcome from Flanders, that land of fighting and fertility.  My poor
-Sir Walter, you look very pale and emaciated."
-
-"I was wounded at Steinkirke, please your Majesty; and with those
-unfortunate gentlemen, my comrades, have undergone such hardships and
-humiliations as no imagination can conceive."
-
-Walter's eyes suffused with tears; his voice and his heart trembled.
-He felt a gush of loyalty and ardour swelling within his breast, that
-would have enabled him cheerfully to lay his life at the feet of the
-King.  The remark of a celebrated modern writer is indeed a true one.
-"Unfortunate and unwise as were the Stuart family, there must have
-been some charm about them, for they had instances of attachment and
-fidelity shewn them of which _no other line of Kings could boast_."
-
-"You have indeed undergone sufferings which God only can reward,"
-said the King, laying a hand kindly on his shoulder; "and your ill
-requited valour is a striking example of the falsehood and flattery
-of the Court of Versailles."
-
-"When I consider our achievements," replied Walter, "my soul fires
-with pride and ardour; but when I think of the friends that have
-fallen, my heart dies away within me.  To the last of my blood and
-breath I will serve your majesty; but, notwithstanding this gift of
-the Cross of St. Louis, I will follow the banner of the donor no
-more."
-
-"Louis is a noble prince," said the Earl of Dunbarton, "and one who
-hath raised his realm to the greatest pitch of human grandeur."
-
-"Oh, say not so, my Lord!  When I remember the cruel persecution of
-his subjects after the Treaty of Nimguen, his repealing the edict of
-Nantes, his tyranny over the noblesse and the parliament, his unjust
-wars and usurpations, in which he pours forth so prodigally the blood
-and the treasures of his people; his blasphemous titles and lewd
-life; I can only remember with shame that I have served in his army,
-and from this hour renounce his service for ever.  And were it not
-that this cross hung once on the breast of the gallant Luxembourg, I
-would hurl it into the Seine."
-
-"The remembrance of your sufferings doubtless animates this unwise
-train of thought, Sir Walter," said the King, slightly piqued.  "But
-permit me to remark, that to indulge your opinions thus in France, is
-to run your head into the lion's mouth.  How goes the war in
-Flanders?"
-
-"Still doubtfully, please your Majesty; but the recent arrival of the
-Duke of Leinster at Ostend, with fresh troops for William, may turn
-the fortune of the war against Henri of Luxembourg, and consequently
-please the people of England, who are not very favourably disposed
-towards this expensive and unnecessary war for the Dutch interests of
-the usurper."
-
-"The best proof of this new sentiment, is the discontent of the
-Cameronians in the western districts of Scotland.  What dost think,
-Sir Walter?  They have engaged to muster 5000 horse and 20,000
-infantry for my complete restoration, provided Louis will give them
-only one month's subsidy, beside other supplies, and these he hath
-solemnly promised me."
-
-"From my soul I thank Heaven that again it is turning the hearts of
-your subjects towards you.  If such is the spirit of the Cameronians,
-oh, what will be the energy and the ardour of the Cavaliers!  But
-trust not in Louis; he has ruined every prince with whom he has been
-allied, in war or in politics, and assuredly he will shipwreck the
-interests of your Majesty, as he has done those of others."
-
-"Still judging hardly of his most Christian Majesty," said James,
-smiling.  "But I have the pledged words of better men.  From the
-noble Drummonds', the gallant Keiths', the Hays', from the Lord
-Stormont and the Murrays', the gay Gordons and Grahames, I have
-received the most solemn promises of adherence and loyalty; and I
-know that the glorious clans of the northern shires will all rush to
-my standard the moment it is unfurled upon the Highland hills.  Oh,
-yes!" continued the King, while his dark eyes flashed with joyous
-enthusiasm; "once again as in my father's days the war-cry of the
-Gael will ring from Lochness to Lochaber."
-
-"But where is now Montrose, and where Dundee?" said Lord Dunbarton in
-a low voice.
-
-"God will raise up other champions for those who have suffered so
-much in his service as the Princes of the House of Stuart," replied
-the King with Catholic fervour and confidence.  "Meantime, Sir
-Walter, I would have you to set out for Scotland forthwith, to
-negotiate with those distinguished cavaliers, while the minds of my
-people are still inflamed by the memory of that fiend-like massacre
-at Glencoe, the defeat of Steinkirke, the slaughter of their
-soldiers, and all the disgusts incident to the Flemish campaign
-abroad and William's administration at home.  My Lord Dunbarton avers
-that he will pledge his honour for the loyalty of his old regiment
-and the Scottish Guards, both horse and foot, for his Countess has
-questioned every man of them.  You will not fail to visit Drummond of
-Hawthorndon; he comes of a leal and true race, and his house, with
-its deep caverns and secret outlets, is a noble place of rendezvous
-and security.  You will be liberally supplied with money and letters
-of credit and compliment.  You may promise, in my name, everything
-that seems requisite--titles, honours, pensions,--I will trust to
-your discretion, from what the Lord Dunbarton has told me of you.
-Flatter the vain, conciliate the stubborn, secure the wavering, and
-fire the loyal.  Leave nothing undone, and remember that, perhaps on
-the success of your mission depend the fortune of the prince, my son,
-the ancient liberties of Scotland, the honour of her people, and the
-fate of her regal line."
-
-The King ceased, and Walter was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of
-the diplomacy entrusted to him, and the joy at returning to Scotland,
-that he remained silent for some moments.
-
-"Oh, with what a mission does your Majesty honour me!" he exclaimed,
-glowing with ambition, gratitude and joy.  "How can I express my
-thanks for this great confidence reposed in one so poor, so
-friendless?"
-
-"These are good qualities, Sir Walter, for a Jacobite agent; you may
-(being friendless and unknown) make your way through Scotland in
-safety, when a coroneted baron, or the chief of a powerful sept,
-would soon be discovered and committed to the Castle of Edinburgh or
-the Tower of London.  Go, Sir Walter; Lord Dunbarton and my secretary
-will arrange the matters you require, and in addition to my holograph
-letters to the Lowland lords and Highland chiefs, will give you
-others to Mr. Brown, my English agent, and Father Innes, President of
-the Scots' College at Paris, who acts for me in Scotland.  Go, Sir
-Walter, and prosper!  If ever we meet again, let us hope it will be
-under very different circumstances.  May God and his thrice-blessed
-mother keep their hands over you, and inspire you for the sake of my
-dear little son and the people over whom he is to rule!  Farewell--I
-have in some sort rewarded your courage in the field, but if your
-talent in diplomacy equals it, I swear by the sceptre that my sires
-have borne for ages, you shall be Earl of Dalrulion in the north, and
-cock your beaver with the best peer in all broad Scotland.  Farewell!
-may we meet again at the head of a loyal and faithful army, or part
-to meet no more!"
-
-Again Walter Fenton kneeled, and after kissing the hand of James, was
-hurried away by the Earl of Dunbarton.
-
-Furnished with a great number of letters addressed to the principal
-nobles and chiefs in Scotland, Walter artfully sewed them into the
-lining of his hat and the stiff buckram skirts of his coat, after
-which, without an hour's delay, he departed on his arduous and
-dangerous mission--to overturn the established governments of two
-kingdoms--to hurl down one dynasty and restore another.
-
-Already he had gained a title which formerly he had possessed only in
-his day-dreams of success and glory; but now decorated by Louis with
-his new and famous military order, promised a peerage by his King,
-fired by loyalty, ardour, and love, he seemed to occupy a giddy
-eminence, from which he viewed distinctly a long and happy future.
-
-It was a far-stretching and glorious vista of triumph and success;
-the restoration of the king by his means, and oh, far above all,--the
-exultation of placing a Countess's coronet on the bright tresses of
-Lilian Napier.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-THE RETURNED EXILE.
-
-  Then, Mary, turn awa'
-    That bonnie face o' thine;
-  Oh, dinna shew the breast
-    That never can be mine.
-
-  Wi' love's severest pangs
-    My heart is laden sair;
-  And owre my breast the grass maun grow,
-    Ere I am free from care.
-
-
-In the gloaming of an evening in the autumn of 1693 a man left the
-western gate of Edinburgh, and, skirting the suburb of the Highriggs,
-struck into the roadway between the fields.
-
-The sickly rays of a yellow sun shining faintly through the mist
-after throwing the shadows of the gigantic castle far to the
-eastward, had died away, and a deeper gloom succeeding, denoted the
-close of the day as the fall of the fluttering leaves did that of the
-dreary year.
-
-The stranger was Walter Fenton; but how changed in aspect and attire!
-His form was thin and emaciated, his cheek pale, his eyes sunken from
-the pain of his wound and the toil of campaigning; but his step was
-as free, and his bearing erect as ever.  His attire was of the
-plainest grey freize, with great horn buttons; a brown scratch wig
-and a plain beaver hat concealed the dark locks that curled beneath
-them; he carried a walking staff in lieu of a sword, and appeared to
-lean on it a little at times.  He was now in the character of a Low
-Country merchant, and, favoured by a passport from the conservator of
-Scottish privileges at Campvere, had an hour before landed from the
-good ship Fame of Queensferry, at the ancient wooden pier of Leith.
-
-Often he made brief pauses to view the desolate scene around him; for
-in that year a heavy curse seemed to have fallen upon the desolate
-kingdom of Scotland.
-
-On an evening in the preceding summer, when everything was blooming
-and smiling--when the land was rich with verdure and the woods were
-heavy with foliage, a cold wind came from the eastward, and,
-accompanied by a dense and sulphureous mist, swept over the face of
-the country, blighting whatsoever was touched by its pestilential
-breath.
-
-The fields seemed to whiten under its baleful influence; the ripening
-corn withered, and the land was struck with a barrenness.  Dense,
-opaque, and palpable, like a chain of hills, this strange and horrid
-vapour lay floating in the valleys for many successive months, and
-there its effects were more disastrous.  The heat of the sun seemed
-to diminish, the insects disappeared from the air and the birds from
-the withered woods, which, long ere the last month of summer, became
-divested of their faded foliage.  The cattle became dwarfish and
-meagre, and the flocks perished by scores on the decaying heather of
-the blasted mountains.  The people became sickly, ghastly, and
-prostrated in spirit; for a curse seemed to have fallen upon the land
-and all that was in it.
-
-This terrible visitation continued until the year 1701, and the _dear
-years_ were long remembered with horror in Scotland.
-
-In some places, January and February became the months of harvest,
-and, amid ice and snow, and the sleet that drizzled through that
-everlasting and sulphureous mist, the half famished people reaped in
-grief and misery a small part of their scanty produce, while the
-other was left to rot in the ground.  Famine, the lord of all,
-stalked grimly over the land, and strong men and wailing women, yea,
-and feeble children, fought like wild beasts for a handful of meal in
-the desolate market places.
-
-"There was many a blank and pale face in Scotland," says Walker, the
-famous Presbyterian pedlar, "and as the famine waxed sore, wives
-thought not of their husbands, nor husbands of their wives," and the
-gloomy superstition and fanatical intolerance of the time added fresh
-horrors to this ghastly scourge.
-
-The famine was not yet at its height; but there was a desolation in
-the aspect of the land that deeply impressed the mind of the returned
-exile, and he sighed in unison with the dreary wind as it swept over
-the blasted muir, shaking down the crisped leaves and acorns of
-stately old oaks of Drumsheugh.  Save the solitary heron, wading as
-of old in the lake, not a bird was to be seen, not an insect buzzing
-about the leafless hedges.  The air was dense and cold, and all was
-very still.
-
-The country seemed to be wasting like a beautiful woman decaying in
-consumption.  Walter felt that the manners of the people were
-changed; intense gravity and moroseness, real or affected, were
-visible in every face, while sad coloured garments, Geneva cloaks,
-and Dutch fashions were all the rage.  Every trace of the smart
-mustache had disappeared, and with it the slashed doublets, the
-waving feathers and dashing airs of the gallant cavaliers.
-
-Even the sentinels at the palace gates and the portes of the city,
-might have passed for those before the Town House or _Rasp Haus_ at
-Amsterdam.  The smart steel cap of the old Scottish infantry had now
-given place to a vast overshadowing beaver looped up on three sides,
-and the scarlet doublet slashed with blue, and the jacket of spotless
-buff, to square tailed and voluminous coats of brick-red, with yellow
-breeches and belts worn saltier-wise.
-
-Bitterly the reflection came home to the heart of the poor Cavalier,
-that
-
-  "The times were changed, old manners gone,
-  And a _stranger_ filled the Stuarts' throne!"
-
-
-Though confident of succeeding in his diplomacy with the loyal lords
-and chieftains of the Jacobite faction, he was well aware how arduous
-and difficult was the task to overthrow two Governments so well
-arranged, ably constituted and supported, as those of England and
-Scotland.  It had long been the policy of William III. to conciliate
-domestic enemies, and, in pursuance of it, he had bestowed several
-lucrative offices on the leaders of the discontented and kirk-party.
-The Scottish Parliament, which had recently met, received from him an
-able and cunning letter, replete with flattering and cajoling
-expressions, which put all the Presbyterian Lords in such excellent
-humour, that they returned a most dutiful and affectionate
-address--granted him a supply of six new battalions of infantry, a
-body of seamen, and one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, to enable
-him to carry on his useless wars with new vigour; but though the
-Parliament was thus obsequious, the people were far from being
-pleased; and the Jacobites, numerous, enthusiastic, and determined,
-every where fanned the flames of discord and dissension.
-
-The institution of fines and oaths of assurance upon absentees from
-Parliament, which had direct reference to certain Cavalier Lords and
-lesser Barons, exasperated them as much as the horrible massacre of
-Glencoe did the commonalty, who raised throughout the land a cry for
-vengeance on William and his Government.
-
-Walter Fenton reflected on these things as he walked onward, and knew
-that he had come at a critical time.  Other thoughts soon succeeded,
-and, grasping his staff as he had often done his sword, he pushed
-forward with a sparkling eye and reddening cheek.
-
-Without impairing his nobler sentiments, suffering and misfortune had
-powerfully strengthened his loyalty and virtue, as much as
-campaigning had improved his bearing and lent a firmness and manly
-determination to his aspect; but often his brow saddened and the fire
-of his eye died away, when he thought of Finland and those he had
-been permitted to survive and to mourn.
-
-Glowing with sensations of rapture, and eagerly anticipating the
-flush of joy that awaited him, he passed the rhinns of the beautiful
-loch, the curious gable-ended old house where once the Regent Murray
-dwelt, and approached the gate of Bruntisfield.
-
-His heart beat painfully; he was deeply agitated.  Five weary years
-had elapsed since he had stood on that spot, and it seemed only as
-yesterday.  Through all the hurry of events that had swept over him,
-his memory went back to that memorable eve of September (of which
-this was now the anniversary) and to the glorious ardour that
-animated his heart on the day he marched for England, when the long
-line of the Scottish host wound over yonder hill before him.  Oh, for
-one hour more of those fierce longings and brave impulses!  But alas!
-the spirit seemed to have passed away for ever.
-
-He approached the avenue.  The old gate with its massive arch, its
-mossy carvings and loopholed wall, had given place to a handsome new
-erection of more modern architecture, surmounted by a rich coat of
-arms; and Walter felt every pulse grow still, and every fibre tremble
-as he surveyed the sculptured blazon.
-
-It bore the saltire of Napier, engrailed between four roses, but
-quartered, collared, and coroneted with other bearings.
-
-His heart became sick and palsied.  Oh, it was a horrible sensation
-that came over him; he stood long irresolute and apprehensive.
-
-"Of what am I afraid!" he suddenly exclaimed with the enthusiasm of a
-true and impassioned lover.  "There is some mistake here; the house
-has been sold or gifted away like many another noble patrimony to the
-slaves of the Statholder.  Lilian!  Dear Lilian, when shall I hold
-thee in my arms?"
-
-He was about to rush forward, when a horseman, the glittering lace on
-whose bright coloured suit of triple velvet, and waving ostrich
-feathers that fluttered in his diamond hat-band, formed a strong
-contrast to the sombre fashions of the time, dashed down the
-leaf-strewn avenue on a beautiful charger, with the perfumed ringlets
-of his white peruke dancing in the wind--for white perukes, from a
-spirit of opposition, were all the rage then, as _black_ had been
-under the three last princes of the old hereditary line.  It was Lord
-Clermistonlee.
-
-"Hollo, fellow!" he cried imperiously, "keep out of my horse's
-way--dost want thy bones broken!" and giving a keen but casual glance
-at the dejected wanderer, he spurred onward to the city.
-
-Suddenly he reined up so sharply as almost to pull his pawing steed
-back upon its strained and bending haunches.
-
-"'Tis he!" exclaimed the proud lord, as he thought aloud.  "By the
-great father of confusion 'tis he!  How could I mistake, though
-truly, poor devil, these last five years have sadly changed him.  But
-on what fool's errand comes he here?  By all the furies, I knew his
-lachrymose visage in a moment, though the despatches of Dalrymple of
-Stair, to our Lords of Council, had in some sort prepared me for his
-return, and for what?--to organize a plot for James's restoration.
-Poor fool!  Infatuated in love as in politics.  He believes in the
-faith of women and the word of Kings; let us see how they will avail
-him tonight."
-
-He smiled scornfully, and twisted the heavy dark mustachios which he
-still cherished with more than Mahommedan veneration.  Alternately
-sad and bitter thoughts swelled within him as he remembered the
-joyous revelry of King Charles's days, and the tyranny he could then
-exercise over all nonconformists, and the hunting and
-hosting-dragooning and drinking of the Covenanting wars; then came
-feelings of jealousy and revenge that, as they blazed up in his proud
-breast, bore all before them.
-
-"How dares he now to prowl before my own gates?  Gadso! if my Lady
-Lilian sees him once, there will be a pretty disturbance.  A shipload
-of devils will be nothing to it.  The girl will die, and my own house
-will become too hot to hold me.  D----nation! too well have I seen
-the secret passion that has preyed upon her gentle and affectionate
-heart--the grief--the deep consuming grief that all my magnificent
-presents and gentle blandishments have failed to soothe.  A thousand
-curses on this upstart beggar, and a thousand more on the mother of
-mischief, who has raised him up again to cross my path!  By what
-power hath he escaped war and woe, and storm and every danger again
-to thwart and come in the way of Clermistonlee, whose purposes were
-never yet foiled by man, or woman either?  'S death! the time has
-come when the cord of the doomster, or the axe of the maiden, must
-rid me for ever of this old source of dark forebodings and secret
-inquietude.  Ho, for a guard and a warrant of Council, and then Sir
-Walter Fenton, Knight Banneret, the Jacobite spy, Chevalier of St.
-Louis, ex-private soldier, and soi-disant ensign to the Lord
-Dunbarton, may look to himself!  Ha, ha!" and dashing spurs into his
-horse he galloped madly into the city.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-THE BUBBLE BURST.
-
-  To linger when the sun of life,
-    The beam that gilt its path is gone--
-  To feel the aching bosom's strife,
-    When _Hope_ is dead, but _Love_ lives on.
-                                    ANONYMOUS.
-
-
-Meanwhile, without recognising Clermistonlee, and not aware that he
-had been recognized by him, poor Walter, who was of that temperament
-which is easily raised and depressed, turned away from the gate,
-crushed beneath the load of a thousand fears at the sight of so gay a
-cavalier caracoling down the avenue of Bruntisfield.
-
-His heart was overcharged with melancholy reflections.  "I have been
-away for five years--in all that time we have never heard of each
-other.  Oh, what if she should have deemed me dead!"
-
-Drawing his last shilling from his pocket, the unfortunate cavalier
-entered a poor change-house by the wayside, where a great signboard
-creaking on an iron rod and representing a portrait in a red coat and
-white wig, and having a tremendously hooked nose, imported that it
-was the 'King William's head,' kept by Lucky Elshender, who promised
-good entertainment for "man and beast."
-
-The small clay-floored apartment, with its well-scrubbed bunkers, and
-rack of shining plates and tin trenchers, kirn-babies on the
-mantelpiece, and blazing ingle, where turf and wood burned cheerfully
-in a clumsy iron basket, supported by four massive legs, looked very
-snug and comfortable.
-
-A personage evidently a divine, long visaged and dark featured, with
-his lanky sable hair falling on his Geneva bands and coat of rusty
-black, sat warming his spindle legs at the warm hearth, and smoking a
-long pipe, on the bowl of which he fixed his great lack lustre eyes
-with an expression of the deepest abstraction.  It was the Reverend
-Mr. Ichabod Bummel, who came every evening as regularly as six
-o'clock struck, to smoke a pipe, and hear the passing news at the
-change-house kept by his aunt-in-law old Elsie, and to bore every
-traveller who was disposed to hear the abstruse theology and
-ponderous arguments advanced in his _Bombshell_, for that immortal
-work had been printed at last, in thick quarto, and a copy of it now
-lay under his elbow all ready for action against the first
-good-natured listener or fool-hardy disputant.
-
-In person this redoubtable champion of toleration was as lean as
-ever, though the goods and chattels of this world had flowed amply
-upon him of late, notwithstanding the oppression and famine of the
-time.  He had cautiously purchased various tofts and pendicles on the
-banks of the Powburn, and to these he gave hard and unusual
-scriptural names, which they bear unto this day, and which the
-curious may find by consulting the City Directory.  One he named the
-Land of Canaan, another the Land of Goshen, the Land of Egypt,
-Hebron, and so forth, while the little runnel that traverses them was
-exalted into the waters of Jordan.  Meinie, whom he had espoused, had
-"proved," as he said, "ane fruitful vine," for she had brought him
-four sons, all long-visaged, hollow-eyed, and sepulchral counterparts
-of himself, and he named them Shem, Ham, Japhet, and Ichabod.
-
-On the opposite side of the ingle, and far back in a corner, a
-miserable-looking woman crouched on the stone bench for warmth.  A
-tartan plaid was muffled about her shoulders, and half concealed her
-hollow cheeks and ghastly visage.  She seemed a personification of
-the famine and misery that reigned so triumphantly in Scotland.  Her
-eyes were full of unnatural lustre; they flashed like diamonds in the
-light of the fire, but had a scrutinizing and stern expression in
-them that startled Walter, and he felt uneasy in her vicinity.
-
-"It's only puir Beatrix Gilruth, my winsome gentleman," said Elsie in
-a low voice; "she is a gomeral--a natural body that bides about the
-doors, Sir; just a puir, harmless, daft creature.  She'll no harm
-you, Sir."
-
-In the tumult of his mind Walter did not at first recognise either
-Elsie or Ichabod, but assuming an air of as much unconcern as he
-could muster, he called for a bicker of French wine, and took
-possession of a cutty stool which the slipshod Elsie placed for him
-hurriedly and officiously opposite the divine, who regarded him with
-a keen scrutinizing glance, to ascertain his probable station in
-life, his errand, and objects in coming hither.  He saw that he was a
-traveller, and being on foot must be a poor one.
-
-"Good e'en to your reverence, for I presume I have the honour of
-addressing a clergyman," said Walter, politely.
-
-"Hum--humph!" answered Ichabod, with a short cough, nodding his head,
-and never once moving his eyes from Walter's face.  Every man was
-then doubtful and suspicious of strangers (the Scots are so to the
-present hour), and consequently Ichabod was singularly dry and
-reserved.  But Elsie drew near Walter, and looked at him attentively.
-The grief that preyed upon his heart had imparted a singularly
-prepossessing mildness to his features, and a winning cadence to the
-tone of his voice, but the stark preacher neither saw one nor felt
-the influence of the other.
-
-"A cold night, your reverence."
-
-"Yea," gasped Ichabod, and there was another pause.
-
-"My service to you, Sir.  Wilt taste my wine? 'tis right Gascony, and
-I should be a judge."
-
-"Yea, having been in those parts where it was produced, probably,"
-observed Ichabod, becoming more curious and communicative as he
-imbibed the lion's share of Walter's wine pot, and waited for an
-answer, but there was none given.
-
-"Verily, Sir," began Mr. Bummel, "these are times to chill the souls
-and bodies of the afflicted.  Thou seest how sore the famine waxeth
-in the land, especially in these our once fertile Lothians, which
-whilome were wont to be overflowing with milk and honey."
-
-"Ay," chimed in Elsie, "but I've seen them in mair fearfu' times,
-when they were overflowing wi' blude and soldiers."
-
-"'Tis for that red harvest, woman, that we are visited by this
-lamentable scourge; plagued even as Egypt was of old.  In these three
-fertile shires of Lothian I have seen a woeful change since the last
-harvest, and my heart grows heavy when I think upon it; but I am
-about to arise and go forth from them for ever."
-
-"Indeed, Sir," said Walter.
-
-"I have gotten a pleasant call from the Lord to another kirk----"
-
-"Wi' a _better_ stipend, Sir," added the gleeful Elsie.
-
-"Indubitably," said Mr. Bummel.
-
-"Twa hunder pound Scots, a braw glebe, four bolls o' beir," replied
-Elsie, counting on her crooked and wrinkled fingers, "aucht
-chalders--"
-
-"Peace, woman Elsie, for this enumeration of thine savours of a love
-for the things of this life."
-
-"And a braw pulpit.  O, but it's grand you'll be, Ichabod, when in
-full birr under your sounding board.  But alake, Sir," she added,
-turning to Walter, "arena' these fearfu' times?'
-
-"Sad indeed, gudewife."
-
-"I was in the mealmarket this morning, and oh, Sirs, it was a sight
-to rend the heart of a nether millstane to see the hungry bairns and
-wailing mothers worrying about the half-filled pokes.  God help them!
-the puir folk are deeing fast the west country we hear."
-
-"'Tis a scourge on the land for its former sins," said the preacher
-in his most sepulchral tone; "but let us hope that the faith of its
-people will save it!"
-
-"You'll hae come from some far awa' country I'm thinking, Sir?" said
-Elsie, inquisitively, for the extreme sadness of Walter interested
-her extremely.
-
-"True I have, good woman."
-
-"France, I fancy? that land o' priests and persecution."
-
-"From Holland last.  I am a merchant, and deal in broadcloths and
-cart saddles.  From Holland last," he repeated, for their
-inquisitiveness made him uneasy.
-
-"A blessed land, good youth," said Mr. Bummel.  "I sojourned there
-long when there was a flaming sword over the children of
-righteousness."
-
-"Reverend sir, canst tell me what are the news among you here?" asked
-Walter, who was in an agony of mind to lead the conversation to what
-lay nearest his heart.
-
-"Verily, Sir, nought but the famine--the famine.  The west winds hath
-detained the Flanders mail these two months, and we have heard
-nothing from London these many weeks, save anent plots of the
-Jacobites and Papists, of whilk we have ever enough and to spare."
-
-"What have you heard of them of late?"
-
-"'Tis said that one Walter Fenton, formerly an officer in the
-regiment of Dunbarton (that bloody oppressor of Israel) is now
-tarrying among us, plotting in James's cause, or on some such errand
-of hell."
-
-"The rascal," said Walter, drinking to conceal the confusion that
-overspread his face.
-
-"Yea," continued Ichabod, puffing vigorously, and luckily involving
-himself in a cloud of smoke.  "This morning the heralds, in their
-vain-glorious trumpery, were proclaiming at the Cross the reward of a
-thousand merks to any that will bring his head to the Privy Council;
-and the Lord Clermistonlee, from the good will and affection he bears
-his Majesty, offers five hundred more?"
-
-"Do you think he will be found?"
-
-"Indubitably.  The ports are closed, the guards on the alert; the
-messengers-at-arms, macers, and halberdiers are all in full chase.
-He must perish, and so may all who would restore the abominations of
-idolatry!  Here in my _Bombshell_ (a work whilk I have lately
-imprinted with mickle care and toil), if I do not prove, from the
-epistles to the Thessalonians, that the great master of popery, the
-Bishop of Rome, is the grand Antichrist therein referred to, I will
-be well content to kiss the bloody maiden that stands under the
-shadow of the Tolbooth gable."
-
-"Hear till him!" cried the delighted Elsie.  "Hear till him!  O wow,
-but my Meinie's man is a grand minister--he rides on the rigging of
-the kirk!"
-
-"I am a stranger here," said Walter, no longer able to repress the
-torture of his mind; "I know nothing of the vile plot you speak of,
-having been long in the industrious Low Countries--and--and--cans't
-tell me, your Reverence, whose mansion is approached by yonder
-stately avenue of oaks and sycamores?"
-
-"The House of Bruntisfield--called of old the Wrytes."
-
-"Aich ay," added Elsie, shaking her head mournfully; "but a house o'
-wrongs now."
-
-"Wherefore, gudewife?"
-
-"It is a lang story, honoured Sir," replied Elsie, drawing her stool
-nearer Walter, and knitting very fast to hide her emotion.  "The auld
-line o' the Napiers ended in a lassie, as bonnie a doo as the Lowdens
-three could boast o', and mony came frae baith far and near to the
-wooing and winning o' her; but nane cam speed save a
-neer-do-weel-loon o' a cavalier officer, to whom she plighted heart
-and troth--and the plighting pledge was a deid woman's ring.  As
-might be expected, the hellicate cavalier gaed awa' to the wars and
-plundering in the Lowlands of Holland, and sair my young lady
-sorrowed for him; I ken that weel, for I was her nurse, and mony a
-lang hour she grat in my arms for her love that was far awa'.  At
-last word came frae Low Germanie that the fause villain had married
-some unco' papistical woman, and, in a mad fit o' black despair, my
-lady accepted the most determined, if no the best o' her suitors----"
-
-"Who?" asked Walter in an unearthly voice, and feeling for the sword
-he wore no longer.  "Who?"
-
-"Randal Lord Clermistonlee, and ehow! but sair hath been the change
-in our gude auld barony since then.  Her braw lands and
-farmsteadings, her auld patrimony, baith haugh and holme, loch and
-lea, brae and burn, are a' melting and fleeing awa' by the wasterfu'
-extravagance o' the wildest loon in a' braid Scotland.  Hawks and
-hounds, revellers and roisterers, and ill-women, thrang the great ha'
-house frae een to morn and morn till eenin'; and sae, between the
-freaks and follies, the pride and caprice o' her lord, my puir doo
-Lilian leads the life o' a blessed martyr.  When mad wi' wine and ill
-luck at the dice tables, he rampages ower her like a Bull o' Bashan;
-while, at other times, he just doats on her as a faither would on a
-favourite bairn.  But, alake! doating can never remove the misery
-that has closed over her for the short time she'll likely be amang
-us--for her heart is breaking fast--it is--it is!"
-
-Here Elsie wept bitterly, and then resumed.
-
-"Her marriage day was ane o' the darkest dool to a' the barony, for
-on that miserable day our auld lady died; and a' the leal servitors
-were soon after expelled to mak' room for the broken horse-coupers,
-ill-women and vagabonds, that were ever and aye in the train o' the
-new lord."
-
-While Elsie ran on thus, Walter heard her not.  His mind was a
-perfect chaos of distraction.
-
-Oh, what a shock were these tidings to one whose head was so full of
-romance and enthusiasm, and whose heart was brimming with sensibility
-and love!
-
-He felt an utter prostration of every faculty, and a deadly coldness
-seemed to pass over the pulses of his heart.  He arose, and laying on
-the table the last coin he possessed in the world, hurried forth
-without waiting for change, and, bent on some desperate deed, blind
-and reckless, with anger, agony and despair in his soul, he entered
-the dark shadowy avenue, and approached the old castellated
-mansion--the place of so many tender memories.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-LOVE AND MARRIAGE ARE TWO.
-
-  Oh, these were only marks of joy, forsooth,
-  For his return in safety!  Were they so?
-  And so ye may believe, and so my words
-  May fall unheeded!  Be it so; what comes
-  Will nevertheless come.
-                          AGAMEMNON OF ÆSCHYLUS.
-
-
-The shadows of the gloomy evening had deepened as he approached the
-ancient Place of Bruntisfield, and its dark façade, its heavy
-projecting turrets and barred casements, impressed him with
-additional sadness.
-
-The wind sighed down the lonely avenue, and whirled the fallen leaves
-as it passed.  Many a raven flapped its wings and screamed
-discordantly above his head, and all such sounds had a powerful
-effect on him at the time.
-
-Confused, despairing, and feeling a sentiment of profound contempt
-and anger, struggling for mastery with his old and passionate love,
-his heart seemed about to rend with its conflicting emotions.
-
-One sensation was ever present--it was one of desolation and
-loneliness--that he had nothing more to live for; that the world was
-all a blank.  The light that had long led him on through so many
-miseries and dangers had vanished from his view: his idol was
-shattered for ever.
-
-He felt that it was impossible to think with calmness; to tear from
-his breast the dear image and the cherished hopes he had fostered
-there so long--to exchange admiration for contempt--love for
-indifference.  Oh, no! it could never be.  Ages seemed to have
-elapsed since the sun had set that evening; while his parting with
-Lilian, the triumph of Killycrankie, the carnage of Steinkirke, and
-his mission from the King, seemed all the events of yesterday.
-
-He felt sick and palsied at heart.
-
-Irresistibly impelled to see her, heedless alike of the dangerous
-charm of her presence and the risk he ran if discovered, his whole
-soul was bent upon an interview, that he might upbraid her with her
-perfidy--hurl upon her a mountain of reprobation and bitterness, of
-obloquy and scorn, and then leave her presence for ever.
-
-"I am alone in the world," thought he.  "This is my native land--the
-land where I had garnered up my heart, my hopes, and my wishes,
-though not one foot of it is mine save the sod that must cover me.
-Of all the tens of thousands that tread its soil, there is not one
-now with whom I can claim kindred, who would welcome me in coming, or
-bless me in departing--not one to shed a tear on the grave where I
-shall lie.  Oh! it is very sad to feel one's self so desolate.  Where
-now are all those brave companions with whom I was once so daring, so
-joyous, and so gay?  Alas! on a hundred fields their bones lie
-scattered, and I alone survive to mourn the glory of the days that
-are gone for ever!  Oh, never more shall the drum beat or trumpet
-sound for me!  Oh, never more shall love or glory fire my heart
-again!  Oh, never more, for the hour is passed and never can
-return"--and he almost wept, so intensely bitter were his thoughts of
-sorrow and regret.
-
-The barbican gate stood ajar, and the old and well remembered doorway
-at the foot of the tower was also open; they seemed to invite his
-entrance, and, careless of the consequences, he went mechanically
-forward.
-
-The old portrait on horseback, the trophy of arms, and the wooden
-Flemish clock with its monotonous _tick-tack_, still occupied the
-vaulted lobby.  Every thing seemed as he had seen them last.  He
-turned to the left and entered the chamber-of-dais, breathless and
-trembling, for he seemed instinctively to know that _she_ was there.
-
-He entered softly, and, overpowered by the violence of his
-conflicting emotions, stood rooted to the spot.  The old chamber,
-with its massive pannelling and rich decorations of the Scoto-French
-school was partially lighted by the ruddy glow from the great
-fire-place, and by the last deep red flush of the departed sun that
-streamed through its grated windows.
-
-The dark furniture, the grotesque cabinets with their twisted
-columns, the stark chairs with their knobby backs and worsted bobs,
-the grim full-length of Sir Archibald Napier, cap-a-pie à la
-cuirassier, the dormant beam with its load of lances, swords, and
-daggers, were all as Walter had last seen them; but the old lady's
-well-cushioned chair, her long walking-cane and ivory virreled
-spinning-wheel had long since disappeared; and hawk's-hoods, hunting
-horns, spurs, whips, and stray tobacco pipes lay in various places,
-while in lieu of Lady Grisel's sleek and pampered tom cat, a great
-wiry, red-eyed, sleuth hound slept on the warm hearth-rug.  On all
-this Walter bestowed not a glance, for his eyes and his soul became
-immediately rivetted on the figure of Lilian.
-
-With her head leaning on her hand she sat within the deep recess of a
-western window, and the faint light of the setting sun lit up her
-features and edged her ringlets with gold.  She was absorbed in deep
-thought.
-
-Lilian, who for days, and months, and years, in health and in
-sickness, in danger and in safety, in sorrow and in joy, had never
-for a moment been absent from his thoughts, was now before him, and
-yet he had not one word of greeting to bestow.  He seemed to be in a
-trance--to be oppressed by some horrible dream.
-
-He observed her anxiously and narrowly.  Nothing could be more tender
-than the love that was expressed in his eyes, and nothing more acute
-than the agony expressed by his contracted features.
-
-Lapse of years, change of circumstances and of thought had
-considerably altered the appearance of Lilian.  The light-hearted,
-slender, and joyous girl had expanded into a stately, grave, and
-melancholy matron.  Oh, what a change those five sad years had
-wrought!  Her dress was magnificent, as became the wife of a Scottish
-noble; her figure, though still slight, was fuller and rounder than
-of old; her face, though still dignified and beautiful, was
-paler--even sickly.  Her blue eyes seemed to have lost much of their
-former brilliancy, and to have gained only in softness of expression.
-Her dark lashes were cast down, and her aspect was sad and touching.
-The bloom of her lip and her cheek had faded away together, for
-heavily on her affectionate heart had the hand of suffering weighed.
-
-She wept, and the heart of Walter was melted within him.  Had all the
-universe been his he would have given it to have embraced her.  He
-sighed bitterly, but dared not to approach.
-
-"He is gone," said Lilian,--"gone to spend another night in riot and
-debauchery, while I am left ever alone.  Perhaps 'tis well, for often
-his presence is intolerable.  Woe is me!  Oh, how different was the
-future I once pictured to my imagination!"
-
-The sound of that dear voice, which had so often come to him through
-his dreams in many a far and foreign camp and city, made Walter
-tremble.  He was deeply moved.  The fire in the arched chimney, which
-had been smouldering, now suddenly shot up into a broad and ruddy
-blaze that lighted the whole chamber.  Lilian turned her head, and
-instantly grew pale as death, for full on the image of him who
-occupied her thoughts--of Walter Fenton, hollow eyed, emaciated, and
-supported on a walking-staff--fell the bright stream of that fitful
-light.  He looked so unearthly, so motionless and spectral, that
-Lilian's blood ran cold.
-
-She would have screamed, but the cry died away upon her lips.  After
-a moment or two her spirit rallied; her respiration, though hurried,
-became more free; her face blushed scarlet up to the very temples,
-and then became ashy pale, as before, and her glazed eyes resumed
-their wild and inquiring expression.  She arose, but neither advanced
-nor spoke.  All power seemed to have left her.
-
-"Oh, Lilian!  Lilian!" said the poor wanderer in a voice of great
-pathos; "after the lapse of five long years of exile and suffering,
-what a meeting is this for us!  Under what a course of perils have
-the hope of my return and your truth not sustained me?  My God! that
-I should find you thus.  Is this the welcome I expected?"
-
-Summoning all her courage and that self-possession which women have
-in so great a degree, Lilian (though her eyes were full of tears)
-averted her face, and recalled the fatal letter of Finland, on which
-had turned the whole of her future fate.
-
-"Look at me, adorable Lilian!" said Walter, kneeling and stretching
-his arms towards her.
-
-Lilian dared not to look; but she trembled violently and sobbed
-heavily.
-
-"Look at me, beloved one," said Walter wildly and passionately.
-"Changed though I am, and though another holds your heart, you cannot
-have forgotten me, or learned to view me with aversion and contempt.
-If this Lord has won your affection--"
-
-"Oh, say not that, Walter," sobbed Lilian "do not say my affection."
-
-"Oh, horror! what misery can equal such an avowal?  My fatal absence
-has undone us both."
-
-"Say, rather, your fatal inconstancy."
-
-"Mine?" reiterated Walter.
-
-"Oh, yes, yes; upbraid me not," said Lilian in a piercing voice.  "I
-was faithful and true until you forsook me for another.  To God I
-appeal," she cried, raising her clasped hands and weeping eyes to
-Heaven, "kneeling I appeal if ever in word, or thought, or hope I
-swerved in truth from thee, dear Walter, until tidings of your
-marriage reached me; when, stung by jealousy, by pride, by
-disappointment and despair, and urged by the unmerited contumely that
-had fallen upon me, I yielded to the exhortations of my friends, and
-in an evil hour----."  She covered her face with her hands, and could
-say no more.
-
-"Heaven preserve my senses!" ejaculated Walter Fenton, "for here the
-wiles of Hell have been at work.  We have been deceived, cruelly
-deceived, dear Lilian, by some deep-laid plot of villany which this
-right hand shall yet unravel and revenge.  And you are the wife of
-Clermistonlee?  Hear me, unfortunate!  You are less than--ah, how
-shall I say it?  You are not and cannot be his wife!"
-
-"You rave, poor Walter.  Our doom is irrevocably sealed.  Our paths
-in life must be for ever separate.  Oh, for the love of gentle mercy
-begone, and let us meet no more, for at this moment I feel my brain
-whirling, and I am trembling on the very verge of madness."
-
-"Lilian, this is the 20th of September," said Walter.
-
-"Cruel, cruel; do not speak of it," said she, wringing her hands.
-"For Heaven's sake leave me, and take back the pledge--the ring, for
-to retain it longer were a sin, and too long have I sinned in
-treasuring it as I have done."
-
-Unlocking a cabinet, she drew from a secret drawer a ring to which a
-ribbon was attached, and offered it to Walter; but he never
-approached.
-
-"We have been cruelly duped, dear Lilian; but oh, how could you doubt
-me, for never did I mistrust you?  But hear me, though my words
-should crush your heart as mine just now is crushed.  Alison Gifford,
-the first wife of Lord Clermistonlee yet lives, though (as she told
-me) dead to him and to the world for ever!"
-
-"What new horror is this?" said Lilian, pressing her hands upon her
-temples.
-
-In a few words her unhappy lover explained how he had become
-acquainted with the existence of Lady Clermistonlee.
-
-"Oh, this is indeed to bruise the bruised--to heap brands upon a
-burning heart," said Lilian, as she sank into a chair and covered her
-face with her hands.  A long pause ensued, till Walter said in a low
-and trembling voice,
-
-"Lilian, do you really love this man--this Clermistonlee?"
-
-"He is my husband."
-
-"It is impossible you can love him!"
-
-"Love him!--oh, no! custom has in part overcome the aversion with
-which I once regarded him, and by his able flattery he has succeeded
-in soothing me into a temper of kind indifference and quiet
-resignation--but oh, this interview----"
-
-Walter, who had never dared to diminish the distance between them,
-gazed wistfully and tenderly upon her; but at that moment an infant
-that was sleeping in its cradle awoke, and cried aloud.  Its voice
-seemed to sting him to the heart, and he turned abruptly to withdraw.
-
-"Farewell, Lilian," said he; "I will go, and my presence shall
-disturb your serenity no more.  May you be happy, and may God bless
-and forgive you for the agony I now endure!  Clermistonlee, like the
-matchless villain he has been through life, has wronged us both; but
-let him tremble in the midst of his success and his treason, for the
-hour is coming when our King shall enjoy his own again, and remember
-that in that hour the same hand which rends the baron's coronet from
-the brow of your betrayer, bestows on me the Earldom of Dalrulion!
-Farewell," said he through his clenched teeth; "to me the paths of
-ambition and revenge are open still, though those of happiness and
-love are closed, alas, for ever!"  He gave her one long glance of
-agony, and turned to depart; but at that moment strong hands were
-laid upon him violently--the room was filled with soldiers and the
-beagles of justice; he was dragged down and bound with cords, ere he
-could make the slightest effort in his own defence.
-
-"An out-and-out Jacobite, Papist, and a' the rest o' it--I ken by the
-look o' him!" cried Maclutchy, the macer, flourishing his badge of
-office.  "Here will be some grand plots brought to light that will
-bring half the country under doom o' forfeiture and fine.  Kittle
-times, lads, kittle times!'
-
-"Away with him!" cried Clermistonlee, spurning the manacled
-unfortunate with his foot; "away with him!  The Lords of the Privy
-Council meet in an hour.  Lose no time, for by all the devils, the
-corbies of the Burghmuir shall pick his bones ere the morrow's sun be
-set."
-
-As Walter was roughly dragged away, Lilian threw her hands above her
-head, uttered one wild shriek, and fell forward on her face,
-motionless as if dead.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII.
-
-THE RING AND THE SECRET.
-
-  See the cypress wreath of saddest hue,
-  The twining destiny threading through;
-  And the serpent coil is twisting there--
-  While regardless of the victim's prayer,
-  The fiend laughs out o'er the mischief done,
-  And the canker-worm makes the heart his throne.
-                                    THE PROPHECY.
-
-
-Twelve o'clock tolled heavily and sadly from the steeple of St. Giles.
-
-It was a bleak and cold night.  The Lords of the Privy Council,
-muffled up in their well-furred rocquelaures, with their hats flapped
-over their periwigs, ascended from the subterranean vaults under the
-Parliament House where they held their dreaded conclaves, and hurried
-away to their residences in the various deep and steep wynds of the
-ancient city.  Mersington, who, overcome by sleep and wine, had
-remained at the table until roused by Macer Maclutchy, was the last
-to come forth, and he stood rubbing his eyes in the Parliament
-Square, and watching the black gigantic statue of King Charles with
-steady gravity, for he could have sworn at that moment that it seemed
-to be trotting hard towards him.  His rallying faculties were
-scattered again by a stranger violently jostling him.
-
-"Haud ye dyvour loon!" exclaimed the incensed Senator; "I am the Lord
-Mersington."
-
-"And what art doing here, pumpkinhead?" asked Clermistonlee, who was
-quite breathless by having rushed up the Back Stairs, as those
-flights of steps which ascended from the Cowgate to the Parliament
-Square were named.  "Are the proceedings over?  Hath the villain
-confessed?  Is he to die?"
-
-"They are over, and he shall die conform to the Act."
-
-"And how went the proceedings?"
-
-"Deil kens; I sleepit the haill time."
-
-"Driveller!" cried Clermistonlee in a towering passion; "'tis like
-thee; your head is as empty as my purse----"
-
-"Hee, hee, ye seem a bonnie temper to-night.  But what detained you
-frae the board, when ye knew you were principal witness?"
-
-"The sudden indisposition of Lady Clermistonlee made it impossible
-for me to leave Bruntisfield--but I have this moment galloped in from
-The Place."
-
-"You are a kind and considerate gudeman," said Mersington drily.
-
-"And what did this fellow confess?"
-
-"His abhorrence of you----"
-
-"Ha! ha!"
-
-"His hatred of the present government, and his weariness o' this
-life.  He spoke unco dreich and sadly, puir callant,--and sae I fell
-fast asleep and dozed like a top."
-
-"And did not that goosecap, the King's Advocate, give him a twinge or
-two of the torture?"
-
-"We brought some braw things to light without the help o' rack or
-screw.  The tails o' his coat were as fu' o' treason as an egg's fu'
-o' meat.  There were five and twenty autograph letters frae the
-bluidy and papistical Duke James----"
-
-"Stuff!  But lately he was styled His most Sacred Majesty, by the
-grace of God, and so forth."
-
-"I speak as we wrote it in the council minutes.  Five and twenty
-letters to the cut-throat Hieland chiefs, to the Murrays of Stormont,
-the Drummonds and others, some slee tod lowries we have long had our
-een on.  But maist of a' was a notable plot of that d----ned jaud
-Madame Maintenon to assassinate King William."
-
-"Hah!"
-
-"From a paper found, it appears that a certain Monsieur Dumont is now
-disguised as a soldier in our confederate army in Flanders, watching
-an opportunity to shoot the King and escape."
-
-"By St. George, I hope the aforesaid Monsieur Dumont is a good
-shot--a regular candle-snuffer!"
-
-"Our culprit, Fenton, knew not of Maintenon's plot, or of her papers
-being among those on his person.  He looked black dumbfoundered when
-Maclutchy drew them frae a neuk in his coat tail."
-
-"And to whom were they directed?"
-
-"To one _Widow Douglas_, whilk the King's advocate avers to be no
-other than the Lady Dunbarton.  Fenton grew red with anger on their
-being read, and smote his forehead, saying, '_Dupe that I have been!
-the noble Duc de Chartres warned me to beware of De Maintenon; but
-let it pass:_' and here, as I said, I fell fast asleep, until a
-minute ago.  But come, let us have a pint of sack; I am clean
-brainbraised wi' drouth, and I warrant Lucky Dreep, in the
-Kirk-o'-field Wynd, keeps open door yet."
-
-"And he dies?" said Clermistonlee, who could think of nothing but
-glutting his revenge.
-
-"Early to-morrow morning, by the bullet."
-
-"I would rather it had been by the cord.  How came our considerate
-councillors to shoot instead of hang him?"
-
-"Soldiers, ye ken, are often soft-hearted when other men are in stern
-mood; so auld General Livingstone, after pleading hard for Fenton's
-life, and failing, procured what he called an honourable commutation
-of the sentence, for which the puir gomeral cavalier thanked him as
-if it had been a reprieve."
-
-"Cord or bullet it matters not.  So perish all who would cross the
-purposes of Randal of Clermistonlee."
-
-His Lordship for once resisted the importunities of his friend, and
-instead of adjourning to a tavern, rode slowly and reluctantly back
-to his own house.  He felt a strange and unaccountable presentiment
-of impending evil, for which he could not account, but endeavoured to
-throw it from him.  The effort was vain.
-
-He felt himself a villain.  A load of long accumulated wickedness
-oppressed his proud heart; it was not without its better traits, and
-writhed as he reflected on some events in his past life.
-
-"Alison!  Alison!" he exclaimed, turning his dark eyes upwards to the
-star-studded firmament, "now thy curse is coming heavily upon me."
-
-His principal dread was the death of Lilian, for he had learned to
-love her with tolerable sincerity, but he knew not the secret which
-Walter had revealed to her, and the consequent intensity of her
-horror, aversion, shame, and anger.  He knew not the tempest it had
-raised in her sensitive breast against him.
-
-When he entered the chamber-of-dais she was seated near a tall silver
-lamp.  The glare of the untrimmed light fell full upon her face, and
-its ghastly and altered expression struck a mortal chillness on the
-heart of her husband.  He said not a word, but walking straight to a
-beauffet filled a large silver cup several times with wine, and
-always drained it to the bottom.  The liquor mounted rapidly to his
-brain; he threw himself into a chair opposite Lilian, and heedless of
-the perfect scorn that quivered in her beautiful nostrils, and
-sparkled in her brilliant eyes, began leisurely to unbutton his
-riding gambadoes of red stamped maroquin, whistling a merry hunting
-tune while he did so.
-
-It was easier for him to requite scorn with scorn than give
-tenderness for love.
-
-"Confusion on the buttons!" he exclaimed.  "Juden!  Juden!  Tush, I
-forgot; poor Juden hath been with the devil these three years.  There
-is none now of all my rascally household who will share with me the
-morrow's glut of vengeance as thou wouldst have done, my faithful
-Juden."
-
-Lilian wrung her attenuated hands; Clermistonlee regarded her
-sternly, and then bursting into a loud laugh, as he threw away his
-boots and spurs, chanted a verse from the old black-letter ballad of
-Gilderoy:--
-
-  "Beneath the left ear so fit for a cord,
-    A rope so charming a zone is;
-  Thy youth in his cart hath air of a Lord,
-    And we cry--there dies an Adonis!"
-
-"Ha! ha!  I shall see his head on the Bow Port to-morrow, madam."
-
-"Infamous and wicked!" exclaimed Lilian, feeling all her old love
-revived with double ardour, and no longer able to restrain her
-sentiments of grief and indignation.  "Walter, dear and beloved
-Walter, how cruelly have I been deceived!" and drawing from her bosom
-the ring--his mother's ring, the pledge of his betrothal, she pressed
-it to her lips with fervour.
-
-The brow of the proud Clermistonlee grew black as thunder, and he
-grasped her slender arm with the tenacity of a falcon.
-
-"Surrender this bauble, that I may commit it to the flames.
-Surrender it, madam, lest I dash thee to the earth, for at this
-moment I feel, by all the devils, my brain spinning like a jenny."
-
-"Give him the ring, Lady Lilian; give it, for the sight of it will
-arrest his vision even as the letters of fire arrested the eyes of
-Belshazzar and smote him with dismay.  Sweet lady, let him look upon
-it," said the voice of a woman.
-
-They turned, and beheld the pale, emaciated, and haggard visage of
-Beatrix Gilruth, half shaded by a tattered tartan plaid.  Taking
-advantage of Lilian's momentary surprise, her husband snatched the
-ring from her, and was about to hurl it into the fire, when, incited
-by the woman's words, and impelled by some mysterious and
-irresistible curiosity, he looked upon it, and the effect of his
-single glance acted like magic upon him.  He quitted his clutch of
-Lilian's arm, trembled, grew pale, and turning the ring again and
-again, surveyed it with intense curiosity.
-
-"How came _he_ to have this ring?" he muttered; "what strange mystery
-is here?  If it should be so----  O, impossible!"
-
-He pressed a spring that must have been known only to himself, for
-Lilian had never discovered it in all the myriad times she had
-surveyed it, and Walter himself was ignorant of the secret when he
-bestowed the trinket upon her.  The lapse of years had stiffened the
-spring; but after a moment's pressure from the finger of
-Clermistonlee, a little shield of gold unclosed, revealing a minute
-and beautiful little miniature of himself, which in earlier days had
-been one of the happiest efforts of the young Medina's pencil.
-
-"'Twas my bridal gift to Alison," he exclaimed in a voice of
-confusion and remorse.  "Oh, Alison, Alison! many have I loved but
-never one like thee.  Never again did my heart feel the same ardour
-that fired it when I placed this ring on your adorable hand.
-Unfortunate Alison!"
-
-"This ring was tied by a ribbon around the neck of Walter Fenton,
-when a little child he was found by the side of his dead mother in
-the Greyfriars churchyard," said Lilian in a breathless voice.
-
-"Confusion and misery! 'tis impossible this can be true; there is
-some diabolical mistake here.  Woman, say forth."
-
-Beatrix gave Clermistonlee a bitter and malicious smile, and
-addressed Lilian.
-
-"Walter's mother, sweet lady, gave that ring to Elspat Fenton, who,
-next to myself, was the most trusted of her attendants, and bade her
-travel from Paris to Scotland, and deliver the child and the bridal
-gift together to her husband--to Randal of Clermistonlee."
-
-Lilian covered her face, and the fiery lord, whose first emotions
-were generally those of anger, surveyed Beatrix as if she had been a
-coiled up snake.  She spoke slowly, and made long pauses, for aware
-that her words were as daggers, she dealt them sparingly.
-
-"After long suffering and great peril by sea and land, this poor
-woman reached Edinburgh, but failed to meet the father of the infant
-committed to her care; for then he was in arms with the men of the
-Covenant, hoping by any civil broil or commotion to repair the
-splendid patrimony his excesses had dissipated.  Elspat, being unable
-to give a very coherent account of herself, was declared a
-nonconformist by the authorities, and thrown with thousands of others
-into the Greyfriars kirkyard, where in that inclement season she
-perished; but the child was found and protected by the soldiers of
-Dunbarton.  That child is Walter Fenton; he is your son, Lord
-Clermistonlee! the child of your once loved Alison Gilford.  I call
-upon Heaven to witness the truth of my assertion!  His own name was
-Walter, (ah! can you have forgotten that?) his nurse's Fenton.  _I
-saw her die_, and I alone knew the secret, and have treasured it till
-this hour--this hour of vengeance upon thee, thou false and wicked
-lord!  In my wicked spirit of revenge too long have I kept the
-secret; but now this blameless and noble youth is doomed to death,
-and fain would I save him, for he is innocent, and good, and
-generous; in all things, oh, how much the reverse of thee!"
-
-"Maniac, thou liest!" exclaimed Clermistonlee, whose heart beat
-wildly.  "I cannot believe this tale of a tub, which is told to
-affright me.  And yet, how dare I reject it?--the ring--Walter--my
-God!"
-
-"Ha! has Beatrix the wronged, the scorned, the despised, the
-neglected Beatrix, wrung your heart at last?  Fool! fool!  Did'st
-thou never suspect the volcano that slumbered here?" she exclaimed,
-laying her hand upon her heart.  "Did'st thou never perceive the
-flame that smouldered in my breast--the yearnings, the throbbings,
-the fierce longing to be adequately revenged on thee who had brought
-me to ruin and madness, and had abandoned me to penury and privation?
-Wretch! 'tis twenty-five years since ye betrayed me.  Time has rolled
-on--time, that soothes all sorrows and softens every affliction, and
-teaches us to forget the wrongs of the living--yea, and the virtues
-of the dead; and perhaps to wonder why we hated one and loved the
-other,--time, I say, has rolled on to many miserable years, until I
-have become the hideous thing I am, but it never lessened one tithe
-of my longing for vengeance for the thousand taunts and contumelies
-that succeeded my first sacrifice for thee.  You say I am
-mad--perhaps I am--but mark me--_a woman's sorrow passes like a
-summer cloudy but her vengeance endureth for ever!_"
-
-Clermistonlee smote his forehead, and Beatrix laughed like a hyæna.
-
-"My God--unhappy Walter!" said Lilian in a voice that pierced the
-heart of him she abhorred to deem her husband.  "Then she who saved
-and nursed thee on the field of Steinkirke was thy mother--_thy
-mother_, and she knew it not?  Oh, this was the secret sentiment, the
-heaven-born thought that spoke within her and made her heart so
-mysteriously yearn towards thee.  Unfortunate Walter! how deeply have
-we been wronged--how bitterly must we suffer!"
-
-"And till now, thou accursed fiend, this terrible secret has been
-concealed from me!" said Clermistonlee furiously, as he half drew his
-sword.
-
-Beatrix laughed and tossed her arms wildly.
-
-"Oh, horror upon horror! woe upon woe!" said Lilian in a voice of the
-deepest anguish as she rung her hands, and, taking up her little
-infant from the cradle, kissed it tenderly on the forehead, and
-retired slowly from the room.
-
-"Lilian--Lilian," cried her husband, "whither go ye, lady?"
-
-"To solitude--to solitude," she murmured.  "Any where to save me from
-my own terrible thoughts--anywhere to hide me from the deep disgrace
-you have brought upon me; to any place where never again the light of
-day shall find me."
-
-Clermistonlee heard her light steps on the staircase, and they fell
-like a knell on his heart: impelled by some secret and mysterious
-impulse, he followed her to her own apartment, the door of which he
-had heard close behind her.  There was no sound within it.
-
-He entered softly; but she was not there; and from that moment she
-was never beheld again!  Every ultimate search proved fruitless and
-unavailing.  A veil of impenetrable mystery hung over her fate.......
-
-A sudden thought flashed on the mind of Clermistonlee.  The day dawn
-was breaking as he descended the staircase, after fruitlessly calling
-on Lilian through various apartments.
-
-"I may, I must save him yet--unfortunate youth, a father's arms shall
-yet embrace him.  Oh, my hapless and deeply wronged Alison! fortune
-may yet enable me in some sort to repair the atrocities of which I
-have been guilty.  My horse! my horse!" and, rushing to the stable,
-he saddled and bridled a fleet steed, and in five minutes was
-galloping furiously back to the city, the walls and towers of which
-arose before him, red and sombre in the rays of the morning sun.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII.
-
-THE IRON ROOM--THE DEATH SHOT.
-
-  Ay, I had planned full many a sanguine scheme
-  Of earthly happiness--romantic schemes,
-  And fraught with loveliness:--and it is hard
-  To feel the hand of death arrest one's steps,
-  Throw a chill blight o'er all one's budding prospects,
-  And hurl one's soul untimely to the shades,
-  Lost in the gaping gulph of blank oblivion.
-                                    HENRY KIRKE WHITE.
-
-
-The Iron Room of the ancient Tolbooth of Edinburgh was a dreary vault
-of massive stone-work, and was named so in consequence of its
-strength and security.  A low heavy arch roofed it, and the walls
-from which it sprung were composed of great blocks of roughly hewn
-stone elaborately built.  Here and there a chain hung from them.  The
-floor was paved, and the door was a complicated mass of iron bars,
-locks, bolts, and hinges.  A single aperture, high up in the wall,
-admitted the cold midnight wind through its deep recess.
-
-An iron cruise burned on a clumsy wooden table, near which sat Walter
-Fenton the condemned, with his face covered by his hands and his mind
-buried in sad and melancholy thoughts.
-
-One bright and solitary star shone down upon him through the grated
-window, flashing, dilating, and shrinking; often he gazed upon it
-wistfully--for it was his only companion--the partner or the witness
-of his solitude and his sorrow.  Once he turned to look upon it--but
-it had passed away.
-
-He reflected that never again would he behold a star shining in the
-firmament.
-
-Sad, bitter, and solitary reflection--for a few hours was all that
-was left him now: and, though the sands of life were ebbing fast, one
-absorbing thought occupied his mind--that Lilian was false and his
-rival triumphant; that all his long cherished schemes and dreams of
-love and happiness, glory and ambition, were frustrated and blasted
-irredeemably and for ever.
-
-He was to die!
-
-The infliction of punishment immediately after trial was anciently
-practised in all criminal cases, and the victim was usually led from
-the presence of the judge to the scaffold.
-
-Walter had been doomed to death as a traitor, a raiser of sedition,
-and a deserter from the Scottish forces: the last accusation, in
-support of which his signed _oath of fealty_ to the Estates of
-Scotland, had been produced in council by General Sir Thomas
-Livingstone, commander-in-chief of the army, saved him the dishonour
-of dying on the gibbet.
-
-The door of the Iron Room was opened stealthily, and the heavy bolts
-and swinging chains were again rattling into their places, when
-Walter slowly raised his head.  His eye had become haggard, and his
-face was overspread with a deathly pallor.  The tall spare form of
-the Reverend Mr. Ichabod Bummel stood before him, clad in his ample
-black coat with its enormous cuffs and pocket-flaps, his deep
-waistcoat, and voluminous grey breeches.  He removed his broad hat,
-and smoothed down the long lank hair which was parted in a seam over
-the top of his cranium, and fell straight upon each shoulder.  He did
-not advance, but continued to press his hat upon his breast with both
-hands, to turn up his eyes and groan mournfully.
-
-"Poor youth!" he began, after two or three hems; "poor youth! now
-truly thou lookest like an owl in the desert, yea, verily, even as
-one overtaken in the Slough of Despond.  Now thou seest how atrocious
-is the crime of rebellion, and how bitter its meed.  Now thou seest
-how wicked is the attempt to overturn our pure and blessed Kirk as by
-law established, and to substitute anarchy and confusion for peace
-and brotherly love, and to involve the innocent with the guilty in
-one common destruction.  Ewhow!  O guilty madness--O miserable
-infatuation, that for the phanton of kingly and hereditary right,
-would ruthlessly hurl back the land into the dark abyss of Popery,
-restore the abomination of the mass, and substitute the vile and
-tyrannical James for that beloved prince of our own persuasion, now
-seated on Britain's triple throne, if not by that imaginary
-hereditary right, at least by the laws of the land, and the voice of
-those that are above it--yea, mark me, youth, above it--the ministers
-of the Gospel.  The pious and glorious William hath been our Saviour
-from the devilish practices of Popery, and the machinations of all
-those spurious children of Luther and of Calvin, the Seekers, the
-Libertines and Independents, Brownists, Separatists and Familists,
-Antitrinitarians, Arians, Socinians, Anti-Scripturists, Anabaptists,
-Antinomians, Arminians, and a myriad other teachers of heresy and
-preachers of schism--whilk, my brethren--my brother, I mean--may
-Beelzebub confound!  Oh, youth, how wicked and ungracious it is in
-thee to reject the stately Fig-tree with its sweetness and good
-fruit, and raise up the ancient thorn and prickly bramble to reign
-over us!"
-
-"My good sir," replied Walter, "it is but a poor specimen of
-Presbyterian charity this, to come hither to a dismal vault, to heap
-contumely on the head of the fallen, to humble one who is already
-humbled--to bruise the bruised.  Good sir, is it kind or charitable
-to rail at and exult over me in this my great distress?"
-
-At this unexpected accusation, tears started into the eyes of Ichabod
-Bummel, who was really a good man at heart, though his virtues were
-sadly obscured by the fanaticism of the times.
-
-"Do not misunderstand me, good youth," he replied hurriedly; "and do
-me not this great injustice.  I come in the most humble and Christian
-spirit, to cheer thy last hour in this gloomy hypogeum, and for that
-godly purpose have brought with me a copy of my _Bombshell_, a most
-sweet and savoury comforter to the afflicted mind."
-
-He drew that celebrated quarto from his voluminous pocket, laid it on
-the table, and opening it at certain places, turned down the corners
-of the leaves.  He then produced a thick little black-letter
-psalm-book, the board of which bore the very decided impression of a
-Bothwell-brig bullet; he adjusted a great pair of round horn
-spectacles on his long-hooked nose, and in a shrill voice began his
-favourite chant:
-
-  "I like ane owle in desert am," &c.
-
-
-So much did he resemble the feathered type of wisdom, that Walter
-could scarcely repress a smile.
-
-"Young man, wherefore dost thou not join with me?" asked the divine,
-raising his black eyebrows and looking at Walter alternately under,
-over, and through his barnacles.
-
-"Reverend sir, I never sung a Psalm in my life, and really cannot do
-so now."
-
-"I warrant thou canst sing _Claver'se and his Cavaliers_, _King
-James's March_, _Rub-a-Dub_, and other profane ditties and camp-songs
-of thy wicked faction and ungodly profession," said Ichabod
-reproachfully.
-
-At that moment the deep-mouthed bell of St. Giles, which seemed to
-swing immediately above their heads, gave one long and sonorous toll.
-
-"It is the first hour of the last morning I shall ever spend on
-earth!" exclaimed Walter, starting up and striking his fetters
-together in the bitterness of his soul.  "Oh, Lilian, Lilian, how
-little could we have foreseen of all this!"
-
-He wept.
-
-"'Tis well--no tears can be more precious than these," said Mr.
-Bummel, who thought his exhortations had begun to prove effectual.
-"Soon, good youth, shalt thou reach the end of this vale of tears!
-Lo! thy bride already waiteth thee, and these tears----"
-
-"You deem those of contrition and remorse.  They are _not_.  I have
-done nothing to repent of, or for which I ought to feel contrite.  I
-never wronged man nor woman, though many have wronged me in more than
-a lifetime can repay.  These tears spring only from bitterness and
-unavailing regret.  Have I no hope of pardon?  I care not for life,
-but my king and the son of my king require my services, and could my
-blood restore them I would die happy.  Where is old Sir Thomas
-Dalyell?"
-
-"Gone to a warmer climate than Scotland," said Ichabod spitefully.
-
-"Sir George of Rosehaugh?"
-
-"He is gone where he cannot assist thee."
-
-"Where is old Colin of Balcarris?"
-
-"Fled no one knows whither."
-
-"Where, then, is old Sir Robert of Glenae?"
-
-"Gone to his last account with other persecutors."
-
-"All then are dead or in exile, and none is left to be a friend to
-the poor cavalier."
-
-"Save one," said Ichabod, pointing upward.
-
-"True, true," replied Walter, and covering his face with his hands he
-stooped over the table and prayed intently.
-
-Two o'clock struck, three and four followed, but still he remained,
-as Ichabod thought, absorbed in earnest prayer, and kneeling by his
-side, the worthy minister joined with true and pious fervour, till
-his patience became quite exhausted.  He stirred him, and Walter, who
-had fallen asleep, started up.
-
-"Is it time?" he asked.
-
-"Thou hast slept well," said the divine, pettishly; "out of seven
-hours that were allotted three have already fled."
-
-"My dear and worthy sir, you see how calm my conscience is.  Perhaps
-it is hard to die so young; but for me life has now lost every charm.
-Death never has terrors to the brave.  He opens the gates to a fame
-and a life that are eternal, and when the coffin lid is closed,
-sorrow and jealousy, envy and woe are excluded for ever.  _In four
-hours more mine will have closed over me_. ------ Kingdoms and
-cities, the trees of the forest, the lakes, the rocks, and the hills
-themselves, have all their allotted periods of existence, and man has
-his; for every thing must perish--all must die and all must pass
-away.  Oh, why then this foolish and unavailing regret about a few
-years more or less? ------ Front to front and foot to foot I have
-often met death on the field of battle, and if without flinching I
-have faced the volley of a whole brigade, that hurled a thousand
-brave spirits into eternity at once, shall I shrink from the levelled
-musquets of twelve base hirelings of the Stadtholder? ------ Will
-Lilian ever look on the grave where this heart moulders that loved
-her so long and so well?  Oh no, for now she is the wife of
-another--oh, my God, another!  In all wide Scotland there is not one
-to regret me, to shed one tear for me.  I disappear from the earth
-like a bubble on a tide of events, leaving not one being behind me to
-recal my memory in fondness or regret."
-
-* * * * *
-
-The great clock of St. Giles struck the hour of seven.
-
-Musquets rattled on the pavement of the echoing street; the door of
-the Iron Room opened, and the gudeman of the Tolbooth presented his
-stern and sinister visage.
-
-"It is time," he announced briefly.
-
-"I am ready," replied Walter cheerfully, and, with a soldier on each
-side of him and followed by the clergyman, he descended the narrow
-circular staircase of the prison, and, issuing from an arched doorway
-at the foot, found himself at the end of the edifice.  Here he paused
-and gazed calmly around him.
-
-An early hour was chosen for his execution, that few might witness
-it, for there existed in Scotland a strong feeling against William's
-policy; the massacre of Glencoe, the successive defeats and heavy
-expenses of the Dutch wars rankled bitterly in the minds of the
-people.
-
-The lofty streets were silent and shadowy; scarcely a footfall was
-heard in them, and the dun sunlight of the September morning had not
-sufficient heat to exhale the haze of the autumnal night.
-
-A company of Argyle's regiment--the perpetrators of the Glencoe
-atrocity--clad in coarse brick-coloured uniform of the Dutch fashion,
-were drawn up in double ranks facing inwards on each side of the
-doorway.  They stood with their arms reversed, and each stooped his
-head on his hands, which rested on the butt of his musket.  At the
-head of this lane were four drummers with their drums muffled and
-craped, and a plain deal coffin carried upon the shoulders of four
-soldiers.  Walter, as he gazed steadily along these hostile ranks,
-saw only the sourest fanaticism visible in every face, and in none
-more so than that of their commander, a hard-featured and
-square-shouldered personage, with a black corslet under his ample red
-coat, and wearing a red feather in his broad hat.  He introduced
-himself as--
-
-"Major Duncannon, of the godly regiment of my noble lord Argyle."
-Walter bowed.
-
-"Duncannon!" he replied; "your name is familiar to me as being the
-man who issued the orders for the massacre of Glencoe."
-
-Duncannon gave Walter a steady frown in reply to his glance of
-undisguised hostility and contempt, and said--
-
-"I obeyed the royal orders of King William III., to whom I say be
-long life--and, like thee, may all his enemies perish from Dan to
-Beersheba!"
-
-"I do not acknowledge him; he hath never been crowned among us, nor
-sworn the oath a Scottish king should swear.  Shame on you, sir, to
-rank this false-hearted Dutchman with our brave King William the
-Lion.  Shame be on you, sir, and all your faction," cried Walter,
-holding up his fettered hands, while his cheek flushed and his eyes
-kindled with energy.  "Let our people recollect that the last man
-whose limbs were crushed to a jelly by the accursed steel boots and
-grinding thumbscrews, was subjected to their agonizing torture by the
-"merciful" William of Orange--by the same wise prince by whose
-express orders the bravest of the northern tribes was massacred in
-their sleep and in cold blood!  Let our brave soldiers, when the lash
-that drips with their blood is flaying them alive, remember that,
-like scourging round the fleet and keelhauling the hapless mariner,
-it is an introduction of the same pious and magnanimous monarch who
-planned, signed, and countersigned the mandate for the ruthless
-atrocity of Glencoe!  Oh, Scotland, Scotland! disloyal and untrue to
-the line of your ancient kings, how long will you waste your treasure
-and pour forth your gallant sons to the Dutch and German wars of a
-brutal tyrant, who at once fears and hates and dreads, though he dare
-not despise you!  But the hour is coming," and he shook his clenched
-hand and clanked his fetters like a fierce prophet--"when war,
-oppression, exaction, and devastation, will be the meed of the
-actions of to-day!"
-
-"Silence, traitor!" exclaimed Duncannon, striking him with the hilt
-of his sword so severely that blood flowed from his mouth.
-
-"Major Duncannon, thou art a coward!" said Walter, turning his eyes
-of fire upon him.  "The brave are ever compassionate and gentle--but
-thou! away, man--for on thy brow is written the dark curse which the
-unavenged blood of Glencoe called down from the blessed God!"
-
-Duncannon turned pale.
-
-"Away with him!" he cried.  "Drummers, flam off--musqueteers, march!"
-and the procession began.
-
-The dull rolling of the muffled drums, the regulated tap of the
-burial march, and the wailing of the fifes, now shrill and high, and
-anon sweet and low, found a deep echo in Walter's melancholy breast.
-Sorrowful and solemn was the measure of the Psalm, and he felt his
-beating heart soothed and saddened; but he could only mentally
-accompany the clergyman who walked bare-headed by his side, and
-chaunted aloud while the soldiers marched.
-
-Walter's cheek reddened, for his fearless heart beat high, and he
-stepped firmly behind his coffin, the most stately in all that sad
-procession, though marching to that dread strain which a soldier
-seldom hears, _his_ own death-march.  The vast recesses of the great
-cathedral and the distant echoes of the central street of the city
-with all its diverging wynds, replied mournfully to the roll of the
-funeral drums.
-
-He whose knell they rung seemed the proudest there among two hundred
-soldiers.  Life now had nearly lost every charm, while religion,
-courage, and resignation had fully robbed death of all its terrors.
-Roused by the unusual sound, many a nightcapped citizen peered
-fearfully forth from his lofty dwelling; but their looks of wonder or
-of pity were unheeded or unseen by Walter Fenton.  He saw only his
-own coffin borne before him and the weapons and the hands by which he
-was to die; but his bold spirit never quailed, and he resolved, with
-true Jacobite enthusiasm, to fall with honour to the cause for which
-he suffered.
-
-"Halt!" cried Duncannon, and the coffin rang hollowly as it was
-placed beside the square stone pedestal of King Charles's statue, and
-Walter immediately kneeled down within it, confronting the stern
-Presbyterians of Argyle's regiment with an aspect of coolness and
-bravery that did not fail to excite their admiration and pity.
-
-A sergeant approached to bind up his eyes.
-
-"Nay, nay, my good fellow," said Walter, waving him away; "I have
-faced death too often to flinch now.  Major Duncannon, draw up your
-musqueteers, and I will show you how fearlessly a cavalier of honour
-can die."
-
-While twelve soldiers were drawn up before him and loaded their
-muskets, Walter turned his eyes for the last time to the glorious
-autumnal sun, whose red morning rays were shot aslant between two
-lofty piles of building into the shadowy and gloomy quadrangle formed
-by the ancient Parliament House, the Goldsmiths' Hall, the grotesque
-piazzas, and the grand cathedral.  He gave one rapid glance of adieu
-around him, and then turned towards his destroyers.
-
-"Farewell, good youth," said Mr. Bummel, as the tears of true and
-heartfelt sorrow trickled over his long hooked nose.  "Farewell.
-When He from whose hand light went forth over the land, even as the
-rays of yonder sun--when He, I say, returns in His glory we will meet
-again.  Till _then_, farewell."  Covering his face with his
-handkerchief, he withdrew a few paces and prayed with kind and
-sincere devotion.
-
-At that moment the hoofs of a galloping horse spurred madly down the
-adjacent street rang through the vaults and aisles of the great
-church.  Walter's colour changed.
-
-A reprieve!
-
-Alas! it was only Lord Clermistonlee who, pale, panting, and
-breathless, dashed into the square to stay the execution; but the cry
-he would have uttered died away on his parched lips.
-
-"He comes to exult over me," said Walter bitterly.  "Behold, ignoble
-Lord," he exclaimed, "how a true cavalier can die!  Musqueteers," he
-added, in his old voice of authority, "ready, blow your matches,
-present, God save King James the Seventh! give fire!"
-
-The death volley rang like thunder in the still quadrangle.  Four
-bullets flattened against the statue, eight were mortal, and with the
-last convulsive energy of death Walter Fenton threw his hat into the
-air and fell forward prostrate into his coffin a bleeding corpse.
-
-------------
-
-Here ends our tale.
-
-From that hour Clermistonlee was a changed man.  Though given up to
-dark, corroding care and moody thoughts, he lived to a great old age,
-and was one of those who sold his country at the union.  Soon after
-that event he died, unregretted and unrespected, and a defaced
-monument in the east wall of the Greyfriars Churchyard still marks
-the place where he lies.
-
-His gossip, Mersington, would no doubt have obtained a comfortable
-share of "the compensations" in 1707 had he not (as appears from a
-passage in Carstairs' State Papers) unluckily been found dead one
-night in the severe winter of 1700, with a half-drained mug of burnt
-sack clutched in his tenacious grasp.
-
-A few words more of Lilian, and then we part.
-
-From the moment in which, with her child in her arms, she ascended
-the great staircase of Bruntisfield, she was never again seen.
-
-Every place within the mansion and without, the woods, the lake, the
-fields, the muir were searched, but the lady and her child were seen
-no more.
-
-An impenetrable mystery cast a veil of horror over their fate; but
-Mr. Ichabod Bummel, and the most learned divines of a kirk that was
-then in the zenith of its wisdom and power, gave it as their decided
-opinion that they had been spirited away by the fairies; an idea that
-was unanimously adopted by the people; nevertheless, a pale spectre,
-wailing and pressing a ghastly babe to its attenuated breast, was
-often visible on moonlight nights, among the old oak trees, the rocky
-heron shaws of the Burghmuir, or the reedy rhinns of its beautiful
-loch, and this terrible fact was solemnly averred and duly sworn to
-by various decent and sponsible men, such as elders and deacons of
-the kirk, who chanced to journey that way after nightfall.
-
-In latter years it was to the long gloomy avenue or immediate
-precincts of the ancient house, that this terrible tenant confined
-her midnight promenades.
-
-Many sceptical persons, notwithstanding the assertions of the
-aforesaid elders and deacons, declared the story of the apparition to
-be downright nonsense.  Many more may be disposed to do so at the
-present day; but we would beg them to withold their decision until
-they have consulted as carefully as we have done, the MSS. Session
-Records of Mr. Bummel's kirk, entered in his own hand, and attested
-by the said elders and deacons at full length.
-
-In the year 1800, when the stately and venerable mansion of
-Bruntisfield was demolished, to make way for the Hospital of
-Gillespie, within a deep alcove, or labyrinth of stone, in the heart
-of its massive walls, the skeletons of a female and child were
-discovered; some fragments of velvet, brocade, and a gold ring were
-found with them.
-
-On touching them, they crumbled into undistinguishable dust.
-
-
-
-THE END.
-
-
-
-  LONDON:
-  PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SON,
-  ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
-
-
-
-
-
-
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