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diff --git a/old/mprth10.txt b/old/mprth10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89a96d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mprth10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20421 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fair Maid of Perth, by Sir Walter Scott + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Fair Maid of Perth + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7987] +[This file was first posted on June 9, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Martin Robb <MartinRobb@ieee.org> + + + +THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH + +or + +St. Valentine's Day + +by Sir Walter Scott, Bart. + + + + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +The ashes here of murder'd kings Beneath my footsteps sleep; And +yonder lies the scene of death, Where Mary learn'd to weep. + +CAPTAIN MARJORIBANKS. + + +Every quarter of Edinburgh has its own peculiar boast, so that the +city together combines within its precincts, if you take the word +of the inhabitants on the subject, as much of historical interest +as of natural beauty. Our claims in behalf of the Canongate are +not the slightest. The Castle may excel us in extent of prospect +and sublimity of site; the Calton had always the superiority of +its unrivalled panorama, and has of late added that of its towers, +and triumphal arches, and the pillars of its Parthenon. The High +Street, we acknowledge, had the distinguished honour of being +defended by fortifications, of which we can show no vestiges. We +will not descend to notice the claims of more upstart districts, +called Old New Town and New New Town, not to mention the favourite +Moray Place, which is the Newest New Town of all. We will not match +ourselves except with our equals, and with our equals in age only, +for in dignity we admit of one. We boast being the court end of the +town, possessing the Palace and the sepulchral remains of monarchs, +and that we have the power to excite, in a degree unknown to the +less honoured quarters of the city, the dark and solemn recollections +of ancient grandeur, which occupied the precincts of our venerable +Abbey from the time of St. David till her deserted halls were once +more made glad, and her long silent echoes awakened, by the visit +of our present gracious sovereign. + +My long habitation in the neighbourhood, and the quiet respectability +of my habits, have given me a sort of intimacy with good Mrs. Policy, +the housekeeper in that most interesting part of the old building +called Queen Mary's Apartments. But a circumstance which lately +happened has conferred upon me greater privileges; so that, indeed, +I might, I believe, venture on the exploit of Chatelet, who was +executed for being found secreted at midnight in the very bedchamber +of Scotland's mistress. + +It chanced that the good lady I have mentioned was, in the discharge +of her function, showing the apartments to a cockney from London +--not one of your quiet, dull, commonplace visitors, who gape, +yawn, and listen with an acquiescent "umph" to the information doled +out by the provincial cicerone. No such thing: this was the brisk, +alert agent of a great house in the city, who missed no opportunity +of doing business, as he termed it--that is, of putting off the +goods of his employers, and improving his own account of commission. +He had fidgeted through the suite of apartments, without finding +the least opportunity to touch upon that which he considered +as the principal end of his existence. Even the story of Rizzio's +assassination presented no ideas to this emissary of commerce, +until the housekeeper appealed, in support of her narrative, to +the dusky stains of blood upon the floor. + +"These are the stains," she said; "nothing will remove them from +the place: there they have been for two hundred and fifty years, +and there they will remain while the floor is left standing-- +neither water nor anything else will ever remove them from that +spot." + +Now our cockney, amongst other articles, sold Scouring Drops, +as they are called, and a stain of two hundred and fifty years' +standing was interesting to him, not because it had been caused +by the blood of a queen's favourite, slain in her apartment, but +because it offered so admirable an opportunity to prove the efficacy +of his unequalled Detergent Elixir. Down on his knees went our +friend, but neither in horror nor devotion. + +"Two hundred and fifty years, ma'am, and nothing take it away? Why, +if it had been five hundred, I have something in my pocket will +fetch it out in five minutes. D'ye see this elixir, ma'am? I will +show you the stain vanish in a moment." + +Accordingly, wetting one end of his handkerchief with the all +deterging specific, he began to rub away on the planks, without +heeding the remonstrances of Mrs. Policy. She, good soul, stood +at first in astonishment, like the abbess of St. Bridget's, when a +profane visitant drank up the vial of brandy which had long passed +muster among the relics of the cloister for the tears of the blessed +saint. The venerable guardian of St. Bridget probably expected the +interference of her patroness--she of Holyrood might, perhaps, hope +that David Ruzzio's spectre would arise to prevent the profanation. +But Mrs. Policy stood not long in the silence of horror. She uplifted +her voice, and screamed as loudly as Queen Mary herself when the +dreadful deed was in the act of perpetration-- + +"Harrow, now out, and walawa!" she cried. + +I happened to be taking my morning walk in the adjoining gallery, +pondering in my mind why the kings of Scotland, who hung around me, +should be each and every one painted with a nose like the knocker +of a door, when lo! the walls once more re-echoed with such shrieks +as formerly were as often heard in the Scottish palaces as were +sounds of revelry and music. Somewhat surprised at such an alarm +in a place so solitary, I hastened to the spot, and found the well +meaning traveller scrubbing the floor like a housemaid, while Mrs. +Policy, dragging him by the skirts of the coat, in vain endeavoured +to divert him from his sacrilegious purpose. It cost me some trouble +to explain to the zealous purifier of silk stockings, embroidered +waistcoats, broadcloth, and deal planks that there were such things +in the world as stains which ought to remain indelible, on account +of the associations with which they are connected. Our good friend +viewed everything of the kind only as the means of displaying the +virtue of his vaunted commodity. He comprehended, however, that he +would not be permitted to proceed to exemplify its powers on the +present occasion, as two or three inhabitants appeared, who, like +me, threatened to maintain the housekeeper's side of the question. +He therefore took his leave, muttering that he had always heard the +Scots were a nasty people, but had no idea they carried it so far +as to choose to have the floors of their palaces blood boltered, like +Banquo's ghost, when to remove them would have cost but a hundred +drops of the Infallible Detergent Elixir, prepared and sold by +Messrs. Scrub and Rub, in five shilling and ten shilling bottles, +each bottle being marked with the initials of the inventor, to +counterfeit which would be to incur the pains of forgery. + +Freed from the odious presence of this lover of cleanliness, my +good friend Mrs. Policy was profuse in her expressions of thanks; +and yet her gratitude, instead of exhausting itself in these +declarations, according to the way of the world, continues as lively +at this moment as if she had never thanked me at all. It is owing +to her recollection of this piece of good service that I have the +permission of wandering, like the ghost of some departed gentleman +usher, through these deserted halls, sometimes, as the old Irish +ditty expresses it-- + +Thinking upon things that are long enough ago; + +--and sometimes wishing I could, with the good luck of most editors +of romantic narrative, light upon some hidden crypt or massive +antique cabinet, which should yield to my researches an almost +illegible manuscript, containing the authentic particulars of some +of the strange deeds of those wild days of the unhappy Mary. + +My dear Mrs. Baliol used to sympathise with me when I regretted +that all godsends of this nature had ceased to occur, and that an +author might chatter his teeth to pieces by the seaside without a +wave ever wafting to him a casket containing such a history as that +of Automates; that he might break his shins in stumbling through +a hundred vaults without finding anything but rats and mice; +and become the tenant of a dozen sets of shabby tenements without +finding that they contained any manuscript but the weekly bill for +board and lodging. A dairymaid of these degenerate days might as +well wash and deck her dairy in hopes of finding the fairy tester +in her shoe. + +"It is a sad and too true a tale, cousin," said Mrs. Baliol, +"I am sure we all have occasion to regret the want of these ready +supplements to a failing invention. But you, most of all, have right +to complain that the fairest have not favoured your researches-- +you, who have shown the world that the age of chivalry still exists +--you, the knight of Croftangry, who braved the fury of the 'London +'prentice bold,' in behalf of the fair Dame Policy, and the memorial +of Rizzio's slaughter! Is it not a pity, cousin, considering the +feat of chivalry was otherwise so much according to rule--is it +not, I say, a great pity that the lady had not been a little younger, +and the legend a little older?" + +"Why, as to the age at which a fair dame loses the benefit of +chivalry, and is no longer entitled to crave boon of brave knight, +that I leave to the statutes of the Order of Errantry; but for the +blood of Rizzio I take up the gauntlet, and maintain against all +and sundry that I hold the stains to be of no modern date, but to +have been actually the consequence and the record of that terrible +assassination." + +"As I cannot accept the challenge to the field, fair cousin, I am +contented to require proof." + +"The unaltered tradition of the Palace, and the correspondence of +the existing state of things with that tradition." + +"Explain, if you please." + +"I will. The universal tradition bears that, when Rizzio was +dragged out of the chamber of the Queen, the heat and fury of the +assassins, who struggled which should deal him most wounds, despatched +him at the door of the anteroom. At the door of the apartment, +therefore, the greater quantity of the ill fated minion's blood was +spilled, and there the marks of it are still shown. It is reported +further by historians, that Mary continued her entreaties for his +life, mingling her prayers with screams and exclamations, until +she knew that he was assuredly slain; on which she wiped her eyes +and said, 'I will now study revenge.'" + +"All this is granted. But the blood--would it not wash out, or +waste out, think you, in so many years?" + +"I am coming to that presently. The constant tradition of the +Palace says, that Mary discharged any measures to be taken to remove +the marks of slaughter, which she had resolved should remain as a +memorial to quicken and confirm her purposed vengeance. But it is +added that, satisfied with the knowledge that it existed, and not +desirous to have the ghastly evidence always under her eye, she +caused a traverse, as it is called (that is, a temporary screen of +boards), to be drawn along the under part of the anteroom, a few +feet from the door, so as to separate the place stained with the +blood from the rest of the apartment, and involve it in considerable +obscurity. Now this temporary partition still exists, and, by +running across and interrupting the plan of the roof and cornices, +plainly intimates that it has been intended to serve some temporary +purpose, since it disfigures the proportions of the room, interferes +with the ornaments of the ceiling, and could only have been put +there for some such purpose as hiding an object too disagreeable +to be looked upon. As to the objection that the bloodstains would +have disappeared in course of time, I apprehend that, if measures +to efface them were not taken immediately after the affair happened +--if the blood, in other words, were allowed to sink into the wood, +the stain would become almost indelible. Now, not to mention that +our Scottish palaces were not particularly well washed in those +days, and that there were no Patent Drops to assist the labours +of the mop, I think it very probable that these dark relics might +subsist for a long course of time, even if Mary had not desired or +directed that they should be preserved, but screened by the traverse +from public sight. I know several instances of similar bloodstains +remaining for a great many years, and I doubt whether, after a certain +time, anything can remove them save the carpenter's plane. If any +seneschal, by way of increasing the interest of the apartments, had, +by means of paint, or any other mode of imitation, endeavoured to +palm upon posterity supposititious stigmata, I conceive that the +impostor would have chosen the Queen's cabinet and the bedroom for +the scene of his trick, placing his bloody tracery where it could +be distinctly seen by visitors, instead of hiding it behind the +traverse in this manner. The existence of the said traverse, or +temporary partition, is also extremely difficult to be accounted +for, if the common and ordinary tradition be rejected. In short, +all the rest of this striking locality is so true to the historical +fact, that I think it may well bear out the additional circumstance +of the blood on the floor." + +"I profess to you," answered Mrs. Baliol, "that I am very willing +to be converted to your faith. We talk of a credulous vulgar, without +always recollecting that there is a vulgar incredulity, which, in +historical matters as well as in those of religion, finds it easier +to doubt than to examine, and endeavours to assume the credit of +an esprit fort, by denying whatever happens to be a little beyond +the very limited comprehension of the sceptic. And so, that point +being settled, and you possessing, as we understand, the open +sesamum into these secret apartments, how, if we may ask, do you +intend to avail yourself of your privilege? Do you propose to pass +the night in the royal bedchamber?" + +"For what purpose, my dear lady? If to improve the rheumatism, this +east wind may serve the purpose." + +"Improve the rheumatism! Heaven forbid! that would be worse than +adding colours to the violet. No, I mean to recommend a night on the +couch of the nose of Scotland, merely to improve the imagination. Who +knows what dreams might be produced by a night spent in a mansion +of so many memories! For aught I know, the iron door of the postern +stair might open at the dead hour of midnight, and, as at the time +of the conspiracy, forth might sally the phantom assassins, with +stealthy step and ghastly look, to renew the semblance of the deed. +There comes the fierce fanatic Ruthven, party hatred enabling him +to bear the armour which would otherwise weigh down a form extenuated +by wasting disease. See how his writhen features show under the +hollow helmet, like those of a corpse tenanted by a demon, whose +vindictive purpose looks out at the flashing eyes, while the visage +has the stillness of death. Yonder appears the tall form of the boy +Darnley, as goodly in person as vacillating in resolution; yonder +he advances with hesitating step, and yet more hesitating purpose, +his childish fear having already overcome his childish passion. +He is in the plight of a mischievous lad who has fired a mine, and +who now, expecting the explosion in remorse and terror, would give +his life to quench the train which his own hand lighted. Yonder-- +yonder--But I forget the rest of the worthy cutthroats. Help me +if you can." + +"Summon up," said I, "the postulate, George Douglas, the most active +of the gang. Let him arise at your call--the claimant of wealth +which he does not possess, the partaker of the illustrious blood of +Douglas, but which in his veins is sullied with illegitimacy. Paint +him the ruthless, the daring, the ambitious--so nigh greatness, +yet debarred from it; so near to wealth, yet excluded from possessing +it; a political Tantalus, ready to do or dare anything to terminate +his necessities and assert his imperfect claims." + +"Admirable, my dear Croftangry! But what is a postulate?" + +"Pooh, my dear madam, you disturb the current of my ideas. The +postulate was, in Scottish phrase, the candidate for some benefice +which he had not yet attained. George Douglas, who stabbed Rizzio, +was the postulate for the temporal possessions of the rich abbey +of Arbroath." + +"I stand informed. Come, proceed; who comes next?" continued Mrs. +Baliol. + +"Who comes next? Yon tall, thin made, savage looking man, with the +petronel in his hand, must be Andrew Ker of Faldonside, a brother's +son, I believe, of the celebrated Sir David Ker of Cessford; his +look and bearing those of a Border freebooter, his disposition +so savage that, during the fray in the cabinet, he presented his +loaded piece at the bosom of the young and beautiful Queen, that +queen also being within a few weeks of becoming a mother." + +"Brave, beau cousin! Well, having raised your bevy of phantoms, I +hope you do not intend to send them back to their cold beds to warm +them? You will put them to some action, and since you do threaten +the Canongate with your desperate quill, you surely mean to novelise, +or to dramatise, if you will, this most singular of all tragedies?" + +"Worse--that is less interesting--periods of history have been, +indeed, shown up, for furnishing amusement to the peaceable ages +which, have succeeded but, dear lady, the events are too well known +in Mary's days to be used as vehicles of romantic fiction. What +can a better writer than myself add to the elegant and forcible +narrative of Robertson? So adieu to my vision. I awake, like John +Bunyan, 'and behold it is a dream.' Well enough that I awake without +a sciatica, which would have probably rewarded my slumbers had I +profaned Queen Mary's bed by using it as a mechanical resource to +awaken a torpid imagination." + +"This will never do, cousin," answered Mrs. Baliol; "you must get +over all these scruples, if you would thrive in the character of a +romantic historian, which you have determined to embrace. What is +the classic Robertson to you? The light which he carried was that +of a lamp to illuminate the dark events of antiquity; yours is a +magic lantern to raise up wonders which never existed. No reader +of sense wonders at your historical inaccuracies, any more than he +does to see Punch in the show box seated on the same throne with +King Solomon in his glory, or to hear him hallooing out to the +patriarch, amid the deluge, 'Mighty hazy weather, Master Noah.'" + +"Do not mistake me, my dear madam," said I; "I am quite conscious +of my own immunities as a tale teller. But even the mendacious Mr. +Fag, in Sheridan's Rivals, assures us that, though he never scruples +to tell a lie at his master's command, yet it hurts his conscience +to be found out. Now, this is the reason why I avoid in prudence all +well known paths of history, where every one can read the finger +posts carefully set up to advise them of the right turning; and +the very boys and girls, who learn the history of Britain by way +of question and answer, hoot at a poor author if he abandons the +highway." + +"Do not be discouraged, however, cousin Chrystal. There are +plenty of wildernesses in Scottish history, through which, unless +I am greatly misinformed, no certain paths have been laid down from +actual survey, but which are only described by imperfect tradition, +which fills up with wonders and with legends the periods in which +no real events are recognised to have taken place. Even thus, as +Mat Prior says: + +"Geographers on pathless downs +Place elephants instead of towns." + +"If such be your advice, my dear lady," said I, "the course of my +story shall take its rise upon this occasion at a remote period of +history, and in a province removed from my natural sphere of the +Canongate." + +It was under the influence of those feelings that I undertook the +following historical romance, which, often suspended and flung +aside, is now arrived at a size too important to be altogether +thrown away, although there may be little prudence in sending it +to the press. + +I have not placed in the mouth of the characters the Lowland Scotch +dialect now spoken, because unquestionably the Scottish of that +day resembled very closely the Anglo Saxon, with a sprinkling of +French or Norman to enrich it. Those who wish to investigate the +subject may consult the Chronicles of Winton and the History of Bruce +by Archdeacon Barbour. But supposing my own skill in the ancient +Scottish were sufficient to invest the dialogue with its peculiarities, +a translation must have been necessary for the benefit of the general +reader. The Scottish dialect may be therefore considered as laid +aside, unless where the use of peculiar words may add emphasis or +vivacity to the composition. + +PREFACE. + +In continuing the lucubrations of Chrystal Croftangry, it occurred +that, although the press had of late years teemed with works of +various descriptions concerning the Scottish Gad, no attempt had +hitherto been made to sketch their manners, as these might be supposed +to have existed at the period when the statute book, as well as +the page of the chronicler, begins to present constant evidence of +the difficulties to which the crown was exposed, while the haughty +house of Douglas all but overbalanced its authority on the Southern +border, and the North was at the same time torn in pieces by +the yet untamed savageness of the Highland races, and the daring +loftiness to which some of the remoter chieftains still carried +their pretensions. + +The well authenticated fact of two powerful clans having deputed +each thirty champions to fight out a quarrel of old standing, in +presence of King Robert III, his brother the Duke of Albany, and +the whole court of Scotland, at Perth, in the year of grace 1396, +seemed to mark with equal distinctness the rancour of these mountain +feuds and the degraded condition of the general government of the +country; and it was fixed upon accordingly as the point on which +the main incidents of a romantic narrative might be made to hinge. +The characters of Robert III, his ambitious brother, and his +dissolute son seemed to offer some opportunities of interesting +contrast; and the tragic fate of the heir of the throne, with its +immediate consequences, might serve to complete the picture of +cruelty and lawlessness. + +Two features of the story of this barrier battle on the Inch of Perth +--the flight of one of the appointed champions, and the reckless +heroism of a townsman, that voluntarily offered for a small piece +of coin to supply his place in the mortal encounter--suggested +the imaginary persons, on whom much of the novel is expended. The +fugitive Celt might have been easily dealt with, had a ludicrous +style of colouring been adopted; but it appeared to the Author that +there would be more of novelty, as well as of serious interest, +if he could succeed in gaining for him something of that sympathy +which is incompatible with the total absence of respect. Miss +Baillie had drawn a coward by nature capable of acting as a hero +under the strong impulse of filial affection. It seemed not impossible +to conceive the case of one constitutionally weak of nerve being +supported by feelings of honour and of jealousy up to a certain +point, and then suddenly giving way, under circumstances to which +the bravest heart could hardly refuse compassion. + +The controversy as to who really were the clans that figured +in the barbarous conflict of the Inch has been revived since the +publication of the Fair Maid of Perth, and treated in particular +at great length by Mr. Robert Mackay of Thurso, in his very curious +History of the House and Clan of Mackay. Without pretending to say +that he has settled any part of the question in the affirmative, +this gentleman certainly seems to have quite succeeded in proving +that his own worthy sept had no part in the transaction. The Mackays +were in that age seated, as they have since continued to be, in +the extreme north of the island; and their chief at the time was a +personage of such importance, that his name and proper designation +could not have been omitted in the early narratives of the occurrence. +He on one occasion brought four thousand of his clan to the aid of +the royal banner against the Lord of the Isles. This historian is +of opinion that the Clan Quhele of Wyntoun were the Camerons, who +appear to have about that period been often designated as Macewans, +and to have gained much more recently the name of Cameron, i.e. +Wrynose, from a blemish in the physiognomy of some heroic chief +of the line of Lochiel. This view of the case is also adopted by +Douglas in his Baronage, where he frequently mentions the bitter feuds +between Clan Chattan and Clan Kay, and identifies the latter sept +in reference to the events of 1396, with the Camerons. It is perhaps +impossible to clear up thoroughly this controversy, little interesting +in itself, at least to readers on this side of Inverness. The names, +as we have them in Wyntoun, are "Clanwhewyl" and "Clachinya," the +latter probably not correctly transcribed. In the Scoti Chronicon +they are "Clanquhele" and "Clankay. Hector Boece writes Clanchattan" +and "Clankay," in which he is followed by Leslie while Buchanan +disdains to disfigure his page with their Gaelic designations at +all, and merely describes them as two powerful races in the wild +and lawless region beyond the Grampians. Out of this jumble what +Sassenach can pretend dare lucem? The name Clanwheill appears so +late as 1594, in an Act of James VI. Is it not possible that it +may be, after all, a mere corruption of Clan Lochiel? + +The reader may not be displeased to have Wyntoun's original rhymes +[bk. ix. chap. xvii.]: + + +A thousand and thre hundyr yere, +Nynty and sex to mak all clere-- +Of thre scor wyld Scottis men, +Thretty agane thretty then, +In felny bolnit of auld fed, +[Boiled with the cruelty of an old feud] +As thare forelderis ware slane to dede. +Tha thre score ware clannys twa, +Clahynnhe Qwhewyl and Clachinyha; +Of thir twa kynnis ware tha men, +Thretty agane thretty then; +And thare thai had than chiftanys twa, +Scha Ferqwharis' son wes ane of tha, +The tother Cristy Johnesone. +A selcouth thing be tha was done. +At Sanct Johnestone besid the Freris, +All thai entrit in barreris +Wyth bow and ax, knyf and swerd, +To deil amang thaim thare last werd. +Thare thai laid on that time sa fast, +Quha had the ware thare at the last +I will noucht say; hot quha best had, +He wes but dout bathe muth and mad. +Fifty or ma ware slane that day, +Sua few wyth lif than past away. + +The prior of Lochleven makes no mention either of the evasion of one +of the Gaelic champions, or of the gallantry of the Perth artisan, +in offering to take a share in the conflict. Both incidents, however, +were introduced, no doubt from tradition, by the Continuator of +Fordun [Bower], whose narrative is in these words: + + +Anno Dom. millesimo trecentesimo nonagesimo sexto, magna pars +borealis Scotiae, trans Alpes, inquietata fuit per duos pestiferos +Cateranos, et eorum sequaces, viz. Scheabeg et suos consanguinarios, +qui Clankay, et Cristi Jonsonem ac suos, qui Clanqwhele dicebantur; +qui nullo pacto vel tractatu pacificari poterant, nullaque +arte regis vel gubernatoris poterant edomari, quoadusque nobilis +et industriosus Dominus David de Lindesay de Crawford, at Dominus +Thomas comes Moraviae, diligentiam et vires apposuerunt, ac inter +partes sic tractaverunt, ut coram domino rege certo die convenirent +apud Perth, et alterutra pars eligeret de progenie sua triginta +personas adversus triginta de parte contraria, cum gladiis tantum, +et arcubus et sagittis, absque deploidibus, vel armaturis aliis, +praeter bipennes; et sic congredientes finem liti ponerant, et terra +pace potiretur. Utrique igitur parti summe placuit contractus, et +die lunae proximo ante festum Sancti Michaelis, apud North insulam +de Perth, coram rege et gubernatore et innumerabili multitudine +comparentes, conflictum acerrimum inierunt; ubi de sexaginta +interfecti sunt omnes, excepto uno ex parte Clankay et undecim +exceptis ex parte altera. Hoc etiam ibi accidit, quod omnes in +procinctu belli constituti, unus eorum locum diffugii considerans, inter +omnes in amnem elabitur, et aquam de Thaya natando transgreditur; +a millenis insequitur, sed nusquam apprehenditur. Stant igitur partes +attonitae, tanquam non ad conflictum progressuri, ob defectum evasi: +noluit enim pars integrum habens numerum sociorum consentire, ut +unus de suis demeretur; nec potuit pars altera quocumque pretio +alterum ad supplendum vicem fugientis inducere. Stupent igitur omnes +haerentes, de damno fugitivi conquerentes. Et cum totum illud opus +cessare putaretur, ecce in medio prorupit unus stipulosus vernaculus, +statura modicus, sed efferus, dicens: Ecce ego! quis me conducet +intrare cum operariis istis ad hunc ludum theatralem? Pro dimidia +enim marca ludum experiar, ultra hoc petens, ut si vivus de +palaestra evasero, victum a quocumque vestrum recipiam dum vixero: +quia, sicut dicitur, "Majorem caritatem nemo habet, quam ut animam +suam ponat suis pro amicis." Quali mercede donabor, qui animam +meam pro inimicis reipublicae et regni pono? Quod petiit, a rege +et diversis magnatibus conceditur. Cum hoc arcus ejus extenditur, +et primo sagittam in partem contrariam transmittit, et unum interficit. +Confestim hinc inde sagittae volitant, bipennes librant, gladios +vibrant, alterutro certant, et veluti carnifices boves in macello, +sic inconsternate ad invicem se trucidant. Sed nec inter tantos +repertus est vel unus, qui, tanquam vecors ant timidus, sive post +tergum alterius declinans, seipsum a tanta caede praetendit excusare. +Iste tamen tyro superveniens finaliter illaesus exivit; et dehinc +multo tempore Boreas quievit, nec ibidem fuit, ut supra, cateranorum +excursus. + +The scene is heightened with many florid additions by Boece and +Leslie, and the contending savages in Buchanan utter speeches after +the most approved pattern of Livy. + +The devotion of the young chief of Clan Quhele's foster father +and foster brethren in the novel is a trait of clannish fidelity, +of which Highland story furnishes many examples. In the battle of +Inverkeithing, between the Royalists and Oliver Cromwell's troops, +a foster father and seven brave sons are known to have thus sacrificed +themselves for Sir Hector Maclean of Duart; the old man, whenever +one of his boys fell, thrusting forward another to fill his place +at the right hand of the beloved chief, with the very words adopted +in the novel, "Another for Hector!" + +Nay, the feeling could outlive generations. The late much +lamented General Stewart of Garth, in his account of the battle of +Killiecrankie, informs us that Lochiel was attended on the field +by the son of his foster brother. + +"This faithful adherent followed him like his shadow, ready to +assist him with his sword, or cover him from the shot of the enemy. +Suddenly the chief missed his friend from his side, and, turning +round to look what had become of him, saw him lying on his back +with his breast pierced by an arrow. He had hardly breath, before +he expired, to tell Lochiel that, seeing an enemy, a Highlander +in General Mackay's army, aiming at him with a bow and arrow, he +sprung behind him, and thus sheltered him from instant death. This" +observes the gallant David Stewart, "is a species of duty not often +practised, perhaps, by our aide de camps of the present day."-- +Sketches of the Highlanders, vol. i. p. 65. + +I have only to add, that the Second Series of Chronicles of the +Canongate, with the chapter introductory which precedes, appeared +in May, 1828, and had a favourable reception. + +ABBOTSFORD, Aug. 15, 1831. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +"Behold the Tiber," the vain Roman cried, +Viewing the ample Tay from Baiglie's side; +But where's the Scot that would the vaunt repay, +And hail the puny Tiber for the Tay? + +Anonymous. + + +Among all the provinces in Scotland, if an intelligent stranger +were asked to describe the most varied and the most beautiful, it +is probable he would name the county of Perth. A native also of any +other district of Caledonia, though his partialities might lead him +to prefer his native county in the first instance, would certainly +class that of Perth in the second, and thus give its inhabitants +a fair right to plead that, prejudice apart, Perthshire forms the +fairest portion of the Northern kingdom. It is long since Lady Mary +Wortley Montagu, with that excellent taste which characterises her +writings, expressed her opinion that the most interesting district +of every country, and that which exhibits the varied beauties of +natural scenery in greatest perfection, is that where the mountains sink +down upon the champaign, or more level land. The most picturesque, +if not the highest, hills are also to be found in the county of +Perth. The rivers find their way out of the mountainous region by +the wildest leaps, and through the most romantic passes connecting +the Highlands with the Lowlands. Above, the vegetation of a happier +climate and soil is mingled with the magnificent characteristics +of mountain scenery, and woods, groves, and thickets in profusion +clothe the base of the hills, ascend up the ravines, and mingle with +the precipices. It is in such favoured regions that the traveller +finds what the poet Gray, or some one else, has termed beauty lying +in the lap of terror. + +From the same advantage of situation, this favoured province +presents a variety of the most pleasing character. Its lakes, +woods, and mountains may vie in beauty with any that the Highland +tour exhibits; while Perthshire contains, amidst this romantic +scenery, and in some places in connexion with it, many fertile and +habitable tracts, which may vie with the richness of merry England +herself. The county has also been the scene of many remarkable exploits +and events, some of historical importance, others interesting to +the poet and romancer, though recorded in popular tradition alone. +It was in these vales that the Saxons of the plain and the Gad of +the mountains had many a desperate and bloody encounter, in which +it was frequently impossible to decide the palm of victory between +the mailed chivalry of the low country and the plaided clans whom +they opposed. + +Perth, so eminent for the beauty of its situation, is a place of +great antiquity; and old tradition assigns to the town the importance +of a Roman foundation. That victorious nation, it is said, pretended +to recognise the Tiber in the much more magnificent and navigable +Tay, and to acknowledge the large level space, well known by +the name of the North Inch, as having a near resemblance to their +Campus Martins. The city was often the residence of our monarchs, +who, although they had no palace at Perth, found the Cistercian +convent amply sufficient for the reception of their court. It was +here that James the First, one of the wisest and best of the Scottish +kings, fell a victim to the jealousy of the vengeful aristocracy. +Here also occurred the mysterious conspiracy of Gowrie, the scene +of which has only of late been effaced by the destruction of the +ancient palace in which the tragedy was acted. The Antiquarian +Society of Perth, with just zeal for the objects of their pursuit, +have published an accurate plan of this memorable mansion, with +some remarks upon its connexion with the narrative of the plot, +which display equal acuteness and candour. + +One of the most beautiful points of view which Britain, or perhaps +the world, can afford is, or rather we may say was, the prospect +from a spot called the Wicks of Baiglie, being a species of niche +at which the traveller arrived, after a long stage from Kinross, +through a waste and uninteresting country, and from which, as forming +a pass over the summit of a ridgy eminence which he had gradually +surmounted, he beheld, stretching beneath him, the valley of the +Tay, traversed by its ample and lordly stream; the town of Perth, +with its two large meadows, or inches, its steeples, and its towers; +the hills of Moncrieff and Kinnoul faintly rising into picturesque +rocks, partly clothed with woods; the rich margin of the river, +studded with elegant mansions; and the distant view of the huge +Grampian mountains, the northern screen of this exquisite landscape. +The alteration of the road, greatly, it must be owned, to the +improvement of general intercourse, avoids this magnificent point of +view, and the landscape is introduced more gradually and partially +to the eye, though the approach must be still considered as extremely +beautiful. There is still, we believe, a footpath left open, by +which the station at the Wicks of Baiglie may be approached; and +the traveller, by quitting his horse or equipage, and walking a +few hundred yards, may still compare the real landscape with the +sketch which we have attempted to give. But it is not in our power +to communicate, or in his to receive, the exquisite charm which +surprise gives to pleasure, when so splendid a view arises when least +expected or hoped for, and which Chrystal Croftangry experienced +when he beheld, for the first time, the matchless scene. + +Childish wonder, indeed, was an ingredient in my delight, for +I was not above fifteen years old; and as this had been the first +excursion which I was permitted to make on a pony of my own, I also +experienced the glow of independence, mingled with that degree of +anxiety which the most conceited boy feels when he is first abandoned +to his own undirected counsels. I recollect pulling up the reins +without meaning to do so, and gazing on the scene before me as if +I had been afraid it would shift like those in a theatre before I +could distinctly observe its different parts, or convince myself +that what I saw was real. Since that hour, and the period is now +more than fifty years past, the recollection of that inimitable +landscape has possessed the strongest influence over my mind, +and retained its place as a memorable thing, when much that was +influential on my own fortunes has fled from my recollection. It +is therefore unnatural that, whilst deliberating on what might be +brought forward for the amusement of the public, I should pitch upon +some narrative connected with the splendid scenery which made so +much impression on my youthful imagination, and which may perhaps +have that effect in setting off the imperfections of the composition +which ladies suppose a fine set of china to possess in heightening +the flavour of indifferent tea. + +The period at which I propose to commence is, however, considerably +earlier of the remarkable historical transactions to which I have +already alluded, as the events which I am about to recount occurred +during the last years of the 14th century, when the Scottish +sceptre was swayed by the gentle but feeble hand of John, who, on +being called to the throne, assumed the title of Robert the Third. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A country lip may have the velvet touch; +Though she's no lady, she may please as much. + +DRYDEN. + + +Perth, boasting, as we have already mentioned, so large a portion +of the beauties of inanimate nature, has at no time been without +its own share of those charms which are at once more interesting +and more transient. To be called the Fair Maid of Perth would at +any period have been a high distinction, and have inferred no mean +superiority in beauty, where there were many to claim that much +envied attribute. But, in the feudal times to which we now call +the reader's attention, female beauty was a quality of much higher +importance than it has been since the ideas of chivalry have been +in a great measure extinguished. The love of the ancient cavaliers +was a licensed species of idolatry, which the love of Heaven alone +was theoretically supposed to approach in intensity, and which in +practice it seldom equalled. God and the ladies were familiarly +appealed to in the same breath; and devotion to the fair sex was as +peremptorily enjoined upon the aspirant to the honour of chivalry +as that which was due to Heaven. At such a period in society, the +power of beauty was almost unlimited. It could level the highest +rank with that which was immeasurably inferior. + +It was but in the reign preceding that of Robert III. that beauty +alone had elevated a person of inferior rank and indifferent morals +to share the Scottish throne; and many women, less artful or less +fortunate, had risen to greatness from a state of concubinage, for +which the manners of the times made allowance and apology. Such +views might have dazzled a girl of higher birth than Catharine, +or Katie, Glover, who was universally acknowledged to be the most +beautiful young woman of the city or its vicinity, and whose renown, +as the Fair Maid of Perth, had drawn on her much notice from the +young gallants of the royal court, when it chanced to be residing +in or near Perth, insomuch that more than one nobleman of the +highest rank, and most distinguished for deeds of chivalry, were +more attentive to exhibit feats of horsemanship as they passed the +door of old Simon Glover, in what was called Couvrefew, or Curfew, +Street, than to distinguish themselves in the tournaments, where +the noblest dames of Scotland were spectators of their address. +But the glover's daughter--for, as was common with the citizens +and artisans of that early period, her father, Simon, derived his +surname from the trade which he practised--showed no inclination to +listen to any gallantry which came from those of a station highly +exalted above that which she herself occupied, and, though probably +in no degree insensible to her personal charms, seemed desirous to +confine her conquests to those who were within her own sphere of +life. Indeed, her beauty being of that kind which we connect more +with the mind than with the person, was, notwithstanding her natural +kindness and gentleness of disposition, rather allied to reserve +than to gaiety, even when in company with her equals; and the +earnestness with which she attended upon the exercises of devotion +induced many to think that Catharine Glover nourished the private +wish to retire from the world and bury herself in the recesses of +the cloister. But to such a sacrifice, should it be meditated, it +was not to be expected her father, reputed a wealthy man and having +this only child, would yield a willing consent. + +In her resolution of avoiding the addresses of the gallant courtiers, +the reigning beauty of Perth was confirmed by the sentiments of +her parent. + +"Let them go," he said--"let them go, Catharine, those gallants, +with their capering horses, their jingling spurs, their plumed +bonnets, and their trim mustachios: they are not of our class, nor +will we aim at pairing with them. Tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day, +when every bird chooses her mate; but you will not see the linnet +pair with the sparrow hawk, nor the Robin Redbreast with the +kite. My father was an honest burgher of Perth, and could use his +needle as well as I can. Did there come war to the gates of our +fair burgh, down went needles, thread, and shamoy leather, and out +came the good head piece and target from the dark nook, and the +long lance from above the chimney. Show me a day that either he or +I was absent when the provost made his musters! Thus we have led +our lives, my girl, working to win our bread, and fighting to defend +it. I will have no son in law that thinks himself better than me; +and for these lords and knights, I trust thou wilt always remember +thou art too low to be their lawful love, and too high to be their +unlawful loon. And now lay by thy work, lass, for it is holytide +eve, and it becomes us to go to the evening service, and pray that +Heaven may send thee a good Valentine tomorrow." + +So the Fair Maid of Perth laid aside the splendid hawking glove +which she was embroidering for the Lady Drummond, and putting on +her holyday kirtle, prepared to attend her father to the Blackfriars +monastery, which was adjacent to Couvrefew Street in which they +lived. On their passage, Simon Glover, an ancient and esteemed burgess +of Perth, somewhat stricken in years and increased in substance, +received from young and old the homage due to his velvet jerkin and +his golden chain, while the well known beauty of Catharine, though +concealed beneath her screen--which resembled the mantilla still +worn in Flanders--called both obeisances and doffings of the +bonnet from young and old. + +As the pair moved on arm in arm, they were followed by a tall +handsome young man, dressed in a yeoman's habit of the plainest +kind, but which showed to advantage his fine limbs, as the +handsome countenance that looked out from a quantity of curled +tresses, surmounted by a small scarlet bonnet, became that species +of headdress. He had no other weapon than a staff in his hand, it +not being thought fit that persons of his degree (for he was an +apprentice to the old glover) should appear on the street armed +with sword or dagger, a privilege which the jackmen, or military +retainers of the nobility, esteemed exclusively their own. He attended +his master at holytide, partly in the character of a domestic, or +guardian, should there be cause for his interference; but it was +not difficult to discern, by the earnest attention which he paid +to Catharine Glover, that it was to her, rather than to her father, +that he desired to dedicate his good offices. + +Generally speaking, there was no opportunity for his zeal displaying +itself; for a common feeling of respect induced passengers to give +way to the father and daughter. + +But when the steel caps, barrets, and plumes of squires, archers, +and men at arms began to be seen among the throng, the wearers of +these warlike distinctions were more rude in their demeanour than +the quiet citizens. More than once, when from chance, or perhaps from +an assumption of superior importance, such an individual took the +wall of Simon in passing, the glover's youthful attendant bristled +up with a look of defiance, and the air of one who sought to +distinguish his zeal in his mistress's service by its ardour. As +frequently did Conachar, for such was the lad's name, receive a +check from his master, who gave him to understand that he did not +wish his interference before he required it. + +"Foolish boy," he said, "hast thou not lived long enough in my +shop to know that a blow will breed a brawl; that a dirk will cut +the skin as fast as a needle pierces leather; that I love peace, +though I never feared war, and care not which side of the causeway +my daughter and I walk upon so we may keep our road in peace and +quietness?" + +Conachar excused himself as zealous for his master's honour, yet +was scarce able to pacify the old citizen. + +"What have we to do with honour?" said Simon Glover. "If thou wouldst +remain in my service, thou must think of honesty, and leave honour +to the swaggering fools who wear steel at their heels and iron on +their shoulders. If you wish to wear and use such garniture, you +are welcome, but it shall not be in my house or in my company." + +Conachar seemed rather to kindle at this rebuke than to submit to +it. But a sign from Catharine, if that slight raising of her little +finger was indeed a sign, had more effect than the angry reproof of +his master; and the youth laid aside the military air which seemed +natural to him, and relapsed into the humble follower of a quiet +burgher. + +Meantime the little party were overtaken by a tall young man +wrapped in a cloak, which obscured or muffled a part of his face +--a practice often used by the gallants of the time, when they +did not wish to be known, or were abroad in quest of adventures. +He seemed, in short, one who might say to the world around him: +"I desire, for the present, not to be known or addressed in my own +character; but, as I am answerable to myself alone for my actions, +I wear my incognito but for form's sake, and care little whether +you see through it or not." + +He came on the right side of Catharine, who had hold of her father's +arm, and slackened his pace as if joining their party. + +"Good even to you, goodman." + +"The same to your worship, and thanks. May I pray you to pass on? +Our pace is too slow for that of your lordship, our company too +mean for that of your father's son." + +"My father's son can best judge of that, old man. I have business +to talk of with you and with my fair St. Catharine here, the +loveliest and most obdurate saint in the calendar." + +"With deep reverence, my lord," said the old man, "I would remind +you that this is good St. Valentine's Eve, which is no time for +business, and that I can have your worshipful commands by a serving +man as early as it pleases you to send them." + +"There is no time like the present," said the persevering youth, +whose rank seemed to be a kind which set him above ceremony. "I wish +to know whether the buff doublet be finished which I commissioned +some time since; and from you, pretty Catharine (here he sank his +voice to a whisper), I desire to be informed whether your fair +fingers have been employed upon it, agreeably to your promise? But +I need not ask you, for my poor heart has felt the pang of each +puncture that pierced the garment which was to cover it. Traitress, +how wilt thou answer for thus tormenting the heart that loves thee +so dearly?" + +"Let me entreat you, my lord," said Catharine, "to forego this wild +talk: it becomes not you to speak thus, or me to listen. We are of +poor rank but honest manners; and the presence of the father ought +to protect the child from such expressions, even from your lordship." + +This she spoke so low, that neither her father nor Conachar could +understand what she said. + +"Well, tyrant," answered the persevering gallant, "I will plague you +no longer now, providing you will let me see you from your window +tomorrow, when the sun first peeps over the eastern hills, and give +me right to be your Valentine for the year." + +"Not so, my lord; my father but now told me that hawks, far less +eagles, pair not with the humble linnet. Seek some court lady, to +whom your favours will be honour; to me--your Highness must permit +me to speak the plain truth--they can be nothing but disgrace." + +As they spoke thus, the party arrived at the gate of the church. + +"Your lordship will, I trust, permit us here to take leave of you?" +said her father. "I am well aware how little you will alter your +pleasure for the pain and uneasiness you may give to such as us +but, from the throng of attendants at the gate, your lordship may +see that there are others in the church to whom even your gracious +lordship must pay respect." + +"Yes--respect; and who pays any respect to me?" said the haughty +young lord. "A miserable artisan and his daughter, too much honoured +by my slightest notice, have the insolence to tell me that my notice +dishonours them. Well, my princess of white doe skin and blue silk, +I will teach you to rue this." + +As he murmured thus, the glover and his daughter entered the +Dominican church, and their attendant, Conachar, in attempting to +follow them closely, jostled, it may be not unwillingly, the young +nobleman. The gallant, starting from his unpleasing reverie, and +perhaps considering this as an intentional insult, seized on the +young man by the breast, struck him, and threw him from him. His +irritated opponent recovered himself with difficulty, and grasped +towards his own side, as if seeking a sword or dagger in the place +where it was usually worn; but finding none, he made a gesture of +disappointed rage, and entered the church. During the few seconds +he remained, the young nobleman stood with his arms folded on his +breast, with a haughty smile, as if defying him to do his worst. +When Conachar had entered the church, his opponent, adjusting his +cloak yet closer about his face, made a private signal by holding +up one of his gloves. He was instantly joined by two men, who, +disguised like himself, had waited his motions at a little distance. +They spoke together earnestly, after which the young nobleman retired +in one direction, his friends or followers going off in another. + +Simon Glover, before he entered the church, cast a look towards the +group, but had taken his place among the congregation before they +separated themselves. He knelt down with the air of a man who has +something burdensome on his mind; but when the service was ended, +he seemed free from anxiety, as one who had referred himself and +his troubles to the disposal of Heaven. The ceremony of High Mass +was performed with considerable solemnity, a number of noblemen +and ladies of rank being present. Preparations had indeed been made +for the reception of the good old King himself, but some of those +infirmities to which he was subject had prevented Robert III +from attending the service as was his wont. When the congregation +were dismissed, the glover and his beautiful daughter lingered +for some time, for the purpose of making their several shrifts in +the confessionals, where the priests had taken their places for +discharging that part of their duty. Thus it happened that the +night had fallen dark, and the way was solitary, when they returned +along the now deserted streets to their own dwelling. + +Most persons had betaken themselves to home and to bed. They who +still lingered in the street were night walkers or revellers, the +idle and swaggering retainers of the haughty nobles, who were much +wont to insult the peaceful passengers, relying on the impunity +which their masters' court favour was too apt to secure them. + +It was, perhaps, in apprehension of mischief from some character of +this kind that Conachar, stepping up to the glover, said, "Master, +walk faster--we are dogg'd." + +"Dogg'd, sayest thou? By whom and by how many?" + +"By one man muffled in his cloak, who follows us like our shadow." + +"Then will it never mend my pace along the Couvrefew Street for +the best one man that ever trode it." + +"But he has arms," said Conachar. + +"And so have we, and hands, and legs, and feet. Why, sure, Conachar, +you are not afraid of one man?" + +"Afraid!" answered Conachar, indignant at the insinuation; "you +shall soon know if I am afraid." + +"Now you are as far on the other side of the mark, thou foolish +boy: thy temper has no middle course; there is no occasion to make +a brawl, though we do not run. Walk thou before with Catharine, +and I will take thy place. We cannot be exposed to danger so near +home as we are." + +The glover fell behind accordingly, and certainly observed a person +keep so close to them as, the time and place considered, justified +some suspicion. When they crossed the street, he also crossed it, +and when they advanced or slackened their pace, the stranger's +was in proportion accelerated or diminished. The matter would have +been of very little consequence had Simon Glover been alone; but +the beauty of his daughter might render her the object of some +profligate scheme, in a country where the laws afforded such slight +protection to those who had not the means to defend themselves. + +Conachar and his fair charge having arrived on the threshold +of their own apartment, which was opened to them by an old female +servant, the burgher's uneasiness was ended. Determined, however, +to ascertain, if possible, whether there had been any cause for it, +he called out to the man whose motions had occasioned the alarm, +and who stood still, though he seemed to keep out of reach of the +light. "Come, step forward, my friend, and do not play at bo peep; +knowest thou not, that they who walk like phantoms in the dark are +apt to encounter the conjuration of a quarterstaff? Step forward, +I say, and show us thy shapes, man." + +"Why, so I can, Master Glover," said one of the deepest voices that +ever answered question. "I can show my shapes well enough, only I +wish they could bear the light something better." + +"Body of me," exclaimed Simon, "I should know that voice! And is +it thou, in thy bodily person, Harry Gow? Nay, beshrew me if thou +passest this door with dry lips. What, man, curfew has not rung +yet, and if it had, it were no reason why it should part father +and son. Come in, man; Dorothy shall get us something to eat, and +we will jingle a can ere thou leave us. Come in, I say; my daughter +Kate will be right glad to see thee." + +By this time he had pulled the person, whom he welcomed so cordially, +into a sort of kitchen, which served also upon ordinary occasions +the office of parlour. Its ornaments were trenchers of pewter, +mixed with a silver cup or two, which, in the highest degree of +cleanliness, occupied a range of shelves like those of a beauffet, +popularly called "the bink." A good fire, with the assistance of a +blazing lamp, spread light and cheerfulness through the apartment, +and a savoury smell of some victuals which Dorothy was preparing +did not at all offend the unrefined noses of those whose appetite +they were destined to satisfy. + +Their unknown attendant now stood in full light among them, and +though his appearance was neither dignified nor handsome, his face +and figure were not only deserving of attention, but seemed in some +manner to command it. He was rather below the middle stature, but +the breadth of his shoulders, length and brawniness of his arms, +and the muscular appearance of the whole man, argued a most unusual +share of strength, and a frame kept in vigour by constant exercise. +His legs were somewhat bent, but not in a manner which could be +said to approach to deformity, on the contrary, which seemed to +correspond to the strength of his frame, though it injured in some +degree its symmetry. + +His dress was of buff hide; and he wore in a belt around his waist +a heavy broadsword, and a dirk or poniard, as if to defend his +purse, which (burgher fashion) was attached to the same cincture. +The head was well proportioned, round, close cropped, and curled +thickly with black hair. There was daring and resolution in the dark +eye, but the other features seemed to express a bashful timidity, +mingled with good humor, and obvious satisfaction at meeting with +his old friends. + +Abstracted from the bashful expression, which was that of the moment, +the forehead of Henry Gow, or Smith, for he was indifferently so +called, was high and noble, but the lower part of the face was less +happily formed. The mouth was large, and well furnished with a set +of firm and beautiful teeth, the appearance of which corresponded +with the air of personal health and muscular strength which the +whole frame indicated. A short thick beard, and mustachios which +had lately been arranged with some care, completed the picture. +His age could not exceed eight and twenty. + +The family appeared all well pleased with the unexpected appearance +of an old friend. Simon Glover shook his hand again and again, +Dorothy made her compliments, and Catharine herself offered freely +her hand, which Henry held in his massive grasp, as if he designed +to carry it to his lips, but, after a moment's hesitation, desisted, +from fear lest the freedom might be ill taken. Not that there was +any resistance on the part of the little hand which lay passive +in his grasp; but there was a smile mingled with the blush on her +cheek, which seemed to increase the confusion of the gallant. + +Her father, on his part, called out frankly, as he saw his friend's +hesitation: "Her lips, man--her lips! and that's a proffer I +would not make to every one who crosses my threshold. But, by good +St. Valentine, whose holyday will dawn tomorrow, I am so glad to +see thee in the bonny city of Perth again that it would be hard to +tell the thing I could refuse thee." + +The smith, for, as has been said, such was the craft of this +sturdy artisan, was encouraged modestly to salute the Fair Maid, +who yielded the courtesy with a smile of affection that might +have become a sister, saying, at the same time: "Let me hope that +I welcome back to Perth a repentant and amended man." + +He held her hand as if about to answer, then suddenly, as one who +lost courage at the moment, relinquished his grasp; and drawing +back as if afraid of what he had done, his dark countenance glowing +with bashfulness, mixed with delight, he sat down by the fire on +the opposite side from that which Catharine occupied. + +"Come, Dorothy, speed thee with the food, old woman; and Conachar +--where is Conachar?" + +"He is gone to bed, sir, with a headache," said Catharine, in a +hesitating voice. + +"Go, call him, Dorothy," said the old glover; "I will not be used +thus by him: his Highland blood, forsooth, is too gentle to lay +a trencher or spread a napkin, and he expects to enter our ancient +and honourable craft without duly waiting and tending upon his +master and teacher in all matters of lawful obedience. Go, call +him, I say; I will not be thus neglected." + +Dorothy was presently heard screaming upstairs, or more probably +up a ladder, to the cock loft, to which the recusant apprentice +had made an untimely retreat; a muttered answer was returned, and +soon after Conachar appeared in the eating apartment. There was a +gloom of deep sullenness on his haughty, though handsome, features, +and as he proceeded to spread the board, and arrange the trenchers, +with salt, spices, and other condiments--to discharge, in short, +the duties of a modern domestic, which the custom of the time imposed +upon all apprentices--he was obviously disgusted and indignant +with the mean office imposed upon him. + +The Fair Maid of Perth looked with some anxiety at him, as if +apprehensive that his evident sullenness might increase her father's +displeasure; but it was not till her eyes had sought out his for a +second time that Conachar condescended to veil his dissatisfaction, +and throw a greater appearance of willingness and submission into +the services which he was performing. + +And here we must acquaint our reader that, though the private +interchange of looks betwixt Catharine Glover and the young mountaineer +indicated some interest on the part of the former in the conduct +of the latter, it would have puzzled the strictest observer to +discover whether that feeling exceeded in degree what might have +been felt by a young person towards a friend and inmate of the same +age, with whom she had lived on habits of intimacy. + +"Thou hast had a long journey, son Henry," said Glover, who had +always used that affectionate style of speech, though no ways akin +to the young artisan; "ay, and hast seen many a river besides Tay, +and many a fair bigging besides St. Johnston." + +"But none that I like half so well, and none that are half so +much worth my liking," answered the smith. "I promise you, father, +that, when I crossed the Wicks of Baiglie, and saw the bonny city +lie stretched fairly before me like a fairy queen in romance, whom +the knight finds asleep among a wilderness of flowers, I felt even +as a bird when it folds its wearied wings to stoop down on its own +nest." + +"Aha! so thou canst play the maker [old Scottish for poet] yet?" +said the glover. "What, shall we have our ballets and our roundels +again? our lusty carols for Christmas, and our mirthful springs to +trip it round the maypole?" + +"Such toys there may be forthcoming, father," said Henry Smith, +"though the blast of the bellows and the clatter of the anvil make +but coarse company to lays of minstrelsy; but I can afford them no +better, since I must mend my fortune, though I mar my verses." + +"Right again--my own son just," answered the glover; "and I trust +thou hast made a saving voyage of it?" + +"Nay, I made a thriving one, father: I sold the steel habergeon +that you wot of for four hundred marks to the English Warden of the +East Marches, Sir Magnus Redman. He scarce scrupled a penny after +I gave him leave to try a sword dint upon it. The beggardly Highland +thief who bespoke it boggled at half the sum, though it had cost +me a year's labour." + +"What dost thou start at, Conachar?" said Simon, addressing himself, +by way of parenthesis, to the mountain disciple; "wilt thou never +learn to mind thy own business, without listening to what is passing +round thee? What is it to thee that an Englishman thinks that cheap +which a Scottishman may hold dear?" + +Conachar turned round to speak, but, after a moment's consideration, +looked down, and endeavoured to recover his composure, which had +been deranged by the contemptuous manner in which the smith had +spoken of his Highland customer. + +Henry went on without paying any attention to him. "I sold at +high prices some swords and whingers when I was at Edinburgh. They +expect war there; and if it please God to send it, my merchandise +will be worth its price. St. Dunstan make us thankful, for he was +of our craft. In short, this fellow (laying his hand on his purse); +who, thou knowest, father, was somewhat lank and low in condition +when I set out four months since, is now as round and full as a +six weeks' porker." + +"And that other leathern sheathed, iron hilted fellow who hangs +beside him," said the glover, "has he been idle all this while? +Come, jolly smith, confess the truth--how many brawls hast thou +had since crossing the Tay?" + +"Nay, now you do me wrong, father, to ask me such a question +(glancing a look at Catharine) in such a presence," answered the +armourer: "I make swords, indeed, but I leave it to other people to +use them. No--no, seldom have I a naked sword in my fist, save +when I am turning them on the anvil or grindstone; and they slandered +me to your daughter Catharine, that led her to suspect the quietest +burgess in Perth of being a brawler. I wish the best of them would +dare say such a word at the Hill of Kinnoul, and never a man on +the green but he and I." + +"Ay--ay," said the glover, laughing, "we should then have a fine +sample of your patient sufferance. Out upon you, Henry, that you +will speak so like a knave to one who knows thee so well! You look +at Kate, too, as if she did not know that a man in this country +must make his hand keep his head, unless he will sleep in slender +security. Come--come, beshrew me if thou hast not spoiled as many +suits of armour as thou hast made." + +"Why, he would be a bad armourer, father Simon, that could not +with his own blow make proof of his own workmanship. If I did not +sometimes cleave a helmet, or strike a point through a harness, +I should not know what strength of fabric to give them; and might +jingle together such pasteboard work as yonder Edinburgh smiths +think not shame to put out of their hands." + +"Aha, now would I lay a gold crown thou hast had a quarrel with +some Edinburgh 'burn the wind' upon that very ground?" + +["Burn the wind," an old cant term for blacksmith, appears in Burns: + +Then burnewin came on like death, +At every chaup, etc.] + + +"A quarrel! no, father," replied the Perth armourer, "but a measuring +of swords with such a one upon St. Leonard's Crags, for the honour +of my bonny city, I confess. Surely you do not think I would quarrel +with a brother craftsman?" + +"Ah, to a surety, no. But how did your brother craftman come off?" + +"Why, as one with a sheet of paper on his bosom might come off from +the stroke of a lance; or rather, indeed, he came not off at all, +for, when I left him, he was lying in the Hermit's Lodge daily +expecting death, for which Father Gervis said he was in heavenly +preparation." + +"Well, any more measuring of weapons?" said the glover. + +"Why, truly, I fought an Englishman at Berwick besides, on the old +question of the supremacy, as they call it--I am sure you would +not have me slack at that debate?--and I had the luck to hurt +him on the left knee." + +"Well done for St. Andrew! to it again. Whom next had you to deal +with?" said Simon, laughing at the exploits of his pacific friend. + +"I fought a Scotchman in the Torwood," answered Henry Smith, "upon +a doubt which was the better swordsman, which, you are aware, could +not be known or decided without a trial. The poor fellow lost two +fingers." + +"Pretty well for the most peaceful lad in Perth, who never touches +a sword but in the way of his profession. Well, anything more to +tell us?" + +"Little; for the drubbing of a Highlandman is a thing not worth +mentioning." + +"For what didst thou drub him, O man of peace?" inquired the glover. + +"For nothing that I can remember," replied the smith, "except his +presenting himself on the south side of Stirling Bridge." + +"Well, here is to thee, and thou art welcome to me after all these +exploits. Conachar, bestir thee. Let the cans clink, lad, and thou +shalt have a cup of the nut brown for thyself, my boy." + +Conachar poured out the good liquor for his master and for Catharine +with due observance. But that done, he set the flagon on the table +and sat down. + +"How now, sirrah! be these your manners? Fill to my guest, the +worshipful Master Henry Smith." + +"Master Smith may fill for himself, if he wishes for liquor," +answered the youthful Celt. "The son of my father has demeaned +himself enough already for one evening." + +"That's well crowed for a cockerel," said Henry; "but thou art so +far right, my lad, that the man deserves to die of thirst who will +not drink without a cupbearer." + +But his entertainer took not the contumacy of the young apprentice +with so much patience. "Now, by my honest word, and by the best +glove I ever made," said Simon, "thou shalt help him with liquor +from that cup and flagon, if thee and I are to abide under one +roof." + +Conachar arose sullenly upon hearing this threat, and, approaching +the smith, who had just taken the tankard in his hand, and was raising +it to his head, he contrived to stumble against him and jostle him +so awkwardly, that the foaming ale gushed over his face, person, +and dress. Good natured as the smith, in spite of his warlike +propensities, really was in the utmost degree, his patience failed +under such a provocation. He seized the young man's throat, being +the part which came readiest to his grasp, as Conachar arose from +the pretended stumble, and pressing it severely as he cast the lad +from him, exclaimed: "Had this been in another place, young gallows +bird, I had stowed the lugs out of thy head, as I have done to some +of thy clan before thee." + +Conachar recovered his feet with the activity of a tiger, and +exclaimed: "Never shall you live to make that boast again!" drew a +short, sharp knife from his bosom, and, springing on Henry Smith, +attempted to plunge it into his body over the collarbone, which +must have been a mortal wound. But the object of this violence was +so ready to defend himself by striking up the assailant's hand, +that the blow only glanced on the bone, and scarce drew blood. To +wrench the dagger from the boy's hand, and to secure him with a +grasp like that of his own iron vice, was, for the powerful smith, +the work of a single moment. + +Conachar felt himself at once in the absolute power of the formidable +antagonist whom he had provoked; he became deadly pale, as he had +been the moment before glowing red, and stood mute with shame and +fear, until, relieving him from his powerful hold, the smith quietly +said: "It is well for thee that thou canst not make me angry; thou +art but a boy, and I, a grown man, ought not to have provoked thee. +But let this be a warning." + +Conachar stood an instant as if about to reply, and then left the +room, ere Simon had collected himself enough to speak. Dorothy was +running hither and thither for salves and healing herbs. Catharine +had swooned at the sight of the trickling blood. + +"Let me depart, father Simon," said Henry Smith, mournfully, "I +might have guessed I should have my old luck, and spread strife +and bloodshed where I would wish most to bring peace and happiness. +Care not for me. Look to poor Catharine; the fright of such an +affray hath killed her, and all through my fault." + +"Thy fault, my son! It was the fault of yon Highland cateran, whom +it is my curse to be cumbered with; but he shall go back to his +glens tomorrow, or taste the tolbooth of the burgh. An assault upon +the life of his master's guest in his house! It breaks all bonds +between us. But let me see to thy wound." + +"Catharine!" repeated the armourer--"look to Catharine." + +"Dorothy will see to her," said Simon; "surprise and fear kill not; +skenes and dirks do. And she is not more the daughter of my blood +than thou, my dear Henry, art the son of my affections. Let me see +the wound. The skene occle is an ugly weapon in a Highland hand." + +"I mind it no more than the scratch of a wildcat," said the armourer; +"and now that the colour is coming to Catharine's cheek again, you +shall see me a sound man in a moment." + +He turned to a corner in which hung a small mirror, and hastily +took from his purse some dry lint to apply to the slight wound he +had received. As he unloosed the leathern jacket from his neck and +shoulders, the manly and muscular form which they displayed was not +more remarkable than the fairness of his skin, where it had not, +as in hands and face, been exposed to the effects of rough weather +and of his laborious trade. He hastily applied some lint to stop +the bleeding; and a little water having removed all other marks +of the fray, he buttoned his doublet anew, and turned again to the +table, where Catharine, still pale and trembling, was, however, +recovered from her fainting fit. + +"Would you but grant me your forgiveness for having offended you +in the very first hour of my return? The lad was foolish to provoke +me, and yet I was more foolish to be provoked by such as he. Your +father blames me not, Catharine, and cannot you forgive me?" + +"I have no power to forgive," answered Catharine, "what I have no +title to resent. If my father chooses to have his house made the +scene of night brawls, I must witness them--I cannot help myself. +Perhaps it was wrong in me to faint and interrupt, it may be, the +farther progress of a fair fray. My apology is, that I cannot bear +the sight of blood." + +"And is this the manner," said her father, "in which you receive my +friend after his long absence? My friend, did I say? Nay, my son. +He escapes being murdered by a fellow whom I will tomorrow clear +this house of, and you treat him as if he had done wrong in dashing +from him the snake which was about to sting him!" + +"It is not my part, father," returned the Maid of Perth, "to decide +who had the right or wrong in the present brawl, nor did I see what +happened distinctly enough to say which was assailant, or which +defender. But sure our friend, Master Henry, will not deny that he +lives in a perfect atmosphere of strife, blood, and quarrels. He +hears of no swordsman but he envies his reputation, and must needs +put his valour to the proof. He sees no brawl but he must strike +into the midst of it. Has he friends, he fights with them for love +and honour; has he enemies, he fights with them for hatred and +revenge. And those men who are neither his friends nor foes, he +fights with them because they are on this or that side of a river. +His days are days of battle, and, doubtless, he acts them over +again in his dreams." + +"Daughter," said Simon, "your tongue wags too freely. Quarrels and +fights are men's business, not women's, and it is not maidenly to +think or speak of them." + +"But if they are so rudely enacted in our presence," said Catharine, +"it is a little hard to expect us to think or speak of anything +else. I will grant you, my father, that this valiant burgess of +Perth is one of the best hearted men that draws breath within its +walls: that he would walk a hundred yards out of the way rather +than step upon a worm; that he would be as loth, in wantonness, +to kill a spider as if he were a kinsman to King Robert, of happy +memory; that in the last quarrel before his departure he fought +with four butchers, to prevent their killing a poor mastiff that +had misbehaved in the bull ring, and narrowly escaped the fate of +the cur that he was protecting. I will grant you also, that the poor +never pass the house of the wealthy armourer but they are relieved +with food and alms. But what avails all this, when his sword makes +as many starving orphans and mourning widows as his purse relieves?" + +"Nay, but, Catharine, hear me but a word before going on with a +string of reproaches against my friend, that sound something like +sense, while they are, in truth, inconsistent with all we hear +and see around us. What," continued the glover, "do our King and +our court, our knights and ladies, our abbots, monks, and priests +themselves, so earnestly crowd to see? Is it not to behold the +display of chivalry, to witness the gallant actions of brave knights +in the tilt and tourney ground, to look upon deeds of honour +and glory achieved by arms and bloodshed? What is it these proud +knights do, that differs from what our good Henry Gow works out in +his sphere? Who ever heard of his abusing his skill and strength +to do evil or forward oppression, and who knows not how often it +has been employed as that of a champion in the good cause of the +burgh? And shouldst not thou, of all women, deem thyself honoured +and glorious, that so true a heart and so strong an arm has termed +himself thy bachelor? In what do the proudest dames take their +loftiest pride, save in the chivalry of their knight; and has the +boldest in Scotland done more gallant deeds than my brave son Henry, +though but of low degree? Is he not known to Highland and Lowland +as the best armourer that ever made sword, and the truest soldier +that ever drew one?" + +"My dearest father," answered Catharine, "your words contradict +themselves, if you will permit your child to say so. Let us thank +God and the good saints that we are in a peaceful rank of life, +below the notice of those whose high birth, and yet higher pride, +lead them to glory in their bloody works of cruelty, which haughty +and lordly men term deeds of chivalry. Your wisdom will allow that +it would be absurd in us to prank ourselves in their dainty plumes +and splendid garments; why, then, should we imitate their full blown +vices? Why should we assume their hard hearted pride and relentless +cruelty, to which murder is not only a sport, but a subject of +vainglorious triumph? Let those whose rank claims as its right such +bloody homage take pride and pleasure in it; we, who have no share +in the sacrifice, may the better pity the sufferings of the victim. +Let us thank our lowliness, since it secures us from temptation. +But forgive me, father, if I have stepped over the limits of my +duty, in contradicting the views which you entertain, with so many +others, on these subjects." + +"Nay, thou hast even too much talk for me, girl," said her father, +somewhat angrily. "I am but a poor workman, whose best knowledge +is to distinguish the left hand glove from the right. But if thou +wouldst have my forgiveness, say something of comfort to my poor +Henry. There he sits, confounded and dismayed with all the preachment +thou hast heaped together; and he, to whom a trumpet sound was +like the invitation to a feast, is struck down at the sound of a +child's whistle." + +The armourer, indeed, while he heard the lips that were dearest +to him paint his character in such unfavourable colours, had laid +his head down on the table, upon his folded arms, in an attitude +of the deepest dejection, or almost despair. + +"I would to Heaven, my dearest father," answered Catharine, "that +it were in my power to speak comfort to Henry, without betraying +the sacred cause of the truths I have just told you. And I may-- +nay, I must have such a commission," she continued with something +that the earnestness with which she spoke and the extreme beauty +of her features caused for the moment to resemble inspiration. + +"The truth of Heaven," she said, in a solemn tone, "was never +committed to a tongue, however feeble, but it gave a right to that +tongue to announce mercy, while it declared judgment. Arise, Henry +--rise up, noble minded, good, and generous, though widely mistaken +man. Thy faults are those of this cruel and remorseless age, thy +virtues all thine own." + +While she thus spoke, she laid her hand upon the smith's arm, and +extricating it from under his head by a force which, however gentle, +he could not resist, she compelled him to raise towards her his +manly face, and the eyes into which her expostulations, mingled +with other feelings, had summoned tears. + +"Weep not," she said, "or rather, weep on, but weep as those who +have hope. Abjure the sins of pride and anger, which most easily +beset thee; fling from thee the accursed weapons, to the fatal and +murderous use of which thou art so easily tempted." + +"You speak to me in vain, Catharine," returned the armourer: "I +may, indeed, turn monk and retire from the world, but while I live +in it I must practise my trade; and while I form armour and weapons +for others, I cannot myself withstand the temptation of using them. +You would not reproach me as you do, if you knew how inseparably +the means by which I gain my bread are connected with that warlike +spirit which you impute to me as a fault, though it is the consequence +of inevitable necessity. While I strengthen the shield or corselet +to withstand wounds, must I not have constantly in remembrance the +manner and strength with which they may be dealt; and when I forge +the sword, and temper it for war, is it practicable for me to avoid +the recollection of its use?" + +"Then throw from you, my dear Henry," said the enthusiastic girl, +clasping with both her slender hands the nervous strength and +weight of one of the muscular armourer's, which they raised with +difficulty, permitted by its owner, yet scarcely receiving assistance +from his volition--"cast from you, I say, the art which is a +snare to you. Abjure the fabrication of weapons which can only be +useful to abridge human life, already too short for repentance, +or to encourage with a feeling of safety those whom fear might +otherwise prevent from risking themselves in peril. The art of +forming arms, whether offensive or defensive, is alike sinful in +one to whose violent and ever vehement disposition the very working +upon them proves a sin and a snare. Resign utterly the manufacture +of weapons of every description, and deserve the forgiveness of +Heaven, by renouncing all that can lead to the sin which most easily +besets you." + +"And what," murmured the armourer, "am I to do for my livelihood, +when I have given over the art of forging arms for which Henry of +Perth is known from the Tay to the Thames?" + +"Your art itself," said Catharine, "has innocent and laudable +resources. If you renounce the forging of swords and bucklers, +there remains to you the task of forming the harmless spade, and +the honourable as well as useful ploughshare--of those implements +which contribute to the support of life, or to its comforts. Thou +canst frame locks and bars to defend the property of the weak against +the stouthrief and oppression of the strong. Men will still resort +to thee, and repay thy honest industry--" + +But here Catharine was interrupted. Her father had heard her declaim +against war and tournaments with a feeling that, though her doctrine +were new to him, they might not, nevertheless, be entirely erroneous. +He felt, indeed, a wish that his proposed son in law should not +commit himself voluntarily to the hazards which the daring character +and great personal strength of Henry the Smith had hitherto led +him to incur too readily; and so far he would rather have desired +that Catharine's arguments should have produced some effect upon +the mind of her lover, whom he knew to be as ductile when influenced +by his affections as he was fierce and intractable when assailed +by hostile remonstrances or threats. But her arguments interfered +with his views, when he heard her enlarge upon the necessity of his +designed son in law resigning a trade which brought in more ready +income than any at that time practised in Scotland, and more profit +to Henry of Perth in particular than to any armourer in the nation. +He had some indistinct idea that it would not be amiss to convert, +if possible, Henry the Smith from his too frequent use of arms, even +though he felt some pride in being connected with one who wielded +with such superior excellence those weapons, which in that warlike +age it was the boast of all men to manage with spirit. But when he +heard his daughter recommend, as the readiest road to this pacific +state of mind, that her lover should renounce the gainful trade in +which he was held unrivalled, and which, from the constant private +differences and public wars of the time, was sure to afford him a +large income, he could withhold his wrath no longer. The daughter +had scarce recommended to her lover the fabrication of the implements +of husbandry, than, feeling the certainty of being right, of which +in the earlier part of their debate he had been somewhat doubtful, +the father broke in with: + +"Locks and bars, plough graith and harrow teeth! and why not +grates and fire prongs, and Culross girdles, and an ass to carry +the merchandise through the country, and thou for another ass to +lead it by the halter? Why, Catharine, girl, has sense altogether +forsaken thee, or dost thou think that in these hard and iron days +men will give ready silver for anything save that which can defend +their own life, or enable them to take that of their enemy? We want +swords to protect ourselves every moment now, thou silly wench, +and not ploughs to dress the ground for the grain we may never see +rise. As for the matter of our daily bread, those who are strong +seize it, and live; those who are weak yield it, and die of hunger. +Happy is the man who, like my worthy son, has means of obtaining +his living otherwise than by the point of the sword which he makes. +Preach peace to him as much as thou wilt, I will never be he will +say thee nay; but as for bidding the first armourer in Scotland +forego the forging of swords, curtal axes, and harness, it is enough +to drive patience itself mad. Out from my sight! and next morning +I prithee remember that, shouldst thou have the luck to see Henry +the Smith, which is more than thy usage of him has deserved, you +see a man who has not his match in Scotland at the use of broadsword +and battle axe, and who can work for five hundred marks a year +without breaking a holyday." + +The daughter, on hearing her father speak thus peremptorily, made +a low obeisance, and, without further goodnight, withdrew to the +chamber which was her usual sleeping apartment. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Whence cometh Smith, be he knight, lord, or squire, +But from the smith that forged in the fire? + +VERSTEGAN. + + +The armourer's heart swelled big with various and contending +sensations, so that it seemed as if it would burst the leathern +doublet under which it was shrouded. He arose, turned away his +head, and extended his hand towards the glover, while he averted +his face, as if desirous that his emotion should not be read upon +his countenance. + +"Nay, hang me if I bid you farewell, man," said Simon, striking the +flat of his hand against that which the armourer expanded towards +him. "I will shake no hands with you for an hour to come at least. +Tarry but a moment, man, and I will explain all this; and surely +a few drops of blood from a scratch, and a few silly words from a +foolish wench's lips, are not to part father and son when they have +been so long without meeting? Stay, then, man, if ever you would +wish for a father's blessing and St. Valentine's, whose blessed +eve this chances to be." + +The glover was soon heard loudly summoning Dorothy, and, after some +clanking of keys and trampling up and down stairs, Dorothy appeared +bearing three large rummer cups of green glass, which were then +esteemed a great and precious curiosity, and the glover followed with +a huge bottle, equal at least to three quarts of these degenerate +days. + +"Here is a cup of wine, Henry, older by half than I am myself; my +father had it in a gift from stout old Crabbe, the Flemish engineer, +who defended Perth so stoutly in the minority of David the Second. +We glovers could always do something in war, though our connexion +with it was less than yours who work in steel and iron. And my +father had pleased old Crabbe, some other day I will tell you how, +and also how long these bottles were concealed under ground, to +save them from the reiving Southron. So I will empty a cup to the +soul's health of my honoured father--May his sins be forgiven +him! Dorothy, thou shalt drink this pledge, and then be gone to +thy cock loft. I know thine ears are itching, girl, but I have that +to say which no one must hear save Henry Smith, the son of mine +adoption." + +Dorothy did not venture to remonstrate, but, taking off her glass, +or rather her goblet, with good courage, retired to her sleeping +apartment, according to her master's commands. + +The two friends were left alone. + +"It grieves me, friend Henry," said Simon, filling at the same time +his own glass and his guest's--"it grieves me from my soul that +my daughter retains this silly humor; but also methinks, thou +mightst mend it. Why wouldst thou come hither clattering with thy +sword and dagger, when the girl is so silly that she cannot bear +the sight of these? Dost thou not remember that thou hadst a sort +of quarrel with her even before thy last departure from Perth, +because thou wouldst not go like other honest quiet burghers, but +must be ever armed, like one of the rascally jackmen that wait on +the nobility? Sure it is time enough for decent burgesses to arm at +the tolling of the common bell, which calls us out bodin in effeir +of war." + +"Why, my good father, that was not my fault; but I had no sooner +quitted my nag than I run hither to tell you of my return, thinking, +if it were your will to permit me, that I would get your advice +about being Mistress Catharine's Valentine for the year; and then +I heard from Mrs. Dorothy that you were gone to hear mass at the +Black Friars. So I thought I would follow thither, partly to hear +the same mass with you, and partly--Our Lady and St. Valentine +forgive me!--to look upon one who thinks little enough of me. And, +as you entered the church, methought I saw two or three dangerous +looking men holding counsel together, and gazing at you and at +her, and in especial Sir John Ramorny, whom I knew well enough, +for all his disguise, and the velvet patch over his eye, and his +cloak so like a serving man's; so methought, father Simon, that, as +you were old, and yonder slip of a Highlander something too young +to do battle, I would even walk quietly after you, not doubting, +with the tools I had about me, to bring any one to reason that might +disturb you in your way home. You know that yourself discovered +me, and drew me into the house, whether I would or no; otherwise, I +promise you, I would not have seen your daughter till I had donn'd +the new jerkin which was made at Berwick after the latest cut; +nor would I have appeared before her with these weapons, which she +dislikes so much. Although, to say truth, so many are at deadly feud +with me for one unhappy chance or another, that it is as needful +for me as for any man in Scotland to go by night with weapons about +me." + +"The silly wench never thinks of that," said Simon Glover: "she +never has sense to consider, that in our dear native land of Scotland +every man deems it his privilege and duty to avenge his own wrong. +But, Harry, my boy, thou art to blame for taking her talk so much +to heart. I have seen thee bold enough with other wenches, wherefore +so still and tongue tied with her?" + +"Because she is something different from other maidens, father +Glover--because she is not only more beautiful, but wiser, higher, +holier, and seems to me as if she were made of better clay than we +that approach her. I can hold my head high enough with the rest +of the lasses round the maypole; but somehow, when I approach +Catharine, I feel myself an earthly, coarse, ferocious creature, +scarce worthy to look on her, much less to contradict the precepts +which she expounds to me." + +"You are an imprudent merchant, Harry Smith," replied Simon, "and +rate too high the goods you wish to purchase. Catharine is a good +girl, and my daughter; but if you make her a conceited ape by your +bashfulness and your flattery, neither you nor I will see our wishes +accomplished." + +"I often fear it, my good father," said the smith; "for I feel how +little I am deserving of Catharine." + +"Feel a thread's end!" said the glover; "feel for me, friend Smith +--for Catharine and me. Think how the poor thing is beset from +morning to night, and by what sort of persons, even though windows +be down and doors shut. We were accosted today by one too powerful +to be named--ay, and he showed his displeasure openly, because I +would not permit him to gallant my daughter in the church itself, +when the priest was saying mass. There are others scarce less +reasonable. I sometimes wish that Catharine were some degrees less +fair, that she might not catch that dangerous sort of admiration, or +somewhat less holy, that she might sit down like an honest woman, +contented with stout Henry Smith, who could protect his wife against +every sprig of chivalry in the court of Scotland." + +"And if I did not," said Henry, thrusting out a hand and arm which +might have belonged to a giant for bone and muscle, "I would I may +never bring hammer upon anvil again! Ay, an it were come but that +length, my fair Catharine should see that there is no harm in a man +having the trick of defence. But I believe she thinks the whole +world is one great minster church, and that all who live in it +should behave as if they were at an eternal mass." + +"Nay, in truth," said the father, "she has strange influence over +those who approach her; the Highland lad, Conachar, with whom I +have been troubled for these two or three years, although you may +see he has the natural spirit of his people, obeys the least sign +which Catharine makes him, and, indeed, will hardly be ruled by +any one else in the house. She takes much pains with him to bring +him from his rude Highland habits." + +Here Harry Smith became uneasy in his chair, lifted the flagon, +set it down, and at length exclaimed: "The devil take the young +Highland whelp and his whole kindred! What has Catharine to do to +instruct such a fellow as he? He will be just like the wolf cub +that I was fool enough to train to the offices of a dog, and every +one thought him reclaimed, till, in an ill hour, I went to walk on +the hill of Moncrieff, when he broke loose on the laird's flock, and +made a havoc that I might well have rued, had the laird not wanted +a harness at the time. And I marvel that you, being a sensible man, +father Glover, will keep this Highland young fellow--a likely +one, I promise you--so nigh to Catharine, as if there were no +other than your daughter to serve him for a schoolmistress." + +"Fie, my son--fie; now you are jealous," said Simon, "of a poor +young fellow who, to tell you the truth, resides here because he +may not so well live on the other side of the hill." + +"Ay--ay, father Simon," retorted the smith, who had all the narrow +minded feelings of the burghers of his time, "an it were not for +fear of offence, I would say that you have even too much packing +and peiling with yonder loons out of burgh." + +"I must get my deer hides, buckskins, kidskins, and so forth +somewhere, my good Harry, and Highlandmen give good bargains." + +"They can afford them," replied Henry, drily, "for they sell nothing +but stolen gear." + +"Well--well, be that as it may, it is not my business where they +get the bestial, so I get the hides. But as I was saying, there +are certain considerations why I am willing to oblige the father of +this young man, by keeping him here. And he is but half a Highlander +neither, and wants a thought of the dour spirit of a 'glune amie' +after all, I have seldom seen him so fierce as he showed himself +but now." + +"You could not, unless he had killed his man," replied the smith, +in the same dry tone. + +"Nevertheless, if you wish it, Harry, I'll set all other respects +aside, and send the landlouper to seek other quarters tomorrow +morning." + +"Nay, father," said the smith, "you cannot suppose that Harry +Gow cares the value of a smithy dander for such a cub as yonder +cat-a-mountain? I care little, I promise you, though all his clan +were coming down the Shoegate with slogan crying and pipes playing: +I would find fifty blades and bucklers would send them back faster +than they came. But, to speak truth, though it is a fool's speech +too, I care not to see the fellow so much with Catharine. Remember, +father Glover, your trade keeps your eyes and hands close employed, +and must have your heedful care, even if this lazy lurdane wrought +at it, which you know yourself he seldom does." + +"And that is true," said Simon: "he cuts all his gloves out for +the right hand, and never could finish a pair in his life." + +"No doubt, his notions of skin cutting are rather different," said +Henry. "But with your leave, father, I would only say that, work +he or be he idle, he has no bleared eyes, no hands seared with the +hot iron, and welked by the use of the fore hammer, no hair rusted +in the smoke, and singed in the furnace, like the hide of a badger, +rather than what is fit to be covered with a Christian bonnet. Now, +let Catharine be as good a wench as ever lived, and I will uphold +her to be the best in Perth, yet she must see and know that these +things make a difference betwixt man and man, and that the difference +is not in my favour." + +"Here is to thee, with all my heart, son Harry," said the old man, +filling a brimmer to his companion and another to himself; "I see +that, good smith as thou art, thou ken'st not the mettle that women +are made of. Thou must be bold, Henry; and bear thyself not as if +thou wert going to the gallows lee, but like a gay young fellow, who +knows his own worth and will not be slighted by the best grandchild +Eve ever had. Catharine is a woman like her mother, and thou thinkest +foolishly to suppose they are all set on what pleases the eye. +Their ear must be pleased too, man: they must know that he whom +they favour is bold and buxom, and might have the love of twenty, +though he is suing for theirs. Believe an old man, woman walk more +by what others think than by what they think themselves, and when +she asks for the boldest man in Perth whom can she hear named but +Harry Burn-the-wind? The best armourer that ever fashioned weapon +on anvil? Why, Harry Smith again. The tightest dancer at the maypole? +Why, the lusty smith. The gayest troller of ballads? Why, who but +Harry Gow? The best wrestler, sword and buckler player, the king of +the weapon shawing, the breaker of mad horses, the tamer of wild +Highlandmen? Evermore it is thee--thee--no one but thee. And +shall Catharine prefer yonder slip of a Highland boy to thee? Pshaw! +she might as well make a steel gauntlet out of kid's leather. I +tell thee, Conachar is nothing to her, but so far as she would fain +prevent the devil having his due of him, as of other Highlandmen. +God bless her, poor thing, she would bring all mankind to better +thoughts if she could." + +"In which she will fail to a certainty," said the smith, who, as +the reader may have noticed, had no goodwill to the Highland race. +"I will wager on Old Nick, of whom I should know something, he being +indeed a worker in the same element with myself, against Catharine +on that debate: the devil will have the tartan, that is sure enough." + +"Ay, but Catharine," replied the glover, "hath a second thou knowest +little of: Father Clement has taken the young reiver in hand, and +he fears a hundred devils as little as I do a flock of geese." + +"Father Clement!" said the smith. "You are always making some new +saint in this godly city of St. Johnston. Pray, who, for a devil's +drubber, may he be? One of your hermits that is trained for the +work like a wrestler for the ring, and brings himself to trim by +fasting and penance, is he not?" + +"No, that is the marvel of it," said Simon: "Father Clement eats, +drinks, and lives much like other folks--all the rules of the +church, nevertheless, strictly observed." + +"Oh, I comprehend!--a buxom priest that thinks more of good living +than of good life, tipples a can on Fastern's Eve, to enable him +to face Lent, has a pleasant in principio, and confesses all the +prettiest women about the town?" + +"You are on the bow hand still, smith. I tell you, my daughter +and I could nose out either a fasting hypocrite or a full one. But +Father Clement is neither the one nor the other." + +"But what is he then, in Heaven's name?" + +"One who is either greatly better than half his brethren of St. +Johnston put together, or so much worse than the worst of them, that +it is sin and shame that he is suffered to abide in the country." + +"Methinks it were easy to tell whether he be the one or the other," +said the smith. + +"Content you, my friend," said Simon, "with knowing that, if you +judge Father Clement by what you see him do and hear him say, you +will think of him as the best and kindest man in the world, with a +comfort for every man's grief, a counsel for every man's difficulty, +the rich man's surest guide, and the poor man's best friend. But if +you listen to what the Dominicans say of him, he is--Benedicite! +--(here the glover crossed himself on brow and bosom)--a foul +heretic, who ought by means of earthly flames to be sent to those +which burn eternally." + +The smith also crossed himself, and exclaimed: "St. Mary! father +Simon, and do you, who are so good and prudent that you have been +called the Wise Glover of Perth, let your daughter attend the +ministry of one who--the saints preserve us!--may be in league +with the foul fiend himself! Why, was it not a priest who raised +the devil in the Meal Vennel, when Hodge Jackson's house was blown +down in the great wind? Did not the devil appear in the midst of +the Tay, dressed in a priest's scapular, gambolling like a pellack +amongst the waves, the morning when our stately bridge was swept +away?" + +"I cannot tell whether he did or no," said the glover; "I only know +I saw him not. As to Catharine, she cannot be said to use Father +Clement's ministry, seeing her confessor is old Father Francis +the Dominican, from whom she had her shrift today. But women will +sometimes be wilful, and sure enough she consults with Father +Clement more than I could wish; and yet when I have spoken with +him myself, I have thought him so good and holy a man that I could +have trusted my own salvation with him. There are bad reports of +him among the Dominicans, that is certain. But what have we laymen +to do with such things, my son? Let us pay Mother Church her dues, +give our alms, confess and do our penances duly, and the saints +will bear us out." + +"Ay, truly; and they will have consideration," said the smith, "for +any rash and unhappy blow that a man may deal in a fight, when his +party was on defence, and standing up to him; and that's the only +creed a man can live upon in Scotland, let your daughter think +what she pleases. Marry, a man must know his fence, or have a short +lease of his life, in any place where blows are going so rife. +Five nobles to our altar have cleared me for the best man I ever +had misfortune with." + +"Let us finish our flask, then," said the old glover; "for I +reckon the Dominican tower is tolling midnight. And hark thee, son +Henry; be at the lattice window on our east gable by the very peep +of dawn, and make me aware thou art come by whistling the smith's +call gently. I will contrive that Catharine shall look out at the +window, and thus thou wilt have all the privileges of being a gallant +Valentine through the rest of the year; which, if thou canst not +use to thine own advantage, I shall be led to think that, for all +thou be'st covered with the lion's hide, nature has left on thee +the long ears of the ass." + +"Amen, father," said the armourer, "a hearty goodnight to you; and +God's blessing on your roof tree, and those whom it covers. You +shall hear the smith's call sound by cock crowing; I warrant I put +sir chanticleer to shame." + +So saying, he took his leave; and, though completely undaunted, +moved through the deserted streets like one upon his guard, to his +own dwelling, which was situated in the Mill Wynd, at the western +end of Perth. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +What's all this turmoil crammed into our parts? +Faith, but the pit-a-pat of poor young hearts. + +DRYDEN. + + +The sturdy armourer was not, it may be believed, slack in keeping +the appointment assigned by his intended father in law. He went +through the process of his toilet with more than ordinary care, +throwing, as far as he could, those points which had a military +air into the shade. He was far too noted a person to venture to go +entirely unarmed in a town where he had indeed many friends, but +also, from the character of many of his former exploits, several +deadly enemies, at whose hands, should they take him at advantage, +he knew he had little mercy to expect. He therefore wore under his +jerkin a "secret," or coat of chain mail, made so light and flexible +that it interfered as little with his movements as a modern under +waistcoat, yet of such proof as he might safely depend upon, every +ring of it having been wrought and joined by his own hands. Above +this he wore, like others of his age and degree, the Flemish hose +and doublet, which, in honour of the holy tide, were of the best +superfine English broadcloth, light blue in colour, slashed out +with black satin, and passamented (laced, that is) with embroidery +of black silk. His walking boots were of cordovan leather; his +cloak of good Scottish grey, which served to conceal a whinger, or +couteau de chasse, that hung at his belt, and was his only offensive +weapon, for he carried in his hand but a rod of holly. His black +velvet bonnet was lined with steel, quilted between the metal and +his head, and thus constituted a means of defence which might safely +be trusted to. + +Upon the whole, Henry had the appearance, to which he was well +entitled, of a burgher of wealth and consideration, assuming, in +his dress, as much consequence as he could display without stepping +beyond his own rank, and encroaching on that of the gentry. Neither +did his frank and manly deportment, though indicating a total +indifference to danger, bear the least resemblance to that of the +bravoes or swashbucklers of the day, amongst whom Henry was sometimes +unjustly ranked by those who imputed the frays in which he was so +often engaged to a quarrelsome and violent temper, resting upon a +consciousness of his personal strength and knowledge of his weapon. +On the contrary, every feature bore the easy and good-humoured +expression of one who neither thought of inflicting mischief nor +dreaded it from others. + +Having attired himself in his best, the honest armourer next placed +nearest to his heart (which throbbed at its touch) a little gift +which he had long provided for Catharine Glover, and which his +quality of Valentine would presently give him the title to present, +and her to receive, without regard to maidenly scruples. It was a +small ruby cut into the form of a heart, transfixed with a golden +arrow, and was inclosed in a small purse made of links of the +finest work in steel, as if it had been designed for a hauberk to +a king. Round the verge of the purse were these words: + +Loves darts +Cleave hearts +Through mail shirts. + +This device had cost the armourer some thought, and he was much +satisfied with his composition, because it seemed to imply that +his skill could defend all hearts saving his own. + +He wrapped himself in his cloak, and hastened through the still +silent streets, determined to appear at the window appointed a +little before dawn. + +With this purpose he passed up the High Street, and turned down +the opening where St. John's Church now stands, in order to proceed +to Curfew Street; when it occurred to him, from the appearance of +the sky, that he was at least an hour too early for his purpose, +and that it would be better not to appear at the place of rendezvous +till nearer the time assigned. Other gallants were not unlikely +to be on the watch as well as himself about the house of the Fair +Maid of Perth; and he knew his own foible so well as to be sensible +of the great chance of a scuffle arising betwixt them. + +"I have the advantage," he thought, "by my father Simon's friendship; +and why should I stain my fingers with the blood of the poor +creatures that are not worthy my notice, since they are so much +less fortunate than myself? No--no, I will be wise for once, and +keep at a distance from all temptation to a broil. They shall have +no more time to quarrel with me than just what it may require for +me to give the signal, and for my father Simon to answer it. I +wonder how the old man will contrive to bring her to the window? I +fear, if she knew his purpose, he would find it difficult to carry +it into execution." + +While these lover-like thoughts were passing through his brain, +the armourer loitered in his pace, often turning his eyes eastward, +and eyeing the firmament, in which no slight shades of grey were +beginning to flicker, to announce the approach of dawn, however +distant, which, to the impatience of the stout armourer, seemed +on that morning to abstain longer than usual from occupying her +eastern barbican. He was now passing slowly under the wall of St. +Anne's Chapel (not failing to cross himself and say an ace, as he +trode the consecrated ground), when a voice, which seemed to come +from behind one of the flying buttresses of the chapel, said, "He +lingers that has need to run." + +"Who speaks?" said the armourer, looking around him, somewhat +startled at an address so unexpected, both in its tone and tenor. + +"No matter who speaks," answered the same voice. "Do thou make +great speed, or thou wilt scarce make good speed. Bandy not words, +but begone." + +"Saint or sinner, angel or devil," said Henry, crossing himself, +"your advice touches me but too dearly to be neglected. St. Valentine +be my speed!" + +So saying, he instantly changed his loitering pace to one with which +few people could have kept up, and in an instant was in Couvrefew +Street. He had not made three steps towards Simon Glover's, which +stood in the midst of the narrow street, when two men started from +under the houses on different sides, and advanced, as it were by +concert, to intercept his passage. The imperfect light only permitted +him to discern that they wore the Highland mantle. + +"Clear the way, cateran," said the armourer, in the deep stern +voice which corresponded with the breadth of his chest. + +They did not answer, at least intelligibly; but he could see that +they drew their swords, with the purpose of withstanding him by +violence. Conjecturing some evil, but of what kind he could not +anticipate, Henry instantly determined to make his way through +whatever odds, and defend his mistress, or at least die at her +feet. He cast his cloak over his left arm as a buckler, and advanced +rapidly and steadily to the two men. The nearest made a thrust at +him, but Henry Smith, parrying the blow with his cloak, dashed his +arm in the man's face, and tripping him at the same time, gave him +a severe fall on the causeway; while almost at the same instant +he struck a blow with his whinger at the fellow who was upon his +right hand, so severely applied, that he also lay prostrate by his +associate. Meanwhile, the armourer pushed forward in alarm, for +which the circumstance of the street being guarded or defended +by strangers who conducted themselves with such violence afforded +sufficient reason. He heard a suppressed whisper and a bustle +under the glover's windows--those very windows from which he had +expected to be hailed by Catharine as her Valentine. He kept to +the opposite side of the street, that he might reconnoitre their +number and purpose. But one of the party who were beneath the window, +observing or hearing him, crossed the street also, and taking him +doubtless for one of the sentinels, asked, in a whisper, "What +noise was yonder, Kenneth? why gave you not the signal?" + +"Villain," said Henry, "you are discovered, and you shall die the +death." + +As he spoke thus, he dealt the stranger a blow with his weapon, +which would probably have made his words good, had not the man, +raising his arm, received on his hand the blow meant for his head. +The wound must have been a severe one, for he staggered and fell +with a deep groan. + +Without noticing him farther, Henry Smith sprung forward upon +a party of men who seemed engaged in placing a ladder against the +lattice window in the gable. Henry did not stop ether to count their +numbers or to ascertain their purpose. But, crying the alarm word +of the town, and giving the signal at which the burghers were wont +to collect, he rushed on the night walkers, one of whom was in the +act of ascending the ladder. The smith seized it by the rounds, +threw it down on the pavement, and placing his foot on the body +of the man who had been mounting, prevented him from regaining his +feet. His accomplices struck fiercely at Henry, to extricate their +companion. But his mail coat stood him in good stead, and he repaid +their blows with interest, shouting aloud, "Help--help, for bonny +St. Johnston! Bows and blades, brave citizens! bows and blades! +they break into our houses under cloud of night." + +These words, which resounded far through the streets, were accompanied +by as many fierce blows, dealt with good effect among those whom +the armourer assailed. In the mean time, the inhabitants of the +district began to awaken and appear on the street in their shirts, +with swords and targets, and some of them with torches. The assailants +now endeavoured to make their escape, which all of them effected +excepting the man who had been thrown down along with the ladder. +Him the intrepid armourer had caught by the throat in the scuffle, +and held as fast as the greyhound holds the hare. The other wounded +men were borne off by their comrades. + +"Here are a sort of knaves breaking peace within burgh," said Henry +to the neighbours who began to assemble; "make after the rogues. +They cannot all get off, for I have maimed some of them: the blood +will guide you to them." + +"Some Highland caterans," said the citizens; "up and chase, +neighbours!" + +"Ay, chase--chase! leave me to manage this fellow," continued +the armourer. + +The assistants dispersed in different directions, their lights +flashing and their cries resounding through the whole adjacent +district. + +In the mean time the armourer's captive entreated for freedom, using +both promises and threats to obtain it. "As thou art a gentleman," +he said, "let me go, and what is past shall be forgiven." + +"I am no gentleman," said Henry--"I am Hal of the Wynd, a burgess +of Perth; and I have done nothing to need forgiveness." + +"Villain, then hast done thou knowest not what! But let me go, and +I will fill thy bonnet with gold pieces." + +"I shall fill thy bonnet with a cloven head presently," said the +armourer, "unless thou stand still as a true prisoner." + +"What is the matter, my son Harry?" said Simon, who now appeared +at the window. "I hear thy voice in another tone than I expected. +What is all this noise; and why are the neighbours gathering to +the affray?" + +"There have been a proper set of limmers about to scale your +windows, father Simon; but I am like to prove godfather to one of +them, whom I hold here, as fast as ever vice held iron." + +"Hear me, Simon Glover," said the prisoner; "let me but speak one +word with you in private, and rescue me from the gripe of this iron +fisted and leaden pated clown, and I will show thee that no harm +was designed to thee or thine, and, moreover, tell thee what will +much advantage thee." + +"I should know that voice," said Simon Glover, who now came to the +door with a dark lantern in his hand. "Son Smith, let this young +man speak with me. There is no danger in him, I promise you. Stay +but an instant where you are, and let no one enter the house, either +to attack or defend. I will be answerable that this galliard meant +but some St. Valentine's jest." + +So saying, the old man pulled in the prisoner and shut the door, +leaving Henry a little surprised at the unexpected light in which +his father-in-law had viewed the affray. + +"A jest!" he said; "it might have been a strange jest, if they had +got into the maiden's sleeping room! And they would have done so, +had it not been for the honest friendly voice from betwixt the +buttresses, which, if it were not that of the blessed saint-- +though what am I that the holy person should speak to me?--could +not sound in that place without her permission and assent, and for +which I will promise her a wax candle at her shrine, as long as my +whinger; and I would I had had my two handed broadsword instead, +both for the sake of St. Johnston and of the rogues, for of a +certain those whingers are pretty toys, but more fit for a boy's +hand than a man's. Oh, my old two handed Trojan, hadst thou been +in my hands, as thou hang'st presently at the tester of my bed, +the legs of those rogues had not carried their bodies so clean off +the field. But there come lighted torches and drawn swords. So ho +--stand! Are you for St. Johnston? If friends to the bonny burgh, +you are well come." + +"We have been but bootless hunters," said the townsmen. "We followed +by the tracks of the blood into the Dominican burial ground, and +we started two fellows from amongst the tombs, supporting betwixt +them a third, who had probably got some of your marks about him, +Harry. They got to the postern gate before we could overtake them, +and rang the sanctuary bell; the gate opened, and in went they. +So they are safe in girth and sanctuary, and we may go to our cold +beds and warm us." + +"Ay," said one of the party, "the good Dominicans have always some +devout brother of their convent sitting up to open the gate of the +sanctuary to any poor soul that is in trouble, and desires shelter +in the church." + +"Yes, if the poor hunted soul can pay for it," said another "but, +truly, if he be poor in purse as well as in spirit, he may stand +on the outside till the hounds come up with him." + +A third, who had been poring for a few minutes upon the ground +by advantage of his torch, now looked upwards and spoke. He was a +brisk, forward, rather corpulent little man, called Oliver Proudfute, +reasonably wealthy, and a leading man in his craft, which was that +of bonnet makers; he, therefore, spoke as one in authority. + +"Canst tell us, jolly smith"--for they recognised each other by +the lights which were brought into the streets--"what manner of +fellows they were who raised up this fray within burgh?" + +"The two that I first saw," answered the armourer, "seemed to me, +as well as I could observe them, to have Highland plaids about +them." + +"Like enough--like enough," answered another citizen, shaking +his head. "It's a shame the breaches in our walls are not repaired, +and that these landlouping Highland scoundrels are left at liberty +to take honest men and women out of their beds any night that is +dark enough." + +"But look here, neighbours," said Oliver Proudfute, showing a bloody +hand which he had picked up from the ground; "when did such a hand +as this tie a Highlandman's brogues? It is large, indeed, and bony, +but as fine as a lady's, with a ring that sparkles like a gleaming +candle. Simon Glover has made gloves for this hand before now, if +I am not much mistaken, for he works for all the courtiers." + +The spectators here began to gaze on the bloody token with various +comments. + +"If that is the case," said one, "Harry Smith had best show a +clean pair of heels for it, since the justiciar will scarce think +the protecting a burgess's house an excuse for cutting off a +gentleman's hand. There be hard laws against mutilation." + +"Fie upon you, that you will say so, Michael Webster," answered +the bonnet maker; "are we not representatives and successors of +the stout old Romans, who built Perth as like to their own city as +they could? And have we not charters from all our noble kings and +progenitors, as being their loving liegemen? And would you have us +now yield up our rights, privileges, and immunities, our outfang +and infang, our handhaband, our back bearand, and our blood suits, +and amerciaments, escheats, and commodities, and suffer an honest +burgess's house to be assaulted without seeking for redress? No, +brave citizens, craftsmen, and burgesses, the Tay shall flow back +to Dunkeld before we submit to such injustice!" + +"And how can we help it?" said a grave old man, who stood leaning +on a two handed sword. "What would you have us do?" + +"Marry, Bailie Craigdallie, I wonder that you, of all men, ask the +question. I would have you pass like true men from this very place +to the King's Grace's presence, raise him from his royal rest, and +presenting to him the piteous case of our being called forth from +our beds at this season, with little better covering than these +shirts, I would show him this bloody token, and know from his Grace's +own royal lips whether it is just and honest that his loving lieges +should be thus treated by the knights and nobles of his deboshed +court. And this I call pushing our cause warmly." + +"Warmly, sayst thou?" replied the old burgess; "why, so warmly, +that we shall all die of cold, man, before the porter turn a key to +let us into the royal presence. Come, friends, the night is bitter, +we have kept our watch and ward like men, and our jolly smith hath +given a warning to those that would wrong us, which shall be worth +twenty proclamations of the king. Tomorrow is a new day; we will +consult on this matter on this self same spot, and consider what +measures should be taken for discovery and pursuit of the villains. +And therefore let us dismiss before the heart's blood freeze in +our veins." + +"Bravo--bravo, neighbour Craigdallie! St. Johnston for ever!" + +Oliver Proudfute would still have spoken; for he was one of those +pitiless orators who think that their eloquence can overcome all +inconveniences in time, place, and circumstances. But no one would +listen, and the citizens dispersed to their own houses by the light +of the dawn, which began now to streak the horizon. + +They were scarce gone ere the door of the glover's house opened, +and seizing the smith by the hand, the old man pulled him in. + +"Where is the prisoner?" demanded the armourer. + +"He is gone--escaped--fled--what do I know of him?" said the +glover. "He got out at the back door, and so through the little +garden. Think not of him, but come and see the Valentine whose +honour and life you have saved this morning." + +"Let me but sheathe my weapon," said the smith, "let me but wash +my hands." + +"There is not an instant to lose, she is up and almost dressed. +Come on, man. She shall see thee with thy good weapon in thy hand, +and with villain's blood on thy fingers, that she may know what is +the value of a true man's service. She has stopped my mouth overlong +with her pruderies and her scruples. I will have her know what a +brave man's love is worth, and a bold burgess's to boot." + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Up! lady fair, and braid thy hair, +And rouse thee in the breezy air, +Up! quit thy bower, late wears the hour, +Long have the rooks caw'd round the tower. + +JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +Startled from her repose by the noise of the affray, the Fair Maid +of Perth had listened in breathless terror to the sounds of violence +and outcry which arose from the street. She had sunk on her knees +to pray for assistance, and when she distinguished the voices of +neighbours and friends collected for her protection, she remained in +the same posture to return thanks. She was still kneeling when her +father almost thrust her champion, Henry Smith, into her apartment; +the bashful lover hanging back at first, as if afraid to give +offence, and, on observing her posture, from respect to her devotion. + +"Father," said the armourer, "she prays; I dare no more speak to +her than to a bishop when he says mass." + +"Now, go thy ways, for a right valiant and courageous blockhead," +said her father--and then speaking to his daughter, he added, +"Heaven is best thanked, my daughter, by gratitude shown to our +fellow creatures. Here comes the instrument by whom God has rescued +thee from death, or perhaps from dishonour worse than death. Receive +him, Catharine, as thy true Valentine, and him whom I desire to +see my affectionate son." + +"Not thus--father," replied Catharine. "I can see--can speak +to no one now. I am not ungrateful--perhaps I am too thankful to +the instrument of our safety; but let me thank the guardian saint +who sent me this timely relief, and give me but a moment to don my +kirtle." + +"Nay, God-a-mercy, wench, it were hard to deny thee time to busk thy +body clothes, since the request is the only words like a woman that +thou hast uttered for these ten days. Truly, son Harry, I would my +daughter would put off being entirely a saint till the time comes +for her being canonised for St. Catherine the Second." + +"Nay, jest not, father; for I will swear she has at least one +sincere adorer already, who hath devoted himself to her pleasure, +so far as sinful man may. Fare thee well, then, for the moment, +fair maiden," he concluded, raising his voice, "and Heaven send +thee dreams as peaceful as thy waking thoughts. I go to watch thy +slumbers, and woe with him that shall intrude on them!" + +"Nay, good and brave Henry, whose warm heart is at such variance +with thy reckless hand, thrust thyself into no farther quarrels +tonight; but take the kindest thanks, and with these, try to assume +the peaceful thoughts which you assign to me. Tomorrow we will +meet, that I may assure you of my gratitude. Farewell." + +"And farewell, lady and light of my heart!" said the armourer, +and, descending the stair which led to Catharine's apartment, was +about to sally forth into the street, when the glover caught him +by the arm. + +"I shall like the ruffle of tonight," said he, "better than I +ever thought to do the clashing of steel, if it brings my daughter +to her senses, Harry, and teaches her what thou art worth. By St. +Macgrider! I even love these roysterers, and am sorry for that poor +lover who will never wear left handed chevron again. Ay! he has +lost that which he will miss all the days of his life, especially +when he goes to pull on his gloves; ay, he will pay but half a fee +to my craft in future. Nay, not a step from this house tonight," +he continued "Thou dost not leave us, I promise thee, my son." + +"I do not mean it. But I will, with your permission, watch in the +street. The attack may be renewed." + +"And if it be," said Simon, "thou wilt have better access to drive +them back, having the vantage of the house. It is the way of fighting +which suits us burghers best--that of resisting from behind stone +walls. Our duty of watch and ward teaches us that trick; besides, +enough are awake and astir to ensure us peace and quiet till morning. +So come in this way." + +So saying, he drew Henry, nothing loth, into the same apartment +where they had supped, and where the old woman, who was on foot, +disturbed as others had been by the nocturnal affray, soon roused +up the fire. + +"And now, my doughty son," said the glover, "what liquor wilt thou +pledge thy father in?" + +Henry Smith had suffered himself to sink mechanically upon a seat +of old black oak, and now gazed on the fire, that flashed back a +ruddy light over his manly features. He muttered to himself half +audibly: "Good Henry--brave Henry. Ah! had she but said, dear +Henry!" + +"What liquors be these?" said the old glover, laughing. "My cellar +holds none such; but if sack, or Rhenish, or wine of Gascony can +serve, why, say the word and the flagon foams, that is all." + +"The kindest thanks," said the armourer, still musing, "that's more +than she ever said to me before--the kindest thanks--what may +not that stretch to?" + +"It shall stretch like kid's leather, man," said the glover, "if +thou wilt but be ruled, and say what thou wilt take for thy morning's +draught." + +"Whatever thou wilt, father," answered the armourer, carelessly, +and relapsed into the analysis of Catharine's speech to him. "She +spoke of my warm heart; but she also spoke of my reckless hand. +What earthly thing can I do to get rid of this fighting fancy? +Certainly I were best strike my right hand off, and nail it to the +door of a church, that it may never do me discredit more." + +"You have chopped off hands enough for one night," said his friend, +setting a flagon of wine on the table. "Why dost thou vex thyself, +man? She would love thee twice as well did she not see how thou +doatest upon her. But it becomes serious now. I am not to have the +risk of my booth being broken and my house plundered by the hell +raking followers of the nobles, because she is called the Fair Maid +of Perth, an't please ye. No, she shall know I am her father, and +will have that obedience to which law and gospel give me right. +I will have her thy wife, Henry, my heart of gold--thy wife, my +man of mettle, and that before many weeks are over. Come--come, +here is to thy merry bridal, jolly smith." + +The father quaffed a large cup, and filled it to his adopted son, +who raised it slowly to his head; then, ere it had reached his +lips, replaced it suddenly on the table and shook his head. + +"Nay, if thou wilt not pledge me to such a health, I know no one +who will," said Simon. "What canst thou mean, thou foolish lad? Here +has a chance happened, which in a manner places her in thy power, +since from one end of the city to the other all would cry fie on +her if she should say thee nay. Here am I, her father, not only +consenting to the cutting out of the match, but willing to see you +two as closely united together as ever needle stitched buckskin. +And with all this on thy side--fortune, father, and all--thou +lookest like a distracted lover in a ballad, more like to pitch +thyself into the Tay than to woo a lass that may be had for the +asking, if you can but choose the lucky minute." + +"Ay, but that lucky minute, father? I question much if Catharine +ever has such a moment to glance on earth and its inhabitants as +might lead her to listen to a coarse ignorant borrel man like me. +I cannot tell how it is, father; elsewhere I can hold up my head +like another man, but with your saintly daughter I lose heart and +courage, and I cannot help thinking that it would be well nigh robbing +a holy shrine if I could succeed in surprising her affections. Her +thoughts are too much fitted for Heaven to be wasted on such a one +as I am." + +"E'en as you like, Henry," answered the glover. "My daughter is +not courting you any more than I am--a fair offer is no cause +offend; only if you think that I will give in to her foolish notions +of a convent, take it with you that I will never listen to them. +I love and honour the church," he said, crossing himself, "I pay +her rights duly and cheerfully--tithes and alms, wine and wax, +I pay them as justly, I say, as any man in Perth of my means doth +--but I cannot afford the church my only and single ewe lamb that +I have in the world. Her mother was dear to me on earth, and is now +an angel in Heaven. Catharine is all I have to remind me of her I +have lost; and if she goes to the cloister, it shall be when these +old eyes are closed for ever, and not sooner. But as for you, friend +Gow, I pray you will act according to your own best liking, I want +to force no wife on you, I promise you." + +"Nay, now you beat the iron twice over," said Henry. "It is thus +we always end, father, by your being testy with me for not doing +that thing in the world which would make me happiest, were I to +have it in my power. Why, father, I would the keenest dirk I ever +forged were sticking in my heart at this moment if there is one +single particle in it that is not more your daughter's property than +my own. But what can I do? I cannot think less of her, or more of +myself, than we both deserve; and what seems to you so easy and +certain is to me as difficult as it would be to work a steel hauberk +out of bards of flax. But here is to you, father," he added, in a +more cheerful tone; "and here is to my fair saint and Valentine, +as I hope your Catharine will be mine for the season. And let me +not keep your old head longer from the pillow, but make interest +with your featherbed till daybreak; and then you must be my guide +to your daughter's chamber door, and my apology for entering it, +to bid her good morrow, for the brightest that the sun will awaken, +in the city or for miles round." + +"No bad advice, my son," said the honest glover, "But you, what will +you do? Will you lie down beside me, or take a part of Conachar's +bed?" + +"Neither," answered Harry Gow; "I should but prevent your rest, and +for me this easy chair is worth a down bed, and I will sleep like +a sentinel, with my graith about me." As he spoke, he laid his hand +on his sword. + +"Nay, Heaven send us no more need of weapons. Goodnight, or rather +good morrow, till day peep; and the first who wakes calls up the +other." + +Thus parted the two burghers. The glover retired to his bed, and, +it is to be supposed, to rest. The lover was not so fortunate. His +bodily frame easily bore the fatigue which he had encountered in +the course of the night, but his mind was of a different and more +delicate mould. In one point of view, he was but the stout burgher +of his period, proud alike of his art in making weapons and wielding +them when made; his professional jealousy, personal strength, and +skill in the use of arms brought him into many quarrels, which +had made him generally feared, and in some instances disliked. But +with these qualities were united the simple good nature of a child, +and at the same time an imaginative and enthusiastic temper, which +seemed little to correspond with his labours at the forge or his +combats in the field. Perhaps a little of the hare brained and +ardent feeling which he had picked out of old ballads, or from +the metrical romances, which were his sole source of information +or knowledge, may have been the means of pricking him on to some +of his achievements, which had often a rude strain of chivalry in +them; at least, it was certain that his love to the fair Catharine +had in it a delicacy such as might have become the squire of low +degree, who was honoured, if song speaks truth, with the smiles of +the King of Hungary's daughter. His sentiments towards her were +certainly as exalted as if they had been fixed upon an actual +angel, which made old Simon, and others who watched his conduct, +think that his passion was too high and devotional to be successful +with maiden of mortal mould. They were mistaken, however. Catharine, +coy and reserved as she was, had a heart which could feel and +understand the nature and depth of the armourer's passion; and +whether she was able to repay it or not, she had as much secret +pride in the attachment of the redoubted Henry Gow as a lady of +romance may be supposed to have in the company of a tame lion, who +follows to provide for and defend her. It was with sentiments of +the most sincere gratitude that she recollected, as she awoke at +dawn, the services of Henry during the course of the eventful night, +and the first thought which she dwelt upon was the means of making +him understand her feelings. + +Arising hastily from bed, and half blushing at her own purpose +--"I have been cold to him, and perhaps unjust; I will not be +ungrateful," she said to herself, "though I cannot yield to his +suit. I will not wait till my father compels me to receive him +as my Valentine for the year: I will seek him out, and choose him +myself. I have thought other girls bold when they did something +like this; but I shall thus best please my father, and but discharge +the rites due to good St. Valentine by showing my gratitude to this +brave man." + +Hastily slipping on her dress, which, nevertheless, was left a good +deal more disordered than usual, she tripped downstairs and opened +the door of the chamber, in which, as she had guessed, her lover +had passed the hours after the fray. Catharine paused at the door, +and became half afraid of executing her purpose, which not only +permitted but enjoined the Valentines of the year to begin their +connexion with a kiss of affection. It was looked upon as a peculiarly +propitious omen if the one party could find the other asleep, and +awaken him or her by performance of this interesting ceremony. + +Never was a fairer opportunity offered for commencing this mystic +tie than that which now presented itself to Catharine. After many +and various thoughts, sleep had at length overcome the stout armourer +in the chair in which he had deposited himself. His features, in +repose, had a more firm and manly cast than Catharine had thought, +who, having generally seen them fluctuating between shamefacedness +and apprehension of her displeasure, had been used to connect with +them some idea of imbecility. + +"He looks very stern," she said; "if he should be angry? And then +when he awakes--we are alone--if I should call Dorothy--if +I should wake my father? But no! it is a thing of custom, and done +in all maidenly and sisterly love and honour. I will not suppose +that Henry can misconstrue it, and I will not let a childish +bashfulness put my gratitude to sleep." + +So saying, she tripped along the floor of the apartment with a +light, though hesitating, step; and a cheek crimsoned at her own +purpose; and gliding to the chair of the sleeper, dropped a kiss +upon his lips as light as if a rose leaf had fallen on them. The +slumbers must have been slight which such a touch could dispel, +and the dreams of the sleeper must needs have been connected with +the cause of the interruption, since Henry, instantly starting up, +caught the maiden in his arms, and attempted to return in ecstasy +the salute which had broken his repose. But Catharine struggled +in his embrace; and as her efforts implied alarmed modesty rather +than maidenly coyness, her bashful lover suffered her to escape a +grasp from which twenty times her strength could not have extricated +her. + +"Nay, be not angry, good Henry," said Catharine, in the kindest tone, +to her surprised lover. "I have paid my vows to St. Valentine, to +show how I value the mate which he has sent me for the year. Let +but my father be present, and I will not dare to refuse thee the +revenge you may claim for a broken sleep." + +"Let not that be a hinderance," said the old glover, rushing in +ecstasy into the room; "to her, smith--to her: strike while the +iron is hot, and teach her what it is not to let sleeping dogs lie +still." + +Thus encouraged, Henry, though perhaps with less alarming vivacity, +again seized the blushing maiden in his arms, who submitted with a +tolerable grace to receive repayment of her salute, a dozen times +repeated, and with an energy very different from that which had +provoked such severe retaliation. At length she again extricated +herself from her lover's arms, and, as if frightened and repenting +what she had done, threw herself into a seat, and covered her face +with her hands. + +"Cheer up, thou silly girl," said her father, "and be not ashamed +that thou hast made the two happiest men in Perth, since thy old +father is one of them. Never was kiss so well bestowed, and meet it +is that it should be suitably returned. Look up, my darling! look +up, and let me see thee give but one smile. By my honest word, the +sun that now rises over our fair city shows no sight that can give +me greater pleasure. What," he continued, in a jocose tone, "thou +thoughtst thou hadst Jamie Keddie's ring, and couldst walk invisible? +but not so, my fairy of the dawning. Just as I was about to rise, +I heard thy chamber door open, and watched thee downstairs, not to +protect thee against this sleepy headed Henry, but to see with my +own delighted eyes my beloved girl do that which her father most +wished. Come, put down these foolish hands, and though thou blushest +a little, it will only the better grace St. Valentine's morn, when +blushes best become a maiden's cheek." + +As Simon Glover spoke, he pulled away, with gentle violence, the +hands which hid his daughter's face. She blushed deeply indeed, but +there was more than maiden's shame in her face, and her eyes were +fast filling with tears. + +"What! weeping, love?" continued her father; "nay--nay, this is +more than need. Henry, help me to comfort this little fool." + +Catharine made an effort to collect herself and to smile, but the +smile was of a melancholy and serious cast. + +"I only meant to say, father," said the Fair Maid of Perth, with +continued exertion, "that in choosing Henry Gow for my Valentine, +and rendering to him the rights and greeting of the morning, according +to wonted custom, I meant but to show my gratitude to him for his +manly and faithful service, and my obedience to you. But do not lead +him to think--and, oh, dearest father, do not yourself entertain +an idea--that I meant more than what the promise to be his faithful +and affectionate Valentine through the year requires of me." + +"Ay--ay----ay--ay, we understand it all," said Simon, in the +soothing tone which nurses apply to children. "We understand what +the meaning is; enough for once--enough for once. Thou shalt not +be frightened or hurried. Loving, true, and faithful Valentines +are ye, and the rest as Heaven and opportunity shall permit. Come, +prithee, have done: wring not thy tiny hands, nor fear farther +persecution now. Thou hast done bravely, excellently. And now, away +to Dorothy, and call up the old sluggard; we must have a substantial +breakfast, after a night of confusion and a morning of joy, and +thy hand will be needed to prepare for us some of these delicate +cakes which no one can make but thyself; and well hast thou a right +to the secret, seeing who taught it thee. Ah! health to the soul +of thy dearest mother," he added, with a sigh; "how blythe would +she have been to see this happy St. Valentine's morning!" + +Catharine took the opportunity of escape which was thus given her, +and glided from the room. To Henry it seemed as if the sun had +disappeared from the heaven at midday, and left the world in sudden +obscurity. Even the high swelled hopes with which the late incident +had filled him began to quail, as he reflected upon her altered +demeanour--the tears in her eyes, the obvious fear which occupied +her features, and the pains she had taken to show, as plainly as +delicacy would permit, that the advances which she had made to him +were limited to the character with which the rites of the day had +invested him. Her father looked on his fallen countenance with +something like surprise and displeasure. + +"In the name of good St. John, what has befallen you, that makes you +look as grave as an owl, when a lad of your spirit, having really +such a fancy for this poor girl as you pretend, ought to be as +lively as a lark?" + +"Alas, father!" replied the crestfallen lover, "there is that +written on her brow which says she loves me well enough to be my +Valentine, especially since you wish it, but not well enough to be +my wife." + +"Now, a plague on thee for a cold, downhearted goosecap," answered +the father. "I can read a woman's brow as well, and better, than +thou, and I can see no such matter on hers. What, the foul fiend, +man! there thou wast lying like a lord in thy elbow chair, as sound +asleep as a judge, when, hadst thou been a lover of any spirit, +thou wouldst have been watching the east for the first ray of the +sun. But there thou layest, snoring I warrant, thinking nought +about her, or anything else; and the poor girl rises at peep of +day, lest any one else should pick up her most precious and vigilant +Valentine, and wakes thee with a grace which--so help me, St. +Macgrider!--would have put life in an anvil; and thou awakest +to hone, and pine, and moan, as if she had drawn a hot iron across +thy lips! I would to St. John she had sent old Dorothy on the +errand, and bound thee for thy Valentine service to that bundle +of dry bones, with never a tooth in her head. She were fittest +Valentine in Perth for so craven a wooer." + +"As to craven, father," answered the smith, "there are twenty good +cocks, whose combs I have plucked, can tell thee if I am craven or +no. And Heaven knows that I would give my good land, held by burgess' +tenure, with smithy, bellows, tongs, anvil, and all, providing +it would make your view of the matter the true one. But it is not +of her coyness or her blushes that I speak; it is of the paleness +which so soon followed the red, and chased it from her cheeks; and +it is of the tears which succeeded. It was like the April showers +stealing upon and obscuring the fairest dawning that ever beamed +over the Tay." + +"Tutti taitti," replied the glover; "neither Rome nor Perth were +built in a day. Thou hast fished salmon a thousand times, and +mightst have taken a lesson. When the fish has taken the fly, to +pull a hard strain on the line would snap the tackle to pieces, +were it made of wire. Ease your hand, man, and let him rise; take +leisure, and in half an hour thou layest him on the bank. There is +a beginning as fair as you could wish, unless you expect the poor +wench to come to thy bedside as she did to thy chair; and that is +not the fashion of modest maidens. But observe me; after we have +had our breakfast, I will take care thou hast an opportunity to +speak thy mind; only beware thou be neither too backward nor press +her too hard. Give her line enough, but do not slack too fast, and +my life for yours upon the issue." + +"Do what I can, father," answered Henry, "you will always lay the +blame on me--either that I give too much head or that I strain +the tackle. I would give the best habergeon I ever wrought, that +the difficulty in truth rested with me, for there were then the +better chance of its being removed. I own, however, I am but an ass +in the trick of bringing about such discourse as is to the purpose +for the occasion." + +"Come into the booth with me, my son, and I will furnish thee with +a fitting theme. Thou knowest the maiden who ventures to kiss a +sleeping man wins of him a pair of gloves. Come to my booth; thou +shalt have a pair of delicate kid skin that will exactly suit her +hand and arm. I was thinking of her poor mother when I shaped them," +added honest Simon, with a sigh; "and except Catharine, I know not +the woman in Scotland whom they would fit, though I have measured +most of the high beauties of the court. Come with me, I say, and +thou shalt be provided with a theme to wag thy tongue upon, providing +thou hast courage and caution to stand by thee in thy wooing." + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Never to man shall Catharine give her hand. + +Taming of the Shrew. + + +The breakfast was served, and the thin soft cakes, made of flour +and honey according to the family receipt, were not only commended +with all the partiality of a father and a lover, but done liberal +justice to in the mode which is best proof of cake as well +as pudding. They talked, jested, and laughed. Catharine, too, had +recovered her equanimity where the dames and damsels of the period +were apt to lose theirs--in the kitchen, namely, and in the +superintendence of household affairs, in which she was an adept. I +question much if the perusal of Seneca for as long a period would +have had equal effect in composing her mind. + +Old Dorothy sat down at the board end, as was the homespun fashion +of the period; and so much were the two men amused with their own +conversation, and Catharine occupied either in attending to them +or with her own reflections, that the old woman was the first who +observed the absence of the boy Conachar. + +"It is true," said the master glover; "go call him, the idle Highland +loon. He was not seen last night during the fray neither, at least +I saw him not. Did any of you observe him?" + +The reply was negative; and Henry's observation followed: + +"There are times when Highlanders can couch like their own deer-- +ay, and run from danger too as fast. I have seen them do so myself, +for the matter of that." + +"And there are times," replied Simon, "when King Arthur and his +Round Table could not make stand against them. I wish, Henry, you +would speak more reverently of the Highlanders. They are often in +Perth, both alone and in numbers, and you ought to keep peace with +them so long as they will keep peace with you." + +An answer of defiance rose to Henry's lips, but he prudently +suppressed it. "Why, thou knowest, father," he said, smiling, +"that we handicrafts best love the folks we live by; now, my craft +provides for valiant and noble knights, gentle squires and pages, +stout men at arms, and others that wear the weapons which we make. It +is natural I should like the Ruthvens, the Lindsays, the Ogilvys, +the Oliphants, and so many others of our brave and noble neighbours, +who are sheathed in steel of my making, like so many paladins, +better than those naked, snatching mountaineers, who are ever doing +us wrong, especially since no five of each clan have a rusty shirt +of mail as old as their brattach; and that is but the work of the +clumsy clan smith after all, who is no member of our honourable +mystery, but simply works at the anvil, where his father wrought +before him. I say, such people can have no favour in the eyes of +an honest craftsman." + +"Well--well," answered Simon; "I prithee let the matter rest even +now, for here comes the loitering boy, and, though it is a holyday +morn, I want no more bloody puddings." + +The youth entered accordingly. His face was pale, his eyes red, +and there was an air of discomposure about his whole person. He +sat down at the lower end of the table, opposite to Dorothy, and +crossed himself, as if preparing for his morning's meal. As he +did not help himself to any food, Catharine offered him a platter +containing some of the cakes which had met with such general approbation. +At first he rejected her offered kindness rather sullenly; but on +her repeating the offer with a smile of goodwill, he took a cake in +his hand, broke it, and was about to eat a morsel, when the effort +to swallow seemed almost too much for him; and though he succeeded, +he did not repeat it. + +"You have a bad appetite for St. Valentine's morning, Conachar," +said his good humoured master; "and yet I think you must have slept +soundly the night before, since I conclude you were not disturbed +by the noise of the scuffle. Why, I thought a lively glune amie +would have been at his master's side, dirk in hand, at the first +sound of danger which arose within a mile of us." + +"I heard but an indistinct noise," said the youth, his face glowing +suddenly like a heated coal, "which I took for the shout of some +merry revellers; and you are wont to bid me never open door or +window, or alarm the house, on the score of such folly." + +"Well--well," said Simon; "I thought a Highlander would have known +better the difference betwixt the clash of swords and the twanging +on harps, the wild war cry and the merry hunt's up. But let it +pass, boy; I am glad thou art losing thy quarrelsome fashions. Eat +thy breakfast, any way, as I have that to employ thee which requires +haste." + +"I have breakfasted already, and am in haste myself. I am for the +hills. Have you any message to my father?" + +"None," replied the glover, in some surprise; "but art thou beside +thyself, boy? or what a vengeance takes thee from the city, like +the wing of the whirlwind?" + +"My warning has been sudden," said Conachar, speaking with difficulty; +but whether arising from the hesitation incidental to the use of a +foreign language, or whether from some other cause, could not easily +be distinguished. "There is to be a meeting--a great hunting--" +Here he stopped. + +"And when are you to return from this blessed hunting?" said the +master; "that is, if I may make so bold as to ask." + +"I cannot exactly answer," replied the apprentice. "Perhaps never, +if such be my father's pleasure," continued Conachar, with assumed +indifference. + +"I thought," said Simon Glover, rather seriously, "that all this +was to be laid aside, when at earnest intercession I took you under +my roof. I thought that when I undertook, being very loth to do so, +to teach you an honest trade, we were to hear no more of hunting, +or hosting, or clan gatherings, or any matters of the kind?" + +"I was not consulted when I was sent hither," said the lad, haughtily. +"I cannot tell what the terms were." + +"But I can tell you, sir Conachar," said the glover, angrily, "that +there is no fashion of honesty in binding yourself to an honest +craftsman, and spoiling more hides than your own is worth; and +now, when you are of age to be of some service, in taking up the +disposal of your time at your pleasure, as if it were your own +property, not your master's." + +"Reckon with my father about that," answered Conachar; "he will +pay you gallantly--a French mutton for every hide I have spoiled, +and a fat cow or bullock for each day I have been absent." + +"Close with him, friend Glover--close with him," said the armourer, +drily. "Thou wilt be paid gallantly at least, if not honestly. +Methinks I would like to know how many purses have been emptied +to fill the goat skin sporran that is to be so free to you of its +gold, and whose pastures the bullocks have been calved in that are +to be sent down to you from the Grampian passes." + +"You remind me, friend," said the Highland youth, turning haughtily +towards the smith, "that I have also a reckoning to hold with you." + +"Keep at arm's length, then," said Henry, extending his brawny arm: +"I will have no more close hugs--no more bodkin work, like last +night. I care little for a wasp's sting, yet I will not allow the +insect to come near me if I have warning." + +Conachar smiled contemptuously. "I meant thee no harm," he said. +"My father's son did thee but too much honour to spill such churl's +blood. I will pay you for it by the drop, that it may be dried up, +and no longer soil my fingers." + +"Peace, thou bragging ape!" said the smith: "the blood of a true +man cannot be valued in gold. The only expiation would be that thou +shouldst come a mile into the Low Country with two of the strongest +galloglasses of thy clan; and while I dealt with them, I would +leave thee to the correction of my apprentice, little Jankin." + +Here Catharine interposed. "Peace," she said, "my trusty Valentine, +whom I have a right to command; and peace you, Conachar, who ought +to obey me as your master's daughter. It is ill done to awaken +again on the morrow the evil which has been laid to sleep at night." + +"Farewell, then, master," said Conachar, after another look of scorn +at the smith, which he only answered with a laugh--"farewell! and +I thank you for your kindness, which has been more than I deserve. +If I have at times seemed less than thankful, it was the fault of +circumstances, and not of my will. Catharine--" He cast upon the +maiden a look of strong emotion, in which various feelings were +blended. He hesitated, as if to say something, and at length turned +away with the single word "farewell." + +Five minutes afterwards, with Highland buskins on his feet and a +small bundle in his hand, he passed through the north gate of Perth, +and directed his course to the Highlands. + +"There goes enough of beggary and of pride for a whole Highland +clan," said Henry. "He talks as familiarly of gold pieces as I would +of silver pennies, and yet I will be sworn that the thumb of his +mother's worsted glove might hold the treasure of the whole clan." + +"Like enough," said the glover, laughing at the idea; "his mother +was a large boned woman, especially in the fingers and wrist." + +"And as for cattle," continued Henry, "I reckon his father and +brothers steal sheep by one at a time." + +"The less we say of them the better," said the glover, becoming +again grave. "Brothers he hath none; his father is a powerful man +--hath long hands--reaches as far as he can, and hears farther +than it is necessary to talk of him." + +"And yet he hath bound his only son apprentice to a glover in +Perth?" said Henry. "Why, I should have thought the gentle craft, +as it is called, of St. Crispin would have suited him best; and +that, if the son of some great Mac or O was to become an artisan, +it could only be in the craft where princes set him the example." + +This remark, though ironical, seemed to awaken our friend Simon's +sense of professional dignity, which was a prevailing feeling that +marked the manners of the artisans of the time. + +"You err, son Henry," he replied, with much gravity: "the glovers' +are the more honourable craft of the two, in regard they provide +for the accommodation of the hands, whereas the shoemakers and +cordwainers do but work for the feet." + +"Both equally necessary members of the body corporate," said Henry, +whose father had been a cordwainer. + +"It may be so, my son," said the glover; "but not both alike +honourable. Bethink you, that we employ the hands as pledges of +friendship and good faith, and the feet have no such privilege. +Brave men fight with their hands; cowards employ their feet in +flight. A glove is borne aloft; a shoe is trampled in the mire. +A man greets a friend with his open hand; he spurns a dog, or one +whom he holds as mean as a dog, with his advanced foot. A glove +on the point of a spear is a sign and pledge of faith all the wide +world over, as a gauntlet flung down is a gage of knightly battle; +while I know no other emblem belonging to an old shoe, except that +some crones will fling them after a man by way of good luck, in +which practice I avow myself to entertain no confidence." + +"Nay," said the smith, amused with his friend's eloquent pleading +for the dignity of the art he practised, "I am not the man, I +promise you, to disparage the glover's mystery. Bethink you, I am +myself a maker of gauntlets. But the dignity of your ancient craft +removes not my wonder, that the father of this Conachar suffered his +son to learn a trade of any kind from a Lowland craftsman, holding +us, as they do, altogether beneath their magnificent degree, and +a race of contemptible drudges, unworthy of any other fate than to +be ill used and plundered, as often as these bare breeched dunnie +wassals see safety and convenience for doing so." + +"Ay," answered the glover, "but there were powerful reasons for-- +for--" he withheld something which seemed upon his lips, and went +on: "for Conachar's father acting as he did. Well, I have played +fair with him, and I do not doubt but he will act honourably by me. +But Conachar's sudden leave taking has put me to some inconvenience. +He had things under his charge. I must look through the booth." + +"Can I help you, father?" said Henry Gow, deceived by the earnestness +of his manner. + +"You!--no," said Simon, with a dryness which made Henry so sensible +of the simplicity of his proposal, that he blushed to the eyes at +his own dulness of comprehension, in a matter where love ought to +have induced him to take his cue easily up. + +"You, Catharine," said the glover, as he left the room, "entertain +your Valentine for five minutes, and see he departs not till my +return. Come hither with me, old Dorothy, and bestir thy limbs in +my behalf." + +He left the room, followed by the old woman; and Henry Smith remained +with Catharine, almost for the first time in his life, entirely +alone. There was embarrassment on the maiden's part, and awkwardness +on that of the lover, for about a minute; when Henry, calling up +his courage, pulled the gloves out of his pocket with which Simon +had supplied him, and asked her to permit one who had been so highly +graced that morning to pay the usual penalty for being asleep at the +moment when he would have given the slumbers of a whole twelvemonth +to be awake for a single minute. + +"Nay, but," said Catharine, "the fulfilment of my homage to St. +Valentine infers no such penalty as you desire to pay, and I cannot +therefore think of accepting them." + +"These gloves," said Henry, advancing his seat insidiously towards +Catharine as he spoke, "were wrought by the hands that are dearest +to you; and see--they are shaped for your own." + +He extended them as he spoke, and taking her arm in his robust +hand, spread the gloves beside it to show how well they fitted. + +"Look at that taper arm," he said, "look at these small fingers; +think who sewed these seams of silk and gold, and think whether +the glove and the arm which alone the glove can fit ought to remain +separate, because the poor glove has had the misfortune to be for +a passing minute in the keeping of a hand so swart and rough as +mine." + +"They are welcome as coming from my father," said Catharine; "and +surely not less so as coming from my friend (and there was an +emphasis on the word), as well as my Valentine and preserver." + +"Let me aid to do them on," said the smith, bringing himself yet +closer to her side; "they may seem a little over tight at first, +and you may require some assistance." + +"You are skilful in such service, good Henry Gow," said the maiden, +smiling, but at the same time drawing farther from her lover. + +"In good faith, no," said Henry, shaking his head: "my experience +has been in donning steel gauntlets on mailed knights, more than +in fitting embroidered gloves upon maidens." + +"I will trouble you then no further, and Dorothy shall aid me, +though there needs no assistance; my father's eye and fingers are +faithful to his craft: what work he puts through his hands is always +true to the measure." + +"Let me be convinced of it," said the smith--"let me see that +these slender gloves actually match the hands they were made for." + +"Some other time, good Henry," answered the maiden, "I will wear +the gloves in honour of St. Valentine, and the mate he has sent +me for the season. I would to Heaven I could pleasure my father as +well in weightier matters; at present the perfume of the leather +harms the headache I have had since morning." + +"Headache, dearest maiden!" echoed her lover. + +"If you call it heartache, you will not misname it," said Catharine, +with a sigh, and proceeded to speak in a very serious tone. + +"Henry," she said, "I am going perhaps to be as bold as I gave you +reason to think me this morning; for I am about to speak the first +upon a subject on which, it may well be, I ought to wait till I had +to answer you. But I cannot, after what has happened this morning, +suffer my feelings towards you to remain unexplained, without the +possibility of my being greatly misconceived. Nay, do not answer +till you have heard me out. You are brave, Henry, beyond most men, +honest and true as the steel you work upon--" + +"Stop--stop, Catharine, for mercy's sake! You never said so much +that was good concerning me, save to introduce some bitter censure, +of which your praises were the harbingers. I am honest, and so +forth, you would say, but a hot brained brawler, and common sworder +or stabber." + +"I should injure both myself and you in calling you such. No, Henry, +to no common stabber, had he worn a plume in his bonnet and gold +spurs on his heels, would Catharine Glover have offered the little +grace she has this day voluntarily done to you. If I have at times +dwelt severely upon the proneness of your spirit to anger, and of +your hand to strife, it is because I would have you, if I could +so persuade you, hate in yourself the sins of vanity and wrath by +which you are most easily beset. I have spoken on the topic more +to alarm your own conscience than to express my opinion. I know as +well as my father that, in these forlorn and desperate days, the +whole customs of our nation, nay, of every Christian nation, may +be quoted in favour of bloody quarrels for trifling causes, of the +taking deadly and deep revenge for slight offences, and the slaughter +of each other for emulation of honour, or often in mere sport. But +I knew that for all these things we shall one day be called into +judgment; and fain would I convince thee, my brave and generous +friend, to listen oftener to the dictates of thy good heart, and +take less pride in the strength and dexterity of thy unsparing +arm." + +"I am--I am convinced, Catharine" exclaimed Henry: "thy words +shall henceforward be a law to me. I have done enough, far too much, +indeed, for proof of my bodily strength and courage; but it is only +from you, Catharine, that I can learn a better way of thinking. +Remember, my fair Valentine, that my ambition of distinction in +arms, and my love of strife, if it can be called such, do not fight +even handed with my reason and my milder dispositions, but have +their patrons and sticklers to egg them on. Is there a quarrel, +and suppose that I, thinking on your counsels, am something loth +to engage in it, believe you I am left to decide between peace or +war at my own choosing? Not so, by St. Mary! there are a hundred +round me to stir me on. 'Why, how now, Smith, is thy mainspring +rusted?' says one. 'Jolly Henry is deaf on the quarrelling ear this +morning!' says another. 'Stand to it, for the honour of Perth,' +says my lord the Provost. 'Harry against them for a gold noble,' +cries your father, perhaps. Now, what can a poor fellow do, Catharine, +when all are hallooing him on in the devil's name, and not a soul +putting in a word on the other side?" + +"Nay, I know the devil has factors enough to utter his wares," +said Catharine; "but it is our duty to despise such idle arguments, +though they may be pleaded even by those to whom we owe much love +and honour." + +"Then there are the minstrels, with their romaunts and ballads, which +place all a man's praise in receiving and repaying hard blows. It +is sad to tell, Catharine, how many of my sins that Blind Harry +the Minstrel hath to answer for. When I hit a downright blow, it +is not--so save me--to do any man injury, but only to strike +as William Wallace struck." + +The minstrel's namesake spoke this in such a tone of rueful seriousness, +that Catharine could scarce forbear smiling; but nevertheless she +assured him that the danger of his own and other men's lives ought +not for a moment to be weighed against such simple toys. + +"Ay, but," replied Henry, emboldened by her smiles, "methinks now +the good cause of peace would thrive all the better for an advocate. +Suppose, for example, that, when I am pressed and urged to lay +hand on my weapon, I could have cause to recollect that there was +a gentle and guardian angel at home, whose image would seem to +whisper, 'Henry, do no violence; it is my hand which you crimson +with blood. Henry, rush upon no idle danger; it is my breast which +you expose to injury;' such thoughts would do more to restrain my +mood than if every monk in Perth should cry, 'Hold thy hand, on +pain of bell, book, and candle.'" + +"If such a warning as could be given by the voice of sisterly +affection can have weight in the debate," said Catharine, "do think +that, in striking, you empurple this hand, that in receiving wounds +you harm this heart." + +The smith took courage at the sincerely affectionate tone in which +these words were delivered. + +"And wherefore not stretch your regard a degree beyond these cold +limits? Why, since you are so kind and generous as to own some +interest in the poor ignorant sinner before you, should you not +at once adopt him as your scholar and your husband? Your father +desires it, the town expects it, glovers and smiths are preparing +their rejoicings, and you, only you, whose words are so fair and +so kind, you will not give your consent." + +"Henry," said Catharine, in a low and tremulous voice, "believe me +I should hold it my duty to comply with my father's commands, were +there not obstacles invincible to the match which he proposes." + +"Yet think--think but for a moment. I have little to say for +myself in comparison of you, who can both read and write. But then +I wish to hear reading, and could listen to your sweet voice for +ever. You love music, and I have been taught to play and sing as +well as some minstrels. You love to be charitable, I have enough to +give, and enough to keep, as large a daily alms as a deacon gives +would never be missed by me. Your father gets old for daily toil; +he would live with us, as I should truly hold him for my father also. +I would be as chary of mixing in causeless strife as of thrusting +my hand into my own furnace; and if there came on us unlawful +violence, its wares would be brought to an ill chosen market." + +"May you experience all the domestic happiness which you can +conceive, Henry, but with some one more happy than I am!" + +So spoke, or rather so sobbed, the Fair Maiden of Perth, who seemed +choking in the attempt to restrain her tears. + +"You hate me, then?" said the lover, after a pause. + +"Heaven is my witness, no." + +"Or you love some other better?" + +"It is cruel to ask what it cannot avail you to know. But you are +entirely mistaken." + +"Yon wildcat, Conachar, perhaps?" said Henry. "I have marked his +looks--" + +"You avail yourself of this painful situation to insult me, Henry, +though I have little deserved it. Conachar is nothing to me, more +than the trying to tame his wild spirit by instruction might lead +me to take some interest in a mind abandoned to prejudices and +passions, and therein, Henry, not unlike your own." + +"It must then be some of these flaunting silkworm sirs about the +court," said the armourer, his natural heat of temper kindling +from disappointment and vexation--"some of those who think they +carry it off through the height of their plumed bonnets and the +jingle of their spurs. I would I knew which it was that, leaving his +natural mates, the painted and perfumed dames of the court, comes +to take his prey among the simple maidens of the burgher craft. I +would I knew but his name and surname!" + +"Henry Smith," said Catharine, shaking off the weakness which +seemed to threaten to overpower her a moment before, "this is the +language of an ungrateful fool, or rather of a frantic madman. I +have told you already, there was no one who stood, at the beginning +of this conference, more high in my opinion than he who is now losing +ground with every word he utters in the tone of unjust suspicion +and senseless anger. You had no title to know even what I have +told you, which, I pray you to observe, implies no preference to +you over others, though it disowns any preference of another to +you. It is enough you should be aware that there is as insuperable +an objection to what you desire as if an enchanter had a spell over +my destiny." + +"Spells may be broken by true men," said, the smith. "I would it +were come to that. Thorbiorn, the Danish armourer, spoke of a spell +he had for making breastplates, by singing a certain song while the +iron was heating. I told him that his runic rhymes were no proof +against the weapons which fought at Loncarty--what farther came +of it it is needless to tell, but the corselet and the wearer, +and the leech who salved his wound, know if Henry Gow can break a +spell or no." + +Catharine looked at him as if about to return an answer little +approving of the exploit he had vaunted, which the downright smith +had not recollected was of a kind that exposed him to her frequent +censure. But ere she had given words to her thoughts, her father +thrust his head in at the door. + +"Henry," he said, "I must interrupt your more pleasing affairs, and +request you to come into my working room in all speed, to consult +about certain matters deeply affecting the weal of the burgh." + +Henry, making his obeisance to Catharine, left the apartment upon +her father's summons. Indeed, it was probably in favour of their +future friendly intercourse, that they were parted on this occasion +at the turn which the conversation seemed likely to take. For, as +the wooer had begun to hold the refusal of the damsel as somewhat +capricious and inexplicable after the degree of encouragement +which, in his opinion, she had afforded; Catharine, on the other +hand, considered him rather as an encroacher upon the grace which +she had shown him than one whose delicacy rendered him deserving +of such favour. But there was living in their bosoms towards each +other a reciprocal kindness, which, on the termination of the +dispute, was sure to revive, inducing the maiden to forget her +offended delicacy, and the lover his slighted warmth of passion. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +This quarrel may draw blood another day. + +Henry IV. Part I. + + +The conclave of citizens appointed to meet for investigating the +affray of the preceding evening had now assembled. The workroom +of Simon Glover was filled to crowding by personages of no little +consequence, some of whom wore black velvet cloaks, and gold chains +around their necks. They were, indeed, the fathers of the city; +and there were bailies and deacons in the honoured number. There +was an ireful and offended air of importance upon every brow as they +conversed together, rather in whisper than aloud or in detail. +Busiest among the busy, the little important assistant of the previous +night, Oliver Proudfute by name, and bonnet maker by profession, +was bustling among the crowd, much after the manner of the seagull, +which flutters, screams, and sputters most at the commencement of +a gale of wind, though one can hardly conceive what the bird has +better to do than to fly to its nest and remain quiet till the gale +is over. + +Be that as it may, Master Proudfute was in the midst of the crowd, +his fingers upon every one's button and his mouth in every man's +ear, embracing such as were near to his own stature, that he might +more closely and mysteriously utter his sentiments; and standing +on tiptoe, and supporting himself by the cloak collars of tall men, +that he might dole out to them also the same share of information. +He felt himself one of the heroes of the affair, being conscious of +the dignity of superior information on the subject as an eyewitness, +and much disposed to push his connexion with the scuffle a few +points beyond the modesty of truth. It cannot be said that his +communications were in especial curious and important, consisting +chiefly of such assertions as these: + +"It is all true, by St. John! I was there and saw it myself--was +the first to run to the fray; and if it had not been for me and +another stout fellow, who came in about the same time, they had +broken into Simon Glover's house, cut his throat, and carried his +daughter off to the mountains. It is too evil usage--not to be +suffered, neighbour Crookshank; not to be endured, neighbour Glass; +not to be borne, neighbours Balneaves, Rollock, and Chrysteson. +It was a mercy that I and that stout fellow came in, was it not, +neighbour and worthy Bailie Craigdallie?" + +These speeches were dispersed by the busy bonnet maker into sundry +ears. Bailie Craigdallie, a portly guild brother, the same who +had advised the prorogation of their civic council to the present +place and hour, a big, burly, good looking man, shook the deacon +from his cloak with pretty much the grace with which a large horse +shrugs off the importunate fly that has beset him for ten minutes, +and exclaimed, "Silence, good citizens; here comes Simon Glover, +in whom no man ever saw falsehood. We will hear the outrage from +his own mouth." + +Simon being called upon to tell his tale, did so with obvious +embarrassment, which he imputed to a reluctance that the burgh +should be put in deadly feud with any one upon his account. It +was, he dared to say, a masking or revel on the part of the young +gallants about court; and the worst that might come of it would +be, that he would put iron stanchions on his daughter's window, in +case of such another frolic. + +"Why, then, if this was a mere masking or mummery," said Craigdallie, +"our townsman, Harry of the Wind, did far wrong to cut off a +gentleman's hand for such a harmless pleasantry, and the town may +be brought to a heavy fine for it, unless we secure the person of +the mutilator." + +"Our Lady forbid!" said the glover. "Did you know what I do, +you would be as much afraid of handling this matter as if it were +glowing iron. But, since you will needs put your fingers in the +fire, truth must be spoken. And come what will, I must say, that the +matter might have ended ill for me and mine, but for the opportune +assistance of Henry Gow, the armourer, well known to you all." + +"And mine also was not awanting," said Oliver Proudfute, "though I +do not profess to be utterly so good a swordsman as our neighbour +Henry Gow. You saw me, neighbour Glover, at the beginning of the +fray?" + +"I saw you after the end of it, neighbour," answered the glover, +drily. + +"True--true; I had forgot you were in your house while the blows +were going, and could not survey who were dealing them." + +"Peace, neighbour Proudfute--I prithee, peace," said Craigdallie, +who was obviously tired of the tuneless screeching of the worthy +deacon. + +"There is something mysterious here," said the bailie; "but I think +I spy the secret. Our friend Simon is, as you all know, a peaceful +man, and one that will rather sit down with wrong than put a friend, +or say a neighbourhood, in danger to seek his redress. Thou, Henry, +who art never wanting where the burgh needs a defender, tell us +what thou knowest of this matter." + +Our smith told his story to the same purpose which we have already +related; and the meddling maker of bonnets added as before, "And +thou sawest me there, honest smith, didst thou not?" + +"Not I, in good faith, neighbour," answered Henry; "but you are a +little man, you know, and I might overlook you." + +This reply produced a laugh at Oliver's expense, who laughed for +company, but added doggedly, "I was one of the foremost to the +rescue for all that." + +"Why, where wert thou, then, neighbour?" said the smith; "for I +saw you not, and I would have given the worth of the best suit of +armour I ever wrought to have seen as stout a fellow as thou at my +elbow." + +"I was no farther off, however, honest smith; and whilst thou wert +laying on blows as if on an anvil, I was parrying those that the +rest of the villains aimed at thee behind thy back; and that is +the cause thou sawest me not." + +"I have heard of smiths of old time who had but one eye," said +Henry; "I have two, but they are both set in my forehead, and so +I could not see behind my back, neighbour." + +"The truth is, however," persevered Master Oliver, "there I was, +and I will give Master Bailie my account of the matter; for the +smith and I were first up to the fray." + +"Enough at present," said the bailie, waving to Master Proudfute +an injunction of silence. "The precognition of Simon Glover and +Henry Gow would bear out a matter less worthy of belief. And now, +my masters, your opinion what should be done. Here are all our +burgher rights broken through and insulted, and you may well fancy +that it is by some man of power, since no less dared have attempted +such an outrage. My masters, it is hard on flesh and blood to submit +to this. The laws have framed us of lower rank than the princes +and nobles, yet it is against reason to suppose that we will suffer +our houses to be broken into, and the honour of our women insulted, +without some redress." + +"It is not to be endured!" answered the citizens, unanimously. + +Here Simon Glover interfered with a very anxious and ominous +countenance. "I hope still that all was not meant so ill as it +seemed to us, my worthy neighbours; and I for one would cheerfully +forgive the alarm and disturbance to my poor house, providing the +Fair City were not brought into jeopardy for me. I beseech you to +consider who are to be our judges that are to hear the case, and +give or refuse redress. I speak among neighbours and friends, and +therefore I speak openly. The King, God bless him! is so broken +in mind and body, that he will but turn us over to some great +man amongst his counsellors who shall be in favour for the time. +Perchance he will refer us to his brother the Duke of Albany, who +will make our petition for righting of our wrongs the pretence for +squeezing money out of us." + +"We will none of Albany for our judge!" answered the meeting with +the same unanimity as before. + +"Or perhaps," added Simon, "he will bid the Duke of Rothsay take +charge of it; and the wild young prince will regard the outrage as +something for his gay companions to scoff at, and his minstrels to +turn into song." + +"Away with Rothsay! he is too gay to be our judge," again exclaimed +the citizens. + +Simon, emboldened by seeing he was reaching the point he aimed at, +yet pronouncing the dreaded name with a half whisper, next added, +"Would you like the Black Douglas better to deal with?" + +There was no answer for a minute. They looked on each other with +fallen countenances and blanched lips. + +But Henry Smith spoke out boldly, and in a decided voice, the +sentiments which all felt, but none else dared give words to: "The +Black Douglas to judge betwixt a burgher and a gentleman, nay, a +nobleman, for all I know or care! The black devil of hell sooner! +You are mad, father Simon, so much as to name so wild a proposal." + +There was again a silence of fear and uncertainty, which was at +length broken by Bailie Craigdallie, who, looking very significantly +to the speaker, replied, "You are confident in a stout doublet, +neighbour Smith, or you would not talk so boldly." + +"I am confident of a good heart under my doublet, such as it is, +bailie," answered the undaunted Henry; "and though I speak but little, +my mouth shall never be padlocked by any noble of them all." + +"Wear a thick doublet, good Henry, or do not speak so loud," reiterated +the bailie in the same significant tone. "There are Border men in +the town who wear the bloody heart on their shoulder. But all this +is no rede. What shall we do?" + +"Short rede, good rede," said the smith. "Let us to our provost, +and demand his countenance and assistance." + +A murmur of applause went through the party, and Oliver Proudfute +exclaimed, "That is what I have been saying for this half hour, +and not one of ye would listen to me. 'Let us go to our provost,' +said I. 'He is a gentleman himself, and ought to come between the +burgh and the nobles in all matters." + +"Hush, neighbours--hush; be wary what you say or do," said a thin +meagre figure of a man, whose diminutive person seemed still more +reduced in size, and more assimilated to a shadow, by his efforts +to assume an extreme degree of humility, and make himself, to suit +his argument, look meaner yet, and yet more insignificant, than +nature had made him. + +"Pardon me," said he; "I am but a poor pottingar. Nevertheless, I +have been bred in Paris, and learned my humanities and my cursus +medendi as well as some that call themselves learned leeches. Methinks +I can tent this wound, and treat it with emollients. Here is our +friend Simon Glover, who is, as you all know, a man of worship. +Think you he would not be the most willing of us all to pursue harsh +courses here, since his family honour is so nearly concerned? And +since he blenches away from the charge against these same revellers, +consider if he may not have some good reason more than he cares +to utter for letting the matter sleep. It is not for me to put +my finger on the sore; but, alack! we all know that young maidens +are what I call fugitive essences. Suppose now, an honest maiden +--I mean in all innocence--leaves her window unlatched on St. +Valentine's morn, that some gallant cavalier may--in all honesty, I +mean--become her Valentine for the season, and suppose the gallant +be discovered, may she not scream out as if the visit were unexpected, +and--and--bray all this in a mortar, and then consider, will +it be a matter to place the town in feud for?" + +The pottingar delivered his opinion in a most insinuating manner; +but he seemed to shrink into something less than his natural tenuity +when he saw the blood rise in the old cheek of Simon Glover, and +inflame to the temples the complexion of the redoubted smith. + +The last, stepping forward, and turning a stern look on the alarmed +pottingar, broke out as follows: "Thou walking skeleton! thou +asthmatic gallipot! thou poisoner by profession! if I thought that +the puff of vile breath thou hast left could blight for the tenth +part of a minute the fair fame of Catharine Glover, I would pound +thee, quacksalver! in thine own mortar, and beat up thy wretched +carrion with flower of brimstone, the only real medicine in thy +booth, to make a salve to rub mangy hounds with!" + +"Hold, son Henry--hold!" cried the glover, in a tone of authority, +"no man has title to speak of this matter but me. Worshipful Bailie +Craigdallie, since such is the construction that is put upon my +patience, I am willing to pursue this riot to the uttermost; and +though the issue may prove that we had better have been patient, +you will all see that my Catharine hath not by any lightness or +folly of hers afforded grounds for this great scandal." + +The bailie also interposed. "Neighbour Henry," said he, "we came +here to consult, and not to quarrel. As one of the fathers of the +Fair City, I command thee to forego all evil will and maltalent +you may have against Master Pottingar Dwining." + +"He is too poor a creature, bailie," said Henry Gow, "for me to +harbour feud with--I that could destroy him and his booth with +one blow of my forehammer." + +"Peace, then, and hear me," said the official. "We all are as much +believers in the honour of the Fair Maiden of Perth as in that of +our Blessed Lady." Here he crossed himself devoutly. "But touching +our appeal to our provost, are you agreed, neighbours, to put matter +like this into our provost's hand, being against a powerful noble, +as is to be feared?" + +"The provost being himself a nobleman," squeaked the pottingar, in +some measure released from his terror by the intervention of the +bailie. "God knows, I speak not to the disparagement of an honourable +gentleman, whose forebears have held the office he now holds for +many years--" + +"By free choice of the citizens of Perth," said the smith, interrupting +the speaker with the tones of his deep and decisive voice. + +"Ay, surely," said the disconcerted orator, "by the voice of the +citizens. How else? I pray you, friend Smith, interrupt me not. I +speak to our worthy and eldest bailie, Craigdallie, according to +my poor mind. I say that, come amongst us how he will, still this +Sir Patrick Charteris is a nobleman, and hawks will not pick hawks' +eyes out. He may well bear us out in a feud with the Highlandmen, +and do the part of our provost and leader against them; but whether +he that himself wears silk will take our part against broidered +cloak and cloth of gold, though he may do so against tartan and +Irish frieze, is something to be questioned. Take a fool's advice. +We have saved our Maiden, of whom I never meant to speak harm, as +truly I knew none. They have lost one man's hand, at least, thanks +to Harry Smith--" + +"And to me," added the little important bonnet maker. + +"And to Oliver Proudfute, as he tells us," continued the pottingar, +who contested no man's claim to glory provided he was not himself +compelled to tread the perilous paths which lead to it. "I say, +neighbours, since they have left a hand as a pledge they will never +come in Couvrefew Street again, why, in my simple mind, we were +best to thank our stout townsman, and the town having the honour +and these rakehells the loss, that we should hush the matter up +and say no more about it." + +These pacific counsels had their effect with some of the citizens, +who began to nod and look exceedingly wise upon the advocate +of acquiescence, with whom, notwithstanding the offence so lately +given, Simon Glover seemed also to agree in opinion. But not so +Henry Smith, who, seeing the consultation at a stand, took up the +speech in his usual downright manner. + +"I am neither the oldest nor the richest among you, neighbours, and +I am not sorry for it. Years will come, if one lives to see them; +and I can win and spend my penny like another, by the blaze of the +furnace and the wind of the bellows. But no man ever saw me sit down +with wrong done in word or deed to our fair town, if man's tongue +and man's hand could right it. Neither will I sit down with this +outrage, if I can help it. I will go to the provost myself, if no +one will go with me; he is a knight, it is true, and a gentleman +of free and true born blood, as we all know, since Wallace's time, +who settled his great grandsire amongst us. But if he were the +proudest nobleman in the land, he is the Provost of Perth, and for +his own honour must see the freedoms and immunities of the burgh +preserved--ay, and I know he will. I have made a steel doublet +for him, and have a good guess at the kind of heart that it was +meant to cover." + +"Surely," said Bailie Craigdallie, "it would be to no purpose +to stir at court without Sir Patrick Charteris's countenance: the +ready answer would be, 'Go to your provost, you borrel loons.' +So, neighbours and townsmen, if you will stand by my side, I and +our pottingar Dwining will repair presently to Kinfauns, with Sim +Glover, the jolly smith, and gallant Oliver Proudfute, for witnesses +to the onslaught, and speak with Sir Patrick Charteris, in name of +the fair town." + +"Nay," said the peaceful man of medicine, "leave me behind, I pray +you: I lack audacity to speak before a belted knight." + +"Never regard that, neighbour, you must go," said Bailie Craigdallie. +"The town hold me a hot headed carle for a man of threescore; Sim +Glover is the offended party; we all know that Harry Gow spoils +more harness with his sword than he makes with his hammer and our +neighbour Proudfute, who, take his own word, is at the beginning +and end of every fray in Perth, is of course a man of action. We +must have at least one advocate amongst us for peace and quietness; +and thou, pottingar, must be the man. Away with you, sirs, get your +boots and your beasts--horse and hattock, I say, and let us meet +at the East Port; that is, if it is your pleasure, neighbours, to +trust us with the matter." + +"There can be no better rede, and we will all avouch it," said the +citizens. "If the provost take our part, as the Fair Town hath a +right to expect, we may bell the cat with the best of them." + +"It is well, then, neighbours," answered the bailie; "so said, +so shall be done. Meanwhile, I have called the whole town council +together about this hour, and I have little doubt," looking around +the company, "that, as so many of them who are in this place have +resolved to consult with our provost, the rest will be compliant to +the same resolution. And, therefore, neighbours, and good burghers +of the Fair City of Perth, horse and hattock, as I said before, +and meet me at the East Port." + +A general acclamation concluded the sitting of this species of +privy council, or Lords of the Articles; and they dispersed, the +deputation to prepare for the journey, and the rest to tell their +impatient wives and daughters of the measures they had taken +to render their chambers safe in future against the intrusion of +gallants at unseasonable hours. + +While nags are saddling, and the town council debating, or rather +putting in form what the leading members of their body had already +adopted, it may be necessary, for the information of some readers, +to state in distinct terms what is more circuitously intimated in +the course of the former discussion. + +It was the custom at this period, when the strength of the feudal +aristocracy controlled the rights, and frequently insulted the +privileges, of the royal burghs of Scotland, that the latter, where +it was practicable, often chose their provost, or chief magistrate, +not out of the order of the merchants, shopkeepers, and citizens, +who inhabited the town itself, and filled up the roll of the ordinary +magistracy, but elected to that preeminent state some powerful +nobleman, or baron, in the neighbourhood of the burgh, who was +expected to stand their friend at court in such matters as concerned +their common weal, and to lead their civil militia to fight, whether +in general battle or in private feud, reinforcing them with his +own feudal retainers. This protection was not always gratuitous. +The provosts sometimes availed themselves of their situation to an +unjustifiable degree, and obtained grants of lands and tenements +belonging to the common good, or public property of the burgh, +and thus made the citizens pay dear for the countenance which they +afforded. Others were satisfied to receive the powerful aid of +the townsmen in their own feudal quarrels, with such other marks +of respect and benevolence as the burgh over which they presided +were willing to gratify them with, in order to secure their active +services in case of necessity. The baron, who was the regular +protector of a royal burgh, accepted such freewill offerings without +scruple, and repaid them by defending the rights of the town by +arguments in the council and by bold deeds in the field. + +The citizens of the town, or, as they loved better to call it, the +Fair City, of Perth, had for several generations found a protector +and provost of this kind in the knightly family of Charteris, +Lords of Kinfauns, in the neighbourhood of the burgh. It was scarce +a century (in the time of Robert III) since the first of this +distinguished family had settled in the strong castle which now +belonged to them, with the picturesque and fertile scenes adjoining +to it. But the history of the first settler, chivalrous and romantic +in itself, was calculated to facilitate the settlement of an alien +in the land in which his lot was cast. We relate it as it is given +by an ancient and uniform tradition, which carries in it great +indications of truth, and is warrant enough, perhaps, for it +insertion in graver histories than the present. + +During the brief career of the celebrated patriot Sir William +Wallace, and when his arms had for a time expelled the English +invaders from his native country, he is said to have undertaken a +voyage to France, with a small band of trusty friends, to try what +his presence (for he was respected through all countries for his +prowess) might do to induce the French monarch to send to Scotland +a body of auxiliary forces, or other assistance, to aid the Scots +in regaining their independence. + +The Scottish Champion was on board a small vessel, and steering +for the port of Dieppe, when a sail appeared in the distance, which +the mariners regarded, first with doubt and apprehension, and at +last with confusion and dismay. Wallace demanded to know what was +the cause of their alarm. The captain of the ship informed him that +the tall vessel which was bearing down, with the purpose of boarding +that which he commanded, was the ship of a celebrated rover, equally +famed for his courage, strength of body, and successful piracies. +It was commanded by a gentleman named Thomas de Longueville, a +Frenchman by birth, but by practice one of those pirates who called +themselves friends to the sea and enemies to all who sailed upon +that element. He attacked and plundered vessels of all nations, +like one of the ancient Norse sea kings, as they were termed, +whose dominion was upon the mountain waves. The master added that +no vessel could escape the rover by flight, so speedy was the bark +he commanded; and that no crew, however hardy, could hope to resist +him, when, as was his usual mode of combat, he threw himself on +board at the head of his followers. + +Wallace smiled sternly, while the master of the ship, with alarm +in his countenance and tears in his eyes, described to him the +certainty of their being captured by the Red Rover, a name given +to De Longueville, because he usually displayed the blood red flag, +which he had now hoisted. + +"I will clear the narrow seas of this rover," said Wallace. + +Then calling together some ten or twelve of his own followers, Boyd, +Kerlie, Seton, and others, to whom the dust of the most desperate +battle was like the breath of life, he commanded them to arm +themselves, and lie flat upon the deck, so as to be out of sight. +He ordered the mariners below, excepting such as were absolutely +necessary to manage the vessel; and he gave the master instructions, +upon pain of death, so to steer as that, while the vessel had an +appearance of attempting to fly, he should in fact permit the Red +Rover to come up with them and do his worst. Wallace himself then +lay down on the deck, that nothing might be seen which could intimate +any purpose of resistance. In a quarter of an hour De Longueville's +vessel ran on board that of the Champion, and the Red Rover, casting +out grappling irons to make sure of his prize, jumped on the deck +in complete armour, followed by his men, who gave a terrible shout, +as if victory had been already secured. But the armed Scots started +up at once, and the rover found himself unexpectedly engaged with +men accustomed to consider victory as secure when they were only +opposed as one to two or three. Wallace himself rushed on the pirate +captain, and a dreadful strife began betwixt them with such fury +that the others suspended their own battle to look on, and seemed +by common consent to refer the issue of the strife to the fate of +the combat between the two chiefs. The pirate fought as well as +man could do; but Wallace's strength was beyond that of ordinary +mortals. He dashed the sword from the rover's hand, and placed him +in such peril that, to avoid being cut down, he was fain to close +with the Scottish Champion in hopes of overpowering him in the grapple. +In this also he was foiled. They fell on the deck, locked in each +other's arms, but the Frenchman fell undermost; and Wallace, fixing +his grasp upon his gorget, compressed it so closely, notwithstanding +it was made of the finest steel, that the blood gushed from his +eyes, nose, and month, and he was only able to ask for quarter by +signs. His men threw down their weapons and begged for mercy when +they saw their leader thus severely handled. The victor granted them +all their lives, but took possession of their vessel, and detained +them prisoners. + +When he came in sight of the French harbour, Wallace alarmed the +place by displaying the rover's colours, as if De Longueville was +coming to pillage the town. The bells were rung backward, horns +were blown, and the citizens were hurrying to arms, when the scene +changed. The Scottish Lion on his shield of gold was raised above +the piratical flag, and announced that the Champion of Scotland was +approaching, like a falcon with his prey in his clutch. He landed +with his prisoner, and carried him to the court of France, where, +at Wallace's request, the robberies which the pirate had committed +were forgiven, and the king even conferred the honour of knighthood +on Sir Thomas de Longueville, and offered to take him into his +service. But the rover had contracted such a friendship for his +generous victor, that he insisted on uniting his fortunes with +those of Wallace, with whom he returned to Scotland, and fought by +his side in many a bloody battle, where the prowess of Sir Thomas +de Longueville was remarked as inferior to that of none, save of +his heroic conqueror. His fate also was more fortunate than that of +his patron. Being distinguished by the beauty as well as strength +of his person, he rendered himself so acceptable to a young lady, +heiress of the ancient family of Charteris, that she chose him +for her husband, bestowing on him with her hand the fair baronial +Castle of Kinfauns, and the domains annexed to it. Their descendants +took the name of Charteris, as connecting themselves with their +maternal ancestors, the ancient proprietors of the property, though +the name of Thomas de Longueville was equally honoured amongst +them; and the large two handed sword with which he mowed the ranks +of war was, and is still, preserved among the family muniments. +Another account is, that the family name of De Longueville himself +was Charteris. The estate afterwards passed to a family of Blairs, +and is now the property of Lord Gray. + +These barons of Kinfauns, from father to son, held, for several +generations, the office of Provost of Perth, the vicinity of the +castle and town rendering it a very convenient arrangement for +mutual support. The Sir Patrick of this history had more than once +led out the men of Perth to battles and skirmishes with the restless +Highland depredators, and with other enemies, foreign and domestic. +True it is, he used sometimes to be weary of the slight and frivolous +complaints unnecessarily brought before him, and in which he was +requested to interest himself. Hence he had sometimes incurred the +charge of being too proud as a nobleman, or too indolent as a man +of wealth, and one who was too much addicted to the pleasures of +the field and the exercise of feudal hospitality, to bestir himself +upon all and every occasion when the Fair Town would have desired +his active interference. But, notwithstanding that this occasioned +some slight murmuring, the citizens, upon any serious cause of +alarm, were wont to rally around their provost, and were warmly +supported by him both in council and action. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Within the bounds of Annandale +The gentle Johnstones ride; +They have been there a thousand years, +A thousand more they'll bide. + +Old Ballad. + + +The character and quality of Sir Patrick Charteris, the Provost of +Perth, being such as we have sketched in the last chapter, let us +now return to the deputation which was in the act of rendezvousing +at the East Port, in order to wait upon that dignitary with their +complaints at Kinfauns. + +And first appeared Simon Glover, on a pacing palfrey, which had +sometimes enjoyed the honour of bearing the fairer person as well +as the lighter weight of his beautiful daughter. His cloak was +muffled round the lower part of his face, as a sign to his friends +not to interrupt him by any questions while he passed through the +streets, and partly, perhaps, on account of the coldness of the +weather. The deepest anxiety was seated on his brow, as if the more +he meditated on the matter he was engaged in, the more difficult +and perilous it appeared. He only greeted by silent gestures his +friends as they came to the rendezvous. + +A strong black horse, of the old Galloway breed, of an under size, +and not exceeding fourteen hands, but high shouldered, strong +limbed, well coupled, and round barrelled, bore to the East Port +the gallant smith. A judge of the animal might see in his eye a +spark of that vicious temper which is frequently the accompaniment +of the form that is most vigorous and enduring; but the weight, the +hand, and the seat of the rider, added to the late regular exercise +of a long journey, had subdued his stubbornness for the present. +He was accompanied by the honest bonnet maker, who being, as the +reader is aware, a little round man, and what is vulgarly called +duck legged, had planted himself like a red pincushion (for he +was wrapped in a scarlet cloak, over which he had slung a hawking +pouch), on the top of a great saddle, which he might be said rather +to be perched upon than to bestride. The saddle and the man were +girthed on the ridge bone of a great trampling Flemish mare, with +a nose turned up in the air like a camel, a huge fleece of hair at +each foot, and every hoof full as large in circumference as a frying +pan. The contrast between the beast and the rider was so extremely +extraordinary, that, whilst chance passengers contented themselves +with wondering how he got up, his friends were anticipating with +sorrow the perils which must attend his coming down again; for the +high seated horseman's feet did not by any means come beneath the +laps of the saddle. He had associated himself to the smith, whose +motions he had watched for the purpose of joining him; for it +was Oliver Proudfute's opinion that men of action showed to most +advantage when beside each other; and he was delighted when some wag +of the lower class had gravity enough to cry out, without laughing +outright: "There goes the pride of Perth--there go the slashing +craftsmen, the jolly Smith of the Wynd and the bold bonnet maker!" + +It is true, the fellow who gave this all hail thrust his tongue +in his cheek to some scapegraces like himself; but as the bonnet +maker did not see this byplay, he generously threw him a silver +penny to encourage his respect for martialists. This munificence +occasioned their being followed by a crowd of boys, laughing and +hallooing, until Henry Smith, turning back, threatened to switch +the foremost of them--a resolution which they did not wait to +see put in execution. + +"Here are we the witnesses," said the little man on the large horse, +as they joined Simon Glover at the East Port; "but where are they +that should back us? Ah, brother Henry! authority is a load for an +ass rather than a spirited horse: it would but clog the motions of +such young fellows as you and me." + +"I could well wish to see you bear ever so little of that same +weight, worthy Master Proudfute," replied Henry Gow, "were it but +to keep you firm in the saddle; for you bounce aloft as if you were +dancing a jig on your seat, without any help from your legs." + +"Ay--ay; I raise myself in my stirrups to avoid the jolting. She +is cruelly hard set this mare of mine; but she has carried me in +field and forest, and through some passages that were something +perilous, so Jezabel and I part not. I call her Jezabel, after the +Princess of Castile." + +"Isabel, I suppose you mean," answered the smith. + +"Ay--Isabel, or Jezabel--all the same, you know. But here comes +Bailie Craigdallie at last, with that poor, creeping, cowardly +creature the pottingar. They have brought two town officers with +their partizans, to guard their fair persons, I suppose. If there +is one thing I hate more than another, it is such a sneaking varlet +as that Dwining." + +"Have a care he does not hear you say so," said the smith, "I tell +thee, bonnet maker, that there is more danger in yonder slight +wasted anatomy than in twenty stout fellows like yourself." + +"Pshaw! Bully Smith, you are but jesting with me," said Oliver, +softening his voice, however, and looking towards the pottingar, +as if to discover in what limb or lineament of his wasted face and +form lay any appearance of the menaced danger; and his examination +reassuring him, he answered boldly: "Blades and bucklers, man, I +would stand the feud of a dozen such as Dwining. What could he do +to any man with blood in his veins?" + +"He could give him a dose of physic," answered the smith drily. + +They had no time for further colloquy, for Bailie Craigdallie +called to them to take the road to Kinfauns, and himself showed +the example. As they advanced at a leisurely pace, the discourse +turned on the reception which they were to expect from their provost, +and the interest which he was likely to take in the aggression which +they complained of. The glover seemed particularly desponding, and +talked more than once in a manner which implied a wish that they +would yet consent to let the matter rest. He did not speak out very +plainly, however, fearful, perhaps, of the malignant interpretation +which might be derived from any appearance of his flinching from +the assertion of his daughter's reputation. Dwining seemed to agree +with him in opinion, but spoke more cautiously than in the morning. + +"After all," said the bailie, "when I think of all the propines +and good gifts which have passed from the good town to my Lord +Provost's, I cannot think he will be backward to show himself. More +than one lusty boat, laden with Bordeaux wine, has left the South +Shore to discharge its burden under the Castle of Kinfauns. I have +some right to speak of that, who was the merchant importer." + +"And," said Dwining, with his squeaking voice, "I could speak +of delicate confections, curious comfits, loaves of wastel bread, +and even cakes of that rare and delicious condiment which men call +sugar, that have gone thither to help out a bridal banquet, or +a kirstening feast, or suchlike. But, alack, Bailie Craigdallie, +wine is drunk, comfits are eaten, and the gift is forgotten when +the flavour is past away. Alas! neighbour, the banquet of last +Christmas is gone like the last year's snow." + +"But there have been gloves full of gold pieces," said the magistrate. + +"I should know that who wrought them," said Simon, whose professional +recollections still mingled with whatever else might occupy his +mind. "One was a hawking glove for my lady. I made it something +wide. Her ladyship found no fault, in consideration of the intended +lining." + +"Well, go to," said Bailie Craigdallie, "the less I lie; and if +these are not to the fore, it is the provost's fault, and not the +town's: they could neither be eat nor drunk in the shape in which +he got them." + +"I could speak of a brave armour too," said the smith; "but, cogan +na schie! [Peace or war, I care not!] as John Highlandman says-- +I think the knight of Kinfauns will do his devoir by the burgh in +peace or war; and it is needless to be reckoning the town's good +deeds till we see him thankless for them." + +"So say I," cried our friend Proudfute, from the top of his mare. +"We roystering blades never bear so base a mind as to count for +wine and walnuts with a friend like Sir Patrick Charteris. Nay, +trust me, a good woodsman like Sir Patrick will prize the right +of hunting and sporting over the lands of the burgh as an high +privilege, and one which, his Majesty the King's Grace excepted, +is neither granted to lord nor loon save to our provost alone." + +As the bonnet maker spoke, there was heard on the left hand the +cry of, "So so--waw waw--haw," being the shout of a falconer +to his hawk. + +"Methinks yonder is a fellow using the privilege you mention, who, +from his appearance, is neither king nor provost," said the smith. + +"Ay, marry, I see him," said the bonnet maker, who imagined the +occasion presented a prime opportunity to win honour. "Thou and I, +jolly smith, will prick towards him and put him to the question." + +"Have with you, then," cried the smith; and his companion spurred +his mare and went off, never doubting that Gow was at his heels. + +But Craigdallie caught Henry's horse by the reins. "Stand fast by +the standard," he said; "let us see the luck of our light horseman. +If he procures himself a broken pate he will be quieter for the +rest of the day." + +"From what I already see," said the smith, "he may easily come by +such a boon. Yonder fellow, who stops so impudently to look at us, +as if he were engaged in the most lawful sport in the world--I +guess him, by his trotting hobbler, his rusty head piece with the +cock's feather, and long two handed sword, to be the follower of +some of the southland lords--men who live so near the Southron, +that the black jack is never off their backs, and who are as free +of their blows as they are light in their fingers." + +Whilst they were thus speculating on the issue of the rencounter +the valiant bonnet maker began to pull up Jezabel, in order that +the smith, who he still concluded was close behind, might overtake +him, and either advance first or at least abreast of himself. But +when he saw him at a hundred yards distance, standing composedly +with the rest of the group, the flesh of the champion, like that +of the old Spanish general, began to tremble, in anticipation of +the dangers into which his own venturous spirit was about to involve +it. Yet the consciousness of being countenanced by the neighbourhood +of so many friends, the hopes that the appearance of such odds +must intimidate the single intruder, and the shame of abandoning +an enterprise in which he had volunteered, and when so many persons +must witness his disgrace, surmounted the strong inclination which +prompted him to wheel Jezabel to the right about, and return to +the friends whose protection he had quitted, as fast as her legs +could carry them. He accordingly continued his direction towards +the stranger, who increased his alarm considerably by putting his +little nag in motion, and riding to meet him at a brisk trot. On +observing this apparently offensive movement, our hero looked over +his left shoulder more than once, as if reconnoitring the ground +for a retreat, and in the mean while came to a decided halt. But the +Philistine was upon him ere the bonnet maker could decide whether +to fight or fly, and a very ominous looking Philistine he was. His +figure was gaunt and lathy, his visage marked by two or three ill +favoured scars, and the whole man had much the air of one accustomed +to say, "Stand and deliver," to a true man. + +This individual began the discourse by exclaiming, in tones as +sinister as his looks, "The devil catch you for a cuckoo, why do +you ride across the moor to spoil my sport?" + +"Worthy stranger," said our friend, in the tone of pacific +remonstrance, "I am Oliver Proudfute, a burgess of Perth, and a +man of substance; and yonder is the worshipful Adam Craigdallie, +the oldest bailie of the burgh, with the fighting Smith of the Wynd, +and three or four armed men more, who desire to know your name, +and how you come to take your pleasure over these lands belonging +to the burgh of Perth; although, natheless, I will answer for +them, it is not their wish to quarrel with a gentleman, or stranger +for any accidental trespass; only it is their use and wont not to +grant such leave, unless it is duly asked; and--and--therefore +I desire to know your name, worthy sir." + +The grim and loathly aspect with which the falconer had regarded +Oliver Proudfute during his harangue had greatly disconcerted him, +and altogether altered the character of the inquiry which, with +Henry Gow to back him, he would probably have thought most fitting +for the occasion. + +The stranger replied to it, modified as it was, with a most +inauspicious grin, which the scars of his visage made appear still +more repulsive. "You want to know my name? My name is the Devil's +Dick of Hellgarth, well known in Annandale for a gentle Johnstone. +I follow the stout Laird of Wamphray, who rides with his kinsman +the redoubted Lord of Johnstone, who is banded with the doughty +Earl of Douglas; and the earl and the lord, and the laird and I, +the esquire, fly our hawks where we find our game, and ask no man +whose ground we ride over." + +"I will do your message, sir," replied Oliver Proudfute, meekly +enough; for he began to be very desirous to get free of the embassy +which he had so rashly undertaken, and was in the act of turning +his horse's head, when the Annandale man added: + +"And take you this to boot, to keep you in mind that you met the +Devil's Dick, and to teach you another time to beware how you spoil +the sport of any one who wears the flying spur on his shoulder." + +With these words he applied two or three smart blows of his riding +rod upon the luckless bonnet maker's head and person. Some of them +lighted upon Jezabel, who, turning sharply round, laid her rider +upon the moor, and galloped back towards the party of citizens. + +Proudfute, thus overthrown, began to cry for assistance in no very +manly voice, and almost in the same breath to whimper for mercy; +for his antagonist, dismounting almost as soon as he fell, offered +a whinger, or large wood knife, to his throat, while he rifled the +pockets of the unlucky citizen, and even examined his hawking bag, +swearing two or three grisly oaths, that he would have what it +contained, since the wearer had interrupted his sport. He pulled +the belt rudely off, terrifying the prostrate bonnet maker still +more by the regardless violence which he used, as, instead of taking +the pains to unbuckle the strap, he drew till the fastening gave +way. But apparently it contained nothing to his mind. He threw it +carelessly from him, and at the same time suffered the dismounted +cavalier to rise, while he himself remounted his hobbler, and looked +towards the rest of Oliver's party, who were now advancing. + +When they had seen their delegate overthrown, there was some laughter; +so much had the vaunting humor of the bonnet maker prepared his +friends to rejoice when, as Henry Smith termed it, they saw the +Oliver meet with a Rowland. But when the bonnet maker's adversary +was seen to bestride him, and handle him in the manner described, +the armourer could hold out no longer. + +"Please you, good Master Bailie, I cannot endure to see our +townsman beaten and rifled, and like to be murdered before us all. +It reflects upon the Fair Town, and if it is neighbour Proudfute's +misfortune, it is our shame. I must to his rescue." + +"We will all go to his rescue," answered Bailie Craigdallie; "but +let no man strike without order from me. We have more feuds on our +hands, it is to be feared, than we have strength to bring to good +end. And therefore I charge you all, more especially you, Henry +of the Wynd, in the name of the Fair City, that you make no stroke +but in self defence." + +They all advanced, therefore, in a body; and the appearance of +such a number drove the plunderer from his booty. He stood at gaze, +however, at some distance, like the wolf, which, though it retreats +before the dogs, cannot be brought to absolute flight. + +Henry, seeing this state of things, spurred his horse and advanced +far before the rest of the party, up towards the scene of Oliver +Proudfute's misfortune. His first task was to catch Jezabel by +the flowing rein, and his next to lead her to meet her discomfited +master, who was crippling towards him, his clothes much soiled +with his fall, his eyes streaming with tears, from pain as well as +mortification, and altogether exhibiting an aspect so unlike the +spruce and dapper importance of his ordinary appearance, that the +honest smith felt compassion for the little man, and some remorse +at having left him exposed to such disgrace. All men, I believe, +enjoy an ill natured joke. The difference is, that an ill natured +person can drink out to the very dregs the amusement which it +affords, while the better moulded mind soon loses the sense of the +ridiculous in sympathy for the pain of the sufferer. + +"Let me pitch you up to your saddle again, neighbour," said the +smith, dismounting at the same time, and assisting Oliver to scramble +into his war saddle, as a monkey might have done. + +"May God forgive you, neighbour Smith, for not backing of me! I +would not have believed in it, though fifty credible witnesses had +sworn it of you." + +Such were the first words, spoken in sorrow more than anger, by +which the dismayed Oliver vented his feelings. + +"The bailie kept hold of my horse by the bridle; and besides," +Henry continued, with a smile, which even his compassion could not +suppress, "I thought you would have accused me of diminishing your +honour, if I brought you aid against a single man. But cheer up! +the villain took foul odds of you, your horse not being well at +command." + +"That is true--that is true," said Oliver, eagerly catching at +the apology. + +"And yonder stands the faitour, rejoicing at the mischief he has +done, and triumphing in your overthrow, like the king in the romance, +who played upon the fiddle whilst a city was burning. Come thou +with me, and thou shalt see how we will handle him. Nay, fear not +that I will desert thee this time." + +So saying, he caught Jezabel by the rein, and galloping alongside +of her, without giving Oliver time to express a negative, he rushed +towards the Devil's Dick, who had halted on the top of a rising +ground at some distance. The gentle Johnstone, however, either +that he thought the contest unequal, or that he had fought enough +for the day, snapping his fingers and throwing his hand out with +an air of defiance, spurred his horse into a neighbouring bog, +through which he seemed to flutter like a wild duck, swinging +his lure round his head, and whistling to his hawk all the while, +though any other horse and rider must have been instantly bogged +up to the saddle girths. + +"There goes a thoroughbred moss trooper," said the smith. "That +fellow will fight or flee as suits his humor, and there is no use +to pursue him, any more than to hunt a wild goose. He has got your +purse, I doubt me, for they seldom leave off till they are full +handed." + +"Ye--ye--yes," said Proudfute, in a melancholy tone, "he has got +my purse; but there is less matter since he hath left the hawking +bag." + +"Nay, the hawking bag had been an emblem of personal victory, to +be sure--a trophy, as the minstrels call it." + +"There is more in it than that, friend," said Oliver, significantly. + +"Why, that is well, neighbour: I love to hear you speak in your own +scholarly tone again. Cheer up, you have seen the villain's back, +and regained the trophies you had lost when taken at advantage." + +"Ah, Henry Gow--Henry Gow--" said the bonnet maker, and stopped +short with a deep sigh, nearly amounting to a groan. + +"What is the matter?" asked his friend--"what is it you vex +yourself about now?" + +"I have some suspicion, my dearest friend, Henry Smith, that the +villain fled for fear of you, not of me." + +"Do not think so," replied the armourer: "he saw two men and fled, +and who can tell whether he fled for one or the other? Besides, +he knows by experience your strength and activity: we all saw how +you kicked and struggled when you were on the ground." + +"Did I?" said poor Proudfute. "I do not remember it, but I know +it is my best point: I am a strong dog in the loins. But did they +all see it?" + +"All as much as I," said the smith, smothering an inclination to +laughter. + +"But thou wilt remind them of it?" + +"Be assured I will," answered Henry, "and of thy desperate rally +even now. Mark what I say to Bailie Craigdallie, and make the best +of it." + +"It is not that I require any evidence in thy favour, for I am as +brave by nature as most men in Perth; but only--" Here the man of +valour paused. + +"But only what?" inquired the stout armourer. + +"But only I am afraid of being killed. To leave my pretty wife and +my young family, you know, would be a sad change, Smith. You will +know this when it is your own case, and will feel abated in courage." + +"It is like that I may," said the armourer, musing. + +"Then I am so accustomed to the use of arms, and so well breathed, +that few men can match me. It's all here," said the little man, +expanding his breast like a trussed fowl, and patting himself with +his hands--"here is room for all the wind machinery." + +"I dare say you are long breathed--long winded; at least your +speech bewrays--" + +"My speech! You are a wag--But I have got the stern post of a +dromond brought up the river from Dundee." + +"The stern post of a Drummond!" exclaimed the armourer; "conscience, +man, it will put you in feud with the whole clan--not the least +wrathful in the country, as I take it." + +"St. Andrew, man, you put me out! I mean a dromond--that is, a +large ship. I have fixed this post in my yard, and had it painted +and carved something like a soldan or Saracen, and with him I breathe +myself, and will wield my two handed sword against him, thrust or +point, for an hour together." + +"That must make you familiar with the use of your weapon," said +the smith. + +"Ay, marry does it; and sometimes I will place you a bonnet--an +old one, most likely--on my soldan's head, and cleave it with +such a downright blow that in troth, the infidel has but little of +his skull remaining to hit at." + +"That is unlucky, for you will lose your practice," said Henry. +"But how say you, bonnet maker? I will put on my head piece and +corselet one day, and you shall hew at me, allowing me my broadsword +to parry and pay back? Eh, what say you?" + +"By no manner of means, my dear friend. I should do you too much +evil; besides, to tell you the truth, I strike far more freely at +a helmet or bonnet when it is set on my wooden soldan; then I am +sure to fetch it down. But when there is a plume of feathers in it +that nod, and two eyes gleaming fiercely from under the shadow of +the visor, and when the whole is dancing about here and there, I +acknowledge it puts out my hand of fence." + +"So, if men would but stand stock still like your soldan, you would +play the tyrant with them, Master Proudfute?" + +"In time, and with practice, I conclude I might," answered Oliver. +"But here we come up with the rest of them. Bailie Craigdallie +looks angry, but it is not his kind of anger that frightens me." + +You are to recollect, gentle reader, that as soon as the bailie +and those who attended him saw that the smith had come up to the +forlorn bonnet maker, and that the stranger had retreated, they gave +themselves no trouble about advancing further to his assistance, +which they regarded as quite ensured by the presence of the redoubted +Henry Gow. They had resumed their straight road to Kinfauns, desirous +that nothing should delay the execution of their mission. As some +time had elapsed ere the bonnet maker and the smith rejoined the +party, Bailie Craigdallie asked them, and Henry Smith in particular, +what they meant by dallying away precious time by riding uphill +after the falconer. + +"By the mass, it was not my fault, Master Bailie," replied the +smith. "If ye will couple up an ordinary Low Country greyhound +with a Highland wolf dog, you must not blame the first of them for +taking the direction in which it pleases the last to drag him on. +It was so, and not otherwise, with my neighbour Oliver Proudfute. +He no sooner got up from the ground, but he mounted his mare like +a flash of lightning, and, enraged at the unknightly advantage which +yonder rascal had taken of his stumbling horse, he flew after him +like a dromedary. I could not but follow, both to prevent a second +stumble and secure our over bold friend and champion from the chance +of some ambush at the top of the hill. But the villain, who is a +follower of some Lord of the Marches, and wears a winged spur for +his cognizance, fled from our neighbour like fire from flint." + +The senior bailie of Perth listened with surprise to the legend +which it had pleased Gow to circulate; for, though not much caring +for the matter, he had always doubted the bonnet maker's romancing +account of his own exploits, which hereafter he must hold as in +some degree orthodox. + +The shrewd old glover looked closer into the matter. "You will +drive the poor bonnet maker mad," he whispered to Henry, "and set +him a-ringing his clapper as if he were a town bell on a rejoicing +day, when for order and decency it were better he were silent." + +"Oh, by Our Lady, father," replied the smith, "I love the poor +little braggadocio, and could not think of his sitting rueful and +silent in the provost's hall, while all the rest of them, and in +especial that venomous pottingar, were telling their mind." + +"Thou art even too good natured a fellow, Henry," answered Simon. +"But mark the difference betwixt these two men. The harmless little +bonnet maker assumes the airs of a dragon, to disguise his natural +cowardice; while the pottingar wilfully desires to show himself +timid, poor spirited, and humble, to conceal the danger of his temper. +The adder is not the less deadly that he creeps under a stone. I +tell thee, son Henry, that, for all his sneaking looks and timorous +talking, this wretched anatomy loves mischief more than he fears +danger. But here we stand in front of the provost's castle; and a +lordly place is Kinfauns, and a credit to the city it is, to have +the owner of such a gallant castle for its chief magistrate." + +"A goodly fortalice, indeed," said the smith, looking at the broad +winding Tay, as it swept under the bank on which the castle stood, +like its modern successor, and seemed the queen of the valley, +although, on the opposite side of the river, the strong walls of +Elcho appeared to dispute the pre-eminence. Elcho, however, was +in that age a peaceful nunnery, and the walls with which it was +surrounded were the barriers of secluded vestals, not the bulwarks +of an armed garrison. + +"'Tis a brave castle," said the armourer, again looking at the +towers of Kinfauns, "and the breastplate and target of the bonny +course of the Tay. It were worth lipping a good blade, before wrong +were offered to it." + +The porter of Kinfauns, who knew from a distance the persons and +characters of the party, had already opened the courtyard gate +for their entrance, and sent notice to Sir Patrick Charteris that +the eldest bailie of Perth, with some other good citizens, were +approaching the castle. The good knight, who was getting ready for +a hawking party, heard the intimation with pretty much the same +feelings that the modern representative of a burgh hears of the +menaced visitation of a party of his worthy electors, at a time +rather unseasonable for their reception. That is, he internally +devoted the intruders to Mahound and Termagaunt, and outwardly gave +orders to receive them with all decorum and civility; commanded +the sewers to bring hot venison steaks and cold baked meats into +the knightly hall with all despatch, and the butler to broach his +casks, and do his duty; for if the Fair City of Perth sometimes +filled his cellar, her citizens were always equally ready to assist +at emptying his flagons. + +The good burghers were reverently marshalled into the hall, where the +knight, who was in a riding habit, and booted up to the middle of +his thighs, received them with a mixture of courtesy and patronising +condescension; wishing them all the while at the bottom of the Tay, +on account of the interruption their arrival gave to his proposed +amusement of the morning. He met them in the midst of the hall, +with bare head and bonnet in hand, and some such salutation as the +following: + +"Ha, my Master Eldest Bailie, and you, worthy Simon Glover, fathers +of the Fair City, and you, my learned pottingar, and you, stout +smith, and my slashing bonnet maker too, who cracks more skulls +than he covers, how come I to have the pleasure of seeing so many +friends so early? I was thinking to see my hawks fly, and your +company will make the sport more pleasant--(Aside, I trust in +Our Lady they may break their necks!)--that is, always, unless +the city have any commands to lay on me. Butler Gilbert, despatch, +thou knave. But I hope you have no more grave errand than to try +if the malvoisie holds its flavour?" + +The city delegates answered to their provost's civilities by +inclinations and congees, more or less characteristic, of which the +pottingar's bow was the lowest and the smith's the least ceremonious. +Probably he knew his own value as a fighting man upon occasion. To +the general compliment the elder bailie replied. + +"Sir Patrick Charteris, and our noble Lord Provost," said Craigdallie, +gravely, "had our errand been to enjoy the hospitality with which +we have been often regaled here, our manners would have taught us +to tarry till your lordship had invited us, as on other occasions. +And as to hawking, we have had enough on't for one morning; since +a wild fellow, who was flying a falcon hard by on the moor, unhorsed +and cudgelled our worthy friend Oliver Bonnet Maker, or Proudfute, +as some men call him, merely because he questioned him, in your +honour's name, and the town of Perth's, who or what he was that +took so much upon him." + +"And what account gave he of himself?" said the provost. "By St. +John! I will teach him to forestall my sport!" + +"So please your lordship," said the bonnet maker, "he did take +me at disadvantage. But I got on horseback again afterwards, and +pricked after him gallantly. He calls himself Richard the Devil." + +"How, man! he that the rhymes and romances are made on?" said the +provost. "I thought that smaik's name had been Robert." + +"I trow they be different, my lord. I only graced this fellow with +the full title, for indeed he called himself the Devil's Dick, and +said he was a Johnstone, and a follower of the lord of that name. +But I put him back into the bog, and recovered my hawking bag, +which he had taken when I was at disadvantage." + +Sir Patrick paused for an instant. "We have heard," said he, "of +the Lord of Johnstone, and of his followers. Little is to be had +by meddling with them. Smith, tell me, did you endure this?" + +"Ay, faith did I, Sir Patrick, having command from my betters not +to help." + +"Well, if thou satst down with it," said the provost, "I see not +why we should rise up; especially as Master Oliver Proudfute, though +taken at advantage at first, has, as he has told us; recovered +his reputation and that of the burgh. But here comes the wine at +length. Fill round to my good friends and guests till the wine leap +over the cup. Prosperity to St. Johnston, and a merry welcome to +you all, my honest friends! And now sit you to eat a morsel, for +the sun is high up, and it must be long since you thrifty men have +broken your fast." + +"Before we eat, my Lord Provost," said the bailie, "let us tell you +the pressing cause of our coming, which as yet we have not touched +upon." + +"Nay, prithee, bailie," said the provost, "put it off till thou hast +eaten. Some complaint against the rascally jackmen and retainers +of the nobles, for playing at football on the streets of the burgh, +or some such goodly matter." + +"No, my lord," said Craigdallie, stoutly and firmly. "It is the +jackmen's masters of whom we complain, for playing at football with +the honour of our families, and using as little ceremony with our +daughters' sleeping chambers as if they were in a bordel at Paris. +A party of reiving night walkers--courtiers and men of rank, as +there is but too much reason to believe--attempted to scale the +windows of Simon Glover's house last night; they stood in their +defence with drawn weapons when they were interrupted by Henry +Smith, and fought till they were driven off by the rising of the +citizens." + +"How!" said Sir Patrick, setting down the cup which he was about +to raise to his head. "Cock's body, make that manifest to me, and, +by the soul of Thomas of Longueville, I will see you righted with +my best power, were it to cost me life and land. Who attests this? +Simon Glover, you are held an honest and a cautious man--do you +take the truth of this charge upon your conscience?" + +"My lord," said Simon, "understand I am no willing complainer in +this weighty matter. No damage has arisen, save to the breakers of +the peace themselves. I fear only great power could have encouraged +such lawless audacity; and I were unwilling to put feud between my +native town and some powerful nobleman on my account. But it has +been said that, if I hang back in prosecuting this complaint, it +will be as much as admitting that my daughter expected such a visit, +which is a direct falsehood. Therefore, my lord, I will tell your +lordship what happened, so far as I know, and leave further proceeding +to your wisdom." + +He then told, from point to point, all that he had seen of the +attack. + +Sir Patrick Charteris, listening with much attention, seemed +particularly struck with the escape of the man who had been made +prisoner. + +"Strange," he said, "that you did not secure him when you had him. +Did you not look at him so as to know him again?" + +"I had but the light of a lantern, my Lord Provost; and as to +suffering him to escape, I was alone," said the glover, "and old. +But yet I might have kept him, had I not heard my daughter shriek +in the upper room; and ere I had returned from her chamber the man +had escaped through the garden." + +"Now, armourer, as a true man and a good soldier," said Sir Patrick, +"tell me what you know of this matter." + +Henry Gow, in his own decided style, gave a brief but clear narrative +of the whole affair. + +Honest Proudfute being next called upon, began his statement with +an air of more importance. "Touching this awful and astounding +tumult within the burgh, I cannot altogether, it is true, say with +Henry Gow that I saw the very beginning. But it will not be denied +that I beheld a great part of the latter end, and especially that +I procured the evidence most effectual to convict the knaves." + +"And what is it, man?" said Sir Patrick Charteris. "Never lose time +fumbling and prating about it. What is it?" + +"I have brought your lordship, in this pouch, what one of the rogues +left behind him," said the little man. "It is a trophy which, in +good faith and honest truth, I do confess I won not by the blade, +but I claim the credit of securing it with that presence of mind +which few men possess amidst flashing torches and clashing weapons. +I secured it, my lord, and here it is." + +So saying, he produced, from the hawking pouch already mentioned, +the stiffened hand which had been found on the scene of the skirmish. + +"Nay, bonnet maker," said the provost, "I'll warrant thee man enough +to secure a rogue's hand after it is cut from the body. What do +you look so busily for in your bag?" + +"There should have been--there was--a ring, my lord, which was +on the knave's finger. I fear I have been forgetful, and left it +at home, for I took it off to show to my wife, as she cared not to +look upon the dead hand, as women love not such sights. But yet I +thought I had put it on the finger again. Nevertheless, it must, +I bethink me, be at home. I will ride back for it, and Henry Smith +will trot along with me." + +"We will all trot with thee," said Sir Patrick Charteris, "since I +am for Perth myself. Look you, honest burghers and good neighbours +of Perth; you may have thought me unapt to be moved by light +complaints and trivial breaches of your privileges, such as small +trespasses on your game, the barons' followers playing football in +the street, and suchlike. But, by the soul of Thomas of Longueville, +you shall not find Patrick Charteris slothful in a matter of this +importance. This hand," he continued, holding up the severed joint, +"belongs to one who hath worked no drudgery. We will put it in a +way to be known and claimed of the owner, if his comrades of the +revel have but one spark of honour in them. Hark you, Gerard; get +me some half score of good men instantly to horse, and let them take +jack and spear. Meanwhile, neighbours, if feud arise out of this, +as is most likely, we must come to each other's support. If my poor +house be attacked, how many men will you bring to my support?" + +The burghers looked at Henry Gow, to whom they instinctively turned +when such matters were discussed. + +"I will answer," said he, "for fifty good fellows to be assembled +ere the common bell has rung ten minutes; for a thousand, in the +space of an hour." + +"It is well," answered the gallant provost; "and in the case of +need, I will come to aid the Fair City with such men as I can make. +And now, good friends, let us to horse." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +If I know how to manage these affairs, +Thus thrust disorderly upon my hands, +Never believe me-- + +Richard II. + + +It was early in the afternoon of St. Valentine's Day that the prior +of the Dominicans was engaged in discharge of his duties as confessor +to a penitent of no small importance. This was an elderly man, of +a goodly presence, a florid and healthful cheek, the under part of +which was shaded by a venerable white beard, which descended over +his bosom. The large and clear blue eyes, with the broad expanse +of brow, expressed dignity; but it was of a character which seemed +more accustomed to receive honours voluntarily paid than to enforce +them when they were refused. The good nature of the expression was +so great as to approach to defenceless simplicity or weakness of +character, unfit, it might be inferred, to repel intrusion or subdue +resistance. Amongst the grey locks of this personage was placed a +small circlet or coronet of gold, upon a blue fillet. His beads, +which were large and conspicuous, were of native gold, rudely +enough wrought, but ornamented with Scottish pearls of rare size +and beauty. These were his only ornaments; and a long crimson robe +of silk, tied by a sash of the same colour, formed his attire. +His shrift being finished, he arose heavily from the embroidered +cushion upon which he kneeled during his confession, and, by +the assistance of a crutch headed staff of ebony, moved, lame and +ungracefully, and with apparent pain, to a chair of state, which, +surmounted by a canopy, was placed for his accommodation by the +chimney of the lofty and large apartment. + +This was Robert, third of that name, and the second of the ill +fated family of Stuart who filled the throne of Scotland. He had +many virtues, and was not without talent; but it was his great +misfortune that, like others of his devoted line, his merits +were not of a kind suited to the part which he was called upon to +perform in life. The king of so fierce a people as the Scots then +were ought to have been warlike, prompt, and active, liberal in +rewarding services, strict in punishing crimes, one whose conduct +should make him feared as well as beloved. The qualities of Robert +the Third were the reverse of all these. In youth he had indeed seen +battles; but, without incurring disgrace, he had never manifested the +chivalrous love of war and peril, or the eager desire to distinguish +himself by dangerous achievements, which that age expected from +all who were of noble birth and had claims to authority. + +Besides, his military career was very short. Amidst the tumult of +a tournament, the young Earl of Carrick, such was then his title, +received a kick from the horse of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith, +in consequence of which he was lame for the rest of his life, and +absolutely disabled from taking share either in warfare or in the +military sports and tournaments which were its image. As Robert +had never testified much predilection for violent exertion, he did +not probably much regret the incapacities which exempted him from +these active scenes. But his misfortune, or rather its consequences, +lowered him in the eyes of a fierce nobility and warlike people. +He was obliged to repose the principal charge of his affairs now +in one member, now in another, of his family, sometimes with the +actual rank, and always with the power, of lieutenant general of +the kingdom. His paternal affection would have induced him to use +the assistance of his eldest son, a young man of spirit and talent, +whom in fondness he had created Duke of Rothsay, in order to give +him the present possession of a dignity next to that of the throne. +But the young prince's head was too giddy, and his hand too feeble to +wield with dignity the delegated sceptre. However fond of power, +pleasure was the Prince's favourite pursuit; and the court was +disturbed, and the country scandalised, by the number of fugitive +amours and extravagant revels practised by him who should have set +an example of order and regularity to the youth of the kingdom. + +The license and impropriety of the Duke of Rothsay's conduct was +the more reprehensible in the public view, that he was a married +person; although some, over whom his youth, gaiety, grace, and good +temper had obtained influence, were of opinion that an excuse for +his libertinism might be found in the circumstances of the marriage +itself. They reminded each other that his nuptials were entirely +conducted by his uncle, the Duke of Albany, by whose counsels the +infirm and timid King was much governed at the time, and who had +the character of managing the temper of his brother and sovereign, +so as might be most injurious to the interests and prospects of the +young heir. By Albany's machinations the hand of the heir apparent +was in a manner put up to sale, as it was understood publicly that +the nobleman in Scotland who should give the largest dower to his +daughter might aspire to raise her to the bed of the Duke of Rothsay. + +In the contest for preference which ensued, George Earl of Dunbar +and March, who possessed, by himself or his vassals, a great part +of the eastern frontier, was preferred to other competitors; and +his daughter was, with the mutual goodwill of the young couple, +actually contracted to the Duke of Rothsay. + +But there remained a third party to be consulted, and that was +no other than the tremendous Archibald Earl of Douglas, terrible +alike from the extent of his lands, from the numerous offices and +jurisdictions with which he was invested, and from his personal +qualities of wisdom and valour, mingled with indomitable pride, and +more than the feudal love of vengeance. The Earl was also nearly +related to the throne, having married the eldest daughter of the +reigning monarch. + +After the espousals of the Duke of Rothsay with the Earl of +March's daughter, Douglas, as if he had postponed his share in the +negotiation to show that it could not be concluded with any one but +himself, entered the lists to break off the contract. He tendered +a larger dower with his daughter Marjory than the Earl of March +had proffered; and, secured by his own cupidity and fear of the +Douglas, Albany exerted his influence with the timid monarch till +he was prevailed upon to break the contract with the Earl of March, +and wed his son to Marjory Douglas, a woman whom Rothsay could +not love. No apology was offered to the Earl of March, excepting +that the espousals betwixt the Prince and Elizabeth of Dunbar had +not been approved by the States of Parliament, and that till such +ratification the contract was liable to be broken off. The Earl +deeply resented the wrong done to himself and his daughter, and was +generally understood to study revenge, which his great influence +on the English frontier was likely to place within his power. + +In the mean time, the Duke of Rothsay, incensed at the sacrifice of +his hand and his inclinations to this state intrigue, took his own +mode of venting his displeasure, by neglecting his wife, contemning +his formidable and dangerous father in law, and showing little +respect to the authority of the King himself, and none whatever +to the remonstrances of Albany, his uncle, whom he looked upon as +his confirmed enemy. + +Amid these internal dissensions of his family, which extended +themselves through his councils and administration, introducing +everywhere the baneful effects of uncertainty and disunion, the +feeble monarch had for some time been supported by the counsels of +his queen, Annabella, a daughter of the noble house of Drummond, +gifted with a depth of sagacity and firmness of mind which exercised +some restraint over the levities of a son who respected her, and +sustained on many occasions the wavering resolution of her royal +husband. But after her death the imbecile sovereign resembled +nothing so much as a vessel drifted from her anchors, and tossed +about amidst contending currents. Abstractedly considered, Robert +might be said to doat upon his son, to entertain respect and awe +for the character of his brother Albany, so much more decisive +than his own, to fear the Douglas with a terror which was almost +instinctive; and to suspect the constancy of the bold but fickle +Earl of March. But his feelings towards these various characters +were so mixed and complicated, that from time to time they showed +entirely different from what they really were; and according to +the interest which had been last exerted over his flexible mind, +the King would change from an indulgent to a strict and even cruel +father, from a confiding to a jealous brother, or from a benignant +and bountiful to a grasping and encroaching sovereign. Like the +chameleon, his feeble mind reflected the colour of that firmer character +upon which at the time he reposed for counsel and assistance. And +when he disused the advice of one of his family, and employed the +counsel of another, it was no unwonted thing to see a total change +of measures, equally disrespectable to the character of the King +and dangerous to the safety of the state. + +It followed as a matter of course that the clergy of the Catholic +Church acquired influence over a man whose intentions were so +excellent, but whose resolutions were so infirm. Robert was haunted, +not only with a due sense of the errors he had really committed, +but with the tormenting apprehensions of those peccadilloes which +beset a superstitious and timid mind. It is scarce necessary, +therefore, to add, that the churchmen of various descriptions had +no small influence over this easy tempered prince, though, indeed, +theirs was, at that period, an influence from which few or none +escaped, however resolute and firm of purpose in affairs of a temporal +character. We now return from this long digression, without which +what we have to relate could not perhaps have been well understood. + +The King had moved with ungraceful difficulty to the cushioned chair +which, under a state or canopy, stood prepared for his accommodation, +and upon which he sank down with enjoyment, like an indolent man, +who had been for some time confined to a constrained position. When +seated, the gentle and venerable looks of the good old man showed +benevolence. The prior, who now remained standing opposite to the +royal seat, with an air of deep deference which cloaked the natural +haughtiness of his carriage, was a man betwixt forty and fifty years +of age, but every one of whose hairs still retained their natural +dark colour. Acute features and a penetrating look attested the +talents by which the venerable father had acquired his high station +in the community over which he presided; and, we may add, in the +councils of the kingdom, in whose service they were often exercised. +The chief objects which his education and habits taught him to +keep in view were the extension of the dominion and the wealth of +the church, and the suppression of heresy, both of which he endeavoured +to accomplish by all the means which his situation afforded him. +But he honoured his religion by the sincerity of his own belief, +and by the morality which guided his conduct in all ordinary +situations. The faults of the Prior Anselm, though they led him +into grievous error, and even cruelty, were perhaps rather those +of his age and profession; his virtues were his own. + +"These things done," said the King, "and the lands I have mentioned +secured by my gift to this monastery, you are of opinion, father, +that I stand as much in the good graces of our Holy Mother Church +as to term myself her dutiful son?" + +"Surely, my liege," said the prior; "would to God that all her +children brought to the efficacious sacrament of confession as +deep a sense of their errors, and as much will to make amends for +them. But I speak these comforting words, my liege, not to Robert +King of Scotland, but only to my humble and devout penitent, Robert +Stuart of Carrick." + +"You surprise me, father," answered the King: "I have little check +on my conscience for aught that I have done in my kingly office, +seeing that I use therein less mine own opinion than the advice of +the most wise counsellors." + +"Even therein lieth the danger, my liege," replied the prior. "The +Holy Father recognises in your Grace, in every thought, word, and +action, an obedient vassal of the Holy Church. But there are perverse +counsellors, who obey the instinct of their wicked hearts, while +they abuse the good nature and ductility of their monarch, and, +under colour of serving his temporal interests, take steps which +are prejudicial to those that last to eternity." + +King Robert raised himself upright in his chair, and assumed an air +of authority, which, though it well became him, he did not usually +display. + +"Prior Anselm," he said, "if you have discovered anything in my +conduct, whether as a king or a private individual, which may call +down such censures as your words intimate, it is your duty to speak +plainly, and I command you to do so." + +"My liege, you shall be obeyed," answered the prior, with an inclination +of the body. Then raising himself up, and assuming the dignity of +his rank in the church, he said, "Hear from me the words of our Holy +Father the Pope, the successor of St. Peter, to whom have descended +the keys, both to bind and to unloose. 'Wherefore, O Robert of +Scotland, hast thou not received into the see of St. Andrews Henry +of Wardlaw, whom the Pontiff hath recommended to fill that see? +Why dost thou make profession with thy lips of dutiful service to +the Church, when thy actions proclaim the depravity and disobedience +of thy inward soul? Obedience is better than sacrifice." + +"Sir prior," said the monarch, bearing himself in a manner not +unbecoming his lofty rank, "we may well dispense with answering +you upon this subject, being a matter which concerns us and the +estates of our kingdom, but does not affect our private conscience." + +"Alas," said the prior, "and whose conscience will it concern at +the last day? Which of your belted lords or wealthy burgesses will +then step between their king and the penalty which he has incurred +by following of their secular policy in matters ecclesiastical? +Know, mighty king, that, were all the chivalry of thy realm drawn +up to shield thee from the red levin bolt, they would be consumed +like scorched parchment before the blaze of a furnace." + +"Good father prior," said the King, on whose timorous conscience this +kind of language seldom failed to make an impression, "you surely +argue over rigidly in this matter. It was during my last indisposition, +while the Earl of Douglas held, as lieutenant general, the regal +authority in Scotland, that the obstruction to the reception of +the Primate unhappily arose. Do not, therefore, tax me with what +happened when I was unable to conduct the affairs of the kingdom, +and compelled to delegate my power to another." + +"To your subject, sire, you have said enough," replied the prior. +"But, if the impediment arose during the lieutenancy of the Earl +of Douglas, the legate of his Holiness will demand wherefore it +has not been instantly removed, when the King resumed in his royal +hands the reins of authority? The Black Douglas can do much-- +more perhaps than a subject should have power to do in the kingdom +of his sovereign; but he cannot stand betwixt your Grace and your +own conscience, or release you from the duties to the Holy Church +which your situation as a king imposes upon you." + +"Father," said Robert, somewhat impatiently, "you are over peremptory +in this matter, and ought at least to wait a reasonable season, +until we have time to consider of some remedy. Such disputes have +happened repeatedly in the reigns of our predecessors; and our royal +and blessed ancestor, St. David, did not resign his privileges as +a monarch without making a stand in their defence, even though he +was involved in arguments with the Holy Father himself." + +"And therein was that great and good king neither holy nor saintly," +said the prior "and therefore was he given to be a rout and a spoil +to his enemies, when he raised his sword against the banners of +St. Peter, and St. Paul, and St. John of Beverley, in the war, as +it is still called, of the Standard. Well was it for him that, like +his namesake, the son of Jesse, his sin was punished upon earth, +and not entered against him at the long and dire day of accounting." + +"Well, good prior--well--enough of this for the present. The +Holy See shall, God willing, have no reason to complain of me. +I take Our Lady to witness, I would not for the crown I wear take +the burden of wronging our Mother Church. We have ever feared that +the Earl of Douglas kept his eyes too much fixed on the fame and +the temporalities of this frail and passing life to feel altogether +as he ought the claims that refer to a future world." + +"It is but lately," said the prior, "that he hath taken up forcible +quarters in the monastery of Aberbrothock, with his retinue of a +thousand followers; and the abbot is compelled to furnish him with +all he needs for horse and man, which the Earl calls exercising the +hospitality which he hath a right to expect from the foundation to +which his ancestors were contributors. Certain, it were better to +return to the Douglas his lands than to submit to such exaction, +which more resembles the masterful license of Highland thiggers and +sorners [sturdy beggars], than the demeanour of a Christian baron." + +"The Black Douglasses," said the King, with a sigh, "are a race +which will not be said nay. But, father prior, I am myself, it +may be, an intruder of this kind; for my sojourning hath been long +among you, and my retinue, though far fewer than the Douglas's, +are nevertheless enough to cumber you for their daily maintenance; +and though our order is to send out purveyors to lessen your charge +as much as may be, yet if there be inconvenience, it were fitting +we should remove in time." + +"Now, Our Lady forbid!" said the prior, who, if desirous of power, +had nothing meanly covetous in his temper, but was even magnificent +in his generous kindness; "certainly the Dominican convent can +afford to her sovereign the hospitality which the house offers to +every wanderer of whatever condition who will receive it at the +hands of the poor servants of our patron. No, my royal liege; come +with ten times your present train, they shall neither want a grain +of oats, a pile of straw, a morsel of bread, nor an ounce of food +which our convent can supply them. It is one thing to employ the +revenues of the church, which are so much larger than monks ought +to need or wish for, in the suitable and dutiful reception of your +royal Majesty, and another to have it wrenched from us by the hands +of rude and violent men, whose love of rapine is only limited by +the extent of their power." + +"It is well, good prior," said the King; "and now to turn our +thoughts for an instant from state affairs, can thy reverence inform +us how the good citizens of Perth have begun their Valentine's Day? +Gallantly, and merrily, and peacefully; I hope." + +"For gallantly, my liege, I know little of such qualities. For +peacefully, there were three or four men, two cruelly wounded, +came this morning before daylight to ask the privilege of girth and +sanctuary, pursued by a hue and cry of citizens in their shirts, +with clubs, bills, Lochaber axes, and two handed swords, crying 'Kill +and slay,' each louder than another. Nay, they were not satisfied +when our porter and watch told them that those they pursued had +taken refuge in the galilee of the church, but continued for some +minutes clamouring and striking upon the postern door, demanding +that the men who had offended should be delivered up to them. I +was afraid their rude noise might have broken your Majesty's rest, +and raised some surprise." + +"My rest might have been broken," said the monarch; "but that +sounds of violence should have occasioned surprise--Alas! reverend +father, there is in Scotland only one place where the shriek of +the victim and threats of the oppressor are not heard, and that, +father, is--the grave." + +The prior stood in respectful silence, sympathising with the +feelings of a monarch whose tenderness of heart suited so ill with +the condition and manners of his people. + +"And what became of the fugitives?" asked Robert, after a minute's +pause. + +"Surely, sire," said the prior, "they were dismissed, as they +desired to be, before daylight; and after we had sent out to be +assured that no ambush of their enemies watched them in the vicinity, +they went their way in peace." + +"You know nothing," inquired the King, "who the men were, or the +cause of their taking refuge with you?" + +"The cause," said the prior, "was a riot with the townsmen; but how +arising is not known to us. The custom of our house is to afford +twenty-four hours of uninterrupted refuge in the sanctuary of St. +Dominic, without asking any question at the poor unfortunates who +have sought relief there. If they desire to remain for a longer +space, the cause of their resorting to sanctuary must be put upon +the register of the convent; and, praised be our holy saint, many +persons escape the weight of the law by this temporary protection, +whom, did we know the character of their crimes, we might have found +ourselves obliged to render up to their pursuers and persecutors." + +As the prior spoke, a dim idea occurred to the monarch, that +the privilege of sanctuary thus peremptorily executed must prove +a severe interruption to the course of justice through his realm. +But he repelled the feeling, as if it had been a suggestion of +Satan, and took care that not a single word should escape to betray +to the churchman that such a profane thought had ever occupied his +bosom; on the contrary, he hasted to change the subject. + +"The sun," he said, "moves slowly on the index. After the painful +information you have given me, I expected the Lords of my Council +ere now, to take order with the ravelled affairs of this unhappy +riot. Evil was the fortune which gave me rule over a people among +whom it seems to me I am in my own person the only man who desires +rest and tranquillity!" + +"The church always desires peace and tranquillity," added the +prior, not suffering even so general a proposition to escape the +poor king's oppressed mind without insisting on a saving clause +for the church's honour. + +"We meant nothing else," said Robert. "But, father prior, you will +allow that the church, in quelling strife, as is doubtless her +purpose, resembles the busy housewife, who puts in motion the dust +which she means to sweep away." + +To this remark the prior would have made some reply, but the door +of the apartment was opened, and a gentleman usher announced the +Duke of Albany. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +Gentle friend, +Chide not her mirth, who was sad yesterday, +And may be so tomorrow. + +JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +The Duke of Albany was, like his royal brother, named Robert. The +Christian name of the latter had been John until he was called to +the throne; when the superstition of the times observed that the +name had been connected with misfortune in the lives and reigns +of John of England, John of France, and John Baliol of Scotland. +It was therefore agreed that, to elude the bad omen, the new king +should assume the name of Robert, rendered dear to Scotland by +the recollections of Robert Bruce. We mention this to account for +the existence of two brothers of the same Christian name in one +family, which was not certainly an usual occurrence, more than at +the present day. + +Albany, also an aged man, was not supposed to be much more disposed +for warlike enterprise than the King himself. But if he had not +courage, he had wisdom to conceal and cloak over his want of that +quality, which, once suspected, would have ruined all the plans +which his ambition had formed. He had also pride enough to supply, +in extremity, the want of real valour, and command enough over +his nerves to conceal their agitation. In other respects, he was +experienced in the ways of courts, calm, cool, and crafty, fixing +upon the points which he desired to attain, while they were yet far +removed, and never losing sight of them, though the winding paths +in which he trode might occasionally seem to point to a different +direction. In his person he resembled the King, for he was noble and +majestic both in stature and countenance. But he had the advantage +of his elder brother, in being unencumbered with any infirmity, +and in every respect lighter and more active. His dress was rich +and grave, as became his age and rank, and, like his royal brother, +he wore no arms of any kind, a case of small knives supplying at +his girdle the place usually occupied by a dagger in absence of a +sword. + +At the Duke's entrance the prior, after making an obeisance, +respectfully withdrew to a recess in the apartment, at some distance +from the royal seat, in order to leave the conversation of the +brothers uncontrolled by the presence of a third person. It is +necessary to mention, that the recess was formed by a window; placed +in the inner front of the monastic buildings, called the palace, +from its being the frequent residence of the Kings of Scotland, +but which was, unless on such occasions, the residence of the prior +or abbot. The window was placed over the principal entrance to the +royal apartments, and commanded a view of the internal quadrangle +of the convent, formed on the right hand by the length of the +magnificent church, on the left by a building containing the range +of cellars, with the refectory, chapter house, and other conventual +apartments rising above them, for such existed altogether independent +of the space occupied by King Robert and his attendants; while +a fourth row of buildings, showing a noble outward front to the +rising sun, consisted of a large hospitium, for the reception of +strangers and pilgrims, and many subordinate offices, warehouses, +and places of accommodation, for the ample stores which supplied the +magnificent hospitality of the Dominican fathers. A lofty vaulted +entrance led through this eastern front into the quadrangle, and +was precisely opposite to the window at which Prior Anselm stood, +so that he could see underneath the dark arch, and observe the +light which gleamed beneath it from the eastern and open portal; +but, owing to the height to which he was raised, and the depth of +the vaulted archway, his eye could but indistinctly reach the opposite +and extended portal. It is necessary to notice these localities. + +We return to the conversation between the princely relatives. + +"My dear brother," said the King, raising the Duke of Albany, as +he stooped to kiss his hand--"my dear, dear brother, wherefore +this ceremonial? Are we not both sons of the same Stuart of Scotland +and of the same Elizabeth More?" + +"I have not forgot that it is so," said Albany, arising; "but I +must not omit, in the familiarity of the brother, the respect that +is due to the king." + +"Oh, true--most true, Robin," answered the King. "The throne is +like a lofty and barren rock, upon which flower or shrub can never +take root. All kindly feelings, all tender affections, are denied +to a monarch. A king must not fold a brother to his heart--he +dare not give way to fondness for a son." + +"Such, in some respects, is the doom of greatness, sire," answered +Albany; "but Heaven, who removed to some distance from your Majesty's +sphere the members of your own family, has given you a whole people +to be your children." + +"Alas! Robert," answered the monarch, "your heart is better framed +for the duties of a sovereign than mine. I see from the height at +which fate has placed me that multitude whom you call my children. +I love them, I wish them well; but they are many, and they are +distant from me. Alas! even the meanest of them has some beloved +being whom he can clasp to his heart, and upon whom he can lavish +the fondness of a father. But all that a king can give to a people +is a smile, such as the sun bestows on the snowy peaks of the Grampian +mountains, as distant and as ineffectual. Alas, Robin! our father +used to caress us, and if he chid us it was with a tone of kindness; +yet he was a monarch as well as I, and wherefore should not I be +permitted, like him, to reclaim my poor prodigal by affection as +well as severity?" + +"Had affection never been tried, my liege," replied Albany, in +the tone of one who delivers sentiments which he grieves to utter, +"means of gentleness ought assuredly to be first made use of. Your +Grace is best judge whether they have been long enough persevered +in, and whether those of discouragement and restraint may not prove +a more effectual corrective. It is exclusively in your royal power +to take what measures with the Duke of Rothsay you think will be +most available to his ultimate benefit, and that of the kingdom." + +"This is unkind, brother," said the King: "you indicate the painful +path which you would have me pursue, yet you offer me not your +support in treading it." + +"My support your Grace may ever command," replied Albany; "but would +it become me, of all men on earth, to prompt to your Grace severe +measures against your son and heir? Me, on whom, in case of failure +--which Heaven forefend!--of your Grace's family, this fatal +crown might descend? Would it not be thought and said by the fiery +March and the haughty Douglas, that Albany had sown dissension between +his royal brother and the heir to the Scottish throne, perhaps to +clear the way for the succession of his own family? No, my liege, +I can sacrifice my life to your service, but I must not place my +honour in danger." + +"You say true, Robin.--you say very true," replied the King, +hastening to put his own interpretation upon his brother's words. +"We must not suffer these powerful and dangerous lords to perceive +that there is aught like discord in the royal family. That must be +avoided of all things: and therefore we will still try indulgent +measures, in hopes of correcting the follies of Rothsay. I behold +sparks of hope in him, Robin, from time to time, that are well +worth cherishing. He is young--very young--a prince, and in the +heyday of his blood. We will have patience with him, like a good +rider with a hot tempered horse. Let him exhaust this idle humor, +and no one will be better pleased with him than yourself. You have +censured me in your kindness for being too gentle, too retired; +Rothsay has no such defects." + +"I will pawn my life he has not," replied Albany, drily. + +"And he wants not reflection as well as spirit," continued the poor +king, pleading the cause of his son to his brother. "I have sent +for him to attend council today, and we shall see how he acquits +himself of his devoir. You yourself allow, Robin, that the Prince +wants neither shrewdness nor capacity for affairs, when he is in +the humor to consider them." + +"Doubtless, he wants neither, my liege," replied Albany, "when he +is in the humor to consider them." + +"I say so," answered the King; "and am heartily glad that you agree +with me, Robin, in giving this poor hapless young man another trial. +He has no mother now to plead his cause with an incensed father. +That must be remembered, Albany." + +"I trust," said Albany, "the course which is most agreeable to your +Grace's feelings will also prove the wisest and the best." + +The Duke well saw the simple stratagem by which the King was +endeavouring to escape from the conclusions of his reasoning, and +to adopt, under pretence of his sanction, a course of proceeding +the reverse of what it best suited him to recommend. But though +he saw he could not guide his brother to the line of conduct he +desired, he would not abandon the reins, but resolved to watch for +a fitter opportunity of obtaining the sinister advantages to which +new quarrels betwixt the King and Prince were soon, he thought, +likely to give rise. + +In the mean time, King Robert, afraid lest his brother should +resume the painful subject from which he had just escaped, called +aloud to the prior of the Dominicans, "I hear the trampling of +horse. Your station commands the courtyard, reverend father. Look +from the window, and tell us who alights. Rothsay, is it not?" + +"The noble Earl of March, with his followers," said the prior. + +"Is he strongly accompanied?" said the King. "Do his people enter +the inner gate?" + +At the same moment, Albany whispered the King, "Fear nothing, the +Brandanes of your household are under arms." + +The King nodded thanks, while the prior from the window answered +the question he had put. "The Earl is attended by two pages, +two gentlemen, and four grooms. One page follows him up the main +staircase, bearing his lordship's sword. The others halt in the +court, and--Benedicite, how is this? Here is a strolling glee +woman, with her viol, preparing to sing beneath the royal windows, +and in the cloister of the Dominicans, as she might in the yard of +an hostelrie! I will have her presently thrust forth." + +"Not so, father," said the King. "Let me implore grace for the poor +wanderer. The joyous science, as they call it, which they profess, +mingles sadly with the distresses to which want and calamity condemn +a strolling race; and in that they resemble a king, to whom all men +cry, 'All hail!' while he lacks the homage and obedient affection +which the poorest yeoman receives from his family. Let the wanderer +remain undisturbed, father; and let her sing if she will to the +yeomen and troopers in the court; it will keep them from quarrelling +with each other, belonging, as they do, to such unruly and hostile +masters." + +So spoke the well meaning and feeble minded prince, and the prior +bowed in acquiescence. As he spoke, the Earl of March entered the +hall of audience, dressed in the ordinary riding garb of the time, +and wearing his poniard. He had left in the anteroom the page of +honour who carried his sword. The Earl was a well built, handsome +man, fair complexioned, with a considerable profusion of light +coloured hair, and bright blue eyes, which gleamed like those of +a falcon. He exhibited in his countenance, otherwise pleasing, the +marks of a hasty and irritable temper, which his situation as a high +and powerful feudal lord had given him but too many opportunities +of indulging. + +"I am glad to see you, my Lord of March," said the King, with a +gracious inclination of his person. "You have been long absent from +our councils." + +"My liege," answered March with a deep reverence to the King, and +a haughty and formal inclination to the Duke of Albany, "if I have +been absent from your Grace's councils, it is because my place +has been supplied by more acceptable, and, I doubt not, abler, +counsellors. And now I come but to say to your Highness, that the +news from the English frontier make it necessary that I should +return without delay to my own estates. Your Grace has your wise +and politic brother, my Lord of Albany, with whom to consult, and +the mighty and warlike Earl of Douglas to carry your counsels into +effect. I am of no use save in my own country; and thither, with +your Highness's permission, I am purposed instantly to return, to +attend my charge, as Warden of the Eastern Marches." + +"You will not deal so unkindly with us, cousin," replied the gentle +monarch. "Here are evil tidings on the wind. These unhappy Highland +clans are again breaking into general commotion, and the tranquillity +even of our own court requires the wisest of our council to advise, +and the bravest of our barons to execute, what may be resolved +upon. The descendant of Thomas Randolph will not surely abandon +the grandson of Robert Bruce at such a period as this?" + +"I leave with him the descendant of the far famed James of Douglas," +answered March. "It is his lordship's boast that he never puts +foot in stirrup but a thousand horse mount with him as his daily +lifeguard, and I believe the monks of Aberbrothock will swear to +the fact. Surely, with all the Douglas's chivalry, they are fitter +to restrain a disorderly swarm of Highland kerne than I can be to +withstand the archery of England and power of Henry Hotspur? And +then, here is his Grace of Albany, so jealous in his care of your +Highness's person, that he calls your Brandanes to take arms when a +dutiful subject like myself approaches the court with a poor half +score of horse, the retinue of the meanest of the petty barons +who own a tower and a thousand acres of barren heath. When such +precautions are taken where there is not the slightest chance of +peril--since I trust none was to be apprehended from me--your +royal person will surely be suitably guarded in real danger." + +"My Lord of March," said the Duke of Albany, "the meanest of the +barons of whom you speak put their followers in arms even when they +receive their dearest and nearest friends within the iron gate of +their castle; and, if it please Our Lady, I will not care less for +the King's person than they do for their own. The Brandanes are the +King's immediate retainers and household servants, and an hundred +of them is but a small guard round his Grace, when yourself, my +lord, as well as the Earl of Douglas, often ride with ten times +the number." + +"My Lord Duke," replied March, "when the service of the King +requires it, I can ride with ten times as many horse as your Grace +has named; but I have never done so either traitorously to entrap +the King nor boastfully to overawe other nobles." + +"Brother Robert," said the King, ever anxious to be a peacemaker, +"you do wrong even to intimate a suspicion of my Lord of March. And +you, cousin of March, misconstrue my brother's caution. But hark +--to divert this angry parley--I hear no unpleasing touch of +minstrelsy. You know the gay science, my Lord of March, and love +it well. Step to yonder window, beside the holy prior, at whom we +make no question touching secular pleasures, and you will tell us +if the music and play be worth listening to. The notes are of France, +I think. My brother of Albany's judgment is not worth a cockle shell +in such matters, so you, cousin, must report your opinion whether +the poor glee maiden deserves recompense. Our son and the Douglas +will presently be here, and then, when our council is assembled, +we will treat of graver matters." + +With something like a smile on his proud brow, March withdrew into +the recess of the window, and stood there in silence beside the +prior, like one who, while he obeyed the King's command, saw through +and despised the timid precaution which it implied, as an attempt +to prevent the dispute betwixt Albany and himself. The tune, which +was played upon a viol, was gay and sprightly in the commencement, +with a touch of the wildness of the troubadour music. But, as it +proceeded, the faltering tones of the instrument, and of the female +voice which accompanied it, became plaintive and interrupted, as +if choked by the painful feelings of the minstrel. + +The offended earl, whatever might be his judgment in such matters +on which the King had complimented him, paid, it may be supposed, +little attention to the music of the female minstrel. His proud +heart was struggling between the allegiance he owed his sovereign, +as well as the love he still found lurking in his bosom for the +person of his well natured king, and a desire of vengeance arising +out of his disappointed ambition, and the disgrace done to him by +the substitution of Marjory Douglas to be bride of the heir apparent, +instead of his betrothed daughter. March had the vices and virtues +of a hasty and uncertain character, and even now, when he came to +bid the King adieu, with the purpose of renouncing his allegiance +as soon as he reached his own feudal territories, he felt unwilling, +and almost unable, to resolve upon a step so criminal and so full +of peril. It was with such dangerous cogitations that he was occupied +during the beginning of the glee maiden's lay; but objects which +called his attention powerfully, as the songstress proceeded, affected +the current of his thoughts, and riveted them on what was passing +in the courtyard of the monastery. The song was in the Provencal +dialect, well understood as the language of poetry in all the +courts of Europe, and particularly in Scotland. It was more simply +turned, however, than was the general cast of the sirventes, and +rather resembled the lai of a Norman minstrel. It may be translated +thus: + +The Lay of Poor Louise. + +Ah, poor Louise! The livelong day +She roams from cot to castle gay; +And still her voice and viol say, +Ah, maids, beware the woodland way; +Think on Louise. + +Ah, poor Louise! The sun was high; +It smirch'd her cheek, it dimm'd her eye. +The woodland walk was cool and nigh, +Where birds with chiming streamlets vie +To cheer Louise. + +Ah, poor Louise! The savage bear +Made ne'er that lovely grove his lair; +The wolves molest not paths so fair. +But better far had such been there +For poor Louise. + +Ah, poor Louise! In woody wold +She met a huntsman fair and bold; +His baldrick was of silk and gold, +And many a witching tale he told +To poor Louise. + +Ah, poor Louise! Small cause to pine +Hadst thou for treasures of the mine; +For peace of mind, that gift divine, +And spotless innocence, were thine. +Ah, poor Louise! + +Ah, poor Louise! Thy treasure's reft. +I know not if by force or theft, +Or part by violence, part by gift; +But misery is all that's left +To poor Louise, + +Let poor Louise some succour have! +She will not long your bounty crave, +Or tire the gay with warning stave; +For Heaven has grace, and earth a grave +For poor Louise. + +The song was no sooner finished than, anxious lest the dispute +should be revived betwixt his brother and the Earl of March, King +Robert called to the latter, "What think you of the minstrelsy, my +lord? Methinks, as I heard it even at this distance, it was a wild +and pleasing lay." + +"My judgment is not deep my lord; but the singer may dispense with +my approbation, since she seems to have received that of his Grace +of Rothsay, the best judge in Scotland." + +"How!" said the King in alarm; "is my son below?" + +"He is sitting on horseback by the glee maiden," said March, with +a malicious smile on his cheek, "apparently as much interested by +her conversation as her music." + +"How is this, father prior?" said the King. + +But the prior drew back from the lattice. "I have no will to see, +my lord, things which it would pain me to repeat." + +"How is all this?" said the King, who coloured deeply, and seemed +about to rise from his chair; but changed his mind, as if unwilling, +perhaps, to look upon some unbecoming prank of the wild young +prince, which he might not have had heart to punish with necessary +severity. The Earl of March seemed to have a pleasure in informing +him of that of which doubtless he desired to remain ignorant. + +"My liege," he cried, "this is better and better. The glee maiden +has not only engaged the ear of the Prince of Scotland, as well as +of every groom and trooper in the courtyard, but she has riveted +the attention of the Black Douglas, whom we have not known as a +passionate admirer of the gay science. But truly, I do not wonder +at his astonishment, for the Prince has honoured the fair professor +of song and viol with a kiss of approbation." + +"How!" cried the King, "is David of Rothsay trifling with a glee +maiden, and his wife's father in presence? Go, my good father +abbot, call the Prince here instantly. Go, my dearest brother--" +And when they had both left the room, the King continued, "Go, +good cousin of March; there will be mischief, I am assured of it. +I pray you go, cousin, and second my lord prior's prayers with my +commands." + +"You forget, my liege," said March, with the voice of a deeply +offended person, "the father of Elizabeth of Dunbar were but an +unfit intercessor between the Douglas and his royal son in law." + +"I crave your pardon, cousin," said the gentle old man. "I own you +have had some wrong; but my Rothsay will be murdered--I must go +myself." + +But, as he arose precipitately from his chair, the poor king missed +a footstep, stumbled, and fell heavily to the ground, in such a +manner that, his head striking the corner of the seat from which +he had risen, he became for a minute insensible. The sight of the +accident at once overcame March's resentment and melted his heart. +He ran to the fallen monarch, and replaced him in his seat, using, +in the tenderest and most respectful manner, such means as seemed +most fit to recall animation. + +Robert opened his eyes, and gazed around with uncertainty. "What +has happened?--are we alone?--who is with us?" + +"Your dutiful subject, March," replied the Earl. + +"Alone with the Earl of March!" repeated the King, his still disturbed +intellect receiving some alarm from the name of a powerful chief +whom he had reason to believe he had mortally offended. + +"Yes, my gracious liege, with poor George of Dunbar, of whom many +have wished your Majesty to think ill, though he will be found +truer to your royal person at the last than they will." + +"Indeed, cousin, you have had too much wrong; and believe me, we +shall strive to redress--" + +"If your Grace thinks so, it may yet be righted," interrupted the +Earl, catching at the hopes which his ambition suggested: "the +Prince and Marjory Douglas are nearly related--the dispensation +from Rome was informally granted--their marriage cannot be lawful +--the Pope, who will do much for so godly a prince, can set aside +this unchristian union, in respect of the pre-contract. Bethink you +well, my liege," continued the Earl, kindling with a new train of +ambitious thoughts, to which the unexpected opportunity of pleading +his cause personally had given rise--"bethink you how you choose +betwixt the Douglas and me. He is powerful and mighty, I grant. +But George of Dunbar wears the keys of Scotland at his belt, and +could bring an English army to the gates of Edinburgh ere Douglas +could leave the skirts of Carintable to oppose them. Your royal +son loves my poor deserted girl, and hates the haughty Marjory of +Douglas. Your Grace may judge the small account in which he holds +her by his toying with a common glee maiden even in the presence +of her father." + +The King had hitherto listened to the Earl's argument with the +bewildered feelings of a timid horseman, borne away by an impetuous +steed, whose course he can neither arrest nor direct. But the last +words awakened in his recollection the sense of his son's immediate +danger. + +"Oh, ay, most true--my son--the Douglas! Oh, my dear cousin, +prevent blood, and all shall be as you will. Hark, there is a tumult +--that was the clash of arms!" + +"By my coronet, by my knightly faith, it is true!" said the Earl, +looking from the window upon the inner square of the convent, now +filled with armed men and brandished weapons, and resounding with +the clash of armour. The deep vaulted entrance was crowded with +warriors at its farthest extremity, and blows seemed to be in the +act of being exchanged betwixt some who were endeavouring to shut +the gate and others who contended to press in. + +"I will go instantly," said the Earl of March, "and soon quell this +sudden broil. Humbly I pray your Majesty to think on what I have +had the boldness to propose." + +"I will--I will, fair cousin," said the King, scarce knowing to +what he pledged himself; "do but prevent tumult and bloodshed!" + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Fair is the damsel, passing fair; +Sunny at distance gleams her smile; +Approach--the cloud of woful care +Hangs trembling in her eye the while. + +Lucinda, a Ballad. + + +We must here trace a little more correctly the events which had +been indistinctly seen from the window of the royal apartments, +and yet more indistinctly reported by those who witnessed them. The +glee maiden, already mentioned, had planted herself where a rise +of two large broad steps, giving access to the main gateway of +the royal apartments, gained her an advantage of a foot and a half +in height over those in the court, of whom she hoped to form an +audience. She wore the dress of her calling, which was more gaudy +than rich, and showed the person more than did the garb of other +females. She had laid aside an upper mantle, and a small basket +which contained her slender stock of necessaries; and a little +French spaniel dog sat beside them, as their protector. An azure +blue jacket, embroidered with silver, and sitting close to the +person, was open in front, and showed several waistcoats of different +coloured silks, calculated to set off the symmetry of the shoulders +and bosom, and remaining open at the throat. A small silver chain +worn around her neck involved itself amongst these brilliant +coloured waistcoats, and was again produced from them; to display +a medal of the same metal, which intimated, in the name of some +court or guild of minstrels, the degree she had taken in the gay +or joyous science. A cmall scrip, suspended over her shoulders by +a blue silk riband; hung on her left side. + +Her sunny complexion, snow white teeth, brilliant black eyes, and +raven locks marked her country lying far in the south of France, +and the arch smile and dimpled chin bore the same character. Her +luxuriant raven locks, twisted around a small gold bodkin, were +kept in their position by a net of silk and gold. Short petticoats, +deep laced with silver, to correspond with the jacket, red stockings +which were visible so high as near the calf of the leg, and buskins +of Spanish leather, completed her adjustment, which, though far +from new, had been saved as an untarnished holiday suit, which much +care had kept in good order. She seemed about twenty-five years +old; but perhaps fatigue and wandering had anticipated the touch +of time in obliterating the freshness of early youth. + +We have said the glee maiden's manner was lively, and we may add +that her smile and repartee were ready. But her gaiety was assumed, +as a quality essentially necessary to her trade, of which it was +one of the miseries, that the professors were obliged frequently +to cover an aching heart with a compelled smile. This seemed to be +the case with Louise, who, whether she was actually the heroine of +her own song, or whatever other cause she might have for sadness, +showed at times a strain of deep melancholy thought, which interfered +with and controlled the natural flow of lively spirits which the +practice of the joyous science especially required. She lacked also, +even in her gayest sallies, the decided boldness and effrontery of +her sisterhood, who were seldom at a loss to retort a saucy jest, +or turn the laugh against any who interrupted or interfered with +them. + +It may be here remarked, that it was impossible that this class of +women, very numerous in that age, could bear a character generally +respectable. They were, however, protected by the manners of the +time; and such were the immunities they possessed by the rights of +chivalry, that nothing was more rare than to hear of such errant +damsels sustaining injury or wrong, and they passed and repassed +safely, where armed travellers would probably have encountered a +bloody opposition. But though licensed and protected in honour of +their tuneful art, the wandering minstrels, male or female, like +similar ministers to the public amusement, the itinerant musicians, +for instance, and strolling comedians of our own day, led a life +too irregular and precarious to be accounted a creditable part of +society. Indeed, among the stricter Catholics, the profession was +considered as unlawful. + +Such was the damsel who, with viol in hand, and stationed on the slight +elevation we have mentioned, stepped forward to the bystanders and +announced herself as a mistress of the gay science, duly qualified +by a brief from a Court of Love and Music held at Aix, in Provence, +under the countenance of the flower of chivalry, the gallant Count +Aymer; who now prayed that the cavaliers of merry Scotland, who were +known over the wide world for bravery and courtesy, would permit +a poor stranger to try whether she could afford them any amusement +by her art. The love of song was like the love of fight, a common +passion of the age, which all at least affected, whether they +were actually possessed by it or no; therefore the acquiescence in +Louise's proposal was universal. At the same time, an aged, dark +browed monk who was among the bystanders thought it necessary to +remind the glee maiden that, since she was tolerated within these +precincts, which was an unusual grace, he trusted nothing would be +sung or said inconsistent with the holy character of the place. + +The glee maiden bent her head low, shook her sable locks, and +crossed herself reverentially, as if she disclaimed the possibility +of such a transgression, and then began the song of "Poor Louise." +which we gave at length in the last chapter. + +Just as she commenced, she was stopped by a cry of "Room--room +--place for the Duke of Rothsay!" + +"Nay, hurry no man on my score," said a gallant young cavalier, who +entered on a noble Arabian horse, which he managed with exquisite +grace, though by such slight handling of the reins, such imperceptible +pressure of the limbs and sway of the body, that to any eye save +that of an experienced horseman the animal seemed to be putting +forth his paces for his own amusement, and thus gracefully bearing +forward a rider who was too indolent to give himself any trouble +about the matter. + +The Prince's apparel, which was very rich, was put on with slovenly +carelessness. His form, though his stature was low, and his limbs +extremely slight, was elegant in the extreme; and his features no +less handsome. But there was on his brow a haggard paleness, which +seemed the effect of care or of dissipation, or of both these +wasting causes combined. His eyes were sunk and dim, as from late +indulgence in revelry on the preceding evening, while his cheek +was inflamed with unnatural red, as if either the effect of the +Bacchanalian orgies had not passed away from the constitution, +or a morning draught had been resorted to, in order to remove the +effects of the night's debauchery. + +Such was the Duke of Rothsay, and heir of the Scottish crown, a +sight at once of interest and compassion. All unbonneted and made +way for him, while he kept repeating carelessly, "No haste-- +no haste: I shall arrive soon enough at the place I am bound for. +How's this--a damsel of the joyous science? Ay, by St. Giles! +and a comely wench to boot. Stand still, my merry men; never was +minstrelsy marred for me. A good voice, by the mass! Begin me that +lay again, sweetheart." + +Louise did not know the person who addressed her; but the general +respect paid by all around, and the easy and indifferent manner in +which it was received, showed her she was addressed by a man of +the highest quality. She recommenced her lay, and sung her best +accordingly; while the young duke seemed thoughtful and rather +affected towards the close of the ditty. But it was not his habit +to cherish such melancholy affections. + +"This is a plaintive ditty, my nut brown maid," said he, chucking +the retreating glee maiden under the chin, and detaining her +by the collar of her dress, which was not difficult, as he sat on +horseback so close to the steps on which she stood. "But I warrant +me you have livelier notes at will, ma bella tenebrosa; ay, and +canst sing in bower as well as wold, and by night as well as day." + +"I am no nightingale, my lord," said Louise, endeavouring to escape +a species of gallantry which ill suited the place and circumstances +--a discrepancy to which he who addressed it to her seemed +contemptuously indifferent. + +"What hast thou there, darling?" he added, removing his hold from +her collar to the scrip which she carried. + +Glad was Louise to escape his grasp, by slipping the knot of the +riband, and leaving the little bag in the Prince's hand, as, retiring +back beyond his reach, she answered, "Nuts, my lord, of the last +season." + +The Prince pulled out a handful of nuts accordingly. "Nuts, child! +they will break thine ivory teeth, hurt thy pretty voice," said +Rothsay, cracking one with his teeth, like a village schoolboy. + +"They are not the walnuts of my own sunny clime, my lord," said +Louise; "but they hang low, and are within the reach of the poor." + +"You shall have something to afford you better fare, poor wandering +ape," said the Duke, in a tone in which feeling predominated more +than in the affected and contemptuous gallantry of his first address +to the glee maiden. + +At this moment, as he turned to ask an attendant for his purse, +the Prince encountered the stern and piercing look of a tall black +man, seated on a powerful iron grey horse, who had entered the +court with attendants while the Duke of Rothsay was engaged with +Louise, and now remained stupefied and almost turned to stone by +his surprise and anger at this unseemly spectacle. Even one who had +never seen Archibald Earl of Douglas, called the Grim, must have +known him by his swart complexion, his gigantic frame, his buff +coat of bull's hide, and his air of courage, firmness, and sagacity, +mixed with indomitable pride. The loss of an eye in battle, though +not perceptible at first sight, as the ball of the injured organ +remained similar to the other, gave yet a stern, immovable glare +to the whole aspect. + +The meeting of the royal son in law with his terrible stepfather +[father in law] was in circumstances which arrested the attention +of all present; and the bystanders waited the issue with silence +and suppressed breath, lest they should lose any part of what was +to ensue. + +When the Duke of Rothsay saw the expression which occupied the +stern features of Douglas, and remarked that the Earl did not make +the least motion towards respectful, or even civil, salutation, he +seemed determined to show him how little respect he was disposed +to pay to his displeased looks. He took his purse from his chamberlain. + +"Here, pretty one," he said, "I give thee one gold piece for the +song thou hast sung me, another for the nuts I have stolen from +thee, and a third for the kiss thou art about to give me. For know, +my pretty one, that when fair lips, and thine for fault of better +may be called so, make sweet music for my pleasure, I am sworn to +St. Valentine to press them to mine." + +"My song is recompensed nobly," said Louise, shrinking back; "my +nuts are sold to a good market; farther traffic, my lord, were +neither befitting you nor beseeming me." + +"What! you coy it, my nymph of the highway?" said the Prince, +contemptuously. "Know damsel, that one asks you a grace who is +unused to denial." + +"It is the Prince of Scotland--the Duke of Rothsay," said the +courtiers around, to the terrified Louise, pressing forward the +trembling young woman; "you must not thwart his humor." + +"But I cannot reach your lordship," she said, timidly, "you sit so +high on horseback." + +"If I must alight," said Rothsay, "there shall be the heavier +penalty. What does the wench tremble for? Place thy foot on the toe +of my boot, give me hold of thy hand. Gallantly done!" He kissed +her as she stood thus suspended in the air, perched upon his foot +and supported by his hand; saying, "There is thy kiss, and there +is my purse to pay it; and to grace thee farther, Rothsay will wear +thy scrip for the day." + +He suffered the frightened girl to spring to the ground, and +turned his looks from her to bend them contemptuously on the Earl +of Douglas, as if he had said, "All this I do in despite of you +and of your daughter's claims." + +"By St. Bride of Douglas!" said the Earl, pressing towards the +Prince, "this is too much, unmannered boy, as void of sense as +honour! You know what considerations restrain the hand of Douglas, +else had you never dared--" + +"Can you play at spang cockle, my lord?" said the Prince, placing +a nut on the second joint of his forefinger, and spinning it off +by a smart application of the thumb. The nut struck on Douglas's +broad breast, who burst out into a dreadful exclamation of wrath, +inarticulate, but resembling the growl of a lion in depth and +sternness of expression. + +"I cry your pardon, most mighty lord," said the Duke of Rothsay, +scornfully, while all around trembled; "I did not conceive my +pellet could have wounded you, seeing you wear a buff coat. Surely, +I trust, it did not hit your eye?" + +The prior, despatched by the King, as we have seen in the last +chapter, had by this time made way through the crowd, and laying +hold on Douglas's rein, in a manner that made it impossible for +him to advance, reminded him that the Prince was the son of his +sovereign; and the husband of his daughter. + +"Fear not, sir prior," said Douglas. "I despise the childish boy +too much to raise a finger against him. But I will return insult +for insult. Here, any of you who love the Douglas, spurn me this +quean from the monastery gates; and let her be so scourged that +she may bitterly remember to the last day of her life how she gave +means to an unrespective boy to affront the Douglas." + +Four or five retainers instantly stepped forth to execute commands +which were seldom uttered in vain, and heavily would Louise have +atoned for an offence of which she was alike the innocent, unconscious, +and unwilling instrument, had not the Duke of Rothsay interfered. + +"Spurn the poor glee woman!" he said, in high indignation; "scourge +her for obeying my commands! Spurn thine own oppressed vassals, +rude earl--scourge thine own faulty hounds; but beware how you +touch so much as a dog that Rothsay hath patted on the head, far +less a female whose lips he hath kissed!" + +Before Douglas could give an answer, which would certainly have been +in defiance, there arose that great tumult at the outward gate of +the monastery, already noticed, and men both on horseback and on +foot began to rush headlong in, not actually fighting with each +other, but certainly in no peaceable manner. + +One of the contending parties, seemingly, were partizans of +Douglas, known by the cognizance of the bloody heart; the other +were composed of citizens of the town of Perth. It appeared they +had been skirmishing in earnest when without the gates, but, out of +respect to the sanctified ground, they lowered their weapons when +they entered, and confined their strife to a war of words and mutual +abuse. + +The tumult had this good effect, that it forced asunder, by the +weight and press of numbers, the Prince and Douglas, at a moment +when the levity of the former and the pride of the latter were +urging both to the utmost extremity. But now peacemakers interfered +on all sides. The prior and the monks threw themselves among the +multitude, and commanded peace in the name of Heaven, and reverence +to their sacred walls, under penalty of excommunication; and their +expostulations began to be listened to. Albany, who was despatched +by his royal brother at the beginning of the fray, had not arrived +till now on the scene of action. He instantly applied himself to +Douglas, and in his ear conjured him to temper his passion. + +"By St. Bride of Douglas, I will be avenged!" said the Earl. "No +man shall brook life after he has passed an affront on Douglas." + +"Why, so you may be avenged in fitting time," said Albany; "but +let it not be said that, like a peevish woman, the Great Douglas +could choose neither time nor place for his vengeance. Bethink you, +all that we have laboured at is like to be upset by an accident. +George of Dunbar hath had the advantage of an audience with the old +man; and though it lasted but five minutes, I fear it may endanger +the dissolution of your family match, which we brought about with so +much difficulty. The authority from Rome has not yet been obtained." + +"A toy!" answered Douglas, haughtily; "they dare not dissolve it." + +"Not while Douglas is at large, and in possession of his power," +answered Albany. "But, noble earl, come with me, and I will show +you at what disadvantage you stand." + +Douglas dismounted, and followed his wily accomplice in silence. +In a lower hall they saw the ranks of the Brandanes drawn up, well +armed in caps of steel and shirts of mail. Their captain, making +an obeisance to Albany, seemed to desire to address him. + +"What now, MacLouis?" said the Duke. + +"We are informed the Duke of Rothsay has been insulted, and I can +scarce keep the Brandanes within door." + +"Gallant MacLouis," said Albany, "and you, my trusty Brandanes, +the Duke of Rothsay, my princely nephew, is as well as a hopeful +gentleman can be. Some scuffle there has been, but all is appeased." + +He continued to draw the Earl of Douglas forward. "You see, +my lord," he said in his ear, "that, if the word 'arrest' was to +be once spoken, it would be soon obeyed, and you are aware your +attendants are few for resistance." + +Douglas seemed to acquiesce in the necessity of patience for the +time. "If my teeth," he said, "should bite through my lips, I will +be silent till it is the hour to speak out." + +George of March, in the meanwhile, had a more easy task of pacifying +the Prince. "My Lord of Rothsay," he said, approaching him with +grave ceremony, "I need not tell you that you owe me something for +reparation of honour, though I blame not you personally for the +breach of contract which has destroyed the peace of my family. Let +me conjure you, by what observance your Highness may owe an injured +man, to forego for the present this scandalous dispute." + +"My lord, I owe you much," replied Rothsay; "but this haughty and +all controlling lord has wounded mine honour." + +"My lord, I can but add, your royal father is ill--hath swooned +with terror for your Highness's safety." + +"Ill!" replied the Prince--"the kind, good old man swooned, said +you, my Lord of March? I am with him in an instant." + +The Duke of Rothsay sprung from his saddle to the ground, and was +dashing into the palace like a greyhound, when a feeble grasp was +laid on his cloak, and the faint voice of a kneeling female exclaimed, +"Protection, my noble prince!--protection for a helpless stranger!" + +"Hands off, stroller!" said the Earl of March, thrusting the +suppliant glee maiden aside. + +But the gentler prince paused. "It is true," he said, "I have +brought the vengeance of an unforgiving devil upon this helpless +creature. O Heaven! what a life, is mine, so fatal to all who approach +me! What to do in the hurry? She must not go to my apartments. And +all my men are such born reprobates. Ha! thou at mine elbow, honest +Harry Smith? What dost thou here?" + +"There has been something of a fight, my lord," answered our +acquaintance the smith, "between the townsmen and the Southland +loons who ride with the Douglas; and we have swinged them as far +as the abbey gate." + +"I am glad of it--I am glad of it. And you beat the knaves fairly?" + +"Fairly, does your Highness ask?" said Henry. "Why, ay! We were +stronger in numbers, to be sure; but no men ride better armed than +those who follow the Bloody Heart. And so in a sense we beat them +fairly; for, as your Highness knows, it is the smith who makes the +man at arms, and men with good weapons are a match for great odds." + +While they thus talked, the Earl of March, who had spoken with +some one near the palace gate, returned in anxious haste. "My Lord +Duke!--my Lord Duke! your father is recovered, and if you haste +not speedily, my Lord of Albany and the Douglas will have possession +of his royal ear." + +"And if my royal father is recovered," said the thoughtless Prince, +"and is holding, or about to hold, counsel with my gracious uncle +and the Earl of Douglas, it befits neither your lordship nor me to +intrude till we are summoned. So there is time for me to speak of +my little business with mine honest armourer here." + +"Does your Highness take it so?" said the Earl, whose sanguine +hopes of a change of favour at court had been too hastily excited, +and were as speedily checked. "Then so let it be for George of +Dunbar." + +He glided away with a gloomy and displeased aspect; and thus out +of the two most powerful noblemen in Scotland, at a time when the +aristocracy so closely controlled the throne, the reckless heir +apparent had made two enemies--the one by scornful defiance and +the other by careless neglect. He heeded not the Earl of March's +departure, however, or rather he felt relieved from his importunity. + +The Prince went on in indolent conversation with our armourer, +whose skill in his art had made him personally known to many of +the great lords about the court. + +"I had something to say to thee, Smith. Canst thou take up a fallen +link in my Milan hauberk?" + +"As well, please your Highness, as my mother could take up a stitch +in the nets she wove. The Milaner shall not know my work from his +own." + +"Well, but that was not what I wished of thee just now," said the +Prince, recollecting himself: "this poor glee woman, good Smith, +she must be placed in safety. Thou art man enough to be any woman's +champion, and thou must conduct her to some place of safety." + +Henry Smith was, as we have seen, sufficiently rash and daring when +weapons were in question. But he had also the pride of a decent +burgher, and was unwilling to place himself in what might be thought +equivocal circumstances by the sober part of his fellow citizens. + +"May it please your Highness," he said, "I am but a poor craftsman. +But, though my arm and sword are at the King's service and your +Highness's, I am, with reverence, no squire of dames. Your Highness +will find, among your own retinue, knights and lords willing enough +to play Sir Pandarus of Troy; it is too knightly a part for poor +Hal of the Wynd." + +"Umph--hah!" said the Prince. "My purse, Edgar." (His attendant +whispered him.) "True--true, I gave it to the poor wench. I know +enough of your craft, sir smith, and of craftsmen in general, to +be aware that men lure not hawks with empty hands; but I suppose +my word may pass for the price of a good armour, and I will pay it +thee, with thanks to boot, for this slight service." + +"Your Highness may know other craftsmen," said the smith; "but, +with reverence, you know not Henry Gow. He will obey you in making +a weapon, or in wielding one, but he knows nothing of this petticoat +service." + +"Hark thee, thou Perthshire mule," said the Prince, yet smiling, +while he spoke, at the sturdy punctilio of the honest burgher; "the +wench is as little to me as she is to thee. But in an idle moment, +as you may learn from those about thee, if thou sawest it not thyself, +I did her a passing grace, which is likely to cost the poor wretch +her life. There is no one here whom I can trust to protect her +against the discipline of belt and bowstring, with which the Border +brutes who follow Douglas will beat her to death, since such is +his pleasure." + +"If such be the case, my liege, she has a right to every honest +man's protection; and since she wears a petticoat--though I would +it were longer and of a less fanciful fashion--I will answer +for her protection as well as a single man may. But where am I to +bestow her?" + +"Good faith, I cannot tell," said the Prince. "Take her to Sir John +Ramorny's lodging. But, no--no--he is ill at ease, and besides, +there are reasons; take her to the devil if thou wilt, but place +her in safety, and oblige David of Rothsay." + +"My noble Prince," said the smith, "I think, always with reverence, +that I would rather give a defenceless woman to the care of the +devil than of Sir John Ramorny. But though the devil be a worker in +fire like myself, yet I know not his haunts, and with aid of Holy +Church hope to keep him on terms of defiance. And, moreover, how +I am to convey her out of this crowd, or through the streets, in +such a mumming habit may be well made a question." + +"For the leaving the convent," said the Prince, "this good monk" +(seizing upon the nearest by his cowl)--"Father Nicholas or +Boniface--" + +"Poor brother Cyprian, at your Highness's command," said the father. + +"Ay--ay, brother Cyprian," continued the Prince--"yes. Brother +Cyprian shall let you out at some secret passage which he knows +of, and I will see him again to pay a prince's thanks for it." + +The churchman bowed in acquiescence, and poor Louise, who, during +this debate, had looked from the one speaker to the other, hastily +said, "I will not scandalise this good man with my foolish garb: +I have a mantle for ordinary wear." + +"Why, there, Smith, thou hast a friar's hood and a woman's mantle +to shroud thee under. I would all my frailties were as well shrouded. +Farewell, honest fellow; I will thank thee hereafter." + +Then, as if afraid of farther objection on the smith's part, he +hastened into the palace. + +Henry Gow remained stupefied at what had passed, and at finding +himself involved in a charge at once inferring much danger and +an equal risk of scandal, both which, joined to a principal share +which he had taken, with his usual forwardness, in the fray, +might, he saw, do him no small injury in the suit he pursued most +anxiously. At the same time, to leave a defenceless creature to the +ill usage of the barbarous Galwegians and licentious followers of +the Douglas was a thought which his manly heart could not brook +for an instant. + +He was roused from his reverie by the voice of the monk, who, +sliding out his words with the indifference which the holy fathers +entertained, or affected, towards all temporal matters, desired +them to follow him. The smith put himself in motion, with a sigh +much resembling a groan, and, without appearing exactly connected +with the monk's motions, he followed him into a cloister, and through +a postern door, which, after looking once behind him, the priest +left ajar. Behind them followed Louise, who had hastily assumed +her small bundle, and, calling her little four legged companion, +had eagerly followed in the path which opened an escape from what +had shortly before seemed a great and inevitable danger. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Then up and spak the auld gudewife, +And wow! but she was grim: +"Had e'er your father done the like, +It had been ill for him." + +Lucky Trumbull. + + +The party were now, by a secret passage, admitted within the church, +the outward doors of which, usually left open, had been closed +against every one in consequence of the recent tumult, when the +rioters of both parties had endeavoured to rush into it for other +purposes than those of devotion. They traversed the gloomy aisles, +whose arched roof resounded to the heavy tread of the armourer, +but was silent under the sandalled foot of the monk, and the light +step of poor Louise, who trembled excessively, as much from fear +as cold. She saw that neither her spiritual nor temporal conductor +looked kindly upon her. The former was an austere man, whose aspect +seemed to hold the luckless wanderer in some degree of horror, as +well as contempt; while the latter, though, as we have seen, one +of the best natured men living, was at present grave to the pitch +of sternness, and not a little displeased with having the part +he was playing forced upon him, without, as he was constrained to +feel, a possibility of his declining it. + +His dislike at his task extended itself to the innocent object of +his protection, and he internally said to himself, as he surveyed +her scornfully: "A proper queen of beggars to walk the streets of +Perth with, and I a decent burgher! This tawdry minion must have as +ragged a reputation as the rest of her sisterhood, and I am finely +sped if my chivalry in her behalf comes to Catharine's ears. I had +better have slain a man, were he the best in Perth; and, by hammer +and nails, I would have done it on provocation, rather than convoy +this baggage through the city." + +Perhaps Louise suspected the cause of her conductor's anxiety, for +she said, timidly and with hesitation: "Worthy sir, were it not +better I should stop one instant in that chapel and don my mantle?" + +"Umph, sweetheart, well proposed," said the armourer; but the monk +interfered, raising at the same time the finger of interdiction. + +"The chapel of holy St. Madox is no tiring room for jugglers and +strollers to shift their trappings in. I will presently show thee +a vestiary more suited to thy condition." + +The poor young woman hung down her humbled head, and turned from +the chapel door which she had approached with the deep sense of self +abasement. Her little spaniel seemed to gather from his mistress's +looks and manner that they were unauthorised intruders on the holy +ground which they trode, and hung his ears, and swept the pavement +with his tail, as he trotted slowly and close to Louise's heels. + +The monk moved on without a pause. They descended a broad flight of +steps, and proceeded through a labyrinth of subterranean passages, +dimly lighted. As they passed a low arched door, the monk turned +and said to Louise, with the same stern voice as before: "There, +daughter of folly--there is a robing room, where many before you +have deposited their vestments." + +Obeying the least signal with ready and timorous acquiescence, she +pushed the door open, but instantly recoiled with terror. It was +a charnel house, half filled with dry skulls and bones. + +"I fear to change my dress there, and alone. But, if you, father, +command it, be it as you will." + +"Why, thou child of vanity, the remains on which thou lookest are +but the earthly attire of those who, in their day, led or followed +in the pursuit of worldly pleasure. And such shalt thou be, for all +thy mincing and ambling, thy piping and thy harping--thou, and +all such ministers of frivolous and worldly pleasure, must become +like these poor bones, whom thy idle nicety fears and loathes to +look upon." + +"Say not with idle nicety, reverend father," answered the glee +maiden, "for, Heaven knows, I covet the repose of these poor bleached +relics; and if, by stretching my body upon them, I could, without +sin, bring my state to theirs, I would choose that charnel heap for +my place of rest beyond the fairest and softest couch in Scotland." + +"Be patient, and come on," said the monk, in a milder tone, "the +reaper must not leave the harvest work till sunset gives the signal +that the day's toil is over." + +They walked forward. Brother Cyprian, at the end of a long gallery, +opened the door of a small apartment, or perhaps a chapel, for it +was decorated with a crucifix, before which burned four lamps. All +bent and crossed themselves; and the priest said to the minstrel +maiden, pointing to the crucifix, "What says that emblem?" + +"That HE invites the sinner as well as the righteous to approach." + +"Ay, if the sinner put from him his sin," said the monk, whose +tone of voice was evidently milder. "Prepare thyself here for thy +journey." + +Louise remained an instant or two in the chapel, and presently +reappeared in a mantle of coarse grey cloth, in which she had closely +muffled herself, having put such of her more gaudy habiliments as +she had time to take off in the little basket which had before held +her ordinary attire. + +The monk presently afterwards unlocked a door which led to the +open air. They found themselves in the garden which surrounded the +monastery of the Dominicans. + +"The southern gate is on the latch, and through it you can pass +unnoticed," said the monk. "Bless thee, my son; and bless thee too, +unhappy child. Remembering where you put off your idle trinkets, +may you take care how you again resume them!" + +"Alas, father!" said Louise, "if the poor foreigner could supply +the mere wants of life by any more creditable occupation, she has +small wish to profess her idle art. But--" + +But the monk had vanished; nay, the very door though which she had +just passed appeared to have vanished also, so curiously was it +concealed beneath a flying buttress, and among the profuse ornaments +of Gothic architecture. + +"Here is a woman let out by this private postern, sure enough," +was Henry's reflection. "Pray Heaven the good fathers never let +any in! The place seems convenient for such games at bo peep. But, +Benedicite, what is to be done next? I must get rid of this quean +as fast as I can; and I must see her safe. For let her be at heart +what she may, she looks too modest, now she is in decent dress, to +deserve the usage which the wild Scot of Galloway, or the devil's +legion from the Liddel, are like to afford her." + +Louise stood as if she waited his pleasure which way to go. Her +little dog, relieved by the exchange of the dark, subterranean +vault for the open air, sprung in wild gambols through the walks, +and jumped upon its mistress, and even, though more timidly, circled +close round the smith's feet, to express its satisfaction to him +also, and conciliate his favour. + +"Down, Charlot--down!" said the glee maiden. "You are glad to +get into the blessed sunshine; but where shall we rest at night, +my poor Charlot?" + +"And now, mistress," said the smith, not churlishly, for it was +not in his nature, but bluntly, as one who is desirous to finish +a disagreeable employment, "which way lies your road?" + +Louise looked on the ground and was silent. On being again urged to +say which way she desired to be conducted, she again looked down, +and said she could not tell. + +"Come--come," said Henry, "I understand all that: I have been +a galliard--a reveller in my day, but it's best to be plain. As +matters are with me now, I am an altered man for these many, many +months; and so, my quean, you and I must part sooner than perhaps +a light o' love such as you expected to part with--a likely young +fellow." + +Louise wept silently, with her eyes still cast on the ground, as +one who felt an insult which she had not a right to complain of. +At length, perceiving that her conductor was grown impatient, she +faltered out, "Noble sir--" + +"Sir is for a knight," said the impatient burgher, "and noble is +for a baron. I am Harry of the Wynd, an honest mechanic, and free +of my guild." + +"Good craftsman, then," said the minstrel woman, "you judge me harshly, +but not without seeming cause. I would relieve you immediately of +my company, which, it may be, brings little credit to good men, +did I but know which way to go." + +"To the next wake or fair, to be sure," said Henry, roughly, having +no doubt that this distress was affected for the purpose of palming +herself upon him, and perhaps dreading to throw himself into the way +of temptation; "and that is the feast of St. Madox, at Auchterarder. +I warrant thou wilt find the way thither well enough." + +"Aftr--Auchter--" repeated the glee maiden, her Southern tongue +in vain attempting the Celtic accentuation. "I am told my poor +plays will not be understood if I go nearer to yon dreadful range +of mountains." + +"Will you abide, then, in Perth?" + +"But where to lodge?" said the wanderer. + +"Why, where lodged you last night?" replied the smith. "You know +where you came from, surely, though you seem doubtful where you +are going?" + +"I slept in the hospital of the convent. But I was only admitted +upon great importunity, and I was commanded not to return." + +"Nay, they will never take you in with the ban of the Douglas +upon you, that is even too true. But the Prince mentioned Sir John +Ramorny's; I can take you to his lodgings through bye streets, though +it is short of an honest burgher's office, and my time presses." + +"I will go anywhere; I know I am a scandal and incumbrance. There +was a time when it was otherwise. But this Ramorny, who is he?" + +"A courtly knight, who lives a jolly bachelor's life, and is master +of the horse, and privado, as they say, to the young prince." + +"What! to the wild, scornful young man who gave occasion to yonder +scandal? Oh, take me not thither, good friend. Is there no Christian +woman who would give a poor creature rest in her cowhouse or barn +for one night? I will be gone with early daybreak. I will repay +her richly. I have gold; and I will repay you, too, if you will +take me where I may be safe from that wild reveller, and from the +followers of that dark baron, in whose eye was death." + +"Keep your gold for those who lack it, mistress," said Henry, "and +do not offer to honest hands the money that is won by violing, and +tabouring, and toe tripping, and perhaps worse pastimes. I tell you +plainly, mistress, I am not to be fooled. I am ready to take you +to any place of safety you can name, for my promise is as strong +as an iron shackle. But you cannot persuade me that you do not know +what earth to make for. You are not so young in your trade as not +to know there are hostelries in every town, much more in a city +like Perth, where such as you may be harboured for your money, if +you cannot find some gulls, more or fewer, to pay your lawing. If +you have money, mistress, my care about you need be the less; and +truly I see little but pretence in all that excessive grief, and +fear of being left alone, in one of your occupation." + +Having thus, as he conceived, signified that he was not to be +deceived by the ordinary arts of a glee maiden, Henry walked a few +paces sturdily, endeavouring to think he was doing the wisest and +most prudent thing in the world. Yet he could not help looking back +to see how Louise bore his departure, and was shocked to observe +that she had sunk upon a bank, with her arms resting on her knees +and her head on her arms, in a situation expressive of the utmost +desolation. + +The smith tried to harden his heart. "It is all a sham," he said: +"the gouge knows her trade, I'll be sworn, by St. Ringan." + +At the instant something pulled the skirts of his cloak; and looking +round, he saw the little spaniel, who immediately, as if to plead +his mistress's cause, got on his hind legs and began to dance, +whimpering at the same time, and looking back to Louise, as if to +solicit compassion for his forsaken owner. + +"Poor thing," said the smith, "there may be a trick in this too, +for thou dost but as thou art taught. Yet, as I promised to protect +this poor creature, I must not leave her in a swoon, if it be one, +were it but for manhood's sake." + +Returning, and approaching his troublesome charge, he was at once +assured, from the change of her complexion, either that she was +actually in the deepest distress, or had a power of dissimulation +beyond the comprehension of man--or woman either. + +"Young woman," he said, with more of kindness than he had hitherto +been able even to assume, "I will tell you frankly how I am placed. +This is St. Valentine's Day, and by custom I was to spend it with +my fair Valentine. But blows and quarrels have occupied all the +morning, save one poor half hour. Now, you may well understand +where my heart and my thoughts are, and where, were it only in mere +courtesy, my body ought to be." + +The glee maiden listened, and appeared to comprehend him. + +"If you are a true lover, and have to wait upon a chaste Valentine, +God forbid that one like me should make a disturbance between you! +Think about me no more. I will ask of that great river to be my +guide to where it meets the ocean, where I think they said there +was a seaport; I will sail from thence to La Belle France, and will +find myself once more in a country in which the roughest peasant +would not wrong the poorest female." + +"You cannot go to Dundee today," said the smith. "The Douglas +people are in motion on both sides of the river, for the alarm of +the morning has reached them ere now; and all this day, and the +next, and the whole night which is between, they will gather to +their leader's standard, like Highlandmen at the fiery cross. Do +you see yonder five or six men who are riding so wildly on the other +side of the river? These are Annandale men: I know them by the +length of their lances, and by the way they hold them. An Annandale +man never slopes his spear backwards, but always keeps the point +upright, or pointed forward." + +"And what of them?" said the glee maiden. "They are men at arms +and soldiers. They would respect me for my viol and my helplessness." + +"I will say them no scandal," answered the smith. "If you were in +their own glens, they would use you hospitably, and you would have +nothing to fear; but they are now on an expedition. All is fish +that comes to their net. There are amongst them who would take +your life for the value of your gold earrings. Their whole soul +is settled in their eyes to see prey, and in their hands to grasp +it. They have no ears either to hear lays of music or listen +to prayers for mercy. Besides, their leader's order is gone forth +concerning you, and it is of a kind sure to be obeyed. Ay, great +lords are sooner listened to if they say, 'Burn a church,' than if +they say, 'Build one.'" + +"Then," said the glee woman, "I were best sit down and die." + +"Do not say so," replied the smith. "If I could but get you a +lodging for the night, I would carry you the next morning to Our +Lady's Stairs, from whence the vessels go down the river for Dundee, +and would put you on board with some one bound that way, who should +see you safely lodged where you would have fair entertainment and +kind usage." + +"Good--excellent--generous man!" said the glee maiden, "do this, +and if the prayers and blessings of a poor unfortunate should ever +reach Heaven, they will rise thither in thy behalf. We will meet at +yonder postern door, at whatever time the boats take their departure." + +"That is at six in the morning, when the day is but young." + +"Away with you, then, to your Valentine; and if she loves you, oh, +deceive her not!" + +"Alas, poor damsel! I fear it is deceit hath brought thee to this +pass. But I must not leave you thus unprovided. I must know where +you are to pass the night." + +"Care not for that," replied Louise: "the heavens are clear-- +there are bushes and boskets enough by the river side--Charlot +and I can well make a sleeping room of a green arbour for one night; +and tomorrow will, with your promised aid, see me out of reach of +injury and wrong. Oh, the night soon passes away when there is hope +for tomorrow! Do you still linger, with your Valentine waiting for +you? Nay, I shall hold you but a loitering lover, and you know what +belongs to a minstrel's reproaches." + +"I cannot leave you, damsel," answered the armourer, now completely +melted. "It were mere murder to suffer you to pass the night exposed +to the keenness of a Scottish blast in February. No--no, my word +would be ill kept in this manner; and if I should incur some risk +of blame, it is but just penance for thinking of thee, and using +thee, more according to my own prejudices, as I now well believe, +than thy merits. Come with me, damsel; thou shalt have a sure and +honest lodging for the night, whatsoever may be the consequence. +It would be an evil compliment to my Catharine, were I to leave a +poor creature to be starved to death, that I might enjoy her company +an hour sooner." + +So saying, and hardening himself against all anticipations of the +ill consequences or scandal which might arise from such a measure, +the manly hearted smith resolved to set evil report at defiance, +and give the wanderer a night's refuge in his own house. It must +be added, that he did this with extreme reluctance, and in a sort +of enthusiasm of benevolence. + +Ere our stout son of Vulcan had fixed his worship on the Fair Maid +of Perth, a certain natural wildness of disposition had placed him +under the influence of Venus, as well as that of Mars; and it was +only the effect of a sincere attachment which had withdrawn him +entirely from such licentious pleasures. He was therefore justly +jealous of his newly acquired reputation for constancy, which his +conduct to this poor wanderer must expose to suspicion; a little +doubtful, perhaps, of exposing himself too venturously to temptation; +and moreover in despair to lose so much of St. Valentine's Day, +which custom not only permitted, but enjoined him to pass beside +his mate for the season. The journey to Kinfauns, and the various +transactions which followed, had consumed the day, and it was now +nearly evensong time. + +As if to make up by a speedy pace for the time he was compelled to +waste upon a subject so foreign to that which he had most at heart, +he strode on through the Dominicans' gardens, entered the town, and +casting his cloak around the lower part of his face, and pulling down +his bonnet to conceal the upper, he continued the same celerity of +movement through bye streets and lanes, hoping to reach his own house +in the Wynd without being observed. But when he had continued his +rate of walking for ten minutes, he began to be sensible it might +be too rapid for the young woman to keep up with him. He accordingly +looked behind him with a degree of angry impatience, which soon +turned into compunction, when he saw that she was almost utterly +exhausted by the speed which she had exerted. + +"Now, marry, hang me up for a brute," said Henry to himself. "Was +my own haste ever so great, could it give that poor creature wings? +And she loaded with baggage too! I am an ill nurtured beast, that +is certain, wherever women are in question; and always sure to do +wrong when I have the best will to act right. + +"Hark thee, damsel; let me carry these things for thee. We shall +make better speed that I do so." + +Poor Louise would have objected, but her breath was too much +exhausted to express herself; and she permitted her good natured +guardian to take her little basket, which, when the dog beheld, +he came straight before Henry, stood up, and shook his fore paws, +whining gently, as if he too wanted to be carried. + +"Nay, then, I must needs lend thee a lift too," said the smith, +who saw the creature was tired: + +"Fie, Charlot!" said Louise; "thou knowest I will carry thee myself." + +She endeavoured to take up the little spaniel, but it escaped +from her; and going to the other side of the smith, renewed its +supplication that he would take it up. + +"Charlot's right," said the smith: "he knows best who is ablest to +bear him. This lets me know, my pretty one, that you have not been +always the bearer of your own mail: Charlot can tell tales." + +So deadly a hue came across the poor glee maiden's countenance as +Henry spoke, that he was obliged to support her, lest she should +have dropped to the ground. She recovered again, however, in an +instant or two, and with a feeble voice requested her guide would +go on. + +"Nay--nay," said Henry, as they began to move, "keep hold of my +cloak, or my arm, if it helps you forward better. A fair sight we +are; and had I but a rebeck or a guitar at my back, and a jackanapes +on my shoulder, we should seem as joyous a brace of strollers as +ever touched string at a castle gate. + +"Snails!" he ejaculated internally, "were any neighbour to meet +me with this little harlotry's basket at my back, her dog under +my arm, and herself hanging on my cloak, what could they think +but that I had turned mumper in good earnest? I would not for the +best harness I ever laid hammer on, that any of our long tongued +neighbours met me in this guise; it were a jest would last from +St. Valentine's Day to next Candlemas." + +Stirred by these thoughts, the smith, although at the risk of +making much longer a route which he wished to traverse as swiftly as +possible, took the most indirect and private course which he could +find, in order to avoid the main streets, still crowded with people, +owing to the late scene of tumult and agitation. But unhappily his +policy availed him nothing; for, in turning into an alley, he met +a man with his cloak muffled around his face, from a desire like +his own to pass unobserved, though the slight insignificant figure, +the spindle shanks, which showed themselves beneath the mantle, +and the small dull eye that blinked over its upper folds, announced +the pottingar as distinctly as if he had carried his sign in front +of his bonnet. His unexpected and most unwelcome presence overwhelmed +the smith with confusion. Ready evasion was not the property of his +bold, blunt temper; and knowing this man to be a curious observer, +a malignant tale bearer, and by no means well disposed to himself in +particular, no better hope occurred to him than that the worshipful +apothecary would give him some pretext to silence his testimony +and secure his discretion by twisting his neck round. + +But, far from doing or saying anything which could warrant such +extremities, the pottingar, seeing himself so close upon his stalwart +townsman that recognition was inevitable, seemed determined it +should be as slight as possible; and without appearing to notice +anything particular in the company or circumstances in which they +met, he barely slid out these words as he passed him, without even +a glance towards his companion after the first instant of their +meeting: "A merry holiday to you once more, stout smith. What! +thou art bringing thy cousin, pretty Mistress Joan Letham, with her +mail, from the waterside--fresh from Dundee, I warrant? I heard +she was expected at the old cordwainer's." + +As he spoke thus, he looked neither right nor left, and exchanging +a "Save you!" with a salute of the same kind which the smith rather +muttered than uttered distinctly, he glided forward on his way like +a shadow. + +"The foul fiend catch me, if I can swallow that pill," said Henry +Smith, "how well soever it may be gilded. The knave has a shrewd +eye for a kirtle, and knows a wild duck from a tame as well as e'er +a man in Perth. He were the last in the Fair City to take sour +plums for pears, or my roundabout cousin Joan for this piece of +fantastic vanity. I fancy his bearing was as much as to say, 'I +will not see what you might wish me blind to'; and he is right to +do so, as he might easily purchase himself a broken pate by meddling +with my matters, and so he will be silent for his own sake. But whom +have we next? By St. Dunstan, the chattering, bragging, cowardly +knave, Oliver Proudfute!" + +It was, indeed, the bold bonnet maker whom they next encountered, +who, with his cap on one side, and trolling the ditty of-- + +"Thou art over long at the pot, Tom, Tom," + +--gave plain intimation that he had made no dry meal. + +"Ha! my jolly smith," he said, "have I caught thee in the manner? +What, can the true steel bend? Can Vulcan, as the minstrel says, +pay Venus back in her own coin? Faith, thou wilt be a gay Valentine +before the year's out, that begins with the holiday so jollily." + +"Hark ye, Oliver," said the displeased smith, "shut your eyes and +pass on, crony. And hark ye again, stir not your tongue about what +concerns you not, as you value having an entire tooth in your head." + +"I betray counsel? I bear tales, and that against my brother +martialist? I would not tell it even to my timber soldan! Why, I +can be a wild galliard in a corner as well as thou, man. And now +I think on't, I will go with thee somewhere, and we will have a +rouse together, and thy Dalilah shall give us a song. Ha! said I +not well?" + +"Excellently," said Henry, longing the whole time to knock his +brother martialist down, but wisely taking a more peaceful way +to rid himself of the incumbrance of his presence--"excellently +well! I may want thy help, too, for here are five or six of the +Douglasses before us: they will not fail to try to take the wench +from a poor burgher like myself, so I will be glad of the assistance +of a tearer such as thou art." + +"I thank ye--I thank ye," answered the bonnet maker; "but were +I not better run and cause ring the common bell, and get my great +sword?" + +"Ay, ay, run home as fast as you can, and say nothing of what you +have seen." + +"Who, I? Nay, fear me not. Pah! I scorn a tale bearer." + +"Away with you, then. I hear the clash of armour." + +This put life and mettle into the heels of the bonnet maker, who, +turning his back on the supposed danger, set off at a pace which +the smith never doubted would speedily bring him to his own house. + +"Here is another chattering jay to deal with," thought the smith; +"but I have a hank over him too. The minstrels have a fabliau of +a daw with borrowed feathers--why, this Oliver is The very bird, +and, by St. Dunstan, if he lets his chattering tongue run on at +my expense, I will so pluck him as never hawk plumed a partridge. +And this he knows." + +As these reflections thronged on his mind, he had nearly reached +the end of his journey, and, with the glee maiden still hanging on +his cloak, exhausted, partly with fear, partly with fatigue, he at +length arrived at the middle of the wynd, which was honoured with +his own habitation, and from which, in the uncertainty that then +attended the application of surnames, he derived one of his own +appellatives. Here, on ordinary days, his furnace was seen to blaze, +and four half stripped knaves stunned the neighbourhood with the +clang of hammer and stithy. But St. Valentine's holiday was an +excuse for these men of steel having shut the shop, and for the +present being absent on their own errands of devotion or pleasure. +The house which adjoined to the smithy called Henry its owner; +and though it was small, and situated in a narrow street, yet, as +there was a large garden with fruit trees behind it, it constituted +upon the whole a pleasant dwelling. The smith, instead of knocking or +calling, which would have drawn neighbours to doors and windows, +drew out a pass key of his own fabrication, then a great and +envied curiosity, and opening the door of his house, introduced +his companion into his habitation. + +The apartment which received Henry and the glee maiden was the +kitchen, which served amongst those of the smith's station for the +family sitting room, although one or two individuals, like Simon +Glover, had an eating room apart from that in which their victuals +were prepared. In the corner of this apartment, which was arranged +with an unusual attention to cleanliness, sat an old woman, whose +neatness of attire, and the precision with which her scarlet plaid +was drawn over her head, so as to descend to her shoulders on +each side, might have indicated a higher rank than that of Luckie +Shoolbred, the smith's housekeeper. Yet such and no other was her +designation; and not having attended mass in the morning, she was +quietly reposing herself by the side of the fire, her beads, half +told, hanging over her left arm; her prayers, half said, loitering +upon her tongue; her eyes, half closed, resigning themselves to +slumber, while she expected the return of her foster son, without +being able to guess at what hour it was likely to happen. She +started up at the sound of his entrance, and bent her eye upon +his companion, at first with a look of the utmost surprise, which +gradually was exchanged for one expressive of great displeasure. + +"Now the saints bless mine eyesight, Henry Smith!" she exclaimed, +very devoutly. + +"Amen, with all my heart. Get some food ready presently, good nurse, +for I fear me this traveller hath dined but lightly." + +"And again I pray that Our Lady would preserve my eyesight from +the wicked delusions of Satan!" + +"So be it, I tell you, good woman. But what is the use of all this +pattering and prayering? Do you not hear me? or will you not do as +I bid you?" + +"It must be himself, then, whatever is of it! But, oh! it is more +like the foul fiend in his likeness, to have such a baggage hanging +upon his cloak. Oh, Harry Smith, men called you a wild lad for +less things; but who would ever have thought that Harry would have +brought a light leman under the roof that sheltered his worthy +mother, and where his own nurse has dwelt for thirty years?" + +"Hold your peace, old woman, and be reasonable," said the smith. +"This glee woman is no leman of mine, nor of any other person that +I know of; but she is going off for Dundee tomorrow by the boats, +and we must give her quarters till then." + +"Quarters!" said the old woman. "You may give quarters to such cattle +if you like it yourself, Harry Wynd; but the same house shall not +quarter that trumpery quean and me, and of that you may assure +yourself." + +"Your mother is angry with me," said Louise, misconstruing +the connexion of the parties. "I will not remain to give her any +offence. If there is a stable or a cowhouse, an empty stall will +be bed enough for Charlot and me." + +"Ay--ay, I am thinking it is the quarters you are best used to," +said Dame Shoolbred. + +"Harkye, Nurse Shoolbred," said the smith. "You know I love you +for your own sake and for my mother's; but by St. Dunstan, who was +a saint of my own craft, I will have the command of my own house; +and if you leave me without any better reason but your own nonsensical +suspicions, you must think how you will have the door open to you +when you return; for you shall have no help of mine, I promise +you." + +"Aweel, my bairn, and that will never make me risk the honest name +I have kept for sixty years. It was never your mother's custom, +and it shall never be mine, to take up with ranters, and jugglers, +and singing women; and I am not so far to seek for a dwelling, that +the same roof should cover me and a tramping princess like that." + +With this the refractory gouvernante began in great hurry to adjust +her tartan mantle for going abroad, by pulling it so forwards as +to conceal the white linen cap, the edges of which bordered her +shrivelled but still fresh and healthful countenance. This done, +she seized upon a staff, the trusty companion of her journeys, +and was fairly trudging towards the door, when the smith stepped +between her and the passage. + +"Wait at least, old woman, till we have cleared scores. I owe you +for fee and bountith." + +"An' that's e'en a dream of your own fool's head. What fee or +bountith am I to take from the son of your mother, that fed, clad, +and bielded me as if I had been a sister?" + +"And well you repay it, nurse, leaving her only child at his utmost +need." + +This seemed to strike the obstinate old woman with compunction. +She stopped and looked at her master and the minstrel alternately; +then shook her head, and seemed about to resume her motion towards +the door. + +"I only receive this poor wanderer under my roof," urged the smith, +"to save her from the prison and the scourge." + +"And why should you save her?" said the inexorable Dame Shoolbred. +"I dare say she has deserved them both as well as ever thief deserved +a hempen collar." + +"For aught I know she may or she may not. But she cannot deserve to +be scourged to death, or imprisoned till she is starved to death; +and that is the lot of them that the Black Douglas bears mal-talent +against." + +"And you are going to thraw the Black Douglas for the cake of +a glee woman? This will be the worst of your feuds yet. Oh, Henry +Gow, there is as much iron in your head as in your anvil!" + +"I have sometimes thought this myself; Mistress Shoolbred; but if +I do get a cut or two on this new argument, I wonder who is to cure +them, if you run away from me like a scared wild goose? Ay, and, +moreover, who is to receive my bonny bride, that I hope to bring +up the wynd one of these days?" + +"Ah, Harry--Harry," said the old woman, shaking her head, "this +is not the way to prepare an honest man's house for a young bride: +you should be guided by modesty and discretion, and not by chambering +and wantonness." + +"I tell you again, this poor creature is nothing to me. I wish her +only to be safely taken care of; and I think the boldest Borderman +in Perth will respect the bar of my door as much as the gate of +Carlisle Castle. I am going down to Sim Glover's; I may stay there +all night, for the Highland cub is run back to the hills, like +a wolf whelp as he is, and so there is a bed to spare, and father +Simon will make me welcome to the use of it. You will remain with +this poor creature, feed her, and protect her during the night, +and I will call on her before day; and thou mayst go with her to +the boat thyself an thou wilt, and so thou wilt set the last eyes +on her at the same time I shall." + +"There is some reason in that," said Dame Shoolbred; "though why +you should put your reputation in risk for a creature that would +find a lodging for a silver twopence and less matter is a mystery +to me." + +"Trust me with that, old woman, and be kind to the girl." + +"Kinder than she deserves, I warrant you; and truly, though I +little like the company of such cattle, yet I think I am less like +to take harm from her than you--unless she be a witch, indeed, +which may well come to be the case, as the devil is very powerful +with all this wayfaring clanjamfray." + +"No more a witch than I am a warlock," said the honest smith: "a +poor, broken hearted thing, that, if she hath done evil, has dreed +a sore weird for it. Be kind to her. And you, my musical damsel, I +will call on you tomorrow morning, and carry you to the waterside. +This old woman will treat you kindly if you say nothing to her but +what becomes honest ears." + +The poor minstrel had listened to this dialogue without understanding +more than its general tendency; for, though she spoke English well, +she had acquired the language in England itself; and the Northern +dialect was then, as now, of a broader and harsher character. She +saw, however, that she was to remain with the old lady, and meekly +folding her arms on her bosom, bent her head with humility. She next +looked towards the smith with a strong expression of thankfulness, +then, raising her eyes to heaven, took his passive hand, and seemed +about to kiss the sinewy fingers in token of deep and affectionate +gratitude. + +But Dame Shoolbred did not give license to the stranger's mode of +expressing her feelings. She thrust in between them, and pushing +poor Louise aside, said, "No--no, I'll have none of that work. +Go into the chimney nook, mistress, and when Harry Smith's gone, +if you must have hands to kiss, you shall kiss mine as long as +you like. And you, Harry, away down to Sim Glover's, for if pretty +Mistress Catharine hears of the company you have brought home, she +may chance to like them as little as I do. What's the matter now? +is the man demented? are you going out without your buckler, and +the whole town in misrule?" + +"You are right, dame," said the armourer; and, throwing the buckler +over his broad shoulders, he departed from his house without abiding +farther question. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills, +Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills +Their mountain pipe, so fill the mountaineers +With the fierce native daring which instils +The stirring memory of a thousand years. + +BYRON. + + +We must now leave the lower parties in our historical drama, to +attend to the incidents which took place among those of a higher +rank and greater importance. + +We pass from the hut of an armourer to the council room of a monarch, +and resume our story just when, the tumult beneath being settled, +the angry chieftains were summoned to the royal presence. They +entered, displeased with and lowering upon each other, each so +exclusively filled with his own fancied injuries as to be equally +unwilling and unable to attend to reason or argument. Albany alone, +calm and crafty, seemed prepared to use their dissatisfaction for +his own purposes, and turn each incident as it should occur to the +furtherance of his own indirect ends. + +The King's irresolution, although it amounted even to timidity, +did not prevent his assuming the exterior bearing becoming his +situation. It was only when hard pressed, as in the preceding scene, +that he lost his apparent composure. In general, he might be driven +from his purpose, but seldom from his dignity of manner. He received +Albany, Douglas, March, and the prior, those ill assorted members +of his motley council, with a mixture of courtesy and loftiness, +which reminded each haughty peer that he stood in the presence of +his sovereign, and compelled him to do the beseeming reverence. + +Having received their salutations, the King motioned them to be +seated; and they were obeying his commands when Rothsay entered. He +walked gracefully up to his father, and, kneeling at his footstool, +requested his blessing. Robert, with an aspect in which fondness +and sorrow were ill disguised, made an attempt to assume a look of +reproof, as he laid his hand on the youth's head and said, with a +sigh, "God bless thee, my thoughtless boy, and make thee a wiser +man in thy future years!" + +"Amen, my dearest father!" said Rothsay, in a tone of feeling such +as his happier moments often evinced. He then kissed the royal hand, +with the reverence of a son and a subject; and, instead of taking +a place at the council board, remained standing behind the King's +chair, in such a position that he might, when he chose, whisper +into his father's ear. + +The King next made a sign to the prior of St. Dominic to take his +place at the table, on which there were writing materials, which, +of all the subjects present, Albany excepted, the churchman was alone +able to use. The King then opened the purpose of their meeting by +saying, with much dignity: + +"Our business, my lords, respected these unhappy dissensions in the +Highlands, which, we learn by our latest messengers, are about to +occasion the waste and destruction of the country, even within a +few miles of this our own court. But, near as this trouble is, our +ill fate, and the instigations of wicked men, have raised up one +yet nearer, by throwing strife and contention among the citizens +of Perth and those attendants who follow your lordships and others +our knights and nobles. I must first, therefore, apply to yourselves, +my lords, to know why our court is disturbed by such unseemly +contendings, and by what means they ought to be repressed? Brother +of Albany, do you tell us first your sentiments on this matter." + +"Sir, our royal sovereign and brother," said the Duke, "being in +attendance on your Grace's person when the fray began, I am not +acquainted with its origin." + +"And for me," said the Prince, "I heard no worse war cry than +a minstrel wench's ballad, and saw no more dangerous bolts flying +than hazel nuts." + +"And I," said the Earl of March, "could only perceive that the +stout citizens of Perth had in chase some knaves who had assumed the +Bloody Heart on their shoulders. They ran too fast to be actually +the men of the Earl of Douglas." + +Douglas understood the sneer, but only replied to it by one of +those withering looks with which he was accustomed to intimate his +mortal resentment. He spoke, however, with haughty composure. + +"My liege," he said, "must of course know it is Douglas who must +answer to this heavy charge, for when was there strife or bloodshed +in Scotland, but there were foul tongues to asperse a Douglas or +a Douglas's man as having given cause to them? We have here goodly +witnesses. I speak not of my Lord of Albany, who has only said +that he was, as well becomes him, by your Grace's side. And I say +nothing of my Lord of Rothsay, who, as befits his rank, years, +and understanding, was cracking nuts with a strolling musician. +He smiles. Here he may say his pleasure; I shall not forget a tie +which he seems to have forgotten. But here is my Lord of March, +who saw my followers flying before the clowns of Perth. I can tell +that earl that the followers of the Bloody Heart advance or retreat +when their chieftain commands and the good of Scotland requires." + +"And I can answer--" exclaimed the equally proud Earl of March, +his blood rushing into his face, when the King interrupted him. + +"Peace! angry lords," said the King, "and remember in whose presence +you stand. And you, my Lord of Douglas, tell us, if you can, the +cause of this mutiny, and why your followers, whose general good +services we are most willing to acknowledge, were thus active in +private brawl." + +"I obey, my lord," said Douglas, slightly stooping a head that seldom +bent. "I was passing from my lodgings in the Carthusian convent, +through the High Street of Perth, with a few of my ordinary retinue, +when I beheld some of the baser sort of citizens crowding around +the Cross, against which there was nailed this placard, and that +which accompanies it." + +He took from a pocket in the bosom of his buff coat a human hand +and a piece of parchment. The King was shocked and agitated. + +"Read," he said, "good father prior, and let that ghastly spectacle +be removed." + +The prior read a placard to the following purpose: + +"Inasmuch as the house of a citizen of Perth was assaulted last +night, being St. Valentine's Eve, by a sort of disorderly night +walkers, belonging to some company of the strangers now resident +in the Fair City; and whereas this hand was struck from one of the +lawless limmers in the fray that ensued, the provost and magistrates +have directed that it should be nailed to the Cross, in scorn and +contempt of those by whom such brawl was occasioned. And if any +one of knightly degree shall say that this our act is wrongfully +done, I, Patrick Charteris of Kinfauns, knight, will justify this +cartel in knightly weapons, within the barrace; or, if any one of +meaner birth shall deny what is here said, he shall be met with by +a citizen of the Fair City of Perth, according to his degree. And +so God and St. John protect the Fair City!" + +"You will not wonder, my lord," resumed Douglas, "that, when +my almoner had read to me the contents of so insolent a scroll, I +caused one of my squires to pluck down a trophy so disgraceful to +the chivalry and nobility of Scotland. Where upon, it seems some of +these saucy burghers took license to hoot and insult the hindmost +of my train, who wheeled their horses on them, and would soon have +settled the feud, but for my positive command that they should follow +me in as much peace as the rascally vulgar would permit. And thus +they arrived here in the guise of flying men, when, with my command +to repel force by force, they might have set fire to the four +corners of this wretched borough, and stifled the insolent churls, +like malicious fox cubs in a burning brake of furze." + +There was a silence when Douglas had done speaking, until the Duke +of Rothsay answered, addressing his father: + +"Since the Earl of Douglas possesses the power of burning the town +where your Grace holds your court, so soon as the provost and he +differ about a night riot, or the terms of a cartel, I am sure we +ought all to be thankful that he has not the will to do so." + +"The Duke of Rothsay," said Douglas, who seemed resolved to maintain +command of his temper, "may have reason to thank Heaven in a more +serious tone than he now uses that the Douglas is as true as he is +powerful. This is a time when the subjects in all countries rise +against the law: we have heard of the insurgents of the Jacquerie +in France; and of Jack Straw, and Hob Miller, and Parson Ball, among +the Southron; and we may be sure there is fuel enough to catch such +a flame, were it spreading to our frontiers. When I see peasants +challenging noblemen, and nailing the hands of the gentry to their +city cross, I will not say I fear mutiny--for that would be false +--but I foresee, and will stand well prepared for, it." + +"And why does my Lord Douglas say," answered the Earl of March, "that +this cartel has been done by churls? I see Sir Patrick Charteris's +name there, and he, I ween, is of no churl's blood. The Douglas +himself, since he takes the matter so warmly, might lift Sir +Patrick's gauntlet without soiling of his honour." + +"My Lord of March," replied Douglas, "should speak but of what he +understands. I do no injustice to the descendant of the Red Rover, +when I say he is too slight to be weighed with the Douglas. The +heir of Thomas Randolph might have a better claim to his answer." + +"And, by my honour, it shall not miss for want of my asking the +grace," said the Earl of March, pulling his glove off. + +"Stay, my lord," said the King. "Do us not so gross an injury as +to bring your feud to mortal defiance here; but rather offer your +ungloved hand in kindness to the noble earl, and embrace in token +of your mutual fealty to the crown of Scotland." + +"Not so, my liege," answered March; "your Majesty may command me +to return my gauntlet, for that and all the armour it belongs to +are at your command, while I continue to hold my earldom of the +crown of Scotland; but when I clasp Douglas, it must be with a mailed +hand. Farewell, my liege. My counsels here avail not, nay, are so +unfavourably received, that perhaps farther stay were unwholesome +for my safety. May God keep your Highness from open enemies and +treacherous friends! I am for my castle of Dunbar, from whence I +think you will soon hear news. Farewell to you, my Lords of Albany +and Douglas; you are playing a high game, look you play it fairly. +Farewell, poor thoughtless prince, who art sporting like a fawn +within spring of a tiger! Farewell, all--George of Dunbar sees +the evil he cannot remedy. Adieu, all." + +The King would have spoken, but the accents died on his tongue, as +he received from Albany a look cautioning him to forbear. The Earl +of March left the apartment, receiving the mute salutations of the +members of the council whom he had severally addressed, excepting +from Douglas alone, who returned to his farewell speech a glance +of contemptuous defiance. + +"The recreant goes to betray us to the Southron," he said; "his +pride rests on his possessing that sea worn hold which can admit +the English into Lothian [the castle of Dunbar]. Nay, look not +alarmed, my liege, I will hold good what I say. Nevertheless, it +is yet time. Speak but the word, my liege--say but 'Arrest him,' +and March shall not yet cross the Earn on his traitorous journey." + +"Nay, gallant earl," said Albany, who wished rather that the two +powerful lords should counterbalance each other than that one should +obtain a decisive superiority, "that were too hasty counsel. The +Earl of March came hither on the King's warrant of safe conduct, +and it may not consist with my royal brother's honour to break it. +Yet, if your lordship can bring any detailed proof--" + +Here they were interrupted by a flourish of trumpets. + +"His Grace of Albany is unwontedly scrupulous today," said Douglas; +"but it skills not wasting words--the time is past--these are +March's trumpets, and I warrant me he rides at flight speed so soon +as he passes the South Port. We shall hear of him in time; and if +it be as I have conjectured, he shall be met with though all England +backed his treachery." + +"Nay, let us hope better of the noble earl," said the King, no way +displeased that the quarrel betwixt March and Douglas had seemed +to obliterate the traces of the disagreement betwixt Rothsay and +his father in law; "he hath a fiery, but not a sullen, temper. In +some things he has been--I will not say wronged, but disappointed +--and something is to be allowed to the resentment of high blood +armed with great power. But thank Heaven, all of us who remain are +of one sentiment, and, I may say, of one house; so that, at least, +our councils cannot now be thwarted with disunion. Father prior, +I pray you take your writing materials, for you must as usual be +our clerk of council. And now to business, my lords; and our first +object of consideration must be this Highland cumber." + +"Between the Clan Chattan and the Clan Quhele," said the prior, +"which, as our last advices from our brethren at Dunkeld inform +us, is ready to break out into a more formidable warfare than has +yet taken place between these sons of Belial, who speak of nothing +else than of utterly destroying one another. Their forces are +assembling on each side, and not a man claiming in the tenth degree +of kindred but must repair to the brattach of his tribe, or stand +to the punishment of fire and sword. The fiery cross hath flitted +about like a meteor in every direction, and awakened strange and +unknown tribes beyond the distant Moray Firth--may Heaven and +St. Dominic be our protection! But if your lordships cannot find +remedy for evil, it will spread broad and wide, and the patrimony +of the church must in every direction be exposed to the fury of +these Amalekites, with whom there is as little devotion to Heaven +as there is pity or love to their neighbour--may Our Lady be our +guard! We hear some of them are yet utter heathens, and worship +Mahound and Termagaunt." + +"My lords and kinsmen," said Robert, "ye have heard the urgency of +this case, and may desire to know my sentiments before you deliver +what your own wisdom shall suggest. And, in sooth, no better remedy +occurs to me than to send two commissioners, with full power from +us to settle such debates as be among them, and at the same time to +charge them, as they shall be answerable to the law, to lay down +their arms, and forbear all practices of violence against each +other." + +"I approve of your Grace's proposal," said Rothsay; "and I trust +the good prior will not refuse the venerable station of envoy upon +this peacemaking errand. And his reverend brother, the abbot of the +Carthusian convent, must contend for an honour which will certainly +add two most eminent recruits to the large army of martyrs, since +the Highlanders little regard the distinction betwixt clerk and +layman in the ambassadors whom you send to them." + +"My royal Lord of Rothsay," said the prior, "if I am destined to the +blessed crown of martyrdom, I shall be doubtless directed to the +path by which I am to attain it. Meantime, if you speak in jest, +may Heaven pardon you, and give you light to perceive that it were +better buckle on your arms to guard the possessions of the church, +so perilously endangered, than to employ your wit in taunting her +ministers and servants." + +"I taunt no one, father prior," said the youth, yawning; "Nor have +I much objection to taking arms, excepting that they are a somewhat +cumbrous garb, and in February a furred mantle is more suiting to +the weather than a steel corselet. And it irks me the more to put +on cold harness in this nipping weather, that, would but the church +send a detachment of their saints--and they have some Highland +ones well known in this district, and doubtless used to the climate +--they might fight their own battles, like merry St. George of +England. But I know not how it is, we hear of their miracles when +they are propitiated, and of their vengeance if any one trespasses +on their patrimonies, and these are urged as reasons for extending +their lands by large largesses; and yet, if there come down but a +band of twenty Highlanders, bell, book, and candle make no speed, +and the belted baron must be fain to maintain the church in possession +of the lands which he has given to her, as much as if he himself +still enjoyed the fruits of them." + +"Son David," said the King, "you give an undue license to your +tongue." + +"Nay, Sir, I am mute," replied the Prince. "I had no purpose to +disturb your Highness, or displease the father prior, who, with +so many miracles at his disposal, will not face, as it seems, a +handful of Highland caterans." + +"We know," said the prior, with suppressed indignation, "from what +source these vile doctrines are derived, which we hear with horror +from the tongue that now utters them. When princes converse with +heretics, their minds and manners are alike corrupted. They show +themselves in the streets as the companions of maskers and harlots, +and in the council as the scorners of the church and of holy things." + +"Peace, good father!" said the King. "Rothsay shall make amends +for what he has idly spoken. Alas! let us take counsel in friendly +fashion, rather than resemble a mutinous crew of mariners in a +sinking vessel, when each is more intent on quarrelling with his +neighbours than in assisting the exertions of the forlorn master +for the safety of the ship. My Lord of Douglas, your house has +been seldom to lack when the crown of Scotland desired either wise +counsel or manly achievement; I trust you will help us in this +strait." + +"I can only wonder that the strait should exist, my lord," answered +the haughty Douglas. "When I was entrusted with the lieutenancy +of the kingdom, there were some of these wild clans came down from +the Grampians. I troubled not the council about the matter, but +made the sheriff, Lord Ruthven, get to horse with the forces of the +Carse--the Hays, the Lindsays, the Ogilvies, and other gentlemen. +By St. Bride! When it was steel coat to frieze mantle, the thieves +knew what lances were good for, and whether swords had edges or no. +There were some three hundred of their best bonnets, besides that +of their chief, Donald Cormac, left on the moor of Thorn and in +Rochinroy Wood; and as many were gibbeted at Houghmanstares, which +has still the name from the hangman work that was done there. This +is the way men deal with thieves in my country; and if gentler +methods will succeed better with these Earish knaves, do not blame +Douglas for speaking his mind. You smile, my Lord of Rothsay. May +I ask how I have a second time become your jest, before I have +replied to the first which you passed on me?" + +"Nay, be not wrathful, my good Lord of Douglas," answered the +Prince; "I did but smile to think how your princely retinue would +dwindle if every thief were dealt with as the poor Highlanders at +Houghmanstares." + +The King again interfered, to prevent the Earl from giving an angry +reply. + +"Your lordship," said he to Douglas, "advises wisely that we should +trust to arms when these men come out against our subjects on the +fair and level plan; but the difficulty is to put a stop to their +disorders while they continue to lurk within their mountains. +I need not tell you that the Clan Chattan and the Clan Quhele are +great confederacies, consisting each of various tribes, who are +banded together, each to support their own separate league, and who +of late have had dissensions which have drawn blood wherever they +have met, whether individually or in bands. The whole country is +torn to pieces by their restless feuds." + +"I cannot see the evil of this," said the Douglas: "the ruffians +will destroy each other, and the deer of the Highlands will increase +as the men diminish. We shall gain as hunters the exercise we lose +as warriors." + +"Rather say that the wolves will increase as the men diminish," +replied the King. + +"I am content," said Douglas: "better wild wolves than wild caterans. +Let there be strong forces maintained along the Earish frontier, +to separate the quiet from the disturbed country. Confine the fire +of civil war within the Highlands; let it spend its uncontrolled +fury, and it will be soon burnt out for want of fuel. The survivors +will be humbled, and will be more obedient to a whisper of your +Grace's pleasure than their fathers, or the knaves that now exist, +have, been to your strictest commands." + +"This is wise but ungodly counsel," said the prior, shaking his +head; "I cannot take it upon my conscience to recommend it. It +is wisdom, but it is the wisdom of Achitophel, crafty at once and +cruel." + +"My heart tells me so," said the King, laying his hand on his +breast--"my heart tells me that it will be asked of me at the +awful day, 'Robert Stuart, where are the subjects I have given +thee?' It tells me that I must account for them all, Saxon and Gael, +Lowland, Highland, and Border man; that I will not be required to +answer for those alone who have wealth and knowledge, but for those +also who were robbers because they were poor, and rebels because +they were ignorant." + +"Your Highness speaks like a Christian king," said the prior; "but +you bear the sword as well as the sceptre, and this present evil +is of a kind which the sword must cure." + +"Hark ye, my lords," said the Prince, looking up as if a gay thought +had suddenly struck him. "Suppose we teach these savage mountaineers +a strain of chivalry? It were no hard matter to bring these two +great commanders, the captain of the Clan Chattan and the chief +of the no less doughty race of the Clan Quhele, to defy each other +to mortal combat. They might fight here in Perth--we would lend +them horse and armour; thus their feud would be stanched by the +death of one, or probably both, of the villains, for I think both +would break their necks in the first charge; my father's godly +desire of saving blood would be attained; and we should have the +pleasure of seeing such a combat between two savage knights, for the +first time in their lives wearing breeches and mounted on horses, +as has not been heard of since the days of King Arthur." + +"Shame upon you, David!" said the King. "Do you make the distress +of your native country, and the perplexity of our councils, a +subject for buffoonery?" + +"If you will pardon me, royal brother," said Albany, "I think that, +though my princely nephew hath started this thought in a jocular +manner, there may be something wrought out of it, which might +greatly remedy this pressing evil." + +"Good brother," replied the King, "it is unkind to expose Rothsay's +folly by pressing further his ill timed jest. We know the Highland +clans have not our customs of chivalry, nor the habit or mode of +doing battle which these require." + +"True, your Grace," answered Albany; "yet I speak not in scorn, +but in serious earnest. True, the mountaineers have not our forms +and mode of doing battle in the lists, but they have those which +are as effectual to the destruction of human life, and so that the +mortal game is played, and the stake won and lost, what signifies +it whether these Gael fight with sword and lance, as becomes belted +knights, or with sandbags, like the crestless churls of England, or +butcher each other with knives and skenes, in their own barbarous +fashion? Their habits, like our own, refer all disputed rights and +claims to the decision of battle. They are as vain, too, as they +are fierce; and the idea that these two clans would be admitted +to combat in presence of your Grace and of your court will readily +induce them to refer their difference to the fate of battle, even +were such rough arbitrement less familiar to their customs, and +that in any such numbers as shall be thought most convenient. We +must take care that they approach not the court, save in such a +fashion and number that they shall not be able to surprise us; and +that point being provided against, the more that shall be admitted +to combat upon either side, the greater will be the slaughter among +their bravest and most stirring men, and the more the chance of +the Highlands being quiet for some time to come." + +"This were a bloody policy, brother," said the King; "and again I +say, that I cannot bring my conscience to countenance the slaughter +of these rude men, that are so little better than so many benighted +heathens." + +"And are their lives more precious," asked Albany, "than those of +nobles and gentlemen who by your Grace's license are so frequently +admitted to fight in barrace, either for the satisfying of disputes +at law or simply to acquire honour?" + +The King, thus hard pressed, had little to say against a custom so +engrafted upon the laws of the realm and the usages of chivalry as +the trial by combat; and he only replied: "God knows, I have never +granted such license as you urge me with unless with the greatest +repugnance; and that I never saw men have strife together to the +effusion of blood, but I could have wished to appease it with the +shedding of my own." + +"But, my gracious lord," said the prior, "it seems that, if we +follow not some such policy as this of my Lord of Albany, we must +have recourse to that of the Douglas; and, at the risk of the dubious +event of battle, and with the certainty of losing many excellent +subjects, do, by means of the Lowland swords, that which these wild +mountaineers will otherwise perform with their own hand. What says +my Lord of Douglas to the policy of his Grace of Albany?" + +"Douglas," said the haughty lord, "never counselled that to be done +by policy which might be attained by open force. He remains by his +opinion, and is willing to march at the head of his own followers, +with those of the barons of Perth shire and the Carse, and either +bring these Highlanders to reason or subjection, or leave the body +of a Douglas among their savage wildernesses." + +"It is nobly spoken, my Lord of Douglas," said Albany; "and +well might the King rely upon thy undaunted heart and the courage +of thy resolute followers. But see you not how soon you may be +called elsewhere, where your presence and services are altogether +indispensable to Scotland and her monarch? Marked you not the gloomy +tone in which the fiery March limited his allegiance and faith to +our sovereign here present to that space for which he was to remain +King Robert's vassal? And did not you yourself suspect that he was +plotting a transference of his allegiance to England? Other chiefs, +of subordinate power and inferior fame, may do battle with the +Highlanders; but if Dunbar admit the Percies and their Englishmen +into our frontiers, who will drive them back if the Douglas be +elsewhere?" + +"My sword," answered Douglas, "is equally at the service of his +Majesty on the frontier or in the deepest recesses of the Highlands. +I have seen the backs of the proud Percy and George of Dunbar ere +now, and I may see them again. And, if it is the King's pleasure I +should take measures against this probable conjunction of stranger +and traitor, I admit that, rather than trust to an inferior or +feebler hand the important task of settling the Highlands, I would +be disposed to give my opinion in favour of the policy of my Lord +of Albany, and suffer those savages to carve each other's limbs, +without giving barons and knights the trouble of hunting them down." + +"My Lord of Douglas," said the Prince, who seemed determined to +omit no opportunity to gall his haughty father in law, "does not +choose to leave to us Lowlanders even the poor crumbs of honour +which might be gathered at the expense of the Highland kerne, while +he, with his Border chivalry, reaps the full harvest of victory over +the English. But Percy hath seen men's backs as well as Douglas; +and I have known as great wonders as that he who goes forth to seek +such wool should come back shorn." + +"A phrase," said Douglas, "well becoming a prince who speaks of +honour with a wandering harlot's scrip in his bonnet, by way of +favor." + +"Excuse it, my lord," said Rothsay: "men who have matched unfittingly +become careless in the choice of those whom they love par amours. +The chained dog must snatch at the nearest bone." + +"Rothsay, my unhappy son!" exclaimed the King, "art thou mad? or +wouldst thou draw down on thee the full storm of a king and father's +displeasure?" + +"I am dumb," returned the Prince, "at your Grace's command." + +"Well, then, my Lord of Albany," said the King, "since such is +your advice, and since Scottish blood must flow, how, I pray you, +are we to prevail on these fierce men to refer their quarrel to +such a combat as you propose?" + +"That, my liege," said Albany, "must be the result of more mature +deliberation. But the task will not be difficult. Gold will be +needful to bribe some of the bards and principal counsellors and +spokesmen. The chiefs, moreover, of both these leagues must be made +to understand that, unless they agree to this amicable settlement +--" + +"Amicable, brother!" said the King, with emphasis. + +"Ay, amicable, my liege," replied his brother, "since it is better +the country were placed in peace, at the expense of losing a score +or two of Highland kernes, than remain at war till as many thousands +are destroyed by sword, fire, famine, and all the extremities of +mountain battle. To return to the purpose: I think that the first +party to whom the accommodation is proposed will snatch at it +eagerly; that the other will be ashamed to reject an offer to rest +the cause on the swords of their bravest men; that the national +vanity, and factious hate to each other, will prevent them from +seeing our purpose in adopting such a rule of decision; and that +they will be more eager to cut each other to pieces than we can be +to halloo them on. And now, as our counsels are finished, so far +as I can aid, I will withdraw." + +"Stay yet a moment," said the prior, "for I also have a grief +to disclose, of a nature so black and horrible, that your Grace's +pious heart will hardly credit its existence, and I state it +mournfully, because, as certain as that I am an unworthy servant of +St. Dominic, it is the cause of the displeasure of Heaven against +this poor country, by which our victories are turned into defeat, +our gladness into mourning, our councils distracted with disunion, +and our country devoured by civil war." + +"Speak, reverend prior," said the King; "assuredly, if the cause +of such evils be in me or in my house, I will take instant care to +their removal." + +He uttered these words with a faltering voice, and eagerly waited +for the prior's reply, in the dread, no doubt, that it might implicate +Rothsay in some new charge of folly or vice. His apprehensions +perhaps deceived him, when he thought he saw the churchman's eye +rest for a moment on the Prince, before he said, in a solemn tone, +"Heresy, my noble and gracious liege--heresy is among us. She +snatches soul after soul from the congregation, as wolves steal +lambs from the sheep fold." + +"There are enough of shepherds to watch the fold," answered the Duke +of Rothsay. "Here are four convents of regular monks alone around +this poor hamlet of Perth, and all the secular clergy besides. +Methinks a town so well garrisoned should be fit to keep out an +enemy." + +"One traitor in a garrison, my lord," answered the prior, "can do +much to destroy the security of a city which is guarded by legions; +and if that one traitor is, either from levity, or love of novelty, +or whatever other motive, protected and fostered by those who should +be most eager to expel him from the fortress, his opportunities of +working mischief will be incalculably increased." + +"Your words seem to aim at some one in this presence, father +prior," said the Douglas; "if at me, they do me foul wrong. I am +well aware that the abbot of Aberbrothock hath made some ill advised +complaints, that I suffered not his beeves to become too many for +his pastures, or his stock of grain to burst the girnels of the +monastery, while my followers lacked beef and their horses corn. +But bethink you, the pastures and cornfields which produced that +plenty were bestowed by my ancestors on the house of Aberbrothock, +surely not with the purpose that their descendant should starve in +the midst of it; and neither will he, by St. Bride! But for heresy +and false doctrine," he added, striking his large hand heavily on +the council table, "who is it that dare tax the Douglas? I would +not have poor men burned for silly thoughts; but my hand and sword +are ever ready to maintain the Christian faith." + +"My lord, I doubt it not," said the prior; "so hath it ever been +with your most noble house. For the abbot's complaints, they may +pass to a second day. But what we now desire is a commission to some +noble lord of state, joined to others of Holy Church, to support +by strength of hand, if necessary, the inquiries which the reverend +official of the bounds, and other grave prelates, my unworthy self +being one, are about to make into the cause of the new doctrines, +which are now deluding the simple, and depraving the pure and precious +faith, approved by the Holy Father and his reverend predecessors." + +"Let the Earl of Douglas have a royal commission to this effect," +said Albany; "and let there be no exception whatever from his +jurisdiction, saving the royal person. For my own part, although +conscious that I have neither in act nor thought received or +encouraged a doctrine which Holy Church hath not sanctioned, yet I +should blush to claim an immunity under the blood royal of Scotland, +lest I should seem to be seeking refuge against a crime so horrible." + +"I will have nought to do with it," said Douglas: "to march against +the English, and the Southron traitor March, is task enough for +me. Moreover, I am a true Scotsman, and will not give way to aught +that may put the Church of Scotland's head farther into the Roman +yoke, or make the baron's coronet stoop to the mitre and cowl. Do +you, therefore, most noble Duke of Albany, place your own name in +the commission; and I pray your Grace so to mitigate the zeal of +the men of Holy Church who may be associated with you, that there +be no over zealous dealings; for the smell of a fagot on the Tay +would bring back the Douglas from the walls of York." + +The Duke hastened to give the Earl assurance that the commission +should be exercised with lenity and moderation. + +"Without a question," said King Robert, "the commission must be +ample; and did it consist with the dignity of our crown, we would +not ourselves decline its jurisdiction. But we trust that, while +the thunders of the church are directed against the vile authors +of these detestable heresies, there shall be measures of mildness +and compassion taken with the unfortunate victims of their delusions." + +"Such is ever the course of Holy Church, my lord," said the prior +of St. Dominic's. + +"Why, then, let the commission be expedited with due care, in name +of our brother Albany, and such others as shall be deemed convenient," +said the King. "And now once again let us break up our council; and, +Rothsay, come thou with me, and lend me thine arm; I have matter +for thy private ear." + +"Ho, la!" here exclaimed the Prince, in the tone in which he would +have addressed a managed horse. + +"What means this rudeness, boy?" said the King; "wilt thou never +learn reason and courtesy?" + +"Let me not be thought to offend, my liege," said the Prince; "but +we are parting without learning what is to be done in the passing +strange adventure of the dead hand, which the Douglas hath so +gallantly taken up. We shall sit but uncomfortably here at Perth, +if we are at variance with the citizens." + +"Leave that to me," said Albany. "With some little grant of lands +and money, and plenty of fair words, the burghers may be satisfied +for this time; but it were well that the barons and their followers, +who are in attendance on the court, were warned to respect the +peace within burgh." + +"Surely, we would have it so," said the King; "let strict orders +be given accordingly." + +"It is doing the churls but too much grace," said the Douglas; "but +be it at your Highness's pleasure. I take leave to retire." + +"Not before you taste a flagon of Gascon wine, my lord?" said the +King. + +"Pardon," replied the Earl, "I am not athirst, and I drink not +for fashion, but either for need or for friendship." So saying, he +departed. + +The King, as if relieved by his absence, turned to Albany, and +said: "And now, my lord, we should chide this truant Rothsay of +ours; yet he hath served us so well at council, that we must receive +his merits as some atonement for his follies." + +"I am happy to hear it," answered Albany, with a countenance of +pity and incredulity, as if he knew nothing of the supposed services. + +"Nay, brother, you are dull," said the King, "for I will not think +you envious. Did you not note that Rothsay was the first to suggest +the mode of settling the Highlands, which your experience brought +indeed into better shape, and which was generally approved of; and +even now we had broken up, leaving a main matter unconsidered, but +that he put us in mind of the affray with the citizens?" + +"I nothing doubt, my liege," said the Duke of Albany, with the +acquiescence which he saw was expected, "that my royal nephew will +soon emulate his father's wisdom." + +"Or," said the Duke of Rothsay, "I may find it easier to borrow +from another member of my family that happy and comfortable cloak +of hypocrisy which covers all vices, and then it signifies little +whether they exist or not." + +"My lord prior," said the Duke, addressing the Dominican, "we will +for a moment pray your reverence's absence. The King and I have +that to say to the Prince which must have no further audience, not +even yours." + +The Dominican bowed and withdrew. + +When the two royal brothers and the Prince were left together, +the King seemed in the highest degree embarrassed and distressed, +Albany sullen and thoughtful, while Rothsay himself endeavoured +to cover some anxiety under his usual appearance of levity. There +was a silence of a minute. At length Albany spoke. + +"Royal brother," he said, "my princely nephew entertains with so +much suspicion any admonition coming from my mouth, that I must +pray your Grace yourself to take the trouble of telling him what +it is most fitting he should know." + +"It must be some unpleasing communication indeed, which my Lord of +Albany cannot wrap up in honied words," said the Prince. + +"Peace with thine effrontery, boy," answered the King, passionately. +"You asked but now of the quarrel with the citizens. Who caused +that quarrel, David? What men were those who scaled the window of +a peaceful citizen and liege man, alarmed the night with torch and +outcry, and subjected our subjects to danger and affright?" + +"More fear than danger, I fancy," answered the Prince; "but how +can I of all men tell who made this nocturnal disturbance?" + +"There was a follower of thine own there," continued the King-- +"a man of Belial, whom I will have brought to condign punishment." + +"I have no follower, to my knowledge, capable of deserving your +Highness's displeasure," answered the Prince. + +"I will have no evasions, boy. Where wert thou on St. Valentine's +Eve?" + +"It is to be hoped that I was serving the good saint, as a man of +mould might," answered the young man, carelessly. + +"Will my royal nephew tell us how his master of the horse was +employed upon that holy eve?" said the Duke of Albany. + +"Speak, David; I command thee to speak," said the King. + +"Ramorny was employed in my service, I think that answer may satisfy +my uncle." + +"But it will not satisfy me," said the angry father. "God knows, +I never coveted man's blood, but that Ramorny's head I will have, +if law can give it. He has been the encourager and partaker of all +thy numerous vices and follies. I will take care he shall be so no +more. Call MacLouis, with a guard." + +"Do not injure an innocent man," interposed the Prince, desirous at +every sacrifice to preserve his favourite from the menaced danger: +"I pledge my word that Ramorny was employed in business of mine, +therefore could not be engaged in this brawl." + +"False equivocator that thou art!" said the King, presenting to the +Prince a ring, "behold the signet of Ramorny, lost in the infamous +affray! It fell into the hands of a follower of the Douglas, and +was given by the Earl to my brother. Speak not for Ramorny, for +he dies; and go thou from my presence, and repent the flagitious +counsels which could make thee stand before me with a falsehood in +thy mouth. Oh, shame, David--shame! as a son thou hast lied to +thy father, as a knight to the head of thy order." + +The Prince stood mute, conscience struck, and self convicted. He +then gave way to the honourable feelings which at bottom he really +possessed, and threw himself at his father's feet. + +"The false knight," he said, "deserves degradation, the disloyal +subject death; but, oh! let the son crave from the father pardon +for the servant who did not lead him into guilt, but who reluctantly +plunged himself into it at his command. Let me bear the weight of +my own folly, but spare those who have been my tools rather than +my accomplices. Remember, Ramorny was preferred to my service by +my sainted mother." + +"Name her not, David, I charge thee," said the King; "she is happy +that she never saw the child of her love stand before her doubly +dishonoured by guilt and by falsehood." + +"I am indeed unworthy to name her," said the Prince; "and yet, my +dear father, in her name I must petition for Ramorny's life." + +"If I might offer my counsel," said the Duke of Albany, who saw +that a reconciliation would soon take place betwixt the father and +son, "I would advise that Ramorny be dismissed from the Prince's +household and society, with such further penalty as his imprudence +may seem to merit. The public will be contented with his disgrace, +and the matter will be easily accommodated or stifled, so that his +Highness do not attempt to screen his servant." + +"Wilt thou, for my sake, David," said the King, with a faltering +voice and the tear in his eye, "dismiss this dangerous man?--for +my sake, who could not refuse thee the heart out of my bosom?" + +"It shall be done, my father--done instantly," the Prince replied; +and seizing the pen, he wrote a hasty dismissal of Ramorny from his +service, and put it into Albany's hands. "I would I could fulfil all +your wishes as easily, my royal father," he added, again throwing +himself at the King's feet, who raised him up and fondly folded +him in his arms. + +Albany scowled, but was silent; and it was not till after the space +of a minute or two that he said: "This matter being so happily +accommodated, let me ask if your Majesty is pleased to attend the +evensong service in the chapel?" + +"Surely," said the King. "Have I not thanks to pay to God, who has +restored union to my family? You will go with us, brother?" + +"So please your Grace to give me leave of absence--no," said the +Duke. "I must concert with the Douglas and others the manner in +which we may bring these Highland vultures to our lure." + +Albany retired to think over his ambitious projects, while the +father and son attended divine service, to thank God for their +happy reconciliation. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Will you go to the Hielands, Lizzy Lyndesay, +Will you go the Hielands wi' me? +Will you go to the Hielands, Lizzy Lyndesay, +My bride and my darling to be? + +Old Ballad. + + +A former chapter opened in the royal confessional; we are now to +introduce our readers to a situation somewhat similar, though the +scene and persons were very different. Instead of a Gothic and darkened +apartment in a monastery, one of the most beautiful prospects in +Scotland lay extended beneath the hill of Kinnoul, and at the foot +of a rock which commanded the view in every direction sat the Fair +Maid of Perth, listening in an attitude of devout attention to the +instructions of a Carthusian monk, in his white gown and scapular, +who concluded his discourse with prayer, in which his proselyte +devoutly joined. + +When they had finished their devotions, the priest sat for some +time with his eyes fixed on the glorious prospect, of which even +the early and chilly season could not conceal the beauties, and it +was some time ere he addressed his attentive companion. + +"When I behold," he said at length, "this rich and varied land, +with its castles, churches, convents, stately palaces, and fertile +fields, these extensive woods, and that noble river, I know +not, my daughter, whether most to admire the bounty of God or the +ingratitude of man. He hath given us the beauty and fertility of +the earth, and we have made the scene of his bounty a charnel house +and a battlefield. He hath given us power over the elements, and +skill to erect houses for comfort and defence, and we have converted +them into dens for robbers and ruffians." + +"Yet, surely, my father, there is room for comfort," replied +Catharine, "even in the very prospect we look upon. Yonder four +goodly convents, with their churches, and their towers, which tell +the citizens with brazen voice that they should think on their +religious duties; their inhabitants, who have separated themselves +from the world, its pursuits and its pleasures, to dedicate themselves +to the service of Heaven--all bear witness that, if Scotland be +a bloody and a sinful land, she is yet alive and sensible to the +claims which religion demands of the human race." + +"Verily, daughter," answered the priest, "what you say seems truth; +and yet, nearly viewed, too much of the comfort you describe will +be found delusive. It is true, there was a period in the Christian +world when good men, maintaining themselves by the work of their +hands, assembled together, not that they might live easily or sleep +softly, but that they might strengthen each other in the Christian +faith, and qualify themselves to be teachers of the Word to the +people. Doubtless there are still such to be found in the holy +edifices on which we now look. But it is to be feared that the love +of many has waxed cold. Our churchmen have become wealthy, as well +by the gifts of pious persons as by the bribes which wicked men +have given in their ignorance, imagining that they can purchase that +pardon by endowments to the church which Heaven has only offered +to sincere penitents. And thus, as the church waxeth rich, her +doctrines have unhappily become dim and obscure, as a light is +less seen if placed in a lamp of chased gold than beheld through +a screen of glass. God knows, if I see these things and mark them, +it is from no wish of singularity or desire to make myself a teacher +in Israel; but because the fire burns in my bosom, and will not +permit me to be silent. I obey the rules of my order, and withdraw not +myself from its austerities. Be they essential to our salvation, or +be they mere formalities, adopted to supply the want of real penitence +and sincere devotion, I have promised, nay, vowed, to observe them; +and they shall be respected by me the more, that otherwise I might +be charged with regarding my bodily ease, when Heaven is my witness +how lightly I value what I may be called on to act or suffer, if +the purity of the church could be restored, or the discipline of +the priesthood replaced in its primitive simplicity." + +"But, my father," said Catharine, "even for these opinions men +term you a Lollard and a Wickliffite, and say it is your desire +to destroy churches and cloisters, and restore the religion of +heathenesse." + +"Even so, my daughter, am I driven to seek refuge in hills and +rocks, and must be presently contented to take my flight amongst +the rude Highlanders, who are thus far in a more gracious state +than those I leave behind me, that theirs are crimes of ignorance, +not of presumption. I will not omit to take such means of safety +and escape from their cruelty as Heaven may open to me; for, while +such appear, I shall account it a sign that I have still a service +to accomplish. But when it is my Master's pleasure, He knows how +willingly Clement Blair will lay down a vilified life upon earth, +in humble hope of a blessed exchange hereafter. But wherefore dost +thou look northward so anxiously, my child? Thy young eyes are +quicker than mine--dost thou see any one coming?" + +"I look, father, for the Highland youth, Conachar, who will be thy +guide to the hills, where his father can afford thee a safe, if +a rude, retreat. This he has often promised, when we spoke of you +and of your lessons. I fear he is now in company where he will soon +forget them." + +"The youth hath sparkles of grace in him," said Father Clement; +"although those of his race are usually too much devoted to their +own fierce and savage customs to endure with patience either the +restraints of religion or those of the social law. Thou hast never +told me, daughter, how, contrary to all the usages either of the +burgh or of the mountains, this youth came to reside in thy father's +house?" + +"All I know touching that matter," said Catharine, "is, that his +father is a man of consequence among those hill men, and that he +desired as a favour of my father, who hath had dealings with them +in the way of his merchandise, to keep this youth for a certain +time, and that it is only two days since they parted, as Conachar +was to return home to his own mountains." + +"And why has my daughter," demanded the priest, "maintained such a +correspondence with this Highland youth, that she should know how +to send for him when she desired to use his services in my behalf? +Surely, this is much influence for a maiden to possess over such +a wild colt as this youthful mountaineer." + +Catharine blushed, and answered with hesitation: "If I have had any +influence with Conachar, Heaven be my witness, I have only exerted +it to enforce upon his fiery temper compliance with the rules of +civil life. It is true, I have long expected that you, my father, +would be obliged to take to flight, and I therefore had agreed +with him that he should meet me at this place as soon as he should +receive a message from me with a token, which I yesterday despatched. +The messenger was a lightfooted boy of his own clan, whom he used +sometimes to send on errands into the Highlands." + +"And am I then to understand, daughter, that this youth, so fair +to the eye, was nothing more dear to you than as you desired to +enlighten his mind and reform his manners?" + +"It is so, my father, and no otherwise," answered Catharine; "and +perhaps I did not do well to hold intimacy with him, even for his +instruction and improvement. But my discourse never led farther." + +"Then have I been mistaken, my daughter; for I thought I had seen +in thee of late some change of purpose, and some wishful regards +looking back to this world, of which you were at one time resolved +to take leave." + +Catharine hung down her head and blushed more deeply than ever as +she said: "Yourself, father, were used to remonstrate against my +taking the veil." + +"Nor do I now approve of it, my child," said the priest. "Marriage +is an honourable state, appointed by Heaven as the regular means +of continuing the race of man; and I read not in the Scriptures +what human inventions have since affirmed concerning the superior +excellence of a state of celibacy. But I am jealous of thee, +my child, as a father is of his only daughter, lest thou shouldst +throw thyself away upon some one unworthy of thee. Thy parent, I +know, less nice in thy behalf than I am, countenances the addresses +of that fierce and riotous reveller whom they call Henry of the +Wynd. He is rich it may be; but a haunter of idle and debauched +company--a common prizefighter, who has shed human blood like +water. Can such a one be a fit mate for Catharine Glover? And yet +report says they are soon to be united." + +The Fair Maid of Perth's complexion changed from red to pale, and +from pale to red, as she hastily replied: "I think not of him; +though it is true some courtesies have passed betwixt us of late, +both as he is my father's friend and as being according to the +custom of the time, my Valentine." + +"Your Valentine, my child!" said Father Clement. "And can your +modesty and prudence have trifled so much with the delicacy of your +sex as to place yourself in such a relation to such a man as this +artificer? Think you that this Valentine, a godly saint and Christian +bishop, as he is said to have been, ever countenanced a silly and +unseemly custom, more likely to have originated in the heathen +worship of Flora or Venus, when mortals gave the names of deities +to their passions; and studied to excite instead of restraining +them?" + +"Father," said Catharine, in a tone of more displeasure than she had +ever before assumed to the Carthusian, "I know not upon what ground +you tax me thus severely for complying with a general practice, +authorised by universal custom and sanctioned by my father's +authority. I cannot feel it kind that you put such misconstruction +upon me." + +"Forgive me, daughter," answered the priest, mildly, "if I have +given you offence. But this Henry Gow, or Smith, is a forward, +licentious man, to whom you cannot allow any uncommon degree +of intimacy and encouragement, without exposing yourself to worse +misconstruction--unless, indeed, it be your purpose to wed him, +and that very shortly." + +"Say no more of it, my father," said Catharine. "You give me more +pain than you would desire to do; and I may be provoked to answer +otherwise than as becomes me. Perhaps I have already had cause +enough to make me repent my compliance with an idle custom. At any +rate, believe that Henry Smith is nothing to me, and that even the +idle intercourse arising from St. Valentine's Day is utterly broken +off." + +"I am rejoiced to hear it, my daughter," replied the Carthusian, +"and must now prove you on another subject, which renders me most +anxious on your behalf. You cannot your self be ignorant of it, +although I could wish it were not necessary to speak of a thing +so dangerous, even, before these surrounding rocks, cliffs, and +stones. But it must be said. Catharine, you have a lover in the +highest rank of Scotland's sons of honour?" + +"I know it, father," answered Catharine, composedly. "I would it +were not so." + +"So would I also," said the priest, "did I see in my daughter only +the child of folly, which most young women are at her age, especially +if possessed of the fatal gift of beauty. But as thy charms, to +speak the language of an idle world, have attached to thee a lover +of such high rank, so I know that thy virtue and wisdom will maintain +the influence over the Prince's mind which thy beauty hath acquired." + +"Father," replied Catharine, "the Prince is a licentious gallant, +whose notice of me tends only to my disgrace and ruin. Can you, +who seemed but now afraid that I acted imprudently in entering into +an ordinary exchange of courtesies with one of my own rank, speak +with patience of the sort of correspondence which the heir of +Scotland dares to fix upon me? Know that it is but two nights since +he, with a party of his debauched followers, would have carried +me by force from my father's house, had I not been rescued by that +same rash spirited Henry Smith, who, if he be too hasty in venturing +on danger on slight occasion, is always ready to venture his life +in behalf of innocence or in resistance of oppression. It is well +my part to do him that justice." + +"I should know something of that matter," said the monk, "since +it was my voice that sent him to your assistance. I had seen the +party as I passed your door, and was hastening to the civil power +in order to raise assistance, when I perceived a man's figure coming +slowly towards me. Apprehensive it might be one of the ambuscade, +I stepped behind the buttresses of the chapel of St. John, and +seeing from a nearer view that it was Henry Smith, I guessed which +way he was bound, and raised my voice, in an exhortation which made +him double his speed." + +"I am beholden to you, father," said Catharine; "but all this, and +the Duke of Rothsay's own language to me, only show that the Prince +is a profligate young man, who will scruple no extremities which +may promise to gratify an idle passion, at whatever expense to its +object. His emissary, Ramorny, has even had the insolence to tell +me that my father shall suffer for it if I dare to prefer being the +wife of an honest man to becoming the loose paramour of a married +prince. So I see no other remedy than to take the veil, or run +the risk of my own ruin and my poor father's. Were there no other +reason, the terror of these threats, from a man so notoriously +capable of keeping his word, ought as much to prevent my becoming +the bride of any worthy man as it should prohibit me from unlatching +his door to admit murderers. Oh, good father, what a lot is mine! +and how fatal am I likely to prove to my affectionate parent, and +to any one with whom I might ally my unhappy fortunes!" + +"Be yet of good cheer, my daughter," said the monk; "there is comfort +for thee even in this extremity of apparent distress. Ramorny is a +villain, and abuses the ear of his patron. The Prince is unhappily +a dissipated and idle youth; but, unless my grey hairs have been +strangely imposed on, his character is beginning to alter. He hath +been awakened to Ramorny's baseness, and deeply regrets having +followed his evil advice. I believe, nay, I am well convinced, that +his passion for you has assumed a nobler and purer character, and +that the lessons he has heard from me on the corruptions of the +church and of the times will, if enforced from your lips, sink +deeply into his heart, and perhaps produce fruits for the world to +wonder as well as rejoice at. Old prophecies have said that Rome +shall fall by the speech of a woman." + +"These are dreams, father," said Catharine--"the visions of one +whose thoughts are too much on better things to admit his thinking +justly upon the ordinary affairs of Perth. When we have looked long +at the sun, everything else can only be seen indistinctly." + +"Thou art over hasty, my daughter," said Clement, "and thou shalt +be convinced of it. The prospects which I am to open to thee were +unfit to be exposed to one of a less firm sense of virtue, or a +more ambitious temper. Perhaps it is not fit that, even to you, I +should display them; but my confidence is strong in thy wisdom and +thy principles. Know, then, that there is much chance that the Church +of Rome will dissolve the union which she has herself formed, and +release the Duke of Rothsay from his marriage with Marjory Douglas." + +Here he paused. + +"And if the church hath power and will to do this," replied the +maiden, "what influence can the divorce of the Duke from his wife +produce on the fortunes of Catharine Glover?" + +She looked at the priest anxiously as she spoke, and he had some +apparent difficulty in framing his reply, for he looked on the +ground while he answered her. + +"What did beauty do for Catharine Logie? Unless our fathers have +told us falsely, it raised her to share the throne of David Bruce." + +"Did she live happy or die regretted, good father?" asked Catharine, +in the same calm and steady tone. + +"She formed her alliance from temporal, and perhaps criminal, +ambition," replied Father Clement; "and she found her reward in +vanity and vexation of spirit. But had she wedded with the purpose +that the believing wife should convert the unbelieving, or confirm +the doubting, husband, what then had been her reward? Love and +honour upon earth, and an inheritance in Heaven with Queen Margaret +and those heroines who have been the nursing mothers of the church." + +Hitherto Catharine had sat upon a stone beside the priest's feet, and +looked up to him as she spoke or listened; but now, as if animated +by calm, yet settled, feelings of disapprobation, she rose up, +and, extending her hand towards the monk as she spoke, addressed +him with a countenance and voice which might have become a cherub, +pitying, and even as much as possible sparing, the feelings of the +mortal whose errors he is commissioned to rebuke. + +"And is it even so?" she said, "and can so much of the wishes, +hopes, and prejudices of this vile world affect him who may be +called tomorrow to lay down his life for opposing the corruptions +of a wicked age and backsliding priesthood? Can it be the severely +virtuous Father Clement who advises his child to aim at, or even to +think of, the possession of a throne and a bed which cannot become +vacant but by an act of crying injustice to the present possessor? +Can it be the wise reformer of the church who wishes to rest a +scheme, in itself so unjust, upon a foundation so precarious? Since +when is it, good father, that the principal libertine has altered +his morals so much, to be likely to court in honourable fashion +the daughter of a Perth artisan? Two days must have wrought this +change; for only that space has passed since he was breaking into +my father's house at midnight, with worse mischief in his mind than +that of a common robber. And think you that, if Rothsay's heart +could dictate so mean a match, he could achieve such a purpose +without endangering both his succession and his life, assailed by +the Douglas and March at the same time, for what they must receive +as an act of injury and insult to both their houses? Oh! Father +Clement, where was your principle, where your prudence, when they +suffered you to be bewildered by so strange a dream, and placed +the meanest of your disciples in the right thus to reproach you?" + +The old man's eyes filled with tears, as Catharine, visibly and +painfully affected by what she had said, became at length silent. + +"By the mouths of babes and sucklings," he said, "hath He rebuked +those who would seem wise in their generation. I thank Heaven, +that hath taught me better thoughts than my own vanity suggested, +through the medium of so kind a monitress. Yes, Catharine, I must +not hereafter wonder or exclaim when I see those whom I have hitherto +judged too harshly struggling for temporal power, and holding all +the while the language of religious zeal. I thank thee, daughter, +for thy salutary admonition, and I thank Heaven that sent it by +thy lips, rather than those of a stern reprover." + +Catharine had raised her head to reply, and bid the old man, whose +humiliation gave her pain, be comforted, when her eyes were arrested +by an object close at hand. Among the crags and cliffs which +surrounded this place of seclusion, there were two which stood in +such close contiguity, that they seemed to have been portions of +the same rock, which, rendered by lightning or by an earthquake, +now exhibited a chasm of about four feet in breadth, betwixt the +masses of stone. Into this chasm an oak tree had thrust itself, +in one of the fantastic frolics which vegetation often exhibits in +such situations. The tree, stunted and ill fed, had sent its roots +along the face of the rock in all directions to seek for supplies, +and they lay like military lines of communication, contorted, twisted, +and knotted like the immense snakes of the Indian archipelago. +As Catharine's look fell upon the curious complication of knotty +branches and twisted roots, she was suddenly sensible that two large +eyes were visible among them, fixed and glaring at her, like those +of a wild animal in ambush. She started, and, without speaking, +pointed out the object to her companion, and looking herself with +more strict attention, could at length trace out the bushy red hair +and shaggy beard, which had hitherto been concealed by the drooping +branches and twisted roots of the tree. + +When he saw himself discovered, the Highlander, for such he proved, +stepped forth from his lurking place, and, stalking forward, +displayed a colossal person, clothed in a purple, red, and green +checked plaid, under which he wore a jacket of bull's hide. His +bow and arrows were at his back, his head was bare, and a large +quantity of tangled locks, like the glibbs of the Irish, served +to cover the head, and supplied all the purposes of a bonnet. His +belt bore a sword and dagger, and he had in his hand a Danish pole +axe, more recently called a Lochaber axe. Through the same rude +portal advanced, one by one, four men more, of similar size, and +dressed and armed in the same manner. + +Catharine was too much accustomed to the appearance of the inhabitants +of the mountains so near to Perth to permit herself to be alarmed, +as another Lowland maiden might have been on the same occasion. She +saw with tolerable composure these gigantic forms arrange themselves +in a semicircle around and in front of the monk and herself, all +bending upon them in silence their large fixed eyes, expressing, +as far as she could judge, a wild admiration of her beauty. She +inclined her head to them, and uttered imperfectly the usual words +of a Highland salutation. The elder and leader of the party returned +the greeting, and then again remained silent and motionless. The +monk told his beads; and even Catharine began to have strange fears +for her personal safety, and anxiety to know whether they were to +consider themselves at personal freedom. She resolved to make the +experiment, and moved forward as if to descend the hill; but when +she attempted to pass the line of Highlanders, they extended their +poleaxes betwixt each other, so as effectually to occupy each +opening through which she could have passed. + +Somewhat disconcerted, yet not dismayed, for she could not conceive +that any evil was intended, she sat down upon one of the scattered +fragments of rock, and bade the monk, standing by her side, be of +good courage. + +"If I fear," said Father Clement, "it is not for myself; for whether +I be brained with the axes of these wild men, like an ox when, worn +out by labour, he is condemned to the slaughter, or whether I am +bound with their bowstrings, and delivered over to those who will +take my life with more cruel ceremony, it can but little concern +me, if they suffer thee, dearest daughter, to escape uninjured." + +"We have neither of us," replied the Maiden of Perth, "any cause +for apprehending evil; and here comes Conachar to assure us of it." + +Yet, as she spoke, she almost doubted her own eyes; so altered +were the manner and attire of the handsome, stately, and almost +splendidly dressed youth who, springing like a roebuck from a cliff +of considerable height, lighted just in front of her. His dress +was of the same tartan worn by those who had first made their +appearance, but closed at the throat and elbows with a necklace +and armlets of gold. The hauberk which he wore over his person was +of steel, but so clearly burnished that it shone like silver. His +arms were profusely ornamented, and his bonnet, besides the eagle's +feather marking the quality of chief, was adorned with a chain of +gold, wrapt several times around it, and secured by a large clasp, +glistening with pearls. His brooch, by which the tartan mantle, or +plaid, as it is now called, was secured on the shoulder, was also +of gold, large and curiously carved. He bore no weapon in his hand, +excepting a small sapling stick with a hooked head. His whole +appearance and gait, which used formerly to denote a sullen feeling +of conscious degradation, was now bold, forward, and haughty; and +he stood before Catharine with smiling confidence, as if fully +conscious of his improved appearance, and waiting till she should +recognise him. + +"Conachar," said Catharine, desirous to break this state of suspense, +"are these your father's men?" + +"No, fair Catharine," answered the young man. "Conachar is no more, +unless in regard to the wrongs he has sustained, and the vengeance +which they demand. I am Ian Eachin MacIan, son to the chief of the +Clan Quhele. I have moulted my feathers, as you see, when I changed +my name. And for these men, they are not my father's followers, +but mine. You see only one half of them collected: they form a band +consisting of my foster father and eight sons, who are my bodyguard, +and the children of my belt, who breathe but to do my will. But +Conachar," he added, in a softer tone of voice, "lives again so +soon as Catharine desires to see him; and while he is the young +chief of the Clan Quhele to all others, he is to her as humble and +obedient as when he was Simon Glover's apprentice. See, here is the +stick I had from you when we nutted together in the sunny braes of +Lednoch, when autumn was young in the year that is gone. I would +not exchange it, Catharine, for the truncheon of my tribe." + +While Eachin thus spoke, Catharine began to doubt in her own mind +whether she had acted prudently in requesting the assistance of a +bold young man, elated, doubtless, by his sudden elevation from a +state of servitude to one which she was aware gave him extensive +authority over a very lawless body of adherents. + +"You do not fear me, fair Catharine?" said the young chief, taking +her hand. "I suffered my people to appear before you for a few +minutes, that I might see how you could endure their presence; and +methinks you regarded them as if you were born to be a chieftain's +wife." + +"I have no reason to fear wrong from Highlanders," said Catharine, +firmly; "especially as I thought Conachar was with them. Conachar +has drunk of our cup and eaten of our bread; and my father has +often had traffic with Highlanders, and never was there wrong or +quarrel betwixt him and them." + +"No?" replied Hector, for such is the Saxon equivalent for Eachin, +"what! never when he took the part of the Gow Chrom (the bandy +legged smith) against Eachin MacIan? Say nothing to excuse it, and +believe it will be your own fault if I ever again allude to it. But +you had some command to lay upon me; speak, and you shall be obeyed." + +Catharine hastened to reply; for there was something in the young +chief's manner and language which made her desire to shorten the +interview. + +"Eachin," she said, "since Conachar is no longer your name, you +ought to be sensible that in claiming, as I honestly might, a service +from my equal, I little thought that I was addressing a person of +such superior power and consequence. You, as well as I, have been +obliged to the religious instruction of this good man. He is now +in great danger: wicked men have accused him with false charges, +and he is desirous to remain in safety and concealment till the +storm shall pass away." + +"Ha! the good clerk Clement! Ay, the worthy clerk did much for me, +and more than my rugged temper was capable to profit by. I will +be glad to see any one in the town of Perth persecute one who hath +taken hold of MacIan's mantle!" + +"It may not be safe to trust too much to that," said Catharine. "I +nothing doubt the power of your tribe; but when the Black Douglas +takes up a feud, he is not to be scared by the shaking of a Highland +plaid." + +The Highlander disguised his displeasure at this speech with a +forced laugh. + +"The sparrow," he said, "that is next the eye seems larger than the +eagle that is perched on Bengoile. You fear the Douglasses most, +because they sit next to you. But be it as you will. You will not +believe how wide our hills, and vales, and forests extend beyond +the dusky barrier of yonder mountains, and you think all the world +lies on the banks of the Tay. But this good clerk shall see hills +that could hide him were all the Douglasses on his quest--ay, +and he shall see men enough also to make them glad to get once more +southward of the Grampians. And wherefore should you not go with +the good man? I will send a party to bring him in safety from Perth, +and we will set up the old trade beyond Loch Tay--only no more +cutting out of gloves for me. I will find your father in hides, but +I will not cut them, save when they are on the creatures' backs." + +"My father will come one day and see your housekeeping, Conachar +--I mean, Hector. But times must be quieter, for there is feud +between the townspeople and the followers of the noblemen, and +there is speech of war about to break out in the Highlands." + +"Yes, by Our Lady, Catharine! and were it not for that same Highland +war, you should nor thus put off your Highland visit, my pretty +mistress. But the race of the hills are no longer to be divided +into two nations. They will fight like men for the supremacy, and +he who gets it will deal with the King of Scotland as an equal, not +as a superior. Pray that the victory may fall to MacIan, my pious +St. Catharine, for thou shalt pray for one who loves thee dearly." + +"I will pray for the right," said Catharine; "or rather, I will +pray that there be peace on all sides. Farewell, kind and excellent +Father Clement. Believe I shall never forget thy lessons; remember +me in thy prayers. But how wilt thou be able to sustain a journey +so toilsome?" + +"They shall carry him if need be," said Hector, "if we go far +without finding a horse for him. But you, Catharine--it is far +from hence to Perth. Let me attend you thither as I was wont." + +"If you were as you were wont, I would not refuse your escort. But +gold brooches and bracelets are perilous company, when the Liddesdale +and Annandale lancers are riding as throng upon the highway as the +leaves at Hallowmass; and there is no safe meeting betwixt Highland +tartans and steel jackets." + +She hazarded this remark, as she somewhat suspected that, in +casting his slough, young Eachin had not entirely surmounted the +habits which he had acquired in his humbler state, and that, though +he might use bold words, he would not be rash enough to brave the +odds of numbers, to which a descent into the vicinity of the city +would be likely to expose him. It appeared that she judged correctly; +for, after a farewell, in which she compounded for the immunity of +her lips by permitting him to kiss her hand, she returned towards +Perth, and could obtain at times, when she looked back, an occasional +glance of the Highlanders, as, winding through the most concealed +and impracticable paths, they bent their way towards the North. + +She felt in part relieved from her immediate anxiety, as the +distance increased betwixt her and these men, whose actions were +only directed by the will of their chief, and whose chief was a +giddy and impetuous boy. She apprehended no insult on her return +to Perth from the soldiery of any party whom she might meet; for +the rules of chivalry were in those days a surer protection to +a maiden of decent appearance than an escort of armed men, whose +cognizance might not be acknowledged as friendly by any other +party whom they might chance to encounter. But more remote dangers +pressed on her apprehension. The pursuit of the licentious Prince was +rendered formidable by threats which his unprincipled counsellor, +Ramorny, had not shunned to utter against her father, if +she persevered in her coyness. These menaces, in such an age, and +from such a character, were deep grounds for alarm; nor could she +consider the pretensions to her favour which Conachar had scarce +repressed during his state of servitude, and seemed now to avow +boldly, as less fraught with evil, since there had been repeated +incursions of the Highlanders into the very town of Perth, and +citizens had, on more occasions than one, been made prisoners and +carried off from their own houses, or had fallen by the claymore +in the very streets of their city. She feared, too, her father's +importunity on behalf of the smith, of whose conduct on St. +Valentine's Day unworthy reports had reached her; and whose suit, +had he stood clear in her good opinion, she dared not listen to, +while Ramorny's threats of revenge upon her father rung on her ear. +She thought on these various dangers with the deepest apprehension, +and an earnest desire to escape from them and herself, by taking +refuge in the cloister; but saw no possibility of obtaining her +father's consent to the only course from which she expected peace +and protection. + +In the course of these reflections, we cannot discover that she +very distinctly regretted that her perils attended her because she +was the Fair Maid of Perth. This was one point which marked that +she was not yet altogether an angel; and perhaps it was another +that, in despite of Henry Smith's real or supposed delinquencies, +a sigh escaped from her bosom when she thought upon St. Valentine's +dawn. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Oh, for a draught of power to steep +The soul of agony in sleep! + +Bertha. + + +We have shown the secrets of the confessional; those of the sick +chamber are not hidden from us. The darkened apartment, where salves +and medicines showed that the leech had been busy in his craft, a +tall thin form lay on a bed, arrayed in a nightgown belted around +him, with pain on his brow, and a thousand stormy passions agitating +his bosom. Everything in the apartment indicated a man of opulence +and of expense. Henbane Dwining, the apothecary, who seemed to have +the care of the patient, stole with a crafty and catlike step from +one corner of the room to another, busying himself with mixing +medicines and preparing dressings. The sick man groaned once or +twice, on which the leech, advancing to his bedside, asked whether +these sounds were a token of the pain of his body or of the distress +of his mind. + +"Of both, thou poisoning varlet," said Sir John Ramorny, "and of +being encumbered with thy accursed company." + +"If that is all, I can relieve your knighthood of one of these +ills by presently removing myself elsewhere. Thanks to the feuds +of this boisterous time, had I twenty hands, instead of these two +poor servants of my art (displaying his skinny palms), there is +enough of employment for them--well requited employment, too, +where thanks and crowns contend which shall best pay my services; +while you, Sir John, wreak upon your chirurgeon the anger you ought +only to bear against the author of your wound." + +"Villain, it is beneath me to reply to thee," said the patient; +"but every word of thy malignant tongue is a dirk, inflicting wounds +which set all the medicines of Arabia at defiance." + +"Sir John, I understand you not; but if you give way to these +tempestuous fits of rage, it is impossible but fever and inflammation +must be the result." + +"Why then dost thou speak in a sense to chafe my blood? Why dost +thou name the supposition of thy worthless self having more hands +than nature gave thee, while I, a knight and gentleman, am mutilated +like a cripple?" + +"Sir John," replied the chirurgeon, "I am no divine, nor a mainly +obstinate believer in some things which divines tell us. Yet I may +remind you that you have been kindly dealt with; for if the blow +which has done you this injury had lighted on your neck, as it was +aimed, it would have swept your head from your shoulders, instead +of amputating a less considerable member." + +"I wish it had, Dwining--I wish it had lighted as it was addressed. +I should not then have seen a policy which had spun a web so fine +as mine burst through by the brute force of a drunken churl. I +should not have been reserved to see horses which I must not mount, +lists which I must no longer enter, splendours which I cannot hope +to share, or battles which I must not take part in. I should not, +with a man's passions for power and for strife, be set to keep place +among the women, despised by them, too, as a miserable, impotent +cripple, unable to aim at obtaining the favour of the sex." + +"Supposing all this to be so, I will yet pray of your knighthood +to remark," replied Dwining, still busying himself with arranging +the dressings of the wounds, "that your eyes, which you must have +lost with your head, may, being spared to you, present as rich a +prospect of pleasure as either ambition, or victory in the list or +in the field, or the love of woman itself, could have proposed to +you." + +"My sense is too dull to catch thy meaning, leech," replied Ramorny. +"What is this precious spectacle reserved to me in such a shipwreck?" + +"The dearest that mankind knows," replied Dwining; and then, in +the accent of a lover who utters the name of his beloved mistress, +and expresses his passion for her in the very tone of his voice, +he added the word "REVENGE!" + +The patient had raised himself on his couch to listen with some +anxiety for the solution of the physician's enigma. He laid himself +down again as he heard it explained, and after a short pause asked, +"In what Christian college learned you this morality, good Master +Dwining?" + +"In no Christian college," answered his physician; "for, though it +is privately received in most, it is openly and manfully adopted +in none. But I have studied among the sages of Granada, where the +fiery souled Moor lifts high his deadly dagger as it drops with his +enemy's blood, and avows the doctrine which the pallid Christian +practises, though coward-like he dare not name it." + +"Thou art then a more high souled villain than I deemed thee," said +Ramorny. + +"Let that pass," answered Dwining. "The waters that are the stillest +are also the deepest; and the foe is most to be dreaded who never +threatens till he strikes. You knights and men at arms go straight to +your purpose with sword in hand. We who are clerks win our access +with a noiseless step and an indirect approach, but attain our +object not less surely." + +"And I," said the knight, "who have trod to my revenge with a mailed +foot, which made all echo around it, must now use such a slipper +as thine--ha?" + +"He who lacks strength," said the wily mediciner, "must attain his +purpose by skill." + +"And tell me sincerely, mediciner, wherefore thou wouldst read me +these devil's lessons? Why wouldst thou thrust me faster or farther +on to my vengeance than I may seem to thee ready to go of my own +accord? I am old in the ways of the world, man; and I know that +such as thou do not drop words in vain, or thrust themselves upon +the dangerous confidence of men like me save with the prospect of +advancing some purpose of their own. What interest hast thou in +the road, whether peaceful or bloody, which I may pursue on these +occurrents?" + +"In plain dealing, sir knight, though it is what I seldom use," +answered the leech, "my road to revenge is the same with yours." + +"With mine, man?" said Ramorny, with a tone of scornful surprise. +"I thought it had been high beyond thy reach. Thou aim at the same +revenge with Ramorny?" + +"Ay, truly," replied Dwining, "for the smithy churl under whose +blow you have suffered has often done me despite and injury. He +has thwarted me in counsel and despised me in action. His brutal +and unhesitating bluntness is a living reproach to the subtlety of +my natural disposition. I fear him, and I hate him." + +"And you hope to hind an active coadjutor in me?" said Ramorny, in +the same supercilious tone as before. "But know, the artisan fellow +is too low in degree to be to me either the object of hatred or +of fear. Yet he shall not escape. We hate not the reptile that has +stung us, though we might shake it off the wound, and tread upon it. +I know the ruffian of old as a stout man at arms, and a pretender, +as I have heard, to the favour of the scornful puppet whose beauties, +forsooth, spurred us to our wise and hopeful attempt. Fiends that +direct this nether world, by what malice have ye decided that the +hand which has couched a lance against the bosom of a prince should +be struck off like a sapling by the blow of a churl, and during the +turmoil of a midnight riot? Well, mediciner, thus far our courses +hold together, and I bid thee well believe that I will crush for +thee this reptile mechanic. But do not thou think to escape me +when that part of my revenge is done which will be most easily and +speedily accomplished." + +"Not, it may be, altogether so easily accomplished," said the +apothecary; "for if your knighthood will credit me, there will be +found small ease or security in dealing with him. He is the strongest, +boldest, and most skilful swordsman in Perth and all the country +around it." + +"Fear nothing; he shall be met with had he the strength of Sampson. +But then, mark me! Hope not thou to escape my vengeance, unless +thou become my passive agent in the scene which is to follow. Mark +me, I say once more. I have studied at no Moorish college, and lack +some of thy unbounded appetite for revenge, but yet I will have +my share of vengeance. Listen to me, mediciner, while I shall thus +far unfold myself; but beware of treachery, for, powerful as thy +fiend is, thou hast taken lessons from a meaner devil than mine. +Hearken--the master whom I have served through vice and virtue, +with too much zeal for my own character, perhaps, but with unshaken +fidelity to him--the very man, to soothe whose frantic folly +I have incurred this irreparable loss, is, at the prayer of his +doating father, about to sacrifice me, by turning me out of his +favour, and leaving me at the mercy of the hypocritical relative +with whom he seeks a precarious reconciliation at my expense. If +he perseveres in this most ungrateful purpose, thy fiercest Moors, +were their complexion swarthy as the smoke of hell, shall blush +to see their revenge outdone. But I will give him one more chance +for honour and safety before my wrath shall descend on him in +unrelenting and unmitigated fury. There, then, thus far thou hast +my confidence. Close hands on our bargain. Close hands, did I say? +Where is the hand that should be the pledge and representative of +Ramorny's plighted word? Is it nailed on the public pillory, or +flung as offal to the houseless dogs, who are even now snarling +over it? Lay thy finger on the mutilated stump, then, and swear +to be a faithful actor in my revenge, as I shall be in yours. How +now, sir leech look you pale--you, who say to death, stand back +or advance, can you tremble to think of him or to hear him named? I +have not mentioned your fee, for one who loves revenge for itself +requires no deeper bribe; yet, if broad lands and large sums +of gold can increase thy zeal in a brave cause, believe me, these +shall not be lacking." + +"They tell for something in my humble wishes," said Dwining: "the +poor man in this bustling world is thrust down like a dwarf in a +crowd, and so trodden under foot; the rich and powerful rise like +giants above the press, and are at ease, while all is turmoil around +them." + +"Then shalt thou arise above the press, mediciner, as high as gold +can raise thee. This purse is weighty, yet it is but an earnest of +thy guerdon." + +"And this Smith, my noble benefactor," said the leech, as he pouched +the gratuity--"this Henry of the Wynd, or what ever is his name +--would not the news that he hath paid the penalty of his action +assuage the pain of thy knighthood's wound better than the balm of +Mecca with which I have salved it?" + +"He is beneath the thoughts of Ramorny; and I have no more resentment +against him than I have ill will at the senseless weapon which he +swayed. But it is just thy hate should be vented upon him. Where +is he chiefly to be met with?" + +"That also I have considered," said Dwining. "To make the attempt +by day in his own house were too open and dangerous, for he hath +five servants who work with him at the stithy, four of them strong +knaves, and all loving to their master. By night were scarce less +desperate, for he hath his doors strongly secured with bolt of +oak and bar of iron, and ere the fastenings of his house could be +forced, the neighbourhood would rise to his rescue, especially as +they are still alarmed by the practice on St. Valentine's Even." + +"Oh, ay, true, mediciner," said Ramorny, "for deceit is thy nature +even with me: thou knewest my hand and signet, as thou said'st, +when that hand was found cast out on the street, like the disgusting +refuse of a shambles--why, having such knowledge, went'st thou +with these jolterheaded citizens to consult that Patrick Charteris, +whose spurs should be hacked off from his heels for the communion +which he holds with paltry burghers, and whom thou brought'st here +with the fools to do dishonour to the lifeless hand, which, had it +held its wonted place, he was not worthy to have touched in peace +or faced in war?" + +"My noble patron, as soon as I had reason to know you had been the +sufferer, I urged them with all my powers of persuasion to desist +from prosecuting the feud; but the swaggering smith, and one or +two other hot heads, cried out for vengeance. Your knighthood must +know this fellow calls himself bachelor to the Fair Maiden of Perth, +and stands upon his honour to follow up her father's quarrel; but +I have forestalled his market in that quarter, and that is something +in earnest of revenge." + +"How mean you by that, sir leech?" said the patient. + +"Your knighthood shall conceive," said the mediciner, "that this +smith doth not live within compass, but is an outlier and a galliard. +I met him myself on St. Valentine's Day, shortly after the affray +between the townsfolk and the followers of Douglas. Yes, I met him +sneaking through the lanes and bye passages with a common minstrel +wench, with her messan and her viol on his one arm and her buxom +self hanging upon the other. What thinks your honour? Is not this +a trim squire, to cross a prince's love with the fairest girl +in Perth, strike off the hand of a knight and baron, and become +gentleman usher to a strolling glee woman, all in the course of +the same four and twenty hours?" + +"Marry, I think the better of him that he has so much of a gentleman's +humour, clown though he be," said Ramorny. "I would he had been a +precisian instead of a galliard, and I should have had better heart +to aid thy revenge. And such revenge!--revenge on a smith--in +the quarrel of a pitiful manufacturer of rotten cheverons! Pah! And +yet it shall be taken in full. Thou hast commenced it, I warrant +me, by thine own manoeuvres." + +"In a small degree only," said the apothecary. "I took care that +two or three of the most notorious gossips in Curfew street, who +liked not to hear Catharine called the Fair Maid of Perth, should +be possessed of this story of her faithful Valentine. They opened +on the scent so keenly, that, rather than doubt had fallen on the +tale, they would have vouched for it as if their own eyes had seen +it. The lover came to her father's within an hour after, and your +worship may think what a reception he had from the angry glover, for +the damsel herself would not be looked upon. And thus your honour +sees I had a foretaste of revenge. But I trust to receive the +full draught from the hands of your lordship, with whom I am in a +brotherly league, which--" + +"Brotherly!" said the knight, contemptuously. "But be it so, the +priests say we are all of one common earth. I cannot tell, there +seems to me some difference; but the better mould shall keep faith +with the baser, and thou shalt have thy revenge. Call thou my page +hither." + +A young man made his appearance from the anteroom upon the physician's +summons. + +"Eviot," said the knight, "does Bonthron wait? and is he sober?" + +"He is as sober as sleep can make him after a deep drink," answered +the page. + +"Then fetch him hither, and do thou shut the door." + +A heavy step presently approached the apartment, and a man entered, +whose deficiency of height seemed made up in breadth of shoulders +and strength of arm. + +"There is a man thou must deal upon, Bonthron," said the knight. The +man smoothed his rugged features and grinned a smile of satisfaction. + +"That mediciner will show thee the party. Take such advantage of +time, place, and circumstance as will ensure the result; and mind +you come not by the worst, for the man is the fighting Smith of +the Wynd." + +"It Will be a tough job," growled the assassin; "for if I miss my +blow, I may esteem myself but a dead man. All Perth rings with the +smith's skill and strength." + +"Take two assistants with thee," said the knight. + +"Not I," said Bonthron. "If you double anything, let it be the +reward." + +"Account it doubled," said his master; "but see thy work be thoroughly +executed." + +"Trust me for that, sir knight: seldom have I failed." + +"Use this sage man's directions," said the wounded knight, pointing +to the physician. "And hark thee, await his coming forth, and drink +not till the business be done." + +"I will not," answered the dark satellite; "my own life depends on +my blow being steady and sure. I know whom I have to deal with." + +"Vanish, then, till he summons you, and have axe and dagger in +readiness." + +Bonthron nodded and withdrew. + +"Will your knighthood venture to entrust such an act to a single +hand?" said the mediciner, when the assassin had left the room. +"May I pray you to remember that yonder party did, two nights since, +baffle six armed men?" + +"Question me not, sir mediciner: a man like Bonthron, who knows +time and place, is worth a score of confused revellers. Call Eviot; +thou shalt first exert thy powers of healing, and do not doubt that +thou shalt, in the farther work, be aided by one who will match +thee in the art of sudden and unexpected destruction." + +The page Eviot again appeared at the mediciner's summons, and at +his master's sign assisted the chirurgeon in removing the dressings +from Sir John Ramorny's wounded arm. Dwining viewed the naked stump +with a species of professional satisfaction, enhanced, no doubt, +by the malignant pleasure which his evil disposition took in the +pain and distress of his fellow creatures. The knight just turned +his eye on the ghastly spectacle, and uttered, under the pressure +of bodily pain or mental agony, a groan which he would fain have +repressed. + +"You groan, sir," said the leech, in his soft, insinuating tone +of voice, but with a sneer of enjoyment, mixed with scorn, curling +upon his lip, which his habitual dissimulation could not altogether +disguise--"you groan; but be comforted. This Henry Smith knows +his business: his sword is as true to its aim as his hammer to the +anvil. Had a common swordsman struck this fatal blow, he had harmed +the bone and damaged the muscles, so that even my art might not +have been able to repair them. But Henry Smith's cut is clean, +and as sure as that with which my own scalpel could have made the +amputation. In a few days you will be able, with care and attention +to the ordinances of medicine, to stir abroad." + +"But my hand--the loss of my hand--" + +"It may be kept secret for a time," said the mediciner. "I have +possessed two or three tattling fools, in deep confidence, that +the hand which was found was that of your knighthood's groom, Black +Quentin, and your knighthood knows that he has parted for Fife, in +such sort as to make it generally believed." + +"I know well enough," said Ramorny, "that the rumour may stifle +the truth for a short time. But what avails this brief delay?" + +"It may be concealed till your knighthood retires for a time from +the court, and then, when new accidents have darkened the recollection +of the present stir, it may be imputed to a wound received from +the shivering of a spear, or from a crossbow bolt. Your slave will +find a suitable device, and stand for the truth of it." + +"The thought maddens me," said Ramorny, with another groan of mental +and bodily agony; "yet I see no better remedy." + +"There is none other," said the leech, to whose evil nature his +patron's distress was delicious nourishment. "In the mean while, it +is believed you are confined by the consequences of some bruises, +aiding the sense of displeasure at the Prince's having consented +to dismiss you from his household at the remonstrance of Albany, +which is publicly known." + +"Villain, thou rack'st me!" exclaimed the patient. + +"Upon the whole, therefore," said Dwining, "your knighthood has +escaped well, and, saving the lack of your hand, a mischance beyond +remedy, you ought rather to rejoice than complain; for no barber +chirurgeon in France or England could have more ably performed the +operation than this churl with one downright blow." + +"I understand my obligation fully," said Ramorny, struggling with +his anger, and affecting composure; "and if Bonthron pays him not +with a blow equally downright, and rendering the aid of the leech +unnecessary, say that John of Ramorny cannot requite an obligation." + +"That is spoke like yourself, noble knight!" answered the mediciner. +"And let me further say, that the operator's skill must have been +vain, and the hemorrhage must have drained your life veins, but +for the bandages, the cautery, and the styptics applied by the good +monks, and the poor services of your humble vassal, Henbane Dwining." + +"Peace," exclaimed the patient, "with thy ill omened voice and +worse omened name! Methinks, as thou mentionest the tortures I have +undergone, my tingling nerves stretch and contract themselves as +if they still actuated the fingers that once could clutch a dagger." + +"That," explained the leech, "may it please your knighthood, is +a phenomenon well known to our profession. There have been those +among the ancient sages who have thought that there still remained +a sympathy between the severed nerves and those belonging to the +amputated limb; and that the several fingers are seen to quiver +and strain, as corresponding with the impulse which proceeds from +their sympathy with the energies of the living system. Could we +recover the hand from the Cross, or from the custody of the Black +Douglas, I would be pleased to observe this wonderful operation of +occult sympathies. But, I fear me, one might as safely go to wrest +the joint from the talons of an hungry eagle." + +"And thou mayst as safely break thy malignant jests on a wounded +lion as on John of Ramorny," said the knight, raising himself +in uncontrollable indignation. "Caitiff, proceed to thy duty; +and remember, that if my hand can no longer clasp a dagger, I can +command an hundred." + +"The sight of one drawn and brandished in anger were sufficient," +said Dwining, "to consume the vital powers of your chirurgeon. But +who then," he added in a tone partly insinuating, partly jeering +--"who would then relieve the fiery and scorching pain which my +patron now suffers, and which renders him exasperated even with +his poor servant for quoting the rules of healing, so contemptible, +doubtless, compared with the power of inflicting wounds?" + +Then, as daring no longer to trifle with the mood of his dangerous +patient, the leech addressed himself seriously to salving the +wound, and applied a fragrant balm, the odour of which was diffused +through the apartment, while it communicated a refreshing coolness, +instead of the burning heat--a change so gratifying to the fevered +patient, that, as he had before groaned with agony, he could not +now help sighing for pleasure, as he sank back on his couch to +enjoy the ease which the dressing bestowed. + +"Your knightly lordship now knows who is your friend," said Dwining; +"had you yielded to a rash impulse, and said, 'Slay me this worthless +quacksalver,' where, within the four seas of Britain, would you +have found the man to have ministered to you as much comfort?" + +"Forget my threats, good leech," said Ramorny, "and beware how you +tempt me. Such as I brook not jests upon our agony. See thou keep +thy scoffs, to pass upon misers [that is, miserable persons, as +used in Spenser and other writers of his time, though the sense is +now restricted to those who are covetous] in the hospital." + +Dwining ventured to say no more, but poured some drops from a phial +which he took from his pocket into a small cup of wine allayed with +water. + +"This draught," said the man of art, "is medicated to produce a +sleep which must not be interrupted." + +"For how long will it last?" asked the knight. + +"The period of its operation is uncertain--perhaps till morning." + +"Perhaps for ever," said the patient. "Sir mediciner, taste me that +liquor presently, else it passes not my lips." + +The leech obeyed him, with a scornful smile. "I would drink the +whole with readiness; but the juice of this Indian gum will bring +sleep on the healthy man as well as upon the patient, and the +business of the leech requires me to be a watcher." + +"I crave your pardon, sir leech," said Ramorny, looking downwards, +as if ashamed to have manifested suspicion. + +"There is no room for pardon where offence must not be taken," +answered the mediciner. "An insect must thank a giant that he does +not tread on him. Yet, noble knight, insects have their power of +harming as well as physicians. What would it have cost me, save a +moment's trouble, so to have drugged that balm, as should have made +your arm rot to the shoulder joint, and your life blood curdle in +your veins to a corrupted jelly? What is there that prevented me +to use means yet more subtle, and to taint your room with essences, +before which the light of life twinkles more and more dimly, till +it expires, like a torch amidst the foul vapours of some subterranean +dungeon? You little estimate my power, if you know not that these +and yet deeper modes of destruction stand at command of my art. +But a physician slays not the patient by whose generosity he lives, +and far less will he the breath of whose nostrils is the hope +of revenge destroy the vowed ally who is to favour his pursuit of +it. Yet one word; should a necessity occur for rousing yourself-- +for who in Scotland can promise himself eight hours' uninterrupted +repose?--then smell at the strong essence contained in this +pouncet box. And now, farewell, sir knight; and if you cannot think +of me as a man of nice conscience, acknowledge me at least as one +of reason and of judgment." + +So saying, the mediciner left the room, his usual mean and shuffling +gait elevating itself into something more noble, as conscious of +a victory over his imperious patient. + +Sir John Ramorny remained sunk in unpleasing reflections until he +began to experience the incipient effects of his soporific draught. +He then roused himself for an instant, and summoned his page. + +"Eviot! what ho! Eviot! I have done ill to unbosom myself so far +to this poisonous quacksalver. Eviot!" + +The page entered. + +"Is the mediciner gone forth?" + +"Yes, so please your knighthood." + +"Alone or accompanied?" + +"Bonthron spoke apart with him, and followed him almost immediately +--by your lordship's command, as I understood him." + +"Lackaday, yes! he goes to seek some medicaments; he will return +anon. If he be intoxicated, see he comes not near my chamber, and +permit him not to enter into converse with any one. He raves when +drink has touched his brain. He was a rare fellow before a Southron +bill laid his brain pan bare; but since that time he talks gibberish +whenever the cup has crossed his lips. Said the leech aught to you, +Eviot?" + +"Nothing, save to reiterate his commands that your honour be not +disturbed." + +"Which thou must surely obey," said the knight. "I feel the summons +to rest, of which I have been deprived since this unhappy wound. +At least, if I have slept it has been but for a snatch. Aid me to +take off my gown, Eviot." + +"May God and the saints send you good rest, my lord," said the page, +retiring after he had rendered his wounded master the assistance +required. + +As Eviot left the room, the knight, whose brain was becoming more +and more confused, muttered over the page's departing salutation. + +"God--saints--I have slept sound under such a benison. But now, +methinks if I awake not to the accomplishment of my proud hopes +of power and revenge, the best wish for me is, that the slumbers +which now fall around my head were the forerunners of that sleep +which shall return my borrowed powers to their original nonexistence +--I can argue it no farther." + +Thus speaking, he fell into a profound sleep. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +On Fastern's E'en when we war fou. + +Scots Song. + + +The night which sunk down on the sickbed of Ramorny was not doomed +to be a quiet one. Two hours had passed since curfew bell, then +rung at seven o'clock at night, and in those primitive times all +were retired to rest, excepting such whom devotion, or duty, or +debauchery made watchers; and the evening being that of Shrovetide, +or, as it was called in Scotland, Fastern's E'en, the vigils of +gaiety were by far the most frequented of the three. + +The common people had, throughout the day, toiled and struggled +at football; the nobles and gentry had fought cocks, and hearkened +to the wanton music of the minstrel; while the citizens had gorged +themselves upon pancakes fried in lard, and brose, or brewis--the +fat broth, that is, in which salted beef had been boiled, poured +upon highly toasted oatmeal, a dish which even now is not ungrateful +to simple, old fashioned Scottish palates. These were all exercises +and festive dishes proper to the holiday. It was no less a solemnity +of the evening that the devout Catholic should drink as much good +ale and wine as he had means to procure; and, if young and able, that +he should dance at the ring, or figure among the morrice dancers, +who, in the city of Perth, as elsewhere, wore a peculiarly fantastic +garb, and distinguished themselves by their address and activity. +All this gaiety took place under the prudential consideration +that the long term of Lent, now approaching, with its fasts and +deprivations, rendered it wise for mortals to cram as much idle +and sensual indulgence as they could into the brief space which +intervened before its commencement. + +The usual revels had taken place, and in most parts of the city were +succeeded by the usual pause. A particular degree of care had been +taken by the nobility to prevent any renewal of discord betwixt +their followers and the citizens of the town, so that the revels +had proceeded with fewer casualties than usual, embracing only three +deaths and certain fractured limbs, which, occurring to individuals +of little note, were not accounted worth inquiring into. The carnival +was closing quietly in general, but in some places the sport was +still kept up. + +One company of revellers, who had been particularly noticed and +applauded, seemed unwilling to conclude their frolic. The entry, as +it was called, consisted of thirteen persons, habited in the same +manner, having doublets of chamois leather sitting close to their +bodies, curiously slashed and laced. They wore green caps with silver +tassels, red ribands, and white shoes, had bells hung at their +knees and around their ankles, and naked swords in their hands. This +gallant party, having exhibited a sword dance before the King, with +much clashing of weapons and fantastic interchange of postures, went +on gallantly to repeat their exhibition before the door of Simon +Glover, where, having made a fresh exhibition of their agility, +they caused wine to be served round to their own company and the +bystanders, and with a loud shout drank to the health of the Fair +Maid of Perth. This summoned old Simon to the door of his habitation, +to acknowledge the courtesy of his countrymen, and in his turn +to send the wine around in honour of the Merry Morrice Dancers of +Perth. + +"We thank thee, father Simon," said a voice, which strove to drown +in an artificial squeak the pert, conceited tone of Oliver Proudfute. +"But a sight of thy lovely daughter had been more sweet to us young +bloods than a whole vintage of Malvoisie." + +"I thank thee, neighbours, for your goodwill," replied the glover. +"My daughter is ill at ease, and may not come forth into the cold +night air; but if this gay gallant, whose voice methinks I should +know, will go into my poor house, she will charge him with thanks +for the rest of you." + +"Bring them to us at the hostelrie of the Griffin," cried the +rest of the ballet to their favoured companion; "for there will we +ring in Lent, and have another rouse to the health of the lovely +Catharine." + +"Have with you in half an hour," said Oliver, "and see who will +quaff the largest flagon, or sing the loudest glee. Nay, I will be +merry in what remains of Fastern's Even, should Lent find me with +my mouth closed for ever." + +"Farewell, then," cried his mates in the morrice--"fare well, +slashing bonnet maker, till we meet again." + +The morrice dancers accordingly set out upon their further progress, +dancing and carolling as they went along to the sound of four +musicians, who led the joyous band, while Simon Glover drew their +coryphaeus into his house, and placed him in a chair by his parlour +fire. + +"But where is your daughter?" said Oliver. "She is the bait for us +brave blades." + +"Why, truly, she keeps her apartment, neighbour Oliver; and, to +speak plainly, she keeps her bed." + +"Why, then will I upstairs to see her in her sorrow; you have marred +my ramble, Gaffer Glover, and you owe me amends--a roving blade +like me; I will not lose both the lass and the glass. Keeps her +bed, does she? + +"My dog and I we have a trick +To visit maids when they are sick; +When they are sick and like to die, +Oh, thither do come my dog and I. + +"And when I die, as needs must hap, +Then bury me under the good ale tap; +With folded arms there let me lie +Cheek for jowl, my dog and I." + +"Canst thou not be serious for a moment, neighbour Proudfute?" said +the glover; "I want a word of conversation with you." + +"Serious!" answered his visitor; "why, I have been serious all +this day: I can hardly open my mouth, but something comes out about +death, a burial, or suchlike--the most serious subjects that I +wot of." + +"St. John, man!" said the glover, "art then fey?" + +"No, not a whit: it is not my own death which these gloomy fancies +foretell. I have a strong horoscope, and shall live for fifty years +to come. But it is the case of the poor fellow--the Douglas man, +whom I struck down at the fray of St. Valentine's: he died last +night; it is that which weighs on my conscience, and awakens sad +fancies. Ah, father Simon, we martialists, that have spilt blood +in our choler, have dark thoughts at times; I sometimes wish that +my knife had cut nothing but worsted thrums." + +"And I wish," said Simon, "that mine had cut nothing but buck's +leather, for it has sometimes cut my own fingers. But thou mayst +spare thy remorse for this bout: there was but one man dangerously +hurt at the affray, and it was he from whom Henry Smith hewed the +hand, and he is well recovered. His name is Black Quentin, one of +Sir John Ramorny's followers. He has been sent privately back to +his own country of Fife." + +"What, Black Quentin? Why, that is the very man that Henry and I, +as we ever keep close together, struck at in the same moment, only +my blow fell somewhat earlier. I fear further feud will come of +it, and so does the provost. And is he recovered? Why, then, I will +be jovial, and since thou wilt not let me see how Kate becomes her +night gear, I will back to the Griffin to my morrice dancers." + +"Nay, stay but one instant. Thou art a comrade of Henry Wynd, and +hast done him the service to own one or two deeds and this last +among others. I would thou couldst clear him of other charges with +which fame hath loaded him." + +"Nay, I will swear by the hilt of my sword they are as false as +hell, father Simon. What--blades and targets! shall not men of +the sword stick together?" + +"Nay, neighbour bonnet maker, be patient; thou mayst do the smith +a kind turn, an thou takest this matter the right way. I have chosen +thee to consult with anent this matter--not that I hold thee the +wisest head in Perth, for should I say so I should lie." + +"Ay--ay," answered the self satisfied bonnet maker; "I know where +you think my fault lies: you cool heads think we hot heads are +fools--I have heard men call Henry Wynd such a score of times." + +"Fool enough and cool enough may rhyme together passing well," said +the glover; "but thou art good natured, and I think lovest this +crony of thine. It stands awkwardly with us and him just now," +continued Simon. "Thou knowest there hath been some talk of marriage +between my daughter Catharine and Henry Gow?" + +"I have heard some such song since St. Valentine's Morn. Ah! he +that shall win the Fair Maid of Perth must be a happy man; and yet +marriage spoils many a pretty fellow. I myself somewhat regret--" + +"Prithee, truce with thy regrets for the present, man," interrupted +the glover, somewhat peevishly. "You must know, Oliver, that some +of these talking women, who I think make all the business of the +world their own, have accused Henry of keeping light company with +glee women and suchlike. Catharine took it to heart; and I held my +child insulted, that he had not waited upon her like a Valentine, +but had thrown himself into unseemly society on the very day when, +by ancient custom, he might have had an opportunity to press his +interest with my daughter. Therefore, when he came hither late on +the evening of St. Valentine's, I, like a hasty old fool, bid him +go home to the company he had left, and denied him admittance. I +have not seen him since, and I begin to think that I may have been +too rash in the matter. She is my only child, and the grave should +have her sooner than a debauchee, But I have hitherto thought I +knew Henry Gow as if he were my son. I cannot think he would use +us thus, and it may be there are means of explaining what is laid +to his charge. I was led to ask Dwining, who is said to have saluted +the smith while he was walking with this choice mate. If I am to +believe his words, this wench was the smith's cousin, Joan Letham. +But thou knowest that the potter carrier ever speaks one language +with his visage and another with his tongue. Now, thou, Oliver, hast +too little wit--I mean, too much honesty--to belie the truth, +and as Dwining hinted that thou also hadst seen her--" + +"I see her, Simon Glover! Will Dwining say that I saw her?" + +"No, not precisely that; but he says you told him you had met the +smith thus accompanied." + +"He lies, and I will pound him into a gallipot!" said Oliver +Proudfute. + +"How! Did you never tell him, then, of such a meeting?" + +"What an if I did?" said the bonnet maker. "Did not he swear that +he would never repeat again to living mortal what I communicated to +him? and therefore, in telling the occurrent to you, he hath made +himself a liar." + +"Thou didst not meet the smith, then," said Simon, "with such a +loose baggage as fame reports?" + +"Lackaday, not I; perhaps I did, perhaps I did not. Think, father +Simon--I have been a four years married man, and can you expect +me to remember the turn of a glee woman's ankle, the trip of her +toe, the lace upon her petticoat, and such toys? No, I leave that +to unmarried wags, like my gossip Henry." + +"The upshot is, then," said the glover, much vexed, "you did meet +him on St. Valentine's Day walking the public streets--" + +"Not so, neighbour; I met him in the most distant and dark lane +in Perth, steering full for his own house, with bag and baggage, +which, as a gallant fellow, he carried in his arms, the puppy dog +on one and the jilt herself--and to my thought she was a pretty +one--hanging upon the other." + +"Now, by good St. John," said the glover, "this infamy would make +a Christian man renounce his faith, and worship Mahound in very +anger! But he has seen the last of my daughter. I would rather +she went to the wild Highlands with a barelegged cateran than wed +with one who could, at such a season, so broadly forget honour and +decency. Out upon him!" + +"Tush--tush! father Simon," said the liberal minded bonnet maker, +"you consider not the nature of young blood. Their company was not +long, for--to speak truth, I did keep a little watch on him--I +met him before sunrise, conducting his errant damsel to the Lady's +Stairs, that the wench might embark on the Tay from Perth; and I +know for certainty, for I made inquiry, that she sailed in a gabbart +for Dundee. So you see it was but a slight escape of youth." + +"And he came here," said Simon, bitterly, "beseeching for admittance +to my daughter, while he had his harlot awaiting him at home! I had +rather he had slain a score of men! It skills not talking, least +of all to thee, Oliver Proudfute, who, if thou art not such a one +as himself, would fain be thought so. But--" + +"Nay, think not of it so seriously," said Oliver, who began to +reflect on the mischief his tattling was likely to occasion to his +friend, and on the consequences of Henry Gow's displeasure, when +he should learn the disclosure which he had made rather in vanity +of heart than in evil intention. + +"Consider," he continued, "that there are follies belonging to +youth. Occasion provokes men to such frolics, and confession wipes +them off. I care not if I tell thee that, though my wife be as +goodly a woman as the city has, yet I myself--" + +"Peace, silly braggart," said the glover in high wrath; "thy loves +and thy battles are alike apocryphal. If thou must needs lie, which +I think is thy nature, canst thou invent no falsehood that may at +least do thee some credit? Do I not see through thee, as I could +see the light through the horn of a base lantern? Do I not know, +thou filthy weaver of rotten worsted, that thou durst no more cross +the threshold of thy own door, if thy wife heard of thy making such +a boast, than thou darest cross naked weapons with a boy of twelve +years old, who has drawn a sword for the first time of his life? +By St. John, it were paying you for your tale bearing trouble to +send thy Maudie word of thy gay brags." + +The bonnet maker, at this threat, started as if a crossbow bolt +had whizzed past his head when least expected. And it was with +a trembling voice that he replied: "Nay, good father Glover, thou +takest too much credit for thy grey hairs. Consider, good neighbour, +thou art too old for a young martialist to wrangle with. And in +the matter of my Maudie, I can trust thee, for I know no one who +would be less willing than thou to break the peace of families." + +"Trust thy coxcomb no longer with me," said the incensed glover; +"but take thyself, and the thing thou call'st a head, out of my +reach, lest I borrow back five minutes of my youth and break thy +pate!" + +"You have had a merry Fastern's Even, neighbour," said the bonnet +maker, "and I wish you a quiet sleep; we shall meet better friends +tomorrow." + +"Out of my doors tonight!" said the glover. "I am ashamed so idle +a tongue as thine should have power to move me thus." + +"Idiot--beast--loose tongued coxcomb," he exclaimed, throwing +himself into a chair, as the bonnet maker disappeared; "that a +fellow made up of lies should not have had the grace to frame one +when it might have covered the shame of a friend! And I--what am +I, that I should, in my secret mind, wish that such a gross insult +to me and my child had been glossed over? Yet such was my opinion +of Henry, that I would have willingly believed the grossest figment +the swaggering ass could have invented. Well, it skills not thinking +of it. Our honest name must be maintained, though everything else +should go to ruin." + +While the glover thus moralised on the unwelcome confirmation of +the tale he wished to think untrue, the expelled morrice dancer had +leisure, in the composing air of a cool and dark February night, +to meditate on the consequences of the glover's unrestrained anger. + +"But it is nothing," he bethought himself, "to the wrath of Henry +Wynd, who hath killed a man for much less than placing displeasure +betwixt him and Catharine, as well as her fiery old father. Certainly +I were better have denied everything. But the humour of seeming a +knowing gallant, as in truth I am, fairly overcame me. Were I best +go to finish the revel at the Griffin? But then Maudie will rampauge +on my return--ay, and this being holiday even, I may claim a +privilege. I have it: I will not to the Griffin--I will to the +smith's, who must be at home, since no one hath seen him this day +amid the revel. I will endeavour to make peace with him, and offer +my intercession with the glover. Harry is a simple, downright fellow, +and though I think he is my better in a broil, yet in discourse I +can turn him my own way. The streets are now quiet, the night, too, +is dark, and I may step aside if I meet any rioters. I will to the +smith's, and, securing him for my friend, I care little for old +Simon. St. Ringan bear me well through this night, and I will clip +my tongue out ere it shall run my head into such peril again! Yonder +old fellow, when his blood was up, looked more like a carver of +buff jerkins than a clipper of kid gloves." + +With these reflections, the puissant Oliver walked swiftly, yet with +as little noise as possible, towards the wynd in which the smith, +as our readers are aware, had his habitation. But his evil fortune +had not ceased to pursue him. As he turned into the High, or +principal, Street, he heard a burst of music very near him, followed +by a loud shout. + +"My merry mates, the morrice dancers," thought he; "I would know +old Jeremy's rebeck among an hundred. I will venture across the +street ere they pass on; if I am espied, I shall have the renown +of some private quest, which may do me honour as a roving blade." + +With these longings for distinction among the gay and gallant, +combated, however, internally, by more prudential considerations, +the bonnet maker made an attempt to cross the street. But the +revellers, whoever they might be, were accompanied by torches, the +flash of which fell upon Oliver, whose light coloured habit made +him the more distinctly visible. The general shout of "A prize-- +a prize" overcame the noise of the minstrel, and before the bonnet +maker could determine whether it were better to stand or fly, two +active young men, clad in fantastic masking habits, resembling +wild men, and holding great clubs, seized upon him, saying, in a +tragical tone: "Yield thee, man of bells and bombast--yield thee, +rescue or no rescue, or truly thou art but a dead morrice dancer." + +"To whom shall I yield me?" said the bonnet maker, with a faltering +voice; for, though he saw he had to do with a party of mummers +who were afoot for pleasure, yet he observed at the same time that +they were far above his class, and he lost the audacity necessary +to support his part in a game where the inferior was likely to come +by the worst. + +"Dost thou parley, slave?" answered one of the maskers; "and must +I show thee that thou art a captive, by giving thee incontinently +the bastinado?" + +"By no means, puissant man of Ind," said the bonnet maker; "lo, I +am conformable to your pleasure." + +"Come, then," said those who had arrested him--"come and do homage +to the Emperor of Mimes, King of Caperers, and Grand Duke of the +Dark Hours, and explain by what right thou art so presumptuous as +to prance and jingle, and wear out shoe leather, within his dominions +without paying him tribute. Know'st thou not thou hast incurred +the pains of high treason?" + +"That were hard, methinks," said poor Oliver, "since I knew not that +his Grace exercised the government this evening. But I am willing +to redeem the forfeit, if the purse of a poor bonnet maker may, by +the mulct of a gallon of wine, or some such matter." + +"Bring him before the emperor," was the universal cry; and the +morrice dancer was placed before a slight, but easy and handsome, +figure of a young man, splendidly attired, having a cincture and tiara +of peacock's feathers, then brought from the East as a marvellous +rarity; a short jacket and under dress of leopard's skin fitted +closely the rest of his person, which was attired in flesh coloured +silk, so as to resemble the ordinary idea of an Indian prince. He +wore sandals, fastened on with ribands of scarlet silk, and held +in his hand a sort of fan, such as ladies then used, composed of +the same feathers, assembled into a plume or tuft. + +"What mister wight have we here," said the Indian chief, "who dares +to tie the bells of a morrice on the ankles of a dull ass? Hark +ye, friend, your dress should make you a subject of ours, since our +empire extends over all Merryland, including mimes and minstrels +of every description. What, tongue tied? He lacks wine; minister +to him our nutshell full of sack." + +A huge calabash full of sack was offered to the lips of the +supplicant, while this prince of revellers exhorted him: + +"Crack me this nut, and do it handsomely, and without wry faces." + +But, however Oliver might have relished a moderate sip of the same +good wine, he was terrified at the quantity he was required to deal +with. He drank a draught, and then entreated for mercy. + +"So please your princedom, I have yet far to go, and if I were to +swallow your Grace's bounty, for which accept my dutiful thanks, +I should not be able to stride over the next kennel." + +"Art thou in case to bear thyself like a galliard? Now, cut +me a caper--ha! one--two--three--admirable. Again--give +him the spur (here a satellite of the Indian gave Oliver a slight +touch with his sword). Nay, that is best of all: he sprang like a +cat in a gutter. Tender him the nut once more; nay, no compulsion, +he has paid forfeit, and deserves not only free dismissal but +reward. Kneel down--kneel, and arise Sir Knight of the Calabash! +What is thy name? And one of you lend me a rapier." + +"Oliver, may it please your honour--I mean your principality." + +"Oliver, man. Nay, then thou art one of the 'douze peers' already, +and fate has forestalled our intended promotion. Yet rise up, sweet +Sir Oliver Thatchpate, Knight of the honourable order of the Pumpkin +--rise up, in the name of nonsense, and begone about thine own +concerns, and the devil go with thee!" + +So saying, the prince of the revels bestowed a smart blow with the +flat of the weapon across the bonnet maker's shoulders, who sprung +to his feet with more alacrity of motion than he had hitherto +displayed, and, accelerated by the laugh and halloo which arose +behind him, arrived at the smith's house before he stopped, with +the same speed with which a hunted fox makes for his den. + +It was not till the affrighted bonnet maker had struck a blow on +the door that he recollected he ought to have bethought himself +beforehand in what manner he was to present himself before Henry, +and obtain his forgiveness for his rash communications to Simon +Glover. No one answered to his first knock, and, perhaps, as these +reflections arose in the momentary pause of recollection which +circumstances permitted, the perplexed bonnet maker might have +flinched from his purpose, and made his retreat to his own premises, +without venturing upon the interview which he had purposed. But a +distant strain of minstrelsy revived his apprehensions of falling +once more into the hands of the gay maskers from whom he had escaped, +and he renewed his summons on the door of the smith's dwelling +with a hurried, though faltering, hand. He was then appalled by +the deep, yet not unmusical, voice of Henry Gow, who answered from +within: "Who calls at this hour, and what is it that you want?" + +"It is I--Oliver Proudfute," replied the bonnet maker; "I have +a merry jest to tell you, gossip Henry." + +"Carry thy foolery to some other market. I am in no jesting humour," +said Henry. "Go hence; I will see no one tonight." + +"But, gossip--good gossip," answered the martialist with out, "I +am beset with villains, and beg the shelter of your roof!" + +"Fool that thou art!" replied Henry; "no dunghill cock, the most +recreant that has fought this Fastern's Eve, would ruffle his +feathers at such a craven as thou!" + +At this moment another strain of minstrelsy, and, as the bonnet +maker conceited, one which approached much nearer, goaded his +apprehensions to the uttermost; and in a voice the tones of which +expressed the undisguised extremity of instant fear he exclaimed: + +"For the sake of our old gossipred, and for the love of Our Blessed +Lady, admit me, Henry, if you would not have me found a bloody +corpse at thy door, slain by the bloody minded Douglasses!" + +"That would be a shame to me," thought the good natured smith, "and +sooth to say, his peril may be real. There are roving hawks that +will strike at a sparrow as soon as a heron." + +With these reflections, half muttered, half spoken, Henry undid +his well fastened door, proposing to reconnoitre the reality of the +danger before he permitted his unwelcome guest to enter the house. +But as he looked abroad to ascertain how matters stood, Oliver +bolted in like a scared deer into a thicket, and harboured himself +by the smith's kitchen fire before Henry could look up and down the +lane, and satisfy himself there were no enemies in pursuit of the +apprehensive fugitive. He secured his door, therefore, and returned +into the kitchen, displeased that he had suffered his gloomy solitude +to be intruded upon by sympathising with apprehensions which he +thought he might have known were so easily excited as those of his +timid townsman. + +"How now!" he said, coldly enough, when he saw the bonnet maker +calmly seated by his hearth. "What foolish revel is this, Master +Oliver? I see no one near to harm you." + +"Give me a drink, kind gossip," said Oliver: "I am choked with the +haste I have made to come hither." + +"I have sworn," said Henry, "that this shall be no revel night in +this house: I am in my workday clothes, as you see, and keep fast, +as I have reason, instead of holiday. You have had wassail enough +for the holiday evening, for you speak thick already. If you wish +more ale or wine you must go elsewhere." + +"I have had overmuch wassail already," said poor Oliver, "and have +been well nigh drowned in it. That accursed calabash! A draught of +water, kind gossip--you will not surely let me ask for that in +vain? or, if it is your will, a cup of cold small ale." + +"Nay, if that be all," said Henry, "it shall not be lacking. But +it must have been much which brought thee to the pass of asking +for either." + +So saying, he filled a quart flagon from a barrel that stood nigh, +and presented it to his guest. Oliver eagerly accepted it, raised +it to his head with a trembling hand, imbibed the contents with +lips which quivered with emotion, and, though the potation was as +thin as he had requested, so much was he exhausted with the combined +fears of alarm and of former revelry, that, when he placed the +flagon on the oak table, he uttered a deep sigh of satisfaction, +and remained silent. + +"Well, now you have had your draught, gossip," said the smith, +"what is it you want? Where are those that threatened you? I could +see no one." + +"No--but there were twenty chased me into the wynd," said Oliver. +"But when they saw us together, you know they lost the courage that +brought all of them upon one of us." + +"Nay, do not trifle, friend Oliver," replied his host; "my mood +lies not that way." + +"I jest not, by St. John of Perth. I have been stayed and foully +outraged (gliding his hand sensitively over the place affected) by +mad David of Rothsay, roaring Ramorny, and the rest of them. They +made me drink a firkin of Malvoisie." + +"Thou speakest folly, man. Ramorny is sick nigh to death, as the +potter carrier everywhere reports: they and he cannot surely rise +at midnight to do such frolics." + +"I cannot tell," replied Oliver; "but I saw the party by torchlight, +and I can make bodily oath to the bonnets I made for them since +last Innocents'. They are of a quaint device, and I should know my +own stitch." + +"Well, thou mayst have had wrong," answered Henry. "If thou art +in real danger, I will cause them get a bed for thee here. But you +must fill it presently, for I am not in the humour of talking." + +"Nay, I would thank thee for my quarters for a night, only my Maudie +will be angry--that is, not angry, for that I care not for-- +but the truth is, she is overanxious on a revel night like this, +knowing my humour is like thine for a word and a blow." + +"Why, then, go home," said the smith, "and show her that her treasure +is in safety, Master Oliver; the streets are quiet, and, to speak +a blunt word, I would be alone." + +"Nay, but I have things to speak with thee about of moment," replied +Oliver, who, afraid to stay, seemed yet unwilling to go. "There has +been a stir in our city council about the affair of St. Valentine's +Even. The provost told me not four hours since, that the Douglas +and he had agreed that the feud should be decided by a yeoman on +either party and that our acquaintance, the Devil's Dick, was to +wave his gentry, and take up the cause for Douglas and the nobles, +and that you or I should fight for the Fair City. Now, though I am +the elder burgess, yet I am willing, for the love and kindness we +have always borne to each other, to give thee the precedence, and +content myself with the humbler office of stickler." + +Henry Smith, though angry, could scarce forbear a smile. + +"If it is that which breaks thy quiet, and keeps thee out of thy +bed at midnight, I will make the matter easy. Thou shalt not lose +the advantage offered thee. I have fought a score of duels--far, +far too many. Thou hast, I think, only encountered with thy wooden +soldan: it were unjust--unfair--unkind--in me to abuse thy +friendly offer. So go home, good fellow, and let not the fear of +losing honour disturb thy slumbers. Rest assured that thou shalt +answer the challenge, as good right thou hast, having had injury +from this rough rider." + +"Gramercy, and thank thee kindly," said Oliver much embarrassed +by his friend's unexpected deference; "thou art the good friend I +have always thought thee. But I have as much friendship for Henry +Smith as he for Oliver Proudfute. I swear by St. John, I will +not fight in this quarrel to thy prejudice; so, having said so, I +am beyond the reach of temptation, since thou wouldst not have me +mansworn, though it were to fight twenty duels." + +"Hark thee," said the smith, "acknowledge thou art afraid, Oliver: +tell the honest truth, at once, otherwise I leave thee to make the +best of thy quarrel." + +"Nay, good gossip," replied the bonnet maker, "thou knowest I am +never afraid. But, in sooth, this is a desperate ruffian; and as +I have a wife--poor Maudie, thou knowest--and a small family, +and thou--" + +"And I," interrupted Henry, hastily, "have none, and never shall +have." + +"Why, truly, such being the case, I would rather thou fought'st +this combat than I." + +"Now, by our halidome, gossip," answered the smith, "thou art +easily gored! Know, thou silly fellow, that Sir Patrick Charteris, +who is ever a merry man, hath but jested with thee. Dost thou +think he would venture the honour of the city on thy head, or that +I would yield thee the precedence in which such a matter was to +be disputed? Lackaday, go home, let Maudie tie a warm nightcap on +thy head, get thee a warm breakfast and a cup of distilled waters, +and thou wilt be in ease tomorrow to fight thy wooden dromond, +or soldan, as thou call'st him, the only thing thou wilt ever lay +downright blow upon." + +"Ay, say'st thou so, comrade?" answered Oliver, much relieved, yet +deeming it necessary to seem in part offended. "I care not for thy +dogged humour; it is well for thee thou canst not wake my patience +to the point of falling foul. Enough--we are gossips, and this +house is thine. Why should the two best blades in Perth clash with +each other? What! I know thy rugged humour, and can forgive it. +But is the feud really soldered up?" + +"As completely as ever hammer fixed rivet," said the smith. "The +town hath given the Johnstone a purse of gold, for not ridding +them of a troublesome fellow called Oliver Proudfute, when he had +him at his mercy; and this purse of gold buys for the provost the +Sleepless Isle, which the King grants him, for the King pays all +in the long run. And thus Sir Patrick gets the comely inch which is +opposite to his dwelling, and all honour is saved on both sides, +for what is given to the provost is given, you understand, to +the town. Besides all this, the Douglas hath left Perth to march +against the Southron, who, men say, are called into the marches by +the false Earl of March. So the Fair City is quit of him and his +cumber." + +"But, in St. John's name, how came all that about," said Oliver, +"and no one spoken to about it?" + +"Why, look thee, friend Oliver, this I take to have been the case. +The fellow whom I cropped of a hand is now said to have been a +servant of Sir John Ramorny's, who hath fled to his motherland of +Fife, to which Sir John himself is also to be banished, with full +consent of every honest man. Now, anything which brings in Sir John +Ramorny touches a much greater man--I think Simon Glover told as +much to Sir Patrick Charteris. If it be as I guess, I have reason +to thank Heaven and all the saints I stabbed him not upon the ladder +when I made him prisoner." + +"And I too thank Heaven and all the saints, most devoutly," said +Oliver. "I was behind thee, thou knowest, and--" + +"No more of that, if thou be'st wise. There are laws against +striking princes," said the smith: "best not handle the horseshoe +till it cools. All is hushed up now." + +"If this be so," said Oliver, partly disconcerted, but still more +relieved, by the intelligence he received from his better informed +friend, "I have reason to complain of Sir Patrick Charteris for +jesting with the honour of an honest burgess, being, as he is, +provost of our town." + +"Do, Oliver; challenge him to the field, and he will bid his yeoman +loose his dogs on thee. But come, night wears apace, will you be +shogging?" + +"Nay, I had one word more to say to thee, good gossip. But first, +another cup of your cold ale." + +"Pest on thee for a fool! Thou makest me wish thee where told liquors +are a scarce commodity. There, swill the barrelful an thou wilt." + +Oliver took the second flagon, but drank, or rather seemed to drink, +very slowly, in order to gain time for considering how he should +introduce his second subject of conversation, which seemed rather +delicate for the smith's present state of irritability. At length, +nothing better occurred to him than to plunge into the subject at +once, with, "I have seen Simon Glover today, gossip." + +"Well," said the smith, in a low, deep, and stern tone of voice, +"and if thou hast, what is that to me?" + +"Nothing--nothing," answered the appalled bonnet maker. "Only +I thought you might like to know that he questioned me close if +I had seen thee on St. Valentine's Day, after the uproar at the +Dominicans', and in what company thou wert." + +"And I warrant thou told'st him thou met'st me with a glee woman +in the mirk loaning yonder?" + +"Thou know'st, Henry, I have no gift at lying; but I made it all +up with him." + +"As how, I pray you?" said the smith. + +"Marry, thus: 'Father Simon,' said I, 'you are an old man, and know +not the quality of us, in whose veins youth is like quicksilver. +You think, now, he cares about this girl,' said I, 'and, perhaps, +that he has her somewhere here in Perth in a corner? No such matter; +I know,' said I, 'and I will make oath to it, that she left his +house early next morning for Dundee.' Ha! have I helped thee at +need?" + +"Truly, I think thou hast, and if anything could add to my grief +and vexation at this moment, it is that, when I am so deep in the +mire, an ass like thee should place his clumsy hoof on my head, to +sink me entirely. Come, away with thee, and mayst thou have such +luck as thy meddling humour deserves; and then I think, thou wilt +be found with a broken neck in the next gutter. Come, get you out, +or I will put you to the door with head and shoulders forward." + +"Ha--ha!" exclaimed Oliver, laughing with some constraint, "thou +art such a groom! But in sadness, gossip Henry, wilt thou not take +a turn with me to my own house, in the Meal Vennel?" + +"Curse thee, no," answered the smith. + +"I will bestow the wine on thee if thou wilt go," said Oliver. + +"I will bestow the cudgel on thee if thou stay'st," said Henry. + +"Nay, then, I will don thy buff coat and cap of steel, and walk +with thy swashing step, and whistling thy pibroch of 'Broken Bones +at Loncarty'; and if they take me for thee, there dare not four of +them come near me." + +"Take all or anything thou wilt, in the fiend's name! only be gone." + +"Well--well, Hal, we shall meet when thou art in better humour," +said Oliver, who had put on the dress. + +"Go; and may I never see thy coxcombly face again." + +Oliver at last relieved his host by swaggering off, imitating as well +as he could the sturdy step and outward gesture of his redoubted +companion, and whistling a pibroch composed on the rout of the Danes +at Loncarty, which he had picked up from its being a favourite of +the smith's, whom he made a point of imitating as far as he could. +But as the innocent, though conceited, fellow stepped out from the +entrance of the wynd, where it communicated with the High Street, +he received a blow from behind, against which his headpiece was no +defence, and he fell dead upon the spot, an attempt to mutter the +name of Henry, to whom he always looked for protection, quivering +upon his dying tongue. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Nay, I will fit you for a young prince. + +Falstaff. + + +We return to the revellers, who had, half an hour before, witnessed, +with such boisterous applause, Oliver's feat of agility, being the +last which the poor bonnet maker was ever to exhibit, and at the +hasty retreat which had followed it, animated by their wild shout. +After they had laughed their fill, they passed on their mirthful +path in frolic and jubilee, stopping and frightening some of the +people whom they met, but, it must be owned, without doing them +any serious injury, either in their persons or feelings. At length, +tired with his rambles, their chief gave a signal to his merry men +to close around him. + +"We, my brave hearts and wise counsellors, are," he said, "the +real king over all in Scotland that is worth commanding. We sway +the hours when the wine cup circulates, and when beauty becomes +kind, when frolic is awake, and gravity snoring upon his pallet. We +leave to our vice regent, King Robert, the weary task of controlling +ambitious nobles, gratifying greedy clergymen, subduing wild +Highlanders, and composing deadly feuds. And since our empire is +one of joy and pleasure, meet it is that we should haste with all +our forces to the rescue of such as own our sway, when they chance, +by evil fortune, to become the prisoners of care and hypochondriac +malady. I speak in relation chiefly to Sir John, whom the vulgar +call Ramorny. We have not seen him since the onslaught of Curfew +Street, and though we know he was somedeal hurt in that matter, we +cannot see why he should not do homage in leal and duteous sort. +Here, you, our Calabash King at arms, did you legally summon Sir +John to his part of this evening's revels?" + +"I did, my lord." + +"And did you acquaint him that we have for this night suspended +his sentence of banishment, that, since higher powers have settled +that part, we might at least take a mirthful leave of an old friend?" + +"I so delivered it, my lord," answered the mimic herald. + +"And sent he not a word in writing, he that piques himself upon +being so great a clerk?" + +"He was in bed, my lord, and I might not see him. So far as I +hear, he hath lived very retired, harmed with some bodily bruises, +malcontent with your Highness's displeasure, and doubting insult +in the streets, he having had a narrow escape from the burgesses, +when the churls pursued him and his two servants into the Dominican +convent. The servants, too, have been removed to Fife, lest they +should tell tales." + +"Why, it was wisely done," said the Prince, who, we need not inform +the intelligent reader, had a better title to be so called than +arose from the humours of the evening--"it was prudently done +to keep light tongued companions out of the way. But St. John's +absenting himself from our solemn revels, so long before decreed, +is flat mutiny and disclamation of allegiance. Or, if the knight +be really the prisoner of illness and melancholy, we must ourself +grace him with a visit, seeing there can be no better cure for those +maladies than our own presence, and a gentle kiss of the calabash. +Forward, ushers, minstrels, guard, and attendants! Bear on high +the great emblem of our dignity. Up with the calabash, I say, and +let the merry men who carry these firkins, which are to supply +the wine cup with their life blood, be chosen with regard to their +state of steadiness. Their burden is weighty and precious, and if +the fault is not in our eyes, they seem to us to reel and stagger +more than were desirable. Now, move on, sirs, and let our minstrels +blow their blythest and boldest." + +On they went with tipsy mirth and jollity, the numerous torches +flashing their red light against the small windows of the narrow +streets, from whence nightcapped householders, and sometimes their +wives to boot, peeped out by stealth to see what wild wassail +disturbed the peaceful streets at that unwonted hour. At length +the jolly train halted before the door of Sir John Ramorny's house, +which a small court divided from the street. + +Here they knocked, thundered, and halloo'd, with many denunciations +of vengeance against the recusants who refused to open the gates. +The least punishment threatened was imprisonment in an empty +hogshead, within the massamore [principal dungeon] of the Prince +of Pastimes' feudal palace, videlicet, the ale cellar. But Eviot, +Ramorny's page, heard and knew well the character of the intruders +who knocked so boldly, and thought it better, considering his +master's condition, to make no answer at all, in hopes that the +revel would pass on, than to attempt to deprecate their proceedings, +which he knew would be to no purpose. His master's bedroom looking +into a little garden, his page hoped he might not be disturbed +by the noise; and he was confident in the strength of the outward +gate, upon which he resolved they should beat till they tired +themselves, or till the tone of their drunken humour should change. +The revellers accordingly seemed likely to exhaust themselves in +the noise they made by shouting and beating the door, when their +mock prince (alas! too really such) upbraided them as lazy and dull +followers of the god of wine and of mirth. + +"Bring forward," he said, "our key, yonder it lies, and apply it +to this rebellious gate." + +The key he pointed at was a large beam of wood, left on one side +of the street, with the usual neglect of order characteristic of +a Scottish borough of the period. + +The shouting men of Ind instantly raised it in their arms, and, +supporting it by their united strength, ran against the door with +such force, that hasp, hinge, and staple jingled, and gave fair +promise of yielding. Eviot did not choose to wait the extremity of +this battery: he came forth into the court, and after some momentary +questions for form's sake, caused the porter to undo the gate, as +if he had for the first time recognised the midnight visitors. + +"False slave of an unfaithful master," said the Prince, "where is +our disloyal subject, Sir John Ramorny, who has proved recreant to +our summons?" + +"My lord," said Eviot, bowing at once to the real and to the assumed +dignity of the leader, "my master is just now very much indisposed: +he has taken an opiate--and--your Highness must excuse me if +I do my duty to him in saying, he cannot be spoken with without +danger of his life." + +"Tush! tell me not of danger, Master Teviot--Cheviot--Eviot +--what is it they call thee? But show me thy master's chamber, +or rather undo me the door of his lodging, and I will make a good +guess at it myself. Bear high the calabash, my brave followers, +and see that you spill not a drop of the liquor, which Dan Bacchus +has sent for the cure of all diseases of the body and cares of the +mind. Advance it, I say, and let us see the holy rind which incloses +such precious liquor." + +The Prince made his way into the house accordingly, and, acquainted +with its interior, ran upstairs, followed by Eviot, in vain imploring +silence, and, with the rest of the rabble rout, burst into the room +of the wounded master of the lodging. + +He who has experienced the sensation of being compelled to sleep +in spite of racking bodily pains by the administration of a strong +opiate, and of having been again startled by noise and violence +out of the unnatural state of insensibility in which he had been +plunged by the potency of the medicine, may be able to imagine +the confused and alarmed state of Sir John Ramorny's mind, and the +agony of his body, which acted and reacted upon each other. If we +add to these feelings the consciousness of a criminal command, sent +forth and in the act of being executed, it may give us some idea +of an awakening to which, in the mind of the party, eternal sleep +would be a far preferable doom. The groan which he uttered as the +first symptom of returning sensation had something in it so terrific, +that even the revellers were awed into momentary silence; and as, +from the half recumbent posture in which he had gone to sleep, +he looked around the room, filled with fantastic shapes, rendered +still more so by his disturbed intellects, he muttered to himself: + +"It is thus, then, after all, and the legend is true! These are +fiends, and I am condemned for ever! The fire is not external, +but I feel it--I feel it at my heart--burning as if the seven +times heated furnace were doing its work within!" + +While he cast ghastly looks around him, and struggled to recover +some share of recollection, Eviot approached the Prince, and, falling +on his knees, implored him to allow the apartment to be cleared. + +"It may," he said, "cost my master his life." + +"Never fear, Cheviot," replied the Duke of Rothsay; "were he at +the gates of death, here is what should make the fiends relinquish +their prey. Advance the calabash, my masters." + +"It is death for him to taste it in his present state," said Eviot: +"if he drinks wine he dies." + +"Some one must drink it for him--he shall be cured vicariously; +and may our great Dan Bacchus deign to Sir John Ramorny the comfort, +the elevation of heart, the lubrication of lungs, and lightness of +fancy, which are his choicest gifts, while the faithful follower, +who quaffs in his stead, shall have the qualms, the sickness, the +racking of the nerves, the dimness of the eyes, and the throbbing +of the brain, with which our great master qualifies gifts which +would else make us too like the gods. What say you, Eviot? will +you be the faithful follower that will quaff in your lord's behalf, +and as his representative? Do this, and we will hold ourselves +contented to depart, for, methinks, our subject doth look something +ghastly." + +"I would do anything in my slight power," said Eviot, "to save my +master from a draught which may be his death, and your Grace from +the sense that you had occasioned it. But here is one who will +perform the feat of goodwill, and thank your Highness to boot." + +"Whom have we here?" said the Prince, "a butcher, and I think fresh +from his office. Do butchers ply their craft on Fastern's Eve? Foh, +how he smells of blood!" + +This was spoken of Bonthron, who, partly surprised at the tumult in +the house, where he had expected to find all dark and silent, and +partly stupid through the wine which the wretch had drunk in great +quantities, stood in the threshold of the door, staring at the scene +before him, with his buff coat splashed with blood, and a bloody +axe in his hand, exhibiting a ghastly and disgusting spectacle to +the revellers, who felt, though they could not tell why, fear as +well as dislike at his presence. + +As they approached the calabash to this ungainly and truculent +looking savage, and as he extended a hand soiled as it seemed with +blood, to grasp it, the Prince called out: + +"Downstairs with him! let not the wretch drink in our presence; +find him some other vessel than our holy calabash, the emblem of +our revels: a swine's trough were best, if it could be come by. +Away with him! let him be drenched to purpose, in atonement for +his master's sobriety. Leave me alone with Sir John Ramorny and +his page; by my honour, I like not yon ruffian's looks." + +The attendants of the Prince left the apartment, and Eviot alone +remained. + +"I fear," said the Prince, approaching the bed in different form +from that which he had hitherto used--"I fear, my dear Sir John, +that this visit has been unwelcome; but it is your own fault. +Although you know our old wont, and were your self participant of +our schemes for the evening, you have not come near us since St. +Valentine's; it is now Fastern's Even, and the desertion is flat +disobedience and treason to our kingdom of mirth and the statutes +of the calabash." + +Ramorny raised his head, and fixed a wavering eye upon the Prince; +then signed to Eviot to give him something to drink. A large cup +of ptisan was presented by the page, which the sick man swallowed +with eager and trembling haste. He then repeatedly used the +stimulating essence left for the purpose by the leech, and seemed +to collect his scattered senses. + +"Let me feel your pulse, dear Ramorny," said the Prince; "I know +something of that craft. How! Do your offer me the left hand, Sir +John? that is neither according to the rules of medicine nor of +courtesy." + +"The right has already done its last act in your Highness's service," +muttered the patient in a low and broken tone. + +"How mean you by that?" said the Prince. "I am aware thy follower, +Black Quentin, lost a hand; but he can steal with the other as +much as will bring him to the gallows, so his fate cannot be much +altered." + +"It is not that fellow who has had the loss in your Grace's service: +it is I, John of Ramorny." + +"You!" said the Prince; "you jest with me, or the opiate still +masters your reason." + +"If the juice of all the poppies in Egypt were blended in one +draught," said Ramorny, "it would lose influence over me when I +look upon this." He drew his right arm from beneath the cover of +the bedclothes, and extending it towards the Prince, wrapped as it +was in dressings, "Were these undone and removed," he said, "your +Highness would see that a bloody stump is all that remains of a hand +ever ready to unsheath the sword at your Grace's slightest bidding." + +Rothsay started back in horror. "This," he said, "must be avenged!" + +"It is avenged in small part," said Ramorny--"that is, I thought +I saw Bonthron but now; or was it that the dream of hell that first +arose in my mind when I awakened summoned up an image so congenial? +Eviot, call the miscreant--that is, if he is fit to appear." + +Eviot retired, and presently returned with Bonthron, whom he had +rescued from the penance, to him no unpleasing infliction, of a +second calabash of wine, the brute having gorged the first without +much apparent alteration in his demeanour. + +"Eviot," said the Prince, "let not that beast come nigh me. My soul +recoils from him in fear and disgust: there is something in his +looks alien from my nature, and which I shudder at as at a loathsome +snake, from which my instinct revolts." + +"First hear him speak, my lord," answered Ramorny; "unless a wineskin +were to talk, nothing could use fewer words. Hast thou dealt with +him, Bonthron?" + +The savage raised the axe which he still held in his hand, and +brought it down again edgeways. + +"Good. How knew you your man? the night, I am told, is dark." + +"By sight and sound, garb, gait, and whistle." + +"Enough, vanish! and, Eviot, let him have gold and wine to his +brutish contentment. Vanish! and go thou with him." + +"And whose death is achieved?" said the Prince, released from the +feelings of disgust and horror under which he suffered while the +assassin was in presence. "I trust this is but a jest! Else must +I call it a rash and savage deed. Who has had the hard lot to be +butchered by that bloody and brutal slave?" + +"One little better than himself," said the patient, "a wretched +artisan, to whom, however, fate gave the power of reducing Ramorny +to a mutilated cripple--a curse go with his base spirit! His +miserable life is but to my revenge what a drop of water would be +to a furnace. I must speak briefly, for my ideas again wander: it +is only the necessity of the moment which keeps them together; as +a thong combines a handful of arrows. You are in danger, my lord +--I speak it with certainty: you have braved Douglas, and offended +your uncle, displeased your father, though that were a trifle, were +it not for the rest." + +"I am sorry I have displeased my father," said the Prince, entirely +diverted from so insignificant a thing as the slaughter of an +artisan by the more important subject touched upon, "if indeed it +be so. But if I live, the strength of the Douglas shall be broken, +and the craft of Albany shall little avail him!" + +"Ay--if--if. My lord," said Ramorny, "with such opposites as +you have, you must not rest upon if or but; you must resolve at +once to slay or be slain." + +"How mean you, Ramorny? Your fever makes you rave" answered the +Duke of Rothsay. + +"No, my lord," said Ramorny, "were my frenzy at the highest, the +thoughts that pass through my mind at this moment would qualify it. +It may be that regret for my own loss has made me desperate, that +anxious thoughts for your Highness's safety have made me nourish +bold designs; but I have all the judgment with which Heaven has +gifted me, when I tell you that, if ever you would brook the Scottish +crown, nay, more, if ever you would see another St. Valentine's +Day, you must--" + +"What is it that I must do, Ramorny?" said the Prince, with an air +of dignity; "nothing unworthy of myself, I hope?" + +"Nothing, certainly, unworthy or misbecoming a prince of Scotland, +if the bloodstained annals of our country tell the tale truly; +but that which may well shock the nerves of a prince of mimes and +merry makers." + +"Thou art severe, Sir John Ramorny," said the Duke of Rothsay, +with an air of displeasure; "but thou hast dearly bought a right +to censure us by what thou hast lost in our cause." + +"My Lord of Rothsay," said the knight, "the chirurgeon who dressed +this mutilated stump told me that the more I felt the pain his +knife and brand inflicted, the better was my chance of recovery. +I shall not, therefore, hesitate to hurt your feelings, while by +doing so I may be able to bring you to a sense of what is necessary +for your safety. Your Grace has been the pupil of mirthful folly +too long; you must now assume manly policy, or be crushed like a +butterfly on the bosom of the flower you are sporting on." + +"I think I know your cast of morals, Sir John: you are weary of +merry folly--the churchmen call it vice--and long for a little +serious crime. A murder, now, or a massacre, would enhance the +flavour of debauch, as the taste of the olive gives zest to wine. +But my worst acts are but merry malice: I have no relish for the +bloody trade, and abhor to see or hear of its being acted even +on the meanest caitiff. Should I ever fill the throne, I suppose, +like my father before me, I must drop my own name, and be dubbed +Robert, in honour of the Bruce; well, an if it be so, every Scots +lad shall have his flag on in one hand and the other around his +lass's neck, and manhood shall be tried by kisses and bumpers, not +by dirks and dourlachs; and they shall write on my grave, 'Here +lies Robert, fourth of his name. He won not battles like Robert the +First. He rose not from a count to a king like Robert the Second. +He founded not churches like Robert the Third, but was contented +to live and die king of good fellows!' Of all my two centuries of +ancestors, I would only emulate the fame of-- + +"Old King Coul, +Who had a brown bowl." + +"My gracious lord," said Ramorny, "let me remind you that your joyous +revels involve serious evils. If I had lost this hand in fighting +to attain for your Grace some important advantage over your too +powerful enemies, the loss would never have grieved me. But to be +reduced from helmet and steel coat to biggin and gown in a night +brawl--" + +"Why, there again now, Sir John," interrupted the reckless Prince. +"How canst thou be so unworthy as to be for ever flinging thy bloody +hand in my face, as the ghost of Gaskhall threw his head at Sir +William Wallace? Bethink thee, thou art more unreasonable than Fawdyon +himself; for wight Wallace had swept his head off in somewhat a +hasty humour, whereas I would gladly stick thy hand on again, were +that possible. And, hark thee, since that cannot be, I will get thee +such a substitute as the steel hand of the old knight of Carslogie, +with which he greeted his friends, caressed his wife, braved his +antagonists, and did all that might be done by a hand of flesh and +blood, in offence or defence. Depend on it, John Ramorny, we have +much that is superfluous about us. Man can see with one eye, hear +with one ear, touch with one hand, smell with one nostril; and why +we should have two of each, unless to supply an accidental loss or +injury, I for one am at a loss to conceive." + +Sir John Ramorny turned from the Prince with a low groan. + +"Nay, Sir John;" said the Duke, "I am quite serious. You know the +truth touching the legend of Steel Hand of Carslogie better than +I, since he was your own neighbour. In his time that curious engine +could only be made in Rome; but I will wager an hundred marks with +you that, let the Perth armourer have the use of it for a pattern, +Henry of the Wynd will execute as complete an imitation as all the +smiths in Rome could accomplish, with all the cardinals to bid a +blessing on the work." + +"I could venture to accept your wager, my lord," answered Ramorny, +bitterly, "but there is no time for foolery. You have dismissed me +from your service, at command of your uncle?" + +"At command of my father," answered the Prince. + +"Upon whom your uncle's commands are imperative," replied Ramorny. +"I am a disgraced man, thrown aside, as I may now fling away my +right hand glove, as a thing useless. Yet my head might help you, +though my hand be gone. Is your Grace disposed to listen to me for +one word of serious import, for I am much exhausted, and feel my +force sinking under me?" + +"Speak your pleasure," said the Prince; "thy loss binds me to hear +thee, thy bloody stump is a sceptre to control me. Speak, then, +but be merciful in thy strength of privilege." + +"I will be brief for mine own sake as well as thine; indeed, I +have but little to say. Douglas places himself immediately at the +head of his vassals. He will assemble, in the name of King Robert, +thirty thousand Borderers, whom he will shortly after lead into +the interior, to demand that the Duke of Rothsay receive, or rather +restore, his daughter to the rank and privileges of his Duchess. +King Robert will yield to any conditions which may secure peace. +What will the Duke do?" + +"The Duke of Rothsay loves peace," said the Prince, haughtily; +"but he never feared war. Ere he takes back yonder proud peat to +his table and his bed, at the command of her father, Douglas must +be King of Scotland." + +"Be it so; but even this is the less pressing peril, especially as +it threatens open violence, for the Douglas works not in secret." + +"What is there which presses, and keeps us awake at this late +hour? I am a weary man, thou a wounded one, and the very tapers +are blinking, as if tired of our conference." + +"Tell me, then, who is it that rules this kingdom of Scotland?" +said Ramorny. + +"Robert, third of the name," said the Prince, raising his bonnet +as he spoke; "and long may he sway the sceptre!" + +"True, and amen," answered Ramorny; "but who sways King Robert, +and dictates almost every measure which the good King pursues?" + +"My Lord of Albany, you would say," replied the Prince. "Yes, it +is true my father is guided almost entirely by the counsels of his +brother; nor can we blame him in our consciences, Sir John Ramorny, +for little help hath he had from his son." + +"Let us help him now, my lord," said Ramorny. "I am possessor of +a dreadful secret: Albany hath been trafficking with me, to join +him in taking your Grace's life! He offers full pardon for the +past, high favour for the future." + +"How, man--my life? I trust, though, thou dost only mean my +kingdom? It were impious! He is my father's brother--they sat on +the knees of the same father--lay in the bosom of the same mother. +Out on thee, man, what follies they make thy sickbed believe!" + +"Believe, indeed!" said Ramorny. "It is new to me to be termed +credulous. But the man through whom Albany communicated his +temptations is one whom all will believe so soon as he hints at +mischief--even the medicaments which are prepared by his hands +have a relish of poison." + +"Tush! such a slave would slander a saint," replied the Prince. +"Thou art duped for once, Ramorny, shrewd as thou art. My uncle +of Albany is ambitious, and would secure for himself and for his +house a larger portion of power and wealth than he ought in reason +to desire. But to suppose he would dethrone or slay his brother's +son--Fie, Ramorny! put me not to quote the old saw, that evil +doers are evil dreaders. It is your suspicion, not your knowledge, +which speaks." + +"Your Grace is fatally deluded. I will put it to an issue. The Duke +of Albany is generally hated for his greed and covetousness. Your +Highness is, it may be, more beloved than--" + +Ramorny stopped, the Prince calmly filled up the blank: "More +beloved than I am honoured. It is so I would have it, Ramorny." + +"At least," said Ramorny, "you are more beloved than you are feared, +and that is no safe condition for a prince. But give me your honour +and knightly word that you will not resent what good service I +shall do in your behalf, and lend me your signet to engage friends +in your name, and the Duke of Albany shall not assume authority in +this court till the wasted hand which once terminated this stump +shall be again united to the body, and acting in obedience to the +dictates of my mind." + +"You would not venture to dip your hands in royal blood?" said the +Prince sternly. + +"Fie, my lord, at no rate. Blood need not be shed; life may, nay, +will, be extinguished of itself. For want of trimming it with fresh +oil, or screening it from a breath of wind, the quivering light +will die in the socket. To suffer a man to die is not to kill him." + +"True--I had forgot that policy. Well, then, suppose my uncle +Albany does not continue to live--I think that must be the phrase +--who then rules the court of Scotland?" + +"Robert the Third, with consent, advice, and authority of the +most mighty David, Duke of Rothsay, Lieutenant of the Kingdom, and +alter ego; in whose favour, indeed, the good King, wearied with +the fatigues and troubles of sovereignty, will, I guess, be well +disposed to abdicate. So long live our brave young monarch, King +David the Third! + +"Ille manu fortis +Anglis ludebit in hortis." + +"And our father and predecessor," said Rothsay, "will he continue +to live to pray for us, as our beadsman, by whose favour he holds +the privilege of laying his grey hairs in the grave as soon, and +no earlier, than the course of nature permits, or must he also +encounter some of those negligences in consequence of which men +cease to continue to live, and can change the limits of a prison, +or of a convent resembling one, for the dark and tranquil cell, +where the priests say that the wicked cease from troubling and the +weary are at rest?" + +"You speak in jest, my lord," replied Ramorny: "to harm the good +old King were equally unnatural and impolitic." + +"Why shrink from that, man, when thy whole scheme," answered the +Prince, in stern displeasure, "is one lesson of unnatural guilt, +mixed with short sighted ambition? If the King of Scotland can +scarcely make head against his nobles, even now when he can hold up +before them an unsullied and honourable banner, who would follow a +prince that is blackened with the death of an uncle and the imprisonment +of a father? Why, man, thy policy were enough to revolt a heathen +divan, to say nought of the council of a Christian nation. Thou wert +my tutor, Ramorny, and perhaps I might justly upbraid thy lessons +and example for some of the follies which men chide in me. Perhaps, +if it had not been for thee, I had not been standing at midnight +in this fool's guise (looking at his dress), to hear an ambitious +profligate propose to me the murder of an uncle, the dethronement +of the best of fathers. Since it is my fault as well as thine that +has sunk me so deep in the gulf of infamy, it were unjust that thou +alone shouldst die for it. But dare not to renew this theme to me, +on peril of thy life! I will proclaim thee to my father--to Albany +--to Scotland--throughout its length and breadth. As many market +crosses as are in the land shall have morsels of the traitor's +carcass, who dare counsel such horrors to the heir of Scotland. Well +hope I, indeed, that the fever of thy wound, and the intoxicating +influence of the cordials which act on thy infirm brain, have this +night operated on thee, rather than any fixed purpose." + +"In sooth, my lord," said Ramorny, "if I have said any thing which +could so greatly exasperate your Highness, it must have been by +excess of zeal, mingled with imbecility of understanding. Surely +I, of all men, am least likely to propose ambitious projects with +a prospect of advantage to myself! Alas! my only future views must +be to exchange lance and saddle for the breviary and the confessional. +The convent of Lindores must receive the maimed and impoverished +knight of Ramorny, who will there have ample leisure to meditate +upon the text, 'Put not thy faith in princes.'" + +"It is a goodly purpose," said the Prince, "and we will not be +lacking to promote it. Our separation, I thought, would have been +but for a time. It must now be perpetual. Certainly, after such +talk as we have held, it were meet that we should live asunder. But +the convent of Lindores, or what ever other house receives thee, +shall be richly endowed and highly favoured by us. And now, Sir +John of Ramorny, sleep--sleep--and forget this evil omened +conversation, in which the fever of disease and of wine has rather, +I trust, held colloquy than your own proper thoughts. Light to the +door, Eviot." + +A call from Eviot summoned the attendants of the Prince, who had +been sleeping on the staircase and hall, exhausted by the revels +of the evening. + +"Is there none amongst you sober?" said the Duke of Rothsay, +disgusted by the appearance of his attendants. + +"Not a man--not a man," answered the followers, with a drunken +shout, "we are none of us traitors to the Emperor of Merry makers!" + +"And are all of you turned into brutes, then?" said the Prince. + +"In obedience and imitation of your Grace," answered one fellow; +"or, if we are a little behind your Highness, one pull at the +pitcher will--" + +"Peace, beast!" said the Duke of Rothsay. "Are there none of you +sober, I say?" + +"Yes, my noble liege," was the answer; "here is one false brother, +Watkins the Englishman." + +"Come hither then, Watkins, and aid me with a torch; give me a cloak, +too, and another bonnet, and take away this trumpery," throwing +down his coronet of feathers. "I would I could throw off all my +follies as easily. English Wat, attend me alone, and the rest of +you end your revelry, and doff your mumming habits. The holytide +is expended, and the fast has begun." + +"Our monarch has abdicated sooner than usual this night," said one +of the revel rout; but as the Prince gave no encouragement, such +as happened for the time to want the virtue of sobriety endeavoured +to assume it as well as they could, and the whole of the late +rioters began to adopt the appearance of a set of decent persons, +who, having been surprised into intoxication, endeavoured to +disguise their condition by assuming a double portion of formality +of behaviour. In the interim the Prince, having made a hasty reform +in his dress, was lighted to the door by the only sober man of the +company, but, in his progress thither, had well nigh stumbled over +the sleeping bulk of the brute Bonthron. + +"How now! is that vile beast in our way once more?" he said in +anger and disgust. "Here, some of you, toss this caitiff into the +horse trough; that for once in his life he may be washed clean." + +While the train executed his commands, availing themselves of a +fountain which was in the outer court, and while Bonthron underwent +a discipline which he was incapable of resisting, otherwise than by +some inarticulate groans and snorts, like, those of a dying boar, +the Prince proceeded on his way to his apartments, in a mansion +called the Constable's lodgings, from the house being the property +of the Earls of Errol. On the way, to divert his thoughts from the +more unpleasing matters, the Prince asked his companion how he came +to be sober, when the rest of the party had been so much overcome +with liquor. + +"So please your honour's Grace," replied English Wat, "I confess +it was very familiar in me to be sober when it was your Grace's +pleasure that your train should be mad drunk; but in respect they +were all Scottishmen but myself, I thought it argued no policy in +getting drunken in their company, seeing that they only endure me +even when we are all sober, and if the wine were uppermost, I might +tell them a piece of my mind, and be paid with as many stabs as +there are skenes in the good company." + +"So it is your purpose never to join any of the revels of our +household?" + +"Under favour, yes; unless it be your Grace's pleasure that the +residue of your train should remain one day sober, to admit Will +Watkins to get drunk without terror of his life." + +"Such occasion may arrive. Where dost thou serve, Watkins?" + +"In the stable, so please you." + +"Let our chamberlain bring thee into the household, as a yeoman +of the night watch. I like thy favour, and it is something to have +one sober fellow in the house, although he is only such through the +fear of death. Attend, therefore, near our person; and thou shalt +find sobriety a thriving virtue." + +Meantime a load of care and fear added to the distress of Sir John +Ramorny's sick chamber. His reflections, disordered as they were +by the opiate, fell into great confusion when the Prince, in whose +presence he had suppressed its effect by strong resistance, had left +the apartment. His consciousness, which he had possessed perfectly +during the interview, began to be very much disturbed. He felt +a general sense that he had incurred a great danger, that he had +rendered the Prince his enemy, and that he had betrayed to him +a secret which might affect his own life. In this state of mind +and body, it was not strange that he should either dream, or else +that his diseased organs should become subject to that species of +phantasmagoria which is excited by the use of opium. He thought +that the shade of Queen Annabella stood by his bedside, and demanded +the youth whom she had placed under his charge, simple, virtuous, +gay, and innocent. + +"Thou hast rendered him reckless, dissolute, and vicious," said +the shade of pallid Majesty. "Yet I thank thee, John of Ramorny, +ungrateful to me, false to thy word, and treacherous to my hopes. +Thy hate shall counteract the evil which thy friendship has done to +him. And well do I hope that, now thou art no longer his counsellor, +a bitter penance on earth may purchase my ill fated child pardon +and acceptance in a better world." + +Ramorny stretched out his arms after his benefactress, and +endeavoured to express contrition and excuse; but the countenance +of the apparition became darker and sterner, till it was no longer +that of the late Queen, but presented the gloomy and haughty aspect +of the Black Douglas; then the timid and sorrowful face of King +Robert, who seemed to mourn over the approaching dissolution of +his royal house; and then a group of fantastic features, partly +hideous, partly ludicrous, which moped, and chattered, and twisted +themselves into unnatural and extravagant forms, as if ridiculing +his endeavour to obtain an exact idea of their lineaments. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +A purple land, where law secures not life. + +BYRON. + + +The morning of Ash Wednesday arose pale and bleak, as usual at +this season in Scotland, where the worst and most inclement weather +often occurs in the early spring months. It was a severe day of +frost, and the citizens had to sleep away the consequences of the +preceding holiday's debauchery. The sun had therefore risen for an +hour above the horizon before there was any general appearance of +life among the inhabitants of Perth, so that it was some time after +daybreak when a citizen, going early to mass, saw the body of the +luckless Oliver Proudfute lying on its face across the kennel in +the manner in which he had fallen under the blow; as our readers +will easily imagine, of Anthony Bonthron, the "boy of the belt"-- +that is the executioner of the pleasure--of John of Ramorny. + +This early citizen was Allan Griffin, so termed because he +was master of the Griffin Inn; and the alarm which he raised soon +brought together first straggling neighbours, and by and by a +concourse of citizens. At first from the circumstance of the well +known buff coat and the crimson feather in the head piece, the +noise arose that it was the stout smith that lay there slain. This +false rumour continued for some time, for the host of the Griffin, +who himself had been a magistrate, would not permit the body to +be touched or stirred till Bailie Craigdallie arrived, so that the +face was not seen.. + +"This concerns the Fair City, my friends," he said, "and if it is +the stout Smith of the Wynd who lies here, the man lives not in +Perth who will not risk land and life to avenge him. Look you, the +villains have struck him down behind his back, for there is not a +man within ten Scotch miles of Perth, gentle or simple, Highland +or Lowland, that would have met him face to face with such evil +purpose. Oh, brave men of Perth! the flower of your manhood has +been cut down, and that by a base and treacherous hand." + +A wild cry of fury arose from the people, who were fast assembling. + +"We will take him on our shoulders," said a strong butcher, "we +will carry him to the King's presence at the Dominican convent" + +"Ay--ay," answered a blacksmith, "neither bolt nor bar shall keep +us from the King, neither monk nor mass shall break our purpose. +A better armourer never laid hammer on anvil!" + +"To the Dominicans--to the Dominicans!" shouted the assembled +people. + +"Bethink you, burghers," said another citizen, "our king is a good +king and loves us like his children. It is the Douglas and the Duke +of Albany that will not let good King Robert hear the distresses +of his people." + +"Are we to be slain in our own streets for the King's softness of +heart?" said the butcher. "The Bruce did otherwise. If the King +will not keep us, we will keep ourselves. Ring the bells backward, +every bell of them that is made of metal. Cry, and spare not, St. +Johnston's hunt is up!" + +"Ay," cried another citizen, "and let us to the holds of Albany +and the Douglas, and burn them to the ground. Let the fires tell +far and near that Perth knew how to avenge her stout Henry Gow. He +has fought a score of times for the Fair City's right; let us show +we can once to avenge his wrong. Hally ho! brave citizens, St. +Johnston's hunt is up!" + +This cry, the well known rallying word amongst the inhabitants of +Perth, and seldom heard but on occasions of general uproar, was +echoed from voice to voice; and one or two neighbouring steeples, +of which the enraged citizens possessed themselves, either by consent +of the priests or in spite of their opposition, began to ring out +the ominous alarm notes, in which, as the ordinary succession of +the chimes was reversed, the bells were said to be rung backward. + +Still, as the crowd thickened, and the roar waxed more universal +and louder, Allan Griffin, a burly man with a deep voice, and well +respected among high and low, kept his station as he bestrode the +corpse, and called loudly to the multitude to keep back and wait +the arrival of the magistrates. + +"We must proceed by order in this matter, my masters, we must have +our magistrates at our head. They are duly chosen and elected in +our town hall, good men and true every one; we will not be called +rioters, or idle perturbators of the king's peace. Stand you still, +and make room, for yonder comes Bailie Craigdallie, ay, and honest +Simon Glover, to whom the Fair City is so much bounden. Alas--alas! +my kind townsmen, his beautiful daughter was a bride yesternight; +this morning the Fair Maid of Perth is a widow before she has been +a wife." + +This new theme of sympathy increased the rage and sorrow of the +crowd the more, as many women now mingled with them, who echoed +back the alarm cry to the men. + +"Ay--ay, St. Johnston's hunt is up! For the Fair Maid of Perth +and the brave Henry Gow! Up--up, every one of you, spare not +for your skin cutting! To the stables!--to the stables! When the +horse is gone the man at arms is useless--cut off the grooms and +yeomen; lame, maim, and stab the horses; kill the base squires and +pages. Let these proud knights meet us on their feet if they dare!" + +"They dare not--they dare not," answered the men; "their strength +is their horses and armour; and yet the haughty and ungrateful +villains have slain a man whose skill as an armourer was never +matched in Milan or Venice. To arms!--to arms, brave burghers! +St. Johnston's hunt is up!" + +Amid this clamour, the magistrates and superior class of inhabitants +with difficulty obtained room to examine the body, having with them +the town clerk to take an official protocol, or, as it is still +called, a precognition, of the condition in which it was found. +To these delays the multitude submitted, with a patience and order +which strongly marked the national character of a people whose +resentment has always been the more deeply dangerous, that they +will, without relaxing their determination of vengeance, submit +with patience to all delays which are necessary to ensure its +attainment. The multitude, therefore, received their magistrates +with a loud cry, in which the thirst of revenge was announced, +together with the deferential welcome to the patrons by whose +direction they expected to obtain it in right and legal fashion. + +While these accents of welcome still rung above the crowd, who +now filled the whole adjacent streets, receiving and circulating a +thousand varying reports, the fathers of the city caused the body +to be raised and more closely examined; when it was instantly +perceived, and the truth publicly announced, that not the armourer +of the Wynd, so highly and, according to the esteemed qualities of +the time, so justly popular among his fellow citizens, but a man +of far less general estimation, though not without his own value +in society, lay murdered before them--the brisk bonnet maker, +Oliver Proudfute. The resentment of the people had so much turned +upon the general opinion that their frank and brave champion, +Henry Gow, was the slaughtered person, that the contradiction of +the report served to cool the general fury, although, if poor Oliver +had been recognised at first, there is little doubt that the cry +of vengeance would have been as unanimous, though not probably so +furious, as in the case of Henry Wynd. The first circulation of +the unexpected intelligence even excited a smile among the crowd, +so near are the confines of the ludicrous to those of the terrible. + +"The murderers have without doubt taken him for Henry Smith," +said Griffin, "which must have been a great comfort to him in the +circumstances." + +But the arrival of other persons on the scene soon restored its +deeply tragic character. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Who's that that rings the bell? Diablos, ho! +The town will rise. + +Othello, Act II. Scene III. + + +The wild rumours which flew through the town, speedily followed by +the tolling of the alarm bells spread general consternation. The +nobles and knights, with their followers, gathered in different +places of rendezvous, where a defence could best be maintained; and +the alarm reached the royal residence where the young prince was +one of the first to appear, to assist, if necessary, in the defence +of the old king. The scene of the preceding night ran in his +recollection; and, remembering the bloodstained figure of Bonthron, +he conceived, though indistinctly, that the ruffian's action had +been connected with this uproar. The subsequent and more interesting +discourse with Sir John Ramorny had, however, been of such an +impressive nature as to obliterate all traces of what he had vaguely +heard of the bloody act of the assassin, excepting a confused +recollection that some one or other had been slain. It was chiefly +on his father's account that he had assumed arms with his household +train, who, clad in bright armour, and bearing lances in their +hands, made now a figure very different from that of the preceding +night, when they appeared as intoxicated Bacchanalians. The kind +old monarch received this mark of filial attachment with tears of +gratitude, and proudly presented his son to his brother Albany, +who entered shortly afterwards. He took them each by the hand. + +"Now are we three Stuarts," he said, "as inseparable as the holy +trefoil; and, as they say the wearer of that sacred herb mocks at +magical delusion, so we, while we are true to each other, may set +malice and enmity at defiance." + +The brother and son kissed the kind hand which pressed theirs, +while Robert III expressed his confidence in their affection. The +kiss of the youth was, for the time, sincere; that of the brother +was the salute of the apostate Judas. + +In the mean time the bell of St. John's church alarmed, amongst +others, the inhabitants of Curfew Street. In the house of Simon +Glover, old Dorothy Glover, as she was called (for she also took +name from the trade she practised, under her master's auspices), +was the first to catch the sound. Though somewhat deaf upon ordinary +occasions, her ear for bad news was as sharp as a kite's scent for +carrion; for Dorothy, otherwise an industrious, faithful, and even +affectionate creature, had that strong appetite for collecting and +retailing sinister intelligence which is often to be marked in the +lower classes. Little accustomed to be listened to, they love the +attention which a tragic tale ensures to the bearer, and enjoy, +perhaps, the temporary equality to which misfortune reduces those +who are ordinarily accounted their superiors. Dorothy had no sooner +possessed herself of a slight packet of the rumours which were +flying abroad than she bounced into her master's bedroom, who had +taken the privilege of age and the holytide to sleep longer than +usual. + +"There he lies, honest man," said Dorothy, half in a screeching +and half in a wailing tone of sympathy--"there he lies; his best +friend slain, and he knowing as little about it as the babe new +born, that kens not life from death." + +"How now!" said the glover, starting up out of his bed. "What is +the matter, old woman? Is my daughter well?" + +"Old woman!" said Dorothy, who, having her fish hooked, chose to +let him play a little. "I am not so old," said she, flouncing out +of the room, "as to bide in the place till a man rises from his +naked bed--" + +And presently she was heard at a distance in the parlour beneath, +melodiously singing to the scrubbing of her own broom. + +"Dorothy--screech owl--devil--say but my daughter is well!" + +"I am well, my father," answered the Fair Maid of Perth, speaking +from her bedroom, "perfectly well, but what, for Our Lady's sake, +is the matter? The bells ring backward, and there is shrieking and +crying in the streets." + +"I will presently know the cause. Here, Conachar, come speedily +and tie my points. I forgot--the Highland loon is far beyond +Fortingall. Patience, daughter, I will presently bring you news." + +"Ye need not hurry yourself for that, Simon Glover," quoth the +obdurate old woman; "the best and the worst of it may be tauld +before you could hobble over your door stane. I ken the haill story +abroad; 'for,' thought I, 'our goodman is so wilful that he'll be +for banging out to the tuilzie, be the cause what it like; and sae +I maun e'en stir my shanks, and learn the cause of all this, or he +will hae his auld nose in the midst of it, and maybe get it nipt +off before he knows what for.'" + +"And what is the news, then, old woman?" said the impatient glover, +still busying himself with the hundred points or latchets which +were the means of attaching the doublet to the hose. + +Dorothy suffered him to proceed in his task till she conjectured +it must be nearly accomplished; and foresaw that; if she told not +the secret herself, her master would be abroad to seek in person +for the cause of the disturbance. She, therefore, halloo'd out: +"Aweel--aweel, ye canna say it is me fault, if you hear ill news +before you have been at the morning mass. I would have kept it from +ye till ye had heard the priest's word; but since you must hear +it, you have e'en lost the truest friend that ever gave hand to +another, and Perth maun mourn for the bravest burgher that ever +took a blade in hand!" + +"Harry Smith! Harry Smith!" exclaimed the father and the daughter +at once. + +"Oh, ay, there ye hae it at last," said Dorothy; "and whose fault +was it but your ain? ye made such a piece of work about his companying +with a glee woman, as if he had companied with a Jewess!" + +Dorothy would have gone on long enough, but her master exclaimed to +his daughter, who was still in her own apartment: "It is nonsense, +Catharine--all the dotage of an old fool. No such thing has happened. +I will bring you the true tidings in a moment," and snatching up +his staff, the old man hurried out past Dorothy and into the street, +where the throng of people were rushing towards the High Street. + +Dorothy, in the mean time, kept muttering to herself: "Thy father +is a wise man, take his ain word for it. He will come next by some +scathe in the hobbleshow, and then it will be, 'Dorothy, get the +lint,' and 'Dorothy, spread the plaster;' but now it is nothing +but nonsense, and a lie, and impossibility, that can come out of +Dorothy's mouth. Impossible! Does auld Simon think that Harry Smith's +head was as hard as his stithy, and a haill clan of Highlandmen +dinging at him?" + +Here she was interrupted by a figure like an angel, who came wandering +by her with wild eye, cheek deadly pale, hair dishevelled, and an +apparent want of consciousness, which terrified the old woman out +of her discontented humour. + +"Our Lady bless my bairn!" said she. "What look you sae wild for?" + +"Did you not say some one was dead?" said Catharine, with a frightful +uncertainty of utterance, as if her organs of speech and hearing +served her but imperfectly. + +"Dead, hinny! Ay--ay, dead eneugh; ye'll no hae him to gloom at +ony mair." + +"Dead!" repeated Catharine, still with the same uncertainty of +voice and manner. "Dead--slain--and by Highlanders?" + +"I'se warrant by Highlanders, the lawless loons. Wha is it else +that kills maist of the folks about, unless now and than when the +burghers take a tirrivie, and kill ane another, or whiles that +the knights and nobles shed blood? But I'se uphauld it's been the +Highlandmen this bout. The man was no in Perth, laird or loon, durst +have faced Henry Smith man to man. There's been sair odds against +him; ye'll see that when it's looked into." + +"Highlanders!" repeated Catharine, as if haunted by some idea which +troubled her senses. "Highlanders! Oh, Conachar--Conachar!" + +"Indeed, and I dare say you have lighted on the very man, Catharine. +They quarrelled, as you saw, on the St. Valentine's Even, and had +a warstle. A Highlandman has a long memory for the like of that. +Gie him a cuff at Martinmas, and his cheek will be tingling at +Whitsunday. But what could have brought down the lang legged loons +to do their bloody wark within burgh?" + +"Woe's me, it was I," said Catharine--"it was I brought the +Highlanders down--I that sent for Conachar--ay, they have lain +in wait--but it was I that brought them within reach of their +prey. But I will see with my own eyes--and then--something we +will do. Say to my father I will be back anon." + +"Are ye distraught, lassie?" shouted Dorothy, as Catharine made past +her towards the street door. "You would not gang into the street +with the hair hanging down your haffets in that guise, and you kenn'd +for the Fair Maid of Perth? Mass, but she's out in the street, come +o't what like, and the auld Glover will be as mad as if I could +withhold her, will she nill she, flyte she fling she. This is a +brave morning for an Ash Wednesday! What's to be done? If I were +to seek my master among the multitude, I were like to be crushed +beneath their feet, and little moan made for the old woman. And +am I to run after Catharine, who ere this is out of sight, and far +lighter of foot than I am? so I will just down the gate to Nicol +Barber's, and tell him a' about it." + +While the trusty Dorothy was putting her prudent resolve into +execution, Catharine ran through the streets of Perth in a manner +which at another moment would have brought on her the attention +of every one who saw her hurrying on with a reckless impetuosity +wildly and widely different from the ordinary decency and composure +of her step and manner, and without the plaid, scarf, or mantle +which "women of good," of fair character and decent rank, universally +carried around them, when they went abroad. But, distracted as the +people were, every one inquiring or telling the cause of the tumult, +and most recounting it different ways, the negligence of her dress +and discomposure of her manner made no impression on any one; +and she was suffered to press forward on the path she had chosen +without attracting more notice than the other females who, stirred +by anxious curiosity or fear, had come out to inquire the cause of +an alarm so general--it might be to seek for friends for whose +safety they were interested. + +As Catharine passed along, she felt all the wild influence of +the agitating scene, and it was with difficulty she forbore from +repeating the cries of lamentation and alarm which were echoed +around her. In the mean time, she rushed rapidly on, embarrassed +like one in a dream, with a strange sense of dreadful calamity, +the precise nature of which she was unable to define, but which +implied the terrible consciousness that the man who loved her so +fondly, whose good qualities she so highly esteemed, and whom she +now felt to be dearer than perhaps she would before have acknowledged +to her own bosom, was murdered, and most probably by her means. +The connexion betwixt Henry's supposed death and the descent of +Conachar and his followers, though adopted by her in a moment of +extreme and engrossing emotion, was sufficiently probable to have +been received for truth, even if her understanding had been at +leisure to examine its credibility. Without knowing what she sought +except the general desire to know the worst of the dreadful report, +she hurried forward to the very spot which of all others her feelings +of the preceding day would have induced her to avoid. + +Who would, upon the evening of Shrovetide, have persuaded the +proud, the timid, the shy, the rigidly decorous Catharine Glover +that before mass on Ash Wednesday she should rush through the +streets of Perth, making her way amidst tumult and confusion, with +her hair unbound and her dress disarranged, to seek the house of +that same lover who, she had reason to believe, had so grossly and +indelicately neglected and affronted her as to pursue a low and +licentious amour? Yet so it was; and her eagerness taking, as if +by instinct, the road which was most free, she avoided the High +Street, where the pressure was greatest, and reached the wynd by +the narrow lanes on the northern skirt of the town, through which +Henry Smith had formerly escorted Louise. But even these comparatively +lonely passages were now astir with passengers, so general was the +alarm. Catharine Glover made her way through them, however, while +such as observed her looked on each other and shook their heads in +sympathy with her distress. At length, without any distinct idea +of her own purpose, she stood before her lover's door and knocked +for admittance. + +The silence which succeeded the echoing of her hasty summons increased +the alarm which had induced her to take this desperate measure. + +"Open--open, Henry!" she cried. "Open, if you yet live! Open, if +you would not find Catharine Glover dead upon your threshold!" + +As she cried thus frantically to ears which she was taught to +believe were stopped by death, the lover she invoked opened the +door in person, just in time to prevent her sinking on the ground. +The extremity of his ecstatic joy upon an occasion so unexpected +was qualified only by the wonder which forbade him to believe it +real, and by his alarm at the closed eyes, half opened and blanched +lips, total absence of complexion, and apparently total cessation +of breathing. + +Henry had remained at home, in spite of the general alarm, which +had reached his ears for a considerable time, fully determined to +put himself in the way of no brawls that he could avoid; and it was +only in compliance with a summons from the magistrates, which, as +a burgher, he was bound to obey, that, taking his sword and a spare +buckler from the wall, he was about to go forth, for the first time +unwillingly, to pay his service, as his tenure bound him. + +"It is hard," he said, "to be put forward in all the town feuds, +when the fighting work is so detestable to Catharine. I am sure +there are enough of wenches in Perth that say to their gallants, +'Go out, do your devoir bravely, and win your lady's grace'; and +yet they send not for their lovers, but for me, who cannot do the +duties of a man to protect a minstrel woman, or of a burgess who +fights for the honour of his town, but this peevish Catharine uses +me as if I were a brawler and bordeller!" + +Such were the thoughts which occupied his mind, when, as he opened +his door to issue forth, the person dearest to his thoughts, but +whom he certainly least expected to see, was present to his eyes, +and dropped into his arms. + +His mixture of surprise, joy, and anxiety did not deprive him of +the presence of mind which the occasion demanded. To place Catharine +Glover in safety, and recall her to herself was to be thought +of before rendering obedience to the summons of the magistrates, +however pressingly that had been delivered. He carried his lovely +burden, as light as a feather, yet more precious than the same +quantity of purest gold, into a small bedchamber which had been +his mother's. It was the most fit for an invalid, as it looked into +the garden, and was separated from the noise of the tumult. + +"Here, Nurse--Nurse Shoolbred--come quick--come for death +and life--here is one wants thy help!" + +Up trotted the old dame. "If it should but prove any one that will +keep thee out of the scuffle," for she also had been aroused by +the noise; but what was her astonishment when, placed in love and +reverence on the bed of her late mistress, and supported by the +athletic arms of her foster son, she saw the apparently lifeless +form of the Fair Maid of Perth. + +"Catharine Glover!" she said; "and, Holy Mother, a dying woman, as +it would seem!" + +"Not so, old woman," said her foster son: "the dear heart throbs +--the sweet breath comes and returns! Come thou, that may aid her +more meetly than I--bring water--essences--whatever thy old +skill can devise. Heaven did not place her in my arms to die, but +to live for herself and me!" + +With an activity which her age little promised, Nurse Shoolbred +collected the means of restoring animation; for, like many women +of the period, she understood what was to be done in such cases, +nay, possessed a knowledge of treating wounds of an ordinary +description, which the warlike propensities of her foster son kept +in pretty constant exercise. + +"Come now," she said, "son Henry, unfold your arms from about +my patient, though she is worth the pressing, and set thy hands +at freedom to help me with what I want. Nay, I will not insist on +your quitting her hand, if you will beat the palm gently, as the +fingers unclose their clenched grasp." + +"I beat her slight, beautiful hand!" said Henry; "you were as well +bid me beat a glass cup with a forehammer as tap her fair palm with +my horn hard fingers. But the fingers do unfold, and we will find +a better way than beating"; and he applied his lips to the pretty +hand, whose motion indicated returning sensation. One or two deep +sighs succeeded, and the Fair Maid of Perth opened her eyes, fixed +them on her lover, as he kneeled by the bedside, and again sunk +back on the pillow. As she withdrew not her hand from her lover's +hold or from his grasp, we must in charity believe that the return +to consciousness was not so complete as to make her aware that he +abused the advantage, by pressing it alternately to his lips and +his bosom. At the same time we are compelled to own that the blood +was colouring in her cheek, and that her breathing was deep and +regular, for a minute or two during this relapse. + +The noise at the door began now to grow much louder, and Henry was +called for by all his various names of Smith. Gow, and Hal of the +Wynd, as heathens used to summon their deities by different epithets. +At last, like Portuguese Catholics when exhausted with entreating +their saints, the crowd without had recourse to vituperative +exclamations. + +"Out upon you, Henry! You are a disgraced man, man sworn to your +burgher oath, and a traitor to the Fair City, unless you come +instantly forth!" + +It would seem that nurse Shoolbred's applications were now so far +successful that Catharine's senses were in some measure restored; +for, turning her face more towards that of her lover than her former +posture permitted, she let her right hand fall on his shoulder, +leaving her left still in his possession, and seeming slightly to +detain him, while she whispered: "Do not go, Henry--stay with +me; they will kill thee, these men of blood." + +It would seem that this gentle invocation, the result of finding +the lover alive whom she expected to have only recognised as a +corpse, though it was spoken so low as scarcely to be intelligible, +had more effect to keep Henry Wynd in his present posture than +the repeated summons of many voices from without had to bring him +downstairs. + +"Mass, townsmen," cried one hardy citizen to his companions, "the +saucy smith but jests with us! Let us into the house, and bring +him out by the lug and the horn." + +"Take care what you are doing," said a more cautious assailant. +"The man that presses on Henry Gow's retirement may go into his +house with sound bones, but will return with ready made work for +the surgeon. But here comes one has good right to do our errand to +him, and make the recreant hear reason on both sides of his head." + +The person of whom this was spoken was no other than Simon Glover +himself. He had arrived at the fatal spot where the unlucky bonnet +maker's body was lying, just in time to discover, to his great +relief, that when it was turned with the face upwards by Bailie +Craigdallie's orders, the features of the poor braggart Proudfute +were recognised, when the crowd expected to behold those of their +favorite champion, Henry Smith. A laugh, or something approaching +to one, went among those who remembered how hard Oliver had struggled +to obtain the character of a fighting man, however foreign to +his nature and disposition, and remarked now that he had met with +a mode of death much better suited to his pretensions than to his +temper. But this tendency to ill timed mirth, which savoured of the +rudeness of the times, was at once hushed by the voice, and cries, +and exclamations of a woman who struggled through the crowd, +screaming at the same time, "Oh, my husband--my husband!" + +Room was made for the sorrower, who was followed by two or three +female friends. Maudie Proudfute had been hitherto only noticed +as a good looking, black haired woman, believed to be "dink" and +disdainful to those whom she thought meaner or poorer than herself, +and lady and empress over her late husband, whom she quickly +caused to lower his crest when she chanced to hear him crowing out +of season. But now, under the influence of powerful passion, she +assumed a far more imposing character. + +"Do you laugh," she said, "you unworthy burghers of Perth, because +one of your own citizens has poured his blood into the kennel? or +do you laugh because the deadly lot has lighted on my husband? How +has he deserved this? Did he not maintain an honest house by his own +industry, and keep a creditable board, where the sick had welcome +and the poor had relief? Did he not lend to those who wanted, stand +by his neighbours as a friend, keep counsel and do justice like a +magistrate?" + +"It is true--it is true," answered the assembly; "his blood is +our blood as much as if it were Henry Gow's." + +"You speak truth, neighbours," said Bailie Craigdallie; "and this +feud cannot be patched up as the former was: citizen's blood must +not flow unavenged down our kennels, as if it were ditch water, or +we shall soon see the broad Tay crimsoned with it. But this blow +was never meant for the poor man on whom it has unhappily fallen. +Every one knew what Oliver Proudfute was, how wide he would speak, +and how little he would do. He has Henry Smith's buff coat, target, +and head piece. All the town know them as well as I do: there is +no doubt on't. He had the trick, as you know, of trying to imitate +the smith in most things. Some one, blind with rage, or perhaps +through liquor, has stricken the innocent bonnet maker, whom no +man either hated or feared, or indeed cared either much or little +about, instead of the stout smith, who has twenty feuds upon his +hands." + +"What then, is to be done, bailie?" cried the multitude. + +"That, my friends, your magistrates will determine for you, as we +shall instantly meet together when Sir Patrick Charteris cometh +here, which must be anon. Meanwhile, let the chirurgeon Dwining +examine that poor piece of clay, that he may tell us how he came by +his fatal death; and then let the corpse be decently swathed in a +clean shroud, as becomes an honest citizen, and placed before the +high altar in the church of St. John, the patron of the Fair City. +Cease all clamour and noise, and every defensible man of you, as +you would wish well to the Fair Town, keep his weapons in readiness, +and be prepared to assemble on the High Street at the tolling of +the common bell from the townhouse, and we will either revenge the +death of our fellow citizen, or else we shall take such fortune +as Heaven will send us. Meanwhile avoid all quarrelling With the +knights and their followers till we know the innocent from the +guilty. But wherefore tarries this knave Smith? He is ready enough +in tumults when his presence is not wanted, and lags he now when +his presence may serve the Fair City? What ails him, doth any one +know? Hath he been upon the frolic last Fastern's Even?" + +"Rather he is sick or sullen, Master Bailie," said one of the city's +mairs, or sergeants; "for though he is within door, as his knaves +report, yet he will neither answer to us nor admit us." + +"So please your worship, Master Bailie," said Simon Glover, "I will +go myself to fetch Henry Smith. I have some little difference to +make up with him. And blessed be Our Lady, who hath so ordered it +that I find him alive, as a quarter of an hour since I could never +have expected!" + +"Bring the stout smith to the council house," said the bailie, as +a mounted yeoman pressed through the crowd and whispered in his ear, +"Here is a good fellow who says the Knight of Kinfauns is entering +the port." + +Such was the occasion of Simon Glover presenting himself at the +house of Henry Gow at the period already noticed. + +Unrestrained by the considerations of doubt and hesitation which +influenced others, he repaired to the parlour; and having overheard +the bustling of Dame Shoolbred, he took the privilege of intimacy +to ascend to the bedroom, and, with the slight apology of "I +crave your pardon, good neighbour," he opened the door and entered +the apartment, where a singular and unexpected sight awaited him. +At the sound of his voice, May Catharine experienced a revival +much speedier than Dame Shoolbred's restoratives had been able to +produce, and the paleness of her complexion changed into a deep +glow of the most lovely red. She pushed her lover from her with +both her hands, which, until this minute, her want of consciousness, +or her affection, awakened by the events of the morning, had well +nigh abandoned to his caresses. Henry Smith, bashful as we know +him, stumbled as he rose up; and none of the party were without a +share of confusion, excepting Dame Shoolbred, who was glad to make +some pretext to turn her back to the others, in order that she +might enjoy a laugh at their expense, which she felt herself utterly +unable to restrain, and in which the glover, whose surprise, though +great, was of short duration, and of a joyful character, sincerely +joined. + +"Now, by good St. John," he said, "I thought I had seen a sight +this morning that would cure me of laughter, at least till Lent was +over; but this would make me curl my cheek if I were dying. Why, +here stands honest Henry Smith, who was lamented as dead, and toll'd +out for from every steeple in town, alive, merry, and, as it seems +from his ruddy complexion, as like to live as any man in Perth. +And here is my precious daughter, that yesterday would speak of +nothing but the wickedness of the wights that haunt profane sports +and protect glee maidens. Ay, she who set St. Valentine and St. +Cupid both at defiance--here she is, turned a glee maiden herself, +for what I can see! Truly, I am glad to see that you, my good Dame +Shoolbred, who give way to no disorder, have been of this loving +party." + +"You do me wrong, my dearest father," said Catharine, as if about +to weep. "I came here with far different expectations than you +suppose. I only came because--because--" + +"Because you expected to find a dead lover," said her father, and +you have found a living one, who can receive the tokens of your +regard, and return them. Now, were it not a sin, I could find in my +heart to thank Heaven that thou hast been surprised at last into +owning thyself a woman. Simon Glover is not worthy to have an +absolute saint for his daughter. Nay, look not so piteously, nor +expect condolence from me! Only I will try not to look merry, if +you will be pleased to stop your tears, or confess them to be tears +of joy." + +"If I were to die for such a confession," said poor Catharine, "I +could not tell what to call them. Only believe, dear father, and +let Henry believe, that I would never have come hither; unless-- +unless--" + +"Unless you had thought that Henry could not come to you," said +her father. "And now, shake hands in peace and concord, and agree +as Valentines should. Yesterday was Shrovetide, Henry; We will hold +that thou hast confessed thy follies, hast obtained absolution, +and art relieved of all the guilt thou stoodest charged with." + +"Nay touching that, father Simon," said the smith, "now that you +are cool enough to hear me, I can swear on the Gospels, and I can +call my nurse, Dame Shoolbred, to witness--" + +"Nay--nay," said the glover, "but wherefore rake up differences +which should all be forgotten?" + +"Hark ye, Simon!--Simon Glover!" This was now echoed from beneath. + +"True, son Smith," said the glover, seriously, "we have other work +in hand. You and I must to the council instantly. Catharine shall +remain here with Dame Shoolbred, who will take charge of her till +we return; and then, as the town is in misrule, we two, Harry, will +carry her home, and they will be bold men that cross us." + +"Nay, my dear father," said Catharine, with a smile, "now you are +taking Oliver Proudfute's office. That doughty burgher is Henry's +brother at arms." + +Her father's countenance grew dark. + +"You have spoke a stinging word, daughter; but you know not what +has happened. Kiss him, Catharine, in token of forgiveness." + +"Not so," said Catharine; "I have done him too much grace already. +When he has seen the errant damsel safe home, it will be time enough +to claim his reward." + +"Meantime," said Henry, "I will claim, as your host, what you will +not allow me on other terms." + +He folded the fair maiden in his arms, and was permitted to take +the salute which she had refused to bestow. + +As they descended the stair together, the old man laid his hand +on the smith's shoulder, and said: "Henry, my dearest wishes are +fulfilled; but it is the pleasure of the saints that it should be +in an hour of difficulty and terror." + +"True," said the smith; "but thou knowest, father, if our riots be +frequent at Perth, at least they seldom last long." + +Then, opening a door which led from the house into the smithy, +"here, comrades," he cried, "Anton, Cuthbert, Dingwell, and Ringen! +Let none of you stir from the place till I return. Be as true as +the weapons I have taught you to forge: a French crown and a Scotch +merrymaking for you, if you obey my command. I leave a mighty +treasure in your charge. Watch the doors well, let little Jannekin +scout up and down the wynd, and have your arms ready if any one +approaches the house. Open the doors to no man till father Glover +or I return: it concerns my life and happiness." + +The strong, swarthy giants to whom he spoke answered: "Death to +him who attempts it!" + +"My Catharine is now as safe," said he to her father, "as if twenty +men garrisoned a royal castle in her cause. We shall pass most +quietly to the council house by walking through the garden." + +He led the way through a little orchard accordingly, where the +birds, which had been sheltered and fed during the winter by the +good natured artisan, early in the season as it was, were saluting +the precarious smiles of a February sun with a few faint and +interrupted attempts at melody. + +"Hear these minstrels, father," said the smith; "I laughed at them +this morning in the bitterness of my heart, because the little +wretches sung, with so much of winter before them. But now, methinks, +I could bear a blythe chorus, for I have my Valentine as they have +theirs; and whatever ill may lie before me for tomorrow, I am today +the happiest man in Perth, city or county, burgh or landward." + +"Yet I must allay your joy," said the old glover, "though, Heaven +knows, I share it. Poor Oliver Proudfute, the inoffensive fool +that you and I knew so well, has been found this morning dead in +the streets." + +"Only dead drunk, I trust?" said the smith; "nay, a candle and a +dose of matrimonial advice will bring him to life again." + +"No, Henry--no. He is slain--slain with a battle axe or some +such weapon." + +"Impossible!" replied the smith; "he was light footed enough, and +would not for all Perth have trusted to his hands, when be could +extricate himself by his heels." + +"No choice was allowed him. The blow was dealt in the very back of +his head; he who struck must have been a shorter man than himself, +and used a horseman's battle axe, or some such weapon, for a Lochaber +axe must have struck the upper part of his head. But there he lies +dead, brained, I may say, by a most frightful wound." + +"This is inconceivable," said Henry Wynd. "He was in my house +at midnight, in a morricer's habit; seemed to have been drinking, +though not to excess. He told me a tale of having been beset by +revellers, and being in danger; but, alas! you know the man--I +deemed it was a swaggering fit, as he sometimes took when he was +in liquor; and, may the Merciful Virgin forgive me! I let him go +without company, in which I did him inhuman wrong. Holy St. John +be my witness! I would have gone with any helpless creature; and +far more with him, with whom I have so often sat at the same board +and drunken of the same cup. Who, of the race of man, could have +thought of harming a creature so simple and so unoffending, excepting +by his idle vaunts?" + +"Henry, he wore thy head piece, thy buff coat; thy target. How came +he by these?" + +"Why, he demanded the use of them for the night, and I was ill +at ease, and well pleased to be rid of his company, having kept +no holiday, and being determined to keep none, in respect of our +misunderstanding." + +"It is the opinion of Bailie Craigdallie and all our sagest +counsellors that the blow was intended for yourself, and that it +becomes you to prosecute the due vengeance of our fellow citizen, +who received the death which was meant for you." + +The smith was for some time silent. They had now left the garden, +and were walking in a lonely lane, by which they meant to approach +the council house of the burgh without being exposed to observation +or idle inquiry. + +"You are silent, my son, yet we two have much to speak of," said +Simon Glover. "Bethink thee that this widowed woman, Maudlin, +if she should see cause to bring a charge against any one for the +wrong done to her and her orphan children, must support it by a +champion, according to law and custom; for, be the murderer who he +may, we know enough of these followers of the nobles to be assured +that the party suspected will appeal to the combat, in derision, +perhaps, of we whom they will call the cowardly burghers. While we +are men with blood in our veins, this must not be, Henry Wynd." + +"I see where you would draw me, father," answered Henry, dejectedly, +"and St. John knows I have heard a summons to battle as willingly +as war horse ever heard the trumpet. But bethink you, father, how +I have lost Catharine's favour repeatedly, and have been driven +well nigh to despair of ever regaining it, for being, if I may say +so, even too ready a man of my hands. And here are all our quarrels +made up, and the hopes that seemed this morning removed beyond +earthly prospect have become nearer and brighter than ever; and +must I with the dear one's kiss of forgiveness on my lips, engage +in a new scene of violence, which you are well aware will give her +the deepest offence?" + +"It is hard for me to advise you, Henry," said Simon; "but this I +must ask you: Have you, or have you not, reason to think that this +poor unfortunate Oliver has been mistaken for you?" + +"I fear it too much," said Henry. "He was thought something like +me, and the poor fool had studied to ape my gestures and manner +of walking, nay the very airs which I have the trick of whistling, +that he might increase a resemblance which has cost him dear. I +have ill willers enough, both in burgh and landward, to owe me a +shrewd turn; and he, I think, could have none such." + +"Well, Henry, I cannot say but my daughter will be offended. She +has been much with Father Clement, and has received notions about +peace and forgiveness which methinks suit ill with a country +where the laws cannot protect us, unless we have spirit to protect +ourselves. If you determine for the combat, I will do my best to +persuade her to look on the matter as the other good womanhood in +the burgh will do; and if you resolve to let the matter rest-- +the man who has lost his life for yours remaining unavenged, the +widow and the orphans without any reparation for the loss of a +husband and father--I will then do you the justice to think that +I, at least, ought not to think the worse of you for your patience, +since it was adopted for love of my child. But, Henry, we must in +that case remove ourselves from bonny St. Johnston, for here we +will be but a disgraced family." + +Henry groaned deeply, and was silent for an instant, then replied: +"I would rather be dead than dishonoured, though I should never see +her again! Had it been yester evening, I would have met the best +blade among these men at arms as blythely as ever I danced at +a maypole. But today, when she had first as good as said, 'Henry +Smith, I love thee!' Father Glover; it is very hard. Yet it is all +my own fault. This poor unhappy Oliver! I ought to have allowed +him the shelter of my roof, when he prayed me in his agony of fear; +or; had I gone with him, I should then have prevented or shared his +fate. But I taunted him, ridiculed him, loaded him with maledictions, +though the saints know they were uttered in idle peevishness of +impatience. I drove him out from my doors, whom I knew so helpless, +to take the fate which was perhaps intended for me. I must avenge +him, or be dishonoured for ever. See, father, I have been called +a man hard as the steel I work in. Does burnished steel ever drop +tears like these? Shame on me that I should shed them!" + +"It is no shame, my dearest son," said Simon; "thou art as kind as +brave, and I have always known it. There is yet a chance for us. +No one may be discovered to whom suspicion attaches, and where none +such is found, the combat cannot take place. It is a hard thing +to wish that the innocent blood may not be avenged. But if the +perpetrator of this foul murder be hidden for the present, thou +wilt be saved from the task of seeking that vengeance which Heaven +doubtless will take at its own proper time." + +As they spoke thus, they arrived at the point of the High Street +where the council house was situated. As they reached the door, +and made their way through the multitude who thronged the street, +they found the avenues guarded by a select party of armed burghers, +and about fifty spears belonging to the Knight of Kinfauns, who, +with his allies the Grays, Blairs, Moncrieffs, and others, had +brought to Perth a considerable body of horse, of which these were +a part. So soon as the glover and smith presented themselves, they +were admitted to the chamber in which the magistrates were assembled. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A woman wails for justice at the gate, +A widow'd woman, wan and desolate. + +Bertha. + + +The council room of Perth presented a singular spectacle. In a +gloomy apartment, ill and inconveniently lighted by two windows of +different form and of unequal size, were assembled, around a large +oaken table, a group of men, of whom those who occupied the higher +seats were merchants, that is, guild brethren, or shopkeepers, +arrayed in decent dresses becoming their station, but most of them +bearing, like, the Regent York, "signs of war around their aged +necks"--gorgets, namely, and baldricks, which sustained their +weapons. The lower places around the table were occupied by mechanics +and artisans, the presidents, or deacons, as they were termed, of +the working classes, in their ordinary clothes, somewhat better +arranged than usual. These, too, wore pieces of armour of various +descriptions. Some had the blackjack, or doublets covered with +small plates of iron of a lozenge shape, which, secured through the +upper angle, hung in rows above each [other], and which, swaying +with the motion of the wearer's person, formed a secure defence +to the body. Others had buff coats, which, as already mentioned, +could resist the blow of a sword, and even a lance's point, unless +propelled with great force. At the bottom of the table, surrounded +as it was with this varied assembly, sat Sir Louis Lundin; no +military man, but a priest and parson of St. John's, arrayed in +his canonical dress, and having his pen and ink before him. He was +town clerk of the burgh, and, like all the priests of the period (who +were called from that circumstance the Pope's knights), received +the honourable title of Dominus, contracted into Dom, or Dan, +or translated into Sir, the title of reverence due to the secular +chivalry. + +On an elevated seat at the head of the council board was placed +Sir Patrick Charteris, in complete armour brightly burnished-- +a singular contrast to the motley mixture of warlike and peaceful +attire exhibited by the burghers, who were only called to arms +occasionally. The bearing of the provost, while it completely +admitted the intimate connexion which mutual interests had created +betwixt himself, the burgh, and the magistracy, was at the same +time calculated to assert the superiority which, in virtue of gentle +blood and chivalrous rank, the opinions of the age assigned to him +over the members of the assembly in which he presided. Two squires +stood behind him, one of them holding the knight's pennon, and +another his shield, bearing his armorial distinctions, being a +hand holding a dagger, or short sword, with the proud motto, "This +is my charter." A handsome page displayed the long sword of his +master, and another bore his lance; all which chivalrous emblems +and appurtenances were the more scrupulously exhibited, that the +dignitary to whom they belonged was engaged in discharging the office +of a burgh magistrate. In his own person the Knight of Kinfauns +appeared to affect something of state and stiffness which did not +naturally pertain to his frank and jovial character. + +"So you are come at length, Henry Smith and Simon Glover," said the +provost. "Know that you have kept us waiting for your attendance. +Should it so chance again while we occupy this place, we will lay +such a fine on you as you will have small pleasure in paying. Enough +--make no excuses. They are not asked now, and another time they +will not be admitted. Know, sirs, that our reverend clerk hath +taken down in writing, and at full length, what I will tell you in +brief, that you may see what is to be required of you, Henry Smith, +in particular. Our late fellow citizen, Oliver Proudfute, hath +been found dead in the High Street, close by the entrance into the +wynd. It seemeth he was slain by a heavy blow with a short axe, +dealt from behind and at unawares; and the act by which he fell +can only be termed a deed of foul and forethought murder. So much +for the crime. The criminal can only be indicated by circumstances. +It is recorded in the protocol of the Reverend Sir Louis Lundin, +that divers well reported witnesses saw our deceased citizen, +Oliver Proudfute, till a late period accompanying the entry of the +morrice dancers, of whom he was one, as far as the house of Simon +Glover, in Curfew Street, where they again played their pageant. +It is also manifested that at this place he separated from the rest +of the band, after some discourse with Simon Glover, and made an +appointment to meet with the others of his company at the sign of +the Griffin, there to conclude the holiday. Now, Simon, I demand of +you whether this be truly stated, so far as you know? and further, +what was the purport of the defunct Oliver Proudfute's discourse +with you?" + +"My Lord Provost and very worshipful Sir Patrick," answered Simon +Glover, "you and this honourable council shall know that, touching +certain reports which had been made of the conduct of Henry Smith, +some quarrel had arisen between myself and another of my family +and the said Smith here present. Now, this our poor fellow citizen, +Oliver Proudfute, having been active in spreading these reports, +as indeed his element lay in such gossipred, some words passed +betwixt him and me on the subject; and, as I think, he left me +with the purpose of visiting Henry Smith, for he broke off from +the morrice dancers, promising, as it seems, to meet them, as your +honour has said, at the sign of the Griffin, in order to conclude +the evening. But what he actually did, I know not, as I never again +saw him in life." + +"It is enough," said Sir Patrick, "and agrees with all that we +have heard. Now, worthy sirs, we next find our poor fellow citizen +environed by a set of revellers and maskers who had assembled +in the High Street, by whom he was shamefully ill treated, being +compelled to kneel down in the street, and there to quaff huge +quantities of liquor against his inclination, until at length he +escaped from them by flight. This violence was accomplished with +drawn swords, loud shouts, and imprecations, so as to attract the +attention of several persons, who, alarmed by the tumult, looked +out from their windows, as well as of one or two passengers, who, +keeping aloof from the light of the torches, lest they also had been +maltreated, beheld the usage which our fellow citizen received in +the High Street of the burgh. And although these revellers were +disguised, and used vizards, yet their disguises were well known, +being a set of quaint masking habits prepared some weeks ago +by command of Sir John Ramorny, Master of the Horse to his Royal +Highness the Duke of Rothsay, Prince Royal of Scotland." + +A low groan went through the assembly. + +"Yes, so it is, brave burghers," continued Sir Patrick; "our inquiries +have led us into conclusions both melancholy and terrible. But as +no one can regret the point at which they seem likely to arrive +more than I do, so no man living can dread its consequences less. +It is even so, various artisans employed upon the articles have +described the dresses prepared for Sir John Ramorny's mask as being +exactly similar to those of the men by whom Oliver Proudfute was +observed to be maltreated. And one mechanic, being Wingfield the +feather dresser, who saw the revellers when they had our fellow +citizen within their hands, remarked that they wore the cinctures +and coronals of painted feathers which he himself had made by the +order of the Prince's master of horse. + +"After the moment of his escape from these revellers, we lose all +trace of Oliver' but we can prove that the maskers went to Sir +John Ramorny's, where they were admitted, after some show of delay. +It is rumoured that thou, Henry Smith, sawest our unhappy fellow +citizen after he had been in the hands of these revellers. What is +the truth of the matter?" + +"He came to my house in the wynd," said Henry, "about half an hour +before midnight; and I admitted him, something unwillingly, as he +had been keeping carnival while I remained at home; and 'There is +ill talk,' says the proverb, 'betwixt a full man and a fasting.'" + +"And in which plight seemed he when thou didst admit him?" said +the provost. + +"He seemed," answered the smith, "out of breath, and talked repeatedly +of having been endangered by revellers. I paid but small regard, +for he was ever a timorous, chicken spirited, though well meaning, +man, and I held that he was speaking more from fancy than reality. +But I shall always account it for foul offence in myself that I +did not give him my company, which he requested; and if I live, I +will found masses for his soul, in expiation of my guilt." + +"Did he describe those from whom he received the injury?" said the +provost. + +"Revellers in masking habits," replied Henry. + +"And did he intimate his fear of having to do with them on his +return?" again demanded Sir Patrick. + +"He alluded particularly to his being waylaid, which I treated as +visionary, having been able to see no one in the lane." + +"Had he then no help from thee of any kind whatsoever?" said the +provost. + +"Yes, worshipful," replied the smith; "he exchanged his morrice +dress for my head piece, buff coat, and target, which I hear were +found upon his body; and I have at home his morrice cap and bells, +with the jerkin and other things pertaining. He was to return my +garb of fence, and get back his own masking suit this day, had the +saints so permitted." + +"You saw him not then afterwards?" + +"Never, my lord." + +"One word more," said the provost. "Have you any reason to think +that the blow which slew Oliver Proudfute was meant for another +man?" + +"I have," answered the smith; "but it is doubtful, and may be dangerous +to add such a conjecture, which is besides only a supposition." + +"Speak it out, on your burgher faith and oath. For whom, think you, +was the blow meant?" + +"If I must speak," replied Henry, "I believe Oliver Proudfute +received the fate which was designed for myself; the rather that, +in his folly, Oliver spoke of trying to assume my manner of walking, +as well as my dress." + +"Have you feud with any one, that you form such an idea?" said Sir +Patrick Charteris. + +"To my shame and sin be it spoken, I have feud with Highland and +Lowland, English and Scot, Perth and Angus. I do not believe poor +Oliver had feud with a new hatched chicken. Alas! he was the more +fully prepared for a sudden call!" + +"Hark ye, smith," said the provost, "answer me distinctly: Is there +cause of feud between the household of Sir John Ramorny and yourself?" + +"To a certainty, my lord, there is. It is now generally said that +Black Quentin, who went over Tay to Fife some days since, was the +owner of the hand which was found in Couvrefew Street upon the eve +of St. Valentine. It was I who struck off that hand with a blow +of my broadsword. As this Black Quentin was a chamberlain of Sir +John, and much trusted, it is like there must be feud between me +and his master's dependants." + +"It bears a likely front, smith," said Sir Patrick Charteris. "And +now, good brothers and wise magistrates, there are two suppositions, +each of which leads to the same conclusion. The maskers who seized +our fellow citizen, and misused him in a manner of which his body +retains some slight marks, may have met with their former prisoner +as he returned homewards, and finished their ill usage by taking +his life. He himself expressed to Henry Gow fears that this would +be the case. If this be really true, one or more of Sir John +Ramorny's attendants must have been the assassins. But I think it +more likely that one or two of the revellers may have remained on +the field, or returned to it, having changed perhaps their disguise, +and that to those men (for Oliver Proudfute, in his own personal +appearance, would only have been a subject of sport) his apparition +in the dress, and assuming, as he proposed to do, the manner, of +Henry Smith, was matter of deep hatred; and that, seeing him alone, +they had taken, as they thought, a certain and safe mode to rid +themselves of an enemy so dangerous as all men know Henry Wynd +is accounted by those that are his unfriends. The same train of +reasoning, again, rests the guilt with the household of Sir John +Ramorny. How think you, sirs? Are we not free to charge the crime +upon them?" + +The magistrates whispered together for several minutes, and then +replied by the voice of Bailie Craigdallie: "Noble knight, and our +worthy provost, we agree entirely in what your wisdom has spoken +concerning this dark and bloody matter; nor do we doubt your sagacity +in tracing to the fellowship and the company of John Ramorny of +that ilk the villainy which hath been done to our deceased fellow +citizen, whether in his own character and capacity or as mistaking +him for our brave townsman, Henry of the Wynd. But Sir John, in his +own behalf, and as the Prince's master of the horse, maintains an +extensive household; and as, of course, the charge will be rebutted +by a denial, we would ask how we shall proceed in that case. +It is true, could we find law for firing the lodging, and putting +all within it to the sword; the old proverb of 'Short rede, good +rede,' might here apply; for a fouler household of defiers of God, +destroyers of men, and debauchers of women are nowhere sheltered +than are in Ramorny's band. But I doubt that this summary mode of +execution would scarce be borne out by the laws; and no tittle of +evidence which I have heard will tend to fix the crime on any single +individual or individuals." + +Before the provost could reply, the town clerk arose, and, stroking +his venerable beard, craved permission to speak, which was instantly +granted. + +"Brethren," he said, "as well in our fathers' time as ours; hath +God, on being rightly appealed to, condescended to make manifest +the crimes of the guilty and the innocence of those who may have +been rashly accused. Let us demand from our sovereign lord, King +Robert, who, when the wicked do not interfere to pervert his good +intentions, is as just and clement a prince as our annals can show +in their long line, in the name of the Fair City, and of all the +commons in Scotland, that he give us, after the fashion of our +ancestors, the means of appealing to Heaven for light upon this +dark murder, we will demand the proof by 'bier right,' often granted +in the days of our sovereign's ancestors, approved of by bulls and +decretals, and administered by the great Emperor Charlemagne in +France, by King Arthur in Britain, and by Gregory the Great, and +the mighty Achaius, in this our land of Scotland." + +"I have heard of the bier right, Sir Louis," quoth the provost, +"and I know we have it in our charters of the Fair City; but I am +something ill learned in the ancient laws, and would pray you to +inform us more distinctly of its nature." + +"We will demand of the King," said Sir Louis Lundin, "my advice being +taken, that the body of our murdered fellow citizen be transported +into the High Church of St. John, and suitable masses said for +the benefit of his soul and for the discovery of his foul murder. +Meantime, we shall obtain an order that Sir John Ramorny give up +a list of such of his household as were in Perth in the course of +the night between Fastern's Even and this Ash Wednesday, and become +bound to present them on a certain day and hour, to be early named, +in the High Church of St. John, there one by one to pass before the +bier of our murdered fellow citizen, and in the form prescribed to +call upon God and His saints to bear witness that he is innocent +of the acting, art or part, of the murder. And credit me, as has +been indeed proved by numerous instances, that, if the murderer +shall endeavour to shroud himself by making such an appeal, the +antipathy which subsists between the dead body and the hand which +dealt the fatal blow that divorced it from the soul will awaken +some imperfect life, under the influence of which the veins of the +dead man will pour forth at the fatal wounds the blood which has +been so long stagnant in the veins. Or, to speak more certainly, +it is the pleasure of Heaven, by some hidden agency which we cannot +comprehend, to leave open this mode of discovering the wickedness +of him who has defaced the image of his Creator." + +"I have heard this law talked of," said Sir Patrick, "and it was +enforced in the Bruce's time. This surely is no unfit period to seek, +by such a mystic mode of inquiry, the truth to which no ordinary +means can give us access, seeing that a general accusation of Sir +John's household would full surely be met by a general denial. Yet +I must crave farther of Sir Louis, our reverend town clerk, how we +shall prevent the guilty person from escaping in the interim?" + +"The burghers will maintain a strict watch upon the wall, drawbridges +shall be raised and portcullises lowered, from sunset to sunrise, +and strong patrols maintained through the night. This guard the +burghers will willingly maintain, to secure against the escape of +the murderer of their townsman." + +The rest of the counsellors acquiesced, by word, sign, and look, +in this proposal. + +"Again," said the provost, "what if any one of the suspected +household refuse to submit to the ordeal of bier right?" + +"He may appeal to that of combat," said the reverend city scribe, +"with an opponent of equal rank; because the accused person must +have his choice, in the appeal to the judgment of God, by what +ordeal he will be tried. But if he refuses both, he must be held +as guilty, and so punished." + +The sages of the council unanimously agreed with the opinion of +their provost and town clerk, and resolved, in all formality, to +petition the King, as a matter of right, that the murder of their +fellow citizen should be inquired into according to this ancient +form, which was held to manifest the truth, and received as matter +of evidence in case of murder so late as towards the end of the +17th century. But before the meeting dissolved, Bailie Craigdallie +thought it meet to inquire who was to be the champion of Maudie, +or Magdalen, Proudfute and her two children. + +"There need be little inquiry about that," said Sir Patrick Charteris; +"we are men, and wear swords, which should be broken over the head +of any one amongst us who will not draw it in behalf of the widow +and orphans of our murdered fellow citizen, and in brave revenge +of his death. If Sir John Ramorny shall personally resent the +inquiry, Patrick Charteris of Kinfauns will do battle with him to +the outrance, whilst horse and man may stand, or spear and blade +hold together. But in case the challenger be of yeomanly degree, +well wot I that Magdalen Proudfute may choose her own champion +among the bravest burghers of Perth, and shame and dishonour were +it to the Fair City for ever could she light upon one who were +traitor and coward enough to say her nay! Bring her hither, that +she may make her election." + +Henry Smith heard this with a melancholy anticipation that +the poor woman's choice would light upon him, and that his recent +reconciliation with his mistress would be again dissolved, by his +being engaged in a fresh quarrel, from which there lay no honourable +means of escape, and which, in any other circumstances, he would +have welcomed as a glorious opportunity of distinguishing himself, +both in sight of the court and of the city. He was aware that, +under the tuition of Father Clement, Catharine viewed the ordeal +of battle rather as an insult to religion than an appeal to the +Deity, and did not consider it as reasonable that superior strength +of arm or skill of weapon should be resorted to as the proof of +moral guilt or innocence. He had, therefore, much to fear from her +peculiar opinions in this particular, refined as they were beyond +those of the age she lived in. + +While he thus suffered under these contending feelings, Magdalen, +the widow of the slaughtered man, entered the court, wrapt in a deep +mourning veil, and followed and supported by five or six women of +good (that is, of respectability) dressed in the same melancholy +attire. One of her attendants held an infant in her arms, the last +pledge of poor Oliver's nuptial affections. Another led a little +tottering creature of two years, or thereabouts, which looked with +wonder and fear, sometimes on the black dress in which they had +muffled him, and sometimes on the scene around him. + +The assembly rose to receive the melancholy group, and saluted them +with an expression of the deepest sympathy, which Magdalen, though +the mate of poor Oliver, returned with an air of dignity, which she +borrowed, perhaps, from the extremity of her distress. Sir Patrick +Charteris then stepped forward, and with the courtesy of a knight +to a female, and of a protector to an oppressed and injured widow, +took the poor woman's hand, and explained to her briefly by what +course the city had resolved to follow out the vengeance due for +her husband's slaughter. + +Having, with a softness and gentleness which did not belong to his +general manner, ascertained that the unfortunate woman perfectly +understood what was meant, he said aloud to the assembly: "Good +citizens of Perth, and freeborn men of guild and craft, attend to +what is about to pass, for it concerns your rights and privileges. +Here stands Magdalen Proudfute, desirous to follow forth the revenge +due for the death of her husband, foully murdered, as she sayeth, +by Sir John Ramorny, Knight, of that Ilk, and which she offers +to prove, by the evidence of bier right, or by the body of a man. +Therefore, I, Patrick Charteris, being a belted knight and freeborn +gentleman, offer myself to do battle in her just quarrel, whilst +man and horse may endure, if any one of my degree shall lift my +glove. How say you, Magdalen Proudfute, will you accept me for your +champion?" + +The widow answered with difficulty: "I can desire none nobler." + +Sir Patrick then took her right hand in his, and, kissing her +forehead, for such was the ceremony, said solemnly: "So may God +and St. John prosper me at my need, as I will do my devoir as your +champion, knightly, truly, and manfully. Go now, Magdalen, and +choose at your will among the burgesses of the Fair City, present +or absent, any one upon whom you desire to rest your challenge, +if he against whom you bring plaint shall prove to be beneath my +degree." + +All eyes were turned to Henry Smith, whom the general voice +had already pointed out as in every respect the fittest to act as +champion on the occasion. But the widow waited not for the general +prompting of their looks. As soon as Sir Patrick had spoken, she +crossed the floor to the place where, near the bottom of the table, +the armourer stood among the men of his degree, and took him by +the hand. + +"Henry Gow, or Smith," she said, "good burgher and draftsman, my +--my--" + +"Husband," she would have said, but the word would not come forth: +she was obliged to change the expression. + +"He who is gone, loved and prized you over all men; therefore meet +it is that thou shouldst follow out the quarrel of his widow and +orphans." + +If there had been a possibility, which in that age there was not, +of Henry's rejecting or escaping from a trust for which all men +seemed to destine him, every wish and idea of retreat was cut off +when the widow began to address him; and a command from Heaven could +hardly have made a stronger impression than did the appeal of the +unfortunate Magdalen. Her allusion to his intimacy with the deceased +moved him to the soul. During Oliver's life, doubtless, there had +been a strain of absurdity in his excessive predilection for Henry, +which, considering how very different they were in character, had +in it something ludicrous. But all this was now forgotten, and Henry, +giving way to his natural ardour, only remembered that Oliver had +been his friend and intimate--a man who had loved and honoured +him as much as he was capable of entertaining such sentiments for +any one, and, above all, that there was much reason to suspect that +the deceased had fallen victim to a blow meant for Henry himself. + +It was, therefore, with an alacrity which, the minute before, he +could scarce have commanded, and which seemed to express a stern +pleasure, that, having pressed his lips to the cold brow of the +unhappy Magdalen, the armourer replied: + +"I, Henry the Smith, dwelling in the Wynd of Perth, good man and +true, and freely born, accept the office of champion to this widow +Magdalen and these orphans, and will do battle in their quarrel to +the death, with any man whomsoever of my own degree, and that so +long as I shall draw breath. So help me at my need God and good +St. John!" + +There arose from the audience a half suppressed cry, expressing +the interest which the persons present took in the prosecution of +the quarrel, and their confidence in the issue. + +Sir Patrick Charteris then took measures for repairing to the +King's presence, and demanding leave to proceed with inquiry into +the murder of Oliver Proudfute, according to the custom of bier +right, and, if necessary, by combat. + +He performed this duty after the town council had dissolved, +in a private interview between himself and the King, who heard of +this new trouble with much vexation, and appointed next morning, +after mass, for Sir Patrick and the parties interested to attend +his pleasure in council. In the mean time, a royal pursuivant was +despatched to the Constable's lodgings, to call over the roll of Sir +John Ramorny's attendants, and charge him, with his whole retinue, +under high penalties, to abide within Perth until the King's pleasure +should be farther known. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +In God's name, see the lists and all things fit; +There let them end it--God defend the right! + +Henry IV. Part II. + + +In the same council room of the conventual palace of the Dominicans, +King Robert was seated with his brother Albany, whose affected +austerity of virtue, and real art and dissimulation, maintained +so high an influence over the feeble minded monarch. It was indeed +natural that one who seldom saw things according to their real forms +and outlines should view them according to the light in which they +were presented to him by a bold, astucious man, possessing the +claim of such near relationship. + +Ever anxious on account of his misguided and unfortunate son, +the King was now endeavouring to make Albany coincide in opinion +with him in exculpating Rothsay from any part in the death of the +bonnet maker, the precognition concerning which had been left by +Sir Patrick Charteris for his Majesty's consideration. + +"This is an unhappy matter, brother Robin," he said--"a most +unhappy occurrence, and goes nigh to put strife and quarrel betwixt +the nobility and the commons here, as they have been at war together +in so many distant lands. I see but one cause of comfort in the +matter, and that is, that Sir John Ramorny having received his +dismissal from the Duke of Rothsay's family, it cannot be said that +he or any of his people who may have done this bloody deed--if +it has truly been done by them--have been encouraged or hounded +out upon such an errand by my poor boy. I am sure, brother, you +and I can bear witness how readily, upon my entreaties, he agreed +to dismiss Ramorny from his service, on account of that brawl in +Curfew Street." + +"I remember his doing so," said Albany; "and well do I hope that +the connexion betwixt the Prince and Ramorny has not been renewed +since he seemed to comply with your Grace's wishes." + +"Seemed to comply! The connexion renewed!" said the King. "What mean +you by these expressions, brother? Surely, when David promised to +me that, if that unhappy matter of Curfew Street were but smothered +up and concealed, he would part with Ramorny, as he was a counsellor +thought capable of involving him in similar fooleries, and would +acquiesce in our inflicting on him either exile or such punishment +as it should please us to impose--surely you cannot doubt that he +was sincere in his professions, and would keep his word? Remember +you not that, when you advised that a heavy fine should be levied +upon his estate in Fife in lieu of banishment, the Prince himself +seemed to say that exile would be better for Ramorny, and even for +himself?" + +"I remember it well, my royal brother. Nor, truly, could I have +suspected Ramorny of having so much influence over the Prince, after +having been accessory to placing him in a situation so perilous, +had it not been for my royal kinsman's own confession, alluded to +by your Grace, that, if suffered to remain at court, he might still +continue to influence his conduct. I then regretted I had advised +a fine in place of exile. But that time is passed, and now new +mischief has occurred, fraught with much peril to your Majesty, as +well as to your royal heir, and to the whole kingdom." + +"What mean you, Robin?" said the weak minded King. "By the tomb of +our parents! by the soul of Bruce, our immortal ancestor! I entreat +thee, my dearest brother, to take compassion on me. Tell me what +evil threatens my son, or my kingdom?" + +The features of the King, trembling with anxiety, and his eyes +brimful of tears, were bent upon his brother, who seemed to assume +time for consideration ere he replied. + +"My lord, the danger lies here. Your Grace believed that the Prince +had no accession to this second aggression upon the citizens of +Perth--the slaughter of this bonnet making fellow, about whose +death they clamour, as a set of gulls about their comrade, when +one of the noisy brood is struck down by a boor's shaft." + +"Their lives," said the King, "are dear to themselves and their +friends, Robin." + +"Truly, ay, my liege; and they make them dear to us too, ere we +can settle with the knaves for the least blood wit. But, as I said, +your Majesty thinks the Prince had no share in this last slaughter; +I will not attempt to shake your belief in that delicate point, but +will endeavour to believe along with you. What you think is rule +for me, Robert of Albany will never think otherwise than Robert of +broad Scotland." + +"Thank you, thank you," said the King, taking his brother's hand. +"I knew I might rely that your affection would do justice to poor +heedless Rothsay, who exposes himself to so much misconstruction +that he scarcely deserves the sentiments you feel for him." + +Albany had such an immovable constancy of purpose, that he was able +to return the fraternal pressure of the King's hand, while tearing +up by the very roots the hopes of the indulgent, fond old man. + +"But, alas!" the Duke continued, with a sigh, "this burly, intractable +Knight of Kinfauns, and his brawling herd of burghers, will not +view the matter as we do. They have the boldness to say that this +dead fellow had been misused by Rothsay and his fellows, who were +in the street in mask and revel, stopping men and women, compelling +them to dance, or to drink huge quantities of wine, with other +follies needless to recount; and they say that the whole party +repaired in Sir John Ramorny's, and broke their way into the house +in order to conclude their revel there, thus affording good reason +to judge that the dismissal of Sir John from the Prince's service +was but a feigned stratagem to deceive the public. And hence they +urge that, if ill were done that night by Sir John Ramorny or his +followers, much it is to be thought that the Duke of Rothsay must +have at least been privy to, if he did not authorise, it." + +"Albany, this is dreadful!" said the King. "Would they make +a murderer of my boy? would they pretend my David would soil his +hands in Scottish blood without having either provocation or purpose? +No--no, they will not invent calumnies so broad as these, for +they are flagrant and incredible." + +"Pardon, my liege," answered the Duke of Albany; "they say the +cause of quarrel which occasioned the riot in Curfew Street, and, +its consequences, were more proper to the Prince than to Sir John, +since none suspects, far less believes, that that hopeful enterprise +was conducted for the gratification of the knight of Ramorny." + +"Thou drivest me mad, Robin!" said the King. + +"I am dumb," answered his brother; "I did but speak my poor mind +according to your royal order." + +"Thou meanest well, I know," said the King; "but, instead of tearing +me to pieces with the display of inevitable calamities, were it +not kinder, Robin, to point me out some mode to escape from them?" + +"True, my liege; but as the only road of extrication is rough and +difficult, it is necessary your Grace should be first possessed with +the absolute necessity of using it, ere you hear it even described. +The chirurgeon must first convince his patient of the incurable +condition of a shattered member, ere he venture to name amputation, +though it be the only remedy." + +The King at these words was roused to a degree of alarm and indignation +greater than his brother had deemed he could be awakened to. + +"Shattered and mortified member, my Lord of Albany! amputation +the only remedy! These are unintelligible words, my lord. If thou +appliest them to our son Rothsay, thou must make them good to the +letter, else mayst thou have bitter cause to rue the consequence." + +"You construe me too literally, my royal liege," said Albany. "I +spoke not of the Prince in such unbeseeming terms, for I call Heaven +to witness that he is dearer to me as the son of a well beloved +brother than had he been son of my own. But I spoke in regard to +separating him from the follies and vanities of life, which holy +men say are like to mortified members, and ought, like them, to be +cut off and thrown from us, as things which interrupt our progress +in better things." + +"I understand--thou wouldst have this Ramorny, who hath been +thought the instrument of my son's follies, exiled from court," said +the relieved monarch, "until these unhappy scandals are forgotten, +and our subjects are disposed to look upon our son with different +and more confiding eyes." + +"That were good counsel, my liege; but mine went a little--a very +little--farther. I would have the Prince himself removed for some +brief period from court." + +"How, Albany! part with my child, my firstborn, the light of my +eyes, and--wilful as he is--the darling of my heart! Oh, Robin! +I cannot, and I will not." + +"Nay, I did but suggest, my lord; I am sensible of the wound such +a proceeding must inflict on a parent's heart, for am I not myself +a father?" And he hung his head, as if in hopeless despondency. + +"I could not survive it, Albany. When I think that even our own +influence over him, which, sometimes forgotten in our absence, is +ever effectual whilst he is with us, is by your plan to be entirely +removed, what perils might he not rush upon? I could not sleep +in his absence--I should hear his death groan in every breeze; +and you, Albany, though you conceal it better, would be nearly as +anxious." + +Thus spoke the facile monarch, willing to conciliate his brother +and cheat himself, by taking it for granted that an affection, of +which there were no traces, subsisted betwixt the uncle and nephew. + +"Your paternal apprehensions are too easily alarmed, my lord," said +Albany. "I do not propose to leave the disposal of the Prince's +motions to his own wild pleasure. I understand that the Prince +is to be placed for a short time under some becoming restraint-- +that he should be subjected to the charge of some grave counsellor, +who must be responsible both for his conduct and his safety, as a +tutor for his pupil." + +"How! a tutor, and at Rothsay's age!" exclaimed the' King; "he +is two years beyond the space to which our laws limit the term of +nonage." + +"The wiser Romans," said Albany, "extended it for four years after +the period we assign; and, in common sense, the right of control +ought to last till it be no longer necessary, and so the time ought +to vary with the disposition. Here is young Lindsay, the Earl of +Crawford, who they say gives patronage to Ramorny on this appeal. +He is a lad of fifteen, with the deep passions and fixed purpose +of a man of thirty; while my royal nephew, with much more amiable +and noble qualities both of head and heart, sometimes shows, at +twenty-three years of age, the wanton humours of a boy, towards +whom restraint may be kindness. And do not be discouraged that it +is so, my liege, or angry with your brother for telling the truth; +since the best fruits are those that are slowest in ripening, and +the best horses such as give most trouble to the grooms who train +them for the field or lists." + +The Duke stopped, and, after suffering King Robert to indulge +for two or three minutes in a reverie which he did not attempt to +interrupt, he added, in a more lively tone: "But, cheer up, my noble +liege; perhaps the feud may be made up without farther fighting or +difficulty. The widow is poor, for her husband, though he was much +employed, had idle and costly habits. The matter may be therefore +redeemed for money, and the amount of an assythment may be recovered +out of Ramorny's estate." + +"Nay, that we will ourselves discharge," said King Robert, eagerly +catching at the hope of a pacific termination of this unpleasing +debate. "Ramorny's prospects will be destroyed by his being sent +from court and deprived of his charge in Rothsay's household, and +it would be ungenerous to load a falling man. But here comes our +secretary, the prior, to tell us the hour of council approaches. +Good morrow, my worthy father." + +"Benedicite, my royal liege," answered the abbot. + +"Now, good father," continued the King, "without waiting for Rothsay, +whose accession to our counsels we will ourselves guarantee, proceed +we to the business of our kingdom. What advices have you from the +Douglas?" + +"He has arrived at his castle of Tantallon, my liege, and has sent +a post to say, that, though the Earl of March remains in sullen +seclusion in his fortress of Dunbar, his friends and followers +are gathering and forming an encampment near Coldingham, Where it +is supposed they intend to await the arrival of a large force of +English, which Hotspur and Sir Ralph Percy are assembling on the +English frontier." + +"That is cold news," said the King; "and may God forgive George of +Dunbar!" + +The Prince entered as he spoke, and he continued: "Ha! thou art +here at length, Rothsay; I saw thee not at mass." + +"I was an idler this morning," said the Prince, "having spent a +restless and feverish night." + +"Ah, foolish boy!" answered the King; "hadst thou not been over +restless on Fastern's Eve, thou hadst not been feverish on the +night of Ash Wednesday." + +"Let me not interrupt your praying, my liege," said the Prince, +lightly. "Your Grace Was invoking Heaven in behalf of some one-- +an enemy doubtless, for these have the frequent advantage of your +orisons." + +"Sit down and be at peace, foolish youth!" said his father, his eye +resting at the same time on the handsome face and graceful figure +of his favourite son. Rothsay drew a cushion near to his father's +feet, and threw himself carelessly down upon it, while the King +resumed. + +"I was regretting that the Earl of March, having separated warm +from my hand with full assurance that he should receive compensation +for everything which he could complain of as injurious, should +have been capable of caballing with Northumberland against his own +country. Is it possible he could doubt our intentions to make good +our word?" + +"I will answer for him--no," said the Prince. "March never doubted +your Highness's word. Marry, he may well have made question whether +your learned counsellors would leave your Majesty the power of +keeping it." + +Robert the Third had adopted to a great extent the timid policy +of not seeming to hear expressions which, being heard, required, +even in his own eyes, some display of displeasure. He passed on, +therefore, in his discourse, without observing his son's speech, +but in private Rothsay's rashness augmented the displeasure which +his father began to entertain against him. + +"It is well the Douglas is on the marches," said the King. "His +breast, like those of his ancestors, has ever been the best bulwark +of Scotland." + +"Then woe betide us if he should turn his back to the enemy," said +the incorrigible Rothsay. + +"Dare you impeach the courage of Douglas?" replied the King, +extremely chafed. + +"No man dare question the Earl's courage," said Rothsay, "it is as +certain as his pride; but his luck may be something doubted." + +"By St. Andrew, David," exclaimed his father, "thou art like a +screech owl, every word thou sayest betokens strife and calamity." + +"I am silent, father," answered the youth. + +"And what news of our Highland disturbances?" continued the King, +addressing the prior. + +"I trust they have assumed a favourable aspect," answered the +clergyman. "The fire which threatened the whole country is likely +to be drenched out by the blood of some forty or fifty kerne; for +the two great confederacies have agreed, by solemn indenture of +arms, to decided their quarrel with such weapons as your Highness +may name, and in your royal presence, in such place as shall be +appointed, on the 30th of March next to come, being Palm Sunday; +the number of combatants being limited to thirty on each side; and +the fight to be maintained to extremity, since they affectionately make +humble suit and petition to your Majesty that you will parentally +condescend to waive for the day your royal privilege of interrupting +the combat, by flinging down of truncheon or crying of 'Ho!' until +the battle shall be utterly fought to an end." + +"The wild savages!" exclaimed the King, "would they limit our best +and dearest royal privilege, that of putting a stop to strife, +and crying truce to battle? Will they remove the only motive which +could bring me to the butcherly spectacle of their combat? Would +they fight like men, or like their own mountain wolves?" + +"My lord," said Albany, "the Earl of Crawford and I had presumed, +without consulting you, to ratify that preliminary, for the adoption +of which we saw much and pressing reason." + +"How! the Earl of Crawford!" said the King. "Methinks he is a young +counsellor on such grave occurrents." + +"He is," replied Albany, "notwithstanding his early years, of such +esteem among his Highland neighbours, that I could have done little +with them but for his aid and influence." + +"Hear this, young Rothsay!" said the King reproachfully to his +heir. + +"I pity Crawford, sire," replied the Prince. "He has too early lost +a father whose counsels would have better become such a season as +this." + +The King turned next towards Albany with a look of triumph, at the +filial affection which his son displayed in his reply. + +Albany proceeded without emotion. "It is not the life of these +Highlandmen, but their death, which is to be profitable to this +commonwealth of Scotland; and truly it seemed to the Earl of Crawford +and myself most desirable that the combat should be a strife of +extermination." + +"Marry," said the Prince, "if such be the juvenile policy of Lindsay, +he will be a merciful ruler some ten or twelve years hence! Out +upon a boy that is hard of heart before he has hair upon his lip! +Better he had contented himself with fighting cocks on Fastern's +Even than laying schemes for massacring men on Palm Sunday, as if +he were backing a Welsh main, where all must fight to death." + +"Rothsay is right, Albany," said the King: "it were unlike a Christian +monarch to give way in this point. I cannot consent to see men +battle until they are all hewn down like cattle in the shambles. +It would sicken me to look at it, and the warder would drop from +my hand for mere lack of strength to hold it." + +"It would drop unheeded," said Albany. "Let me entreat your Grace +to recollect, that you only give up a royal privilege which, +exercised, would win you no respect, since it would receive no +obedience. Were your Majesty to throw down your warder when the +war is high, and these men's blood is hot, it would meet no more +regard than if a sparrow should drop among a herd of battling wolves +the straw which he was carrying to his nest. Nothing will separate +them but the exhaustion of slaughter; and better they sustain +it at the hands of each other than from the swords of such troops +as might attempt to separate them at your Majesty's commands. An +attempt to keep the peace by violence would be construed into an +ambush laid for them; both parties would unite to resist it, the +slaughter would be the same, and the hoped for results of future +peace would be utterly disappointed." + +"There is even too much truth in what you say, brother Robin," +replied the flexible King. "To little purpose is it to command +what I cannot enforce; and, although I have the unhappiness to do +so each day of my life, it were needless to give such a very public +example of royal impotency before the crowds who may assemble to +behold this spectacle. Let these savage men, therefore, work their +bloody will to the uttermost upon each other: I will not attempt +to forbid what I cannot prevent them from executing. Heaven help +this wretched country! I will to my oratory and pray for her, since +to aid her by hand and head is alike denied to me. Father prior, +I pray the support of your arm." + +"Nay, but, brother," said Albany, "forgive me if I remind you that +we must hear the matter between the citizens of Perth and Ramorny, +about the death of a townsman--" + +"True--true," said the monarch, reseating himself; "more violence +--more battle. Oh, Scotland! Scotland! if the best blood of thy +bravest children could enrich thy barren soil, what land on earth +would excel thee in fertility! When is it that a white hair is +seen on the beard of a Scottishman, unless he be some wretch like +thy sovereign, protected from murder by impotence, to witness the +scenes of slaughter to which he cannot put a period? Let them come +in, delay them not. They are in haste to kill, and, grudge each +other each fresh breath of their Creator's blessed air. The demon +of strife and slaughter hath possessed the whole land!" + +As the mild prince threw himself back on his seat with an air of +impatience and anger not very usual with him, the door at the lower +end of the room was unclosed, and, advancing from the gallery into +which it led (where in perspective was seen a guard of the Bute +men, or Brandanes, under arms), came, in mournful procession, the +widow of poor Oliver, led by Sir Patrick Charteris, with as much +respect as if she had been a lady of the first rank. Behind them +came two women of good, the wives of magistrates of the city, both +in mourning garments, one bearing the infant and the other leading +the elder child. The smith followed in his best attire, and +wearing over his buff coat a scarf of crape. Bailie Craigdallie and +a brother magistrate closed the melancholy procession, exhibiting +similar marks of mourning. + +The good King's transitory passion was gone the instant he looked +at the pallid countenance of the sorrowing widow, and beheld +the unconsciousness of the innocent orphans who had sustained so +great a loss, and when Sir Patrick Charteris had assisted Magdalen +Proudfute to kneel down and, still holding her hand, kneeled himself +on one knee, it was with a sympathetic tone that King Robert asked +her name and business. She made no answer, but muttered something, +looking towards her conductor. + +"Speak for the poor woman, Sir Patrick Charteris," said the King, +"and tell us the cause of her seeking our presence." + +"So please you, my liege," answered Sir Patrick, rising up, "this +woman, and these unhappy orphans, make plaint to your Highness +upon Sir John Ramorny of Ramorny, Knight, that by him, or by some +of his household, her umquhile husband, Oliver Proudfute, freeman +and burgess of Perth, was slain upon the streets of the city on +the eve of Shrove Tuesday or morning of Ash Wednesday." + +"Woman," replied the King, with much kindness, "thou art gentle by +sex, and shouldst be pitiful even by thy affliction; for our own +calamity ought to make us--nay, I think it doth make us--merciful +to others. Thy husband hath only trodden the path appointed to us +all." + +"In his case," said the widow, "my liege must remember it has been +a brief and a bloody one." + +"I agree he hath had foul measure. But since I have been unable +to protect him, as I confess was my royal duty, I am willing, in +atonement, to support thee and these orphans, as well or better than +you lived in the days of your husband; only do thou pass from this +charge, and be not the occasion of spilling more life. Remember, +I put before you the choice betwixt practising mercy and pursuing +vengeance, and that betwixt plenty and penury." + +"It is true, my liege, we are poor," answered the widow, with unshaken +firmness "but I and my children will feed with the beasts of the +field ere we live on the price of my husband's blood. I demand the +combat by my champion, as you are belted knight and crowned king." + +"I knew it would be so!" said the King, aside to Albany. "In Scotland +the first words stammered by an infant and the last uttered by +a dying greybeard are 'combat--blood--revenge.' It skills not +arguing farther. Admit the defendants." + +Sir John Ramorny entered the apartment. He was dressed in a long +furred robe, such as men of quality wore when they were unarmed. +Concealed by the folds of drapery, his wounded arm was supported by +a scarf or sling of crimson silk, and with the left arm he leaned +on a youth, who, scarcely beyond the years of boyhood, bore on his +brow the deep impression of early thought and premature passion. +This was that celebrated Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, who, in his +after days, was known by the epithet of the Tiger Earl, and who +ruled the great and rich valley of Strathmore with the absolute +power and unrelenting cruelty of a feudal tyrant. Two or three +gentlemen, friends of the Earl, or of his own, countenanced Sir +John Ramorny by their presence on this occasion. The charge was +again stated, and met by a broad denial on the part of the accused; +and in reply, the challengers offered to prove their assertion by +an appeal to the ordeal of bier right. + +"I am not bound," answered Sir John Ramorny, "to submit to this +ordeal, since I can prove, by the evidence of my late royal master, +that I was in my own lodgings, lying on my bed, ill at ease, while +this provost and these bailies pretend I was committing a crime +to which I had neither will nor temptation. I can therefore be no +just object of suspicion." + +"I can aver," said the Prince, "that I saw and conversed with Sir +John Ramorny about some matters concerning my own household on the +very night when this murder was a-doing. I therefore know that he +was ill at ease, and could not in person commit the deed in question. +But I know nothing of the employment of his attendants, and will +not take it upon me to say that some one of them may not have been +guilty of the crime now charged on them." + +Sir John Ramorny had, during the beginning of this speech, looked +round with an air of defiance, which was somewhat disconcerted by +the concluding sentence of Rothsay's speech. + +"I thank your Highness," he said, with a smile, "for your cautious +and limited testimony in my behalf. He was wise who wrote, 'Put +not your faith in princes.'" + +"If you have no other evidence of your innocence, Sir John Ramorny," +said the King, "we may not, in respect to your followers, refuse +to the injured widow and orphans, the complainers, the grant of +a proof by ordeal of bier right, unless any of them should prefer +that of combat. For yourself, you are, by the Prince's evidence, +freed from the attaint." + +"My liege," answered Sir John, "I can take warrant upon myself for +the innocence of my household and followers." + +"Why, so a monk or a woman might speak," said Sir Patrick Charteris. +"In knightly language, wilt thou, Sir John de Ramorny, do battle +with me in the behalf of thy followers?" + +"The provost of Perth had not obtained time to name the word +combat," said Ramorny, "ere I would have accepted it. But I am not +at present fit to hold a lance." + +"I am glad of it, under your favour, Sir John. There will be the +less bloodshed," said the King. "You must therefore produce your +followers according to your steward's household book, in the great +church of St. John, that, in presence of all whom it may concern, +they may purge themselves of this accusation. See that every man +of them do appear at the time of high mass, otherwise your honour +may be sorely tainted." + +"They shall attend to a man," said Sir John Ramorny. + +Then bowing low to the King, he directed himself to the young Duke +of Rothsay, and, making a deep obeisance, spoke so as to be heard +by him alone. "You have used me generously, my lord! One word of +your lips could have ended this controversy, and you have refused +to speak it." + +"On my life," whispered the Prince, "I spake as far as the extreme +verge of truth and conscience would permit. I think thou couldst +not expect I should frame lies for thee; and after all, John, in my +broken recollections of that night, I do bethink me of a butcherly +looking mute, with a curtal axe, much like such a one as may have +done yonder night job. Ha! have I touched you, sir knight?" + +Ramorny made no answer, but turned as precipitately as if some one +had pressed suddenly on his wounded arm, and regained his lodgings +with the Earl of Crawford; to whom, though disposed for anything +rather than revelry, he was obliged to offer a splendid collation, +to acknowledge in some degree his sense of the countenance which +the young noble had afforded him. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +In pottingry he wrocht great pyne; +He murdreit mony in medecyne. + +DUNBAR. + + +When, after an entertainment the prolonging of which was like torture +to the wounded knight, the Earl of Crawford at length took horse, +to go to his distant quarters in the Castle of Dupplin, where he +resided as a guest, the Knight of Ramorny retired into his sleeping +apartment, agonized by pains of body and anxiety of mind. Here he +found Henbane Dwining, on whom it was his hard fate to depend for +consolation in both respects. The physician, with his affectation +of extreme humility, hoped he saw his exalted patient merry and +happy. + +"Merry as a mad dog," said Ramorny, "and happy as the wretch whom +the cur hath bitten, and who begins to feel the approach of the +ravening madness! That ruthless boy, Crawford, saw my agony, and +spared not a single carouse. I must do him justice, forsooth! If I +had done justice to him and to the world, I had thrown him out of +window and cut short a career which, if he grew up as he has begun, +will prove a source of misery to all Scotland, but especially to +Tayside. Take heed as thou undoest the ligatures, chirurgeon, the +touch of a fly's wing on that raw glowing stump were like a dagger +to me." + +"Fear not, my noble patron," said the leech, with a chuckling laugh +of enjoyment, which he vainly endeavoured to disguise under a tone +of affected sensibility. "We will apply some fresh balsam, and-- +he, he, he!--relieve your knightly honour of the irritation which +you sustain so firmly." + +"Firmly, man!" said Ramorny, grinning with pain; "I sustain it as +I would the scorching flames of purgatory. The bone seems made of +red hot iron; thy greasy ointment will hiss as it drops upon the +wound. And yet it is December's ice, compared to the fever fit of +my mind!" + +"We will first use our emollients upon the body, my noble patron," +said Dwining; "and then, with your knighthood's permission; your +servant will try his art on the troubled mind; though I fain hope +even the mental pain also may in some degree depend on the irritation +of the wound, and that, abated as I trust the corporeal pangs will +soon be, perhaps the stormy feelings of the mind may subside of +themselves." + +"Henbane Dwining," said the patient, as he felt the pain of his +wound assuaged, "thou art a precious and invaluable leech, but some +things are beyond thy power. Thou canst stupify my bodily cause of +this raging agony, but thou canst not teach me to bear the score +of the boy whom I have brought up--whom I loved, Dwining--for +I did love him--dearly love him! The worst of my ill deeds have +been to flatter his vices; and he grudged me a word of his mouth, +when a word would have allayed this cumber! He smiled, too--I saw +him smile--when yon paltry provost, the companion and patron of +wretched burghers, defied me, whom this heartless prince knew to +be unable to bear arms. Ere I forget or forgive it, thou thyself +shalt preach up the pardoning of injuries! And then the care for +tomorrow! Think'st thou, Henbane Dwining, that, in very reality, +the Wounds of the slaughtered corpse will gape and shed tears of +fresh blood at the murderer's approach?" + +"I cannot tell, my lord, save by report," said Dwining, "which +avouches the fact." + +"The brute Bonthron," said Ramorny, "is startled at the apprehension +of such a thing, and speaking of being rather willing to stand the +combat. What think'st thou? He is a fellow of steel." + +"It is the armourer's trade to deal with steel," replied Dwining. + +"Were Bonthron to fall, it would little grieve me," said Ramorny; +"though I should miss an useful hand." + +"I well believe your lordship will not sorrow as for that you lost +in Curfew Street. Excuse my pleasantry, he, he! But what are the +useful properties of this fellow Bonthron?" + +"Those of a bulldog," answered the knight, "he worries without +barking." + +"You have no fear of his confessing?" said the physician. + +"Who can tell what the dread of approaching death may do?" replied +the patient. "He has already shown a timorousness entirely alien +from his ordinary sullenness of nature; he, that would scarce wash +his hands after he had slain a man, is now afraid to see a dead +body bleed." + +"Well," said the leech, "I must do something for him if I can, +since it was to further my revenge that he struck yonder downright +blow, though by ill luck it lighted not where it was intended." + +"And whose fault was that, timid villain," said Ramorny, "save +thine own, who marked a rascal deer for a buck of the first head?" + +"Benedicite, noble sir," replied the mediciner; "would you have me, +who know little save of chamber practice, be as skilful of woodcraft +as your noble self, or tell hart from hind, doe from roe, in a glade +at midnight? I misdoubted me little when I saw the figure run past +us to the smith's habitation in the wynd, habited like a morrice +dancer; and yet my mind partly misgave me whether it was our man, +for methought he seemed less of stature. But when he came out again, +after so much time as to change his dress, and swaggered onward +with buff coat and steel cap, whistling after the armourer's wonted +fashion, I do own I was mistaken super totam materiem, and loosed +your knighthood's bulldog upon him, who did his devoir most duly, +though he pulled down the wrong deer. Therefore, unless the accursed +smith kill our poor friend stone dead on the spot, I am determined, +if art may do it, that the ban dog Bonthron shall not miscarry." + +"It will put thine art to the test, man of medicine," said Ramorny; +"for know that, having the worst of the combat, if our champion +be not killed stone dead in the lists, he will be drawn forth of +them by the heels, and without further ceremony knitted up to the +gallows, as convicted of the murder; and when he hath swung there +like a loose tassel for an hour or so, I think thou wilt hardly +take it in hand to cure his broken neck." + +"I am of a different opinion, may it please your knighthood," +answered Dwining, gently. "I will carry him off from the very foot +of the gallows into the land of faery, like King Arthur, or Sir +Huon of Bordeaux, or Ugero the Dane; or I will, if I please, suffer +him to dangle on the gibbet for a certain number of minutes, or +hours, and then whisk him away from the sight of all, with as much +ease as the wind wafts away the withered leaf." + +"This is idle boasting, sir leech," replied Ramorny. "The whole +mob of Perth will attend him to the gallows, each more eager than +another to see the retainer of a nobleman die, for the slaughter +of a cuckoldly citizen. There will be a thousand of them round the +gibbet's foot." + +"And were there ten thousand," said Dwining, "shall I, who am +a high clerk, and have studied in Spain, and Araby itself, not be +able to deceive the eyes of this hoggish herd of citizens, when +the pettiest juggler that ever dealt in legerdemain can gull even +the sharp observation of your most intelligent knighthood? I tell +you, I will put the change on them as if I were in possession of +Keddie's ring." + +"If thou speakest truth," answered the knight, "and I think thou +darest not palter with me on such a theme, thou must have the aid +of Satan, and I will have nought to do with him. I disown and defy +him." + +Dwining indulged in his internal chuckling laugh when he heard his +patron testify his defiance of the foul fiend, and saw him second +it by crossing himself. He composed himself, however, upon observing +Ramorny's aspect become very stern, and said, with tolerable gravity, +though a little interrupted by the effort necessary to suppress +his mirthful mood: + +"Confederacy, most devout sir--confederacy is the soul of jugglery. +But--he, he, he!--I have not the honour to be--he, he!--an +ally of the gentleman of whom you speak--in whose existence I am +--he, he!--no very profound believer, though your knightship, +doubtless, hath better opportunities of acquaintance." + +"Proceed, rascal, and without that sneer, which thou mayst otherwise +dearly pay for." + +"I will, most undaunted," replied Dwining. "Know that I have my +confederate too, else my skill were little worth." + +"And who may that be, pray you?" + +"Stephen Smotherwell, if it like your honour, lockman of this Fair +City. I marvel your knighthood knows him not." + +"And I marvel thy knaveship knows him not on professional +acquaintance," replied Ramorny; "but I see thy nose is unslit, thy +ears yet uncropped, and if thy shoulders are scarred or branded, +thou art wise for using a high collared jerkin." + +"He, he! your honour is pleasant," said the mediciner. "It is not +by personal circumstances that I have acquired the intimacy of +Stephen Smotherwell, but on account of a certain traffic betwixt +us, in which an't please you, I exchange certain sums of silver +for the bodies, heads, and limbs of those who die by aid of friend +Stephen." + +"Wretch!" exclaimed the knight with horror, "is it to compose charms +and forward works of witchcraft that you trade for these miserable +relics of mortality?" + +"He, he, he! No, an it please your knighthood," answered the +mediciner, much amused with the ignorance of his patron; "but we, +who are knights of the scalpel, are accustomed to practise careful +carving of the limbs of defunct persons, which we call dissection, +whereby we discover, by examination of a dead member, how to deal +with one belonging to a living man, which hath become diseased through +injury or otherwise. Ah! if your honour saw my poor laboratory, +I could show you heads and hands, feet and lungs, which have been +long supposed to be rotting in the mould. The skull of Wallace, +stolen from London Bridge; the head of Sir Simon Fraser [the famous +ancestor of the Lovats, slain at Halidon Hill (executed in London +in 1306)], that never feared man; the lovely skull of the fair Katie +Logie [(should be Margaret Logie), the beautiful mistress of David +II]. Oh, had I but had the fortune to have preserved the chivalrous +hand of mine honoured patron!" + +Out upon thee, slave! Thinkest thou to disgust me with thy catalogue +of horrors? Tell me at once where thy discourse drives. How can +thy traffic with the hangdog executioner be of avail to serve me, +or to help my servant Bonthron?" + +"Nay, I do not recommend it to your knighthood, save in an extremity," +replied Dwining. "But we will suppose the battle fought and our cock +beaten. Now we must first possess him with the certainty that, if +unable to gain the day, we will at least save him from the hangman, +provided he confess nothing which can prejudice your knighthood's +honour." + +"Ha! ay, a thought strikes me," said Ramorny. "We can do more +than this, we can place a word in Bonthron's mouth that will be +troublesome enough to him whom I am bound to curse for being the +cause of my misfortune. Let us to the ban dog's kennel, and explain +to him what is to be done in every view of the question. If we can +persuade him to stand the bier ordeal, it may be a mere bugbear, +and in that case we are safe. If he take the combat, he is fierce +as a baited bear, and may, perchance, master his opponent; then +we are more than safe, we are avenged. If Bonthron himself is +vanquished, we will put thy device in exercise; and if thou canst +manage it cleanly; we may dictate his confession, take the advantage +of it, as I will show thee on further conference, and make a giant +stride towards satisfaction for my wrongs. Still there remains +one hazard. Suppose our mastiff mortally wounded in the lists, who +shall prevent his growling out some species of confession different +from what we would recommend?" + +"Marry, that can his mediciner," said Dwining. "Let me wait on +him, and have the opportunity to lay but a finger on his wound, +and trust me he shall betray no confidence." + +"Why, there's a willing fiend, that needs neither pushing nor +prompting!" said Ramorny. + +"As I trust I shall need neither in your knighthood's service." + +"We will go indoctrinate our agent," continued the knight. "We shall +find him pliant; for, hound as he is, he knows those who feed from +those who browbeat him; and he holds a late royal master of mine +in deep hate for some injurious treatment and base terms which he +received at his hand. I must also farther concert with thee the +particulars of thy practice, for saving the ban dog from the hands +of the herd of citizens." + +We leave this worthy pair of friends to their secret practices, of +which we shall afterwards see the results. They were, although of +different qualities, as well matched for device and execution of +criminal projects as the greyhound is to destroy the game which +the slowhound raises, or the slowhound to track the prey which +the gazehound discovers by the eye. Pride and selfishness were the +characteristics of both; but, from the difference of rank, education, +and talents, they had assumed the most different appearance in the +two individuals. + +Nothing could less resemble the high blown ambition of the favourite +courtier, the successful gallant, and the bold warrior than the +submissive, unassuming mediciner, who seemed even to court and +delight in insult; whilst, in his secret soul, he felt himself +possessed of a superiority of knowledge, a power both of science +and of mind, which placed the rude nobles of the day infinitely +beneath him. So conscious was Henbane Dwining of this elevation, +that, like a keeper of wild beasts, he sometimes adventured, for +his own amusement, to rouse the stormy passions of such men as +Ramorny, trusting, with his humble manner, to elude the turmoil he +had excited, as an Indian boy will launch his light canoe, secure +from its very fragility, upon a broken surf, in which the boat +of an argosy would be assuredly dashed to pieces. That the feudal +baron should despise the humble practitioner in medicine was a +matter of course; but Ramorny felt not the less the influence which +Dwining exercised over him, and was in the encounter of their wits +often mastered by him, as the most eccentric efforts of a fiery +horse are overcome by a boy of twelve years old, if he has been +bred to the arts of the manege. But the contempt of Dwining for +Ramorny was far less qualified. He regarded the knight, in comparison +with himself, as scarcely rising above the brute creation; capable, +indeed, of working destruction, as the bull with his horns or the +wolf with his fangs, but mastered by mean prejudices, and a slave +to priest craft, in which phrase Dwining included religion of every +kind. On the whole, he considered Ramorny as one whom nature had +assigned to him as a serf, to mine for the gold which he worshipped, +and the avaricious love of which was his greatest failing, though +by no means his worst vice. He vindicated this sordid tendency in +his own eyes by persuading himself that it had its source in the +love of power. + +"Henbane Dwining," he said, as he gazed in delight upon the hoards +which he had secretly amassed, and which he visited from time to +time, "is no silly miser that doats on those pieces for their golden +lustre: it is the power with which they endow the possessor which +makes him thus adore them. What is there that these put not within +your command? Do you love beauty, and are mean, deformed, infirm, +and old? Here is a lure the fairest hawk of them all will stoop to. +Are you feeble, weak, subject to the oppression of the powerful? +Here is that will arm in your defence those more mighty than the +petty tyrant whom you fear. Are you splendid in your wishes, and +desire the outward show of opulence? This dark chest contains many +a wide range of hill and dale, many a fair forest full of game, the +allegiance of a thousand vassals. Wish you for favour in courts, +temporal or spiritual? The smiles of kings, the pardon of popes and +priests for old crimes, and the indulgence which encourages priest +ridden fools to venture on new ones--all these holy incentives +to vice may be purchased for gold. Revenge itself, which the gods +are said to reserve to themselves, doubtless because they envy +humanity so sweet a morsel--revenge itself is to be bought by it. +But it is also to be won by superior skill, and that is the nobler +mode of reaching it. I will spare, then, my treasure for other uses, +and accomplish my revenge gratis; or rather I will add the luxury +of augmented wealth to the triumph of requited wrongs." + +Thus thought Dwining, as, returned from his visit to Sir John Ramorny, +he added the gold he had received for his various services to the +mass of his treasure; and, having gloated over the whole for a minute +or two, turned the key on his concealed treasure house, and walked +forth on his visits to his patients, yielding the wall to every +man whom he met and bowing and doffing his bonnet to the poorest +burgher that owned a petty booth, nay, to the artificers who gained +their precarious bread by the labour of their welked hands. + +"Caitiffs," was the thought of his heart while he did such obeisance +--"base, sodden witted mechanics! did you know what this key +could disclose, what foul weather from heaven would prevent your +unbonneting? what putrid kennel in your wretched hamlet would be +disgusting enough to make you scruple to fall down and worship the +owner of such wealth? But I will make you feel my power, though it +suits my honour to hide the source of it. I will be an incubus to +your city, since you have rejected me as a magistrate. Like the +night mare, I will hag ride ye, yet remain invisible myself. This +miserable Ramorny, too, he who, in losing his hand, has, like a +poor artisan, lost the only valuable part of his frame, he heaps +insulting language on me, as if anything which he can say had power +to chafe a constant mind like mine! Yet, while he calls me rogue, +villain, and slave, he acts as wisely as if he should amuse himself +by pulling hairs out of my head while my hand had hold of his heart +strings. Every insult I can pay back instantly by a pang of bodily +pain or mental agony, and--he, he!--I run no long accounts with +his knighthood, that must be allowed." + +While the mediciner was thus indulging his diabolical musing, +and passing, in his creeping manner, along the street, the cry of +females was heard behind him. + +"Ay, there he is, Our Lady be praised!--there is the most helpful +man in Perth," said one voice. + +"They may speak of knights and kings for redressing wrongs, as +they call it; but give me worthy Master Dwining the potter carrier, +cummers," replied another. + +At the same moment, the leech was surrounded and taken hold of by +the speakers, good women of the Fair City. + +"How now, what's the matter?" said Dwining, "whose cow has calved?" + +"There is no calving in the case," said one of the women, "but a +poor fatherless wean dying; so come awa' wi' you, for our trust is +constant in you, as Bruce said to Donald of the Isles." + +"Opiferque per orbem dicor," said Henbane Dwining. "What is the +child dying of?" + +"The croup--the croup," screamed one of the gossips; "the innocent +is rouping like a corbie." + +"Cynanche trachealis--that disease makes brief work. Show me the +house instantly," continued the mediciner, who was in the habit of +exercising his profession liberally, not withstanding his natural +avarice, and humanely, in spite of his natural malignity. As we +can suspect him of no better principle, his motive most probably +may have been vanity and the love of his art. + +He would nevertheless have declined giving his attendance in the +present case had he known whither the kind gossips were conducting +him, in time sufficient to frame an apology. But, ere he guessed +where he was going, the leech was hurried into the house of the +late Oliver Proudfute, from which he heard the chant of the women +as they swathed and dressed the corpse of the umquhile bonnet maker +for the ceremony of next morning, of which chant the following +verses may be received as a modern imitation: + +Viewless essence, thin and bare, +Well nigh melted into air, +Still with fondness hovering near +The earthly form thou once didst wear, + +Pause upon thy pinion's flight; +Be thy course to left or right, +Be thou doom'd to soar or sink, +Pause upon the awful brink. + +To avenge the deed expelling +Thee untimely from thy dwelling, +Mystic force thou shalt retain +O'er the blood and o'er the brain. + +When the form thou shalt espy +That darken'd on thy closing eye, +When the footstep thou shalt hear +That thrill'd upon thy dying ear, + +Then strange sympathies shall wake, +The flesh shall thrill, the nerves shall quake, +The wounds renew their clotter'd flood, +And every drop cry blood for blood! + +Hardened as he was, the physician felt reluctance to pass the threshold +of the man to whose death he had been so directly, though, so far +as the individual was concerned, mistakingly, accessory. + +"Let me pass on, women," he said, "my art can only help the living +--the dead are past our power." + +"Nay, but your patient is upstairs--the youngest orphan"-- +Dwining was compelled to go into the house. But he was surprised +when, the instant he stepped over the threshold, the gossips, who +were busied with the dead body, stinted suddenly in their song, +while one said to the others: + +"In God's name, who entered? That was a large gout of blood." + +"Not so," said another voice, "it is a drop of the liquid balm." + +"Nay, cummer, it was blood. Again I say, who entered the house even +now?" + +One looked out from the apartment into the little entrance, where +Dwining, under pretence of not distinctly seeing the trap ladder +by which he was to ascend into the upper part of this house of +lamentation, was delaying his progress purposely, disconcerted with +what had reached him of the conversation. + +"Nay, it is only worthy Master Henbane Dwining," answered one of +the sibyls. + +"Only Master Dwining," replied the one who had first spoken, in a +tone of acquiescence--"our best helper in need! Then it must have +been balm sure enough." + +"Nay," said the other, "it may have been blood nevertheless; for +the leech, look you, when the body was found, was commanded by the +magistrates to probe the wound with his instruments, and how could +the poor dead corpse know that that was done with good purpose?" + +"Ay, truly, cummer; and as poor Oliver often mistook friends for +enemies while he was in life, his judgment cannot be thought to +have mended now." + +Dwining heard no more, being now forced upstairs into a species +of garret, where Magdalen sat on her widowed bed, clasping to her +bosom her infant, which, already black in the face and uttering +the gasping, crowing sound which gives the popular name to the +complaint, seemed on the point of rendering up its brief existence. +A Dominican monk sat near the bed, holding the other child in his +arms, and seeming from time to time to speak a word or two of spiritual +consolation, or intermingle some observation on the child's disorder. + +The mediciner cast upon the good father a single glance, filled +With that ineffable disdain which men of science entertain against +interlopers. His own aid was instant and efficacious: he snatched the +child from the despairing mother, stripped its throat, and opened +a vein, which, as it bled freely, relieved the little patient +instantaneously. In a brief space every dangerous symptom disappeared, +and Dwining, having bound up the vein, replaced the infant in the +arms of the half distracted mother. + +The poor woman's distress for her husband's loss, which had been +suspended during the extremity of the child's danger, now returned +on Magdalen with the force of an augmented torrent, which has borne +down the dam dike that for a while interrupted its waves. + +"Oh, learned sir," she said, "you see a poor woman of her that you +once knew a richer. But the hands that restored this bairn to my +arms must not leave this house empty. Generous, kind Master Dwining, +accept of his beads; they are made of ebony and silver. He aye liked +to have his things as handsome as any gentleman, and liker he was +in all his ways to a gentleman than any one of his standing, and +even so came of it." + +With these words, in a mute passion of grief she pressed to her +breast and to her lips the chaplet of her deceased husband, and +proceeded to thrust it into Dwining's hands. + +"Take it," she said, "for the love of one who loved you well. Ah, +he used ever to say, if ever man could be brought back from the +brink of the grave, it must be by Master Dwining's guidance. And +his ain bairn is brought back this blessed day, and he is lying +there stark and stiff, and kens naething of its health and sickness! +Oh, woe is me, and walawa! But take the beads, and think on his +puir soul, as you put them through your fingers, he will be freed +from purgatory the sooner that good people pray to assoilzie him." + +"Take back your beads, cummer; I know no legerdemain, can do no +conjuring tricks," said the mediciner, who, more moved than perhaps +his rugged nature had anticipated, endeavoured to avoid receiving +the ill omened gift. But his last words gave offence to the churchman, +whose presence he had not recollected when he uttered them. + +"How now, sir leech!" said the Dominican, "do you call prayers for +the dead juggling tricks? I know that Chaucer, the English maker, +says of you mediciners, that your study is but little on the Bible. +Our mother, the church, hath nodded of late, but her eyes are now +opened to discern friends from foes; and be well assured--" + +"Nay, reverend father," said Dwining, "you take me at too great +advantage. I said I could do no miracles, and was about to add +that, as the church certainly could work such conclusions, those +rich beads should be deposited in your hands, to be applied as they +may best benefit the soul of the deceased." + +He dropped the beads into the Dominican's hand, and escaped from +the house of mourning. + +"This was a strangely timed visit," he said to himself, when he +got safe out of doors. "I hold such things cheap as any can; yet, +though it is but a silly fancy, I am glad I saved the squalling +child's life. But I must to my friend Smotherwell, whom I have no +doubt to bring to my purpose in the matter of Bonthron; and thus +on this occasion I shall save two lives, and have destroyed only +one." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +Lo! where he lies embalmed in gore, +His wound to Heaven cries: +The floodgates of his blood implore +For vengeance from the skies. + +Uranus and Psyche. + + +The High Church of St. John in Perth, being that of the patron +saint of the burgh, had been selected by the magistrates as that +in which the community was likely to have most fair play for the +display of the ordeal. The churches and convents of the Dominicans, +Carthusians, and others of the regular clergy had been highly endowed +by the King and nobles, and therefore it was the universal cry of +the city council that "their ain good auld St. John," of whose good +graces they thought themselves sure, ought to be fully confided +in, and preferred to the new patrons, for whom the Dominicans, +Carthusians, Carmelites, and others had founded newer seats around +the Fair City. The disputes between the regular and secular clergy +added to the jealousy which dictated this choice of the spot in +which Heaven was to display a species of miracle, upon a direct +appeal to the divine decision in a case of doubtful guilt; and the +town clerk was as anxious that the church of St. John should be +preferred as if there had been a faction in the body of saints for +and against the interests of the beautiful town of Perth. + +Many, therefore, were the petty intrigues entered into and disconcerted +for the purpose of fixing on the church. But the magistrates, +considering it as a matter touching in a close degree the honour +of the city, determined, with judicious confidence in the justice +and impartiality of their patron, to confide the issue to the +influence of St. John. + +It was, therefore, after high mass had been performed with the +greatest solemnity of which circumstances rendered the ceremony +capable, and after the most repeated and fervent prayers had been +offered to Heaven by the crowded assembly, that preparations were +made for appealing to the direct judgment of Heaven on the mysterious +murder of the unfortunate bonnet maker. + +The scene presented that effect of imposing solemnity which the +rites of the Catholic Church are so well qualified to produce. +The eastern window, richly and variously painted, streamed down a +torrent of chequered light upon the high altar. On the bier placed +before it were stretched the mortal remains of the murdered man, +his arms folded on his breast, and his palms joined together, with +the fingers pointed upwards, as if the senseless clay was itself +appealing to Heaven for vengeance against those who had violently +divorced the immortal spirit from its mangled tenement. + +Close to the bier was placed the throne which supported Robert +of Scotland and his brother Albany. The Prince sat upon a lower +stool, beside his father--an arrangement which occasioned some +observation, as, Albany's seat being little distinguished from that +of the King, the heir apparent, though of full age, seemed to be +degraded beneath his uncle in the sight of the assembled people of +Perth. The bier was so placed as to leave the view of the body it +sustained open to the greater part of the multitude assembled in +the church. + +At the head of the bier stood the Knight of Kinfauns, the challenger, +and at the foot the young Earl of Crawford, as representing the +defendant. The evidence of the Duke of Rothsay in expurgation, +as it was termed, of Sir John Ramorny, had exempted him from the +necessity of attendance as a party subjected to the ordeal; and his +illness served as a reason for his remaining at home. His household, +including those who, though immediately in waiting upon Sir John, +were accounted the Prince's domestics, and had not yet received +their dismissal, amounted to eight or ten persons, most of them +esteemed men of profligate habits, and who might therefore be +deemed capable, in the riot of a festival evening, of committing +the slaughter of the bonnet maker. They were drawn up in a row on +the left side of the church, and wore a species of white cassock, +resembling the dress of a penitentiary. All eyes being bent on +them, several of this band seemed so much disconcerted as to excite +among the spectators strong prepossessions of their guilt. The real +murderer had a countenance incapable of betraying him--a sullen, +dark look, which neither the feast nor wine cup could enliven, and +which the peril of discovery and death could not render dejected. + +We have already noticed the posture of the dead body. The face +was bare, as were the breast and arms. The rest of the corpse was +shrouded in a winding sheet of the finest linen, so that, if blood +should flow from any place which was covered, it could not fail to +be instantly manifest. + +High mass having been performed, followed by a solemn invocation +to the Deity, that He would be pleased to protect the innocent, and +make known the guilty, Eviot, Sir John Ramorny's page, was summoned +to undergo the ordeal. He advanced with an ill assured step. Perhaps +he thought his internal consciousness that Bonthron must have been +the assassin might be sufficient to implicate him in the murder, +though he was not directly accessory to it. He paused before the +bier; and his voice faltered, as he swore by all that was created +in seven days and seven nights, by heaven, by hell, by his part of +paradise, and by the God and author of all, that he was free and +sackless of the bloody deed done upon the corpse before which he +stood, and on whose breast he made the sign of the cross, in evidence +of the appeal. No consequences ensued. The body remained stiff as +before, the curdled wounds gave no sign of blood. + +The citizens looked on each other with faces of blank disappointment. +They had persuaded themselves of Eviot's guilt, and their suspicions +had been confirmed by his irresolute manner. Their surprise at his +escape was therefore extreme. The other followers of Ramorny took +heart, and advanced to take the oath with a boldness which increased +as one by one they performed the ordeal, and were declared, by the +voice of the judges, free and innocent of every suspicion attaching +to them on account of the death of Oliver Proudfute. + +But there was one individual who did not partake that increasing +confidence. The name of "Bonthron--Bonthron!" sounded three times +through the aisles of the church; but he who owned it acknowledged +the call no otherwise than by a sort of shuffling motion with his +feet, as if he had been suddenly affected with a fit of the palsy. + +"Speak, dog," whispered Eviot, "or prepare for a dog's death!" + +But the murderer's brain was so much disturbed by the sight before +him, that the judges, beholding his deportment, doubted whether to +ordain him to be dragged before the bier or to pronounce judgment +in default; and it was not until he was asked for the last time +whether he would submit to the ordeal, that he answered, with his +usual brevity: + +"I will not; what do I know what juggling tricks may be practised +to take a poor man's life? I offer the combat to any man who says +I harmed that dead body." + +And, according to usual form, he threw his glove upon the floor of +the church. + +Henry Smith stepped forward, amidst the murmured applauses of his +fellow citizens, which even the august presence could not entirely +suppress; and, lifting the ruffian's glove, which he placed in his +bonnet, laid down his own in the usual form, as a gage of battle. +But Bonthron raised it not. + +"He is no match for me," growled the savage, "nor fit to lift my +glove. I follow the Prince of Scotland, in attending on his master +of horse. This fellow is a wretched mechanic." + +Here the Prince interrupted him. "Thou follow me, caitiff! I discharge +thee from my service on the spot. Take him in hand, Smith, and beat +him as thou didst never thump anvil! The villain is both guilty +and recreant. It sickens me even to look at him; and if my royal +father will be ruled by me, he will give the parties two handsome +Scottish axes, and we will see which of them turns out the best +fellow before the day is half an hour older." + +This was readily assented to by the Earl of Crawford and Sir Patrick +Charteris, the godfathers of the parties, who, as the combatants +were men of inferior rank, agreed that they should fight in steel +caps, buff jackets, and with axes, and that as soon as they could +be prepared for the combat. + +The lists were appointed in the Skinners' Yards--a neighbouring +space of ground, occupied by the corporation from which it had +the name, and who quickly cleared a space of about thirty feet +by twenty-five for the combatants. Thither thronged the nobles, +priests, and commons--all excepting the old King, who, detesting +such scenes of blood, retired to his residence, and devolved the +charge of the field upon the Earl of Errol, Lord High Constable, +to whose office it more particularly belonged. The Duke of Albany +watched the whole proceeding with a close and wary eye. His nephew +gave the scene the heedless degree of notice which corresponded +with his character. + +When the combatants appeared in the lists, nothing could be more +striking than the contrast betwixt the manly, cheerful countenance +of the smith, whose sparkling bright eye seemed already beaming +with the victory he hoped for, and the sullen, downcast aspect of +the brutal Bonthron, who looked as if he were some obscene bird, +driven into sunshine out of the shelter of its darksome haunts. +They made oath severally, each to the truth of his quarrel--a +ceremony which Henry Gow performed with serene and manly confidence, +Bonthron with a dogged resolution, which induced the Duke of Rothsay +to say to the High Constable: "Didst thou ever, my dear Errol, +behold such a mixture of malignity, cruelty, and I think fear, as +in that fellow's countenance?" + +"He is not comely," said the Earl, "but a powerful knave as I have +seen." + +"I'll gage a hogshead of wine with you, my good lord, that he +loses the day. Henry the armourer is as strong as he, and much more +active; and then look at his bold bearing! There is something in +that other fellow that is loathsome to look upon. Let them yoke +presently, my dear Constable, for I am sick of beholding him." + +The High Constable then addressed the widow, who, in her deep weeds, +and having her children still beside her, occupied a chair within +the lists: "Woman, do you willingly accept of this man, Henry the +Smith, to do battle as your champion in this cause?" + +"I do--I do, most willingly," answered Magdalen Proudfute; "and +may the blessing of God and St. John give him strength and fortune, +since he strikes for the orphan and fatherless!" + +"Then I pronounce this a fenced field of battle," said the Constable +aloud. "Let no one dare, upon peril of his life, to interrupt +this combat by word, speech, or look. Sound trumpets, and fight, +combatants!" + +The trumpets flourished, and the combatants, advancing from the +opposite ends of the lists, with a steady and even pace, looked at +each other attentively, well skilled in judging from the motion of +the eye the direction in which a blow was meditated. They halted +opposite to, and within reach of, each other, and in turn made +more than one feint to strike, in order to ascertain the activity +and vigilance of the opponent. At length, whether weary of these +manoeuvres, or fearing lest in a contest so conducted his unwieldy +strength would be foiled by the activity of the smith, Bonthron +heaved up his axe for a downright blow, adding the whole strength +of his sturdy arms to the weight of the weapon in its descent. The +smith, however, avoided the stroke by stepping aside; for it was +too forcible to be controlled by any guard which he could have +interposed. Ere Bonthron recovered guard, Henry struck him a sidelong +blow on the steel headpiece, which prostrated him on the ground. + +"Confess, or die," said the victor, placing his foot on the body +of the vanquished, and holding to his throat the point of the axe, +which terminated in a spike or poniard. + +"I will confess," said the villain, glaring wildly upwards on the +sky. "Let me rise." + +"Not till you have yielded," said Harry Smith. + +"I do yield," again murmured Bonthron, and Henry proclaimed aloud +that his antagonist was defeated. + +The Dukes of Rothsay and Albany, the High Constable, and the +Dominican prior now entered the lists, and, addressing Bonthron, +demanded if he acknowledged himself vanquished. + +"I do," answered the miscreant. + +"And guilty of the murder of Oliver Proudfute?" + +"I am; but I mistook him for another." + +"And whom didst thou intend to slay?" said the prior. "Confess, my +son, and merit thy pardon in another world for with this thou hast +little more to do." + +"I took the slain man," answered the discomfited combatant, "for +him whose hand has struck me down, whose foot now presses me." + +"Blessed be the saints!" said the prior; "now all those who +doubt the virtue of the holy ordeal may have their eyes opened to +their error. Lo, he is trapped in the snare which he laid for the +guiltless." + +"I scarce ever saw the man," said the smith. "I never did wrong +to him or his. Ask him, an it please your reverence, why he should +have thought of slaying me treacherously." + +"It is a fitting question," answered the prior. "Give glory where +it is due, my son, even though it is manifested by thy shame. For +what reason wouldst thou have waylaid this armourer, who says he +never wronged thee?" + +"He had wronged him whom I served," answered Bonthron, "and I +meditated the deed by his command." + +"By whose command?" asked the prior. + +Bonthron was silent for an instant, then growled out: "He is too +mighty for me to name." + +"Hearken, my son," said the churchman; "tarry but a brief hour, and +the mighty and the mean of this earth shall to thee alike be empty +sounds. The sledge is even now preparing to drag thee to the place +of execution. Therefore, son, once more I charge thee to consult +thy soul's weal by glorifying Heaven, and speaking the truth. Was +it thy master, Sir John Ramorny, that stirred thee to so foul a +deed?" + +"No," answered the prostrate villain, "it was a greater than he." +And at the same time he pointed with his finger to the Prince. + +"Wretch!" said the astonished Duke of Rothsay; "do you dare to hint +that I was your instigator?" + +"You yourself, my lord," answered the unblushing ruffian. + +"Die in thy falsehood, accursed slave!" said the Prince; and, +drawing his sword, he would have pierced his calumniator, had not +the Lord High Constable interposed with word and action. + +"Your Grace must forgive my discharging mine office: this caitiff +must be delivered into the hands of the executioner. He is unfit +to be dealt with by any other, much less by your Highness." + +"What! noble earl," said Albany aloud, and with much real or affected +emotion, "would you let the dog pass alive from hence, to poison +the people's ears with false accusations against the Prince of +Scotland? I say, cut him to mammocks upon the spot!" + +"Your Highness will pardon me," said the Earl of Errol; "I must +protect him till his doom is executed." + +"Then let him be gagged instantly," said Albany. "And you, my +royal nephew, why stand you there fixed in astonishment? Call your +resolution up--speak to the prisoner--swear--protest by all +that is sacred that you knew not of this felon deed. See how the +people look on each other and whisper apart! My life on't that +this lie spreads faster than any Gospel truth. Speak to them, royal +kinsman, no matter what you say, so you be constant in denial." + +"What, sir," said Rothsay, starting from his pause of surprise and +mortification, and turning haughtily towards his uncle; "would you +have me gage my royal word against that of an abject recreant? Let +those who can believe the son of their sovereign, the descendant +of Bruce, capable of laying ambush for the life of a poor mechanic, +enjoy the pleasure of thinking the villain's tale true." + +"That will not I for one," said the smith, bluntly. "I never +did aught but what was in honour towards his royal Grace the Duke +of Rothsay, and never received unkindness from him in word, look, +or deed; and I cannot think he would have given aim to such base +practice." + +"Was it in honour that you threw his Highness from the ladder in +Curfew Street upon Fastern's [St. Valentine's] Even?" said Bonthron; +"or think you the favour was received kindly or unkindly?" + +This was so boldly said, and seemed so plausible, that it shook +the smith's opinion of the Prince's innocence. + +"Alas, my lord," said he, looking sorrowfully towards Rothsay, +"could your Highness seek an innocent fellow's life for doing his +duty by a helpless maiden? I would rather have died in these lists +than live to hear it said of the Bruce's heir!" + +"Thou art a good fellow, Smith," said the Prince; "but I cannot expect +thee to judge more wisely than others. Away with that convict to +the gallows, and gibbet him alive an you will, that he may speak +falsehood and spread scandal on us to the last prolonged moment of +his existence!" + +So saying, the Prince turned away from the lists, disdaining to +notice the gloomy looks cast towards him, as the crowd made slow +and reluctant way for him to pass, and expressing neither surprise +nor displeasure at a deep, hollow murmur, or groan, which accompanied +his retreat. Only a few of his own immediate followers attended +him from the field, though various persons of distinction had come +there in his train. Even the lower class of citizens ceased to +follow the unhappy Prince, whose former indifferent reputation had +exposed him to so many charges of impropriety and levity, and around +whom there seemed now darkening suspicions of the most atrocious +nature. + +He took his slow and thoughtful way to the church of the Dominicans; +but the ill news, which flies proverbially fast, had reached his +father's place of retirement before he himself appeared. On entering +the palace and inquiring for the King, the Duke of Rothsay was +surprised to be informed that he was in deep consultation with the +Duke of Albany, who, mounting on horseback as the Prince left the +lists, had reached the convent before him. He was about to use +the privilege of his rank and birth to enter the royal apartment, +when MacLouis, the commander of the guard of Brandanes, gave him +to understand, in the most respectful terms, that he had special +instructions which forbade his admittance. + +"Go at least, MacLouis, and let them know that I wait their +pleasure," said the Prince. "If my uncle desires to have the credit +of shutting the father's apartment against the son, it will gratify +him to know that I am attending in the outer hall like a lackey." + +"May it please you," said MacLouis, with hesitation, "if your +Highness would consent to retire just now, and to wait awhile in +patience, I will send to acquaint you when the Duke of Albany goes; +and I doubt not that his Majesty will then admit your Grace to his +presence. At present, your Highness must forgive me, it is impossible +you can have access." + +"I understand you, MacLouis; but go, nevertheless, and obey my +commands." + +The officer went accordingly, and returned with a message that the +King was indisposed, and on the point of retiring to his private +chamber; but that the Duke of Albany would presently wait upon the +Prince of Scotland. + +It was, however, a full half hour ere the Duke of Albany appeared +--a period of time which Rothsay spent partly in moody silence, +and partly in idle talk with MacLouis and the Brandanes, as the +levity or irritability of his temper obtained the ascendant. + +At length the Duke came, and with him the lord High Constable, +whose countenance expressed much sorrow and embarrassment. + +"Fair kinsman," said the Duke of Albany, "I grieve to say that it +is my royal brother's opinion that it will be best, for the honour +of the royal family, that your Royal Highness do restrict yourself +for a time to the seclusion of the High Constable's lodgings, and +accept of the noble Earl here present for your principal, if not +sole, companion until the scandals which have been this day spread +abroad shall be refuted or forgotten." + +"How is this, my lord of Errol?" said the Prince in astonishment. +"Is your house to be my jail, and is your lordship to be my jailer?" + +"The saints forbid, my lord," said the Earl of Errol "but it is my +unhappy duty to obey the commands of your father, by considering +your Royal Highness for some time as being under my ward." + +"The Prince--the heir of Scotland, under the ward of the High +Constable! What reason can be given for this? is the blighting +speech of a convicted recreant of strength sufficient to tarnish +my royal escutcheon?" + +"While such accusations are not refuted and denied, my kinsman," +said the Duke of Albany, "they will contaminate that of a monarch." + +"Denied, my lord!" exclaimed the Prince; "by whom are they asserted, +save by a wretch too infamous, even by his own confession, to be +credited for a moment, though a beggar's character, not a prince's, +were impeached? Fetch him hither, let the rack be shown to him; +you will soon hear him retract the calumny which he dared to assert!" + +"The gibbet has done its work too surely to leave Bonthron sensible +to the rack," said the Duke of Albany. "He has been executed an +hour since." + +"And why such haste, my lord?" said the Prince; "know you it looks +as if there were practice in it to bring a stain on my name?" + +"The custom is universal, the defeated combatant in the ordeal +of battle is instantly transferred from the lists to the gallows. +And yet, fair kinsman," continued the Duke of Albany, "if you had +boldly and strongly denied the imputation, I would have judged +right to keep the wretch alive for further investigation; but as +your Highness was silent, I deemed it best to stifle the scandal +in the breath of him that uttered it." + +"St. Mary, my lord, but this is too insulting! Do you, my uncle +and kinsman, suppose me guilty of prompting such an useless and. +unworthy action as that which the slave confessed?" + +"It is not for me to bandy question with your Highness, otherwise +I would ask whether you also mean to deny the scarce less unworthy, +though less bloody, attack upon the house in Couvrefew Street? Be +not angry with me, kinsman; but, indeed, your sequestering yourself +for some brief space from the court, were it only during the King's +residence in this city, where so much offence has been given, is +imperiously demanded." + +Rothsay paused when he heard this exhortation, and, looking at the +Duke in a very marked manner, replied: + +"Uncle, you are a good huntsman. You have pitched your toils with +much skill, but you would have been foiled, not withstanding, had +not the stag rushed among the nets of free will. God speed you, and +may you have the profit by this matter which your measures deserve. +Say to my father, I obey his arrest. My Lord High Constable, I wait +only your pleasure to attend you to your lodgings. Since I am to +lie in ward, I could not have desired a kinder or more courteous +warden." + +The interview between the uncle and nephew being thus concluded, +the Prince retired with the Earl of Errol to his apartments; the +citizens whom they met in the streets passing to the further side +when they observed the Duke of Rothsay, to escape the necessity of +saluting one whom they had been taught to consider as a ferocious +as well as unprincipled libertine. The Constable's lodgings received +the owner and his princely guest, both glad to leave the streets, +yet neither feeling easy in the situation which they occupied with +regard to each other within doors. + +We must return to the lists after the combat had ceased, and when +the nobles had withdrawn. The crowds were now separated into two +distinct bodies. That which made the smallest in number was at the +same time the most distinguished for respectability, consisting of +the better class of inhabitants of Perth, who were congratulating the +successful champion and each other upon the triumphant conclusion +to which they had brought their feud with the courtiers. The +magistrates were so much elated on the occasion, that they entreated +Sir Patrick Charteris's acceptance of a collation in the town hall. +To this Henry, the hero of the day, was of course invited, or he +was rather commanded to attend. He listened to the summons with +great embarrassment, for it may be readily believed his heart was +with Catharine Glover. But the advice of his father Simon decided +him. That veteran citizen had a natural and becoming deference for +the magistracy of the Fair City; he entertained a high estimation +of all honours which flowed from such a source, and thought that +his intended son in law would do wrong not to receive them with +gratitude. + +"Thou must not think to absent thyself from such a solemn occasion, +son Henry," was his advice. "Sir Patrick Charteris is to be there +himself, and I think it will be a rare occasion for thee to gain +his goodwill. It is like he may order of thee a new suit of harness; +and I myself heard worthy Bailie Craigdallie say there was a talk +of furbishing up the city's armoury. Thou must not neglect the good +trade, now that thou takest on thee an expensive family." + +"Tush, father Glover," answered the embarrassed victor, "I lack no +custom; and thou knowest there is Catharine, who may wonder at my +absence, and have her ear abused once more by tales of glee maidens +and I wot not what." + +"Fear not for that," said the glover, "but go, like an obedient +burgess, where thy betters desire to have thee. I do not deny that +it will cost thee some trouble to make thy peace with Catharine +about this duel; for she thinks herself wiser in such matters than +king and council, kirk and canons, provost and bailies. But I will +take up the quarrel with her myself, and will so work for thee, that, +though she may receive thee tomorrow with somewhat of a chiding, +it shall melt into tears and smiles, like an April morning, that +begins with a mild shower. Away with thee, then, my son, and be +constant to the time, tomorrow morning after mass." + +The smith, though reluctantly, was obliged to defer to the reasoning +of his proposed father in law, and, once determined to accept the +honour destined for him by the fathers of the city, he extricated +himself from the crowd, and hastened home to put on his best +apparel; in which he presently afterwards repaired to the council +house, where the ponderous oak table seemed to bend under the massy +dishes of choice Tay salmon and delicious sea fish from Dundee, +being the dainties which the fasting season permitted, whilst +neither wine, ale, nor metheglin were wanting to wash them down. +The waits, or minstrels of the burgh, played during the repast, +and in the intervals of the music one of them recited With great +emphasis a long poetical account of the battle of Blackearnside, +fought by Sir William Wallace and his redoubted captain and friend, +Thomas of Longueville, against the English general Seward--a +theme perfectly familiar to all the guests, who, nevertheless, more +tolerant than their descendants, listened as if it had all the zest +of novelty. It was complimentary to the ancestor of the Knight of +Kinfauns, doubtless, and to other Perthshire families, in passages +which the audience applauded vociferously, whilst they pledged +each other in mighty draughts to the memory of the heroes who had +fought by the side of the Champion of Scotland. The health of Henry +Wynd was quaffed with repeated shouts, and the provost announced +publicly, that the magistrates were consulting how they might best +invest him with some distinguished privilege or honorary reward, to +show how highly his fellow citizens valued his courageous exertions. + +"Nay, take it not thus, an it like your worships," said the smith, +with his usual blunt manner, "lest men say that valour must be +rare in Perth when they reward a man for fighting for the right of +a forlorn widow. I am sure there are many scores of stout burghers +in the town who would have done this day's dargue as well or better +than I. For, in good sooth, I ought to have cracked yonder fellow's +head piece like an earthen pipkin--ay, and would have done it, +too, if it had not been one which I myself tempered for Sir John +Ramorny. But, an the Fair City think my service of any worth, I +will conceive it far more than acquitted by any aid which you may +afford from the common good to the support of the widow Magdalen +and her poor orphans." + +"That may well be done," said Sir Patrick Charteris, "and yet leave +the Fair City rich enough to pay her debts to Henry Wynd, of which +every man of us is a better judge than him self, who is blinded with +an unavailing nicety, which men call modesty. And if the burgh be +too poor for this, the provost will bear his share. The Rover's +golden angels have not all taken flight yet." + +The beakers were now circulated, under the name of a cup of comfort +to the widow, and anon flowed around once more to the happy memory +of the murdered Oliver, now so bravely avenged. In short, it was +a feast so jovial that all agreed nothing was wanting to render +it perfect but the presence of the bonnet maker himself, whose +calamity had occasioned the meeting, and who had usually furnished +the standing jest at such festive assemblies. Had his attendance +been possible, it was drily observed by Bailie Craigdallie, he +would certainly have claimed the success of the day, and vouched +himself the avenger of his own murder. + +At the sound of the vesper bell the company broke up, some of the +graver sort going to evening prayers, where, with half shut eyes +and shining countenances, they made a most orthodox and edifying +portion of a Lenten congregation; others to their own homes, to tell +over the occurrences of the fight and feast, for the information +of the family circle; and some, doubtless, to the licensed freedoms +of some tavern, the door of which Lent did not keep so close shut +as the forms of the church required. Henry returned to the wynd, +warm with the good wine and the applause of his fellow citizens, +and fell asleep to dream of perfect happiness and Catharine Glover. + +We have said that, when the combat was decided, the spectators +were divided into two bodies. Of these, when the more respectable +portion attended the victor in joyous procession, much the greater +number, or what might be termed the rabble, waited upon the subdued +and sentenced Bonthron, who was travelling in a different direction, +and for a very opposite purpose. Whatever may be thought of the +comparative attractions of the house of mourning and of feasting +under other circumstances, there can be little doubt which will +draw most visitors, when the question is, whether we would witness +miseries which we are not to share, or festivities of which we are +not to partake. Accordingly, the tumbril in which the criminal was +conveyed to execution was attended by far the greater proportion +of the inhabitants of Perth. + +A friar was seated in the same car with the murderer, to whom he +did not hesitate to repeat, under the seal of confession, the same +false asseveration which he had made upon the place of combat, which +charged the Duke of Rothsay with being director of the ambuscade by +which the unfortunate bonnet maker had suffered. The same falsehood +he disseminated among the crowd, averring, with unblushing effrontery, +to those who were nighest to the car, that he owed his death to +his having been willing to execute the Duke of Rothsay's pleasure. +For a time he repeated these words, sullenly and doggedly, in the +manner of one reciting a task, or a liar who endeavours by reiteration +to obtain a credit for his words which he is internally sensible +they do not deserve. But when he lifted up his eyes, and beheld +in the distance the black outline of a gallows, at least forty +feet high, with its ladder and its fatal cord, rising against the +horizon, he became suddenly silent, and the friar could observe +that he trembled very much. + +"Be comforted, my son," said the good priest, "you have confessed +the truth, and received absolution. Your penitence will be accepted +according to your sincerity; and though you have been a man of bloody +hands and cruel heart, yet, by the church's prayers, you shall be +in due time assoilzied from the penal fires of purgatory." + +These assurances were calculated rather to augment than to diminish +the terrors of the culprit, who was agitated by doubts whether the +mode suggested for his preservation from death would to a certainty +be effectual, and some suspicion whether there was really any +purpose of employing them in his favour, for he knew his master +well enough to be aware of the indifference with which he would +sacrifice one who might on some future occasion be a dangerous +evidence against him. + +His doom, however, was sealed, and there was no escaping from it. +They slowly approached the fatal tree, which was erected on a bank +by the river's side, about half a mile from the walls of the city +--a site chosen that the body of the wretch, which was to remain +food for the carrion crows, might be seen from a distance in every +direction. Here the priest delivered Bonthron to the executioner, +by whom he was assisted up the ladder, and to all appearance despatched +according to the usual forms of the law. He seemed to struggle for +life for a minute, but soon after hung still and inanimate. The +executioner, after remaining upon duty for more than half an hour, +as if to permit the last spark of life to be extinguished, announced +to the admirers of such spectacles that the irons for the permanent +suspension of the carcass not having been got ready, the concluding +ceremony of disembowelling the dead body and attaching it finally +to the gibbet would be deferred till the next morning at sunrise. + +Notwithstanding the early hour which he had named, Master Smotherwell +had a reasonable attendance of rabble at the place of execution, +to see the final proceedings of justice with its victim. But great +was the astonishment and resentment of these amateurs to find that +the dead body had been removed from the gibbet. They were not, +however, long at a loss to guess the cause of its disappearance. +Bonthron had been the follower of a baron whose estates lay in Fife, +and was himself a native of that province. What was more natural +than that some of the Fife men, whose boats were frequently plying +on the river, should have clandestinely removed the body of their +countryman from the place of public shame? The crowd vented their +rage against Smotherwell for not completing his job on the preceding +evening; and had not he and his assistant betaken themselves to +a boat, and escaped across the Tay, they would have run some risk +of being pelted to death. The event, however, was too much in the +spirit of the times to be much wondered at. Its real cause we shall +explain in the following chapter. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Let gallows gape for dogs, let men go free. + +Henry V. + + +The incidents of a narrative of this kind must be adapted to each +other, as the wards of a key must tally accurately with those of +the lock to which it belongs. The reader, however gentle, will not +hold himself obliged to rest satisfied with the mere fact that such +and such occurrences took place, which is, generally speaking, all +that in ordinary life he can know of what is passing around him; +but he is desirous, while reading for amusement, of knowing the +interior movements occasioning the course of events. This is a +legitimate and reasonable curiosity; for every man hath a right to +open and examine the mechanism of his own watch, put together for +his proper use, although he is not permitted to pry into the interior +of the timepiece which, for general information, is displayed on +the town steeple. + +It would be, therefore, uncourteous to leave my readers under any +doubt concerning the agency which removed the assassin Bonthron from +the gallows--an event which some of the Perth citizens ascribed +to the foul fiend himself, while others were content to lay it +upon the natural dislike of Bonthron's countrymen of Fife to see +him hanging on the river side, as a spectacle dishonourable to +their province. + +About midnight succeeding the day when the execution had taken place, +and while the inhabitants of Perth were deeply buried in slumber, +three men muffled in their cloaks, and bearing a dark lantern, +descended the alleys of a garden which led from the house occupied +by Sir John Ramorny to the banks of the Tay, where a small boat +lay moored to a landing place, or little projecting pier. The wind +howled in a low and melancholy manner through the leafless shrubs +and bushes; and a pale moon "waded," as it is termed in Scotland, +amongst drifting clouds, which seemed to threaten rain. The three +individuals entered the boat with great precaution to escape +observation. One of them was a tall, powerful man; another short +and bent downwards; the third middle sized, and apparently younger +than his companions, well made, and active. Thus much the imperfect +light could discover. They seated themselves in the boat and unmoored +it from the pier. + +"We must let her drift with the current till we pass the bridge, +where the burghers still keep guard; and you know the proverb, 'A +Perth arrow hath a perfect flight,'" said the most youthful of the +party, who assumed the office of helmsman, and pushed the boat off +from the pier; whilst the others took the oars, which were muffled, +and rowed with all precaution till they attained the middle of the +river; they then ceased their efforts, lay upon their oars, and +trusted to the steersman for keeping her in mid channel. + +In this manner they passed unnoticed or disregarded beneath the +stately Gothic arches of the old bridge, erected by the magnificent +patronage of Robert Bruce in 1329, and carried away by an inundation +in 1621. Although they heard the voices of a civic watch, which, +since these disturbances commenced, had been nightly maintained in +that important pass, no challenge was given; and when they were so +far down the stream as to be out of hearing of these guardians of +the night, they began to row, but still with precaution, and to +converse, though in a low tone. + +"You have found a new trade, comrade, since I left you," said one +of the rowers to the other. "I left you engaged in tending a sick +knight, and I find you employed in purloining a dead body from the +gallows." + +"A living body, so please your squirehood, Master Buncle, or else +my craft hath failed of its purpose." + +"So I am told, Master Pottercarrier; but, saving your clerkship, +unless you tell me your trick, I will take leave to doubt of its +success." + +"A simple toy, Master Buncle, not likely to please a genius so acute +as that of your valiancie. Marry, thus it is. This suspension of +the human body, which the vulgar call hanging, operates death by +apoplexia--that is, the blood being unable to return to the heart +by the compression of the veins, it rushes to the brain, and the +man dies. Also, and as an additional cause of dissolution, the +lungs no longer receive the needful supply of the vital air, owing +to the ligature of the cord around the thorax; and hence the patient +perishes." + +"I understand that well enough. But how is such a revulsion of +blood to the brain to be prevented, sir mediciner?" said the third +person, who was no other than Ramorny's page, Eviot. + +"Marry, then," replied Dwining, "hang me the patient up in such +fashion that the carotid arteries shall not be compressed, and the +blood will not determine to the brain, and apoplexia will not take +place; and again, if there be no ligature around the thorax, the +lungs will be supplied with air, whether the man be hanging in the +middle heaven or standing on the firm earth." + +"All this I conceive," said Eviot; "but how these precautions can +be reconciled with the execution of the sentence of hanging is what +my dull brain cannot comprehend." + +"Ah! good youth, thy valiancie hath spoiled a fair wit. Hadst thou +studied with me, thou shouldst have learned things more difficult +than this. But here is my trick. I get me certain bandages, made +of the same substance with your young valiancie's horse girths, +having especial care that they are of a kind which will not shrink +on being strained, since that would spoil my experiment. One loop +of this substance is drawn under each foot, and returns up either +side of the leg to a cincture, with which it is united; these +cinctures are connected by divers straps down the breast and back, +in order to divide the weight. And there are sundry other conveniences +for easing the patient, but the chief is this: the straps, or +ligatures, are attached to a broad steel collar, curving outwards, +and having a hook or two, for the better security of the halter, +which the friendly executioner passes around that part of the +machine, instead of applying it to the bare throat of the patient. +Thus, when thrown off from the ladder, the sufferer will find himself +suspended, not by his neck, if it please you, but by the steel +circle, which supports the loops in which his feet are placed, and +on which his weight really rests, diminished a little by similar +supports under each arm. Thus, neither vein nor windpipe being +compressed, the man will breathe as free, and his blood, saving +from fright and novelty of situation, will flow as temperately as +your valiancie's when you stand up in your stirrups to view a field +of battle." + +"By my faith, a quaint and rare device!" quoth Buncle. + +"Is it not?" pursued the leech, "and well worth being known to such +mounting spirits as your valiancies, since there is no knowing to +what height Sir John Ramorny's pupils may arrive; and if these be +such that it is necessary to descend from them by a rope, you may +find my mode of management more convenient than the common practice. +Marry, but you must be provided with a high collared doublet, to +conceal the ring of steel, and, above all, such a bonus socius as +Smother well to adjust the noose." + +"Base poison vender," said Eviot, "men of our calling die on the +field of battle." + +"I will save the lesson, however," replied Buncle, "in case of some +pinching occasion. But what a night the bloody hangdog Bonthron +must have had of it, dancing a pavise in mid air to the music of +his own shackles, as the night wind swings him that way and this!" + +"It were an alms deed to leave him there," said Eviot; "for his +descent from the gibbet will but encourage him to new murders. He +knows but two elements--drunkenness and bloodshed." + +"Perhaps Sir John Ramorny might have been of your opinion," said +Dwining; "but it would first have been necessary to cut out the +rogue's tongue, lest he had told strange tales from his airy height. +And there are other reasons that it concerns not your valiancies +to know. In truth, I myself have been generous in serving him, for +the fellow is built as strong as Edinburgh Castle, and his anatomy +would have matched any that is in the chirurgical hall of Padua. +But tell me, Master Buncle, what news bring you from the doughty +Douglas?" + +"They may tell that know," said Buncle. "I am the dull ass that +bears the message, and kens nought of its purport. The safer for +myself, perhaps. I carried letters from the Duke of Albany and from +Sir John Ramorny to the Douglas, and he looked black as a northern +tempest when he opened them. I brought them answers from the Earl, +at which they smiled like the sun when the harvest storm is closing +over him. Go to your ephemerides, leech, and conjure the meaning +out of that." + +"Methinks I can do so without much cost of wit," said the chirurgeon; +"but yonder I see in the pale moonlight our dead alive. Should +he have screamed out to any chance passenger, it were a curious +interruption to a night journey to be hailed from the top of such +a gallows as that. Hark, methinks I do hear his groans amid the +whistling of the wind and the creaking of the chains. So--fair +and softly; make fast the boat with the grappling, and get out the +casket with my matters, we would be better for a little fire, but +the light might bring observation on us. Come on, my men of valour, +march warily, for we are bound for the gallows foot. Follow with +the lantern; I trust the ladder has been left. + +"Sing, three merry men, and three merry men, +And three merry men are we, +Thou on the land, and I on the sand, +And Jack on the gallows tree." + +As they advanced to the gibbet, they could plainly hear groans, +though uttered in a low tone. Dwining ventured to give a low cough +once or twice, by way of signal; but receiving no answer, "We had +best make haste," said he to his companions, "for our friend must +be in extremis, as he gives no answer to the signal which announces +the arrival of help. Come, let us to the gear. I will go up the +ladder first and cut the rope. Do you two follow, one after another, +and take fast hold of the body, so that he fall not when the halter +is unloosed. Keep sure gripe, for which the bandages will afford +you convenience. Bethink you that, though he plays an owl's part +tonight, he hath no wings, and to fall out of a halter may be as +dangerous as to fall into one." + +While he spoke thus with sneer and gibe, he ascended the ladder, +and having ascertained that the men at arms who followed him had +the body in their hold, he cut the rope, and then gave his aid to +support the almost lifeless form of the criminal. + +By a skilful exertion of strength and address, the body of Bonthron +was placed safely on the ground; and the faint yet certain existence +of life having been ascertained, it was thence transported to the +river side, where, shrouded by the bank, the party might be best +concealed from observation, while the leech employed himself in +the necessary means of recalling animation, with which he had taken +care to provide himself. + +For this purpose he first freed the recovered person from his +shackles, which the executioner had left unlocked on purpose, and +at the same time disengaged the complicated envelopes and bandages +by which he had been suspended. It was some time ere Dwining's +efforts succeeded; for, in despite of the skill with which his +machine had been constructed, the straps designed to support the +body had stretched so considerably as to occasion the sense of +suffocation becoming extremely overpowering. But the address of +the surgeon triumphed over all obstacles; and, after sneezing and +stretching himself, with one or two brief convulsions, Bonthron +gave decided proofs of reanimation, by arresting the hand of the +operator as it was in the act of dropping strong waters on his +breast and throat, and, directing the bottle which contained them +to his lips, he took, almost perforce, a considerable gulp of the +contents, + +"It is spiritual essence double distilled," said the astonished +operator, "and would blister the throat and burn the stomach of +any other man. But this extraordinary beast is so unlike all other +human creatures, that I should not wonder if it brought him to the +complete possession of his faculties." + +Bonthron seemed to confirm this: he started with a strong convulsion, +sat up, stared around, and indicated some consciousness of existence. + +"Wine--wine," were the first words which he articulated. + +The leech gave him a draught of medicated wine, mixed with water. +He rejected it, under the dishonourable epithet of "kennel washings," +and again uttered the words, "Wine--wine." + +"Nay, take it to thee, i' the devil's name," said the leech, "since +none but he can judge of thy constitution." + +A draught, long and deep enough to have discomposed the intellects +of any other person, was found effectual in recalling those of +Bonthron to a more perfect state; though he betrayed no recollection +of where he was or what had befallen him, and in his brief and +sullen manner asked why he was brought to the river side at this +time of night. + +"Another frolic of the wild Prince, for drenching me as he did +before. Nails and blood, but I would--" + +"Hold thy peace," interrupted Eviot, "and be thankful, I pray you, +if you have any thankfulness in you, that thy body is not crow's +meat and thy soul in a place where water is too scarce to duck +thee." + +"I begin to bethink me," said the ruffian; and raising the flask +to his mouth, which he saluted with a long and hearty kiss, he set +the empty bottle on the earth, dropped his head on his bosom, and +seemed to muse for the purpose of arranging his confused recollections. + +"We can abide the issue of his meditations no longer," said +Dwining; "he will be better after he has slept. Up, sir! you have +been riding the air these some hours; try if the water be not an +easier mode of conveyance. Your valours must lend me a hand. I can +no more lift this mass than I could raise in my arms a slaughtered +bull." + +"Stand upright on thine own feet, Bonthron, now we have placed thee +upon them," said Eviot. + +"I cannot," answered the patient. "Every drop of blood tingles in +my veins as if it had pinpoints, and my knees refuse to bear their +burden. What can be the meaning of all this? This is some practice +of thine, thou dog leech!" + +"Ay--ay, so it is, honest Bonthron," said Dwining--"a practice +thou shalt thank me for when thou comest to learn it. In the mean +while, stretch down in the stern of that boat, and let me wrap this +cloak about thee." + +Assisted into the boat accordingly, Bonthron was deposited there +as conveniently as things admitted of. He answered their attentions +with one or two snorts resembling the grunt of a boar who has got +some food particularly agreeable to him. + +"And now, Buncle," said the chirurgeon, "your valiant squireship +knows your charge. You are to carry this lively cargo by the +river to Newburgh, where you are to dispose of him as you wot of; +meantime, here are his shackles and bandages, the marks of his +confinement and liberation. Bind them up together, and fling them +into the deepest pool you pass over; for, found in your possession, +they might tell tales against us all. This low, light breath of +wind from the west will permit you to use a sail as soon as the +light comes in and you are tired of rowing. Your other valiancie, +Master Page Eviot, must be content to return to Perth with me +afoot, for here severs our fair company. Take with thee the lantern, +Buncle, for thou wilt require it more than we, and see thou send +me back my flasket." + +As the pedestrians returned to Perth, Eviot expressed his belief +that Bonthron's understanding would never recover the shock which +terror had inflicted upon it, and which appeared to him to have +disturbed all the faculties of his mind, and in particular his +memory. + +"It is not so, an it please your pagehood," said the leech. +"Bonthron's intellect, such as it is, hath a solid character: it +Will but vacillate to and fro like a pendulum which hath been put +in motion, and then will rest in its proper point of gravity. Our +memory is, of all our powers of mind, that which is peculiarly +liable to be suspended. Deep intoxication or sound sleep alike +destroy it, and yet it returns when the drunkard becomes sober or +the sleeper is awakened. Terror sometimes produces the same effect. +I knew at Paris a criminal condemned to die by the halter, who +suffered the sentence accordingly, showing no particular degree +of timidity upon the scaffold, and behaving and expressing himself +as men in the same condition are wont to do. Accident did for him +what a little ingenious practice hath done for our amiable friend +from whom we but now parted. He was cut down and given to his friends +before life was extinct, and I had the good fortune to restore +him. But, though he recovered in other particulars, he remembered +but little of his trial and sentence. Of his confession on the +morning of his execution--he! he! he! (in his usual chuckling +manner)--he remembered him not a word. Neither of leaving the +prison, nor of his passage to the Greve, where he suffered, nor +of the devout speeches with which he--he! he! he!--edified-- +he! he! he!--so many good Christians, nor of ascending the fatal +tree, nor of taking the fatal leap, had my revenant the slightest +recollection.' But here we reach the point where we must separate; +for it were unfit, should we meet any of the watch, that we be +found together, and it were also prudent that we enter the city +by different gates. My profession forms an excuse for my going and +coming at all times. Your valiant pagehood will make such explanation +as may seem sufficing." + +"I shall make my will a sufficient excuse if I am interrogated," +said the haughty young man. "Yet I will avoid interruption, if +possible. The moon is quite obscured, and the road as black as a +wolf's mouth." + +"Tut," said the physicianer, "let not your valour care for that: +we shall tread darker paths ere it be long." + +Without inquiring into the meaning of these evil boding sentences, +and indeed hardly listening to them in the pride and recklessness +of his nature, the page of Ramorny parted from his ingenious and +dangerous companion, and each took his own way. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +The course of true love never did run smooth. + +SHAKSPEARE. + + +The ominous anxiety of our armourer had not played him false. +When the good glover parted with his intended son in law, after +the judicial combat had been decided, he found what he indeed had +expected, that his fair daughter was in no favourable disposition +towards her lover. But although he perceived that Catharine was +cold, restrained, collected, had cast away the appearance of mortal +passion, and listened with a reserve, implying contempt, to the +most splendid description he could give her of the combat in the +Skinners' Yards, he was determined not to take the least notice +of her altered manner, but to speak of her marriage with his son +Henry as a thing which must of course take place. At length, when +she began, as on a former occasion, to intimate that her attachment +to the armourer did not exceed the bounds of friendship, that she +was resolved never to marry, that the pretended judicial combat +was a mockery of the divine will, and of human laws, the glover +not unnaturally grew angry. + +"I cannot read thy thoughts, wench; nor can I pretend to guess under +what wicked delusion it is that you kiss a declared lover, suffer +him to kiss you, run to his house when a report is spread of his +death, and fling yourself into his arms when you find him alone +[alive]. All this shows very well in a girl prepared to obey her +parents in a match sanctioned by her father; but such tokens of +intimacy, bestowed on one whom a young woman cannot esteem, and +is determined not to marry, are uncomely and unmaidenly. You have +already been more bounteous of your favours to Henry Smith than +your mother, whom God assoilzie, ever was to me before I married +her. I tell thee, Catharine, this trifling with the love of an +honest man is what I neither can, will, nor ought to endure. I have +given my consent to the match, and I insist it shall take place +without delay, and that you receive Henry Wynd tomorrow, as a man +whose bride you are to be with all despatch." + +"A power more potent than yours, father, will say no," replied +Catharine. + +"I will risk it; my power is a lawful one, that of a father over +a child, and an erring child," answered her father. "God and man +allow of my influence." + +"Then, may Heaven help us," said Catharine; "for, if you are +obstinate in your purpose, we are all lost." + +"We can expect no help from Heaven," said the glover, "when we act +with indiscretion. I am clerk enough myself to know that; and that +your causeless resistance to my will is sinful, every priest will +inform you. Ay, and more than that, you have spoken degradingly of +the blessed appeal to God in the combat of ordeal. Take heed! for +the Holy Church is awakened to watch her sheepfold, and to extirpate +heresy by fire and steel; so much I warn thee of." + +Catharine uttered a suppressed exclamation; and, with difficulty +compelling herself to assume an appearance of composure, promised +her father that, if he would spare her any farther discussion of the +subject till tomorrow morning, she would then meet him, determined +to make a full discovery of her sentiments. + +With this promise Simon Glover was obliged to remain contented, +though extremely anxious for the postponed explanation. It could +not be levity or fickleness of character which induced his daughter +to act with so much apparent inconsistency towards the man of his +choice, and whom she had so lately unequivocally owned to be also +the man of her own. What external force there could exist, of a +kind powerful enough to change the resolutions she had so decidedly +expressed within twenty-four hours, was a matter of complete mystery. + +"But I will be as obstinate as she can be," thought the glover, +"and she shall either marry Henry Smith without farther delay or +old Simon Glover will know an excellent reason to the contrary." + +The subject was not renewed during the evening; but early on the +next morning, just at sun rising, Catharine knelt before the bed in +which her parent still slumbered. Her heart sobbed as if it would +burst, and her tears fell thick upon her father's face. The good +old man awoke, looked up, crossed his child's forehead, and kissed +her affectionately. + +"I understand thee, Kate," he said; "thou art come to confession, +and, I trust, art desirous to escape a heavy penance by being +sincere." + +Catharine was silent for an instant. + +"I need not ask, my father, if you remember the Carthusian monk, +Clement, and his preachings and lessons; at which indeed you +assisted so often, that you cannot be ignorant men called you one +of his converts, and with greater justice termed me so likewise?" + +"I am aware of both," said the old man, raising himself on +his elbow; "but I defy foul fame to show that I ever owned him in +any heretical proposition, though I loved to hear him talk of the +corruptions of the church, the misgovernment of the nobles, and +the wild ignorance of the poor, proving, as it seemed to me, that +the sole virtue of our commonweal, its strength and its estimation, +lay among the burgher craft of the better class, which I received +as comfortable doctrine, and creditable to the town. And if he +preached other than right doctrine, wherefore did his superiors in +the Carthusian convent permit it? If the shepherds turn a wolf in +sheep's clothing into the flock, they should not blame the sheep +for being worried." + +"They endured his preaching, nay, they encouraged it," said Catharine, +"while the vices of the laity, the contentions of the nobles, and +the oppression of the poor were the subject of his censure, and +they rejoiced in the crowds who, attracted to the Carthusian church, +forsook those of the other convents. But the hypocrites--for such +they are--joined with the other fraternities in accusing their +preacher Clement, when, passing from censuring the crimes of the +state, he began to display the pride, ignorance, and luxury of the +churchmen themselves--their thirst of power, their usurpation +over men's consciences, and their desire to augment their worldly +wealth." + +"For God's sake, Catharine," said her father, "speak within doors: +your voice rises in tone and your speech in bitterness, your eyes +sparkle. It is owing to this zeal in what concerns you no more than +others that malicious persons fix upon you the odious and dangerous +name of a heretic." + +"You know I speak no more than what is truth," said Catharine, "and +which you yourself have avouched often." + +"By needle and buckskin, no!" answered the glover, hastily. +"Wouldst thou have me avouch what might cost me life and limb, land +and goods? For a full commission hath been granted for taking and +trying heretics, upon whom is laid the cause of all late tumults +and miscarriages; wherefore, few words are best, wench. I am ever +of mind with the old maker: + +"Since word is thrall and thought is free, +Keep well thy tongue, I counsel thee." + +"The counsel comes too late, father," answered Catharine, sinking +down on a chair by her father's bedside. "The words have been +spoken and heard; and it is indited against Simon Glover, burgess +in Perth, that he hath spoken irreverent discourses of the doctrines +of Holy Church." + +"As I live by knife and needle," interrupted Simon, "it is a lie! +I never was so silly as to speak of what I understood not." + +"And hath slandered the anointed of the church, both regular and +secular," continued Catharine. + +"Nay, I will never deny the truth," said the glover: "an idle word +I may have spoken at the ale bench, or over a pottle pot of wine, +or in right sure company; but else, my tongue is not one to run my +head into peril." + +"So you think, my dearest father; but your slightest language has +been espied, your best meaning phrases have been perverted, and +you are in dittay as a gross railer against church and churchmen, +and for holding discourse against them with loose and profligate +persons, such as the deceased Oliver Proudfute, the smith Henry +of the Wynd, and others, set forth as commending the doctrines of +Father Clement, whom they charge with seven rank heresies, and seek +for with staff and spear, to try him to the death. But that," said +Catharine, kneeling, and looking upwards with the aspect of one of +those beauteous saints whom the Catholics have given to the fine +arts--"that they shall never do. He hath escaped from the net of +the fowler; and, I thank Heaven, it was by my means." + +"Thy means, girl--art thou mad?" said the amazed glover. + +"I will not deny what I glory in," answered Catharine: "it was by +my means that Conachar was led to come hither with a party of men +and carry off the old man, who is now far beyond the Highland line." + +"Thou my rash--my unlucky child!" said the glover, "hast dared to +aid the escape of one accused of heresy, and to invite Highlanders +in arms to interfere with the administration of justice within +burgh? Alas! thou hast offended both against the laws of the church +and those of the realm. What--what would become of us, were this +known?" + +"It is known, my dear father," said the maiden, firmly--"known +even to those who will be the most willing avengers of the deed." + +"This must be some idle notion, Catharine, or some trick of those +cogging priests and nuns; it accords not with thy late cheerful +willingness to wed Henry Smith." + +"Alas! dearest father, remember the dismal surprise occasioned by +his reported death, and the joyful amazement at finding him alive; +and deem it not wonder if I permitted myself, under your protection, +to say more than my reflection justified. But then I knew not the +worst, and thought the danger exaggerated. Alas I was yesterday +fearfully undeceived, when the abbess herself came hither, and with +her the Dominican. They showed me the commission, under the broad +seal of Scotland, for inquiring into and punishing heresy; they +showed me your name and my own in a list of suspected persons; and +it was with tears--real tears, that the abbess conjured me to +avert a dreadful fate by a speedy retreat into the cloister, and +that the monk pledged his word that you should not be molested if +I complied." + +"The foul fiend take them both for weeping crocodiles!" said the +glover. + +"Alas!" replied Catharine, "complaint or anger will little help +us; but you see I have had real cause for this present alarm." + +"Alarm! call it utter ruin. Alas! my reckless child, where was your +prudence when you ran headlong into such a snare?" + +"Hear me, father," said Catharine; "there is still one mode of +safety held out: it is one which I have often proposed, and for +which I have in vain supplicated your permission." + +"I understand you--the convent," said her father. "But, Catharine, +what abbess or prioress would dare--" + +"That I will explain to you, father, and it will also show the +circumstances which have made me seem unsteady of resolution to a +degree which has brought censure upon me from yourself and others. +Our confessor, old Father Francis, whom I chose from the Dominican +convent at your command--" + +"Ay, truly," interrupted the glover; "and I so counselled and +commanded thee, in order to take off the report that thy conscience +was altogether under the direction of Father Clement." + +"Well, this Father Francis has at different times urged and provoked +me to converse on such matters as he judged I was likely to learn +something of from the Carthusian preacher. Heaven forgive me my +blindness! I fell into the snare, spoke freely, and, as he argued +gently, as one who would fain be convinced, I even spoke warmly +in defence of what I believed devoutly. The confessor assumed not +his real aspect and betrayed not his secret purpose until he had +learned all that I had to tell him. It was then that he threatened +me with temporal punishment and with eternal condemnation. Had +his threats reached me alone, I could have stood firm; for their +cruelty on earth I could have endured, and their power beyond this +life I have no belief in." + +"For Heaven's sake!" said the glover, who was well nigh beside +himself at perceiving at every new word the increasing extremity +of his daughter's danger, "beware of blaspheming the Holy Church, +whose arms are as prompt to strike as her ears are sharp to hear." + +"To me," said the Maid of Perth, again looking up, "the terrors +of the threatened denunciations would have been of little avail; +but when they spoke of involving thee, my father, in the charge +against me, I own I trembled, and desired to compromise. The Abbess +Martha, of Elcho nunnery, being my mother's kinswoman, I told her +my distresses, and obtained her promise that she would receive me, +if, renouncing worldly love and thoughts of wedlock, I would take +the veil in her sisterhood. She had conversation on the topic, I +doubt not, with the Dominican Francis, and both joined in singing +the same song. + +"'Remain in the world,' said they, 'and thy father and thou shall +be brought to trial as heretics; assume the veil, and the errors +of both shall be forgiven and cancelled.' They spoke not even of +recantation of errors of doctrine: all should be peace if I would +but enter the convent." + +"I doubt not--I doubt not," said Simon: "the old glover is thought +rich, and his wealth would follow his daughter to the convent of +Elcho, unless what the Dominicans might claim as their own share. +So this was thy call to the veil, these thy objections to Henry +Wynd?" + +"Indeed, father, the course was urged on all hands, nor did my +own mind recoil from it. Sir John Ramorny threatened me with the +powerful vengeance of the young Prince, if I continued to repel his +wicked suit; and as for poor Henry, it is but of late that I have +discovered, to my own surprise--that--that I love his virtues +more than I dislike his faults. Alas! the discovery has only been +made to render my quitting the world more difficult than when I +thought I had thee only to regret." + +She rested her head on her hand and wept bitterly. + +"All this is folly," said the glover. "Never was there an extremity +so pinching, but what a wise man might find counsel if he was daring +enough to act upon it. This has never been the land or the people +over whom priests could rule in the name of Rome, without their +usurpation being controlled. If they are to punish each honest +burgher who says the monks love gold, and that the lives of some of +them cry shame upon the doctrines they teach, why, truly, Stephen +Smotherwell will not lack employment; and if all foolish maidens +are to be secluded from the world because they follow the erring +doctrines of a popular preaching friar, they must enlarge the +nunneries and receive their inmates on slighter composition. Our +privileges have been often defended against the Pope himself by +our good monarchs of yore, and when he pretended to interfere with +the temporal government of the kingdom, there wanted not a Scottish +Parliament who told him his duty in a letter that should have been +written in letters of gold. I have seen the epistle myself, and +though I could not read it, the very sight of the seals of the right +reverend prelates and noble and true barons which hung at it made +my heart leap for joy. Thou shouldst not have kept this secret, +my child--but it is no time to tax thee with thy fault. Go down, +get me some food. I will mount instantly, and go to our Lord Provost +and have his advice, and, as I trust, his protection and that of +other true hearted Scottish nobles, who will not see a true man +trodden down for an idle word." + +"Alas! my father," said Catharine, "it was even this impetuosity +which I dreaded. I knew if I made my plaint to you there would soon +be fire and feud, as if religion, though sent to us by the Father +of peace, were fit only to be the mother of discord; and hence I +could now--even now--give up the world, and retire with my sorrow +among the sisters of Elcho, would you but let me be the sacrifice. +Only, father--comfort poor Henry when we are parted for ever; +and do not--do not let him think of me too harshly. Say Catharine +will never vex him more by her remonstrances, but that she will +never forget him in her prayers." + +"The girl hath a tongue that would make a Saracen weep," said her +father, his own eyes sympathising with those of his daughter. "But +I will not yield way to this combination between the nun and the +priest to rob me of my only child. Away with you, girl, and let me +don my clothes; and prepare yourself to obey me in what I may have +to recommend for your safety. Get a few clothes together, and what +valuables thou hast; also, take the keys of my iron box, which +poor Henry Smith gave me, and divide what gold you find into two +portions; put the one into a purse for thyself, and the other into +the quilted girdle which I made on purpose to wear on journeys. +Thus both shall be provided, in case fate should sunder us; in +which event, God send the whirlwind may take the withered leaf and +spare the green one! Let them make ready my horse instantly, and +the white jennet that I bought for thee but a day since, hoping to +see thee ride to St. John's Kirk with maids and matrons, as blythe +a bride as ever crossed the holy threshold. But it skills not +talking. Away, and remember that the saints help those who are +willing to help themselves. Not a word in answer; begone, I say-- +no wilfullness now. The pilot in calm weather will let a sea boy +trifle with the rudder; but, by my soul, when winds howl and waves +arise, he stands by the helm himself. Away--no reply." + +Catharine left the room to execute, as well as she might, the +commands of her father, who, gentle in disposition and devotedly +attached to his child, suffered her often, as it seemed, to guide +and rule both herself and him; yet who, as she knew, was wont to +claim filial obedience and exercise parental authority with sufficient +strictness when the occasion seemed to require an enforcement of +domestic discipline. + +While the fair Catharine was engaged in executing her father's +behests, and the good old glover was hastily attiring himself, as +one who was about to take a journey, a horse's tramp was heard in +the narrow street. The horseman was wrapped in his riding cloak, +having the cape of it drawn up, as if to hide the under part of +his face, while his bonnet was pulled over his brows, and a broad +plume obscured his upper features. He sprung from the saddle, and +Dorothy had scarce time to reply to his inquiries that the glover +was in his bedroom, ere the stranger had ascended the stair and +entered the sleeping apartment. Simon, astonished and alarmed, and +disposed to see in this early visitant an apparitor or sumner come +to attach him and his daughter, was much relieved when, as the +stranger doffed the bonnet and threw the skirt of the mantle from +his face, he recognised the knightly provost of the Fair City, +a visit from whom at any time was a favour of no ordinary degree, +but, being made at such an hour, had something marvellous, and, +connected with the circumstances of the times, even alarming. + +"Sir Patrick Charteris!" said the glover. "This high honour done +to your poor beadsman--" + +"Hush!" said the knight, "there is no time for idle civilities. I +came hither because a man is, in trying occasions, his own safest +page, and I can remain no longer than to bid thee fly, good glover, +since warrants are to be granted this day in council for the arrest +of thy daughter and thee, under charge of heresy; and delay will +cost you both your liberty for certain, and perhaps your lives." + +"I have heard something of such a matter," said the glover, "and +was this instant setting forth to Kinfauns to plead my innocence +of this scandalous charge, to ask your lordship's counsel, and to +implore your protection." + +"Thy innocence, friend Simon, will avail thee but little before +prejudiced judges; my advice is, in one word, to fly, and wait for +happier times. As for my protection, we must tarry till the tide +turns ere it will in any sort avail thee. But if thou canst lie +concealed for a few days or weeks, I have little doubt that the +churchmen, who, by siding with the Duke of Albany in court intrigue, +and by alleging the decay of the purity of Catholic doctrine as +the sole cause of the present national misfortunes, have, at least +for the present hour, an irresistible authority over the King, will +receive a check. In the mean while, however, know that King Robert +hath not only given way to this general warrant for inquisition +after heresy, but hath confirmed the Pope's nomination of Henry +Wardlaw to be Archbishop of St. Andrews and Primate of Scotland; +thus yielding to Rome those freedoms and immunities of the Scottish +Church which his ancestors, from the time of Malcolm Canmore, have +so boldly defended. His brave fathers would have rather subscribed +a covenant with the devil than yielded in such a matter to the +pretensions of Rome." + +"Alas, and what remedy?" + +"None, old man, save in some sudden court change," said Sir Patrick. +"The King is but like a mirror, which, having no light itself, +reflects back with equal readiness any which is placed near to it +for the time. Now, although the Douglas is banded with Albany, yet +the Earl is unfavourable to the high claims of those domineering +priests, having quarrelled with them about the exactions which his +retinue hath raised on the Abbot of Arbroath. He will come back +again with a high hand, for report says the Earl of March hath +fled before him. When he returns we shall have a changed world, +for his presence will control Albany; especially as many nobles, +and I myself, as I tell you in confidence, are resolved to league +with him to defend the general right. Thy exile, therefore, will +end with his return to our court. Thou hast but to seek thee some +temporary hiding place." + +"For that, my lord," said the glover, "I can be at no loss, since +I have just title to the protection of the high Highland chief, +Gilchrist MacIan, chief of the Clan Quhele." + +"Nay, if thou canst take hold of his mantle thou needs no help of +any one else: neither Lowland churchman nor layman finds a free +course of justice beyond the Highland frontier." + +"But then my child, noble sir--my Catharine?" said the glover. + +"Let her go with thee, man. The graddan cake will keep her white +teeth in order, the goat's whey will make the blood spring to her +cheek again, which these alarms have banished and even the Fair +Maiden of Perth may sleep soft enough on a bed of Highland breckan." + +"It is not from such idle respects, my lord, that I hesitate," +said the glover. "Catharine is the daughter of a plain burgher, +and knows not nicety of food or lodging. But the son of MacIan hath +been for many years a guest in my house, and I am obliged to say +that I have observed him looking at my daughter, who is as good as +a betrothed bride, in a manner that, though I cared not for it in +this lodging in Curfew Street, would give me some fear of consequences +in a Highland glen, where I have no friend and Conachar many." + +The knightly provost replied by a long whistle. "Whew! whew! Nay, +in that case, I advise thee to send her to the nunnery at Elcho, +where the abbess, if I forget not, is some relation of yours. +Indeed, she said so herself, adding, that she loved her kinswoman +well, together with all that belongs to thee, Simon." + +"Truly, my lord, I do believe that the abbess hath so much regard +for me, that she would willingly receive the trust of my daughter, +and my whole goods and gear, into her sisterhood. Marry, her +affection is something of a tenacious character, and would be loth +to unloose its hold, either upon the wench or her tocher." + +"Whew--whew!" again whistled the Knight of Kinfauns; "by the +Thane's Cross, man, but this is an ill favoured pirn to wind: Yet +it shall never be said the fairest maid in the Fair City was cooped +up in a convent, like a kain hen in a cavey, and she about to be +married to the bold burgess Henry Wynd. That tale shall not be told +while I wear belt and spurs, and am called Provost of Perth." + +"But what remede, my lord?" asked the glover. + +"We must all take our share of the risk. Come, get you and your +daughter presently to horse. You shall ride with me, and we'll see +who dare gloom at you. The summons is not yet served on thee, and +if they send an apparitor to Kinfauns without a warrant under the +King's own hand, I make mine avow, by the Red Rover's soul! that +he shall eat his writ, both wax and wether skin. To horse--to +horse! and," addressing Catharine, as she entered at the moment, +"you too, my pretty maid-- + +"To horse, and fear not for your quarters; +They thrive in law that trust in Charters." + +In a minute or two the father and daughter were on horseback, both +keeping an arrow's flight before the provost, by his direction, +that they might not seem to be of the same company. They passed the +eastern gate in some haste, and rode forward roundly until they +were out of sight. Sir Patrick followed leisurely; but, when he +was lost to the view of the warders, he spurred his mettled horse, +and soon came up with the glover and Catharine, when a conversation +ensued which throws light upon some previous passages of this +history. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Hail, land of bowmen! seed of those who scorn'd +To stoop the neck to wide imperial Rome-- +Oh, dearest half of Albion sea walled! + +Albania (1737). + + +"I have been devising a mode," said the well meaning provost, "by +which I may make you both secure for a week or two from the malice +of your enemies, when I have little doubt I may see a changed world +at court. But that I may the better judge what is to be done, tell +me frankly, Simon, the nature of your connexion with Gilchrist +MacIan, which leads you to repose such implicit confidence in him. +You are a close observer of the rules of the city, and are aware +of the severe penalties which they denounce against such burghers +as have covine and alliance with the Highland clans." + +"True, my lord; but it is also known to you that our craft, working +in skins of cattle, stags, and every other description of hides, +have a privilege, and are allowed to transact with those Highlanders, +as with the men who can most readily supply us with the means of +conducting our trade, to the great profit of the burgh. Thus it +hath chanced with me to have great dealings with these men; and I +can take it on my salvation, that you nowhere find more just and +honourable traffickers, or by whom a man may more easily make an +honest penny. I have made in my day several distant journeys into +the far Highlands, upon the faith of their chiefs; nor did I ever +meet with a people more true to their word, when you can once prevail +upon them to plight it in your behalf. And as for the Highland +chief, Gilchrist MacIan, saving that he is hasty in homicide and +fire raising towards those with whom he hath deadly feud, I have +nowhere seen a man who walketh a more just and upright path." + +"It is more than ever I heard before," said Sir Patrick Charteris. +"Yet I have known something of the Highland runagates too." + +"They show another favour, and a very different one, to their +friends than to their enemies, as your lordship shall understand," +said the glover. "However, be that as it may, it chanced me to +serve Gilchrist MacIan in a high matter. It is now about eighteen +years since, that it chanced, the Clan Quhele and Clan Chattan being +at feud, as indeed they are seldom at peace, the former sustained +such a defeat as well nigh extirpated the family of their chief +MacIan. Seven of his sons were slain in battle and after it, himself +put to flight, and his castle taken and given to the flames. His +wife, then near the time of giving birth to an infant, fled into +the forest, attended by one faithful servant and his daughter. +Here, in sorrow and care enough, she gave birth to a boy; and as +the misery of the mother's condition rendered her little able to +suckle the infant, he was nursed with the milk of a doe, which the +forester who attended her contrived to take alive in a snare. It +was not many months afterwards that, in a second encounter of these +fierce clans, MacIan defeated his enemies in his turn, and regained +possession of the district which he had lost. It was with unexpected +rapture that he found his wife and child were in existence, having +never expected to see more of them than the bleached bones, from +which the wolves and wildcats had eaten the flesh. + +"But a strong and prevailing prejudice, such as is often entertained +by these wild people, prevented their chief from enjoying the full +happiness arising from having thus regained his only son in safety. +An ancient prophecy was current among them, that the power of the +tribe should fall by means of a boy born under a bush of holly +and suckled by a white doe. The circumstance, unfortunately for +the chief, tallied exactly with the birth of the only child which +remained to him, and it was demanded of him by the elders of +the clan, that the boy should be either put to death or at least +removed from the dominions of the tribe and brought up in obscurity. +Gilchrist MacIan was obliged to consent and having made choice of +the latter proposal, the child, under the name of Conachar, was +brought up in my family, with the purpose, as was at first intended, +of concealing from him all knowledge who or what he was, or of his +pretensions to authority over a numerous and warlike people. But, +as years rolled on, the elders of the tribe, who had exerted so +much authority, were removed by death, or rendered incapable of +interfering in the public affairs by age; while, on the other hand, +the influence of Gilchrist MacIan was increased by his successful +struggles against the Clan Chattan, in which he restored the equality +betwixt the two contending confederacies, which had existed before +the calamitous defeat of which I told your honour. Feeling himself +thus firmly seated, he naturally became desirous to bring home his +only son to his bosom and family; and for that purpose caused me +to send the young Conachar, as he was called, more than once to the +Highlands. He was a youth expressly made, by his form and gallantry +of bearing, to gain a father's heart. At length, I suppose the +lad either guessed the secret of his birth or something of it was +communicated to him; and the disgust which the paughty Hieland +varlet had always shown for my honest trade became more manifest; +so that I dared not so much as lay my staff over his costard, for +fear of receiving a stab with a dirk, as an answer in Gaelic to a +Saxon remark. It was then that I wished to be well rid of him, the +rather that he showed so much devotion to Catharine, who, forsooth, +set herself up to wash the Ethiopian, and teach a wild Hielandmnan +mercy and morals. She knows herself how it ended." + +"Nay, my father," said Catharine, "it was surely but a point of +charity to snatch the brand from the burning." + +"But a small point of wisdom," said her father, "to risk the +burning of your own fingers for such an end. What says my lord to +the matter?" + +"My lord would not offend the Fair Maid of Perth," said Sir Patrick; +"and he knows well the purity and truth of her mind. And yet I +must needs say that, had this nursling of the doe been shrivelled, +haggard, cross made, and red haired, like some Highlanders I have +known, I question if the Fair Maiden of Perth would have bestowed +so much zeal upon his conversion; and if Catharine had been as aged, +wrinkled, and bent by years as the old woman that opened the door +for me this morning, I would wager my gold spurs against a pair of +Highland brogues that this wild roebuck would never have listened +to a second lecture. You laugh, glover, and Catharine blushes a +blush of anger. Let it pass, it is the way of the world." + +"The way in which the men of the world esteem their neighbours, my +lord," answered Catharine, with some spirit. + +"Nay, fair saint, forgive a jest," said the knight; "and thou, +Simon, tell us how this tale ended--with Conachar's escape to +the Highlands, I suppose?" + +"With his return thither," said the glover. "There was, for some +two or three years, a fellow about Perth, a sort of messenger, who +came and went under divers pretences, but was, in fact, the means +of communication between Gilchrist MacIan and his son, young Conachar, +or, as he is now called, Hector. From this gillie I learned, in +general, that the banishment of the dault an neigh dheil, or foster +child of the white doe, was again brought under consideration of +the tribe. His foster father, Torquil of the Oak, the old forester, +appeared with eight sons, the finest men of the clan, and demanded +that the doom of banishment should be revoked. He spoke with the +greater authority, as he was himself taishatar, or a seer, and +supposed to have communication with the invisible world. He affirmed +that he had performed a magical ceremony, termed tine egan, by +which he evoked a fiend, from whom he extorted a confession that +Conachar, now called Eachin, or Hector, MacIan, was the only man +in the approaching combat between the two hostile clans who should +come off without blood or blemish. Hence Torquil of the Oak argued +that the presence of the fated person was necessary to ensure the +victory. 'So much I am possessed of this,' said the forester, 'that, +unless Eachin fight in his place in the ranks of the Clan Quhele, +neither I, his foster father, nor any of my eight sons will lift +a weapon in the quarrel.' + +"This speech was received with much alarm; for the defection of +nine men, the stoutest of their tribe, would be a serious blow, +more especially if the combat, as begins to be rumoured, should be +decided by a small number from each side. The ancient superstition +concerning the foster son of the white doe was counterbalanced by +a new and later prejudice, and the father took the opportunity of +presenting to the clan his long hidden son, whose youthful, but +handsome and animated, countenance, haughty carriage, and active +limbs excited the admiration of the clansmen, who joyfully received +him as the heir and descendant of their chief, notwithstanding the +ominous presage attending his birth and nurture. + +"From this tale, my lord," continued Simon Glover, "your lordship +may easily conceive why I myself should be secure of a good reception +among the Clan Quhele; and you may also have reason to judge that +it would be very rash in me to carry Catharine thither. And this, +noble lord, is the heaviest of my troubles." + +"We shall lighten the load, then," said Sir Patrick; "and, good +glover, I will take risk for thee and this damsel. My alliance +with the Douglas gives me some interest with Marjory, Duchess of +Rothsay, his daughter, the neglected wife of our wilful Prince. +Rely on it, good glover, that in her retinue thy daughter will be +as secure as in a fenced castle. The Duchess keeps house now at +Falkland, a castle which the Duke of Albany, to whom it belongs, has +lent to her for her accommodation. I cannot promise you pleasure, +Fair Maiden; for the Duchess Marjory of Rothsay is unfortunate, +and therefore splenetic, haughty, and overbearing; conscious of +the want of attractive qualities, therefore jealous of those women +who possess them. But she is firm in faith and noble in spirit, and +would fling Pope or prelate into the ditch of her castle who should +come to arrest any one under her protection. You will therefore +have absolute safety, though you may lack comfort." + +"I have no title to more," said Catharine; "and deeply do I feel the +kindness that is willing to secure me such honourable protection. +If she be haughty, I will remember she is a Douglas, and hath right, +as being such, to entertain as much pride as may become a mortal; +if she be fretful, I will recollect that she is unfortunate, and +if she be unreasonably captious, I will not forget that she is my +protectress. Heed no longer for me, my lord, when you have placed +me under the noble lady's charge. But my poor father, to be exposed +amongst these wild and dangerous people!" + +"Think not of that, Catharine," said the glover: "I am as familiar +with brogues and bracken as if I had worn them myself. I have only +to fear that the decisive battle may be fought before I can leave +this country; and if the clan Quhele lose the combat, I may suffer +by the ruin of my protectors." + +"We must have that cared for," said Sir Patrick: "rely on my +looking out for your safety. But which party will carry the day, +think you?" + +"Frankly, my Lord Provost, I believe the Clan Chattan will have +the worse: these nine children of the forest form a third nearly +of the band surrounding the chief of Clan Quhele, and are redoubted +champions." + +"And your apprentice, will he stand to it, thinkest thou?" + +"He is hot as fire, Sir Patrick," answered the glover; "but he is +also unstable as water. Nevertheless, if he is spared, he seems +likely to be one day a brave man." + +"But, as now, he has some of the white doe's milk still lurking +about his liver, ha, Simon?" + +"He has little experience, my lord," said the glover, "and I need +not tell an honoured warrior like yourself that danger must be +familiar to us ere we can dally with it like a mistress." + +This conversation brought them speedily to the Castle of Kinfauns, +where, after a short refreshment, it was necessary that the father +and the daughter should part, in order to seek their respective +places of refuge. It was then first, as she saw that her father's +anxiety on her account had drowned all recollections of his friend, +that Catharine dropped, as if in a dream, the name of "Henry Gow." + +"True--most true," continued her father; "we must possess him of +our purposes." + +"Leave that to me," said Sir Patrick. "I will not trust to a +messenger, nor will I send a letter, because, if I could write one, +I think he could not read it. He will suffer anxiety in the mean +while, but I will ride to Perth tomorrow by times and acquaint him +with your designs." + +The time of separation now approached. It was a bitter moment, but +the manly character of the old burgher, and the devout resignation +of Catharine to the will of Providence made it lighter than might +have been expected. The good knight hurried the departure of the +burgess, but in the kindest manner; and even went so far as to +offer him some gold pieces in loan, which might, where specie was +so scarce, be considered as the ne plus ultra of regard. The glover, +however, assured him he was amply provided, and departed on his +journey in a northwesterly direction. The hospitable protection +of Sir Patrick Charteris was no less manifested towards his fair +guest. She was placed under the charge of a duenna who managed the +good knight's household, and was compelled to remain several days +in Kinfauns, owing to the obstacles and delays interposed by a Tay +boatman, named Kitt Henshaw, to whose charge she was to be committed, +and whom the provost highly trusted. + +Thus were severed the child and parent in a moment of great danger +and difficulty, much augmented by circumstances of which they were +then ignorant, and which seemed greatly to diminish any chance of +safety that remained for them. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +"This Austin humbly did." "Did he?" quoth he. +"Austin may do the same again for me." + +Pope's Prologue to Canterbury Tales from Chaucer. + + +The course of our story will be best pursued by attending that of +Simon Glover. It is not our purpose to indicate the exact local +boundaries of the two contending clans, especially since they are +not clearly pointed out by the historians who have transmitted +accounts of this memorable feud. It is sufficient to say, that the +territory of the Clan Chattan extended far and wide, comprehending +Caithness and Sutherland, and having for their paramount chief the +powerful earl of the latter shire, thence called Mohr ar Chat. In +this general sense, the Keiths, the Sinclairs, the Guns, and other +families and clans of great power, were included in the confederacy. +These, however, were not engaged in the present quarrel, which was +limited to that part of the Clan Chattan occupying the extensive +mountainous districts of Perthshire and Inverness shire, which form +a large portion of what is called the northeastern Highlands. It +is well known that two large septs, unquestionably known to belong +to the Clan Chattan, the MacPhersons and the MacIntoshes, dispute +to this day which of their chieftains was at the head of this +Badenoch branch of the great confederacy, and both have of later +times assumed the title of Captain of Clan Chattan. Non nostrum +est. But, at all events, Badenoch must have been the centre of the +confederacy, so far as involved in the feud of which we treat. + +Of the rival league of Clan Quhele we have a still less distinct +account, for reasons which will appear in the sequel. Some authors +have identified them with the numerous and powerful sept of MacKay. +If this is done on good authority, which is to be doubted, the +MacKays must have shifted their settlements greatly since the reign +of Robert III, since they are now to be found (as a clan) in the +extreme northern parts of Scotland, in the counties of Ross and +Sutherland. We cannot, therefore, be so clear as we would wish in +the geography of the story. Suffice it that, directing his course +in a northwesterly direction, the glover travelled for a day's +journey in the direction of the Breadalbane country, from which he +hoped to reach the castle where Gilchrist MacIan, the captain of +the Clan Quhele, and the father of his pupil Conachar, usually held +his residence, with a barbarous pomp of attendance and ceremonial +suited to his lofty pretensions. + +We need not stop to describe the toil and terrors of such a journey, +where the path was to be traced among wastes and mountains, now +ascending precipitous ravines, now plunging into inextricable bogs, +and often intersected with large brooks, and even rivers. But all +these perils Simon Glover had before encountered in quest of honest +gain; and it was not to be supposed that he shunned or feared them +where liberty, and life itself, were at stake. + +The danger from the warlike and uncivilised inhabitants of these +wilds would have appeared to another at least as formidable as the +perils of the journey. But Simon's knowledge of the manners and +language of the people assured him on this point also. An appeal +to the hospitality of the wildest Gael was never unsuccessful; and +the kerne, that in other circumstances would have taken a man's +life for the silver button of his cloak, would deprive himself of +a meal to relieve the traveller who implored hospitality at the +door of his bothy. The art of travelling in the Highlands was to +appear as confident and defenceless as possible; and accordingly +the glover carried no arms whatever, journeyed without the least +appearance of precaution, and took good care to exhibit nothing which +might excite cupidity. Another rule which he deemed it prudent to +observe was to avoid communication with any of the passengers whom +he might chance to meet, except in the interchange of the common +civilities of salutation, which the Highlanders rarely omit. Few +opportunities occurred of exchanging even such passing greetings. +The country, always lonely, seemed now entirely forsaken; and, even +in the little straths or valleys which he had occasion to pass +or traverse, the hamlets were deserted, and the inhabitants had +betaken themselves to woods and caves. This was easily accounted +for, considering the imminent dangers of a feud which all expected +would become one of the most general signals for plunder and ravage +that had ever distracted that unhappy country. + +Simon began to be alarmed at this state of desolation. He had made +a halt since he left Kinfauns, to allow his nag some rest; and now +he began to be anxious how he was to pass the night. He had reckoned +upon spending it at the cottage of an old acquaintance, called Niel +Booshalloch (or the cow herd), because he had charge of numerous +herds of cattle belonging to the captain of Clan Quhele, for which +purpose he had a settlement on the banks of the Tay, not far from +the spot where it leaves the lake of the same name. From this his +old host and friend, with whom he had transacted many bargains for +hides and furs, the old glover hoped to learn the present state of +the country, the prospect of peace or war, and the best measures +to be taken for his own safety. It will be remembered that the +news of the indentures of battle entered into for diminishing the +extent of the feud had only been communicated to King Robert the +day before the glover left Perth, and did not become public till +some time afterwards. + +"If Niel Booshalloch hath left his dwelling like the rest of them, +I shall be finely holped up," thought Simon, "since I want not +only the advantage of his good advice, but also his interest with +Gilchrist MacIan; and, moreover, a night's quarters and a supper." + +Thus reflecting, he reached the top of a swelling green hill, and +saw the splendid vision of Loch Tay lying beneath him--an immense +plate of polished silver, its dark heathy mountains and leafless +thickets of oak serving as an arabesque frame to a magnificent +mirror. + +Indifferent to natural beauty at any time, Simon Glover was now +particularly so; and the only part of the splendid landscape on +which he turned his eye was an angle or loop of meadow land where +the river Tay, rushing in full swoln dignity from its parent lake, +and wheeling around a beautiful valley of about a mile in breadth, +begins his broad course to the southeastward, like a conqueror and +a legislator, to subdue and to enrich remote districts. Upon the +sequestered spot, which is so beautifully situated between lake, +mountain, and river, arose afterwards the feudal castle of the +Ballough [Balloch is Gaelic for the discharge of a lake into a +river], which in our time has been succeeded by the splendid palace +of the Earls of Breadalbane. + +But the Campbells, though they had already attained very great power +in Argyleshire, had not yet extended themselves so far eastward +as Loch Tay, the banks of which were, either by right or by mere +occupancy, possessed for, the present by the Clan Quhele, whose +choicest herds were fattened on the Balloch margin of the lake. +In this valley, therefore, between the river and the lake, amid +extensive forests of oak wood, hazel, rowan tree, and larches, +arose the humble cottage of Niel Booshalloch, a village Eumaeus, +whose hospitable chimneys were seen to smoke plentifully, to +the great encouragement of Simon Glover, who might otherwise have +been obliged to spend the night in the open air, to his no small +discomfort. + +He reached the door of the cottage, whistled, shouted, and made +his approach known. There was a baying of hounds and collies, and +presently the master of the hut came forth. There was much care +on his brow, and he seemed surprised at the sight of Simon Glover, +though the herdsman covered both as well as he might; for nothing +in that region could be reckoned more uncivil than for the landlord +to suffer anything to escape him in look or gesture which might +induce the visitor to think that his arrival was an unpleasing, or +even an unexpected, incident. The traveller's horse was conducted to +a stable, which was almost too low to receive him, and the glover +himself was led into the mansion of the Booshalloch, where, according +to the custom of the country, bread and cheese was placed before +the wayfarer, while more solid food was preparing. Simon, who +understood all their habits, took no notice of the obvious marks of +sadness on the brow of his entertainer and on those of the family, +until he had eaten somewhat for form's sake, after which he asked +the general question, "Was there any news in the country?" + +"Bad news as ever were told," said the herdsman: "our father is no +more." + +"How!" said Simon, greatly alarmed, "is the captain of the Clan +Quhele dead?" + +"The captain of the Clan Quhele never dies," answered the Booshalloch; +"but Gilchrist MacIan died twenty hours since, and his son, Eachin +MacIan, is now captain." + +"What, Eachin--that is Conachar--my apprentice?" + +"As little of that subject as you list, brother Simon," said the +herdsman. "It is to be remembered, friend, that your craft, which +doth very well for a living in the douce city of Perth, is something +too mechanical to be much esteemed at the foot of Ben Lawers and +on the banks of Loch Tay. We have not a Gaelic word by which we +can even name a maker of gloves." + +"It would be strange if you had, friend Niel," said Simon, drily, +"having so few gloves to wear. I think there be none in the whole +Clan Quhele, save those which I myself gave to Gilchrist MacIan, +whom God assoilzie, who esteemed them a choice propine. Most deeply +do I regret his death, for I was coming to him on express business." + +"You had better turn the nag's head southward with morning light," +said the herdsman. "The funeral is instantly to take place, and it +must be with short ceremony; for there is a battle to be fought by +the Clan Quhele and the Clan Chattan, thirty champions on a side, +as soon as Palm Sunday next, and we have brief time either to lament +the dead or honour the living." + +"Yet are my affairs so pressing, that I must needs see the young +chief, were it but for a quarter of an hour," said the glover. + +"Hark thee, friend," replied his host, "I think thy business must +be either to gather money or to make traffic. Now, if the chief +owe thee anything for upbringing or otherwise, ask him not to pay +it when all the treasures of the tribe are called in for making +gallant preparation of arms and equipment for their combatants, that +we may meet these proud hill cats in a fashion to show ourselves +their superiors. But if thou comest to practise commerce with us, +thy time is still worse chosen. Thou knowest that thou art already +envied of many of our tribe, for having had the fosterage of the +young chief, which is a thing usually given to the best of the +clan."' + +"But, St. Mary, man!" exclaimed the glover, "men should remember +the office was not conferred on me as a favour which I courted, +but that it was accepted by me on importunity and entreaty, to my +no small prejudice. This Conachar, or Hector, of yours, or whatever +you call him, has destroyed me doe skins to the amount of many +pounds Scots." + +"There again, now," said the Booshalloch, "you have spoken word to +cost your life--any allusion to skins or hides, or especially to +deer and does--may incur no less a forfeit. The chief is young, +and jealous of his rank; none knows the reason better than thou, +friend Glover. He will naturally wish that everything concerning +the opposition to his succession, and having reference to his exile, +should be totally forgotten; and he will not hold him in affection +who shall recall the recollection of his people, or force back his +own, upon what they must both remember with pain. Think how, at +such a moment, they will look on the old glover of Perth, to whom +the chief was so long apprentice! Come--come, old friend, you have +erred in this. You are in over great haste to worship the rising +sun, while his beams are yet level with the horizon. Come thou +when he has climbed higher in the heavens, and thou shalt have thy +share of the warmth of his noonday height." + +"Niel Booshalloch," said the glover, "we have been old friends, as +thou say'st; and as I think thee a true one, I will speak to thee +freely, though what I say might be perilous if spoken to others +of thy clan. Thou think'st I come hither to make my own profit of +thy young chief, and it is natural thou shouldst think so. But I +would not, at my years, quit my own chimney corner in Curfew Street +to bask me in the beams of the brightest sun that ever shone upon +Highland heather. The very truth is, I come hither in extremity: +my foes have the advantage of me, and have laid things to my charge +whereof I am incapable, even in thought. Nevertheless, doom is like +to go forth against me, and there is no remedy but that I must up +and fly, or remain and perish. I come to your young chief, as one +who had refuge with me in his distress--who ate of my bread and +drank of my cup. I ask of him refuge, which, as I trust, I shall +need but a short time." + +"That makes a different case," replied the herdsman. "So different, +that, if you came at midnight to the gate of MacIan, having the +King of Scotland's head in your hand, and a thousand men in pursuit +for the avenging of his blood, I could not think it for his honour +to refuse you protection. And for your innocence or guilt, it +concerns not the case; or rather, he ought the more to shelter you +if guilty, seeing your necessity and his risk are both in that case +the greater. I must straightway to him, that no hasty tongue tell +him of your arriving hither without saying the cause." + +"A pity of your trouble," said the glover; "but where lies the +chief?" + +"He is quartered about ten miles hence, busied with the affairs of +the funeral, and with preparations for the combat--the dead to +the grave and the living to battle." + +"It is a long way, and will take you all night to go and come," +said the glover; "and I am very sure that Conachar when he knows +it is I who--" + +"Forget Conachar," said the herdsman, placing his finger on his +lips. "And as for the ten miles, they are but a Highland leap, when +one bears a message between his friend and his chief." + +So saying, and committing the traveller to the charge of his eldest +son and his daughter, the active herdsman left his house two hours +before midnight, to which he returned long before sunrise. He did +not disturb his wearied guest, but when the old man had arisen in +the morning he acquainted him that the funeral of the late chieftain +was to take place the same day, and that, although Eachin MacIan +could not invite a Saxon to the funeral, he would be glad to receive +him at the entertainment which was to follow. + +"His will must be obeyed," said the glover, half smiling at the +change of relation between himself and his late apprentice. "The man +is the master now, and I trust he will remember that, when matters +were otherwise between us, I did not use my authority ungraciously." + +"Troutsho, friend!" exclaimed the Booshalloch, "the less of that +you say the better. You will find yourself a right welcome guest +to Eachin, and the deil a man dares stir you within his bounds. +But fare you well, for I must go, as beseems me, to the burial of +the best chief the clan ever had, and the wisest captain that ever +cocked the sweet gale (bog myrtle) in his bonnet. Farewell to you +for a while, and if you will go to the top of the Tom an Lonach behind +the house, you will see a gallant sight, and hear such a coronach +as will reach the top of Ben Lawers. A boat will wait for you, +three hours hence, at a wee bit creek about half a mile westward +from the head of the Tay." + +With these words he took his departure, followed by his three sons, +to man the boat in which he was to join the rest of the mourners, +and two daughters, whose voices were wanted to join in the lament, +which was chanted, or rather screamed, on such occasions of general +affliction. + +Simon Glover, finding himself alone, resorted to the stable to look +after his nag, which, he found, had been well served with graddan, +or bread made of scorched barley. Of this kindness he was fully +sensible, knowing that, probably, the family had little of this +delicacy left to themselves until the next harvest should bring +them a scanty supply. In animal food they were well provided, and +the lake found them abundance of fish for their lenten diet, which +they did not observe very strictly; but bread was a delicacy very +scanty in the Highlands. The bogs afforded a soft species of hay, +none of the best to be sure; but Scottish horses, like their riders, +were then accustomed to hard fare. + +Gauntlet, for this was the name of the palfrey, had his stall crammed +full of dried fern for litter, and was otherwise as well provided +for as Highland hospitality could contrive. + +Simon Glover being thus left to his own painful reflections, nothing +better remained, after having seen after the comforts of the dumb +companion of his journey, than to follow the herdsman's advice; and +ascending towards the top of an eminence called Tom an Lonach, or +the Knoll of Yew Trees, after a walk of half an hour he reached +the summit, and could look down on the broad expanse of the lake, +of which the height commanded a noble view. A few aged and scattered +yew trees of great size still vindicated for the beautiful green +hill the name attached to it. But a far greater number had fallen +a sacrifice to the general demand for bow staves in that warlike +age, the bow being a weapon much used by the mountaineers, though +those which they employed, as well as their arrows, were, in shape +and form, and especially in efficacy, far inferior to the archery +of merry England. The dark and shattered individual yews which +remained were like the veterans of a broken host, occupying in +disorder some post of advantage, with the stern purpose of resisting +to the last. Behind this eminence, but detached from it, arose +a higher hill, partly covered with copsewood, partly opening into +glades of pasture, where the cattle strayed, finding, at this season +of the year, a scanty sustenance among the spring heads and marshy +places, where the fresh grass began first to arise. + +The opposite or northern shore of the lake presented a far more +Alpine prospect than that upon which the glover was stationed. Woods +and thickets ran up the sides of the mountains, and disappeared +among the sinuosities formed by the winding ravines which separated +them from each other; but far above these specimens of a tolerable +natural soil arose the swart and bare mountains themselves, in the +dark grey desolation proper to the season. + +Some were peaked, some broad crested, some rocky and precipitous, +others of a tamer outline; and the clan of Titans seemed to be +commanded by their appropriate chieftains--the frowning mountain +of Ben Lawers, and the still more lofty eminence of Ben Mohr, +arising high above the rest, whose peaks retain a dazzling helmet +of snow far into the summer season, and sometimes during the +whole year. Yet the borders of this wild and silvan region, where +the mountains descended upon the lake, intimated, even at that +early period, many traces of human habitation. Hamlets were seen, +especially on the northern margin of the lake, half hid among the +little glens that poured their tributary streams into Loch Tay, +which, like many earthly things, made a fair show at a distance, +but, when more closely approached, were disgustful and repulsive, +from their squalid want of the conveniences which attend even Indian +wigwams. They were inhabited by a race who neither cultivated the +earth nor cared for the enjoyments which industry procures. The +women, although otherwise treated with affection, and even delicacy of +respect, discharged all the absolutely necessary domestic labour. +The men, excepting some reluctant use of an ill formed plough, or more +frequently a spade, grudgingly gone through, as a task infinitely +beneath them, took no other employment than the charge of the herds +of black cattle, in which their wealth consisted. At all other +times they hunted, fished, or marauded, during the brief intervals +of peace, by way of pastime; plundering with bolder license, and +fighting with embittered animosity, in time of war, which, public +or private, upon a broader or more restricted scale, formed the +proper business of their lives, and the only one which they esteemed +worthy of them. + +The magnificent bosom of the lake itself was a scene to gaze on +with delight. Its noble breadth, with its termination in a full and +beautiful run, was rendered yet more picturesque by one of those +islets which are often happily situated in the Scottish lakes. The +ruins upon that isle, now almost shapeless, being overgrown with +wood rose, at the time we speak of, into the towers and pinnacles +of a priory, where slumbered the remains of Sibylla, daughter of +Henry I of England, and consort of Alexander the First of Scotland. +This holy place had been deemed of dignity sufficient to be +the deposit of the remains of the captain of the Clan Quhele, at +least till times when the removal of the danger, now so imminently +pressing, should permit of his body being conveyed to a distinguished +convent in the north, where he was destined ultimately to repose +with all his ancestry. + +A number of boats pushed off from various points of the near +and more distant shore, many displaying sable banners, and others +having their several pipers in the bow, who from time to time poured +forth a few notes of a shrill, plaintive, and wailing character, +and intimated to the glover that the ceremony was about to take +place. These sounds of lamentation were but the tuning as it were +of the instruments, compared with the general wail which was speedily +to be raised. + +A distant sound was heard from far up the lake, even as it seemed +from the remote and distant glens out of which the Dochart and the +Lochy pour their streams into Loch Tay. It was in a wild, inaccessible +spot, where the Campbells at a subsequent period founded their +strong fortress of Finlayrigg, that the redoubted commander of the +Clan Quhele drew his last breath; and, to give due pomp to his +funeral, his corpse was now to be brought down the loch to the +island assigned for his temporary place of rest. The funeral fleet, +led by the chieftain's barge, from which a huge black banner was +displayed, had made more than two thirds of its voyage ere it was +visible from the eminence on which Simon Glover stood to overlook +the ceremony. The instant the distant wail of the coronach was +heard proceeding from the attendants on the funeral barge, all +the subordinate sounds of lamentation were hushed at once, as the +raven ceases to croak and the hawk to whistle whenever the scream +of the eagle is heard. The boats, which had floated hither and thither +upon the lake, like a flock of waterfowl dispersing themselves on +its surface, now drew together with an appearance of order, that +the funeral flotilla might pass onward, and that they themselves +might fall into their proper places. In the mean while the piercing +din of the war pipes became louder and louder, and the cry from the +numberless boats which followed that from which the black banner of +the chief was displayed rose in wild unison up to the Tom an Lonach, +from which the glover viewed the spectacle. The galley which headed +the procession bore on its poop a species of scaffold, upon which, +arrayed in white linen, and with the face bare, was displayed the +corpse of the deceased chieftain. His son and the nearest relatives +filled the vessel, while a great number of boats, of every description +that could be assembled, either on Loch Tay itself or brought by +land carriage from Loch Earn and otherwise, followed in the rear, +some of them of very frail materials. There were even curraghs, +composed of ox hides stretched over hoops of willow, in the manner +of the ancient British, and some committed themselves to rafts +formed for the occasion, from the readiest materials that occurred, +and united in such a precarious manner as to render it probable +that, before the accomplishment of the voyage, some of the clansmen +of the deceased might be sent to attend their chieftain in the +world of spirits. + +When the principal flotilla came in sight of the smaller group of +boats collected towards the foot of the lake, and bearing off from +the little island, they hailed each other with a shout so loud and +general, and terminating in a cadence so wildly prolonged, that +not only the deer started from their glens for miles around, and +sought the distant recesses of the mountains, but even the domestic +cattle, accustomed to the voice of man, felt the full panic which +the human shout strikes into the wilder tribes, and like them fled +from their pasture into morasses and dingles. + +Summoned forth from their convent by those sounds, the monks who +inhabited the little islet began to issue from their lowly portal, +with cross and banner, and as much of ecclesiastical state as they +had the means of displaying; their bells at the same time, of which +the edifice possessed three, pealing the death toll over the long +lake, which came to the ears of the now silent multitude, mingled +with the solemn chant of the Catholic Church, raised by the monks +in their procession. Various ceremonies were gone through, while +the kindred of the deceased carried the body ashore, and, placing it +on a bank long consecrated to the purpose, made the deasil around +the departed. When the corpse was uplifted to be borne into the +church, another united yell burst from the assembled multitude, +in which the deep shout of warriors and the shrill wail of females +joined their notes with the tremulous voice of age and the babbling +cry of childhood. The coronach was again, and for the last time, +shrieked as the body was carried into the interior of the church, +where only the nearest relatives of the deceased and the most +distinguished of the leaders of the clan were permitted to enter. +The last yell of woe was so terribly loud, and answered by so many +hundred echoes, that the glover instinctively raised his hands to +his ears, to shut out, or deaden at least, a sound so piercing. He +kept this attitude while the hawks, owls, and other birds, scared +by the wild scream, had begun to settle in their retreats, when, +as he withdrew his hands, a voice close by him said: + +"Think you this, Simon Glover, the hymn of penitence and praise +with which it becomes poor forlorn man, cast out from his tenement +of clay, to be wafted into the presence of his maker?" + +The glover turned, and in the old man with a long white beard who +stood close beside him had no difficulty, from the clear mild eye +and the benevolent cast of features, to recognise the Carthusian +monk Father Clement, no longer wearing his monastic habiliments, +but wrapped in a frieze mantle and having a Highland cap on his +head. + +It may be recollected that the glover regarded this man with +a combined feeling of respect and dislike--respect, which his +judgment could not deny to the monk's person and character, and +dislike, which arose from Father Clement's peculiar doctrines being +the cause of his daughter's exile and his own distress. It was not, +therefore, with sentiments of unmixed satisfaction that he returned +the greetings of the father, and replied to the reiterated question, +what he thought of the funeral rites which were discharged in so +wild a manner: "I know not, my good father; but these men do their +duty to their deceased chief according to the fashion of their +ancestors: they mean to express their regret for their friend's +loss and their prayers to Heaven in his behalf; and that which is +done of goodwill must, to my thinking, be accepted favourably. Had +it been otherwise, methinks they had ere now been enlightened to +do better." + +"Thou art deceived," answered the monk. "God has sent His light +amongst us all, though in various proportions; but man wilfully +shuts his eyes and prefers darkness. This benighted people mingle +with the ritual of the Roman Church the old heathen ceremonies of +their own fathers, and thus unite with the abominations of a church +corrupted by wealth and power the cruel and bloody ritual of savage +paynims." + +"Father," said Simon, abruptly, "methinks your presence were more +useful in yonder chapel, aiding your brethren in the discharge of +their clerical duties, than in troubling and unsettling the belief +of an humble though ignorant Christian like myself." + +"And wherefore say, good brother, that I would unfix thy principles +of belief?" answered Clement. "So Heaven deal with me, as, were +my life blood necessary to cement the mind of any man to the holy +religion he professeth, it should be freely poured out for the +purpose." + +"Your speech is fair, father, I grant you," said the glover; "but +if I am to judge the doctrine by the fruits, Heaven has punished +me by the hand of the church for having hearkened thereto. Ere I +heard you, my confessor was little moved though I might have owned +to have told a merry tale upon the ale bench, even if a friar or +a nun were the subject. If at a time I had called Father Hubert a +better hunter of hares than of souls, I confessed me to the Vicar +Vinesauf, who laughed and made me pay a reckoning for penance; or +if I had said that the Vicar Vinesauf was more constant to his cup +than to his breviary, I confessed me to Father Hubert, and a new +hawking glove made all well again; and thus I, my conscience, and +Mother Church lived together on terms of peace, friendship, and +mutual forbearance. But since I have listened to you, Father Clement, +this goodly union is broke to pieces, and nothing is thundered in +my ear but purgatory in the next world and fire and fagot in this. +Therefore, avoid you, Father Clement, or speak to those who can +understand your doctrine. I have no heart to be a martyr: I have +never in my whole life had courage enough so much as to snuff a +candle with my fingers; and, to speak the truth, I am minded to go +back to Perth, sue out my pardon in the spiritual court, carry my +fagot to the gallows foot in token of recantation, and purchase +myself once more the name of a good Catholic, were it at the price +of all the worldly wealth that remains to me." + +"You are angry, my dearest brother," said Clement, "and repent you +on the pinch of a little worldly danger and a little worldly loss +for the good thoughts which you once entertained." + +"You speak at ease, Father Clement, since I think you have long +forsworn the wealth and goods of the world, and are prepared to +yield up your life when it is demanded in exchange for the doctrine +you preach and believe. You are as ready to put on your pitched +shirt and brimstone head gear as a naked man is to go to his bed, +and it would seem you have not much more reluctance to the ceremony. +But I still wear that which clings to me. My wealth is still my +own, and I thank Heaven it is a decent pittance whereon to live; my +life, too, is that of a hale old man of sixty, who is in no haste +to bring it to a close; and if I were poor as Job and on the edge +of the grave, must I not still cling to my daughter, whom your +doctrines have already cost so dear?" + +"Thy daughter, friend Simon," said the Carmelite [Carthusian], "may +be truly called an angel upon earth." + +"Ay, and by listening to your doctrines, father, she is now like +to be called on to be an angel in heaven, and to be transported +thither in a chariot of fire." + +"Nay, my good brother," said Clement, "desist, I pray you, to speak +of what you little understand. Since it is wasting time to show +thee the light that thou chafest against, yet listen to that which +I have to say touching thy daughter, whose temporal felicity, though +I weigh it not even for an instant in the scale against that which +is spiritual, is, nevertheless, in its order, as dear to Clement +Blair as to her own father." + +The tears stood in the old man's eyes as he spoke, and Simon Glover +was in some degree mollified as he again addressed him. + +"One would think thee, Father Clement, the kindest and most amiable +of men; how comes it, then, that thy steps are haunted by general +ill will wherever thou chancest to turn them? I could lay my life +thou hast contrived already to offend yonder half score of poor +friars in their water girdled cage, and that you have been prohibited +from attendance on the funeral?" + +"Even so, my son," said the Carthusian, "and I doubt whether their +malice will suffer me to remain in this country. I did but speak a +few sentences about the superstition and folly of frequenting St. +Fillan's church, to detect theft by means of his bell, of bathing +mad patients in his pool, to cure their infirmity of mind; and lo! +the persecutors have cast me forth of their communion, as they will +speedily cast me out of this life." + +"Lo you there now," said the glover, "see what it is for a man that +cannot take a warning! Well, Father Clement, men will not cast me +forth unless it were as a companion of yours. I pray you, therefore, +tell me what you have to say of my daughter, and let us be less +neighbours than we have been." + +"This, then, brother Simon, I have to acquaint you with. This young +chief, who is swoln with contemplation of his own power and glory, +loves one thing better than it all, and that is thy daughter." + +"He, Conachar!" exclaimed Simon. "My runagate apprentice look up +to my daughter!" + +"Alas!" said Clement, "how close sits our worldly pride, even as +ivy clings to the wall, and cannot be separated! Look up to thy +daughter, good Simon? Alas, no! The captain of Clan Quhele, great +as he is, and greater as he soon expects to be, looks down to +the daughter of the Perth burgess, and considers himself demeaned +in doing so. But, to use his own profane expression, Catharine is +dearer to him than life here and Heaven hereafter: he cannot live +without her." + +"Then he may die, if he lists," said Simon Glover, "for she is +betrothed to an honest burgess of Perth; and I would not break my +word to make my daughter bride to the Prince of Scotland." + +"I thought it would be your answer," replied the monk; "I would, +worthy friend, thou couldst carry into thy spiritual concerns some +part of that daring and resolved spirit with which thou canst direct +thy temporal affairs." + +"Hush thee--hush, Father Clement!" answered the glover; "when +thou fallest into that vein of argument, thy words savour of blazing +tar, and that is a scent I like not. As to Catharine, I must manage +as I can, so as not to displease the young dignitary; but well is +it for me that she is far beyond his reach." + +"She must then be distant indeed," said the Carmelite [Carthusian]. +"And now, brother Simon, since you think it perilous to own me +and my opinions, I must walk alone with my own doctrines and the +dangers they draw on me. But should your eye, less blinded than it +now is by worldly hopes and fears, ever turn a glance back on him +who soon may be snatched from you, remember, that by nought save +a deep sense of the truth and importance of the doctrine which +he taught could Clement Blair have learned to encounter, nay, to +provoke, the animosity of the powerful and inveterate, to alarm +the fears of the jealous and timid, to walk in the world as he +belonged not to it, and to be accounted mad of men, that he might, +if possible, win souls to God. Heaven be my witness, that I would +comply in all lawful things to conciliate the love and sympathy +of my fellow creatures! It is no light thing to be shunned by the +worthy as an infected patient, to be persecuted by the Pharisees +of the day as an unbelieving heretic, to be regarded with horror +at once and contempt by the multitude, who consider me as a madman, +who may be expected to turn mischievous. But were all those evils +multiplied an hundredfold, the fire within must not be stifled, +the voice which says within me 'Speak' must receive obedience. Woe +unto me if I preach not the Gospel, even should I at length preach +it from amidst the pile of flames!" + +So spoke this bold witness, one of those whom Heaven raised up from +time to time to preserve amidst the most ignorant ages, and to carry +down to those which succeed them, a manifestation of unadulterated +Christianity, from the time of the Apostles to the age when, +favoured by the invention of printing, the Reformation broke out +in full splendour. The selfish policy of the glover was exposed +in his own eyes; and he felt himself contemptible as he saw the +Carthusian turn from him in all the hallowedness of resignation. +He was even conscious of a momentary inclination to follow the +example of the preacher's philanthropy and disinterested zeal, but +it glanced like a flash of lightning through a dark vault, where +there lies nothing to catch the blaze; and he slowly descended the +hill in a direction different from that of the Carthusian, forgetting +him and his doctrines, and buried in anxious thoughts about his +child's fate and his own. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +What want these outlaws conquerors should have +But history's purchased page to call them great, +A wider space, an ornamented grave? +Their hopes were not less warm, their souls were full as brave. + +BYRON. + + +The funeral obsequies being over, the same flotilla which had +proceeded in solemn and sad array down the lake prepared to return +with displayed banners, and every demonstration of mirth and joy; +for there was but brief time to celebrate festivals when the awful +conflict betwixt the Clan Quhele and their most formidable rivals +so nearly approached. It had been agreed, therefore, that the funeral +feast should be blended with that usually given at the inauguration +of the young chief. + +Some objections were made to this arrangement, as containing an evil +omen. But, on the other hand, it had a species of recommendation, +from the habits and feelings of the Highlanders, who, to this day, +are wont to mingle a degree of solemn mirth with their mourning, +and something resembling melancholy with their mirth. The usual +aversion to speak or think of those who have been beloved and lost +is less known to this grave and enthusiastic race than it is to +others. You hear not only the young mention (as is everywhere usual) +the merits and the character of parents, who have, in the course +of nature, predeceased them; but the widowed partner speaks, +in ordinary conversation, of the lost spouse, and, what is still +stranger, the parents allude frequently to the beauty or valour +of the child whom they have interred. The Scottish Highlanders +appear to regard the separation of friends by death as something +less absolute and complete than it is generally esteemed in other +countries, and converse of the dear connexions who have sought the +grave before them as if they had gone upon a long journey in which +they themselves must soon follow. The funeral feast, therefore, +being a general custom throughout Scotland, was not, in the opinion +of those who were to share it, unseemingly mingled, on the present +occasion, with the festivities which hailed the succession to the +chieftainship. + +The barge which had lately borne the dead to the grave now conveyed +the young MacIan to his new command and the minstrels sent forth +their gayest notes to gratulate Eachin's succession, as they had +lately sounded their most doleful dirges when carrying Gilchrist +to his grave. From the attendant flotilla rang notes of triumph and +jubilee, instead of those yells of lamentation which had so lately +disturbed the echoes of Loch Tay; and a thousand voices hailed the +youthful chieftain as he stood on the poop, armed at all points, +in the flower of early manhood, beauty, and activity, on the very +spot where his father's corpse had so lately been extended, and +surrounded by triumphant friends, as that had been by desolate +mourners. + +One boat kept closest of the flotilla to the honoured galley. +Torquil of the Oak, a grizzled giant, was steersman; and his eight +sons, each exceeding the ordinary stature of mankind, pulled the +oars. Like some powerful and favourite wolf hound, unloosed from +his couples, and frolicking around a liberal master, the boat of +the foster brethren passed the chieftain's barge, now on one side +and now on another, and even rowed around it, as if in extravagance +of joy; while, at the same time, with the jealous vigilance of +the animal we have compared it to, they made it dangerous for any +other of the flotilla to approach so near as themselves, from the +risk of being run down by their impetuous and reckless manoeuvres. +Raised to an eminent rank in the clan by the succession of their +foster brother to the command of the Clan Quhele, this was the +tumultuous and almost terrible mode in which they testified their +peculiar share in their chief's triumph. + +Far behind, and with different feelings, on the part of one at +least of the company, came the small boat in which, manned by the +Booshalloch and one of his sons, Simon Glover was a passenger. + +"If we are bound for the head of the lake," said Simon to his +friend, "we shall hardly be there for hours." + +But as he spoke the crew of the boat of the foster brethren, or +leichtach, on a signal from the chief's galley, lay on their oars +until the Booshalloch's boat came up, and throwing on board a +rope of hides, which Niel made fast to the head of his skiff, they +stretched to their oars once more, and, notwithstanding they had +the small boat in tow, swept through the lake with almost the same +rapidity as before. The skiff was tugged on with a velocity which +seemed to hazard the pulling her under water, or the separation of +her head from her other timbers. + +Simon Glover saw with anxiety the reckless fury of their course, +and the bows of the boat occasionally brought within an inch or two +of the level of the water; and though his friend, Niel Booshalloch, +assured him it was all done in especial honour, he heartily wished +his voyage might have a safe termination. It had so, and much +sooner than he apprehended; for the place of festivity was not +four miles distant from the sepulchral island, being chosen to suit +the chieftain's course, which lay to the southeast, so soon as the +banquet should be concluded. A bay on the southern side of Loch Tay +presented a beautiful beach of sparkling sand, on which the boats +might land with ease, and a dry meadow, covered with turf, verdant +considering the season, behind and around which rose high banks, +fringed with copsewood, and displaying the lavish preparations +which had been made for the entertainment. + +The Highlanders, well known for ready hatchet men, had constructed +a long arbour or silvan banqueting room, capable of receiving two +hundred men, while a number of smaller huts around seemed intended +for sleeping apartments. The uprights, the couples, and roof tree +of the temporary hall were composed of mountain pine, still covered +with its bark. The framework of the sides was of planks or spars +of the same material, closely interwoven with the leafy boughs of +the fir and other evergreens, which the neighbouring woods afforded, +while the hills had furnished plenty of heath to form the roof. +Within this silvan palace the most important personages present +were invited to hold high festival. Others of less note were to +feast in various long sheds constructed with less care; and tables +of sod, or rough planks, placed in the open air, were allotted +to the numberless multitude. At a distance were to be seen piles +of glowing charcoal or blazing wood, around which countless cooks +toiled, bustled, and fretted, like so many demons working in their +native element. Pits, wrought in the hillside, and lined with +heated stones, served as ovens for stewing immense quantities of +beef, mutton, and venison; wooden spits supported sheep and goats, +which were roasted entire; others were cut into joints, and seethed +in caldrons made of the animal's own skins, sewed hastily together +and filled with water; while huge quantities of pike, trout, +salmon, and char were broiled with more ceremony on glowing embers. +The glover had seen many a Highland banquet, but never one the +preparations for which were on such a scale of barbarous profusion. + +He had little time, however, to admire the scene around him for, +as soon as they landed on the beach, the Booshalloch observed with +some embarrassment, that, as they had not been bidden to the table +of the dais, to which he seemed to have expected an invitation, they +had best secure a place in one of the inferior bothies or booths; +and was leading the way in that direction, when he was stopped by +one of the bodyguards, seeming to act as master of ceremonies, who +whispered something in his ear. + +"I thought so," said the herdsman, much relieved--"I thought +neither the stranger nor the man that has my charge would be left +out at the high table." + +They were conducted accordingly into the ample lodge, within which +were long ranges of tables already mostly occupied by the guests, +while those who acted as domestics were placing upon them the +abundant though rude materials of the festival. The young chief, +although he certainly saw the glover and the herdsman enter, did +not address any personal salute to either, and their places were +assigned them in a distant corner, far beneath the salt, a huge +piece of antique silver plate, the only article of value that the +table displayed, and which was regarded by the clan as a species +of palladium, only produced and used on the most solemn occasions, +such as the present. + +The Booshalloch, somewhat discontented, muttered to Simon as he +took his place: "These are changed days, friend. His father, rest +his soul, would have spoken to us both; but these are bad manners +which he has learned among you Sassenachs in the Low Country." + +To this remark the glover did not think it necessary to reply; +instead of which he adverted to the evergreens, and particularly +to the skins and other ornaments with which the interior of the +bower was decorated. The most remarkable part of these ornaments +was a number of Highland shirts of mail, with steel bonnets, battle +axes, and two handed swords to match, which hung around the upper +part of the room, together with targets highly and richly embossed. +Each mail shirt was hung over a well dressed stag's hide, which at +once displayed the armour to advantage and saved it from suffering +by damp. + +"These," whispered the Booshalloch, "are the arms of the chosen +champions of the Clan Quhele. They are twenty-nine in number, as +you see, Eachin himself being the thirtieth, who wears his armour +today, else had there been thirty. And he has not got such a good +hauberk after all as he should wear on Palm Sunday. These nine +suits of harness, of such large size, are for the leichtach, from +whom so much is expected." + +"And these goodly deer hides," said Simon, the spirit of his +profession awakening at the sight of the goods in which he traded +--"think you the chief will be disposed to chaffer for them? +They are in demand for the doublets which knights wear under their +armour." + +"Did I not pray you," said Niel Booshalloch, "to say nothing on +that subject?" + +"It is the mail shirts I speak of," said Simon--"may I ask if any +of them were made by our celebrated Perth armourer, called Henry +of the Wynd?" + +"Thou art more unlucky than before," said Niel, "that man's name +is to Eachin's temper like a whirlwind upon the lake; yet no man +knows for what cause." + +"I can guess," thought our glover, but gave no utterance to +the thought; and, having twice lighted on unpleasant subjects of +conversation, he prepared to apply himself, like those around him, +to his food, without starting another topic. + +We have said as much of the preparations as may lead the reader to +conclude that the festival, in respect of the quality of the food, +was of the most rude description, consisting chiefly of huge joints +of meat, which were consumed with little respect to the fasting +season, although several of the friars of the island convent graced +and hallowed the board by their presence. The platters were of +wood, and so were the hooped cogues or cups out of which the guests +quaffed their liquor, as also the broth or juice of the meat, which +was held a delicacy. There were also various preparations of milk +which were highly esteemed, and were eaten out of similar vessels. +Bread was the scarcest article at the banquet, but the glover and +his patron Niel were served with two small loaves expressly for +their own use. In eating, as, indeed, was then the case all over +Britain, the guests used their knives called skenes, or the large +poniards named dirks, without troubling themselves by the reflection +that they might occasionally have served different or more fatal +purposes. + +At the upper end of the table stood a vacant seat, elevated a step +or two above the floor. It was covered with a canopy of hollow +boughs and ivy, and there rested against it a sheathed sword and +a folded banner. This had been the seat of the deceased chieftain, +and was left vacant in honour of him. Eachin occupied a lower chair +on the right hand of the place of honour. + +The reader would be greatly mistaken who should follow out this +description by supposing that the guests behaved like a herd of +hungry wolves, rushing upon a feast rarely offered to them. On the +contrary, the Clan Quhele conducted themselves with that species +of courteous reserve and attention to the wants of others which +is often found in primitive nations, especially such as are always +in arms, because a general observance of the rules of courtesy is +necessary to prevent quarrels, bloodshed, and death. The guests +took the places assigned them by Torquil of the Oak, who, acting +as marischal taeh, i.e. sewer of the mess, touched with a white +wand, without speaking a word, the place where each was to sit. +Thus placed in order, the company patiently waited for the portion +assigned them, which was distributed among them by the leichtach; +the bravest men or more distinguished warriors of the tribe being +accommodated with a double mess, emphatically called bieyfir, or +the portion of a man. When the sewers themselves had seen every one +served, they resumed their places at the festival, and were each +served with one of these larger messes of food. Water was placed +within each man's reach, and a handful of soft moss served the +purposes of a table napkin, so that, as at an Eastern banquet, the +hands were washed as often as the mess was changed. For amusement, +the bard recited the praises of the deceased chief, and expressed +the clan's confidence in the blossoming virtues of his successor. +The seannachie recited the genealogy of the tribe, which they traced +to the race of the Dalriads; the harpers played within, while the +war pipes cheered the multitude without. The conversation among the +guests was grave, subdued, and civil; no jest was attempted beyond +the bounds of a very gentle pleasantry, calculated only to excite +a passing smile. There were no raised voices, no contentious +arguments; and Simon Glover had heard a hundred times more noise +at a guild feast in Perth than was made on this occasion by two +hundred wild mountaineers. + +Even the liquor itself did not seem to raise the festive party +above the same tone of decorous gravity. It was of various kinds. +Wine appeared in very small quantities, and was served out only +to the principal guests, among which honoured number Simon Glover +was again included. The wine and the two wheaten loaves were indeed +the only marks of notice which he received during the feast; but +Niel Booshalloch, jealous of his master's reputation for hospitality, +failed not to enlarge on them as proofs of high distinction. +Distilled liquors, since so generally used in the Highlands, were +then comparatively unknown. The usquebaugh was circulated in small +quantities, and was highly flavoured with a decoction of saffron +and other herbs, so as to resemble a medicinal potion rather than +a festive cordial. Cider and mead were seen at the entertainment, +but ale, brewed in great quantities for the purpose, and flowing +round without restriction, was the liquor generally used, and that +was drunk with a moderation much less known among the more modern +Highlanders. A cup to the memory of the deceased chieftain was the +first pledge solemnly proclaimed after the banquet was finished, +and a low murmur of benedictions was heard from the company, while +the monks alone, uplifting their united voices, sung Requiem eternam +dona. An unusual silence followed, as if something extraordinary +was expected, when Eachin arose with a bold and manly, yet modest, +grace, and ascended the vacant seat or throne, saying with dignity +and firmness: + +"This seat and my father's inheritance I claim as my right--so +prosper me God and St. Barr!" + +"How will you rule your father's children?" said an old man, the +uncle of the deceased. + +"I will defend them with my father's sword, and distribute justice +to them under my father's banner." + +The old man, with a trembling hand, unsheathed the ponderous +weapon, and, holding it by the blade, offered the hilt to the young +chieftain's grasp; at the same time Torquil of the Oak unfurled +the pennon of the tribe, and swung it repeatedly over Eachin's +head, who, with singular grace and dexterity, brandished the huge +claymore as in its defence. The guests raised a yelling shout to +testify their acceptance of the patriarchal chief who claimed their +allegiance, nor was there any who, in the graceful and agile youth +before them, was disposed to recollect the subject of sinister +vaticinations. As he stood in glittering mail, resting on the long +sword, and acknowledging by gracious gestures the acclamations +which rent the air within, without, and around, Simon Glover was +tempted to doubt whether this majestic figure was that of the same +lad whom he had often treated with little ceremony, and began to +have some apprehension of the consequences of having done so. A +general burst of minstrelsy succeeded to the acclamations, and rock +and greenwood rang to harp and pipes, as lately to shout and yell +of woe. + +It would be tedious to pursue the progress of the inaugural feast, +or detail the pledges that were quaffed to former heroes of the +clan, and above all to the twenty-nine brave galloglasses who were +to fight in the approaching conflict, under the eye and leading of +their young chief. The bards, assuming in old times the prophetic +character combined with their own, ventured to assure them of the +most distinguished victory, and to predict the fury with which the +blue falcon, the emblem of the Clan Quhele, should rend to pieces +the mountain cat, the well known badge of the Clan Chattan. + +It was approaching sunset when a bowl, called the grace cup, made +of oak, hooped with silver, was handed round the table as the signal +of dispersion, although it was left free to any who chose a longer +carouse to retreat to any of the outer bothies. As for Simon Glover, +the Booshalloch conducted him to a small hut, contrived, it would +seem, for the use of a single individual, where a bed of heath and +moss was arranged as well as the season would permit, and an ample +supply of such delicacies as the late feast afforded showed that +all care had been taken for the inhabitant's accommodation. + +"Do not leave this hut," said the Booshalloch, taking leave of his +friend and protege: "this is your place of rest. But apartments +are lost on such a night of confusion, and if the badger leaves +his hole the toad will creep into it." + +To Simon Glover this arrangement was by no means disagreeable. He had +been wearied by the noise of the day, and felt desirous of repose. +After eating, therefore, a morsel, which his appetite scarce +required, and drinking a cup of wine to expel the cold, he muttered +his evening prayer, wrapt himself in his cloak, and lay down on +a couch which old acquaintance had made familiar and easy to him. +The hum and murmur, and even the occasional shouts, of some of +the festive multitude who continued revelling without did not long +interrupt his repose, and in about ten minutes he was as fast asleep +as if he had lain in his own bed in Curfew Street. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +Still harping on my daughter. + +Hamlet. + + +Two hours before the black cock crew, Simon Glover was wakened by +a well known voice, which called him by name. + +"What, Conachar!" he replied, as he started from sleep, "is the +morning so far advanced?" and, raising his eyes, the person of whom +he was dreaming stood before him; and at the same moment, the events +of yesterday rushing on his recollection, he saw with surprise that +the vision retained the form which sleep had assigned it, and it +was not the mail clad Highland chief, with claymore in hand, as he +had seen him the preceding night, but Conachar of Curfew Street, +in his humble apprentice's garb, holding in his hand a switch of +oak. An apparition would not more have surprised our Perth burgher. +As he gazed with wonder, the youth turned upon him a piece of +lighted bog wood which he carried in a lantern, and to his waking +exclamation replied: + +"Even so, father Simon: it is Conachar, come to renew our old +acquaintance, when our intercourse will attract least notice." + +So saying, he sat down on a tressel which answered the purpose of +a chair, and placing the lantern beside him, proceeded in the most +friendly tone: + +"I have tasted of thy good cheer many a day, father Simon; I trust +thou hast found no lack in my family?" + +"None whatever, Eachin MacIan," answered the glover, for the +simplicity of the Celtic language and manners rejects all honorary +titles; "it was even too good for this fasting season, and much too +good for me, since I must be ashamed to think how hard you fared +in Curfew Street." + +"Even too well, to use your own word," said Conachar, "for the +deserts of an idle apprentice and for the wants of a young Highlander. +But yesterday, if there was, as I trust, enough of food, found you +not, good glover, some lack of courteous welcome? Excuse it not +--I know you did so. But I am young in authority with my people, +and I must not too early draw their attention to the period of my +residence in the Lowlands, which, however, I can never forget." + +"I understand the cause entirely," said Simon; "and therefore it +is unwillingly, and as it were by force, that I have made so early +a visit hither." + +"Hush, father--hush! It is well you are come to see some of my +Highland splendour while it yet sparkles. Return after Palm Sunday, +and who knows whom or what you may find in the territories we now +possess! The wildcat may have made his lodge where the banqueting +bower of MacIan now stands." + +The young chief was silent, and pressed the top of the rod to his +lips, as if to guard against uttering more. + +"There is no fear of that, Eachin," said Simon, in that vague way +in which lukewarm comforters endeavour to turn the reflections of +their friends from the consideration of inevitable danger. + +"There is fear, and there is peril of utter ruin," answered Eachin, +"and there is positive certainty of great loss. I marvel my father +consented to this wily proposal of Albany. I would MacGillie Chattanach +would agree with me, and then, instead of wasting our best blood +against each other, we would go down together to Strathmore and +kill and take possession. I would rule at Perth and he at Dundee, +and all the great strath should be our own to the banks of the Firth +of Tay. Such is the policy I have caught from your old grey head, +father Simon, when holding a trencher at thy back, and listening +to thy evening talk with Bailie Craigdallie." + +"The tongue is well called an unruly member," thought the glover. +"Here have I been holding a candle to the devil, to show him the +way to mischief." + +But he only said aloud: "These plans come too late." + +"Too late indeed!" answered Eachin. "The indentures of battle are +signed by our marks and seals, the burning hate of the Clan Quhele +and Clan Chattan is blown up to an inextinguishable flame by +mutual insults and boasts. Yes, the time is passed by. But to thine +own affairs, father Glover. It is religion that has brought thee +hither, as I learn from Niel Booshalloch. Surely, my experience of +thy prudence did not lead me to suspect thee of any quarrel with +Mother Church. As for my old acquaintance, Father Clement, he is one +of those who hunt after the crown of martyrdom, and think a stake, +surrounded with blazing fagots, better worth embracing than a +willing bride. He is a very knight errant in defence of his religious +notions, and does battle wherever he comes. He hath already a +quarrel with the monks of Sibyl's Isle yonder about some point of +doctrine. Hast seen him?" + +"I have," answered Simon; "but we spoke little together, the time +being pressing." + +"He may have said that there is a third person--one more likely, +I think, to be a true fugitive for religion than either you, a +shrewd citizen, or he, a wrangling preacher--who would be right +heartily welcome to share our protection? Thou art dull, man, and +wilt not guess my meaning--thy daughter, Catharine." + +These last words the young chief spoke in English; and he continued +the conversation in that language, as if apprehensive of being +overheard, and, indeed, as if under the sense of some involuntary +hesitation. + +"My daughter Catharine," said the glover, remembering what the +Carthusian had told him, "is well and safe." + +"But where or with whom?" said the young chief. "And wherefore came +she not with you? Think you the Clan Quhele have no cailliachs as +active as old Dorothy, whose hand has warmed my haffits before now, +to wait upon the daughter of their chieftain's master?" + +"Again I thank you," said the glover, "and doubt neither your power +nor your will to protect my daughter, as well as myself. But an +honourable lady, the friend of Sir Patrick Charteris, hath offered +her a safe place of refuge without the risk of a toilsome journey +through a desolate and distracted country." + +"Oh, ay, Sir Patrick Charteris," said Eachin, in a more reserved +and distant tone; "he must be preferred to all men, without doubt. +He is your friend, I think?" + +Simon Glover longed to punish this affectation of a boy who had been +scolded four times a day for running into the street to see Sir +Patrick Charteris ride past; but he checked his spirit of repartee, +and simply said: + +"Sir Patrick Charteris has been provost of Perth for seven years, +and it is likely is so still, since the magistrates are elected, +not in Lent, but at St. Martinmas." + +"Ah, father Glover," said the youth, in his kinder and more familiar +mode of address, "you are so used to see the sumptuous shows and +pageants of Perth, that you would but little relish our barbarous +festival in comparison. What didst thou think of our ceremonial of +yesterday?" + +"It was noble and touching," said the glover; "and to me, who knew +your father, most especially so. When you rested on the sword and +looked around you, methought I saw mine old friend Gilchrist MacIan +arisen from the dead and renewed in years and in strength." + +"I played my part there boldly, I trust; and showed little of that +paltry apprentice boy whom you used to--use just as he deserved?" + +"Eachin resembles Conachar," said the glover, "no more than a +salmon resembles a gar, though men say they are the same fish in +a different state, or than a butterfly resembles a grub." + +"Thinkest thou that, while I was taking upon me the power which +all women love, I would have been myself an object for a maiden's +eye to rest upon? To speak plain, what would Catharine have thought +of me in the ceremonial?" + +"We approach the shallows now," thought Simon Glover, "and without +nice pilotage we drive right on shore." + +"Most women like show, Eachin; but I think my daughter Catharine +be an exception. She would rejoice in the good fortune of her +household friend and playmate; but she would not value the splendid +MacIan, captain of Clan Quhele, more than the orphan Conachar." + +"She is ever generous and disinterested," replied the young chief. +"But yourself, father, have seen the world for many more years than +she has done, and can better form a judgment what power and wealth +do for those who enjoy them. Think, and speak sincerely, what would +be your own thoughts if you saw your Catharine standing under yonder +canopy, with the command over an hundred hills, and the devoted +obedience of ten thousand vassals; and as the price of these +advantages, her hand in that of the man who loves her the best in +the world?" + +"Meaning in your own, Conachar?" said Simon. + +"Ay, Conachar call me: I love the name, since it was by that I have +been known to Catharine." + +"Sincerely, then," said the glover, endeavouring to give the least +offensive turn to his reply, "my inmost thought would be the earnest +wish that Catharine and I were safe in our humble booth in Curfew +Street, with Dorothy for our only vassal." + +"And with poor Conachar also, I trust? You would not leave him to +pine away in solitary grandeur?" + +"I would not," answered the glover, "wish so ill to the Clan +Quhele, mine ancient friends, as to deprive them, at the moment +of emergency, of a brave young chief, and that chief of the fame +which he is about to acquire at their head in the approaching +conflict." + +Eachin bit his lip to suppress his irritated feelings as he replied: +"Words--words--empty words, father Simon. You fear the Clan +Quhele more than you love them, and you suppose their indignation +would be formidable should their chief marry the daughter of a +burgess of Perth." + +"And if I do fear such an issue, Hector MacIan, have I not +reason? How have ill assorted marriages had issue in the house of +MacCallanmore, in that of the powerful MacLeans--nay, of the Lords +of the Isles themselves? What has ever come of them but divorce +and exheredation, sometimes worse fate, to the ambitious intruder? +You could not marry my child before a priest, and you could only +wed her with your left hand; and I--" he checked the strain of +impetuosity which the subject inspired, and concluded, "and I am +an honest though humble burgher of Perth, who would rather my child +were the lawful and undoubted spouse of a citizen in my own rank +than the licensed concubine of a monarch." + +"I will wed Catharine before the priest and before the world, before +the altar and before the black stones of Iona," said the impetuous +young man. "She is the love of my youth, and there is not a tie in +religion or honour but I will bind myself by them! I have sounded +my people. If we do but win this combat--and, with the hope of +gaining Catharine, we SHALL win it--my heart tells me so--I +shall be so much lord over their affections that, were I to take +a bride from the almshouse, so it was my pleasure, they would hail +her as if she were a daughter of MacCallanmore. But you reject my +suit?" said Eachin, sternly. + +"You put words of offence in my mouth," said the old man, "and may +next punish me for them, since I am wholly in your power. But with +my consent my daughter shall never wed save in her own degree. Her +heart would break amid the constant wars and scenes of bloodshed +which connect themselves with your lot. If you really love her, +and recollect her dread of strife and combat, you would not wish +her to be subjected to the train of military horrors in which you, +like your father, must needs be inevitably and eternally engaged. +Choose a bride amongst the daughters of the mountain chiefs, my +son, or fiery Lowland nobles. You are fair, young, rich, high born, +and powerful, and will not woo in vain. You will readily find one +who will rejoice in your conquests, and cheer you under defeat. To +Catharine, the one would be as frightful as the other. A warrior +must wear a steel gauntlet: a glove of kidskin would be torn to +pieces in an hour." + +A dark cloud passed over the face of the young chief, lately animated +with so much fire. + +"Farewell," he said, "the only hope which could have lighted me to +fame or victory!" + +He remained for a space silent, and intensely thoughtful, with +downcast eyes, a lowering brow, and folded arms. At length he raised +his hands, and said: "Father,--for such you have been to me--I +am about to tell you a secret. Reason and pride both advise me to +be silent, but fate urges me, and must be obeyed. I am about to +lodge in you the deepest and dearest secret that man ever confided +to man. But beware--end this conference how it will--beware +how you ever breathe a syllable of what I am now to trust to you; +for know that, were you to do so in the most remote corner of +Scotland, I have ears to hear it even there, and a hand and poniard +to reach a traitor's bosom. I am--but the word will not out!" + +"Do not speak it then," said the prudent glover: "a secret is +no longer safe when it crosses the lips of him who owns it, and I +desire not a confidence so dangerous as you menace me with." + +"Ay, but I must speak, and you must hear," said the youth. "In this +age of battle, father, you have yourself been a combatant?" + +"Once only," replied Simon, "when the Southron assaulted the Fair +City. I was summoned to take my part in the defence, as my tenure +required, like that of other craftsmen, who are bound to keep watch +and ward." + +"And how felt you upon that matter?" inquired the young chief. + +"What can that import to the present business?" said Simon, in some +surprise. + +"Much, else I had not asked the question," answered. Eachin, in +the tone of haughtiness which from time to time he assumed. + +"An old man is easily brought to speak of olden times," said Simon, +not unwilling, on an instant's reflection, to lead the conversation +away from the subject of his daughter, "and I must needs confess +my feelings were much short of the high, cheerful confidence, nay, +the pleasure, with which I have seen other men go to battle. My +life and profession were peaceful, and though I have not wanted +the spirit of a man, when the time demanded it, yet I have seldom +slept worse than the night before that onslaught. My ideas were +harrowed by the tales we were told--nothing short of the truth +--about the Saxon archers: how they drew shafts of a cloth yard +length, and used bows a third longer than ours. When I fell into +a broken slumber, if but a straw in the mattress pricked my side +I started and waked, thinking an English arrow was quivering in my +body. In the morning, as I began for very weariness to sink into +some repose, I was waked by the tolling of the common bell, which +called us burghers to the walls; I never heard its sound peal so +like a passing knell before or since." + +"Go on--what further chanced?" demanded Eachin. + +"I did on my harness," said Simon, "such as it was; took my mother's +blessing, a high spirited woman, who spoke of my father's actions +for the honour of the Fair Town. This heartened me, and I felt +still bolder when I found myself ranked among the other crafts, +all bowmen, for thou knowest the Perth citizens have good skill +in archery. We were dispersed on the walls, several knights and +squires in armour of proof being mingled amongst us, who kept a +bold countenance, confident perhaps in their harness, and informed +us, for our encouragement, that they would cut down with their +swords and axes any of those who should attempt to quit their post. +I was kindly assured of this myself by the old Kempe of Kinfauns, +as he was called, this good Sir Patrick's father, then our provost. He +was a grandson of the Red Rover, Tom of Longueville, and a likely +man to keep his word, which he addressed to me in especial, because +a night of much discomfort may have made me look paler than usual; +and, besides, I was but a lad." + +"And did his exhortation add to your fear or your resolution?" said +Eachin, who seemed very attentive. + +"To my resolution," answered Simon; "for I think nothing can make +a man so bold to face one danger at some distance in his front as +the knowledge of another close behind him, to push him forward. +Well, I mounted the walls in tolerable heart, and was placed with +others on the Spey Tower, being accounted a good bowman. But a +very cold fit seized me as I saw the English, in great order, with +their archers in front, and their men at arms behind, marching +forward to the attack in strong columns, three in number. They came +on steadily, and some of us would fain have shot at them; but it +was strictly forbidden, and we were obliged to remain motionless, +sheltering ourselves behind the battlement as we best might. As +the Southron formed their long ranks into lines, each man occupying +his place as by magic, and preparing to cover themselves by large +shields, called pavesses, which they planted before them, I again +felt a strange breathlessness, and some desire to go home for a +glass of distilled waters. But as I looked aside, I saw the worthy +Kempe of Kinfauns bending a large crossbow, and I thought it pity +he should waste the bolt on a true hearted Scotsman, when so many +English were in presence; so I e'en staid where I was, being in +a comfortable angle, formed by two battlements. The English then +strode forward, and drew their bowstrings--not to the breast, +as your Highland kerne do, but to the ear--and sent off their +volleys of swallow tails before we could call on St. Andrew. I winked +when I saw them haul up their tackle, and I believe I started as +the shafts began to rattle against the parapet. But looking round +me, and seeing none hurt but John Squallit, the town crier, whose +jaws were pierced through with a cloth yard shaft, I took heart of +grace, and shot in my turn with good will and good aim. A little +man I shot at, who had just peeped out from behind his target, +dropt with a shaft through his shoulder. The provost cried, 'Well +stitched, Simon Glover!' 'St. John, for his own town, my fellow +craftsmen!' shouted I, though I was then but an apprentice. And if +you will believe me, in the rest of the skirmish, which was ended +by the foes drawing off, I drew bowstring and loosed shaft as +calmly as if I had been shooting at butts instead of men's breasts. +I gained some credit, and I have ever afterwards thought that, in +case of necessity--for with me it had never been matter of choice +--I should not have lost it again. And this is all I can tell +of warlike experience in battle. Other dangers I have had, which +I have endeavoured to avoid like a wise man, or, when they were +inevitable, I have faced them like a true one. Upon other terms a +man cannot live or hold up his head in Scotland." + +"I understand your tale," said Eachin; "but I shall find it difficult +to make you credit mine, knowing the race of which I am descended, +and especially that I am the son of him whom we have this day laid +in the tomb--well that he lies where he will never learn what +you are now to hear! Look, my father, the light which I bear grows +short and pale, a few minutes will extinguish it; but before it +expires, the hideous tale will be told. Father, I am--a COWARD! +It is said at last, and the secret of my disgrace is in keeping of +another!" + +The young man sunk back in a species of syncope, produced by the +agony of his mind as he made the fatal communication. The glover, +moved as well by fear as by compassion, applied himself to recall +him to life, and succeeded in doing so, but not in restoring him +to composure. He hid his face with his hands, and his tears flowed +plentifully and bitterly. + +"For Our Lady's sake, be composed," said the old man, "and recall +the vile word! I know you better than yourself: you are no coward, +but only too young and inexperienced, ay, and somewhat too quick +of fancy, to have the steady valour of a bearded man. I would hear +no other man say that of you, Conachar, without giving him the lie. +You are no coward: I have seen high sparks of spirit fly from you +even on slight enough provocation." + +"High sparks of pride and passion!" said the unfortunate youth; +"but when saw you them supported by the resolution that should have +backed them? The sparks you speak of fell on my dastardly heart +as on a piece of ice which could catch fire from nothing: if my +offended pride urged me to strike, my weakness of mind prompted me +the next moment to fly." + +"Want of habit," said Simon; "it is by clambering over walls that +youths learn to scale precipices. Begin with slight feuds; exercise +daily the arms of your country in tourney with your followers." + +"And what leisure is there for this?" exclaimed the young chief, +starting as if something horrid had occurred to his imagination. +"How many days are there betwixt this hour and Palm Sunday, and +what is to chance then? A list inclosed, from which no man can stir, +more than the poor bear who is chained to his stake. Sixty living +men, the best and fiercest--one alone excepted!--which Albyn can +send down from her mountains, all athirst for each other's blood, +while a king and his nobles, and shouting thousands besides, attend, +as at a theatre, to encourage their demoniac fury! Blows clang and +blood flows, thicker, faster, redder; they rush on each other like +madmen, they tear each other like wild beasts; the wounded are +trodden to death amid the feet of their companions! Blood ebbs, arms +become weak; but there must be no parley, no truce, no interruption, +while any of the maimed wretches remain alive! Here is no crouching +behind battlements, no fighting with missile weapons: all is hand +to hand, till hands can no longer be raised to maintain the ghastly +conflict! If such a field is so horrible in idea, what think you +it will be in reality?" + +The glover remained silent. + +"I say again, what think you?" + +"I can only pity you, Conachar," said Simon. "It is hard to be +the descendant of a lofty line--the son of a noble father--the +leader by birth of a gallant array, and yet to want, or think you +want, for still I trust the fault lies much in a quick fancy, that +over estimates danger--to want that dogged quality which is +possessed by every game cock that is worth a handful of corn, every +hound that is worth a mess of offal. But how chanced it that, with +such a consciousness of inability to fight in this battle, you +proffered even now to share your chiefdom with my daughter? Your +power must depend on your fighting this combat, and in that Catharine +cannot help you." + +"You mistake, old man," replied Eachin: "were Catharine to look +kindly on the earnest love I bear her, it would carry me against the +front of the enemies with the mettle of a war horse. Overwhelming +as my sense of weakness is, the feeling that Catharine looked on +would give me strength. Say yet--oh, say yet--she shall be mine +if we gain the combat, and not the Gow Chrom himself, whose heart +is of a piece with his anvil, ever went to battle so light as I +shall do! One strong passion is conquered by another." + +"This is folly, Conachar. Cannot the recollection of your interest, +your honour, your kindred, do as much to stir your courage as the +thoughts of a brent browed lass? Fie upon you, man!" + +"You tell me but what I have told myself, but it is in vain," +replied Eachin, with a sigh. "It is only whilst the timid stag is +paired with the doe that he is desperate and dangerous. Be it from +constitution; be it, as our Highland cailliachs will say, from the +milk of the white doe; be it from my peaceful education and the +experience of your strict restraint; be it, as you think, from an +overheated fancy, which paints danger yet more dangerous and ghastly +than it is in reality, I cannot tell. But I know my failing, and +--yes, it must be said!--so sorely dread that I cannot conquer +it, that, could I have your consent to my wishes on such terms, +I would even here make a pause, renounce the rank I have assumed, +and retire into humble life." + +"What, turn glover at last, Conachar?" said Simon. "This beats the +legend of St. Crispin. Nay--nay, your hand was not framed for +that: you shall spoil me no more doe skins." + +"Jest not," said Eachin, "I am serious. If I cannot labour, I will +bring wealth enough to live without it. They will proclaim me +recreant with horn and war pipe. Let them do so. Catharine will love +me the better that I have preferred the paths of peace to those of +bloodshed, and Father Clement shall teach us to pity and forgive +the world, which will load us with reproaches that wound not. I +shall be the happiest of men; Catharine will enjoy all that unbounded +affection can confer upon her, and will be freed from apprehension +of the sights and sounds of horror which your ill assorted match +would have prepared for her; and you, father Glover, shall occupy +your chimney corner, the happiest and most honoured man that ever +--" + +"Hold, Eachin--I prithee, hold," said the glover; "the fir light, +with which this discourse must terminate, burns very low, and I +would speak a word in my turn, and plain dealing is best. Though it +may vex, or perhaps enrage, you, let me end these visions by saying +at once: Catharine can never be yours. A glove is the emblem of +faith, and a man of my craft should therefore less than any other +break his own. Catharine's hand is promised--promised to a man +whom you may hate, but whom you must honour--to Henry the armourer. +The match is fitting by degree, agreeable to their mutual wishes, +and I have given my promise. It is best to be plain at once; resent +my refusal as you will--I am wholly in your power. But nothing +shall make me break my word." + +The glover spoke thus decidedly, because he was aware from experience +that the very irritable disposition of his former apprentice yielded +in most cases to stern and decided resolution. Yet, recollecting +where he was, it was with some feelings of fear that he saw the +dying flame leap up and spread a flash of light on the visage of +Eachin, which seemed pale as the grave, while his eye rolled like +that of a maniac in his fever fit. The light instantly sunk down +and died, and Simon felt a momentary terror lest he should have +to dispute for his life with the youth, whom he knew to be capable +of violent actions when highly excited, however short a period his +nature could support the measures which his passion commenced. He +was relieved by the voice of Eachin, who muttered in a hoarse and +altered tone: + +"Let what we have spoken this night rest in silence for ever. If +thou bring'st it to light, thou wert better dig thine own grave." + +Thus speaking, the door of the hut opened, admitting a gleam of +moonshine. The form of the retiring chief crossed it for an instant, +the hurdle was then closed, and the shieling left in darkness. + +Simon Glover felt relieved when a conversation fraught with offence +and danger was thus peaceably terminated. But he remained deeply +affected by the condition of Hector MacIan, whom he had himself +bred up. + +"The poor child," said he, "to be called up to a place of eminence, +only to be hurled from it with contempt! What he told me I partly +knew, having often remarked that Conachar was more prone to quarrel +than to fight. But this overpowering faint heartedness, which +neither shame nor necessity can overcome, I, though no Sir William +Wallace, cannot conceive. And to propose himself for a husband to +my daughter, as if a bride were to find courage for herself and +the bridegroom! No--no, Catharine must wed a man to whom she may +say, 'Husband, spare your enemy'--not one in whose behalf she +must cry, 'Generous enemy, spare my husband!" + +Tired out with these reflections, the old man at length fell asleep. +In the morning he was awakened by his friend the Booshalloch, who, +with something of a blank visage, proposed to him to return to his +abode on the meadow at the Ballough. He apologised that the chief +could not see Simon Glover that morning, being busied with things +about the expected combat; and that Eachin MacIan thought the residence +at the Ballough would be safest for Simon Glover's health, and had +given charge that every care should be taken for his protection +and accommodation. + +Niel Booshalloch dilated on these circumstances, to gloss over +the neglect implied in the chief's dismissing his visitor without +a particular audience. + +"His father knew better," said the herdsman. "But where should +he have learned manners, poor thing, and bred up among your Perth +burghers, who, excepting yourself, neighbour Glover, who speak +Gaelic as well as I do, are a race incapable of civility?" + +Simon Glover, it may be well believed, felt none of the want of +respect which his friend resented on his account. On the contrary, he +greatly preferred the quiet residence of the good herdsman to the +tumultuous hospitality of the daily festival of the chief, even if +there had not just passed an interview with Eachin upon a subject +which it would be most painful to revive. + +To the Ballough, therefore, he quietly retreated, where, could +he have been secure of Catharine's safety, his leisure was spent +pleasantly enough. His amusement was sailing on the lake in a little +skiff, which a Highland boy managed, while the old man angled. He +frequently landed on the little island, where he mused over the +tomb of his old friend Gilchrist MacIan, and made friends with the +monks, presenting the prior with gloves of martens' fur, and the +superior officers with each of them a pair made from the skin of +the wildcat. The cutting and stitching of these little presents +served to beguile the time after sunset, while the family of the +herdsman crowded around, admiring his address, and listening to +the tales and songs with which the old man had skill to pass away +a heavy evening. + +It must be confessed that the cautious glover avoided the conversation +of Father Clement, whom he erroneously considered as rather the +author of his misfortunes than the guiltless sharer of them. "I +will not," he thought, "to please his fancies, lose the goodwill +of these kind monks, which may be one day useful to me. I have +suffered enough by his preachments already, I trow. Little the +wiser and much the poorer they have made me. No--no, Catharine +and Clement may think as they will; but I will take the first +opportunity to sneak back like a rated hound at the call of his +master, submit to a plentiful course of haircloth and whipcord, +disburse a lusty mulct, and become whole with the church again." + +More than a fortnight had passed since the glover had arrived +at Ballough, and he began to wonder that he had not heard news of +Catharine or of Henry Wynd, to whom he concluded the provost had +communicated the plan and place of his retreat. He knew the stout +smith dared not come up into the Clan Quhele country, on account +of various feuds with the inhabitants, and with Eachin himself, +while bearing the name of Conachar; but yet the glover thought Henry +might have found means to send him a message, or a token, by some +one of the various couriers who passed and repassed between the court +and the headquarters of the Clan Quhele, in order to concert the +terms of the impending combat, the march of the parties to Perth, +and other particulars requiring previous adjustment. It was now +the middle of March, and the fatal Palm Sunday was fast approaching. + +Whilst time was thus creeping on, the exiled glover had not even +once set eyes upon his former apprentice. The care that was taken +to attend to his wants and convenience in every respect showed that +he was not forgotten; but yet, when he heard the chieftain's horn +ringing through the woods, he usually made it a point to choose +his walk in a different direction. One morning, however, he found +himself unexpectedly in Eachin's close neighbourhood, with scarce +leisure to avoid him, and thus it happened. + +As Simon strolled pensively through a little silvan glade, surrounded +on either side with tall forest trees, mixed with underwood, a white +doe broke from the thicket, closely pursued by two deer greyhounds, +one of which griped her haunch, the other her throat, and pulled +her down within half a furlong of the glover, who was something +startled at the suddenness of the incident. The ear and piercing +blast of a horn, and the baying of a slow hound, made Simon aware +that the hunters were close behind, and on the trace of the deer. +Hallooing and the sound of men running through the copse were heard +close at hand. A moment's recollection would have satisfied Simon +that his best way was to stand fast, or retire slowly, and leave +it to Eachin to acknowledge his presence or not, as he should see +cause. But his desire of shunning the young man had grown into a +kind of instinct, and in the alarm of finding him so near, Simon +hid himself in a bush of hazels mixed with holly, which altogether +concealed him. He had hardly done so ere Eachin, rosy with exercise, +dashed from the thicket into the open glade, accompanied by his +foster father, Torquil of the Oak. The latter, with equal strength +and address, turned the struggling hind on her back, and holding +her forefeet in his right hand, while he knelt on her body, offered +his skene with the left to the young chief, that he might cut the +animal's throat. + +"It may not be, Torquil; do thine office, and take the assay thyself. +I must not kill the likeness of my foster--" + +This was spoken with a melancholy smile, while a tear at the same +time stood in the speaker's eye. Torquil stared at his young chief +for an instant, then drew his sharp wood knife across the creature's +throat with a cut so swift and steady that the weapon reached the +backbone. Then rising on his feet, and again fixing a long piercing +look on his chief, he said: "As much as I have done to that hind +would I do to any living man whose ears could have heard my dault +(foster son) so much as name a white doe, and couple the word with +Hector's name!" + +If Simon had no reason before to keep himself concealed, this speech +of Torquil furnished him with a pressing one. + +"It cannot be concealed, father Torquil," said Eachin: "it will +all out to the broad day." + +"What will out? what will to broad day?" asked Torquil in surprise. + +"It is the fatal secret," thought Simon; "and now, if this huge +privy councillor cannot keep silence, I shall be made answerable, +I suppose, for Eachin's disgrace having been blown abroad." + +Thinking thus anxiously, he availed himself at the same time of +his position to see as much as he could of what passed between the +afflicted chieftain and his confidant, impelled by that spirit of +curiosity which prompts us in the most momentous, as well as the +most trivial, occasions of life, and which is sometimes found to +exist in company with great personal fear. + +As Torquil listened to what Eachin communicated, the young man sank +into his arms, and, supporting himself on his shoulder, concluded +his confession by a whisper into his ear. Torquil seemed to listen +with such amazement as to make him incapable of crediting his ears. +As if to be certain that it was Eachin who spoke, he gradually roused +the youth from his reclining posture, and, holding him up in some +measure by a grasp on his shoulder, fixed on him an eye that seemed +enlarged, and at the same time turned to stone, by the marvels he +listened to. And so wild waxed the old man's visage after he had +heard the murmured communication, that Simon Glover apprehended +he would cast the youth from him as a dishonoured thing, in which +case he might have lighted among the very copse in which he lay +concealed, and occasioned his discovery in a manner equally painful +and dangerous. But the passions of Torquil, who entertained for +his foster child even a double portion of that passionate fondness +which always attends that connexion in the Highlands took a different +turn. + +"I believe it not," he exclaimed; "it is false of thy father's +child, false of thy mother's son, falsest of my dault! I offer my +gage to heaven and hell, and will maintain the combat with him that +shall call it true. Thou hast been spellbound by an evil eye, my +darling, and the fainting which you call cowardice is the work of +magic. I remember the bat that struck the torch out on the hour +that thou wert born--that hour of grief and of joy. Cheer up, +my beloved. Thou shalt with me to Iona, and the good St. Columbus, +with the whole choir of blessed saints and angels, who ever favoured +thy race, shall take from thee the heart of the white doe and return +that which they have stolen from thee." + +Eachin listened, with a look as if he would fain have believed the +words of the comforter. + +"But, Torquil," he said, "supposing this might avail us, the fatal +day approaches, and if I go to the lists, I dread me we shall be +shamed." + +"It cannot be--it shall not!" said Torquil. "Hell shall not prevail +so far: we will steep thy sword in holy water, place vervain, St. +John's Wort, and rowan tree in thy crest. We will surround thee, +I and thy eight brethren: thou shalt be safe as in a castle." + +Again the youth helplessly uttered something, which, from the +dejected tone in which it was spoken, Simon could not understand, +while Torquil's deep tones in reply fell full and distinct upon +his ear. + +"Yes, there may be a chance of withdrawing thee from the conflict. +Thou art the youngest who is to draw blade. Now, hear me, and thou +shalt know what it is to have a foster father's love, and how far +it exceeds the love even of kinsmen. The youngest on the indenture +of the Clan Chattan is Ferquhard Day. His father slew mine, and +the red blood is seething hot between us; I looked to Palm Sunday +as the term that should cool it. But mark! Thou wouldst have thought +that the blood in the veins of this Ferquhard Day and in mine would +not have mingled had they been put into the same vessel, yet hath +he cast the eyes of his love upon my only daughter Eva, the fairest +of our maidens. Think with what feelings I heard the news. It was +as if a wolf from the skirts of Farragon had said, 'Give me thy +child in wedlock, Torquil.' My child thought not thus: she loves +Ferquhard, and weeps away her colour and strength in dread of the +approaching battle. Let her give him but a sign of favour, and well +I know he will forget kith and kin, forsake the field, and fly with +her to the desert." + +"He, the youngest of the champions of Clan Chattan, being absent, +I, the youngest of the Clan Quhele, may be excused from combat" +said Eachin, blushing at the mean chance of safety thus opened to +him. + +"See now, my chief;" said Torquil, "and judge my thoughts towards +thee: others might give thee their own lives and that of their sons +--I sacrifice to thee the honour of my house." + +"My friend--my father," repeated the chief, folding Torquil to +his bosom, "what a base wretch am I that have a spirit dastardly +enough to avail myself of your sacrifice!" + +"Speak not of that. Green woods have ears. Let us back to the camp, +and send our gillies for the venison. Back, dogs, and follow at +heel." + +The slowhound, or lyme dog, luckily for Simon, had drenched his +nose in the blood of the deer, else he might have found the glover's +lair in the thicket; but its more acute properties of scent being +lost, it followed tranquilly with the gazehounds. + +When the hunters were out of sight and hearing, the glover arose, +greatly relieved by their departure, and began to move off in the +opposite direction as fast as his age permitted. His first reflection +was on the fidelity of the foster father. + +"The wild mountain heart is faithful and true. Yonder man is more +like the giants in romaunts than a man of mould like ourselves; +and yet Christians might take an example from him for his lealty. +A simple contrivance this, though, to finger a man from off their +enemies' chequer, as if there would not be twenty of the wildcats +ready to supply his place." + +Thus thought the glover, not aware that the strictest proclamations +were issued, prohibiting any of the two contending clans, their +friends, allies, and dependants, from coming within fifty miles +of Perth, during a week before and a week after the combat, which +regulation was to be enforced by armed men. + +So soon as our friend Simon arrived at the habitation of the +herdsman, he found other news awaiting him. They were brought by +Father Clement, who came in a pilgrim's cloak, or dalmatic, ready +to commence his return to the southward, and desirous to take leave +of his companion in exile, or to accept him as a travelling companion. + +"But what," said the citizen, "has so suddenly induced you to return +within the reach of danger ?" + +"Have you not heard," said Father Clement, "that, March and +his English allies having retired into England before the Earl of +Douglas, the good earl has applied himself to redress the evils of +the commonwealth, and hath written to the court letters desiring +that the warrant for the High Court of Commission against heresy be +withdrawn, as a trouble to men's consciences, that the nomination +of Henry of Wardlaw to be prelate of St. Andrews be referred to +the Parliament, with sundry other things pleasing to the Commons? +Now, most of the nobles that are with the King at Perth, and with +them Sir Patrick Charteris, your worthy provost, have declared +for the proposals of the Douglas. The Duke of Albany had agreed to +them--whether from goodwill or policy I know not. The good King +is easily persuaded to mild and gentle courses. And thus are the +jaw teeth of the oppressors dashed to pieces in their sockets, and +the prey snatched from their ravening talons. Will you with me to +the Lowlands, or do you abide here a little space?" + +Neil Booshalloch saved his friend the trouble of reply. + +"He had the chief's authority," he said, "for saying that Simon +Glover should abide until the champions went down to the battle." + +In this answer the citizen saw something not quite consistent with +his own perfect freedom of volition; but he cared little for it at +the time, as it furnished a good apology for not travelling along +with the clergyman. + +"An exemplary man," he said to his friend Niel Booshalloch, as soon +as Father Clement had taken leave--"a great scholar and a great +saint. It is a pity almost he is no longer in danger to be burned, +as his sermon at the stake would convert thousands. O Niel Booshalloch, +Father Clement's pile would be a sweet savouring sacrifice and a +beacon to all decent Christians! But what would the burning of a +borrel ignorant burgess like me serve? Men offer not up old glove +leather for incense, nor are beacons fed with undressed hides, I +trow. Sooth to speak, I have too little learning and too much fear +to get credit by the affair, and, therefore, I should, in our homely +phrase, have both the scathe and the scorn." + +"True for you," answered the herdsman. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +We must return to the characters of our dramatic narrative whom we +left at Perth, when we accompanied the glover and his fair daughter +to Kinfauns, and from that hospitable mansion traced the course of +Simon to Loch Tay; and the Prince, as the highest personage, claims +our immediate attention. + +This rash and inconsiderate young man endured with some impatience +his sequestered residence with the Lord High Constable, with +whose company, otherwise in every respect satisfactory, he became +dissatisfied, from no other reason than that he held in some +degree the character of his warder. Incensed against his uncle and +displeased with his father, he longed, not unnaturally, for the +society of Sir John Ramorny, on whom he had been so long accustomed +to throw himself for amusement, and, though he would have resented +the imputation as an insult, for guidance and direction. He therefore +sent him a summons to attend him, providing his health permitted; +and directed him to come by water to a little pavilion in the High +Constable's garden, which, like that of Sir John's own lodgings, +ran down to the Tay. In renewing an intimacy so dangerous, Rothsay +only remembered that he had been Sir Join Ramorny's munificent friend; +while Sir John, on receiving the invitation, only recollected, on +his part, the capricious insults he had sustained from his patron, +the loss of his hand, and the lightness with which he had treated +the subject, and the readiness with which Rothsay had abandoned +his cause in the matter of the bonnet maker's slaughter. He laughed +bitterly when he read the Prince's billet. + +"Eviot," he said, "man a stout boat with six trusty men--trusty +men, mark me--lose not a moment, and bid Dwining instantly come +hither. + +"Heaven smiles on us, my trusty friend," he said to the mediciner. +"I was but beating my brains how to get access to this fickle boy, +and here he sends to invite me." + +"Hem! I see the matter very clearly," said Dwining. "Heaven smiles +on some untoward consequences--he! he! he!" + +"No matter, the trap is ready; and it is baited, too, my friend, +with what would lure the boy from a sanctuary, though a troop +with drawn weapons waited him in the churchyard. Yet is it scarce +necessary. His own weariness of himself would have done the job. +Get thy matters ready--thou goest with us. Write to him, as I +cannot, that we come instantly to attend his commands, and do it +clerkly. He reads well, and that he owes to me." + +"He will be your valiancie's debtor for more knowledge before he dies +--he! he! he! But is your bargain sure with the Duke of Albany?" + +"Enough to gratify my ambition, thy avarice, and the revenge +of both. Aboard--aboard, and speedily; let Eviot throw in a few +flasks of the choicest wine, and some cold baked meats." + +"But your arm, my lord, Sir John? Does it not pain you?" + +"The throbbing of my heart silences the pain of my wound. It beats +as it would burst my bosom." + +"Heaven forbid!" said Dwining; adding, in a low voice--"It would +be a strange sight if it should. I should like to dissect it, save +that its stony case would spoil my best instruments." + +In a few minutes they were in the boat, while a speedy messenger +carried the note to the Prince. + +Rothsay was seated with the Constable, after their noontide repast. +He was sullen and silent; and the earl had just asked whether it +was his pleasure that the table should be cleared, when a note, +delivered to the Prince, changed at once his aspect. + +"As you will," he said. "I go to the pavilion in the garden-- +always with permission of my Lord Constable--to receive my late +master of the horse." + +"My lord!" said Lord Errol. + +"Ay, my lord; must I ask permission twice?" + +"No, surely, my lord," answered the Constable; "but has your Royal +Highness recollected that Sir John Ramorny--" + +"Has not the plague, I hope?" replied the Duke of Rothsay. "Come, +Errol, you would play the surly turnkey, but it is not in your +nature; farewell for half an hour." + +"A new folly!" said Errol, as the Prince, flinging open a lattice +of the ground parlour in which they sat, stept out into the garden +--"a new folly, to call back that villain to his counsels. But he +is infatuated." + +The Prince, in the mean time, looked back, and said hastily: + +"Your lordship's good housekeeping will afford us a flask or two of +wine and a slight collation in the pavilion? I love the al fresco +of the river." + +The Constable bowed, and gave the necessary orders; so that Sir John +found the materials of good cheer ready displayed, when, landing +from his barge, he entered the pavilion. + +"It grieves my heart to see your Highness under restraint," said +Ramorny, with a well executed appearance of sympathy. + +"That grief of thine will grieve mine," said the Prince. "I am sure +here has Errol, and a right true hearted lord he is, so tired me +with grave looks, and something like grave lessons, that he has +driven me back to thee, thou reprobate, from whom, as I expect +nothing good, I may perhaps obtain something entertaining. Yet, +ere we say more, it was foul work, that upon the Fastern's Even, +Ramorny. I well hope thou gavest not aim to it." + +"On my honour, my lord, a simple mistake of the brute Bonthron. I +did hint to him that a dry beating would be due to the fellow by +whom I had lost a hand; and lo you, my knave makes a double mistake. +He takes one man for another, and instead of the baton he uses the +axe." + +"It is well that it went no farther. Small matter for the bonnet +maker; but I had never forgiven you had the armourer fallen--there +is not his match in Britain. But I hope they hanged the villain +high enough?" + +"If thirty feet might serve," replied Ramorny. + +"Pah! no more of him," said Rothsay; "his wretched name makes the +good wine taste of blood. And what are the news in Perth, Ramorny? +How stands it with the bona robas and the galliards?" + +"Little galliardise stirring, my lord," answered the knight. "All +eyes are turned to the motions of the Black Douglas, who comes with +five thousand chosen men to put us all to rights, as if he were +bound for another Otterburn. It is said he is to be lieutenant +again. It is certain many have declared for his faction." + +"It is time, then, my feet were free," said Rothsay, "otherwise I +may find a worse warder than Errol." + +"Ah, my lord! were you once away from this place, you might make +as bold a head as Douglas." + +"Ramorny," said the Prince, gravely, "I have but a confused +remembrance of your once having proposed something horrible to me. +Beware of such counsel. I would be free--I would have my person +at my own disposal; but I will never levy arms against my father, +nor those it pleases him to trust." + +"It was only for your Royal Highness's personal freedom that I +was presuming to speak," answered Ramorny. "Were I in your Grace's +place, I would get me into that good boat which hovers on the Tay, +and drop quietly down to Fife, where you have many friends, and +make free to take possession of Falkland. It is a royal castle; and +though the King has bestowed it in gift on your uncle, yet surely, +even if the grant were not subject to challenge, your Grace might +make free with the residence of so near a relative." + +"He hath made free with mine," said the Duke, "as the stewartry +of Renfrew can tell. But stay, Ramorny--hold; did I not hear +Errol say that the Lady Marjory Douglas, whom they call Duchess of +Rothsay, is at Falkland? I would neither dwell with that lady nor +insult her by dislodging her." + +"The lady was there, my lord," replied Ramorny; "I have sure advice +that she is gone to meet her father." + +"Ha! to animate the Douglas against me? or perhaps to beg him to +spare me, providing I come on my knees to her bed, as pilgrims say +the emirs and amirals upon whom a Saracen soldan bestows a daughter +in marriage are bound to do? Ramorny, I will act by the Douglas's +own saying, 'It is better to hear the lark sing than the mouse +squeak.' I will keep both foot and hand from fetters." + +"No place fitter than Falkland," replied Ramorny. "I have enough +of good yeomen to keep the place; and should your Highness wish to +leave it, a brief ride reaches the sea in three directions." + +"You speak well. But we shall die of gloom yonder. Neither mirth, +music, nor maidens--ha!" said the heedless Prince. + +"Pardon me, noble Duke; but, though the Lady Marjory Douglas be +departed, like an errant dame in romance, to implore succour of her +doughty sire, there is, I may say, a lovelier, I am sure a younger, +maiden, either presently at Falkland or who will soon be on the road +thither. Your Highness has not forgotten the Fair Maid of Perth?" + +"Forget the prettiest wench in Scotland! No--any more than +thou hast forgotten the hand that thou hadst in the Curfew Street +onslaught on St. Valentine's Eve." + +"The hand that I had! Your Highness would say, the hand that I +lost. As certain as I shall never regain it, Catharine Glover is, +or will soon be, at Falkland. I will not flatter your Highness by +saying she expects to meet you; in truth, she proposes to place +herself under the protection of the Lady Marjory." + +"The little traitress," said the Prince--"she too to turn against +me? She deserves punishment, Ramorny." + +"I trust your Grace will make her penance a gentle one," replied +the knight. + +"Faith, I would have been her father confessor long ago, but I have +ever found her coy." + +"Opportunity was lacking, my lord," replied Ramorny; "and time +presses even now." + +"Nay, I am but too apt for a frolic; but my father--" + +"He is personally safe," said Ramorny, "and as much at freedom as +ever he can be; while your Highness--" + +"Must brook fetters, conjugal or literal--I know it. Yonder comes +Douglas, with his daughter in his hand, as haughty and as harsh +featured as himself, bating touches of age." + +"And at Falkland sits in solitude the fairest wench in Scotland," +said Ramorny. "Here is penance and restraint, yonder is joy and +freedom." + +"Thou hast prevailed, most sage counsellor," replied Rothsay; "but +mark you, it shall be the last of my frolics." + +"I trust so," replied Ramorny; "for, when at liberty, you may make +a good accommodation with your royal father." + +"I will write to him, Ramorny. Get the writing materials. No, I +cannot put my thoughts in words--do thou write." + +"Your Royal Highness forgets," said Ramorny, pointing to his +mutilated arm. + +"Ah! that cursed hand of yours. What can we do?" + +"So please your Highness," answered his counsellor, "if you would +use the hand of the mediciner, Dwining--he writes like a clerk." + +"Hath he a hint of the circumstances? Is he possessed of them?" + +"Fully," said Ramorny; and, stepping to the window, he called +Dwining from the boat. + +He entered the presence of the Prince of Scotland, creeping as if +he trode upon eggs, with downcast eyes, and a frame that seemed +shrunk up by a sense of awe produced by the occasion. + +"There, fellow, are writing materials. I will make trial of you; +thou know'st the case--place my conduct to my father in a fair +light." + +Dwining sat down, and in a few minutes wrote a letter, which he +handed to Sir John Ramorny. + +"Why, the devil has aided thee, Dwining," said the knight. "Listen, +my dear lord. 'Respected father and liege sovereign--Know that +important considerations induce me to take my departure from this +your court, purposing to make my abode at Falkland, both as the +seat of my dearest uncle Albany, with whom I know your Majesty +would desire me to use all familiarity, and as the residence of one +from whom I have been too long estranged, and with whom I haste to +exchange vows of the closest affection from henceforward.'" + +The Duke of Rothsay and Ramorny laughed aloud; and the physician, +who had listened to his own scroll as if it were a sentence of death, +encouraged by their applause, raised his eyes, uttered faintly his +chuckling note of "He! he!" and was again grave and silent, as if +afraid he had transgressed the bounds of reverent respect. + +"Admirable!" said the Prince--"admirable! The old man will apply +all this to the Duchess, as they call her, of Rothsay. Dwining, thou +shouldst be a secretis to his Holiness the Pope, who sometimes, it +is said, wants a scribe that can make one word record two meanings. +I will subscribe it, and have the praise of the device." + +"And now, my lord," said Ramorny, sealing the letter and leaving +it behind, "will you not to boat?" + +"Not till my chamberlain attends with some clothes and necessaries, +and you may call my sewer also." + +"My lord," said Ramorny, "time presses, and preparation will but +excite suspicion. Your officers will follow with the mails tomorrow. +For tonight, I trust my poor service may suffice to wait on you at +table and chamber." + +"Nay, this time it is thou who forgets," said the Prince, touching +the wounded arm with his walking rod. "Recollect, man, thou canst +neither carve a capon nor tie a point--a goodly sewer or valet +of the mouth!" + +Ramorny grinned with rage and pain; for his wound, though in a +way of healing, was still highly sensitive, and even the pointing +a finger towards it made him tremble. + +"Will your Highness now be pleased to take boat?" + +"Not till I take leave of the Lord Constable. Rothsay must not slip +away, like a thief from a prison, from the house of Errol. Summon +him hither." + +"My Lord Duke," said Ramorny, "it may be dangerous to our plan." + +"To the devil with danger, thy plan, and thyself! I must and will +act to Errol as becomes us both." + +The earl entered, agreeable to the Prince's summons. + +"I gave you this trouble, my lord," said Rothsay, with the dignified +courtesy which he knew so well how to assume, "to thank you for your +hospitality and your good company. I can enjoy them no longer, as +pressing affairs call me to Falkland." + +"My lord," said the Lord High Constable, "I trust your Grace +remembers that you are--under ward." + +"How!--under ward? If I am a prisoner, speak plainly; if not, I +will take my freedom to depart." + +"I would, my lord, your Highness would request his Majesty's +permission for this journey. There will be much displeasure." + +"Mean you displeasure against yourself, my lord, or against me?" + +"I have already said your Highness lies in ward here; but if you +determine to break it, I have no warrant--God forbid--to put +force on your inclinations. I can but entreat your Highness, for +your own sake--" + +"Of my own interest I am the best judge. Good evening to you, my +lord." + +The wilful Prince stepped into the boat with Dwining and Ramorny, +and, waiting for no other attendance, Eviot pushed off the vessel, +which descended the Tay rapidly by the assistance of sail and oar +and of the ebb tide. + +For some space the Duke of Rothsay appeared silent and moody, nor +did his companions interrupt his reflections. He raised his head +at length and said: "My father loves a jest, and when all is over +he will take this frolic at no more serious rate than it deserves +--a fit of youth, with which he will deal as he has with others. +Yonder, my masters, shows the old hold of Kinfauns, frowning above +the Tay. Now, tell me, John Ramorny, how thou hast dealt to get the +Fair Maid of Perth out of the hands of yonder bull headed provost; +for Errol told me it was rumoured that she was under his protection." + +"Truly she was, my lord, with the purpose of being transferred +to the patronage of the Duchess--I mean of the Lady Marjory of +Douglas. Now, this beetle headed provost, who is after all but a +piece of blundering valiancy, has, like most such, a retainer of +some slyness and cunning, whom he uses in all his dealings, and +whose suggestions he generally considers as his own ideas. Whenever +I would possess myself of a landward baron, I address myself to such +a confidant, who, in the present case, is called Kitt Henshaw, an +old skipper upon the Tay, and who, having in his time sailed as +far as Campvere, holds with Sir Patrick Charteris the respect due +to one who has seen foreign countries. This his agent I have made +my own, and by his means have insinuated various apologies in order +to postpone the departure of Catharine for Falkland." + +"But to what good purpose?" + +"I know not if it is wise to tell your Highness, lest you should +disapprove of my views. I meant the officers of the Commission for +inquiry into heretical opinions should have found the Fair Maid +at Kinfauns, for our beauty is a peevish, self willed swerver from +the church; and certes, I designed that the knight should have come +in for his share of the fines and confiscations that were about to +be inflicted. The monks were eager enough to be at him, seeing he +hath had frequent disputes with them about the salmon tithe." + +"But wherefore wouldst thou have ruined the knight's fortunes, and +brought the beautiful young woman to the stake, perchance?" + +"Pshaw, my Lord Duke! monks never burn pretty maidens. An old +woman might have been in some danger; and as for my Lord Provost, +as they call him, if they had clipped off some of his fat acres, +it would have been some atonement for the needless brave he put on +me in St. John's church." + +"Methinks, John, it was but a base revenge," said Rothsay. + +"Rest ye contented, my lord. He that cannot right himself by the +hand must use his head. Well, that chance was over by the tender +hearted Douglas's declaring in favour of tender conscience; and +then, my lord, old Henshaw found no further objections to carrying +the Fair Maid of Perth to Falkland, not to share the dulness of the +Lady Marjory's society, as Sir Patrick Charteris and she herself +doth opine, but to keep your Highness from tiring when we return +from hunting in the park." + +There was again a long pause, in which the Prince seemed to muse +deeply. At length he spoke. "Ramorny, I have a scruple in this matter; +but if I name it to thee, the devil of sophistry, with which thou +art possessed, will argue it out of me, as it has done many others. +This girl is the most beautiful, one excepted, whom I ever saw or +knew; and I like her the more that she bears some features of-- +Elizabeth of Dunbar. But she, I mean Catharine Glover, is contracted, +and presently to be wedded, to Henry the armourer, a craftsman +unequalled for skill, and a man at arms yet unmatched in the barrace. +To follow out this intrigue would do a good fellow too much wrong." + +"Your Highness will not expect me to be very solicitous of Henry +Smith's interest," said Ramorny, looking at his wounded arm. + +"By St. Andrew with his shored cross, this disaster of thine is too +much harped upon, John Ramorny! Others are content with putting a +finger into every man's pie, but thou must thrust in thy whole gory +hand. It is done, and cannot be undone; let it be forgotten." + +"Nay, my lord, you allude to it more frequently than I," answered +the knight--"in derision, it is true; while I--but I can be +silent on the subject if I cannot forget it." + +"Well, then, I tell thee that I have scruple about this intrigue. +Dost thou remember, when we went in a frolic to hear Father +Clement preach, or rather to see this fair heretic, that he spoke +as touchingly as a minstrel about the rich man taking away the poor +man's only ewe lamb?" + +"A great matter, indeed," answered Sir John, "that this churl's +wife's eldest son should be fathered by the Prince of Scotland! +How many earls would covet the like fate for their fair countesses? +and how many that have had such good luck sleep not a grain the +worse for it?" + +"And if I might presume to speak," said the mediciner, "the ancient +laws of Scotland assigned such a privilege to every feudal lord +over his female vassals, though lack of spirit and love of money +hath made many exchange it for gold." + +"I require no argument to urge me to be kind to a pretty woman; +but this Catharine has been ever cold to me," said the Prince. + +"Nay, my lord," said Ramorny, "if, young, handsome, and a prince, +you know not how to make yourself acceptable to a fine woman, it +is not for me to say more." + +"And if it were not far too great audacity in me to speak again, +I would say," quoth the leech, "that all Perth knows that the Gow +Chrom never was the maiden's choice, but fairly forced upon her by +her father. I know for certain that she refused him repeatedly." + +"Nay, if thou canst assure us of that, the case is much altered," +said Rothsay. "Vulcan was a smith as well as Harry Wynd; he would +needs wed Venus, and our chronicles tell us what came of it." + +"Then long may Lady Venus live and be worshipped," said Sir John +Ramorny, "and success to the gallant knight Mars who goes a-wooing +to her goddess-ship!" + +The discourse took a gay and idle turn for a few minutes; but the +Duke of Rothsay soon dropped it. "I have left," he said, "yonder +air of the prison house behind me, and yet my spirits scarce revive. +I feel that drowsy, not unpleasing, yet melancholy mood that comes +over us when exhausted by exercise or satiated with pleasure. Some +music now, stealing on the ear, yet not loud enough to make us lift +the eye, were a treat for the gods." + +"Your Grace has but to speak your wishes, and the nymphs of the +Tay are as favourable as the fair ones upon the shore. Hark! it is +a lute." + +"A lute!" said the Duke of Rothsay, listening; "it is, and rarely +touched. I should remember that dying fall. Steer towards the boat +from whence the music comes" + +"It is old Henshaw," said Ramorny, "working up the stream. How, +skipper!" + +The boatman answered the hail, and drew up alongside of the Prince's +barge. + +"Oh, ho! my old friend!" said the Prince, recognising the figure as +well as the appointments of the French glee woman, Louise. "I think +I owe thee something for being the means of thy having a fright, +at least, upon St. Valentine's Day. Into this boat with thee, lute, +puppy dog, scrip and all; I will prefer thee to a lady's service +who shall feed thy very cur on capons and canary." + +"I trust your Highness will consider--" said Ramorny. + +"I will consider nothing but my pleasure, John. Pray, do thou be +so complying as to consider it also." + +"Is it indeed to a lady's service you would promote me?" said the +glee maiden. "And where does she dwell?" + +"At Falkland," answered the Prince. + +"Oh, I have heard of that great lady!" said Louise; "and will you +indeed prefer me to your right royal consort's service?" + +"I will, by my honour--whenever I receive her as such. Mark that +reservation, John," said he aside to Ramorny. + +The persons who were in the boat caught up the tidings, and, +concluding a reconciliation was about to take place betwixt the +royal couple, exhorted Louise to profit by her good fortune, and +add herself to the Duchess of Rothsay's train. Several offered her +some acknowledgment for the exercise of her talents. + +During this moment of delay, Ramorny whispered to Dwining: "Make +in, knave, with some objection. This addition is one too many. +Rouse thy wits, while I speak a word with Henshaw." + +"If I might presume to speak," said Dwining, "as one who have made +my studies both in Spain and Arabia, I would say, my lord, that the +sickness has appeared in Edinburgh, and that there may be risk in +admitting this young wanderer into your Highness's vicinity." + +"Ah! and what is it to thee," said Rothsay, "whether I choose to +be poisoned by the pestilence or the 'pothecary? Must thou, too, +needs thwart my humour?" + +While the Prince thus silenced the remonstrances of Dwining, Sir +John Ramorny had snatched a moment to learn from Henshaw that the +removal of the Duchess of Rothsay from Falkland was still kept +profoundly secret, and that Catharine Glover would arrive there +that evening or the next morning, in expectation of being taken +under the noble lady's protection. + +The Duke of Rothsay, deeply plunged in thought, received this intimation +so coldly, that Ramorny took the liberty of remonstrating. "This, +my lord," he said, "is playing the spoiled child of fortune. You +wish for liberty; it comes. You wish for beauty; it awaits you, +with just so much delay as to render the boon more precious. Even +your slightest desires seem a law to the Fates; for you desire music +when it seems most distant, and the lute and song are at your hand. +These things, so sent, should be enjoyed, else we are but like +petted children, who break and throw from them the toys they have +wept themselves sick for." + +"To enjoy pleasure, Ramorny," said the Prince, "a man should have +suffered pain, as it requires fasting to gain a good appetite. We, +who can have all for a wish, little enjoy that all when we have +possessed it. Seest thou yonder thick cloud, which is about to +burst to rain? It seems to stifle me--the waters look dark and +lurid--the shores have lost their beautiful form--" + +"My lord, forgive your servant," said Ramorny. "You indulge +a powerful imagination, as an unskilful horseman permits a fiery +steed to rear until he falls back on his master and crushes him. I +pray you shake off this lethargy. Shall the glee maiden make some +music?" + +"Let her; but it must be melancholy: all mirth would at this moment +jar on my ear." + +The maiden sung a melancholy dirge in Norman French; the words, +of which the following is an imitation, were united to a tune as +doleful as they are themselves: + +Yes, thou mayst sigh, +And look once more at all around, +At stream and bank, and sky and ground. +Thy life its final course has found, +And thou must die. + +Yes, lay thee down, +And while thy struggling pulses flutter, +Bid the grey monk his soul mass mutter, +And the deep bell its death tone utter-- +Thy life is gone. + +Be not afraid. +'Tis but a pang, and then a thrill, +A fever fit, and then a chill, +And then an end of human ill, +For thou art dead. + +The Prince made no observation on the music; and the maiden, at +Ramorny's beck, went on from time to time with her minstrel craft, +until the evening sunk down into rain, first soft and gentle, at +length in great quantities, and accompanied by a cold wind. There +was neither cloak nor covering for the Prince, and he sullenly +rejected that which Ramorny offered. + +"It is not for Rothsay to wear your cast garments, Sir John; this +melted snow, which I feel pierce me to the very marrow, I am now +encountering by your fault. Why did you presume to put off the boat +without my servants and apparel?" + +Ramorny did not attempt an exculpation; for he knew the Prince was +in one of those humours, when to enlarge upon a grievance was more +pleasing to him than to have his mouth stopped by any reasonable +apology. In sullen silence, or amid unsuppressed chiding, the boat +arrived at the fishing village of Newburgh. The party landed, and +found horses in readiness, which, indeed, Ramorny had long since +provided for the occasion. Their quality underwent the Prince's +bitter sarcasm, expressed to Ramorny sometimes by direct words, +oftener by bitter gibes. At length they were mounted and rode on +through the closing night and the falling rain, the Prince leading +the way with reckless haste. The glee maiden, mounted by his express +order, attended them and well for her that, accustomed to severe +weather, and exercise both on foot and horseback, she supported as +firmly as the men the fatigues of the nocturnal ride. Ramorny was +compelled to keep at the Prince's rein, being under no small anxiety +lest, in his wayward fit, he might ride off from him entirely, and, +taking refuge in the house of some loyal baron, escape the snare +which was spread for him. He therefore suffered inexpressibly during +the ride, both in mind and in body. + +At length the forest of Falkland received them, and a glimpse of +the moon showed the dark and huge tower, an appendage of royalty +itself, though granted for a season to the Duke of Albany. On a +signal given the drawbridge fell. Torches glared in the courtyard, +menials attended, and the Prince, assisted from horseback, was +ushered into an apartment, where Ramorny waited on him, together +with Dwining, and entreated him to take the leech's advice. The +Duke of Rothsay repulsed the proposal, haughtily ordered his bed to +be prepared, and having stood for some time shivering in his dank +garments beside a large blazing fire, he retired to his apartment +without taking leave of anyone. + +"You see the peevish humour of this childish boy, now," said Ramorny +to Dwining; "can you wonder that a servant who has done so much +for him as I have should be tired of such a master?" + +"No, truly," said Dwining, "that and the promised earldom of Lindores +would shake any man's fidelity. But shall we commence with him this +evening? He has, if eye and cheek speak true, the foundation of a +fever within him, which will make our work easy while it will seem +the effect of nature." + +"It is an opportunity lost," said Ramorny; "but we must delay our +blow till he has seen this beauty, Catharine Glover. She may be +hereafter a witness that she saw him in good health, and master of +his own motions, a brief space before--you understand me?" + +Dwining nodded assent, and added: + +"There is no time lost; for there is little difficulty in blighting +a flower exhausted from having been made to bloom too soon." + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +Ah, me! in sooth he was a shameless wight, +Sore given to revel and ungodly glee: +Few earthly things found favour in his sight, +Save concubines and carnal companie, +And flaunting wassailers of high and low degree. + +BYRON. + + +With the next morning the humour of the Duke of Rothsay was changed. +He complained, indeed, of pain and fever, but they rather seemed +to stimulate than to overwhelm him. He was familiar with Ramorny, +and though he said nothing on the subject of the preceding night, +it was plain he remembered what he desired to obliterate from the +memory of his followers--the ill humour he had then displayed. +He was civil to every one, and jested with Ramorny on the subject +of Catharine's arrival. + +"How surprised will the pretty prude be at seeing herself in a +family of men, when she expects to be admitted amongst the hoods +and pinners of Dame Marjory's waiting women! Thou hast not many of +the tender sex in thy household, I take it, Ramorny?" + +"Faith, none except the minstrel wench, but a household drudge or +two whom we may not dispense with. By the way, she is anxiously +inquiring after the mistress your Highness promised to prefer her +to. Shall I dismiss her, to hunt for her new mistress at leisure?" + +"By no means, she will serve to amuse Catharine. And, hark you, were +it not well to receive that coy jillet with something of a mumming?" + +"How mean you, my lord?" + +"Thou art dull, man. We will not disappoint her, since she expects +to find the Duchess of Rothsay: I will be Duke and Duchess in my +own person." + +"Still I do not comprehend." + +"No one so dull as a wit," said the Prince, "when he does not hit +off the scent at once. My Duchess, as they call her, has been in +as great a hurry to run away from Falkland as I to come hither. We +have both left our apparel behind. There is as much female trumpery +in the wardrobe adjoining to my sleeping room as would equip a whole +carnival. Look you, I will play Dame Marjory, disposed on this day +bed here with a mourning veil and a wreath of willow, to show my +forsaken plight; thou, John, wilt look starch and stiff enough for +her Galwegian maid of honour, the Countess Hermigild; and Dwining +shall present the old Hecate, her nurse--only she hath more beard +on her upper lip than Dwining on his whole face, and skull to boot. +He should have the commodity of a beard to set her forth conformably. +Get thy kitchen drudges, and what passable pages thou hast with thee, +to make my women of the bedroom. Hearest thou? about it instantly." + +Ramorny hasted into the anteroom, and told Dwining the Prince's +device. + +"Do thou look to humour the fool," he said; "I care not how little +I see him, knowing what is to be done." + +"Trust all to me," said the physician, shrugging his shoulders. +"What sort of a butcher is he that can cut the lamb's throat, yet +is afraid to hear it bleat?" + +"Tush, fear not my constancy: I cannot forget that he would have +cast me into the cloister with as little regard as if he threw +away the truncheon of a broken lance. Begone--yet stay; ere you +go to arrange this silly pageant, something must be settled to +impose on the thick witted Charteris. He is like enough, should he +be left in the belief that the Duchess of Rothsay is still here, +and Catharine Glover in attendance on her, to come down with offers +of service, and the like, when, as I need scarce tell thee, his +presence would be inconvenient. Indeed, this is the more likely, +that some folks have given a warmer name to the iron headed knight's +great and tender patronage of this damsel." + +"With that hint, let me alone to deal with him. I will send him +such a letter, that for this month he shall hold himself as ready +for a journey to hell as to Falkland. Can you tell me the name of +the Duchess's confessor?" + +"Waltheof, a grey friar." + +"Enough--then here I start." + +In a few minutes, for he was a clerk of rare celerity, Dwining +finished a letter, which he placed in Ramorny's hand. + +"This is admirable, and would have made thy fortune with Rothsay. +I think I should have been too jealous to trust thee in his household, +save that his day is closed." + +"Read it aloud," said Dwining, "that we may judge if it goes +trippingly off." + +And Ramorny read as follows: "By command of our high and mighty +Princess Marjory, Duchess of Rothsay, and so forth, we Waltheof, +unworthy brother of the order of St. Francis, do thee, Sir Patrick +Charteris, knight of Kinfauns, to know, that her Highness marvels +much at the temerity with which you have sent to her presence a +woman of whose fame she can judge but lightly, seeing she hath made +her abode, without any necessity, for more than a week in thine +own castle, without company of any other female, saving menials; of +which foul cohabitation the savour is gone up through Fife, Angus, +and Perthshire. Nevertheless, her Highness, considering the ease +as one of human frailty, hath not caused this wanton one to be +scourged with nettles, or otherwise to dree penance; but, as two +good brethren of the convent of Lindores, the Fathers Thickskull +and Dundermore, have been summoned up to the Highlands upon an +especial call, her Highness hath committed to their care this maiden +Catharine, with charge to convey her to her father, whom she states +to be residing beside Loch Tay, under whose protection she will +find a situation more fitting her qualities and habits than the +Castle of Falkland, while her Highness the Duchess of Rothsay abides +there. She hath charged the said reverend brothers so to deal with +the young woman as may give her a sense of the sin of incontinence, +and she commendeth thee to confession and penitence.--Signed, +Waltheof, by command of an high and mighty Princess"; and so forth. + +When he had finished, "Excellent--excellent!" Ramorny exclaimed. +"This unexpected rebuff will drive Charteris mad! He hath been long +making a sort of homage to this lady, and to find himself suspected +of incontinence, when he was expecting the full credit of a charitable +action, will altogether confound him; and, as thou say'st, it will +be long enough ere he come hither to look after the damsel or do +honour to the dame. But away to thy pageant, while I prepare that +which shall close the pageant for ever." + +It was an hour before noon, when Catharine, escorted by old Henshaw +and a groom of the Knight of Kinfauns, arrived before the lordly +tower of Falkland. The broad banner which was displayed from it +bore the arms of Rothsay, the servants who appeared wore the colours +of the Prince's household, all confirming the general belief that +the Duchess still resided there. Catharine's heart throbbed, for she +had heard that the Duchess had the pride as well as the high courage +of the house of Douglas, and felt uncertain touching the reception +she was to experience. On entering the castle, she observed that +the train was smaller than she had expected, but, as the Duchess +lived in close retirement, she was little surprised at this. In a +species of anteroom she was met by a little old woman, who seemed +bent double with age, and supported herself upon an ebony staff. + +"Truly thou art welcome, fair daughter," said she, saluting Catharine, +"and, as I may say, to an afflicted house; and I trust (once more +saluting her) thou wilt be a consolation to my precious and right +royal daughter the Duchess. Sit thee down, my child, till I see +whether my lady be at leisure to receive thee. Ah, my child, thou +art very lovely indeed, if Our Lady hath given to thee a soul to +match with so fair a body." + +With that the counterfeit old woman crept into the next apartment, +where she found Rothsay in the masquerading habit he had prepared, +and Ramorny, who had evaded taking part in the pageant, in his +ordinary attire. + +"Thou art a precious rascal, sir doctor," said the Prince; "by +my honour, I think thou couldst find in thy heart to play out the +whole play thyself, lover's part and all." + +"If it were to save your Highness trouble," said the leech, with +his usual subdued laugh. + +"No--no," said Rothsay, "I never need thy help, man; and tell +me now, how look I, thus disposed on the couch--languishing and +ladylike, ha?" + +"Something too fine complexioned and soft featured for the Lady +Marjory of Douglas, if I may presume to say so," said the leech. + +"Away, villain, and marshal in this fair frost piece--fear not +she will complain of my effeminacy; and thou, Ramorny, away also." + +As the knight left the apartment by one door, the fictitious old +woman ushered in Catharine Glover by another. The room had been +carefully darkened to twilight, so that Catharine saw the apparently +female figure stretched on the couch without the least suspicion. + +"Is that the maiden?" asked Rothsay, in a voice naturally sweet, +and now carefully modulated to a whispering tone. "Let her approach, +Griselda, and kiss our hand." + +The supposed nurse led the trembling maiden forward to the side +of the couch, and signed to her to kneel. Catharine did so, and +kissed with much devotion and simplicity the gloved hand which the +counterfeit duchess extended to her. + +"Be not afraid," said the same musical voice; "in me you only see +a melancholy example of the vanity of human greatness; happy those, +my child, whose rank places them beneath the storms of state." + +While he spoke, he put his arms around her neck and drew her +towards him, as if to salute her in token of welcome. But the kiss +was bestowed with an earnestness which so much overacted the part +of the fair patroness, that Catharine, concluding the Duchess had +lost her senses, screamed aloud. + +"Peace, fool! it is I--David of Rothsay." + +Catharine looked around her; the nurse was gone, and the Duke +tearing off his veil, she saw herself in the power of a daring +young libertine. + +"Now be present with me, Heaven!" she said; "and Thou wilt, if I +forsake not myself." + +As this resolution darted through her mind, she repressed her +disposition to scream, and, as far as she might, strove to conceal +her fear. + +"The jest hath been played," she said, with as much firmness as +she could assume; "may I entreat that your Highness will now unhand +me?" for he still kept hold of her arm. + +"Nay, my pretty captive, struggle not--why should you fear?" + +"I do not struggle, my lord. As you are pleased to detain me, I +will not, by striving, provoke you to use me ill, and give pain to +yourself, when you have time to think." + +"Why, thou traitress, thou hast held me captive for months," said +the Prince, "and wilt thou not let me hold thee for a moment?" + +"This were gallantry, my lord, were it in the streets of Perth, +where I might listen or escape as I listed; it is tyranny here." + +"And if I did let thee go, whither wouldst thou fly?" said Rothsay. +"The bridges are up, the portcullis down, and the men who follow +me are strangely deaf to a peevish maiden's squalls. Be kind, +therefore, and you shall know what it is to oblige a prince." + +"Unloose me, then, my lord, and hear me appeal from thyself to +thyself, from Rothsay to the Prince of Scotland. I am the daughter +of an humble but honest citizen. I am, I may well nigh say, the +spouse of a brave and honest man. If I have given your Highness any +encouragement for what you have done, it has been unintentional. +Thus forewarned, I entreat you to forego your power over me, and +suffer me to depart. Your Highness can obtain nothing from me, save +by means equally unworthy of knighthood or manhood." + +"You are bold, Catharine," said the Prince, "but neither as a knight +nor a man can I avoid accepting a defiance. I must teach you the +risk of such challenges." + +While he spoke, he attempted to throw his arms again around her; +but she eluded his grasp, and proceeded in the same tone of firm +decision. + +"My strength, my lord, is as great to defend myself in an honourable +strife as yours can be to assail me with a most dishonourable +purpose. Do not shame yourself and me by putting it to the combat. +You may stun me with blows, or you may call aid to overpower me; +but otherwise you will fail of your purpose." + +"What a brute you would make me!" said the Prince. "The force I +would use is no more than excuses women in yielding to their own +weakness." + +He sat down in some emotion. + +"Then keep it," said Catharine, "for those women who desire such +an excuse. My resistance is that of the most determined mind which +love of honour and fear of shame ever inspired. Alas! my lord, +could you succeed, you would but break every bond between me and +life, between yourself and honour. I have been trained fraudulently +here, by what decoys I know not; but were I to go dishonoured hence, +it would be to denounce the destroyer of my happiness to every +quarter of Europe. I would take the palmer's staff in my hand, and +wherever chivalry is honoured, or the word Scotland has been heard, +I would proclaim the heir of a hundred kings, the son of the godly +Robert Stuart, the heir of the heroic Bruce, a truthless, faithless +man, unworthy of the crown he expects and of the spurs he wears. +Every lady in wide Europe would hold your name too foul for her lips; +every worthy knight would hold you a baffled, forsworn caitiff, +false to the first vow of arms, the protection of woman and the +defence of the feeble." + +Rothsay resumed his seat, and looked at her with a countenance in +which resentment was mingled with admiration. "You forget to whom +you speak, maiden. Know, the distinction I have offered you is one +for which hundreds whose trains you are born to bear would feel +gratitude." + +"Once more, my lord," resumed Catharine, "keep these favours for +those by whom they are prized; or rather reserve your time and your +health for other and nobler pursuits--for the defence of your +country and the happiness of your subjects. Alas, my lord, how +willingly would an exulting people receive you for their chief! +How gladly would they close around you, did you show desire to +head them against the oppression of the mighty, the violence of +the lawless, the seduction of the vicious, and the tyranny of the +hypocrite!" + +The Duke of Rothsay, whose virtuous feelings were as easily excited +as they were evanescent, was affected by the enthusiasm with which +she spoke. "Forgive me if I have alarmed you, maiden," he said +"thou art too noble minded to be the toy of passing pleasure, for +which my mistake destined thee; and I, even were thy birth worthy +of thy noble spirit and transcendent beauty, have no heart to give +thee; for by the homage of the heart only should such as thou be +wooed. But my hopes have been blighted, Catharine: the only woman +I ever loved has been torn from me in the very wantonness of policy, +and a wife imposed on me whom I must ever detest, even had she the +loveliness and softness which alone can render a woman amiable in +my eyes. My health is fading even in early youth; and all that is +left for me is to snatch such flowers as the short passage from +life to the grave will now present. Look at my hectic cheek; feel, +if you will, my intermitting pulse; and pity me and excuse me if +I, whose rights as a prince and as a man have been trampled upon +and usurped, feel occasional indifference towards the rights of +others, and indulge a selfish desire to gratify the wish of the +passing moment." + +"Oh, my lord!" exclaimed Catharine, with the enthusiasm which +belonged to her character--"I will call you my dear lord, for +dear must the heir of Bruce be to every child of Scotland--let +me not, I pray, hear you speak thus! Your glorious ancestor endured +exile, persecution, the night of famine, and the day of unequal +combat, to free his country; do you practise the like self denial +to free yourself. Tear yourself from those who find their own way +to greatness smoothed by feeding your follies. Distrust yon dark +Ramorny! You know it not, I am sure--you could not know; but the +wretch who could urge the daughter to courses of shame by threatening +the life of the aged father is capable of all that is vile, all +that is treacherous!" + +"Did Ramorny do this?" said the Prince. + +"He did indeed, my lord, and he dares not deny it." + +"It shall be looked to," answered the Duke of Rothsay. "I have ceased +to love him; but he has suffered much for my sake, and I must see +his services honourably requited." + +"His services! Oh, my lord, if chronicles speak true, such services +brought Troy to ruins and gave the infidels possession of Spain." + +"Hush, maiden--speak within compass, I pray you," said the Prince, +rising up; "our conference ends here." + +"Yet one word, my Lord Duke of Rothsay," said Catharine, +with animation, while her beautiful countenance resembled that of +an admonitory angel. "I cannot tell what impels me to speak thus +boldly; but the fire burns within me, and will break out. Leave +this castle without an hour's delay; the air is unwholesome for +you. Dismiss this Ramorny before the day is ten minutes older; his +company is most dangerous." + +"What reason have you for saying this?" + +"None in especial," answered Catharine, abashed at her own eagerness +--"none, perhaps, excepting my fears for your safety." + +"To vague fears the heir of Bruce must not listen. What, ho! who +waits without?" + +Ramorny entered, and bowed low to the Duke and to the maiden, whom, +perhaps, he considered as likely to be preferred to the post of +favourite sultana, and therefore entitled to a courteous obeisance. + +"Ramorny," said the Prince, "is there in the household any female +of reputation who is fit to wait on this young woman till we can +send her where she may desire to go?" + +"I fear," replied Ramorny, "if it displease not your Highness to +hear the truth, your household is indifferently provided in that +way; and that, to speak the very verity, the glee maiden is the +most decorous amongst us." + +"Let her wait upon this young person, then, since better may not +be. And take patience, maiden, for a few hours." + +Catharine retired. + +"So, my lord, part you so soon from the Fair Maid of Perth? This +is, indeed, the very wantonness of victory." + +"There is neither victory nor defeat in the case," returned the +Prince, drily. "The girl loves me not; nor do I love her well enough +to torment myself concerning her scruples." + +"The chaste Malcolm the Maiden revived in one of his descendants!" +said Ramorny. + +"Favour me, sir, by a truce to your wit, or by choosing a different +subject for its career. It is noon, I believe, and you will oblige +me by commanding them to serve up dinner." + +Ramorny left the room; but Rothsay thought he discovered a smile +upon his countenance, and to be the subject of this man's satire +gave him no ordinary degree of pain. He summoned, however, the +knight to his table, and even admitted Dwining to the same honour. +The conversation was of a lively and dissolute cast, a tone +encouraged by the Prince, as if designing to counterbalance the +gravity of his morals in the morning, which Ramorny, who was read +in old chronicles, had the boldness to liken to the continence of +Scipio. + +The banquet, nothwithstanding the Duke's indifferent health, was +protracted in idle wantonness far beyond the rules of temperance; +and, whether owing simply to the strength of the wine which he +drank, or the weakness of his constitution, or, as it is probable, +because the last wine which he quaffed had been adulterated by +Dwining, it so happened that the Prince, towards the end of the +repast, fell into a lethargic sleep, from which it seemed impossible +to rouse him. Sir John Ramorny and Dwining carried him to his +chamber, accepting no other assistance than that of another person, +whom we will afterwards give name to. + +Next morning, it was announced that the Prince was taken ill of +an infectious disorder; and, to prevent its spreading through the +household, no one was admitted to wait on him save his late master +of horse, the physician Dwining, and the domestic already mentioned; +one of whom seemed always to remain in the apartment, while the +others observed a degree of precaution respecting their intercourse +with the rest of the family, so strict as to maintain the belief +that he was dangerously ill of an infectious disorder. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire, +With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales +Of woeful ages, long ago betid: +And, ere thou bid goodnight, to quit their grief, +Tell thou the lamentable fall of me. + +King Richard II Act V. Scene I. + + +Far different had been the fate of the misguided heir of Scotland +from that which was publicly given out in the town of Falkland. +His ambitious uncle had determined on his death, as the means +of removing the first and most formidable barrier betwixt his own +family and the throne. James, the younger son of the King, was a +mere boy, who might at more leisure be easily set aside. Ramorny's +views of aggrandisement, and the resentment which he had latterly +entertained against his masters made him a willing agent in young +Rothsay's destruction. Dwining's love of gold, and his native +malignity of disposition, rendered him equally forward. It had been +resolved, with the most calculating cruelty, that all means which +might leave behind marks of violence were to be carefully avoided, +and the extinction of life suffered to take place of itself by +privation of every kind acting upon a frail and impaired constitution. +The Prince of Scotland was not to be murdered, as Ramorny had +expressed himself on another occasion, he was only to cease to exist. +Rothsay's bedchamber in the Tower of Falkland was well adapted for +the execution of such a horrible project. A small, narrow staircase, +scarce known to exist, opened from thence by a trapdoor to the +subterranean dungeons of the castle, through a passage by which +the feudal lord was wont to visit, in private and in disguise, +the inhabitants of those miserable regions. By this staircase the +villains conveyed the insensible Prince to the lowest dungeon of +the castle, so deep in the bowels of the earth, that no cries or +groans, it was supposed, could possibly be heard, while the strength +of its door and fastenings must for a long time have defied force, +even if the entrance could have been discovered. Bonthron, who had +been saved from the gallows for the purpose, was the willing agent +of Ramorny's unparalleled cruelty to his misled and betrayed patron. + +This wretch revisited the dungeon at the time when the Prince's +lethargy began to wear off, and when, awaking to sensation, he felt +himself deadly cold, unable to move, and oppressed with fetters, +which scarce permitted him to stir from the dank straw on which he +was laid. His first idea was that he was in a fearful dream, his +next brought a confused augury of the truth. He called, shouted, +yelled at length in frenzy but no assistance came, and he was only +answered by the vaulted roof of the dungeon. The agent of hell heard +these agonizing screams, and deliberately reckoned them against the +taunts and reproaches with which Rothsay had expressed his instinctive +aversion to him. When, exhausted and hopeless, the unhappy youth +remained silent, the savage resolved to present himself before the +eyes of his prisoner. The locks were drawn, the chain fell; the +Prince raised himself as high as his fetters permitted; a red glare, +against which he was fain to shut his eyes, streamed through the +vault; and when he opened them again, it was on the ghastly form +of one whom he had reason to think dead. He sunk back in horror. + +"I am judged and condemned," he exclaimed, "and the most abhorred +fiend in the infernal regions is sent to torment me!" + +"I live, my lord," said Bonthron; "and that you may live and enjoy +life, be pleased to sit up and eat your victuals." + +"Free me from these irons," said the Prince, "release me from this +dungeon, and, dog as thou art, thou shalt be the richest man in +Scotland." + +"If you would give me the weight of your shackles in gold," said +Bonthron, "I would rather see the iron on you than have the treasure +myself! But look up; you were wont to love delicate fare--behold +how I have catered for you." + +The wretch, with fiendish glee, unfolded a piece of rawhide covering +the bundle which he bore under' his arm, and, passing the light to +and fro before it, showed the unhappy Prince a bull's head recently +hewn from the trunk, and known in Scotland as the certain signal +of death. He placed it at the foot of the bed, or rather lair, on +which the Prince lay. + +"Be moderate in your food," he said; "it is like to be long ere +thou getst another meal." + +"Tell me but one thing, wretch," said the Prince. "Does Ramorny +know of this practice?" + +"How else hadst thou been decoyed hither? Poor woodcock, thou art +snared!" answered the murderer. + +With these words, the door shut, the bolts resounded, and the +unhappy Prince was left to darkness, solitude, and misery. "Oh, my +father!--my prophetic father! The staff I leaned on has indeed +proved a spear!" + +We will not dwell on the subsequent hours, nay, days, of bodily +agony and mental despair. + +But it was not the pleasure of Heaven that so great a crime should +be perpetrated with impunity. + +Catharine Glover and the glee woman, neglected by the other inmates, +who seemed to be engaged with the tidings of the Prince's illness, +were, however, refused permission to leave the castle until it should +be seen how this alarming disease was to terminate, and whether it +was actually an infectious sickness. Forced on each other's society, +the two desolate women became companions, if not friends; and the +union drew somewhat closer when Catharine discovered that this was +the same female minstrel on whose account Henry Wynd had fallen +under her displeasure. She now heard his complete vindication, +and listened with ardour to the praises which Louise heaped on her +gallant protector. On the other hand, the minstrel, who felt the +superiority of Catharine's station and character, willingly dwelt +upon a theme which seemed to please her, and recorded her gratitude +to the stout smith in the little song of "Bold and True," which +was long a favourite in Scotland. + +Oh, bold and true, +In bonnet blue, +That fear or falsehood never knew, +Whose heart was loyal to his word, +Whose hand was faithful to his sword-- +Seek Europe wide from sea to sea, +But bonny blue cap still for me! + +I've seen Almain's proud champions prance, +Have seen the gallant knights of France, +Unrivall'd with the sword and lance, +Have seen the sons of England true, +Wield the brown bill and bend the yew. +Search France the fair, and England free, +But bonny blue cap still for me! + +In short, though Louise's disreputable occupation would have been +in other circumstances an objection to Catharine's voluntarily +frequenting her company, yet, forced together as they now were, +she found her a humble and accommodating companion. + +They lived in this manner for four or five days, and, in order to +avoid as much as possible the gaze, and perhaps the incivility, of +the menials in the offices, they prepared their food in their own +apartment. In the absolutely necessary intercourse with domestics, +Louise, more accustomed to expedients, bolder by habit, and desirous +to please Catharine, willingly took on herself the trouble of +getting from the pantler the materials of their slender meal, and +of arranging it with the dexterity of her country. + +The glee woman had been abroad for this purpose upon the sixth day, +a little before noon; and the desire of fresh air, or the hope to +find some sallad or pot herbs, or at least an early flower or two, +with which to deck their board, had carried her into the small +garden appertaining to the castle. She re-entered her apartment +in the tower with a countenance pale as ashes, and a frame which +trembled like an aspen leaf. Her terror instantly extended itself +to Catharine, who could hardly find words to ask what new misfortune +had occurred. + +"Is the Duke of Rothsay dead?" + +"Worse! they are starving him alive." + +"Madness, woman!" + +"No--no--no--no!" said Louise, speaking under her breath, and +huddling her words so thick upon each other that Catharine could +hardly catch the sense. "I was seeking for flowers to dress your +pottage, because you said you loved them yesterday; my poor little +dog, thrusting himself into a thicket of yew and holly bushes that +grow out of some old ruins close to the castle wall, came back +whining and howling. I crept forward to see what might be the cause +--and, oh! I heard a groaning as of one in extreme pain, but so +faint, that it seemed to arise out of the very depth of the earth. +At length, I found it proceeded from a small rent in the wall, +covered with ivy; and when I laid my ear close to the opening, I +could hear the Prince's voice distinctly say, 'It cannot now last +long'--and then it sunk away in something like a prayer." + +"Gracious Heaven! did you speak to him?" + +"I said, 'Is it you, my lord?' and the answer was, 'Who mocks me +with that title?' I asked him if I could help him, and he answered +with a voice I shall never forget, 'Food--food! I die of famine!' +So I came hither to tell you. What is to be done? Shall we alarm +the house?" + +"Alas! that were more likely to destroy than to aid," said Catharine. + +"And what then shall we do?" said Louise. + +"I know not yet," said Catharine, prompt and bold on occasions of +moment, though yielding to her companion in ingenuity of resource +on ordinary occasions: "I know not yet, but something we will do: +the blood of Bruce shall not die unaided." + +So saying, she seized the small cruise which contained their soup, +and the meat of which it was made, wrapped some thin cakes which she +had baked into the fold of her plaid, and, beckoning her companion +to follow with a vessel of milk, also part of their provisions, +she hastened towards the garden. + +"So, our fair vestal is stirring abroad?" said the only man she +met, who was one of the menials; but Catharine passed on without +notice or reply, and gained the little garden without farther +interruption. + +Louise indicated to her a heap of ruins, which, covered with underwood, +was close to the castle wall. It had probably been originally a +projection from the building; and the small fissure, which communicated +with the dungeon, contrived for air, had terminated within it. But +the aperture had been a little enlarged by decay, and admitted a +dim ray of light to its recesses, although it could not be observed +by those who visited the place with torchlight aids. + +"Here is dead silence," said Catharine, after she had listened +attentively for a moment. "Heaven and earth, he is gone!" + +"We must risk something," said her companion, and ran her fingers +over the strings of her guitar. + +A sigh was the only answer from the depth of the dungeon. Catharine +then ventured to speak. "I am here, my lord--I am here, with food +and drink." + +"Ha! Ramorny! The jest comes too late; I am dying," was the answer. + +"His brain is turned, and no wonder," thought Catharine; "but whilst +there is life, there may be hope." + +"It is I, my lord, Catharine Glover. I have food, if I could pass +it safely to you." + +"Heaven bless thee, maiden! I thought the pain was over, but it +glows again within me at the name of food." + +"The food is here, but how--ah, how can I pass it to you? the +chink is so narrow, the wall is so thick! Yet there is a remedy-- +I have it. Quick, Louise; cut me a willow bough, the tallest you +can find." + +The glee maiden obeyed, and, by means of a cleft in the top of +the wand, Catharine transmitted several morsels of the soft cakes, +soaked in broth, which served at once for food and for drink. + +The unfortunate young man ate little, and with difficulty, but +prayed for a thousand blessings on the head of his comforter. "I +had destined thee to be the slave of my vices," he said, "and yet +thou triest to become the preserver of my life! But away, and save +thyself." + +"I will return with food as I shall see opportunity," said Catharine, +just as the glee maiden plucked her sleeve and desired her to be +silent and stand close. + +Both crouched among the ruins, and they heard the voices of Ramorny +and the mediciner in close conversation. + +"He is stronger than I thought," said the former, in a low, croaking +tone. "How long held out Dalwolsy, when the knight of Liddesdale +prisoned him in his castle of Hermitage?" + +"For a fortnight," answered Dwining; "but he was a strong man, and +had some assistance by grain which fell from a granary above his +prison house." + +"Were it not better end the matter more speedily? The Black Douglas +comes this way. He is not in Albany's secret. He will demand to +see the Prince, and all must be over ere he comes." + +They passed on in their dark and fatal conversation. + +"Now gain we the tower," said Catharine to her companion, when she +saw they had left the garden. "I had a plan of escape for myself; +I will turn it into one of rescue for the Prince. The dey woman +enters the castle about vesper time, and usually leaves her cloak +in the passage as she goes into the pantlers' office with the milk. +Take thou the cloak, muffle thyself close, and pass the warder +boldly; he is usually drunken at that hour, and thou wilt go as +the dey woman unchallenged through gate and along bridge, if thou +bear thyself with confidence. Then away to meet the Black Douglas; +he is our nearest and only aid." + +"But," said Louise, "is he not that terrible lord who threatened +me with shame and punishment?" + +"Believe it," said Catharine, "such as thou or I never dwelt an +hour in the Douglas's memory, either for good or evil. Tell him +that his son in law, the Prince of Scotland dies--treacherously +famished--in Falkland Castle, and thou wilt merit not pardon +only, but reward." + +"I care not for reward," said Louise; "the deed will reward itself. +But methinks to stay is more dangerous than to go. Let me stay, +then, and nourish the unhappy Prince, and do you depart to bring +help. If they kill me before you return, I leave you my poor lute, +and pray you to be kind to my poor Charlot." + +"No, Louise," replied Catharine, "you are a more privileged and +experienced wanderer than I--do you go; and if you find me dead +on your return, as may well chance, give my poor father this ring +and a lock of my hair, and say, Catharine died in endeavouring to +save the blood of Bruce. And give this other lock to Henry; say, +Catharine thought of him to the last, and that, if he has judged +her too scrupulous touching the blood of others, he will then know +it was not because she valued her own." + +They sobbed in each other's arms, and the intervening hours till +evening were spent in endeavouring to devise some better mode of +supplying the captive with nourishment, and in the construction +of a tube, composed of hollow reeds, slipping into each other, by +which liquids might be conveyed to him. The bell of the village +church of Falkland tolled to vespers. The dey, or farm woman, entered +with her pitchers to deliver the milk for the family, and to hear +and tell the news stirring. She had scarcely entered the kitchen +when the female minstrel, again throwing herself in Catharine's +arms, and assuring her of her unalterable fidelity, crept in silence +downstairs, the little dog under her arm. A moment after, she was +seen by the breathless Catharine, wrapt in the dey woman's cloak, +and walking composedly across the drawbridge. + +"So," said the warder, "you return early tonight, May Bridget? Small +mirth towards in the hall--ha, wench! Sick times are sad times!" + +"I have forgotten my tallies," said the ready witted French woman, +"and will return in the skimming of a bowie." + +She went onward, avoiding the village of Falkland, and took +a footpath which led through the park. Catharine breathed freely, +and blessed God when she saw her lost in the distance. It was another +anxious hour for Catharine which occurred before the escape of the +fugitive was discovered. This happened so soon as the dey girl, +having taken an hour to perform a task which ten minutes might have +accomplished, was about to return, and discovered that some one +had taken away her grey frieze cloak. A strict search was set on +foot; at length the women of the house remembered the glee maiden, +and ventured to suggest her as one not unlikely to exchange an old +cloak for a new one. The warder, strictly questioned, averred he +saw the dey woman depart immediately after vespers; and on this +being contradicted by the party herself, he could suggest, as the +only alternative, that it must needs have been the devil. + +As, however, the glee woman could not be found, the real circumstances +of the case were easily guessed at; and the steward went to inform +Sir John Ramorny and Dwining, who were now scarcely ever separate, +of the escape of one of their female captives. Everything awakens the +suspicions of the guilty. They looked on each other with faces of +dismay, and then went together to the humble apartment of Catharine, +that they might take her as much as possible by surprise while they +inquired into the facts attending Louise's disappearance. + +"Where is your companion, young woman?" said Ramorny, in a tone of +austere gravity. + +"I have no companion here," answered Catharine. + +"Trifle not," replied the knight; "I mean the glee maiden, who +lately dwelt in this chamber with you." + +"She is gone, they tell me," said Catharine--"gone about an hour +since." + +"And whither?" said Dwining. + +"How," answered Catharine, "should I know which way a professed +wanderer may choose to travel? She was tired no doubt of a solitary +life, so different from the scenes of feasting and dancing which +her trade leads her to frequent. She is gone, and the only wonder +is that she should have stayed so long." + +"This, then," said Ramorny, "is all you have to tell us?" + +"All that I have to tell you, Sir John," answered Catharine, firmly; +"and if the Prince himself inquire, I can tell him no more." + +"There is little danger of his again doing you the honour to speak +to you in person," said Ramorny, "even if Scotland should escape +being rendered miserable by the sad event of his decease." + +"Is the Duke of Rothsay so very ill?" asked Catharine. + +"No help, save in Heaven," answered Ramorny, looking upward. + +"Then may there yet be help there," said Catharine. "if human aid +prove unavailing!" + +"Amen!" said Ramorny, with the most determined gravity; while +Dwining adopted a face fit to echo the feeling, though it seemed +to cost him a painful struggle to suppress his sneering yet soft +laugh of triumph, which was peculiarly excited by anything having +a religious tendency. + +"And it is men--earthly men, and not incarnate devils, who thus +appeal to Heaven, while they are devouring by inches the life blood +of their hapless master!" muttered Catharine, as her two baffled +inquisitors left the apartment. "Why sleeps the thunder? But it will +roll ere long, and oh! may it be to preserve as well as to punish!" + +The hour of dinner alone afforded a space when, all in the castle +being occupied with that meal, Catharine thought she had the best +opportunity of venturing to the breach in the wall, with the least +chance of being observed. In waiting for the hour, she observed +some stir in the castle, which had been silent as the grave ever +since the seclusion of the Duke of Rothsay. The portcullis was +lowered and raised, and the creaking of the machinery was intermingled +with the tramp of horse, as men at arms went out and returned with +steeds hard ridden and covered with foam. She observed, too, that +such domestics as she casually saw from her window were in arms. +All this made her heart throb high, for it augured the approach of +rescue; and besides, the bustle left the little garden more lonely +than ever. At length the hour of noon arrived; she had taken care +to provide, under pretence of her own wishes, which the pantler +seemed disposed to indulge, such articles of food as could be +the most easily conveyed to the unhappy captive. She whispered to +intimate her presence; there was no answer; she spoke louder, still +there was silence. + +"He sleeps," she muttered these words half aloud, and with a shuddering +which was succeeded by a start and a scream, when a voice replied +behind her: + +"Yes, he sleeps; but it is for ever." + +She looked round. Sir John Ramorny stood behind her in complete armour, +but the visor of his helmet was up, and displayed a countenance more +resembling one about to die than to fight. He spoke with a grave +tone, something between that of a calm observer of an interesting +event and of one who is an agent and partaker in it. + +"Catharine," he said, "all is true which I tell you. He is dead. +You have done your best for him; you can do no more." + +"I will not--I cannot believe it," said Catharine. "Heaven be +merciful to me! it would make one doubt of Providence, to think so +great a crime has been accomplished." + +"Doubt not of Providence, Catharine, though it has suffered the +profligate to fall by his own devices. Follow me; I have that to +say which concerns you. I say follow (for she hesitated), unless +you prefer being left to the mercies of the brute Bonthron and the +mediciner Henbane Dwining." + +"I will follow you," said Catharine. "You cannot do more to me than +you are permitted." + +He led the way into the tower, and mounted staircase after staircase +and ladder after ladder. + +Catharine's resolution failed her. "I will follow no farther," she +said. "Whither would you lead me? If to my death, I can die here." + +"Only to the battlements of the castle, fool," said Ramorny, +throwing wide a barred door which opened upon the vaulted roof of +the castle, where men were bending mangonels, as they called them +(military engines, that is, for throwing arrows or stones), getting +ready crossbows, and piling stones together. But the defenders +did not exceed twenty in number, and Catharine thought she could +observe doubt and irresolution amongst them. + +"Catharine," said Ramorny, "I must not quit this station, which is +necessary for my defence; but I can speak with you here as well as +elsewhere." + +"Say on," answered Catharine, "I am prepared to hear you." + +"You have thrust yourself, Catharine, into a bloody secret. Have +you the firmness to keep it?" + +"I do not understand you, Sir John," answered the maiden. + +"Look you. I have slain--murdered, if you will--my late master, +the Duke of Rothsay. The spark of life which your kindness would +have fed was easily smothered. His last words called on his father. +You are faint--bear up--you have more to hear. You know the +crime, but you know not the provocation. See! this gauntlet is +empty; I lost my right hand in his cause, and when I was no longer +fit to serve him, I was cast off like a worn out hound, my loss +ridiculed, and a cloister recommended, instead of the halls and +palaces in which I had my natural sphere! Think on this--pity +and assist me." + +"In what manner can you require my assistance?" said the trembling +maiden; "I can neither repair your loss nor cancel your crime." + +"Thou canst be silent, Catharine, on what thou hast seen and heard +in yonder thicket. It is but a brief oblivion I ask of you, whose +word will, I know, be listened to, whether you say such things +were or were not. That of your mountebank companion, the foreigner, +none will hold to be of a pin point's value. If you grant me this, +I will take your promise for my security, and throw the gate open +to those who now approach it. If you will not promise silence, I +defend this castle till every one perishes, and I fling you headlong +from these battlements. Ay, look at them--it is not a leap to be +rashly braved. Seven courses of stairs brought you up hither with +fatigue and shortened breath; but you shall go from the top to +the bottom in briefer time than you can breathe a sigh! Speak the +word, fair maid; for you speak to one unwilling to harm you, but +determined in his purpose." + +Catharine stood terrified, and without power of answering a man +who seemed so desperate; but she was saved the necessity of reply +by the approach of Dwining. He spoke with the same humble conges +which at all times distinguished his manner, and with his usual +suppressed ironical sneer, which gave that manner the lie. + +"I do you wrong, noble sir, to intrude on your valiancie when +engaged with a fair damsel. But I come to ask a trifling question." + +"Speak, tormentor!" said Ramorny; "ill news are sport to thee even +when they affect thyself, so that they concern others also." + +"Hem!--he, he!--I only desired to know if your knighthood proposed +the chivalrous task of defending the castle with your single hand +--I crave pardon, I meant your single arm? The question is worth +asking, for I am good for little to aid the defence, unless you +could prevail on the besiegers to take physic--he, he, he!-- +and Bonthron is as drunk as ale and strong waters can make him; +and you, he, and I make up the whole garrison who are disposed for +resistance." + +"How! Will the other dogs not fight?" said Ramorny. + +"Never saw men who showed less stomach to the work," answered Dwining +--"never. But here come a brace of them. Venit extrema dies. He, +he, he!" + +Eviot and his companion Buncle now approached, with sullen resolution +in their faces, like men who had made their minds up to resist that +authority which they had so long obeyed. + +"How now!" said Ramorny, stepping forward to meet them. "Wherefore +from your posts? Why have you left the barbican, Eviot? And you +other fellow, did I not charge you to look to the mangonels?" + +"We have something to tell you, Sir John Ramorny," answered Eviot. +"We will not fight in this quarrel." + +"How--my own squires control me?" exclaimed Ramorny. + +"We were your squires and pages, my lord, while you were master of +the Duke of Rothsay's household. It is bruited about the Duke no +longer lives; we desire to know the truth." + +"What traitor dares spread such falsehoods?" said Ramorny. + +"All who have gone out to skirt the forest, my lord, and I myself +among others, bring back the same news. The minstrel woman who left +the castle yesterday has spread the report everywhere that the Duke +of Rothsay is murdered, or at death's door. The Douglas comes on +us with a strong force--" + +"And you, cowards, take advantage of an idle report to forsake your +master?" said Ramorny, indignantly. + +"My lord," said Eviot, "let Buncle and myself see the Duke of Rothsay, +and receive his personal orders for defence of this castle, and if +we do not fight to the death in that quarrel, I will consent to be +hanged on its highest turret. But if he be gone by natural disease, +we will yield up the castle to the Earl of Douglas, who is, they +say, the King's lieutenant. Or if--which Heaven forefend!--the +noble Prince has had foul play, we will not involve ourselves in +the guilt of using arms in defence of the murderers, be they who +they will." + +"Eviot," said Ramorny, raising his mutilated arm, "had not that +glove been empty, thou hadst not lived to utter two words of this +insolence." + +"It is as it is," answered Evict, "and we do but our duty. I have +followed you long, my lord, but here I draw bridle." + +"Farewell, then, and a curse light on all of you!" exclaimed the +incensed baron. "Let my horse be brought forth!" + +"Our valiancie is about to run away," said the mediciner, who had +crept close to Catharine's side before she was aware. "Catharine, +thou art a superstitious fool, like most women; nevertheless thou +hast some mind, and I speak to thee as one of more understanding +than the buffaloes which are herding about us. These haughty barons +who overstride the world, what are they in the day of adversity? +Chaff before the wind. Let their sledge hammer hands or their +column resembling legs have injury, and bah! the men at arms are +gone. Heart and courage is nothing to them, lith and limb everything: +give them animal strength, what are they better than furious bulls; +take that away, and your hero of chivalry lies grovelling like the +brute when he is hamstrung. Not so the sage; while a grain of sense +remains in a crushed or mutilated frame, his mind shall be strong +as ever. Catharine, this morning I was practising your death; but +methinks I now rejoice that you may survive to tell how the poor +mediciner, the pill gilder, the mortar pounder, the poison vender, +met his fate, in company with the gallant Knight of Ramorny, Baron +in possession and Earl of Lindores in expectation--God save his +lordship!" + +"Old man," said Catharine, "if thou be indeed so near the day +of thy deserved doom, other thoughts were far wholesomer than the +vainglorious ravings of a vain philosophy. Ask to see a holy man +--" + +"Yes," said Dwining, scornfully, "refer myself to a greasy monk, +who does not--he! he! he!--understand the barbarous Latin he +repeats by rote. Such would be a fitting counsellor to one who has +studied both in Spain and Arabia! No, Catharine, I will choose a +confessor that is pleasant to look upon, and you shall be honoured +with the office. Now, look yonder at his valiancie, his eyebrow +drops with moisture, his lip trembles with agony; for his valiancie +--he! he! he!--is pleading for his life with his late domestics, +and has not eloquence enough to persuade them to let him slip. +See how the fibres of his face work as he implores the ungrateful +brutes, whom he has heaped with obligations, to permit him to get +such a start for his life as the hare has from the greyhounds when +men course her fairly. Look also at the sullen, downcast, dogged +faces with which, fluctuating between fear and shame, the domestic +traitors deny their lord this poor chance for his life. These +things thought themselves the superior of a man like me! and you, +foolish wench, think so meanly of your Deity as to suppose wretches +like them are the work of Omnipotence!" + +"No! man of evil--no!" said Catharine, warmly; "the God I worship +created these men with the attributes to know and adore Him, to +guard and defend their fellow creatures, to practise holiness and +virtue. Their own vices, and the temptations of the Evil One, have +made them such as they now are. Oh, take the lesson home to thine +own heart of adamant! Heaven made thee wiser than thy fellows, gave +thee eyes to look into the secrets of nature, a sagacious heart, +and a skilful hand; but thy pride has poisoned all these fair gifts, +and made an ungodly atheist of one who might have been a Christian +sage!" + +"Atheist, say'st thou?" answered Dwining. "Perhaps I have doubts +on that matter--but they will be soon solved. Yonder comes one +who will send me, as he has done thousands, to the place where all +mysteries shall be cleared." + +Catharine followed the mediciner's eye up one of the forest glades, +and beheld it occupied by a body of horsemen advancing at full +gallop. In the midst was a pennon displayed, which, though its +bearings were not visible to Catharine, was, by a murmur around, +acknowledged as that of the Black Douglas. They halted within arrow +shot of the castle, and a herald with two trumpets advanced up to +the main portal, where, after a loud flourish, he demanded admittance +for the high and dreaded Archibald Earl of Douglas, Lord Lieutenant +of the King, and acting for the time with the plenary authority +of his Majesty; commanding, at the same time, that the inmates of +the castle should lay down their arms, all under penalty of high +treason. + +"You hear?" said Eviot to Ramorny, who stood sullen and undecided. +"Will you give orders to render the castle, or must I?" + +"No, villain!" interrupted the knight, "to the last I will command +you. Open the gates, drop the bridge, and render the castle to the +Douglas." + +"Now, that's what may be called a gallant exertion of free will," +said Dwining. "Just as if the pieces of brass that were screaming +a minute since should pretend to call those notes their own which +are breathed through them by a frowsy trumpeter." + +"Wretched man!" said Catharine, "either be silent or turn thy +thoughts to the eternity on the brink of which thou art standing." + +"And what is that to thee?" answered Dwining. "Thou canst not, wench, +help hearing what I say to thee, and thou wilt tell it again, for +thy sex cannot help that either. Perth and all Scotland shall know +what a man they have lost in Henbane Dwining!" + +The clash of armour now announced that the newcomers had dismounted +and entered the castle, and were in the act of disarming the small +garrison. Earl Douglas himself appeared on the battlements, with +a few of his followers, and signed to them to take Ramorny and +Dwining into custody. Others dragged from some nook the stupefied +Bonthron. + +"It was to these three that the custody of the Prince was solely +committed daring his alleged illness?" said the Douglas, prosecuting +an inquiry which he had commenced in the hall of the castle. + +"No other saw him, my lord," said Eviot, "though I offered my +services." + +"Conduct us to the Duke's apartment, and bring the prisoners with +us. Also should there be a female in the castle, if she hath not +been murdered or spirited away--the companion of the glee maiden +who brought the first alarm." + +"She is here, my lord," said Eviot, bringing Catharine forward. + +Her beauty and her agitation made some impression even upon the +impassible Earl. + +"Fear nothing, maiden," he said; "thou hast deserved both praise and +reward. Tell to me, as thou wouldst confess to Heaven, the things +thou hast witnessed in this castle." + +Few words served Catharine to unfold the dreadful story. + +"It agrees," said the Douglas, "with the tale of the glee maiden, +from point to point. Now show us the Prince's apartment." + +They passed to the room which the unhappy Duke of Rothsay had been +supposed to inhabit; but the key was not to be found, and the Earl +could only obtain entrance by forcing the door. On entering, the +wasted and squalid remains of the unhappy Prince were discovered, +flung on the bed as if in haste. The intention of the murderers +had apparently been to arrange the dead body so as to resemble a +timely parted corpse, but they had been disconcerted by the alarm +occasioned by the escape of Louise. Douglas looked on the body of +the misguided youth, whose wild passions and caprices had brought +him to this fatal and premature catastrophe. + +"I had wrongs to be redressed," he said; "but to see such a sight +as this banishes all remembrance of injury!" + +"He! he! It should have been arranged," said Dwining, "more to +your omnipotence's pleasure; but you came suddenly on us, and hasty +masters make slovenly service." + +Douglas seemed not to hear what his prisoner said, so closely did +he examine the wan and wasted features, and stiffened limbs, of the +dead body before him. Catharine, overcome by sickness and fainting, +at length obtained permission to retire from the dreadful scene, +and, through confusion of every description, found her way to her +former apartment, where she was locked in the arms of Louise, who +had returned in the interval. + +The investigations of Douglas proceeded. The dying hand of the +Prince was found to be clenched upon a lock of hair, resembling, +in colour and texture, the coal black bristles of Bonthron. Thus, +though famine had begun the work, it would seem that Rothsay's +death had been finally accomplished by violence. The private stair +to the dungeon, the keys of which were found at the subaltern +assassin's belt, the situation of the vault, its communication with +the external air by the fissure in the walls, and the wretched lair +of straw, with the fetters which remained there, fully confirmed +the story of Catharine and of the glee woman. + +"We will not hesitate an instant," said the Douglas to his near +kinsman, the Lord Balveny, as soon as they returned from the dungeon. +"Away with the murderers! hang them over the battlements." + +"But, my lord, some trial may be fitting," answered Balveny. + +"To what purpose?" answered, Douglas. "I have taken them red hand; +my authority will stretch to instant execution. Yet stay--have +we not some Jedwood men in our troop?" + +"Plenty of Turnbulls, Rutherfords, Ainslies, and so forth," said +Balveny. + +"Call me an inquest of these together; they are all good men and +true, saving a little shifting for their living. Do yon see to the +execution of these felons, while I hold a court in the great hall, +and we'll try whether the jury or the provost marshal do their +work first; we will have Jedwood justice--hang in haste and try +at leisure." + +"Yet stay, my lord," said Ramorny, "you may rue your haste--will +you grant me a word out of earshot?" + +"Not for worlds!" said Douglas; "speak out what thou hast to say +before all that are here present." + +"Know all; then," said Ramorny, aloud, "that this noble Earl had +letters from the Duke of Albany and myself, sent him by the hand +of yon cowardly deserter, Buncle--let him deny it if he dare-- +counselling the removal of the Duke for a space from court, and +his seclusion in this Castle of Falkland." + +"But not a word," replied Douglas, sternly smiling, "of his being +flung into a dungeon--famished--strangled. Away with the +wretches, Balveny, they pollute God's air too long!" + +The prisoners were dragged off to the battlements. But while the +means of execution were in the act of being prepared, the apothecary +expressed so ardent a desire to see Catharine once more, and, as +he said, for the good of his soul, that the maiden, in hopes his +obduracy might have undergone some change even at the last hour, +consented again to go to the battlements, and face a scene which her +heart recoiled from. A single glance showed her Bonthron, sunk in +total and drunken insensibility; Ramorny, stripped of his armour, +endeavouring in vain to conceal fear, while he spoke with a priest, +whose good offices he had solicited; and Dwining, the same humble, +obsequious looking, crouching individual she had always known him. +He held in his hand a little silver pen, with which he had been +writing on a scrap of parchment. + +"Catharine," he said--"he, he, he!--I wish to speak to thee on +the nature of my religious faith." + +"If such be thy intention, why lose time with me? Speak with this +good father." + +"The good father," said Dwining, "is--he, he!--already a +worshipper of the deity whom I have served. I therefore prefer to +give the altar of mine idol a new worshipper in thee, Catharine. +This scrap of parchment will tell thee how to make your way into +my chapel, where I have worshipped so often in safety. I leave the +images which it contains to thee as a legacy, simply because I hate +and contemn thee something less than any of the absurd wretches +whom I have hitherto been obliged to call fellow creatures. And +now away--or remain and see if the end of the quacksalver belies +his life." + +"Our Lady forbid!" said Catharine. + +"Nay," said the mediciner, "I have but a single word to say, and +yonder nobleman's valiancie may hear it if he will." + +Lord Balveny approached, with some curiosity; for the undaunted +resolution of a man who never wielded sword or bore armour and was +in person a poor dwindled dwarf, had to him an air of something +resembling sorcery." + +"You see this trifling implement," said the criminal, showing the +silver pen. "By means of this I can escape the power even of the +Black Douglas." + +"Give him no ink nor paper," said Balveny, hastily, "he will draw +a spell." + +"Not so, please your wisdom and valiancie--he, he, he!" said +Dwining with his usual chuckle, as he unscrewed the top of the +pen, within which was a piece of sponge or some such substance, no +bigger than a pea. + +"Now, mark this--" said the prisoner, and drew it between his +lips. The effect was instantaneous. He lay a dead corpse before +them, the contemptuous sneer still on his countenance. + +Catharine shrieked and fled, seeking, by a hasty descent, an escape +from a sight so appalling. Lord Balveny was for a moment stupified, +and then exclaimed, "This may be glamour! hang him over the +battlements, quick or dead. If his foul spirit hath only withdrawn +for a space, it shall return to a body with a dislocated neck." + +His commands were obeyed. Ramorny and Bonthron were then ordered for +execution. The last was hanged before he seemed quite to comprehend +what was designed to be done with him. Ramorny, pale as death, +yet with the same spirit of pride which had occasioned his ruin, +pleaded his knighthood, and demanded the privilege of dying by +decapitation by the sword, and not by the noose. + +"The Douglas never alters his doom," said Balveny. "But thou shalt +have all thy rights. Send the cook hither with a cleaver." + +The menial whom he called appeared at his summons. + +"What shakest thou for, fellow?" said Balveny; "here, strike me +this man's gilt spurs from his heels with thy cleaver. And now, John +Ramorny, thou art no longer a knight, but a knave. To the halter +with him, provost marshal! hang him betwixt his companions, and +higher than them if it may be." + +In a quarter of an hour afterwards, Balveny descended to tell the +Douglas that the criminals were executed. + +"Then there is no further use in the trial," said the Earl. "How +say you, good men of inquest, were these men guilty of high treason +--ay or no?" + +"Guilty," exclaimed the obsequious inquest, with edifying unanimity, +"we need no farther evidence." + +"Sound trumpets, and to horse then, with our own train only; +and let each man keep silence on what has chanced here, until the +proceedings shall be laid before the King, which cannot conveniently +be till the battle of Palm Sunday shall be fought and ended. Select +our attendants, and tell each man who either goes with us or remains +behind that he who prates dies." + +In a few minutes the Douglas was on horseback, with the followers +selected to attend his person. Expresses were sent to his daughter, +the widowed Duchess of Rothsay, directing her to take her course +to Perth, by the shores of Lochleven, without approaching Falkland, +and committing to her charge Catharine Glover and the glee woman, +as persons whose safety he tendered. + +As they rode through the forest, they looked back, and beheld the +three bodies hanging, like specks darkening the walls of the old +castle. + +"The hand is punished," said Douglas, "but who shall arraign the +head by whose direction the act was done?" + +"You mean the Duke of Albany?" said Balveny. + +"I do, kinsman; and were I to listen to the dictates of my heart, +I would charge him with the deed, which I am certain he has +authorised. But there is no proof of it beyond strong suspicion, +and Albany has attached to himself the numerous friends of the house +of Stuart, to whom, indeed, the imbecility of the King and the ill +regulated habits of Rothsay left no other choice of a leader. Were +I, therefore, to break the bond which I have so lately formed with +Albany, the consequence must be civil war, an event ruinous to +poor Scotland while threatened by invasion from the activity of the +Percy, backed by the treachery of March. No, Balveny, the punishment +of Albany must rest with Heaven, which, in its own good time, will +execute judgment on him and on his house." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +The hour is nigh: now hearts beat high; +Each sword is sharpen'd well; +And who dares die, who stoops to fly, +Tomorrow's light shall tell. + +Sir Edwald. + + +We are now to recall to our reader's recollection, that Simon +Glover and his fair daughter had been hurried from their residence +without having time to announce to Henry Smith either their departure +or the alarming cause of it. When, therefore, the lover appeared +in Curfew Street, on the morning of their flight, instead of the +hearty welcome of the honest burgher, and the April reception, +half joy half censure, which he had been promised on the part of +his lovely daughter, he received only the astounding intelligence, +that her father and she had set off early, on the summons of a +stranger, who had kept himself carefully muffled from observation. To +this, Dorothy, whose talents for forestalling evil, and communicating +her views of it, are known to the reader, chose to add, that +she had no doubt her master and young mistress were bound for the +Highlands, to avoid a visit which had been made since their departure +by two or three apparitors, who, in the name of a Commission +appointed by the King, had searched the house, put seals upon such +places as were supposed to contain papers, and left citations for +father and daughter to appear before the Court of Commission, on a +day certain, under pain of outlawry. All these alarming particulars +Dorothy took care to state in the gloomiest colours, and the only +consolation which she afforded the alarmed lover was, that her +master had charged her to tell him to reside quietly at Perth, and +that he should soon hear news of them. This checked the smith's +first resolve, which was to follow them instantly to the Highlands, +and partake the fate which they might encounter. + +But when he recollected his repeated feuds with divers of the +Clan Quhele, and particularly his personal quarrel with Conachar, +who was now raised to be a high chief, he could not but think, on +reflection, that his intrusion on their place of retirement was +more likely to disturb the safety which they might otherwise enjoy +there than be of any service to them. He was well acquainted with +Simon's habitual intimacy with the chief of the Clan Quhele, and +justly augured that the glover would obtain protection, which his +own arrival might be likely to disturb, while his personal prowess +could little avail him in a quarrel with a whole tribe of vindictive +mountaineers. At the same time his heart throbbed with indignation, +when he thought of Catharine being within the absolute power of +young Conachar, whose rivalry he could not doubt, and who had now +so many means of urging his suit. What if the young chief should +make the safety of the father depend on the favour of the daughter? +He distrusted not Catharine's affections, but then her mode of +thinking was so disinterested, and her attachment to her father so +tender, that, if the love she bore her suitor was weighed against +his security, or perhaps his life, it was matter of deep and awful +doubt whether it might not be found light in the balance. Tormented +by thoughts on which we need not dwell, he resolved nevertheless +to remain at home, stifle his anxiety as he might, and await the +promised intelligence from the old man. It came, but it did not +relieve his concern. + +Sir Patrick Charteris had not forgotten his promise to communicate +to the smith the plans of the fugitives. But, amid the bustle +occasioned by the movement of troops, he could not himself convey +the intelligence. He therefore entrusted to his agent, Kitt Henshaw, +the task of making it known. But this worthy person, as the reader +knows, was in the interest of Ramorny, whose business it was to +conceal from every one, but especially from a lover so active and +daring as Henry, the real place of Catharine's residence. Henshaw +therefore announced to the anxious smith that his friend the glover +was secure in the Highlands; and though he affected to be more +reserved on the subject of Catharine, he said little to contradict +the belief that she as well as Simon shared the protection of the +Clan Quhele. But he reiterated, in the name of Sir Patrick, assurances +that father and daughter were both well, and that Henry would best +consult his own interest and their safety by remaining quiet and +waiting the course of events. + +With an agonized heart, therefore, Henry Gow determined to remain +quiet till he had more certain intelligence, and employed himself +in finishing a shirt of mail, which he intended should be the best +tempered and the most finely polished that his skilful hands had +ever executed. This exercise of his craft pleased him better than +any other occupation which he could have adopted, and served as an +apology for secluding himself in his workshop, and shunning society, +where the idle reports which were daily circulated served only to +perplex and disturb him. He resolved to trust in the warm regard +of Simon, the faith of his daughter, and the friendship of the +provost, who, having so highly commended his valour in the combat +with Bonthron, would never, he thought, desert him at this extremity +of his fortunes. Time, however, passed on day by day; and it was not +till Palm Sunday was near approaching, that Sir Patrick Charteris, +having entered the city to make some arrangements for the ensuing +combat, bethought himself of making a visit to the Smith of the +Wynd. + +He entered his workshop with an air of sympathy unusual to him, +and which made Henry instantly augur that he brought bad news. The +smith caught the alarm, and the uplifted hammer was arrested in its +descent upon the heated iron, while the agitated arm that wielded +it, strong before as that of a giant, became so powerless, that +it was with difficulty Henry was able to place the weapon on the +ground, instead of dropping it from his hand. + +"My poor Henry," said Sir Patrick, "I bring you but cold news; they +are uncertain, however, and, if true, they are such as a brave man +like you should not take too deeply to heart." + +"In God's name, my lord," said Henry, "I trust you bring no evil +news of Simon Glover or his daughter?" + +"Touching themselves," said Sir Patrick, "no: they are safe and +well. But as to thee, Henry, my tidings are more cold. Kitt Henshaw +has, I think, apprised thee that I had endeavoured to provide +Catharine Glover with a safe protection in the house of an honourable +lady, the Duchess of Rothsay. But she hath declined the charge, +and Catharine hath been sent to her father in the Highlands. What +is worst is to come. Thou mayest have heard that Gilchrist MacIan +is dead, and that his son Eachin, who was known in Perth as the +apprentice of old Simon, by the name of Conachar, is now the chief +of Clan Quhele; and I heard from one of my domestics that there +is a strong rumour among the MacIans that the young chief seeks +the hand of Catharine in marriage. My domestic learned this-- +as a secret, however--while in the Breadalbane country, on some +arrangements touching the ensuing combat. The thing is uncertain +but, Henry, it wears a face of likelihood." + +"Did your lordship's servant see Simon Glover and his daughter?" +said Henry, struggling for breath, and coughing, to conceal from +the provost the excess of his agitation. + +"He did not," said Sir Patrick; "the Highlanders seemed jealous, +and refused to permit him to speak to the old man, and he feared +to alarm them by asking to see Catharine. Besides, he talks no +Gaelic, nor had his informer much English, so there may be some +mistake in the matter. Nevertheless, there is such a report, and +I thought it best to tell it you. But you may be well assured that +the wedding cannot go on till the affair of Palm Sunday be over; +and I advise you to take no step till we learn the circumstances +of the matter, for certainty is most desirable, even when it is +painful. Go you to the council house," he added, after a pause, +"to speak about the preparations for the lists in the North Inch? +You will be welcome there." + +"No, my good lord." + +"Well, Smith, I judge by your brief answer that you are discomposed +with this matter; but, after all, women are weathercocks, that is +the truth on't. Solomon and others have proved it before you." + +And so Sir Patrick Charteris retired, fully convinced he had discharged +the office of a comforter in the most satisfactory manner. + +With very different impressions did the unfortunate lover regard +the tidings and listen to the consoling commentary. + +"The provost," he said bitterly to himself, "is an excellent man; +marry, he holds his knighthood so high, that, if he speaks nonsense, +a poor man must hold it sense, as he must praise dead ale if it be +handed to him in his lordship's silver flagon. How would all this +sound in another situation? Suppose I were rolling down the steep +descent of the Corrichie Dhu, and before I came to the edge of the +rock, comes my Lord Provost, and cries: 'Henry, there is a deep +precipice, and I grieve to say you are in the fair way of rolling +over it. But be not downcast, for Heaven may send a stone or a bush +to stop your progress. However, I thought it would be comfort to +you to know the worst, which you will be presently aware of. I do +not know how many hundred feet deep the precipice descends, but +you may form a judgment when you are at the bottom, for certainty +is certainty. And hark ye! when come you to take a game at bowls?' +And this gossip is to serve instead of any friendly attempt to +save the poor wight's neck! When I think of this, I could go mad, +seize my hammer, and break and destroy all around me. But I will +be calm; and if this Highland kite, who calls himself a falcon, +should stoop at my turtle dove, he shall know whether a burgess of +Perth can draw a bow or not." + +It was now the Thursday before the fated Palm Sunday, and the +champions on either side were expected to arrive the next day, +that they might have the interval of Saturday to rest, refresh +themselves, and prepare for the combat. Two or three of each of +the contending parties were detached to receive directions about +the encampment of their little band, and such other instructions as +might be necessary to the proper ordering of the field. Henry was +not, therefore, surprised at seeing a tall and powerful Highlander +peering anxiously about the wynd in which he lived, in the manner +in which the natives of a wild country examine the curiosities +of one that is more civilized. The smith's heart rose against the +man on account of his country, to which our Perth burgher bore a +natural prejudice, and more especially as he observed the individual +wear the plaid peculiar to the Clan Quhele. The sprig of oak leaves, +worked in silk, intimated also that the individual was one of those +personal guards of young Eachin, upon whose exertions in the future +battle so much reliance was placed by those of their clan. + +Having observed so much, Henry withdrew into his smithy, for the +sight of the man raised his passion; and, knowing that the Highlander +came plighted to a solemn combat, and could not be the subject of +any inferior quarrel, he was resolved at least to avoid friendly +intercourse with him. In a few minutes, however, the door of the +smithy flew open, and flattering in his tartans, which greatly +magnified his actual size, the Gael entered with the haughty step +of a man conscious of a personal dignity superior to anything which +he is likely to meet with. He stood looking around him, and seemed +to expect to be received with courtesy and regarded with wonder. +But Henry had no sort of inclination to indulge his vanity and kept +hammering away at a breastplate which was lying upon his anvil as +if he were not aware of his visitor's presence. + +"You are the Gow Chrom?" (the bandy legged smith), said the +Highlander. + +"Those that wish to be crook backed call me so," answered Henry. + +"No offence meant," said the Highlander; "but her own self comes +to buy an armour." + +"Her own self's bare shanks may trot hence with her," answered +Henry; "I have none to sell." + +"If it was not within two days of Palm Sunday, herself would make +you sing another song," retorted the Gael. + +"And being the day it is," said Henry, with the same contemptuous +indifference, "I pray you to stand out of my light." + +"You are an uncivil person; but her own self is fir nan ord too; +and she knows the smith is fiery when the iron is hot." + +"If her nainsell be hammer man herself, her nainsell may make her +nain harness," replied Henry. + +"And so her nainsell would, and never fash you for the matter; but +it is said, Gow Chrom, that you sing and whistle tunes over the +swords and harnishes that you work, that have power to make the +blades cut steel links as if they were paper, and the plate and +mail turn back steel lances as if they were boddle prins?" + +"They tell your ignorance any nonsense that Christian men refuse to +believe," said Henry. "I whistle at my work whatever comes uppermost, +like an honest craftsman, and commonly it is the Highlandman's 'Och +hone for Houghman stares!' My hammer goes naturally to that tune." + +"Friend, it is but idle to spur a horse when his legs are ham +shackled," said the Highlander, haughtily. "Her own self cannot +fight even now, and there is little gallantry in taunting her thus." + +"By nails and hammer, you are right there," said the smith, altering +his tone. "But speak out at once, friend, what is it thou wouldst +have of me? I am in no humour for dallying." + +"A hauberk for her chief, Eachin MacIan," said the Highlander. + +"You are a hammer man, you say? Are you a judge of this?" said our +smith, producing from a chest the mail shirt on which he had been +lately employed. + +The Gael handled it with a degree of admiration which had something +of envy in it. He looked curiously at every part of its texture, +and at length declared it the very best piece of armour that he +had ever seen. + +"A hundred cows and bullocks and a good drift of sheep would be e'en +ower cheap an offer," said the Highlandman, by way of tentative; +"but her nainsell will never bid thee less, come by them how she +can." + +"It is a fair proffer," replied Henry; "but gold nor gear will never +buy that harness. I want to try my own sword on my own armour, and +I will not give that mail coat to any one but who will face me for +the best of three blows and a thrust in the fair field; and it is +your chief's upon these terms." + +"Hut, prut, man--take a drink and go to bed," said the Highlander, +in great scorn. "Are ye mad? Think ye the captain of the Clan Quhele +will be brawling and battling with a bit Perth burgess body like +you? Whisht, man, and hearken. Her nainsell will do ye mair credit +than ever belonged to your kin. She will fight you for the fair +harness hersell." + +"She must first show that she is my match," said Henry, with a grim +smile. + +"How! I, one of Eachin MacIan's leichtach, and not your match!" + +"You may try me, if you will. You say you are a fir nan ord. Do +you know how to cast a sledge hammer?" + +"Ay, truly--ask the eagle if he can fly over Farragon." + +"But before you strive with me, you must first try a cast with one +of my leichtach. Here, Dunter, stand forth for the honour of Perth! +And now, Highlandman, there stands a row of hammers; choose which +you will, and let us to the garden." + +The Highlander whose name was Norman nan Ord, or Norman of the +Hammer, showed his title to the epithet by selecting the largest +hammer of the set, at which Henry smiled. Dunter, the stout +journeyman of the smith, made what was called a prodigious cast; +but the Highlander, making a desperate effort, threw beyond it by +two or three feet, and looked with an air of triumph to Henry, who +again smiled in reply. + +"Will you mend that?" said the Gael, offering our smith the hammer. + +"Not with that child's toy," said Henry, "which has scarce weight +to fly against the wind. Jannekin, fetch me Sampson; or one of you +help the boy, for Sampson is somewhat ponderous." + +The hammer now produced was half as heavy again as that which the +Highlander had selected as one of unusual weight. Norman stood +astonished; but he was still more so when Henry, taking his position, +swung the ponderous implement far behind his right haunch joint, +and dismissed it from his hand as if it had flown from a warlike +engine. The air groaned and whistled as the mass flew through it. +Down at length it came, and the iron head sunk a foot into the +earth, a full yard beyond the cast of Norman. + +The Highlander, defeated and mortified, went to the spot where the +weapon lay, lifted it, poised it in his hand with great wonder, +and examined it closely, as if he expected to discover more in it +than a common hammer. He at length returned it to the owner with a +melancholy smile, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head as +the smith asked him whether he would not mend his cast. + +"Norman has lost too much at the sport already," he replied. "She +has lost her own name of the Hammerer. But does her own self, the +Gow Chrom, work at the anvil with that horse's load of iron?" + +"You shall see, brother," said Henry, leading the way to the +smithy. "Dunter," he said, "rax me that bar from the furnace"; and +uplifting Sampson, as he called the monstrous hammer, he plied the +metal with a hundred strokes from right to left--now with the +right hand, now with the left, now with both, with so much strength +at once and dexterity, that he worked off a small but beautifully +proportioned horseshoe in half the time that an ordinary smith would +have taken for the same purpose, using a more manageable implement. + +"Oigh--oigh!" said the Highlander, "and what for would you +be fighting with our young chief, who is far above your standard, +though you were the best smith ever wrought with wind and fire?" + +"Hark you!" said Henry; "you seem a good fellow, and I'll tell you +the truth. Your master has wronged me, and I give him this harness +freely for the chance of fighting him myself." + +"Nay, if he hath wronged you he must meet you," said the life +guardsman. "To do a man wrong takes the eagle's feather out of the +chief's bonnet; and were he the first in the Highlands, and to be +sure so is Eachin, he must fight the man he has wronged, or else +a rose falls from his chaplet." + +"Will you move him to this," said Henry, "after the fight on Sunday?" + +"Oh, her nainsell will do her best, if the hawks have not got her +nainsell's bones to pick; for you must know, brother, that Clan +Chattan's claws pierce rather deep." + +"The armour is your chief's on that condition," said Henry; "but I +will disgrace him before king and court if he does not pay me the +price." + +"Deil a fear--deil a fear; I will bring him in to the barrace +myself," said Norman, "assuredly." + +"You will do me a pleasure," replied Henry; "and that you may +remember your promise, I will bestow on you this dirk. Look--if +you hold it truly, and can strike between the mail hood and the +collar of your enemy, the surgeon will be needless." + +The Highlander was lavish in his expressions of gratitude, and took +his leave. + +"I have given him the best mail harness I ever wrought," said the +smith to himself, rather repenting his liberality, "for the poor +chance that he will bring his chief into a fair field with me; and +then let Catharine be his who can win her fairly. But much I dread +the youth will find some evasion, unless he have such luck on Palm +Sunday as may induce him to try another combat. That is some hope, +however; for I have often, ere now, seen a raw young fellow shoot +up after his first fight from a dwarf into a giant queller." + +Thus, with little hope, but with the most determined resolution, +Henry Smith awaited the time that should decide his fate. What made +him augur the worst was the silence both of the glover and of his +daughter. + +"They are ashamed," he said, "to confess the truth to me, and +therefore they are silent." + +Upon the Friday at noon, the two bands of thirty men each, +representing the contending clans, arrived at the several points +where they were to halt for refreshments. + +The Clan Quhele was entertained hospitably at the rich abbey +of Scone, while the provost regaled their rivals at his Castle of +Kinfauns, the utmost care being taken to treat both parties with +the most punctilious attention, and to afford neither an opportunity +of complaining of partiality. All points of etiquette were, in the +mean while, discussed and settled by the Lord High Constable Errol +and the young Earl of Crawford, the former acting on the part of the +Clan Chattan and the latter patronising the Clan Quhele. Messengers +were passing continually from the one earl to the other, and +they held more than: six meetings within thirty hours, before the +ceremonial of the field could be exactly arranged. + +Meanwhile, in case of revival of ancient quarrel, many seeds of +which existed betwixt the burghers and their mountain neighbours, +a proclamation commanded the citizens not to approach within half +a mile of the place where the Highlanders were quartered; while on +their part the intended combatants were prohibited from approaching +Perth without special license. Troops were stationed to enforce +this order, who did their charge so scrupulously as to prevent Simon +Glover himself, burgess and citizen of Perth, from approaching the +town, because he owned having come thither at the same time with +the champions of Eachin MacIan, and wore a plaid around him of their +check or pattern. This interruption prevented Simon from seeking +out Henry Wynd and possessing him with a true knowledge of all +that had happened since their separation, which intercourse, had +it taken place, must have materially altered the catastrophe of +our narrative. + +On Saturday afternoon another arrival took place, which interested +the city almost as much as the preparations for the expected combat. +This was the approach of the Earl Douglas, who rode through the +town with a troop of only thirty horse, but all of whom were knights +and gentlemen of the first consequence. Men's eyes followed this +dreaded peer as they pursue the flight of an eagle through the +clouds, unable to ken the course of the bird of Jove yet silent, +attentive, and as earnest in observing him as if they could guess +the object for which he sweeps through the firmament; He rode +slowly through the city, and passed out at the northern gate. He +next alighted at the Dominican convent and desired to see the Duke +of Albany. The Earl was introduced instantly, and received by the +Duke with a manner which was meant to be graceful and conciliatory, +but which could not conceal both art and inquietude. When the first +greetings were over, the Earl said with great gravity: "I bring you +melancholy news. Your Grace's royal nephew, the Duke of Rothsay, +is no more, and I fear hath perished by some foul practices." + +"Practices!" said the Duke' in confusion--"what practices? Who +dared practise on the heir of the Scottish throne?" + +"'Tis not for me to state how these doubts arise," said Douglas; +"but men say the eagle was killed with an arrow fledged from his +own wing, and the oak trunk rent by a wedge of the same wood." + +"Earl of Douglas," said the Duke of Albany, "I am no reader of +riddles." + +"Nor am I a propounder of them," said Douglas, haughtily, "Your +Grace will find particulars in these papers worthy of perusal. I +will go for half an hour to the cloister garden, and then rejoin +you." + +"You go not to the King, my lord?" said Albany. + +"No," answered Douglas; "I trust your Grace will agree with me that +we should conceal this great family misfortune from our sovereign +till the business of tomorrow be decided." + +"I willingly agree," said Albany. "If the King heard of this loss, +he could not witness the combat; and if he appear not in person, +these men are likely to refuse to fight, and the whole work is +cast loose. But I pray you sit down, my lord, while I read these +melancholy papers respecting poor Rothsay." + +He passed the papers through his hands, turning some over with a +hasty glance, and dwelling on others as if their contents had been +of the last importance. When he had spent nearly a quarter of an +hour in this manner, he raised his eyes, and said very gravely: "My +lord, in these most melancholy documents, it is yet a comfort to +see nothing which can renew the divisions in the King's councils, +which were settled by the last solemn agreement between your +lordship and myself. My unhappy nephew was by that agreement to +be set aside, until time should send him a graver judgment. He is +now removed by Fate, and our purpose in that matter is anticipated +and rendered unnecessary." + +"If your Grace," replied the Earl, "sees nothing to disturb the +good understanding which the tranquillity and safety of Scotland +require should exist between us, I am not so ill a friend of my +country as to look closely for such." + +"I understand you, my Lord of Douglas," said Albany, eagerly. "You +hastily judged that I should be offended with your lordship for +exercising your powers of lieutenancy, and punishing the detestable +murderers within my territory of Falkland. Credit me, on the +contrary, I am obliged to your lordship for taking out of my hands +the punishment of these wretches, as it would have broken my heart +even to have looked on them. The Scottish Parliament will inquire, +doubtless, into this sacrilegious deed; and happy am I that the +avenging sword has been in the hand of a man so important as your +lordship. Our communication together, as your lordship must well +recollect, bore only concerning a proposed restraint of my unfortunate +nephew until the advance of a year or two had taught him discretion?" + +"Such was certainly your Grace's purpose, as expressed to me," said +the Earl; "I can safely avouch it." + +"Why, then, noble earl, we cannot be censured because villains, +for their own revengeful ends, appear to have engrafted a bloody +termination on our honest purpose?" + +"The Parliament will judge it after their wisdom," said Douglas. +"For my part, my conscience acquits me." + +"And mine assoilzies me," said the Duke with solemnity. "Now, my +lord, touching the custody of the boy James, who succeeds to his +father's claims of inheritance?" + +"The King must decide it," said Douglas, impatient of the conference. +"I will consent to his residence anywhere save at Stirling, Doune, +or Falkland." + +With that he left the apartment abruptly. + +"He is gone," muttered the crafty Albany, "and he must be my ally, +yet feels himself disposed to be my mortal foe. No matter, Rothsay +sleeps with his fathers, James may follow in time, and then--a +crown is the recompense of my perplexities." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +Thretty for thretty faucht in barreris, +At Sanct Johnstoun on a day besyde the black freris. + +WYNTOUN. + + +Palm Sunday now dawned. At an earlier period of the Christian Church, +the use of any of the days of Passion Week for the purpose of combat +would have been accounted a profanity worthy of excommunication. The +Church of Rome, to her infinite honour, had decided that during the +holy season of Easter, when the redemption of man from his fallen +state was accomplished, the sword of war should be sheathed, and +angry monarchs should respect the season termed the Truce of God. +The ferocious violence of the latter wars betwixt Scotland and +England had destroyed all observance of this decent and religious +Ordinance. Very often the most solemn occasions were chosen by one +party for an attack, because they hoped to find the other engaged +in religious duties and unprovided for defence. Thus the truce, +once considered as proper to the season, had been discontinued; and +it became not unusual even to select the sacred festivals of the +church for decision of the trial by combat, to which this intended +contest bore a considerable resemblance. + +On the present occasion, however, the duties of the day were observed +with the usual solemnity, and the combatants themselves took share +in them. Bearing branches of yew in their hands, as the readiest +substitute for palm boughs, they marched respectively to the Dominican +and Carthusian convents, to hear High Mass, and, by a show at least +of devotion, to prepare themselves for the bloody strife of the +day. Great care had of course been taken that, during this march, +they should not even come within the sound of each other's bagpipes; +for it was certain that, like game cocks exchanging mutual notes +of defiance, they would have sought out and attacked each other +before they arrived at the place of combat. + +The citizens of Perth crowded to see the unusual procession on the +streets, and thronged the churches where the two clans attended +their devotions, to witness their behaviour, and to form a judgment +from their appearance which was most likely to obtain the advantage +in the approaching conflict. Their demeanour in the church, although +not habitual frequenters of places of devotion, was perfectly +decorous; and, notwithstanding their wild and untamed dispositions, +there were few of the mountaineers who seemed affected either +with curiosity or wonder. They appeared to think it beneath their +dignity of character to testify either curiosity or surprise +at many things which were probably then presented to them for the +first time. + +On the issue of the combat, few even of the most competent judges +dared venture a prediction; although the great size of Torquil +and his eight stalwart sons induced some who professed themselves +judges of the thewes and sinews of men to incline to ascribe the +advantage to the party of the Clan Quhele. The opinion of the female +sex was much decided by the handsome form, noble countenance, and +gallant demeanour of Eachin MacIan. There were more than one who +imagined they had recollection of his features, but his splendid +military attire rendered the humble glover's apprentice unrecognisable +in the young Highland chief, saving by one person. + +That person, as may well be supposed, was the Smith of the Wynd, +who had been the foremost in the crowd that thronged to see the +gallant champions of Clan Quhele. It was with mingled feelings of +dislike, jealousy, and something approaching to admiration that +he saw the glover's apprentice stripped of his mean slough, and +blazing forth as a chieftain, who, by his quick eye and gallant +demeanour, the noble shape of his brow and throat, his splendid +arms and well proportioned limbs, seemed well worthy to hold the +foremost rank among men selected to live or die for the honour of +their race. The smith could hardly think that he looked upon the +same passionate boy whom he had brushed off as he might a wasp +that stung him, and, in mere compassion, forebore to despatch by +treading on him. + +"He looks it gallantly with my noble hauberk," thus muttered Henry +to himself, "the best I ever wrought. Yet, if he and I stood together +where there was neither hand to help nor eye to see, by all that +is blessed in this holy church, the good harness should return to +its owner! All that I am worth would I give for three fair blows +on his shoulders to undo my own best work; but such happiness will +never be mine. If he escape from the conflict, it will be with so +high a character for courage, that he may well disdain to put his +fortune, in its freshness, to the risk of an encounter with a poor +burgess like myself. He will fight by his champion, and turn me +over to my fellow craftsman the hammerer, when all I can reap will +be the pleasure of knocking a Highland bullock on the head. If I +could but see Simon Glover! I will to the other church in quest of +him, since for sure he must have come down from the Highlands." + +The congregation was moving from the church of the Dominicans when +the smith formed this determination, which he endeavoured to carry +into speedy execution, by thrusting through the crowd as hastily +as the solemnity of the place and occasion would permit. In making +his way through the press, he was at one instant carried so close +to Eachin that their eyes encountered. The smith's hardy and embrowned +countenance coloured up like the heated iron on which he wrought, +and retained its dark red hue for several minutes. Eachin's features +glowed with a brighter blush of indignation, and a glance of fiery +hatred was shot from his eyes. But the sudden flush died away in +ashy paleness, and his gaze instantly avoided the unfriendly but +steady look with which it was encountered. + +Torquil, whose eye never quitted his foster son, saw his emotion, +and looked anxiously around to discover the cause. But Henry was +already at a distance, and hastening on his way to the Carthusian +convent. Here also the religious service of the day was ended; and +those who had so lately borne palms in honour of the great event +which brought peace on earth and goodwill to the children of men +were now streaming to the place of combat--some prepared to take +the lives of their fellow creatures or to lose their own, others to +view the deadly strife with the savage delight which the heathens +took in the contests of their gladiators. + +The crowd was so great that any other person might well have despaired +of making way through it. But the general deference entertained +for Henry of the Wynd, as the champion of Perth, and the universal +sense of his ability to force a passage, induced all to unite in +yielding room for him, so that he was presently quite close to the +warriors of the Clan Chattan. Their pipers marched at the head of +their column. Next followed the well known banner, displaying a +mountain cat rampant, with the appropriate caution, "Touch not the +cat, but (i.e. without) the glove." The chief followed with his two +handed sword advanced, as if to protect the emblem of the tribe. He +was a man of middle stature, more than fifty years old, but betraying +neither in features nor form any decay of strength or symptoms of +age. His dark red close curled locks were in part chequered by a +few grizzled hairs, but his step and gesture were as light in the +dance, in the chase, or in the battle as if he had not passed his +thirtieth year. His grey eye gleamed with a wild light expressive +of valour and ferocity mingled; but wisdom and experience dwelt +on the expression of his forehead, eyebrows, and lips. The chosen +champions followed by two and two. There was a cast of anxiety on +several of their faces, for they had that morning discovered the +absence of one of their appointed number; and, in a contest so +desperate as was expected, the loss seemed a matter of importance +to all save to their high mettled chief, MacGillie Chattanach. + +"Say nothing to the Saxons of his absence," said this bold leader, +when the diminution of his force was reported to him. "The false +Lowland tongues might say that one of Clan Chattan was a coward, +and perhaps that the rest favoured his escape, in order to have a +pretence to avoid the battle. I am sure that Ferquhard Day will be +found in the ranks ere we are ready for battle; or, if he should +not, am not I man enough for two of the Clan Quhele? or would we +not fight them fifteen to thirty, rather than lose the renown that +this day will bring us?" + +The tribe received the brave speech of their leader with applause, yet +there were anxious looks thrown out in hopes of espying the return +of the deserter; and perhaps the chief himself was the only one of +the determined band who was totally indifferent on the subject. + +They marched on through the streets without seeing anything of +Ferquhard Day, who, many a mile beyond the mountains, was busied +in receiving such indemnification as successful love could bestow +for the loss of honour. MacGillie Chattanach marched on without +seeming to observe the absence of the deserter, and entered upon +the North Inch, a beautiful and level plain, closely adjacent to +the city, and appropriated to the martial exercises of the inhabitants. + +The plain is washed on one side by the deep and swelling Tay. There +was erected within it a strong palisade, inclosing on three sides +a space of one hundred and fifty yards in length and seventy-four +yards in width. The fourth side of the lists was considered as +sufficiently fenced by the river. An amphitheatre for the accommodation +of spectators surrounded the palisade, leaving a large space free +to be occupied by armed men on foot and horseback, and for the more +ordinary class of spectators. At the extremity of the lists which +was nearest to the city, there was a range of elevated galleries +for the King and his courtiers, so highly decorated with rustic +treillage, intermingled with gilded ornaments, that the spot retains +to this day the name of the Golden, or Gilded, Arbour. + +The mountain minstrelsy, which sounded the appropriate pibrochs +or battle tunes of the rival confederacies, was silent when they +entered on the Inch, for such was the order which had been given. +Two stately but aged warriors, each bearing the banner of his +tribe, advanced to the opposite extremities of the lists, and, +pitching their standards into the earth, prepared to be spectators +of a fight in which they were not to join. The pipers, who were also +to be neutral in the strife, took their places by their respective +brattachs. + +The multitude received both bands with the same general shout with +which on similar occasions they welcome those from whose exertion +they expect amusement, or what they term sport. The destined combatants +returned no answer to this greeting, but each party advanced to the +opposite extremities of the lists, where were entrances by which +they were to be admitted to the interior. A strong body of men at +arms guarded either access; and the Earl Marshal at the one and the +Lord High Constable at the other carefully examined each individual, +to see whether he had the appropriate arms, being steel cap, mail +shirt, two handed sword, and dagger. They also examined the numbers +of each party; and great was the alarm among the multitude when the +Earl of Errol held up his hand and cried: "Ho! The combat cannot +proceed, for the Clan Chattan lack one of their number." + +"What reek of that?" said the young Earl of Crawford; "they should +have counted better ere they left home." + +The Earl Marshal, however, agreed with the Constable that the fight +could not proceed until the inequality should be removed; and a +general apprehension was excited in the assembled multitude that, +after all the preparation, there would be no battle. + +Of all present there were only two perhaps who rejoiced at the +prospect of the combat being adjourned, and these were the captain +of the Clan Quhele and the tender hearted King Robert. Meanwhile +the two chiefs, each attended by a special friend and adviser, met +in the midst of the lists, having, to assist them in determining +what was to be done, the Earl Marshal, the Lord High Constable, +the Earl of Crawford, and Sir Patrick Charteris. The chief of the +Clan Chattan declared himself willing and desirous of fighting upon +the spot, without regard to the disparity of numbers. + +"That," said Torquil of the Oak, "Clan Quhele will never consent +to. You can never win honour from us with the sword, and you seek +but a subterfuge, that you may say when you are defeated, as you +know you will be, that it was for want of the number of your band +fully counted out. But I make a proposal: Ferquhard Day was the +youngest of your band, Eachin MacIan is the youngest of ours; we +will set him aside in place of the man who has fled from the combat." + +"A most unjust and unequal proposal," exclaimed Toshach Beg, the +second, as he might be termed, of MacGillie Chattanach. "The life +of the chief is to the clan the breath of our nostrils, nor will +we ever consent that our chief shall be exposed to dangers which +the captain of Clan Quhele does not share." + +Torquil saw with deep anxiety that his plan was about to fail when +the objection was made to Hector's being withdrawn from the battle, +and he was meditating how to support his proposal, when Eachin +himself interfered. His timidity, it must be observed, was not of +that sordid and selfish nature which induces those who are infected +by it calmly to submit to dishonour rather than risk danger. On +the contrary, he was morally brave, though constitutionally timid, +and the shame of avoiding the combat became at the moment more +powerful than the fear of facing it. + +"I will not hear," he said, "of a scheme which will leave my sword +sheathed during this day's glorious combat. If I am young in arms, +there are enough of brave men around me whom I may imitate if I +cannot equal." + +He spoke these words in a spirit which imposed on Torquil, and +perhaps on the young chief himself. + +"Now, God bless his noble heart!" said the foster father to himself. +"I was sure the foul spell would be broken through, and that the +tardy spirit which besieged him would fly at the sound of the pipe +and the first flutter of the brattach!" + +"Hear me, Lord Marshal," said the Constable. "The hour of combat +may not be much longer postponed, for the day approaches to high +noon. Let the chief of Clan Chattan take the half hour which remains, +to find, if he can, a substitute for this deserter; if he cannot, +let them fight as they stand." + +"Content I am," said the Marshal, "though, as none of his own clan +are nearer than fifty miles, I see not how MacGillis Chattanach is +to find an auxiliary." + +"That is his business," said the High Constable; "but, if he offers +a high reward, there are enough of stout yeomen surrounding the +lists, who will be glad enough to stretch their limbs in such a +game as is expected. I myself, did my quality and charge permit, +would blythely take a turn of work amongst these wild fellows, and +think it fame won." + +They communicated their decision to the Highlanders, and the chief +of the Clan Chattan replied: "You have judged unpartially and nobly, +my lords, and I deem myself obliged to follow your direction. So +make proclamation, heralds, that, if any one will take his share +with Clan Chattan of the honours and chances of this day, he shall +have present payment of a gold crown, and liberty to fight to the +death in my ranks." + +"You are something chary of your treasure, chief," said the Earl +Marshal: "a gold crown is poor payment for such a campaign as is +before you." + +"If there be any man willing to fight for honour," replied MacGillis +Chattanach, "the price will be enough; and I want not the service +of a fellow who draws his sword for gold alone." + +The heralds had made their progress, moving half way round the +lists, stopping from time to time to make proclamation as they had +been directed, without the least apparent disposition on the part +of any one to accept of the proffered enlistment. Some sneered at +the poverty of the Highlanders, who set so mean a price upon such +a desperate service. Others affected resentment, that they should +esteem the blood of citizens so lightly. None showed the slightest +intention to undertake the task proposed, until the sound of the +proclamation reached Henry of the Wynd, as he stood without the +barrier, speaking from time to time with Baillie Craigdallie, or +rather listening vaguely to what the magistrate was saying to him. + +"Ha! what proclaim they?" he cried out. + +"A liberal offer on the part of MacGillie Chattanach," said the +host of the Griffin, "who proposes a gold crown to any one who will +turn wildcat for the day, and be killed a little in his service! +That's all." + +"How!" exclaimed the smith, eagerly, "do they make proclamation +for a man to fight against the Clan Quhele?" + +"Ay, marry do they," said Griffin; "but I think they will find no +such fools in Perth." + +He had hardly said the word, when he beheld the smith clear the +barriers at a single bound and alight in the lists, saying: "Here +am I, sir herald, Henry of the Wynd, willing to battle on the part +of the Clan Chattan." + +A cry of admiration ran through the multitude, while the grave +burghers, not being able to conceive the slightest reason for Henry's +behaviour, concluded that his head must be absolutely turned with +the love of fighting. The provost was especially shocked. + +"Thou art mad," he said, "Henry! Thou hast neither two handed sword +nor shirt of mail." + +"Truly no," said Henry, "for I parted with a mail shirt, which I +had made for myself, to yonder gay chief of the Clan Quhele, who +will soon find on his shoulders with what sort of blows I clink my +rivets! As for two handed sword, why, this boy's brand will serve +my turn till I can master a heavier one." + +"This must not be," said Errol. "Hark thee, armourer, by St. Mary, +thou shalt have my Milan hauberk and good Spanish sword." + +"I thank your noble earlship, Sir Gilbert Hay, but the yoke with +which your brave ancestor turned the battle at Loncarty would serve +my turn well enough. I am little used to sword or harness that I +have not wrought myself, because I do not well know what blows the +one will bear out without being cracked or the other lay on without +snapping." + +The cry had in the mean while run through the multitude and passed +into the town, that the dauntless smith was about to fight without +armour, when, just as the fated hour was approaching, the shrill +voice of a female was heard screaming for passage through the crowd. +The multitude gave place to her importunity, and she advanced, +breathless with haste under the burden of a mail hauberk and +a large two handed sword. The widow of Oliver Proudfute was soon +recognised, and the arms which she bore were those of the smith +himself, which, occupied by her husband on the fatal evening when +he was murdered, had been naturally conveyed to his house with the +dead body, and were now, by the exertions of his grateful widow, +brought to the lists at a moment when such proved weapons were of +the last consequence to their owner. Henry joyfully received the +well known arms, and the widow with trembling haste assisted in +putting them on, and then took leave of him, saying: "God for the +champion of the widow and orphan, and ill luck to all who come +before him!" + +Confident at feeling himself in his well proved armour, Henry shook +himself as if to settle the steel shirt around him, and, unsheathing +the two handed sword, made it flourish over his head, cutting the +air through which it whistled in the form of the figure eight with +an ease and sleight of hand that proved how powerfully and skilfully +he could wield the ponderous weapon. The champions were now ordered +to march in their turns around the lists, crossing so as to avoid +meeting each other, and making obeisance as they passed the Golden +Arbour where the King was seated. + +While this course was performing, most of the spectators were +again curiously comparing the stature, limbs, and sinews of the two +parties, and endeavouring to form a conjecture an to the probable +issue of the combat. The feud of a hundred years, with all its +acts of aggression and retaliation, was concentrated in the bosom +of each combatant. Their countenances seemed fiercely writhen into +the wildest expression of pride, hate, and a desperate purpose of +fighting to the very last. + +The spectators murmured a joyful applause, in high wrought +expectation of the bloody game. Wagers were offered and accepted +both on the general issue of the conflict and on the feats of +particular champions. The clear, frank, and elated look of Henry +Smith rendered him a general favourite among the spectators, and +odds, to use the modern expression, were taken that he would kill +three of his opponents before he himself fell. + +Scarcely was the smith equipped for the combat, when the commands +of the chiefs ordered the champions into their places; and at the +same moment Henry heard the voice of Simon Glover issuing from the +crowd, who were now silent with expectation, and calling on him: +"Harry Smith--Harry Smith, what madness hath possessed thee?" + +"Ay, he wishes to save his hopeful son in law that is, or is to be, +from the smith's handling," was Henry's first thought; his second +was to turn and speak with him; and his third, that he could on no +pretext desert the band which he had joined, or even seem desirous +to delay the fight, consistently with honour. + +He turned himself, therefore, to the business of the hour. Both +parties were disposed by the respective chiefs in three lines, each +containing ten men. They were arranged with such intervals between +each individual as offered him scope to wield his sword, the blade +of which was five feet long, not including the handle. The second +and third lines were to come up as reserves, in case the first +experienced disaster. On the right of the array of Clan Quhele, +the chief, Eachin MacIan, placed himself in the second line betwixt +two of his foster brothers. Four of them occupied the right of the +first line, whilst the father and two others protected the rear of +the beloved chieftain. Torquil, in particular, kept close behind, +for the purpose of covering him. Thus Eachin stood in the centre +of nine of the strongest men of his band, having four especial +defenders in front, one on each hand, and three in his rear. + +The line of the Clan Chattan was arranged in precisely the same +order, only that the chief occupied the centre of the middle rank, +instead of being on the extreme right. This induced Henry Smith, who +saw in the opposing bands only one enemy, and that was the unhappy +Eachin, to propose placing himself on the left of the front rank of +the Clan Chattan. But the leader disapproved of this arrangement; +and having reminded Henry that he owed him obedience, as having +taken wages at his hand, he commanded him to occupy the space +in the third line immediately behind himself--a post of honour, +certainly, which Henry could not decline, though he accepted of it +with reluctance. + +When the clans were thus drawn up opposed to each other, they +intimated their feudal animosity and their eagerness to engage by +a wild scream, which, uttered by the Clan Quhele, was answered and +echoed back by the Clan Chattan, the whole at the same time shaking +their swords and menacing each other, as if they meant to conquer +the imagination of their opponents ere they mingled in the actual +strife. + +At this trying moment, Torquil, who had never feared for himself, +was agitated with alarm on the part of his dault, yet consoled +by observing that he kept a determined posture, and that the few +words which he spoke to his clan were delivered boldly, and well +calculated to animate them to combat, as expressing his resolution +to partake their fate in death or victory. But there was no time +for further observation. The trumpets of the King sounded a charge, +the bagpipes blew up their screaming and maddening notes, and the +combatants, starting forward in regular order, and increasing their +pace till they came to a smart run, met together in the centre of +the ground, as a furious land torrent encounters an advancing tide. + +For an instant or two the front lines, hewing at each other with +their long swords, seemed engaged in a succession of single combats; +but the second and third ranks soon came up on either side, actuated +alike by the eagerness of hatred and the thirst of honour, pressed +through the intervals, and rendered the scene a tumultuous chaos, +over which the huge swords rose and sunk, some still glittering, +others streaming with blood, appearing, from the wild rapidity +with which they were swayed, rather to be put in motion by some +complicated machinery than to be wielded by human hands. Some of +the combatants, too much crowded together to use those long weapons, +had already betaken themselves to their poniards, and endeavoured +to get within the sword sweep of those opposed to them. In the mean +time, blood flowed fast, and the groans of those who fell began to +mingle with the cries of those who fought; for, according to the +manner of the Highlanders at all times, they could hardly be said +to shout, but to yell. Those of the spectators whose eyes were best +accustomed to such scenes of blood and confusion could nevertheless +discover no advantage yet acquired by either party. The conflict +swayed, indeed, at different intervals forwards or backwards, but +it was only in momentary superiority, which the party who acquired +it almost instantly lost by a corresponding exertion on the other +side. The wild notes of the pipers were still heard above the tumult, +and stimulated to farther exertions the fury of the combatants. + +At once, however, and as if by mutual agreement, the instruments +sounded a retreat; it was expressed in wailing notes, which seemed to +imply a dirge for the fallen. The two parties disengaged themselves +from each other, to take breath for a few minutes. The eyes of the +spectators greedily surveyed the shattered array of the combatants +as they drew off from the contest, but found it still impossible +to decide which had sustained the greater loss. It seemed as if +the Clan Chattan had lost rather fewer men than their antagonists; +but in compensation, the bloody plaids and skirts of their party +(for several on both sides had thrown their mantles away) showed +more wounded men than the Clan Quhele. About twenty of both sides +lay on the field dead or dying; and arms and legs lopped off, +heads cleft to the chin, slashes deep through the shoulder into +the breast, showed at once the fury of the combat, the ghastly +character of the weapons used, and the fatal strength of the arms +which wielded them. The chief of the Clan Chattan had behaved himself +with the most determined courage, and was slightly wounded. Eachin +also had fought with spirit, surrounded by his bodyguard. His sword +was bloody, his bearing bold and warlike; and he smiled when old +Torquil, folding him in his arms, loaded him with praises and with +blessings. + +The two chiefs, after allowing their followers to breathe for the +space of about ten minutes, again drew up in their files, diminished +by nearly one third of their original number. They now chose their +ground nearer to the river than that on which they had formerly +encountered, which was encumbered with the wounded and the slain. +Some of the former were observed, from time to time, to raise +themselves to gain a glimpse of the field, and sink back, most of +them to die from the effusion of blood which poured from the terrific +gashes inflicted by the claymore. + +Harry Smith was easily distinguished by his Lowland habit, as well +as his remaining on the spot where they had first encountered, where +he stood leaning on a sword beside a corpse, whose bonneted head, +carried to ten yards' distance from the body by the force of the +blow which had swept it off, exhibited the oak leaf, the appropriate +ornament of the bodyguard of Eachin MacIan. Since he slew this +man, Henry had not struck a blow, but had contented himself with +warding off many that were dealt at himself, and some which were +aimed at the chief. MacGillie Chattanach became alarmed, when, +having given the signal that his men should again draw together, +he observed that his powerful recruit remained at a distance from +the ranks, and showed little disposition to join them. + +"What ails thee, man?" said the chief. "Can so strong a body have +a mean and cowardly spirit? Come, and make in to the combat." + +"You as good as called me hireling but now," replied Henry. "If I +am such," pointing to the headless corpse, "I have done enough for +my day's wage." + +"He that serves me without counting his hours," replied the chief, +"I reward him without reckoning wages." + +"Then," said the smith, "I fight as a volunteer, and in the post +which best likes me." + +"All that is at your own discretion," replied MacGillis Chattanach, +who saw the prudence of humouring an auxiliary of such promise. + +"It is enough," said Henry; and, shouldering his heavy weapon, he +joined the rest of the combatants with alacrity, and placed himself +opposite to the chief of the Clan Quhele. + +It was then, for the first time, that Eachin showed some uncertainty. +He had long looked up to Henry as the best combatant which Perth +and its neighbourhood could bring into the lists. His hatred to +him as a rival was mingled with recollection of the ease with which +he had once, though unarmed, foiled his own sudden and desperate +attack; and when he beheld him with his eyes fixed in his direction, +the dripping sword in his hand, and obviously meditating an attack +on him individually, his courage fell, and he gave symptoms of +wavering, which did not escape his foster father. + +It was lucky for Eachin that Torquil was incapable, from the +formation of his own temper, and that of those with whom he had +lived, to conceive the idea of one of his own tribe, much less of his +chief and foster son, being deficient in animal courage. Could he +have imagined this, his grief and rage might have driven him to the +fierce extremity of taking Eachin's life, to save him from staining +his honour. But his mind rejected the idea that his dault was a +personal coward, as something which was monstrous and unnatural. +That he was under the influence of enchantment was a solution which +superstition had suggested, and he now anxiously, but in a whisper, +demanded of Hector: "Does the spell now darken thy spirit, Eachin?" + +"Yes, wretch that I am," answered the unhappy youth; "and yonder +stands the fell enchanter!" + +"What!" exclaimed Torquil, "and you wear harness of his making? +Norman, miserable boy, why brought you that accursed mail?" + +"If my arrow has flown astray, I can but shoot my life after it," +answered Norman nan Ord. "Stand firm, you shall see me break the +spell." + +"Yes, stand firm," said Torquil. "He may be a fell enchanter; but +my own ear has heard, and my own tongue has told, that Eachin shall +leave the battle whole, free, and unwounded; let us see the Saxon +wizard who can gainsay that. He may be a strong man, but the fair +forest of the oak shall fall, stock and bough, ere he lay a finger +on my dault. Ring around him, my sons; bas air son Eachin!" + +The sons of Torquil shouted back the words, which signify, "Death +for Hector." + +Encouraged by their devotion, Eachin renewed his spirit, and called +boldly to the minstrels of his clan, "Seid suas" that is, "Strike +up." + +The wild pibroch again sounded the onset; but the two parties +approached each other more slowly than at first, as men who knew +and respected each other's valour. Henry Wynd, in his impatience +to begin the contest, advanced before the Clan Chattan and signed +to Eachin to come on. Norman, however, sprang forward to cover his +foster brother, and there was a general, though momentary, pause, +as if both parties were willing to obtain an omen of the fate of +the day from the event of this duel. The Highlander advanced, with +his large sword uplifted, as in act to strike; but, just as he +came within sword's length, he dropt the long and cumbrous weapon, +leapt lightly over the smith's sword, as he fetched a cut at him, +drew his dagger, and, being thus within Henry's guard, struck him +with the weapon (his own gift) on the side of the throat, directing +the blow downwards into the chest, and calling aloud, at the same +time, "You taught me the stab!" + +But Henry Wynd wore his own good hauberk, doubly defended with a +lining of tempered steel. Had he been less surely armed, his combats +had been ended for ever. Even as it was, he was slightly wounded. + +"Fool!" he replied, striking Norman a blow with the pommel of his +long sword, which made him stagger backwards, "you were taught the +thrust, but not the parry"; and, fetching a blow at his antagonist, +which cleft his skull through the steel cap, he strode over the +lifeless body to engage the young chief, who now stood open before +him. + +But the sonorous voice of Torquil thundered out, "Far eil air son +Eachin!" (Another for Hector!) and the two brethren who flanked +their chief on each side thrust forward upon Henry, and, striking +both at once, compelled him to keep the defensive. + +"Forward, race of the tiger cat!" cried MacGillie Chattanach. "Save +the brave Saxon; let these kites feel your talons!" + +Already much wounded, the chief dragged himself up to the smith's +assistance, and cut down one of the leichtach, by whom he was +assailed. Henry's own good sword rid him of the other. + +"Reist air son Eachin!" (Again for Hector!) shouted the faithful +foster father. + +"Bas air son Eachin!" (Death for Hector!) answered two more of his +devoted sons, and opposed themselves to the fury of the smith and +those who had come to his aid; while Eachin, moving towards the left +wing of the battle, sought less formidable adversaries, and again, +by some show of valour, revived the sinking hopes of his followers. +The two children of the oak, who had covered, this movement, shared +the fate of their brethren; for the cry of the Clan Chattan chief +had drawn to that part of the field some of his bravest warriors. +The sons of Torquil did not fall unavenged, but left dreadful +marks of their swords on the persons of the dead and living. But +the necessity of keeping their most distinguished soldiers around +the person of their chief told to disadvantage on the general +event of the combat; and so few were now the number who remained +fighting, that it was easy to see that the Clan Chattan had fifteen +of their number left, though most of them wounded, and that of the +Clan Quhele only about ten remained, of whom there were four of +the chief's bodyguard, including Torquil himself. + +They fought and struggled on, however, and as their strength +decayed, their fury seemed to increase. Henry Wynd, now wounded in +many places, was still bent on breaking through, or exterminating, +the band of bold hearts who continued to fight around the object +of his animosity. But still the father's shout of "Another for +Hector!" was cheerfully answered by the fatal countersign, "Death +for Hector!" and though the Clan Quhele were now outnumbered, the +combat seemed still dubious. It was bodily lassitude alone that +again compelled them to another pause. + +The Clan Chattan were then observed to be twelve in number, but +two or three were scarce able to stand without leaning on their +swords. Five were left of the Clan Quhele; Torquil and his youngest +son were of the number, both slightly wounded. Eachin alone had, +from the vigilance used to intercept all blows levelled against his +person, escaped without injury. The rage of both parties had sunk, +through exhaustion, into sullen desperation. They walked staggering, +as if in their sleep, through the carcasses of the slain, and +gazed on them, as if again to animate their hatred towards their +surviving enemies by viewing the friends they had lost. + +The multitude soon after beheld the survivors of the desperate +conflict drawing together to renew the exterminating feud on the +banks of the river, as the spot least slippery with blood, and less +encumbered with the bodies of the slain. + +"For God's sake--for the sake of the mercy which we daily pray +for," said the kind hearted old King to the Duke of Albany, "let +this be ended! Wherefore should these wretched rags and remnants of +humanity be suffered to complete their butchery? Surely they will +now be ruled, and accept of peace on moderate terms?" + +"Compose yourself, my liege," said his brother. "These men are the +pest of the Lowlands. Both chiefs are still living; if they go back +unharmed, the whole day's work is cast away. Remember your promise +to the council, that you would not cry 'hold.'" + +"You compel me to a great crime, Albany, both as a king, who +should protect his subjects, and as a Christian man, who respects +the brother of his faith." + +"You judge wrong, my lord," said the Duke: "these are not loving +subjects, but disobedient rebels, as my Lord of Crawford can bear +witness; and they are still less Christian men, for the prior of the +Dominicans will vouch for me that they are more than half heathen." + +The King sighed deeply. "You must work your pleasure, and are too +wise for me to contend with. I can but turn away and shut my eyes +from the sights and sounds of a carnage which makes me sicken. But +well I know that God will punish me even for witnessing this waste +of human life." + +"Sound, trumpets," said Albany; "their wounds will stiffen if they +dally longer." + +While this was passing, Torquil was embracing and encouraging his +young chief. + +"Resist the witchcraft but a few minutes longer! Be of good cheer, +you will come off without either scar or scratch, wem or wound. Be +of good cheer!" + +"How can I be of good cheer," said Eachin, "while my brave kinsmen +have one by one died at my feet--died all for me, who could never +deserve the least of their kindness?" + +"And for what were they born, save to die for their chief?" said +Torquil, composedly. "Why lament that the arrow returns not to the +quiver, providing it hit the mark? Cheer up yet. Here are Tormot +and I but little hurt, while the wildcats drag themselves through +the plain as if they were half throttled by the terriers. Yet one +brave stand, and the day shall be your own, though it may well be +that you alone remain alive. Minstrels, sound the gathering." + +The pipers on both sides blew their charge, and the combatants +again mingled in battle, not indeed with the same strength, but +with unabated inveteracy. They were joined by those whose duty it +was to have remained neuter, but who now found themselves unable to +do so. The two old champions who bore the standards had gradually +advanced from the extremity of the lists, and now approached close +to the immediate scene of action. When they beheld the carnage +more nearly, they were mutually impelled by the desire to revenge +their brethren, or not to survive them. They attacked each other +furiously with the lances to which the standards were attached, +closed after exchanging several deadly thrusts, then grappled in +close strife, still holding their banners, until at length, in the +eagerness of their conflict, they fell together into the Tay, and +were found drowned after the combat, closely locked in each other's +arms. The fury of battle, the frenzy of rage and despair, infected +next the minstrels. The two pipers, who, during the conflict, had +done their utmost to keep up the spirits of their brethren, now +saw the dispute well nigh terminated for want of men to support +it. They threw down their instruments, rushed desperately upon each +other with their daggers, and each being more intent on despatching +his opponent than in defending himself, the piper of Clan Quhele +was almost instantly slain and he of Clan Chattan mortally wounded. +The last, nevertheless, again grasped his instrument, and the pibroch +of the clan yet poured its expiring notes over the Clan Chattan, +while the dying minstrel had breath to inspire it. The instrument +which he used, or at least that part of it called the chanter, is +preserved in the family of a Highland chief to this day, and is +much honoured under the name of the federan dhu, or, "black chanter."' + +Meanwhile, in the final charge, young Tormot, devoted, like his +brethren, by his father Torquil to the protection of his chief, +had been mortally wounded by the unsparing sword of the smith. The +other two remaining of the Clan Quhele had also fallen, and Torquil, +with his foster son and the wounded Tormot, forced to retreat before +eight or ten of the Clan Chattan, made a stand on the bank of the +river, while their enemies were making such exertions as their +wounds would permit to come up with them. Torquil had just reached +the spot where he had resolved to make the stand, when the young +Tormot dropped and expired. His death drew from his father the +first and only sigh which he had breathed throughout the eventful +day. + +"My son Tormot!" he said, "my youngest and dearest! But if I save +Hector, I save all. Now, my darling dault, I have done for thee all +that man may, excepting the last. Let me undo the clasps of that +ill omened armour, and do thou put on that of Tormot; it is light, +and will fit thee well. While you do so, I will rush on these +crippled men, and make what play with them I can. I trust I shall +have but little to do, for they are following each other like +disabled steers. At least, darling of my soul, if I am unable to +save thee, I can show thee how a man should die." + +While Torquil thus spoke, he unloosed the clasps of the young chief's +hauberk, in the simple belief that he could thus break the meshes +which fear and necromancy had twined about his heart. + +"My father--my father--my more than parent," said the unhappy +Eachin, "stay with me! With you by my side, I feel I can fight to +the last." + +"It is impossible," said Torquil. "I will stop them coming up, +while you put on the hauberk. God eternally bless thee, beloved of +my soul!" + +And then, brandishing his sword, Torquil of the Oak rushed forward +with the same fatal war cry which had so often sounded over that +bloody field, "Bas air son Eachin!" The words rung three times in +a voice of thunder; and each time that he cried his war shout he +struck down one of the Clan Chattan as he met them successively +straggling towards him. + +"Brave battle, hawk--well flown, falcon!" exclaimed the multitude, +as they witnessed exertions which seemed, even at this last hour, +to threaten a change of the fortunes of the day. Suddenly these +cries were hushed into silence, and succeeded by a clashing of +swords so dreadful, as if the whole conflict had recommenced in +the person of Henry Wynd and Torquil of the Oak. They cut, foined, +hewed, and thrust as if they had drawn their blades for the first time +that day; and their inveteracy was mutual, for Torquil recognised +the foul wizard who, as he supposed, had cast a spell over his +child; and Henry saw before him the giant who, during the whole +conflict, had interrupted the purpose for which alone he had joined +the combatants--that of engaging in single combat with Hector. +They fought with an equality which, perhaps, would not have existed, +had not Henry, more wounded than his antagonist, been somewhat +deprived of his usual agility. + +Meanwhile Eachin, finding himself alone, after a disorderly and +vain attempt to put on his foster brother's harness, became animated +by an emotion of shame and despair, and hurried forward to support +his foster father in the terrible struggle, ere some other of the +Clan Chattan should come up. When he was within five yards, and +sternly determined to take his share in the death fight, his foster +father fell, cleft from the collarbone well nigh to the heart, and +murmuring with his last breath, "Bas air son Eachin!" The unfortunate +youth saw the fall of his last friend, and at the same moment +beheld the deadly enemy who had hunted him through the whole field +standing within sword's point of him, and brandishing the huge +weapon which had hewed its way to his life through so many obstacles. +Perhaps this was enough to bring his constitutional timidity to +its highest point; or perhaps he recollected at the same moment +that he was without defensive armour, and that a line of enemies, +halting indeed and crippled, but eager for revenge and blood, were +closely approaching. It is enough to say, that his heart sickened, +his eyes darkened, his ears tingled, his brain turned giddy, +all other considerations were lost in the apprehension of instant +death; and, drawing one ineffectual blow at the smith, he avoided +that which was aimed at him in return by bounding backward; and, +ere the former could recover his weapon, Eachin had plunged into +the stream of the Tay. A roar of contumely pursued him as he swam +across the river, although, perhaps, not a dozen of those who joined +in it would have behaved otherwise in the like circumstances. Henry +looked after the fugitive in silence and surprise, but could not +speculate on the consequences of his flight, on account of the +faintness which seemed to overpower him as soon as the animation +of the contest had subsided. He sat down on the grassy bank, and +endeavoured to stanch such of his wounds as were pouring fastest. + +The victors had the general meed of gratulation. The Duke of Albany +and others went down to survey the field; and Henry Wynd was honoured +with particular notice. + +"If thou wilt follow me, good fellow," said the Black Douglas, +"I will change thy leathern apron for a knight's girdle, and thy +burgage tenement for an hundred pound land to maintain thy rank +withal." + +"I thank you humbly, my lord," said the smith, dejectedly, "but +I have shed blood enough already, and Heaven has punished me by +foiling the only purpose for which I entered the combat." + +"How, friend?" said Douglas. "Didst thou not fight for the Clan +Chattan, and have they not gained a glorious conquest?" + +"I fought for my own hand," [meaning, I did such a thing for my +own pleasure, not for your profit] said the smith, indifferently; +and the expression is still proverbial in Scotland. + +The good King Robert now came up on an ambling palfrey, having +entered the barriers for the purpose of causing the wounded to be +looked after. + +"My lord of Douglas," he said, "you vex the poor man with temporal +matters when it seems he may have short timer to consider those +that are spiritual. Has he no friends here who will bear him where +his bodily wounds and the health of his soul may be both cared +for?" + +"He hath as many friends as there are good men in Perth," said Sir +Patrick Charteris, "and I esteem myself one of the closest." + +"A churl will savour of churl's kind," said the haughty Douglas, +turning his horse aside; "the proffer of knighthood from the sword +of Douglas had recalled him from death's door, had there been a +drop of gentle blood in his body." + +Disregarding the taunt of the mighty earl, the Knight of Kinfauns +dismounted to take Henry in his arms, as he now sunk back from very +faintness. But he was prevented by Simon Glover, who, with other +burgesses of consideration, had now entered the barrace. + +"Henry, my beloved son Henry!" said the old man. "Oh, what tempted +you to this fatal affray? Dying--speechless?" + +"No--not speechless," said Henry. "Catharine--" He could utter +no more. + +"Catharine is well, I trust, and shall be thine--that is, if--" + +"If she be safe, thou wouldst say, old man," said the Douglas, who, +though something affronted at Henry's rejection of his offer, was +too magnanimous not to interest himself in what was passing. "She +is safe, if Douglas's banner can protect her--safe, and shall +be rich. Douglas can give wealth to those who value it more than +honour." + +"For her safety, my lord, let the heartfelt thanks and blessings +of a father go with the noble Douglas. For wealth, we are rich +enough. Gold cannot restore my beloved son." + +"A marvel!" said the Earl: "a churl refuses nobility, a citizen +despises gold!" + +"Under your lordship's favour," said Sir Patrick, "I, who am knight +and noble, take license to say, that such a brave man as Henry Wynd +may reject honourable titles, such an honest man as this reverend +citizen may dispense with gold." + +"You do well, Sir Patrick, to speak for your town, and I take no +offence," said the Douglas. "I force my bounty on no one. But," he +added, in a whisper to Albany, "your Grace must withdraw the King +from this bloody sight, for he must know that tonight which will +ring over broad Scotland when tomorrow dawns. This feud is ended. +Yet even I grieve that so many brave Scottishmen lie here slain, +whose brands might have decided a pitched field in their country's +cause." + +With dignity King Robert was withdrawn from the field, the tears +running down his aged cheeks and white beard, as he conjured +all around him, nobles and priests, that care should be taken for +the bodies and souls of the few wounded survivors, and honourable +burial rendered to the slain. The priests who were present answered +zealously for both services, and redeemed their pledge faithfully +and piously. + +Thus ended this celebrated conflict of the North Inch of Perth. Of +sixty-four brave men (the minstrels and standard bearers included) +who strode manfully to the fatal field, seven alone survived, who +were conveyed from thence in litters, in a case little different +from the dead and dying around them, and mingled with them in the +sad procession which conveyed them from the scene of their strife. +Eachin alone had left it void of wounds and void of honour. + +It remains but to say, that not a man of the Clan Quhele survived +the bloody combat except the fugitive chief; and the consequence +of the defeat was the dissolution of their confederacy. The clans +of which it consisted are now only matter of conjecture to the +antiquary, for, after this eventful contest, they never assembled +under the same banner. The Clan Chattan, on the other hand, continued +to increase and flourish; and the best families of the Northern +Highlands boast their descent from the race of the Cat a Mountain. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +While the King rode slowly back to the convent which he then +occupied, Albany, with a discomposed aspect and faltering voice, +asked the Earl of Douglas: "Will not your lordship, who saw this +most melancholy scene at Falkland, communicate the tidings to my +unhappy brother?" + +"Not for broad Scotland," said the Douglas. "I would sooner bare +my breast, within flight shot, as a butt to an hundred Tynedale +bowmen. No, by St. Bride of Douglas! I could but say I saw the ill +fated youth dead. How he came by his death, your Grace can perhaps +better explain. Were it not for the rebellion of March and the +English war, I would speak my own mind of it." + +So saying, and making his obeisance to the King, the Earl rode off +to his own lodgings, leaving Albany to tell his tale as he best +could. + +"The rebellion and the English war!" said the Duke to himself. "Ay, +and thine own interest, haughty earl, which, imperious as thou art, +thou darest not separate from mine. Well, since the task falls on +me, I must and will discharge it." + +He followed the King into his apartment. The King looked at him +with surprise after he had assumed his usual seat. + +"Thy countenance is ghastly, Robin," said the King. "I would thou +wouldst think more deeply when blood is to be spilled, since its +consequences affect thee so powerfully. And yet, Robin, I love thee +the better that thy kind nature will sometimes show itself, even +through thy reflecting policy." + +"I would to Heaven, my royal brother," said Albany, with a voice +half choked, "that the bloody field we have seen were the worst +we had to see or hear of this day. I should waste little sorrow on +the wild kerne who lie piled on it like carrion. But--" he paused. + +"How!" exclaimed the King, in terror. "What new evil? Rothsay? It +must be--it is Rothsay! Speak out! What new folly has been done? +What fresh mischance?" + +"My lord--my liege, folly and mischance are now ended with my +hapless nephew." + +"He is dead!--he is dead!" screamed the agonized parent. "Albany, +as thy brother, I conjure thee! But no, I am thy brother no longer. +As thy king, dark and subtle man, I charge thee to tell the worst." + +Albany faltered out: "The details are but imperfectly known to me; +but the certainty is, that my unhappy nephew was found dead in his +apartment last night from sudden illness--as I have heard." + +"Oh, Rothsay!--Oh, my beloved David! Would to God I had died for +thee, my son--my son!" + +So spoke, in the emphatic words of Scripture, the helpless and +bereft father, tearing his grey beard and hoary hair, while Albany, +speechless and conscience struck, did not venture to interrupt the +tempest of his grief. But the agony of the King's sorrow almost +instantly changed to fury--a mood so contrary to the gentleness +and timidity of his nature, that the remorse of Albany was drowned +in his fear. + +"And this is the end," said the King, "of thy moral saws and religious +maxims! But the besotted father who gave the son into thy hands-- +who gave the innocent lamb to the butcher--is a king, and thou +shalt know it to thy cost. Shall the murderer stand in presence of +his brother--stained with the blood of that brother's son? No! +What ho, without there!--MacLouis!--Brandanes! Treachery! Murder! +Take arms, if you love the Stuart!" + +MacLouis, with several of the guards, rushed into the apartment. + +"Murder and treason!" exclaimed the miserable King. "Brandanes, +your noble Prince--" Here his grief and agitation interrupted +for a moment the fatal information it was his object to convey. At +length he resumed his broken speech: "An axe and a block instantly +into the courtyard! Arrest--" The word choked his utterance. + +"Arrest whom, my noble liege?" said MacLouis, who, observing the +King influenced by a tide of passion so different from the gentleness +of his ordinary demeanour, almost conjectured that his brain had +been disturbed by the unusual horrors of the combat he had witnessed. + +"Whom shall I arrest, my liege?" he replied. "Here is none but your +Grace's royal brother of Albany." + +"Most true," said the King, his brief fit of vindictive passion soon +dying away. "Most true--none but Albany--none but my parent's +child--none but my brother. O God, enable me to quell the sinful +passion which glows in this bosom. Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!" + +MacLouis cast a look of wonder towards the Duke of Albany, who +endeavoured to hide his confusion under an affectation of deep +sympathy, and muttered to the officer: "The great misfortune has +been too much for his understanding." + +"What misfortune, please your Grace?" replied MacLouis. "I have +heard of none." + +"How! not heard of the death of my nephew Rothsay?" + +"The Duke of Rothsay dead, my Lord of Albany?" exclaimed the faithful +Brandane, with the utmost horror and astonishment. "When, how, and +where?" + +"Two days since--the manner as yet unknown--at Falkland." + +MacLouis gazed at the Duke for an instant; then, with a kindling +eye and determined look, said to the King, who seemed deeply engaged +in his mental devotion: "My liege! a minute or two since you left +a word--one word--unspoken. Let it pass your lips, and your +pleasure is law to your Brandanes!" + +"I was praying against temptation, MacLouis," said the heart +broken King, "and you bring it to me. Would you arm a madman with +a drawn weapon? But oh, Albany! my friend--my brother--my bosom +counsellor--how--how camest thou by the heart to do this?" + +Albany, seeing that the King's mood was softening, replied with +more firmness than before: "My castle has no barrier against the +power of death. I have not deserved the foul suspicions which your +Majesty's words imply. I pardon them, from the distraction of a +bereaved father. But I am willing to swear by cross and altar, by +my share in salvation, by the souls of our royal parents--" + +"Be silent, Robert!" said the King: "add not perjury to murder. +And was this all done to gain a step nearer to a crown and sceptre? +Take them to thee at once, man; and mayst thou feel as I have done, +that they are both of red hot iron! Oh, Rothsay--Rothsay! thou +hast at least escaped being a king!" + +"My liege," said MacLouis, "let me remind you that the crown and +sceptre of Scotland are, when your Majesty ceases to bear them, +the right of Prince James, who succeeds to his brother's rights." + +"True, MacLouis," said the King, eagerly, "and will succeed, poor +child, to his brother's perils! Thanks, MacLouis--thanks. You have +reminded me that I have still work upon earth. Get thy Brandanes +under arms with what speed thou canst. Let no man go with us whose +truth is not known to thee. None in especial who has trafficked +with the Duke of Albany--that man, I mean, who calls himself my +brother--and order my litter to be instantly prepared. We will +to Dunbarton, MacLouis, or to Bute. Precipices, and tides, and my +Brandanes' hearts shall defend the child till we can put oceans +betwixt him and his cruel uncle's ambition. Farewell, Robert of +Albany--farewell for ever, thou hard hearted, bloody man! Enjoy +such share of power as the Douglas may permit thee. But seek not +to see my face again, far less to approach my remaining child; for, +that hour thou dost, my guards shall have orders to stab thee down +with their partizans! MacLouis, look it be so directed." + +The Duke of Albany left the presence without attempting further +justification or reply. + +What followed is matter of history. In the ensuing Parliament, the +Duke of Albany prevailed on that body to declare him innocent of +the death of Rothsay, while, at the same time, he showed his own +sense of guilt by taking out a remission or pardon for the offence. +The unhappy and aged monarch secluded himself in his Castle of +Rothsay, in Bute, to mourn over the son he had lost, and watch with +feverish anxiety over the life of him who remained. As the best +step for the youthful James's security, he sent him to France to +receive his education at the court of the reigning sovereign. But +the vessel in which the Prince of Scotland sailed was taken by an +English cruiser, and, although there was a truce for the moment +betwixt the kingdoms, Henry IV ungenerously detained him a prisoner. +This last blow completely broke the heart of the unhappy King Robert +III. Vengeance followed, though with a slow pace, the treachery +and cruelty of his brother. Robert of Albany's own grey hairs went, +indeed, in peace to the grave, and he transferred the regency which +he had so foully acquired to his son Murdoch. But, nineteen years +after the death of the old King, James I returned to Scotland, and +Duke Murdoch of Albany, with his sons, was brought to the scaffold, +in expiation of his father's guilt and his own. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +The honest heart that's free frae a' +Intended fraud or guile, +However Fortune kick the ba', +Has aye some cause to smile. + +BURNS. + + +We now return to the Fair Maid of Perth, who had been sent from the +horrible scene at Falkland by order of the Douglas, to be placed +under the protection of his daughter, the now widowed Duchess of +Rothsay. That lady's temporary residence was a religious house called +Campsie, the ruins of which still occupy a striking situation on the +Tay. It arose on the summit of a precipitous rock, which descends +on the princely river, there rendered peculiarly remarkable by the +cataract called Campsie Linn, where its waters rush tumultuously +over a range of basaltic rock, which intercepts the current, like +a dike erected by human hands. Delighted with a site so romantic, +the monks of the abbey of Cupar reared a structure there, dedicated +to an obscure saint, named St. Hunnand, and hither they were wont +themselves to retire for pleasure or devotion. It had readily opened +its gates to admit the noble lady who was its present inmate, as +the country was under the influence of the powerful Lord Drummond, +the ally of the Douglas. There the Earl's letters were presented to +the Duchess by the leader of the escort which conducted Catharine +and the glee maiden to Campsie. Whatever reason she might have to +complain of Rothsay, his horrible and unexpected end greatly shocked +the noble lady, and she spent the greater part of the night in +indulging her grief and in devotional exercises. + +On the next morning, which was that of the memorable Palm Sunday, +she ordered Catharine Glover and the minstrel into her presence. +The spirits of both the young women had been much sunk and shaken +by the dreadful scenes in which they had so lately been engaged; +and the outward appearance of the Duchess Marjory was, like that +of her father, more calculated to inspire awe than confidence. She +spoke with kindness, however, though apparently in deep affliction, +and learned from them all which they had to tell concerning the +fate of her erring and inconsiderate husband. She appeared grateful +for the efforts which Catharine and the glee maiden had made, at +their own extreme peril, to save Rothsay from his horrible fate. She +invited them to join in her devotions; and at the hour of dinner gave +them her hand to kiss, and dismissed them to their own refection, +assuring both, and Catharine in particular, of her efficient +protection, which should include, she said, her father's, and be +a wall around them both, so long as she herself lived. + +They retired from the presence of the widowed Princess, and partook +of a repast with her duennas and ladies, all of whom, amid their +profound sorrow, showed a character of stateliness which chilled the +light heart of the Frenchwoman, and imposed restraint even on the +more serious character of Catharine Glover. The friends, for so we +may now term them, were fain, therefore, to escape from the society +of these persons, all of them born gentlewomen, who thought themselves +but ill assorted with a burgher's daughter and a strolling glee +maiden, and saw them with pleasure go out to walk in the neighbourhood +of the convent. A little garden, with its bushes and fruit trees, +advanced on one side of the convent, so as to skirt the precipice, +from which it was only separated by a parapet built on the ledge +of the rock, so low that the eye might easily measure the depth of +the crag, and gaze on the conflicting waters which foamed, struggled, +and chafed over the reef below. + +The Fair Maiden of Perth and her companion walked slowly on a path +that ran within this parapet, looked at the romantic prospect, and +judged what it must be when the advancing summer should clothe the +grove with leaves. They observed for some time a deep silence. At +length the gay and bold spirit of the glee maiden rose above the +circumstances in which she had been and was now placed. + +"Do the horrors of Falkland, fair May, still weigh down your spirits? +Strive to forget them as I do: we cannot tread life's path lightly, +if we shake not from our mantles the raindrops as they fall." + +"These horrors are not to be forgotten," answered Catharine. "Yet +my mind is at present anxious respecting my father's safety; and I +cannot but think how many brave men may be at this instant leaving +the world, even within six miles of us, or little farther." + +"You mean the combat betwixt sixty champions, of which the Douglas's +equerry told us yesterday? It were a sight for a minstrel to witness. +But out upon these womanish eyes of mine--they could never see +swords cross each other without being dazzled. But see--look +yonder, May Catharine--look yonder! That flying messenger certainly +brings news of the battle." + +"Methinks I should know him who runs so wildly," said Catharine. +"But if it be he I think of, some wild thoughts are urging his +speed." + +As she spoke, the runner directed his course to the garden. Louise's +little dog ran to meet him, barking furiously, but came back, to +cower, creep, and growl behind its mistress; for even dumb animals +can distinguish when men are driven on by the furious energy of +irresistible passion, and dread to cross or encounter them in their +career. The fugitive rushed into the garden at the same reckless +pace. His head was bare, his hair dishevelled, his rich acton and +all his other vestments looked as if they had been lately drenched +in water. His leathern buskins were cut and torn, and his feet marked +the sod with blood. His countenance was wild, haggard, and highly +excited, or, as the Scottish phrase expresses it, much "raised." + +"Conachar!" said Catharine, as he advanced, apparently without +seeing what was before him, as hares are said to do when severely +pressed by the greyhounds. But he stopped short when he heard his +own name. + +"Conachar," said Catharine, "or rather Eachin MacIan, what means +all this? Have the Clan Quhele sustained a defeat?" + +"I have borne such names as this maiden gives me," said the fugitive, +after a moment's recollection. "Yes, I was called Conachar when +I was happy, and Eachin when I was powerful. But now I have no +name, and there is no such clan as thou speak'st of; and thou art +a foolish maid to speak of that which is not to one who has no +existence." + +"Alas! unfortunate--" + +"And why unfortunate, I pray you?" exclaimed the youth. "If I am +coward and villain, have not villainy and cowardice command over +the elements? Have I not braved the water without its choking me, +and trod the firm earth without its opening to devour me? And shall +a mortal oppose my purpose?" + +"He raves, alas!" said Catharine. "Haste to call some help. He +will not harm me; but I fear he will do evil to himself. See how +he stares down on the roaring waterfall!" + +The glee woman hastened to do as she was ordered, and Conachar's +half frenzied spirit seemed relieved by her absence. + +"Catharine," he said, "now she is gone, I will say I know thee-- +I know thy love of peace and hatred of war. But hearken; I have, +rather than strike a blow at my enemy, given up all that a man calls +dearest: I have lost honour, fame, and friends, and such friends! +(he placed his hands before his face). Oh! their love surpassed +the love of woman! Why should I hide my tears? All know my shame; +all should see my sorrow. Yes, all might see, but who would pity +it? Catharine, as I ran like a madman down the strath, man and woman +called 'shame' on me! The beggar to whom I flung an alms, that I +might purchase one blessing, threw it back in disgust, and with a +curse upon the coward! Each bell that tolled rung out, 'Shame on the +recreant caitiff!' The brute beasts in their lowing and bleating, +the wild winds in their rustling and howling, the hoarse waters in +their dash and roar, cried, 'Out upon the dastard!' The faithful +nine are still pursuing me; they cry with feeble voice, 'Strike +but one blow in our revenge, we all died for you!'" + +While the unhappy youth thus raved, a rustling was heard in the +bushes. + +"There is but one way!" he exclaimed, springing upon the parapet, +but with a terrified glance towards the thicket, through which one +or two attendants were stealing, with the purpose of surprising +him. But the instant he saw a human form emerge from the cover of +the bushes, he waved his hands wildly over his head, and shrieking +out, "Bas air Eachin!" plunged down the precipice into the raging +cataract beneath. + +It is needless to say, that aught save thistledown must have been +dashed to pieces in such a fall. But the river was swelled, and the +remains of the unhappy youth were never seen. A varying tradition +has assigned more than one supplement to the history. It is said +by one account, that the young captain of Clan Quhele swam safe +to shore, far below the Linns of Campsie; and that, wandering +disconsolately in the deserts of Rannoch, he met with Father Clement, +who had taken up his abode in the wilderness as a hermit, on the +principle of the old Culdees. He converted, it is said, the heart +broken and penitent Conachar, who lived with him in his cell, sharing +his devotion and privations, till death removed them in succession. + +Another wilder legend supposes that he was snatched from death +by the daione shie, or fairy folk, and that he continues to wander +through wood and wild, armed like an ancient Highlander, but +carrying his sword in his left hand. The phantom appears always in +deep grief. Sometimes he seems about to attack the traveller, but, +when resisted with courage, always flies. These legends are founded +on two peculiar points in his story--his evincing timidity and his +committing suicide--both of them circumstances almost unexampled +in the history of a mountain chief. + +When Simon Glover, having seen his friend Henry duly taken care +of in his own house in Curfew Street, arrived that evening at the +Place of Campsie, he found his daughter extremely ill of a fever, +in consequence of the scenes to which she had lately been a witness, +and particularly the catastrophe of her late playmate. The affection +of the glee maiden rendered her so attentive and careful a nurse, +that the glover said it should not be his fault if she ever touched +lute again, save for her own amusement. + +It was some time ere Simon ventured to tell his daughter of Henry's +late exploits, and his severe wounds; and he took care to make +the most of the encouraging circumstance, that her faithful lover +had refused both honour and wealth rather than become a professed +soldier and follow the Douglas. Catharine sighed deeply and shook +her head at the history of bloody Palm Sunday on the North Inch. But +apparently she had reflected that men rarely advance in civilisation +or refinement beyond the ideas of their own age, and that a headlong +and exuberant courage, like that of Henry Smith, was, in the iron +days in which they lived, preferable to the deficiency which had +led to Conachar's catastrophe. If she had any doubts on the subject, +they were removed in due time by Henry's protestations, so soon as +restored health enabled him to plead his own cause. + +"I should blush to say, Catharine, that I am even sick of the +thoughts of doing battle. Yonder last field showed carnage enough +to glut a tiger. I am therefore resolved to hang up my broadsword, +never to be drawn more unless against the enemies of Scotland." + +"And should Scotland call for it," said Catharine, "I will buckle +it round you." + +"And, Catharine," said the joyful glover, "we will pay largely for +soul masses for those who have fallen by Henry's sword; and that +will not only cure spiritual flaws, but make us friends with the +church again." + +"For that purpose, father," said Catharine, "the hoards of the +wretched Dwining may be applied. He bequeathed them to me; but +I think you would not mix his base blood money with your honest +gains?" + +"I would bring the plague into my house as soon," said the resolute +glover. + +The treasures of the wicked apothecary were distributed accordingly +among the four monasteries; nor was there ever after a breath of +suspicion concerning the orthodoxy of old Simon or his daughter. + +Henry and Catharine were married within four months after the battle +of the North Inch, and never did the corporations of the glovers +and hammermen trip their sword dance so featly as at the wedding +of the boldest burgess and brightest maiden in Perth. Ten months +after, a gallant infant filled the well spread cradle, and was +rocked by Louise to the tune of-- + +Bold and true, +In bonnet blue. + +The names of the boy's sponsors are recorded, as "Ane Hie and Michty +Lord, Archibald Erl of Douglas, ane Honorabil and gude Knicht, Schir +Patrick Charteris of Kinfauns, and ane Gracious Princess, Marjory +Dowaire of his Serene Highness David, umquhile Duke of Rothsay." + +Under such patronage a family rises fast; and several of the most +respected houses in Scotland, but especially in Perthshire, and +many individuals distinguished both in arts and arms, record with +pride their descent from the Gow Chrom and the Fair Maid of Perth. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH *** + +This file should be named mprth10.txt or mprth10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, mprth11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mprth10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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