"Open the carriage, then--You, gentlemen, get into it--in a short
time you'll be in a place of safety--and (to Bertram) remember your
promise to the gipsy wife!"

Bertram, resolving to be passive in the hands of a person who had
just rendered him such a distinguished piece of service, got into
the chaise as directed. Dinmont followed; Wasp, who had kept close
by them, sprung in at the same time, and the carriage drove off
very fast. "Have a care a' me," said Dinmont, "but this is the
queerest thing yet!--Odd, I trust they'll no coup [*Upset.]
us--and then what's to come o' Dumple?--I would rather be on his
back than in the Deuke's coach, God bless him."

Bertram observed, that they could not go at that rapid rate to any
great distance without changing horses, and that they might insist
upon remaining till daylight at the first inn they stopped at, or
at least upon being made acquainted with the purpose and
termination of their journey, and Mr. Dinmont might there give
directions about his faithful horse, which would probably be safe
at the stables where he had left him.--"Aweel, aweel, e'en sae be
it for Dandie. --Odd, if we were ance out o' this trindling kist
[*Rolling chest.] o' a thing, I am thinking they wad find it hard
wark to gar us gang ony gate but where we liked oursells."

While he thus spoke, the carriage making a sudden turn, showed
them, through the left window, the village at some distance, still
widely beaconed by the fire, which, having reached a storehouse
wherein spirits were deposited, now rose high into the air, a
wavering column of brilliant light. They had not long time to
admire this spectacle, for another turn of the road carried them
into a close lane between plantations, through which the chaise
proceeded in nearly total darkness, but with unabated speed.



CHAPTER XLIX.

  The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter,
  And aye the ale was growing better.
    Tam o' Shanter

We must now return to Woodbourne, which, it may be remembered, we
left just after the Colonel had given some directions to his
confidential servant. When he returned, his absence of mind, and
an unusual expression of thought and anxiety upon his features,
struck the ladies whom he joined in the drawing-room. Mannering
was not, however, a man to be questioned, even by those whom he
most loved, upon the cause of the mental agitation which these
signs expressed. The hour of tea arrived, and the party were
partaking of that refreshment in silence, when a carriage drove up
to the door, and the bell announced the arrival of a visitor.
"Surely," said Mannering, "it is too soon by some hours."

There was a short pause, when Barnes, opening the door of the
saloon. announced Mr. Pleydell. In marched the lawyer, whose
well-brushed black coat, and well-powdered wig, together with his
point ruffles, brown silk stockings, highly varnished shoes, and
gold buckles, exhibited the pains which the old gentleman had taken
to prepare his person for the ladies' society. He was welcomed by
Mannering with a hearty shake by the hand. "The very man I wished
to see at this moment!"

"Yes," said the counsellor, "I told you I would take the first
opportunity; so I have ventured to leave the Court for a week in
session time--no common sacrifice--but I had a notion I could be
useful, and I was to attend a proof here about the same time. But
will you not introduce me to the young ladies?--Ah! there is one I
should have known at once, from her family likeness! Miss Lucy
Bertram, my love, I am most happy to see you."--and he folded her
in his arms, and gave her a hearty kiss on each side of the face,
to which Lucy submitted in blushing resignation.

"On n'arrete pas dans un si beau chemin," continued the gay old
gentleman, and, as the Colonel presented him to Julia, took the
same liberty with that fair lady's cheek. Julia laughed, coloured,
and disengaged herself. "I beg a thousand pardons," said the
lawyer, with a bow which was not at all professionally awkward;
"age and old fashions give privileges, and I can hardly say whether
I am most sorry just now at being too well entitled to claim them
at all, or happy in having such an opportunity to exercise them so
agreeably--"

"Upon my word, sir," said Miss Mannering, laughing, "If you make
such flattering apologies, we shall begin to doubt whether we can
admit you to shelter yourself under your alleged qualifications."

"I can assure you, Julia," said the Colonel, "you are perfectly
right; my friend the counsellor is a dangerous person; the last
time I had the pleasure of seeing him, he was closeted with a fair
lady, who, had granted him a tete-a-tete at eight in the morning."

"Ay, but, Colonel," said the counsellor, "you should add, I was
more indebted to my chocolate than my charms for so distinguished a
favour, from a person of such propriety, of demeanour as Mrs.
Rebecca."

"And that should remind me, Mr. Pleydell," said Julia, "to offer
you tea--that is, supposing you have dined."

"Anything, Miss Mannering, from your hands," answered the gallant
jurisconsult; "yes, I have dined-that is to say, as people dine at
a Scotch inn."

"And that is indifferently enough," said the Colonel, with his hand
upon the bell-handle "give me leave to order something."

"Why, to say truth," replied Mr. Pleydell, "I had rather not; I
have been inquiring into that matter, for you must know I stopped
an instant below to pull off my boot-hose, "a world too wide for my
shrunk shanks,"' glancing down with some complacency upon limbs
which looked very well for his time of life, "and I had some
conversation with your Barnes, and a very intelligent person whom I
presume to be the housekeeper; and it was settled among us--tota re
perspecta--I beg Miss Mannering's pardon for my Latin--that the
old lady should add to your light family-supper the more
substantial refreshment of a brace of wild-ducks. I told her
(always under deep submission) my poor thoughts about the sauce,
which concurred exactly with her own; and, if you please, I would
rather wait till they are ready before eating anything solid."

"And we will anticipate our usual hour of supper," said the
Colonel.

"With all my heart," said Pleydell, "providing I do not lose the
ladies' company a moment the sooner. I am of counsel with my old
friend Burnet; [*See Note VIII. Lord Monboddo.] I love the caena,
the supper of the ancients, the pleasant meal and social glass that
wash out of one's mind the cobwebs that business or gloom have been
spinning in our brains all day.' "

Mr. Pleydell's look and manner, and the quietness with which he
made himself at home on the subject of his little Epicurean
comforts, amused the ladies, but particularly Miss Mannering, who
immediately gave the counsellor a great deal of flattering
attention; and more pretty things were said on both sides during
the service of the tea-table than we have leisure to repeat.

As soon as this was over, Mannering led the counsellor by the arm
into a small study which opened from the saloon, and where,
according to the custom of the family, there were always lights and
a good fire in the evening.

"I see," said Mr. Pleydell, "you have got something to tell me
about the Ellangowan business--Is it terrestrial or celestial? What
says my military Albumazar?  Have you calculated the course of
futurity? have you consulted your Ephemerides, your Almochoden,
your Almuten?"

"No, truly, counsellor," replied Mannering, "you are the only
Ptolemy I intend to resort to upon the present occasion--a second
Prospero, I have broken my staff, and drowned my book far beyond
plummet depth.  But I have great news notwithstanding. Meg
Merrilies, our Egyptian sibyl, has appeared to the Dominie this
very day, and, as I conjecture, has frightened the honest man not a
little."

"Indeed?"

"Ay, and she has done me the honour to open a correspondence with
me, supposing me to be as deep in astrological mysteries as when we
first met.  Here is her scroll, delivered to me by the Dominie."

Pleydell put on his spectacles.  "A vile greasy scrawl,
indeed--and the letters are uncial or semi-uncial, as somebody
calls your large text hand, and in size and perpendicularity
resemble the ribs of a roasted pig--I can hardly make it out."

"I will try," answered the lawyer. "' You are a good seeker, but a
bad finder; you set yourself to prop a falling house, but had a gey
guess it would rise again. Lend your hand to the wark that's near,
as you lent your ee to the weird [*Destiny] that was far. Have a
carriage This night by ten o'clock, at the end of the Crooked Dykes
at Portanferry, and let it bring the folk to Woodbourne that shall
ask them, if they be there IN GOD'S NAME.'-Stay, here follows some
poetry- Dark shall be light, And wrong done to right, When
Bertram's right and Bertram's might Shall meet on Ellangowan's
height.' A most mystic epistle truly, and closes in a vein of
poetry worthy of the Cumaean sibyl--and what have you done?"

"Why," said Mannering, rather reluctantly, "I was loth to risk any
opportunity of throwing light on this business. The woman is
perhaps crazed, and these effusions may arise only from visions of
her imagination;--but you were of opinion that she knew more of
that strange story than she ever told. "

"And so," said Pleydell, "you sent a carriage to the place named?"

"You will laugh at me if I own I did," replied the Colonel.

"Who, I?" replied the advocate. "No, truly, I think it was the
wisest thing you could do."

"Yes," answered Mannering, well pleased to have escaped the
ridicule he apprehended; "you know the worst is paying the
chaise-hire--I sent a post-chaise and four from Kippletringan, with
instructions corresponding to the letter--the horses will have a
long and cold station on the outposts to-night if our intelligence
be false."

"Ay, but I think it will prove otherwise," said the lawyer. "This
woman has played a part till she believes it; or, if she be a
thorough-paced impostor, without a single grain of self-delusion to
qualify her knavery, still she may think herself bound to act in
character-this I know, that I could get nothing out of her by the
common modes of interrogation, and the wisest thing we can do is to
give her an opportunity of making the discovery her own way. And
now have you more to say, or shall we go to the ladies?"

"Why, my mind is uncommonly agitated," answered the Colonel,
"and--but I really have no more to say--only I shall count the
minutes till the carriage returns; but you cannot be expected to be
so anxious."

"Why, no--use is all in all," said the more experienced lawyer,--"I
am much interested certainly, but I think I shall be able to
survive the interval, if the ladies will afford us some music."

"And with the assistance of the wild-ducks, by and by?" suggested
Mannering.

"True, Colonel; a lawyer's anxiety about the fate of the most
interesting cause has seldom spoiled either his sleep or
digestion.  [*Note IX Lawyers' Sleepless Nights.]  And yet I
shall be very eager to hear the rattle of these wheels on their
return, notwithstanding."

So saying, he rose and led the way into the next room, where Miss
Mannering, at his request, took her seat at the harpsichord. Lucy
Bertram, who sung her native melodies very sweetly, was accompanied
by her friend upon the instrument, and Julia afterwards performed
some of Scarlatti's sonatas with great brilliancy. The old lawyer,
scraping a little upon the violoncello, and being a member of the
gentlemen's concert in Edinburgh, was so greatly delighted with
this mode of spending the evening, that I doubt if he once thought
of the wild-ducks until Barnes informed the company that supper was
ready.

"Tell Mrs. Allan to have something in readiness," said the
Colonel--"I expect--that is, I hope--perhaps some company may be
here to-night; and let the men sit up, and do not lock the upper
gate on the lawn until I desire you."

"Lord, sir," said Julia, "whom can you possibly expect
to-night?"

"Why, some persons, strangers to me, talked of calling in
the evening on business," answered her father, not without
embarrassment, for he would have little brooked a
disappointment which might have thrown ridicule on his
judgment; "it is quite uncertain."

"Well, we shall not pardon them for disturbing our party,"
said Julia, "unless they bring as much good-humour, and as
susceptible hearts, as my friend and admirer, for so he has
dubbed himself, Mr. Pleydell."

"Ah, Miss Julia," said Pleydell, offering his arm with an
air of gallantry to conduct her into the eating-room, "the
time has been--when I returned from Utrecht in the year
i738--"

"Pray don't talk of it," answered the young lady,--"we
like you much better as you are--Utrecht, in heaven's
name!--I dare say you have spent all the intervening years
in getting rid so completely of the effects of your Dutch
education."

"Oh, forgive me, Miss Mannering," said the lawyer; "the
Dutch are a much more accomplished people in point or
gallantry than their volatile neighbours are willing to
admit. They are constant as clock-work in their
attentions."

"I should tire of that," said Julia.

"Imperturbable in their good temper," continued Pleydell.

"Worse and worse," said the young lady.

"And then," said the old beau garcon, "although for six times three
hundred and sixty-five days, your swain has placed the capuchin
round your neck, and the stove under your feet, and driven your
little sledge upon the ice in winter, and your cabriole through the
dust in summer, you may dismiss him at once, without reason or
apology, upon the two thousand one hundred and ninetieth day,
which, according to my hasty calculation, and without reckoning
leap-years, will complete the cycle of the supposed adoration, and
that without your amiable feelings having the slightest occasion to
be alarmed for the consequences to those of Mynheer."

"Well," replied Julia, "that last is truly a Dutch recommendation,
Mr. Pleydell--crystal--and hearts would lose all their merit in the
world, if it were not: for their fragility."

"Why, upon that point of the argument, Miss Mannering, it is as
difficult to find a heart that will break, as a glass that will
not; and for that reason I would press the value of mine own--were
it not that I see Mr. Sampson's eyes have been closed, and his
hands clasped--for some time, attending the end of our conference
to begin the grace.--And, to say the truth, the appearance of the
wild-ducks is very appetising." So saying, the worthy counsellor
sat himself to table, and laid aside his gallantry for awhile, to
do honour to the good things placed before him. Nothing further is
recorded of him for some time, excepting an observation that the
ducks were roasted to a single turn, and that Mrs. Allan's sauce of
claret, lemon, and cayenne, was beyond praise.

"I see," said Miss Mannering, "I have a formidable rival in Mr.
Pleydell's favour, even on the very first night of his avowed
admiration."

"Pardon me, my fair lady," answered the counsellor, "your avowed
rigour alone has induced me to commit the solecism of eating a good
supper in your presence; how shall I support your frowns without
reinforcing my strength? Upon the same principle, and no other, I
will ask permission to drink wine with you."

"This is the fashion of Utrecht also, I suppose, Mr. Pleydell?"

"Forgive me, madam," answered the counsellor; "the French
themselves, the patterns of all that is gallant, term their
tavern-keepers restaurateurs, alluding, doubtless, to the relief
they afford the disconsolate lover, when bowed down to the earth by
his mistress's severity. My own case requires so much relief, that
I must trouble you for that other wing, Mr. Sampson, without
prejudice to my afterwards applying to Miss Bertram for a tart;--be
pleased to tear the wing, sir, instead of cutting it off--Mr.
Barnes will assist you, Mr. Sampson,--thank you, sir--and, Mr.
Barnes, a glass of ale, if you please."

While the old gentleman, pleased with Miss Mannering's liveliness
and attention, rattled away for her amusement and his own, the
impatience of Colonel Mannering began to exceed all bounds. He
declined sitting down at table, under pretence that he never ate
supper; and traversed the parlour, in which they were, with hasty
and impatient steps, now throwing tip the window to gaze upon the
dark lawn, now listening for the remote sound of the carriage
advancing up the avenue. At length, in a feeling of uncontrollable
impatience, he left the room, took his hat and cloak, and pursued
his walk up the avenue, as if his so doing would hasten the
approach of those whom he desired to see. "I really wish," said
Miss Bertram, "Colonel Mannering would not venture out after
nightfall. You must have heard, Mr. Pleydell, what a cruel fright
we had."

"Oh, with the smugglers?" replied the advocate--"they are old
friends of mine. I was the means of bringing some of them to
justice a long time since, when Sheriff of this county."

"And then the alarm we had immediately afterwards," added Miss
Bertram, from the vengeance of one of these wretches."

"When young Hazlewood was hurt--I heard of that too."

"Imagine, my dear Mr. Pleydell," continued Lucy, "how much Miss
Mannering and I were alarmed, when a ruffian, equally dreadful for
his great strength, and the sternness of his features, rushed out
upon us!"

"You must know, Mr. Pleydell," said Julia, unable to suppress her
resentment at this undesigned aspersion of her admirer, "that young
Hazlewood is so handsome in the eyes of the Young ladies of this
country, that they think every person shocking who comes near him."

"Oho!" thought Pleydell, who was by profession an observer of tones
and gestures, "there's something wrong here between my young
friends.--Well, Miss Mannering, I have not seen young Hazlewood
since he was a boy, so the ladies may be perfectly right; but I can
assure you, in spite of your scorn, that if you want to see
handsome men you must go to Holland; the prettiest fellow I ever
saw was a Dutchman, in spite of his being called Vanbost, or
Vanbuster, or some such barbarous name. He will not be quite so
handsome now, to be sure."

It was now Julia's turn to look a little out of countenance at the
chance hit of her learned admirer, but that instant the Colonel
entered the room. "I can hear nothing of them yet," he said
"still, however, we will not separate--Where is Dominie Sampson?"

"Here, honoured sir."

"What is that book you hold in your hand, Mr. Sampson?"

"It's even the learned De Lyra, sir--I would crave his honour Mr.
Pleydell's judgment, always with his best leisure, to expound a
disputed passage."

"I am not in the vein, Mr. Sampson," answered Pleydell; "here's
metal more attractive--I do not despair to engage these two young
ladies in a glee or a catch, wherein I, even I myself, will
adventure myself for the bass part--Hang De Lyra, man; keep him for
a fitter season."

The disappointed Dominie shut his ponderous tome, much marvelling
in his mind how a person, possessed of the lawyer's erudition,
could give his mind to these frivolous toys. But the counsellor,
indifferent to the high character for learning which he was
trifling away, filled himself a large glass of Burgundy, and after
preluding a little with a voice somewhat the worse for wear, gave
the ladies a courageous invitation to join in "We be three poor
Mariners," and accomplished his own part therein with great eclat.

"Are you not withering your roses with sitting up so late, my young
ladies?" said the Colonel.

"Not a bit, sir," answered Julia; "your friend, Mr. Pleydell,
threatens to become a pupil of Mr. Sampson's to-morrow, so we must
make the most of our conquest to-night."

This led to another musical trial of skill, and that to lively
conversation. At length, when the solitary sound of one o'clock
had long since resounded on the ebon ear of night, and the next
signal of the advance of time was close approaching, Mannering,
whose impatience had long subsided into disappointment and despair,
looked at his watch, and said, "We must now give them up"--when at
that instant--But what then befell will require a separate
chapter.



CHAPTER L.

  Justice. This does indeed confirm each circumstance The
  gipsy told!--No orphan, nor without a friend art thou--
  I am thy father, here's thy mother, there Thy uncle--This
  thy first cousin, and these Are all thy near relations!
    The Critic.

As Mannering replaced his watch, he heard a distant and hollow
sound--"It is a carriage for certain--no, it is but the sound of
the wind among the leafless trees. Do come to the window, Mr.
Pleydell. "The counsellor, who, with his large silk handkerchief
in his hand, was expatiating away to Julia upon some subject which
he thought was interesting, obeyed, however, the summons, first,
wrapping the handkerchief round his neck by way of precaution
against the cold air. The sound of wheels became now very
perceptible, and Pleydell, as if he had reserved all his curiosity
till that moment, ran out to the hall. The Colonel rung for Barnes
to desire that the persons who came in the carriage might be shown
into a separate room, being altogether uncertain whom it might
contain. It, stopped, however, at the door, before his purpose
could he fully explained. A moment after, Mr. Pleydell called out,
"Here's our Liddesdale friend, I protest, with a strapping young
fellow of the same calibre. "His voice arrested Dinmont, who
recognised him with equal surprise And pleasure. "Odd, if it's
your honour, we'll a' be as right and tight as thack and rape can
make us." [*When a farmer's crop is got safety into the
barn-yard, it is said to be made fast with thack and rape--Anglic,
straw and rope.]

But while the farmer stopped to make his bow, Bertram, dizzied with
the sudden glare of light, and bewildered with the circumstances of
his situation, almost unconsciously entered the open door of the
parlour, and confronted the Colonel, who was just advancing towards
it. The strong light of the apartment left no doubt of his
identity, and he himself was as much confounded with the appearance
of those to whom he so unexpectedly presented himself, as they were
by the sight of so utterly unlooked-for an object. It must be
remembered that each individual present had their own peculiar
reasons for looking with terror upon what seemed at first sight a
spectral apparition. Mannering saw before him the man whom he
supposed he had killed in India; Julia beheld her lover in a most
peculiar and hazardous situation; and Lucy Bertram at once knew the
person who had fired upon young Hazlewood. Bertram, who
interpreted the fixed and motionless astonishment of the Colonel
into displeasure at his intrusion, hastened to say that it was
involuntary, since he had been hurried hither without even knowing
whither he was to be transported.

"Mr. Brown, I believe!" said Colonel Mannering.

"Yes, sir," replied the young man modestly, but with firmness, "the
same you knew in India; and who ventures to hope, that what you did
then know of him is not such as should prevent his requesting you
would favour him with your attestation to his character, as a
gentleman and man of honour."

"Mr. Brown--I have been seldom--never--so much
surprised--certainly, sir, in whatever passed between us, you have
a right to command my favourable testimony."

At this critical moment entered the counsellor and Dinmont. The
former beheld, to his astonishment, the Colonel but just recovering
from his first surprise, Lucy Bertram ready to faint with terror,
and Miss Mannering in an agony of doubt and apprehension, which she
in vain endeavoured to disguise or suppress. "What is the meaning
of all this?" said he; "has this young fellow brought the Gorgon's
head in his hand?-let me look at him.--By Heaven!" he muttered to
himself, "the very image of old Ellangowan!--Yes, the same manly
form and handsome features, but with a world of more intelligence
in the face--Yes!--the witch has kept her word." Then instantly
passing to Lucy, "Look at that man, Miss Bertram, my dear; have you
never seen any one like him?"

Lucy had only ventured one glance at this object of terror, by
which, however, from his remarkable height and appearance, she at
once recognised the supposed assassin of young Hazlewood; a
conviction which excluded, of course, the more favourable
association of ideas which might have occurred on a closer
view.--"Don't ask me about him, sir," said she, turning away her
eyes; "send him away, for Heaven's sake! we shall all be murdered!"

"Murdered! where's the poker?" said the advocate in some alarm;
"but nonsense! we are three men besides the servants, and there is
honest Liddesdale worth half a dozen to boot--we have the major vis
upon our side--however, here, my friend Dandie--Davie--what do they
call You?--keep between that fellow and us for the protection of
the ladies."

"Lord! Mr. Pleydell," said the astonished farmer, "that's Captain
Brown; d'ye no ken the Captain?"

"Nay, if he's a friend of yours, we may be safe enough," answered
Pleydell; "but keep near him."

All this passed with such rapidity, that it was over before the
Dominie had recovered himself from a fit of absence, shut the book
which he had been studying in a corner, and advancing to obtain a
sight of the strangers, exclaimed at once, upon beholding Bertram,
"If the grave can give up the dead, that is my dear and honoured
master!"

"We're right after all, by Heaven! I was sure I was right," said
the lawyer; "he is the very image of his father.--Come, Colonel,
what do you think of, that you do not bid your guest welcome? I
think--I believe--I trust we're right--never saw such a
likeness!--But patience--Dominie, say not a word.--Sit down,
young gentleman."

"I beg pardon, sir; if I am, as I understand, in Colonel
Mannering's house, I should wish first to know if my accidental
appearance here gives offence, or if I am welcome?"

Mannering instantly made an effort. "Welcome? most certainly,
especially if you can point out how I can serve you. I believe I
may have some wrongs to repair towards you--I have often
suspected so; but your sudden and unexpected appearance, connected
with painful recollections, prevented my saying at first, as I now
say, that whatever has procured me the honour of this visit, it is
an acceptable one."

Bertram bowed with an air of distant, yet civil acknowledgment, to
the grave courtesy of Mannering.

"Julia, my love, you had better retire. Mr. Brown, you will excuse
my daughter; there are circumstances which I perceive rush upon her
recollection."

Miss Mannering rose and retired accordingly; yet, as--she passed
Bertram, could not suppress the words, "Infatuated! a second time!"
but so pronounced as to be heard by him alone. Miss Bertram
accompanied her friend, much surprised, but without venturing
second glance at the object of her terror. Some mistake she saw
there was, and was unwilling to increase it by denouncing the
stranger as an assassin. He was known, she saw, to the Colonel,
and received as a gentleman; certainly he either was not the person
she suspected, or Hazlewood was right in supposing the shot
accidental.

The remaining part of the company would have formed no bad group
for a skilful painter. Each was too much embarrassed with his own
sensations to observe those of the others. Bertram most
unexpectedly found himself in the house of one, whom he was
alternately disposed to dislike as his personal enemy, and to
respect as the father of Julia; Mannering was struggling between
his high sense of courtesy and hospitality, his joy at finding
himself relieved from the guilt of having shed life in a private
quarrel, and the former feelings of dislike and prejudice, which
revived in his haughty mind at the sight of the object against whom
he had entertained them; Sampson, supporting his shaking limbs by
leaning on the back of a chair, fixed his eyes upon Bertram, with a
staring expression of nervous anxiety which convulsed his whole
visage; Dinmont, enveloped in his loose shaggy greatcoat, and
resembling a huge bear erect upon his hinder legs, stared on the
whole scene with great round eyes that witnessed his amazement.

The counsellor alone was in his element, shrewd, prompt, and
active; he already calculated the prospect of brilliant success in
a strange, eventful, and mysterious lawsuit, and no young monarch,
flushed with hopes, and at the head of a gallant army, could
experience more glee when taking the field on his first campaign.
He bustled about with great energy, and took the arrangement of the
whole explanation upon himself.

"Come, come, gentlemen, sit down; this is all in my province: you
must let me arrange it for you. Sit down, my dear Colonel, and let
me manage; sit down, Mr. Brown, aut quocunque alio nomine
vocaris--Dominie, take your seat--draw in your chair, honest
Liddesdale."

"I dinna ken, Mr. Pleydell," said Dinmont, looking at his
dreadnought-coat, then at the handsome furniture of the room, "I
had maybe better gang some gate else, [*Somewhere else.] and leave
ye till your cracks--I'm no just that weel put on."

The Colonel, who by this time recognised Dandie, immediately went
up and bid him heartily welcome; assuring him, that from what he
had seen of him in Edinburgh, he was sure his rough coat and
thick--soled boots would honour a royal drawing-room.

"Na, na, Colonel, we're just plain up-the-country folk; but nae
doubt I would fain hear o' ony pleasure that was gaun to happen the
Captain, and I'm sure a' will gae right if Mr. Pleydell will take
his bit job in hand."

"You're right, Dandie--spoke like a Hieland oracle [*It may not he
unnecessary to tell southern readers, that the mountainous country
in the south-western borders of Scotland, is called Hieland, though
totally different from the much more mountainous and more extensive
districts of the north, usually accented Hielands.]--and now be
silent. --Well, you are all seated at last; take a glass of wine
till I begin my catechism methodically. And now," turning to
Bertram, "my dear boy, do you know who or what you are?"

In spite of his perplexity, the catechumen could not help laughing
at this commencement, and answered, "Indeed, sir, I formerly
thought I did; but I own late circumstances have made me somewhat
uncertain."

"Then tell us what you formerly thought yourself."

"Why, I was in the habit of thinking and calling myself Vanbeest
Brown, who served as a cadet or volunteer under Colonel Mannering,
when he commanded the--regiment, in which capacity I was not
unknown to him."

"There," said the Colonel, "I can assure Mr. Brown of his identity;
and add, what his modesty may have forgotten, that he was
distinguished as a young man of talent and spirit."

"So much the better, my dear sir," said Mr. Pleydell; "but that is
to general character--Mr. Brown must tell us where he was born."

"In Scotland, I believe, but the place uncertain."

"Where educated?"

"In Holland, certainly."

"Do you remember nothing of your early life before you left
Scotland?"

"Very imperfectly; yet I have a strong idea, perhaps more deeply
impressed upon me by subsequent hard usage, that I was during my
childhood the object of much solicitude and affection. I have an
indistinct remembrance of a good-looking man whom I used to call
papa, and of a lady who was infirm in health, and who, I think,
must have been my mother but it is an imperfect and confused
recollection. I remember too a tall thin kind tempered man in
black, who used to teach me my letters and walk out with me;--and I
think the very last time--"

Here the Dominie could contain no longer. While every succeeding
word served to prove that the child of his benefactor stood before
him, he had struggled with the utmost difficulty to suppress his
emotions; but, when the juvenile recollections of Bertram turned
towards his tutor and his precepts, he was compelled to give way to
his feelings. He rose hastily from his chair, and with clasped
bands, trembling limbs, and streaming eyes, called out aloud,
"Harry Bertram!--look at me--was I not the man?"

"Yes!" said Bertram, starting from his seat as if a sudden light
had burst in upon his mind,--"Yes--that was my name!--and that is
the voice and the figure of my kind old master!"

The Dominie threw himself into his arms, pressed him a thousand
times to his bosom in convulsions of transport, which shook his
whole frame, sobbed hysterically, and, at length, in the emphatic
language of Scripture, lifted up his voice and wept aloud. Colonel
Mannering had recourse to his handkerchief; Pleydell made wry
faces, and wiped the glasses of his spectacles; and honest Dinmont,
after two loud blubbering explosions, exclaimed, "Deil's in the
man! he's garr'd me do that I haena done since my auld mither
died."

"Come, come," said the counsellor at last, "silence in the
court.--We have a clever party to contend with; we must lose no
time in gathering our information--for anything I know, there may
be something to be done before daybreak."

"I will order a horse to be saddled, if you please," said the
Colonel.

"No, no, time enough--time enough--but come, Dominie, I have
allowed you a competent space to express your feelings. I must
circumduce the term--you must let me proceed in my examination."

The Dominie was habitually obedient to any one who chose to impose
commands upon him; he sunk back into his chair, spread his checked
handkerchief over his face, to serve, as I suppose, for the Grecian
painter's veil, and, from the action of his folded hands, appeared
for a time engaged in the act of mental thanksgiving. He then
raised his eyes over the screen, as if to be assured that the
pleasing apparition had not melted into air--then again sunk them
to resume his internal act of devotion, until he felt himself
compelled to give attention to the counsellor, from the interest
which his questions excited.

"And now," said Mr. Pleydell, after several minute inquiries
concerning his recollection of early events--"And now, Mr.
Bertram, for I think we ought in future to call you by your own
proper name, will you have the goodness to let us know every
particular which you can recollect concerning the mode of your
leaving Scotland?"

"Indeed, sir, to say the truth, though the terrible outlines of
that day are strongly impressed upon my memory, yet somehow the
very terror which fixed them there has in a great measure
confounded and confused the details. I recollect, however, that I
was walking somewhere or other--in a wood, I think--"

"Oh yes, it was in Warroch Wood, my dear," said the Dominie.

"Hush, Mr. Sampson," said the lawyer.

"Yes, it was in a wood," continued Bertram, as long past and
confused ideas arranged themselves in his reviving recollection
"and some one was with me--this worthy and affectionate gentleman,
I think."

"Oh, ay, ay, Harry, Lord bless thee--it was even I myself."

"Be silent, Dominie, and don't interrupt the evidence," said
Pleydell.--"and so, sir?" to Bertram.

"And so, sir," continued Bertram, "like one of the changes of a
dream, I thought I was on horseback before my guide."

"No, no," exclaimed Sampson, "never did I put my own limbs, not to
say thine, into such peril.

"On my word this is intolerable!--Look ye, Dominie, if you speak
another word till I give you leave, I will read three sentences out
of the Black Acts, whisk my cane round my head three times, undo
all the magic of this night's work, and conjure Harry Bertram back
again into Vanbeest Brown."

"Honoured and worthy sir," groaned out the Dominie, "I humbly crave
pardon--it was verbum volens."

"Well, nolens volens, you must hold your tongue," said Pleydell.

"Pray, be silent, Mr. Sampson," said the Colonel; "it is--of
great consequence to your recovered friend, that you permit Mr.
Pleydell to proceed in his inquiries."

"I am mute," said the rebuked Dominie.

"On a sudden," continued Bertram, "two or three men sprung out upon
us, and we were pulled from horseback. I have little recollection
of anything else, but that I tried to escape in the midst of a
desperate scuffle, and fell into the arms of a very tall woman who
started from the bushes, and protected me for some time--the rest
is all confusion and dread--a dim recollection of a sea-beach, and
a cave, and of some strong potion which lulled me to sleep for a
length of time. In short, it is all a blank in my memory, until I
recollect myself first an ill-used and half-starved cabin-boy
aboard a sloop, and then a school-boy--in Holland under the
protection of an old merchant, who had taken some fancy for me."

"And what account," said Mr. Pleydell, "did your guardian give of
your parentage?"

"A very brief one," answered' Bertram, "and a charge to inquire no
further. I was given to understand, that my father was concerned
in the smuggling trade carried on on the eastern coast of Scotland,
and was killed in a skirmish with the revenue officers; that his
correspondents in Holland had a vessel on the coast at the time,
part of the crew of which were engaged in the affair, and that they
brought me off after it was over, from a motive of compassion, as I
was left destitute by my father's death. As I grew older there was
much of this story seemed inconsistent with my own recollections,
but what could I do? I had no means of ascertaining my doubts, nor
a single friend with whom I could communicate or canvass them. The
rest of my story is known to Colonel Mannering: I went cut to India
to be a clerk in a Dutch house; their affairs fell into
confusion--I betook myself to the military profession, and, I
trust, as yet I have not disgraced it."

"Thou art a fine young fellow, I'll be bound for thee," said
Pleydell, "and since you have wanted a father so long, I wish from
my heart I could claim the paternity myself. But this affair of
young Hazlewood--"

"Was merely accidental," said Bertram. "I was travelling in
Scotland for pleasure, and after a week's residence with my friend,
Mr. Dinmont, with whom I had the good fortune to form an accidental
acquaintance--"

"It was my gude fortune that," said Dinmont "odd, my brains wad
hae been knockit out by twa blackguards, if it hadna been for his
four quarters."

"Shortly after we parted at the town of--, I lost my baggage by
thieves, and it was while residing at Kippletringan I accidentally
met the young gentleman. As I was approaching to pay my respects
to Miss Mannering, whom I had known in India, Mr. Hazlewood,
conceiving my appearance none of the most respectable, commanded me
rather haughtily to stand back, and so gave occasion to the fray in
which I had the misfortune to be the accidental means of wounding
him.--And now, sir, that I have answered all your questions-"

"No, no, not quite all," said Pleydell, winking sagaciously; "there
are some interrogatories which I shall delay till to-morrow, for it
is time, I believe, to close the sederunt for this night, or rather
morning."

"Well, then, sir," said the young man, "to vary the phrase, since I
have answered all the questions which you have chosen to ask
to-night, will you be so good as to tell me who you are that take
such interest in my affairs, and whom you take me to be, since my
arrival has occasioned such commotion?"

"Why, sir, for myself," replied the counsellor, "I am Paulus
Pleydell, an advocate at the Scottish bar; and for you, it is not
easy to say distinctly who you are at present; but I trust in a
short time to hail you by the title of Henry Bertram, Esq.,
representative of one of the oldest families in Scotland, and heir
of tailzie and provision to the estate of Ellangowan--Ay,"
continued be, shutting his eyes and speaking to himself, "we must
pass over his father, and serve him heir to his grandfather Lewis,
the entailer--the only wise man of his family that I ever heard
of."

They had now risen to retire to their apartments for the night,
when Colonel Mannering walked up to Bertram, as he stood astonished
at the counsellor's words. "I give you joy," he said, "of the
prospects which fate has opened before you. I was an early friend
of your father, and chanced to be in the house of Ellangowan as
unexpectedly as you are now in mine, upon the very night in which
you were born. I little knew this circumstance when--but I trust
unkindness will be forgotten between us. Believe me, your
appearance here, as Mr. Brown, alive and well, has relieved me from
most painful sensations; and your right to the name of an old
friend renders your presence, as Mr. Bertram, doubly welcome."

"And my parents?" said Bertram.

"Are both no more--and the family property has been sold, but I
trust may be recovered. Whatever is wanted to make your right
effectual, I shall be most happy to supply."

"Nay, you may leave all that to me," said the counsellor;" 'tis my
vocation. Hal. I shall make money of it."

"I'm sure it's no for the like o' me," observed Dinmont, "to speak
to you gentlefolks; but if siller would help on the Captain's plea,
and they say nae plea gangs an weel without it--"

"Except on Saturday night," said Pleydell.

"Ay, but when your honour wadna take your fee Ye wadna hae the
cause neither, sae I'll ne'er fash you on a Saturday at e'en
again--but I was saying, there's some siller in the spleuchan [*A
spleuchan is a tobacco pouch, occasionally used as a purse.] that's
like the Captain's ain, for we've aye counted it such, baith Ailie
and me."

"No, no, Liddesdale--no occasion, no occasion whatever--keep thy
cash to stock thy farm."

"To stack my farm? Mr. Pleydell, your honour kens mony things, but
ye dinna ken the farm o' Charlies-hope--it's sae weel stockit
already, that we sell maybe sax hundred pounds off it ilka year,
flesh and fell thegither--na, na."

"Can't you take another then?"

"I dinna ken--the Deuke's no that fond o' led farms, and he canna
bide to put away the auld tenantry; and then I wadna like, mysell,
to gang about whistling and raising the rent on my neighbours."
[*Whistling, among the tenantry of a large estate, is, when an
individual gives such information to the proprietor, or his
managers, as to occasion the rent of his neighbour's farms being
raised, which, for obvious reasons, is held a very unpopular
practice.]

"What, not upon thy neighbour at Dawston--Devilstone--how d'ye
call the place?"

"What, on Jock o' Dawston? hout na--he's a camsteary [*Obstinate
and unruly.] chield, and fasheous [*Troublesome] about marches,
and we've had some bits o' splores thegither; but deil o' me if I
wad wrang Jock o' Dawston neither."

"Thou'rt an honest fellow," said the lawyer; "get thee to bed. Thou
wilt sleep sounder, I warrant thee, than many a man that throws off
an embroidered coat, and puts on a laced nightcap.--Colonel, I see
you are busy with our Enfant trouve. But Barnes must give me a
summons of wakening at seven to-morrow morning, for my servant's a
sleepy-headed fellow; and I dare say my clerk, Driver, has had
Clarence's fate, and is drowned by this time in a butt of your ale;
for Mrs. Allan promised to make him comfortable, and she'll soon
discover what he expects from that engagement. Good-night,
Colonel--good-night, Dominie Sampson--good-night, Dinmont the
downright--good-night, last of all, to the new-found representative
of the Bertrams, and the Mac-Dingawaies, the Knarths, the Arths,
the Godfreys, the Dennises, and the Rolands, and, last and dearest
title, heir of tailzie and provision of the lands and barony of
Ellangowan, under the settlement of Lewis Bertram, Esq., whose
representative you are."

And so-saying, the old gentleman took his candle and left the room;
and the company dispersed, after the Dominie had once more hugged
and embraced his "little Harry Bertram," as he continued to call
the young soldier of six feet high.


CHAPTER LI.

  --My imagination Carries no favour in it but Bertram's; I
  am undone; there is no living, none, If Bertram be away.--
    All's well that Ends Well.

At the hour which he had appointed the preceding evening, the
indefatigable lawyer was seated by a good fire, and a pair of wax
candles, with a velvet cap on his head, and a quilted silk
night-gown on his person, busy arranging his memoranda of proofs
and indications concerning the murder of Frank Kennedy. An express
had also been despatched to Mr. Mac-Morlan, requesting his
attendance at Woodbourne as soon as possible, on business of
importance. Dinmont, fatigued with the events of the evening
before, and finding the accommodations of Woodbourne much
preferable to those of Mac-Guffog, was in no hurry to rise. The
impatience of Bertram might have put him earlier in motion, but
Colonel Mannering had intimated an intention to visit him in his
apartment in the morning, and he did not choose to leave it. Before
this interview he had dressed himself, Barnes having, by his
master's orders, supplied him with every accommodation of linen,
etc., and now anxiously waited the promised visit of his landlord.

In a short time a gentle tap announced the Colonel, with whom
Bertram held a long and satisfactory conversation. Each, however,
concealed from the other one circumstance. Mannering could not
bring himself to acknowledge the astrological prediction; and
Bertram was, from motives which may be easily conceived, silent
respecting his love for Julia. In other respects, their
intercourse was frank and grateful to both, and had latterly, upon
the Colonel's part, even an approach to cordiality. Bertram
carefully measured his own conduct by that of his host, and seemed
rather to receive his offered kindness with gratitude and pleasure,
than to press for it with solicitation.

Miss Bertram was in the breakfast-parlour when Sampson shuffled in,
his face all radiant with smiles, a circumstance so uncommon, that
Lucy's first idea was, that somebody had been bantering him with an
imposition, which had thrown him into this ecstasy. Having sat for
some time, rolling his eyes and gaping with his mouth like the
great wooden head at Merlin's exhibition, he at length began--
"And what do you think of him, Miss Lucy?"

"Think of whom, Mr. Sampson?" asked the young lady.

"Of Har--no--of him that you know about?" again demanded the
Dominie.

"That I know about?" replied Lucy, totally at a loss to comprehend
his meaning.

"Yes, the stranger, you know, that came last evening in the post
vehicle--he who shot young Hazlewood--ha, ha, ho!" burst forth the
Dominie, with a laugh that sounded like neighing.

"Indeed, Mr. Sampson," said his pupil, "you have chosen a strange
subject for mirth--I think nothing about the man, only I hope the
outrage was accidental, and that we need not fear a repetition of
it."

"Accidental! ho, ho, ha!" again whinnied Sampson.

"Really, Mr. Sampson," said Lucy, somewhat piqued," you are
unusually gay this morning."

"Yes, of a surety I am I ha, ha, ho! face-ti-ous--ho, ho, ha!"

"So unusually facetious, my dear sir," pursued the young lady,
"that I would wish rather to know the meaning of your mirth, than
to be amused with its effects only."

"You shall know it, Miss Lucy," replied poor Abel Do you remember
your brother?"

"Good God! how can you ask me?--no one knows better than you, he
was lost the very day I was born."

"Very true, very true," answered the Dominie, saddening at the
recollection; "I was strangely oblivious--ay, ay--too true. But
you remember your worthy father?"

"How should you doubt it, Mr. Sampson? it is not so many weeks
since--"

"True, true--ay, too true," replied the Dominie, his Houyhnhnm
laugh sinking into a hysterical giggle,--"I will be facetious no
more under these remembrances--but look at that young man!"

Bertram at this instant entered the room. "Yes, look at him
well--he is your father's living image; and as God has deprived you
of your dear parents--O my children, love one another!"

"It is indeed my father's face and form," said Lucy, turning very
pale; Bertram ran to support her--the Dominie to fetch water to
throw upon her face (which in his haste he took from the boiling
tea-urn)--when fortunately her colour returning rapidly, saved her
from the application of this ill-judged remedy. "I conjure you yet
to tell me, Mr. Sampson," she said, in an interrupted, solemn
voice, is this my brother?"

"It is--it is!--Miss Lucy, it is little Harry Bertram, as sure as
God's sun is in that heaven!"

"And this is my sister?" said Bertram, giving way to all that
family affection, which had so long slumbered in his bosom for want
of an object to expand itself upon.

"lt is!--it is Miss Lucy Bertram," ejaculated Sampson, "whom by my
poor aid you will find perfect in the tongues of France, and Italy,
and even of Spain--in reading and writing her vernacular tongue,
and in arithmetic and bookkeeping by double and single entry--I say
nothing of her talents of shaping, and hemming, and governing a
household, which, to give every one their due, she acquired not
from me, but from the housekeeper--nor do I take merit for her
performance upon stringed instruments, whereunto the instructions
of an honourable young lady of virtue and modesty, and very
facetious withal--Miss Julia Mannering--hath not meanly
contributed--Suum cuique tribuilo."

"You, then," said Bertram to his sister, "are all that remains to
me!--Last night, but more fully this morning, Colonel Mannering
gave me an account of our family misfortunes, though without saying
I should find my sister here."

"That," said Lucy, "he left to this gentleman to tell you, one of
the kindest and most faithful of friends, who soothed my father's
long sickness, witnessed his dying moments, and amid the heaviest
clouds of fortune would not desert his orphan."

"God bless him for it!" said Bertram, shaking the Dominie's hand;"
he deserves the love with which I have always regarded even that
dim and imperfect shadow of his memory which my childhood
retained."

"And God bless you both, my dear children," said Sampson; "if it
had not been for your sake, I would have been contented (had
Heaven's pleasure so been) to lay my head upon the turf beside my
patron."