Craigengelt, therefore, found himself disappointed in the first hopes
he had entertained of making a good hand of the Laird of Bucklaw. Still,
however, he reaped many advantages from his friend's good fortune.
Bucklaw, who had never been at all scrupulous in choosing his
companions, was accustomed to, and entertained by, a fellow whom he
could either laugh with or laugh at as he had a mind, who would take,
according to Scottish phrase, "the bit and the buffet," understood all
sports, whether within or without doors, and, when the laird had a mind
for a bottle of wine (no infrequent circumstance), was always ready to
save him from the scandal of getting drunk by himself. Upon these terms,
Craigengelt was the frequent, almost the constant, inmate of the house
of Girnington.

In no time, and under no possibility of circumstances, could good have
been derived from such an intimacy, however its bad consequences might
be qualified by the thorough knowledge which Bucklaw possessed of his
dependant's character, and the high contempt in which he held it. But,
as circumstances stood, this evil communication was particularly liable
to corrupt what good principles nature had implanted in the patron.

Craigengelt had never forgiven the scorn with which Ravenswood had torn
the mask of courage and honesty from his countenance; and to exasperate
Bucklaw's resentment against him was the safest mode of revenge which
occurred to his cowardly, yet cunning and malignant, disposition.

He brought up on all occasions the story of the challenge which
Ravenswood had declined to accept, and endeavoured, by every possible
insinuation, to make his patron believe that his honour was concerned
in bringing that matter to an issue by a present discussion with
Ravenswood. But respecting this subject Bucklaw imposed on him, at
length, a peremptory command of silence.

"I think," he said, "the Master has treated me unlike a gentleman, and
I see no right he had to send me back a cavalier answer when I demanded
the satisfaction of one. But he gave me my life once; and, in looking
the matter over at present, I put myself but on equal terms with him.
Should he cross me again, I shall consider the old accompt as balanced,
and his Mastership will do well to look to himself."

"That he should," re-echoed Craigengelt; "for when you are in practice,
Bucklaw, I would bet a magnum you are through him before the third
pass."

"Then you know nothing of the matter," said Bucklaw, "and you never saw
him fence."

"And I know nothing of the matter?" said the dependant--"a good jest, I
promise you! And though I never saw Ravenswood fence, have I not been at
Monsieur Sagoon's school, who was the first maitre d'armes at Paris;
and have I not been at Signor Poco's at Florence, and Meinheer
Durchstossen's at Vienna, and have I not seen all their play?"

"I don't know whether you have or not," said Bucklaw; "but what about
it, though you had?"

"Only that I will be d--d if ever I saw French, Italian, or
High-Dutchman ever make foot, hand, and eye keep time half so well as
you, Bucklaw."

"I believe you lie, Craigie," said Bucklaw; "however, I can hold my own,
both with single rapier, backsword, sword and dagger, broadsword, or
case of falchions--and that's as much as any gentleman need know of the
matter."

"And the doubt of what ninety-nine out of a hundred know," said
Craigengelt; "they learn to change a few thrusts with the small sword,
and then, forsooth, they understand the noble art of defence! Now, when
I was at Rouen in the year 1695, there was a Chevalier de Chapon and I
went to the opera, where we found three bits of English birkies----" "Is
it a long story you are going to tell?" said Bucklaw, interrupting him
without ceremony.

"Just as you like," answered the parasite, "for we made short work of
it."

"Then I like it short," said Bucklaw. "Is it serious or merry?"

"Devilish serious, I assure you, and so they found it; for the Chevalier
and I----"

"Then I don't like it at all," said Bucklaw; "so fill a brimmer of
my auld auntie's claret, rest her heart! And, as the Hielandman says,
Skioch doch na skiall."

"That was what tough old Sir Even Dhu used to say to me when I was out
with the metall'd lads in 1689. 'Craigengelt,' he used to say, 'you
are as pretty a fellow as ever held steel in his grip, but you have one
fault.'"

"If he had known you as long as I have don," said Bucklaw, "he would
have found out some twenty more; but hand long stories, give us your
toast, man."

Craigengelt rose, went a-tiptoe to the door, peeped out, shut it
carefully, came back again, clapped his tarnished gold-laced hat on one
side of his head, took his glass in one hand, and touching the hilt of
his hanger with the other, named, "The King over the water."

"I tell you what it is, Captain Craigengelt," said Bucklaw; "I shall
keep my mind to myself on thse subjects, having too much respect for the
memory of my venerable Aunt Girnington to put her lands and tenements
in the way of committing treason against established authority. Bring me
King James to Edinburgh, Captain, with thirty thousand men at his back,
and I'll tell you what I think about his title; but as for running my
neck into a noose, and my good broad lands into the statutory penalties,
'in that case made and provided,' rely upon it, you will find me no such
fool. So, when you mean to vapour with your hanger and your dram-cup
in support of treasonable toasts, you must find your liquor and company
elsewhere."

"Well, then," said Craigengelt, "name the toast yourself, and be it what
it like, I'll pledge you, were it a mile to the bottom."

"And I'll give you a toast that deserves it, my boy," said Bucklaw;
"what say you to Miss Lucy Ashton?"

"Up with it," said the Captain, as he tossed off his brimmer, "the
bonniest lass in Lothian! What a pity the old sneckdrawing Whigamore,
her father, is about to throw her away upon that rag of pride and
beggary, the Master of Ravenswood!"

"That's not quite so clear," said Bucklaw, in a tone which, though it
seemed indifferent, excited his companion's eager curiosity; and not
that only, but also his hope of working himself into some sort of
confidence, which might make him necessary to his patron, being by no
means satisfied to rest on mere sufferance, if he could form by art or
industry a more permanent title to his favour.

"I thought," said he, after a moment's pause, "that was a settled
matter; they are continually together, and nothing else is spoken of
betwixt Lammer Law and Traprain."

"They may say what they please," replied his patron, "but I know better;
and I'll give you Miss Lucy Ashton's health again, my boy."

"And I woul drink it on my knee," said Craigengelt, "if I thought the
girl had the spirit to jilt that d--d son of a Spaniard."

"I am to request you will not use the word 'jilt' and Miss Ashton's name
together," said Bucklaw, gravely.

"Jilt, did I say? Discard, my lad of acres--by Jove, I meant to
discard," replied Craigengelt; "and I hope she'll discard him like
a small card at piquet, and take in the king of hearts, my boy! But
yet----"

"But what?" said his patron.

"But yet I know for certain they are hours together alone, and in the
woods and the fields."

"That's her foolish father's dotage; that will be soon put out of the
lass's head, if it ever gets into it," answered Bucklaw. "And now fill
your glass again, Captain; I am going to make you happy; I am going to
let you into a secret--a plot--a noosing plot--only the noose is but
typical."

"A marrying matter?" said Craigengelt, and his jaw fell as he asked the
question, for he suspected that matrimony would render his situation
at Girnington much more precarious than during the jolly days of his
patron's bachelorhood.

"Ay, a marriage, man," said Bucklaw; "but wherefore droops they might
spirit, and why grow the rubies on they cheek so pale? The board will
have a corner, and the corner will have a trencher, and the trencher
will have a glass beside it; and the board-end shall be filled, and
the trencher and the glass shall be replenished for thee, if all the
petticoats in Lothian had sworn the contrary. What, man! I am not the
boy to put myself into leading-strings."

"So says many an honest fellow," said Craigengelt, "and some of my
special friends; but, curse me if I know the reason, the women could
never bear me, and always contrived to trundle me out of favour before
the honeymoon was over."

"If you could have kept your ground till that was over, you might have
made a good year's pension," said Bucklaw.

"But I never could," answered the dejected parasite. "There was my Lord
Castle-Cuddy--we were hand and glove: I rode his horses, borrowed money
both for him and from him, trained his hawks, and taught him how to lay
his bets; and when he took a fancy of marrying, I married him to Katie
Glegg, whom I thought myself as sure of as man could be of woman. Egad,
she had me out of the house, as if I had run on wheels, within the first
fortnight!"

"Well!" replied Bucklaw, "I think I have nothing of Castle-Cuddy about
me, or Lucy of Katie Glegg. But you see the thing will go on whether you
like it or no; the only question is, will you be useful?"

"Useful!" exclaimed the Captain, "and to thee, my lad of lands, my
darling boy, whom I would tramp barefooted through the world for! Name
time, place, mode, and circumstances, and see if I will not be useful in
all uses that can be devised."

"Why, then, you must ride two hundred miles for me," said the patron.

"A thousand, and call them a flea's leap," answered the dependant; "I'll
cause saddle my horse directly."

"Better stay till you know where you are to go, and what you are to
do," quoth Bucklaw. "You know I have a kinswoman in Northumberland, Lady
Blenkensop by name, whose old acquaintance I had the misfortune to lose
in the period of my poverty, but the light of whose countenance shone
forth upon me when the sun of my prosperity began to arise."

"D--n all such double-faced jades!" exclaimed Craigengelt, heroically;
"this I will say for John Craigengelt, that he is his friend's friend
through good report and bad report, poverty and riches; and you know
something of that yourself, Bucklaw."

"I have not forgot your merits," said his patron; "I do remember that,
in my extremities, you had a mind to CRIMP me for the service of the
French king, or of the Pretender; and, moreover, that you afterwards
lent me a score of pieces, when, as I firmly believe, you had heard the
news that old Lady Girnington had a touch of the dead palsy. But don't
be downcast, John; I believe, after all, you like me very well in your
way, and it is my misfortune to have no better counsellor at present.
To return to this Lady Blenkensop, you must know, she is a close
confederate of Duchess Sarah."

"What! of Sall Jennings?" exclaimed Craigengelt; "then she must be a
good one."

"Hold your tongue, and keep your Tory rants to yourself, if it be
possible," said Bucklaw. "I tell you, that through the Duchess of
Marlborough has this Northumbrian cousin of mine become a crony of Lady
Ashton, the Keeper's wife, or, I may say, the Lord Keeper's Lady Keeper,
and she has favoured Lady Blenkensop with a visit on her return from
London, and is just now at her old mansion-house on the banks fo the
Wansbeck. Now, sir, as it has been the use and wont of these ladies to
consider their husbands as of no importance in the management of their
own families, it has been their present pleasure, without consulting
Sir William Ashton, to put on the tapis a matrimonial alliance, to be
concluded between Lucy Ashton and my own right honourable self, Lady
Ashton acting as self-constituted plenipotentiary on the part of her
daughter and husband, and Mother Blenkensop, equally unaccredited, doing
me the honour to be my representative. You may suppose I was a little
astonished when I found that a treaty, in which I was so considerably
interested, had advanced a good way before I was even consulted."

"Capot me! if I think that was according to the rules of the game," said
his confidant; "and pray, what answer did you return?"

"Why, my first thought was to send the treaty to the devil, and the
negotiators along with it, for a couple of meddling old women; my next
was to laugh very hearily; and my third and last was a settled opinion
that the thing was reasonable, and would suit me well enough."

"Why, I thought you had never seen the wench but once, and then she had
her riding-mask on; I am sure you told me so."

"Ay, but I liked her very well then. And Ravenswood's dirty usage of
me--shutting me out of doors to dine with the lackeys, because he
had the Lord Keeper, forsooth, and his daughter, to be guests in his
beggarly castle of starvation,--d--n me, Craigengelt, if I ever forgive
him till I play him as good a trick!"

"No more you should, if you are a lad of mettle," said Craigengelt, the
matter now taking a turn in which he could sympathise; "and if you carry
this wench from him, it will break his heart."

"That it will not," said Bucklaw; "his heart is all steeled over with
reason and philosophy, things that you, Craigie, know nothing about
more than myself, God help me. But it will break his pride, though, and
that's what I'm driving at."

"Distance me!" said Craigengelt, "but I know the reason now of his
unmannerly behaviour at his old tumble-down tower yonder. Ashamed of
your company?--no, no! Gad, he was afraid you would cut in and carry off
the girl."

"Eh! Craigengelt?" said Bucklaw, "do you really think so? but no, no!
he is a devilish deal prettier man than I am." "Who--he?" exclaimed the
parasite. "He's as black as the crook; and for his size--he's a tall
fellow, to be sure, but give me a light, stout, middle-sized----"

"Plague on thee!" said Bucklaw, interrupting him, "and on me for
listening to you! You would say as much if I were hunch-backed. But as
to Ravenswood--he has kept no terms with me, I'll keep none with him; if
I CAN win this girl from him, I WILL win her."

"Win her! 'sblood, you SHALL win her, point, quint, and quatorze, my
king of trumps; you shall pique, repique, and capot him."

"Prithee, stop thy gambling cant for one instant," said Bucklaw.
"Things have come thus far, that I have entertained the proposal of my
kinswoman, agreed to the terms of jointure, amount of fortune, and so
forth, and that the affair is to go forward when Lady Ashton comes down,
for she takes her daughter and her son in her own hand. Now they want me
to send up a confidential person with some writings."

"By this good win, I'll ride to the end of the world--the very gates of
Jericho, and the judgment-seat of Prester John, for thee!" ejaculated
the Captain.

"Why, I believe you would do something for me, and a great deal for
yourself. Now, any one could carry the writings; but you will have a
little more to do. You must contrive to drop out before my Lady Ashton,
just as if it were a matter of little consequence, the residence of
Ravenswood at her husband's house, and his close intercourse with Miss
Ashton; and you may tell her that all the country talks of a visit from
the Marquis of A----, as it is supposed, to make up the match betwixt
Ravenswood and her daughter. I should like to hear what she says to all
this; for, rat me! if I have any idea of starting for the plate at all
if Ravenswood is to win the race, and he has odds against me already."

"Never a bit; the wench has too much sense, and in that belief I drink
her health a third time; and, were time and place fitting, I would drink
it on bended knees, and he that would not pledge me, I would make his
guts garter his stockings."

"Hark ye, Craigengelt; as you are going into the society of women of
rank," said Bucklaw, "I'll thank you to forget your strange blackguard
oaths and 'damme's.' I'll write to them, though, that you are a blunt,
untaught fellow."

"Ay, ay," replied Craigengelt--"a plain, blunt, honest, downright
soldier."

"Not too honest, not too much of the soldier neither; but such as thou
art, it is my luck to need thee, for I must have spurs put to Lady
Ashton's motions." "I'll dash them up to the rowel-heads," said
Craigengelt; "she shall come here at the gallop, like a cow chased by a
whole nest of hornets, and her tail over her rump like a corkscrew."

"And hear ye, Craigie," said Bucklaw; "your boots and doublet are good
enough to drink in, as the man says in the play, but they are somewhat
too greasy for tea-table service; prithee, get thyself a little better
rigged out, and here is to pay all charges."

"Nay, Bucklaw; on my soul, man, you use me ill. However," added
Craigengelt, pocketing the money, "if you will have me so far indebted
to you, I must be conforming."

"Well, horse and away!" said the patron, "so soon as you have got your
riding livery in trim. You may ride the black crop-ear; and, hark ye,
I'll make you a present of him to boot."

"I drink to the good luck of my mission," answered the ambassador, "in a
half-pint bumper."

"I thank ye, Craigie, and pledge you; I see nothing against it but the
father or the girl taking a tantrum, and I am told the mother can wind
them both round her little finger. Take care not to affront her with any
of your Jacobite jargon."

"Oh, ay, true--she is a Whig, and a friend of old Sall of Marlborough;
thank my stars, I can hoist any colours at a pinch! I have fought as
hard under John Churchill as ever I did under Dundee or the Duke of
Berwick."

"I verily believe you, Craigie," said the lord of the mansion; "but,
Craigie, do you, pray, step down to the cellar, and fetch us up a bottle
of the Burgundy, 1678; it is in the fourth bin from the right-hand turn.
And I say, Craigie, you may fetch up half a dozen whilst you are about
it. Egad, we'll make a night on't!"




CHAPTER XXII.

     And soon they spied the merry-men green,
     And eke the coach and four.

     Duke upon Duke.

CRAIGENGELT set forth on his mission so soon as his equipage was
complete, prosecuted his journey with all diligence, and accomplished
his commission with all the dexterity for which bucklaw had given him
credit. As he arrived with credentials from Mr. Hayston of Bucklaw, he
was extremely welcome to both ladies; and those who are prejudiced
in favour of a new acquaintance can, for a time at least, discover
excellencies in his very faults and perfections in his deficiencies.
Although both ladies were accustomed to good society, yet, being
pre-determined to find out an agreeable and well-behaved gentleman
in Mr. Hayston's friend, they succeeded wonderfully in imposing on
themselves. It is true that Craigengelt was now handsomely dressed, and
that was a point of no small consequence. But, independent of outward
show, his blackguard impudence of address was construed into honourable
bluntness becoming his supposed military profession; his hectoring
passed for courage, and his sauciness for wit. Lest, however, any one
should think this a violation of probability, we must add, in fairness
to the two ladies, that their discernment was greatly blinded, and their
favour propitiated, by the opportune arrival of Captain Craigengelt in
the moment when they were longing for a third hand to make a party at
tredrille, in which, as in all games, whether of chance or skill, that
worthy person was a great proficient.

When he found himself established in favour, his next point was how
best to use it for the furtherance of his patron's views. He found
Lady Ashton prepossessed strongly in favour of the motion which Lady
Blenkensop, partly from regard to her kinswoman, partly from the spirit
of match-making, had not hesitated to propose to her; so that his task
was an easy one. Bucklaw, reformed from his prodigality, was just
the sort of husband which she desired to have for her Shepherdess of
Lammermoor; and while the marriage gave her an easy fortune, and a
respectable country gentleman for her husband, Lady Ashton was
of opinion that her destinies would be fully and most favourably
accomplished. It so chanced, also, that Bucklaw, among his new
acquisitions, had gained the management of a little political interest
in a neighbouring county where the Douglas family originally held large
possessions. It was one of the bosom-hopes of Lady Ashton that her
eldest son, Sholto, should represent this county in the British
Parliament, and she saw this alliance with Bucklaw as a circumstance
which might be highly favourable to her wishes.

Craigengelt, who, in his way, by no means wanted sagacity, no sooner
discovered in what quarter the wind of Lady Ashton's wishes sate, than
he trimmed his course accordingly. "There was little to prevent Bucklaw
himself from sitting for the county; he must carry the heat--must walk
the course. Two cousins-german, six more distant kinsmen, his factor and
his chamberlain, were all hollow votes; and the Girnington interest had
always carried, betwixt love and fear, about as many more. But Bucklaw
cared no more about riding the first horse, and that sort of thing, than
he, Craigengelt, did about a game at birkie: it was a pity his interest
was not in good guidance."

All this Lady Ashton drank in with willing and attentive ears, resolving
internally to be herself the person who should take the management of
the political influence of her destined son-in-law, for the benefit of
her eldest-born, Sholto, and all other parties concerned.

When he found her ladyship thus favourably disposed, the Captain
proceeded, to use his employer's phrase, to set spurs to her resolution,
by hinting at the situation of matters at Ravenswood Castle, the long
residence which the heir of that family had made with the Lord Keeper,
and the reports which--though he would be d--d ere he gave credit to any
of them--had been idly circulated in the neighbourhood. It was not the
Captain's cue to appear himself to be uneasy on the subject of these
rumours; but he easily saw from Lady Ashton's flushed cheek, hesitating
voice, and flashing eye, that she had caught the alarm which he intended
to communicate. She had not heard from her husband so often or so
regularly as she though him bound in duty to have written, and of this
very interesting intelligence concerning his visit to the Tower of
Wolf's Crag, and the guest whom, with such cordiality, he had received
at Ravenswsood Castle, he had suffered his lady to remain altogether
ignorant, until she now learned it by the chance information of a
stranger. Such concealment approached, in her apprehension, to a
misprision, at last, of treason, if not to actual rebellion against
her matrimonial authority; and in her inward soul she did vow to take
vengeance on the Lord Keeper, as on a subject detected in meditating
revolt. Her indignation burned the more fiercely as she found herself
obliged to suppress it in presence of Lady Blenkensop, the kinswoman,
and of Craigengelt, the confidential friend, of Bucklaw, of whose
alliance she now became trebly desirous, since it occurred to her
alarmed imagination that her husband might, in his policy or timidity,
prefer that of Ravenswood.

The Captain was engineer enough to discover that the train was fired;
and therefore heard, in the course of the same day, without the least
surprise, that Lady Ashton had resolved to abridge her visit to Lady
Blenkensop, and set forth with the peep of morning on her return to
Scotland, using all the despatch which the state of the roads and the
mode of travelling would possibly permit.

Unhappy Lord Keeper! little was he aware what a storm was travelling
towards him in all the speed with which an old-fashioned coach and six
could possibly achieve its journey. He, like Don Gayferos, "forgot his
lady fair and true," and was only anxious about the expected visit
of the Marquis of A----. Soothfast tidings had assured him that this
nobleman was at length, and without fail, to honour his castle at one
in the afternoon, being a late dinner-hour; and much was the bustle in
consequence of the annunciation. The Lord Keeper traversed the chambers,
held consultation with the butler in the cellars, and even ventured, at
the risk of a demele with a cook of a spirit lofty enough to scorn the
admonitions of Lady Ashton herself, to peep into the kitchen. Satisfied,
at length, that everything was in as active a train of preparation as
was possible, he summoned Ravenswood and his daughter to walk upon the
terrace, for the purpose of watching, from that commanding position,
the earliest symptoms of his lordship's approach. For this purpose, with
slow and idle step, he paraded the terrace, which, flanked with a heavy
stone battlement, stretched in front of the castle upon a level with the
first story; while visitors found access to the court by a projecting
gateway, the bartizan or flat-leaded roof of which was accessible from
the terrace by an easy flight of low and broad steps. The whole bore a
resemblance partly to a castle, partly to a nobleman's seat; and though
calculated, in some respects, for defence, evinced that it had been
constructed under a sense of the power and security of the ancient Lords
of Ravenswood.

This pleasant walk commanded a beautiful and extensive view. But what
was most to our present purpose, there were seen from the terrace two
roads, one leading from the east, and one from the westward, which,
crossing a ridge opposed to the eminence on which the castle stood, at
different angles, gradually approached each other, until they joined not
far from the gate of the avenue. It was to the westward approach that
the Lord Keeper, from a sort of fidgeting anxiety, his daughter, from
complaisance to him, and Ravenswood, though feeling some symptoms of
internal impatience, out of complaisance to his daughter, directed their
eyes to see the precursors of the Marquis's approach.

These were not long of presenting themselves. Two running footmen,
dressed in white, with black jockey-caps, and long staffs in their
hands, headed the train; and such was their agility, that they found
no difficulty in keeping the necessary advance, which the etiquette of
their station required, before the carriage and horsemen. Onward
they came at a long swinging trot, arguing unwearied speed in their
long-breathed calling. Such running footmen are often alluded to in old
plays (I would particularly instance Middleton's Mad World, my Masters),
and perhaps may be still remembered by some old persons in Scotland,
as part of the retinue of the ancient nobility when travelling in full
ceremony. Behind these glancing meteors, who footed it as if the Avenger
of Blood had been behind them, came a cloud of dust, raised by riders
who preceded, attended, or followed the state-carriage of the Marquis.

The privilege of nobility, in those days, had something in it impressive
on the imagination. The dresses and liveries and number of their
attendants, their style of travelling, the imposing, and almost warlike,
air of the armed men who surrounded them, place them far above the
laird, who travelled with his brace of footmen; and as to rivalry from
the mercantile part of the community, these would as soon have thought
of imitating the state equipage of the Sovereign. At present it
is different; and I myself, Peter Pattieson, in a late journey to
Edinburgh, had the honour, in the mail-coach phrase to "change a leg"
with a peer of the realm. It was not so in the days of which I write;
and the Marquis's approach, so long expected in vain, now took place
in the full pomp of ancient aristocracy. Sir William Ashton was so
much interested in what he beheld, and in considering the ceremonial
of reception, in case any circumstance had been omitted, that he scarce
heard his son Henry exclaim: "There is another coach and six coming down
the east road, papa; can they both belong to the Marquis of A----?"

At length, when the youngster had fairly compelled his attention by
pulling his sleeve,

     He turned his eyes, and, as he turned, survey'd
     An awful vision.

Sure enough, another coach and six, with four servants or outriders in
attendance, was descending the hill from the eastward, at such a pace as
made it doubtful which of the carriages thus approaching from different
quarters would first reach the gate at the extremity of the avenue. The
one coach was green, the other blue; and not the green and blue chariots
in the circus of Rome or Constantinople excited more turmoil among the
citizens than the double apparition occasioned in the mind of the Lord
Keeper.

We all remember the terrible exclamation of the dying profligate, when a
friend, to destroy what he supposed the hypochondriac idea of a spectre
appearing in a certain shape at a given hour, placed before him a person
dressed up in the manner he described. "Mon Dieu!" said the expiring
sinner, who, it seems, saw both the real and polygraphic apparition,
"il y en a deux!" The surprise of the Lord Keeper was scarcely less
unpleasing at the duplication of the expected arrival; his mind misgave
him strangely. There was no neighbour who would have approached so
unceremoniously, at a time when ceremony was held in such respect. It
must be Lady Ashton, said his conscience, and followed up the hint with
an anxious anticipation of the purpose of her sudden and unannounced
return. He felt that he was caught "in the manner." That the company
in which she had so unluckily surprised him was likely to be highly
distasteful to her, there was no question; and the only hope which
remained for him was her high sense of dignified propriety, which, he
trusted, might prevent a public explosion. But so active were his doubts
and fears as altogether to derange his purposed ceremonial for the
reception of the Marquis.

These feelings of apprehension were not confined to Sir William Ashton.
"It is my mother--it is my mother!" said Lucy, turning as pale as ashes,
and clasping her hands together as she looked at Ravenswood.

"And if it be Lady Ashton," said her lover to her in a low tone, "what
can be the occasion of such alarm? Surely the return of a lady to
the family from which she has been so long absent should excite other
sensations than those of fear and dismay."

"You do not know my mother," said Miss Ashton, in a tone almost
breathless with terror; "what will she say when she sees you in this
place!"

"My stay has been too long," said Ravenswood, somewhat haughtily, "if
her displeasure at my presence is likely to be so formidable. My dear
Lucy," he resumed, in a tone of soothing encouragement, "you are too
childishly afraid of Lady Ashton; she is a woman of family--a lady
of fashion--a person who must know the world, and what is due to her
husband and her husband's guests." Lucy shook her head; and, as if
her mother, still at the distance of half a mile, could have seen and
scrutinised her deportment, she withdrew herself from beside Ravenswood,
and, taking her brother Henry's arm, led him to a different part of the
terrace. The Keeper also shuffled down towards the portal of the great
gate, without inviting Ravenswood to accompany him; and thus he remained
standing alone on the terrace, deserted and shunned, as it were, by
the inhabitants of the mansion. This suited not the mood of one who was
proud in proportion to his poverty, and who thought that, in sacrificing
his deep-rooted resentments so far as to become Sir William Ashton's
guest, he conferred a favour, and received none. "I can forgive Lucy,"
he said to himself; "she is young, timid, and conscious of an important
engagement assumed without her mother's sanction; yet she should
remember with whom it has been assumed, and leave me no reason to
suspect that she is ashamed of her choice. For the Keeper, sense,
spirit, and expression seem to have left his face and manner since he
had the first glimpse of Lady Ashton's carriage. I must watch how this
is to end; and, if they give me reason to think myself an unwelcome
guest, my visit is soon abridged."

With these suspicions floating on his mind, he left the terrace, and
walking towards the stables of the castle, gave directions that his
horse should be kept in readiness, in case he should have occasion to
ride abroad.

In the mean while, the drivers of the two carriages, the approach of
which had occasioned so much dismay at the castle, had become aware of
each other's presence, as they approached upon different lines to
the head of the avenue, as a ocmmon centre. Lady Ashton's driver and
postilions instantly received orders to get foremost, if possible, her
ladyship being desirous of despatching her first interview with her
husband before the arrival of these guests, whoever they might happen to
be. On the other hand, the coachman of the Marquis, conscious of his own
dignity and that of his master, and observing the rival charioteer was
mending his pace, resolved, like a true brother of the whip, whether
ancient or modern, to vindicate his right of precedence. So that, to
increase the confusion of the Lord Keeper's understanding, he saw the
short time which remained for consideration abridged by the haste of the
contending coachmen, who, fixing their eyes sternly on each other, and
applying the lash smartly to their horses, began to thunder down the
descent with emulous rapidity, while the horsemen who attended them were
forced to put on to a hand-gallop.

Sir William's only chance now remaining was the possibility of an
overturn, and that his lady or visitor might break their necks. I am
not aware that he formed any distinct wish on the subject, but I have no
reason to think that his grief in either case would have been altogether
inconsolable. This chance, however, also disappeared; for Lady Ashton,
though insensible to fear, began to see the ridicule of running a race
with a visitor of distinction, the goal being the portal of her own
castle, and commanded her coachman, as they approached the avenue, to
slacken his pace, and allow precedence to the stranger's equipage; a
command which he gladly obeyed, as coming in time to save his honour,
the horses of the Marquis's carriage being better, or, at least, fresher
than his own. He restrained his pace, therefore, and suffered the green
coach to enter the avenue, with all its retinue, which pass it occupied
with the speed of a whirlwind. The Marquis's laced charioteer no
sooner found the pas d'avance was granted to him than he resumed a more
deliberate pace, at which he advanced under the embowering shade of the
lofty elms, surrounded by all the attendants; while the carriage of Lady
Ashton followed, still more slowly, at some distance.

In the front of the castle, and beneath the portal which admitted guests
into the inner court, stood Sir William Ashton, much perplexed in mind,
his younger son and daughter beside him, and in their rear a train of
attendants of various ranks, in and out of livery. The nobility and
gentry of Scotland, at this period, were remarkable even to extravagance
for the number of their servants, whose services were easily purchased
in a country where men were numerous beyond proportion to the means of
employing them.

The manners of a man trained like Sir William Ashton are too much at his
command to remain long disconcerted with the most adverse concurrence
of circumstances. He received the Marquis, as he alighted from his
equipage, with the usual compliments of welcome; and, as he ushered
him into the great hall, expressed his hope that his journey had been
pleasant. The Marquis was a tall, well-made man, with a thoughtful and
intelligent countenance, and an eye in which the fire of ambition had
for some years replaced the vivacity of youth; a bold, proud expression
of countenance, yet chastened by habitual caution, and the desire
which, as the head of a party, he necessarily entertained of acquiring
popularity. He answered with courtesy the courteous inquiries of the
Lord Keeper, and was formally presented to Miss Ashton, in the course
of which ceremony the Lord Keeper gave the first symptom of what was
chiefly occupying his mind, by introducing his daughter as "his wife,
Lady Ashton."

Lucy blushed; the Marquis looked surprised at the extremely juvenile
appearance of his hostess, and the Lord Keeper with difficulty rallied
himself so far as to explain. "I should have said my daughter, my lord;
but the truth is, that I saw Lady Ashton's carriage enter the avenue
shortly after your lordship's, and----"

"Make no apology, my lord," replied his noble guest; "let me entreat
you will wait on your lady, and leave me to cultivate Miss Ashton's
acquaintance. I am shocked my people should have taken precedence of our
hostess at her own gate; but your lordship is aware that I supposed
Lady Ashton was still in the south. Permit me to beseech you will waive
ceremony, and hasten to welcome her."

This was precisely what the Lord Keeper longed to do; and he instantly
profited by his lordship's obliging permission. To see Lady Ashton, and
encounter the first burst of her displeasure in private, might prepare
her, in some degree, to receive her unwelcome guests with due decorum.
As her carriage, therefore, stopped, the arm of the attentive husband
was ready to assist Lady Ashton in dismounting. Looking as if she
saw him not, she put his arm aside, and requested that of Captain
Craigengelt, who stood by the coach with his laced hat under his arm,
having acted as cavaliere servente, or squire in attendance, during the
journey. Taking hold of this respectable person's arm as if to support
her, Lady Ashton traversed the court, uttering a word or two by way
of direction to the servants, but not one to Sir William, who in
vain endeavoured to attract her attention, as he rather followed than
accompanied her into the hall, in which they found the Marquis in close
conversation with the Master of Ravenswood. Lucy had taken the first
opportunity of escaping. There was embarrassment on every countenance
except that of the Marquis of A----; for even Craigengelt's impudence
was hardly able to veil his fear of Ravenswood, an the rest felt the
awkwardness of the position in which they were thus unexpectedly placed.

After waiting a moment to be presented by Sir William Ashton, the
Marquis resolved to introduce himself. "The Lord Keeper," he said,
bowing to Lady Ashton, "has just introduced to me his daughter as his
wife; he might very easily present Lady Ashton as his daughter, so
little does she differ from what I remember her some years since. Will
she permit an old acquaintance the privilege of a guest?"

He saluted the lady with too good a grace to apprehend a repulse,
and then proceeded: "This, Lady Ashton, is a peacemaking visit,
and therefore I presume to introduce my cousin, the young Master of
Ravenswood, to your favourable notice."

Lady Ashton could not choose but courtesy; but there was in her
obeisance an air of haughtiness approaching to contemptuous repulse.
Ravenswood could not choose but bow; but his manner returned the scorn
with which he had been greeted.

"Allow me," she said, "to present to your lordship MY friend."
Craigengelt, with the forward impudence which men of his cast mistake
for ease, made a sliding bow to the Marquis, which he graced by a
flourish of his gold-laced hat. The lady turned to her husband. "You
and I, Sir William," she said, and these were the first words she had
addressed to him, "have acquired new acquaintances since we parted; let
me introduce the acquisition I have made to mine--Captain Craigengelt."

Another bow, and another flourish of the gold-laced hat, which was
returned by the Lord Keeper without intimation of former recognition,
and with that sort of anxious readiness which intimated his wish that
peace and amnesty should take place betwixt the contending parties,
including the auxiliaries on both sides. "Let me introduce you to the
Master of Ravenswood," said he to Captain Craigengelt, following up the
same amicable system.

But the Master drew up his tall form to the full extent of his height,
and without so much as looking towards the person thus introduced to
him, he said, in a marked tone: "Captain Craigengelt and I are already
perfectly well acquainted with each other."

"Perfectly--perfectly," replied the Captain, in a mumbling tone, like
that of a double echo, and with a flourish of his hat, the circumference
of which was greatly abridged, compared with those which had so
cordially graced his introduction to the Marquis and the Lord Keeper.

Lockhard, followed by three menials, now entered with wine and
refreshments, which it was the fashion to offer as a whet before dinner;
and when they were placed before the guests, Lady Ashton made an apology
for withdrawing her husband from them for some minutes upon business of
special import. The Marquis, of course, requested her ladyship would lay
herself under no restraint; and Craigengelt, bolting with speed a second
glass of racy canary, hastened to leave the room, feeling no great
pleasure in the prospect of being left alone with the Marquis of A----
and the Master of Ravenswood; the presence of the former holding him in
awe, and that of the latter in bodily terror.

Some arrangements about his horse and baggage formed the pretext for
his sudden retreat, in which he persevered, although Lady Ashton gave
Lockhard orders to be careful most particularly to accommodate Captain
Craigengelt with all the attendance which he could possibly require. The
Marquis and the Master of Ravenswood were thus left to communicate to
each other their remarks upon the reception which they had met with,
while Lady Ashton led the way, and her lord followed somewhat like a
condemned criminal, to her ladyship's dressing-room.

So soon as the spouses had both entered, her ladyship gave way to that
fierce audacity of temper which she had with difficulty suppressed, out
of respect to appearances. She shut the door behind the alarmed Lord
Keeper, took the key out of the spring-lock, and with a countenance
which years had not bereft of its haughty charms, and eyes which spoke
at once resolution and resentment, she addressed her astounded husband
in these words: "My lord, I am not greatly surprised at the connexions
you have been pleased to form during my absence, they are entirely in
conformity with your birth and breeding; and if I did expect anything
else, I heartily own my error, and that I merit, by having done so, the
disappointment you had prepared for me."

"My dear Lady Ashton--my dear Eleanor [Margaret]," said the Lord Keeper,
"listen to reason for a moment, and I will convince you I have acted
with all the regard due to the dignity, as well as the interest, of my
family."

"To the interest of YOUR family I conceive you perfectly capable of
attending," returned the indignant lady, "and even to the dignity of
your own family also, as far as it requires any looking after. But as
mine happens to be inextricably involved with it, you will excuse me if
I choose to give my own attention so far as that is concerned."

"What would you have, Lady Ashton?" said the husband. "What is it that
displeases you? Why is it that, on your return after so long an absence,
I am arraigned in this manner?" "Ask your own conscience, Sir William,
what has prompted you to become a renegade to your political party and
opinions, and led you, for what I know, to be on the point of marrying
your only daughter to a beggarly Jacobite bankrupt, the inveterate enemy
of your family to the boot."

"Why, what, in the name of common sense and common civility, would you
have me do, madam?" answered her husband. "Is it possible for me, with
ordinary decency, to turn a young gentleman out of my house, who saved
my daughter's life and my own, but the other morning, as it were?"

"Saved your life! I have heard of that story," said the lady. "The Lord
Keeper was scared by a dun cow, and he takes the young fellow who killed
her for Guy of Warwick: any butcher from Haddington may soon have an
equal claim on your hospitality."

"Lady Ashton," stammered the Keeper, "this is intolerable; and when I am
desirous, too, to make you easy by any sacrifice, if you would but tell
me what you would be at."

"Go down to your guests," said the imperious dame, "and make your
apology to Ravenswood, that the arrival of Captain Craigengelt and some
other friends renders it impossible for you to offer him lodgings at the
castle. I expect young Mr. Hayston of Bucklaw."

"Good heavens, madam!" ejaculated her husband. "Ravenswood to give place
to Craigengelt, a common gambler and an informer! It was all I could do
to forbear desiring the fellow to get out of my house, and I was much
surprised to see him in your ladyship's train."

"Since you saw him there, you might be well assured," answered this meek
helpmate, "that he was proper society. As to this Ravenswood, he only
meets with the treatment which, to my certain knowledge, he gave to a
much-valued friend of mine, who had the misfortune to be his guest some
time since. But take your resolution; for, if Ravenswood does not quit
the house, I will."

Sir William Ashton paced up and down the apartment in the most
distressing agitation; fear, and shame, and anger contending against the
habitual deference he was in the use of rendering to his lady. At length
it ended, as is usual with timid minds placed in such circumstances, in
his adopting a mezzo termine--a middle measure.

"I tell you frankly, madam, I neither can nor will be guilty of the
incivility you propose to the Master of Ravenswood; he has not deserved
it at my hand. If you will be so unreasonable as to insult a man of
quality under your own roof, I cannot prevent you; but I will not at
least be the agent in such a preposterous proceeding."

"You will not?" asked the lady.

"No, by heavens, madam!" her husband replied; "ask me anything congruent
with common decency, as to drop his acquaintance by degrees, or the
like; but to bid him leave my house is what I will nto and cannot
consent to."

"Then the task of supporting the honour of the family will fall on me,
as it has often done before," said the lady.

She sat down, and hastily wrote a few lines. The Lord Keeper made
another effort to prevent her taking a step so decisive, just as she
opened the door to call her female attendant from the ante-room. "Think
what you are doing, Lady Ashton: you are making a mortal enemy of a
young man who is like to have the means of harming us----"

"Did you ever know a Douglas who feared an enemy?" answered the lady,
contemptuously.

"Ay, but he is as proud and vindictive as an hundred Douglasses, and an
hundred devils to boot. Think of it for a night only."

"Not for another moment," answered the lady. "Here, Mrs. Patullo, give
this billet to young Ravenswood."

"To the Master, madam!" said Mrs. Patullo.

"Ay, to the Master, if you call him so."

"I wash my hands of it entirely," said the Keeper; "and I shall go down
into the garden, and see that Jardine gathers the winter fruit for the
dessert."

"Do so," said the lady, looking after him with glances of infinite
contempt; "and thank God that you leave one behind you as fit to protect
the honour of the family as you are to look after pippins and pears."

The Lord Keeper remained long enough in the garden to give her
ladyship's mind time to explode, and to let, as he thought, at least the
first violence of Ravenswood's displeasure blow over. When he entered
the hall, he found the Marquis of A---- giving orders to some of his
attendants. He seemed in high displeasure, and interrupted an apology
which Sir William had commenced for having left his lordship alone.

"I presume, Sir William, you are no stranger to this singular billet
with which MY kinsman of Ravenswood (an emphasis on the word 'my') has
been favoured by your lady; and, of course, that you are prepared
to receive my adieus. My kinsman is already gone, having thought it
unnecessary to offer any on his part, since all former civilities had
been cancelled by this singular insult."

"I protest, my lord," said Sir William, holding the billet in his hand,
"I am not privy to the contents of this letter. I know Lady Ashton is
a warm-tempered and prejudiced woman, and I am sincerely sorry for any
offence that has been given or taken; but I hope your lordship will
consider that a lady----"

"Should bear herself towards persons of a certain rank with the breeding
of one," said the Marquis, completing the half-uttered sentence.

"True, my lord," said the unfortunate Keeper; "but Lady Ashton is still
a woman----"

"And, as such, methinks," said the Marquis, again interrupting him,
"should be taught the duties which correspond to her station. But
here she comes, and I will learn from her own mouth the reason of this
extraordinary and unexpected affront offered to my near relation, while
both he and I were her ladyship's guests."

Lady Ashton accordingly entered the apartment at this moment. Her
dispute with Sir William, and a subsequent interview with her daughter,
had not prevented her from attending to the duties of her toilette. She
appeared in full dress; and, from the character of her countenance and
manner, well became the splendour with which ladies of quality then
appeared on such occasions.

The Marquis of A---- bowed haughtily, and she returned the salute with
equal pride and distance of demeanour. He then took from the passive
hand of Sir William Ashton the billet he had given him the moment before
he approached the lady, and was about to speak, when she interrupted
him. "I perceive, my lord, you are about to enter upon an unpleasant
subject. I am sorry any such should have occurred at this time, to
interrupt in the slightest degree the respectful reception due to your
lordship; but so it is. Mr. Edgar Ravenswood, for whom I have addressed
the billet in your lordship's hand, has abused the hospitality of this
family, and Sir William Ashton's softness of temper, in order to seduce
a young person into engagements without her parents' consent, and of
which they never can approve."