"O, but ye maun stay his hame-coming," said the dame. "I aye telled
the gudeman ye meant weel to him; but he taks the tout at every bit
lippening word."

"Aweel, I'll stay the last minute I can."

"And so," said the handsome young spouse of Mr. Girder, "ye think this
Miss Ashton is weel-favoured? Troth, and sae should she, to set up for
our young lord, with a face and a hand, and a seat on his horse, that
might become a king's son. D'ye ken that he aye glowers up at my window,
Mr. Balderstone, when he chaunces to ride thro' the town? Sae I hae a
right to ken what like he is, as weel as ony body."

"I ken that brawly," said Caleb, "for I hae heard his lordship say the
cooper's wife had the blackest ee in the barony; and I said, 'Weel may
that be, my lord, for it was her mither's afore her, as I ken to my
cost.' Eh, Marion? Ha, ha, ha! Ah! these were merry days!"

"Hout awa', auld carle," said the old dame, "to speak sic daffing to
young folk. But, Jean--fie, woman, dinna ye hear the bairn greet? I'se
warrant it's that dreary weid has come ower't again."

Up got mother and grandmother, and scoured away, jostling each other as
they ran, into some remote corner of the tenement, where the young hero
of the evening was deposited. When Caleb saw the coast fairly clear,
he took an invigorating pinch of snuff, to sharpen and confirm his
resolution.

"Cauld be my cast," thought he, "if either Bide-the-Bent or Girder taste
that broach of wild-fowl this evening"; and then addressing the eldest
turnspit, a boy of about eleven years old, and putting a penny into his
hand, he said, "Here is twal pennies, my man; carry that ower to Mrs.
Sma'trash, and bid her fill my mill wi' snishing, and I'll turn the
broche for ye in the mean time; and she will gie ye a ginge-bread snap
for your pains."

No sooner was the elder boy departed on this mission than Caleb, looking
the remaining turnspit gravely and steadily in the face, removed from
the fire the spit bearing the wild-fowl of which he had undertaken the
charge, clapped his hat on his head, and fairly marched off with it.
he stopped at the door of the change-house only to say, in a few brief
words, that Mr. Hayston of Bucklaw was not to expect a bed that evening
in the castle.

If this message was too briefly delivered by Caleb, it became absolute
rudeness when conveyed through the medium of a suburb landlady; and
Bucklaw was, as a more calm and temperate man might have been, highly
incensed. Captain Craigengelt proposed, with the unanimous applause of
all present, that they should course the old fox (meaning Caleb) ere he
got to cover, and toss him in a blanket. But Lockhard intimated to
his master's servants and those of Lord Bittlebrains, in a tone of
authority, that the slightest impertinence to the Master of Ravenswood's
domestic would give Sir William Ashton the highest offence. And having
so said, in a manner sufficient to prevent any aggression on their part,
he left the public-house, taking along with him two servants loaded with
such provisions as he had been able to procure, and overtook Caleb just
when he had cleared the village.




CHAPTER XIII.

     Should I take aught of you?  'Tis true I begged now;
     And what is worse than that, I stole a kindness;
     And, what is worst of all, I lost my way in't.

     Wit Without Money.

THE face of the little boy, sole witness of Caleb's infringement upon
the laws at once of property and hospitality, would have made a good
picture. He sat motionless, as if he had witnessed some of the spectral
appearances which he had heard told of in a winter's evening; and as he
forgot his own duty, and allowed his spit to stand still, he added to
the misfortunes of the evening by suffering the mutton to burn as black
as a coal. He was first recalled from his trance of astonishment by
a hearty cuff administered by Dame Lightbody, who, in whatever other
respects she might conform to her name, was a woman strong of person,
and expert in the use of her hands, as some say her deceased husband had
known to his cost.

"What garr'd ye let the roast burn, ye ill-clerkit gude-for-nought?"

"I dinna ken," said the boy.

"And where's that ill-deedy gett, Giles?"

"I dinna ken," blubbered the astonished declarant.

"And where's Mr. Balderstone?--and abune a', and in the name of council
and kirk-session, that I suld say sae, where's the broche wi' the
wild-fowl?" As Mrs. Girder here entered, and joined her mother's
exclamations, screaming into one ear while the old lady deafened the
other, they succeeded in so utterly confounding the unhappy urchin, that
he could not for some time tell his story at all, and it was only when
the elder boy returned that the truth began to dawn on their minds.

"Weel, sirs!" said Mrs. Lightbody, "wha wad hae thought o' Caleb
Balderstone playing an auld acquaintance sic a pliskie!"

"Oh, weary on him!" said the spouse of Mr. Girder; "and what am I to
say to the gudeman? He'll brain me, if there wasna anither woman in a'
Wolf''s Hope."

"Hout tout, silly quean," said the mother; "na, na, it's come to muckle,
but it's no come to that neither; for an he brain you he maun brain me,
and I have garr'd his betters stand back. Hands aff is fair play; we
maunna heed a bit flyting."

The tramp of horses now announced the arrival of the cooper, with the
minister. They had no sooner dismounted than they made for the kitchen
fire, for the evening was cool after the thunderstorm, and the woods wet
and dirty. The young gudewife, strong in the charms of her Sunday gown
and biggonets, threw herself in the way of receiving the first attack,
while her mother, like the veteran division of the Roman legion,
remained in the rear, ready to support her in case of necessity. Both
hoped to protract the discovery of what had happened--the mother, by
interposing her bustling person betwixt Mr. Girder and the fire, and the
daughter, by the extreme cordiality with which she received the minister
and her husband, and the anxious fears which she expressed lest they
should have "gotten cauld." "Cauld!" quoted the husband, surlily, for he
was not of that class of lords and masters whose wives are viceroys
over them, "we'll be cauld eneugh, I think, if ye dinna let us in to the
fire."

And so saying, he burst his way through both lines of defence; and, as
he had a careful eye over his property of every kind, he perceived at
one glance the absence of the spit with its savoury burden. "What the
deil, woman----"

"Fie for shame!" exclaimed both the women; "and before Mr.
Bide-the-Bent!"

"I stand reproved," said the cooper; "but--"

"The taking in our mouths the name of the great enemy of our souls,"
said Mr. Bide-the-Bent--

"I stand reproved," said the cooper.

"--Is an exposing ourselves to his temptations," continued the reverend
monitor, "and in inviting, or, in some sort, a compelling, of him to lay
aside his other trafficking with unhappy persons, and wait upon those in
whose speech his name is frequent."

"Weel, weel, Mr. Bide-the-Bent, can a man do mair than stand reproved?"
said the cooper; "but jest let me ask the women what for they hae dished
the wild-fowl before we came."

"They arena dished, Gilbert," said his wife; "but--but an accident----"

"What accident?" said Girder, with flashing eyes. "Nae ill come ower
them, I trust? Uh?"

His wife, who stood much in awe of him, durst not reply, but her mother
bustled up to her support, with arms disposed as if they were about to
be a-kimbo at the next reply.--"I gied them to an acquaintance of mine,
Gibbie Girder; and what about it now?"

Her excess of assurance struck Girder mute for an instant. "And YE gied
the wild-fowl, the best end of our christening dinner, to a friend of
yours, ye auld rudas! And what might HIS name be, I pray ye?"

"Just worthy Mr. Caleb Balderstone--frae Wolf's Crag," answered Marion,
prompt and prepared for battle.

Girder's wrath foamed over all restraint. If there was a circumstance
which could have added to the resentment he felt, it was that this
extravagant donation had been made in favour of our friend Caleb,
towards whom, for reasons to which the reader is no stranger, he
nourished a decided resentment. He raised his riding-wand against the
elder matron, but she stood firm, collected in herself, and undauntedly
brandished the iron ladle with which she had just been "flambing"
(Anglice, basting) the roast of mutton. Her weapon was certainly the
better, and her arm not the weakest of the two; so that Gilbert thought
it safest to turn short off upon his wife, who had by this time hatched
a sort of hysterical whine, which greatly moved the minister, who was in
fact as simple and kind-hearted a creature as ever breathed. "And you,
ye thowless jade, to sit still and see my substance disponed upon to
an idle, drunken, reprobate, worm-eaten serving-man, just because he
kittles the lugs o' a silly auld wife wi' useless clavers, and every twa
words a lee? I'll gar you as gude----"

Here the minister interposed, both by voice and action, while Dame
Lightbody threw herself in front of her daughter, and flourished her
ladle.

"Am I no to chastise my ain wife?" exclaimed the cooper very
indignantly.

"Ye may chastise your ain wife if ye like," answered Dame Lightbody;
"but ye shall never lay finger on my daughter, and that ye may found
upon." "For shame, Mr. Girder!" said the clergyman; "this is what I
little expected to have seen of you, that you suld give rein to your
sinful passions against your nearest and your dearest, and this night
too, when ye are called to the most solemn duty of a Christian parent;
and a' for what? For a redundancy of creature-comforts, as worthless as
they are unneedful."

"Worthless!" exclaimed the cooper. "A better guse never walkit on
stubble; two finer, dentier wild ducks never wat a feather."

"Be it sae, neighbour," rejoined the minister; "but see what
superfluities are yet revolving before your fire. I have seen the day
when ten of the bannocks which stand upon that board would have been an
acceptable dainty to as many men, that were starving on hills and bogs,
and in caves of the earth, for the Gospel's sake."

"And that's what vexes me maist of a'," said the cooper, anxious to get
some one to sympathise with his not altogether causeless anger; "an the
quean had gien it to ony suffering sant, or to ony body ava but that
reaving, lying, oppressing Tory villain, that rade in the wicked troop
of militia when it was commanded out against the sants at Bothwell Brig
by the auld tyrant Allan Ravenswood, that is gane to his place, I wad
the less hae minded it. But to gie the principal parts o' the feast to
the like o' him----!"

"Aweel, Gilbert," said the minister, "and dinna ye see a high judgment
in this? The seed of the righteous are not seen begging their bread:
think of the son of a powerful oppressor being brought to the pass of
supporting his household from your fulness."

"And, besides," said the wife, "it wasna for Lord Ravenswood neither,
an he wad hear but a body speak: it was to help to entertain the Lord
Keeper, as they ca' him, that's up yonder at Wolf's Crag."

"Sir William Ashton at Wolf's Crag!" ejaculated the astonished man of
hoops and staves.

"And hand and glove wi' Lord Ravenswood," added Dame Lightbody.

"Doited idiot! that auld, clavering sneckdrawer wad gar ye trow the moon
is made of green cheese. The Lord Keeper and Ravenswood! they are cat
and dog, hare and hound."

"I tell ye they are man and wife, and gree better than some others that
are sae," retorted the mother-in-law; "forbye, Peter Puncheon, that's
cooper the Queen's stores, is dead, and the place is to fill, and----"

"Od guide us, wull ye haud your skirling tongues!" said Girder,--for
we are to remark, that this explanation was given like a catch for two
voices, the younger dame, much encouraged by the turn of the debate,
taking up and repeating in a higher tone the words as fast as they were
uttered by her mother.

"The gudewife says naething but what's true, maister," said Girder's
foreman, who had come in during the fray. "I saw the Lord Keeper's
servants drinking and driving ower at Luckie Sma'trash's, ower-bye
yonder."

"And is their maister up at Wolf's Crag?" said Girder.

"Ay, troth is he," replied his man of confidence.

"And friends wi' Ravenswood?"

"It's like sae," answered the foreman, "since he is putting up wi' him."

"And Peter Puncheon's dead?"

"Ay, ay, Puncheon has leaked out at last, the auld carle," said the
foreman; "mony a dribble o' brandy has gaen through him in his day. But
as for the broche and the wild-fowl, the saddle's no aff your mare yet,
maister, and I could follow and bring it back, for Mr. Balderstone's no
far aff the town yet."

"Do sae, Will; and come here, I'll tell ye what to do when ye owertake
him."

He relieved the females of his presence, and gave Will his private
instructions.

"A bonny-like thing," said the mother-in-law, as the cooper re-entered
the apartment, "to send the innocent lad after an armed man, when ye ken
Mr. Balderstone aye wears a rapier, and whiles a dirk into the bargain."

"I trust," said the minister, "ye have reflected weel on what ye have
done, lest you should minister cause of strife, of which it is my duty
to say, he who affordeth matter, albeit he himself striketh not, is in
no manner guiltless."

"Never fash your beard, Mr. Bide-the-Bent," replied Girder; "ane canna
get their breath out here between wives and ministers. I ken best how to
turn my ain cake. Jean, serve up the dinner, and nae mair about it."

Nor did he again allude to the deficiency in the course of the evening.

Meantime, the foreman, mounted on his master's steed, and charged with
his special orders, pricked swiftly forth in pursuit of the marauder
Caleb. That personage, it may be imagined, did not linger by the way. He
intermitted even his dearly-beloved chatter, for the purpose of making
more haste, only assuring Mr. Lockhard that he had made the purveyor's
wife give the wild-fowl a few turns before the fire, in case that
Mysie, who had been so much alarmed by the thunder, should not have her
kitchen-grate in full splendour. Meanwhile, alleging the necessity of
being at Wolf's Crag as soon as possible, he pushed on so fast that his
companions could scarce keep up with him. He began already to think he
was safe from pursuit, having gained the summit of the swelling eminence
which divides Wolf's Crag from the village, when he heard the distant
tread of a horse, and a voice which shouted at intervals, "Mr.
Caleb--Mr. Balderstone--Mr. Caleb Balderstone--hollo--bide a wee!"

Caleb, it may be well believed, was in no hurry to acknowledge the
summons. First, he would not heart it, and faced his companions down,
that it was the echo of the wind; then he said it was not worth stopping
for; and, at length, halting reluctantly, as the figure of the horseman
appeared through the shades of the evening, he bent up his whole soul
to the task of defending his prey, threw himself into an attitude of
dignity, advanced the spit, which is his grasp might with its burden
seem both spear and shield, and firmly resolved to die rather than
surrender it.

What was his astonishment, when the cooper's foreman, riding up and
addressing him with respect, told him: "His master was very sorry he was
absent when he came to his dwelling, and grieved that he could not tarry
the christening dinner; and that he had taen the freedom to send a sma'
runlet of sack, and ane anker of brandy, as he understood there were
guests at the castle, and that they were short of preparation."

I have heard somewhere a story of an elderly gentleman who was pursued
by a bear that had gotten loose from its muzzle, until completely
exhausted. In a fit of desperation, he faced round upon Bruin and lifted
his cane; at the sight of which the instinct of discipline prevailed,
and the animal, instead of tearing him to pieces, rose up upon his
hind-legs and instantly began to shuffle a saraband. Not less than the
joyful surprise of the senior, who had supposed himself in the extremity
of peril from which he was thus unexpectedly relieved, was that of our
excellent friend Caleb, when he found the pursuer intended to add to
his prize, instead of bereaving him of it. He recovered his latitude,
however, instantly, so soon as the foreman, stooping from his nag, where
he sate perched betwixt the two barrels, whispered in his ear: "If
ony thing about Peter Puncheon's place could be airted their way, John
[Gibbie] Girder wad mak it better to the Master of Ravenswood than
a pair of new gloves; and that he wad be blythe to speak wi' Maister
Balderstone on that head, and he wad find him as pliant as a hoop-willow
in a' that he could wish of him."

Caleb heard all this without rendering any answer, except that of all
great men from Louis XIV. downwards, namely, "We will see about it"; and
then added aloud, for the edification of Mr. Lockhard: "Your master has
acted with becoming civility and attention in forwarding the liquors,
and I will not fail to represent it properly to my Lord Ravenswood. And,
my lad," he said, "you may ride on to the castle, and if none of the
servants are returned, whilk is to be dreaded, as they make day and
night of it when they are out of sight, ye may put them into the
porter's lodge, whilk is on the right hand of the great entry; the
porter has got leave to go to see his friends, sae ye will met no ane to
steer ye."

The foreman, having received his orders, rode on; and having deposited
the casks in the deserted and ruinous porter's lodge, he returned
unquestioned by any one. Having thus executed his master's commission,
and doffed his bonnet to Caleb and his company as he repassed them in
his way to the village, he returned to have his share of the christening
festivity.




CHAPTER XIV.

     As, to the Autumn breeze's bugle sound,
     Various and vague the dry leaves dance their round;
     Or, from the garner-door, on ether borne,
     The chaff flies devious from the winnow'd corn;
     So vague, so devious, at the breath of heaven,
     From their fix'd aim are mortal counsels driv'n.

     Anonymous.

WE left Caleb Balderstone in the extremity of triumph at the success of
his various achievements for the honour of the house of Ravenswood. When
he had mustered and marshalled his dishes of divers kinds, a more royal
provision had not been seen in Wolf's Crag since the funeral feast
of its deceased lord. Great was the glory of the serving-man, as he
"decored" the old oaken table with a clean cloth, and arranged upon it
carbonaded venison and roasted wild-fowl, with a glance, every now and
then, as if to upbraid the incredulity of his master and his guests; and
with many a story, more or less true, was Lockhard that evening regaled
concerning the ancient grandeur of Wolf's Crag, and the sway of its
barons over the country in their neighbourhood.

"A vassal scarce held a calf or a lamb his ain, till he had first
asked if the Lord of Ravenswood was pleased to accept it; and they were
obliged to ask the lord's consent before they married in these days,
and mony a merry tale they tell about that right as weel as others. And
although," said Caleb, "these times are not like the gude auld times,
when authority had its right, yet true it is, Mr. Lockhard, and you
yoursell may partly have remarked, that we of the house of Ravenswood
do our endeavour in keeping up, by all just and lawful exertion of our
baronial authority, that due and fitting connexion betwixt superior and
vassal, whilk is in some danger of falling into desuetude, owing to the
general license and misrule of these present unhappy times."

"Umph!" said Mr. Lockhard; "and if I may inquire, Mr. Balderstone, pray
do you find your people at the village yonder amenable? for I must needs
say, that at Ravenswood Castle, now pertaining to my master the Lord
Keeper, ye have not left behind ye the most compliant set of tenantry."

"Ah! but Mr. Lockhard," replied Caleb, "ye must consider there has been
a change of hands, and the auld lord might expect twa turns frae them,
when the new-comer canna get ane. A dour and fractious set they were,
thae tenants of Ravenswood, and ill to live wi' when they dinna ken
their master; and if your master put them mad ance, the whole country
will not put them down."

"Troth," said Mr. Lockhard, "an such be the case, I think the wisest
thing for us a' wad be to hammer up a match between your young lord and
our winsome young leddy up-bye there; and Sir William might just stitch
your auld barony to her gown-sleeve, and he wad sune cuitle another out
o' somebody else, sic a lang head as he has."

Caleb shook his head. "I wish," he said--"I wish that may answer, Mr.
Lockhard. There are auld prophecies about this house I wad like ill to
see fulfilled wi' my auld een, that has seen evil eneugh already."

"Pshaw! never mind freits," said his brother butler; "if the young folk
liked ane anither, they wad make a winsome couple. But, to say truth,
there is a leddy sits in our hall-neuk, maun have her hand in that as
weel as in every other job. But there's no harm in drinking to their
healths, and I will fill Mrs. Mysie a cup of Mr. Girder's canary."


While they thus enjoyed themselves in the kitchen, the company in
the hall were not less pleasantly engaged. So soon as Ravenswood had
determined upon giving the Lord Keeper such hospitality as he had to
offer, he deemed it incumbent on him to assume the open and courteous
brow of a well-pleased host. It has been often remarked, that when a man
commences by acting a character, he frequently ends by adopting it in
good earnest. In the course of an hour or two, Ravenswood, to his own
surprise, found himself in the situation of one who frankly does his
best to entertain welcome and honoured guests. How much of this change
in his disposition was to be ascribed to the beauty and simplicity of
Miss Ashton, to the readiness with which she accommodated herself to the
inconveniences of her situation; how much to the smooth and plausible
conversation of the Lord Keeper, remarkably gifted with those words
which win the ear, must be left to the reader's ingenuity to conjecture.
But Ravenswood was insensible to neither.

The Lord Keeper was a veteran statesman, well acquainted with courts
and cabinets, and intimate with all the various turns of public affairs
during the last eventful years of the 17th century. He could talk, from
his own knowledge, of men and events, in a way which failed not to win
attention, and had the peculiar art, while he never said a word which
committed himself, at the same time to persuade the hearer that he was
speaking without the least shadow of scrupulous caution or reserve.
Ravenswood, in spite of his prejudices and real grounds of resentment,
felt himself at once amused and instructed in listening to him, while
the statesman, whose inward feelings had at first so much impeded his
efforts to make himself known, had now regained all the ease and fluency
of a silver-tongued lawyer of the very highest order.

His daughter did not speak much, but she smiled; and what she did say
argued a submissive gentleness, and a desire to give pleasure, which,
to a proud man like Ravenswood, was more fascinating than the most
brilliant wit. Above all, he could not be observe that, whether from
gratitude or from some other motive, he himself, in his deserted and
unprovided hall, was as much the object of respectful attention to his
guests as he would have been when surrounded by all the appliances and
means of hospitality proper to his high birth. All deficiencies passed
unobserved, or, if they did not escape notice, it was to praise the
substitutes which Caleb had contrived to supply the want of the
usual accommodations. Where a smile was unavoidable, it was a very
good-humoured one, and often coupled with some well-turned compliment,
to show how much the guests esteemed the merits of their noble host,
how little they thought of the inconveniences with which they
were surrounded. I am not sure whether the pride of being found to
outbalance, in virtue of his own personal merit, all the disadvantages
of fortune, did not make as favourable an impression upon the haughty
heart of the Master of Ravenswood as the conversation of the father and
the beauty of Lucy Ashton.

The hour of repose arrived. The Keeper and his daughter retired to their
apartments, which were "decored" more properly than could have been
anticipated. In making the necessary arrangements, Mysie had indeed
enjoyed the assistance of a gossip who had arrived from the village upon
an exploratory expedition, but had been arrested by Caleb, and impressed
into the domestic drudgery of the evening; so that, instead of returning
home to describe the dress and person of the grand young lady, she found
herself compelled to be active in the domestic economy of Wolf's Crag.

According to the custom of the time, the Master of Ravenswood attended
the Lord Keeper to his apartment, followed by Caleb, who placed on the
table, with all the ceremonials due to torches of wax, two rudely-framed
tallow-candles, such as in those days were only used by the peasantry,
hooped in paltry clasps of wire, which served for candlesticks. He then
disappeared, and presently entered with two earthen flagons (the china,
he said, had been little used since my lady's time), one filled with
canary wine, the other with brandy. The canary sack, unheeding all
probabilities of detection, he declared had been twenty years in the
cellars of Wolf's Crag, "though it was not for him to speak before their
honours; the brandy--it was weel-kenn'd liquor, as mild as mead and as
strong as Sampson; it had been in the house ever since the memorable
revel, in which auld Micklestob had been slain at the head of the stair
by Jamie of Jenklebrae, on account of the honour of the worshipful Lady
Muirend, wha was in some sort an ally of the family; natheless----"

"But to cut that matter short, Mr. Caleb," said the Keeper, "perhaps you
will favour me with a ewer of water."

"God forbid your lordship should drink water in this family," replied
Caleb, "to the disgrace of so honourable an house!"

"Nevertheless, if his lordship have a fancy," said the Master, smiling,
"I think you might indulge him; for, if I mistake not, there has been
water drank here at no distant date, and with good relish too."

"To be sure, if his lordship has a fancy," said Caleb; and re-entering
with a jug of pure element--"He will scarce find such water onywhere as
is drawn frae the well at Wolf's Crag; nevertheless----"

"Nevertheless, we must leave the Lord Keeper to his repose in this
poor chamber of ours," said the Master of Ravenswood, interrupting
his talkative domestic, who immediately turning to the doorway, with
a profound reverence, prepared to usher his master from the secret
chamber.

But the Lord Keeper prevented his host's departure.--"I have but one
word to say to the Master of Ravenswood, Mr. Caleb, and I fancy he will
excuse your waiting."

With a second reverence, lower than the former, Caleb withdrew; and his
master stood motionless, expecting, with considerable embarrassment,
what was to close the events of a day fraught with unexpected incidents.

"Master of Ravenswood," said Sir William Ashton, with some
embarrassment, "I hope you understand the Christian law too well to
suffer the sun to set upon your anger."

The Master blushed and replied, "He had no occasion that evening to
exercise the duty enjoined upon him by his Christian faith."

"I should have thought otherwise," said his guest, "considering the
various subjects of dispute and litigation which have unhappily occurred
more frequently than was desirable or necessary betwixt the late
honourable lord, your father, and myself."

"I could wish, my lord," said Ravenswood, agitated by suppressed
emotion, "that reference to these circumstances should be made anywhere
rather than under my father's roof."

"I should have felt the delicacy of this appeal at another time," said
Sir William Ashton, "but now I must proceed with what I mean to say.
I have suffered too much in my own mind, from the false delicacy which
prevented my soliciting with earnestness, what indeed I frequently
requested, a personal communing with your father: much distress of mind
to him and to me might have been prevented."

"It is true," said Ravenswood, after a moment's reflection, "I have
heard my father say your lordship had proposed a personal interview."

"Proposed, my dear Master? I did indeed propose it; but I ought to have
begged, entreated, beseeched it. I ought to have torn away the veil,
which interested persons had stretched betwixt us, and shown myself as
I was, willing to sacrifice a considerable part even of my legal rights,
in order to conciliate feelings so natural as his must be allowed to
have been. Let me say for myself, my young friend, for so I will call
you, that had your father and I spent the same time together which
my good fortune has allowed me to-day to pass in your company, it is
possible the land might yet have enjoyed one of the most respectable of
its ancient nobility, and I should have been spared the pain of parting
in enmity from a person whose general character I so much admired and
honoured."

He put his handkerchief to his eyes. Ravenswood also was moved, but
awaited in silence the progress of this extraordinary communication.

"It is necessary," continued the Lord Keeper, "and proper that you
should understand, that there have been many points betwixt us, in
which, although I judged it proper that there should be an exact
ascertainment of my legal rights by the decree of a court of justice,
yet it was never my intention to press them beyond the verge of equity."

"My lord," said the Master of Ravenswood, "it is unnecessary to pursue
this topic farther. What the law will give you, or has given you, you
enjoy--or you shall enjoy; neither my father nor I myself would have
received anything on the footing of favour."

"Favour! No, you misunderstand me," resumed the Keeper; "or rather you
are no lawyer. A right may be good in law, and ascertained to be so,
which yet a man of honour may not in every case care to avail himself
of."

"I am sorry for it, my lord," said the Master.

"Nay, nay," retorted his guest, "you speak like a young counsellor;
your spirit goes before your wit. There are many things still open for
decision betwixt us. Can you blame me, an old man desirous of peace, and
in the castle of a young nobleman who has saved my daughter's life and
my own, that I am desirous, anxiously desirous, that these should be
settled on the most liberal principles?" The old man kept fast hold of
the Master's passive hand as he spoke, and made it impossible for him,
be his predetermination what it would, to return any other than an
acquiescent reply; and wishing his guest good-night, he postponed
farther conference until the next morning.

Ravenswood hurried into the hall, where he was to spend the night, and
for a time traversed its pavement with a disordered and rapid pace.
His mortal foe was under his roof, yet his sentiments towards him were
neither those of a feudal enemy nor of a true Christian. He felt as if
he could neither forgive him in the one character, nor follow forth his
vengeance in the other, but that he was making a base and dishonourable
composition betwixt his resentment against the father and his affection
for his daughter. He cursed himself, as he hurried to and fro in the
pale moonlight, and more ruddy gleams of the expiring wood-fire. He
threw open and shut the latticed windows with violence, as if alike
impatient of the admission and exclusion of free air. At length,
however, the torrent of passion foamed off its madness, and he flung
himself into the chair which he proposed as his place of repose for the
night.

"If, in reality," such were the calmer thoughts that followed the first
tempest of his passion--"if, in reality, this man desires no more than
the law allows him--if he is willing to adjust even his acknowledged
rights upon an equitable footing, what could be my father's cause of
complaint?--what is mine? Those from who we won our ancient possessions
fell under the sword of my ancestors, and left lands and livings to the
conquerors; we sink under the force of the law, now too powerful for the
Scottish cavalry. Let us parley with the victors of the day, as if we
had been besieged in our fortress, and without hope of relief. This
man may be other than I have thought him; and his daughter--but I have
resolved not to think of her."

He wrapt his cloak around him, fell asleep, and dreamed of Lucy Ashton
till daylight gleamed through the lattices.




CHAPTER XV.

     We worldly men, when we see friends and kinsmen
     Past hope sunk in their fortunes, lend no hand
     To lift them up, but rather set our feet
     Upon their heads to press them to the bottom,
     As I must yield with you I practised it;
     But now I see you in a way to rise,
     I can and will assist you.

     New Way to Pay Old Debts.

THE Lord Keeper carried with him, to a couch harder than he was
accustomed to stretch himself upon, the same ambitious thoughts and
political perplexities which drive sleep from the softest down that ever
spread a bed of state. He had sailed long enough amid the contending
tides and currents of the time to be sensible of their peril, and of
the necessity of trimming his vessel to the prevailing wind, if he would
have her escape shipwreck in the storm. The nature of his talents, and
the timorousness of disposition connected with them, had made him assume
the pliability of the versatile old Earl of Northampton, who explained
the art by which he kept his ground during all the changes of state,
from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of Elizabeth, by the frank avowal,
that he was born of the willow, not of the oak. It had accordingly been
Sir William Ashton's policy, on all occasions, to watch the changes
in the political horizon, and, ere yet the conflict was decided, to
negotiate some interest for himself with the party most likely to prove
victorious. His time-serving disposition was well-known, and excited the
contempt of the more daring leaders of both factions in the state. But
his talents were of a useful and practical kind, and his legal
knowledge held in high estimation; and they so far counterbalanced other
deficiencies that those in power were glad to use and to reward, though
without absolutely trusting or greatly respecting, him.

The Marquis of A---- had used his utmost influence to effect a change in
the Scottish cabinet, and his schemes had been of late so well laid
and so ably supported, that there appeared a very great chance of his
proving ultimately successful. He did not, however, feel so strong or so
confident as to neglect any means of drawing recruits to his standard.
The acquisition of the Lord Keeper was deemed of some importance, and
a friend, perfectly acquainted with his circumstances and character,
became responsible for his political conversion.

When this gentleman arrived at Ravenswood Castle upon a visit, the real
purpose of which was disguised under general courtesy, he found the
prevailing fear which at present beset the Lord Keeper was that of
danger to his own person from the Master of Ravenswood. The language
which the blind sibyl, Old Alice, had used; the sudden appearance of the
Master, armed, and within his precincts, immediately after he had been
warned against danger from him; the cold and haughty return received in
exchange for the acknowledgments with which he loaded him for his timely
protection, had all made a strong impression on his imagination.

So soon as the Marquis's political agent found how the wind sate,
he began to insinuate fears and doubts of another kind, scarce less
calculated to affect the Lord Keeper. He inquired with seeming interest,
whether the proceedings in Sir William's complicated litigation with the
Ravenswood family were out of court, and settled without the possibility
of appeal. The Lord Keeper answered in the affirmative; but his
interrogator was too well informed to be imposed upon. He pointed out to
him, by unanswerable arguments, that some of the most important points
which had been decided in his favour against the house of Ravenswood
were liable, under the Treaty of Union, to be reviewed by the British
House of Peers, a court of equity of which the Lord Keeper felt an
instinctive dread. This course came instead of an appeal to the old
Scottish Parliament, or, as it was technically termed, "a protestation
for remeid in law."

The Lord Keeper, after he had for some time disputed the legality of
such a proceeding, was compelled, at length, to comfort himself with
the improbability of the young Master of Ravenswood's finding friends in
parliament capable of stirring in so weighty an affair.

"Do not comfort yourself with that false hope," said his wily friend;
"it is possible that, in the next session of Parliament, young
Ravenswood may find more friends and favour even than your lordship."

"That would be a sight worth seeing," said the Keeper, scornfully.

"And yet," said his friend, "such things have been seen ere now, and in
our own time. There are many at the head of affairs even now that a few
years ago were under hiding for their lives; and many a man now dines
on plate of silver that was fain to eat his crowdy without a bicker; and
many a high head has been brought full low among us in as short a space.
Scott of Scotsarvet's Staggering State of Scots Statesmen, of which
curious memoir you showed me a manuscript, has been outstaggered in our
time."

The Lord Keeper answered with a deep sigh, "That these mutations were no
new sights in Scotland, and had been witnessed long before the time of
the satirical author he had quoted. It was many a long year," he said,
"since Fordun had quoted as an ancient proverb, 'Neque dives, neque
fortis, sed nec sapiens Scotus, praedominante invidia, diu durabit in
terra.'"

"And be assured, my esteemed friend," was the answer, "that even your
long services to the state, or deep legal knowledge, will not save you,
or render your estate stable, if the Marquis of A---- comes in with
a party in the British Parliament. You know that the deceased Lord
Ravenswood was his near ally, his lady being fifth in descent from the
Knight of Tillibardine; and I am well assured that he will take young
Ravenswood by the hand, and be his very good lord and kinsman. Why
should he not? The Master is an active and stirring young fellow, able
to help himself with tongue and hands; and it is such as he that
finds friends among their kindred, and not those unarmed and unable
Mephibosheths that are sure to be a burden to every one that takes them
up. And so, if these Ravenswood cases be called over the coals in the
House of Peers, you will find that the Marquis will have a crow to pluck
with you."

"That would be an evil requital," said the Lord Keeper, "for my long
services to the state, and the ancient respect in which I have held his
lordship's honourable family and person."

"Ay, but," rejoined the agent of the Marquis, "it is in vain to look
back on past service and auld respect, my lord; it will be present
service and immediate proofs of regard which, in these sliddery times,
will be expected by a man like the Marquis."

The Lord Keeper now saw the full drift of his friend's argument, but he
was too cautious to return any positive answer.

"He knew not," he said, "the service which the Lord Marquis could expect
from one of his limited abilities, that had not always stood at his
command, still saving and reserving his duty to his king and country."

Having thus said nothing, while he seemed to say everything, for the
exception was calculated to cover whatever he might afterwards think
proper to bring under it, Sir William Ashton changed the conversation,
nor did he again permit the same topic to be introduced. His guest
departed, without having brought the wily old statesman the length
of committing himself, or of pledging himself to any future line of
conduct, but with the certainty that he had alarmed his fears in a most
sensible point, and laid a foundation for future and farther treaty.

When he rendered an account of his negotiation to the Marquis, they
both agreed that the Keeper ought not to be permitted to relapse into
security, and that he should be plied with new subjects of alarm,
especially during the absence of his lady. They were well aware that her
proud, vindictive, and predominating spirit would be likely to supply
him with the courage in which he was deficient; that she was immovably
attached to the party now in power, with whom she maintained a close
correspondence and alliance; and that she hated, without fearing, the
Ravenswood family (whose more ancient dignity threw discredit on the
newly acquired grandeur of her husband) to such a degree that she would
have perilled the interest of her own house to have the prospect of
altogether crushing that of her enemy.

But Lady Ashton was now absent. The business which had long detained her
in Edinburgh had afterwards induced her to travel to London, not without
the hope that she might contribute her share to disconcert the
intrigues of the Marquis at court; for she stood high in favour with
the celebrated Sarah Duchesss of Marlborough, to whom, in point of
character, she bore considerable resemblance. It was necessary to press
her husband hard before her return; and, as a preparatory step, the
Marquis wrote to the Master of Ravenswood the letter which we rehearsed
in a former chapter. It was cautiously worded, so as to leave it in the
power of the writer hereafter to take as deep or as slight an interest
in the fortunes of his kinsmen as the progress of his own schemes might
require. But however unwilling, as a statesman, the Marquis might be
to commit himself, or assume the character of a patron, while he had
nothing to give away, it must be said to his honour that he felt a
strong inclination effectually to befriend the Master of Ravenswood, as
well as to use his name as a means of alarming the terrors of the Lord
Keeper.

As the messenger who carried this letter was to pass near the house of
the Lord Keeper, he had it in direction that, in the village adjoining
to the park-gate of the castle, his horse should lose a shoe, and that,
while it was replaced by the smith of the place, he should express the
utmost regret for the necessary loss of time, and in the vehemence of
his impatience give it to be understood that he was bearing a message
from the Marquis of A---- to the Master of Ravenswood upon a matter of
life and death.

This news, with exaggerations, was speedily carried from various
quarters to the ears of the Lord Keeper, and each reporter dwelt upon
the extreme impatience of the courier, and the surprising short time
in which he had executed his journey. The anxious statesman heard in
silence; but in private Lockhard received orders to watch the courier
on his return, to waylay him in the village, to ply him with liquor, if
possible, and to use all means, fair or foul, to learn the contents
of the letter of which he was the bearer. But as this plot had been
foreseen, the messenger returned by a different and distant road, and
thus escaped the snare that was laid for him.

After he had been in vain expected for some time, Mr. Dingwall had
orders to made especial inquiry among his clients of Wolf's Hope,
whether such a domestic belonging to the Marquis of A----had actually
arrived at the neighbouring castle. This was easily ascertained; for
Caleb had been in the village one morning by five o'clock, to borrow
"twa chappins of ale and a kipper" for the messenger's refreshment,
and the poor fellow had been ill for twenty-four hours at Luckie
Sma'trash's, in consequence of dining upon "saut saumon and sour drink."
So that the existence of a correspondence betwixt the Marquis and his
distressed kinsman, which Sir William Ashton had sometimes treated as a
bugbear, was proved beyond the possibility of further doubt.

The alarm of the Lord Keeper became very serious; since the Claim of
Right, the power of appealing from the decisions of the civil court to
the Estates of Parliament, which had formerly been held incompetent, had
in many instances been claimed, and in some allowed, and he had no small
reason to apprehend the issue, if the English House of Lords should be
disposed to act upon an appeal from the Master of Ravenswood "for remeid
in law." It would resolve into an equitable claim, and be decided,
perhaps, upon the broad principles of justice, which were not quite so
favourable to the Lord Keeper as those of strict law. Besides, judging,
though most inaccurately, from courts which he had himself known in the
unhappy times preceding the Scottish Union, the Keeper might have too
much right to think that, in the House to which his lawsuits were to be
transferred, the old maxim might prevail which was too well recognised
in Scotland in former times: "Show me the man, and I'll show you the
law." The high and unbiased character of English judicial proceedings
was then little known in Scotland, and the extension of them to that
country was one of the most valuable advantages which it gained by the
Union. But this was a blessing which the Lord Keeper, who had lived
under another system, could not have the means of foreseeing. In the
loss of his political consequence, he anticipated the loss of his
lawsuit. Meanwhile, every report which reached him served to render
the success of the Marquis's intrigues the more probable, and the Lord
Keeper began to think it indispensable that he should look round for
some kind of protection against the coming storm. The timidity of his
temper induced him to adopt measures of compromise and conciliation. The
affair of the wild bull, properly managed, might, he thought, be made
to facilitate a personal communication and reconciliation betwixt the
Master and himself. He would then learn, if possible, what his own ideas
were of the extent of his rights, and the means of enforcing them; and
perhaps matters might be brought to a compromise, where one party was
wealthy and the other so very poor. A reconciliation with Ravenswood was
likely to give him an opportunity to play his own game with the Marquis
of A----. "And besides," said he to himself, "it will be an act of
generosity to raise up the heir of this distressed family; and if he is
to be warmly and effectually befriended by the new government, who knows
but my virtue may prove its own reward?"

Thus thought Sir William Ashton, covering with no unusual self-delusion
his interested views with a hue of virtue; and having attained this
point, his fancy strayed still farther. He began to bethink himself,
"That if Ravenswood was to have a distinguished place of power and
trust, and if such a union would sopite the heavier part of his
unadjusted claims, there might be worse matches for his daughter Lucy:
the Master might be reponed against the attainder. Lord Ravenswood was
an ancient title, and the alliance would, in some measure, legitimate
his own possession of the greater part of the Master's spoils, and make
the surrender of the rest a subject of less bitter regret."

With these mingled and multifarious plans occupying his head, the Lord
Keeper availed himself of my Lord Bittlebrains's repeated invitation
to his residence, and thus came within a very few miles of Wolf's
Crag. Here he found the lord of the mansion absent, but was courteously
received by the lady, who expected her husband's immediate return. She
expressed her particular delight at seeing Miss Ashton, and appointed
the hounds to be taken out for the Lord Keeper's special amusement.
He readily entered into the proposal, as giving him an opportunity to
reconnoitre Wolf's Crag, and perhaps to make some acquaintance with the
owner, if he should be tempted from his desolate mansion by the
chase. Lockhard had his orders to endeavour on his part to make some
acquaintance with the inmates of the castle, and we have seen how he
played his part.

The accidental storm did more to further the Lord Keeper's plan of
forming a personal acquaintance with young Ravenswood than his most
sanguine expectations could have anticipated. His fear of the young
nobleman's personal resentment had greatly decreased since he considered
him as formidable from his legal claims and the means he might have of
enforcing them. But although he thought, not unreasonably, that only
desperate circumstances drove men on desperate measures, it was not
without a secret terror, which shook his heart within him, that he first
felt himself inclosed within the desolate Tower of Wolf's Crag; a place
so well fitted, from solitude and strength, to be a scene of violence
and vengeance. The stern reception at first given to them by the Master
of Ravenswood, and the difficulty he felt in explaining to that injured
nobleman what guests were under the shelter of his roof, did not soothe
these alarms; so that when Sir William Ashton heard the door of the
courtyard shut behind him with violence, the words of Alice rung in his
ears, "That he had drawn on matters too hardly with so fierce a race as
those of Ravenswood, and that they would bide their time to be avenged."

The subsequent frankness of the Master's hospitality, as their
acquaintance increased, abated the apprehensions these recollections
were calculated to excite; and it did not escape Sir William Ashton,
that it was to Lucy's grace and beauty he owed the change in their
host's behavior.

All these thoughts thronged upon him when he took possession of
the secret chamber. The iron lamp, the unfurnished apartment, more
resembling a prison than a place of ordinary repose, the hoarse and
ceaseless sound of the waves rushing against the base of the rock on
which the castle was founded, saddened and perplexed his mind. To his
own successful machinations, the ruin of the family had been in a great
measure owing, but his disposition was crafty, and not cruel; so
that actually to witness the desolation and distress he had himself
occasioned was as painful to him as it would be to the humane mistress
of a family to superintend in person the execution of the lambs and
poultry which are killed by her own directions. At the same time,
when he thought of the alternative of restoring to Ravenswood a large
proportion of his spoils, or of adopting, as an ally and member of his
own family, the heir of this impoverished house, he felt as the spider
may be supposed to do when his whole web, the intricacies of which had
been planned with so much art, is destroyed by the chance sweep of a
broom. And then, if he should commit himself too far in this matter, it
gave rise to a perilous question, which many a good husband, when under
temptation to act as a free agent, has asked himself without being able
to return a satisfactory answer: "What will my wife--what will Lady
Ashton say?" On the whole, he came at length to the resolution in
which minds of a weaker cast so often take refuge. He resolved to
watch events, to take advantage of circumstances as they occurred, and
regulate his conduct accordingly. In this spirit of temporising policy,
he at length composed his mind to rest.