A settlement in mortmain is in Scotland termed a mortification, and in
one great borough (Aberdeen, if I remember rightly) there is a municipal
officer who takes care of these public endowments, and is thence called
the Master of Mortifications. One would almost presume that the term had
its origin in the effect which such settlements usually produce upon the
kinsmen of those by whom they are executed. Heavy at least was the
mortification which befell the audience who, in the late Mrs. Margaret
Bertram's parlour, had listened to this unexpected destination of the
lands of Singleside. There was a profound silence after the deed had been
read over.

Mr. Pleydell was the first to speak. He begged to look at the deed, and,
having satisfied himself that it was correctly drawn and executed, he
returned it without any observation, only saying aside to Mannering,
'Protocol is not worse than other people, I believe; but this old lady
has determined that, if he do not turn rogue, it shall not be for want of
temptation.'

'I really think,' said Mr. Mac-Casquil of Drumquag, who, having gulped
down one half of his vexation, determined to give vent to the rest--'I
really think this is an extraordinary case! I should like now to know
from Mr. Protocol, who, being sole and unlimited trustee, must have been
consulted upon this occasion--I should like, I say, to know how Mrs.
Bertram could possibly believe in the existence of a boy that a' the
world kens was murdered many a year since?'

'Really, sir,' said Mr. Protocol, 'I do not conceive it is possible for
me to explain her motives more than she has done herself. Our excellent
deceased friend was a good woman, sir--a pious woman--and might have
grounds for confidence in the boy's safety which are not accessible to
us, sir.'

'Hout,' said the tobacconist, 'I ken very weel what were her grounds for
confidence. There's Mrs. Rebecca (the maid) sitting there has tell'd me a
hundred times in my ain shop, there was nae kenning how her leddy wad
settle her affairs, for an auld gipsy witch wife at Gilsland had
possessed her with a notion that the callant--Harry Bertram ca's she
him?--would come alive again some day after a'. Ye'll no deny that, Mrs.
Rebecca? though I dare to say ye forgot to put your mistress in mind of
what ye promised to say when I gied ye mony a half-crown. But ye'll no
deny what I am saying now, lass?'

'I ken naething at a' about it,' answered Rebecca, doggedly, and looking
straight forward with the firm countenance of one not disposed to be
compelled to remember more than was agreeable to her.

'Weel said, Rebecca! ye're satisfied wi' your ain share ony way,'
rejoined the tobacconist.

The buck of the second-head, for a buck of the first-head he was not, had
hitherto been slapping his boots with his switch-whip, and looking like a
spoiled child that has lost its supper. His murmurs, however, were all
vented inwardly, or at most in a soliloquy such as this--'I am sorry, by
G-d, I ever plagued myself about her. I came here, by G-d, one night to
drink tea, and I left King and the Duke's rider Will Hack. They were
toasting a round of running horses; by G-d, I might have got leave to
wear the jacket as well as other folk if I had carried it on with them;
and she has not so much as left me that hundred!'

'We'll make the payment of the note quite agreeable,' said Mr. Protocol,
who had no wish to increase at that moment the odium attached to his
office. 'And now, gentlemen, I fancy we have no more to wait for here,
and I shall put the settlement of my excellent and worthy friend on
record to-morrow, that every gentleman may examine the contents, and have
free access to take an extract; and'--he proceeded to lock up the
repositories of the deceased with more speed than he had opened
them--'Mrs. Rebecca, ye'll be so kind as to keep all right here until we
can let the house; I had an offer from a tenant this morning, if such a
thing should be, and if I was to have any management.'

Our friend Dinmont, having had his hopes as well as another, had hitherto
sate sulky enough in the armchair formerly appropriated to the deceased,
and in which she would have been not a little scandalised to have seen
this colossal specimen of the masculine gender lolling at length. His
employment had been rolling up into the form of a coiled snake the long
lash of his horse-whip, and then by a jerk causing it to unroll itself
into the middle of the floor. The first words he said when he had
digested the shock contained a magnanimous declaration, which he probably
was not conscious of having uttered aloud--'Weel, blude's thicker than
water; she's welcome to the cheeses and the hams just the same.' But when
the trustee had made the above-mentioned motion for the mourners to
depart, and talked of the house being immediately let, honest Dinmont got
upon his feet and stunned the company with this blunt question, 'And
what's to come o' this poor lassie then, Jenny Gibson? Sae mony o'us as
thought oursells sib to the family when the gear was parting, we may do
something for her amang us surely.'

This proposal seemed to dispose most of the assembly instantly to
evacuate the premises, although upon Mr. Protocol's motion they had
lingered as if around the grave of their disappointed hopes. Drumquag
said, or rather muttered, something of having a family of his own, and
took precedence, in virtue of his gentle blood, to depart as fast as
possible. The tobacconist sturdily stood forward and scouted the
motion--'A little huzzie like that was weel eneugh provided for already;
and Mr. Protocol at ony rate was the proper person to take direction of
her, as he had charge of her legacy'; and after uttering such his opinion
in a steady and decisive tone of voice, he also left the place. The buck
made a stupid and brutal attempt at a jest upon Mrs. Bertram's
recommendation that the poor girl should be taught some honest trade; but
encountered a scowl from Colonel Mannering's darkening eye (to whom, in
his ignorance of the tone of good society, he had looked for applause)
that made him ache to the very backbone. He shuffled downstairs,
therefore, as fast as possible.

Protocol, who was really a good sort of man, next expressed his intention
to take a temporary charge of the young lady, under protest always that
his so doing should be considered as merely eleemosynary; when Dinmont at
length got up, and, having shaken his huge dreadnought great-coat, as a
Newfoundland dog does his shaggy hide when he comes out of the water,
ejaculated, 'Weel, deil hae me then, if ye hae ony fash wi' her, Mr.
Protocol, if she likes to gang hame wi' me, that is. Ye see, Ailie and me
we're weel to pass, and we would like the lassies to hae a wee bit mair
lair than oursells, and to be neighbour-like, that wad we. And ye see
Jenny canna miss but to ken manners, and the like o' reading books, and
sewing seams, having lived sae lang wi' a grand lady like Lady
Singleside; or, if she disna ken ony thing about it, I'm jealous that our
bairns will like her a' the better. And I'll take care o' the bits o'
claes, and what spending siller she maun hae, so the hundred pound may
rin on in your hands, Mr. Protocol, and I'll be adding something till't,
till she'll maybe get a Liddesdale joe that wants something to help to
buy the hirsel. What d'ye say to that, hinny? I'll take out a ticket for
ye in the fly to Jethart; od, but ye maun take a powny after that o'er
the Limestane Rig, deil a wheeled carriage ever gaed into Liddesdale.
[Footnote: See Note I.] And I'll be very glad if Mrs. Rebecca comes wi'
you, hinny, and stays a month or twa while ye're stranger like.'

While Mrs. Rebecca was curtsying, and endeavouring to make the poor
orphan girl curtsy instead of crying, and while Dandie, in his rough way,
was encouraging them both, old Pleydell had recourse to his snuff-box.
'It's meat and drink to me now, Colonel,' he said, as he recovered
himself, 'to see a clown like this. I must gratify him in his own way,
must assist him to ruin himself; there's no help for it. Here, you
Liddesdale--Dandie--Charlie's Hope--what do they call you?'

The farmer turned, infinitely gratified even by this sort of notice; for
in his heart, next to his own landlord, he honoured a lawyer in high
practice.

'So you will not be advised against trying that question about your
marches?'

'No, no, sir; naebody likes to lose their right, and to be laughed at
down the haill water. But since your honour's no agreeable, and is maybe
a friend to the other side like, we maun try some other advocate.'

'There, I told you so, Colonel Mannering! Well, sir, if you must needs be
a fool, the business is to give you the luxury of a lawsuit at the least
possible expense, and to bring you off conqueror if possible. Let Mr.
Protocol send me your papers, and I will advise him how to conduct your
cause. I don't see, after all, why you should not have your lawsuits too,
and your feuds in the Court of Session, as well as your forefathers had
their manslaughters and fire-raisings.'

'Very natural, to be sure, sir. We wad just take the auld gate as
readily, if it werena for the law. And as the law binds us, the law
should loose us. Besides, a man's aye the better thought o' in our
country for having been afore the Feifteen.'

'Excellently argued, my friend! Away with you, and send your papers to
me. Come, Colonel, we have no more to do here.'

'God, we'll ding Jock o' Dawston Cleugh now after a'!' said Dinmont,
slapping his thigh in great exultation.






CHAPTER X
          I am going to the parliament;
     You understand this bag. If you have any business
     Depending there be short, and let me hear it,
     And pay your fees.

          Little French Lawyer


'Shall you be able to carry this honest fellow's cause for him?' said
Mannering.

'Why, I don't know; the battle is not to the strong, but he shall come
off triumphant over Jock of Dawston if we can make it out. I owe him
something. It is the pest of our profession that we seldom see the best
side of human nature. People come to us with every selfish feeling newly
pointed and grinded; they turn down the very caulkers of their
animosities and prejudices, as smiths do with horses' shoes in a white
frost. Many a man has come to my garret yonder that I have at first
longed to pitch out at the window, and yet at length have discovered that
he was only doing as I might have done in his case, being very angry, and
of course very unreasonable. I have now satisfied myself that, if our
profession sees more of human folly and human roguery than others, it is
because we witness them acting in that channel in which they can most
freely vent themselves. In civilised society law is the chimney through
which all that smoke discharges itself that used to circulate through the
whole house, and put every one's eyes out; no wonder, therefore, that the
vent itself should sometimes get a little sooty. But we will take care
our Liddesdale man's cause is well conducted and well argued, so all
unnecessary expense will be saved: he shall have his pine-apple at
wholesale price.'

'Will you do me the pleasure,' said Mannering, as they parted, 'to dine
with me at my lodgings? My landlord says he has a bit of red-deer venison
and some excellent wine.'

'Venison, eh?' answered the Counsellor alertly, but presently added--'But
no! it's impossible; and I can't ask you home neither. Monday's a sacred
day; so's Tuesday; and Wednesday we are to be heard in the great teind
case in presence, but stay--it's frosty weather, and if you don't leave
town, and that venison would keep till Thursday--'

'You will dine with me that day?'

'Under certification.'

'Well, then, I will indulge a thought I had of spending a week here; and
if the venison will not keep, why we will see what else our landlord can
do for us.'

'O, the venison will keep,' said Pleydell; 'and now good-bye. Look at
these two or three notes, and deliver them if you like the addresses. I
wrote them for you this morning. Farewell, my clerk has been waiting this
hour to begin a d-d information.' And away walked Mr. Pleydell with great
activity, diving through closes and ascending covered stairs in order to
attain the High Street by an access which, compared to the common route,
was what the Straits of Magellan are to the more open but circuitous
passage round Cape Horn.

On looking at the notes of introduction which Pleydell had thrust into
his hand, Mannering was gratified with seeing that they were addressed to
some of the first literary characters of Scotland. 'To David Hume, Esq.'

To John Home, Esq.' 'To Dr. Ferguson.' 'To Dr. Black.' 'To Lord Kaimes.'
'To Mr. Button.' 'To John Clerk, Esq., of Eldin.' 'To Adam Smith, Esq.'
'To Dr. Robertson.'

'Upon my word, my legal friend has a good selection of acquaintances;
these are names pretty widely blown indeed. An East-Indian must rub up
his facultiesa little, and put his mind in order, before he enters this
sort of society.'

Mannering gladly availed himself of these introductions; and we regret
deeply it is not in our power to give the reader an account of the
pleasure and information which he received in admission to a circle never
closed against strangers of sense and information, and which has perhaps
at no period been equalled, considering the depth and variety of talent
which it embraced and concentrated.

Upon the Thursday appointed Mr. Pleydell made his appearance at the inn
where Colonel Mannering lodged. The venison proved in high order, the
claret excellent, and the learned counsel, a professed amateur in the
affairs of the table, did distinguished honour to both. I am uncertain,
however, if even the good cheer gave him more satisfaction than the
presence of Dominie Sampson, from whom, in his own juridical style of
wit, he contrived to extract great amusement both for himself and one or
two friends whom the Colonel regaled on the same occasion. The grave and
laconic simplicity of Sampson's answers to the insidious questions of the
barrister placed the bonhomie of his character in a more luminous point
of view than Mannering had yet seen it. Upon the same occasion he drew
forth a strange quantity of miscellaneous and abstruse, though, generally
speaking, useless learning. The lawyer afterwards compared his mind to
the magazine of a pawnbroker, stowed with goods of every description, but
so cumbrously piled together, and in such total disorganisation, that the
owner can never lay his hands upon any one article at the moment he has
occasion for it.

As for the advocate himself, he afforded at least as much exercise to
Sampson as he extracted amusement from him. When the man of law began to
get into his altitudes, and his wit, naturally shrewd and dry, became
more lively and poignant, the Dominie looked upon him with that sort of
surprise with which we can conceive a tame bear might regard his future
associate, the monkey, on their being first introduced to each other. It
was Mr. Pleydell's delight to state in grave and serious argument some
position which he knew the Dominie would be inclined to dispute. He then
beheld with exquisite pleasure the internal labour with which the honest
man arranged his ideas for reply, and tasked his inert and sluggish
powers to bring up all the heavy artillery of his learning for
demolishing the schismatic or heretical opinion which had been stated,
when behold, before the ordnance could be discharged, the foe had quitted
the post and appeared in a new position of annoyance on the Dominie's
flank or rear. Often did he exclaim 'Prodigious!' when, marching up to
the enemy in full confidence of victory, he found the field evacuated,
and it may be supposed that it cost him no little labour to attempt a new
formation. 'He was like a native Indian army,' the Colonel said,
'formidable by numerical strength and size of ordnance, but liable to be
thrown into irreparable confusion by a movement to take them in flank.'
On the whole, however, the Dominie, though somewhat fatigued with these
mental exertions, made at unusual speed and upon the pressure of the
moment, reckoned this one of the white days of his life, and always
mentioned Mr. Pleydell as a very erudite and fa-ce-ti-ous person.

By degrees the rest of the party dropped off and left these three
gentlemen together. Their conversation turned to Mrs. Bertram's
settlements. 'Now what could drive it into the noddle of that old
harridan,' said Pleydell, 'to disinherit poor Lucy Bertram under pretence
of settling her property on a boy who has been so long dead and gone? I
ask your pardon, Mr. Sampson, I forgot what an affecting case this was
for you; I remember taking your examination upon it, and I never had so
much trouble to make any one speak three words consecutively. You may
talk of your Pythagoreans or your silent Brahmins, Colonel; go to, I tell
you this learned gentleman beats them all in taciturnity; but the words
of the wise are precious, and not to be thrown away lightly.'

'Of a surety,' said the Dominie, taking his blue-checqued handkerchief
from his eyes, 'that was a bitter day with me indeed; ay, and a day of
grief hard to be borne; but He giveth strength who layeth on the load.'

Colonel Mannering took this opportunity to request Mr. Pleydell to inform
him of the particulars attending the loss of the boy; and the Counsellor,
who was fond of talking upon subjects of criminal jurisprudence,
especially when connected with his own experience, went through the
circumstances at full length. 'And what is your opinion upon the result
of the whole?'

'O, that Kennedy was murdered: it's an old case which has occurred on
that coast before now, the case of Smuggler versus Exciseman.'

'What, then, is your conjecture concerning the fate of the child?'

'O, murdered too, doubtless,' answered Pleydell. 'He was old enough to
tell what he had seen, and these ruthless scoundrels would not scruple
committing a second Bethlehem massacre if they thought their interest
required it.'

The Dominie groaned deeply, and ejaculated, 'Enormous!'

'Yet there was mention of gipsies in the business too, Counsellor,' said
Mannering, 'and from what that vulgar-looking fellow said after the
funeral--'

'Mrs. Margaret Bertram's idea that the child was alive was founded upon
the report of a gipsy?' said Pleydell, catching at the half-spoken hint.
'I envy you the concatenation, Colonel; it is a shame to me not to have
drawn the same conclusion. We'll follow this business up instantly. Here,
hark ye, waiter, go down to Luckie Wood's in the Cowgate; ye'll find my
clerk Driver; he'll be set down to high jinks by this time--for we and
our retainers, Colonel, are exceedingly regular in our
irregularities--tell him to come here instantly and I will pay his
forfeits.'

'He won't appear in character, will he?' said Mannering.

'Ah! "no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me,"' said Pleydell. 'But we
must have some news from the land of Egypt, if possible. O, if I had but
hold of the slightest thread of this complicated skein, you should see
how I would unravel it! I would work the truth out of your Bohemian, as
the French call them, better than a monitoire or a plainte de Tournelle;
I know how to manage a refractory witness.'

While Mr. Pleydell was thus vaunting his knowledge of his profession, the
waiter reentered with Mr. Driver, his mouth still greasy with mutton
pies, and the froth of the last draught of twopenny yet unsubsided on his
upper lip, with such speed had he obeyed the commands of his principal.
'Driver, you must go instantly and find out the woman who was old Mrs.
Margaret Bertram's maid. Inquire for her everywhere, but if you find it
necessary to have recourse to Protocol, Quid the tobacconist, or any
other of these folks, you will take care not to appear yourself, but send
some woman of your acquaintance; I daresay you know enough that may be so
condescending as to oblige you. When you have found her out, engage her
to come to my chambers tomorrow at eight o'clock precisely.'

'What shall I say to make her forthcoming?' asked the aid-de-camp.

'Anything you choose,' replied the lawyer. 'Is it my business to make
lies for you, do you think? But let her be in praesentia by eight
o'clock, as I have said before.' The clerk grinned, made his reverence,
and exit.

'That's a useful fellow,' said the Counsellor; 'I don't believe his match
ever carried a process. He'll write to my dictating three nights in the
week without sleep, or, what's the same thing, he writes as well and
correctly when he's asleep as when he's awake. Then he's such a steady
fellow; some of them are always changing their ale-houses, so that they
have twenty cadies sweating after them, like the bare-headed captains
traversing the taverns of Eastcheap in search of Sir John Falstaff. But
this is a complete fixture; he has his winter seat by the fire and his
summer seat by the window in Luckie Wood's, betwixt which seats are his
only migrations; there he's to be found at all times when he is off duty.
It is my opinion he never puts off his clothes or goes to sleep; sheer
ale supports him under everything. It is meat, drink, and cloth, bed,
board, and washing.'

'And is he always fit for duty upon a sudden turnout? I should distrust
it, considering his quarters.'

'O, drink, never disturbs him, Colonel; he can write for hours after he
cannot speak. I remember being called suddenly to draw an appeal case. I
had been dining, and it was Saturday night, and I had ill will to begin
to it; however, they got me down to Clerihugh's, and there we sat birling
till I had a fair tappit hen [Footnote: See Note 2.] under my belt, and
then they persuaded me to draw the paper. Then we had to seek Driver, and
it was all that two men could do to bear him in, for, when found, he was,
as it happened, both motionless and speechless. But no sooner was his pen
put between his fingers, his paper stretched before him, and he heard my
voice, than he began to write like a scrivener; and, excepting that we
were obliged to have somebody to dip his pen in the ink, for he could not
see the standish, I never saw a thing scrolled more handsomely.'

'But how did your joint production look the next morning?' said the
Colonel.

'Wheugh! capital! not three words required to be altered: [Footnote: See
Note 3. ] it was sent off by that day's post. But you'll come and
breakfast with me to-morrow, and hear this woman's examination?'

'Why, your hour is rather early.'

'Can't make it later. If I were not on the boards of the Outer House
precisely as the nine-hours' bell rings, there would be a report that I
had got an apoplexy, and I should feel the effects of it all the rest of
the session.'

'Well, I will make an exertion to wait upon you.'

Here the company broke up for the evening.

In the morning Colonel Mannering appeared at the Counsellor's chambers,
although cursing the raw air of a Scottish morning in December. Mr.
Pleydell had got Mrs. Rebecca installed on one side of his fire,
accommodated her with a cup of chocolate, and was already deeply engaged
in conversation with her. 'O no, I assure you, Mrs. Rebecca, there is no
intention to challenge your mistress's will; and I give you my word of
honour that your legacy is quite safe. You have deserved it by your
conduct to your mistress, and I wish it had been twice as much.'

'Why, to be sure, sir, it's no right to mention what is said before ane;
ye heard how that dirty body Quid cast up to me the bits o' compliments
he gied me, and tell'd ower again ony loose cracks I might hae had wi'
him; now if ane was talking loosely to your honour, there's nae saying
what might come o't.'

'I assure you, my good Rebecca, my character and your own age and
appearance are your security, if you should talk as loosely as an amatory
poet.'

'Aweel, if your honour thinks I am safe--the story is just this. Ye see,
about a year ago, or no just sae lang, my leddy was advised to go to
Gilsland for a while, for her spirits were distressing her sair.
Ellangowan's troubles began to be spoken o' publicly, and sair vexed she
was; for she was proud o' her family. For Ellangowan himsell and her,
they sometimes 'greed and some times no; but at last they didna 'gree at
a' for twa or three year, for he was aye wanting to borrow siller, and
that was what she couldna bide at no hand, and she was aye wanting it
paid back again, and that the Laird he liked as little. So at last they
were clean aff thegither. And then some of the company at Gilsland tells
her that the estate was to be sell'd; and ye wad hae thought she had taen
an ill will at Miss Lucy Bertram frae that moment, for mony a time she
cried to me, "O Becky, O Becky, if that useless peenging thing o' a
lassie there at Ellangowan, that canna keep her ne'er-do-weel father
within bounds--if she had been but a lad-bairn they couldna hae sell'd
the auld inheritance for that fool-body's debts"; and she would rin on
that way till I was just wearied and sick to hear her ban the puir
lassie, as if she wadna hae been a lad-bairn and keepit the land if it
had been in her will to change her sect. And ae day at the spaw-well
below the craig at Gilsland she was seeing a very bonny family o'
bairns--they belanged to ane Mac-Crosky--and she broke out--"Is not it an
odd like thing that ilka waf carle in the country has a son and heir, and
that the house of Ellangowan is without male succession?" There was a
gipsy wife stood ahint and heard her, a muckle sture fearsome-looking
wife she was as ever I set een on. "Wha is it," says she, "that dare say
the house of Ellangowan will perish without male succession?" My mistress
just turned on her; she was a high-spirited woman, and aye ready wi' an
answer to a' body. "It's me that says it," says she, "that may say it
with a sad heart." Wi' that the gipsy wife gripped till her hand--"I ken
you weel eneugh," says she, "though ye kenna me. But as sure as that
sun's in heaven, and as sure as that water's rinning to the sea, and as
sure as there's an ee that sees and an ear that hears us baith, Harry
Bertram, that was thought to perish at Warroch Point, never did die
there. He was to have a weary weird o't till his ane-and-twentieth year,
that was aye said o' him; but if ye live and I live, ye'll hear mair o'
him this winter before the snaw lies twa days on the Dun of Singleside. I
want nane o' your siller," she said, "to make ye think I am blearing your
ee; fare ye weel till after Martinmas." And there she left us standing.'

'Was she a very tall woman?' interrupted Mannering.

'Had she black hair, black eyes, and a cut above the brow?' added the
lawyer.

'She was the tallest woman I ever saw, and her hair was as black as
midnight, unless where it was grey, and she had a scar abune the brow
that ye might hae laid the lith of your finger in. Naebody that's seen
her will ever forget her; and I am morally sure that it was on the ground
o' what that gipsy-woman said that my mistress made her will, having taen
a dislike at the young leddy o' Ellangowan. And she liked her far waur
after she was obliged to send her L20; for she said Miss Bertram, no
content wi' letting the Ellangowan property pass into strange hands,
owing to her being a lass and no a lad, was coming, by her poverty, to be
a burden and a disgrace to Singleside too. But I hope my mistress's is a
good will for a' that, for it would be hard on me to lose the wee bit
legacy; I served for little fee and bountith, weel I wot.'

The Counsellor relieved her fears on this head, then inquired after Jenny
Gibson, and understood she had accepted Mr. Dinmont's offer. 'And I have
done sae mysell too, since he was sae discreet as to ask me,' said Mrs.
Rebecca; 'they are very decent folk the Dinmonts, though my lady didna
dow to hear muckle about the friends on that side the house. But she
liked the Charlie's Hope hams and the cheeses and the muir-fowl that they
were aye sending, and the lamb's-wool hose and mittens--she liked them
weel eneugh.'

Mr. Pleydell now dismissed Mrs. Rebecca. When she was gone, 'I think I
know the gipsy-woman,' said the lawyer.

'I was just going to say the same,' replied Mannering.

'And her name,' said Pleydell--

'Is Meg Merrilies,' answered the Colonel.

'Are you avised of that?' said the Counsellor, looking at his military
friend with a comic expression of surprise.

Mannering answered that he had known such a woman when he was at
Ellangowan upwards of twenty years before; and then made his learned
friend acquainted with all the remarkable particulars of his first visit
there.

Mr. Pleydell listened with great attention, and then replied, 'I
congratulated myself upon having made the acquaintance of a profound
theologian in your chaplain; but I really did not expect to find a pupil
of Albumazar or Messahala in his patron. I have a notion, however, this
gipsy could tell us some more of the matter than she derives from
astrology or second-sight. I had her through hands once, and could then
make little of her, but I must write to Mac-Morlan to stir heaven and
earth to find her out. I will gladly come to--shire myself to assist at
her examination; I am still in the commission of the peace there, though
I have ceased to be sheriff. I never had anything more at heart in my
life than tracing that murder and the fate of the child. I must write to
the sheriff of Roxburghshire too, and to an active justice of peace in
Cumberland.'

'I hope when you come to the country you will make Woodbourne your
headquarters?'

'Certainly; I was afraid you were going to forbid me. But we must go to
breakfast now or I shall be too late.'

On the following day the new friends parted, and the Colonel rejoined his
family without any adventure worthy of being detailed in these chapters.






CHAPTER XI
     Can no rest find me, no private place secure me,
     But still my miseries like bloodhounds haunt me?
     Unfortunate young man, which way now guides thee,
     Guides thee from death? The country's laid around for thee.

          Women Pleased.


Our narrative now recalls us for a moment to the period when young
Hazlewood received his wound. That accident had no sooner happened than
the consequences to Miss Mannering and to himself rushed upon Brown's
mind. From the manner in which the muzzle of the piece was pointed when
it went off, he had no great fear that the consequences would be fatal.
But an arrest in a strange country, and while he was unprovided with any
means of establishing his rank and character, was at least to be avoided.
He therefore resolved to escape for the present to the neighbouring coast
of England, and to remain concealed there, if possible, until he should
receive letters from his regimental friends, and remittances from his
agent; and then to resume his own character, and offer to young Hazlewood
and his friends any explanation or satisfaction they might desire. With
this purpose he walked stoutly forward, after leaving the spot where the
accident had happened, and reached without adventure the village which we
have called Portanferry (but which the reader will in vain seek for under
that name in the county map). A large open boat was just about to leave
the quay, bound for the little seaport of Allonby, in Cumberland. In this
vessel Brown embarked, and resolved to make that place his temporary
abode, until he should receive letters and money from England.

In the course of their short voyage he entered into some conversation
with the steersman, who was also owner of the boat, a jolly old man, who
had occasionally been engaged in the smuggling trade, like most fishers
on the coast. After talking about objects of less interest, Brown
endeavoured to turn the discourse toward the Mannering family. The sailor
had heard of the attack upon the house at Woodbourne, but disapproved of
the smugglers' proceedings.

'Hands off is fair play; zounds, they'll bring the whole country down
upon them. Na, na! when I was in that way I played at giff-gaff with the
officers: here a cargo taen--vera weel, that was their luck; there
another carried clean through, that was mine; na, na! hawks shouldna pike
out hawks' een.'

'And this Colonel Mannering?' said Brown.

'Troth, he's nae wise man neither, to interfere; no that I blame him for
saving the gangers' lives, that was very right; but it wasna like a
gentleman to be righting about the poor folk's pocks o' tea and brandy
kegs. However, he's a grand man and an officer man, and they do what they
like wi' the like o' us.'

'And his daughter,' said Brown, with a throbbing heart, 'is going to be
married into a great family too, as I have heard?'

'What, into the Hazlewoods'?' said the pilot. 'Na, na, that's but idle
clashes; every Sabbath day, as regularly as it came round, did the young
man ride hame wi' the daughter of the late Ellangowan; and my daughter
Peggy's in the service up at Woodbourne, and she says she's sure young
Hazlewood thinks nae mair of Miss Mannering than you do.'

Bitterly censuring his own precipitate adoption of a contrary belief,
Brown yet heard with delight that the suspicions of Julia's fidelity,
upon which he had so rashly acted, were probably void of foundation. How
must he in the meantime be suffering in her opinion? or what could she
suppose of conduct which must have made him appear to her regardless
alike of her peace of mind and of the interests of their affection? The
old man's connexion with the family at Woodbourne seemed to offer a safe
mode of communication, of which he determined to avail himself.

'Your daughter is a maid-servant at Woodbourne? I knew Miss Mannering in
India, and, though I am at present in an inferior rank of life, I have
great reason to hope she would interest herself in my favour. I had a
quarrel unfortunately with her father, who was my commanding officer, and
I am sure the young lady would endeavour to reconcile him to me. Perhaps
your daughter could deliver a letter to her upon the subject, without
making mischief between her father and her?'

The old man, a friend to smuggling of every kind, readily answered for
the letter's being faithfully and secretly delivered; and, accordingly,
as soon as they arrived at Allonby Brown wrote to Miss Mannering, stating
the utmost contrition for what had happened through his rashness, and
conjuring her to let him have an opportunity of pleading his own cause,
and obtaining forgiveness for his indiscretion. He did not judge it safe
to go into any detail concerning the circumstances by which he had been
misled, and upon the whole endeavoured to express himself with such
ambiguity that, if the letter should fall into wrong hands, it would be
difficult either to understand its real purport or to trace the writer.
This letter the old man undertook faithfully to deliver to his daughter
at Woodbourne; and, as his trade would speedily again bring him or his
boat to Allonby, he promised farther to take charge of any answer with
which the young lady might entrust him.

And now our persecuted traveller landed at Allonby, and sought for such
accommodations as might at once suit his temporary poverty and his desire
of remaining as much unobserved as possible. With this view he assumed
the name and profession of his friend Dudley, having command enough of
the pencil to verify his pretended character to his host of Allonby. His
baggage he pretended to expect from Wigton; and keeping himself as much
within doors as possible, awaited the return of the letters which he had
sent to his agent, to Delaserre, and to his lieutenant-colonel. From the
first he requested a supply of money; he conjured Delaserre, if possible,
to join him in Scotland; and from the lieutenant-colonel he required such
testimony of his rank and conduct in the regiment as should place his
character as a gentleman and officer beyond the power of question. The
inconvenience of being run short in his finances struck him so strongly
that he wrote to Dinmont on that subject, requesting a small temporary
loan, having no doubt that, being within sixty or seventy miles of his
residence, he should receive a speedy as well as favourable answer to his
request of pecuniary accommodation, which was owing, as he stated, to his
having been robbed after their parting. And then, with impatience enough,
though without any serious apprehension, he waited the answers of these
various letters.

It must be observed, in excuse of his correspondents, that the post was
then much more tardy than since Mr. Palmer's ingenious invention has
taken place; and with respect to honest Dinmont in particular, as he
rarely received above one letter a quarter (unless during the time of his
being engaged in a law-suit, when he regularly sent to the post-town),
his correspondence usually remained for a month or two sticking in the
postmaster's window among pamphlets, gingerbread, rolls, or ballads,
according to the trade which the said postmaster exercised. Besides,
there was then a custom, not yet wholly obsolete, of causing a letter
from one town to another, perhaps within the distance of thirty miles,
perform a circuit of two hundred miles before delivery; which had the
combined advantage of airing the epistle thoroughly, of adding some pence
to the revenue of the post-office, and of exercising the patience of the
correspondents. Owing to these circumstances Brown remained several days
in Allonby without any answers whatever, and his stock of money, though
husbanded with the utmost economy, began to wear very low, when he
received by the hands of a young fisherman the following letter:--

'You have acted with the most cruel indiscretion; you have shown how
little I can trust to your declarations that my peace and happiness are
dear to you; and your rashness has nearly occasioned the death of a young
man of the highest worth and honour. Must I say more? must I add that I
have been myself very ill in consequence of your violence and its
effects? And, alas! need I say still farther, that I have thought
anxiously upon them as they are likely to affect you, although you have
given me such slight cause to do so? The C. is gone from home for several
days, Mr. H. is almost quite recovered, and I have reason to think that
the blame is laid in a quarter different from that where it is deserved.
Yet do not think of venturing here. Our fate has been crossed by
accidents of a nature too violent and terrible to permit me to think of
renewing a correspondence which has so often threatened the most dreadful
catastrophe. Farewell, therefore, and believe that no one can wish your
happiness more sincerely than

'J. M.'

This letter contained that species of advice which is frequently given
for the precise purpose that it may lead to a directly opposite conduct
from that which it recommends. At least so thought Brown, who immediately
asked the young fisherman if he came from Portanferry.

'Ay,' said the lad; 'I am auld Willie Johnstone's son, and I got that
letter frae my sister Peggy, that's laundry maid at Woodbourne.'

'My good friend, when do you sail?'

'With the tide this evening.'

'I'll return with you; but, as I do not desire to go to Portanferry, I
wish you could put me on shore somewhere on the coast.'

'We can easily do that,' said the lad.

Although the price of provisions, etc., was then very moderate, the
discharging his lodgings, and the expense of his living, together with
that of a change of dress, which safety as well as a proper regard to his
external appearance rendered necessary, brought Brown's purse to a very
low ebb. He left directions at the post-office that his letters should be
forwarded to Kippletringan, whither he resolved to proceed and reclaim
the treasure which he had deposited in the hands of Mrs. MacCandlish. He
also felt it would be his duty to assume his proper character as soon as
he should receive the necessary evidence for supporting it, and, as an
officer in the king's service, give and receive every explanation which
might be necessary with young Hazlewood. 'If he is not very wrong-headed
indeed,' he thought, 'he must allow the manner in which I acted to have
been the necessary consequence of his own overbearing conduct.'

And now we must suppose him once more embarked on the Solway Firth. The
wind was adverse, attended by some rain, and they struggled against it
without much assistance from the tide. The boat was heavily laden with
goods (part of which were probably contraband), and laboured deep in the
sea. Brown, who had been bred a sailor, and was indeed skilled in most
athletic exercises, gave his powerful and effectual assistance in rowing,
or occasionally in steering the boat, and his advice in the management,
which became the more delicate as the wind increased, and, being opposed
to the very rapid tides of that coast, made the voyage perilous. At
length, after spending the whole night upon the firth, they were at
morning within sight of a beautiful bay upon the Scottish coast. The
weather was now more mild. The snow, which had been for some time waning,
had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night. The
more distant hills, indeed, retained their snowy mantle, but all the open
country was cleared, unless where a few white patches indicated that it
had been drifted to an uncommon depth. Even under its wintry appearance
the shore was highly interesting. The line of sea-coast, with all its
varied curves, indentures, and embayments, swept away from the sight on
either hand, in that varied, intricate, yet graceful and easy line which
the eye loves so well to pursue. And it was no less relieved and varied
in elevation than in outline by the different forms of the shore, the
beach in some places being edged by steep rocks, and in others rising
smoothly from the sands in easy and swelling slopes. Buildings of
different kinds caught and reflected the wintry sunbeams of a December
morning, and the woods, though now leafless, gave relief and variety to
the landscape. Brown felt that lively and awakening interest which taste
and sensibility always derive from the beauties of nature when opening
suddenly to the eye after the dulness and gloom of a night voyage.
Perhaps--for who can presume to analyse that inexplicable feeling which
binds the person born in a mountainous country to, his native
hills--perhaps some early associations, retaining their effect long after
the cause was forgotten, mingled in the feelings of pleasure with which
he regarded the scene before him.







'And what,' said Brown to the boatman, 'is the name of that fine cape
that stretches into the sea with its sloping banks and hillocks of wood,
and forms the right side of the bay?'

'Warroch Point,' answered the lad.

'And that old castle, my friend, with the modern house situated just
beneath it? It seems at this distance a very large building.'

'That's the Auld Place, sir; and that's the New Place below it. We'll
land you there if you like.'

'I should like it of all things. I must visit that ruin before I continue
my journey.'

'Ay, it's a queer auld bit,' said the fisherman; 'and that highest tower
is a gude landmark as far as Ramsay in Man and the Point of Ayr; there
was muckle fighting about the place lang syne.'

Brown would have inquired into farther particulars, but a fisherman is
seldom an antiquary. His boatman's local knowledge was summed up in the
information already given, 'that it was a grand landmark, and that there
had been muckle fighting about the bit lang syne.'

'I shall learn more of it,' said Brown to himself, 'when I get ashore.'

The boat continued its course close under the point upon which the castle
was situated, which frowned from the summit of its rocky site upon the
still agitated waves of the bay beneath. 'I believe,' said the steersman,
'ye'll get ashore here as dry as ony gate. There's a place where their
berlins and galleys, as they ca'd them, used to lie in lang syne, but
it's no used now, because it's ill carrying gudes up the narrow stairs or
ower the rocks. Whiles of a moonlight night I have landed articles there,
though.'

While he thus spoke they pulled round a point of rock, and found a very
small harbour, partly formed by nature, partly by the indefatigable
labour of the ancient inhabitants of the castle, who, as the fisherman
observed, had found it essential for the protection of their boats and
small craft, though it could not receive vessels of any burden. The two
points of rock which formed the access approached each other so nearly
that only one boat could enter at a time. On each side were still
remaining two immense iron rings, deeply morticed into the solid rock.
Through these, according to tradition, there was nightly drawn a huge
chain, secured by an immense padlock, for the protection of the haven and
the armada which it contained. A ledge of rock had, by the assistance of
the chisel and pickaxe, been formed into a sort of quay. The rock was of
extremely hard consistence, and the task so difficult that, according to
the fisherman, a labourer who wrought at the work might in the evening
have carried home in his bonnet all the shivers which he had struck from
the mass in the course of the day. This little quay communicated with a
rude staircase, already repeatedly mentioned, which descended from the
old castle. There was also a communication between the beach and the
quay, by scrambling over the rocks.

'Ye had better land here,' said the lad, 'for the surf's running high at
the Shellicoat Stane, and there will no be a dry thread amang us or we
get the cargo out. Na! na! (in answer to an offer of money) ye have
wrought for your passage, and wrought far better than ony o' us. Gude day
to ye; I wuss ye weel.'

So saying, he pushed oil in order to land his cargo on the opposite side
of the bay; and Brown, with a small bundle in his hand, containing the
trifling stock of necessaries which he had been obliged to purchase at
Allonby, was left on the rocks beneath the ruin.

And thus, unconscious as the most absolute stranger, and in circumstances
which, if not destitute, were for the present highly embarrassing,
without the countenance of a friend within the circle of several hundred
miles, accused of a heavy crime, and, what was as bad as all the rest,
being nearly penniless, did the harassed wanderer for the first time
after the interval of so many years approach the remains of the castle
where his ancestors had exercised all but regal dominion.






CHAPTER XII
          Yes ye moss-green walls,
     Ye towers defenceless, I revisit ye
     Shame-stricken! Where are all your trophies now?
     Your thronged courts, the revelry, the tumult,
     That spoke the grandeur of my house, the homage
     Of neighbouring barons?

          Mysterious Mother.


Entering the castle of Ellangowan by a postern doorway which showed
symptoms of having been once secured with the most jealous care, Brown
(whom, since he has set foot upon the property of his fathers, we shall
hereafter call by his father's name of Bertram) wandered from one ruined
apartment to another, surprised at the massive strength of some parts of
the building, the rude and impressive magnificence of others, and the
great extent of the whole. In two of these rooms, close beside each
other, he saw signs of recent habitation. In one small apartment were
empty bottles, half-gnawed bones, and dried fragments of bread. In the
vault which adjoined, and which was defended by a strong door, then left
open, he observed a considerable quantity of straw, and in both were the
relics of recent fires. How little was it possible for Bertram to
conceive that such trivial circumstances were closely connected with
incidents affecting his prosperity, his honour, perhaps his life!

After satisfying his curiosity by a hasty glance through the interior of
the castle, Bertram now advanced through the great gateway which opened
to the land, and paused to look upon the noble landscape which it
commanded. Having in vain endeavoured to guess the position of
Woodbourne, and having nearly ascertained that of Kippletringan, he
turned to take a parting look at the stately ruins which he had just
traversed. He admired the massive and picturesque effect of the huge
round towers, which, flanking the gateway, gave a double portion of depth
and majesty to the high yet gloomy arch under which it opened. The carved
stone escutcheon of the ancient family, bearing for their arms three
wolves' heads, was hung diagonally beneath the helmet and crest, the
latter being a wolf couchant pierced with an arrow. On either side stood
as supporters, in full human size or larger, a salvage man PROPER, to use
the language of heraldry, WREATHED AND CINCTURED, and holding in his hand
an oak tree ERADICATED, that is, torn up by the roots.

'And the powerful barons who owned this blazonry,' thought Bertram,
pursuing the usual train of ideas which flows upon the mind at such
scenes--'do their posterity continue to possess the lands which they had
laboured to fortify so strongly? or are they wanderers, ignorant perhaps
even of the fame or power of their fore-fathers, while their hereditary
possessions are held by a race of strangers? Why is it,' he thought,
continuing to follow out the succession of ideas which the scene
prompted--'why is it that some scenes awaken thoughts which belong as it
were to dreams of early and shadowy recollection, such as my old Brahmin
moonshie would have ascribed to a state of previous existence? Is it the
visions of our sleep that float confusedly in our memory, and are
recalled by the appearance of such real objects as in any respect
correspond to the phantoms they presented to our imagination? How often
do we find ourselves in society which we have never before met, and yet
feel impressed with a mysterious and ill-defined consciousness that
neither the scene, the speakers, nor the subject are entirely new; nay,
feel as if we could anticipate that part of the conversation which has
not yet taken place! It is even so with me while I gaze upon that ruin;
nor can I divest myself of the idea that these massive towers and that
dark gateway, retiring through its deep-vaulted and ribbed arches, and
dimly lighted by the courtyard beyond, are not entirely strange to me.
Can it be that they have been familiar to me in infancy, and that I am to
seek in their vicinity those friends of whom my childhood has still a
tender though faint remembrance, and whom I early exchanged for such
severe task-masters? Yet Brown, who, I think, would not have deceived me,
always told me I was brought off from the eastern coast, after a skirmish
in which my father was killed; and I do remember enough of a horrid scene
of violence to strengthen his account.'