It happened that the spot upon which young Bertram chanced to station
himself for the better viewing the castle was nearly the same on which
his father had died. It was marked by a large old oak-tree, the only one
on the esplanade, and which, having been used for executions by the
barons of Ellangowan, was called the Justice Tree. It chanced, and the
coincidence was remarkable, that Glossin was this morning engaged with a
person whom he was in the habit of consulting in such matters concerning
some projected repairs and a large addition to the house of Ellangowan,
and that, having no great pleasure in remains so intimately connected
with the grandeur of the former inhabitants, he had resolved to use the
stones of the ruinous castle in his new edifice. Accordingly he came up
the bank, followed by the land-surveyor mentioned on a former occasion,
who was also in the habit of acting as a sort of architect in case of
necessity. In drawing the plans, etc., Glossin was in the custom of
relying upon his own skill. Bertram's back was towards them as they came
up the ascent, and he was quite shrouded by the branches of the large
tree, so that Glossin was not aware of the presence of the stranger till
he was close upon him.

'Yes, sir, as I have often said before to you, the Old Place is a perfect
quarry of hewn stone, and it would be better for the estate if it were
all down, since it is only a den for smugglers.' At this instant Bertram
turned short round upon Glossin at the distance of two yards only, and
said--'Would you destroy this fine old castle, sir?'

His face, person, and voice were so exactly those of his father in his
best days, that Glossin, hearing his exclamation, and seeing such a
sudden apparition in the shape of his patron, and on nearly the very spot
where he had expired, almost thought the grave had given up its dead! He
staggered back two or three paces, as if he had received a sudden and
deadly wound. He instantly recovered, however, his presence of mind,
stimulated by the thrilling reflection that it was no inhabitant of the
other world which stood before him, but an injured man whom the slightest
want of dexterity on his part might lead to acquaintance with his rights,
and the means of asserting them to his utter destruction. Yet his ideas
were so much confused by the shock he had received that his first
question partook of the alarm.

'In the name of God, how came you here?' said Glossin.

'How came I here?' repeated Bertram, surprised at the solemnity of the
address; 'I landed a quarter of an hour since in the little harbour
beneath the castle, and was employing a moment's leisure in viewing these
fine ruins. I trust there is no intrusion?'

'Intrusion, sir? No, sir,' said Glossin, in some degree recovering his
breath, and then whispered a few words into his companion's ear, who
immediately left him and descended towards the house. 'Intrusion, sir?
no, sir; you or any gentleman are welcome to satisfy your curiosity.'

'I thank you, sir,' said Bertram. 'They call this the Old Place, I am
informed?'

'Yes, sir; in distinction to the New Place, my house there below.'

Glossin, it must be remarked, was, during the following dialogue, on the
one hand eager to learn what local recollections young Bertram had
retained of the scenes of his infancy, and on the other compelled to be
extremely cautious in his replies, lest he should awaken or assist, by
some name, phrase, or anecdote, the slumbering train of association. He
suffered, indeed, during the whole scene the agonies which he so richly
deserved; yet his pride and interest, like the fortitude of a North
American Indian, manned him to sustain the tortures inflicted at once by
the contending stings of a guilty conscience, of hatred, of fear, and of
suspicion.

'I wish to ask the name, sir,' said Bertram, 'of the family to whom this
stately ruin belongs.'

'It is my property, sir; my name is Glossin.'

'Glossin--Glossin?' repeated Bertram, as if the answer were somewhat
different from what he expected. 'I beg your pardon, Mr. Glossin; I am
apt to be very absent. May I ask if the castle has been long in your
family?'

'It was built, I believe, long ago by a family called Mac-Dingawaie,'
answered Glossin, suppressing for obvious reasons the more familiar sound
of Bertram, which might have awakened the recollections which he was
anxious to lull to rest, and slurring with an evasive answer the question
concerning the endurance of his own possession.

'And how do you read the half-defaced motto, sir,' said Bertram, 'which
is upon that scroll above the entablature with the arms?'

'I--I--I really do not exactly know,' replied Glossin.

'I should be apt to make it out, OUR RIGHT MAKES OUR MIGHT.'

'I believe it is something of that kind,' said Glossin.

'May I ask, sir,' said the stranger, 'if it is your family motto?'

'N--n--no--no--not ours. That is, I believe, the motto of the former
people; mine is--mine is--in fact, I have had some correspondence with
Mr. Cumming of the Lyon Office in Edinburgh about mine. He writes me the
Glossins anciently bore for a motto, "He who takes it, makes it."'

'If there be any uncertainty, sir, and the case were mine,' said Bertram,
'I would assume the old motto, which seems to me the better of the two.'

Glossin, whose tongue by this time clove to the roof of his mouth, only
answered by a nod.

'It is odd enough,' said Bertram, fixing his eye upon the arms and
gateway, and partly addressing Glossin, partly as it were thinking
aloud--'it is odd the tricks which our memory plays us. The remnants of
an old prophecy, or song, or rhyme of some kind or other, return to my
recollection on hearing that motto; stay--it is a strange jingle of
sounds:--

The dark shall be light, And the wrong made right, When Bertram's right
and Bertram's might Shall meet on---

I cannot remember the last line--on some particular height; HEIGHT is the
rhyme, I am sure; but I cannot hit upon the preceding word.'

'Confound your memory,' muttered Glossin, 'you remember by far too much
of it!'

'There are other rhymes connected with these early recollections,'
continued the young man. 'Pray, sir, is there any song current in this
part of the world respecting a daughter of the King of the Isle of Man
eloping with a Scottish knight?'

'I am the worst person in the world to consult upon legendary
antiquities,' answered Glossin.

'I could sing such a ballad,' said Bertram, 'from one end to another when
I was a boy. You must know I left Scotland, which is my native country,
very young, and those who brought me up discouraged all my attempts to
preserve recollection of my native land, on account, I believe, of a
boyish wish which I had to escape from their charge.'

'Very natural,' said Glossin, but speaking as if his utmost efforts were
unable to unseal his lips beyond the width of a quarter of an inch, so
that his whole utterance was a kind of compressed muttering, very
different from the round, bold, bullying voice with which he usually
spoke. Indeed, his appearance and demeanour during all this conversation
seemed to diminish even his strength and stature; so that he appeared to
wither into the shadow of himself, now advancing one foot, now the other,
now stooping and wriggling his shoulders, now fumbling with the buttons
of his waistcoat, now clasping his hands together; in short, he was the
picture of a mean-spirited, shuffling rascal in the very agonies of
detection. To these appearances Bertram was totally inattentive, being
dragged on as it were by the current of his own associations. Indeed,
although he addressed Glossin, he was not so much thinking of him as
arguing upon the embarrassing state of his own feelings and recollection.
'Yes,' he said, 'I preserved my language among the sailors, most of whom
spoke English, and when I could get into a corner by myself I used to
sing all that song over from beginning to end; I have forgot it all now,
but I remember the tune well, though I cannot guess what should at
present so strongly recall it to my memory.'

He took his flageolet from his pocket and played a simple melody.
Apparently the tune awoke the corresponding associations of a damsel who,
close beside a fine spring about halfway down the descent, and which had
once supplied the castle with water, was engaged in bleaching linen. She
immediately took up the song:--

     'Are these the Links of Forth, she said,
       Or are they the crooks of Dee,
     Or the bonnie woods of Warroch Head
       That I so fain would see?'

'By heaven,' said Bertram, 'it is the very ballad! I must learn these
words from the girl.'

'Confusion!' thought Glossin; 'if I cannot put a stop to this all will be
out. O the devil take all ballads and ballad-makers and ballad-singers!
and that d--d jade too, to set up her pipe!'--'You will have time enough
for this on some other occasion,' he said aloud; 'at present' (for now he
saw his emissary with two or three men coming up the bank)--'at present
we must have some more serious conversation together.'

'How do you mean, sir?' said Bertram, turning short upon him, and not
liking the tone which he made use of.

'Why, sir, as to that--I believe your name is Brown?' said Glossin. 'And
what of that, sir?'

Glossin looked over his shoulder to see how near his party had
approached; they were coming fast on. 'Vanbeest Brown? if I mistake not.'

'And what of that, sir?' said Bertram, with increasing astonishment and
displeasure.

'Why, in that case,' said Glossin, observing his friends had now got upon
the level space close beside them--'in that case you are my prisoner in
the king's name!' At the same time he stretched his hand towards
Bertram's collar, while two of the men who had come up seized upon his
arms; he shook himself, however, free of their grasp by a violent effort,
in which he pitched the most pertinacious down the bank, and, drawing his
cutlass, stood on the defensive, while those who had felt his strength
recoiled from his presence and gazed at a safe distance. 'Observe,' he
called out at the same time, 'that I have no purpose to resist legal
authority; satisfy me that you have a magistrate's warrant, and are
authorised to make this arrest, and I will obey it quietly; but let no
man who loves his life venture to approach me till I am satisfied for
what crime, and by whose authority, I am apprehended.'

Glossin then caused one of the officers show a warrant for the
apprehension of Vanbeest Brown, accused of the crime of wilfully and
maliciously shooting at Charles Hazlewood, younger of Hazlewood, with an
intent to kill, and also of other crimes and misdemeanours, and which
appointed him, having been so apprehended, to be brought before the next
magistrate for examination. The warrant being formal, and the fact such
as he could not deny, Bertram threw down his weapon and submitted himself
to the officers, who, flying on him with eagerness corresponding to their
former pusillanimity, were about to load him with irons, alleging the
strength and activity which he had displayed as a justification of this
severity. But Glossin was ashamed or afraid to permit this unnecessary
insult, and directed the prisoner to be treated with all the decency, and
even respect, that was consistent with safety. Afraid, however, to
introduce him into his own house, where still further subjects of
recollection might have been suggested, and anxious at the same time to
cover his own proceedings by the sanction of another's authority, he
ordered his carriage (for he had lately set up a carriage) to be got
ready, and in the meantime directed refreshments to be given to the
prisoner and the officers, who were consigned to one of the rooms in the
old castle, until the means of conveyance for examination before a
magistrate should be provided.






CHAPTER XIII
     Bring in the evidence.
     Thou robed man of justice, take thy place,
     And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity,
     Bench by his side; you are of the commission,
     Sit you too.

          King Lear.


While the carriage was getting ready, Glossin had a letter to compose,
about which he wasted no small time. It was to his neighbour, as he was
fond of calling him, Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, the head of an
ancient and powerful interest in the county, which had in the decadence
of the Ellangowan family gradually succeeded to much of their authority
and influence. The present representative of the family was an elderly
man, dotingly fond of his own family, which was limited to an only son
and daughter, and stoically indifferent to the fate of all mankind
besides. For the rest, he was honourable in his general dealings because
he was afraid to suffer the censure of the world, and just from a better
motive. He was presumptuously over-conceited on the score of family pride
and importance, a feeling considerably enhanced by his late succession to
the title of a Nova Scotia baronet; and he hated the memory of the
Ellangowan family, though now a memory only, because a certain baron of
that house was traditionally reported to have caused the founder of the
Hazlewood family hold his stirrup until he mounted into his saddle. In
his general deportment he was pompous and important, affecting a species
of florid elocution, which often became ridiculous from his misarranging
the triads and quaternions with which he loaded his sentences.

To this personage Glossin was now to write in such a conciliatory style
as might be most acceptable to his vanity and family pride, and the
following was the form of his note:--

'Mr. Gilbert Glossin' (he longed to add of Ellangowan, but prudence
prevailed, and he suppressed that territorial designation)--'Mr. Gilbert
Glossin has the honour to offer his most respectful compliments to Sir
Robert Hazlewood, and to inform him that he has this morning been
fortunate enough to secure the person who wounded Mr. C. Hazlewood. As
Sir Robert Hazlewood may probably choose to conduct the examination of
this criminal himself, Mr. G. Glossin will cause the man to be carried to
the inn at Kippletringan or to Hazlewood House, as Sir Robert Hazlewood
may be pleased to direct. And, with Sir Robert Hazlewood's permission,
Mr. G. Glossin will attend him at either of these places with the proofs
and declarations which he has been so fortunate as to collect respecting
this atrocious business.'

Addressed,

'Sir ROBERT HAZLEWOOD of Hazlewood, Bart. 'Hazlewood House, etc. etc.

'ELLN GN.

'Tuesday.'

This note he despatched by a servant on horseback, and having given the
man some time to get ahead, and desired him to ride fast, he ordered two
officers of justice to get into the carriage with Bertram; and he
himself, mounting his horse, accompanied them at a slow pace to the point
where the roads to Kippletringan and Hazlewood House separated, and there
awaited the return of his messenger, in order that his farther route
might be determined by the answer he should receive from the Baronet. In
about half an hour, his servant returned with the following answer,
handsomely folded, and sealed with the Hazlewood arms, having the Nova
Scotia badge depending from the shield:--

'Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood returns Mr. G. Glossin's compliments,
and thanks him for the trouble he has taken in a matter affecting the
safety of Sir Robert's family. Sir R.H. requests Mr. G.G. will have the
goodness to bring the prisoner to Hazlewood House for examination, with
the other proofs or declarations which he mentions. And after the
business is over, in case Mr. G.G. is not otherwise engaged, Sir R. and
Lady Hazlewood request his company to dinner.'

Addressed,

'Mr. GILBERT GLOSSIN, etc. 'HAZLEWOOD HOUSE, Tuesday.'

'Soh!' thought Mr. Glossin, 'here is one finger in at least, and that I
will make the means of introducing my whole hand. But I must first get
clear of this wretched young fellow. I think I can manage Sir Robert. He
is dull and pompous, and will be alike disposed to listen to my
suggestions upon the law of the case and to assume the credit of acting
upon them as his own proper motion. So I shall have the advantage of
being the real magistrate, without the odium of responsibility.'

As he cherished these hopes and expectations, the carriage approached
Hazlewood House through a noble avenue of old oaks, which shrouded the
ancient abbey-resembling building so called. It was a large edifice,
built at different periods, part having actually been a priory, upon the
suppression of which, in the time of Queen Mary, the first of the family
had obtained a gift of the house and surrounding lands from the crown. It
was pleasantly situated in a large deer-park, on the banks of the river
we have before mentioned. The scenery around was of a dark, solemn, and
somewhat melancholy cast, according well with the architecture of the
house. Everything appeared to be kept in the highest possible order, and
announced the opulence and rank of the proprietor.

As Mr. Glossin's carriage stopped at the door of the hall, Sir Robert
reconnoitred the new vehicle from the windows. According to his
aristocratic feelings, there was a degree of presumption in this novus
homo, this Mr. Gilbert Glossin, late writer in---, presuming to set up
such an accommodation at all; but his wrath was mitigated when he
observed that the mantle upon the panels only bore a plain cipher of G.G.
This apparent modesty was indeed solely owing to the delay of Mr. Gumming
of the Lyon Office, who, being at that time engaged in discovering and
matriculating the arms of two commissaries from North America, three
English-Irish peers, and two great Jamaica traders, had been more slow
than usual in finding an escutcheon for the new Laird of Ellangowan. But
his delay told to the advantage of Glossin in the opinion of the proud
Baronet.

While the officers of justice detained their prisoner in a sort of
steward's room, Mr. Glossin was ushered into what was called the great
oak-parlour, a long room, panelled with well-varnished wainscot, and
adorned with the grim portraits of Sir Robert Hazlewood's ancestry. The
visitor, who had no internal consciousness of worth to balance that of
meanness of birth, felt his inferiority, and by the depth of his bow and
the obsequiousness of his demeanour showed that the Laird of Ellangowan
was sunk for the time in the old and submissive habits of the quondam
retainer of the law. He would have persuaded himself, indeed, that he was
only humouring the pride of the old Baronet for the purpose of turning it
to his own advantage, but his feelings were of a mingled nature, and he
felt the influence of those very prejudices which he pretended to
flatter.

The Baronet received his visitor with that condescending parade which was
meant at once to assert his own vast superiority, and to show the
generosity and courtesy with which he could waive it, and descend to the
level of ordinary conversation with ordinary men. He thanked Glossin for
his attention to a matter in which 'young Hazlewood' was so intimately
concerned, and, pointing to his family pictures, observed, with a
gracious smile, 'Indeed, these venerable gentlemen, Mr. Glossin, are as
much obliged as I am in this case for the labour, pains, care, and
trouble which you have taken in their behalf; and I have no doubt, were
they capable of expressing themselves, would join me, sir, in thanking
you for the favour you have conferred upon the house of Hazlewood by
taking care, and trouble, sir, and interest in behalf of the young
gentleman who is to continue their name and family.'

Thrice bowed Glossin, and each time more profoundly than before; once in
honour of the knight who stood upright before him, once in respect to the
quiet personages who patiently hung upon the wainscot, and a third time
in deference to the young gentleman who was to carry on the name and
family. Roturier as he was, Sir Robert was gratified by the homage which
he rendered, and proceeded in a tone of gracious familiarity: 'And now,
Mr. Glossin, my exceeding good friend, you must allow me to avail myself
of your knowledge of law in our proceedings in this matter. I am not much
in the habit of acting as a justice of the peace; it suits better with
other gentlemen, whose domestic and family affairs require less constant
superintendence, attention, and management than mine.'

Of course, whatever small assistance Mr. Glossin could render was
entirely at Sir Robert Hazlewood's service; but, as Sir Robert
Hazlewood's name stood high in the list of the faculty, the said Mr.
Glossin could not presume to hope it could be either necessary or useful.

'Why, my good sir, you will understand me only to mean that I am
something deficient in the practical knowledge of the ordinary details of
justice business. I was indeed educated to the bar, and might boast
perhaps at one time that I had made some progress in the speculative and
abstract and abstruse doctrines of our municipal code; but there is in
the present day so little opportunity of a man of family and fortune
rising to that eminence at the bar which is attained by adventurers who
are as willing to plead for John a' Nokes as for the first noble of the
land, that I was really early disgusted with practice. The first case,
indeed, which was laid on my table quite sickened me: it respected a
bargain, sir, of tallow between a butcher and a candlemaker; and I found
it was expected that I should grease my mouth not only with their vulgar
names, but with all the technical terms and phrases and peculiar language
of their dirty arts. Upon my honour, my good sir, I have never been able
to bear the smell of a tallow-candle since.'

Pitying, as seemed to be expected, the mean use to which the Baronet's
faculties had been degraded on this melancholy occasion, Mr. Glossin
offered to officiate as clerk or assessor, or in any way in which he
could be most useful. 'And with a view to possessing you of the whole
business, and in the first place, there will, I believe, be no difficulty
in proving the main fact, that this was the person who fired the unhappy
piece. Should he deny it, it can be proved by Mr. Hazlewood, I presume?'

'Young Hazlewood is not at home to-day, Mr. Glossin.'

'But we can have the oath of the servant who attended him,' said the
ready Mr. Glossin; 'indeed, I hardly think the fact will be disputed. I
am more apprehensive that, from the too favourable and indulgent manner
in which I have understood that Mr. Hazlewood has been pleased to
represent the business, the assault may be considered as accidental, and
the injury as unintentional, so that the fellow may be immediately set at
liberty to do more mischief.'

'I have not the honour to know the gentleman who now holds the office of
king's advocate,' replied Sir Robert, gravely; 'but I presume, sir--nay,
I am confident, that he will consider the mere fact of having wounded
young Hazlewood of Hazlewood, even by inadvertency, to take the matter in
its mildest and gentlest, and in its most favourable and improbable,
light, as a crime which will be too easily atoned by imprisonment, and as
more deserving of deportation.'

'Indeed, Sir Robert,' said his assenting brother in justice, 'I am
entirely of your opinion; but, I don't know how it is, I have observed
the Edinburgh gentlemen of the bar, and even the officers of the crown,
pique themselves upon an indifferent administration of justice, without
respect to rank and family; and I should fear--'

'How, sir, without respect to rank and family? Will you tell me THAT
doctrine can be held by men of birth and legal education? No, sir; if a
trifle stolen in the street is termed mere pickery, but is elevated into
sacrilege if the crime be committed in a church, so, according to the
just gradations of society, the guilt of an injury is enhanced by the
rank of the person to whom it is offered, done, or perpetrated, sir.'

Glossin bowed low to this declaration ex cathedra, but observed, that in
the case of the very worst, and of such unnatural doctrines being
actually held as he had already hinted, 'the law had another hold on Mr.
Vanbeest Brown.'

'Vanbeest Brown! is that the fellow's name? Good God! that young
Hazlewood of Hazlewood should have had his life endangered, the clavicle
of his right shoulder considerably lacerated and dislodged, several large
drops or slugs deposited in the acromion process, as the account of the
family surgeon expressly bears, and all by an obscure wretch named
Vanbeest Brown!'

'Why, really, Sir Robert, it is a thing which one can hardly bear to
think of; but, begging ten thousand pardons for resuming what I was about
to say, a person of the same name is, as appears from these papers
(producing Dirk Hatteraick's pocket-book), mate to the smuggling vessel
who offered such violence at Woodbourne, and I have no doubt that this is
the same individual; which, however, your acute discrimination will
easily be able to ascertain.'

'The same, my good sir, he must assuredly be; it would be injustice even
to the meanest of the people to suppose there could be found among them
TWO persons doomed to bear a name so shocking to one's ears as this of
Vanbeest Brown.' 'True, Sir Robert; most unquestionably; there cannot be
a shadow of doubt of it. But you see farther, that this circumstance
accounts for the man's desperate conduct. You, Sir Robert, will discover
the motive for his crime--you, I say, will discover it without difficulty
on your giving your mind to the examination; for my part, I cannot help
suspecting the moving spring to have been revenge for the gallantry with
which Mr. Hazlewood, with all the spirit of his renowned forefathers,
defended the house at Woodbourne against this villain and his lawless
companions.'

'I will inquire into it, my good sir,' said the learned Baronet. 'Yet
even now I venture to conjecture that I shall adopt the solution or
explanation of this riddle, enigma, or mystery which you have in some
degree thus started. Yes! revenge it must be; and, good Heaven!
entertained by and against whom? entertained, fostered, cherished against
young Hazlewood of Hazlewood, and in part carried into effect, executed,
and implemented by the hand of Vanbeest Brown! These are dreadful days
indeed, my worthy neighbour (this epithet indicated a rapid advance in
the Baronet's good graces)--days when the bulwarks of society are shaken
to their mighty base, and that rank which forms, as it were, its highest
grace and ornament is mingled and confused with the viler parts of the
architecture. O, my good Mr. Gilbert Glossin, in my time, sir, the use of
swords and pistols, and such honourable arms, was reserved by the
nobility and gentry to themselves, and the disputes of the vulgar were
decided by the weapons which nature had given them, or by cudgels cut,
broken, or hewed out of the next wood. But now, sir, the clouted shoe of
the peasant galls the kibe of the courtier. The lower ranks have their
quarrels, sir, and their points of honour, and their revenges, which they
must bring, forsooth, to fatal arbitrament. But well, well! it will last
my time. Let us have in this fellow, this Vanbeest Brown, and make an end
of him, at least for the present.'






CHAPTER XIV
     'Twas he
     Gave heat unto the injury, which returned,
     Like a petard ill lighted, into the bosom
     Of him gave fire to't. Yet I hope his hurt
     Is not so dangerous but he may recover

          Fair Maid of the Inn.


The prisoner was now presented before the two worshipful magistrates.
Glossin, partly from some compunctious visitings, and partly out of his
cautious resolution to suffer Sir Robert Hazlewood to be the ostensible
manager of the whole examination, looked down upon the table, and busied
himself with reading and arranging the papers respecting the business,
only now and then throwing in a skilful catchword as prompter, when he
saw the principal, and apparently most active, magistrate stand in need
of a hint. As for Sir Robert Hazlewood, he assumed on his part a happy
mixture of the austerity of the justice combined with the display of
personal dignity appertaining to the baronet of ancient family.

'There, constables, let him stand there at the bottom of the table. Be so
good as look me in the face, sir, and raise your voice as you answer the
questions which I am going to put to you.'

'May I beg, in the first place, to know, sir, who it is that takes the
trouble to interrogate me?' said the prisoner; 'for the honest gentlemen
who have brought me here have not been pleased to furnish any information
upon that point.'

'And pray, sir,' answered Sir Robert, 'what has my name and quality to do
with the questions I am about to ask you?'

'Nothing, perhaps, sir,' replied Bertram; 'but it may considerably
influence my disposition to answer them.'

'Why, then, sir, you will please to be informed that you are in presence
of Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, and another justice of peace for
this county--that's all.'

As this intimation produced a less stunning effect upon the prisoner than
he had anticipated, Sir Robert proceeded in his investigation with an
increasing dislike to the object of it.

'Is your name Vanbeest Brown, sir?'

'It is,' answered the prisoner.

'So far well; and how are we to design you farther, sir?' demanded the
Justice.

'Captain in his Majesty's---regiment of horse,' answered Bertram.

The Baronet's ears received this intimation with astonishment; but he was
refreshed in courage by an incredulous look from Glossin, and by hearing
him gently utter a sort of interjectional whistle, in a note of surprise
and contempt. 'I believe, my friend,' said Sir Robert, 'we shall find for
you, before we part, a more humble title.'

'If you do, sir,' replied his prisoner, 'I shall willingly submit to any
punishment which such an imposture shall be thought to deserve.'

'Well, sir, we shall see,' continued Sir Robert. 'Do you know young
Hazlewood of Hazlewood?'

'I never saw the gentleman who I am informed bears that name excepting
once, and I regret that it was under very unpleasant circumstances.'

'You mean to acknowledge, then,' said the Baronet, 'that you inflicted
upon young Hazlewood of Hazlewood that wound which endangered his life,
considerably lacerated the clavicle of his right shoulder, and deposited,
as the family surgeon declares, several large drops or slugs in the
acromion process?'

'Why, sir,' replied Bertram, 'I can only say I am equally ignorant of and
sorry for the extent of the damage which the young gentleman has
sustained. I met him in a narrow path, walking with two ladies and a
servant, and before I could either pass them or address them, this young
Hazlewood took his gun from his servant, presented it against my body,
and commanded me in the most haughty tone to stand back. I was neither
inclined to submit to his authority nor to leave him in possession of the
means to injure me, which he seemed disposed to use with such rashness. I
therefore closed with him for the purpose of disarming him; and, just as
I had nearly effected my purpose, the piece went off accidentally, and,
to my regret then and since, inflicted upon the young gentleman a severer
chastisement than I desired, though I am glad to understand it is like to
prove no more than his unprovoked folly deserved.'

'And so, sir,' said the Baronet, every feature swoln with offended
dignity, 'you, sir, admit, sir, that it was your purpose, sir, and your
intention, sir, and the real jet and object of your assault, sir, to
disarm young Hazlewood of Hazlewood of his gun, sir, or his
fowling-piece, or his fuzee, or whatever you please to call it, sir, upon
the king's highway, sir? I think this will do, my worthy neighbour! I
think he should stand committed?'

'You are by far the best judge, Sir Robert,' said Glossin, in his most
insinuating tone; 'but if I might presume to hint, there was something
about these smugglers.'

'Very true, good sir. And besides, sir, you, Vanbeest Brown, who call
yourself a captain in his Majesty's service, are no better or worse than
a rascally mate of a smuggler!'

'Really, sir,' said Bertram, 'you are an old gentleman, and acting under
some strange delusion, otherwise I should be very angry with you.'

'Old gentleman, sir! strange delusion, sir!' said Sir Robert, colouring
with indignation. 'I protest and declare--Why, sir, have you any papers
or letters that can establish your pretended rank and estate and
commission?'

'None at present, sir,' answered Bertram; 'but in the return of a post or
two---'

'And how do you, sir,' continued the Baronet, 'if you are a captain in
his Majesty's service--how do you chance to be travelling in Scotland
without letters of introduction, credentials, baggage, or anything
belonging to your pretended rank, estate, and condition, as I said
before?'

'Sir,' replied the prisoner, 'I had the misfortune to be robbed of my
clothes and baggage.'

'Oho! then you are the gentleman who took a post-chaise from---to
Kippletringan, gave the boy the slip on the road, and sent two of your
accomplices to beat the boy and bring away the baggage?'

'I was, sir, in a carriage, as you describe, was obliged to alight in the
snow, and lost my way endeavouring to find the road to Kippletringan. The
landlady of the inn will inform you that on my arrival there the next
day, my first inquiries were after the boy.'

'Then give me leave to ask where you spent the night, not in the snow, I
presume? You do not suppose that will pass, or be taken, credited, and
received?'

'I beg leave,' said Bertram, his recollection turning to the gipsy female
and to the promise he had given her--'I beg leave to decline answering
that question.'

'I thought as much,' said Sir Robert. 'Were you not during that night in
the ruins of Derncleugh?--in the ruins of Derncleugh, sir?'

'I have told you that I do not intend answering that question,' replied
Bertram.

'Well, sir, then you will stand committed, sir,' said Sir Robert, 'and be
sent to prison, sir, that's all, sir. Have the goodness to look at these
papers; are you the Vanbeest Brown who is there mentioned?'

It must be remarked that Glossin had shuffled among the papers some
writings which really did belong to Bertram, and which had been found by
the officers in the old vault where his portmanteau was ransacked.

'Some of these papers,' said Bertram, looking over them, 'are mine, and
were in my portfolio when it was stolen from the post-chaise. They are
memoranda of little value, and, I see, have been carefully selected as
affording no evidence of my rank or character, which many of the other
papers would have established fully. They are mingled with ship-accounts
and other papers, belonging apparently to a person of the same name.'

'And wilt thou attempt to persuade me, friend,' demanded Sir Robert,
'that there are TWO persons in this country at the same time of thy very
uncommon and awkwardly sounding name?'

'I really do not see, sir, as there is an old Hazlewood and a young
Hazlewood, why there should not be an old and a young Vanbeest Brown.
And, to speak seriously, I was educated in Holland, and I know that this
name, however uncouth it may sound in British ears---'

Glossin, conscious that the prisoner was now about to enter upon
dangerous ground, interfered, though the interruption was unnecessary,
for the purpose of diverting the attention of Sir Robert Hazlewood, who
was speechless and motionless with indignation at the presumptuous
comparison implied in Bertram's last speech. In fact, the veins of his
throat and of his temples swelled almost to bursting, and he sat with the
indignant and disconcerted air of one who has received a mortal insult
from a quarter to which he holds it unmeet and indecorous to make any
reply. While, with a bent brow and an angry eye, he was drawing in his
breath slowly and majestically, and puffing it forth again with deep and
solemn exertion, Glossin stepped in to his assistance. 'I should think
now, Sir Robert, with great submission, that this matter may be closed.
One of the constables, besides the pregnant proof already produced,
offers to make oath that the sword of which the prisoner was this morning
deprived (while using it, by the way, in resistance to a legal warrant)
was a cutlass taken from him in a fray between the officers and smugglers
just previous to their attack upon Woodbourne. And yet,' he added, 'I
would not have you form any rash construction upon that subject; perhaps
the young man can explain how he came by that weapon.'

'That question, sir,' said Bertram, 'I shall also leave unanswered.'

'There is yet another circumstance to be inquired into, always under Sir
Robert's leave,' insinuated Glossin. 'This prisoner put into the hands of
Mrs. MacCandlish of Kippletringan a parcel containing a variety of gold
coins and valuable articles of different kinds. Perhaps, Sir Robert, you
might think it right to ask how he came by property of a description
which seldom occurs?'

'You, sir, Mr. Vanbeest Brown, sir, you hear the question, sir, which the
gentleman asks you?'

'I have particular reasons for declining to answer that question,'
answered Bertram.

'Then I am afraid, sir,' said Glossin, who had brought matters to the
point he desired to reach, 'our duty must lay us under the necessity to
sign a warrant of committal.'

'As you please, sir,' answered Bertram; 'take care, however, what you do.
Observe that I inform you that I am a captain in his
Majesty's---regiment, and that I am just returned from India, and
therefore cannot possibly be connected with any of those contraband
traders you talk of; that my lieutenant-colonel is now at Nottingham, the
major, with the officers of my corps, at Kingston-upon-Thames. I offer
before you both to submit to any degree of ignominy if, within the return
of the Kingston and Nottingham posts, I am not able to establish these
points. Or you may write to the agent for the regiment if you please,
and---'

'This is all very well, sir,' said Glossin, beginning to fear lest the
firm expostulation of Bertram should make some impression on Sir Robert,
who would almost have died of shame at committing such a solecism as
sending a captain of horse to jail--'this is all very well, sir; but is
there no person nearer whom you could refer to?'

'There are only two persons in this country who know anything of me,'
replied the prisoner. 'One is a plain Liddesdale sheep-farmer, called
Dinmont of Charlie's Hope; but he knows nothing more of me than what I
told him, and what I now tell you.'

'Why, this is well enough, Sir Robert!' said Glossin. 'I suppose he would
bring forward this thick-skulled fellow to give his oath of credulity,
Sir Robert, ha, ha, ha!'

'And what is your other witness, friend?' said the Baronet.

'A gentleman whom I have some reluctance to mention because of certain
private reasons, but under whose command I served some time in India, and
who is too much a man of honour to refuse his testimony to my character
as a soldier and gentleman.'

'And who is this doughty witness, pray, sir?' said Sir Robert,' some
half-pay quartermaster or sergeant, I suppose?'

'Colonel Guy Mannering, late of the---regiment, in which, as I told you,
I have a troop.'

'Colonel Guy Mannering!' thought Glossin, 'who the devil could have
guessed this?'

'Colonel Guy Mannering?' echoed the Baronet, considerably shaken in his
opinion. 'My good sir,' apart to Glossin, 'the young man with a
dreadfully plebeian name and a good deal of modest assurance has
nevertheless something of the tone and manners and feeling of a
gentleman, of one at least who has lived in good society; they do give
commissions very loosely and carelessly and inaccurately in India. I
think we had better pause till Colonel Mannering shall return; he is now,
I believe, at Edinburgh.'

'You are in every respect the best judge, Sir Robert,' answered
Glossin--'in every possible respect. I would only submit to you that we
are certainly hardly entitled to dismiss this man upon an assertion which
cannot be satisfied by proof, and that we shall incur a heavy
responsibility by detaining him in private custody, without committing
him to a public jail. Undoubtedly, however, you are the best judge, Sir
Robert; and I would only say, for my own part, that I very lately
incurred severe censure by detaining a person in a place which I thought
perfectly secure, and under the custody of the proper officers. The man
made his escape, and I have no doubt my own character for attention and
circumspection as a magistrate has in some degree suffered. I only hint
this: I will join in any step you, Sir Robert, think most advisable.' But
Mr. Glossin was well aware that such a hint was of power sufficient to
decide the motions of his self-important but not self-relying colleague.
So that Sir Robert Hazlewood summed up the business in the following
speech, which proceeded partly upon the supposition of the prisoner being
really a gentleman, and partly upon the opposite belief that he was a
villain and an assassin:--

'Sir, Mr. Vanbeest Brown--I would call you Captain Brown if there was the
least reason or cause or grounds to suppose that you are a captain, or
had a troop in the very respectable corps you mention, or indeed in any
other corps in his Majesty's service, as to which circumstance I beg to
be understood to give no positive, settled, or unalterable judgment,
declaration, or opinion,--I say, therefore, sir, Mr. Brown, we have
determined, considering the unpleasant predicament in which you now
stand, having been robbed, as you say, an assertion as to which I suspend
my opinion, and being possessed of much and valuable treasure, and of a
brass-handled cutlass besides, as to your obtaining which you will favour
us with no explanation,--I say, sir, we have determined and resolved and
made up our minds to commit you to jail, or rather to assign you an
apartment therein, in order that you may be forthcoming upon Colonel
Mannering's return from Edinburgh.'

'With humble submission, Sir Robert,' said Glossin, 'may I inquire if it
is your purpose to send this young gentleman to the county jail? For if
that were not your settled intention, I would take the liberty to hint
that there would be less hardship in sending him to the bridewell at
Portanferry, where he can be secured without public exposure, a
circumstance which, on the mere chance of his story being really true, is
much to be avoided.'

'Why, there is a guard of soldiers at Portanferry, to be sure, for
protection of the goods in the custom-house; and upon the whole,
considering everything, and that the place is comfortable for such a
place, I say, all things considered, we will commit this person, I would
rather say authorise him to be detained, in the workhouse at
Portanferry.'

The warrant was made out accordingly, and Bertram was informed he was
next morning to be removed to his place of confinement, as Sir Robert had
determined he should not be taken there under cloud of night, for fear of
rescue. He was during the interval to be detained at Hazlewood House.

'It cannot be so hard as my imprisonment by the looties in India,' he
thought; 'nor can it last so long. But the deuce take the old formal
dunderhead, and his more sly associate, who speaks always under his
breath; they cannot understand a plain man's story when it is told them.'

In the meanwhile Glossin took leave of the Baronet with a thousand
respectful bows and cringing apologies for not accepting his invitation
to dinner, and venturing to hope he might be pardoned in paying his
respects to him, Lady Hazlewood, and young Mr. Hazlewood on some future
occasion.

'Certainly, sir,' said the Baronet, very graciously. 'I hope our family
was never at any time deficient in civility to our neighbours; and when I
ride that way, good Mr. Glossin, I will convince you of this by calling
at your house as familiarly as is consistent--that is, as can be hoped or
expected.'

'And now,' said Glossin to himself, 'to find Dirk Hatteraick and his
people, to get the guard sent off from the custom-house; and then for the
grand cast of the dice. Everything must depend upon speed. How lucky that
Mannering has betaken himself to Edinburgh! His knowledge of this young
fellow is a most perilous addition to my dangers.' Here he suffered his
horse to slacken his pace. 'What if I should try to compound with the
heir? It's likely he might be brought to pay a round sum for restitution,
and I could give up Hatteraick. But no, no, no! there were too many eyes
on me--Hatteraick himself, and the gipsy sailor, and that old hag. No,
no! I must stick to my original plan.' And with that he struck his spurs
against his horse's flanks, and rode forward at a hard trot to put his
machines in motion.






CHAPTER XV
     A prison is a house of care,
     A place where none can thrive,
     A touchstone true to try a friend,
     A grave for one alive
     Sometimes a place of right,
     Sometimes a place of wrong,
     Sometimes a place of rogues and thieves,
     And honest men among

          Inscription on Edinburgh Tolbooth


Early on the following morning the carriage which had brought Bertram to
Hazlewood House was, with his two silent and surly attendants, appointed
to convey him to his place of confinement at Portanferry. This building
adjoined to the custom-house established at that little seaport, and both
were situated so close to the sea-beach that it was necessary to defend
the back part with a large and strong rampart or bulwark of huge stones,
disposed in a slope towards the surf, which often reached and broke upon
them. The front was surrounded by a high wall, enclosing a small
courtyard, within which the miserable inmates of the mansion were
occasionally permitted to take exercise and air. The prison was used as a
house of correction, and sometimes as a chapel of ease to the county
jail, which was old, and far from being conveniently situated with
reference to the Kippletringan district of the county. Mac-Guffog, the
officer by whom Bertram had at first been apprehended, and who was now in
attendance upon him, was keeper of this palace of little-ease. He caused
the carriage to be drawn close up to the outer gate, and got out himself
to summon the warders. The noise of his rap alarmed some twenty or thirty
ragged boys, who left off sailing their mimic sloops and frigates in the
little pools of salt water left by the receding tide, and hastily crowded
round the vehicle to see what luckless being was to be delivered to the
prison-house out of 'Glossin's braw new carriage.' The door of the
courtyard, after the heavy clanking of many chains and bars, was opened
by Mrs. Mac-Guffog--an awful spectacle, being a woman for strength and
resolution capable of maintaining order among her riotous inmates, and of
administering the discipline of the house, as it was called, during the
absence of her husband, or when he chanced to have taken an overdose of
the creature. The growling voice of this Amazon, which rivalled in
harshness the crashing music of her own bolts and bars, soon dispersed in
every direction the little varlets who had thronged around her threshold,
and she next addressed her amiable helpmate:--

'Be sharp, man, and get out the swell, canst thou not?'

'Hold your tongue and be d-d, you--,' answered her loving husband, with
two additional epithets of great energy, but which we beg to be excused
from repeating. Then addressing Bertram--'Come, will you get out, my
handy lad, or must we lend you a lift?'

Bertram came out of the carriage, and, collared by the constable as he
put his foot on the ground, was dragged, though he offered no resistance,
across the threshold, amid the continued shouts of the little
sansculottes, who looked on at such distance as their fear of Mrs.
Mac-Guffog permitted. The instant his foot had crossed the fatal porch,
the portress again dropped her chains, drew her bolts, and, turning with
both hands an immense key, took it from the lock and thrust it into a
huge side-pocket of red cloth.

Bertram was now in the small court already mentioned. Two or three
prisoners were sauntering along the pavement, and deriving as it were a
feeling of refreshment from the momentary glimpse with which the opening
door had extended their prospect to the other side of a dirty street. Nor
can this be thought surprising, when it is considered that, unless on
such occasions, their view was confined to the grated front of their
prison, the high and sable walls of the courtyard, the heaven above them,
and the pavement beneath their feet--a sameness of landscape which, to
use the poet's expression, 'lay like a load on the wearied eye,' and had
fostered in some a callous and dull misanthropy, in others that sickness
of the heart which induces him who is immured already in a living grave
to wish for a sepulchre yet more calm and sequestered.

Mac-Guffog, when they entered the courtyard, suffered Bertram to pause
for a minute and look upon his companions in affliction. When he had cast
his eye around on faces on which guilt and despondence and low excess had
fixed their stigma--upon the spendthrift, and the swindler, and the
thief, the bankrupt debtor, the 'moping idiot, and the madman gay,' whom
a paltry spirit of economy congregated to share this dismal habitation,
he felt his heart recoil with inexpressible loathing from enduring the
contamination of their society even for a moment.

'I hope, sir,' he said to the keeper, 'you intend to assign me a place of
confinement apart?'

'And what should I be the better of that?'

'Why, sir, I can but be detained here a day or two, and it would be very
disagreeable to me to mix in the sort of company this place affords.'

'And what do I care for that?'

'Why then, sir, to speak to your feelings,' said Bertram, 'I shall be
willing to make you a handsome compliment for this indulgence.'