After a formal apology for the encroachment, Lord Glenallan agreed to go
with him, and underwent with patience in their return home the whole
history of John of the Girnel, a legend which Mr. Oldbuck was never known
to spare any one who crossed his threshold.
The arrival of a stranger of such note, with two saddle-horses and a
servant in black, which servant had holsters on his saddle-bow, and a
coronet upon the holsters, created a general commotion in the house of
Monkbarns. Jenny Rintherout, scarce recovered from the hysterics which
she had taken on hearing of poor Steenie's misfortune, chased about the
turkeys and poultry, cackled and screamed louder than they did, and ended
by killing one-half too many. Miss Griselda made many wise reflections on
the hot-headed wilfulness of her brother, who had occasioned such
devastation, by suddenly bringing in upon them a papist nobleman. And she
ventured to transmit to Mr. Blattergowl some hint of the unusual
slaughter which had taken place in the _basse-cour,_ which brought the
honest clergyman to inquire how his friend Monkbarns had got home, and
whether he was not the worse of being at the funeral, at a period so near
the ringing of the bell for dinner, that the Antiquary had no choice left
but to invite him to stay and bless the meat. Miss M'Intyre had on her
part some curiosity to see this mighty peer, of whom all had heard, as an
eastern caliph or sultan is heard of by his subjects, and felt some
degree of timidity at the idea of encountering a person, of whose
unsocial habits and stern manners so many stories were told, that her
fear kept at least pace with her curiosity. The aged housekeeper was no
less flustered and hurried in obeying the numerous and contradictory
commands of her mistress, concerning preserves, pastry and fruit, the
mode of marshalling and dishing the dinner, the necessity of not
permitting the melted butter to run to oil, and the danger of allowing
Juno--who, though formally banished from the parlour, failed not to
maraud about the out-settlements of the family--to enter the kitchen.
The only inmate of Monkbarns who remained entirely indifferent on this
momentous occasion was Hector M'Intyre, who cared no more for an Earl
than he did for a commoner, and who was only interested in the unexpected
visit, as it might afford some protection against his uncle's
displeasure, if he harboured any, for his not attending the funeral, and
still more against his satire upon the subject of his gallant but
unsuccessful single combat with the _phoca,_ or seal.
To these, the inmates of his household, Oldbuck presented the Earl of
Glenallan, who underwent, with meek and subdued civility, the prosing
speeches of the honest divine, and the lengthened apologies of Miss
Griselda Oldbuck, which her brother in vain endeavoured to abridge.
Before the dinner hour, Lord Glenallan requested permission to retire a
while to his chamber. Mr. Oldbuck accompanied his guest to the Green
Room, which had been hastily prepared for his reception. He looked around
with an air of painful recollection.
"I think," at length he observed, "I think, Mr. Oldbuck, that I have been
in this apartment before."
"Yes, my lord," answered Oldbuck, "upon occasion of an excursion hither
from Knockwinnock--and since we are upon a subject so melancholy, you may
perhaps remember whose taste supplied these lines from Chaucer, which now
form the motto of the tapestry."
"I guess", said the Earl, "though I cannot recollect. She excelled me,
indeed, in literary taste and information, as in everything else; and it
is one of the mysterious dispensations of Providence, Mr. Oldbuck, that a
creature so excellent in mind and body should have been cut off in so
miserable a manner, merely from her having formed a fatal attachment to
such a wretch as I am."
Mr. Oldbuck did not attempt an answer to this burst of the grief which
lay ever nearest to the heart of his guest, but, pressing Lord
Glenallan's hand with one of his own, and drawing the other across his
shaggy eyelashes, as if to brush away a mist that intercepted his sight,
he left the Earl at liberty to arrange himself previous to dinner.
CHAPTER FOURTEENTH
--Life, with you,
Glows in the brain and dances in the arteries;
'Tis like the wine some joyous guest hath quaffed,
That glads the heart and elevates the fancy:
Mine is the poor residuum of the cup,
Vapid, and dull, and tasteless, only soiling,
With its base dregs, the vessel that contains it.
Old Play.
"Now, only think what a man my brother is, Mr. Blattergowl, for a wise
man and a learned man, to bring this Yerl into our house without speaking
a word to a body! And there's the distress of thae Mucklebackits--we
canna get a fin o' fish--and we hae nae time to send ower to Fairport for
beef, and the mutton's but new killed--and that silly fliskmahoy, Jenny
Rintherout, has taen the exies, and done naething but laugh and greet,
the skirl at the tail o' the guffaw, for twa days successfully--and now
we maun ask that strange man, that's as grand and as grave as the Yerl
himsell, to stand at the sideboard! and I canna gang into the kitchen to
direct onything, for he's hovering there, making some pousowdie* for my
Lord, for he doesna eat like ither folk neither--And how to sort the
strange servant man at dinner time--I am sure, Mr. Blattergowl,
a'thegither, it passes my judgment."
* _Pousowdie,_--Miscellaneous mess.
"Truly, Miss Griselda," replied the divine, "Monkbarns was inconsiderate.
He should have taen a day to see the invitation, as they do wi' the
titular's condescendence in the process of valuation and sale. But the
great man could not have come on a sudden to ony house in this parish
where he could have been better served with _vivers_--that I must say--
and also that the steam from the kitchen is very gratifying to my
nostrils;--and if ye have ony household affairs to attend to, Mrs.
Griselda, never make a stranger of me--I can amuse mysell very weel with
the larger copy of Erskine's Institutes."
And taking down from the window-seat that amusing folio, (the Scottish
Coke upon Littleton), he opened it, as if instinctively, at the tenth
title of Book Second, "of Teinds or Tythes," and was presently deeply
wrapped up in an abstruse discussion concerning the temporality of
benefices.
The entertainment, about which Miss Oldbuck expressed so much anxiety,
was at length placed upon the table; and the Earl of Glenallan, for the
first time since the date of his calamity, sat at a stranger's board,
surrounded by strangers. He seemed to himself like a man in a dream, or
one whose brain was not fully recovered from the effects of an
intoxicating potion. Relieved, as he had that morning been, from the
image of guilt which had so long haunted his imagination, he felt his
sorrows as a lighter and more tolerable load, but was still unable to
take any share in the conversation that passed around him. It was,
indeed, of a cast very different from that which he had been accustomed
to. The bluntness of Oldbuck, the tiresome apologetic harangues of his
sister, the pedantry of the divine, and the vivacity of the young
soldier, which savoured much more of the camp than of the court, were all
new to a nobleman who had lived in a retired and melancholy state for so
many years, that the manners of the world seemed to him equally strange
and unpleasing. Miss M'Intyre alone, from the natural politeness and
unpretending simplicity of her manners, appeared to belong to that class
of society to which he had been accustomed in his earlier and better
days.
Nor did Lord Glenallan's deportment less surprise the company. Though a
plain but excellent family-dinner was provided (for, as Mr. Blattergowl
had justly said, it was impossible to surprise Miss Griselda when her
larder was empty), and though the Antiquary boasted his best port, and
assimilated it to the Falernian of Horace, Lord Glenallan was proof to
the allurements of both. His servant placed before him a small mess of
vegetables, that very dish, the cooking of which had alarmed Miss
Griselda, arranged with the most minute and scrupulous neatness. He ate
sparingly of these provisions; and a glass of pure water, sparkling from
the fountain-head, completed his repast. Such, his servant said, had been
his lordship's diet for very many years, unless upon the high festivals
of the Church, or when company of the first rank were entertained at
Glenallan House, when he relaxed a little in the austerity of his diet,
and permitted himself a glass or two of wine. But at Monkbarns, no
anchoret could have made a more simple and scanty meal.
The Antiquary was a gentleman, as we have seen, in feeling, but blunt and
careless in expression, from the habit of living with those before whom
he had nothing to suppress. He attacked his noble guest without scruple
on the severity of his regimen.
"A few half-cold greens and potatoes--a glass of ice-cold water to wash
them down--antiquity gives no warrant for it, my lord. This house used to
be accounted a _hospitium,_ a place of retreat for Christians; but your
lordship's diet is that of a heathen Pythagorean, or Indian Bramin--nay,
more severe than either, if you refuse these fine apples."
"I am a Catholic, you are aware," said Lord Glenallan, wishing to escape
from the discussion, "and you know that our church"----
"Lays down many rules of mortification," proceeded the dauntless
Antiquary; "but I never heard that they were quite so rigorously
practised--Bear witness my predecessor, John of the Girnel, or the jolly
Abbot, who gave his name to this apple, my lord."
And as he pared the fruit, in spite of his sister's "O fie, Monkbarns!"
and the prolonged cough of the minister, accompanied by a shake of his
huge wig, the Antiquary proceeded to detail the intrigue which had given
rise to the fame of the abbot's apple with more slyness and
circumstantiality than was at all necessary. His jest (as may readily be
conceived) missed fire, for this anecdote of conventual gallantry failed
to produce the slightest smile on the visage of the Earl. Oldbuck then
took up the subject of Ossian, Macpherson, and Mac-Cribb; but Lord
Glenallan had never so much as heard of any of the three, so little
conversant had he been with modern literature. The conversation was now
in some danger of flagging, or of falling into the hands of Mr.
Blattergowl, who had just pronounced the formidable word, "teind-free,"
when the subject of the French Revolution was started--a political event
on which Lord Glenallan looked with all the prejudiced horror of a
bigoted Catholic and zealous aristocrat. Oldbuck was far from carrying
his detestation of its principles to such a length.
"There were many men in the first Constituent Assembly," he said, "who
held sound Whiggish doctrines, and were for settling the Constitution
with a proper provision for the liberties of the people. And if a set of
furious madmen were now in possession of the government, it was," he
continued, "what often happened in great revolutions, where extreme
measures are adopted in the fury of the moment, and the State resembles
an agitated pendulum which swings from side to side for some time ere it
can acquire its due and perpendicular station. Or it might be likened to
a storm or hurricane, which, passing over a region, does great damage in
its passage, yet sweeps away stagnant and unwholesome vapours, and
repays, in future health and fertility, its immediate desolation and
ravage."
The Earl shook his head; but having neither spirit nor inclination for
debate, he suffered the argument to pass uncontested.
This discussion served to introduce the young soldier's experiences; and
he spoke of the actions in which he, had been engaged, with modesty, and
at the same time with an air of spirit and zeal which delighted the Earl,
who had been bred up, like others of his house, in the opinion that the
trade of arms was the first duty of man, and believed that to employ them
against the French was a sort of holy warfare.
"What would I give," said he apart to Oldbuck, as they rose to join the
ladies in the drawing-room, "what would I give to have a son of such
spirit as that young gentleman!--He wants something of address and
manner, something of polish, which mixing in good society would soon give
him; but with what zeal and animation he expresses himself--how fond of
his profession--how loud in the praise of others--how modest when
speaking of himself!"
"Hector is much obliged to you, my lord," replied his uncle, gratified,
yet not so much so as to suppress his consciousness of his own mental
superiority over the young soldier; "I believe in my heart nobody ever
spoke half so much good of him before, except perhaps the sergeant of his
company, when was wheedling a Highland recruit to enlist with him. He is
a good lad notwithstanding, although he be not quite the hero your
lordship supposes him, and although my commendations rather attest the
kindness than the vivacity of his character. In fact, his high spirit is
a sort of constitutional vehemence, which attends him in everything he
sets about, and is often very inconvenient to his friends. I saw him
to-day engage in an animated contest with a _phoca,_ or seal (_sealgh,_
our people more properly call them, retaining the Gothic guttural _gh_),
with as much vehemence as if he had fought against Dumourier--Marry, my
lord, the _phoca_ had the better, as the said Dumourier had of some other
folks. And he'll talk with equal if not superior rapture of the good
behaviour of a pointer bitch, as of the plan of a campaign."
"He shall have full permission to sport over my grounds," said the Earl,
"if he is so fond of that exercise."
"You will bind him to you, my lord," said Monkbarns, "body and soul: give
him leave to crack off his birding-piece at a poor covey of partridges or
moor-fowl, and he's yours for ever--I will enchant him by the
intelligence. But O, my lord, that you could have seen my phoenix Lovel!
--the very prince and chieftain of the youth of this age; and not
destitute of spirit neither--I promise you he gave my termagant kinsman a
_quid pro quo_--a Rowland for his Oliver, as the vulgar say, alluding to
the two celebrated Paladins of Charlemagne."
After coffee, Lord Glenallan requested a private interview with the
Antiquary, and was ushered to his library.
"I must withdraw you from your own amiable family," he said, "to involve
you in the perplexities of an unhappy man. You are acquainted with the
world, from which I have long been banished; for Glenallan House has been
to me rather a prison than a dwelling, although a prison which I had
neither fortitude nor spirit to break from."
"Let me first ask your lordship," said the Antiquary, "what are your own
wishes and designs in this matter?"
"I wish most especially," answered Lord Glenallan, "to declare my
luckless marriage, and to vindicate the reputation of the unhappy
Eveline--that is, if you see a possibility of doing so without making
public the conduct of my mother."
"_Suum cuique tribuito,_" said the Antiquary; "do right to everyone. The
memory of that unhappy young lady has too long suffered, and I think it
might be cleared without further impeaching that of your mother, than by
letting it be understood in general that she greatly disapproved and
bitterly opposed the match. All--forgive me, my lord--all who ever heard
of the late Countess of Glenallan, will learn that without much
surprise."
"But you forget one horrible circumstance, Mr. Oldbuck," said the Earl,
in an agitated voice.
"I am not aware of it," replied the Antiquary.
"The fate of the infant--its disappearance with the confidential
attendant of my mother, and the dreadful surmises which may be drawn from
my conversation with Elspeth."
"If you would have my free opinion, my lord," answered Mr. Oldbuck, "and
will not catch too rapidly at it as matter of hope, I would say that it
is very possible the child yet lives. For thus much I ascertained, by my
former inquiries concerning the event of that deplorable evening, that a
child and woman were carried that night from the cottage at the
Craigburnfoot in a carriage and four by your brother Edward Geraldin
Neville, whose journey towards England with these companions I traced for
several stages. I believed then it was a part of the family compact to
carry a child whom you meant to stigmatize with illegitimacy, out of that
country where chance might have raised protectors and proofs of its
rights. But I now think that your brother, having reason, like yourself,
to believe the child stained with shame yet more indelible, had
nevertheless withdrawn it, partly from regard to the honour of his house,
partly from the risk to which it might have been exposed in the
neighbourhood of the Lady Glenallan."
As he spoke, the Earl of Glenallan grew extremely pale, and had nearly
fallen from his chair.--The alarmed Antiquary ran hither and thither
looking for remedies; but his museum, though sufficiently well filled
with a vast variety of useless matters, contained nothing that could be
serviceable on the present or any other occasion. As he posted out of the
room to borrow his sister's salts, he could not help giving a
constitutional growl of chagrin and wonder at the various incidents which
had converted his mansion, first into an hospital for a wounded duellist,
and now into the sick chamber of a dying nobleman. "And yet," said he, "I
have always kept aloof from the soldiery and the peerage. My
_coenobitium_ has only next to be made a lying-in hospital, and then, I
trow, the transformation will be complete."
When he returned with the remedy, Lord Glenallan was much better. The new
and unexpected light which Mr. Oldbuck had thrown upon the melancholy
history of his family had almost overpowered him. "You think, then, Mr.
Oldbuck--for you are capable of thinking, which I am not--you think,
then, that it is possible--that is, not impossible--my child may yet
live?"
"I think," said the Antiquary, "it is impossible that it could come to
any violent harm through your brother's means. He was known to be a gay
and dissipated man, but not cruel nor dishonourable; nor is it possible,
that, if he had intended any foul play, he would have placed himself so
forward in the charge of the infant, as I will prove to your lordship he
did."
So saying, Mr. Oldbuck opened a drawer of the cabinet of his ancestor
Aldobrand, and produced a bundle of papers tied with a black ribband, and
labelled,--Examinations, etc., taken by Jonathan Oldbuck, J. P., upon the
18th of February, 17--; a little under was written, in a small hand,
_Eheu Evelina_! The tears dropped fast from the Earl's eyes, as he
endeavoured, in vain, to unfasten the knot which secured these documents.
"Your lordship," said Mr. Oldbuck, "had better not read these at present.
Agitated as you are, and having much business before you, you must not
exhaust your strength. Your brother's succession is now, I presume, your
own, and it will be easy for you to make inquiry among his servants and
retainers, so as to hear where the child is, if, fortunately, it shall be
still alive."
"I dare hardly hope it," said the Earl, with a deep sigh. "Why should my
brother have been silent to me?"
"Nay, my lord, why should he have communicated to your lordship the
existence of a being whom you must have supposed the offspring of"--
"Most true--there is an obvious and a kind reason for his being silent.
If anything, indeed, could have added to the horror of the ghastly dream
that has poisoned my whole existence, it must have been the knowledge
that such a child of misery existed."
"Then," continued the Antiquary, "although it would be rash to conclude,
at the distance of more than twenty years, that your son must needs be
still alive because he was not destroyed in infancy, I own I think you
should instantly set on foot inquiries."
"It shall be done," replied Lord Glenallan, catching eagerly at the hope
held out to him, the first he had nourished for many years;--"I will
write to a faithful steward of my father, who acted in the same capacity
under my brother Neville--But, Mr. Oldbuck, I am not my brother's heir."
"Indeed!--I am sorry for that, my lord--it is a noble estate, and the
ruins of the old castle of Neville's-Burgh alone, which are the most
superb relics of Anglo-Norman architecture in that part of the country,
are a possession much to be coveted. I thought your father had no other
son or near relative."
"He had not, Mr. Oldbuck," replied Lord Glenallan; "but my brother
adopted views in politics, and a form of religion, alien from those which
had been always held by our house. Our tempers had long differed, nor did
my unhappy mother always think him sufficiently observant to her. In
short, there was a family quarrel, and my brother, whose property was at
his own free disposal, availed himself of the power vested in him to
choose a stranger for his heir. It is a matter which never struck me as
being of the least consequence--for if worldly possessions could
alleviate misery, I have enough and to spare. But now I shall regret it,
if it throws any difficulty in the way of our inquiries--and I bethink me
that it may; for in case of my having a lawful son of my body, and my
brother dying without issue, my father's possessions stood entailed upon
my son. It is not therefore likely that this heir, be he who he may, will
afford us assistance in making a discovery which may turn out so much to
his own prejudice."
"And in all probability the steward your lordship mentions is also in his
service," said the Antiquary.
"It is most likely; and the man being a Protestant--how far it is safe to
entrust him"--
"I should hope, my lord," said Oldbuck gravely, "that a Protestant may be
as trustworthy as a Catholic. I am doubly interested in the Protestant
faith, my lord. My ancestor, Aldobrand Oldenbuck, printed the celebrated
Confession of Augsburg, as I can show by the original edition now in this
house."
"I have not the least doubt of what you say, Mr. Oldbuck," replied the
Earl, "nor do I speak out of bigotry or intolerance; but probably the
Protestant steward will favour the Protestant heir rather than the
Catholic--if, indeed, my son has been bred in his father's faith--or,
alas! if indeed he yet lives."
"We must look close into this," said Oldbuck, "before committing
ourselves. I have a literary friend at York, with whom I have long
corresponded on the subject of the Saxon horn that is preserved in the
Minster there; we interchanged letters for six years, and have only as
yet been able to settle the first line of the inscription. I will write
forthwith to this gentleman, Dr. Dryasdust, and be particular in my
inquiries concerning the character, etc., of your brother's heir, of the
gentleman employed in his affairs, and what else may be likely to further
your lordship's inquiries. In the meantime your lordship will collect the
evidence of the marriage, which I hope can still be recovered?"
"Unquestionably," replied the Earl: "the witnesses, who were formerly
withdrawn from your research, are still living. My tutor, who solemnized
the marriage, was provided for by a living in France, and has lately
returned to this country as an emigrant, a victim of his zeal for
loyalty, legitimacy, and religion."
"That's one lucky consequence of the French, revolution, my lord--you
must allow that, at least," said Oldbuck: "but no offence; I will act as
warmly in your affairs as if I were of your own faith in politics and
religion. And take my advice--If you want an affair of consequence
properly managed, put it into the hands of an antiquary; for as they are
eternally exercising their genius and research upon trifles, it is
impossible they can be baffled in affairs of importance;--use makes
perfect--and the corps that is most frequently drilled upon the parade,
will be most prompt in its exercise upon the day of battle. And, talking
upon that subject, I would willingly read to your lordship, in order to
pass away the time betwixt and supper"--
"I beg I may not interfere with family arrangements," said Lord
Glenallan, "but I never taste anything after sunset."
"Nor I either, my lord," answered his host, "notwithstanding it is said
to have been the custom of the ancients. But then I dine differently from
your lordship, and therefore am better enabled to dispense with those
elaborate entertainments which my womankind (that is, my sister and
niece, my lord) are apt to place on the table, for the display rather of
their own house-wifery than the accommodation of our wants. However, a
broiled bone, or a smoked haddock, or an oyster, or a slice of bacon of
our own curing, with a toast and a tankard--or something or other of that
sort, to close the orifice of the stomach before going to bed, does not
fall under my restriction, nor, I hope, under your lordship's."
"My no-supper is literal, Mr. Oldbuck; but I will attend you at your meal
with pleasure."
"Well, my lord," replied the Antiquary, "I will endeavour to entertain
your ears at least, since I cannot banquet your palate. What I am about
to read to your lordship relates to the upland glens."
Lord Glenallan, though he would rather have recurred to the subject of
his own uncertainties, was compelled to make a sign of rueful civility
and acquiescence.
The Antiquary, therefore, took out his portfolio of loose sheets, and
after premising that the topographical details here laid down were
designed to illustrate a slight essay upon castrametation, which had been
read with indulgence at several societies of Antiquaries, he commenced as
follows: "The subject, my lord, is the hill-fort of Quickens-bog, with
the site of which your lordship is doubtless familiar--it is upon your
store-farm of Mantanner, in the barony of Clochnaben."
"I think I have heard the names of these places," said the Earl, in
answer to the Antiquary's appeal.
"Heard the name? and the farm brings him six hundred a-year--O Lord!"
Such was the scarce-subdued ejaculation of the Antiquary. But his
hospitality got the better of his surprise, and he proceeded to read his
essay with an audible voice, in great glee at having secured a patient,
and, as he fondly hoped, an interested hearer.
"Quickens-bog may at first seem to derive its name from the plant
_Quicken,_ by which, _Scottice,_ we understand couch-grass, dog-grass, or
the _Triticum repens_ of Linnaeus, and the common English monosyllable
_Bog,_ by which we mean, in popular language, a marsh or morass--in
Latin, _Palus._ But it may confound the rash adopters of the more obvious
etymological derivations, to learn that the couch-grass or dog-grass, or,
to speak scientifically, the _Triticum repens_ of Linnaeus, does not grow
within a quarter of a mile of this castrum or hill-fort, whose ramparts
are uniformly clothed with short verdant turf; and that we must seek a
bog or _palus_ at a still greater distance, the nearest being that of
Gird-the-mear, a full half-mile distant. The last syllable, _bog,_ is
obviously, therefore, a mere corruption of the Saxon _Burgh,_ which we
find in the various transmutations of _Burgh, Burrow, Brough, Bruff,
Buff,_ and _Boff,_ which last approaches very near the sound in question
--since, supposing the word to have been originally _borgh,_ which is the
genuine Saxon spelling, a slight change, such as modern organs too often
make upon ancient sounds, will produce first _Bogh,_ and then, _elisa H,_
or compromising and sinking the guttural, agreeable to the common
vernacular practice, you have either _Boff_ or _Bog_ as it happens. The
word _Quickens_ requires in like manner to be altered,--decomposed, as it
were,--and reduced to its original and genuine sound, ere we can discern
its real meaning. By the ordinary exchange of the _Qu_ into _Wh,_
familiar to the rudest tyro who has opened a book of old Scottish poetry,
we gain either Whilkens, or Whichensborgh--put we may suppose, by way of
question, as if those who imposed the name, struck with the extreme
antiquity of the place, had expressed in it an interrogation, To whom did
this fortress belong?'--Or, it might be _Whackens-burgh,_ from the Saxon
_Whacken,_ to strike with the hand, as doubtless the skirmishes near a
place of such apparent consequence must have legitimated such a
derivation," etc. etc. etc.
I will be more merciful to my readers than Oldbuck was to his guest; for,
considering his opportunities of gaining patient attention from a person
of such consequence as Lord Glenallan were not many, he used, or rather
abused, the present to the uttermost.
CHAPTER FIFTEENTH.
Crabbed age and youth
Cannot live together:--
Youth is full of pleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave,
Age like winter bare.
Shakspeare.
In the morning of the following day, the Antiquary, who was something of
a sluggard, was summoned from his bed a full hour earlier than his custom
by Caxon. "What's the matter now?" he exclaimed, yawning and stretching
forth his hand to the huge gold repeater, which, bedded upon his India
silk handkerchief, was laid safe by his pillow--"what's the matter now,
Caxon?--it can't be eight o'clock yet."
"Na, sir,--but my lord's man sought me out, for he fancies me your
honour's valley-de-sham,--and sae I am, there's nae doubt o't, baith your
honour's and the minister's--at least ye hae nae other that I ken o'--and
I gie a help to Sir Arthur too, but that's mair in the way o' my
profession."
"Well, well--never mind that," said the Antiquary--"happy is he that is
his own valley-de-sham, as you call it--But why disturb my morning's
rest?"
"Ou, sir, the great man's been up since peep o' day, and he's steered the
town to get awa an express to fetch his carriage, and it will be here
briefly, and he wad like to see your honour afore he gaes awa."
"Gadso!" ejaculated Oldbuck, "these great men use one's house and time as
if they were their own property. Well, it's once and away. Has Jenny come
to her senses yet, Caxon?"
"Troth, sir, but just middling," replied the barber; "she's been in a
swither about the jocolate this morning, and was like to hae toomed it a'
out into the slap-bason, and drank it hersell in her ecstacies--but she's
won ower wi't, wi' the help o' Miss M'Intyre."
"Then all my womankind are on foot and scrambling, and I must enjoy my
quiet bed no longer, if I would have a well-regulated house--Lend me my
gown. And what are the news at Fairport?"
"Ou, sir, what can they be about but this grand news o' my lord,"
answered the old man, "that hasna been ower the door-stane, they threep
to me, for this twenty years--this grand news of his coming to visit your
honour?"
"Aha!" said Monkbarns; "and what do they say of that, Caxon?"
"'Deed, sir, they hae various opinions. Thae fallows, that are the
democraws, as they ca' them, that are again' the king and the law, and
hairpowder and dressing o' gentlemen's wigs--a wheen blackguards--they
say he's come doun to speak wi' your honour about bringing doun his hill
lads and Highland tenantry to break up the meetings of the Friends o' the
People;--and when I said your honour never meddled wi' the like o' sic
things where there was like to be straiks and bloodshed, they said, if ye
didna, your nevoy did, and that he was weel ken'd to be a kingsman that
wad fight knee-deep, and that ye were the head and he was the hand, and
that the Yerl was to bring out the men and the siller."
"Come," said the Antiquary, laughing--"I am glad the war is to cost me
nothing but counsel."
"Na, na," said Caxon--"naebody thinks your honour wad either fight
yoursell, or gie ony feck o' siller to ony side o' the question."
"Umph! well, that's the opinion of the democraws, as you call them--What
say the rest o' Fairport?"
"In troth," said the candid reporter, "I canna say it's muckle better.
Captain Coquet, of the volunteers--that's him that's to be the new
collector,--and some of the other gentlemen of the Blue and a' Blue Club,
are just saying it's no right to let popists, that hae sae mony French
friends as the Yerl of Glenallan, gang through the country, and--but your
honour will maybe be angry?"
"Not I, Caxon," said Oldbuck; "fire away as if you were Captain Coquet's
whole platoon--I can stand it."
"Weel then, they say, sir, that as ye didna encourage the petition about
the peace, and wadna petition in favour of the new tax, and as you were
again' bringing in the yeomanry at the meal mob, but just for settling
the folk wi' the constables--they say ye're no a gude friend to
government; and that thae sort o' meetings between sic a powerfu' man as
the Yerl, and sic a wise man as you,--Od they think they suld be lookit
after; and some say ye should baith be shankit aff till Edinburgh
Castle."
"On my word," said the Antiquary, "I am infinitely obliged to my
neighbours for their good opinion of me! And so I, that have never
interfered with their bickerings, but to recommend quiet and moderate
measures, am given up on both sides as a man very likely to commit high
treason, either against King or People?--Give me my coat, Caxon--give me
my coat;--it's lucky I live not in their report. Have you heard anything
of Taffril and his vessel?"
Caxon's countenance fell.--"Na, sir, and the winds hae been high, and
this is a fearfu' coast to cruise on in thae eastern gales,--the
headlands rin sae far out, that a veshel's embayed afore I could sharp a
razor; and then there's nae harbour or city of refuge on our coast--a'
craigs and breakers;--a veshel that rins ashore wi' us flees asunder like
the powther when I shake the pluff--and it's as ill to gather ony o't
again. I aye tell my daughter thae things when she grows wearied for a
letter frae Lieutenant Taffril--It's aye an apology for him. Ye sudna
blame him, says I, hinny, for ye little ken what may hae happened."
"Ay, ay, Caxon, thou art as good a comforter as a valet-de-chambre.--Give
me a white stock, man,--dye think I can go down with a handkerchief about
my neck when I have company?"
"Dear sir, the Captain says a three-nookit hankercher is the maist
fashionable overlay, and that stocks belang to your honour and me that
are auld warld folk. I beg pardon for mentioning us twa thegither, but it
was what he said."
"The Captain's a puppy, and you are a goose, Caxon."
"It's very like it may be sae," replied the acquiescent barber: "I am
sure your honour kens best."
Before breakfast, Lord Glenallan, who appeared in better spirits than he
had evinced in the former evening, went particularly through the various
circumstances of evidence which the exertions of Oldbuck had formerly
collected; and pointing out the means which he possessed of completing
the proof of his marriage, expressed his resolution instantly to go
through the painful task of collecting and restoring the evidence
concerning the birth of Eveline Neville, which Elspeth had stated to be
in his mother's possession.
"And yet, Mr. Oldbuck," he said, "I feel like a man who receives
important tidings ere he is yet fully awake, and doubt whether they refer
to actual life, or are not rather a continuation of his dream. This
woman--this Elspeth,--she is in the extremity of age, and approaching in
many respects to dotage. Have I not--it is a hideous question--have I not
been hasty in the admission of her present evidence, against that which
she formerly gave me to a very--very different purpose?"
Mr. Oldbuck paused a moment, and then answered with firmness--"No, my
lord; I cannot think you have any reason to suspect the truth of what she
has told you last, from no apparent impulse but the urgency of
conscience. Her confession was voluntary, disinterested, distinct,
consistent with itself, and with all the other known circumstances of the
case. I would lose no time, however, in examining and arranging the other
documents to which she has referred; and I also think her own statement
should be taken down, if possible in a formal manner. We thought of
setting about this together. But it will be a relief to your lordship,
and moreover have a more impartial appearance, were I to attempt the
investigation alone in the capacity of a magistrate. I will do this--at
least I will attempt it, so soon as I shall see her in a favourable state
of mind to undergo an examination."
Lord Glenallan wrung the Antiquary's hand in token of grateful
acquiescence. "I cannot express to you," he said, "Mr. Oldbuck, how much
your countenance and cooperation in this dark and most melancholy
business gives me relief and confidence. I cannot enough applaud myself
for yielding to the sudden impulse which impelled me, as it were, to drag
you into my confidence, and which arose from the experience I had
formerly of your firmness in discharge of your duty as a magistrate, and
as a friend to the memory of the unfortunate. Whatever the issue of these
matters may prove,--and I would fain hope there is a dawn breaking on the
fortunes of my house, though I shall not live to enjoy its light,--but
whatsoever be the issue, you have laid my family and me under the most
lasting obligation."
"My lord," answered the Antiquary, "I must necessarily have the greatest
respect for your lordship's family, which I am well aware is one of the
most ancient in Scotland, being certainly derived from Aymer de Geraldin,
who sat in parliament at Perth, in the reign of Alexander II., and who by
the less vouched, yet plausible tradition of the country, is said to have
been descended from the Marmor of Clochnaben. Yet, with all my veneration
for your ancient descent, I must acknowledge that I find myself still
more bound to give your lordship what assistance is in my limited power,
from sincere sympathy with your sorrows, and detestation at the frauds
which have so long been practised upon you.--But, my lord, the matin meal
is, I see, now prepared--Permit me to show your lordship the way through
the intricacies of my _cenobitium,_ which is rather a combination of
cells, jostled oddly together, and piled one upon the top of the other,
than a regular house. I trust you will make yourself some amends for the
spare diet of yesterday."
But this was no part of Lord Glenallan's system. Having saluted the
company with the grave and melancholy politeness which distinguished his
manners, his servant placed before him a slice of toasted bread, with a
glass of fair water, being the fare on which he usually broke his fast.
While the morning's meal of the young soldier and the old Antiquary was
despatched in much more substantial manner, the noise of wheels was
heard.
"Your lordship's carriage, I believe," said Oldbuck, stepping to the
window. "On my word, a handsome _quadriga,_--for such, according to the
best _scholium,_ was the _vox signata_ of the Romans for a chariot which,
like that of your lordship, was drawn by four horses."
"And I will venture to say," cried Hector, eagerly gazing from the
window, "that four handsomer or better-matched bays never were put in
harness--What fine forehands!--what capital chargers they would make!--
Might I ask if they are of your lordship's own breeding?"
"I--I--rather believe so," said Lord Glenallan; "but I have been so
negligent of my domestic matters, that I am ashamed to say I must apply
to Calvert" (looking at the domestic).
"They are of your lordship's own breeding," said Calvert, "got by Mad Tom
out of Jemina and Yarico, your lordship's brood mares."
"Are there more of the set?" said Lord Glenallan.
"Two, my lord,--one rising four, the other five off this grass, both very
handsome."
"Then let Dawkins bring them down to Monkbarns to-morrow," said the Earl
--"I hope Captain M'Intyre will accept them, if they are at all fit for
service."
Captain M'Intyre's eyes sparkled, and he was profuse in grateful
acknowledgments; while Oldbuck, on the other hand, seizing the Earl's
sleeve, endeavoured to intercept a present which boded no good to his
corn-chest and hay-loft.
"My lord--my lord--much obliged--much obliged--But Hector is a
pedestrian, and never mounts on horseback in battle--he is a Highland
soldier, moreover, and his dress ill adapted for cavalry service. Even
Macpherson never mounted his ancestors on horseback, though he has the
impudence to talk of their being car-borne--and that, my lord, is what is
running in Hector's head--it is the vehicular, not the equestrian
exercise, which he envies--
Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum
Collegisse juvat.
His noddle is running on a curricle, which he has neither money to buy,
nor skill to drive if he had it; and I assure your lordship, that the
possession of two such quadrupeds would prove a greater scrape than any
of his duels, whether with human foe or with my friend the _phoca._"
"You must command us all at present, Mr. Oldbuck," said the Earl
politely; "but I trust you will not ultimately prevent my gratifying my
young friend in some way that may afford him pleasure."
"Anything useful, my lord," said Oldbuck, "but no _curriculum_--I protest
he might as rationally propose to keep a _quadriga_ at once--And now I
think of it, what is that old post-chaise from Fairport come jingling
here for?--I did not send for it."
"_I_ did, sir," said Hector, rather sulkily, for he was not much
gratified by his uncle's interference to prevent the Earl's intended
generosity, nor particularly inclined to relish either the disparagement
which he cast upon his skill as a charioteer, or the mortifying allusion
to his bad success in the adventures of the duel and the seal.
"You did, sir?" echoed the Antiquary, in answer to his concise
information. "And pray, what may be your business with a post-chaise? Is
this splendid equipage--this _biga,_ as I may call it--to serve for an
introduction to a _quadriga_ or a _curriculum_?"
"Really, sir," replied the young soldier, "if it be necessary to give you
such a specific explanation, I am going to Fairport on a little
business."
"Will you permit me to inquire into the nature of that business, Hector?"
answered his uncle, who loved the exercise of a little brief authority
over his relative. "I should suppose any regimental affairs might be
transacted by your worthy deputy the sergeant--an honest gentleman, who
is so good as to make Monkbarns his home since his arrival among us--I
should, I say, suppose that he may transact any business of yours,
without your spending a day's pay on two dog-horses, and such a
combination of rotten wood, cracked glass, and leather--such a skeleton
of a post-chaise, as that before the door."
"It is not regimental business, sir, that calls me; and, since you insist
upon knowing, I must inform you Caxon has brought word this morning that
old Ochiltree, the beggar, is to be brought up for examination to-day,
previous to his being committed for trial; and I'm going to see that the
poor old fellow gets fair play--that's all."
"Ay?--I heard something of this, but could not think it serious. And
pray, Captain Hector, who are so ready to be every man's second on all
occasions of strife, civil or military, by land, by water, or on the
sea-beach, what is your especial concern with old Edie Ochiltree?"
"He was a soldier in my father's company, sir," replied Hector; "and
besides, when I was about to do a very foolish thing one day, he
interfered to prevent me, and gave me almost as much good advice, sir, as
you could have done yourself."
"And with the same good effect, I dare be sworn for it--eh, Hector?--
Come, confess it was thrown away."
"Indeed it was, sir; but I see no reason that my folly should make me
less grateful for his intended kindness."
"Bravo, Hector! that's the most sensible thing I ever heard you say. But
always tell me your plans without reserve,--why, I will go with you
myself, man. I am sure the old fellow is not guilty, and I will assist
him in such a scrape much more effectually than you can do. Besides, it
will save thee half-a-guinea, my lad--a consideration which I heartily
pray you to have more frequently before your eyes."
Lord Glenallan's politeness had induced him to turn away and talk with
the ladies, when the dispute between the uncle and nephew appeared to
grow rather too animated to be fit for the ear of a stranger, but the
Earl mingled again in the conversation when the placable tone of the
Antiquary expressed amity. Having received a brief account of the
mendicant, and of the accusation brought against him, which Oldbuck did
not hesitate to ascribe to the malice of Dousterswivel, Lord Glenallan
asked, whether the individual in question had not been a soldier
formerly?--He was answered in the affirmative.
"Had he not," continued his Lordship, "a coarse blue coat, or gown, with
a badge?--was he not a tall, striking-looking old man, with grey beard
and hair, who kept his body remarkably erect, and talked with an air of
ease and independence, which formed a strong contrast to his profession?"
"All this is an exact picture of the man," refumed Oldbuck.
"Why, then," continued Lord Glenallan, "although I fear I can be of no
use to him in his present condition, yet I owe him a debt of gratitude
for being the first person who brought me some tidings of the utmost
importance. I would willingly offer him a place of comfortable
retirement, when he is extricated from his present situation."
"I fear, my lord," said Oldbuck, "he would have difficulty in reconciling
his vagrant habits to the acceptance of your bounty, at least I know the
experiment has been tried without effect. To beg from the public at large
he considers as independence, in comparison to drawing his whole support
from the bounty of an individual. He is so far a true philosopher, as to
be a contemner of all ordinary rules of hours and times. When he is
hungry he eats; when thirsty he drinks; when weary he sleeps; and with
such indifference with respect to the means and appliances about which we
make a fuss, that I suppose he was never ill dined or ill lodged in his
life. Then he is, to a certain extent, the oracle of the district through
which he travels--their genealogist, their newsman, their master of the
revels, their doctor at a pinch, or their divine;--I promise you he has
too many duties, and is too zealous in performing them, to be easily
bribed to abandon his calling. But I should be truly sorry if they sent
the poor light-hearted old man to lie for weeks in a jail. I am convinced
the confinement would break his heart."
Thus finished the conference. Lord Glenallan, having taken leave of the
ladies, renewed his offer to Captain M'Intyre of the freedom of his
manors for sporting, which was joyously accepted,
"I can only add," he said, "that if your spirits are not liable to be
damped by dull company, Glenallan House is at all times open to you. On
two days of the week, Friday and Saturday, I keep my apartment, which
will be rather a relief to you, as you will be left to enjoy the society
of my almoner, Mr. Gladsmoor, who is a scholar and a man of the world."
Hector, his heart exulting at the thoughts of ranging through the
preserves of Glenallan House, and over the well-protected moors of
Clochnaben--nay, joy of joys! the deer-forest of Strath-Bonnel--made many
acknowledgements of the honour and gratitude he felt. Mr. Oldbuck was
sensible of the Earl's attention to his nephew; Miss M'Intyre was pleased
because her brother was gratified; and Miss Griselda Oldbuck looked
forward with glee to the potting of whole bags of moorfowl and
black-game, of which Mr. Blattergowl was a professed admirer. Thus,--
which is always the case when a man of rank leaves a private family where
he has studied to appear obliging,--all were ready to open in praise of
the Earl as soon as he had taken his leave, and was wheeled off in his
chariot by the four admired bays. But the panegyric was cut short, for
Oldbuck and his nephew deposited themselves in the Fairport hack, which,
with one horse trotting, and the other urged to a canter, creaked,
jingled, and hobbled towards that celebrated seaport, in a manner that
formed a strong contrast to the rapidity and smoothness with which Lord
Glenallan's equipage had seemed to vanish from their eyes.
CHAPTER SIXTEENTH.
Yes! I love justice well--as well as you do--
But since the good dame's blind, she shall excuse me
If, time and reason fitting, I prove dumb;--
The breath I utter now shall be no means
To take away from me my breath in future.
Old Play.
By dint of charity from the town's-people in aid of the load of
provisions he had brought with him into durance, Edie Ochiltree had
passed a day or two's confinement without much impatience, regretting his
want of freedom the less, as the weather proved broken and rainy.
"The prison," he said, "wasna sae dooms bad a place as it was ca'd. Ye
had aye a good roof ower your head to fend aff the weather, and, if the
windows werena glazed, it was the mair airy and pleasant for the summer
season. And there were folk enow to crack wi', and he had bread eneugh to
eat, and what need he fash himsell about the rest o't?"
The courage of our philosophical mendicant began, however, to abate, when
the sunbeams shone fair on the rusty bars of his grated dungeon, and a
miserable linnet, whose cage some poor debtor had obtained permission to
attach to the window, began to greet them with his whistle.
