CHAPTER LXXI
This is no mine ain house, I ken by the bigging o't
Old Song.
The nuptial party travelled in great style. There was a coach and sixafter the newest pattern, which Sir Everard had presented to hisnephew, that dazzled with its splendour the eyes of one half ofScotland; there was the family coach of Mr. Rubrick;--both these werecrowded with ladies,--and there were gentlemen on horseback, with theirservants, to the number of a round score. Nevertheless, without havingthe fear of famine before his eyes, Bailie Macwheeble met them in theroad to entreat that they would pass by his house at Little Veolan. TheBaron stared, and said his son and he would certainly ride by LittleVeolan and pay their compliments to the Bailie, but could not think ofbringing with them the 'haill comitatus nuptialis, or matrimonialprocession.' He added, 'that, as he understood that the barony had beensold by its unworthy possessor, he was glad to see his old friendDuncan had regained his situation under the new Dominus, orproprietor.' The Bailie ducked, bowed, and fidgeted, and then againinsisted upon his invitation; until the Baron, though rather piqued atthe pertinacity of his instances, could not nevertheless refuse toconsent without making evident sensations which he was anxious toconceal.
He fell into a deep study as they approached the top of the avenue, andwas only startled from it by observing that the battlements werereplaced, the ruins cleared away, and (most wonderful of all) that thetwo great stone bears, those mutilated Dagons of his idolatry, hadresumed their posts over the gateway. 'Now this new proprietor,' saidhe to Edward, 'has shown mair gusto, as the Italians call it, in theshort time he has had this domain, than that hound Malcolm, though Ibred him here mysell, has acquired vita adhuc durante. And now I talkof hounds, is not yon Ban and Buscar who come scouping up the avenuewith Davie Gellatley?'
'I vote we should go to meet them, sir,' said Waverley, 'for I believethe present master of the house is Colonel Talbot, who will expect tosee us. We hesitated to mention to you at first that he had purchasedyour ancient patrimonial property, and even yet, if you do not inclineto visit him, we can pass on to the Bailie's.'
The Baron had occasion for all his magnanimity. However, he drew a longbreath, took a long snuff, and observed, since they had brought him sofar, he could not pass the Colonel's gate, and he would be happy to seethe new master of his old tenants. He alighted accordingly, as did theother gentlemen and ladies; he gave his arm to his daughter, and asthey descended the avenue pointed out to her how speedily the 'DivaPecunia of the Southron--their tutelary deity, he might call her--hadremoved the marks of spoliation.'
In truth, not only had the felled trees been removed, but, their stumpsbeing grubbed up and the earth round them levelled and sown with grass,every mark of devastation, unless to an eye intimately acquainted withthe spot, was already totally obliterated. There was a similarreformation in the outward man of Davie Gellatley, who met them, everynow and then stopping to admire the new suit which graced his person,in the same colours as formerly, but bedizened fine enough to haveserved Touchstone himself. He danced up with his usual ungainlyfrolics, first to the Baron and then to Rose, passing his hands overhis clothes, crying, 'Bra', bra' Davie,' and scarce able to sing a barto an end of his thousand-and-one songs for the breathless extravaganceof his joy. The dogs also acknowledged their old master with a thousandgambols. 'Upon my conscience, Rose,' ejaculated the Baron, 'thegratitude o' thae dumb brutes and of that puir innocent brings thetears into my auld een, while that schellum Malcolm--but I'm obliged toColonel Talbot for putting my hounds into such good condition, andlikewise for puir Davie. But, Rose, my dear, we must not permit them tobe a life-rent burden upon the estate.'
As he spoke, Lady Emily, leaning upon the arm of her husband, met theparty at the lower gate with a thousand welcomes. After the ceremony ofintroduction had been gone through, much abridged by the ease andexcellent breeding of Lady Emily, she apologised for having used alittle art to wile them back to a place which might awaken some painfulreflections--'But as it was to change masters, we were very desirousthat the Baron--'
'Mr. Bradwardine, madam, if you please,' said the old gentleman.
'--Mr. Bradwardine, then, and Mr. Waverley should see what we have donetowards restoring the mansion of your fathers to its former state.'
The Baron answered with a low bow. Indeed, when he entered the court,excepting that the heavy stables, which had been burnt down, werereplaced by buildings of a lighter and more picturesque appearance, allseemed as much as possible restored to the state in which he had leftit when he assumed arms some months before. The pigeon-house wasreplenished; the fountain played with its usual activity, and not onlythe bear who predominated over its basin, but all the other bearswhatsoever, were replaced on their several stations, and renewed orrepaired with so much care that they bore no tokens of the violencewhich had so lately descended upon them. While these minutiae had beenso needfully attended to, it is scarce necessary to add that the houseitself had been thoroughly repaired, as well as the gardens, with thestrictest attention to maintain the original character of both, and toremove as far as possible all appearance of the ravage they hadsustained. The Baron gazed in silent wonder; at length he addressedColonel Talbot--
'While I acknowledge my obligation to you, sir, for the restoration ofthe badge of our family, I cannot but marvel that you have nowhereestablished your own crest, whilk is, I believe, a mastiff, ancientlycalled a talbot; as the poet has it,
A talbot strong, a sturdy tyke.
At least such a dog is the crest of the martial and renowned Earls ofShrewsbury, to whom your family are probably blood-relations.'
'I believe,' said the Colonel, smiling, 'our dogs are whelps of thesame litter; for my part, if crests were to dispute precedence, Ishould be apt to let them, as the proverb says, "fight dog, fightbear."'
As he made this speech, at which the Baron took another long pinch ofsnuff, they had entered the house, that is, the Baron, Rose, and LadyEmily, with young Stanley and the Bailie, for Edward and the rest ofthe party remained on the terrace to examine a new greenhouse stockedwith the finest plants. The Baron resumed his favourite topic--'Howeverit may please you to derogate from the honour of your burgonet, ColonelTalbot, which is doubtless your humour, as I have seen in othergentlemen of birth and honour in your country, I must again repeat itas a most ancient and distinguished bearing, as well as that of myyoung friend Francis Stanley, which is the eagle and child.'
'The bird and bantling they call it in Derbyshire, sir,' said Stanley.
'Ye're a daft callant, sir,' said the Baron, who had a great liking tothis young man, perhaps because he sometimes teased him--'Ye're a daftcallant, and I must correct you some of these days,' shaking his greatbrown fist at him. 'But what I meant to say, Colonel Talbot, is, thatyours is an ancient prosapia, or descent, and since you have lawfullyand justly acquired the estate for you and yours which I have lost forme and mine, I wish it may remain in your name as many centuries as ithas done in that of the late proprietor's.'
'That,' answered the Colonel, 'is very handsome, Mr. Bradwardine,indeed.'
'And yet, sir, I cannot but marvel that you, Colonel, whom I noted tohave so much of the amor patritz when we met in Edinburgh as even tovilipend other countries, should have chosen to establish your Lares,or household gods, procul a patrice finibus, and in a manner toexpatriate yourself.'
'Why really, Baron, I do not see why, to keep the secret of thesefoolish boys, Waverley and Stanley, and of my wife, who is no wiser,one old soldier should continue to impose upon another. You must know,then, that I have so much of that same prejudice in favour of my nativecountry, that the sum of money which I advanced to the seller of thisextensive barony has only purchased for me a box in ----shire, calledBrere-wood Lodge, with about two hundred and fifty acres of land, thechief merit of which is, that it is within a very few miles ofWaverley-Honour.'
'And who, then, in the name of Heaven, has bought this property?'
'That,' s
aid the Colonel, 'it is this gentleman's profession toexplain.'
The Bailie, whom this reference regarded, and who had all this whileshifted from one foot to another with great impatience, 'like a hen,'as he afterwards said, 'upon a het girdle'; and chuckling, he mighthave added, like the said hen in all the glory of laying an egg, nowpushed forward. 'That I can, that I can, your honour,' drawing from hispocket a budget of papers, and untying the red tape with a handtrembling with eagerness. 'Here is the disposition and assignation byMalcolm Bradwardine of Inch-Grabbit, regularly signed and tested interms of the statute, whereby, for a certain sum of sterling moneypresently contented and paid to him, he has disponed, alienated, andconveyed the whole estate and barony of Bradwardine, Tully-Veolan, andothers, with the fortalice and manor-place--'
'For God's sake, to the point, sir; I have all that by heart,' said theColonel.
'--To Cosmo Comyne Bradwardme, Esq.,' pursued the Bailie, 'his heirsand assignees, simply and irredeemably, to be held either a me vel deme--'
'Pray read short, sir.'
'On the conscience of an honest man, Colonel, I read as short as isconsistent with style--under the burden and reservation always--'
'Mr. Macwheeble, this would outlast a Russian winter; give me leave. Inshort, Mr. Bradwardine, your family estate is your own once more infull property, and at your absolute disposal, but only burdened withthe sum advanced to re-purchase it, which I understand is utterlydisproportioned to its value.'
'An auld sang--an auld sang, if it please your honours,' cried theBailie, rubbing his hands; 'look at the rental book.'
'--Which sum being advanced, by Mr. Edward Waverley, chiefly from theprice of his father's property which I bought from him, is secured tohis lady your daughter and her family by this marriage.'
'It is a catholic security,' shouted the Bailie,' to Rose ComyneBradwardine, alias Wauverley, in life-rent, and the children of thesaid marriage in fee; and I made up a wee bit minute of an antenuptialcontract, intuitu matrimonij, so it cannot be subject to reductionhereafter, as a donation inter virum et uxorem.'
It is difficult to say whether the worthy Baron was most delighted withthe restitution of his family property or with the delicacy andgenerosity that left him unfettered to pursue his purpose in disposingof it after his death, and which avoided as much as possible even theappearance of laying him under pecuniary obligation. When his firstpause of joy and astonishment was over, his thoughts turned to theunworthy heir-male, who, he pronounced, had sold his birthright, likeEsau, for a mess o' pottage.
'But wha cookit the parritch for him?' exclaimed the Bailie; 'I wadlike to ken that;--wha but your honour's to command, Duncan Macwheeble?His honour, young Mr. Wauverley, put it a' into my hand frae thebeginning--frae the first calling o' the summons, as I may say. Icircumvented them--I played at bogle about the bush wi' them--Icajolled them; and if I havena gien Inch-Grabbit and Jamie Howie abonnie begunk, they ken themselves. Him a writer! I didna gae slapdashto them wi' our young bra' bridegroom, to gar them baud up the market.Na, na; I scared them wi' our wild tenantry, and the Mac-Ivors, thatare but ill settled yet, till they durstna on ony errand whatsoevergang ower the doorstane after gloaming, for fear John Heatherblutter,or some siccan dare-the-deil, should tak a baff at them; then, on theother hand, I beflummed them wi' Colonel Talbot; wad they offer to keepup the price again' the Duke's friend? did they na ken wha was master?had they na seen eneugh, by the sad example of mony a puir misguidedunhappy body--'
'Who went to Derby, for example, Mr. Macwheeble?' said the Colonel tohim aside.
'O whisht, Colonel, for the love o' God! let that flee stick i' thewa'. There were mony good folk at Derby; and it's ill speaking ofhalters'--with a sly cast of his eye toward the Baron, who was in adeep reverie.
Starting out of it at once, he took Macwheeble by the button and ledhim into one of the deep window recesses, whence only fragments oftheir conversation reached the rest of the party. It certainly relatedto stamp-paper and parchment; for no other subject, even from the mouthof his patron, and he once more an efficient one, could have arrestedso deeply the Bailie's reverent and absorbed attention.
'I understand your honour perfectly; it can be dune as easy as takingout a decreet in absence.'
'To her and him, after my demise, and to their heirs-male, butpreferring the second son, if God shall bless them with two, who is tocarry the name and arms of Bradwardine of that ilk, without any othername or armorial bearings whatsoever.'
'Tut, your honour!' whispered the Bailie, 'I'll mak a slight jottingthe morn; it will cost but a charter of resignation in favorem; andI'll hae it ready for the next term in Exchequer.'
Their private conversation ended, the Baron was now summoned to do thehonours of Tully-Veolan to new guests. These were Major Melville ofCairnvreckan and the Reverend Mr. Morton, followed by two or threeothers of the Baron's acquaintances, who had been made privy to hishaving again acquired the estate of his fathers. The shouts of thevillagers were also heard beneath in the court-yard; for SaundersSaunderson, who had kept the secret for several days with laudableprudence, had unloosed his tongue upon beholding the arrival of thecarriages.
But, while Edward received Major Melville with politeness and theclergyman with the most affectionate and grateful kindness, hisfather-in-law looked a little awkward, as uncertain how he shouldanswer the necessary claims of hospitality to his guests, and forwardthe festivity of his tenants. Lady Emily relieved him by intimatingthat, though she must be an indifferent representative of Mrs. EdwardWaverley in many respects, she hoped the Baron would approve of theentertainment she had ordered in expectation of so many guests; andthat they would find such other accommodations provided as might insome degree support the ancient hospitality of Tully-Veolan. It isimpossible to describe the pleasure which this assurance gave theBaron, who, with an air of gallantry half appertaining to the stiffScottish laird and half to the officer in the French service, offeredhis arm to the fair speaker, and led the way, in something between astride and a minuet step, into the large dining parlour, followed byall the rest of the good company.
By dint of Saunderson's directions and exertions, all here, as well asin the other apartments, had been disposed as much as possibleaccording to the old arrangement; and where new movables had beennecessary, they had been selected in the same character with the oldfurniture. There was one addition to this fine old apartment, however,which drew tears into the Baron's eyes. It was a large and spiritedpainting, representing Fergus Mac-Ivor and Waverley in their Highlanddress, the scene a wild, rocky, and mountainous pass, down which theclan were descending in the background. It was taken from a spiritedsketch, drawn while they were in Edinburgh by a young man of highgenius, and had been painted on a full-length scale by an eminentLondon artist. Raeburn himself (whose 'Highland Chiefs' do all but walkout of the canvas) could not have done more justice to the subject; andthe ardent, fiery, and impetuous character of the unfortunate Chief ofGlennaquoich was finely contrasted with the contemplative, fanciful,and enthusiastic expression of his happier friend. Beside this paintinghung the arms which Waverley had borne in the unfortunate civil war.The whole piece was beheld with admiration and deeper feelings.
Men must, however, eat, in spite both of sentiment and vertu; and theBaron, while he assumed the lower end of the table, insisted that LadyEmily should do the honours of the head, that they might, he said, seta meet example to the YOUNG FOLK. After a pause of deliberation,employed in adjusting in his own brain the precedence between thePresbyterian kirk and Episcopal church of Scotland, he requested Mr.Morton, as the stranger, would crave a blessing, observing that Mr.Rubrick, who was at HOME, would return thanks for the distinguishedmercies it had been his lot to experience. The dinner was excellent.Saunderson attended in full costume, with all the former domestics, whohad been collected, excepting one or two, that had not been heard ofsince the affair of Culloden. The cellars were stocked with wine whichwas pronounced to be superb, and it had been contrived that t
he Bear ofthe Fountain, in the courtyard, should (for that night only) playexcellent brandy punch for the benefit of the lower orders.
When the dinner was over the Baron, about to propose a toast, cast asomewhat sorrowful look upon the sideboard, which, however, exhibitedmuch of his plate, that had either been secreted or purchased byneighbouring gentlemen from the soldiery, and by them gladly restoredto the original owner.
"In the late times," he said, "those must be thankful who have savedlife and land; yet when I am about to pronounce this toast, I cannotbut regret an old heirloom, Lady Emily, a POCULUM POTATORIUM, ColonelTalbot--"
Here the Baron's elbow was gently touched by his major-domo, and,turning round, he beheld in the hands of Alexander ab Alexandro thecelebrated cup of Saint Duthac, the Blessed Bear of Bradwardine! Iquestion if the recovery of his estate afforded him more rapture. "Bymy honour," he said, "one might almost believe in brownies and fairies,Lady Emily, when your ladyship is in presence!"
"I am truly happy," said Colonel Talbot, "that, by the recovery of thispiece of family antiquity, it has fallen within my power to give yousome token of my deep interest in all that concerns my young friendEdward. But that you may not suspect Lady Emily for a sorceress, or mefor a conjuror, which is no joke in Scotland, I must tell you thatFrank Stanley, your friend, who has been seized with a tartan feverever since he heard Edward's tales of old Scottish manners, happened todescribe to us at second-hand this remarkable cup. My servant,Spontoon, who, like a true old soldier, observes everything and sayslittle, gave me afterwards to understand that he thought he had seenthe piece of plate Mr. Stanley mentioned in the possession of a certainMrs. Nosebag, who, having been originally the helpmate of a pawnbroker,had found opportunity during the late unpleasant scenes in Scotland totrade a little in her old line, and so became the depositary of themore valuable part of the spoil of half the army. You may believe thecup was speedily recovered; and it will give me very great pleasure ifyou allow me to suppose that its value is not diminished by having beenrestored through my means."
A tear mingled with the wine which the Baron filled, as he proposed acup of gratitude to Colonel Talbot, and 'The Prosperity of the unitedHouses of Waverley-Honour and Bradwardine!'
It only remains for me to say that, as no wish was ever uttered withmore affectionate sincerity, there are few which, allowing for thenecessary mutability of human events, have been upon the whole morehappily fulfilled.