CHAPTER XIV The bell strikes one. We take no note of time But from its loss. To give it then a tongue Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke, I feel the solemn sound.
YOUNG.
The moral which the poet has rather quaintly deduced from the necessarymode of measuring time may be well applied to our feelings respectingthat portion of it which constitutes human life. We observe the aged, theinfirm, and those engaged in occupations of immediate hazard, tremblingas it were upon the very brink of non-existence, but we derive no lessonfrom the precariousness of their tenure until it has altogether failed.Then, for a moment at least--
Our hopes and fears Start up alarm'd, and o'er life's narrow verge Lookdown--on what? a fathomless abyss, A dark eternity, how surely ours!
The crowd of assembled gazers and idlers at Ellangowan had followed theviews of amusement, or what they called business, which brought themthere, with little regard to the feelings of those who were sufferingupon that occasion. Few, indeed, knew anything of the family. The father,betwixt seclusion, misfortune, and imbecility, had drifted, as it were,for many years out of the notice of his contemporaries; the daughter hadnever been known to them. But when the general murmur announced that theunfortunate Mr. Bertram had broken his heart in the effort to leave themansion of his forefathers, there poured forth a torrent of sympathy likethe waters from the rock when stricken by the wand of the prophet. Theancient descent and unblemished integrity of the family were respectfullyremembered; above all, the sacred veneration due to misfortune, which inScotland seldom demands its tribute in vain, then claimed and receivedit.
Mr. Mac-Morlan hastily announced that he would suspend all fartherproceedings in the sale of the estate and other property, and relinquishthe possession of the premises to the young lady, until she could consultwith her friends and provide for the burial of her father.
Glossin had cowered for a few minutes under the general expression ofsympathy, till, hardened by observing that no appearance of popularindignation was directed his way, he had the audacity to require that thesale should proceed.
'I will take it upon my own authority to adjourn it,' said theSheriff-substitute, 'and will be responsible for the consequences. I willalso give due notice when it is again to go forward. It is for thebenefit of all concerned that the lands should bring the highest pricethe state of the market will admit, and this is surely no time to expectit. I will take the responsibility upon myself.'
Glossin left the room and the house too with secrecy and despatch; and itwas probably well for him that he did so, since our friend Jock Jabos wasalready haranguing a numerous tribe of bare-legged boys on the proprietyof pelting him off the estate.
Some of the rooms were hastily put in order for the reception of theyoung lady, and of her father's dead body. Mannering now found hisfarther interference would be unnecessary, and might be misconstrued. Heobserved, too, that several families connected with that of Ellangowan,and who indeed derived their principal claim of gentility from thealliance, were now disposed to pay to their trees of genealogy a tributewhich the adversity of their supposed relatives had been inadequate tocall forth; and that the honour of superintending the funeral rites ofthe dead Godfrey Bertram (as in the memorable case of Homer's birthplace)was likely to be debated by seven gentlemen of rank and fortune, none ofwhom had offered him an asylum while living. He therefore resolved, ashis presence was altogether useless, to make a short tour of a fortnight,at the end of which period the adjourned sale of the estate of Ellangowanwas to proceed.
But before he departed he solicited an interview with the Dominie. Thepoor man appeared, on being informed a gentleman wanted to speak to him,with some expression of surprise in his gaunt features, to which recentsorrow had given an expression yet more grisly. He made two or threeprofound reverences to Mannering, and then, standing erect, patientlywaited an explanation of his commands.
'You are probably at a loss to guess, Mr. Sampson,' said Mannering, 'whata stranger may have to say to you?'
'Unless it were to request that I would undertake to train up some youthin polite letters and humane learning; but I cannot--I cannot; I have yeta task to perform.'
'No, Mr. Sampson, my wishes are not so ambitious. I have no son, and myonly daughter, I presume, you would not consider as a fit pupil.'
'Of a surety no,' replied the simple-minded Sampson. 'Nathless, it was Iwho did educate Miss Lucy in all useful learning, albeit it was thehousekeeper who did teach her those unprofitable exercises of hemming andshaping.'
'Well, sir,' replied Mannering, 'it is of Miss Lucy I meant to speak. Youhave, I presume, no recollection of me?'
Sampson, always sufficiently absent in mind, neither remembered theastrologer of past years, nor even the stranger who had taken hispatron's part against Glossin, so much had his friend's sudden deathembroiled his ideas.
'Well, that does not signify,' pursued the Colonel; 'I am an oldacquaintance of the late Mr. Bertram, able and willing to assist hisdaughter in her present circumstances. Besides, I have thoughts of makingthis purchase, and I should wish things kept in order about the place;will you have the goodness to apply this small sum in the usual familyexpenses?' He put into the Dominie's hand a purse containing some gold.
'Pro-di-gi-ous!' exclaimed Dominie Sampson. 'But if your honour wouldtarry--'
'Impossible, sir, impossible,' said Mannering, making his escape fromhim.
'Pro-di-gi-ous!' again exclaimed Sampson, following to the head of thestairs, still holding out the purse. 'But as touching this coinedmoney--'
Mannering escaped downstairs as fast as possible.
'Pro-di-gi-ous!' exclaimed Dominie Sampson, yet the third time, nowstanding at the front door. 'But as touching this specie--'
But Mannering was now on horseback, and out of hearing. The Dominie, whohad never, either in his own right or as trustee for another, beenpossessed of a quarter part of this sum, though it was not above twentyguineas, 'took counsel,' as he expressed himself, 'how he should demeanhimself with respect unto the fine gold' thus left in his charge.Fortunately he found a disinterested adviser in Mac-Morlan, who pointedout the most proper means of disposing of it for contributing to MissBertram's convenience, being no doubt the purpose to which it wasdestined by the bestower.
Many of the neighbouring gentry were now sincerely eager in pressingoffers of hospitality and kindness upon Miss Bertram. But she felt anatural reluctance to enter any family for the first time as an objectrather of benevolence than hospitality, and determined to wait theopinion and advice of her father's nearest female relation, Mrs. MargaretBertram of Singleside, an old unmarried lady, to whom she wrote anaccount of her present distressful situation.
The funeral of the late Mr. Bertram was performed with decent privacy,and the unfortunate young lady was now to consider herself as but thetemporary tenant of the house in which she had been born, and where herpatience and soothing attentions had so long 'rocked the cradle ofdeclining age.' Her communication with Mr. Mac-Morlan encouraged her tohope that she would not be suddenly or unkindly deprived of this asylum;but fortune had ordered otherwise.
For two days before the appointed day for the sale of the lands andestate of Ellangowan, Mac-Morlan daily expected the appearance of ColonelMannering, or at least a letter containing powers to act for him. Butnone such arrived. Mr. Mac-Morlan waked early in the morning, walked overto the Post-office,--there were no letters for him. He endeavoured topersuade himself that he should see Colonel Mannering to breakfast, andordered his wife to place her best china and prepare herself accordingly.But the preparations were in vain. 'Could I have foreseen this,' he said,'I would have travelled Scotland over, but I would have found some one tobid against Glossin.' Alas! such reflections were all too late. Theappointed hour arrived; and the parties met in the Masons' Lodge atKippletringan, being the place fixed for the adjourned sale. Mac-Morlanspent as much time in preliminaries as decency would permit, and readover the articles of sale as slowly as
if he had been reading his owndeath-warrant. He turned his eye every time the door of the room opened,with hopes which grew fainter and fainter. He listened to every noise inthe street of the village, and endeavoured to distinguish in it the soundof hoofs or wheels. It was all in vain. A bright idea then occurred, thatColonel Mannering might have employed some other person in thetransaction; he would not have wasted a moment's thought upon the want ofconfidence in himself which such a manoeuvre would have evinced. But thishope also was groundless. After a solemn pause, Mr. Glossin offered theupset price for the lands and barony of Ellangowan. No reply was made,and no competitor appeared; so, after a lapse of the usual interval bythe running of a sand-glass, upon the intended purchaser entering theproper sureties, Mr. Mac-Morlan was obliged, in technical terms, to 'findand declare the sale lawfully completed, and to prefer the said GilbertGlossin as the purchaser of the said lands and estate.' The honest writerrefused to partake of a splendid entertainment with which GilbertGlossin, Esquire, now of Ellangowan, treated the rest of the company, andreturned home in huge bitterness of spirit, which he vented in complaintsagainst the fickleness and caprice of these Indian nabobs, who never knewwhat they would be at for ten days together. Fortune generouslydetermined to take the blame upon herself, and cut off even this vent ofMac-Morlan's resentment.
An express arrived about six o'clock at night, 'very particularly drunk,'the maid-servant said, with a packet from Colonel Mannering, dated fourdays back, at a town about a hundred miles' distance from Kippletringan,containing full powers to Mr. Mac-Morlan, or any one whom he mightemploy, to make the intended purchase, and stating that some familybusiness of consequence called the Colonel himself to Westmoreland, wherea letter would find him, addressed to the care of Arthur Mervyn, Esq., ofMervyn Hall.
Mac-Morlan, in the transports of his wrath, flung the power of attorneyat the head of the innocent maidservant, and was only forcibly withheldfrom horse-whipping the rascally messenger by whose sloth and drunkennessthe disappointment had taken place.