CHAPTER XX The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter, And aye the ale was growing better
Tam o'Shanter.
We must now return to Woodbourne, which, it may be remembered, we leftjust after the Colonel had given some directions to his confidentialservant. When he returned, his absence of mind, and an unusual expressionof thought and anxiety upon his features, struck the ladies, whom hejoined in the drawing-room. Mannering was not, however, a man to bequestioned, even by those whom he most loved, upon the cause of themental agitation which these signs expressed. The hour of tea arrived,and the party were partaking of that refreshment in silence when acarriage drove up to the door, and the bell announced the arrival of avisitor. 'Surely,' said Mannering, 'it is too soon by some hours.'
There was a short pause, when Barnes, opening the door of the saloon,announced Mr. Pleydell. In marched the lawyer, whose well-brushed blackcoat and well-powdered wig, together with his point ruffles, brown silkstockings, highly-varnished shoes, and gold buckles, exhibited the painswhich the old gentleman had taken to prepare his person for the ladies'society. He was welcomed by Mannering with a hearty shake by the hand.'The very man I wished to see at this moment!'
'Yes,' said the Counsellor, 'I told you I would take the firstopportunity; so I have ventured to leave the court for a week in sessiontime--no common sacrifice; but I had a notion I could be useful, and Iwas to attend a proof here about the same time. But will you notintroduce me to the young ladies? Ah! there is one I should have known atonce from her family likeness! Miss Lucy Bertram, my love, I am mosthappy to see you.' And he folded her in his arms, and gave her a heartykiss on each side of the face, to which Lucy submitted in blushingresignation.
'On n'arrete pas dans un si beau chemin,' continued the gay oldgentleman, and, as the Colonel presented him to Julia, took the sameliberty with that fair lady's cheek. Julia laughed, coloured, anddisengaged herself. 'I beg a thousand pardons,' said the lawyer, with abow which was not at all professionally awkward; 'age and old fashionsgive privileges, and I can hardly say whether I am most sorry just now atbeing too well entitled to claim them at all, or happy in having such anopportunity to exercise them so agreeably.'
'Upon my word, sir,' said Miss Mannering, laughing, 'if you make suchflattering apologies we shall begin to doubt whether we can admit you toshelter yourself under your alleged qualifications.'
'I can assure you, Julia,' said the Colonel, 'you are perfectly right. Myfriend the Counsellor is a dangerous person; the last time I had thepleasure of seeing him he was closeted with a fair lady who had grantedhim a tete-a-tete at eight in the morning.'
'Ay, but, Colonel,' said the Counsellor, 'you should add, I was moreindebted to my chocolate than my charms for so distinguished a favourfrom a person of such propriety of demeanour as Mrs. Rebecca.'
'And that should remind me, Mr. Pleydell,' said Julia, 'to offer you tea;that is, supposing you have dined.'
'Anything, Miss Mannering, from your hands,' answered the gallantjurisconsult; 'yes, I have dined; that is to say, as people dine at aScotch inn.'
'And that is indifferently enough,' said the Colonel, with his hand uponthe bell-handle; 'give me leave to order something.'
'Why, to say truth, 'replied Mr. Pleydell, 'I had rather not. I have beeninquiring into that matter, for you must know I stopped an instant belowto pull off my boot-hose, "a world too wide for my shrunk shanks,"'glancing down with some complacency upon limbs which looked very well forhis time of life, 'and I had some conversation with your Barnes and avery intelligent person whom I presume to be the housekeeper; and it wassettled among us, tota re perspecta,--I beg Miss Mannering's pardon formy Latin,--that the old lady should add to your light family supper themore substantial refreshment of a brace of wild ducks. I told her (alwaysunder deep submission) my poor thoughts about the sauce, which concurredexactly with her own; and, if you please, I would rather wait till theyare ready before eating anything solid.'
'And we will anticipate our usual hour of supper,' said the Colonel.
'With all my heart,' said Pleydell, 'providing I do not lose the ladies'company a moment the sooner. I am of counsel with my old friend Burnet;[Footnote: See Note 5] I love the coena, the supper of the ancients, thepleasant meal and social glass that wash out of one's mind the cobwebsthat business or gloom have been spinning in our brains all day.'
The vivacity of Mr. Pleydell's look and manner, and the quietness withwhich he made himself at home on the subject of his little epicureancomforts, amused the ladies, but particularly Miss Mannering, whoimmediately gave the Counsellor a great deal of flattering attention; andmore pretty things were said on both sides during the service of thetea-table than we have leisure to repeat.
As soon as this was over, Mannering led the Counsellor by the arm into asmall study which opened from the saloon, and where, according to thecustom of the family, there were always lights and a good fire in theevening.
'I see,'said Mr. Pleydell, 'you have got something to tell me about theEllangowan business. Is it terrestrial or celestial? What says mymilitary Albumazar? Have you calculated the course of futurity? have youconsulted your ephemerides, your almochoden, your almuten?'
'No, truly, Counsellor,' replied Mannering, 'you are the only Ptolemy Iintend to resort to upon the present occasion. A second Prospero, I havebroken my staff and drowned my book far beyond plummet depth. But I havegreat news notwithstanding. Meg Merrilies, our Egyptian sibyl, hasappeared to the Dominie this very day, and, as I conjecture, hasfrightened the honest man not a little.'
'Indeed?'
'Ay, and she has done me the honour to open a correspondence with me,supposing me to be as deep in astrological mysteries as when we firstmet. Here is her scroll, delivered to me by the Dominie.'
Pleydell put on his spectacles. 'A vile greasy scrawl, indeed; and theletters are uncial or semi-uncial, as somebody calls your large texthand, and in size and perpendicularity resemble the ribs of a roastedpig; I can hardly make it out.'
'Read aloud,' said Mannering.
'I will try,' answered the Lawyer. '"YOU ARE A GOOD SEEKER, BUT A BADFINDER; YOU SET YOURSELF TO PROP A FALLING HOUSE, BUT HAD A GEY GUESS ITWOULD RISE AGAIN. LEND YOUR HAND TO THE WORK THAT'S NEAR, AS YOU LENTYOUR EE TO THE WEIRD THAT WAS FAR. HAVE A CARRIAGE THIS NIGHT BY TENO'CLOCK AT THE END OF THE CROOKED DYKES AT PORTANFERRY, AND LET IT BRINGTHE FOLK TO WOODBOURNE THAT SHALL ASK THEM, IF THEY BE THERE IN GOD'SNAME."--Stay, here follows some poetry--
"DARK SHALL BE LIGHT, AND WRONG DONE TO RIGHT, WHEN BERTRAM'S RIGHT AND BERTRAM'S MIGHT SHALL MEET ON ELLANGOWAN'S HEIGHT."
A most mystic epistle truly, and closes in a vein of poetry worthy of theCumaean sibyl. And what have you done?'
'Why,' said Mannering, rather reluctantly, 'I was loth to risk anyopportunity of throwing light on this business. The woman is perhapscrazed, and these effusions may arise only from visions of herimagination; but you were of opinion that she knew more of that strangestory than she ever told.'
'And so,' said Pleydell, 'you sent a carriage to the place named?'
'You will laugh at me if I own I did,' replied the Colonel.
'Who, I?' replied the Advocate. 'No, truly, I think it was the wisestthing you could do.'
'Yes,' answered Mannering, well pleased to have escaped the ridicule heapprehended; 'you know the worst is paying the chaise-hire. I sent apost-chaise and four from Kippletringan, with instructions correspondingto the letter; the horses will have a long and cold station on theoutpost to-night if our intelligence be false.'
'Ay, but I think it will prove otherwise,' said the Lawyer. 'This womanhas played a part till she believes it; or, if she be a thorough-pacedimpostor, without a single grain of self-delusion to qualify her knavery,still she may think herself bound to act in character; this I know, thatI could get nothing out of her by the common modes of interrogation, andthe wisest thing we can do is to give her an opportunity of making thediscovery her own way. And now have you
more to say, or shall we go tothe ladies?'
'Why, my mind is uncommonly agitated,' answered the Colonel, 'and--but Ireally have no more to say; only I shall count the minutes till thecarriage returns; but you cannot be expected to be so anxious.'
'Why, no; use is all in all,' said the more experienced lawyer; 'I ammuch interested certainly, but I think I shall be able to survive theinterval, if the ladies will afford us some music.'
'And with the assistance of the wild ducks, by and by?' suggestedMannering.
'True, Colonel; a lawyer's anxiety about the fate of the most interestingcause has seldom spoiled either his sleep or digestion. [Footnote: SeeNote 6.] And yet I shall be very eager to hear the rattle of these wheelson their return, notwithstanding.'
So saying, he rose and led the way into the next room, where MissMannering, at his request, took her seat at the harpsichord, LucyBertram, who sung her native melodies very sweetly, was accompanied byher friend upon the instrument, and Julia afterwards performed some ofScarlatti's sonatas with great brilliancy. The old lawyer, scraping alittle upon the violoncello, and being a member of the gentlemen'sconcert in Edinburgh, was so greatly delighted with this mode of spendingthe evening that I doubt if he once thought of the wild ducks untilBarnes informed the company that supper was ready.
'Tell Mrs. Allan to have something in readiness,' said the Colonel; 'Iexpect--that is, I hope--perhaps some company may be here to-night; andlet the men sit up, and do not lock the upper gate on the lawn until Idesire you.'
'Lord, sir,' said Julia, 'whom can you possibly expect to-night?'
'Why, some persons, strangers to me, talked of calling in the evening onbusiness,' answered her father, not without embarrassment, for he wouldhave little brooked a disappointment which might have thrown ridicule onhis judgment; 'it is quite uncertain.'
'Well, we shall not pardon them for disturbing our party,' said Julia,'unless they bring as much good-humour and as susceptible hearts as myfriend and admirer, for so he has dubbed himself, Mr. Pleydell.'
'Ah, Miss Julia,' said Pleydell, offering his arm with an air ofgallantry to conduct her into the eating-room, 'the time has been, when Ireturned from Utrecht in the year 1738--'
'Pray don't talk of it,' answered the young lady; 'we like you muchbetter as you are. Utrecht, in Heaven's name! I daresay you have spentall the intervening years in getting rid so completely of the effects ofyour Dutch education.'
'O forgive me, Miss Mannering,' said the Lawyer, 'the Dutch are a muchmore accomplished people in point of gallantry than their volatileneighbours are willing to admit. They are constant as clock-work in theirattentions.'
'I should tire of that,' said Julia.
'Imperturbable in their good temper,' continued Pleydell.
'Worse and worse,' said the young lady.
'And then,' said the old beau garcon, 'although for six times threehundred and sixty-five days your swain has placed the capuchin round yourneck, and the stove under your feet, and driven your little sledge uponthe ice in winter, and your cabriole through the dust in summer, you maydismiss him at once, without reason or apology, upon the two thousand onehundred and ninetieth day, which, according to my hasty calculation, andwithout reckoning leap-years, will complete the cycle of the supposedadoration, and that without your amiable feelings having the slightestoccasion to be alarmed for the consequences to those of Mynheer.'
'Well,' replied Julia,' that last is truly a Dutch recommendation, Mr.Pleydell; crystal and hearts would lose all their merit in the world ifit were not for their fragility.'
'Why, upon that point of the argument, Miss Mannering, it is as difficultto find a heart that will break as a glass that will not; and for thatreason I would press the value of mine own, were it not that I see Mr.Sampson's eyes have been closed, and his hands clasped for some time,attending the end of our conference to begin the grace. And, to say thetruth, the appearance of the wild ducks is very appetising.' So saying,the worthy Counsellor sat himself to table, and laid aside his gallantryfor awhile to do honour to the good things placed before him. Nothingfurther is recorded of him for some time, excepting an observation thatthe ducks were roasted to a single turn, and that Mrs. Allan's sauce ofclaret, lemon, and cayenne was beyond praise.
'I see,' said Miss Mannering, 'I have a formidable rival in Mr.Pleydell's favour, even on the very first night of his avowedadmiration.'
'Pardon me, my fair lady,' answered the Counsellor, 'your avowed rigouralone has induced me to commit the solecism of eating a good supper inyour presence; how shall I support your frowns without reinforcing mystrength? Upon the same principle, and no other, I will ask permission todrink wine with you.'
'This is the fashion of Utrecht also, I suppose, Mr. Pleydell?'
'Forgive me, madam,' answered the Counsellor; 'the French themselves, thepatterns of all that is gallant, term their tavern-keepers restaurateurs,alluding, doubtless, to the relief they afford the disconsolate loverwhen bowed down to the earth by his mistress's severity. My own caserequires so much relief that I must trouble you for that other wing, Mr.Sampson, without prejudice to my afterwards applying to Miss Bertram fora tart. Be pleased to tear the wing, sir, instead of cutting it off. Mr.Barnes will assist you, Mr. Sampson; thank you, sir; and, Mr. Barnes, aglass of ale, if you please.'
While the old gentleman, pleased with Miss Mannering's liveliness andattention, rattled away for her amusement and his own, the impatience ofColonel Mannering began to exceed all bounds. He declined sitting down attable, under pretence that he never eat supper; and traversed the parlourin which they were with hasty and impatient steps, now throwing up thewindow to gaze upon the dark lawn, now listening for the remote sound ofthe carriage advancing up the avenue. At length, in a feeling ofuncontrollable impatience, he left the room, took his hat and cloak, andpursued his walk up the avenue, as if his so doing would hasten theapproach of those whom he desired to see. 'I really wish,' said MissBertram,' Colonel Mannering would not venture out after nightfall. Youmust have heard, Mr. Pleydell, what a cruel fright we had.'
'O, with the smugglers?' replied the Advocate; 'they are old friends ofmine. I was the means of bringing some of them to justice a long timesince, when sheriff of this county.'
'And then the alarm we had immediately afterwards,' added Miss Bertram,'from the vengeance of one of these wretches.'
'When young Hazlewood was hurt; I heard of that too.'
'Imagine, my dear Mr. Pleydell,' continued Lucy, 'how much Miss Manneringand I were alarmed when a ruffian, equally dreadful for his greatstrength and the sternness of his features, rushed out upon us!'
'You must know, Mr. Pleydell,' said Julia, unable to suppress herresentment at this undesigned aspersion of her admirer, 'that youngHazlewood is so handsome in the eyes of the young ladies of this countrythat they think every person shocking who comes near him.'
'Oho!' thought Pleydell, who was by profession an observer of tones andgestures,' there's something wrong here between my youngfriends.'--'Well, Miss Mannering, I have not seen young Hazlewood sincehe was a boy, so the ladies may be perfectly right; but I can assure you,in spite of your scorn, that if you want to see handsome men you must goto Holland; the prettiest fellow I ever saw was a Dutchman, in spite ofhis being called Vanbost, or Vanbuster, or some such barbarous name. Hewill not be quite so handsome now, to be sure.'
It was now Julia's turn to look a little out of countenance at the chancehit of her learned admirer, but that instant the Colonel entered theroom. 'I can hear nothing of them yet,' he said; 'still, however, we willnot separate. Where is Dominie Sampson?'
'Here, honoured sir.'
'What is that book you hold in your hand, Mr. Sampson?'
'It's even the learned De Lyra, sir. I would crave his honour Mr.Pleydell's judgment, always with his best leisure, to expound a disputedpassage.'
'I am not in the vein, Mr. Sampson,' answered Pleydell; 'here's metalmore attractive. I do not despair to engage these two young ladies in aglee or a cat
ch, wherein I, even I myself, will adventure myself for thebass part. Hang De Lyra, man; keep him for a fitter season.'
The disappointed Dominie shut his ponderous tome, much marvelling in hismind how a person possessed of the lawyer's erudition could give his mindto these frivolous toys. But the Counsellor, indifferent to the highcharacter for learning which he was trifling away, filled himself a largeglass of Burgundy, and, after preluding a little with a voice somewhatthe worse for the wear, gave the ladies a courageous invitation to joinin 'We be Three Poor Mariners,' and accomplished his own part thereinwith great eclat.
'Are you not withering your roses with sitting up so late, my youngladies?' said the Colonel.
'Not a bit, sir,' answered Julia; 'your friend Mr. Pleydell threatens tobecome a pupil of Mr. Sampson's to-morrow, so we must make the most ofour conquest to-night.'
This led to another musical trial of skill, and that to livelyconversation. At length, when the solitary sound of one o'clock had longsince resounded on the ebon ear of night, and the next signal of theadvance of time was close approaching, Mannering, whose impatience hadlong subsided into disappointment and despair, looked at his watch andsaid, 'We must now give them up,' when at that instant--But what thenbefell will require a separate chapter.