CHAPTER XXI JUSTICE This does indeed confirm each circumstance The gipsy told! No orphan, nor without a friend art thou. I am thy father, HERE'S thy mother, THERE Thy uncle, THIS thy first cousin, and THESE Are all thy near relations!
The Critic.
As Mannering replaced his watch, he heard a distant and hollow sound. 'Itis a carriage for certain; no, it is but the sound of the wind among theleafless trees. Do come to the window, Mr. Pleydell.' The Counsellor,who, with his large silk handkerchief in his hand, was expatiating awayto Julia upon some subject which he thought was interesting, obeyed thesummons, first, however, wrapping the handkerchief round his neck by wayof precaution against the cold air. The sound of wheels became now veryperceptible, and Pleydell, as if he had reserved all his curiosity tillthat moment, ran out to the hall. The Colonel rung for Barnes to desirethat the persons who came in the carriage might be shown into a separateroom, being altogether uncertain whom it might contain. It stopped,however, at the door before his purpose could be fully explained. Amoment after Mr. Pleydell called out, 'Here's our Liddesdale friend, Iprotest, with a strapping young fellow of the same calibre.' His voicearrested Dinmont, who recognised him with equal surprise and pleasure.'Od, if it's your honour we'll a' be as right and tight as thack and rapecan make us.'
But while the farmer stopped to make his bow, Bertram, dizzied with thesudden glare of light, and bewildered with the circumstances of hissituation, almost unconsciously entered the open door of the parlour, andconfronted the Colonel, who was just advancing towards it. The stronglight of the apartment left no doubt of his identity, and he himself wasas much confounded with the appearance of those to whom he sounexpectedly presented himself as they were by the sight of so utterlyunlooked-for an object. It must be remembered that each individualpresent had their own peculiar reasons for looking with terror upon whatseemed at first sight a spectral apparition. Mannering saw before him theman whom he supposed he had killed in India; Julia beheld her lover in amost peculiar and hazardous situation; and Lucy Bertram at once knew theperson who had fired upon young Hazlewood. Bertram, who interpreted thefixed and motionless astonishment of the Colonel into displeasure at hisintrusion, hastened to say that it was involuntary, since he had beenhurried hither without even knowing whither he was to be transported.
'Mr. Brown, I believe!' said Colonel Mannering.
'Yes, sir,' replied the young man, modestly, but with firmness, 'the sameyou knew in India; and who ventures to hope, that what you did then knowof him is not such as should prevent his requesting you would favour himwith your attestation to his character as a gentleman and man of honour.'
'Mr. Brown, I have been seldom--never--so much surprised; certainly, sir,in whatever passed between us you have a right to command my favourabletestimony.'
At this critical moment entered the Counsellor and Dinmont. The formerbeheld to his astonishment the Colonel but just recovering from his firstsurprise, Lucy Bertram ready to faint with terror, and Miss Mannering inan agony of doubt and apprehension, which she in vain endeavoured todisguise or suppress. 'What is the meaning of all this?' said he; 'hasthis young fellow brought the Gorgon's head in his hand? let me look athim. By Heaven!' he muttered to himself, 'the very image of oldEllangowan! Yes, the same manly form and handsome features, but with aworld of more intelligence in the face. Yes! the witch has kept herword.' Then instantly passing to Lucy, 'Look at that man, Miss Bertram,my dear; have you never seen any one like him?'
Lucy had only ventured one glance at this object of terror, by which,however, from his remarkable height and appearance, she at oncerecognised the supposed assassin of young Hazlewood, a conviction whichexcluded, of course, the more favourable association of ideas which mighthave occurred on a closer view. 'Don't ask me about him, sir,' said she,turning away her eyes; 'send him away, for Heaven's sake! we shall all bemurdered!'
'Murdered! where's the poker?' said the Advocate in some alarm; 'butnonsense! we are three men besides the servants, and there is honestLiddesdale, worth half-a-dozen, to boot; we have the major vis upon ourside. However, here, my friend Dandie--Davie--what do they call you? keepbetween that fellow and us for the protection of the ladies.'
'Lord! Mr. Pleydell,' said the astonished farmer, 'that's Captain Brown;d 'ye no ken the Captain?'
'Nay, if he's a friend of yours we may be safe enough,' answeredPleydell; 'but keep near him.'
All this passed with such rapidity that it was over before the Dominiehad recovered himself from a fit of absence, shut the book which he hadbeen studying in a corner, and, advancing to obtain a sight of thestrangers, exclaimed at once upon beholding Bertram, 'If the grave cangive up the dead, that is my dear and honoured master!'
'We're right after all, by Heaven! I was sure I was right,' said theLawyer; 'he is the very image of his father. Come, Colonel, what do youthink of, that you do not bid your guest welcome? I think--I believe--Itrust we're right; never saw such a likeness! But patience; Dominie, saynot a word. Sit down, young gentleman.'
'I beg pardon, sir; if I am, as I understand, in Colonel Mannering'shouse, I should wish first to know if my accidental appearance here givesoffence, or if I am welcome?'
Mannering instantly made an effort. 'Welcome? most certainly, especiallyif you can point out how I can serve you. I believe I may have somewrongs to repair towards you, I have often suspected so; but your suddenand unexpected appearance, connected with painful recollections,prevented my saying at first, as I now say, that whatever has procured methe honour of this visit, it is an acceptable one.'
Bertram bowed with an air of distant yet civil acknowledgment to thegrave courtesy of Mannering.
'Julia, my love, you had better retire. Mr. Brown, you will excuse mydaughter; there are circumstances which I perceive rush upon herrecollection.'
Miss Mannering rose and retired accordingly; yet, as she passed Bertram,could not suppress the words, 'Infatuated! a second time!' but sopronounced as to be heard by him alone. Miss Bertram accompanied herfriend, much surprised, but without venturing a second glance at theobject of her terror. Some mistake she saw there was, and was unwillingto increase it by denouncing the stranger as an assassin. He was known,she saw, to the Colonel, and received as a gentleman; certainly he eitherwas not the person she suspected or Hazlewood was right in supposing theshot accidental.
The remaining part of the company would have formed no bad group for askilful painter. Each was too much embarrassed with his own sensations toobserve those of the others. Bertram most unexpectedly found himself inthe house of one whom he was alternately disposed to dislike as hispersonal enemy and to respect as the father of Julia. Mannering wasstruggling between his high sense of courtesy and hospitality, his joy atfinding himself relieved from the guilt of having shed life in a privatequarrel, and the former feelings of dislike and prejudice, which revivedin his haughty mind at the sight of the object against whom he hadentertained them. Sampson, supporting his shaking limbs by leaning on theback of a chair, fixed his eyes upon Bertram with a staring expression ofnervous anxiety which convulsed his whole visage. Dinmont, enveloped inhis loose shaggy great-coat, and resembling a huge bear erect upon hishinder legs, stared on the whole scene with great round eyes thatwitnessed his amazement.
The Counsellor alone was in his element: shrewd, prompt, and active, healready calculated the prospect of brilliant success in a strange,eventful, and mysterious lawsuit, and no young monarch, flushed withhopes, and at the head of a gallant army, could experience more glee whentaking the field on his first campaign. He bustled about with greatenergy, and took the arrangement of the whole explanation upon himself.
'Come, come, gentlemen, sit down; this is all in my province; you mustlet me arrange it for you. Sit down, my dear Colonel, and let me manage;sit down, Mr. Brown, aut quocunque alio nomine vocaris; Dominie, takeyour seat; draw in your chair, honest Liddesdale.'
'I dinna ken, Mr. Pleydell,' said Dinmont, looking at his dreadnoughtcoat, t
hen at the handsome furniture of the room; 'I had maybe bettergang some gate else, and leave ye till your cracks, I'm no just that weelput on.'
The Colonel, who by this time recognised Dandie, immediately went up andbid him heartily welcome; assuring him that, from what he had seen of himin Edinburgh, he was sure his rough coat and thick-soled boots wouldhonour a royal drawing-room.
'Na, na, Colonel, we're just plain up-the-country folk; but nae doubt Iwould fain hear o' ony pleasure that was gaun to happen the Captain, andI'm sure a' will gae right if Mr. Pleydell will take his bit job inhand.'
'You're right, Dandie; spoke like a Hieland [Footnote: It may not beunnecessary to tell southern readers that the mountainous country in thesouth western borders of Scotland is called Hieland, though totallydifferent from the much more mountainous and more extensive districts ofthe north, usually called Hielands.] oracle; and now be silent. Well, youare all seated at last; take a glass of wine till I begin my catechismmethodically. And now,' turning to Bertram, 'my dear boy, do you know whoor what you are?'
In spite of his perplexity the catechumen could not help laughing at thiscommencement, and answered, 'Indeed, sir, I formerly thought I did; but Iown late circumstances have made me somewhat uncertain.'
'Then tell us what you formerly thought yourself.'
'Why, I was in the habit of thinking and calling myself Vanbeest Brown,who served as a cadet or volunteer under Colonel Mannering, when hecommanded the--regiment, in which capacity I was not unknown to him.'
'There,' said the Colonel, 'I can assure Mr. Brown of his identity; andadd, what his modesty may have forgotten, that he was distinguished as ayoung man of talent and spirit.'
'So much the better, my dear sir,' said Mr. Pleydell; 'but that is togeneral character. Mr. Brown must tell us where he was born.'
'In Scotland, I believe, but the place uncertain.'
'Where educated?'
'In Holland, certainly.'
'Do you remember nothing of your early life before you left Scotland?'
'Very imperfectly; yet I have a strong idea, perhaps more deeplyimpressed upon me by subsequent hard usage, that I was during mychildhood the object of much solicitude and affection. I have anindistinct remembrance of a good-looking man whom I used to call papa,and of a lady who was infirm in health, and who, I think, must have beenmy mother; but it is an imperfect and confused recollection. I remembertoo a tall, thin, kind-tempered man in black, who used to teach me myletters and walk out with me; and I think the very last time--'
Here the Dominie could contain no longer. While every succeeding wordserved to prove that the child of his benefactor stood before him, he hadstruggled with the utmost difficulty to suppress his emotions; but whenthe juvenile recollections of Bertram turned towards his tutor and hisprecepts he was compelled to give way to his feelings. He rose hastilyfrom his chair, and with clasped hands, trembling limbs, and streamingeyes, called out aloud, 'Harry Bertram! look at me; was I not the man?'
'Yes!' said Bertram, starting from his seat as if a sudden light hadburst in upon his mind; 'yes; that was my name! And that is the voice andthe figure of my kind old master!'
The Dominie threw himself into his arms, pressed him a thousand times tohis bosom in convulsions of transport which shook his whole frame, sobbedhysterically, and at length, in the emphatic language of Scripture,lifted up his voice and wept aloud. Colonel Mannering had recourse to hishandkerchief; Pleydell made wry faces, and wiped the glasses of hisspectacles; and honest Dinmont, after two loud blubbering explosions,exclaimed, 'Deil's in the man! he's garr'd me do that I haena done sincemy auld mither died.'
'Come, come,' said the Counsellor at last, 'silence in the court. We havea clever party to contend with; we must lose no time in gathering ourinformation; for anything I know there may be something to be done beforedaybreak.'
'I will order a horse to be saddled if you please,' said the Colonel.
'No, no, time enough, time enough. But come, Dominie, I have allowed youa competent space to express your feelings. I must circumduce the term;you must let me proceed in my examination.'
The Dominie was habitually obedient to any one who chose to imposecommands upon him: he sunk back into his chair, spread his chequeredhandkerchief over his face, to serve, as I suppose, for the Grecianpainter's veil, and, from the action of his folded hands, appeared for atime engaged in the act of mental thanksgiving. He then raised his eyesover the screen, as if to be assured that the pleasing apparition had notmelted into air; then again sunk them to resume his internal act ofdevotion, until he felt himself compelled to give attention to theCounsellor, from the interest which his questions excited.
'And now,' said Mr. Pleydell, after several minute inquiries concerninghis recollection of early events--'and now, Mr. Bertram,--for I think weought in future to call you by your own proper name--will you have thegoodness to let us know every particular which you can recollectconcerning the mode of your leaving Scotland?'
'Indeed, sir, to say the truth, though the terrible outlines of that dayare strongly impressed upon my memory, yet somehow the very terror whichfixed them there has in a great measure confounded and confused thedetails. I recollect, however, that I was walking somewhere or other, ina wood, I think--'
'O yes, it was in Warroch wood, my dear,' said the Dominie.
'Hush, Mr. Sampson,' said the Lawyer.
'Yes, it was in a wood,' continued Bertram, as long past and confusedideas arranged themselves in his reviving recollection; 'and some one waswith me; this worthy and affectionate gentleman, I think.'
'O, ay, ay, Harry, Lord bless thee; it was even I myself.'
'Be silent, Dominie, and don't interrupt the evidence,' said Pleydell.'And so, sir?' to Bertram.
'And so, sir,' continued Bertram, 'like one of the changes of a dream, Ithought I was on horseback before my guide.'
'No, no,' exclaimed Sampson, 'never did I put my own limbs, not to saythine, into such peril.'
'On my word, this is intolerable! Look ye, Dominie, if you speak anotherword till I give you leave, I will read three sentences out of the BlackActs, whisk my cane round my head three times, undo all the magic of thisnight's work, and conjure Harry Bertram back again into Vanbeest Brown.'
'Honoured and worthy sir,' groaned out the Dominie, 'I humbly cravepardon; it was but verbum volans.'
'Well, nolens volens, you must hold your tongue,' said Pleydell.
'Pray, be silent, Mr. Sampson,' said the Colonel; 'it is of greatconsequence to your recovered friend that you permit Mr. Pleydell toproceed in his inquiries.'
'I am mute,' said the rebuked Dominie.
'On a sudden,' continued Bertram, 'two or three men sprung out upon us,and we were pulled from horseback. I have little recollection of anythingelse, but that I tried to escape in the midst of a desperate scuffle, andfell into the arms of a very tall woman who started from the bushes andprotected me for some time; the rest is all confusion and dread, a dimrecollection of a sea-beach and a cave, and of some strong potion whichlulled me to sleep for a length of time. In short, it is all a blank inmy memory until I recollect myself first an ill-used and half-starvedcabin-boy aboard a sloop, and then a schoolboy in Holland, under theprotection of an old merchant, who had taken some fancy for me.'
'And what account,' said Mr. Pleydell, 'did your guardian give of yourparentage?'
'A very brief one,' answered Bertram, 'and a charge to inquire nofarther. I was given to understand that my father was concerned in thesmuggling trade carried on on the eastern coast of Scotland, and waskilled in a skirmish with the revenue officers; that his correspondentsin Holland had a vessel on the coast at the time, part of the crew ofwhich were engaged in the affair, and that they brought me off after itwas over, from a motive of compassion, as I was left destitute by myfather's death. As I grew older there was much of this story seemedinconsistent with my own recollections, but what could I do? I had nomeans of ascertaining my doubts, nor a single friend with whom I couldcommunicat
e or canvass them. The rest of my story is known to ColonelMannering: I went out to India to be a clerk in a Dutch house; theiraffairs fell into confusion; I betook myself to the military profession,and, I trust, as yet I have not disgraced it.'
'Thou art a fine young fellow, I'll be bound for thee,' said Pleydell,'and since you have wanted a father so long, I wish from my heart I couldclaim the paternity myself. But this affair of young Hazlewood--'
'Was merely accidental,' said Bertram. 'I was travelling in Scotland forpleasure, and, after a week's residence with my friend Mr. Dinmont, withwhom I had the good fortune to form an accidental acquaintance--'
"It was my gude fortune that," said Dinmont. "Odd, my brains wad hae beenknockit out by twa black-guards if it hadna been for his four quarters."
"Shortly after we parted at the town of----I lost my baggage by thieves,and it was while residing at Kippletringan I accidentally met the younggentleman. As I was approaching to pay my respects to Miss Mannering,whom I had known in India, Mr. Hazlewood, conceiving my appearance noneof the most respectable, commanded me rather haughtily to stand back, andso gave occasion to the fray, in which I had the misfortune to be theaccidental means of wounding him. And now, sir, that I have answered allyour questions--"
"No, no, not quite all," said Pleydell, winking sagaciously; "there aresome interrogatories which I shall delay till to-morrow, for it is time,I believe, to close the sederunt for this night, or rather morning."
"Well, then, sir," said the young man, "to vary the phrase, since I haveanswered all the questions which you have chosen to ask to-night, willyou be so good as to tell me who you are that take such interest in myaffairs, and whom you take me to be, since my arrival has occasioned suchcommotion?"
"Why, sir, for myself," replied the Counsellor, "I am Paulus Pleydell, anadvocate at the Scottish bar; and for you, it is not easy to saydistinctly who you are at present, but I trust in a short time to hailyou by the title of Henry Bertram, Esq., representative of one of theoldest families in Scotland, and heir of Tailzie and provision to theestate of Ellangowan. Ay," continued he, shutting his eyes and speakingto himself, "we must pass over his father, and serve him heir to hisgrandfather Lewis, the entailer; the only wise man of his family, that Iever heard of."
They had now risen to retire to their apartments for the night, whenColonel Mannering walked up to Bertram, as he stood astonished at theCounsellor's words. "I give you joy," he said, "of the prospects whichfate has opened before you. I was an early friend of your father, andchanced to be in the house of Ellangowan, as unexpectedly as you are nowin mine, upon the very night in which you were born. I little knew thiscircumstance when--but I trust unkindness will be forgotten between us.Believe me, your appearance here as Mr. Brown, alive and well, hasrelieved me from most painful sensations; and your right to the name ofan old friend renders your presence as Mr. Bertram doubly welcome."
"And my parents?" said Bertram.
"Are both no more; and the family property has been sold, but I trust maybe recovered. Whatever is wanted to make your right effectual I shall bemost happy to supply."
"Nay, you may leave all that to me," said the Counsellor; "'t is myvocation, Hal; I shall make money of it."
"I'm sure it's no for the like o'me," observed Dinmont, "to speak to yougentlefolks; but if siller would help on the Captain's plea, and they saynae plea gangs ain weel without it--"
"Except on Saturday night," said Pleydell.
"Ay, but when your honour wadna take your fee ye wadna hae the causeneither, sae I'll ne'er fash you on a Saturday at e'en again. But I wassaying, there's some siller in the spleuchan that's like the Captain'sain, for we've aye counted it such, baith Ailie and me."
'No, no, Liddesdale; no occasion, no occasion whatever. Keep thy cash tostock thy farm.'
'To stock my farm? Mr. Pleydell, your honour kens mony things, but yedinna ken the farm o' Charlie's Hope; it's sae weel stockit already thatwe sell maybe sax hundred pounds off it ilka year, flesh and fell thegither; na, na.'
'Can't you take another then?'
'I dinna ken; the Deuke's no that fond o' led farms, and he canna bide toput away the auld tenantry; and then I wadna like mysell to gang aboutwhistling [Footnote: See Note 7.] and raising the rent on my neighbours.'
'What, not upon thy neighbour at Dawston--Devilstone--how d 'ye call theplace?'
'What, on Jock o' Dawston? hout na. He's a camsteary chield, and fasheousabout marches, and we've had some bits o' splores thegither; but deilo'meif I wad wrang Jock o' Dawston neither.'
'Thou'rt an honest fellow,' said the Lawyer; 'get thee to bed. Thou wiltsleep sounder, I warrant thee, than many a man that throws off anembroidered coat and puts on a laced nightcap. Colonel, I see you arebusy with our enfant trouve. But Barnes must give me a summons ofwakening at seven to-morrow morning, for my servant's a sleepy-headedfellow; and I daresay my clerk Driver has had Clarence's fate, and isdrowned by this time in a butt of your ale; for Mrs. Allan promised tomake him comfortable, and she'll soon discover what he expects from thatengagement. Good-night, Colonel; good-night, Dominie Sampson; good-night,Dinmont the Downright; good-night, last of all, to the new-foundrepresentative of the Bertrams, and the Mac-Dingawaies, the Knarths, theArths, the Godfreys, the Dennises, and the Rolands, and, last and dearesttitle, heir of tailzie and provision of the lands and barony ofEllangowan, under the settlement of Lewis Bertram, Esq., whoserepresentative you are.'
And so saying, the old gentleman took his candle and left the room; andthe company dispersed, after the Dominie had once more hugged andembraced his 'little Harry Bertram,' as he continued to call the youngsoldier of six feet high.