CHAPTER XLVII
It is not madness That I have utter'd, bring me to the test, And I the matter will re-word, which madness Would gambol from. Hamlet.
As Mr. Sampson crossed the hall with a bewildered look, Mrs. Allan, thegood housekeeper, who, with the reverent attention which is usuallyrendered to the clergy in Scotland, was on the watch for his return,sallied forth to meet him--'What's this o't now, Mr. Sampson, this iswaur than ever! Ye'll really do yoursell some injury wi' these langfasts; naething's sae hurtful to the stamach, Mr. Sampson. If ye wouldbut put some peppermint draps in your pocket, or let Barnes cut ye asandwich.'
'Avoid thee!' quoth the Dominie, his mind running still upon hisinterview with Meg Merrilies, and making for the dining-parlour.
'Na, ye needna gang in there, the cloth's been removed an hour syne,and the Colonel's at his wine; but just step into my room, I have anice steak that the cook will do in a moment.'
'Exorciso te!' said Sampson; 'that is, I have dined.'
'Dined! it's impossible; wha can ye hae dined wi', you that gangs outnae gate?'
'With Beelzebub, I believe,' said the minister.
'Na, then he's bewitched for certain,' said the housekeeper, letting goher hold; 'he's bewitched, or he's daft, and ony way the Colonel maunjust guide him his ain gate. Wae's me! Hech, sirs! It's a sair thing tosee learning bring folk to this!' And with this compassionateejaculation she retreated into her own premises.
The object of her commiseration had by this time entered thedining-parlour, where his appearance gave great surprise. He was mud upto the shoulders, and the natural paleness of his hue was twice ascadaverous as usual, through terror, fatigue, and perturbation of mind.
'What on earth is the meaning of this, Mr. Sampson?' said Mannering,who observed Miss Bertram looking much alarmed for her simple butattached friend.
'Exorciso,' said the Dominie.
'How, sir?' replied the astonished Colonel.
'I crave pardon, honourable sir! but my wits---'
'Are gone a wool-gathering, I think; pray, Mr. Sampson, collectyourself, and let me know the meaning of all this.'
Sampson was about to reply, but finding his Latin formula of exorcismstill came most readily to his tongue, he prudently desisted from theattempt, and put the scrap of paper which he had received from thegipsy into Mannering's hand, who broke the seal and read it withsurprise. 'This seems to be some jest,' he said, 'and a very dull one.'
'It came from no jesting person,' said Mr. Sampson.
'From whom then did it come?' demanded Mannering.
The Dominie, who often displayed some delicacy of recollection in caseswhere Miss Bertram had an interest, remembered the painfulcircumstances connected with Meg Merrilies, looked at the young ladies,and remained silent. 'We will join you at the tea-table in an instant,Julia,' said the Colonel; 'I see that Mr. Sampson wishes to speak to mealone. And now they are gone, what, in Heaven's name, Mr. Sampson, isthe meaning of all this?'
'It may be a message from Heaven,' said the Dominie, 'but it came byBeelzebub's postmistress. It was that witch, Meg Merrilies, who shouldhave been burned with a tar-barrel twenty years since for a harlot,thief, witch, and gipsy.'
'Are you sure it was she?' said the Colonel with great interest.
'Sure, honoured sir? Of a truth she is one not to be forgotten, thelike o' Meg Merrilies is not to be seen in any land.'
The Colonel paced the room rapidly, cogitating with himself. 'To sendout to apprehend her; but it is too distant to send to Mac-Morlan, andSir Robert Hazlewood is a pompous coxcomb; besides, the chance of notfinding her upon the spot, or that the humour of silence that seizedher before may again return. No, I will not, to save being thought afool, neglect the course she points out. Many of her class set out bybeing impostors and end by becoming enthusiasts, or hold a kind ofdarkling conduct between both lines, unconscious almost when they arecheating themselves or when imposing on others. Well, my course is aplain one at any rate; and if my efforts are fruitless, it shall not beowing to over-jealousy of my own character for wisdom.'
With this he rang the bell, and, ordering Barnes into his privatesitting-room, gave him some orders, with the result of which the readermay be made hereafter acquainted.
We must now take up another adventure, which is also to be woven intothe story of this remarkable day.
Charles Hazlewood had not ventured to make a visit at Woodbourne duringthe absence of the Colonel. Indeed, Mannering's whole behaviour hadimpressed upon him an opinion that this would be disagreeable; and suchwas the ascendency which the successful soldier and accomplishedgentleman had attained over the young man's conduct, that in no respectwould he have ventured to offend him. He saw, or thought he saw, inColonel Mannering's general conduct, an approbation of his attachmentto Miss Bertram. But then he saw still more plainly the impropriety ofany attempt at a private correspondence, of which his parents could notbe supposed to approve, and he respected this barrier interposedbetwixt them both on Mannering's account and as he was the liberal andzealous protector of Miss Bertram. 'No,' said he to himself, 'I willnot endanger the comfort of my Lucy's present retreat until I can offerher a home of her own.'
With this valorous resolution, which he maintained although his horse,from constant habit, turned his head down the avenue of Woodbourne, andalthough he himself passed the lodge twice every day, Charles Hazlewoodwithstood a strong inclination to ride down just to ask how the youngladies were, and whether he could be of any service to them duringColonel Mannering's absence. But on the second occasion he felt thetemptation so severe that he resolved not to expose himself to it athird time; and, contenting himself with sending hopes and inquiriesand so forth to Woodbourne, he resolved to make a visit long promisedto a family at some distance, and to return in such time as to be oneof the earliest among Mannering's visitors who should congratulate hissafe arrival from his distant and hazardous expedition to Edinburgh.Accordingly he made out his visit, and, having arranged matters so asto be informed within a few hours after Colonel Mannering reached home,he finally resolved to take leave of the friends with whom he had spentthe intervening time, with the intention of dining at Woodbourne, wherehe was in a great measure domesticated; and this (for he thought muchmore deeply on the subject than was necessary) would, he flatteredhimself, appear a simple, natural, and easy mode of conducting himself.
Fate, however, of which lovers make so many complaints, was in thiscase unfavourable to Charles Hazlewood. His horse's shoes required analteration, in consequence of the fresh weather having decidedlycommenced. The lady of the house where he was a visitor chose toindulge in her own room till a very late breakfast hour. His friendalso insisted on showing him a litter of puppies which his favouritepointer bitch had produced that morning. The colours had occasionedsome doubts about the paternity--a weighty question of legitimacy, tothe decision of which Hazlewood's opinion was called in as arbiterbetween his friend and his groom, and which inferred in itsconsequences which of the litter should be drowned, which saved.Besides, the Laird himself delayed our young lover's departure for aconsiderable time, endeavouring, with long and superfluous rhetoric, toinsinuate to Sir Robert Hazlewood, through the medium of his son, hisown particular ideas respecting the line of a meditated turnpike road.It is greatly to the shame of our young lover's apprehension that,after the tenth reiterated account of the matter, he could not see theadvantage to be obtained by the proposed road passing over the LangHirst, Windy Knowe, the Goodhouse Park, Hailziecroft, and then crossingthe river at Simon's Pool, and so by the road to Kippletringan; and theless eligible line pointed out by the English surveyor, which would goclear through the main enclosures at Hazlewood, and cut within a mileor nearly so of the house itself, destroying the privacy and pleasure,as his informer contended, of the grounds. In short, the adviser (whoseactual interest was to have the bridge built as near as possible to afarm of his own) failed in every effort to attract young Hazlewood'sattention until he mentio
ned by chance that the proposed line wasfavoured by 'that fellow Glossin,' who pretended to take a lead in thecounty. On a sudden young Hazlewood became attentive and interested;and, having satisfied himself which was the line that Glossinpatronised, assured his friend it should not be his fault if his fatherdid not countenance any other instead of that. But these variousinterruptions consumed the morning. Hazlewood got on horseback at leastthree hours later than he intended, and, cursing fine ladies, pointers,puppies, and turnpike acts of parliament, saw himself detained beyondthe time when he could with propriety intrude upon the family atWoodbourne.
He had passed, therefore, the turn of the road which led to thatmansion, only edified by the distant appearance of the blue smokecurling against the pale sky of the winter evening, when he thought hebeheld the Dominie taking a footpath for the house through the woods.He called after him, but in vain; for that honest gentleman, never themost susceptible of extraneous impressions, had just that moment partedfrom Meg Merrilies, and was too deeply wrapt up in pondering upon hervaticinations to make any answer to Hazlewood's call. He was thereforeobliged to let him proceed without inquiry after the health of theyoung ladies, or any other fishing question, to which he might by goodchance have had an answer returned wherein Miss Bertram's name mighthave been mentioned. All cause for haste was now over, and, slackeningthe reins upon his horse's neck, he permitted the animal to ascend athis own leisure the steep sandy track between two high banks, which,rising to a considerable height, commanded at length an extensive viewof the neighbouring country.
Hazlewood was, however, so far from eagerly looking forward to thisprospect, though it had the recommendation that great part of the landwas his father's, and must necessarily be his own, that his head stillturned backward towards the chimneys of Woodbourne, although at everystep his horse made the difficulty of employing his eyes in thatdirection become greater. From the reverie in which he was sunk he wassuddenly roused by a voice, too harsh to be called female, yet tooshrill for a man: 'What's kept you on the road sae lang? Maun itherfolk do your wark?'
He looked up. The spokeswoman was very tall, had a voluminoushandkerchief rolled round her head, grizzled hair flowing in elf-locksfrom beneath it, a long red cloak, and a staff in her hand, headed witha sort of spear-point; it was, in short, Meg Merrilies. Hazlewood hadnever seen this remarkable figure before; he drew up his reins inastonishment at her appearance, and made a full stop. 'I think,'continued she, 'they that hae taen interest in the house of Ellangowansuld sleep nane this night; three men hae been seeking ye, and you aregaun hame to sleep in your bed. D' ye think if the lad-bairn fa's, thesister will do weel? Na, na!'
'I don't understand you, good woman,' said Hazlewood. 'If you speak ofMiss---, I mean of any of the late Ellangowan family, tell me what Ican do for them.'
'Of the late Ellangowan family?' she answered with great vehemence--'ofthe LATE Ellangowan family! and when was there ever, or when will thereever be, a family of Ellangowan but bearing the gallant name of thebauld Bertrams?'
'But what do you mean, good woman?'
'I am nae good woman; a' the country kens I am bad eneugh, and baiththey and I may be sorry eneugh that I am nae better. But I can do whatgood women canna, and daurna do. I can do what would freeze the bloodo' them that is bred in biggit wa's for naething but to bind bairns'heads and to hap them in the cradle. Hear me: the guard's drawn off atthe custom-house at Portanferry, and it's brought up to Hazlewood Houseby your father's orders, because he thinks his house is to be attackedthis night by the smugglers. There's naebody means to touch his house;he has gude blood and gentle blood--I say little o' him forhimsell--but there's naebody thinks him worth meddling wi'. Send thehorsemen back to their post, cannily and quietly; see an they winna haewark the night, ay will they: the guns will flash and the swords willglitter in the braw moon.'
'Good God! what do you mean?' said young Hazlewood; 'your words andmanner would persuade me you are mad, and yet there is a strangecombination in what you say.'
'I am not mad!' exclaimed the gipsy; 'I have been imprisoned formad--scourged for mad--banished for mad--but mad I am not. Hear ye,Charles Hazlewood of Hazlewood: d'ye bear malice against him thatwounded you?'
'No, dame, God forbid; my arm is quite well, and I have always said theshot was discharged by accident. I should be glad to tell the young manso himself.'
'Then do what I bid ye,' answered Meg Merrilies, 'and ye 'll do himmair gude than ever he did you ill; for if he was left to hisill-wishers he would be a bloody corpse ere morn, or a banished man;but there's Ane abune a'. Do as I bid you; send back the soldiers toPortanferry. There's nae mair fear o' Hazlewood House than there's o'Cruffel Fell.' And she vanished with her usual celerity of pace.
It would seem that the appearance of this female, and the mixture offrenzy and enthusiasm in her manner, seldom failed to produce thestrongest impression upon those whom she addressed. Her words, thoughwild, were too plain and intelligible for actual madness, and yet toovehement and extravagant for sober-minded communication. She seemedacting under the influence of an imagination rather strongly excitedthan deranged; and it is wonderful how palpably the difference in suchcases is impressed upon the mind of the auditor. This may account forthe attention with which her strange and mysterious hints were heardand acted upon. It is certain, at least, that young Hazlewood wasstrongly impressed by her sudden appearance and imperative tone. Herode to Hazlewood at a brisk pace. It had been dark for some timebefore he reached the house, and on his arrival there he saw aconfirmation of what the sibyl had hinted.
Thirty dragoon horses stood under a shed near the offices, with theirbridles linked together. Three or four soldiers attended as a guard,while others stamped up and down with their long broadswords and heavyboots in front of the house. Hazlewood asked a non-commissioned officerfrom whence they came.
'From Portanferry.'
'Had they left any guard there?'
'No; they had been drawn off by order of Sir Robert Hazlewood fordefence of his house against an attack which was threatened by thesmugglers.'
Charles Hazlewood instantly went in quest of his father, and, havingpaid his respects to him upon his return, requested to know upon whataccount he had thought it necessary to send for a military escort. SirRobert assured his son in reply that, from the information,intelligence, and tidings which had been communicated to, and laidbefore him, he had the deepest reason to believe, credit, and beconvinced that a riotous assault would that night be attempted andperpetrated against Hazlewood House by a set of smugglers, gipsies, andother desperadoes.
'And what, my dear sir,' said his son, 'should direct the fury of suchpersons against ours rather than any other house in the country?'
'I should rather think, suppose, and be of opinion, sir,' answered SirRobert, 'with deference to your wisdom and experience, that on theseoccasions and times the vengeance of such persons is directed orlevelled against the most important and distinguished in point of rank,talent, birth, and situation who have checked, interfered with, anddiscountenanced their unlawful and illegal and criminal actions ordeeds.'
Young Hazlewood, who knew his father's foible, answered, that the causeof his surprise did not lie where Sir Robert apprehended, but that heonly wondered they should think of attacking a house where there wereso many servants, and where a signal to the neighbouring tenants couldcall in such strong assistance; and added, that he doubted much whetherthe reputation of the family would not in some degree suffer fromcalling soldiers from their duty at the custom-house to protect them,as if they were not sufficiently strong to defend themselves upon anyordinary occasion. He even hinted that, in case their house's enemiesshould observe that this precaution had been taken unnecessarily, therewould be no end of their sarcasms.
Sir Robert Hazlewood was rather puzzled at this intimation, for, likemost dull men, he heartily hated and feared ridicule. He gatheredhimself up and looked with a sort of pompous embarrassment, as if hewished to be thought to despise the opinion
of the public, which inreality he dreaded.
'I really should have thought,' he said, 'that the injury which hadalready been aimed at my house in your person, being the next heir andrepresentative of the Hazlewood family, failing me--I should havethought and believed, I say, that this would have justified mesufficiently in the eyes of the most respectable and the greater partof the people for taking such precautions as are calculated to preventand impede a repetition of outrage.'
'Really, sir,' said Charles, 'I must remind you of what I have oftensaid before, that I am positive the discharge of the piece wasaccidental.'
'Sir, it was not accidental,' said his father, angrily; 'but you willbe wiser than your elders.'
'Really, sir,' replied Hazlewood, 'in what so intimately concernsmyself---'
'Sir, it does not concern you but in a very secondary degree; that is,it does not concern you, as a giddy young fellow who takes pleasure incontradicting his father; but it concerns the country, sir, and thecounty, sir, and the public, sir, and the kingdom of Scotland, in sofar as the interest of the Hazlewood family, sir, is committed andinterested and put in peril, in, by, and through you, sir. And thefellow is in safe custody, and Mr. Glossin thinks---'
'Mr. Glossin, sir?'
'Yes, sir, the gentleman who has purchased Ellangowan; you know who Imean, I suppose?'
'Yes, sir,' answered the young man; 'but I should hardly have expectedto hear you quote such authority. Why, this fellow--all the world knowshim to be sordid, mean, tricking, and I suspect him to be worse. Andyou yourself, my dear sir, when did you call such a person a gentlemanin your life before?'
'Why, Charles, I did not mean gentleman in the precise sense andmeaning, and restricted and proper use, to which, no doubt, the phraseought legitimately to be confined; but I meant to use it relatively, asmarking something of that state to which he has elevated and raisedhimself; as designing, in short, a decent and wealthy and estimablesort of a person.'
'Allow me to ask, sir,' said Charles, 'if it was by this man's ordersthat the guard was drawn from Portanferry?'
'Sir,' replied the Baronet, 'I do apprehend that Mr. Glossin would notpresume to give orders, or even an opinion, unless asked, in a matterin which Hazlewood House and the house of Hazlewood--meaning by the onethis mansion-house of my family, and by the other, typically,metaphorically, and parabolically, the family itself,--I say, then,where the house of Hazlewood, or Hazlewood House, was so immediatelyconcerned.'
'I presume, however, sir,' said the son, 'this Glossin approved of theproposal?'
'Sir,' replied his father, 'I thought it decent and right and proper toconsult him as the nearest magistrate as soon as report of the intendedoutrage reached my ears; and although he declined, out of deference andrespect, as became our relative situations, to concur in the order, yethe did entirely approve of my arrangement.'
At this moment a horse's feet were heard coming very fast up theavenue. In a few minutes the door opened, and Mr. Mac-Morlan presentedhimself. 'I am under great concern to intrude, Sir Robert, but---'
'Give me leave, Mr. Mac-Morlan,' said Sir Robert, with a graciousflourish of welcome; 'this is no intrusion, sir; for, your situation assheriff-substitute calling upon you to attend to the peace of thecounty, and you, doubtless, feeling yourself particularly called uponto protect Hazlewood House, you have an acknowledged and admitted andundeniable right, sir, to enter the house of the first gentleman inScotland uninvited--always presuming you to be called there by the dutyof your office.'
'It is indeed the duty of my office,' said Mac-Morlan, who waited withimpatience an opportunity to speak, 'that makes me an intruder.'
'No intrusion!' reiterated the Baronet, gracefully waving his hand.
'But permit me to say, Sir Robert,' said the sheriff-substitute, 'I donot come with the purpose of remaining here, but to recall thesesoldiers to Portanferry, and to assure you that I will answer for thesafety of your house.'
'To withdraw the guard from Hazlewood House!' exclaimed the proprietorin mingled displeasure and surprise; 'and YOU will be answerable forit! And, pray, who are you, sir, that I should take your security andcaution and pledge, official or personal, for the safety of HazlewoodHouse? I think, sir, and believe, sir, and am of opinion, sir, that ifany one of these family pictures were deranged or destroyed or injuredit would be difficult for me to make up the loss upon the guaranteewhich you so obligingly offer me.'
'In that case I shall be sorry for it, Sir Robert,' answered thedownright Mac-Morlan; 'but I presume I may escape the pain of feelingmy conduct the cause of such irreparable loss, as I can assure youthere will be no attempt upon Hazlewood House whatever, and I havereceived information which induces me to suspect that the rumour wasput afloat merely in order to occasion the removal of the soldiers fromPortanferry. And under this strong belief and conviction I must exertmy authority as sheriff and chief magistrate of police to order thewhole, or greater part of them, back again. I regret much that by myaccidental absence a good deal of delay has already taken place, and weshall not now reach Portanferry until it is late.'
As Mr. Mac-Morlan was the superior magistrate, and expressed himselfperemptory in the purpose of acting as such, the Baronet, though highlyoffended, could only say, 'Very well, sir; it is very well. Nay, sir,take them all with you; I am far from desiring any to be left here,sir. We, sir, can protect ourselves, sir. But you will have thegoodness to observe, sir, that you are acting on your own proper risk,sir, and peril, sir, and responsibility, sir, if anything shall happenor befall to Hazlewood House, sir, or the inhabitants, sir, or to thefurniture and paintings, sir.'
'I am acting to the best of my judgment and information, Sir Robert,'said Mac-Morlan, 'and I must pray of you to believe so, and to pardonme accordingly. I beg you to observe it is no time for ceremony; it isalready very late.'
But Sir Robert, without deigning to listen to his apologies,immediately employed himself with much parade in arming and arrayinghis domestics. Charles Hazlewood longed to accompany the military,which were about to depart for Portanferry, and which were now drawn upand mounted by direction and under the guidance of Mr. Mac-Morlan, asthe civil magistrate. But it would have given just pain and offence tohis father to have left him at a moment when he conceived himself andhis mansion-house in danger. Young Hazlewood therefore gazed from awindow with suppressed regret and displeasure, until he heard theofficer give the word of command--'From the right to the front, byfiles, m-a-rch. Leading file, to the right wheel. Trot.' The wholeparty of soldiers then getting into a sharp and uniform pace, were soonlost among the trees, and the noise of the hoofs died speedily away inthe distance.