Guy Mannering Part 43

"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 disputed pa.s.sage."

"I am not in the vein, Mr. Sampson," answered Pleydell; "here's metal more attractive--I do not despair to engage these two young ladies in a glee or a catch, wherein I, even I myself, will adventure myself for the ba.s.s part--Hang De Lyra, man; keep him for a fitter season."

The disappointed Dominie shut his ponderous tome, much marvelling in his mind how a person, possessed of the lawyer's erudition, could give his mind to these frivolous toys. But the counsellor, indifferent to the high character for learning which he was trifling away, filled himself a large gla.s.s of Burgundy, and after preluding a little with a voice somewhat the worse for wear, gave the ladies a courageous invitation to join in "We be three poor Mariners," and accomplished his own part therein with great eclat.

"Are you not withering your roses with sitting up so late, my young ladies?" said the Colonel.

"Not a bit, sir," answered Julia; "your friend, Mr. Pleydell, threatens to become a pupil of Mr. Sampson's to-morrow, so we must make the most of our conquest to-night."

This led to another musical trial of skill, and that to lively conversation. At length, when the solitary sound of one o'clock had long since resounded on the ebon ear of night, and the next signal of the advance of time was close approaching, Mannering, whose impatience had long subsided into disappointment and despair, looked at his watch, and said, "We must now give them up"--when at that instant--But what then befell will require a separate chapter.

CHAPTER L.

Justice. This does indeed confirm each circ.u.mstance 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--"It is a carriage for certain--no, it is but the sound of the wind among the leafless trees. Do come to the window, Mr.

Pleydell. "The counsellor, who, with his large silk handkerchief in his hand, was expatiating away to Julia upon some subject which he thought was interesting, obeyed, however, the summons, first, wrapping the handkerchief round his neck by way of precaution against the cold air. The sound of wheels became now very perceptible, and Pleydell, as if he had reserved all his curiosity till that moment, ran out to the hall. The Colonel rung for Barnes to desire that the persons who came in the carriage might be shown into a separate room, being altogether uncertain whom it might contain. It, stopped, however, at the door, before his purpose could he fully explained. A moment after, Mr. Pleydell called out, "Here's our Liddesdale friend, I protest, with a strapping young fellow of the same calibre. "His voice arrested Dinmont, who recognised him with equal surprise And pleasure. "Odd, if it's your honour, we'll a' be as right and tight as thack and rape can make us." [*When a farmer's crop is got safety into the barn-yard, it is said to be made fast with thack and rape--Anglic, straw and rope.]

But while the farmer stopped to make his bow, Bertram, dizzied with the sudden glare of light, and bewildered with the circ.u.mstances of his situation, almost unconsciously entered the open door of the parlour, and confronted the Colonel, who was just advancing towards it. The strong light of the apartment left no doubt of his ident.i.ty, and he himself was as much confounded with the appearance of those to whom he so unexpectedly presented himself, as they were by the sight of so utterly unlooked-for an object. It must be remembered that each individual present had their own peculiar reasons for looking with terror upon what seemed at first sight a spectral apparition. Mannering saw before him the man whom he supposed he had killed in India; Julia beheld her lover in a most peculiar and hazardous situation; and Lucy Bertram at once knew the person who had fired upon young Hazlewood. Bertram, who interpreted the fixed and motionless astonishment of the Colonel into displeasure at his intrusion, hastened to say that it was involuntary, since he had been hurried 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 same you knew in India; and who ventures to hope, that what you did then know of him is not such as should prevent his requesting you would favour him with 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 pa.s.sed between us, you have a right to command my favourable testimony."

At this critical moment entered the counsellor and Dinmont. The former beheld, to his astonishment, the Colonel but just recovering from his first surprise, Lucy Bertram ready to faint with terror, and Miss Mannering in an agony of doubt and apprehension, which she in vain endeavoured to disguise or suppress. "What is the meaning of all this?" said he; "has this young fellow brought the Gorgon's head in his hand?-let me look at him.--By Heaven!" he muttered to himself, "the very image of old Ellangowan!--Yes, the same manly form and handsome features, but with a world of more intelligence in the face--Yes!--the witch has kept her word." Then instantly pa.s.sing 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 once recognised the supposed a.s.sa.s.sin of young Hazlewood; a conviction which excluded, of course, the more favourable a.s.sociation of ideas which might have 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 be murdered!"

"Murdered! where's the poker?" said the advocate in some alarm; "but nonsense! we are three men besides the servants, and there is honest Liddesdale worth half a dozen to boot--we have the major vis upon our side--however, here, my friend Dandie--Davie--what do they call You?--keep between 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," answered Pleydell; "but keep near him."

All this pa.s.sed with such rapidity, that it was over before the Dominie had recovered himself from a fit of absence, shut the book which he had been studying in a corner, and advancing to obtain a sight of the strangers, exclaimed at once, upon beholding Bertram, "If the grave can give up the dead, that is my dear and honoured master!"

"We're right after all, by Heaven! I was sure I was right," said the lawyer; "he is the very image of his father.--Come, Colonel, what do you think of, that you do not bid your guest welcome? I think--I believe--I trust we're right--never saw such a likeness!--But patience--Dominie, say not a word.--Sit down, young gentleman."

"I beg pardon, sir; if I am, as I understand, in Colonel Mannering's house, I should wish first to know if my accidental appearance here gives offence, or if I am welcome?"

Mannering instantly made an effort. "Welcome? most certainly, especially if you can point out how I can serve you. I believe I may have some wrongs to repair towards you--I have often suspected so; but your sudden and unexpected appearance, connected with painful recollections, prevented my saying at first, as I now say, that whatever has procured me the honour of this visit, it is an acceptable one."

Bertram bowed with an air of distant, yet civil acknowledgment, to the grave courtesy of Mannering.

"Julia, my love, you had better retire. Mr. Brown, you will excuse my daughter; there are circ.u.mstances which I perceive rush upon her recollection."

Miss Mannering rose and retired accordingly; yet, as--she pa.s.sed Bertram, could not suppress the words, "Infatuated! a second time!"

but so p.r.o.nounced as to be heard by him alone. Miss Bertram accompanied her friend, much surprised, but without venturing second glance at the object of her terror. Some mistake she saw there was, and was unwilling to increase it by denouncing the stranger as an a.s.sa.s.sin. He was known, she saw, to the Colonel, and received as a gentleman; certainly he either was not the person she suspected, or Hazlewood was right in supposing the shot accidental.

The remaining part of the company would have formed no bad group for a skilful painter. Each was too much embarra.s.sed with his own sensations to observe those of the others. Bertram most unexpectedly found himself in the house of one, whom he was alternately disposed to dislike as his personal enemy, and to respect as the father of Julia; Mannering was struggling between his high sense of courtesy and hospitality, his joy at finding himself relieved from the guilt of having shed life in a private quarrel, and the former feelings of dislike and prejudice, which revived in his haughty mind at the sight of the object against whom he had entertained them; Sampson, supporting his shaking limbs by leaning on the back of a chair, fixed his eyes upon Bertram, with a staring expression of nervous anxiety which convulsed his whole visage; Dinmont, enveloped in his loose s.h.a.ggy greatcoat, and resembling a huge bear erect upon his hinder legs, stared on the whole scene with great round eyes that witnessed his amazement.

The counsellor alone was in his element, shrewd, prompt, and active; he already calculated the prospect of brilliant success in a strange, eventful, and mysterious lawsuit, and no young monarch, flushed with hopes, and at the head of a gallant army, could experience more glee when taking the field on his first campaign.

He bustled about with great energy, and took the arrangement of the whole explanation upon himself.

"Come, come, gentlemen, sit down; this is all in my province: you must let me arrange it for you. Sit down, my dear Colonel, and let me manage; sit down, Mr. Brown, aut quocunque alio nomine vocaris--Dominie, take your seat--draw in your chair, honest Liddesdale."

"I dinna ken, Mr. Pleydell," said Dinmont, looking at his dreadnought-coat, then at the handsome furniture of the room, "I had maybe better gang some gate else, [*Somewhere else.] and leave ye till your cracks--I'm no just that weel put on."

The Colonel, who by this time recognised Dandie, immediately went up and bid him heartily welcome; a.s.suring him, that from what he had seen of him in Edinburgh, he was sure his rough coat and thick--soled boots would honour a royal drawing-room.

"Na, na, Colonel, we're just plain up-the-country folk; but nae doubt I would fain hear o' ony pleasure that was gaun to happen the Captain, and I'm sure a' will gae right if Mr. Pleydell will take his bit job in hand."

"You're right, Dandie--spoke like a Hieland oracle [*It may not he unnecessary to tell southern readers, that the mountainous country in the south-western borders of Scotland, is called Hieland, though totally different from the much more mountainous and more extensive districts of the north, usually accented Hielands.]--and now be silent. --Well, you are all seated at last; take a gla.s.s of wine till I begin my catechism methodically. And now," turning to Bertram, "my dear boy, do you know who or what you are?"

In spite of his perplexity, the catechumen could not help laughing at this commencement, and answered, "Indeed, sir, I formerly thought I did; but I own late circ.u.mstances 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 he commanded the--regiment, in which capacity I was not unknown to him."

"There," said the Colonel, "I can a.s.sure Mr. Brown of his ident.i.ty; and add, what his modesty may have forgotten, that he was distinguished as a young man of talent and spirit."

"So much the better, my dear sir," said Mr. Pleydell; "but that is to general 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 deeply impressed upon me by subsequent hard usage, that I was during my childhood the object of much solicitude and affection. I have an indistinct 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 been my mother but it is an imperfect and confused recollection. I remember too a tall thin kind tempered man in black, who used to teach me my letters and walk out with me;--and I think the very last time--"

Here the Dominie could contain no longer. While every succeeding word served to prove that the child of his benefactor stood before him, he had struggled with the utmost difficulty to suppress his emotions; but, when the juvenile recollections of Bertram turned towards his tutor and his precepts, he was compelled to give way to his feelings. He rose hastily from his chair, and with clasped bands, trembling limbs, and streaming eyes, 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 had burst in upon his mind,--"Yes--that was my name!--and that is the voice and the figure of my kind old master!"

The Dominie threw himself into his arms, pressed him a thousand times to his bosom in convulsions of transport, which shook his whole frame, sobbed hysterically, and, at length, in the emphatic language of Scripture, lifted up his voice and wept aloud. Colonel Mannering had recourse to his handkerchief; Pleydell made wry faces, and wiped the gla.s.ses of his spectacles; and honest Dinmont, after two loud blubbering explosions, exclaimed, "Deil's in the man! he's garr'd me do that I haena done since my auld mither died."

"Come, come," said the counsellor at last, "silence in the court.--We have a clever party to contend with; we must lose no time in gathering our information--for anything I know, there may be something to be done before daybreak."

"I will order a horse to be saddled, if you please," said the Colonel.