MY FIRST GUARD.
In my dreams she danced again before me, and her voice was lingering
in my ear. I could still see that fairy figure, with the star
beaming on her brow, the robe of muslin, the glancing ankles and
shoulders, and hear the notes of that modulated voice, whose accents
were like the tinkle of fairy bells. At twenty years of age, one
only requires a day or two to fall (as one supposes) completely in
love:--I was only twenty; the object of my secret adoration was
beautiful, and I had seen her surrounded by all those accessories
that will enhance beauty to the utmost extent. As a student, I had
no time to fall in love; as a soldier, it seemed to be quite a matter
of course--for I remembered the great Spanish novelist, who asserted
that a soldier without a mistress, was like a ship without a compass.
The moment I was out of bed and dressed, I instituted another search
for her chamber door.
"The very devil is in it!" said I, for none was visible.
I was not so far gone in love as to lose my appetite; I made a hearty
breakfast with my friends, put on my headpiece, corslet, kilt, and
sword, and sallied forth to our place of arms.
I was for guard that day, and marched with fifty musketeers of our
regiment to relieve my cousin Ian at the old round tower and gate of
Glückstadt, which adjoined it.
We approached the post with a pipe playing, our arms carried, and
matches lighted. Ian drew out his guard in line to receive us; his
piper, in reply to ours, played the _Mackay's Salute_; then arms were
presented, and the posts delivered over.
"Now, Philip," said Ian, before he marched off the old guard, "I have
received from the governor, Sir David Drummond, in person, the most
strict orders to examine all persons who pass or repass this barrier;
and these orders I was to deliver to you, who must in turn repeat
them to your successor. It would seem that there are spies in the
city, who communicate with the Imperialists. Two days after our
landing here, our arrival and our strength were both known to the
generals of the Empire; hence it is believed that Count Tilly will
leave no means untried to cut us off on our march to join the king."
"Indeed!"
"Yes--as Sinclair's clan-regiment was cut to pieces among the
Norwegian Alps; so look well to it, Philip Rollo, and see that none
pass this gate without a written order from Sir David Drummond."
"And what of the burgomaster?"
"Dioul! the burgomaster Dubbelsteirn is under the baton just now.
When a drum beats, the voice of law is dumb," replied Ian, throwing
his plaid over his shoulders.
"You will return, Ian, and share my dinner?" said I.
"And why came you not to share mine yesterday? but I need scarcely
ask. Doubtless you were searching all day for that imaginary door,
which leads to where the spirit lives."
"Spirit?"
"The Trold--did not that fat Holsteiner tell us it was a fairy?"
"The Holsteiner is a lying poltroon," said I, with sudden passion,
"and I will trouble you to tell him that I said so; and, moreover,
that I mean to run him through the body if he will afford me a proper
opportunity."
Ian left me laughing, and for some hours I sauntered dreamily on the
gun platform of the tower, watching the gaudily painted and
peculiarly built ships of the Lübeckers, the Hamburgers, and others
who frequented the port, and were pouring in grain, beef, powder, and
stores of every kind, for the use of that strong army which King
Christian hoped to lead into central Germany. Among the foreign
shipping were several bearing the blue Scottish ensign of St. Andrew,
and others which displayed the white flag of England.
This guard being my first, I was of course extremely zealous; I
posted all the sentinels, and in person heard them deliver over their
orders to each other, being resolved that, so far as I was concerned,
no suspicious or unauthorised person should leave the gates of
Glückstadt. As none of my sentinels could speak any language but
their native Gaëlic, and persons requesting ingress and egress were
brought before me every five minutes, the time was not permitted to
hang heavily on my hands.
A tall figure in the mountain garb, with a feather in his bonnet, and
his belted plaid waving behind, with the tassels of his sporran and
the hilt of his claymore sparkling in the sunshine, came along the
ramparts, under the trees which overshadowed them, and cast also a
comparative gloom on the yellow bosom of the turgid and
barge-encumbered canal which lay below. Long before the Highlander
had reached the steps of the wooden tower, and sprung up the
platform, I recognised my handsome cousin, the chief and most stately
gentleman of the great Clanchattan.
"So you have seen her again?" said he.
"Who told you so, Ian?" I asked.
"Red Angus M'Alpine, who was with us at the tragedy last night."
"I never told Angus that I recognised my unknown in the fair Spanish
dancer."
"Angus, the best huntsman between Strathalladale and Strathearn, is
not so blind as a bat; and, like many smart persons in this world,
can see things without being told of them. He said, that you seemed
to see nothing but her figure, and to hear nothing but her voice; to
be all ear and eye--to devour every motion, and that you were a lost
man. 'A lost man! Angus Roy,' said I; 'tuts! think you my cousin,
Rollo of the Craig, will forget that he is a gentleman of birth and
coat-armour, and that she is but a Spanish posture-maker, who
exhibits her painted limbs at so much per night to all the boors of
Glückstadt. A pretty wife she would make to take home to Cromartie
Firth, and to the old tower of Craigrollo! I wonder if the old spoon
of Sir Ringan would suit her dainty mouth!' And so you see, Philip,
I quite laughed Angus out of the notion."
I felt that Ian was laughing a little at _me_, too; and the quick
blood which had suffused my face while he was rallying me, announced
that his suspicions were well founded, and that, if I was not fairly
in love with the beautiful _danzador_, I was very near it.
"Take care, Philip," said Ian, whose keen Highland eyes had been
regarding me with a half smile under his bonnet; "and beware, for
there must be something shameful about her."
"Shameful!" I reiterated, shocked at a word so disrespectful;
"shameful, Ian!"
"Immoral, then--which you will," continued Ian Dhu a little doggedly,
"or why the d--l does your damsel conceal herself so closely? I do
not half like that beetle-browed fellow, Roskilde, either."
"I dislike him wholly, and distrust him, too."
"He has some bad reason for concealing her, depend upon it; but then,
cousin Philip, you know 'tis no business of _ours_."
"No--no--of course not," said I, coughing, to conceal the annoyance I
felt at the idea of their being a _liaison_ between my beautiful
Spaniard, and that hideous Holsteiner in the bombasted breeches and
calfskin boots.
"Ah, my faith!" I added, grasping my dirk, as my chagrin and
perplexity broke forth--"to be supplanted by such a rival!"
"Ay, a handsome cavalier like you, Philip, by a great bombarde such,
as Herr Otto!" continued Ian, laughing.
"I swear to you, by my existence, that I will cut his life short
suddenly; for the fellow has laughed at me, and played the fool with
me, too."
"Let the poor man alone! What right have you to molest him, or
search out his secrets with a sword-blade; besides, we march for the
camp in a few days, and then, Philip, come battles and sieges, the
leaguer and storm!"
"But he has given me the lie."
"Dioul! that is true," said Ian, gravely; "I had forgotten that. He
insisted so sturdily that you were mistaken, and that she was a
Trold, and so forth. You must exchange a few passes with him, and
rip up a yard of his great breeches, were it only to let a few pounds
of bran out of them; or we might order Phadrig Mhor to fling him into
the canal--but we will see about it to-morrow, when you come off
guard."
Ian had soon to leave me for the place of arms, where the regiment
was exercised according to the rules prescribed by the Scottish
officers in Denmark and Sweden; for the king's orders, that we should
be trained with the utmost expedition, were stringent, as his entire
forces were soon to take the field against Count Tilly.
The day passed on.
I longed for the morrow, which was to free me from my duty, and leave
me at liberty to unravel the mystery which surrounded my beauty, and
to punish the insolence of Roskilde, who had so openly trifled with
my simplicity, and against whom I had conceived a most unmitigated
aversion. Night, as it drew on, brought with it the sensations of
irksome annoyance; for by the crowds which were passing into the
Platz, I conjectured that my pretty actress was again upon that
brilliant platform, with a thousand eyes bent in admiration on her
graceful figure, her flowing dress and floating hair, her pure brow,
and the star of light that beamed upon it; but, restrained by the
strict order about spies in the city, I could not visit the theatre
to behold her again, or hear that soft voice, which memory brought
ever and anon so palpably to my ear.
The sun had set, and the storks retired to their nests on gable-nook
and chimney-top; the canals turned from pale yellow to a muddy brown,
and then became white, as the moon, partly obscured by a thin veil of
gauzy mist, rose behind the square tower of the great church, and
threw its black shadow far across the waters of the Elbe. That broad
river seemed then, by the moonlight reflected from fleecy clouds,
white and spotless as milk; but the shadows of its shores were black
and opaque, for its depths gave back the strong and clear, but
inverted, outline of every chimney-head and pointed roof--of every
tree, and boat, and barge--just as one may see them in the pictures
of the Low Country masters.
A vault of the fortifications was appropriated for the guardroom of
the officer on duty at the wooden tower (or the Tower of Rats, as it
should have been named), and there I sat ruminating, and watching the
figures of the changing embers, which burned on the stone hearth, and
endeavouring to decipher (by the light of a candle, which stood in an
iron holder on the fir table) the innumerable caricatures of the
Emperor Ferdinand, of Count Tilly, of Count Carlstein, and the Duke
of Friedland, with which my predecessors had disfigured the plastered
walls, frequently representing the whole four hanging on one gallows,
held up by the devil, from whose mouth proceeded scrolls full of
Danish invectives and low German ribaldry.
I then betook me to reading Captain Jean de Beaugue's _Histoire de la
Guerre D'Ecosse_, with his campaigns there in 1548 and 1549, and had
become deeply interested in the assault made by M. de la Mothe Ronge
with his arquebussiers, and the chief of the Kerrs with his clan,
upon the Tower of Pherniherst, and its garrison of English archers,
whom they cruelly cut to pieces, making literally and savagely a
foot-ball of their commander's head, when I was interrupted by my
sergeant, Diarmed M'Gillvray, a cadet of the family of Drumnaglas,
who came to inform me that Gillian M'Bane (a short and thickset
clansman from the braes of Rannoch), who was sentinel at the
tower-gate, had captured a very suspicious-looking personage; and
that, as Gillian was sorely puzzled to know whether he had taken a
man, woman, or goblin, Diarmed begged I would come with him to the
post.
On arriving at the archway, the strong gate of which was closed all
save the klinket, or wicket of three palisades, we found Gillian
M'Bane swelling with importance, and standing on his guard, with his
musket charged breast high, and ever and anon he blew the match, the
lurid light of which glowed on his dark tartans, his steel cap, red
beard, and brick-red face, shedding a crimson glow over them all; and
he was uttering hoarse threats in Gaëlic, for the dress and face of
the prisoner he had made, were fully calculated at least to startle
and perplex his unsophisticated mind.
I immediately perceived the captured person to be a woman, who wore a
mask of purple velvet, which, though a common enough article of
apparel in the cities of the Lowlands, had never been seen so far
north as the Black Mountain, or the shores of the Uisc Dhu. Hence
the alarm of Gillian, on beholding a purple face with two eyes that
shone through it like stars. The female, who was rather undersized,
wore an enormous French hood, a plain buffin gown, and green silk
apron, like the smart little wife of a citizen of Holstein.
"You have a pass I presume, from the governor, Sir David Drummond?"
"I have left it at home," replied the little mask, in German nearly
as bad as my own, but in a tone that made me start.
"You are of Sleswig, I think?"
"_Si, señor_--that--that is--Mein Herr," she added with evident
consternation. My heart seemed to rise to my lips!
"You have betrayed yourself," I replied, trembling in turn, for I
knew my actress in a moment. Oh, how could I fail to recognise that
charming voice!
"I swear to you, Mein Herr, that you mistake me for some one else. I
am the poor little wife of a citizen, Juliane Eichhörn--who sells
groceries in the Bürger-platz. My husband has been maltreated by the
boors, and is lying in deadly peril at a farmhouse, some ten miles
distant. A hundred yards from the gate I am to meet a messenger, who
will tell of his health. Oh, Mein Herr! excuse me--excuse the
order; for I swear that I have lost it, and am dying with anxiety to
hear how my husband--my dear husband--my Reichardt, is."
All this was said with such an air of candour and sincerity, and
accompanied by so many sobs and tears, that I was greatly moved and
perplexed. Duty on one hand urged me to send her back to the city or
guard-house, from whence, if her story was false, she might be sent
to the Rasp-haus; curiosity, love, and jealousy, all prompted me to
fathom the story, and send her on her mission.
"I will follow her for a hundred yards or so--'tis only a falcon shot
from the gate," said I; "but, lest there should be treachery, lend me
your pistols, Diarmed, and if you hear me fire send out a few files
to my assistance. You may pass, lady," said I in Spanish, "but pray
excuse my accompanying you."
I led her through the klinket, stuck Diarmed's pistols--a handsome
pair of Highland pops, mounted with silver and bushed with gold--in
my belt, and, with a mixed feeling of curiosity and apprehension,
followed my mysterious little dancer; with curiosity and eagerness to
make her acquaintance, and apprehension lest I might be led into some
wicked ambush, or be found absent from my guard when the governor
went his rounds, which he did every night at a certain hour. And
what think you decided me in perpetrating this rashness? only a
glimpse of a pretty foot and ancle, as my dancer was about to step
through the klinket!
Avoiding the road which led to Crempen, she struck into a solitary
pathway that led between low hedgerows, along the north bank of the
Elbe.
"Señora," said I, in Spanish, "you walk very fast."
"Señor--I walk as I please," she replied in the same language.
"Oho! then you acknowledge that you are not of Sleswig, but a
Spaniard?"
"I acknowledge nothing," she replied, with some asperity.
"And that you are not the little wife of a citizen who sells
groceries, but the charming Prudentia?"
"I acknowledge nothing," she repeated, but with a smile that shewed
her fine teeth under the dark mask.
"But I have every reason to suppose----"
"Cavalier, you may suppose just what you please. I am outside the
barrier now; ha, ha!" and she laughed.
"But I may take you prisoner yet."
"Scarcely," said she, with another of her ringing laughs, as her
small jewelled hand held before me the blade of a short but sharp
stiletto of polished steel.
"The devil!--bright eyes and a dagger!--'tis quite a tragedy this!"
"It may end as a comedy, if you are kind to me."
"Well," said I, "the hour is late; here is midnight tolling in the
steeple of the great church--allow me to act properly as your
cavalier, and I shall be delighted."
"Many thanks, señor," she replied, and took my proffered hand. My
heart beat like lightning; my head became giddy. Was it possible
that I could be alone--at midnight, too--with that beautiful being,
half woman, half fairy? I knew not what to say, and the light
pressure of her little hand on mine, sent every moment a thrill to my
heart, but then the other lay on the haft of a dagger!......
We seem to love very truly at twenty--then it is quite an enthusiasm,
a second nature that can feed itself on smiles and sighs; but, with
all this, I could not help reflecting that Prudentia was leading me a
devil of a distance. I thought of my guard, and trembled lest Sir
David should discover my absence--a catastrophe which would lead to
inevitable degradation, and realise all the prophecies of my father.
My companion addressed me--
"Señor, you have become very silent--cannot you speak, to enliven
this dreary road?"
"I was thinking, señora, how charming you looked last night--and how
adorably you sang."
"A great many have told me that fifty times."
"Then you must have a great many lovers?"
"Do you think that all who see me, love me?"
"If I judge from my own heart, I would say----"
"What----"
"Yes--that they must be compelled to do so," I added, with a
tremulous voice.
"Oh, that is delightful! but recollect, señor, that though I shall be
most happy to have you for my friend, my lover you cannot be."
"Come--that is not bad," said I, assuming somewhat of her tone of
raillery, while her frankness charmed me. "I must, of course, be
your friend first, señora."
"And then----" she added archly.
"Ah! there is no saying what I may be."
"Oh! 'tis quite a compact--we shall be friends!" she added, laughing
and clapping her hands.
"I trust you have not much further to go," said I, as we approached
the muddy margin of the Elbe; "for I fear me greatly, I am already
liable to be tried by a court-martial."
"_Consejo de guerra?_" she repeated, turning on me her bright eyes,
which shone like stars through the holes in her mask. "I should be
miserable if I occasioned that; but you need come no farther. My
husband's messenger is standing under yonder tree, and, as I have no
wish that you should hear all the tender messages my Reichardt sends
me, I beg you will stand here until I return."
"By that wicked smile I see you have no husband."
"You shall see that I have; but on your honour, as a soldier and
cavalier, do not follow me, and permit none to approach us."
"Whoever does so, must pass over my body," said I, unsheathing my
claymore.
With a light step she hurried to the water-side, where, from under
the shadow of a group of willows, I saw a tall male figure step out
of a boat, which lay concealed among the thick long reeds. To
Prudentia he made a bow, the brevity, or rather hauteur of which, was
indicated by the lofty nod of his feathers, and then they entered
into conversation, and I saw her deliver into his hand a packet,
which he placed in his breast.