difference that lies atween the ordinary jobs o' us cadies, and the
like o' thae michty emprises, whar life and limb, and honour and
reputation, are concerned. In the first case, the pay comes after
the wark--in the ither, the wark comes after the pay; an' it's richt
natural, whan ye think o't; because I hae often seen the city guard kick
the wark and the warkmen to the deevil in an instant, and the puir cadie
gets only broken banes for his pains."
"There, then," said Brodie, "there is half of thy fee; the other shall
be given when thou bringest the girl."
"Vera weel," said Geordie, counting the gold pieces; "and thank ye. I
wunna fail in my duty, I warrant ye."
Next night, at the time and place appointed, Geordie attended with his
charge. He found Brodie in waiting with a carriage, in which was seated
Louise. Jessie was told to enter, and complied. Brodie jumped in, and
Geordie held out his hand for the other half of the fee, which he
received. He now slipped a piece of twine round the handle of the
carriage, so as to prevent it from being opened; and, in a moment
vaulted up beside the coachman, whose hat, as if by mere accident, he
knocked off.
"Gie me up my bannet, ye whelp," said the coachman, angrily.
"Cadies are no cadies to coachmen," answered Geordie, dryly; "your
brains maun be far spent, man, when they canna keep a house ower their
head."
The coachman jumped down for his hat, and Geordie, applying the whip to
the horses, was off in an instant. The coachman cried, "Stop the coach!"
Brodie, thinking it was a chase, cried to drive like the devil. Geordie
obeyed to the letter, and dashed on like lightning.
The coach stopped, and was instantly surrounded by a number of people,
who opened the door, and pulling the three inmates out, led them into
a large building, the door of which was double-bolted, and made a
tremendous noise as it revolved on its hinges. The party were taken up
stairs, and introduced (Geordie leading the way with his hat in his
hand) into a large room, where several people were present, apparently
waiting for them.
"I beg leave to introduce," said Geordie, bowing low, "to yer lordship,
the sheriff--wha has dune us the honour to receive us at this time in
sae safe a place as the jail, whar we are perfectly free frae a'
interruption--his honour, Ludovic Brodie, Esq. o' Birkiehaugh, and her
highness, Louise Grecourt, a French leddy o' repute. They are anxious to
receive yer opinion on a point o' law, in whilk they are personally
concerned, a favour, I doutna, yer honour will condescend to grant."
The sheriff immediately set about taking a precognition, for which he
had been, by Geordie, previously prepared. Brodie was committed on a
charge of abduction; but Louise, on the intercession of Geordie and his
ward, was allowed to get off. Some time afterwards, Brodie was tried,
and sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
Geordie had now occasion to call upon Lady Maitland for his yearly
allowance. Louise having been liberated without trial, it had not yet
reached the ears of her or Lady Maitland that Peter Finlayson was, in
fact, Geordie Willison. Brodie had made no communication of that fact
as yet, and neither Louise nor Lady Maitland could have any idea that
Geordie knew of the hand they had in the attempted abduction, or of
their knowledge or suspicion that Jessie Warriston was the intended
victim of their cruelty.
"My leddy," began Geordie, with his accustomed bow, but with more than
his usual significancy of look, "this is the first time for these
seventeen years that I hae been awantin' in my attention and duty as yer
leddyship's freend; for I am ae day ahint the usual time o' my veesit to
yer leddyship, for whilk mark o' disrespect I beg leave to solicit yer
leddyship's pardon, upon the condition that I offer, that I shall
promise, as I here most solemnly do, that I shall not be again wantin'
in my duty to yer leddyship. Can I say I hae yer leddyship's pardon?"
Crucified by Geordie's cruel humour, but compelled to be silent, Lady
Maitland signified her favour.
"Yer leddyship's condescension is a great relief to me," resumed
Geordie. "They say Sir Marmaduke's nevey, Brodie o' Birkiehaugh, is in
jail for attempting to rin awa' wi' a young lassie. What he was to do
wi' her, God only kens, but there can be nae doubt that he would get
sma' favour and grace frae yer leddyship to ony attempt on the puir
cratur's life. Na, na--a nobility sae michtie as yer leddyship's, an' a
saftness o' heart whilk far excels that o' the bleatin' ewe for the puir
lambie that lies deein' by its side, couldna patroneeze onything like
the takin' awa o' God's breath frae the nostrils o' innocence."
Geordie, whose cruelty was refined, paused, and fixed his eyes on the
lady, who appeared to be in agony. She rose quickly, and went, as usual,
to her bureau to give him money.
"Stop," said Geordie; "I haena asked ye for't yet. I dinna like awmous.
It's only when I want to favour yer leddyship that I tak siller fra ye,
and naething I hae yet said could warrant yer leddyship in supposing
that I was to confer sic a favour on ye, at least at the particular time
when ye rose to open yer kist; and I dinna need to say, that favours
quickly conferred are sune repented o'. Weel, the bit lassie wham
Birkiehaugh was after, is a young creature, ca'ed Jessie Warriston, wha
lives wi' my mither. Few folk on earth ken meikle about her; but my
mither swears that her mither maun hae been hanged, for she has a ring
round her bonny white craig, like that on the neck o' the turtle doo. I
laugh, an' say to the bonny bairn, that it will stan' in place o' a
coral or cornelian necklace to her.--Ha! ha! I see your leddyship's
inclined to laugh too--eh?"
And Geordie again eyed the lady, who was as far from laughing as the
criminal at the stake.
"Weel," resumed the crucifier, "Birkiehaugh didna succeed--thanks to
Peter Finlayson, honest fallow--and the lassie is safe again; but I hae
made a vow, and I hope sae gude a ane will be regularly recorded whar it
should be, that the first person wha tries to lay sae meikle as a finger
on that bonny bairn's head, or blaw a single breath o' suspicion against
her reputation, will meet wi' the just indignation o' Geordie Willison.
An' noo, my leddy, I will favour ye by accepting, at yer hands, twenty
pund."
Geordie received, and counted the money, as usual, and, with a bow,
retired.
The six months of Birkiehaugh's confinement expired, and, about the same
time, Sir Marmaduke Maitland died. Having had no children by his wife,
the title and fine property of Castle Gower fell to Brodie, who was his
brother's son--Brodie being the name of the family who had succeeded to
the title. No time was lost by Brodie's man of business to take out a
brief from Chancery, for getting him served heir male of taillie to the
estate and honours. The brief was published, and no doubt anywhere
prevailed of the verdict which would be pronounced under it.
About this time it was observed that Geordie Willison had long
interviews with Advocate Carstairs; but neither his mother, nor his
sister, nor, indeed, any person, could get him to say a word on the
subject. His manner, in regard to the story of Jessie, had been all
along quite uniform, and many years had passed since his mother had
given up in despair all attempts to get him to divulge it. He was, at
present, apparently very absent, as if something of great importance
occupied his mind.
One day, on leaving the advocate, he went direct for the house of Lady
Maitland. He was admitted as usual. He said he wished to see her
ladyship and Louise together.
"I hae heard," began Geordie, "that my worthy freend, Sir Marmaduke,
is dead. He was a gude man, and may the Lord deal mercifully wi' him!
Ludovic Brodie, they say, is the heir, an' I dinna say he has nae richt
to that title--though, maybe, it may cost some wigs a pickle flour to
mak that oot. Noo, ye see, my Leddy Maitland, I hae dune ye some
favours, and I'm just to take the liberty to ask ane in return. You an'
yer freend, Louise, maun admit, in open court, that yer leddyship bore,
upon the 19th day of February o' the year 16--, a dochter, and that that
dochter is Jessie Warriston."
Geordie waited for an answer, fixing his eyes on Lady Maitland.
Louise immediately began to make indications of a spirit of opposition;
and Lady Maitland herself, gathering up any traces of dignity, which the
presence of Geordie generally dispersed, replied--
"Thou hast no proof, sir, of the extraordinary charge, thou hast now,
for the first time, brought against me; and I cannot convict myself of a
crime."
Louise blustered and supported her lady.
"Vat, in the name of God, is de meaning of dis fellow's demand?
_Parbleu!_ He is mad--_de fou_--bad--vicked--mechant. Vere I your
ladyship, I would trust him out, and give him de grand kick, and tomble
him down de marche de stairs. Vy, sir, could you have de grand impudence
to tell my lady she be de bad woman."
Geordie heard all this with calmness and silence.
"It's o' sma importance to me," he resumed, "whether yer leddyship
comply wi' my request or no; for, indeed, though politeness made me ca'
it a favour conferred upon me, the favour is a' the ither way. Let yer
leddyship be silent, an' I'll prove that yer leddyship bore the bairn;
but ye maun ken that Geordie Willison has nae power ower the law--when
the seals are broken, the judgment will come; and I canna prove the
birth o' the bairn without, at the same time, and by the same prufe,
proving that ye attempted to strangle it, and left it for dead in the
hedges o' Warriston. Here is yer leddyship's necklace, whilk I took fra
the craig o' the struggling cratur, and here are the claes it had on,
marked wi' draps o' blude that cam frae its little mouth. I show thae
things no as proofs on whilk I mean a'thegither to rest, but only to
testify to ye what ye sae weel ken, that what I say is true. Speak, noo,
my leddies--your lives are i' the hands o' the idiot cratur Geordie
Willison. If ye gang to the court, ye are saved--if ye winna, ye are
lost. Will ye gang, or will ye hang?"
The women were both terrified by the statement of Geordie. Reluctant to
make any such admission, they struggled with the various emotions of
indignation, pride, and fear, which took, by turns, possession of their
bosoms. Lady Maitland fainted, and Louise was totally unable to render
her assistance; for she lay in a hysterical state of excitement on the
floor. Geordie locked the door, and kept his eyes fixed on the females.
He yielded them no aid; but stood like a destroying angel, witnessing
the effects of his desolation. Lady Maitland at last opened her eyes,
and having collected her senses, resolved to comply with Geordie's
request. She said to him, that, provided nothing was asked beyond the
questions, whether she bore the child on the day mentioned, and whether
Jessie Maitland, whom she had secretly seen, was that child--she would
answer them in the affirmative. This satisfied Geordie, and he departed.
On the day of the service of Ludovic Brodie, a brief was taken out in
name of Jessie Warriston or Maitland, as heir female of taillie to the
estate and title of Maitland of Castle Gower. Brodie and his agents had
no notice of the brief until they came into court.
The briefs being read, Brodie's propinquity was proved, and no person
had any idea that the existence of a nearer heir could be established.
But the door of the court opened, and Lady Maitland and Louise Grecourt
stood before the inquest. They swore to the birth of the child on the
day mentioned, and that Jessie Maitland, who was presented to them in
court by Geordie Willison himself, was that child.
An objection was taken by Brodie's agents, that the child was
illegitimate, because it was born ten months, minus two days, after Sir
Marmaduke went to the continent; but the judge overruled the objection,
stating that it was the law of Scotland, that every child born within
ten months of the husband's departure, is a legal child.
Jessie Warriston was, therefore, served heir, according to the terms of
her brief. She went in her own carriage, in which sat Geordie Willison,
to take possession of her estates and titles. She was now Lady Jessie
Maitland of Castle Gower, and was soon afterwards united to William
Forbes, her old lover.
THE SNOW STORM OF 1825.
Our readers will recollect the dreadful snow storm that occurred in the
year 1825. Indeed, it is impossible that any one, who was above the
years of childhood at the time, can have forgot it, or can ever forget
it. It was the most tremendous with which this country has been visited
for a century. For nearly six weeks, and in some places for a much
longer period, every road, excepting those in the immediate vicinity of
large towns, was blocked up, and rendered impassable, by either horse
or foot; and one consequence was, that scores of travellers, of all
descriptions, were suddenly arrested in their several places of
temporary sojournment on the road, and held in durance during the whole
period of the storm, without the possibility of communicating with their
friends, or, in the case of mercantile travellers, with their employers.
It was a weary time, on the whole, to those who were thus laid under
embargo; but not without its pleasures either; for each house thus
situated, having perhaps a dozen strangers in it, from and going to
all parts of the kingdom, became a distinct and independent little
community, from which its local exclusion from the busy world had shut
out, also, for the time at any rate, much of its cares and troubles--a
philosophic spirit soon prevailing, after the first day or two's
confinement, to make the most of what could not be helped.
The writer of this sheet happened to be one of nine who were shut up in
the way alluded to, in an inn in the south of Scotland; and although, as
already said, it was rather a weary thing on the whole, yet was it not
without its enjoyments. Our _ennui_ was often delightfully relieved by
the diversity of character as developed in our little community; for we
had, if we may so speak, the salt, the pepper, and the vinegar of human
dispositions, sprinkled throughout the party, which not only took from
the cold insipidity of our confinement, but gave to it a rich and
pleasant relish. Our host's cellar and larder happened to be well
stored, while the house was, in all other respects, an excellent one;
so, what with the produce of the former, and the roaring fires kept up
by Jamie, the waiter, we had really nothing to complain of on the score
of creature comforts--and it is amazing how far the possession of these
will go to reconcile men to otherwise very unpleasant situations. In
this case, they were enhanced by the dreary prospect from without--the
howling storm, the drifting snow, and the wide, dismal, monotonous waste
of dazzling white that lay all around us.
The consciousness of the comforts we enjoyed, in short, put us all in
good humour with one another; while a fellowship in misfortune, and a
community of feeling, as well as of persons, introduced a degree of
friendliness and intimacy, to which few other circumstances, perhaps,
would have given rise. We had our small round of standard jokes,
peculiar to our situation, which few else could have understood, and
fewer still have appreciated, though they did understand them. We had,
too, a small round of harmless tricks, which we regularly played off
every day on some one or other of the corps. But, notwithstanding all
this--the larder, the cellar, the fire, the jokes, and the tricks--time
did occasionally hang rather heavily upon our hands, especially in the
evenings. To lessen this weight, we latterly fell upon the contrivance
of telling stories, one or two of us each night, by turns. The idea is a
borrowed one, as the reader will at once perceive, but we humbly think
not a pin the worse on that account. There was no limitation, of course,
as to the subject. Each was allowed to tell what story he liked; but it
was the general understanding that these stories should be personal,
if possible--that is, that each should relate the most remarkable
circumstances in his own life. Those who had nothing of the kind to
communicate, were, of course, allowed to get off with anything else they
chose to substitute. The first to whose lot it fell to entertain us in
this way, was a fat, good-humoured, good-natured, little, hunch-backed
gentleman, with a short leg, and a bright yellow waistcoat. He was a
mercantile traveller, and, if I recollect right, a native of Newcastle.
When the little man was asked to open his budget, "Why, gentlemen," said
he, "I do not see that I can do better than comply with the understood
wish of the company, by giving you a sketch of my own life, which you
will find to present, I think, as curious a race, or struggle, or
whatever else you may choose to call it, between luck and misfortune,
as perhaps you have heard of:--
You must know, then, my friends (went on the little gentleman in the
bright yellow waistcoat), that the indications of my future good fortune
began to exhibit themselves as early as they well could. I was born with
a caul upon my head, gentlemen, which all of you know is an indubitable
token that the little personage to whom it belongs will be singularly
fortunate in life. Well, gentleman, I was favoured, as I have already
said, with one of those desirable headpieces; and great was the joy the
circumstance gave rise to amongst the female friends and gossips who
were assembled on the occasion. The midwife said that everything I
should put my hand to would prosper, and that I would be, to a
certainty, at the very least, a general, a bishop, or a judge; the nurse
to whom I was subsequently consigned, on the same ground, dubbed me a
duke, and would never call me by any other title; whilst my poor mother
saw me, in perspective, sitting amongst the great ones of the earth,
surrounded with power, wealth, and glory. Such were the bright visions
of my future prosperity, to which my caul gave rise; and probably they
might have been realized, had it not been for an unlucky counteracting
or thwarting power that always stepped in, seemingly for no other
purpose but to disappoint my own hopes and those of my friends;
sometimes baulking my expectations altogether, when on the point of
fruition--sometimes converting that to evil in me which would assuredly
have produced good to any other person. But to proceed with my history.
I grew up a fine, stout, well-made child. Ay, you may laugh, gentlemen
(said the little man, good-humouredly, seeing a titter go round at this
personal allusion, which so ill accorded with his present deformed
appearance), but it was the case, I assure you, until I met with the
accidents that altered my shape to what you now see it. Well, I repeat,
that I grew a fine promising child, and, to the inexpressible amazement
and delight of my parents, showed symptoms of taking unusually early to
my legs.
Nor were these symptoms unfaithful. I took to my pins, on my own
account, before I was ten months old; but, unfortunately, my first walk
was into a draw-well, where I would infallibly have been drowned, if it
had not been for a large Newfoundland dog which my father kept, and
which was close by me at the time of the accident. The faithful creature
leapt in after me, and kept me afloat, until my father came and
extricated me. After this, I was never trusted a moment out of sight;
and thus, instead of this precocious developement of my physical powers
proving a blessing to me, it proved a curse; for it deprived me of all
liberty. As I grew up, however, this restraint became less rigorous, and
I was permitted to ramble in the garden; and one of my first feats,
after obtaining this freedom, was, to climb a high wall, to come at an
uncommonly fine apple that had long tempted me with its rosy cheeks, and
I had just succeeded in getting near enough to the prize to grasp it,
when, in making this effort, down I came; and this leg, gentlemen (said
the little man, holding out his deformed limb), was the consequence. I
fell and broke my leg, just as I was about to grasp the apple. Fatal
type of all my subsequent misfortunes!
I have now, gentlemen (went on the little man), to account for the other
deformity that disfigures me, viz.,--my hump-back. This befell me in the
following manner. Playing one day with a number of boys, of about my own
age, which was then six or seven, a big fellow, of double the size
of any of us, came in amongst us, and began to plunder us of our
playthings; and he was in the very act of robbing me of a hoop, when
another lad, still stronger and bigger, who saw the attempted robbery,
generously ran to my assistance, and aimed a tremendous blow with a
stick at my assailant. The blow, however, missed him at whom it was
aimed, and took me exactly on the small of the back, which it broke in
two as if it had been a pipe shank; and the consequence was, as you see,
gentlemen (said the little man in the bright yellow waistcoat, edging
round, at the same time, to indicate his hump).
Well, then, gentlemen (he went on), up to my ninth year, this was
all the good fortune that my caul brought me--that is, being first
half-drowned, then breaking my leg, and lastly my back. To compensate,
however, in some measure, for these mischances, I turned out an
excellent scholar; and, especially, became a very expert Latinist--a
circumstance which my father, who had a great veneration for the
language, thought sufficient alone to make my fortune; and it certainly
procured me--that is, very nearly procured me--in the meantime, some of
the chief honours of the school. I say very nearly--for I did not
actually obtain them; but it was only by the merest accident in the
world that I did not. The misapprehension of a single word deprived me
of a prize which was about to be awarded to me, and gave it to one of my
competitors. This was reckoned a very hard case; but there was no help
for it.
Still there was luck in the caul, gentlemen (continued the little man in
the bright yellow waistcoat), as you shall hear. Going home from school
one day, a distance of about a mile and a half, I found a very handsome
gold watch, with valuable appendages, lying upon the road. I was at
first afraid to lift the glittering treasure, hardly believing it
possible that so rich and splendid a thing could be without an owner;
but, gradually picking up courage, I seized on the watch, hurried it
into my pocket, and ran onwards like a madman. I had not run far,
however, when a man, respectably dressed, but who seemed the worse of
liquor, or rather like one just recovering from a debauch, met me, and,
seizing me by the breast, fiercely asked me if I had seen anything of a
gold watch. I instantly confessed that I had found such a thing; and,
trembling with apprehension, for the fellow continued to look furiously
at me, produced the watch.
"Very well," said he, taking it from me. "Now, you little villain you,
confess. You did not find the watch, but stole it from me whilst I slept
on the roadside."
I protested that it was not so--that I had found it as I had said. To
this protest the fellow replied by striking me a violent blow on the
side of the head, which stretched me on the road; where, after
administering two or three parting kicks, to teach me honesty, as he
said, he left me in a state of insensibility. I was shortly afterwards
picked up and carried home; but so severe had been the drubbing I got,
that I was obliged to keep my bed for three weeks after. And this was
all I gained by finding a gold watch. Had any other person found it,
they would have been allowed to keep it, or, at the worst, have got a
handsome reward for giving it up; but such things were to be not in any
case in which I should be concerned.