Here's a good world!
Knew you of this fair work?
King John.
JULIA MANNERING to MATILDA MARCHMONT
'I must take up the thread of my story, my dearest Matilda, where I
broke off yesterday.
'For two or three days we talked of nothing but our siege and its
probable consequences, and dinned into my father's unwilling ears a
proposal to go to Edinburgh, or at least to Dumfries, where there is
remarkably good society, until the resentment of these outlaws should
blow over. He answered with great composure that he had no mind to have
his landlord's house and his own property at Woodbourne destroyed;
that, with our good leave, he had usually been esteemed competent to
taking measures for the safety or protection of his family; that, if he
remained quiet at home, he conceived the welcome the villains had
received was not of a nature to invite a second visit, but should he
show any signs of alarm, it would be the sure way to incur the very
risk which we were afraid of. Heartened by his arguments, and by the
extreme indifference with which he treated the supposed danger, we
began to grow a little bolder, and to walk about as usual. Only the
gentlemen were sometimes invited to take their guns when they attended
us, and I observed that my father for several nights paid particular
attention to having the house properly secured, and required his
domestics to keep their arms in readiness in case of necessity.
'But three days ago chanced an occurrence of a nature which alarmed me
more by far than the attack of the smugglers.
'I told you there was a small lake at some distance from Woodbourne,
where the gentlemen sometimes go to shoot wild-fowl. I happened at
breakfast to say I should like to see this place in its present frozen
state, occupied by skaters and curlers, as they call those who play a
particular sort of game upon the ice. There is snow on the ground, but
frozen so hard that I thought Lucy and I might venture to that
distance, as the footpath leading there was well beaten by the repair
of those who frequented it for pastime. Hazlewood instantly offered to
attend us, and we stipulated that he should take his fowling-piece. He
laughed a good deal at the idea of going a-shooting in the snow; but,
to relieve our tremors, desired that a groom, who acts as gamekeeper
occasionally, should follow us with his gun. As for Colonel Mannering,
he does not like crowds or sights of any kind where human figures make
up the show, unless indeed it were a military review, so he declined
the party.
'We set out unusually early, on a fine, frosty, exhilarating morning,
and we felt our minds, as well as our nerves, braced by the elasticity
of the pure air. Our walk to the lake was delightful, or at least the
difficulties were only such as diverted us,--a slippery descent, for
instance, or a frozen ditch to cross, which made Hazlewood's assistance
absolutely necessary. I don't think Lucy liked her walk the less for
these occasional embarrassments.
'The scene upon the lake was beautiful. One side of it is bordered by a
steep crag, from which hung a thousand enormous icicles all glittering
in the sun; on the other side was a little wood, now exhibiting that
fantastic appearance which the pine trees present when their branches
are loaded with snow. On the frozen bosom of the lake itself were a
multitude of moving figures, some flitting along with the velocity of
swallows, some sweeping in the most graceful circles, and others deeply
interested in a less active pastime, crowding round the spot where the
inhabitants of two rival parishes contended for the prize at
curling,--an honour of no small importance, if we were to judge from
the anxiety expressed both by the players and bystanders. We walked
round the little lake, supported by Hazlewood, who lent us each an arm.
He spoke, poor fellow, with great kindness to old and young, and seemed
deservedly popular among the assembled crowd. At length we thought of
retiring.
'Why do I mention these trivial occurrences? Not, Heaven knows, from
the interest I can now attach to them; but because, like a drowning man
who catches at a brittle twig, I seize every apology for delaying the
subsequent and dreadful part of my narrative. But it must be
communicated: I must have the sympathy of at least one friend under
this heart-rending calamity.
'We were returning home by a footpath which led through a plantation of
firs. Lucy had quitted Hazlewood's arm; it is only the plea of absolute
necessity which reconciles her to accept his assistance. I still leaned
upon his other arm. Lucy followed us close, and the servant was two or
three paces behind us. Such was our position, when at once, and as if
he had started out of the earth, Brown stood before us at a short turn
of the road! He was very plainly, I might say coarsely, dressed, and
his whole appearance had in it something wild and agitated. I screamed
between surprise and terror. Hazlewood mistook the nature of my alarm,
and, when Brown advanced towards me as if to speak, commanded him
haughtily to stand back, and not to alarm the lady. Brown replied, with
equal asperity, he had no occasion to take lessons from him how to
behave to that or any other lady. I rather believe that Hazlewood,
impressed with the idea that he belonged to the band of smugglers, and
had some bad purpose in view, heard and understood him imperfectly. He
snatched the gun from the servant, who had come up on a line with us,
and, pointing the muzzle at Brown, commanded him to stand off at his
peril. My screams, for my terror prevented my rinding articulate
language, only hastened the catastrophe. Brown, thus menaced, sprung
upon Hazlewood, grappled with him, and had nearly succeeded in
wrenching the fowling-piece from his grasp, when the gun went off in
the struggle, and the contents were lodged in Hazlewood's shoulder, who
instantly fell. I saw no more, for the whole scene reeled before my
eyes, and I fainted away; but, by Lucy's report, the unhappy
perpetrator of this action gazed a moment on the scene before him,
until her screams began to alarm the people upon the lake, several of
whom now came in sight. He then bounded over a hedge which divided the
footpath from the plantation, and has not since been heard of. The
servant made no attempt to stop or secure him, and the report he made
of the matter to those who came up to us induced them rather to
exercise their humanity in recalling me to life, than show their
courage by pursuing a desperado, described by the groom as a man of
tremendous personal strength, and completely armed.
'Hazlewood was conveyed home, that is, to Woodbourne, in safety; I
trust his wound will prove in no respect dangerous, though he suffers
much. But to Brown the consequences must be most disastrous. He is
already the object of my father's resentment, and he has now incurred
danger from the law of the country, as well as from the clamorous
vengeance of the father of Hazlewood, who threatens to move heaven and
earth against the author of his son's wound. How will he be able to
shroud himself from the vindictive activity of the pursuit? how to
defend himself, if taken, against the severity of laws which, I am
told, may even affect his life? and how can I find means to warn him of
his danger? Then poor Lucy's ill-concealed grief, occasioned by her
lover's wound, is another source of distress to me, and everything
round me appears to bear witness against that indiscretion which has
occasioned this calamity.
'For two days I was very ill indeed. The news that Hazlewood was
recovering, and that the person who had shot him was nowhere to be
traced, only that for certain he was one of the leaders of the gang of
smugglers, gave me some comfort. The suspicion and pursuit being
directed towards those people must naturally facilitate Brown's escape,
and I trust has ere this ensured it. But patrols of horse and foot
traverse the country in all directions, and I am tortured by a thousand
confused and unauthenticated rumours of arrests and discoveries.
'Meanwhile my greatest source of comfort is the generous candour of
Hazlewood, who persists in declaring that, with whatever intentions the
person by whom he was wounded approached our party, he is convinced the
gun went off in the struggle by accident, and that the injury he
received was undesigned. The groom, on the other hand, maintains that
the piece was wrenched out of Hazlewood's hands and deliberately
pointed at his body, and Lucy inclines to the same opinion; I do not
suspect them of wilful exaggeration, yet such is the fallacy of human
testimony, for the unhappy shot was most unquestionably discharged
unintentionally. Perhaps it would be the best way to confide the whole
secret to Hazlewood; but he is very young, and I feel the utmost
repugnance to communicate to him my folly. I once thought of disclosing
the mystery to Lucy, and began by asking what she recollected of the
person and features of the man whom we had so unfortunately met; but
she ran out into such a horrid description of a hedgeruffian, that I
was deprived of all courage and disposition to own my attachment to one
of such appearance as she attributed to him. I must say Miss Bertram is
strangely biassed by her prepossessions, for there are few handsomer
men than poor Brown. I had not seen him for a long time, and even in
his strange and sudden apparition on this unhappy occasion, and under
every disadvantage, his form seems to me, on reflection, improved in
grace and his features in expressive dignity. Shall we ever meet again?
Who can answer that question? Write to me kindly, my dearest Matilda;
but when did you otherwise? Yet, again, write to me soon, and write to
me kindly. I am not in a situation to profit by advice or reproof, nor
have I my usual spirits to parry them by raillery. I feel the terrors
of a child who has in heedless sport put in motion some powerful piece
of machinery; and, while he beholds wheels revolving, chains clashing,
cylinders rolling around him, is equally astonished at the tremendous
powers which his weak agency has called into action, and terrified for
the consequences which he is compelled to await, without the
possibility of averting them.
'I must not omit to say that my father is very kind and affectionate.
The alarm which I have received forms a sufficient apology for my
nervous complaints. My hopes are, that Brown has made his escape into
the sister kingdom of England, or perhaps to Ireland or the Isle of
Man. In either case he may await the issue of Hazlewood's wound with
safety and with patience, for the communication of these countries with
Scotland, for the purpose of justice, is not (thank Heaven) of an
intimate nature. The consequences of his being apprehended would be
terrible at this moment. I endeavour to strengthen my mind by arguing
against the possibility of such a calamity. Alas! how soon have sorrows
and fears, real as well as severe, followed the uniform and tranquil
state of existence at which so lately I was disposed to repine! But I
will not oppress you any longer with my complaints. Adieu, my dearest
Matilda! 'JULIA MANNERING.'
END OF VOLUME I
GUY MANNERING
BY SIR WALTER SCOTT
VOLUME II
GUY MANNERING
OR
THE ASTROLOGER