The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter,
And aye the ale was growing better
Tam o'Shanter.
We must now return to Woodbourne, which, it may be remembered, we left
just after the Colonel had given some directions to his confidential
servant. When he returned, his absence of mind, and an unusual
expression of thought and anxiety upon his features, struck the ladies,
whom he joined in the drawing-room. Mannering was not, however, a man
to be questioned, even by those whom he most loved, upon the cause of
the mental agitation which these signs expressed. The hour of tea
arrived, and the party were partaking of that refreshment in silence
when a carriage drove up to the door, and the bell announced the
arrival of a visitor. 'Surely,' said Mannering, 'it is too soon by some
hours.'
There was a short pause, when Barnes, opening the door of the saloon,
announced Mr. Pleydell. In marched the lawyer, whose well-brushed black
coat and well-powdered wig, together with his point ruffles, brown silk
stockings, highly-varnished shoes, and gold buckles, exhibited the
pains which the old gentleman had taken to prepare his person for the
ladies' society. He was welcomed by Mannering with a hearty shake by
the hand. 'The very man I wished to see at this moment!'
'Yes,' said the Counsellor, 'I told you I would take the first
opportunity; so I have ventured to leave the court for a week in
session time--no common sacrifice; but I had a notion I could be
useful, and I was to attend a proof here about the same time. But will
you not introduce me to the young ladies? Ah! there is one I should
have known at once from her family likeness! Miss Lucy Bertram, my
love, I am most happy to see you.' And he folded her in his arms, and
gave her a hearty kiss on each side of the face, to which Lucy
submitted in blushing resignation.
'On n'arrete pas dans un si beau chemin,' continued the gay old
gentleman, and, as the Colonel presented him to Julia, took the same
liberty with that fair lady's cheek. Julia laughed, coloured, and
disengaged herself. 'I beg a thousand pardons,' said the lawyer, with a
bow which was not at all professionally awkward; 'age and old fashions
give privileges, and I can hardly say whether I am most sorry just now
at being too well entitled to claim them at all, or happy in having
such an opportunity to exercise them so agreeably.'
'Upon my word, sir,' said Miss Mannering, laughing, 'if you make such
flattering apologies we shall begin to doubt whether we can admit you
to shelter yourself under your alleged qualifications.'
'I can assure you, Julia,' said the Colonel, 'you are perfectly right.
My friend the Counsellor is a dangerous person; the last time I had the
pleasure of seeing him he was closeted with a fair lady who had granted
him a tete-a-tete at eight in the morning.'
'Ay, but, Colonel,' said the Counsellor, 'you should add, I was more
indebted to my chocolate than my charms for so distinguished a favour
from a person of such propriety of demeanour as Mrs. Rebecca.'
'And that should remind me, Mr. Pleydell,' said Julia, 'to offer you
tea; that is, supposing you have dined.'
'Anything, Miss Mannering, from your hands,' answered the gallant
jurisconsult; 'yes, I have dined; that is to say, as people dine at a
Scotch inn.'
'And that is indifferently enough,' said the Colonel, with his hand
upon the bell-handle; 'give me leave to order something.'
'Why, to say truth, 'replied Mr. Pleydell, 'I had rather not. I have
been inquiring into that matter, for you must know I stopped an instant
below to pull off my boot-hose, "a world too wide for my shrunk
shanks,"' glancing down with some complacency upon limbs which looked
very well for his time of life, 'and I had some conversation with your
Barnes and a very intelligent person whom I presume to be the
housekeeper; and it was settled among us, tota re perspecta,--I beg
Miss Mannering's pardon for my Latin,--that the old lady should add to
your light family supper the more substantial refreshment of a brace of
wild ducks. I told her (always under deep submission) my poor thoughts
about the sauce, which concurred exactly with her own; and, if you
please, I would rather wait till they are ready before eating anything
solid.'
'And we will anticipate our usual hour of supper,' said the Colonel.
'With all my heart,' said Pleydell, 'providing I do not lose the
ladies' company a moment the sooner. I am of counsel with my old friend
Burnet; [Footnote: See Note 5] I love the coena, the supper of the
ancients, the pleasant meal and social glass that wash out of one's
mind the cobwebs that business or gloom have been spinning in our
brains all day.'
The vivacity of Mr. Pleydell's look and manner, and the quietness with
which he made himself at home on the subject of his little epicurean
comforts, amused the ladies, but particularly Miss Mannering, who
immediately gave the Counsellor a great deal of flattering attention;
and more pretty things were said on both sides during the service of
the tea-table than we have leisure to repeat.
As soon as this was over, Mannering led the Counsellor by the arm into
a small study which opened from the saloon, and where, according to the
custom of the family, there were always lights and a good fire in the
evening.
'I see,'said Mr. Pleydell, 'you have got something to tell me about the
Ellangowan business. Is it terrestrial or celestial? What says my
military Albumazar? Have you calculated the course of futurity? have
you consulted your ephemerides, your almochoden, your almuten?'
'No, truly, Counsellor,' replied Mannering, 'you are the only Ptolemy I
intend to resort to upon the present occasion. A second Prospero, I
have broken my staff and drowned my book far beyond plummet depth. But
I have great news notwithstanding. Meg Merrilies, our Egyptian sibyl,
has appeared to the Dominie this very day, and, as I conjecture, has
frightened the honest man not a little.'
'Indeed?'
'Ay, and she has done me the honour to open a correspondence with me,
supposing me to be as deep in astrological mysteries as when we first
met. Here is her scroll, delivered to me by the Dominie.'
Pleydell put on his spectacles. 'A vile greasy scrawl, indeed; and the
letters are uncial or semi-uncial, as somebody calls your large text
hand, and in size and perpendicularity resemble the ribs of a roasted
pig; I can hardly make it out.'
'Read aloud,' said Mannering.
'I will try,' answered the Lawyer. '"YOU ARE A GOOD SEEKER, BUT A BAD
FINDER; YOU SET YOURSELF TO PROP A FALLING HOUSE, BUT HAD A GEY GUESS
IT WOULD RISE AGAIN. LEND YOUR HAND TO THE WORK THAT'S NEAR, AS YOU
LENT YOUR EE TO THE WEIRD THAT WAS FAR. HAVE A CARRIAGE THIS NIGHT BY
TEN O'CLOCK AT THE END OF THE CROOKED DYKES AT PORTANFERRY, AND LET IT
BRING THE FOLK TO WOODBOURNE THAT SHALL ASK THEM, IF THEY BE THERE IN
GOD'S NAME."--Stay, here follows some poetry--
"DARK SHALL BE LIGHT,
AND WRONG DONE TO RIGHT,
WHEN BERTRAM'S RIGHT AND BERTRAM'S MIGHT
SHALL MEET ON ELLANGOWAN'S HEIGHT."
A most mystic epistle truly, and closes in a vein of poetry worthy of
the Cumaean sibyl. And what have you done?'
'Why,' said Mannering, rather reluctantly, 'I was loth to risk any
opportunity of throwing light on this business. The woman is perhaps
crazed, and these effusions may arise only from visions of her
imagination; but you were of opinion that she knew more of that strange
story than she ever told.'
'And so,' said Pleydell, 'you sent a carriage to the place named?'
'You will laugh at me if I own I did,' replied the Colonel.
'Who, I?' replied the Advocate. 'No, truly, I think it was the wisest
thing you could do.'
'Yes,' answered Mannering, well pleased to have escaped the ridicule he
apprehended; 'you know the worst is paying the chaise-hire. I sent a
post-chaise and four from Kippletringan, with instructions
corresponding to the letter; the horses will have a long and cold
station on the outpost to-night if our intelligence be false.'
'Ay, but I think it will prove otherwise,' said the Lawyer. 'This woman
has played a part till she believes it; or, if she be a thorough-paced
impostor, without a single grain of self-delusion to qualify her
knavery, still she may think herself bound to act in character; this I
know, that I could get nothing out of her by the common modes of
interrogation, and the wisest thing we can do is to give her an
opportunity of making the discovery her own way. And now have you more
to say, or shall we go to the ladies?'
'Why, my mind is uncommonly agitated,' answered the Colonel, 'and--but
I really have no more to say; only I shall count the minutes till the
carriage returns; but you cannot be expected to be so anxious.'
'Why, no; use is all in all,' said the more experienced lawyer; 'I am
much interested certainly, but I think I shall be able to survive the
interval, if the ladies will afford us some music.'
'And with the assistance of the wild ducks, by and by?' suggested
Mannering.
'True, Colonel; a lawyer's anxiety about the fate of the most
interesting cause has seldom spoiled either his sleep or digestion.
[Footnote: See Note 6.] And yet I shall be very eager to hear the
rattle of these wheels on their return, notwithstanding.'
So saying, he rose and led the way into the next room, where Miss
Mannering, at his request, took her seat at the harpsichord, Lucy
Bertram, who sung her native melodies very sweetly, was accompanied by
her friend upon the instrument, and Julia afterwards performed some of
Scarlatti's sonatas with great brilliancy. The old lawyer, scraping a
little upon the violoncello, and being a member of the gentlemen's
concert in Edinburgh, was so greatly delighted with this mode of
spending the evening that I doubt if he once thought of the wild ducks
until Barnes informed the company that supper was ready.
'Tell Mrs. Allan to have something in readiness,' said the Colonel; 'I
expect--that is, I hope--perhaps some company may be here to-night; and
let the men sit up, and do not lock the upper gate on the lawn until I
desire you.'
'Lord, sir,' said Julia, 'whom can you possibly expect to-night?'
'Why, some persons, strangers to me, talked of calling in the evening
on business,' answered her father, not without embarrassment, for he
would have little brooked a disappointment which might have thrown
ridicule on his judgment; 'it is quite uncertain.'
'Well, we shall not pardon them for disturbing our party,' said Julia,
'unless they bring as much good-humour and as susceptible hearts as my
friend and admirer, for so he has dubbed himself, Mr. Pleydell.'
'Ah, Miss Julia,' said Pleydell, offering his arm with an air of
gallantry to conduct her into the eating-room, 'the time has been, when
I returned from Utrecht in the year 1738--'
'Pray don't talk of it,' answered the young lady; 'we like you much
better as you are. Utrecht, in Heaven's name! I daresay you have spent
all the intervening years in getting rid so completely of the effects
of your Dutch education.'
'O forgive me, Miss Mannering,' said the Lawyer, 'the Dutch are a much
more accomplished people in point of gallantry than their volatile
neighbours are willing to admit. They are constant as clock-work in
their attentions.'
'I should tire of that,' said Julia.
'Imperturbable in their good temper,' continued Pleydell.
'Worse and worse,' said the young lady.
'And then,' said the old beau garcon, 'although for six times three
hundred and sixty-five days your swain has placed the capuchin round
your neck, and the stove under your feet, and driven your little sledge
upon the ice in winter, and your cabriole through the dust in summer,
you may dismiss him at once, without reason or apology, upon the two
thousand one hundred and ninetieth day, which, according to my hasty
calculation, and without reckoning leap-years, will complete the cycle
of the supposed adoration, and that without your amiable feelings
having the slightest occasion to be alarmed for the consequences to
those of Mynheer.'
'Well,' replied Julia,' that last is truly a Dutch recommendation, Mr.
Pleydell; crystal and hearts would lose all their merit in the world if
it were not for their fragility.'
'Why, upon that point of the argument, Miss Mannering, it is as
difficult to find a heart that will break as a glass that will not; and
for that reason I would press the value of mine own, were it not that I
see Mr. Sampson's eyes have been closed, and his hands clasped for some
time, attending the end of our conference to begin the grace. And, to
say the truth, the appearance of the wild ducks is very appetising.' So
saying, the worthy Counsellor sat himself to table, and laid aside his
gallantry for awhile to do honour to the good things placed before him.
Nothing further is recorded of him for some time, excepting an
observation that the ducks were roasted to a single turn, and that Mrs.
Allan's sauce of claret, lemon, and cayenne was beyond praise.
'I see,' said Miss Mannering, 'I have a formidable rival in Mr.
Pleydell's favour, even on the very first night of his avowed
admiration.'
'Pardon me, my fair lady,' answered the Counsellor, 'your avowed rigour
alone has induced me to commit the solecism of eating a good supper in
your presence; how shall I support your frowns without reinforcing my
strength? Upon the same principle, and no other, I will ask permission
to drink wine with you.'
'This is the fashion of Utrecht also, I suppose, Mr. Pleydell?'
'Forgive me, madam,' answered the Counsellor; 'the French themselves,
the patterns of all that is gallant, term their tavern-keepers
restaurateurs, alluding, doubtless, to the relief they afford the
disconsolate lover when bowed down to the earth by his mistress's
severity. My own case requires so much relief that I must trouble you
for that other wing, Mr. Sampson, without prejudice to my afterwards
applying to Miss Bertram for a tart. Be pleased to tear the wing, sir,
instead of cutting it off. Mr. Barnes will assist you, Mr. Sampson;
thank you, sir; and, Mr. Barnes, a glass of ale, if you please.'
While the old gentleman, pleased with Miss Mannering's liveliness and
attention, rattled away for her amusement and his own, the impatience
of Colonel Mannering began to exceed all bounds. He declined sitting
down at table, under pretence that he never eat supper; and traversed
the parlour in which they were with hasty and impatient steps, now
throwing up the window to gaze upon the dark lawn, now listening for
the remote sound of the carriage advancing up the avenue. At length, in
a feeling of uncontrollable impatience, he left the room, took his hat
and cloak, and pursued his walk up the avenue, as if his so doing would
hasten the approach of those whom he desired to see. 'I really wish,'
said Miss Bertram,' Colonel Mannering would not venture out after
nightfall. You must have heard, Mr. Pleydell, what a cruel fright we
had.'
'O, with the smugglers?' replied the Advocate; 'they are old friends of
mine. I was the means of bringing some of them to justice a long time
since, when sheriff of this county.'
'And then the alarm we had immediately afterwards,' added Miss Bertram,
'from the vengeance of one of these wretches.'
'When young Hazlewood was hurt; I heard of that too.'
'Imagine, my dear Mr. Pleydell,' continued Lucy, 'how much Miss
Mannering and I were alarmed when a ruffian, equally dreadful for his
great strength and the sternness of his features, rushed out upon us!'
'You must know, Mr. Pleydell,' said Julia, unable to suppress her
resentment at this undesigned aspersion of her admirer, 'that young
Hazlewood is so handsome in the eyes of the young ladies of this
country that they think every person shocking who comes near him.'
'Oho!' thought Pleydell, who was by profession an observer of tones and
gestures,' there's something wrong here between my young
friends.'--'Well, Miss Mannering, I have not seen young Hazlewood since
he was a boy, so the ladies may be perfectly right; but I can assure
you, in spite of your scorn, that if you want to see handsome men you
must go to Holland; the prettiest fellow I ever saw was a Dutchman, in
spite of his being called Vanbost, or Vanbuster, or some such barbarous
name. He will not be quite so handsome now, to be sure.'
It was now Julia's turn to look a little out of countenance at the
chance hit of her learned admirer, but that instant the Colonel entered
the room. 'I can hear nothing of them yet,' he said; 'still, however,
we will not separate. Where is Dominie Sampson?'
'Here, honoured sir.'
'What is that book you hold in your hand, Mr. Sampson?'
'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 passage.'
'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 bass 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 glass of Burgundy, and, after preluding a little with a
voice somewhat the worse for the 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.