Heretofore all my magisterial undertakings and concerns had thriven in a
very satisfactory manner. I was, to be sure, now and then, as I have
narrated, subjected to opposition, and squibs, and a jeer; and envious
and spiteful persons were not wanting in the world to call in question my
intents and motives, representing my best endeavours for the public good
as but a right-handed method to secure my own interests. It would be a
vain thing of me to deny, that, at the beginning of my career, I was
misled by the wily examples of the past times, who thought that, in
taking on them to serve the community, they had a privilege to see that
they were full-handed for what benefit they might do the public; but as I
gathered experience, and saw the rising of the sharp-sighted spirit that
is now abroad among the affairs of men, I clearly discerned that it would
be more for the advantage of me and mine to act with a conformity
thereto, than to seek, by any similar wiles or devices, an immediate and
sicker advantage. I may therefore say, without a boast, that the two or
three years before my third provostry were as renowned and comfortable to
myself, upon the whole, as any reasonable man could look for. We cannot,
however, expect a full cup and measure of the sweets of life, without
some adulteration of the sour and bitter; and it was my lot and fate to
prove an experience of this truth, in a sudden and unaccountable falling
off from all moral decorum in a person of my brother's only son, Richard,
a lad that was a promise of great ability in his youth.
He was just between the tyning and the winning, as the saying is, when
the playactors, before spoken off, came to the town, being then in his
eighteenth year. Naturally of a light-hearted and funny disposition, and
possessing a jocose turn for mimickry, he was a great favourite among his
companions, and getting in with the players, it seems drew up with that
little-worth, demure daffodel, Miss Scarborough, through the
instrumentality of whose condisciples and the randy Mrs Beaufort, that
riot at Widow Fenton's began, which ended in expurgating the town of the
whole gang, bag and baggage. Some there were, I shall here mention, who
said that the expulsion of the players was owing to what I had heard
anent the intromission of my nephew; but, in verity, I had not the least
spunk or spark of suspicion of what was going on between him and the
miss, till one night, some time after, Richard and the young laird of
Swinton, with others of their comrades, forgathered, and came to high
words on the subject, the two being rivals, or rather, as was said,
equally in esteem and favour with the lady.
Young Swinton was, to say the truth of him, a fine bold rattling lad,
warm in the temper, and ready with the hand, and no man's foe so much as
his own; for he was a spoiled bairn, through the partiality of old Lady
Bodikins, his grandmother, who lived in the turreted house at the town-
end, by whose indulgence he grew to be of a dressy and rakish
inclination, and, like most youngsters of the kind, was vain of his
shames, the which cost Mr Pittle's session no little trouble. But--not
to dwell on his faults--my nephew and he quarrelled, and nothing less
would serve them than to fight a duel, which they did with pistols next
morning; and Richard received from the laird's first shot a bullet in the
left arm, that disabled him in that member for life. He was left for
dead on the green where they fought--Swinton and the two seconds making,
as was supposed, their escape.
When Richard was found faint and bleeding by Tammy Tout, the town-herd,
as he drove out the cows in the morning, the hobleshow is not to be
described; and my brother came to me, and insisted that I should give him
a warrant to apprehend all concerned. I was grieved for my brother, and
very much distressed to think of what had happened to blithe Dicky, as I
was wont to call my nephew when he was a laddie, and I would fain have
gratified the spirit of revenge in myself; but I brought to mind his
roving and wanton pranks, and I counselled his father first to abide the
upshot of the wound, representing to him, in the best manner I could,
that it was but the quarrel of the young men, and that maybe his son was
as muckle in fault as Swinton.
My brother was, however, of a hasty temper, and upbraided me with my
slackness, on account, as he tauntingly insinuated, of the young laird
being one of my best customers, which was a harsh and unrighteous doing;
but it was not the severest trial which the accident occasioned to me;
for the same night, at a late hour, a line was brought to me by a lassie,
requesting I would come to a certain place--and when I went there, who
was it from but Swinton and the two other young lads that had been the
seconds at the duel.
"Bailie," said the laird on behalf of himself and friends, "though you
are the uncle of poor Dick, we have resolved to throw ourselves into your
hands, for we have not provided any money to enable us to flee the
country; we only hope you will not deal overly harshly with us till his
fate is ascertained."
I was greatly disconcerted, and wist not what to say; for knowing the
rigour of our Scottish laws against duelling, I was wae to see three
brave youths, not yet come to years of discretion, standing in the peril
and jeopardy of an ignominious end, and that, too, for an injury done to
my own kin; and then I thought of my nephew and of my brother, that,
maybe, would soon be in sorrow for the loss of his only son. In short, I
was tried almost beyond my humanity. The three poor lads, seeing me
hesitate, were much moved, and one of them (Sandy Blackie) said, "I told
you how it would be; it was even-down madness to throw ourselves into the
lion's mouth." To this Swinton replied, "Mr Pawkie, we have cast
ourselves on your mercy as a gentleman."
What could I say to this, but that I hoped they would find me one; and
without speaking any more at that time--for indeed I could not, my heart
beat so fast--I bade them follow me, and taking them round by the back
road to my garden yett, I let them in, and conveyed them into a warehouse
where I kept my bales and boxes. Then slipping into the house, I took
out of the pantry a basket of bread and a cold leg of mutton, which, when
Mrs Pawkie and the servant lassies missed in the morning, they could not
divine what had become of; and giving the same to them, with a bottle of
wine--for they were very hungry, having tasted nothing all day--I went
round to my brother's to see at the latest how Richard was. But such a
stang as I got on entering the house, when I heard his mother wailing
that he was dead, he having fainted away in getting the bullet extracted;
and when I saw his father coming out of the room like a demented man, and
heard again his upbraiding of me for having refused a warrant to
apprehend the murderers--I was so stunned with the shock, and with the
thought of the poor young lads in my mercy, that I could with difficulty
support myself along the passage into a room where there was a chair,
into which I fell rather than threw myself. I had not, however, been
long seated, when a joyful cry announced that Richard was recovering, and
presently he was in a manner free from pain; and the doctor assured me
the wound was probably not mortal. I did not, however, linger long on
hearing this; but hastening home, I took what money I had in my
scrutoire, and going to the malefactors, said, "Lads, take thir twa three
pounds, and quit the town as fast as ye can, for Richard is my nephew,
and blood, ye ken, is thicker than water, and I may be tempted to give
you up."
They started on their legs, and shaking me in a warm manner by both the
hands, they hurried away without speaking, nor could I say more, as I
opened the back yett to let them out, than bid them take tent of
themselves.
Mrs Pawkie was in a great consternation at my late absence, and when I
went home she thought I was ill, I was so pale and flurried, and she
wanted to send for the doctor, but I told her that when I was calmed, I
would be better; however, I got no sleep that night. In the morning I
went to see Richard, whom I found in a composed and rational state: he
confessed to his father that he was as muckle to blame as Swinton, and
begged and entreated us, if he should die, not to take any steps against
the fugitives: my brother, however, was loth to make rash promises, and
it was not till his son was out of danger that I had any ease of mind for
the part I had played. But when Richard was afterwards well enough to go
about, and the duellers had come out of their hidings, they told him what
I had done, by which the whole affair came to the public, and I got great
fame thereby, none being more proud to speak of it than poor Dick
himself, who, from that time, became the bosom friend of Swinton; in so
much that, when he was out of his time as a writer, and had gone through
his courses at Edinburgh, the laird made him his man of business, and, in
a manner, gave him a nest egg.