THE CHIEFTAIN'S SISTER
The drawing-room of Flora Mac-Ivor was furnished in the plainest and
most simple manner; for at Glennaquoich every other sort of expenditure
was retrenched as much as possible, for the purpose of maintaining, in
its full dignity, the hospitality of the Chieftain, and retaining and
multiplying the number of his dependants and adherents. But there was no
appearance of this parsimony in the dress of the lady herself, which
was in texture elegant, and even rich, and arranged in a manner which
partook partly of the Parisian fashion, and partly of the more simple
dress of the Highlands, blended together with great taste. Her hair was
not disfigured by the art of the friseur, but fell in jetty ringlets
on her neck, confined only by a circlet, richly set with diamonds. This
peculiarity she adopted in compliance with the Highland prejudices,
which could not endure that a woman's head should be covered before
wedlock.
Flora Mac-Ivor bore a most striking resemblance to her brother Fergus;
so much so, that they might have played Viola and Sebastian with the
same exquisite effect produced by the appearance of Mrs. Henry Siddons
and her brother, Mr. William Murray, in these characters. They had, the
same antique and regular correctness of profile; the same dark eyes,
eyelashes, and eyebrows; the same clearness of complexion, excepting
that Fergus's was embrowned by exercise, and Flora's possessed the
utmost feminine delicacy. But the haughty, and somewhat stern regularity
of Fergus's features was beautifully softened in those of Flora. Their
voices were also similar in tone, though differing in the key. That of
Fergus, especially while issuing orders to his followers during their
military exercise, reminded Edward of a favourite passage in the
description of Emetrius:
--whose voice was heard around,
Loud as a trumpet with a silver sound.
That of Flora, on the contrary, was soft and sweet,--'an excellent thing
in woman;' yet, in urging any favourite topic, which she often pursued
with natural eloquence, it possessed as well the tones which impress awe
and conviction, as those of persuasive insinuation. The eager glance of
the keen black eye, which in the Chieftain seemed impatient even of the
material obstacles it encountered, had, in his sister, acquired a gentle
pensiveness. His looks seemed to seek glory, power, all that could exalt
him above others in the race of humanity; while those of his sister,
as if she were already conscious of mental superiority, seemed to pity,
rather than envy, those who were struggling for any further distinction.
Her sentiments corresponded with the expression of her countenance.
Early education had impressed upon her mind, as well as on that of the
Chieftain, the most devoted attachment to the exiled family of Stuart.
She believed if the duty of her brother, of his clan, of every man in
Britain, at whatever personal hazard, to contribute to that restoration
which the partisans of the Chevalier de St. George had not ceased
to hope for. For this she was prepared to do all, to suffer all,
to sacrifice all. But her loyalty, as it exceeded her brother's in
fanaticism, excelled it also in purity. Accustomed to petty intrigue,
and necessarily involved in a thousand paltry and selfish discussions,
ambitious also by nature, his political faith was tinctured, at least,
if not tainted, by the views of interest and advancement so easily
combined with it; and at the moment he should unsheathe his claymore,
it might be difficult to say whether it would be most with the view of
making James Stuart a king, or Fergus Mac-Ivor an earl. This, indeed,
was a mixture of feeling which he did not avow even to himself, but it
existed, nevertheless, in a powerful degree.
In Flora's bosom, on the contrary, the zeal of loyalty burnt pure and
unmixed with any selfish feeling; she would have as soon made religion
the mask of ambitious and interested views, as have shrouded them
under the opinions which she had been taught to think patriotism. Such
instances of devotion were not uncommon among the followers of the
unhappy race of Stuart, of which many memorable proofs will recur to the
mind of most of my readers. But peculiar attention on the part of the
Chevalier de St. George and his princess to the parents of Fergus and
his sister, and to themselves when orphans, had riveted their faith.
Fergus, upon the death of his parents, had been for some time a page of
honour in the train of the Chevalier's lady, and, from his beauty
and sprightly temper, was uniformly treated by her with the utmost
distinction. This was also extended to Flora, who was maintained for
some time at a convent of the first order, at the princess's expense,
and removed from thence into her own family, where she spent nearly two
years. Both brother and sister retained the deepest and most grateful
sense of her kindness.
Having thus touched upon the leading principle of Flora's character, I
may dismiss the rest more slightly. She was highly accomplished, and
had acquired those elegant manners to be expected from one who, in early
youth, had been the companion of a princess; yet she had not learned
to substitute the gloss of politeness for the reality of feeling.
When settled in the lonely regions of Glennaquoich, she found that her
resources in French, English, and Italian literature, were likely to
be few and interrupted; and, in order to fill up the vacant time, she
bestowed a part of it upon the music and poetical traditions of the
Highlanders, and began really to feel the pleasure in the pursuit, which
her brother, whose perceptions of literary merit were more blunt, rather
affected for the sake of popularity than actually experienced. Her
resolution was strengthened in these researches by the extreme delight
which her inquiries seemed to afford those to whom she resorted for
information.
Her love of her clan, an attachment which was almost hereditary in
her bosom, was, like her loyalty, a more pure passion than that of
her brother. He was too thorough a politician, regarded his patriarchal
influence too much as the means of accomplishing his own aggrandizement,
that we should term him the model of a Highland Chieftain. Flora felt
the same anxiety for cherishing and extending their patriarchal sway,
but it was with the generous desire of vindicating from poverty, or at
least from want and foreign oppression, those whom her brother was by
birth, according to the notions of the time and country, entitled to
govern. The savings of her income, for she had a small pension from the
Princess Sobieski, were dedicated, not to add to the comforts of the
peasantry, for that was a word which they neither knew nor apparently
wished to know, but to relieve their absolute necessities, when in
sickness or extreme old age. At every other period, they rather toiled
to procure something which they might share with the Chief as a proof of
their attachment, than expected other assistance from him save what was
afforded by the rude hospitality of his castle, and the general division
and subdivision of his estate among them. Flora was so much beloved by
them, that when Mac-Murrough composed a song in which he enumerated all
the principal beauties of the district, and intimated her superiority
by concluding; that 'the fairest apple hung on the highest bough,'
he received, in donatives from the individuals of the clan, more
seed-barley than would have sowed his Highland Parnassus, the Bard's
croft as it was called, ten times over.
From situation, as well as choice, Miss Mac-Ivor's society was extremely
limited. Her most intimate friend had been Rose Bradwardine, to whom she
was much attached; and when seen together, they would have afforded
an artist two admirable subjects for the gay and the melancholy muse.
Indeed Rose was so tenderly watched by her father, and her circle
of wishes was so limited, that none arose but what he was willing to
gratify, and scarce any which did not come within the compass of
his power. With Flora it was otherwise. While almost a girl, she had
undergone the most complete change of scene, from gaiety and splendour
to absolute solitude and comparative poverty; and the ideas and wishes
which she chiefly fostered, respected great national events, and changes
not to be brought round without both hazard and bloodshed, and therefore
not to be thought of with levity. Her manner, consequently, was grave,
though she readily contributed her talents to the amusement of society,
and stood very high in the opinion of the old Baron, who used to sing
along with her such French duets of Lindor and Cloris, &c., as were in
fashion about the end of the reign of old Louis le Grand.
It was generally believed, though no one durst have hinted it to the
Baron of Bradwardine, that Flora's entreaties had no small share in
allaying the wrath of Fergus upon occasion of their quarrel. She took
her brother on the assailable side, by dwelling first upon the Baron's
age, and then representing the injury which the cause might sustain, and
the damage which must arise to his own character in point of prudence,
so necessary to a political agent, if he persisted in carrying it to
extremity. Otherwise it is probable it would have terminated in a duel,
both because the Baron had, on a former occasion, shed blood of the
clan, though the matter had been timely accommodated, and on account
of his high reputation for address at his weapon, which Fergus
almost condescended to envy. For the same reason she had urged their
reconciliation, which the Chieftain the more readily agreed to, as it
favoured some ulterior projects of his own.
To this young lady, now presiding at the female empire of the tea-table,
Fergus introduced Captain Waverley, whom she received with the usual
forms of politeness.