Rolls in the county jail, sent hither on his own confession, was in a
very different position from John Erskine, waiting examination there. He
was locked up without ceremony in a cell, his respectability and his
well known antecedents all ignored. Dunnotter was at some distance from
the district in which he was known, and Thomas Rolls, domestic servant,
charged with manslaughter, did not impress the official imagination as
Mr Rolls the factotum of Dalrulzian had long impressed the mind of his
own neighbourhood and surroundings. And Rolls, to tell the truth, was
deeply depressed when he found himself shut up within that blank
interior, with nothing to do, and nothing to support the _amour propre_
which was his strength, except the inborn conviction of his own
righteousness and exemplary position,--a sight for all men. But there is
nothing that takes down the sense of native merit so much as solitude
and absence of appreciation. Opposition and hostility are stimulants,
and keep warm in us the sense of our own superiority, but not the
contemptuous indifference of a surly turnkey to whom one is No. 25, and
who cared not a straw for Rolls's position and career. He felt himself
getting limp as the long featureless days went on, and doubts of every
kind assailed him. Had he been right to do it? Since he had made this
sacrifice for his master, there had come into his mind a chill of doubt
which he had never been touched by before. Was it certain that it was
John who had done it? Might not he, Rolls, be making a victim of himself
for some nameless tramp, who would never even know of it, nor care, and
whose punishment would be doubly deserved and worthy of no man's
interference? Rolls felt that this was a suggestion of the devil for his
discomfiture. He tried to chase it out of his mind by thinking of the
pleasures he had secured for himself in that last week of his life--of
Edinburgh Castle and the Calton Jail and the Earthen Mound, and the
wonders of the Observatory. To inspect these had been the dream of his
life, and he had attained that felicity. He had believed that this would
give him "plenty to think about" for the rest of his life--and that,
especially for the time of his confinement, it would afford an excellent
provision; but he did not find the solace that he had expected in musing
upon Mons Meg and the Scottish Regalia. How dreadful four walls become
when you are shut up within them; how the air begins to hum and buzz
after a while with your thoughts that have escaped you, and swarm about
like bees, all murmurous and unresting--these were the discoveries he
made. Rolls grew nervous, almost hysterical, in the unusual quiet. What
would he not have given for his plate to polish, or his lamps to trim!
He had been allowed to have what are called writing materials,--a few
dingy sheets of notepaper, a penny bottle of ink, a rusty steel pen--but
Rolls was not accustomed to literary composition; and a few books--but
Rolls was scornful of what he called "novelles," and considered even
more serious reading, as an occupation which required thought and a mind
free of care. And nobody came to see him. He had no effusion of
gratitude and sweet praise from his master. Mr Monypenny was Rolls's
only visitor, who came to take all his explanations, and get a perfect
understanding of how his case ought to be conducted. The butler had
become rather limp and feeble before even Mr Monypenny appeared.
"I'm maybe not worthy of much," Rolls said, with a wave of his hand,
"but I think there's one or two might have come to see me--one or two."
"I think so too, Rolls; but it is not want of feeling. I have
instructions from Mr Erskine to spare no expense; to have the very best
man that can be had. And I make no doubt we'll carry you through. I'm
thinking of trying Jardine, who is at the very top of the tree."
"And what will that cost, if I may make so bold, Mr Monypenny?"
When he heard the sum that was needed for the advocate's fee, Rolls's
countenance fell, but his spirit rose. "Lord bless us!" he said,--"a'
that for standing up and discoursing before the Court! And most of them
are real well pleased to hear themselves speak, if it were without fee
or reward. I think shame to have a' that siller spent upon me; but it's
a grand thing of the young master, and a great compliment: it will
please Bauby too."
"He ought to have come to see you,--so old a servant, and a most
faithful one," said Mr Monypenny.
"Well-a-well, sir, there's many things to be said: a gentleman has
things to do; there's a number of calls upon his time. He would mean
well, I make no doubt, and then he would forget; but to put his hand in
his pocket like that! Bauby will be very well pleased. I am glad, poor
woman, that she has the like of that to keep up her heart."
"Well, Rolls, I am glad to see that you are so grateful. Thinking over
all the circumstances, and that you lost no time in giving the alarm,
and did your best to have succour carried to him, I think I may say
that you will be let off very easy. I would not be astonished if you
were discharged at once. In any case it will be a light sentence. You
may keep your mind easy about that."
"It's all in the hands of Providence," said Rolls. He was scarcely
willing to allow that his position was one to be considered so
cheerfully. "It will be a grand exhibition o' eloquence," he said; "and
will there be as much siller spent, and as great an advocate on the
other side, Mr Monypenny? It's a wonderful elevating thought to think
that the best intellects in the land will be warstlin' ower a simple
body like me."
"And that is true, Rolls; they will just warstle over ye--it will be a
treat to hear it. And if I get Jardine, he will do it _con amore_, for
he's a sworn enemy to the Procurator, and cannot bide the Lord Advocate.
He's a tremendous speaker when he's got a good subject; and he'll do it
_con amore_."
"Well-a-well, sir; if it's con amoray or con onything else, sae long as
he can convince the jury," said Rolls. He was pleased with the
importance of this point of view; but when Mr Monypenny left him, it
required all his strength of mind to apply this consolation. "If they
would but do it quick, I wouldna stand upon the honour of the thing," he
said to himself.
Next day, however, he had a visitor who broke the tedium very
effectually. Rolls could not believe his eyes when his door suddenly
opened, and Lord Rintoul came in. The young man was very much
embarrassed, and divided, apparently, between a somewhat fretful shame
and a desire to show great cordiality. He went so far as to shake hands
with Rolls, and then sat down on the only chair, not seeming to know
what to do next. At length he burst forth, colouring up to his hair, "I
want to know what made you say that?--for you know it's not true."
Rolls, surprised greatly by his appearance at all, was thunderstruck by
this sudden demand. "I don't just catch your meaning, my lord," he said.
"Oh, my meaning--my meaning is not very difficult. What are you here
for? Is it on Erskine's account? Did he make any arrangement? What is he
to do for you?" said Rintoul hurriedly. "It is all such a mystery to me,
I don't know what to make of it. When I heard you say it, I could not
believe my ears."
Rolls looked at him with a very steady gaze--a gaze which gradually
became unbearable to the young man. "Don't stare at me," he cried
roughly, "but answer me. What is the meaning of it?--that's what I want
to know."
"Your lordship," said Rolls, slowly, "is beginning at the hinder end of
the subjik, so far as I can see. Maybe ye will tell me first, my lord,
what right ye have to come into a jyel that belangs to the Queen's
maist sacred Majesty, as the minister says, and question me, a person
awaiting my trial? Are ye a commissioner, or are ye an advocate, or
maybe with authority from the Procurator himsel'? I never heard that you
had anything to do with the law."
"I'm sure I beg your pardon," said Rintoul, subduing himself. "No; I've
nothing to do with the law. I daresay I'm very abrupt. I don't know how
to put it, you know; but you remember I was there--at least I wasn't far
off: I was--the first person that came. They'll call me for a witness at
the trial, I suppose. Can't you see what a confusing sort of thing it is
for me. I _know_, you know. Don't you know I _know_? Why, how could you
have done it when it was----Look here, it would be a great relief to me,
and to another--to--a lady--who takes a great interest in you--if you
would speak out plain."
The eyes of Rolls were small and grey,--they were not distinguished by
any brightness or penetrating quality; but any kind of eyes, when fixed
immovably upon a man's face, especially a man who has anything to hide,
become insupportable, and burn holes into his very soul. Rintoul pushed
away his chair, and tried to avoid this look. Then he perceived,
suddenly, that he had appropriated the only chair, and that Rolls, whom
he had no desire to irritate, but quite the reverse, was standing. He
rose up hastily and thrust the chair towards him. "Look here," he said,
"hadn't you better sit down? I didn't observe it was the only seat in
the--room."
"They call this a cell, my lord, and we're in a jyel, not a private
mansion. I'm a man biding the course of the law."
"Oh yes, yes, yes! I know all that: why should you worry me?" cried
Rintoul. He wanted to be civil and friendly, but he did not know how.
"We are all in a muddle," he said, "and don't see a step before us. Why
have you done it? What object had he in asking you, or you in doing it?
Can't you tell me? I'll make it all square with Erskine if you'll tell
me: and I should know better what to do."
"You take a great interest in me--that was never any connection, nor
even a servant in your lordship's family. It's awfu' sudden," said
Rolls; "but I'll tell you what, my lord,--I'll make a bargain with you.
If you'll tell me what reason you have for wanting to ken, I will tell
you whatfor I'm here."
Rintoul looked at Rolls with a confused and anxious gaze, knowing that
the latter on his side was reading him far more effectually. "You see,"
he said, "I was--somewhere about the wood. I--I don't pretend to mean
that I could--see what you were about exactly,--but--but I _know_, you
know!" cried Rintoul confusedly; "that's just my reason--and I want you
to tell me what's the meaning? I don't suppose you can like being here,"
he said, glancing round; "it must be dreadful slow work,--nothing to do.
You remember Miss Barrington, who always took so great an interest in
you? Well, it was she----She--would like to know."
"Oh ay, Miss Nora," said Rolls. "Miss Nora was a young lady I likit
weel. It was a great wish of mine, if we ever got our wishes in this
world, that Dalrulzian and her might have drawn together. She was awfu'
fond of the place."
"Dalrulzian and----! I suppose you think there's nobody like Dalrulzian,
as you call him," cried Rintoul, red with anger, but forcing a laugh.
"Well, I don't know if it was for his sake or for your sake, Rolls; but
Miss Nora--wanted to know----"
"And your lordship cam' a' this gait for that young lady's sake? She is
set up with a lord to do her errands," said Rolls. "And there's few
things I would refuse to Miss Nora; but my ain private affairs
are--well, my lord, they're just my ain private affairs. I'm no' bound
to unburden my bosom, except at my ain will and pleasure, if it was to
the Queen hersel'."
"That is quite true--quite true, Rolls. Jove! what is the use of making
mysteries?--if I was ignorant, don't you see! but we're both in the
same box. I was--his brother-in-law, you know; that made it so much
worse for me. Look here! you let me run on, and let out all sort of
things."
"Do you mean to tell me, Lord Rintoul, that it was you that pushed Pat
Torrance over the brae?"
The two men stood gazing at each other. The old butler, flushed with
excitement, his shaky old figure erecting itself, expanding, taking a
commanding aspect; the young lord, pale, with anxious puckers about his
eyes, shrinking backward into himself, deprecating, as if in old Rolls
he saw a judge ready to condemn him. "We are all--in the same box," he
faltered. "He was mad; he would have it: first, Erskine; if it didn't
happen with Erskine, it was his good luck. Then there's you, and me----"
Rintoul never took his eyes from those of Rolls, on whose decision his
fate seemed to hang. He was too much confused to know very well what he
was saying. The very event itself, which he had scarcely been able to
forget since it happened, began to be jumbled up in his mind.
Rolls--somehow Rolls must have had to do with it too. It was not he only
that had seized the bridle,--that had heard the horrible scramble of the
hoofs, and the dull crash and moan. He seemed to hear all that again as
he stood drawing back before John Erskine's servant. Erskine had been in
it. It might just as well have happened to Erskine; and it seemed to
him, in his giddy bewilderment, that it had happened again also to
Rolls. But Rolls had kept his counsel, while he had betrayed himself.
All the alarms which he had gone through on the morning of the
examination came over him again. Well! perhaps she would be satisfied
now.
"Then it was none of my business," said Rolls. The old man felt as if he
had fallen from a great height. He was stunned and silenced for the
moment. He sat down upon his bed vacantly, forgetting all the punctilios
in which his life had been formed. "Then the young master thinks it's
me," he added slowly, "and divines nothing, nothing! and instead of the
truth, will say till himself, 'That auld brute, Rolls, to save his auld
bones, keepit me in prison four days.'" The consternation with which he
dropped forth sentence after sentence from his mouth, supporting his
head in his hands, and looking out from the curve of his palms with
horror-stricken eyes into the air, not so much as noticing his alarmed
and anxious companion, was wonderful. Then after a long pause, Rolls,
looking up briskly, with a light of indignation in his face, exclaimed,
"And a' the time it was you, my lad, that did it?--I'm meaning," Rolls
added with fine emphasis, "my lord! and never steppit in like a
gentleman to say, 'It's me--set free that innocent man'----"
"Rolls, look here!" cried Rintoul, with passion--"look here! don't think
so badly till you know. I meant to do it. I went there that morning
fully prepared. You can ask her, and she will tell you. When somebody
said, 'The man's here'--Jove! I stepped out; I was quite ready. And
then----you might have doubled me up with a touch;--you might have
knocked me down with a feather--when I saw it was _you_. What could I
do? The words were taken out of my mouth. Which of us would they have
believed? Most likely they would have thought we were both in a
conspiracy to save Erskine, and that he was the guilty one after all."
It was not a very close attention which Rolls gave to this impassioned
statement. He was more occupied, as was natural, with its effect upon
his own position. "I was just an auld eediot," he said to himself--"just
a fool, as I've been all my born days. And what will Bauby say? And
Dalrulzian, he'll think I was in earnest, and that it was just me! Lord
be about us, to think a man should come to my age, and be just as great
a fool! Him do it! No; if I had just ever thought upon the subjik;
if I hadna been an eediot, and an ill-thinking, suspicious,
bad-minded----Lord! me to have been in the Dalrulzian family this thirty
years, and kenned them to the backbone, and made such a mistake at the
end----" He paused for a long time upon this, and then added, in a
shrill tone of emotion, shame, and distress, "And now he will think a'
the time that it was really me!"
Rintoul felt himself sink into the background with the strangest
feelings. When a man has wound himself up to make an acknowledgment of
wrong, whatever it is, even of much less importance than this, he
expects to gain a certain credit for his performance. Had it been done
in the Town House at Dunearn, the news would have run through the
country and thrilled every bosom. When he considered the passionate
anxiety with which Nora had awaited his explanation on that wonderful
day, and the ferment caused by Rolls's substitution of himself for his
master, it seemed strange indeed that this old fellow should receive the
confession of a person so much his superior, and one which might deliver
him from all the consequences of his rashness, with such curious
unconcern. He stood before the old butler like a boy before his
schoolmaster, as much irritated by the carelessness with which he was
treated as frightened for the certain punishment. And yet it was his
only policy to ignore all that was disrespectful, and to conciliate
Rolls. He waited, therefore, though with his blood boiling, through the
sort of colloquy which Rolls thus held with himself, not interrupting,
wondering, and yet saying to himself there could be no doubt what the
next step must be.
"I am no' showing ye proper respect, my lord," said Rolls at last; "but
when things is a' out of the ordinar like this, it canna be wondered at
if a man forgets his mainners. It's terrible strange all that's
happened. I canna well give an account o't to myself. That I should been
such an eediot, and you----maybe no' so keen about your honour as your
lordship's friends might desire." Here he made a pause, as sometimes a
schoolmaster will do, to see his victim writhe and tempt him to
rebellion. But Rintoul was cowed, and made no reply.
"And ye have much to answer for, my lord," Rolls continued, "on my
account, though ye maybe never thought me worth a thought. Ye've led me
to take a step that it will be hard to win over--that has now no
justification and little excuse. For my part, I canna see my way out of
it, one way or another," he added, with a sigh; "for you'll allow that
it's but little claim you, or the like of you, for all your lordship,
have upon me."
"I have no claim," said Rintoul, hastily; and then he added, in a
whisper of intense anxiety, "What are you going to do?"
Rolls rose up from his bed to answer this question. He went to the high
window with its iron railings across the light, from which he could
just see the few houses that surrounded the gates, and the sky, above
them. He gave a sigh, in which there was great pathos and
self-commiseration, and then he said, with a tone of bewilderment and
despair, though his phraseology was not, perhaps, dignified,--"I'm in a
hobble that I cannot see how to get out of. A man cannot, for his ain
credit, say one thing one afternoon and another the next day."
"Rolls," said Rintoul, with new hope, coming a little closer, "we are
not rich: but if I could offer you anything,--make it up to you,
anyhow----"
"Hold your peace, my lord," said the old man testily--"hold your peace.
Speak o' the vulgar!" he added to himself, in an undertone of angry
scorn. "Maybe you think I did it for siller--for something I was to
get!" Then he returned to his bed and sat down again, passing Rintoul as
if he did not see him. "But the lad is young," he said to himself, "and
it would be shairp, shairp upon the family, being the son-in-law and a'.
And to say I did it, and then to say I didna do it, wha would put ony
faith in me? I'm just committed to it one way or another. It's not what
I thought, but I'll have to see it through. My Lord Rintoul," said
Rolls, raising his head, "you've gotten me into a pretty pickle, and I
canna see my way out of it. I'm just that way situate that I canna
contradict mysel'--at least I will not contradict mysel'!" he added,
with an angry little stamp of his foot. "They may say I'm a homicide,
but no man shall say I'm a leear. It would make more scandal if I were
to turn round upon you and convict ye out of your ain mouth, than if I
were just to hold my tongue, and see what the High Court of Justeeciary
will say."
"Rolls!" Rintoul could not believe his ears in the relief and joy. He
wanted to burst forth into a thousand thanks, but dared not speak lest
he should offend rather than please. "Rolls! if you will do me such a
kindness, I shall never forget it. No words can tell what I feel. If I
can do anything--no, no, that is not what I mean--to please you--to show
my gratitude----"
"I am not one to flatter," said Rolls. "It would be for none of your
sake--it would be just for myself, and my ain credit. But there are
twa-three things. You will sign me a paper in your ain hand of write,
proving that it was you, and no' me. I will make no use o't till a's
blown over; but I wouldna like the master to go to his grave, nor to
follow me to mine--as he would be sure to do--thinking it was me. I'll
have that for a satisfaction. And then there's another bit maitter.
Ye'll go against our young master in nothing he's set his heart upon. He
is a lad that is sore left to himself. Good and evil were set before
him, and he--did not choose the good. And the third thing is just this.
Him that brings either skaith or scorn upon Miss Nora, I'll no' put a
fit to the ground for him, if he was the king. Thir's my conditions, my
Lord Rintoul. If ye like them, ye can give your promise--if no', no';
and all that is to follow will be according. For I'm no' a Lindores man,
nor have naething to do with the parish, let alane the family: ye needna
imagine one way or another that it's for your sake----"
"If you want to set up as overseer over my conduct," cried Rintoul
hastily, "and interfere with my private concerns----"
"What am I heedin' aboot your lordship's private concerns? No me!
They're above me as far as the castle's above the kitchen. Na, na. Just
what regards young Dalrulzian, and anything that has to do with Miss
Nora----"
"Don't bring in a lady's name, at least," cried Rintoul, divided between
rage and fear.
"And who was it that brought in the lady's name? You can do it for your
purpose, my lord, and I'll do't for mine. If I hear of a thing that
lady's father would not approve of, or that brings a tear to her bonnie
eyes, poor thing! poor thing!----"
"For heaven's sake, Rolls, hold that tongue of yours! Do you think I
want an old fellow like you to teach me my duty to--to--the girl I'm
going to marry! Don't drive a man mad by way of doing him a favour. I'm
not ungrateful. I'll not forget it. Whatever I can do!----but for God's
sake don't hit a fellow when he's down,--don't dig at me as if I hadn't
a feeling in me," cried Rintoul. He felt more and more like a whipped
schoolboy, half crying, half foaming at the mouth, with despite and
humiliation. It is impossible to describe the grim pleasure with which
Rolls looked on. He liked to see the effect of his words. He liked to
bring this young lord to his knees, and enjoy his triumph over him. But
there are limits to mortal enjoyment, and the time during which his
visitor was permitted to remain with him was near an end. Rolls employed
the few minutes that remained in impressing upon Rintoul the need for
great caution in his evidence. "Ye maun take awfu' care to keep to the
truth. Ye'll mind that a' ye have to do with is after you and me met. An
oath is no' a thing to play with,--an oath," said Rolls, shaking his
grey head, "is a terrible thing."
Rintoul, in his excitement, laughed loud. "You set me an excellent
example," he said.
"I hope so," said Rolls gravely. "Ye'll mind this, my lord, that the
accused is no' on his oath; he canna be called upon to criminate
himself--that's one of the first grand safeguards of our laws. Whatever
ill posterity may hear of me, there's no' one in the country can say
that Thomas Rolls was mansworn!"
Rintoul left Dunnotter with feelings for which it would be difficult to
find any description in words. There was a ringing in his ears as he
drove across the bare moorland country about Dunnotter, a dizzying rush
of all his thoughts. He had the feeling of a man who had just escaped a
great personal danger, and scarcely realises, yet is tremblingly
conscious in every limb, of his escape. He threw the reins to his groom
when he approached Dunearn, and walked through the little town in the
hope of seeing Nora, notwithstanding her disavowal of him, to pour out
into her ears--the only ones into which he could breathe it--an account
of this extraordinary interview. But it was in vain that he traced with
eager feet every path she was likely to take, and walked past Miss
Barbara's house again and yet again, till the lamps began to be lighted
in the tranquil streets and to show at the windows. The evening was
chilly, and Rintoul was cold with agitation and anxiety. He felt more
disconsolate than any Peri as he stood outside, and looking up saw the
windows all closed so carefully, the shutters barred, the curtains
drawn. There was no chance for him through these manifold mufflings, and
he did not venture to go and ask for her, though she was so necessary to
him,--not only his love and his affianced wife, as he said to himself,
but his only confidant--the sole creature in the world to whom he dared
to speak of that which filled his mind and heart. It was with the most
forlorn sense of abandonment and desolation that he turned his face
towards the house in which he was so important, and so much love awaited
him, but where nobody knew even the A B C of his history. His only
confidant was offended Nora, who had vowed to see him no more.