Mr. Walkinshaw had not left Camrachle many minutes when his nephew
appeared. James had in fact returned from Glasgow, while his uncle was
in the house, but, seeing the carriage at the door, he purposely kept
out of the way till it drove off.
His excursion had not been successful. He found his father’s old
acquaintance sufficiently cordial in the way of inquiries, and even
disposed to sympathise with him, when informed of his determination
to go abroad; but when the army was mentioned the merchant’s heart
froze; and after a short pause, and the expression of some frigiverous
observations with respect to the licentiousness of the military life,
it was suggested that his uncle was the proper quarter to apply to. In
this crisis, their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a
third party, when Walkinshaw retired.
During his walk back to Camrachle, his heart was alternately sick and
saucy, depressed and proud.
He could not conceive how he had been so deluded, as to suppose that he
had any right to expect friendship from the gentleman he had applied
to. He felt that in so doing he acted with the greenness of a boy, and
he was mortified at his own softness. Had there been any reciprocity of
obligations between his father and the gentleman, the case would have
been different. ‘Had they been for forty or fifty years,’ thought he,
‘in the mutual interchange of mercantile dependence, then perhaps I
might have had some claim, and, no doubt, it would have been answered,
but I was a fool to mistake civilities for friendship.’ Perhaps,
however, had the case been even as strong as he put it, he might still
have found himself quite as much deceived.
‘As to making any appeal to my uncle, that was none of his business,’
said he to himself. ‘I did not ask the fellow for advice, I solicited
but a small favour. There is no such heart-scalding insolence as in
refusing a solicitation, to refer the suppliant to others, and with
prudential admonitions too--curse him who would beg, were it not to
avoid doing worse.’
This brave humour lasted for the length of more than a mile’s walk,
during which the young soldier marched briskly along, whistling
courageous tunes, and flourishing his stick with all the cuts of the
broadsword, lopping the boughs of the hedges, as if they had been the
limbs of Frenchmen, and switching away the heads of the thistles and
benweeds in his path, as if they had been Parisian carmagnols, against
whom, at that period, the loyalty of the British bosom was beginning to
grow fretful and testy.
But the greater part of the next mile was less animated--occasionally,
cowardly thoughts glimmered palely through the glorious turbulence of
youthful heroism, and once or twice he paused and looked back towards
Glasgow, wondering if there was any other in all that great city, who
might be disposed to lend him the hundred pounds he had begged for his
outfit.
‘There is not one,’ said he, and he sighed, but in a moment after he
exclaimed, ‘and who the devil cares? It does not do for soldiers to
think much; let them do their duty at the moment; that’s all they have
to think of; I will go on in the track I have chosen, and trust to
Fortune for a windfall;’ again ‘In the Garb of Old Gaul’ was gallantly
whistled, and again the hedges and thistles felt the weight of his
stick.
But as he approached Camrachle, his mood shifted into the minor
key, and when the hazel bank and the ash-trees, with the nests of
the magpies in them, appeared in sight, the sonorous bravery of the
Highland march became gradually modulated into a low and querulous
version of ‘Lochaber no more’, and when he discovered the carriage at
his mother’s door, his valour so subsided into boyish bashfulness, that
he shrank away, as we have already mentioned, and did not venture to go
home, till he saw that his uncle had left the house.
On his entrance, however, he received a slight sensation of pleasure at
seeing both his mother and sister with more comfort in their looks than
he had expected, and he was, in consequence, able to tell them, with
comparative indifference, the failure of his mission. His mother then
related what had passed with his uncle.
The news perplexed Walkinshaw; they contradicted the opinion he had so
warmly felt and expressed of his uncle; they made him feel he had acted
rashly and ungratefully--but still such strange kindness occasioned a
degree of dubiety, which lessened the self-reproaches of his contrition.
‘However,’ said he, with a light and joyous heart, ‘I shall not again
trouble either myself or him, as I have done; but in this instance,
at least, he has acted disinterestedly, and I shall cheerfully avail
myself of his offer, because it is generous--I accept it also as
encouragement--after my disappointment, it is a happy omen; I will take
it as a brave fellow does his bounty-money--a pledge from Fortune of
some famous “all hail hereafter”.’
What his sentiments would have been, had he known the tenor of his
uncle’s mind at that moment,--could he even but have suspected that the
motive which dictated such seeming generosity, so like an honourable
continuance of his former partiality, was prompted by a wish to remove
him as soon as possible from the company of Ellen Frazer, in order to
supplant him in her affections, we need not attempt to imagine how he
would have felt. It is happy for mankind, that they know so little of
the ill said of them behind their backs, by one another, and of the
evil that is often meditated in satire and in malice, and still oftener
undertaken from motives of interest and envy. Walkinshaw rejoicing
in the good fortune that had so soon restored the alacrity of his
spirits--so soon wiped away the corrosive damp of disappointment from
its brightness--did not remain long with his mother and sister, but
hastened to communicate the inspiring tidings to Ellen Frazer.
She was standing on the green in front of the manse, when she saw him
coming bounding towards her, waving his hat in triumph and exultation,
and she put on a grave face, and looked so rebukingly, that he halted
abruptly, and said--‘What’s the matter?’
‘It’s very ridiculous to see any body behaving so absurdly,’ was her
cool and solemn answer.
‘But I have glorious news to tell you; my uncle has come forward in the
handsomest manner, and all’s clear for action.’
This was said in an animated manner, and intended to upset her gravity,
which, from his knowledge of her disposition, he suspected, was a
sinless hypocrisy, put on only to teaze him. But she was either serious
or more resolute in her purpose than he expected; for she replied with
the most chastising coolness,--
‘I thought you were never to have any thing to say again to your uncle?’
Walkinshaw felt this pierce deeper than it was intended to do, and he
reddened exceedingly, as he said, awkwardly,--
‘True! but I have done him injustice; and had he not been one of the
best dispositioned men, he would never have continued his kindness to
me as he has done; for I treated him harshly.’
‘It says but little for you, that, after enjoying his good-will so
long, you should have thrown his favours at him, and so soon after be
obliged to confess you have done him wrong.’
Walkinshaw hung his head, still more and more confused. There was
too much truth in the remark not to be felt as a just reproach; and,
moreover, he thought it somewhat hard, as his folly had been on her
account, that she should so taunt him. But Ellen, perceiving she had
carried the joke a little too far, threw off her disguise, and, with
one of her most captivating looks and smiles, said,--‘Now that I have
tamed you into rational sobriety, let’s hear what you have got to say.
Men should never be spoken to when they are huzzaing. Remember the
lesson when you are with your regiment.’
What further followed befits not our desultory pen to rehearse; but,
during this recital of what had taken place at Glasgow, and the other
incidents of the day, the lovers unconsciously strayed into the
minister’s garden, where a most touching and beautiful dialogue ensued,
of which having lost our notes, we regret, on account of our fair
readers, and all his Majesty’s subalterns, who have not yet joined,
that we cannot furnish a transcript.--The result, however, was, that,
when Ellen returned into the manse, after parting from Walkinshaw, her
beautiful eyes looked red and watery, and two huge tears tumbled out of
them when she told her aunt that he intended to set off for Glengael in
the course of two or three days.