INTRIGUES OF LOVE AND POLITICS
It is not necessary to record in these pages the triumphant
entrance of the Chevalier into Edinburgh after the decisive affair
at Preston. One circumstance, however, may be noticed, because it
illustrates the high spirit of Flora Mac-Ivor. The Highlanders by
whom the Prince was surrounded, in the license and extravagance of
this joyful moment, fired their pieces repeatedly, and one of
these having been accidentally loaded with ball, the bullet grazed
the young lady's temple as she waved her handkerchief from a
balcony. [Footnote: See Note II.] Fergus, who beheld the accident,
was at her side in an instant; and, on seeing that the wound was
trifling, he drew his broadsword with the purpose of rushing down
upon the man by whose carelessness she had incurred so much
danger, when, holding him by the plaid, 'Do not harm the poor
fellow,' she cried; 'for Heaven's sake, do not harm him! but thank
God with me that the accident happened to Flora Mac-Ivor; for had
it befallen a Whig, they would have pretended that the shot was
fired on purpose.'
Waverley escaped the alarm which this accident would have
occasioned to him, as he was unavoidably delayed by the necessity
of accompanying Colonel Talbot to Edinburgh.
They performed the journey together on horseback, and for some
time, as if to sound each other's feelings and sentiments, they
conversed upon general and ordinary topics.
When Waverley again entered upon the subject which he had most at
heart, the situation, namely, of his father and his uncle, Colonel
Talbot seemed now rather desirous to alleviate than to aggravate
his anxiety. This appeared particularly to be the case when he
heard Waverley's history, which he did not scruple to confide to
him.
'And so,' said the Colonel, 'there has been no malice prepense, as
lawyers, I think, term it, in this rash step of yours; and you
have been trepanned into the service of this Italian knight-errant
by a few civil speeches from him and one or two of his Highland
recruiting sergeants? It is sadly foolish, to be sure, but not
nearly so bad as I was led to expect. However, you cannot desert,
even from the Pretender, at the present moment; that seems
impossible. But I have little doubt that, in the dissensions
incident to this heterogeneous mass of wild and desperate men,
some opportunity may arise, by availing yourself of which you may
extricate yourself honourably from your rash engagement before the
bubble burst. If this can be managed, I would have you go to a
place of safety in Flanders which I shall point out. And I think I
can secure your pardon from government after a few months'
residence abroad.'
'I cannot permit you, Colonel Talbot,' answered Waverley, 'to
speak of any plan which turns on my deserting an enterprise in
which I may have engaged hastily, but certainly voluntarily, and
with the purpose of abiding the issue.'
'Well,' said Colonel Talbot, smiling, 'leave me my thoughts and
hopes at least at liberty, if not my speech. But have you never
examined your mysterious packet?'
'It is in my baggage,' replied Edward; 'we shall find it in
Edinburgh.'
In Edinburgh they soon arrived. Waverley's quarters had been
assigned to him, by the Prince's express orders, in a handsome
lodging, where there was accommodation for Colonel Talbot. His
first business was to examine his portmanteau, and, after a very
short search, out tumbled the expected packet. Waverley opened it
eagerly. Under a blank cover, simply addressed to E. Waverley,
Esq., he found a number of open letters. The uppermost were two
from Colonel Gardiner addressed to himself. The earliest in date
was a kind and gentle remonstrance for neglect of the writer's
advice respecting the disposal of his time during his leave of
absence, the renewal of which, he reminded Captain Waverley, would
speedily expire. 'Indeed,' the letter proceeded, 'had it been
otherwise, the news from abroad and my instructions from the War
Office must have compelled me to recall it, as there is great
danger, since the disaster in Flanders, both of foreign invasion
and insurrection among the disaffected at home. I therefore
entreat you will repair as soon as possible to the headquarters of
the regiment; and I am concerned to add that this is still the
more necessary as there is some discontent in your troop, and I
postpone inquiry into particulars until I can have the advantage
of your assistance.'
The second letter, dated eight days later, was in such a style as
might have been expected from the Colonel's receiving no answer to
the first. It reminded Waverley of his duty as a man of honour, an
officer, and a Briton; took notice of the increasing
dissatisfaction of his men, and that some of them had been heard
to hint that their Captain encouraged and approved of their
mutinous behaviour; and, finally, the writer expressed the utmost
regret and surprise that he had not obeyed his commands by
repairing to headquarters, reminded him that his leave of absence
had been recalled, and conjured him, in a style in which paternal
remonstrance was mingled with military authority, to redeem his
error by immediately joining his regiment. 'That I may be
certain,' concluded the letter, 'that this actually reaches you, I
despatch it by Corporal Tims of your troop, with orders to deliver
it into your own hand.'
Upon reading these letters Waverley, with great bitterness of
feeling, was compelled to make the amende honorable to the memory
of the brave and excellent writer; for surely, as Colonel Gardiner
must have had every reason to conclude they had come safely to
hand, less could not follow, on their being neglected, than that
third and final summons, which Waverley actually received at
Glennaquoich, though too late to obey it. And his being
superseded, in consequence of his apparent neglect of this last
command, was so far from being a harsh or severe proceeding, that
it was plainly inevitable. The next letter he unfolded was from
the major of the regiment, acquainting him that a report to the
disadvantage of his reputation was public in the country, stating,
that one Mr. Falconer of Ballihopple, or some such name, had
proposed in his presence a treasonable toast, which he permitted
to pass in silence, although it was so gross an affront to the
royal family that a gentleman in company, not remarkable for his
zeal for government, had never theless taken the matter up, and
that, supposing the account true, Captain Waverley had thus
suffered another, comparatively unconcerned, to resent an affront
directed against him personally as an officer, and to go out with
the person by whom it was offered. The major concluded that no one
of Captain Waverley's brother officers could believe this
scandalous story, but that it was necessarily their joint opinion
that his own honour, equally with that of the regiment, depended
upon its being instantly contradicted by his authority, etc. etc.
etc.
'What do you think of all this?' said Colonel Talbot, to whom
Waverley handed the letters after he had perused them.
'Think! it renders thought impossible. It is enough to drive me
mad.'
'Be calm, my young friend; let us see what are these dirty scrawls
that follow.'
The first was addressed,--
'For Master W. Ruffin, These.'--
'Dear sur, sum of our yong gulpins will not bite, thof I tuold
them you shoed me the squoire's own seel. But Tims will deliver
you the lettrs as desired, and tell ould Addem he gave them to
squoir's bond, as to be sure yours is the same, and shall be ready
for signal, and hoy for Hoy Church and Sachefrel, as fadur sings
at harvestwhome. Yours, deer Sur,
'H. H.
'Poscriff.--Do'e tell squoire we longs to heer from him, and has
dootings about his not writing himself, and Lifetenant Bottler is
smoky.'
'This Ruffin, I suppose, then, is your Donald of the Cavern, who
has intercepted your letters, and carried on a correspondence with
the poor devil Houghton, as if under your authority?'
'It seems too true. But who can Addem be?'
'Possibly Adam, for poor Gardiner, a sort of pun on his name.'
The other letters were to the same purpose; and they soon received
yet more complete light upon Donald Bean's machinations.
John Hodges, one of Waverley's servants, who had remained with the
regiment and had been taken at Preston, now made his appearance.
He had sought out his master with the purpose of again entering
his service. From this fellow they learned that some time after
Waverley had gone from the headquarters of the regiment, a pedlar,
called Ruthven, Rufnn, or Rivane, known among the soldiers by the
name of Wily Will, had made frequent visits to the town of Dundee.
He appeared to possess plenty of money, sold his commodities very
cheap, seemed always willing to treat his friends at the ale-
house, and easily ingratiated himself with many of Waverley's
troop, particularly Sergeant Houghton and one Tims, also a non-
commissioned officer. To these he unfolded, in Waverley's name, a
plan for leaving the regiment and joining him in the Highlands,
where report said the clans had already taken arms in great
numbers. The men, who had been educated as Jacobites, so far as
they had any opinion at all, and who knew their landlord, Sir
Everard, had always been supposed to hold such tenets, easily fell
into the snare. That Waverley was at a distance in the Highlands
was received as a sufficient excuse for transmitting his letters
through the medium of the pedlar; and the sight of his well-known
seal seemed to authenticate the negotiations in his name, where
writing might have been dangerous. The cabal, however, began to
take air, from the premature mutinous language of those concerned.
Wily Will justified his appellative; for, after suspicion arose,
he was seen no more. When the 'Gazette' appeared in which Waverley
was superseded, great part of his troop broke out into actual
mutiny, but were surrounded and disarmed by the rest of the
regiment In consequence of the sentence of a court-martial,
Houghton and Tims were condemned to be shot, but afterwards
permitted to cast lots for life. Houghton, the survivor, showed
much penitence, being convinced, from the rebukes and explanations
of Colonel Gardiner, that he had really engaged in a very heinous
crime. It is remarkable that, as soon as the poor fellow was
satisfied of this, he became also convinced that the instigator
had acted without authority from Edward, saying, 'If it was
dishonourable and against Old England, the squire could know
nought about it; he never did, or thought to do, anything
dishonourable, no more didn't Sir Everard, nor none of them afore
him, and in that belief he would live and die that Ruffin had done
it all of his own head.'
The strength of conviction with which he expressed himself upon
this subject, as well as his assurances that the letters intended
for Waverley had been delivered to Ruthven, made that revolution
in Colonel Gardiner's opinion which he expressed to Talbot.
The reader has long since understood that Donald Bean Lean played
the part of tempter on this occasion. His motives were shortly
these. Of an active and intriguing spirit, he had been long
employed as a subaltern agent and spy by those in the confidence
of the Chevalier, to an extent beyond what was suspected even by
Fergus Mac-Ivor, whom, though obliged to him for protection, he
regarded with fear and dislike. To success in this political
department he naturally looked for raising himself by some bold
stroke above his present hazardous and precarious trade of rapine.
He was particularly employed in learning the strength of the
regiments in Scotland, the character of the officers, etc., and
had long had his eye upon Waverley's troop as open to temptation.
Donald even believed that Waverley himself was at bottom in the
Stuart interest, which seemed confirmed by his long visit to the
Jacobite Baron of Bradwardine. When, therefore, he came to his
cave with one of Glennaquoich's attendants, the robber, who could
never appreciate his real motive, which was mere curiosity, was so
sanguine as to hope that his own talents were to be employed in
some intrigue of consequence, under the auspices of this wealthy
young Englishman. Nor was he undeceived by Waverley's neglecting
all hints and openings afforded for explanation. His conduct
passed for prudent reserve, and somewhat piqued Donald Bean, who,
supposing himself left out of a secret where confidence promised
to be advantageous, determined to have his share in the drama,
whether a regular part were assigned him or not. For this purpose
during Waverley's sleep he possessed himself of his seal, as a
token to be used to any of the troopers whom he might discover to
be possessed of the captain's confidence. His first journey to
Dundee, the town where the regiment was quartered, undeceived him
in his original supposition, but opened to him a new field of
action. He knew there would be no service so well rewarded by the
friends of the Chevalier as seducing a part of the regular army to
his standard. For this purpose he opened the machinations with
which the reader is already acquainted, and which form a clue to
all the intricacies and obscurities of the narrative previous to
Waverley's leaving Glennaquoich.
By Colonel Talbot's advice, Waverley declined detaining in his
service the lad whose evidence had thrown additional light on
these intrigues. He represented to him, that it would be doing the
man an injury to engage him in a desperate undertaking, and that,
whatever should happen, his evidence would go some length at least
in explaining the circumstances under which Waverley himself had
embarked in it. Waverley therefore wrote a short state of what had
happened to his uncle and his father, cautioning them, however, in
the present circumstances, not to attempt to answer his letter.
Talbot then gave the young man a letter to the commander of one of
the English vessels of war cruising in the frith, requesting him
to put the bearer ashore at Berwick, with a pass to proceed to----
shire. He was then furnished with money to make an expeditious
journey, and directed to get on board the ship by means of bribing
a fishing-boat, which, as they afterwards learned, he easily
effected.
Tired of the attendance of Callum Beg, who, he thought, had some
disposition to act as a spy on his motions, Waverley hired as a
servant a simple Edinburgh swain, who had mounted the white
cockade in a fit of spleen and jealousy, because Jenny Jop had
danced a whole night with Corporal Bullock of the Fusileers.