the sound of a strange church bell; and the deep and hollow ding-dong
which rung from the gothic steeple of San Juan, was very different from
the merry rattle of the well-known kirk bell at Lochisla. Ronald
thought of that village bell, and the noble peasantry whom it was wont
to call to prayer, and the association brought a gush of fond, and sad
recollections into his mind. He felt himself, as it were, deserted in a
strange country,--among a people of whose language he knew almost
nothing; he looked round him, and his apartment appeared strange and
foreign,--every object it presented was new and peculiar to his eye. He
thought of Scotland--of HOME,--home with all its ten thousand dear and
deeply impressed associations, until he wept like a child, and his mind
became a prey to most profound and intense dejection,--suffering from
the home-sickness, an acuteness and agony of feeling, which only those
can know who have been so unhappy as to experience this amiable feeling;
one which exists all-powerfully in the hearts of the Scots, who,
although great travellers and wanderers from home, ever turn their
thoughts, fondly and sadly, to the lofty mountains, the green forests,
and the rushing rivers which they first beheld when young, and to the
grassy sod that covers the dust of their warrior ancestors, and which
they wish to cover their own, when they follow them "to the land of the
leal."
The feverish state of his body had communicated itself to his mind, and
for several days and nights, in the solitude of his chamber, he brooded
over the memory of his native place, enduring the acuteness of the
nostalgia in no small degree; and even the fair Catalina, with her
songs, her guitar, and her castanets, failed to enliven him, at least
for a time; his whole pleasure--and a gloomy pleasure it was--being to
brood over the memory of his far-off home. The dreams that haunted the
broken slumbers which the pain of his wound permitted him to snatch,
served but to increase the disorder; and often, from a pleasing vision
of his paternal tower with its mountain loch and pathless pine forests,
of his white-haired sire as he last beheld him, or of Alice Lisle
smiling and beautiful, with her bright eyes and curling tresses, twining
her arms endearingly round him, and laying her soft cheek to his, he was
awakened by some confounded circumstance, which again brought on him the
painful and soul-absorbing lethargy which weighed down every faculty,
rendering him careless of every present object save the miniature of
Alice. The paleness of his complexion, and the intense sadness of his
eye, puzzled his medical attendant, Doctor Mendizabal, but neither to
him nor to Donna Catalina, who used the most bewitching entreaties,
would the forlorn young soldier confess the cause of his
dejection,--concealment of the mental feelings from others beins; a
concomitant of the disease. So each formed their own opinions.
Mendizabal concluded it to be loss of blood; and the lady, after
consulting her cousin and companion, Inesella de Truxillo, supposed that
he must unquestionably be in love,--what else could render so handsome
an _officiale_ so very sad?
This conclusion gave him additional interest with her; and certes, Alice
Lisle would little have admired the attendance upon Ronald's sick couch
of a rival, and one so dangerously beautiful; but her fears might have
decreased, had she seen how incessantly, during the days he was confined
to his bed, he gazed upon the little miniature which Louis Lisle had
given as a parting gift. Concealing it from the view of others, he
watched it with untiring eyes, until, in the fervency of his fancy, the
features seemed to become animated and expanded,--the sparkling eyes to
fill with light and tenderness,--the pale cheek to flush, and the dark
curls which fell around it to wave,--the coral lips to smile; while he
almost imagined that he heard the soft murmurs of her voice mingling
with the gurgle of the Isla and the rustle of the foliage on the banks,
where they were wont to play and gambol in infancy.
In a few days, however, his mental and bodily languor disappeared, and
when, by the surgeon's advice, he left his sick chamber, his usual
lightness of heart returned rapidly, and he was soon able to promenade
under the piazzas of the Plaza with Catalina during the fine sunny
evenings; and although the miniature was not less admired than formerly,
the fair original would have trembled could she have witnessed all the
nursing which Ronald received from his beautiful patrona, and heard all
the soft things which were uttered.
As his strength increased their strolls were extended, and the young
ladies of Merida smiled at each other, and shook their heads
significantly, as the graceful donna, attired in her veil and mantilla,
swept through the great stradi, flirting her little fan, with the
foreign _officiale_ in the plumed bonnet and rich scarlet uniform. His
fair patrona showed him all the remains of Roman magnificence in Merida,
and Ronald, who, like most of his countrymen, was an enthusiastic
admirer of the gloomy and antique, explored every cranny and nook of the
immense ruins of the once-important castle; surveying with a sad feeling
the pillared halls which once had rung to the sound of the trumpet and
the clashing harness of Spanish chivalry, but where now the ivy hung
down from the roofless wall, and the long grass grew between the squares
of the tessellated pavement. Time had reduced it to little more than a
heap of shattered stones, but it was as ancient, probably, as the days
of the Goths, during whose dominion a strong garrison lay at Merida.
The large amphitheatre, of which the citizens are so proud, formed
another attraction, and its circular galleries were the scene of many an
evening; walk with Catalina and her cousin Inesella of Truxillo, a very
gay and very beautiful girl, with whom a great deal of laughing and
flirting ensued in clambering up the steep stone seats, and rambling
through its maze of arcades, arched passages, projecting galleries, and
the long dark dens opening on the arena.
The Roman baths of Diana, a subterranean edifice of an oval form,
containing ranges of dressing chambers, and a large stone bathing-basin
filled with pure water, formed another object of interest; and many were
the pleasant strolls they enjoyed along the grassy banks of the Guadiana
and by the summit of a high hill, (the name of which I have forgotten,)
in the shade of the broad trellis where the vines were bursting into
leaf, and in every green lane and embowered walk about Merida, even to
the hermitage of San Bartolomi,[*] where a white-bearded anchorite
showed them the boiling-hot spring of Alange.
[*] A place three leagues eastward of Merida.
During this intercourse, Ronald rapidly improved in his Spanish; and who
would not have done so under the tuition of such fair instructresses?
He found it
"--pleasing to be school'd in a strange tongue
By female lips and eyes--that is, I mean
When both the teacher and the taught are young,
As was the case, at least, where I have been;
They smile so when one's right, and when one's wrong
They smile still more; and then there intervene
Pressure of hands, perhaps even a chaste kiss:--
I learn'd the little that I know by this."
More than one week had slipped away, and Ronald had nearly recovered
from his wound, though still obliged to keep his arm slung in a scarf.
In the garden at the back of the mansion, he was seated by Catalina's
side one evening on the steps of a splendid fountain, where four brazen
deities spouted the crystal liquid from their capacious throats into a
broad basin of black marble, from which, by some subterraneous passage,
it was carried to the Guadiana. The spring was now advanced, and the
delightful climate of Spain was fast arraying nature, and bringing her
forth in all her glory. From the fountain, broad gravelled walks,
thickly edged with myrtle, branched off in every direction, and between
them were beds where the crimson geranium, the gigantic rose bushes, the
pale lilac blossom, and a thousand other garden flowers, which it would
be useless to mention, were budding in the heat of the vernal sun by
day, and in the soft moist dews by night. Around and above them the
graceful willow, the tufted accacia, the stately palm, the orange-tree
with its singularly beautiful leaves, and numerous other shrubs, were
spreading into foliage, which appeared to increase daily in richness of
tint and variety; and beautiful vistas, winding walks, and umbrageous
bowers were formed among them with all the art and nicety of Spanish
landscape gardening.
The young Highlander and Catalina were seated on the margin of the
fountain, as I have already said. They conversed but little. The donna
busied herself with the strings of her guitar, and Ronald watched in
silence the nimble motions of her white hands as she tied and untied,
screwed and unscrewed the strings and pegs, and struck the chords to
ascertain the true tone. Strange and conflicting thoughts flitted
through his mind while he gazed upon his beautiful companion. He was
aware how dangerous to his peace her presence was, and he almost longed
for, yet dreaded the coming time, when he should be obliged to return to
his regiment. To Alice Lisle he felt that he was bound by every tie
that early intimacy, love, and honour could twine around him,--honour!
how could he think of so cold a word? and while he did so, he blushed
that he could find room in his heart for the image of another.
"Catalina is very beautiful--decidedly so," thought he, while he viewed
the curve of her white neck, and the outline of her superb bust. "Her
face is one of surpassing loveliness, and her eyes--but Alice is equally
bewitching, although perhaps a less showy beauty. Alice is very gentle
and winning, so lady-like, and we have known each other so long,--it is
impossible I can forget her. Why, then, have I been trifling with one
whose presence is so dangerous to my peace? Yes! if I would preserve a
whole heart and my allegiance to Alice, I must fly from you, Catalina."
While he reasoned thus with himself, Catalina raised her dark and
laughing eyes to his, while she struck the chords of her instrument, and
sang a few words of a very beautiful Spanish air. So melodious was her
tone, so graceful her manner, so winning the expression of eye, who can
wonder that Ronald's resolution melted like snow in the sunshine, and
that he felt himself vanquished? Poor Alice! With an air of tenderness
and embarrassment he took the little hand of the donna within his own.
She read in his eye the thoughts which passed through his mind; she cast
down her long jetty lashes, while a rich bloom suffused her soft cheek.
Ronald was about to murmur forth something--in fact he knew not what,
when a loud knocking at the outer gate of the mansion, and the sound of
a well-known voice, aroused him.
"Unbar the yett--this instant! ye auld doited gomeral! I will see my
maister in spite o' ye," cried Evan impatiently, while Agnes delayed
unbarring the door to so boisterous a visitor.
"_Caramba, senor! Quien es?_" she repeated.
"Gude wife, I speak nae language but my ain; so ye needna waste your
wind by speirin' questions that I canna answer."
At Ronald's desire the old housekeeper undid the door, which was well
secured by many a bar and lock, and he immediately saw the waving plumes
of Evan's bonnet dancing above the shrubbery, as he came hastily towards
the fountain, with his musquet at the long trail, and his uniform and
accoutrements covered with the dust of a long day's march. His joy was
unbounded on seeing his master, and rapid and quick were the earnest
inquiries he made, without waiting for answers, concerning his wound,
and how he had been treated "by the unco folk he had been left to bide
amang,--begging the bonnie leddy's pardon."
Catalina bowed,--although she knew not a word that he said; but by the
natural politeness and expression of the soldier's look, she knew that
he referred to her.
"Now then, Evan, that I have answered all your inquiries, be pleased to
stand steady, and moderate yourself so far as to reply to mine," said
Ronald kindly, far from feeling annoyed at his appearance at a juncture
so peculiarly awkward and tender. "How come you here just now? and how
alone?"
"I got leave frae the colonel, after an unco dunning, to come here and
attend you, for I thocht you would feel yersel unco queer, left alane
among the black-avised folk, that canna speak a decent tongue. But
here, sir, is a letter and a newspaper, sent you by Maister Macdonald."
Evan, after fumbling among the ration biscuits, shoe-brushes, and other
matters which crammed his havresack, produced them. "Just as I cam awa'
frae the place whar' the regiment lay, in dreary strath--a place like
Corrie-oich for a' the world--seventy miles frae this, I heard that the
order had come to retire to the rear--"
"Upon Merida?"
"I canna say, sir, because the very moment that Cameron gied me leave,
and Maister Macdonald gied me his letter, I set off, and have travelled
nicht and day, without stopping, except may be just for an hour, to
sleep by the road side or to get a mouthfu o' meat,--trash sic as ane
wadna gie to puir auld Hector the watch-dog at hame, at auld Lochisla.
O it was a far and a weary gait; but I was sae anxious to see ye, sir,
that I have trod it out in twa days, in heavy marching order as ye see
me, and I am like to dee wi' sheer fatigue."
"You are a faithful fellow, Evan; but I fear, by your love for me, you
may work mischief to yourself. Here comes Dame Agnes,--to her care I
must consign you. She was a kind attendant to me when I much wanted
one."
"God bless ye for that, gude wife!" cried Iverach, catching her in his
arms and kissing her withered cheek; a piece of gallantry which she owed
more to Evan's native drollery and his present state of excitement, than
any admiration of her person.
"I believe there is some gaucy kimmer at home, who would not like this
distribution of favour, Evan," said Ronald; while Catalina clapped her
hands and laughed heartily at the old dame, who, although very well
pleased at the compliment, affected great indignation, and arranged her
velvet hood with a mighty air.
"It's just quiet friendship for the auld body,--naething else, sir.
Even puir wee Jessie Cavers wadna hae been angry, had she been present
and seen me."
"Cavers--Jessie Cavers! I heard that name before, surely?"
"It's very like ye may, sir," replied the young Highlander, a flush
crossing his cheek. "She is Miss Alice Lisle's maid,--a servant lassie
at the Inch-house."
"O--a girl at Inchavon? I thought the name was familiar to me,"
faltered Ronald, reddening in turn. "But you had better retire, and
tell the military news to Pedro Gomez, whom I see waiting you
impatiently yonder."
Reserving the newspaper for another time, Ronald, with the donna's
permission, opened Macdonald's letter.
"This billet is from the army," said she, familiarly placing her arm
through the young officer's and drawing close to his side, while she
caused his heart to thrill at her touch. "Ah! tell me if there is any
news of my brother Alvaro in it?"
"I will read it aloud, translating those parts you do not understand.
It is dated from Villa Franca:--[*]
[*] The date of poor Macdonald's letter is now obliterated, and I have
forgotten what it was,--about the month of March (1812), I think.
"DEAR STUART,
"Fassifern and the rest of ours are anxious to know how you are, after
that wound you received so villanously, and from which I hope you are
almost recovered by this time. Send us word by the first messenger from
Merida to the front. Remember me particularly to the fair Catalina, and
I assure you that your quarters at present in her splendid mansion, are
very different from mine here,--in a wretched hut, where the rain comes
in at the roof, and the wind at a thousand crannies. You may
congratulate us, my old comrade, on the easy victories we obtain over
Messieurs the French, who have been driven from Almendralejo, and all
the places adjacent, with little loss on our part. I now write you from
a village, out of which our brigade drove them a few days ago. How much
you would have admired the gallantry of our Spanish friend Don Alvaro,
who accompanied us in this affair. On our approaching the enemy, they
retired without firing a shot at first, and his troop of lancers, who
were halted on the road leading to Los Santos, charged them at full
gallop, shouting _Viva Ferdinand! Espana! Espana y buena Esperanza!_"
"Noble Alvaro! my brave brother!" interrupted Catalina, her eyes
sparkling with delight. "I will always love this _officiale_ for what
he says. Oh! that Inesella was here! She is betrothed to Alvaro, senor,
and would have been wedded long since, but for a quarrel they had about
Donna Ermina, the wife of old Salvador, the guerilla chief."
"It was a noble sight," continued the letter, "to see the tall lances
levelled to the rest, the steel helmets flashing in the sun, and to hear
the clang of the rapid hoofs, as the Spaniards rushed down the brae and
broke upon the enemy with the force of a whirlwind, a thunderbolt, or
any thing else you may suppose. Campbell protested it equalled the
charge of the Mamelukes, when _he_ 'was in Egypt with Sir Ralph.'
Alvaro has now gone off to join Murillo, where he hopes to meet Don
Salvador de Zagala, whom he vows to impale alive. He left me but an
hour ago, and desires me in my letter to send a kiss to his sister.
This, I dare swear, you will be most happy to deliver."
Ronald faltered, and turned his eye on Catalina, who blushed deeply. It
was impossible to resist the temptation; her face was very close to his,
and he pressed his lips upon her burning cheek.
"Read on, _senor mio_," she said, disengaging herself with exquisite
grace; "perhaps there may be more about Alvaro?"
Ronald glanced his eye over the next paragraph, and passed it over in
silence and confusion.
"A little flirtation en passant, you know, will not injure your
allegiance to the fair ladye whose miniature--but you may burn my letter
without reading further, should I write much on that subject. Angus
Mackie, a private of your company, was the other night engaged in a
regular brawl with the natives of Almendralejo,--some love affair with
the daughter of an old _abogado_ (lawyer). I refer you for the
particulars to the bearer, who was engaged in it. We had another row at
Almendralejo the day we entered it. Some Spaniard, by way of insult,
ran his dagger into the bag of Ranald Dhu's pipe, and so great was the
wrath of the 'Son of the Mist,' that he dirked him on the spot; and
although the fellow is not dead, he is declared by Doctor Stuart to be
'in a doubtful state.'
"I have sent you an Edinburgh paper, (a month or two old,) wherein you
will see by the 'Gazette' that a Louis Lisle has been appointed to us,
_vice_ poor Oliphant Cassilis, killed in the battle of Arroya. There
are people of the name in Perthshire; perhaps you may know something of
this Lisle."
The blood rushed into Ronald's face, and a mixed feeling of pleasure and
shame to meet the brother of Alice filled his mind. He read on--
"I was just about to conclude this long letter, when some strange news
arrived. Ciudad Rodrigo has been invested, and it is supposed must
capitulate soon. Our division has been ordered by Lord Wellington to
retire into Portugal forthwith; the 'gathering' is at this moment
ringing through the streets of Villa Franca, and the corps is getting
under arms.--Adieu, &c.
ALISTER MACDONALD."
"P.S.--L. Lisle is at Lisbon, bringing up a detachment for ours,--a
hundred rank and file. I do not know what route we take for Portugal;
but you had better endeavour to join us on the way."
*CHAPTER XI.*
*ALICE LISLE.--NEWS FROM HOME.*
"As you are beauteous, were you half so true,
Here could I live, and love, and die for only you.
Now I to fighting fields am sent afar,
And strive in winter camps with toils of war;
While you, alas, that I should find it so!--"
_Virgil_, Pastoral x.
Within the chamber which he occupied Ronald sat late that night, musing
on what was to be done, and what course was now to be steered. He saw
that it was absolutely necessary that he should proceed instantly to
rejoin,--a measure which the healed state of his wound rendered
imperative. "The division is retreating," thought he, "and the Count
D'Erlon will without doubt push forward immediately and regain
possession of Merida, and I must inevitably be taken prisoner. I will
join Sir Rowland as he passes through; the troops must pass here _en
route_ for Portugal. How dangerous to my own quiet is my acquaintance
with Catalina, and how foolishly have I been tampering with her
affections and with my own heart! Good heavens! I have acted very
wrong in awakening in her a sentiment towards me, which my plighted
troth to Alice and my own natural sense of honour forbid me to cherish
or return. And Catalina loves me; her blushes, her downcast eyes, and
her sweet confusion have betrayed it more than once. 'Tis very
agreeable to feel one's self beloved, and by so fair a girl, for
Catalina is very beautiful; but I must fly from her, and break those
magic spells which are linking our hearts together. To-morrow--no, the
day after, I will leave Merida, and join the division as soon as I hear
by what route it is retiring."
Louis Lisle, too, the brother of Alice, was now an officer in the same
corps, and his bold spirit would instantly lead him to seek vengeance
for any false or dishonourable part acted towards his sister. "Poor
Louis! he is the first friend I ever had; and how will so delicate a
boy, one so tenderly nurtured, endure the many miseries of campaigning
here? A single night such as that we spent in the bivouac of La Nava,
would unquestionably be his death."
Here his cogitations were interrupted by the voice of Evan, who was
carousing in the room below with Gomez, (having spent the night together
over their cups, although neither understood a word of the other's
language), singing loud and boisterously,--
"Keek into the draw-well,
My Jo Janet;
And there ye'll see yer bonnie sell,
My Jo Janet."
a performance which drew many 'vivas!' from his brother-soldier. Roused
from the reverie into which he had fallen, Ronald's eye fell on the
newspaper sent him by Macdonald, and he now took it up, thinking to find
something in it to direct the current of his thoughts; and somewhat he
found with a vengeance! Better would it have been if he had never
thought of it at all. It was an _Edinburgh Journal_, dated several
weeks back, and appeared to have passed through the hands of the whole
division, it was so worn and frittered. After scanning over the
'Gazette,' to which he had turned first "with true military instinct,"
his eye next fell upon one of those pieces of trash styled 'fashionable
news,' It was headed--
"MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE.--We understand that the gallant Earl of Hyndford
is about to lead to the hymeneal altar the beautiful and accomplished
daughter of Sir Allan Lisle, Bart., M. P. for ----. The happy event is
to take place in a few weeks at Inchavon-house, (Perthshire,) the family
seat of the venerable and much respected baronet."
The room swam around him, and the light faded for a moment from his eye,
while the hot blood gushed back tumultuously through the pulses of his
heart; but clinching his teeth firmly, and mustering all his scattered
energies, he read it over once more, while mingled sorrow and fury
contracted and convulsed the muscles of his handsome features. There
was no doubting the purport of the torturing intelligence, and Catalina
was forgotten in the fierce excitement of the moment. "O Alice!
Alice!" he said, bitterly and aloud, "could I ever have expected this of
you? 'Tis but a few months since we parted, and she is false already. I
am, indeed, soon forgotten!"