Robert Louis Stevenson
Catriona
A Sequel to »Kidnapped«
Being Memoirs of the Further Adventures of David Balfour At Home and Abroad in
Which Are Set Forth His Misfortunes Anent the Appin Murder His Troubles with
Lord Advocate Grant Captivity on the Bass Rock Journey into Holland and France
and Singular Relations with James More Drummond or Macgregor a Son of the
Notorious Rob Roy and His Daughter Catriona Written by Himself and Now Set
Forth by Robert Louis Stevenson
To Charles Baxter
Writer to the Signet
My dear Charles
It is the fate of sequels to disappoint those who have waited for them and
my David having been left to kick his heels for more than a lustre in the
British Linen Companys office must expect his late reappearance to be greeted
with hoots if not with missiles Yet when I remember the days of our
explorations I am not without hope There should be left in our native city
some seed of the elect some longlegged hotheaded youth must repeat today
our dreams and wanderings of so many years ago he will relish the pleasure
which should have been ours to follow among named streets and numbered houses
the country walks of David Balfour to identify Dean and Silvermills and
Broughton and Hope Park and Pilrig and poor old Lochend if it still be
standing and the Figgate Whins if there be any of them left or to push on a
long holiday so far afield as Gillane or the Bass So perhaps his eye shall
be opened to behold the series of the generations and he shall weigh with
surprise his momentous and nugatory gift of life
You are still as when first I saw as when I last addressed you in the
venerable city which I must always think of as my home And I have come so far
and the sights and thoughts of my youth pursue me and I see like a vision the
youth of my father and of his father and the whole stream of lives flowing
down there far in the north with the sound of laughter and tears to cast me
out in the end as by a sudden freshet on these ultimate islands And I admire
and bow my head before the romance of destiny
R L S
Vailima Upolu
Samoa 1892
Part I The Lord Advocate
Chapter I
A Beggar on Horseback
The 25th day of August 1751 about two in the afternoon I David Balfour came
forth of the British Linen Company a porter attending me with a bag of money
and some of the chief of these merchants bowing me from their doors Two days
before and even so late as yestermorning I was like a beggarman by the
wayside clad in rags brought down to my last shillings my companion a
condemned traitor a price set on my own head for a crime with the news of which
the country rang Today I was served heir to my position in life a landed
laird a bankporter by me carrying my gold recommendations in my pocket and
in the words of the saying the ball directly at my foot
There were two circumstances that served me as ballast to so much sail The
first was the very difficult and deadly business I had still to handle the
second the place that I was in The tall black city and the numbers and
movement and noise of so many folk made a new world for me after the moorland
braes the seasands and the still countrysides that I had frequented up to
then The throng of the citizens in particular abashed me Rankeillors son was
short and small in the girth his clothes scarce held on me and it was plain I
was ill qualified to strut in the front of a bankporter It was plain if I did
so I should but set folk laughing and what was worse in my case set them
asking questions So that I behoved to come by some clothes of my own and in
the meanwhile to walk by the porters side and put my hand on his arm as though
we were a pair of friends
At a merchants in the Luckenbooths I had myself fitted out none too fine
for I had no idea to appear like a beggar on horseback but comely and
responsible so that servants should respect me Thence to an armourers where
I got a plain sword to suit with my degree in life I felt safer with the
weapon though for one so ignorant of defence it might be called an added
danger The porter who was naturally a man of some experience judged my
accoutrement to be well chosen
»Naething kenspeckle«1 said he »plain dacent claes As for the rapier
nae doubt it sits wi your degree but an I had been you I would hae waired my
siller better gates than that« And he proposed I should buy winter hosen from a
wife in the Cowgateback that was a cousin of his own and made them
extraordinar endurable
But I had other matters on my hand more pressing Here I was in this old
black city which was for all the world like a rabbitwarren not only by the
number of its indwellers but the complication of its passages and holes It was
indeed a place where no stranger had a chance to find a friend let be another
stranger Suppose him even to hit on the right close people dwelt so thronged
in these tall houses he might very well seek a day before he chanced on the
right door The ordinary course was to hire a lad they called a caddie who was
like a guide or pilot led you where you had occasion and your errands being
done brought you again where you were lodging But these caddies being always
employed in the same sort of services and having it for obligation to be well
informed of every house and person in the city had grown to form a brotherhood
of spies and I knew from tales of Mr Campbells how they communicated one with
another what a rage of curiosity they conceived as to their employers
business and how they were like eyes and fingers to the police It would be a
piece of little wisdom the way I was now placed to tack such a ferret to my
tails I had three visits to make all immediately needful to my kinsman Mr
Balfour of Pilrig to Stewart the Writer that was Appins agent and to William
Grant Esquire of Prestongrange Lord Advocate of Scotland Mr Balfours was a
noncommittal visit and besides Pilrig being in the country I made bold to
find the way to it myself with the help of my two legs and a Scots tongue But
the rest were in a different case Not only was the visit to Appins agent in
the midst of the cry about the Appin murder dangerous in itself but it was
highly inconsistent with the other I was like to have a bad enough time of it
with my Lord Advocate Grant the best of ways but to go to him hotfoot from
Appins agent was little likely to mend my own affairs and might prove the mere
ruin of friend Alans The whole thing besides gave me a look of running with
the hare and hunting with the hounds that was little to my fancy I determined
therefore to be done at once with Mr Stewart and the whole Jacobitical side of
my business and to profit for that purpose by the guidance of the porter at my
side But it chanced I had scarce given him the address when there came a
sprinkle of rain nothing to hurt only for my new clothes and we took
shelter under a pend at the head of a close or alley
Being strange to what I saw I stepped a little farther in The narrow paved
way descended swiftly Prodigious tall houses sprang up on each side and bulged
out one story beyond another as they rose At the top only a ribbon of sky
showed in By what I could spy in the windows and by the respectable persons
that passed out and in I saw the houses to be very well occupied and the whole
appearance of the place interested me like a tale
I was still gazing when there came a sudden brisk tramp of feet in time and
clash of steel behind me Turning quickly I was aware of a party of armed
soldiers and in their midst a tall man in a greatcoat He walked with a
stoop that was like a piece of courtesy genteel and insinuating he waved his
hands plausibly as he went and his face was sly and handsome I thought his eye
took me in but could not meet it This procession went by to a door in the
close which a servingman in a fine livery set open and two of the
soldierlads carried the prisoner within the rest lingering with their
firelocks by the door
There can nothing pass in the streets of a city without some following of
idle folk and children It was so now but the more part melted away incontinent
until but three were left One was a girl she was dressed like a lady and had
a screen of the Drummond colours on her head but her comrades or I should say
followers were ragged gillies such as I had seen the matches of by the dozen in
my Highland journey They all spoke together earnestly in Gaelic the sound of
which was pleasant in my ears for the sake of Alan and though the rain was by
again and my porter plucked at me to be going I even drew nearer where they
were to listen The lady scolded sharply the others making apologies and
cringing before her so that I made sure she was come of a chiefs house All
the while the three of them sought in their pockets and by what I could make
out they had the matter of half a farthing among the party which made me smile
a little to see all Highland folk alike for fine obeisances and empty sporrans
It chanced the girl turned suddenly about so that I saw her face for the
first time There is no greater wonder than the way the face of a young woman
fits in a mans mind and stays there and he could never tell you why it just
seems it was the thing he wanted She had wonderful bright eyes like stars and
I daresay the eyes had a part in it but what I remember the most clearly was
the way her lips were a trifle open as she turned And whatever was the cause I
stood there staring like a fool On her side as she had not known there was any
one so near she looked at me a little longer and perhaps with more surprise
than was entirely civil
It went through my country head she might be wondering at my new clothes
with that I blushed to my hair and at the sight of my colouring it is to be
supposed she drew her own conclusions for she moved her gillies farther down
the close and they fell again to this dispute where I could hear no more of it
I had often admired a lassie before then if scarce so sudden and strong
and it was rather my disposition to withdraw than to come forward for I was
much in fear of mockery from the womenkind You would have thought I had now all
the more reason to pursue my common practice since I had met this young lady in
the city street seemingly following a prisoner and accompanied with two very
ragged indecentlike Highlandmen But there was here a different ingredient it
was plain the girl thought I had been prying in her secrets and with my new
clothes and sword and at the top of my new fortunes this was more than I could
swallow The beggar on horseback could not bear to be thrust down so low or at
the least of it not by this young lady
I followed accordingly and took off my new hat to her the best that I was
able
»Madam« said I »I think it only fair to myself to let you understand I
have no Gaelic It is true I was listening for I have friends of my own across
the Highland line and the sound of that tongue comes friendly but for your
private affairs if you had spoken Greek I might have had more guess at them«
She made me a little distant curtsey »There is no harm done« she said
with a pretty accent most like the English but more agreeable »A cat may
look at a king«
»I do not mean to offend« said I »I have no skill of city manners I never
before this day set foot inside the doors of Edinburgh Take me for a country
lad its what I am and I would rather I told you than you found it out«
»Indeed it will be a very unusual thing for strangers to be speaking to
each other on the causeway« she replied »But if you are landward2 bred it will
be different I am as landward as yourself I am Highland as you see and think
myself the farther from my home«
»It is not yet a week since I passed the line« said I »Less than a week
ago I was on the braes of Balquhidder«
»Balwhither« she cries »Come ye from Balwhither The name of it makes all
there is of me rejoice You will not have been long there and not known some of
our friends or family«
»I lived with a very honest kind man called Duncan Dhu Maclaren« I
replied
»Well I know Duncan and you give him the true name« she said »and if he
is an honest man his wife is honest indeed«
»Ay« said I »they are fine people and the place is a bonny place«
»Where in the great world is such another« she cries »I am loving the
smell of that place and the roots that grow there«
I was infinitely taken with the spirit of the maid »I could be wishing I
had brought you a spray of that heather« says I »And though I did ill to speak
with you at the first now it seems we have common acquaintance I make it my
petition you will not forget me David Balfour is the name I am known by This
is my lucky day when I have just come into a landed estate and am not very
long out of a deadly peril I wish you would keep my name in mind for the sake
of Balquhidder« said I »and I will yours for the sake of my lucky day«
»My name is not spoken« she replied with a great deal of haughtiness
»More than a hundred years it has not gone upon mens tongues save for a blink
I am nameless like the Folk of Peace3 Catriona Drummond is the one I use«
Now indeed I knew where I was standing In all broad Scotland there was but
the one name proscribed and that was the name of the Macgregors Yet so far
from fleeing this undesirable acquaintancy I plunged the deeper in
»I have been sitting with one who was in the same case with yourself« said
I »and I think he will be one of your friends They called him Robin Oig«
»Did ye so« cries she »Ye met Rob«
»I passed the night with him« said I
»He is a fowl of the night« said she
»There was a set of pipes there« I went on »so you may judge if the time
passed«
»You should be no enemy at all events« said she »That was his brother
there a moment since with the red soldiers round him It is him that I call
father«
»Is it so« cried I »Are you a daughter of James Mores«
»All the daughter that he has« says she »the daughter of a prisoner that
I should forget it so even for one hour to talk with strangers«
Here one of the gillies addressed her in what he had of English to know
what she meaning by that himself was to do about ta sneeshin I took some note
of him for a short bandylegged redhaired bigheaded man that I was to know
more of to my cost
»There can be none the day Neil« she replied »How will you get sneeshin
wanting siller It will teach you another time to be more careful and I think
James More will not be very well pleased with Neil of the Tom«
»Miss Drummond« I said »I told you I was in my lucky day Here I am and a
bankporter at my tail And remember I have had the hospitality of your own
country of Balquhidder«
»It was not one of my people gave it« said she
»Ah well« said I »but I am owing your uncle at least for some springs
upon the pipes Besides which I have offered myself to be your friend and you
have been so forgetful that you did not refuse me in the proper time«
»If it had been a great sum it might have done you honour« said she »but
I will tell you what this is James More lies shackled in prison but this time
past they will be bringing him down here daily to the Advocates «
»The Advocates« I cried »Is that «
»It is the house of the Lord Advocate Grant of Prestongrange« said she
»There they bring my father one time and another for what purpose I have no
thought in my mind but it seems there is some hope dawned for him All this
same time they will not let me be seeing him nor yet him write and we wait
upon the Kings street to catch him and now we give him his snuff as he goes
by and now something else And here is this son of trouble Neil son of
Duncan has lost my fourpennypiece that was to buy that snuff and James More
must go wanting and will think his daughter has forgotten him«
I took sixpence from my pocket gave it to Neil and bade him go about his
errand Then to her »That sixpence came with me by Balquhidder« said I
»Ah« she said »you are a friend to the Gregara«
»I would not like to deceive you either« said I »I know very little of the
Gregara and less of James More and his doings but since the while I have been
standing in this close I seem to know something of yourself and if you will
just say a friend to Miss Catriona I will see you are the less cheated«
»The one cannot be without the other« said she
»I will even try« said I
»And what will you be thinking of myself« she cried »to be holding my hand
to the first stranger«
»I am thinking nothing but that you are a good daughter« said I
»I must not be without repaying it« she said »Where is it you stop«
»To tell the truth I am stopping nowhere yet« said I »being not full
three hours in the city but if you will give me your direction I will be so
bold as come seeking my sixpence for myself«
»Will I can trust you for that« she asked
»You need have little fear« said I
»James More could not bear it else« said she »I stop beyond the village of
Dean on the north side of the water with Mrs DrummondOgilvy of Allardyce
who is my near friend and will be glad to thank you«
»You are to see me then so soon as what I have to do permits« said I and
the remembrance of Alan rolling in again upon my mind I made haste to say
farewell
I could not but think even as I did so that we had made extraordinary free
upon short acquaintance and that a really wise young lady would have shown
herself more backward I think it was the bankporter that put me from this
ungallant train of thought
»I thoucht ye had been a lad of some kind o sense« he began shooting out
his lips »Yere no likely to gang far this gate A fule and his sillers shune
parted Eh but yere a green callant« he cried »an a veecious tae Cleikin
up wi baubeejoes«
»If you dare to speak of the young lady « I began
»Leddy« he cried »Haud us and safe us whatten leddy Ca thon a leddy
The touns fu o them Leddies Man its weel seen yere no very acquaint in
Embro«
A clap of anger took me
»Here« said I »lead me where I told you and keep your foul mouth shut«
He did not wholly obey me for though he no more addressed me directly he
sang at me as he went in a very impudent manner of innuendo and with an
exceedingly ill voice and ear
»As Mally Lee cam doun the street her capuchin did flee
She cuist a look ahint her to see her negligee
And were a gaun east and wast were a gaun ajee
Were a gaun east and wast courtin Mally Lee«
Chapter II
The Highland Writer
Mr Charles Stewart the Writer dwelt at the top of the longest stair that ever
mason set a hand to fifteen flights of it no less and when I had come to his
door and a clerk had opened it and told me his master was within I had scarce
breath enough to send my porter packing
»Awa east and wast wi ye« said I took the moneybag out of his hands
and followed the clerk in
The outer room was an office with the clerks chair at a table spread with
lawpapers In the inner chamber which opened from it a little brisk man sat
poring on a deed from which he scarce raised his eyes upon my entrance indeed
he still kept his finger in the place as though prepared to show me out and
fall again to his studies This pleased me little enough and what pleased me
less I thought the clerk was in a good posture to overhear what should pass
between us
I asked if he was Mr Charles Stewart the Writer
»The same« says he »and if the question is equally fair who may you be
yourself«
»You never heard tell of my name nor of me either« said I »but I bring you
a token from a friend that you know well That you know well« I repeated
lowering my voice »but maybe are not just so keen to hear from at this present
being And the bits of business that I have to propone to you are rather in the
nature of being confidential In short I would like to think we were quite
private«
He rose without more words casting down his paper like a man illpleased
sent forth his clerk of an errand and shutto the housedoor behind him
»Now sir« said he returning »speak out your mind and fear nothing
though before you begin« he cries out »I tell you mine misgives me I tell you
beforehand yere either a Stewart or a Stewart sent ye A good name it is and
one it would ill become my fathers son to lightly But I begin to grue at the
sound of it«
»My name is called Balfour« said I »David Balfour of Shaws As for him
that sent me I will let his token speak« And I showed the silver button
»Put it in your pocket sir« cries he »Ye need name no names The deevils
buckie I ken the button of him And deil haet Where is he now«
I told him I knew not where Alan was but he had some sure place or thought
he had about the north side where he was to lie until a ship was found for
him and how and where he had appointed to be spoken with
»Its been always my opinion that I would hang in a tow for this family of
mine« he cried »and dod I believe the days come now Get a ship for him
quot he And whos to pay for it The mans daft«
»That is my part of the affair Mr Stewart« said I »Here is a bag of good
money and if more be wanted more is to be had where it came from«
»I neednt ask your politics« said he
»Ye need not« said I smiling »for I am as big a Whig as grows«
»Stop a bit stop a bit« says Mr Stewart »Whats all this A Whig Then
why are you here with Alans button and what kind of a blackfoot traffic is
this that I find ye out in Mr Whig Here is a forfeited rebel and an accused
murderer with two hundred pounds on his life and ye ask me to meddle in his
business and then tell me yere a Whig I have no mind of any such Whigs
before though Ive kennt plenty of them«
»Hes a forfeited rebel and mores the pity« said I »for the mans my
friend I can only wish he had been better guided And an accused murderer that
he is too for his misfortune but wrongfully accused«
»I hear you say so« said Stewart
»More than you are to hear me say so before long« said I »Alan Breck is
innocent and so is James«
»Oh« says he »the two cases hang together If Alan is out James can never
be in«
Hereupon I told him briefly of my acquaintance with Alan of the accident
that brought me present at the Appin murder and the various passages of our
escape among the heather and my recovery of my estate »So sir you have now
the whole train of these events« I went on »and can see for yourself how I
come to be so much mingled up with the affairs of your family and friends which
for all of our sakes I wish had been plainer and less bloody You can see for
yourself too that I have certain pieces of business depending which were
scarcely fit to lay before a lawyer chosen at random No more remains but to
ask if you will undertake my service«
»I have no great mind to it but coming as you do with Alans button the
choice is scarcely left me« said he »What are your instructions« he added
and took up his pen
»The first point is to smuggle Alan forth of this country« said I »but I
need not be repeating that«
»I am little likely to forget it« said Stewart
»The next thing is the bit money I am owing to Cluny« I went on »It would
be ill for me to find a conveyance but that should be no stick to you It was
two pounds five shillings and threehalfpence farthing sterling«
He noted it
»Then« said I »theres a Mr Henderland a licensed preacher and
missionary in Ardgour that I would like well to get some snuff into the hands
of and as I daresay you keep touch with your friends in Appin so near by
its a job you could doubtless overtake with the other«
»How much snuff are we to say« he asked
»I was thinking of two pounds« said I
»Two« said he
»Then theres the lass Alison Hastie in Limekilns« said I »Her that
helped Alan and me across the Forth I was thinking if I could get her a good
Sunday gown such as she could wear with decency in her degree it would be an
ease to my conscience for the mere truth is we owe her our two lives«
»I am glad to see you are thrifty Mr Balfour« says he making his notes
»I would think shame to be otherwise the first day of my fortune« said I
»And now if you will compute the outlay and your own proper charges I would be
glad to know if I could get some spendingmoney back Its not that I grudge the
whole of it to get Alan safe its not that I lack more but having drawn so
much the one day I think it would have a very ill appearance if I was back
again seeking the next Only be sure you have enough« I added »for I am very
undesirous to meet with you again«
»Well and Im pleased to see youre cautious too« said the Writer »But I
think ye take a risk to lay so considerable a sum at my discretion«
He said this with a plain sneer
»Ill have to run the hazard« I replied »O and theres another service
I would ask and thats to direct me to a lodging for I have no roof to my
head But it must be a lodging I may seem to have hit upon by accident for it
would never do if the Lord Advocate were to get any jealousy of our
acquaintance«
»Ye may set your weary spirit at rest« said he »I will never name your
name sir and its my belief the Advocate is still so much to be sympathised
with that he doesna ken of your existence«
I saw I had got to the wrong side of the man
»Theres a braw day coming for him then« said I »for hell have to learn
of it on the deaf side of his head no later than tomorrow when I call on him«
»When ye call on him« repeated Mr Stewart »Am I daft or are you What
takes ye near the Advocate«
»O just to give myself up« said I
»Mr Balfour« he cried »are ye making a mock of me«
»No sir« said I »though I think you have allowed yourself some such
freedom with myself But I give you to understand once and for all that I am in
no jesting spirit«
»Nor yet me« says Stewart »And I give you to understand if thats to be
the word that I like the looks of your behaviour less and less You come here
to me with all sorts of propositions which will put me in a train of very
doubtful acts and bring me among very undesirable persons this many a day to
come And then you tell me youre going straight out of my office to make your
peace with the Advocate Alans button here or Alans button there the four
quarters of Alan wouldna bribe me further in«
»I would take it with a little more temper« said I »and perhaps we can
avoid what you object to I can see no way for it but to give myself up but
perhaps you can see another and if you could I could never deny but what I
would be rather relieved For I think my traffic with his lordship is little
likely to agree with my health Theres just the one thing clear that I have to
give my evidence for I hope itll save Alans character whats left of it
and Jamess neck which is the more immediate«
He was silent for a breathingspace and then »My man« said he »youll
never be allowed to give such evidence«
»Well have to see about that« said I »Im stiffnecked when I like«
»Ye muckle ass« cried Stewart »its James they want James has got to hang
Alan too if they could catch him but James whatever Go near the Advocate
with any such business and youll see hell find a way to muzzle ye«
»I think better of the Advocate than that« said I
»The Advocate be damned« cries he »Its the Campbells man Youll have
the whole clanjamfry of them on your back and so will the Advocate too poor
body Its extraordinar ye cannot see where ye stand If theres no fair way to
stop your gab theres a foul one gaping They can put ye in the dock do ye no
see that« he cried and stabbed me with one finger in the leg
»Ay« said I »I was told that same no further back than this morning by
another lawyer«
»And who was he« asked Stewart »He spoke sense at least«
I told I must be excused from naming him for he was a decent stout old
Whig and had little mind to be mixed up in such affairs
»I think all the world seems to be mixed up in it« cries Stewart »But what
said you«
I told him what had passed between Rankeillor and myself before the house of
Shaws
»Well and so ye will hang« said he »Yell hang beside James Stewart
Theres your fortune told«
»I hope better of it yet than that« said I »but I could never deny there
was a risk«
»Risk« says he and then sat silent again »I ought to thank you for your
staunchness to my friends to whom you show a very good spirit« he says »if
you have the strength to stand by it But I warn you that youre wading deep I
wouldnt put myself in your place me thats a Stewart born for all the
Stewarts that ever there were since Noah Risk ay I take overmany but to be
tried in court before a Campbell jury and a Campbell judge and that in a
Campbell country and upon a Campbell quarrel think what you like of me
Balfour its beyond me«
»Its a different way of thinking I suppose« said I »I was brought up to
this one by my father before me«
»Glory to his bones he has left a decent son to his name« says he »Yet I
would not have you judge me oversorely My case is dooms hard See sir ye
tell me yere a Whig I wonder what I am No Whig to be sure I couldna be just
that But laigh in your ear man Im maybe no very keen on the other side«
»Is that a fact« cried I »Its what I would think of a man of your
intelligence«
»Hoot none of your whillywhas«4 cries he »Theres intelligence upon both
sides But for my private part I have no particular desire to harm King George
and as for King James God bless him he does very well for me across the water
Im a lawyer ye see fond of my books and my bottle a good plea a welldrawn
deed a crack in the Parliament House with other lawyer bodies and perhaps a
turn at the golf on a Saturday at een Where do ye come in with your Hieland
plaids and claymores«
»Well« said I »its a fact ye have little of the wild Highlandman«
»Little« quoth he »Nothing man And yet Im Hieland born and when the
clan pipes who but me has to dance The clan and the name that goes by all
Its just what you said yourself my father learned it to me and a bonny trade
I have of it Treason and traitors and the smuggling of them out and in and
the French recruiting weary fall it and the smuggling through of the recruits
and their pleas a sorrow of their pleas Here have I been moving one for young
Ardshiel my cousin claimed the estate under the marriage contract a
forfeited estate I told them it was nonsense muckle they cared And there was
I cocking behind a yadvocate that liked the business as little as myself for it
was fair ruin to the pair of us a black mark disaffected branded on our
hurdies like folks names upon their kye And what can I do Im a Stewart ye
see and must fend for my clan and family Then no later by than yesterday there
was one of our Stewart lads carried to the Castle What for I ken fine Act of
1736 recruiting for King Lewie And youll see hell whistle me in to be his
lawyer and therell be another black mark on my charater I tell you fair if
I but kennt the heid of a Hebrew word from the hurdies of it be damned but I
would fling the whole thing up and turn minister«
»Its rather a hard position« said I
»Dooms hard« cries he »And thats what makes me think so much of ye you
thats no Stewart to stick your head so deep in Stewart business And for
what I do not know unless it was the sense of duty«
»I hope it will be that« said I
»Well« says he »its a grand quality But here is my clerk back and by
your leave well pick a bit of dinner all the three of us When thats done
Ill give you the direction of a very decent man thatll be very fain to have
you for a lodger And Ill fill your pockets to ye forbye out of your ain bag
For this businessll not be near as dear as ye suppose not even the ship part
of it«
I made him a sign that his clerk was within hearing
»Hoot ye needna mind for Robbie« cries he »A Stewart too puir deevil
and has smuggled out more French recruits and trafficking Papists than what he
has hairs upon his face Why its Robin that manages that branch of my affairs
Who will we have now Rob for across the water«
»Therell be Andie Scougal in the Thristle« replied Rob »I saw Hoseason
the other day but it seems hes wanting the ship Then therell be Tam Stobo
but Im none so sure of Tam Ive seen him colloguing with some gey queer
acquaintances and if it was anybody important I would give Tam the goby«
»The heads worth two hundred pounds Robin« said Stewart
»Gosh thatll no be Alan Breck« cried the clerk
»Just Alan« said his master
»Weary winds thats sayrious« cried Robin »Ill try Andie then Andiell
be the best«
»It seems its quite a big business« I observed
»Mr Balfour theres no end to it« said Stewart
»There was a name your clerk mentioned« I went on »Hoseason That must be
my man I think Hoseason of the brig Covenant Would you set your trust on
him«
»He didna behave very well to you and Alan« said Mr Stewart »but my mind
of the man in general is rather otherwise If he had taken Alan on board his
ship on an agreement its my notion he would have proved a just dealer How
say ye Rob«
»No more honest skipper in the trade than Eli« said the clerk »I would
lippen to5 Elis word ay if it was the Chevalier or Appin himsel« he
added
»And it was him that brought the doctor wasnat« asked the master
»He was the very man« said the clerk
»And I think he took the doctor back« says Stewart
»Ay with his sporran full« cried Robin »And Eli kennt of that«6
»Well it seems its hard to ken folk rightly« said I
»That was just what I forgot when ye came in Mr Balfour« says the Writer
Chapter III
I Go to Pilrig
The next morning I was no sooner awake in my new lodging than I was up and into
my new clothes and no sooner the breakfast swallowed than I was forth on my
adventures Alan I could hope was fended for James was like to be a more
difficult affair and I could not but think that enterprise might cost me dear
even as everybody said to whom I had opened my opinion It seemed I was come to
the top of the mountain only to cast myself down that I had clambered up
through so many and hard trials to be rich to be recognised to wear city
clothes and a sword to my side all to commit mere suicide at the last end of
it and the worst kind of suicide besides which is to get hanged at the Kings
charges
What was I doing it for I asked as I went down the High Street and out
north by Leith Wynd First I said it was to save James Stewart and no doubt the
memory of his distress and his wifes cries and a word or so I had let drop on
that occasion worked upon me strongly At the same time I reflected that it was
or ought to be the most indifferent matter to my fathers son whether James
died in his bed or from a scaffold He was Alans cousin to be sure but so
far as regarded Alan the best thing would be to lie low and let the King and
his Grace of Argyle and the corbiecrows pick the bones of his kinsman their
own way Nor could I forget that while we were all in the pot together James
had shown no such particular anxiety whether for Alan or me
Next it came upon me I was acting for the sake of justice and I thought
that a fine word and reasoned it out that since we dwelt in polities at some
discomfort to each one of us the main thing of all must still be justice and
the death of any innocent man a wound upon the whole community Next again it
was the Accuser of the Brethren that gave me a turn of his argument bade me
think shame for pretending myself concerned in these high matters and told me I
was but a prating vain child who had spoken big words to Rankeillor and to
Stewart and held myself bound upon my vanity to make good that boastfulness
Nay and he hit me with the other end of the stick for he accused me of a kind
of artful cowardice going about at the expense of a little risk to purchase
greater safety No doubt until I had declared and cleared myself I might any
day encounter Mungo Campbell or the sheriffs officer and be recognised and
dragged into the Appin murder by the heels and no doubt in case I could
manage my declaration with success I should breathe more free for ever after
But when I looked this argument full in the face I could see nothing to be
ashamed of As for the rest »Here are the two roads« I thought »and both go
to the same place Its unjust that James should hang if I can save him and it
would be ridiculous in me to have talked so much and then do nothing Its lucky
for James of the Glens that I have boasted beforehand and none so unlucky for
myself because now Im committed to do right I have the name of a gentleman
and the means of one it would be a poor discovery that I was wanting in the
essence« And then I thought this was a Pagan spirit and said a prayer in to
myself asking for what courage I might lack and that I might go straight to my
duty like a soldier to battle and come off again scatheless as so many do
This train of reasoning brought me to a more resolved complexion though it
was far from closing up my sense of the dangers that surrounded me nor of how
very apt I was if I went on to stumble on the ladder of the gallows It was a
plain fair morning but the wind in the east The little chill of it sang in my
blood and gave me a feeling of the autumn and the dead leaves and dead folks
bodies in their graves It seemed the devil was in it if I was to die in that
tide of my fortunes and for other folks affairs On the top of the Calton Hill
though it was not the customary time of year for that diversion some children
were crying and running with their kites These toys appeared very plain against
the sky I remarked a great one soar on the wind to a high altitude and then
plump among the whins and I thought to myself at sight of it There goes Davie
My way lay over Mouters Hill and through an end of a clachan on the
braeside among fields There was a whir of looms in it went from house to house
bees bummed in the gardens the neighbours that I saw at the doorsteps talked in
a strange tongue and I found out later that this was Picardy a village where
the French weavers wrought for the Linen Company Here I got a fresh direction
for Pilrig my destination and a little beyond on the wayside came by a
gibbet and two men hanged in chains They were dipped in tar as the manner is
the wind span them the chains clattered and the birds hung about the uncanny
jumpingjacks and cried The sight coming on me suddenly like an illustration
of my fears I could scarce be done with examining it and drinking in
discomfort And as I thus turned and turned about the gibbet what should I
strike on but a weird old wife that sat behind a leg of it and nodded and
talked aloud to herself with becks and courtesies
»Who are these two mother« I asked and pointed to the corpses
»A blessing on your precious face« she cried »Twa joes7 o mine just twa
o my old joes my hinny dear«
»What did they suffer for« I asked
»Ou just for the guid cause« said she »Aften I spaed to them the way that
it would end Twa shillin Scots no pickle mair and there are twa bonny
callants hingin fort They took it frae a wean8 belanged to Brouchton«
»Ay« said I to myself and not to the daft limmer »and did they come to
such a figure for so poor a business This is to lose all indeed«
»Gies your loof9 hinny« says she »and let me spae your weird to ye«
»No mother« said I »I see far enough the way I am Its an unco thing to
see too far in front«
»I read it in your bree« she said »Theres a bonny lassie that has bricht
een and theres a wee man in a braw coat and a big man in a pouthered wig and
theres the shadow of the wuddy10 joe that lies braid across your path Gies
your loof hinny and let Auld Merren spae it to ye bonny«
The two chance shots that seemed to point at Alan and the daughter of James
More struck me hard and I fled from the eldritch creature casting her a
bawbee which she continued to sit and play with under the moving shadows of the
hanged
My way down the causeway of Leith Walk would have been more pleasant to me
but for this encounter The old rampart ran among fields the like of them I had
never seen for artfulness of agriculture I was pleased besides to be so far
in the still countryside but the shackles of the gibbet clattered in my head
and the mops and mows of the old witch and the thought of the dead men
hagrode my spirits To hang on a gallows that seemed a hard case and whether
a man came to hang there for two shillings Scots or as Mr Stewart had it
from the sense of duty once he was tarred and shackled and hung up the
difference seemed small There might David Balfour hang and other lads pass on
their errands and think light of him and old daft limmers sit at a legfoot and
spae their fortunes and the clean genty maids go by and look to the other
side and hold a nose I saw them plain and they had grey eyes and their
screens upon their heads were of the Drummond colours
I was thus in the poorest of spirits though still pretty resolved when I
came in view of Pilrig a pleasant gabled house set by the Walkside among some
brave young woods The lairds horse was standing saddled at the door as I came
up but himself was in the study where he received me in the midst of learned
works and musical instruments for he was not only a deep philosopher but much
of a musician He greeted me at first pretty well and when he had read
Rankeillors letter placed himself obligingly at my disposal
»And what is it cousin David« says he »since it appears that we are
cousins what is this that I can do for you A word to Prestongrange Doubtless
that is easily given But what should be the word«
»Mr Balfour« said I »if I were to tell you my whole story the way it fell
out its my opinion and it was Rankeillors before me that you would be very
little made up with it«
»I am sorry to hear this of you kinsman« says he
»I must not take that at your hands Mr Balfour« said I »I have nothing
to my charge to make me sorry or you for me but just the common infirmities of
mankind The guilt of Adams first sin the want of original righteousness and
the corruption of my whole nature so much I must answer for and I hope I have
been taught where to look for help« I said for I judged from the look of the
man he would think the better of me if I knew my Questions11 »But in the way of
worldly honour I have no great stumble to reproach myself with and my
difficulties have befallen me very much against my will and by all that I can
see without my fault My trouble is to have become dipped in a political
complication which it is judged you would be blithe to avoid a knowledge of«
»Why very well Mr David« he replied »I am pleased to see you are all
that Rankeillor represented And for what you say of political complications
you do me no more than justice It is my study to be beyond suspicion and
indeed outside the field of it The question is« says he »how if I am to know
nothing of the matter I can very well assist you«
»Why sir« said I »I propose you should write to his lordship that I am a
young man of reasonable good family and of good means both of which I believe
to be the case«
»I have Rankeillors word for it« said Mr Balfour »and I count that a
warrandice against all deadly«
»To which you might add if you will take my word for so much that I am a
good churchman loyal to King George and so brought up« I went on
»None of which will do you any harm« said Mr Balfour
»Then you might go on to say that I sought his lordship on a matter of great
moment connected with his Majestys service and the administration of justice«
I suggested
»As I am not to hear the matter« says the laird »I will not take upon
myself to qualify its weight Great moment therefore falls and moment along
with it For the rest I might express myself much as you propose«
»And then sir« said I and rubbed my neck a little with my thumb »then I
would be very desirous if you could slip in a word that might perhaps tell for
my protection«
»Protection« says he »for your protection Here is a phrase that somewhat
dampens me If the matter be so dangerous I own I would be a little loath to
move in it blindfold«
»I believe I could indicate in two words where the thing sticks« said I
»Perhaps that would be the best« said he
»Well its the Appin murder« said I
He held up both the hands »Sirs sirs« cried he
I thought by the expression of his face and voice that I had lost my helper
»Let me explain « I began
»I thank you kindly I will hear no more of it« says he »I decline in toto
to hear more of it For your names sake and Rankeillors and perhaps a little
for your own I will do what I can to help you but I will hear no more upon the
facts And it is my first clear duty to warn you These are deep waters Mr
David and you are a young man Be cautious and think twice«
»It is to be supposed I will have thought oftener than that Mr Balfour«
said I »and I will direct your attention again to Rankeillors letter where I
hope and believe he has registered his approval of that which I design«
»Well well« said he and then again »Well well I will do what I can for
you« Therewith he took a pen and paper sat a while in thought and began to
write with much consideration »I understand that Rankeillor approves of what
you have in mind« he asked presently
»After some discussion sir he bade me to go forward in Gods name« said
I
»That is the name to go in« said Mr Balfour and resumed his writing
Presently he signed reread what he had written and addressed me again »Now
here Mr David« said he »is a letter of introduction which I will seal
without closing and give into your hands open as the form requires But since
I am acting in the dark I will just read it to you so that you may see if it
will secure your end
Pilrig August 26th 1751
My Lord This is to bring to your notice my namesake and cousin David
Balfour Esquire of Shaws a young gentleman of unblemished descent and
good estate He has enjoyed besides the more valuable advantages of a
godly training and his political principles are all that your lordship
can desire I am not in Mr Balfours confidence but I understand him
to have a matter to declare touching his Majestys service and the
administration of justice purposes for which your lordships zeal is
known I should add that the young gentlemans intention is known to and
approved by some of his friends who will watch with hopeful anxiety the
event of his success or failure«
»Whereupon« continued Mr Balfour »I have subscribed myself with the usual
compliments You observe I have said some of your friends I hope you can
justify my plural«
»Perfectly sir my purpose is known and approved by more than one« said I
»And your letter which I take a pleasure to thank you for is all I could have
hoped«
»It was all I could squeeze out« said he »and from what I know of the
matter you design to meddle in I can only pray God that it may prove
sufficient«
Chapter IV
Lord Advocate Prestongrange
My kinsman kept me to a meal »for the honour of the roof« he said and I
believe I made the better speed on my return I had no thought but to be done
with the next stage and have myself fully committed to a person circumstanced
as I was the appearance of closing a door on hesitation and temptation was
itself extremely tempting and I was the more disappointed when I came to
Prestongranges house to be informed he was abroad I believe it was true at
the moment and for some hours after and then I have no doubt the Advocate came
home again and enjoyed himself in a neighbouring chamber among friends while
perhaps the very fact of my arrival was forgotten I would have gone away a
dozen times only for this strong drawing to have done with my declaration out
of hand and be able to lay me down to sleep with a free conscience At first I
read for the little cabinet where I was left contained a variety of books But
I fear I read with little profit and the weather falling cloudy the dusk
coming up earlier than usual and my cabinet being lighted with but a loophole
of a window I was at last obliged to desist from this diversion such as it
was and pass the rest of my time of waiting in a very burthensome vacuity The
sound of people talking in a near chamber the pleasant note of a harpsichord
and once the voice of a lady singing bore me a kind of company
I do not know the hour but the darkness was long come when the door of the
cabinet opened and I was aware by the light behind him of a tall figure of a
man upon the threshold I rose at once
»Is anybody there« he asked »Who is that«
»I am bearer of a letter from the laird of Pilrig to the Lord Advocate«
said I
»Have you been here long« he asked
»I would not like to hazard an estimate of how many hours« said I
»It is the first I hear of it« he replied with a chuckle »The lads must
have forgotten you But you are in the bit at last for I am Prestongrange«
So saying he passed before me into the next room whither upon his sign I
followed him and where he lit a candle and took his place before a
businesstable It was a long room of a good proportion wholly lined with
books That small spark of light in a corner struck out the mans handsome
person and strong face He was flushed his eye watered and sparkled and before
he sat down I observed him to sway back and forth No doubt he had been supping
liberally but his mind and tongue were under full control
»Well sir sit ye down« said he »and let us see Pilrigs letter«
He glanced it through in the beginning carelessly looking up and bowing
when he came to my name but at the last words I thought I observed his
attention to redouble and I made sure he read them twice All this while you
are to suppose my heart was beating for I had now crossed my Rubicon and was
come fairly on the field of battle
»I am pleased to make your acquaintance Mr Balfour« he said when he had
done »Let me offer you a glass of claret«
»Under your favour my lord I think it would scarce be fair on me« said I
»I have come here as the letter will have mentioned on a business of some
gravity to myself and as I am little used with wine I might be the sooner
affected«
»You shall be the judge« said he »But if you will permit I believe I will
even have the bottle in myself«
He touched a bell and a footman came as at a signal bringing wine and
glasses
»You are sure you will not join me« asked the Advocate »Well here is to
our better acquaintance In what way can I serve you«
»I should perhaps begin by telling you my lord that I am here at your own
pressing invitation« said I
»You have the advantage of me somewhere« said he »for I profess I think I
never heard of you before this evening«
»Right my lord the name is indeed new to you« said I »And yet you have
been for some time extremely wishful to make my acquaintance and have declared
the same in public«
»I wish you would afford me a clue« says he »I am no Daniel«
»It will perhaps serve for such« said I »that if I was in a jesting humour
which is far from the case I believe I might lay a claim on your lordship
for two hundred pounds«
»In what sense« he inquired
»In the sense of rewards offered for my person« said I
He thrust away his glass once and for all and sat straight up in the chair
where he had been previously lolling »What am I to understand« said he
»A tall strong lad of about eighteen« I quoted »speaks like a Lowlander
and has no beard«
»I recognise those words« said he »which if you have come here with any
illjudged intention of amusing yourself are like to prove extremely
prejudicial to your safety«
»My purpose in this« I replied »is just entirely as serious as life and
death and you have understood me perfectly I am the boy who was speaking with
Glenure when he was shot«
»I can only suppose seeing you here that you claim to be innocent« said
he
»The inference is clear« said I »I am a very loyal subject to King George
but if I had anything to reproach myself with I would have had more discretion
than to walk into your den«
»I am glad of that« said he »This horrid crime Mr Balfour is of a dye
which cannot permit any clemency Blood has been barbarously shed It has been
shed in direct opposition to his Majesty and our whole frame of laws by those
who are their known and public oppugnants I take a very high sense of this I
will not deny that I consider the crime as directly personal to his Majesty«
»And unfortunately my lord« I added a little drily »directly personal to
another great personage who may be nameless«
»If you mean anything by those words I must tell you I consider them unfit
for a good subject and were they spoke publicly I should make it my business to
take note of them« said he »You do not appear to me to recognise the gravity
of your situation or you would be more careful not to pejorate the same by
words which glance upon the purity of justice Justice in this country and in
my poor hands is no respecter of persons«
»You give me too great a share in my own speech my lord« said I »I did
but repeat the common talk of the country which I have heard everywhere and
from men of all opinions as I came along«
»When you are come to more discretion you will understand such talk is not
to be listened to how much less repeated« says the Advocate »But I acquit you
of an ill intention That nobleman whom we all honour and who has indeed been
wounded in a near place by the late barbarity sits too high to be reached by
these aspersions The Duke of Argyle you see that I deal plainly with you
takes it to heart as I do and as we are both bound to do by our judicial
functions and the service of his Majesty and I could wish that all hands in
this ill age were equally clean of family rancour But from the accident that
this is a Campbell who has fallen martyr to his duty as who else but the
Campbells have ever put themselves foremost on that path I may say it who am
no Campbell and that the chief of that great house happens for all our
advantages to be the present head of the College of Justice small minds and
disaffected tongues are set agog in every changehouse in the country and I
find a young gentleman like Mr Balfour so illadvised as to make himself their
echo« So much he spoke with a very oratorical delivery as if in Court and
then declined again upon the manner of a gentleman »All this apart« said he
»It now remains that I should learn what I am to do with you«
»I had thought it was rather I that should learn the same from your
lordship« said I
»Ay true« says the Advocate »But you see you come to me well
recommended There is a good honest Whig name to this letter« says he picking
it up a moment from the table »And extrajudicially Mr Balfour there is
always the possibility of some arrangement I tell you and I tell you
beforehand that you may be the more upon your guard your fate lies with me
singly In such a matter be it said with reverence I am more powerful than the
Kings Majesty and should you please me and of course satisfy my conscience
in what remains to be held of our interview I tell you it may remain between
ourselves«
»Meaning how« I asked
»Why I mean it thus Mr Balfour« said he »that if you give satisfaction
no soul need know so much as that you visited my house and you may observe that
I do not even call my clerk«
I saw what way he was driving »I suppose it is needless any one should be
informed upon my visit« said I »though the precise nature of my gains by that
I cannot see I am not at all ashamed of coming here«
»And have no cause to be« says he encouragingly »Nor yet if you are
careful to fear the consequences«
»My lord« said I »speaking under your correction I am not very easy to be
frightened«
»And I am sure I do not seek to frighten you« says he »But to the
interrogation and let me warn you to volunteer nothing beyond the questions I
shall ask you It may consist very immediately with your safety I have a great
discretion it is true but there are bounds to it«
»I shall try to follow your lordships advice« said I
He spread a sheet of paper on the table and wrote a heading »It appears you
were present by the way in the wood of Lettermore at the moment of the fatal
shot« he began »Was this by accident«
»By accident« said I
»How came you in speech with Colin Campbell« he asked
»I was inquiring my way of him to Aucharn« I replied
I observed he did not write this answer down
»Hm true« said he »I had forgotten that And do you know Mr Balfour I
would dwell if I were you as little as might be on your relations with these
Stewarts It might be found to complicate our business I am not yet inclined to
regard these matters as essential«
»I had thought my lord that all points of fact were equally material in
such a case« said I
»You forget we are now trying these Stewarts« he replied with great
significance »If we should ever come to be trying you it will be very
different and I shall press these very questions that I am now willing to glide
upon But to resume I have it here in Mr Mungo Campbells precognition that
you ran immediately up the brae How came that«
»Not immediately my lord and the cause was my seeing of the murderer«
»You saw him then«
»As plain as I see your lordship though not so near hand«
»You know him«
»I should know him again«
»In your pursuit you were not so fortunate then as to overtake him«
»I was not«
»Was he alone«
»He was alone«
»There was no one else in that neighbourhood«
»Alan Breck Stewart was not far off in a piece of a wood«
The Advocate laid his pen down »I think we are playing at crosspurposes«
said he »which you will find to prove a very ill amusement for yourself«
»I content myself with following your lordships advice and answering what
I am asked« said I
»Be so wise as to bethink yourself in time« said he »I use you with the
most anxious tenderness which you scarce seem to appreciate and which unless
you be more careful may prove to be in vain«
»I do appreciate your tenderness but conceive it to be mistaken« I
replied with something of a falter for I saw we were come to grips at last »I
am here to lay before you certain information by which I shall convince you
Alan had no hand whatever in the killing of Glenure«
The Advocate appeared for a moment at a stick sitting with pursed lips and
blinking his eyes upon me like an angry cat »Mr Balfour« he said at last »I
tell you pointedly you go an ill way for your own interests«
»My lord« I said »I am as free of the charge of considering my own
interests in this matter as your lordship As God judges me I have but the one
design and that is to see justice executed and the innocent go clear If in
pursuit of that I come to fall under your lordships displeasure I must bear it
as I may«
At this he rose from his chair lit a second candle and for a while gazed
upon me steadily I was surprised to see a great change of gravity fallen upon
his face and I could have almost thought he was a little pale
»You are either very simple or extremely the reverse and I see that I must
deal with you more confidentially« says he »This is a political case ah
yes Mr Balfour whether we like it or no the case is political and I
tremble when I think what issues may depend from it To a political case I need
scarce tell a young man of your education we approach with very different
thoughts from one which is criminal only Salus populi suprema lex is a maxim
susceptible of great abuse but it has that force which we find elsewhere only
in the laws of nature: I mean it has the force of necessity I will open this
out to you if you will allow me at more length You would have me believe «
»Under your pardon my lord I would have you to believe nothing but that
which I can prove« said I
»Tut tut young gentleman« says he »be not so pragmatical and suffer a
man who might be your father if it was nothing more to employ his own
imperfect language and express his own poor thoughts even when they have the
misfortune not to coincide with Mr Balfours You would have me to believe
Breck innocent I would think this of little account the more so as we cannot
catch our man But the matter of Brecks innocence shoots beyond itself Once
admitted it would destroy the whole presumptions of our case against another
and a very different criminal a man grown old in treason already twice in arms
against his king and already twice forgiven a fomenter of discontent and
whoever may have fired the shot the unmistakable original of the deed in
question I need not tell you that I mean James Stewart«
»And I can just say plainly that the innocence of Alan and of James is what
I am here to declare in private to your lordship and what I am prepared to
establish at the trial by my testimony« said I
»To which I can only answer by an equal plainness Mr Balfour« said he
»that in that case your testimony will not be called by me and I desire you
to withhold it altogether«
»You are at the head of Justice in this country« I cried »and you propose
to me a crime«
»I am a man nursing with both hands the interests of this country« he
replied »and I press on you a political necessity Patriotism is not always
moral in the formal sense You might be glad of it I think it is your own
protection the facts are heavy against you and if I am still trying to except
you from a very dangerous place it is in part of course because I am not
insensible to your honesty in coming here in part because of Pilrigs letter
but in part and in chief part because I regard in this matter my political
duty first and my judicial duty only second For the same reason I repeat it
to you in the same frank words I do not want your testimony«
»I desire not to be thought to make a repartee when I express only the
plain sense of our position« said I »But if your lordship has no need of my
testimony I believe the other side would be extremely blithe to get it«
Prestongrange arose and began to pace to and fro in the room »You are not
so young« he said »but what you must remember very clearly the year
Fortyfive and the shock that went about the country I read in Pilrigs letter
that you are sound in Kirk and State Who saved them in that fatal year I do
not refer to his Royal Highness and his ramrods which were extremely useful in
their day but the country had been saved and the field won before ever
Cumberland came upon Drummossie Who saved it I repeat who saved the
Protestant religion and the old frame of our civil institutions The late Lord
President Culloden for one he played a mans part and small thanks he got for
it even as I whom you see before you straining every nerve in the same
service look for no reward beyond the conscience of my duties done After the
President who else You know the answer as well as I do tis partly a scandal
and you glanced at it yourself and I reproved you for it when you first came
in It was the Duke and the great clan of Campbell Now here is a Campbell
foully murdered and that in the Kings service The Duke and I are Highlanders
But we are Highlanders civilised and it is not so with the great mass of our
clans and families They have still savage virtues and defects They are still
barbarians like these Stewarts only the Campbells were barbarians on the right
side and the Stewarts were barbarians on the wrong Now be you the judge The
Campbells expect vengeance If they do not get it if this man James escape
there will be trouble with the Campbells That means disturbance in the
Highlands which are uneasy and very far from being disarmed the disarming is a
farce«
»I can bear you out in that« said I
»Disturbance in the Highlands makes the hour of our old watchful enemy«
pursued his lordship holding out a finger as he paced »and I give you my word
we may have a Fortyfive again with the Campbells on the other side To protect
the life of this man Stewart which is forfeit already on half a dozen
different counts if not on this do you propose to plunge your country in war
to jeopardise the faith of your fathers and to expose the lives and fortunes of
how many thousand innocent persons These are considerations that weigh with
me and that I hope will weigh no less with yourself Mr Balfour as a lover of
your country good government and religious truth«
»You deal with me very frankly and I thank you for it« said I »I will try
on my side to be no less honest I believe your policy to be sound I believe
these deep duties may lie upon your lordship I believe you may have laid them
on your conscience when you took the oaths of the high office which you hold
But for me who am just a plain man or scarce a man yet the plain duties
must suffice I can think but of two things of a poor soul in the immediate and
unjust danger of a shameful death and of the cries and tears of his wife that
still tingle in my head I cannot see beyond my lord Its the way that I am
made If the country has to fall it has to fall And I pray God if this be
wilful blindness that He may enlighten me before too late«
He had heard me motionless and stood so a while longer
»This is an unexpected obstacle« says he aloud but to himself
»And how is your lordship to dispose of me« I asked
»If I wished« said he »you know that you might sleep in gaol«
»My lord« said I »I have slept in worse places«
»Well my boy« said he »there is one thing appears very plainly from our
interview that I may rely on your pledged word Give me your honour that you
will be wholly secret not only on what has passed tonight but in the matter
of the Appin case and I let you go free«
»I will give it till tomorrow or any other near day that you may please to
set« said I »I would not be thought too wily but if I gave the promise
without qualification your lordship would have attained his end«
»I had no thought to entrap you« said he
»I am sure of that« said I
»Let me see« he continued »Tomorrow is the Sabbath Come to me on Monday
by eight in the morning and give me your promise until then«
»Freely given my lord« said I »And with regard to what has fallen from
yourself I will give it for as long as it shall please God to spare your days«
»You will observe« he said next »that I have made no employment of
menaces«
»It was like your lordships nobility« said I »Yet I am not altogether so
dull but what I can perceive the nature of those you have not uttered«
»Well« said he »goodnight to you May you sleep well for I think it is
more than I am like to do«
With that he sighed took up a candle and gave me his conveyance as far as
the streetdoor
Chapter V
In the Advocates House
The next day Sabbath August 27th I had the occasion I had long looked forward
to to hear some of the famous Edinburgh preachers all well known to me already
by the report of Mr Campbell Alas and I might just as well have been at
Essendean and sitting under Mr Campbells worthy self the turmoil of my
thoughts which dwelt continually on the interview with Prestongrange
inhibiting me from all attention I was indeed much less impressed by the
reasoning of the divines than by the spectacle of the thronged congregation in
the churches like what I imagined of a theatre or in my then disposition of
an assize of trial above all at the West Kirk with its three tiers of
galleries where I went in the vain hope that I might see Miss Drummond
On the Monday I betook me for the first time to a barbers and was very
well pleased with the result Thence to the Advocates where the red coats of
the soldiers showed again about his door making a bright place in the close I
looked about for the young lady and her gillies there was never a sign of them
But I was no sooner shown into the cabinet or antechamber where I had spent so
weariful a time upon the Saturday than I was aware of the tall figure of James
More in a corner He seemed a prey to a painful uneasiness reaching forth his
feet and hands and his eyes speeding here and there without rest about the
walls of the small chamber which recalled to me with a sense of pity the mans
wretched situation I suppose it was partly this and partly my strong
continuing interest in his daughter that moved me to accost him
»Give you a goodmorning sir« said I
»And a goodmorning to you sir« said he
»You bide tryst with Prestongrange« I asked
»I do sir and I pray your business with that gentleman be more agreeable
than mine« was his reply
»I hope at least that yours will be brief for I suppose you pass before
me« said I
»All pass before me« he said with a shrug and a gesture upward of the open
hands »It was not always so sir but times change It was not so when the
sword was in the scale young gentleman and the virtues of the soldier might
sustain themselves«
There came a kind of Highland snuffle out of the man that raised my dander
strangely
»Well Mr Macgregor« said I »I understand the main thing for a soldier is
to be silent and the first of his virtues never to complain«
»You have my name I perceive« he bowed to me with his arms crossed
»though its one I must not use myself Well there is a publicity I have
shown my face and told my name too often in the beards of my enemies I must not
wonder if both should be known to many that I know not«
»That you know not in the least sir« said I »nor yet anybody else but
the name I am called if you care to hear it is Balfour«
»It is a good name« he replied civilly »there are many decent folk that
use it And now that I call to mind there was a young gentleman your namesake
that marched surgeon in the year Fortyfive with my battalion«
»I believe that would be a brother to Balfour of Baith« said I for I was
ready for the surgeon now
»The same sir« said James More »And since I have been fellowsoldier with
your kinsman you must suffer me to grasp your hand«
He shook hands with me long and tenderly beaming on me the while as though
he had found a brother
»Ah« says he »these are changed days since your cousin and I heard the
balls whistle in our lugs«
»I think he was a very faraway cousin« said I drily »and I ought to tell
you that I never clapped eyes upon the man«
»Well well« said he »it makes no change And you I do not think you
were out yourself sir I have no clear mind of your face which is one not
probable to be forgotten«
»In the year you refer to Mr Macgregor I was getting skelped in the
parish school« said I
»So young« cries he »Ah then you will never be able to think what this
meeting is to me In the hour of my adversity and here in the house of my
enemy to meet in with the blood of an old brotherinarms it heartens me Mr
Balfour like the skirling of the Highland pipes Sir this is a sad lookback
that many of us have to make some with falling tears I have lived in my own
country like a king my sword my mountains and the faith of my friends and
kinsmen sufficed for me Now I lie in a stinking dungeon and do you know Mr
Balfour« he went on taking my arm and beginning to lead me about »do you
know sir that I lack mere necessaries The malice of my foes has quite
sequestered my resources I lie as you know sir on a trumpedup charge of
which I am as innocent as yourself They dare not bring me to my trial and in
the meanwhile I am held naked in my prison I could have wished it was your
cousin I had met or his brother Baith himself Either would I know have been
rejoiced to help me while a comparative stranger like yourself «
I would be ashamed to set down all he poured out to me in this beggarly
vein or the very short and grudging answers that I made to him There were
times when I was tempted to stop his mouth with some small change but whether
it was from shame or pride whether it was for my own sake or Catrionas
whether it was because I thought him no fit father for his daughter or because
I resented that grossness of immediate falsity that clung about the man himself
the thing was clean beyond me And I was still being wheedled and preached to
and still being marched to and fro three steps and a turn in that small
chamber and had already by some very short replies highly incensed although
not finally discouraged my beggar when Prestongrange appeared in the doorway
and bade me eagerly into his big chamber
»I have a moments engagement« said he »and that you may not sit
emptyhanded I am going to present you to my three braw daughters of whom
perhaps you may have heard for I think they are more famous than papa This
way«
He led me into another long room above where a dry old lady sat at a frame
of embroidery and the three handsomest young women I suppose in Scotland
stood together by a window
»This is my new friend Mr Balfour« said he presenting me by the arm
»David here is my sister Miss Grant who is so good as keep my house for me
and will be very pleased if she can help you And here« says he turning to the
three younger ladies »here are my three braw dauchters A fair question to ye
Mr Davie which of the three is the best favoured And I wager he will never
have the impudence to propound honest Allan Ramsays answer«
Hereupon all three and the old Miss Grant as well cried out against this
sally which as I was acquainted with the verses he referred to brought shame
into my own cheek It seemed to me a citation unpardonable in a father and I
was amazed that these ladies could laugh even while they reproved or made
believe to
Under cover of this mirth Prestongrange got forth of the chamber and I was
left like a fish upon dry land in that very unsuitable society I could never
deny in looking back upon what followed that I was eminently stockish and I
must say the ladies were well drilled to have so long a patience with me The
aunt indeed sat close at her embroidery only looking now and again and smiling
but the misses and especially the eldest who was besides the most handsome
paid me a score of attentions which I was very ill able to repay It was all in
vain to tell myself I was a young fellow of some worth as well as a good estate
and had no call to feel abashed before these lasses the eldest not so much
older than myself and no one of them by any probability half as learned
Reasoning would not change the fact and there were times when the colour came
into my face to think I was shaved that day for the first time
The talk going with all their endeavours very heavily the eldest took
pity on my awkwardness sat down to her instrument of which she was a past
mistress and entertained me for a while with playing and singing both in the
Scots and in the Italian manners this put me more at my ease and being
reminded of Alans air that he had taught me in the hole near Carriden I made
so bold as to whistle a bar or two and ask if she knew that
She shook her head »I never heard a note of it« said she »Whistle it all
through And now once again« she added after I had done so
Then she picked it out upon the keyboard and to my surprise instantly
enriched the same with wellsounding chords and sang as she played with a
very droll expression and broad accent
»Haena I got just the lilt of it
Isna this the tune that ye whustled
You see« she says »I can do the poetry too only it wont rhyme And then
again
I am Miss Grant sib to the Advocate
You I believe are Dauvit Balfour«
I told her how much astonished I was by her genius
»And what do you call the name of it« she asked
»I do not know the real name« said I »I just call it Alans air«
She looked at me directly in the face »I shall call it Davids air« said
she »though if its the least like what your namesake of Israel played to Saul
I would never wonder that the king got little good by it for its but
melancholy music Your other name I do not like so if you was ever wishing to
hear your tune again you are to ask for it by mine«
This was said with a significance that gave my heart a jog »Why that Miss
Grant« I asked
»Why« says she »if ever you should come to get hanged I will set your
last dying speech and confession to that tune and sing it«
This put it beyond a doubt that she was partly informed of my story and
peril How or just how much it was more difficult to guess It was plain she
knew there was something of danger in the name of Alan and thus warned me to
leave it out of reference and plain she knew that I stood under some criminal
suspicion I judged besides that the harshness of her last speech which besides
she had followed up immediately with a very noisy piece of music was to put an
end to the present conversation I stood beside her affecting to listen and
admire but truly whirled away by my own thoughts I have always found this
young lady to be a lover of the mysterious and certainly this first interview
made a mystery that was beyond my plummet One thing I learned long after the
hours of Sunday had been well employed the bankporter had been found and
examined my visit to Charles Stewart was discovered and the deduction made
that I was pretty deep with James and Alan and most likely in a continued
correspondence with the last Hence this broad hint that was given me across the
harpsichord
In the midst of the piece of music one of the younger misses who was at a
window over the close cried on her sisters to come quick for there was Grey
eyes again The whole family trooped there at once and crowded one another for
a look The window whither they ran was in an odd corner of that room gave
above the entrancedoor and flanked up the close
»Come Mr Balfour« they cried »come and see She is the most beautiful
creature She hangs round the closehead these last days always with some
wretchedlike gillies and yet seems quite a lady«
I had no need to look neither did I look twice or long I was afraid she
might have seen me there looking down upon her from that chamber of music and
she without and her father in the same house perhaps begging for his life with
tears and myself come but newly from rejecting his petitions But even that
glance set me in a better conceit of myself and much less awe of the young
ladies They were beautiful that was beyond question but Catriona was
beautiful too and had a kind of brightness in her like a coal of fire As much
as the others cast me down she lifted me up I remembered I had talked easily
with her If I could make no hand of it with these fine maids it was perhaps
something their own fault My embarrassment began to be a little mingled and
lightened with a sense of fun and when the aunt smiled at me from her
embroidery and the three daughters unbent to me like a baby all with papas
orders written on their faces there were times when I could have found it in my
heart to smile myself
Presently papa returned the same kind happylike pleasantspoken man
»Now girls« said he »I must take Mr Balfour away again but I hope you
have been able to persuade him to return where I shall be always gratified to
find him«
So they each made me a little farthing compliment and I was led away
If this visit to the family had been meant to soften my resistance it was
the worst of failures I was no such ass but what I understood how poor a figure
I had made and that the girls would be yawning their jaws off as soon as my
stiff back was turned I felt I had shown how little I had in me of what was
soft and graceful and I longed for a chance to prove that I had something of
the other stuff the stern and dangerous
Well I was to be served to my desire for the scene to which he was
conducting me was of a different character
Chapter VI
Umquhile the Master of Lovat
There was a man waiting us in Prestongranges study whom I distasted at the
first look as we distaste a ferret or an earwig He was bitter ugly but seemed
very much of a gentleman had still manners but capable of sudden leaps and
violences and a small voice which could ring out shrill and dangerous when he
so desired
The Advocate presented us in a familiar friendly way
»Here Fraser« said he »here is Mr Balfour whom we talked about Mr
David this is Mr Simon Fraser whom we used to call by another title but that
is an old song Mr Fraser has an errand to you«
With that he stepped aside to his bookshelves and made believe to consult
a quarto volume in the far end
I was thus left in a sense alone with perhaps the last person in the world
I had expected There was no doubt upon the terms of introduction this could be
no other than the forfeited Master of Lovat and chief of the great clan Fraser
I knew he had led his men in the Rebellion I knew his fathers head my old
lords that grey fox of the mountains to have fallen on the block for that
offence the lands of the family to have been seized and their nobility
attainted I could not conceive what he should be doing in Grants house I
could not conceive that he had been called to the Bar had eaten all his
principles and was now currying favour with the Government even to the extent
of acting AdvocateDepute in the Appin murder
»Well Mr Balfour« said he »what is all this I hear of ye«
»It would not become me to prejudge« said I »but if the Advocate was your
authority he is fully possessed of my opinions«
»I may tell you I am engaged in the Appin case« he went on »I am to appear
under Prestongrange and from my study of the precognitions I can assure you
your opinions are erroneous The guilt of Breck is manifest and your testimony
in which you admit you saw him on the hill at the very moment will certify his
hanging«
»It will be rather ill to hang him till you catch him« I observed »And for
other matters I very willingly leave you to your own impressions«
»The Duke has been informed« he went on »I have just come from his Grace
and he expressed himself before me with an honest freedom like the great
nobleman he is He spoke of you by name Mr Balfour and declared his gratitude
beforehand in case you would be led by those who understand your own interests
and those of the country so much better than yourself Gratitude is no empty
expression in that mouth experto crede I daresay you know something of my name
and clan and the damnable example and lamented end of my late father to say
nothing of my own errata Well I have made my peace with that good Duke he has
intervened for me with our friend Prestongrange and here I am with my foot in
the stirrup again and some of the responsibility shared into my hand of
prosecuting King Georges enemies and avenging the late daring and barefaced
insult to his Majesty«
»Doubtless a proud position for your fathers son« says I
He wagged his bald eyebrows at me »You are pleased to make experiments in
the ironical I think« said he »But I am here upon duty I am here to
discharge my errand in good faith it is in vain you think to divert me And let
me tell you for a young fellow of spirit and ambition like yourself a good
shove in the beginning will do more than ten years drudgery The shove is now
at your command choose what you will to be advanced in the Duke will watch
upon you with the affectionate disposition of a father«
»I am thinking that I lack the docility of the son« says I
»And do you really suppose sir that the whole policy of this country is to
be suffered to trip up and tumble down for an illmannered colt of a boy« he
cried »This has been made a test case all who would prosper in the future must
put a shoulder to the wheel Look at me Do you suppose it is for my pleasure
that I put myself in the highly invidious position of prosecuting a man that I
have drawn the sword alongside of The choice is not left me«
»But I think sir that you forfeited your choice when you mixed in with
that unnatural rebellion« I remarked »My case is happily otherwise I am a
true man and can look either the Duke or King George in the face without
concern«
»Is it so the wind sits« says he »I protest you are fallen in the worst
sort of error Prestongrange has been hitherto so civil he tells me as not to
combat your allegations but you must not think they are not looked upon with
strong suspicion You say you are innocent My dear sir the facts declare you
guilty«
»I was waiting for you there« said I
»The evidence of Mungo Campbell your flight after the completion of the
murder your long course of secrecy my good young man« said Mr Simon »here
is enough evidence to hang a bullock let be a David Balfour I shall be upon
that trial my voice shall be raised I shall then speak much otherwise from
what I do today and far less to your gratification little as you like it now
Ah you look white« cries he »I have found the key of your impudent heart You
look pale your eyes waver Mr David You see the grave and the gallows nearer
by than you had fancied«
»I own to a natural weakness« said I »I think no shame for that Shame
« I was going on
»Shame waits for you on the gibbet« he broke in
»Where I shall but be evend with my lord your father« said I
»Aha but not so« he cried »and you do not yet see to the bottom of this
business My father suffered in a great cause and for dealing in the affairs of
kings You are to hang for a dirty murder about boddlepieces Your personal
part in it the treacherous one of holding the poor wretch in talk your
accomplices a pack of ragged Highland gillies And it can be shown my great Mr
Balfour it can be shown and it will be shown trust me that has a finger in
the pie it can be shown and shall be shown that you were paid to do it I
think I can see the looks go round the Court when I adduce my evidence and it
shall appear that you a young man of education let yourself be corrupted to
this shocking act for a suit of cast clothes a bottle of Highland spirits and
threeandfivepencehalfpenny in copper money«
There was a touch of the truth in these words that knocked me like a blow
clothes a bottle of usquebaugh and threeandfivepencehalfpenny in change
made up indeed the most of what Alan and I had carried from Aucharn and I saw
that some of Jamess people had been blabbing in their dungeons
»You see I know more than you fancied« he resumed in triumph »And as for
giving it this turn great Mr David you must not suppose the Government of
Great Britain and Ireland will ever be stuck for want of evidence We have men
here in prison who will swear out their lives as we direct them as I direct if
you prefer the phrase So now you are to guess your part of glory if you choose
to die On the one hand life wine women and a duke to be your handgun on
the other a rope to your craig and a gibbet to clatter your bones on and the
lousiest lowest story to hand down to your namesakes in the future that was
ever told about a hired assassin And see here« he cried with a formidable
shrill voice »see this paper that I pull out of my pocket Look at the name
there it is the name of the great David I believe the ink scarce dry yet Can
you guess its nature It is the warrant for your arrest which I have but to
touch this bell beside me to have executed on the spot Once in the Tolbooth
upon this paper may God help you for the die is cast«
I must never deny that I was greatly horrified by so much baseness and much
unmanned by the immediacy and ugliness of my danger Mr Simon had already
gloried in the changes of my hue I make no doubt I was now no ruddier than my
shirt my speech besides trembled
»There is a gentleman in this room« cried I »I appeal to him I put my
life and credit in his hands«
Prestongrange shut his book with a snap »I told you so Simon« said he
»you have played your hand for all it was worth and you have lost Mr
David« he went on »I wish you to believe it was by no choice of mine you were
subjected to this proof I wish you could understand how glad I am you should
come forth from it with so much credit You may not quite see how but it is a
little of a service to myself For had our friend here been more successful than
I was last night it might have appeared that he was a better judge of men than
I it might have appeared we were altogether in the wrong situations Mr Simon
and myself And I know our friend Simon to be ambitious« says he striking
lightly on Frasers shoulder »As for this stageplay it is over my sentiments
are very much engaged in your behalf and whatever issue we can find to this
unfortunate affair I shall make it my business to see it is adopted with
tenderness to you«
These were very good words and I could see besides that there was little
love and perhaps a spice of genuine illwill between those two who were
opposed to me For all that it was unmistakable this interview had been
designed perhaps rehearsed with the consent of both it was plain my
adversaries were in earnest to try me by all methods and now persuasion
flattery and menaces having been tried in vain I could not but wonder what
would be their next expedient My eyes besides were still troubled and my knees
loose under me with the distress of the late ordeal and I could do no more
than stammer the same form of words »I put my life and credit in your hands«
»Well well« says he »we must try to save them And in the meanwhile let
us return to gentler methods You must not bear any grudge upon my friend Mr
Simon who did but speak by his brief And even if you did conceive some malice
against myself who stood by and seemed rather to hold a candle I must not let
that extend to innocent members of my family These are greatly engaged to see
more of you and I cannot consent to have my young womenfolk disappointed
Tomorrow they will be going to Hope Park where I think it very proper you
should make your bow Call for me first when I may possibly have something for
your private hearing then you shall be turned abroad again under the conduct of
my misses and until that time repeat to me your promise of secrecy«
I had done better to have instantly refused but in truth I was beside the
power of reasoning did as I was bid took my leave I know not how and when I
was forth again in the close and the door had shut behind me was glad to lean
on a housewall and wipe my face That horrid apparition as I may call it of
Mr Simon rang in my memory as a sudden noise rings after it is over in the
ear Tales of the mans father of his falseness of his manifold perpetual
treacheries rose before me from all that I had heard and read and joined on
with what I had just experienced of himself Each time it occurred to me the
ingenious foulness of that calumny he had proposed to nail upon my character
startled me afresh The case of the man upon the gibbet by Leith Walk appeared
scarce distinguishable from that I was now to consider as my own To rob a child
of so little more than nothing was certainly a paltry enterprise for two grown
men but my own tale as it was to be represented in a court by Simon Fraser
appeared a fair second in every possible point of view of sordidness and
cowardice
The voices of two of Prestongranges liveried men upon his doorstep recalled
me to myself
»Hae« said the one »this billet as fast as ye can link to the captain«
»Is that for the cateran back again« asked the other
»It would seem sae« returned the first »Him and Simon are seeking him«
»I think Prestongrange is gane gyte« says the second »Hell have James
More in bed with him next«
»Weel its neither your affair nor mines« says the first
And they parted the one upon his errand and the other back into the house
This looked as ill as possible I was scarce gone and they were sending
already for James More to whom I thought Mr Simon must have pointed when he
spoke of men in prison and ready to redeem their lives by all extremities My
scalp curdled among my hair and the next moment the blood leaped in me to
remember Catriona Poor lass her father stood to be hanged for pretty
indefensible misconduct What was yet more unpalatable it now seemed he was
prepared to save his four quarters by the worst of shame and the most foul of
cowardly murders murder by the false oath and to complete our misfortunes
it seemed myself was picked out to be the victim
I began to walk swiftly and at random conscious only of a desire for
movement air and the open country
Chapter VII
I Make a Fault in Honour
I came forth I vow I know not how on the Lang Dykes12 This is a rural road
which runs on the north side overagainst the city Thence I could see the whole
black length of it tail down from where the castle stands upon its crags above
the loch in a long line of spires and gableends and smoking chimneys and at
the sight my heart swelled in my bosom My youth as I have told was already
inured to dangers but such danger as I had seen the face of but that morning
in the midst of what they call the safety of a town shook me beyond experience
Peril of slavery peril of shipwreck peril of sword and shot I had stood all
of these without discredit but the peril there was in the sharp voice and the
fat face of Simon properly Lord Lovat daunted me wholly
I sat by the lakeside in a place where the rushes went down into the water
and there steeped my wrists and laved my temples If I could have done so with
any remains of selfesteem I would now have fled from my foolhardy enterprise
But call it courage or cowardice and I believe it was both the one and the
other I decided I was ventured out beyond the possibility of a retreat I had
outfaced these men I would continue to outface them come what might I would
stand by the word spoken
The sense of my own constancy somewhat uplifted my spirits but not much At
the best of it there was an icy place about my heart and life seemed a black
business to be at all engaged in For two souls in particular my pity flowed
The one was myself to be so friendless and lost among dangers The other was
the girl the daughter of James More I had seen but little of her yet my view
was taken and my judgment made I thought her a lass of a clean honour like a
mans I thought her one to die of a disgrace and now I believed her father to
be at that moment bargaining his vile life for mine It made a bond in my
thoughts betwixt the girl and me I had seen her before only as a wayside
appearance though one that pleased me strangely I saw her now in a sudden
nearness of relation as the daughter of my bloodfoe and I might say my
murderer I reflected it was hard I should be so plagued and persecuted all my
days for other folks affairs and have no manner of pleasure myself I got
meals and a bed to sleep in when my concerns would suffer it beyond that my
wealth was of no help to me If I was to hang my days were like to be short if
I was not to hang but to escape out of this trouble they might yet seem long
to me ere I was done with them Of a sudden her face appeared in my memory the
way I had first seen it with the parted lips at that weakness came in my
bosom and strength into my legs and I set resolutely forward on the way to
Dean If I was to hang tomorrow and it was sure enough I might very likely
sleep that night in a dungeon I determined I should hear and speak once more
with Catriona
The exercise of walking and the thought of my destination braced me yet
more so that I began to pluck up a kind of spirit In the village of Dean
where it sits in the bottom of a glen beside the river I inquired my way of a
millers man who sent me up the hill upon the farther side by a plain path and
so to a decentlike small house in a garden of lawns and appletrees My heart
beat high as I stepped inside the garden hedge but it fell low indeed when I
came face to face with a grim and fierce old lady walking there in a white
mutch with a mans hat strapped upon the top of it
»What do ye come seeking here« she asked
I told her I was after Miss Drummond
»And what may be your business with Miss Drummond« says she
I told her I had met her on Saturday last had been so fortunate as to
render her a trifling service and was come now on the young ladys invitation
»O so youre Saxpence« she cried with a very sneering manner »A braw
gift a bonny gentleman And hae ye ony ither name and designation or were ye
bapteesed Saxpence« she asked
I told my name
»Preserve me« she cried »Has Ebenezer gotten a son«
»No maam« said I »I am a son of Alexanders Its I that am the Laird of
Shaws«
»Yell find your work cut out for ye to establish that« quoth she
»I perceive you know my uncle« said I »and I daresay you may be the better
pleased to hear that business is arranged«
»And what brings ye here after Miss Drummond« she pursued
»Im come after my saxpence mem« said I »Its to be thought being my
uncles nephew I would be found a careful lad«
»So ye have a spark of sleeness in ye« observed the old lady with some
approval »I thought ye had just been a cuif you and your saxpence and your
lucky day and your sake of Balwhidder« from which I was gratified to learn
that Catriona had not forgotten some of our talk »But all this is by the
purpose« she resumed »Am I to understand that ye come here keeping company«
»This is surely rather an early question« said I »The maid is young so am
I worse fortune I have but seen her the once Ill not deny« I added making
up my mind to try her with some frankness »Ill not deny but she has run in my
head a good deal since I met in with her That is one thing but it would be
quite another and I think I would look very like a fool to commit myself«
»You can speak out of your mouth I see« said the old lady »Praise God
and so can I I was fool enough to take charge of this rogues daughter a fine
charge I have gotten but its mine and Ill carry it the way I want to Do ye
mean to tell me Mr Balfour of Shaws that you would marry James Mores
daughter and him hanged Well then where theres no possible marriage there
shall be no manner of carryingson and take that for said Lasses are bruckle
things« she added with a nod »and though ye would never think it by my
wrunkled chafts I was a lassie mysel and a bonny one«
»Lady Allardyce« said I »for that I suppose to be your name you seem to
do the two sides of the talking which is a very poor manner to come to an
agreement You give me rather a homethrust when you ask if I would marry at
the gallows foot a young lady whom I have seen but the once I have told you
already I would never be so untenty as to commit myself And yet Ill go some
way with you If I continue to like the lass as well as I have reason to expect
it will be something more than her father or the gallows either that keeps the
two of us apart As for my family I found it by the wayside like a lost bawbee
I owe less than nothing to my uncle and if ever I marry it will be to please
one person thats myself«
»I have heard this kind of talk before ye were born« said Mrs Ogilvy
»which is perhaps the reason that I think of it so little Theres much to be
considered This James More is a kinsman of mine to my shame be it spoken But
the better the family the mair men hanged or heided thats always been poor
Scotlands story And if it was just the hanging For my part I think I would
be best pleased with James upon the gallows which would be at least an end to
him Catrines a good lass enough and a goodhearted and lets herself be
deaved all day with a runt of an auld wife like me But ye see theres the
weak bit Shes daft about that long false fleeching beggar of a father of
hers and redmad about the Gregara and proscribed names and King James and a
wheen blethers And you might think ye could guide her ye would find yourself
sore mistaen Ye say yeve seen her but the once «
»Spoke with her but the once I should have said« I interrupted »I saw her
again this morning from a window at Prestongranges«
This I daresay I put in because it sounded well but I was properly paid for
my ostentation on the return
»Whats this of it« cries the old lady with a sudden pucker of her face
»I think it was at the Advocates doorcheek that ye met her first«
I told her that was so
»Hm« she said and then suddenly upon rather a scolding tone »I have
your bare word for it« she cries »as to who and what you are By your way of
it youre Balfour of the Shaws but for what I ken you may be Balfour of the
Deevils oxter Its possible ye may come here for what ye say and its equally
possible ye may come here for deil care what Im good enough Whig to sit quiet
and to have keepit all my menfolks heads upon their shoulders But Im not
just a good enough Whig to be made a fool of neither And I tell you fairly
theres too much Advocates door and Advocates window here for a man that comes
taigling after a Macgregors daughter Ye can tell that to the Advocate that
sent ye with my fond love And I kiss my loof to ye Mr Balfour« says she
suiting the action to the word »and a braw journey to ye back to where ye cam
frae«
»If you think me a spy« I broke out and speech stuck in my throat I stood
and looked murder at the old lady for a space then bowed and turned away
»Here Hoots The callants in a creel« she cried »Think ye a spy what
else would I think ye me that kens naething by ye But I see that I was wrong
and as I cannot fight Ill have to apologise A bonny figure I would be with a
broadsword Ay ay« she went on »youre none such a bad lad in your way I
think yell have some redeeming vices But O Davit Balfour yere damned
countryfeed Yell have to win over that lad yell have to soople your
backbone and think a wee pickle less of your dainty self and yell have to try
to find out that womenfolk are nae grenadiers But that can never be To your
last day youll ken no more of womenfolk than what I do of sowgelding«
I had never been used with such expressions from a ladys tongue the only
two ladies I had known Mrs Campbell and my mother being most devout and most
particular women and I suppose my amazement must have been depicted in my
countenance for Mrs Ogilvy burst forth suddenly in a fit of laughter
»Keep me« she cried struggling with her mirth »you have the finest timber
face and you to marry the daughter of a Hieland cateran Davie my dear I
think well have to make a match of it if it was just to see the weans And
now« she went on »theres no manner of service in your daidling here for the
young woman is from home and its my fear that the old woman is no suitable
companion for your fathers son Forbye that I have nobody but myself to look
after my reputation and have been long enough alone with a sedooctive youth
And come back another day for your saxpence« she cried after me as I left
My skirmish with this disconcerting lady gave my thoughts a boldness they
had otherwise wanted For two days the image of Catriona had mixed in all my
meditations she made their background so that I scarce enjoyed my own company
without a glint of her in a corner of my mind But now she came immediately
near I seemed to touch her whom I had never touched but the once I let myself
flow out to her in a happy weakness and looking all about and before and
behind saw the world like an undesirable desert where men go as soldiers on a
march following their duty with what constancy they have and Catriona alone
there to offer me some pleasure of my days I wondered at myself that I could
dwell on such considerations in that time of my peril and disgrace and when I
remembered my youth I was ashamed I had my studies to complete I had to be
called into some useful business I had yet to take my part of service in a
place where all must serve I had yet to learn and know and prove myself a
man and I had so much sense as blush that I should be already tempted with
these furtheron and holier delights and duties My education spoke home to me
sharply I was never brought up on sugarbiscuits but on the hard food of the
truth I knew that he was quite unfit to be a husband who was not prepared to be
a father also and for a boy like me to play the father was a mere derision
When I was in the midst of these thoughts and about halfway back to town
I saw a figure coming to meet me and the trouble of my heart was heightened It
seemed I had everything in the world to say to her but nothing to say first
and remembering how tonguetied I had been that morning at the Advocates I
made sure that I would find myself struck dumb But when she came up my fears
fled away not even the consciousness of what I had been privately thinking
disconcerted me the least and I found I could talk with her as easily and
rationally as I might with Alan
»O« she cried »you have been seeking your sixpence did you get it«
I told her no but now I had met with her my walk was not in vain »Though
I have seen you today already« said I and told her where and when
»I did not see you« she said »My eyes are big but there are better than
mine at seeing far Only I heard singing in the house«
»That was Miss Grant« said I »the eldest and the bonniest«
»They say they are all beautiful« said she
»They think the same of you Miss Drummond« I replied »and were all
crowding to the window to observe you«
»It is a pity about my being so blind« said she »or I might have seen them
too And you were in the house You must have been having the fine time with
the fine music and the pretty ladies«
»There is just where you are wrong« said I »for I was as uncouth as a
seafish upon the brae of a mountain The truth is that I am better fitted to go
about with rudas men than pretty ladies«
»Well I would think so too at all events« said she at which we both of
us laughed
»It is a strange thing now« said I »I am not the least afraid with you
yet I could have run from the Miss Grants And I was afraid of your cousin too«
»O I think any man will be afraid of her« she cried »My father is afraid
of her himself«
The name of her father brought me to a stop I looked at her as she walked
by my side I recalled the man and the little I knew and the much I guessed of
him and comparing the one with the other felt like a traitor to be silent
»Speaking of which« said I »I met your father no later than this morning«
»Did you« she cried with a voice of joy that seemed to mock at me »You
saw James More You will have spoken with him then«
»I did even that« said I
Then I think things went the worst way for me that was humanly possible She
gave me a look of mere gratitude »Ah thank you for that« says she
»You thank me for very little« said I and then stopped But it seemed when
I was holding back so much something at least had to come out »I spoke rather
ill to him« said I »I did not like him very much I spoke him rather ill and
he was angry«
»I think you had little to do then and less to tell it to his daughter«
she cried out »But those that do not love and cherish him I will not know«
»I will take the freedom of a word yet« said I beginning to tremble
»Perhaps neither your father nor I are in the best of good spirits at
Prestongranges I daresay we both have anxious business there for its a
dangerous house I was sorry for him too and spoke to him the first if I could
but have spoken the wiser And for one thing in my opinion you will soon find
that his affairs are mending«
»It will not be through your friendship I am thinking« said she »and he
is much made up to you for your sorrow«
»Miss Drummond« cried I »I am alone in this world «
»And I am not wondering at that« said she
»O let me speak« said I »I will speak but the once and then leave you
if you will for ever I came this day in the hopes of a kind word that I am
sore in want of I know that what I said must hurt you and I knew it then It
would have been easy to have spoken smooth easy to lie to you can you not
think how I was tempted to the same Cannot you see the truth of my heart shine
out«
»I think here is a great deal of work Mr Balfour« said she »I think we
will have met but the once and will can part like gentlefolk«
»O let me have one to believe in me« I pleaded »I canna bear it else The
whole world is clanned against me How am I to go through with my dreadful fate
If theres to be none to believe in me I cannot do it The man must just die
for I cannot do it«
She had still looked straight in front of her head in air but at my words
or the tone of my voice she came to a stop »What is this you say« she asked
»What are you talking of«
»It is my testimony which may save an innocent life« said I »and they will
not suffer me to bear it What would you do yourself You know what this is
whose father lies in danger Would you desert the poor soul They have tried all
ways with me They have sought to bribe me they offered me hills and valleys
And today that sleuthhound told me how I stood and to what a length he would
go to butcher and disgrace me I am to be brought in a party to the murder I am
to have held Glenure in talk for money and old clothes I am to be killed and
shamed If this is the way I am to fall and me scarce a man if this is the
story to be told of me in all Scotland if you are to believe it too and my
name is to be nothing but a byword Catriona how can I go through with it
The things not possible its more than a man has in his heart«
I poured my words out in a whirl one upon the other and when I stopped I
found her gazing on me with a startled face
»Glenure It is the Appin murder« she said softly but with a very deep
surprise
I had turned back to bear her company and we were now come near the head of
the brae above Dean village At this word I stepped in front of her like one
suddenly distracted
»For Gods sake« I cried »for Gods sake what is this that I have done«
and carried my fists to my temples »What made me do it Sure I am bewitched to
say these things«
»In the name of heaven what ails you now« she cried
»I gave my honour« I groaned »I gave my honour and now I have broke it O
Catriona«
»I am asking you what it is« she said »was it these things you should not
have spoken And do you think I have no honour then or that I am one that
would betray a friend I hold up my right hand to you and swear«
»O I knew you would be true« said I »Its me its here I that stood
but this morning and outfaced them that risked rather to die disgraced upon the
gallows than do wrong and a few hours after I throw my honour away by the
roadside in common talk There is one thing clear upon our interview says he
that I can rely on your pledged word Where is my word now Who could believe me
now You could not believe me I am clean fallen down I had best die« All this
I said with a weeping voice but I had no tears in my body
»My heart is sore for you« said she »but be sure you are too nice I would
not believe you do you say I would trust you with anything And these men I
would not be thinking of them Men who go about to entrap and to destroy you
Fy this is no time to crouch Look up Do you not think I will be admiring you
like a great hero of the good and you a boy not much older than myself And
because you said a word too much in a friends ear that would die ere she
betrayed you to make such a matter It is one thing that we must both forget«
»Catriona« said I looking at her hangdog »is this true of it Would ye
trust me yet«
»Will you not believe the tears upon my face« she cried »It is the world I
am thinking of you Mr David Balfour Let them hang you I will never forget I
will grow old and still remember you I think it is great to die so I will envy
you that gallows«
»And maybe all this while I am but a child frighted with bogles« said I
»Maybe they but make a mock of me«
»It is what I must know« she said »I must hear the whole The harm is
done at all events and I must hear the whole«
I had sat down on the wayside where she took a place beside me and I told
her all that matter much as I have written it my thoughts about her fathers
dealing being alone omitted
»Well« she said when I had finished »you are a hero surely and I never
would have thought that same And I think you are in peril too O Simon
Fraser to think upon that man For his life and the dirty money to be dealing
in such traffic« And just then she called out aloud with a queer word that was
common with her and belongs I believe to her own language »My torture« says
she »look at the sun«
Indeed it was already dipping towards the mountains
She bid me come again soon gave me her hand and left me in a turmoil of
glad spirits I delayed to go home to my lodging for I had a terror of
immediate arrest but got some supper at a changehouse and the better part of
that night walked by myself in the barleyfields and had such a sense of
Catrionas presence that I seemed to bear her in my arms
Chapter VIII
The Bravo
The next day August 29th I kept my appointment at the Advocates in a coat
that I had made to my own measure and was but newly ready
»Aha« says Prestongrange »you are very fine today my misses are to have
a fine cavalier Come I take that kind of you I take that kind of you Mr
David O we shall do very well yet and I believe your troubles are nearly at
an end«
»You have news for me« cried I
»Beyond anticipation« he replied »Your testimony is after all to be
received and you may go if you will in my company to the trial which is to
be held at Inverary Thursday 21st proximo«
I was too much amazed to find words
»In the meanwhile« he continued »though I will not ask you to renew your
pledge I must caution you strictly to be reticent Tomorrow your precognition
must be taken and outside of that do you know I think least said will be
soonest mended«
»I shall try to go discreetly« said I »I believe it is yourself that I
must thank for this crowning mercy and I do thank you gratefully After
yesterday my lord this is like the doors of heaven I cannot find it in my
heart to get the thing believed«
»Ah but you must try and manage you must try and manage to believe it«
says he soothinglike »and I am very glad to hear your acknowledgment of
obligation for I think you may be able to repay me very shortly« he coughed
»or even now The matter is much changed Your testimony which I shall not
trouble you for today will doubtless alter the complexion of the case for all
concerned and this makes it less delicate for me to enter with you on a side
issue«
»My lord« I interrupted »excuse me for interrupting you but how has this
been brought about The obstacles you told me of on Saturday appeared even to me
to be quite insurmountable how has it been contrived«
»My dear Mr David« said he »it would never do for me to divulge even to
you as you say the councils of the Government and you must content yourself
if you please with the gross fact«
He smiled upon me like a father as he spoke playing the while with a new
pen methought it was impossible there could be any shadow of deception in the
man yet when he drew to him a sheet of paper dipped his pen among the ink and
began again to address me I was somehow not so certain and fell instinctively
into an attitude of guard
»There is a point I wish to touch upon« he began »I purposely left it
before upon one side which need be now no longer necessary This is not of
course a part of your examination which is to follow by another hand this is
a private interest of my own You say you encountered Alan Breck upon the
hill«
»I did my lord« said I
»This was immediately after the murder«
»It was«
»Did you speak to him«
»I did«
»You had known him before I think« says my lord carelessly
»I cannot guess your reason for so thinking my lord« I replied »but such
is the fact«
»And when did you part with him again« said he
»I reserve my answer« said I »The question will be put to me at the
assize«
»Mr Balfour« said he »will you not understand that all this is without
prejudice to yourself I have promised you life and honour and believe me I
can keep my word You are therefore clear of all anxiety Alan it appears you
suppose you can protect and you talk to me of your gratitude which I think if
you push me is not illdeserved There are a great many different
considerations all pointing the same way and I will never be persuaded that you
could not help us if you chose to put salt on Alans tail«
»My lord« said I »I give you my word I do not so much as guess where Alan
is«
He paused a breath »Nor how he might be found« he asked
I sat before him like a log of wood
»And so much for your gratitude Mr David« he observed Again there was a
piece of silence »Well« said he rising »I am not fortunate and we are a
couple at crosspurposes Let us speak of it no more you will receive notice
when where and by whom we are to take your precognition And in the meantime
my misses must be waiting you They will never forgive me if I detain their
cavalier«
Into the hands of these Graces I was accordingly offered up and found them
dressed beyond what I had thought possible and looking fair as a posy
As we went forth from the doors a small circumstance occurred which came
afterwards to look extremely big I heard a whistle sound loud and brief like a
signal and looking all about spied for one moment the red head of Neil of the
Tom the son of Duncan The next moment he was gone again nor could I see so
much as the skirttail of Catriona upon whom I naturally supposed him to be
then attending
My three keepers led me out by Bristo and the Bruntsfield Links whence a
path carried us to Hope Park a beautiful pleasance laid with gravelwalks
furnished with seats and summersheds and warded by a keeper The way there was
a little longsome the two younger misses affected an air of genteel weariness
that damped me cruelly the eldest considered me with something that at times
appeared like mirth and though I thought I did myself more justice than the day
before it was not without some effort Upon our reaching the park I was
launched on a bevy of eight or ten young gentlemen some of them cockaded
officers the rest chiefly advocates who crowded to attend upon these beauties
and though I was presented to all of them in very good words it seemed I was by
all immediately forgotten Young folk in a company are like to savage animals
they fall upon or scorn a stranger without civility or I may say humanity and
I am sure if I had been among baboons they would have shown me quite as much
of both Some of the advocates set up to be wits and some of the soldiers to be
rattles and I could not tell which of these extremes annoyed me most All had a
manner of handling their swords and coatskirts for the which in mere black
envy I could have kicked them from that park I daresay upon their side they
grudged me extremely the fine company in which I had arrived and altogether I
had soon fallen behind and stepped stiffly in the rear of all that merriment
with my own thoughts
From these I was recalled by one of the officers Lieutenant Hector
Duncansby a gawky leering Highland boy asking if my name was not »Palfour«
I told him it was not very kindly for his manner was scant civil
»Ha Palfour« says he and then repeating it »Palfour Palfour«
»I am afraid you do not like my name sir« says I annoyed with myself to
be annoyed with such a rustical fellow
»No« says he »but I wass thinking«
»I would not advise you to make a practice of that sir« says I »I feel
sure you would not find it to agree with you«
»Tit you effer hear where Alan Grigor fand the tangs« said he
I asked him what he could possibly mean and he answered with a heckling
laugh that he thought I must have found the poker in the same place and
swallowed it
There could be no mistake about this and my cheek burned
»Before I went about to put affronts on gentlemen« said I »I think I would
learn the English language first«
He took me by the sleeve with a nod and a wink and led me quietly outside
Hope Park But no sooner were we beyond the view of the promenaders than the
fashion of his countenance changed »You tam lowland scoonrel« cries he and
hit me a buffet on the jaw with his closed fist
I paid him as good or better on the return whereupon he stepped a little
back and took off his hat to me decorously
»Enough plows I think« says he »I will be the offended shentleman for
who effer heard of such suffeeciency as tell a shentlemans that is the Kings
officer he canna speak Cots English We have swords at our hurdies and here is
the Kings Park at hand Will ye walk first or let me show ye the way«
I returned his bow told him to go first and followed him As he went I
heard him grumble to himself about Cots English and the Kings coat so that I
might have supposed him to be seriously offended But his manner at the
beginning of our interview was there to belie him It was manifest he had come
prepared to fasten a quarrel on me right or wrong manifest that I was taken in
a fresh contrivance of my enemies and to me conscious as I was of my
deficiencies manifest enough that I should be the one to fall in our encounter
As we came into that rough rocky desert of the Kings Park I was tempted
half a dozen times to take to my heels and run for it so loath was I to show my
ignorance in fencing and so much averse to die or even to be wounded But I
considered if their malice went as far as this it would likely stick at
nothing and that to fall by the sword however ungracefully was still an
improvement on the gallows I considered besides that by the unguarded
pertness of my words and the quickness of my blow I had put myself quite out of
court and that even if I ran my adversary would probably pursue and catch me
which would add disgrace to my misfortune So that taking all in all I
continued marching behind him much as a man follows the hangman and certainly
with no more hope
We went about the end of the long craigs and came into the Hunters Bog
Here on a piece of fair turf my adversary drew There was nobody there to see
us but some birds and no resource for me but to follow his example and stand
on guard with the best face I could display It seems it was not good enough for
Mr Duncansby who spied some flaw in my manoeuvres paused looked upon me
sharply and came off and on and menaced me with his blade in the air As I had
seen no such proceedings from Alan and was besides a good deal affected with
the proximity of death I grew quite bewildered stood helpless and could have
longed to run away
»Fat deil ails her« cries the lieutenant
And suddenly engaging he twitched the sword out of my grasp and sent it
flying far among the rushes
Twice was this manoeuvre repeated and the third time when I brought back
my humiliated weapon I found he had returned his own to the scabbard and stood
awaiting me with a face of some anger and his hands clasped under his skirt
»Pe tamned if I touch you« he cried and asked me bitterly what right I had
to stand up before shentlemans when I did not know the back of a sword from the
front of it
I answered that was the fault of my upbringing and would he do me the
justice to say I had given him all the satisfaction it was unfortunately in my
power to offer and had stood up like a man
»And that is the truth« said he »I am fery prave myself and pold as a
lions But to stand up there and you ken naething of fence the way that you
did I declare it was peyond me And I am sorry for the plow though I declare I
pelief your own was the elder brother and my heid still sings with it And I
declare if I had kent what way it wass I would not put a hand to such a piece
of pusiness«
»That is handsomely said« I replied »and I am sure you will not stand up a
second time to be the actor for my private enemies«
»Indeed no Palfour« said he »and I think I wass used extremely
suffeeciently myself to be set up to fecht with an auld wife or all the same as
a bairn whateffer And I will tell the Master so and fecht him by Cot
himself«
»And if you knew the nature of Mr Simons quarrel with me« said I »you
would be yet the more affronted to be mingled up with such affairs«
He swore he could well believe it that all the Lovats were made of the same
meal and the devil was the miller that ground that then suddenly shaking me by
the hand he vowed I was a pretty enough fellow after all that it was a
thousand pities I had been neglected and that if he could find the time he
would give an eye himself to have me educated
»You can do me a better service than even what you propose« said I and
when he had asked its nature »Come with me to the house of one of my enemies
and testify how I have carried myself this day« I told him »That will be the
true service For though he has sent me a gallant adversary for the first the
thought in Mr Simons mind is merely murder There will be a second and then a
third and by what you have seen of my cleverness with the cold steel you can
judge for yourself what is like to be the upshot«
»And I would not like it myself if I wass no more of a man that what you
wass« he cried »But I will do you right Palfour Lead on«
If I had walked slowly on the way into that accursed park my heels were
light enough on the way out They kept time to a very good old air that is as
ancient as the Bible and the words of it are Surely the bitterness of death is
past I mind that I was extremely thirsty and had a drink at St Margarets
Well on the road down and the sweetness of that water passed belief We went
through the Sanctuary up the Canongate in by the Nether Bow and straight to
Prestongranges door talking as we came and arranging the details of our
affair The footman owned his master was at home but declared him engaged with
other gentlemen on very private business and his door forbidden
»My business is but for three minutes and it cannot wait« said I »You may
say it is by no means private and I shall be even glad to have some witnesses«
As the man departed unwillingly enough upon this errand we made so bold as
to follow him to the antechamber whence I could hear for a while the murmuring
of several voices in the room within The truth is they were three at the one
table Prestongrange Simon Fraser and Mr Erskine Sheriff of Perth and as
they were met in consultation on the very business of the Appin murder they
were a little disturbed at my appearance but decided to receive me
»Well well Mr Balfour and what brings you here again and who is this
you bring with you« says Prestongrange
As for Fraser he looked before him on the table
»He is here to bear a little testimony in my favour my lord which I think
it very needful you should hear« said I and turned to Duncansby
»I have only to say this« said the lieutenant »that I stood up this day
with Palfour in the Hunters Pog which I am now fery sorry for and he behaved
himself as pretty as a shentlemans could ask it And I have creat respects for
Palfour« he added
»I thank you for your honest expressions« said I
Whereupon Duncansby made his bow to the company and left the chamber as we
had agreed upon before
»What have I to do with this« says Prestongrange
»I will tell your lordship in two words« said I »I have brought this
gentleman a Kings officer to do me so much justice Now I think my character
is covered and until a certain date which your lordship can very well supply
it will be quite in vain to despatch against me any more officers I will not
consent to fight my way through the garrison of the castle«
The veins swelled on Prestongranges brow and he regarded me with fury
»I think the devil uncoupled this dog of a lad between my legs« he cried
and then turning fiercely on his neighbour »This is some of your work Simon«
he said »I spy your hand in the business and let me tell you I resent it It
is disloyal when we are agreed upon one expedient to follow another in the
dark You are disloyal to me What you let me send this lad to the place with
my very daughters And because I let drop a word to you Fy sir keep your
dishonours to yourself«
Simon was deadly pale »I will be a kickball between you and the Duke no
longer« he exclaimed »Either come to an agreement or come to a differ and
have it out among yourselves But I will no longer fetch and carry and get your
contrary instructions and be blamed by both For if I were to tell you what I
think of all your Hanover business it would make your head sing«
But Sheriff Erskine had preserved his temper and now intervened smoothly
»And in the meantime« says he »I think we should tell Mr Balfour that his
character for valour is quite established He may sleep in peace Until the date
he was so good as to refer to it shall be put to the proof no more«
His coolness brought the others to their prudence and they made haste with
a somewhat distracted civility to pack me from the house
Chapter IX
The Heather on Fire
When I left Prestongrange that afternoon I was for the first time angry The
Advocate had made a mock of me He had pretended my testimony was to be received
and myself respected and in that very hour not only was Simon practising
against my life by the hands of the Highland soldier but as appeared from his
own language Prestongrange himself had some design in operation I counted my
enemies Prestongrange with all the Kings authority behind him and the Duke
with the power of the West Highlands and the Lovat interest by their side to
help them with so great a force in the north and the whole clan of old Jacobite
spies and traffickers And when I remembered James More and the red head of
Neil the son of Duncan I thought there was perhaps a fourth in the confederacy
and what remained of Rob Roys old desperate sept of caterans would be banded
against me with the others One thing was requisite some strong friend or wise
adviser The country must be full of such both able and eager to support me or
Lovat and the Duke and Prestongrange had not been nosing for expedients and it
made me rage to think that I might brush against my champions in the street and
be no wiser
And just then like an answer a gentleman brushed against me going by gave
me a meaning look and turned into a close I knew him with the tail of my eye
it was Stewart the Writer and blessing my good fortune turned in to follow
him As soon as I had entered the close I saw him standing in the mouth of a
stair where he made me a signal and immediately vanished Seven stories up
there he was again in a housedoor the which he locked behind us after we had
entered The house was quite dismantled with not a stick of furniture indeed
it was one of which Stewart had the letting in his hands
»Well have to sit upon the floor« said he »but were safe here for the
time being and Ive been wearying to see ye Mr Balfour«
»Hows it with Alan« I asked
»Brawly« said he »Andie picks him up at Gillane Sands tomorrow
Wednesday He was keen to say goodbye to ye but the way that things were
going I was feared the pair of ye was maybe best apart And that brings me to
the essential how does your business speed«
»Why« said I »I was told only this morning that my testimony was accepted
and I was to travel to Inverary with the Advocate no less«
»Hout awa« cried Stewart »Ill never believe that«
»I have maybe a suspicion of my own« says I »but I would like fine to hear
your reasons«
»Well I tell ye fairly Im hornmad« cries Stewart »If my one hand could
pull their Government down I would pluck it like a rotten apple Im doer for
Appin and for James of the Glens and of course its my duty to defend my
kinsman for his life Hear how it goes with me and Ill leave the judgment of
it to yourself The first thing they have to do is to get rid of Alan They
canna bring in James as art and part until theyve brought in Alan first as
principal thats sound law they could never put the cart before the horse«
»And how are they to bring in Alan till they can catch him« says I
»Ah but there is a way to evite that arrestment« said he »Sound law too
It would be a bonny thing if by the escape of one illdoer another was to go
scatheless and the remeid is to summon the principal and put him to outlawry
for the noncompearance Now theres four places where a person can be summoned
at his dwellinghouse at a place where he has resided forty days at the head
burgh of the shire where he ordinarily resorts or lastly if there be ground to
think him furth of Scotland at the cross of Edinburgh and the pier and shore
of Leith for sixty days The purpose of which last provision is evident upon
its face being that outgoing ships may have time to carry news of the
transaction and the summoning be something other than a form Now take the case
of Alan He has no dwellinghouse that ever I could hear of I would be obliged
if any one would show me where he has lived forty days together since the
Fortyfive there is no shire where he resorts whether ordinarily or
extraordinarily if he has a domicile at all which I misdoubt it must be with
his regiment in France and if he is not yet furth of Scotland as we happen to
know and they happen to guess it must be evident to the most dull its what
hes aiming for Where then and what way should he be summoned I ask it at
yourself a layman«
»You have given the very words« said I »Here at the cross and at the pier
and shore of Leith for sixty days«
»Yere a sounder Scots lawyer than Prestongrange then« cries the Writer
»He has had Alan summoned once that was on the twentyfifth the day that we
first met Once and done with it And where Where but at the cross of
Inverary the head burgh of the Campbells A word in your ear Mr Balfour
theyre not seeking Alan«
»What do you mean« I cried »Not seeking him«
»By the best that I can make of it« said he »Not wanting to find him in
my poor thought They think perhaps he might set up a fair defence upon the
back of which James the man theyre really after might climb out This is not
a case ye see its a conspiracy«
»Yet I can tell you Prestongrange asked after Alan keenly« said I »though
when I come to think of it he was something of the easiest put by«
»See that« says he »But there I may be right or wrong thats guesswork
at the best and let me get to my facts again It comes to my ears that James
and the witnesses the witnesses Mr Balfour lay in close dungeons and
shackled forbye in the military prison at Fort William none allowed in to
them nor they to write The witnesses Mr Balfour heard ye ever the match of
that I assure ye no old crooked Stewart of the gang ever outfaced the law
more impudently Its clean in the two eyes of the Act of Parliament of 1700
anent wrongous imprisonment No sooner did I get the news than I petitioned the
Lord JusticeClerk I have his word today Theres law for ye heres justice«
He put a paper in my hand that same mealymouthed falsefaced paper that
was printed since in the pamphlet by a bystander for behoof as the title says
of Jamess poor widow and five children
»See« said Stewart »he couldnt dare to refuse me access to my client so
he recommends the commanding officer to let me in Recommends the Lord
JusticeClerk of Scotland recommends Is not the purpose of such language plain
They hope the officer may be so dull or so very much the reverse as to refuse
the recommendation I would have to make the journey back again betwixt here and
Fort William Then would follow a fresh delay till I got fresh authority and
they had disavowed the officer military man notoriously ignorant of the law
and that I ken the cant of it Then the journey a third time and there we
should be on the immediate heels of the trial before I had received my first
instruction Am I not right to call this a conspiracy«
»It will bear that colour« said I
»And Ill go on to prove it you outright« said he »They have the right to
hold James in prison yet they cannot deny me to visit him They have no right
to hold the witnesses but am I to get a sight of them that should be as free
as the Lord JusticeClerk himself See read For the rest refuses to give any
orders to keepers of prisons who are not accused as having done anything
contrary to the duties of their office Anything contrary Sirs And the Act of
seventeen hunner Mr Balfour this makes my heart to burst the heather is on
fire inside my wame«
»And the plain English of that phrase« said I »is that the witnesses are
still to lie in prison and you are not to see them«
»And I am not to see them until Inverary when the court is set« cries he
»and then to hear Prestongrange upon the anxious responsibilities of his office
and the great facilities afforded the defence But Ill begowk them there Mr
David I have a plan to waylay the witnesses upon the road and see if I canna
get a little harle of justice out of the military man notoriously ignorant of
the law that shall command the party«
It was actually so it was actually on the wayside near Tyndrum and by the
connivance of a soldier officer that Mr Stewart first saw the witnesses upon
the case
»There is nothing that would surprise me in this business« I remarked
»Ill surprise you ere Im done« cries he »Do ye see this« producing a
print still wet from the press »This is the libel see theres Prestongranges
name to the list of witnesses and I find no word of any Balfour But here is
not the question Who do ye think paid for the printing of this paper«
»I suppose it would likely be King George« said I
»But it happens it was me« he cried »Not but it was printed by and for
themselves for the Grants and the Erskines and yon thief of the black
midnight Simon Fraser But could I win to get a copy No I was to go blindfold
to my defence I was to hear the charges for the first time in court alongst the
jury«
»Is not this against the law« I asked
»I cannot say so much« he replied »It was a favour so natural and so
constantly rendered till this nonesuch business that the law has never looked
to it And now admire the hand of Providence A stranger is in Flemings
printinghouse spies a proof on the floor picks it up and carries it to me
Of all things it was just this libel Whereupon I had it set again printed at
the expense of the defence sumptibus moesti rei heard ever man the like of it
and here it is for anybody the muckle secret out all may see it now But
how do you think I would enjoy this that has the life of my kinsman on my
conscience«
»Troth I think you would enjoy it ill« said I
»And now you see how it is« he concluded »and why when you tell me your
evidence is to be let in I laugh aloud in your face«
It was now my turn I laid before him in brief Mr Simons threats and
offers and the whole incident of the bravo with the subsequent scene at
Prestongranges Of my first talk according to promise I said nothing nor
indeed was it necessary All the time I was talking Stewart nodded his head like
a mechanical figure and no sooner had my voice ceased than he opened his mouth
and gave me his opinion in two words dwelling strong on both of them
»Disappear yourself« said he
»I do not take you« said I
»Then Ill carry you there« said he »By my view of it youre to disappear
whatever O thats outside debate The Advocate who is not without some spunks
of a remainder decency has wrung your lifesafe out of Simon and the Duke He
has refused to put you on your trial and refused to have you killed and there
is the clue to their ill words together for Simon and the Duke can keep faith
with neither friend nor enemy Yere not to be tried then and yere not to be
murdered but Im in bitter error if yere not to be kidnapped and carried away
like the Lady Grange Bet me what ye please there was their expedient«
»You make me think« said I and told him of the whistle and the redheaded
retainer Neil
»Wherever James More is theres one big rogue never be deceived on that«
said he »His father was none so ill a man though a kenning on the wrong side
of the law and no friend to my family that I should waste my breath to be
defending him But as for James hes a brock and a blagyard I like the
appearance of this redheaded Neil as little as yourself It looks uncanny
fiegh it smells bad It was old Lovat that managed the Lady Grange affair if
young Lovat is to handle yours itll be all in the family Whats James More in
prison for The same offence abduction His men have had practice in the
business Hell be to lend them to be Simons instruments and the next thing
well be hearing James will have made his peace or else hell have escaped
and youll be in Benbecula or Applecross«
»Ye make a strong case« I admitted
»And what I want« he resumed »is that you should disappear yourself ere
they can get their hands upon ye Lie quiet until just before the trial and
spring upon them at the last of it when theyll be looking for you least This
is always supposing Mr Balfour that your evidence is worth so very great a
measure of both risk and fash«
»I will tell you one thing« said I »I saw the murderer and it was not
Alan«
»Then by God my cousins saved« cried Stewart »You have his life upon
your tongue and theres neither time risk nor money to be spared to bring you
to the trial« He emptied his pockets on the floor »Here is all that I have by
me« he went on »Take it yell want it ere yere through Go straight down
this close theres a way out by there to the Lang Dykes and by my will of it
see no more of Edinburgh till the clash is over«
»Where am I to go then« I inquired
»And I wish that I could tell ye« says he »but all the places that I could
send ye to would be just the places they would seek No ye must fend for
yourself and God be your guiding Five days before the trial September the
sixteen get word to me at the Kings Arms in Stirling and if yeve managed for
yourself as long as that Ill see that ye reach Inverary«
»One thing more« said I »Can I no see Alan«
He seemed boggled »Hech I would rather you wouldna« said he »But I can
never deny that Alan is extremely keen of it and is to lie this night by
Silvermills on purpose If youre sure that youre not followed Mr Balfour
but make sure of that lie in a good place and watch your road for a clear
hour before ye risk it It would be a dreadful business if both you and him was
to miscarry«
Chapter X
The RedHeaded Man
It was about halfpast three when I came forth on the Lang Dykes Dean was where
I wanted to go Since Catriona dwelled there and her kinsfolk the Glengyle
Macgregors appeared almost certainly to be employed against me it was just one
of the few places I should have kept away from and being a very young man and
beginning to be very much in love I turned my face in that direction without
pause As a salve to my conscience and common sense however I took a measure
of precaution Coming over the crown of a bit of a rise in the road I clapped
down suddenly among the barley and lay waiting After a while a man went by
that looked to be a Highlandman but I had never seen him till that hour
Presently after came Neil of the red head The next to go past was a millers
cart and after that nothing but manifest country people Here was enough to
have turned the most foolhardy from his purpose but my inclination ran too
strong the other way I argued it out that if Neil was on that road it was the
right road to find him in leading direct to his chiefs daughter as for the
other Highlandman if I was to be startled off by every Highlandman I saw I
would scarce reach anywhere And having quite satisfied myself with this
disingenuous debate I made the better speed of it and came a little after four
to Mrs DrummondOgilvys
Both ladies were within the house and upon my perceiving them together by
the open door I plucked off my hat and said »Here was a lad come seeking
saxpence« which I thought might please the dowager
Catriona ran out to greet me heartily and to my surprise the old lady
seemed scarce less forward than herself I learned long afterwards that she had
despatched a horseman by daylight to Rankeillor at the Queens Ferry whom she
knew to be the doer for Shaws and had then in her pocket a letter from that
good friend of mine presenting in the most favourable view my character and
prospects But had I read it I could scarce have seen more clear in her designs
Maybe I was countryfeed at least I was not so much so as she thought and it
was plain enough even to my homespun wits that she was bent to hammer up a
match between her cousin and a beardless boy that was something of a laird in
Lothian
»Saxpence had better take his broth with us Catrine« says she »Run and
tell the lasses«
And for the little while we were alone she was at a good deal of pains to
flatter me always cleverly always with the appearance of a banter still
calling me Saxpence but with such a turn that should rather uplift me in my own
opinion When Catriona returned the design became if possible more obvious and
she showed off the girls advantages like a horsecouper with a horse My face
flamed that she should think me so obtuse Now I would fancy the girl was being
innocently made a show of and then I could have beaten the old carline wife
with a cudgel and now that perhaps these two had set their heads together to
entrap me and at that I sat and gloomed betwixt them like the very image of
illwill At last the matchmaker had a better device which was to leave the
pair of us alone When my suspicions are anyway roused it is sometimes a little
the wrong side of easy to allay them But though I knew what breed she was of
and that was a breed of thieves I could never look in Catrionas face and
disbelieve her
»I must not ask« says she eagerly the same moment we were left alone
»Ah but today I can talk with a free conscience« I replied »I am
lightened of my pledge and indeed after what has come and gone since morning
I would not have renewed it were it asked«
»Tell me« she said »My cousin will not be so long«
So I told her the tale of the lieutenant from the first step to the last of
it making it as mirthful as I could and indeed there was matter of mirth in
that absurdity
»And I think you will be as little fitted for the rudas men as for the
pretty ladies after all« says she when I had done »But what was your father
that he could not learn you to draw the sword It is most ungentle I have not
heard the match of that in any one«
»It is most misconvenient at least« said I »and I think my father honest
man must have been woolgathering to learn me Latin in the place of it But you
see I do the best I can and just stand up like Lots wife and let them hammer
at me«
»Do you know what makes me smile« said she »Well it is this I am made
this way that I should have been a man child In my own thoughts it is so I am
always and I go on telling myself about this thing that is to befall and that
Then it comes to the place of the fighting and it comes over me that I am only
a girl at all events and cannot hold a sword or give one good blow and then I
have to twist my story round about so that the fighting is to stop and yet me
have the best of it just like you and the lieutenant and I am the boy that
makes the fine speeches all through like Mr David Balfour«
»You are a bloodthirsty maid« said I
»Well I know it is good to sew and spin and to make samplers« she said
»but if you were to do nothing else in the great world I think you will say
yourself it is a driech business and it is not that I want to kill I think
Did ever you kill any one«
»That I have as it chances Two no less and me still a lad that should be
at the college« said I »But yet in the lookback I take no shame for it«
»But how did you feel thenafter it« she asked
»Deed I sat down and grat like a bairn« said I
»I know that too« she cried »I feel where these tears should come from
And at any rate I would not wish to kill only to be Catherine Douglas that
put her arm through the staples of the bolt where it was broken That is my
chief hero Would you not love to die so for your king« she asked
»Troth« said I »my affection for my king God bless the puggy face of him
is under more control and I thought I saw death so near to me this day already
that I am rather taken up with the notion of living«
»Right« she said »the right mind of a man Only you must learn arms I
would not like to have a friend that cannot strike But it will not have been
with the sword that you killed these two«
»Indeed no« said I »but with a pair of pistols And a fortunate thing it
was the men were so nearhand to me for I am about as clever with the pistols
as I am with the sword«
So then she drew from me the story of our battle in the brig which I had
omitted in my first account of my affairs
»Yes« said she »you are brave And your friend I admire and love him«
»Well and I think any one would« said I »He has his faults like other
folk but he is brave and staunch and kind God bless him That will be a
strange day when I forget Alan« And the thought of him and that it was within
my choice to speak with him that night had almost overcome me
»And where will my head be gone that I have not told my news« she cried
and spoke of a letter from her father bearing that she might visit him
tomorrow in the castle whither he was now transferred and that his affairs
were mending »You do not like to hear it« said she »Will you judge my father
and not know him«
»I am a thousand miles from judging« I replied »And I give you my word I
do rejoice to know your heart is lightened If my face fell at all as I suppose
it must you will allow this is rather an ill day for compositions and the
people in power extremely ill persons to be compounding with I have Simon
Fraser extremely heavy on my stomach still«
»Ah« she cried »you will not be evening these two and you should bear in
mind that Prestongrange and James More my father are of the one blood«
»I never heard tell of that« said I
»It is rather singular how little you are acquainted with« said she »One
part may call themselves Grant and one Macgregor but they are still of the
same clan They are all the sons of Alpin from whom I think our country has
its name«
»What country is that« I asked
»My country and yours« said she
»This is my day for discoveries I think« said I »for I always thought the
name of it was Scotland«
»Scotland is the name of what you call Ireland« she replied »But the old
ancient true name of this place that we have our footsoles on and that our
bones are made of will be Alban It was Alban they called it when our
forefathers will be fighting for it against Rome and Alexander and it is called
so still in your own tongue that you forget«
»Troth« said I »and that I never learned« For I lacked heart to take her
up about the Macedonian
»But your fathers and mothers talked it one generation with another« said
she »And it was sung about the cradles before you or me were ever dreamed of
and your name remembers it still Ah if you could talk that language you would
find me another girl The heart speaks in that tongue«
I had a meal with the two ladies all very good served in fine old plate
and the wine excellent for it seems that Mrs Ogilvy was rich Our talk too
was pleasant enough but as soon as I saw the sun decline sharply and the
shadows to run out long I rose to take my leave For my mind was now made up to
say farewell to Alan and it was needful I should see the trysting wood and
reconnoitre it by daylight Catriona came with me as far as to the garden gate
»It is long till I see you now« she asked
»It is beyond my judging« I replied »It will be long it may be never«
»It may be so« said she »And you are sorry«
I bowed my head looking upon her
»So am I at all events« said she »I have seen you but a small time but I
put you very high You are true you are brave in time I think you will be more
of a man yet I will be proud to hear of that If you should speed worse if it
will come to fall as we are afraid O well think you have the one friend Long
after you are dead and me an old wife I will be telling the bairns about David
Balfour and my tears running I will be telling how we parted and what I said
to you and did to you God go with you and guide you prays your little
friend so I said I will be telling them and here is what I did«
She took up my hand and kissed it This so surprised my spirits that I cried
out like one hurt The colour came strong in her face and she looked at me and
nodded
»O yes Mr David« said she »that is what I think of you The heart goes
with the lips«
I could read in her face high spirit and a chivalry like a brave childs
not anything besides She kissed my hand as she had kissed Prince Charlies
with a higher passion than the common kind of clay has any sense of Nothing
before had taught me how deep I was her lover nor how far I had yet to climb to
make her think of me in such a character Yet I could tell myself I had advanced
some way and that her heart had beat and her blood flowed at thoughts of me
After that honour she had done me I could offer no more trivial civility It
was even hard for me to speak a certain lifting in her voice had knocked
directly at the door of my own tears
»I praise God for your kindness dear« said I »Farewell my little
friend« giving her that name which she had given to herself with which I bowed
and left her
My way was down the glen of the Leith river towards Stockbridge and
Silvermills A path led in the foot of it the water bickered and sang in the
midst the sunbeams overhead struck out of the west among long shadows and as
the valley turned made like a new scene and a new world of it at every corner
With Catriona behind and Alan before me I was like one lifted up The place
besides and the hour and the talking of the water infinitely pleased me and
I lingered in my steps and looked before and behind me as I went This was the
cause under Providence that I spied a little in my rear a red head among some
bushes
Anger sprang in my heart and I turned straight about and walked at a stiff
pace to where I came from The path lay close by the bushes where I had remarked
the head The cover came to the wayside and as I passed I was all strung up to
meet and to resist an onfall No such thing befell I went by unmeddled with
and at that fear increased upon me It was still day indeed but the place
exceeding solitary If my haunters had let slip that fair occasion I could but
judge they aimed at something more than David Balfour The lives of Alan and
James weighed upon my spirit with the weight of two grown bullocks
Catriona was yet in the garden walking by herself
»Catriona« said I »you see me back again«
»With a changed face« said she
»I carry two mens lives besides my own« said I »It would be a sin and a
shame not to walk carefully I was doubtful whether I did right to come here I
would like it ill if it was by that means we were brought to harm«
»I could tell you one that would be liking it less and will like little
enough to hear you talking at this very same time« she cried »What have I
done at all events«
»O you you are not alone« I replied »But since I went off I have been
dogged again and I can give you the name of him that follows me It is Neil
son of Duncan your man or your fathers«
»To be sure you are mistaken there« she said with a white face »Neil is
in Edinburgh on errands from my father«
»It is what I fear« said I »the last of it But for his being in Edinburgh
I think I can show you another of that For sure you have some signal a signal
of need such as would bring him to your help if he was anywhere within the
reach of ears and legs«
»Why how will you know that« says she
»By means of a magical talisman God gave to me when I was born and the name
they call it by is Commonsense« said I »Oblige me so far as make your signal
and I will show you the red head of Neil«
No doubt but I spoke bitter and sharp My heart was bitter I blamed myself
and the girl and hated both of us her for the vile crew that she was come of
myself for my wanton folly to have stuck my head in such a byke of wasps
Catriona set her fingers to her lips and whistled once with an exceeding
clear strong mounting note as full as a ploughmans A while we stood silent
and I was about to ask her to repeat the same when I heard the sound of some
one bursting through the bushes below on the braeside I pointed in that
direction with a smile and presently Neil leaped into the garden His eyes
burned and he had a black knife as they call it on the Highland side naked in
his hand but seeing me beside his mistress stood like a man struck
»He has come to your call« said I »judge how near he was to Edinburgh or
what was the nature of your fathers errands Ask himself If I am to lose my
life or the lives of those that hang by me through the means of your clan let
me go where I have to go with my eyes open«
She addressed him tremulously in the Gaelic Remembering Alans anxious
civility in that particular I could have laughed out loud for bitterness here
sure in the midst of these suspicions was the hour she should have stuck by
English
Twice or thrice they spoke together and I could make out that Neil for all
his obsequiousness was an angry man
Then she turned to me »He swears it is not« she said
»Catriona« said I »do you believe the man yourself«
She made a gesture like wringing the hands
»How will I can know« she cried
»But I must find some means to know« said I »I cannot continue to go
dovering round in the black night with two mens lives at my girdle Catriona
try to put yourself in my place as I vow to God I try hard to put myself in
yours This is no kind of talk that should ever have fallen between me and you
no kind of talk my heart is sick with it See keep him here till two of the
morning and I care not Try him with that«
They spoke together once more in the Gaelic
»He says he has James More my fathers errand« said she She was whiter
than ever and her voice faltered as she said it
»It is pretty plain now« said I »and may God forgive the wicked«
She said never anything to that but continued gazing at me with the same
white face
»This is a fine business« said I again »Am I to fall then and those two
along with me«
»Oh what am I to do« she cried »Could I go against my fathers orders
and him in prison in the danger of his life«
»But perhaps we go too fast« said I »This may be a lie too He may have no
right orders all may be contrived by Simon and your father knowing nothing«
She burst out weeping between the pair of us and my heart smote me hard
for I thought this girl was in a dreadful situation
»Here« said I »keep him but the one hour and Ill chance it and say God
bless you«
She put out her hand to me »I will be needing one good word« she sobbed
»The full hour then« said I keeping her hand in mine »Three lives of it
my lass«
»The full hour« she said and cried aloud on her Redeemer to forgive her
I thought it no fit place for me and fled
Chapter XI
The Wood by Silvermills
I lost no time but down through the valley and by Stockbridge and Silvermills
as hard as I could stave It was Alans tryst to lie every night between twelve
and two in a bit scrog of wood by east of Silvermills and by south the south
milllade This I found easy enough where it grew on a steep brae with the
milllade flowing swift and deep along the foot of it and here I began to walk
slower and to reflect more reasonably on my employment I saw I had made but a
fools bargain with Catriona It was not to be supposed that Neil was sent alone
upon his errand but perhaps he was the only man belonging to James More in
which case I should have done all I could to hang Catrionas father and
nothing the least material to help myself To tell the truth I fancied neither
one of these ideas Suppose by holding back Neil the girl should have helped
to hang her father I thought she would never forgive herself this side of time
And suppose there were others pursuing me that moment what kind of a gift was I
come bringing to Alan and how would I like that
I was up with the west end of that wood when these two considerations struck
me like a cudgel My feet stopped of themselves and my heart along with them
»What wild game is this that I have been playing« thought I and turned
instantly upon my heels to go elsewhere
This brought my face to Silvermills the path came past the village with a
crook but all plainly visible and Highland or Lowland there was nobody
stirring Here was my advantage here was just such a conjuncture as Stewart had
counselled me to profit by and I ran by the side of the milllade fetched
about beyond the east corner of the wood threaded through the midst of it and
returned to the west selvage whence I could again command the path and yet be
myself unseen Again it was all empty and my heart began to rise
For more than an hour I sat close in the border of the trees and no hare or
eagle could have kept a more particular watch When that hour began the sun was
already set but the sky still all golden and the daylight clear before the
hour was done it had fallen to be half mirk the images and distances of things
were mingled and observation began to be difficult All that time not a foot of
man had come east from Silvermills and the few that had gone west were honest
countryfolk and their wives upon the road to bed If I were tracked by the most
cunning spies in Europe I judged it was beyond the course of nature they could
have any jealousy of where I was and going a little further home into the wood
I lay down to wait for Alan
The strain of my attention had been great for I had watched not the path
only but every bush and field within my vision That was now at an end The
moon which was in her first quarter glinted a little in the wood all round
there was a stillness of the country and as I lay there on my back the next
three or four hours I had a fine occasion to review my conduct
Two things became plain to me first that I had had no right to go that day
to Dean and having gone there had now no right to be lying where I was This
where Alan was to come was just the one wood in all broad Scotland that was
by every proper feeling closed against me I admitted that and yet stayed on
wondering at myself I thought of the measure with which I had meted to Catriona
that same night how I had prated of the two lives I carried and had thus
forced her to enjeopardy her fathers and how I was here exposing them again
it seemed in wantonness A good conscience is eight parts of courage No sooner
had I lost conceit of my behaviour than I seemed to stand disarmed amidst a
throng of terrors Of a sudden I sat up How if I went now to Prestongrange
caught him as I still easily might before he slept and made a full
submission Who could blame me Not Stewart the Writer I had but to say that I
was followed despaired of getting clear and so gave in Not Catriona here
too I had my answer ready that I could not bear she should expose her father
So in a moment I could lay all these troubles by which were after all and
truly none of mine swim clear of the Appin murder get forth out of handstroke
of all the Stewarts and Campbells all the Whigs and Tories in the land and
live thenceforth to my own mind and be able to enjoy and to improve my
fortunes and devote some hours of my youth to courting Catriona which would be
surely a more suitable occupation than to hide and run and be followed like a
hunted thief and begin over again the dreadful miseries of my escape with Alan
At first I thought no shame of this capitulation I was only amazed I had
not thought upon the thing and done it earlier and began to inquire into the
causes of the change These I traced to my lowness of spirits that back to my
late recklessness and that again to the common old public disconsidered sin
of selfindulgence Instantly the text came in my head »How can Satan cast out
Satan« What I thought I had by selfindulgence and the following of
pleasant paths and the lure of a young maid cast myself wholly out of conceit
with my own character and jeopardised the lives of James and Alan And I was to
seek the way out by the same road as I had entered in No the hurt that had
been caused by selfindulgence must be cured by selfdenial the flesh I had
pampered must be crucified I looked about me for that course which I least
liked to follow this was to leave the wood without waiting to see Alan and go
forth again alone in the dark and in the midst of my perplexed and dangerous
fortunes
I have been the more careful to narrate this passage of my reflections
because I think it is of some utility and may serve as an example to young men
But there is reason they say in planting kale and even in ethic and
religion room for common sense It was already close on Alans hour and the
moon was down If I left as I could not very decently whistle to my spies to
follow me they might miss me in the dark and tack themselves to Alan by
mistake If I stayed I could at the least of it set my friend upon his guard
which might prove his mere salvation I had adventured other peoples safety in
a course of selfindulgence to have endangered them again and now on a mere
design of penance would have been scarce rational Accordingly I had scarce
risen from my place ere I sat down again but already in a different frame of
spirits and equally marvelling at my past weakness and rejoicing in my present
composure
Presently after came a crackling in the thicket Putting my mouth near down
to the ground I whistled a note or two of Alans air an answer came in the
like guarded tone and soon we had knocked together in the dark
»Is this you at last Davie« he whispered
»Just myself« said I
»God man but Ive been wearying to see ye« says he »Ive had the longest
kind of a time A day Ive had my dwelling into the inside of a stack of hay
where I couldna see the nebs of my ten fingers and then two hours of it waiting
here for you and you never coming Dod and yere none too soon the way it is
with me to sail the morn The morn what am I saying the day I mean«
»Ay Alan man the day sure enough« said I »Its past twelve now surely
and ye sail the day Thisll be a long road you have before you«
»Well have a long crack of it first« said he
»Well indeed and I have a good deal it will be telling you to hear« said
I
And I told him what behoved making rather a jumble of it but clear enough
when done He heard me out with very few questions laughing here and there like
a man delighted and the sound of his laughing above all there in the dark
where neither one of us could see the other was extraordinary friendly to my
heart
»Ay Davie yere a queer character« says he when I had done »a queer
bitch after a and I have no mind of meeting with the like of ye As for your
story Prestongrange is a Whig like yoursel so Ill say the less of him and
dod I believe he was the best friend ye had if ye could only trust him But
Simon Fraser and James More are my ain kind of cattle and Ill give them the
name that they deserve The muckle black deil was father to the Frasers abody
kens that and as for the Gregara I never could abye the reek o them since I
could stotter on two feet I bloodied the nose of one I mind when I was still
so wambly on my legs that I cowped upon the top of him A proud man was my
father that day God rest him and I think he had the cause Ill never can deny
but what Robin was something of a piper« he added »but as for James More the
deil guide him for me«
»One thing we have to consider« said I »Was Charles Stewart right or
wrong Is it only me theyre after or the pair of us«
»And whats your ain opinion you thats a man of so much experience« said
he
»It passes me« said I
»And me too« says Alan »Do ye think this lass would keep her word to ye«
he asked
»I do that« said I
»Well theres nae telling« said he »And anyway thats over and done
hell be joined to the rest of them lang syne«
»How many would ye think there would be of them« I asked
»That depends« said Alan »If it was only you they would likely send
twothree lively brisk young birkies and if they thought that I was to appear
in the employ I daresay ten or twelve« said he
It was no use I gave a little crack of laughter
»And I think your own two eyes will have seen me drive that number or the
double of it nearer hand« cries he
»It matters the less« said I »because I am well rid of them for this
time«
»Nae doubt thats your opinion« said he »but I wouldna be the least
surprised if they were hunkering this wood Ye see David man theyll be
Hieland folk Therell be some Frasers Im thinking and some of the Gregara
and I would never deny but what the both of them and the Gregara in especial
were clever experienced persons A man kens little till hes driven a spreagh of
neat cattle say ten miles through a throng lowland country and the black
soldiers maybe at his tail Its there that I learned a great part of my
penetration And ye needna tell me its better than war which is the next
best however though generally rather a bauchle of a business Now the Gregara
have had grand practice«
»No doubt thats a branch of education that was left out with me« said I
»And I can see the marks of it upon ye constantly« said Alan »But thats
the strange thing about you folk of the college learning yere ignorant and ye
canna seet Waes me for my Greek and Hebrew but man I ken that I dinna ken
them theres the differ of it Now heres you Ye lie on your wame a bittie
in the bield of this wood and ye tell me that yeve cuist off these Frasers and
Macgregors Why Because I couldna see them says you Ye blockhead thats
their livelihood«
»Take the worst of it« said I »and what are we to do«
»I am thinking of that same« said he »We might twine It wouldna be
greatly to my taste and forbye that I see reasons against it First its now
unco dark and its just humanly possible we might give them the clean slip If
we keep together we make but the ae line of it if we gang separate we make
twae of them the more likelihood to stave in upon some of these gentry of
yours And then second if they keep the track of us it may come to a fecht
for it yet Davie and then Ill confess I would be blithe to have you at my
oxter and I think you would be none the worse of having me at yours So by my
way of it we should creep out of this wood no further gone than just the inside
of next minute and hold away east for Gillane where Im to find my ship Itll
be like old days while it lasts Davie and come the time well have to think
what you should be doing Im wae to leave ye here wanting me«
»Have with ye then« says I »Do ye gang back where you were stopping«
»Deil a fear« said Alan »They were good folks to me but I think they
would be a good deal disappointed if they saw my bonny face again For the way
times go I amna just what ye could call a Walcome Guest Which makes me the
keener for your company Mr David Balfour of the Shaws and set ye up For
leave aside twa cracks here in the wood with Charlie Stewart I have scarce said
black or white since the day we parted at Corstorphine«
With which he rose from his place and we began to move quietly eastward
through the wood
Chapter XII
On the March Again with Alan
It was likely between one and two the moon as I have said was down a
strongish wind carrying a heavy wrack of cloud had set in suddenly from the
west and we began our movement in as black a night as ever a fugitive or a
murderer wanted The whiteness of the path guided us into the sleeping town of
Broughton thence through Picardy and beside my old acquaintance the gibbet of
the two thieves A little beyond we made a useful beacon which was a light in
an upper window of Lochend Steering by this but a good deal at random and
with some trampling of the harvest and stumbling and falling down upon the
bauks we made our way across country and won forth at last upon the linky
boggy muirland that they call the Figgate Whins Here under a bush of whin we
lay down the remainder of that night and slumbered
The day called us about five A beautiful morning it was the high westerly
wind still blowing strong but the clouds all blown away to Europe Alan was
already sitting up and smiling to himself It was my first sight of my friend
since we were parted and I looked upon him with enjoyment He had still the
same big greatcoat on his back but what was new he had now a pair of knitted
boothose drawn above the knee Doubtless these were intended for disguise but
as the day promised to be warm he made a most unseasonable figure
»Well Davie« said he »is this no a bonny morning Here is a day that
looks the way that a day ought to This is a great change of it from the belly
of my haystack and while you were there sottering and sleeping I have done a
thing that maybe I do over seldom«
»And what was that« said I
»O just said my prayers« said he
»And where are my gentry as ye call them« I asked
»Gude kens« says he »and the short and the long of it is that we must take
our chance of them Up with your footsoles Davie Forth Fortune once again
of it And a bonny walk we are like to have«
So we went east by the beach of the sea towards where the saltpans were
smoking in by the Esk mouth No doubt there was a byordinary bonny blink of
morning sun on Arthurs Seat and the green Pentlands and the pleasantness of
the day appeared to set Alan among nettles
»I feel like a gomeril« says he »to be leaving Scotland on a day like
this It sticks in my head I would maybe like it better to stay here and hing«
»Ay but ye wouldna Alan« said I
»No but what France is a good place too« he explained »but its some way
no the same Its brawer I believe but its no Scotland I like it fine when
Im there man yet I kind of weary for Scots divots and the Scots peatreek«
»If thats all you have to complain of Alan its no such great affair«
said I
»And it sets me ill to be complaining whatever« said he »and me but new
out of yon deils haystack«
»And so you were unco weary of your haystack« I asked
»Wearys nae word for it« said he »Im not just precisely a man thats
easily cast down but I do better with caller air and the lift above my head
Im like the auld Black Douglas wasnat that likit better to hear the
laverock sing than the mouse cheep And yon place ye see Davie whilk was a
very suitable place to hide in as Im free to own was pit mirk from dawn to
gloaming There were days or nights for how would I tell one from other that
seemed to me as long as a long winter«
»How did you know the hour to bide your tryst« I asked
»The goodman brought me my meat and a drop brandy and a candledowp to eat
it by about eleeven« said he »So when I had swallowed a bit it would be
time to be getting to the wood There I lay and wearied for ye sore Davie«
says he laying his hand on my shoulder »and guessed when the two hours would
be about by unless Charlie Stewart would come and tell me on his watch and
then back to the dooms haystack Na it was a driech employ and praise the Lord
that I have warstled through with it«
»What did you do with yourself« I asked
»Faith« said he »the best I could Whiles I played at the knucklebones
Im an extraordinar good hand at the knucklebones but its a poor piece of
business playing with naebody to admire ye And whiles I would make songs«
»What were they about« says I
»O about the deer and the heather« says he »and about the ancient old
chiefs that are all by with it lang syne and just about what songs are about in
general And then whiles I would make believe I had a set of pipes and I was
playing I played some grand springs and I thought I played them awful bonny I
vow whiles that I could hear the squeal of them But the great affair is that
its done with«
With that he carried me again to my adventures which he heard all over
again with more particularity and extraordinary approval swearing at intervals
that I was »a queer character of a callant«
»So ye were frichened of Sim Fraser« he asked once
»In troth was I« cried I
»So would I have been Davie« said he »And that is indeed a dreidful man
But it is only proper to give the deil his due and I can tell you he is a most
respectable person on the field of war«
»Is he so brave« I asked
»Brave« said he »He is as brave as my steel sword«
The story of my duel set him beside himself
»To think of that« he cried »I showed ye the trick in Corrynakiegh too
And three times three times disarmed Its a disgrace upon my character that
learned ye Here stand up out with your airn ye shall walk no step beyond
this place upon the road till ye can do yoursel and me mair credit«
»Alan« said I »this is midsummer madness Here is no time for fencing
lessons«
»I canna well say no to that« he admitted »But three times man And you
standing there like a straw bogle and rinning to fetch your ain sword like a
doggie with a pocketnapkin David this man Duncansby must be something
altogether byordinar He maun be extraordinar skilly If I had the time I
would gang straight back and try a turn at him mysel The man must be a
provost«
»You silly fellow« said I »you forget it was just me«
»Na« said he »but three times«
»When ye ken yourself that I am fair incompetent« I cried
»Well I never heard tell the equal of it« said he
»I promise you the one thing Alan« said I »The next time that we
forgather Ill be better learned You shall not continue to bear the disgrace
of a friend that cannot strike«
»Ay the next time« says he »And when will that be I would like to ken«
»Well Alan I have had some thoughts of that too« said I »and my plan is
this Its my opinion to be called an advocate«
»Thats but a weary trade Davie« says Alan »and rather a blagyard one
forbye Ye would be better in a kings coat than that«
»And no doubt that would be the way to have us meet« cried I »But as
youll be in King Lewies coat and Ill be in King Geordies well have a
dainty meeting of it«
»Theres some sense in that« he admitted
»An advocate then itll have to be« I continued »and I think it a more
suitable trade for a gentleman that was three times disarmed But the beauty of
the thing is this that one of the best colleges for that kind of learning and
the one where my kinsman Pilrig made his studies is the college of Leyden in
Holland Now what say you Alan Could not a cadet of Royal Ecossais get a
furlough slip over the marches and call in upon a Leyden student«
»Well and I would think he could« cried he »Ye see I stand well in with
my colonel Count DrummondMelfort and whats mair to the purpose I have a
cousin of mine lieutenantcolonel in a regiment of the ScotsDutch Naething
could be mair proper than what I would get a leave to see LieutenantColonel
Stewart of Halketts And Lord Melfort who is a very scienteefic kind of a man
and writes books like Cæsar would be doubtless very pleased to have the
advantage of my observes«
»Is Lord Melfort an author then« I asked for much as Alan thought of
soldiers I thought more of the gentry that write books
»The very same Davie« said he »One would think a colonel would have
something better to attend to But what can I say that make songs«
»Well then« said I »it only remains you should give me an address to
write you at in France and as soon as I am got to Leyden I will send you mine«
»The best will be to write me in the care of my chieftain« said he
»Charles Stewart of Ardshiel Esquire at the town of Melons in the Isle of
France It might take long or it might take short but it would aye get to my
hands at the last of it«
We had a haddock to our breakfast in Musselburgh where it amused me vastly
to hear Alan His greatcoat and boothose were extremely remarkable this warm
morning and perhaps some hint of an explanation had been wise but Alan went
into that matter like a business or I should rather say like a diversion He
engaged the goodwife of the house with some compliments upon the rizzoring of
our haddocks and the whole of the rest of our stay held her in talk about a
cold he had taken on his stomach gravely relating all manner of symptoms and
sufferings and hearing with a vast show of interest all the old wives remedies
she could supply him with in return
We left Musselburgh before the first ninepenny coach was due from Edinburgh
for as Alan said that was a rencounter we might very well avoid The wind
although still high was very mild the sun shone strong and Alan began to
suffer in proportion From Prestonpans he had me aside to the field of
Gladsmuir where he exerted himself a great deal more than needful to describe
the stages of the battle Thence at his old round pace we travelled to
Cockenzie Though they were building herringbusses there at Mrs Cadells it
seemed a desertlike backgoing town about half full of ruined houses but the
alehouse was clean and Alan who was now in a glowing heat must indulge
himself with a bottle of ale and carry on to the new luckie with the old story
of the cold upon his stomach only now the symptoms were all different
I sat listening and it came in my mind that I had scarce ever heard him
address three serious words to any woman but he was always drolling and
fleering and making a private mock of them and yet brought to that business a
remarkable degree of energy and interest Something to this effect I remarked to
him when the goodwife as chanced was called away
»What do ye want« says he »A man should aye put his best foot forrit with
the womenkind he should aye give them a bit of a story to divert them the
poor lambs Its what ye should learn to attend to David ye should get the
principles its like a trade Now if this had been a young lassie or onyways
bonny she would never have heard tell of my stomach Davie But aince theyre
too old to be seeking joes they a set up to be apotecaries Why What do I
ken Theyll be just the way God made them I suppose But I think a man would
be a gomeril that didna give his attention to the same«
And here the luckie coming back he turned from me as if with impatience to
renew their former conversation The lady had branched some while before from
Alans stomach to the case of a goodbrother of her own in Aberlady whose last
sickness and demise she was describing at extraordinary length Sometimes it was
merely dull sometimes both dull and awful for she talked with unction The
upshot was that I fell in a deep muse looking forth of the window on the road
and scarce marking what I saw Presently had any been looking they might have
seen me to start
»We pit a fomentation to his feet« the goodwife was saying »and a het
stane to his wame and we gied him hyssop and water of pennyroyal and fine
clean balsam of sulphur for the hoast «
»Sir« says I cutting very quietly in »theres a friend of mine gone by
the house«
»Is that een sae« replies Alan as though it were a thing of small
account And then »Ye were saying mem« says he and the wearyful wife went
on
Presently however he paid her with a halfcrown piece and she must go
forth after the change
»Was it him with the red head« asked Alan
»Ye have it« said I
»What did I tell you in the wood« he cried »And yet its strange he should
be here too Was he his lane«
»His leelane for what I could see« said I
»Did he gang by« he asked
»Straight by« said I »and looked neither to the right nor left«
»And thats queerer yet« said Alan »It sticks in my mind Davie that we
should be stirring But where to deil haet This is like old days fairly«
cries he
»There is one big differ though« said I »that now we have money in our
pockets«
»And another big differ Mr Balfour« says he »that now we have dogs at
our tail Theyre on the scent theyre in full cry David Its a bad business
and be damned to it« And he sat thinking hard with a look of his that I knew
well
»Im saying Luckie« says he when the goodwife returned »have ye a back
road out of this changehouse«
She told him there was and where it led to
»Then sir« says he to me »I think that will be the shortest road for us
And heres goodbye to ye my braw woman and Ill no forget thon of the
cinnamonwater«
We went out by way of the womans kaleyard and up a lane among fields
Alan looked sharply to all sides and seeing we were in a little hollow place of
the country out of view of men sat down
»Now for a council of war Davie« said he »But first of all a bit lesson
to ye Suppose that I had been like you what would yon old wife have minded of
the pair of us Just that we had gone out by the back gate And what does she
mind now A fine canty friendly cracky man that suffered with the stomach
poor body and was rael taen up about the goodbrother O man David try and
learn to have some kind of intelligence«
»Ill try Alan« said I
»And now for him of the red head« says he »was he gaun fast or slow«
»Betwixt and between« said I
»No kind of a hurry about the man« he asked
»Never a sign of it« said I
»Nhm« said Alan »it looks queer We saw nothing of them this morning on
the Whins hes passed us by he doesna seem to be looking and yet here he is
on our road Dod Davie I begin to take a notion I think its no you theyre
seeking I think its me and I think they ken fine where theyre gaun«
»They ken« I asked
»I think Andie Scougals sold me him or his mate wha kennt some part of
the affair or else Chairlies clerk callant which would be a pity too« says
Alan »and if you askit me for just my inward private conviction I think
therell be heads cracked on Gillane Sands«
»Alan« I cried »if youre at all right therell be folk there and to
spare Itll be small service to crack heads«
»It would aye be a satisfaction though« says Alan »But bide a bit bide a
bit Im thinking and thanks to this bonny westland wind I believe Ive still
a chance of it Its this way Davie Im no trysted with this man Scougal till
the gloaming comes But says he if I can get a bit of a wind out of the west
Ill be there long or that he says and lieto for ye behind the Isle of Fidra
Now if your gentry kens the place they ken the time forbye Do ye see me
coming Davie Thanks to Johnnie Cope and other redcoat gomerils I should ken
this country like the back of my hand and if yere ready for another bit run
with Alan Breck well can cast back inshore and come down to the seaside again
by Dirleton If the ships there well try and get on board of her If shes
no there Ill just have to get back to my weary haystack But either way of
it I think we will leave your gentry whistling on their thumbs«
»I believe theres some chance in it« said I »Have on with ye Alan«
Chapter XIII
Gillane Sands
I did not profit by Alans pilotage as he had done by his marchings under
General Cope for I can scarce tell what way we went It is my excuse that we
travelled exceeding fast Some part we ran some trotted and the rest walked at
a vengeance of a pace Twice while we were at top speed we ran against
countryfolk but though we plumped into the first from round a corner Alan was
as ready as a loaded musket
»Hae ye seen my horse« he gasped
»Na man I haena seen nae horse the day« replied the countryman
And Alan spared the time to explain to him that we were travelling ride and
tie that our charger had escaped and it was feared he had gone home to Linton
Not only that but he expended some breath of which he had not very much left
to curse his own misfortune and my stupidity which was said to be its cause
»Them that canna tell the truth« he observed to myself as we went on again
»should be aye mindfu to leave an honest handy lee behind them If folk dinna
ken what yere doing Davie theyre terrible taken up with it but if they
think they ken they care nae mair for it than what I do for pease porridge«
As we had first made inland so our road came in the end to lie very near
due north the old Kirk of Aberlady for a landmark on the left on the right
the top of the Berwick Law and it was thus we struck the shore again not far
from Dirleton From North Berwick west to Gillane Ness there runs a string of
four small islets Craigleith the Lamb Fidra and Eyebrough notable by their
diversity of size and shape Fidra is the most particular being a strange grey
islet of two humps made the more conspicuous by a piece of ruin and I mind
that as we drew closer to it by some door or window of these ruins the sea
peeped through like a mans eye Under the lee of Fidra there is a good
anchorage in westerly winds and there from a far way off we could see the
Thistle riding
The shore in face of these islets is altogether waste Here is no dwelling
of man and scarce any passage or at most of vagabond children running at their
play Gillane is a small place on the far side of the Ness the folk of Dirleton
go to their business in the inland fields and those of North Berwick straight
to the seafishing from their haven so that few parts of the coast are
lonelier But I mind as we crawled upon our bellies into that multiplicity of
heights and hollows keeping a bright eye upon all sides and our hearts
hammering at our ribs there was such a shining of the sun and the sea such a
stir of the wind in the bentgrass and such a bustle of downpopping rabbits
and upflying gulls that the desert seemed to me like a place alive No doubt
it was in all ways well chosen for a secret embarkation if the secret had been
kept and even now that it was out and the place watched we were able to creep
unperceived to the front of the sandhills where they look down immediately on
the beach and sea
But here Alan came to a full stop
»Davie« said he »this is a kittle passage As long as we lie here were
safe but Im nane sae muckle nearer to my ship or the coast of France And as
soon as we stand up and signal the brig its another matter For where will
your gentry be think ye«
»Maybe theyre no come yet« said I »And even if they are theres one
clear matter in our favour Theyll be all arranged to take us thats true But
theyll have arranged for our coming from the east and here we are upon their
west«
»Ay« says Alan »I wish we were in some force and this was a battle we
would have bonnily outmanoeuvred them But it isna Davit and the way it is is
a wee thing less inspiring to Alan Breck I swither Davie«
»Time flies Alan« said I
»I ken that« said Alan »I ken naething else as the French folk say But
this is a dreidful case of heids or tails O if I could but ken where your
gentry were«
»Alan« said I »this is no like you Its got to be now or never«
»This is no me quo he«
sang Alan with a queer face betwixt shame and drollery
»Neither you nor me quo he neither you nor me
Wow na Johnnie man neither you nor me«
And then of a sudden he stood straight up where he was and with a handkerchief
flying in his right hand marched down upon the beach I stood up myself but
lingered behind him scanning the sandhills to the east His appearance was at
first unremarked Scougal not expecting him so early and my gentry watching on
the other side Then they awoke on board the Thistle and it seemed they had all
in readiness for there was scarce a seconds bustle on the deck before we saw a
skiff put round her stern and begin to pull lively for the coast Almost at the
same moment of time and perhaps half a mile away towards Gillane Ness the
figure of a man appeared for a blink upon a sandhill waving with his arms and
though he was gone again in the same flash the gulls in that part continued a
little longer to fly wild
Alan had not seen this looking straight to seaward at the ship and skiff
»It maun be as it will« said he when I had told him »Weel may yon boatie
row or my craigll have to thole a raxing«
That part of the beach was long and flat and excellent walking when the
tide was down a little cressy burn flowed over it in one place to the sea and
the sandhills ran along the head of it like the rampart of a town No eye of
ours could spy what was passing behind there in the bents no hurry of ours
could mend the speed of the boats coming time stood still with us through that
uncanny period of waiting
»There is one thing I would like to ken« says Alan »I would like fine to
ken these gentrys orders Were worth four hunner pound the pair of us how if
they took the guns to us Davie They would get a bonny shot from the top of
that lang sandy bauk«
»Morally impossible« said I »The point is that they can have no guns This
thing has been gone about too secret pistols they may have but never guns«
»I believe yell be in the right« says Alan »For all which I am wearying a
good deal for yon boat«
And he snapped his fingers and whistled to it like a dog
It was now perhaps a third of the way in and we ourselves already hard on
the margin of the sea so that the soft sand rose over my shoes There was no
more to do whatever but to wait to look as much as we were able at the creeping
nearer of the boat and as little as we could manage at the long impenetrable
front of the sandhills over which the gulls twinkled and behind which our
enemies were doubtless marshalling
»This is a fine bright caller place to get shot in« says Alan suddenly
»and man I wish that I had your courage«
»Alan« I cried »what kind of talk is this of it Youre just made of
courage its the character of the man as I could prove myself if there was
nobody else«
»And you would be the more mistaken« said he »What makes the differ with
me is just my great penetration and knowledge of affairs But for auld cauld
dour deidly courage I am not fit to hold a candle to yourself Look at us two
here upon the sands Here am I fair hotching to be off heres you for all
that I ken in two minds of it whether youll no stop Do you think that I
could do that or would No me Firstly because I havena got the courage and
wouldna daur and secondly because I am a man of so much penetration and would
see ye damned first«
»Its there yere coming is it« I cried »Ah man Alan you can wile your
old wives but you never can wile me«
Remembrance of my temptation in the wood made me strong as iron
»I have a tryst to keep« I continued »I am trysted with your cousin
Charlie I have passed my word«
»Braw trysts that youll can keep« said Alan »Yell just mistryst aince
and for a with the gentry in the bents And what for« he went on with an
extreme threatening gravity »Just tell me that my mannie Are ye to be
speerited away like Lady Grange Are they to drive a dirk in your inside and
bury ye in the bents Or is it to be the other way and are they to bring ye in
with James Are they folk to be trustit Would ye stick your head in the mouth
of Simon Fraser and the ither Whigs« he added with extraordinary bitterness
»Alan« cried I »theyre all rogues and liars and Im with ye there The
more reason there should be one decent man in such a land of thieves My word is
passed and Ill stick to it I said long syne to your kinswoman that I would
stumble at no risk Do ye mind of that the night Red Colin fell it was No
more I will then Here I stop Prestongrange promised me my life if hes to be
mansworn here Ill have to die«
»Aweel aweel« said Alan
All this time we had seen or heard no more of our pursuers In truth we had
caught them unawares their whole party as I was to learn afterwards had not
yet reached the scene what there was of them was spread among the bents towards
Gillane It was quite an affair to call them in and bring them over and the
boat was making speed They were besides but cowardly fellows a mere leash of
Highland cattlethieves of several clans no gentleman there to be the captain
and the more they looked at Alan and me upon the beach the less I must
suppose they liked the looks of us
Whoever had betrayed Alan it was not the captain he was in the skiff
himself steering and stirring up his oarsmen like a man with his heart in his
employ Already he was near in and the boat scouring already Alans face had
flamed crimson with the excitement of his deliverance when our friends in the
bents either in despair to see their prey escape them or with some hope of
scaring Andie raised suddenly a shrill cry of several voices
This sound arising from what appeared to be a quite deserted coast was
really very daunting and the men in the boat held water instantly
»Whats this of it« sings out the captain for he was come within an easy
hail
»Freens o mine« says Alan and began immediately to wade forth in the
shallow water towards the boat »Davie« he said pausing »Davie are ye no
coming I am sweer to leave ye«
»Not a hair of me« said I
He stood part of a second where he was to his knees in the salt water
hesitating
»He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar« said he and swashing in deeper than
his waist was hauled into the skiff which was immediately directed for the
ship
I stood where he had left me with my hands behind my back Alan sat with
his head turned watching me and the boat drew smoothly away Of a sudden I
came the nearest hand to shedding tears and seemed to myself the most deserted
solitary lad in Scotland With that I turned my back upon the sea and faced the
sandhills There was no sight or sound of man the sun shone on the wet sand and
the dry the wind blew in the bents the gulls made a dreary piping As I passed
higher up the beach the sandlice were hopping nimbly about the stranded
tangles The devil any other sight or sound in that unchancy place And yet I
knew there were folk there observing me upon some secret purpose They were no
soldiers or they would have fallen on and taken us ere now doubtless they were
some common rogues hired for my undoing perhaps to kidnap perhaps to murder me
outright From the position of those engaged the first was the more likely
from what I knew of their character and ardency in this business I thought the
second very possible and the blood ran cold about my heart
I had a mad idea to loosen my sword in the scabbard for though I was very
unfit to stand up like a gentleman blade to blade I thought I could do some
scathe in a random combat But I perceived in time the folly of resistance This
was no doubt the joint expedient on which Prestongrange and Fraser were agreed
The first I was very sure had done something to secure my life the second was
pretty likely to have slipped in some contrary hints into the ears of Neil and
his companions and if I were to show bare steel I might play straight into the
hands of my worst enemy and seal my own doom
These thoughts brought me to the head of the beach I cast a look behind
the boat was nearing the brig and Alan flew his handkerchief for a farewell
which I replied to with the waving of my hand But Alan himself was shrunk to a
small thing in my view alongside of this pass that lay in front of me I set my
hat hard on my head clenched my teeth and went right before me up the face of
the sandwreath It made a hard climb being steep and the sand like water
underfoot But I caught hold at last by the long bentgrass on the braetop and
pulled myself to a good footing The same moment men stirred and stood up here
and there six or seven of them raggedlike knaves each with a dagger in his
hand The fair truth is I shut my eyes and prayed When I opened them again
the rogues were crept the least thing nearer without speech or hurry Every eye
was upon mine which struck me with a strange sensation of their brightness and
of the fear with which they continued to approach me I held out my hands empty
whereupon one asked with a strong Highland brogue if I surrendered
»Under protest« said I »if ye ken what that means which I misdoubt«
At that word they came all in upon me like a flight of birds upon a
carrion seized me took my sword and all the money from my pockets bound me
hand and foot with some strong line and cast me on a tussock of bent There
they sat about their captive in a part of a circle and gazed upon him silently
like something dangerous perhaps a lion or a tiger on the spring Presently
this attention was relaxed They drew nearer together fell to speech in the
Gaelic and very cynically divided my property before my eyes It was my
diversion in this time that I could watch from my place the progress of my
friends escape I saw the boat come to the brig and be hoisted in the sails
fill and the ship pass out seaward behind the isles and bye North Berwick
In the course of two hours or so more and more ragged Highlandmen kept
collecting Neil among the first until the party must have numbered near a
score With each new arrival there was a fresh bout of talk that sounded like
complaints and explanations but I observed one thing none of those that came
late had any share in the division of my spoils The last discussion was very
violent and eager so that once I thought they would have quarrelled on the
heels of which their company parted the bulk of them returning westward in a
troop and only three Neil and two others remaining sentries on the prisoner
»I could name one who would be very ill pleased with your days work Neil
Duncanson« said I when the rest had moved away
He assured me in answer I should be tenderly used for he knew I was acquent
wi the leddy
This was all our talk nor did any other son of man appear upon that portion
of the coast until the sun had gone down among the Highland mountains and the
gloaming was beginning to grow dark At which hour I was aware of a long lean
bonylike Lothian man of a very swarthy countenance that came towards us among
the bents on a farm horse
»Lads« cried he »hae ye a paper like this« and held up one in his hand
Neil produced a second which the new comer studied through a pair of horn
spectacles and saying all was right and we were the folk he was seeking
immediately dismounted I was then set in his place my feet tied under the
horses belly and we set forth under the guidance of the Lowlander His path
must have been very well chosen for we met but one pair a pair of lovers
the whole way and these perhaps taking us to be freetraders fled on our
approach We were at one time close at the foot of Berwick Law on the south
side at another as we passed over some open hills I spied the lights of a
clachan and the old tower of a church among some trees not far off but too far
to cry for help if I had dreamed of it At last we came again within sound of
the sea There was moonlight though not much and by this I could see the three
huge towers and broken battlements of Tantallon that old chief place of the Red
Douglases The horse was picketed in the bottom of the ditch to graze and I was
led within and forth into the court and thence into a tumbledown stone hall
Here my conductors built a brisk fire in the midst of the pavement for there
was a chill in the night My hands were loosed I was set by the wall in the
inner end and the Lowlander having produced provisions I was given oatmeal
bread and a pitcher of French brandy This done I was left once more alone with
my three Highlandmen They sat close by the fire drinking and talking the wind
blew in by the breaches cast about the smoke and flames and sang in the tops
of the towers I could hear the sea under the cliffs and my mind being
reassured as to my life and my body and spirits wearied with the days
employment I turned upon one side and slumbered
I had no means of guessing at what hour I was wakened only the moon was
down and the fire low My feet were now loosed and I was carried through the
ruins and down the cliffside by a precipitous path to where I found a fishers
boat in a haven of the rocks This I was had on board of and we began to put
forth from the shore in a fine starlight
Chapter XIV
The Bass
I had no thought where they were taking me only looked here and there for the
appearance of a ship and there ran the while in my head a word of Ransomes
the twentypounders If I were to be exposed a second time to that same former
danger of the plantations I judged it must turn ill with me there was no
second Alan and no second shipwreck and spare yard to be expected now and I
saw myself hoe tobacco under the whips lash The thought chilled me the air
was sharp upon the water the stretchers of the boat drenched with a cold dew
and I shivered in my place beside the steersman This was the dark man whom I
have called hitherto the Lowlander his name was Dale ordinarily called Black
Andie Feeling the thrill of my shiver he very kindly handed me a rough jacket
full of fishscales with which I was glad to cover myself
»I thank you for this kindness« said I »and will make so free as to repay
it with a warning You take a high responsibility in this affair You are not
like these ignorant barbarous Highlanders but know what the law is and the
risks of those that break it«
»I am no just exactly what ye would ca an extremist for the law« says he
»at the best of times but in this business I act with a good warranty«
»What are you going to do with me« I asked
»Nae harm« said he »nae harm ava Yell hae strong freens Im thinking
Yell be richt eneuch yet«
There began to fall a greyness on the face of the sea little dabs of pink
and red like coals of slow fire came in the east and at the same time the
geese awakened and began crying about the top of the Bass It is just the one
crag of rock as everybody knows but great enough to carve a city from The sea
was extremely little but there went a hollow plowter round the base of it With
the growing of the dawn I could see it clearer and clearer the straight crags
painted with seabirds droppings like a morning frost the sloping top of it
green with grass the clan of white geese that cried about the sides and the
black broken buildings of the prison sitting close on the seas edge
At the sight the truth came in upon me in a clap
»Its there youre taking me« I cried
»Just to the Bass mannie« said he »whaur the auld sants were afore ye
and I misdoubt if ye have come so fairly by your preeson«
»But none dwells there now« I cried »the place is long a ruin«
»Itll be the mair pleisand a change for the solan geese then« quoth Andie
drily
The day coming slowly brighter I observed on the bilge among the big stones
with which fisherfolk ballast their boats several kegs and baskets and a
provision of fuel All these were discharged upon the crag Andie myself and
my three Highlanders I call them mine although it was the other way about
landed along with them The sun was not yet up when the boat moved away again
the noise of the oars on the tholepins echoing from the cliffs and left us in
our singular reclusion
Andie Dale was the Prefect as I would jocularly call him of the Bass
being at once the shepherd and the gamekeeper of that small and rich estate He
had to mind the dozen or so of sheep that fed and fattened on the grass of the
sloping part of it like beasts grazing the roof of a cathedral He had charge
besides of the solan geese that roosted in the crags and from these an
extraordinary income is derived The young are dainty eating as much as two
shillings apiece being a common price and paid willingly by epicures even the
grown birds are valuable for their oil and feathers and a part of the
ministers stipend of North Berwick is paid to this day in solan geese which
makes it in some folks eyes a parish to be coveted To perform these several
businesses as well as to protect the geese from poachers Andie had frequent
occasion to sleep and pass days altogether on the crag and we found the man at
home there like a farmer in his steading Bidding us all shoulder some of the
packages a matter in which I made haste to bear a hand he led us in by a
locked gate which was the only admission to the island and through the ruins
of the fortress to the governors house There we saw by the ashes in the
chimney and a standing bedplace in one corner that he made his usual
occupation
This bed he now offered me to use saying he supposed I would set up to be
gentry
»My gentrice has nothing to do with where I lie« said I »I bless God I
have lain hard ere now and can do the same again with thankfulness While I am
here Mr Andie if that be your name I will do my part and take my place
beside the rest of you and I ask you on the other hand to spare me your
mockery which I own I like ill«
He grumbled a little at this speech but seemed upon reflection to approve
it Indeed he was a longheaded sensible man and a good Whig and
Presbyterian read daily in a pocket Bible and was both able and eager to
converse seriously on religion leaning more than a little towards the
Cameronian extremes His morals were of a more doubtful colour I found he was
deep in the free trade and used the ruins of Tantallon for a magazine of
smuggled merchandise As for a gauger I do not believe he valued the life of
one at half a farthing But that part of the coast of Lothian is to this day as
wild a place and the commons there as rough a crew as any in Scotland
One incident of my imprisonment is made memorable by a consequence it had
long after There was a warship at this time stationed in the Firth the
Seahorse Captain Palliser It chanced she was cruising in the month of
September plying between Fife and Lothian and sounding for sunk dangers Early
one fine morning she was seen about two miles to east of us where she lowered a
boat and seemed to examine the Wildfire Rocks and Satans Bush famous dangers
of that coast And presently after having got her boat again she came before
the wind and was headed directly for the Bass This was very troublesome to
Andie and the Highlanders the whole business of my sequestration was designed
for privacy and here with a navy captain perhaps blundering ashore it looked
to become public enough if it were nothing worse I was in a minority of one I
am no Alan to fall upon so many and I was far from sure that a warship was the
least likely to improve my condition All which considered I gave Andie my
parole of good behaviour and obedience and was had briskly to the summit of the
rock where we all lay down at the cliffs edge in different places of
observation and concealment The Seahorse came straight on till I thought she
would have struck and we looking giddily down could see the ships company at
their quarters and hear the leadsman singing at the lead Then she suddenly wore
and let fly a volley of I know not how many great guns The rock was shaken with
the thunder of the sound the smoke flowed over our heads and the geese rose in
number beyond computation or belief To hear their screaming and to see the
twinkling of their wings made a most inimitable curiosity and I suppose it was
after this somewhat childish pleasure that Captain Palliser had come so near the
Bass He was to pay dear for it in time During his approach I had the
opportunity to make a remark upon the rigging of that ship by which I ever after
knew it miles away and this was a means under Providence of my averting from
a friend a great calamity and inflicting on Captain Palliser himself a sensible
disappointment
All the time of my stay on the rock we lived well We had small ale and
brandy and oatmeal of which we made our porridge night and morning At times a
boat came from the Castleton and brought us a quarter of mutton for the sheep
upon the rock we must not touch these being specially fed to market The geese
were unfortunately out of season and we let them be We fished ourselves and
yet more often made the geese to fish for us observing one when he had made a
capture and scaring him from his prey ere he had swallowed it
The strange nature of this place and the curiosities with which it
abounded held me busy and amused Escape being impossible I was allowed my
entire liberty and continually explored the surface of the isle wherever it
might support the foot of man The old garden of the prison was still to be
observed with flowers and potherbs running wild and some ripe cherries on a
bush A little lower stood a chapel or a hermits cell who built or dwelt in
it none may know and the thought of its age made a ground of many meditations
The prison too where I now bivouacked with Highland cattlethieves was a
place full of history both human and divine I thought it strange so many
saints and martyrs should have gone by there so recently and left not so much
as a leaf out of their Bibles or a name carved upon the wall while the rough
soldierlads that mounted guard upon the battlements had filled the
neighbourhood with their mementoes broken tobaccopipes for the most part and
that in a surprising plenty but also metal buttons from their coats There were
times when I thought I could have heard the pious sound of psalms out of the
martyrs dungeons and see the soldiers tramp the ramparts with their glinting
pipes and the dawn rising behind them out of the North Sea
No doubt it was a good deal Andie and his tales that put these fancies in my
head He was extraordinary well acquainted with the story of the rock in all
particulars down to the names of private soldiers his father having served
there in that same capacity He was gifted besides with a natural genius for
narration so that the people seemed to speak and the things to be done before
your face This gift of his and my assiduity to listen brought us the more
close together I could not honestly deny but what I liked him I soon saw that
he liked me and indeed from the first I had set myself out to capture his
goodwill An odd circumstance to be told presently effected this beyond my
expectation but even in early days we made a friendly pair to be a prisoner and
his gaoler
I should trifle with my conscience if I pretended my stay upon the Bass was
wholly disagreeable It seemed to me a safe place as though I was escaped there
out of my troubles No harm was to be offered me a material impossibility rock
and the deep sea prevented me from fresh attempts I felt I had my life safe
and my honour safe and there were times when I allowed myself to gloat on them
like stolen waters At other times my thoughts were very different I recalled
how strong I had expressed myself both to Rankeillor and to Stewart I reflected
that my captivity upon the Bass in view of a great part of the coasts of Fife
and Lothian was a thing I should be thought more likely to have invented than
endured and in the eyes of these two gentlemen at least I must pass for a
boaster and a coward Now I would take this lightly enough tell myself that so
long as I stood well with Catriona Drummond the opinion of the rest of man was
but moonshine and spilled water and thence pass off into those meditations of a
lover which are so delightful to himself and must always appear so surprisingly
idle to a reader But anon the fear would take me otherwise I would be shaken
with a perfect panic of selfesteem and these supposed hard judgments appear an
injustice impossible to be supported With that another train of thought would
be presented and I had scarce begun to be concerned about mens judgments of
myself than I was haunted with the remembrance of James Stewart in his dungeon
and the lamentations of his wife Then indeed passion began to work in me I
could not forgive myself to sit there idle it seemed if I were a man at all
that I could fly or swim out of my place of safety and it was in such humours
and to amuse my selfreproaches that I would set the more particularly to win
the good side of Andie Dale
At last when we two were alone on the summit of the rock on a bright
morning I put in some hint about a bribe He looked at me cast back his head
and laughed out loud
»Ay youre funny Mr Dale« said I »but perhaps if youll glance an eye
upon that paper you may change your note«
The stupid Highlanders had taken from me at the time of my seizure nothing
but hard money and the paper I now showed Andie was an acknowledgment from the
British Linen Company for a considerable sum
He read it »Troth and yere nane sae ill aff« said he
»I thought that would maybe vary your opinions« said I
»Hout« said he »It shows me ye can bribe but Im no to be bribit«
»Well see about that yet a while« says I »And first Ill show you that I
know what I am talking You have orders to detain me here till after Thursday
21st September«
»Yere no athegether wrong either« says Andie »Im to let ye gang bar
orders contrair on Saturday the 23rd«
I could not but feel there was something extremely insidious in this
arrangement That I was to reappear precisely in time to be too late would cast
the more discredit on my tale if I were minded to tell one and this screwed me
to fighting point
»Now then Andie you that kens the world listen to me and think while ye
listen« said I »I know there are great folks in the business and I make no
doubt you have their names to go upon I have seen some of them myself since
this affair began and said my say into their faces too But what kind of a
crime would this be that I had committed or what kind of a process is this that
I am fallen under To be apprehended by some ragged JohnHielandmen on August
30th carried to a rickle of old stones that is now neither fort nor gaol
whatever it once was but just the gamekeepers lodge of the Bass Rock and set
free again September 23rd as secretly as I was first arrested does that
sound like law to you or does it sound like justice or does it not sound
honestly like a piece of some low dirty intrigue of which the very folk that
meddle with it are ashamed«
»I canna gainsay ye Shaws It looks unco underhand« says Andie »And
werena the folk guid sound Whigs and trueblue Presbyterians I would hae seen
them ayont Jordan and Jeroozlem or I would have set hand to it«
»The Master of Lovatll be a braw Whig« says I »and a grand Presbyterian«
»I ken naething by him« said he »I hae nae trokings wi Lovats«
»No itll be Prestongrange that youll be dealing with« said I
»Ah but Ill no tell ye that« said Andie
»Little need when I ken« was my retort
»Theres just the ae thing ye can be fairly sure of Shaws« says Andie
»And that is that try as ye please Im no dealing wi yoursel nor yet I
amna goin to« he added
»Well Andie I see Ill have to speak out plain with you« I replied And I
told him so much as I thought needful of the facts
He heard me out with serious interest and when I had done seemed to
consider a little with himself
»Shaws« said he at last »Ill deal with the naked hand Its a queer tale
and no very creditable the way you tell it and Im far frae minting that is
other than the way that ye believe it As for yoursel ye seem to me rather a
dacentlike young man But me thats aulder and mair judeecious see perhaps a
wee bit further forrit in the job than what ye can dae And here is the maitter
clear and plain to ye Therell be nae skaith to yoursel if I keep ye here far
frae that I think yell be a hantle better by it Therell be nae skaith to the
kintry just ae mair Hielantman hangit Gude kens a guid riddance On the
ither hand it would be considerable skaith to me if I would let you free Sae
speakin as a guid Whig an honest freen to you and an anxious freen to my
ainsel the plain fact is that I think yell just have to bide here wi Andie
an the solans«
»Andie« said I laying my hand upon his knee »this Hielantmans innocent«
»Ay its a peety about that« said he »But ye see in this warld the way
God made it we canna just get athing that we want«
Chapter XV
Black Andies Tale of Tod Lapraik
I have yet said little of the Highlanders They were all three of the followers
of James More which bound the accusation very tight about their masters neck
All understood a word or two of English but Neil was the only one who judged he
had enough of it for general converse in which when once he got embarked his
company was often tempted to the contrary opinion They were tractable simple
creatures showed much more courtesy than might have been expected from their
raggedness and their uncouth appearance and fell spontaneously to be like three
servants for Andie and myself
Dwelling in that isolated place in the old falling ruins of a prison and
among endless strange sounds of the sea and the seabirds I thought I perceived
in them early the effects of superstitious fear When there was nothing doing
they would either lie and sleep for which their appetite appeared insatiable
or Neil would entertain the others with stories which seemed always of a
terrifying strain If neither of these delights were within reach if perhaps
two were sleeping and the third could find no means to follow their example I
would see him sit and listen and look about him in a progression of uneasiness
starting his face blenching his hands clutched a man strung like a bow The
nature of these fears I had never an occasion to find out but the sight of them
was catching and the nature of the place that we were in favourable to alarms
I can find no word for it in the English but Andie had an expression for it in
the Scots from which he never varied
»Ay« he would say »its an unco place the Bass«
It is so I always think of it It was an unco place by night unco by day
and these were unco sounds of the calling of the solans and the plash of the
sea and the rock echoes that hung continually in our ears It was chiefly so in
moderate weather When the waves were any way great they roared about the rock
like thunder and the drums of armies dreadful but merry to hear and it was in
the calm days that a man could daunt himself with listening not a Highlandman
only as I several times experimented on myself so many still hollow noises
haunted and reverberated in the porches of the rock
This brings me to a story I heard and a scene I took part in which quite
changed our terms of living and had a great effect on my departure It chanced
one night I fell in a muse beside the fire and that little air of Alans coming
back to my memory began to whistle A hand was laid upon my arm and the voice
of Neil bade me to stop for it was not canny musics
»Not canny« I asked »How can that be«
»Na« said he »it will be made by a bogle and her wanting ta heid upon his
body«13
»Well« said I »there can be no bogles here Neil for its not likely they
would fash themselves to frighten solan geese«
»Ay« says Andie »is that what ye think of it But Ill can tell ye theres
been waur nor bogles here«
»Whats waur than bogles Andie« said I
»Warlocks« said he »Or a warlock at the least of it And thats a queer
tale too« he added »And if ye would like Ill tell it ye«
To be sure we were all of the one mind and even the Highlander that had the
least English of the three set himself to listen with all his might
The Tale of Tod Lapraik
My faither Tam Dale peace to his banes was a wild sploring lad in his young
days wi little wisdom and less grace He was fond of a lass and fond of a
glass and fond of a randan but I could never hear tell that he was muckle use
for honest employment Frae ae thing to anither he listed at last for a sodger
and was in the garrison of this fort which was the first way that ony of the
Dales cam to set foot upon the Bass Sorrow upon that service The governor
brewed his ain ale it seems it was the warst conceivable The rock was
proveesioned frae the shore with vivers the thing was illguided and there
were whiles when they but to fish and shoot solans for their diet To crown a
thir was the Days of the Persecution The perishin cauld chalmers were a
occupeed wi sants and martyrs the saut of the yerd of which it wasna worthy
And though Tam Dale carried a firelock there a single sodger and likit a lass
and a glass as I was sayin the mind of the man was mair just than set with
his position He had glints of the glory of the kirk there were whiles when his
dander rase to see the Lords sants misguided and shame covered him that he
should be hauldin a canle or carrying a firelock in so black a business
There were nights of it when he was here on sentry the place a wheesht the
frosts o winter maybe riving in the was and he would hear ane o the
prisoners strike up a psalm and the rest join in and the blessed sounds rising
from the different chalmers or dungeons I would raither say so that this
auld craig in the sea was like a pairt of Heevn Black shame was on his saul
his sins hove up before him muckle as the Bass and above a that chief sin
that he should have a hand in hagging and hashing at Christs Kirk But the
truth is that he resisted the spirit Day cam there were the rousing
compainions and his guid resolves depairtit
In thir days dwalled upon the Bass a man of God Peden the Prophet was his
name Yell have heard tell of Prophet Peden There was never the wale of him
sinsyne and its a question wi mony if there ever was his like afore He was
wilds a peathag fearsome to look at fearsome to hear his face like the day
of judgment The voice of him was like a solans and dinnled in folks lugs and
the words of him like coals of fire
Now there was a lass on the rock and I think she had little to do for it
was nae place for dacent weemen but it seems she was bonny and her and Tam
Dale were very well agreed It befell that Peden was in the gairden his lane at
the praying when Tam and the lass cam by and what should the lassie do but mock
with laughter at the sants devotions He rose and lookit at the twa o them
and Tams knees knoitered thegether at the look of him But whan he spak it was
mair in sorrow than in anger »Poor thing poor thing« says he and it was the
lass he lookit at »I hear you skirl and laugh« he says »but the Lord has a
deid shot prepared for you and at that surprising judgment ye shall skirl but
the ae time« Shortly thereafter she was daundering on the craigs wi twathree
sodgers and it was a blawy day There cam a gowst of wind claught her by the
coats and awa wi her bag and baggage And it was remarkit by the sodgers
that she gied but the ae skirl
Nae doubt this judgment had some weicht upon Tam Dale but it passed again
and him nane the better Ae day he was flyting wi anither sodgerlad »Deil hae
me« quo Tam for he was a profane swearer And there was Peden glowering at
him gash an waefu Peden wi his lang chafts an luntin een the maud happit
about his kist and the hand of him held out wi the black nails upon the
fingernebs for he had nae care of the body »Fy fy poor man« cries he
»the poor fool man Deil hae me quo he an I see the deil at his oxter« The
conviction of guilt and grace cam in on Tam like the deep sea he flang doun the
pike that was in his hands »I will nae mair lift arms against the cause o
Christ« says he and was as gudes word There was a sair fyke in the
beginning but the governor seeing him resolved gied him his dischairge and
he went and dwallt and merried in North Berwick and had aye a gude name with
honest folk frae that day on
It was in the year seeventeen hunner and sax that the Bass cam in the hands
o the Darymples and there was twa men soucht the chairge of it Baith were
weel qualified for they had baith been sodgers in the garrison and kennt the
gate to handle solans and the seasons and values of them Forbye that they were
baith or they baith seemed earnest professors and men of comely
conversation The first of them was just Tam Dale my faither The second was
ane Lapraik whom the folk cad Tod Lapraik maistly but whether for his name or
his nature I could never hear tell Weel Tam gaed to see Lapraik upon this
business and took me that was a toddlin laddie by the hand Tod had his
dwallin in the lang loan benorth the kirkyaird Its a dark uncanny loan
forbye that the kirk has aye had an ill name since the days o James the Saxt
and the deevils cantrips played therein when the Queen was on the seas and as
for Tods house it was in the mirkest end and was little likit by some that
kenned the best The door was on the sneck that day and me and my faither gaed
straucht in Tod was a wabster to his trade his loom stood in the but There he
sat a muckle fat white hash of a man like creish wi a kind of a holy smile
that gart me scunner The hand of him aye cawed the shuttle but his een was
steekit We cried to him by his name we skirled in the deid lug of him we
shook him by the shouther Nae mainner o service There he sat on his dowp an
cawed the shuttle and smiled like creish
»God be guid to us« says Tam Dale »this is no canny«
He had jimp said the word when Tod Lapraik cam to himsel
»Is this you Tam« says he »Haith man Im blithe to see ye I whiles fa
into a bit dwam like this« he says »its frae the stamach«
Weel they began to crack about the Bass and which of them twa was to get
the warding ot and by little and little cam to very ill words and twined in
anger I mind weel that as my faither and me gaed hame again he came ower and
ower the same expression how little he likit Tod Lapraik and his dwams
»Dwam« says he »I think folk hae brunt for dwams like yon«
Aweel my faither got the Bass and Tod had to go wantin It was remembered
sinsyne what way he had taen the thing »Tam« says he »ye hae gotten the
better o me aince mair and I hope« says he »yell find at least a that ye
expeckit at the Bass« Which have since been thought remarkable expressions At
last the time came for Tam Dale to take young solans This was a business he was
weel used wi he had been a craigsman frae a laddie and trustit nane but
himsel So there was he hingin by a line an speldering on the craig face
whaur its hieest and steighest Fower tenty lads were on the tap hauldin the
line and mindin for his signals But whaur Tam hung there was naething but the
craig and the sea below and the solans skirling and flying It was a braw
spring morn and Tam whustled as he claught in the young geese Monys the time
I heard him tell of this experience and aye the swat ran upon the man
It chanced ye see that Tam keekit up and he was awaur of a muckle solan
and the solan pyking at the line He thocht this byordinar and outside the
creatures habits He minded that ropes was unco saft things and the solans
neb and the Bass Rock unco hard and that twa hunner feet were raither mair than
he would care to fa
»Shoo« says Tam »Awa bird Shoo awa wi ye« says he
The solan keekit doun into Tams face and there was something unco in the
creatures ee Just the ae keek it gied and back to the rope But now it
wroucht and warstlt like a thing dementit There never was the solan made that
wroucht as that solan wroucht and it seemed to understand its employ brawly
birzing the saft rope between the neb of it and a crunkled jag o stane
There gaed a cauld stend o fear into Tams heart »This thing is nae bird«
thinks he His een turnt backward in his heid and the day gaed black about him
»If I get a dwam here« he thocht »its by wi Tam Dale« And he signalled for
the lads to pu him up
And it seemed the solan understood about signals For nae sooner was the
signal made than he let be the rope spried his wings squawked out loud took a
turn flying and dashed straucht at Tam Dales een Tam had a knife he gart the
cauld steel glitter And it seemed the solan understood about knives for nae
suner did the steel glint in the sun than he gied the ae squawk but laigher
like a body disappointit and flegged aff about the roundness of the craig and
Tam saw him nae mair And as sune as that thing was gane Tams heid drapt upon
his shouther and they pud him up like a deid corp dadding on the craig
A dram of brandy which he went never without broucht him to his mind or
what was left of it Up he sat
»Rin Geordie rin to the boat mak sure of the boat man rin« he cries
»or yon solanll have it awa« says he
The fower lads stared at ither an tried to whillywha him to be quiet But
naething would satisfy Tam Dale till ane o them had startit on aheid to stand
sentry on the boat The ithers askit if he was for down again
»Na« says he »and neither you nor me« says he »and as sune as I can win
to stand on my twa feet well be aff frae this craig o Sawtan«
Sure eneuch nae time was lost and that was ower muckle for before they
won to North Berwick Tam was in a crying fever He lay a the simmer and wha
was sae kind as come speiring for him but Tod Lapraik Folk thocht afterwards
that ilka time Tod cam near the house the fever had worsened I kenna for that
but what I ken the best that was the end of it
It was about this time o the year my grandfaither was out at the white
fishing and like a bairn I but to gang wi him We had a grand take I mind
and the way that the fish lay broucht us near in by the Bass whaur we
forgathered wi anither boat that belanged to a man Sandie Fletcher in
Castleton Hes no lang deid neither or ye could speir at himsel Weel
Sandie hailed
»Whats yon on the Bass« says he
»On the Bass« says grandfaither
»Ay« says Sandie »on the green side ot«
»Whatten kind of a thing?« says grandfaither »There canna be naething on
the Bass but just the sheep«
»It looks unco like a body« quo Sandie who was nearer in
»A body« says we and we nane of us likit that For there was nae boat that
could have broucht a man and the key o the prison yett hung ower my faithers
heid at hame in the press bed
We keept the twa boats closs for company and crap in nearer hand
Grandfaither had a gless for he had been a sailor and the captain of a smack
and had lost her on the sands of Tay And when we took the gless to it sure
eneuch there was a man He was in a crunkle o green brae a wee below the
chaipel a by his leelane and lowped and flang and danced like a daft quean
at a waddin
»Its Tod« says grandfaither and passed the gless to Sandie
»Ay its him« says Sandie
»Or ane in the likeness o him« says grandfaither
»Sma is the differ« quo Sandie »Deil or warlock Ill try the gun at
him« quo he and broucht up a fowlingpiece that he aye carried for Sandie
was a notable famous shot in a that country
»Haud your hand Sandie« says grandfaither »we maun see clearer first«
says he »or this may be a dear days wark to the baith of us«
»Hout« says Sandie »this is the Lords judgments surely and be damned to
it« says he
»Maybe ay and maybe no« says my grandfaither worthy man »But have you a
mind of the Procurator Fiscal that I think yell have forgathered wi before«
says he
This was ower true and Sandie was a wee thing set ajee »Aweel Edie« says
he »and what would be your way of it«
»Ou just this« says grandfaither »Let me that has the fastest boat gang
back to North Berwick and let you bide here and keep an eye on Thon If I canna
find Lapraik Ill join ye and the twa of usll have a crack wi him But if
Lapraiks at hame Ill rin up the flag at the harbour and ye can try Thon
Thing wi the gun«
Aweel so it was agreed between them twa I was just a bairn an clum in
Sandies boat whaur I thocht I would see the best of the employ My grandsire
gied Sandie a siller tester to pit in his gun wi the leid draps bein mair
deidly again bogles And then the ae boat set aff for North Berwick an the
tither lay whaur it was and watched the wanchancy thing on the braeside
A the time we lay there it lowped and flang and capered and span like a
teetotum and whiles we could hear it skelloch as it span I hae seen lassies
the daft queans that would lowp and dance a winters nicht and still be
lowping and dancing when the winters day cam in But there would be folk there
to hauld them company and the lads to egg them on and this thing was its
leelane And there would be a fiddler diddling his elbock in the chimneyside
and this thing had nae music but the skirling of the solans And the lassies
were bits o young things wi the reid life dinnling and stending in their
members and this was a muckle fat creishy man and him fan in the vale o
years Say what ye like I maun say what I believe It was joy was in the
creatures heart the joy o hell I daursay joy whatever Mony a time I have
askit mysel why witches and warlocks should sell their sauls whilk are their
maist dear possessions and be auld duddy wrunklt wives or auld feckless
doddered men and then I mind upon Tod Lapraik dancing a thae hours by his lane
in the black glory of his heart Nae doubt they burn for it in muckle hell but
they have a grand time here of it whatever and the Lord forgie us
Weel at the hinder end we saw the wee flag yirk up to the mastheid upon
the harbour rocks That was a Sandie waited for He up wi the gun took a
deleeberate aim an pud the trigger There cam a bang and then ae waefu skirl
frae the Bass And there were we rubbin our een and lookin at ither like daft
folk For wi the bang and the skirl the thing had clean disappeared The sun
glintit the wund blew and there was the bare yerd whaur the Wonder had been
lowping and flinging but ae second syne
The hale way hame I roared and grat wi the terror of that dispensation The
grawn folk were nane sae muckle better there was little said in Sandies boat
but just the name of God and when we won in by the pier the harbour rocks were
fair black wi the folk waitin us It seems they had fund Lapraik in ane of his
dwams cawing the shuttle and smiling Ae lad they sent to hoist the flag and
the rest abode there in the wabsters house You may be sure they likit it
little but it was a means of grace to severals that stood there praying in to
themsels for nane cared to pray out loud and looking on thon awesome thing as
it cawed the shuttle Syne upon a suddenty and wi the ae dreidfu skelloch
Tod sprang up frae his hinderlands and fell forrit on the wab a bluidy corp
When the corp was examined the leid draps hadna played buff upon the
warlocks body sorrow a leid drap was to be fund but there was grandfaithers
siller tester in the puddocks heart of him
Andie had scarce done when there befell a mighty silly affair that had its
consequence Neil as I have said was himself a great narrator I have heard
since that he knew all the stories in the Highlands and thought much of
himself and was thought much of by others on the strength of it Now Andies
tale reminded him of one he had already heard
»She would ken that story afore« he said »She was the story of Uistean
More MGillie Phadrig and the Gavar Vore«
»It is no sic a thing« cried Andie »It is the story of my faither now wi
God and Tod Lapraik And the same in your beard« says he »and keep the tongue
of ye inside your Hielant chafts«
In dealing with Highlanders it will be found and has been shown in history
how well it goes with Lowland gentlefolk but the thing appears scarce feasible
for Lowland commons I had already remarked that Andie was continually on the
point of quarrelling with our three Macgregors and now sure enough it was to
come
»Thir will be no words to use to shentlemans« says Neil
»Shentlemans« cries Andie »Shentlemans ye Hielant stot If God would gie
ye the grace to see yoursel the way that ithers see ye ye would throw your
denner up«
There came some kind of a Gaelic oath from Neil and the black knife was in
his hand that moment
There was no time to think and I caught the Highlander by the leg and had
him down and his armed hand pinned out before I knew what I was doing His
comrades sprang to rescue him Andie and I were without weapons the Gregara
three to two It seemed we were beyond salvation when Neil screamed in his own
tongue ordering the others back and made his submission to myself in a manner
the most abject even giving me up his knife which upon a repetition of his
promises I returned to him on the morrow
Two things I saw plain the first that I must not build too high on Andie
who had shrunk against the wall and stood there as pale as death till the
affair was over the second the strength of my own position with the
Highlanders who must have received extraordinary charges to be tender of my
safety But if I thought Andie came not very well out in courage I had no fault
to find with him upon the account of gratitude It was not so much that he
troubled me with thanks as that his whole mind and manner appeared changed and
as he preserved ever after a great timidity of our companions he and I were yet
more constantly together
Chapter XVI
The Missing Witness
On the seventeenth the day I was trysted with the Writer I had much rebellion
against fate The thought of him waiting in the Kings Arms and of what he
would think and what he would say when next we met tormented and oppressed
me The truth was unbelievable so much I had to grant and it seemed cruel hard
I should be posted as a liar and a coward and have never consciously omitted
what it was possible that I should do I repeated this form of words with a kind
of bitter relish and reexamined in that light the steps of my behaviour It
seemed I had behaved to James Stewart as a brother might all the past was a
picture that I could be proud of and there was only the present to consider I
could not swim the sea nor yet fly in the air but there was always Andie I
had done him a service he liked me I had a lever there to work on if it were
just for decency I must try once more with Andie
It was late afternoon there was no sound in all the Bass but the lap and
bubble of a very quiet sea and my four companions were all crept apart the
three Macgregors higher on the rock and Andie with his Bible to a sunny place
among the ruins there I found him in deep sleep and as soon as he was awake
appealed to him with some fervour of manner and a good show of argument
»If I thocht it was to do guid to ye Shaws« said he staring at me over
his spectacles
»Its to save another« said I »and to redeem my word What would be more
good than that Do ye no mind the scripture Andie And you with the Book upon
your lap What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world«
»Ay« said he »thats grand for you But where do I come in I have my word
to redeem the sames yoursel And what are ye asking me to do but just to sell
it ye for siller«
»Andie have I named the name of siller« cried I
»Ou the names naething« said he »the thing is there whatever It just
comes to this if I am to service ye the way that you propose Ill lose my
lifelihood Then its clear yell have to make it up to me and a pickle mair
for your ain credit like And whats that but just a bribe And if even I was
certain of the bribe But by a that I can learn its far frae that and if you
were to hang where would I be Na the things no possible And just awa wi
ye like a bonny lad and let Andie read his chapter«
I remember I was at bottom a good deal gratified with this result and the
next humour I fell into was one I had near said of gratitude to Prestongrange
who had saved me in this violent illegal manner out of the midst of my
dangers temptations and perplexities But this was both too flimsy and too
cowardly to last me long and the remembrance or James began to succeed to the
possession of my spirits The 21st the day set for the trial I passed in such
misery of mind as I can scarce recall to have endured save perhaps upon Isle
Earraid only Much of the time I lay on a braeside betwixt sleep and waking my
body motionless my mind full of violent thoughts Sometimes I slept indeed but
the courthouse of Inverary and the prisoner glancing on all sides to find his
missing witness followed me in slumber and I would wake again with a start to
darkness of spirit and distress of body I thought Andie seemed to observe me
but I paid him little heed Verily my bread was bitter to me and my days a
burthen
Early the next morning Friday 22nd a boat came with provisions and Andie
placed a packet in my hand The cover was without address but sealed with a
Government seal It enclosed two notes »Mr Balfour can now see for himself it
is too late to meddle His conduct will be observed and his discretion
rewarded« So ran the first which seemed to be laboriously writ with the left
hand There was certainly nothing in these expressions to compromise the writer
even if that person could be found the seal which formidably served instead of
signature was affixed to a separate sheet on which there was no scratch of
writing and I had to confess that so far my adversaries knew what they were
doing and to digest as well as I was able the threat that peeped under the
promise
But the second enclosure was by far the more surprising It was in a ladys
hand of writ »Maister Dauvit Balfour is informed a friend was speiring for him
and her eyes were of the grey« it ran and seemed so extraordinary a piece to
come to my hands at such a moment and under cover of a Government seal that I
stood stupid Catrionas grey eyes shone in my remembrance I thought with a
bound of pleasure she must be the friend But who should the writer be to have
her billet thus enclosed with Prestongranges And of all wonders why was it
thought needful to give me this pleasing but most inconsequential intelligence
upon the Bass For the writer I could hit upon none possible except Miss Grant
Her family I remembered had remarked on Catrionas eyes and even named her
for their colour and she herself had been much in the habit to address me with
a broad pronunciation by way of a sniff I supposed at my rusticity No doubt
besides but she lived in the same house as this letter came from So there
remained but one step to be accounted for and that was how Prestongrange should
have permitted her at all in an affair so secret or let her daftlike billet go
in the same cover with his own But even here I had a glimmering For first of
all there was something rather alarming about the young lady and papa might be
more under her domination than I knew And second there was the mans continual
policy to be remembered how his conduct had been continually mingled with
caresses and he had scarce ever in the midst of so much contention laid aside
a mask of friendship He must conceive that my imprisonment had incensed me
Perhaps this little jesting friendly message was intended to disarm my rancour
I will be honest and I think it did I felt a sudden warmth towards that
beautiful Miss Grant that she should stoop to so much interest in my affairs
The summoning up of Catriona moved me of itself to milder and more cowardly
counsels If the Advocate knew of her and of our acquaintance if I should
please him by some of that discretion at which his letter pointed to what
might not this lead In vain is the net spread in the sight of any fowl the
scripture says Well fowls must be wiser than folk For I thought I perceived
the policy and yet fell in with it
I was in this frame my heart beating the grey eyes plain before me like
two stars when Andie broke in upon my musing
»I see ye hae gotten guid news« said he
I found him looking curiously in my face with that there came before me
like a vision of James Stewart and the court of Inverary and my mind turned at
once like a door upon its hinges Trials I reflected sometimes draw out longer
than is looked for Even if I came to Inverary just too late something might
yet be attempted in the interests of James and in those of my own character
the best would be accomplished In a moment it seemed without thought I had a
plan devised
»Andie« said I »is it still to be tomorrow«
He told me nothing was changed
»Was anything said about the hour« I asked
He told me it was to be two oclock afternoon
»And about the place« I pursued
»Whatten place« says Andie
»The place Im to be landed at« said I
He owned there was nothing as to that
»Very well then« I said »this shall be mine to arrange The wind is in
the east my road lies westward keep your boat I hire it let us work up the
Forth all day and land me at two oclock tomorrow at the westmost well can
have reached«
»Ye daft callant« he cried »ye would try for Inverary after a«
»Just that Andie« says I
»Weel yere ill to beat« says he »And I was kind o sorry for ye a day
yesterday« he added »Ye see I was never entirely sure till then which way of
it ye really wantit«
Here was a spur to a lame horse
»A word in your ear Andie« said I »This plan of mine has another
advantage yet We can leave these Hielandmen behind us on the rock and one of
your boats from the Castleton can bring them off tomorrow Yon Neil has a queer
eye when he regards you maybe if I was once out of the gate there might be
knives again these redshanks are unco grudgeful And if there should come to
be any question here is your excuse Our lives were in danger by these savages
being answerable for my safety you chose the part to bring me from their
neighbourhood and detain me the rest of the time on board your boat and do you
know Andie« says I with a smile »I think it was very wisely chosen«
»The truth is I have nae goo for Neil« says Andie »nor he for me Im
thinking and I would like ill to come to my hands wi the man Tam Anster will
make a better hand of it with the cattle onyway« For this man Anster came
from Fife where the Gaelic is still spoken »Ay ay« says Andie »Tamll can
deal wi them the best And troth the mair I think of it the less I see what
way we would be required The place ay feggs they had forgot the place Eh
Shaws yere a langheided chield when ye like Forbye that Im awing ye my
life« he added with more solemnity and offered me his hand upon the bargain
Whereupon with scarce more words we stepped suddenly on board the boat
cast off and set the lug The Gregara were then busy upon breakfast for the
cookery was their usual part but one of them stepping to the battlements our
flight was observed before we were twenty fathoms from the rock and the three
of them ran about the ruins and the landingshelf for all the world like ants
about a broken nest hailing and crying on us to return We were still in both
the lee and the shadow of the rock which last lay broad upon the waters but
presently came forth in almost the same moment into the wind and sunshine the
sail filled the boat heeled to the gunwale and we swept immediately beyond
sound of the mens voices To what terrors they endured upon the rock where
they were now deserted without the countenance of any civilised person or so
much as the protection of a Bible no limit can be set nor had they any brandy
left to be their consolation for even in the haste and secrecy of our departure
Andie had managed to remove it
It was our first care to set Anster ashore in a cove by the Glenteithy
Rocks so that the deliverance of our maroons might be duly seen to the next
day Thence we kept away up Firth The breeze which was then so spirited
swiftly declined but never wholly failed us All day we kept moving though
often not much more and it was after dark ere we were up with the Queens
Ferry To keep the letter of Andies engagement or what was left of it I must
remain on board but I thought no harm to communicate with the shore in writing
On Prestongranges cover where the Government seal must have a good deal
surprised my correspondent I writ by the boats lantern a few necessary
words and Andie carried them to Rankeillor In about an hour he came aboard
again with a purse of money and the assurance that a good horse should be
standing saddled for me by two tomorrow at Clackmannan Pool This done and the
boat riding by her stone anchor we lay down to sleep under the sail
We were in the Pool the next day long ere two and there was nothing left
for me but sit and wait I felt little alacrity upon my errand I would have
been glad of any passable excuse to lay it down but none being to be found my
uneasiness was no less great than if I had been running to some desired
pleasure By shortly after one the horse was at the waterside and I could see
a man walking it to and fro till I should land which vastly swelled my
impatience Andie ran the moment of liberation very fine showing himself a man
of his bare word but scarce serving his employers with a heaped measure and by
about fifty seconds after two I was in the saddle and on the full stretch for
Stirling In a little more than an hour I had passed that town and was already
mounting Allan Water side when the weather broke in a small tempest The rain
blinded me the wind had nearly beat me from the saddle and the first darkness
of the night surprised me in a wilderness still some way east of Balwhidder not
very sure of my direction and mounted on a horse that began already to be
weary
In the press of my hurry and to be spared the delay and annoyance of a
guide I had followed so far as it was possible for any horseman the line of
my journey with Alan This I did with open eyes foreseeing a great risk in it
which the tempest had now brought to a reality The last that I knew of where I
was I think it must have been about Uam Var the hour perhaps six at night I
must still think it great good fortune that I got about eleven to my
destination the house of Duncan Dhu Where I had wandered in the interval
perhaps the horse could tell I know we were twice down and once over the
saddle and for a moment carried away in a roaring burn Steed and rider were
bemired up to the eyes
From Duncan I had news of the trial It was followed in all these Highland
regions with religious interest news of it spread from Inverary as swift as men
could travel and I was rejoiced to learn that up to a late hour that Saturday
it was not yet concluded and all men began to suppose it must spread over to
the Monday Under the spur of this intelligence I would not sit to eat but
Duncan having agreed to be my guide took the road again on foot with the piece
in my hand and munching as I went Duncan brought with him a flask of usquebaugh
and a handlantern which last enlightened us just so long as we could find
houses where to rekindle it for the thing leaked outrageously and blew out with
every gust The more part of the night we walked blindfold among sheets of rain
and day found us aimless on the mountains Hard by we struck a hut on a
burnside where we got a bite and a direction and a little before the end of
the sermon came to the kirkdoors of Inverary
The rain had somewhat washed the upper parts of me but I was still bogged
as high as to the knees I streamed water I was so weary I could hardly limp
and my face was like a ghosts I stood certainly more in need of a change of
raiment and a bed to lie on than of all the benefits in Christianity For all
which being persuaded the chief point for me was to make myself immediately
public I set the door open entered that church with the dirty Duncan at my
tails and finding a vacant place hard by sat down
»Thirteenthly my brethren and in parenthesis the law itself must be
regarded as a means of grace« the minister was saying in the voice of one
delighting to pursue an argument
The sermon was in English on account of the assize The judges were present
with their armed attendants the halberts glittered in a corner by the door and
the seats were thronged beyond custom with the array of lawyers The text was in
Romans 5th and 13th the minister a skilled hand and the whole of that able
churchful from Argyle and my Lords Elchies and Kilkerran down to the
halbertmen that came in their attendance was sunk with gathered brows in a
profound critical attention The minister himself and a sprinkling of those
about the door observed our entrance at the moment and immediately forgot the
same the rest either did not hear or would not heed and I sat there amongst my
friends and enemies unremarked
The first that I singled out was Prestongrange He sat well forward like an
eager horseman in the saddle his lips moving with relish his eyes glued on the
minister the doctrine was clearly to his mind Charles Stewart on the other
hand was halfasleep and looked harassed and pale As for Simon Fraser he
appeared like a blot and almost a scandal in the midst of that attentive
congregation digging his hands in his pockets shifting his legs clearing his
throat rolling up his bald eyebrows and shooting out his eyes to right and
left now with a yawn now with a secret smile At times too he would take the
Bible in front of him run it through seem to read a bit run it through again
and stop and yawn prodigiously the whole as if for exercise
In the course of this restlessness his eye alighted on myself He sat a
second stupefied then tore a half leaf out of the Bible scrawled upon it with
a pencil and passed it with a whispered word to his next neighbour The note
came to Prestongrange who gave me but the one look thence it voyaged to the
hands of Mr Erskine thence again to Argyle where he sat between the other two
lords of session and his Grace turned and fixed me with an arrogant eye The
last of those interested to observe my presence was Charlie Stewart and he too
began to pencil and hand about despatches none of which I was able to trace to
their destination in the crowd
But the passage of these notes had aroused notice all who were in the
secret or supposed themselves to be so were whispering information the rest
questions and the minister himself seemed quite discountenanced by the flutter
in the church and sudden stir and whispering His voice changed he plainly
faltered nor did he again recover the easy conviction and full tones of his
delivery It would be a puzzle to him till his dying day why a sermon that had
gone with triumph through four parts should thus miscarry in the fifth
As for me I continued to sit there very wet and weary and a good deal
anxious as to what should happen next but greatly exulting in my success
Chapter XVII
The Memorial
The last word of the blessing was scarce out of the ministers mouth before
Stewart had me by the arm We were the first to be forth of the church and he
made such extraordinary expedition that we were safe within the four walls of a
house before the street had begun to be thronged with the homegoing
congregation
»Am I yet in time« I asked
»Ay and no« said he »The case is over the jury is enclosed and will be
so kind as let us ken their view of it tomorrow in the morning the same as I
could have told it my own self three days ago before the play began The thing
has been public from the start The panel kennt it Ye may do what ye will for
me whispers he two days ago I ken my fate by what the Duke of Argyle has just
said to Mr Macintosh O its been a scandal
The great Argyle he gaed before
He gart the cannons and guns to roar
and the very macer cried Cruachan But now that I have got you again Ill never
despair The oak shall go over the myrtle yet well ding the Campbells yet in
their own town Praise God that I should see the day«
He was leaping with excitement emptied out his mails upon the floor that I
might have a change of clothes and incommoded me with his assistance as I
changed What remained to be done or how I was to do it was what he never told
me nor I believe so much as thought of »Well ding the Campbells yet« that
was still his owercome And it was forced home upon my mind how this that had
the externals of a sober process of law was in its essence a clan battle
between savage clans I thought my friend the Writer none of the least savage
Who that had only seen him at a counsels back before the Lord Ordinary or
following a golfball and laying down his clubs on Bruntsfield links could have
recognised for the same person this voluble and violent clansman
James Stewarts counsel were four in number Sheriffs Brown of Colstoun and
Miller Mr Robert Macintosh and Mr Stewart younger of Stewart Hall These
were covenanted to dine with the Writer after sermon and I was very obligingly
included of the party No sooner the cloth lifted and the first bowl very
artfully compounded by Sheriff Miller than we fell to the subject in hand I
made a short narration of my seizure and captivity and was then examined and
reexamined upon the circumstances of the murder It will be remembered this was
the first time I had had my say out or the matter at all handled among
lawyers and the consequence was very dispiriting to the others and I must own
disappointing to myself
»To sum up« said Colstoun »you prove that Alan was on the spot you have
heard him proffer menaces against Glenure and though you assure us he was not
the man who fired you leave a strong impression that he was in league with him
and consenting perhaps immediately assisting in the act You show him besides
at the risk of his own liberty actively furthering the criminals escape And
the rest of your testimony so far as the least material depends on the bare
word of Alan or of James the two accused In short you do not at all break
but only lengthen by one personage the chain that binds our client to the
murderer and I need scarcely say that the introduction of a third accomplice
rather aggravates that appearance of a conspiracy which has been our
stumblingblock from the beginning«
»I am of the same opinion« said Sheriff Miller »I think we may all be very
much obliged to Prestongrange for taking a most uncomfortable witness out of our
way And chiefly I think Mr Balfour himself might be obliged For you talk of
a third accomplice but Mr Balfour in my view has very much the appearance of
a fourth«
»Allow me sirs« interposed Stewart the Writer »There is another view
Here we have a witness never fash whether material or not a witness in this
cause kidnapped by that old lawless bandit crew of the Glengyle Macgregors
and sequestered for near upon a month in a bourock of old cold ruins on the
Bass Move that and see what dirt you fling on the proceedings Sirs this is a
tale to make the world ring with It would be strange with such a grip as this
if we couldna squeeze out a pardon for my client«
»And suppose we took up Mr Balfours cause tomorrow« said Stewart Hall »I
am much deceived or we should find so many impediments thrown in our path as
that James should have been hanged before we had found a court to hear us This
is a great scandal but I suppose we have none of us forgot a greater still I
mean the matter of the Lady Grange The woman was still in durance my friend
Mr Hope of Rankeillor did what was humanly possible and how did he speed He
never got a warrant Well itll be the same now the same weapons will be used
This is a scene gentlemen of clan animosity The hatred of the name which I
have the honour to bear rages in high quarters There is nothing here to be
viewed but naked Campbell spite and scurvy Campbell intrigue«
You may be sure this was to touch a welcome topic and I sat for some time
in the midst of my learned counsel almost deaved with their talk but extremely
little the wiser for its purport The Writer was led into some hot expressions
Colstoun must take him up and set him right the rest joined in on different
sides but all pretty noisy the Duke of Argyle was beaten like a blanket King
George came in for a few digs in the bygoing and a great deal of rather
elaborate defence and there was only one person that seemed to be forgotten
and that was James of the Glens
Through all this Mr Miller sat quiet He was a slip of an oldish gentleman
ruddy and twinkling he spoke in a smooth rich voice with an infinite effect of
pawkiness dealing out each word the way an actor does to give the most
expression possible and even now when he was silent and sat there with his
wig laid aside his glass in both hands his mouth funnily pursed and his chin
out he seemed the mere picture of a merry slyness It was plain he had a word
to say and waited for the fit occasion
It came presently Colstoun had wound up one of his speeches with some
expression of their duty to their client His brother sheriff was pleased I
suppose with the transition He took the table in his confidence with a gesture
and a look
»That suggests to me a consideration which seems overlooked« said he »The
interest of our client goes certainly before all but the world does not come to
an end with James Stewart« Whereat he cocked his eye »I might condescend
exempli gratia upon a Mr George Brown a Mr Thomas Miller and a Mr David
Balfour Mr David Balfour has a very good ground of complaint and I think
gentlemen if his story was properly redd out I think there would be a number
of wigs on the green«
The whole table turned to him with a common movement
»Properly handled and carefully redd out his is a story that could scarcely
fail to have some consequence« he continued »The whole administration of
justice from its highest officer downward would be totally discredited and it
looks to me as if they would need to be replaced« He seemed to shine with
cunning as he said it »And I need not point out to ye that this of Mr
Balfours would be a remarkable bonny cause to appear in« he added
Well there they all were started on another hare Mr Balfours cause and
what kind of speeches could be there delivered and what officials could be thus
turned out and who would succeed to their positions I shall give but the two
specimens It was proposed to approach Simon Fraser whose testimony if it
could be obtained would prove certainly fatal to Argyle and Prestongrange
Miller highly approved of the attempt »We have here before us a dreeping
roast« said he »here is cutandcomeagain for all« And methought all licked
their lips The other was already near the end Stewart the Writer was out of
the body with delight smelling vengeance on his chief enemy the Duke
»Gentlemen« cried he charging his glass »here is to Sheriff Miller His
legal abilities are known to all His culinary this bowl in front of us is here
to speak for But when it comes to the poleetical« cries he and drains the
glass
»Ay but it will hardly prove politics in your meaning my friend« said the
gratified Miller »A revolution if you like and I think I can promise you that
historical writers shall date from Mr Balfours cause But properly guided
Mr Stewart tenderly guided it shall prove a peaceful revolution«
»And if the damned Campbells get their ears rubbed what care I« cries
Stewart smiting down his fist
It will be thought I was not very well pleased with all this though I could
scarce forbear smiling at a kind of innocency in these old intriguers But it
was not my view to have undergone so many sorrows for the advancement of Sheriff
Miller or to make a revolution in the Parliament House and I interposed
accordingly with as much simplicity of manner as I could assume
»I have to thank you gentlemen for your advice« said I »And now I would
like by your leave to set you two or three questions There is one thing that
has fallen rather on one side for instance Will this cause do any good to
our friend James of the Glens«
They seemed all a hair set back and gave various answers but concurring
practically in one point that James had now no hope but in the Kings mercy
»To proceed then« said I »will it do any good to Scotland We have a
saying that it is an ill bird that fouls his own nest I remember hearing we had
a riot in Edinburgh when I was an infant child which gave occasion to the late
Queen to call this country barbarous and I always understood that we had rather
lost than gained by that Then came the year Fortyfive which made Scotland to
be talked of everywhere but I never heard it said we had anyway gained by the
Fortyfive And now we come to this cause of Mr Balfours as you call it
Sheriff Miller tells us historical writers are to date from it and I would not
wonder It is only my fear they would date from it as a period of calamity and
public reproach«
The nimblewitted Miller had already smelt where I was travelling to and
made haste to get on the same road »Forcibly put Mr Balfour« says he »A
weighty observe sir«
»We have next to ask ourselves if it will be good for King George« I
pursued »Sheriff Miller appears pretty easy upon this but I doubt you will
scarce be able to pull down the house from under him without his Majesty coming
by a knock or two one of which might easily prove fatal«
I gave them a chance to answer but none volunteered
»Of those for whom the case was to be profitable« I went on »Sheriff
Miller gave us the names of several among the which he was good enough to
mention mine I hope he will pardon me if I think otherwise I believe I hung
not the least back in this affair while there was life to be saved but I own I
thought myself extremely hazarded and I own I think it would be a pity for a
young man with some idea of coming to the Bar to ingrain upon himself the
character of a turbulent factious fellow before he was yet twenty As for
James it seems at this date of the proceedings with the sentence as good as
pronounced he has no hope but in the Kings mercy May not his Majesty then
be more pointedly addressed the characters of these high officers sheltered
from the public and myself kept out of a position which I think spells ruin for
me«
They all sat and gazed into their glasses and I could see they found my
attitude on the affair unpalatable But Miller was ready at all events
»If I may be allowed to put our young friends notion in more formal shape«
says he »I understand him to propose that we should embody the fact of his
sequestration and perhaps some heads of the testimony he was prepared to offer
in a memorial to the Crown This plan has elements of success It is as likely
as any other and perhaps likelier to help our client Perhaps his Majesty
would have the goodness to feel a certain gratitude to all concerned in such a
memorial which might be construed into an expression of a very delicate
loyalty and I think in the drafting of the same this view might be brought
forward«
They all nodded to each other not without sighs for the former alternative
was doubtless more after their inclination
»Paper then Mr Stewart if you please« pursued Miller »and I think it
might very fittingly be signed by the five of us here present as procurators
for the condemned man«
»It can do none of us any harm at least« says Colstoun heaving another
sigh for he had seen himself Lord Advocate the last ten minutes
Thereupon they set themselves not very enthusiastically to draft the
memorial a process in the course of which they soon caught fire and I had no
more ado but to sit looking on and answer an occasional question The paper was
very well expressed beginning with a recitation of the facts about myself the
reward offered for my apprehension my surrender the pressure brought to bear
upon me my sequestration and my arrival at Inverary in time to be too late
going on to explain the reasons of loyalty and public interest for which it was
agreed to waive any right of action and winding up with a forcible appeal to
the Kings mercy on behalf of James
Methought I was a good deal sacrificed and rather represented in the light
of a firebrand of a fellow whom my cloud of lawyers had restrained with
difficulty from extremes But I let it pass and made but the one suggestion
that I should be described as ready to deliver my own evidence and adduce that
of others before any commission of inquiry and the one demand that I should
be immediately furnished with a copy
Colstoun hummed and hawed »This is a very confidential document« said he
»And my position towards Prestongrange is highly peculiar« I replied »No
question but I must have touched his heart at our first interview so that he
has since stood my friend consistently But for him gentlemen I must now be
lying dead or awaiting my sentence alongside poor James For which reason I
choose to communicate to him the fact of this memorial as soon as it is copied
You are to consider also that this step will make for my protection I have
enemies here accustomed to drive hard his Grace is in his own country Lovat by
his side and if there should hang any ambiguity over our proceedings I think I
might very well awake in gaol«
Not finding any very ready answer to these considerations my company of
advisers were at the last persuaded to consent and made only this condition
that I was to lay the paper before Prestongrange with the express compliments of
all concerned
The Advocate was at the castle dining with his Grace By the hand of one of
Colstouns servants I sent him a billet asking for an interview and received a
summons to meet him at once in a private house of the town Here I found him
alone in a chamber from his face there was nothing to be gleaned yet I was not
so unobservant but what I spied some halberts in the hall and not so stupid but
what I could gather he was prepared to arrest me there and then should it
appear advisable
»So Mr David this is you« said he
»Where I fear I am not overly welcome my lord« said I »And I would like
before I go further to express my sense of your lordships continued good
offices even should they now cease«
»I have heard of your gratitude before« he replied drily »and I think this
can scarce be the matter you called me from my wine to listen to I would
remember also if I were you that you still stand on a very boggy foundation«
»Not now my lord I think« said I »and if your lordship will but glance
an eye along this you will perhaps think as I do«
He read it sedulously through frowning heavily then turned back to one
part and another which he seemed to weigh and compare the effect of His face a
little lightened
»This is not so bad but what it might be worse« said he »though I am still
likely to pay dear for my acquaintance with Mr David Balfour«
»Rather for your indulgence to that unlucky young man my lord« said I
He still skimmed the paper and all the while his spirits seemed to mend
»And to whom am I indebted for this« he asked presently »Other counsels
must have been discussed I think Who was it proposed this private method Was
it Miller«
»My lord it was myself« said I »These gentlemen have shown me no such
consideration as that I should deny myself any credit I can fairly claim or
spare them any responsibility they should properly bear And the mere truth is
that they were all in favour of a process which should have remarkable
consequences in the Parliament House and prove for them in one of their own
expressions a dripping roast Before I intervened I think they were on the
point of sharing out the different law appointments Our friend Mr Simon was to
be taken in upon some composition«
Prestongrange smiled »These are our friends« said he »And what were your
reasons for dissenting Mr David«
I told them without concealment expressing however with more force and
volume those which regarded Prestongrange himself
»You do me no more than justice« said he »I have fought as hard in your
interest as you have fought against mine And how came you here today« he
asked »As the case drew out I began to grow uneasy that I had clipped the
period so fine and I was even expecting you tomorrow But today I never
dreamed of it«
I was not of course going to betray Andie
»I suspect there is some very weary cattle by the road« said I
»If I had known you were such a mosstrooper you should have tasted longer
of the Bass« says he
»Speaking of which my lord I return your letter« And I gave him the
enclosure in the counterfeit hand
»There was the cover also with the seal« said he
»I have it not« said I »It bore not even an address and could not
compromise a cat The second enclosure I have and with your permission I
desire to keep it«
I thought he winced a little but he said nothing to the point »Tomorrow«
he resumed »our business here is to be finished and I proceed by Glasgow I
would be very glad to have you of my party Mr David«
»My lord « I began
»I do not deny it will be of service to me« he interrupted »I desire even
that when we shall come to Edinburgh you should alight at my house You have
very warm friends in the Miss Grants who will be overjoyed to have you to
themselves If you think I have been of use to you you can thus easily repay
me and so far from losing may reap some advantage by the way It is not every
strange young man who is presented in society by the Kings Advocate«
Often enough already in our brier relations this gentleman had caused my
head to spin no doubt but what for a moment he did so again now Here was the
old fiction still maintained of my particular favour with his daughters one of
whom had been so good as laugh at me while the other two had scarce deigned to
remark the fact of my existence And now I was to ride with my lord to Glasgow
I was to dwell with him in Edinburgh I was to be brought into society under his
protection That he should have so much goodnature as to forgive me was
surprising enough that he could wish to take me up and serve me seemed
impossible and I began to seek for some ulterior meaning One was plain If I
became his guest repentance was excluded I could never think better of my
present design and bring any action And besides would not my presence in his
house draw out the whole pungency of the memorial For that complaint could not
be very seriously regarded if the person chiefly injured was the guest of the
official most incriminated As I thought upon this I could not quite refrain
from smiling
»This is in the nature of a countercheck to the memorial« said I
»You are cunning Mr David« said he »and you do not wholly guess wrong
the fact will be of use to me in my defence Perhaps however you underrate my
friendly sentiments which are perfectly genuine I have a respect for you Mr
David mingled with awe« says he smiling
»I am more than willing I am earnestly desirous to meet your wishes« said
I »It is my design to be called to the Bar where your lordships countenance
would be invaluable and I am besides sincerely grateful to yourself and family
for different marks of interest and of indulgence The difficulty is here There
is one point in which we pull two ways You are trying to hang James Stewart I
am trying to save him In so far as my riding with you would better your
lordships defence I am at your lordships orders but in so far as it would
help to hang James Stewart you see me at a stick«
I thought he swore to himself »You should certainly be called the Bar is
the true scene for your talents« says he bitterly and then fell a while
silent »I will tell you« he presently resumed »there is no question of James
Stewart for or against James is a dead man his life is given and taken
bought if you like it better and sold no memorial can help no defalcation
of a faithful Mr David hurt him Blow high blow low there will be no pardon
for James Stewart and take that for said The question is now of myself am I
to stand or fall and I do not deny to you that I am in some danger But will
Mr David Balfour consider why It is not because I have pushed the case unduly
against James for that I am sure of condonation And it is not because I have
sequestered Mr David on a rock though it will pass under that colour but
because I did not take the ready and plain path to which I was pressed
repeatedly and send Mr David to his grave or to the gallows Hence the scandal
hence this damned memorial« striking the paper on his leg »My tenderness for
you has brought me in this difficulty I wish to know if your tenderness to your
own conscience is too great to let you help me out of it«
No doubt but there was much of the truth in what he said if James was past
helping whom was it more natural that I should turn to help than just the man
before me who had helped myself so often and was even now setting me a pattern
of patience I was besides not only weary but beginning to be ashamed of my
perpetual attitude of suspicion and refusal
»If you will name the time and place I will be punctually ready to attend
your lordship« said I
He shook hands with me »And I think my misses have some news for you« says
he dismissing me
I came away vastly pleased to have my peace made yet a little concerned in
conscience nor could I help wondering as I went back whether perhaps I had
not been a scruple too goodnatured But there was the fact, that this was a man
that might have been my father an able man a great dignitary and one that in
the hour of my need had reached a hand to my assistance I was in the better
humour to enjoy the remainder of that evening which I passed with the
advocates in excellent company no doubt but perhaps with rather more than a
sufficiency of punch for though I went early to bed I have no clear mind of how
I got there
Chapter XVIII
The Teed Ball
On the morrow from the justices private room where none could see me I heard
the verdict given in and judgment rendered upon James The Dukes words I am
quite sure I have correctly and since that famous passage has been made a
subject of dispute I may as well commemorate my version Having referred to the
year Fortyfive the chief of the Campbells sitting as Justice General upon
the Bench thus addressed the unfortunate Stewart before him »If you had been
successful in that rebellion you might have been giving the law where you have
now received the judgment of it we who are this day your judges might have
been tried before one of your mock courts of judicature and then you might have
been satiated with the blood of any name or clan to which you had an aversion«
»This is to let the cat out of the bag indeed« thought I And that was the
general impression It was extraordinary how the young advocate lads took hold
and made a mock of this speech and how scarce a meal passed but what some one
would get in the words »And then you might have been satiated« Many songs were
made in that time for the hours diversion and are near all forgot I remember
one began
»What do ye want the bluid of bluid of
Is it a name or is it a clan
Or is it an aefauld Hielandman
That ye want the bluid of bluid of«
Another went to my old favourite air »The House of Airlie« and began thus
»It fell on a day when Argyle was on the bench
That they served him a Stewart for his denner«
And one of the verses ran
»Then up and spak the Duke and flyted on his cook
I regaird it as a sensible aspersion
That I would sup ava an satiate my maw
With the bluid of ony clan of my aversion«
James was as fairly murdered as though the Duke had got a fowlingpiece and
stalked him So much of course I knew but others knew not so much and were
more affected by the items of scandal that came to light in the progress of the
cause One of the chief was certainly this sally of the Justices It was run
hard by another of a juryman who had struck into the midst of Colstouns speech
for the defence with a Pray sir cut it short we are quite weary which seemed
the very excess of impudence and simplicity But some of my new lawyer friends
were still more staggered with an innovation that had disgraced and even
vitiated the proceedings One witness was never called His name indeed was
printed where it may still be seen on the fourth page of the list »James
Drummond alias Macgregor alias James More late tenant in Inveronachile« and
his precognition had been taken as the manner is in writing He had remembered
or invented God help him matter which was lead in James Stewarts shoes and I
saw was like to prove wings to his own This testimony it was highly desirable
to bring to the notice of the jury without exposing the man himself to the
perils of crossexamination and the way it was brought about was a matter of
surprise to all For the paper was handed round like a curiosity in court
passed through the jurybox where it did its work and disappeared again as
though by accident before it reached the counsel for the prisoner This was
counted a most insidious device and that the name of James More should be
mingled up with it filled me with shame for Catriona and concern for myself
The following day Prestongrange and I with a considerable company set out
for Glasgow where to my impatience we continued to linger some time in a
mixture of pleasure and affairs I lodged with my lord with whom I was
encouraged to familiarity had my place at entertainments was presented to the
chief guests and altogether made more of than I thought accorded either with my
parts or station so that on strangers being present I would often blush for
Prestongrange It must be owned the view I had taken of the world in these last
months was fit to cast a gloom upon my character I had met many men some of
them leaders in Israel whether by their birth or talents and who among them
all had shown clean hands As for the Browns and Millers I had seen their
selfseeking I could never again respect them Prestongrange was the best yet
he had saved me had spared me rather when others had it in their minds to
murder me outright but the blood of James lay at his door and I thought his
present dissimulation with myself a thing below pardon That he should affect to
find a pleasure in my discourse almost surprised me out of my patience I would
sit and watch him with a kind of a slow fire of anger in my bowels »Ah friend
friend« I would think to myself »if you were but through with this affair of
the memorial would you not kick me in the streets« Here I did him as events
have proved the most grave injustice and I think he was at once far more
sincere and a far more artful performer than I supposed
But I had some warrant for my incredulity in the behaviour of that court of
young advocates that hung about him in the hope of patronage The sudden favour
of a lad not previously heard of troubled them at first out of measure but two
days were not gone by before I found myself surrounded with flattery and
attention I was the same young man and neither better nor bonnier that they
had rejected a month before and now there was no civility too fine for me The
same do I say It was not so and the byname by which I went behind my back
confirmed it Seeing me so firm with the Advocate and persuaded that I was to
fly high and far they had taken a word from the golfing green and called me
the Teed Ball14 I was told I was now one of themselves I was to taste of
their soft lining who had already made my own experience of the roughness of
the outer husk and one to whom I had been presented in Hope Park was so
assured as even to remind me of that meeting I told him I had not the pleasure
of remembering it
»Why« says he »it was Miss Grant herself presented me My name is
Soandso«
»It may very well be sir« said I »but I have kept no mind of it«
At which he desisted and in the midst of the disgust that commonly
overflowed my spirits I had a glisk of pleasure
But I have not patience to dwell upon that time at length When I was in
company with these young politics I was borne down with shame for myself and my
own plain ways and scorn for them and their duplicity Of the two evils I
thought Prestongrange to be the least and while I was always as stiff as
buckram to the young bloods I made rather a dissimulation of my hard feelings
towards the Advocate and was in old Mr Campbells word soople to the laird
Himself commented on the difference and bid me be more of my age and make
friends with my young comrades
I told him I was slow of making friends
»I will take the word back« said he »But there is such a thing as Fair
gudeeen and fair gudeday Mr David These are the same young men with whom
you are to pass your days and get through life your backwardness has a look of
arrogance and unless you can assume a little more lightness of manner I fear
you will meet difficulties in the path«
»It will be an ill job to make a silk purse of a sows ear« said I
On the morning of October 1st I was awakened by the clattering in of an
express and getting to my window almost before he had dismounted I saw the
messenger had ridden hard Somewhile after I was called to Prestongrange where
he was sitting in his bedgown and nightcap with his letters round him
»Mr David« said he »I have a piece of news for you It concerns some
friends of yours of whom I sometimes think you are a little ashamed for you
have never referred to their existence«
I suppose I blushed
»I see you understand since you make the answering signal« said he »And I
must compliment you on your excellent taste in beauty But do you know Mr
David this seems to me a very enterprising lass She crops up from every side
The Government of Scotland appears unable to proceed for Mistress Katrine
Drummond which was somewhat the case no great while back with a certain Mr
David Balfour Should not these make a good match Her first intromission in
politics but I must not tell you that story the authorities have decided you
are to hear it otherwise and from a livelier narrator This new example is more
serious however and I am afraid I must alarm you with the intelligence that
she is now in prison«
I cried out
»Yes« said he »the little lady is in prison But I would not have you to
despair Unless you with your friends and memorials shall procure my downfall
she is to suffer nothing«
»But what has she done What is her offence« I cried
»It might be almost construed a high treason« he returned »for she has
broke the Kings Castle of Edinburgh«
»The lady is much my friend« I said »I know you would not mock me if the
thing were serious«
»And yet it is serious in a sense« said he »for this rogue of a Katrine
or Cateran as we may call her has set adrift again upon the world that very
doubtful character her papa«
Here was one of my previsions justified James More was once again at
liberty He had lent his men to keep me a prisoner he had volunteered his
testimony in the Appin case and the same no matter by what subterfuge had
been employed to influence the jury Now came his reward and he was free It
might please the authorities to give to it the colour of an escape but I knew
better I knew it must be the fulfilment of a bargain The same course of
thought relieved me of the least alarm for Catriona She might be thought to
have broke prison for her father she might have believed so herself But the
chief hand in the whole business was that of Prestongrange and I was sure so
far from letting her come to punishment he would not suffer her to be even
tried Whereupon thus came out of me the not very politic ejaculation
»Ah I was expecting that«
»You have at times a great deal of discretion too« says Prestongrange
»And what is my lord pleased to mean by that« I asked
»I was just marvelling« he replied »that being so clever as to draw these
inferences you should not be clever enough to keep them to yourself But I
think you would like to hear the details of the affair I have received two
versions and the least official is the more full and far the more entertaining
being from the lively pen of my eldest daughter Here is all the town bizzing
with a fine piece of work she writes and what would make the thing more noted
if it were only known the malefactor is a protégée of his lordship my papa I
am sure your heart is too much in your duty if it were nothing else to have
forgotten Grey Eyes What does she do but get a broad hat with the flaps open
a long hairylike mans greatcoat and a big gravatt kilt her coats up to Gude
kens whaur clap two pair of boothose upon her legs take a pair of clouted
brogues15 in her hand and off to the Castle Here she gives herself out to be a
soutar16 in the employ of James More and gets admitted to his cell the
lieutenant who seems to have been full of pleasantry making sport among his
soldiers of the soutars greatcoat Presently they hear disputation and the
sound of blows inside Out flies the cobbler his coat flying the flaps of his
hat beat about his face and the lieutenant and his soldiers mock at him as he
runs off They laugh not so hearty the next time they had occasion to visit the
cell and found nobody but a tall pretty greyeyed lass in the female habit
As for the cobbler« he was »over the hills ayont Dumblane« and its thought
that poor Scotland will have to console herself without him I drank Catrionas
health this night in public Indeed the whole town admires her and I think the
beaux would wear bits of her garters in their buttonholes if they could only
get them I would have gone to visit her in prison too only I remembered in
time I was papas daughter so I wrote her a billet instead which I entrusted
to the faithful Doig and I hope you will admit I can be political when I
please The same faithful gomeril is to despatch this letter by the express
along with those of the wiseacres so that you may hear Tom Fool in company with
Solomon Talking of gomerils do tell Dauvit Balfour I would I could see the
face of him at the thought of a longlegged lass in such a predicament to say
nothing of the levities of your affectionate daughter and his respectful
friend So my rascal signs herself« continued Prestongrange »And you see Mr
David it is quite true what I tell you that my daughters regard you with the
most affectionate playfulness«
»The gomeril is much obliged« said I
»And was not this prettily done« he went on »Is not this Highland maid a
piece of a heroine«
»I was always sure she had a great heart« said I »And I wager she guessed
nothing But I beg your pardon this is to tread upon forbidden subjects«
»I will go bail she did not« he returned quite openly »I will go bail she
thought she was flying straight into King Georges face«
Remembrance of Catriona and the thought of her lying in captivity moved me
strangely I could see that even Prestongrange admired and could not withhold
his lips from smiling when he considered her behaviour As for Miss Grant for
all her ill habit of mockery her admiration shone out plain A kind of a heat
came on me
»I am not your lordships daughter « I began
»That I know of« he put in smiling
»I speak like a fool« said I »or rather I began wrong It would doubtless
be unwise in Mistress Grant to go to her in prison but for me I think I would
look like a halfhearted friend if I did not fly there instantly«
»Soho Mr David« says he »I thought that you and I were in a bargain«
»My lord« I said »when I made that bargain I was a good deal affected by
your goodness but Ill never can deny that I was moved besides by my own
interest There was selfseeking in my heart and I think shame of it now It
may be for your lordships safety to say this fashious Davie Balfour is your
friend and housemate Say it then Ill never contradict you But as for your
patronage I give it all back I ask but one thing let me go and give me a
pass to see her in her prison«
He looked at me with a hard eye »You put the cart before the horse I
think« says he »That which I had given was a portion of my liking which your
thankless nature does not seem to have remarked But for my patronage it is not
given nor to be exact is it yet offered« He paused a bit »And I warn you
you do not know yourself« he added »Youth is a hasty season you will think
better of all this before a year«
»Well and I would like to be that kind of youth« I cried »I have seen too
much of the other party in these young advocates that fawn upon your lordship
and are even at the pains to fawn on me And I have seen it in the old ones
also They are all for byends the whole clan of them Its this that makes me
seem to misdoubt your lordships liking Why would I think that you would like
me But ye told me yourself ye had an interest«
I stopped at this confounded that I had run so far he was observing me
with an unfathomable face
»My lord I ask your pardon« I resumed »I have nothing in my charts but a
rough country tongue I think it would be only decentlike if I would go to see
my friend in her captivity but Im owing you my life Ill never forget that
and if its for your lordships good here Ill stay Thats barely gratitude«
»This might have been reached in fewer words« says Prestongrange grimly
»It is easy and it is at times gracious to say a plain Scots ay«
»Ah but my lord I think ye take me not yet entirely« cried I »For your
sake for my lifesafe and the kindness that ye say ye bear to me for these
Ill consent but not for any good that might be coming to myself If I stand
aside when this young maid is in her trial its a thing I will be noways
advantaged by I will lose by it I will never gain I would rather make a
shipwreck wholly than to build on that foundation«
He was a minute serious then smiled »You mind me of the man with the long
nose« said he »was you to look at the moon by a telescope you would see David
Balfour there But you shall have your way of it I will ask at you one service
and then set you free My clerks are overdriven be so good as copy me these
few pages« says he visibly swithering among some huge rolls of manuscripts
»and when that is done I shall bid you Godspeed I would never charge myself
with Mr Davids conscience and if you could cast some part of it as you went
by in a mosshag you would find yourself to ride much easier without it«
»Perhaps not just entirely in the same direction though my lord« says I
»And you shall have the last word too« cries he gaily
Indeed he had some cause for gaiety having now found the means to gain his
purpose To lessen the weight of the memorial or to have a readier answer at
his hand he desired I should appear publicly in the character of his intimate
But if I were to appear with the same publicity as a visitor to Catriona in her
prison the world would scarce stint to draw conclusions and the true nature of
James Mores escape must become evident to all This was the little problem I
had set him of a sudden and to which he had so briskly found an answer I was
to be tethered in Glasgow by that job of copying which in mere outward decency
I could not well refuse and during these hours of my employment Catriona was to
be privately got rid of I think shame to write of this man that loaded me with
so many goodnesses He was kind to me as any father yet I ever thought him as
false as a cracked bell
Chapter XIX
I Am Much in the Hands of the Ladies
The copying was a weary business the more so as I perceived very early there
was no sort of urgency in the matters treated and began very early to consider
my employment a pretext I had no sooner finished than I got to horse used what
remained of daylight to the best purpose and being at last fairly benighted
slept in a house by Almond Waterside I was in the saddle again before the day
and the Edinburgh booths were just opening when I clattered in by the West Bow
and drew up a smoking horse at my Lord Advocates door I had a written word for
Doig my lords private hand that was thought to be in all his secrets a
worthy little plain man all fat and snuff and selfsufficiency Him I found
already at his desk and already bedabbled with maccabaw in the same anteroom
where I rencountered with James More He read the note scrupulously through like
a chapter in his Bible
»Hm« says he »ye come a wee thing ahinthand Mr Balfour The birds
flown we hae letten her out«
»Miss Drummond is set free« I cried
»Achy« said he »What would we keep her for ye ken To hae made a steer
about the bairn would hae pleased naebody«
»And wherell she be now« says I
»Gude kens« says Doig with a shrug
»Shell have gone home to Lady Allardyce Im thinking« said I
»Thatll be it« said he
»Then Ill gang there straight« says I
»But yell be for a bite or ye go« said he
»Neither bite nor sup« said I »I had a good waucht of milk in by Ratho«
»Aweel aweel« says Doig »But yell can leave your horse here and your
bags for it seems were to have your upput«
»Na na« said I »Tamsons mear17 would never be the thing for me this day
of all days«
Doig speaking somewhat broad I had been led by imitation into an accent
much more countrified than I was usually careful to affect a good deal broader
indeed than I have written it down and I was the more ashamed when another
voice joined in behind me with a scrap of a ballad
»Gae saddle me the bonny black
Gae saddle sune and mak him ready
For I will down the Gatehopeslack
An a to see my bonny leddy«
The young lady when I turned to her stood in a morning gown and her hands
muffled in the same as if to hold me at a distance Yet I could not but think
there was kindness in the eye with which she saw me
»My best respects to you Mistress Grant« said I bowing
»The like to yourself Mr David« she replied with a deep curtsy »And I
beg to remind you of an old musty saw that meat and mass never hindered man
The mass I cannot afford you for we are all good Protestants But the meat I
press on your attention And I would not wonder but I could find something for
your private ear that would be worth the stopping for«
»Mistress Grant« said I »I believe I am already your debtor for some merry
words and I think they were kind too on a piece of unsigned paper«
»Unsigned paper« says she and made a droll face which was likewise
wondrous beautiful as of one trying to remember
»Or else I am the more deceived« I went on »But to be sure we shall have
the time to speak of these since your father is so good as to make me for a
while your inmate and the gomeril begs you at this time only for the favour of
his liberty«
»You give yourself hard names« said she
»Mr Doig and I would be blithe to take harder at your clever pen« says I
»Once more I have to admire the discretion of all menfolk« she replied
»But if you will not eat off with you at once you will be back the sooner for
you go on a fools errand Off with you Mr David« she continued opening the
door
»He has lowpen on his bonny grey
He rade the richt gate and the ready
I trow he would neither stint nor stay
For he was seeking his bonny leddy«
I did not wait to be twice bidden and did justice to Miss Grants citation on
the way to Dean
Old Lady Allardyce walked there alone in the garden in her hat and mutch
and having a silvermounted staff of some black wood to lean upon As I alighted
from my horse and drew near to her with congees I could see the blood come in
her face and her head fling into the air like what I had conceived of
empresses
»What brings you to my poor door« she cried speaking high through her
nose »I cannot bar it The males of my house are dead and buried I have
neither son nor husband to stand in the gate for me any beggar can pluck me by
the baird18 and a baird there is and thats the worst of it yet« she added
partly to herself
I was extremely put out at this reception and the last remark which seemed
like a daft wifes left me nearhand speechless
»I see I have fallen under your displeasure maam« said I »Yet I will
still be so bold as to ask after Mistress Drummond«
She considered me with a burning eye her lips pressed close together into
twenty creases her hand shaking on her staff »This cowes all« she cried »Ye
come to me to speir for her Would God I knew«
»She is not here« I cried
She threw up her chin and made a step and a cry at me so that I fell back
incontinent
»Out upon your leeing throat« she cried »What ye come and speir at me
Shes in jyle whaur ye took her to thats all there is to it And of a the
beings ever I beheld in breeks to think it should be you Ye timmer scounrel
if I had a male left to my name I would have your jaicket dustit till ye
raired«
I thought it not good to delay longer in that place because I remarked her
passion to be rising As I turned to the horsepost she even followed me and I
make no shame to confess that I rode away with the one stirrup on and scrambling
for the other
As I knew no other quarter where I could push my inquiries there was
nothing left me but to return to the Advocates I was well received by the four
ladies who were now in company together and must give the news of
Prestongrange and what word went in the west country at the most inordinate
length and with great weariness to myself while all the time that young lady
with whom I so much desired to be alone again observed me quizzically and
seemed to find pleasure in the sight of my impatience At last after I had
endured a meal with them and was come very near the point of appealing for an
interview before her aunt she went and stood by the musiccase and picking out
a tune sang to it on a high key »He that will not when he may When he will
he shall have nay« But this was the end of her rigours and presently after
making some excuse of which I have no mind she carried me away in private to
her fathers library I should not fail to say that she was dressed to the
nines and appeared extraordinary handsome
»Now Mr David sit ye down here and let us have a twohanded crack« said
she »For I have much to tell you and it appears besides that I have been
grossly unjust to your good taste«
»In what manner Mistress Grant« I asked »I trust I have never seemed to
fail in due respect«
»I will be your surety Mr David« said she »Your respect whether to
yourself or your poor neighbours has been always and most fortunately beyond
imitation But that is by the question You got a note from me« she asked
»I was so bold as to suppose so upon inference« said I »and it was kindly
thought upon«
»It must have prodigiously surprised you« said she »But let us begin with
the beginning You have not perhaps forgot a day when you were so kind as to
escort three very tedious misses to Hope Park I have the less cause to forget
it myself because you were so particular obliging as to introduce me to some of
the principles of the Latin grammar a thing which wrote itself profoundly on my
gratitude«
»I fear I was sadly pedantical« said I overcome with confusion at the
memory »You are only to consider I am quite unused with the society of ladies«
»I will say the less about the grammar then« she replied »But how came you
to desert your charge He has thrown her out overboard his ain dear Annie«
she hummed »and his ain dear Annie and her two sisters had to taigle home by
theirselves like a string of green geese It seems you returned to my papas
where you showed yourself excessively martial and then on to realms unknown
with an eye it appears to the Bass Rock solan geese being perhaps more to
your mind than bonny lasses«
Through all this raillery there was something indulgent in the ladys eye
which made me suppose there might be better coming
»You take a pleasure to torment me« said I »and I make a very feckless
plaything but let me ask you to be more merciful At this time there is but the
one thing that I care to hear of and that will be news of Catriona«
»Do you call her by that name to her face Mr Balfour« she asked
»In troth and I am not very sure« I stammered
»I would not do so in any case to strangers« said Miss Grant »And why
are you so much immersed in the affairs of this young lady«
»I heard she was in prison« said I
»Well and now you hear that she is out of it« she replied »and what more
would you have She has no need of any further champion«
»I may have the greater need of her maam« said I
»Come this is better« says Miss Grant »But look me fairly in the face am
I not bonnier than she«
»I would be the last to be denying it« said I »There is not your marrow in
all Scotland«
»Well here you have the pick of the two at your hand and must needs speak
of the other« said she »This is never the way to please the ladies Mr
Balfour«
»But mistress« said I »there are surely other things besides mere
beauty«
»By which I am to understand that I am no better than I should be perhaps«
she asked
»By which you will please understand that I am like the cock in the midden
in the fablebook« said I »I see the braw jewel and I like fine to see it
too but I have more need of the pickle corn«
»Bravissimo« she cried »There is a word well said at last and I will
reward you for it with my story That same night of your desertion I came late
from a friends house where I was excessively admired whatever you may think
of it and what should I hear but that a lass in a tartan screen desired to
speak with me She had been there an hour or better said the servantlass and
she grat in to herself as she sat waiting I went to her direct she rose as I
came in and I knew her at a look Grey Eyes says I to myself but was more
wise than to let on You will be Miss Grant at last she says rising and
looking at me hard and pitiful Ay it was true he said you are bonny at all
events The way God made me my dear I said but I would be geyan obliged if
ye could tell me what brought you here at such a time of the night Lady she
said we are kinsfolk we are both come of the blood of the sons of Alpin My
dear I replied I think no more of Alpin or his sons than what I do of a
kalestock You have a better argument in these tears upon your bonny face And
at that I was so weakminded as to kiss her which is what you would like to do
dearly and I wager will never find the courage of I say it was weakminded of
me for I knew no more of her than the outside but it was the wisest stroke I
could have hit upon She is a very staunch brave nature but I think she has
been little used with tenderness and at that caress though to say the truth
it was but lightly given her heart went out to me I will never betray the
secrets of my sex Mr Davie I will never tell you the way she turned me round
her thumb because it is the same she will use to twist yourself Ay it is a
fine lass She is as clean as hill wellwater«
»She is een t« I cried
»Well then she told me her concerns« pursued Miss Grant »and in what a
swither she was in about her papa and what a taking about yourself with very
little cause and in what a perplexity she had found herself after you was gone
away And then I minded at long last says she that we were kinswomen and that
Mr David should have given you the name of the bonniest of the bonny and I was
thinking to myself If she is so bonny she will be good at all events and I
took up my footsoles out of that That was when I forgave yourself Mr Davie
When you was in my society you seemed upon hot iron by all marks if ever I
saw a young man that wanted to be gone it was yourself and I and my two
sisters were the ladies you were so desirous to be gone from and now it
appeared you had given me some notice in the bygoing and was so kind as to
comment on my attractions From that hour you may date our friendship and I
began to think with tenderness upon the Latin grammar«
»You will have many hours to rally me in« said I »and I think besides you
do yourself injustice I think it was Catriona turned your heart in my
direction She is too simple to perceive as you do the stiffness of her friend«
»I would not like to wager upon that Mr David« said she »The lasses have
clear eyes But at least she is your friend entirely as I was to see I carried
her in to his lordship my papa and his Advocacy being in a favourable stage
of claret was so good as to receive the pair of us Here is Grey Eyes that you
have been deaved with these days past said I she is come to prove that we
spoke true and I lay the prettiest lass in the three Lothians at your feet
making a papistical reservation of myself She suited her action to my words
down she went upon her knees to him I would not like to swear but he saw two
of her which doubtless made her appeal the more irresistible for you are all a
pack of Mahomedans told him what had passed that night and how she had
withheld her fathers man from following of you and what a case she was in
about her father and what a flutter for yourself and begged with weeping for
the lives of both of you neither of which was in the slightest danger till I
vow I was proud of my sex because it was done so pretty and ashamed for it
because of the smallness of the occasion She had not gone far I assure you
before the Advocate was wholly sober to see his inmost politics ravelled out by
a young lass and discovered to the most unruly of his daughters But we took him
in hand the pair of us and brought that matter straight Properly managed
and that means managed by me there is no one to compare with my papa«
»He has been a good man to me« said I
»Well he was a good man to Katrine and I was there to see to it« said
she
»And she pled for me« say I
»She did that and very movingly« said Miss Grant »I would not like to
tell you what she said I find you vain enough already«
»God reward her for it« cried I
»With Mr David Balfour I suppose« says she
»You do me too much injustice at the last« I cried »I would tremble to
think of her in such hard hands Do you think I would presume because she
begged my life She would do that for a newwhelped puppy I have had more than
that to set me up if you but kenned She kissed that hand of mine Ay but she
did And why because she thought I was playing a brave part and might be going
to my death It was not for my sake but I need not be telling that to you
that cannot look at me without laughter It was for the love of what she thought
was bravery I believe there is none but me and poor Prince Charlie had that
honour done them Was this not to make a god of me and do you not think my
heart would quake when I remember it«
»I do laugh at you a good deal and a good deal more than is quite civil«
said she »but I will tell you one thing if you speak to her like that you
have some glimmerings of a chance«
»Me« I cried »I would never dare I can speak to you Miss Grant because
its a matter of indifference what ye think of me But her no fear« said I
»I think you have the largest feet in all broad Scotland« says she
»Troth they are no very small« said I looking down
»Ah poor Catriona« cries Miss Grant
And I could but stare upon her for though I now see very well what she was
driving at and perhaps some justification for the same I was never swift at
the uptake in such flimsy talk
»Ah well Mr David« she said »it goes sore against my conscience but I
see I shall have to be your speakingboard She shall know you came to her
straight upon the news of her imprisonment she shall know you would not pause
to eat and of our conversation she shall hear just so much as I think
convenient for a maid of her age and inexperience Believe me you will be in
that way much better served than you could serve yourself for I will keep the
big feet out of the platter«
»You know where she is then« I exclaimed
»That I do Mr David and will never tell« said she
»Why that« I asked
»Well« she said »I am a good friend as you will soon discover and the
chief of those that I am friend to is my papa I assure you you will never heat
nor melt me out of that so you may spare me your sheeps eyes and adieu to
your DavidBalfourship for the now«
»But there is yet one thing more« I cried »There is one thing that must be
stopped being mere ruin to herself and to me too«
»Well« she said »be brief I have spent half the day on you already«
»My Lady Allardyce believes« I began »she supposes she thinks that I
abducted her«
The colour came into Miss Grants face so that at first I was quite abashed
to find her ear so delicate till I bethought me she was struggling rather with
mirth a notion in which I was altogether confirmed by the shaking of her voice
as she replied
»I will take up the defence of your reputation« said she »You may leave it
in my hands«
And with that she withdrew out of the library
Chapter XX
I Continue to Move in Good Society
For about exactly two months I remained a guest in Prestongranges family where
I bettered my acquaintance with the Bench the Bar and the flower of Edinburgh
company You are not to suppose my education was neglected on the contrary I
was kept extremely busy I studied the French so as to be more prepared to go
to Leyden I set myself to the fencing and wrought hard sometimes three hours
in the day with notable advancement at the suggestion of my cousin Pilrig who
was an apt musician I was put to a singingclass and by the orders of my Miss
Grant to one for the dancing at which I must say I proved far from ornamental
However all were good enough to say it gave me an address a little more
genteel and there is no question but I learned to manage my coatskirts and
sword with more dexterity and to stand in a room as though the same belonged to
me My clothes themselves were all earnestly reordered and the most trifling
circumstance such as where I should tie my hair or the colour of my ribbon
debated among the three misses like a thing of weight One way with another no
doubt I was a good deal improved to look at and acquired a bit of a modish air
that would have surprised the good folks at Essendean
The two younger misses were very willing to discuss a point of my
habiliment because that was in the line of their chief thoughts I cannot say
that they appeared any other way conscious of my presence and though always
more than civil with a kind of heartless cordiality could not hide how much I
wearied them As for the aunt she was a wonderful still woman and I think she
gave me much the same attention as she gave the rest of the family which was
little enough The eldest daughter and the Advocate himself were thus my
principal friends and our familiarity was much increased by a pleasure that we
took in common Before the court met we spent a day or two at the house of
Grange living very nobly with an open table and here it was that we three
began to ride out together in the fields a practice afterwards maintained in
Edinburgh so far as the Advocates continual affairs permitted When we were
put in a good frame by the briskness of the exercise the difficulties of the
way or the accidents of bad weather my shyness wore entirely off we forgot
that we were strangers and speech not being required it flowed the more
naturally on Then it was that they had my story from me bit by bit from the
time that I left Essendean with my voyage and battle in the Covenant
wanderings in the heather etc and from the interest they found in my
adventures sprung the circumstance of a jaunt we made a little later on on a
day when the courts were not sitting and of which I will tell a trifle more at
length
We took horse early and passed first by the house of Shaws where it stood
smokeless in a great field of white frost for it was yet early in the day Here
Prestongrange alighted down gave me his horse and proceeded alone to visit my
uncle My heart I remember swelled up bitter within me at the sight of that
bare house and the thought of the old miser sitting chittering within in the
cold kitchen
»There is my home« said I »and my family«
»Poor David Balfour« said Miss Grant
What passed during the visit I have never heard but it would doubtless not
be very agreeable to Ebenezer for when the Advocate came forth again his face
was dark
»I think you will soon be the laird indeed Mr Davie« says he turning
half about with the one foot in the stirrup
»I will never pretend sorrow« said I and to say the truth during his
absence Miss Grant and I had been embellishing the place in fancy with
plantations parterres and a terrace much as I have since carried out in
fact
Thence we pushed to the Queens Ferry where Rankeillor gave us a good
welcome being indeed out of the body to receive so great a visitor Here the
Advocate was so unaffectedly good as to go quite fully over my affairs sitting
perhaps two hours with the Writer in his study and expressing I was told a
great esteem for myself and concern for my fortunes To while this time Miss
Grant and I and young Rankeillor took boat and passed the Hope to Limekilns
Rankeillor made himself very ridiculous and I thought offensive with his
admiration for the young lady and to my wonder only it is so common a weakness
of her sex she seemed if anything to be a little gratified One use it had
for when we were come to the other side she laid her commands on him to mind
the boat while she and I passed a little farther to the alehouse This was her
own thought for she had been taken with my account of Alison Hastie and
desired to see the lass herself We found her once more alone indeed I
believe her father wrought all day in the fields and she curtsied dutifully to
the gentryfolk and the beautiful young lady in the ridingcoat
»Is this all the welcome I am to get« said I holding out my hand »And
have you no more memory of old friends«
»Keep me whas this of it« she cried and then »Gods truth its the
tautit19 laddie«
»The very same« says I
»Monys the time Ive thocht upon you and your freen and blithe am I to see
you in your braws«20 she cried »though I kennt ye were come to your ain folk
by the grand present that ye sent me and that I thank ye for with a my heart«
»There« said Miss Grant to me »run out by with ye like a good bairn I
didna come here to stand and haud a candle its her and me that are to crack«
I suppose she stayed ten minutes in the house but when she came forth I
observed two things that her eyes were reddened and a silver brooch was gone
out of her bosom This very much affected me
»I never saw you so well adorned« said I
»O Davie man dinna be a pompous gowk« said she and was more than usually
sharp to me the remainder of the day
About candlelight we came home from this excursion
For a good while I heard nothing further of Catriona my Miss Grant
remaining quite impenetrable and stopping my mouth with pleasantries At last
one day that she returned from walking and found me alone in the parlour over
my French I thought there was something unusual in her looks the colour
heightened the eyes sparkling high and a bit of a smile continually bitten in
as she regarded me She seemed indeed like the very spirit of mischief and
walking briskly in the room had soon involved me in a kind of quarrel over
nothing and at the least with nothing intended on my side I was like
Christian in the slough the more I tried to clamber out upon the side the
deeper I became involved until at last I heard her declare with a great deal
of passion that she would take that answer at the hands of none and I must
down upon my knees for pardon
The causelessness of all this fuff stirred my own bile »I have said nothing
you can properly object to« said I »and as for my knees that is an attitude I
keep for God«
»And as a goddess I am to be served« she cried shaking her brown locks at
me and with a bright colour »Every man that comes within waft of my petticoats
shall use me so«
»I will go so far as ask your pardon for the fashions sake although I vow
I know not why« I replied »But for these playacting postures you can go to
others«
»O Davie« she said »Not if I was to beg you«
I bethought me I was fighting with a woman which is the same as to say a
child and that upon a point entirely formal
»I think it a bairnly thing« I said »not worthy in you to ask or me to
render Yet I will not refuse you neither« said I »and the stain if there be
any rests with yourself« And at that I kneeled fairly down
»There« she cried »There is the proper station there is where I have been
manoeuvring to bring you« And then suddenly »Kep«21 said she flung me a
folded billet and ran from the apartment laughing
The billet had neither place nor date »Dear Mr David« it began »I get
your news continually by my cousin Miss Grant and it is a pleisand hearing I
am very well in a good place among good folk but necessitated to be quite
private though I am hoping that at long last we may meet again All your
friendships have been told me by my loving cousin who loves us both She bids
me to send you this writing and oversees the same I will be asking you to do
all her commands and rest your affectionate friend Catriona
MacgregorDrummond PS Will you not see my cousin Allardyce«
I think it not the least brave of my campaigns as the soldiers say that I
should have done as I was here bidden and gone forthright to the house by Dean
But the old lady was now entirely changed and supple as a glove By what means
Miss Grant had brought this round I could never guess I am sure at least she
dared not to appear openly in the affair for her papa was compromised in it
pretty deep It was he indeed who had persuaded Catriona to leave or rather
not to return to her cousins placing her instead with a family of Gregorys
decent people quite at the Advocates disposition and in whom she might have
the more confidence because they were of her own clan and family These kept her
private till all was ripe heated and helped her to attempt her fathers rescue
and after she was discharged from prison received her again into the same
secrecy Thus Prestongrange obtained and used his instrument nor did there leak
out the smallest word of his acquaintance with the daughter of James More There
was some whispering of course upon the escape of that discredited person but
the Government replied by a show of rigour one of the cellporters was flogged
the lieutenant of the guard my poor friend Duncansby was broken of his rank
and as for Catriona all men were well enough pleased that her fault should be
passed by in silence
I could never induce Miss Grant to carry back an answer »No« she would
say when I persisted »I am going to keep the big feet out of the platter«
This was the more hard to bear as I was aware she saw my little friend many
times in the week and carried her my news whenever as she said I had behaved
myself At last she treated me to what she called an indulgence and I thought
rather more of a banter She was certainly a strong almost a violent friend to
all she liked chief among whom was a certain frail old gentlewoman very blind
and very witty who dwelt in the top of a tall land on a strait close with a
nest of linnets in a cage and thronged all day with visitors Miss Grant was
very fond to carry me there and put me to entertain her friend with the
narrative of my misfortunes and Miss Tibbie Ramsay that was her name was
particular kind and told me a great deal that was worth knowledge of old folks
and past affairs in Scotland I should say that from her chamberwindow and not
three feet away such is the straitness of that close it was possible to look
into a barred loophole lighting the stairway of the opposite house
Here upon some pretext Miss Grant left me one day alone with Miss Ramsay
I mind I thought that lady inattentive and like one preoccupied It was besides
very uncomfortable for the window contrary to custom was left open and the
day was cold All at once the voice of Miss Grant sounded in my ears as from a
distance
»Here Shaws« she cried »keek out of the window and see what I have
broughten you«
I think it was the prettiest sight that ever I beheld The well of the close
was all in clear shadow where a man could see distinctly the walls very black
and dingy and there from the barred loophole I saw two faces smiling across at
me Miss Grants and Catrionas
»There« says Miss Grant »I wanted her to see you in your braws like the
lass of Limekilns I wanted her to see what I could make of you when I buckled
to the job in earnest«
It came in my mind she had been more than common particular that day upon my
dress and I think that some of the same care had been bestowed upon Catriona
For so merry and sensible a lady Miss Grant was certainly wonderful taken up
with duds
»Catriona« was all I could get out
As for her she said nothing in the world but only waved her hand and
smiled to me and was suddenly carried away again from before the loophole
That vision was no sooner lost than I ran to the housedoor where I found I
was locked in thence back to Miss Ramsay crying for the key but might as well
have cried upon the Castle rock She had passed her word she said and I must
be a good lad It was impossible to burst the door even if it had been
mannerly it was impossible I should leap from the window being seven stories
above ground All I could do was to crane over the close and watch for their
reappearance from the stair It was little to see being no more than the tops
of their two heads each on a ridiculous bobbin of skirts like to a pair of
pincushions Nor did Catriona so much as look up for a farewell being prevented
as I heard afterwards by Miss Grant who told her folk were never seen to less
advantage than from above downward
On the way home as soon as I was free I upbraided Miss Grant for her
cruelty
»I am sorry you was disappointed« says she demurely »For my part I was
very pleased You looked better than I dreaded you looked if it will not make
you vain a mighty pretty young man when you appeared in the window You are to
remember that she could not see your feet« says she with the manner of one
reassuring me
»O« cried I »leave my feet be they are no bigger than my neighbours«
»They are even smaller than some« said she »but I speak in parables like
a Hebrew prophet«
»I marvel little they were sometimes stoned« says I »But you miserable
girl how could you do it Why should you care to tantalise me with a moment«
»Love is like folk« says she »it needs some kind of vivers«22
»O Barbara let me see her properly« I pleaded »You can you see her
when you please let me have half an hour«
»Who is it that is managing this loveaffair You Or me« she asked and
as I continued to press her with my instances fell back upon a deadly
expedient that of imitating the tones of my voice when I called on Catriona by
name with which indeed she held me in subjection for some days to follow
There was never the least word heard of the memorial or none by me
Prestongrange and his Grace the Lord President may have heard of it for what I
know on the deafest sides of their heads they kept it to themselves at least
the public was none the wiser and in course of time on November 8th and in
the midst of a prodigious storm of wind and rain poor James of the Glens was
duly hanged at Lettermore by Balachulish
So there was the final upshot of my politics Innocent men have perished
before James and are like to keep on perishing in spite of all our wisdom
till the end of time And till the end of time young folk who are not yet used
with the duplicity of life and men will struggle as I did and make heroical
resolves and take long risks and the course of events will push them upon the
one side and go on like a marching army James was hanged and here was I
dwelling in the house of Prestongrange and grateful to him for his fatherly
attention He was hanged and behold when I met Mr Simon in the causeway I
was fain to pull off my beaver to him like a good little boy before his dominie
He had been hanged by fraud and violence and the world wagged along and there
was not a pennyweight of difference and the villains of that horrid plot were
decent kind respectable fathers of families who went to kirk and took the
sacrament
But I had had my view of that detestable business they call politics I had
seen it from behind when it is all bones and blackness and I was cured for
life of any temptations to take part in it again A plain quiet private path
was that which I was ambitious to walk in where I might keep my head out of the
way of dangers and my conscience out of the road of temptation For upon a
retrospect it appeared I had not done so grandly after all but with the
greatest possible amount of big speech and preparation had accomplished
nothing
The 25th of the same month a ship was advertised to sail from Leith and I
was suddenly recommended to make up my mails for Leyden To Prestongrange I
could of course say nothing for I had already been a long while sorning on
his house and table But with his daughter I was more open bewailing my fate
that I should be sent out of the country and assuring her unless she should
bring me to farewell with Catriona I would refuse at the last hour
»Have I not given you my advice« she asked
»I know you have« said I »and I know how much I am beholden to you
already and that I am bidden to obey your orders But you must confess you are
something too merry a lass at times to lippen to23 entirely«
»I will tell you then« said she »Be you on board by nine oclock
forenoon the ship does not sail before one keep your boat alongside and if
you are not pleased with my farewells when I shall send them you can come
ashore again and seek Katrine for yourself«
Since I could make no more of her I was fain to be content with this
The day came round at last when she and I were to separate We had been
extremely intimate and familiar I was much in her debt and what way we were to
part was a thing that put me from my sleep like the vails I was to give to the
domestic servants I knew she considered me too backward and rather desired to
rise in her opinion on that head Besides which after so much affection shown
and I believe felt upon both sides it would have looked coldlike to be
anyways stiff Accordingly I got my courage up and my words ready and the last
chance we were like to be alone asked pretty boldly to be allowed to salute her
in farewell
»You forget yourself strangely Mr Balfour« said she »I cannot call to
mind that I have given you any right to presume on our acquaintancy«
I stood before her like a stopped clock and knew not what to think far
less to say when of a sudden she cast her arms about my neck and kissed me with
the best will in the world
»You inimitable bairn« she cried »Did you think that I would let us part
like strangers Because I can never keep my gravity at you five minutes on end
you must not dream I do not love you very well I am all love and laughter
every time I cast an eye on you And now I will give you an advice to conclude
your education which you will have need of before its very long Never ask
womenfolk They are bound to answer No God never made the lass that could
resist the temptation Its supposed by divines to be the curse of Eve because
she did not say it when the devil offered her the apple her daughters can say
nothing else«
»Since I am so soon to lose my bonny professor« I began
»This is gallant indeed« says she curtsying
» I would put the one question« I went on »May I ask a lass to marry me«
»You think you could not marry her without« she asked »Or else get her to
offer«
»You see you cannot be serious« said I
»I shall be very serious in one thing David« said she »I shall always be
your friend«
As I got to my horse the next morning the four ladies were all at the same
window whence we had once looked down on Catriona and all cried farewell and
waved their pocketnapkins as I rode away One out of the four I knew was truly
sorry and at the thought of that and how I had come to the door three months
ago for the first time sorrow and gratitude made a confusion in my mind
Part II Father and Daughter
Chapter XXI
The Voyage into Holland
The ship lay at a single anchor well outside the pier of Leith so that all we
passengers must come to it by the means of skiffs This was very little
troublesome for the reason that the day was a flat calm very frosty and
cloudy and with a low shifting fog upon the water The body of the vessel was
thus quite hid as I drew near but the tall spars of her stood high and bright
in a sunshine like the flickering of a fire She proved to be a very roomy
commodious merchant but somewhat blunt in the bows and loaden extraordinary
deep with salt salted salmon and fine white linen stockings for the Dutch
Upon my coming on board the captain welcomed me one Sang out of Lesmahago I
believe a very hearty friendly tarpaulin of a man but at the moment in
rather of a bustle There had no other of the passengers yet appeared so that I
was left to walk about upon the deck viewing the prospect and wondering a good
deal what these farewells should be which I was promised
All Edinburgh and the Pentland Hills glinted above me in a kind of smuisty
brightness now and again overcome with blots of cloud of Leith there was no
more than the tops of chimneys visible and on the face of the water where the
haar24 lay nothing at all Out of this I was presently aware of a sound of oars
pulling and a little after as if out of the smoke of a fire a boat issued
There sat a grave man in the sternsheets well muffled from the cold and by
his side a tall pretty tender figure of a maid that brought my heart to a
stand I had scarce the time to catch my breath in and be ready to meet her as
she stepped upon the deck smiling and making my best bow which was now vastly
finer than some months before when first I made it to her ladyship No doubt we
were both a good deal changed she seemed to have shot up taller like a young
comely tree She had now a kind of pretty backwardness that became her well as
of one that regarded herself more highly and was fairly woman and for another
thing the hand of the same magician had been at work upon the pair of us and
Miss Grant had made us both braw if she could make but the one bonny
The same cry in words not very different came from both of us that the
other was come in compliment to say farewell and then we perceived in a flash
we were to ship together
»O why will not Baby have been telling me« she cried and then remembered
a letter she had been given on the condition of not opening it till she was
well on board Within was an enclosure for myself and ran thus
»Dear Davie What do you think of my farewell and what do you say to
your fellow passenger Did you kiss or did you ask I was about to
have signed here but that would leave the purport of my question
doubtful and in my own case I ken the answer So fill up here with good
advice Do not be too blate25 and for Gods sake do not try to be too
forward nothing sets you worse I am
Your affectionate friend and governess
BARBARA GRANT«
I wrote a word of answer and compliment on a leaf out of my pocketbook put it
in with another scratch from Catriona sealed the whole with my new signet of
the Balfour arms and despatched it by the hand of Prestongranges servant that
still waited in my boat
Then we had time to look upon each other more at leisure which we had not
done for a piece of a minute before upon a common impulse we shook hands
again
»Catriona« said I It seemed that was the first and last word of my
eloquence
»You will be glad to see me again« says she
»And I think that is an idle word« said I »We are too deep friends to make
speech upon such trifles«
»Is she not the girl of all the world« she cried again »I was never
knowing such a girl so honest and so beautiful«
»And yet she cared no more for Alpin than what she did for a kalestock«
said I
»Ah she will say so indeed« cries Catriona »Yet it was for the name and
the gentle kind blood that she took me up and was so good to me«
»Well I will tell you why it was« said I »There are all sorts of peoples
faces in this world There is Barbaras face that every one must look at and
admire and think her a fine brave merry girl And then there is your face
which is quite different I never knew how different till today You cannot
see yourself and that is why you do not understand but it was for the love of
your face that she took you up and was so good to you And everybody in the
world would do the same«
»Everybody« says she
»Every living soul« said I
»Ah then that will be why the soldiers at the Castle took me up« she
cried
»Barbara has been teaching you to catch me« said I
»She will have taught me more than that at all events She will have taught
me a great deal about Mr David all the ill of him and a little that was not
so ill either now and then« she said smiling »She will have told me all
there was of Mr David only just that he would sail upon this very same ship
And why it is you go«
I told her
»Ah well« said she »we will be some days in company and then I suppose
goodbye for altogether I go to meet my father at a place of the name of
Helvoetsluys and from there to France to be exiles by the side of our
chieftain«
I could say no more than just »O« the name of James More always drying up
my very voice
She was quick to perceive it and to guess some portion of my thought
»There is one thing I must be saying first of all Mr David« said she »I
think two of my kinsfolk have not behaved to you altogether very well And the
one of them two is James More my father and the other is the Laird of
Prestongrange Prestongrange will have spoken by himself or his daughter in the
place of him But for James More my father I have this much to say he lay
shackled in a prison he is a plain honest soldier and a plain Highland
gentleman what they would be after he would never be guessing but if he had
understood it was to be some prejudice to a young gentleman like yourself he
would have died first And for the sake of all your friendships I will be
asking you to pardon my father and family for that same mistake«
»Catriona« said I »what that mistake was I do not care to know I know but
the one thing that you went to Prestongrange and begged my life upon your
knees O I ken well it was for your father that you went but when you were
there you pleaded for me also It is a thing I cannot speak of There are two
things I cannot think of in to myself and the one is your good words when you
called yourself my little friend and the other that you pleaded for my life
Let us never speak more we two of pardon or offence«
We stood after that silent Catriona looking on the deck and I on her and
before there was more speech a little wind having sprung up in the norwest
they began to shake out the sails and heave in upon the anchor
There were six passengers besides our two selves which made of it a full
cabin Three were solid merchants out of Leith Kirkcaldy and Dundee all
engaged in the same adventure into High Germany One was a Hollander returning
the rest worthy merchants wives to the charge of one of whom Catriona was
recommended Mrs Gebbie for that was her name was by great good fortune
heavily incommoded by the sea and lay day and night on the broad of her back
We were besides the only creatures at all young on board the Rose except a
whitefaced boy that did my old duty to attend upon the table and it came about
that Catriona and I were left almost entirely to ourselves We had the next
seats together at the table where I waited on her with extraordinary pleasure
On deck I made her a soft place with my cloak and the weather being singularly
fine for that season with bright frosty days and nights a steady gentle wind
and scarce a sheet started all the way through the North Sea we sat there only
now and again walking to and fro for warmth from the first blink of the sun
till eight or nine at night under the clear stars The merchants or Captain Sang
would sometimes glance and smile upon us or pass a merry word or two and give
us the goby again but the most part of the time they were deep in herring and
chintzes and linen or in computations of the slowness of the passage and left
us to our own concerns which were very little important to any but ourselves
At the first we had a great deal to say and thought ourselves pretty witty
and I was at a little pains to be the beau and she I believe to play the
young lady of experience But soon we grew plainer with each other I laid aside
my high clipped English what little there was of it and forgot to make my
Edinburgh bows and scrapes she upon her side fell into a sort of kind
familiarity and we dwelt together like those of the same household only upon
my side with a more deep emotion About the same time the bottom seemed to
fall out of our conversation and neither one of us the less pleased Whiles she
would tell me old wives tales of which she had a wonderful variety many of
them from my friend redheaded Neil She told them very pretty and they were
pretty enough childish tales but the pleasure to myself was in the sound of her
voice and the thought that she was telling and I was listening Whiles again
we would sit entirely silent not communicating even with a look and tasting
pleasure enough in the sweetness of that neighbourhood I speak here only for
myself Of what was in the maids mind I am not very sure that ever I asked
myself and what was in my own I was afraid to consider I need make no secret
of it now either to myself or to the reader I was fallen totally in love She
came between me and the sun She had grown suddenly taller as I say but with a
wholesome growth she seemed all health and lightness and brave spirits and I
thought she walked like a young deer and stood like a birch upon the mountains
It was enough for me to sit near by her on the deck and I declare I scarce
spent two thoughts upon the future and was so well content with what I then
enjoyed that I was never at the pains to imagine any further step unless
perhaps that I would be sometimes tempted to take her hand in mine and hold it
there But I was too like a miser of what joys I had and would venture nothing
on a hazard
What we spoke was usually of ourselves or of each other so that if any one
had been at so much pains as overhear us he must have supposed us the most
egotistical persons in the world It befell one day when we were at this
practice that we came on a discourse of friends and friendship and I think now
that we were sailing near the wind We said what a fine thing friendship was
and how little we had guessed of it and how it made life a new thing and a
thousand covered things of the same kind that will have been said since the
foundation of the world by young folk in the same predicament Then we remarked
upon the strangeness of that circumstance that friends came together in the
beginning as if they were there for the first time and yet each had been alive
a good while losing time with other people
»It is not much that I have done« said she »and I could be telling you the
fivefifths of it in twothree words It is only a girl I am and what can
befall a girl at all events But I went with the clan in the year Fortyfive
The men marched with swords and firelocks and some of them in brigades in the
same set of tartan they were not backward at the marching I can tell you And
there were gentlemen from the Low Country with their tenants mounted and
trumpets to sound and there was a grand skirling of warpipes I rode on a
little Highland horse on the right hand of my father James More and of
Glengyle himself And here is one fine thing that I remember that Glengyle
kissed me in the face because says he my kinswoman you are the only lady of
the clan that has come out and me a little maid of maybe twelve years old I
saw Prince Charlie too and the blue eyes of him he was pretty indeed I had
his hand to kiss in the front of the army O well these were the good days
but it is all like a dream that I have seen and then awakened It went what way
you very well know and these were the worst days of all when the redcoat
soldiers were out and my father and my uncles lay in the hill and I was to be
carrying them their meat in the middle night or at the short side of day when
the cocks crow Yes I have walked in the night manys the time and my heart
great in me for terror of the darkness It is a strange thing I will never have
been meddled with a bogle but they say a maid goes safe Next there was my
uncles marriage and that was a dreadful affair beyond all Jean Kay was that
womans name and she had me in the room with her that night at Inversnaid the
night we took her from her friends in the old ancient manner She would and she
wouldnt she was for marrying Rob the one minute and the next she would be for
none of him I will never have seen such a feckless creature of a woman surely
all there was of her would tell her ay or no Well she was a widow and I can
never be thinking a widow a good woman«
»Catriona« says I »how do you make out that«
»I do not know« said she »I am only telling you the seeming in my heart
And then to marry a new man Fy But that was her and she was married again
upon my uncle Robin and went with him a while to kirk and market and then
wearied or else her friends got claught of her and talked her round or maybe
she turned ashamed at the least of it she ran away and went back to her own
folk and said we had held her in the lake and I will never tell you all what
I have never thought much of any females since that day And so in the end my
father James More came to be cast in prison and you know the rest of it as
well as me«
»And through all you had no friends« said I
»No« said she »I have been pretty chief with twothree lasses on the
braes but not to call it friends«
»Well mine is a plain tale« said I »I never had a friend to my name till
I met in with you«
»And that brave Mr Stewart« she asked
»O yes I was forgetting him« I said »But he is a man and that is very
different«
»I would think so« said she »O yes it is quite different«
»And then there was one other« said I »I once thought I had a friend but
it proved a disappointment«
She asked me who she was
»It was a he then« said I »We were the two best lads at my fathers
school and we thought we loved each other dearly Well the time came when he
went to Glasgow to a merchants house that was his second cousin once removed
and wrote me twothree times by the carrier and then he found new friends and
I might write till I was tired he took no notice Eh Catriona it took me a
long while to forgive the world There is not anything more bitter than to lose
a fancied friend«
Then she began to question me close upon his looks and character for we
were each a great deal concerned in all that touched the other till at last in
a very evil hour I minded of his letters and went and fetched the bundle from
the cabin
»Here are his letters« said I »and all the letters that ever I got That
will be the last Ill can tell of myself you know the lave26 as well as I do«
»Will you let me read them then« says she
I told her if she would be at the pains and she bade me go away and she
would read them from the one end to the other Now in this bundle that I gave
her there were packed together not only all the letters of my false friend but
one or two of Mr Campbells when he was in town at the Assembly and to make a
complete roll of all that ever was written to me Catrionas little word and
the two I had received from Miss Grant one when I was on the Bass and one on
board that ship But of these last I had no particular mind at the moment
I was in that state of subjection to the thought of my friend that it
mattered not what I did nor scarce whether I was in her presence or out of it
I had caught her like some kind of a noble fever that lived continually in my
bosom by night and by day and whether I was waking or asleep So it befell
that after I was come into the forepart of the ship where the broad bows
splashed into the billows I was in no such hurry to return as you might fancy
rather prolonged my absence like a variety in pleasure I do not think I am by
nature much of an Epicurean and there had come till then so small a share of
pleasure in my way that I might be excused perhaps to dwell on it unduly
When I returned to her again I had a faint painful impression as of a
buckle slipped so coldly she returned the packet
»You have read them« said I and I thought my voice sounded not wholly
natural for I was turning in my mind for what could ail her
»Did you mean me to read all« she asked
I told her »Yes« with a drooping voice
»The last of them as well« said she
I knew where we were now yet I would not lie to her either »I gave them
all without afterthought« I said »as I supposed that you would read them I
see no harm in any«
»I will be differently made« said she »I thank God I am differently made
It was not a fit letter to be shown me It was not fit to be written«
»I think you are speaking of your own friend Barbara Grant« said I
»There will not be anything as bitter as to lose a fancied friend« said
she quoting my own expression
»I think it is sometimes the friendship that was fancied« I cried »What
kind of justice do you call this to blame me for some words that a tomfool of a
madcap lass has written down upon a piece of paper You know yourself with what
respect I have behaved and would do always«
»Yet you would show me that same letter« says she »I want no such friends
I can be doing very well Mr Balfour without her or you«
»This is your fine gratitude« says I
»I am very much obliged to you« said she »I will be asking yon to take
away your letters« She seemed to choke upon the word so that it sounded like
an oath
»You shall never ask twice« said I picked up that bundle walked a little
way forward and cast them as far as possible into the sea For a very little
more I could have cast myself after them
The rest of the day I walked up and down raging There were few names so ill
but what I gave her them in my own mind before the sun went down All that I had
ever heard of Highland pride seemed quite outdone that a girl scarce grown
should resent so trifling an allusion and that from her next friend that she
had near wearied me with praising of I had bitter sharp hard thoughts of her
like an angry boys If I had kissed her indeed I thought perhaps she would
have taken it pretty well and only because it had been written down and with a
spice of jocularity up she must fuff in this ridiculous passion It seemed to
me there was a want of penetration in the female sex to make angels weep over
the case of the poor men
We were side by side again at supper and what a change was there She was
like curdled milk to me her face was like a wooden dolls I could have
indifferently smitten her or grovelled at her feet but she gave me not the
least occasion to do either No sooner the meal done than she betook herself to
attend on Mrs Gebbie which I think she had a little neglected heretofore But
she was to make up for lost time and in what remained of the passage was
extraordinary assiduous with the old lady and on deck began to make a great
deal more than I thought wise of Captain Sang Not but what the captain seemed a
worthy fatherly man but I hated to behold her in the least familiarity with
any one except myself
Altogether she was so quick to avoid me and so constant to keep herself
surrounded with others that I must watch a long while before I could find my
opportunity and after it was found I made not much of it as you are now to
hear
»I have no guess how I have offended« said I »it should scarce be beyond
pardon then O try if you can pardon me«
»I have no pardon to give« said she and the words seemed to come out of
her throat like marbles »I will be very much obliged for all your friendships«
And she made me an eighth part of a curtsy
But I had schooled myself beforehand to say more and I was going to say it
too
»There is one thing« said I »If I have shocked your particularity by the
showing of that letter it cannot touch Miss Grant She wrote not to you but to
a poor common ordinary lad who might have had more sense than show it If you
are to blame me «
»I will advise you to say no more about that girl at all events« said
Catriona »It is her I will never look the road of not if she lay dying« She
turned away from me and suddenly back »Will you swear you will have no more to
deal with her« she cried
»Indeed and I will never be so unjust then« said I »nor yet so
ungrateful«
And now it was I that turned away
Chapter XXII
Helvoetsluys
The weather in the end considerably worsened the wind sang in the shrouds the
sea swelled higher and the ship began to labour and cry out among the billows
The song of the leadsman in the chains was now scarce ceasing for we thrid all
the way among shoals About nine in the morning in a burst of wintry sun
between two squalls of hail I had my first look of Holland a line of
windmills birling in the breeze It was besides my first knowledge of these
daftlike contrivances which gave me a near sense of foreign travel and a new
world and life We came to an anchor about halfpast eleven outside the harbour
of Helvoetsluys in a place where the sea sometimes broke and the ship pitched
outrageously You may be sure we were all on deck save Mrs Gebbie some of us
in cloaks others mantled in the ships tarpaulins all clinging on by ropes
and jesting the most like old sailorfolk that we could imitate
Presently a boat that was backed like a partancrab came gingerly
alongside and the skipper of it hailed our master in the Dutch Thence Captain
Sang turned very troubledlike to Catriona and the rest of us crowding
about the nature of the difficulty was made plain to all The Rose was bound to
the port of Rotterdam whither the other passengers were in a great impatience
to arrive in view of a conveyance due to leave that very evening in the
direction of the Upper Germany This with the present halfgale of wind the
captain if no time were lost declared himself still capable to save Now James
More had trysted in Helvoet with his daughter and the captain had engaged to
call before the port and place her according to the custom in a shore boat
There was the boat to be sure and here was Catriona ready but both our master
and the patroon of the boat scrupled at the risk and the first was in no humour
to delay
»Your father« said he »would be geyan little pleased if we was to break a
leg to ye Miss Drummond letabe drowning of you Take my way of it« says he
»and come onby with the rest of us here to Rotterdam Ye can get a passage down
the Maes in a sailing scoot as far as to the Brill and thence on again by a
place in a rattelwaggon back to Helvoet«
But Catriona would hear of no change She looked whitelike as she beheld
the bursting of the sprays the green seas that sometimes poured upon the
forecastle and the perpetual bounding and swooping of the boat among the
billows but she stood firmly by her fathers orders »My father James More
will have arranged it so« was her first word and her last I thought it very
idle and indeed wanton in the girl to be so literal and stand opposite to so
much kind advice but the fact is she had a very good reason if she would have
told us Sailing scoots and rattelwaggons are excellent things only the use of
them must first be paid for and all she was possessed of in the world was just
two shillings and a pennyhalfpenny sterling So it fell out that captain and
passengers not knowing of her destitution and she being too proud to tell
them spoke in vain
»But you ken nae French and nae Dutch neither« said one
»It is very true« says she »but since the year Fortysix there are so
many of the honest Scots abroad that I will be doing very well I thank you«
There was a pretty country simplicity in this that made some laugh others
looked the more sorry and Mr Gebbie fell outright in a passion I believe he
knew it was his duty his wife having accepted charge of the girl to have gone
ashore with her and seen her safe nothing would have induced him to have done
so since it must have involved the loss of his conveyance and I think he made
it up to his conscience by the loudness of his voice At least he broke out upon
Captain Sang raging and saying the thing was a disgrace that it was mere death
to try to leave the ship and at any event we could not cast down an innocent
maid in a boatful of nasty Holland fishers and leave her to her fate I was
thinking something of the same took the mate upon one side arranged with him
to send on my chests by trackscoot to an address I had in Leyden and stood up
and signalled to the fishers
»I will go ashore with the young lady Captain Sang« said I »It is all one
what way I go to Leyden« and leaped at the same time into the boat which I
managed not so elegantly but what I fell with two of the fishers in the bilge
From the boat the business appeared yet more precarious than from the ship
she stood so high over us swung down so swift and menaced us so perpetually
with her plunging and passaging upon the anchor cable I began to think I had
made a fools bargain that it was merely impossible Catriona should be got on
board to me and that I stood to be set ashore at Helvoet all by myself and with
no hope of any reward but the pleasure of embracing James More if I should want
to But this was to reckon without the lasss courage She had seen me leap with
very little appearance however much reality of hesitation to be sure she was
not to be beat by her discarded friend Up she stood on the bulwarks and held by
a stay the wind blowing in her petticoats which made the enterprise more
dangerous and gave us rather more of a view of her stockings than would be
thought genteel in cities There was no minute lost and scarce time given for
any to interfere if they had wished the same I stood up on the other side and
spread my arms the ship swung down on us the patroon humoured his boat nearer
in than was perhaps wholly safe and Catriona leaped into the air I was so
happy as to catch her and the fishers readily supporting us escaped a fall
She held to me a moment very tight breathing quick and deep thence she still
clinging to me with both hands we were passed aft to our places by the
steersman and Captain Sang and all the crew and passengers cheering and crying
farewell the boat was put about for shore
As soon as Catriona came a little to herself she unhanded me suddenly but
said no word No more did I and indeed the whistling of the wind and the
breaching of the sprays made it no time for speech and our crew not only toiled
excessively but made extremely little way so that the Rose had got her anchor
and was off again before we had approached the harbour mouth
We were no sooner in smooth water than the patroon according to their
beastly Hollands custom stopped his boat and required of us our fares Two
guilders was the mans demand between three and four shillings English money
for each passenger But at this Catriona began to cry out with a vast deal of
agitation She had asked of Captain Sang she said and the fare was but an
English shilling »Do you think I will have come on board and not ask first«
cries she The patroon scolded back upon her in a lingo where the oaths were
English and the rest right Hollands till at last seeing her near tears I
privately slipped in the rogues hand six shillings whereupon he was obliging
enough to receive from her the other shilling without more complaint No doubt I
was a good deal nettled and ashamed I like to see folk thrifty but not with so
much passion and I daresay it would be rather coldly that I asked her as the
boat moved on again for shore where it was that she was trysted with her
father
»He is to be inquired of at the house of one Sprott an honest Scots
merchant« says she and then with the same breath »I am wishing to thank you
very much you are a brave friend to me«
»It will be time enough when I get you to your father« said I little
thinking that I spoke so true »I can tell him a fine tale of a loyal daughter«
»O I do not think I will be a loyal girl at all events« she cried with a
great deal of painfulness in the expression »I do not think my heart is true«
»Yet there are very few that would have made that leap and all to obey a
fathers orders« I observed
»I cannot have you to be thinking of me so« she cried again »When you had
done that same how would I stop behind And at all events that was not all the
reasons« Whereupon with a burning face she told me the plain truth upon her
poverty
»Good guide us« cried I »what kind of daftlike proceeding is this to let
yourself be launched on the continent of Europe with an empty purse I count it
hardly decent scant decent« I cried
»You forget James More my father is a poor gentleman« said she »He is a
hunted exile«
»But I think not all your friends are hunted exiles« I exclaimed »And was
this fair to them that care for you Was it fair to me was it fair to Miss
Grant that counselled you to go and would be driven fair hornmad if she could
hear of it Was it even fair to these Gregory folk that you were living with
and used you lovingly Its a blessing you have fallen in my hands Suppose your
father hindered by an accident what would become of you here and you your
leelone in a strange place The thought of the thing frightens me« I said
»I will have lied to all of them« she replied »I will have told them all
that I had plenty I told her too I could not be lowering James More to them«
I found out later on that she must have lowered him in the very dust for
the lie was originally the fathers not the daughters and she thus obliged to
persevere in it for the mans reputation But at the time I was ignorant of
this and the mere thought of her destitution and the perils in which she must
have fallen had ruffled me almost beyond reason
»Well well well« said I »you will have to learn more sense«
I left her mails for the moment in an inn upon the shore where I got a
direction for Sprotts house in my new French and we walked there it was some
little way beholding the place with wonder as we went Indeed there was much
for Scots folk to admire canals and trees being intermingled with the houses
the houses each within itself of a brave red brick the colour of a rose with
steps and benches of blue marble at the cheek of every door and the whole town
so clean you might have dined upon the causeway Sprott was within upon his
ledgers in a low parlour very neat and clean and set out with china and
pictures and a globe of the earth in a brass frame He was a bigchafted ruddy
lusty man with a crooked hard look to him and he made us not that much
civility as offer us a seat
»Is James More Macgregor now in Helvoet sir« says I
»I ken nobody by such a name« says he impatientlike
»Since you are so particular« says I »I will amend my question and ask
you where we are to find in Helvoet one James Drummond alias Macgregor alias
James More late tenant in Inveronachile«
»Sir« says he »he may be in Hell for what I ken and for my part I wish he
was«
»The young lady is that gentlemans daughter sir« said I »before whom I
think you will agree with me it is not very becoming to discuss his character«
»I have nothing to make either with him or her or you« cries he in his
gross voice
»Under your favour Mr Sprott« said I »this young lady is come from
Scotland seeking him and by whatever mistake was given the name of your house
for a direction An error it seems to have been but I think this places both
you and me who am but her fellowtraveller by accident under a strong
obligation to help our countrywoman«
»Will you ding me daft« he cries »I tell ye I ken naething and care less
either for him or his breed I tell ye the man owes me money«
»That may very well be sir« said I who was now rather more angry than
himself »At least I owe you nothing the young lady is under my protection
and I am neither at all used with these manners nor in the least content with
them«
As I said this and without particularly thinking what I did I drew a step
or two nearer to his table thus striking by mere good fortune on the only
argument that could at all affect the man The blood left his lusty countenance
»For the Lords sake dinna be hasty sir« he cried »I am truly wishfu no
to be offensive But ye ken sir Im like a wheen guidnatured honest canty
auld fallows my bark is waur nor my bite To hear me ye micht whiles fancy I
was a wee thing dour but na na its a kind auld fallow at heart Sandie
Sprott And ye could never imagine the fyke and fash this man has been to me«
»Very good sir« said I »Then I will make that much freedom with your
kindness as trouble you for your last news of Mr Drummond«
»Youre welcome sir« said he »As for the young leddy my respecs to
her hell just have clean forgotten her I ken the man ye see I have lost
siller by him ere now He thinks of naebody but just himsel clan king or
dauchter if he can get his wameful he would give them a the goby ay or his
correspondent either For there is a sense in whilk I may be nearly almost said
to be his correspondent The fact is we are employed thegither in a business
affair and I think its like to turn out a dear affair for Sandie Sprott The
mans as guids my pairtner and I give ye my mere word I ken naething by where
he is He micht be coming here to Helvoet he micht come here the morn he
michtna come for a twalmonth I would wonder at naething or just at the ae
thing and thats if he was to pay me my siller Ye see what way I stand with
it and its clear Im no very likely to meddle up with the young leddy as ye
ca her She canna stop here thats ae thing certain sure Dod sir Im a lone
man If I was to tak her in its highly possible the hellicat would try and
gar me marry her when he turned up«
»Enough of this talk« said I »I will take the young lady among better
friends Give me pen ink and paper and I will leave here for James More the
address of my correspondent in Leyden He can inquire from me where he is to
seek his daughter«
This word I wrote and sealed which while I was doing Sprott of his own
motion made a welcome offer to charge himself with Miss Drummonds mails and
even send a porter for them to the inn I advanced him to that effect a dollar
or two to be a cover and he gave me an acknowledgment in writing of the sum
Whereupon I giving my arm to Catriona we left the house of this
unpalatable rascal She had said no word throughout leaving me to judge and
speak in her place I upon my side had been careful not to embarrass her by a
glance and even now although my heart still glowed inside of me with shame and
anger I made it my affair to seem quite easy
»Now« said I »let us get back to yon same inn where they can speak the
French have a piece of dinner and inquire for conveyances to Rotterdam I will
never be easy till I have you safe again in the hands of Mrs Gebbie«
»I suppose it will have to be« said Catriona »though whoever will be
pleased I do not think it will be her And I will remind you this once again
that I have but one shilling and three bawbees«
»And just this once again« said I »I will remind you it was a blessing
that I came alongst with you«
»What else would I be thinking all this time« says she and I thought
weighed a little on my arm »It is you that are the good friend to me«
Chapter XXIII
Travels in Holland
The rattelwaggon which is a kind of a long waggon set with benches carried us
in four hours of travel to the great city of Rotterdam It was long past dark by
then but the streets pretty brightly lighted and thronged with wildlike
outlandish characters bearded Hebrews black men and the hordes of
courtesans most indecently adorned with finery and stopping seamen by their
very sleeves the clash of talk about us made our heads to whirl and what was
the most unexpected of all we appeared to be no more struck with all these
foreigners than they with us I made the best face I could for the lasss sake
and my own credit but the truth is I felt like a lost sheep and my heart beat
in my bosom with anxiety Once or twice I inquired after the harbour or the
berth of the ship Rose but either fell on some who spoke only Hollands or my
own French failed me Trying a street at a venture I came upon a lane of
lighted houses the doors and windows thronged with wauflike painted women
these jostled and mocked upon us as we passed and I was thankful we had nothing
of their language A little after we issued forth upon an open place along the
harbour
»We shall be doing now« cries I as soon as I spied masts »Let us walk
here by the harbour We are sure to meet some that has the English and at the
best of it we may light upon that very ship«
We did the next best as happened for about nine of the evening whom
should we walk into the arms of but Captain Sang He told us they had made their
run in the most incredible brief time the wind holding strong till they reached
port by which means his passengers were all gone already on their further
travels It was impossible to chase after the Gebbies into the High Germany and
we had no other acquaintance to fall back upon but Captain Sang himself It was
the more gratifying to find the man friendly and wishful to assist He made it a
small affair to find some good plain family of merchants where Catriona might
harbour till the Rose was loaden declared he would then blithely carry her back
to Leith for nothing and see her safe in the hands of Mr Gregory and in the
meanwhile carried us to a late ordinary for the meal we stood in need of He
seemed extremely friendly as I say but what surprised me a good deal rather
boisterous in the bargain and the cause of this was soon to appear For at the
ordinary calling for Rhenish wine and drinking of it deep he soon became
unutterably tipsy In this case as too common with all men but especially with
those of his rough trade what little sense or manners he possessed deserted
him and he behaved himself so scandalous to the young lady jesting most
illfavouredly at the figure she had made on the ships rail that I had no
resource but carry her suddenly away
She came out of that ordinary clinging to me close »Take me away David«
she said »You keep me I am not afraid with you«
»And have no cause my little friend« cried I and could have found it in
my heart to weep
»Where will you be taking me« she said again »Dont leave me at all
events never leave me«
»Where am I taking you indeed« says I stopping for I had been staving on
ahead in mere blindness »I must stop and think But Ill not leave you
Catriona the Lord do so to me and more also if I should fail or fash you«
She crept closer in to me by way of a reply
»Here« I said »is the stillest place that we have hit on yet in this busy
byke of a city Let us sit down here under yon tree and consider of our course«
That tree which I am little like to forget stood hard by the harbourside
It was a black night but lights were in the houses and nearer hand in the
quiet ships there was a shining of the city on the one hand and a buzz hung
over it of many thousands walking and talking on the other it was dark and
the water bubbled on the sides I spread my cloak upon a builders stone and
made her sit there she would have kept her hold upon me for she still shook
with the late affronts but I wanted to think clear disengaged myself and
paced to and fro before her in the manner of what we call a smugglers walk
belabouring my brains for any remedy By the course of these scattering thoughts
I was brought suddenly face to face with a remembrance that in the heat and
haste of our departure I had left Captain Sang to pay the ordinary At this I
began to laugh out loud for I thought the man well served and at the same
time by an instinctive movement carried my hand to the pocket where my money
was I suppose it was in the lane where the women jostled us but there is only
the one thing certain that my purse was gone
»You will have thought of something good« said she observing me to pause
At the pinch we were in my mind became suddenly clear as a
perspectiveglass and I saw there was no choice of methods I had not one doit
of coin but in my pocketbook I had still my letter on the Leyden merchant and
there was now but the one way to get to Leyden and that was to walk on our two
feet
»Catriona« said I »I know youre brave and I believe youre strong do
you think you could walk thirty miles on a plain road« We found it I believe
scarce the twothirds of that but such was my notion of the distance
»David« she said »if you will just keep near I will go anywhere and do
anything The courage of my heart it is all broken Do not be leaving me in
this horrible country by myself and I will do all else«
»Can you start now and march all night« said I
»I will do all that you can ask of me« she said »and never ask you why I
have been a bad ungrateful girl to you and do what you please with me now And
I think Miss Barbara Grant is the best lady in the world« she added »and I do
not see what she would deny you for at all events«
This was Greek and Hebrew to me but I had other matters to consider and
the first of these was to get clear of that city on the Leyden road It proved a
cruel problem and it may have been one or two at night ere we had solved it
Once beyond the houses there was neither moon nor stars to guide us only the
whiteness of the way in the midst and a blackness of an alley on both hands
The walking was besides made most extraordinary difficult by a plain black frost
that fell suddenly in the small hours and turned that highway into one long
slide
»Well Catriona« said I »here we are like the kings sons and the old
wives daughters in your daft Highland tales Soon well be going over the
seven Bens the seven glens and the seven mountain moors« which was a common
byword or overcome in those tales of hers that had stuck in my memory
»Ah« says she »but here are no glens or mountains Though I will never be
denying but what the trees and some of the plain places hereabouts are very
pretty But our country is the best yet«
»I wish we could say as much for our own folk« says I recalling Sprott and
Sang and perhaps James More himself
»I will never complain of the country of my friend« said she and spoke it
out with an accent so particular that I seemed to see the look upon her face
I caught in my breath sharp and came near falling for my pains on the
black ice
»I do not know what you think Catriona« said I when I was a little
recovered »but this has been the best day yet I think shame to say it when
you have met in with such misfortunes and disfavours but for me it has been
the best day yet«
»It was a good day when you showed me so much love« said she
»And yet I think shame to be happy too« I went on »and you here on the
road in the black night«
»Where in the great world would I be else« she cried »I am thinking I am
safest where I am with you«
»I am quite forgiven then« I asked
»Will you not forgive me that time so much as not to take it in your mouth
again« she cried »There is nothing in this heart to you but thanks But I will
be honest too« she added with a kind of suddenness »and Ill never can
forgive that girl«
»Is this Miss Grant again« said I »You said yourself she was the best lady
in the world«
»So she will be indeed« says Catriona »But I will never forgive her for
all that I will never never forgive her and let me hear tell of her no more«
»Well« said I »this beats all that ever came to my knowledge and I wonder
that you can indulge yourself in such bairnly whims Here is a young lady that
was the best friend in the world to the both of us that learned us how to dress
ourselves and in a great manner how to behave as any one can see that knew us
both before and after«
But Catriona stopped square in the midst of the highway
»It is this way of it« said she »Either you will go on to speak of her
and I will go back to yon town and let come of it what God pleases Or else you
will do me that politeness to talk of other things«
I was the most nonplussed person in this world but I bethought me that she
depended altogether on my help that she was of the frail sex and not so much
beyond a child and it was for me to be wise for the pair of us
»My dear girl« said I »I can make neither head nor tails of this but God
forbid that I should do anything to set you on the jee As for talking of Miss
Grant I have no such a mind to it and I believe it was yourself began it My
only design if I took you up at all was for your own improvement for I hate
the very look of injustice Not that I do not wish you to have a good pride and
a nice female delicacy they become you well but here you show them to excess«
»Well then have you done« said she
»I have done« said I
»A very good thing« said she and we went on again but now in silence
It was an eerie employment to walk in the gross night beholding only
shadows and hearing nought but our own steps At first I believe our hearts
burned against each other with a deal of enmity but the darkness and the cold
and the silence which only the cocks sometimes interrupted or sometimes the
farmyard dogs had pretty soon brought down our pride to the dust and for my
own particular I would have jumped at any decent opening for speech
Before the day peeped came on a warmish rain and the frost was all wiped
away from among our feet I took my cloak to her and sought to hap her in the
same she bade me rather impatiently to keep it
»Indeed and I will do no such thing« said I »Here am I a great ugly lad
that has seen all kinds of weather and here are you a tender pretty maid My
dear you would not put me to a shame«
Without more words she let me cover her which as I was doing in the
darkness I let my hand rest a moment on her shoulder almost like an embrace
»You must try to be more patient of your friend« said I
I thought she seemed to lean the least thing in the world against my bosom
or perhaps it was but fancy
»There will be no end to your goodness« said she
And we went on again in silence but now all was changed and the happiness
that was in my heart was like a fire in a great chimney
The rain passed ere day it was but a sloppy morning as we came into the
town of Delft The redgabled houses made a handsome show on either hand of a
canal the servant lasses were out slaistering and scrubbing at the very stones
upon the public highway smoke rose from a hundred kitchens and it came in upon
me strongly it was time to break our fasts
»Catriona« said I »I believe you have yet a shilling and three bawbees«
»Are you wanting it« said she and passed me her purse »I am wishing it
was five pounds What will you want it for«
»And what have we been walking for all night like a pair of waif
Egyptians« says I »Just because I was robbed of my purse and all I possessed
in that unchancy town of Rotterdam I will tell you of it now because I think
the worst is over but we have still a good tramp before us till we get to where
my money is and if you would not buy me a piece of bread I were like to go
fasting«
She looked at me with open eyes By the light of the new day she was all
black and pale for weariness so that my heart smote me for her But as for her
she broke out laughing
»My torture are we beggars then« she cried »You too O I could have
wished for this same thing And I am glad to buy your breakfast to you But it
would be pleisand if I would have had to dance to get a meal to you For I
believe they are not very well acquainted with our manner of dancing over here
and might be paying for the curiosity of that sight«
I could have kissed her for that word not with a lovers mind but in a
heat of admiration For it always warms a man to see a woman brave
We got a drink of milk from a country wife but new come to the town and in
a bakers a piece of excellent hot sweetsmelling bread which we ate upon
the road as we went on That road from Delft to the Hague is just five miles of
a fine avenue shaded with trees a canal on the one hand on the other excellent
pastures of cattle It was pleasant here indeed
»And now Davie« said she »what will you do with me at all events«
»It is what we have to speak of« said I »and the sooner yet the better I
can come by money in Leyden that will be all well But the trouble is how to
dispose of you until your father come I thought last night you seemed a little
sweer to part from me«
»It will be more than seeming then« said she
»You are a very young maid« said I »and I am but a very young callant
This is a great piece of difficulty What way are we to manage Unless indeed
you could pass to be my sister«
»And what for no« said she »if you would let me«
»I wish you were so indeed« I cried »I would be a fine man if I had such
a sister But the rub is that you are Catriona Drummond«
»And now I will be Catrine Balfour« she said »And who is to ken They are
all strange folk here«
»If you think that it would do« says I »I own it troubles me I would like
it very ill if I advised you at all wrong«
»David I have no friend here but you« she said
»The mere truth is I am too young to be your friend« said I »I am too
young to advise you or you to be advised I see not what else we are to do and
yet I ought to warn you«
»I will have no choice left« said she »My father James More has not used
me very well and it is not the first time I am cast upon your hands like a
sack of barleymeal and have nothing else to think of but your pleasure If you
will have me good and well It you will not« she turned and touched her hand
upon my arm »David I am afraid« said she
»No but I ought to warn you« I began and then bethought me that I was the
bearer of the purse and it would never do to seem too churlish »Catriona«
said I »dont misunderstand me I am just trying to do my duty by you girl
Here am I going alone to this strange city to be a solitary student there and
here is this chance arisen that you might dwell with me a bit and be like my
sister you can surely understand this much my dear that I would just love to
have you«
»Well and here I am« said she »So thats soon settled«
I know I was in duty bounden to have spoke more plain I know this was a
great blot upon my character for which I was lucky that I did not pay more
dear But I minded how easy her delicacy had been startled with a word of
kissing her in Barbaras letter now that she depended on me how was I to be
more bold Besides the truth is I could see no other feasible method to
dispose of her And I daresay inclination pulled me very strong
A little beyond the Hague she fell very lame and made the rest of the
distance heavily enough Twice she must rest by the wayside which she did with
pretty apologies calling herself a shame to the Highlands and the race she came
of and nothing but a hindrance to myself It was her excuse she said that she
was not much used with walking shod I would have had her strip off her shoes
and stockings and go barefoot But she pointed out to me that the women of that
country even in the landward roads appeared to be all shod
»I must not be disgracing my brother« said she and was very merry with it
all although her face told tales of her
There is a garden in that city we were bound to sanded below with clean
sand the trees meeting overhead some of them trimmed some pleached and the
whole place beautified with alleys and arbours Here I left Catriona and went
forward by myself to find my correspondent There I drew on my credit and asked
to be recommended to some decent retired lodging My baggage not being yet
arrived I told him I supposed I should require his caution with the people of
the house and explained that my sister being come for a while to keep house
with me I should be wanting two chambers This was all very well but the
trouble was that Mr Balfour in his letter of recommendation had condescended on
a great deal of particulars and never a word of any sister in the case. I could
see my Dutchman was extremely suspicious and viewing me over the rims of a
great pair of spectacles he was a poor frail body and reminded me of an
infirm rabbit he began to question me close
Here I fell in a panic Suppose he accept my tale thinks I suppose he
invite my sister to his house and that I bring her I shall have a fine
ravelled pirn to unwind and may end by disgracing both the lassie and myself
Thereupon I began hastily to expound to him my sisters character She was of a
bashful disposition it appeared and so extremely fearful of meeting strangers
that I had left her at that moment sitting in a public place alone And then
being launched upon the stream of falsehood I must do like all the rest of the
world in the same circumstance and plunge in deeper than was any service
adding some altogether needless particulars of Miss Balfours ill and
retirement during childhood In the midst of which I awoke to a sense of my
behaviour and was turned to one blush
The old gentleman was not so much deceived but what he discovered a
willingness to be quit of me But he was first of all a man of business and
knowing that my money was good enough however it might be with my conduct he
was so far obliging as to send his son to be my guide and caution in the matter
of a lodging This implied my presenting of the young man to Catriona The poor
pretty child was much recovered with resting looked and behaved to perfection
and took my arm and gave me the name of brother more easily than I could answer
her But there was one misfortune thinking to help she was rather towardly
than otherwise to my Dutchman And I could not but reflect that Miss Balfour had
rather suddenly outgrown her bashfulness And there was another thing the
difference of our speech I had the LowCountry tongue and dwelled upon my
words she had a hill voice spoke with something of an English accent only far
more delightful and was scarce quite fit to be called a deacon in the craft of
talking English grammar so that for a brother and sister we made a most
uneven pair But the young Hollander was a heavy dog without so much spirit in
his belly as to remark her prettiness for which I scorned him And as soon as
he had found a cover to our heads he left us alone which was the greater
service of the two
Chapter XXIV
Full Story of a Copy of Heineccius
The place found was in the upper part of a house backed on a canal We had two
rooms the second entering from the first each had a chimney built out into the
floor in the Dutch manner and being alongside each had the same prospect from
the window of the top of a tree below us in a little court of a piece of the
canal and of houses in the Hollands architecture and a church spire upon the
farther side A full set of bells hung in that spire and made delightful music
and when there was any sun at all it shone direct in our two chambers From a
tavern hard by we had good meals sent in
The first night we were both pretty weary and she extremely so There was
little talk between us and I packed her off to her bed as soon as she had
eaten The first thing in the morning I wrote word to Sprott to have her mails
sent on together with a line to Alan at his chiefs and had the same
despatched and her breakfast ready ere I waked her I was a little abashed
when she came forth in her one habit and the mud of the way upon her stockings
By what inquiries I had made it seemed a good few days must pass before her
mails could come to hand in Leyden and it was plainly needful she must have a
shift of things She was unwilling at first that I should go to that expense
but I reminded her she was now a rich mans sister and must appear suitably in
the part and we had not got to the second merchants before she was entirely
charmed into the spirit of the thing and her eyes shining It pleased me to see
her so innocent and thorough in this pleasure What was more extraordinary was
the passion into which I fell on it myself being never satisfied that I had
bought her enough or fine enough and never weary of beholding her in different
attires Indeed I began to understand some little of Miss Grants immersion in
that interest of clothes for the truth is when you have the ground of a
beautiful person to adorn the whole business becomes beautiful The Dutch
chintzes I should say were extraordinary cheap and fine but I would be ashamed
to set down what I paid for stockings to her Altogether I spent so great a sum
upon this pleasuring as I may call it that I was ashamed for a great while to
spend more and by way of a setoff I left our chambers pretty bare If we had
beds if Catriona was a little braw and I had light to see her by we were
richly enough lodged for me
By the end of this merchandising I was glad to leave her at the door with
all our purchases and go for a long walk alone in which to read myself a
lecture Here had I taken under my roof and as good as to my bosom a young
lass extremely beautiful and whose innocence was her peril My talk with the
old Dutchman and the lies to which I was constrained had already given me a
sense of how my conduct must appear to others and now after the strong
admiration I had just experienced and the immoderacy with which I had continued
my vain purchases I began to think of it myself as very hazarded I bethought
me if I had a sister indeed whether I would so expose her then judging the
case too problematical I varied my question into this whether I would so trust
Catriona in the hands of any other Christian being the answer to which made my
face to burn The more cause since I had been entrapped and had entrapped the
girl into an undue situation that I should behave in it with scrupulous nicety
She depended on me wholly for her bread and shelter in case I should alarm her
delicacy she had no retreat Besides I was her host and her protector and the
more irregularly I had fallen in these positions the less excuse for me if I
should profit by the same to forward even the most honest suit for with the
opportunities that I enjoyed and which no wise parent would have suffered for a
moment even the most honest suit would be unfair I saw I must be extremely
holdoff in my relations and yet not too much so neither for if I had no right
to appear at all in the character of a suitor I must yet appear continually
and if possible agreeably in that of host It was plain I should require a
great deal of tact and conduct perhaps more than my years afforded But I had
rushed in where angels might have feared to tread and there was no way out of
that position save by behaving right while I was in it I made a set of rules
for my guidance prayed for strength to be enabled to observe them and as a
more human aid to the same end purchased a studybook in law This being all
that I could think of I relaxed from these grave considerations whereupon my
mind bubbled at once into an effervescency of pleasing spirits and it was like
one treading on air that I turned homeward As I thought that name of home and
recalled the image of that figure awaiting me between four walls my heart beat
upon my bosom
My troubles began with my return She ran to greet me with an obvious and
affecting pleasure She was clad besides entirely in the new clothes that I
had bought for her looked in them beyond expression well and must walk about
and drop me curtsies to display them and to be admired I am sure I did it with
an ill grace for I thought to have choked upon the words
»Well« she said »if you will not be caring for my pretty clothes see what
I have done with our two chambers« And she showed me the place all very finely
swept and the fires glowing in the two chimneys
I was glad of a chance to seem a little more severe than I quite felt
»Catriona« said I »I am very much displeased with you and you must never
again lay a hand upon my room One of us two must have the rule while we are
here together it is most fit it should be I who am both the man and the elder
and I give you that for my command«
She dropped me one of her curtsies which were extraordinary taking »If you
will be cross« said she »I must be making pretty manners at you Davie I will
be very obedient as I should be when every stitch upon all there is of me
belongs to you But you will not be very cross either because now I have not
anyone else«
This struck me hard and I made haste in a kind of penitence to blot out
all the good effect of my last speech In this direction progress was more easy
being down hill she led me forward smiling at the sight of her in the
brightness of the fire and with her pretty becks and looks my heart was
altogether melted We made our meal with infinite mirth and tenderness and the
two seemed to be commingled into one so that our very laughter sounded like a
kindness
In the midst of which I awoke to better recollections made a lame word of
excuse and set myself boorishly to my studies It was a substantial
instructive book that I had bought by the late Dr Heineccius in which I was
to do a great deal of reading these next days and often very glad that I had no
one to question me of what I read Methought she bit her lip at me a little and
that cut me Indeed it left her wholly solitary the more as she was very
little of a reader and had never a book But what was I to do
So the rest of the evening flowed by almost without speech
I could have beat myself I could not lie in my bed that night for rage and
repentance but walked to and fro on my bare feet till I was nearly perished
for the chimney was gone out and the frost keen The thought of her in the next
room the thought that she might even hear me as I walked the remembrance of my
churlishness and that I must continue to practise the same ungrateful course or
be dishonoured put me beside my reason I stood like a man between Scylla and
Charybdis What must she think of me was my one thought that softened me
continually into weakness What is to become of us the other which steeled me
again to resolution This was my first night of wakefulness and divided
counsels of which I was now to pass many pacing like a madman sometimes
weeping like a childish boy sometimes praying I would fain hope like a
Christian
But prayer is not very difficult and the hitch comes in practice In her
presence and above all if I allowed any beginning of familiarity I found I had
very little command of what should follow But to sit all day in the same room
with her and feign to be engaged upon Heineccius surpassed my strength So
that I fell instead upon the expedient of absenting myself so much as I was
able taking out classes and sitting there regularly often with small
attention the test of which I found the other day in a notebook of that
period where I had left off to follow an edifying lecture and actually
scribbled in my book some very ill verses though the Latinity is rather better
than I thought I could ever have compassed The evil of this course was
unhappily near as great as its advantage I had the less time of trial but I
believe while that time lasted I was tried the more extremely For she being
so much left to solitude she came to greet my return with an increasing fervour
that came nigh to overmaster me These friendly offers I must barbarously cast
back and my rejection sometimes wounded her so cruelly that I must unbend and
seek to make it up to her in kindness So that our time passed in ups and downs
tiffs and disappointments upon the which I could almost say if it may be said
with reverence that I was crucified
The base of my trouble was Catrionas extraordinary innocence at which I
was not so much surprised as filled with pity and admiration She seemed to have
no thought of our position no sense of my struggles welcomed any mark of my
weakness with responsive joy and when I was drove again to my retrenchments
did not always dissemble her chagrin There were times when I have thought to
myself »If she were over head in love and set her cap to catch me she would
scarce behave much otherwise« and then I would fall again into wonder at the
simplicity of woman from whom I felt in these moments that I was not worthy
to be descended
There was one point in particular on which our warfare turned and of all
things this was the question of her clothes My baggage had soon followed me
from Rotterdam and hers from Helvoet She had now as it were two wardrobes
and it grew to be understood between us I could never tell how that when she
was friendly she would wear my clothes and when otherwise her own It was meant
for a buffet and as it were the renunciation of her gratitude and I felt it
so in my bosom but was generally more wise than to appear to have observed the
circumstance
Once indeed I was betrayed into a childishness greater than her own it
fell in this way On my return from classes thinking upon her devoutly with a
great deal of love and a good deal of annoyance in the bargain the annoyance
began to fade away out of my mind and spying in a window one of those forced
flowers of which the Hollanders are so skilled in the artifice I gave way to
an impulse and bought it for Catriona I do not know the name of that flower
but it was of the pink colour and I thought she would admire the same and
carried it home to her with a wonderful soft heart I had left her in my
clothes and when I returned to find her all changed and a face to match I
cast but the one look at her from head to foot ground my teeth together flung
the window open and my flower into the court and then between rage and
prudence myself out of that room again of which I slammed the door as I went
out
On the steep stair I came near falling and this brought me to myself so
that I began at once to see the folly of my conduct I went not into the street
as I had purposed but to the house court which was always a solitary place
and where I saw my flower that had cost me vastly more than it was worth
hanging in the leafless tree I stood by the side of the canal and looked upon
the ice Countrypeople went by on their skates and I envied them I could see
no way out of the pickle I was in no way so much as to return to the room I had
just left No doubt was in my mind but I had now betrayed the secret of my
feelings and to make things worse I had shown at the same time and that with
wretched boyishness incivility to my helpless guest
I suppose she must have seen me from the open window It did not seem to me
that I had stood there very long before I heard the crunching of footsteps on
the frozen snow and turning somewhat angrily for I was in no spirit to be
interrupted saw Catriona drawing near She was all changed again to the
clocked stockings
»Are we not to have our walk today« she said
I was looking at her in a maze »Where is your brooch« says I
She carried her hand to her bosom and coloured high »I will have forgotten
it« said she »I will run upstairs for it quick and then surely well can have
our walk«
There was a note of pleading in that last that staggered me I had neither
words nor voice to utter them I could do no more than nod by way of answer and
the moment she had left me climbed into the tree and recovered my flower which
on her return I offered her
»I bought it for you Catriona« said I
She fixed it in the midst of her bosom with the brooch I could have thought
tenderly
»It is none the better of my handling« said I again and blushed
»I will be liking it none the worse you may be sure of that« said she
We did not speak so much that day she seemed a thought on the reserve
though not unkindly As for me all the time of our walking and after we came
home and I had seen her put my flower into a pot of water I was thinking to
myself what puzzles women were I was thinking the one moment it was the most
stupid thing on earth she should not have perceived my love and the next that
she had certainly perceived it long ago and being a wise girl with the fine
female instinct of propriety concealed her knowledge
We had our walk daily Out in the streets I felt more safe I relaxed a
little in my guardedness and for one thing there was no Heineccius This made
these periods not only a relief to myself but a particular pleasure to my poor
child When I came back about the hour appointed I would generally find her
ready dressed and glowing with anticipation She would prolong their duration to
the extreme seeming to dread as I did myself the hour of the return and
there is scarce a field or waterside near Leyden scarce a street or lane there
where we have not lingered Outside of these I bade her confine herself
entirely to our lodgings this in the fear of her encountering any acquaintance
which would have rendered our position very difficult From the same
apprehension I would never suffer her to attend church nor even go myself but
made some kind of shift to hold worship privately in our own chamber I hope
with an honest but I am quite sure with a very much divided mind Indeed there
was scarce anything that more affected me than thus to kneel down alone with her
before God like man and wife
One day it was snowing downright hard I had thought it not possible that we
should venture forth and was surprised to find her waiting for me ready
dressed
»I will not be doing without my walk« she cried »You are never a good boy
Davie in the house I will never be caring for you only in the open air I
think we two will better turn Egyptian and dwell by the roadside«
That was the best walk yet of all of them she clung near to me in the
falling snow it beat about and melted on us and the drops stood upon her
bright cheeks like tears and ran into her smiling mouth Strength seemed to come
upon me with the sight like a giants I thought I could have caught her up and
run with her into the uttermost places in the earth and we spoke together all
that time beyond belief for freedom and sweetness
It was the dark night when we came to the housedoor She pressed my arm
upon her bosom »Thank you kindly for these same good hours« said she on a
deep note of her voice
The concern in which I fell instantly on this address put me with the same
swiftness on my guard and we were no sooner in the chamber and the light made
than she beheld the old dour stubborn countenance of the student of
Heineccius Doubtless she was more than usually hurt and I know for myself I
found it more than usually difficult to maintain my strangeness Even at the
meal I durst scarce unbuckle and scarce lift my eyes to her and it was no
sooner over than I fell again to my civilian with more seeming abstraction and
less understanding than before Methought as I read I could hear my heart
strike like an eightday clock Hard as I feigned to study there was still some
of my eyesight that spilled beyond the book upon Catriona She sat on the floor
by the side of my great mail and the chimney lighted her up and shone and
blinked upon her and made her glow and darken through a wonder of fine hues
Now she would be gazing in the fire and then again at me and at that I would
be plunged in a terror of myself and turn the pages of Heineccius like a man
looking for the text in church
Suddenly she called out aloud »O why does not my father come« she cried
and fell at once into a storm of tears
I leapt up flung Heineccius fairly in the fire ran to her side and cast
an arm round her sobbing body
She put me from her sharply »You do not love your friend« says she »I
could be so happy too if you would let me« And then »O what will I have done
that you should hate me so«
»Hate you« cries I and held her firm »You blind lass can you not see a
little in my wretched heart Do you think when I sit there reading in that
foolbook that I have just burned and be damned to it I take ever the least
thought of any stricken thing but just yourself Night after night I could have
grat to see you sitting there your lone And what was I to do You are here
under my honour would you punish me for that Is it for that that you would
spurn a loving servant«
At the word with a small sudden motion she clung near to me I raised her
face to mine I kissed it and she bowed her brow upon my bosom clasping me
tight I sat in a mere whirl like a man drunken Then I heard her voice sound
very small and muffled in my clothes
»Did you kiss her truly« she asked
There went through me so great a heave of surprise that I was all shook with
it
»Miss Grant« I cried all in a disorder »Yes I asked her to kiss me
goodbye the which she did«
»Ah well« said she »you have kissed me too at all events«
At the strangeness and sweetness of that word I saw where we had fallen
rose and set her on her feet
»This will never do« said I »This will never never do O Catrine
Catrine« Then there came a pause in which I was debarred from any speaking And
then »Go away to your bed« said I »Go away to your bed and leave me«
She turned to obey me like a little child and the next I knew of it had
stopped in the very doorway
»Goodnight Davie« said she
»And O goodnight my love« I cried with a great outbreak of my soul and
caught her to me again so that it seemed I must have broken her The next
moment I had thrust her from the room shutto the door even with violence and
stood alone
The milk was spilt now the word was out and the truth told I had crept
like an untrusty man into the poor maids affections she was in my hand like
any frail innocent thing to make or mar and what weapon of defence was left
me It seemed like a symbol that Heineccius my old protection was now burned
I repented yet could not find it in my heart to blame myself for that great
failure It seemed not possible to have resisted the boldness of her innocence
or that last temptation of her weeping And all that I had to excuse me did but
make my sin appear the greater it was upon a nature so defenceless and with
such advantages of the position that I seemed to have practised
What was to become of us now It seemed we could no longer dwell in the one
place But where was I to go or where she Without either choice or fault or
ours life had conspired to wall us together in that narrow place I had a wild
thought of marrying out of hand and the next moment put it from me with revolt
She was a child she could not tell her own heart I had surprised her weakness
I must never go on to build on that surprisal I must keep her not only clear of
reproach but free as she had come to me
Down I sat before the fire and reflected and repented and beat my brains
in vain for any means of escape About two of the morning there were three red
embers left and the house and all the city was asleep when I was aware of a
small sound of weeping in the next room She thought that I slept the poor
soul she regretted her weakness and what perhaps God help her she called
her forwardness and in the dead of the night solaced herself with tears
Tender and bitter feelings love and penitence and pity struggled in my soul
it seemed I was under bond to heal that weeping
»O try to forgive me« I cried out »try try to forgive me Let us forget
it all let us try if well no can forget it«
There came no answer but the sobbing ceased I stood a long while with my
hands still clasped as I had spoken then the cold of the night laid hold upon
me with a shudder and I think my reason reawakened
»You can make no hand of this Davie« thinks I »To bed with you like a
wise lad and try if you can sleep Tomorrow you may see your way«
Chapter XXV
The Return of James More
I was called on the morrow out of a late and troubled slumber by a knocking on
my door ran to open it and had almost swooned with the contrariety of my
feelings mostly painful for on the threshold in a rough wraprascal and an
extraordinary big laced hat there stood James More
I ought to have been glad perhaps without admixture for there was a sense
in which the man came like an answer to prayer I had been saying till my head
was weary that Catriona and I must separate and looking till my head ached for
any possible means of separation Here were the means come to me upon two legs
and joy was the hindmost of my thoughts It is to be considered however that
even if the weight of the future were lifted off me by the mans arrival the
present heaved up the more black and menacing so that as I first stood before
him in my shirt and breeches I believe I took a leaping step backward like a
person shot
»Ah« said he »I have found you Mr Balfour« and offered me his large
fine hand the which recovering at the same time my post in the doorway as if
with some thought of resistance I took him by doubtfully »It is a remarkable
circumstance how our affairs appear to intermingle« he continued »I am owing
you an apology for an unfortunate intrusion upon yours which I suffered myself
to be entrapped into by my confidence in that falseface Prestongrange I think
shame to own to you that I was ever trusting to a lawyer« He shrugged his
shoulders with a very French air »But indeed the man is very plausible« says
he »And now it seems that you have busied yourself handsomely in the matter of
my daughter for whose direction I was remitted to yourself«
»I think sir« said I with a very painful air »that it will be necessary
we two should have an explanation«
»There is nothing amiss« he asked »My agent Mr Sprott «
»For Gods sake moderate your voice« I cried »She must not hear till we
have had an explanation«
»She is in this place« cries he
»That is her chamberdoor« said I
»You are here with her alone« he asked
»And who else would I have got to stay with us« cries I
I will do him the justice to admit that he turned pale
»This is very unusual« said he »This is a very unusual circumstance You
are right we must hold an explanation«
So saying he passed me by and I must own the tall old rogue appeared at
that moment extraordinary dignified He had now for the first time the view of
my chamber which I scanned I may say with his eyes A bit of morning sun
glinted in by the windowpane and showed it off my bed my mails and
washingdish with some disorder of my clothes and the unlighted chimney made
the only plenishing no mistake but it looked bare and cold and the most
unsuitable beggarly place conceivable to harbour a young lady At the same time
came in on my mind the recollection of the clothes that I had bought for her
and I thought this contrast of poverty and prodigality bore an ill appearance
He looked all about the chamber for a seat and finding nothing else to his
purpose except my bed took a place upon the side of it where after I had
closed the door I could not very well avoid joining him For however this
extraordinary interview might end it must pass if possible without waking
Catriona and the one thing needful was that we should sit close and talk low
But I can scarce picture what a pair we made he in his greatcoat which the
coldness of my chamber made extremely suitable I shivering in my shirt and
breeks he with very much the air of a judge and I whatever I looked with
very much the feelings of a man who has heard the last trumpet
»Well« says he
And »Well« I began but found myself unable to go further
»You tell me she is here« said he again but now with a spice of impatience
that seemed to brace me up
»She is in this house« said I »and I knew the circumstance would be called
unusual But you are to consider how very unusual the whole business was from
the beginning Here is a young lady landed on the coast of Europe with two
shillings and a pennyhalfpenny She is directed to yon man Sprott in Helvoet I
hear you call him your agent All I can say is he could do nothing but damn and
swear at the mere mention of your name and I must fee him out of my own pocket
even to receive the custody of her effects You speak of unusual circumstances
Mr Drummond if that be the name you prefer Here was a circumstance if you
like to which it was barbarity to have exposed her«
»But this is what I cannot understand the least« said James »My daughter
was placed into the charge of some responsible persons whose names I have
forgot«
»Gebbie was the name« said I »and there is no doubt that Mr Gebbie should
have gone ashore with her at Helvoet But he did not Mr Drummond and I think
you might praise God that I was there to offer in his place«
»I shall have a word to say to Mr Gebbie before long« said he »As for
yourself I think it might have occurred that you were somewhat young for such a
post«
»But the choice was not between me and somebody else it was between me and
nobody« I cried »Nobody offered in my place and I must say I think you show a
very small degree of gratitude to me that did«
»I shall wait until I understand my obligation a little more in the
particular« says he
»Indeed and I think it stares you in the face then« said I »Your child
was deserted she was clean flung away in the midst of Europe with scarce two
shillings and not two words of any language spoken there I must say a bonny
business I brought her to this place I gave her the name and the tenderness
due to a sister All this has not gone without expense but that I scarce need
to hint at They were services due to the young ladys character which I
respect and I think it would be a bonny business too if I was to be singing
her praises to her father«
»You are a young man« he began
»So I hear you tell me« said I with a good deal of heat
»You are a very young man« he repeated »or you would have understood the
significancy of the step«
»I think you speak very much at your ease« cried I »What else was I to do
It is a fact I might have hired some decent poor woman to be a third to us and
I declare I never thought of it until this moment But where was I to find her
that am a foreigner myself And let me point out to your observation Mr
Drummond that it would have cost me money out of my pocket For here is just
what it comes to that I had to pay through the nose for your neglect and there
is only the one story to it just that you were so unloving and so careless as
to have lost your daughter«
»He that lives in a glass house should not be casting stones« says he »and
we will finish inquiring into the behaviour of Miss Drummond before we go on to
sit in judgment on her father«
»But I will be entrapped into no such attitude« said I »The character of
Miss Drummond is far above inquiry as her father ought to know So is mine and
I am telling you that There are but the two ways of it open The one is to
express your thanks to me as one gentleman to another and to say no more The
other if you are so difficult as to be still dissatisfied is to pay me that
which I have expended and be done«
He seemed to soothe me with a hand in the air »There there« said he »You
go too fast you go too fast Mr Balfour It is a good thing that I have
learned to be more patient And I believe you forget that I have yet to see my
daughter«
I began to be a little relieved upon this speech and a change in the mans
manner that I spied in him as soon as the name of money fell between us
»I was thinking it would be more fit if you will excuse the plainness of
my dressing in your presence that I should go forth and leave you to encounter
her alone« said I
»What I would have looked for at your hands« says he and there was no
mistake but what he said it civilly
I thought this better and better still and as I began to pull on my hose
recalling the mans impudent mendicancy at Prestongranges I determined to
pursue what seemed to be my victory
»If you have any mind to stay some while in Leyden« said I »this room is
very much at your disposal and I can easy find another for myself in which way
we shall have the least amount of flitting possible there being only one to
change«
»Why sir« said he making his bosom big »I think no shame of a poverty I
have come by in the service of my king I make no secret that my affairs are
quite involved and for the moment it would be even impossible for me to
undertake a journey«
»Until you have occasion to communicate with your friends« said I »perhaps
it might be convenient for you as of course it would be honourable to myself
if you were to regard yourself in the light of my guest«
»Sir« said he »when an offer is frankly made I think I honour myself most
to imitate that frankness Your hand Mr David you have the character that I
respect the most you are one of those from whom a gentleman can take a favour
and no more words about it I am an old soldier« he went on looking rather
disgustedlike around my chamber »and you need not fear I shall prove
burthensome I have ate too often at a dykeside drank of the ditch and had no
roof but the rain«
»I should be telling you« said I »that our breakfasts are sent customarily
in about this time of morning I propose I should go now to the tavern and bid
them add a cover for yourself and delay the meal the matter of an hour which
will give you an interval to meet your daughter in«
Methought his nostrils wagged at this »O an hour« says he »That is
perhaps superfluous Half an hour Mr David or say twenty minutes I shall do
very well in that And by the way« he adds detaining me by the coat »what is
it you drink in the morning whether ale or wine«
»To be frank with you sir« says I »I drink nothing else but spare cold
water«
»Tuttut« says he »that is fair destruction to the stomach take an old
campaigners word for it Our country spirit at home is perhaps the most
entirely wholesome but as that is not comeatable Rhenish or a white wine of
Burgundy will be next best«
»I shall make it my business to see you are supplied« said I
»Why very good« said he »and we shall make a man of you yet Mr David«
By this time I can hardly say that I was minding him at all beyond an odd
thought of the kind of fatherinlaw that he was like to prove and all my cares
centred about the lass his daughter to whom I determined to convey some warning
of her visitor I stepped to the door accordingly and cried through the panels
knocking thereon at the same time »Miss Drummond here is your father come at
last«
With that I went forth upon my errand having by two words extraordinarily
damaged my affairs
Chapter XXVI
The Threesome
Whether or not I was to be so much blamed or rather perhaps pitied I must
leave others to judge My shrewdness of which I have a good deal too seems not
so great with the ladies No doubt at the moment when I awakened her I was
thinking a good deal of the effect upon James More and similarly when I
returned and we were all sat down to breakfast I continued to behave to the
young lady with deference and distance as I still think to have been most wise
Her father had cast doubts upon the innocence of my friendship and these it
was my first business to allay But there is a kind of an excuse for Catriona
also We had shared in a scene of some tenderness and passion and given and
received caresses I had thrust her from me with violence I had called aloud
upon her in the night from the one room to the other she had passed hours of
wakefulness and weeping and it is not to be supposed I had been absent from her
pillow thoughts Upon the back of this to be awaked with unaccustomed
formality under the name of Miss Drummond and to be thenceforth used with a
great deal of distance and respect led her entirely in error on my private
sentiments and she was indeed so incredibly abused as to imagine me repentant
and trying to draw off
The trouble betwixt us seems to have been this that whereas I since I had
first set eyes on his great hat thought singly of James More his return and
suspicions she made so little of these that I may say she scarce remarked them
and all her troubles and doings regarded what had passed between us in the night
before This is partly to be explained by the innocence and boldness of her
character and partly because James More having sped so ill in his interview
with me or had his mouth closed by my invitation said no word to her upon the
subject At the breakfast accordingly it soon appeared we were at
crosspurposes I had looked to find her in clothes of her own I found her as
if her father were forgotten wearing some of the best that I had bought for
her and which she knew or thought that I admired her in I had looked to find
her imitate my affectation of distance and be most precise and formal instead
I found her flushed and wildlike with eyes extraordinary bright and a painful
and varying expression calling me by name with a sort of appeal of tenderness
and referring and deferring to my thoughts and wishes like an anxious or a
suspected wife
But this was not for long As I beheld her so regardless of her own
interests which I had jeopardised and was now endeavouring to recover I
redoubled my own coldness in the manner of a lesson to the girl The more she
came forward the further I drew back the more she betrayed the closeness of
our intimacy the more pointedly civil I became until even her father if he
had not been so engrossed with eating might have observed the opposition In
the midst of which of a sudden she became wholly changed and I told myself
with a good deal of relief that she had took the hint at last
All day I was at my classes or in quest of my new lodging and though the
hour of our customary walk hung miserably on my hands I cannot say but I was
happy on the whole to find my way cleared the girl again in proper keeping the
father satisfied or at least acquiescent and myself free to prosecute my love
with honour At supper as at all our meals it was James More that did the
talking No doubt but he talked well if any one could have believed him But I
will speak of him presently more at large The meal at an end he rose got his
greatcoat and looking as I thought at me observed he had affairs abroad I
took this for a hint that I was to be going also and got up whereupon the
girl who had scarce given me greeting at my entrance turned her eyes on me
wide open with a look that bade me stay I stood between them like a fish out
of water turning from one to the other neither seemed to observe me she
gazing on the floor he buttoning his coat which vastly swelled my
embarrassment This appearance of indifference argued upon her side a good
deal of anger very near to burst out Upon his I thought it horribly alarming
I made sure there was a tempest brewing there and considering that to be the
chief peril turned towards him and put myself so to speak in the mans hands
»Can I do anything for you Mr Drummond« says I
He stifled a yawn which again I thought to be duplicity »Why Mr David«
said he »since you are so obliging as to propose it you might show me the way
to a certain tavern« of which he gave the name »where I hope to fall in with
some old companions in arms«
There was no more to say and I got my hat and cloak to bear him company
»And as for you« says he to his daughter »you had best go to your bed I
shall be late home and Early to bed and early to rise gars bonny lasses have
bright eyes«
Whereupon he kissed her with a good deal of tenderness and ushered me
before him from the door This was so done I thought on purpose that it was
scarce possible there should be any parting salutation but I observed she did
not look at me and set it down to terror of James More
It was some distance to that tavern He talked all the way of matters which
did not interest me the smallest and at the door dismissed me with empty
manners Thence I walked to my new lodging where I had not so much as a chimney
to hold me warm and no society but my own thoughts These were still bright
enough I did not so much as dream that Catriona was turned against me I
thought we were like folk pledged I thought we had been too near and spoke too
warmly to be severed least of all by what were only steps in a most needful
policy And the chief of my concern was only the kind of fatherinlaw that I
was getting which was not at all the kind I would have chosen and the matter
of how soon I ought to speak to him which was a delicate point on several
sides In the first place when I thought how young I was I blushed all over
and could almost have found it in my heart to have desisted only that if once I
let them go from Leyden without explanation I might lose her altogether And in
the second place there was our very irregular situation to be kept in view and
the rather scant measure of satisfaction I had given James More that morning I
concluded on the whole that delay would not hurt anything yet I could not
delay too long neither and got to my cold bed with a full heart
The next day as James More seemed a little on the complaining hand in the
matter of my chamber I offered to have in more furniture and coming in the
afternoon with porters bringing chairs and tables found the girl once more
left to herself She greeted me on my admission civilly but withdrew at once to
her own room of which she shut the door I made my disposition and paid and
dismissed the men so that she might hear them go when I supposed she would at
once come forth again to speak to me I waited yet a while then knocked upon
her door
»Catriona« said I
The door was opened so quickly even before I had the word out that I
thought she must have stood behind it listening She remained there in the
interval quite still but she had a look that I cannot put a name on as of one
in a bitter trouble
»Are we not to have our walk today either« so I faltered
»I am thanking you« said she »I will not be caring much to walk now that
my father is come home«
»But I think he has gone out himself and left you here alone« said I
»And do you think that was very kindly said« she asked
»It was not unkindly meant« I replied »What ails you Catriona What
have I done to you that you should turn from me like this«
»I do not turn from you at all« she said speaking very carefully »I will
ever be grateful to my friend that was good to me I will ever be his friend in
all that I am able But now that my father James More is come again there is a
difference to be made and I think there are some things said and done that
would be better to be forgotten But I will ever be your friend in all that I am
able and if that is not all that if it is not so much Not that you will
be caring But I would not have you think of me too hard It was true what you
said to me that I was too young to be advised and I am hoping you will
remember I was just a child I would not like to lose your friendship at all
events«
She began this very pale but before she was done the blood was in her face
like scarlet so that not her words only but her face and the trembling of her
very hands besought me to be gentle I saw for the first time how very wrong
I had done to place the child in that position where she had been entrapped
into a moments weakness and now stood before me like a person shamed
»Miss Drummond« I said and stuck and made the same beginning once again
»I wish you could see into my heart« I cried »You would read there that my
respect is undiminished If that were possible I should say it was increased
This is but the result of the mistake we made and had to come and the less
said of it now the better Of all of our life here I promise you it shall never
pass my lips I would like to promise you too that I would never think of it
but its a memory that will be always dear to me And as for a friend you have
one here that would die for you«
»I am thanking you« said she
We stood a while silent and my sorrow for myself began to get the upper
hand for here were all my dreams come to a sad tumble and my love lost and
myself alone again in the world as at the beginning
»Well« said I »we shall be friends always thats a certain thing But
this is a kind of a farewell too its a kind of a farewell after all I shall
always ken Miss Drummond but this is a farewell to my Catriona«
I looked at her I could hardly say I saw her but she seemed to grow great
and brighten in my eyes and with that I suppose I must have lost my head for I
called out her name again and made a step at her with my hands reached forth
She shrank back like a person struck her face flamed but the blood sprang
no faster up into her cheeks than what it flowed back upon my own heart at
sight of it with penitence and concern I found no words to excuse myself but
bowed before her very deep and went my ways out of the house with death in my
bosom
I think it was about five days that followed without any change I saw her
scarce ever but at meals and then of course in the company of James More If we
were alone even for a moment I made it my devoir to behave the more distantly
and to multiply respectful attentions having always in my minds eye that
picture of the girl shrinking and flaming in a blush and in my heart more pity
for her than I could depict in words I was sorry enough for myself I need not
dwell on that having fallen all my length and more than all my height in a few
seconds but indeed I was near as sorry for the girl and sorry enough to be
scarce angry with her save by fits and starts Her plea was good she was but a
child she had been placed in an unfair position if she had deceived herself
and me it was no more than was to have been looked for
And for another thing she was now very much alone Her father when he was
by was rather a caressing parent but he was very easy led away by his affairs
and pleasures neglected her without compunction or remark spent his nights in
taverns when he had the money which was more often than I could at all account
for and even in the course of these few days failed once to come to a meal
which Catriona and I were at last compelled to partake of without him It was
the evening meal and I left immediately that I had eaten observing I supposed
she would prefer to be alone to which she agreed and strange as it may seem
I quite believed her Indeed I thought myself but an eyesore to the girl and a
reminder of a moments weakness that she now abhorred to think of So she must
sit alone in that room where she and I had been so merry and in the blink of
that chimney whose light had shone upon our many difficult and tender moments
There she must sit alone and think of herself as of a maid who had most
unmaidenly proffered her affections and had the same rejected And in the
meanwhile I would be alone in some other place and reading myself whenever I
was tempted to be angry lessons upon human frailty and female delicacy And
altogether I suppose there were never two poor fools made themselves more
unhappy in a greater misconception
As for James he paid not so much heed to us or to anything in nature but
his pocket and his belly and his own prating talk Before twelve hours were
gone he had raised a small loan of me before thirty he had asked for a second
and been refused Money and refusal he took with the same kind of high
goodnature Indeed he had an outside air of magnanimity that was very well
fitted to impose upon a daughter and the light in which he was constantly
presented in his talk and the mans fine presence and great ways went together
pretty harmoniously So that a man that had no business with him and either
very little penetration or a furious deal of prejudice might almost have been
taken in To me after my first two interviews he was as plain as print I saw
him to be perfectly selfish with a perfect innocency in the same and I would
hearken to his swaggering talk of arms and an old soldier and a poor Highland
gentleman and the strength of my country and my friends as I might to the
babbling of a parrot
The odd thing was that I fancy he believed some part of it himself or did
at times I think he was so false all through that he scarce knew when he was
lying and for one thing his moments of dejection must have been wholly
genuine There were times when he would be the most silent affectionate
clinging creature possible holding Catrionas hand like a big baby and begging
of me not to leave if I had any love to him of which indeed I had none but
all the more to his daughter He would press and indeed beseech us to entertain
him with our talk a thing very difficult in the state of our relations and
again break forth in pitiable regrets for his own land and friends or into
Gaelic singing
»This is one of the melancholy airs of my native land« he would say »You
may think it strange to see a soldier weep and indeed it is to make a near
friend of you« says he »But the notes of this singing are in my blood and the
words come out of my heart And when I mind upon my red mountains and the wild
birds calling there and the brave streams of water running down I would scarce
think shame to weep before my enemies« Then he would sing again and translate
to me pieces of the song with a great deal of boggling and much expressed
contempt against the English language »It says here« he would say »that the
sun is gone down and the battle is at an end and the brave chiefs are
defeated And it tells here how the stars see them fleeing into strange
countries or lying dead on the red mountain and they will never more shout the
call of battle or wash their feet in the streams of the valley But if you had
only some of this language you would weep also because the words of it are
beyond all expression and it is mere mockery to tell you it in English«
Well I thought there was a good deal of mockery in the business one way
and another and yet there was some feeling too for which I hated him I
think the worst of all And it used to cut me to the quick to see Catriona so
much concerned for the old rogue and weeping herself to see him weep when I
was sure one half of his distress flowed from his last nights drinking in some
tavern There were times when I was tempted to lend him a round sum and see the
last of him for good but this would have been to see the last of Catriona as
well for which I was scarcely so prepared and besides it went against my
conscience to squander my good money on one who was so little of a husband
Chapter XXVII
A Twosome
I believe it was about the fifth day and I know at least that James was in one
of his fits of gloom when I received three letters The first was from Alan
offering to visit me in Leyden the other two were out of Scotland and prompted
by the same affair which was the death of my uncle and my own complete
accession to my rights Rankeillors was of course wholly in the business
view Miss Grants was like herself a little more witty than wise full of
blame to me for not having written though how was I to write with such
intelligence and of rallying talk about Catriona which it cut me to the
quick to read in her very presence
For it was of course in my own rooms that I found them when I came to
dinner so that I was surprised out of my news in the very first moment of
reading it This made a welcome diversion for all three of us nor could any
have foreseen the ill consequences that ensued It was accident that brought the
three letters the same day and that gave them into my hand in the same room
with James More and of all the events that flowed from that accident and which
I might have prevented if I had held my tongue the truth is that they were
preordained before Agricola came into Scotland or Abraham set out upon his
travels
The first that I opened was naturally Alans and what more natural than
that I should comment on his design to visit me but I observed James to sit up
with an air of immediate attention
»Is that not Alan Breck that was suspected of the Appin accident« he
inquired
I told him »Ay« it was the same and he withheld me some time from my
other letters asking of our acquaintance of Alans manner of life in France
of which I knew very little and further of his visit as now proposed
»All we forfeited folk hang a little together« he explained »and besides
I know the gentleman and though his descent is not the thing and indeed he has
no true right to use the name of Stewart he was very much admired in the day of
Drummossie He did there like a soldier if some that need not be named had done
as well the upshot need not have been so melancholy to remember There were two
that did their best that day and it makes a bond between the pair of us« says
he
I could scarce refrain from shooting out my tongue at him and could almost
have wished that Alan had been there to have inquired a little further into that
mention of his birth Though they tell me the same was indeed not wholly
regular
Meanwhile I had opened Miss Grants and could not withhold an exclamation
»Catriona« I cried forgetting the first time since her father was
arrived to address her by a handle »I am come into my kingdom fairly I am the
laird of Shaws indeed my uncle is dead at last«
She clapped her hands together leaping from her seat The next moment it
must have come over both of us at once what little cause of joy was left to
either and we stood opposite staring on each other sadly
But James showed himself a ready hypocrite »My daughter« says he »is this
how my cousin learned you to behave Mr David has lost a near friend and we
should first condole with him on his bereavement«
»Troth sir« said I turning to him in a kind of anger »I can make no such
faces His death is as blithe news as ever I got«
»Its a good soldiers philosophy« says James »Tis the way of flesh we
must all go all go And if the gentleman was so far from your favour why very
well But we may at least congratulate you on your accession to your estates«
»Nor can I say that either« I replied with the same heat »It is a good
estate what matters that to a lone man that has enough already I had a good
revenue before in my frugality and but for the mans death which gratifies
me shame to me that must confess it I see not how any one is to be bettered
by this change«
»Come come« said he »you are more affected than you let on or you would
never make yourself out so lonely Here are three letters that means three that
wish you well and I could name two more here in this very chamber I have known
you not so very long but Catriona when we are alone is never done with the
singing of your praises«
She looked up at him a little wild at that and he slid off at once into
another matter the extent of my estate which during the most of the dinner
time he continued to dwell upon with interest But it was to no purpose he
dissembled he had touched the matter with too gross a hand and I knew what to
expect Dinner was scarce ate when he plainly discovered his designs He
reminded Catriona of an errand and bid her attend to it »I do not see you
should be gone beyond the hour« he added »and friend David will be good enough
to bear me company till you return« She made haste to obey him without words I
do not know if she understood I believe not but I was completely satisfied
and sat strengthening my mind for what should follow
The door had scarce closed behind her departure when the man leaned back in
his chair and addressed me with a good affectation of easiness Only the one
thing betrayed him and that was his face which suddenly shone all over with
fine points of sweat
»I am rather glad to have a word alone with you« says he »because in our
first interview there was some expressions you misapprehended and I have long
meant to set you right upon My daughter stands beyond doubt So do you and I
would make that good with my sword against all gainsayers But my dear David
this world is a censorious place as who should know it better than myself who
have lived ever since the days of my late departed father God sain him in a
perfect spate of calumnies We have to face to that you and me have to consider
of that we have to consider of that« And he wagged his head like a minister in
a pulpit
»To what effect Mr Drummond« said I »I would be obliged to you if you
would approach your point«
»Ay ay« says he laughing »like your character indeed and what I most
admire in it But the point my worthy fellow is sometimes in a kittle bit« He
filled a glass of wine »Though between you and me that are such fast friends
it need not bother us long The point I need scarcely tell you is my daughter
And the first thing is that I have no thought in my mind of blaming you In the
unfortunate circumstances what could you do else Deed and I cannot tell«
»I thank you for that« said I pretty close upon my guard
»I have besides studied your character« he went on »your talents are fair
you seem to have a moderate competence which does no harm and one thing with
another I am very happy to have to announce to you that I have decided on the
latter of the two ways open«
»I am afraid I am dull« said I »What ways are these«
He bent his brows upon me formidably and uncrossed his legs »Why sir«
says he »I think I need scarce describe them to a gentleman of your condition
either that I should cut your throat or that you should marry my daughter«
»You are pleased to be quite plain at last« said I
»And I believe I have been plain from the beginning« cries he robustiously
»I am a careful parent Mr Balfour but I thank God a patient and deleeberate
man There is many a father sir that would have hirsled you at once either to
the altar or the field My esteem for your character «
»Mr Drummond« I interrupted »if you have any esteem for me at all I will
beg of you to moderate your voice It is quite needless to rowt at a gentleman
in the same chamber with yourself and lending you his best attention«
»Why very true« says he with an immediate change »And you must excuse
the agitations of a parent«
»I understand you then« I continued »for I will take no note of your
other alternative which perhaps it was a pity you let fall I understand you
rather to offer me encouragement in case I should desire to apply for your
daughters hand«
»It is not possible to express my meaning better« said he »and I see we
shall do well together«
»That remains to be yet seen« said I »But so much I need make no secret
of that I bear the lady you refer to the most tender affection and I could not
fancy even in a dream a better fortune than to get her«
»I was sure of it I felt certain of you David« he cried and reached out
his hand to me
I put it by »You go too fast Mr Drummond« said I »There are conditions
to be made and there is a difficulty in the path which I see not entirely how
we shall come over I have told you that upon my side there is no objection to
the marriage but I have good reason to believe there will be much on the young
ladys«
»This is all beside the mark« says he »I will engage for her acceptance«
»I think you forget Mr Drummond« said I »that even in dealing with
myself you have been betrayed into twothree unpalatable expressions I will
have none such employed to the young lady I am here to speak and think for the
two of us and I give you to understand that I would no more let a wife be
forced upon myself than what I would let a husband be forced on the young lady«
He sat and glowered at me like one in doubt and a good deal of temper
»So that this is to be the way of it« I concluded »I will marry Miss
Drummond and that blithely if she is entirely willing But if there be the
least unwillingness as I have reason to fear marry her will I never«
»Well well« said he »this is a small affair As soon as she returns I
will sound her a bit and hope to reassure you «
But I cut in again »Not a finger of you Mr Drummond or I cry off and
you can seek a husband to your daughter somewhere else« said I »It is I that
am to be the only dealer and the only judge I shall satisfy myself exactly and
none else shall anyways meddle you the least of all«
»Upon my word sir« he exclaimed »and who are you to be the judge«
»The bridegroom I believe« said I
»This is to quibble« he cried »You turn your back upon the facts The
girl my daughter has no choice left to exercise Her character is gone«
»And I ask your pardon« said I »but while this matter lies between her and
you and me that is not so«
»What security have I« he cried »Am I to let my daughters reputation
depend upon a chance«
»You should have thought of all this long ago« said I »before you were so
misguided as to lose her and not afterwards when it is quite too late I
refuse to regard myself as any way accountable for your neglect and I will be
browbeat by no man living My mind is quite made up and come what may I will
not depart from it a hairsbreadth You and me are to sit here in company till
her return upon which without either word or look from you she and I are to
go forth again to hold our talk If she can satisfy me that she is willing to
this step I will then make it and if she cannot I will not«
He leaped out of his seat like a man stung »I can spy your manoeuvre« he
cried »you would work upon her to refuse«
»Maybe ay and maybe no« said I »That is the way it is to be whatever«
»And if I refuse« cries he
»Then Mr Drummond it will have to come to the throatcutting« said I
What with the size of the man his great length of arm in which he came
near rivalling his father and his reputed skill at weapons I did not use this
word without some trepidation to say nothing at all of the circumstance that he
was Catrionas father But I might have spared myself alarms From the poorness
of my lodging he does not seem to have remarked his daughters dresses which
were indeed all equally new to him and from the fact that I had shown myself
averse to lend he had embraced a strong idea of my poverty The sudden news of
my estate convinced him of his error and he had made but the one bound of it on
this fresh venture to which he was now so wedded that I believe he would have
suffered anything rather than fall to the alternative of fighting
A little while longer he continued to dispute with me until I hit upon a
word that silenced him
»If I find you so averse to let me see the lady by herself« said I »I must
suppose you have very good grounds to think me in the right about her
unwillingness«
He gabbled some kind of an excuse
»But all this is very exhausting to both of our tempers« I added »and I
think we would do better to preserve a judicious silence«
The which we did until the girl returned and I must suppose would have cut
a very ridiculous figure had there been any there to view us
Chapter XXVIII
In which I Am Left Alone
I opened the door to Catriona and stopped her on the threshold
»Your father wishes us to take our walk« said I
She looked at James More who nodded and at that like a trained soldier
she turned to go with me
We took one of our old ways where we had gone often together and been more
happy than I can tell of in the past I came a half a step behind so that I
could watch her unobserved The knocking of her little shoes upon the way
sounded extraordinary pretty and sad and I thought it a strange moment that I
should be so near both ends of it at once and walk in the midst between two
destinies and could not tell whether I was hearing these steps for the last
time or whether the sound of them was to go in and out with me till death
should part us
She avoided even to look at me only walked before her like one who had a
guess of what was coming I saw I must speak soon before my courage was run out
but where to begin I knew not In this painful situation when the girl was as
good as forced into my arms and had already besought my forbearance any excess
of pressure must have seemed indecent yet to avoid it wholly would have a very
coldlike appearance Between these extremes I stood helpless and could have
bit my fingers so that when at last I managed to speak at all it may be said
I spoke at random
»Catriona« said I »I am in a very painful situation or rather so we are
both and I would be a good deal obliged to you if you would promise to let me
speak through first of all and not to interrupt till I have done«
She promised me that simply
»Well« said I »this that I have got to say is very difficult and I know
very well I have no right to be saying it After what passed between the two of
us last Friday I have no manner of right We have got so ravelled up and all
by my fault that I know very well the least I could do is just to hold my
tongue which was what I intended fully and there was nothing further from my
thoughts than to have troubled you again But my dear it has become merely
necessary and no way by it You see this estate of mine has fallen in which
makes of me rather a better match and the the business would not have quite
the same ridiculouslike appearance that it would before Besides which its
supposed that our affairs have got so much ravelled up as I was saying that it
would be better to let them be the way they are In my view this part of the
thing is vastly exaggerate and if I were you I would not ware two thoughts on
it Only its right I should mention the same because theres no doubt it has
some influence on James More Then I think we were none so unhappy when we dwelt
together in this town before I think we did pretty well together If you would
look back my dear «
»I will look neither back nor forward« she interrupted »Tell me the one
thing this is my fathers doing«
»He approves of it« said I »He approved that I should ask your hand in
marriage« and was going on again with somewhat more of an appeal upon her
feelings but she marked me not and struck into the midst
»He told you to« she cried »It is no sense denying it you said yourself
that there was nothing further from your thoughts He told you to«
»He spoke of it the first if that is what you mean« I began
She was walking ever the faster and looking fair in front of her but at
this she made a little noise in her head and I thought she would have run
»Without which« I went on »after what you said last Friday I would never
have been so troublesome as make the offer But when he as good as asked me
what was I to do«
She stopped and turned round upon me
»Well it is refused at all events« she cried »and there will be an end
of that«
And she began again to walk forward
»I suppose I could expect no better« said I »but I think you might try to
be a little kind to me for the last end of it I see not why you should be
harsh I have loved you very well Catriona no harm that I should call you so
for the last time I have done the best that I could manage I am trying the
same still and only vexed that I can do no better It is a strange thing to me
that you can take any pleasure to be hard to me«
»I am not thinking of you« she said »I am thinking of that man my
father«
»Well and that way too« said I »I can be of use to you that way too I
will have to be It is very needful my dear that we should consult about your
father for the way this talk has gone an angry man will be James More«
She stopped again »It is because I am disgraced« she asked
»That is what he is thinking« I replied »but I have told you already to
make naught of it«
»It will be all one to me« she cried »I prefer to be disgraced«
I did not know very well what to answer and stood silent
There seemed to be something working in her bosom after that last cry
presently she broke out »And what is the meaning of all this Why is all this
shame loundered on my head How could you dare it David Balfour«
»My dear« said I »what else was I to do«
»I am not your dear« she said »and I defy you to be calling me these
words«
»I am not thinking of my words« said I »My heart bleeds for you Miss
Drummond Whatever I may say be sure you have my pity in your difficult
position But there is just the one thing that I wish you would bear in view if
it was only long enough to discuss it quietly for there is going to be a
collieshangie when we two get home Take my word for it it will need the two of
us to make this matter end in peace«
»Ay« said she There sprang a patch of red in either of her cheeks »Was he
for fighting you« said she
»Well he was that« said I
She gave a dreadful kind of laugh »At all events it is complete« she
cried And then turning on me »My father and I are a fine pair« said she »but
I am thanking the good God there will be somebody worse than what we are I am
thanking the good God that He has let me see you so There will never be the
girl made that would not scorn you«
I had borne a good deal pretty patiently but this was over the mark
»You have no right to speak to me like that« said I »What have I done but
to be good to you or try to be And here is my repayment O it is too much«
She kept looking at me with a hateful smile »Coward« said she
»The word in your throat and in your fathers« I cried »I have dared him
this day already in your interest I will dare him again the nasty polecat
little I care which of us should fall Come« said I »back to the house with
us let us be done with it let me be done with the whole Hieland crew of you
You will see what you think when I am dead«
She shook her head at me with that same smile I could have struck her for
»O smile away« I cried »I have seen your bonny father smile on the wrong
side this day Not that I mean he was afraid of course« I added hastily »but
he preferred the other way of it«
»What is this« she asked
»When I offered to draw with him« said I
»You offered to draw upon James More« she cried
»And I did so« said I »and found him backward enough or how would we be
here«
»There is a meaning upon this« said she »What is it you are meaning«
»He was to make you take me« I replied »and I would not have it I said
you should be free and I must speak with you alone little I supposed it would
be such a speaking And what if I refuse says he Then it must come to the
throatcutting says I for I will no more have a husband forced on that young
lady than what I would have a wife forced upon myself These were my words they
were a friends words bonnily have I been paid for them Now you have refused
me of your own clear free will and there lives no father in the Highlands or
out of them that can force on this marriage I will see that your wishes are
respected I will make the same my business as I have all through But I think
you might have that decency as to affect some gratitude Deed and I thought
you knew me better I have not behaved quite well to you but that was weakness
And to think me a coward and such a coward as that O my lass there was a
stab for the last of it«
»Davie how would I guess« she cried »O this is a dreadful business Me
and mine« she gave a kind of wretched cry at the word »me and mine are not
fit to speak to you O I could be kneeling down to you in the street I could
be kissing your hands for your forgiveness«
»I will keep the kisses I have got from you already« cried I »I will keep
the ones I wanted and that were something worth I will not be kissed in
penitence«
»What can you be thinking of this miserable girl« says she
»What I am trying to tell you all this while« said I »that you had best
leave me alone whom you can make no more unhappy if you tried and turn your
attention to James More your father with whom you are like to have a queer
pirn to wind«
»O that I must be going out into the world alone with such a man« she
cried and seemed to catch herself in with a great effort »But trouble yourself
no more for that« said she »He does not know what kind of nature is in my
heart He will pay me dear for this day of it dear dear will he pay«
She turned and began to go home and I to accompany her At which she
stopped
»I will be going alone« she said »It is alone I must be seeing him«
Some little while I raged about the streets and told myself I was the
worstused lad in Christendom Anger choked me it was all very well for me to
breathe deep it seemed there was not air enough about Leyden to supply me and
I thought I would have burst like a man at the bottom of the sea I stopped and
laughed at myself at a streetcorner a minute together laughing out loud so
that a passenger looked at me which brought me to myself
»Well« I thought »I have been a gull and a ninny and a soft Tommy long
enough Time it was done Here is a good lesson to have nothing to do with that
accursed sex that was the ruin of the man in the beginning and will be so to
the end God knows I was happy enough before ever I saw her God knows I can be
happy enough again when I have seen the last of her«
That seemed to me the chief affair to see them go I dwelled upon the idea
fiercely and presently slipped on in a kind of malevolence to consider how
very poorly they were like to fare when David Balfour was no longer by to be
their milkcow at which to my own very great surprise the disposition of my
mind turned bottom up I was still angry I still hated her and yet I thought I
owed it to myself that she should suffer nothing
This carried me home again at once where I found the mails drawn out and
ready fastened by the door and the father and daughter with every mark upon
them of a recent disagreement Catriona was like a wooden doll James More
breathed hard his face was dotted with white spots and his nose upon one side
As soon as I came in the girl looked at him with a steady clear dark look
that might very well have been followed by a blow It was a hint that was more
contemptuous than a command and I was surprised to see James More accept it It
was plain he had had a master talkingto and I could see there must be more of
the devil in the girl than I had guessed and more goodhumour about the man
than I had given him the credit of
He began at least calling me Mr Balfour and plainly speaking from a
lesson but he got not very far for at the first pompous swell of his voice
Catriona cut in
»I will tell you what James More is meaning« said she »He means we have
come to you beggarfolk and have not behaved to you very well and we are
ashamed of our ingratitude and illbehaviour Now we are wanting to go away and
be forgotten and my father will have guided his gear so ill that we cannot
even do that unless you will give us some more alms For that is what we are at
all events beggarfolk and sorners«
»By your leave Miss Drummond« said I »I must speak to your father by
myself«
She went into her own room and shut the door without a word or a look
»You must excuse her Mr Balfour« says James More »She has no delicacy«
»I am not here to discuss that with you« said I »but to be quit of you
And to that end I must talk of your position Now Mr Drummond I have kept the
run of your affairs more closely than you bargained for I know you had money of
your own when you were borrowing mine I know you have had more since you were
here in Leyden though you concealed it even from your daughter«
»I bid you beware I will stand no more baiting« he broke out »I am sick
of her and you What kind of a damned trade is this to be a parent I have had
expressions used to me « There he broke off »Sir this is the heart of a
soldier and a parent« he went on again laying his hand on his bosom »outraged
in both characters and I bid you beware«
»If you would have let me finish« says I »you would have found I spoke for
your advantage«
»My dear friend« he cried »I know I might have relied upon the generosity
of your character«
»Man will you let me speak« said I »The fact is that I cannot win to find
out if you are rich or poor But it is my idea that your means as they are
mysterious in their source so they are something insufficient in amount and I
do not choose your daughter to be lacking If I durst speak to herself you may
be certain I would never dream of trusting it to you because I know you like
the back of my hand and all your blustering talk is that much wind to me
However I believe in your way you do still care something for your daughter
after all and I must just be doing with that ground of confidence such as it
is«
Whereupon I arranged with him that he was to communicate with me as to his
whereabouts and Catrionas welfare in consideration of which I was to serve him
a small stipend
He heard the business out with a great deal of eagerness and when it was
done »My dear fellow my dear son« he cried out »this is more like yourself
than any of it yet I will serve you with a soldiers faithfulness «
»Let me hear no more of it« says I »You have got me to that pitch that the
bare name of soldier rises on my stomach Our traffic is settled I am now going
forth and will return in one halfhour when I expect to find my chambers purged
of you«
I gave them good measure of time it was my one fear that I might see
Catriona again because tears and weakness were ready in my heart and I
cherished my anger like a piece of dignity Perhaps an hour went by the sun had
gone down a little wisp of a new moon was following it across a scarlet sunset
already there were stars in the east and in my chambers when at last I entered
them the night lay blue I lit a taper and reviewed the rooms in the first
there remained nothing so much as to awake a memory of those who were gone but
in the second in a corner of the floor I spied a little heap that brought my
heart into my mouth She had left behind at her departure all that ever she had
of me It was the blow that I felt sorest perhaps because it was the last and
I fell upon that pile of clothing and behaved myself more foolish than I care to
tell of
Late in the night in a strict frost and my teeth chattering I came again
by some portion of my manhood and considered with myself The sight of these
poor frocks and ribbons and her shifts and the clocked stockings was not to
be endured and if I were to recover any constancy of mind I saw I must be rid
of them ere the morning It was my first thought to have made a fire and burned
them but my disposition has always been opposed to wastery for one thing and
for another to have burned these things that she had worn so close upon her
body seemed in the nature of a cruelty There was a corner cupboard in that
chamber there I determined to bestow them The which I did and made it a long
business folding them with very little skill indeed but the more care and
sometimes dropping them with my tears All the heart was gone out of me I was
weary as though I had run miles and sore like one beaten when as I was
folding a kerchief that she wore often at her neck I observed there was a
corner neatly cut from it It was a kerchief of a very pretty hue on which I
had frequently remarked and once that she had it on I remembered telling her
by way of a banter that she wore my colours There came a glow of hope and
like a tide of sweetness in my bosom and the next moment I was plunged back in
a fresh despair For there was the corner crumpled in a knot and cast down by
itself in another part of the floor
But when I argued with myself I grew more hopeful She had cut that corner
off in some childish freak that was manifestly tender that she had cast it away
again was little to be wondered at and I was inclined to dwell more upon the
first than upon the second and to be more pleased that she had ever conceived
the idea of that keepsake than concerned because she had flung it from her in
an hour of natural resentment
Chapter XXIX
We Meet in Dunkirk
Altogether then I was scarce so miserable the next days but what I had many
hopeful and happy snatches threw myself with a good deal of constancy upon my
studies and made out to endure the time till Alan should arrive or I might
hear word of Catriona by the means of James More I had altogether three letters
in the time of our separation One was to announce their arrival in the town of
Dunkirk in France from which place James shortly after started alone upon a
private mission This was to England and to see Lord Holderness and it has
always been a bitter thought that my good money helped to pay the charges of the
same But he has need of a long spoon who sups with the deil or James More
either During this absence the time was to fall due for another letter and as
the letter was the condition of his stipend he had been so careful as to
prepare it beforehand and leave it with Catriona to be despatched The fact of
our correspondence aroused her suspicions and he was no sooner gone than she
had burst the seal What I received began accordingly in the writing of James
More
»My dear Sir Your esteemed favour came to hand duly and I have to
acknowledge the enclosure according to agreement It shall be all
faithfully expended on my daughter who is well and desires to be
remembered to her dear friend I find her in rather a melancholy
disposition but trust in the mercy of God to see her reestablished
Our manner of life is very much alone but we solace ourselves with the
melancholy tunes of our native mountains and by walking upon the margin
of the sea that lies next to Scotland It was better days with me when I
lay with five wounds upon my body on the field of Gladsmuir I have
found employment here in the haras of a French nobleman where my
experience is valued But my dear Sir the wages are so exceedingly
unsuitable that I would be ashamed to mention them which makes your
remittances the more necessary to my daughters comfort though I
daresay the sight of old friends would be still better
My dear Sir
Your affectionate obedient servant
JAMES MACGREGOR DRUMMOND«
Below it began again in the hand of Catriona
»Do not be believing him it is all lies together
C M D«
Not only did she add this postscript but I think she must have come near
suppressing the letter for it came long after date and was closely followed by
the third In the time betwixt them Alan had arrived and made another life to
me with his merry conversation I had been presented to his cousin of the
ScotsDutch a man that drank more than I could have thought possible and was
not otherwise of interest I had been entertained to many jovial dinners and
given some myself all with no great change upon my sorrow and we two by which
I mean Alan and myself and not at all the cousin had discussed a good deal the
nature of my relations with James More and his daughter I was naturally
diffident to give particulars and this disposition was not anyway lessened by
the nature of Alans commentary upon those I gave
»I canna make head nor tail of it« he would say »but it sticks in my mind
yeve made a gowk of yourself Theres few people that has had more experience
than Alan Breck and I can never call to mind to have heard tell of a lassie
like this one of yours The way that you tell it the things fair impossible
Ye must have made a terrible hash of the business David«
»There are whiles that I am of the same mind« said I
»The strange thing is that ye seem to have a kind of a fancy for her too«
said Alan
»The biggest kind Alan« said I »and I think Ill take it to my grave with
me«
»Well ye beat me whatever« he would conclude
I showed him the letter with Catrionas postscript »And here again« he
cried »Impossible to deny a kind of decency to this Catriona and sense forbye
As for James More the mans as boss as a drum hes just a wame and a wheen
words though Ill can never deny that he fought reasonably well at Gladsmuir
and its true what he says here about the five wounds But the loss of him is
that the mans boss«
»Ye see Alan« said I »it goes against the grain with me to leave the maid
in such poor hands«
»Ye couldna weel find poorer« he admitted »But what are ye to do with it
Its this way about a man and a woman ye see Davie the weemenfolk have got
no kind of reason to them Either they like the man and then a goes fine or
else they just detest him and ye may spare your breath ye can do naething
Theres just the two sets of them them that would sell their coats for ye and
them that never look the road yere on Thats a that there is to women and
you seem to be such a gomeril that ye canna tell the tane frae the tither«
»Well and Im afraid thats true for me« said I
»And yet theres naething easier« cried Alan »I could easy learn ye the
science of the thing but ye seem to me to be born blind and theres where the
deefficulty comes in«
»And can you no help me« I asked »you thats so clever at the trade«
»Ye see David I wasna here« said he »Im like a field officer that has
naebody but blind men for scouts and éclaireurs and what would he ken But it
sticks in my mind that yell have made some kind of bauchle and if I was you I
would have a try at her again«
»Would ye so man Alan« said I
»I would eent« says he
The third letter came to my hand while we were deep in some such talk and
it will be seen how pat it fell to the occasion James professed to be in some
concern upon his daughters health which I believe was never better abounded
in kind expressions to myself and finally proposed that I should visit them at
Dunkirk
»You will now be enjoying the society of my old comrade Mr Stewart« he
wrote »Why not accompany him so far in his return to France I have something
very particular for Mr Stewarts ear and at any rate I would be pleased to
meet in with an old fellowsoldier and one so mettle as himself As for you my
dear sir my daughter and I would be proud to receive our benefactor whom we
regard as a brother and a son The French nobleman has proved a person of the
most filthy avarice of character and I have been necessitate to leave the
haras You will find us in consequence a little poorly lodged in the auberge
of a man Bazin on the dunes but the situation is caller and I make no doubt
but we might spend some very pleasant days when Mr Stewart and I could recall
our services and you and my daughter divert yourselves in a manner more
befitting your age I beg at least that Mr Stewart would come here my business
with him opens a very wide door«
»What does the man want with me« cried Alan when he had read »What he
wants with you is clear enough its siller But what can he want with Alan
Breck«
»O itll be just an excuse« said I »He is still after this marriage
which I wish from my heart that we could bring about And he asks you because he
thinks I would be less likely to come wanting you«
»Well I wish that I kennt« says Alan »Him and me were never onyways pack
we used to girn at ither like a pair of pipers Something for my ear quo he
Ill maybe have something for his hinderend before were through with it Dod
Im thinking it would be a kind of a divertisement to gang and see what hell be
after Forbye that I could see your lassie then What say ye Davie Will ye
ride with Alan«
You may be sure I was not backward and Alans furlough running towards an
end we set forth presently upon this joint adventure
It was near dark of a January day when we rode at last into the town of
Dunkirk We left our horses at the post and found a guide to Bazins inn which
lay beyond the walls Night was quite fallen so that we were the last to leave
that fortress and heard the doors of it close behind us as we passed the
bridge On the other side there lay a lighted suburb which we thridded for a
while then turned into a dark lane and presently found ourselves wading in the
night among deep sand where we could hear a bullering of the sea We travelled
in this fashion for some while following our conductor mostly by the sound of
his voice and I had begun to think he was perhaps misleading us when we came
to the top of a small brae and there appeared out of the darkness a dim light
in a window
»Voilà lauberge à Bazin« says the guide
Alan smacked his lips »An unco lonely bit« said he and I thought by his
tone he was not wholly pleased
A little after and we stood in the lower story of that house which was all
in the one apartment with a stair leading to the chambers at the side benches
and tables by the wall the cooking fire at the one end of it and shelves of
bottles and the cellartrap at the other Here Bazin who was an illlooking
big man told us the Scottish gentleman was gone abroad he knew not where but
the young lady was above and he would call her down to us
I took from my breast that kerchief wanting the corner and knotted it about
my throat I could hear my heart go and Alan patting me on the shoulder with
some of his laughable expressions I could scarce refrain from a sharp word But
the time was not long to wait I heard her step pass overhead and saw her on
the stair This she descended very quietly and greeted me with a pale face and
a certain seeming of earnestness or uneasiness in her manner that extremely
dashed me
»My father James More will be here soon He will be very pleased to see
you« she said And then of a sudden her face flamed her eyes lightened the
speech stopped upon her lips and I made sure she had observed the kerchief It
was only for a breath that she was discomposed but methought it was with a new
animation that she turned to welcome Alan »And you will be his friend Alan
Breck« she cried »Many is the dozen times I will have heard him tell of you
and I love you already for all your bravery and goodness«
»Well well« says Alan holding her hand in his and viewing her »and so
this is the young lady at the last of it David youre an awful poor hand of a
description«
I do not know that ever I heard him speak so straight to peoples hearts
the sound of his voice was like song
»What will he have been describing me« she cried
»Little else of it since I ever came out of France« says he »forbye a bit
of a speciment one night in Scotland in a shaw of wood by Silvermills But cheer
up my dear yere bonnier than what he said And now theres one thing sure
you and me are to be a pair of friends Im a kind of a henchman to Davie here
Im like a tyke at his heels and whatever he cares for Ive got to care for
too and by the holy airn theyve got to care for me So now you can see what
way you stand with Alan Breck and yell find yell hardly lose on the
transaction Hes no very bonny my dear but hes leal to them he loves«
»I thank you with my heart for your good words« said she »I have that
honour for a brave honest man that I cannot find any to be answering with«
Using travellers freedom we spared to wait for James More and sat down to
meat we threesome Alan had Catriona sit by him and wait upon his wants he
made her drink first out of his glass he surrounded her with continual kind
gallantries and yet never gave me the most small occasion to be jealous and he
kept the talk so much in his own hand and that in so merry a note that neither
she nor I remembered to be embarrassed If any had seen us there it must have
been supposed that Alan was the old friend and I the stranger Indeed I had
often cause to love and to admire the man but I never loved or admired him
better than that night and I could not help remarking to myself what I was
sometimes rather in danger of forgetting that he had not only much experience
of life but in his own way a great deal of natural ability besides As for
Catriona she seemed quite carried away her laugh was like a peal of bells her
face gay as a May morning and I own although I was very well pleased yet I
was a little sad also and thought myself a dull stockish character in
comparison of my friend and very unfit to come into a young maids life and
perhaps ding down her gaiety
But if that was like to be my part I found at least that I was not alone in
it for James More returning suddenly the girl was changed into a piece of
stone Through the rest of that evening until she made an excuse and slipped to
bed I kept an eye upon her without cease and I can bear testimony that she
never smiled scarce spoke and looked mostly on the board in front of her So
that I really marvelled to see so much devotion as it used to be changed into
the very sickness of hate
Of James More it is unnecessary to say much you know the man already what
there was to know of him and I am weary of writing out his lies Enough that he
drank a great deal and told us very little that was to any possible purpose As
for the business with Alan that was to be reserved for the morrow and his
private hearing
It was the more easy to be put off because Alan and I were pretty weary
with our days ride and sat not very late after Catriona
We were soon alone in a chamber where we were to make shift with a single
bed Alan looked on me with a queer smile
»Ye muckle ass« said he
»What do ye mean by that« I cried
»Mean What do I mean Its extraordinar David man« says he »that you
should be so mortal stupit«
Again I begged him to speak out
»Well its this of it« said he »I told ye there were the two kinds of
women them that would sell their shifts for ye and the others Just you try
for yoursel my bonny man But whats that neepkin at your craig«
I told him
»I thocht it was something thereabout« said he
Nor would he say another word though I besieged him long with
importunities
Chapter XXX
The Letter from the Ship
Daylight showed us how solitary the inn stood It was plainly hard upon the sea
yet out of all view of it and beset on every side with scabbit hills of sand
There was indeed only one thing in the nature of a prospect where there stood
out over a brae the two sails of a windmill like an asss ears but with the
ass quite hidden It was strange after the wind rose for at first it was dead
calm to see the turning and following of each other of these great sails behind
the hillock Scarce any road came by there but a number of footways travelled
among the bents in all directions up to Mr Bazins door The truth is he was a
man of many trades not any one of them honest and the position of his inn was
the best of his livelihood Smugglers frequented it political agents and
forfeited persons bound across the water came there to await their passages and
I daresay there was worse behind for a whole family might have been butchered
in that house and nobody the wiser
I slept little and ill Long ere it was day I had slipped from beside my
bedfellow and was warming myself at the fire or walking to and fro before the
door Dawn broke mighty sullen but a little after sprang up a wind out of the
west which burst the clouds let through the sun and set the mill to the
turning There was something of spring in the sunshine or else it was in my
heart and the appearing of the great sails one after another from behind the
hill diverted me extremely At times I could hear a creak of the machinery and
by halfpast eight of the day Catriona began to sing in the house At this I
would have cast my hat in the air and I thought this dreary desert place was
like a paradise
For all which as the day drew on and nobody came near I began to be aware
of an uneasiness that I could scarce explain It seemed there was trouble afoot
the sails of the windmill as they came up and went down over the hill were
like persons spying and outside of all fancy it was surely a strange
neighbourhood and house for a young lady to be brought to dwell in
At breakfast which we took late it was manifest that James More was in
some danger or perplexity manifest that Alan was alive to the same and watched
him close and this appearance of duplicity upon the one side and vigilance
upon the other held me on live coals The meal was no sooner over than James
seemed to come to a resolve and began to make apologies He had an appointment
of a private nature in the town it was with the French nobleman he told me
and we would please excuse him till about noon Meanwhile he carried his
daughter aside to the far end of the room where he seemed to speak rather
earnestly and she to listen without much inclination
»I am caring less and less about this man James« said Alan »Theres
something no right with the man James and I wouldna wonder but what Alan Breck
would give an eye to him this day I would like fine to see yon French nobleman
Davie and I daresay you could find an employ to yoursel and that would be to
speir at the lassie for some news of your affair Just tell it to her plainly
tell her yere a muckle ass at the offset and then if I were you and ye
could do it naitural I would just mint to her I was in some kind of a danger
a weemenfolk likes that«
»I canna lee Alan I canna do it naitural« says I mocking him
»The more fool you« says he »Then yell can tell her that I recommended
it thatll set her to the laughing and I wouldna wonder but what that was the
next best But see to the pair of them If I didna feel just sure of the lassie
and that she was awful pleased and chief with Alan I would think there was some
kind of hocuspocus about yon«
»And is she so pleased with ye then Alan« I asked
»She thinks a heap of me« says he »And Im no like you Im one that can
tell That she does she thinks a heap of Alan And troth Im thinking a good
deal of him mysel and with your permission Shaws Ill be getting a wee yont
amang the bents so that I can see what way James goes«
One after another went till I was left alone beside the breakfasttable
James to Dunkirk Alan dogging him Catriona up the stairs to her own chamber I
could very well understand how she should avoid to be alone with me yet was
none the better pleased with it for that and bent my mind to entrap her to an
interview before the men returned Upon the whole the best appeared to me to do
like Alan If I was out of view among the sandhills the fine morning would
decoy her forth and once I had her in the open I could please myself
No sooner said than done nor was I long under the bield of a hillock before
she appeared at the inndoor looked here and there and seeing nobody set out
by a path that led directly seaward and by which I followed her I was in no
haste to make my presence known the farther she went I made sure of the longer
hearing to my suit and the ground being all sandy it was easy to follow her
unheard The path rose and came at last to the head of a knowe Thence I had a
picture for the first time of what a desolate wilderness that inn stood hidden
in where was no man to be seen nor any house of man except just Bazins and
the windmill Only a little farther on the sea appeared and two or three ships
upon it pretty as a drawing One of these was extremely close in to be so great
a vessel and I was aware of a shock of new suspicion when I recognised the
trim of the Seahorse What should an English ship be doing so near in to France
Why was Alan brought into her neighbourhood and that in a place so far from any
hope of rescue and was it by accident or by design that the daughter of James
More should walk that day to the seaside
Presently I came forth behind her in the front of the sandhills and above
the beach It was here long and solitary with a manowars boat drawn up
about the middle of the prospect and an officer in charge and pacing the sands
like one who waited I sat immediately down where the rough grass a good deal
covered me and looked for what should follow Catriona went straight to the
boat the officer met her with civilities they had ten words together I saw a
letter changing hands and there was Catriona returning At the same time as if
this were all her business on the Continent the boat shoved off and was headed
for the Seahorse But I observed the officer to remain behind and disappear
among the bents
I liked the business little and the more I considered of it liked it
less Was it Alan the officer was seeking or Catriona She drew near with her
head down looking constantly on the sand and made so tender a picture that I
could not bear to doubt her innocence The next she raised her face and
recognised me seemed to hesitate and then came on again but more slowly and
I thought with a changed colour And at that thought all else that was upon my
bosom fears suspicions the care of my friends life was clean swallowed
up and I rose to my feet and stood waiting her in a drunkenness of hope
I gave her goodmorning as she came up which she returned with a good deal
of composure
»Will you forgive my having followed you« said I
»I know you are always meaning kindly« she replied and then with a little
outburst »but why will you be sending money to that man It must not be«
»I never sent it for him« said I »but for you as you know well«
»And you have no right to be sending it to either one of us« said she
»David it is not right«
»It is not it is all wrong« said I »and I pray God He will help this dull
fellow if it be at all possible to make it better Catriona this is no kind
of life for you to lead and I ask your pardon for the word but yon man is no
fit father to take care of you«
»Do not be speaking of him even« was her cry
»And I need speak of him no more it is not of him that I am thinking O
be sure of that« says I »I think of the one thing I have been alone now this
long time in Leyden and when I was by way of at my studies still I was
thinking of that Next Alan came and I went among soldiermen to their big
dinners and still I had the same thought And it was the same before when I
had her there beside me Catriona do you see this napkin at my throat You cut
a corner from it once and then cast it from you Theyre your colours now I
wear them in my heart My dear I cannot be wanting you O try to put up with
me«
I stepped before her so as to intercept her walking on
»Try to put up with me« I was saying »try and bear with me a little«
Still she had never the word and a fear began to rise in me like a fear of
death
»Catriona« I cried gazing on her hard »is it a mistake again Am I quite
lost«
She raised her face to me breathless
»Do you want me Davie truly« said she and I scarce could hear her say
it
»I do that« said I »O sure you know it I do that«
»I have nothing left to give or to keep back« said she »I was all yours
from the first day if you would have had a gift of me« she said
This was on the summit of a brae the place was windy and conspicuous we
were to be seen there even from the English ship but I kneeled down before her
in the sand and embraced her knees and burst into that storm of weeping that I
thought it must have broken me All thought was wholly beaten from my mind by
the vehemency of my discomposure I knew not where I was I had forgot why I was
happy only I knew she stooped and I felt her cherish me to her face and bosom
and heard her words out of a whirl
»Davie« she was saying »O Davie is this what you think of me Is it so
that you were caring for poor me O Davie Davie«
With that she wept also and our tears were commingled in a perfect
gladness
It might have been ten in the day before I came to a clear sense of what a
mercy had befallen me and sitting over against her with her hands in mine
gazed in her face and laughed out loud for pleasure like a child and called
her foolish and kind names I have never seen the place that looked so pretty as
these bents by Dunkirk and the windmill sails as they bobbed over the knowe
were like a tune of music
I know not how much longer we might have continued to forget all else
besides ourselves had I not chanced upon a reference to her father which
brought us to reality
»My little friend« I was calling her again and again rejoicing to summon
up the past by the sound of it and to gaze across on her and to be a little
distant »My little friend now you are mine altogether mine for good my
little friend and that mans no longer at all«
There came a sudden whiteness in her face she plucked her hands from mine
»Davie take me away from him« she cried »Theres something wrong hes
not true There will be something wrong I have a dreadful terror here at my
heart What will he be wanting at all events with that Kings ship What will
this word be saying« And she held the letter forth »My mind misgives me it
will be some ill to Alan Open it Davie open it and see«
I took it and looked at it and shook my head
»No« said I »it goes against me I cannot open a mans letter«
»Not to save your friend« she cried
»I canna tell« said I »I think not If I was only sure«
»And you have but to break the seal« said she
»I know it« said I »but the thing goes against me«
»Give it here« said she »and I will open it myself«
»Nor you neither« said I »You least of all It concerns your father and
his honour dear which we are both misdoubting No question but the place is
dangerouslike and the English ship being here and your father having word
from it and yon officer that stayed ashore He would not be alone either there
must be more along with him I daresay we are spied upon this minute Ay no
doubt the letter should be opened but somehow not by you nor me«
I was about thus far with it and my spirit very much overcome with a sense
of danger and hidden enemies when I spied Alan come back again from following
James and walking by himself among the sandhills He was in his soldiers coat
of course and mighty fine but I could not avoid to shudder when I thought how
little that jacket would avail him if he were once caught and flung in a skiff
and carried on board of the Seahorse a deserter a rebel and now a condemned
murderer
»There« said I »there is the man that has the best right to open it or
not as he thinks fit«
With which I called upon his name and we both stood up to be a mark for
him
»If it is so if it be more disgrace will you can bear it« she asked
looking upon me with a burning eye
»I was asked something of the same question when I had seen you but the
once« said I »What do you think I answered That if I liked you as I thought I
did and O but I like you better I would marry you at his gallows foot«
The blood rose in her face she came close up and pressed upon me holding
my hand and it was so that we awaited Alan
He came with one of his queer smiles »What was I telling ye David« says
he
»There is a time for all things Alan« said I »and this time is serious
How have you sped You can speak out plain before this friend of ours«
»I have been upon a fools errand« said he
»I doubt we have done better than you then« said I »and at least here
is a great deal of matter that you must judge of Do you see that« I went on
pointing to the ship »That is the Seahorse Captain Palliser«
»I should ken her too« says Alan »I had fyke enough with her when she was
stationed in the Forth But what ails the man to come so close«
»I will tell you why he came there first« said I »It was to bring this
letter to James More Why he stops here now that its delivered what its
likely to be about why theres an officer hiding in the bents and whether or
not its probable that hes alone I would rather you considered for yourself«
»A letter to James More« said he
»The same« said I
»Well and I can tell ye more than that« said Alan »For last night when
you were fast asleep I heard the man colloguing with some one in the French
and then the door of that inn to be opened and shut«
»Alan« cried I »you slept all night and I am here to prove it«
»Ay but I would never trust Alan whether he was asleep or waking« says he
»But the business looks bad Lets see the letter«
I gave it him
»Catriona« said he »yell have to excuse me my dear but theres nothing
less than my fine bones upon the cast of it and Ill have to break this seal«
»It is my wish« said Catriona
He opened it glanced it through and flung his hand in the air
»The stinking brock« says he and crammed the paper in his pocket »Here
lets get our things thegither This place is fair death to me« And he began to
walk towards the inn
It was Catriona that spoke first »He has sold you« she asked
»Sold me my dear« said Alan »But thanks to you and Davie Ill can jink
him yet Just let me win upon my horse« he added
»Catriona must come with us« said I »She can have no more traffic with
that man She and I are to be married« At which she pressed my hand to her
side
»Are ye there with it« says Alan looking back »The best days work that
ever either of ye did yet And Im bound to say my dawtie ye make a real bonny
couple«
The way that he was following brought us close in by the windmill where I
was aware of a man in seamans trousers who seemed to be spying from behind it
Only of course we took him in the rear
»See Alan« said I
»Wheesht« said he »this is my affairs«
The man was no doubt a little deafened by the clattering of the mill and
we got up close before he noticed Then he turned and we saw he was a big
fellow with a mahogany face
»I think sir« says Alan »that you speak the English«
»Non monsieur« says he with an incredible bad accent
»Non monsieur« cries Alan mocking him »Is that how they learn you French
on the Seahorse Ye muckle gutsey hash heres a Scots boot to your English
hurdies«
And bounding on him before he could escape he dealt the man a kick that
laid him on his nose Then he stood with a savage smile and watched him
scramble to his feet and scamper off into the sandhills
»But its high time I was clear of these empty bents« said Alan and
continued his way at top speed and we still following to the backdoor of
Bazins inn
It chanced that as we entered by the one door we came face to face with
James More entering by the other
»Here« said I to Catriona »quick upstairs with you and make your packets
this is no fit scene for you«
In the meanwhile James and Alan had met in the midst of the long room She
passed them close by to reach the stairs and after she was some way up I saw
her turn and glance at them again though without pausing Indeed they were
worth looking at Alan wore as they met one of his best appearances of courtesy
and friendliness yet with something eminently warlike so that James smelled
danger off the man as folk smell fire in a house and stood prepared for
accidents
Time pressed Alans situation in that solitary place and his enemies about
him might have daunted Cæsar It made no change in him and it was in his old
spirit of mockery and daffing that he began the interview
»A braw good day to ye again Mr Drummond« said he »Whatll yon business
of yours be just about«
»Why the thing being private and rather of a long story« says James »I
think it will keep very well till we have eaten«
»Im none so sure of that« said Alan »It sticks in my mind its either now
or never for the fact is me and Mr Balfour here have gotten a line and were
thinking of the road«
I saw a little surprise in Jamess eye but he held himself stoutly
»I have but the one word to say to cure you of that« said he »and that is
the name of my business«
»Say it then« says Alan »Hout wha minds for Davie«
»It is a matter that would make us both rich men« said James
»Do ye tell me that« cries Alan
»I do sir« said James »The plain fact is that it is Clunys Treasure«
»No« cried Alan »Have ye got word of it«
»I ken the place Mr Stewart and can take you there« said James
»This crowns all« says Alan »Well and Im glad I came to Dunkirk And so
this was your business was it Halvers Im thinking«
»That is the business sir« says James
»Well well« says Alan and then in the same tone of childlike interest
»it has naething to do with the Seahorse then« he asked
»With what« says James
»Or the lad that I have just kicked the bottom of behind yon windmill«
pursued Alan »Hut man have done with your lees I have Pallisers letter here
in my pouch Youre by with it James More You can never show your face again
with dacent folk«
James was taken all aback with it He stood a second motionless and white
then swelled with the living anger
»Do you talk to me you bastard« he roared out
»Ye gleed swine« cried Alan and hit him a sounding buffet in the mouth
and the next wink of time their blades clashed together
At the first sound of the bare steel I instinctively leaped back from the
collision The next I saw James parried a thrust so nearly that I thought him
killed and it lowed up in my mind that this was the girls father and in a
manner almost my own and I drew and ran in to sever them
»Keep back Davie Are ye daft Damn ye keep back« roared Alan »Your
blood be on your ain heid then«
I beat their blades down twice I was knocked reeling against the wall I
was back again betwixt them They took no heed of me thrusting at each other
like two furies I can never think how I avoided being stabbed myself or
stabbing one of these two Rodomonts and the whole business turned about me like
a piece of a dream in the midst of which I heard a great cry from the stair
and Catriona sprang before her father In the same moment the point of my sword
encountered something yielding It came back to me reddened I saw the blood
flow on the girls kerchief and stood sick
»Will you be killing him before my eyes and me his daughter after all« she
cried
»My dear I have done with him« said Alan and went and sat on a table
with his arms crossed and the sword naked in his hand
A while she stood before the man panting with big eyes then swung
suddenly about and faced him
»Begone« was her word »take your shame out of my sight leave me with
clean folk I am a daughter of Alpin Shame of the sons of Alpin begone«
It was said with so much passion as awoke me from the horror of my own
bloodied sword The two stood facing she with the red stain on her kerchief he
white as a rag I knew him well enough I knew it must have pierced him in the
quick place of his soul but he betook himself to a bravado air
»Why« says he sheathing his sword though still with a bright eye on Alan
»if this brawl is over I will but get my portmanteau «
»There goes no pockmantie out of this place except with me« says Alan
»Sir« cries James
»James More« says Alan »this lady daughter of yours is to marry my friend
Davie upon the which account I let you pack with a hale carcase But take you
my advice of it and get that carcase out of harms way or ower late Little as
you suppose it there are leemits to my temper«
»Be damned sir but my moneys there« said James
»Im vexed about that too« says Alan with his funny face »but now ye
see its mines« And then with more gravity »Be you advised James More you
leave this house«
James seemed to cast about for a moment in his mind but its to be thought
he had enough of Alans swordsmanship for he suddenly put off his hat to us and
with a face like one of the damned bade us farewell in a series With which he
was gone
At the same time a spell was lifted from me
»Catriona« I cried »it was me it was my sword O are ye much hurt«
»I know it Davie I am loving you for the pain of it it was done defending
that bad man my father See« she said and showed me a bleeding scratch »see
you have made a man of me now I will carry a wound like an old soldier«
Joy that she should be so little hurt and the love of her brave nature
transported me I embraced her I kissed the wound
»And am I to be out of the kissing me that never lost a chance« says Alan
and putting me aside and taking Catriona by either shoulder »My dear« he said
»youre a true daughter of Alpin By all accounts he was a very fine man and
he may weel be proud of you If ever I was to get married its the marrow of
you I would be seeking for a mother to my sons And I bear a kings name and
speak the truth«
He said it with a serious heat of admiration that was honey to the girl
and through her to me It seemed to wipe us clean of all James Mores
disgraces And the next moment he was just himself again
»And now by your leave my dawties« said he »this is a very bonny but
Alan Breckll be a wee thing nearer to the gallows than hes caring for and
Dod I think this is a grand place to be leaving«
The word recalled us to some wisdom Alan ran upstairs and returned with our
saddlebags and James Mores portmanteau I picked up Catrionas bundle where
she had dropped it on the stair and we were setting forth out of that dangerous
house when Bazin stopped the way with cries and gesticulations He had whipped
under a table when the swords were drawn but now he was as bold as a lion
There was his bill to be settled there was a chair broken Alan had sat among
his dinner things James More had fled
»Here« I cried »pay yourself« and flung him down some Lewie dors for I
thought it was no time to be accounting
He sprang upon that money and we passed him by and ran forth into the
open Upon three sides of the house were seamen hasting and closing in a little
nearer to us James More waved his hat as if to hurry them and right behind him
like some foolish person holding up its hands were the sails of the windmill
turning
Alan gave but the one glance and laid himself down to run He carried a
great weight in James Mores portmanteau but I think he would as soon have lost
his life as cast away that booty which was his revenge and he ran so that I was
distressed to follow him and marvelled and exulted to see the girl bounding at
my side
As soon as we appeared they cast off all disguise upon the other side and
the seamen pursued us with shouts and viewhullohs We had a start of some two
hundred yards and they were but bandylegged tarpaulins after all that could
not hope to better us at such an exercise I suppose they were armed but did
not care to use their pistols on French ground And as soon as I perceived that
we not only held our advantage but drew a little away I began to feel quite
easy of the issue For all which it was a hot brisk bit of work so long as it
lasted Dunkirk was still far off and when we popped over a knowe and found a
company of the garrison marching on the other side on some manoeuvre I could
very well understand the word that Alan had
He stopped running at once and mopping at his brow »Theyre a real bonny
folk the French nation« says he
Conclusion
No sooner were we safe within the walls of Dunkirk than we held a very necessary
council of war on our position We had taken a daughter from her father at the
swords point any judge would give her back to him at once and by all
likelihood clap me and Alan into gaol and though we had an argument upon our
side in Captain Pallisers letter neither Catriona nor I were very keen to be
using it in public Upon all accounts it seemed the most prudent to carry the
girl to Paris to the hands of her own chieftain Macgregor of Bohaldie who
would be very willing to help his kinswoman on the one hand and not at all
anxious to dishonour James upon the other
We made but a slow journey of it up for Catriona was not so good at the
riding as the running and had scarce sat in a saddle since the Fortyfive But
we made it out at last reached Paris early of a Sabbath morning and made all
speed under Alans guidance to find Bohaldie He was finely lodged and lived
in a good style having a pension on the Scots Fund as well as private means
greeted Catriona like one of his own house and seemed altogether very civil and
discreet but not particularly open We asked of the news of James More »Poor
James« said he and shook his head and smiled so that I thought he knew
further than he meant to tell Then we showed him Pallisers letter and he drew
a long face at that
»Poor James« said he again »Well there are worse folk than James More
too But this is dreadful bad Tut tut he must have forgot himself entirely
This is a most undesirable letter But for all that gentlemen I cannot see
what we would want to make it public for Its an ill bird that fouls his own
nest and we are all Scots folk and all Hieland«
Upon this we were all agreed save perhaps Alan and still more upon the
question of our marriage which Bohaldie took in his own hands as though there
had been no such person as James More and gave Catriona away with very pretty
manners and agreeable compliments in French It was not till all was over and
our healths drunk that he told us James was in that city whither he had
preceded us some days and where he now lay sick and like to die I thought I
saw by my wifes face what way her inclination pointed
»And let us go see him then« said I
»If it is your pleasure« said Catriona These were early days
He was lodged in the same quarter of the city with his chief in a great
house upon a corner and we were guided up to the garret where he lay by the
sound of Highland piping It seemed he had just borrowed a set of them from
Bohaldie to amuse his sickness though he was no such hand as was his brother
Rob he made good music of the kind and it was strange to observe the French
folk crowding on the stairs and some of them laughing He lay propped in a
pallet The first look of him I saw he was upon his last business and
doubtless this was a strange place for him to die in But even now I find I can
scarce dwell upon his end with patience Doubtless Bohaldie had prepared him
he seemed to know we were married complimented us on the event and gave us a
benediction like a patriarch
»I have been never understood« said he »I forgive you both without an
afterthought« after which he spoke for all the world in his old manner was so
obliging as to play us a tune or two upon his pipes and borrowed a small sum
before I left I could not trace even a hint of shame in any part of his
behaviour but he was great upon forgiveness it seemed always fresh to him I
think he forgave me every time we met and when after some four days he passed
away in a kind of odour of affectionate sanctity I could have torn my hair out
for exasperation I had him buried but what to put upon his tomb was quite
beyond me till at last I considered the date would look best alone
I thought it wiser to resign all thoughts of Leyden where we had appeared
once as brother and sister and it would certainly look strange to return in a
new character Scotland would be doing for us and thither after I had
recovered that which I had left behind we sailed in a Low Country ship
And now Miss Barbara Balfour to set the ladies first and Mr Alan
Balfour younger of Shaws here is the story brought fairly to an end A great
many of the folk that took a part in it you will find if you think well that
you have seen and spoken with Alison Hastie in Limekilns was the lass that
rocked your cradle when you were too small to know of it and walked abroad with
you in the policy when you were bigger That very fine great lady that is Miss
Barbaras namemamma is no other than the same Miss Grant that made so much a
fool of David Balfour in the house of the Lord Advocate And I wonder whether
you remember a little lean lively gentleman in a scratchwig and a wraprascal
that came to Shaws very late of a dark night and whom ye were awakened out of
your beds and brought down to the dininghall to be presented to by the name of
Mr Jamieson Or has Alan forgotten what he did at Mr Jamiesons request a
most disloyal act for which by the letter of the law he might be hanged no
less than drinking the kings health across the water These were strange doings
in a good Whig house But Mr Jamieson is a man privileged and might set fire
to my cornbarn and the name they know him by now in France is the Chevalier
Stewart
As for Davie and Catriona I shall watch you pretty close in the next days
and see if you are so bold as to be laughing at papa and mamma It is true we
were not so wise as we might have been and made a great deal of sorrow out of
nothing but you will find as you grow up that even the artful Miss Barbara and
even the valiant Mr Alan will be not so very much wiser than their parents
For the life of man upon this world of ours is a funny business They talk of
the angels weeping but I think they must more often be holding their sides as
they look on and there was one thing I determined to do when I began this long
story and that was to tell out everything as it befell
Notes
1 Conspicuous
2 Country
3 The Fairies
4 Flatteries
5 Trust to
6 This must have reference to Dr Cameron on his first visit D B
7 Sweethearts
8 Child
9 Palm
10 Gallows
11 My Catechism
12 Now Princes Street
13 A learned folklorist of my acquaintance hereby identifies Alans air It has
been printed it seems in Campbells »Tales of the West Highlands« vol ii
p 91 Upon examination it would really seem as if Miss Grants unrhymed
doggerel see Chapter v would fit with a little humouring to the notes in
question R L S
14 A ball placed upon a little mound for convenience of striking
15 Patched shoes
16 Shoemaker
17 Tamsons mare to go afoot
18 Beard
19 Ragged
20 Fine things
21 Catch
22 Victuals
23 Trust
24 Seafog
25 Bashful
26 Rest