Guy Mannering, Vol. I

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After a sufficient scrutiny into the portmanteau, and an equitable
division of its contents, the ruffians applied themselves more
closely to the serious occupation of drinking, in which they spent
the greater part of the night. Brown was for some time in great
hopes that they would drink so deep as to render themselves
insensible, when his escape would have been an easy matter. But
their dangerous trade required precautions inconsistent with such
unlimited indulgence, and they stopped short on this side of
absolute intoxication. Three of them at length composed themselves
to rest, while the fourth watched. He was relieved in this duty by
one of the others after a vigil of two hours. When the second
watch had elapsed, the sentinel awakened the whole, who, to
Brown's inexpressible relief, began to make some preparations as
if for departure, bundling up the various articles which each had
appropriated. Still, however, there remained something to be done.
Two of them, after some rummaging which not a little alarmed
Brown, produced a mattock and shovel; another took a pickaxe from
behind the straw on which the dead body was extended. With these
implements two of them left the hut, and the remaining three, two
of whom were the seamen, very strong men, still remained in
garrison.

After the space of about half an hour, one of those who had
departed again returned, and whispered the others. They wrapped up
the dead body in the sea cloak which had served as a pall, and
went out, bearing it along with them. The aged sibyl then arose
from her real or feigned slumbers. She first went to the door, as
if for the purpose of watching the departure of her late inmates,
then returned, and commanded Brown, in a low and stifled voice, to
follow her instantly. He obeyed; but, on leaving the hut, he would
willingly have repossessed himself of his money, or papers at
least, but this she prohibited in the most peremptory manner. It
immediately occurred to him that the suspicion of having removed
anything of which he might repossess himself would fall upon this
woman, by whom in all probability his life had been saved. He
therefore immediately desisted from his attempt, contenting
himself with seizing a cutlass, which one of the ruffians had
flung aside among the straw. On his feet, and possessed of this
weapon, he already found himself half delivered from the dangers
which beset him. Still, however, he felt stiffened and cramped,
both with the cold and by the constrained and unaltered position
which he had occupied all night. But, as he followed the gipsy
from the door of the hut, the fresh air of the morning and the
action of walking restored circulation and activity to his
benumbed limbs.

The pale light of a winter's morning was rendered more clear by
the snow, which was lying all around, crisped by the influence of
a severe frost. Brown cast a hasty glance at the landscape around
him, that he might be able again to know the spot. The little
tower, of which only a single vault remained, forming the dismal
apartment in which he had spent this remarkable night, was perched
on the very point of a projecting rock overhanging the rivulet. It
was accessible only on one side, and that from the ravine or glen
below. On the other three sides the bank was precipitous, so that
Brown had on the preceding evening escaped more dangers than one;
for, if he had attempted to go round the building, which was once
his purpose, he must have been dashed to pieces. The dell was so
narrow that the trees met in some places from the opposite sides.
They were now loaded with snow instead of leaves, and thus formed
a sort of frozen canopy over the rivulet beneath, which was marked
by its darker colour, as it soaked its way obscurely through
wreaths of snow. In one place, where the glen was a little wider,
leaving a small piece of flat ground between the rivulet and the
bank, were situated the ruins of the hamlet in which Brown had
been involved on the preceding evening. The ruined gables, the
insides of which were japanned with turf-smoke, looked yet blacker
contrasted with the patches of snow which had been driven against
them by the wind, and with the drifts which lay around them.

Upon this wintry and dismal scene Brown could only at present cast
a very hasty glance; for his guide, after pausing an instant as if
to permit him to indulge his curiosity, strode hastily before him
down the path which led into the glen. He observed, with some
feelings of suspicion, that she chose a track already marked by
several feet, which he could only suppose were those of the
depredators who had spent the night in the vault. A moment's
recollection, however, put his suspicions to rest. It was not to
be thought that the woman, who might have delivered him up to her
gang when in a state totally defenceless, would have suspended her
supposed treachery until he was armed and in the open air, and had
so many better chances of defence or escape. He therefore followed
his guide in confidence and silence. They crossed the small brook
at the same place where it previously had been passed by those who
had gone before. The footmarks then proceeded through the ruined
village, and from thence down the glen, which again narrowed to a
ravine, after the small opening in which they were situated. But
the gipsy no longer followed the same track; she turned aside, and
led the way by a very rugged and uneven path up the bank which
overhung the village. Although the snow in many places hid the
pathway, and rendered the footing uncertain and unsafe, Meg
proceeded with a firm and determined step, which indicated an
intimate knowledge of the ground she traversed. At length they
gained the top of the bank, though by a passage so steep and
intricate that Brown, though convinced it was the same by which he
had descended on the night before, was not a little surprised how
he had accomplished the task without breaking his neck. Above, the
country opened wide and uninclosed for about a mile or two on the
one hand, and on the other were thick plantations of considerable
extent.

Meg, however, still led the way along the bank of the ravine out
of which they had ascended, until she heard beneath the murmur of
voices. She then pointed to a deep plantation of trees at some
distance. 'The road to Kippletringan,' she said, 'is on the other
side of these inclosures. Make the speed ye can; there's mair
rests on your life than other folk's. But you have lost all--
stay.' She fumbled in an immense pocket, from which she produced a
greasy purse--'Many's the awmous your house has gi'en Meg and
hers; and she has lived to pay it back in a small degree;' and she
placed the purse in his hand.

'The woman is insane,' thought Brown; but it was no time to debate
the point, for the sounds he heard in the ravine below probably
proceeded from the banditti. 'How shall I repay this money,' he
said, 'or how acknowledge the kindness you have done me?'

'I hae twa boons to crave,' answered the sibyl, speaking low and
hastily: 'one, that you will never speak of what you have seen
this night; the other, that you will not leave this country till
you see me again, and that you leave word at the Gordon Arms where
you are to be heard of, and when I next call for you, be it in
church or market, at wedding or at burial, Sunday or Saturday,
mealtime or fasting, that ye leave everything else and come with
me.'

'Why, that will do you little good, mother.'

'But 'twill do yoursell muckle, and that's what I'm thinking o'. I
am not mad, although I have had eneugh to make me sae; I am not
mad, nor doating, nor drunken. I know what I am asking, and I know
it has been the will of God to preserve you in strange dangers,
and that I shall be the instrument to set you in your father's
seat again. Sae give me your promise, and mind that you owe your
life to me this blessed night.'

'There's wildness in her manner, certainly,' thought Brown, 'and
yet it is more like the wildness of energy than of madness.'--
'Well, mother, since you do ask so useless and trifling a favour,
you have my promise. It will at least give me an opportunity to
repay your money with additions. You are an uncommon kind of
creditor, no doubt, but--'

'Away, away, then!' said she, waving her hand. 'Think not about
the goud, it's a' your ain; but remember your promise, and do not
dare to follow me or look after me.' So saying, she plunged again
into the dell, and descended it with great agility, the icicles
and snow-wreaths showering down after her as she disappeared.

Notwithstanding her prohibition, Brown endeavoured to gain some
point of the bank from which he might, unseen, gaze down into the
glen; and with some difficulty (for it must be conceived that the
utmost caution was necessary) he succeeded. The spot which he
attained for this purpose was the point of a projecting rock,
which rose precipitously from among the trees. By kneeling down
among the snow and stretching his head cautiously forward, he
could observe what was going on in the bottom of the dell. He saw,
as he expected, his companions of the last night, now joined by
two or three others. They had cleared away the snow from the foot
of the rock and dug a deep pit, which was designed to serve the
purpose of a grave. Around this they now stood, and lowered into
it something wrapped in a naval cloak, which Brown instantly
concluded to be the dead body of the man he had seen expire. They
then stood silent for half a minute, as if under some touch of
feeling for the loss of their companion. But if they experienced
such, they did not long remain under its influence, for all hands
went presently to work to fill up the grave; and Brown, perceiving
that the task would be soon ended, thought it best to take the
gipsy woman's hint and walk as fast as possible until he should
gain the shelter of the plantation.

Having arrived under cover of the trees, his first thought was of
the gipsy's purse. He had accepted it without hesitation, though
with something like a feeling of degradation, arising from the
character of the person by whom he was thus accommodated. But it
relieved him from a serious though temporary embarrassment. His
money, excepting a very few shillings, was in his portmanteau, and
that was in possession of Meg's friends. Some time was necessary
to write to his agent, or even to apply to his good host at
Charlie's Hope, who would gladly have supplied him. In the
meantime he resolved to avail himself of Meg's subsidy, confident
he should have a speedy opportunity of replacing it with a
handsome gratuity. 'It can be but a trifling sum,' he said to
himself, 'and I daresay the good lady may have a share of my
banknotes to make amends.'

With these reflections he opened the leathern purse, expecting to
find at most three or four guineas. But how much was he surprised
to discover that it contained, besides a considerable quantity of
gold pieces, of different coinages and various countries, the
joint amount of which could not be short of a hundred pounds,
several valuable rings and ornaments set with jewels, and, as
appeared from the slight inspection he had time to give them, of
very considerable value.

Brown was equally astonished and embarrassed by the circumstances
in which he found himself, possessed, as he now appeared to be, of
property to a much greater amount than his own, but which had been
obtained in all probability by the same nefarious means through
which he had himself been plundered. His first thought was to
inquire after the nearest justice of peace, and to place in his
hands the treasure of which he had thus unexpectedly become the
depositary, telling at the same time his own remarkable story. But
a moment's consideration brought several objections to this mode
of procedure In the first place, by observing this course he
should break his promise of silence, and might probably by that
means involve the safety, perhaps the life, of this woman, who had
risked her own to preserve his, and who had voluntarily endowed
him with this treasure--a generosity which might thus become the
means of her ruin. This was not to be thought of. Besides, he was
a stranger, and for a time at least unprovided with means of
establishing his own character and credit to the satisfaction of a
stupid or obstinate country magistrate. 'I will think over the
matter more maturely,' he said; 'perhaps there may be a regiment
quartered at the county town, in which case my knowledge of the
service and acquaintance with many officers of the army cannot
fail to establish my situation and character by evidence which a
civil judge could not sufficiently estimate. And then I shall have
the commanding officer's assistance in managing matters so as to
screen this unhappy madwoman, whose mistake or prejudice has been
so fortunate for me. A civil magistrate might think himself
obliged to send out warrants for her at once, and the consequence,
in case of her being taken, is pretty evident. No, she has been
upon honour with me if she were the devil, and I will be equally
upon honour with her. She shall have the privilege of a court-
martial, where the point of honour can qualify strict law.
Besides, I may see her at this place, Kipple--Couple--what did
she call it? and then I can make restitution to her, and e'en let
the law claim its own when it can secure her. In the meanwhile,
however, I cut rather an awkward figure for one who has the honour
to bear his Majesty's commission, being little better than the
receiver of stolen goods.'

With these reflections, Brown took from the gipsy's treasure three
or four guineas, for the purpose of his immediate expenses, and,
tying up the rest in the purse which contained them, resolved not
again to open it until he could either restore it to her by whom
it was given, or put it into the hands of some public functionary.
He next thought of the cutlass, and his first impulse was to leave
it in the plantation. But, when he considered the risk of meeting
with these ruffians, he could not resolve on parting with his
arms. His walking-dress, though plain, had so much of a military
character as suited not amiss with his having such a weapon.
Besides, though the custom of wearing swords by persons out of
uniform had been gradually becoming antiquated, it was not yet so
totally forgotten as to occasion any particular remark towards
those who chose to adhere to it. Retaining, therefore, his weapon
of defence, and placing the purse of the gipsy in a private
pocket, our traveller strode gallantly on through the wood in
search of the promised highroad.

CHAPTER XXIX

All school day's friendship childhood innocence'
We Hermia like two artificial gods
Have with our needles created both one flower,
Both on one sampler sitting on one cushion,
Both warbling of one song both in one key
As if our hands our sides, voices and minds
Had been incorporate

A Midsummer Night's Dream

JULIA MANNERING TO MATILDA MARCHMONT

'How can you upbraid me, my dearest Matilda, with abatement in
friendship or fluctuation in affection? Is it possible for me to
forget that you are the chosen of my heart, in whose faithful
bosom I have deposited every feeling which your poor Julia dares
to acknowledge to herself? And you do me equal injustice in
upbraiding me with exchanging your friendship for that of Lucy
Bertram. I assure you she has not the materials I must seek for in
a bosom confidante. She is a charming girl, to be sure, and I like
her very much, and I confess our forenoon and evening engagements
have left me less time for the exercise of my pen than our
proposed regularity of correspondence demands. But she is totally
devoid of elegant accomplishments, excepting the knowledge of
French and Italian, which she acquired from the most grotesque
monster you ever beheld, whom my father has engaged as a kind of
librarian, and whom he patronises, I believe, to show his defiance
of the world's opinion. Colonel Mannering seems to have formed a
determination that nothing shall be considered as ridiculous so
long as it appertains to or is connected with him. I remember in
India he had picked up somewhere a little mongrel cur, with bandy
legs, a long back, and huge flapping ears. Of this uncouth
creature he chose to make a favourite, in despite of all taste and
opinion; and I remember one instance which he alleged, of what he
called Brown's petulance, was, that he had criticised severely the
crooked legs and drooping ears of Bingo. On my word, Matilda, I
believe he nurses his high opinion of this most awkward of all
pedants upon a similar principle. He seats the creature at table,
where he pronounces a grace that sounds like the scream of the man
in the square that used to cry mackerel, flings his meat down his
throat by shovelfuls, like a dustman loading his cart, and
apparently without the most distant perception of what he is
swallowing, then bleats forth another unnatural set of tones by
way of returning thanks, stalks out of the room, and immerses
himself among a parcel of huge worm-eaten folios that are as
uncouth as himself! I could endure the creature well enough had I
anybody to laugh at him along with me; but Lucy Bertram, if I but
verge on the border of a jest affecting this same Mr. Sampson
(such is the horrid man's horrid name), looks so piteous that it
deprives me of all spirit to proceed, and my father knits his
brow, flashes fire from his eye, bites his lip, and says something
that is extremely rude and uncomfortable to my feelings.

'It was not of this creature, however, that I meant to speak to
you, only that, being a good scholar in the modern as well as the
ancient languages, he has contrived to make Lucy Bertram mistress
of the former, and she has only, I believe, to thank her own good
sense, or obstinacy, that the Greek, Latin (and Hebrew, for aught
I know), were not added to her acquisitions. And thus she really
has a great fund of information, and I assure you I am daily
surprised at the power which she seems to possess of amusing
herself by recalling and arranging the subjects of her former
reading. We read together every morning, and I begin to like
Italian much better than when we were teased by that conceited
animal Cicipici. This is the way to spell his name, and not
Chichipichi; you see I grow a connoisseur.

'But perhaps I like Miss Bertram more for the accomplishments she
wants than for the knowledge she possesses. She knows nothing of
music whatever, and no more of dancing than is here common to the
meanest peasants, who, by the way, dance with great zeal and
spirit. So that I am instructor in my turn, and she takes with
great gratitude lessons from me upon the harpsichord; and I have
even taught her some of La Pique's steps, and you know he thought
me a promising scholar.

'In the evening papa often reads, and I assure you he is the best
reader of poetry you ever heard; not like that actor who made a
kind of jumble between reading and acting,--staring, and bending
his brow, and twisting his face, and gesticulating as if he were
on the stage and dressed out in all his costume. My father's
manner is quite different; it is the reading of a gentleman, who
produces effect by feeling, taste, and inflection of voice, not by
action or mummery. Lucy Bertram rides remarkably well, and I can
now accompany her on horseback, having become emboldened by
example. We walk also a good deal in spite of the cold. So, upon
the whole, I have not quite so much time for writing as I used to
have.

'Besides, my love, I must really use the apology of all stupid
correspondents, that I have nothing to say. My hopes, my fears, my
anxieties about Brown are of a less interesting cast since I know
that he is at liberty and in health. Besides, I must own I think
that by this time the gentleman might have given me some
intimation what he was doing. Our intercourse may be an imprudent
one, but it is not very complimentary to me that Mr. Vanbeest
Brown should be the first to discover that such is the case, and
to break off in consequence. I can promise him that we might not
differ much in opinion should that happen to be his, for I have
sometimes thought I have behaved extremely foolishly in that
matter. Yet I have so good an opinion of poor Brown, that I cannot
but think there is something extraordinary in his silence.

'To return to Lucy Bertram. No, my dearest Matilda, she can never,
never rival you in my regard, so that all your affectionate
jealousy on that account is without foundation. She is, to be
sure, a very pretty, a very sensible, a very affectionate girl,
and I think there are few persons to whose consolatory friendship
I could have recourse more freely in what are called the real
evils of life. But then these so seldom come in one's way, and one
wants a friend who will sympathise with distresses of sentiment as
well as with actual misfortune. Heaven knows, and you know, my
dearest Matilda, that these diseases of the heart require the balm
of sympathy and affection as much as the evils of a more obvious
and determinate character. Now Lucy Bertram has nothing of this
kindly sympathy, nothing at all, my dearest Matilda. Were I sick
of a fever, she would sit up night after night to nurse me with
the most unrepining patience; but with the fever of the heart,
which my Matilda has soothed so often, she has no more sympathy
than her old tutor. And yet what provokes me is, that the demure
monkey actually has a lover of her own, and that their mutual
affection (for mutual I take it to be) has a great deal of
complicated and romantic interest. She was once, you must know, a
great heiress, but was ruined by the prodigality of her father and
the villainy of a horrid man in whom he confided. And one of the
handsomest young gentlemen in the country is attached to her; but,
as he is heir to a great estate, she discourages his addresses on
account of the disproportion of their fortune.

'But with all this moderation, and self-denial, and modesty, and
so forth, Lucy is a sly girl. I am sure she loves young Hazlewood,
and I am sure he has some guess of that, and would probably bring
her to acknowledge it too if my father or she would allow him an
opportunity. But you must know the Colonel is always himself in
the way to pay Miss Bertram those attentions which afford the best
indirect opportunities for a young gentleman in Hazlewood's
situation. I would have my good papa take care that he does not
himself pay the usual penalty of meddling folks. I assure you, if
I were Hazlewood I should look on his compliments, his bowings,
his cloakings, his shawlings, and his handings with some little
suspicion; and truly I think Hazlewood does so too at some odd
times. Then imagine what a silly figure your poor Julia makes on
such occasions! Here is my father making the agreeable to my
friend; there is young Hazlewood watching every word of her lips,
and every motion of her eye; and I have not the poor satisfaction
of interesting a human being, not even the exotic monster of a
parson, for even he sits with his mouth open, and his huge round
goggling eyes fixed like those of a statue, admiring Mess
Baartram!

'All this makes me sometimes a little nervous, and sometimes a
little mischievous. I was so provoked at my father and the lovers
the other day for turning me completely out of their thoughts and
society, that I began an attack upon Hazlewood, from which it was
impossible for him, in common civility, to escape. He insensibly
became warm in his defence,--I assure you, Matilda, he is a very
clever as well as a very handsome young man, and I don't think I
ever remember having seen him to the same advantage,--when,
behold, in the midst of our lively conversation, a very soft sigh
from Miss Lucy reached my not ungratified ears. I was greatly too
generous to prosecute my victory any farther, even if I had not
been afraid of papa. Luckily for me, he had at that moment got
into a long description of the peculiar notions and manners of a
certain tribe of Indians who live far up the country, and was
illustrating them by making drawings on Miss Bertram's work-
patterns, three of which he utterly damaged by introducing among
the intricacies of the pattern his specimens of Oriental costume.
But I believe she thought as little of her own gown at the moment
as of the Indian turbands and cummerbands. However, it was quite
as well for me that he did not see all the merit of my little
manoeuvre, for he is as sharp-sighted as a hawk, and a sworn enemy
to the slightest shade of coquetry.

'Well, Matilda, Hazlewood heard this same halfaudible sigh, and
instantly repented his temporary attentions to such an unworthy
object as your Julia, and, with a very comical expression of
consciousness, drew near to Lucy's work-table. He made some
trifling observation, and her reply was one in which nothing but
an ear as acute as that of a lover, or a curious observer like
myself, could have distinguished anything more cold and dry than
usual. But it conveyed reproof to the self-accusing hero, and he
stood abashed accordingly. You will admit that I was called upon
in generosity to act as mediator. So I mingled in the
conversation, in the quiet tone of an unobserving and uninterested
third party, led them into their former habits of easy chat, and,
after having served awhile as the channel of communication through
which they chose to address each other, set them down to a pensive
game at chess, and very dutifully went to tease papa, who was
still busied with his drawings. The chess-players, you must
observe, were placed near the chimney, beside a little work-table,
which held the board and men, the Colonel at some distance, with
lights upon a library table; for it is a large old-fashioned room,
with several recesses, and hung with grim tapestry, representing
what it might have puzzled the artist himself to explain.

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