by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXI
THE CHIEFTAIN'S SISTER
The drawing-room of Flora Mac-Ivor was furnished in the plainest andmost simple manner; for at Glennaquoich every other sort of expenditurewas retrenched as much as possible, for the purpose of maintaining, inits full dignity, the hospitality of the Chieftain, and retaining andmultiplying the number of his dependants and adherents. But there wasno appearance of this parsimony in the dress of the lady herself, whichwas in texture elegant, and even rich, and arranged in a manner whichpartook partly of the Parisian fashion and partly of the more simpledress of the Highlands, blended together with great taste. Her hair wasnot disfigured by the art of the friseur, but fell in jetty ringlets onher neck, confined only by a circlet, richly set with diamonds. Thispeculiarity she adopted in compliance with the Highland prejudices,which could not endure that a woman's head should be covered beforewedlock.
Flora Mac-Ivor bore a most striking resemblance to her brother Fergus;so much so that they might have played Viola and Sebastian with thesame exquisite effect produced by the appearance of Mrs. Henry Siddonsand her brother, Mr. William Murray, in these characters. They had thesame antique and regular correctness of profile; the same dark eyes,eye-lashes, and eye-brows; the same clearness of complexion, exceptingthat Fergus's was embrowned by exercise and Flora's possessed theutmost feminine delicacy. But the haughty and somewhat stern regularityof Fergus's features was beautifully softened in those of Flora. Theirvoices were also similar in tone, though differing in the key. That ofFergus, especially while issuing orders to his followers during theirmilitary exercise, reminded Edward of a favourite passage in thedescription of Emetrius:
--whose voice was heard around, Loud as a trumpet with a silver sound.
That of Flora, on the contrary, was soft and sweet--'an excellent thingin woman'; yet, in urging any favourite topic, which she often pursuedwith natural eloquence, it possessed as well the tones which impressawe and conviction as those of persuasive insinuation. The eager glanceof the keen black eye, which, in the Chieftain, seemed impatient evenof the material obstacles it encountered, had in his sister acquired agentle pensiveness. His looks seemed to seek glory, power, all thatcould exalt him above others in the race of humanity; while those ofhis sister, as if she were already conscious of mental superiority,seemed to pity, rather than envy, those who were struggling for anyfarther distinction. Her sentiments corresponded with the expression ofher countenance. Early education had impressed upon her mind, as wellas on that of the Chieftain, the most devoted attachment to the exiledfamily of Stuart. She believed it the duty of her brother, of his clan,of every man in Britain, at whatever personal hazard, to contribute tothat restoration which the partisans of the Chevalier St. George hadnot ceased to hope for. For this she was prepared to do all, to sufferall, to sacrifice all. But her loyalty, as it exceeded her brother's infanaticism, excelled it also in purity. Accustomed to petty intrigue,and necessarily involved in a thousand paltry and selfish discussions,ambitious also by nature, his political faith was tinctured, at least,if not tainted, by the views of interest and advancement so easilycombined with it; and at the moment he should unsheathe his claymore,it might be difficult to say whether it would be most with the view ofmaking James Stuart a king or Fergus Mac-Ivor an earl. This, indeed,was a mixture of feeling which he did not avow even to himself, but itexisted, nevertheless, in a powerful degree.
In Flora's bosom, on the contrary, the zeal of loyalty burnt pure andunmixed with any selfish feeling; she would have as soon made religionthe mask of ambitious and interested views as have shrouded them underthe opinions which she had been taught to think patriotism. Suchinstances of devotion were not uncommon among the followers of theunhappy race of Stuart, of which many memorable proofs will recur tothe minds of most of my readers. But peculiar attention on the part ofthe Chevalier de St. George and his princess to the parents of Fergusand his sister, and to themselves when orphans, had riveted theirfaith. Fergus, upon the death of his parents, had been for some time apage of honour in the train of the Chevalier's lady, and, from hisbeauty and sprightly temper, was uniformly treated by her with theutmost distinction. This was also extended to Flora, who was maintainedfor some time at a convent of the first order at the princess'sexpense, and removed from thence into her own family, where she spentnearly two years. Both brother and sister retained the deepest and mostgrateful sense of her kindness.
Having thus touched upon the leading principle of Flora's character, Imay dismiss the rest more slightly. She was highly accomplished, andhad acquired those elegant manners to be expected from one who, inearly youth, had been the companion of a princess; yet she had notlearned to substitute the gloss of politeness for the reality offeeling. When settled in the lonely regions of Glennaquoich, she foundthat her resources in French, English, and Italian literature werelikely to be few and interrupted; and, in order to fill up the vacanttime, she bestowed a part of it upon the music and poetical traditionsof the Highlanders, and began really to feel the pleasure in thepursuit which her brother, whose perceptions of literary merit weremore blunt, rather affected for the sake of popularity than actuallyexperienced. Her resolution was strengthened in these researches by theextreme delight which her inquiries seemed to afford those to whom sheresorted for information.
Her love of her clan, an attachment which was almost hereditary in herbosom, was, like her loyalty, a more pure passion than that of herbrother. He was too thorough a politician, regarded his patriarchalinfluence too much as the means of accomplishing his ownaggrandisement, that we should term him the model of a HighlandChieftain. Flora felt the same anxiety for cherishing and extendingtheir patriarchal sway, but it was with the generous desire ofvindicating from poverty, or at least from want and foreign oppression,those whom her brother was by birth, according to the notions of thetime and country, entitled to govern. The savings of her income, forshe had a small pension from the Princess Sobieski, were dedicated, notto add to the comforts of the peasantry, for that was a word which theyneither knew nor apparently wished to know, but to relieve theirabsolute necessities when in sickness or extreme old age. At everyother period they rather toiled to procure something which they mightshare with the Chief, as a proof of their attachment, than expectedother assistance from him save what was afforded by the rudehospitality of his castle, and the general division and subdivision ofhis estate among them. Flora was so much beloved by them that, whenMac-Murrough composed a song in which he enumerated all the principalbeauties of the district, and intimated her superiority by concluding,that 'the fairest apple hung on the highest bough,' he received, indonatives from the individuals of the clan, more seed-barley than wouldhave sowed his Highland Parnassus, the bard's croft, as it was called,ten times over.
From situation as well as choice, Miss Mac-Ivor's society was extremelylimited. Her most intimate friend had been Rose Bradwardine, to whomshe was much attached; and when seen together, they would have affordedan artist two admirable subjects for the gay and the melancholy muse.Indeed Rose was so tenderly watched by her father, and her circle ofwishes was so limited, that none arose but what he was willing togratify, and scarce any which did not come within the compass of hispower. With Flora it was otherwise. While almost a girl she hadundergone the most complete change of scene, from gaiety and splendourto absolute solitude and comparative poverty; and the ideas and wisheswhich she chiefly fostered respected great national events, and changesnot to be brought round without both hazard and bloodshed, andtherefore not to be thought of with levity. Her manner, consequently,was grave, though she readily contributed her talents to the amusementof society, and stood very high in the opinion of the old Baron, whoused to sing along with her such French duets of Lindor and Cloris,etc., as were in fashion about the end of the reign of old Louis leGrand.
It was generally believed, though no one durst have hinted it to theBaron of Bradwardine, that Flora's entreaties had no small share inallaying the wrath of Fergus upon occasion of their quar
rel. She tookher brother on the assailable side, by dwelling first upon the Baron'sage, and then representing the injury which the cause might sustain,and the damage which must arise to his own character in point ofprudence--so necessary to a political agent, if he persisted incarrying it to extremity. Otherwise it is probable it would haveterminated in a duel, both because the Baron had, on a former occasion,shed blood of the clan, though the matter had been timely accommodated,and on account of his high reputation for address at his weapon, whichFergus almost condescended to envy. For the same reason she had urgedtheir reconciliation, which the Chieftain the more readily agreed to asit favoured some ulterior projects of his own.
To this young lady, now presiding at the female empire of thetea-table, Fergus introduced Captain Waverley, whom she received withthe usual forms of politeness.