by Walter Scott
CHAPTER LXX
DULCE DOMUM
The impression of horror with which Waverley left Carlisle softened bydegrees into melancholy, a gradation which was accelerated by thepainful yet soothing task of writing to Rose; and, while he could notsuppress his own feelings of the calamity, he endeavoured to place itin a light which might grieve her without shocking her imagination. Thepicture which he drew for her benefit he gradually familiarised to hisown mind, and his next letters were more cheerful, and referred to theprospects of peace and happiness which lay before them. Yet, though hisfirst horrible sensations had sunk into melancholy, Edward had reachedhis native country before he could, as usual on former occasions, lookround for enjoyment upon the face of nature.
He then, for the first time since leaving Edinburgh, began toexperience that pleasure which almost all feel who return to a verdant,populous, and highly cultivated country from scenes of waste desolationor of solitary and melancholy grandeur. But how were those feelingsenhanced when he entered on the domain so long possessed by hisforefathers; recognised the old oaks of Waverley-Chace; thought withwhat delight he should introduce Rose to all his favourite haunts;beheld at length the towers of the venerable hall arise above the woodswhich embowered it, and finally threw himself into the arms of thevenerable relations to whom he owed so much duty and affection!
The happiness of their meeting was not tarnished by a single word ofreproach. On the contrary, whatever pain Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachelhad felt during Waverley's perilous engagement with the youngChevalier, it assorted too well with the principles in which they hadbeen brought up to incur reprobation, or even censure. Colonel Talbotalso had smoothed the way with great address for Edward's favourablereception by dwelling upon his gallant behaviour in the militarycharacter, particularly his bravery and generosity at Preston; until,warmed at the idea of their nephew's engaging in single combat, makingprisoner, and saving from slaughter so distinguished an officer as theColonel himself, the imagination of the Baronet and his sister rankedthe exploits of Edward with those of Wilibert, Hildebrand, and Nigel,the vaunted heroes of their line.
The appearance of Waverley, embrowned by exercise and dignified by thehabits of military discipline, had acquired an athletic and hardycharacter, which not only verified the Colonel's narration, butsurprised and delighted all the inhabitants of Waverley-Honour. Theycrowded to see, to hear him, and to sing his praises. Mr. Pembroke, whosecretly extolled his spirit and courage in embracing the genuine causeof the Church of England, censured his pupil gently, nevertheless, forbeing so careless of his manuscripts, which indeed, he said, hadoccasioned him some personal inconvenience, as, upon the Baronet'sbeing arrested by a king's messenger, he had deemed it prudent toretire to a concealment called 'The Priest's Hole,' from the use it hadbeen put to in former days; where, he assured our hero, the butler hadthought it safe to venture with food only once in the day, so that hehad been repeatedly compelled to dine upon victuals either absolutelycold or, what was worse, only half warm, not to mention that sometimeshis bed had not been arranged for two days together. Waverley's mindinvoluntarily turned to the Patmos of the Baron of Bradwardine, who waswell pleased with Janet's fare and a few bunches of straw stowed in acleft in the front of a sand-cliff; but he made no remarks upon acontrast which could only mortify his worthy tutor.
All was now in a bustle to prepare for the nuptials of Edward, an eventto which the good old Baronet and Mrs. Rachel looked forward as if tothe renewal of their own youth. The match, as Colonel Talbot hadintimated, had seemed to them in the highest degree eligible, havingevery recommendation but wealth, of which they themselves had more thanenough. Mr. Clippurse was therefore summoned to Waverley-Honour, underbetter auspices than at the commencement of our story. But Mr.Clippurse came not alone; for, being now stricken in years, he hadassociated with him a nephew, a younger vulture (as our EnglishJuvenal, who tells the tale of Swallow the attorney, might have calledhim), and they now carried on business as Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem.These worthy gentlemen had directions to make the necessary settlementson the most splendid scale of liberality, as if Edward were to wed apeeress in her own right, with her paternal estate tacked to the fringeof her ermine.
But before entering upon a subject of proverbial delay, I must remindmy reader of the progress of a stone rolled downhill by an idle truantboy (a pastime at which I was myself expert in my more juvenile years),it moves at first slowly, avoiding by inflection every obstacle of theleast importance; but when it has attained its full impulse, and drawsnear the conclusion of its career, it smokes and thunders down, takinga rood at every spring, clearing hedge and ditch like a Yorkshirehuntsman, and becoming most furiously rapid in its course when it isnearest to being consigned to rest for ever. Even such is the course ofa narrative like that which you are perusing. The earlier events arestudiously dwelt upon, that you, kind reader, may be introduced to thecharacter rather by narrative than by the duller medium of directdescription; but when the story draws near its close, we hurry over thecircumstances, however important, which your imagination must haveforestalled, and leave you to suppose those things which it would beabusing your patience to relate at length.
We are, therefore, so far from attempting to trace the dull progress ofMessrs. Clippurse and Hookem, or that of their worthy official brethrenwho had the charge of suing out the pardons of Edward Waverley and hisintended father-in-law, that we can but touch upon matters moreattractive. The mutual epistles, for example, which were exchangedbetween Sir Everard and the Baron upon this occasion, though matchlessspecimens of eloquence in their way, must be consigned to mercilessoblivion. Nor can I tell you at length how worthy Aunt Rachel, notwithout a delicate and affectionate allusion to the circumstances whichhad transferred Rose's maternal diamonds to the hands of Donald BeanLean, stocked her casket with a set of jewels that a duchess might haveenvied. Moreover, the reader will have the goodness to imagine that JobHoughton and his dame were suitably provided for, although they couldnever be persuaded that their son fell otherwise than fighting by theyoung squire's side; so that Alick, who, as a lover of truth, had mademany needless attempts to expound the real circumstances to them, wasfinally ordered to say not a word more upon the subject. He indemnifiedhimself, however, by the liberal allowance of desperate battles, grislyexecutions, and raw-head and bloody-bone stories with which heastonished the servants' hall.
But although these important matters may be briefly told in narrative,like a newspaper report of a Chancery suit, yet, with all the urgencywhich Waverley could use, the real time which the law proceedingsoccupied, joined to the delay occasioned by the mode of travelling atthat period, rendered it considerably more than two months ereWaverley, having left England, alighted once more at the mansion of theLaird of Duchran to claim the hand of his plighted bride.
The day of his marriage was fixed for the sixth after his arrival. TheBaron of Bradwardine, with whom bridals, christenings, and funeralswere festivals of high and solemn import, felt a little hurt that,including the family of the Duchran and all the immediate vicinity whohad title to be present on such an occasion, there could not be abovethirty persons collected. 'When he was married,' he observed,'threehundred horse of gentlemen born, besides servants, and some score ortwo of Highland lairds, who never got on horseback, were present on theoccasion.'
But his pride found some consolation in reflecting that, he and hisson-in-law having been so lately in arms against government, it mightgive matter of reasonable fear and offence to the ruling powers if theywere to collect together the kith, kin, and allies of their houses,arrayed in effeir of war, as was the ancient custom of Scotland onthese occasions--'And, without dubitation,' he concluded with a sigh,'many of those who would have rejoiced most freely upon these joyfulespousals are either gone to a better place or are now exiles fromtheir native land.'
The marriage took place on the appointed day. The Reverend Mr. Rubrick,kinsman to the proprietor of the hospitable mansion where it wassolemnised, and chapla
in to the Baron of Bradwardine, had thesatisfaction to unite their hands; and Frank Stanley acted asbridesman, having joined Edward with that view soon after his arrival.Lady Emily and Colonel Talbot had proposed being present; but LadyEmily's health, when the day approached, was found inadequate to thejourney. In amends it was arranged that Edward Waverley and his lady,who, with the Baron, proposed an immediate journey to Waverley-Honour,should in their way spend a few days at an estate which Colonel Talbothad been tempted to purchase in Scotland as a very great bargain, andat which he proposed to reside for some time.