Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer — Complete

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER III A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears. See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark in thine ear: Change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?

  --King Lear.

  Among those who took the most lively interest in endeavouring to discoverthe person by whom young Charles Hazlewood had been waylaid and woundedwas Gilbert Glossin, Esquire, late writer in ----, now Laird ofEllangowan, and one of the worshipful commission of justices of the peacefor the county of ----. His motives for exertion on this occasion weremanifold; but we presume that our readers, from what they already know ofthis gentleman, will acquit him of being actuated by any zealous orintemperate love of abstract justice.

  The truth was, that this respectable personage felt himself less at easethan he had expected, after his machinations put him in possession of hisbenefactor's estate. His reflections within doors, where so much occurredto remind him of former times, were not always the self-congratulationsof successful stratagem. And when he looked abroad he could not but besensible that he was excluded from the society of the gentry of thecounty, to whose rank he conceived he had raised himself. He was notadmitted to their clubs, and at meetings of a public nature, from whichhe could not be altogether excluded, he found himself thwarted and lookedupon with coldness and contempt. Both principle and prejudice cooperatedin creating this dislike; for the gentlemen of the county despised himfor the lowness of his birth, while they hated him for the means by whichhe had raised his fortune. With the common people his reputation stoodstill worse. They would neither yield him the territorial appellation ofEllangowan nor the usual compliment of Mr. Glossin: with them he was bareGlossin; and so incredibly was his vanity interested by this triflingcircumstance, that he was known to give half-a-crown to a beggar becausehe had thrice called him Ellangowan in beseeching him for a penny. Hetherefore felt acutely the general want of respect, and particularly whenhe contrasted his own character and reception in society with those ofMr. Mac-Morlan, who, in far inferior worldly circumstances, was belovedand respected both by rich and poor, and was slowly but securely layingthe foundation of a moderate fortune, with the general good-will andesteem of all who knew him.

  Glossin, while he repined internally at what he would fain have calledthe prejudices and prepossessions of the country, was too wise to makeany open complaint. He was sensible his elevation was too recent to beimmediately forgotten, and the means by which he had attained it tooodious to be soon forgiven. But time, thought he, diminishes wonder andpalliates misconduct. With the dexterity, therefore, of one who made hisfortune by studying the weak points of human nature, he determined to lieby for opportunities to make himself useful even to those who mostdisliked him; trusting that his own abilities, the disposition of countrygentlemen to get into quarrels, when a lawyer's advice becomes precious,and a thousand other contingencies, of which, with patience and address,he doubted not to be able to avail himself, would soon place him in amore important and respectable light to his neighbours, and perhaps raisehim to the eminence sometimes attained by a shrewd, worldly, bustling manof business, when, settled among a generation of country gentlemen, hebecomes, in Burns's language,

  The tongue of the trump to them a'.

  The attack on Colonel Mannering's house, followed by the accident ofHazlewood's wound, appeared to Glossin a proper opportunity to impressupon the country at large the service which could be rendered by anactive magistrate (for he had been in the commission for some time), wellacquainted with the law, and no less so with the haunts and habits of theillicit traders. He had acquired the latter kind of experience by aformer close alliance with some of the most desperate smugglers, inconsequence of which he had occasionally acted, sometimes as a partner,sometimes as legal adviser, with these persons, But the connexion hadbeen dropped many years; nor, considering how short the race of eminentcharacters of this description, and the frequent circumstances occur tomake them retire from particular scenes of action, had he the leastreason to think that his present researches could possibly compromise anyold friend who might possess means of retaliation. The having beenconcerned in these practices abstractedly was a circumstance which,according to his opinion, ought in no respect to interfere with his nowusing his experience in behalf of the public, or rather to further hisown private views. To acquire the good opinion and countenance of ColonelMannering would be no small object to a gentleman who was much disposedto escape from Coventry, and to gain the favour of old Hazlewood, who wasa leading man in the county, was of more importance still. Lastly, if heshould succeed in discovering, apprehending, and convicting the culprits,he would have the satisfaction of mortifying, and in some degreedisparaging, Mac-Morlan, to whom, as sheriff-substitute of the county,this sort of investigation properly belonged, and who would certainlysuffer in public opinion should the voluntary exertions of Glossin bemore successful than his own.

  Actuated by motives so stimulating, and well acquainted with the lowerretainers of the law, Glossin set every spring in motion to detect andapprehend, if possible, some of the gang who had attacked Woodbourne, andmore particularly the individual who had wounded Charles Hazlewood. Hepromised high rewards, he suggested various schemes, and used hispersonal interest among his old acquaintances who favoured the trade,urging that they had better make sacrifice of an understrapper or twothan incur the odium of having favoured such atrocious proceedings. Butfor some time all these exertions were in vain. The common people of thecountry either favoured or feared the smugglers too much to afford anyevidence against them. At length this busy magistrate obtainedinformation that a man, having the dress and appearance of the person whohad wounded Hazlewood, had lodged on the evening before the rencontre atthe Gordon Arms in Kippletringan. Thither Mr. Glossin immediately went,for the purpose of interrogating our old acquaintance Mrs. Mac-Candlish.

  The reader may remember that Mr. Glossin did not, according to this goodwoman's phrase, stand high in her books. She therefore attended hissummons to the parlour slowly and reluctantly, and, on entering the room,paid her respects in the coldest possible manner. The dialogue thenproceeded as follows:--

  'A fine frosty morning, Mrs. Mac-Candlish.'

  'Ay, sir; the morning's weel eneugh,' answered the landlady, drily.

  'Mrs. Mac-Candlish, I wish to know if the justices are to dine here asusual after the business of the court on Tuesday?'

  'I believe--I fancy sae, sir--as usual' (about to leave the room).

  'Stay a moment, Mrs. Mac-Candlish; why, you are in a prodigious hurry, mygood friend! I have been thinking a club dining here once a month wouldbe a very pleasant thing.'

  'Certainly, sir; a club of RESPECTABLE gentlemen.'

  'True, true,' said Glossin, 'I mean landed proprietors and gentlemen ofweight in the county; and I should like to set such a thing a-going.'

  The short dry cough with which Mrs. Mac-Candlish received this proposalby no means indicated any dislike to the overture abstractedlyconsidered, but inferred much doubt how far it would succeed under theauspices of the gentleman by whom it was proposed. It was not a coughnegative, but a cough dubious, and as such Glossin felt it; but it wasnot his cue to take offence.

  'Have there been brisk doings on the road, Mrs. Mac-Candlish? Plenty ofcompany, I suppose?'

  'Pretty weel, sir,--but I believe I am wanted at the bar.'

  'No, no; stop one moment, cannot you, to oblige an old customer? Pray, doyou remember a remarkably tall young man who lodged one night in yourhouse last week?'

  'Troth, sir, I canna weel say; I never take heed whether my company belang or short, if they make a lang bill.'

  'And if they do not, you can do that for them, eh, Mrs. Mac-Candlish? ha,ha, ha! But this young man that I inquire after was upwards of six feethigh, had a dark frock, with metal buttons, light-brown hair unpowdered,blue eyes, and a straight nose, travelled on foot, had no servant orbaggage; you surely can remember having seen such a traveller?'


  'Indeed, sir,' answered Mrs. Mac-Candlish, bent on baffling hisinquiries, 'I canna charge my memory about the matter; there's mair to doin a house like this, I trow, than to look after passengers' hair, ortheir een, or noses either.'

  'Then, Mrs. Mac-Candlish, I must tell you in plain terms that this personis suspected of having been guilty of a crime; and it is in consequenceof these suspicions that I, as a magistrate, require this informationfrom you; and if you refuse to answer my questions, I must put you uponyour oath.'

  'Troth, sir, I am no free to swear; [Footnote: Some of the strictdissenters decline taking an oath before a civil magistrate.] we ay gaedto the Antiburgher meeting. It's very true, in Bailie Mac-Candlish's time(honest man) we keepit the kirk, whilk was most seemly in his station, ashaving office; but after his being called to a better place thanKippletringan I hae gaen back to worthy Maister Mac-Grainer. And so yesee, sir, I am no clear to swear without speaking to the minister,especially against ony sackless puir young thing that's gaun through thecountry, stranger and freendless like.'

  'I shall relieve your scruples, perhaps, without troubling Mr.Mac-Grainer, when I tell you that this fellow whom I inquire after is theman who shot your young friend Charles Hazlewood.'

  'Gudeness! wha could hae thought the like o' that o' him? Na, if it hadbeen for debt, or e'en for a bit tuilzie wi' the gauger, the deil o'Nelly Mac-Candlish's tongue should ever hae wranged him. But if he reallyshot young Hazlewood--but I canna think it, Mr. Glossin; this will besome o' your skits now. I canna think it o' sae douce a lad; na, na, thisis just some o' your auld skits. Ye'll be for having a horning or acaption after him.'

  'I see you have no confidence in me, Mrs. Mac-Candlish; but look at thesedeclarations, signed by the persons who saw the crime committed, andjudge yourself if the description of the ruffian be not that of yourguest.'

  He put the papers into her hand, which she perused very carefully, oftentaking off her spectacles to cast her eyes up to heaven, or perhaps towipe a tear from them, for young Hazlewood was an especial favourite withthe good dame. 'Aweel, aweel,' she said, when she had concluded herexamination, 'since it's e'en sae, I gie him up, the villain. But O, weare erring mortals! I never saw a face I liked better, or a lad that wasmair douce and canny: I thought he had been some gentleman under trouble.But I gie him up, the villain! To shoot Charles Hazlewood, and before theyoung ladies, poor innocent things! I gie him up.'

  'So you admit, then, that such a person lodged here the night before thisvile business?'

  'Troth did he, sir, and a' the house were taen wi' him, he was sic afrank, pleasant young man. It wasna for his spending, I'm sure, for hejust had a mutton-chop and a mug of ale, and maybe a glass or twa o'wine; and I asked him to drink tea wi' mysell, and didna put that intothe bill; and he took nae supper, for he said he was defeat wi' travel a'the night afore. I daresay now it had been on some hellicat errand orother.'

  'Did you by any chance learn his name?'

  'I wot weel did I,' said the landlady, now as eager to communicate herevidence as formerly desirous to suppress it. 'He tell'd me his name wasBrown, and he said it was likely that an auld woman like a gipsy wifemight be asking for him. Ay, ay! tell me your company, and I'll tell youwha ye are! O the villain! Aweel, sir, when he gaed away in the morninghe paid his bill very honestly, and gae something to the chambermaid naedoubt; for Grizzy has naething frae me, by twa pair o' new shoo ilkayear, and maybe a bit compliment at Hansel Monanday--' Here Glossin foundit necessary to interfere and bring the good woman back to the point.

  'Ou then, he just said, "If there comes such a person to inquire afterMr. Brown, you will say I am gone to look at the skaters on Loch Creeran,as you call it, and I will be back here to dinner." But he never cameback, though I expected him sae faithfully that I gae a look to makingthe friar's chicken mysell, and to the crappitheads too, and that's whatI dinna do for ordinary, Mr. Glossin. But little did I think what skatingwark he was gaun about--to shoot Mr. Charles, the innocent lamb!'

  Mr. Glossin having, like a prudent examinator, suffered his witness togive vent to all her surprise and indignation, now began to inquirewhether the suspected person had left any property or papers about theinn.

  'Troth, he put a parcel--a sma' parcel--under my charge, and he gave mesome siller, and desired me to get him half-a-dozen ruffled sarks, andPeg Pasley's in hands wi' them e'en now; they may serve him to gang upthe Lawnmarket [Footnote: The procession of the criminals to the gallowsof old took that direction, moving, as the school-boy rhyme had it, Upthe Lawnmarket, Down the West Bow, Up the lang ladder, And down thelittle tow.] in, the scoundrel!' Mr. Glossin then demanded to see thepacket, but here mine hostess demurred.

  'She didna ken--she wad not say but justice should take its course--butwhen a thing was trusted to ane in her way, doubtless they wereresponsible; but she suld cry in Deacon Bearcliff, and if Mr. Glossinliked to tak an inventar o' the property, and gie her a receipt beforethe Deacon--or, what she wad like muckle better, an it could be sealed upand left in Deacon Bearcliff's hands--it wad mak her mind easy. She wasfor naething but justice on a' sides.'

  Mrs. Mac-Candlish's natural sagacity and acquired suspicion beinginflexible, Glossin sent for Deacon Bearcliff, to speak 'anent thevillain that had shot Mr. Charles Hazlewood.' The Deacon accordingly madehis appearance with his wig awry, owing to the hurry with which, at thissummons of the Justice, he had exchanged it for the Kilmarnock cap inwhich he usually attended his customers. Mrs. Mac-Candlish then producedthe parcel deposited with her by Brown, in which was found the gipsy'spurse. On perceiving the value of the miscellaneous contents, Mrs.Mac-Candlish internally congratulated herself upon the precautions shehad taken before delivering them up to Glossin, while he, with anappearance of disinterested candour, was the first to propose they shouldbe properly inventoried, and deposited with Deacon Bearcliff, until theyshould be sent to the Crown-office. 'He did not,' he observed, 'like tobe personally responsible for articles which seemed of considerablevalue, and had doubtless been acquired by the most nefarious practices.'

  He then examined the paper in which the purse had been wrapt up. It wasthe back of a letter addressed to V. Brown, Esquire, but the rest of theaddress was torn away. The landlady, now as eager to throw light upon thecriminal's escape as she had formerly been desirous of withholding it,for the miscellaneous contents of the purse argued strongly to her mindthat all was not right,--Mrs. Mac-Candlish, I say, now gave Glossin tounderstand that her position and hostler had both seen the stranger uponthe ice that day when young Hazlewood was wounded.

  Our readers' old acquaintance Jock Jabos was first summoned, and admittedfrankly that he had seen and conversed upon the ice that morning with astranger, who, he understood, had lodged at the Gordon Arms the nightbefore.

  'What turn did your conversation take?' said Glossin.

  'Turn? ou, we turned nae gate at a', but just keep it straight forwardupon the ice like.'

  'Well, but what did ye speak about?'

  'Ou, he just asked questions like ony ither stranger,' answered thepostilion, possessed, as it seemed, with the refractory anduncommunicative spirit which had left his mistress.

  'But about what?' said Glossin.

  'Ou, just about the folk that was playing at the curling, and about auldJock Stevenson that was at the cock, and about the leddies, and siclike.'

  'What ladies? and what did he ask about them, Jock?' said theinterrogator.

  'What leddies? Ou, it was Miss Jowlia Mannering and Miss Lucy Bertram,that ye ken fu' weel yoursell, Mr. Glossin; they were walking wi' theyoung Laird of Hazlewood upon the ice.'

  'And what did you tell him about them?' demanded Glossin.

  'Tut, we just said that was Miss Lucy Bertram of Ellangowan, that shouldance have had a great estate in the country; and that was Miss JowliaMannering, that was to be married to young Hazlewood, see as she washinging on his arm. We just spoke about our country clashes like; he wasa very frank man.'

  'Well, and
what did he say in answer?'

  'Ou, he just stared at the young leddies very keen-like, and asked if itwas for certain that the marriage was to be between Miss Mannering andyoung Hazlewood; and I answered him that it was for positive and absolutecertain, as I had an undoubted right to say sae; for my third cousin JeanClavers (she's a relation o' your ain, Mr. Glossin, ye wad ken Jean langsyne?), she's sib to the houskeeper at Woodbourne, and she's tell'd memair than ance that there was naething could be mair likely.'

  'And what did the stranger say when you told him all this?' said Glossin.

  'Say?' echoed the postilion, 'he said naething at a'; he just stared atthem as they walked round the loch upon the ice, as if he could haveeaten them, and he never took his ee aff them, or said another word, orgave another glance at the bonspiel, though there was the finest funamang the curlers ever was seen; and he turned round and gaed aff theloch by the kirkstile through Woodbourne fir-plantings, and we saw naemair o' him.'

  'Only think,' said Mrs. Mac-Candlish, 'what a hard heart he maun hae had,to think o' hurting the poor young gentleman in the very presence of theleddy he was to be married to!'

  'O, Mrs. Mac-Candlish,' said Glossin, 'there's been many cases such asthat on the record; doubtless he was seeking revenge where it would bedeepest and sweetest.'

  'God pity us!' said Deacon Bearcliff, 'we're puir frail creatures whenleft to oursells! Ay, he forgot wha said, "Vengeance is mine, and I willrepay it."'

  'Weel, aweel, sirs,' said Jabos, whose hard-headed and uncultivatedshrewdness seemed sometimes to start the game when others beat thebush--'weel, weel, ye may be a' mista'en yet; I'll never believe that aman would lay a plan to shoot another wi' his ain gun. Lord help ye, Iwas the keeper's assistant down at the Isle mysell, and I'll uphaud itthe biggest man in Scotland shouldna take a gun frae me or I had weizedthe slugs through him, though I'm but sic a little feckless body, fit fornaething but the outside o' a saddle and the fore-end o' a poschay; na,na, nae living man wad venture on that. I'll wad my best buckskins, andthey were new coft at Kirkcudbright Fair, it's been a chance job aftera'. But if ye hae naething mair to say to me, I am thinking I maun gangand see my beasts fed'; and he departed accordingly.

  The hostler, who had accompanied him, gave evidence to the same purpose.He and Mrs. Mac-Candlish were then reinterrogated whether Brown had noarms with him on that unhappy morning. 'None,' they said, 'but anordinary bit cutlass or hanger by his side.'

  'Now,' said the Deacon, taking Glossin by the button (for, in consideringthis intricate subject, he had forgot Glossin's new accession ofrank),'this is but doubtfu' after a', Maister Gilbert; for it was not saedooms likely that he would go down into battle wi' sic sma' means.'

  Glossin extricated himself from the Deacon's grasp and from thediscussion, though not with rudeness; for it was his present interest tobuy golden opinions from all sorts of people. He inquired the price oftea and sugar, and spoke of providing himself for the year; he gave Mrs.Mac-Candlish directions to have a handsome entertainment in readiness fora party of five friends whom he intended to invite to dine with him atthe Gordon Arms next Saturday week; and, lastly, he gave a half-crown toJock Jabos, whom the hostler had deputed to hold his steed.

  'Weel,' said the Deacon to Mrs. Mac-Candlish, as he accepted her offer ofa glass of bitters at the bar, 'the deil's no sae ill as he's ca'd. It'spleasant to see a gentleman pay the regard to the business o' the countythat Mr. Glossin does.'

  'Ay, 'deed is't, Deacon,' answered the landlady; 'and yet I wonder ourgentry leave their ain wark to the like o' him. But as lang as siller'scurrent, Deacon, folk maunna look ower nicely at what king's head'son't.'

  'I doubt Glossin will prove but shand after a', mistress,' said Jabos, ashe passed through the little lobby beside the bar; 'but this is a gudehalf-crown ony way.'