Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer — Complete

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XIV 'Twas he Gave heat unto the injury, which returned, Like a petard ill lighted, into the bosom Of him gave fire to't. Yet I hope his hurt Is not so dangerous but he may recover

  Fair Maid of the Inn.

  The prisoner was now presented before the two worshipful magistrates.Glossin, partly from some compunctious visitings, and partly out of hiscautious resolution to suffer Sir Robert Hazlewood to be the ostensiblemanager of the whole examination, looked down upon the table, and busiedhimself with reading and arranging the papers respecting the business,only now and then throwing in a skilful catchword as prompter, when hesaw the principal, and apparently most active, magistrate stand in needof a hint. As for Sir Robert Hazlewood, he assumed on his part a happymixture of the austerity of the justice combined with the display ofpersonal dignity appertaining to the baronet of ancient family.

  'There, constables, let him stand there at the bottom of the table. Be sogood as look me in the face, sir, and raise your voice as you answer thequestions which I am going to put to you.'

  'May I beg, in the first place, to know, sir, who it is that takes thetrouble to interrogate me?' said the prisoner; 'for the honest gentlemenwho have brought me here have not been pleased to furnish any informationupon that point.'

  'And pray, sir,' answered Sir Robert, 'what has my name and quality to dowith the questions I am about to ask you?'

  'Nothing, perhaps, sir,' replied Bertram; 'but it may considerablyinfluence my disposition to answer them.'

  'Why, then, sir, you will please to be informed that you are in presenceof Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, and another justice of peace forthis county--that's all.'

  As this intimation produced a less stunning effect upon the prisoner thanhe had anticipated, Sir Robert proceeded in his investigation with anincreasing dislike to the object of it.

  'Is your name Vanbeest Brown, sir?'

  'It is,' answered the prisoner.

  'So far well; and how are we to design you farther, sir?' demanded theJustice.

  'Captain in his Majesty's---regiment of horse,' answered Bertram.

  The Baronet's ears received this intimation with astonishment; but he wasrefreshed in courage by an incredulous look from Glossin, and by hearinghim gently utter a sort of interjectional whistle, in a note of surpriseand contempt. 'I believe, my friend,' said Sir Robert, 'we shall find foryou, before we part, a more humble title.'

  'If you do, sir,' replied his prisoner, 'I shall willingly submit to anypunishment which such an imposture shall be thought to deserve.'

  'Well, sir, we shall see,' continued Sir Robert. 'Do you know youngHazlewood of Hazlewood?'

  'I never saw the gentleman who I am informed bears that name exceptingonce, and I regret that it was under very unpleasant circumstances.'

  'You mean to acknowledge, then,' said the Baronet, 'that you inflictedupon young Hazlewood of Hazlewood that wound which endangered his life,considerably lacerated the clavicle of his right shoulder, and deposited,as the family surgeon declares, several large drops or slugs in theacromion process?'

  'Why, sir,' replied Bertram, 'I can only say I am equally ignorant of andsorry for the extent of the damage which the young gentleman hassustained. I met him in a narrow path, walking with two ladies and aservant, and before I could either pass them or address them, this youngHazlewood took his gun from his servant, presented it against my body,and commanded me in the most haughty tone to stand back. I was neitherinclined to submit to his authority nor to leave him in possession of themeans to injure me, which he seemed disposed to use with such rashness. Itherefore closed with him for the purpose of disarming him; and, just asI had nearly effected my purpose, the piece went off accidentally, and,to my regret then and since, inflicted upon the young gentleman a severerchastisement than I desired, though I am glad to understand it is like toprove no more than his unprovoked folly deserved.'

  'And so, sir,' said the Baronet, every feature swoln with offendeddignity, 'you, sir, admit, sir, that it was your purpose, sir, and yourintention, sir, and the real jet and object of your assault, sir, todisarm young Hazlewood of Hazlewood of his gun, sir, or hisfowling-piece, or his fuzee, or whatever you please to call it, sir, uponthe king's highway, sir? I think this will do, my worthy neighbour! Ithink he should stand committed?'

  'You are by far the best judge, Sir Robert,' said Glossin, in his mostinsinuating tone; 'but if I might presume to hint, there was somethingabout these smugglers.'

  'Very true, good sir. And besides, sir, you, Vanbeest Brown, who callyourself a captain in his Majesty's service, are no better or worse thana rascally mate of a smuggler!'

  'Really, sir,' said Bertram, 'you are an old gentleman, and acting undersome strange delusion, otherwise I should be very angry with you.'

  'Old gentleman, sir! strange delusion, sir!' said Sir Robert, colouringwith indignation. 'I protest and declare--Why, sir, have you any papersor letters that can establish your pretended rank and estate andcommission?'

  'None at present, sir,' answered Bertram; 'but in the return of a post ortwo---'

  'And how do you, sir,' continued the Baronet, 'if you are a captain inhis Majesty's service--how do you chance to be travelling in Scotlandwithout letters of introduction, credentials, baggage, or anythingbelonging to your pretended rank, estate, and condition, as I saidbefore?'

  'Sir,' replied the prisoner, 'I had the misfortune to be robbed of myclothes and baggage.'

  'Oho! then you are the gentleman who took a post-chaise from---toKippletringan, gave the boy the slip on the road, and sent two of youraccomplices to beat the boy and bring away the baggage?'

  'I was, sir, in a carriage, as you describe, was obliged to alight in thesnow, and lost my way endeavouring to find the road to Kippletringan. Thelandlady of the inn will inform you that on my arrival there the nextday, my first inquiries were after the boy.'

  'Then give me leave to ask where you spent the night, not in the snow, Ipresume? You do not suppose that will pass, or be taken, credited, andreceived?'

  'I beg leave,' said Bertram, his recollection turning to the gipsy femaleand to the promise he had given her--'I beg leave to decline answeringthat question.'

  'I thought as much,' said Sir Robert. 'Were you not during that night inthe ruins of Derncleugh?--in the ruins of Derncleugh, sir?'

  'I have told you that I do not intend answering that question,' repliedBertram.

  'Well, sir, then you will stand committed, sir,' said Sir Robert, 'and besent to prison, sir, that's all, sir. Have the goodness to look at thesepapers; are you the Vanbeest Brown who is there mentioned?'

  It must be remarked that Glossin had shuffled among the papers somewritings which really did belong to Bertram, and which had been found bythe officers in the old vault where his portmanteau was ransacked.

  'Some of these papers,' said Bertram, looking over them, 'are mine, andwere in my portfolio when it was stolen from the post-chaise. They arememoranda of little value, and, I see, have been carefully selected asaffording no evidence of my rank or character, which many of the otherpapers would have established fully. They are mingled with ship-accountsand other papers, belonging apparently to a person of the same name.'

  'And wilt thou attempt to persuade me, friend,' demanded Sir Robert,'that there are TWO persons in this country at the same time of thy veryuncommon and awkwardly sounding name?'

  'I really do not see, sir, as there is an old Hazlewood and a youngHazlewood, why there should not be an old and a young Vanbeest Brown.And, to speak seriously, I was educated in Holland, and I know that thisname, however uncouth it may sound in British ears---'

  Glossin, conscious that the prisoner was now about to enter upondangerous ground, interfered, though the interruption was unnecessary,for the purpose of diverting the attention of Sir Robert Hazlewood, whowas speechless and motionless with indignation at the presumptuouscomparison implied in Bertram's last speech. In fact, the veins of histhroat and of his temples swel
led almost to bursting, and he sat with theindignant and disconcerted air of one who has received a mortal insultfrom a quarter to which he holds it unmeet and indecorous to make anyreply. While, with a bent brow and an angry eye, he was drawing in hisbreath slowly and majestically, and puffing it forth again with deep andsolemn exertion, Glossin stepped in to his assistance. 'I should thinknow, Sir Robert, with great submission, that this matter may be closed.One of the constables, besides the pregnant proof already produced,offers to make oath that the sword of which the prisoner was this morningdeprived (while using it, by the way, in resistance to a legal warrant)was a cutlass taken from him in a fray between the officers and smugglersjust previous to their attack upon Woodbourne. And yet,' he added, 'Iwould not have you form any rash construction upon that subject; perhapsthe young man can explain how he came by that weapon.'

  'That question, sir,' said Bertram, 'I shall also leave unanswered.'

  'There is yet another circumstance to be inquired into, always under SirRobert's leave,' insinuated Glossin. 'This prisoner put into the hands ofMrs. MacCandlish of Kippletringan a parcel containing a variety of goldcoins and valuable articles of different kinds. Perhaps, Sir Robert, youmight think it right to ask how he came by property of a descriptionwhich seldom occurs?'

  'You, sir, Mr. Vanbeest Brown, sir, you hear the question, sir, which thegentleman asks you?'

  'I have particular reasons for declining to answer that question,'answered Bertram.

  'Then I am afraid, sir,' said Glossin, who had brought matters to thepoint he desired to reach, 'our duty must lay us under the necessity tosign a warrant of committal.'

  'As you please, sir,' answered Bertram; 'take care, however, what you do.Observe that I inform you that I am a captain in hisMajesty's---regiment, and that I am just returned from India, andtherefore cannot possibly be connected with any of those contrabandtraders you talk of; that my lieutenant-colonel is now at Nottingham, themajor, with the officers of my corps, at Kingston-upon-Thames. I offerbefore you both to submit to any degree of ignominy if, within the returnof the Kingston and Nottingham posts, I am not able to establish thesepoints. Or you may write to the agent for the regiment if you please,and---'

  'This is all very well, sir,' said Glossin, beginning to fear lest thefirm expostulation of Bertram should make some impression on Sir Robert,who would almost have died of shame at committing such a solecism assending a captain of horse to jail--'this is all very well, sir; but isthere no person nearer whom you could refer to?'

  'There are only two persons in this country who know anything of me,'replied the prisoner. 'One is a plain Liddesdale sheep-farmer, calledDinmont of Charlie's Hope; but he knows nothing more of me than what Itold him, and what I now tell you.'

  'Why, this is well enough, Sir Robert!' said Glossin. 'I suppose he wouldbring forward this thick-skulled fellow to give his oath of credulity,Sir Robert, ha, ha, ha!'

  'And what is your other witness, friend?' said the Baronet.

  'A gentleman whom I have some reluctance to mention because of certainprivate reasons, but under whose command I served some time in India, andwho is too much a man of honour to refuse his testimony to my characteras a soldier and gentleman.'

  'And who is this doughty witness, pray, sir?' said Sir Robert,' somehalf-pay quartermaster or sergeant, I suppose?'

  'Colonel Guy Mannering, late of the---regiment, in which, as I told you,I have a troop.'

  'Colonel Guy Mannering!' thought Glossin, 'who the devil could haveguessed this?'

  'Colonel Guy Mannering?' echoed the Baronet, considerably shaken in hisopinion. 'My good sir,' apart to Glossin, 'the young man with adreadfully plebeian name and a good deal of modest assurance hasnevertheless something of the tone and manners and feeling of agentleman, of one at least who has lived in good society; they do givecommissions very loosely and carelessly and inaccurately in India. Ithink we had better pause till Colonel Mannering shall return; he is now,I believe, at Edinburgh.'

  'You are in every respect the best judge, Sir Robert,' answeredGlossin--'in every possible respect. I would only submit to you that weare certainly hardly entitled to dismiss this man upon an assertion whichcannot be satisfied by proof, and that we shall incur a heavyresponsibility by detaining him in private custody, without committinghim to a public jail. Undoubtedly, however, you are the best judge, SirRobert; and I would only say, for my own part, that I very latelyincurred severe censure by detaining a person in a place which I thoughtperfectly secure, and under the custody of the proper officers. The manmade his escape, and I have no doubt my own character for attention andcircumspection as a magistrate has in some degree suffered. I only hintthis: I will join in any step you, Sir Robert, think most advisable.' ButMr. Glossin was well aware that such a hint was of power sufficient todecide the motions of his self-important but not self-relying colleague.So that Sir Robert Hazlewood summed up the business in the followingspeech, which proceeded partly upon the supposition of the prisoner beingreally a gentleman, and partly upon the opposite belief that he was avillain and an assassin:--

  'Sir, Mr. Vanbeest Brown--I would call you Captain Brown if there was theleast reason or cause or grounds to suppose that you are a captain, orhad a troop in the very respectable corps you mention, or indeed in anyother corps in his Majesty's service, as to which circumstance I beg tobe understood to give no positive, settled, or unalterable judgment,declaration, or opinion,--I say, therefore, sir, Mr. Brown, we havedetermined, considering the unpleasant predicament in which you nowstand, having been robbed, as you say, an assertion as to which I suspendmy opinion, and being possessed of much and valuable treasure, and of abrass-handled cutlass besides, as to your obtaining which you will favourus with no explanation,--I say, sir, we have determined and resolved andmade up our minds to commit you to jail, or rather to assign you anapartment therein, in order that you may be forthcoming upon ColonelMannering's return from Edinburgh.'

  'With humble submission, Sir Robert,' said Glossin, 'may I inquire if itis your purpose to send this young gentleman to the county jail? For ifthat were not your settled intention, I would take the liberty to hintthat there would be less hardship in sending him to the bridewell atPortanferry, where he can be secured without public exposure, acircumstance which, on the mere chance of his story being really true, ismuch to be avoided.'

  'Why, there is a guard of soldiers at Portanferry, to be sure, forprotection of the goods in the custom-house; and upon the whole,considering everything, and that the place is comfortable for such aplace, I say, all things considered, we will commit this person, I wouldrather say authorise him to be detained, in the workhouse atPortanferry.'

  The warrant was made out accordingly, and Bertram was informed he wasnext morning to be removed to his place of confinement, as Sir Robert haddetermined he should not be taken there under cloud of night, for fear ofrescue. He was during the interval to be detained at Hazlewood House.

  'It cannot be so hard as my imprisonment by the looties in India,' hethought; 'nor can it last so long. But the deuce take the old formaldunderhead, and his more sly associate, who speaks always under hisbreath; they cannot understand a plain man's story when it is told them.'

  In the meanwhile Glossin took leave of the Baronet with a thousandrespectful bows and cringing apologies for not accepting his invitationto dinner, and venturing to hope he might be pardoned in paying hisrespects to him, Lady Hazlewood, and young Mr. Hazlewood on some futureoccasion.

  'Certainly, sir,' said the Baronet, very graciously. 'I hope our familywas never at any time deficient in civility to our neighbours; and when Iride that way, good Mr. Glossin, I will convince you of this by callingat your house as familiarly as is consistent--that is, as can be hoped orexpected.'

  'And now,' said Glossin to himself, 'to find Dirk Hatteraick and hispeople, to get the guard sent off from the custom-house; and then for thegrand cast of the dice. Everything must depend upon speed. How lucky thatMannering has betaken himself to Edinburgh! His knowl
edge of this youngfellow is a most perilous addition to my dangers.' Here he suffered hishorse to slacken his pace. 'What if I should try to compound with theheir? It's likely he might be brought to pay a round sum for restitution,and I could give up Hatteraick. But no, no, no! there were too many eyeson me--Hatteraick himself, and the gipsy sailor, and that old hag. No,no! I must stick to my original plan.' And with that he struck his spursagainst his horse's flanks, and rode forward at a hard trot to put hismachines in motion.