by Walter Scott
CHAPTER ELEVENTH.
What gars ye gaunt, my merrymen a'? What gars ye look sae dreary? What gars ye hing your head sae sair In the castle of Balwearie? Old Scotch Ballad.
The next morning chanced to be Sunday, a day peculiarly hard to be gotrid of at Osbaldistone Hall; for after the formal religious service ofthe morning had been performed, at which all the family regularlyattended, it was hard to say upon which individual, Rashleigh and MissVernon excepted, the fiend of ennui descended with the most abundantoutpouring of his spirit. To speak of my yesterday's embarrassment amusedSir Hildebrand for several minutes, and he congratulated me on mydeliverance from Morpeth or Hexham jail, as he would have done if I hadfallen in attempting to clear a five-barred gate, and got up withouthurting myself.
"Hast had a lucky turn, lad; but do na be over venturous again. What,man! the king's road is free to all men, be they Whigs, be they Tories."
"On my word, sir, I am innocent of interrupting it; and it is the mostprovoking thing on earth, that every person will take it for granted thatI am accessory to a crime which I despise and detest, and which would,moreover, deservedly forfeit my life to the laws of my country."
"Well, well, lad; even so be it; I ask no questions--no man bound to tellon himsell--that's fair play, or the devil's in't."
Rashleigh here came to my assistance; but I could not help thinking thathis arguments were calculated rather as hints to his father to put on ashow of acquiescence in my declaration of innocence, than fully toestablish it.
"In your own house, my dear sir--and your own nephew--you will not surelypersist in hurting his feelings by seeming to discredit what he is sostrongly interested in affirming. No doubt, you are fully deserving ofall his confidence, and I am sure, were there anything you could do toassist him in this strange affair, he would have recourse to yourgoodness. But my cousin Frank has been dismissed as an innocent man, andno one is entitled to suppose him otherwise. For my part, I have not theleast doubt of his innocence; and our family honour, I conceive, requiresthat we should maintain it with tongue and sword against the wholecountry."
"Rashleigh," said his father, looking fixedly at him, "thou art a slyloon--thou hast ever been too cunning for me, and too cunning for mostfolks. Have a care thou provena too cunning for thysell--two faces underone hood is no true heraldry. And since we talk of heraldry, I'll go andread Gwillym."
This resolution he intimated with a yawn, resistless as that of theGoddess in the Dunciad, which was responsively echoed by his giant sons,as they dispersed in quest of the pastimes to which their minds severallyinclined them--Percie to discuss a pot of March beer with the steward inthe buttery,--Thorncliff to cut a pair of cudgels, and fix them in theirwicker hilts,--John to dress May-flies,--Dickon to play at pitch and tossby himself, his right hand against his left,--and Wilfred to bite histhumbs and hum himself into a slumber which should last till dinner-time,if possible. Miss Vernon had retired to the library.
Rashleigh and I were left alone in the old hall, from which the servants,with their usual bustle and awkwardness, had at length contrived to hurrythe remains of our substantial breakfast. I took the opportunity toupbraid him with the manner in which he had spoken of my affair to hisfather, which I frankly stated was highly offensive to me, as it seemedrather to exhort Sir Hildebrand to conceal his suspicions, than to rootthem out.
"Why, what can I do, my dear friend?" replied Rashleigh "my father'sdisposition is so tenacious of suspicions of all kinds, when once theytake root (which, to do him justice, does not easily happen), that I havealways found it the best way to silence him upon such subjects, insteadof arguing with him. Thus I get the better of the weeds which I cannoteradicate, by cutting them over as often as they appear, until at lengththey die away of themselves. There is neither wisdom nor profit indisputing with such a mind as Sir Hildebrand's, which hardens itselfagainst conviction, and believes in its own inspirations as firmly as wegood Catholics do in those of the Holy Father of Rome."
"It is very hard, though, that I should live in the house of a man, andhe a near relation too, who will persist in believing me guilty of ahighway robbery."
"My father's foolish opinion, if one may give that epithet to any opinionof a father's, does not affect your real innocence; and as to thedisgrace of the fact, depend on it, that, considered in all its bearings,political as well as moral, Sir Hildebrand regards it as a meritoriousaction--a weakening of the enemy--a spoiling of the Amalekites; and youwill stand the higher in his regard for your supposed accession to it."
"I desire no man's regard, Mr. Rashleigh, on such terms as must sink mein my own; and I think these injurious suspicions will afford a very goodreason for quitting Osbaldistone Hall, which I shall do whenever I cancommunicate on the subject with my father."
The dark countenance of Rashleigh, though little accustomed to betray itsmaster's feelings, exhibited a suppressed smile, which he instantlychastened by a sigh. "You are a happy man, Frank--you go and come, as thewind bloweth where it listeth. With your address, taste, and talents, youwill soon find circles where they will be more valued, than amid the dullinmates of this mansion; while I--" he paused.
"And what is there in your lot that can make you or any one envymine,--an outcast, as I may almost term myself, from my father's houseand favour?"
"Ay, but," answered Rashleigh, "consider the gratified sense ofindependence which you must have attained by a very temporarysacrifice,--for such I am sure yours will prove to be; consider thepower of acting as a free agent, of cultivating your own talents in theway to which your taste determines you, and in which you are wellqualified to distinguish yourself. Fame and freedom are cheaplypurchased by a few weeks' residence in the North, even though your placeof exile be Osbaldistone Hall. A second Ovid in Thrace, you have not hisreasons for writing Tristia."
"I do not know," said I, blushing as became a young scribbler, "how youshould be so well acquainted with my truant studies."
"There was an emissary of your father's here some time since, a youngcoxcomb, one Twineall, who informed me concerning your secret sacrificesto the muses, and added, that some of your verses had been greatlyadmired by the best judges."
Tresham, I believe you are guiltless of having ever essayed to build thelofty rhyme; but you must have known in your day many an apprentice andfellow-craft, if not some of the master-masons, in the temple of Apollo.Vanity is their universal foible, from him who decorated the shades ofTwickenham, to the veriest scribbler whom he has lashed in his Dunciad. Ihad my own share of this common failing, and without considering howlittle likely this young fellow Twineall was, by taste and habits, eitherto be acquainted with one or two little pieces of poetry, which I had attimes insinuated into Button's coffee-house, or to report the opinion ofthe critics who frequented that resort of wit and literature, I almostinstantly gorged the bait; which Rashleigh perceiving, improved hisopportunity by a diffident, yet apparently very anxious request to bepermitted to see some of my manuscript productions.
"You shall give me an evening in my own apartment," he continued; "for Imust soon lose the charms of literary society for the drudgery ofcommerce, and the coarse every-day avocations of the world. I repeat it,that my compliance with my father's wishes for the advantage of myfamily, is indeed a sacrifice, especially considering the calm andpeaceful profession to which my education destined me."
I was vain, but not a fool, and this hypocrisy was too strong for me toswallow. "You would not persuade me," I replied, "that you really regretto exchange the situation of an obscure Catholic priest, with all itsprivations, for wealth and society, and the pleasures of the world?"
Rashleigh saw that he had coloured his affectation of moderation toohighly, and, after a second's pause, during which, I suppose, hecalculated the degree of candour which it was necessary to use with me(that being a quality of which he was never needlessly profuse), heanswered,
with a smile--"At my age, to be condemned, as you say, towealth and the world, does not, indeed, sound so alarming as perhaps itought to do. But, with pardon be it spoken, you have mistaken mydestination--a Catholic priest, if you will, but not an obscure one. No,sir,--Rashleigh Osbaldistone will be more obscure, should he rise to bethe richest citizen in London, than he might have been as a member of achurch, whose ministers, as some one says, 'set their sandall'd feet onprinces.' My family interest at a certain exiled court is high, and theweight which that court ought to possess, and does possess, at Rome isyet higher--my talents not altogether inferior to the education I havereceived. In sober judgment, I might have looked forward to high eminencein the church--in the dream of fancy, to the very highest. Why mightnot"--(he added, laughing, for it was part of his manner to keep much ofhis discourse apparently betwixt jest and earnest)--"why might notCardinal Osbaldistone have swayed the fortunes of empires, well-born andwell-connected, as well as the low-born Mazarin, or Alberoni, the son ofan Italian gardener?"
"Nay, I can give you no reason to the contrary; but in your place Ishould not much regret losing the chance of such precarious and invidiouselevation."
"Neither would I," he replied, "were I sure that my present establishmentwas more certain; but that must depend upon circumstances which I canonly learn by experience--the disposition of your father, for example."
"Confess the truth without finesse, Rashleigh; you would willingly knowsomething of him from me?"
"Since, like Die Vernon, you make a point of following the banner of thegood knight Sincerity, I reply--certainly."
"Well, then, you will find in my father a man who has followed the pathsof thriving more for the exercise they afforded to his talents, than forthe love of the gold with which they are strewed. His active mind wouldhave been happy in any situation which gave it scope for exertion, thoughthat exertion had been its sole reward. But his wealth has accumulated,because, moderate and frugal in his habits, no new sources of expensehave occurred to dispose of his increasing income. He is a man who hatesdissimulation in others; never practises it himself; and is peculiarlyalert in discovering motives through the colouring of language. Himselfsilent by habit, he is readily disgusted by great talkers; the rather,that the circumstances by which he is most interested, afford no greatscope for conversation. He is severely strict in the duties of religion;but you have no reason to fear his interference with yours, for heregards toleration as a sacred principle of political economy. But if youhave any Jacobitical partialities, as is naturally to be supposed, youwill do well to suppress them in his presence, as well as the leasttendency to the highflying or Tory principles; for he holds both in utterdetestation. For the rest, his word is his own bond, and must be the lawof all who act under him. He will fail in his duty to no one, and willpermit no one to fail towards him; to cultivate his favour, you mustexecute his commands, instead of echoing his sentiments. His greatestfailings arise out of prejudices connected with his own profession, orrather his exclusive devotion to it, which makes him see little worthy ofpraise or attention, unless it be in some measure connected withcommerce."
"O rare-painted portrait!" exclaimed Rashleigh, when I wassilent--"Vandyke was a dauber to you, Frank. I see thy sire before me inall his strength and weakness; loving and honouring the King as a sortof lord mayor of the empire, or chief of the board of trade--veneratingthe Commons, for the acts regulating the export trade--and respectingthe Peers, because the Lord Chancellor sits on a woolsack."
"Mine was a likeness, Rashleigh; yours is a caricature. But in return forthe _carte du pays_ which I have unfolded to you, give me some lights onthe geography of the unknown lands"--
"On which you are wrecked," said Rashleigh. "It is not worth while; it isno Isle of Calypso, umbrageous with shade and intricate with silvanlabyrinth--but a bare ragged Northumbrian moor, with as little tointerest curiosity as to delight the eye; you may descry it in all itsnakedness in half an hour's survey, as well as if I were to lay it downbefore you by line and compass."
"O, but something there is, worthy a more attentive survey--What say youto Miss Vernon? Does not she form an interesting object in the landscape,were all round as rude as Iceland's coast?"
I could plainly perceive that Rashleigh disliked the topic now presentedto him; but my frank communication had given me the advantageous title tomake inquiries in my turn. Rashleigh felt this, and found himself obligedto follow my lead, however difficult he might find it to play his cardssuccessfully. "I have known less of Miss Vernon," he said, "for sometime, than I was wont to do formerly. In early age I was her tutor; butas she advanced towards womanhood, my various avocations,--the gravity ofthe profession to which I was destined,--the peculiar nature of herengagements,--our mutual situation, in short, rendered a close andconstant intimacy dangerous and improper. I believe Miss Vernon mightconsider my reserve as unkindness, but it was my duty; I felt as much asshe seemed to do, when compelled to give way to prudence. But where wasthe safety in cultivating an intimacy with a beautiful and susceptiblegirl, whose heart, you are aware, must be given either to the cloister orto a betrothed husband?"
"The cloister or a betrothed husband?" I echoed--"Is that the alternativedestined for Miss Vernon?"
"It is indeed," said Rashleigh, with a sigh. "I need not, I suppose,caution you against the danger of cultivating too closely the friendshipof Miss Vernon;--you are a man of the world, and know how far you canindulge yourself in her society with safety to yourself, and justice toher. But I warn you, that, considering her ardent temper, you must letyour experience keep guard over her as well as yourself, for the specimenof yesterday may serve to show her extreme thoughtlessness and neglect ofdecorum."
There was something, I was sensible, of truth, as well as good sense, inall this; it seemed to be given as a friendly warning, and I had no rightto take it amiss; yet I felt I could with pleasure have run RashleighOsbaldistone through the body all the time he was speaking.
"The deuce take his insolence!" was my internal meditation. "Would hewish me to infer that Miss Vernon had fallen in love with thathatchet-face of his, and become degraded so low as to require his shynessto cure her of an imprudent passion? I will have his meaning from him,"was my resolution, "if I should drag it out with cart-ropes."
For this purpose, I placed my temper under as accurate a guard as Icould, and observed, "That, for a lady of her good sense and acquiredaccomplishments, it was to be regretted that Miss Vernon's manners wererather blunt and rustic."
"Frank and unreserved, at least, to the extreme," replied Rashleigh:"yet, trust me, she has an excellent heart. To tell you the truth, shouldshe continue her extreme aversion to the cloister, and to her destinedhusband, and should my own labours in the mine of Plutus promise tosecure me a decent independence, I shall think of reviewing ouracquaintance and sharing it with Miss Vernon."
"With all his fine voice, and well-turned periods," thought I, "this sameRashleigh Osbaldistone is the ugliest and most conceited coxcomb I evermet with!"
"But," continued Rashleigh, as if thinking aloud, "I should not like tosupplant Thorncliff."
"Supplant Thorncliff!--Is your brother Thorncliff," I inquired, withgreat surprise, "the destined husband of Diana Vernon?"
"Why, ay, her father's commands, and a certain family-contract, destinedher to marry one of Sir Hildebrand's sons. A dispensation has beenobtained from Rome to Diana Vernon to marry _Blank_ Osbaldistone, Esq.,son of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, of Osbaldistone Hall, Bart., and soforth; and it only remains to pitch upon the happy man whose name shallfill the gap in the manuscript. Now, as Percie is seldom sober, my fatherpitched on Thorncliff, as the second prop of the family, and thereforemost proper to carry on the line of the Osbaldistones."
"The young lady," said I, forcing myself to assume an air of pleasantry,which, I believe, became me extremely ill, "would perhaps have beeninclined to look a little lower on the family-tree, for the branch towhich she was desirous of clinging."
"I cannot say," he replied. "There is room for little choice in ourfamily; Dick is a gambler, John a boor, and Wilfred an ass. I believe myfather really made the best selection for poor Die, after all."
"The present company," said I, "being always excepted."
"Oh, my destination to the church placed me out of the question;otherwise I will not affect to say, that, qualified by my education bothto instruct and guide Miss Vernon, I might not have been a morecreditable choice than any of my elders."
"And so thought the young lady, doubtless?"
"You are not to suppose so," answered Rashleigh, with an affectation ofdenial which was contrived to convey the strongest affirmation the caseadmitted of: "friendship--only friendship--formed the tie betwixt us, andthe tender affection of an opening mind to its only instructor--Love camenot near us--I told you I was wise in time."
I felt little inclination to pursue this conversation any farther, andshaking myself clear of Rashleigh, withdrew to my own apartment, which Irecollect I traversed with much vehemence of agitation, repeating aloudthe expressions which had most offended me.--"Susceptible--ardent--tenderaffection--Love--Diana Vernon, the most beautiful creature I ever beheld,in love with him, the bandy-legged, bull-necked, limping scoundrel!Richard the Third in all but his hump-back!--And yet the opportunities hemust have had during his cursed course of lectures; and the fellow'sflowing and easy strain of sentiment; and her extreme seclusion fromevery one who spoke and acted with common sense; ay, and her obviouspique at him, mixed with admiration of his talents, which looked as likethe result of neglected attachment as anything else--Well, and what is itto me, that I should storm and rage at it? Is Diana Vernon the firstpretty girl that has loved and married an ugly fellow? And if she werefree of every Osbaldistone of them, what concern is it of mine?--aCatholic--a Jacobite--a termagant into the boot--for me to look that waywere utter madness."
By throwing such reflections on the flame of my displeasure, I subdued itinto a sort of smouldering heart-burning, and appeared at thedinner-table in as sulky a humour as could well be imagined.