by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XV.
We worldly men, when we see friends and kinsmen Past hope sunk in their fortunes, lend no hand To lift them up, but rather set our feet Upon their heads to press them to the bottom, As I must yield with you I practised it; But now I see you in a way to rise, I can and will assist you.
New Way to Pay Old Debts.
THE Lord Keeper carried with him, to a couch harder than he wasaccustomed to stretch himself upon, the same ambitious thoughts andpolitical perplexities which drive sleep from the softest down that everspread a bed of state. He had sailed long enough amid the contendingtides and currents of the time to be sensible of their peril, and ofthe necessity of trimming his vessel to the prevailing wind, if he wouldhave her escape shipwreck in the storm. The nature of his talents, andthe timorousness of disposition connected with them, had made him assumethe pliability of the versatile old Earl of Northampton, who explainedthe art by which he kept his ground during all the changes of state,from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of Elizabeth, by the frank avowal,that he was born of the willow, not of the oak. It had accordingly beenSir William Ashton's policy, on all occasions, to watch the changesin the political horizon, and, ere yet the conflict was decided, tonegotiate some interest for himself with the party most likely to provevictorious. His time-serving disposition was well-known, and excited thecontempt of the more daring leaders of both factions in the state. Buthis talents were of a useful and practical kind, and his legalknowledge held in high estimation and they so far counterbalanced otherdeficiencies that those in power were glad to use and to reward, thoughwithout absolutely trusting or greatly respecting, him.
The Marquis of A---- had used his utmost influence to effect a change inthe Scottish cabinet, and his schemes had been of late so well laidand so ably supported, that there appeared a very great chance of hisproving ultimately successful. He did not, however, feel so strong or soconfident as to neglect any means of drawing recruits to his standard.The acquisition of the Lord Keeper was deemed of some importance, anda friend, perfectly acquainted with his circumstances and character,became responsible for his political conversion.
When this gentleman arrived at Ravenswood Castle upon a visit, the realpurpose of which was disguised under general courtesy, he found theprevailing fear which at present beset the Lord Keeper was that ofdanger to his own person from the Master of Ravenswood. The languagewhich the blind sibyl, Old Alice, had used; the sudden appearance of theMaster, armed, and within his precincts, immediately after he had beenwarned against danger from him; the cold and haughty return received inexchange for the acknowledgments with which he loaded him for his timelyprotection, had all made a strong impression on his imagination.
So soon as the Marquis's political agent found how the wind sate,he began to insinuate fears and doubts of another kind, scarce lesscalculated to affect the Lord Keeper. He inquired with seeming interest,whether the proceedings in Sir William's complicated litigation with theRavenswood family were out of court, and settled without the possibilityof appeal. The Lord Keeper answered in the affirmative; but hisinterrogator was too well informed to be imposed upon. He pointed out tohim, by unanswerable arguments, that some of the most important pointswhich had been decided in his favour against the house of Ravenswoodwere liable, under the Treaty of Union, to be reviewed by the BritishHouse of Peers, a court of equity of which the Lord Keeper felt aninstinctive dread. This course came instead of an appeal to the oldScottish Parliament, or, as it was technically termed, "a protestationfor remeid in law."
The Lord Keeper, after he had for some time disputed the legality ofsuch a proceeding, was compelled, at length, to comfort himself withthe improbability of the young Master of Ravenswood's finding friends inparliament capable of stirring in so weighty an affair.
"Do not comfort yourself with that false hope," said his wily friend;"it is possible that, in the next session of Parliament, youngRavenswood may find more friends and favour even than your lordship."
"That would be a sight worth seeing," said the Keeper, scornfully.
"And yet," said his friend, "such things have been seen ere now, and inour own time. There are many at the head of affairs even now that a fewyears ago were under hiding for their lives; and many a man now dineson plate of silver that was fain to eat his crowdy without a bicker; andmany a high head has been brought full low among us in as short a space.Scott of Scotsarvet's Staggering State of Scots Statesmen, of whichcurious memoir you showed me a manuscript, has been outstaggered in ourtime."
The Lord Keeper answered with a deep sigh, "That these mutations were nonew sights in Scotland, and had been witnessed long before the time ofthe satirical author he had quoted. It was many a long year," he said,"since Fordun had quoted as an ancient proverb, 'Neque dives, nequefortis, sed nec sapiens Scotus, praedominante invidia, diu durabit interra.'"
"And be assured, my esteemed friend," was the answer, "that even yourlong services to the state, or deep legal knowledge, will not save you,or render your estate stable, if the Marquis of A---- comes in witha party in the British Parliament. You know that the deceased LordRavenswood was his near ally, his lady being fifth in descent from theKnight of Tillibardine; and I am well assured that he will take youngRavenswood by the hand, and be his very good lord and kinsman. Whyshould he not? The Master is an active and stirring young fellow, ableto help himself with tongue and hands; and it is such as he thatfinds friends among their kindred, and not those unarmed and unableMephibosheths that are sure to be a burden to every one that takes themup. And so, if these Ravenswood cases be called over the coals in theHouse of Peers, you will find that the Marquis will have a crow to pluckwith you."
"That would be an evil requital," said the Lord Keeper, "for my longservices to the state, and the ancient respect in which I have held hislordship's honourable family and person."
"Ay, but," rejoined the agent of the Marquis, "it is in vain to lookback on past service and auld respect, my lord; it will be presentservice and immediate proofs of regard which, in these sliddery times,will be expected by a man like the Marquis."
The Lord Keeper now saw the full drift of his friend's argument, but hewas too cautious to return any positive answer.
"He knew not," he said, "the service which the Lord Marquis could expectfrom one of his limited abilities, that had not always stood at hiscommand, still saving and reserving his duty to his king and country."
Having thus said nothing, while he seemed to say everything, for theexception was calculated to cover whatever he might afterwards thinkproper to bring under it, Sir William Ashton changed the conversation,nor did he again permit the same topic to be introduced. His guestdeparted, without having brought the wily old statesman the lengthof committing himself, or of pledging himself to any future line ofconduct, but with the certainty that he had alarmed his fears in a mostsensible point, and laid a foundation for future and farther treaty.
When he rendered an account of his negotiation to the Marquis, theyboth agreed that the Keeper ought not to be permitted to relapse intosecurity, and that he should be plied with new subjects of alarm,especially during the absence of his lady. They were well aware that herproud, vindictive, and predominating spirit would be likely to supplyhim with the courage in which he was deficient; that she was immovablyattached to the party now in power, with whom she maintained a closecorrespondence and alliance; and that she hated, without fearing, theRavenswood family (whose more ancient dignity threw discredit on thenewly acquired grandeur of her husband) to such a degree that she wouldhave perilled the interest of her own house to have the prospect ofaltogether crushing that of her enemy.
But Lady Ashton was now absent. The business which had long detained herin Edinburgh had afterwards induced her to travel to London, not withoutthe hope that she might contribute her share to disconcert theintrigues of the Marquis at court; for she stood high in favour withthe celebrated Sarah Duchesss of Marlborough, to whom, in point ofcharacter, she bore c
onsiderable resemblance. It was necessary to pressher husband hard before her return; and, as a preparatory step, theMarquis wrote to the Master of Ravenswood the letter which we rehearsedin a former chapter. It was cautiously worded, so as to leave it in thepower of the writer hereafter to take as deep or as slight an interestin the fortunes of his kinsmen as the progress of his own schemes mightrequire. But however unwilling, as a statesman, the Marquis might beto commit himself, or assume the character of a patron, while he hadnothing to give away, it must be said to his honour that he felt astrong inclination effectually to befriend the Master of Ravenswood, aswell as to use his name as a means of alarming the terrors of the LordKeeper.
As the messenger who carried this letter was to pass near the house ofthe Lord Keeper, he had it in direction that, in the village adjoiningto the park-gate of the castle, his horse should lose a shoe, and that,while it was replaced by the smith of the place, he should express theutmost regret for the necessary loss of time, and in the vehemence ofhis impatience give it to be understood that he was bearing a messagefrom the Marquis of A---- to the Master of Ravenswood upon a matter oflife and death.
This news, with exaggerations, was speedily carried from variousquarters to the ears of the Lord Keeper, and each reporter dwelt uponthe extreme impatience of the courier, and the surprising short timein which he had executed his journey. The anxious statesman heard insilence; but in private Lockhard received orders to watch the courieron his return, to waylay him in the village, to ply him with liquor, ifpossible, and to use all means, fair or foul, to learn the contentsof the letter of which he was the bearer. But as this plot had beenforeseen, the messenger returned by a different and distant road, andthus escaped the snare that was laid for him.
After he had been in vain expected for some time, Mr. Dingwall hadorders to made especial inquiry among his clients of Wolf's Hope,whether such a domestic belonging to the Marquis of A----had actuallyarrived at the neighbouring castle. This was easily ascertained; forCaleb had been in the village one morning by five o'clock, to borrow"twa chappins of ale and a kipper" for the messenger's refreshment,and the poor fellow had been ill for twenty-four hours at LuckieSma'trash's, in consequence of dining upon "saut saumon and sour drink."So that the existence of a correspondence betwixt the Marquis and hisdistressed kinsman, which Sir William Ashton had sometimes treated as abugbear, was proved beyond the possibility of further doubt.
The alarm of the Lord Keeper became very serious; since the Claim ofRight, the power of appealing from the decisions of the civil court tothe Estates of Parliament, which had formerly been held incompetent, hadin many instances been claimed, and in some allowed, and he had no smallreason to apprehend the issue, if the English House of Lords should bedisposed to act upon an appeal from the Master of Ravenswood "for remeidin law." It would resolve into an equitable claim, and be decided,perhaps, upon the broad principles of justice, which were not quite sofavourable to the Lord Keeper as those of strict law. Besides, judging,though most inaccurately, from courts which he had himself known in theunhappy times preceding the Scottish Union, the Keeper might have toomuch right to think that, in the House to which his lawsuits were to betransferred, the old maxim might prevail which was too well recognisedin Scotland in former times: "Show me the man, and I'll show you thelaw." The high and unbiased character of English judicial proceedingswas then little known in Scotland, and the extension of them to thatcountry was one of the most valuable advantages which it gained by theUnion. But this was a blessing which the Lord Keeper, who had livedunder another system, could not have the means of foreseeing. In theloss of his political consequence, he anticipated the loss of hislawsuit. Meanwhile, every report which reached him served to renderthe success of the Marquis's intrigues the more probable, and the LordKeeper began to think it indispensable that he should look round forsome kind of protection against the coming storm. The timidity of histemper induced him to adopt measures of compromise and conciliation. Theaffair of the wild bull, properly managed, might, he thought, be madeto facilitate a personal communication and reconciliation betwixt theMaster and himself. He would then learn, if possible, what his own ideaswere of the extent of his rights, and the means of enforcing them; andperhaps matters might be brought to a compromise, where one party waswealthy and the other so very poor. A reconciliation with Ravenswood waslikely to give him an opportunity to play his own game with the Marquisof A----. "And besides," said he to himself, "it will be an act ofgenerosity to raise up the heir of this distressed family; and if he isto be warmly and effectually befriended by the new government, who knowsbut my virtue may prove its own reward?"
Thus thought Sir William Ashton, covering with no unusual self-delusionhis interested views with a hue of virtue; and having attained thispoint, his fancy strayed still farther. He began to bethink himself,"That if Ravenswood was to have a distinguished place of power andtrust, and if such a union would sopite the heavier part of hisunadjusted claims, there might be worse matches for his daughter Lucy:the Master might be reponed against the attainder. Lord Ravenswood wasan ancient title, and the alliance would, in some measure, legitimatehis own possession of the greater part of the Master's spoils, and makethe surrender of the rest a subject of less bitter regret."
With these mingled and multifarious plans occupying his head, the LordKeeper availed himself of my Lord Bittlebrains's repeated invitationto his residence, and thus came within a very few miles of Wolf'sCrag. Here he found the lord of the mansion absent, but was courteouslyreceived by the lady, who expected her husband's immediate return. Sheexpressed her particular delight at seeing Miss Ashton, and appointedthe hounds to be taken out for the Lord Keeper's special amusement.He readily entered into the proposal, as giving him an opportunity toreconnoitre Wolf's Crag, and perhaps to make some acquaintance with theowner, if he should be tempted from his desolate mansion by thechase. Lockhard had his orders to endeavour on his part to make someacquaintance with the inmates of the castle, and we have seen how heplayed his part.
The accidental storm did more to further the Lord Keeper's plan offorming a personal acquaintance with young Ravenswood than his mostsanguine expectations could have anticipated. His fear of the youngnobleman's personal resentment had greatly decreased since he consideredhim as formidable from his legal claims and the means he might have ofenforcing them. But although he thought, not unreasonably, that onlydesperate circumstances drove men on desperate measures, it was notwithout a secret terror, which shook his heart within him, that he firstfelt himself inclosed within the desolate Tower of Wolf's Crag; a placeso well fitted, from solitude and strength, to be a scene of violenceand vengeance. The stern reception at first given to them by the Masterof Ravenswood, and the difficulty he felt in explaining to that injurednobleman what guests were under the shelter of his roof, did not soothethese alarms; so that when Sir William Ashton heard the door of thecourtyard shut behind him with violence, the words of Alice rung in hisears, "That he had drawn on matters too hardly with so fierce a race asthose of Ravenswood, and that they would bide their time to be avenged."
The subsequent frankness of the Master's hospitality, as theiracquaintance increased, abated the apprehensions these recollectionswere calculated to excite; and it did not escape Sir William Ashton,that it was to Lucy's grace and beauty he owed the change in theirhost's behavior.
All these thoughts thronged upon him when he took possession ofthe secret chamber. The iron lamp, the unfurnished apartment, moreresembling a prison than a place of ordinary repose, the hoarse andceaseless sound of the waves rushing against the base of the rock onwhich the castle was founded, saddened and perplexed his mind. To hisown successful machinations, the ruin of the family had been in a greatmeasure owing, but his disposition was crafty, and not cruel; sothat actually to witness the desolation and distress he had himselfoccasioned was as painful to him as it would be to the humane mistressof a family to superintend in person the execution of the lambs andpoultry which are killed by her own directions. At t
he same time,when he thought of the alternative of restoring to Ravenswood a largeproportion of his spoils, or of adopting, as an ally and member of hisown family, the heir of this impoverished house, he felt as the spidermay be supposed to do when his whole web, the intricacies of which hadbeen planned with so much art, is destroyed by the chance sweep of abroom. And then, if he should commit himself too far in this matter, itgave rise to a perilous question, which many a good husband, when undertemptation to act as a free agent, has asked himself without being ableto return a satisfactory answer: "What will my wife--what will LadyAshton say?" On the whole, he came at length to the resolution inwhich minds of a weaker cast so often take refuge. He resolved towatch events, to take advantage of circumstances as they occurred, andregulate his conduct accordingly. In this spirit of temporising policy,he at length composed his mind to rest.