by Walter Scott
CHAPTER LXV
MORE EXPLANATION
With the first dawn of the day, old Janet was scuttling about the houseto wake the Baron, who usually slept sound and heavily.
'I must go back,' he said to Waverley, to my cove: will you walk downthe glen wi' me?'
They went out together, and followed a narrow and entangled footpath,which the occasional passage of anglers, or wood-cutters, had traced bythe side of the stream. On their way, the Baron explained to Waverley,that he would be under no danger in remaining a day or two atTully-Veolan, and even in being seen walking about, if he used theprecaution of pretending that he was looking at the estate as agent orsurveyor for an English gentleman, who designed to be purchaser. Withthis view, he recommended to him to visit the Bailie, who still lived atthe factor's house, called Little Veolan, about a mile from the village,though he was to remove at next term. Stanley's passport would be ananswer to the officer who commanded the military; and as to any of thecountry people who might recognize Waverley the Baron assured him thathe was in no danger of being betrayed by them.
'I believe,' said the old man, 'half the people of the barony know thattheir poor auld laird is somewhere hereabout; for I see they do notsuffer a single bairn to come here a bird-nesting--a practice whilk,when I was in full possession of my power as baron, I was unable totallyto inhibit. Nay, I often find bits of things in my way, that the poorbodies, God help them! leave there, because they think they may beuseful to me. I hope they will get a wiser master, and as kind a one asI was.'
A natural sigh closed the sentence; but the quiet equanimity with whichthe Baron endured his misfortunes, had something in it venerable, andeven sublime. There was no fruitless repining, no turbid melancholy; hebore his lot, and the hardships which it involved, with a good-humoured,though serious composure, and used no violent language against theprevailing party.
'I did what I thought my duty,' said the good old man, 'and questionlessthey are doing what they think theirs. It grieves me sometimes to lookupon these blackened walls of the house of my ancestors; but doubtlessofficers cannot always keep the soldier's hand from depredation andspuilzie; and Gustavus Adolphus himself, as ye may read in Colonel Munrohis Expedition with the worthy Scotch regiment called Mackay's regiment,did often permit it.--Indeed I have myself seen as sad sights asTully-Veolan now is, when I served with the Mareschal Duke of Berwick.To be sure, we may say with Virgilius Maro, FUIMUS TROES--and there'sthe end of an auld sang. But houses and families and men have a' stoodlang eneugh when they have stood till they fall with honour; and nowI hae gotten a house that is not unlike a DOMUS ULTIMA'--they were nowstanding below a steep rock. 'We poor Jacobites,' continued the Baron,looking up, 'are now like the conies in Holy Scripture (which the greattraveller Pococke calleth Jerboa), a feeble people, that make our abodein the rocks. So, fare you well, my good lad, till we meet at Janet's inthe even; for I must get into my Patmos, which is no easy matter for myauld still limbs.'
With that he began to ascend the rock, striding, with the help ofhis hands, from one precarious footstep to another, till he got abouthalf-way up, where two or three bushes concealed the mouth of a hole,resembling an oven, into which the Baron insinuated, first his head andshoulders, and then, by slow gradation, the rest of his long body; hislegs and feet finally disappearing, coiled up like a huge snake enteringhis retreat, or a long pedigree introduced with care and difficulty intothe narrow pigeon-hole of an old cabinet. Waverley had the curiosity toclamber up and look in upon him in his den, as the lurking-place mightwell be termed. Upon the whole, he looked not unlike that ingeniouspuzzle, called a reel in a bottle, the marvel of children (and ofsome grown people too, myself for one), who can neither comprehend themystery how it was got in, or how it is to be taken out. The cave wasvery narrow, too low in the roof to admit of his standing, or almostof his sitting up, though he made some awkward attempts at the latterposture. His sole amusement was the perusal of his old friend TitusLivius, varied by occasionally scratching Latin proverbs and texts ofScripture with his knife on the roof and walls of his fortalice, whichwere of sandstone. As the cave was dry, and filled with clean straw andwithered fern, 'it made,' as he said, coiling himself up with an airof snugness and comfort which contrasted strangely with his situation,'unless when the wind was due north, a very passable GITE for an oldsoldier.' Neither, as he observed, was he without sentries for thepurpose of reconnoitring. Davie and his mother were constantly on thewatch, to discover and avert danger; and it was singular what instancesof address seemed dictated by the instinctive attachment of the poorsimpleton, when his patron's safety was concerned.
With Janet, Edward now sought an interview. He had recognized her atfirst sight as the old woman who had nursed him during his sicknessafter his delivery from Gifted Gilfillan. The hut, also, though a littlerepaired, and somewhat better furnished, was certainly the place of hisconfinement; and he now recollected on the common moor of Tully-Veolanthe trunk of a large decayed tree, called the TRYSTING-TREE, which hehad no doubt was the same at which the Highlanders rendezvoused on thatmemorable night. All this he had combined in his imagination the nightbefore; but reasons, which may probably occur to the reader, preventedhim from catechizing Janet in the presence of the Baron.
He now commenced the task in good earnest; and the first question was,Who was the young lady that visited the hut during his illness? Janetpaused for a little; and then observed, that to keep the secret now,would neither do good nor ill to anybody. 'It was just a leddy thathasna her equal in the world--Miss Rose Bradwardine.'
'Then Miss Rose was probably also the author of my deliverance,'inferred Waverley, delighted at the confirmation of an idea which localcircumstances had already induced him to entertain.
'I wot weel, Mr. Wauverley, and that was she e'en; but sair, sair angryand affronted wad she hae been, puir thing, if she had thought ye hadbeen ever to ken a word about the matter; for she gar'd me speak ayeGaelic when ye was in hearing, to mak ye trow we were in the Hielands. Ican speak it well eneugh, for my mother was a Hieland woman.'
A few more questions now brought out the whole mystery respectingWaverley's deliverance from the bondage in which he left Cairnvreckan.Never did music sound sweeter to an amateur, than the drowsy tautology,with which old Janet detailed every circumstance, thrilled upon theears of Waverley. But my reader is not a lover, and I must spare hispatience, by attempting to condense within reasonable compass thenarrative which old Janet spread through a harangue of nearly two hours,
When Waverley communicated to Fergus the letter he had received fromRose Bradwardine, by Davie Gellatley, giving an account of Tully-Veolanbeing occupied by a small party of soldiers, that circumstance hadstruck upon the busy and active mind of the Chieftain. Eager todistress and narrow the posts of the enemy, desirous to prevent theirestablishing a garrison so near him, and willing also to oblige theBaron,--for he often had the idea of marriage with Rose floating throughhis brain,--he resolved to send some of his people to drive out thered-coats, and to bring Rose to Glennaquoich. But just as he had orderedEvan with a small party on this duty, the news of Cope's having marchedinto the Highlands to meet and disperse the forces of the Chevalier,ere they came to a head, obliged him to join the standard with his wholeforces.
He sent to order Donald Bean to attend him; but that cautiousfreebooter, who well understood the value of a separate command, insteadof joining, sent various apologies which the pressure of the timescompelled Fergus to admit as current, though not without the internalresolution of being revenged on him for his procrastination, time andplace convenient. However, as he could not amend the matter, he issuedorders to Donald to descend into the Low Country, drive the soldiersfrom Tully-Veolan, and, paying all respect to the mansion of the Baron,to take his abode somewhere near it, for protection of his daughter andfamily, and to harass and drive away any of the armed volunteers,or small parties of military, which he might find moving about thevicinity.
As this charge formed a sort of r
oving commission, which Donald proposedto interpret in the way most advantageous to himself, as he was relievedfrom the immediate terrors of Fergus, and as he had, from former secretservices, some interest in the councils of the Chevalier, he resolved tomake hay while the sun shone. He achieved, without difficulty, thetask of driving the soldiers from Tully-Veolan; but although he did notventure to encroach upon the interior of the family, or to disturbMiss Rose, being unwilling to make himself a powerful enemy in theChevalier's army,
For well he knew the Baron's wrath was deadly;
yet he set about to raise contributions and exactions upon the tenantry,and otherwise to turn the war to his own advantage. Meanwhile he mountedthe white cockade, and waited upon Rose with a pretext of great devotionfor the service in which her father was engaged, and many apologies forthe freedom he must necessarily use for the support of his people. Itwas at this moment that Rose learned, by open-mouthed fame, withall sorts of exaggeration, that Waverley had killed the smith ofCairnvreckan, in an attempt to arrest him; had been cast into a dungeonby Major Melville of Cairnvreckan, and was to be executed by martiallaw within three days. In the agony which these tidings excited, sheproposed to Donald Bean the rescue of the prisoner. It was the verysort of service which he was desirous to undertake, judging it mightconstitute a merit of such a nature as would make amends for anypeccadilloes which he might be guilty of in the country. He had the art,however, pleading all the while duty and discipline, to hold off, untilpoor Rose, in the extremity of her distress, offered to bribe him to theenterprise with some valuable jewels which had been her mother's.
Donald Bean, who had served in France, knew, and perhaps over-estimated,the value of these trinkets. But he also perceived Rose's apprehensionsof its being discovered that she had parted with her jewels forWaverley's liberation. Resolved this scruple should not part him andthe treasure, he voluntarily offered to take an oath that he would nevermention Miss Rose's share in the transaction; and foreseeing conveniencein keeping the oath, and no probable advantage in breaking it, he tookthe engagement--in order, as he told his lieutenant, to deal handsomelyby the young lady--in the only form and mode which, by a mental pactionwith himself, he considered as binding--he swore secrecy upon his drawndirk. He was the more especially moved to this act of good faith by someattentions that Miss Bradwardine showed to his daughter Alice, which,while they gained the heart of the mountain damsel, highly gratified thepride of her father. Alice, who could now speak a little English, wasvery communicative in return for Rose's kindness, readily confided toher the whole papers respecting the intrigue with Gardiner's regiment,of which she was the depositary, and as readily undertook, at herinstance, to restore them to Waverley without her father's knowledge.'For they may oblige the bonnie young lady and the handsome younggentleman,' said Alice, 'and what use has my father for a whin bits o'scarted paper?'
The reader is aware that she took an opportunity of executing thispurpose on the eve of Waverley's leaving the glen.
How Donald executed his enterprise, the reader is aware. But theexpulsion of the military from Tully-Veolan had given alarm, and, whilehe was lying in wait for Gilfillan, a strong party, such as Donald didnot care to face, was sent to drive back the insurgents in their turn,to encamp there, and to protect the country. The officer, a gentlemanand a disciplinarian, neither intruded himself on Miss Bradwardine,whose unprotected situation he respected, nor permitted his soldiersto commit any breach of discipline. He formed a little camp, upon aneminence near the house of Tully-Veolan, and placed proper guards at thepasses in the vicinity. This unwelcome news reached Donald Bean Leanas he was returning to Tully-Veolan. Determined, however, to obtain theguerdon of his labour, he resolved, since approach to Tully-Veolan wasimpossible; to deposit his prisoner in Janet's cottage--a place the veryexistence of which could hardly have been suspected even by those whohad long lived In the vicinity, unless they had been guided thither, andwhich was utterly unknown to Waverley himself. This effected, he claimedand received his reward. Waverley's illness was an event which derangedall their calculations. Donald was obliged to leave the neighbourhoodwith his people, and to seek more free course for his adventureselsewhere. At Rose's earnest entreaty, he left an old man, a herbalist,who was supposed to understand a little of medicine, to attend Waverleyduring his illness.
In the meanwhile, new and fearful doubts started in Rose's mind. Theywere suggested by old Janet, who insisted, that a reward having beenoffered for the apprehension of Waverley, and his own personal effectsbeing so valuable, there was no saying to what breach of faith Donaldmight be tempted. In an agony of grief and terror, Rose took the daringresolution of explaining to the Prince himself the danger in which Mr.Waverley stood, judging that, both as a politician, and a man of honourand humanity, Charles Edward would interest himself to prevent hisfalling into the hands of the opposite party. This letter she at firstthought of sending anonymously, but naturally feared it would not, inthat case, be credited. She therefore subscribed her name, though withreluctance and terror, and consigned it in charge to a young man, who,at leaving his farm to join the Chevalier's army, made it his petitionto her to have some sort of credentials to the Adventurer, from whom hehoped to obtain a commission.
The letter reached Charles Edward on his descent to the Lowlands, and,aware of the political importance of having it supposed that he was incorrespondence with the English Jacobites, he caused the most positiveorders to be transmitted to Donald Bean Lean, to transmit Waverley, safeand uninjured in person or effects, to the governor of Doune Castle. Thefreebooter durst not disobey, for the army of the Prince was now so nearhim that punishment might have followed; besides, he was a politicianas well as a robber, and was unwilling to cancel the interest createdthrough former secret services, by being refractory on this occasion.He therefore made a virtue of necessity, and transmitted orders to hislieutenant to convey Edward to Doune, which was safely accomplishedin the mode mentioned in a former chapter. The governor of Doune wasdirected to send him to Edinburgh as a prisoner, because the Prince wasapprehensive that Waverley, if set at liberty, might have resumed hispurpose of returning to England, without affording him an opportunityof a personal interview. In this, indeed, he acted by the advice of theChieftain of Glennaquoich, with whom it may be remembered the Chevaliercommunicated upon the mode of disposing of Edward, though withouttelling him how he came to learn the place of his confinement.
This, indeed, Charles Edward considered as a lady's secret; for althoughRose's letter was couched in the most cautious and general terms, andprofessed to be written merely from motives of humanity, and zeal forthe Prince's service, yet she expressed so anxious a wish that sheshould not be known to have interfered, that the Chevalier was inducedto suspect the deep interest which she took in Waverley's safety. Thisconjecture, which was well founded, led, however, to false inferences.For the emotion which Edward displayed on approaching Flora and Rose atthe ball of Holyrood, was placed by the Chevalier to the account of thelatter, and he concluded that the Baron's views about the settlement ofhis property, or some such obstacle, thwarted their mutual inclinations.Common fame, it is true, frequently gave Waverley to Miss Mac-Ivor; butthe Prince knew that common fame is very prodigal in such gifts; and,watching attentively the behaviour of the ladies towards Waverley, hehad no doubt that the young Englishman had no interest with Flora,and was beloved by Rose Bradwardine. Desirous to bind Waverley to hisservice, and wishing also to do a kind and friendly action, the Princenext assailed the Baron on the subject of settling his estate upon hisdaughter. Mr. Bradwardine acquiesced; but the consequence was, thatFergus was immediately induced to prefer his double suit for a wife andan earldom, which the Prince rejected in the manner we have seen. TheChevalier, constantly engaged in his own multiplied affairs, had nothitherto sought any explanation with Waverley, though often meaning todo so. But after Fergus's declaration, he saw the necessity of appearingneutral between the rivals, devoutly hoping that the matter, which nowseemed fraught wit
h the seeds of strife, might be permitted to lie overtill the termination of the expedition. When on the march to Derby,Fergus, being questioned concerning his quarrel with Waverley, allegedas the cause, that Edward was desirous of retracting the suit he made tohis sister, the Chevalier plainly told him, that he had himself observedMiss Mac-Ivor's behaviour to Waverley, and that he was convinced Ferguswas under the influence of a mistake in judging of Waverley's conduct,who, he had every reason to believe, was engaged to Miss Bradwardine.The quarrel which ensued between Edward and the chieftain is, I hope,still in the remembrance of the reader. These circumstances will serveto explain such points of our narrative as, according to the custom ofstory-tellers, we deemed it fit to leave unexplained, for the purpose ofexciting the reader's curiosity.
When Janet had once finished the leading facts of this narrative,Waverley was easily enabled to apply the clue which they afforded,to other mazes of the labyrinth in which he had been engaged. To RoseBradwardine, then, he owed the life which he now thought he couldwillingly have laid down to serve her. A little reflection convincedhim, however, that to live for her sake was more convenient andagreeable, and that, being possessed of independence, she might shareit with him either in foreign countries or in his own. The pleasure ofbeing allied to a man of the Baron's high worth, and who was so muchvalued by his uncle Sir Everard, was also an agreeable consideration,had anything been wanting to recommend the match. His absurdities, whichhad appeared grotesquely ludicrous during his prosperity, seemed, in thesunset of his fortune, to be harmonized and assimilated with the noblefeatures of his character, so as to add peculiarity without excitingridicule. His mind occupied with such projects of future happiness,Edward sought Little Veolan, the habitation of Mr. Duncan Macwheeble.