by Walter Scott
CHAPTER LI
INTRIGUES OF LOVE AND POLITICS
It is not necessary to record in these pages the triumphant entrance ofthe Chevalier into Edinburgh after the decisive affair at Preston. Onecircumstance, however, may be noticed, because it illustrates the highspirit of Flora Mac-Ivor. The Highlanders by whom the Prince wassurrounded, in the license and extravagance of this joyful moment,fired their pieces repeatedly, and one of these having beenaccidentally loaded with ball, the bullet grazed the young lady'stemple as she waved her handkerchief from a balcony. [Footnote: SeeNote II.] Fergus, who beheld the accident, was at her side in aninstant; and, on seeing that the wound was trifling, he drew hisbroadsword with the purpose of rushing down upon the man by whosecarelessness she had incurred so much danger, when, holding him by theplaid, 'Do not harm the poor fellow,' she cried; 'for Heaven's sake, donot harm him! but thank God with me that the accident happened to FloraMac-Ivor; for had it befallen a Whig, they would have pretended thatthe shot was fired on purpose.'
Waverley escaped the alarm which this accident would have occasioned tohim, as he was unavoidably delayed by the necessity of accompanyingColonel Talbot to Edinburgh.
They performed the journey together on horseback, and for some time, asif to sound each other's feelings and sentiments, they conversed upongeneral and ordinary topics.
When Waverley again entered upon the subject which he had most atheart, the situation, namely, of his father and his uncle, ColonelTalbot seemed now rather desirous to alleviate than to aggravate hisanxiety. This appeared particularly to be the case when he heardWaverley's history, which he did not scruple to confide to him.
'And so,' said the Colonel,'there has been no malice prepense, aslawyers, I think, term it, in this rash step of yours; and you havebeen trepanned into the service of this Italian knight-errant by a fewcivil speeches from him and one or two of his Highland recruitingsergeants? It is sadly foolish, to be sure, but not nearly so bad as Iwas led to expect. However, you cannot desert, even from the Pretender,at the present moment; that seems impossible. But I have little doubtthat, in the dissensions incident to this heterogeneous mass of wildand desperate men, some opportunity may arise, by availing yourself ofwhich you may extricate yourself honourably from your rash engagementbefore the bubble burst. If this can be managed, I would have you go toa place of safety in Flanders which I shall point out. And I think Ican secure your pardon from government after a few months' residenceabroad.'
'I cannot permit you, Colonel Talbot,' answered Waverley, 'to speak ofany plan which turns on my deserting an enterprise in which I may haveengaged hastily, but certainly voluntarily, and with the purpose ofabiding the issue.'
'Well,' said Colonel Talbot, smiling, 'leave me my thoughts and hopesat least at liberty, if not my speech. But have you never examined yourmysterious packet?'
'It is in my baggage,' replied Edward; 'we shall find it in Edinburgh.'
In Edinburgh they soon arrived. Waverley's quarters had been assignedto him, by the Prince's express orders, in a handsome lodging, wherethere was accommodation for Colonel Talbot. His first business was toexamine his portmanteau, and, after a very short search, out tumbledthe expected packet. Waverley opened it eagerly. Under a blank cover,simply addressed to E. Waverley, Esq., he found a number of openletters. The uppermost were two from Colonel Gardiner addressed tohimself. The earliest in date was a kind and gentle remonstrance forneglect of the writer's advice respecting the disposal of his timeduring his leave of absence, the renewal of which, he reminded CaptainWaverley, would speedily expire. 'Indeed,' the letter proceeded, 'hadit been otherwise, the news from abroad and my instructions from theWar Office must have compelled me to recall it, as there is greatdanger, since the disaster in Flanders, both of foreign invasion andinsurrection among the disaffected at home. I therefore entreat youwill repair as soon as possible to the headquarters of the regiment;and I am concerned to add that this is still the more necessary asthere is some discontent in your troop, and I postpone inquiry intoparticulars until I can have the advantage of your assistance.'
The second letter, dated eight days later, was in such a style as mighthave been expected from the Colonel's receiving no answer to the first.It reminded Waverley of his duty as a man of honour, an officer, and aBriton; took notice of the increasing dissatisfaction of his men, andthat some of them had been heard to hint that their Captain encouragedand approved of their mutinous behaviour; and, finally, the writerexpressed the utmost regret and surprise that he had not obeyed hiscommands by repairing to headquarters, reminded him that his leave ofabsence had been recalled, and conjured him, in a style in whichpaternal remonstrance was mingled with military authority, to redeemhis error by immediately joining his regiment. 'That I may be certain,'concluded the letter, 'that this actually reaches you, I despatch it byCorporal Tims of your troop, with orders to deliver it into your ownhand.'
Upon reading these letters Waverley, with great bitterness of feeling,was compelled to make the amende honorable to the memory of the braveand excellent writer; for surely, as Colonel Gardiner must have hadevery reason to conclude they had come safely to hand, less could notfollow, on their being neglected, than that third and final summons,which Waverley actually received at Glennaquoich, though too late toobey it. And his being superseded, in consequence of his apparentneglect of this last command, was so far from being a harsh or severeproceeding, that it was plainly inevitable. The next letter he unfoldedwas from the major of the regiment, acquainting him that a report tothe disadvantage of his reputation was public in the country, stating,that one Mr. Falconer of Ballihopple, or some such name, had proposedin his presence a treasonable toast, which he permitted to pass insilence, although it was so gross an affront to the royal family that agentleman in company, not remarkable for his zeal for government, hadnever theless taken the matter up, and that, supposing the accounttrue, Captain Waverley had thus suffered another, comparativelyunconcerned, to resent an affront directed against him personally as anofficer, and to go out with the person by whom it was offered. Themajor concluded that no one of Captain Waverley's brother officerscould believe this scandalous story, but that it was necessarily theirjoint opinion that his own honour, equally with that of the regiment,depended upon its being instantly contradicted by his authority, etc.etc. etc.
'What do you think of all this?' said Colonel Talbot, to whom Waverleyhanded the letters after he had perused them.
'Think! it renders thought impossible. It is enough to drive me mad.'
'Be calm, my young friend; let us see what are these dirty scrawls thatfollow.'
The first was addressed,--
'For Master W. Ruffin, These.'--
'Dear sur, sum of our yong gulpins will not bite, thof I tuold them youshoed me the squoire's own seel. But Tims will deliver you the lettrsas desired, and tell ould Addem he gave them to squoir's bond, as to besure yours is the same, and shall be ready for signal, and hoy for HoyChurch and Sachefrel, as fadur sings at harvestwhome. Yours, deer Sur,
'H. H.
'Poscriff.--Do'e tell squoire we longs to heer from him, and hasdootings about his not writing himself, and Lifetenant Bottler issmoky.'
'This Ruffin, I suppose, then, is your Donald of the Cavern, who hasintercepted your letters, and carried on a correspondence with the poordevil Houghton, as if under your authority?'
'It seems too true. But who can Addem be?'
'Possibly Adam, for poor Gardiner, a sort of pun on his name.'
The other letters were to the same purpose; and they soon received yetmore complete light upon Donald Bean's machinations.
John Hodges, one of Waverley's servants, who had remained with theregiment and had been taken at Preston, now made his appearance. He hadsought out his master with the purpose of again entering his service.From this fellow they learned that some time after Waverley had gonefrom the headquarters of the regiment, a pedlar, called Ruthven, Rufnn,or Rivane, known among the soldiers by the name of Wily Will, ha
d madefrequent visits to the town of Dundee. He appeared to possess plenty ofmoney, sold his commodities very cheap, seemed always willing to treathis friends at the ale-house, and easily ingratiated himself with manyof Waverley's troop, particularly Sergeant Houghton and one Tims, alsoa non-commissioned officer. To these he unfolded, in Waverley's name, aplan for leaving the regiment and joining him in the Highlands, wherereport said the clans had already taken arms in great numbers. The men,who had been educated as Jacobites, so far as they had any opinion atall, and who knew their landlord, Sir Everard, had always been supposedto hold such tenets, easily fell into the snare. That Waverley was at adistance in the Highlands was received as a sufficient excuse fortransmitting his letters through the medium of the pedlar; and thesight of his well-known seal seemed to authenticate the negotiations inhis name, where writing might have been dangerous. The cabal, however,began to take air, from the premature mutinous language of thoseconcerned. Wily Will justified his appellative; for, after suspicionarose, he was seen no more. When the 'Gazette' appeared in whichWaverley was superseded, great part of his troop broke out into actualmutiny, but were surrounded and disarmed by the rest of the regiment Inconsequence of the sentence of a court-martial, Houghton and Tims werecondemned to be shot, but afterwards permitted to cast lots for life.Houghton, the survivor, showed much penitence, being convinced, fromthe rebukes and explanations of Colonel Gardiner, that he had reallyengaged in a very heinous crime. It is remarkable that, as soon as thepoor fellow was satisfied of this, he became also convinced that theinstigator had acted without authority from Edward, saying, 'If it wasdishonourable and against Old England, the squire could know noughtabout it; he never did, or thought to do, anything dishonourable, nomore didn't Sir Everard, nor none of them afore him, and in that beliefhe would live and die that Ruffin had done it all of his own head.'
The strength of conviction with which he expressed himself upon thissubject, as well as his assurances that the letters intended forWaverley had been delivered to Ruthven, made that revolution in ColonelGardiner's opinion which he expressed to Talbot.
The reader has long since understood that Donald Bean Lean played thepart of tempter on this occasion. His motives were shortly these. Of anactive and intriguing spirit, he had been long employed as a subalternagent and spy by those in the confidence of the Chevalier, to an extentbeyond what was suspected even by Fergus Mac-Ivor, whom, though obligedto him for protection, he regarded with fear and dislike. To success inthis political department he naturally looked for raising himself bysome bold stroke above his present hazardous and precarious trade ofrapine. He was particularly employed in learning the strength of theregiments in Scotland, the character of the officers, etc., and hadlong had his eye upon Waverley's troop as open to temptation. Donaldeven believed that Waverley himself was at bottom in the Stuartinterest, which seemed confirmed by his long visit to the JacobiteBaron of Bradwardine. When, therefore, he came to his cave with one ofGlennaquoich's attendants, the robber, who could never appreciate hisreal motive, which was mere curiosity, was so sanguine as to hope thathis own talents were to be employed in some intrigue of consequence,under the auspices of this wealthy young Englishman. Nor was heundeceived by Waverley's neglecting all hints and openings afforded forexplanation. His conduct passed for prudent reserve, and somewhatpiqued Donald Bean, who, supposing himself left out of a secret whereconfidence promised to be advantageous, determined to have his share inthe drama, whether a regular part were assigned him or not. For thispurpose during Waverley's sleep he possessed himself of his seal, as atoken to be used to any of the troopers whom he might discover to bepossessed of the captain's confidence. His first journey to Dundee, thetown where the regiment was quartered, undeceived him in his originalsupposition, but opened to him a new field of action. He knew therewould be no service so well rewarded by the friends of the Chevalier asseducing a part of the regular army to his standard. For this purposehe opened the machinations with which the reader is already acquainted,and which form a clue to all the intricacies and obscurities of thenarrative previous to Waverley's leaving Glennaquoich.
By Colonel Talbot's advice, Waverley declined detaining in his servicethe lad whose evidence had thrown additional light on these intrigues.He represented to him, that it would be doing the man an injury toengage him in a desperate undertaking, and that, whatever shouldhappen, his evidence would go some length at least in explaining thecircumstances under which Waverley himself had embarked in it. Waverleytherefore wrote a short state of what had happened to his uncle and hisfather, cautioning them, however, in the present circumstances, not toattempt to answer his letter. Talbot then gave the young man a letterto the commander of one of the English vessels of war cruising in thefrith, requesting him to put the bearer ashore at Berwick, with a passto proceed to ----shire. He was then furnished with money to make anexpeditious journey, and directed to get on board the ship by means ofbribing a fishing-boat, which, as they afterwards learned, he easilyeffected.
Tired of the attendance of Callum Beg, who, he thought, had somedisposition to act as a spy on his motions, Waverley hired as a servanta simple Edinburgh swain, who had mounted the white cockade in a fit ofspleen and jealousy, because Jenny Jop had danced a whole night withCorporal Bullock of the Fusileers.
