by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XIV
The bell strikes one. We take no note of time But from its loss. To give it then a tongue Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke, I feel the solemn sound.
YOUNG.
The moral which the poet has rather quaintly deduced from the necessarymode of measuring time may be well applied to our feelings respectingthat portion of it which constitutes human life. We observe the aged,the infirm, and those engaged in occupations of immediate hazard,trembling as it were upon the very brink of non-existence, but wederive no lesson from the precariousness of their tenure until it hasaltogether failed. Then, for a moment at least--
Our hopes and fears Start up alarm'd, and o'er life's narrow verge Look down--on what? a fathomless abyss, A dark eternity, how surely ours!
The crowd of assembled gazers and idlers at Ellangowan had followed theviews of amusement, or what they called business, which brought themthere, with little regard to the feelings of those who were sufferingupon that occasion. Few, indeed, knew anything of the family. Thefather, betwixt seclusion, misfortune, and imbecility, had drifted, asit were, for many years out of the notice of his contemporaries; thedaughter had never been known to them. But when the general murmurannounced that the unfortunate Mr. Bertram had broken his heart in theeffort to leave the mansion of his forefathers, there poured forth atorrent of sympathy like the waters from the rock when stricken by thewand of the prophet. The ancient descent and unblemished integrity ofthe family were respectfully remembered; above all, the sacredveneration due to misfortune, which in Scotland seldom demands itstribute in vain, then claimed and received it.
Mr. Mac-Morlan hastily announced that he would suspend all fartherproceedings in the sale of the estate and other property, andrelinquish the possession of the premises to the young lady, until shecould consult with her friends and provide for the burial of her father.
Glossin had cowered for a few minutes under the general expression ofsympathy, till, hardened by observing that no appearance of popularindignation was directed his way, he had the audacity to require thatthe sale should proceed.
'I will take it upon my own authority to adjourn it,' said theSheriff-substitute, 'and will be responsible for the consequences. Iwill also give due notice when it is again to go forward. It is for thebenefit of all concerned that the lands should bring the highest pricethe state of the market will admit, and this is surely no time toexpect it. I will take the responsibility upon myself.'
Glossin left the room and the house too with secrecy and despatch; andit was probably well for him that he did so, since our friend JockJabos was already haranguing a numerous tribe of bare-legged boys onthe propriety of pelting him off the estate.
Some of the rooms were hastily put in order for the reception of theyoung lady, and of her father's dead body. Mannering now found hisfarther interference would be unnecessary, and might be misconstrued.He observed, too, that several families connected with that ofEllangowan, and who indeed derived their principal claim of gentilityfrom the alliance, were now disposed to pay to their trees of genealogya tribute which the adversity of their supposed relatives had beeninadequate to call forth; and that the honour of superintending thefuneral rites of the dead Godfrey Bertram (as in the memorable case ofHomer's birthplace) was likely to be debated by seven gentlemen of rankand fortune, none of whom had offered him an asylum while living. Hetherefore resolved, as his presence was altogether useless, to make ashort tour of a fortnight, at the end of which period the adjournedsale of the estate of Ellangowan was to proceed.
But before he departed he solicited an interview with the Dominie. Thepoor man appeared, on being informed a gentleman wanted to speak tohim, with some expression of surprise in his gaunt features, to whichrecent sorrow had given an expression yet more grisly. He made two orthree profound reverences to Mannering, and then, standing erect,patiently waited an explanation of his commands.
'You are probably at a loss to guess, Mr. Sampson,' said Mannering,'what a stranger may have to say to you?'
'Unless it were to request that I would undertake to train up someyouth in polite letters and humane learning; but I cannot--I cannot; Ihave yet a task to perform.'
'No, Mr. Sampson, my wishes are not so ambitious. I have no son, and myonly daughter, I presume, you would not consider as a fit pupil.'
'Of a surety no,' replied the simple-minded Sampson. 'Nathless, it wasI who did educate Miss Lucy in all useful learning, albeit it was thehousekeeper who did teach her those unprofitable exercises of hemmingand shaping.'
'Well, sir,' replied Mannering, 'it is of Miss Lucy I meant to speak.You have, I presume, no recollection of me?'
Sampson, always sufficiently absent in mind, neither remembered theastrologer of past years, nor even the stranger who had taken hispatron's part against Glossin, so much had his friend's sudden deathembroiled his ideas.
'Well, that does not signify,' pursued the Colonel; 'I am an oldacquaintance of the late Mr. Bertram, able and willing to assist hisdaughter in her present circumstances. Besides, I have thoughts ofmaking this purchase, and I should wish things kept in order about theplace; will you have the goodness to apply this small sum in the usualfamily expenses?' He put into the Dominie's hand a purse containingsome gold.
'Pro-di-gi-ous!' exclaimed Dominie Sampson. 'But if your honour wouldtarry--'
'Impossible, sir, impossible,' said Mannering, making his escape fromhim.
'Pro-di-gi-ous!' again exclaimed Sampson, following to the head of thestairs, still holding out the purse. 'But as touching this coinedmoney--'
Mannering escaped downstairs as fast as possible.
'Pro-di-gi-ous!' exclaimed Dominie Sampson, yet the third time, nowstanding at the front door. 'But as touching this specie--'
But Mannering was now on horseback, and out of hearing. The Dominie,who had never, either in his own right or as trustee for another, beenpossessed of a quarter part of this sum, though it was not above twentyguineas, 'took counsel,' as he expressed himself, 'how he should demeanhimself with respect unto the fine gold' thus left in his charge.Fortunately he found a disinterested adviser in Mac-Morlan, who pointedout the most proper means of disposing of it for contributing to MissBertram's convenience, being no doubt the purpose to which it wasdestined by the bestower.
Many of the neighbouring gentry were now sincerely eager in pressingoffers of hospitality and kindness upon Miss Bertram. But she felt anatural reluctance to enter any family for the first time as an objectrather of benevolence than hospitality, and determined to wait theopinion and advice of her father's nearest female relation, Mrs.Margaret Bertram of Singleside, an old unmarried lady, to whom shewrote an account of her present distressful situation.
The funeral of the late Mr. Bertram was performed with decent privacy,and the unfortunate young lady was now to consider herself as but thetemporary tenant of the house in which she had been born, and where herpatience and soothing attentions had so long 'rocked the cradle ofdeclining age.' Her communication with Mr. Mac-Morlan encouraged her tohope that she would not be suddenly or unkindly deprived of thisasylum; but fortune had ordered otherwise.
For two days before the appointed day for the sale of the lands andestate of Ellangowan, Mac-Morlan daily expected the appearance ofColonel Mannering, or at least a letter containing powers to act forhim. But none such arrived. Mr. Mac-Morlan waked early in the morning,walked over to the Post-office,--there were no letters for him. Heendeavoured to persuade himself that he should see Colonel Mannering tobreakfast, and ordered his wife to place her best china and prepareherself accordingly. But the preparations were in vain. 'Could I haveforeseen this,' he said, 'I would have travelled Scotland over, but Iwould have found some one to bid against Glossin.' Alas! suchreflections were all too late. The appointed hour arrived; and theparties met in the Masons' Lodge at Kippletringan, being the placefixed for the adjourned sale. Mac-Morlan spent as much time inpreliminaries as decency would permit, and re
ad over the articles ofsale as slowly as if he had been reading his own death-warrant. Heturned his eye every time the door of the room opened, with hopes whichgrew fainter and fainter. He listened to every noise in the street ofthe village, and endeavoured to distinguish in it the sound of hoofs orwheels. It was all in vain. A bright idea then occurred, that ColonelMannering might have employed some other person in the transaction; hewould not have wasted a moment's thought upon the want of confidence inhimself which such a manoeuvre would have evinced. But this hope alsowas groundless. After a solemn pause, Mr. Glossin offered the upsetprice for the lands and barony of Ellangowan. No reply was made, and nocompetitor appeared; so, after a lapse of the usual interval by therunning of a sand-glass, upon the intended purchaser entering theproper sureties, Mr. Mac-Morlan was obliged, in technical terms, to'find and declare the sale lawfully completed, and to prefer the saidGilbert Glossin as the purchaser of the said lands and estate.' Thehonest writer refused to partake of a splendid entertainment with whichGilbert Glossin, Esquire, now of Ellangowan, treated the rest of thecompany, and returned home in huge bitterness of spirit, which hevented in complaints against the fickleness and caprice of these Indiannabobs, who never knew what they would be at for ten days together.Fortune generously determined to take the blame upon herself, and cutoff even this vent of Mac-Morlan's resentment.
An express arrived about six o'clock at night, 'very particularlydrunk,' the maid-servant said, with a packet from Colonel Mannering,dated four days back, at a town about a hundred miles' distance fromKippletringan, containing full powers to Mr. Mac-Morlan, or any onewhom he might employ, to make the intended purchase, and stating thatsome family business of consequence called the Colonel himself toWestmoreland, where a letter would find him, addressed to the care ofArthur Mervyn, Esq., of Mervyn Hall.
Mac-Morlan, in the transports of his wrath, flung the power of attorneyat the head of the innocent maidservant, and was only forcibly withheldfrom horse-whipping the rascally messenger by whose sloth anddrunkenness the disappointment had taken place.
