The Fair Maid of Perth; Or, St. Valentine's Day

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XV.

  Oh, for a draught of power to steep The soul of agony in sleep!

  Bertha.

  We have shown the secrets of the confessional; those of the sickchamber are not hidden from us. The darkened apartment, where salves andmedicines showed that the leech had been busy in his craft, a tall thinform lay on a bed, arrayed in a nightgown belted around him, withpain on his brow, and a thousand stormy passions agitating his bosom.Everything in the apartment indicated a man of opulence and of expense.Henbane Dwining, the apothecary, who seemed to have the care of thepatient, stole with a crafty and catlike step from one corner of theroom to another, busying himself with mixing medicines and preparingdressings. The sick man groaned once or twice, on which the leech,advancing to his bedside, asked whether these sounds were a token of thepain of his body or of the distress of his mind.

  "Of both, thou poisoning varlet," said Sir John Ramorny, "and of beingencumbered with thy accursed company."

  "If that is all, I can relieve your knighthood of one of these illsby presently removing myself elsewhere. Thanks to the feuds of thisboisterous time, had I twenty hands, instead of these two poor servantsof my art (displaying his skinny palms), there is enough of employmentfor them--well requited employment, too, where thanks and crowns contendwhich shall best pay my services; while you, Sir John, wreak upon yourchirurgeon the anger you ought only to bear against the author of yourwound."

  "Villain, it is beneath me to reply to thee," said the patient; "butevery word of thy malignant tongue is a dirk, inflicting wounds whichset all the medicines of Arabia at defiance."

  "Sir John, I understand you not; but if you give way to thesetempestuous fits of rage, it is impossible but fever and inflammationmust be the result."

  "Why then dost thou speak in a sense to chafe my blood? Why dost thouname the supposition of thy worthless self having more hands thannature gave thee, while I, a knight and gentleman, am mutilated like acripple?"

  "Sir John," replied the chirurgeon, "I am no divine, nor a mainlyobstinate believer in some things which divines tell us. Yet I mayremind you that you have been kindly dealt with; for if the blow whichhas done you this injury had lighted on your neck, as it was aimed, itwould have swept your head from your shoulders, instead of amputating aless considerable member."

  "I wish it had, Dwining--I wish it had lighted as it was addressed. Ishould not then have seen a policy which had spun a web so fine as mineburst through by the brute force of a drunken churl. I should not havebeen reserved to see horses which I must not mount, lists which I mustno longer enter, splendours which I cannot hope to share, or battleswhich I must not take part in. I should not, with a man's passions forpower and for strife, be set to keep place among the women, despised bythem, too, as a miserable, impotent cripple, unable to aim at obtainingthe favour of the sex."

  "Supposing all this to be so, I will yet pray of your knighthood toremark," replied Dwining, still busying himself with arranging thedressings of the wounds, "that your eyes, which you must have lostwith your head, may, being spared to you, present as rich a prospect ofpleasure as either ambition, or victory in the list or in the field, orthe love of woman itself, could have proposed to you."

  "My sense is too dull to catch thy meaning, leech," replied Ramorny."What is this precious spectacle reserved to me in such a shipwreck?"

  "The dearest that mankind knows," replied Dwining; and then, in theaccent of a lover who utters the name of his beloved mistress, andexpresses his passion for her in the very tone of his voice, he addedthe word "REVENGE!"

  The patient had raised himself on his couch to listen with some anxietyfor the solution of the physician's enigma. He laid himself down againas he heard it explained, and after a short pause asked, "In whatChristian college learned you this morality, good Master Dwining?"

  "In no Christian college," answered his physician; "for, though it isprivately received in most, it is openly and manfully adopted in none.But I have studied among the sages of Granada, where the fiery souledMoor lifts high his deadly dagger as it drops with his enemy's blood,and avows the doctrine which the pallid Christian practises, thoughcoward-like he dare not name it."

  "Thou art then a more high souled villain than I deemed thee," saidRamorny.

  "Let that pass," answered Dwining. "The waters that are the stillest arealso the deepest; and the foe is most to be dreaded who never threatenstill he strikes. You knights and men at arms go straight to your purposewith sword in hand. We who are clerks win our access with a noiselessstep and an indirect approach, but attain our object not less surely."

  "And I," said the knight, "who have trod to my revenge with a mailedfoot, which made all echo around it, must now use such a slipper asthine--ha?"

  "He who lacks strength," said the wily mediciner, "must attain hispurpose by skill."

  "And tell me sincerely, mediciner, wherefore thou wouldst read me thesedevil's lessons? Why wouldst thou thrust me faster or farther on to myvengeance than I may seem to thee ready to go of my own accord? I am oldin the ways of the world, man; and I know that such as thou do not dropwords in vain, or thrust themselves upon the dangerous confidence of menlike me save with the prospect of advancing some purpose of their own.What interest hast thou in the road, whether peaceful or bloody, which Imay pursue on these occurrents?"

  "In plain dealing, sir knight, though it is what I seldom use," answeredthe leech, "my road to revenge is the same with yours."

  "With mine, man?" said Ramorny, with a tone of scornful surprise. "Ithought it had been high beyond thy reach. Thou aim at the same revengewith Ramorny?"

  "Ay, truly," replied Dwining, "for the smithy churl under whose blow youhave suffered has often done me despite and injury. He has thwartedme in counsel and despised me in action. His brutal and unhesitatingbluntness is a living reproach to the subtlety of my naturaldisposition. I fear him, and I hate him."

  "And you hope to hind an active coadjutor in me?" said Ramorny, in thesame supercilious tone as before. "But know, the artisan fellow is toolow in degree to be to me either the object of hatred or of fear. Yet heshall not escape. We hate not the reptile that has stung us, though wemight shake it off the wound, and tread upon it. I know the ruffian ofold as a stout man at arms, and a pretender, as I have heard, to thefavour of the scornful puppet whose beauties, forsooth, spurred us toour wise and hopeful attempt. Fiends that direct this nether world,by what malice have ye decided that the hand which has couched a lanceagainst the bosom of a prince should be struck off like a sapling bythe blow of a churl, and during the turmoil of a midnight riot? Well,mediciner, thus far our courses hold together, and I bid thee wellbelieve that I will crush for thee this reptile mechanic. But do notthou think to escape me when that part of my revenge is done which willbe most easily and speedily accomplished."

  "Not, it may be, altogether so easily accomplished," said theapothecary; "for if your knighthood will credit me, there will befound small ease or security in dealing with him. He is the strongest,boldest, and most skilful swordsman in Perth and all the country aroundit."

  "Fear nothing; he shall be met with had he the strength of Sampson. Butthen, mark me! Hope not thou to escape my vengeance, unless thou becomemy passive agent in the scene which is to follow. Mark me, I sayonce more. I have studied at no Moorish college, and lack some ofthy unbounded appetite for revenge, but yet I will have my share ofvengeance. Listen to me, mediciner, while I shall thus far unfoldmyself; but beware of treachery, for, powerful as thy fiend is, thouhast taken lessons from a meaner devil than mine. Hearken--the masterwhom I have served through vice and virtue, with too much zeal for myown character, perhaps, but with unshaken fidelity to him--the very man,to soothe whose frantic folly I have incurred this irreparable loss, is,at the prayer of his doating father, about to sacrifice me, by turningme out of his favour, and leaving me at the mercy of the hypocriticalrelative with whom he seeks a precarious reconciliation at my expense.If he perseveres in this most ungrateful pur
pose, thy fiercest Moors,were their complexion swarthy as the smoke of hell, shall blush to seetheir revenge outdone. But I will give him one more chance for honourand safety before my wrath shall descend on him in unrelenting andunmitigated fury. There, then, thus far thou hast my confidence. Closehands on our bargain. Close hands, did I say? Where is the hand thatshould be the pledge and representative of Ramorny's plighted word?Is it nailed on the public pillory, or flung as offal to the houselessdogs, who are even now snarling over it? Lay thy finger on the mutilatedstump, then, and swear to be a faithful actor in my revenge, as I shallbe in yours. How now, sir leech look you pale--you, who say to death,stand back or advance, can you tremble to think of him or to hear himnamed? I have not mentioned your fee, for one who loves revenge foritself requires no deeper bribe; yet, if broad lands and large sums ofgold can increase thy zeal in a brave cause, believe me, these shall notbe lacking."

  "They tell for something in my humble wishes," said Dwining: "the poorman in this bustling world is thrust down like a dwarf in a crowd, andso trodden under foot; the rich and powerful rise like giants above thepress, and are at ease, while all is turmoil around them."

  "Then shalt thou arise above the press, mediciner, as high as goldcan raise thee. This purse is weighty, yet it is but an earnest of thyguerdon."

  "And this Smith, my noble benefactor," said the leech, as he pouched thegratuity--"this Henry of the Wynd, or what ever is his name--would notthe news that he hath paid the penalty of his action assuage the pain ofthy knighthood's wound better than the balm of Mecca with which I havesalved it?"

  "He is beneath the thoughts of Ramorny; and I have no more resentmentagainst him than I have ill will at the senseless weapon which heswayed. But it is just thy hate should be vented upon him. Where is hechiefly to be met with?"

  "That also I have considered," said Dwining. "To make the attempt by dayin his own house were too open and dangerous, for he hath five servantswho work with him at the stithy, four of them strong knaves, and allloving to their master. By night were scarce less desperate, for he hathhis doors strongly secured with bolt of oak and bar of iron, and ere thefastenings of his house could be forced, the neighbourhood would rise tohis rescue, especially as they are still alarmed by the practice on St.Valentine's Even."

  "Oh, ay, true, mediciner," said Ramorny, "for deceit is thy nature evenwith me: thou knewest my hand and signet, as thou said'st, when thathand was found cast out on the street, like the disgusting refuse ofa shambles--why, having such knowledge, went'st thou with thesejolterheaded citizens to consult that Patrick Charteris, whose spursshould be hacked off from his heels for the communion which he holdswith paltry burghers, and whom thou brought'st here with the fools to dodishonour to the lifeless hand, which, had it held its wonted place, hewas not worthy to have touched in peace or faced in war?"

  "My noble patron, as soon as I had reason to know you had been thesufferer, I urged them with all my powers of persuasion to desist fromprosecuting the feud; but the swaggering smith, and one or two other hotheads, cried out for vengeance. Your knighthood must know this fellowcalls himself bachelor to the Fair Maiden of Perth, and stands upon hishonour to follow up her father's quarrel; but I have forestalled hismarket in that quarter, and that is something in earnest of revenge."

  "How mean you by that, sir leech?" said the patient.

  "Your knighthood shall conceive," said the mediciner, "that this smithdoth not live within compass, but is an outlier and a galliard. I methim myself on St. Valentine's Day, shortly after the affray between thetownsfolk and the followers of Douglas. Yes, I met him sneaking throughthe lanes and bye passages with a common minstrel wench, with her messanand her viol on his one arm and her buxom self hanging upon the other.What thinks your honour? Is not this a trim squire, to cross a prince'slove with the fairest girl in Perth, strike off the hand of a knight andbaron, and become gentleman usher to a strolling glee woman, all in thecourse of the same four and twenty hours?"

  "Marry, I think the better of him that he has so much of a gentleman'shumour, clown though he be," said Ramorny. "I would he had been aprecisian instead of a galliard, and I should have had better heart toaid thy revenge. And such revenge!--revenge on a smith--in the quarrelof a pitiful manufacturer of rotten cheverons! Pah! And yet it shallbe taken in full. Thou hast commenced it, I warrant me, by thine ownmanoeuvres."

  "In a small degree only," said the apothecary. "I took care that two orthree of the most notorious gossips in Curfew street, who liked not tohear Catharine called the Fair Maid of Perth, should be possessedof this story of her faithful Valentine. They opened on the scent sokeenly, that, rather than doubt had fallen on the tale, they would havevouched for it as if their own eyes had seen it. The lover came toher father's within an hour after, and your worship may think what areception he had from the angry glover, for the damsel herself would notbe looked upon. And thus your honour sees I had a foretaste of revenge.But I trust to receive the full draught from the hands of your lordship,with whom I am in a brotherly league, which--"

  "Brotherly!" said the knight, contemptuously. "But be it so, the priestssay we are all of one common earth. I cannot tell, there seems to mesome difference; but the better mould shall keep faith with the baser,and thou shalt have thy revenge. Call thou my page hither."

  A young man made his appearance from the anteroom upon the physician'ssummons.

  "Eviot," said the knight, "does Bonthron wait? and is he sober?"

  "He is as sober as sleep can make him after a deep drink," answered thepage.

  "Then fetch him hither, and do thou shut the door."

  A heavy step presently approached the apartment, and a man entered,whose deficiency of height seemed made up in breadth of shoulders andstrength of arm.

  "There is a man thou must deal upon, Bonthron," said the knight. The mansmoothed his rugged features and grinned a smile of satisfaction.

  "That mediciner will show thee the party. Take such advantage of time,place, and circumstance as will ensure the result; and mind you come notby the worst, for the man is the fighting Smith of the Wynd."

  "It Will be a tough job," growled the assassin; "for if I miss my blow,I may esteem myself but a dead man. All Perth rings with the smith'sskill and strength."

  "Take two assistants with thee," said the knight.

  "Not I," said Bonthron. "If you double anything, let it be the reward."

  "Account it doubled," said his master; "but see thy work be thoroughlyexecuted."

  "Trust me for that, sir knight: seldom have I failed."

  "Use this sage man's directions," said the wounded knight, pointing tothe physician. "And hark thee, await his coming forth, and drink nottill the business be done."

  "I will not," answered the dark satellite; "my own life depends on myblow being steady and sure. I know whom I have to deal with."

  "Vanish, then, till he summons you, and have axe and dagger inreadiness."

  Bonthron nodded and withdrew.

  "Will your knighthood venture to entrust such an act to a single hand?"said the mediciner, when the assassin had left the room. "May I pray youto remember that yonder party did, two nights since, baffle six armedmen?"

  "Question me not, sir mediciner: a man like Bonthron, who knows time andplace, is worth a score of confused revellers. Call Eviot; thou shaltfirst exert thy powers of healing, and do not doubt that thou shalt,in the farther work, be aided by one who will match thee in the art ofsudden and unexpected destruction."

  The page Eviot again appeared at the mediciner's summons, and at hismaster's sign assisted the chirurgeon in removing the dressings fromSir John Ramorny's wounded arm. Dwining viewed the naked stump witha species of professional satisfaction, enhanced, no doubt, by themalignant pleasure which his evil disposition took in the pain anddistress of his fellow creatures. The knight just turned his eye on theghastly spectacle, and uttered, under the pressure of bodily pain ormental agony, a groan which he would fain have repressed.

  "You groan, s
ir," said the leech, in his soft, insinuating tone ofvoice, but with a sneer of enjoyment, mixed with scorn, curling uponhis lip, which his habitual dissimulation could not altogetherdisguise--"you groan; but be comforted. This Henry Smith knows hisbusiness: his sword is as true to its aim as his hammer to the anvil.Had a common swordsman struck this fatal blow, he had harmed the boneand damaged the muscles, so that even my art might not have been ableto repair them. But Henry Smith's cut is clean, and as sure as that withwhich my own scalpel could have made the amputation. In a few days youwill be able, with care and attention to the ordinances of medicine, tostir abroad."

  "But my hand--the loss of my hand--"

  "It may be kept secret for a time," said the mediciner. "I havepossessed two or three tattling fools, in deep confidence, that the handwhich was found was that of your knighthood's groom, Black Quentin, andyour knighthood knows that he has parted for Fife, in such sort as tomake it generally believed."

  "I know well enough," said Ramorny, "that the rumour may stifle thetruth for a short time. But what avails this brief delay?"

  "It may be concealed till your knighthood retires for a time from thecourt, and then, when new accidents have darkened the recollectionof the present stir, it may be imputed to a wound received from theshivering of a spear, or from a crossbow bolt. Your slave will find asuitable device, and stand for the truth of it."

  "The thought maddens me," said Ramorny, with another groan of mental andbodily agony; "yet I see no better remedy."

  "There is none other," said the leech, to whose evil nature his patron'sdistress was delicious nourishment. "In the mean while, it is believedyou are confined by the consequences of some bruises, aiding the senseof displeasure at the Prince's having consented to dismiss you from hishousehold at the remonstrance of Albany, which is publicly known."

  "Villain, thou rack'st me!" exclaimed the patient.

  "Upon the whole, therefore," said Dwining, "your knighthood has escapedwell, and, saving the lack of your hand, a mischance beyond remedy,you ought rather to rejoice than complain; for no barber chirurgeon inFrance or England could have more ably performed the operation than thischurl with one downright blow."

  "I understand my obligation fully," said Ramorny, struggling with hisanger, and affecting composure; "and if Bonthron pays him not with ablow equally downright, and rendering the aid of the leech unnecessary,say that John of Ramorny cannot requite an obligation."

  "That is spoke like yourself, noble knight!" answered the mediciner."And let me further say, that the operator's skill must have beenvain, and the hemorrhage must have drained your life veins, but for thebandages, the cautery, and the styptics applied by the good monks, andthe poor services of your humble vassal, Henbane Dwining."

  "Peace," exclaimed the patient, "with thy ill omened voice and worseomened name! Methinks, as thou mentionest the tortures I have undergone,my tingling nerves stretch and contract themselves as if they stillactuated the fingers that once could clutch a dagger."

  "That," explained the leech, "may it please your knighthood, is aphenomenon well known to our profession. There have been those amongthe ancient sages who have thought that there still remained a sympathybetween the severed nerves and those belonging to the amputatedlimb; and that the several fingers are seen to quiver and strain, ascorresponding with the impulse which proceeds from their sympathy withthe energies of the living system. Could we recover the hand from theCross, or from the custody of the Black Douglas, I would be pleased toobserve this wonderful operation of occult sympathies. But, I fear me,one might as safely go to wrest the joint from the talons of an hungryeagle."

  "And thou mayst as safely break thy malignant jests on a wounded lion ason John of Ramorny," said the knight, raising himself in uncontrollableindignation. "Caitiff, proceed to thy duty; and remember, that if myhand can no longer clasp a dagger, I can command an hundred."

  "The sight of one drawn and brandished in anger were sufficient," saidDwining, "to consume the vital powers of your chirurgeon. But who then,"he added in a tone partly insinuating, partly jeering--"who would thenrelieve the fiery and scorching pain which my patron now suffers, andwhich renders him exasperated even with his poor servant for quoting therules of healing, so contemptible, doubtless, compared with the power ofinflicting wounds?"

  Then, as daring no longer to trifle with the mood of his dangerouspatient, the leech addressed himself seriously to salving the wound,and applied a fragrant balm, the odour of which was diffused through theapartment, while it communicated a refreshing coolness, instead of theburning heat--a change so gratifying to the fevered patient, that, ashe had before groaned with agony, he could not now help sighing forpleasure, as he sank back on his couch to enjoy the ease which thedressing bestowed.

  "Your knightly lordship now knows who is your friend," said Dwining;"had you yielded to a rash impulse, and said, 'Slay me this worthlessquacksalver,' where, within the four seas of Britain, would you havefound the man to have ministered to you as much comfort?"

  "Forget my threats, good leech," said Ramorny, "and beware how you temptme. Such as I brook not jests upon our agony. See thou keep thy scoffs,to pass upon misers [that is, miserable persons, as used in Spenser andother writers of his time, though the sense is now restricted to thosewho are covetous] in the hospital."

  Dwining ventured to say no more, but poured some drops from a phialwhich he took from his pocket into a small cup of wine allayed withwater.

  "This draught," said the man of art, "is medicated to produce a sleepwhich must not be interrupted."

  "For how long will it last?" asked the knight.

  "The period of its operation is uncertain--perhaps till morning."

  "Perhaps for ever," said the patient. "Sir mediciner, taste me thatliquor presently, else it passes not my lips."

  The leech obeyed him, with a scornful smile. "I would drink the wholewith readiness; but the juice of this Indian gum will bring sleep on thehealthy man as well as upon the patient, and the business of the leechrequires me to be a watcher."

  "I crave your pardon, sir leech," said Ramorny, looking downwards, as ifashamed to have manifested suspicion.

  "There is no room for pardon where offence must not be taken," answeredthe mediciner. "An insect must thank a giant that he does not tread onhim. Yet, noble knight, insects have their power of harming as well asphysicians. What would it have cost me, save a moment's trouble, so tohave drugged that balm, as should have made your arm rot to the shoulderjoint, and your life blood curdle in your veins to a corrupted jelly?What is there that prevented me to use means yet more subtle, and totaint your room with essences, before which the light of life twinklesmore and more dimly, till it expires, like a torch amidst the foulvapours of some subterranean dungeon? You little estimate my power, ifyou know not that these and yet deeper modes of destruction standat command of my art. But a physician slays not the patient by whosegenerosity he lives, and far less will he the breath of whose nostrilsis the hope of revenge destroy the vowed ally who is to favour hispursuit of it. Yet one word; should a necessity occur for rousingyourself--for who in Scotland can promise himself eight hours'uninterrupted repose?--then smell at the strong essence contained inthis pouncet box. And now, farewell, sir knight; and if you cannot thinkof me as a man of nice conscience, acknowledge me at least as one ofreason and of judgment."

  So saying, the mediciner left the room, his usual mean and shufflinggait elevating itself into something more noble, as conscious of avictory over his imperious patient.

  Sir John Ramorny remained sunk in unpleasing reflections until he beganto experience the incipient effects of his soporific draught. He thenroused himself for an instant, and summoned his page.

  "Eviot! what ho! Eviot! I have done ill to unbosom myself so far to thispoisonous quacksalver. Eviot!"

  The page entered.

  "Is the mediciner gone forth?"

  "Yes, so please your knighthood."

  "Alone or accompanied?"

  "Bonth
ron spoke apart with him, and followed him almost immediately--byyour lordship's command, as I understood him."

  "Lackaday, yes! he goes to seek some medicaments; he will return anon.If he be intoxicated, see he comes not near my chamber, and permit himnot to enter into converse with any one. He raves when drink has touchedhis brain. He was a rare fellow before a Southron bill laid his brainpan bare; but since that time he talks gibberish whenever the cup hascrossed his lips. Said the leech aught to you, Eviot?"

  "Nothing, save to reiterate his commands that your honour be notdisturbed."

  "Which thou must surely obey," said the knight. "I feel the summons torest, of which I have been deprived since this unhappy wound. At least,if I have slept it has been but for a snatch. Aid me to take off mygown, Eviot."

  "May God and the saints send you good rest, my lord," said the page,retiring after he had rendered his wounded master the assistancerequired.

  As Eviot left the room, the knight, whose brain was becoming more andmore confused, muttered over the page's departing salutation.

  "God--saints--I have slept sound under such a benison. But now, methinksif I awake not to the accomplishment of my proud hopes of power andrevenge, the best wish for me is, that the slumbers which now fallaround my head were the forerunners of that sleep which shall returnmy borrowed powers to their original nonexistence--I can argue it nofarther."

  Thus speaking, he fell into a profound sleep.