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

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XX.

  A woman wails for justice at the gate, A widow'd woman, wan and desolate.

  Bertha.

  The council room of Perth presented a singular spectacle. In a gloomyapartment, ill and inconveniently lighted by two windows of differentform and of unequal size, were assembled, around a large oaken table,a group of men, of whom those who occupied the higher seats weremerchants, that is, guild brethren, or shopkeepers, arrayed in decentdresses becoming their station, but most of them bearing, like, theRegent York, "signs of war around their aged necks"--gorgets, namely,and baldricks, which sustained their weapons. The lower places aroundthe table were occupied by mechanics and artisans, the presidents, ordeacons, as they were termed, of the working classes, in their ordinaryclothes, somewhat better arranged than usual. These, too, wore piecesof armour of various descriptions. Some had the blackjack, or doubletscovered with small plates of iron of a lozenge shape, which, securedthrough the upper angle, hung in rows above each [other], and which,swaying with the motion of the wearer's person, formed a secure defenceto the body. Others had buff coats, which, as already mentioned, couldresist the blow of a sword, and even a lance's point, unless propelledwith great force. At the bottom of the table, surrounded as it waswith this varied assembly, sat Sir Louis Lundin; no military man, buta priest and parson of St. John's, arrayed in his canonical dress, andhaving his pen and ink before him. He was town clerk of the burgh,and, like all the priests of the period (who were called from thatcircumstance the Pope's knights), received the honourable title ofDominus, contracted into Dom, or Dan, or translated into Sir, the titleof reverence due to the secular chivalry.

  On an elevated seat at the head of the council board was placed SirPatrick Charteris, in complete armour brightly burnished--a singularcontrast to the motley mixture of warlike and peaceful attire exhibitedby the burghers, who were only called to arms occasionally. The bearingof the provost, while it completely admitted the intimate connexionwhich mutual interests had created betwixt himself, the burgh, and themagistracy, was at the same time calculated to assert the superioritywhich, in virtue of gentle blood and chivalrous rank, the opinions ofthe age assigned to him over the members of the assembly in which hepresided. Two squires stood behind him, one of them holding the knight'spennon, and another his shield, bearing his armorial distinctions, beinga hand holding a dagger, or short sword, with the proud motto, "This ismy charter." A handsome page displayed the long sword of his master, andanother bore his lance; all which chivalrous emblems and appurtenanceswere the more scrupulously exhibited, that the dignitary to whom theybelonged was engaged in discharging the office of a burgh magistrate.In his own person the Knight of Kinfauns appeared to affect somethingof state and stiffness which did not naturally pertain to his frank andjovial character.

  "So you are come at length, Henry Smith and Simon Glover," said theprovost. "Know that you have kept us waiting for your attendance. Shouldit so chance again while we occupy this place, we will lay such afine on you as you will have small pleasure in paying. Enough--makeno excuses. They are not asked now, and another time they will notbe admitted. Know, sirs, that our reverend clerk hath taken down inwriting, and at full length, what I will tell you in brief, that you maysee what is to be required of you, Henry Smith, in particular. Ourlate fellow citizen, Oliver Proudfute, hath been found dead in the HighStreet, close by the entrance into the wynd. It seemeth he was slain bya heavy blow with a short axe, dealt from behind and at unawares;and the act by which he fell can only be termed a deed of foul andforethought murder. So much for the crime. The criminal can only beindicated by circumstances. It is recorded in the protocol of theReverend Sir Louis Lundin, that divers well reported witnesses saw ourdeceased citizen, Oliver Proudfute, till a late period accompanying theentry of the morrice dancers, of whom he was one, as far as the house ofSimon Glover, in Curfew Street, where they again played their pageant.It is also manifested that at this place he separated from the restof the band, after some discourse with Simon Glover, and made anappointment to meet with the others of his company at the sign of theGriffin, there to conclude the holiday. Now, Simon, I demand of youwhether this be truly stated, so far as you know? and further, what wasthe purport of the defunct Oliver Proudfute's discourse with you?"

  "My Lord Provost and very worshipful Sir Patrick," answered SimonGlover, "you and this honourable council shall know that, touchingcertain reports which had been made of the conduct of Henry Smith, somequarrel had arisen between myself and another of my family and the saidSmith here present. Now, this our poor fellow citizen, Oliver Proudfute,having been active in spreading these reports, as indeed his element layin such gossipred, some words passed betwixt him and me on the subject;and, as I think, he left me with the purpose of visiting Henry Smith,for he broke off from the morrice dancers, promising, as it seems, tomeet them, as your honour has said, at the sign of the Griffin, in orderto conclude the evening. But what he actually did, I know not, as Inever again saw him in life."

  "It is enough," said Sir Patrick, "and agrees with all that we haveheard. Now, worthy sirs, we next find our poor fellow citizen environedby a set of revellers and maskers who had assembled in the High Street,by whom he was shamefully ill treated, being compelled to kneel downin the street, and there to quaff huge quantities of liquor againsthis inclination, until at length he escaped from them by flight.This violence was accomplished with drawn swords, loud shouts, andimprecations, so as to attract the attention of several persons, who,alarmed by the tumult, looked out from their windows, as well as of oneor two passengers, who, keeping aloof from the light of the torches,lest they also had been maltreated, beheld the usage which our fellowcitizen received in the High Street of the burgh. And although theserevellers were disguised, and used vizards, yet their disguises werewell known, being a set of quaint masking habits prepared some weeksago by command of Sir John Ramorny, Master of the Horse to his RoyalHighness the Duke of Rothsay, Prince Royal of Scotland."

  A low groan went through the assembly.

  "Yes, so it is, brave burghers," continued Sir Patrick; "our inquirieshave led us into conclusions both melancholy and terrible. But as no onecan regret the point at which they seem likely to arrive more than I do,so no man living can dread its consequences less. It is even so, variousartisans employed upon the articles have described the dresses preparedfor Sir John Ramorny's mask as being exactly similar to those of themen by whom Oliver Proudfute was observed to be maltreated. And onemechanic, being Wingfield the feather dresser, who saw the revellerswhen they had our fellow citizen within their hands, remarked that theywore the cinctures and coronals of painted feathers which he himself hadmade by the order of the Prince's master of horse.

  "After the moment of his escape from these revellers, we lose all traceof Oliver' but we can prove that the maskers went to Sir John Ramorny's,where they were admitted, after some show of delay. It is rumoured thatthou, Henry Smith, sawest our unhappy fellow citizen after he had beenin the hands of these revellers. What is the truth of the matter?"

  "He came to my house in the wynd," said Henry, "about half an hourbefore midnight; and I admitted him, something unwillingly, as he hadbeen keeping carnival while I remained at home; and 'There is ill talk,'says the proverb, 'betwixt a full man and a fasting.'"

  "And in which plight seemed he when thou didst admit him?" said theprovost.

  "He seemed," answered the smith, "out of breath, and talked repeatedlyof having been endangered by revellers. I paid but small regard, for hewas ever a timorous, chicken spirited, though well meaning, man, andI held that he was speaking more from fancy than reality. But I shallalways account it for foul offence in myself that I did not give him mycompany, which he requested; and if I live, I will found masses for hissoul, in expiation of my guilt."

  "Did he describe those from whom he received the injury?" said theprovost.

  "Revellers in masking habits," replied Henry.

  "And did he intimate his fear of having to
do with them on his return?"again demanded Sir Patrick.

  "He alluded particularly to his being waylaid, which I treated asvisionary, having been able to see no one in the lane."

  "Had he then no help from thee of any kind whatsoever?" said theprovost.

  "Yes, worshipful," replied the smith; "he exchanged his morrice dressfor my head piece, buff coat, and target, which I hear were found uponhis body; and I have at home his morrice cap and bells, with the jerkinand other things pertaining. He was to return my garb of fence, and getback his own masking suit this day, had the saints so permitted."

  "You saw him not then afterwards?"

  "Never, my lord."

  "One word more," said the provost. "Have you any reason to think thatthe blow which slew Oliver Proudfute was meant for another man?"

  "I have," answered the smith; "but it is doubtful, and may be dangerousto add such a conjecture, which is besides only a supposition."

  "Speak it out, on your burgher faith and oath. For whom, think you, wasthe blow meant?"

  "If I must speak," replied Henry, "I believe Oliver Proudfute receivedthe fate which was designed for myself; the rather that, in his folly,Oliver spoke of trying to assume my manner of walking, as well as mydress."

  "Have you feud with any one, that you form such an idea?" said SirPatrick Charteris.

  "To my shame and sin be it spoken, I have feud with Highland andLowland, English and Scot, Perth and Angus. I do not believe poorOliver had feud with a new hatched chicken. Alas! he was the more fullyprepared for a sudden call!"

  "Hark ye, smith," said the provost, "answer me distinctly: Is therecause of feud between the household of Sir John Ramorny and yourself?"

  "To a certainty, my lord, there is. It is now generally said that BlackQuentin, who went over Tay to Fife some days since, was the owner of thehand which was found in Couvrefew Street upon the eve of St. Valentine.It was I who struck off that hand with a blow of my broadsword. As thisBlack Quentin was a chamberlain of Sir John, and much trusted, it islike there must be feud between me and his master's dependants."

  "It bears a likely front, smith," said Sir Patrick Charteris. "And now,good brothers and wise magistrates, there are two suppositions, each ofwhich leads to the same conclusion. The maskers who seized our fellowcitizen, and misused him in a manner of which his body retains someslight marks, may have met with their former prisoner as he returnedhomewards, and finished their ill usage by taking his life. He himselfexpressed to Henry Gow fears that this would be the case. If this bereally true, one or more of Sir John Ramorny's attendants must havebeen the assassins. But I think it more likely that one or two of therevellers may have remained on the field, or returned to it, havingchanged perhaps their disguise, and that to those men (for OliverProudfute, in his own personal appearance, would only have been asubject of sport) his apparition in the dress, and assuming, as heproposed to do, the manner, of Henry Smith, was matter of deep hatred;and that, seeing him alone, they had taken, as they thought, a certainand safe mode to rid themselves of an enemy so dangerous as all men knowHenry Wynd is accounted by those that are his unfriends. The same trainof reasoning, again, rests the guilt with the household of Sir JohnRamorny. How think you, sirs? Are we not free to charge the crime uponthem?"

  The magistrates whispered together for several minutes, and then repliedby the voice of Bailie Craigdallie: "Noble knight, and our worthyprovost, we agree entirely in what your wisdom has spoken concerningthis dark and bloody matter; nor do we doubt your sagacity in tracing tothe fellowship and the company of John Ramorny of that ilk the villainywhich hath been done to our deceased fellow citizen, whether in his owncharacter and capacity or as mistaking him for our brave townsman, Henryof the Wynd. But Sir John, in his own behalf, and as the Prince's masterof the horse, maintains an extensive household; and as, of course, thecharge will be rebutted by a denial, we would ask how we shall proceedin that case. It is true, could we find law for firing the lodging, andputting all within it to the sword; the old proverb of 'Short rede,good rede,' might here apply; for a fouler household of defiers of God,destroyers of men, and debauchers of women are nowhere sheltered thanare in Ramorny's band. But I doubt that this summary mode of executionwould scarce be borne out by the laws; and no tittle of evidence whichI have heard will tend to fix the crime on any single individual orindividuals."

  Before the provost could reply, the town clerk arose, and, strokinghis venerable beard, craved permission to speak, which was instantlygranted.

  "Brethren," he said, "as well in our fathers' time as ours; hath God, onbeing rightly appealed to, condescended to make manifest the crimes ofthe guilty and the innocence of those who may have been rashly accused.Let us demand from our sovereign lord, King Robert, who, when the wickeddo not interfere to pervert his good intentions, is as just and clementa prince as our annals can show in their long line, in the name of theFair City, and of all the commons in Scotland, that he give us, afterthe fashion of our ancestors, the means of appealing to Heaven for lightupon this dark murder, we will demand the proof by 'bier right,' oftengranted in the days of our sovereign's ancestors, approved of by bullsand decretals, and administered by the great Emperor Charlemagne inFrance, by King Arthur in Britain, and by Gregory the Great, and themighty Achaius, in this our land of Scotland."

  "I have heard of the bier right, Sir Louis," quoth the provost, "and Iknow we have it in our charters of the Fair City; but I am somethingill learned in the ancient laws, and would pray you to inform us moredistinctly of its nature."

  "We will demand of the King," said Sir Louis Lundin, "my advice beingtaken, that the body of our murdered fellow citizen be transported intothe High Church of St. John, and suitable masses said for the benefitof his soul and for the discovery of his foul murder. Meantime, we shallobtain an order that Sir John Ramorny give up a list of such of hishousehold as were in Perth in the course of the night between Fastern'sEven and this Ash Wednesday, and become bound to present them on acertain day and hour, to be early named, in the High Church of St. John,there one by one to pass before the bier of our murdered fellow citizen,and in the form prescribed to call upon God and His saints to bearwitness that he is innocent of the acting, art or part, of the murder.And credit me, as has been indeed proved by numerous instances, that, ifthe murderer shall endeavour to shroud himself by making such an appeal,the antipathy which subsists between the dead body and the hand whichdealt the fatal blow that divorced it from the soul will awaken someimperfect life, under the influence of which the veins of the dead manwill pour forth at the fatal wounds the blood which has been so longstagnant in the veins. Or, to speak more certainly, it is the pleasureof Heaven, by some hidden agency which we cannot comprehend, to leaveopen this mode of discovering the wickedness of him who has defaced theimage of his Creator."

  "I have heard this law talked of," said Sir Patrick, "and it wasenforced in the Bruce's time. This surely is no unfit period to seek, bysuch a mystic mode of inquiry, the truth to which no ordinary means cangive us access, seeing that a general accusation of Sir John's householdwould full surely be met by a general denial. Yet I must crave fartherof Sir Louis, our reverend town clerk, how we shall prevent the guiltyperson from escaping in the interim?"

  "The burghers will maintain a strict watch upon the wall, drawbridgesshall be raised and portcullises lowered, from sunset to sunrise, andstrong patrols maintained through the night. This guard the burgherswill willingly maintain, to secure against the escape of the murderer oftheir townsman."

  The rest of the counsellors acquiesced, by word, sign, and look, in thisproposal.

  "Again," said the provost, "what if any one of the suspected householdrefuse to submit to the ordeal of bier right?"

  "He may appeal to that of combat," said the reverend city scribe, "withan opponent of equal rank; because the accused person must have hischoice, in the appeal to the judgment of God, by what ordeal he willbe tried. But if he refuses both, he must be held as guilty, and sopunished."

 
The sages of the council unanimously agreed with the opinion of theirprovost and town clerk, and resolved, in all formality, to petitionthe King, as a matter of right, that the murder of their fellow citizenshould be inquired into according to this ancient form, which was heldto manifest the truth, and received as matter of evidence in case ofmurder so late as towards the end of the 17th century. But before themeeting dissolved, Bailie Craigdallie thought it meet to inquire whowas to be the champion of Maudie, or Magdalen, Proudfute and her twochildren.

  "There need be little inquiry about that," said Sir Patrick Charteris;"we are men, and wear swords, which should be broken over the headof any one amongst us who will not draw it in behalf of the widow andorphans of our murdered fellow citizen, and in brave revenge of hisdeath. If Sir John Ramorny shall personally resent the inquiry, PatrickCharteris of Kinfauns will do battle with him to the outrance, whilsthorse and man may stand, or spear and blade hold together. But in casethe challenger be of yeomanly degree, well wot I that Magdalen Proudfutemay choose her own champion among the bravest burghers of Perth, andshame and dishonour were it to the Fair City for ever could she lightupon one who were traitor and coward enough to say her nay! Bring herhither, that she may make her election."

  Henry Smith heard this with a melancholy anticipation that the poorwoman's choice would light upon him, and that his recent reconciliationwith his mistress would be again dissolved, by his being engaged in afresh quarrel, from which there lay no honourable means of escape, andwhich, in any other circumstances, he would have welcomed as a gloriousopportunity of distinguishing himself, both in sight of the court andof the city. He was aware that, under the tuition of Father Clement,Catharine viewed the ordeal of battle rather as an insult to religionthan an appeal to the Deity, and did not consider it as reasonable thatsuperior strength of arm or skill of weapon should be resorted to as theproof of moral guilt or innocence. He had, therefore, much to fear fromher peculiar opinions in this particular, refined as they were beyondthose of the age she lived in.

  While he thus suffered under these contending feelings, Magdalen,the widow of the slaughtered man, entered the court, wrapt in a deepmourning veil, and followed and supported by five or six women of good(that is, of respectability) dressed in the same melancholy attire. Oneof her attendants held an infant in her arms, the last pledge of poorOliver's nuptial affections. Another led a little tottering creature oftwo years, or thereabouts, which looked with wonder and fear, sometimeson the black dress in which they had muffled him, and sometimes on thescene around him.

  The assembly rose to receive the melancholy group, and saluted them withan expression of the deepest sympathy, which Magdalen, though the mateof poor Oliver, returned with an air of dignity, which she borrowed,perhaps, from the extremity of her distress. Sir Patrick Charteris thenstepped forward, and with the courtesy of a knight to a female, and of aprotector to an oppressed and injured widow, took the poor woman's hand,and explained to her briefly by what course the city had resolved tofollow out the vengeance due for her husband's slaughter.

  Having, with a softness and gentleness which did not belong to hisgeneral manner, ascertained that the unfortunate woman perfectlyunderstood what was meant, he said aloud to the assembly: "Good citizensof Perth, and freeborn men of guild and craft, attend to what isabout to pass, for it concerns your rights and privileges. Here standsMagdalen Proudfute, desirous to follow forth the revenge due for thedeath of her husband, foully murdered, as she sayeth, by Sir JohnRamorny, Knight, of that Ilk, and which she offers to prove, by theevidence of bier right, or by the body of a man. Therefore, I, PatrickCharteris, being a belted knight and freeborn gentleman, offer myself todo battle in her just quarrel, whilst man and horse may endure, if anyone of my degree shall lift my glove. How say you, Magdalen Proudfute,will you accept me for your champion?"

  The widow answered with difficulty: "I can desire none nobler."

  Sir Patrick then took her right hand in his, and, kissing her forehead,for such was the ceremony, said solemnly: "So may God and St. Johnprosper me at my need, as I will do my devoir as your champion,knightly, truly, and manfully. Go now, Magdalen, and choose at your willamong the burgesses of the Fair City, present or absent, any one uponwhom you desire to rest your challenge, if he against whom you bringplaint shall prove to be beneath my degree."

  All eyes were turned to Henry Smith, whom the general voice had alreadypointed out as in every respect the fittest to act as champion on theoccasion. But the widow waited not for the general prompting of theirlooks. As soon as Sir Patrick had spoken, she crossed the floor to theplace where, near the bottom of the table, the armourer stood among themen of his degree, and took him by the hand.

  "Henry Gow, or Smith," she said, "good burgher and draftsman, my--my--"

  "Husband," she would have said, but the word would not come forth: shewas obliged to change the expression.

  "He who is gone, loved and prized you over all men; therefore meet it isthat thou shouldst follow out the quarrel of his widow and orphans."

  If there had been a possibility, which in that age there was not, ofHenry's rejecting or escaping from a trust for which all men seemed todestine him, every wish and idea of retreat was cut off when the widowbegan to address him; and a command from Heaven could hardly have made astronger impression than did the appeal of the unfortunate Magdalen. Herallusion to his intimacy with the deceased moved him to the soul. DuringOliver's life, doubtless, there had been a strain of absurdity in hisexcessive predilection for Henry, which, considering how very differentthey were in character, had in it something ludicrous. But all thiswas now forgotten, and Henry, giving way to his natural ardour, onlyremembered that Oliver had been his friend and intimate--a man who hadloved and honoured him as much as he was capable of entertaining suchsentiments for any one, and, above all, that there was much reason tosuspect that the deceased had fallen victim to a blow meant for Henryhimself.

  It was, therefore, with an alacrity which, the minute before, he couldscarce have commanded, and which seemed to express a stern pleasure,that, having pressed his lips to the cold brow of the unhappy Magdalen,the armourer replied:

  "I, Henry the Smith, dwelling in the Wynd of Perth, good man and true,and freely born, accept the office of champion to this widow Magdalenand these orphans, and will do battle in their quarrel to the death,with any man whomsoever of my own degree, and that so long as I shalldraw breath. So help me at my need God and good St. John!"

  There arose from the audience a half suppressed cry, expressing theinterest which the persons present took in the prosecution of thequarrel, and their confidence in the issue.

  Sir Patrick Charteris then took measures for repairing to the King'spresence, and demanding leave to proceed with inquiry into the murderof Oliver Proudfute, according to the custom of bier right, and, ifnecessary, by combat.

  He performed this duty after the town council had dissolved, in aprivate interview between himself and the King, who heard of this newtrouble with much vexation, and appointed next morning, after mass,for Sir Patrick and the parties interested to attend his pleasure incouncil. In the mean time, a royal pursuivant was despatched to theConstable's lodgings, to call over the roll of Sir John Ramorny'sattendants, and charge him, with his whole retinue, under highpenalties, to abide within Perth until the King's pleasure should befarther known.