by Walter Scott
CHAPTER LXVIII:
To-morrow? Oh that's sudden! Spare him! spare him! SHAKESPEARE.
Edward, attended by his former servant Alick Polwarth, who hadre-entered his service at Edinburgh, reached Carlisle while thecommission of Oyer and Terminer on his unfortunate associates was yetsitting. He had pushed forward in haste,--not, alas! with the mostdistant hope of saving Fergus, but to see him for the last time. I oughtto have mentioned, that he had furnished funds for the defence of theprisoners in the most liberal manner, as soon as he heard that the dayof trial was fixed. A solicitor, and the first counsel, accordinglyattended; but it was upon the same footing on which the first physiciansare usually summoned to the bedside of some dying man of rank;--thedoctors to take the advantage of some incalculable chance of an exertionof nature--the lawyers to avail themselves of the barely possibleoccurrence of some legal flaw. Edward pressed into the court, which wasextremely crowded; but by his arriving from the north, and his extremeeagerness and agitation, it was supposed he was a relation of theprisoners, and people made way for him. It was the third sitting ofthe court, and there were two men at the bar. The verdict of GUILTY wasalready pronounced. Edward just glanced at the bar during the momentouspause which ensued. There was no mistaking the stately form and noblefeatures of Fergus Mac-Ivor, although his dress was squalid, andhis countenance tinged with the sickly yellow hue of long and closeimprisonment. By his side was Evan Maccombich. Edward felt sick anddizzy as he gazed on them; but he was recalled to himself as theClerk of the Arraigns pronounced the solemn words: 'Fergus Mac-Ivor ofGlennaquoich, otherwise called Vich Ian Vohr, and Evan Mac-Ivor, in theDhu of Tarrascleugh, otherwise called Evan Dhu, otherwise calledEvan Maccombich, or Evan Dhu Maccombich--you, and each of you, standattainted of high treason. What have you to say for yourselves why theCourt should not pronounce judgement against you, that you die accordingto law?'
Fergus, as the presiding Judge was putting on the fatal cap ofjudgement, placed his own bonnet upon his head, regarded him with asteadfast and stern look, and replied in a firm voice, 'I cannot letthis numerous audience suppose that to such an appeal I have no answerto make. But what I have to say, you would not bear to hear, for mydefence would be your condemnation. Proceed, then, in the name of God,to do what is permitted to you. Yesterday, and the day before, you havecondemned loyal and honourable blood to be poured forth like water.Spare not mine. Were that of all my ancestors in my veins, I would haveperil'd it in this quarrel.' He resumed his seat, and refused again torise.
Evan Maccombich looked at him with great earnestness, and, risingup, seemed anxious to speak; but the confusion of the court, and theperplexity arising from thinking in a language different from that inwhich he was to express himself, kept him silent. There was a murmurof compassion among the spectators, from an idea that the poor fellowintended to plead the influence of his superior as an excuse for hiscrime. The Judge commanded silence, and encouraged Evan to proceed.
'I was only ganging to say, my lord,' said Evan, in what he meant tobe in an insinuating manner, 'that if your excellent honour, and thehonourable Court, would let Vich Ian Vohr go free just this once, andlet him gae back to France, and no to trouble King George's governmentagain, that ony six o' the very best of his clan will be willing tobe justified in his stead; and if you'll just let me gae down toGlennaquoich, I'll fetch them up to ye mysel, to head or hang, and youmay begin wi' me the very first man.'
Notwithstanding the solemnity of the occasion, a sort of laugh was heardin the court at the extraordinary nature of the proposal. The Judgechecked this indecency, and Evan, looking sternly around, when themurmur abated, 'If the Saxon gentlemen are laughing,' he said, 'becausea poor man, such as me, thinks my life, or the life of six of my degree,is worth that of Vich Ian Vohr, it's like enough they may be very right;but if they laugh because they think I would not keep my word, and comeback to redeem him, I can tell them they ken neither the heart of aHielandman, nor the honour of a gentleman.'
There was no further inclination to laugh among the audience, and a deadsilence ensued.
The Judge then pronounced upon both prisoners the sentence of the lawof high treason, with all its horrible accompaniments. The execution wasappointed for the ensuing day. 'For you, Fergus Mac-Ivor,' continuedthe Judge, 'I can hold out no hope of mercy. You must prepareagainst to-morrow for your last sufferings here, and your great audithereafter.'
'I desire nothing else, my lord,' answered Fergus, in the same manly andfirm tone.
The hard eyes of Evan, which had been perpetually bent on his Chief,were moistened with a tear. 'For you, poor ignorant man,' continued theJudge, 'who, following the ideas in which you have been educated, havethis day given us a striking example how the loyalty due to the kingand state alone, is, from your unhappy ideas of clanship, transferredto some ambitious individual, who ends by making you the tool of hiscrimes--for you, I say, I feel so much compassion, that if you can makeup your mind to petition for grace, I will endeavour to procure if foryou. Otherwise--'
'Grace me no grace,' said Evan; 'since you are to shed Vich Ian Vohr'sblood, the only favour I would accept from you, is--to bid them loose myhands and gie me my claymore, and bide you just a minute sitting whereyou are!'
'Remove the prisoners,' said the Judge; 'his blood be upon his ownhead.'
Almost stupefied with his feelings, Edward found that the rush of thecrowd had conveyed him out into the street, ere he knew what he wasdoing.--His immediate wish was to see and speak with Fergus once more.He applied at the Castle where his unfortunate friend was confined, butwas refused admittance. 'The High Sheriff,' a non-commissioned officersaid, 'had requested of the governor that none should be admitted to seethe prisoner excepting his confessor and his sister.'
'And where was Miss Mac-Ivor?' They gave him the direction, It was thehouse of a respectable Catholic family near Carlisle.
Repulsed from the gate of the Castle, and not venturing to makeapplication to the High Sheriff or Judges in his own unpopular name,he had recourse to the solicitor who came down in Fergus's behalf. Thisgentleman told him, that it was thought the public mind was in danger ofbeing debauched by the account of the last moments of these persons, asgiven by the friends of the Pretender; that there had been a resolution,therefore, to exclude all such persons as had not the plea of nearkindred for attending upon them. Yet he promised (to oblige the heir ofWaverley-Honour) to get him an order for admittance to the prisoner thenext morning, before his irons were knocked off for execution.
'Is it of Fergus Mac-Ivor they speak thus,' thought Waverley 'or do Idream? of Fergus, the bold, the chivalrous, the free-minded,--the loftychieftain of a tribe devoted to him? Is it he, that I have seen lead thechase and head the attack,--the brave, the active, the young, the noble,the love of ladies, and the theme of song,--is it he who is ironed likea malefactor--who is to be dragged on a hurdle to the common gallows--todie a lingering and cruel death, and to be mangled by the hand of themost outcast of wretches? Evil indeed was the spectre that boded such afate as this to the brave Chief of Glennaquoich!'
With a faltering voice he requested the solicitor to find means to warnFergus of his intended visit, should he obtain permission to make it. Hethen turned away from him, and, returning to the inn, wrote a scarcelyintelligible note to Flora Mac-Ivor, intimating his purpose to waitupon her that evening. The messenger brought back a letter in Flora'sbeautiful Italian hand, which seemed scarce to tremble even under thisload of misery. 'Miss Flora Mac-Ivor,' the letter bore, 'could notrefuse to see the dearest friend of her dear brother, even in herpresent circumstances of unparalleled distress.'
When Edward reached Miss Mac-Ivor's present place of abode, he wasinstantly admitted. In a large and gloomy tapestried apartment, Florawas seated by a latticed window, sewing what seemed to be a garment ofwhite flannel. At a little distance sat an elderly woman, apparentlya foreigner, and of a religious order. She was reading in a book ofCatholic devotion; but when Waverley entered, laid
it on the table andleft the room. Flora rose to receive him, and stretched out her hand,but neither ventured to attempt speech. Her fine complexion was totallygone; her person considerably emaciated; and her face and hands as whiteas the purest statuary marble, forming a strong contrast with her sabledress and jet-black hair. Yet, amid these marks of distress, therewas nothing negligent or ill-arranged about her attire; even her hair,though totally without ornament, was disposed with her usual attentionto neatness. The first words she uttered were, 'Have you seen him?'
'Alas, no,' answered Waverley; 'I have been refused admittance.'
'It accords with the rest,' she said; 'but we must submit. Shall youobtain leave, do you suppose?'
'For--for--to-morrow,' said Waverley; but muttering the last word sofaintly that it was almost unintelligible.
'Aye, then or never,' said Flora, 'until'--she added, looking upward,'the time when, I trust, we shall all meet. But I hope you will see himwhile earth yet bears him. He always loved you at his heart, though--butit is vain to talk of the past.'
'Vain indeed!' echoed Waverley.
'Or even of the future, my good friend,' said Flora, 'so far as earthlyevents are concerned; for how often have I pictured to myself the strongpossibility of this horrid issue, and tasked myself to consider how Icould support my part; and yet how far has all my anticipation fallenshort of the unimaginable bitterness of this hour!'
'Dear Flora, if your strength of mind'--
'Aye, there it is,' she answered, somewhat wildly; 'there is, Mr.Waverley, there is a busy devil at my heart, that whispers--but it weremadness to listen to it--that the strength of mind on which Flora pridedherself has murdered her brother!'
'Good God! how can you give utterance to a thought so shocking?'
'Aye, is it not so?--but yet it haunts me like a phantom: I know it isunsubstantial and vain; but it will be present--will intrude its horrorson my mind--will whisper that my brother, as volatile as ardent, wouldhave divided his energies amid a hundred objects. It was I who taughthim to concentrate them, and to gage all on this dreadful and desperatecast. Oh that I could recollect that I had but once said to him, "Hethat striketh with the sword shall die by the sword"; that I had butonce said, Remain at home; reserve yourself, your vassals, your life,for enterprises within the reach of man. But oh, Mr. Waverley, I spurredhis fiery temper, and half of his ruin at least lies with his sister.'
The horrid idea which she had intimated, Edward endeavoured to combat byevery incoherent argument that occurred to him. He recalled to her theprinciples on which both thought it their duty to act, and in which theyhad been educated.
'Do not think I have forgotten them,' she said, looking up, with eagerquickness; 'I do not regret his attempt, because it was wrong--oh no!on that point I am armed--but because it was impossible it could endotherwise than thus.'
'Yet it did not always seem so desperate and hazardous as it was; andit would have been chosen by the bold spirit of Fergus, whether youhad approved it or no; your counsels only served to give unity andconsistence to his conduct; to dignify, but not to precipitate hisresolution.' Flora had soon ceased to listen to Edward, and was againintent upon her needlework.
'Do you remember,' she said, looking up with a ghastly smile, 'youonce found me making Fergus's bride-favours, and now I am sewing hisbridal-garment. Our friends here,' she continued, with suppressedemotion, 'are to give hallowed earth in their chapel to the bloodyrelies of the last Vich Ian Vohr. But they will not all rest together;no--his head!---I shall not have the last miserable consolation ofkissing the cold lips of my dear, dear Fergus!'
The unfortunate Flora here, after one or two hysterical sobs, faintedin her chair. The lady, who had been attending in the ante-room, nowentered hastily, and begged Edward to leave the room, but not the house.
When he was recalled, after the space of nearly half an hour, he foundthat, by a strong effort, Miss Mac-Ivor had greatly composed herself. Itwas then he ventured to urge Miss Bradwardine's claim to be consideredas an adopted sister, and empowered to assist her plans for the future.
'I have had a letter from my dear Rose,' she replied, 'to the samepurpose. Sorrow is selfish and engrossing, or I would have written toexpress that, even in my own despair, I felt a gleam of pleasure atlearning her happy prospects, and at hearing that the good old Baron hasescaped the general wreck. Give this to my dearest Rose; it is her poorFlora's only ornament of value, and was the gift of a princess.' She putinto his hands a case containing the chain of diamonds with which sheused to decorate her hair. 'To me it is in future useless. The kindnessof my friends has secured me a retreat in the convent of the ScottishBenedictine nuns in Paris. To-morrow--if indeed I can surviveto-morrow--I set forward on my journey with this venerable sister. Andnow, Mr. Waverley, adieu! May you be as happy with Rose as your amiabledispositions deserve!--and think sometimes on the friends you have lost.Do not attempt to see me again; it would be mistaken kindness.'
She gave him her hand, on which Edward shed a torrent of tears, and,with a faltering step, withdrew from the apartment, and returned tothe town of Carlisle. At the inn he found a letter from his law friend,intimating that he would be admitted to Fergus next morning as soon asthe Castle gates were opened, and permitted to remain with him till thearrival of the Sheriff gave signal for the fatal procession.
