by Walter Scott
CHAPTER LXX
DOLCE DOMUM
The impression of horror with which Waverley left Carlisle softenedby degrees into melancholy--a gradation which was accelerated by thepainful, yet soothing, task of writing to Rose; and, while he could notsuppress his own feelings of the calamity, he endeavoured to place itin a light which might grieve her without shocking her imagination. Thepicture which he drew for her benefit he gradually familiarized to hisown mind; and his next letters were more cheerful, and referred to theprospects of peace and happiness which lay before them. Yet, though hisfirst horrible sensations had sunk into melancholy, Edward had reachedhis native county before he could, as usual on former occasions, lookround for enjoyment upon the face of nature.
He then, for the first time since leaving Edinburgh, began to experiencethat pleasure which almost all feel who return to a verdant, populous,and highly cultivated country, from scenes of waste desolation, or ofsolitary and melancholy grandeur. But how were those feelings enhancedwhen he entered on the domain so long possessed by his forefathers;recognized the old oaks of Waverley-Chase; thought with what delight heshould introduce Rose to all his favourite haunts; beheld at length thetowers of the venerable hall arise above the woods which embowered it,and finally threw himself into the arms of the venerable relations towhom he owed so much duty and affection!
The happiness of their meeting was not tarnished by a single word ofreproach. On the contrary, whatever pain Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachel hadfelt during Waverley's perilous engagement with the young Chevalier, itassorted too well with the principles in which they had been brought up,to incur reprobation, or even censure. Colonel Talbot also had smoothedthe way, with great address, for Edward's favourable reception,by dwelling upon his gallant behaviour in the military character,particularly his bravery and generosity at Preston; until, warmed at theidea of their nephew's engaging in single combat, making prisoner,and saving from slaughter, so distinguished an officer as the Colonelhimself, the imagination of the Baronet and his sister ranked theexploits of Edward with those of Wilibert, Hildebrand, and Nigel, thevaunted heroes of their line.
The appearance of Waverley, embrowned by exercise, and dignified bythe habits of military discipline, had acquired an athletic andhardy character, which not only verified the Colonel's narration, butsurprised and delighted all the inhabitants of Waverley-Honour. Theycrowded to see, to hear him, and to sing his praises. Mr. Pembroke, whosecretly extolled his spirit and courage in embracing the genuine causeof the Church of England, censured his pupil gently, nevertheless,for being so careless of his manuscripts, which indeed, he said, hadoccasioned him some personal inconvenience, as, upon the Baronet's beingarrested by a king's messenger, he had deemed it prudent to retire to aconcealment called 'The Priest's Hole,' from the use it had been put toin former days; where, he assured our hero, the butler had thought itsafe to venture with food only once in the day, so that he had beenrepeatedly compelled to dine upon victuals either absolutely cold, or,what was worse, only half warm, not to mention that sometimes hisbed had not been arranged for two days together. Waverley's mindinvoluntarily turned to the Patmos of the Baron of Bradwardine, who waswell pleased with Janet's fare, and a few bunches of straw stowed ina cleft in the front of a sand-cliff: but he made no remarks upon acontrast which could only mortify his worthy tutor.
All was now in a bustle to prepare for the nuptials of Edward, an eventto which the good old Baronet and Mrs. Rachel looked forward as ifto the renewal of their own youth. The match, as Colonel Talbot hadintimated, had seemed to them in the highest degree eligible, havingevery recommendation but wealth, of which they themselves had more thanenough. Mr. Clippurse was therefore summoned to Waverley-Honour, underbetter auspices than at the commencement of our story. But Mr. Clippursecame not alone; for, being now stricken in years, he had associated withhim a nephew, a younger vulture (as our English Juvenal, who tellsthe tale of Swallow the attorney, might have called him), and theynow carried on business as Messrs. Clippurse and Hookem. These worthygentlemen had directions to make the necessary settlements on the mostsplendid scale of liberality, as if Edward were to wed a peeress in herown right, with her paternal estate tacked to the fringe of her ermine.
But before entering upon a subject of proverbial delay, I must remind myreader of the progress of a stone rolled down hill by an idle truant boy(a pastime at which I was myself expert in my more juvenile years):it moves at first slowly, avoiding by inflection every obstacle of theleast importance; but when it has attained its full impulse, and drawsnear the conclusion of its career, it smokes and thunders down, takinga rood at every spring, clearing hedge and ditch like a Yorkshirehuntsman, and becoming most furiously rapid in its course when it isnearest to being consigned to rest for ever. Even such is the courseof a narrative like that which you are perusing. The earlier events arestudiously dwelt upon, that you, kind reader, may be introduced tothe character rather by narrative, than by the duller medium of directdescription; but when the story draws near its close, we hurry overthe circumstances, however important, which your imagination must haveforestalled, and leave you to suppose those things which it would beabusing your patience to relate at length.
We are, therefore, so far from attempting to trace the dull progress ofMessrs. Clippurse and Hookem, or that of their worthy official brethren,who had the charge of suing out the pardons of Edward Waverley andhis intended father-in-law, that we can but touch upon matters moreattractive. The mutual epistles, for example, which were exchangedbetween Sir Everard and the Baron upon this occasion, though matchlessspecimens of eloquence in their way, must be consigned to mercilessoblivion. Nor can I tell you at length, how worthy Aunt Rachel, notwithout a delicate and affectionate allusion to the circumstances whichhad transferred Rose's maternal diamonds to the hands of Donald BeanLean, stocked her casket with a set of jewels that a duchess might haveenvied. Moreover, the reader will have the goodness to imagine that JobHoughton and his dame were suitably provided for, although they couldnever be persuaded that their son fell otherwise than fighting by theyoung squire's side; so that Alick, who, as a lover of truth, had mademany needless attempts to expound the real circumstances to them, wasfinally ordered to say not a word more upon the subject. He indemnifiedhimself, however, by the liberal allowance of desperate battles,grisly executions, and rawhead and bloody-bone stories, with which heastonished the servants' hall.
But although these important matters may be briefly told in narrative,like a newspaper report of a Chancery suit, yet, with all the urgencywhich Waverley could use, the real time which the law proceedingsoccupied, joined to the delay occasioned by the mode of travelling atthat period, rendered it considerably more than two months ere Waverley,having left England, alighted once more at the mansion of the Laird ofDuchran to claim the hand of his plighted bride.
The day of his marriage was fixed for the sixth after his arrival. TheBaron of Bradwardine, with whom bridals, christenings, and funerals,were festivals of high and solemn import, felt a little hurt, that,including the family of the Duchran, and all the immediate vicinity whohad title to be present on such an occasion, there could not be abovethirty persons collected. 'When he was married,' he observed, 'threehundred horse of gentlemen born, besides servants, and some score ortwo of Highland lairds, who never got on horseback, were present on theoccasion.'
But his pride found some consolation in reflecting, that he and hisson-in-law having been so lately in arms against Government, it, mightgive matter of reasonable fear and offence to the ruling powers, ifthey were to collect together the kith, kin, and allies of their houses,arrayed in effeir of war, as was the ancient custom of Scotland on theseoccasions--'And, without dubitation,' he concluded with a sigh, 'many ofthose who would have rejoiced most freely upon these joyful espousals,are either gone to a better place, or are now exiles from their nativeland.'
The marriage took place on the appointed day. The Reverend Mr. Rubrick,kinsman to the proprietor of the hospitable mansion where it w
assolemnized, and chaplain to the Baron of Bradwardine, had thesatisfaction to unite their hands; and Frank Stanley acted as bridesman,having joined Edward with that view soon after his arrival. Lady Emilyand Colonel Talbot had proposed being present; but Lady Emily's health,when the day approached, was found inadequate to the journey. In amends,it was arranged that Edward Waverley and his lady, who, with the Baron,proposed an immediate journey to Waverley-Honour, should, in their way,spend a few days at an estate which Colonel Talbot had been tempted topurchase in Scotland as a very great bargain, and at which he proposedto reside for some time.
