CHAPTER XVI Our Polly is a sad slut, nor heeds what we have taught her, I wonder any man alive will ever rear a daughter, For when she's drest with care and cost, all tempting, fine, and gay, As men should serve a cucumber, she flings herself away.
Beggar's Opera.
After the death of Mr. Bertram, Mannering had set out upon a short tour,proposing to return to the neighbourhood of Ellangowan before the sale ofthat property should take place. He went, accordingly, to Edinburgh andelsewhere, and it was in his return towards the south-western district ofScotland, in which our scene lies, that, at a post-town about a hundredmiles from Kippletringan, to which he had requested his friend, Mr.Mervyn, to address his letters, he received one from that gentleman whichcontained rather unpleasing intelligence. We have assumed already theprivilege of acting a secretis to this gentleman, and therefore shallpresent the reader with an extract from this epistle.
'I beg your pardon, my dearest friend, for the pain I have given you inforcing you to open wounds so festering as those your letter referred to.I have always heard, though erroneously perhaps, that the attentions ofMr. Brown were intended for Miss Mannering. But, however that were, itcould not be supposed that in your situation his boldness should escapenotice and chastisement. Wise men say that we resign to civil society ournatural rights of self-defence only on condition that the ordinances oflaw should protect us. Where the price cannot be paid, the resignationbecomes void. For instance, no one supposes that I am not entitled todefend my purse and person against a highwayman, as much as if I were awild Indian, who owns neither law nor magistracy. The question ofresistance or submission must be determined by my means and situation.But if, armed and equal in force, I submit to injustice and violence fromany man, high or low, I presume it will hardly be attributed to religiousor moral feeling in me, or in any one but a Quaker. An aggression on myhonour seems to me much the same. The insult, however trifling in itself,is one of much deeper consequence to all views in life than any wrongwhich can be inflicted by a depredator on the highway, and to redress theinjured party is much less in the power of public jurisprudence, orrather it is entirely beyond its reach. If any man chooses to rob ArthurMervyn of the contents of his purse, supposing the said Arthur has notmeans of defence, or the skill and courage to use them, the assizes atLancaster or Carlisle will do him justice by tucking up the robber; yetwho will say I am bound to wait for this justice, and submit to beingplundered in the first instance, if I have myself the means and spirit toprotect my own property? But if an affront is offered to me, submissionunder which is to tarnish my character for ever with men of honour, andfor which the twelve judges of England, with the chancellor to boot, canafford me no redress, by what rule of law or reason am I to be deterredfrom protecting what ought to be, and is, so infinitely dearer to everyman of honour than his whole fortune? Of the religious views of thematter I shall say nothing, until I find a reverend divine who shallcondemn self-defence in the article of life and property. If itspropriety in that case be generally admitted, I suppose littledistinction can be drawn between defence of person and goods andprotection of reputation. That the latter is liable to be assailed bypersons of a different rank in life, untainted perhaps in morals, andfair in character, cannot affect my legal right of self-defence. I may besorry that circumstances have engaged me in personal strife with such anindividual; but I should feel the same sorrow for a generous enemy whofell under my sword in a national quarrel. I shall leave the questionwith the casuists, however; only observing, that what I have written willnot avail either the professed duellist or him who is the aggressor in adispute of honour. I only presume to exculpate him who is dragged intothe field by such an offence as, submitted to in patience, would forfeitfor ever his rank and estimation in society.
'I am sorry you have thoughts of settling in Scotland, and yet glad thatyou will still be at no immeasurable distance, and that the latitude isall in our favour. To move to Westmoreland from Devonshire might make anEast-Indian shudder; but to come to us from Galloway or Dumfries-shire isa step, though a short one, nearer the sun. Besides, if, as I suspect,the estate in view be connected with the old haunted castle in which youplayed the astrologer in your northern tour some twenty years since, Ihave heard you too often describe the scene with comic unction to hopeyou will be deterred from making the purchase. I trust, however, thehospitable gossiping Laird has not run himself upon the shallows, andthat his chaplain, whom you so often made us laugh at, is still in rerumnatura.
'And here, dear Mannering, I wish I could stop, for I have incrediblepain in telling the rest of my story; although I am sure I can warn youagainst any intentional impropriety on the part of my temporary ward,Julia Mannering. But I must still earn my college nickname of DownrightDunstable. In one word, then, here is the matter.
'Your daughter has much of the romantic turn of your disposition, with alittle of that love of admiration which all pretty women share less ormore. She will besides, apparently, be your heiress; a triflingcircumstance to those who view Julia with my eyes, but a prevailing baitto the specious, artful, and worthless. You know how I have jested withher about her soft melancholy, and lonely walks at morning before any oneis up, and in the moonlight when all should be gone to bed, or set downto cards, which is the same thing. The incident which follows may not bebeyond the bounds of a joke, but I had rather the jest upon it came fromyou than me.
'Two or three times during the last fortnight I heard, at a late hour inthe night or very early in the morning, a flageolet play the little Hindutune to which your daughter is so partial. I thought for some time thatsome tuneful domestic, whose taste for music was laid under constraintduring the day, chose that silent hour to imitate the strains which hehad caught up by the ear during his attendance in the drawing-room. Butlast night I sat late in my study, which is immediately under MissMannering's apartment, and to my surprise I not only heard the flageoletdistinctly, but satisfied myself that it came from the lake under thewindow. Curious to know who serenaded us at that unusual hour, I stolesoftly to the window of my apartment. But there were other watchers thanme. You may remember, Miss Mannering preferred that apartment on accountof a balcony which opened from her window upon the lake. Well, sir, Iheard the sash of her window thrown up, the shutters opened, and her ownvoice in conversation with some person who answered from below. This isnot "Much ado about nothing"; I could not be mistaken in her voice, andsuch tones, so soft, so insinuating; and, to say the truth, the accentsfrom below were in passion's tenderest cadence too,--but of the sense Ican say nothing. I raised the sash of my own window that I might hearsomething more than the mere murmur of this Spanish rendezvous; but,though I used every precaution, the noise alarmed the speakers; down slidthe young lady's casement, and the shutters were barred in an instant.The dash of a pair of oars in the water announced the retreat of the maleperson of the dialogue. Indeed, I saw his boat, which he rowed with greatswiftness and dexterity, fly across the lake like a twelve-oared barge.Next morning I examined some of my domestics, as if by accident, and Ifound the gamekeeper, when making his rounds, had twice seen that boatbeneath the house, with a single person, and had heard the flageolet. Idid not care to press any farther questions, for fear of implicatingJulia in the opinions of those of whom they might be asked. Next morning,at breakfast, I dropped a casual hint about the serenade of the eveningbefore, and I promise you Miss Mannering looked red and pale alternately.I immediately gave the circumstance such a turn as might lead her tosuppose that my observation was merely casual. I have since caused awatch-light to be burnt in my library, and have left the shutters open,to deter the approach of our nocturnal guest; and I have stated theseverity of approaching winter, and the rawness of the fogs, as anobjection to solitary walks. Miss Mannering acquiesced with a passivenesswhich is no part of her character, and which, to tell you the plaintruth, is a feature about the business which I like least of all. Juliahas too much of her own dear papa's disposition to be curbed in any of
her humours, were there not some little lurking consciousness that it maybe as prudent to avoid debate.
'Now my story is told, and you will judge what you ought to do. I havenot mentioned the matter to my good woman, who, a faithful secretary toher sex's foibles, would certainly remonstrate against your being madeacquainted with these particulars, and might, instead, take it into herhead to exercise her own eloquence on Miss Mannering; a faculty which,however powerful when directed against me, its legitimate object, might,I fear, do more harm than good in the case supposed. Perhaps even youyourself will find it most prudent to act without remonstrating, orappearing to be aware of this little anecdote. Julia is very like acertain friend of mine; she has a quick and lively imagination, and keenfeelings, which are apt to exaggerate both the good and evil they find inlife. She is a charming girl, however, as generous and spirited as she islovely. I paid her the kiss you sent her with all my heart, and sherapped my ringers for my reward with all hers. Pray return as soon as youcan. Meantime rely upon the care of, yours faithfully, 'ARTHUR MERVYN.
'P.S.--You will naturally wish to know if I have the least guessconcerning the person of the serenader. In truth, I have none. There isno young gentleman of these parts, who might be in rank or fortune amatch for Miss Julia, that I think at all likely to play such acharacter. But on the other side of the lake, nearly opposite to MervynHall, is a d--d cake-house, the resort of walking gentlemen of alldescriptions--poets, players, painters, musicians--who come to rave, andrecite, and madden about this picturesque land of ours. It is paying somepenalty for its beauties, that they are the means of drawing this swarmof coxcombs together. But were Julia my daughter, it is one of those sortof fellows that I should fear on her account. She is generous andromantic, and writes six sheets a week to a female correspondent; andit's a sad thing to lack a subject in such a case, either for exercise ofthe feelings or of the pen. Adieu, once more. Were I to treat this mattermore seriously than I have done, I should do injustice to your feelings;were I altogether to overlook it, I should discredit my own.'
The consequence of this letter was, that, having first despatched thefaithless messenger with the necessary powers to Mr. Mac-Morlan forpurchasing the estate of Ellangowan, Colonel Mannering turned his horse'shead in a more southerly direction, and neither 'stinted nor staid' untilhe arrived at the mansion of his friend Mr. Mervyn, upon the banks of oneof the lakes of Westmoreland.