CHAPTER XIII Bring in the evidence. Thou robed man of justice, take thy place, And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, Bench by his side; you are of the commission, Sit you too.
King Lear.
While the carriage was getting ready, Glossin had a letter to compose,about which he wasted no small time. It was to his neighbour, as he wasfond of calling him, Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood, the head of anancient and powerful interest in the county, which had in the decadenceof the Ellangowan family gradually succeeded to much of their authorityand influence. The present representative of the family was an elderlyman, dotingly fond of his own family, which was limited to an only sonand daughter, and stoically indifferent to the fate of all mankindbesides. For the rest, he was honourable in his general dealings becausehe was afraid to suffer the censure of the world, and just from a bettermotive. He was presumptuously over-conceited on the score of family prideand importance, a feeling considerably enhanced by his late succession tothe title of a Nova Scotia baronet; and he hated the memory of theEllangowan family, though now a memory only, because a certain baron ofthat house was traditionally reported to have caused the founder of theHazlewood family hold his stirrup until he mounted into his saddle. Inhis general deportment he was pompous and important, affecting a speciesof florid elocution, which often became ridiculous from his misarrangingthe triads and quaternions with which he loaded his sentences.
To this personage Glossin was now to write in such a conciliatory styleas might be most acceptable to his vanity and family pride, and thefollowing was the form of his note:--
'Mr. Gilbert Glossin' (he longed to add of Ellangowan, but prudenceprevailed, and he suppressed that territorial designation)--'Mr. GilbertGlossin has the honour to offer his most respectful compliments to SirRobert Hazlewood, and to inform him that he has this morning beenfortunate enough to secure the person who wounded Mr. C. Hazlewood. AsSir Robert Hazlewood may probably choose to conduct the examination ofthis criminal himself, Mr. G. Glossin will cause the man to be carried tothe inn at Kippletringan or to Hazlewood House, as Sir Robert Hazlewoodmay be pleased to direct. And, with Sir Robert Hazlewood's permission,Mr. G. Glossin will attend him at either of these places with the proofsand declarations which he has been so fortunate as to collect respectingthis atrocious business.'
Addressed,
'Sir ROBERT HAZLEWOOD of Hazlewood, Bart. 'Hazlewood House, etc. etc.
'ELLN GN.
'Tuesday.'
This note he despatched by a servant on horseback, and having given theman some time to get ahead, and desired him to ride fast, he ordered twoofficers of justice to get into the carriage with Bertram; and hehimself, mounting his horse, accompanied them at a slow pace to the pointwhere the roads to Kippletringan and Hazlewood House separated, and thereawaited the return of his messenger, in order that his farther routemight be determined by the answer he should receive from the Baronet. Inabout half an hour, his servant returned with the following answer,handsomely folded, and sealed with the Hazlewood arms, having the NovaScotia badge depending from the shield:--
'Sir Robert Hazlewood of Hazlewood returns Mr. G. Glossin's compliments,and thanks him for the trouble he has taken in a matter affecting thesafety of Sir Robert's family. Sir R.H. requests Mr. G.G. will have thegoodness to bring the prisoner to Hazlewood House for examination, withthe other proofs or declarations which he mentions. And after thebusiness is over, in case Mr. G.G. is not otherwise engaged, Sir R. andLady Hazlewood request his company to dinner.'
Addressed,
'Mr. GILBERT GLOSSIN, etc. 'HAZLEWOOD HOUSE, Tuesday.'
'Soh!' thought Mr. Glossin, 'here is one finger in at least, and that Iwill make the means of introducing my whole hand. But I must first getclear of this wretched young fellow. I think I can manage Sir Robert. Heis dull and pompous, and will be alike disposed to listen to mysuggestions upon the law of the case and to assume the credit of actingupon them as his own proper motion. So I shall have the advantage ofbeing the real magistrate, without the odium of responsibility.'
As he cherished these hopes and expectations, the carriage approachedHazlewood House through a noble avenue of old oaks, which shrouded theancient abbey-resembling building so called. It was a large edifice,built at different periods, part having actually been a priory, upon thesuppression of which, in the time of Queen Mary, the first of the familyhad obtained a gift of the house and surrounding lands from the crown. Itwas pleasantly situated in a large deer-park, on the banks of the riverwe have before mentioned. The scenery around was of a dark, solemn, andsomewhat melancholy cast, according well with the architecture of thehouse. Everything appeared to be kept in the highest possible order, andannounced the opulence and rank of the proprietor.
As Mr. Glossin's carriage stopped at the door of the hall, Sir Robertreconnoitred the new vehicle from the windows. According to hisaristocratic feelings, there was a degree of presumption in this novushomo, this Mr. Gilbert Glossin, late writer in---, presuming to set upsuch an accommodation at all; but his wrath was mitigated when heobserved that the mantle upon the panels only bore a plain cipher of G.G.This apparent modesty was indeed solely owing to the delay of Mr. Gummingof the Lyon Office, who, being at that time engaged in discovering andmatriculating the arms of two commissaries from North America, threeEnglish-Irish peers, and two great Jamaica traders, had been more slowthan usual in finding an escutcheon for the new Laird of Ellangowan. Buthis delay told to the advantage of Glossin in the opinion of the proudBaronet.
While the officers of justice detained their prisoner in a sort ofsteward's room, Mr. Glossin was ushered into what was called the greatoak-parlour, a long room, panelled with well-varnished wainscot, andadorned with the grim portraits of Sir Robert Hazlewood's ancestry. Thevisitor, who had no internal consciousness of worth to balance that ofmeanness of birth, felt his inferiority, and by the depth of his bow andthe obsequiousness of his demeanour showed that the Laird of Ellangowanwas sunk for the time in the old and submissive habits of the quondamretainer of the law. He would have persuaded himself, indeed, that he wasonly humouring the pride of the old Baronet for the purpose of turning itto his own advantage, but his feelings were of a mingled nature, and hefelt the influence of those very prejudices which he pretended toflatter.
The Baronet received his visitor with that condescending parade which wasmeant at once to assert his own vast superiority, and to show thegenerosity and courtesy with which he could waive it, and descend to thelevel of ordinary conversation with ordinary men. He thanked Glossin forhis attention to a matter in which 'young Hazlewood' was so intimatelyconcerned, and, pointing to his family pictures, observed, with agracious smile, 'Indeed, these venerable gentlemen, Mr. Glossin, are asmuch obliged as I am in this case for the labour, pains, care, andtrouble which you have taken in their behalf; and I have no doubt, werethey capable of expressing themselves, would join me, sir, in thankingyou for the favour you have conferred upon the house of Hazlewood bytaking care, and trouble, sir, and interest in behalf of the younggentleman who is to continue their name and family.'
Thrice bowed Glossin, and each time more profoundly than before; once inhonour of the knight who stood upright before him, once in respect to thequiet personages who patiently hung upon the wainscot, and a third timein deference to the young gentleman who was to carry on the name andfamily. Roturier as he was, Sir Robert was gratified by the homage whichhe rendered, and proceeded in a tone of gracious familiarity: 'And now,Mr. Glossin, my exceeding good friend, you must allow me to avail myselfof your knowledge of law in our proceedings in this matter. I am not muchin the habit of acting as a justice of the peace; it suits better withother gentlemen, whose domestic and family affairs require less constantsuperintendence, attention, and management than mine.'
Of course, whatever small assistance Mr. Glossin could render wasentirely at Sir Robert Hazlewood's service; but, as Sir RobertHazlewood's name stood high in the list of the faculty, the said Mr.Glossin could
not presume to hope it could be either necessary or useful.
'Why, my good sir, you will understand me only to mean that I amsomething deficient in the practical knowledge of the ordinary details ofjustice business. I was indeed educated to the bar, and might boastperhaps at one time that I had made some progress in the speculative andabstract and abstruse doctrines of our municipal code; but there is inthe present day so little opportunity of a man of family and fortunerising to that eminence at the bar which is attained by adventurers whoare as willing to plead for John a' Nokes as for the first noble of theland, that I was really early disgusted with practice. The first case,indeed, which was laid on my table quite sickened me: it respected abargain, sir, of tallow between a butcher and a candlemaker; and I foundit was expected that I should grease my mouth not only with their vulgarnames, but with all the technical terms and phrases and peculiar languageof their dirty arts. Upon my honour, my good sir, I have never been ableto bear the smell of a tallow-candle since.'
Pitying, as seemed to be expected, the mean use to which the Baronet'sfaculties had been degraded on this melancholy occasion, Mr. Glossinoffered to officiate as clerk or assessor, or in any way in which hecould be most useful. 'And with a view to possessing you of the wholebusiness, and in the first place, there will, I believe, be no difficultyin proving the main fact, that this was the person who fired the unhappypiece. Should he deny it, it can be proved by Mr. Hazlewood, I presume?'
'Young Hazlewood is not at home to-day, Mr. Glossin.'
'But we can have the oath of the servant who attended him,' said theready Mr. Glossin; 'indeed, I hardly think the fact will be disputed. Iam more apprehensive that, from the too favourable and indulgent mannerin which I have understood that Mr. Hazlewood has been pleased torepresent the business, the assault may be considered as accidental, andthe injury as unintentional, so that the fellow may be immediately set atliberty to do more mischief.'
'I have not the honour to know the gentleman who now holds the office ofking's advocate,' replied Sir Robert, gravely; 'but I presume, sir--nay,I am confident, that he will consider the mere fact of having woundedyoung Hazlewood of Hazlewood, even by inadvertency, to take the matter inits mildest and gentlest, and in its most favourable and improbable,light, as a crime which will be too easily atoned by imprisonment, and asmore deserving of deportation.'
'Indeed, Sir Robert,' said his assenting brother in justice, 'I amentirely of your opinion; but, I don't know how it is, I have observedthe Edinburgh gentlemen of the bar, and even the officers of the crown,pique themselves upon an indifferent administration of justice, withoutrespect to rank and family; and I should fear--'
'How, sir, without respect to rank and family? Will you tell me THATdoctrine can be held by men of birth and legal education? No, sir; if atrifle stolen in the street is termed mere pickery, but is elevated intosacrilege if the crime be committed in a church, so, according to thejust gradations of society, the guilt of an injury is enhanced by therank of the person to whom it is offered, done, or perpetrated, sir.'
Glossin bowed low to this declaration ex cathedra, but observed, that inthe case of the very worst, and of such unnatural doctrines beingactually held as he had already hinted, 'the law had another hold on Mr.Vanbeest Brown.'
'Vanbeest Brown! is that the fellow's name? Good God! that youngHazlewood of Hazlewood should have had his life endangered, the clavicleof his right shoulder considerably lacerated and dislodged, several largedrops or slugs deposited in the acromion process, as the account of thefamily surgeon expressly bears, and all by an obscure wretch namedVanbeest Brown!'
'Why, really, Sir Robert, it is a thing which one can hardly bear tothink of; but, begging ten thousand pardons for resuming what I was aboutto say, a person of the same name is, as appears from these papers(producing Dirk Hatteraick's pocket-book), mate to the smuggling vesselwho offered such violence at Woodbourne, and I have no doubt that this isthe same individual; which, however, your acute discrimination willeasily be able to ascertain.'
'The same, my good sir, he must assuredly be; it would be injustice evento the meanest of the people to suppose there could be found among themTWO persons doomed to bear a name so shocking to one's ears as this ofVanbeest Brown.' 'True, Sir Robert; most unquestionably; there cannot bea shadow of doubt of it. But you see farther, that this circumstanceaccounts for the man's desperate conduct. You, Sir Robert, will discoverthe motive for his crime--you, I say, will discover it without difficultyon your giving your mind to the examination; for my part, I cannot helpsuspecting the moving spring to have been revenge for the gallantry withwhich Mr. Hazlewood, with all the spirit of his renowned forefathers,defended the house at Woodbourne against this villain and his lawlesscompanions.'
'I will inquire into it, my good sir,' said the learned Baronet. 'Yeteven now I venture to conjecture that I shall adopt the solution orexplanation of this riddle, enigma, or mystery which you have in somedegree thus started. Yes! revenge it must be; and, good Heaven!entertained by and against whom? entertained, fostered, cherished againstyoung Hazlewood of Hazlewood, and in part carried into effect, executed,and implemented by the hand of Vanbeest Brown! These are dreadful daysindeed, my worthy neighbour (this epithet indicated a rapid advance inthe Baronet's good graces)--days when the bulwarks of society are shakento their mighty base, and that rank which forms, as it were, its highestgrace and ornament is mingled and confused with the viler parts of thearchitecture. O, my good Mr. Gilbert Glossin, in my time, sir, the use ofswords and pistols, and such honourable arms, was reserved by thenobility and gentry to themselves, and the disputes of the vulgar weredecided by the weapons which nature had given them, or by cudgels cut,broken, or hewed out of the next wood. But now, sir, the clouted shoe ofthe peasant galls the kibe of the courtier. The lower ranks have theirquarrels, sir, and their points of honour, and their revenges, which theymust bring, forsooth, to fatal arbitrament. But well, well! it will lastmy time. Let us have in this fellow, this Vanbeest Brown, and make an endof him, at least for the present.'