CHAPTER XXVI For though, seduced and led astray, Thoust travell'd far and wander'd long, Thy God hath seen thee all the way, And all the turns that led thee wrong
The Hall of Justice.
After the space of about three-quarters of an hour, which the uncertaintyand danger of their situation made seem almost thrice as long, the voiceof young Hazlewood was heard without. 'Here I am,' he cried, 'with asufficient party.'
'Come in then,' answered Bertram, not a little pleased to find his guardrelieved. Hazlewood then entered, followed by two or three countrymen,one of whom acted as a peace-officer. They lifted Hatteraick up andcarried him in their arms as far as the entrance of the vault was highenough to permit them; then laid him on his back and dragged him along aswell as they could, for no persuasion would induce him to assist thetransportation by any exertion of his own. He lay as silent and inactivein their hands as a dead corpse, incapable of opposing, but in no wayaiding, their operations. When he was dragged into daylight and placederect upon his feet among three or four assistants who had remainedwithout the cave, he seemed stupefied and dazzled by the sudden changefrom the darkness of his cavern. While others were superintending theremoval of Meg Merrilies, those who remained with Hatteraick attempted tomake him sit down upon a fragment of rock which lay close upon thehigh-water mark. A strong shuddering convulsed his iron frame for aninstant as he resisted their purpose. 'Not there! Hagel! you would notmake me sit THERE?'
These were the only words he spoke; but their import, and the deep toneof horror in which they were uttered, served to show what was passing inhis mind.
When Meg Merrilies had also been removed from the cavern, with all thecare for her safety that circumstances admitted, they consulted where sheshould be carried. Hazlewood had sent for a surgeon, and proposed thatshe should be lifted in the meantime to the nearest cottage. But thepatient exclaimed with great earnestness, 'Na, na, na! to the Kaim o'Derncleugh--the Kaim o' Derncleugh; the spirit will not free itself o'the flesh but there.'
'You must indulge her, I believe,' said Bertram; 'her troubledimagination will otherwise aggravate the fever of the wound.'
They bore her accordingly to the vault. On the way her mind seemed to runmore upon the scene which had just passed than on her own approachingdeath. 'There were three of them set upon him: I brought the twasome, butwha was the third? It would be HIMSELL, returned to work his ainvengeance!'
It was evident that the unexpected appearance of Hazlewood, whose personthe outrage of Hatteraick left her no time to recognise, had produced astrong effect on her imagination. She often recurred to it. Hazlewoodaccounted for his unexpected arrival to Bertram by saying that he hadkept them in view for some time by the direction of Mannering; that,observing them disappear into the cave, he had crept after them, meaningto announce himself and his errand, when his hand in the darknessencountering the leg of Dinmont had nearly produced a catastrophe, which,indeed, nothing but the presence of mind and fortitude of the bold yeomancould have averted.
When the gipsy arrived at the hut she produced the key; and when theyentered, and were about to deposit her upon the bed, she said, in ananxious tone, 'Na, na! not that way--the feet to the east'; and appearedgratified when they reversed her posture accordingly, and placed her inthat appropriate to a dead body.
'Is there no clergyman near,' said Bertram, 'to assist this unhappywoman's devotions?'
A gentleman, the minister of the parish, who had been Charles Hazlewood'stutor, had, with many others, caught the alarm that the murderer ofKennedy was taken on the spot where the deed had been done so many yearsbefore, and that a woman was mortally wounded. From curiosity, or ratherfrom the feeling that his duty called him to scenes of distress, thisgentleman had come to the Kaim of Derncleugh, and now presented himself.The surgeon arrived at the same time, and was about to probe the wound;but Meg resisted the assistance of either. 'It's no what man can do thatwill heal my body or save my spirit. Let me speak what I have to say, andthen ye may work your will; I'se be nae hindrance. But where's HenryBertram?' The assistants, to whom this name had been long a stranger,gazed upon each other. 'Yes!' she said, in a stronger and harsher tone,'I said HENRY BERTRAM OF ELLANGOWAN. Stand from the light and let me seehim.'
All eyes were turned towards Bertram, who approached the wretched couch.The wounded woman took hold of his hand. 'Look at him,' she said, 'allthat ever saw his father or his grandfather, and bear witness if he isnot their living image?' A murmur went through the crowd; the resemblancewas too striking to be denied. 'And now hear me; and let that man,'pointing to Hatteraick, who was seated with his keepers on a sea-chest atsome distance--'let him deny what I say if he can. That is Henry Bertram,son to Godfrey Bertram, umquhile of Ellangowan; that young man is thevery lad-bairn that Dirk Hatteraick carried off from Warroch wood the daythat he murdered the gauger. I was there like a wandering spirit, for Ilonged to see that wood or we left the country. I saved the bairn's life,and sair, sair I prigged and prayed they would leave him wi' me. But theybore him away, and he's been lang ower the sea, and now he's come for hisain, and what should withstand him? I swore to keep the secret till hewas ane-an'-twenty; I kenn'd he behoved to dree his weird till that daycam. I keepit that oath which I took to them; but I made another vow tomysell, that if I lived to see the day of his return I would set him inhis father's seat, if every step was on a dead man. I have keepit thatoath too. I will be ae step mysell, he (pointing to Hatteraick) will soonbe another, and there will be ane mair yet.'
The clergyman, now interposing, remarked it was a pity this depositionwas not regularly taken and written down, and the surgeon urged thenecessity of examining the wound, previously to exhausting her byquestions. When she saw them removing Hatteraick, in order to clear theroom and leave the surgeon to his operations, she called out aloud,raising herself at the same time upon the couch, 'Dirk Hatteraick, youand I will never meet again until we are before the judgment-seat; willye own to what I have said, or will you dare deny it?' He turned hishardened brow upon her, with a look of dumb and inflexible defiance.'Dirk Hatteraick, dare ye deny, with my blood upon your hands, one wordof what my dying breath is uttering?' He looked at her with the sameexpression of hardihood and dogged stubbornness, and moved his lips, bututtered no sound. 'Then fareweel!' she said, 'and God forgive you! yourhand has sealed my evidence. When I was in life I was the mad randygipsy, that had been scourged and banished and branded; that had beggedfrom door to door, and been hounded like a stray tyke from parish toparish; wha would hae minded HER tale? But now I am a dying woman, and mywords will not fall to the ground, any more than the earth will cover myblood!'
She here paused, and all left the hut except the surgeon and two or threewomen. After a very short examination he shook his head and resigned hispost by the dying woman's side to the clergyman.
A chaise returning empty to Kippletringan had been stopped on thehighroad by a constable, who foresaw it would be necessary to conveyHatteraick to jail. The driver, understanding what was going on atDerncleugh, left his horses to the care of a blackguard boy, confiding,it is to be supposed, rather in the years and discretion of the cattlethan in those of their keeper, and set off full speed to see, as heexpressed himself, 'whaten a sort o' fun was gaun on.' He arrived just asthe group of tenants and peasants, whose numbers increased every moment,satiated with gazing upon the rugged features of Hatteraick, had turnedtheir attention towards Bertram. Almost all of them, especially the agedmen who had seen Ellangowan in his better days, felt and acknowledged thejustice of Meg Merrilies's appeal. But the Scotch are a cautious people:they remembered there was another in possession of the estate, and theyas yet only expressed their feelings in low whispers to each other. Ourfriend Jock Jabos, the postilion, forced his way into the middle of thecircle; but no sooner cast his eyes upon Bertram than he started back inamazement, with a solemn exclamation, 'As sure as there's breath in man,it's auld Ellangowan arisen from the dead!'
This public d
eclaration of an unprejudiced witness was just the sparkwanted to give fire to the popular feeling, which burst forth in threedistinct shouts: 'Bertram for ever!' 'Long life to the heir ofEllangowan!' 'God send him his ain, and to live among us as his forebearsdid of yore!'
'I hae been seventy years on the land,' said one person.
'I and mine hae been seventy and seventy to that,' said another; 'I havea right to ken the glance of a Bertram.'
'I and mine hae been three hundred years here,' said another old man,'and I sail sell my last cow, but I'll see the young Laird placed in hisright.'
The women, ever delighted with the marvellous, and not less so when ahandsome young man is the subject of the tale, added their shrillacclamations to the general all-hail. 'Blessings on him; he's the verypicture o' his father! The Bertrams were aye the wale o' the countryside!'
'Eh! that his puir mother, that died in grief and in doubt about him, hadbut lived to see this day!' exclaimed some female voices.
'But we'll help him to his ain, kimmers,' cried others; 'and beforeGlossin sail keep the Place of Ellangowan we'll howk him out o't wi' ournails!'
Others crowded around Dinmont, who was nothing both to tell what he knewof his friend, and to boast the honour which he had in contributing tothe discovery. As he was known to several of the principal farmerspresent, his testimony afforded an additional motive to the generalenthusiasm. In short, it was one of those moments of intense feeling whenthe frost of the Scottish people melts like a snow-wreath, and thedissolving torrent carries dam and dyke before it.
The sudden shouts interrupted the devotions of the clergyman; and Meg,who was in one of those dozing fits of stupefaction that precede theclose of existence, suddenly started--'Dinna ye hear? dinna ye hear? He'sowned! he's owned! I lived but for this. I am a sinfu' woman; but if mycurse brought it down, my blessing has taen it off! And now I wad haeliked to hae said mair. But it canna be. Stay'--she continued, stretchingher head towards the gleam of light that shot through the narrow slitwhich served for a window--'is he not there? Stand out o' the light, andlet me look upon him ance mair. But the darkness is in my ain een,' shesaid, sinking back, after an earnest gaze upon vacuity; 'it's a' endednow, Pass breath, Come death!'And, sinking back upon her couch of straw, she expired without a groan.The clergyman and the surgeon carefully noted down all that she had said,now deeply regretting they had not examined her more minutely, but bothremaining morally convinced of the truth of her disclosure.
Hazlewood was the first to compliment Bertram upon the near prospect ofhis being restored to his name and rank in society. The people around,who now learned from Jabos that Bertram was the person who had woundedhim, were struck with his generosity, and added his name to Bertram's intheir exulting acclamations.
Some, however, demanded of the postilion how he had not recognisedBertram when he saw him some time before at Kippletringan. To which hegave the very natural answer--'Hout, what was I thinking about Ellangowanthen? It was the cry that was rising e'en now that the young Laird wasfound, that put me on finding out the likeness. There was nae missing itance ane was set to look for't.'
The obduracy of Hatteraick during the latter part of this scene was insome slight degree shaken. He was observed to twinkle with his eyelids;to attempt to raise his bound hands for the purpose of pulling his hatover his brow; to look angrily and impatiently to the road, as if anxiousfor the vehicle which was to remove him from the spot. At length Mr.Hazlewood, apprehensive that the popular ferment might take a directiontowards the prisoner, directed he should be taken to the post-chaise, andso removed to the town of Kippletringan, to be at Mr. Mac-Morlan'sdisposal; at the same time he sent an express to warn that gentleman ofwhat had happened. 'And now,' he said to Bertram, 'I should be happy ifyou would accompany me to Hazlewood House; but as that might not be soagreeable just now as I trust it will be in a day or two, you must allowme to return with you to Woodbourne. But you are on foot.'--'O, if theyoung Laird would take my horse!'--'Or mine'--'Or mine,' saidhalf-a-dozen voices.--'Or mine; he can trot ten mile an hour without whipor spur, and he's the young Laird's frae this moment, if he likes to takehim for a herezeld, [Footnote: See Note 8.] as they ca'd it lang syne.'Bertram readily accepted the horse as a loan, and poured forth his thanksto the assembled crowd for their good wishes, which they repaid withshouts and vows of attachment.
While the happy owner was directing one lad to 'gae doun for the newsaddle'; another,' just to rin the beast ower wi' a dry wisp o' strae'; athird, 'to hie doun and borrow Dan Dunkieson's plated stirrups,' andexpressing his regret 'that there was nae time to gie the nag a feed,that the young Laird might ken his mettle,' Bertram, taking the clergymanby the arm, walked into the vault and shut the door immediately afterthem. He gazed in silence for some minutes upon the body of MegMerrilies, as it lay before him, with the features sharpened by death,yet still retaining the stern and energetic character which hadmaintained in life her superiority as the wild chieftainess of thelawless people amongst whom she was born. The young soldier dried thetears which involuntarily rose on viewing this wreck of one who might besaid to have died a victim to her fidelity to his person and family. Hethen took the clergyman's hand and asked solemnly if she appeared able togive that attention to his devotions which befitted a departing person.
'My dear sir,' said the good minister, 'I trust this poor woman hadremaining sense to feel and join in the import of my prayers. But let ushumbly hope we are judged of by our opportunities of religious and moralinstruction. In some degree she might be considered as an uninstructedheathen, even in the bosom of a Christian country; and let us rememberthat the errors and vices of an ignorant life were balanced by instancesof disinterested attachment, amounting almost to heroism. To HIM who canalone weigh our crimes and errors against our efforts towards virtue weconsign her with awe, but not without hope.'
'May I request,' said Bertram, 'that you will see every decent solemnityattended to in behalf of this poor woman? I have some property belongingto her in my hands; at all events I will be answerable for the expense.You will hear of me at Woodbourne.'
Dinmont, who had been furnished with a horse by one of his acquaintance,now loudly called out that all was ready for their return; and Bertramand Hazlewood, after a strict exhortation to the crowd, which was nowincreased to several hundreds, to preserve good order in their rejoicing,as the least ungoverned zeal might be turned to the disadvantage of theyoung Laird, as they termed him, took their leave amid the shouts of themultitude.
As they rode past the ruined cottages at Derncleugh, Dinmont said, 'I'msure when ye come to your ain, Captain, ye'll no forget to bigg a bitcot-house there? Deil be in me but I wad do't mysell, an it werena inbetter hands. I wadna like to live in't, though, after what she said. Od,I wad put in auld Elspeth, the bedral's widow; the like o' them's usedwi' graves and ghaists and thae things.'
A short but brisk ride brought them to Woodbourne. The news of theirexploit had already flown far and wide, and the whole inhabitants of thevicinity met them on the lawn with shouts of congratulation. 'That youhave seen me alive,' said Bertram to Lucy, who first ran up to him,though Julia's eyes even anticipated hers, 'you must thank these kindfriends.'
With a blush expressing at once pleasure, gratitude, and bashfulness,Lucy curtsied to Hazlewood, but to Dinmont she frankly extended her hand.The honest farmer, in the extravagance of his joy, carried his freedomfarther than the hint warranted, for he imprinted his thanks on thelady's lips, and was instantly shocked at the rudeness of his ownconduct. 'Lord sake, madam, I ask your pardon,' he said. 'I forgot but yehad been a bairn o'my ain; the Captain's sae namely, he gars ane forgethimsell.'
Old Pleydell now advanced. 'Nay, if fees like these are going,' he said--
'Stop, stop, Mr. Pleydell,' said Julia, 'you had your fees beforehand;remember last night.'
'Why, I do confess a retainer,' said the Barrister; 'but if I don'tdeserve double fees from both Miss Bertram and you when I conclude myexamination of D
irk Hatteraick to-morrow--Gad, I will so supple him! Youshall see, Colonel; and you, my saucy misses, though you may not see,shall hear.'
'Ay, that's if we choose to listen, Counsellor,' replied Julia.
'And you think,' said Pleydell, 'it's two to one you won't choose that?But you have curiosity that teaches you the use of your ears now andthen.'
'I declare, Counsellor,' answered the lively damsel, 'that such saucybachelors as you would teach us the use of our fingers now and then.'
'Reserve them for the harpsichord, my love,' said the Counsellor. 'Betterfor all parties.'
While this idle chat ran on, Colonel Mannering introduced to Bertram aplain good-looking man, in a grey coat and waistcoat, buckskin breeches,and boots. 'This, my dear sir, is Mr. Mac-Morlan.'
'To whom,' said Bertram, embracing him cordially, 'my sister was indebtedfor a home, when deserted by all her natural friends and relations.'
The Dominie then pressed forward, grinned, chuckled, made a diabolicalsound in attempting to whistle, and finally, unable to stifle hisemotions, ran away to empty the feelings of his heart at his eyes.
We shall not attempt to describe the expansion of heart and glee of thishappy evening.