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+*Project Gutenberg Etext of My Aunt Margaret's Mirror, by Scott*
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+My Aunt Margaret's Mirror
+
+by Sir Walter Scott
+
+March, 1999  [Etext #1667]
+
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+
+
+
+
+From SHORT STORIES PUBLISHED IN "THE KEEPSAKE" ANNUAL of 1828
+
+
+
+
+My Aunt Margaret's Mirror
+
+by Sir Walter Scott
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+The species of publication which has come to be generally known
+by the title of ANNUAL, being a miscellany of prose and verse,
+equipped with numerous engravings, and put forth every year about
+Christmas, had flourished for a long while in Germany before it
+was imitated in this country by an enterprising bookseller, a
+German by birth, Mr. Ackermann.  The rapid success of his work,
+as is the custom of the time, gave birth to a host of rivals,
+and, among others, to an Annual styled The Keepsake, the first
+volume of which appeared in 1828, and attracted much notice,
+chiefly in consequence of the very uncommon splendour of its
+illustrative accompaniments.  The expenditure which the spirited
+proprietors lavished on this magnificent volume is understood to
+have been not less than from ten to twelve thousand pounds
+sterling!
+
+Various gentlemen of such literary reputation that any one might
+think it an honour to be associated with them had been announced
+as contributors to this Annual, before application was made to me
+to assist in it; and I accordingly placed with much pleasure at
+the Editor's disposal a few fragments, originally designed to
+have been worked into the Chronicles of the Canongate, besides a
+manuscript drama, the long-neglected performance of my youthful
+days--"The House of Aspen."
+
+The Keepsake for 1828 included, however, only three of these
+little prose tales, of which the first in order was that entitled
+"My Aunt Margaret's Mirror."  By way of INTRODUCTION to this,
+when now included in a general collection of my lucubrations, I
+have only to say that it is a mere transcript, or at least with
+very little embellishment, of a story that I remembered being
+struck with in my childhood, when told at the fireside by a lady
+of eminent virtues and no inconsiderable share of talent, one of
+the ancient and honourable house of Swinton.  She was a kind of
+relation of my own, and met her death in a manner so shocking--
+being killed, in a fit of insanity, by a female attendant who had
+been attached to her person for half a lifetime--that I cannot
+now recall her memory, child as I was when the catastrophe
+occurred, without a painful reawakening of perhaps the first
+images of horror that the scenes of real life stamped on my mind.
+
+This good spinster had in her composition a strong vein of the
+superstitious, and was pleased, among other fancies, to read
+alone in her chamber by a taper fixed in a candlestick which she
+had had formed out of a human skull.  One night this strange
+piece of furniture acquired suddenly the power of locomotion,
+and, after performing some odd circles on her chimney-piece,
+fairly leaped on the floor, and continued to roll about the
+apartment.  Mrs. Swinton calmly proceeded to the adjoining room
+for another light, and had the satisfaction to penetrate the
+mystery on the spot.  Rats abounded in the ancient building she
+inhabited, and one of these had managed to ensconce itself within
+her favourite MEMENTO MORI.  Though thus endowed with a more than
+feminine share of nerve, she entertained largely that belief in
+supernaturals which in those times was not considered as sitting
+ungracefully on the grave and aged of her condition; and the
+story of the Magic Mirror was one for which she vouched with
+particular confidence, alleging indeed that one of her own family
+had been an eye-witness of the incidents recorded in it.
+
+  "I tell the tale as it was told to me."
+
+Stories enow of much the same cast will present themselves to the
+recollection of such of my readers as have ever dabbled in a
+species of lore to which I certainly gave more hours, at one
+period of my life, than I should gain any credit by confessing.
+
+AUGUST 1831.
+
+*
+
+
+AUNT MARGARET'S MIRROR.
+
+      "There are times
+  When Fancy plays her gambols, in despite
+  Even of our watchful senses--when in sooth
+  Substance seems shadow, shadow substance seems--
+  When the broad, palpable, and mark'd partition
+  'Twixt that which is and is not seems dissolved,
+  As if the mental eye gain'd power to gaze
+  Beyond the limits of the existing world.
+  Such hours of shadowy dreams I better love
+  Than all the gross realities of life."      ANONYMOUS.
+
+My Aunt Margaret was one of that respected sisterhood upon whom
+devolve all the trouble and solicitude incidental to the
+possession of children, excepting only that which attends their
+entrance into the world.  We were a large family, of very
+different dispositions and constitutions.  Some were dull and
+peevish--they were sent to Aunt Margaret to be amused; some were
+rude, romping, and boisterous--they were sent to Aunt Margaret to
+be kept quiet, or rather that their noise might be removed out of
+hearing; those who were indisposed were sent with the prospect of
+being nursed; those who were stubborn, with the hope of their
+being subdued by the kindness of Aunt Margaret's discipline;--in
+short, she had all the various duties of a mother, without the
+credit and dignity of the maternal character.  The busy scene of
+her various cares is now over.  Of the invalids and the robust,
+the kind and the rough, the peevish and pleased children, who
+thronged her little parlour from morning to night, not one now
+remains alive but myself, who, afflicted by early infirmity, was
+one of the most delicate of her nurslings, yet, nevertheless,
+have outlived them all.
+
+It is still my custom, and shall be so while I have the use of my
+limbs, to visit my respected relation at least three times a
+week.  Her abode is about half a mile from the suburbs of the
+town in which I reside, and is accessible, not only by the
+highroad, from which it stands at some distance, but by means of
+a greensward footpath leading through some pretty meadows.  I
+have so little left to torment me in life, that it is one of my
+greatest vexations to know that several of these sequestered
+fields have been devoted as sites for building.  In that which is
+nearest the town, wheelbarrows have been at work for several
+weeks in such numbers, that, I verily believe, its whole surface,
+to the depth of at least eighteen inches, was mounted in these
+monotrochs at the same moment, and in the act of being
+transported from one place to another.  Huge triangular piles of
+planks are also reared in different parts of the devoted
+messuage; and a little group of trees that still grace the
+eastern end, which rises in a gentle ascent, have just received
+warning to quit, expressed by a daub of white paint, and are to
+give place to a curious grove of chimneys.
+
+It would, perhaps, hurt others in my situation to reflect that
+this little range of pasturage once belonged to my father (whose
+family was of some consideration in the world), and was sold by
+patches to remedy distresses in which he involved himself in an
+attempt by commercial adventure to redeem his diminished fortune.
+While the building scheme was in full operation, this
+circumstance was often pointed out to me by the class of friends
+who are anxious that no part of your misfortunes should escape
+your observation.  "Such pasture-ground!--lying at the very
+town's end--in turnips and potatoes, the parks would bring L20
+per acre; and if leased for building--oh, it was a gold mine!
+And all sold for an old song out of the ancient possessor's
+hands!"  My comforters cannot bring me to repine much on this
+subject.  If I could be allowed to look back on the past without
+interruption, I could willingly give up the enjoyment of present
+income and the hope of future profit to those who have purchased
+what my father sold.  I regret the alteration of the ground only
+because it destroys associations, and I would more willingly (I
+think) see the Earl's Closes in the hands of strangers, retaining
+their silvan appearance, than know them for my own, if torn up by
+agriculture, or covered with buildings.  Mine are the sensations
+of poor Logan:--
+
+  "The horrid plough has rased the green
+    Where yet a child I strayed;
+  The axe has fell'd the hawthorn screen,
+    The schoolboy's summer shade."
+
+I hope, however, the threatened devastation will not be
+consummated in my day.  Although the adventurous spirit of times
+short while since passed gave rise to the undertaking, I have
+been encouraged to think that the subsequent changes have so far
+damped the spirit of speculation that the rest of the woodland
+footpath leading to Aunt Margaret's retreat will be left
+undisturbed for her time and mine.  I am interested in this, for
+every step of the way, after I have passed through the green
+already mentioned, has for me something of early remembrance:--
+There is the stile at which I can recollect a cross child's-maid
+upbraiding me with my infirmity as she lifted me coarsely and
+carelessly over the flinty steps, which my brothers traversed
+with shout and bound.  I remember the suppressed bitterness of
+the moment, and, conscious of my own inferiority, the feeling of
+envy with which I regarded the easy movements and elastic steps
+of my more happily formed brethren.  Alas!  these goodly barks
+have all perished on life's wide ocean, and only that which
+seemed so little seaworthy, as the naval phrase goes, has reached
+the port when the tempest is over.  Then there is the pool,
+where, manoeuvring our little navy, constructed out of the broad
+water-flags, my elder brother fell in, and was scarce saved from
+the watery element to die under Nelson's banner.  There is the
+hazel copse also, in which my brother Henry used to gather nuts,
+thinking little that he was to die in an Indian jungle in quest
+of rupees.
+
+There is so much more of remembrance about the little walk, that
+--as I stop, rest on my crutch-headed cane, and look round with
+that species of comparison between the thing I was and that which
+I now am--it almost induces me to doubt my own identity; until I
+find myself in face of the honeysuckle porch of Aunt Margaret's
+dwelling, with its irregularity of front, and its odd, projecting
+latticed windows, where the workmen seem to have made it a study
+that no one of them should resemble another in form, size, or in
+the old-fashioned stone entablature and labels which adorn them.
+This tenement, once the manor house of the Earl's Closes, we
+still retain a slight hold upon; for, in some family
+arrangements, it had been settled upon Aunt Margaret during the
+term of her life.  Upon this frail tenure depends, in a great
+measure, the last shadow of the family of Bothwell of Earl's
+Closes, and their last slight connection with their paternal
+inheritance.  The only representative will then be an infirm old
+man, moving not unwillingly to the grave, which has devoured all
+that were dear to his affections.
+
+When I have indulged such thoughts for a minute or two, I enter
+the mansion, which is said to have been the gate-house only of
+the original building, and find one being on whom time seems to
+have made little impression; for the Aunt Margaret of to-day
+bears the same proportional age to the Aunt Margaret of my early
+youth that the boy of ten years old does to the man of (by'r
+Lady!) some fifty-six years.  The old lady's invariable costume
+has doubtless some share in confirming one in the opinion that
+time has stood still with Aunt Margaret.
+
+The brown or chocolate-coloured silk gown, with ruffles of the
+same stuff at the elbow, within which are others of Mechlin lace;
+the black silk gloves, or mitts; the white hair combed back upon
+a roll; and the cap of spotless cambric, which closes around the
+venerable countenance--as they were not the costume of 1780, so
+neither were they that of 1826; they are altogether a style
+peculiar to the individual Aunt Margaret.  There she still sits,
+as she sat thirty years since, with her wheel or the stocking,
+which she works by the fire in winter and by the window in
+summer; or, perhaps, venturing as far as the porch in an
+unusually fine summer evening.  Her frame, like some well-
+constructed piece of mechanics, still performs the operations for
+which it had seemed destined--going its round with an activity
+which is gradually diminished, yet indicating no probability that
+it will soon come to a period.
+
+The solicitude and affection which had made Aunt Margaret the
+willing slave to the inflictions of a whole nursery, have now for
+their object the health and comfort of one old and infirm man--
+the last remaining relative of her family, and the only one who
+can still find interest in the traditional stores which she
+hoards, as some miser hides the gold which he desires that no one
+should enjoy after his death.
+
+My conversation with Aunt Margaret generally relates little
+either to the present or to the future.  For the passing day we
+possess as much as we require, and we neither of us wish for
+more; and for that which is to follow, we have, on this side of
+the grave, neither hopes, nor fears, nor anxiety.  We therefore
+naturally look back to the past, and forget the present fallen
+fortunes and declined importance of our family in recalling the
+hours when it was wealthy and prosperous.
+
+With this slight introduction, the reader will know as much of
+Aunt Margaret and her nephew as is necessary to comprehend the
+following conversation and narrative.
+
+Last week, when, late in a summer evening, I went to call on the
+old lady to whom my reader is now introduced, I was received by
+her with all her usual affection and benignity, while, at the
+same time, she seemed abstracted and disposed to silence.  I
+asked her the reason.  "They have been clearing out the old
+chapel," she said; "John Clayhudgeons having, it seems,
+discovered that the stuff within--being, I suppose, the remains
+of our ancestors--was excellent for top-dressing the meadows."
+
+Here I started up with more alacrity than I have displayed for
+some years; but sat down while my aunt added, laying her hand
+upon my sleeve, "The chapel has been long considered as common
+ground, my dear, and used for a pinfold, and what objection can
+we have to the man for employing what is his own to his own
+profit?  Besides, I did speak to him, and he very readily and
+civilly promised that if he found bones or monuments, they should
+be carefully respected and reinstated; and what more could I ask?
+So, the first stone they found bore the name of Margaret
+Bothwell, 1585, and I have caused it to be laid carefully aside,
+as I think it betokens death, and having served my namesake two
+hundred years, it has just been cast up in time to do me the same
+good turn.  My house has been long put in order, as far as the
+small earthly concerns require it; but who shall say that their
+account with, Heaven is sufficiently revised?"
+
+"After what you have said, aunt," I replied, "perhaps I ought to
+take my hat and go away; and so I should, but that there is on
+this occasion a little alloy mingled with your devotion.  To
+think of death at all times is a duty--to suppose it nearer from
+the finding an old gravestone is superstition; and you, with your
+strong, useful common sense, which was so long the prop of a
+fallen family, are the last person whom I should have suspected
+of such weakness."
+
+"Neither would I deserve your suspicions, kinsman," answered Aunt
+Margaret, "if we were speaking of any incident occurring in the
+actual business of human life.  But for all this, I have a sense
+of superstition about me, which I do not wish to part with.  It
+is a feeling which separates me from this age, and links me with
+that to which I am hastening; and even when it seems, as now, to
+lead me to the brink of the grave, and bid me gaze on it, I do
+not love that it should be dispelled.  It soothes my imagination,
+without influencing my reason or conduct."
+
+"I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you
+made such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious
+as that of the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false
+reading, preferred, from habit's sake, his old Mumpsimus to the
+modern Sumpsimus."
+
+"Well," answered my aunt, "I must explain my inconsistency in
+this particular by comparing it to another.  I am, as you know, a
+piece of that old-fashioned thing called a Jacobite; but I am so
+in sentiment and feeling only, for a more loyal subject never
+joined in prayers for the health and wealth of George the Fourth,
+whom God long preserve!  But I dare say that kind-hearted
+sovereign would not deem that an old woman did him much injury if
+she leaned back in her arm-chair, just in such a twilight as
+this, and thought of the high-mettled men whose sense of duty
+called them to arms against his grandfather; and how, in a cause
+which they deemed that of their rightful prince and country,
+
+  'They fought till their hand to the broadsword was glued,
+  They fought against fortune with hearts unsubdued.'
+
+Do not come at such a moment, when my head is full of plaids,
+pibrochs, and claymores, and ask my reason to admit what, I am
+afraid, it cannot deny--I mean, that the public advantage
+peremptorily demanded that these things should cease to exist.  I
+cannot, indeed, refuse to allow the justice of your reasoning;
+but yet, being convinced against my will, you will gain little by
+your motion.  You might as well read to an infatuated lover the
+catalogue of his mistress's imperfections; for when he has been
+compelled to listen to the summary, you will only get for answer
+that 'he lo'es her a' the better.'"
+
+I was not sorry to have changed the gloomy train of Aunt
+Margaret's thoughts, and replied in the same tone, "Well, I can't
+help being persuaded that our good King is the more sure of Mrs.
+Bothwell's loyal affection, that he has the Stewart right of
+birth as well as the Act of Succession in his favour."
+
+"Perhaps my attachment, were its source of consequence, might be
+found warmer for the union of the rights you mention," said Aunt
+Margaret; "but, upon my word, it would be as sincere if the
+King's right were founded only on the will of the nation, as
+declared at the Revolution.  I am none of your JURE DIVINO
+folks."
+
+"And a Jacobite notwithstanding."
+
+"And a Jacobite notwithstanding--or rather, I will give you leave
+to call me one of the party which, in Queen Anne's time, were
+called, WHIMSICALS, because they were sometimes operated upon by
+feelings, sometimes by principle.  After all, it is very hard
+that you will not allow an old woman to be as inconsistent in her
+political sentiments as mankind in general show themselves in all
+the various courses of life; since you cannot point out one of
+them in which the passions and prejudices of those who pursue it
+are not perpetually carrying us away from the path which our
+reason points out."
+
+"True, aunt; but you are a wilful wanderer, who should be forced
+back into the right path."
+
+"Spare me, I entreat you," replied Aunt Margaret.  "You remember
+the Gaelic song, though I dare say I mispronounce the words--
+
+   'Hatil mohatil, na dowski mi.'
+  (I am asleep, do not waken me.)
+
+I tell you, kinsman, that the sort of waking dreams which my
+imagination spins out, in what your favourite Wordsworth calls
+'moods of my own mind,' are worth all the rest of my more active
+days.  Then, instead of looking forwards, as I did in youth, and
+forming for myself fairy palaces, upon the verge of the grave I
+turn my eyes backward upon the days and manners of my better
+time; and the sad, yet soothing recollections come so close and
+interesting, that I almost think it sacrilege to be wiser or more
+rational or less prejudiced than those to whom I looked up in my
+younger years."
+
+"I think I now understand what you mean," I answered, "and can
+comprehend why you should occasionally prefer the twilight of
+illusion to the steady light of reason."
+
+"Where there is no task," she rejoined, "to be performed, we may
+sit in the dark if we like it; if we go to work, we must ring for
+candles."
+
+"And amidst such shadowy and doubtful light," continued I,
+"imagination frames her enchanted and enchanting visions, and
+sometimes passes them upon the senses for reality."
+
+"Yes," said Aunt Margaret, who is a well-read woman, "to those
+who resemble the translator of Tasso,--
+
+   'Prevailing poet, whose undoubting mind
+   Believed the magic wonders which he sung.
+
+It is not required for this purpose that you should be sensible
+of the painful horrors which an actual belief in such prodigies
+inflicts.  Such a belief nowadays belongs only to fools and
+children.  It is not necessary that your ears should tingle and
+your complexion change, like that of Theodore at the approach of
+the spectral huntsman.  All that is indispensable for the
+enjoyment of the milder feeling of supernatural awe is, that you
+should be susceptible of the slight shuddering which creeps over
+you when you hear a tale of terror--that well-vouched tale which
+the narrator, having first expressed his general disbelief of all
+such legendary lore, selects and produces, as having something in
+it which he has been always obliged to give up as inexplicable.
+Another symptom is a momentary hesitation to look round you, when
+the interest of the narrative is at the highest; and the third, a
+desire to avoid looking into a mirror when you are alone in your
+chamber for the evening.  I mean such are signs which indicate
+the crisis, when a female imagination is in due temperature to
+enjoy a ghost story.  I do not pretend to describe those which
+express the same disposition in a gentleman."
+
+"That last symptom, dear aunt, of shunning the mirror seems
+likely to be a rare occurrence amongst the fair sex."
+
+"You are a novice in toilet fashions, my dear cousin.  All women
+consult the looking-glass with anxiety before they go into
+company; but when they return home, the mirror has not the same
+charm.  The die has been cast--the party has been successful or
+unsuccessful in the impression which she desired to make.  But,
+without going deeper into the mysteries of the dressing-table, I
+will tell you that I myself, like many other honest folks, do not
+like to see the blank, black front of a large mirror in a room
+dimly lighted, and where the reflection of the candle seems
+rather to lose itself in the deep obscurity of the glass than to
+be reflected back again into the apartment, That space of inky
+darkness seems to be a field for Fancy to play her revels in.
+She may call up other features to meet us, instead of the
+reflection of our own; or, as in the spells of Hallowe'en, which
+we learned in childhood, some unknown form may be seen peeping
+over our shoulder.  In short, when I am in a ghost-seeing humour,
+I make my handmaiden draw the green curtains over the mirror
+before I go into the room, so that she may have the first shock
+of the apparition, if there be any to be seen, But, to tell you
+the truth, this dislike to look into a mirror in particular times
+and places has, I believe, its original foundation in a story
+which came to me by tradition from my grandmother, who was a
+party concerned in the scene of which I will now tell you."
+
+*
+
+THE MIRROR.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+You are fond (said my aunt) of sketches of the society which has
+passed away.  I wish I could describe to you Sir Philip Forester,
+the "chartered libertine" of Scottish good company, about the end
+of the last century.  I never saw him indeed; but my mother's
+traditions were full of his wit, gallantry, and dissipation.
+This gay knight flourished about the end of the seventeenth and
+beginning of the eighteenth century.  He was the Sir Charles Easy
+and the Lovelace of his day and country--renowned for the number
+of duels he had fought, and the successful intrigues which he had
+carried on.  The supremacy which he had attained in the
+fashionable world was absolute; and when we combine it with one
+or two anecdotes, for which, "if laws were made for every
+degree," he ought certainly to have been hanged, the popularity
+of such a person really serves to show, either that the present
+times are much more decent, if not more virtuous, than they
+formerly were, or that high-breeding then was of more difficult
+attainment than that which is now so called, and consequently
+entitled the successful professor to a proportional degree of
+plenary indulgences and privileges.  No beau of this day could
+have borne out so ugly a story as that of Pretty Peggy
+Grindstone, the miller's daughter at Sillermills--it had well-
+nigh made work for the Lord Advocate.  But it hurt Sir Philip
+Forester no more than the hail hurts the hearthstone.  He was as
+well received in society as ever, and dined with the Duke of A---
+the day the poor girl was buried.  She died of heartbreak.  But
+that has nothing to do with my story.
+
+Now, you must listen to a single word upon kith, kin, and ally; I
+promise you I will not be prolix.  But it is necessary to the
+authenticity of my legend that you should know that Sir Philip
+Forester, with his handsome person, elegant accomplishments, and
+fashionable manners, married the younger Miss Falconer of King's
+Copland.  The elder sister of this lady had previously become the
+wife of my grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Bothwell, and brought into
+our family a good fortune.  Miss Jemima, or Miss Jemmie Falconer,
+as she was usually called, had also about ten thousand pounds
+sterling--then thought a very handsome portion indeed.
+
+The two sisters were extremely different, though each had their
+admirers while they remained single.  Lady Bothwell had some
+touch of the old King's Copland blood about her.  She was bold,
+though not to the degree of audacity, ambitious, and desirous to
+raise her house and family; and was, as has been said, a
+considerable spur to my grandfather, who was otherwise an
+indolent man, but whom, unless he has been slandered, his lady's
+influence involved in some political matters which had been more
+wisely let alone.  She was a woman of high principle, however,
+and masculine good sense, as some of her letters testify, which
+are still in my wainscot cabinet.
+
+Jemmie Falconer was the reverse of her sister in every respect.
+Her understanding did not reach above the ordinary pitch, if,
+indeed, she could be said to have attained it.  Her beauty, while
+it lasted, consisted, in a great measure, of delicacy of
+complexion and regularity of features, without any peculiar force
+of expression.  Even these charms faded under the sufferings
+attendant on an ill-assorted match.  She was passionately
+attached to her husband, by whom she was treated with a callous
+yet polite indifference, which, to one whose heart was as tender
+as her judgment was weak, was more painful perhaps than absolute
+ill-usage.  Sir Philip was a voluptuary--that is, a completely
+selfish egotist--whose disposition and character resembled the
+rapier he wore, polished, keen, and brilliant, but inflexible and
+unpitying.  As he observed carefully all the usual forms towards
+his lady, he had the art to deprive her even of the compassion of
+the world; and useless and unavailing as that may be while
+actually possessed by the sufferer, it is, to a mind like Lady
+Forester's, most painful to know she has it not.
+
+The tattle of society did its best to place the peccant husband
+above the suffering wife.  Some called her a poor, spiritless
+thing, and declared that, with a little of her sister's spirit,
+she might have brought to reason any Sir Philip whatsoever, were
+it the termagant Falconbridge himself.  But the greater part of
+their acquaintance affected candour, and saw faults on both
+sides--though, in fact, there only existed the oppressor and the
+oppressed.  The tone of such critics was, "To be sure, no one
+will justify Sir Philip Forester, but then we all know Sir
+Philip, and Jemmie Falconer might have known what she had to
+expect from the beginning.  What made her set her cap at Sir
+Philip?  He would never have looked at her if she had not thrown
+herself at his head, with her poor ten thousand pounds.  I am
+sure, if it is money he wanted, she spoiled his market.  I know
+where Sir Philip could have done much better.  And then, if she
+WOULD have the man, could not she try to make him more
+comfortable at home, and have his friends oftener, and not plague
+him with the squalling children, and take care all was handsome
+and in good style about the house?  I declare I think Sir Philip
+would have made a very domestic man, with a woman who knew how to
+manage him."
+
+Now these fair critics, in raising their profound edifice of
+domestic felicity, did not recollect that the corner-stone was
+wanting, and that to receive good company with good cheer, the
+means of the banquet ought to have been furnished by Sir Philip,
+whose income (dilapidated as it was) was not equal to the display
+of the hospitality required, and at the same time to the supply
+of the good knight's MENUS PLAISIRS.  So, in spite of all that
+was so sagely suggested by female friends, Sir Philip carried his
+good-humour everywhere abroad, and left at home a solitary
+mansion and a pining spouse.
+
+At length, inconvenienced in his money affairs, and tired even of
+the short time which he spent in his own dull house, Sir Philip
+Forester determined to take a trip to the Continent, in the
+capacity of a volunteer.  It was then common for men of fashion
+to do so; and our knight perhaps was of opinion that a touch of
+the military character, just enough to exalt, but not render
+pedantic, his qualities as a BEAU GARCON, was necessary to
+maintain possession of the elevated situation which he held in
+the ranks of fashion.
+
+Sir Philip's resolution threw his wife into agonies of terror; by
+which the worthy baronet was so much annoyed, that, contrary to
+his wont, he took some trouble to soothe her apprehensions, and
+once more brought her to shed tears, in which sorrow was not
+altogether unmingled with pleasure.  Lady Bothwell asked, as a
+favour, Sir Philip's permission to receive her sister and her
+family into her own house during his absence on the Continent.
+Sir Philip readily assented to a proposition which saved expense,
+silenced the foolish people who might have talked of a deserted
+wife and family, and gratified Lady Bothwell, for whom he felt
+some respect, as for one who often spoke to him, always with
+freedom and sometimes with severity, without being deterred
+either by his raillery or the PRESTIGE of his reputation.
+
+A day or two before Sir Philip's departure, Lady Bothwell took
+the liberty of asking him, in her sister's presence, the direct
+question, which his timid wife had often desired, but never
+ventured, to put to him:--
+
+"Pray, Sir Philip, what route do you take when you reach the
+Continent?"
+
+"I go from Leith to Helvoet by a packet with advices."
+
+"That I comprehend perfectly," said Lady Bothwell dryly; "but you
+do not mean to remain long at Helvoet, I presume, and I should
+like to know what is your next object."
+
+"You ask me, my dear lady," answered Sir Philip, "a question
+which I have not dared to ask myself.  The answer depends on the
+fate of war.  I shall, of course, go to headquarters, wherever
+they may happen to be for the time; deliver my letters of
+introduction; learn as much of the noble art of war as may
+suffice a poor interloping amateur; and then take a glance at the
+sort of thing of which we read so much in the Gazette."
+
+"And I trust, Sir Philip," said Lady Bothwell, "that you will
+remember that you are a husband and a father; and that, though
+you think fit to indulge this military fancy, you will not let it
+hurry you into dangers which it is certainly unnecessary for any
+save professional persons to encounter."
+
+"Lady Bothwell does me too much honour," replied the adventurous
+knight, "in regarding such a circumstance with the slightest
+interest.  But to soothe your flattering anxiety, I trust your
+ladyship will recollect that I cannot expose to hazard the
+venerable and paternal character which you so obligingly
+recommend to my protection, without putting in some peril an
+honest fellow, called Philip Forester, with whom I have kept
+company for thirty years, and with whom, though some folks
+consider him a coxcomb, I have not the least desire to part."
+
+"Well, Sir Philip, you are the best judge of your own affairs.  I
+have little right to interfere--you are not my husband."
+
+"God forbid!"  said Sir Philip hastily; instantly adding,
+however, "God forbid that I should deprive my friend Sir Geoffrey
+of so inestimable a treasure."
+
+"But you are my sister's husband," replied the lady; "and I
+suppose you are aware of her present distress of mind--"
+
+"If hearing of nothing else from morning to night can make me
+aware of it," said Sir Philip, "I should know something of the
+matter."
+
+"I do not pretend to reply to your wit, Sir Philip," answered
+Lady Bothwell; "but you must be sensible that all this distress
+is on account of apprehensions for your personal safety.  "
+
+"In that case, I am surprised that Lady Bothwell, at least,
+should give herself so much trouble upon so insignificant a
+subject."
+
+"My sister's interest may account for my being anxious to learn
+something of Sir Philip Forester's motions; about which,
+otherwise, I know he would not wish me to concern myself.  I have
+a brother's safety too to be anxious for."
+
+"You mean Major Falconer, your brother by the mother's side?
+What can he possibly have to do with our present agreeable
+conversation?"
+
+"You have had words together, Sir Philip," said Lady Bothwell.
+
+"Naturally; we are connections," replied Sir Philip, "and as such
+have always had the usual intercourse."
+
+"That is an evasion of the subject," answered the lady.  "By
+words, I mean angry words, on the subject of your usage of your
+wife."
+
+"If," replied Sir Philip Forester, "you suppose Major Falconer
+simple enough to intrude his advice upon me, Lady Bothwell, in my
+domestic matters, you are indeed warranted in believing that I
+might possibly be so far displeased with the interference as to
+request him to reserve his advice till it was asked."
+
+"And being on these terms, you are going to join the very army in
+which my brother Falconer is now serving?"
+
+"No man knows the path of honour better than Major Falconer,"
+said Sir Philip.  "An aspirant after fame, like me, cannot choose
+a better guide than his footsteps."
+
+Lady Bothwell rose and went to the window, the tears gushing from
+her eyes.
+
+"And this heartless raillery," she said, "is all the
+consideration that is to be given to our apprehensions of a
+quarrel which may bring on the most terrible consequences?  Good
+God!  of what can men's hearts be made, who can thus dally with
+the agony of others?"
+
+Sir Philip Forester was moved; he laid aside the mocking tone in
+which he had hitherto spoken.
+
+"Dear Lady Bothwell," he said, taking her reluctant hand, "we are
+both wrong.  You are too deeply serious; I, perhaps, too little
+so.  The dispute I had with Major Falconer was of no earthly
+consequence.  Had anything occurred betwixt us that ought to have
+been settled PAR VOIE DU FAIT, as we say in France, neither of us
+are persons that are likely to postpone such a meeting.  Permit
+me to say, that were it generally known that you or my Lady
+Forester are apprehensive of such a catastrophe, it might be the
+very means of bringing about what would not otherwise be likely
+to happen.  I know your good sense, Lady Bothwell, and that you
+will understand me when I say that really my affairs require my
+absence for some months.  This Jemima cannot understand.  It is a
+perpetual recurrence of questions, why can you not do this, or
+that, or the third thing?  and, when you have proved to her that
+her expedients are totally ineffectual, you have just to begin
+the whole round again.  Now, do you tell her, dear Lady Bothwell,
+that YOU are satisfied.  She is, you must confess, one of those
+persons with whom authority goes farther than reasoning.  Do but
+repose a little confidence in me, and you shall see how amply I
+will repay it."
+
+Lady Bothwell shook her head, as one but half satisfied.  "How
+difficult it is to extend confidence, when the basis on which it
+ought to rest has been so much shaken!  But I will do my best to
+make Jemima easy; and further, I can only say that for keeping
+your present purpose I hold you responsible both to God and man,"
+
+"Do not fear that I will deceive you," said Sir Philip.  "The
+safest conveyance to me will be through the general post-office,
+Helvoetsluys, where I will take care to leave orders for
+forwarding my letters.  As for Falconer, our only encounter will
+be over a bottle of Burgundy; so make yourself perfectly easy on
+his score."
+
+Lady Bothwell could NOT make herself easy; yet she was sensible
+that her sister hurt her own cause by TAKING ON, as the
+maidservants call it, too vehemently, and by showing before every
+stranger, by manner, and sometimes by words also, a
+dissatisfaction with her husband's journey that was sure to come
+to his ears, and equally certain to displease him.  But there was
+no help for this domestic dissension, which ended only with the
+day of separation.
+
+I am sorry I cannot tell, with precision, the year in which Sir
+Philip Forester went over to Flanders; but it was one of those in
+which the campaign opened with extraordinary fury, and many
+bloody, though indecisive, skirmishes were fought between the
+French on the one side and the Allies on the other.  In all our
+modern improvements, there are none, perhaps, greater than in the
+accuracy and speed with which intelligence is transmitted from
+any scene of action to those in this country whom it may concern.
+During Marlborough's campaigns, the sufferings of the many who
+had relations in, or along with, the army were greatly augmented
+by the suspense in which they were detained for weeks after they
+had heard of bloody battles, in which, in all probability, those
+for whom their bosoms throbbed with anxiety had been personally
+engaged.  Amongst those who were most agonized by this state of
+uncertainty was the--I had almost said deserted--wife of the gay
+Sir Philip Forester.  A single letter had informed her of his
+arrival on the Continent; no others were received.  One notice
+occurred in the newspapers, in which Volunteer Sir Philip
+Forester was mentioned as having been entrusted with a dangerous
+reconnaissance, which he had executed with the greatest courage,
+dexterity, and intelligence, and received the thanks of the
+commanding officer.  The sense of his having acquired distinction
+brought a momentary glow into the lady's pale cheek; but it was
+instantly lost in ashen whiteness at the recollection of his
+danger.  After this, they had no news whatever, neither from Sir
+Philip, nor even from their brother Falconer.  The case of Lady
+Forester was not indeed different from that of hundreds in the
+same situation; but a feeble mind is necessarily an irritable
+one, and the suspense which some bear with constitutional
+indifference or philosophical resignation, and some with a
+disposition to believe and hope the best, was intolerable to Lady
+Forester, at once solitary and sensitive, low-spirited, and
+devoid of strength of mind, whether natural or acquired.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+As she received no further news of Sir Philip, whether directly
+or indirectly, his unfortunate lady began now to feel a sort of
+consolation even in those careless habits which had so often
+given her pain.  "He is so thoughtless," she repeated a hundred
+times a day to her sister, "he never writes when things are going
+on smoothly.  It is his way.  Had anything happened, he would
+have informed us."
+
+Lady Bothwell listened to her sister without attempting to
+console her.  Probably she might be of opinion that even the
+worst intelligence which could be received from Flanders might
+not be without some touch of consolation; and that the Dowager
+Lady Forester, if so she was doomed to be called, might have a
+source of happiness unknown to the wife of the gayest and finest
+gentleman in Scotland.  This conviction became stronger as they
+learned from inquiries made at headquarters that Sir Philip was
+no longer with the army--though whether he had been taken or
+slain in some of those skirmishes which were perpetually
+occurring, and in which he loved to distinguish himself, or
+whether he had, for some unknown reason or capricious change of
+mind, voluntarily left the service, none of his countrymen in the
+camp of the Allies could form even a conjecture.  Meantime his
+creditors at home became clamorous, entered into possession of
+his property, and threatened his person, should he be rash enough
+to return to Scotland.  These additional disadvantages aggravated
+Lady Bothwell's displeasure against the fugitive husband; while
+her sister saw nothing in any of them, save what tended to
+increase her grief for the absence of him whom her imagination
+now represented--as it had before marriage--gallant, gay, and
+affectionate.
+
+About this period there appeared in Edinburgh a man of singular
+appearance and pretensions.  He was commonly called the Paduan
+Doctor, from having received his education at that famous
+university.  He was supposed to possess some rare receipts in
+medicine, with which, it was affirmed, he had wrought remarkable
+cures.  But though, on the one hand, the physicians of Edinburgh
+termed him an empiric, there were many persons, and among them
+some of the clergy, who, while they admitted the truth of the
+cures and the force of his remedies, alleged that Doctor Baptista
+Damiotti made use of charms and unlawful arts in order to obtain
+success in his practice.  The resorting to him was even solemnly
+preached against, as a seeking of health from idols, and a
+trusting to the help which was to come from Egypt.  But the
+protection which the Paduan Doctor received from some friends of
+interest and consequence enabled him to set these imputations at
+defiance, and to assume, even in the city of Edinburgh, famed as
+it was for abhorrence of witches and necromancers, the dangerous
+character of an expounder of futurity.  It was at length rumoured
+that, for a certain gratification, which of course was not an
+inconsiderable one, Doctor Baptista Damiotti could tell the fate
+of the absent, and even show his visitors the personal form of
+their absent friends, and the action in which they were engaged
+at the moment.  This rumour came to the ears of Lady Forester,
+who had reached that pitch of mental agony in which the sufferer
+will do anything, or endure anything, that suspense may be
+converted into certainty.
+
+Gentle and timid in most cases, her state of mind made her
+equally obstinate and reckless, and it was with no small surprise
+and alarm that her sister, Lady Bothwell, heard her express a
+resolution to visit this man of art, and learn from him the fate
+of her husband.  Lady Bothwell remonstrated on the improbability
+that such pretensions as those of this foreigner could be founded
+in anything but imposture.
+
+"I care not," said the deserted wife, "what degree of ridicule I
+may incur; if there be any one chance out of a hundred that I may
+obtain some certainty of my husband's fate, I would not miss that
+chance for whatever else the world can offer me."
+
+Lady Bothwell next urged the unlawfulness of resorting to such
+sources of forbidden knowledge.
+
+"Sister," replied the sufferer, "he who is dying of thirst cannot
+refrain from drinking even poisoned water.  She who suffers under
+suspense must seek information, even were the powers which offer
+it unhallowed and infernal.  I go to learn my fate alone, and
+this very evening will I know it; the sun that rises to-morrow
+shall find me, if not more happy, at least more resigned."
+
+"Sister," said Lady Bothwell, "if you are determined upon this
+wild step, you shall not go alone.  If this man be an impostor,
+you may be too much agitated by your feelings to detect his
+villainy.  If, which I cannot believe, there be any truth in what
+he pretends, you shall not be exposed alone to a communication of
+so extraordinary a nature.  I will go with you, if indeed you
+determine to go.  But yet reconsider your project, and renounce
+inquiries which cannot be prosecuted without guilt, and perhaps
+without danger."
+
+Lady Forester threw herself into her sister's arms, and, clasping
+her to her bosom, thanked her a hundred times for the offer of
+her company, while she declined with a melancholy gesture the
+friendly advice with which it was accompanied.
+
+When the hour of twilight arrived--which was the period when the
+Paduan Doctor was understood to receive the visits of those who
+came to consult with him--the two ladies left their apartments in
+the Canongate of Edinburgh, having their dress arranged like that
+of women of an inferior description, and their plaids disposed
+around their faces as they were worn by the same class; for in
+those days of aristocracy the quality of the wearer was generally
+indicated by the manner in which her plaid was disposed, as well
+as by the fineness of its texture.  It was Lady Bothwell who had
+suggested this species of disguise, partly to avoid observation
+as they should go to the conjurer's house, and partly in order to
+make trial of his penetration, by appearing before him in a
+feigned character.  Lady Forester's servant, of tried fidelity,
+had been employed by her to propitiate the Doctor by a suitable
+fee, and a story intimating that a soldier's wife desired to know
+the fate of her husband--a subject upon which, in all
+probability, the sage was very frequently consulted,
+
+To the last moment, when the palace clock struck eight, Lady
+Bothwell earnestly watched her sister, in hopes that she might
+retreat from her rash undertaking; but as mildness, and even
+timidity, is capable at times of vehement and fixed purposes, she
+found Lady Forester resolutely unmoved and determined when the
+moment of departure arrived.  Ill satisfied with the expedition,
+but determined not to leave her sister at such a crisis, Lady
+Bothwell accompanied Lady Forester through more than one obscure
+street and lane, the servant walking before, and acting as their
+guide.  At length he suddenly turned into a narrow court, and
+knocked at an arched door which seemed to belong to a building of
+some antiquity.  It opened, though no one appeared to act as
+porter; and the servant, stepping aside from the entrance,
+motioned the ladies to enter.  They had no sooner done so than it
+shut, and excluded their guide.  The two ladies found themselves
+in a small vestibule, illuminated by a dim lamp, and having, when
+the door was closed, no communication with the external light or
+air.  The door of an inner apartment, partly open, was at the
+farther side of the vestibule.
+
+"We must not hesitate now, Jemima," said Lady Bothwell, and
+walked forwards into the inner room, where, surrounded by books,
+maps, philosophical utensils, and other implements of peculiar
+shape and appearance, they found the man of art.
+
+There was nothing very peculiar in the Italian's appearance.  He
+had the dark complexion and marked features of his country,
+seemed about fifty years old, and was handsomely but plainly
+dressed in a full suit of black clothes, which was then the
+universal costume of the medical profession.  Large wax-lights,
+in silver sconces, illuminated the apartment, which was
+reasonably furnished.  He rose as the ladies entered, and,
+notwithstanding the inferiority of their dress, received them
+with the marked respect due to their quality, and which
+foreigners are usually punctilious in rendering to those to whom
+such honours are due.
+
+Lady Bothwell endeavoured to maintain her proposed incognito,
+and, as the Doctor ushered them to the upper end of the room,
+made a motion declining his courtesy, as unfitted for their
+condition.  "We are poor people, sir," she said; "only my
+sister's distress has brought us to consult your worship whether
+--"
+
+He smiled as he interrupted her--"I am aware, madam, of your
+sister's distress, and its cause; I am aware, also, that I am
+honoured with a visit from two ladies of the highest
+consideration--Lady Bothwell and Lady Forester.  If I could not
+distinguish them from the class of society which their present
+dress would indicate, there would be small possibility of my
+being able to gratify them by giving the information which they
+come to seek."
+
+"I can easily understand--" said Lady Bothwell.
+
+"Pardon my boldness to interrupt you, milady," cried the Italian;
+"your ladyship was about to say that you could easily understand
+that I had got possession of your names by means of your
+domestic.  But in thinking so, you do injustice to the fidelity
+of your servant, and, I may add, to the skill of one who is also
+not less your humble servant--Baptista Damiotti."
+
+"I have no intention to do either, sir," said Lady Bothwell,
+maintaining a tone of composure, though somewhat surprised; "but
+the situation is something new to me.  If you know who we are,
+you also know, sir, what brought us here."
+
+"Curiosity to know the fate of a Scottish gentleman of rank, now,
+or lately, upon the Continent," answered the seer.  "His name is
+Il Cavaliero Philippo Forester, a gentleman who has the honour to
+be husband to this lady, and, with your ladyship's permission for
+using plain language, the misfortune not to value as it deserves
+that inestimable advantage."
+
+Lady Forester sighed deeply, and Lady Bothwell replied,--
+
+"Since you know our object without our telling it, the only
+question that remains is, whether you have the power to relieve
+my sister's anxiety?"
+
+"I have, madam," answered the Paduan scholar; "but there is still
+a previous inquiry.  Have you the courage to behold with your own
+eyes what the Cavaliero Philippo Forester is now doing?  or will
+you take it on my report?"
+
+"That question my sister must answer for herself," said Lady
+Bothwell.
+
+"With my own eyes will I endure to see whatever you have power to
+show me," said Lady Forester, with the same determined spirit
+which had stimulated her since her resolution was taken upon this
+subject.
+
+"There may be danger in it."
+
+"If gold can compensate the risk," said Lady Forester, taking out
+her purse.
+
+"I do not such things for the purpose of gain," answered the
+foreigner; "I dare not turn my art to such a purpose.  If I take
+the gold of the wealthy, it is but to bestow it on the poor; nor
+do I ever accept more than the sum I have already received from
+your servant.  Put up your purse, madam; an adept needs not your
+gold,"
+
+Lady Bothwell, considering this rejection of her sister's offer
+as a mere trick of an empiric, to induce her to press a larger
+sum upon him, and willing that the scene should be commenced and
+ended, offered some gold in turn, observing that it was only to
+enlarge the sphere of his charity.
+
+"Let Lady Bothwell enlarge the sphere of her own charity," said
+the Paduan, "not merely in giving of alms, in which I know she is
+not deficient, but in judging the character of others; and let
+her oblige Baptista Damiotti by believing him honest, till she
+shall discover him to be a knave.  Do not be surprised, madam, if
+I speak in answer to your thoughts rather than your expressions;
+and tell me once more whether you have courage to look on what I
+am prepared to show?"
+
+"I own, sir," said Lady Bothwell, "that your words strike me with
+some sense of fear; but whatever my sister desires to witness, I
+will not shrink from witnessing along with her."
+
+"Nay, the danger only consists in the risk of your resolution
+failing you.  The sight can only last for the space of seven
+minutes; and should you interrupt the vision by speaking a single
+word, not only would the charm be broken, but some danger might
+result to the spectators.  But if you can remain steadily silent
+for the seven minutes, your curiosity will be gratified without
+the slightest risk; and for this I will engage my honour."
+
+Internally Lady Bothwell thought the security was but an
+indifferent one; but she suppressed the suspicion, as if she had
+believed that the adept, whose dark features wore a half-formed
+smile, could in reality read even her most secret reflections.  A
+solemn pause then ensued, until Lady Forester gathered courage
+enough to reply to the physician, as he termed himself, that she
+would abide with firmness and silence the sight which he had
+promised to exhibit to them.  Upon this, he made them a low
+obeisance, and saying he went to prepare matters to meet their
+wish, left the apartment.  The two sisters, hand in hand, as if
+seeking by that close union to divert any danger which might
+threaten them, sat down on two seats in immediate contact with
+each other--Jemima seeking support in the manly and habitual
+courage of Lady Bothwell; and she, on the other hand, more
+agitated than she had expected, endeavouring to fortify herself
+by the desperate resolution which circumstances had forced her
+sister to assume.  The one perhaps said to herself that her
+sister never feared anything; and the other might reflect that
+what so feeble-minded a woman as Jemima did not fear, could not
+properly be a subject of apprehension to a person of firmness and
+resolution like her own.
+
+In a few moments the thoughts of both were diverted from their
+own situation by a strain of music so singularly sweet and solemn
+that, while it seemed calculated to avert or dispel any feeling
+unconnected with its harmony, increased, at the same time, the
+solemn excitation which the preceding interview was calculated to
+produce.  The music was that of some instrument with which they
+were unacquainted; but circumstances afterwards led my ancestress
+to believe that it was that of the harmonica, which she heard at
+a much later period in life.
+
+When these heaven-born sounds had ceased, a door opened in the
+upper end of the apartment, and they saw Damiotti, standing at
+the head of two or three steps, sign to them to advance.  His
+dress was so different from that which he had worn a few minutes
+before, that they could hardly recognize him; and the deadly
+paleness of his countenance, and a certain stern rigidity of
+muscles, like that of one whose mind is made up to some strange
+and daring action, had totally changed the somewhat sarcastic
+expression with which he had previously regarded them both, and
+particularly Lady Bothwell.  He was barefooted, excepting a
+species of sandals in the antique fashion; his legs were naked
+beneath the knees; above them he wore hose, and a doublet of dark
+crimson silk close to his body; and over that a flowing loose
+robe, something resembling a surplice, of snow-white linen.  His
+throat and neck were uncovered, and his long, straight, black
+hair was carefully combed down at full length.
+
+As the ladies approached at his bidding, he showed no gesture of
+that ceremonious courtesy of which he had been formerly lavish.
+On the contrary, he made the signal of advance with an air of
+command; and when, arm in arm, and with insecure steps, the
+sisters approached the spot where he stood, it was with a warning
+frown that he pressed his finger to his lips, as if reiterating
+his condition of absolute silence, while, stalking before them,
+he led the way into the next apartment.
+
+This was a large room, hung with black, as if for a funeral.  At
+the upper end was a table, or rather a species of altar, covered
+with the same lugubrious colour, on which lay divers objects
+resembling the usual implements of sorcery.  These objects were
+not indeed visible as they advanced into the apartment; for the
+light which displayed them, being only that of two expiring
+lamps, was extremely faint.  The master--to use the Italian
+phrase for persons of this description--approached the upper end
+of the room, with a genuflection like that of a Catholic to the
+crucifix, and at the same time crossed himself.  The ladies
+followed in silence, and arm in arm.  Two or three low broad
+steps led to a platform in front of the altar, or what resembled
+such.  Here the sage took his stand, and placed the ladies beside
+him, once more earnestly repeating by signs his injunctions of
+silence.  The Italian then, extending his bare arm from under his
+linen vestment, pointed with his forefinger to five large
+flambeaux, or torches, placed on each side of the altar.  They
+took fire successively at the approach of his hand, or rather of
+his finger, and spread a strong light through the room.  By this
+the visitors could discern that, on the seeming altar, were
+disposed two naked swords laid crosswise; a large open book,
+which they conceived to be a copy of the Holy Scriptures, but in
+a language to them unknown; and beside this mysterious volume was
+placed a human skull.  But what struck the sisters most was a
+very tall and broad mirror, which occupied all the space behind
+the altar, and, illumined by the lighted torches, reflected the
+mysterious articles which were laid upon it.
+
+The master then placed himself between the two ladies, and,
+pointing to the mirror, took each by the hand, but without
+speaking a syllable.  They gazed intently on the polished and
+sable space to which he had directed their attention.  Suddenly
+the surface assumed a new and singular appearance.  It no longer
+simply reflected the objects placed before it, but, as if it had
+self-contained scenery of its own, objects began to appear within
+it, at first in a disorderly, indistinct, and miscellaneous
+manner, like form arranging itself out of chaos; at length, in
+distinct and defined shape and symmetry.  It was thus that, after
+some shifting of light and darkness over the face of the
+wonderful glass, a long perspective of arches and columns began
+to arrange itself on its sides, and a vaulted roof on the upper
+part of it, till, after many oscillations, the whole vision
+gained a fixed and stationary appearance, representing the
+interior of a foreign church.  The pillars were stately, and hung
+with scutcheons; the arches were lofty and magnificent; the floor
+was lettered with funeral inscriptions.  But there were no
+separate shrines, no images, no display of chalice or crucifix on
+the altar.  It was, therefore, a Protestant church upon the
+Continent.  A clergyman dressed in the Geneva gown and band stood
+by the communion table, and, with the Bible opened before him,
+and his clerk awaiting in the background, seemed prepared to
+perform some service of the church to which he belonged.
+
+At length, there entered the middle aisle of the building a
+numerous party, which appeared to be a bridal one, as a lady and
+gentleman walked first, hand in hand, followed by a large
+concourse of persons of both sexes, gaily, nay richly, attired.
+The bride, whose features they could distinctly see, seemed not
+more than sixteen years old, and extremely beautiful.  The
+bridegroom, for some seconds, moved rather with his shoulder
+towards them, and his face averted; but his elegance of form and
+step struck the sisters at once with the same apprehension.  As
+he turned his face suddenly, it was frightfully realized, and
+they saw, in the gay bridegroom before them, Sir Philip Forester.
+His wife uttered an imperfect exclamation, at the sound of which
+the whole scene stirred and seemed to separate.
+
+"I could compare it to nothing," said Lady Bothwell, while
+recounting the wonderful tale, "but to the dispersion of the
+reflection offered by a deep and calm pool, when a stone is
+suddenly cast into it, and the shadows become dissipated and
+broken."  The master pressed both the ladies' hands severely, as
+if to remind them of their promise, and of the danger which they
+incurred.  The exclamation died away on Lady Forester's tongue,
+without attaining perfect utterance, and the scene in the glass,
+after the fluctuation of a minute, again resumed to the eye its
+former appearance of a real scene, existing within the mirror, as
+if represented in a picture, save that the figures were movable
+instead of being stationary.
+
+The representation of Sir Philip Forester, now distinctly visible
+in form and feature, was seen to lead on towards the clergyman
+that beautiful girl, who advanced at once with diffidence and
+with a species of affectionate pride.  In the meantime, and just
+as the clergyman had arranged the bridal company before him, and
+seemed about to commence the service, another group of persons,
+of whom two or three were officers, entered the church.  They
+moved, at first, forward, as though they came to witness the
+bridal ceremony; but suddenly one of the officers, whose back was
+towards the spectators, detached himself from his companions, and
+rushed hastily towards the marriage party, when the whole of them
+turned towards him, as if attracted by some exclamation which had
+accompanied his advance.  Suddenly the intruder drew his sword;
+the bridegroom unsheathed his own, and made towards him; swords
+were also drawn by other individuals, both of the marriage party
+and of those who had last entered.  They fell into a sort of
+confusion, the clergyman, and some elder and graver persons,
+labouring apparently to keep the peace, while the hotter spirits
+on both sides brandished their weapons.  But now, the period of
+the brief space during which the soothsayer, as he pretended, was
+permitted to exhibit his art, was arrived.  The fumes again mixed
+together, and dissolved gradually from observation; the vaults
+and columns of the church rolled asunder, and disappeared; and
+the front of the mirror reflected nothing save the blazing
+torches and the melancholy apparatus placed on the altar or table
+before it.
+
+The doctor led the ladies, who greatly required his support, into
+the apartment from whence they came, where wine, essences, and
+other means of restoring suspended animation, had been provided
+during his absence.  He motioned them to chairs, which they
+occupied in silence--Lady Forester, in particular, wringing her
+hands, and casting her eyes up to heaven, but without speaking a
+word, as if the spell had been still before her eyes.
+
+"And what we have seen is even now acting?"  said Lady Bothwell,
+collecting herself with difficulty.
+
+"That," answered Baptista Damiotti, "I cannot justly, or with
+certainty, say.  But it is either now acting, or has been acted
+during a short space before this.  It is the last remarkable
+transaction in which the Cavalier Forester has been engaged."
+
+Lady Bothwell then expressed anxiety concerning her sister, whose
+altered countenance and apparent unconsciousness of what passed
+around her excited her apprehensions how it might be possible to
+convey her home.
+
+"I have prepared for that," answered the adept.  "I have directed
+the servant to bring your equipage as near to this place as the
+narrowness of the street will permit.  Fear not for your sister,
+but give her, when you return home, this composing draught, and
+she will be better to-morrow morning.  Few," he added in a
+melancholy tone, "leave this house as well in health as they
+entered it.  Such being the consequence of seeking knowledge by
+mysterious means, I leave you to judge the condition of those who
+have the power of gratifying such irregular curiosity.  Farewell,
+and forget not the potion."
+
+"I will give her nothing that comes from you," said Lady
+Bothwell; "I have seen enough of your art already.  Perhaps you
+would poison us both to conceal your own necromancy.  But we are
+persons who want neither the means of making our wrongs known,
+nor the assistance of friends to right them."
+
+"You have had no wrongs from me, madam," said the adept.  "You
+sought one who is little grateful for such honour.  He seeks no
+one, and only gives responses to those who invite and call upon
+him.  After all, you have but learned a little sooner the evil
+which you must still be doomed to endure.  I hear your servant's
+step at the door, and will detain your ladyship and Lady Forester
+no longer.  The next packet from the Continent will explain what
+you have already partly witnessed.  Let it not, if I may advise,
+pass too suddenly into your sister's hands."
+
+So saying, he bid Lady Bothwell good-night.  She went, lighted by
+the adept, to the vestibule, where he hastily threw a black cloak
+over his singular dress, and opening the door, entrusted his
+visitors to the care of the servant.  It was with difficulty that
+Lady Bothwell sustained her sister to the carriage, though it was
+only twenty steps distant.  When they arrived at home, Lady
+Forester required medical assistance.  The physician of the
+family attended, and shook his head on feeling her pulse.
+
+"Here has been," he said, "a violent and sudden shock on the
+nerves.  I must know how it has happened."
+
+Lady Bothwell admitted they had visited the conjurer, and that
+Lady Forester had received some bad news respecting her husband,
+Sir Philip.
+
+"That rascally quack would make my fortune, were he to stay in
+Edinburgh," said the graduate; "this is the seventh nervous case
+I have heard of his making for me, and all by effect of terror."
+He next examined the composing draught which Lady Bothwell had
+unconsciously brought in her hand, tasted it, and pronounced it
+very germain to the matter, and what would save an application to
+the apothecary.  He then paused, and looking at Lady Bothwell
+very significantly, at length added, "I suppose I must not ask
+your ladyship anything about this Italian warlock's proceedings?"
+
+"Indeed, doctor," answered Lady Bothwell, "I consider what passed
+as confidential; and though the man may be a rogue, yet, as we
+were fools enough to consult him, we should, I think, be honest
+enough to keep his counsel."
+
+"MAY be a knave!  Come," said the doctor, "I am glad to hear your
+ladyship allows such a possibility in anything that comes from
+Italy."
+
+"What comes from Italy may be as good as what comes from Hanover,
+doctor.  But you and I will remain good friends; and that it may
+be so, we will say nothing of Whig and Tory."
+
+"Not I," said the doctor, receiving his fee, and taking his hat;
+"a Carolus serves my purpose as well as a Willielmus.  But I
+should like to know why old Lady Saint Ringan, and all that set,
+go about wasting their decayed lungs in puffing this foreign
+fellow."
+
+"Ay--you had best set him down a Jesuit, as Scrub says."  On
+these terms they parted.
+
+The poor patient--whose nerves, from an extraordinary state of
+tension, had at length become relaxed in as extraordinary a
+degree--continued to struggle with a sort of imbecility, the
+growth of superstitious terror, when the shocking tidings were
+brought from Holland which fulfilled even her worst expectations.
+
+They were sent by the celebrated Earl of Stair, and contained the
+melancholy event of a duel betwixt Sir Philip Forester and his
+wife's half-brother, Captain Falconer, of the Scotch-Dutch, as
+they were then called, in which the latter had been killed.  The
+cause of quarrel rendered the incident still more shocking.  It
+seemed that Sir Philip had left the army suddenly, in consequence
+of being unable to pay a very considerable sum which he had lost
+to another volunteer at play.  He had changed his name, and taken
+up his residence at Rotterdam, where he had insinuated himself
+into the good graces of an ancient and rich burgomaster, and, by
+his handsome person and graceful manners, captivated the
+affections of his only child, a very young person, of great
+beauty, and the heiress of much wealth.  Delighted with the
+specious attractions of his proposed son-in-law, the wealthy
+merchant--whose idea of the British character was too high to
+admit of his taking any precaution to acquire evidence of his
+condition and circumstances--gave his consent to the marriage.
+It was about to be celebrated in the principal church of the
+city, when it was interrupted by a singular occurrence.
+
+Captain Falconer having been detached to Rotterdam to bring up a
+part of the brigade of Scottish auxiliaries, who were in quarters
+there, a person of consideration in the town, to whom he had been
+formerly known, proposed to him for amusement to go to the high
+church to see a countryman of his own married to the daughter of
+a wealthy burgomaster.  Captain Falconer went accordingly,
+accompanied by his Dutch acquaintance, with a party of his
+friends, and two or three officers of the Scotch brigade.  His
+astonishment may be conceived when he saw his own brother-in-law,
+a married man, on the point of leading to the altar the innocent
+and beautiful creature upon whom he was about to practise a base
+and unmanly deceit.  He proclaimed his villainy on the spot, and
+the marriage was interrupted, of course.  But against the opinion
+of more thinking men, who considered Sir Philip Forester as
+having thrown himself out of the rank of men of honour, Captain
+Falconer admitted him to the privilege of such, accepted a
+challenge from him, and in the rencounter received a mortal
+wound.  Such are the ways of Heaven, mysterious in our eyes.
+Lady Forester never recovered the shock of this dismal
+intelligence.
+
+*
+
+"And did this tragedy," said I, "take place exactly at the time
+when the scene in the mirror was exhibited?"
+
+"It is hard to be obliged to maim one's story," answered my aunt,
+"but to speak the truth, it happened some days sooner than the
+apparition was exhibited."
+
+"And so there remained a possibility," said I, "that by some
+secret and speedy communication the artist might have received
+early intelligence of that incident."
+
+"The incredulous pretended so," replied my aunt.
+
+"What became of the adept?"  demanded I.
+
+"Why, a warrant came down shortly afterwards to arrest him for
+high treason, as an agent of the Chevalier St. George; and Lady
+Bothwell, recollecting the hints which had escaped the doctor, an
+ardent friend of the Protestant succession, did then call to
+remembrance that this man was chiefly PRONE among the ancient
+matrons of her own political persuasion.  It certainly seemed
+probable that intelligence from the Continent, which could easily
+have been transmitted by an active and powerful agent, might have
+enabled him to prepare such a scene of phantasmagoria as she had
+herself witnessed.  Yet there were so many difficulties in
+assigning a natural explanation, that, to the day of her death,
+she remained in great doubt on the subject, and much disposed to
+cut the Gordian knot by admitting the existence of supernatural
+agency."
+
+"But, my dear aunt," said I, "what became of the man of skill?"
+
+"Oh, he was too good a fortune-teller not to be able to foresee
+that his own destiny would be tragical if he waited the arrival
+of the man with the silver greyhound upon his sleeve.  He made,
+as we say, a moonlight flitting, and was nowhere to be seen or
+heard of.  Some noise there was about papers or letters found in
+the house; but it died away, and Doctor Baptista Damiotti was
+soon as little talked of as Galen or Hippocrates."
+
+"And Sir Philip Forester," said I, "did he too vanish for ever
+from the public scene?"
+
+"No," replied my kind informer.  "He was heard of once more, and
+it was upon a remarkable occasion.  It is said that we Scots,
+when there was such a nation in existence, have, among our full
+peck of virtues, one or two little barley-corns of vice.  In
+particular, it is alleged that we rarely forgive, and never
+forget, any injuries received--that we make an idol of our
+resentment, as poor Lady Constance did of her grief, and are
+addicted, as Burns says, to 'nursing our wrath to keep it warm.'
+Lady Bothwell was not without this feeling; and, I believe,
+nothing whatever, scarce the restoration of the Stewart line,
+could have happened so delicious to her feelings as an
+opportunity of being revenged on Sir Philip Forester for the deep
+and double injury which had deprived her of a sister and of a
+brother.  But nothing of him was heard or known till many a year
+had passed away.
+
+"At length--it was on a Fastern's E'en (Shrovetide) assembly, at
+which the whole fashion of Edinburgh attended, full and frequent,
+and when Lady Bothwell had a seat amongst the lady patronesses,
+that one of the attendants on the company whispered into her ear
+that a gentleman wished to speak with her in private.
+
+"'In private?  and in an assembly room?--he must be mad.  Tell
+him to call upon me to-morrow morning.'
+
+"'I said so, my lady,' answered the man, 'but he desired me to
+give you this paper.'
+
+"She undid the billet, which was curiously folded and sealed.  It
+only bore the words, 'ON BUSINESS OF LIFE AND DEATH,' written in
+a hand which she had never seen before.  Suddenly it occurred to
+her that it might concern the safety of some of her political
+friends.  She therefore followed the messenger to a small
+apartment where the refreshments were prepared, and from which
+the general company was excluded.  She found an old man, who, at
+her approach, rose up and bowed profoundly.  His appearance
+indicated a broken constitution, and his dress, though sedulously
+rendered conforming to the etiquette of a ballroom, was worn and
+tarnished, and hung in folds about his emaciated person.  Lady
+Bothwell was about to feel for her purse, expecting to get rid of
+the supplicant at the expense of a little money, but some fear of
+a mistake arrested her purpose.  She therefore gave the man
+leisure to explain himself.
+
+"'I have the honour to speak with the Lady Bothwell?'
+
+"'I am Lady Bothwell; allow me to say that this is no time or
+place for long explanations.  What are your commands with me?'
+
+"'Your ladyship,' said the old man, 'had once a sister.'
+
+"'True; whom I loved as my own soul.'
+
+"'And a brother.'
+
+"'The bravest, the kindest, the most affectionate!' said Lady
+Bothwell.
+
+"'Both these beloved relatives you lost by the fault of an
+unfortunate man,' continued the stranger.
+
+"'By the crime of an unnatural, bloody-minded murderer,' said the
+lady.
+
+"'I am answered,' replied the old man, bowing, as if to withdraw.
+
+"'Stop, sir, I command you,' said Lady Bothwell.  'Who are you
+that, at such a place and time, come to recall these horrible
+recollections?  I insist upon knowing.'
+
+"'I am one who intends Lady Bothwell no injury, but, on the
+contrary, to offer her the means of doing a deed of Christian
+charity, which the world would wonder at, and which Heaven would
+reward; but I find her in no temper for such a sacrifice as I was
+prepared to ask.'
+
+"'Speak out, sir; what is your meaning?' said Lady Bothwell.
+
+"'The wretch that has wronged you so deeply,' rejoined the
+stranger, 'is now on his death-bed.  His days have been days of
+misery, his nights have been sleepless hours of anguish--yet he
+cannot die without your forgiveness.  His life has been an
+unremitting penance--yet he dares not part from his burden while
+your curses load his soul.'
+
+"'Tell him,' said Lady Bothwell sternly, 'to ask pardon of that
+Being whom he has so greatly offended, not of an erring mortal
+like himself.  What could my forgiveness avail him?'
+
+"'Much,' answered the old man.  'It will be an earnest of that
+which he may then venture to ask from his Creator, lady, and from
+yours.  Remember, Lady Bothwell, you too have a death-bed to look
+forward to; Your soul may--all human souls must--feel the awe of
+facing the judgment-seat, with the wounds of an untented
+conscience, raw, and rankling--what thought would it be then that
+should whisper, "I have given no mercy, how then shall I ask
+it?"'
+
+"'Man, whosoever thou mayest be,' replied Lady Bothwell, 'urge me
+not so cruelly.  It would be but blasphemous hypocrisy to utter
+with my lips the words which every throb of my heart protests
+against.  They would open the earth and give to light the wasted
+form of my sister, the bloody form of my murdered brother.
+Forgive him?--never, never!'
+
+"'Great God!' cried the old man, holding up his hands, 'is it
+thus the worms which Thou hast called out of dust obey the
+commands of their Maker?  Farewell, proud and unforgiving woman.
+Exult that thou hast added to a death in want and pain the
+agonies of religious despair; but never again mock Heaven by
+petitioning for the pardon which thou hast refused to grant.'
+
+"He was turning from her.
+
+"'Stop,' she exclaimed; 'I will try--yes, I will try to pardon
+him.'
+
+"'Gracious lady,' said the old man, 'you will relieve the over-
+burdened soul which dare not sever itself from its sinful
+companion of earth without being at peace with you.  What do I
+know--your forgiveness may perhaps preserve for penitence the
+dregs of a wretched life.'
+
+"'Ha!' said the lady, as a sudden light broke on her, 'it is the
+villain himself!' And grasping Sir Philip Forester--for it was
+he, and no other--by the collar, she raised a cry of 'Murder,
+murder!  seize the murderer!'
+
+"At an exclamation so singular, in such a place, the company
+thronged into the apartment; but Sir Philip Forester was no
+longer there.  He had forcibly extricated himself from Lady
+Bothwell's hold, and had run out of the apartment, which opened
+on the landing-place of the stair.  There seemed no escape in
+that direction, for there were several persons coming up the
+steps, and others descending.  But the unfortunate man was
+desperate.  He threw himself over the balustrade, and alighted
+safely in the lobby, though a leap of fifteen feet at least, then
+dashed into the street, and was lost in darkness.  Some of the
+Bothwell family made pursuit, and had they come up with the
+fugitive they might perhaps have slain him; for in those days
+men's blood ran warm in their veins.  But the police did not
+interfere, the matter most criminal having happened long since,
+and in a foreign land.  Indeed it was always thought that this
+extraordinary scene originated in a hypocritical experiment, by
+which Sir Philip desired to ascertain whether he might return to
+his native country in safety from the resentment of a family
+which he had injured so deeply.  As the result fell out so
+contrary to his wishes, he is believed to have returned to the
+Continent, and there died in exile."
+
+So closed the tale of the MYSTERIOUS MIRROR.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of My Aunt Margaret's Mirror, by Scott
+
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