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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +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 + diff --git a/old/mamsm10.zip b/old/mamsm10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..11bdd01 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mamsm10.zip |