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diff --git a/old/67226-0.txt b/old/67226-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8eef000..0000000 --- a/old/67226-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9057 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The King's Own Borderers, Volume I (of -3), by James Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The King's Own Borderers, Volume I (of 3) - A Military Romance - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: January 22, 2022 [eBook #67226] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S OWN BORDERERS, -VOLUME I (OF 3) *** - - - - - - - - THE KING'S OWN BORDERERS. - - A Military Romance. - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT, - - - AUTHOR OF - "SECOND TO NONE," "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "THE YELLOW FRIGATE," - ETC. ETC. - - - - "Memories fast are thronging o'er me, - Of the grand old fields of Spain; - How he faced the charge of Junot, - And the fight where Moore was slain. - Oh the years of weary waiting - For the glorious chance he sought, - For the slowly ripened harvest - That life's latest autumn brought." - - - - IN THREE VOLUMES. - - VOL. I. - - - - LONDON: - GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, - BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL. - - 1865. - - - - - LONDON: - SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, - COVENT GARDEN. - - - - -PREFACE. - -In the following volumes I have endeavoured to delineate the career -of a soldier--and of a character that has not as yet, I think, -figured in the pages of our military novelists--a Gentleman -Volunteer, serving with a line regiment in time of war, according to -a custom which survived even the memorable battles of the Peninsula. - -As the scene of his adventures (some of which are not quite -fictitious), I have chosen the expedition under the gallant and -ill-fated Sir John Moore, as it has scarcely, if ever, been made the -theme of a military romance. - -No history of the 25th Foot is in existence; hence, as the brief -outline of its early career in the first volume is substantially -correct, it may prove of interest to some readers. - -I may add that the 94th regiment mentioned occasionally, is the old -94th or "Scots Brigade," which came from the service of the States -General, and was disbanded after Waterloo. - -The corps at present bearing the same number in the Army List was -also, however, raised in Scotland, but in December, 1823; and on that -occasion the green standard of the old brigade of gallant memory was -borne through the streets, from the castle of Edinburgh, by a soldier -of the Black Watch. - - 26, DANUBE STREET, - EDINBURGH. - - - - - CONTENTS - OF - THE FIRST VOLUME. - - - CHAP. - - I. LADY WINIFRED - II. THE PARTAN CRAIG - III. THE CASTLE OF ROHALLION - IV. THE CHILD OF THE SEA - V. THE PAST - VI. LORD ROHALLION - VII. OUR STORY PROGRESSES - VIII. QUENTIN'S CHILDHOOD - IX. THE QUARTERMASTER'S SNUGGERY - X. FLORA WARRENDER - XI. LOVE, AND MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO - XII. A LAST KISS - XIII. COSMO THE MASTER - XIV. AN ABRUPT PROPOSAL - XV. THE BLOW - XVI. EXPOSTULATION - XVII. FORTH INTO THE WORLD - XVIII. UNAVAILING REGRET - XIX. AN OLD SOLDIER'S STORY - XX. THE WAYFARER - XXI. THE VAULT OF KILHENZIE - XXII. THE QUEEN ANNE'S HEAD - XXIII. NEW FRIENDS - XXIV. THE YOUNG VOLUNTEER - XXV. THE PRUSSIAN GRENADIER - XXVI. COLCHESTER BARRACKS - XXVII. THE LOST LETTER - - - - -THE KING'S OWN BORDERERS, - - - -CHAPTER I. - -LADY WINIFRED. - - "Thick, thick--no sight remains the while, - From the farthest Orkney isle, - No sight to seahorse or to seer, - But of a little pallid sail, - That seems as if 'twould struggle near, - And then as if its pinion pale - Gave up the battle to the gale." - LEIGH HUNT. - - -On the afternoon of a lowering day in the November of 1798, a -square-rigged vessel--a brig of some three hundred and fifty -tons--was seen in the offing, about twelve miles distant from the -bluff, rocky headland of Rohallion, on the western coast of Carrick, -beating hard against a head-wind and sea, that were set dead in -shore; and, as a long and treacherous reef, locally known as the -Partan Craig (_Anglicè_, Crab-rock), lies off the headland, many -fears were loudly expressed by on-lookers, that if she failed to gain -even better sea room, ere night-fall, the gale, the waves, and the -current might prove too much for her in the end, and the half-sunken -reef would finish the catastrophe. - -Over the craig the angry breakers of the Firth of Clyde were seen to -boil and whiten, and the ridgy reef seemed to rise, at times, like a -hungry row of shark's teeth, black, sharp, and shining. - -With royal yards on deck, with topsails lowered upon the caps, her -fore and maincourses close-hauled, with a double reef in each, the -stranger was seen to lie alternately on the port and starboard tack, -braced so close to the wind's eye as a square-rigged craft dared be; -but still she made but little way to seaward. - -From Rohallion there were two persons who watched her struggles with -deep interest. - -"The turn of the tide will strengthen the current, my lady, and bring -her close to the craig, after all," said one. - -"Under God's favour, John Girvan, I hope not!" was the fervent -response. - -"There is an eddy between the craig and the coves of Rohallion as -strong as the whirlpool of Corryvreckan itself." - -"Yes, John; I have seen more than one poor boat, with its crew, -perish there, in the herring season." - -"Look, look, my lady! There is another vessel--a brig, I take her to -be--running right into the Firth before the wind." - -The speakers were Winifred Lady Rohallion and her husband's bailie or -factor, who stood together at a window of the castle of Rohallion, -which crowns the summit of the headland before mentioned, and from -whence, as it is a hundred and fifty feet in height, and rises almost -sheer from the water, a spacious view can be obtained of the noble -Firth of Clyde, there expanding into a vast ocean, though apparently -almost landlocked by the grassy hills and dales of Cunninghame, the -princely Isle of Bute (the cradle of the House of Stuart), the blue -and rocky peaks of Arran, the grey ridges of Kintyre; and far away, -like a blue stripe that bounds the Scottish sea, the dim and distant -shores of Ireland. - -A few heavy rain-drops, precursors of a torrent, plashed on the -window-panes, and with a swiftness almost tropical, great masses of -cloud came rolling across the darkening sky. Under their lower -edges, lurid streaks between the hill-tops marked the approach of -sunset, and thunder began to grumble overhead, as it came from the -splintered peaks of Arran, to die away among the woody highlands of -Carrick. - -Aware that when the tide turned there would be a tremendous swell, -with a sea that would roll far inshore, the fishermen in the little -bay near the castled rock were all busily at work, drawing their -brown-tarred and sharp-prowed boats far up on the beach, for there -was a moaning in the sea and rising wind that foretold a tempestuous -night: thus, they as well as the inhabitants of Rohallion Castle were -at a loss to understand why the strange brig, instead of running -right up the firth in search of safe anchorage under some of the high -land, strove to beat to windward. - -The conclusion therefore come to was, that she was French, or that -her crew were ignorant of the river navigation; there were no pilots -then, so far down the firth, and when the fishermen spoke among -themselves of running down to her assistance or guidance, they -muttered of French gun-brigs, of letters of marque, and -privateers--shrugged their shoulders, and stood pipe in mouth under -the lee of the little rocky pier to watch the event. - -At the drawing-room windows of the more modern portion of the old -stronghold of Rohallion, the lady of that name, and her bailie, stood -watching the ship, by the dim light of the darkening afternoon. - -Lady Winifred was a woman of a style, or rather of a school, that has -passed away for ever out of Scotland. - -Tall and stately, but gentle, homely, and motherly withal, her quaint -formality was tempered by an old-fashioned politeness, that put all -at their ease. - -Now though verging on her fiftieth year, she was still very handsome, -albeit where dimples once laughed, the wrinkles were appearing now. -She had been an Edinburgh belle in those days when the tone of -society there was very stately and aristocratic; when the city was -the winter resort of the solid rank and real talent of the land; when -it was a small and spirited capital instead of a huge "deserted -village," abandoned to the soothing influences of the church, the -law, Sabbatarianism, and the east wind. - -Her lofty carriage and old-fashioned courtesy reminded one of what is -described of the ladies of Queen Anne's time; she possessed a -singular sweetness in her smile, and every motion, even of her -smooth, white hands, though perfectly natural, seemed studies of -artistic grace. Her eyes were dark and keen; her features straight -and noble; her complexion brilliantly fair. Though powder had been -wisely discarded by Her Majesty, the Queen Consort, and the six -Princesses, their doing so was no rule for Lady Rohallion, who was -somewhat of a potentate in Carrick, and still wore her hair in that -singular half-dishevelled fashion, full and flowing, as we may see it -depicted in Sir Joshua's famous portrait of her, which is to be hung -on the walls of the Scottish National Gallery, when cleared of some -of their local rubbish. - -Thus, the white powder which she retained in profusion, formed a -singular but not unpleasing contrast to her black eyebrows, black -eyes, and long dark lashes--silky fringes, from which, some -five-and-twenty years before, she had shot more than one perriwigged -sub, who had come unscathed from the dangers of Bunker's-hill and -Brandywine. - -On the present occasion, her visitor, who bore the somewhat -unaristocratic name of Mr. John Girvan, or, at times, Girvanmains, -was a short, thickset, weatherbeaten man about sixty years of age, -and in whom any one could have discerned at a glance the old soldier, -by the erect way in which he carried his head. He wore an old -military wig that had once been white, but was quite unpowdered now -and was bleached yellow; and he had a jolly good-humoured face, -rendered so red by exposure to the weather and by imbibing -whisky-toddy, that, as he once said himself, "it might blow up a -gunpowder magazine, if he came within a mile of it." - -He had been the Quartermaster of Lord Rohallion's regiment, the 25th -Foot, and after long service with it in America and elsewhere, had -settled down on his colonel's estates in the capacity of -land-steward, ground-baillie, and general factotum, and in this -capacity had snug apartments assigned to him in a part of the old -castle. - -"While looking at yonder ship, my lady, you forget the letters I have -brought you from Maybole," said he, producing a leathern pouch having -the Rohallion arms stamped in brass on the outside; "the -riding-postman, with the mailbags, arrived just as I was leaving the -Kirkwynd Tavern. Waes me! what a changed place that is now. Many a -crown bowl of punch have poor Robbie Burns and I birled there!" - -"True, John, the letters; unlock the bag, and let me see what the -news is from Maybole." - -This ancient burgh-of-barony was the little capital of the old -bailiewick of Carrick. - -Opening the pouch, Girvan tumbled on the table a number of letters -and newspapers, such as the Edinburgh "Courant" and "Chronicle," -which then were about a quarter of the size of the journals of the -present day, and were printed on very grey paper, in such very brown -ink, that they had quite a mediæval aspect. - -The first letter Lady Winifred opened was from her chief friend and -gossip, the Countess of Eglinton, with whom she had been at school, -when she was simply Winifred Maxwell, and when the Countess was -Eleanora Hamilton, of Bourtreehill. Her letter was somewhat -sorrowful in its tenor:-- - -"I wish you would visit me, my dear friend," it ran; "Eglinton Castle -is so dull now, so very _triste_! My good lord the earl (whom God -preserve!) has been appointed Colonel of the Argyle Fencibles, one of -the many kilted regiments now being raised, lest we are invaded by -the French and their vile Corsican usurper; so he hath left me. My -second boy, Roger, too, hath sailed lieutenant of a man-o'-war, and -sorely do I opine that never mair shall my old hand stroke his golden -curls again--my own brave bairn! (Her forebodings were sadly -verified when, soon after, this favourite son died of fever at -Jamaica.) I send you Mrs. Anne Radcliffe's novel, 'The Mysteries of -Udolpho,' in five volumes, which I am sure will enchant you. I send -you also the last book of the fashions, which I received by the -London mail three weeks ago. Carriage robes are to have long -sleeves, and the jockey bonnets are trimmed with green feathers; -white satin mantles, trimmed with swansdown, of the _exile style_, -are considered the most elegant wraps for the opera. You will see by -the papers that our brave Lord Nelson hath been created Duke of -Bronte, but returns from Naples with the odious woman Lady Hamilton. -Tell Bailie Girvan ('Quartermaster,' I think he prefers,) that I -thank him for the hawslock-wool* he sent to Eglinton; my girls and I -are spinning it with our own hands. Also I thank your sweet self for -the lace mittens you knitted for me on Hallow-e'en. Your little -friend--it may soon be ward--Miss Flora Warrender, is now with us, -and seems to grow lovelier and livelier every day. I have Madame -Rossignal, an _emigré_, the fashionable mistress of dancing, from -Fyfe's Close, Edinburgh, with me just now, teaching my girls; but for -a child of eight years, the little Warrender excels them both. Her -father goes abroad in command of his regiment, and her poor mother is -almost brokenhearted." - - -* The finest wool, being the locks that grow on the throat. - - -"If she is lonely at Eglinton, with her daughters the Ladies Jane and -Lilias, how much more must I be, whose husband is absent, and whose -only son is with the army!" exclaimed Lady Winifred. - -"A letter from Rohallion himself!" said the old Quartermaster in an -excited tone, handing to the lady a missive which bore her husband's -seal and coronet. - -"From him, and I read it _last_!" said she reproachfully, as she -opened it. - -It was dated from White's Coffee-house, in London, whither he had -gone as a representative peer, and it contained only some news of the -period, such as comments on Lord Castlereagh's or Mr. Pitt's speeches -about the Irish Union; ("which is to be carried by English gold and -guile, like our own," said the Quartermaster, parenthetically;) the -hopes he had of getting command of a brigade in Sir Ralph -Abercrombie's proposed Egyptian expedition; he related that their son -Cosmo, the master of Rohallion, then serving with the Guards, was -well, and stood high in favour with the Prince of Wales. - -"A doubtful compliment, if all tales be true," commented Lady -Winifred. - -"If Rohallion goes on service, I'll never stay at home behind him," -exclaimed old Girvan; "it would ill become me." - -"_All_ the Highland regiments in Great Britain, second battalions as -well as first, are under orders for immediate foreign service," -continued his lordship's letter; "this looks like work, Winny dear, -does it not?" - -He added that Parliament was to be prorogued in a day or two, and -that he would return by sea in one of the Leith smacks, which were -then large and heavy passenger cutters, of some two hundred tons or -so; they were all armed with carronades, and as their crews were -secured from the pressgangs, they manfully fought their own way, -without convoy, with the old Scots flag at their mast-head. - -"He comes home by sea," said Lady Rohallion aloud, glancing nervously -at the offing, where the coast of Ireland had disappeared, and where -the clouds were gathering black and rapidly. - -"By sea!" repeated Girvan. - -"Now, the Lord forfend, at this season of the year!" - -"And when so many French and Spanish privateers infest the seas, led -by fellows who, in daring, surpass even Commodore Fall or Paul -Jones," exclaimed Girvan. - -As if to echo or confirm their fears, a booming sound pealed from a -distance over the sea. - -"What noise is that?" asked Lady Rohallion, starting up, while her -pale cheek grew paler still. - -"A gun--a cannon shot to seaward!" exclaimed the old soldier, -pricking up his ears, while his eyes sparkled on recognising the once -too familiar sound. - -"'Tis that vessel in distress," said Lady Rohallion, as they hurried -once more to the windows which overlooked the sea. "Away to the -clachan, John; get all our people together, and have the boats -launched." - -"That will be impossible with such a heavy sea coming rolling in, my -lady--clean impossible!" replied the other, as he threw up a window -and levelled a telescope at the vessel, while the wild blast against -which she was struggling made the damask curtains stream like -banners, and frizzed up, like a mop, the Quartermaster's old yellow -wig. - -"What do you see, John? Speak, Girvanmains!" - -"There go her colours; but I can't make them out." - -"Twenty guineas a man to all who will aid her!" exclaimed Lady -Rohallion, taking a key from her gold chatelaine, and hurrying to a -buhl escritoire, while gun after gun pealed from a distance over the -stormy sea; but they came from two vessels, one of which was hidden -in a bank of dusky vapour. - -The lady grasped the old Quartermaster's arm, and her white hands -trembled nervously as she exclaimed in a whisper-- - -"Oh, my God, John Girvan! what if Rohallion should be on board of -her, with a foe on one hand and a lee shore on the other?" - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE PARTAN CRAIG. - - "Prone on the midnight surge with panting breath, - They cry for aid, and long contend with death; - High o'er their heads the rolling billows sweep, - And down they sink in everlasting sleep. - Bereft of power to help, their comrades see - The wretched victims die beneath the lee!" - FALCONER'S _Shipwreck_. - - -Inspired by fears, perhaps, similar to those of his lady, the -Quartermaster made no immediate reply, but continued to watch with -deep interest, and somewhat of a professional eye, the red flashes -which broke from the bosom of that gloomy bank of cloud, which seemed -to rest upon the surface of the water, about six miles distant. - -The wind was still blowing a gale from the seaward. Through the -fast-flying masses of black and torn vapour, the setting sun, for a -few minutes, shed a lurid glare--it almost seemed a baleful glow -along the crested waves, reddening their frothy tops, and lighting -up, as if with crimson flames, the wet canvas of the brig; but lo! at -the same instant, there shot out of the vapour, and into the ruddy -sheen of the stormy sunset, another square-rigged craft, a brig of -larger size, whose guns were fired with man-o'-war-like precision and -rapidity. - -The first vessel, the same which for so many hours had been working -close-hauled in long tacks to beat off the lee shore, now -relinquished the attempt, and, squaring her yards, hoisting her -topsails from the cap, stood straight towards Rohallion, her crew -evidently expecting some military protection from the castle on the -rock, or deeming it better to run bump ashore, with all its risks, -than be taken by the enemy. - -The fugitive was snow-rigged, a merchant brig apparently by her deep -bends, bluff bows, and somewhat clumsy top and hamper; the British -colours were displayed at her gaff peak. The other was a smart -gun-brig or privateer with the tricolour of France floating at her -gaff, and a long whiplike pennant streaming ahead of her, as she -fired her bow chasers. Twice luffing round, she let fly some of her -broadside guns, and once she discharged a large pivot cannon from -amidships, in her efforts to cripple the fugitive. But as both -vessels were plunging heavily in a tempestuous sea, the shot only -passed through the fore and main courses of the merchantman, and were -seen to ricochet along the waves' tops ahead, ere they sunk amid tiny -waterspouts to the bottom. Thus the violence of the gale rendered -the cannonading of the Frenchman nearly futile. - -Neglected, or ill-protected at times by warship and batteries, as the -whole Scottish coast was during the war against France, such episodes -as this were of frequent occurrence. There was no cruiser in the -vicinity, so the flight and pursuit in the offing went on -interrupted, notwithstanding the fury of the gale, which was -increasing every moment. - -Although our fleets successfully blockaded the great military ports -of France, in the beginning of the war, her privateers infested all -the broad and narrow seas, and frequently made dashes inshore. Only -seventeen years before the period of our story, the _Fearnought_, of -Dunkirk, cannonaded Arbroath with red-hot shot; and much, about the -same time, the notorious renegade Paul Jones kept all the Scottish -seaboard in alarm with his fleet. - -Now the wild blast that tore round the sea-beaten cliff on which the -castle stood, increased in fury; the waves grew whiter as the lurid -sun went down, enveloped in clouds; the sky grew darker and the guns -flashed redder, as they broke through the murky atmosphere, while -their reports were brought by the wind, sharply and distinctly, to -the ears of those who so anxiously looked on. - -"Oh, if Rohallion should be there!" exclaimed Lady Winifred, wringing -her hands again and again. - -"This will never do!" exclaimed the old Quartermaster, wrathfully; "a -Frenchman in the very mouth o' the Clyde and dinging a Scottish ship -in that fashion! I must fire a gun, and get the volunteers to man -the battery." - -Suddenly the sails of the merchantman were seen to shiver, and she -seemed in danger of losing her masts, for a shot had carried away her -rudder, and consequently she became unmanageable! - -Both vessels were now so near the land, that the Frenchman probably -became alarmed for his own safety; so changing his course, he braced -his yards sharp up, and beating to windward, speedily disappeared -into the gloom from which he had so suddenly emerged, and was seen no -more; but the unfortunate victim of his hostility drifted fast away -before the wind, partly broadside on, towards that lee and rocky -shore. - -"She will be foul o' the Partan Craig, so sure as my name is John -Girvan!" exclaimed the Quartermaster. - -"There is death in the air, Girvanmains," added Lady Rohallion, in a -low voice that was full of deep emotion; "I heard the moan of the sea -and wind--the deep sough of coming trouble--in the coves below the -house this morning, and I never knew the omen fail--oh, look -there--_all is over!_" she exclaimed with a shudder, as the drifting -vessel struck with a crash, they seemed to hear, on the long white -ridge of the Partan Craig. - -For a moment her masts were seen to sway from port to starboard, then -away they went to leeward, a mass of entangled ruin, rigging, yards, -and sails, as she became a complete wreck bulged upon the reef, with -the roaring sea making tremendous breaches over her, washing boats, -booms, bulwarks, and everything from her deck; and thus she lay, -helpless and abandoned to the elemental war, within a mile of the -shore. - -By the naked eye, but more particularly by means of a telescope, the -crew could be seen making frantic signals to those on shore, or -lashing themselves to the timber heads and the stumps of the masts; -and near her bows there was a man bearing in his arms a child, whom -he sought to shield from the waves that every moment swept over the -whole ship. - -"A father and his child," exclaimed Lady Rohallion, in deep -commiseration; "oh, my God, the poor things will perish! I will give -a hundred guineas to have them saved." - -"The national debt wouldn't do it," replied the old quartermaster, -grimly, with something in his throat between a sob and a sigh. - -In those days there were no lifeboats, no rocket apparatus to succour -the shipwrecked, and in such a wild night of storm and tempest--for -now the chill November eve had deepened into night--the hardy -fishermen, who alone could have ventured forth to aid the drowning -crew, thought and spoke of their wives and little ones, whose bread -depended on their exertions and on the safety of their clinker-built -boats, now drawn high and dry upon the beach; and thus compelled by -prudence to remain inactive, they remained with their weather-beaten -faces turned stolidly seaward to watch the helpless wreck. - -That those who were thereon did not despair of succour from the shore -was evident, for on the stump of their mainmast the red glaring light -of a tar-barrel was soon seen burning to indicate where they were, -for as the darkness increased, even the snow-white foam that boiled -over the Partan Craig became invisible. - -Then the fishermen's wives wrung their hands, and exclaimed in -chorus-- - -"The puir man wi' his bairn--oh the puir man wi' his bairn! God save -and sain them!" - -Flaring steadily like a great torch, the light of the blazing barrel -shed a weird gloom upon the wreck, and defied for a time even the -seas that swept her to extinguish it, while the heartrending cries of -the poor fellows who were lashed to the timber-heads and belaying -pins, were brought to the listeners' ears, from time to time, on the -stormy gusts of wind. - -To add to the wildness of the scene, the sea-lairds, disturbed, in -their eyries among the rocks by the cries, the recent firing, and the -blazing barrel now came forth, and the spotted guillemot (or -sea-turtle), the red-throated northern douker, the ravenous gull, and -the wild screaming mews went swooping about in flocks on the blast. - -A loud and despairing cry that was echoed by all on shore arose from -the wreck, as the fire-barrel was extinguished by one tremendous -breaker; and now local knowledge alone could indicate the place where -the bulged ship was perishing amid the gloom. Soon after this, the -cries for succour ceased, and as large pieces of timber, planking, -bulwarks, spars and masts were dashed upon the pier and rocks by the -furious sea, it was rightly conjectured that she had gone to pieces, -and that all was at an end now, with her and her crew. - -Accompanied by the village dominie, Symon Skaill, a party of -fishermen, farm labourers and servants from the castle, Mr. John -Girvan, with a shawl tied over his hat and yellow wig, searched the -whole beach around the little bay that was overshadowed and sheltered -by the castle-rock, and the coves or caverns that yawned in it, -hoping that some poor wretch might be cast ashore with life enough -remaining to tell the story of his ship; but they searched long and -vainly. Pieces of wreck, cordage, torn sails, broken spars and -blocks alone were left by the reflux of the waves, and the flaring of -the searchers' torches on the gusty wind, as seen from the Castle of -Rohallion, made them seem like wandering spirits, or something -certainly uncanny and weird to the eyes of Lady Winifred. - -So the night wore on, the storm continued unabated; heavily the rain -began to lash the sea-beat rocks and castle walls; louder than ever -roared the wind in the caves below, and more fiercely boiled the -breakers over the Partan Craig, as if the warring elements were -rejoicing in their strength, and in the destruction they had achieved. - -Wet, wearied, breathless, and longing particularly for a glass of -that steaming whisky-toddy, which they knew awaited them in the -castle, the dominie and the quartermaster, whose flambeaux were both -nearly burned out, just as they were about to ascend a narrow path -that wound upward from the beach, heard simultaneously a sound like a -wild gasping sob--a half-stifled cry of despair and exhaustion--from -the seaward. Shouting lustily for assistance, they gathered some of -the stragglers, and by the united glare of their torches, upheld at -arm's length, they beheld a sight that roused their tenderest -sympathies. - -Struggling with that wild sea, whose waves were still rolling -inshore, about twenty feet from where the spectators stood, a man's -head could be seen amid the white surf, bobbing like a fisher's -float, as he swam, combating nobly with the waves, but with one hand -and arm only; the other hand and arm sustained a child, who seemed -already dead or partially drowned. - -"Oh, weelawa, it was na for nocht that the sealghs were yowling on -the Partan Craig yestreen!" cried Elsie Irvine, a stout and comely -matron; but from that haunt the seals have long since been scared by -the river steamers. - -"Oh, the bairn--save the bairn--the puir wee lammie--the puir wee -doo!" chorussed the women, whose maternal instincts were keenly -excited, and led by Elsie's husband, several men rushed into the -water, grasping each other hand-in-hand to stem alike the flow and -backwash of the waves; but paralysed now by past exhaustion and by -the extreme cold of the sea and atmosphere, the poor man, who was -clad in a light green frock, laced with gold, could do no more to -save either himself or his burden; and thus lay floating passively on -the surface, drawn deep into the black trough one moment, and tossed -upon the white froth of a wave-summit the next, but always far beyond -the reach of those who sought to rescue him and his boy, and wild and -ghastly seemed his face, when, at times, it could be seen by the -light of the upheld torches. - -Uttering a short, sharp cry of exhaustion and despair, he suddenly -seemed to stand, or rise erect in the water; then he cast the child -towards the beach, threw up his hands as if human nature could endure -no more, and sank--sank within twenty feet of where the spectators -stood. - -Irvine, the fisherman, cleverly caught hold of the child, which a -wave fortunately threw towards him, and the little fellow, senseless, -cold and breathless, was borne away in the plump, sturdy arms of his -wife, to be stripped, put in a warm bed, and restored, if possible, -to heat and animation. - -Great exertions were meanwhile made, but made in vain, to rescue the -body of his father, for it was never doubted that such was his -relationship by those who witnessed his severe struggles, his love, -and his despair. - -The storm was passing away; wet, weary, and very much "out of sorts" -by their unwonted exertions, the quartermaster and the village -dominie, a thickset, sturdy old fellow, clad in rusty black, with a -tie perriwig and square buckled shoes, a very wrinkled and somewhat -careworn face, arrived at the Castle to make their report to Lady -Rohallion, who had anxiously awaited the events of the night. - -With that love of the marvellous and the morbid peculiar to their -class, her servants had every few minutes brought intelligence of the -number of corpses, gashed and mangled, which strewed the beach; of -treasures and rich stuffs which came ashore from the wreck, and so -forth; but, by reading her letters and other occupations, she had -striven to wean herself from thinking too much of the terrors that -reigned without, though every gust of wind that howled round the old -tower brought to mind the bulged ship, and made her sigh for the -absence of her husband and son, both far away from her; and now -starting up, she listened to the narrative of Dominie Skail and his -gossip, Mr. Girvan. - -"Ugh!" concluded the latter; "I've never had such a soaking since I -tumbled into the Weser, in heavy marching order, the night before -Minden; and drowned I should have been, but for the ready hand of -Rohallion." - -"But this child you speak of--where is it?" asked Lady Winifred. - -"Wi' auld Elsie Irvine, down by the coves, my lady," replied the -dominie, with one of his most respectful bows. - -"The poor little thing is alive, then?" - -"Yes--alive, warm, and sleeping cosily in Elsie's breast by this -time--cosily as ever bairn o' her ain did." - -"Bring this child to me in the morning, dominie--you will see to it?" - -"Yes, my lady." - -"A boy, you say it is?" - -"Yes." - -"And what is he like, John Girvan? - -"Just like other bairns, my lady." - -"How?" - -"With yellow hair and a nose above his chin," replied the -quartermaster, wiping the water out of his neck and wig. - -"A bonnie golden-haired bairnie as ever you saw, Lady Rohallion," -replied the dominie, with a glistening eye, for he had a kinder heart -for children than the old bachelor Girvan; "and he minded me much of -your ladyship's son, the master, when about the same size or age." - -"And this poor child is the sole survivor of the wreck?" - -"So far as we can learn, the sole--the only one!" - -"Heaven help us! this is very sad!" exclaimed the lady, while her -eyes filled with tears. "Many a mother will have a sore heart after -this storm, and more than one widow may weep for a husband drowned." - -"Ay, madam, in warring wi' the elements, we feel ourselves what the -Epicureans of old dreamed they were--scarcely the creation of a -benevolent Being, so helpless and infirm is man when opposed to them." - -"Bother the Epicureans, whoever they were; wring the water out of -your wig, dominie," said the quartermaster. - -"Any bodies that come ashore must be noted, examined, and buried with -due reverence." - -"Yes, my lady," replied the dominie; "we'll have to see the minister -and the sheriff anent this matter." - -"Dominie, the butler will attend to you and Mr. Girvan. You are -quite wet, so lose no time in getting your clothes changed; and bring -me in the morning this little waif of the ocean, whom I quite long to -see. Until we discover his parentage, he shall be my peculiar care." - -"That shall I do, my lady, joyfully," replied the dominie, bowing -very low; "and that you will be unto him all that the daughter of -Pharosh was to the little waif she found in the ark of bulrushes, I -doubt not." - -"Now, dominie," said the quartermaster, testily, "grog first--Exodus -after." - -"I have the honour to wish your ladyship a very good night; and we -shall drink to your health a glass for every letter of your name, -like the Romans of old, as we find in Tibullus and Martial," said the -solemn dominie, retiring and making three profound bows in reply to -Lady Rohallion's stately courtesy. - -"Good night, dominie. You, Girvanmains, will tell me the last news -in the morning." - -The old quartermaster made his most respectful military obeisance as -he withdrew, on receiving this patronymic; for though he had begun -life in the ranks of the 25th, or old Edinburgh regiment, like every -Scot he had a pedigree, and claimed a descent from the Girvans of -Girvanmains and Dalmorton, an old Ayrshire stock, who were always -adherents of the Crawfords of Rohallion, either for good or for evil, -especially in their feuds with the Kennedies of Colzean; and thus he -was disposed to be more than usually suave, when the lady addressed -him as "Girvanmains," or more kindly and simply as "John Girvan," a -familiarity which won entirely the heart of the worthy old soldier, -for he had followed her husband to many a battle and siege, and, -under his eye and orders, had expended many a thousand round of John -Bull's ball ammunition in the Seven Years' war and in the fruitless -strife with our colonists in America. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE CASTLE OF ROHALLION. - - "Hast them seen that lordly castle, - That castle by the sea? - Golden and red above it, - The clouds float gorgeously; - And fain it would stoop downward, - To the mirrored wave below, - And fain it would soar upward, - In the evening's crimson glow."--LONGFELLOW. - - -The baronial fortalice in which our story has opened stands, as we -have stated, upon a cliff, at least one hundred and fifty feet in -height above the ocean, or where the estuary of the Clyde widens -thereunto, on the Carrick shore; but since 1798 it has undergone many -alterations, not perhaps for the better. - -In that year it consisted of the old Scottish Keep, built in the -reign of James I. by Sir Ranulph Crawford, of Rohallion, his -ambassador, first to Henry VI. of England, and afterwards to Charles -VII. of France, for which services he was created Keeper of the Royal -Palace of Carrick. Adjoining this grim tower, with its grated -windows, machicolated ramparts, and corner tourelles, was the more -modern mansion built in the time of James VI., by Hugh, third Lord -Rohallion, who slew the gipsy king in single combat at the Cairns of -Blackhinney. It had crowstepped gables, dormer windows, gabletted -and carved with dates, crests, and quaint monograms, and many a huge -chimney, conical turret, and creaking vane, added to its picturesque -appearance. To this was added a wing in the time of Queen Anne, -somewhat unsightly in its details, yet the general aspect of the -whole edifice was bold and pleasing, chastened or toned down as it -was by time and the elements. - -On one side it overlooked the Firth, then opening to a stormy sea, -with the ruins of Turnberry in the distance--the crumbling walls -wherein the conqueror of the proud Plantagenet first saw the light, -and learned "to shake his Carrick spear." On the other, its windows -opened to the most fertile portion of the bailiewick--wooded heights -that looked on the banks and braes of the Doon, where the scenery -wakened a flood of historical or legendary memories; where every -broomy knowe and grassy hill, every coppice and rushy glen, grey -lichened rock and stony corrie, were consecrated by some old song or -stirring tale of love or local war--the fierce old feudal wars of the -Kennedies, the Crawfords, and the grim iron Barons of Auchindrane; -and, more than all, it was the birthplace, the home of Robert Bruce -and of Robert Burns--the one the warrior, and the other the bard of -the people. From the windows of Rohallion could be seen the very -uplands, where, but a few years before, the latter had ploughed and -sown, and where, as he tells us in his filial love of his native -soil, when he saw - - "The rough burr-thistle spreading wide, - Among the bearded bear; - I turned the weeding-hook aside, - And spared the emblem dear!" - -The scenery from whence he drew his inspiration looked down on the -old tower of Rohallion, which contained on its first floor the -stone-paved hall, that had witnessed many a bridal feast and -Christmas festival, held in the rough old joyous times, when Scotland -was true to herself, and ere sour Judaical Sabbatarianism came upon -her, to make religion a curse and a cloak for the deepest hypocrisy; -and ere her preachers sought "to merit heaven, by making earth a -hell." - -It presented the unusual feature (in a baronial edifice) of a groined -roof, having at least six elaborately carved Gothic bosses, where the -ribs that sprang from beautiful corbels placed between the windows -intersected each other. On the frieze of the high-arched fireplace -was a shield _gules_, with a fess _ermine_, the old arms of the -Crawfords, Lords of Crawford, in Clydesdale (a family ancient as the -days of William the Lyon), from whom the peers of Rohallion--whose -patent was signed by James IV. on the night before Flodden--took -their bearings and motto, _Endure Furth!_ Though, certainly, it was -but little they were ever disposed to endure with patience, if -displeased with either king or commoner. - -Stags' skulls, antlers, a few old barred helmets, dinted corslets, -rusty swords and pikes, decorated this great stone apartment. Its -furniture was massive and ancient, but seldom used now, so there the -busy spiders spun their webs all undisturbed, across the grated -windows, and the moss grew in winter on the carved jambs of the great -fireplace, within which, according to tradition, for ages before -these days of unbelief, the little red brownie of Rohallion was wont -to come o' nights when all were abed, and warm himself by the -smouldering _grieshoch_. - -Lady Rohallion preferred the more modern rooms of Queen Anne's reign, -where the buhl and marqueterie furniture was more to her taste. - -There, the double drawing-room with its yellow damask curtains, -high-backed chairs and couches, its old bandy-legged tabourettes, -slender gueridon work-tables; its old-fashioned piano, with perhaps -"H.R.H. the Duke of York's Grand March" on the music-frame; its -Delft-lined fireplace and basket-grate set on a square block of -stone, a spinning-wheel on one side, and cosy elbow-chair, brilliant -with brass nails, on the other, was the beau-ideal of comfort, -especially on a tempestuous night, such as the last we have -described; nor was it destitute of splendour, for its lofty panelled -walls exhibited some fine pictures. There were some gems by Greuze, -of golden-haired boys and fair full-bosomed women in brilliant -colours; one or two ruddily-tinted saints by Murillo; one or two dark -Titians, and darker Vandykes representing Italian nobles of -cut-throat aspect, in gilt armour, with trunk breeches and high -ruffs. Then there were also some of the Scottish school; the Lord -Rohallion (who opposed the surrender of Charles I. to the English) by -Jameson; his son, a vehement opposer of the Union, attired in a huge -wig and collarless red coat, by Aikman; and the father of the present -lord, by Allan Ramsay, son of the poet. - -This Lord in 1708 left his country in disgust, swearing that "she was -only fit for the Presbyterian slaves who sold her;" and for several -years he solaced himself at the head of a Muscovite regiment against -the Turks on the banks of the Danube--as the Scots whigs had it, -"learning to eat raw horse and forget God's kirk, among barbarians in -red breeks." - -Near the castle, and forming indeed a portion of it, was a platform, -facing the little sandy bay, where the fishing boats were beached, -and thereon were mounted twelve iron twenty-four pounders, part of -the spoil of _La Bonne Citoyenne_, a French privateer, which was cast -away on the Parian Craig; and there, as the old lord and -representative peer (whose wife is awaiting him) still retained his -military instincts, being a retired general officer, he had all the -able-bodied men of his tenantry drilled to the use of sponge and -rammer as artillerymen, for rumours of invasion were rife; gunboats -were being built at Boulogne, and those who then looked across the -Straits of Dover, could see the white tents of the Armée -d'Angleterre, under the Irish soldier of fortune, Kilmaine, covering -all the hostile shore of France. So all Britain was bristling with -bayonets; from Cape Wrath to the Land's End in Cornwall, every man -who could handle a musket was a volunteer, if not otherwise enrolled -in the line, militia, or Fencibles. - -On this battery the flag was hoisted and a salute loyally and -joyously fired every 4th of June, in honour of His Majesty George -III., by the Rohallion volunteers; and there with loud hurrahs they -drank confusion to France and to his enemies, Tom Paine, the Pope, -and the Devil, and very frequently in the best French brandy, which -somehow found its way quite as often as our good Farintosh or -Campbelton whisky, duty free, into the sea coves beneath the castle -rock. - -These twelve twenty-four pounders protected the approach to the bay -on one side, and to the gate of the castle on the other--the haunted -gate of Rohallion, as it was named, from the circumstance that there -the old village dominie, Symon Skaill, when going home one morning -(night he affirmed it to be) in midsummer, after topering with Mr. -John Girvan, saw a very startling sight. Clearly defined in the calm -still twilight of the morning, there stood by the gate the tall and -handsome figure of John, Master of Rohallion, who was known to be -then serving with the Foot Guards under Cornwallis, in America. He -wore his scarlet regimentals, his brigadier wig, his long straight -sword, and little three-cocked hat; but his face was pale, distorted -by agony, and blood was flowing from a wound in his left temple. - -Ere the affrighted dominie could speak, the figure--the -_wraith_--melted into the twilight, and not a trace of it remained by -the arched gate, where the birds were twittering about in the early -morning. A note was made of this singular vision, and it was found -that at that hour, the Master of Rohallion had been shot through the -head, when leading on his company of the Guards at the attack on Long -Island. - -Such, in 1798, was the old Scottish mansion of Rohallion, the -residence of Reynold, sixth Lord of that ilk, which, by the events of -the last night's storm, has become the starting-place, or, as the -quartermaster might phrase it, the _point d'appui_, of our story. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE CHILD OF THE SEA. - - "'Tis gone--the storm has past, - 'Twas but a bitter hail shower, and the sun - Laughs out again within the tranquil blue. - Henceforth, Firmilian, thou art safe with me." - AYTOUN. - - -To the eyes of those who surveyed the beach beneath the castle walls -next morning, a lamentable spectacle was displayed. The wreck upon -the Partan Craig had been completely torn to pieces by the fury of -the waves, and now shattered masts and yards, blocks and rigging, -casks, bales, planks and other pieces of worn and frayed timber were -left high and dry among the shells and shingle by the receding tide, -or were dashed into smaller fragments by the surf that beat against -the castle rock. - -Several dead bodies were also cast ashore, sodden with the brine, and -partly covered with sand; and, though all had been but a short time -in the water, some were sadly mutilated by having been dashed -repeatedly against the sharp and abutting rocks of Rohallion, by the -furious sea last night. - -All looked placid and calm, and by the position of their limbs, -nearly all seemed to have been drowned in the act of swimming. By a -portion of the sternboard that came on shore, the vessel's name -appeared to have been the _Louise_; but of what port, or from where, -remained unknown, for, save the little child, there remained no -tongue or record to tell the story of that doomed ship, or the -dreadful secrets of that eventful night. - -The mutterings of the fishermen and the lamentations of the women of -the little hamlet, were loud and impressive, as they rambled along -the beach, drawing the dead aside to remain in a boat-shed till that -great local authority, the parish minister, arrived. Everything that -came drifting ashore from the wreck was drawn far up the sand, lest -the returning tide should wash it off again. - -There were no Lloyds' agents or other officials in the neighbourhood -of Rohallion, so each man made a lawful prize of whatever he could -lay hands upon and convey to his cottage. The people at work close -by relinquished plough and harrow, and harnessed their horses to the -masts and booms for conveyance through the fields. Others brought -carts to carry off the plunder; and thus, long before midday, not a -trace remained of the shattered ship, save the pale dead men, who lay -side by side under an old sail in the boat-shed; but for many a night -after this, Elsie Irvine and others averred that they could see the -pale blue corpse-lichts dancing on the sea about the Partan Craig, to -indicate where other men lay drowned, uncoffined, and unprayed for. - -Among other bodies discovered on the beach next morning was that of a -man in whom, by his costume--a light green frock, laced with -gold--all recognised the father, or supposed father, of the little -boy he had striven so bravely to save, and whom all had seen perish -by the light of their torches. - -The poor man was lying among the seaweed, stark and stiff, and half -covered with sand, within a few yards of the cottage where his little -boy, all unconscious of his loss, of the past and of the future, lay -peacefully asleep in Elsie Irvine's bed. - -And now the quartermaster and Dominie Skaill, who had given his -schoolboys a holiday, in honour of the excitement and the event, -arrived at the scene of operations, with Lady Rohallion's orders that -the child should be brought to her. - -Old John Girvan looked at the corpse attentively. - -"This poor fellow has been a soldier," said he; "I can perceive that, -by a glance. Lift him gently into the shed, lads, though it's all -one to him how he's handled now!" - -The corpse seemed to be that of a tall, well-formed, and fine-looking -dark-complexioned man, in the prime of life; his dark brown hair, -from which the white powder had all been washed away, was already -becoming grizzled, and was neatly tied in a queue by a blue silk -ribbon. In the breast-pocket of his coat, there were found a purse -containing a few French coins of the Republic, but of small value, -and a plated metal case, in which were some papers uninjured by the -water. On the third finger of his left hand was a signet ring on -which the name "Josephine" was engraved; so with these relics (while -the body was placed with the rest in the boat-shed) John Girvan and -the dominie, accompanied by Elsie, bearing the child, repaired to the -presence of Lady Rohallion, who received them all in her little -breakfast-parlour, the deeply embayed and arched windows of which -showed that it had been the bower-chamber of her predecessors, in the -feudal days of the old castle. - -"Come away, Elsie, and show me your darling prize!" she exclaimed, as -she hurried forward and held out her hand to the fisherman's wife, -for there was a singular combination of friendly and old-fashioned -grace in all she did. - -"There is no a bonnier bairn, my leddy, nor a better, in a' the three -Bailiwicks o' Kyle, Carrick, and Cunninghame," said Elsie, curtsying -deeply, as she presented the child. - -"Yes, madam," added the dominie; "the bairn is as perfect an Absalom -as even the Book of Samuel describeth." - -"But I dinna understand a word he says," resumed Elsie; "hear ye -that, madam?" - -"Ma mère, ma mère!" sobbed the child, a very beautiful dark-eyed, but -golden-haired and red-cheeked little boy of some seven or eight years -of age, as he looked from face to face in wonder and alarm. - -"Faith! 'tis a little Frenchman," said the dominie. - -"A Frenchman!" exclaimed Elsie, placing the child somewhat -precipitately on Lady Rohallion's knee, and retiring a pace or two. -"I thocht sae, by his queer jargon of broken English, wi' a -smattering o' Scots words too; but French folk speak nae Christian -tongue. Maybe the bairn's a spy--a son, wha kens, o' Robespierre or -Bonaparte himsel!" - -"Elsie, how can you run on thus?" - -"Ah, mon père--mon père!" said the child, sobbing. - -"Hear till him again, my leddy," exclaimed Elsie; "the bairn can -speak French--that cowes a'!" - -"He cries for his father--poor child--poor child!" said Lady -Rohallion, whose eyes filled with tears. - -"Father--yes, madame; my father--where is he?" said the boy, opening -his fine large eyes wider with an expression of anxiety and fear, and -speaking in a lisping but strongly foreign accent; "take me to -him--take me to him, madame, if you please." - -"The bairn speaks English well enough," said the dominie; "he'll hae -had a French tutor, or some sic haverel, to teach him to play the -fiddle, I warrant, and to quote Voltaire, Rousseau, and Helvetius, -when he grows older." - -"What is your name, my dear little boy?" asked Lady Rohallion, -caressingly; but she had to repeat the question thrice, and in -different modes, before the child, who eyed her with evident -distrust, replied, timidly: - -"Quentin Kennedy, madame." - -"Kennedy!" exclaimed all. - -"A gude auld Ayrshire name, ever since the days of Malcolm the -Maiden!" said the quartermaster, striking his staff on the floor. - -"Rohallion's mother was a Kennedy," said the lady, a tender smile -spreading over her face as she surveyed the orphan, "so the bairn -could not have fallen into better hands than ours." - -"Indubitably not, my lady," chimed in the dominie; "nor could he find -a sibber friend." - -"And your father, my dear child--your father?" urged Lady Rohallion. - -"My father--oh, my father is drowned! He went down into the sea with -the big ship. Oh, ma mère! ma mère!" cried the little boy, in a -sudden passion of grief, and seeking to escape from them, as the -terrors of the past night, with a conviction of his present isolation -and loneliness, seemed to come fully upon him. - -"And your mamma, my little love?" asked the lady, endearingly. - -"She is far away in France." - -"Where--in what town?" - -"Hélas, madame, I do not know." - -He sobbed bitterly, and Lady Rohallion wept as she kissed and -fondled, and strove to reassure him by those caresses which none but -one who has been a mother can bestow; but sometimes he repelled her -with his plump little hands, while his dark eyes would sparkle and -dilate with surprise and alarm. Then he would ask for his father -again and again, for the child knew neither what death or drowning -meant; and it was in vain they told him that his father had perished -in the sea. He could not understand them, and to have shown the -child the poor pale, sodden corpse that lay in the boat-shed on the -shore would have been a useless cruelty that must have added to his -grief and terror. - -Lady Rohallion, pointing upward as he sat on her knee, told him that -his father was in heaven, and that in time he would meet him there; -for, of such as he was, poor orphan, was the kingdom of heaven made; -but in heaven or in the sea was all one for a time to little Quentin -Kennedy, who wept bitterly, and noisily too, till he grew weary, or -became consoled, by the winning ways of his gentle protectress, for -of course the poor child knew not the nature of his awful loss and -bereavement. - -While the boy, already temporarily forgetful of his griefs, was -stretched on the soft, warm hearth-rug before the fire that blazed in -the parlour grate, and occupied himself with the gambols of a wiry -Skye-terrier, John Girvan handed to Lady Rohallion the relics he had -found on the drowned man. - -"A ring!" said she; "this is painfully interesting; and it has an -inscription." - -"Yes, madame, it is like the _annuli_ worn by the legionary tribunes -in the Punic war," added Dominie Skaill, who never lost an -opportunity of "airing" his classics. - -"It bears a crest; that speaks of gentle birth," said Lady Rohallion, -who had a great veneration for that fortuitous circumstance. "And -there is a name, _Josephine_." - -"Mamma--ma mère!" exclaimed the child, starting and looking up at -the, no doubt, familiar sound. - -"His mother's name, I am sure; poor little fellow, he has heard his -father call her so," said Lady Rohallion, as she opened the plated -case and drew forth the documents it contained. One was on -parchment, the other two were letters. - -"A military commission--Girvanmains, look here!" - -It was the commission of Quentin Kennedy, _gentilhomme Ecossais_, to -be captain in the Royal Regiment of Scots, in the service of His Most -Christian Majesty, and was signed by the unfortunate Louis XVI., as -the date showed, in the year before his execution. - -"So this poor drowned man has eaten his bread by tuck of drum!" -exclaimed the old quartermaster, with a kindling eye, as he stooped -to caress the orphan's golden curls. "Puir fellow--puir fellow! He -has been a commissioned officer like myself, so I'll e'en turn out -the Rohallion Volunteers, and he shall be borne to his grave as -becomes a soldier, with muffled drums and arms reversed--eh, dominie?" - -"Yes, and the spoils of war shall be cast on the pile, as we read in -the eleventh book of the Æneid; and they shall march like the -Thebans, striking their weapons one on another, to the sound of the -trumpet--eh, quartermaster?" - -"I'd batoon the first lout I caught doing aught so unsteady or so -unsoldierlike," was the indignant response. - -"But how came this Scotsman to be serving the French King," asked the -dominie; "as such was he not a renegade soldier, such as the Romans -were wont to stab and leave unburied, as we find in Tacitus?" - -"He had been in the foreign brigades, the Scottish and Irish," -replied the lady. "One of these letters is from Monsieur the Comte -d'Artois, and it praises the courage of the Scottish Captain Kennedy, -of the Regiment de Berwick, in the campaigns upon the Meuse and -Rhine. The other letter is from his poor wife, and is subscribed -Josephine. Ah me, how sad! the name that is on the ring." - -They spoke in low tones, as if loth to disturb the child, who was -still playing with the terrier. - -"What says it, my lady?" asked the dominie, "for though well versed -in the dead languages, praised be Providence and the auld pedagogy of -Glasgow, I know little of the living--French especially, the language -of Voltaire, Diderot, and Helvetius--of democrats, levellers, -revolutionists, and the slaves of the Corsican tyrant." - -"The letter has no date, dominie," replied the lady, smiling at this -outburst; "the cover also is wanting, but it runs thus." - -Standing one on each side of her chair, each with a hand at his ear -to listen, the two old men heard her translate with ease the -following letter: - - -"MY OWN DEAR, DEAR QUENTIN,-- - -"This is the last letter you will receive in France from your own -Fifine. The next I shall address to you, as you may direct, to -Scotland. Ah, mon Dieu! how sad--how terrible to think that we are -to be separated, and at such a time! But madame my mother's illness -pleads for me with all, and more than all with you, Quentin. You, as -a Scotsman and royalist officer, and our poor child, for the very -blood it inherits from his mother, would be welcome victims to the -shambles of the great Republic; for the first Consul B. and Citizen -M. his secretary of state, would not spare even a child at this -crisis, lest it should grow into an aristocrat and an enemy.* Every -hour the hatred of Britain grows stronger here, and the mode in which -we treat the prisoners taken in Flanders and elsewhere, makes my -blood alternately glow and freeze, Frenchwoman though I am! But I -have not forgotten the Place de la Grève, or the horrors of that day, -when my father's blood moistened the sawdust of a scaffold, just -wetted by the blood of Marie Antoinette. - - -* The initials no doubt refer to Bonaparte and the secretary Hugues -Bernard Maret, who assisted so vigorously in the 18th Brumaire. - - -"Enough of this, however, dear Quentin; 'tis safer to speak than to -write of such things, though this letter goes by a safe and sure -hand, our dear friend, the Abbé Lebrun, for in this land of spies the -post is perilous. Destroy it, however, the moment you receive it, -for we know not what mischief it might do us all, though the ship by -which you sail, goes, you say, under cartel, and by the rules of war -can neither be attacked nor taken. - -"Rumour says that Monsieur Charles Philippe, the Comte d'Artois, is -now with his suite at Holyrood, the old home of those Scottish kings -with whom his fathers were allied; and that the ancient Garde du -Corps Ecossais is to be re-established for him there. I pray God it -may be so, as in that case, dearest, Monsieur will not forget you and -your services on the Rhine and elsewhere, and your steady adherence -to his family in those days of anarchy, impiety, and sin. - -"Kiss our little cherub for me. I am in despair when I think of him, -though he is safer with you than with me, in our dreadful France--no -longer the land of beauty and gaiety, but of the bayonet and -guillotine. He must be our hostage and peace-offering to your -family, and I doubt not that his innocent smiles and golden curls may -soften their hearts towards us both. La Mère de Dieu take you both -into her blessed keeping and hasten our reunion. Till then, and for -ever after, I am your own affectionate little wife, - -"FIFINE." - - -This letter, we have said, was undated, but the postscript led Lady -Rohallion to suppose it came from a remote part of France. It ran -thus: - - -"Your own petted Fifine sends you a hundred kisses for every mile -this has to travel; as many more to little Quentin, as they wont add -a franc to the weight in the pocket of M. l'Abbé." - - -So ended this letter, so sad in its love and its tenor, under the -circumstances. With that of the Comte d'Artois, the commission, -purse, and ring, Lady Rohallion carefully put it past in her antique -buhl escritoire, for her husband's inspection on his return; and, on -leaving the castle, the old quartermaster kept his word. - -True to his inbred military instincts and impulses, he had the -Rohallion company of Volunteers duly paraded, in their cocked hats, -short swallow-tailed red coats, white leggings, and long black -gaiters; and, with arms reversed, they bore the dead soldier of -fortune, shoulder-high, from the old castle-gate, where the scarlet -family standard, with its fess _ermine_, hung half-hoisted on the -battery. - -Mournfully from the leafless copse that clothed the steep sides of -the narrow glen in which the old kirk stood, did the muffled drums -re-echo, while the sweet low wail of the fifes sent up the sad notes -of the dead march--"The Land o' the Leal." - -At one of the drawing-room windows, Lady Rohallion sat, with the -child upon her knee--little Quentin Kennedy, our hero, for such he -is; and her motherly heart was full, and her kindly tears fell fast -on his golden hair, when three sharp volleys that rung in the clear -cold air above a yawning grave, and the pale blue distant smoke that -she could see wreathing in the November sunshine, announced the last -scene of this little tragedy--that the poor drowned wanderer, the -Scottish soldier of fortune, who adhered to King Louis in his -downfall, had found a last home in his native earth; and that, -_perhaps_, all his secrets, his sorrows, and the story of his life -were buried with him. - -Then with a burst of sympathy and womanly tenderness, she pressed her -lips to the soft cheek of the child, whose eyes dilated with inquiry -and wonder, as he heard those farewell volleys that rung in the -distant air, but little knew that they were fired above his father's -closing grave! - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -THE PAST. - - "Still shall unthinking man substantial deem - The forms that flit through life's deceitful dream, - Till at some stroke of Fate, the vision flies, - And sad realities in prospect rise; - And from Elysian slumbers rudely torn, - The startled soul awakes, to think and mourn." - BEATTIE'S _Elegy_, 1758. - - -Such is the buoyant thoughtlessness of childhood, that a few days -sufficed to console, to soothe, and to reconcile the poor boy to his -new friends and his new habitation. The kindness, tenderness, and -attention of Lady Rohallion did much, if not all, to achieve this; -and doubtless she would have succeeded very well in the same way with -an older personage than little Quentin Kennedy, for she fully -possessed, together with great amiability and sweetness of -disposition, those requisites which Sir William Temple affirmed to be -the three great ingredients of pleasant conversation, viz., good -sense, good humour, and wit. - -Secluded and retiring in her habits, simple and old-fashioned in her -tastes, she preferred residing quietly among her husband's tenantry -at Rohallion, to figuring, as had been her wont, in the great world -of fashion, such as it was to be found in the London of old King -George's days, or in the smaller circle of the Scottish metropolis; -and even when parliamentary business compelled Lord Rohallion to -proceed southward, he could scarcely prevail upon her to accompany -him, for travelling was not then the swift and easy process we find -it _now_, in these days of steam and railways. - -Thus the advent of her little protégé was quite a boon to her, and -while rapidly learning to love the child, who had a thousand winning -and endearing ways, she relinquished all idea of attempting to -discover his mother till the return of her husband, though the notion -was scarcely conceived, when it was abandoned as simply impossible, -from the want of a distinct clue as to her residence, and the -existence of the bitter and revengeful war that had been waged -between France and Britain for five years now, ever since the siege -of Toulon. Consequently there seemed nothing for it, as -Quartermaster Girvan said, but to make a good Scotsman of the little -Frenchman, (if French, indeed, he was)--and the dominie failed not to -quote Cicero, "anent the _adoptio_ of the Romans." - -So Lady Rohallion learned to love the child, and the child to love -her with a regard that was quite filial; and his pretty prattle in -broken English was her chief solace and amusement after the hours of -attendance and _surveillance_ she daily bestowed, like a good -housewife and chatelaine of old, upon her household and her husband's -tenantry; for there was not "a fishwife's bairn" in the hamlet below -could be pilled or powdered for the measles or hooping-cough, without -a due consultation being first held with my lady in the castle. - -Sensation novels were then unknown, and Walter Scott was still in -futurity, save as a translator of German ballads. Our respectable -old friends, "Tom Jones," "Roderick Random," and "Peregrine Pickle," -were still in the flush of their fame; but Lady Rohallion preferred -the works of Mr. Richardson, and deemed the sorrows of Clarissa -Harlowe, and of Fielding's "Amelia," to be sorrows indeed. - -Being Winifred Maxwell of the gallant but attainted House of -Nithsdale, her Jacobite sympathies were keen and intense; thus, ten -years before the date of our story she suffered a real grief, and had -worn a suit of the deepest black, on tidings coming from Maybole that -Prince Charles Edward, with whom her mother had flirted in Holyrood, -and for whom her uncles had shed their blood on the fatal field of -Culloden--that the Bonnie Prince Charlie of so many stirring -memories, so many Scottish songs, and so many faithful hearts, an -old, soured, and disappointed man, had been gathered to his fathers, -and was lying cold and dead in his tomb, beneath the dome of St. -Peter. - -Though she had somewhat strong ideas on the subject of keeping up -"the old spirit of the Crawfords of Rohallion," a good deal of which, -we are sorry to say, meant looking down on their neighbours: and -though she had an intense estimation for people of "that ilk," and -for coats, quarterings, and family claims, and that kind of blood -which the Scots designated as _gude_, and the Spaniards as _blue_, -she was weak enough, as Lady Eglinton phrased it, to treasure -immensely a copy of very flattering verses, addressed to her in her -beauty and girlhood, by a certain democratic Ayrshire ploughman, -named Mr. Robert Burns, for whose memory she had a very great regard. - -She was full of the proud and fiery ideas of a past and manly age, -for she was old enough to remember when the beaus and bloods of -Edinburgh in their periwigs and square-skirted coats of silk or -velvet, squired her and Eleanora Eglinton up the old Assembly Close, -with links flaring and swords flashing round their sedans, swearing, -with such large oaths as were then fashionable, to whip through the -lungs any scurvy fellow who loitered an instant in their way. - -But the first years of the present century saw a new world closing -round her, and innovations coming fast, though the old language in -which our laws are written yet lingered in the pulpit and at the bar. - -To her aristocratic ideas, and to those of her friends, it seemed as -if the malign influence of the French revolution tainted the very -air, especially in Scotland, where, by the tendency of their -education and religion, the people are naturally democratic in -spirit; and it was pretty apparent, that the decapitation of Robert -Watt at Edinburgh, and the persecution of "citizen Muir" and his -compatriots by the Government, in no way cooled the real ardour of -the Friends of the People. - -To Lady Winifred, it appeared also, that while, on one hand, the -humbler classes were less genuinely affectionate and less deferential -to the upper, on the other, they were less kindly and less courteous -to each other. Everything seemed to be done in a hurry too, though -the mail-coaches carrying four inside, usually took a week or more in -rumbling between Edinburgh and London, with the varieties of an -occasional break-down when fording a river, or receiving the contents -of a robber's blunderbuss in a lonely part of the way. - -Holidays were kept in a hearty old fashion, and there was no sour -Sabbatarianism to excite the wrath of the liberal-minded Scots, and -the wonder and derision of their English neighbours. There were -democrats and demagogues in every village, it is true; but -patriotism, and a genuine British spirit rendered their revilings -innocuous and all but useless. - -Where now the dun deer rove in the desert glens, the Highland Clans -existed in all their hardihood and numerical strength, to fill by -thousands the ranks of our kilted regiments. The flags of "Duncan, -Nelson, Keppel, Howe, and Jervis" were sweeping the sea. Beacons -studded all the hills, and every village cross was the muster-place -of volunteer corps; and there are yet those alive who remember the -great night of the _false alarm_ when it was supposed the French had -landed, when the bale-fire on Hume castle sent its blaze upon the -midnight sky; when the alarm-drum, the long roll which a soldier -never forgets, was beat in town and hamlet, and all Scotland stood to -arms: and when the brave Liddesdale yeomanry swam the Liddle, then in -full and roaring flood, every trooper riding with his sword in his -teeth, as if to show that the old spirit yet lived upon the Borders, -unchanged as in those days when the Lords Marchers blew their -trumpets before the gates of Berwick or Carlisle. - -And as it came to pass, it was in those stirring times of war and -tumult--times not now very remote, good reader--that our little hero -found a home in the old manor of Rohallion. - -His mother sorrowed for him in sunny France beyond the sea, where she -may never see him more, or know that he survived the wreck in which -her husband perished; and now daily another received his morning -kiss, and watched his footsteps and gambols; and nightly hushed him -to sleep, smoothed the coverlet, caressed his ruddy cheeks and golden -hair; yet that poor bereaved mother was never absent from the -thoughts of good Lady Rohallion, who had now taken her place. - -Of his many kisses and caresses, she felt that she was robbing that -poor unknown, the affectionate "Fifine" of the dead man's letter; but -how to find her, how to restore him, stultified and rendered every -way impossible as all such attempts must be, by the war now waged by -every sea and shore between the two countries? - -Though little Quentin, we grieve to say, was gradually forgetting his -own mother and learning to love his adopted one, there were times -when, natheless all Lady Rohallion's sweetness and tenderness, he -felt that there was something lacking--something he missed; he knew -not what, unless it were that he longed - - "For the touch of a vanished hand, - And the sound of a voice that is still." - -A fortnight had passed away since the letter of Lord Rohallion had -been brought by John Girvan from Maybole, and still there were no -further tidings of his return; so the lady became sad and anxious, -for she trembled at the idea of his returning by sea. - -On one of the first nights of December, when the wind was moaning -about the old walls of the castle, and the angry hiss of the sea was -heard on the rocks below, she sat alone, by Quentin's little bed. He -had just dropped asleep. - -He occupied the same cot in which her own son Cosmo, Master of -Rohallion, had been wont to sleep when a child about the same age. -It was prettily gilt and surmounted by a coronet; the curtains were -drawn apart, and by the subdued light of a night-lamp, she could see -the pure profile and rosy cheeks of the boy, as he reposed on a soft -white pillow, in the calm sleep of childhood. - -She could almost imagine that her son Cosmo, the tall captain of the -Guards, was again a child and sleeping there, or that she was a young -wife again and not an old woman, and so, as thoughts that came -unbidden poured fast upon her, she began to recal the years that had -rolled away. - -Then out of the thronging memories of the past, there arose a vision -of a fair-haired and handsome young man--one who loved her well -before Rohallion came--his younger brother; and with this image came -the memory of many a happy ramble long, long ago, in the green summer -woods of pleasant Nithsdale, when the sunshine was declining on the -heights of Queensberry, or casting shadows on the plains of Closeburn -or the grassy pastoral uplands through which the blue stream winds to -meet the Solway--and where the voices of the mavis, the merle, and -the cushat-dove were heard in every coppice. - -She thought of those sunset meetings, and of one who was wont to sit -beside her then for hours, lost in love and happiness. Lady -Rohallion loved her husband well and dearly; but there were times -when conscience upbraided her, and she pitied the memory of that -younger brother whom she had deceived and deluded, and whom, like a -thoughtless young coquette, she had permitted--it might be, lured--to -love her. - -In fancy she traced out what her path--a less splendid one, -assuredly--might have been, had Rohallion not won her heart, and most -unwittingly broken his brother's, for so the people said. And thus, -while "speculating on a future which was already a _past_," the -handsome, the gallant, and earnest young Ranulph Crawford, the lover -of her girlhood, rose before her in fancy, and her eyes grew moist as -she thought of his fatal end, for he died, a self-made exile, an -obscure soldier of fortune, in defence of the Tuileries, and the -public papers had recorded the story of his fall--not in the flowery -language of the present, but in the cold brevity of that time--"as -one Captain Crawford, a Scot, whose zeal outran his discretion, who -in charging the populace, was wounded, taken, and beheaded by them." - -"Clarissa Harlowe" had fallen from her hand, and the mimic sorrows of -the novel were forgotten in the real griefs of Lady Winifred's waking -dream. From these, however, she was roused by the clatter of a -horse's hoofs at the haunted gate beside the gun-battery, and almost -immediately after a servant announced the glad tidings, - -"My Lady Rohallion, his lordship has arrived!" - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -LORD ROHALLION. - - "She gazed--she reddened like a rose-- - Syne pale as ony lily; - She sank within my arms and cried, - 'Art thou my ain dear Willie?' - 'By Him who made yon sun and sky, - By whom true love's regarded, - I am the man!' and thus may still - True lovers be rewarded."--BURNS. - - -Hastening to the drawing-room, she immediately found herself in the -arms of her husband, who was throwing off his drab-coloured -riding-coat, with its heavy cape, his small triangular Nivernois hat, -boot-tops, and whip, to his favourite valet and constant attendant, -old Jack Andrews. - -Rohallion kissed his wife's hand and then her forehead, for he had -not outlived either affection or respect, though verging on his -fifty-fifth year; and he had all that gentleness of bearing and true -politeness which the Scottish gentlemen of the old school, prior to, -and long after the Union, acquired from our ancient allies, the -French. - -"And you returned from London----" - -"By sea, Winny--by sea," said Rohallion, "After all my entreaties!" - -"Zounds! Winny, I can't abide the mail, and am too old to post it -now, as my old friend Monboddo used to do yearly, to kiss the king's -hand; and so preferred the 'Lord Nelson' smack, from London to Leith, -armed with twelve carronades, and sailing without convoy." - -"And the voyage was pleasant?" - -"A head-wind, a fourteen days' run, and an exchange of shots with a -French privateer off Flamborough Head. At Edinburgh I took the stage -to Ayr, and from thence Andrews and I jogged quietly home on -horseback." - -Still a handsome man, though portly in person, as became his years, -Reynold Crawford, Lord Rohallion, had features that were alike noble -in character and striking in expression. The broad, square forehead -indicated intelligence and candour, his mouth, good humour; and the -form of his closely shaved chin, spoke of decision and perseverance. -His nose was perhaps too large, but his eyes were dark grey, gentle -and soft, usually, in expression. He wore his own hair, which was -still thick and wavy, powdered white as a cauliflower, and tied with -a broad ribbon, having a double bow at the back. - -He still adhered to the frilled shirt, and had a large pearl brooch -in the breast thereof; his long waistcoat was of scarlet cloth, edged -with silver; his coat of bright blue broadcloth, with large, flat -steel buttons, had a high rolling collar, small cape, and enormous -lapels. Hessian boots, with tassels of gold and spurs of steel, and -tight buff pantaloons for riding, showed to advantage his stout, well -turned limbs, and completed his costume. He had a ruddy complexion, -a hearty laughing manner, and a jolly brusquerie about him that -smacked more of the soldier or the agriculturist than the peer of the -realm. - -"And now, Rohallion, tell me about our Cosmo--how is he looking?" - -"Twice as well as ever I did at the same age, and that is saying -something--eh, Winny? Why he is the pattern man of the Household -Brigade, but a strange boy withal. Duty about the Court has -increased that cold hauteur which always marked his character. I -don't know where the deuce he picked it up--not from you or me, -Winny. But the butler says that an early supper is served----" - -"Yes, dearest--in my little parlour." - -"Egad! the snuggest billet in the house, and I can assure you that I -am as well appetised as ever I used to be when a hungry ensign in -Germany. Permit me, madam," said he, drawing her hand caressingly -upon his arm; "and now tell me, how do you like the mode in which my -hair is queued?" - -"Why, Reynold?" - -"'Tis a new fashion taught to Jack Andrews by old Hugh Hewson, of St. -Martin-in-the-Fields--the Scotch hairdresser--you have heard of him, -of course?" - -"The original of Dr. Smollett's Hugh Strap--who has not?" said she, -laughing; "well, his dressing is very smart! I see now, Andrews, his -lordship looks quite a beau!" - -"I _was_--or had the reputation of being so, when first I wore that -gorget at Minden, a boy of fifteen or thereabouts; and before I saw -you, Winny, dear." - -"I have a surprise for you----" - -"Supper first, Winny, egad! I don't like surprises; we had enough of -them in Holland, and they were not at all to our taste. Eh, Jack -Andrews--do you remember our night march for Valenciennes?" he asked, -turning to his old valet, who grinned an assent as he deposited a -pair of silver-mounted holster pistols in a mahogany case. To -Rohallion this veteran, Jack Andrews, was all that Corporal Trim was -to Uncle Toby (both of whom, according to Sterne, had served in the -25th Foot, then known as Leven's Regiment), a servant, and at times -friend and companion, and perpetual resort or reference on military -matters. Long and hard service together, community of sentiment on -most matters, combined the sympathy of camaraderie with the steady -faith of a Scottish servitor of the old school in Andrews, who was a -sour-featured, thin, and erect old fellow, in a powdered wig (though, -by the Act of 1795, hair powder cost a guinea per head), with a -pigtail, and the family livery, grey faced with scarlet; and somehow -on old Jack it always looked like a uniform. - -Attended by this valet, both well mounted, and having holster pistols -at their saddles, he had ridden from Ayr, through Maybole, and was -now ready for supper, braced by the keen December blast, and feeling -happy and jovial to find himself once more at home from London, -which, so far as travelling and the ideas of the time are concerned, -was then nearly as distant from the Scottish capital as Moscow is -to-day; and a perfect picture they formed, that gentle, high-bred, -and loving old couple in powdered hair, seated at supper, with their -antique equipage, conversing in the plain old Scottish accent, which -was still used, with a Doric word here and there, by the Scottish -aristocracy. - -"Andrews and I would have been here an hour earlier," said his -lordship, slicing down a daintily-roasted capon, "but the old piper -of Maybole, in the burgh livery, would play before us all the way -through the town and two miles beyond it, according to use and -wont--a glass of wine, Andrews--but Pate is growing old, Winny, now; -he fairly broke down in playing 'Lord Lennox March,' so I think we -must add something to his piper's-croft and cow's-mailing. They -scarcely keep the poor fellow, when meal, malt, and everything are at -such prices. I had, moreover, to inspect the Maybole volunteers. I -say, Andrews, did you see how they shouldered arms?" - -"Ay, my lord; knocking all their fore-and-aft cocked hats off, as -they canted their firelocks from right to left," replied the valet, -with a grim smile. - -"Then we had to see an effigy of Tom Paine burned in front of the -Tolbooth, with a copy of the 'Rights of Man,' while we drank -Confusion to the French, the Friends of the People, the National -Convention, and Charles Fox. So you see, Winny, my time was fully -occupied." - -The wax lights in the silver candelabra and crystal girandoles, and -the fire that blazed in the polished brass grate, diffused a warm and -ruddy glow through the cosy old-fashioned parlour, with its pink -damask chairs and curtains; and speedily the old general dismissed -his supper and glass of dry sherry. - -Then, Andrews, as if according to use and wont, without requiring to -be told, removed the decanters, and placed before his master the -"three elements," whisky, hot water, and sugar, and Rohallion, with -ladle and jug, proceeded to make a jorum of hot steaming toddy. - -"Now, Andrews, my man," said he, "make a browst like this for -yourself in the butler's pantry, and then turn in; neither you nor I -are so young as we have been, and you've had a long journey to-day. -Good night. I require nothing more." - -Andrews gave a military salute, wheeled round, as if on a pivot, so -that his pigtail described a horizontal circle, and withdrew. - -"Now, what is the surprise you have for me, Winny?" asked Rohallion, -as he filled her ladyship's glass, a long one, with a white worm in -its stem. - -"Tell me first the news from London." - -"Well, gudewife Winny, nobody speaks of anything but this expedition -to Egypt, and the expected surrender of Malta. Then if all goes -right, ere long General Abercrombie will have about 15,000 men with -him in the Bay of Marmorice." - -"I am so glad our Cosmo did not think of going on foreign service." - -"Why?" - -"Can you ask me, Reynold--our only son?" - -"I had been ten times under fire before I was half his age. He was -most anxious to go, and I wished him too; but, as the staff -appointments were all filled up, and his battalion of the Guards will -soon be detailed for service, I thought it a pity that the boy should -lose his regimental rank." - -"Cosmo will be twenty-five on his next birth-day," said Lady -Rohallion, thoughtfully, a remark probably suggested by the term -"boy;" "our only son, Rohallion; we must indeed be careful of him." - -"Careful of a strapping Guardsman like Cosmo!" - -"There are times--when--when----" - -"What, Winny?" - -"I regret his having gone into the army at all." - -"Odds my heart! then he would be the first Crawford of Rohallion that -ever was out of it. His battalion may soon go to Ireland; the people -there are more than ever discontented with the proposed union, and -hope that the First Consul, the upstart Bonaparte, may enable them to -cut a better figure than they and their allies under Humbert did at -Ballnamuck last summer. I don't think the Horse Guards used me well -in refusing me a brigade for service; so I don't return to London for -some time, having paired off with our friend Eglinton, who is to put -himself at the head of his Fencibles." - -"Oh, I am so happy to hear this!" exclaimed Lady Winifred, clasping -her plump white hands, the rings on which sparkled through her black -lace mittens. - -"Despite all I could urge, my old comrade, Jack Warrender of Ardgour, -goes to Egypt in command of the Corsican Rangers." - -"So Lady Eglinton wrote to me." - -"And if he is knocked on the head,--which God forbid!--his daughter, -Flora, will be long under trust, so her estate will be a fair one; -and now, Winny, when I add that Mr. Fox and the Opposition are having -their hair dressed _à la Brutus_, in imitation of the Parisian -rabble, you have all my news." - -"And now for mine," said she, with a delightful smile. - -"Your surprise?" - -"Yes--but you must come with me." - -"Where?" - -"To the nursery." - -"That which was once the nursery, you mean." - -"And which has become so _again_," she replied, laughing at his -bewilderment. - -Passing her arm through his, she led him to the sleeping-room, which -adjoined their own, and desired him to look into Cosmo's little cot. -Rohallion did so, and great indeed was his surprise to find a -beautiful little boy, whose hair, all golden and curly, and whose -form of face, rich bloom, and long dark eyelashes, powerfully -reminded him of what Cosmo had been at the same age, when sleeping in -the same chamber and in the same cot. - -"Zounds, Winifred, what in the world does this mean?" said he, with a -droll expression twinkling in his dark grey eyes; "whose little -fellow is this? Not _ours_, certainly; you can't have been stealing -a march on me now-a-days." - -"'Tis a long story and a sad one; but return with me to the parlour, -and I shall tell you all about it," she replied, while selecting the -key of her escritoire from the huge, housewife-like bunch that -glittered at her _chatelaine_. - -"Egad, then I'll brew another jug of punch the while; and now, Winny, -I am all attention." - -She related all that the reader knows: the storm on that gloomy -November night; the attack made by the armed Frenchman, and the -consequent flight of the British ship; her wreck on the Partan Craig -and the loss of the crew, with the recovery of the child from a state -of insensibility, and the burial of his father, by the ground bailie, -John Girvan. - -"My worthy old quartermaster did right--'twas like my good comrade!" -said Lord Rohallion, while his eyes glistened; "I can imagine I see -him marching up the glen at the head of the funeral party, erect as -ever he marched under fire--a trifle more, maybe. The old Borderer -did just what I should have done myself!" - -Lady Winifred now laid before her husband the ring, the purse with -its few franc pieces, and the papers of the drowned stranger, and all -of these he examined with interest and commiseration, for he was a -kind, generous, and warm-hearted man. - -"This is sad--very sad, indeed!" he muttered. - -"By the handwriting, Rohallion, and by the crest on the ring----" - -"A lily, stalked and leaved, rising from a coronet." - -"Yes." - -"Well, Winny?" - -"I should say they must have been people of figure and fashion--of -good quality, at least." - -"An old fashioned phrase that, and going out now, like our fathers' -swords and our mothers' hoops; call them aristocrats--eh, Winny?" - -"Undoubtedly, and under suspicion, too, by the tenor of the poor -lady's letter." - -"'Josephine,'" said he, reading the inscription upon the ring; "why, -that is the name of the widow Beauharnais, who three or four years -ago married the First Consul to escape the guillotine! You must -preserve these relics with care, Winny; and as for the poor bairn, -Rohallion must be his home till we find his mother, a task very -unlikely to be accomplished, if ever at all, in these times, when -France is at war with all the world, and her scaffolds are drenched -daily with the blood of women, children, and priests, as well as of -brave and loyal gentlemen. But into no better hands than ours, -Winny, could this poor waif of misfortune have fallen. He is the -child of a faithful royalist soldier, too--we must always remember -that." - -Like his worthy wife, Lord Rohallion inherited with his blood a -strong dash of Jacobitism, thus his sympathies were all with the -humbled royalty of France. - -The worthy old Defender of the Faith, who muddled away his time at -Windsor, and his son, the "first gentleman" in Europe, who spent his -days and nights less reputably in his Pavilion at -Brighton--Thackeray's man of waistcoats, wigs, and uniforms--had -perhaps no truer servant than Major-General Reynold Lord Rohallion, -K.C.B., &c. Yet among the "Stuart Papers," which, in 1807, found -their way into the royal archives, there was discovered a -correspondence between a certain peer whose initial was R. and "His -Majesty Henry II. of Scotland and IX. of England," which rather -excited the surprise of the ministry and privy council; but like the -same secret correspondence of many other nobles of both kingdoms, it -was deemed only wise and charitable to commit it to oblivion, for the -grave had closed over the good old Cardinal Duke of York--the last of -the Stuarts--and few knew why, for a year and a day, the hilt of -Rohallion's sword was covered by a band of crape. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -OUR STORY PROGRESSES. - - "Here he dwelt in state and bounty, - Lord of Burleigh fair and free; - Not a lord in all the county, - Is so great a lord as he."--TENNYSON. - - -Kind old Rohallion was deeply interested in and attracted by the -little boy, who had many winning and endearing ways about him; and he -particularly excelled in a bright and captivating smile, that was -joyous in its perfect innocence. - -He seated him on his knee at the breakfast-table n the library, and -strove, by all the art he was master of, to draw from him some clue, -as to the part of France in which his mother resided, but save a -knowledge of his own name, Quentin's recollections were few prior to -the terror he had experienced on the wreck. All beyond that seemed -vague, and his reminiscences were an odd jumble of a large town with -a cathedral where his mamma took him to hear Abbé Lebrun preach or -say mass--good M. l'Abbé Lebrun, who always gave him _bon-bons_, and -wore such large spectacles. Then there was a river with boats, a -bridge and a great mountain with a windmill, where he used to go with -his nurse when she visited the miller. - -Then, there was a Chanoinesse who gave him painted toys; there were -some wicked soldiers, who burned a street and dragged away all the -people to die, and of these same soldiers he had a peculiar dread and -aversion. But whether they were ugly toys, or actors in some scene -the child had witnessed, Rohallion could not tell; he supposed the -affair referred to was some grim reality incident to the late -revolution. He could gather nothing more that afforded a clue; and -now as these memories were wakened in him, the faces of others came -with them; tears filled the child's fine dark eyes, and he entreated -piteously to have his mother brought to him and his nurse Nanette, or -have his father brought to him out of the sea; and thus perceiving -that nothing of certainty or value could be gleaned from him, his -protectors tacitly agreed to let the subject drop. - -Breakfast was just over when Andrews announced Quartermaster Girvan -and Dominie Skaill, two individuals, who are perhaps bores in their -way, but are nevertheless necessary to us in the course of this -narrative. - -They had heard of his lordship's arrival, and had "come to pay their -dutiful reverence," for something of the old feudal sentiment -lingered yet in Carrick, and a journey to Calcutta is a mere joke or -pleasure trip now, when compared with how the Scots of 1798 viewed -one to London, few prudent people attempting it without previously -making a will, and settling all their earthly affairs. - -"Welcome, Girvan, and welcome, dominie," said Rohallion, shaking each -by the hand cordially; "I am glad to be at home again among you." - -"Yea," replied the dominie, while rubbing one hand over the other, -and smiling blandly, as perhaps his scholars seldom saw him smile; -"your lordship has come back like Cincinnatus after the defeat of the -Volci and the Æqui, to plough turnips and plant gude kail on haugh -and rig--so welcome hame to Carrick, my lord." - -The dominie had on his Sunday coat, with its huge flapped pockets; -his best three-cornered hat, bound with black braid, was under his -arm, and his square shoe-buckles shone like silver. - -"And our little Frenchman has become quite a friend with your -lordship, I see," said Girvan, patting the child on the head. - -"Quite--a splendid little fellow he is!" - -"But call him not a Frenchman," said the dominie, "when he bears the -gude auld Carrick name of Kennedy." - -"Aye, dominie; it used to find an echo hereabout, in the old trooping -and tramping times," replied Girvan. - -"And has so still," added Rohallion, laughing; "for I am half a -Kennedy, and often have I heard my mother sing-- - - "'Twixt Wigton and the town of Ayr, - Portpatrick and the Cruives of Cree, - Nae man may hope in peace to bide, - Unless he court Saint Kennedie." - - -"Like the Maxwells in Nithsdale, the Kennedies had all their own way -here in those days," said Lady Winifred, as she drew off her lace -mittens, and prepared to adjust her ivory-mounted spinning-wheel. - -"But to return to the present time, tell me, John Girvan, did that -French ship actually come within range of our gun-battery?" - -"Yes, my lord--or nearly so." - -"And what were you about, John, to stand with your hands in your -pockets at such a time? Egad, 'twas not like an old 25th man?" - -The quartermaster reddened. - -"There was a tremendous gale from the seaward," said Lady Rohallion, -coming to his assistance; "a storm--a tempest----" - -"And she came only within a mile of the Partan Craig, where the -unfortunate merchantman was in sore peril--a foe on one side, a lee -shore on the other--eh, dominie?" - - "'_Here_ Scylla bellows from her dire abodes, - Tremendous port--abhorred by men and gods, - And there Charybdis,' - -as old Homer hath it," replied the dominie, promptly. - -"Even had the battery been manned, my lord, I am doubtful--I am -doubtful if these old twenty-four pounders would pitch shot so far; -and she scarcely appeared, before she hauled her wind and disappeared -into the mist," said Girvan, giving his old yellow wig an angry twist. - -"Some of these small craft are growing very saucy," said Lord -Rohallion, to change the subject, which he saw was distasteful to his -old comrade. "It was only the other day that a lieutenant with -fourteen men from one of our gun-brigs landed on the coast of France -to distribute royalist manifestoes of the Comte d'Artois, dated from -Holyrood, but he and his men were taken by a party of dragoons who -surrounded an auberge in which they were imprudently drinking. They -were instantly hanged as spies, by order of General Monnet, and the -bodies are to be seen on fifteen gibbets, a mile apart, along the -coast between Boulogne and Cape Grisnez." - -"Poor men! How horrible!" exclaimed Lady Winifred. - -"Such barbarities were not committed in our time, my lord, except -among the Indians." - -"Quartermaster--but we are getting old fellows now," said Rohallion, -with something between a laugh and a sigh. "We have often stopped -the march of the French with fixed bayonets, but we can't arrest the -march of time." - -"Aye, aye, my lord," said the old soldier, warming, and answering a -friendly smile from old Jack Andrews, who was removing the breakfast -equipage; "but, when at Minden, and while the French gun brigade was -bowling through the six British regiments that stood there in -division, we little thought that we would live to drink our grog in -Rohallion, forty years after, hale carles, and hearty ones, too." - -"If we ever _thought_ at all, Girvan, which is not likely; reflection -troubles a young soldier seldom, and, egad! we were beardless boys -then." - -"And those who were boys like ourselves then, and those who were -grey-haired grenadiers of Fontenoy and Culloden--who had no need to -powder their white hair--were alike mowed down together, and lay like -herrings in a landing net," said Girvan, sadly. - -"It was a day on which the ripe fruit and the blossom were gathered -together," said Lady Rohallion, as her wheel revolved rapidly, and -little Quentin sat at her feet to watch it. - -"Your ladyship's speech savoureth of poetry," said the dominie, -bowing; "it is even as my old friend Burns--puir Robbie Burns--would -have expressed himself." - -"It is ten years since the Scots Horse Guards were amalgamated with -the new Life Guard Regiments," said Rohallion, commencing a familiar -topic. - -"Just twelve years this summer, my lord," replied Girvan. - -"And though moving slowly up the list of generals, Girvan, I have not -had a regiment since." - -"Among the Romans----" began the dominie. - -"A regiment! it is a brigade you should have," interrupted the -quartermaster, ruthlessly. - -"Among the Romans," began the dominie again, when Lord Rohallion, who -was full of his grievance (was there ever an old soldier without -one?) spoke with something of irritation. - -"I have actually been refused a brigade for service, though senior to -more favoured officers; but a time may come when Government may be -glad to avail themselves of my services, though I am afraid, John, -that I'm getting owre auld in the horn, as the drovers say.. -Besides, they think that we old fellows of Minden and Bunker's Hill -are as much out of date as the snap-muskets and matchlocks of King -William's time. And zounds, man! there are not wanting in the Lower -House certain disloyal spirits, termed financial reformers, who -grudge the old soldier the day's pittance which he has won by blood -and sweat, and by wasting the flower of his days among the swamps of -the Helder, the fevers of the West Indies, and elsewhere." - -"The devil take all fevers and reformers together--amen," said the -quartermaster; "but I believe this intended Egyptian business will be -only a flash in the pan when compared with what _we_ have seen." - -"Among the Romans the soldiery at first received no _stipendium_," -said the dominie, raising his voice and speaking very fast, lest he -should be interrupted; "but every man served at his own proper -charges." - -"That would suit our modern whigs to a hair, dominie," said Lord -Rohallion, laughing. - -"Yea, even to the vinegar which he mixed with spring water as his -daily drink, did he furnish all, in the early days of the Roman army." - -"Vinegar grog!" exclaimed the quartermaster with disgust; "Heaven be -thanked I was not born a Roman. Such beggarly tipple would never -have suited the 25th. And now, my lord, when you are at leisure, I -wish to shew you a new farmsteading I have erected at the Cairns of -Blackhinney, and also how bravely the young trees are thriving in the -oakwood shaw." - -"Glad to hear the latter, Girvan, for I agree with my worthy friend, -Admiral Collingwood, that every British proprietor should plant as -many oak trees as he can, to keep up our navy. 'I wish everybody,' -said he, in one of his letters, 'thought on this subject as I do, -they would not walk through their farms without a pocketful of acorns -to drop in the hedges, and let them take their chance,' and so keep -up the future wooden walls of old England." - -Neither Rohallion nor the gallant old Admiral could foresee the days, -when those famous "wooden walls," would be represented by screw -propellers, armour clads, cupola ships, and steam rams! - -Rohallion assumed his walking cane and Nivernois hat, to which he -still adhered, though it had been long out of fashion, and had the -flaps fastened up to its shallow crown by hooks and eyes; and, bowing -ceremoniously, left the dominie to confer with the lady concerning -the course of study on which little Quentin Kennedy was soon to -enter, while he issued forth with his old comrade the factor to look -over the estate. - -Close by the haunted gate lay a fine old beech, on which a cavalier -Lord of Rohallion hanged as a traitor one of his vassals whom he -discovered serving as a soldier in an English regiment. It now lay -prostrate, for the storm had torn it up by the roots. - -"Have this removed as soon as possible, Girvan," said the old lord; -"for, ugh! I never see a fallen tree, but I think of that devilish -abattis we fell into at Saratoga, when the Yankees would have made an -end of me, had it not been for Jack Andrews and others of the 25th." - -"Aye, my lord, and some of the 17th Light Dragoons too--under -Corporal O' Lavery--you remember him?" - -"Who could ever forget him that served there--who could ever forget -him or his story?" exclaimed the old general flourishing his -silver-headed cane; "not I, certainly. It was he who was entrusted -by my Lord Rawdon as a military courier (_estafette_, the French term -it), to bring me an important despatch concerning the movements of -the regiment, and this despatch the Yankees were determined I should -not receive, for spies had informed them of the bearer and his route, -so the way was beset by riflemen. The soldier who accompanied him -fell mortally wounded; O'Lavery was riddled by bullets too, yet he -rode manfully on, until from loss of blood he fell from his saddle. -Then Girvan, resolved that the important paper which he bore should -never fall into the hands of the Yankees, he crumpled it up and -thrust it into one _of his wounds_. I discovered it, when next -morning we came upon him dying in the bush, and he had just life -sufficient left to point to the fatal place where Rawdon's letter was -concealed.* As one of our greatest orators said, when Martius -Curtius to sacrifice himself for his country leaped into the gulf of -the forum, he had all Rome for his spectators; but the poor Irish -corporal was alone in the midst of a desert--I quote at random, -quartermaster. And yet, after all the brave deeds and service of -those days to refuse me this brigade for service--zounds! it was too -bad--too bad!" - -But Rohallion survived his disappointment, and the two following -years glided peacefully away, at his old castle in Carrick. - - -* "The surgeon declared the wound itself not to be mortal; but -rendered so by the insertion of the despatch. Corporal O'Lavery was -a native of the county of Down, where a monument, the gratitude of -his countryman and commander Lord Rawdon, records his -fame."--_Records of the 17th Lancers_. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -QUENTIN'S CHILDHOOD. - - "Ah, happy time! ah, happy time! - The days of mirth and dream; - When years ring out their merry chime, - And hope and gladness gleam. - Then how we drink the storied page, - In boyhood's happy home: - The marvels of the wondrous age - Of old Imperial Rome."--_All the Year Round_. - - -The New Year's day of 1801 passed over at Rohallion amid feasting and -revelling, for in the good old fashion the worthy lord, as his -fathers had done before him, entertained all his people in the great -hall of the tower. There the trophies were hung with green holly and -scarlet berries; there the Yule log still smouldered on the hearth, -and there he shook the powder from his hair, while footing it merrily -with the wives and daughters of the fishers and cottars, while old -Girvan hobbled away in his brigadier wig, the dominie screwing up his -fiddle to discourse sweet music with the piper of Maybole, while as -an interlude came the drums and fifes of the Rohallion Volunteers, to -make the old castle ring to the cheering sounds of "Lady Jean o' -Rohallion's Rant;" and this hearty homeliness, together with a free -distribution of gifts on "auld handsel Monday," made the lord and -lady of the manor adored by their tenantry. On that day there was -something for every one: to the dominie a snuff-mull, which he -received with many bows, reminding the donor how "Tacitus affirmed -that Tiberius prohibited the bestowal of new year gifts, which was a -great saving of expense to the knights and senators," To the -quartermaster a gilt-bound "Army List," to keep him in reading and -reference for the ensuing year; to Elsie at the coves a lace-curchie, -and to little Quentin a gallant rocking-horse. So all danced the new -year in hand-in-hand, to the old song,-- - - "Now Yule has come and Yule has gane, - And we hae feasted weel! - Sae Jock maun to his flail again, - And Jenny to her wheel." - - -In the ensuing spring, when fresh flowers and budding leaves came "to -deck the dead season's bier;" when the aroma of fertility, warmth, -and verdure came from the sunny upland slopes, and the mountain -burns, as they bore brown leaves along, seemed to brawl louder over -their stony beds towards the Firth of Clyde; when greener tints -spread over the pastoral hills and glens about Rohallion; when the -sky, long chilled by the frost of the past winter, had a richer tone -and colour; when the air was warm and pleasant as it fanned the -new-turned sods--when this sweet season came, we say, the old Lord -had ceased to lament having been refused a brigade in the expedition -to Egypt. - -By that time he had heard of the fall of his old friend and brother -officer, the gallant Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and how war and disease -had thinned the ranks of his army. He sorrowed for this: but his old -spirit blazed up anew when he heard of how the 28th or -Gloucestershire Slashers, in the Temple of the Sun, faced their rear -rank about when surrounded, and defended themselves like a double -wall of fire; how the Gordon Highlanders, at the bayonet's point, -carried the cannon of the foe at the Tower of Mandora; how the Black -Watch destroyed the boasted Invincibles, and won their scarlet -plumes; and how the shrill pipes of the Highland Brigade rang in -fierce defiance along the embattled heights of Nicopolis! - -One name in the list of casualties made him start. - -It was that of his old friend and neighbour, Colonel John Warrender -of Ardgour, who fell, sword in hand, when leading the Corsican -Rangers to a victorious bayonet charge against the 61st Demi-brigade. - -"Oh, what a heart-stroke this is for his poor wife, Winny!" he -exclaimed. - -"And Flora--poor little Flora, their daughter," added Lady Rohallion, -with her eyes full of tears. - -"She is too young to know fully the calamity that has befallen her. -Order the carriage, Andrews; we'll drive up the glen to Ardgour in an -hour after this." - -"Poor Mrs. Warrender!--she did so love her husband, and had sore -misgivings that they were parting for the last time." - -"A sad morning this will be for her, indeed!" said Lord Rohallion, -laying the gazette upon the breakfast-table and gazing into the -clear, bright fire, full of thought, as the battle of Alexandria -seemed to come in fancy before his practised eye. - -"Now Rohallion, bethink you, if circumstances had been reversed," -said she, laying a hand caressingly on his neck, "and if she had been -reading your name in that paper, what my feelings would have been." - -"The carriage would be ordered at Ardgour instead of Rohallion," said -the old Lord, with an affectionate smile; "they may need me yet--but -egad! I am now, perhaps, better pleased that the brigade was refused -me. Warrender gone--poor Jack! and Abercrombie, too--I knew him when -in command of the 69th." - -"He died on board the flagship, my lord," said Andrews, who, in -virtue of his years and peculiar position, ventured to gratify his -irrepressible curiosity, by taking up the paper, to skim it at his -master's back; "they landed and formed line in the water, bayonets -fixed and colours flying," he continued, with a nervous voice and -kindling eye; "28th and 42nd--Foot Guards and Royal Scots--I think I -see them all--whoop! d--n it--why weren't _we_ there?--I beg pardon, -my lady," he added, in some confusion, as he proceeded in haste to -remove the breakfast equipage, stumping vigorously on his left -leg--in which he received a bullet at Saratoga--as he hurried away to -order the carriage for the proposed visit of condolence, to which we -need not invite the reader. - -The treaty of Amiens which followed soon after the Egyptian campaign -brought about a peace for fourteen months, and during that time, Lord -Rohallion wrote repeatedly to our Ambassador at Paris concerning the -little protégé who had now found a home in Carrick; but at a period -when all the powers of Europe were only, as it were, taking breath -and gathering strength for a greater and more deadly contest, such a -trivial matter as the fate of a shipwrecked boy could gain but little -attention. His lordship's letters remained unanswered, and by the -18th of May, 1803, Britain and France again drew the sword, which was -never to be sheathed save on the plains of Waterloo. - -Time had made little Quentin as thoroughly at home in the castle and -with the family of Rohallion, as if he had been born there. - -The absence of her son with the Guards (Carlton House and the -Pavilion at Brighton were decidedly more amusing than that old castle -by the sea), created a void in Lady Rohallion's heart; so the strange -child came just in time to fill it, and she loved him tenderly and -fondly. The old Lord was never weary of chatting and playing with -Quentin; and he was the especial pet and occasionally tormentor of -the quartermaster, grey-haired Jack Andrews, and of old Dominie -Skaill, who had been long since inducted to the honourable post of -tutor, and as such, after his scholastic duties were over, he daily -visited the castle, in which a room was set apart for study. - -The following years saw Quentin Kennedy growing up into a fine and -manly boy, bold in spirit and frank in nature; yet he retained even -after his tenth year much of the chubby bloom, the rosy cheeks, the -plump white skin, and the golden curls of his infancy. - -Lady Rohallion and her visitors thought him a perfect Cupid; but her -husband and the quartermaster--particularly the latter--vowed he was -a regular imp, who always broke his tobacco-pipes, tied explosives to -the end of his pigtail, and played him a hundred other tricks, the -result of Jack Andrews' secret education. - -The dominie often shook his bag-wig solemnly, for the boy's ways were -at times very erratic and required reprehension; but his constant -friend and adherent was Lady Rohallion, who, when beholding his -beauty, his gambols, and grace, or when listening to his prattle, and -watching all his waggish little ways, could never think but with a -sigh of the widowed and unknown mother whom all these would have -gladdened, and who was, perhaps, still sorrowing for the child who -had forgotten her and transferred his filial love and faith to a -stranger--if, indeed, the royalist sympathies of that unfortunate -mother had not been long since expiated under the guillotine. - -Quentin's only annoyance existed when the Master of Rohallion, then a -captain in the Guards, came home on leave, which, sooth to say, the -Honourable Cosmo Crawford did as seldom as possible, the gaieties of -London, club-life, the opera, and the atmosphere which surrounded the -Prince of Wales, proving greater attractions than any to be found -among the Highlands of Carrick. On these occasions, the boy felt -sensibly how secondary a place he bore in the affections of the lady, -and clung more to his friend the quartermaster. - -In addition to a cold and chilling stateliness of manner, the -Master--a handsome and gallant soldier, however--disliked children -generally, and half-grown boys in particular; thus if he ever spoke -to Quentin, it was merely to quiz him as a young Frenchman (a -nationality which the boy angrily repudiated), to call him a -frog-eater, or little Boney, a name which, through some childish -memory of the past, always roused his anger. - -The Master was not popular in Carrick; on his home visits, the piper -of Maybole never ventured to play before _him_ as before his father; -no mendicant held forth his hand in hope of charity when he passed -the kirk-stile on Sunday; the tenantry never gathered to welcome him -back, and he had been heard to speak of a recently deceased prince as -"the late Pretender," a horrible heresy in the house of Rohallion, -and almost a solecism in Scottish society yet. - -But our young friend was always relieved of his presence when the -shooting season was over, when the summer drills of the Guards began, -or when urgent letters from great but unknown friends required his -return to London; and whither he departed with baggage enough for a -regiment, and his English valet, whose finery, foppery, and town airs -always excited the risible faculties of Lord Rohallion, and the grim -contempt of the cynical veteran, Jack Andrews. - -Though bright and intelligent, Quentin was too erratic to be an -industrious or plodding scholar; thus his Euclid and Cornelius Nepos, -&c., were frequently left to themselves, that he might act the -"truant," and have a day's fly-fishing in the Girvan or the winding -Doon: or a ramble with his friend the gamekeeper through the -preserves, where the deer came out of the fir woods to steal the -dominie's turnips, and where the dark plover and the golden pheasant -lurked among the sombre whin or feathery bracken bushes. - -Then the "Life of Valentine and Orson," with the achievements of -gallant Jack, the foe of all giants, together with similar ancient -lore, in which the ex-quartermaster indulged him (generally about the -time when his poor half-pay became due) together with the pungent -military yarns of Jack Andrews, always proved sad opponents to the -ponderous classics of Dominie Skaill; and, as Quentin grew older, -Cornelius Nepos, Tacitus, Æschylus, and others, were alike neglected, -and frequently neither entreaties or threats would substitute them -for the pages of Smollett and Fielding--the Dickens and Thackeray of -the preceding age. - -Then the dominie would grow wrathful; but all without avail, for the -boy was droll and loveable in his ways, and as the old Lord said, -"would wind them all round his little finger." Thus in the -oddly-assorted society of that sequestered castle he picked up a -strange smattering of knowledge on many subjects. - -Sometimes he was present when Lord Rohallion and John Girvan had long -consultations concerning farming and stock management, arable and -pastoral; planting belts of pine for sheltering corn and deer; -draining bogs and swamps; embanking or reclaiming; thatching -farm-towns anew, and so forth--consultations which always ended in a -jorum of hot toddy, and a reference to the war and chances of -invasion, which naturally led to a mental parade of his majesty's -25th Foot, and old personal reminiscences, varying from the days of -Minden down to Saratoga, Bunker's Hill, and Brandywine, with Corporal -O'Lavery of the 17th, and Lord Rawdon's famous despatch. _Then_ -agriculture and its patron, the Baronet of Ulbter, were voted a -double bore, and everything gave place to "shop" and pipeclay. - -At other times Quentin was present when curious arguments ensued over -a pipe and glass of grog between his preceptor and the ruddy-visaged -quartermaster, who was wont to treat the ancients and their modes of -warfare with supreme contempt. Thus, if he extolled Brown Bess and -her bayonet, which the French could never withstand, Dominie Skaill -brought the Parthians into the field, and told him how at close -quarters with the Roman Legion they were broken; but how the troops -of Crassus broke those same legions in turn, by the dexterity with -which they used their bows, never failing to wind up with a reference -to the Caledonian warriors who routed the Romans in the days of old, -and the schiltrons or massed spearmen of Wight Wallace in later -times, for the dominie had all the history of Harry the Minstrel by -heart, and like the quartermaster, his patriotism had been no way -lessened by many a jovial night spent with their friend Burns in his -old farm-house of Lochlea or Mossgiel. - -Thus Quentin's mind became gradually imbued by quaint ideas, and -filled with a curious mixture of military, legendary, and historic -lore. The very air he breathed was full of patriotism, for he was in -the land of Burns--in Carrick, the ancient lordship of the kingly -Bruces; and many a story the dominie told him of the time when the -Earls of Cassilis, the Lords of Rohallion, the Lairds of Blairquhan, -and other noblesse of Carrick, had their town mansions in Maybole; -when love was made through barred helmets, and when there were -hunting, and hosting and foraying; when castles were stormed and -granges burned; when the Black Vault of Dunure saw Danish blood -stream from its gutters after Largs was won; and the Abbot of -Corseregal roasting on an iron grille ten years after the -Reformation. But the story that Quentin loved best was of the Gipsy -King who lured away the fair Countess of Cassilis, and of the long -years of captivity she spent in the grim old tower of Maybole, where, -to this day, we may see the likenesses of herself and her rash lover, -carved in stone upon the upper oriel. - -Many a day they spent together, this patient dominie and his playful -pupil, wandering among the ruins of the Castle of Kilhenzie, in -feudal times a stronghold of the Kennedies, and there for hours they -were wont to sit, under the aged and giant tree which still stands -near its southern wall--a tree twenty-two feet in girth, and so vast -that it covers nearly the eighth of an acre. - -"On that tree many a bold reiver, gipsy loon, and landlouping -Southron has been hung in his boots by the auld Kennedies o' -Kilhenzie," the dominie would say; "they were a dour, stern, and -warlike stock, boasting themselves to be kean-na-tigh, or, as the -name bears, 'head of the race,' and who can say, Quentin, but you may -be their lineal descendant, and if every head wears its ain bonnet, -be Laird of Kilhenzie yet? yea, restored to your proper estate after -all your wanderings, even as Telemachus was, who in childhood was -also saved miraculously from the sea." - -Then the boy would look up to the ivy-covered masses of the crumbling -wall, with its gaping windows, through which the gleds and -hoodie-crows were flying, and feel strange throbbings and emotions -wakened in his heart by the dominie's words; and there he often came -alone to loiter, and think and dream over what his friend had said, -till his musings took a tangible form, and ultimately, in all his -day-dreams, he came to identify the old castle with _himself_--he -knew not why. - -When Quentin was brought first to Rohallion, he was wont to pray to -his "blessed Mother who was in heaven," and to lisp the name of "la -Mère de Dieu" with great reverence, to the utter scandal and -bewilderment of Dominie Skaill, who smelt the old leaven of Prelacy -and Popery strong in this, for he believed only in the Kirk of -Scotland as by law established, confirmed by the Revolution -Settlement and Treaty of Union (though sadly outraged by the -restoration of patronage in 1712); and such language, he averred, was -rank hanging matter in an adult! - -Quentin's dark eyes were wont to sparkle and flash on hearing these -rebukes, or France abused, as she was pretty sure to be, daily, by -every one in those days; but after a time all these emotions and -ideas gave place to local influences, and he settled down into a -quiet little Scottish schoolboy, though, as we have said, somewhat of -a truant withal. - -His mind sobered and changed even as his clustering golden curls grew -into dark and shining chestnut though dreamlike memories would still -steal upon his mind--memories that came he knew not whence. - -Once when the dominie pointed to a Vandyke that hung in the great -hall, representing Lady Jean of Rohallion, and told him that "she was -an evil-minded woman, who persecuted the saints of God in her time; -and that the cross at her girdle was the hammer of Beelzebub, and an -emblem of her damnable apostasy from the pure and covenanted Kirk of -Scotland," the boy's eyes would assume their gleam, and then a pure, -soft smile, as he said that "his mother in France wore just such a -cross as that, and that he would love the picture for her sake." - -Then Dominie Skaill would groan in spirit over "the bad bluid" that -boiled in a heart so young and tender, and stamping up and down the -hall in his square-toed shoes, would openly express his fears that -"the bairn was a veritable young Claverhouse!" - -On other occasions, and they were many, when Quentin was alone, and -gazing on the sea that frothed so white about the Partan Craig, out -of the perplexing mists of memory came the dream-like incidents of -the wreck on that gloomy November night; his loving father's pale and -despairing face, when the ship went down and left them all struggling -amid the cold waves of a dark and stormy sea; and with these memories -came others beyond that time, softer and dearer, like the -recollections of a prior existence. - -There was the cathedral, with its lights and music at mass; the -bridge, the river, and the windmill; how surely he should know them -all again! And so pondering and dreaming thus, he would lie for -hours on the sunny bank that sloped southward from the cliff of -Rohallion, while the blue Firth of Clyde that chafed upon the rocks -below, came faintly and dreamily to his ear. - -Thus his vision was turned inward, though his eyes were perhaps fixed -on the blue ether overhead, where the sea mews were revolving and the -great eagle soaring aloft; or on the distant tower and Tolbooth of -Maybole that stood clear and dark against the sunset-flush--the wavy -undulations of the Carrick hills: the blue peaks of Arran that rose -afar off, or the nearer coast of Cunninghame, chequered by golden -light on violet coloured shadow. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE QUARTERMASTER'S SNUGGERY. - -"Ambition is dead within me: but there is some satisfaction in a -queen's commission, with half-pay at the end of it."--_Once a Week_. - - -Quentin Kennedy loved the venerable dominie, but was undoubtedly -bored by his pedantry, and to escape it, once actually disappeared -for three entire days, to the utter dismay of the whole household at -Rohallion, when it was naturally supposed that he had been kidnapped -by gipsies, or carried off by the smugglers, who frequented the coves -in the rocks when the nights were dark and gusty; that he had been -carried off by the pressgang from Ayr, or had fallen over the cliffs -when bird-nesting, until Elsie Irvine arrived at the castle, in tears -and tribulation, to announce that he had cunningly secreted himself -in the "saut-backet" of her husband's clinker-built boat, and gone -with the little fleet from the adjacent bay to the herring fishery. - -When Lady Winifred's old friend and school companion, Eleonora -Hamilton (then Countess of Eglinton) visited the castle with her two -unmarried daughters, the Ladies Lilias and Mary--which she did once -yearly--it was always a happy time for Quentin; for then he had two -little companions with whom to romp and swing in the old terraced -gardens; for whom to gather birds' eggs and butterflies in the old -woods of Rohallion, and before whom he could exhibit his boyish skill -in shooting at the butts, or hooking a brown trout in the Girvan or -the Doon; but of the two, his chief friend and playmate was the -fair-haired, blue-eyed, and softly-voiced little Lady Mary, with whom -he generally opened the dance at the annual kirn, or harvest-home, -which Lord Rohallion always gave to the field-labourers in the great -barn of the home-farm, and on these occasions, the brightest ribbons -that Maybole could produce, together with the dominie's violin and -Pate's pipes, were in full requisition. - -On a November night, about four years after the boy's arrival at -Rohallion, his two friends, the dominie and ex-quartermaster, were -seated in the latter's apartment discussing, which they did very -frequently, the boy's pranks and progress, with a pipe of tobacco and -a jug of hot toddy at the same time. - -John Girvan's "snuggery," as he termed it, was in a square tower at -an angle of the barbican wall of the old castle. The loopholes for -defence by arrows or arquebusses yet remained under the window-sills, -to enfilade all approach to the gate-way. They had been made with -special reference to the English and the Kennedies of Kilhenzie; but -there was a chance now that "the French might come by the same road." - -The chamber was small, but very cosy, papered with a queer old -pattern over the wainscoting; the walls were of vast strength, the -windows arched, the fire-place deep, and lined with shining Delft -squares of the Puritan times, representing bulbous-shaped Dutch -skaters, and the instructive old Scriptural story of Susannah and the -Elders. - -The dark oak floor was minus a carpet, for the quartermaster had been -long enough under canvas and in barracks to despise such a luxury. - -Over the mantelpiece was a gaudily-coloured print of the Marquis of -Cornwallis in full uniform, with a huge wig and cocked hat, New York -and a hecatomb of slaughtered Yankees in the distance. Under this -work of art hung the quartermaster's old regimental sword, with its -spring shell, his crimson sash and gilt gorget, graven with a -thistle, and the (to him) magic number "25"--his household _lares_, -as the dominie called them. - -Bound with iron, an old baggage-trunk, that had been over half the -habitable globe, bore the same number and regiment. - -Pipes, whips, and spurs and boot-tops, dog-eared Army Lists and empty -bottles, littered all the mantelshelf and window-bunkers, and with -some very wheezy-looking old chairs made up the appurtenances of the -room, through which the fire shed a blaze so cheerful, that the -dominie had no desire, when he heard the wind moaning through the -battlements above, to face the blast which howled down the lonely -glen that lay beyond the haunted gate. - -A broiled poor man o' mutton and fried trout from the Girvan smoked -on the table beside the toddy jugs, and all within looked cheery, as -these two oddly-assorted friends, who had scarcely an idea in common, -sat down to supper. - -"Aye, dominie, it is a dreich night!" said the quartermaster, filling -his pipe; "but your jug is empty, brew again; and now wi' a' your -book-learning, can you tell me the name o' the man who invented this -same whisky?" - -"Many a night in Mossgiel, wi' Burns, we've drank to his memory, -whoever he was," replied the dominie; "but odds my heart! John -Girvan, I have scarcely got the better o' the fright that brat o' a -laddie gave us, when he disappeared and ran off to the herring -fishery." - -The quartermaster laid down his pipe gravely, for he and the dominie -had a perpetual disagreement about how Quentin was to be educated. -The former laboured hard to teach him the use of fire-arms (Brown -Bess in particular), to box, and to handle the pistol and broadsword, -saying, that without such knowledge he would never be a man; while -the poor dominie laboured still harder to infuse in his nature a love -for literature and the arts of peace, and though compelled to console -himself for Quentin's rapid progress in those of war, by some musty -quotation concerning the Actian games which were instituted in honour -of the victory over Marc Antony, he could not resist asking, - -"To what end do you teach the laddie all this military nonsense--this -use of sword and musket, John?" - -"For drill and discipline, dominie--drill and discipline." - -"Both excellent things in their way, quartermaster; the Romans, who -conquered all the world----" - -"South of Forth and Clyde--haud ye there, dominie!" - -"Well, they conquered by the force of their discipline, and as that -declined, so did their power; but to what profitable end, I say, -teach the bairn all these havers about wars, battles, and -bombshelling? Do you wish to make of him a tearing, swearing, -tramping dragoon, such as we read of in the days of that atrocious -Claverhouse?" - -"Not at all, dominie." - -"Then," asked Skaill, angrily, "what would ye make of him?" - -"A man, where you would make him a Molly." - -The dominie shook his head, and as he did so the bag of his wig shook -pendulously behind him. - -"John Girvan, bairns should be taught early to delight, not in arts -which conduce to the destruction of human life, but in such as lead -to charity, mercy, benevolence, and humanity." - -"Quite right, dominie, and for utterly ignoring all these, I know a -man of peace who had his lugs cropped off his head." - -"Cropped?" - -"Shaven clean off his head by a knife." - -"Barbarous! barbarous!" - -"But just, dominie--strictly just. Did you ever hear how our 28th, -or North Gloucestershire, came to be called _the Slashers_?" - -"Sooth to say, John, I never heard o' them at all." - -"Well, pass the bottle, and I care na if I tell you. A company of -ours was quartered with them in a town on the Canadian frontier. It -was during the winter of '79, when the atmosphere was so cold that -the hoar-frost on our sentries' greatcoats made them look for a' the -world like figures round a bridecake; stiff half-and-half grog froze -before you could drink it; the bugles froze with the buglers' breath; -flesh came off if you touched a swordblade or musket barrel, and the -air was full of glittering particles. We had to saw our ration beef -in slices, and half roast our loaves before we could cut them. Men -were found dead in the snow every day--stiff and frozen; in fact, -there was no way of keeping ourselves warm, do what we might. I -don't know how many degrees it was _below_ the freezing point, but -the cold was awful, and it seemed as if the mercury was frozen too! - -"Amid the severity of that Canadian winter, the mayor of the town, a -democratic and discontented ruffian, refused billets to the soldiers' -wives, and the poor women and helpless children of the 28th nearly -all perished in the streets; in the mornings they were found frozen -like statues, or half-buried among the snow; but severely was the -mayor punished, for one day as he sat at dinner the table was -suddenly surrounded by a party of savages, in war-paint, with hunting -shirts, fur cloaks, moccassins, and wampum belts. They whooped, -yelled, brandished their tomahawks, and then dragging the mayor from -the table, sliced off both his ears. After this they at once -disappeared, and it was not known for some days that these pretended -savages were soldiers of the 28th whose wives had perished through -his inhumanity. It was for this that we first called them -'slashers,' a title which their bravery in the war fully confirmed." - -"The wretch was rightly served," said the dominie; "and truly did our -old friend Rob write of 'man's inhumanity to man making countless -thousands mourn.'" - -"Aye, dominie, that poem is as gude as any sermon that ever was -written!" exclaimed the quartermaster. - -"But to return to Quentin, it is wi' such barbarous stories as that -you have told me you fill the bairn's head, John, at an age when his -mind should be impressed wi' ideas of charity and mercy. How noble -it was of the great Constantine, to employ his son, as soon as he -could write, in signing pardons and granting boons. Under favour, -John, the pen is a nobler instrument than the sword." - -"Then how about Wight Wallace and the Bruce of Carrick, dominie, eh? -Had they never learned to handle aught but a goosequill, where would -our auld mother Scotland have been to-day; so shut pans, ye auld -gomeril, and brew your toddy." - -The dominie chuckled and said, - -"I have worn a red coat mysel', quartermaster, for when Thurot was -off the west coast, I was a year in the volunteers under the Earl o' -Glencairn." - -"The best year of your life, dominie!" - -"I had a sword, a musket and a bayonet. 'Thrice is he armed who hath -his quarrel just.'" - -"And how did you feel when you saw the beacons blazing on the Carrick -hills, and heard the drums dinging before you, on the night o' the -_false alarm_?" asked the old soldier with a sly smile. - -"I shouted like Julian when sent to war, 'Oh Plato! Plato! what a -task for a philosopher.'" - -"The deevil you did!" exclaimed Girvan, puffing vigorously; "and what -then?" - -"Glencairn fined me twenty merks Scots, for speaking in the ranks." - -"Fined--I'd have flogged you at the drumhead wi' the -cat-o'-nine-tails." - -"The Romans used a vine sapling, as we find in Juvenal, and----" - -"Bother those Romans, whoever they were, if they really ever existed -at all! You are ever and aye stuffing Quentin wi' these Romans and -their sayings and doings." - -"Indubitably, and I would that I could teach him all that was ever -known to the seven wise men o' Greece." - -"And who were they?" - -"Bias, Pittacus, Solon, Chilo, Periander, Cleobulus, and Thales," -replied the dominie with singular volubility; "all men who flourished -before the Christian era." - -"Powder and pipeclay! Egad, I'm glad they don't flourish now. Their -names sound just like those of a regiment of niggers we had at the -siege of Boston. Pardon, dominie,--but I must have my joke. I wish -I could teach Quentin something of fortification," he added -thoughtfully, as he watched the pale smoke from his pipe curling up -towards the ceiling. - -"It is an art almost coeval wi' man," responded the other approvingly. - -"True," rejoined the quartermaster; "for did not Cain build a city -with a wall round it on Mount Libuan, and call it after his son -Enoch?" - -"Right, quartermaster, right!" said the pedant, rubbing his hands -with pleasure. "Yea, and the Babylonians, after the waters of the -flood, built them cities, and wi' strong ramparts encompassed them -about; but I hope, if I live, to hear Quentin Kennedy expound on all -that and more, in the pulpit of Rohallion kirk." - -"What!" roared the quartermaster, in a tone that made the dominie -start back; "make a minister of him?" - -"Yea, John Girvan; and wherefore not?" - -"He has about as much vocation for the kirk as I have. Would you -have him drag out his life like a drone in a Scotch country manse, -when a' the warld is up and stirring? Quentin is a penniless lad wi' -a proud spirit, so he must e'en follow the drum, as his father -followed it before him." - -"His father before him, say ye? Some puir fellow, the son o' an -outlawed Jacobite, doubtless. I dinna think, quartermaster, that -_he_ made much o' the trade o' war; a trade that is clean against -scripture in every respect." - -"Dominie, did not Richard Cameron, who fell bravely, battling for the -right, at Airs Moss, only a hundred and twenty years ago, know every -cut of his good broadsword, as well as the texts of his Bible? A -man's hands should always be ready to keep his head; thus, whatever -may be before him, I have taught Quentin to fence and to shoot." - -"No harm, perhaps, in either, for I remember me," replied the -inveterate quoter, "that Bishop Latimer says of himself 'my poor -father was as diligent to teach me to shoot, as to learn any other -thing.' But anent Quentin Kennedy, you and I will never be able to -agree, John, so----" - -"We'll e'en leave the lad's future to himself, dominie. I think he -has some right to be consulted, and, odds heart! he is but a bairn -yet; a bairn, though, that can handle his pistol as well as my other -pupil, the Master Cosmo." - -"Fie, fie, John Girvan! and a most sinfu' use has the Master made o' -his skill." - -"He has paraded a good many bucks and bullies by daylight; but what -would you have an officer to do? If insulted, he must challenge; if -challenged, he must go out, or quit the service and society too." - -The dominie shook his head solemnly in deprecation of such -sentiments, and said-- - -"I fear me muckle the Master will meet wi' his match some day, and a -black one it will be for the house o' Rohallion; but now for my -_deoch an doruis_. Pass the dram bottle. Ugh! the road down the -glen will be eerie to-night, and I can never forget that awfu' -morning, John, when I saw the wraith of Cosmo's uncle, standing at -the castle-gate, in his wig, cocked hat, and red coat, silent and -grim, even as the ghost of Cæsar, on the night before Philippi." - -"Wi' a' the whisky you had under your belt, I wonder you didna see -_twa_ o' them." - -"Jest not--jest not," said the dominie, with, we are sorry to say, -half-tipsy solemnity, as he drained his _deoch_ to the last drop, -tied a large yellow bandanna over his three-cornered hat and under -his chin, assumed his walking-staff, and prepared to depart. "I hope -the servant-lass will air the night-cap that she puts wi' the Bible -at my bedside every night." - -The quartermaster laughed slily, as he knew that the cap referred to -was a stoup of strong ale, which, in the old Scottish fashion, the -dominie's servant always placed with the Bible on a stool near his -bed. - -The poor dominie's potations mounted to his head as he began to move, -and, striking his cane emphatically as he stepped away, he sung, in -somewhat uncertain tones:-- - - "My kimmer and I lay down to sleep, - Wi' twa pint stoups at our bed's feet: - And aye when we wakened we drank them dry, - Sae what think ye o' my kimmer and I? - Toddling butt and toddling ben, - When round as a neep ye come toddling hame!" - -And so he departed in the dark, in a mood that neither brownie nor -bogle could scare. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -FLORA WARRENDER. - - "Lovely floweret, lovely floweret, - Oh! what thoughts your beauties move-- - When I pressed thee to my bosom, - Little did I know of love. - In Castile I never entered-- - From Leon too, I withdrew, - Where I was in early boyhood, - And of love I nothing knew." - _Poetry of Spain_. - - -So without change, the joyous and dreamy period of Quentin's boyhood -glided rapidly away, in studies, amusements, and occasionally -mischief, such as throwing kail-castocks down the dominie's _lum_, -and blowing tam-o'-reekies* through his keyhole, until about his -seventeenth year, when the Castle of Rohallion became the home of -another inmate. - - -* Lighted tow blown through a cabbage-stock. - - -Mrs. Warrender of Ardgour, widow of Lord Rohallion's old friend and -companion-in-arms, Colonel John Warrender, who, as we have related, -fell at the head of the Corsican Rangers in the Egyptian expedition, -died in London, bequeathing to the care, tuition, and trust of Lady -Winifred her only daughter, in charge of whom Lady Eglinton arrived -from England in the summer of 1806, accompanied by her two unmarried -daughters, Lilias and Mary, now growing up into tall and handsome -young women, with whom Quentin could scarcely venture to romp and -race as in former days. - -It was evening when an outrider, as a sort of avant-courier, arrived -from Maybole to announce that the Countess was coming with her -charge; so Lady Rohallion assumed her black silk capuchin, her -husband his cane and jaunty old-fashioned triangular Nivernois (to -which he rigidly adhered, despite the almost general adoption of the -present form of round hat), and summoning Quentin, who was busy among -the firearms in the gun-room, they set forth for a stroll along the -avenue to meet their friends. - -"Poor Jack Warrender!" said Lord Rohallion, musingly; "I wonder -whether his girl resembles him?" - -"I should think not," replied Lady Winifred, smiling, as her -recollections of the late Colonel's personal appearance were not -flattering. - -"I have not seen the child for four or five years." - -"Flora will be past sixteen now. She had her mother's forehead, and -soft, dovelike eyes; the Colonel was a stern and rough-featured man." - -"But a good-hearted fellow, Winny, as ever cracked a joke or a -bottle. I saw him first as a jolly ensign, carrying the union colour -of his regiment, at Saratoga, and, egad, my dear, that wasn't -yesterday." - -"Flora's mother died of a broken heart." - -"She was always delicate," said Lord Rohallion. - -"Ah, like most men, you don't believe in that kind of death; but she -never recovered the shock of her husband's fall in Egypt, and thus, -after five years' constant ailing and pining, she has passed away to -her place of rest." - -"Poor woman!" - -"What is the difference of age between Flora and our Cosmo?" - -"A suggestive question." - -"How?" - -"Never mind, my lord." - -"Some sixteen years or more, I think. You should remember best, -Winny, their ages." - -After this they walked on in silence, the lady, already match-making -and scheming out certain matters with reference to the young heiress -of Ardgour, had her mind bent on futurity; while the old lord's -thoughts were with the past, full of other days and other scenes, -when youth and hope went hand in hand--days, which, in the wars of -Napoleon, were being fast forgotten by the world at large. - -The evening was beautiful; the air was still and calm, though at -times a breeze stirred gently the foliage of the sycamores of that -stately avenue which led from the haunted gate to the ancient highway -from Maybole--trees which had cast their shadows on many a generation -of the Crawfords of Rohallion, who had gambolled along that avenue in -infancy, and tottered down it in age; and since the days of King -James VI. they had seen many a son of the house go forth with his -sword and return no more, for many of them have fallen in domestic -feuds and foreign wars. - -On the uplands the golden grain was waving, but there was no sound in -the air save the voice of the corncrake in the fields, the hum of the -summer bee, the plaintive notes of the cushat-dove among the foliage -of the oak-wood shaw, or the flash of the bull-trout in the linn that -bubbled on one side of the avenue, and disappeared under a quaint -arch, on each side of which stood two moss-grown lions sejant, the -armorial supporters which the family of Rohallion inherited from Sir -Raynold Crawford, high sheriff of Ayrshire, the uncle of Sir William -Wallace of Elderslie. - -Quentin, who had been in advance with a couple of barking terriers, -now came running back, waving his hat, to announce that Lady -Eglinton's carriage was coming bowling along the dusty road; and just -as he spoke it wheeled into the echoing avenue, where the horses' -hoofs crashed among the gravel. - -The driver, who was seated on a splendid hammercloth (with the -dragons, _vert_, vomiting fire) reined up on perceiving Lord and Lady -Rohallion, and the servants at once threw down the steps as their -mistress desired to alight. - -Assisted by her host, she stepped down, a stately woman of a noble -presence, considerably older than her friend, Winifred Maxwell, being -past her sixtieth year, but still bent on being young despite -wrinkles and other little indications of "the enemy." She wore the -then fashionable little bonnet of green and blue, or union velvet, as -it was named, in honour of Ireland, a large chequered Burdett -kerchief over her neck and shoulders, and her whole person was -redolent of hair powder and perfume, as her black satin robe swept -over the gravel. - -Her two daughters sprang forth after her, accompanied by the new -visitor, (of whom more anon,) all three handsome and lady-like young -girls, faultless in symmetry, delicacy, and refinement, and all -possessed of considerable beauty, and looking happy, blooming, and -smiling, in their Leghorn gipsy hats, which were wreathed with -flowers. - -"Welcome, my dear Lady Eglinton," said Rohallion, bowing like an -old-fashioned courtier of Versailles or Holyrood, as he planted his -little Nivernois under his left arm, and gave his right hand to the -Countess to lead her up the avenue; "unlike your humble servant, -egad, madam, you grow younger every day--and then your travelling -costume--I vow it is charming." - -"My lord," said the old lady, smiling, "you are still quite a -Lothario, and as complimentary as ever. My girls at least have the -latest London fashions, but I prefer the bonnet of 1801, as being -more becoming my style--perhaps I should say, my years." - -We question whether this amiable lady and her daughters in "the -latest London fashion," would have been in the mode now, as their -narrow skirts made them exactly resemble the figures we see in the -little Noah's ark. - -"And this is Flora Warrender," said Lord Rohallion (after the usual -greetings were over), kissing the girl's hand and forehead with -kindness and regard; "welcome here, child, for the sake of your -father. Many a day Jack Warrender and I have been under fire -together, and often we have shared our grog and our biscuit--long -before you saw the light, Flora." - -Her fine eyes filled as the old Lord spoke, and a beautiful -expression passed over her soft, fair face. She was in second -mourning--muslin with black spots; and her gipsy hat with its crape -bows gave her a very picturesque look. She had sandalled shoes on -her feet, that, like her hands, were small and very finely shaped. -Her ear-rings and bracelets were of brown Tunbridge wood, then the -simple fashion when not in full dress. - -"We have brought a sweet companion for you, Quentin," said Lady Mary, -laughing, as she presented both her hands to her young friend; "won't -she be quite a little wife for you?" - -"Mary!" said her mamma, in an admonitory tone. - -"Of course, mamma, you know I am much too old for Quentin." - -"Too tall, at least, to talk nonsense," replied Lady Eglinton, whose -ideas of deportment belonged to the last century, and whose -old-fashioned stateliness always abashed Quentin, who blushed like a -great schoolboy as he was, and played nervously with his little hat. - -"What, mamma!" persisted Mary, "mayn't I still flirt with Quentin?" - -But her mother, who, with all her kindness of heart, had always -doubts about the wisdom of lavishing so much attention on a strange -child (whose future and antecedents were alike obscure), as the -Rohallion family bestowed on poor Quentin Kennedy, turned away to -speak with her host and hostess, leaving the young people to -themselves, while the carriage, with its double imperial, was driven -round to the stable court. - -"I hope you have had a pleasant journey from the South?" said Lady -Rohallion. - -"We had a break-down at York, and I was sorely tired when we reached -Edinburgh. There I was somewhat recompensed by hearing Kemble in -Macbeth, and Mrs. Kemble sing the new fashionable ballad, 'The Blue -Bells of Scotland,' at the conclusion of the piece; but the -candle-snuffers neglected our box so much, that, before the farce, we -were driven to the card assembly in the new room in George-street, -where, for a dull little town, there was a pretty genteel assemblage; -though the dresses of the women were five years behind London, I was -glad to see hair-powder still worn in such profusion." - -"Since the Union," said Lady Rohallion, "Edinburgh has been a city of -the dead, and very different from what our grandmothers described it." - -"A veritable village, where one meets none above the rank of mere -professional men, struggling hard, poor fellows, to keep up -appearances." - -"But at the assembly, mamma, there was _one_ person of position," -said Lady Jane. - -"True, child--the young Earl of Aboyne, whose name was unfortunately -associated with that of the late unhappy Queen of France, Marie -Antoinette." - -"Ah, yes," said Rohallion, laughing, "I remember that the Polignacs -spoke maliciously of her dancing _Ecossaises_ with him at the balls -of Madame d'Ossun." - -"We went with him to Corri's Concerts, which are led by Signor -Stablini, and also to see the storming of Seringapatam, opposite the -New College, 'the wonder of the English metropolis, for the last -twelve months,' as the papers have it. I have brought your ladyship -the 'Last Minstrel,' the new poem of that clever gentleman, Mr. -Walter Scott, which has just appeared; Mr. Constable's shop at the -Cross was quite besieged by inquirers for it; and for your lordship I -have the Gazettes detailing the captures of Martinique and -Guadaloupe." - -"I thank you--they will be a rare treat for me and for old John -Girvan, who enjoys the reversion of all my military literature." - -"At Edinburgh we had quite a chapter of accidents. One of Lord -Eglinton's favourite horses came in dead lame at the Leith Races; -then my abigail left me abruptly, having gained a prize of two -thousand guineas in the State lottery, and with it an offer of -marriage from a dissenting minister. A wheel came off the carriage -just as we were descending that steep old thoroughfare named the West -Bow, and by this accident all our new bonnets from the Gallery of -Fashion in the High-street were destroyed: it also caused a fracas -between our poor coachman and a lieutenant of the City Guard, who, -with his silver epaulettes on, and all the airs of office, was -drumming a woman out of town. The fracas caused a three days' -detention, as one of the bailies, a democratic grocer, threatened to -send our coachman on board the pressing-tender at Leith for -contumacy; but ultimately and happily, the name of Lord Eglinton -terrified the saucy patch into complaisance. Then we heard of -footpads infesting the Lanark-road, but fortunately we had the escort -of some of the Scots Greys who were conveying French prisoners to the -West Country, so we reached Maybole without any untoward accident." - -While the Countess was rehearsing the adventures of her journey, Lord -Rohallion, partly oblivious of her and of her daughters, had been -absorbed by Flora, in whose soft features he sought in vain for the -stern eyebrows, the high nose and cheekbones of her father the -colonel. - -Lady Rohallion glanced at their ward, from time to time, with mingled -satisfaction and interest, as she had certain views regarding her, -and these were nothing less than a marriage, a few years hence, -between her and Cosmo, the Master, an idea which had strengthened -every day she looked towards Ardgour, the well-wooded heights of -which were visible from the windows of Rohallion. - -"But man proposes, and God disposes," says the proverb. How these -views were realized, we shall come in time to see. - -All unaware of the plots forming against her in the busy brain of her -mother's friend, Flora had already drawn near Quentin, and, surveying -him with something of wonder and interest in her fine eyes, she said-- - -"So you are the little boy of whom I have heard so much in the -letters of Lady Rohallion to mamma?" - -"I am Quentin Kennedy, Miss Warrender." - -"Who was rescued from that horrible wreck?" - -"Yes." - -"You are not so _very_ little, though." - -"I am taller than _you_," replied our young friend, in a tone of -pique. - -"But I look the eldest." - -"We are much of an age; I heard Lady Rohallion say so." - -"I think I shall like you." - -"I am sure that I shall like you very much!" responded Quentin, -blushing in spite of himself. - -"You know that we are to be companions, and learn our studies -together?" - -"And such delightful walks we shall have in this old avenue," said -she, looking up at the grand old sycamores, between which the golden -sunset fell in flakes of warm light. - -Thus the boy and girl were friends at once. - -About five was then the fashionable dinner-hour: thus, as Lady -Eglinton had arrived later, a few friends and neighbours came to sup -at Rohallion. - -The conversation all ran on rents, agriculture, and politics; -high-toryism had full sway. Thus Napoleon, the Corsican tyrant--who -was averred to have copied Alexander in Egypt, Cæsar in Italy, and -Charlemagne in France, no bad example surely--together with Sir -Francis Burdett, and the atrocious opposition party, were very -liberally devoted to the infernal gods. - -The younger ladies idled over the piano, in the old-fashioned yellow -damask drawing-room. The faithless Quentin, apparently quite -oblivious of the presence of his former friend, Lady Mary, was quite -fascinated by the new visitor, whom he had innumerable matters to -tell and to show. - -The worthy Lord smiled benignantly as he watched them, and, while -taking a pinch of the Prince's mixture from the gold-enamelled box, -which had been presented to him by H.R.H. the Duke of York, he -remarked to an old friend, who, in powder, wide cuffs, pigtail, and -knee-breeches, seemed the counterpart of himself, that "truly we -lived in rapid and wonderful times." - -Poor Lord Rohallion! he could little foresee the time when posterity -would be flying over Europe at the rate of sixty miles an hour, and -when, instead of powdering his cherished pigtail, he might have it -cut by machinery--the Victorian age of Crystal Palaces, crinoline, -and chloroform--of spirit-rapping, wordy patriotism, and paper -collars. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -LOVE, AND MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO. - - "They would sit and sigh, - And look upon each other and conceive - Not what they ailed; yet something did they ail, - And yet were well--and yet they were not well; - And what was their disease they could not tell." - - -According to a recent novelist, "the happiest portions of existence -are the most difficult to chronicle." As we approach that period of -Quentin's career, which was indeed his happiest, we experience -something of this difficulty; and having much concerning his -adventures to relate, must glance briefly at the gradual change from -boyhood into youth--from youth to manhood, almost prematurely, for, -by the course of events, misfortunes came early; and somewhat -abruptly was Quentin thrust forth into the great battle of life. - -But we anticipate. - -At that happy time, when he had neither thought nor care--no past to -regret, and no future to dread, Flora Warrender and Quentin were in -the bloom of their youth. The girl was already highly accomplished; -but Dominie Skaill, when acting as tutor to the lad, strove to imbue -_her_ with some love for classical lore, and he bored her accordingly. - -In winter especially, the old castle was dull and visitors were few. -The old quartermaster talked to her of Minden and Saratoga; of -proceeding for leagues upon leagues in heavy marching order up to the -neck in snow; of scalp-hunting Choctaws and Cherokees, tomahawks and -war-paint. The parish minister, fearing that she had become "tainted -with Episcopacy during her sojourn in the English metropolis," dosed -her with such gloomy theology as can be found nowhere out of -Scotland, mingled with local gossip, which often took the form of -scandal; the dominie prosed away "anent" the Romans, or of chemical -action, the laws of gravitation, the dogmas of Antichrist, and the -dreadful views of society taken by the Corsican usurper and his -blood-smeared Frenchmen, till the young heiress felt her head spin. -Lord Rohallion, whose ideas were chiefly military, and Lady Winifred, -whose thoughts ran chiefly on housewifery and acting doctor to all -the children on the estate, were not very amusing either, so she -turned with joy and pleasure to her new friend Quentin Kennedy, who -was ever ready for a gallop into the country, a ramble in the woods, -or a romp in the garden. - -Long and many were the confidences between them, for both were -orphans, and they had thus many emotions in common. - -He told her in detail what she had already heard, and what all in the -Bailiewicks of Carrick, Kyle, and Cunninghame knew, the story of his -being saved from the wreck of an unknown ship, whose whole crew -perished, and that his father, who had been a Scottish officer in the -service of Monsieur, was drowned with them; that now, he could barely -shadow out his thin spare figure, and pale and anxious face, it -seemed so long since then; that save the Crawfords of Rohallion, he -had no friends on earth that he knew of, and that he was to become a -soldier, he believed--at least his good friend Mr. Girvan always said -so, and that it was his own wish. - -"A soldier!" repeated Flora; "my poor papa was one, and those horrid -French killed him. Oh that I were a man, to join with you in a life -of such peril and adventure! But Lady Rohallion says I am to be a -soldier's wife," she added, smiling, and burying her pretty nostrils -in a thick moss rose. - -"To be married?" - -"Yes; she says that the Master of Rohallion is to marry me, whenever -he returns home." - -"And do you love him, Flora?" - -"I don't know," she replied, blushing as red as the rose in her hand, -and casting down her dark eyelashes. - -"Why?" - -"Because, Quentin, I never saw him." - -"Not even at Ardgour?" - -"No, nor in London, for when my dear mamma was there, the Master was -always at Windsor or Brighton with the Guards." - -"Then why are you to marry him?" persisted Quentin. - -"Because I am told that it will be very convenient for all parties, -as the lands of Rohallion and those of Ardgour march together for -miles over hill and glen," replied Flora, using the Scottish phrase -for "adjoin." - -Then she would tell him, with all the kindness and friendship of Lady -Rohallion, how sorely she missed the extreme tenderness and -gentleness of her own dear mother, and how that beloved parent sunk -like a bruised reed, nor ever rallied since the terrible morning when -news came to Ardgour that her father had fallen in battle under -Abercrombie, and his general's letter and the Duke of York's too, -alike failed to afford the consolation they expressed. - -There was no love-making in confidences such as these; but both were -young; the lad was handsome, sturdy, and impetuous. Flora was -winning in manner and delicately beautiful, with soft dove-like dark -eyes of violet-grey, and lashes that were almost black like her hair; -and such intercourse, if it was pleasant and delightful, was perilous -work, and apt to lead to the development of a friendship that -certainly would not be platonic. - -When climbing the beetling cliffs that overhung the waves, the -sea-pinks and wild flowers that grew in such dangerous places, were -always culled, and the rare birds'-eggs, that lay in the cliffs and -crannies, were gathered by Quentin for Flora. - -His whole desire and study were Flora Warrender and the anticipation -of her every want and wish. Many of his sports, the trout pools in -the Girvan, the fishing boats in the bay, the otter holes by the -Doon, the covers where the golden pheasant lurked among the green and -feathery fern, were neglected now for places nearer home--for the -sycamore avenue, the terraced garden, the yew-hedge labyrinth, for -wherever Flora was to be found, he was not far off. - -Her soft and modulated voice was full of music, it had a chord in it -that vibrated in his heart, so the lad sighed for her and knew not -why. - -Could it be otherwise when they were always together? They admired -and sketched the same scenery--the cliffs of Rohallion and the gaping -caverns below, where the sea boomed like thunder when the tide was -coming in; the ruins of Kilhenzie; the old kirk in the wooded glen, -where the golden broom and blue harebells grew; the long and stately -avenue of sycamores, and the Lollard's linn that poured in white foam -under its ancient bridge. When Flora drew, he was always there to -marvel at the cunning of the lovely little hand that transferred all -to paper so freely and so rapidly. They repeated the same poetry; -they conned the same tasks, loved the same lights and shadows on glen -and mountain, sea and shore; they had the same objects and haunts, -and so they grew dear to each other, far dearer than either knew or -suspected. - -In those days, our young ladies, when singing, neither attempted to -foist bad German or worse Italian on their listeners; neither did -they dare to excel in opera, or run out into "artistic agonies," Like -her mother before her, Flora contented herself with her native songs, -which she sung with great sweetness (thanks to Corri's tuition), and -Quentin was always at hand by the harp or piano to turn over the -music, as all well-bred young men have done, since time immemorial. - -How swiftly flew those days of peace and joy in that old castle by -the sea, when each was all the world to the other! And is it -strange, that situated as they were, a deep and innocent love should -steal into their young hearts? - -The old tenantry, particularly Elsie Irvine, who always considered -Quentin her own peculiar pet; the quartermaster and the dominie -blessed them in their hearts, and called them "man and wife," which -made them blush furiously; but nothing of this kind was ever said in -the hearing of Lady Rohallion, for they had early learned intuitively -that such jests would displease her; though those worthy souls could -never gather why, until a period of our story yet to come. - -Their friendship and regard grew with their years, and they never had -a quarrel. The dominie likened them to Pyramus and Thisbe, and -quoted largely from Ovid; but they were much more like their -prototypes, Paul and Virginia. - -Lord and Lady Rohallion seemed to forget that the time was coming -rapidly when Quentin would cease to be a boy, and Flora a girl. Had -they thought of this, much misery might have been spared to all; but -though many around them saw their progress, and marvelled where it -would all end, the worthy old couple saw nothing to alter in the -matter. - -Two years more gave a manliness to the beauty, form, and character of -Quentin Kennedy, while Flora, even when on the verge of womanhood, -never lost the sweet and childlike sensibility of expression, which -was the chief characteristic of her fair and delicate face. - -In all this pleasant intercourse they had never known the true -character, or the actual depth of their attachment for each other, -until one day when Quentin was verging on eighteen. - -They had been wandering in the leafy summer woods, far beyond the -Girvan, which was in full flood, as rain had been falling heavily for -some days previous. Fed by a thousand runnels from the Carrick -hills, there was a _spate_ (_Scottice_, torrent) in the stream, and -at a part of it, about a mile distant from the castle of Rohallion, -they heard old Jack Andrews tolling the dinner-bell, an ancient -copper utensil which hung on the north gavel of the keep, where, in -the days of old, it had frequently been rung for a less peaceful -purpose than to announce that the soup was ready, or the sirloin done -to a turn. - -To make the circuit necessary to cross by the rustic bridge at the -Kelpie's-pool (where, as all in Carrick know, a belated wayfarer was -drowned by the river fiend) would have kept them too late, so Quentin -took Flora in his arms to bear her through the stream, at a ford -which was well known to him, and when the water was about four feet -in depth. - -"Dear Quentin, you will never be able to carry me," said Flora, -laughing heartily at the arrangement; "I am sure that I am much too -heavy." - -"Not for me, Flora--come, let us try." - -"Should you fall?" - -"Well, Flora?" - -"You will be swept away and drowned." - -"I care not if you are safe," said he, gallantly; and, like a brave -lad, he felt what he said. - -"But I would be drowned too, you rash boy," said she, with a charming -smile. - -"Then a ballad would be made about us, like so many lovers we have -heard of and read about. Perhaps the Kelpie would be blamed for the -whole catastrophe," replied Quentin, laughing, as lie clasped her -tightly in his arms. He was confident and bold, and the kind of -training he underwent at the hands of our military friend, Mr. John -Girvan, the gamekeeper, and others, made him hardy and strong beyond -his years, yet he felt his fair Flora a heavier weight than he had -quite reckoned on. - -His high spirit gave him strength, however, and bearing her high upon -his breast and shoulder, with her skirts gathered tightly round her, -he boldly entered the rushing stream. - -Then for the first time, when he felt her soft warm arm and delicate -hand clasping his neck, half fearfully and half caressingly; when her -cheek was close to his; when her breath mingled with his own, and her -thick dark hair swept over his face, a strange and joyous thrill ran -through him--a new and giddy emotion took possession of his heart. - -Mysterious longings, aspirations, and hopes glowed within him, and in -mid-stream, even when the foaming water swept past with stones and -clay, and roots of aged trees, Quentin did what he had never done -before, he pressed his lips--and his soul seemed on them--again and -again to those of Flora Warrender, and he murmured he knew not what -in her ear, and she did not repel him. - -Her excitement, perhaps, was too great; but we suspect that she was -partly frightened and partly pleased. He landed her safely on the -opposite bank, and again the castle-bell was heard waking the echoes -of the woods. - -The Girvan was passed now, and to speak metaphorically, that classic -stream, the Rubicon, too! - -They had divined the great secret of their hearts, and, hand in hand, -in happy but thoughtful silence--Quentin, however, seeming the most -abashed--they returned to Rohallion, both powerfully agitated by the -new and sudden turn their affection seemed to have taken. - -When their eyes met, their pulses quickened, and their colour came -and went. - -From that hour a change came over them; they were more reserved, less -frank, apparently, and, outwardly, less joyous. In the presence of -Flora, Quentin grew timid, and he became more earnestly, but quietly, -assiduous to her than before. - -Each, in absence, thought more of the other's image or idea; and each -weighed the words, and treasured the stolen smiles and tender tones -of the other. - -_They were lovers now!_ - -It was the voice of nature that spoke in their hearts. Flora had -long loved her young companion without exactly knowing it. The -episode of the river had brought the passion to a culminating point, -and the veil was raised now. She saw his position and her own; and, -while experiencing all a young girl's pride and rapture in the -assurance that she has a lover, a strange sense of trouble came with -her new emotion of joy. - -As for Quentin, he slept but little that night; yet it was not his -wetting in the river that kept him awake. He felt himself a new -being--he trod on air! He rehearsed to himself again and again the -adventure of the flooded stream, and went to sleep at last, with the -memory of Flora's kisses on his lips, and murmuring the conviction -which brought such delight to his young heart-- - -"She loves me! Dear, dear Flora loves me!" - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -A LAST KISS. - - "Yes; open your heart! be glad, - Glad as the linnet on the tree: - Laugh, laugh away--and merrily - Drive away every dream that's sad. - Who sadness takes for joy is mad-- - And mournful thought - Will come unsought." - - -After the climax recorded in our last chapter, events succeeded each -other with great rapidity at the castle of Rohallion. - -At that period of our story, Flora Warrender had attained her full -stature--the middle height. In form, she was round, firm, and well -developed--plump, to speak plainly--yet she was both symmetrical and -graceful. Her eyes, we have said, were a kind of violet grey, clear, -dark and exquisitely soft. Long lashes, and the remarkable form of -her white lids, doubtless gave them this expression. Her forehead -was low and broad, rather than high; her smile won all, and there was -a charming air of delicacy and refinement in her manner, over all her -person, and in all she said or did. The form of her hand and foot -alone sufficed to indicate her station, family and nurture. - -"There is a mysterious character, heightened, indeed, by fancy and -passion, but not without foundation in reality and observation, which -lovers have ever imputed to the object of their affections," says -Charles Lamb; and viewed through this most favourable medium, to the -mind of Quentin Kennedy, young and ardent as he was, Flora Warrender, -in all the bloom of her beauty and girlhood, seemed indeed something -"exceeding nature." - -Thus it was with a heart filled with painful anticipations of coming -trouble, that he heard Lord Rohallion, one morning at breakfast, when -Jack Andrews emptied the contents of the letter-bag before him, -exclaim,-- - -"A letter from Cosmo! It is for you, Winny--the careless young dog, -he has not written here for six months--not even to thank me for -paying that precious gambling debt of his, lost among those popinjays -of the 10th Hussars. Then there was that devilish scrape with the -French dancer, whom he took down to Brighton with Uxbridge's son, -Paget of the 7th, and that set----" - -"Hush--remember Flora!" whispered Lady Rohallion. - -"And the duel, too," persisted the old lord; "pah! in my time we -didn't fight about such trumpery ware as French dancers. But what -says Cosmo?" - -"He comes home by the next mail," replied Lady Rohallion, a bright -and motherly smile spreading like sunshine over her face; "how I -shall rejoice to see him--the dear boy!" - -"A _dear_ boy, indeed!" said his lordship; "his Guards' life has cost -me ten thousand guineas, if it has cost me a sixpence, Winny." - -"Cosmo is coming," said Lady Rohallion, pointedly; "do you hear, -Flora?" - -"Yes, madam," replied Flora, colouring, and casting a furtive glance -at Quentin, who appeared to be solely occupied with his coffee and -kippered salmon. - -"Cosmo writes that he has succeeded, by a death-vacancy, to the -majority of his battalion of the Guards, which, of course, gives him -the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the army." - -"As captain he has enjoyed that for some years." - -"He has therefore applied for the command of a line regiment." - -"That will be simple enough, as so many second battalions are being -raised just now for this projected expedition to Spain." - -"The Duke of York has promised that his wish shall be gratified, and -he has obtained a few months' leave, to come down here and see us--to -have, as he says, a shot at the birds and a day's fly-fishing with -John Girvan, in the Doon, before he returns to active service." - -"And we shall see him, then----" - -"In three days--three days at furthest, Flora," she added, with a -glance at Miss Warrender. - -"Bravo! you shall see something like a soldier, Flora, when Cosmo -returns--something like what I was, about the time of Saratoga; eh, -Jack Andrews?" - -"Yes, my lord," responded Andrews, "coming to attention," as well as -a man might with a hissing tea-urn in his hand. - -"Send up the housekeeper, Andrews," said Lady Rohallion, "we must -have the Master's rooms put in order, and also one for his valet; for -I suppose he comes here with him." - -"If so fine a knight of the shoulder-knot can tolerate Rohallion," -said his lordship, laughing. - -"Come with me, Flora; I know, child, how glad you will be to assist -me," added Lady Winifred taking Miss Warrender's hand, and leading -her away, while Quentin, whose heart beat painfully, appeared to be -busy with a newspaper. It detailed how forty thousand Frenchmen were -being foiled before Zaragoza's walls of mud, yet it seemed all a maze -to poor Quentin, and he saw not how Flora's rich colour deepened as -she withdrew. - -The Master was coming to Rohallion! - -Quentin remembered that gentleman's cold and haughty manner, and the -half-concealed dislike which he ever manifested towards himself. He -remembered what Flora had more than once told him two years ago of -Lady Rohallion's intentions or hopes regarding her, and his heart -grew sick with apprehension of a rival so formidable. He thought -perhaps Cosmo might have formed an attachment elsewhere; but that -would not prevent him from making love to Flora, were it only to kill -time; and in her lover's eyes, she seemed so beautiful, that the -Master would certainly find it impossible to oppose the desire of his -mother; and Quentin dreaded her yielding; to the united influence of -the family, and the advantages a suitor of such rank, experience and -position could offer. - -He saw it all, and considered Flora lost to him! - -Pride made him silent on the subject, and Flora, who with female -acuteness divined what was passing in his mind, deemed it unnecessary -or unwise to speak of it. She pitied Quentin, for she soon perceived -how pale and miserable he looked; while he misconstrued her reserve -and became fretful, even petulant with her. - -As if to add to his trouble, with that obtuseness of intellect (shall -we call it petty malice?) peculiar to their order, some of those same -persons, who long ago were wont to annoy Flora and make Quentin -blush, by jestingly calling them "man and wife," now taunted him with -his too probable loss on the arrival of the Master, a boy's love -being almost deemed, beyond any other, a legitimate subject for -banter. - -These stinging remarks made Quentin's heart swell with pride and -jealousy, doubt and alarm, for now he heard the matter referred to -daily in the course of conversation. - -"So, my dear lady," he heard the parish minister say, when paying his -periodical visit, "local rumour says that the Master is coming home -to obtain a final answer from a certain young lady, before rejoining -the army." - -Lady Rohallion merely bowed and smiled, as much as to say that local -rumour was right. - -"They have an old man's blessing," he added blandly, as he departed -on his barrel-bellied Galloway cob, and thought of an augmented -stipend in futurity. - -"The Master's coming home to enter for the heiress, and have a shy at -the grouse and ptarmigan," the gamekeeper said, while cleaning the -arms in the gunroom. - -"He'll walk the course--won't he, Mr. Quentin?" added the groom, -while preparing the stables for more horses. - -"To carry the fortress, and leave you to march off with the honours -of war," said the quartermaster at one time. - -"A braw day will it be for Rohallion!" remarked the dominie at -another. "There shall be dancing and feasting, scattering of nuts as -we find in Pliny, with shooting of cannon, and shouts of _Io Hymen -Hymenæe_!" - -"My puir Quentin," said Elsie Irvine, while, pondering on such -rumours, he wandered moodily enough "by the sad sea wave," "so you're -gaun to lose your wee wifie at last?" - -Thus every one seemed to discuss the affair openly and laughingly, -and their remarks and mock condolences, were as so many pins, -needles, daggers, what you will, in the poor lad's heart, so that his -doubts and fears became a veritable torture. - -So great was the bustle of preparation in the castle, that the -evening of the third day--the day so dreaded by Quentin--drew nigh -without him obtaining a suitable opportunity of conversing with -Flora; for so much did Lady Rohallion occupy that young lady's time, -that he scarcely met her, save at meals, or in the presence of -others. But on this evening he suddenly saw her walking before him -in the avenue, and hastening forward, he joined her in silence. - -Flora seemed weary, but rosy and smiling. Quentin was nervously -excited, but pale and unhappy in expression. Neither spoke, as they -walked slowly forward, and he did not take her hand, nor did she take -his arm, according to their usual custom, and the omission stung -Quentin most. Frankness seemed at an end between them, as if three -days had changed alike their nature and the relation that existed -between them. - -Flora looked very beautiful and piquante in her gipsy hat wreathed -with roses, with her hair dark and wavy floating over her shoulders, -while a blush mantled from time to time in her soft cheek, and her -dark liquid eyes stole furtive glances from under their long lashes -at her young lover, fond glances of pity mingled with coquetry, but -all unseen by him, for Quentin's gaze was fixed on vacancy. - -At length they reached the lower end of the avenue near the Lollard's -Linn, where there still stands a sombre thicket of very ancient thorn -trees, that were coeval, perhaps, with the first tower of Rohallion. - -According to local tradition, this place was haunted by a -spectre-hound, which no one could attempt to face or trace with -safety, even if they had the courage to attempt it. Its form, that -of a great, lean, lanky staghound, black as jet, was usually visible -on clear nights, gazing wistfully at the moon; and in storms of wind -and rain, its melancholy baying would be heard to mingle with the -blast that swept through the ancient sycamores. It molested none; -but if assailed, it became terrible, swelling up to nearly double its -usual size, with back and tail erect like those of a pole-cat, its -jaws red as blood, and its eyes shooting fire. - -Those who saw the dog-fiend in this state became idiots, and sickened -or died soon after. Tradition went farther, and asserted that the -spectre-hound was nothing else than the spirit of Lady Jean of -Rohallion (whose grim portrait by Vandyke, with a hawk on her wrist -and a gold cross at her girdle, hung in the ancient hall), a -high-flying cavalier dame, by whose order, after the battle of -Kilsythe, several fugitive Covenanters had been shot down in cold -blood, and buried in that thicket, where her unquiet soul was -condemned to guard their remains in this canine form until the day of -doom. - -At all events, the old thorn trees where the spectre was wont to -appear, looked particularly gloomy on this evening, and as the lovers -passed near it, Flora drew closer to Quentin, and then she perceived -that his eyes were full of tears. - -"Quentin--Quentin dear!" she exclaimed in a tone of earnest question -and expostulation. It was the first time, almost, that she had -addressed him since Cosmo's letter came, and now her voice thrilled -through him. He threw his left arm round her, and clasping her right -hand within his own, pressed it to his heart, which beat -tumultuously, and while the long avenue seemed whirling round them, -he said,-- - -"So Lady Rohallion has made up her mind that--that--you shall marry -the Master, Flora?" - -"So it is the fear of this that distresses you?" - -Pride sealed Quentin's lips. - -"My poor Quentin," resumed Flora, looking tenderly and innocently -into his eyes, "you love me very much, don't you?" - -"Love you--love you, Flora!" he stammered. - -"Yes." - -"I love you better than my life!" he exclaimed passionately. - -"Well," said she, with a beautiful smile and a gaiety of manner that -he did not quite relish; "I will never marry any man but he whom I -choose myself--certainly not he who is chosen by others." - -"Darling Flora!" - -"There--there--_stop_--and perhaps, Quentin, I mayn't marry _you_. -'Tis said people change when they grow older, and we are very young, -you know; but Quentin, dear, I love you very, very much, be assured -of that." - -Her head dropped on his shoulder, and he kissed her passionately--the -LAST time he was ever to do so in the old avenue of Rohallion. - -At that moment the clatter of hoofs was heard, and ere they could -part or regain their composure, two horsemen, one in advance of the -other, both riding fast, with brown leather saddle bags and long -holsters--the first in a fashionable riding-coat with a cape, the -latter in livery, and both in top-boots and spotless white breeches, -passed up the avenue at a hand-gallop. - -Both had seen our lovers near the thorn thicket, and the first -horseman, whom Quentin's heart rightly foreboded to be the dreaded -Master of Rohallion, turned in his saddle, and said something to his -groom, indicating the pair with his whip. They both looked back and -laughed immoderately, as they dashed through the ivy-clad arch of the -haunted gate. - -Separating in haste and confusion, Quentin and Flora hurried away to -calm their excitement and seek the drawing-room. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -COSMO THE MASTER. - - "Why make I friendships with the great, - When I no favour seek? - Or follow girls seven hours in eight-- - I need but once a week? - Luxurious lobster night's farewell, - For sober studious days! - And Burlington's delicious meal, - For salads, tarts, and peas."--POPE. - - -The first rider was indeed the Master of Rohallion, who had arrived -with a punctuality that was more military than personal, as the -Honourable Cosmo Crawford was somewhat erratic, and, as the Guards -Club said significantly, "nocturnal," in his habits; and here it may -be well to inform the English reader, that his haughty title of -MASTER he obtained in right of his father being a Scottish baron, the -custom being older than the reign of James IV. - -In ancient times, the heirs apparent of Scottish nobles were not -discriminated according to their father's rank by the titles of -marquis, viscount, earl, or lord, but were simply styled as the -Masters of Marischal, Glencairn, Glammis, Lindesay, Rohallion, and so -forth, a custom existing in Scotland to the present day, in most -houses, under ducal rank. - -Cosmo Crawford was tall and strongly built, but handsome and -graceful, with a cold and stately manner, that sometimes degenerated -into banter, but seldom perfect suavity, and he had a somewhat cruel -and sinister grey eye. The pupils of the latter feature had a -peculiarity worth noticing. They possessed the power of shrinking -and dilating like those of a cat. His hair was curly and worn in the -Prince Regent's profusion, but without powder, that being already -considered almost Gothic, or decidedly behind the age, the curls on -one side being so arranged as to conceal a very palpable sword-cut. -Like that of his valet, to whom he flung his riding-whip, hat, and -coat, his garments were all of the latest Bond Street cut, and he -lounged towards the yellow-damask drawing-room as coolly and -leisurely as if he had only left it two hours instead of two years -ago, according but a cold stare to the warm smile and respectful -salute of poor old Jack Andrews, who, throwing open the door, -announced, - -"The Master, my Lord!" - -"Welcome home, boy--God bless you!" shouted the hearty old lord, -springing towards him; but Lady Rohallion anticipated him, and -received Cosmo in her arms first. - -"Dear mother, glad to see you," said he, kissing her forehead; -"father, how well, how jolly and hale you look!" - -"Hale," repeated the white-haired peer; "don't like to be called -hale, it smacks, Cosmo, of breaking up; looking well, only for one's -years, and so forth." - -"And my Lady Rohallion," said Cosmo, kissing his mother's hand, "what -shall I say of you? - - "'With curious arts dim charms revive, - And triumph in the bloom of fifty-five.'" - - -"Arts, you rogue," said his father; "it's no art, but the pure breeze -from our Carrick hills and from the Firth of Clyde, with perhaps -earlier hours at night and in the morning than you keep in London." - -"Well, I am sorry my compliments displease you both," said he, -laughing; "I am unfortunate, but pray be merciful; I have bade adieu -to the Guards, to London, and all its glories to rusticate among you -for a time. So, so, here comes Miss Warrender of Ardgour, I presume, -and Quentin Kennedy; I saw you both in the avenue, I think," added -Cosmo, the pupils of his pale eyes shrinking as he concentrated his -gaze and knit his dark brows, which nearly ipet in one, over a -straight and handsome nose. "Flora, you are charming! May I----" - -The kiss he bluntly gave her seemed to burn a hole in Quentin's -heart, for it may readily be supposed that he saluted the lovely -young girl with much more _empressement_ than he did the worthy lady -his mother. Flora blushed scarlet, and glanced at Quentin -imploringly, as much as to say, "don't be angry, dearest--you see -that I cannot help this;" but he felt only rage to see the little -cherry-lip, which his own had so lately touched in tremulous love and -reverence, roughly and eagerly saluted by this _brusque_ and _blasé_ -guardsman. Rapid though Flora's glance was, the latter detected it. - -"And this is Quentin?" said he, surveying him through his eyeglass, -with a deepening knit in his dark brows, and a smile on his haughty -lips; "what a great hulking fellow he has become! Begad, he is tall -enough for a rear-rank grenadier; and why is he not set to do -something, instead of idling about here, and no doubt playing the -devil with the preserves?" - -There was some sense in the question, but coming from such a quarter, -and the tone in which, it was spoken, cut Quentin to the quick. - -"He is barely done with his studies," urged Lord Rohallion, coming to -his favourite's rescue. - -"Before I was his age, I had mounted my first guard at St. James's -Palace." - -"And I mine on the banks of the Weser," said his father. - -Quentin looked steadily at the cold, keen face of the Master, who was -not yet six-and-thirty--but his Guards' life made him look much -older; thus, to a lad of Quentin's years, those of the Master seemed -quite patriarchal; a time came, however, when he thought otherwise, -and removed the patriarchal period of life a few years further off. - -"Well, Cosmo, talking of age," said Lord Rohallion, slapping his tall -son on the back, "to be lieutenant-colonel of a line regiment at -six-and-thirty, with the Cross of the Bath, for doubtless you will -get it----" - -"Of course, father, of course--one thing follows the other--well?" - -"Is being decidedly lucky," said Lady Winifred, closing his -lordship's sentence, and glancing at Flora, to see what she thought -of it. - -"With the prospect of a long war before him, too." - -"Yes, father, and I hope that the luck in store will belie the -prophecy of my old foster-mother, Elsie Irvine, at the Coves, who -used to allege, that when I _first_ left your room, mother, a puling -and new-born brat, I was carried _down_ a stair instead of up, a -certain token that I should never rise in the world. I have often -made the Prince Regent, Paget, and other fellows laugh at that story; -yet I have always had a fair run of success in everything I -undertake." - -"Which should make you in future avoid all affairs at Chalk Farm, and -so forth; you have had three men out there in three years, Cosmo." - -"And winged them all. My dear lord, don't talk. Some small sword -affairs of yours, when Leicester fields was the fashionable place, -are still remembered in London." - -"Yes--I ran two friends of Mr. Wilkes fairly through the body there -one morning, for permitting themselves to indulge in national -reflections, and would do so again if the same cause were given me: -but, zounds! what else could we do in those days of the 'North -Briton?' By-the-bye, is this new movement about the stuff called gas -spreading in London?" - -"Yes; I wish you had been there on the 28th of January, 1807, and -seen Pall-Mall actually lighted with it--by a man named Winsor, the -Cockney call him a mad man for thinking of such a scheme!" - -"Did you pass through Edinburgh?" - -"I was obliged to do so, my lord, unfortunately." - -"Did you make any stay there?" - -"Stay! I should think not--only long enough to dine with some jolly -fellows of the Cinque Ports Dragoons, at the new barrack, built some -fifteen years ago at Piershill--" - -"Once Colonel Piers' place--Piers, of the old Scotch 17th--Aberdour's -Light Dragoons." - -"Exactly, and then to get a relay of post-horses at Ramsay's stables. -But as for staying in Edinburgh, egad! it would be intolerable to me, -with its would-be dandies and its freckled women, whose faces have -that sweet expression imparted by the soothing influences of -Presbyterianism and the east wind; and then its one street, or only -half a street to promenade in, who the devil would stay there that -could stay out of it? Why, not even the rhyming ganger who hailed it -as 'Edina, Scotia's darling seat.'" - -As his son concluded with a loud laugh, Lord Rohallion shook his -powdered head, for he could not endorse this unpatriotic depreciation -of the Scottish metropolis, and poor Lady Winifred sighed as she -glanced at a black silhouette by Miers, presented to her by the bard -of Coila, with a copy of his verses in her honour; and then -remembering the fancied glories of the Old Assembly Close, as she and -her friend, Lady Eglinton, had seen them in their girlhood, she said: - -"In my time, Cosmo, Edinburgh was wont to be gay enough." - -"A sad gaiety. Thank God, mother, the Guards can never be quartered -in so dull a provincial town." - -"Its dulness is the effect of the Union, which removed court, -council, parliament, revenue, and everything," said Lord Rohallion. - -"I thought most people had ceased to consider that a grievance," said -his son, laughing again; "but I think that if Edinburgh has been dull -since 1707, it must have been truly diabolical before it." - -"Cosmo," said his mother, reproachfully, "I know not what some of -your ancestors who fought at Flodden and Pinkey would have thought of -you." - -"The more fools they to fight at such places." - -"Not so," said the old lord rising, with some asperity in his tone; -"God rest all who ever fought or died for Scotland and her kings; and -I must tell you, Cosmo, that you will never be the better or the -truer Briton for being a bad or false Scotsman!" - -The Master gave another of his sinister laughs; and, finding that the -conversation had suddenly taken an uncomfortable turn, his father -said with a smile-- - -"I was about to express a hope, Cosmo, that with the rank of -lieutenant-colonel, you mean to settle at last, and become quiet." - -"What, my lord--have I been drawing too heavily upon you and old John -Girvan of late?" - -"I mean, that pranks which passed well enough in a subaltern, won't -do in one who looks to the command of a regiment." - -"Pelting the rabble with rotten eggs at Epsom, and so forth, you -mean? No; in my days a sub, after pulling off half the knockers in -Piccadilly, breaking all the oil lamps in Pall Mall, getting up a cry -of fire in the Hay market, and bringing out the engines to pump on -the rascally mob; having, at least, one set-to with the rough and -muscular democrats of the watch, would finish off by a champagne -supper somewhere, and thus bring to a close a reputable London day, -which, in our corps, usually begins after evening parade. Ah, my -lord, you slow fellows of the King's Own Borderers knew nothing of -such pranks, with your long pigtails, your funny regimentals, and -Kevenhüller hats." - -"The reason, perhaps, we cocked those same hats so bravely on many a -field," retorted his father. "In my days the army was the school of -good-breeding, sir--but here's Jack Andrews announcing tea and -devilled grouse in the inner drawing-room." - -"Cosmo, give your arm to Flora, if Quentin can spare her," said Lady -Rohallion, smiling. "They are great friends and companions." - -"Oh--ah--indeed," said the Master, sarcastically, as he gave Flora -Warrender his arm. "I think I saw them exchanging strong marks of -their mutual goodwill as I rode up the avenue." - -Quentin grew scarlet, and Flora painfully pale at this remark, which -stung her deeply, and roused her indignation. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -AN ABRUPT PROPOSAL. - - "Wherefore dwell so sad and lonely, - By the desolate sea-shore; - With the melancholy surges - Beating at your cottage door? - You shall dwell beside the castle, - Shadowed by our ancient trees! - And your life shall pass on gently, - Cared for and in rest and ease." - - -For two days after his arrival the Master strove to engross as much -of Flora's time as she would yield, or as he could spare from the -study of his betting-book, the pages of the "Sporting Magazine," -playing billiards right hand against the left, quizzing the dominie, -who paid him a ceremonious visit, and in relating to the -quartermaster certain military "crammers" about the alterations and -improvements in the service since his time, some of which were -astounding enough to make the old fellow's pigtail stand on end, with -wonder and dismay, lest the said service was going to the deuce, or -further. - -Quentin he seldom favoured with more notice than a cool and insolent -survey through his eyeglass. - -There were times when the Honourable Cosmo was moody, ennuyéed, and -irritable, and none knew why or wherefore; but he had frequent -recourse to Mr. Spillsby, the butler, for brandy and rare dry old -sherry; and he smoked a great many cigars, which were a source of -marvel to all who saw them, tobacco, in that form, being almost -unknown in England, till the close of the Peninsular War. - -It was not ambition, or a desire to see active service that made the -haughty and somewhat _blasé_ Master propose to leave the household -troops and begin the sliding scale from the Guards to the line; nor -was it any desire to settle in life that made him enter at once and -so readily into his mother's old and favourite scheme of a marriage -between him and their ward, the heiress of Ardgour. - -While he could not be insensible to the fresh budding beauty of Flora -Warrender, the conviction that he had impaired his finances, -anticipated his heritage, and had calculated to a nicety the value of -all the oak, pine, and larch woods upon the estate--that each and all -were numbered and known to certain hook-nosed, long-bearded, and -dirty children of Judah in London--all, even to the venerable lines -of sycamores in the long avenue, the pride of his father's -heart--trees that for centuries had cast their shadows on his -ancestors in youth, in prime, and age. While this conviction, we -say, filled him with as much shame, sorrow, and repentance as he -could feel, with it came the knowledge that Flora's fortune, which -had accumulated during her minority, and, indeed, ever since her -father's fall in Egypt, would afford him a most seasonable escape -from shipwreck on several rocks which he saw ahead. - -"Hah!" said Cosmo, as he tossed away the end of his cigar, "some one -says truly--don't know who the devil he is--that if we could look -into each other's breasts, there would be no such thing as envy in -the world. Egad! I'll enter for the country heiress." - -He roused himself and resolved to make the effort, all the more -willingly, that to a half, or wholly _blasé_ guardsman like himself, -long used to the glittering banquets, the late orgies, and startling -scenes of Carlton House and the Pavilion at Brighton, the bloom, -beauty, and country freshness of Flora Warrender, were indeed -charming. - -Flora, instinctively, and in a feminine spirit of pride and -opposition to Lady Rohallion's plots and plans, kept somewhat -studiously out of the Master's way--a somewhat difficult task, even -in a mansion so spacious and rambling as the old castle; but on the -evening of the second day after his arrival, from the stone -balustraded terrace of the antique Scoto-French garden where he was -smoking, Cosmo saw her light muslin dress fluttering among the narrow -green alleys of the old and carefully clipped yew labyrinth, and then -he hastened to join her, to the infinite mortification and chagrin of -Quentin Kennedy, who had not seen her for the entire day; and who, -just as he was approaching the garden, found himself anticipated, so -he at once retired, leaving the field in possession of the enemy. - -An older or more experienced lover would have joined them, and thus, -perhaps, might have marred the plans of the Master, who, to do -justice to his coolness and courage, lost no time in opening the -trenches. - -Midsummer was past now; the foliage of the tall sycamores, of the -oakwood shaw, and other copses of Rohallion, though leafy and green, -were crisped and dry; in the haughs or low-lying meadows, the mower -had already relinquished his scythe; the green corn rigs were -yellowing on the upland slopes "that beaked foment the sun;" next -month they would be golden, brown and ready for the sickle; on bush -and spray the blackbird sang cheerily, and the plover's note came -shrilly out of the green and waving fern. - -The sun was setting, and the screech of the white owl would ere long -be heard, as he blinked and looked forth for the moon from the ivied -windows of Kilhenzie. The white smokes of the hamlet on the shore of -the little bay, passing up among the trees, curled into the clear air -and melted over the ocean. The flowers that whilome had endured the -scorch of the noonday sun, were drooping now, as if pining for the -coming dew; and the stately peacocks sat listlessly, with their broad -tails, argus-eyed, upon the balustrades of the garden terrace. - -Inspired by the beauty of the evening, lulled by the summer hum of -insect life among the flowers, and all unaware that her lover, with -his gun on his shoulder and wrath in his young heart, was plunging -pitilessly through some one's corn, Flora was musing or dreaming, as -only a young girl dreams or muses, on what fate had in store for her -now, with this new inmate of her present home. Mr. Walter Scott's -new poem "Marmion" had fallen from her hand, which was ungloved, and -so, pure in whiteness and delicacy, was half hidden among her dark -and wavy hair, as she reclined with her elbow upon the arm of a -moss-grown seat, which yet bears the date, 1590, with the Rohallion -arms and coronet, upon a hanging shield. The fingers of her left -hand were playing unconsciously with the strings of her gipsy hat, -which lay upon the gravel at her feet; and as the Master approached -her, the young lady seemed the perfection of bloom and beauty, as she -sat enshrined in the glory of the sunset that streamed along the -alley of the labyrinth. - -His costume was very accurate, for the gentleman and the tradesman -did not then, as now, dress exactly alike, and wear exactly the same -stuffs; and certainly Cosmo was looking his best, as he seated -himself by her side and very deliberately took possession of her left -hand, saying in a voice which he meant to be, and which had often -enough proved elsewhere to be, very seductive.-- - -"I fear, my dear Miss Warrender, that this gloomy old barrack is not -a place for you to vegetate in." - -"How so, sir?" she asked, while regarding him with a quiet smile. - -"It too evidently influences your naturally joyous temperament; and -pardon me, you look _triste_." - -"Oh, no--your mother is quite one to me, and I love Rohallion very -much." - -"Then as for Ardgour, I think it gloomier still." - -"Some parts of Ardgour--the vaults, I believe--are said to be coeval -with the Bruce's castle of Turnberry; at least so the dominie told -me. Mamma so loved it; and for her sake, I love it too." - -"Very proper, and very pretty; but the world of fashion--a brilliant -world, of which you know nothing--should be your sphere, my dear Miss -Warrender. London, Brighton, the Prince's balls at Carlton House, -the parks, the theatre, the opera! You must come forth from your -shell, my dear Flora, like--like--like (he thought of Venus rising -from the sea, but the simile was not apt)--for you know it is absurd, -positively absurd, that you should be buried alive in this horrid -old-fashioned Scotch place, among rocks and rooks, ivy and ghost -stories. Egad! were the house mine, I'd blow it up, and build one -more suitable to the present time and its requirements." - -"What! would you really uproot this fine old place of so many -historic memories?" - -"To the last stone! What the devil--pardon me--do old memories -matter now, my dear girl? _En avant!_ we should look forward--never -back." - -"I am sorry that your sentiments are so prosaic," said Flora, coldly. - -"I trust that my mother has not filled your dear little head with her -usual nonsense about Scotch patriotism, the defunct Pretender, the -unlucky Union, and so forth--eh? I always said that the verses -addressed to her by her rhyming friend Burns, the democratic gauger, -turned her head; and this new man, Scott, with his Marmions and -Minstrels, bids fair to make the disease chronic. You have no idea, -Miss Warrender, how we laugh at all such stuff in London. Patriotism -indeed! It doesn't pay, so Scotchmen don't adopt it, and they are -wise. All patriotism _not_ English is purely provincialism, and any -man holding other opinions in Parliament would be as much out of -place as a crusader or a cavalier. But to return to what I was -saying. I should like to show you the great world that lies beyond -the Craigs of Kyle and the rocky hills of Carrick--to take you back -again to London." - -"London is to me full of sad memories." - -"Sad--the deuce--how?" - -"For there my dear mother died," said Flora, lowering her voice and -withdrawing her hand, while her eyes and her heart filled with -emotion. - -After a pause: - -"I love you, dear Flora," said Cosmo, again taking possession of her -hand, and placing his lips close to her shrinking ear. "Our marriage -is the dearest wish of my mother's heart, as it was of yours--and, -may I add, that it is the dearest hope of mine?" - -This was coming to the point with a vengeance! - -Instead of being mightily flattered or overcome, as he not -unnaturally expected, Flora, without withdrawing her hand, as if its -retention mattered little, turned half round, and said, with a quiet, -cairn smile: - -"Remember how little I have known you, sir, save through your -parents, my guardians." - -"True; the duties of honour at Court, and--ah, ah!--my profession, -Flora, called me elsewhere; but you don't refuse me, eh? My dear -girl--the deuce!--you surely can't mean that?" - -Flora grew pale and hesitated, for with all her love for Lady -Rohallion, she had a kind of awe of her, and Cosmo was eyeing her -coldly and steadily through his glass. - -"Nay, speak, Flora," said he, with, perhaps, more irritation than -tenderness in his tone. "I have, perhaps, not much personally to -recommend me to a young girl's eye, and this wound, which I got at -the Helder, when assisting to compel those Dutch devils to hoist the -colours of the Prince of Orange--a sabre-cut across the face--has not -improved me; but speak out, Flora Warrender; notwithstanding the ties -between us, you refuse me?" - -"This proposal possesses all the abruptness of a scene in a drama." - -"Well, what is life but an absurd drama? 'All the world's a stage, -and the men and women merely players.'" - -"Well, I am not inclined to play the part you wish." - -"You refuse me?" he reiterated, his eyes the while assuming their -wicked and louring expression. - -"I do, Cosmo Crawford," she replied, trembling very much, but -speaking, nevertheless, firmly; "I do once and for ever refuse you." - -Young and inexperienced though the girl was, the abrupt and -systematic proposal of the Master rather insulted than flattered her. - -"No _tie_," she added, "save a fancied one made by Lady Rohallion, -ever bound us; so there are no pledges to return, no bonds, nor--I -can't help laughing--hearts to break." - -"And this desire to--to--" he stammered. - -"It was your mother's idea alone." - -"Say not so, Miss Warrender, it is mine also. Though I know that my -good mother, because she jilted some fellow in her youth--my father's -younger brother, I believe--thinks she makes atonement to the gods, -or whoever rule these little matters of love and marriage, by making -as many miserable matches, and marrying right off as many persons as -she can." - -"Miserable matches! So she conceived one for us. You are very -encouraging and complimentary to say so just after your offer to me." - -"Pardon me; but consider, my dear Flora," he resumed, while rallying -a little, though sorely provoked to find himself confused and baffled -by a country girl, of whose rejection he felt actually ashamed to -tell his own mother, "are you not labouring under some deuced -misconception in giving this very decided, and, I must say, very -extraordinary refusal?" - -"How?" - -"Is it not, that to the affection and rank I proffer, you prefer the -absurd love of a silly upstart, who shall go hence as he came hither, -no one knows or cares how--a waif cast on the shore like a piece of -dead seaweed, or the drowned renegade his father--a creature whose -past affords no hope of a brilliant future! Speak, girl," he -exclaimed, while almost savagely he grasped her wrist; "is it this -that prevails with you, in opposition to the wishes of your dead -mother and the whole family of Rohallion?" - -"What if it is, sir?" asked Flora, haughtily, for his categorical -manner offended her deeply. - -"What if it is!" he repeated with louring brow. - -"Yes, sir." - -"Then the cool admission ill becomes Flora Warrender of Ardgour, -whose forefathers bear so high a place in the annals of their -country!" - -"Oh, but they were mere provincials, and their bravery or patriotism -are unworthy the regard of such a citizen of the world as the Master -of Rohallion," said Flora. - -He sullenly threw her hand from him; but she did not retire, being -loth that his family, especially the old Lord, whom she dearly loved -and respected, should know of this scene; and loth, too, that it -should end in this unseemly fashion. - -"Cursed be my mother's doting folly!" thought he, while his pale eyes -alternately shrunk and dilated; "so--so, nothing but an heiress will -suit our foundling, our 'Tom Jones,' for a charmer--it's vastly -amusing. Confound it, a little more of this presumption will make me -wring the brat's head off!" - -While his cool insolence piqued Flora, her decided rejection roused -all his wrath and pride; he thought of his pecuniary interest, too, -so both sat silent for a time. - -"Well, begad! this passes my comprehension!" he exclaimed at length, -as he buttoned his accurately fitting straw-coloured kid gloves. - -"To what do you refer, friend Cosmo?" asked Flora, looking at him -almost spitefully. - -"To this whole matter. Do you know, my fair friend, that you are -perhaps the first young lady of your age that, in all my experience, -ever took a fancy to a hobbledehoy lad in preference to a man; so -while you reconsider the offer, you will perhaps permit me?" He -bowed, and conceiving her consent given, proceeded to light a pipe, -by the then very elaborate process of a small flint, steel and -matches in a little silver tinder-box, on the lid of which his coat -of arms was engraved. "And so you studied together, I presume, under -that absurd Dominie Skaill, with the knee-breeches and huge -shoe-buckles (like a heavy father at Old Drury), keen grey eyes, and -Scotch cheekbones one might hang one's hat on, eh?" - -"Yes," replied Flora, tying the ribbons of her gipsy hat under her -dimpled chin with an angry jerk. - -"And you learned Latin, Coptic, and Sanscrit together, I suppose," he -continued in his cool sneering tone; "and to conjugate the verb _to -love_, in all." - -"Exactly so, and in Greek, Chaldaic, and Chinese, and ever so many -more languages, so that we became very perfect in grammar," replied -she, smiling wickedly, while the grim Master's cat-like eyes filled -with a very baleful green light; yet he had not the sense to see that -his operations were conducted on a wrong plan before such a fortress -as the fair lady of Ardgour. - -"Come, Miss Warrender, whatever we do, hang it, don't let us quarrel, -and so make fools of ourselves." - -"I have not the least intention of quarrelling, and trust that you -have none." - -"Then allow me to kiss you once, and we shall become better friends, -I promise you." - -"Kiss _me_!" exclaimed Flora, starting. - -"Yes--why not--what does a little kiss signify?" - -"So little that you shall never have one from me, were it to save -your life," said Flora, with a burst of laughter. - -"Perhaps your fair cheek has become sacred since that beggarly little -rival of mine saluted it? It is a capital joke, is it not?" - -"Perhaps," said Flora, reddening, and rising to withdraw; "and what -then?" - -"If so, I would say you were as great an idiot as my old grandmother -Grizel Kennedy, of Kilhenzie, was." - -"Respectful to her and polite to me! And she----" - -"After Prince Charles Edward kissed her at the Holyrood ball, she -never permitted the lips of mortal man--not even those of my worthy -grandfather Cosmo, Lord Rohallion, K.T., and so forth, to salute her, -lest the charm of the royal kiss should be broken; and their married -life extended over some forty years and more." - -At this apocryphal story, which has been told of more old ladies in -Scotland than Grizel of Rohallion, Flora laughed heartily, as well -she might; and her merriment made the Master excessively provoked. - -"We are, I hope, at least friends?" said he, presenting his hand with -great but grim suavity. - -"Oh yes, Cosmo, the best of friends--do excuse my laughing so; but -nothing more, remember, nothing more," she replied, and withdrawing -her hand, which he attempted to kiss, she darted through the -labyrinth towards the house, leaving "Marmion" forgotten on the -gravel behind her. - -"By Jove! to be baffled, laughed at, and by a chick like this!" -muttered Cosmo with an oath which we care not to record, as he gave -the volume a kick, and strode angrily away, full of bitter and dark -thoughts, and inspired with rage at a rivalry which, in truth, he was -ashamed to acknowledge, even to himself. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE BLOW. - - "Take comfort: he no more shall see my face; - Lysander and myself will fly this place. - Before the time I did Lysander see, - Seemed Athens as a paradise to me: - Oh, then, what graces in my love do dwell, - That he hath turned a heaven unto a hell!" - _Midsummer Night's Dream._ - - -A very dark idea crossed the Master's mind, and then another, darker -still! - -A few guineas judiciously bestowed among the smugglers, who, when the -nights were dark and gusty, frequented the coves near the castle (and -when some person or persons unknown hung a lantern over the rocks to -guide their steerage through a narrow cleft in the Partan Craig), -might for ever rid him of Quentin Kennedy. They could land him on -the sands of Dunkirk or Boulogne, or, or--what? - -Oh, no! he thrust away the next idea as too horrid, though _such_ -things had been done of old in Carrick by the lawless lairds of -Auchindrane, and to denounce them, in one terrible instance, had not -the sea given up its dead? - -He thought of despatching a line to the lieutenant commanding the -pressgang at Ayr, by whose agency poor Quentin might be shipped off -for seven years' sea service in the East or West Indies, but dread of -exposure, and the outcry consequent thereto, made him relinquish such -kidnapping ideas of revenge, though they were practical enough in the -days when George III. was king. - -Revolving these thoughts, with brows knit and his stealthy eyes fixed -on the ground, Cosmo quitted the garden and entered the avenue, where -the evening shadows under the sycamore trees were gloomy and dark; -and there as he strode forward, with a quick and impatient step, he -stumbled roughly against some one, who, like himself, seemed lost in -reverie. - -"Quentin Kennedy!" he exclaimed in a hoarse voice, as this collision -brought all his readily excited fury to the culminating point; -"confound it, fellow, is this you?" - -"I beg pardon, sir--I did not see you--I was lost in thought," -replied Quentin. - -"Lost in thought, were you?" repeated Cosmo, in his most insulting -tone; "you were loitering near the labyrinth in the garden?" he added -with almost fierce suspicion. - -"I was down in the oakwood shaw, two miles off." - -"Hah--indeed! and what have you been doing with that gun?? - -"Sir!" stammered Quentin, his natural indignation rising as he -perceived the other's resolute intention of insulting him. - -"I say, what the deuce have you, or such as you, to do with that gun, -and on these grounds?" - -Quentin drew back, haughtily, in growing anger and surprise, and -fearing that the Master was mad or intoxicated, and that he was about -to make an assault, he very naturally brought the fowling-piece to -the position of charging. - -"What, you scoundrel! would you charge me breast high?" cried the -Master, choking with rage; "would you shoot me as the poacher -Campbell shot Lord Eglinton on his own lands, here in Ayrshire too? -I'll teach you to know your proper place, you scurvy young dog!" - -With these injurious words, and before even Quentin, who was -completely astounded by the wantonness of the whole affair, could be -aware of his purpose, Cosmo rushed upon him, wrenched the gun away, -and clubbing it, dealt the poor lad a terrible blow on the head with -the heavy iron butt, stretching him senseless on the grass. Then -uttering a heavy malediction, the fierce Master, still boiling with -unappeased rage, passed through the ivied-gateway and entered the -mansion. Having the fowling-piece in his hand, force of habit led -him towards the gun-room, where he proceeded to draw the charge, for -it was still loaded, and to leave it for the under-game-keeper to -clean. - -Perceiving that there was blood on the lock and also on his -straw-coloured kid gloves, he carefully wiped the former, and threw -the latter into a stove. Regret he had none for the atrocity just -committed; but he disliked the appearance of blood, it looked ugly, -he thought--dangerous, and deuced ugly. - -"Egad, I hope I haven't killed the young rascal!" he muttered; "how -the deuce am I to explain the affair to the old people?--they will be -certain to blame me." - -Stepping from the gun-room into the library, which adjoined it, he -was suddenly met by Lady Rohallion, who gave him an affectionate -glance, which suddenly turned to one of anxiety, as she surveyed him -by the last light of the sunset, that streamed through a -deeply-embayed window. With an assumed smile and some commonplace -remark, he was about to pass on, shame and mortification compelling -the concealment of what he had done, when she laid her hands on his -arm, and said tenderly, - -"Dearest Cosmo, what has happened--you look extremely pale?" - -"Do I, mother--pale, eh?" - -"Yes, and quite ruffled too," she added. - -"Well, perhaps so--your friend Flora is the cause." - -"Flora Warrender?" - -"Yes." - -"Explain, Cosmo, explain?" she asked with evident uneasiness. - -"I had a long conversation with her in the garden, and it was -decidedly more animated than amatory in the end." - -"You quarrelled?" - -"Not at all--I proposed," he replied, with a strange smile. - -"And were accepted?" - -"The reverse." - -"Rejected--you--_my_ son, rejected?" - -"Finally so--or for the present shall we say?" replied Cosmo, -lighting a pipe by the old and elaborate process, to conceal his -agitation. "A wilful little jade she is as ever I knew. Evidently -has no fancy for me, or for increasing the number of his Majesty's -lieges under canvas, or for seeing the world in a baggage-waggon, as -a lady attached to a regiment of the line." - -The courtly old lady gazed at her son almost mournfully; for this -mocking brusquerie, acquired in the Pavilion of the Prince Regent, -but ill accorded with her old-fashioned ideas of gentle bearing. - -"You have been wrong, Cosmo," said she gravely; "you have been too -hasty--too abrupt." - -"Now, faith, do you think so, really?" - -"It was absurd to propose for any girl, especially a young lady of -family and fortune, after a two days' acquaintance." - -"Egad, my most respected mamma, in London, I've known a score of -women of the first fashion, who would have eloped with me for better -or worse, and taken post horses for Gretna, on a two hours' -acquaintance." - -"Oh, Cosmo!" - -"So I am wrong, you think, my lady mother?" - -"Decidedly; but I trust that time will put all right. I do not -despair." - -"Neither do I, be assured," said he, with one of his strange smiles. - -"The silly girl, of course, felt flattered by your offer?" - -"Not at all--one might think such matters were of daily occurrence -with her." - -"Did she make no consideration of our family and its antiquity?" she -asked, bridling up. - -"My dear mother, it seems to be of very little importance to Flora -Warrender whether the said family flourished at the court of old King -Cole, from whose grave Kyle takes its name, or at that of his Majesty -of the Cannibal Islands; at all events, she won't have me. Confound -it!" he exclaimed, as if talking to himself; "to think that I, almost -the pattern man of the Household Brigade--chosen by many a proud -peeress to squire her through the crush of the opera; by the fighting -men of the corps as their second in every affair of honour; by the -Prince Regent to arrange his déjeuners, afternoon receptions, and -crack suppers; I, the star of Fops' Alley--deemed the best stroke at -billiards in London--the best hand on a tiller at Cowes, or to pull -the bow-oar to Richmond; chosen to ride the most vicious brutes at -Epsom and Melton, and who can hit a guinea at twenty yards with a -saw-handle and a hair-trigger--that I, I say, should be outflanked by -a country booby passes my comprehension, unless, as in old King -James's days, there be witchcraft again in the Bailiwick of Carrick! -To be jockeyed by a country lout and a lass of eighteen--deucedly -disgusting! Thank heaven! this can never be known in town, or how -would the lady-killing Cosmo be roasted! I think I hear Paget of the -Hussars, and the rest of our set laughing over it; and, by Jove, they -would laugh too, until I had one or two of them out at Chalk Farm for -a morning appetiser." - -"How this little rebuff nettles you! Take courage, Cosmo," said his -mother, almost laughing at his angry and odd enumeration of his many -good qualities. - -"Well, I have changed my mind many times; so do women, and so may -Flora. This is a boy's love; she will tire of his idea, and then is -my time to cut in and win in a canter. You, my dear mother, yourself -once loved, before my father proposed----" - -"Stay," said Lady Rohallion, interrupting, with sudden agitation, and -hastening angrily to change the unwelcome topic; "a sudden light -breaks upon me! Cosmo, on the night you arrived, it seemed to me you -spoke very oddly of Flora Warrender and Quentin Kennedy." - -"How--about something in the avenue, was it?" - -"Yes; that you had seen them exchanging marks of their mutual good -will, or words to that effect." - -"Exactly so, my Lady Rohallion," said Cosmo, slowly emitting the -smoke of his pipe. - -"What did you mean, Cosmo?" she demanded, with increasing asperity. - -"Much more than I said, mother." - -"That you saw Quentin kissing Flora?" - -"Or Flora kissing Quentin, my dear lady mother, I don't think it -makes much difference," said he, with an angry laugh, while she -almost trembled with indignation; "but what do you think of your -amiable ward and your protégé--a lively young fellow, isn't he?" - -"I ought to have been prepared for this," said Lady Rohallion; -"indeed, Eleonora Eglinton forewarned me that something of this kind -might happen. A separation by school, college, or something else, -should have been made whenever Flora came here. I must consult -Rohallion, and have such arrangements made for Quentin as shall -prevent his interference with the views we have so long cherished for -our only son. The foolish girl--the presumptuous boy--to be actually -kissing her!" - -"Shameful, isn't it?" said Cosmo, who had been despatched somewhat -precipitately into the Guards for making love to his mother's maids. - -"Such vagaries must be controlled and punished." - -"He should have been gazetted a year ago to a West India Regiment, or -one of the eight Hottentot Battalions at the Cape; they are quite -good enough for such as he; or send him still-hunting with a line -regiment into Ireland, where slugs from behind a hedge may send him -to the devil before his time." - -"Oh fie, Cosmo, you are cruel and unjust;" but she added bitterly as -pride of birth, her only failing or weakness, got the mastery for the -moment; "no unknown waif, no nameless person like this youth Kennedy -shall come between my son, the Master of Rohallion, and our long -cherished purpose--no, assuredly! Andrews," she added, raising her -voice, as the thin, spare military valet passed through the library, -"desire Miss Warrender to speak with me in the yellow drawing-room, -before the bell rings for supper." - -Then leaving her son, Lady Rohallion swept out of the library to have -a solemn interview with her ward. - -The last flush of sunset had died away, and one by one the stars were -shining out. - -The night wore on, and nothing was seen or heard of Quentin. Indeed, -save the Master, as yet no one missed him: but as he did not appear -when the supper-bell clanged in the belfry of the old keep, Cosmo, -with several unpleasant misgivings in his mind, hastened unseen into -the avenue, down the long vista of which the waning moon shed a broad -and pallid flood of radiance, ere, in clouds that betokened a rough -night, it sunk beyond the wooded heights of Ardgour. - -Cosmo went to the place where so savagely he had struck the poor lad -down; but Quentin was gone; the grass where he had lain was bruised, -and on the gravel was a pool of blood about a foot in diameter--blood -that must have flowed from the wound in his head; but other trace of -him there was none! - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -EXPOSTULATION. - - "Pledged till thou reach the verge of womanhood, - And shalt become thy own sufficient stay! - Too late I feel, sweet orphan! was the day - For steadfast hope the contrast to fulfil; - Yet still my blessing hover o'er thee still." - WORDSWORTH. - - -Lady Rohallion had so frequently spoken to Flora Warrender on the -subject of the proposed or expected marriage with Cosmo, that she had -little diffidence generally in approaching the subject; but now there -was a new and unexpected feature in the matter--a lover, a -rival--thus she felt aware that the adoption of some tact became -requisite. - -What the good lady could hope to achieve, where her enterprising son -had failed in person, it is difficult to imagine; nevertheless, she -resolved to remonstrate with Flora. - -"She is too young to judge for herself, and must therefore let others -judge for her," said she, half aloud. - -"You wished to see me, madam," said Flora, entering with an air of -annoyance, only half concealed by a smile, as she correctly feared -this formal summons had reference to the recent scene in the garden. - -Seating Flora beside her on a sofa, she took her by the hand, and -while considering what to say, played caressingly with her dark wavy -hair, and said something in praise of her beauty, so the girl's heart -foreboded what was coming next. - -"You are rich, dear Flora," said Lady Rohallion, insinuatingly, "but -most, perhaps, in beauty." - -"I am often told so, especially by you," replied Flora, laughing. - -"An heiress, too." - -"But what of it, madam?" she asked, gravely. - -"You know, dear Flora, that money is the key to a thousand -pleasures--it is alike the object of the avaricious, and the ambition -of the poor." - -"True, Lady Rohallion," replied Flora, smiling again; "but, as we say -in Scotland, a tocherless lass, though she may have a long pedigree, -may have a pleasure that no heiress can ever enjoy." - -"Indeed?" - -"Yes; the most flattering and glorious conviction!" - -"Pray tell me?" - -"She can prove to her heart's content that she is loved for herself, -and herself alone. Poverty makes all equal----" - -"True; but so does wealth," interrupted Lady Rohallion, annoyed by -her own mismanagement in the beginning. "You are rich, but my son is -also rich, and he loves you, Flora, well, truly, and devotedly." - -"And have two days sufficed to summon all this truth and devotion?" - -"Flora, Flora, you are well aware that it has been an old purpose and -hope, between your parents and his, to unite or cement their old -hereditary friendship by a stronger tie, and that this intended -marriage has been an object of solicitude to all----" - -"Save to those most interested in it--myself especially." - -"Do not say so, my dear child--the match is most suitable." - -A gesture of annoyance escaped Flora, but Lady Rohallion resumed: - -"Our families have known each other so long; it has been a friendship -of three generations--Cosmo and you suit each other so admirably; and -then the Ardgour lands run the whole length of the Bailiwick with our -own." - -"The most convincing argument of all," replied Flora, in a tone which -made Lady Rohallion colour deeply, and the secret annoyance of both -was gradually rising to a height, though each strove to conceal it. - -"Consider our family, Flora!" exclaimed Lady Winifred, haughtily; -"look at that gilded vane on yonder turret. It bears a date--1400; -in that year, Sir Ranulph, first baron of Rohallion, was made -Hereditary Admiral of the Firth of Clyde, from Glasgow Bridge to -Ailsa Craig, by the Regent Duke of Albany. We are not people of -yesterday!" - -Flora failed to perceive what this aqueous office had to do with her -or her affairs. - -"In three years," she began. "I shall cease to be your ward----" - -"Three, by your father's will, Flora." - -"So do not let us embitter those three remaining years, my dear -madam, by this project, a constant recurrence to which serves but to -excite and pique by the attempt to control me." - -"I trust, my dear but wilful Flora, that we have not been unjust -stewards in the execution of the trust your worthy parents bequeathed -to us, and if the hope of a nearer and dearer connexion----" - -"Your son, the Master, is a brave and noble gentleman, I grant you," -interrupted Flora, with quiet energy; "but save in name, we have been -almost strangers to each other, and he is so many years my senior, -that when we last met he treated me quite as a little girl--a child! -Our tastes, habits, manners, and temper are all dissimilar; ah, -madam, pardon me, but I never could love him!" - -"Never love Cosmo--_my_ Cosmo?" said Lady Rohallion, with indignant -surprise. - -"Never as a husband, though dearly as a friend." - -"Fancy, all! You would love him with all a true wife's devotion ere -long. In girls of your age, love always comes after marriage, it is -unnecessary before it. You little know how dear and loveable he is, -and how gallant too! What wrote Sir Ralph Abercrombie to the Duke of -York concerning him, after that affair at the Helder? 'The bravery -of the Honourable Captain Crawford, of the 3rd Guards, in the action -of the 27th instant, forms one of the most brilliant episodes of the -war in Holland!'" - -Flora gave an almost imperceptible shrug of her white shoulders, for -praises of Cosmo's valour at the Helder had been a daily story of the -old lady for some time past. Slight though the shrug and the smile -that accompanied it, Lady Rohallion detected them, and her eyes -sparkled brightly with anger. She arose with ineffable hauteur, and -shook out her flounces, as a swan ruffles its pinions, to their -fullest extent. - -"Miss Warrender," said she, with her hands folded before her, and her -powdered head borne very erect indeed, "is it possible that this -strange opposition alike to the earnest wishes of the living and of -the dead, arises from a cause which I have hitherto disdained to -approach or allude to--as a species of midsummer madness--a love for -the luckless lad to whom for so many years we have extended the hand -of protection, Quentin Kennedy?" - -At the name which concluded this formal exordium, a deep blush -suffused the delicate neck of Flora; but, as her back was to the -lighted candles, the questioner did not perceive it, though -scrutinising her keenly. - -"And why, madam, may I not love poor Quentin, if I choose?" asked the -wilful Flora, bluntly. - -"Because he is, as you justly named him, _poor_," replied the other, -with calm asperity. - -"But I am rich," urged Flora, laughing through all her annoyance, -with an irresistible desire to pique Lady Rohallion. - -"He is nameless." - -"How know we that, madam? Kennedy is as good a name as Warrender." - -"True, when borne by an Earl of Cassilis, by a Laird of Colzean, of -Kilhenzie, or Dunure; but not by every landless waif who bears the -name of the clan or family. God knoweth how in my heart I dearly -love that boy; yet this fancy of yours passes all bounds of reason, -and all my expectations, in its absurdity. I have destined you for -my son, Cosmo, and none other shall have you!" she added, almost -imperiously. - -"Destined," said Flora, with mingled laughter and chagrin, "because -the march-dyke of Rohallion is also the march-dyke of Ardgour." - -"Nay, nay, think not so unworthily of us; we need to covet nothing -and to court none; but destined you are, because it was your dear -mother's dying wish." - -"To make me miserable?" - -"To make you happy, foolish girl; dare you speak of misery with _my_ -son?" - -"So you would actually have me to marry a man I don't like, and -scarcely ever saw? It is a common sacrifice in the great world, I am -aware; but my sphere has been rather small----" - -"You would not marry a boy, surely?" - -"I may at least love him," replied Flora, simply; "and I have no wish -to marry at all--just now, at least." - -"This is the very stuff of which your novels are made!" exclaimed -Lady Rohallion, crimsoning with passion, and raising her voice in a -manner quite unusual to her. "Mercy on me! I wonder why I have -never detected Quentin at your feet, on his knees before you, for -that I believe is the true and most approved mode; but we know -nothing of him, he may be base-born for aught that we can tell, and -Lord Rohallion shall learn that Quentin Kennedy--a brat, a very -beggar's brat--shall never come between our own son and his success; -and so, young lady, your humble servant!" - -And inflamed by genuine passion, Lady Rohallion, as she uttered this -unpleasant speech, (which, to do her justice, was scarcely uttered -ere repented for,) in a loud and imperious tone, swept away with a -haughty bow, in all her amplitude of black satin, and with that -hauteur of bearing which made the Scottish gentlewomen of her day so -stately and imposing. - -Her words, the fiery glance of anger she darted at Flora, and the -tenor of the expostulation proved too much for the temper or the -nerves of that young lady, who on being left to herself, burst into a -passion of tears. - -But a hand was laid on the lock of the door, as if some one was about -to enter; and fearing it might be the Master, she started up and -escaped by another door to her own apartment. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -FORTH INTO THE WORLD. - - "This nicht is my departing nicht, - For here nae langer I maun stay; - There's neither friend or foe o' mine, - But wishes me away. - What I hae dune through lack o' wit, - I never, never can reca'; - I hope you're a' my friends as yet-- - Gude nicht, and joy be wi' ye a'." - _Johnnie Armstrong's Good Night._ - - -The knock-down blow given to Quentin by the butt-end of the clubbed -fowling-piece, beside inflicting a severe wound which bled profusely, -stunned him completely for a time, and in this condition he was found -by the quartermaster, who was returning from having a jug of punch -and a quiet rubber with our quaint friend the dominie at his little -thatched cottage in the village. - -Great were the alarm and concern of the kind-hearted veteran when he -found his young friend and favourite in a condition so pitiable. He -raised him, tied a handkerchief over his wound to stanch the -bleeding; then gradually as consciousness returned, Quentin -remembered all that had occurred, and told Girvan of his meeting with -the Master--the unmerited and unexpected insolence of the latter, his -sudden assault, and that was all he knew. - -The disquiet of the ex-quartermaster was greatly increased on hearing -of a _fracas_ so unseemly and so dangerous, and he knew in a moment -that it contained _more_ elements of discord than Quentin admitted or -perhaps knew; though he was ignorant of the Master's abrupt proposal, -the garden-scene, and of the subsequent expostulation, which was in -progress at that moment, and which we have detailed in the preceding -chapter. - -"I can't blame you, my boy," said the old soldier, half communing -with himself, and shaking his head till his pigtail swung like a -pendulum; "I can't blame ye," he repeated, as he gave Quentin his -arm, and together they walked slowly towards the castle; "ye are -young--the temptation is great, though I hae long since forgotten all -of such matters, save that love-making tendeth to mischief." - -"Quartermaster," stammered Quentin, "I don't understand, what----" - -"But I do! The devilment first began in Father Adam's garden, and it -will go on so long as the world wags." - -Quentin coloured deeply, and his heart leaped with mingled rage and -exultation--rage at the Master for the injury he had done him, and -exultation for its cause--jealousy, by which he was assured that -Flora loved him, despite all the attention and the greater -attractions of the _blasé_ guardsman. - -But what was to be done now? - -To remain longer under the same roof with the Master of Rohallion was -impossible; but whither was he to go? The quartermaster, without -adverting further to what he too well knew to be the secret spring or -moving cause of a quarrel so sudden and unbecoming in its details, -hurried Quentin to his secluded little quarters, "the snuggery," -already described as existing in a tower of the castle. There he -gave him a glass of sherry and water as a reviver; sponged and -cleansed, with ready and kindly hands, his face and hair from the -clotted blood which disfigured them, applied with soldierlike -promptitude a piece of court-plaster to the cut, and brushed a lock -or so gently over to conceal it. - -That Lady Rohallion must be informed of the encounter and have it -explained away, if possible; that the Master should be urged to -apologise to Quentin (a very improbable hope); and that they should -be made to shake hands and commit the affair to oblivion, was the -mode in which the worthy ground-bailie proposed to solder up this -untoward affair. Quentin was long inexorable, and with the fury of -youth vowed to have some mysterious and terrible revenge; but -gradually the inexpediency, the impropriety, and impossibility of -obtaining reparation by the strong hand dawned upon him, and he -consented to leave the matter in the hands of Girvan--to have it -explained gently to Lady Rohallion, and leave her to be the mediator -between them. - -On being informed by Jack Andrews that she was in the yellow -drawing-room, and as there was still an hour to spare before the -supper bell rang, they proceeded thither to have an interview with -her. - -While passing through the outer drawing-room, which was quaintly -furnished with _marqueterie_ cabinets, tables, and bookcases, with -chairs and _fauteuils_ of Queen Anne's time, they heard voices in the -inner apartment, and one of them was Lady Rohallion's, pitched in a -louder key than was her wont, so they paused, unfortunately, only to -hear the LAST words of her conversation with Flora--words which fell -like molten lead on the ears and in the heart of the listener, whom -they most concerned. - -"--We know nothing of him--he may be base-born for aught that we can -tell, and Lord Rohallion shall learn that Quentin Kennedy--a brat, a -very beggar's brat--shall never come between our own son and his -success--and so, young lady, your humble servant!" - -These bitter, bitter words--words such as he had never heard from -_her_ lips before, made Quentin reel as if stunned, so that with the -effect they produced upon him, added to that of the recent blow, he -would have fallen had not the quartermaster caught him in his arms, -and held him up, surveying him the while with a kind and father-like -expression of solicitude and bewilderment in his old and weather-worn -visage. - -Rousing himself, with his teeth set and his eyes flashing, he made -three efforts to turn the door handle and enter the room. - -It was _his_ hand that Flora had heard upon the lock when she started -from the sofa and fled to her own apartment in a passion of tears, so -that when he entered the inner drawing-room it was empty, and thus -Quentin knew not--though his heart foreboded--to whom the injurious -words of Lady Rohallion had been addressed; but their tenor decided -him at once in a preconceived intention of leaving, and for ever, the -only home he had now in the world, and almost the only one of which -he had any distinct memory. - -"This is no longer a place for me, John Girvan, and so sure as God -sees and hears me, I shall leave it this very night!" he exclaimed, -as with his eyes flashing and full of tears, and his heart now filled -only by new, and hitherto unknown emotions of sorrow, bitterness, and -mortification (unknown to him at least) he walked to and fro upon the -gun-battery, where the 24-pounders of _La Bonne Citoyenne_ faced the -waves of the Firth, on which the last rays of a waning moon were -shining coldly and palely, especially on the ridge of foam that -boiled for ever over the Partan Craig. - -"And whither would ye go, Quentin?" asked Girvan, who felt in his -honest heart an intense commiseration for the lonely lad, knowing -that were he to remain after the insult he had received, and the -words he had heard, it would argue a poverty of spirit he would be -loth to find in Quentin; "whither would ye go?" - -"Away to France, to seek my mother." - -"Impossible--it's hostile ground, and once on it you would be made a -prisoner by the authorities, and shut up in Bitche, Verdun, or -Brisgau, if they did not hang you as a spy, or send you to serve as a -private soldier in the _Corps Etranger_. You must think of another -scheme, less rash and romantic." - -"I know of none." - -"In all the wide world, Quentin," said Girvan, with his nether lip -quivering, "ye have no home but this." - -"_This!_" repeated Quentin, grinding his teeth. - -"Yes." - -"Well--I care not; I will go anywhere from it--the farther away the -better!" (And Flora? suggested his heart.) - -In vain the quartermaster urged him to do nothing rashly, and to -await the return of Lord Rohallion, who had ridden over to Eglinton -castle, to visit his old friend and American comrade, Earl Hugh, who -had just returned from London; but pride and passion, with a -conviction that the mother's unwonted bitterness was only a -supplement to the son's insulting conduct, seemed to dissolve all the -ties that had bound Quentin to Rohallion and its family. - -These emotions of anger had full swing in his heart. What Lady -Rohallion had said, the old Lord must, he argued, have heard -repeatedly, and may often have thought; and so, forth--forth to seek -his bread elsewhere, he would go before the clocks struck midnight. - -Mentally he vowed and resolved, that the first hour of another -morning should see him far in search of a new home. - -Deluding good John Girvan by some excuse, he slipped to his own room -and packed a few necessaries in a small portmanteau, feeling, while -he did so, a sense of mortification that they were the gifts of those -whom, in justice to himself, he was compelled to leave. His watch, a -ring, a breast-pin, and other trinkets given to him by Lady -Rohallion, he laid upon his dressing-table, leaving them in token -that he took with him nothing but what was absolutely necessary. - -The time was an hour and a-half from midnight. Unheeding he had -heard the supper-bell clanged long ago, and cared not what any -one--Flora excepted--thought of his absence now. Opening a window, -he looked forth upon the night. The moon had waned, and the -atmosphere was thick and gusty--yea, nearly as stormy and as wild as -on that night when he had been washed ashore on the sand of the bay -below Rohallion. - -Putting his purse in his pocket--it contained but a half-guinea, he -gave a last glance at his bed-room--to leave it with all its familiar -features cost him a pang; there were some of Lady Rohallion's -needlework, and sketches by Flora, books lent him by the dominie, -gloves and foils that had borne the dint of many a bout between him -and John Girvan; quaint shells given to him by Elsie Irvine, and many -little trophies of his shooting expeditions with the gamekeeper, and -so forth. He quitted the room with a sigh, and slipping downstairs -reached the hall-door unseen by any of the household. - -"And now a long farewell to Rohallion!" he exclaimed, as he reached -the ivied arch of the haunted gate. - -"Not so fast, Quentin," said a voice, and the rough hand of the -worthy quartermaster grasped his. - -"John Girvan," said Quentin, with emotion. - -"I thought it would come to this. So you are really about to take -French leave of us--to levant in the night, and without beat of drum?" - -"Yes," - -"To go out into the wide world?" - -"Yes." - -"I knew it would be thus, for I knew your spirit, Quentin, and so -have been keeping guard here at the gate." - -"Guard--for what purpose? To stop me?" - -"No." - -"What then?" - -"To aid and help ye, Quentin, laddie," said Girvan, placing a heavy -purse in his hand. "I have saved something here, forty guineas or -so, off my half-pay, take them and use them cautiously, wi' an auld -man's blessing--an auld soldier's, if you like it better." - -"Girvan--John Girvan," said Quentin, with a very troubled voice; "I -cannot--I cannot----" - -"What?" - -"Deprive you of what I may never be able to repay." - -"Ye must and ye shall take the money, or I'll fling it into the -Lollard's Linn!" said the other, impetuously. "It was I who laid -your father's head in the grave, laddie, in the auld kirkyard yonder -in the glen, and ill would it become auld John Girvan, of the 25th, -to let his son go forth to seek his fortune in this cold hard world, -portionless and penniless, while there was a shot in the locker--a -lad I love, too!" - -"But the repayment, John Girvan, the repayment." - -"Heed not that--it will come time enough; and if it never comes I'll -never miss it; but ye'll write to me from the next burgh-town, won't -ye, Quentin, laddie?" - -"I shall, John--I shall," replied Quentin, now so softened that he -sobbed with his face on the old man's shoulder. - -"God bless ye, my bairn--God bless ye!" - -"And you, John." - -"You'll think o' me sometimes." - -"Oh, could I ever forget?" - -"Sorely will _she_ repent this at my lord's homecoming," said Girvan, -bitterly. - -"My father was an ill-starred wanderer, and perished miserably, poor -man! What right have I to hope for, or to look for, a better fate -than he? My mother, too..... Do they see me now, and know of all -this? .... And Flora--dear Flora, whom I shall see no more!" - -"Take a dram ere you go, laddie, for the night is dark and eerie," -said Girvan, producing a flask from his pocket; "'a spur in the head -is weel worth twa on the heels,' says an auld Scots proverb." - -"You will bid the dominie good-bye for me." - -"That shall I, laddie--that shall I." - -"And tell--tell _her_, that I have gone forth to seek my fortune, -and--and----" - -His voice failed him, so he slung his little portmanteau on his -shoulder, and wrung the hand of his kind friend for the last time. -Hurrying away, he disappeared in the darkness, and, as he did so, a -sound that followed on the wind made him pause, but for an instant. - -It was the old quartermaster sobbing like a child. - -* * * * - -So, thus went Quentin Kennedy forth into the world. - -"Few words," says a charming writer, "are more easily spoken than _He -went forth to seek his fortune_; and what a whole world lies within -the narrow compass! a world of high-hearted hopes and doubting fear; -of noble ambition to be won and glorious paths to be trod, mingled -with tender thoughts of home and those who made it such. What -sustaining courage must be his who dares this course, and braves that -terrible conflict--the toughest that ever man fought--between his own -bright colouring of life, and the stern reality of the world. How -many hopes has he to abandon--how many illusions to give up. How -often is his faith to be falsified and his trustfulness betrayed; -and, worst of all, what a fatal change do these trials impress upon -himself--how different is he from what he had been." - -Bitterness tinged the spirit of Quentin Kennedy with an impression of -fatalism, and he marched mournfully, doggedly on. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -UNAVAILING REGRET. - - "Ay waken oh! - Waken and wearie; - Sleep I canna get - For thinking o' my dearie. - When I sleep I dream, - And when I wake I'm eerie; - Rest I canna get, - For thinking o' my dearie." - _Old Scots Song._ - - -When, three days after these events, Lord Rohallion returned home -from his visit to Eglinton and to his brave old comrade--the "Sodger -Hugh" of Burns' poem--he found the members of his household in a -considerable state of consternation and excitement. This was -consequent to the sudden and mysterious disappearance of his -favourite, Quentin Kennedy; but gradually the whole story came out in -all its details, even to the crushing observation, so unfortunately -and unintentionally overheard by the lad and the quartermaster in the -outer drawing-room. - -Lord Rohallion was very indignant with his son for making an attack -so unprovoked as the affair in the avenue, which, to do him justice, -the Master described truly enough. He was seriously angry with Lady -Winifred for speaking so ungenerously of his young favourite, and -with the quartermaster too, for permitting, even aiding him in the -means of flight. - -Now, three days had elapsed and no tidings had been heard of him; but -there were no railroads or steamers in those days, or other means of -locomotion than the occasional stage-coaches and carriers' waggons, -so the family supposed that he could not be very far off. - -The Master was sullen, resenting all this interest as an insult to -himself, so he spent the whole day abroad in search of grouse and -ptarmigan, and had even ordered his valet to pack up and prepare for -returning to London, an order which that powdered gentleman of the -aiguillette heard with extreme satisfaction, "the hair of Hayrshire -by no means agreeing with his constitution," while the "red hands and -big beetle-crushers of the women were by no means to his taste." - -It was evident to Cosmo that Flora entertained a horror of him; and -now that her anger had fully subsided and emotions of alarm replaced -it, Lady Rohallion mourned for the poor lad, repenting of the past, -and trembling for the unknown future. - -"A plague on your planning and match-making, Winny," said her -husband, as they sat together on the old stone seat in the garden, -late on the third evening after Quentin had disappeared; "I never -knew any good come of that sort of thing." - -"You know, Reynold, how long this proposed marriage has been a -favourite scheme of ourselves and the Warrenders," she urged, gently. - -"But you were--pardon me, Winny, dear--too officious or energetic; -and Cosmo has been most reprehensibly rash!" - -"Ah, don't say so!" - -"I must! Had you left the girl to herself, this romantic fancy for -her early playmate had soon been forgotten, or merged in a woman's -love for Cosmo, and his proposal had been accepted, as I hope it yet -shall be. Women change, don't they, sometimes?" he added, with a sly -twinkle in his eyes. - -"Yes; but there must be reasons," said she, hesitatingly. - -"Of course--of course." - -"From the hints that Cosmo gave of what he had seen or overheard, I -deemed it right to interfere." - -"An error, I think; couldn't you let the young folks alone? Heaven -knows, many a girl I kissed, in my first red coat and epaulettes," -said Rohallion, while knocking the gravel about with his -silver-headed cane. - -"But Cosmo does so love that girl." - -"Love her?" said Rohallion, laughing. - -"Yes." - -"Then it must be after some odd fashion of his own." - -"How, my lord?" - -"Why, zounds! Cosmo has passed unscathed through the perils of too -many London seasons to be bird-limed by a country belle like Flora, -beautiful though she be. She is not the style of girl that passes -muster with the Household Brigade, I fear." - -"Flora Warrender?" - -"I mean that she is too genuine--too unsophisticated--in fact, I -don't know what I mean,--somewhat of a character, if you will; and -then, Quentin--poor Quentin----" - -"Poor dear boy! pray don't upbraid me more, Reynold," she urged with -tears. - -"I do not mean to do so, Winny." - -"I remember him only as the sweet little prattling child, saved from -the wreck on that wild and stormy night; and I love him dearly, as if -he were our own; he was full of affection and gentleness!" she -continued, covering her face with her handkerchief. - -"And yet you trampled on him, Winny," said Lord Rohallion, taking a -pinch of Prince's mixture with great energy, and making his -hair-powder fly about like a floury halo, "trampled upon him as if he -had been a beggar's cur--he a soldier's son!" - -"Oh, Reynold, upbraidings again!" - -"It wasn't like you, Winny, dear--it wasn't like you." - -"My deep interest in Cosmo's welfare, provocation at Quentin, and the -extreme wilfulness of Flora, all served to bewilder me. I own that I -was wrong and not quite myself; but the dear bairn is gone, Reynold, -gone from our roof-tree, and sorrow avails not." - -"He was so good, so gentle, of so sweet a disposition," said Lord -Rohallion, musingly; "always doing kind offices for everybody. Egad! -I've seen him carrying horse-buckets for the old groom in the -stable-court, because the man was feeble and ailing; but here come -the dominie and John Girvan--perhaps they have news. Good evening, -dominie. Any tidings of the deserter, Girvan?" - -The kind-hearted dominie, who since Quentin's disappearance had been -as restless as if his galligaskins had been lined with Lieutenant -James's horse-blister, shook his head mournfully, while lifting his -old-fashioned three-cornered hat, and bowing thrice to the lady, who -presented him with her lace-mittened hand. - -"I have just been telling Lady Rohallion that I thought she was -unnecessarily severe, and I regret very much, Girvan, that Quentin -overheard those casual words in the drawing-room--words lightly -spoken, and not meant for him to hear." - -"Poor lad! as for his falling in love with Miss Warrender, it was -quite natural," said the quartermaster; "how could you expect aught -else, my lady?" - -"True--true," replied Lady Winifred, with an air of extreme annoyance -at having private family matters openly canvassed by dependents; but -the affair had gone beyond their own control now; "propinquity is -frequently fatal." - -"Prop--what? I dinna quite comprehend, my lady; but this I know, -that if a winsome young pair are left for ever together----" - -"That is exactly what I mean, Girvanmains," interrupted the lady, -with cold dignity. - -"Well--it is pretty much like leaving a lighted match near gunpowder; -there will be a blow-up sometime when least expected." - -"May you not be all wrong in your views of this matter?" said Lord -Rohallion, who somewhat shared his wife's feeling of annoyance; "I -must question Miss Warrender herself; I feel assured that she will -conceal nothing from me." - -"Not even that she allowed this sprightly young fellow to kiss her in -the avenue, eh?" said the sneering voice of the Master, who appeared -suddenly at the back of the stone chair, which he had approached -unseen, and whereon he lounged with a twig in his mouth, and a -Newmarket hat knowingly depressed very much over his right eye. "It -was very pretty and becoming, wasn't it, dominie? ha! ha!" - -"Cosmo!" exclaimed his mother, with positive anger. - -"_Osculatio_--a kissing-match--eh, dominie?" - -"There may be no harm in a kiss, my good sir," said the pedant, -gravely, for though mightily shocked, as became the precentor of -Rohallion kirk, on hearing of such undue familiarity, he felt himself -bound to defend his young pupil and friend. - -"No harm, you think?" - -"Indubitably not." - -"A rare old put it is! But what do such little favours lead to?" - -"They may lead to reconciliation, as when the king kissed Absalom; or -be the token of welcome, as when Moses kissed his father-in-law; or -they may indicate homage, as we find in the book of Esther." - -"And what about the kiss of Judas, dominie, when on such matters?" -continued the sneering Cosmo. - -"That I leave you, sir, to discover; but that there may be nothing -wrong in the act itself, I can refer you to Genesis, Hosea, and all -the sacred writings, which abound in solemn salutes by the lip, so -that the kiss of Quentin may have been a pure and sinless one." - -The dominie gave the fore-cock of his hat a twist with his hand, as -if he had settled the matter, while Lord Rohallion, notwithstanding -his annoyance, could not but join his son in a hearty laugh at the -serious earnestness of the defence. - -"You will have a vigorous search made for Quentin Kennedy," said he; -"despatch messengers in every direction, John Girvan; spare neither -trouble nor money, but bring the young rogue back to us." - -"That shall I do blithely, my lord," replied the quartermaster, as he -and the dominie made their bows and retired, while Cosmo curled his -thin lips; and after a pause, uttered one of his harsh and unpleasant -mocking laughs. - -"The Master has the eyebrows of a wicked man, or I am no -physiognomist--grieved am I to say so, dominie," whispered Girvan, as -they walked away together. - -"Ye are right, John, the _intercilium_ is covered with hair, whilk I -like not, though Petronius and Ovid call such eyebrows the chief -charm of the other sex; - -"'Ye fill by art your eyebrows' vacant space,' - -saith the latter. It is an auld--auld notion that beetle-brows -indicate an evil temper--a crafty and fierce spirit; and of a verity, -the Master Cosmo hath both." - -"Who the deuce could have anticipated such a blow-up as this?" - -"About a woman! Pah! women," said the dominie, cynically, "according -to a German philosopher, are only like works carved of fine ivory: -nothing is whiter or smoother, and nothing sooner turns _yellow_." - -"Are ye sure he was not a Roman philosopher?" asked the -quartermaster, drily. - -"I am: yet Petronius and Ovid both say----" - -"Bother them both, dominie! leave Greek roots and Latin verbs alone, -_now_ that the poor boy is gone--God bless and watch over him! I -know he'll ever have a warm corner in his heart for us both, and -that, go wherever he may, he'll neither forget you nor the poor old -quartermaster; but now to have a glass of grog, and then to set about -this search that my lord has ordered--a search which I know right -well will prove a bootless one." - -A vigorous pursuit and inquiry along all the highways were now -instituted. Girvan, the dominie, the gardener, gamekeepers, grooms, -Jack Andrews, Irvin the fisherman, the running footman, the parish -minister on his puffy Galloway cob, and even Spillsby, the portly and -unwieldy butler, were all despatched in various directions to the -neighbouring farms, mansion sand villages, without avail. - -John Legat, usually known in the Bailiwick as _Lang Leggie_, the -running footman (for one of those officials still lingered in the -old-fashioned household of Rohallion), scoured all Kyle and -Cunninghame, with hard boiled eggs and sherry in the silver bulb that -topped his long cane, scarcely pausing to imbibe these, his -sustenance when on duty; and though he returned thrice to the castle, -he was despatched like a liveried Mercury, thrice again, but without -hearing tidings of the missing one. - -Since the last Duke of Queensberry ("old Q.") who died in 1810, Lord -Rohallion was perhaps the last Scottish peer who retained such an old -state appendage as a running footman. - -Long did they all, save the sullen Master, hope, and even flatter -themselves, that the wanderer would return; but days became weeks, -and no trace could be discovered and no tidings were heard of him -anywhere. - -An armed lugger that did not display her colours, but was very -foreign in her build and in the rake of her masts, had been seen -standing off and on near Rohallion Head. About midnight she was -close in shore, steering clear of the Partan Craig, and burning a -blue light. By sunrise she was far off at sea: could he have gone -with _her_? - -There had been a numerous and somewhat lawless body of gipsies -encamped near the oakwood shaw on the night of his disappearance, for -the ashes of their night-fires had been found, together with -well-picked bones and broken bottles, the usual _débris_ of their -suppers _al fresco_; but there were other traces more alarming: -several large pools of blood, which showed that there had been a -fight--perhaps murder--committed among them. These wanderers had -departed by sunrise, and passed beyond the craigs of Kyle, where all -traces of them were lost. The quartermaster thought of the money he -had given Quentin, and trembled lest the gold had only ensured his -destruction, till the dominie reassured him by remembering that there -were more Kennedies than Faas among those gipsies, and the former -would be sure to protect him for the sake of his name. - -On that night, too, the pressgang from Ayr had been more than ten -miles inland, in search of certain seamen who had sought refuge as -farm labourers; so this knowledge was another source of fear, as -there was a great demand for men, and the officers were not very -particular. - -There had been a recruiting party beating up for various regiments in -the Bailiwick of Cunninghame, and it had been at Maybole on the night -after Quentin fled. The party had marched, no one could say whether -for Edinburgh or Glasgow. Could Quentin have enlisted? - -The night was a dark and stormy one; could he have lost his way and -perished in the Doon or the Girvan, both of which were swollen by -recent rains? This was barely possible, as he knew the country so -well. - -There were no electric wires to telegraph by, no rural police to -apply to, and no penny dailies to advertise in. People travelled -still by an armed stage or the carrier's waggon, just as their -great-grandfathers did in the days of Queen Anne. Twanging his horn -as he went or came, the Riding Post was still, as in Cowper's _Task_, - - "----the herald of a noisy world, - With spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen locks, - News from all nations lumbering at his back." - -Posts came and went from the capital of the Bailiwick, but there were -no tidings of Quentin, so the Master of Rohallion laughed in secret -at all the exertions, doubts, and fears of those around him. - -Every alarming idea was naturally suggested. The quartermaster's -early instincts made him think most frequently of the recruiting -party; but he grieved at the idea of the friendless and homeless lad, -so delicately nurtured and gently bred, enduring all he had himself -endured--the hardships and privations of a private soldier's life; -while the kind-hearted dominie actually shed tears behind his huge -horn barnacles at the bare thought of such a thing, and mourned for -all his wasted classic lore. - -Aware that she had been in some measure the primary cause of -Quentin's expulsion from Rohallion, Flora Warrender had rather a -difficult part to play now. To conceal entirely that she mourned for -him would be to act a part which she disdained; but when she spoke -with sorrow or anxiety, she excited the sarcasms of Cosmo, and even a -little pique in Lady Winifred, who more than once said to her, almost -with asperity, "Flora, you should have known your own position, and -made Quentin remember his; then all these unseemly events had never -taken place." - -"How, madam?" - -"You should at once have put an end to his mooning and tomfoolery. -Do you hear me?" - -"Yes, madam," sighed Flora, who seemed to be intent on a book, though -she held it upside down. - -"How cool--how composed you are!" - -"Less so, perhaps, than I seem," replied Flora, who felt that tears -were suffusing her eyes. - -"Young ladies took these matters very differently in my time: but -since this revolution in France, manners are strangely altered. -(Here we may mention that the epoch referred to was now superseding -the Union in Lady Rohallion'a mind.) Tears!" she continued; "I am -glad to see them, at least for your own sake." - -"They are _not_ for my own sake, Lady Rohallion, but for the sake of -poor Quentin, who has fallen under the displeasure of you all, and -who, through my unwitting means, has--has--become----" - -"What?" - -"Homeless, friendless, and alone! Oh, it must be so sad to be alone -in the world--all alone!" - -Lady Winifred lowered her eyes, and her irritation passed rapidly -away. - -She had somewhat changed since that stormy night on which we first -introduced her to the reader, and had altered, as people do with -increasing years, so as to be at times--shall we say it?--almost -selfish in much that related to her own immediate hearth and -household, and more especially in all that concerned the still more -selfish Cosmo, on whom she doted, and in whom she could see no -imperfection. Yet she could not but reproach herself bitterly when -thinking of Quentin Kennedy, and the harsh, cutting words he had -overheard. - -Then as his smiling, loving, and handsome face came vividly in memory -before her, she would ask of herself, "Is it thus, Winifred -Rohallion, you have treated the strange orphan, the helpless child -once, the mere lad now, who was cast by fate, misfortune, and the -waves of that bleak November sea, years ago, at your door and at your -mercy? Was it generous to cast forth upon the cold world the -friendless, poor, and penniless youth, who loves you--ay, even as -your own son never loved you? And what answer is to be given if, at -some future day, his mother, who may be living yet, should come -hither and demand him of you--you who stung and galled his proud -spirit by taunts, upbraiding and unmerited reproach?" And so she -would whisper and think what she dared not say aloud; though "perhaps -the lowest of our whispers may reach eternity, for it is not very far -from any of us, after all." - -By the past memories of her early life--by those of _one_ whose face -came at times unbidden before her, and by the pleasant days of -_their_ youth in pastoral Nithsdale--by those evenings when the -sunset glowed so redly on the green summits of Monswald and Criffel, -while the Nith brawled joyously over its pebbled bed, and the white -hawthorn cast its fragrance and its blossoms on the soft west -wind--by all these, it might be asked, had she no compassion for the -young love she was seeking to mar and crush? - -She had alike compunction and compassion; but in this instance she -deemed it the mere love of a boy for a girl, and not quite such as -Rohallion's brother, Ranulph Crawford, had for her some -seven-and-thirty years before. - -Seven-and-thirty! a long vista they were to look back through now; -but the events of her youth seemed clearer at times than those of her -middle age, and as we grow older they always are so in dreams. - -Quentin would soon forget the affair, she was assured, and -self-interest and love for her own son blinded her to the rest--to -all but a sorrow for the lost youth, and a craving to know his fate, -where he was now, and with whom. - -Thus many a night after his disappearance her heart upbraided her -keenly; and many a lonely hour, unseen by others, she wept and -prayed--prayed for the welfare and safety of the unknown lad she -might never see or hear of more, for as a mother she had been to him, -and he had been ever tender, loving, and kind as a son to her--much -more than ever the Master had been in the days of his infancy and -boyhood, for he was always cold, cruel, and headstrong; and now -Quentin's place was vacant among them, as completely as if he was in -the grave. - -And Flora Warrender, though mentioned last, her sorrow was not the -least. How lonely and how tiresome the old castle seemed to her now! -All their favourite walks--the long, shady avenue by the foaming -Lollard's Linn; the grand old garden with its aged yew hedges; the -kelpies' haunted pool, where first she learned that he loved her, and -felt his kiss upon her cheek; the ivied ruins of Kilhenzie, and every -old trysting-place, seemed deserted now indeed. - -She had no companion now in her rambles to touch up her sketches, to -compare notes with in reading, to hover lovingly by her side at the -piano, and so forth: thus Flora's "occupation" seemed, like the -warlike Moor's, to be gone indeed! - -The sunny August mornings came, but there came not with them Quentin, -to meet her fresh and ruddy from a gallop along the shore, with a -dewy bouquet from the garden, or with a basket of speckled trout from -the river. - -Slowly passed each lingering day, and evening followed; but there was -no one to ramble with now by starlight in the terraced garden--to -linger with by the sounding sea that surged upon the shore below and -foamed upon the distant rock, or to share all her thoughts, and -anticipate every wish. - -She hoped he would return when his money was spent and when his -passion cooled, or his love for her obtained the mastery. So did -Lady Rohallion and the old lord--that honest, worthy country -gentleman and gallant peer--never doubted it; but the quicker-seeing -quartermaster did; so day followed day until they began to count the -weeks, and still there came no news of the lost Quentin Kennedy. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -AN OLD SOLDIER'S STORY. - - "If he was of Leven's," said the lieutenant. - "I told him your honour was." - "Then," said he, "I served three campaigns with him in - Flanders."--_Tristram Shandy_. - - -A last glance at his old friends before we go in pursuit of Quentin. - -"I fear me," said the quartermaster, shaking his old yellow wig, -which still survived, and letting a long stream of tobacco smoke -escape from his mouth, as he and the dominie lingered over their -toddy-jugs one evening in "the snuggery," "I fear me much that the -Master's London debts and liabilities are more than his father, -worthy man, reckons on, and that Rohallion, wood and haugh, hill and -glen, main and farm-town, will all be made ducks and drakes of within -a week after the old Lord is carried through the haunted gate and up -the kirk loan yonder." - -"Wae is me that I should hear this," said the dominie, sadly. - -"I speak in confidence, dominie," said the quartermaster, laying his -"yard of clay" lightly on the other's arm, and lowering his voice. - -"Of course--of course. But how different hath the Master's life been -from his father's! Wasting his patrimony among London bucks and -bullies--among parasites and flatterers, even as Timon of Athens -wasted his substance, till he was driven to seek sustenance by -digging for the poorest roots of the earth." - -"Our old Lord has ever acted wisely, dominie; when not on active -service, he has ever been resident on his ain auld patrimonial -property--wisely so, I say, for it beseems not that the great names -of the land should die out of the memory of those who inhabit it; -d--n all absentees, say I!" - -And as the quartermaster buried his red nose in his toddy-jug, the -concluding anathema became an indistinct mumble. - -"Bankruptcy and disgrace are before the Master, I fear," he resumed -with a sigh, as he snuffed the long candles, which were placed in -square-footed holders of carved mahogany, mounted with silver rings -on the stems; "war may save him for a time, but only if he leaves the -Guards." - -"War, say ye?" - -"Yes--for if he owed sums that surpassed the national debt, his -creditors could never touch him while under orders for foreign -service." - -"But at his home-coming?" - -"Ay, there's the rub, dominie. A fine story it would be to have the -Master of Rohallion--he, the heir of a line that never was -disgraced--ever stainless and true--arrested by a dog of a -bailiff--arrested, perhaps, at the head of his regiment, it might be -after fighting the battles of his country! Zounds, dominie, it would -be enough to make all the old oaks in Rohallion wood drop their -leaves and die, as if a curse had come upon the land! It would break -his father's heart, and, much as I love the family, I would rather -that Cosmo was killed in action, than that he had to endure such -disgrace, or that after facing the French, as I know he will do -bravely (for there never came a coward of the Crawford line), he had -to flee ignobly to Holyrood, and become an abbey laird, that he might -snap his fingers at the laws of both Scotland and England, until, -perhaps, he got the lands of Ardgour." - -The dominie was truly grieved to hear such things, for he had all the -old Scottish patriarchal love of the family, under whom his -forefathers--stout men-at-arms in their time, had been trusted -dependents, through long dark ages of war and tumult; so he drew a -long sigh, took a deep draught from his toddy jug, and asked in a low -voice-- - -"If aught were to happen unto the Master, how would the title go?" - -"I scarcely ken, dominie; by the death of Ranulph Crawford in a -foreign land, it would probably fall to some far-awa cousin, after -the lands had been frittered among disputants in the Court of -Session, and the auld patent that King James signed on a kettle-drum -head, had been hacked to rags by a Committee of Privileges. Confound -the law, say I, wi' a' my heart! However, the old Lord, Heaven bless -him! is a hale man and strong yet, so let us not anticipate evils, -which are sufficient for their own day." - -"Four weeks--a whole month to-night, John, since we last saw -Quentin," said the dominie, to change the subject. - -"Poor Quentin!" - -"As a bairn how bonnie he was--yea, beautiful as Absalom!" - -The quartermaster sighed with impatience, it might be with a little -air of disappointment, as he pushed his toddy-jug aside, and -proceeded energetically to refill the bowl of his pipe. Why, thought -he, has Quentin never written to me, according to his promise? - -It was September now. The bearded grain that had been yellowing on -the long corn-rigs of Rohallion was already gathered in; the -harvest-kirn or home had been held in the great barn of the Home -Farm, and the tawny stubbles gave the bared land a sterile aspect, -till they disappeared as the plough turned up the shining furrows, -where the black ravens flapped their wings, and the hoodie-crows -sought for worms. The leaves were becoming brown and yellow as -sienna tints spread over the copsewood, and the sound of the axe was -heard at times, for now the husbandman looked forward to the closing -year, and remembered the rhyming injunction:-- - - "Ere winter preventeth, while weather is good, - For galling of pasture get home with thy wood; - And carry out gravel to fill up a hole, - Both timber and furzen, the turf and the coal." - - -"Four weeks--ay, it is September now," said the quartermaster. - -"And I fear me the lad will return no more." - -"Say not so, dominie; he may come upon us when we least expect him." - -"It may be, for, of a verity, life is full of strange coincidences." - -"Strange, indeed! I have told you many a soldier's yarn, dominie; -but did you ever hear of the strange meeting I had with an old man of -the clan Donald?" - -"Where--in the Highlands?" - -"No, in America." - -The dominie shook his head as a negative. - -"Then fill your pipe, brew your toddy, draw your chair nearer the -fire, and I'll tell you about it. - -"Ye see, dominie, it was in the winter of '75, when Rohallion was -lieutenant in the Light Company, and I but a corporal, that, with a -detachment of ours, we joined Major Preston and Captain--afterwards -the unfortunate Major--André in the stockaded fort of St. John, on -the Richelieu River, in Lower Canada. In the fort were seven hundred -rank and file, chiefly of the Cameronians and the 7th or Royal -Fusiliers, and our orders were to defend the place to the last! - -"We were soon attacked with great vigour by the American General -Montgomery, at the head of Lord knows how many rebellious Yankees and -yelling Indian devils; but like brave men we defended ourselves till -the whole place was unroofed and riddled by shot and shell--defended -ourselves, amid the snows of severe winter, on half-rations, and what -was worse, on half-grog, till our ammunition was expended. Then, but -not till _then_, we were compelled to surrender, and give up our -arms, baggage, and everything to the foe. - -"Disheartened by defeat, and denuded of everything but our -regimentals, we were marched up the lakes by Ticonderoga. As I had -no desire for remaining a prisoner during a war, the end of which -none could foresee, and not being an officer, having no parole to -break, I resolved to escape on the first available opportunity, and -did so very simply, on the night-march along the borders of Lake -George. There was a halt, during which I contrived to creep unseen -into a thick furzy bush, and there I remained, scarcely daring to -breathe, till the prisoners fell into their ranks an hour before -daybreak, and surrounded by their escort of triumphant Yankees and -Indians in their war paint, proceeded on their sad and heartless -journey into the interior. - -"After the poor fellows had departed and all was still, while the -ashes of the watch-fires smouldered and reddened in every breath of -wind that passed over the snowy waste--and keen and biting blasts -they were, I can tell ye, dominie--I slipped out of my friendly bush, -stealthily as a snake might have done, and crawled away on my hands -and knees from the vicinity of the deserted halting-place, for I -dreaded to encounter some straggler of the escort, and still more did -I dread some rambling Indian, who would have swooped down upon me -with his scalping knife, and I had not the slightest ambition to see -my natural wig added to the other grizzly trophies on a warrior's -hunting shirt. - -"Arms I had none, and was scarcely clothed. I was hungry, weary, -and, on finding myself alone, I began to reflect whether I had acted -wisely in escaping to face individually the perils that awaited me, -for my tattered red coat marked me as an enemy, and in the stern -frost of an American winter, you may believe, it was not to be -discarded or cast aside without a substitute. Such a garb increased -my perils, and we all know what it cost poor Major André, of the -Cameronians, when caught in his uniform within the American lines. - -"The cold seemed to freeze my faculties, and vaguely endeavouring to -retrace the way we had come, I hoped by some chance, and by the care -of Providence, to reach the junction of the Sorrel or the Richelieu -with the St. Lawrence, for there I knew that Colonel Maclean was -posted with the royal regiment of Scottish Emigrants, but concerning -how far I was from thence, and how I was to reach it, I knew no more -than of what the man in the moon may be about at this moment. - -"Vainly I toiled on till day dawned fully on the vast extent of -snow-covered country. Then I found myself among the high and wooded -hills that look down upon the bosom of the Hudson. Far in the -distance lay Fort St. John which we had so long defended, and which -had the Stars and Stripes where the Union Jack waved before. On the -other hand, Lake George, a sheet of snow-covered ice, with all its -isles, lay like a map at my feet, far down below. - -"Cold, cold, ice, frost, snow, a biting wind everywhere! I sighed -and shuddered with misery, and longed for any other garment than my -fatal red coat, that I might approach a house or homestead, and crave -a morsel of food, and permission, for a minute, to warm myself by the -kitchen fire, but to make the attempt was too rash, and, though my -prospects were not cheering, I had no desire to court a rifle-shot -from some loophole or upper window. - -"As I stumbled on by the skirts of a fir copse, which somewhat -sheltered me from the biting north wind, and while the drowsy -numbness of exhaustion was stealing over me, I heard a loud and -sonorous voice commanding me to 'stop.' I turned and saw a man -approaching me. - -"His form was powerful and athletic, apparently, rather than tall, -and he seemed about fifty years of age or more; very brown and -weather-beaten in visage, and his hair was white as the snow around -us. He had on a thick fur cap, the warm earlaps of which were tied -under his chin; and over a yellow Indian hunting-shirt he wore a -seaman's pea-jacket, with two rows of large white horn buttons in -front. It was girt by a belt of untanned leather, in which were -stuck a hunting-knife, a pair of brass-mounted pistols, and a rusty -basket-hilted Highland broadsword. He was evidently one of the -insurgents--'Mr. Washington's rebels,' as we named them. He carried -a long rifle, and wore a pair of large deer-skin boots, that came -well over his sturdy thighs, and were strapped to his waist-belt. -His whole appearance and bearing indicated a state of bodily -strength, hardihood, confidence, and warmth, all of which, at that -particular moment, I greatly envied. With his right hand on the -hammer and his left on the barrel of his rifle, as if about to cock -it, he said, in a voice that was both sharp and deep in tone-- - -"'Stand, Englishman, if you would not be shot down, as many a time I -have seen your countrymen shoot others, in cold blood.' - -"'I don't think even death could make my blood colder than it is -already,' said I, with chattering teeth; 'but you accuse us unjustly -of outrage.' - -"'Do I?' said he, with a fierce sneer; 'by your doings at Lexington, -I don't think the Redcoats are much changed since I saw them in -Lochaber.' - -"'I am not an Englishman,' said I, glancing at the sword in his -girdle. - -"'Then, what the devil _are_ you?' he asked, sharply. - -"'I am a Scotsman, as I rather think you are,' I added, for he had a -Skye-terrier look about the face that indicated a West Highlander. - -"'Indeed,' said he, in an altered tone, placing the butt of his rifle -on the ground, greatly to my satisfaction and general ease of mind; -'you are one of the force that defended Fort St. John, under Major -Preston and Captain André?' - -"'Yes.' - -"'And how, then, are you here?' - -"'I was a prisoner, but escaped; and so great is my misery, that I -beg of you to make me a prisoner again, if you are in the American -interest.' - -"'By your yellow facings, you are not one of the King's Fusiliers.' - -"'I am a 25th man,' said I. - -"'A 25th man?' he repeated, coming nearer, and looking hastily about -to see if we were observed, but all around the vast landscape seemed -desolate and tenantless; 'I will screen and save you if I can, for -the sake of the old country neither of us may ever see again; but, -more than all, for the sake of the _number_ on your buttons. Here, -taste this first, and then follow me.' - -"He drew a leather hunting-bottle from the pocket of his rough -pea-jacket, and gave me a good dram of Jamaica rum, but for which, I -am sure, I should have died there, for the cold was fast overpowering -me. - -"'So you are a 25th man?' said he, surveying me with considerable -interest; 'well, for that reason, if it were for nothing else, I -shall befriend you. Come this way.' - -"I was too cold--too intensely miserable--to question his meaning, -but accompanied him through the wood, by a narrow path where the snow -lay deep, and where, in some places, it had fallen in such a manner -over the broad, horizontal and interlaced branches of the pine trees -as to form quite a covered passage, where the atmosphere felt -mild--even warm, compared with the temperature elsewhere. After a -time, we reached an open plateau, on the slope of the hills that look -towards Lake George, where we found his hut, a comfortable and warm -little dwelling, sheltered by stupendous pines, and built entirely of -fir logs, dressed and squared by the hatchet, and pegged each down -into the other through holes bored by an auger. It had a stone -chimney, within which a smouldering fire soon shot up into a ruddy -blaze as he cast a heap of crackling fir cones on it, and then added -some dry birch billets, that roared and sputtered cheerily, and threw -showers of sparks all over us. - -"He gave me some food, broiled venison, hard biscuits, and a good can -of Jamaica grog; and he also gave me that which I needed sorely--warm -clothing, in the shape of an old frieze coat, lined with martin -skins, in lieu of my poor, faded and tattered regimentals, which, for -security's sake, we cast into the fire and burned. - -"Three days I remained with the trapper or hunter, for such he seemed -to be, and on the fourth, after having carefully reconnoitred all the -neighbourhood, he announced his intention of conducting me to Colonel -Maclean's outposts upon the Richelieu; and being now thoroughly -refreshed, I was glad to hear the tidings. - -"'I shall never forget your kindness to me,' said I; 'and I value it -all the more, because you are one of those who are in arms against -the king.' - -"'It is maybe not the first time I have been so,' said he, with a -deep smile puckering all his eyelids. - -"'And you saved my life simply because I was a 25th man?' - -"'Yes--because one of your regiment--it was Lord Leven's--no, Lord -Semple's then--saved mine, at a harder pinch, some thirty years ago,' -said he, gravely, as he marched on before me through the snow, with -his long rifle sloped on his shoulder. - -"'You have been a soldier, then?' - -"'Like yourself, Lowlander, for I know you are southland bred by your -tongue.' - -"'In what regiment?' I asked. - -"'In the clan regiment of Macdonald of Keppoch. Rest him, God!' he -exclaimed, taking off his cap and looking upward, while his keen grey -eyes glistened, it might be in the frosty wind, under his bushy -eyebrows. - -"'When was this--and where?' - -"Can you be so dull as not to guess? It was in the ever-memorable -and ever-glorious campaign under His Royal Highness the Prince of -Wales, whom heaven long preserve! It was in 1746, just thirty years -ago. Look at these scars,' he added, showing me several sword wounds -that were visible among his thick white hair. 'I got these at -Culloden, from Bland's dragoons, when fighting for Scotland and King -James VIII.' - -"'You must be an old man?' said I. - -"'Old,' he exclaimed; 'I am barely fifty--young enough to fight and -ripe enough to die for my new home, this land of America, to which I -was banished as a slave with many more of my clan and kindred.' He -was now warming with his subject and the recollections of the past. -'There is,' he resumed, 'a pass in the hills here that reminds me of -my native glen in Croy. Often I go there and sit on the 16th April, -as the fatal day comes round, when outnumbered, three to one, by -British and Hanoverians, the Highland swordsmen went down like grass -on Culloden moor, before the withering fire of grape and musketry! -Then the river that flows into Lake George seems the Nairn--the water -of Alders; yonder open moorland seems the plain of Drummossie, and -the distant farm among the pine-trees passes for Culloden House. -Afar off in the distance the bastions of Ticonderoga become those of -Fort George, that jut into the Moray Firth, and yonder wooded -mountain, as yet without a name, seems to me like wild Dun-daviot; -and then as with the eyes of a seer, it all comes before me again, -that April day, with its terrible memories! Then,' he continued, -with flashing eyes, as he pointed across the plain, 'then I seem to -see the white battle-smoke rolling over the purple heather, and the -far extended lines of the hell-doomed Cumberland reaching from -Bland's scarlet horse on the right to the false Lord Ancrum's blue -dragoons upon the left--these long and steady lines of infantry, -Barrel's, Munro's, the Fusiliers, the Royals, and all the rest, in -grim array, three ranks deep, the colours waving in the centre, the -bayonets glittering in the sun. On the other,' his voice failed him, -and almost with a sob, he continued, 'on the _other_ hand, I see the -handsome Prince, the idol of all our hearts, on his white horse, half -shimmering through the smoke and morning mist, and then the loyal -clans in all their tartans, with target and claymore: Murray on the -right, and Perth on the left, in the centre Athol, Lochiel, Appin, -Cluny, and Lovat, Keppoch, Glengarry, and others with wild Lord Lewis -and old Glenbucket in the rear! Then once again from yonder pine -forest I seem to hear the war-pipes playing the onset, and a thrill -passes over me. I feel my sword in my hand"--he dashed down his -rifle and drew his claymore--'I draw down my bonnet; I hear the wild -cheer, the battle cry of _Righ Hamish gu bragh!_ pass along the line, -as with heads stooped and targets up, we burst like a thunderbolt -through the first line of charged bayonets! In a moment it is -dispersed and overborne--it is all dirk and claymore, cutting, hewing -and stabbing. On yet, on--and whoop! we break through the second -line; on yet, through the _third_, and the day may be our own! Its -fire is deadly and concentrated; I am beside the aged and -white-haired Keppoch, my chief--all our people have fallen back in -dismay before the fire of musketry and the treachery of the -Campbells, who turned our flank. Keppoch waves his bonnet; again I -hear him cry My God! my God! have the children of my tribe forsaken -me? Again the bullets seem, to pierce me, and we fall to the earth -together--and so the wild vision passes away!' - -"While pouring forth all this, the Highland exile seemed like one -possessed, and in his powerful imagination, I have no doubt that -while speaking, the present snow-clad landscape passed away, and in -fancy he saw the moor and battle of Culloden all spreading like a -bloody panorama before him. Until he sheathed his sword I was not -without uneasiness lest he might fill up the measure of his wrath by -cutting and carving on me. - -"'At last it was all over,' he resumed quietly and sadly; 'and then -came the butchery of the wounded by platoon firing and the -desecration of the dead. Sorely wounded and faint with loss of -blood, I found myself on the skirt of the field near the wall which -the Campbells had broken down to enable the light dragoons to turn -our right flank. - -"'Weary with the battle of the past day, a soldier was leaning -against the wall, screwing a fresh flint into the lock of his musket. -On seeing me move, he mercifully gave me a mouthful of water from his -wooden canteen, and bound up my head with a shred torn from my plaid. -I then begged him to help me a little way out of the field, as I was -the sole support of an aged mother, and must live if possible. The -good fellow said it was as much as his life was worth, were it known -that he had spared mine; but as he, too, had an old mother in the -lowlands far away, for her sake he would run the risk of assisting me. - -"'The morning was yet dark and we were unseen. He half carried, half -dragged me for more than a mile, till we reached a thicket where I -was in safety from the parties who were butchering the wounded. Some -of these burned my mother's hut and bayonetted her on the threshold. - -"'I offered the soldier the tassels of my sporran or the silver -buttons of my waistcoat as a reward, but he proudly refused them. I -then pressed upon him my snuff-mull, on the lid of which my initials -were engraved----' - -"'And he took it?' said I, eagerly. - -"'He did, but with reluctance; and then I asked his name, that I -might remember it in my gratitude----' - -"'And he told you that he was John Girvan of Semple's Foot--the -25th,' said I. - -"'Yes--yes; but how know _you_ that?' - -"'Because that friendly soldier was _my father_. He served against -the Prince at Culloden (_four_ Scotch regiments did so that day), and -often have I heard him tell the story of how the mull came into his -possession, and of the brave Highlander who adhered to old Keppoch -when all the clans fell back before the mingled shock of horse and -foot in front and flank!' - -"'Your father!--that brave man your father? I thank God who has thus -enabled me to repay to you the good deed done to me on that dark -morning on Culloden Moor,' said the Highlander with deep emotion, as -he shook my hand with great warmth. - -"'Here is the mull,' said I, producing it, 'and you are welcome to a -pinch from it again.' - -"'It is indeed like an old friend's face,' said he, looking with -interest at his initials, D. McD., graven on the silver top. 'I made -and mounted it, in my mother's hut in Croy. Woe is me! How many -changes have I seen since that day thirty years ago, when last I held -it in my hand? And your father, soldier--I hope that brave and good -man yet lives?' - -"'Alas! no,' said I, sadly; 'he entered the Royals fifteen years -after Culloden, and volunteered, as a serjeant, with the forlorn -hope, at the storming of the Moro Castle. He fell in the breach, and -the mull was found in his havresack by the men who buried him there.' - -"The Highlander took off his cap and muttered a prayer, crossing -himself the while very devoutly. - -"'But for him,' said he, 'instead of being a lonely trapper here by -the shore of Lake George, the heather bells of thirty summers had -bloomed and withered over my grave on the fatal moor of Culloden; but -God's blessed will be done.' - -"After this unexpected meeting with one of whom I had so often heard -my worthy father speak when I was but a bairn, we became quite as old -friends, and parted with regret when we reached the outposts of the -Royal Scottish Emigrants, close to which he guided me, and then took -his departure to join General Montgomery, who deemed Donald Macdonald -the chief of his marksmen. - -"I never heard of him more; and as for the snuff-mull, I was robbed -of it by some Germans, who cut the knapsack off my back as I lay -wounded in the skirmish at Stoney Point, in the State of New York, in -1776; but this chance meeting with its original proprietor, shows us, -dominie, what unexpected things come to pass in the world. Life, as -I said, is full of strange coincidences, and we may meet with Quentin -Kennedy or hear sure tidings of him, when least expected." - -"I pray Heaven it may be so," sighed the dominie, over his empty -toddy-jug, as he tied an ample yellow bandanna over his old -three-cornered hat, and under his chin; and then assuming his cane, -prepared to depart. - -"Jack Andrews has brought your pony round to the private door; take -care o' the Lollard's Linn, for the night is dark; and now for the -_deoch_--the stirrup-cup." - -"Whilk the Romans ever drank in honour of Mercury, as I do now--that -he may bestow a sound night's sleep," said the dominie, smacking his -lips as the dram went down. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -THE WAYFARER. - - "On, on! through the wind and rain, - With the blinding tears and burning vein! - When the toil is o'er and the pain is past, - What recks it all if we sleep at last." - _All the Year Round._ - - -When we last saw him, we said that Quentin was going forth into the -world to seek his fortune, though, perhaps, his chief idea or emotion -was to get as far away as possible from the vicinity of Rohallion, -its haughty lady, and the cold and crafty Master. As he passed -through the ivied archway, he dashed aside the tears that his -farewell with the old quartermaster had summoned. - -"How often," thought he, "have I read in novels and romances, in -dramas and story-books, of the heroes doing _this_--setting out on -the vague and hopeful errand that was to lead to fame and fortune; -but how little I ever expected to experience the stern reality, or -believe that it would be my own fate! And now the hour has come--oh, -it seems so strange now-a-days!" - -Passing down the avenue, the stately trees of which were tossing -their branches wildly in the gathering blast, he issued upon the -highway, and proceeded along it without caring, and perhaps without -considering, whether he went to the right or to the left. - -Intense was the loneliness, and bitter the irritation of mind in -which he pursued his aimless way, by the old and narrow road, which -was bordered by ancient hedgerows where brambles and Gueldre-roses -were growing wild and untrimmed, and where the wind was howling now -among the old beech-trees, as an occasional drop of rather warm rain -that fell on his face, or plashed in the dust under foot, gave -warning for a rough and comfortless night for a belated wayfarer. - -Again and again he looked back to the picturesque, turreted, and -varied outline of Rohallion, and saw its many lighted windows, one -which he knew well, in the crowstepped gable of the western wing. It -was the sleeping-place of Flora Warrender. - -She would be there now--her head resting on her pillow, perhaps, -sleepless and weeping for him, no doubt, and for the probable results -of a quarrel, the end of which she could not foresee--weeping for the -young heart that loved her so truly, so he flattered himself; and in -the morning she would find that his room was tenantless, his bed -unslept in, and that he was gone--gone no-one knew whither! - -Hope had scarcely yet risen in Quentin's breast; he felt but the -stern and crushing knowledge that he was leaving his only home where -all had loved, and where he truly loved all save one, to launch out -upon an unknown world, and to begin a career that was as friendless -as it was shadowy. - -He had no defined plan, where to proceed, or what to essay. He -naturally thought of the army; but, as he had ever anticipated a -commission, he shrunk from enlisting, and thereby depriving himself -of all liberty of action, and perhaps of forfeiting for ever the -place which he felt himself, by birth and education, entitled to take -in society. - -Of business or the mode of attaining a profession, he was as ignorant -as of the contents of the Koran, the Talmud, the Shasters, or the -books of Brahma; and had he dropped from the moon, or sprung out of -the turf, he could not have felt more lonely, friendless, and -isolated in the world. - -He was now passing the old ruined church, with its low and crumbling -boundary-wall that encloses the graveyard, where, long ago, his -drowned father had been reverently laid by the Rohallion Volunteers -and the worthy old quartermaster. - -How well Quentin knew the spot amid the solemn obscurity! he could -see it from the time-worn foot-stile where he lingered for a moment. -_He_ was lying beside the ancient east window, near the Rohallion -aisle, where dead Crawfords of ages past, even those who had fallen -in their armour at Flodden and Pinkey, Sark and Arkinholme, were -buried. No stone marked the spot; but now the rough-bearded thistle, -the long green nettle, the broad-leaved dock, and the sweetbriar, -mingled mournfully over the humble last home of the poor dead -wanderer. - -Quentin felt his heart very full at that moment. - -Did the father _see_ his son to-night? Was he looking upon him from -some mysterious bourne among the stars? Did he know the tumult, the -sorrow, and the half-despair that were mingling in his breast? - -Quentin almost asked these questions aloud, as, with a mind deeply -agitated by conflicting thoughts, the poor fellow journeyed on. - -A strong regard for the home he had left (of any _other_ he had no -memory now save a vague and indistinct dream), with painful doubts -lest he had been ungracious, ungrateful, or unkind to any there, -beset him, after the soft revulsion of feeling excited by the solemn -aspect of the midnight churchyard. - -Then came dim foreshadowings, the anxious hopes--a boy's certainty of -future fame and distinction; but how, where, and in what path? - -His romance-reading with Flora and the yarns of the quartermaster had -filled his mind with much false enthusiasm and many odd fancies. He -had misty recollections of heroes expelled or deserting from home -under circumstances pretty similar to his own, who had flung -themselves over awful precipices, when their bones were picked white -(a doubly unpleasant idea) by the Alpine eagles or bears of the Black -Forest: or who had thrown themselves upon their swords, or drowned -themselves (the Lollard's Linn was pouring not far off; but the night -was decidedly _cold_), yet none of these modes of exit, suited his -purpose so well as walking manfully on, and imagining, with a species -of grim satisfaction, the surmises and so forth at Rohallion, when -the supper-bell rang and he did not appear; when Jack Andrews, with -military punctuality, closed the old feudal fortress for the night, -and still he was not to be found; and then the next day, with its -increased excitement, was a thought that quite cheered him! - -But there was Flora--sweet Flora Warrender, with all her winning -little ways; and her image came upbraidingly before him despite the -smarting of the wound given him by the Master, and the deeper sting -of Lady Rohallion's words. - -As glittering fancies rose like soap-bubbles in the sunshine; as the -_Châteaux en Espagne_ rose too, and faded away into mud-hovels and -even prisons, love and affection drew his thoughts _back_ and seemed -to centre his hopes in and about Rohallion. Flora's face, the memory -of past years of love and kindness experienced from Lady Winifred, -and from the old Lord, melted his heart, or filled it with regard and -gratitude towards them, and he felt that, go where he might, -Rohallion could never be forgotten. A verse of Burns that occurred -to him, seemed but to embody his own ideas and emotions-- - - "The monarch may forget his crown, - That on his head an hour hath been; - The bridegroom may forget the bride, - Was made his wedded wife yestreen; - The mother may forget her child, - That smiles so sweetly on her knee; - _But I'll remember thee, Glencairn, - And all that thou hast done for me._" - - -From an eminence above the oakwood shaw, he turned to take his last -view of the old dwelling-place; but he could only see its lights -twinkling like distant stars, for the night was obscure and murky; -the clouds were rolling in great masses; the wind came in fierce and -fitful gusts from the Firth of Clyde, while the rain began to descend -steadily. - -Bodily discomfort soon recalled all his emotions of hate and anger at -the Master, and with eyes that flashed in the dark, he turned his -back, almost resentfully, on the old castle, and resumed his aimless -journey. - -"There is sometimes," says a writer, "a stronger sense of unhappiness -attached to what is called being hardly used by the world, than by a -direct and palpable misfortune, for though the sufferer may not be -able even in his own heart to set out with clearness one single count -in the indictment, yet a _general_ sense of hard treatment, -unfairness, and so forth, brings with it a great depression and -feeling of desolation." - -"Why was I orphaned in youth?" thought Quentin, bitterly, as this -sense of unfairness and depression came over him; "why was I cast on -the bounty, the mercy, of strangers? Why did I love Flora--why do we -love each other so vainly, and why are we to be hopelessly separated?" - -All these questions remained unanswered; but the blinding rain was -now coming down in sheets, and he felt the necessity of seeking -shelter without delay. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -THE VAULT OF KILHENZIE. - - "Through gloomy paths unknown, - Paths which untrodden be, - From rock to rock I go - Along the dashing sea. - And seek from busy woe, - With hurrying steps to flee; - But know, fair lady! know, - All this I bear for thee!" - _Ancient Poetry of Spain._ - - -On passing the long thicket or copse, known as the oakwood shaw, a -number of fires burning on the heath beyond, and sheltered by the -oaks from the west wind, at once indicated to Quentin that a gipsy -camp was there. Indeed, he could see their figures flitting darkly -to and fro around the red fires, on which they were heaping wood that -smoked and sputtered in the wind and rain. He could also see the -little tents or wigwams which were simply formed by half circular -hoops stuck in the earth, and covered by canvas or tarpaulin. - -Their miserable ponies were picquetted on the open heath, where, with -drooping ears and comfortless aspect, they cropped the scanty herbage -or chewed the whin bushes. Aware that these people were to be -sedulously avoided, and that he must neither risk the loss of his -portmanteau, or the money so generously lent him by the -quartermaster, he clutched his walking-cane, turned hastily aside, -and passing up a lane between hedge-rows, proceeded towards a -farm-house, the occupants of which he feared might know him; but he -was resolved to risk recognition, for the weather was becoming -pitiless, and he had no alternative. - -A watchdog barked furiously and madly, straining on his chain and -standing on his hind-legs, open-mouthed, as Quentin approached the -house, which was involved in darkness and silence. - -The rain was dashing on the closed windows, washing the bleak walls -and gorging the spouts and gutters, as he handled vigorously and -impatiently a large brass knocker, with which the front door was -furnished. After the third or fourth summons, a window was opened in -the upper story, and by the light within the room Quentin could -perceive the face and figure of the irate farmer, Gibbie Crossgrane, -in a white nightcap and armed with a gun or musket, for Gibbie was -one of the Rohallion volunteers. - -"Wha are ye, and what do ye seek at this time o' night?" he demanded. - -"Shelter----" Quentin began. - -"Shelter!" shouted the other; "my certie! do ye take this for a -change-house, or an ale-wife's, that ye rap sae loud and lang?" - -"I have lost my way, Mr. Crossgrane----" - -"Then ye are the mair fule! But be off," he added, cocking his -piece; "I warrant ye are nae better than ye should be. This is the -third time I hae been roused out o' my warm bed this blessed night by -yon cursed tinkler bodies, that hae been fechting and roost-robbing -about Kilhenzie a' day, so be off, carle, I say, or aiblins I'll -shoot ye like a hoodiecraw, ye vagrant limmer." - -With these threatening words, which showed that he was determined to -consider his visitor one of the gipsies, he slapped the butt of his -gun significantly, and sharply closed the window ere poor Quentin -could explain or reply. - -"Churlish wretch!" he sighed, as he turned away, and revenged himself -by hurling a huge stone at the yelling watch-dog, which, like a cowed -bully, instantly plunged into his kennel, where he snapped and -snarled in spite and anger. - -Aware of the futility of making any further attempt in this quarter, -Quentin returned to the high road, when, passing the ruins of -Kilhenzie, he conceived the idea of taking shelter in one of the -remaining vaults, wherein he knew that Farmer Crossgrane was wont to -store straw and hay for his cattle. - -Though the memory of John the Master's wraith, the spectre-hound of -the holly thicket, and other dark stories somewhat impressed him at -this hour, and awed him as he approached the ruined walls, he -hastened to avail himself of their shelter, quickening his pace to a -run as he passed the giant tree of Kilhenzie, on the branches of -which, the quartermaster and dominie averred, so many men had taken -their leave of a setting sun. - -He went straight to an arched vault which he knew well, as it opened -off the grass-grown barbican, and finding it, as he expected, full of -dry straw, he burrowed among it for warmth, and placing his -portmanteau under his head, strove to avoid all thoughts of the -gloomy ruin in which he had a shelter, and to sleep, if possible, -till dawn of day. - -The old stronghold was a familiar place, endeared to him by the -memory of many an evening ramble with Flora Warrender, with whom he -had explored every turret, nook, and corner of it; and with the -dominie, too, whose old legends of the fiery Kennedies of -Kilhenzie--with whom he always loved to connect his pupil--were alike -strange and stirring. - -"Ah, if I should indeed prove to be the Laird of Kilhenzie--I who -lurk here like a beggar to-night!" said Quentin, and then the quaint -figure of his tutor the dominie, with his long ribbed galligaskins -drawn over the knees of his corduroy breeches, came vividly before -him. - -He thought of the stately Lady Eglinton, who had always ridiculed -this ideal descent, and of her daughters, but chiefly his old -playmate, the gentle Lady Mary, and wondered whether they would mourn -when they heard of what had befallen him. But Quentin was fated -never to see the fair Montgomerys more; for Lady Mary died in her -youth, and Lady Lilias died far away in Switzerland, where she was -interred in the same grave with her husband. - -It was now, after his recent rude repulse at the farmhouse, that he -felt himself indeed a wanderer and an outcast! - -Wet and weary, he shuddered with cold; the loss of blood he had -suffered rendered him weak and drowsy, and but for the brandy so -thoughtfully given him by old John Girvan, he could not have -proceeded so far on his aimless journey. - -He strove hard, with his nervous excitement, to sleep, and to find in -oblivion a temporary release from thoughts of the happy days of past -companionship and of love-making--days that would return no -more--moments of delight and joy never to be lived over again! -Flora's voice, as low and sweet as ever Annie Laurie's was; her clear -and smiling eyes, her ringing laugh, so silvery and joyous, were all -vividly haunting him, with the memory of that dear and--as it -proved--_last_ kiss in the ancient avenue. - -All these were to be foregone now, it too probably seemed for ever, -and Cosmo, with his thousand chances, had the field to himself, nor -would he fail to use them. - -Despite his strong and almost filial love for Lord and Lady -Rohallion, Quentin felt in his heart that he hated the cold and -haughty Master as the primary cause of all his misery, and the memory -of the degrading blow, so ruthlessly dealt by his hand, burned like a -plague-spot on his soul, if we may use such a simile. - -Gradually, however, sleep stole upon him, but not repose, for he had -strange shuddering fits, nervous startings, and perpetual dreams of -vague and horrible things, which he could neither understand nor -realize. - -Once he sprang up with a half-stifled cry, having imagined that the -hand of a strange man had clutched his throat! So vivid was this -idea, that some minutes elapsed before he fully recovered his -self-possession. - -"The wound on my head and the consequent loss of blood cause these -unusual visions," thought he, not unnaturally. "Oh, that I could but -sleep--sleep soundly, and forget everything for a little time!" - -The rain and the wind had ceased now, and he heard only the cawing of -the rooks in the echoing ruin. He could see the morning star shining -with diamond-like brilliance, but coldly and palely through a -loophole of the vault, and with a sigh of impatience for the coming -day he was composing himself once more to sleep, when suddenly his -hand came in contact with the fingers of another, protruding from the -straw near him--the straw on which he was lying! - -His first emotion was terror at being there with some person unknown, -without other weapon than a walking-cane. - -His next thought was flight from this silent companion, whom he -addressed thrice without receiving other reply than the echo of his -own voice reverberating in the vault. - -It had been no dream; a hand must indeed have been on his throat--a -hand that if he stirred or breathed might clutch him again; but whose -hand? - -Prepared to make a most desperate resistance, he listened, but heard -only the beating of his heart, and the drip, drip, dripping of -moisture from the ivy leaves without, or the occasional rustle of the -straw within the vault. Fearfully he put forth his hand to search -again, for a streak of dim light was glimmering through a loophole, -and again his hand came in contact with the other. Cold, rigid, -motionless, it was, he knew, with a thrill of horror, the hand of a -corpse! - -With an irrepressible and shuddering cry, Quentin sprang up, and as -he did so he could now see, half-hidden amid the straw on which he -had slept, and literally beneath him, the dead body of a man--the -features white, pale, and pinched; the hands half-upraised, as if he -had died in the act of resistance or in agony. A bunch of wooden -ladles, porridge spurtles, and horn spoons that lay near, all covered -with blood, showed that he was a gipsy, who had been slain in one of -the scuffles which were of frequent occurrence between adverse tribes -of those lawless wanderers, and that he had been concealed in the -vault of Kilhenzie, or had crawled there to die. Quentin conceived -the former to be the most probable cause for the body being there. - -All that the foregoing paragraph has embraced Quentin's eye and mind -took in with the rapidity of a flash of lightning, and snatching his -portmanteau, he sprang out of the vault, rushed down the slope on -which the old castle stands, and shivering with disgust, affright, -and the cold air of the damp morning, found himself again on the -highway that led to Maybole. - -The birds were singing and twittering merrily in the green hedgerows -and among the dew-dripping trees, as the August day came in. Already -the roads were almost dry, and as a blue-bonneted ploughboy passed -with a pair of huge Clydesdale horses afield, whistling gaily, -Quentin shrunk behind a hedge, for his clothes, damped by the rain -over-night, were nowise improved in aspect by the bed he had -selected; and now on examining them, he perceived to his dismay and -repugnance that they exhibited several spots of blood, and his hands -wore the same sanguine hue. Whether these ominous marks had come -from his own veins or from those of the corpse near which he had so -unpleasantly lain, Quentin knew not, but in great haste he sought a -runnel that gurgled by the wayside, and there with the aid of a -handkerchief he removed the stains with as much dispatch and care as -if they had been veritable signs of guilt and shame. - -We have said that blood gouts had been found in the gipsy bivouac, -and Farmer Crossgrane had mentioned incidentally that the vagrants -had been fighting. They were notorious for the free and reckless use -of their knives and daggers, so doubtless, the body lying in -Kilhenzie was the result of a recent affray. Quentin now discovered -that he had lost his walking-cane, and that in his flight from the -ruin he had left it in the vault beside the dead man. He regretted -this, as the cane was a present from Lord Rohallion, and had his -initials graven on its silver head; but he could not overcome his -repugnance sufficiently to face again his ghastly bedfellow, or to -return, and so hastened from the vicinity of the old castle. - -He had not, however, proceeded two miles or so, before the alarming -idea occurred to him, that this cane, if found beside the dead man, -might serve to implicate him in the affair; and through the medium of -his active fancy he saw a long train of circumstantial evidence -adduced against him, and in his ruin, disgrace, it might be death, a -triumph given to Cosmo Crawford which even he could not exult in. - -These terrible reflections gave the additional impulse of fear to -urge him on. - -The morning was sunny, breezy, and lovely; the sky a pure deep blue, -and without a cloud; the light white mists were rising from the shady -glens and haughs where the wimpling burns ran through the leafy copse -or under the long yellow broom, when from an eminence Quentin took -his last farewell of scenery that was endeared to him by all his -recollections of childhood and youth, and heavy, heavy grew his heart -as he did so. He could see the glorious Firth of Clyde opening in -the distance, and all the bold and beautiful shore of Carrick -stretching from the high Black Vault of Dunure away towards the bluff -and castle of Rohallion. - -Dunduff and Carrick's brown hill had mist yet resting on their -summits, and afar off, paling away to greyish blue, was Ailsa Craig, -rising like a cloud from the water--the white canvas of many a ship, -homeward-bound or outward-bound, merchantman, privateer and -letter-of-marque, like sea birds floating on the bosom of the -widening river. On the other side he saw the rich undulations that -look down on the vast and fertile plains of Kyle and Cunninghame, and -in the middle distance Maybole, amid the golden morning haze, the -quaint little capital of Carrick, with its baronial tower and -Tolbooth spire. - -There he considered himself as certain of being recognised by some of -the vintners, ostlers, or by Pate, the town piper, for the place had -been a favourite turning point with him and Flora Warrender in their -evening rides; and he also knew that if he were _not_ recognised, the -smallness of his portmanteau suggested that the estimate which might -be formed of him by Boniface, by waiters and others, would not be -very high. - -He therefore resolved to avoid that ancient Burgh-of-Barony -altogether, and the carrier for Ayr coming up at that moment, he -struck a bargain with him for conveyance thither. Remembering how -Roderick Random and other great men had travelled by this humble mode -of locomotion, he gladly took his seat by the side of the driver, a -lively and cheerful fellow, who knew all the cottars and girls on the -road, and who whistled or sang incessantly varying marches, rants, -and reels, with Burns' songs, every one of which he knew by -heart--and he knew Burns too, having, as he boasted, "flitted the -poet from Irvine to Mossgiel in '84--just four-and-twenty years -sinsyne." - -He blithely shared his humble breakfast of sour milk in a luggie, -barley meal bannock and Dunlop cheese, with our hero, whose spirits -seemed to rise as the morning sun soared into the cloudless sky, and -he seemed to feel now the necessity of ceasing to mope, of becoming -the maker of his own fate, the arbiter of his own destiny, and he -determined, if possible, to "wrestle with the dark angel of adversity -till she brightened and blessed him." - -When left to himself, however, lulled by the monotonous rumble of the -waggon wheels, he lay back among the carrier's bales, and gave -himself up to day-dreams and his old trade of airy castle-building. - -He had forty guineas in his pocket, he was sound wind and limb, and -had all the world before him! - -All tinted in rosy and golden colours, he saw the future scenes in -which he was to figure--kings being at times but accessories and -"supers" of the grouping. He held imaginary conversations with the -great, the noble, and the wealthy; he was the hero of a hundred -achievements, but whether on land, on sea, or in the air, he had not -as yet the most remote idea; but they all tended to one point, for -his fancies, ambitions, and hopes seemed, not unnaturally, to revolve -in an orbit, of which Flora Warrender and Lady Rohallion--for he -dearly loved her too--were the combined centre of attraction. - -Full of himself and of the little world of fancy he was weaving, he -cared not where he went or how the time passed, for he was just at -that delightful and buoyant period of life when novels and tales of -adventure fill the mind with sentiments and imageries that seem quite -_realities_; thus, he felt assured that like some of the countless -heroes, whose career he had studied at times in history but much -oftener in fiction, he was destined for a very remarkable and -brilliant future. - -Travelling in the corner of a carrier's waggon, after sharing the -proprietor's sour milk and home-baked bannocks, did not look very -like it; but was not this simply _the beginning of the end?_ - -When again they met, how much would he have to tell Flora, commencing -with the very first night of his departure, and that horrible -adventure in the vault of Kilhenzie. - -But how if she married the Master, with his sneering smile and -cat-like eyes? - -This fear chilled him certainly; but he felt trustful. Hope inspires -fresh love as love inspires hope, for they must grow and flourish -together; and so on and on he dreamed, until a sudden jolt of the -waggon roughly roused him, and he found that it was just crossing -"the auld brig o' Ayr," the four strong and lofty arches of which -first spanned the stream when Alexander II. was king. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -THE QUEEN ANNE'S HEAD. - -"Well, suppose life be a desert? There are halting-places and -shades, and refreshing waters; let us profit by them for to-day. We -know that we must march on when to-morrow comes, and tramp on our -destiny onward."--THACKERAY. - - -Having amply satisfied the worthy carrier, Quentin quitted the -waggon, and proceeded through the bustling, but then narrow, unpaved, -and ill-lighted streets of Ayr, towards one of the principal inns, -the Queen Anne's Head, the only ONe in the town with which he was -familiar, as Lord Rohallion's carriage occasionally stopped there. -It was a large, rambling, old-fashioned house, with a galleried -court, ample stabling, low ceiled rooms; with dark oak panels, heavy -dormant beams, and stone fire-places; wooden balconies projecting -over stone piazzas, tall gables, and turret-like turnpike stairs; and -a mouldered escutcheon over the entrance door showed that in palmier -days it had been the town mansion of some steel-coated lesser baron. - -Hotels were still unknown in the three bailiwicks of Carrick, Kyle, -and Cunninghame; thus in the yard behind the Queen Anne's Head, the -stage coach, his majesty's mail (whose scarlet-coated guard bore -pistols, and a blunderbuss that might have frightened Bonaparte), the -carrier's waggon, the farmer's gig, and the lumbering, old-fashioned -coaches of my Lord Rohallion, or the Earls of Cassilis and Eglinton, -with their wooden springs and stately hammercloths, might all be seen -standing side by side. Though war rendered the continent a sealed -book to the English, Sir Walter Scott's poems and novels had not as -yet opened up all Scotland to the tourists of Europe and Cockneydom. -The kingdom of the Jameses could not be "done" then as now, by Brown, -Jones, and Robinson, with knapsack on back (with Black's Guide and -Bradshaw's Table, tartan peg-tops and paper collars), in a fortnight -by rail and steam; hence a traveller on foot, and portmanteau in -hand, was apt to be considered in the rural districts as an English -pedlar or worse. Indeed, Scotland and England were then very little -changed from what they had been in the days of William and Mary, and -but for worthy old James Watt they might have been so _still_. - -"I'll be extravagant--I'll have a jovial dinner and a glass of wine," -thought Quentin, who, though pale and weary, had the appetite of a -young hawk, notwithstanding all his doubts and troubles. "Which -way?" he inquired of a surly-looking waiter, who stood at the inn -door, with a towel over his arm; but this official, instead of -replying, very leisurely surveyed Quentin from head to foot, and then -glanced superciliously at his portmanteau. - -His wetting over night, his repose among the straw, and the -subsequent journey among the carrier's bales and butter firkins had -not improved his external appearance. Quentin felt aware of this, -and reiterated angrily. - -"Which way--did you not hear me?" - -"You've taen the wrang gate, my friend, I'm thinking," replied the -waiter, shaking his head. - -"Wrong way! What do you mean, fellow?" - -"Nae mair a fellow than yoursel'," said the waiter, saucily. "The -'Blue Bell,' doon the next wynd, or the 'Souter Johnnie,' opposite -the Tolbooth, will better suit ye than the 'Anne's Head.' They are -famous resorts for packmen and dustifute bodies." - -"I mean to remain where I am. Show me to a bedroom, and order dinner -for me in the dining-room," said Quentin, flushing up with sudden -passion. "The best in the house, and lose no time!" - -"Some military gentlemen are in the best chamber," urged the waiter, -whom this manner did not fail to impress, as he lingered with his -hand on the lock of a door. - -"If the devil himself were there, what is it to me? Do as I order, -or I will kick you into the street!" - -The waiter, who, as tourists and idle travellers were then unknown in -Ayr, was utterly at a loss to make out the character of this new -guest, bowed and ushered him into a bedroom, after which, he hastened -away, no doubt to report upon the dubious kind of occupant, who had -almost forced his way into No. 20. - -Though the contents of Quentin's portmanteau were limited, he -speedily made such an improvement in his toilet, that when he came -forth he received a very gracious bow from Boniface, who had been -hovering about the corridor on the watch; and he was ushered into the -principal dining-room of the establishment, a long and rather -low-roofed apartment, having several massive tables and oval-backed -old-fashioned chairs, a gigantic sideboard, within the brass rail of -which stood three upright knife and spoon cases, several plated -tankards, salvers, and branch candlesticks of quaint and antique form. - -The room was decorated with prints of Nelson's victories, the Siege -of Gibraltar, the Battle of Alexandria, and other recent glories of -our arms by sea and land; while over the mantel-piece was one of -Gillray's gaudily-coloured political caricatures, which were then so -much in vogue--for he was the H.B. and _Punch_ of the Regency. - -Two officers in undress uniform, with blue facings (their swords, -sashes, and caps lying on the table beside them) were lounging over -some brandy and water, and laughing at Gillray's, not over-delicate -print, while Quentin retired to a remote corner of the room, and -smarting under the waiter's impertinence, now felt more lonely and -depressed than he had done since leaving home. He could remember -that his last reception in that very house had been so different, -when, in Lady Rohallion's carriage, he and Flora Warrender had driven -up to the door and ordered luncheon. - -One of the military guests was a tall, weather-beaten, soldier-like -man, about thirty-five years of age, a lieutenant apparently by the -bullion of his epaulettes; the other was slender, fair-haired, and -rather plainly featured, and proved to be the ensign of his -recruiting party, which was then beating up at Ayr. As the churlish -waiter passed them after putting some wine before Quentin, the -lieutenant asked, in a low voice-- - -"What is _he_?" - -"Who, sir?" - -"That young fellow in the corner." - -"Too proud for a recruit--an officer, I think," said the waiter, with -a grin. - -"A sheriff's officer?--that boy, do you mean?" - -"No, sir--in the army," whispered the waiter, with a still more -impertinent grin, and retired before Quentin could hurl the decanter -at his head, which he felt very much inclined to do. - -He was seriously offended, but affected to look out of the window, -while the two subalterns, turning their backs on him, resumed their -conversation as if he had not been present. - -"And so, Pimple," said the senior, "when you proposed for the -Bailie's daughter you were deep in love--" - -"Yes--very." - -"And in debt and drink, too?" - -"I was in love, I tell you," said the ensign, angrily. - -"For the _twenty-fifth_ time, eh?" - -"Not exactly, Monkton; but you are aware that fathers have flinty -hearts, and seldom see with--with--" - -"With what--out with it, old fellow.", - -"Their charming daughters' eyes," sighed the ensign. - -"True, or I should have been seen to advantage long ago. But an -ensign under orders for foreign service is not the most eligible of -sons-in-law." - -"True--but in _my_ ease, at least," continued the ensign, who was -quite serious, while his senior officer was purple with suppressed -laughter, "in my case, as a young gentleman possessed of moderate -fortune, moderate accomplishments----" - -"And moderate virtue--eh, Pimple?" - -"You are very impertinent, Monkton," remonstrated the other, -upbraidingly. - -"But truthful, my dear boy, very truthful," said the quizzing -lieutenant, for half the conversation was mere "barrack-room chaff," -to use a phrase then unknown; "and if old Squaretoes----" - -"Who do you mean?" - -"Mean? why this rich old flax-spinner, the father of your fair one. -If he should come down handsomely, we fellows of the 25th would -consider you quite as our factor--eh, Pimple?" - -On hearing this number, which was so familiar to his ear, Quentin -Kennedy turned to observe the speakers more particularly, when a -third officer, a very handsome man, about forty years of age, with a -nut-brown cheek, a rollicking blue eye, and a hearty laugh, a square, -well-built form, clad in full regimentals, scarlet-faced and lapelled -with green and gold to the waist, and wearing large loose epaulettes, -burst into the room, noisily and without ceremony. As he did so, he -threw his arms round a very pretty chambermaid, who was tripping past -with something from the sideboard, and kissing the girl, who was half -pleased and half scared, he shouted in a tragi-comic manner, a -passage from the _Merchant's Wife_, a now forgotten play:-- - - "Woman thou stol'st my heart--just now thou stol'st it, - A cannon-bullet might have kissed my lips - And left me as much life!" - - -"If the sour-visaged landlord catches you kissing any of his -squaws"----suggested the lieutenant. - -"It is a custom we learned in the Dutch service," replied the new -comer, laughingly. - -"Have you got the route for to-morrow, Warriston?" asked the -lieutenant. - -"All right," said the other, flourishing an oblong official paper; -"it was brought by an orderly dragoon--here it is. His majesty's -will and pleasure, &c., to civil (query, uncivil) magistrates and -others and so forth, to provide billets for the noisy, carriages for -the drunken, and handcuffs for the disorderly, of three officers, -three sergeants, and seventy rank and file, proceeding by Muirkirk -and Kirknewton to Edinburgh--a seventy miles' march." - -"Ugh!" groaned the lieutenant. - -"So, Pimple, your love affair must be off like ourselves, by beat of -drum to-morrow." - -The ensign heaved a kind of mock sigh, and raised his white eyebrows. - -"Now, waiter, quick with dinner--the best in larder and cellar," said -the captain to that churlish attendant, who laid a knife and fork for -Quentin at the extreme end of the long table. - -"Who is the solitary or exclusive person that is to be carved for -there, half a mile off?" asked the captain. - -The waiter glanced towards Quentin. - -"Nonsense," said the Captain of the 94th, "lay his cover with -ours--absurd to dine alone at the end of this devilish long table. -You'll join us, eh?" - -"With pleasure," said Quentin, bowing. - -"A glass of wine with you. What are you drinking?" - -"Sherry." - -They filled their glasses, bowed, and drank, after which Quentin came -forward and joined them. - -"I'm Dick Warriston, 94th. My friends, Mr. Monkton and Mr. Boyle, -25th." - -"Mr. Kennedy," said Quentin, introducing himself, with a heightened -colour. - -Quentin soon learned from their conversation that the captain had -been recruiting for the 94th, and the other two officers for the -25th, in Ayrshire, with considerable success; that they had obtained -a sufficient number of men, and were under orders to march for the -head-quarters of their respective corps by daybreak on the morrow. -He also heard, incidentally, some of the little secrets of -recruiting, and the tricks played by knowing sergeants to trepan men -into paying smart-money, and so forth; that the lieutenant had been -"rowed" with a threat of being summoned to head-quarters for -enlisting men beneath the proper height, his sergeant having supplied -them with false heels, five feet seven being the minimum for "the -Borderers;" and next, that he had narrowly escaped a court-martial -for sending some half-dozen O'Neils and O'Donnels (all Irish) to the -regiment, as MacNeils and MacDonnels from the Western Isles. - -The three officers, in their jollity, thoughtlessness, laughter, and -general lightness of heart, formed a strong contrast to poor -Quentin's dejection of spirit. He envied them, and asked of himself -why was he not happy and merry too--why was he not one of them? - -Richard Warriston, the senior, had begun life as a subaltern in -General Sir Ralph Dundas's Regiment of the Scots-Dutch, as they were -named--the famous old Scots brigade of six battalions, which served -their High Mightinesses the States of Holland from the days of James -VI. to those of the French Revolution--in all the bloody wars of two -centuries, bearing themselves with honour and never losing a -standard, though they had captured many from every army in Europe. -They volunteered, as the 94th Foot, into the British service about -the end of the last century, and came back to Scotland clad in the -old Dutch yellow uniform; hence Warriston's stories and memories were -all of Holland and Flanders, Prussia and Austria, and many a strange -anecdote he had to tell at times. - -Desirous of showing the suspicious landlord and impertinent waiter -how _other_ persons viewed him, Quentin ordered another bottle of -wine. - -"The deuce!" he heard the captain whisper to Monkton; "we can't -permit this mere boy to treat us to wine." - -"_Two_ bottles, and be sharp, waiter," said Quentin, whose pride the -well-meaning officer had piqued. - -"He is a regular trump," said Monkton, adjusting his napkin. - -"A gentleman--a phrase I prefer," added Warriston in the same -undertone, as he proceeded to slice down a gallant capon; for he -could perceive at once, by Quentin's bearing at the dinner-table--the -truest and best test--that he knew all its etiquette and had been -used to good society. As the wine circulated and reserve thawed (not -that there was much of it, certainly, in the present quartet) Quentin -asked Monkton if he remembered an officer named Girvan in his corps. - -"Girvan--Girvan--remember him?--yes; an old quartermaster--rose from -the ranks, didn't he?" - -"Yes." - -"He left us on a half-pay commission in the year I joined, during -Lord Rohallion's lieutenant-colonelcy. (By-the-bye, his lordship -lives somewhere hereabout; should leave our cards for him, but have -no time.) Girvan was a queer old fellow, who always wore a yellow -wig--do you know him?" - -"Intimately. I have known him from my childhood," said Quentin, his -eyes sparkling and heart swelling with pleasure, that he could speak -of some one at home. - -"Any relation of yours?" asked Monkton; and so weak is human nature -that Quentin blushed that any one should think he was so, and then -blushed deeper still that he was ashamed of his true and sterling old -friend. - -"Perhaps he is your father?" suggested the ensign, mischievously. - -"Sir, I said my name is Kennedy; my father was a captain of the Scots -Brigade in the French service." - -"Ah--indeed!" said Warriston, becoming suddenly interested; "is he -still alive?" - -"Alas, sir, no!" - -"Killed in action, likely?" - -"He was drowned at sea, after an engagement with a French ship off -the mouth of the Clyde." - -"And where have you come from, that you travel thus alone?" - -"I cannot say." - -"Then where are you going to?" asked the ensign. - -"I don't know," replied Quentin, sadly. - -"Can't say and don't know!" said the captain of the Scots Brigade; -"then my advice would be to stay where you are." - -"That is not possible." - -"You are an odd fellow--quite an enigma," said Monkton, laughing. - -"Perhaps I am," replied poor Quentin, with a sickly smile. - -"Do you know, my young friend, that I have been observing you closely -for some time (pardon me saying so), but with something of friendly -interest, and I perceive an air of dejection about you that shows -there is something wrong--a screw loose somewhere," said Captain -Warriston, kindly. - -"Wrong?" repeated Quentin, flushing, and in doubt how to take the -remark. - -"Yes; I have seen so much of the world that I can read a man's face -like an open book." - -"And the reading of mine----" - -"Is satisfactory; but there is something in your eyes that tells me -you are in a scrape somehow--at home, perhaps?" - -"Home!" exclaimed Quentin, in a voice that trembled, for the wine was -affecting him; "I have _none_!" - -The three officers glanced at each other, and the fair-haired -ensign's white eyebrows went up rather superciliously. - -"I find that I must talk with you, my young friend," said -Warriston--"will you have a cigar?" he added, offering his case after -the cloth was removed. - -"Thank you--no; I am not a smoker." - -In fact, Quentin had never seen the soothing "weed" in such a form, -until his foe, the Master, came to Rohallion. - -"Waiter, bring candles--another bottle, and then be off; these -decanters are empty--fill again; le Roi est mort--vive le Roi!" - -"In short, Mr. Kennedy, you have run from college or home, I fear," -said Monkton; "what have you been about--making love to some of your -lady-mother's maids, and got into a double scrape, or what? See how -he flushes--there has been some love in the case, at least." - -"Were you never in love?" asked Quentin, who certainly did redden, -but with annoyance. - -"Who--I--me?--what the devil--in love!" and the bulky lieutenant lay -back in his chair and fairly laughed himself crimson, either at the -idea or the simplicity of the question. "I have long since learned -that there is nothing so variable in the world as woman's temper." - -"The Horse Guards excepted," said Warriston; "the great nobs there -never know their own minds for three days consecutively; witness all -the vacillation about who is to command the Spanish expedition." - -"Then, Mr. Pimple," began Quentin, "have you ever----" - -"Mr. Kennedy," said the ensign, angrily, "I'll have you to know, sir, -that my name is Boyle--Ensign Patrick Boyle, at your service." - -"So it is," said the lieutenant, choking with laughter, on perceiving -that Quentin looked quite bewildered; "but we call him Pimple at the -mess for being only five feet and an inch or so. He is not big -enough to be a Boyle, though he is one of a tall Ayrshire stock. Is -not it so, Pat, old boy? Perhaps you are some relation of the famous -chemist?" - -"Which--who?" - -"I mean Robert Boyle was seventh son of the Earl of Cork, and became -_father_ of chemistry. Now, don't think of calling me out, Pat, for, -'pon my soul, I won't go. The 25th couldn't do without us. You must -know, Warriston, that Pimple was in the Royals before he joined us; -but he had always a fancy for the Borderers. You used to pass -yourself, in mufti, as a 25th man; didn't you, Pimple?--long before -you had the honour to admire that blessed number on your own -buttons--eh?" - -Though hearty, hospitable, and jovial, to Quentin it seemed that -Monkton had an irrepressible desire to quiz the ensign, even to -rudeness, and the latter took it all good-naturedly enough till the -fumes of the wine mounted into his head. - -"But, to return to what we were talking of," said Warriston, -earnestly and kindly. "Can I advise you in any way, my friend? Are -you already a prodigal, who has neither a herd of promising pigs, nor -the husks wherewith to feed them?" - -"Excuse me entering much into my own affairs. My father, I have told -you, is dead. I have no mother--no friends--to counsel me," he -continued, in a tremulous voice, "and I know not whether to join the -service or drown myself in the nearest river." - -"The Ayr is not very deep," said Monkton, despite a deprecatory -glance from his senior; "why don't you say hang yourself?" - -"Well, then, or hang myself," said Quentin, bitterly. - -"And the alternative is joining the service?" - -"Yes." - -"You pay his Majesty and his uniform a high compliment," said -Warriston, with a hearty laugh, in which Quentin, seeing the -ungraciousness of his remark, was fain to join; "but as for entering -the ranks, you must not think of that. Why not do as I did, and many -better men have done--join some regiment of Cavalry or Infantry, as a -gentleman volunteer?" - -A new light seemed to break upon Quentin with these words--a new hope -and spirit flashed up in his heart. - -"How, sir," he asked, "how, sir? Explain to me, pray." - -"Zounds, man! it is very simple. A letter of recommendation to the -officer commanding any regiment now under orders for the seat of war, -a few pounds in your pocket to pay your way till under canvas or -before the enemy, are all that is necessary." - -"Thanks to a dear friend, I have money enough and to spare; but the -letter----" - -"We have too many volunteers already with both battalions of the -Scots Brigade," said Warriston, reflectively. - -"But you can give him a letter to our commanding officer," interposed -Monkton. - -"Why not give him one yourself, Dick?" - -"Old Middleton would never believe in any person who was warmly -recommended for the first vacant commission by such a fellow as I." - -"Egad, you are perhaps right," said Warriston, laughing; "get me ink -and paper, Pimple----" - -"Boyle," said the ensign, sullenly. - -"Beg pardon, Boyle, I mean--thanks. Here goes for all the virtues -that were ever recorded on a rich man's tombstone." With great -readiness Captain Warriston wrote a letter of introduction and -recommendation for Quentin to the officer commanding the 25th Foot, -in which he gave him as many good qualities as the sheet of paper -could contain, and wrote of him as warmly as if he had known him from -boyhood. It was unanimously approved of by all present--by none more -than Quentin himself, and after it was duly scaled, he pocketed it as -carefully as ever Gil Blas did his patent of nobility. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -NEW FRIENDS. - - "Why unite to banish care? - Let him come our joys to share; - Doubly blest our cup shall flow - When it soothes a brother's woe; - 'Twas for this the powers divine - Crowned our board with generous wine." - TANNAHILL. - - -"The first skirmish, perhaps, and the first general action certainly, -will see you an officer; you shall be one yet, my boy, and a gallant -one, I hope," said Warriston, shaking Quentin's hand. - -The weird sisters' prophecy was not more grateful to the ears of the -Scottish usurper than these words were to Quentin Kennedy; but he -asked,-- - -"If I should be disabled before appointment?" - -"Ah, the devil! don't think of that; you would get only a private -soldier's pension." - -"That is not very encouraging." - -"'Tis better for the volunteer to be shot outright than merely -mutilated. But remember, that many of our best officers have joined -the army as simple volunteers. There was Lord Heathfield, the -gallant defender of Gibraltar, began life as a volunteer with the -23rd at Edinburgh; and one of our Highland regiments, the 71st, I -think, had as many as fifteen such cadets serving in its ranks during -the American war, and splendid officers they have all become. I did -not serve in America, for our corps was then in the Dutch service. -The Prussian army under old Frederick was the Paradise of such -volunteers, and I know one instance in which a soldier of my father's -regiment was made a general in one year, by Frederick's mere caprice." - -"A general!" exclaimed Monkton, who was somewhat soured by the -slowness of his promotion. - -"It was at the battle before Prague, and while my father, John -Warriston of that ilk, then a very young man, commanded the senior -battalion of the Prussian Foot Guards, that Marshal Daun forced -Frederick to raise the siege and retire. As the Prussians fell back, -their left wing became confused by the fury of the Austrian advance. -Frederick's aides-de-camp were all killed, and he was compelled to -gallop about, giving his own orders, accompanied by a single orderly, -Strutzki, the old Putkammer Hussar, in whose arms he died thirty -years after. The ground was rough and his horse was weary, so it -stumbled suddenly and threw him at a place where the field was -covered by the killed and wounded of my father's battalion, which was -then retreating, but in good order. As Frederick gathered himself -up, a soldier who lay near him wounded, exclaimed,-- - -"'Sire, sire, get a brigade of guns into position on yonder eminence, -or it is all up with your left wing!' - -"'How so, fellow?' asked the king, whose temper was no way improved -by his tumble. - -"'Because there is an ambuscade in the valley beyond it.' - -"'I have twice tried to make a stand, comrade.' - -"'Try a third time, Father Frederick.' - -"'Why?' - -"'A third chance is ever the lucky one.' - -"'Good; I'll throw forward the Putkammer Hussars, and let the brigade -of Seydlitz support them.' - -"'But try the effect of a few round shot in the defile,' persisted -the wounded man. 'A devil of a day this for us, Father Frederick! -Macchiavelli, in his 'Art of War,' declares the invention of -gun-powder a mere matter of smoke, not to be deemed of the smallest -importance. Ach, Gott! I wish he was here before Prague with this -Austrian bullet in the calf of his leg.' - -"'What, my friend, you are a reader as well as a soldier?' - -"'Yes, sire, I have had the honour to read all the works of your -majesty.' - -"'A man of sense!" said Frederick, taking a pinch of rappee; 'your -name?' - -"'Peter Schreutzer, of Colonel Warriston's battalion of the Guards.' - -"Frederick drew from one of his fingers a ring of small value (he was -not a man given to trinkets or adornment), and gave it to the -soldier, saying: - -"'If you escape this field of Prague, bring this ring to me yourself, -comrade Peter.' - -"Mounting his horse, he galloped after his retreating army, and -overtaking a few pieces of artillery he posted them on the height -indicated by Schreutzer, and opened fire on the wooded defile--a -measure which dislodged a great ambuscade of Marshal Daun's infantry, -and saved from destruction the Prussian left wing, the retreat of -which was nobly covered by the Warriston battalion. - -"Three months after this, when Frederick was seated in his tent, -surrounded by his staff and dictating orders, a private of the Guards -limped in, supported by a stick, and kneeling presented him with a -ring. - -"'Ach, Gott, what is this?' said Frederick; 'Oho, 'tis my student of -Macchiavelli; well, comrade, I followed your advice and saved my left -wing.' - -"'Thank God, who inspired me with the idea!' said Schreutzer. - -"'For that day's work I name you a captain in the Line,' exclaimed -the king. - -"At Rosbach, where in the same year Frederick defeated the French, -Peter gained his majority in the morning and his lieutenant-colonelcy -in the evening. Then came the affair of Dresden, where the advice -given by him at a council of war was so sound and skilful that he was -appointed major-general. What think you of that, my young -volunteer--in one year to have the private's shoulder-knot replaced -by the aiguilette of a general officer?" - -"It was talent, but strangely favoured by kingly caprice," said -Monkton. - -"Schreutzer succeeded my father in command of the Guards, when he -fell under Frederick's displeasure and quitted the Prussian service -in disgust. Remind me on the march to-morrow to tell you how that -came about, for it is rather a good story." - -"And now to bed," said Monkton, who had imbibed a considerable -quantity of wine; "at last we may put our 'beating orders' in the -fire, for march is the word!" - -"What are they?" asked Quentin. - -"Warrants to raise men by beat of drum," explained the captain, -politely. "They are originally signed by the royal hand, but copies -are taken from them, and signed by the secretary of state for war, -and without them no officer can beat a recruiting drum anywhere. You -have raised nearly a hundred men here, Dick, and must have made -something of it." - -"Much need," grumbled the lieutenant, making ineffectual attempts to -buckle on his sword, as if he was going to bed with it. "I am Dick -Monkton, of Monkton in Lothian, of course; but in name only, for -those paternal acres are so covered by original sin in the shape of -mortgages that never a penny comes to me; so I am compelled to live -and be jolly on six shillings and sixpence per diem, less the -infernal income-tax; and being a fellow of a generous disposition, I -am always losing my heart and my money among the fair sex." - -"Good night, Mr. Kennedy," said Captain Warriston; "if you are still -in the same mood of mind to-morrow, you may turn my letter to some -account. The drum will beat at daybreak." - -"Put your pride in a knapsack or wherever else it can be conveniently -carried, my boy," said Monkton, making a fearful lurch over a chair; -"volunteer and come with us to fight Nap and his Frenchmen." Then he -began to sing, tipsily: - - "'Since some have from ditches - And coarse leather breeches - Been raised to be rulers and wallowed in riches, - Prythee, Dame Fortune, come down from thy wheel; - For if the gipsies don't lie - I shall be a general at least ere I die!' - - -"Ah, damme, but we are not in the Prussian service, like that old -cock, Peter Shooter, or what's his name?" - -Monkton was becoming seriously tipsy, so Quentin, on receiving a -warning glance from Captain Warriston, took his candle and retired to -No. 20 for the night, feeling sensibly that he had imbibed more wine -than he was wont to do after supper at Rohallion. - -He could not sleep, however, till the night was far advanced, and the -knowledge that drum was to beat by daybreak kept him nervously -wakeful, lest he might not hear it, and perhaps be left behind. The -drum was to beat, and _for him_! There was a strange charm in the -idea: it seemed to realize somewhat of his old day-dreams and -romantic aspirations. Already he felt himself a soldier, and bound -for service and adventure! How much would he have to relate when he -wrote to the good old quartermaster, announcing that he was off to -join the army, and _his own_ old corps, the 25th, whose memory he so -treasured, though his name, alas! was long since forgotten in its -ranks. - -And there was Flora--dear, loving, gentle Flora. When was he to -write to her, and through what channel? Ah, if he could calculate on -promotion like that of Peter Schreutzer! He had only been absent -from Flora a night and a day, just four-and-twenty hours, and already -weeks seemed to have elapsed, (what would months--what would years -seem?) while the arrival of Cosmo and long prior events seemed to -have happened but yesterday. Under these circumstances, severance -frequently causes the same inverted ideas of time, that a sudden -death or other great calamity occasion. - -At the moment Quentin was dozing off to sleep, and to dream of past -pleasures or of future triumphs (the ensign being long since in deep -slumber on a sofa), he heard his two new friends parting in the -corridor after having had one bottle more. - -"I say, Warriston, old boy, see me to my door, and just shove me -in--there's a good fellow--here it is--thanks," stammered Monkton; -"may you not have been rash in giving such a fi--fi--fiery old Turk -as Middleton of ours, a letter for--for--damme, a perfect -stranger--perfect stranger?" - -"Not at all," he heard Warriston reply; "the lad has a bearing I -like, and on his own good and unerring conduct as a gentleman and -volunteer must depend his chances of ever wearing these honourable -badges on his shoulders. (He shook his large gold epaulettes as he -spoke.) One o'clock--in three hours the drum will beat! I hope we -shall have a fine day; last night the rain fell as if old Noah had -hove up his anchor again. Good-night, Monkton--sleep if you can." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -THE YOUNG VOLUNTEER. - - "When I was an infant, gossips would say - I'd when older be a soldier; - Rattles and toys I'd throw them away, - Unless a gun or sabre. - When a younker up I grew, - I saw one day a grand review, - Colours flying set me dying, - To embark in a life so new. - Roll drums merrily--march away!" - _Old Song._ - - -Quentin had been asleep--to him it seemed but five minutes, though -two hours had elapsed--when he started as if he had received an -electric shock. The warning drum was being beaten loudly and sharply -under his window, and soon after followed the long roll, whose -summons admits of no delay, even to the most weary soldier. - -Half asleep and half refreshed, he sprang from bed; grey daylight was -stealing faintly in, and all Ayr seemed yet a-bed, the shutters -closed, the chimneys smokeless. The morning mist was curling in -masses along the slopes of the uplands; the summits of the town -steeples and the gothic tower of St. John were reddened by the first -rays of the sun that was yet below the horizon, and the little -drummer boy, as he paced slowly to and fro, in heavy marching order, -with a black glazed knapsack strapped on his back, and a white canvas -havresack slung crosswise over his pipeclayed sword-belt, seemed to -be the only person abroad in the streets as yet. - -"Rouse!" cried a voice, which Quentin knew to be that of Captain -Warriston, who knocked sharply on the room door; "pack your traps, -Kennedy, as quickly us you can. My man will put your portmanteau on -the baggage-cart. A cup of hot coffee awaits you in the dining-room. -Never march with an empty stomach, unless you can't help it." - -While dressing hurriedly, Quentin heard the worthy captain rousing -his lieutenant, which seemed a process of some difficulty, and -productive of considerable banter and vociferation. As for the -ensign, he had never undressed or been in bed, so he was already -awake, and accoutred with sword, sash, and gorget, and looked very -pale and miserable as he swallowed his hot coffee in the twilight of -the wainscoted dining-room. - -The early morning air was chilly, and Quentin, but half awake, felt -his teeth chattering as he issued into the street. The reflection -flashed on his mind that it was not yet too late to retrace his -steps, and alter his intentions. But why do so? asked reason. What -other course was open to him? On this morning, with his new friends -and patrons--particularly Warriston, for whom he had conceived a -great friendship--he felt his position was very different from what -it was yesterday, when, without views, objects, or a defined future, -he awoke among Gibbie Crossgrane's straw in the vault of Kilhenzie. - -Already the soldiers of the recruiting-parties, with their various -recruits, were falling in. There were three sergeants, three -corporals, three privates, three drummers, and three fifers of the -25th, the 90th (Lord Lynedoch's Greybreeks), and the 94th, with -fifty-five recruits, all sturdy rustics, with cockades of tricoloured -ribbon streaming from their bonnets, for that most hideous of -headdresses, the round hat, was almost unknown then among the -peasantry of Scotland. - -All seemed sleepy, heavy-eyed, and were yawning drowsily, as they -shouldered against each other, and shuffled awkwardly while forming -line and answering to their names, which were called over by -Monkton's sergeant, a portly old halberdier, named Norman Calder. - -"Now then, Master William Monkton, are we to march, without you, or -must I detail a fatigue party to tumble you out of bed?" cried -Warriston, angrily, in the hall of the inn. "There goes the last -roll of the drum, and all are present but you!" - -"Ugh!" said the lieutenant, as he came forth adjusting his -regimentals in the street, tying his sash, and buckling his -sword-belt, and certainly not looking the better for his potations -overnight; "as Scott of Amwell says, 'I hate that drum's discordant -sound'--'pon my soul, I do! Such a restless dog you are, Warriston! -Two hours hence would have done just as well for you, and immensely -better for all, than this. Half-past four, A.M.--damme!" he added, -glancing up at a church-dial which was glittering in the rising sun; -"this is a most unearthly proceeding, and likely to be the death of -poor Pimple. Good morning, Kennedy, my young volunteer; how do you -like this kind of work?" - -Quentin felt bound to say that he enjoyed it very much. - -"Bah! after being two hours in bed, having to tumble up in this -fashion, is just as pleasant as having to go out with a dead shot in -the honeymoon, or in the morning on which you have made an -assignation with a pretty girl on your way home; or having a bill -returned on your hands; a horse lamed when the starting-bell rings, -or when you are about to ride a steeple-chase, or lead a charge; or -any other thing that annoys you, by jingo!" - -As Quentin had never experienced any of the five grievances -enumerated by Monkton, he could only laugh, and ask-- - -"Then what about 'the lark at Heaven's gate'--has his voice no -charms?" - -"I'd rather hear his morning reveille when going home to my quarters." - -The scene had now become very animated. The soldiers, fifteen in -number, were all in heavy marching order, with only their side-arms, -however, and were all sturdy, weatherbeaten fellows, with whom -Quentin found himself rather an object of interest, as he had given -Sergeant Calder a couple of guineas to enable them all to drink his -health. - -Many of the townspeople were crowding round to see them depart; and -many a repentant recruit now bade a last farewell to sobbing parents, -to brother, or sister, or sweetheart, all deploring the step which -they deemed would lead him to ruin and death, for there were no -marshal's batons to be found in the knapsacks of the 25th or 94th, as -in those of "the Corsican Tyrant," whose name was as that of a bogle -for nurses to scare their children with. - -While Warriston, an indefatigable officer, bustled about, getting the -motley party into something like military order, and detailed a -corporal and three men to take charge of the impressed cart which was -to carry their baggage, with some of the soldiers' wives and -children, his lieutenant lounged at the door of the Queen Anne's -Head, smoking a pipe, with his shako very much over one of his wicked -eyes, as he joked and bantered those about him. - -"Come, landlord," said he to the sulky Boniface, who made his -appearance with a red Kilmarnock nightcap on his head; "give us a -farewell smile, do, there's a good fellow; I'll take a kiss from your -wife, too, on credit (I'm her debtor a long way already), and you may -put both in the bill when next we halt here. Gad, Kennedy, these -people hate the sight of a billet-order as the devil hates holy -water. Those who grudge the British soldier a night's lodging should -have a trial of a few Cossacks or Austrians; but it all comes of the -levellers, the opposition, and the democrats, damme! So Pimple, my -boy, have a dram--you have had your run of flirtation with the -flax-dresser's daughter, and yet have got off without having to -propose for the passée heiress, or go out about sunrise with the -incensed parent." - -"Yes," replied the ensign, playing with the tassels of his sash, and -assuming a would-be gallant air; "close run, though--once thought I -was nearly in for it." - -"Ah, you're safe now; but what says the couplet?" - -"What couplet? I don't know." - -"It says that to you, my friend, - - "From wedlock's noose thus once by fate exempt, - The next may prove, alas! a noose of hemp!" - - -The ensign was about to make an angry retort, when Warriston gave the -command, - -"Threes right--quick march! come, come, move off, gentlemen." The -sharp drums and shrill fifes struck up merrily in the echoing streets -(it was the unvarying 'Girl I left behind me'); a lusty cheer from -the departing recruits was loudly responded to by the people around -and from those at many a window. Others followed, loud, long, and -hearty, and catching the spirit of enthusiasm from those about him, -Quentin felt every pulse throb, every nerve and fibre quicken, as his -heart became light and joyous, and as Warriston drew his arm through -his own, and falling into the rear of the party, they departed from -the inn. - -How different were Quentin's emotions now, when compared to the sense -of dejection and desolation, with which, portmanteau in hand, he had -entered that ancient caravanserai yesterday! - -"Now for your first day's march, Kennedy," said the captain; "never -mind the _past_--it is gone for ever, and is useless now." - -"Unless it afford me some hint to guide me for the future." - -"Right," said the captain; "faith! boy, I like your spirit and -reflective turn." - -The cheers of the people and the rattle of the drums, as the party -marched over the new bridge of Ayr, defied every attempt at -conversation. All viewed the departing band with interest, for, ere -long, they would be all sent to the seat of war, and be before the -enemy; and of those blue-bonneted recruits who were leaving the banks -and braes of Ayr, and old Coila's hills and glens, few or none might -ever return. But there was then a high spirit in all the British -Isles. - -The long dread of invasion from France, political and religious -rancour, with years of continued victory by sea and land--the glories -and the fall of Nelson and Abercrombie, the brilliant but terrible -career of Napoleon following close on the atrocities of the French -Revolution--all conspired to fill honest Mr. Bull's heart with a -furore for military fame; he ceased to smoke the pipe of peace, and -the worthy man's funny red coat and warlike pigtail were never off. -Gillray's coloured caricatures of French soldiers in cocked hats and -long blue coats, and of their "Corsican tyrant," in every ridiculous -and degrading situation that art could conceive or malevolence -inspire, filled every print-shop; and the press, such as it was, -groaned alternately under puffs of self-glorification and scurrilous -abuse of France and its emperor, with a systematic expression of true -British contempt for anything foreign and continental. Thus the -whole country swarmed with troops of every arm, and all Britain was a -species of garrison, from London to Lerwick, and from Banff to -Bristol. - -They had been some hours on the march before Quentin thought of -obtaining a very requisite piece of information--to wit, their -destination, when he was informed by Captain Warriston that the three -recruiting parties were to embark at Leith on board an armed smack or -letter-of-marque, for Colchester barracks in England, where the three -Scottish regiments were stationed. - -"After I travel so far," said Quentin, "I do sincerely hope the -commanding officer will approve of me." - -"Rest assured that he will," replied Warriston, confidently; "he is a -plain, sometimes rough old soldier, but he knows me well." - -"Who is colonel of the regiment?" - -"Lieutenant-General Lord Elphinstone is our colonel," said Monkton; -"and our lieutenant-colonel being aged--an old Minden officer, -indeed--has permission to sell out. Jack Middleton, the major, is in -command at present, and as he is too poor to purchase, he is -revenging himself upon the regiment." - -"How?" asked Quentin, with surprise. - -"Though our corps is a crack one (what corps is not so in its own -estimation?) he harangues us daily on the bad discipline and disorder -in which his predecessor has left us; so all have gone to school -again, from the oldest captain down to the youngest fifer." - -"Indeed," said the bewildered volunteer; "that is very hard!" - -"So it is, damme! but old fellows who smelt powder against Washington -at Brandywine, and under the Duke in Holland, at Alkmaar and -Egmont-op-Zee, are now at the goose-step and pacing-stick; and woe to -the private who fails to have the barrel and lock of his musket -bright as silver, and his pouch bottled to perfection, so that he -might shave or dress his pigtail in it. We have punishment parades, -extra drills, kit-inspections, drums beating, bugles sounding all -day, and often check-rolls thrice in the night, and orderlies flying -all over the barracks like madmen, and all because old Jack Middleton -has not enough of tin to purchase the lieutenant-colonelcy. There is -little Pimple--by Jove! he'll not be in Colchester a week before the -major frightens him into the measles." - -"Who is to succeed the lieutenant-colonel?" asked Warriston, who -laughed at the subaltern's angry description of the state of matters -at headquarters. - -"The Horse Guards, those Fates who sit on high over the British -soldier, alone know. Some good kind of fellow, I hope, before I -rejoin; for rather than serve under old Middleton (excuse me, -Warriston, as he is a friend of yours) I'd send in my papers--go -recruiting for the 2nd West India at Sierra Leone, or join that fine -body of men, the York Rangers!" - -"What are they?" - -"A condemned corps, named for the good duke; but whose officers, -damme, sleep at night with loaded pistols under their pillows, for -fear of their own men." - -"This is not very cheering for you, Kennedy," said Warriston, -laughing heartily; "but you must not mind all Monkton says." - -"No matter; I have given my word, and go I shall." - -It was evident that Monkton was a little soured, for he alternately -vowed himself tired of the service and then an enthusiast for it, and -his corps in particular; but he was rather blue-devilled this -morning, and uncheered by the blue sunny sky and golden cornfields, -the songs of the birds and mild morning breeze, he swore at the long -dusty road and grumbled at the slowness of his promotion, and that by -circumstances beyond his control, after fifteen years' service and -having seen much fighting, he was only a lieutenant still; "but you -will learn, ere long, Kennedy," he added, "that the lieutenants are -the salt of the service, and do all the actual work. Middleton will -judge of you, not from others, but from yourself alone. The -battalion will likely go abroad under his orders; a month more may -see us before the enemy, and you in possession of your epaulettes, if -some poor sub--say Pimple here--is knocked on the head." - -"Thank you," said Boyle; "why not suggest yourself--one sub is the -same as another." - -"Not all--not at all; it would be no use. They never hit me -seriously in Flanders or Denmark, and they won't do it in Spain or -North Holland." - -"My old friend Middleton must have changed sorely to have become the -Tartar and martinet you describe him," said Warriston; "if so, he -would have suited old Frederick of Prussia to a hair." - -"You told us to remind you of a story which was worth telling." - -"About Frederick and my father?" - -"Exactly," said Quentin. - -"And how he and I came to be in the Dutch service. Well, the story -has something droll in it, and though some may have heard the affair, -as it found its way into the newspapers, I shall give you the version -which I gave to Mr. Thomas Holcroft, when he was preparing that very -light and most readable work on the Life, Times, and Works of the -Great Frederick, in thirteen huge royal octavo volumes." - -"Then it is to be found there?" - -"On the contrary, he omitted it, not considering it quite a feather -in his hero's cap." - -"And the story----" - -"Occurred in this way." - -But the story with which Warriston beguiled a few miles of the -morning march deserves, perhaps, a chapter to itself. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -THE PRUSSIAN GRENADIER. - - "There was a criminal in a cart - A-going to be hanged; - Respite to him was granted, - And cart and crowd did stand, - To know if he would marry a wife - Or rather choose to die; - ''Tother's the worst, drive on the cart,' - The criminal did reply."--_Old Ballad._ - - -You have all heard I presume (the captain began), of the singular -predilection which the late King of Prussia had for tall swinging -grenadiers, how he raked all Germany and Pomerania to procure them, -and had them formed into corps and companies, sparing nothing in -their equipment to add to their vast stature and warlike -aspect--giving them the highest of heels to their boots, the tallest -bearskin caps, and the longest and largest feathers that could be -worn with safety to the neck and vertebral column. Those -cross-belted Goliaths were quite a passion with him, and the first -battalion of his Foot Guards, which my worthy father had the honour -to command, was, no doubt, the most gigantic regiment in the Prussian -army, perhaps in Europe; and to see its twelve companies of giants -marching past in review order, and in open column, on that little -meadow near Halle, which, from the time of the old Dessauer,* has -been the training ground of the Prussian infantry, was truly a sight -to marvel at and remember. - - -* Prince Leopold, of Anhalt Dessau, born there in 1676, the bravest -of three generations who held the highest rank in the Prussian -army.--_General Seydlitz's Life_. - - -The Battalion Von Warriston was, to Frederick the Great, his pet -band--the flower and pattern corps of his carefully-trained and -well-developed army! - -Now it chanced that one day, about the year 1780, he had been riding -in the environs of Berlin, attended only by Strutzki, his old -Putkammer orderly, with the gunpowder-spotted visage. As he pottered -along on his old shambling horse, with a pair of large spectacles on -his nose--the royal nose, I mean--one eye was fixed on his bridle and -the other on Herr Doctor Johann Georg Zimmerman's then famous but -dreary work on Solitude, with his flap pockets stuffed with letters -from Voltaire and Hume, general orders, proof-sheets of plays, and -other rubbish, he suddenly saw something in the opinions of the Herr -Doctor which displeased him, and jotting off a note on the subject, -he despatched it by Strutzki. - -Then resuming his meditations he rode on alone into the fields, -smoking a pipe which had belonged to his old and faithful comrade, -Seydlitz, and which he had picked up on the field of Rosbach, when -that general gave his usual signal for the Hussars to charge by -flinging his pipe into the air. - -In a lonely place he came suddenly upon a peasant girl who possessed -remarkable beauty, but that which he greatly preferred, astonishing -stature. She was fully six feet, and so splendidly proportioned that -Frederick reined up his horse and slung his pipe at his button-hole -to observe her, which he could do for some time unobserved, as she -was busy twining creepers and flowers over the front paling of a -cottage named the Wild Katze, a wayside tavern. - -"Bey'm Henker!" thought he, "could I but get you married to one of my -grenadiers, my long-legged Fraulein, what sons you might have! What -recruits--what a progeny of giant children to recruit the next -generation of my guards!" - -The tall girl now perceived the king observing her, and curtseyed and -laughed, for she had no idea of his rank. His horse furniture was -shabby, and his own appearance was far from being stately or -imposing. He stooped about the shoulders, and had a snuffy drop at -the end of his nose. Over his uniform and decorations he wore a -greasy old military surtout-coat of blue cloth, lined with white -merino, its buttons, sleeves, and all of the plainest kind; an old -battered cocked-hat, with what had once been a white feather binding -the edge of it, and its rim being perforated by musket-shot; a pair -of common dragoon pistols in holsters without flaps, and a pair of -rusty spurs on long jack-boots that had never been blackened since -they left the maker's hands, though they were greased by Strutzki -every morning. - -"What is your name, my handsome fraulein?" he inquired, while lifting -his hat. - -"Gretchen Viborg," replied the tall beauty. - -"Are you married?" he asked with increasing suavity. - -"No, mein herr." - -"But anxious to be, doubtless," said Frederick, perpetrating a wink. - -Then the girl, supposing that this funny old man was about to make -some proposal to her, burst into a fit of laughter, in which the king -good-humouredly joined, and then asked, - -"How old are you?" - -"Nearly twenty, mein herr." - -"Good. Are you the keeper of the Wilde Katze?" - -"No--my father is." - -"Would you like to earn easily a rix-dollar?" - -"That will I do readily, mein herr," said the girl, coming briskly -forward, for a rix-dollar was then about the value of four of our -guineas. - -"Then you must deliver a note for me?" - -"Where?" - -"In the city." - -"And to whom, mein herr? - -"To the Colonel von Warriston at the palace near the Wiesse Saal. - -The girl, little suspecting what was in store for her, curtseyed and -signified her readiness, while the king, drawing forth his tablets, -and using his holster for a desk, wrote to my father in this manner:-- - - -"MY DEAR COLONEL VON WARRISTON, - -"On receipt of this order, you are to marry _the tallest_ of your -grenadiers to the bearer thereof, taking particular care to have the -ceremony performed in your own presence; and for the execution of -this, I hold you responsible. - -"FRIEDRICH." - -"P.S.--If he refuse, to Spandau with him, until further orders." - - -"Can you read, fraulein?" asked he, while folding this remarkable -order. - -"No, mein herr." - -"Good; then there is the less use for a seal, which I have not here." -He placed the note and the rix-dollar in the large fair hand of the -girl, and added, "I have noted this place--the Wilde Katze in my -tablets, and I trust to your honesty and fidelity, Gretchen, in -delivering my note without delay, as the matter is of great -consequence to me, and may not prove unpleasant to yourself." And -giving her a look that somehow impressed her, he put spurs to his old -charger, and shambled off. - -As ignorant of the contents of the letter as of the exalted rank of -its writer, Gretchen Viborg was hurrying along the road towards -Berlin, when she suddenly remembered that she had to keep an -appointment with her lover, a remarkably jealous little fellow, who -had a mill on the Spree--an assignation which the delivery of this -note would completely mar! While pausing to consider this dilemma, -honesty impelling her forward, and love or fear staying her steps, -she met an old crone who was employed by her at the Wilde Katze, to -till the ground, carry wood and do other out-door work; and supposing -it was all one _who_ delivered the note, provided that it safely -reached its destination, she offered her a ducat to bear it to the -palace near the White Hall. - -Now this old crone could read; she scanned the note, saw the whole -bearings of the case, and knew who the writer was in an instant. She -grinned a horrible grin of intense satisfaction, undertook the -mission, and already beheld in prospect her victim--the tallest -grenadier! - -This cunning hag was past fifty years of age, and one of her legs was -shorter than the other leg at least by half an inch; she stooped in -gait and was not much more than four feet high, and was remarkably -hideous, even for a continental woman, her face being a mass of -wrinkles, her pointed chin covered with wiry sprouts of grey hair, -while her teeth were reduced to a few yellow fangs; thus, great was -my father's astonishment, when he perused the note which she gave him -faithfully at the palace-gate, just as he was mounting his charger to -join the evening parade of his boasted battalion of the Guards. - -He was too familiar with the handwriting of the great Frederick to -doubt for a moment the authenticity of the note; but he could by no -means reconcile its singular contents with the extreme years and -appalling aspect of the old witch who brought it, and he surveyed -them alternately for some time, in utter bewilderment, till the -"P.S." about Spandau, that formidable state prison in Brandenburg, -made him dread a trip there in person, if the king's orders were -trifled with or delayed; so turning with repugnance from the woman, -who continued to grin and drop endless curtsies by his side, he -summoned the sergeant-major. - -"Who is the tallest of our grenadiers?" he asked. - -"Otto Vogelwiede," replied the sergeant, with a profound salute. - -"How tall is he?" - -"Six feet, eight inches and a quarter." - -"Is he on parade with his company?" - -"No, Herr Colonel--on duty." - -"Where?" - -"With the guard at the Zeug-haus." (This was the arsenal on the -narrow bridge over the Spree.) - -"Have him relieved by the next file for duty, and brought here -immediately." - -Private Vogelwiede, a sturdy Silesian campaigner, who had been -wounded at Cunnersdorf, and had served under my father in all the -great battles of the Seven Years' War, soon appeared at the palace, -with a mingled expression of surprise and alarm on his large visage, -supposing that some misdemeanour was to be alleged against him; but -this soon changed into downright horror, when my father, with a -manner oddly indicative of half comicality and entire commiseration, -read the king's peremptory order, and pointed to the blooming bride. - -"Sturm und Gewitter!" swore the luckless grenadier in great wrath; -"do you mean to say, Herr Colonel, that I am to marry this old bag of -bones--this very shrivling?" - -"My poor Vogelwiede, it is marry, or march to Spandau." - -"Ach Gott, what an old vampire it is!" said Vogelwiede, shuddering. - -"I am utterly bewildered, comrade," said my father. - -"In mercy to me, Herr Colonel, tell me _what_ I have done that I am -to be punished thus?" - -"I can't say, my poor fellow, that I understand the affair in any -way; but we all know our father Frederick, and that the dose, however -nauseous, must be swallowed. You must either be chained to her, or -to a thirty-six pound shot in Spandau--a companion you will not get -rid of, even by day." - -"Der teufel! der teufel!" groaned the grenadier, who was actually -perspiring with the idea of the whole affair, while the old woman, -with her grey hairs, yellow fangs, and grimy wrinkles, grinned like -some gnome sent by the Ruberzahl, or a witch from the Blocksberg; and -to him it seemed as the sentence of death when my father said,-- - -"Send for the chaplain of the brigade, and desire him to bring his -prayer-book and surplice." - -"Oh, Colonel, remember Cunnersdorf, and how when a boy I held -Velt-marshal Keith dying in my arms at Hochkirchen--I was his -favourite orderly," urged poor Vogelwiede, melted almost to tears; -but it was espouse or Spandau, and he was married in the military -chapel, to his own intense misery, to the utter bewilderment of his -comrades, who knew not what to make of the affair, and to the -exulting joy of the hideous old crone. - -Six months after, Frederick returned from the reviews at Halle to -Berlin, and desired my father to bring before him the couple who had -been married by his orders. - -"Ach Gott!" he exclaimed, on seeing the grinning hag and the -miserable grenadier, who already looked grey and worn; "what the -devil is this you have done, Herr Colonel?" - -"I obeyed your majesty's singular command," replied my father, -haughtily. - -"Is this the woman to whom you have married Otto Vogelwiede, the -premier grenadier of my Guards?" - -"'Tis the woman who bore your majesty's somewhat peremptory order, as -all the corps can testify." - -"Der teufel! she is no more to compare to the one who received it, -than a cup of Dresden dima is to a bowl of Bunzlau clay! But I shall -find her out yet, and married she shall be to the next tallest man in -the battalion, so sure as Heaven hears me! and as for you, -Colonel--dummer teufel--as for you----" - -"No more dummer teufel (blockhead) than yourself, Frederick of -Prussia," exclaimed my father, furiously. "This to me? Have you -forgotten my services, and that day at Amoneburg, when side by side -we built up breastworks of the fallen dead, and fired over them?" - -"I have not Herr Colonel; but potztausend!--" - -"Remember that I am the well-born Warriston von Warriston, which in -plain Scottish means _of that ilk_, and I shall not be sworn at even -by a king of Prussia." - -Frederick danced with rage in his old jackboots, and dashed his -Rosbach pipe upon the floor, exclaiming-- - -"Out of my sight, sir! Begone to your Bergschotten.* I have done -with you!" - - -* Scots Highlanders; this is a true anecdote of Frederick's caprice. - - -Whether Gretchen Viborg was married to the next tallest grenadier, or -to the miller on the Spree, I know not, for that very day my father -doffed the uniform of which he was so proud--the trappings of the 1st -Guards--the same uniform in which Frederick was buried six years -after at Potsdam, and resigned his commission, in which he was -succeeded by Peter Schreutzer, the king's new favourite. Entering -the service of the States General, he was made Colonel-in-Chief of -their Scots Brigade, then consisting of six battalions, in one of -which I obtained a cadetship; so you may perceive the strange chain -of events by which--because Gretchen Viborg had to meet her miller, -and her note found another bearer--I ultimately find myself a captain -in His Britannic Majesty's 94th Foot, and in the service of my native -country." - -We shall have other marches of more importance to detail than the -first essay of our young volunteer, who, though cheered from time to -time by the merry music of the drums and fifes (which, in fact, are -more inspiring and martial than any brass band can ever be), found -the route weary enough by the pre-macadamite roads of those days, -which were somewhat like the dry beds of mountain burns. So marching -was rough and weary work, yet Quentin never flinched, as they -proceeded by the dark, heathy, and solitary hills of the -Muirkirk-of-Kyle, by Carnwath, where a party of the Gordon -Highlanders, under Logan of that ilk, joined them, and by Kirknewton, -where, from an eminence over which the roadway wound, he saw, for the -first time, the wooded expanse of the beautiful Lothians, with the -swelling outline of Arthur's Seat, the blue Firth, widening to a sea, -the fertile hills of Fife, the lordly Ochil mountains, and those of -thirteen counties, stretching far away even to the distant -Lammermuirs, and in the middle distance, grey, dim, and smoky, the -"Queen of the North, upon her hilly throne." - -Then the soldiers hailed her with a cheer and a roll on the drums, -announcing that there ended their last day's march. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - -COLCHESTER BARRACKS. - - "Hail, sweet recruiting service, pleasing toil, - Ball-room campaigns, tea-parties, dice and Hoyle! - Ye days when dangling was my only duty, - Envied by cits, caressed by every beauty; - Envied by cits, so scared by every glance, - Shot at their daughters, going down the dance." - _Military Magazine_, 1812. - - -Faithful to his promise, before embarking, Quentin Kennedy wrote from -Edinburgh to his friend the old quartermaster, informing him of the -step he had taken, of the lucky chance that had turned up for him in -the Queen Anne's Head at Ayr, and that he was off to join the army as -a simple volunteer; but being resolved to owe all to himself and to -his own spirit, courage, and energy, and to prevent his old friend, -Lord Rohallion, from doing anything, strange to say, he did not -mention what regiment of the line he had chosen, though he knew well -that the mystical No. 25 would have made the hearts of the veteran -general and the quartermaster leap within them, while poor old Jack -Andrews would be certain to get helplessly groggy in honour of the -occasion. - -He sent no messages or memories to any one, for the letter was -indited amid the hurly-burly of Poolers gay and then well-known -military coffee-house in Princess-street, nearly opposite the North -Bridge; and Captain Warriston, who was standing fully accoutred with -a group of other officers of various Scottish regiments, all talking, -laughing, and smoking, urged him "to be sharp," as they had not a -moment to lose before the mail started, and that the smack, _Lord -Nelson_, had her topsail loose; so he sent no remembrance to his dear -Flora Warrender, though he sealed his letter with a sigh, and his -soul seemed to go with it to her. - -Sailing in an armed Leith ship, without convoy, Captain Warriston's -detachments of recruits, after beating against a head wind for two -weeks, but without encountering a storm, a gale, or an enemy's ship -of Avar, made the coast of Essex, landed at Harwich, and marched to -Colchester Barracks, where each subaltern reported himself to his -commanding officer, and handed over his detachment of recruits, -doubtless glad to be rid of them. - -How often were the last scene with Flora, those last words and those -last kisses, under the old sycamores in the avenue, rehearsed over -and over again. - -"Ah," thought he, "could I but persuade myself that she will not -entirely forget me; that some tender recollections, some soft memory -of the poor lonely and friendless lad, who loved her so well, will -remain in her heart, now that I am far away--gone she knows not -where, but gone for ever! For ever!--then what will love or memory -avail me?" - -The novelty of his situation, the sudden and remarkable change of -scene, the short sea voyage, the crowded and somewhat noisy barracks -of Colchester, then filled with troops, preparing by hourly training, -prior to their departure for the seat of war; squads undergoing -manual, platoon, and pacing-stick drill, others worked up in -companies, battalions, and brigades, the general bustle and -light-heartedness of all around him; the new occupation, new faces -and new episodes, all so different from his former monotonous life in -that old castle by the Firth of Clyde--a life that seemed like a -dream now--soon weaned Quentin from his sadder thoughts, and he was -startled to find that, after a time, instead of brooding over Flora's -image and idea perpetually, he could only think of her occasionally, -and ere long, that he began to take an interest in the crowds of -ladies who came to view the evening parades, to promenade with the -officers who were not on duty, and to hear the bands play. "Love -sickness, according to our revised medical code, is nothing more than -a disarranged digestion," says a writer; so, in this year of the -world--five thousand and odd, according to Genesis, and Heaven knows -how many more according to geology--no one dies of love, and, in the -jovial barracks of Colchester, our friend Quentin showed no signs of -the malady. - -But we are anticipating. - -The battalion of the 25th, or the King's Own Borderers, to which he -was attached, occupied a portion of the stately and spacious -barracks, which were built for the accommodation often thousand -infantry, and had a fine park of artillery attached to them. These -have all been since pulled down by an absurd spirit of mistaken -economy, so that there are barely quarters for a single regiment in -the town. - -On the day after his arrival, anxious to create a good impression, he -made a most careful toilet, and with a throbbing heart was introduced -by Monkton to the officer commanding, the irritable Major Middleton, -of whom he had heard so much, and to whom he presented the letter of -introduction and recommendation given by his good friend Captain -Warriston, who unfortunately was compelled to be absent elsewhere. - -The major was a fine-looking old man, who had entered the service -from the militia somewhat late in life, and hence the extreme -slowness of his promotion, for he was now near his sixtieth year. He -had a clear, keen, and bright blue eye; a suave, but grave and -decided manner, with a deep and authoritative tone of voice. He -still wore his thin hair queued, though after being reduced to seven -inches in length, by the general order of 1804, by another order in -1808, the entire army was shorn of those appendages. - -Fearing a mutiny, or something like it, the obnoxious mandate was -countermanded the next day, but, Ichabod! the glory had departed. -The regimental barbers had done their fatal work, and not a pigtail -remained in the service, from the Life Guards to the Shetland -Volunteers, save among a few privileged men of the old school, who -stuck to it in defiance alike of taste and authority, and one of -these was Major Middleton, who now appeared in full uniform, with his -snow-white shirt-frill peeping through his gorget,--a badge retained -till 1830--and a spotless white waistcoat covering the comely paunch, -while his queue, seven inches long, with its black silk rosette, -wagged gracefully at the back of his fine old head, which was -powdered by time to a whiteness his servant could never achieve with -the puff. - -He cordially shook hands with Quentin and with Monkton, and welcoming -the latter back to head-quarters, bowed them to chairs with great -formality, his sword and pigtail going up and down like pump-handles -the while, and then with his sturdy back planted against the -chimney-piece, he proceeded to read over the letter of Warriston, -Quentin in the meantime undergoing the pleasant process of being -occasionally eyed askance with those clear, keen eyes--and a steady -glance they had--the glance of one who had often been face to face -with death and danger, in the East Indies and the West, in America, -and wherever conquests were to be added to Britain's growing empire. - -"My old friend Warriston recommends you highly, Mr. Kennedy--very -highly indeed," said the major, as he folded the letters and again -shook Quentin by the hand; "but I hope that the step you are taking -has the full concurrence of all who are interested in your welfare?" - -With a heightened colour, Quentin begged the worthy major to be -assured that it had. - -"I need not tell you, my young friend, that no ordinary bravery is -required of the gentleman volunteer, for something more dashing than -mere service in the ranks is necessary to win the notice of those in -authority and to obtain a commission in His Majesty's service. I -trust, therefore, that you have weighed well and examined your mind, -and are assured that you possess the qualifications necessary for the -profession--I may well say, the perilous career--on which you are -about to enter." - -"Qualifications, sir?" stammered Quentin, who was somewhat oppressed -by the major's exordium, and began to think of Dominie Skaill's Greek -and Latin roots. - -"Yes; for the task before you requires a daring spirit, and a most -stoical indifference to privation, to suffering, and to death, as you -will have to bear a voluntary part in every dangerous or arduous -enterprise, on every desperate duty; and have to volunteer for every -forlorn hope and reckless adventure." - -"I have weighed well, major, and I shall shrink from nothing! I long -only for the opportunity of showing that I shall be--shall be what my -father was before me," said Quentin, with flashing eyes and quivering -lips, while he felt that these were not the kind of men to boast -before. - -The old major regarded the lad attentively, and said-- - -"Give me your hand again; I like your spirit, and hope ere long to -wet your commission and welcome you as a brother officer. I enforce -the strictest obedience, and some term me severe, yet I hope you will -like me; for, if pleased with you, your future prospects shall be my -peculiar care." - -"I thank you, sir," said Quentin, with a very full heart. - -"I like to regard the regiment as one large family; and when we -consider the manifold clangers we dare, and the sufferings we endure -together, all soldiers--officers and men alike--more than any other -human community, have reasons for strong mutual attachment, and for -feeling themselves indeed brothers. There are some of the -brotherhood, however, over whom I have, at times, to keep a tight -hand--yourself, for instance--Dick Monkton, eh!" - -"True, major, the adjutant has come to me in his harness more than -once for my sword; but like a good fellow, you always sent it back -again," said Monkton, laughing. - -"Two remarks of the great General Monk should always be borne in mind -by those who enter the service," said the major, who seemed a -well-read and intelligent officer; "and in youth I learned them by -rote, and so have never forgotten them since. 'War, the profession -of a soldier, is that of all others which, as it conferreth most -honour upon a man who therein acquitteth himself well, so it draweth -the greatest infamy upon one who demeaneth himself ill; for _one_ -fault committed can _never_ be repaired, and _one_ hour causeth the -loss of that reputation which hath been thirty years acquiring!' -Elsewhere he says, 'A soldier must be always ready to confront -extremity of danger by extremity of valour, and overtop fury with a -higher resolution. A soldier ought to fear nothing but _God and -Dishonour_, and the officer who commands should feel for him as a -parent does for his child!' And now, to become more matter of fact, -Monkton will tell you, Mr. Kennedy, all about a volunteer's outfit; -the plainer, and the less there is of it, the better." - -"Thanks, sir; you are most thoughtful." - -"You shall have to carry the arms and accoutrements of a private, and -a knapsack too, perhaps, under some circumstances, till luck turns up -a commission for you. In all respects you will be treated as a -gentleman; but doing the duty and yielding the implicit obedience of -a private soldier. Do you understand me?" - -"Perfectly, sir," replied Quentin, cheerfully. - -"As for the knapsack," said Monkton, "its weight matters little if -your heart be light, my friend." - -Quentin smiled, as if he meant to confront fortune boldly, and the -future too. - -"We are now under orders to hold ourselves in readiness for foreign -service, and a fortnight at farthest will see the regiment on board -ship." - -"For where?" asked Monkton. - -"The continent of Europe." - -Quentin was glad to hear this, as he knew that his funds would not -last him long in Colchester, and if reduced to his volunteer pay of -one shilling per diem, current coin of this realm, what would become -of him then? - -"You shall dine with me at the mess to-day as my guest, Mr. Kennedy," -said the major, "and I shall have the pleasure of introducing you to -the corps." - -"And as my guest to-morrow, Quentin," said Monkton; "it is the last -time we shall have our legs under its blessed mahogany, as it is to -be broken up." - -"What--the table?" - -"No, the mess. Adieu till the drum beats, major." - -With Monkton, Quentin quitted Middleton's quarters, extremely -well-pleased with his interview, convinced that the lieutenant must -have quizzed him about the major's alleged severity, and now with -satisfaction feeling himself in some manner a member of the corps and -of the service, a part or portion of the 25th Foot. - -His uniform, a plain scarlet coatee, faced, lapelled and buttoned -like that of an officer, with two little swallow-tails nine inches -long (then the regulation), though destitute of lace or epaulettes, -with his other requisites, made a sad hole in his little exchequer; -and, as he sat in his room that night, and counted over the fifteen -that remained of the good quartermaster's guineas, he felt something -like a miser, and trembled for the future. - -However, fifteen guineas were more than a subaltern's pay for a -month; he was only to be two weeks in barracks, and when once in -camp, a small sum with rations would go a long way. He had a -subaltern's quarters assigned him, with an officer's allowance of -coal, candle, and barrack furniture--to wit: one hard wood table; two -ditto chairs, of the Windsor pattern; an elegant coal-box, like a -black iron trough, bearing the royal arms, and the huge enigmatical -letters B.O., of which he could make nothing; a pair of bellows, -fire-irons, fender, and an iron candlestick, unique in form and -colour. - -These, with a pallet, formed his principal household gear, and for -two at least of the remaining fourteen days, he would have the luxury -of the festive mess, the perfection of a dinner table; and -thereafter, as he had been told, it would be broken up, its rich old -plate and appurtenances consigned to iron-bound chests, and left -behind in the barrack stores, and many who dined therewith might -never meet around that jolly table more, for war and peril were -before them, and the dust would be gathering on the forgotten mess -chests, as the grass would be sprouting on the graves of the slain. - -But little thought "The Borderers" of that--for the soldier, luckily -for himself, is seldom of a very reflective turn--when the orderly -drum and fife struck up "The Roast Beef" in front of the mess-house -to announce that dinner was being served; and there Quentin hurried, -in company with the major and Monkton. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - -THE LOST LETTER. - - "And when they talk of him, they shake their heads, - And whisper one another in the ear: - And he that speaks doth grip the hearer's wrist, - Whilst he that hears makes fearful action, - With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes." - SHAKESPEARE. - - -As Quentin's heart foreboded, the Master of Rohallion made the best -use of his time with Flora Warrender; but without much avail. Late -events had engendered in her breast a spirit of obstinacy and -antagonism to his proposals, together with a desire for freedom of -thought and liberty of action that proved very damaging to the cause -of Cosmo, and in a fit of spleen he departed for a week or two, to -visit Earl Hugh at Eglinton; for though by no means a marrying man, -the Honourable Cosmo, as we have stated, conceived that, in the -present state of his finances, he might get through the -world,--"battle the watch," as he phrased it,--pretty well, if he -obtained the lands of Ardgour, the accumulated rents of which had -been so long under trust, and would prove to him a very lucky -accession, even though encumbered by Flora Warrender as a wife or -appendage. But on obtaining the command of a regiment of the line, -with all the perquisites which then attended that appointment, he did -not despair of ultimately getting rid of his _bêtes noires_, the -children of Judah. - -Thus his cold hauteur and nonchalance on one hand, and Lady -Rohallion's steady resolve on the other to bend her to their will, -together with sorrow for Quentin, whom she viewed as a victim, -rendered Flora Warrender inexorable in her opposition, and, as Lord -Rohallion said, their own mismanagement still continued to spoil the -whole affair. - -After an absence of some days Cosmo returned, and resolved to make a -last effort with Flora, and thought to pique her by praises of the -fair daughters of Earl Hugh, the Ladies Jane, Lilias, and Mary; but -this artifice was so shallow that she merely laughed when she heard -him, while poor simple Lady Rohallion feared that his heart had -really been affected in another quarter. - -"And so you really admire Lady Lilias Montgomery, our old friend's -daughter?" she asked, as they sat in the bay window of the old yellow -drawing-room. - -"I always did so," replied the Master; "there is certainly an -exquisite air of refinement about the girl, and she has a splendid -seat on horseback." - -"Her air is peculiar to all the Montgomerys; I remember me well of -Earl Alexander, who was shot by the villain Mungo Campbell, and he -had the air of a prince! But what do you think of Lady Lilias?" - -"Think?" pondered Cosmo, dreamily, as he lay back in a satin -fauteuil, and gazed on the far-stretching landscape that was steeped -in sunny haze. - -"Yes," said his mother, anxiously. - -"I think she has _not_ the lands and rental of Ardgour, or their -equivalent." - -"Cosmo, Cosmo," said Lady Rohallion, with asperity, "I would have you -to love Flora for herself, and herself only." - -"My dear mother, you old-fashioned folks in Carrick here are sadly -behind the age; but I am booked for foreign service, and a wife would -only prove a serious encumbrance after all." - -"Flora Warrender may change, or, what would be better, she may know -her own mind before, or long before, you come back." - -"Perhaps," sneered Cosmo; "love of change or change of love effects -miracles in the female heart at times. Till _then_, we must content -ourselves with drawing stakes, while I march off, not exactly with -the honours of war, but with the band playing 'the girl I left behind -me'--very consoling it is no doubt, damme!" - -"Do you really love that girl, Cosmo?" asked the old lady, looking up -from a mysterious piece of needlework, with which she always believed -herself to be busy, and mistaking Cosmo's wounded self-esteem for a -softer sentiment. - -"Love her--yes, of course I do--that is, well enough, perhaps, to -marry her, as marriage goes now-a-days; but" (and here he spoke with -concentrated passion) "I hate the beggar's brat who has come between -her and me!" - -"Oh, Cosmo, don't say so, I implore you?" said Lady Rohallion, -sighing bitterly; "after all the past, and with the doubt and mystery -that overhang his future, I cannot bear to hear our lost Quentin -spoken of thus." - -"Poor chick--our lost darling!" said Cosmo; "but after seventeen -years spent in the Household Brigade, to be out-manoeuvred by a -country Dolly such as Flora and a fellow like this Quentin of yours, -is simply and decidedly absurd!" he added, with fierce grimace, while -his father, who entered at that moment and overheard him, laughed -heartily at his chagrin. - -And now about this time John Legate, the tall spindle-shanked running -footman, brought, among other letters from Maybole, one for the -Master, endorsed "on His Majesty's Service," and another for Mr. John -Girvan, so worn, frayed, and covered with postage-marks, that the -good man was quite puzzled by its appearance, and thrice wiped his -spectacles to decipher all the names and dates, until the dominie, -who was seated by him, beside a friendly jug of toddy, suggested that -candles should be procured, as the twilight was deepening into night, -and the interior of the missive would resolve all their doubts and -expectations. - -It was opened, and proved to be from Quentin Kennedy--from Quentin, -and dated at Poole's Military Coffeehouse, Edinburgh, more than a -month back! He had addressed it simply to the castle of Rohallion, -and it had gone by mail and stage over all Britain, until some chance -hand, endorsing "try Ayrshire," sent it to its destination. - -"Awa soldiering as a volunteer! Wae is me, wae is me, but this is -pitiful, exceedingly pitiful!" exclaimed the dominie, lifting up his -hands and eyes; "think of my wasted latinity!" - -"Dominie, you are a gowk! I like the lad's spirit, and respect it," -said the quartermaster, whose eyes were so full that he could -scarcely peruse the letter; "but he's ower young, he's far ower young -for such hard work. I mind well of what I had to go through in my -time in Germany and America." - -"Ower young, think ye?" - -"But he is hardy and manly." - -"According to Polybius, in his sixth book, the Romans could be -soldiers, indeed, _had_ to be soldiers, in their seventeenth year." - -"Bother your Romans! fill your jug--a steaming brimmer, and drain it -to Quentin's health and success, and his safety too." - -Then standing up erect, the quartermaster drained his jug at a -draught, a process promptly followed by the dominie; but after what -they had imbibed already, it had the effect of rapidly multiplying -the lights and other objects, and also tended to make their utterance -thick and indistinct. - -"I must away to my lord wi' this braw news," said Girvan; "the puir -lad! he didna deceive me after all, but wrote when he had time. And -this Captain Warriston who befriended Quentin--(God bless him, say -I!)--befriended him, dominie, because he was a soldier's son. Ah, -dominie, dominie!--that is the _freemasonry of the service_, which -makes all in it brothers--the true spirit of camaraderie! Another -jorum to the health of this captain, whoever he be." - -"Bring forth the _amphora_--the greybeard o' whisky; but John, John," -said the dominie, shaking his old wig sententiously, "what saith -Habakkuk?" - -"How the deevil should I ken? and it is but little I care," added the -irreverent quartermaster. - -"He saith, 'Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that -putteth a bottle to him, and maketh him drunken,'" said the dominie, -balancing himself by turns on each leg; and opening and shutting each -eye alternately. - -"Drunken, you whaislin precentor?" - -"Yea, as thou, wicked quartermaster, hast made me, and when we are -close on the hour 'o' night's black arch the keystone,' as puir Burns -has it." - -"Never mind, dominie, the night is dark, and naebody will see you," -stammered Girvan; "stick your knees into the saddle--gie your powny -the reins, and he'll take you straight home, as he usually does. But -I must away to my lord with this news; and so good-night. Now, -dominie, steady--eyes front if you can!--hat cocked forward, cockade -over the left eye--queue dressed straight with the seam of the -coat--head up, little finger of each hand on the seam of the -breeches--left foot thrown well out--pike advanced--forward, march! -and hip, hip, hurrah for Quentin the volunteer!" - -And arm in arm the two old topers quitted the "snuggery," the dominie -to go home in care of his pony, and his entertainer to seek Lord and -Lady Rohallion before they retired for the night. - -That sure tidings had come of Quentin's safety occasioned the noble -and worthy couple sincere joy. - -"So, so," said the old Lord; "it is as I feared--the poor lad has -joined the service." - -"As a volunteer," added Girvan, with great empressement. - -"As a poor, friendless volunteer, Winny; think of that, when one line -from me to the Duke of York would give him an ensigncy. We have -cruelly mismanaged this boy's prospects! I would that we knew the -regiment he has joined; but, strange to say, he omits to mention it." - -In his joy and hurry, the quartermaster had never thought of the -omission. - -"This officer, Warriston, whom he mentions, must be a right good -fellow, and his name may be a clue. We shall search the Army List -to-morrow, John; till then, good-night." - -Tidings that a letter had come from Quentin at last, spread through -the castle like wild-fire, and it was the first news with which -Flora's maid greeted her, when, an hour before the usual time, she -tapped on her bedroom door, and, as the reader may imagine, the -abigail was despatched at once to the quartermaster for a sight of -the all-important letter, which she took care to read before it -reached the hands of her impatient young mistress. Flora read it -over twice or thrice, examining all the successive postmarks which -indicated its devious wanderings. In the text there was no mention -of her. She was disappointed at first, but after reflecting, she -deemed that his silence was delicate and wise. - -There were great and genuine rejoicings in the servants'-hall, where -the gamekeepers, grooms, the gardeners, Mr. Spillsby the butler, John -the running-footman, the housemaids, and old Andrews, made such a -clatter and noise that they kindled the somewhat ready wrath of the -Master, who rang his bell furiously to "still the infernal hubbub," -as he lay a-bed reading his missive, which was not quite to his -taste; and, as for the veteran Jack Andrews, he got most disreputably -tipsy by imbibing a variety of drams to Quentin's health in Mr. -Spillsby's pantry; and in short, the quartermaster's letter proved a -nine days' wonder in Rohallion. - - - -END OF VOL. 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