The Bride of Lammermoor Read online

  CHAPTER XVII.

  Here is a father now, Will truck his daughter for a foreign venture, Make her the stop-gap to some canker'd feud, Or fling her o'er, like Jonah, to the fishes, To appease the sea at highest.

  Anonymous.

  THE Lord Keeper opened his discourse with an appearance of unconcern,marking, however, very carefully, the effect of his communication uponyoung Ravenswood.

  "You are aware," he said, "my young friend, that suspicion is thenatural vice of our unsettled times, and exposes the best and wisest ofus to the imposition of artful rascals. If I had been disposed to listento such the other day, or even if I had been the wily politicians whichyou have been taught to believe me, you, Master of Ravenswood, insteadof being at freedom, and with fully liberty to solicit and act againstme as you please, in defence of what you suppose to be your rights,would have been in the Castle of Edinburgh, or some other state prisonor, if you had escaped that destiny, it must have been by flight to aforeign country, and at the risk of a sentence of fugitation."

  "My Lord Keeper," said the Master, "I think you would not jest on such asubject; yet it seems impossible you can be in earnest."

  "Innocence," said the Lord Keeper, "is also confident, and sometimes,though very excusably, presumptuously so."

  "I do not understand," said Ravenswood, "how a consciousess of innocencecan be, in any case, accounted presumptuous."

  "Imprudent, at least, it may be called," said Sir William Ashton, "sinceit is apt to lead us into the mistake of supposing that sufficientlyevident to others of which, in fact, we are only conscious ourselves. Ihave known a rogue, for this very reason, make a better defence thanan innocent man could have done in the same circumstances of suspicion.Having no consciousness of innocence to support him, such a fellowapplies himself to all the advantages which the law will afford him, andsometimes--if his counsel be men of talent--succeeds in compelling hisjudges to receive him as innocent. I remember the celebrated case of SirCoolie Condiddle of Condiddle, who was tried for theft under trust, ofwhich all the world knew him guilty, and yet was not only acquitted, butlived to sit in judgment on honester folk."

  "Allow me to beg you will return to the point," said the Master; "youseemed to say that I had suffered under some suspicion."

  "Suspicion, Master! Ay, truly, and I can show you the proofs of it; ifI happen only to have them with me. Here, Lockhard." His attendant came."Fetch me the little private mail with the padlocks, that I recommendedto your particular charge, d'ye hear?"

  "Yes, my lord." Lockhard vanished; and the Keeper continued, as if halfspeaking to himself.

  "I think the papers are with me--I think so, for, as I was to be inthis country, it was natural for me to bring them with me. I have them,however, at Ravenswood Castle, that I am sure; so perhaps you mightcondescend----"

  Here Lockhard entered, and put the leathern scrutoire, or mail-box,into his hands. The Keeper produced one or two papers, respecting theinformation laid before the privy council concerning the riot, as it wastermed, at the funeral of Allan Lord Ravenswood, and the active share hehad himself taken in quashing the proceedings against the Master. Thesedocuments had been selected with care, so as to irritate the naturalcuriosity of Ravenswood upon such a subject, without gratifying it, yetto show that Sir William Ashton had acted upon that trying occasionthe part of an advocate and peacemaker betwixt him and the jealousauthorities of the day. Having furnished his host with such subjects forexamination, the Lord Keeper went to the breakfast-table, and enteredinto light conversation, addressed partly to old Caleb, whose resentmentagainst the usurper of the Castle of Ravenswood began to be softened byhis familiarity, and partly to his daughter.

  After perusing these papers, the Master of Ravenswood remained fora minute or two with his hand pressed against his brow, in deep andprofound meditation. He then again ran his eye hastily over the papers,as if desirous of discovering in them some deep purpose, or some markof fabrication, which had escaped him at first perusal. Apparently thesecond reading confirmed the opinion which had pressed upon him at thefirst, for he started from the stone bench on which he was sitting,and, going to the Lord Keeper, took his hand, and, strongly pressing it,asked his pardon repeatedly for the injustice he had done him, when itappeared he was experiencing, at his hands, the benefit of protection tohis person and vindication to his character.

  The statesman received these acknowledgments at first with well-feignedsurprise, and then with an affectation of frank cordiality. The tearsbegan already to start from Lucy's blue eyes at viewing this unexpectedand moving scene. To see the Master, late so haughty and reserved, andwhom she had always supposed the injured person, supplicating herfather for forgiveness, was a change at once surprising, flattering, andaffecting.

  "Dry your eyes, Lucy," said her father; "why should you weep, becauseyour father, though a lawyer, is discovered to be a fair and honourableman? What have you to thank me for, my dear Master," he continued,addressing Ravenswood, "that you would not have done in my case? 'Suumcuique tribuito,' was the Roman justice, and I learned it when I studiedJustinian. Besides, have you not overpaid me a thousand times, in savingthe life of this dear child?"

  "Yes," answered the Master, in all the remorse of self-accusation "butthe little service _I_ did was an act of mere brutal instinct; YOURdefence of my cause, when you knew how ill I thought of you, and howmuch I was disposed to be your enemy, was an act of generous, manly, andconsiderate wisdom."

  "Pshaw!" said the Lord Keeper, "each of us acted in his own way; you asa gallant soldier, I as an upright judge and privy-councillor. We couldnot, perhaps, have changed parts; at least I should have made a verysorry tauridor, and you, my good Master, though your cause is soexcellent, might have pleaded it perhaps worse yourself than I who actedfor you before the council."

  "My generous friend!" said Ravenswood; and with that brief word,which the Keeper had often lavished upon him, but which he himself nowpronounced for the first time, he gave to his feudal enemy the fullconfidence of an haughty but honourable heart. The Master had beenremarked among his contemporaries for sense and acuteness, as wellas for his reserved, pertinacious, and irascible character. Hisprepossessions accordingly, however obstinate, were of a nature to giveway before love and gratitude; and the real charms of the daughter,joined to the supposed services of the father, cancelled in his memorythe vows of vengeance which he had taken so deeply on the eve of hisfather's funeral. But they had been heard and registered in the book offate.

  Caleb was present at this extraordinary scene, and he could conceive noother reason for a proceeding so extraordinary than an alliance betwixtthe houses, and Ravenswood Castle assigned for the young lady's dowry.As for Lucy, when Ravenswood uttered the most passionate excuses for hisungrateful negligence, she could but smile through her tears, and, asshe abandoned her hand to him, assure him, in broken accents, of thedelight with which she beheld the complete reconciliation between herfather and her deliverer. Even the statesman was moved and affectedby the fiery, unreserved, and generous self-abandonment with which theMaster of Ravenswood renounced his feudal enmity, and threw himselfwithout hesitation upon his forgiveness. His eyes glistened as he lookedupon a couple who were obviously becoming attached, and who seemed madefor each other. He thought how high the proud and chivalrous characterof Ravenswood might rise under many circumstances in which HE foundhimself "overcrowed," to use a phrase of Spenser, and kept under, byhis brief pedigree, and timidity of disposition. Then his daughter--hisfavorite child--his constant playmate--seemed formed to live happy ina union with such a commanding spirit as Ravenswood; and even the fine,delicate, fragile form of Lucy Ashton seemed to require the support ofthe Master's muscular strength and masculine character. And it was notmerely during a few minutes that Sir William Ashton looked upon theirmarriage as a probable and even desirable event, for a full hourintervened ere his imagination was crossed by recollection of theMaster's poverty, and the sure displeasure of Lady Ashton. It is
certain, that the very unusual flow of kindly feeling with which theLord Keeper had been thus surprised, was one of the circumstances whichgave much tacit encouragement to the attachment between the Master andhis daughter, and led both the lovers distinctly to believe that itwas a connexion which would be most agreeable to him. He himselfwas supposed to have admitted this in effect, when, long afterthe catastrophe of their love, he used to warn his hearers againstpermitting their feelings to obtain an ascendency over their judgment,and affirm, that the greatest misfortune of his life was owing to avery temporary predominance of sensibility over self-interest. It mustbe owned, if such was the case, he was long and severely punished for anoffence of very brief duration.

  After some pause, the Lord Keeper resumed the conversation.--

  "In your surprise at finding me an honester man than you expected, youhave lost your curiosity about this Craigengelt, my good Master; and yetyour name was brought in, in the course of that matter too."

  "The scoundrel!" said Ravenswood. "My connexion with him was of themost temporary nature possible; and yet I was very foolish to hold anycommunication with him at all. What did he say of me?"

  "Enough," said the Keeper, "to excite the very loyal terrors of someof our sages, who are for proceeding against men on the mere grounds ofsuspicion or mercenary information. Some nonsense about your proposingto enter into the service of France, or of the Pretender, I don'trecollect which, but which the Marquis of A----, one of your bestfriends, and another person, whom some call one of your worst and mostinterested enemies, could not, somehow, be brought to listen to."

  "I am obliged to my honourable friend; and yet," shaking the LordKeeper's hand--"and yet I am still more obliged to my honourable enemy."

  "Inimicus amicissimus," said the Lord Keeper, returning the pressure;"but this gentleman--this Mr. Hayston of Bucklaw--I am afraid thepoor young man--I heard the fellow mention his name--is under very badguidance."

  "He is old enough to govern himself," answered the Master.

  "Old enough, perhaps, but scarce wise enough, if he has chosen thisfellow for his fidus Achates. Why, he lodged an information againsthim--that is, such a consequence might have ensued from his examination,had we not looked rather at the character of the witness than the tenorof his evidence."

  "Mr. Hayston of Bucklaw," said the master, "is, I believe, a mosthonourable man, and capable of nothing that is mean or disgraceful."

  "Capable of much that is unreasonable, though; that you must needsallow, master. Death will soon put him in possession of a fair estate,if he hath it not already; old Lady Girnington--an excellent person,excepting that her inveterate ill-nature rendered her intolerable to thewhole world--is probably dead by this time. Six heirs portioners havesuccessively died to make her wealthy. I know the estates well; theymarch with my own--a noble property."

  "I am glad of it," said Ravenswood, "and should be more so, were Iconfident that Bucklaw would change his company and habits with hisfortunes. This appearance of Craigengelt, acting in the capacity of hisfriend, is a most vile augury for his future respectability."

  "He is a bird of evil omen, to be sure," said the Keeper, "and croaksof jail and gallows-tree. But I see Mr. Caleb grows impatient for ourreturn to breakfast."