Rob Roy Page 19

  ‘It is verse,’ she said, on glancing at the paper; and then unfolding it, but as if to wait my answer before proceeding —‘May I take the liberty?—nay, nay, if you blush and stammer, I must do violence to your modesty, and suppose that permission is granted.’

  ‘It is not worthy your perusal—a scrap of a translation— My dear Miss Vernon, it would be too severe a trial, that you who understand the original so well, should sit in judgment.’

  ‘Mine honest friend,’ replied Diana, ‘do not, if you will be guided by my advice, bait your hook with too much humility; for, ten to one, it will not catch a single compliment. You know I belong to the unpopular family of Tell-truths, and would not flatter Apollo for his lyre.’

  She proceeded to read the first stanza, which was nearly to the following purpose:—

  ‘Ladies, and knights, and arms, and love’s fair flame,

  Deeds of emprize and courtesy, I sing;

  What time the Moors from sultry Africk came,

  Led on by Agramant, their youthful king—

  He whom revenge and hasty ire did bring

  O’er the broad wave, in France to waste and war:

  Such ills from old Trojano’s death did spring,

  Which to avenge he came from realms afar,

  And menaced Christian Charles, the Roman Emperor.

  ‘Of dauntless Roland, too, my strain shall sound,

  In import never known in prose or rhyme,

  How He, the chief of judgment deem’d profound,

  For luckless love was crazed upon a time—

  ‘There is a great deal of it,’ said she, glancing along the paper, and interrupting the sweetest sounds which mortal ears can drink in,—those of a youthful poet’s verses, namely, read by the lips which are dearest to them.

  ‘Much more than ought to engage your attention, Miss Vernon,’ I replied, something mortified; and I took the verses from her unreluctant hand—‘and yet,’ I continued, ‘shut up as I am in this retired situation, I have felt sometimes I could not amuse myself better than by carrying on, merely for my own amusement you will of course understand, the version of this fascinating author, which I began some months since, when I was on the banks of the Garonne.’

  ‘The question would only be,’ said Diana, gravely, ‘whether you could not spend your time to better purpose?’

  ‘You mean in original composition,’ said I, greatly flattered; ‘but, to say truth, my genius rather lies in finding words and rhymes than ideas; and, therefore, I am happy to use those which Ariosto has prepared to my hand. However, Miss Vernon, with the encouragement you give——’

  ‘Pardon me, Frank; it is encouragement not of my giving, but of your taking. I meant neither original composition nor translation, since I think you might employ your time to far better purpose than in either. You are mortified,’ she continued, ‘and I am sorry to be the cause.’

  ‘Not mortified,—certainly not mortified,’ said I, (with the best grace I could muster, and it was but indifferently assumed;) ‘I am too much obliged by the interest you take in me.’

  ‘Nay, but,’ resumed the relentless Diana, ‘there is both mortification and a little grain of anger in that constrained tone of voice; do not be angry if I probe your feelings to the bottom—perhaps what I am about to say will affect them still more.’

  I felt the childishness of my own conduct, and the superior manliness of Miss Vernon’s, and assured her, that she need not fear my wincing under criticism which I knew to be kindly meant.

  ‘That was honestly meant and said,’ she replied; ‘I knew full well that the fiend of poetical irritability flew away with the little preluding cough which ushered in the declaration. And now I must be serious.—Have you heard from your father lately?’

  ‘Not a word,’ I replied; ‘he has not honoured me with a single line during the several months of my residence here.’

  ‘That is strange;—you are a singular race, you bold Osbaldistones. Then you are not aware that he has gone to Holland, to arrange some pressing affairs which required his own immediate presence?’

  ‘I never heard a word of it until this moment.’

  ‘And farther, it must be news to you, and I presume scarcely the most agreeable, that he has left Rashleigh in the almost uncontrolled management of his affairs until his return?’

  I started, and could not suppress my surprise and apprehension.

  ‘You have reason for alarm,’ said Miss Vernon, very gravely; ‘and were I you, I would endeavour to meet and obviate the dangers which arise from so undesirable an arrangement.’

  ‘And how is it possible for me to do so?’

  ‘Every thing is possible for him who possesses courage and activity,’ she said, with a look resembling one of those heroines of the age of chivalry, whose encouragement was wont to give champions double valour at the hour of need; ‘and to the timid and hesitating every thing is impossible, because it seems so.’

  ‘And what would you advise, Miss Vernon?’ I replied, wishing, yet dreading, to hear her answer.

  She paused a moment, then answered firmly, ‘That you instantly leave Osbaldistone Hall, and return to London. You have perhaps already,’ she continued, in a softer tone, ‘been here too long; that fault was not yours. Every succeeding moment you waste here will be a crime. Yes, a crime: for I tell you plainly, that if Rashleigh long manages your father’s affairs, you may consider his ruin as consummated.’

  ‘How is this possible?’

  ‘Ask no questions,’ she said; ‘but, believe me, Rashleigh’s views extend far beyond the possession or increase of commercial wealth: he will only make the command of Mr.Osbaldistone’s revenues and property the means of putting in motion his own ambitious and extensive schemes. While your father was in Britain this was impossible; during his absence, Rashleigh will possess many opportunities, and he will not neglect to use them.’

  ‘But how can I, in disgrace with my father, and divested of all control over his affairs, prevent this danger by my mere presence in London?’

  ‘That presence alone will do much. Your claim to interfere is a part of your birthright, and is inalienable. You will have the countenance, doubtless, of your father’s head-clerk, and confidential friends and partners. Above all, Rashleigh’ schemes are of a nature that’—(she stopped abruptly, as if fearful of saying too much)—‘are, in short,’ she resumed, ‘of the nature of all selfish and unconscientious plans, which are speedily abandoned as soon as those who frame them perceive their arts are discovered and watched. Therefore, in the language of your favourite poet—

  “To horse! to horse! urge doubts to those that fear.”’

  A feeling, irresistible in its impulse, induced me to reply, —‘Ah! Diana, can you give me advice to leave Osbaldistone Hall?—then indeed I have already been a resident here too long!’

  Miss Vernon coloured, but proceeded with great firmness; ‘Indeed, I do give you this advice—not only to quit Osbaldistone Hall, but never to return to it more. You have only one friend to regret here,’ she continued, forcing a smile, ‘and she has been long accustomed to sacrifice her friendships and her comforts to the welfare of others. In the world you will meet a hundred whose friendship will be as disinterested—more useful—less encumbered by untoward circumstances—less influenced by evil tongues and evil times.’

  ‘Never!’ I exclaimed, ‘never! the world can afford me nothing to repay what I must leave behind me.’ Here I took her hand, and pressed it to my lips.

  ‘This is folly!’ she exclaimed—‘This is madness!’ and she struggled to withdraw her hand from my grasp, but not so stubbornly as actually to succeed, until I had held it for nearly a minute. ‘Hear me, sir!’ she said, ‘and curb this unmanly burst of passion. I am, by a solemn contract, the bride of Heaven, unless I could prefer being wedded to villainy in the person of Rashleigh Osbaldistone, or brutality in that of his brother. I am, therefore, the bride of Heaven, betrothed to the convent from the cradle. To me, therefor
e, these raptures are misapplied—they only serve to prove a farther necessity for your departure, and that without delay.’ At these words she broke suddenly off, and said, but in a suppressed tone of voice, ‘Leave me instantly—we will meet here again, but it must be for the last time.’

  My eyes followed the direction of hers as she spoke, and I thought I saw the tapestry shake, which covered the door of the secret passage from Rashleigh’s room to the library. I conceived we were observed, and turned an enquiring glance on Miss Vernon.

  ‘It is nothing,’ said she, faintly; ‘a rat behind the arras.’

  ‘Dead for a ducat,’ would have been my reply, had I dared to give way to the feelings which rose indignant at the idea of being subjected to an eavesdropper on such an occasion. Prudence, and the necessity of suppressing my passion, and obeying Diana’s reiterated command of’ Leave me! leave me!’ came in time to prevent any rash action. I left the apartment in a wild whirl and giddiness of mind, which I in vain attempted to compose when I returned to my own.

  A chaos of thoughts intruded themselves on me at once, passing hastily through my brain, intercepting and over-shadowing each other, and resembling those fogs which in mountainous countries are wont to descend in obscure volumes, and disfigure or obliterate the usual marks by which the traveller steers his course through the wilds. The dark and undefined idea of danger arising to my father from the machinations of such a man as Rashleigh Osbaldistone,— the half-declaration of love which I had offered to Miss Vernon’s acceptance,—the acknowledged difficulties of her situation, bound by a previous contract to sacrifice herself to a cloister, or to an ill-assorted marriage,—all pressed themselves at once upon my recollection, while my judgment was unable deliberately to consider any of them in then-just light and bearings. But chiefly, and above all the rest, I was perplexed by the manner in which Miss Vernon had received my tender of affection, and by her manner, which, fluctuating betwixt sympathy and firmness, seemed to intimate that I possessed an interest in her bosom, but not of force sufficient to counterbalance the obstacles to her avowing a mutual affection. The glance of fear, rather than surprise, with which she had watched the motion of the tapestry over the concealed door, implied an apprehension of danger which I could not but suppose well-grounded; for Diana Vernon was little subject to the nervous emotions of her sex, and totally unapt to fear without actual and rational cause. Of what nature could those mysteries be with which she was surrounded as with an enchanter’s spell, and which seemed continually to exert an active influence over her thoughts and actions, though their agents were never visible? On this subject of doubt my mind finally rested, as if glad to shake itself free from investigating the propriety or prudence of my own conduct, by transferring the enquiry to what concerned Miss Vernon. I will be resolved, I concluded, ere I leave Osbaldistone Hall, concerning the light in which I must in future regard this fascinating being, over whose life frankness and mystery seem to have divided their reign, the former inspiring her words and sentiments, the latter spreading in misty influence over all her actions.

  Joined to the obvious interests which arose from curiosity and anxious passion, there mingled in my feelings a strong though unavowed and undefined, infusion of jealousy. This sentiment, which springs up with love as naturally as the tares with the wheat, was excited by the degree of influence which Diana appeared to concede to those unseen beings by whom her actions were limited. The more I reflected upon her character, the more I was internally though unwillingly convinced, that she was formed to set at defiance all control, excepting that which arose from affection; and I felt a strong, bitter, and gnawing suspicion, that such was the foundation of that influence by which she was overawed.

  These tormenting doubts strengthened my desire to penetrate into the secret of Miss Vernon’s conduct, and in the prosecution of this sage adventure I formed a resolution, of which, if you are not weary of these details, you will find the result in the next Chapter.

  CHAPTER XVII

  I hear a voice you cannot hear,

  Which says, I must not stay;

  I see a hand you cannot sexe,

  Which beckons me away.

  Tickell

  I HAVE already told you, Tresham, if you deign to bear it in remembrance, that my evening visits to the library had seldom been made except by appointment, and under the sanction of old Dame Martha’s presence. This, however, was entirely a tacit conventional arrangement of my own instituting. Of late, as the embarrassments of our relative situation had increased, Miss Vernon and I had never met in the evening at all. She had therefore no reason to suppose that I was likely to seek a renewal of these interviews, and especially without some previous notice or appointment betwixt us, that Martha might, as usual, be placed upon duty; but, on the other hand, this cautionary provision was a matter of understanding, not of express enactment. The library was open to me, as to the other members of the family, at all hours of the day and night, and I could not be accused of intrusion, however suddenly and unexpectedly I might make my appearance in it. My belief was strong, that in this apartment Miss Vemon occasionally received Vaughan, or some other person, by whose opinion she was accustomed to regulate her conduct, and that at the times when she could do so with the least chance of interruption. The lights which gleamed in the library at unusual hours,—the passing shadows which I had myself remarked,—the footsteps which might be traced in the morning dew from the turret-door to the postern-gate in the garden,—sounds and sights which some of the servants, and Andrew Fairservice in particular, had observed and accounted for in their own way,—all tended to show that the place was visited by some one different from the ordinary inmates of the hall. Connected as this visitant must probably be with the fates of Diana Vernon, I did not hesitate to form a plan of discovering who or what he was,—how far his influence was likely to produce good or evil consequences to her on whom he acted,—above all, though I endeavoured to persuade myself that this was a mere subordinate consideration, I desired to know by what means this person had acquired or maintained his influence over Diana, and whether he ruled over her by fear or by affection. The proof that this jealous curiosity was uppermost in my mind, arose from my imagination always ascribing Miss Vernon’s conduct to the influence of some one individual agent, although, for aught I knew about the matter, her advisers might be as numerous as Legion. I remarked this over and over to myself, but I found that my mind still settled back in my original conviction, that one single individual, of the masculine sex, and in all probability young and handsome, was at the bottom of Miss Vernon’ conduct; and it was with a burning desire of discovering, or rather of detecting, such a rival, that I stationed myself in the garden to watch the moment when the lights should appear in the library windows.

  So eager, however, was my impatience, that I commenced my watch for a phenomenon, which could not appear until darkness, a full hour before the daylight disappeared, on a July evening. It was Sabbath, and all the walks were still and solitary. I walked up and down for some time, enjoying the refreshing coolness of a summer evening, and meditating on the probable consequences of my enterprise. The fresh and balmy air of the garden, impregnated with fragrance, produced its usual sedative effects on my over-heated and feverish blood; as these took place, the turmoil of my mind began proportionally to abate, and I was led to question the right I had to interfere with Miss Vernon’s secrets, or with those of my uncle’s family. What was it to me whom my uncle might choose to conceal in his house, where I was myself a guest only by tolerance? And what title had I to pry into the affairs of Miss Vernon, fraught, as she avowed them to be, with mystery, into which she desired no scrutiny?

  Passion and self-will were ready with their answers to these questions. In detecting this secret, I was in all probability about to do service to Sir Hildebrand, who was probably ignorant of the intrigues carried on in his family; and a still more important service to Miss Vernon, whose frank simplicity of character exposed her to so many risks in
maintaining a private correspondence, perhaps with a person of doubtful or dangerous character. If I seemed to intrude myself on her confidence, it was with the generous and disinterested (yes, I even ventured to call it the disinterested) intention of guiding, defending, and protecting her against craft,—against malice,—above all, against the secret counsellor whom she had chosen for her confidant. Such were the arguments which my will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be current; and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented to accept, rather than come to an open breach with a customer, though more than doubting that the tender was spurious.

  While I paced the green alleys, debating these things pro and con, I suddenly lighted upon Andrew Fairservice, perched up like a statue by a range of bee-hives, in an attitude of devout contemplation; one eye, however, watching the motions of the little irritable citizens, who were settling in their straw-thatched mansion for the evening, and the other fixed on a book of devotion, which much attrition had deprived of its corners, and worn into an oval shape; a circumstance, which, with the close print and dingy colour of the volume in question, gave it an air of most respectable antiquity.

  ‘I was e’en taking a spell o’ worthy Mess John Quackleben’s Flower of a Sweet Savour sawn on the Middenstead of this World,’ said Andrew, closing his book at my appearance, and putting his horn spectacles, by way of mark, at the place where he had been reading.

  ‘And the bees, I observe, were dividing your attention, Andrew, with the learned author?’

  ‘They are a contumacious generation,’ replied the gardener; ‘they hae sax days in the week to hive on, and yet it’s a common observe that they will aye swarm on the Sabbath-day, and keep folk at hame frae hearing the word—But there’s nae preaching at Graneagain Chapel the e’en—that’s aye ae mercy.’