The Monastery Page 5

  Chapter the Fourth.

  Ne'er be I found by thee unawed, On that thrice hallow'd eve abroad. When goblins haunt from flood and fen, The steps of men. COLLINS'S _Ode to Fear_.

  As the country became more settled, the Lady of Avenel would havewillingly returned to her husband's mansion. But that was no longer inher power. It was a reign of minority, when the strongest had the bestright, and when acts of usurpation were frequent amongst those who hadmuch power and little conscience.

  Julian Avenel, the younger brother of the deceased Walter, was a personof this description. He hesitated not to seize upon his brother's houseand lands, so soon as the retreat of the English permitted him. Atfirst, he occupied the property in the name of his niece; but when thelady proposed to return with her child to the mansion of its fathers, hegave her to understand, that Avenel, being a male fief, descended tothe brother, instead of the daughter, of the last possessor. The ancientphilosopher declined a dispute with the emperor who commanded twentylegions, and the widow of Walter Avenel was in no condition to maintaina contest with the leader of twenty moss-troopers. Julian was also aman of service, who could back a friend in case of need, and was sure,therefore, to find protectors among the ruling powers. In short, howeverclear the little Mary's right to the possessions of her father, hermother saw the necessity of giving way, at least for the time, to theusurpation of her uncle.

  Her patience and forbearance were so far attended with advantage,that Julian, for very shame's sake, could no longer suffer her to beabsolutely dependant on the charity of Elspeth Glendinning. A drove ofcattle and a bull (which were probably missed by some English farmer)were driven to the pastures of Glendearg; presents of raiment andhousehold stuff were sent liberally, and some little money, though witha more sparing hand: for those in the situation of Julian Avenel couldcome more easily by the goods, than the representing medium of value,and made their payments chiefly in kind.

  In the meantime, the widows of Walter Avenel and Simon Glendinning hadbecome habituated to each other's society, and were unwilling to part.The lady could hope no more secret and secure residence than in theTower of Glendearg, and she was now in a condition to support her shareof the mutual housekeeping. Elspeth, on the other hand, felt pride, aswell as pleasure, in the society of a guest of such distinction, andwas at all times willing to pay much greater deference than the Lady ofWalter Avenel could be prevailed on to accept.

  Martin and his wife diligently served the united family in their severalvocations, and yielded obedience to both mistresses, though alwaysconsidering themselves as the especial servants of the Lady of Avenel.This distinction sometimes occasioned a slight degree of differencebetween Dame Elspeth and Tibb; the former being jealous of her ownconsequence, and the latter apt to lay too much stress upon the rankand family of her mistress. But both were alike desirous to conceal suchpetty squabbles from the lady, her hostess scarce yielding to her olddomestic in respect for her person. Neither did the difference exist insuch a degree as to interrupt the general harmony of the family, for theone wisely gave way as she saw the other become warm; and Tibb, thoughshe often gave the first provocation, had generally the sense to be thefirst in relinquishing the argument.

  The world which lay beyond was gradually forgotten by the inhabitantsof this sequestered glen, and unless when she attended mass at theMonastery Church upon some high holiday, Alice of Avenel almostforgot that she once held an equal rank with the proud wives of theneighbouring barons and nobles who on such occasions crowded to thesolemnity. The recollection gave her little pain. She loved her husbandfor himself, and in his inestimable loss all lesser subjects of regrethad ceased to interest her. At times, indeed, she thought of claimingthe protection of the Queen Regent (Mary of Guise) for her littleorphan, but the fear of Julian Avenel always came between. She wassensible that he would have neither scruple nor difficulty in spiritingaway the child, (if he did not proceed farther,) should he once considerits existence as formidable to his interest. Besides, he led a wild andunsettled life, mingling in all feuds and forays, wherever there wasa spear to be broken; he evinced no purpose of marrying, and the fatewhich he continually was braving might at length remove him from hisusurped inheritance. Alice of Avenel, therefore, judged it wise to checkall ambitious thoughts for the present, and remain quiet in the rude,but peaceable retreat, to which Providence had conducted her.

  It was upon an All-Hallow's eve, when the family had resided togetherfor the space of three years, that the domestic circle was assembledround the blazing turf-fire, in the old narrow hall of the Tower ofGlendearg. The idea of the master or mistress of the mansion feeding orliving apart from their domestics, was at this period never entertained.The highest end of the board, the most commodious settle by thefire,--these were the only marks of distinction; and the servantsmingled, with deference indeed, but unreproved and with freedom, inwhatever conversation was going forward. But the two or three domestics,kept merely for agricultural purposes, had retired to their own cottageswithout, and with them a couple of wenches, usually employed withindoors, the daughters of one of the hinds.

  After their departure, Martin locked, first, the iron grate; and,secondly, the inner door of the tower, when the domestic circle was thusarranged. Dame Elspeth sate pulling the thread from her distaff; Tibbwatched the progress of scalding the whey, which hung in a large potupon the _crook_, a chain terminated by a hook, which was suspendedin the chimney to serve the purpose of the modern crane. Martin, whilebusied in repairing some of the household articles, (for every man inthose days was his own carpenter and smith, as well as his own tailorand shoemaker,) kept from time to time a watchful eye upon the threechildren.

  They were allowed, however, to exercise their juvenile restlessness byrunning up and down the hall, behind the seats of the elder members ofthe family, with the privilege of occasionally making excursions intoone or two small apartments which opened from it, and gave excellentopportunity to play at hide-and-seek. This night, however, the childrenseemed not disposed to avail themselves of their privilege of visitingthese dark regions, but preferred carrying on their gambols in thevicinity of the light.

  In the meanwhile, Alice of Avenel, sitting close to an iron candlestick,which supported a misshapen torch of domestic manufacture, read smalldetached passages from a thick clasped volume, which she preservedwith the greatest care. The art of reading the lady had acquired by herresidence in a nunnery during her youth, but she seldom, of late years,put it to any other use than perusing this little volume, which formedher whole library. The family listened to the portions which sheselected, as to some good thing which there was a merit in hearing withrespect, whether it was fully understood or no. To her daughter, Aliceof Avenel had determined to impart their mystery more fully, but theknowledge was at that period attended with personal danger, and was notrashly to be trusted to a child.

  The noise of the romping children interrupted, from time to time, thevoice of the lady, and drew on the noisy culprits the rebuke of Elspeth.

  "Could they not go farther a-field, if they behoved to make such a din,and disturb the lady's good words?" And this command was backed withthe threat of sending the whole party to bed if it was not attended topunctually. Acting under the injunction, the children first played ata greater distance from the party, and more quietly, and then beganto stray into the adjacent apartments, as they became impatient of therestraint to which they were subjected. But, all at once, the two boyscame open-mouthed into the hall, to tell that there was an armed man inthe spence.

  "It must be Christie of Clint-hill," said Martin, rising; "what can havebrought him here at this time?"

  "Or how came he in?" said Elspeth.

  "Alas! what can he seek?" said the Lady of Avenel, to whom this man,a retainer of her husband's brother, and who sometimes executed hiscommissions at Glendearg, was an object of secret apprehension andsuspicion. "Gracious heavens!" she added, rising up, "where is mychild?" Al
l rushed to the spence, Halbert Glendinning first arminghimself with a rusty sword, and the younger seizing upon the lady'sbook. They hastened to the spence, and were relieved of a part of theiranxiety by meeting Mary at the door of the apartment. She did not seemin the slightest degree alarmed, or disturbed. They rushed into thespence, (a sort of interior apartment in which the family ate theirvictuals in the summer season,) but there was no one there.

  "Where is Christie of Clint-hill?" said Martin.

  "I do not know," said little Mary; "I never saw him."

  "And what made you, ye misleard loons," said Dame Elspeth to her twoboys, "come yon gate into the ha', roaring like bullsegs, to frightenthe leddy, and her far frae strong?" The boys looked at each other insilence and confusion, and their mother proceeded with her lecture."Could ye find nae night for daffin but Hallowe'en, and nae time butwhen the leddy was reading to us about the holy Saints? May ne'er be inmy fingers, if I dinna sort ye baith for it!" The eldest boy bent hiseyes on the ground, the younger began to weep, but neither spoke;and the mother would have proceeded to extremities, but for theinterposition of the little maiden.

  "Dame Elspeth, it was _my_ fault--I did say to them, that I saw a man inthe spence."

  "And what made you do so, child," said her mother, "to startle us allthus?"

  "Because," said Mary, lowering her voice, "I could not help it."

  "Not help it, Mary!--you occasioned all this idle noise, and you couldnot help it? How mean you by that, minion?"

  "There really was an armed man in this spence," said Mary; "and becauseI was surprised to see him, I cried out to Halbert and Edward--"

  "She has told it herself," said Halbert Glendinning, "or it had neverbeen told by me."

  "Nor by me neither," said Edward, emulously.

  "Mistress Mary," said Elspeth, "you never told us anything before thatwas not true; tell us if this was a Hallowe'en cantrip, and make an endof it." The Lady of Avenel looked as if she would have interfered, butknew not how; and Elspeth, who was too eagerly curious to regard anydistant hint, persevered in her inquiries. "Was it Christie of theClint-hill?--I would not for a mark that he were about the house, and abody no ken whare."

  "It was not Christie," said Mary; "it was--it was a gentleman--agentleman with a bright breastplate, like what I hae seen langsyne, whenwe dwelt at Avenel--"

  "What like was he?" continued Tibb, who now took share in theinvestigation.

  "Black-haired, black-eyed, with a peaked black beard," said the child;"and many a fold of pearling round his neck, and hanging down his breastower his breastplate; and he had a beautiful hawk, with silver bells,standing on his left hand, with a crimson silk hood upon its head--"

  "Ask her no more questions, for the love of God," said the anxiousmenial to Elspeth, "but look to my leddy!" But the Lady of Avenel,taking Mary in her hand, turned hastily away, and, walking into thehall, gave them no opportunity of remarking in what manner she receivedthe child's communication, which she thus cut short. What Tibb thoughtof it appeared from her crossing herself repeatedly, and whisperinginto Elspeth's ear, "Saint Mary preserve us!--the lassie has seen herfather!"

  When they reached the hall, they found the lady holding her daughteron her knee, and kissing her repeatedly. When they entered, she againarose, as if to shun observation, and retired to the little apartmentwhere her child and she occupied the same bed.

  The boys were also sent to their cabin, and no one remained by the hallfire save the faithful Tibb and dame Elspeth, excellent persons both,and as thorough gossips as ever wagged a tongue.

  It was but natural that they should instantly resume the subject of thesupernatural appearance, for such they deemed it, which had this nightalarmed the family.

  "I could hae wished it had been the deil himself--be good to andpreserve us!--rather than Christie o' the Clint-hill," said the matronof the mansion, "for the word runs rife in the country, that he is aneof the maist masterfu' thieves ever lap on horse."

  "Hout-tout, Dame Elspeth," said Tibb, "fear ye naething frae Christie;tods keep their ain holes clean. You kirk-folk make sic a fasherie aboutmen shifting a wee bit for their living! Our Border-lairds would ridewith few men at their back, if a' the light-handed lads were out o'gate."

  "Better they rade wi' nane than distress the country-side the gate theydo," said Dame Elspeth.

  "But wha is to haud back the Southron, then," said Tibb, "if ye takeaway the lances and broadswords? I trow we auld wives couldna do thatwi' rock and wheel, and as little the monks wi' bell and book."

  "And sae weel as the lances and broadswords hae kept them back, Itrow!--I was mair beholden to ae Southron, and that was Stawarth Bolton,than to a' the border-riders ever wore Saint Andrew's cross--I reckontheir skelping back and forward, and lifting honest men's gear, has beena main cause of a' the breach between us and England, and I am sure thatcost me a kind goodman. They spoke about the wedding of the Prince andour Queen, but it's as like to be the driving of the Cumberland folk'sstocking that brought them down on us like dragons." Tibb would not havefailed in other circumstances to answer what she thought reflectionsdisparaging to her country folk; but she recollected that Dame Elspethwas mistress of the family, curbed her own zealous patriotism, andhastened to change the subject.

  "And is it not strange," she said, "that the heiress of Avenel shouldhave seen her father this blessed night?"

  "And ye think it was her father, then?" said Elspeth Glendinning.

  "What else can I think?" said Tibb.

  "It may hae been something waur, in his likeness," said DameGlendinning.

  "I ken naething about that," said Tibb,--"but his likeness it was, thatI will be sworn to, just as he used to ride out a-hawking; for havingenemies in the country, he seldom laid off the breast-plate; and for mypart," added Tibb, "I dinna think a man looks like a man unless he hassteel on his breast, and by his side too."

  "I have no skill of your harness on breast or side either," said DameGlendinning; "but I ken there is little luck in Hallowe'en sights, for Ihave had ane myself."

  "Indeed, Dame Elspeth?" said old Tibb, edging her stool closer to thehuge elbow-chair occupied by her friend, "I should like to hear aboutthat."

  "Ye maun ken, then, Tibb," said Dame Glendinning, "that when I was ahempie of nineteen or twenty, it wasna my fault if I wasna at a' themerry-makings time about."

  "That was very natural," said Tibb; "but ye hae sobered since that, orye wadna haud our braw gallants sae lightly."

  "I have had that wad sober me or ony ane," said the matron, "Aweel,Tibb, a lass like me wasna to lack wooers, for I wasna sae ill-favouredthat the tikes wad bark after me."

  "How should that be," said Tibb, "and you sic a weel-favoured woman tothis day?"

  "Fie, fie, cummer," said the matron of Glendearg, hitching her seat ofhonour, in her turn, a little nearer to the cuttle-stool on which Tibbwas seated; "weel-favoured is past my time of day; but I might passthen, for I wasna sae tocherless but what I had a bit land at mybreast-lace. My father was portioner of Little-dearg."

  "Ye hae tell'd me that before," said Tibb; "but anent the Hallowe'en?"

  "Aweel, aweel, I had mair joes than ane, but I favoured nane o' them;and sae, at Hallowe'en, Father Nicolas the cellarer--he was cellarerbefore this father, Father Clement, that now is--was cracking his nutsand drinking his brown beer with us, and as blithe as might be, and theywould have me try a cantrip to ken wha suld wed me: and the monk saidthere was nae ill in it, and if there was, he would assoil me forit. And wha but I into the barn to winnow my three weights o'naething--sair, sair my mind misgave me for fear of wrang-doing andwrang-suffering baith; but I had aye a bauld spirit. I had not winnowedthe last weight clean out, and the moon was shining bright upon thefloor, when in stalked the presence of my dear Simon Glendinning, thatis now happy. I never saw him plainer in my life than I did that moment;he held up an arrow as he passed me, and I swarf'd awa wi' fright.Muckle wark there was to bring me to mysell again, and sair they triedto make
me believe it was a trick of Father Nicolas and Simon betweenthem, and that the arrow was to signify Cupid's shaft, as the Fathercalled it; and mony a time Simon wad threep it to me after I wasmarried--gude man, he liked not it should be said that he was seen outo' the body!--But mark the end o' it, Tibb; we were married, and thegray-goose wing was the death o' him after a'!"

  "As it has been of ower mony brave men," said Tibb; "I wish there wasnasic a bird as a goose in the wide warld, forby the clecking that we haeat the burn-side."

  "But tell me, Tibb," said Dame Glendinning, "what does your leddy aye doreading out o' that thick black book wi' the silver clasps?--there areower mony gude words in it to come frae ony body but a priest--An itwere about Robin Hood, or some o' David Lindsay's ballants, ane wad kenbetter what to say to it. I am no misdoubting your mistress nae way,but I wad like ill to hae a decent house haunted wi' ghaists andgyrecarlines."

  "Ye hae nae reason to doubt my leddy, or ony thing she says or does,Dame Glendinning," said the faithful Tibb, something offended; "andtouching the bairn, it's weel kend she was born on Hallowe'en, was nineyears gane, and they that are born on Hallowe'en whiles see mair thanither folk."

  "And that wad be the cause, then, that the bairn didna mak muckle dinabout what it saw?--if it had been my Halbert himself, forby Edward, whois of softer nature, he wad hae yammered the haill night of a constancy.But it's like Mistress Mary hae sic sights mair natural to her."

  "That may weel be," said Tibb; "for on Hallowe'en she was born, as Itell ye, and our auld parish priest wad fain hae had the night ower,and All-Hallow day begun. But for a' that, the sweet bairn is just likeither bairns, as ye may see yourself; and except this blessed night,and ance before when we were in that weary bog on the road here, I kennathat it saw mair than ither folk."

  "But what saw she in the bog, then," said Dame Glendinning, "forbymoor-cocks and heather-blutters?"

  "The wean saw something like a white leddy that weised us the gate,"said Tibb; "when we were like to hae perished in the moss-hags--certainit was that Shagram reisted, and I ken Martin thinks he saw something."

  "And what might the white leddy be?" said Elspeth; "have ye ony guess o'that?"

  "It's weel kend that, Dame Elspeth," said Tibb; "if ye had lived undergrit folk, as I hae dune, ye wadna be to seek in that matter."

  "I hae aye keepit my ain ha' house abune my head," said Elspeth, notwithout emphasis, "and if I havena lived wi' grit folk, grit folk havelived wi' me."

  "Weel, weel, dame," said Tibb, "your pardon's prayed, there was naeoffence meant. But ye maun ken the great ancient families canna be justserved wi' the ordinary saunts, (praise to them!) like Saunt Anthony,Saunt Cuthbert, and the like, that come and gang at every sinner'sbidding, but they hae a sort of saunts or angels, or what not, tothemsells; and as for the White Maiden of Avenel, she is kend ower thehaill country. And she is aye seen to yammer and wail before ony o' thatfamily dies, as was weel kend by twenty folk before the death of WalterAvenel, haly be his cast!"

  "If she can do nae mair than that," said Elspeth, somewhat scornfully,"they needna make mony vows to her, I trow. Can she make nae better fendfor them than that, and has naething better to do than wait on them?"

  "Mony braw services can the White Maiden do for them to the boot ofthat, and has dune in the auld histories," said Tibb, "but I mind o'naething in my day, except it was her that the bairn saw in the bog."

  "Aweel, aweel, Tibb," said Dame Glendinning, rising and lighting theiron lamp, "these are great privileges of your grand folk. But our Ladyand Saunt Paul are good eneugh saunts for me, and I'se warrant themnever leave me in a bog that they can help me out o', seeing I send fourwaxen candles to their chapels every Candlemas; and if they are not seento weep at my death, I'se warrant them smile at my joyful rising again,whilk Heaven send to all of us, Amen."

  "Amen," answered Tibb, devoutly; "and now it's time I should hap up thewee bit gathering turf, as the fire is ower low."

  Busily she set herself to perform this duty. The relict of SimonGlendinning did but pause a moment to cast a heedful and cautious glanceall around the hall, to see that nothing was out of its proper place;then, wishing Tibb good-night, she retired to repose.

  "The deil's in the carline," said Tibb to herself, "because she wasthe wife of a cock-laird, she thinks herself grander, I trow, than thebower-woman of a lady of that ilk!" Having given vent to her suppressedspleen in this little ejaculation, Tibb also betook herself to slumber.