hands a large proportion of the price, in case of the re-appearance, within a certain limited term, of the child who had disappeared." "To what purpose, then, force forward a sale!" said Mannering. Mac-Morlan smiled. "Ostensibly," he answered, "to substitute the interest of money, instead of the ill-paid and precarious rents of an unimproved estate; but chiefly, it was believed, to suit the wishes and views of a certain intended purchaser, who had become a principal creditor, and forced himself into the management of the affairs by means best known to himself, and who, it was thought, would find it very convenient to purchase the estate without paying down the price." some trifle which occurred at the card-table, which occasioned high words and a challenge. We met in the morning beyond the walls and esplanade of the fortress which I then commanded, on the frontiers of the settlement. This was arranged for Brown's safety, had he escaped. I almost wish he had, though at my own expense; but he fell by the first fire. We strove to assist him; but some of these Looties, a species of native banditti who were always on the watch for prey, poured in upon us. Archer and I gained our horses with difficulty, and cut our way through them after a hard conflict, in the course of which he received some desperate wounds. To complete the misfortunes of this miserable day, my wife, who suspected the design with which I left the fortress, had ordered her palanquin to follow me, and was alarmed and almost made prisoner by another troop of these plunderers. She was quickly released by a party of our cavalry; but I cannot disguise from myself, that the incidents of this fatal morning gave a severe shock to health already delicate. The confession of Archer, who thought himself dying, that he had invented some circumstances, and, for his purposes, put the worst construction upon others, and the full expla-mised that our hero should have them detailed by nation and exchange of forgiveness with me which this produced, could not check the progress of her disorder. She died within about eight months after this incident, bequeathing me only the girl, of whom Mrs Mervyn is so good as to undertake the temporary charge. Julia was also extremely ill; so much so, that I was induced to throw up my command and return to Europe, where her native air, time, and the novelty of the scenes around her, have contributed to dissipate her dejection, and restore her health. "Now that you know my story, you will no longer ask me the reason of my melancholy, but permit me to brood upon it as I may. There is, surely, in the above narrative, enough to embitter, though not to poison, the chalice, which the fortune and fame you so often mention had prepared to regale my years of retirement. "I could add circumstances which our old tutor would have quoted as instances of day fatality,you would laugh were I to mention such particulars, especially as you know I put no faith in them. Yet, since I have come to the very house from which I now write, I have learned a singular coincidence, which, if I find it truly established by tolerable evidence, will serve us hereafter for subject of curious discussion. But I will spare you at present, as I expect a person to speak about a purchase of property now open in this part of the country. It is a place to which I have a foolish partiality, and I hope my purchasing may be convenient to those who are parting with it, as there is a plan for buying it under the value. My respectful compliments to Mrs Mervyn, and I will trust you, though you boast to be so lively a young gentlemen, to kiss Julia for me.-Adieu, dear Mervyn.- Thine ever, "GUY MANNERING." Mr Mac-Morlan now entered the room. The well-known character of Colonel Mannering at once disposed this gentleman, who was a man of intelligence and probity, to be open and confidential. He explained the advantages and disadvantages of the property. "It was settled," he said, "the greater part of it at least, upon heirs-male, and the purchaser would have the privilege of retaining in his Mannering consulted with Mr Mac-Morlan upon the steps for thwarting this unprincipled attempt. They then conversed long on the singular disappearance of Harry Bertram upon his fifth birth-day, verifying thus the random prediction of Mannering, of which, however, it will readily be supposed he made no boast. Mr Mac-Morlan was not himself in office when that incident took place; but he was well acquainted with all the circumstances, and prothe sheriff-depute himself, if, as he proposed, he should become a settler in that part of Scotland. With this assurance they parted, well satisfied with each other, and with the evening's conference. On the Sunday following, Colonel Mannering attended the parish church with great decorum. None of the Ellangowan family were present; and it was understood that the old Laird was rather worse than better. Jock Jabos, once more dispatched for him, returned once more without his errand; but, on the following day, Miss Bertram hoped he might be removed. CHAPTER XIII. They told me, by the sentence of the law, EARLY next morning, Mannering mounted his horse, and, accompanied by his servant, took the road to Ellangowan. He had no need to inquire the way. A sale in the country is a place of public resort and amusement, and people of various descriptions streamed to it from all quarters. After a pleasant ride of about an hour, the old towers of the ruin presented themselves in the landscape. The thoughts, with what different feelings he had lost sight of them so many years before, thronged upon the mind of the traveller. The landscape was the same; but how changed the feelings, hopes, and views, of the spectator! Then, life and love were new, and all the prospect was gilded by their rays. And now, disappointed in affection, sated with fame, and what the world calls success, his mind goaded by bitter and repentant recollection, his best hope was to find a retirement in which he might nurse the melancholy that was to accompany him to his grave. "Yet why should an individual mourn over the instability of his hopes, and the vanity of his prospects? The ancient chiefs, who erected these enormous and massive towers to be the fortress of their race and the seat of their power,-could they have dreamed the day was to come, when the last of their descendants should be expelled, a ruined wanderer, from his possessions! But Nature's bounties are unaltered. The sun will shine as fair on these ruins, whether the property of a stranger, or of a sordid and obscure trickster of the abused law, as when the banners of the founder first waved upon their battlements." These reflections brought Mannering to the door of the house, which was that day open to all. He entered among others, who traversed the apartments-some to select articles for purchase, others to gratify their curiosity. There is something melancholy in such a scene, even under the most favourable circumstances. The confused state of the furniture, displaced for the convenience of being easily viewed and carried off by the purchasers, is disagreeable to the eye. Those articles which, properly and decently arranged, look creditable and handsome, have then a paltry and wretched appearance; and the apartments, stripped of all that render them commodious and comfortable, have an aspect of ruin and dilapidation. It is disgusting also, to see the scenes of domestic society and seclusion thrown open to the gaze of the curious and the vulgar; to hear their coarse speculations and brutal jests upon the fashions and furniture to which they are unaccustomed,-a frolicsome humour much cherished by the whisky which in Scotland is always put in circulation on such occasions. All these are ordinary effects of such a scene as Ellangowan now presented; but the moral feeling, that, in this case, they indicated the total ruin of an ancient and honourable family, gave them treble weight and poignancy. It was some time before Colonel Mannering could find any one disposed to answer his reiterated questions concerning Ellangowan himself. At length, an old maid-servant, who held her apron to her eyes as she spoke, told him, "the Laird was something better, and they hoped he would be able to leave the house that day. Miss Lucy expected the chaise every moment, and, as the day was fine for the time o' year, they had carried him in his easy chair up to the green before the auld castle, to be out of the way of this unco spectacle." Hither Colonel Mannering went in quest of him, and soon came in sight of the little group, which consisted of four persons. The ascent was steep, so that he had time to reconnoitre them as he advanced, and to consider in what mode he should make his address. Mr Bertram, paralytick, and almost incapable of moving, occupied his easy chair, attired in his night-cap, and a loose camlet coat, his feet wrapped in blankets. Behind him, with his hands crossed on the cane upon which he rested, stood Dominie Sampson, whom Mannering recognised at once. Time had made no change upon him, unless that his black coat seemed more brown, and his gaunt cheeks more lank, than when Mannering last saw him. On one side of the old man was a sylph-like form-a young woman of about seventeen, whom the Colonel accounted to be his daughter. She was looking, from time to time, anxiously towards the avenue, as if expecting the post-chaise; and between whiles busied herself in adjusting the blan VOL. I. No. XV. 221 kets, so as to protect her father from the cold, and in answering inquiries, which he seemed to make with a captious and querulous manner. She did not trust herself to look towards the Place, although the hum of the assembled crowd must have drawn her attention in that direction. The fourth person of the group was a handsome and genteel young man, who seemed to share Miss Bertram's anxiety, and her solicitude to soothe and accommodate her parent. This young man was the first who observed Colonel Mannering, and immediately stepped forward to meet him, as if politely to prevent his drawing nearer to the distressed group. Mannering instantly paused and explained. "He was," he said, a stranger, to whom Mr Bertram had formerly shown kindness and hospitality; he would not have intruded himself upon him at a period of distress, did it not seem to be in some degree a moment also of desertion; he wished merely to offer such services as might be in his power to Mr Bertram and the young lady." He then paused at a little distance from the chair. His old acquaintance gazed at him with lack-lustre eye, that intimated no tokens of recognition-the Dominie seemed too deeply sunk in distress even to observe his presence. The young man spoke aside with Miss Bertram, who advanced timidly, and thanked Colonel Mannering for his goodness; "but," she said, the tears gushing fast into her eyes, "her father, she feared, was not so much himself as to be able to remember him." She then retreated towards the chair, accompanied by the Colonel.—“ Father,” she said, “this is Mr Mannering, an old friend, come to inquire after you." "He's very heartily welcome," said the old man, raising himself in his chair, and attempting a gesture of courtesy, while a gleam of hospitable satisfaction seemed to pass over his faded features."But, Lucy, my dear, let us go down to the house; you should not keep the gentleman here in the cold.-Dominie, take the key of the wine-cooler. a the gentleman will surely take something after his ride.” Mr a He Mannering was unspeakably affected by the contrast which his recollection made between this reception and that with which he had been greeted by the same individual when they last met. could not restrain his tears, and his evident emotion at once attained him the confidence of the friendless young lady. "Alas!" she said, "this is distressing even to a stranger; but it may be better for my poor father to be in this way, than if he knew and could feel all." A servant in livery now came up the path, and spoke in an under tone to the young gentleman--"Mr Charles, my lady's wanting you yonder sadly, to bid for her for the black ebony cabinet; and Lady Jean Devorgoil is wi' her an' a'—ye maun come away directly." "Tell them you could not find me, Tom;—or, stay,- say I am looking at the horses." "No, no, no," said Lucy Bertram, earnestly;--"if you would not add to the misery of this miserable moment, go to the company directly. This gentleman, I am sure, will see us to the carriage." "Unquestionably, madam," said Mannering, " your young friend may rely on my attention." P "Farewell, then," said young Hazlewood, and whispered a word in her ear-then ran down the steep hastily, as if not trusting his resolution at a slower pace. "Where's Charles Hazlewood running?" said the invalid, who apparently was accustomed to his presence and attentions; "where's Charles Hazlewood running?-what takes him away now?" "He'll return in a little while," said Lucy, gently. The sound of voices was now heard from the ruins. (The reader may remember there was a communication between the castle and the beach, up which the speakers had ascended.) "Yes, there's plenty of shells and sea-ware for manure, as you observe-and if one inclined to build a new house, which might indeed be necessary, there's a great deal of good hewn stone about this old dungeon for the devil here". "Good God!" said Miss Bertram hastily to Sampson," 'tis that wretch Glossin's voice!-if my father sees him, it will kill him outright!" Sampson wheeled perpendicularly round, and moved with long strides to confront the attorney, as he issued from beneath the portal arch of the ruin. "Avoid ye!" he said-" Avoid ye! wouldst thou kill and take possession?" "Come, come, Master Dominie Sampson," answered Glossin, insolently, "if ye cannot preach in the pulpit, we'll have no preaching here. We go by the law, my good friend; we leave the gospel to you." The very mention of this man's name had been of late a subject of the most violent irritation to the unfortunate patient. The sound of his voice now produced an instantaneous effect. Mr Bertram started up without assistance, and turned round towards him; the ghastliness of his features forming a strange contrast with the violence of his exclamations.- "Out of my sight, ye viper! ye frozen viper, that I warmed till ye stung nie!-art thou not afraid that the walls of my father's dwelling should fall and crush thee limb and bone?-are ye not afraid the very lintels of the door of Ellangowan castle should break open and swallow you up?Were ye not friendless,-houseless,-penniless,when I took ye by the hand-and are ye not expelling me- me, and that innocent girl-friendless, houseless, and penniless, from the house that has sheltered us and ours for a thousand years?" Had Glossin been alone, he would probably have slunk off; but the consciousness that a stranger was present, besides the person who came with him (a sort of land-surveyor), determined him to resort to impudence. The task, however, was almost too hard, even for his effrontery.-" Sir-Sir- Mr Bertram-Sir, you should not blame me, but your own imprudence, sir" The indignation of Mannering was mounting very high. "Sir," he said to Glossin, "without entering into the merits of this controvery, I must inform you, that you have chosen a very improper place, time, and presence for it. And you will oblige me by withdrawing without more words." Glossin, being a tall, strong, muscular man, was not unwilling rather to turn upon a stranger whom he hoped to bully, than maintain his wretched cause against his injured patron:—“ I do not know who you are, sir," he said, “and I shall permit no man to use such d-d freedom with me." Mannering was naturally hot-tempered- his eyes flashed a dark light-he compressed his nether lip so closely that the blood sprung, and approaching Glossin" Look you, sir," he said, "that you do not know me, is of little consequence. I know you; and, if you do not instantly descend that bank, without uttering a single syllable, by the Heaven that is above us, you shall make but one step from the top to the bottom!" The commanding tone of rightful anger silenced at once the ferocity of the bully. He hesitated, turned on his heel, and, muttering something between his teeth about unwillingness to alarm the lady, relieved them of his hateful company. Mrs Mac-Candlish's postilion, who had come up in time to hear what passed, said aloud, "If he had stuck by the way, I would have lent him a heezie, the dirty scoundrel, as willingly as ever I pitched a boddle." He then stepped forward to announce that his horses were in readiness for the invalid and his daughter. But they were no longer necessary. The debilitated frame of Mr Bertram was exhausted by this last effort of indignant anger, and when he sunk again upon his chair, he expired almost without a struggle or groan. So little alteration did the extinction of the vital spark make upon his external appearance, that the screams of his daughter, when she saw his eye fix and felt his pulse stop, first announced his death to the spectators. Our hopes and fears Start up alarm'd, and o'er life's narrow verge The crowd of assembled gazers and idlers at Ellangowan had followed the views of amusement, or what they called business, which brought them there, with little regard to the feelings of those who were suffering upon that occasion. Few, indeed, knew anything of the family. The father, betwixt seclusion, misfortune, and imbecility, had drifted, as it were, for many years, out of the notice of his contemporaries-the daughter had never been known to them. But when the general murmur announced that the unfortunate Mr Bertram had broken his heart in the effort to leave the mansion of his forefathers, there poured forth a torrent of sympathy, like the waters from the rock when stricken by the wand of the prophet. The ancient descent and unblemished integrity of the family were respectfully remembered;--above all, the sacred veneration due to misfortune, which in Scotland sel dom demands its tribute in vain, then claimed and received it. Mr Mac-Morlan hastily announced that he would suspend all farther proceedings in the sale of the estate and other property, and relinquish the possession of the premises to the young lady, until she could consult with her friends, and provide for the burial of her father. Glossin had cowered for a few minutes under the general expression of sympathy, till, hardened by observing that no appearance of popular indignation was directed his way, he had the audacity to require that the sale should proceed. "I will take it upon my own authority to adjourn it," said the sheriff-substitute," and will be responsible for the consequences. I will also give due notice when it is again to go forward. It is for the benefit of all concerned that the lands should bring the highest price the state of the market will admit, and this is surely no time to expect it—I will take the responsibility upon myself." Glossin left the room, and the house too, with secrecy and dispatch; and it was probably well for him that he did so, since our friend Jock Jabos was already haranguing a numerous tribe of bare+ legged boys on the propriety of pelting him off the estate. Some of the rooms were hastily put in order for the reception of the young lady, and of her father's dead body. Mannering now found his farther interference would be unnecessary, and might be misconstrued. He observed, too, that several families connected with that of Ellangowan, and who indeed derived their principal claim of gentility from the alliance, were now disposed to pay to their trees of genealogy a tribute, which the adversity of their supposed relatives had been inadequate to call forth; and that the honour of superintending the funeral rites of the dead Godfrey Bertram (as in the memorable case of Homer's birth-place) was likely to be debated by seven gentleman of rank and fortune, none of whom had offered him an asylum while living. He therefore resolved, as his presence was altogether useless, to make a short tour of a fortnight, at the end of which period the adjourned sale of the estate of Ellangowan was to proceed. But before he departed, he solicited an interview with the Dominie. The poor man appeared, on being informed a gentleman wanted to speak to him, with some expression of surprise in his gaunt features, to which recent sorrow had given an expression yet more grisly. He made two or three profound reverences to Mannering, and then, standing erect, patiently waited an explanation of his commands. "You are probably at a loss to guess, Mr Sampson," said Mannering, "what a stranger may have to say to you?" "Unless it were to request that I would undertake to train up some youth in polite letters, and humane learning-But I cannot-I cannot-I have yet a task to perform." "No, Mr Sampson, my wishes are not so ambitious. I have no son, and my only daughter, I presume, you would not consider as a fit pupil." "Of a surety, no," replied the simple-minded Sampson. "Nathless, it was I who did educate Miss Lucy in all useful learning,-albeit it was the housekeeper who did teach her those unprofitable exercises of hemming and shaping." "Well, sir," replied Mannering, "it is of Miss Lucy I meant to speak-you have, I presume, no recollection of me?" Sampson, always sufficiently absent in mind, neither remembered the astrologer of past years, nor even the stranger who had taken his patron's part against Glossin, so much had his friend's sudden death embroiled his ideas. "Well, that does not signify," pursued the Colonel; "I am an old acquaintance of the late Mr Bertram, able and willing to assist his daughter in her present circumstances. Besides, I have thoughts of making this purchase, and I should wish things kept in order about the place: will you have the goodness to apply this small sum in the usual family expenses?"-He put into the Dominie's hand a purse containing some gold. "Pro-di-gi-ous!" exclaimed Dominie Sampson. "But if your honour would tarry” "Impossible, sir-impossible," said Mannering, making his escape from him. "Pro-di-gi-ous!" again exclaimed Sampson, following to the head of the stairs, still holding out the purse. "But as touching this coined money" Mannering escaped down stairs as fast as possible. "Pro-di-gi-ous!" exclaimed Dominie Sampson, yet the third time, now standing at the front door "But as touching this specie". But Mannering was now on horseback, and out of hearing. The Dominie, who had never, either in his own right, or as trustee for another, been possessed of a quarter part of this sum, though it was not above twenty guineas, "took counsel," as he expressed himself, "how he should demean himself with respect unto the fine gold" thus left in his charge. Fortunately he found a disinterested adviser in Mac-Morlan, who pointed out the most proper means of disposing of it for contributing to Miss Bertram's convenience, being no doubt the purpose to which it was destined by the bestower. Many of the neighbouring gentry were now sincerely eager in pressing offers of hospitality and kindness upon Miss Bertram. But she felt a natural reluctance to enter any family, for the first time, as an object rather of benevolence than hos. pitality, and determined to wait the opinion and advice of her father's nearest female relation, Mrs Margaret Bertram of Singleside, an old unmarried lady, to whom she wrote an account of her present distressful situation. The funeral of the late Mr Bertram was performed with decent privacy, and the unfortunate young lady was now to consider herself as but the temporary tenant of the house in which she had been born, and where her patience and soothing attentions had so long " rocked the cradle of declining age." Her communication with Mr MacMorlan encouraged her to hope that she would not be suddenly or unkindly deprived of this asylum— But fortune had ordered otherwise. For two days before the appointed day for the sale of the lands and estate of Ellangowan, MacMorlan daily expected the appearance of Colonel Mannering, or at least a letter containing powers to act for him. But none such arrived. Mr MacMorlan waked early in the morning,-walked over to the Post-office, there were no letters for him. He endeavoured to persuade himself that he should see Colonel Mannering to breakfast, and ordered his wife to place her best china, and prepare her self accordingly. But the preparations were in make himself heir of Linne without the disagree vain. "Could I have foreseen this," he said, "I able ceremony of " telling down the good red gold." would have travelled Scotland over, but I would Miss Bertram no sooner heard this painful, and of have found some one to bid against Glossin."- late unexpected intelligence, than she proceeded in Alas! such reflections were all too late. The ap- the preparations she had already made for leaving pointed hour arrived; and the parties met in the the mansion-house immediately. Mr Mac-Morlan Mason's Lodge at Kippletringan, being the place assisted her in these arrangements, and pressed fixed for the adjourned sale. Mac-Morlan spent upon her so kindly the hospitality and protection as much time in preliminaries as decency would of his roof, until she should receive an answer from permit, and read over the articles of sale as slowly her cousin, or be enabled to adopt some settled plan as if he had been reading his own death-warrant. of life, that she felt there would be unkindness in He turned his eye every time the door of the room refusing an invitation urged with such earnestness. opened, with hopes which grew fainter and fainter. Mrs Mac-Morlan was a ladylike person, and well He listened to every noise in the street of the vil- qualified by birth and manners to receive the visit, lage, and endeavoured to distinguish in it the sound and to make her house agreeable to Miss Bertram. of hoofs or wheels. It was all in vain. A bright A home, therefore, and an hospitable reception, idea then occurred, that Colonel Mannering might were secured to her, and she went on, with better have employed some other person in the transac-heart, to pay the wages and receive the adieus of tion: he would not have wasted a moment's thought the few domestics of her father's family. upon the want of confidence in himself which such a manœuvre would have evinced. But this hope also was groundless. After a solemn pause, Mr Glossin offered the upset price for the lands and barony of Ellangowan. No reply was made, and no competitor appeared; so, after a lapse of the usual interval by the running of a sand-glass, upon the intended purchaser entering the proper sureties, Mr Mac-Morlan was obliged, in technical terms, to "find and declare the sale lawfully completed, and to prefer the said Gilbert Glossin as the purchaser of the said lands and estate." The honest writer refused to partake of a splendid entertainment with which Gilbert Glossin, Esquire, now of Ellangowan, treated the rest of the company, and returned home in huge bitterness of spirit, which he vented in complaints against the fickleness and caprice of these Indian nabobs, who never knew what they would be at for ten days together. Fortune generously determined to take the blame upon herself, and cut off even this vent of Mac-Morlan's resentment. An express arrived about six o'clock at night, very particularly drunk," the maid-servant said, with a packet from Colonel Mannering, dated four days back, at a town about a hundred miles' distance from Kippletringan, containing full powers to Mr Mac-Morlan, or any one whom he might employ, to make the intended purchase, and stating, that some family business of consequence called the Colonel himself to Westmoreland, where a letter would find him, addressed to the care of Arthur Mervyn, Esq. of Mervyn Hall. Mac-Morlan, in the transports of his wrath, flung the power of attorney at the head of the innocent maid-servant, and was only forcibly withheld from horse-whipping the rascally messenger, by whose sloth and drunkenness the disappointment had taken place. CHAPTER XV. My gold is gone, my money is spent, Then John he did him to record draw, THE Galwegian John o' the Scales was a more clever fellow than his prototype. He contrived to Where there are estimable qualities on either side, this task is always affecting the present circumstances rendered it doubly so. All received their due, and even a trifle more, and with thanks and good wishes, to which some added tears, took farewell of their young mistress. There remained in the parlour only Mr Mac-Morlan, who came to attend his guest to his house, Dominie Sampson, and Miss Bertram. "And now," said the poor girl," I must bid farewell to one of my oldest and kindest friends-God bless you, Mr Sampson! and requite to you all the kindness of your instructions to your poor pupil, and your friendship to him that is gone! I hope I shall often hear from you." She slid into his hand a paper containing some pieces of gold, and rose, as if to leave the room. Dominie Sampson also rose; but it was to stand aghast with utter astonishment. The idea of parting from Miss Lucy, go where she might, had never once occurred to the simplicity of his understanding. He laid the money on the table. "It is certainly inadequate," said Mac-Morlan, mistaking his meaning," but the circumstances Mr Sampson waved his hand impatiently—" It is not the lucre-it is not the lucre- but that I, that have ate of her father's loaf, and drank of his cup, for twenty years and more-to think that I am going to leave her and to leave her in distress and dolour! No, Miss Lucy, you need never think it! You would not consent to put forth your father's poor dog, and would you use me waur than a messan? No, Miss Lucy Bertram-while I live, I will not separate from you. I'll be no burden-I have thought how to prevent that. But, as Ruth said unto Naomi, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to depart from thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou dwellest I will dwell; thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death do part thee and me."" 6 During this speech, the longest ever Dominie Sampson was known to utter, the affectionate creature's eyes streamed with tears, and neither Lucy nor Mac-Morlan could refrain from sympathizing with this unexpected burst of feeling and attachment. "Mr Sampson," said Mac-Morlan, after having had recourse to his snuff-box and handkerchief alternately, 66 my house is large enough, and if you will accept of a bed there, while Miss Bertram honours us with her residence, I shall think |