 volume 2 chapter 18 of rob Roy this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott volume 2 chapter 18 a hopeless darkness settles all my fate I've seen the last look of her heavenly eyes I've heard the last sound of her blessed voice I've seen her fair form from my side to pot my doom is closed count basil I cannot what the maker you mr. of all the stone said McGregor as he pushed the flasks towards me you eat not you show no wish for rest and yet you drink not though that flasks of Bordeaux might have come out of Sir Hildebrand's Ainseller had you been always as abstinent you would have escaped the deadly hatred of a cousin rushley had I been always prudent said I blushing at the scene he recalled to my recollection I should have escaped a worse evil the reproach of my own conscious McGregor cast a keen and somewhat fierce glance at me as if to read whether the reproof which he evidently felt had been intentionally conveyed he saw that I was thinking of myself not of him and turned his face toward the fire with a deep sigh I followed his example and each remained for a few minutes wrapped in his own painful reverie all in the hut were now asleep or at least silent accepting ourselves McGregor first broke silence in the tone of one who takes up his determination to enter on a painful subject my cousin Nicole Jervie means well he said but he presses over hard on the temper and situation of a man like me considering what I've been what I have been forced to become and above all not which has forced me to become what I am he paused and though feeling the delicate nature of the discussion in which the conversation was likely to engage me I could not help replying that I did not doubt his present situation had much which must be unpleasant to his feelings I should be happy to learn I added that there is an honorable chance of your escaping from it you speak like a boy returned McGregor in a low voice it growled like distant thunder like a boy who thinks the old nor old oak can be twisted as easily as a young sapling and I forget that I have been branded as an outlaw stigmatized as a traitor a price that on my head as if I'd been a wolf my family treated as a dam in the cubs of the hill Fox whom all may torment vilified the grade and insult the very name which came to me from a long and noble line of marital ancestors denounced as if it were a spell to conjure up the devil with and he went on in this manner I could plainly see that by the enumeration of his wrongs he was lashing himself up into a rage in order to justify in his own eyes the errors that had led him into in this he perfectly succeeded his light gray eyes contracting alternately and dilating their pupils until they seemed actually to flash with flame while he thrust forward and drew back his foot grass the hilt of his dirt extended his arm clenched his fists and finally rose from his seat and they shall find he said in the same muttered but deep tone of stifled passion that the name they have dared to prescribe that the name of McGregor is a spell to raise the wild devil with all they shall hear of my vengeance that would scorn to listen to the story of my wrongs the miserable highland rover bankrupt barefooted stripped of all dishonored and hunted down because the avarice of others grasped it more than the pork all could pay shall burst on them in an awful change that they scoffed at the groveling worm and trod upon him may cry and howl when they see the stoop of the flying and fiery-mouthed dragon but why do I speak of all this he said sitting down again and in a calm on town only he may opine it fritz my patience misrobe all the stone to be hunted like an otter or a seal or a summon upon the shallows and that by my very friends and neighbors and to have as many sword cuts made and pistols flashed at me as I had this day in the Ford of Avando would try a saint's temper much more highlanders who are not famous for that great gift as you may have heard Mr. Abal the stone but as thing bites with me or what Nicole said I'm vex for the Bayerns I'm vex for what I think a Hamish and Robert living off their father's life and yielding to despondence on account of his sons which he felt not upon his own the father rested his head upon his hand I was much affected will all my lifelong I have been more melted by the distress under which a strong proud and powerful mind is compelled to give way then by the more easily excited sorrows of softer dispositions the desire of aiding him rushed strongly on my mind not withstanding the apparent difficulty and even impossibility of the task we have extensive connections abroad said I might not your sons with some assistance and they are well entitled to what my father's house can give find an honorable resource in foreign service I believe my countenance showed signs of sincere emotion but my companion taking me by the hand as I was going to speak father said I think I thank you but let us say near mirror this I did not think the eye of man would again have had a tear on McGregor's eyelash he dashed the moisture from his long gray eyelash and shaggy red eyebrow with the back of his hand tomorrow morning he said we'll talk of this and we will talk too of your affairs for we are early starters in the dawn even when we have the luck to have good beds to sleep in will you not pledge me in a grace cup I decline the invitation then by the soul of saint Meronok I must pledge myself and he poured out and swallowed at least half a quart of wine I laid myself down to propose resolving to delay my own inquiries until his mind should be in a more composed state indeed so much had this singular man possessed himself of my imagination that I felt it impossible to avoid watching him for some minutes after I had flung myself upon my Heath mattress to seeming rest he walked up and down the hut crossed himself from time to time muttering over some Latin prayer of the Catholic Church then wrapped himself in his plaid with his naked sword on one side and his pistol on the other so disposing the folds of his mantle that he could start up at a moment's warning with a weapon in either hand ready for instant combat in a few minutes his heavy breathing announced that he was fast asleep overpowered by fatigue and stunned by the various unexpected and extraordinary scenes of the day I in my turn was soon overpowered by a slumbered deep and overwhelming from which notwithstanding every cause for watchfulness I did not awake until the next morning when I opened my eyes and recollected my situation I found that McGregor had already left the hut I awaken the Bailey who after many a snot and groan and some heavy complaints of the soreness of his bones in consequence of the unwanted exertions of the preceding day was at length able to comprehend the joyful intelligence that the assets carried off by Rachele Obaldestone had been safely recovered the instant he understood my meaning he forgot all his grievances and bustling up in a great hurry proceeded to compare the contents of the packet which I had put into his hands with Mr Owens Memorandum's muttering as he went on right right the real thing Bailey and Whittington where's Bailey and Whittington 706 and eight exact to a fraction Pollock and Peelman 28 seven exact praise be blessed club and grinder better men cannot be 370 give blood 20 I doubt give blood's gangling Slippery tongue Slippery tongue's gain but what they are a seimesis seimesis the rest are right praise be blessed we've got the stuff but we may leave this doleful country I shall never think unlocked and hard but the thought will get me grew again I'm sorry cousin said McGregor who entered the hut during the last observation I have not been altogether in the circumstances to make your reception sick as I could have desired nevertheless if you would condescend to visit my poor dwelling Muggle a blight Muggle a blight answered Mr Jarvie very hastily but we might be gangling we might be jogging Mr Baldestone and me business cannot wait a wheel kinsman replied to Highlander you cannot fashion foster the guest that comes further him that may gone but you cannot return by driving I must sit you on luck lomond and boat you down to the ferry a bollock and send your nags round to meet you there it's a maximum wise man never to return by the same road he came providing another's free to him aye aye rob said the Bailey that ends the maxims you learned when you were a drover you can deena to face the tenants where your beast had been taken a rug of their own more than grass in the by gangling and I doubt your roads were remarked now then it was then the mayor's need not travel it over often kinsman replied Rob but I sent around your nags to the ferry with doodles Gregor who was converted for that purpose into the Bailey's men coming not as you may believe from Aberfoil or Rob Roy's country but on a quiet jaunt from sterling see here he is I wouldn't hike into creature said Mr Jarvie nor indeed was it easy to recognize the wild Highlander when he appeared before the door of the cottage a tired in a hat periwig and riding-coat which had once called Andrew fair service master and mounted on the Bailey's horse and leading mine he received his last orders from his master to avoid certain places where he might be exposed to suspicion to collect what intelligence he could in the course of his journey and to await our coming at an appointed place near the ferry of Bollock at the same time McGregor invited us to accompany him upon our own road assuring us that we must necessarily march a few miles before breakfast and recommending a drum of brandy as a proper introduction to the journey in which he was pledged by the Bailey who pronounced it an unlawful and perilous habit to begin the day with spirit to his liquors except to defend the stomach Wilk was a tender part against the morning mist in Wilk case's father the deacon had recommended a drum by precept and example very true kinsman replied Rob for which reason we who are children of the mist have a right to drink brandy from morning till night the Bailey thus refreshed was mounted upon a small highland pony another was offered for my use which however i declined and we resumed under very different guidance and auspices our journey of the preceding day our escort consisted of McGregor and five or six of the handsomest best armed in most athletic mountaineers of his band and whom he had generally intermediate attendance upon his own person when we approached the pass the scene of the skirmish of the preceding day and of the still more direful deed which followed it McGregor hastened to speak as if it were rather to what he knew must be necessarily passing in my mind than to anything i had said he spoke in short to my thoughts and not to my words you must think hardly of us mistero balderstone and it's not natural that it should be otherwise but remember at least that we have not been unprovoked we are a rude and an ignorant and it may be a violent and passionate but we are not a cruel people the land may be a peace and a law for us did they allow us to enjoy the blessings of peaceful law but we have been a persecuted generation on persecution said the bailey make it wise men mad what must it do then to men like us living as our fathers did a thousand years since and possessing scarce more lights than they did can we view their bloody addicts against us they're hanging heading hounding and hunting down an ancient and honorable name as deserving better treatment than not which enemies give to enemies here i stand have been in 20 phrase and never hurt man but when i was in hit blued and yet they had what betray me and hang me like a masterless dog at the gate of only one great man that has an ill-will out i replied that the prescription of his name and family sounded in english is as a very cruel and arbitrary law and having thus far soothed him i resumed my propositions of obtaining military employment for himself if he chose it and his sons in foreign parts my gregor shook me very cordially by the hand and detaining me so as to permit mr. javi to precede us a maneuver of which the narrowness of the road served as an excuse he said to me you are a kind-hearted and an honorable youth and understand doubtless that which is due to the feelings of a man of honor but the heather that i have throwed upon when living must bloom over me when i am dead my heart would sink and my arm would shrink and wither like infern in the frost where i to lose sight of my native hills nor has a world a scene that would console me for the loss of the grocs and cairns wild as they are that you see around us and helen what would become of her were i to leave her the subject of a new insult and atrocity or how could she bear to be removed from these scenes with remembrance of her wrongs as i sweeten by the recollection of her revenge i was once so hard put at by my great enemy as i may well call him that i was forced into gay way to the tide and remove myself and my people and family from our dwellings in our native land and to withdraw for a time into my column's more country and helen made a lament on our departure as will as mcriman himself could have framed it and so piteously sad and waysome that our hearts amiss broke and we say to listen to her it was like the wailing of one that mourns for the mother that bore him the tears came down the rough faces on our guillies as they harkened and i would not have the same touch of heartbreak again no not to have all the lands that were ever owned by migreger footnote the mcrimans or mcrimans were hereditary pipers to the chiefs of mcloud and celebrated for their talents the piebrock said to have been composed by helen migreger is still in existence see the introduction to this novel but your sons i said they're at an age when your countrymen have usually no objection to see the world and i should be content you replied that they pushed their fortune in the french or spanish service as is the want of scottish cavaliers of honor and last night your plan seemed feasible enough but i had seen his excellency this morning before he were up did he then quarter so nearest said i my bosom throbbing with anxiety nearer than you thought was migreger's reply but he seemed rather in some shape to jealous you're speaking to the young lady and so you see there was no occasion for jealousy i answered with some haughtiness i should not have intruded on his privacy but you may not be offended or look out from among your curls then like a wild cat out of an ivy tod for you are to understand that he wishes more sincere well to you and he proved it and it's partly the wilk that has sent heather on the firing now heather on fire said i i do not understand you why resume migreger you can wheel enough that a woman in gear are at the bottom and the the mischief in this world i had been misdouting your cousin ralei since ever he saw that he was not to get divern in for his marrow and i think he took grudge at his excellency mainly on that account but then came the spore about surrendering your papers and we have now good evidence that say soon he was compelled to yield them up he ride past the sterling and told the government all in mayor and then all that was gone dorsely on among us hill folk and doubtless that was the way that the country was laid to take his excellency and the lady and to make seek an unexpected raid on me and i hae as little doubt that the poor devil morris whom he could gar believe anything was egged on by him and some a luling gentry to trey pan me and the gate he tried to do so but if rash leo baldestone were bathed the last and best of his name and glanting that he and i ever foregather again the fiend go down my weasened with a bare blade at his belt if we part before my dork and his best blued or wheel acquainted together he pronounced the last threat with an ominous frown and the appropriate gesture of his hand upon his dagger i should almost rejoice at what has happened said i could i hope that rush lays treachery might prove the means of preventing the explosion of the rash and desperate intrigues in which i have long suspected him to be a prime agent trillion a dot said rob roye traitors were nared yet hurt on his cause he was ever doubting our secrets that's true and had it not been so sterling in edinburgh castles would have not been bathed in our hands by this time or briefly hereafter wilke is now scarce to be hoped for but there are or many in changed by far or a good cause to begin up for the breath of the traitors tale and that will be seen and heard of air it belong and so as i was about to see the best of my thanks to you for your offer i meant my sons wilke last night and i had some thoughts to have embraced on their behalf but i see that this villain's treason will convince our great folk that they must instantly draw to a head and make a blow for it or attain in their houses coupled up like hounds and driven up to london like the honest nobleman and gentleman in the year 1707 civil war is like a cockatrice we have sitting hatchling in the egg that held it for 10 years and may he sitting on it for 10 years mayor when it comes rush lay and chips the shell and out bangs the wonder among us and cries the fire and sword now in sick a matter i'll heed ney of the hounds i can make and ney a disparagement to the kings of france and spain whom i wish very well to king james is as good a man as only a woman and he has the best right to hamash and rob being his natural born subjects i easily comprehended that these words voted a general national convulsion and as it would have been like useless and dangerous to have combatted the political opinions of my guide at such a place in moment i contended myself with regretting the promiscuous scene of confusion and distress likely to arise from any general exertion in favor of the exiled royal family let it come on let it come answered McGregor you never saw dull weather clear without a shower and if the world is turned upside down why honest men have the better chance to cut bread out of it i again attempted to bring him back to the subject of diana but although on most occasions in subjects he used a freedom of speech which i had no great delight in listening to yet upon that alone which was most interesting to me he kept a degree of scrupulous reserve and contented himself with intimating that he hoped the lot he would be soon in a quieter country than this was like to be for one while i was obliged to be content with this answer and to proceed in the hope that accident might as on a former occasion stand my friend and allow me at least the sad gratification of bidding farewell to the object which had occupied such a share of my affections so much beyond even what i had supposed till i was about to be separated from her forever we pursued the margin of the lake for about six english miles through a devious and beautifully variegated path until we attained a sort of highland farm or assembly of hamlets near the head of that fine sheet of water called if i mistake not the diart or some such name here a numerous party of mcgregor's men was stationed in order to receive us the taste as well as the eloquence of tribes in a savage or to speak more properly in a rude state is usually just because it is unfettered by system and affection and of this i had an example in the choice these mountaineers had made of a place to receive their guests it has been said that a british monarch would judge well to receive the embassy of a rival power in the cabin of a man of war and a highland leader acted with some proprietary in choosing a situation where the natural objects of grandeur proper to his country might have their full effect in the minds of his guests we ascended about 200 yards from the shores of the lake guided by a brawling brook and left on the right hand four or five highland huts with patches of arable land around them so small as to show that they must have been worked with a spade rather than the plow cut as it were out of the surrounding copswood and waving with crops of barley and oats above this limited space the hill became more steep and on its edge we decried the glittering arms and waving drapery of about fifty of mcgregor's followers they were stationed on a spot the recollection of which yet strikes me with admiration the brook hurling its waters downward from the mountain had in this spot encountered a barrier rock over which it had made its way by two distinct leaps the first fall across which a magnificent old oak slanting out from the father bank partly extended itself as if to shroud the dusky stream of the cascade might be about 12 feet high the broken waters were received in a beautiful stone basin almost as regular as if hewn by a sculptor and after wheeling around its flinty margin they made a second precipitous dash through a dark and narrow chasm at least 50 feet in depth and from dense in a hurried but comparatively a more gentle course escape to join the lake with the natural taste which belongs to mountaineers and especially to the scottish highlanders whose feelings I have observed are often allied with the romantic and poetical Rob Roy's wife and followers had prepared our morning repast in a scene well calculated to impress strangers with some feeling of awe they are also naturally a grave and proud people and however rude in our estimation carry their ideas of form and politeness to an excess that would appear overstrained except from the demonstration of superior force which accompanies the display of it for it must be granted that the air of plantillious deference and rigid etiquette which would seem ridiculous in an ordinary peasant has like the salute of cops de garde a proprietary wind tendered by a highlander completely armed there was accordingly a good deal of formality in our approach and reception the highlanders who had been dispersed on the side of the hill drew themselves together when we came in view and standing firm and motionless appeared in close column behind three figures whom I soon recognized to be Helen McGregor and her two sons McGregor himself arranged his attendance in the rear and requesting Mr. Javi to dismount where the ascent came steep advanced slowly marshaling us forward at the head of the troop as we advanced we heard the wild notes of the bagpipes which lost their natural discord from being mingled with the dashing sound of the cascade when we came close the wife of McGregor came forward to meet us her dress was studiously arranged in a more feminine taste than it had been on a preceding day but her features wore the same lofty unbending and resolute character and as she folded my friend the bailey in an unexpected and apparently unwelcome embrace I could perceive by the agitation of his wig his back and the calves of his legs that he felt much like the one who feels himself suddenly in the gripe of a she-bear without being able to distinguish whether the animal is in kindness or wrath kinsman she said you are welcome and you too stranger she added releasing my alarmed companion who instinctively drew back and settled his wig and addressing herself to me you are also welcome you came she added to our unhappy country when our broods were chafed and our hands were red excuse the rudeness that gave you all rough welcome and layered upon the evil times and not upon us all this was said in the manners of a princess and in a tone and style of a court nor was there the least tincture of that vulgarity which we naturally attached to the lowland scottish there was a strong provincial accentuation but otherwise the language rendered by helen mcgregor out of the native and poetical gaelic into english which she had acquired as we do learn tongues but had probably never heard applied to the mean purpose of ordinary life was graceful flowing and declamatory her husband who had in his time played many parts used a much less elevated and emphatic dialect but even his language rose in purity of expression as you may have remarked if i have been accurate in recording it were the affairs which he discussed were of an agitating and important nature and it appears to me in his case and that in some other highlanders whom i have known that when familiar and fast dishes they used the lowland scottish dialect when serious and impassioned their thoughts arranged themselves in the idiom of their native language and in the latter case as they uttered the corresponding ideas in english the expression sounded wild elevated and poetical in fact the language of passion is almost always pure as well as vehement and it is no uncommon thing to hear a scotchman when overwhelmed by a countryman with a tone of bitter and fluent operating reply by way of taunt to his adversary you have gotten to your english be this as it may the wife of mcgregor invited us to a refreshment spread out in the grass which abounded with all the good things their mounds could offer but was clouded by the dark and undisturbed gravity which sat on the brow of our hostess as well as by our deep and anxious recollection of what had taken place in the preceding day it was in vain that the leader exerted himself to excite mirth a chill hung over our minds as if the feast had been funerial and every bosom felt light when it was ended edgy cousin she said to mr javi as we rose from the entertainment the best wish hillan mcgregor can give to a friend is that he may see her no more the bailey struggled to answer probably with some commonplace maximum morality but the calm and melancholy sternness of her countenance bore down and disconcerted the mechanical and formal importance of the magistrate he coughed hemmed bowed and was silent for you stranger she said i have a token from one whom you can never helen interrupted mcgregor and a loud and stern voice what means this have you forgotten the charge mcgregor she replied i have forgotten not that is fitting for me to remember it is not such hands as these which he stretched forth her long sinewy and bare arm that are fitting to convey love tokens were the gift connected with all but misery young man she said presenting me with a ring which i well remembered as one of the few ornaments that miss vernon sometimes wore this comes from one whom you will never see more if it is a joyless token it is well fitted to pass through the hands of one whom joy can never be known her last words were let him forget me forever and can she i said almost without being conscious that i spoke suppose that it is possible all may be forgotten she said the extraordinary female who addressed me all but the sense of dishonor and the desire of vengeance seedsus cried the mcgregor stamping with impatience strike up the bagpipe sounded and with their thrilling and jarring tones cut short our conference our leave of our hostess was taken by silent gestures and we resumed our journey and with an additional proof on my part that i was beloved by diana and was separated from her forever end of volume two chapter eighteen recording by elliott miller volume two chapter nineteen of rob roy this is a libre vox recording all libre vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librevox.org rob roy by sir walter scott volume two chapter nineteen farewell to the land where the clouds love to rest like the shroud of the dead on the mountains cold breast to the cataracts roar with the eagle's reply and the lake herlone bosom expands to the sky our outlay through a dreary yet romantic country which the distresses of my own mind prevented me from remarking particularly and which therefore i will not attempt to describe the lofty peak of ben lomond here the predominant monarch of the mountains lay on our right hand and served as a striking landmark i was not awakened from my apathy until after a long and toilsome walk we emerged through a pass in the hills and luck lomond opened before us i will spare you the attempt to describe what you would hardly comprehend without going to see it but certainly this noble lake boasting innumerable beautiful islands of every varying form and outline which fancy can frame it's northern extremity narrowing until it is lost among dusky and retreating mountains while gradually widening as it extends to the southward it spreads its base around the indentures and promenatories of a fair and fertile land affords one of the most surprising beautiful and sublime spectacles in nature the eastern side peculiarly rough and rugged was at the time the chief seat of migrager and his clan to curb whom a small garrison had been stationed in a central position betwixt luck lomond and another lake the extreme strength of the country however with the numerous passes marshes caverns and other places of concealment or defense made the establishment of this little fort seem rather an acknowledgement of the danger than an effectual means of securing against it on more than one occasion as well as on that which i witnessed the garrison suffered from the adventurous spirit of the outlaw and his followers these advantages were never sullied by ferocity when he himself was in command for equally good tempered and sagacious he understood well the danger of incurring unnecessary odium i learned with pleasure that he had caused the captives of the preceding day to be liberated in safety and many traits of mercy and even of generosity are recorded of this remarkable man on several occasions a boat waited for us in a creek beneath a huge rock man by four lusty highland rowers and our host took leave of us with great cordiality and even affection betwixt him and mr javi indeed there seemed to exist a degree of mutual regard which formed a strong contrast to their different occupations and habits after kissing each other very lovingly and when they were just in the act of parting the bailey in the fullness of his heart and with a faltering voice assured his kinsmen that if ever a hundred pound or two a hundred would put him in or his family a settled way he need but just send a line to the sot market and rob grasping his basket hilt with one hand and shaking mr javi hotly with the other protested that if ever anybody should affront his kinsmen and he would but let him kin he would stow his lugs out of his head were he the best man in gloscoe with these assurances of mutual aid and continued goodwill we bore away from the shore and took our course for the southwestern angle of the lake where it gives birth to the river leaven rob roye remained for some time standing on the rock from beneath which he had departed conspicuous by his long gun waving tartans and the single plume of his cap which in those days denoted the highland gentleman and soldier although i observed that the present military taste has decorated the highland bonnet with a quantity of black plumage resembling that which is born before funerals at length as the distance increased between us we saw him turn and go slowly up the side of the hill followed by his immediate attendance or bodyguard we performed our voyage for a long time in silence interrupted only by the gaelic chant which one of the rowers sung in low irregular measure rising occasionally into a wild chorus in which the others joined my own thoughts were sad enough yet i felt something soothing in the magnificent scenery with which i was surrounded and thought in the enthusiasm of the moment that had my faith been that of rome i could have consented to live and die a lonely hermit in one of the romantic and beautiful islands amongst which our boat glided the bailey had also his speculations but they were of somewhat a different complexion as i found when after about an hour's silence during which he had been mentally engaged in the calculations necessary he undertook to prove the possibility of draining the lake and giving the plow and harrow many hundred i many a thousand acres from wilk no man could get earthly guide anew unless it were a good or a dish of perch now and then footnote a pipe amidst the long discussion which he crammed into my ear against the stomach of my sense i only remember that it was part of his project to preserve a portion of the lake just deep enough and broad enough for the purposes of water carriage so that coal barges and gappards should pass as easily between dumbarton and glen follick as between glasgow and grinnach at length we neared our distant place of landing adjoining to the ruins of an ancient castle and just where the lake discharges its superfluous waters into the leaven there we found doogle with the horses the bailey had formed a plan with respect to the creature as well upon the draining of the lake and perhaps in both cases with more regard to the utility man than to the practical possibility of his scheme doogle he said you are a kindly creature and have a sense of feeling of what is due to your betters and i'm in way of you doogle for it cannot be but that in the life you lead you should get a jettered cast i day sooner or later i trust considering my services as a magistrate and my father the deacon afford me i have interest enough in the council to guard them wink away at a warefought than yours footnote the memory of dunbar's legal proceedings at jedber is preserved in the proverbial phrase jettered justice which signifies trial after execution minstrelsy of the border preface page 56 sahay i've been thinking that if you will gang back to glasgow with us being a strong but click creature you might be employed in the warehouse till something better should cost up her nigel muckl obliged to the bayley's honor replied doogle but he'll be in her shanks fend the gangs on a causewayed street unless she'd be drawn up by gallagate with toes as she was before in fact i afterwards learned that doogle had originally come to glasgow as a prisoner from being concerned in some depredation but had somehow found such favor in the eyes of the jailer that with rather overweening confidence he had retained in him the service as one of the turn keys a task which doogle had discharged with sufficient fidelity so far as was known until overcome by his clannish prejudices on the unexpected appearance of his old leader astonished at receiving so round a refusal to so favorable an offer the bayley turning to me observed that the creature was a natural born idiot i testified my own gratitude in a way which doogle much better relished by slipping a couple of guineas into his hand he knows sooner felt the touch of the gold then he sprung twice or thrice from the earth with the agility of a wild buck flinging out first one heel and then another in a matter which would have astonished a french dancing master he ran to the boatman to show them the prize and a small gratuity made them take part of his raptures he then to use a favorable expression of the dramatic john bunion went on his way and i saw him no more the bayley and i had mounted our horses and proceeded on the road to glasgow when we had lost a view of the lake and its superb amphitheater of mountains i could not help expressing with enthusiasm my sense of its natural beauties although i was conscious that mr javi was very uncongenial spirit to communicate with on such a subject you are a young gentleman he replied and an englishman and this may be a very fine to you but for me well i'm a plain man and can something of the different values of land i want to get the finest sight we have seen in the highlands for the first keek of the gorables of glasgow and if i were once there it shouldn't have been every fool's errand begin your part in mr francis that should take me out of sight of saint mungo steeple again the honest man had his wish for by dint of traveling very late we arrived at his own house that night or rather on the succeeding morning having seen my worthy fellow traveler safely consigned to the charge of the considerous and officious maddie i proceeded to mrs flighters in wholehouse even at this unwanted hour light was still burning the door who was opened by no less a person than andrew fair service himself who upon first sound of my voice set up a loud shout of joyful recognition and without uttering a syllable ran upstairs toward a parlor on the second floor from the windows of which the light proceeded justly conceiving that he went to announce my return to the anxious oan i followed him upon the foot oan was not alone there was another in the apartment it was my father the first impulse was to preserve the dignity of his usual equanimity francis i am glad to see you the next was embrace me tenderly my dear dear son oan secured one of my hands and wedded it with his tears while he joined in graduating my return these are scenes which addressed themselves to the eye and to the heart rather than to the ear my old eyelid still moistened at the recollection of our meeting but your kind and affectionate feelings can well imagine what i should find it impossible to describe when the tumult of our joy was over i learned that my father had arrived from holland shortly after oan had set off for scotland determined and rapid in all his movements he only stopped to provide the means of discharging the obligations incumbent upon his house by his extensive resources with funds enlarged and credit fortified by eminent success in his continental speculation he easily accomplished what perhaps his absence alone rendered difficult and set out for scotland to exact justice from rosley abaldestone as well as to put order to his affairs in that country my father's arrival in full credit and with the ample means of supporting his engagements honorably as well as benefiting his correspondence in future was a stunning blow to mcvedi and company who had conceived his star set forever highly incensed that the use of his confidential clerk and agent had received at their hands mr obaldestone refused every tender of apology and accommodation and having settled the balance of their account announced to them that with all its numerous constringent advantages that leaf of their ledger was closed forever while he enjoyed this triumph over false friends he was not a little alarmed on my account oh and good man had not supposed it possible that a journey of fifty or sixty miles which may be made with so much ease and safety in any direction from london could be attended with any particular danger but he caught alarm by sympathy from my father to whom the country and the lawless character of its inhabitants were better known these apprehensions were raised to agony when a few hours before i arrived andrew fair service made his appearance with a dismal and exaggerated account of the uncertain state in which he had left me the nobleman with whose troops he had been a sort of prisoner had after examination not only dismissed him but furnished him with the means of returning rapidly to glasgow in order to announce to my friends my precarious and unpleasant situation andrew was one of those persons who have no objection to the sort of temporary attention and woeful importance which attaches itself to the bearer of bagged tidings and had therefore by no means moved down his tail in the telling especially as the rich london merchant himself proved unexpectedly one of the auditors he went at great length into an account of the dangers i had escaped chiefly as he insinuated by means of his own experience exertion and sagacity what was to come of me now when my better angel in his andrew's person was removed from my side it was he said sad and sad to conjecture that the bailey was nayway better than just nobody at a pinch or something were for he was conceited body and andrew hated conceit but certainly between the pistols and the caribines of the troopers that rapid aftertain after his tother as fast as hail and the dirks and claymores of the highlanders and the deep waters and wheels of the avando it was to be thought that it would be a poor account of the young gentleman this statement would have driven owen to despair had he been alone and unsupported but my father's perfect knowledge of mankind enabled him easily to appreciate the character of andrew and the real amount of his intelligence stripped of all exaggeration however it was alarming enough to a parent he determined to set out in person to obtain my liberty by ransom or negotiation and was busyed with owen till a late hour in order to get through some necessary correspondence and devolve on the latter some business and thus a chance that i found them watchers it was late air we separated to rest and too impatient long to endure his pose i was staring early the next morning andrew gave his attendance at my levy as in duty bound and instead of the scarecrow figure to which he had been reduced in abberfoil now appeared in the attire of an undertaker a goodly suit namely of the deepest morning it was not till after one or two queries which the rascal affected as long as he could to misunderstand that i found out he had thought it but decent to put on mourning on account of my inexpressible loss and as the broker at whose shop he had equipped himself declined to receive the goods again and as his own garments had been destroyed or carry off in my honor service doubtless i and my honorable father whom providence had blessed with the means wouldn't suffer a poor lie to sit down with the loss a stand to please a nay great matter to an abaldestone be praised for it especially to an old and attached servant of the house as there was something of justice in adres plea of loss at my service his finesse succeeded and he came by a good suit of mourning with a beaver and all things conforming as the exterior signs of woe for a master who was alive and merry my father's first care when he arose was to visit Mr. Jarvie for whose kindness he entertained the most grateful sentiments which he expressed in a few but manly and nervous terms he explained the altered state of his affairs and offered the Bailey on such terms as could not but be both the advantageous and acceptable that part in his concerns which had been hitherto managed by McVity and company the Bailey hardly congratulated my father and Owen on the change posture of their affairs and without affecting to disclaim that he had done his best to serve them when matters looked otherwise he said he had only just acted as he would be done by that as to the extension of their correspondence he frankly accepted it with thanks had McVity's folk behaved like honest men he said he would have liked ill to have come by a hint them and out afford them this gate but it's otherwise and they mon in stand the loss the Bailey then pulled me by the sleeve into a corner and after again cordially wishing me joy proceeded in rather an embarrassed tone I would hardly wish Mr. Francis that should be as little said as possible about the queer things we saw up yonder away that is very good unless and were adjudishly examined it to say anything about the awful Jabba Morris and the members of the council when I think it credible in any other body to be fighting with a wee Highland man and singing their pledons and a button although I am a decent responsible man when I'm on my right end I cannot but think I'm an hay made a queer figure without my hat and my pair of wig hanging by the middle like Badrin's or a cloak flung over a cloakpin Bailey Graham when hay in a counter hair in my neck and he got that tail by the end I could not suppress a smile when I recollected the Bailey situation although I certainly thought it no laughing matter at the time the good-natured merchant was a little confused but smiled also when he shook his head I see how it is I see how it is but say nothing about it there is a good callant and charged that long tongue conceded upsetting servant money yours to say nothing either I would not forever say Muckel even the Lossick Meddy can do anything about it I would never hear an end of it he was obviously relieved from his impending fears of ridicule when I told him it was my father's intention to leave Glasgow almost immediately indeed he had now no motive for remaining since the most valuable part of the papers carried off by Rossley had been recovered for that portion which he had converted into cash and expended in his own or on political intrigues there was no mode of recovering it but by a suited law which was forthwith commenced and proceeded as our law agents assured us with all deliberate speed we spent accordingly one hospitable day with the Bailey and took leave of him as this narrative now does he continued to grow in wealth honor and credit and actually rose to the highest civic honors in his native city about two years after the period I have mentioned he tired of his bachelor life and promoted Matty from her wheel by the kitchen fire to the upper end of his table in the character of Mrs. Javi Bailey Graham the McVitties and others for all men have their enemies especially in the Council of a Royal Burr ridiculed this transformation but said Mr. Javi let them say or say I'll near fresh myself nor lose my liking for say fictitious a matter as a nine days clash my honest father the deacon had a byword bent brow and nilly skin a loving heart and leal within is better than God or gentle kin besides as he always concluded Matty was nay ordinary lasik queen she was akin to the layered of limmerfield whether it was owing to her descent or her good gifts I do not presume to decide but Matty behaved excellently in her exaltation and relieve the apprehensions of some of the Bailey's friends who had deemed his experiment somewhat hazardous I do not know that there were any other incident of this quiet and useful life worthy of being particularly recorded end of volume 2 chapter 19 recording by Elliott Miller volume 2 chapter 20 of Rob Roy this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott volume 2 chapter 20 come ye hither of my six good sons gallant men I throw you be how many of you my children dear will stand by that good earl and me five of them did answer make five of them spoke hastily oh father till the day we die will stand by that good earl and the the rising in the north on the morning when we were to depart from Glasgow Andrew fair service bounced into my apartment like a madman jumping up and down and singing with more vehemence than tune the kiln's on fire the kiln's on fire the kiln's on fire she's in a lo with some difficulty I prevailed upon him to cease his confounded clamour and explain to me what the matter was he was pleased to inform me as if he had been bringing the finest news imaginable that the Highlands were clean broken out every man of them and that Rob Roy and his breakless bands would be down upon Glasgow or 24 hours or the clock go round hold your tongue said I you rascal you must be drunk or mad and if there is any truth in your news is it a singing matter you scoundrel drunk or mad no doubt replied Andrew dauntlessly and I drunk or mad if he tells you what good it folks didn't like to hear sing ah the clans would be make us sing in the wrong side of our mouth if we are say drunk or mad as to buy they're coming I rose in great haste and found my father and Owen also on foot an inconsiderable alarm Andrew's news proved but too true in the main the great rebellion which agitated Britain in the year 1715 had already broken out but by the unfortunate Earl of Mars setting up of the standard of the Stuart family in an ill omen hour to the ruin of many honorable families both in England and Scotland the treachery of some of the Jacobite agents rush lay among the rest and the arrest of others had made George the first government acquainted with the extensive ramifications of conspiracy long prepared and which at last exploded prematurely and in a part of the kingdom too distant to have any vital effect upon the country which however was plunged into much confusion this great public event served to confirm and elucidate the obscure explanations I had received from McGregor and I could easily see why the western clans who were brought against him should have waived their private quarrel in consideration that they would all shortly be engaged in the same public cause it was a more melancholy reflection to my mind that Diana Vernon was the wife of one of those who were most active in turning the world upside down and that she was herself exposed to all the privations and perils of her husband's hazardous trade we held an immediate consultation of the measures we were to adopt in this crisis and acquiesced in my father's plan that we should instantly get the necessary passports and make the best of our way to London I acquainted my father with my wish to offer my personal service to the government in any volunteer core several being already spoken of he readily acquiesced to my proposal for though he disliked war as a profession yet upon principle no man would have exposed his life more willingly in defense of civil and religious liberty we traveled in haste and in peril through dump for shire and the neighboring counties of England in this quarter gentlemen of the Tory interests were already in motion mustering men and horses while the wigs assembled themselves in the principal towns armed the inhabitants and prepared for civil war we narrowly escaped being stopped on more occasions than one and were often compelled to take circuitous routes to avoid the points where forces were assembling when we reached London we immediately associated with those bankers and eminent merchants who agreed to support the credit of government and to meet that run upon the funds on which the conspirators had greatly founded their hopes of furthering their undertaking by rendering the government as it were bankrupt my father was chosen one of the members of this formidable body in the moneyed interest as all had the greatest confidence in his zeal skill and activity he was also the organ by which they communicated with the government and contrived from funds belonging to his own house or over which he had command to find purchasers for a quantity of the national stock which was suddenly flung into the market at a depreciated price when the rebellion broke out i was not idle myself but obtained a commission and levied at my father's expense about 200 men with whom i joined general carpenter's army the rebellion in the meantime had extended itself to england the unfortunate earl of derwent water had taken arms in the cause along with general foster my poor uncle sir hildebrand whose estate was reduced to almost nothing by his own carelessness and the expense in debauchery of his sons and household was easily persuaded to join that unfortunate standard before doing so however he exhibited a degree of precaution of which no one could have suspected him he made his will by the document he devised his estates at abal the stone hall and so forth to his son successively and their male heirs until he came to rashley whom on account of it the turn he had lately taken in politics he detested with all his might he cut him off with a shilling and settled the estate on me as his next heir i had always been rather a favorite of the old gentleman but it is probable that confident in the number of gigantic use who now armed around him he considered the destination as likely to remain a dead letter which he inserted chiefly to show his displeasure at rashley's treachery both public and domestic there was an article by which he bequeathed to the niece of his late wife diana vernon now lady diana vernon bokeh chump some diamonds belonging to her late aunt and a great silver ewer having the arms of vernon and abal the stone quarterly engraven upon it but heaven had decreed a more speedy extinction of his numerous and healthy lineage than most probably he himself had reckoned on in the very first muster of the conspirators at a place called green rig thorncliffe abal the stone quarreled about precedence with the gentleman of the northumbrium border to the full as fierce and intractable as himself in spite of all remonstrances they gave their commander a specimen of how far their discipline might be relied upon by fighting it out with their rapiers and my kinsman was killed on the spot his death was a great loss to sir hildebrand for notwithstanding his infernal temper he had a grain or two of more sense than belong to the rest of the brotherhood rashley always accepted first of all the sought died also in his calling he had a wager with another gentleman who from his exploits in that line had acquired the formidable epithet of brandy swale well which should drink the largest cup of strong liquor when king james was proclaimed by the insurgents at morpeth the exploit was something enormous i forgot the exact quantity of brandy which persi swallowed but it occasioned a fever of which he expired at the end of three days with the word water water perpetually on his tongue dicken broke his neck near warning bridge in an attempt to show off a founded blood mare which he wished to palm upon a manchester merchant who had joined the insurgents he pushed the animal at a five barred gate she fell in the leap and the unfortunate jockey lost his life wilfred the fool as sometimes befalled had the best fortune of the family he was slain at proud preston in lankisher on the day that general carpenter attacked the barricades fighting with great bravery though i have heard he was never able exactly to comprehend the cause of the quarrel and did not uniformly remember on which king's side he was engaged john also behaved very boldly in the same engagement and received several wounds of which he was not happy enough to die on the spot old sir hildebrand entirely brokenhearted by these successive losses became by the next day surrender one of the unhappy prisoners and was lodged in newgate with his wounded son john i was now released from my military duty and lost no time therefore in endeavoring to relieve the distresses of these new relations my father's interest with government and the general compassion excited by a parent who had sustained the successive loss of so many sons within so short a time would have prevented my uncle and cousin from being brought to trial for high treason but their doom was given forth from a greater tribunal john died of his wounds in newgate recommending to me in his last breath a cast of hawks which he had at the hall and a black spaniel bitch called lucy my poor uncle seemed beaten down to the very earth by his family calamities and the circumstances in which he unexpectedly found himself he said little but seemed grateful for such attentions as circumstances permitted me to show him i did not witness his meeting with my father for the first time for so many years and under circumstances so melancholy but judging from my father's extreme depression of spirits it must have been melancholy in the last degree sir hildebrand spoke with great bitterness against rochle now his only surviving child laid upon him the ruin of his house and the death of all his brethren and declared that neither he nor they would have plunged into political intrigue but for that very member of his family who had been the first to desert them he once or twice mentioned diana always with great affection and once he said while i sat by his bedside nevoi since thorncliff and all of them are dead i am sorry you cannot have her the expression affected me much at the time for it was a usual custom of the poor old baronet when joyously setting forth upon the morning's chase to distinguish thorncliff who was a favorite while he summoned the rest more generally and the loud jolly tone in which he used a hello call phony call all of them contrasted sadly with the will be gone and self-abandoning note in which he uttered the disconsolate words which i have above quoted he mentioned the contents of his will and supplied me with an authenticated copy the original he had deposited with my old acquaintance mr. justice englewood who dreaded by no one and confided in by all as a kind of neutral person had become for ought i know the despotary and half the wheels of the finding men of both factions in the country of northumberland the greater part of my uncle's last hours was spent in the discharge of the religious duties of his church in which he was directed by the chaplain of the sardinian ambassador for whom with some difficulty we obtained permission to visit him i could not ascertain by my own observation or through the medical attendance that sir hildebrand abaldestone died of any formed complaint bearing a name by in the science of medicine he seemed to me completely worn out and broken by fatigue of body and distress of mind and rather ceased to exist than died of any positive struggle just as a vessel buffeted and tossed by a succession of tempestuous gales her timbers overstrained and her joints loosened will sometimes spring a leak in founder when there are no apparent causes for her destruction it was a remarkable circumstance that my father after the last duties were performed by his brother appeared suddenly to imbibe a strong anxiety that i should act upon the will and represent his father's house which had hitherto seemed to be the thing in the world which at least charms for him but formally as he had been like the fox in the fable condemning what was beyond his reach and moreover i doubt not that the excessive dislike which he entertained against rashley now sir rashley abaldestone who'd loudly threatened to attack his father sir hildebrand's will and settlement cooperated my father's desire to maintain it he has been most unjustly a disinherited he said by his own father his brother's will had repaired the disgrace if not the injury by leaving the wreck of his property to frank the natural air and he was determined the bequest should take effect in the meantime rashley was not altogether a contemptible personage as an opponent the information he had given to government was critically well timed and his extreme plausibility with the extent of his intelligence and the artful manner in which he contrived to assume both merit and influence had to a certain extent procured him patrons among ministers we were already in the full tide of litigation with him on the subject of his pillaging the firm of abaldestone and treasure and judging from the progress we had made in that comparatively simple lawsuit there was a chance that this second course of litigation might be drawn out beyond the period of all our natural lives to avert these delays as much as possible my father by the advice of his council learned in the law paid off invested in my person the rights to certain large mortgages affecting abaldestone hall perhaps however the opportunity to convert a great share of the large profits which accrued from the rapid rise of the funds upon the suppression of the rebellion and the experience he had so lately had of the perils of commerce encouraged him to realize in this manner a considerable part of his property at any rate it's so chance that instead of commanding me to the desk as I fully expected having intimated my willingness to comply with his wishes however they might destiny I received his directions to go down to abaldestone hall and take possession of it as the air and representative of the family I was directed to apply to squire englewood for the copy of my uncle's will deposited with him and take all necessary measures to secure that possession which sages say makes nine points of the law at another time I should have been delighted with this change of destination but now abaldestone hall was accompanied with many painful recollections still however I thought that in the neighborhood I was likely to acquire some information respecting the fate of diana vernon I had every reason to fear it must be far different from what I could have wished it but I could obtain no precise information on the subject it was in vain that I endeavored by such acts of kindness as their situation admitted to conciliate the confidence of some distant relations who were among the prisoners in new gate a pride which I could not condemn and a natural suspicion of the wig frank abaldestone cousin to the double distilled trader rashley closed every heart and tongue and I only received thanks cold and extorted in exchange for such benefits as I had power to offer the arm of the law was also gradually abridging the numbers of those who I endeavored to serve and the hearts of the survivors became gradually more contracted towards all whom they conceived to be concerned with the existing government as they were led gradually and by detachments to execution those who survived lost interest in mankind and the desire of communicating with them I shall long remember what one of them net shafted my name replied to my anxious inquiry whether there were any indulgence I could procure him mr frank abaldestone I must suppose you made me kindly and therefore I thank you but but gee men can't be fattened like poultry when they see their neighbors carried off day by day to the place of execution and know that their own necks are to be twisted around in their turn upon the whole therefore I was glad to escape from London from new gate and from the scenes which both exhibited the breed the free air of northumberland andrew fair service had continued in my service more from my father's pleasure than my own at present there seemed prospect that his local acquaintance with the balderstone hall and its vicinity might be useful and of course he accompanied me on my journey and I enjoyed the prospect of getting rid of him by establishing him in his old quarters I cannot conceive how he could prevail upon my father to interest himself in him unless it were by the art which he possessed no inconsiderable degree of affecting an extreme attachment to his master which theoretical attachment had made compatible in practice with playing all manner of tricks without scruple providing only against his master being cheated by anyone but himself we performed our journey to the north without any remarkable adventure and we found the country so lately agitated by rebellion now peaceful and in good order the nearer we approached to a balderstone hall the more did my heart sink thought of entering that deserved mansion so that in order to postpone the evil day I resolved first to make my visit to Mr. Justice Inglewood's that venerable person had been much disturbed with thoughts of what he had been and what he now was and natural recollections of the past had interfered considerably with the act of duty which his present situation might have been expected from him he was fortunate however in one respect he had gone rid of his clerk Jobson who had finally left him in dudgeon at his inactivity and became legal assistant to a certain squire standish who would lately commenced operation in those parts as a justice with a zeal for King George and the Protestant succession which very different from the feelings of his old patron Mr. Jobson had more occasion to restrain within the bounds of the law than to stimulate to exertion old justice Inglewood received me with great courtesy and readily exhibited my uncle's will which seemed to be without a flaw he was for some time in obvious distress how he should speak and act in my presence but when he found that there was a porter of the present government upon principle I was disposed to think with pity on those who had opposed it on a mistaken feeling of loyalty and duty his discourse became a very diverting medley of what he had done and what he had left undone the pains he had taken to prevent some squires from joining and to wink at the escape of others who had been so unlucky as to engage in the affair we were tater-tay and several bumpers had been quaffed by the justice's special desire when on a sudden he requested me fill a bona fide brimmer to the health of poor dear Dye Vernon the heath bell of cheviot and the blossom that's transplanted to an infernal convent is not miss Vernon married then I exclaimed in great astonishment I thought his excellency poo poo his excellency and his lordship all a humbug now you know mere saint germain's titles Earl of Bochamp and ambassador plenipotentiary from France when the Duke Regent of Orleans scarce knew that he lived I dare say but you must have seen old sir Frederick Vernon at the hall when he played the part of father Vaughn good heavens then Vaughn was miss Vernon's father to be sure he was said the justice Cooley there's no use in keeping the secret now for he must be out of the country by this time otherwise no doubt it would be my duty to apprehend him come off with your bumper to my dear lost die and let her health go round and around around and let her health go round for though your stocking be of silk your knees near kiss the ground a ground a ground footnote this pithy verse occurs it is believed in Shadwell's play of burry fair I was unable as a reader may easily conceive to join in the justice's jolly loyalty my head swam with the shock I had received I never heard I said that Miss Vernon's father was living it was not our government's fault that he is replied Inglewood for the devil a man there is whose head would have brought more money he was condemned to death for Fenwick's plot and was thought to have some hand in the Knightsbridge affair in King William's time and as he had married in Scotland a relation of the House of Bradalbane he possessed great influence with all their chiefs there was a talk of his being demanded to be given up at the Peace of Rhyswick but he shammed ill and his death was given publicly out in the French papers but when he came back here on the old score we old Cavaliers knew him well that is to say I knew him not as being a Cavalier myself but no information being lodged against the poor gentleman and my memory being shortened by frequent attacks of the gout I could not have sworn to him you know was he then not known at a Balderstone Hall I inquired to none but to his daughter the old knight and rush lay who would go at that secret as he did at everyone else's and held it like a twisted cord about poor dyes neck I have seen her 100 times she would have spit at him if it had not been fear for her father whose life would not have been worth five minutes purchase if he had been discovered to the government but don't mistake me Mr. a Balderstone I say the government is a good a gracious and a just government and if it has hanged one half of the rebels poor things all will acknowledge that they would not have been touched had they stayed peaceably at home waving the discussion of these political questions I brought back Mr. Inglewood to a subject and I found that Diana having positively refused to marry any of the a Balderstone family and expressed her particular detestation of rush lay he had from that time begun to cool in zeal for the cause of the pretender to which as the younger of six brethren and bold artful enable he had hitherto look forward as the means of making his fortune probably the compulsion with which he had been forced to render up the spoils which he had abstracted from my father's counting house by the united authority of Sir Frederick Vernon and the Scottish chiefs had determined his resolution to advance his progress by changing his opinions and betraying his trust perhaps also for few men were better judges where his interest was concerned he considered their means and talents to be as they afterwards proved greatly inadequate to the important task of overthrowing and established government Sir Frederick Vernon or as he was called among the Jacobites his excellently Viscount Bochump had with his daughter some difficulty in escaping the consequences of rush lays information here Mr. Inglewood's information was at fault but he did not doubt since he had not heard of Sir Frederick being in the hands of the government he must be by this time abroad where agreeably to the cruel bond he had entered into with his brother-in-law Diana since she had declined to select a husband out of the abaldestone family must be confined to a convent the original cause of the singular agreement Mr. Inglewood could not perfectly explain but he understood it was a family compact entered into for the purpose of securing to Sir Frederick the rents of the remnant of his largest states which had been vested in the abaldestone family by some legal maneuver in short a family compact in which like many of those undertaken at the time of day the feelings of the principal parties interested were no more regarded than if they had been a part of the livestock upon the lands I cannot tell such as a waywardness of the human heart whether this intelligence gave me joy or sorrow it seemed to me that in the knowledge that Ms. Vernon was eternally divided from me not by marriage with another but by seclusion in a convent in order to fulfill an absurd bargain of this kind my regret for her loss was aggravated rather than diminished I became dull low-spirited absent and unable to support the task of conversing with Justice Inglewood who in his turn yawned and proposed to retire early I took leave of him overnight determining the next day before breakfast to ride over to Abaldestone Hall Mr. Inglewood acquiesced in my proposal it would be well he said that I made my appearance there before I was known to be in the country the more especially as Sir Rochleigh Abaldestone was now he understood at Mr. Jacob's house hatching some mischief doubtless they were fit company he added for each other Sir Rochleigh having lost all right to mingle in the society of men of honor but it was hardly possible to such deed rascals should collegue together without mischief to honest people he concluded by earnestly recommending a toast and tankered and an attack upon his venison pasty before I set out in the morning just to break the cold air on the words end of volume two chapter 20 recording by Elliot Miller volume two chapter 21 of Rob Roy this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott volume two chapter 21 his master's gone and no one now dwells in the halls of Ivor men dogs and horses all are dead he is the sole survivor words worth death there are a few more melancholy sensations than those with which we regard scenes of past pleasure when altered and deserted in my ride to Abaldestone Hall I passed the same objects which I had seen in company with Miss Vernon on the day of our memorable ride from Inglewood Place her spirit seemed to keep me company on the way and when I approached the spot where I had first seen her I almost listened for the cry of the hounds and the notes of the horn and strained my eye on the vacant space as if to decry the fair huntress again to send like an apparition from the hill but all was silent and all was solitary when I reached the hall the closed doors and windows the grass grown pavement the courts which were now so silent presented a strong contrast to the gay and burstling scene I had so often seen them exhibit when the merry hunters were going forth on their morning sport or returning to the daily festival the joyous bark of the fox hounds as they were uncoupled the cries of the huntsmen the clang of the horses hooves the loud laugh of the old night at the head of his strong and numerous descendants were all silent now and forever while I gazed around the scene of solitude and emptiness I was inexpressibly affected even by recollecting those whom when alive I had no reason to regard with affection but the thought that so many youths of goodly presence warm with life health and confidence were within so short a time cold in the grave by various yet all violent and unexpected modes of death afforded a picture of mortality at which the mind trembled it was little consolation to me that I returned a proprietor to the halls with which I had left almost like a fugitive my mind was not habituated to regard the scenes around as my property and I felt myself a new surfer at least an intruding stranger and could hardly divest myself of the idea that some of the bulky forms of my deceased kinsmen were like the gigantic specters of a romance to appear in the gateway and dispute my entrance while I was engaged in these sad thoughts my follower Andrew whose feelings were of a very different nature exerted himself in thundering alternately on every door in the building calling at the same time for admittance in a tone so loud as to intimate that he at least was fully sensible of his newly acquired importance as squire of the body to the new lord of the manner at length timidly and reluctantly anthony side all my uncle's aged butler and major domo presented himself at a lower window well fenced with iron bars and inquired our business we are come to take charge of your hand my old friend said andrew fair service you may give up your keys and soon as you like your good dog has his day i'll take the plate and operate off your hand you had had your time old mr. tidal but ikebin has its black and ike path has its puddle and it will just sit your head and s forth to sit at the board end as we elicited andrew leng's eye checking with some difficulty the forwardness of my follower i explained the side all the nature of my right and the title i had to demand admittance into the hall as into my own property the old man seemed much agitated and distressed and testified manifest reluctance to give me entrance although it was couched in a humble and submissive tone i allowed for the agitation of natural feelings which really did the old man honor but continued preemptory in my demand of admittance explaining to him that his refusal would oblige me to apply for mr. ingelwood's warrant and the constable we are come from mr. justice ingelwood this morning said andrew to enforce the menace and i saw arthy rootledge the constable and i came up by the country's note to be lawless as it's been mr. tidal letting rebels and papers gang on as a best listed the threat of the law sounded dreadful in the old man's ears conscious as he was of the suspicion under which he himself lay from his religion and his devotion to sir hildebrand and his sons he undid with fear and trembling one of the post turn entrances which was secured with many a bolt and bar and humbly hoped i would excuse him for fidelity in the discharge of his duty i reassured him and told him i had the better opinion of him for his caution say have not i said andrew side all is an old nick drawer he wouldn't have been all looking white as a sheet and his knees knocking together unless it was for something mayor he was like to tell us lord forgive you mr. fair service replied the butler to say such things of an old friend and fellow servant where following me humbly along the passage where would it be your honor's pleasure to have a fire lighted i fear me will find the house very dull and dreary but perhaps you mean to ride back to engord's place to dinner light a fire in the library i replied in the library answered the old man nobody has sat there this many a day and the room smokes for the drawers have built in the chimney this spring and there were no young men about the hall to pull them down arine leaks better than the other folks filer said andrew his honor likes the library he's nine a year pay pressures that delight in blinded ignorance mr. sidle very reluctantly as it appeared to me the butler led the way into the library and contrary to what he had given me to expect the interior of the apartment looked as if it had been lately arranged and made more comfortable than usual there was a fire in the grate which burned clearly not the standing what sidle had reported of the vent taking up the tongs as if to arrange the wood but rather perhaps to conceal his own confusion the butler observed it was burning clear now but had smoked woundedly in the morning wishing to be alone till i recovered myself from the first painful sensations which everything around me recalled i desired old sidle to call the land steward who lived at about a quarter of a mile from the hall he departed with the obvious reluctance i next ordered andrew to procure the attendance of a couple of stout fellows upon whom he could rely the population around being papers and sir rosh lay who was capable of any desperate enterprise being in the neighborhood andrew fair service undertook this task with great cheerfulness and promised to bring me up from trinnelly co to a true brew presbyterians like himself i want to face and out face bathe the pope the devil and the pretender and blithe willard that accompany myself for the very last night i was at obalda stone hall the blight beyond ilka blossom in my bityard if i did not see that very picture pointed to the folding portrait of miss vernan's grandfather walking by moonlight in the garden i thought your honor i was flayed with a bulgur that night but you wouldn't listen to me aye although there was witchcraft and devoury among the papershires but i never saw it with me bloody ease until that awful night get along sir said i and bring the fellows you talk of and see that they have more sense than yourself and are not frightened at their own shadow i am encountered as good a man as my neighbor is here now said andrew petulantly but i didn't pretend to deal with evil spirits and so he made his exit as ward law the land steward made his appearance he was a man of sense and honesty without whose careful management my uncle would have found it difficult to have maintained himself a housekeeper so long as he did he examined the nature of my right to possession carefully and admitted it candidly to anyone else the succession would have been a poor one so much was the land encumbered with debt and mortgage most of these however were already vested in my father's person and he was in a train of acquiring the rest his large gains by the recent rise of the funds having made it a matter of ease and convenience for him to pay off the debt which affected his patrimony i transacted much necessary business with mr wardlaw and detained him to dine with me we preferred taking our repest in the library although side else strongly recommended our removing to the stone hall which he had put in order for the occasion meantime andrew made his appearance with his true blue recruits whom he recommended in the highest terms as sober decent men wheel founded in doctrinal points and above all as bold as lions i ordered them something to drink and they left the room i observed outside all shake his head as they went out and insisted upon knowing the reason i maybe cannot expect he said that your honor should put confidence in what i say but it is heaven's truth for all that ambrose wingfield is as honest a man as lives but if there is a false nave in the country it is his brother lancy the whole country knows him to be a spy for clerk jobson on the poor gentleman that have been in trouble but he's a dissenter and i suppose that's enough nowadays having thus far given vent to his feelings to which however i was little disposed to pay attention and having placed the wine on the table the old butler left the apartment mr wardlaw having remained with me until the evening was somewhat advanced at length bendled up his papers and removed himself to his own habitation leaving me in that confused state of mind in which we can hardly say whether we desire company or solitude i had not however the choice betwixt them for i was left alone in the room of all others most calculated to inspire me with melancholy reflections as twilight was darkening the apartment andrew had the sagacity to advance his head at the door not to ask if i wished for lights but to recommend them as a measure of precaution against the boogles for which still haunted his imagination i rejected his prefer a somewhat peevishly trim the wood fire and placing myself in one of the large leaven chairs which flanked the old gothic chimney i watched unconsciously the bickering of the blaze which i had fostered and this said i alone is a progress and the issue of human wishes nursed by the mirrors trifles they are first kindled by fancy they are fed upon the vapor of hope till they consume the substance which they inflame and man and his hopes passions and desires sink into a worthless heap of embers and ashes there was a deep sigh from the opposite side of the room which seemed to reply to my reflections i started up in amazement diana vernan stood before me resting on the arm of a figure so strongly resembling that of the portrait so often mentioned that i looked hastily at the frame expecting to see it empty my first idea was either that i had gone suddenly distracted or that the spirit of the dead had arisen and placed before me a second glance convinced me of my being in the senses and that the forms which stood before me were real and substantial it was diana herself though paler and thinner than her former self and it was no tenant of the grave who stood before me but vong or rather sir frederick vernan in a dress made to imitate that of his ancestor to whose picture his countenance possessed a family resemblance he was the first that spoke for diana kept her tongue fast fixed on the ground and astonishment actually riveted my tongue to the roof of my mouth we are your supplicants mr. a bolder stone he said and we claim the refuge and protection of your roof till we can pursue a journey where dungeons and death gap for me at every step surely i articulated with great difficulty miss vernan cannot suppose you sir cannot believe that i have forgot your interference in my difficulties or that i am capable of betraying anyone much less you i know it said sir frederick yet it is with the most inexpressible reluctance that i impose on your confidence disagreeable perhaps certainly dangerous and which i would especially wished to have conferred on someone else but my fate which has chased me through a life of perils and escapes is now pressing me hard and i have no alternative at this moment the door opened and the voice of the officious andrew was heard i'll bring in in the condos you can like them again you like can do as easy carry about willing i ran to the door which as i hoped i reached in time to prevent his observing who were in the apartment i turned him out with hasty violence shut the door after him and locked it then instantly remembering his two companions below knowing his talkative humor and recollecting sidle's remark that one of them was supposed to be a spy i followed him as fast as i could to the servant's hall in which they were assembled andrew's tongue was loud as i opened the door but my unexpected appearance signlessed him what is the matter with you you fool said i you stare and look wild as if you'd seen a ghost nothing said andrew but your worship was pleased to be hasty because you disturbed me out of the sound sleep you fool sidle tells me he cannot find beds for these good fellows tonight and mr wardlaw thinks there will be no occasion to detain them here is a crown piece for them to drink my health and thanks for their good will you will leave the hall immediately my good lads the men thanked me for my bounty took the silver and withdrew apparently unsuspicious and contented i watched their departure until i was sure they could have no further intercourse at night with honest andrew and so instantly had i followed on his heels that i thought he could not have had time to speak two words with them before i interrupted him but it is wonderful what mischief may be done by only two words on this occasion they cost two lives having made these arrangements the best which occurred to me upon the pressure of the moment to secure privacy for my guests i returned to report my proceedings and added that i had desired sidle to answer every summons concluding that it was by his connivance that had been secreted in the hall diana raised her eyes to thank me for the caution you now understand my mystery she said you know doubtless how near and dear that relative is who is so often found shelter here and will be no longer surprised at rush lay having such a secret at his command should rule me with a rod of iron her father added that it was their intention to trouble me with their presence at shorter time as was possible i entreated the fugitives to waive every consideration but what affected their safety and to rely on my utmost exertions to promote it this led to an explanation of the circumstances under which they stood i always suspected rush lay of all the stone said sir fratric but his conduct toward my unprotected child with which difficulty i rung from him and his treachery in your father's affairs made me hate and despise him in our last interview i concealed not my sentiments as i should in prudence have attempted to do and in resentment of the scorn with which i treated him he added treachery and apostasy to his catalogue of crimes i at that time finally hope that his defection would be of little consequence the earl of marr had a gallant army in scotland and lord derwent water with forster ken mure winterton and others were assembling forces on the border as my connections with these english nobility hen gentry were extensive it was judge proper that i should accompany a detachment of highlanders who under brigadier macintosh of borlum crossed the fifth of fourth traversed the low country of scotland and united themselves on the border with the english insurgents my daughter accompanied me through the perils and fatigues of a march so long and difficult and she will never leave her dear father exclaimed miss mernan clinging fondly to his arm i had hardly joined our english friends when i became sensible that our cause was lost our numbers diminished instead of increasing nor were we joined by any except our own persuasion the tories of the high church remained in general undecided and at length we were cooped up by a superior force in the little town of preston we defended ourselves resolutely for one day on the next the hearts of our leaders failed and they resolved to surrender at discretion to yield myself up on such terms were to have laid my head on the block about 20 or 30 gentlemen were of my mind we mounted our horses and placed my daughter who insisted on sharing my fate in the center of our little party my companions struck with her courage and filial piety declared that they would die rather than leave her behind we rode in a body down a street called fisher gate which leads to a marshy ground or meadow extending to the river ribble through which one of our party promised to show us a good ford this march had not been strongly enraisted by the enemy so that we had only an affair with the patrol of honeywood's dragoons whom we dispersed and cut to pieces we crossed the river gained the high road to liverpool and then dispersed to seek several places of concealment and safety my fortune led me to wales with our many gentlemen of my religious and political opinions i could not however find a safe opportunity of escaping by sea and found myself obliged again to draw toward the north a well-tried friend had appointed to meet me in this neighborhood and guide me to a seaport on the solway where a sloop is prepared to carry me from my native country forever as a baldy stone hall was for the present uninhabited and under the charge of old sidle who had been our confident on former occasions we drew it to us to a place of known and secure refuge i resumed the dress which had been used with good effect to scare the superstitious rustics or domestics who chanced at any time to see me and we expected from time to time to hear by side all of the arrival of our friendly guide when your sudden coming hither and occupying this apartment lead us under the necessity of submitting to your mercy thus ended sir frederick's story whose tale sounded to me like one told in a vision and i could hardly bring myself to believe that i saw his daughter's form once more before me in flesh and blood though with diminished beauty and sunk spirits the buoyant vivacity with which she had resisted every touch of adversity had now assumed the air of composed and submissive but dauntless resolution and constancy her father though aware and jealous of the effect of her praises on my mind could not forbear expediting upon them she has endured trials he said which might have dignified the history of a martyr she has faced danger and death in various shapes she has undergone toil in privation from which men of the strongest frame would have shrunk she has spent the day in darkness and the night in vigil and has never breathed a murmur of weakness or complaint in a word mr. a balderstone he concluded she is a worthy offering to that god to whom crossing himself i shall dedicate her as all that is left dear or precious to frederick vernon there was a silence after these words of which i well understood the mournful import the father of diana was still as anxious to destroy my hopes of being united to her now as he had shown himself during our brief meeting in scotland we will now said he to his daughter intrude no further on mr. a balderstone's time since we have acquainted him with the circumstances of the miserable guests who claim his protection i requested them to stay and offered myself to leave the apartment sir frederick observed that my doing so could not but excite my attendant suspicion and that the place of their retreat was in every respect commodious and furnace by side all with all they could possibly want we might perhaps even have contrived to remain there concealed from your observation but it would have been unjust to decline the most absolute reliance on your honor you have done me but justice i replied to you sir frederick i am but little known but miss vernon i am sure will bear me witness that i do not want my daughter's evidence he said politely but yet with an error calculated to prevent my addressing myself to diana since i am prepared to believe all that is worthy of mr. frances a balderstone permit us now to retire we must take repose when we can since we are absolutely uncertain when we may be called upon to renew our perilous journey he drew his daughter's arm within his and with the profound reverence disappeared with her behind the tapestry end of volume two chapter 21 recording by elliott miller