Part 15 (1/2)

Wishi+ng to be alone, till I recoveredaround me recalled, I desired old Syddall to call the land-steward, who lived at about a quarter of a mile from the Hall He departed with obvious reluctance I next ordered Andrew to procure the attendance of a couple of stout fellows upon who Papists, and Sir Rashleigh, as capable of any desperate enterprise, being in the neighbourhood Andrew Fairservice undertook this task with great cheerfulness, and pro me up from Trinlay-Knowe, ”twa true-blue Presbyterians like himself, that would face and out-face baith the Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender--and blythe will I be o' their coht that I was at Osbaldistone Hall, the blight be on ilka blosso to the full-length portrait of Miss Vernon's grandfather) ”walking by arden! I tauld your honour I was fleyed wi' a bogle that night, but ye wadna listen tothe Papishers, but I ne'er sai' bodily een till that awfu' night”

”Get along, sir,” said I, ”and bring the fellows you talk of; and see they have htened at their own shadow”

”I hae been counted as gude a hbours ere now,” said Andrew, petulantly; ”but I dinna pretend to deal wi' evil spirits” And so he made his exit, as Wardlaw the land-steward made his appearance

He was a ement my uncle would have found it difficult to haveas he did He exaht of possession carefully, and admitted it candidly To any one else the succession would have been a poor one, so e Most of these, however, were already vested inthe 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 hi our repast in the library, although Syddall strongly reco to the stone-hall, which he had put in order for the occasion Meantime Andrew made his appearance with his true-blue recruits, whohest terms, as ”sober decent men, weel founded in doctrinal points, and, above all, as bold as lions” I ordered the to drink, and they left the room I observed old Syddall shake his head as they went out, and insisted upon knowing the reason

”I maybe cannot expect,” he said, ”that your honour should put confidence in what I say, but it is Heaven's truth for all that--Afield is as honest a man as lives, but if there is a false knave in the country, it is his brother Lancie;--the whole country knows hientlemen that have been in trouble--But he's a dissenter, and I suppose that's enough now-a-days”

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 apart re was soth bundled up his papers, and re 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 ht was darkening the apartacity to advance his head at the door,--not to ask if I wished for lights, but to recoles which still haunted his iination I rejected his proffer so e leathern chairs which flanked the old Gothic chi of the blaze which I had fostered ”And this,” said I alone, ”is the progress and the issue of human wishes! Nursed by the merest trifles, they are first kindled by fancy--nay, are fed upon the vapour of hope, till they consume the substance which they inflame; and man, and his hopes, passions, and desires, sink into a worthless heap of eh from the opposite side of the room, which seemed to reply to my reflections I started up in a on the ar that of the portrait so oftento see it eone suddenly distracted, or that the spirits of the dead had arisen and been placed beforein my senses, and that the forms which stood before h paler and thinner than her forrave who stood beside her, but Vaughan, or rather Sir Frederick Vernon, 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 eyes fast fixed on the ground, and astonishue to the roof of my mouth

”We are your suppliants, Mr Osbaldistone,” he said, ”and we claie and protection of your roof till we can pursue a journey where dungeons and death gape for reat difficulty--”Miss Vernon cannot suppose--you, sir, cannot believe, that I have forgot your interference inany one, much less you?”

”I know it,” said Sir Frederick; ”yet it is with the most inexpressible reluctance that I ireeable perhaps--certainly dangerous--and which I would have specially wished to have conferred on soh 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 Andreas heard--”A'in ye like--Can do is easy carried about wi' ane”

I ran to the door, which, as I hoped, I reached in ti ere in the apartment, I turned him out with hasty violence, shut the door after hi his two co Syddall's remark, that one of them was supposed to be a spy, I followed him as fast as I could to the servants' hall, in which they were asseue was loud as I opened the door, but my unexpected appearance silenced him

”What is the matter with you, you fool?” said I; ”you stare and look wild, as if you had seen a ghost”

”N--n--no--nothing,” said Andrew--”but your worshi+p was pleased to be hasty”

”Because you disturbed me out of a sound sleep, you fool Syddall tells ht, and Mr Wardlaw thinks there will be no occasion to detain them Here is a crown-piece for theood-will You will leave the Hall iood 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 that night with honest Andrew And so instantly had I followed on his heels, that I thought he could not have had time to speak tords with them before I interrupted him But it is wonderful what mischief may be done by only tords On this occasion they cost two lives

Having ements, the best which occurred to uests, I returned to report s, and added, that I had desired Syddall to answer every su that it was by his connivance they 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 has so often found shelter here; and will be no longer surprised that Rashleigh, 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 as short a tiitives 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 Rashleigh Osbaldistone,” said Sir Frederick; ”but his conduct towardsfrom her, 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 hich I treated hiue of crimes I at that time fondly hoped that his defection would be of little consequence The Earl of Mar had a gallant army in Scotland, and Lord Derater, with Forster, Ken forces on the Border As entry were extensive, it was judged proper that I should accoadier MacIntosh of Borlum, crossed the Firth of Forth, traversed the low country of Scotland, and united thehter acco and difficult”

”And she will never leave her dear father!” exclai fondly to his arlish friends, when I became sensible that our cause was lost Our nu, nor e joined by any except of our own persuasion The Tories of the High Church reth ere 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 entlehter, who insisted on sharing my fate, in the centre of our little party My coe and filial piety, declared that they would die rather than leave her behind We rode in a body down a street called Fishergate, which leads to a h which one of our party proly invested by the enemy, so that we had only an affair with a patrol of Honeywood's dragoons, e 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 ious and political opinions I could not, however, find a safe opportunity of escaping by sea, and found ain to draards the North A well-tried friend has appointed to uide me to a seaport on the Solhere a sloop is prepared to carry me from my native country for ever Asobldistone Hall was for the present uninhabited, and under the charge of old Syddall, who had been our confidant on former occasions, we drew to it as to a place of known and secure refuge I resuood effect to scare the superstitious rustics, or domestics, who chanced at any time to see me; and we expected from tiuide, when your sudden co this apart to your mercy”

Thus ended Sir Fredericks story, whose tale sounded tohter's forh with diminished beauty and sunk spirits The buoyant vivacity hich 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 onupon theht have dignified the history of a er and death in various shapes;--she has undergone toil and privation, froest 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 Osbaldistone,” he concluded, ”she is a worthy offering to that God, to who 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 destroyunited to her now as he had shown hi in Scotland

”We will now,” said he to his daughter, ”intrude no farther on Mr Osbaldistone's time, since we have acquainted hiuests who claim his protection”

I requested them to stay, and offered myself to leave the apart so could not but excite my attendant's suspicion; and that the place of their retreat was in every respect commodious, and furnished by Syddall with all they could possibly want ”We ht perhaps have even contrived to remain there, concealed from your observation; but it would have been unjust to decline the most absolute reliance on your honour”

”You have done me but justice,” I replied--”To you, Sir Frederick, I am but little known; but Miss Vernon, I ahter's evidence,” he said, politely, but yet with an air calculated to preventmyself to Diana, ”since I am prepared to believe all that is worthy of Mr Francisobldistone Permit us now to retire; we must take repose e can, since we are absolutely uncertain e may be called upon to renew our perilous journey”

He drew his daughter's arm within his, and with a profound reverence, disappeared with her behind the tapestry

CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND

But now the hand of fate is on the curtain, And gives the scene to light Don Sebastian

I felt stunned and chilled as they retired I on an absent object of affection, paints her not only in the fairest light, but in that in which we ht of Diana as she hen her parting tear dropped ontoken, received froured her wish to convey into exile and conventual seclusion the remembrance of my affection I saw her; and her cold passive manner, expressive of little except coree, als, I accused her of indifference--of insensibility I upbraided her father with pride--with cruelty--with fanaticis their interest, and Diana her inclination, to the discharge of what they regarded as their duty

Sir Frederick Vernon was a rigid Catholic, who thought the path of salvation too narrow to be trodden by an heretic; and Diana, to whom her father's safety had been for hts, hopes, and actions, felt that she had discharged her duty in resigning to his will, not alone her property in the world, but the dearest affections of her heart But it was not surprising that I could not, at such a moment, fully appreciate these honourable ing itself

”I am contemned, then,” I said, when left to run over the tenor of Sir Frederick's coht unworthy even to exchange words with her Be it so; they shall not at least preventover her safety Here will I reer shall threaten her, if it be such as the arm of one determined man can avert”

I summoned Syddall to the library He ca of great things in consequence ofpossession of the Hall and the annexed estates, was resolved to lose nothing for want of keeping himself in view; and, as often happens to men who entertain selfish objects, overshot his mark, and rendered his attentions tedious and inconvenient

His unrequired presence preventedfreely to Syddall, and I dared not send hiht entertain from his former abrupt disiving them directions to wheel nearer to the fire an old-fashi+oned day-bed, or settee ”I have o late to bed”

Syddall, who seemed to understand my look, offered to procureI accepted his offer, dishted a pair of candles, and desired that I

The doed reflections, until nature, worn out, should require some repose