Old Mortality, Complete, Illustrated

rpose to emb

h surface of

ke the skiff an

whistle and the

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rgeant Bothwell with more attention than a single glance, which showed her a tall powerful person, and a set of hardy weather-beaten features, to which pride and dissipation had given an air where discontent mingled with the reckless gaiety of desperation. The other s

was the immediate attendant on her person,

aid the waiting woman, "but it canna be Cuddie

ay be some poor neigbour, for whom we

f the sodgers were anes settled and at leisure, for I ken ane

e young fellows about the cou

olk by head-mark that they see aye glowring and looking at them at kirk and market; but I ken few lads to speak to unless it be them o'

tens to be a long one, and tell me how you come

the hill-folk at the conventicle at Outer-side Muir, and lay here while he was under cur

n opportunity to ask him the name of his prisone

turned with such a face of surprise and dismay as e

, anxiously; "does it prove to b

fille-de-chambre, sensible of the pain which her news were about to inflic

lergyman indulged by law, and has no connexion whatever with the refractory people; and he himself has never interfe

nocent as the new-born infant, they would find some way of making him guilty, if they liked; but Tam Halliday says it

king with a hurried and tremulous accent,-"they cannot-the

erhouse comes up in the morning, and if he doesna gie him full satisfaction, Tam Halliday says there will be brief wark wi' him-Kneel down-mak ready-prese

anger or difficulty-I will put on a plaid, and slip down with you to the place where they have kept

swears by it-that will never do; but what maun be maun be, and I'll never desert a true-love cause-And sae, if ye maun see young Milnwood, though I ken nae gude it will do, but to make baith your he

e him, and I will find some remedy for his danger-Hast

facilities for intrigue, directed more than one act of Assembly against this use of the mantle. But fashion, as usual, proved too strong for authority, and while plaids continued to be worn, women of all ranks occasionally employed them as a sort of muffler or veil. [Note: Concealment of an individual, while in public or promiscuous society, was then very common. In England

ith some compassion for the prisoner's youth and genteel demeanour, had waved the indignity of putting his guard into the same apartment with him. Halliday, therefore, with his carabine on his arm, walke

and Bonny Dundee, I'll ga

her mistress once more to

said, "for as rough as he is-I ken their n

tinel had turned his back from it, and taking up the tune whic

e angry, my minnie be mad; A laird, or a lord, they were

nd from two at once; but it's not easy to bang the soldier with hi

r, a share of my bed, To the sound of the drum to rang

lass, and kiss

of contempt at the proposal, "and, I'se assure ye, ye'll hae but little o' my company unless ye show gentler havings-It wa

nonsense did bring you h

with your prisoner, young Mr Harry Morton

o your kinswoman and you propose to get in? You are rather too plump to wh

o', but a thing to be dune," r

d the soldier resumed his march, humming,

net, Janet, Then ye'll see y

n to you-ye hae seen the last o' me, and o' this bonny die too," said

im gold," whispered th

ink there was something mair in't than a kinswoman o' mine. My certy! siller's no sae plenty wi' us, let alane gowd." Having addressed this ad

let your kinswoman in to speak to my prisoner, you must stay here and keep me

ur prisoner either, without somebody by to see fair play? Hegh, hegh, sirs, to see sic a difference between folk's promises and performance! Ye were aye

t Milnwood with his old puritanical b-of a mother, and if I had thought I was to have had him c

y honest folk. He can hit a mark brawly; he was third at the popinjay; and he's as true of his promise as of ee and hand,

nother when I have said a thing," said the soldi

r," quoth Jenny, "wi' the

gh-and where are my co

he fowler and the falconer, a

ey plent

de as e'er was mask

ng guard, and perhaps something later; and so, if you will promise to come alone the next time"-"Ma

regiment takes what they can come by; I am sure Bothwell and his blood-royal shows us a good example. And if I were trusting to you, you little jilting devil, I should lose both pains and powder; whereas this fellow," looking at the

pretended kinswoman, locked it behind them, and hastily reassumed the indiffer

e door without having either the power to speak or to advance. All the plans of aid, relief, or comfort, which she had proposed to lay before her lover, seemed at once to have vanished from her recollection, and left only a painful chaos of ideas, with which was mingled a fear that she had degraded herself in the eyes of Morton by a step which might appear precipitate a

ke an interest in his misfortunes? and yet afraid, owing to the doubtful twilight and the muffled dress, of making some mistake which might be prej

s very sorry for your p

profusion of thanks and gratitude which would be hardly intelligible from the mere broken words, unless we could describe th

strange step, Mr Morton-a step," she continued with more coherence, as her ideas arranged themselves in consequence of a strong effort, "that perhaps may expose me to censure in your eyes-But I have long permitted you to use the language of friendship-perhaps I might

me from this moment the most welcome incident of a weary life. To you, dearest Edith-forgive me, I should have said Miss Bellenden, but misfortune claims strange privileges-to you I h

you, who used to mix so little in these unhappy feuds, beco

ring out the word which

oms of my judges. My guards spoke of a possibility of exchanging the penalty for entry into foreign service. I thought I could have em

o desperately rash as to entertain communication with an

, the ancient friend and comrade of my father. But my ignorance will avail me little; for who, Miss Bellenden, save you, will believe it? And, what is worse, I am

"or under what authority, will the inv

military commission, to whom it has pleased our king, our privy council, and our parliament, that u

, on his road to the head of the county, where some desperate men, animated by the presence of two or three of the actors in the primate's murder, are said

d my cause like a soldier. He will perhaps listen more favourably to a blunt and unvarnished defence than a truckling and time-serving judge might do. And, indeed, in a time when justice is, in all its branches, so completely corrupted

arly patron. 'No excuse, no subterfuge,' said his letter, 'shall save either those connected with the deed, or such as have given them countenance and shelter, from the ample and bitter penalty of

in the extremity of distress which the lovers felt, but for wh

no to look about, and he may walk past Tam Halliday, who is half blind with his ale, and I can tell him a canny way to get out o' the Tower, and your leddyship will gang quietly to

orton; "they'll make

let ony body in, for his ain sake; and I'll gar hi

e so loud, if you expect to go through with it. Come, come, Mrs Janet-march, troop-quick time-trot, d-n me!-And you, madam kinswoman,-I won't ask your real

o my honour to acknowledge your civility in keeping the secret. If you overheard our conversation, you must

or tell tales, as much as another; but no thanks to that little jilting devil, Jenny Dennison, who deserves a tight skelp

ually not in vain; she pressed her handkerchief to her face, sobbed with great vehemence, and e

it in two minutes, and let me see your backs turned; for if Bothwell take it into his dru

"do not remain here-leave me to my fate-it cannot be beyond endurance since you are i

endant, by whom she was quietly led and

"but d-n me if I would have vexed so sweet a girl as t

urst of grief which alarmed Jenny Dennison, who hastened t

, and a gentleman of a good fortune, and they winna string the like o' him up as they do the puir whig bodies that they catch in the muirs, like straps o'

stupor into which she had sunk; "this is no time for despair, but for exertio

they hae mounted a sentinel before the gate. Puir Cuddie! he's gane, puir fallow, that wad hae dune aught in the warld I bade him, and ne'er asked a reaso

to go, Jenny; life and

ayed that trick ere now. But the road's unco wild, and sae mony red-coats about, forby the whigs, that are no muckle better (the young la

t, for money or favour, would serve me

t, if he keep the horse-road, and mind the turn at the Cappercleugh, and dinna drown himsell in the Whomlekirn-pule, or fa' ower the scaur at the Deil's

ge; "all risks must be run, unless you can find a better messenger.-Go, bid the boy get ready, and get him out of the Tower as secretly

and Tib the hen-wife will tak care o' the geese for a word o' my mouth; and I'll tell

s his errand we

yself very uneasy. And if it will permit you to travel, we shall be happy to see you at our poor house to-morrow at the hour of breakfast, as Colonel Grahame of Claverhouse is to pass this way on his march, and we would willingly have your assistance to receive and entertain a military man of such distinction, who, probably, will not be much delighted with the company of women. Also, my dear uncle, I pray you to let Mrs Carefor't, your housekeeper, send me my double-trimmed paduasoy with the hanging sleeves, which she will find in t

h Bel

er. I conclude you will be sorry for the young gentleman, and, therefore, let you know this, in case you may think of speakin

ve or six times, and possessing only the same slender proportion of memory as of judgment. Lastly, she smuggled him out of the garrison through the pantry window into the branchy yew-tree which grew close beside it, and had the satisfaction to see him reach the bottom in safety, and take the right turn at the commencement of

times, and given his garments a taste of the variation of each bog, brook, and slough, between Tillietudlem and Charnwood, placed him about daybreak before the