Tales from Blackwood Volume Vii Part 11

"The same, sir," he replied; "but come away with me before he gets out of my Thomas's hands, and I will put your friends out of the reach of his."

I shall never be able to repay the obligation I owe to this good man, who received Miss O'More, with her attendant, into the bosom of his family, till I had arranged her journey to the house of a female relative, whence, after a decent period of mourning, our marriage permitted me to bear her to my own.

BEN-NA-GROICH.

[_MAGA._ MARCH 1839.]

A plain dark-coloured chariot, whose dusty wheels gave evidence of a journey, stopped to change horses at Fus.h.i.+e Bridge, on the 7th of August 1838. The travellers seemed listless and weary, and remained, each ensconced in a corner of the carriage. The elder was a lady of from forty to fifty years of age--thin, and somewhat prim in her expression, which was perhaps occasioned by a long upper lip, rigidly stretched over a chasm in her upper gum, caused by the want of a front tooth. Her companion had taken off her bonnet, and hung it to the cross strings of the roof. The heat and fatigue of the journey seemed to have almost overcome her, and she had placed her head against the side, and was either asleep or very nearly so. It is impossible to say what her appearance might be when her eyes were open; all that we can say under present circ.u.mstances is, that the rest of her features were beautifully regular--that what appeared of her form was unimpeachable--that her hair was disengaged from combs and other entanglement, and floated at its own sweet will over cheek, and neck, and shoulders. In the rumble were seated two servants, who seemed to have a much better idea of the art of enjoying a journey than the party within. A blue cloak, thrown loosely over the gentleman's shoulders, succeeded (as was evidently his object) in concealing a certain ornamental strip of scarlet cloth that formed the collar of his coat; but revealed, at the same time, in spite of all the efforts he could make to draw up the ap.r.o.n, the upper portion of a pair of velvet integuments, which, according to Lord Byron's description of them, were "deeply, darkly, beautifully blue." The lady, reclining on his arm, which was gallantly extended, so as to save her from b.u.mping against the iron, requires no particular description. She was dressed in very gay-coloured clothes--had a vast quant.i.ty of different-hued ribbons floating like meteors on the troubled air--from the top and both sides of her bonnet; while a glistening pink silk cloak was in correct keeping with a pair of expansive cheeks, where the roses had very much the upperhand of the lilies. While Mistress Wilson, the respectable landlady of the posting-house, was busy giving orders about the horses, a carriage was heard coming down the hill at a prodigious rate, and, with a sort of prophetic spirit, the old woman knew in an instant that four horses more would be required; and then she recollected as instantaneously that there would only be one pair in the stable. Under these circ.u.mstances, she went directly to the door of the plain chariot, whose inmates still showed no signs of animation, and tried to set their minds at rest as to the further prosecution of their journey--though, as they had no knowledge of the possibility of any difficulty arising, they had never entertained any anxiety on the subject.

"Dinna be fleyed, my bonny burdy," she said, addressing the unbonnetted young lady, who was still apparently dozing in the corner.

"Ye sal hae the twa best greys in Fussie stables; they'll trot ye in in little mair than an hour; an' the ither folk maun just be doin' wi'

a pair, as their betters hae dune afore them."

The young lady started up in surprise, and looked on the shrewd intelligent features of the well-known Meg Dods, without understanding a syllable of her address.

"Haena ye got a tongue i' yer head, for a' ye're sae bonny?" continued the rather uncomplimentary landlady--"maybe the auld wife i' the corner'll hae mair sense. Hear ye what I said? ye sall hae the twa greys--and Jock Brown to drive them; steady brutes a' the three, an'

very quick on the road."

The elder lady gazed with lack-l.u.s.tre eyes upon the announcer of these glad tidings.

"Greys, did you say?" she asked, catching at the only words she had understood in the address.

"Yes, did I. An' ye dinna seem over thankful for the same. I tell ye, if ye hadna a woman o' her word to deal wi', ye wad likely hae nae horses ava';--for here comes ane o' the things thae English idewuts ca's a dug-cart that they come doon wi', filled inside an' out wi'

men, and dugs, an' guns--a' hurryin' aff to the muirs, an' neither to haud nor bind if they haena four horses the minute they clap their hands. They'll mak' a grand fecht, ye'll see, to get your twa greys; but bide a wee--the twa greys ye sall hae, if it was the laird o'

Dalhousie himsell."

And in fact in a very few seconds after the venerable hostess had uttered these sybilline vaticinations, they received an exact fulfiment--

"Four horses on!" exclaimed a voice from the last arrived vehicle, which sorely puzzled the knowing ones of Fus.h.i.+e Brig to determine to what genus or species it belonged. It was a long high carriage, fitted for the conveyance both of men and luggage; and its capabilities in both these respects were, on this occasion, very severely tried. On the high driving-seat were perched two gentlemen, counterbalanced on the d.i.c.ky-seat behind by two sporting-looking servants. Inside, four other gentlemen found ample room; while a sort of second body swinging below, seemed to carry as many packages, trunks, and portmanteaus, as the hold of a Leith smack. "Four horses on!" repeated the voice, which proceeded from one of the sporting-looking servants on the seat behind.

"Blaw awa', my man," murmured Mrs Wilson; "it'll be a gey while or the second pair comes out, for a' yer blawin'. Did ye want onything, sirs?" she inquired, going up to the equipage.

"To be sure," answered one of the gentlemen; "four horses immediately--we're pushed for time."

"Hech, sirs, so are we a', but time'll hae the best o't," replied the hostess. "Ye maun just hae patience, sirs, for ye canna get on this three hours."

"Three hours!" exclaimed the gentleman; "why, what's the matter? Why the deuce don't they get out the horses?"

"Just for the same raison the Hielanman couldna' get out the bawbee,"

replied the imperturbable Meg Dods; "the deil a plack was in his pouch, puir body--an' sae, ye see, ye maun just stay still."

"My lord," interposed one of the servants, touching his hat, "there's a pair of very natty greys just coming out of the stable, and a pair of bays with the harness on. I have seen them in stall"--

"Then let us have them, Charles, by all means," replied his lords.h.i.+p.

"Yes, my lord."

In a very short time high words were heard, from which it was evident that by no means a complimentary opinion was entertained of the gentlemanly conduct of the n.o.bleman's dependant by the guard and ornament of the plain chariot.

"I say, my fine chap, you leave them there grey 'osses alone, will ye?

they ain't none o' yourn."

"Quite a mistake, Johnny," replied the n.o.ble retainer, with a supercilious glance at our friend, who was still perched high in air.

"Oh! if ye come to go to be a-leaving off of names, old Timothy, you'll find I've a way of writing my card with my five fingers here in a text hand as no gentleman can mistake."

While boasting of his literary acquirements, our Hector in livery slewed himself down from the side of the red-cheeked Andromache, and presented an appearance which apparently induced the gentleman in the c.o.c.kade to believe that the mistake might possibly be on his own side.

"My lord is in a great hurry."

"So is my ladies."

"He must have four horses."

"They must have two."

"Lauds!" exclaimed the voice of the hostess, addressing three or four stable-men who had been gaping spectators of this altercation, "bring yer grapes and pitchin' forks here, an' lift this birkie wi' the c.o.c.kaud in his head back till his seat again. Tell Jock Brown to get his boots on wi' a' his micht, and drive thir ladies to Douglas's Hotel. An' I'm sayin', if ony o' thae English bit craturs, wi' their clippy tongues, lays hand on bit or bridle o' ony o' my horses, dinna spare the pitchin' fork--pit it through them as ye wad a lock strae; I'll hae nae rubbery in my stable-yaird--I'm braw freens wi' the Justice-Clerk."

As affairs now appeared to grow serious, the Noah's Ark disembogued the whole of its living contents, and a minute inspection of the stables was commenced by the whole party. The ladies, in the mean time, who had some confused idea that all was not right, were looking anxiously from the windows; and if the elder lady had been an attentive observer of her companion's looks, she would have seen a flush of surprise suffuse her whole countenance as her eyes for an instant rested on one of the gentlemen, who stood apparently an uninterested spectator of the proceedings of his friends. A similar feeling of amazement seemed to take possession of the champion of the ladies, as he recognised the same individual. He left his antagonist in the very middle of a philippic that ought to have sunk that gentleman in his own estimation for ever, and walking hurriedly up to the gentleman, who was still in what is called a reverie, said--

"Mr Harry!--hope ye're quite well, sir?"

"What?--Copus?" replied the gentleman. "I'm delighted to see you again. Who are you with just now?"

"Family, sir--great family--equal to a duke, master says;--lady's-maid uncommon pleasant, and all things quite agreeable."

"Do you mean you are with a duke, Copus?"

"Bless ye! no, sir, only equal to it. Master has bought a Scotch chiefs.h.i.+p, and we're all a-going down to take possession. Master made all the tartans himself afore we left off trade."

"I don't understand you--what is he?"

"Smith, Hobbins, and Huxtable, they called us at Manchester,--great way of business--but master, old Smith, has retired, and bought this here Scotch estate, and makes us all call him Ben-na-Groich."

"And his family, Copus?"

"Only his old sister, and our young lady."

"Well,--her name?"

"Miss Jane. She's a niece, they say, of old Smith--Ben-na-Groich, I means; but I don't b'lieve it. She's a real lady, and no mistake; and, they say, will have a prodigious fortin. By dad, our old 'ooman takes prodigious care of her, and is always a snubbing."

"My dear Copus, say not a word of having seen me; you can be the greatest friend I ever had in my life--you'll help me?"

"Won't I?--that's all;--'clect all about Oriel, Mr Harry, and Brussels? Ah! them was glorious days!"