Week crept away after week, and day after day. St. Jude"s day arrived, the last and protracted term to which Lucy had limited herself, and there was neither letter nor news of Ravenswood.
CHAPTER x.x.xII.
How fair these names, how much unlike they look To all the blurr"d subscriptions in my book!
The bridegroom"s letters stand in row above, Tapering, yet straight, like pine-trees in his grove; While free and fine the bride"s appear below, As light and slender as her jessamines grow.
CRABBE.
ST. JUDE"s day came, the term a.s.signed by Lucy herself as the furthest date of expectation, and, as we have already said, there were neither letters from nor news of Ravenswood. But there were news of Bucklaw, and of his trusty a.s.sociate Craigengelt, who arrived early in the morning for the completion of the proposed espousals, and for signing the necessary deeds.
These had been carefully prepared under the revisal of Sir William Ashton himself, it having been resolved, on account of the state of Miss Ashton"s health, as it was said, that none save the parties immediately interested should be present when the parchments were subscribed. It was further determined that the marriage should be solemnised upon the fourth day after signing the articles, a measure adopted by Lady Ashton, in order that Lucy might have as little time as possible to recede or relapse into intractability. There was no appearance, however, of her doing either. She heard the proposed arrangement with the calm indifference of despair, or rather with an apathy arising from the oppressed and stupified state of her feelings. To an eye so un.o.bserving as that of Bucklaw, her demeanour had little more of reluctance than might suit the character of a bashful young lady, who, however, he could not disguise from himself, was complying with the choice of her friends rather than exercising any personal predilection in his favour.
When the morning compliment of the bridegroom had been paid, Miss Ashton was left for some time to herself; her mother remarking, that the deeds must be signed before the hour of noon, in order that the marriage might be happy. Lucy suffered herself to be attired for the occasion as the taste of her attendants suggested, and was of course splendidly arrayed.
Her dress was composed of white satin and Brussels lace, and her hair arranged with a profusion of jewels, whose l.u.s.tre made a strange contrast to the deadly paleness of her complexion, and to the trouble which dwelt in her unsettled eye.
Her toilette was hardly finished ere Henry appeared, to conduct the pa.s.sive bride to the state apartment, where all was prepared for signing the contract. "Do you know, sister," he said, "I am glad you are to have Bucklaw after all, instead of Ravenswood, who looked like a Spanish grandee come to cute our throats and trample our bodies under foot.
And I am glad the broad seas are between us this day, for I shall never forget how frightened I was when I took him for the picture of old Sir Malise walked out of the canvas. Tell me true, are you not glad to be fairly shot of him?"
"Ask me no questions, dear Henry," said his unfortunate sister; "there is little more can happen to make me either glad or sorry in this world."
"And that"s what all young brides say," said Henry; "and so do not be cast down, Lucy, for you"ll tell another tale a twelvemonth hence; and I am to be bride"s-man, and ride before you to the kirk; and all our kith, kin, and allies, and all Bucklaw"s, are to be mounted and in order; and I am to have a scarlet laced coat, and a feathered hat, and a sword-belt, double bordered with gold, and point d"Espagne, and a dagger instead of a sword; and I should like a sword much better, but my father won"t hear of it. All my things, and a hundred besides, are to come out from Edinburgh to-night with old Gilbert and the sumpter mules; and I will bring them and show them to you the instant they come."
The boy"s chatter was here interrupted by the arrival of Lady Ashton, somewhat alarmed at her daughter"s stay. With one of her sweetest smiles, she took Lucy"s arm under her own.
There were only present, Sir William Ashton and Colonel Douglas Ashton, the last in full regimentals; Bucklaw, in bridegroom trim; Craigengelt, freshly equipt from top to toe by the bounty of his patron, and bedizened with as much lace as might have become the dress of the Copper Captain; together with the Rev. Mr. Bide-the-Bent; the presence of a minister being, in strict Presbyterian families, an indispensable requisite upon all occasions of unusual solemnity.
Wines and refreshments were placed on a table, on which the writings were displayed, ready for signature.
But before proceeding either to business or refreshment, Mr.
Bide-the-Bent, at a signal from Sir William Ashton, invited the company to join him in a short extemporary prayer, in which he implored a blessing upon the contract now to be solemnised between the honourable parties then present. With the simplicity of his times and profession, which permitted strong personal allusions, he pet.i.tioned that the wounded mind of one of these n.o.ble parties might be healed, in reward of her compliance with the advice of her right honourable parents; and that, as she had proved herself a child after G.o.d"s commandment, by honouring her father and mother, she and hers might enjoy the promised blessing--length of days in the land here, and a happy portion hereafter in a better country. He prayed farther, that the bridegroom might be weaned from those follies which seduced youth from the path of knowledge; that he might cease to take delight in vain and unprofitable company, scoffers, rioters, and those who sit late at the wine (here Bucklaw winked at Craigengelt), and cease from the society that causeth to err. A suitable supplication in behalf of Sir William and Lady Ashton and their family concluded this religious address, which thus embraced every individual present excepting Craigengelt, whom the worthy divine probably considered as past all hopes of grace.
The business of the day now went forward: Sir William Ashton signed the contract with legal solemnity and precision; his son, with military nonchalance; and Bucklaw, having subscribed as rapidly as Craigengelt could manage to turn the leaves, concluded by wiping his pen on that worthy"s new laced cravat. It was now Miss Ashton"s turn to sign the writings, and she was guided by her watchful mother to the table for that purpose. At her first attempt, she began to write with a dry pen, and when the circ.u.mstance was pointed out, seemed unable, after several attempts, to dip it in the ma.s.sive silver ink-standish, which stood full before her. Lady Ashton"s vigilance hastened to supply the deficiency. I have myself seen the fatal deed, and in the distinct characters in which the name of Lucy Ashton is traced on each page there is only a very slight tremulous irregularity, indicative of her state of mind at the time of the subscription. But the last signature is incomplete, defaced, and blotted; for, while her hand was employed in tracing it, the hasty tramp of a horse was heard at the gate, succeeded by a step in the outer gallery, and a voice which, in a commanding tone, bore down the opposition of the menials. The pen dropped from Lucy"s fingers, as she exclaimed with a faint shriek: "He is come--he is come!"
CHAPTER x.x.xIII.
This by his tongue should be a Montague!
Fetch me my rapier, boy; Now, by the faith and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.
Romeo and Juliet.
HARDLY had Miss Ashton dropped the pen, when the door of the apartment flew open, and the Master of Ravenswood entered the apartment.
Lockhard and another domestic, who had in vain attempted to oppose his pa.s.sage through the gallery or antechamber, were seen standing on the threshold transfixed with surprise, which was instantly communicated to the whole party in the state-room. That of Colonel Douglas Ashton was mingled with resentment; that of Bucklaw with haughty and affected indifference; the rest, even Lady Ashton herself, showed signs of fear; and Lucy seemed stiffened to stone by this unexpected apparition.
Apparition it might well be termed, for Ravenswood had more the appearance of one returned from the dead than of a living visitor.
He planted himself full in the middle of the apartment, opposite to the table at which Lucy was seated, on whom, as if she had been alone in the chamber, he bent his eyes with a mingled expression of deep grief and deliberate indignation. His dark-coloured riding cloak, displaced from one shoulder, hung around one side of his person in the ample folds of the Spanish mantle. The rest of his rich dress was travel-soiled, and deranged by hard riding. He had a sword by his side, and pistols in his belt. His slouched hat, which he had not removed at entrance, gave an additional gloom to his dark features, which, wasted by sorrow and marked by the ghastly look communicated by long illness, added to a countenance naturally somewhat stern and wild a fierce and even savage expression. The matted and dishevelled locks of hair which escaped from under his hat, together with his fixed and unmoved posture, made his head more resemble that of a marble bust than that of a living man. He said not a single word, and there was a deep silence in the company for more than two minutes.
It was broken by Lady Ashton, who in that s.p.a.ce partly recovered her natural audacity. She demanded to know the cause of this unauthorised intrusion.
"That is a question, madam," said her son, "which I have the best right to ask; and I must request of the Master of Ravenswood to follow me where he can answer it at leisure."
Bucklaw interposed, saying, "No man on earth should usurp his previous right in demanding an explanation from the Master. Craigengelt," he added, in an undertone, "d--n ye, why do you stand staring as if you saw a ghost? fetch me my sword from the gallery."
"I will relinquish to none," said Colonel Ashton, "my right of calling to account the man who has offered this unparalleled affront to my family." "Be patient, gentlemen," said Ravenswood, turning sternly towards them, and waving his hand as if to impose silence on their altercation. "If you are as weary of your lives as I am, I will find time and place to pledge mine against one or both; at present, I have no leisure for the disputes of triflers."
"Triflers!" echoed Colonel Ashton, half unsheathing his sword, while Bucklaw laid his hand on the hilt of that which Craigengelt had just reached him.
Sir William Ashton, alarmed for his son"s safety, rushed between the young men and Ravenswood, exclaiming: "My son, I command you--Bucklaw, I entreat you--keep the peace, in the name of the Queen and of the law!"
"In the name of the law of G.o.d," said Bide-the-Bent, advancing also with uplifted hands between Bucklaw, the Colonel, and the object of their resentment--"in the name of Him who brought peace on earth and good-will to mankind, I implore--I beseech--I command you to forbear violence towards each other! G.o.d hateth the bloodthirsty man; he who striketh with the sword shall perish with the sword."
"Do you take me for a dog, sir" said Colonel Ashton, turning fiercely upon him, "or something more brutally stupid, to endure this insult in my father"s house? Let me go, Bucklaw! He shall account to me, or, by Heavens, I will stab him where he stands!"
"You shall not touch him here," said Bucklaw; "he once gave me my life, and were he the devil come to fly away with the whole house and generation, he shall have nothing but fair play."
The pa.s.sions of the two young men thus counteracting each other gave Ravenswood leisure to exclaim, in a stern and steady voice: "Silence!--let him who really seeks danger take the fitting time when it is to be found; my mission here will be shortly accomplished. Is THAT your handwriting, madam?" he added in a softer tone, extending towards Miss Ashton her last letter.
A faltering "Yes" seemed rather to escape from her lips than to be uttered as a voluntary answer.
"And is THIS also your handwriting?" extending towards her the mutual engagement.
Lucy remained silent. Terror, and a yet stronger and more confused feeling, so utterly disturbed her understanding that she probably scarcely comprehended the question that was put to her.
"If you design," said Sir William Ashton, "to found any legal claim on that paper, sir, do not expect to receive any answer to an extrajudicial question."
"Sir William Ashton," said Ravenswood, "I pray you, and all who hear me, that you will not mistake my purpose. If this young lady, of her own free will, desires the restoration of this contract, as her letter would seem to imply, there is not a withered leaf which this autumn wind strews on the heath that is more valueless in my eyes. But I must and will hear the truth from her own mouth; without this satisfaction I will not leave this spot. Murder me by numbers you possibly may; but I am an armed man--I am a desperate man, and I will nto die without ample vengeance. This is my resolution, take it as you may. I WILL hear her determination from her own mouth; from her own mouth, alone, and without witnesses, will I hear it. Now, choose," he said, drawing his sword with the right hand, and, with the left, by the same motion taking a pistol from his belt and c.o.c.king it, but turning the point of one weapon and the muzzle of the other to the ground--"choose if you will have this hall floated with blood, or if you will grant me the decisive interview with my affianced bride which the laws of G.o.d and the country alike ent.i.tle me to demand."
All recoiled at the sound of his voice and the determined action by which it was accompanied; for the ecstasy of real desperation seldom fails to overpower the less energetic pa.s.sions by which it may be opposed. The clergyman was the first to speak. "In the name of G.o.d," he said, "receive an overture of peace from the meanest of His servants.
What this honourable person demands, albeit it is urged with over violence, hath yet in it something of reason. Let him hear from Miss Lucy"s own lips that she hath dutifully acceded to the will of her parents, and repenteth her of her covenant with him; and when he is a.s.sured of this he will depart in peace unto his own dwelling, and c.u.mber us no more. Alas! the workings of the ancient Adam are strong even in the regenerate; surely we should have long-suffering with those who, being yet in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, are swept forward by the uncontrollable current of worldly pa.s.sion. Let then, the Master of Ravenswood have the interview on which he insisteth; it can but be as a pa.s.sing pang to this honourable maiden, since her faith is now irrevocably pledged to the choice of her parents. Let it, I say, be this: it belongeth to my functions to entreat your honours" compliance with this headling overture."
"Never!" answered Lady Ashton, whose rage had now overcome her first surprise and terror--"never shall this man speak in private with my daughter, the affianced bride of another! pa.s.s from this room who will, I remain here. I fear neither his violence nor his weapons, though some,"
she said, glancing a look towards Colonel Ashton, "who bear my name appear more moved by them."
"For G.o.d"s sake, madam," answered the worthy divine, "add not fuel to firebrands. The Master of Ravenswood cannot, I am sure, object to your presence, the young lady"s state of health being considered, and your maternal duty. I myself will also tarry; peradventure my grey hairs may turn away wrath."
"You are welcome to do so, sir," said Ravenswood; "and Lady Ashton is also welcome to remain, if she shall think proper; but let all others depart."
"Ravenswood," said Colonel Ashton, crossing him as he went out, "you shall account for this ere long."
"When you please," replied Ravenswood.
"But I," said Bucklaw, with a half smile, "have a prior demand on your leisure, a claim of some standing."