Walladmor

Walladmor.

by Thomas De Quincey.

Vol. II.

CHAPTER X.

Hast thou a medicine to restore my wits When I have lost them?--If not, leave to talk.

_Beaumont and Fletcher_; _Philaster_.

In this perplexity, whilst sitting down to clear up his thoughts and to consider of his future motions, Bertram suddenly remembered that immediately before the attack on the revenue officers, a note had been put into his hand--which he had at that time neglected to read under the overpowering interest of the scene which followed. This note he now drew from his pocket: it was written in pencil, and contained the following words:

"You wish to see the ruins of Ap Gauvon. In confidence therefore let me tell you that the funeral train will direct its course upon a different point. Take any convenient opportunity for leaving this rabble, and pursue your route to the Abbey through the valley which branches off on the left. You will easily reach it by nightfall; and you will there receive a welcome from AN OLD FRIEND."

The day was uncommonly dear and bright; the frosty air looked sharp, keen, and "in a manner vitreous;"[1] and every thing wore a cheerful and promising aspect, except that towards the horizon the sky took that emerald tint which sometimes on such days foreruns the approach of snow. However, as it was now too late to return to Machynleth whilst the day-light lasted--and as the ruins of Ap Gauvon were both in themselves and in their accompaniments of scenery, according to the description which had been given of them, an object of powerful attraction to Bertram,--he resolved to go forward in the track pointed out. After advancing a couple of miles, he bent his steps through the valley which opened on his left; and soon reached a humble ale-house into which he turned for the sake of obtaining at the same time refreshments and further directions for his route.

"How far do you call it, landlord, to the Abbey of Griffith ap Gauvon."

"To Ap Gauvon? Why let me see--it"ll be a matter of eight miles; or better than seven any way. But you"ll never be thinking of going so far to-night."

"Why,--is there any danger, then?"

"Nay, I don"t know for that: we"ve now and then odd sort of folks come up this way from the sea-side: but I reckon they wouldn"t meddle of _you_: for you"ll never sure be going into the Abbey?"

"But, suppose I did, is there n.o.body at the Abbey or near it that could give me a night"s lodging?" The landlord stared with a keen expression of wonder,--and answered, with some reserve, "Why who should there be but the owls, and in summer time may be a few bats?"

"Well, perhaps I shall find a lodging somewhere in the neighbourhood: meantime I would thank you to put me into the nearest road."

"Why, that"s sooner said than done: its a d---d awkward cross-country road, and there"s few in this country can hit it. But the best way for _you_ will be to keep right over the shoulder of yonder hill, and then bear away under the hills to your right, till you come to the old gallows of Pont-ar-Diawl: and there you must look about for somebody able to put you in the way."

"An old gallows! Surely you can"t have much need of a standing gallows in a country so thinly peopled as this?"

"Why no, master; we don"t make much use of it: not but there has been some fine lads in my time that have taken their last look of day-light on that gallows; and here and there you"ll meet with an old body amongst these hills that has the heart-ache when she looks that way.

But the gallows is partly built of stone: they say King Edward I. built it, to hang the Welsh harpers on; by the dozen at once, I have heard say. Well, all"s one to you and me: by the score if it pleased him.

"But now-a-days I suppose it will not have many customers from the harpers: what little business it has will lie chiefly among those "odd sort of folks from the sea-side,"--eh, landlord?"

"Why master, as to that, as long as folks do _me_ no harm, it"s never my way to say any thing ill of them. Now and then, may be, I hear a noise of winter nights in my barn: and my wife and daughters would have me to lock the barn-door before it"s dark. But what? as I often says to them; it"s better to have folks making free with one"s straw, and now and then an armful of hay for a horse or so, than to have one"s house burnt over one"s head one of these long winter nights. And, to give the devil his due, I don"t think they"re much in _my_ debt: for often enough I find a bottle or two of prime old wine left behind them."

"So then, on the whole, these sea-side gentry are not uncivil: and, if it"s they that tenant Ap Gauvon, perhaps they"ll show a little hospitality to a wanderer like myself?"

"Aye, but that"s more than I"ll answer for. I know little about Ap Gauvon: it"s a place I never was at--nor ever will be, please G.o.d. Why should any man go and thrust his hand into a hornet"s nest, where there"s nothing to be got?"

"But landlord, if these smugglers come and visit you, I think they couldn"t be angry with you for returning the visit."

"I tell you, I know of no smugglers at Ap Gauvon: some folks say there are ghosts at Ap Gauvon; and Merlin has been seen of moonlight nights walking up and down the long galleries: and sometimes of dark nights the whole Abbey in a manner has been lit up; and shouting and laughing enough to waken all the church-yards round Snowdon. But I mustn"t stand gossiping here, master: I"ve my cows to fetch up, and fifty things to do before its dark."

So saying he turned on his heel, whilst Bertram pursued his way to the stone gallows. This he reached in about an hour and a half; by which time the light was beginning to decay. Looking round for some person of whom he could inquire the road, he saw or fancied that he saw--a human figure near the gallows; and, going a little nearer he clearly distinguished a woman sitting at its foot. He paused a little while to watch her. Sometimes she muttered to herself, and seemed as if lost in thought: sometimes she roused herself up suddenly, and sang in a wild and boisterous tone of gaiety: but it easily appeared that there was no joy in her gaiety: for the tone of exultation soon pa.s.sed into something like a ferocious expression of vengeance. Then, after a time, she would suddenly pause and laugh: but in the next moment would seem to recover the main recollection that haunted her; and falling back as into the key-note of her distress, would suddenly burst into tears.

Bertram saw enough to convince him that the poor creature"s wits were unsettled; and from the words of one of the fragments which she sang, a suspicion flashed upon his mind that it could be no other than his hostess in the wild cottage; though how, or on what errand, come over to this neighbourhood--he was at a loss to guess. To satisfy himself on all these points if possible, he moved nearer and accosted her:

"A cold evening, good mother, for one so old as you to be sitting out in the open air."

"Yes, Sir," she answered, without expressing any surprise at his sudden interruption; "yes, Sir, its a cold evening: but I am waiting for a young lad that was to meet me here."

Bertram now saw that his conjecture was right: it was indeed his aged and mysterious hostess: but, before he could speak, she seemed to have forgotten that he was present--and sang in an under tone:

They hung him high aboon the rest, He was sae trim a boy; Thair dyed the youth whom I lov"d best --My winsome Gilderoy.

"A young man you were expecting to meet you?" said Bertram.

"Yes, Sir, a young man:" and then, holding up her ap.r.o.n to her face as if ashamed, she added--"he was a sweetheart of mine. Sir." But in a moment, as if recollecting herself, she cried out--"No, no, no: I"ll tell you the whole truth: he was my son, my love, my darling: and they took him, Sir, they hanged him here. And, if you"ll believe my word, Sir--they wouldn"t let his old mother kiss his bonny lips before he died. Well, well! Let"s have nothing but peace and quietness. All"s to be right at last. There"s more of us, I believe, that won"t die in our beds. But don"t say I told you."

"My good old hostess, can you show me the road to Griffith ap Gauvon?"

"Ap Gauvon, is it? Aye, aye: there"s one of them: _he_"ll never die in his bed, rest you sure of that. Never you trouble your head about him: I"ve settled all that: and Edward Nicholas will be hanged at this gallows, if my name"s Gillie G.o.dber."

"But, Mrs. G.o.dber, don"t you remember me? I was two nights at your cottage; and I"m now going to the Abbey of Ap Gauvon where I hope to meet one that I may perhaps be of some service to."

"Don"t think it: there"s n.o.body can ever be of service to Edward Nicholas. He"s to be hanged, I tell you, and n.o.body must save him. I have heard it sworn to. You"ll say that I am but a weak old woman. But you would not think now what a voice I have: for all it trembles so, my voice can be heard when it curses from Anglesea to Walladmor. Not all the waves of the sea can cry it down."

"But why must Edward Nicholas be hanged?"

"Oh, my sly Sir, you would know my secret--would you? You"re a lawyer, I believe. But stay--I"ll tell you why he must be hanged:" and here she raised her withered arm to the stars which were just then becoming visible in the dusk. Pointing with her forefinger to a constellation brighter than the rest, she said----

"There was a vow made when he was born; and it"s written amongst the stars. And there"s not a letter in that book that can ever be blotted out. I can read what"s written there. Do you think that n.o.body"s barns must be hanged but mine?"

"But who then was it, my good Mrs. G.o.dber, that hanged your son?"

"Who should it be but the old master of Walladmor? He knows by this time what it is to have the heart-ache. Oh kite! he tore my lamb from me. But, hark in your ear--Sir Lawyer! I visited his nest, old ravening kite! High as it was in the air, I crept up to his nest: I did--I did!"

And here she clapped her hands, and expressed a frantic exultation: but, in a moment after, she groaned and sate down; and, covering her face with her hands, she burst into tears; and soon appeared to have sunk into thought, and to be unconscious of Bertram"s presence.

Once more he attempted to rouse her attention by asking the road to Ap Gauvon; but the sound of his voice only woke her into expressing her thoughts aloud:

"Nay, nay,--my old gentleman, that"s a saying that"ll never come true:

When black men storm the outer door, Grief than be over At Walladmor!

It"s an old saying I"ll grant, but it"s a false one: grief will never be over at Walladmor: that"s past all black men"s healing!"

"But, Mrs. G.o.dber, will you not come with me to Griffith ap Gauvon;"

She started up at the words _Ap Gauvon_; without speaking a word, she drew her cloak about her; and, as if possessed by some sudden remembrance, she strode off at so rapid a pace over the moor that Bertram had some difficulty in keeping up with her. This however he determined to do: for he remarked that her course lay towards a towering range of heights which seemed to overlook the valley in which they were walking, and which he had reason to believe was a princ.i.p.al range of Snowdon: he had been nearing it through the whole afternoon; and he knew that Ap Gauvon lay somewhere at the foot of that mountain.

For some time his aged companion kept up her speed: but, on reaching a part of the moor which was intersected with turf pits, she was compelled to suit her pace to the intricacy of the ground; though even here she selected her path from the labyrinth before her with a prompt.i.tude and decision which showed that she was well acquainted with the ground she was traversing. On emerging again into smoother roads, she resumed at intervals her rapid motions: and again, on some sudden caprice as it seemed, would slink into a stealthy pace--and walk on tiptoe, as if in the act of listening or surprising some one before her. Once only she spoke, upon Bertram"s asking if the abbey were a safe place for a stranger: "Oh aye," she replied, "Edward Nicholas is a lamb when he"s not provoked: but his hand is red with blood for all that."

No question after this roused her attention. Now and then she sang; sometimes she crooned a word or two to herself; and more often she sank into thoughtful silence: until at length, after advancing in this way for about a mile and a half,--suddenly Bertram missed her; and looking round he saw the outline of a figure stealing away in the dusk and muttering some indistinct sounds of complaint. He felt considerable perplexity at being thus suddenly abandoned by his guide: but from this he was relieved by now distinguishing a group of towers and turrets close to him--which at first had escaped his eye from the dark background of mountainous barrier with which they seemed to blend: and going a few steps nearer, he perceived a light issuing from the window of a vault. To this window, for the purpose of reconnoitring the inmates of so lonely an abode, he now pushed his way with some difficulty through heaps of ruins and of tangled thorns. The upper edge of the window-frame however being on a level with the ground, he could perceive little more than a small part of a stone floor which lay at a great depth below him; and on this, by the strong light of a blazing fire, he saw the moving shadows of human figures as they pa.s.sed and repa.s.sed: and at intervals he heard the rolling of casks and barrels.

Determined to examine a little further, he stretched himself along the steep declivity of earth which sloped down to the lower edge of the window. In this posture he gained a complete view of the vault, which to his astonishment he now discovered to be a subterraneous church of vast dimensions, such as are sometimes found in the old monasteries below the ordinary chapel of the order. Seated at a table near the fire was a young man whose face, as it was at this moment lit up by a blazing fire, proclaimed him at once for the stranger whose services to Miss Walladmor and mysterious interview with her he had witnessed with so much interest. Round about him stood groups of armed men; but of these he took little notice. Bertram remarked that all of them treated him with an air of respect, and addressed him by the t.i.tle of Captain: to which on his part he replied with an air of good natured familiarity that seemed to disown the station of authority which they were disposed to confer upon him. Anxious to hear and see a little more before he ventured into such a company, he endeavoured to shift his position for one more convenient to his purpose; but in this attempt he nearly, precipitated himself through the window. He recovered his footing however by suddenly catching at a mountain ash; but, in so doing, he dislodged a quant.i.ty of earth and stones which fell rattling down amongst the party below.

"Rats! rats!" instantaneously exclaimed the whole body: "shall we fire, Captain?"