The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2. Вальтер Скотт

tone, which was again gradually overcome by drowsiness, to which the fatigue of a day's journey on horseback had probably given unwonted occasion, – "I dinna ken what makes me sae sleepy – I amaist never sleep till my bonny Lady Moon gangs till her bed – mair by token, when she's at the full, ye ken, rowing aboon us yonder in her grand silver coach – I have danced to her my lane sometimes for very joy – and whiles dead folk came and danced wi' me – the like o' Jock Porteous, or ony body I had ken'd when I was living – for ye maun ken I was ance dead mysell." Here the poor maniac sung, in a low and wild tone,

      "My banes are buried in yon kirkyard

      Sae far ayont the sea,

      And it is but my blithesome ghaist

      That's speaking now to thee.

      "But after a', Jeanie, my woman, naebody kens weel wha's living and wha's dead – or wha's gone to Fairyland – there's another question. Whiles I think my puir bairn's dead – ye ken very weel it's buried – but that signifies naething. I have had it on my knee a hundred times, and a hundred till that, since it was buried – and how could that be were it dead, ye ken? – it's merely impossible." – And here, some conviction half-overcoming the reveries of her imagination, she burst into a fit of crying and ejaculation, "Wae's me! wae's me! wae's me!" till at length she moaned and sobbed herself into a deep sleep, which was soon intimated by her breathing hard, leaving Jeanie to her own melancholy reflections and observations.

      CHAPTER SIXTH

      Bind her quickly; or, by this steel,

      I'll tell, although I truss for company.

Fletcher.

      The imperfect light which shone into the window enabled Jeanie to see that there was scarcely any chance of making her escape in that direction; for the aperture was high in the wall, and so narrow, that, could she have climbed up to it, she might well doubt whether it would have permitted her to pass her body through it. An unsuccessful attempt to escape would be sure to draw down worse treatment than she now received, and she, therefore, resolved to watch her opportunity carefully ere making such a perilous effort. For this purpose she applied herself to the ruinous clay partition, which divided the hovel in which she now was from the rest of the waste barn. It was decayed and full of cracks and chinks, one of which she enlarged with her fingers, cautiously and without noise, until she could obtain a plain view of the old hag and the taller ruffian, whom they called Levitt, seated together beside the decayed fire of charcoal, and apparently engaged in close conference. She was at first terrified by the sight; for the features of the old woman had a hideous cast of hardened and inveterate malice and ill-humour, and those of the man, though naturally less unfavourable, were such as corresponded well with licentious habits, and a lawless profession.

      "But I remembered," said Jeanie, "my worthy fathers tales of a winter evening, how he was confined with the blessed martyr, Mr. James Renwick, who lifted up the fallen standard of the true reformed Kirk of Scotland, after the worthy and renowned Daniel Cameron, our last blessed banner-man, had fallen among the swords of the wicked at Airsmoss, and how the very hearts of the wicked malefactors and murderers, whom they were confined withal, were melted like wax at the sound of their doctrine: and I bethought mysell, that the same help that was wi' them in their strait, wad be wi' me in mine, an I could but watch the Lord's time and opportunity for delivering my feet from their snare; and I minded the Scripture of the blessed Psalmist, whilk he insisteth on, as weel in the forty-second as in the forty-third psalm – 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.'"

      Strengthened in a mind naturally calm, sedate, and firm, by the influence of religious confidence, this poor captive was enabled to attend to, and comprehend, a great part of an interesting conversation which passed betwixt those into whose hands she had fallen, notwithstanding that their meaning was partly disguised by the occasional use of cant terms, of which Jeanie knew not the import, by the low tone in which they spoke, and by their mode of supplying their broken phrases by shrugs and signs, as is usual amongst those of their disorderly profession.

      The man opened the conversation by saying, "Now, dame, you see I am true to my friend. I have not forgot that you planked a chury,11 which helped me through the bars of the Castle of York, and I came to do your work without asking questions; for one good turn deserves another.

      But now that Madge, who is as loud as Tom of Lincoln, is somewhat still, and this same Tyburn Neddie is shaking his heels after the old nag, why, you must tell me what all this is about, and what's to be done – for d – n me if I touch the girl, or let her be touched, and she with Jim Rat's pass, too."

      "Thou art an honest lad, Frank," answered the old woman, "but e'en too good for thy trade; thy tender heart will get thee into trouble. I will see ye gang up Holborn Hill backward, and a' on the word of some silly loon that could never hae rapped to ye had ye drawn your knife across his weasand."

      "You may be balked there, old one," answered the robber; "I have known many a pretty lad cut short in his first summer upon the road, because he was something hasty with his flats and sharps. Besides, a man would fain live out his two years with a good conscience. So, tell me what all this is about, and what's to be done for you that one can do decently?"

      "Why, you must know, Frank – but first taste a snap of right Hollands." She drew a flask from her pocket, and filled the fellow a large bumper, which he pronounced to be the right thing. – "You must know, then, Frank – wunna ye mend your hand?" again offering the flask.

      "No, no, – when a woman wants mischief from you, she always begins by filling you drunk. D – n all Dutch courage. What I do I will do soberly – I'll last the longer for that too."

      "Well, then, you must know," resumed the old woman, without any further attempts at propitiation, "that this girl is going to London."

      Here Jeanie could only distinguish the word sister.

      The robber answered in a louder tone, "Fair enough that; and what the devil is your business with it?"

      "Business enough, I think. If the b – queers the noose, that silly cull will marry her."

      "And who cares if he does?" said the man.

      "Who cares, ye donnard Neddie! I care; and I will strangle her with my own hands, rather than she should come to Madge's preferment."

      "Madge's preferment! Does your old blind eyes see no farther than that? If he is as you say, dye think he'll ever marry a moon-calf like Madge? Ecod, that's a good one – Marry Madge Wildfire! – Ha! ha! ha!"

      "Hark ye, ye crack-rope padder, born beggar, and bred thief!" replied the hag, "suppose he never marries the wench, is that a reason he should marry another, and that other to hold my daughter's place, and she crazed, and I a beggar, and all along of him? But I know that of him will hang him – I know that of him will hang him, if he had a thousand lives – I know that of him will hang – hang – hang him!"

      She grinned as she repeated and dwelt upon the fatal monosyllable, with the emphasis of a vindictive fiend.

      "Then why don't you hang – hang – hang him?" said Frank, repeating her words contemptuously. "There would be more sense in that, than in wreaking yourself here upon two wenches that have done you and your daughter no ill."

      "No ill?" answered the old woman – "and he to marry this jail-bird, if ever she gets her foot loose!"

      "But as there is no chance of his marrying a bird of your brood, I cannot, for my soul, see what you have to do with all this," again replied the robber, shrugging his shoulders. "Where there is aught to be got, I'll go as far as my neighbours, but I hate mischief for mischiefs sake."

      "And would you go nae length for revenge?" said the hag – "for revenge – the sweetest morsel to the mouth that over was cooked in hell!"

      "The devil may keep it for his own eating, then," said the robber; "for hang me if I like the sauce he dresses it with."

      "Revenge!" continued the old woman; "why, it is the best reward the

11

Concealed a knife.