Guy Mannering/Volume 2/Chapter 11
CHAPTER IX.
A man may see how this world goes with no eyes.—Look with thine ears: See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark in thine ear–Change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?
Among those who took the most lively interest in endeavouring to discover the person by whom young Charles Hazlewood had been way-laid and wounded, was Gilbert Glossin, Esquire, late writer in ———, now Laird of Ellangowan, and one of the worshipful commission of justices of the peace for the county of ———. His motives for exertion upon this occasion were manifold; but we presume that our readers, from what they already know of this gentleman, will acquit him of being actuated by any zealous or intemperate love of abstract justice.
The truth was, that this respectable gentleman felt himself less at ease than he had expected, when his machinations put him into possession of his benefactor's estate. His reflections within doors, where so much occurred to remind him of former times, were not always the self-congratulations of successful stratagem. And when he looked abroad, he could not but be sensible that he was excluded from the society of the gentry of the country, to whose rank he conceived he had raised himself. He was not admitted to their clubs, and at meetings of a public nature found himself thwarted and looked upon with coldness and contempt. Both principle and prejudice co-operated in creating this dislike; for the gentlemen of the country despised him for the lowness of his birth,while they hated him for the means by which he had raised his fortune. With the common people his reputation stood still worse. They would neither yield him the territorial appellation of Ellangowan, nor the usual compliment of Mr Glossin;—with them he was bare Glossin, and so incredibly was his vanity interested by this trifling circumstance, that he was known to give half-a-crown to a beggar, because he had thrice called him Ellangowan, in beseeching him for a penny. He therefore felt acutely the general want of respect, and particularly when he contrasted his own character and reception in society with that of Mr Mac-Morlan, who, in far inferior worldly circumstances, was beloved and respected both by rich and poor, and was slowly but securely laying the foundation of a moderate fortune, with the general good-will and esteem of all who knew him.
Glossin, while he repined internally at what he would fain have called the prejudices and prepossessions of the country, was too wise to make any open complaint. He was sensible his elevation was too recent to be immediately forgiven, and the means by which he had attained it too odious to be soon forgotten. But time, thought he, diminishes wonder and palliates misconduct. With the dexterity, therefore, of one who had made his fortune by studying the weak points of human nature, he determined to lie bye for opportunities to make himself useful even to those who most disliked him; confiding that his own abilities, the disposition of country gentlemen to fall into quarrels when a lawyer's advice becomes precious, and a thousand other contingencies, of which, with patience and address, he doubted not to be able to avail himself, would soon place him in a more important and respectable light to his neighbours.
The attack upon Colonel Mannering's house, followed by the accident of Hazlewood's wound, appeared to Glossin a proper opportunity to impress upon the country at large the service which could be rendered by an active magistrate, (for he had been in the commission for some time) well acquainted with the law, and no less so with the haunts and habits of the illicit traders. He had acquired the latter kind of experience by a former close alliance with some of the most desperate smugglers, in consequence of which he had occasionally acted, sometimes as partner, sometimes as legal adviser, with these persons. But the connection had been dropped many years; nor, considering how short the race of eminent characters of this description, and the frequent circumstances which occur to make them retire from particular scenes of action, had he the least reason to think that his present researches could possibly compromise any old friend who might possess means of retaliation. The having been concerned in these practices abstractedly, was a circumstance which, according to his opinion, ought in no respect to interfere with his now using his experience in behalf of the public, or rather to further his own private views. To acquire the good opinion and countenance of Colonel Mannering would be no small object to a gentleman who was much disposed to escape from Coventry; and to gain the favour of old Hazlewood, who was a leading man in the country, was of more importance still. Lastly, if he should succeed in discovering, apprehending, and convicting the culprits, he would have the satisfaction of mortifying, and in some degree disparaging, Mac-Morlan, to whom, as sheriff-substitute of the county, this sort of investigation properly belonged, and who would certainly suffer in public opinion, should the voluntary exertions of Glossin be more successful than his own.
Actuated by motives so stimulating, and well acquainted with the lower retainers of the law, Glossin set every spring in motion to detect and apprehend, if possible, some of the gang who had attacked Woodbourne, and more particularly the individual who had wounded Charles Hazlewood. He promised high rewards, he suggested various schemes, and used his personal interest among his old acquaintances who favoured the trade, urging that they had better make sacrifice of an understrapper or two than incur the odium of having favoured such atrocious proceedings. But for some time all these exertions were in vain. The common people of the country either favoured or feared the smugglers too much to afford any evidence against them. At length, this busy magistrate obtained information, that a man, having the dress and appearance of the person who had wounded Hazlewood, had lodged on the evening before the rencontre at the Gordon Arms in Kippletringan. Thither Mr Glossin immediately went, for the purpose of interrogating our old acquaintance Mrs Mac-Candlish.
The reader may remember that Mr Glossin did not, according to this good woman's phrase, stand high in her books. She therefore attended his summons to the parlour slowly and reluctantly, and, on entering the room, paid her respects in the driest possible manner. The dialogue then proceeded as follows:
"A fine frosty morning, Mrs Mac-Candlish."
"Aye, sir; the morning's weel aneuch."
"Mrs Mac-Candlish, I wish to know if the justices are to dine here as usual after the business of the court on Tuesday?"
"I believe—I fancy sae, sir—as usual"—(about to leave the room).
"Stay a moment, Mrs Mac-Gandlish—why, you are in a prodigious hurry, my good friend—I have been thinking a club dining here once a month would be a very pleasant thing."
"Certainly, sir; a club of respectable gentlemen."
"True, true, I mean landed proprietors and gentlemen of weight in the country; and I should like to set such a thing agoing."
The short dry cough with which Mrs Mac-Candlish received this proposal, by no means indicated any dislike to the overture abstractedly considered, but only much doubt ow far it would succeed under the auspices of the gentleman by whom it was proposed. It was not a cough negative, but a cough dubious, and as such Glossin felt it; but it was not his cue to take offence.
"Have there being brisk doings on the road, Mrs Mac-Candlish? plenty of company, I suppose?"
"Pretty weel, sir,—but I believe I am wanted at the bar."
"No, no,—stop one moment, cannot you, to oblige an old customer?—Pray do you remember a remarkably tall young man, who lodged one night in your house last week?"
"Troth, sir, I canna weel say—I never take heed whether my company be lang or short, if they make a lang bill."
"And if they do not, you can do that for them, eh, Mrs Mac-Candlish?–ha, ha, ha!–But this young man that I enquire after had a dark frock, with metal buttons, light-brown hair unpowdered, blue eyes, and a straight nose, travelled on foot, had no servant or baggage—you surely can remember having seen such a traveller?"
"Indeed, sir, I canna charge my memory about the matter—there's mair to do in a house like this, I trow, than to look after passengers' hair, or their e'en, or noses, either."
"Then, Mrs Mac-Candlish; I must tell you in plain terms, that this person is suspected of having been guilty of a crime, and it is in consequence of these suspicions that I, as a magistrate, require this information from you,—and if you refuse to answer my questions, I must put you upon your oath."
"Troth, sir, I am no free to swear—we aye gaed to the Antiburgher meeting—it's very true, in Baillie Mac-Candlish's time, (honest man) we keepit the kirk, whilk was most seemly in his station, as having office—but after his being called to a better place than Kippletringan, I hae gaenback to worthy Maister Mac-Grainer. And so ye see, sir, I am no clear to swear without speaking to the minister—especially against ony sackless puir young thing that's ganging through the country stranger and freendless like."
"I shall relieve your scruples, perhaps, without troubling Mr Mac-Grainer, when I tell you that this fellow whom I enquire after is the man who shot your young friend Charles Hazlewood."
"Gudeness! wha could hae thought the like o' that o' him?—na, if it had been for debt, or e'en for a bit tuilzie wi' the ganger, the deil o' Nelly Mac-Candlish's tongue suld ever hae wranged him. But if he really shot young Hazlewood—But I canna think it, Mr Glossin; this will be some o' your skits now—I canna think it o' sae douce a lad;—na, na, this is just some o' your auld skits.–Ye'll be for having a horning or a caption after him?"
"I see you have no confidence in me, Mrs Mac-Candlish; but look at these declarations, signed by the persons who saw the crime committed, and judge yourself if the description of the ruffian be not that of your guest."
He put the papers into her hand, which she perused very carefully, often taking off her spectacles to cast her eyes up to Heaven, or perhaps to wipe a tear from them, for young Hazlewood was an especial favourite with the good dame. "Aweel, aweel," said she, when she had concluded her examination, "once it's e'en sae, I gie him up, the villain—But O, we are erring mortals!—I never saw a face I liked better, or a lad that was mair douce and canny—I thought he had been some gentleman under trouble.—But I gie him up, the villain!—to shoot Charles Hazlewood—and before the young ladies, poor innocent things!—I gie him up."
"So you admit, then, that such a person lodged here the night before this vile business."
"Troth did he, sir, and a' the house were ta'en wi' him, he was such a frank pleasant young man. It was na for his spending I'm sure, for he just had a mutton-chop, and a mug of ale, and may be a glass or twa o' wine—and I asked him to drink tea wi' mysell, and did na put that into the bill; and he took nae supper, for he said he was defeat wi' travel a' the night afore—I dare say now it had been on some hellicat errand or other."
"Did you by any chance learn his name?"
"I wot weel did I—for he said it was likely that an auld woman like a gypsy wife might be asking for him—Aye, aye! tell me your company, and I'll tell you wha ye are! O the villain!—Aweel, sir, when he gaed away in the morning he paid his bill very honestly, and gae something to the chamber-maid, nae doubt, for Grizy has naething frae me, bye twa pair o' new shoon ilka year, and may be a bit compliment at Hansel Monanday———" Here Glossin found it necessary to interfere, and bring the good woman back to the point.
"Ou than, he just said, if there comes such a person to enquire after Mr Brown, you will say I am gone to look at the skaters on Loch Creeran, as you call it, and I will be back here to dinner—But he never came back—though I expected him sae faithfully, that I gae a look to making the friar's chicken mysell, and to the crappit-heads too, and that's what I dinna do for ordinary, Mr Glossin—But little did I think what skating wark he was ganging about—to shoot Mr Charles, the innocent lamb!"
Mr Glossin, having, like a prudent examinator, suffered his witness to give vent to all her surprise and indignation, now began to enquire whether the suspected person had left any property or papers about the inn.
"Troth, he put a parcel—a sma' parcel under my charge, and he gave me some siller, and desired me to get him half-a-dozen ruffled sarks, and Peg Pasley's in hands wi' them een now—they may serve him to gang up the Lawn-market in, the scoundrel!" Mr Glossin then demanded to see the packet, but here mine hostess demurred.
"She didna ken—she wad not say but justice should take its course—but when a' thing was trusted to ane in her way, doubtless they were responsible—but she suld cry in Deacon Bearcliff, and if Mr Glossin liked to tak an inventar o' the property, and gie her a receipt before the Deacon—or, what she wad like muckle better, an it could be sealed up and left in Deacon Bearcliff's hands, it wad mak her mind easy—She was for naething but justice on a' sides."
Mrs Mac-Candlish's natural sagacity and acquired suspicion being inflexible, Giossin sent for Deacon Bearcliff, to speak "anent the villain that had shot Mr Charles Hazlewood." The Deacon accordingly made his appearance, with his wig awry, owing to the hurry with which, at this summons of the Justice, he had exchanged it for the Kilmarnock-cap in which he usually attended his customers. Mrs Mac-Candlish then produced the parcel deposited with her by Brown, in which was found the gypsy's purse. Upon perceiving the value of the miscellaneous contents, Mrs Mac- Candlish internally congratulated herself upon the precautions she had taken before delivering them up to Glossin, while he, with an appearance of disinterested candour, was the first to propose they should be properly inventoried and deposited with Deacon Bearcliff, until they should be sent to the Crown office. "He did not," he observed, "like to be personally responsible for articles which seemed of considerable value, and had doubtless been acquired by the most nefarious practices."
He then examined the paper in which the purse had been wrapt up. It was the back of a letter addressed to V. Brown, Esquire, but the rest of the address was torn away. The landlady,—now as eager to throw light upon the criminal's escape as she had formerly been desirous of withholding it,—for the miscellaneous contents of the purse argued strongly to her mind that all was not right—Mrs Mac-Candlish, I say, now gave Giossin to understand, that her postillion and ostler had both seen the stranger upon the ice that day when young Hazlewood was wounded.
Our readers' old acquaintance, Jock Jabos, was first summoned, and admitted frankly, that he had seen and conversed upon the ice that morning with a stranger, who, he understood, had lodged at the Gordon Arms the night before.
"What turn did your conversation take?" said Glossin.
"Turn?—ou, we turned nae gate at a', but just keepit straight forward upon the ice like."
"Well, but what did ye speak about?"
"Ou, he just asked questions like ony ither stranger."—
"But about what?"
"Ou, just about the folk that was playing at the curling, and about auld Jock Stevenson that was at the cock, and about the leddies, and sic like."
"What ladies? and what did he ask about them, Jock?"
"What leddies? ou it was Miss Jowlia Mannering and Miss Lucy Bertram, that ye ken fu' weel yoursell, Mr Glossin—they were walking wi' the young Laird of Hazlewood upon the ice?"
"And what did you tell him about them?"
"Tut, we just said that was Miss Lucy Bertram of Ellangowan, that should ance have had a great estate in the country—and that was Miss Jowlia Mannering, that was to be married to young Hazlewood— See as she was hinging on his arm—we just spoke about our country clashes like—he was a very frank man."
"Well, and what did he say in answer?"
"Ou, he just stared at the young leddies very keen like, and asked if it was for certain that the marriage was to be between Miss Mannering and young Hazlewood—and I answered him that it was for positive and absolute certain, as I had an undoubted right to say sae—for my third cousin, Jean Claverse, (she's a relation o' your ain, Mr Glossin, you wad ken Jean lang syne?) she's sib to the housekeeper at Woodbourne, and she's tauld me mair nor ance that there was naething mair likely."
"And what did the stranger say when you told him all this?"
"Say? naething at a—he just stared at them as they walked round the loch upon the ice, as if he could have eaten them, and he never took his e'e aff them or said another word, though there was the finest fun amang the curlers ever was seen—and he turned round and gaed aff the loch by the kirk stile through Woodbourne fir-plantings, and we saw nae mair o' him."
"Only think," said Mrs Mac-Candlish, "what a hard heart he maun hae had, to think o' hurting the poor young gentleman before the leddy he was to be married to!"
"O, Mrs Mac-Candlish," said Glossin, "there's been many cases such as that on the record—doubtless he was seeking revenge where it would be deepest and sweetest."
"God pity us!" said Deacon Bearcliff, "we're puir creatures when left to oursells!—aye, he forgot wha said, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it."
"Weel, aweel, sirs," said Jabos, whose hard-headed and uncultivated shrewdness seemed sometimes to start the game when others beat the bush—"Weel, weel, ye may be a' mista'en yet—I'll never believe that a man would lay a plan to shoot another wi' his ain gun. Lord help ye, I was the keeper's assistant down at the Isle mysell, and I'll uphad it, the biggest man in Scotland shouldna take a gun frae me or I had weized the slugs through him, though I'm but sic a little feckless body, fit for naething but the outside o' a saddle and the fore-end o' a poschay—na, na, nae living man wad venture on that. I'll wad my best buckskins, and they were new coft at Kirkcudbright fair, it's been a chance job after a'. But if ye hae naething mair to say to me, I am thinking I maun gang and see my beasts fed"—and he departed accordingly.
The ostler, who had accompanied him, gave evidence to the same purpose. He and Mrs Mac-Candlish were then re-interrogated, whether Brown had no arms with him on that unhappy morning. "None," they said, "but an ordinary bit cutlass or hanger by his side."
"Now," said the Deacon, taking Glossin by the button, (for, in considering this intricate subject, he had forgot Glossin's new accession of rank)—"this is but doubtfu' after a', Maister Gilbert—for it was not sae dooms likely that he would go down into battle wi' sick sma' means."
Glossin extricated himself from the Deacon's grasp, and from the discussion, though not with rudeness; for it was his present interest to buy golden opinions from all sorts of people. He enquired the price of tea and sugar, and spoke of providing himself for the year; he gave Mrs Mac-Candlish directions to have a handsome entertainment in readiness for a party of five friends, whom he intended to invite to dine with him at the Gordon-Arms next Saturday week; and, lastly, he gave a half-crown to Jock Jabos, whom the ostler had deputed to hold his steed.
"Weel," said the Deacon to Mrs Mac-Candlish, as he accepted her offer of a glass of bitters at the bar, "the deil's no sae ill as he's ca'd. It's pleasant to see a gentleman pay the regard to the business o' the county that Mr Glossin does."
"Aye, 'deed is't, Deacon," answered the landlady; "and yet I wonder our gentry leave their ain wark to the like o' him.—But as lang as siller's current, Deacon, folk manna look ower nicely at what king's head's on't."
"I doubt Glossin will prove but shand after a', mistress," said Jabos, as he passed through the little lobby beside the bar; "but this is a gude half-crown ony way."