The Pirate
satisfied that the reports instilled into his ears by the Jagger,
zealous to augment his favour towards his more profitable customer
Cleveland, by diminishing that of Mertoun, were without foundation. They
had, indeed, been confirmed by the good Lady Glowrowrum, and by common
fame, both of whom were pleased to represent Mordaunt Mertoun as an
arrogant pretender to the favour of the sisters of Burgh-Westra, who
only hesitated, sultan-like, on whom he should bestow the handkerchief.
But common fame, Magnus considered, was a common liar, and he was
sometimes disposed (where scandal was concerned) to regard the good Lady
Glowrowrum as rather an uncommon specimen of the same genus. He
therefore received Mordaunt once more into full favour, listened with
much surprise to the claim which Norna laid to the young man's duty, and
with no less interest to her intention of surrendering to him the
considerable property which she had inherited from her father. Nay, it
is even probable that, though he gave no immediate answer to her hints
concerning an union betwixt his eldest daughter and her heir, he might
think such an alliance recommended, as well by the young man's personal
merits, as by the chance it gave of reuniting the very large estate
which had been divided betwixt his own father and that of Norna. At all
events, the Udaller received his young friend with much kindness, and he
and the proprietor of the mansion joined in intrusting to him, as the
youngest and most active of the party, the charge of commanding the
night-watch, and relieving the sentinels around the House of Stennis.
CHAPTER XX.
Of an outlawe, this is the lawe--
That men him take and bind,
Without pitie hang'd to be,
And waive with the wind.
_The Ballad of the Nut Brown Maid._
Mordaunt had caused the sentinels who had been on duty since midnight to
be relieved ere the peep of day, and having given directions that the
guard should be again changed at sunrise, he had retired to a small
parlour, and, placing his arms beside him, was slumbering in an
easy-chair, when he felt himself pulled by the watch-cloak in which he
was enveloped.
"Is it sunrise," said he, "already?" as, starting up, he discovered the
first beams lying level upon the horizon.
"Mordaunt!" said a voice, every note of which thrilled to his heart.
He turned his eyes on the speaker, and Brenda Troil, to his joyful
astonishment, stood before him. As he was about to address her eagerly,
he was checked by observing the signs of sorrow and discomposure in her
pale cheeks, trembling lips, and brimful eyes.
"Mordaunt," she said, "you must do Minna and me a favour--you must allow
us to leave the house quietly, and without alarming any one, in order to
go as far as the Standing Stones of Stennis."
"What freak can this be, dearest Brenda?" said Mordaunt, much amazed at
the request--"some Orcadian observance of superstition, perhaps; but the
time is too dangerous, and my charge from your father too strict, that I
should permit you to pass without his consent. Consider, dearest Brenda,
I am a soldier on duty, and must obey orders."
"Mordaunt," said Brenda, "this is no jesting matter--Minna's reason,
nay, Minna's life, depends on your giving us this permission."
"And for what purpose?" said Mordaunt; "let me at least know that."
"For a wild and a desperate purpose," replied Brenda--"It is that she
may meet Cleveland."
"Cleveland!" said Mordaunt--"Should the villain come ashore, he shall be
welcomed with a shower of rifle-balls. Let me within a hundred yards of
him," he added, grasping his piece, "and all the mischief he has done me
shall be balanced with an ounce bullet!"
"His death will drive Minna frantic," said Brenda; "and him who injures
Minna, Brenda will never again look upon."
"This is madness--raving madness!" said Mordaunt--"Consider your
honour--consider your duty."
"I can consider nothing but Minna's danger," said Brenda, breaking into
a flood of tears; "her former illness was nothing to the state she has
been in all night. She holds in her hand his letter, written in
characters of fire, rather than of ink, imploring her to see him, for a
last farewell, as she would save a mortal body, and an immortal soul;
pledging himself for her safety; and declaring no power shall force him
from the coast till he has seen her.--You _must_ let us pass."
"It is impossible!" replied Mordaunt, in great perplexity--"This ruffian
has imprecations enough, doubtless, at his fingers' ends--but what
better pledge has he to offer?--I cannot permit Minna to go."
"I suppose," said Brenda, somewhat reproachfully, while she dried her
tears, yet still continued sobbing, "that there is something in what
Norna spoke of betwixt Minna and you; and that you are too jealous of
this poor wretch, to allow him even to speak with her an instant before
his departure."
"You are unjust," said Mordaunt, hurt, and yet somewhat flattered by her
suspicions,--"you are as unjust as you are imprudent. You know--you
cannot but know--that Minna is chiefly dear to me as _your_ sister. Tell
me, Brenda--and tell me truly--if I aid you in this folly, have you no
suspicion of the Pirate's faith!"
"No, none," said Brenda; "if I had any, do you think I would urge you
thus? He is wild and unhappy, but I think we may in this trust him."
"Is the appointed place the Standing Stones, and the time daybreak?"
again demanded Mordaunt.
"It is, and the time is come," said Brenda,--"for Heaven's sake let us
depart!"
"I will myself," said Mordaunt, "relieve the sentinel at the front door
for a few minutes, and suffer you to pass.--You will not protract this
interview, so full of danger?"
"We will not," said Brenda; "and you, on your part, will not avail
yourself of this unhappy man's venturing hither, to harm or to seize
him?"
"Rely on my honour," said Mordaunt--"He shall have no harm, unless he
offers any."
"Then I go to call my sister," said Brenda, and quickly left the
apartment.
Mordaunt considered the matter for an instant, and then going to the
sentinel at the front door, he desired him to run instantly to the
main-guard, and order the whole to turn out with their arms--to see the
order obeyed, and to return when they were in readiness. Meantime, he
himself, he said, would remain upon the post.
During the interval of the sentinel's absence, the front door was slowly
opened, and Minna and Brenda appeared, muffled in their mantles. The
former leaned on her sister, and kept her face bent on the ground, as
one who felt ashamed of the step she was about to take. Brenda also
passed her lover in silence, but threw back upon him a look of gratitude
and affection, which doubled, if possible, his anxiety for their safety.
The sisters, in the meanwhile, passed out of sight of the house; when
Minna, whose step, till that time, had been faint and feeble, began to
erect her person, and to walk with a pace so firm and so swift, that
Brenda, who had some difficulty to keep up with her, could not forbear
remonstrating on the imprudence of hurrying her spirits, and exhausting
her force, by such unnecessary haste.
"Fear not, my dearest sister," said Minna; "the spirit which I now feel
will, and must, sustain me through the dreadful interview. I could not
but move with a drooping head, and dejected pace, while I was in view of
one who must necessarily deem me deserving of his pity, or his scorn.
But you know, my dearest Brenda, and Mordaunt shall also know, that the
love I bore to that unhappy man, was as pure as the rays of that sun,
that is now reflected on the waves. And I dare attest that glorious sun,
and yonder blue heaven, to bear me witness, that, but to urge him to
change his unhappy course of life, I had not, for all the temptations
this round world holds, ever consented to see him more."
As she spoke thus, in a tone which afforded much confidence to Brenda,
the sisters attained the summit of a rising ground, whence they
commanded a full view of the Orcadian Stonehenge, consisting of a huge
circle and semicircle of the Standing Stones, as they are called, which
already glimmered a greyish white in the rising sun, and projected far
to the westward their long gigantic shadows. At another time, the scene
would have operated powerfully on the imaginative mind of Minna, and
interested the curiosity at least of her less sensitive sister. But, at
this moment, neither was at leisure to receive the impressions which
this stupendous monument of antiquity is so well calculated to impress
on the feelings of those who behold it; for they saw, in the lower lake,
beneath what is termed the Bridge of Broisgar, a boat well manned and
armed, which had disembarked one of its crew, who advanced alone, and
wrapped in a naval cloak, towards that monumental circle which they
themselves were about to reach from another quarter.
"They are many, and they are armed," said the startled Brenda, in a
whisper to her sister.
"It is for precaution's sake," answered Minna, "which, alas, their
condition renders but too necessary. Fear no treachery from him--that,
at least, is not his vice."
As she spoke, or shortly afterwards, she attained the centre of the
circle, on which, in the midst of the tall erect pillars of rude stone
that are raised around, lies one flat and prostrate, supported by short
stone pillars, of which some relics are still visible, that had once
served, perhaps, the purpose of an altar.
"Here," she said, "in heathen times (if we may believe legends, which
have cost me but too dear) our ancestors offered sacrifices to heathen
deities--and here will I, from my soul, renounce, abjure, and offer up
to a better and a more merciful God than was known to them, the vain
ideas with which my youthful imagination has been seduced."
She stood by the prostrate table of stone, and saw Cleveland advance
towards her, with a timid pace, and a downcast look, as different from
his usual character and bearing, as Minna's high air and lofty
demeanour, and calm contemplative posture, were distant from those of
the love-lorn and broken-hearted maiden, whose weight had almost borne
down the support of her sister as she left the House of Stennis. If the
belief of those is true, who assign these singular monuments exclusively
to the Druids, Minna might have seemed the Haxa, or high priestess of
the order, from whom some champion of the tribe expected inauguration.
Or, if we hold the circles of Gothic and Scandinavian origin, she might
have seemed a descended Vision of Freya, the spouse of the Thundering
Deity, before whom some bold Sea-King or champion bent with an awe,
which no mere mortal terror could have inflicted upon him. Brenda,
overwhelmed with inexpressible fear and doubt, remained a pace or two
behind, anxiously observing the motions of Cleveland, and attending to
nothing around, save to him and to her sister.
Cleveland approached within two yards of Minna, and bent his head to the
ground. There was a dead pause, until Minna said, in a firm but
melancholy tone, "Unhappy man, why didst thou seek this aggravation of
our woe? Depart in peace, and may Heaven direct thee to a better course
than that which thy life has yet held!"
"Heaven will not aid me," said Cleveland, "excepting by your voice. I
came hither rude and wild, scarce knowing that my trade, my desperate
trade, was more criminal in the sight of man or of Heaven, than that of
those privateers whom your law acknowledges. I was bred in it, and, but
for the wishes you have encouraged me to form, I should have perhaps
died in it, desperate and impenitent. O, do not throw me from you! let
me do something to redeem what I have done amiss, and do not leave your
own work half-finished!"