``Your lordship will find many more capable to advise you, my lord, and by whom your intercourse will be deemed an honour.For me, I am a man retired from business and the world, and not very fond of raking up the past events of my useless life;--and forgive me if I say, I have particular pain in reverting to that period of it when I acted like a fool, and your lordship like''-- He stopped short.
``Like a villain, you would say,'' said Lord Glenallan--``for such I must have appeared to you.''
``My lord--my lord, I have no desire to hear your shrift,''
said the Antiquary.
``But, sir, if I can show you that I am more sinned against than sinning--that I have been a man miserable beyond the power of description, and who looks forward at this moment to an untimely grave as to a haven of rest, you will not refuse the confidence which, accepting your appearance at this critical moment as a hint from Heaven, I venture thus to press on you.''
``Assuredly, my lord, I shall shun no longer the continuation of this extraordinary interview.''
``I must then recall to you our occasional meetings upwards of twenty years since at Knockwinnock Castle,--and I need not remind you of a lady who was then a member of that family.''
``The unfortunate Miss Eveline Neville, my lord; I remember it well.''
``Towards whom you entertained sentiments''--``Very different from those with which I before and since have regarded her sex.Her gentleness, her docility, her pleasure in the studies which I pointed out to her, attached my affections more than became my age though that was not then much advanced--or the solidity of my character.But I need not remind your lordship of the various modes in which you indulged your gaiety at the expense of an awkward and retired student, embarrassed by the expression of feelings so new to him, and I have no doubt that the young lady joined you in the well-deserved ridicule--it is the way of womankind.I have spoken at once to the painful circumstances of my addresses and their rejection, that your lordship may be satisfied everything is full in my memory, and may, so far as I am concerned, tell your story without scruple or needless delicacy.''
``I will,'' said Lord Glenallan.``But first let me say, you do injustice to the memory of the gentlest and kindest, as well as to the most unhappy of women, to suppose she could make a jest of the honest affection of a man like you.Frequently did she blame me, Mr.Oldbuck, for indulging my levity at your expense--may I now presume you will excuse the gay freedoms which then offended you?--my state of mind has never since laid me under the necessity of apologizing for the inadvertencies of a light and happy temper.''
``My lord, you are fully pardoned,'' said Mr.Oldbuck.``You should be aware, that, like all others, I was ignorant at the time that I placed myself in competition with your lordship, and understood that Miss Neville was in a state of dependence which might make her prefer a competent independence and the hand of an honest man--But I am wasting time--I would I could believe that the views entertained towards her by others were as fair and honest as mine!''
``Mr.Oldbuck, you judge harshly.''
``Not without cause, my lord.When I only, of all the magistrates of this county--having neither, like some of them, the honour to be connected with your powerful family--nor, like others, the meanness to fear it,--when I made some inquiry into the manner of Miss Neville's death--I shake you, my lord, but I must be plain--I do own I had every reason to believe that she had met most unfair dealing, and had either been imposed upon by a counterfeit marriage, or that very strong measures had been adopted to stifle and destroy the evidence of a real union.
And I cannot doubt in my own mind, that this cruelty on your lordship's part, whether coming of your own free will, or proceeding from the influence of the late Countess, hurried the unfortunate young lady to the desperate act by which her life was terminated.''
``You are deceived, Mr.Oldbuck, into conclusions which are not just, however naturally they flow from the circumstances.
Believe me, I respected you even when I was most embarrassed by your active attempts to investigate our family misfortunes.
You showed yourself more worthy of Miss Neville than I, by the spirit with which you persisted in vindicating her reputation even after her death.But the firm belief that your well-meant efforts could only serve to bring to light a story too horrible to be detailed, induced me to join my unhappy mother in schemes to remove or destroy all evidence of the legal union which had taken place between Eveline and myself.And now let us sit down on this bank,--for I feel unable to remain longer standing, --and have the goodness to listen to the extraordinary discovery which I have this day made.''
They sate down accordingly; and Lord Glenallan briefly narrated his unhappy family history--his concealed marriage--the horrible invention by which his mother had designed to render impossible that union which had already taken place.He detailed the arts by which the Countess, having all the documents relative to Miss Neville's birth in her hands, had produced those only relating to a period during which, for family reasons, his father had consented to own that young lady as his natural daughter, and showed how impossible it was that he could either suspect or detect the fraud put upon him by his mother, and vouched by the oaths of her attendants, Teresa and Elspeth.