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TO CORRESPONDENTS.

All communications relating to Literary and Business matters should be addressed to the Editor, Mr. NICHOLAS DICKSON, 19 Waverley Gardens, Crossmyloof, Glasgow.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. THE BORDER MAGAZINE will be sent post free to any part of the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and all Countries included in the Postal Union, for one year, 45.

The author has generously given way

The monthly instalment of “The Quarry Master" is held over. to make room for several contributions that have been patiently waiting their turn. Many more of these, however, are yet to follow but the Editor hopes to bring them all up ere long.

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1896.

LIST OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

ANDREW LANG, M.A., LL.D. By WALTER O. HARDEN. (Portrait and Illustrations),
BORDER BATTLES AND BATTLEFIELDS. OTTERBURN (Continued). By JAMES ROBSON. (Illustration), 84
ROBERT MATHISON, A BORDER NATURALIST. By Rev. GEORGE TAIT. (Portrait),

81

87

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CHAP. II.

'RS. JEFFREY'S entrance diverted the discourse to material things. In that good woman's view of life, no ills, short of death itself, were recognized, which could not be cured, or at least very much alleviated, by one of two remedies-nourishment and repose. If the patient were able to "take" anything, so much the better. If that was impossible, let him at least lie down.

The less complex the philosophy, the less speculation impedes action, and consequentlyshort as the time had been-the excellent housewife had already "made down" a bed, and set something on the fire to cook. She now took the unknown lady under her charge, conducting her to a chamber which had been prepared for her reception upstairs. Meantime the landlord had returned; and when he had given Lawson a glass from the bottle which he brought with him, dwelling as he did so on its high quality, they also left the parlour and adjourned to the kitchen.

By this time that fairly capacious apartment was well filled, and as Lawson glanced round him it presented a scene which was not lacking in elements of the picturesque. A red fire without flame glowed on the hearth, its radiance conflicting with the gathering shades of night, and with the smoke from pipes, and steam from glasses, which burdened the air or floated upwards towards the darkness of the rafters overhead, whence the hams and sides of bacon hung down. In this warm light, each man in the attitude which pleased him best, sat the occupants of the high-backed settees which flanked the fireplace, presenting in themselves a sufficiently motley and particoloured group, whilst their countenances afforded a rich study in rustic physiognomy. Conspicuous among them was Old Francis, the postilion, who sat with his feet drawn back under him, his body inclined forward, his hands hoarding his mug,-silent except when spoken to, and looking the very ideal of a toper of the lean and melancholy class. Next to him came a group of shepherds in their plaids and bonnets

of blue, their tongues now beginning to move more freely, the earnestness of their faces to relax, before the influence of warmth, wine, and fellowship. Noticeable also was the lithe figure and animal (but not brutal) feature of the lawless Torchlight Tam; next to whom, in unconventional garb, sat his congener, "Pouchie ". -SO called from his large coat-pockets, generally torn at the edges through having rabbits thrust in them, with other irregular characters, who made a living chiefly by poaching. Several shepherds' dogs lay curled at their masters' feet, looking as wise as if they tolerated, yet forbore to take part in, this human scene. In front of each man was a glass; and, to supply the feminine element indispensable to the perfection of all interiors, not far from the smiling face and red waistcoat of the ostler Ritchie, stood the bonnie maid, Mar'an, a country lassie just imported from some particularly outlandish hill-farm, who performed her duties as waitress in happy-golucky wise, as directed by the blessed light of nature, and when not going to and fro stood listening to the discourse and occasionally putting in a word; and whom-whatever the mistakes she might make, and they were neither few nor small-no man in that company was churl enough to blame, for her kind artless nature. I need scarcely add that this cosy scene lost nothing from contrast with the wintry landscape without.

The entrance of Lawson and the landlord gave a stimulus to conversation. The accident to the coach was still uppermost in the minds of the company, most of whom had witnessed the stopping of the horses; and although as a matter of fact nothing very particular had happened, they easily made up for that by dwelling on all the various things which might have resulted from it, and taking their cue from Ritchie, were inclined to raise the open-handed sailor to the position of hero of the hour. This honour he laughingly disclaimed, but at the same time with easy good-nature applied himself to the diversion of his chance-met acquaintances, so that if they had already had evidence of his presence of mind in an emergency, they now saw a specimen of his convivial talents.

He had before this informed the landlord that he wished the company to drink at his expense, and the bottle now circulated freely; but his entertainment did not finish there. Circumstances no doubt were in his favour, yet wonderfully short was the time it took him to establish relations with almost every one present -the postilion being perhaps the only one who remained obdurate to his cheery influence. And to each one in turn he talked as suited that one

best, to the serious-minded shepherds as a man of sense to men of sense, to the landlord genially as to a man of substance, to Pouchie as to an equal, to Ritchie rallyingly, gallantly to Mar'an, and to the butt of the assemblagewhom his quick eye soon discovered-so as to raise a laugh at his expense, but such a laugh as the butt himself could lead. In less than halfan-hour every man felt comfortable in body and happy at heart.

By this time the gathering dusk had poured into the room, so that the forms and figures of the carousers were almost obscured. The ostler had drawn close to Mar'an, but she suddenly flounced away from him uttering a half suppressed exclamation, the cause of which was unexplained. Then the door opened, and the landlady entering cried out that they were sitting in the dark, and marvelling over her maid's thoughtlessness, carried her off to bring light. A lamp was introduced, and the buxom Mrs. Jeffrey lingered to communicate news of her patient upstairs. She told them that the lady had declined food, but had lain down to rest, desiring not to be disturbed. Some time afterwards, Mrs. Jeffrey had returned to listen at the door, to learn if she were asleep. But instead of the gentle regular breathing of peaceful slumber, she had heard from time to time heavy sighs.

"She has a weight on her mind poor body, I'm afraid."

Then enquiries were put to Francis as to the traveller's identity. But he either could or would tell nothing. She was unknown at the starting-place, he said, and the way-bill merely revealed her name as Mrs. Allonby."

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"Allonby, Allonby," repeated the landlord, who knew all the county families thereabout. "She must belong to Cumberland, or beyond it. The name is English, and there's none o' the quality bears it this side the Border. But what can be the errand which brings her travelling this lone road, alone, and at this season of the year?

"

Various surmises were hazarded by way of reply, but the remark which seemed to meet wtth most general acceptance was the vague one, it's a mystery. Then the landlady went about her business again, and time in the kitchen slipped by as before. Only that as the minutes passed, they marked a progression in the feelings of the company. Men whose daily lives were as austere as irony, or as the moorlands of their native land, whose epidermis was scarce sensitive, who knew pleasure only in its simplest forms and had never dreamed of it as an object of deliberate pursuit, yielded themselves more

and more to the gracious influences of the hour. The frozen springs of cordiality within them thawed and flowed freely, and the gift of tongues descended. Then roused up the grotesque and grinning Momus of the soil, and began to shake his bells, to caper and to tumble, and to indulge quaint antics manifold. The sly allusion, the droll story-crusted with age, as if a jest were like fine wine and improved with keeping-the sample of indigenous humour, and the zany quip, all had their turns. So, as by magic, did John Barleycorn fuse together into one glowing whole these isolated fragments of humanity, each of whom on six days out of the seven had tastes, antecedents, prejudices, interests of his own, which at once repelled the others, and led him instinctively to keep them at arm's length. And so, for an hour at least, they became brothers, not by a mere fiction of the jurist only, but in very fact as well!

Reader, I am sure you are far too respectable a person to know that the ale-house has its successes, no less than the fashionable salon or the polished dinner-party. But you will not claim that a fact is less a fact because it has escaped your individual observation; and a fact it is that these successes exist, and perhaps to him who wins them they are quite as delicate in flavour and as heady in quality as the others. During all this time, John Lawson had reigned supreme over the surging tumult of conviviality -the life and soul of the party. A sorry ruling possibly; but we know that some exist whose preference it is to rule in hell.

And now high spirits had reached their apogee. The stream of the conversation was divided, so that whilst the landlord discoursed profound sense to those immediately around him, enforcing it with gestures of his lifted hand, the ostler silently drew attention to a practical joke which he designed to play off on the now somnolent Francis. At the same time a shy shepherd spoke with delicacy and pathos of a matter which lay very near his heart, and the voice of old Pouchie-hoarse with years of exposure to river-damps —was raised in grotesque melody, that craved no audience.

"Oh! the oak, and the ash, and the bonny ivy tree, They flourish at home in the North Countree." And now, like a host who sees that he has successfully set the ball rolling, Lawson sat silent and took no further part in the proceedings.

If such happy times might last! So one wishes whilst under their influence, but perhaps it is a good thing they don't. The best was already over, and there were some in that assemblage whom the voice of duty now called elsewhere. Nor were they the sort of men on whom duty calls in vain.

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Hearing this, the other shepherds caught the alarm, sprang to their feet, and hastily made their preparations for departure. It was certainly by no means too soon, if any of them had flocks out in the snow requiring their care. But, to judge by their remarks as they passed out into the cold and along the road before separating, for once in a way these prudent men had allowed themselves to be a little overtaken-the blame of which occurrence they agreed in attributing to that "droll fallow," the stranger.

The abrupt departure of the shepherds was the beginning of the break-up of the party, who now began to drop off one by one. The ostler withdrew to see what progress was being made with the repairs to the coach, and the poachers took advantage of a pause in the snowfall to get home. Old Francis was indeed more difficult to move. Having settled in his own mind that he would have to spend the night at the inn, he had lengthened lengthened the tether of his self-indulgence accordingly, and was now fast approaching the point where, as metaphysicians declare, extremes meet and pleasure becomes merged in pain. little more, and Mar'an's arm was required to support him from the room.

A

At last, of all the company, Lawson was the only one left. Either yielding to the inertia of the moment, or more probably having changed his plans in consequence of the snowstorm, he seemed to have made up his mind to remain where he was for the night. Meantime the inn had lapsed into silence, broken only by an occasional noise of carpenter's tools which came from the coach-house, where by the light of a lantern the wheelwright worked upon the coach. Presently that ceased too. In such out-of-theway places bed-time in winter arrives early. So it was not very long before the landlord passed through the kitchen again, on his way to lock up for the night. After he had exchanged a few remarks with his guest, he proposed to conduct him to a bed. But this Lawson declared was unnecessary, alleging that as he intended to start on his journey at a very early hour next morning, he preferred to spend the night, wrapped in his dreadnought, on the settee by the kitchen fire. The arrangement was irregular, but by this time he had so thoroughly gained the landlord's confidence that the latter offered no objection to it.

Then Lawson paid what was owing, remarking that he would probably be gone the next morning before his host was stirring, and Jeffrey having shown him how to unfasten the front door, took leave of him. "You will be passing this way again some time or other, I hope?"

"I fear it's scarce likely."

"Well, then I must wish you goodnight, goodbye, and a safe and pleasant journey!"

And with that the jolly landlord took his candle and withdrew.

Left by himself, Lawson resumed his seat at the table, and rested his head upon his hand. A reaction in his feelings had set in. His countenance, but an hour or two before so bright and mobile, became rigid; his brows were contracted, as if in thought. A sense of solitariness after good company stole over him. And as he sat on motionless, as if regardless of the hour, insensibly the very surroundings seemed to participate in his mood. The silence of the house grew deeper, the lamp burned low, and the neglected fire languished. The depression of night made itself felt.

He had been seated thus, lost in meditation, for a long time, when all at once a loud noise broke the stillness of the night. As it smote upon his ear, the young man started violently, almost as if in actual terror. Now the sound was nothing more or less than that of a loud knocking at the inn door; but coming as it did, abruptly, out of the silence of the snow-muffled world, it had somehow startled him strangely. That was not all. It happened that the door of communication with the outside world opened directly upon the kitchen, so that the knocks vibrated through the interior. And as they did so they jarred upon the occupant already unnerved as he was-until it almost seemed as if they were blows falling on his own person from the hand of an enemy.

As the knocking continued, he rose to his feet, took the dim lamp in his land, and crossed the room to the threshold. There he hesitated. The peat fire was dying on the hearth, the room was wrapped in shadow. We have shown that in the face of danger plainly seen Lawson was not a coward; but now an ill-defined sensation, which was certainly akin to fear, held him back from opening the door. On the other side of it, in some shape or other, stood the unknown awaiting admission; and an instinct, premonition, or foreboding-call it what you will-made him reluctant to remove the single slight barrier and face the reality.

Whilst he stood undecided, the knocking was repeated; and this time it roused him from the confused feelings and fancies to which he had fallen a prey.

"Have patience, can't you?" he muttered irritably; and then, taking down the bar, set the door open.

In the snow-world without, stood a young man, wearing a tall hat, a benjamin or long overcoat, and top-boots. Snow lay on the shoulders of his coat and on the brim of his hat, and in his hand he bore a carriage lamp.

"You know how to make yourself heard, anyway," growled Lawson, as the door opened.

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Forgive me!" returned the new comer, the trained urbanity of whose manner made itself felt notwithstanding the agitation under which he manifestly laboured. "It is a case of emergency-of life and death, I may almost say." "How is that?"

"The travelling-carriage of Lord Beltrees is stuck in a snowdrift on the road. His lordship suffers from a dangerous affection of the heart, and fatigue and exposure are the very worst things for him. I have come on here to procure assistance to extricate him, and the sooner it can be done the better."

"Well, come inside for a moment, whilst I rouse the house."

"Be as quick as you can then-there's an excellent fellow!"

With these words, the new arrival stept within doors, stamping the snow from his boots as he did so. During the parley Lawson had trimmed his lamp, and the two young men now confronted each other in the light it gave. The result was most striking. Allowing for certain differences of dress, which were less noticeable than might have been suspected, it was exactly as if a man confronted his reflection in a mirror.

But the effect was lost for lack of a spectator. I suppose that it remains an open question whether any man would recognise his double if he chanced to meet him in the street. On this occasion the thoughts of the two young men were preoccupied, and neither of them took the least notice of the resemblance. And, indeed, as all likenesses between individuals are inconstant, it was only at certain times and in certain aspects that that resemblance asserted itself. Perhaps it was at its strongest in moments of quiescence; when the young men moved and spoke it became uncertain, and at times seemed altogether lost. Then again, after the first moment or two, it became evident that side by side with the strong likeness there existed great differences between the two personalities. Lawson's frame was the more vigorous; his countenance was bolder, more open in expression, and more determined than the other's. And again it was apparent that the two men had lived in widely different spheres, and in short that if the natural or funda

mental element in each was in some respects identical, the superstructures reared thereon by circumstance or accident were different.

By this time a sound of slip-shod progression over the flagstones of the passage was heard, and the next moment the landlord made his appearance, his portly form being clothed in white, and his head covered by a nightcap. He carried a lighted candle in his hand; and, in the confusion of his sudden waking out of sleep, looked the ideal of a ghost-seer.

Being briefly put in possession of the facts, he became so excited as nearly to let fall his candlestick.

"Lord Beltrees!" he exclaimed "Then at last his lordship has returned?" The name, it must be explained, was that of the owner of large possessions in the surrounding country, and indeed of the inn itself. In days gone by he had often stayed there for sporting purposes, but he had now been long an absentee from his property.

To these words, not without curbing his impatience, the young gentleman replied-

"Yes-after an absence of more than twenty years, as I daresay you know. Unfortunately he

is in very delicate health. However, he was recently seized with a desire to visit Beltrees again, and once his heart is set on a thing, 'tis vain to dissuade him from it. In spite of all risk, he was pressing on his journey post-haste, as is his way, when the snowstorm overtook us, and this accident occurred. I am his son." "The Master! You're a stranger to these parts, sir. I am proud to see you in my house." The youth held out his hand to the landlord, and then said,

"Now let us hasten to my father's assistance." Thereupon the landlord hurried away to rouse up his subordinates, and to put on more clothes. Whilst he was doing this he communicated what had happened to his wife, who on hearing it became fully as much excited as he was himself at the prospect of having Lord Beltrees in the house. The peer had resided so long abroad as to have become a mere name in his own country. But it was a name that was never spoken without respect, and which in the minds at least of the elder generation evoked recollections of a lordly and imperious personality.

To be continued.

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