"Remember your liberties," rejoined Mareschal, who seemed to take a mischievous delight in precipitating the movements of the enthusiasm which he had excited, like a roguish boy, who, having lifted the sluice of a mill-dam, enjoys the clatter of the wheels which he has put in motion, without thinking of the mischief he may have occasioned."Remember your liberties," he exclaimed;"confound cess, press, and presbytery, and the memory of old Willie that first brought them upon us!""Damn the gauger!" echoed old John Rewcastle; "I'll cleave him wi' my ain hand.""And confound the country-keeper and the constable!" re-echoed Westburnflat; "I'll weize a brace of balls through them before morning.""We are agreed, then," said Ellieslaw, when the shouts had somewhat subsided, "to bear this state of things no longer?""We are agreed to a man," answered his guests.
"Not literally so," said Mr.Ratcliffe; "for though I cannot hope to assuage the violent symptoms which seem so suddenly to have seized upon the company, yet I beg to observe, that so far as the opinion of a single member goes, I do not entirely coincide in the list of grievances which has been announced, and that I do utterly protest against the frantic measures which you seem disposed to adopt for removing them.I can easily suppose much of what has been spoken may have arisen out of the heat of the moment, or have been said perhaps in jest.But there are some jests of a nature very apt to transpire; and you ought to remember, gentlemen, that stone-walls have ears.""Stone-walls may have ears," returned Ellieslaw, eyeing him with a look of triumphant malignity, "but domestic spies, Mr.
Ratcliffe, will soon find themselves without any, if any such dares to continue his abode in a family where his coming was an unauthorized intrusion, where his conduct has been that of a presumptuous meddler, and from which his exit shall be that of a baffled knave, if he does not know how to take a hint.""Mr.Vere," returned Ratcliffe, with calm contempt, "I am fully aware, that as soon as my presence becomes useless to you, which it must through the rash step you are about to adopt, it will immediately become unsafe to myself, as it has always been hateful to you.But I have one protection, and it is a strong one; for you would not willingly hear me detail before gentlemen, and men of honour, the singular circumstances in which our connexion took its rise.As to the rest, I rejoice at its conclusion; and as I think that Mr.Mareschal and some other gentlemen will guarantee the safety of my ears and of my throat (for which last I have more reason to be apprehensive) during the course of the night, I shall not leave your castle till to-morrow morning.""Be it so, sir," replied Mr.Vere; "you are entirely safe from my resentment, because you are beneath it, and not because I am afraid of your disclosing my family secrets, although, for your own sake, I warn you to beware how you do so.Your agency and intermediation can be of little consequence to one who will win or lose all, as lawful right or unjust usurpation shall succeed in the struggle that is about to ensue.Farewell, sir."Ratcliffe arose, and cast upon him a look, which Vere seemed to sustain with difficulty, and, bowing to those around him, left the room.
This conversation made an impression on many of the company, which Ellieslaw hastened to dispel, by entering upon the business of the day.Their hasty deliberations went to organize an immediate insurrection.Ellieslaw, Mareschal, and Sir Frederick Langley were chosen leaders, with powers to direct their farther measures.A place of rendezvous was appointed, at which all agreed to meet early on the ensuing day, with such followers and friends to the cause as each could collect around him.Several of the guests retired to make the necessary preparations; and Ellieslaw made a formal apology to the others, who, with Westburnflat and the old smuggler, continued to ply the bottle stanchly, for leaving the head of the table, as he must necessarily hold a separate and sober conference with the coadjutors whom they had associated with him in the command.The apology was the more readily accepted, as he prayed them, at the same time, to continue to amuse themselves with such refreshments as the cellars of the castle afforded.Shouts of applause followed their retreat; and the names of Vere, Langley, and, above all, of Mareschal, were thundered forth in chorus, and bathed with copious bumpers repeatedly, during the remainder of the evening.
When the principal conspirators had retired into a separate apartment, they gazed on each other for a minute with a sort of embarrassment, which, in Sir Frederick's dark features, amounted to an expression of discontented sullenness.Mareschal was the first to break the pause, saying, with a loud burst of laughter, --"Well! we are fairly embarked now, gentlemen--VOGUE LAGALERE!"
"We may thank you for the plunge," said Ellieslaw.
"Yes; but I don't know how far you will thank me," answered Mareschal, "when I show you this letter which I received just before we sat down.My servant told me it was delivered by a man he had never seen before, who went off at the gallop, after charging him to put it into my own hand."Ellieslaw impatiently opened the letter, and read aloud--EDINBURGH,--
