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hame on foot, or if he were killed by miss of footing on a craig — the haill island kend how venturesome he was — who,” said Swertha, “ will be the auld fule then? “ And she added a pathetic ejaculation, that “ God would protect the poor motherless bairn! for if he had had a mother, there would have been search made after him before now.”
This last sarcasm affected Mertoun powerfully, — his jaw quivered, his face grew pale, and he muttered to Swertha to go into his study (where she was scarcely ever permitted to enter), and fetch him a bottle which stood there.
“Oh ho! “ quoth Swertha to herself, as she hastened on the commission, “ my master knows where to find a cup of comfort to qualify his water with upon fitting occasions.”
There was indeed a case of such bottles as were usually employed to hold strong waters, but the dust and cobwebs in which they were enveloped showed that they had not been touched for many years. With some difficulty Swertha extracted the cork of one of them, by the help of a fork — for corkscrew was there none at Jarlshof — and having ascertained by smell, and, in case of any mistake, by a moderate mouthful, that it contained wholesome Barbadoes-waters, she carried it into the room, where her master still continued to struggle with his faintness. She then began to pour a small quantity into the nearest cup that she could find, wisely judging, that, upon a person so much unaccustomed to the use of spirituous liquors, a little might produce a strong effect. But the patient signed to her impatiently to fill the cup, which might hold more than the third of an English pint measure, up to the very brim, and swallowed it down without hesitation.
“Now the saunts above have a care on us! “ said Swertha; “he will be drunk as weel as mad, and wha is to guide him then, I wonder?”
But Mertoun’s breath and colour returned, without the slightest symptom of intoxication; on the contrary, Swertha afterwards reported, that, “although she had always had a firm opinion in favour of a dram, yet she never saw one work such miracles — he spoke mair like a man of the middle warld, than she had ever heard him do since she had entered his service”
“Swertha,” he said, “ you are right in this matter, and I was wrong. — Go down to the Ranzelman directly, tell him to come and speak with me, without an instant’s delay, and bring me special word what boats and people he can command; I will employ them all in the search, and they shall be plentifully rewarded.”
Stimulated by the spur which maketh the old woman proverbially to trot, Swertha posted down to the hamlet, with all the speed of threescore, rejoicing that her sympathetic feelings were likely to achieve their own reward, having given rise to a quest which promised to be so lucrative, and in the profits whereof she was determined to have her share, shouting out as she went, and long before she got within hearing, the names of Niel Ronaldson, Sweyn Erickson, and the other friends and confederates who were interested in her mission. To say the truth, notwithstanding that the good dame really felt a deep interest in Mordaunt Mertoun, and was mentally troubled on account of his absence, perhaps few things would have disappointed her more than if he had at this moment started up in her path safe and sound, and rendered unnecessary, by his appearance, the expense and the bustle of searching after him.
Soon did Swertha accomplish her business in the village, and adjust with the senators of the township her own little share of percentage upon the profits likely to accrue on her mission; and speedily did she return to Jarlshof, with Niel Ronaldson by her side, schooling him to the best of her skill in all the peculiarities of her master.
“Aboon a’ things,” she said, “ never make him wait for an answer; and speak loud and distinct, as if you were hailing a boat, — for he downa bide to say the same thing twice over; and if he asks about distance, ye may make leagues for miles, for he kens’ naething about the face of the earth that he lives upon; and if he speak of siller, ye may ask dollars for shillings, for he minds them nae mair than sclate-stanes.”
Thus tutored, Niel Ronaldson was introduced into the presence of Mertoun, but was utterly confounded to find that he could not act upon the system of deception which had been projected. When he attempted, by some exaggeration of distance and peril, to enhance the hire of the boats and of the men (for the search was to be by sea and land), he found himself at once cut short by Mertoun, who showed not only the most perfect knowledge of the country, but of distances, tides, currents, and all belonging to the navigation of those seas, although these were topics with which he had hitherto appeared to be totally unacquainted. The Ranzelman, therefore, trembled when they came to speak of the recompense to be afforded for their exertions in the search; for it was not more unlikely that Mertoun should be well informed of what was just and proper upon this head than upon others; and Niel remembered the storm of his fury, when, at an early period after he had settled at Jarlshof, he drove Swertha and Sweyn Erickson from his presence. As, however, he stood hesitating betwixt the opposite fears of asking too much or too little, Mertoun stopped his mouth, and ended his uncertainty, by promising him a recompense beyond what he dared have ventured to ask, with an addi tional gratuity, in case they returned with the pleasing intelligence that his son was safe.
When this great point was settled, Niel Ronaldson, like a man of conscience, began to consider earnestly the various places where search should be made after the young man; and having undertaken faithfully that the inquiry should be prosecuted at all the houses of the gentry, both in this and the neighbouring islands, he added, that, “ after all, if his honour would not be angry, there was ane not far off, that, if anybody dared speer her a question, and if she liked to answer it, could tell more about Maister Mordaunt than anybody else could. — Ye will ken wha I mean, Swertha? Her that was down at the haven this morning.” Thus he concluded, addressing himself with a mysterious look to the housekeeper, which she answered with a nod and a wink.
“How mean you?” said Mertoun; “speak out, short and open — whom do you speak of?”
“It is Norna of the Fitful Head,” said Swertha, “ that the Ranzelman is thinking about; for she has gone up to Saint Ringan’s Kirk this morning on business of her own.”
“And what can this person know of my son?” said Mertoun; “ she is, I believe, a wandering madwoman, or impostor.”
“If she wanders,” said Swertha, “ it is for nae lack of means at hame, and that is weel known — plenty of a’ thing has she of her ain, forby that the Fowd himsell would let her want naething.”
“But what is that to my son?” said Mertoun impatiently.
“I dinna ken — she took unco pleasure in Maister Mordaunt from the time she first saw him, and mony a braw thing she gave him at ae time or another, forby the gowd chain that hangs about his bonny craig — folk say it is of fairy gold — I kenna what gold it is, but Bryce Snailsfoot says, that the value will mount to an hundred pounds English, and that is nae deaf nuts.”
“Go; Ronaldson,” said Mertoun, “ or else send some one, to seek this woman out — if you think there be a chance of her knowing anything of my son.”
“She kens a’ thing that happens in thae islands,” said Niel Ronaldson, “ muckle sooner than other folk, and that is Heaven’s truth. But as to going to the kirk, or the kirkyard, to speer after her, there is not a man in Zetland will do it, for meed or for money — and that’s Heaven’s truth as weel as the other.”
“Cowardly, superstitious fools! “ said Mertoun. — ” But give me my cloak, Swertha. — This woman has been at Burgh-West) — she is related to Troil’s family — she may know something of Mordaunt’s absence, and its cause — I will seek her myself — She is at the Cross-Kirk, you say.”
“No, not at the Cross-Kirk, but at the auld Kirk of Saint Ringan’s — it’s a dowie bit, and far frae being canny; and if your honour,” added Swertha, “ wad walk by my rule, I wad wait until she came back, and no trouble her when she may be mair busied wi’ the dead, for onything that we ken, than she is wi’ the living. The like of her carena to have other folk’s een on them when they are, gude sain us! doing their ain particular turns.”
Mertoun made no answer, but throwing his cloak loosely around him (for the day was misty, with passing