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if he has swallowed them, there is no more to be said,”‘ replied the Factor; “ only I hope he will thrive on them as a cow on wet clover. He is dame Norna’s servant it’s like, — such man, such mistress! But if theft and witchcraft are to go unpunished in this land, my lord must find another factor; for I have been used to live in a country where men’s worldly gear was keepit from infang and outfang thief, as well as their immortal souls from the claws of the deil and his cummers, — sain and save us!”
The agriculturist was perhaps the less reserved in expressing his complaints, that the Udaller was for the present out of hearing, having drawn Claud Halcro apart into another corner of the hut.
“And tell me,” said he, “ friend Halcro, what errand took thee to Sumburgh, since I reckon it was scarce the mere pleasure of sailing in partnership with yonder barnacle?”
“In faith, Fowd,” said the bard, “and if you will have the truth, I went to speak to Norna on your affairs.”
“On my affairs? “ replied the Udaller; “ on what affairs of mine?”
“Just touching your daughter’s health I heard that Norna refused your message, and would not-see Eric Scambester. Now, said I to myself, I have scarce joyed in meat, or drink, or music, or aught else, since Jarto Minna has been so ill; and I may say, literally as well as figuratively, that my day and night have been made sorrowful to me. In short, I thought I might have some more interest with old Norna than another, as scalds and wise women were always accounted something akin; and I undertook the journey with the hope to be of some use to my old friend and his lovely daughter.”
“And it was most kindly done of you, good warm-hearted Claud,” said the Udaller, shaking him warmly by the hand, — ” I ever said you showed the good old Norse heart amongst all thy fiddling and thy folly. — Tut, man, never wince for the matter, but be blithe that thy heart is better than thy head. Well, — and I warrant you got no answer from Norna?”
“None to purpose,” replied Claud Halcro; “but she held me close to question about Minna’s illness, too, — and I told her how I had met her abroad the other morning in no very good weather, and how her sister Brenda said she had hurt her-’ foot; — in short, I told her all and everything I knew.”
“And something more besides, it would seem,” said the Udaller; “for I, at least, never heard before that Minna had hurt herself.”
“Oh, a scratch! a mere scratch! “ said the old man; “ but I was startled about it — terrified lest it had been the bite of a dog, or some hurt from a venomous thing. I told all to Norna, however.”
“And whar,” answered the Udaller, “did she say in the way of reply?”
“She bade me begone about my business, and told me that the issue would be known at the Kirkwall Fair; and said just the like to this noodle of a Factor — it was all that either of us got for our labour,” said Halcro.
“That is strange,” said Magnus. “ My kinswoman writes me in this letter not to fail going thither with my daughters. This Fair runs strongly in her head; — one would think she intended to lead the market, and yet she has nothing to buy or to sell there that I know of. And so you came away as wise as you went, and swamped your boat at the mouth of the voe?”
“Why, how could I help it? “ said the poet. “ I had set the boy to steer, and as the flaw came suddenly off shore, I could not let go the tack and play on the fiddle at the same time. But it is all well enough, — saltwater never harmed Zetlander, so as he could get out of it; and, as Heaven would have it, we were within man’s depth of the shore, and chancing to find this skio, we should have done well enough, with shelter and fire, and are much better than well with your good cheer and good company. But it wears late, and Night and Day must be both as sleepy as old Midnight can make them. There is an inner crib here, where the fishers slept, — somewhat fragrant with the smell of their fish, but that is wholesome. They shall bestow themselves there, with the help of what cloaks you have, and then we will have one cup of brandy, and one stave of glorious John, or some little trifle of my own, and so sleep as sound as cobblers.”
“Two glasses of brandy, if you please,” said the Udaller, “ if our stores do not run dry; but not a single stave of glorious John, or of any one else tonight.”
And this being arranged and executed agreeably to the peremptory pleasure of the Udaller, the whole party consigned themselves to slumber for the night, and on the next day departed for their several habitations, Claud Halcro having previously arranged with the Udaller that he would accompany him and his daughters on their proposed visit to Kirkwall.
Chapter XXXI
“By this hand, thou think’st me as far in the devil’s book as thou and Falstaff, for obduracy and persistency. Let the end try the man…. Albeit I could tell to thee (as to one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend), I could be sad, and sad indeed too.”
Henry IV., Part II.
We must now change the scene from Zetland to Orkney, and request our readers to accompany us to the ruins of an elegant, though ancient structure, called the Earl’s Palace. These remains, though much dilapidated, still exist in the neighbourhood of the massive and venerable pile, which Norwegian devotion dedicated to Saint Magnus the Martyr, and, being contiguous to the Bishop’s Palace, which is also ruinous, the place is impressive, as exhibiting vestiges of the mutations both in Church and State which have affected Orkney, as well as countries more exposed to such convulsions. Several parts of these ruinous buildings might be selected (under suitable modifications) as the model of a Gothic mansion, provided architects would be contented rather to imitate what is really beautiful in that species of building, than to make a medley of the caprices of the order, confounding the military, ecclesiastical, and domestic styles of all ages at random, with additional fantasies and combinations of their own device, “ all formed out of the builder’s brain.”
The Earl’s Palace forms three sides of an oblong square, and has, even in its ruin, the air of an elegant yet massive structure, uniting, as was usual in the residence of feudal princes, the character of a palace and of a castle. A great banqueting-hall, communicating with several large rounds, or projecting turret-rooms, and having at either end an immense chimney, testifies the ancient Northern hospitality of the Earls of Orkney, and communicates, almost in the modern fashion, with a gallery, or withdrawing-room, of corresponding dimensions, and having, like the hall, its projecting turrets. The lordly hall itself is lighted by a fine Gothic window of shafted stone at one end, and is entered by a spacious and elegant staircase, consisting of three flights of stone steps. The exterior ornaments and proportions of the ancient building are also very handsome; but, being totally unprotected, this remnant of the pomp and grandeur of Earls, who assumed the licence as well as the dignity of petty sovereigns, is n?w fast crumbling to decay, and has suffered considerably since the date of our story.
With folded arms and downcast looks the pirate Cleveland was pacing slowly the ruined hall which we have just described; a place of retirement which he had probably chosen because it was distant from public resort. His dress was considerably altered from that which he usually wore in Zetland, and seemed a sort of uniform, richly laced, and exhibiting no small quantity of embroidery; a hat with a plume, and a small sword very handsomely mounted, then the constant companion of every one who assumed the rank of a gentleman, showed his pretensions to that character. But if his exterior was so far improved, it seemed to be otherwise with his health and spirits. He was pale, and had lost both the fire of his eye and the vivacity of his step, and his whole appearance indicated melancholy of mind, or suffering of body, or a combination of both evils.
As Cleveland thus paced these ancient ruins, a young man, of a light and slender form, whose showy dress seemed to have been studied with care, yet exhibited more extravagance than judgment or taste, whose manner was a jaunty affectation of the free and easy rake of the period, and the expression of whose countenance