Dark and eerie was the night,
And lonely was the way,
As Janet, wi' her green mantell,
To Miles' Cross she did gae.
Old Ballad.
Leaving Butler to all the uncomfortable thoughts attached to his new situation,
among which the most predominant was his feeling that he was, by his
confinement, deprived of all possibility of assisting the family at St. Leonard's in
their greatest need, we return to Jeanie Deans, who had seen him depart,
without an opportunity of farther explanation, in all that agony of mind with which
the female heart bids adieu to the complicated sensations so well described by
Coleridge,--
Hopes, and fears that kindle hope,
An undistinguishable throng;
And gentle wishes long subdued--
Subdued and cherished long.
It is not the firmest heart (and Jeanie, under her russet rokelay, had one that
would not have disgraced Cato's daughter) that can most easily bid adieu to
these soft and mingled emotions. She wept for a few minutes bitterly, and without
attempting to refrain from this indulgence of passion. But a moment's recollection
induced her to check herself for a grief selfish and proper to her own affections,
while her father and sister were plunged into such deep and irretrievable
affliction. She drew from her pocket the letter which had been that morning flung
into her apartment through an open window, and the contents of which were as
singular as the expression was violent and energetic. "If she would save a human
being from the most damning guilt, and all its desperate consequences,--if she
desired the life an honour of her sister to be saved from the bloody fangs of an
unjust law,--if she desired not to forfeit peace of mind here, and happiness
hereafter," such was the frantic style of the conjuration, "she was entreated to
give a sure, secret, and solitary meeting to the writer. She alone could rescue
him," so ran the letter, "and he only could rescue her." He was in such
circumstances, the billet farther informed her, that an attempt to bring any
witness of their conference, or even to mention to her father, or any other person
whatsoever, the letter which requested it, would inevitably prevent its taking
place, and ensure the destruction of her sister. The letter concluded with
incoherent but violent protestations, that in obeying this summons she had
nothing to fear personally.
