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Catriona-Part11_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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What! you let me send this lad to the place with my very daughters!

And because I let drop a word to you..... Fy, sir, keep your dishonours



to yourself!"

Simon was deadly pale. "I will be a kick-ball between you and the Duke



no longer," he exclaimed. "Either come to an agreement, or come to a

differ, and have it out among yourselves. But I will no longer fetch



and carry, and get your contrary instructions, and be blamed by both.

For if I were to tell you what I think of all your Hanover business it



would make your head sing."

But Sheriff Erskine had preserved his temper, and now intervened



smoothly. "And in the meantime," says he, "I think we should tell Mr.

Balfour that his character for valour is quite established. He may



sleep in peace. Until the date he was so good as to refer to it shall

be put to the proof no more."



His coolness brought the others to their prudence; and they made haste,

with a somewhat distracted civility, to pack me from the house.



CHAPTER IX - THE HEATHER ON FIRE

WHEN I left Prestongrange that afternoon I was for the first time



angry. The Advocate had made a mock of me. He had pretended my

testimony was to be received and myself respected; and in that very



hour, not only was Simon practising against my life by the hands of the

Highland soldier, but (as appeared from his own language) Prestongrange



himself had some design in operation. I counted my enemies;

Prestongrange with all the King's authority behind him; and the Duke



with the power of the West Highlands; and the Lovat interest by their

side to help them with so great a force in the north, and the whole



clan of old Jacobite spies and traffickers. And when I remembered

James More, and the red head of Neil the son of Duncan, I thought there



was perhaps a fourth in the confederacy, and what remained of Rob Roy's

old desperate sept of caterans would be banded against me with the



others. One thing was requisite - some strong friend or wise adviser.

The country must be full of such, both able and eager to support me, or



Lovat and the Duke and Prestongrange had not been nosing for

expedients; and it made me rage to think that I might brush against my



champions in the street and be no wiser.

And just then (like an answer) a gentleman brushed against me going by,



gave me a meaning look, and turned into a close. I knew him with the

tail of my eye - it was Stewart the Writer; and, blessing my good



fortune, turned in to follow him. As soon as I had entered the close I

saw him standing in the mouth of a stair, where he made me a signal and



immediately vanished. Seven storeys up, there he was again in a house

door, the which he looked behind us after we had entered. The house



was quite dismantled, with not a stick of furniture; indeed, it was one

of which Stewart had the letting in his hands.



"We'll have to sit upon the floor," said he; "but we're safe here for

the time being, and I've been wearying to see ye, Mr. Balfour."



"How's it with Alan?" I asked.

"Brawly," said he. "Andie picks him up at Gillane sands to-morrow,



Wednesday. He was keen to say good-bye to ye, but the way that things

were going, I was feared the pair of ye was maybe best apart. And that



brings me to the essential: how does your business speed?"

"Why," said I, "I was told only this morning that my testimony was



accepted, and I was to travel to Inverary with the Advocate, no less."

"Hout awa!" cried Stewart. "I'll never believe that."



"I have maybe a suspicion of my own," says I, "but I would like fine to

hear your reasons."



"Well, I tell ye fairly, I'm horn-mad," cries Stewart. "If my one hand

could pull their Government down I would pluck it like a rotten apple.



I'm doer for Appin and for James of the Glens; and, of course, it's my

duty to defend my kinsman for his life. Hear how it goes with me, and



I'll leave the judgment of it to yourself. The first thing they have

to do is to get rid of Alan. They cannae bring in James as art and



part until they've brought in Alan first as principal; that's sound

law: they could never put the cart before the horse."



"And how are they to bring in Alan till they can catch him?" says I.

"Ah, but there is a way to evite that arrestment," said he. "Sound



law, too. It would be a bonny thing if, by the escape of one ill-doer

another was to go scatheless, and the remeid is to summon the principal



and put him to outlawry for the non-compearance. Now there's four

places where a person can be summoned: at his dwelling-house; at a



place where he has resided forty days; at the head burgh of the shire

where he ordinarily resorts; or lastly (if there be ground to think him



forth of Scotland) AT THE CROSS OF EDINBURGH, AND THE PIER AND SHORE OF

LEITH, FOR SIXTY DAYS. The purpose of which last provision is evident






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